“So what is this?” Rainbow Dash asked, eying the shiny, thin rod that had a larger, rounded piece of metal at it's base. The object made no sense to her, already forgetting it's purpose.

“Ah think Twi' called it a Flub er somethin'.” Applejack said, joining Rainbow in observation at the metallic stick. She had used plenty of tools on her farm, but she hadn't seen anything like it.

“Uhh, no.” Twilight giggled behind them. “It's called a club.” The two other ponies whipped around, noticing the lavender equine was walking up the them. Rainbow roared in laughter and fell to the ground, while Applejack tried her best to stifle her own giggles. “What?” Twilight asked.

“Umm, nuthin'... Nuthin' at all, Twilight. Just uh-” Applejack said, trying to keep a straight face. However, her cyan friend could not hold it in.

“Twilight, you look so funny!” She said, her sides heaving as she wiped away tears. Twilight blushed, and realized both were staring at her hat.

“Oh this?” She laughed embarrassedly, “It's just what Celestia gave me in her recent letter. She says it's proper attire for playing the game of golf.”

“Oooh a game!” Rainbow jumped up off the ground, pressing her face close to Twilight. “Can I play!? Oh, I bet I can beat you all at golf! I'll have the highest score an-” She stopped, scratching her head. “Wait, what's... golf?” Applejack nodded, sharing the same concern.

“It's a game of precision and patience.” Twilight explained. “Basically, you have to get a tiny ball into a hole, often hundred of yards away. It requires you to plan out your shots and concentrate. That being said, you want to have the lowest score possible.”

“Easy!” Rainbow said, “I can just fly over and put the ball in the hole.”

Twilight smiled, expecting such an answer, “No you can't. See this here?” She levitated the club in the air, “You must hit the ball with the club, and the club only.” Her horn grew brighter, as she pulled over a whole bag of more clubs, in different lengths and types. “You can use all sorts of clubs to help get the ball in the hole. Some for hitting very far, and others for being precise.”

“So, uhh, we use these...” Applejack reiterated, pointed to the bag of clubs. “To put a tiny ball inta a hole, that's hundreds o' yards away?”

“Yep!” Twilight said in a high pitched, happy tone. “It sounds so fun! It requires the pony playing to make the right moves, not just a lot of them. Also, it depends more on how smart and concentrated she is, not how strong or fast they may be. It's the perfect game for everypony!”

“Gee, Twi', I dunno.” Rainbow Dash replied, the prospect of playing a game that was neither tough nor fast not appealing to her.

“Princess Celestia has sent me four sets of clubs, asking me to take my friends to the first-ever golf course in Equestria, which is just outside of Ponyville! Fluttershy and Rarity already agreed to come, so I called you two over to see if one of you wanted to join. It's only nine holes, what do you say?!”

“Well, there's just one problem Twi'.” Applejack said, “If you three are already goin', and you want us two to go...” She tilted her head, counting with her hooves. “Ain't there not enough bags for everypony?”

“Yeah, I know-” Twilight began, the remark destroying her excitement.

“You can go without me.” Rainbow broke in. “No offense Twilight, but a game that isn't fast sounds really boring. I have some weather stuff to finish up too.”

“Okay,” Twilight said, shrugging. Clearly, her rainbow-maned friend's disinterest in the game wasn't a surprise. “How about you, AJ?”

“Well,” Applejack began, “What about Pinkie?”

“I tried to go to Sugarcube Corner, but Mrs. Cake told me she would be out all day doing deliveries.” She widened her eyes, putting a sad expression on her face. “Pleeaasee, Applejack! It'll be more fun than working on the farm all day.”

Applejack sighed, “Oh why not. Ah guess ah've never been a pony to judge, and I guess it prolly would be funner than workin' with Big Mac.”

“Yay!” Twilight said, hugging the breath out of her earth pony friend.

-~-

“Umm... Twilight?” Fluttershy asked quietly from the rear of the column. Four ponies were walking up to the first tee, as Twilight had called it. “How do us Pegasi and earth ponies even hold the club right?”

Twilight unslung her bag of clubs near a closely-cropped square of grass, digging through it. Within seconds, the withdrew two white boots, with a circular clasp on one side. “These are designed to let you play. After putting it over your dominant hoof, just press it on the grip of the club and it should snap into place.” She explained, tossing one to each.

“Meanwhile, Unicorns can use their levitation magic, correct?” Rarity asked.

Twilight nodded, fishing a few more items from her bag. She retrieved a long club with a huge piece of metal at the end, bigger than any of the others in the bag. She also got a white ball and wooden twig, it's shape resembling a super small ice cream cone.

“This is the Driver.” Twilight explained, holding up the club. Then she picked up the two smaller items, “And these are the golf ball and the tee. You use the tee for your first shot of each hole, in the tee box.” She walked out onto the distinct patch of ground, indicating with a nod that this was the tee box. Her magic planted the tee in the grass, and she set the ball on top, which rested carefully.

“Ooh,” Applejack said in awe. “So, d'ya hit it now?”

Twilight nodded, standing next to the ball, her driver levitating out in front of her. Then she looked out towards where she would be hitting, gulping in a sense of inferiority.

Below her, a vast expanse of varying green grass rolled out into the distance. She could barely see the flag along the horizon, which indicated the hole's position. Near the flag were a pair of sandy divots, making her task seem impossible. “And umm, this hole is a par four.” She said, looking at her scorecard. “The average strokes it takes for a pony to get it in the whole is four, I guess. It's only... Three-hundred and sixty-four yards away.” Her voice grew quieter.

“Well, let's see how it's done, Twilight.” Rarity asked, impatiently. “I too want to try my hoof at this.”

“Okay...” Twilight said, her voice shaking. She lifted her club in rotating motion through the air, anxiety building in her chest. Then she closed her eyes and let the club fall.

Air whooshed by, the club swinging perfectly. “Umm, Twilight... Aren't you supposed to hit the ball?” Fluttershy pointed out.

Twilight's eyes jolted opened, and she facehooved as she saw the ball was still there. Determination replacing her anxiety, she wanted to really hit the ball this time. She aligned her club behind the white sphere, raising her club carefully like before.

This time, she kept her eyes open and put extra effort into the downswing. With a flash of metal, the ball exploded off the tee with a crisp “Ping!”. Hardly believing that she made contact, she followed the ball as it rose into the air, veering off slightly to the left. It landed a few seconds later , hopping through a darker shade of grass.

“Yeehaw! Nice 'un there, Twilight!” Applejack exclaimed, “You musta hit that one really well! Uhh, mind if I go next?

“Thanks,” Twilight said sheepishly, “Technically, I could have done better. I hit in the rough, whereas the lighter grass, called the fairway, is much easier to hit from. But yeah, I guess I did do pretty well.” She shrugged, “Sure, you can go next, AJ.”

Applejack gave a whoop, taking her own driver out of the bag and snapping it in place on her boot. She placed the ball on Twilight's tee, which still remained upright. It stood firm, elevated an inch off the ground.

She put the club behind the ball, standing on three legs. She moved her free arm and attempted the match Twilight's swing. As her club came down however, the head smacked into the ground, tearing up grass and mud alike. It finally reached the tee, but with so little power behind it that all the ball did was fall off.

Applejack chuckled nervously. “Uhh, redo.” She said, before placing the ball back on it's stand. This time she swung slower, although it yielded little improvement. The driver still ripped through the grass, but managed to hit her ball out a few yards. It hopped off the tee box, rolling down the hill it was on.

The orange pony snorted in anger. “Well, can ah go back an get it?” She asked, trying to keep her voice down.

Twilight shook her head, leafing through a booklet. “Sorry, but the rules say you have to play it from there.” She noticed Applejack stomp with anger, about to charge after the ball. “But you have to wait until the rest of us take our own turns!”

Applejack sighed, taking off her club and retreating back to where the others were. She slammed her driver into it's socket in the bag.

“I think this game requires grace and beauty.” Rarity proclaimed, levitating her own ball, tee and driver out of the bag. She mimicked the others, and was soon set up to hit. Unlike the ponies who went before, however, she spun her club parallel to the ground. Almost ninety degrees behind her, the driver stopped before turning into her fore swing.

The ball pinged clearly like Twilight's had done, as her club rotated quickly around her body. The ball flew out at a straight line for almost a hundred yards, going directly down the fairway. Then in an instant, it sliced rapidly to the right and crashed through the nearby woodlands.

“What?!” Rarity cried in confusion. Her shot had started off so well! “Well, I think I should get to try again like Applejack,” she said indignantly.

Twilight sighed, “No you can't, Rarity. The book here says that if you lose the ball in the woods, you must either look for it and play it in there, or you must drop it nearby and take a one-stroke penalty.”

The fashionista-pony let out an irritated “Hmph!” before letting the final player, Fluttershy, take her swing.

Placing the tee delicately into the ground, she picked up the golf ball in her mouth and set it on top. Standing to the left of it, she readied her club behind the ball.

The other ponies watched as she closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. Her eyes flicked opened as she exhaled, her club-clad hoof rising and falling evenly. The ball clinked neatly off the face of the driver, soaring off into the air.

It flew out perfectly into the fairway, bouncing along the well-kept grass. Fluttershy turned around, a smile creeping on her face.

“Uhh, that was... good, Fluttershy. Although it didn't go very far, perhaps 150 yards, if that.” Twilight said, trying not to rain on the shy pegasus' parade.

“I wasn't trying to hit it far.” Fluttershy replied, placing her club in her bag and slinging in over her back. “Shouldn't we be getting off to our next shot?” She asked rhetorically, humming quietly as she walked away.

-~-

Applejack flung her club away in rage, narrowly missing Rarity, who had just came out of the forest. “Honestly Applejack, keep yourself calm! It's the third time this hole you've thrown your club!”

The enraged pony looking up, retorting coolly, “Oh an' you go tell me where that missin' one of yours is, huh? Could it be the same one tha' you bent over that pine tree?” Rarity opened her mouth to reply, but closed it as she couldn't find a place to begin. She simply glared at Applejack before hiking after her ball, which had bounced over a nearby hill.

Snickering, Applejack walked over to retrieve her driver. In the past seven hits, she had managed to get it a hundred yards downrange, mostly along the rightmost edge of the rough.

Meanwhile, in the middle of the fairway, Fluttershy grinned as she watched her iron connect cleanly with the ball, which lofted away into the distance. It didn't go very far like her previous shot, but it rolled nicely along the fairway, now within range to reach the hole.

She smiled, humming in tune with a nearby bird as she continued down the course.

Twilight took one last look at Fluttershy upon the crest she was on, taking note that she'd be coming up soon behind her. The tall grass was a challenge for her, but she was determined to hit it cleanly.

Lining up the iron she selected, she swung it like before. Luckily, the ball was lofted up by the grass, mimicking the effect of a tee. Her swing worked again, although as the ball flew forth, a frown formed.

With a puff, the ball landed amongst the sand, which her manual had stated was called a sand trap. Just the word “trap” let the lavender pony know she was in trouble. Sighing in despair, she put away her club and marched down the small hill, bag in tow.

-~-

Fluttershy squealed in happiness as her ball landed on the green, only mere feet away from the flag.

After a few moments of smiling brightly, she decided to check on where her friends were. Turning to her right, she watched as Rarity launched her ball off a hill, which proceeded to slice to the right like her first shot did. She stomped angrily on the ground, before walking off to her next shot.

Shrugging, Fluttershy looked behind her. With an eep of shock, she cowered along the ground, Applejack's ball whizzing above her. Looking up, she saw Applejack slam her driver on the grass. “Horseapples!”

Then she slammed her club into her bag, racing by. “Applejack, you almost hit me!” Fluttershy called out in a passive tone. The workpony paid no attention to her words, fuming over her recent failure.

Sighing, the yellow mare looked to her left, watching as Twilight swung her club amongst the sand. The golden grains flew up in the air, however unaccompanied by her friend's golf ball. Brow furrowing in concentration, she swung again, to no avail.

Finally, something within Twilight snapped, and she let her emotions bubble out and take control. She swung a painful myriad of strokes, none of them removing her ball from the trap. “No no no no!” She yelled at the ground as she took one last swing. Her horn flared brightly as she put an enormous amount of effort.

A great plume of sand flew up in the air, erasing Twilight from view. It cleared seconds later, Twilight coughing and eyes watering. Rubbing her eyes, she looked forward to see that her ball had barely rolled onto the green.

Shrieking in anger, her telekinesis whipped her club away from her, crashing into her bag nearby and sending it's contents clattering along the grass.

Fluttershy exhaled sullenly. It seemed her friends weren't having as much fun as she was.

-~-

The white, dimpled ball rolled forward, dropping into the hole. Fluttershy grinned in satisfaction, picking up the ball and turned around. She came to face her three friends, a collage of anger, weariness and irritation in their expressions.

“Okay, Applejack,” Twilight said, sounding tired, “How many tries did it take you to get to the hole?” Applejack turned away from them, looking back from where she came from and counting at the various spots she had hit from.

“Umm, les see now... There's one, two, seven, twelve...” She pondered for a moment. “Eleventy-three.”

Twilight's face contorted with a mixture of shock and complete denial. “AJ, but... But that isn't a number!”

Applejack nickered in genuine surprise. “It's not? Now, don' you use your fancy mathematics on me-”

“Twilight, just write it down!” Rarity said frantically, “Let's not get stuck up on something like this, okay darling?” Then she forced herself to calm down, her voice almost returning to its original state. “Oh, by the way, I got it in the hole in seven tries.”

Twilight eyed her suspiciously. “Okay, thirteen!” The white pony confessed, holding her hooves over her face in shame.

“Okay...” Twilight wrote down her score, “And I got there in ten.” Her eyes glimmered, proud of her accomplishment. “Oh, and what about you, Fluttershy?” She almost forgot about the quiet pegasus.

“Oh... um,” Fluttershy began, “I think I got a four.” She lowered herself slightly, watching as the gleam in Twilight's eyes disappeared.

“Wait, what? That can't be right!” Twilight said out loud, angrily. Fluttershy shrunk closer to the ground, scared that somepony else was mad at her. Applejack rushed over to her rescue, standing between the two mares.

“Now, mebbe I don' know how to count right. But, ah do know when somepony is tellin' the truth, and Fluttershy here is doin' just that.” She looked back to the pony behind her, who had crept up behind the earth pony, using her as a shield. “Now, you don't worry none, Sugarcube. Come on, get up. Y'know Twilight wouldn't do nuthin' to ya, she's just a lil' mad because she didn't win.”

Twilight let the anger drop, her shoulder sagging slightly. “Yeah, you're right Applejack.” She looked over to the Fluttershy, who was just starting to get up. “Sorry, Fluttershy.”

Fluttershy's face brightened a little at the apology. “Oh, don't worry Twilight. Besides, we still have eight more holes to play and have fun!” She clapped her hooves in delight, smiling once more as she closed her eyes.

Rarity and Twilight groaned, looking at each other with expressions of dread. Neither knew how much more they could take of this.

Applejack, on the other hand, unleashed a fury of swears and cusses, some which weren't in any of the other ponies' vocabularies. Fluttershy was jolted out of her blissful emotions, gasping as Twilight attempted to cover her ears.

It was going to be a long morning, afternoon, and night.

-~-

Dear Princess Celestia,

I HATE golf.

That aside, here are the scores you requested.

9 Holes at Ponyville C.C. -

Twilight – 93

Rarity – 117

Applejack – Unknown, although estimated at somewhere in the couple of hundreds.

Fluttershy – 38

Your faithful and now exhausted student,

Twilight Sparkle

-~-

“So Fluttershy,” Applejack asked as the ponies left the golf course, “How did you manage to do so well?”

“Oh, you know...” She said softly, “I just decided to hit the ball nice and soft, because doing things that way always tend to end up well.”

“But, what about us?” Twilight asked selfishly, “Why didn't we do well?”

“Oh, umm, you wouldn't want to hear it, Besides, I don't think you did too bad.”

“Fluttershy, you destroyed all of our scores. Just tell us why we did so poorly.” Rarity said, her hooves pattering against the ground impatiently, “Tell me! tell me! tell me! tell me!”

“Alright, since you really must know.” Fluttershy said, before taking a deep breath. Her mouth opened as she inhaled sharply, air rushing through her lungs. She stood up on her hind legs, reaching the peak of her intake of oxygen. Then she closed her mouth and stood back on four hooves.

“I just played better, simple as that.” She said quietly. She saw the insulted and shocked look on her friends' faces. A mischievous formed on her face, and expression that rarely showed itself.

“Problem?”