The buckball game had ended, and everycreature could agree that it had been a really fun time. Already the crowds were starting to disperse, and there was happy and excited chatter all around as they discussed the game and everything that had happened with it. But, after a time, the grounds were largely empty, save for the odd pony sticking behind to clean up the place and get all the equipment away. However, sitting together in the stands of the pitch, were six friends all smiling fondly over the day they'd just had. And they had every right to it too, given how well three of them in particular had performed. Smolder, Yona and Ocellus were looking pleased as punch over how much entertainment they'd given the crowds during the match, even if it had been kind of a rocky road to getting as good as they had been. But while five of them were content to just relax, one of their number was, as usual, too excited to do so. Silverstream zipped through the air, doing a few back-loops before landing right next to Smolder, giggling happily to her.

"Oh my gosh, you guys! That was amazing! I can't remember having that much fun in ages!"

Smolder looked to her with an arched eyebrow.

"What about last week when we all had that picnic?"

Silverstream paused, looking aghast for a moment.

"Oh! You're right! That was pretty great too! And the swimming contest we had the day before!"

Yona shuddered.

"Yona no liked that one. Yaks no great swimmers."

Ocellus smiled to her, gently placing her hoof on Yona's shoulder.

"Hey, you're getting better. You might not even need your floaties net time."

Yona smiled to her friend's encouraging words, but that came to an end with a chuckle from Gallus.

"Yeah, it was a pretty good game, but I'm more interested in what you ladies did."

He gave a sly look to Smolder.

"Yona and Ocellus I can get, but you? Never took you for the frilly cheering type!"

Now, there would have undoubtedly been a time when Smolder would have taken offense to a remark like that, maybe even have started a fight over it. But, let it never be said that her time at the school hadn't changed her, and so she simply reclined back into the stand and chortled at her feathered friend's words.

"Yeah, well, what can I say? I like what I like."

Gallus, though initially irritated that he'd failed to get under her skin, or scales in this case, nevertheless smiled back to her.

"All joking aside though, you girls were pretty awesome today. You should've seen the crowds after your performance. They were really raring to go for that game."

Ocellus smirked a little to him.

"Uh, we did see them, Gallus. We were right in front of them, remember?"

Gallus blinked, a small blush creeping onto his cheeks.

"Oh, right."

The kids all laughed with one another, and it was undoubtedly a pleasant moment between them. When the laughter died down, however, Silverstream scooted closer to Smolder, bearing an unmistakeable look of curiosity.

"Is it true Professor Rainbow helped you with it? I bet she was great fun with it, being an old buckball pro and all."

Here, the smiles faced from the three other girls' faces, and they looked to each other with some measure of uncertainty. But while Silverstream didn't quite pick up on this, Gallus most certainly did.

"Ah. I take it she wasn't quite the cheering master you'd hoped she'd be?"

Ocellus took a deep breath, then sighed.

"It was...complicated."

Yona nodded.

"Things had, as you say...rocky start?"

But, ever the dragon, Smolder was far less subtle about it than her friends.

"She had no interest whatsoever and we almost completely failed because of it."

Immediately, she was given glares by the other two, prompting her to shrug her shoulders.

"What? You both know I'm right."

Ocellus sighed again, turning once more to Gallus.

"The thing is, Rainbow kind of had her heart set on helping the actual buckball team. I guess she saw what we were doing as...well..."

"Not as important?" Smolder finished for her.

Ocellus frowned to her friend's continued bluntness, but eventually conceded her point with a nod.

"Yes, that."

Gallus too nodded, looking out at the now-empty pitch.

"Yeah, I can kinda see where she's coming from."

When he became acutely aware of being looked at with incredulity by the others, he immediately backtracked and tried to explain himself.

"Look, I'm just saying that, if I was a pony known for sports and athletics, I probably wouldn't be all that into all the...you know...other stuff?"

He looked to Ocellus in particular.

"I mean, just imagine if there was, like, a big fashion convention or something, and they asked Professor Rarity to join, only to just ask her to do the catering?"

A pause, and the others considered that with Smolder giving a more-than-reluctant shrug.

"Ugh! Okay! I guess I can see that!"

She glowered at him.

"I don't like it, but I understand it."

Yona nodded at them both.

"But...Rainbow got interested, right?"

Ocellus regained her smile.

"Yeah! After a while, she became just as enthusiastic as the rest of us! And let me tell you, her help was so much fun!"

In spite of her earlier mood, even Smolder afforded herself a quick chuckle.

"Yeah, say what you will about her, but when she commits to something, she really goes for it."

She glanced up to the sky, thinking well on the events of the day.

"And I gotta say, when it all came together at the end like that, it was pretty neat. The way the crowds cheered right along with us, the way we all came together in that group formation? Yep, today was a pretty great day."

All of the others smiled too, with Gallus especially looking interested.

"I'm guessing that kind of thing isn't common where you guys are from? I know it certainly isn't back at Griffonstone."

Ocellus looked to him with interest.

"Oh? No sports you guys like to cheer for?"

Gallus chortled like that was the funniest thing he'd heard all day.

"Griffons? Playing sports? I wish!"

He sighed, looking to Ocellus with a softer expression.

"Don't get me wrong, we Griffons may be changing for the better these days, but we're still Griffons. Getting us together long enough to have a sport is already pretty difficult. But getting a bunch of other Griffons off to one side to genuinely cheer them on? Yeah, that ain't happening anytime soon."

Ocellus considered that.

"It might be easier back at the Hive, but we don't really have any sports."

Her face lit up soon after.

"Maybe we can start doing buckball? I'm sure we'd have fun with it."

Smolder shrugged.

"Not a bad idea, Celly. Beats throwing rocks and lava at each other."

The others gave her an odd look, leading to another smirk on her part.

"Hey, what can I say? Dragon sports are intense."

Gallus, despite his earlier making fun of the subject, now found himself looking down to the pitch, and specifically to the very spot where the girls had been cheering earlier.

"You know, when you get right down to it...it's pretty neat what you three did down there."

Naturally, he got some odd looks, prompting him to immediately explain himself.

"No, I mean it! Your whole thing was about trying to give the audience a better time with the game than they would have done before. Your job was basically to make a fun time even more fun, and when you think about it that way, who could possibly say bad things about that?"

Yona smiled to his kind words and, in a move Gallus probably should've expected from her, gave him an immensely tight hug. After recovering from this embrace, Gallus eventually reciprocated, and after parting from the happy Yak, he noted the giggles of the other girls, leading to a raised eyebrow from him.

"Though I am surprised you weren't a part of it, Silver. I'd have figured that somecreature like you would jump at the chance to explode with positivity on the pitch."

Silverstream folded her forelegs and huffed.

"Hmph! I had homework to do!"

But her dour mood was short-lived, as her smile returned when she again looked to Smolder.

"But at least you weren't alone in that team! Those other ponies were pretty awesome!"

The young dragoness chuckled.

"Yeah, Shimmy and Light. It was fun doing our routine with them."

Ocellus too smiled.

"Actually, they invited us over to their place later so we can practice again, maybe for the next buckball game we have here!"

Silverstream, of course, squealed with delight over that.

"Eeeeeeeeeeeee! Can I come too? Please?"

Smolder chortled to her friend's usual exuberance.

"Sure, why not? The more the merrier, right?"

Yona looked over to Gallus.

"Friend Gallus is welcome too."

As grateful as he was for the invitation, Gallus was, at the end of the day, ever the Griffon.

"Thanks, but no thanks. As much as I liked what you girls did, I've still got a reputation to maintain. Wouldn't see guys like us going for something like that, right, Sandbar?"

He raised his claw, looking to his left and fully expecting his pony friend to give him a high-five over the remark. Instead, he was left hanging, as Sandbar, whom Gallus could have sworn had been sitting beside him this whole time, was completely absent from this.

"Er...Sandbar?"

A nudge on his side caused him to look to Ocellus, who soon directed his attention to the playing field. When he looked down to it, Gallus' eyes widened, for there was Sandbar, smiling happily and bearing a pair of pom-poms.

"Two, four, six, eight! What do we appreciate? Buckball! Yay buckball!"

He jumped up with his pom-poms, then landed back down, doing an impressive split with his hind legs. It earned him a small applause form the girls, but Gallus, by contrast, simply slapped his forehead.

"That does it! Sandbar, I'm sorry, but I'm gonna have to ask you to turn in your cool guy card."

The young stallion looked to him with confusion.

"I had a cool guy card?"

Gallus pondered that, then smirked.

"Yeah, good point."

Smolder rolled her eyes, then smiled to Sandbar.

"So, Sandy, you coming with?"

A silence passed, and after a time, Sandbar blushed, looking down to his hind legs, which were still in that split, before again glancing to his friend.

"I, er...I think I might be stuck."

Smolder, still smiling, shook her head.

"Hehe...amateur."

I loved seeing these kids so enthusiastic about what they did. Honestly, I just love them more every time I see them