One autumn day Princess Twilight Sparkle heard a knock at her castle door. She opened the door and there stood her friend Matthias of Redwall! Last summer, she and her friends had helped him defend Redwall Abbey from an evil rat named Cluny the Scourge and a snake named Asmodeus.

"Hey, Matthias," said Twilight.

"I came for a visit," said Matthias. "Just like I promised."

They went and sat down in the living room. "So, how are things at Redwall?" Twilight asked.

"Pretty good. We have a new Abbot now, Mordalfus. He took over from Abbot Mortimer."

"Mordalfus," Twilight repeated. "That's a mouthful of a name."

"Mostly we just call him Alf. Oh, did I tell you? They recast the Joseph Bell which was broken into two smaller bells, and they named one of them after you to thank you and your friends for helping us against Cluny. They named the other one after me. The Matthias Bell and the Twilight Sparkle Bell."

"Wow, what an honor," Twilight said.

"What about you?" Matthias asked. "What's been going on with you?"

"We had to deal with a parasprite infestation a few weeks ago, but I got it under control. Other than that, it's been pretty quiet. We haven't had any vermin attacks or anything. But most of my friends have been busy getting ready for the start of buckball season."

"What's buckball?" Matthias asked.

"It's kinda like basketball, but with a levitating basket. There're three players to a team, an earth pony, a unicorn, and a Pegasus. The unicorns move the basket around with their horns while the earth ponies shoot into their own team's goal and the pegasi try to prevent the opposing team from scoring."

Matthias scratched his tail. "It sounds very complicated."

"It's not that complicated when you actually see it," said Twilight. "Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and a unicorn named Snails are the Ponyville team, and Rainbow Dash and Applejack are their coaches. The first game is today. You can come with me to see it if you want."

"Okay," said Matthias.

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That afternoon, they went to the buckball stadium, where they met the Ponyville team at the door. "Hey, look!" Pinkie squealed. "It's Matthias!" She sneezed.

"Bless you," said Matthias.

"This is awesome!" Rainbow Dash crowed. "You came just in time to see us mop the floor with the Manehatten team!"

"Yep, Pinkie Pie an' Fluttershy are gonna beat the hides off 'em," Applejack said. "They've been practicin' all summer."

"Maybe we shouldn't say we're gonna beat the hides off them," said Fluttershy. "That sounds violent."

Pinkie sneezed again.

"You're not coming down with a cold, are you?" Twilight said.

Pinkie laughed. "Don't be silly! I'm not sick! I'm just shivering with excitement!"

"Y'all better git on inside," Applejack told Matthias and Twilight. "Ya don't wanna miss out on gittin' the best seats."

"So y'can see us win!" Pinkie Pie cheered. "Achoo!" She sneezed all over Matthias.

Matthias wiped her snot off his face.

"Come on, Pinkie Pie," Rainbow Dash said. "Say it, don't spray it."

"It's okay," said Matthias. "Come on. Let's go sit down."

They all went into the stadium. The players walked down to the field, while Twilight and Matthias went to sit in the bleachers. They found seats next to an old blue earth pony. "This is Mage Meadowbrook," Twilight said. "She's a healer."

Mage Meadowbrook had an accent just like Applejack's. "Bless mah soul! A Mossflower mouse! Ah ain't seen one o' them in ages!"

"Nice to meet you," Matthias said. "My name's Matthias."

The game started. Matthias discovered that Twilight had been right. It wasn't hard to follow at all. Pinkie Pie scored the first goal of the match, kicking the ball into Snails' basket. Then the earth pony kicker on the other team got possession of the ball and tried to shoot it into her unicorn's basket, but Fluttershy blocked it with one of her patented spinning kicks.

Everything was going well until the earth pony on the other team accidentally bumped into Pinkie just as she was about to score again. Pinkie stumbled and her kick went wild. The ball rolled away from her. The Pegasus on the other team grabbed the ball and passed it to her earth pony teammate, who bucked it into the Manehatten team's basket.

An extraordinary change came over Pinkie Pie. She snorted like a bull about to charge. "FOUL!" she bellowed.

Everypony froze. Nopony had ever heard Pinkie yell so loudly or angrily before.

Pinkie stormed over to the referee, Lucky Clover. "YOU BIG STUPID BABOON, ARE YOU BLIND? SHE FOULED ME!"

Lucky Clover started, as surprised as if one of Pinkie Pie's cupcakes had suddenly leapt up and bit her. "What did you say, Pinkie Pie?"

"SOMETHING WRONG WITH YOUR EARS AS WELL AS YOUR EYES?" screamed Pinkie. "I'VE MET SHEEP MORE INTELLIGENT THAN YOU ARE! I'VE MET JELLYFISH WHO COULD OUTPLAY YOU IN A GAME OF CHESS!"

Rainbow Dash came flying down onto the field. "Pinkie, what the hay's gotten into you? Did you get possessed by Discord?"

"Yeah, you're usually not such a jerk about sports," said Fluttershy.

Pinkie turned her wrath on Fluttershy. "HOW DARE YOU CALL ME A JERK! I COULD TAKE YOU WITH ONE HOOF TIED BEHIND MY BACK, YOU COWARDLY COWERING CUTTLEFISH!"

She jumped on Fluttershy and started pummeling her. Rainbow Dash tried to pull her off. Twilight flew into the arena and cast a spell on Pinkie that temporarily froze her in place, but she still kept screaming insults at everypony. "TURN ME LOOSE, YOU PURPLE POTATO HEAD!"

"I'm sorry, Pinkie," said Twilight.

The referee blew her whistle. "I've never seen such disgraceful behavior! Pinkie Pie, you are ejected from the game. Ponyville forfeits. Manehatten wins!"

Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Fluttershy and Snails all groaned.

Pinkie Pie sneezed her hardest sneeze yet. Then she toppled over to the ground.

"Oh no!" Fluttershy cried. "What's wrong with her?"

Twilight bent down and touched her. "I think she's got a fever."

Mage Meadowbrook and Matthias came down into the field. "Ya better let me take a look at 'er," Meadowbrook said. "Let's bring her back to her house."