KICKOFF

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Mayfield Avenue in West Fillydelphia was unusually quiet in the last thirty minutes before sunset, with only a few ponies walking down the long, smooth concrete road to enter their houses after a long day of work. The houses were lined up next to each other on both sides of the road, and families with a decent income tended to live in the area; demonstrated by the fact that the majority of the houses had at least two storeys. The area was a friendly one, with everypony knowing everypony and street parties being regularly organised throughout the year to celebrate the positive community spirit present in the area. The only ponies outside at this time were two colts, who were using the almost empty road to their advantage to play Equestria’s most popular sport. Within five years of its founding, hoofball was able to surpass buckball in terms of popularity, and the formation of the EHL and it's subsequent teams in the last thirty years confirmed that hoofball would be around in Equestria for a long time.

The colt waiting for the ball was an earth pony of an average height and skinny build, his baby blue fur complementing his short brown mane, and his light orange irises were accentuated by the setting sun, making them appear to be several shades lighter. The second colt was a pale green unicorn that was a few inches taller than his friend. He had long light purple hair, which was the subject of teasing from his friend. His cutie mark, which he had only got a few months ago, depicted a book with a hoofball engraved onto the cover.

“Five more minutes Mom, please! I just wanna do one last play with Thunder and today’s the last day of the summer holidays!”

“Alright then, but you have to come inside after that, it's getting dark and it’s the first day of school tomorrow Atomic Tangerine!”

The baby blue colt smiled gratefully at his mother who was standing at the door, before turning back to Thunderhoof, was standing on the other side of the road, using his magic to hold the hoofball in the air. The two friends had been playing hoofball outside for hours, hoping that with one catch, Atomic would be able to finally get (what he believed would be) his cutie mark in hoofball.

“Thunder, move back! I wanna see if I can catch a really far pass! If I catch it, I have to get my cutie mark!”

Thunderhoof nodded and started moving back, increasing the space between the two colts to almost fifty yards.

“Okay…..stop! Now throw it as fast as you can!”

Thunderhoof pulled the ball back with his magic and threw it high into the air. Atomic leapt from his spot and began charging down the road, looking up every few seconds to keep track of the ball.

Wait for it, wait for it…….NOW!

As the ball came closer to the ground, Atomic Tangerine lept into the air to catch the ball. But he missed the ball and fell to the ground roughly, and he slid across the road, scraping his legs on the bumpy concrete until he came to a sudden stop against somepony’s hooves.

“That was a risky call, Atomic. The ball was going too fast for you to catch, and you jumped too early. You should’ve waited a few more seconds before making your move.”

Atomic Tangerine tried to get up but winced and quickly fell back down as Thunderhoof galloped to his friend, helping him up to face the pony he had crashed into.

“Just tryna get my cutie mark, Dad.”

Syracuse looked at his son quietly for a few moments, making a note of the cuts on his forelegs before his face cracked into a smile.

“At least you gave it a good try. Now come on, it's getting dark and your mother will be worried.”

Syracuse placed an arm around his son’s shoulders to help him walk, and after Atomic said goodbye to Thunderhoof, the two made their way into their house.

Atomic winced with each step that he took, his face contorting. “Mom already knows.. that I was playing.. with Thunderhoof, so it's fine.”

“You know what your mom is like, son, and when she sees those cuts, she’s going to go absolutely ballistic.

“I know. But I had to get some more time in before Mom made me come inside for dinner.”

“Tea Rose, Atomic needs a few plasters for his legs. I’ll go up to say hello to Butterscotch, but I’ll be in the living room afterwards if you need me,” Syracuse called out, guiding his son into the kitchen where his wife was washing the dishes before heading up the stairs to his daughter’s room.

“What do you mean he needs-”

Tea Rose turned around as her son entered the kitchen and dropped the china plate she was washing onto the floor, ignoring the sound of broken china as she gaped at her son.

“Look at the state of your legs! How many times have I told you to be careful outside?!”

Atomic grinned sheepishly. “I’m sorry Mom, honestly, it isn't as bad as it looks.” He tried to take a step forward but he found that he was unable to put any real pressure on his right foreleg, and he winced as he slowly drew his leg back.

“You can't even walk properly! How are you supposed to go to school tomorrow like this?!”

When her son looked at the floor and did not reply, Tea Rose sighed and stepped over the broken china pieces to open the cupboard next to her, taking out a box of plasters.

“Come on, let’s fix you up in the dining room,” Tea Rose led her son into the living room, where Syracuse Orange was sitting on the sofa next to the radio with a notepad, adding to his notes every few seconds.

“Dad, what are you writing-”

Syracuse shushed his son before turning up the volume dial on the radio.

“You’re listening to the Western Fillydelphia news station, it is eight o’clock, and this has only just come in in the last few minutes, but we’re getting reports that the EHL have released the full calendar for next season’s matches. The first match is in two weeks time on the sixteenth of September at noon and it's a marquee matchup between the Fillydelphia Dragons and the two-time reigning champions the Cloudsdale Hawks at the Dragons’ home ground, in what is sure to be a very exciting season opener between the league’s two best teams that will hopefully set the tone for what we hope will be another excellent season of hoofball in Equestria.”

“That’s right, and this match is all the more exciting of course because of Nick Foals and Slate Gray, arguably the two best players at wide receiver and cornerback respectively. These two players are not exactly friendly on or off the pitch, and I expect that Nick Foals will be fired up by the recent comments that Slate Gray has made.”

Syracuse turned the radio off. “Alright, that’s all I needed.” He briefly looked over his notes. “Looks like it going to be a busy day for me tomorrow at the office and if I’m sent to the the Dragons’ game on the sixteenth.”

“Dad, who do you think is gonna win?” Atomic asked as his mother gently sat him down next to his father.

“I’m supposed to be neutral in my job but I think that the Dragons are going to take this one. Nick Foals is going to be too much for the Cloudsdale defence to handle.”

Atomic cheered. “Go Dragons! Nick Foals is totally gonna take them down! Slate Gray gonna wish he never said anything!”

“Atomic, stay still, I need to finish putting these plasters on your legs,” Tea Rose admonished, before slowly placing the last plaster on the remaining uncovered cut.

“Now, if you can, help your dad set the table whilst I clean up the mess in the kitchen and wake up your sister,” Tea Rose ordered as she left the dining room, heading up the stairs to Butterscotch’s room. Syracuse helped his son get up off the sofa, and the two talked as they moved the bowls and cutlery to their right places.

“Looking forward to school tomorrow?”

“Yeah, me and Thunderhoof are gonna trade EHL cards in recess, but there’s no way that I’m gonna give up my limited edition platinum Nick Foals card, he’s my favourite player, not his,” Atomic Tangerine retorted, to which Syracuse chuckled.

“So if I told you that there are rumours that Nick Foals was going to be traded to the Cloudsdale Hawks in a few days, how would you feel about that?”

“What?! If he did that then I would hate him forever! How could he even think of moving to our rival team?! Why would he even want to move to the second best team when he’s already on the best team in the league?!”

Atomic was interrupted mid-rant by the sound of his father snorting, before he quickly descended into full-blown laughter.

“Dad!”

Atomic jokingly pushed his father, and Syracuse responded by grabbing his son’s waist and hoisting him up into the air to shake him, making sure that he avoided touching his son’s cuts, and Atomic squealed, begging his father to put him back down.

“I hope you two have finished setting the table, it sure sounds like it,” Tea Rose called out, and hoofsteps could be heard coming down the stairs.

Syracuse quickly put his son back down, and the two looked at each other momentarily before quickly moving around the table, desperately trying to finish setting the table before they got into trouble.

As Tea Rose entered the dining room with Butterscotch on her back, her husband and son quickly sat down in their seats, with huge smiles on their faces.

“All done!”

“You two actually managed to set the table properly for the first time, I’m impressed!”

Tea Rose walked over to the high seat and gently placed her daughter on the table, before lifting her up into her seat at the end of the table.

“Tomic, tomic!” Butterscotch gargled, reaching out a hoof to her brother, who held it, and Syracuse and Atomic sat down in their seats whilst Tea Rose went to the kitchen to get dinner.

“And how was your day today, Butter?” cooed Atomic, squeezing his younger sister’s cheeks and the two siblings continued to play with each other before their mother came back into the living room.

“Here we go everypony,” announced Tea Rose, wheeling in a large pot of vegetable soup on a trolley. She stopped next to her seat and picked up the ladle next to the pot, serving everypony with their dinner as they thanked her, and the dining table was mostly silent except for the occasional noises from Butterscotch as her mother fed her.

“Dad, can you take me with you to the first Dragons game? I’ve never seen them play before and I really wanna see Nick Foals live, and get his autograph!” asked Atomic, suddenly speaking up as he ate his dinner.

“I don’t think that I’ll be allowed to take me to the game with you, I have to sit with the other reporters and take notes of what happens in the game and who wins,” Syracuse replied.

“Please, Dad, just tell your boss that I have to go for...for research, yeah! Tell him that I have to do a school project on the Dragons and how they play, and if I don't do it, I’m gonna get excluded forever!”

“My editor would never believe that, Atomic. But, if tomorrow my boss tells me that I’m not being sent to the Dragons game to report, then I might be able to get us some tickets if they’re not already sold out and we can sit with the other supporters!”

“Yes! Go Dragons!”

“Please can we talk about something other than hoofball? Every day it's all about who’s being traded where, and if Nick Foals and the Fillydelphia Dragons will win the Sugar Bowl. Come on, there’s more to life than a silly game!”

Both Syracuse and Atomic stopped eating.

“Hoofball isn't just a silly game mom, when I grow up I wanna play for the Dragons just like Nick Foals!”

“And if it wasn't for ‘silly’ hoofball, then I wouldn’t have a job at Fillydelphia Daily,” Syracuse added, looking pointedly at his wife.

“We should be able to have dinner everyday like a normal family without bringing up hoofball. I am pretty sure that you two would not be able to go five minutes without the word hoofball coming up in a conversation,” said Tea Rose, finishing with a smirk.

“That’s easy! Me and Dad can manage that!” Atomic countered, and his father nodded.

“Okay then, how was work today, Syracuse?” asked Tea Rose, struggling to keep the smile off her face.

“Well, uh, I…...arrived at the office at nine thirty, and then I sat at my desk and started writing my column for the hoof-, I mean a sport’s season predictions. Then I had to go a meeting where the editor informed us of any promotions and demotions in our team, and one pony was promoted. I got a hay sandwich during lunch and my colleagues and we discussed who we thought was going win the hoofba- a sport title. Then I-”

“Okay then, Atomic Tangerine, how was your day?”

“Me and Thunderhoof played hoofball outside for ages and- NO!”

Tea Rose burst out laughing as Atomic scowled and crossed his arms, and Butterscotch excitedly clapped her hooves as she giggled with her mom.

“I’m just joking with you two, I know how much you both enjoy hoofball, it would just be nice if we talked about something else as a family.”

Tea Rose got up out of her chair and took both her’s and Butterscotch’s bowls to the kitchen. Syracuse got up as well and ruffled Atomic’s mane before announcing that he was going to be in his study if anypony needed him.

“Hello, Butterscotch, do you want to play with big bro Tomic?”

Butterscotch clapped her hooves as Atomic carefully took her out of her seat and sat her down on the sofa, before pulling her arm forward and placing his hoof on top of her pudgy hoof.

“Round and round the garden, like a teddy bear,” Atomic sang, moving his hoof in circles, before slowly sliding his hoof up Butterscotch’s arm. “One step, two step, tickle you under there!”

Atomic suddenly snuck his hoof into the gap in Butterscotch’s exposed armpit and tickled her mercilessly, causing Butterscotch to wriggle about in her seat, laughing louder than Atomic Tangerine had ever heard her.

“Atomic, play nicely with your sister, she has to go to sleep soon,” called out Tea Rose from the kitchen.

“I am playing nicely with her!”

Atomic stopped tickling his sister and lay down on the sofa, and Butterscotch copied him, falling backwards next to him.

“It must be so boring to sleep all the time, like, when would you ever get time to play hoofball and talk to your friends and trade hoofball cards? Am I right Butter?”

Butterscotch lightly tapped his nose and smiled.

“Right, you can’t talk yet.”

Tea Rose entered the living room a few minutes later, and told Atomic to take his bowl to the kitchen and wash it whilst she was putting Butterscotch to sleep. As soon as he had placed the dry bowl in the cupboard, Atomic rushed out of the kitchen to the living room so that he could listen to the sports news on the radio.

“I don't know why you’re going back to the living room mister, you’re going to bed as well, you have school tomorrow,” Tea Rose said sternly.

Atomic deliberately slowed down and “But Mom, my legs really hurt, I don't know if I can walk,” pleaded Atomic, walking slowly towards his mother.

“Atomic Tangerine, you are going to bed right now, and I do not care about whatever excuse you have. You are going to school tomorrow whether you like it or not,” Tea Rose said sternly.

“Ugh, fine!”

Atomic Tangerine pushed past his mother and stomped up the stairs to the bathroom, closing the door behind him and rinsing his mouth, ignoring his toothbrush that was in the sink. He left the bathroom as quickly as he had entered it, and was about to go to his room when he stopped.

I should say sorry to Mom.

Atomic Tangerine quickly went down the stairs and entered the living room, where his mom was listening to the news on the radio.

“I’m sorry Mom. I shouldn’t have yelled at you like that.”

Tea Rose smiled at her son before patting the space next to her, and Atomic Tangerine walked over to the sofa and sat down next to his mother.

Tea Rose gently stroked her son’s mane. “Looking forward to school tomorrow?”

“Sort of. Apart from trading hoofball cards with Thunderhoof, school’s pretty boring.”

“You know, it wouldn’t do you any harm if you made a few more friends at school Atomic. Are there any other ponies in your classes that you have a few things in common with?”

“Not really. There’s a few colts in the grade above us that we sit with at lunch and play hoofball with every day.”

“The grade above? So they failed their end-of-year exams,” said Tea Rose disapprovingly.

“We'll, yeah but they’re still pretty cool, and it’s not like I’m going to fail my exams.”

“Okay then, how about some colts that are your age? Anypony in your class?”

“Yeah, there’s another colt called Pablo who likes hoofball as well.”

“Why don't you be friends with him as well?”

“Cause he supports the Cloudsdale Hawks even though we live in Fillydelphia! I can't be friends with somepony who supports that team. Anyways, I don't like him, he’s so annoying and he thinks that he’s better than me at hoofball,” retorted Atomic.

“Alright then, go to bed now Atomic. You don’t want to be yawning in your lessons tomorrow.”

Atomic quickly hugged his mother and left the living room, with Tea Rose looking on quietly.

“Bye Mom! Bye Butter!”

“Have a great day at school Atomic!”

Atomic closed his front door and stepped out onto the pavement and walked to Thunderhoof’s house, which was only a few doors down from his house. Atomic walked up to the door and knocked loudly three times, before it was opened.

“There you are Thunder! Come on we’re gonna be late!”

Thunderhoof yelled goodbye to his parents and closed his door behind him, and the two friends set off for their first day back at school after the summer holidays.

“How are your legs? Are they better now?”

“Yeah, they’re better. Did you bring all of your cards?” asked Atomic.

“Yep, did you?”

Atomic Tangerine nodded, and the conversation fell silent before Atomic spoke up again.

“There's no way I’m giving up my platinum Nick Foals card though, you know that right?”

“Of course I do, and there’s no way I’m trading my elite La Salle card to you,” replied Thunderhoof, holding his satchel a little tighter.

“I know. I wonder if there’s gonna be any new ponies in our class this year,” Atomic pondered.

“Maybe, but I hope that they support the Dragons like us, or we won't have anything to do with them.”

Atomic and Thunderhoof reached the end of their road and turned right, walking straight through the empty alleyway until they reached the busy high street. Ponies of all ages were walking as quickly as they could on both sides of the road to get to either work or school. There were a few stalls that took up some space on the street that Atomic and Thunderhoof were walking on, and as they approached the last one, the warm, oily aroma of grilled vegetables hung in the air, tempting many ponies to give in to their hunger. Within a few minutes, there was a steadily growing line in front of the stall.

Atomic joined the back of the queue. “I’m gonna quickly get something from this stall, Thunder.”

“Atomic we’re gonna be late, this line is too long, and you always get something here every morning,” Thunderhoof argued.

“We have Miss Bellflower for homeroom remember? She’s not gonna mind if we end up being a few minutes late, and we won’t be late anyway. Look.” Atomic gestured to the shortening queue.

Thunderhoof opened his mouth to continue arguing, before he was suddenly pushed aside by ponies that were still walking.

“Watch where you’re standing, kid! We’ve got places to get to!” called out a stallion that had pushed past Thunderhoof.

Thunderhoof turned to glare at the stallion as he walked away, before sighing and standing next to his friend in the queue.

“Are you gonna get something Thunder?”

“Umm...maybe, but I’ve never had this before,” Thunderhoof admitted.

“You, my friend, have been missing out. Just get the same thing as me. You’ll like it, trust me.”
Atomic stepped aside to let the pony at the front of the queue walk past him.

“My favourite customer! What can I get you today Atomic?”

“Can I get the usual today?”

“And can I get the same please?” Thunderhoof asked, suddenly speaking up.

“Of course you can, I love meeting new customers everyday. Two grilled vegetable wraps coming right up.”

The stallpony disappeared underneath the table to get two flatbreads. He then opened the grill on the table behind him and he used a spatula to take out a spoonful of grilled vegetables for each flatbread. Once had wrapped them up, he handed over the wraps to Atomic and Thunderhoof, who each paid the stallpony.

“Come on, we can't be late on our first day back,” Thunderhoof mumbled, walking as quickly as he could whilst taking bites from his wrap. “This is so good!”

“I told you it's good. Look, we’re nearly here,” announced Atomic when he finally saw the large black gate of Sycamore Oak Elementary School, discarding the last bits of his wrap onto the floor.

The bell rang loudly four times and the large black gates began to close, signalling that school had begun. The second bell that was due to ring in two minutes was for latecomers and they were punished with a break time detention.

“Come on, we can’t be late on our first day!” Thunderhoof cried.

The two colts galloped as quickly as they could to the gates, and they both managed to sneak through before they slammed shut. Atomic and Thunderhoof came to a sudden stop to catch their breath.

“What are you two doing standing there?! Get to homeroom now before the second bell goes!” yelled a teacher as he came out of the main building.

“Yes sir!”

The two colts looked at each other before galloping through the entrance of the main building, stopping in front of their classroom, which was closest to the entrance. Atomic stepped forward and raised his hoof to push open the door when he was stopped by Thunderhoof.

“Look!”

Atomic Tangerine peered through the window next to the door and saw a class filled with fillies and colts much younger than themselves.

“Where is our homeroom class?!”

“We must have changed classrooms. Come on, there’s probably a sheet stuck on the walls somewhere that will tell us where we are this year. Look, it's over there!”

Atomic followed Thunderhoof to the yellow sheet of paper on the wall a few classrooms, and the two colts quickly scanned through it.

“Miss Bellflower’s class, room 7!” said Atomic, pointing to the yellow sheet.

“But isn't that Ms Ivory’s ro-”

Atomic pulled his friend forward and he pushed the door forward and burst into the classroom.

“Atomic wait-” cried Thunderhoof, desperately trying to pull his friend back but tripped over his own legs.

The two colts tumbled through the door and fell in front of the blackboard in the classroom, and both winced loudly as they tried to untangle themselves from each other.

The ponies in the class erupted in a fit of laughter, with some even falling out of their chairs in hysterics.

“SILENCE!”

The ponies quickly fell silent and returned to their seats.

“Who is-”

Atomic pushed himself off the floor and turned to look into his teacher.

“Ms Ivory,” he whispered fearfully.

Ms Ivory was a tall dark blue pegasus mare who had been teaching maths at the school for over ten years. In that time, she had managed to carve out a reputation as a terrifying teacher that nopony unfortunate enough to be in her class dared to defy. Countless stories of her unpredictable behaviour had been passed down through the years, and all students at Sycamore Oak dreaded having her as a teacher for either homeroom or maths.

“Yes.”

Ms Ivory turned around to pick up a piece of paper lying on her desk.

“Name?”

“Uhh...At-At-Atomic Tangerine, miss.”

Ms Ivory raised an eyebrow. “Are you sure?”

“Ye-yes, miss.”

“Take your timetable and sit at the back next to the windows, by yourself.”

Atomic nodded and slowly walked to the desk at the back of the classroom.

“Name?”

Thunderhoof managed to compose himself. “Thunderhoof, miss.”

“Sit at the back, at the desk on the left hand side. And take your timetable as well.”

Thunderhoof nodded and walked to the desk that was next to Atomic, relieved that he was sitting next to his best friend, before placing his satchel on the floor and pulling back the chair.

“Not that desk! Do you know the difference between your left and right?Did your parents ever teach you?”

“Ye-yes Miss, they did teach me,” Thunderhoof whispered, shrinking under the gaze of everypony.

“Then where did I ask you to sit?”

“At the...desk over there.”

Thunderhoof picked up his satchel and tucked the chair in, making his way to the desk that Miss Ivory was pointing at.

“The two latecomers will be coming back here at the end of the day for a detention. You are both already off to a bad start in this academic year. Don’t be late again,” Miss Ivory began to walk around the classroom.

“You all are in your final year at this school before you move on to high school. I am sure that I do not need to tell you how important this year is, and you all will need to focus, making sure that you come to school everyday on time,” Miss Ivory paused to look at Atomic and Thunderhoof, who hung their heads low, “to work hard in every single one of your lessons so that at the end of this year, you are in the best possible position to be successful in the future. What I don’t want to see from any of you is failure in your end of year exams, since that will result in you repeating this year. Do not let yourself get into that position.”

A filly slowly raised her hoof as Miss Ivory continued talking to the class.

“What is it?”

“Miss, if I want to become a businesspony in the future, what grade do I have to get to go to?”

“First of all, do you have your cutie mark?”

“No, miss.”

“That isn't very good for a filly your age, but are you good at mental maths? If you want to own a business in the future, you are going to have to be able to calculate the change you need to give, how much you have to pay your employees, how much tax you have to pay.”

“Um, I’m not that good at math in general,” replied the filly, her voice notably quieter.

“Then how in Equestria are you going to cope with owning a business?”

The filly fell silent.

“Let’s look at your average for maths last year, Miss…”

“Lily,” she whispered.

“Miss Lily.”

Ms Ivory sorted through the papers on her desk before finding what she was looking for.

“Miss Lily, last year you averaged…. 55% for English, 49% for History, 42% for Prench, 40% for Science, your averages are not very good at all but where is maths…...ah! 29% overall for maths last year! You were indeed right when you said Maths is your weakest subject. Judging by your score, I’m not sure if you’ll even be able to cope with this year’s syllabus let alone pass this year if your average is already this low. Come and see me during lunch and we’ll discuss how to improve your marks, and I am also going to have to consult your parents about this.”

Lily weakly nodded and looked down at her desk, trying her best to hold her tears back.

“Right, now we have that out of the way, I’m going to give you these before the bell goes.”

Miss Ivory picked a pile of books that were on her desk, and she walked around the class, handing a book to each pupil.

“These are your progress diaries. You are to write your name and my name, which I will not spell out on the board, on the front of the book. Once you have done that, turn to the first page.”

The ponies wrote their names and Miss Ivory’s name on the front of their books before turning to the first page as instructed by their teacher.

“On the first page, write down on at the top what you want to be when you’re older; what you aspire to be, but make sure that it is something that you are already working towards and are able to achieve. For example, if you want to become a librarian but you’ve read less than ten books in your lifetime, then you urgently need to have another think about what you want to do. You must especially take your cutie marks into account as well, as they will give you the best indication of what you should write down and what job you are best suited for.”

Atomic finished writing at the top of the first page and he put his quill down, and a few moments later, most of the ponies in the class had also finished writing.

“Mr Tangerine, come up to the front and tell the class what you have written down.”

Atomic nodded and pushed his chair back, picked up his book and walked to the front of the class to stand up in the blackboard. He opened his book to the first page and read out what he had written.

“When I grow up, I want to play hoofball for the Fillydelphia Dragons and win the Sugar Bowl.”

“Hoofball?” said Miss Ivory, making her disapproval obvious.

“Yeah, hoofball.”

“Why are you copying me, that’s what I wrote!”

Ms Ivory whipped her head round when she heard a colt’s voice.

“Who was that?!”

The class remained silent, and every pony was avoiding Miss Ivory’s terrifying glare.

“If the culprit does not own up in the next five seconds, then this entire class will be coming back after school for an hour everyday for the rest of the semester. For the last time, who was that?”

“I said it Miss.”

Everypony turned around to look at the colt that had put his hoof up.

“Come here, now.”

The colt had light green fur and light green hair brushed up into a mohawk. His cutie mark, partly covered by his wings, was a hoofball illuminated by three spotlights above it. He picked up his progress diary and walked to the front of the class confidently to the shock of everypony else.

“What is your name?”

“Pablo, Miss. Pablo Scar.”

“Did I give you permission to speak?”

“N-no, Miss,” replied Pablo, cracks in his confident facade beginning to appear.

“Why have you written down hoofball?”

“Because I want to play for the Cloudsdale Hawks when I’m older.”

“You’re not going to make it.”

“W-why?!”

“Your blatant lack of disrespect when I was talking to Master Tangerine is why. Is that what you’re going to do with a coach; cut them off constantly and not let them get a word in? What coach in their right mind would want to pick a player as disrespectful as you to be on their team? The fact that you’re also concerned about somepony copying you also show that you are not as passionate about becoming a hoofball player. You are to change what you have written Master Scar, and you will coming back here everyday after school for the rest of the week.”

“How long do I have to stay for then?”

Ms Ivory got up from her seat. “Excuse me?”

“How long will the detention be, for after school?” whispered Pablo Scar, regretting that he had asked the question.

“TO THE HEADMASTER’S OFFICE. NOW! AND IF YOU EVER DISRESPECT ME LIKE THAT AGAIN, YOU’LL BE HELPING THE CLEANERS EVERYDAY AFTER SCHOOL FOR THE REST OF THE YEAR!”

Pablo Scar slowly walked out of the classroom and closed the door behind him. Miss Ivory then turned her attention back to Atomic.

“What team are you playing for currently?”

“Team?”

“If you want to play hoofball professionally, you should already be in a team so that you get enough experience for the future. How will you even be good enough to be selected by a college, let alone an EHL team if you haven't already been playing hoofball competitively? Colts your age have probably been in a team for years and are already in a better position than you are. What do you say to that?”

Ms Ivory looked pointedly at Atomic, waiting for a reply.

“I’m….not sure Miss.”

Atomic slowly closed his book and stared at the carpet.

“You’re not sure,” repeated Miss Ivory, and she opened her mouth to ask Atomic another question when she was interrupted by the bell.

The ponies immediately began packing up their belongings and tucking their chairs in, eager to leave Ms Ivory’s room.

“HAVE I DISMISSED YOU?! SIT. BACK. DOWN. NOW!”

The fillies and colts fearfully sat back down in their seats, and Ms Ivory looked at them before sitting down and turning her attention back to Atomic.

“You don't have your cutie mark either, do you?”

“No, Miss.”

“Master Tangerine, it is clear that you are going to need to have another think about your ambitions. If you are not taking the steps needed to become a hoofball player now, then it is very unlikely that you will ever be good enough to make it, however passionate you may be. Class, you are dismissed. Atomic Tangerine and Thunderhoof, do not forget to come here after school for your detention. Somepony needs to remind Pablo Scar that he is to also come back here after school as well. Miss Lily, you are to see me in here at lunchtime. Dismissed.”

The fillies and colts quickly left the classroom and Atomic slowly made his way back to his desk, hanging his head low. Thunderhoof quickly walked over to his friend, and the two left the classroom together to go to their first lesson.

“Don't listen to her Atomic, you’re the best hoofball player I know, and you will play for the Dragons when you’re older, I know you will. Miss Ivory doesn’t know what she’s talking about,” reassured Thunderhoof, putting an arm around his friend as the two went up the stairs.

“Yeah, she’s just stupid,” retorted Atomic, but there was still a hint of sadness in his voice.

“Anyway, we have Miss Bellflower for English now, and I’ll have to check, but I think we have PE after lunch, and you know that’s it gonna be fun,” said Thunderhoof, playfully punching his friend’s shoulder.

“Yeah, it will be,” replied Atomic, starting to cheer up.

Atomic Tangerine and Thunderhoof arrived at the top of the stairs and turned left, following the other ponies that were in their year to their English class.

“You’re not dumb Lily, and you will become a businesspony, okay?”

“But Ms Ivory’s right, I’m rubbish at maths and I need to be really good at it if I want to become a businesspony. I’m just angry that she said my scores out loud and pretty much called me dumb in front of everypony like that,” sniffled Lily, rubbing her eyes.

Atomic and Thunderhoof joined the back of the line outside the classroom and watched Lily’s friends try their best to console her.

“At least we have Miss Bellflower now, she’s the complete opposite of Ms Ivory,” said Lily, taking a deep breath and smiling.

The classroom door opened and Miss Bellflower greeted her students.

“Good morning my little ponies. Why don't you come on in and I’ll introduce you to what we’re covering this year.”

The fillies and colts eagerly entered Miss Lily’s classroom and looked at the seating plan on the blackboard to find their name before sitting at their seats.

“Now, how were your summer holidays?” asked Miss Bellflower, closing the door and walking to the front of the class.

The ponies began eagerly putting their hooves up shouting over one another.

“Okay, settle down now. I’m going to choose….Lily! How were your summer holidays?”

“It was really good! Our whole family went to the Crystal Empire to stay with our aunt, uncle and cousins and I had so much fun with them! It's really pretty in the Crystal Empire and we even got to see Princess Cadence during a big parade! She was so nice and she even signed my sister’s scrapbook! Isn't that so cool?!”

The fillies and colts looked at Lily in shock as she finished her recount of her summer holidays.

“You’re so lucky, you actually got to see Princess Cadance!”

“Okay then, if we have time at the end of the lesson, then I’ll ask a few of you to tell us about your summer holidays. Now then, open up your exercise books to make some notes and I am going to give each of you a copy of one of my favourite books; The Isle of the Lost.

The rest of the morning’s lessons flew by and Atomic quickly became familiar with the structure of the school day once again and before he knew it, the bell rang, signalling lunchtime.

“Come on Thunder, you know the line’s gonna get really long if we don’t go now, just finish it at home,” pleaded Atomic, impatiently standing in the doorway of Thunderhoof’s Prench classroom as Thunder continued copying off the blackboard.

“Okay, I’ve finished now, let’s go,” said Thunderhoof, putting his book into his satchel and quickly leaving the classroom.

The two colts ran down the corridor and went down the stairs three steps a time.

“Slow down! She’s over there!” exclaimed Thunderhoof as they reached the bottom of the stairs, pointing at Miss Ivory, who was currently locking her door.

Atomic slowed down and the two friends walked quickly past Miss Ivory, keeping their heads low.

“Okay… she can't see us anymore! Let’s go!”

Atomic and Thunderhoof began galloping again and to their relief, found that the queue outside the cafeteria door was short. They joined the back of the queue and a few moments later, they entered the cafeteria.

“After we eat, we’ll go outside and trade,” said Atomic as he got to the front of the queue and got his lunch.

Once Thunderhoof had got his lunch, he followed Atomic to their unofficial seats in the cafeteria, which was on the table that was closest to the exit.

“What’s up kids?” called out one of the four colts on the table, to which Atomic and Thunderhoof smiled. Diamond Ace, Jackpot, Maverick and Moon Dust were all a year older than the ponies in the sixth grade. However, all of them had failed their end-of-year exams, so they were being held back for another year in exclusive classes to help them pass. Jackpot had a large pot of gold as a cutie mark, Moondust’s cutie mark was the moon with a layer of grey dust underneath it, Maverick had a large, multicoloured parrot cutie mark and Spade Ace’s cutie mark depicted the ace of spades card.

“Nothing much, what about you?” asked Thunderhoof as he sat down.

Maverick grinned. “We’re good. You kids ready to get pounded outside?”

“We’re actually gonna trade cards after we eat, so we can't play today. Sorry,” said Atomic with his mouth full.

“I was looking forward to an easy match today, but oh well, have fun.”

“Did you guys get a new homeroom teacher?”

“Yeah, we got Ms Ivory,” answered Atomic.

The four colts winced.

“That’s harsh. I remember when I had her last year, she told me that I would be lucky to get a job,” Maverick reminisced.

The colts finished their food and said goodbye to Atomic and Thunderhoof as they left the cafeteria.

“I swear, the food here gets better and better every year,” said Thunderhoof, taking the last bite from his food.

“Meh, it's alright.”

The colts gave their plates to a lunch supervisor that was nearby and left the cafeteria to go onto the field. The field was behind a large playground that was often filled with students in the first ten minutes of lunchtime.

Atomic scanned the field. “Right, where should we sit?”

“There!”

Thunderhoof pointed to a shaded spot underneath a tree at the back of the field.

“Last one there’s a big crybaby!”

“Hey!”

Thunderhoof lowered his head and soon caught up to Atomic as they raced across the field.

“How..did..you..catch up? Are you...using magic?”

“Nope. This….is all natural,” grinned Thunderhoof, before overtaking Atomic.

Atomic growled and pushed harder, willing himself to win the race. His legs became a blur as his muscles worked harder and faster. Atomic ignored the sweat trickling down his face and continued, his only focus on reaching the tree first ahead of Thunderhoof.

Thunderhoof had begun to slow down, confident that he had won the race when suddenly, he felt a rush of wind. He turned around and was stunned to see Atomic zoom past him and reach the spot first.

“Ha! Never count me out of a race, Thunder. Never,” Atomic panted, collapsing onto the grass.

Thunderhoof smiled and sat down opposite his friend. He opened the smallest pocket in his satchel and carefully took out a large pile of cards.

“I can see loads of elites in there! Where did you get all of them from?”

“My cousin in Detrot had loads of them, he let me take whichever ones I wanted when we went to him in the summer.”

“Alright then.”

Atomic sat up and opened his satchel to take out his cards, laying them out onto the grass. He looked Thunderhoof in the eyes and cleared his throat loudly before speaking in a deep voice.

“We are gathered here today to witness the seventh EHL trading event between Master Atomic Tangerine and Master Thunderhoof. Both participants must now decide the five cards that they are going to protect.”

Thunderhoof struggled to keep a straight face as he sorted through his cards and placed five of them behind him.

“Are both participants are ready? Then let the trading begi-”

“Look at what these babies are doing.”

Atomic and Thunderhoof turned to see Pablo, with his friends Blaze and Mustang, glaring at them.

“Look at them swap their little baby cards, aren’t they pathetic?”

Blaze and Mustang sniggered as he sneered at Atomic and Thunderhoof.

Atomic slowly got up off the grass and stood in front of Pablo.

“Just cause you got sent out for writing hoofball doesn't mean that you can come here now and cause trouble. Just buck off, Pablo,” countered Atomic.

“I don't know why you’re even trading cards, it's not like you’re ever gonna be a hoofball player.”

“What?!”

Thunderhoof got up from the grass and gave Pablo a hard shove, and he fell to the floor.

“Don’t talk to him like that!”

Pablo was helped up by his friends as Atomic pulled Thunderhoof back.

“I can defend myself. Stop butting in every single time,” Atomic whispered furiously.

“Even I play for a hoofball team, and besides, it's not like you would ever make it onto a team, I’m ten times better than you at hoofball and you know it. All you care about is copying Nick Foals every PE lesson, and it's so embarrassing to watch. You don't even have your cutie mark yet, so you can forget about becoming a hoofball player. Lie to yourself all you want, but you’ll never be like Nick Foals. Just give up.”

Atomic staggered back, trying his best to hide that he was hurt by Pablo’s words. Pablo chuckled as he walked away, and his friends laughed as well before following him.

“Atomic, are you okay? Just ignore him, he’s always-”

“I’m fine.”

“Are you su-”

“I said I’m fine! Why do you have to act like my mom, always asking if I’m okay. Just leave me alone!”

Atomic put his cards away and got up, taking his satchel and barging past the ponies on the field, before storming into the building.

“Students are not allowed to- hey, I’m talking to you!”

Atomic ignored the elderly teacher on duty inside and went into the colts’ toilets, slamming the cubicle door behind him.

He’s always on my case, always speaking up for me. Why can’t everypony just leave me alone?!?!

Atomic punched the cubicle door and sat on the toilet, holding his head in his hooves.

Why does today have to be such a rubbish day? Everywhere I go, there are idiots telling me what to do with my life. Why can't nopony accept that I want to play hoofball and there’s nothing they can do about it!

The bell rang for the end of lunch, and Atomic got up from the toilet, surprised that he had been in there for so long. He looked in his satchel for his timetable and took it out, and his mood was deflated even further when he realised that he had Maths with Miss Ivory and not PE.

“You are to complete page seven, eight and nine of your textbooks for tomorrow’s lesson. I do not need to tell you what will happen if you do not complete your homework. Dismissed.”

As their classmates packed up their belongings and left the classroom, Atomic stayed in his seat and decided to get started on his maths homework, ignoring Thunderhoof who was trying to get his attention from the other side of the classroom.

“Thunderhoof, do you want me to double your detention? Then be quiet and get out some work to do now,” called out Miss Ivory, who was coming back into the class.

Pablo suddenly burst through the door, gasping for air.

“Ms Ivory, I’m not late, my maths teacher made everypony stay behind to give out our homework.”

“Sit a the back by yourself and get on with some work, and I don’t want to hear anything from you.”

Pablo nodded and sat at the back in his homeroom seat.

Nearly forty-five minutes later, Atomic finished the last question from page nine of the textbook, amd he put his books away in his satchel.

“Atomic Tangerine and Thunderhoof, you are free to go home. Do not be late again.”

“Yes miss,” Atomic and Thunder hot up at the same time and as he reached the door, Atomic barged past Thunderhoof and quickly made his way across the corridor, eager to get as far away from Thunderhoof as possible.

“Are you really gonna ignore me Atomic?”

Atomic stopped in his tracks and turned around.

“Pablo’s an idiot, but just because you’re angry with him doesn't mean that you can just turn on me for no reason,” said Thunderhoof, walking towards Atomic.

“I’m not a baby. I don't want you protecting me all the time; I can speak for myself you know, and it looks stupid if you're speaking for me every time something happens. Just, leave me alone.”

Atomic turned around and walked away, leaving Thunderhoof.

“Atomic, is that you? How was school?”

Atomic ignored his mother and slammed the front door behind him, quickly going up the stairs and closing his bedroom door behind him.

“Syracuse, can you go and see what’s wrong with him please?” asked Tea Rose as she fed Butterscotch.

Syracuse nodded and got up from the sofa, leaving the living room and going up the stairs to his son’s room.

“Atomic? Open this door, please. I just want to talk.”

Syracuse did not have to wait long before the door was opened, and Atomic stepped aside to let his father in.

“How was school today?”

“Rubbish.”

“Why, what happened? Come on, you can tell me.”

“My homeroom teacher told me that I will never become a hoofball player in front of my whole class and me and Thunderhoof aren't talking. Can I stay at home with Mom and Butter tomorrow? I don't wanna go to school and see him.”

“Atomic, all friends fall out sometimes, it's a part of life. And as for your teacher, I need to have a word with her if that's what she said to you today; she doesn't have the right to say that to you in front of everypony.”

Atomic nodded and fell back onto his bed, placing his hooves behind his hooves.

“Why did your teacher say that you’ll never become a hoofball player?”

“She said that I wasn't already in a team; so all the other colts are already more prepared for the EHL than me, and that no team would pick me. She even said that because I did not already have my cutie mark, then it would be even less likely that I would ever make it.”

“I think there are a few teams nearby; I’ll start looking and we’ll get you signed up hopefully before the end of this week. I can see why your teacher would say that though; maybe she’s just trying to warn you off hoofball so that you don’t become disappointed.”

“I will become a hoofball player, I will! Dad, you’re the third pony that’s told me this today, what’s wrong with everypony?” cried Atomic, pushing his father’s hoof and turning away from him.

Syracuse raised a hoof and gently turned his son’s head.

“I never said you won't Atomic, but if hoofball is what you really want to do, then you are going to have to make it your life if you get a hoofball cutie mark; you have to go to training after school everyday, you’ll have to start going to the gym when you’re a bit older, just to make sure that you are good enough to be drafted by a EHL team, let alone the Dragons. And of course, you still have to keep up with your studies and maybe get a job as well, so if the worst case scenario happens, you still have something to fall back on.

“I can do that Dad; hoofball is all I’ve ever wanted to do, and I’ll do anything to play for the Dragons.

“That’s good. If you are willing to put the work in, then I don’t see any problem with you becoming a hoofball player and you have my support. Speaking of hoofball…..”

Syracuse slowly pulled out two strips of paper behind him, and he held them up in front of Atomic’s face with a large grin.

“It was a good idea that I was able to get the last two tickets today then.”

“Tickets to what?” asked Atomic, before quickly reading what was written on the tickets in bold, his eyes widening.

“You got tickets to the Dragons game?! Are these real, please Dad, tell me they’re real,” whispered Atomic.

When Syracuse nodded, Atomic leapt forward and hugged his father tightly.

“Thank you so much Dad! I’m actually gonna see Nick Foals and the Dragons for real! Like, they’re gonna be so close to me! I can watch the Cloudsdale Eagles get destroyed by the Dragons! It's gonna be so much fun!”

Syracuse smiled as he watched his son punch the air, taking the tickets from Atomic’s bed and quietly leaving the room.

Atomic got up from his bed and quickly went to his calendar that was hanging on the wall at the other side of his room, picking up the marker with his mouth and circling the date of the match in two and a half weeks.

Seeing the Dragons is gonna be so awesome!

And Dad just gave me permission to become a hoofball player!

“Atomic, come down here! You haven’t said hello to us yet!”

Atomic put his marker on his bed and left his room, rushing down the stairs and into the living room, where his mother, father and sister were waiting for him.

THE FIRST DOWN

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“Atomic, get up! You’re going to be late for school!”

Atomic groaned when he heard his mother’s voice, and he threw the duvet onto the floor in frustration.

“Atomic. Up, now!”

“Yes Mom, I’m up!”

Atomic rubbed his eyes and yawned as he got out of bed, slowly making his way out of his bedroom. He walked across the hallway and into the bathroom and closed the door behind him, before taking out his toothbrush from the cup that was next to the mirror above the sink.

“Atomic, you’re going to be late, hurry up!”

Ten minutes later, a yawning Atomic sat down at the breakfast table with his satchel, his breakfast already waiting for him on the table.

“Mom, you know I don't like porridge! It tastes so crap!” Atomic cried, looking down disgustedly at the bowl of steaming hot porridge in front of him.

“If you had woken up earlier, then there would’ve been time for me to make something else. Stop complaining and eat.”

Atomic groaned and slowly ate his breakfast, before lifting his head when he heard somepony enter the living room.

“Hey Atomic, how come you’re still here?”

“I was gonna ask you the same thing Dad.”

“Luckily for me, I have a late start today. Apparently all of the typewriters are down so they’re gonna try and fix them now.” Syracuse walked over to the radio to turn it on.

“Let’s see what’s the latest hoofball news is today.”

“And we’re about to go live to the Nick Foals interview.”

Both Syracuse and Atomic sat up straight.

“Nick, how do you rate your team’s chances against the Eagles?”

“It’s definitely gonna be a good matchup, the Eagles are a very strong team, but uh, I’m confident that we’re gonna take this game.”

“What are your aims for this season?”

“It's the same as every season really, get as deep in the playoffs as we can and hopefully make the Finals and win the title.”

“And are you looking to redeem yourself after how last season ended for you?”

“Yeah, definitely. But it isn’t my primary focus, I just want to make sure that the team can count on me to come through when needed.”

As Syracuse turned off the radio, Atomic finished his breakfast and stood up.

“The Dragons better win, otherwise it’ll be a waste of our time.”

“Even if they lose, it’ll still be a good day out Atomic, so keep your hopes up,” said Syracuse, before walking over to give his son a hug.

“Have a good day at school, son. If there are any more problems, you know who to come to.”

“I know. Tell Mom and Butter I said bye.”

Atomic returned his father’s embrace, before picking up his satchel and leaving the house.

“Atomic, wait up!”

Thunderhoof galloped behind Atomic and stopped, panting for breath.

“I..know….you don't wanna, talk to me, but, I’m sorry for what I did yesterday. That’s all I wanted to say.”

Atomic watched Thunderhoof walk past him, toying with whether he should forgive him or not.

It's not fair for me to treat him like this, and I need somepony to talk to.

“Thunder, wait!”

Atomic quickened his pace and caught up to his friend.

“You’re not gonna go to school without me are you?”

“Come on Thunder, let’s get to PE quickly, I don't wanna be late.”

As the bell continued to ring, Atomic quickly threw away the rest of his food into the bin behind him and he followed Thunder through the canteen exit and out onto the field.

“Do we line up here or…”

“Over there!” Atomic pointed at a few ponies from his homeroom class that were walking into the field and lining up.

The two friends sprinted across the field, barging past ponies that were coming back into the building.

“Watch it you idiots!”

Nearly ninety seconds later, the colts reached the rest of their class, and they quickly joined the back of the queue as their teacher came out, desperately trying to catch their breath.

“Hello everypony! Did you all have a good summer?”

The fillies and colts eagerly replied, and Mr Cobalt smiled, before his face narrowed into a frown.

“Good, because this year, I am going to make you work harder than ever, and there will be no slacking from any of you, you got that? That includes you fillies, if I hear any complaints from your teacher, there will be severe consequences, alright?”

“Yes, sir,” replied the class.

“Okay, let me do the register,” Mr Cobalt paused to pick up the clipboard and pen.

“Atomic.”

“Here, sir.”

Everypony turned around to look at Atomic, shocked at where he was standing, before they burst into laughter, Pablo laughing the loudest.

“I’m sorry Atomic and Thunderhoof, but you can’t join the fillies today, however much you prefer ballet over hoofball.”

Thunderhoof and Atomic realised that they were standing in the wrong queue‍, and they quickly joined the back of the colts’ queue as the others laughed, their cheeks burning bright red.

Once Mr Cobalt had finished taking the register, he led the colts through the gate at the end of the field and into their changing room.

“Girls, your teacher is waiting for you inside, she’s just getting the studio ready for you,” Mr Cobalt pointed inside the other changing room as the fillies entered.

Atomic and Thunderhoof made their way through the other colts to get to their spaces at the back of the changing room.

“If any of you forgot your kits, now is the time to tell me,” Mr Cobalt called out as he entered the small room next to the changing room entrance.

Three minutes after he had entered, Atomic had finished putting his kit on, and he sat down on the bench as he waited for his friend to finish.

“Are you sure you wanna be here with us and not dancing with the fillies?”

Atomic sighed and turned to face Pablo, who as usual had Blaze and Mustang with him. Thunderhoof opened his mouth to speak but remembered what had happened yesterday, and he kept quiet.

“Nope, I’m perfectly fine here Pablo. If I were you I wouldn’t be looking forward to losing today, so why don’t you and your friends get back to getting changed or I’ll make your defeat ten times worse.”

“Aw, look guys, baby Atomic is actually speaking up for once. What happened, did mummy Thunderhoof teach you how to speak?” sneered Pablo, and Blaze and Mustang started laughing.

“Coming from the guy who’s always got two other ponies with him. Are you scared of me Pablo, is that why you always have to have backup every time you try and talk to me?” smirked Atomic, stepping forward to stand face to face with Pablo.

Thunderhoof laughed and Atomic smirked as Pablo growled and walked away, the other colts quickly following after him.

“That was so funny, did you see his face when you said that?” giggled Thunderhoof.

“Yeah, he had it coming.”

“I’m done now, let’s go.”

Atomic and Thunderhoof walked out of the changing room.

“Ladies, stop right there.”

The two colts turned around and saw Mr Cobalt carrying two buckets; one filled with hoofballs and the other filled with bibs.

“Take these two with you and put them next to the goalposts.”

“Yes, sir,” Atomic and Thunderhoof replied, before taking a bucket each.

“Do you want me to take that for you Atomic?” asked Thunderhoof, noticing that his friend was struggling.”

“I’ll be fine,” grunted Atomic as he put the bucket down, before picking it up again and following his friend.

“For those of you who don’t know by now, this semester we will be doing the hoofball unit. By the end of this semester, you will all be able to catch and throw a hoofball at a distance of least ten metres, you will all improve your 40 yard dash times, and you will all know and be able to play your allocated position in a full hoofball game.”

Atomic struggled to stand still, his excitement causing him to shiver slightly as he stared at the goalposts behind his teacher, picturing himself running with the ball, dodging the oncoming defenders and smirking when he brushed past them with ease. He swerved past the last opponent in his path and crossed the ten yard line, and making a touchdown, the crowds cheering wildly for him as he celebrated.

Atomic! Atomic! Atomic!

“Atomic!”

“What?”

Thunderhoof gestured to their teacher, who appeared close to losing his temper.

“For the third time Atomic Tangerine, what are the rules of hoofball?”

“The aim of the game is to score more points than the other team, eleven players are on the field for each team, the team with the ball are the offense and the team without the ball are the defence and-”

“Thank you Atomic. The job of the offence is to move the ball up the field and score points whilst the defence’s job is to stop the offence moving the ball forwards.”

Mr Cobalt picked up a hoofball from the bucket behind him and held it up.

“The first little activity we’re gonna do today is a catching drill. You’re all gonna get into pairs and stand a few metres away from each other and throw the ball. For every catch made, you and your partner will take two steps back. The pair that get the furthest without dropping the ball will get a prize. If you or your partner do not catch the ball, then you are both out and you must both sit down. Oh, and you’re not allowed to use any magic, unicorns.”

The unicorns in the class immediately began complaining, and Mr Cobalt ignored their complaints and put the hoofball back into the bucket.

“Me and you Thunder, we can beat all of them easily,” whispered Atomic, nudging Thunder.

“And one more thing. I will be picking the pairs. Line up.”

The colts groaned but lined up side by side to face their teacher. Atomic and Thunderhoof stood next to each other in hopes that they would be put together.

“Chrome Sky and Steel Wind, off you go. Aegis and Silver. Blaze and Mustang.”

As Coach Cobalt made his way down the line, Thunderhoof noticed that he was pairing up ponies that were standing next to each other.

“I’m telling you Atomic, he’s definitely gonna put us together, he’s just picking the ponies that are next to each other,” he whispered.

Coach Cobalt overheard Thunderhoof’s comment and he stopped in front of him.

“Atomic and……Pablo! Pair up.”

“What?!”

“You heard me. Is there a problem gentlecolts?”

“No sir,” they both grumbled, Atomic reluctantly walking over to join Pablo.

“I’m getting the ball. Find a good space,” Pablo ordered as he walked over to the bucket with hoofballs.

“Find a good space,” mimicked Atomic under his breath. He spotted Thunderhoof and his partner at a spot near the other side of the pitch and he quickly galloped there.

“Hey Thunder, hey Pacific Sail.” Atomic as he stood next to Thunderhoof.

“I feel sorry for you man, you got paired up with Pablo,” remarked Pacific Sail to which Atomic sighed and nodded.

“Stop talking and move back.”

Pablo walked through the middle of pairs that were doing the activity, ignoring the complaints as he walked over to stand nearly ten metres opposite Atomic.

Without any warning, Atomic suddenly saw the hoofball flying towards him at breakneck speed, and he just about managed to lean back and rise up on his hind legs to catch the ball.

“At least give me a heads up,” Atomic grumbled.

“I don't care. Don’t make us lose,” came the harsh reply.

Atomic growled and took two steps back before throwing the ball back to Pablo as hard as he could, and he caught it with ease.

As the colts took more and more steps back, the number of pairs missing their catches increased, until there were only two pairs left.

“This is really far Thunder, I don't think I’ll be able to catch it.”

“Come on, you can do it,” reassured Thunderhoof as he threw the ball. The ball however fell short and despite Pacific Sail’s best efforts, it landed in front of him.

“Sorry. Messed up on that one,” said Thunderhoof as he sprinted to join his partner.

“It’s alright, I probably wouldn’t have caught it anyway,” replied Pacific Sail as the two sat down next to each other.

I can’t let him beat me.

I’m gonna catch everything he throws at me.

Atomic and Pablo were locked in a throwing and catching duel, each pony determined to not be the one who broke the streak and lost. The rest of the colts stopped their conversations one by one and turned to watch the two colts.

“Whoever drops the ball first stays behind to help me clean up the changing rooms for an hour,” Mr Cobalt called out, and his words had the desired effect as Atomic and Pablo increased the speed at which they were throwing the ball.

Come on, I have to get this one. There’s no way I can drop this.

Atomic took two steps back and leapt up into the air, his back arching as his forelegs stretched behind his head and his hooves just managed to scrape the ball before he quickly pulled it down into his stomach as he landed.

“Yes, Atomic!” Thunderhoof jumped up from the grass, before sliding back down to the floor when he saw the others looking at him.

Atomic smiled when he heard Thunderhoof’s encouragement and he took two steps, throwing the ball as hard as he could and hoping that Pablo would not catch it.

Pablo smirked as he watched the ball fly through the air, digging his hooves into the ground in anticipation to jump into the air and catch the ball. But Pablo jumped too late, and he watched in horror as his hooves desperately tried to reach the ball from behind his head as it fell behind him.

The colts and their teacher watched in silence as the ball rolled around on the floor, and Atomic couldn't help but grin when he saw Pablo’s crestfallen face.

“Pablo, I was just kidding about the detention. Well done, the pair of you for being the last two remaining,” said Mr Cobalt, and the rest of the class applauded.

“What about the prize, sir?” asked Atomic.

“There was no prize.”

“What?!”

“You heard me, there was never any prize. But clearly it motivated you two to do your best, did it not? Right, up you get everypony, the next activity is one that I know all of you are going to enjoy; the bleep test.”

“I think, I think….I’m gonna throw up.”

“Me...too.”

The colts lay on the grass exhausted, with some having to visit the medical room after the demanding fitness test. Atomic lay on his back next to Thunderhoof, hooves behind his head as he tried to catch his breath.

“By the end of this semester, I expect each of you to improve by two levels in the bleep test. Go get changed. If you're feeling ill, go and see the nurse on your way out of school .”

Thunderhoof slowly stood up and he held out a hoof to help Atomic up.

“Ladies, take these two back to the changing rooms and put them outside my door.”

Atomic groaned and reluctantly picked up the bucket with his mouth, limping to the changing rooms.

“It’s okay, I’ll take them,” said Thunderhoof, using his magic to levitate the two buckets above his head.

“Oh, I forgot to tell you, my dad told me in the summer that he was gonna look for a local hoofball team to join. D’you wanna come with me to their tryouts?”

“My dad said the same thing to me yesterday! When’s the tryouts?”

“At seven o'clock.”

“Seven o'clock?!” exclaimed Atomic, suddenly stopping. “I can barely walk, let alone run. How am I gonna make it onto the team?”

“It'll be fine Atomic, just rest up when you get home and you get home and I’m sure that your legs will be fine so that you can play at your best in the tryouts. We'll both make the team.”

“Yeah, we'll both make it.”

“That’s the spirit!”

Thunderhoof placed the buckets outside Coach Cobalt’s door and turned to face Atomic.

“It’ll also be one step closer to the EHL for both of us.”

“And one less thing for Miss Ivory to use against me, the stupid mare,” added Atomic.

“Mom, I’m home!”

Atomic closed the door behind him and walked into the living room, falling back onto the sofa and lying down.

“How was your day?” called out Tea Rose as she came down the stairs.

“Tiring,” replied Atomic, lifting his head up slightly.

“Dinner’s running a little late today, is that alright?”

“Yeah, it’s….fine,” mumbled Atomic, getting up off the sofa and slowly leaving the room to put his satchel away.

“Atomic, where are you? I’ve got some good news!”

“Coming, Dad!”

Atomic quickly got up from his bed and left his room, going down the stairs two at a time before slowing down as he reached the bottom, wincing in pain.

“Hey...Dad, what’s the good news?”

Syracuse closed the door behind him and held up a leaflet to show his son.

“I was talking to one of my friends today about you and he told me about a hoofball team not too far away that he sends his son to, and that today they were holding their annual tryouts. Sound good?”

“Thunderhoof told me that he was going to hoofball tryouts today as well! Maybe it's for the same team,” said Atomic, skimming over the leaflet.

“It says tryouts start at seven o'clock. You want to go with him?”

“No, not really,” mumbled Atomic, shocking his father. “Just kidding! Of course I wanna go!” Atomic took the leaflet from his father.

“Alright then, have dinner and we'll be leaving in two hours’ time.”

“But my legs are really sore from PE,” moaned Atomic.

“I know what’ll fix that. But you won't like it.”

“What is it? I don't care what it is as long as it makes my legs feel better.”

“I told you that an ice bath always helps relieve the muscles.”

“You know I hate anything that’s cold, except for ice cream. But yeah, it did help Dad, so thanks.”

The father and son fell silent as they travelled through downtown Fillydelphia in a taxi. One of the buildings that they passed had a large billboard of Nick Foals, advertising that there were only a few tickets left for the Dragons’ first game of the season. Atomic pressed his face against the window to look at the billboard and he smiled when he thought of the prospect of seeing Nick Foals live for the first time.

“I still can’t believe you got us tickets for the game, Dad.”

“Yeah, it's definitely going to be a good day out for us. You nervous for the tryouts?”

“Nervous?! I don't get nervous, and besides, I’m just really excited. It's gonna be so fun playing on the team.”

“Don't get ahead of yourself son, you're not on the team yet,” warned Syracuse.

“Well I’m gonna be,” retorted Atomic. “Is that the place?” he asked, pointing to a large building that the taxi was currently approaching.

“Yep. Here we are, the Western Fillydelphia Broncos training ground. Looks good doesn't it?”

“Yeah.”

Atomic stared at the entrance in awe. The Western Fillydelphia Broncos training grounds was far more advanced than anything he had ever seen, and he struggled to contain his excitement as they walked towards the huge glass doors.

“Alright, make sure you’re both here at seven o’clock okay, and whatever happens, have fun, alright? Good luck, you’re gonna blow them away,” Syracuse said, embracing his son and ruffling his mane.

“Are you gonna wait outside for me until it finishes?”

“I'll pop into a café for a while, and then I’ll be waiting out here five minutes before it finishes, okay?”

Atomic waved goodbye to Syracuse and walked up to the entrance, passing through the automatic doors and stopping in the middle of the main reception. Thunderhoof had promised to wait in front of the receptionist if he came first, but Atomic couldn’t see him.

“Excuse me Miss, have you seen a dark green unicorn? He’s my age and a bit taller than me. We were supposed to be going to the tryouts together.”

The receptionist smiled. “The colt you just described was asking about you nearly ten minutes ago. He’ll be in the hall; go straight down the corridor, turn right, and the hall door will be on your right. You can’t miss it.”

“Okay, thanks.”

Atomic followed the receptionist’s directions and quickly found the hall entrance, and he pushed the door open and entered the hall. The hall consisted of a stage with a lectern at the front a few metres behind a large whiteboard that had the words ‘UNDER 12 TRYOUTS’ written in bold. At the front of the hall, there were staff talking amongst themselves, the Western Fillydelphia Broncos logo (a picture of a dark brown horse galloping) emblazoned on their jackets and hats. The hall was able to hold up to 150 colts, and most of the seats had already been taken up by colts hoping to get onto the under-twelve team, most of which were wearing their own kits. Atomic stood in front of the rows of seats and looked for his friend.

“Atomic! Over here!” Thunderhoof shouted, waving from one of the top rows.

Atomic quickly clambered up the steps and reached Thunderhoof, who was sitting next to a small brown colt with pale green eyes. His dark blond mane hung low over his eyes and he didn't push it back, uncomfortable with making eye contact with Atomic.

“Hey, Atomic! This is Chestnut Oak,” said Thunderhoof, gesturing to the small brown colt.

“Nice to meet you,” Chestnut mumbled, slightly intimidated by Atomic’s confidence. He turned away from them and stared at the front.

Atomic looked at Chestnut and shrugged as he sat in between the two colts and turned to Thunderhoof.

“You nervous Thunder?”

Thunderhoof sighed. “Yeah kinda, what if I don’t make it?”

“You have nothing to worry about. We’re gonna smash it today and we’re both get on the team, don't worry about it.”

“Thanks Atomic,” smiled Thunderhoof.

Atomic tapped Chestnut’s shoulder.

“Are you nervous for these tryouts?”

“Um...yeah, I don’t think I’m gonna make the team,” replied Chestnut quietly.

“If you’re thinking like that then you won’t. You have to be positive and give it your all, so that no matter what happens, you’re happy,” said Thunderhoof, hoping to bolster his new friend’s confidence.

“Thanks,” replied Chestnut, a small smile appearing on his face.

“Good evening gentlecolts, I am Coach Storm Shaker, and welcome to the Western Fillydelphia Buccaneers under-twelve team tryouts.”

The deep booming voice immediately silenced all of the conversations, and every colt sat up straight. The voice’s owner was a tall, burly navy blue stallion with a stern expression fixed upon his face. He wore a plain red cap on his head and a black stopwatch around his neck. He continued walking until he reached the lectern and he stood behind it, tapping the microphone and speaking into it.

“It looks like there are a lot more of you here than we expected, so just bear with us while we try and split you all up into equal groups.”

The door swung open and seven more stallions entered the hall, each wearing a different coloured cap. They all gathered.

“Right, the first two rows, you’re gonna be with Coach Tornado. Off you go!”

The colts in the corresponding seats got up and formed an orderly line in front of Coach Tornado, who was standing closest to the entrance.

Once the first group had been led out of the hall, Storm Shaker divided up the rest of the colts into groups until the ponies sitting in the top rows remained.

“The rest of you, you’re with me. Line up, and we'll be heading straight for the pitch. I don’t want to hear any talking, all right?”

Atomic, Thunderhoof and Chestnut found themselves at the queue as the group followed Storm Shaker out of the hall.

“D’you think he’s gonna make us do laps, or will we head straight into a game?” Thunderhoof whispered.

“I don’t know, maybe we’ll do a few drills first, then a game at the end,” replied Atomic.

Storm Shaker turned around and looked in Atomic’s direction, and Chestnut quickly pulled Atomic down to avoid detection.

“Thanks,” whispered Atomic, and Chestnut nodded.

Storm Shaker escorted the colts down the corridor and turned right, heading straight towards the large glass doors that led out onto a hoofball pitch. The smell of freshly mowed grass hung heavily in the air and the shouts of colts training could be heard on the next pitch.

“If you are selected for the team, this is where you will be training every Mondays and Thursdays. We expect 100% punctuality, so never be late for training.”

Storm Shaker came to a stop on the forty yard line and the colts stood in front of him. The line had been marked out with an extra layer of white paint and the same had been done on the end zone line.

“We’re going to start with a forty-yard dash test, so get into a line.”

The colts quickly got into a line and waited for Storm Shaker to speak.

“The forty-yard test is simple; run forty yards and I time you. Speed is a crucial aspect of hoofball and whether you’re on offense or defence, you need to be fast in order to get past your opponents or tackle them, alright?”

“Yes, sir!”

“Right, the first pony, get ready.”

Storm Shaker quickly flew over to the end zone line and held up his stopwatch.

“Three, two, one, go!”

The first colt lowered his head and charged straight, keeping his head low and his eyes forward. Storm Shaker looked briefly at his stopwatch as the colt passed twenty yards before returning his focus onto the colt. The colt was almost ten yards away from the end zone line when he suddenly tripped and fell over his own hooves, crashing onto the grass. He grumbled as he slowly got back up and he walked to the finish line. Storm Shaker stopped the stopwatch and frowned.

“Why did you walk? You still would’ve had a decent time,” asked Storm Shaker.

“I……..”

When the colt failed to give him an answer, Storm Shaker shook his head and wrote down the colt’s time on the before sending him to the back of the queue, and the next colt stepped forward.

“Go!”

The second colt got through his yards at an almost breakneck speed, shocking the colts and Storm Shaker stared in shock before quickly composing himself and recording the time.

“Fastest time so far. Well done. What’s your name?”

“Alabaster, sir.”

“Nice job. Back of the queue.”

The colt nodded and walked to the back of the queue.

Atomic watched the other colts, making a note of how he should position himself when running, and before he knew it, he was at the front of the line.

“Let’s go! We need to do the next drill quickly!” Storm Shaker looked impatiently at Atomic.

Atomic nodded before crouching low and lifting his head to look at the goalposts in front of him. He slowed his breathing and emptied his mind, focusing only on getting the fastest time possible.

“Go!”

Atomic leapt from the start line and galloped, his legs moving in coordination as he made his way down the line, slowly lifting his head with each yard he ran. His muscles were working overtime, pushing Atomic to reach the end in the best time possible.

As Atomic crossed the finish line, Storm Shaker looked at his stopwatch and made a note of the time.

“Well done, that’s the second fastest time. What’s your name?”

“Atomic, sir. Atomic Tangerine,” he panted.

“Keep it up.”

“Thank you, sir.”

Atomic slowly walked to the back of the queue, getting a sly nod and smile from Thunderhoof who was at the front of the queue.

“That was so cool! How do you run so fast like that?” whispered Chestnut.

“All natural. I’m just fast like that, but…..I should’ve been the fastest,” said Atomic, looking in front of him at the tall, pale gray colt he was talking about. He looked much older than the other colts in the group and he appeared to be completely lost in his thoughts, not pay attention to the ponies standing around him.

“His name’s Alabaster, he’s the best hoofball player in my school,” said Chestnut, answering Atomic’s unspoken question.

“Is he now?”

“Yeah, he’s probably gonna make the team. You’re definitely gonna make the team. Hopefully I don't mess this up,” said Chestnut as he stepped forward for his run.

“Good luck!” whispered Atomic, before turning around to find Thunderhoof walking past him.

“Hey, Thunder!” he whispered.

“How did you do? Sorry I never saw, but Chestnut was telling me about the guy who got the fastest time.”

“Kinda bad. I probably got one of the slowest times.”

Atomic put a hoof on Thunderhoof’s shoulder. “No you didn’t, alright? Watch, you’re gonna totally dominate the other drills alright?”

“Right, that’s the forty yard dash done. We’re moving on to the next drill. Come this way please,” announced Storm Shaker.

The colts were standing in a large circle with Storm Shaker in the middle holding a hoofball with his wing.

“This next drill is called Bull in the Ring. The pony in the middle will be the bull. When I throw the ball to any of you, you will become the runner and your job will be to get past the bull without getting tackled. If you get tackled, then the you will become the bull and you will stand in the centre. Got that? Good. right, the first bull will be…..”

Atomic avoided Storm Shaker’s gaze as he looked around him, desperately hoping that he wasn't picked.

“You, Atomic. Come on up and be the first bull.”

Atomic nodded and nervously walked into the middle of the circle. Storm Shaker stepped aside to let Atomic stand in the middle and he looked at the others, before throwing the ball to Alabaster.

“Off you go!”

Alabaster nodded and charged straight at Atomic, before suddenly turning to the right. Atomic lunged forward and managed to grab Alabaster’s shoulders, but the colt easily threw him off and Atomic fell to the floor as Alabaster reached the other side of the circle.

“Well done Alabaster, that was a good move to fake the bull,” Storm Shaker commended.

Atomic shook his head as he got up and Storm Shaker threw the ball at another colt, who was also able to get past Atomic with ease. The next three colts were also able to have the same success and Storm Shaker noticed that Atomic was quickly losing his composure.

“Alright then, Atomic, get out of the circle, and...you, get in, you’ll be the bull now,” said Storm Shaker, pointing at Thunderhoof.

Thunderhoof and Atomic swapped places and Storm Shaker threw the ball to Atomic.

“Go!”

Atomic charged forward, expecting to brush aside his slimmer’s friend’s tackle attempts, and he was more shocked than anypony when Thunderhoof grabbed his midsection and threw him to the floor, managing to also catch the ball in the process as it fell out of Atomic’s grip. Atomic hit the ground hard and pushed his hooves into the ground, trying to get up as quickly as he could.

Thunderhoof was quick to help Atomic up, but his attempts to help his were ignored.

“I’m fine,” hissed Atomic.

Thunderhoof raised an eyebrow and joined the other side of the circle, throwing the ball back to Atomic.

Ten minutes later, Storm Shaker looked at his watch and brought the second drill to an end, announcing that the final drill was to take place on the other side of the pitch.

“The final drill is a simple one; four of you will act as quarterbacks and you'll line up opposite each other and I will be standing over here at the ten yard line. Your job as a receiver is to run in a straight line, catching each ball that is thrown to you and dropping it, before making a sharp turn here and throwing the fourth ball to me.”

Storm Shaker quickly flew over to the end zone line and chose the four quarterbacks and the colts in the line began to take their turns doing the drill. Atomic nervously watched each colt do the drill, the embarrassment of the last drill ringing alarms in his head.

I can't mess up this drill, or I can say goodbye to my chance of ever making the team.

Come on Atomic, focus.

“Next!”

Atomic stepped forward and suddenly took off from his spot, making the first two catches with ease.

Good, Atomic, now make the next two and you’ll definitely be on the team.

Atomic quickly looked to his right and jumped up to catch the third ball thrown by Chestnut, stumbling a little as he lunged forward to catch the ball before quickly adjusting himself. The fourth ball was thrown to him high, and Atomic was forced to arch his back as he lept in order to catch the ball. He landed roughly but managed to stay on his hooves as he approached the final part of the drill.

Atomic made the turn and threw the ball as hard as he could, and the ball flew high into the air very quickly.

Yes, I did it!

Atomic’s celebrations proved to be premature however, as the ball landed short and came to a stop underneath Storm Shaker.

“Next!”

“First of all, I would just like to congratulate each of you of all of your efforts today, and credit to all of you, you gave us all a real headache when it came to selection time.”

The colts applauded politely in their seats, and Storm Shaker paused before speaking again.

“Today we have chosen twenty four of you to join our team, three from each group, which is more than what we usually take, and it just goes to show the talent displayed today. Even if you did not make the team, there’s always next year’s tryouts so don't give up and you will accomplish whatever you want if you put your minds to it.”

The coaches moved to stand next to the hall entrance, allowing the colts to see the blackboard clearly.

“Once again, congratulations to those of you on the team.”

One of the coaches lit up his horn and the blind covering the whiteboard was pulled up, revealing the names of the colts selected.

THE SECOND DOWN

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Where’s my name?! I can't find it!

As some of the colts sitting around him celebrated their success, Atomic continued to frantically to try and find his name on the whiteboard.

“I made the team! I actually made the team, I can't believe it, I made the-”

Thunderhoof stopped mid-celebration when he saw Atomic’s crestfallen expression.

“What’s the matter Atomic? Your name’s up there….right?”

“At least I tried my best,” said Chestnut, the disappointment evident in his voice and he hung his head low, trying to ignore the sounds of the colts celebrating nearby.

Atomic ignored the question and continued to stare at the whiteboard in silence, desperately trying to hold back tears.

I didn’t make the team

I failed.

They were right. They were all right.

I’m never going to be a hoofball player.

Atomic bolted from his seat and sprinted down the stairs, running out of the hall. All of the conversations stopped and the colts and stallions watched Atomic leave the hall in a hurry. Thunderhoof quickly got up to follow him but he was stopped by Chestnut, who pointed at Storm Shaker leaving the hall.

“Stay there. I’ll deal with this,” he called out as he left.

As Thunderhoof reluctantly sat back down, Storm Shaker closed the door and stopped in the middle of the corridor, considering where Atomic would’ve gone when he heard crying coming from the end of the corridor. The stallion quickly flew down the corridor and came across Atomic sitting against the wall, sniffling and covering his eyes.

“There you are. Are you alright?”

Atomic quickly stood up and fiercely wiped his eyes.

“I'm not crying.”

“I never said you were. Listen, I know you’re really upset that you didn’t make the team, but this isn't the end for you. You’re a good player Atomic, and you have the potential to be a great player in the future especially with your catching and running skills, but.. you don't have that, that edge we need for our team.”

Atomic nodded and hung his head low.

“Listen I’m gonna make you an offer, alright?”

Atomic slowly looked up in curiosity.

“If you’re alright with this, I want to make you a reserve. This means that you won’t be playing in many matches, and you don't need to come to every training session, but if one of our main players gets injured, then you will stand in for them and if we have any matches coming up, then you’ll play in whatever position the pony you’re replacing was in. I might also put you on in a match if we need fresh legs. That sound alright?”

Atomic nodded and thought about the offer.

A reserve?! I’m not even a part of the proper team! And I might not ever get to play!

It's better than nothing. I’ll kinda be in the team, and it's better than nothing.

I just hope somepony gets injured soon so that I can play.

“Okay.”

“Good. Now, the first training session will be tomorrow at five o’clock. Even though you’re a reserve, I still expect to see you there, alright?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Alright then, off you go.”

Atomic quietly thanked Storm Shaker before leaving, walking past the hall just as the door opened and the colts quickly barged past Atomic, eager to get home. Atomic spotted Thunderhoof at the front of the crowd and he quickened his pace.

“Thunder, wait up!”

Atomic pushed through the crowd and eventually reached his friend, who was walking with Chestnut.

“Are you alright? I was gonna go after you but Storm Shaker made me stay in the hall.”

“Yeah, I’ll…..be fine,” replied Atomic. “Well done on making the team, you deserve it.”

“Thanks, but it's not gonna be as fun without you. I don't know why you weren’t picked, you were one of the best players, if not the best today.”

“It's not all bad. Storm Shaker made me a reserve, so I’ll play in some of the matches and if anypony gets injured or can’t play, then I’ll play for them.”

“That’s good! At least you’ll get to play and you’ll be kind of a part of the team, even if you’re just on the bench,” said Thunderhoof, not realising the effect his words had. Atomic hung his head low and trailed behind Thunderhoof, dreading his father’s reaction to his failure.

“Did you make the team Chestnut?” asked Atomic, and nodded knowingly when Chestnut shook his head.

“It's good that you got another chance to prove yourself,” said Chestnut.

Atomic and Thunderhoof made it through the exit and found their fathers waiting with huge smiles on their faces.

“Guys, my mom is waiting for me on the other side of the road. It was nice meeting you, and good luck on the team.”

Chestnut smiled at Atomic and Thunderhoof, before making his way across the road to his mother. Once he had reached the other side of the road, he turned around and waved at Atomic and Thunderhoof, who waved back.

“He was a nice guy,” said Thunderhoof, and Atomic nodded in agreement. They walked over to their fathers.

“Are we looking at the two newest members of the under-twelve team?!” Syracuse asked excitedly, smiling at the other colts.

“No, you’re…..only looking at one of them. I didn’t make the team, he did,” answered Atomic, reluctantly meeting his father’s eyes.

“You didn’t get in, Atomic?”

When Atomic nodded and rubbed his eyes, Syracuse immediately went over to his son to give him a hug. Thunderhoof and his father stood silently and watched Atomic and Syracuse.

“You can head on home, you don’t need to wait for us,” said Syracuse, and Thunderhoof and his father nodded before saying goodbye and heading home.

“It’s alright, Atomic. There are always other teams in the area that I can take you to. You’re just going to have to work extra hard on your game so that you’re picked by another team.”

“The coach said that he was gonna make me a reserve, Dad, so I’m kinda on the team,” said Atomic, lifting his head up from the hug to look at his father.

“We can’t have you be a reserve, Atomic, it’s not good for the future, you need as much playing time as possible so that you get more experience. Stay in this team for now, but when I find another local team, you’re gonna go to their tryouts and you’re gonna get in, alright.?”

“But what about Thunder? I really wanna play with him, he’s my friend. That’s why we came to the tryouts together.”

“We’ll talk about this later, son. Let’s go home, your mom and sister will be worrying about us.”

“Atomic, there’s other teams that you can try out for at the end of the year. It's not the end of the world and besides, you need to focus on your studies, this is your last year at school. You don’t have time to play hoofball, you need to focus on your studies and forget about the fact that you didn’t get on the team today.”

“Yes, Mom, I get it! You don’t have to keep repeating that I didn’t make the team! What’s wrong with you?!”

Atomic stormed up the stairs and slammed his bedroom door, almost blowing it off its hinges.

“Syracuse, deal with him! I am not gonna stand for the way he’s speaking to me!” Tea Rose yelled, and a few seconds later Butterscotch began wailing in her room. “Now look what he’s done!”

Syracuse and Tea Rose headed up the stairs at the same time, with Syracuse heading to his son’s room whilst Tea Rose went to Butterscotch to try and calm her down.

“Atomic, it's me. Can you let me in?”

“Come in,” came the mumbled reply.

Syracuse pushed the door open and saw his son lying down on his bed with his hooves behind his head. He gently moved his son’s legs and sat down next to him.

“It's not fair, Dad. I'm way better than Thunderhoof, why did he make the team and not me?”

“What drills did you do? If you tell me how you did, then maybe I can get an idea of where it went wrong today.”

“The first one was a forty yard dash, and that was easy, I got the second best time and I was way faster than Thunder. The second one was called ‘bull in the ring’ and I…”

“And what, Atomic?” Syracuse asked gently.

“I did really badly in that one, everyone got past me so easily and even Thunderhoof managed to get past me as well.”

“What about the last drill?”

“We had to catch four balls that were thrown to us, and then we had to throw the last ball to the coach who was on the other side of the field.”

“How was that one then?”

“I caught all of the balls easily, but….I messed up on the throw and it fell short. Thunderhoof caught all of the balls and he made the throw easily.”

“Are you beginning to see why you didn't make the team, son?”

Atomic sat up and faced his father. “Yeah, sort of.”

“Look, why don't I coach you? After school, we can go into the back garden and I can help you with whatever you need.”

Atomic looked curiously at Syracuse. “You?”

“I’ve been writing about hoofball for a living for nearly fifteen years now. When you’ve been doing my job for as long as I have, you pick up a few things. I think I know how I can help you,” Syracuse said with a small smirk.

“Okay, but can we do it everyday after school?”

“We’ll see. Now, go and apologise to your mom, you shouldn't have spoken to her like that.”

“Yes, Dad.”

Atomic hugged his father and left his room with him, bumping into his mother in the hallway.

“I’m sorry for what I said to you downstairs Mom. It was very disrespectful and I won’t do it again.”

Tea Rose stared at her son sternly for a few moments before sighing.

“Apology accepted, but as punishment, you’re not allowed to play outside after school for the rest of the week. When you come home from school, you’re going to straight to your room to do your homework and the only time you can come out is for dinner and if you need the toilet.”

“But that’s not fai- actually, that’s fine Mom. I understand, and I will not disobey your orders.”

Atomic hugged his stunned mother and went down the stairs.

“Syracuse, what did you say to him?”

“Oh, I just told him that we’d have some...father-son bonding time after school,” replied Syracuse smugly as he went down the stairs.

“And then they told us that our team was gonna challenge for the under-thirteen league title this year, so we have to-”

By lunchtime, Atomic had come very close to losing his temper with Thunderhoof as he repeated the talk he had in the hall after the tryouts for the fourth time.

“I can't wait to be playing matches every week and-”

“Look, they’re over there!” interrupted Atomic, pointing at their older friends as they entered the canteen.

Once they got their food, Atomic and Thunderhoof sat down with the older colts.

“What’s up guys? We heard that the Broncos under-thirteen team had tryouts yesterday, did you go?” asked Spade Ace.

“Yeah, we went and Thunderhoof made the team, but...I didn’t. They made me a reserve though,” answered Atomic.

“You kinda made the team, that’s good.”

“And it's better than being rejected from the team completely,” added Thunderhoof.

The table was silent for the next few minutes as the colts ate their lunch.

“Can we play with you guys on the field? We didn’t bring our cards today,” asked Atomic as he finished his food.

“Yeah, sure, the other guys in our class are gonna join us on the field, we’re gonna play a big match,”

“Alright that’s fine,” Atomic and Thunderhoof replied together.

The older colts got up from their seats first and they put their plates away on the trays behind him. Atomic waited for Thunderhoof to finish his food and they left the canteen a few moments later.

Jackpot took out a hoofball from his saddlebag and pointed to a large group waiting at the back of the field. “Let’s go kids, they’re all waiting for us at the back of the field.”

“Let’s race there, I bet I could beat all of you easily,” remarked Atomic, walking ahead of the other colts.

Maverick sped up and overtook Atomic. “I don't think you wanna do that, kid. It’ll be too embarrassing for you.”

“What, are you scared of losing? Come on, let’s do it. 3, 2, 1, go!”

Jackpot, Maverick, Moondust and Spade Ace barged past Atomic and quickly gained a few metres of distance away from the younger colts.

“Come on Thunder, we can’t them beat us!”

Thunderhoof grumbled before lowering his head and charging down the field after Atomic, who was getting closer and closer to the colts with every passing second.

“Crap, how did he catch us up already?!” cried Maverick, turning his head to see Atomic pass him.

As he came closer to the back of the field, Atomic was neck and neck with Jackpot. But as they neared the finish line, Atomic was suddenly pushed by Jackpot. The two seconds he took to readjust his balance was all Jackpot needed to win the race.

“Hey, that’s not fair! You barged me!”

Jackpot ignored him as he greeted the group of colts.

The rest of the group and Thunderhoof arrived a few moments later, and once everypony had caught their breath, the colts lined up and Jackpot and another colt volunteered to be the captains, with Jackpot having the first pick.

“Alright, first I’m gonna pick….Osprey!"

One by one, Jackpot and Maverick chose who was going to be in their team, until only two ponies were left.

“They’re both kids so they’re gonna be rubbish,” whispered some of the colts on both teams.

“Hurry up and pick!” Jackpot called out.

“Okay then, relax! We'll take the unicorn.”

“And we get Atomic.”

Atomic and Thunderhoof looked at each other as they joined their teams, disappointed that they had to play against each other.

“Bagsy being offence!” the captain on Thunderhoof’s team yelled.

“Ugh, fine we'll be the defence.”

Defence?! That’s what I was so bad at in the tryouts and now I have to play it against these lot?!

“Huddle up!” Jackpot called out and the colts quickly gathered into a circle.

“Right, we’re all gonna mark the same ponies from last time okay?”

“What about me?” asked Atomic.

“Um….you can mark Thunderhoof. He’s the same size as you anyway.”

“Okay then I guess,” Atomic replied unwillingly, remembering how Thunderhoof had easily brushed past him during the tryouts yesterday.

Both teams broke from their huddles and they made their way to the middle of the field, where a growing crowd was waiting for them. The colts had placed their satchels on opposite ends of the space they were playing in to mark out the end zones.

“Here, pass the ball, I’m gonna kickoff.”

Atomic looked behind him and picked up the hoofball and gave it to his captain. The other colts in his team lined up on either side of their captain and glared menacingly at the other team, who had also lined in the same way.

“I’ll be the referee for this match.”

Everypony turned to look at Mr Cobalt, who had suddenly appeared wearing a whistle around his neck.

“Why are you looking at me like that? If you play without a referee, somepony will get injured. Do any of you want that to happen?”

“No, sir,” came the reluctant reply.

“Good. On my whistle.”

Both teams crouched and Atomic’s team punter placed the ball on the pitch before turning around and raising his hind legs.

BEEP!

The hoofball was bucked high and far above and across the pitch, and Atomic’s team charged forward, thundering across the pitch to stop whoever caught the ball. Unfortunately for him, it was Thunderhoof who was closest to the ball as it came flying down, and as soon as he caught it, he was only able to gain seven yards before he was tackled to the ground. The ball rolled free from underneath Thunderhoof, and several colts on both teams jumped on top of it, desperately trying to get the ball for their team.

BEEP!

Mr Cobalt ran to the middle of the pile and ordered the colts to get up. At the bottom of the pile, Thunderhoof and another colt were struggling over the ball but the other colt was able to pull the ball firmly into his hooves.

“Jackpot’s team got the ball, offense and defence switch over,” Mr Cobalt took the ball.

“Sir, how's that fair? They all jumped on top of the kid to get the ball!”

“Stop complaining.”

The colts on Thunderhoof’s team grumbled and a few of them helped a shaken Thunderhoof up.

“Who’s gonna be the QB?” asked Atomic.

“I’ll do it, I’m the best thrower here,” concluded one of the colts, moving away from the rest of his team.

Once they broke from the huddle, the colts on Atomic’s team lined up on the line of scrimmage, whilst the other team did the same and crouched. Atomic found himself standing at the end of his offensive line, marked by Thunderhoof.

“Let’s go!”

The colt in the middle of the offensive formation threw the ball backwards to the quarterback, who quickly moved backwards with the ball held up at eye level, looking for a free teammate.

Atomic kept from his starting spot as soon as the ball was thrown to his quarterback, and he ran through the middle of the field behind the defence, Thunderhoof a little slow to follow.

“I’m open! Here! I’m open!”

Atomic jumped into the air and caught the ball, quickly stepping over Thunderhoof who had fallen to the ground when he tried to intercept the pass. He spotted a large opening between two of his opponents and made a run for it, praying that he wouldn’t be tackled. The two defenders charged forward at a frightening pace, quickly closing down the distance between them and Atomic.

I need to do something, quickly!

Panicking, Atomic suddenly changed direction and moved away from the colts, turning back with the ball before finding another opening on the other side. He galloped as fast as he could to the other side and was just about to squeeze through when he saw another opponent charging at him.

Crap! They’re gonna get me!

Fortunately, one of Atomic’s teammates came in at the last second and tackled the defender, leaving Atomic free to sprint through the space and he quickly passed the ten yard mark for his team. The fillies and colts (many of them in his year) watching began to cheer on Atomic as he ran down the field, with most of the other defenders having been dealt with by the rest of Atomic’s teammates. The few that were the closest to Atomic quickly got up and tried their best to reach Atomic.

“Atomic, Atomic, Atomic, Atomic!”

Atomic was now only twenty yards away from the end zone and he spurred on, the crowds’ cheers driving him to make the touchdown.

“Somepony catch him, quick before he gets the touchdown!” cried one of the defenders, but it was too late. Atomic crossed the end zone line and threw the ball down emphatically, cheering loudly. The rest of his teammates charged down the pitch and tackled him to the floor, joining him in celebration.

“That was rubbish, anypony could do that,” Pablo retorted, standing closest to the end zone line with his usual entourage and he sneered at the celebrations.

“I’d like to see you do that in PE next time, instead of standing on the sideline talking rubbish,” Atomic replied smugly.

Pablo grumbled and walked away, his sidekicks continuing to watch the game before a sharp whistle from Pablo made them reluctantly leave.

“You weren’t kidding when you said you were fast, that was awesome!” Jackpot putting an arm around Atomic.

“Right, offence and defence switch over. Come on hurry up, you’ve only got about two minutes left,” Coach Cobalt called out.

The two teams switched positions and Coach Cobalt brought the whistle to his lips.

BEEP!

The defenders immediately raised their arms to hold the offense back, whilst the other offensive players moved from their spots to try and get free from their markers. Atomic ended up marking Thunderhoof for the play again, and he was a few milliseconds late to mark Thunderhoof. As he saw the ball soar in the air towards Thunderhoof, Atomic dashed forward, before quickly digging his hooves into the ground and leaping into the air, his arms stretched out to try and reach the ball. But Thunderhoof saw him coming and he was able to quickly jump up, catch the ball and twist his body, narrowly avoiding a collision into the airborne Atomic, who crashed onto the field roughly. Thunderhoof turned around and began to run down the pitch, but he was easily tackled before he could make the ten yards.

Ouch! That really hurts.

Atomic rolled up into a sitting position and realised that some of the healing cuts on his legs from the weekend had been reopened, and blood flowed from his wounds at an alarmingly quick pace.

Mr Cobalt had seen the fall and had initially stayed in his spot, believing that Atomic wasn't hurt and that he’d get up quickly, but when he saw the blood running down his legs, he blew his whistle loudly and ran across the pitch to Atomic.

“Atomic, what happened?”

Atomic winced, trying his best to slowly swivel his bleeding legs round without hurting himself. “I don’t know sir, I just….. jumped to try and get the ball and I fell really badly.”

The end of lunchtime bell rang, and within two minutes, the field was empty except for the ponies that had been playing hoofball and ponies that had PE.

“Right, the rest of you get to your lessons now, I don't wanna hear any complaints about punctuality from any of your teachers,” Mr Cobalt ordered, and the other colts quickly got their belongings and ran back into the school to get to their lessons.

“Sir, me and Atomic have Maths now, so I can take him to the nurse,” Thunderhoof said, quickly joining Coach Cobalt.

“Atomic, can you get up?”

“I think…..so.”

Atomic put his hooves behind him and pushed into the ground, slowly but surely standing up.

“Thunderhoof, take him to the nurse now, okay? Who do you have right now?”

“Ms Ivory,” they replied at the same time.

“I’ll tell her why you were both late after school. But I don't want either of you to be wandering around the school. You are to both go straight to Maths as soon as possible. Is that clear?”

“Yes, sir.”

Coach Cobalt and Thunderhoof both helped Atomic walk down the field and when they re-entered the school, Coach Cobalt went to his office and Thunderhoof took Atomic through the door on their right to the nurse’s room at the end of the corridor. He stopped with Atomic in front of the door and knocked.

“Come in, dear,” called out the nurse in her office.

Thunderhoof opened the door and guided Atomic inside.

The nurse gasped and jumped out of her seat. “Oh my goodness Atomic, what in Equestria happened to your legs?!”

“I was playing hoofball and I fell.”

“You really need to more careful outside okay, I don't want to be seeing you in here as much as I did last year, okay? Right, come sit up on this bed here and I’ll put some plasters on those cuts.”

Thunderhoof and the nurse both lifted Atomic up and onto the bed.

The nurse turned around and picked up a quill to write on one of the sticky note on her table. Once she had finished, she gave the sticky note to Thunderhoof. “Take this with you and show your teacher okay?”

“Yes, Nurse.”

Once Thunderhoof had left the room, the nurse turned back to Atomic.

“Now, where did I put those plasters?”

“Master Tangerine, stay in your seat.”

Atomic stopped in the middle of putting his maths book and reluctantly sat back down, grumbling under his breath as he watched the other fillies and colts leave the classroom to go home.

“I’ll wait for you out here,” Thunderhoof whispered as he walked past his friend.

“You will do no such thing Master Thunderhoof, or you’ll be in here with me for the next hour. Is that what you want?”

“No miss.”

“Then go home.”

Ms Ivory closed the classroom door and went to her desk, picking up a book and gesturing for Atomic to sit next to her. She asked Atomic to take out his progress diary and when he gave it to her, she placed her hooves on top of it.

“The headteacher has assigned everypony in your year without a cutie mark a mentor to guide them through this year and ensure that the mentee is doing all they can to get their cutie mark if they don’t have one. I will also be guiding you when you begin your high school applications after your mocks in January. Do you know which high schools you will be applying to?”

The fact that he was going to be starting high school next September had not even crossed Atomic’s mind until now, and he had no idea which high school he wanted to go to.

One more thing for me to worry about.

“Um, I'm not sure yet, but I’ll definitely start research.

Ms Ivory opened Atomic’s progress diary and turned to the first page.

“What did I tell you to change on the first page of your progress diary on Monday?”

“What I wanted to be when I’m older.”

“And why haven’t you done so?”

“Because, I will become a hoofball player miss, I know I will.”

“The headteacher has assigned everypony in your year without a cutie mark a mentor to guide them through this year and ensure that the mentee is doing all they can to get their cutie mark.”

“And..you’re my mentor?”

“Correct. Have you taken any steps to increase your chances of becoming a hoofball player?”

“Yes miss. I went to a local team’s tryouts yesterday with Thunderhoof.”

“And did you get into the team?”

“Well, they made me a reserve, so sort of.”

“It's...better than nothing. I am going to set you a target for each month of this academic year that concerns your ambitions. By the end of this month, you need to become a member of the starting lineup.”

Atomic frowned. “The starting lineup?”

“Yes, and I don't need to repeat myself. We'll meet next Thursday to begin discussing which high schools you should apply to. You’re dismissed.”

Atomic put his satchel on and quickly left the classroom.”

“Hey, Atomic!”

“Thunder! You actually waited outside?!” Atomic said, pleasantly surprised to see his friend.

“Of course. So what was she talking to you about?”

“She told me that everypony in our year is gonna get a mentor to help with getting your cutie mark and high schools, and since I have the worst luck ever, she’s my mentor.”

“That sucks.”

“Watch, you’re probably gonna end up with some nice teacher like Miss Bellflower.”

“We'll see.”

The colts walked through the school gates and stopped, waiting for the road to be clear before crossing.

“So, training today. Did the coach tell you to come?”

“Yeah, he said that’s it's the first one so I had to come, even if I’m a....reserve.”

“That’s cool. At least we’ll be together.”

“Yeah, that’s one good thing that’ll come out of today.”

Twenty minutes later, Atomic and Thunderhoof reached their houses and said their goodbyes.

“Atomic, I’ve been waiting for you, come in!”

The colt smiled when he heard his father’s voice in the living room and he stepped into the hallway, closing the front door behind him.

“I’m coming, Dad! I’m just gonna say hi to Mom!”

Tea Rose came out of the kitchen and hugged her son tightly.

“How was your day? Good?”

“Yeah, but I kinda hurt myself again.”

“What d’you mean you hurt yourself….”

Tea Rose looked down at her son’s legs and gasped loudly.

“Again, Atomic! What have I told you about playing safely?! And you’ve managed to cut open the same wounds!”

“Sorry, Mom,” Atomic muttered, looking for an opening to leave the conversation.

“Atomic!” Syracuse called out again.

“Sorry Mom, but Dad’s calling me, I’m gonna see what he wants.”

Atomic hurried away from his mother and entered the living room, where his father was sitting on the sofa next to the radio.

“There you are! Why did you come home late?”

Atomic decided to tell his father about his meeting with Ms Ivory later. “I um…. was doing my maths homework. Yeah, I wanted to get it out of the way so that I didn’t have to worry about it later.”

Syracuse looked at his son sceptically for a few moments before smiling.

“Anyway, we can go into the back garden for half an hour and then you can have some food before I take you to training. Is that okay with you?”

“Sounds good,” Atomic threw his bag onto the sofa, pulling his father up from his seat and out of the living room, through the hallway and kitchen and past the back door that led to the back garden.

“So, what are you gonna help me with Dad?” asked Atomic.

Syracuse picked up the hoofball that was a few metres away from him and he suddenly threw it to Atomic, who jumped into the air before crying out in pain and dropping to the grass hard. Some of the plasters on his legs peeled off and Syracuse quickly ran over to his son.

“Atomic, are you alright? What happened?”

“I’ll… be okay Dad. I just have a few cuts on my legs.”

Syracuse looked at his son’s legs and reacted in an identical manner to his wife.

“Atomic!”

Syracuse picked up the plasters that had fallen onto the grass and he held them up, wincing at the blood that covered all of the plasters.

“Right, let’s get you inside. If you want to go the training today, you have to rest, alright? I don't wanna see you running around the house or doing anything that will make the cuts worse. You got that?”

“Yes, Dad.”

Syracuse helped his son up and guided him into the house. Atomic went into the living room and lay down on the sofa, hoping to get a quick nap before he had to leave for his first training session.

“Here at the Western Fillydelphia Broncos, hard work will get you very far. That means no fooling around, no coming late to training and never, ever talk back to me or any of the other coaches. Clear?”

“Yes, Coach!”

The twenty four colts stood in a line in front of Coach Storm Shaker, who then began to hand out bibs to the colts.

“Now, if you are wearing a black bib, I want you to go over to Coach Tornado, you’ll be working with him today. Blue bibs, head off to Coach Arctic and white bibs, you’re with me.”

Atomic looked down at his white bib as the other colts went off in their groups before looking at the other ponies that were with him. There were six other colts in the group but Atomic didn’t remember seeing any of them at the tryouts.

They must be the other reserves then.

“Right, you guys are going to be working with me for the next six weeks. All of you have the potential to be part of our starting lineup in the future, but you’re not at that required level yet which is why you’re all reserves. I will be making sure that you get as close to the starting lineup as possible by the end of the six weeks, if you do not become a part of the starting lineup.”

“Great, so I’m with all the rubbish ponies,” Atomic muttered, looking disdainfully at the other colts.

“Was that a question Atomic?”

“No sir!”

“Okay then, that’s enough talking from me. Line up in front of me. We’re gonna start with a smaller version of bull in the ring today, a drill I’m sure that you are all familiar with.”

The colts formed a line in front of Storm Shaker and to no surprise at all, Atomic found himself at the front of the line.

“What’s your name again?”

“Atomic. Atomic Tangerine.”

“Alright then. You know what to do,” Storm Shaker tossed a ball to Atomic.

Atomic nodded and ran forward, hoping that he wasn’t tackled too hard. Storm Shaker easily grabbed Atomic and pushed him to the floor.

“You made it very clear that you were gonna go right Atomic, you need to work on evading your defenders, especially in a match, otherwise you're gonna keep being brought down.”

“Yes sir, whatever you say,” Atomic grumbled, before joining the back of the queue. Storm Shaker heard Atomic’s tone and frowned.

“You know what, Atomic? You switch places with me, you can be the bull for everypony.”

Atomic turned around and opened his mouth to protest, before giving up and walking to Storm Shaker to take his spot.

“Right, next pony, go!”

Sixty minutes later, Storm Shaker blew his whistle to bring the training session to the end, and he called all of the colts over to him.

“Good work today everypony, I have had very positive feedback from Coach Tornado and Coach Arctic. Right, you’ll come back here same time next week, and nopony can be late. You can go home now.”

Atomic ran over to join Thunderhoof and head into the changing rooms to collect their things.

“Oh hey Atomic! How was Coach Storm Shaker?”

“Annoying. He made me be the bull for that stupid bull in the ring drill for like half an hour. I swear, he hates me already and I haven’t even done anything.”

“He can't already hate you, Atomic. It was only the first training session today.”

“Trust me, he does. How was your coach?”

“Great! He told us that we were all the ponies that are most likely gonna be on the starting lineup and he was giving us advice at the end on how we can make it to the EHL.”

Atomic and Thunderhoof passed through the large glass doors and found their fathers waiting for them.

“Thunderhoof, come on! I can see a taxi coming from over there!” cried Thunderhoof’s father, pointing to the other side of the road. The two yelled goodbye to Atomic and Syracuse, and ran across the road to reach the taxi in time.

“So, how was it Atomic? Good?”

“It was so annoying. We did that stupid bull in the ring drill for the entire time and our coach hates me.”

“I’m sure he doesn’t hate you Atomic. But that doesn’t matter because I have some good news for you,” Syracuse reassured as they entered their taxi waiting for them, and Atomic waved goodbye to Thunderhoof before entering after his father.

“What is it Dad?”

“I was talking to one of my friends today, and he told me that there are tryouts taking place in a few weeks for another team that’s actually closer to us; the Western Fillydelphia Eagles.”

“I’ve heard of them! Aren't they really hard to get into though?”

“Yes, if you go in with a negative mindset. Do you wanna go for it or are you happy here?”

“Um…..”

I don’t wanna be a reserve for at least a month!

But Thunder’s there. I won’t know anypony at their other team.

“Can I think about it Dad?”

“Sure.”

As they passed through downtown Fillydelphia, Atomic looked out of the window and saw a Fillydelphia Dragons billboard with Nick Foals' face plastered on the front, the date of their match against the Hawks written in a bold, white font which was now less than two weeks away.

“I’m so excited for the Dragons match Dad. There’s just under two weeks left until the season starts and we’re gonna watch Nick Foals destroy them and finally win the Sugar Bowl!”

“It’s definitely gonna be a good match.”

“Should I tell Thunderhoof to tell his dad to buy tickets so that we can all go together?”

“I don't know son, there weren’t many tickets left when I bought them, but you can tell him to tell his dad.”

The carriage pulled up in front of their house and Atomic was the first to get out of the taxi, running inside whilst Syracuse paid the taxi driver.

“Tomic, tomic!” Butterscotch squealed in delight in her mother’s arms, reaching out to her older brother.

“Hey Butter,” Atomic grinned, and Tea Rose handed Butterscotch to Atomic.

“Be careful with her,” Tea Rose warned as she went out to say hello to Syracuse.

Atomic carried Butterscotch into the house and he took her into the living room, gently placing her down on the sofa.

“Should I show you what we had to do today Butter?”

Butterscotch fell back onto the sofa and giggled.

“OK then, first we had to split into groups and that stupid Storm Shaker made me a defender for the entire time,” Atomic complained, before lowering his head and charging at Butterscotch, leaping onto the sofa next to her and tickling her.

“And he made us do this today as well!”

“And even though he gave me a chance and made me a reserve for the team, Coach Storm was really annoying me today, and he better not make me a defender again. Oh yeah, and Dad found me another team that I can play for, but I don't wanna leave Thunderhoof. But then I don't wanna be a reserve either and never play any matches.”

Atomic sighed and put his hands behind his head before suddenly sitting up.

“Why am I talking to Nick Foals out loud? Oh well, nopony can hear me anyway.”

Atomic got up from his bed to blow out the candle on top of the bedside drawer, but before he climbed into bed, he went over to his calendar on his wall and opened his marker pen, crossing out today’s date.

Only twelve days until I get to see Nick Foals for real.

THE THIRD DOWN

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The countdown to the beginning of the EHL season was in the last two days, and Atomic found himself being more and more excited with each day that passed, his excitement being heightened by all of the preseason predictions that he had been listening to on the radio for the last week. His school life had gone back to normal and Atomic was now used to the regular flow of lessons each day. However, he couldn’t focus on what Ms Ivory was writing on the blackboard in the last lesson of the day, his thoughts dominated by hoofball and the prospect of seeing the Fillydelphia Dragons live.

How should I ask for Nick Foals’ autograph?

Should I say his name when he’s going in at the end of the game?

Or should I ask Dad to go to his interview after the match and get it for me?

“MASTER ATOMIC TANGERINE!”

Atomic jumped in his seat and looked up to the front of the class, which a furious Ms Ivory was standing in front of, glaring harshly at him.

“For the third time, come up to the board and answer the question,” Ms Ivory ordered, gesturing to the blackboard, which had a question written on it.

Atomic slowly got out of his seat and walked up to the front of the blackboard, taking the chalk from Ms Ivory. He stood in front of the blackboard and scanned through the question, his face falling.

“Ms, I can’t-”

“Master Tangerine, do you want to fail your end-of-year Maths exams?”

“No, Ms Ivory.”

“Then attempt the question. Now.”

Atomic sighed and tiptoed to reach the top of the blackboard, trying his best to write a convincing method to answer the question. Two minutes later, he wrote the answer at the bottom of the blackboard and turned around to face the rest of the class.

“Your answer is wrong because you made a mistake in the last step. Find the mistake and fix it,” said Ms Ivory.

Atomic nodded and went through his method, searching for the mistake.

“Have you found it?”

Atomic blushed and nodded, and he stepped aside to show his corrected division of 60 by 2, which he had previously answered with 25.

“Sit back down.”

Atomic went back to his seat and as he sat down, the bell rang to signal the end of the lesson and the school day. The colts and fillies slowly closed their books but none of them dared to get up out of their seats, having learnt that Ms Ivory was a teacher that shouldn’t be crossed.

“Dismissed.”

The class quickly left the room and joined the crowd of students leaving the school.

“Hey Atomic, did Coach Tornado tell you to come to training today?” asked Thunderhoof as the two walked through the school gates.

“No, is there training today?”

“Yeah, he told our group last time to come every Thursday.”

“It's probably only for the ponies on the team,” replied Atomic, and Thunderhoof nodded. The two walked together silently through the Fillydelphia high street, passing through the crowd of ponies heading towards them. They stopped next to some ponies standing near the crossing and waited for the road to clear up. Once the green pedestrian light flashed on, Atomic and Thunderhoof crossed the road.

“Look, up there,” said Atomic, pointing to the large billboard as they reached the other side of the road, showing a picture of Nick Foals and his teammates, the date and time for the Dragons’ first match written underneath.

“I’m actually so pumped for the season to start, it feels like forever since the last pre-season game was played,” said Atomic, still looking at the billboard.

“You’re so lucky that your dad got tickets for the game. It would be so cool to see the Dragons live,” said Thunderhoof enviously.

“Yeah, it's gonna be fun. Oh crap, I just remembered something!”

“What, what’s wrong?”

“My Dragons kit is too small for me, and I need a new one to wear to the game. But my dad’s at work right now, and he’s gonna be coming back late, so I don't know when we can go! How can I support the Dragons and get Nick Foals’ autograph when I’m not even wearing his jersey?!”

“Ask your mom when you get home, you can just tell her the shop you need to go to and she can take you.”

Atomic opened his mouth to reply but stopped and realised that Thunderhoof’s suggestion made sense. “Oh yeah.”

Thunderhoof sniggered and Atomic gave him a sharp look.

“Mommy, mommy please buy me the Nick Foals jersey or I’m gonna cry,” teased Thunderhoof, and Atomic pushed him as he began to snicker.

“Ms Ivory, please, you’re scaring me! My mommy and daddy never taught me my left and right!”

Thunderhoof laughed and pushed Atomic back, and the two colts continued laughing as they reached their road.

“Thunderhoof, inside this instance! Your room is an absolute mess and your aunt is coming over in less than two hours!” yelled Thunderhoof’s mother, standing on the front porch of their house.

Thunderhoof stopped laughing the instance he heard his mother’s voice and he quietly said goodbye to Atomic before walking towards his house, and his mother quickly ushered him in.

Atomic headed into his own house and greeted his mother and younger sister before heading up the stairs to his bedroom to put his bag away.

“Mom, we need to go shopping!” he yelled as he came back down the stairs.

“What did you say?”

“I said, we need to go shopping Mom,” Atomic repeated, walking into the living room to his mother.

“Last time we went shopping, you said it was almost as bad as being banned from watching hoofball for life, and that you never wanted to do it again,” Tea Rose remarked, looking curiously at her son.

“Yeah, yeah, I know but this is serious. I need to buy a new Dragons kit for the game, my old one’s too small.”

“Ask your father when he gets home,” Tea Rose said, shaking her head.

“Please, Mom, all the shops are gonna be closed.”

Tea Rose shook her head again and turned around to tend to Butterscotch.

“It’ll be a chance for us to spend some quality time together!”

Tea Rose turned around and stared curiously at Atomic.

“You know, we don't get to spend enough time together Mom, and I wanna be closer to my mom. This’ll also be a chance for you to get whatever you need from the shops. If I don't get a new kit, then I won’t have the best time ever at the game with Dad, and I don’t wanna disappoint him. Please, Mom. you know how much this means to me.”

“.......Now that you mention it, I could pick up a few things that I need.”

Ninety minutes had passed since Atomic, Tea Rose and Butterscotch had arrived at the mall, and Atomic was seriously regretting his suggestion to his mom that he could pick up whatever she needed from the mall. The mall was gradually beginning to empty and a clock hung up in the middle of the mall indicated that there was only an hour left before the mall closed. Tea Rose had spent most of their time in the mall browsing different shops.

“That blue scarf was amazing, I’m definitely coming back for it another day, it will go great with my new navy blue dress,” Tea Rose declared as the family left the dress shop.

“Mom, can we please go to MD Sports now, we’ve been looking at the stuff you like for hours,” whined Atomic.

“Shush, you’ll wake your sister,” Tea Rose said, gesturing to Butterscotch, fast asleep and breathing lightly in the buggy, her chest rising and falling with each breath she took.

“Please, Mom?”

“I’ve got everything I need. We can go to your shop now.”

“Yes!”

Tea Rose shushed Atomic again and they set off towards the sports shop, which was only a few metres away from the dress shop.

“Mom, should I get a Nick Foals jersey or should I get my name written on the back?” asked Atomic as they entered the shop.

“Get whatever you want sweetie, but just remember that this is coming out of your pocket money,” warned Tea Rose, but Atomic had already run off to the back of the store to find the team jerseys. Tea Rose sighed and pushed her buggy through the store.

Atomic skidded to a stop in front of the jerseys, which was next to the till and took a step back, craning his neck so that he could see the jersey at the top.

“Where is Nick Foals’ jersey? There’s the Cloudsdale Eagles, Canterlot Knights, Manehatten Mustangs……”

“Can I help you?” asked a shop attendant from the till who had spotted Atomic, putting a clothes hanger down and walking over to Atomic.

“Yeah, I’m looking for Nick Foals’ jersey. Do you know where it is?”

“Nick Foals, um….oh! It's just on the other side, lemme get it down for you.”

Atomic followed the assistant around the till to another set of jerseys, which were the store’s most popular jerseys. The assistant used her magic to slowly bring down the Nick Foals jersey to Atomic. As she passed the jersey to Atomic, Tea Rose joined them and quietly scolded Atomic for running off.

“What size do you need?”

“Your last shirt was a 10-11, so he’ll need a 11-12 one,” Tea Rose answered, giving the jersey back. The assistant nodded and checked the tag, which had 9-10 written on it. She put the jersey at the back of it's row and brought down the next one.

“Yep, this is the size you asked for,” the assistant affirmed, checking the tag and handing the jersey to Atomic. “The colts’ changing rooms are over there, next to the sports equipment. You can’t miss it.”

Tea Rose thanked the assistant and followed Atomic to the colts’ changing room.

“Don't take too long. Your dad will be coming home for dinner and this shop’s closing soon as well.”

Atomic nodded and pulled the curtain back of the closest cubicle to the changing room entrance, and he closed the curtain behind him. He put down the jersey onto the bench and he looked into the mirror, Atomic cringing slightly as his eyes wandered to his blank flank.

I should ask Dad how he got his cutie mark, maybe that’ll give me some ideas.

Atomic picked up the jersey and pulled it on over his head, pushing his arms through the first two holes and lifting his hind legs one by one to push them through the last two holes in the jersey. He patted down the jersey to remove the few specks of dust that had appeared on the front. He looked at himself in the mirror and smiled.

“And it's down to the last thirty seconds of the Sugar Bowl, and the Dragons are trailing by five on their fourth down. What are they gonna do? The ball is snapped, and…..oh my word, they’ve called a ‘Hail Celestia’! The ball is flying towards Nick Foals but he’s flanked by three defenders! He can’t, there’s no way, HE CAUGHT THE BALL! And Nick Foals barges past the first defender and his teammates are there to take care of the other two defenders. Nick Foals is in the clear and he makes a dash for the end zone! Twenty yards, ten yards, HE’S DONE IT! Nick Foals makes the touchdown and wins the Sugar Bowl for the Fillydelphia Dragons! This is the greatest-”

“Atomic? What’s taking so long?”

Atomic quickly slammed his hooves over his mouth and he cleared his throat before replying to his mother.

“I’m fine, Mom. I’m coming out right now!”

Atomic checked himself in the mirror one more time before opening the curtain and leaving the changing rooms.

“That fits you perfectly Atomic. Let’s go to the till and buy this quickly, the shop is closing in fifteen minutes.”

Atomic took off the jersey and handed it to his mother, and they set off for the till, joining the back of a short queue right behind a colt and a stallion.

“Dad, did you get the seats on the away side for Saturday’s game like I said?”

“Yes, and they’re right between the goalposts, so we’re gonna get a really good view.”

Atomic listened in on the conversation between the father and son in front of him, and he was curious as to why they were sitting in the away stand for the Dragons-Eagles game.

“Are you going to the Dragons’ game on Saturday?”

“Yep, are you?”

“Yeah, I can’t wait to watch the Eagles destroy the Dragons!”

“What?!”

“Yeah, I’m from Cloudsdale,” the colt answered, and he unfurled his wings as proof.

“Well, you’re gonna be disappointed because the best team is gonna win, and that’s the Dragons!” Atomic retorted.

“That’s what idiots think! When the Eagles win, you better get ready to cry home to your-”

“Sky Chaser!”

The colt turned around and was met with his father’s stern face.

“Just because he doesn't support the same team as you doesn't mean that you can get angry and argue with him!”

Sky Chaser huffed and stayed silent.

“Atomic, the same goes for you, you can’t get angry over somepony having a different opinion to you!”

Atomic grumbled and the two colts silently glared at each other. Butterscotch began stirring in her buggy and she slowly opened her eyes and yawned before falling asleep again.

“Honestly, saying one bad word about their favourite teams is as bad as their house burning down,” Tea Rose declared, and Sky Chaser’s father chuckled. The father and son stepped forward to place their items onto the till, and Atomic and Sky Chaser glared at each other one last time before the former turned to his mother.

“Why did you have to embarrass me like that?”

“That’s what happens when you misbehave in public. If you don’t like it, then you have to be on your best behaviour when we’re shopping.”

Atomic muttered under his breath and turned back around to see that the till was free. He walked up to the till and Tea Rose placed the jersey onto the counter. As the assistant told his mother the price, Atomic looked behind the till and spotted some items that would go well with the jersey.

“Mom, can you buy me that Dragons hat? And the Dragons scarf as well?”

“You told me you only needed a Dragons kit, we don't have time to get anything else.”

“Please, Mom! I won't have as much fun at the game if don't get this as well, and you know that I don't wanna let Dad down!”

Atomic widened his eyes and stuck out his bottom lip, desperate to convince his mother.

“Alright then, but remember this is coming out of your pocket money.”

Atomic hugged his mother and pointed at the hat and scarf that he wanted the assistant to bring down. She brought them back and calculated the new total price, and Tea Rose paid it.

“Now let’s go home.”

“We’re home!”

Atomic was surprised when he didn’t hear his dad reply.

“Your father should’ve been home by now, he’s normally never this late,” Tea Rose pointed out worriedly. She unfastened Butterscotch from her buggy and picked her up, carrying her into the living room. “Atomic, turn the light on, I can't see where I’m going.”

As Atomic turned on the living room light, Syracuse jumped up from behind the sofa.

“BOO!”

Atomic and Tea Rose screamed, and Atomic stumbled backwards and fell onto the floor whilst Tea Rose almost dropped Butterscotch, and she was just able to pull her back up before her head hit the floor.

“You should’ve seen your faces!” Syracuse threw his head back and chuckled as he came around the sofa.

“Syracuse, that’s not funny! I almost dropped Butter and you scared Atomic senseless!”

“I wasn't scared!” Atomic jumped up and charged his father, tackling him onto the sofa.

“Okay I’m sorry, it won’t happen again!” Syracuse cried as Atomic held him in a mock headlock.

“Stop that you two! Now, set the table and I’ll warm up the vegetable soup.”

Syracuse and Atomic got off the sofa and Syracuse took Butterscotch from Tea Rose as Atomic began to tuck the chairs into the table.

“How come you only came home now?”

“We went shopping to get me a new Dragons jersey. But Mom decided to ‘pick up a few things’ before we went to MD Sports.”

“So, excited for the match on Saturday?”

“I can't wait to see the Dragons win and get Nick Foals’ autograph after the game!”

Syracuse was about to tell Atomic that the chances of getting Nick Foals’ autograph would be unlikely, but he thought better of it and closed his mouth. He carried Butterscotch over to her high chair at the dining table and sat her down.

“Let me help you out Atomic.”

Syracuse went to the kitchen and came back with a pile of napkins and he gave them to Atomic, who placed one at each seat on the table. The two sat down in their seats as Tea Rose came in with the family’s dinner.

“Syracuse, how come you didn’t heat up dinner for yourself when you came home?”

“Oh, I forgot about it,” Syracuse sheepishly replied.

“Oh well, at least you can sit and eat with us,” Tea Rose said, and she sat down next to Butterscotch and began feeding her.

Once she had finished her soup, Tea Rose took her bowls back to the kitchen and brought a plate of brownies, explaining that she had made them earlier in the day. She gave Atomic and Syracuse four brownies each, taking two for herself.

“Your brownies are actually amazing, maybe you should consider opening a café or something,” Syracuse complimented as he ate.

“Thanks, but I’m only gonna start looking for work when Butterscotch starts going to school.”

The family ate their brownies silently, and Atomic and Syracuse were the first to finish, with Syracuse taking both of their bowls to wash and dry in the kitchen.

“Atomic, come here.”

Atomic left the kitchen and came back into the living room, his mother looking at him with a familiar stern expression.

“Yeah Mom?”

“Bedtime. You have school tomorrow and I don't want you yawning in school.”

“Can I turn the radio on and see if there’s any news about the game on Saturday?”

“Fine, but it's straight to bed for you after that.”

Atomic sat down next to the radio and turned it on, and he turned the knob to find the right station. Once he found the right station, he turned the volume up and listened intently.

“So Blaze, who do you think is gonna win?”

“Ah, I’ve gotta give it to the Dragons, I feel like Nick Foals is gonna have a huge game this weekend, and he’s gonna be driven by what he did in the semi-finals last year.

“Are you trying to say that Nick Foals is gonna go off in every game?!”

“Don't be surprised if he puts up MVP numbers this year.”

“I’m gonna disagree with Blaze, I feel like the Eagles will take this one. They have arguably the best cornerback in the league in Slate Gray, and when he’s matched up against Foals, he's gonna keep him on lockdown. The other Dragons players won't be able to step up.”

“Mom, why'd you turn the radio off?!”

“Because your time is up. Bed, now.”

Atomic grumbled and pushed himself off the sofa.

“Excuse me, is that attitude you’re giving me right now?”

“No, Mom.”

Atomic kissed his mother’s cheek before leaving the living room and heading up the stairs to his room, not bothering to brush his teeth. He headed over to his calendar and picked his marker, taking the lid off and crossing through today’s date.

Just tomorrow left, and then I get to see Nick Foals and the Dragons live.

Atomic closed his curtains and blew out his lamp, leaning back and closing his eyes, hoping that the weekend came quickly.

“You’re actually so lucky that you get to go watch the Dragons live!”

“I know.”

It was lunchtime at Atomic’s school and news of his outing tomorrow had spread like wildfire amongst the colts and fillies in his year group, leading to the seats at Atomic and Thunderhoof’s usual lunchtime spot quickly filling up.

“You’re so lucky you got tickets! My Dad tried getting them last week but they had already sold out!”

“Atomic, who do you think is gonna win?”

Atomic looked pointedly at the colt who had asked the question.

“Obviously the Eagles, they’re the best team in the league and the Dragons are terrible. It's gonna be a blowout.”

Thunderhoof and the others stopped their conversations and stared at Atomic in stunned silence.

“I'm joking, obviously the Dragons are gonna win, why would I ever support the Eagles?!”

The table remained silent for a few moments before the conversations resumed. Atomic took the last bite from his lunch and got up from his seat to put his plate away, motioning for Thunderhoof to do the same.

“Tell us how the match was on Monday, okay?!”

Atomic and Thunderhoof said goodbye to the colts and fillies as they left the canteen, and Thunderhoof laughed as Atomic leaned against a window and groaned, letting his head drop.

“I thought they were never going to leave me alone! Is this what Nick Foals feels like when journalists keep asking him questions all at once?!”

“This must be what it feels like to be popular,” Thunderhoof remarked. Atomic lifted up his head and looked at his friend.

“Do you wanna be popular all the time or something?”

“No, I’m just saying, that it's not that bad.”

Suddenly the end-of-lunch bell rang and teachers came out onto the field, ushering students back into school for their last lesson.

“Are you kidding me?! We wasted all of lunch inside answering all of their questions?!”

“Come on Atomic, we might as well go inside,” Thunderhoof said, heading back into school.

“We didn’t even get time to trade a few cards!” Atomic whined as they went back into the school.

“You can come over to my house after school, it doesn’t matter,” Thunderhoof said, and Atomic took out their timetable to check which classroom they were in.

“We’re with Miss Lily upstairs in room 17.”

Thunderhoof nodded and the two headed upstairs to English. They turned the corner and saw their classmates going into the classroom. Thunderhoof continued walking forwards to join the back of the queue, but he was suddenly pulled back by Atomic.

“What if we could trade cards right now outside?”

“What are you talking about?” Thunderhoof stared at Atomic’s grin for a few seconds before his eyes widened.

“No, we are not playing hooky! We’re gonna get caught and then we'll get in so much trouble!”

“Oh come on, it'll be fun and besides, Miss Lily never does the register, she won't even realise that we aren’t there.”

“Atomic, I don't care. I'm not risking it and you shouldn’t either.”

Thunderhoof walked away from Atomic to go to their lesson. Atomic called out his name but was ignored, and he ran after Thunderhoof, pulling him back just as he was about to open the door.

“You’re honestly telling me that you’d rather be in English than trade cards with me on the field? Really?”

“It's no that I don't wanna trade with you on the field, it's just that I don't wanna get into trouble.”

“You’re not scared...are you? You’re actually scared of skipping English!”

“I’m not scared!”

The opposite classroom’s door opened and a teacher stuck their head out.

“Why are you two making so much noise? I have students doing a test in here! Get to your lessons, now!”

The teacher slammed their door shut and Atomic pulled Thunderhoof across the corridor.

“Come on, it's not our fault that we never got to trade today, and you know it.”

“Ugh......okay, let’s go. But if we get caught, it's all your fault.”

“We won’t. Let’s go.”

Atomic grinned and opened the door for Thunderhoof to pass through.

“It feels like we’ve been here for ages, when does school end Thunder?”

“I left my watch at home today. Don’t have a clue.”

Atomic and Thunderhoof were currently sat at the back of the field, their hoofball cards scattered on the grass between them. Atomic sighed and lay back onto his satchel.

“Told you nopony would find us here. Maybe we should make this a regular thing.”

“That would make the teachers suspicious, this is just a one time thing,” Thunderhoof replied, and he began to organise the cards into his cards and Atomic’s cards. He accidentally knocked one of the cards away and he stretched his arm to reach it, he looked up and saw a teacher staring at them from a classroom window before moving away.

“Atomic! Atomic!”

“What?” he wearily replied.

“There’s a teacher looking at us. I think he’s coming down to us!”

“What?!” Atomic jumped up and looked at the window that Thunderhoof was pointing at. “There’s nopony there, what are you talking about?!”

“I'm telling you, he was looking straight at us and then he went. He’s gonna come for us, we have to run, now!” cried Thunderhoof, throwing his cards into his bag and pushing Atomic’s pile to him.

“He wouldn’t have been able to see us from all the way up there anyway! Relax!” Atomic reassured, but the nervous tone in his voice betrayed his calm appearance. From where they were sat, Thunderhoof saw the teacher come out onto the field and place a hoof on his forehead and squinted his eyes.

“Are those students sitting on the field when they’re supposed to be in lessons?!” he called out.

The teacher then began to walk quickly towards the back of the field.

“What do we do, what do we do? We’re finished!”

“You’re the one with a horn, magic us to the school gates and then we’ll make a run for it!”

“My magic isn't that good, but I’ll try a teleportation spell. Stand next to me!”

“Quickly!”

Thunderhoof nodded and shut his eyes, desperately trying to conjure up the image of the school gates in his mind. A pale blue aura surrounded his horn and the two colts disappeared from the back of the field.

“Aha! So my suspicions were correct!”

Atomic and Thunderhoof turned around to find the teacher glaring at them.

“Why aren't you in lessons?”

Atomic and Thunderhoof remained in stunned silence, neither answering the question.

“You heard me. Why are you both on the field during lessons?”

“Sir, there’s someone in trouble! Behind you!”

The teacher turned around to where Atomic pointed and the colts took advantage of the distraction, sprinting into the school building. The teacher immediately realised what had happened and he galloped after the colts, yelling at the top of his lungs.

“COME BACK HERE!”

As Atomic and Thunderhoof ran through the school, a few students and teachers came out of the classrooms they passed, with some students even cheering them on. The teacher however, remained on their tails and as the colts turned past another corner, he began to gain on them, his heavy breathing getting louder and louder with every second that passed.

“I told you, to take us to the gates, not, right next to the bucking teacher!”

“I told you that my magic wasn’t that good! This would’ve never happened if we’d just gone to the lesson!”

The bell suddenly rang and almost instantly students began to pour out of classrooms that Atomic and Thunderhoof had just galloped past, eager to get home. Atomic and Thunderhoof slowed down and joined the crowd of students leaving the students, looking behind them every few seconds to check they weren’t still being pursued.

“He’s not there, is he?” asked Thunderhoof.

“Nah, can’t see him. I think we’ve lost him.”

Thunderhoof pushed open the door for himself and Atomic and they quickly walked past it, now approaching the school gates.

“When we look back on our school days, we can at least say that we have skipped a lesson at least once.”

Atomic rinsed his mouth and spat out the water into the sink, checking his teeth in the mirror before leaving the bathroom.

“Atomic remember, I’m gonna wake you up at eight o’clock tomorrow, okay?” Syracuse called out from the bottom of the stairs.

“Yes, Dad.”

Atomic closed his bedroom door behind him and headed straight for his calendar, crossing through the last day before the fourth of September, which Atomic knew would be the most exciting day of his life; a chance to see his hero and his favourite hoofball team live.

THE FOURTH DOWN

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“Atomic, get up! We don't wanna be late for the match remember!”

“Ugh…..I hate school! Can I get five more minutes Mom, please?” he mumbled.

Syracuse entered his son’s bedroom and found Atomic lying on his side in his bed with his hooves tucked underneath the right side of his face.

“Okay then, I guess I’ll just go to the match with somepony else, I mean, I don't wanna waste this ticket if you don’t wanna go. I’ll ask one of my friends, see if he wants to go with me.”

Atomic’s eyes widened and he threw his duvet off as he leapt out of bed. “What time is it, are we late?! Did we miss the game?!”

“We’re not late, I just wanted you to wake you up early so that we could beat the traffic and get there early.”

Atomic breathed a huge sigh of relief and left his room for the bathroom. Five minutes later, he was in the living room eating breakfast with his father.

“Dad, do you think Nick Foals would sign my shirt after the game?”

“Uh, maybe, but we'll have to see. Our seats aren’t that not that close to the tunnel so I don’t know.”

“I have to get my jersey signed by him. I have to.”

The two finished their breakfast and took their bowls to the kitchen for Tea Rose to clean.

“So, today’s the big day. Looking forward to it?”

“The Dragons are gonna win and I’m gonna get Nick Foals’ autograph. So it’s gonna be an awesome day.”

Tea Rose nodded and took Syracuse’s bowl from him, turning the tap on and washing the bowl. “What time does the game start?” she asked her husband.

“Noon, but the stadium’s gonna get pretty packed an hour before that, so we wanna get there early.”

Syracuse and Atomic left the kitchen to go into the living room, and Syracuse headed straight for the radio to turn it on, and Atomic sat next to him.

“And we’re gonna go over live to Cirrus, who’s outside Almerald Centre with some fans. Cirrus.”

“Yes, Blaze, I am currently outside the Dragons’ home ground with some very excited and dedicated fans, the match doesn't start for another three hours! You guys looking forward to the match?”

“YEAH!”

“Who do you think is gonna win?”

“DRAGONS!”

“They got that part right,” Syracuse remarked.

“Nick Foals is totally gonna destroy them!” one of the younger fans exclaimed, and this got Atomic out of his seat.

“Dad, we have to go now! Imagine how ponies are already at the stadium, and if we get to watch Nick Foals practise, then I can him to sign my jersey then!”

“Let’s go now then.”

After buying their train tickets, the father and son waited at the fourth platform of Fillydelphia Station, sitting on a bench that was a few metres away from the train tracks. Atomic looked around at the other ponies that were waiting at the platform, and he noticed that a few ponies were also wearing Dragons’ jerseys, clearly making their way to the match as well. There was a noticeboard hanging down from the ceiling that showed the destination and arrival times of the next five trains to the station. The arrival times were being changed almost every minute by a unicorn porter standing next to it, and she used her magic to change the arrival times when appropriate. Atomic looked at the top of the noticeboard and saw that the train that they were going on, the train from Baltimare to Manehattan that passed through several stops in Fillydelphia, was due to arrive in two minutes.

“Dad, how long will it take for us to get to Almerald Centre?”

“Probably forty minutes. I think there’s three or four stops before Glider Square, which is where we’re gonna get off.”

A shrill whistle suddenly rang out in the platform and in the far distance, the train’s wheels could be heard sliding across the train tracks. A few seconds later, the train appeared, and it began to slow down, grinding to a halt a few seconds later. Syracuse and Atomic quickly got up from the bench and found themselves at the back of one of the two queues of ponies waiting to board the train. The ponies making up the second queue were stood near the back of the train with their suitcases, waiting for the passengers on the train to be given back all of their belongings.

“This is the Baltimare to Manehatten train. Please make sure that you have taken all of your belongings with you.”

Nearly ten minutes after the train had arrived, all of the suitcases on the train had been returned to their owners, and whilst the new set of passengers were having their belongings placed at the back of the train, the train doors finally opened so that the ponies without any baggage could finally board the train.

“Finally! Does it always take this long to get on the train?” Atomic asked.

“Not really, but there must be a lot of ponies travelling today.”

Syracuse looked at their tickets for their seat numbers, and he led Atomic through the other ponies to their seats, which to Atomic’s delight were next to the windows. Atomic surveyed the other ponies in their carriage, counting how many ponies were also headed to the match.

“Dad, there’s barely anybody here that’s going to the game! I bet everypony that’s going is already at the stadium in their seats! We’re gonna miss the match!”

“Atomic, relax! We’re gonna be fine, okay? We'll make it well before kickoff, and remember, you could get you-know-who’s autograph whilst they’re practising.”

“Oh, yeah!” Atomic lay back in his seat and began plotting how he was going to get his autograph. He was still yet to decide to a final method when the train came to a stop at Glider Square.

“This is Glider Square. This is the Baltimare to Manehatten train. Please take all of your belongings with you.”

The father and son left the train and headed straight through the platform exit, going down the stairs and approaching the checkout area. The two went to the closest free till and booked their return train tickets for after the game.

“All done. Woah!”

Syracuse was suddenly yanked forward by Atomic, and he was pulled to the train station’s exit by his son. He quickly balanced himself so that he didn’t fall flat on his face, and he laughed as Atomic pulled him again to burst through the other ponies leaving, and they finally made it outside the station.

Glider Square was arguably the most well-known part of Fillydelphia, and the square was named after Cloud Glider, a pegasus who grew up in the area and spent his entire seventeen-year career with the Fillydelphia Dragons as their quarterback, winning four Sugar Bowls and and gaining the title of the Dragons’ greatest player of all time and one of the top five greatest hoofball players of all time as well. In the middle of the square was a large stone statue of Cloud Glider, standing on his hind legs holding a hoofball with one of his hooves, preparing to throw it. Atomic walked up to the statue and read the description at the base of the statue.

Cloud Glider- an all-time great who played his heart out every match for the Dragons. Your efforts, achievements and what you brought to the city of Fillydelphia will never be forgotten.

“I'm gonna have my own square and my own statue outside Almerald Centre someday Dad, I know I will. I’m gonna be a Dragons’ legend.”

Syracuse smiled and put an arm around Atomic. “Someday soon, I hope.”

The two stared at the statue silently, time coming to a stop as they looked at Cloud Glider, both imaging the prospect of a statue of Atomic being built someday. Atomic was the first to snap out of the daydream, looking around him and spotting a large clock that hung at the entrance of the train station.

“Look, it's eleven o’clock,” Atomic exclaimed, turning around and pointing to the large clock that hung at the entrance of Glider Square Train Station, “the teams are gonna start practising soon, we have to get there now!”

“I can see a taxi over there, let’s go.”

Atomic followed Syracuse past the statue and to the crossing point, where they waited for the pedestrian light to turn green. Once the red light flashed on and the pedestrians could cross, Atomic and Syracuse ran across the road as the taxi came closer and closer to them.

“TA-TAXI, TAXI!”

The taxi driver, a dark-brown, older looking stallion slowly came to a stop in front of Atomic and Syracuse whilst they were slowing down as well, and he stuck his head out of the carriage.

“You guys need a ride?”

“Ye-yeah, just, gimme a second,” Syracuse panted, breathing heavily. A few moments later, he slowly entered the carriage with Atomic, and he opened his saddlebag to pay the fare.

“No, no, no, it's fine; you can pay me when we get to wherever you’re going,” the taxi driver reassured, and he then looked at Syracuse for a few seconds. Syracuse stared back silently before realising what the taxi driver was asking.

“Oh, sorry! Take us to Almerald Centre please!”

“Your wish is my command!”

The driver opened his window and placed his hooves on the pedals underneath them, pushing down on them in turn as the taxi set off for Almerald Centre.

“You guys going to the Dragons’ game then?”

“Yes, my son’s a big fan of them.”

“It’s all my kids have been talking about at home for the last two weeks!” the taxi driver replied. Ahead of him, the traffic light became, red, and the taxi cam to a stop as the pedestrians crossed the road. The taxi driver turned around to his passengers. “What’s your name, kid?”

“Atomic. Atomic Tangerine.”

“You looking forward to watching the Dragons?” the driver then turned back round at the same time that the traffic light turned green, and he set off again.

“Yeah, and I’m gonna get Nick Foals’ autograph!”

“That sounds fun. Good luck with that!”

Forty-five minutes later, the taxi driver steered the carriage into the Almerald Centre parking lot, which was already half-full, and he drove up and down through the rows of carriages, until he found an empty space that was at the back of the parking lot. The carriage came to a stop and Atomic opened the door next to him, jumping out of the carriage whilst Syracuse paid the taxi driver.

“Enjoy the game, you two!”

The taxi driver waved goodbye to Atomic and Syracuse as he drove past, and the father and son did the same.

“Right, let’s get out of here and find our seats!” Atomic announced, taking his father’s saddlebag and opening it to take out their match tickets. “Dad, where are the tickets?!”

“They’re in here, what are you talking-” Syracuse took his bag from Atomic and tipped it open, watching the coins and pieces of paper fall out. He dropped to the ground and ran his hooves through his belongings, his face becoming paler and paler with each second that passed.

“No, no, no, they have to be in here! I put them in this morning, there’s no way that I could’ve forgotten them!”

“Dad.”

Syracuse looked up to find Atomic holding the two tickets with a huge grin on his face.

“Gotcha.”

Syracuse sighed loudly in relief as he picked up his belongings and got up off the concrete. He suddenly grabbed Atomic and picked him up, holding him high in the air. He then moved his arms lower and forward simultaneously, bringing Atomic closer to the ground

“Okay, okay Dad, I’m sorry, please put me down!” Atomic squealed. Syracuse laughed but obliged with Atomic’s request and put him down.

“You almost gave me a heart attack!”

“Just keeping you on your hooves, that’s all,” Atomic smirked. The two then exited the parking lot and Atomic spotted some fans that were headed to the stadium and the two of them followed the group, coming to a stop when they finally reached their destination; Almerald Centre. The Fillydelphia Dragons’ home ground had the second-largest seating capacity in Equestria (after Manehatten) with the stadium being able to hold a maximum of 77,000 ponies. The outside of the stadium had another large statue of Cloud Glider, standing on his hind legs but this time his arms and wings were outstretched and his head was tilted up. There was already a large number of fans outside the stadium, with many in line waiting to be granted entry. Atomic and Syracuse joined the back of the queue and they struck up a conversation with a family of five behind him, their hopes for the Dragons to be victorious over the Eagles being the main topic.

“So did all of you come out for the match today?” Syracuse asked.

“Yep, there was no way that we were gonna miss the season opener!” they replied, and the youngest one jumped up and down.

“Are you the only two to come out for the game?” the mother asked, holding her youngest child next to her.

“Yeah, my wife’s not really a fan of hoofball and she has to look after our daughter.”

“Tell her to bring your kid next time, she’ll have fun at the game.”

Syracuse continued speaking to the mother and her other children as they waited in the queue, and Atomic waited quietly and listened in to the conversation, before he was tapped on the shoulder. Atomic turned around and was stunned to see a familiar face.

“Chestnut!”

“Hey Atomic,” he shyly greeted.

“I didn’t even see you there, who did you come with?”

“My family,” Chestnut pointed to the ponies that Syracuse was talking to.

“You did? I didn’t even notice you!”

Chestnut’s lips curled back down. “Yeah, that happens a lot.”

Noticing Chestnut’s melancholy expression, Atomic swiftly changed the subject.

“So, you excited for the match?”

“Yeah, but I’m more of a Mustangs fan.”

“The Manehatten Mustangs? How come?! They’re such an average team!” Atomic exclaimed, stepping forward and this intimidated Chestnut.

“Er, well I’ve pretty much lived all of my life in Manehatten, and we only moved here three months ago. We used to go to most of their matches. But Nick Foals is one of my favourite players, so I don’t mind coming to watch them.”

“Okay, that makes sense, I thought you were gonna say something like, ‘the Mustangs are way better than the Dragons!’” Atomic reassured, and Chestnut smiled.

“Chestnut, where’s my saddlebag?” his mother asked.

“Right here Mom,” Chestnut handed the saddlebag to his mother and she took out four tickets, handing one to each of her children.

“Don't let anything happen to them kids, alright? If you damage or lose them, then they won't let us in to watch the match, understand?”

“Yes, Mom,” the foals replied.

Chestnut’s family reached the front of the queue and handed over their tickets to the pony behind the counter, waiting for a few minutes whilst she scanned each ticket.

“Chestnut, what seats did you get?”

“I don't know, but I think they’re in one of the bottom rows in the middle.”

Atomic looked at his ticket and checked Chestnut to see if they were sitting near each other. “We’re sitting right next next to each other! The view’s gonna be ace from there, and Nick Foals will definitely see me!”

Chestnut’s family’s tickets were scanned and they entered the stadium, with Chestnut asking his mom if he could hanging back to wait for Atomic, telling her that they were going to end up sitting next to each other anyway. Once their tickets had been scanned, Atomic and Syracuse headed inside with Chestnut into a lobby that was filled with ponies in a line for a stall selling the usual match-time foods such as vegetable hot dogs and hayburgers. To the far right was the official Dragons shop, which was almost completely filled with fans making last-minute purchases of Dragons merchandise. To the far left, Atomic was barely able to make out the flight of stairs, the steps being almost completely covered by hooves clambering up the stairs to get to their seats quickly. In the middle was a large help desk that had quite a large line waiting in front of it, the stallion in the front demanding that his ticket (a scrunched up strip of paper with ‘Dragons vs Eaegles’ written in black marker) was real.

As Chestnut walked over to Chestnut, Atomic pulled on his father’s foreleg. “I can’t wait to see what Almerald Centre is like on the inside! I’ve only ever seen pictures of the outside!

“Let’s go and find out what it looks like on the inside.”

The three of them joined the ponies climbing the stairs and they made their way up the two flights of stairs and stepped out into the open.

“Woah.”

Almerald Centre was bigger and better than Atomic could’ve ever imagined. The seats were dark green to match the team’s colours, the team’s logo (a fire-breathing dragon) was displayed on each seat. Most of the seats on the other side of the stadium had already been filled, but there were still several seats open on the side of the pitch that Atomic, Syracuse and Chestnut were sitting in. As they squeezed past other ponies to get to their seats, Atomic and Chestnut saw that the two teams were already training on the two ends of the pitch, and Atomic’s heartbeat quickened when he spotted a tall, baby blue colt making runs and catching passes from his teammates.

“Dad, I can see him! It’s Nick Foals!”

Syracuse led the colts down the steps to their seats, with Atomic’s growing infectious excitement even having an effect on Chestnut, who couldn’t keep a smile off his face. The three of them sat down in their seats, with Atomic sitting in between his father and Chestnut.

“Look, he’s so close to us!”

The group’s seats were luckily only a few rows above the pitch, so they all sat together and watched the Dragons practise, with Atomic only focusing on Nick Foals. He watched as the Dragons’ star player easily caught a thirty-yard pass, and he achieved the same result with a teammate marking him for a further catch. His next attempt saw him stumble a little as he went up to catch a forty-yard pass with two defenders, but he was still able to make the catch.

“Woah.” Atomic’s eyes were as wide as saucers and he couldn't keep his eyes off Nick Foals. The receiver clapped his hooves and took several steps back, asking for a longer pass. The ball came at him low and fast, and Nick galloped as fast as he could towards the ball, diving with both of his arms outstretched. The ball was able to come into contact with his hooves, but it ricocheted off the edge of Nick’s left hoof and made a beeline towards the stands.

“Atomic! Are you okay?!”

The ball dropped to the floor off off Atomic’s nose, and he groaned and held his hooves to his nose for a few seconds. Chestnut picked up the ball and threw it back onto the pitch before turning to help his friend.

“Atomic, move your hooves, I need to see if you’re bleeding!” Syracuse pleaded.

Atomic nodded slightly and slowly moved his hooves away, revealing thick lines of blood running down from both of his nostrils.

“Your nose! Wait there, I’m gonna go get a first aid kit!”

Syracuse bolted from his seat to find a first aid kit, and Atomic winced as he pressed his hooves against his nose to try and stop the bleeding, but this only resulted in droplets of blood landing onto the front of his jersey.

“Don’t do that, you’ll only make it worse!” Chestnut’s mother reached over and pushed Atomic’s hooves back down onto his lap. “Wait for your dad, he’ll be back really soon.”

Amidst all of the commotion, Atomic hadn’t noticed that a certain Dragons player was making his way towards the stands, and he jumped over some of the seats and climbed up the stairs.

“Atomic, lo-look!” Chestnut stammered, pointing to the approaching pony. Atomic lifted his head and found himself face to face with Nick Foals.

“What’s your name, kid?”

Atomic’s eyes widened and he opened his mouth, but no sound came out. The pain from his nose becoming a mere dull sensation and time came to a standstill as his brain tried to comprehend the fact that his all-time favourite player was actually standing in front of him and talking to him.

Say something!

“.....It’s Atomic, sir. Atomic Tangerine,” he managed to get out.

“No need to call me sir, just Nick. Atomic Tangerine’s a really cool name. It’s definitely a lot cooler than plain old Nick Foals!”

Atomic laughed slightly but his eyes were still wide open, and he quickly moved his father’s saddlebag onto his lap as Nick Foals sat down next to him.

“I'm so sorry I hit you with the ball. I normally make those kind of catches, but I don't know what went wrong today. You gonna be okay?”

Atomic moved his hoof towards his nose and found that the blood previously running from his nostrils had dried up.

“Yeah, it's fine now.”

“Let me sign your shirt for you, as a proper apology.”

Atomic nodded quickly and opened the saddlebag, taking out a marker and handing it to Nick Foals, who used his mouth to take off the lid off before lowering his head and writing on the front of the jersey.

“There you go, Atomic. Looking forward to the game?”

“Yeah! We’re definitely gonna win!”

“That's good to hear!”

“Foals! You’re needed down here! Let’s go!” the head coach yelled, tapping his clipboard impatiently.

Nick Foals sighed and got up off the chair.

“Looks like they need me down there. Enjoy the match, yeah?”

Atomic and the others waved at Nick Foals, and he smiled and waved back before leaving to go back onto the pitch.

“Did that really happen? Did I talk to Nick Foals, and did he speak to me? This has to be a dream, somepony pinch me!”

Chestnut’s family laughed as Atomic leaned back and put his hooves behind his head. At that moment, Syracuse emerged at the top of the steps and quickly came down towards Atomic, holding a small first aid briefcase in his mouth. As he arrived at his seat, he dropped the first aid kit onto his chair and knelt down in front of Atomic.

“You feeling okay son? Sorry I took so long, it took me ages to find somepony who knew where first aid was and- wait, how come you’re smiling?”

Atomic simply smiled and gestured to the front of his jersey. Syracuse looked at the jersey and read the message.

Stay cool like your name, Atomic.

Nick Foals

“See Dad, I told you I was gonna get his autograph!”

Syracuse smiled and ruffled his son’s mane before getting up and sitting in his seat. He used a wet tissue to wipe away the dry blood, and put the bloodied tissues into a small plastic bag to throw away later.

“Judging by all the ponies that are here now, I think it's safe to say that kickoff is probably very soon,” Chestnut’s mother pointed out. Atomic and Chestnut turned around and saw that the rows behind him were almost completely full with fans. The rest of the stadium was also filling up rather quickly, with the away fans taking up a significant portion of the seats behind the far goalposts. Players from the Fillydelphia Dragons and Cloudsdale Eagles left the pitch for the players’ tunnel, and at the same time a few ponies holding trays of fast food came out and they began going through the rows.

“Mom, look! Can I get a hayburger?!”

“And I wanna get a soda. Please, Mom?!”

Chestnut’s siblings were pointing to two ponies coming down the steps, one holding a tray of hayburgers and hotdogs around her neck whilst the other was holding a tray of drinks, stopping every few seconds to serve ponies. Chestnut’s mother nodded and the children celebrated briefly before they called over the two ponies.

“What can we get you guys?!”

As Chestnut’s siblings shouted over each other to try and get what they wanted, Atomic laughed and turned to Chestnut.

“Are they always like this?”

“Pretty much, but they’re cool.”

“You guys want anything?” Syracuse opened his saddlebag and took out some coins.

“Okay then, can I get a hotdog and a soda?”

“I'm fine sir, I ate before we came here.”

The group were all eventually served their food and Syracuse and Chesnut’s mother paid for the food.

“Hey, what school do you go to Chestnut? I feel like that’s one of the first things you ask when you meet somepony new that’s your own age, but I’m gonna ask now.”

“I go to Oakleaf Elementary, but my mom wants me to go to a school that’s closer to our house, so I’m probably gonna leave soon. What about you?”

“Greenfield Elementary. It's alright.”

The two colts continued talking about their respective schools for the next ten minutes, until they were interrupted by the booming voice of the announcer.

“FILLIES AND GENTLECOLTS, ARE YOU READY?!”

Almerald Centre erupted with cheers that shook the stadium to its core, and Atomic and Chestnut eagerly joined in.

“NOW PRESENTING, YOUR FILLYDELPHIA DRAGONS!”

As the announcer finished the sentence, the smoke machines that were on either side of the entrance of the players’ tunnel came out, and within a few seconds smoke completely covered the tunnel entrance. The crowd cheered and clapped as the players began to emerge from the tunnel one by one, and Atomic recognised most of them, including the quarterback Cartwheel, and the Dragons’ star receiver was the last to come out to rapturous applause.

The Cloudsdale Hawks’ entrance onto the pitch was a lot calmer, but their fans still be heard cheering throughout the stadium. The two teams went over to their benches and stood with their coaches and the reserve players, lining up and waiting quietly.

“Please stand for the Equestrian national anthem, performed by Colouratura.”

The spectators clapped as the pop star made her way to the centre of the pitch, where a large stage with a microphone was waiting for her.

Syracuse laughed as Atomic tried to stand up. “You don’t have to stand Atomic.”

“But this is what I’ll have to do when I go pro. It’ll be good practise.”

Atomic stood up and cleared his throat, waiting for the song to begin. Once the instrumentals came in, he joined in with the rest of the crowd, but he quickly remembered that he did not know all of the lyrics of the anthem, and he struggled, briefly turning around trying to read the lips of the ponies nearby in order to keep up.

“You know what, next time I’ll just stay sitting down,” Atomic whispered sheepishly.

“Yeah, that isn’t a bad idea,” Syracuse smirked.

The anthem came to an end and applause rang out through the stadium before coming to a stop. Colouratura bowed before leaving the pitch and the microphone and podium were quickly cleared away.

“The Dragons are gonna win, I’m already telling you, they will!”

Chestnut laughed as Atomic continued cheering for the Dragons, and soon he found himself joining in along with his brothers and sisters. Syracuse and Chestnut’s mother looked at each other before laughing. The two captains from both teams met at the middle of the pitch and shook hooves, before speaking with the referees.

“The Fillydelphia Dragons have won the coin toss and have chosen to receive the ball,” the announcer informed and the announcement was met with a loud cheer from the home fans.

“Yes, that means that we’re gonna score the first touchdown, and Nick Foals is probably gonna get it!”

The two sets of eleven players lined up on the opposite ends of the pitch. The punter placed the ball down in front of him and turned around before bucking the ball across the pitch. Nick Foals was standing in the middle as the ball flew across the pitch, and he stretched his arms up to grab the ball, receiving cheers from the crowd. He lowered his head and galloped to his right, his teammates blocking the other team from tackling him. Nick Foals made it through twenty, thirty and forty yards before he was tackled on the fifty yard line.

The Dragons’ supporters cheered and Nick Foals celebrated with his teammates before they huddled together to draw up their play for their first drive.

“We’re gonna a touchdown on the first down, I’m calling it right now,” Atomic proclaimed, barely able to stay still in his seat.

“It’ll probably take a few downs to get to the end zone,” Syracuse countered, and Atomic looked at him in disbelief.

“Come on Dad! You’re not working right now, you’re allowed to say that the Dragons are gonna get to the end zone!”

Syracuse pointed to the pitch, where the two teams had already lined up in formation; the Dragons’ offensive line were stood in front of the defensive line, with the tight end standing a few metres away from the right. The two receivers were standing to the far left and right of the offensive line respectively, with Nick Foals slightly ahead of the other receiver. The referee moved his whistle to his mouth and blew to start the first down. The ball was snapped to Cartwheel and he he quickly took two steps back whilst the offensive and defensive lines charged at each other, the offensive line desperately trying to hold back the Cloudsdale Eagles from rushing Cartwheel. The quarterback surveyed his surroundings, spotting Nick Foals trying to push Slate Gray away from him and get free, whilst the other receiver was being heavily marked by his defender. The defensive line were beginning to get past and they approached Cartwheel, their arms reaching out to grab him and throw him to the ground. Cartwheel shimmied to his left to avoid being tackled and he threw the ball to the tight end Wild Ace. The tight end made a dash for the sixty yard line, and he was able to make it up to the fifty-six yard mark before he was tackled.

The home fans cheered loudly and Wild Ace high-fived his teammates.

“We’re gonna get the TD on this down, I’m telling you,” Atomic claimed, high-diving a smiling Chestnut.

Play restarted from the fifty-six yard line and this time the Dragons’ formation was made up of Cartwheel waiting behind the centre with an extra two wide receivers being deployed. This increased the number of passing options that Cartwheel had, and he was able to throw the ball to Nick Foals who was at the forty-five yard mark.

“Yes, come on Nick!” cheered Atomic and Chestnut.

Unfortunately for the Dragons and their fans, Nick Foals’ defender was arguably the best cornerback in the league, and Slate Gray was able to use his wings to reach up into the air above Foals and catch the ball, although he was quickly tackled to the ground by Nick Foals before he could travel ten yards.

Atomic threw his half-finished hotdog down. “We lost the ball already?! How?!”

“He’s gonna be a real problem for us today,” Syracuse solemnly stated, taking a sip from his soda.

Slate Gray quickly pushed himself up and pointed at the hoofball, sneering as he made a comment. Nick Foals’ teammates tried to pull him away, but the receiver bounded up to Slate Gray, and the two clashed helmets. The referees ran onto the pitch and pulled the two apart, with Nick Foals still shouting as he was taken off the pitch.

“Why did they pull Nick away? They should’ve let him beat the crap out of Slate!”

“Atomic, it's still the first quarter, we have loads of time to get the ball back,” said Syracuse, picking up Atomic’s hotdog and putting it in his lap.

The Cloudsdale Hawks wasted no time in lining up behind their line of scrimmage into a singleback formation, and when the whistle blew, they used the gaps created by their tight end’s blocking to throw a pass to their outermost receiver, and he charged towards the end zone.

“Come on guys, get him already!”

The receiver dodged the first defender and a teammate swooped in to take care of the next closest defender, giving the receiver a clear path to the end zone, which he took.

“NO!”

Atomic threw his hotdog to the floor again in frustration as the Cloudsdale Hawks celebrated getting the touchdown, and the scoring receiver ran to the fans watching behind the goalposts and celebrated with them, before he was gently pulled back down by a security guard.

“They beat the Mustangs last year in the first round, and now it looks like they might win again,” Chestnut said, but Syracuse interjected.

“Come on guys, don't lose hope now. Yeah, it sucks that they scored first, but there’s still loads of time for us to get the comeback and win.”

Atomic and Chestnut nodded unconvincingly before re-focusing their attention onto the pitch for the Eagles’ conversion attempt, which was successful, thus giving them a seven point lead at the halfway mark of the first quarter. The next six minutes saw the Dragons only advance eight yards for their first three downs, thus running the risk of turning over the ball to the Hawks.

The whistle blew to begin the fourth down and Cartwheel made a long pass to Nick Foals at the forty yard line, who this time was able to grab the ball before Slate Gray. As they both came back down, Slate Gray slipped and fell to the ground, and Nick Foals jumped over him and made a beeline for the endzone.

“Thirty, twenty, come on!”

Whilst some of the other Dragons players had brought down some of the defenders, a linebacker was able to steer clear of a tackle attempt and he pumped his wings quickly as he flew low across the ground, quickly catching up to Nick Foals and bringing him down at the fifteen-yard mark just as the whistle blew to end the first quarter.

“Damn it! We were so close! How is he allowed to fly like that, isn't it against the rules Dad?”

“No, pegasi can't fly above six feet and he was flying really low, that's why the tackle is allowed,” Syracuse explained, and Atomic grumbled as he gulped down the last of his soda, hoping that his team would come through and win the match.

The second and third quarter of the match saw the Dragons and Hawks locked in a stalemate, with both of their defences playing brilliantly to stop the offence they were facing from scoring a touchdown, and this meant that by the five minute mark of the fourth quarter, a field goal allowed the Hawks to hold a 10-0 lead over their opponents.

“We can’t lose the first match of the season, we can’t! How are we gonna challenge for the title at this rate?!”

Chestnut opened his mouth to dispel Atomic’s worries but couldn’t think of anything good to say. The whistle rang out to begin the final quarter and the Dragons restarted play from the forty yard line for their first down. Cartwheel threw a bullet pass to Nick Foals who was the closest to him at the thirty five yard mark, and the star receiver made a dash for the thirty yard line, eventually making it to twenty five yards before he was tackled. The Dragons quickly regrouped and wasted no time with their first down, and this time Cartwheel handed the ball off to the running back behind him, and he was tackled just before the ten yard line.

“Come on, we’re so close,” Atomic muttered, staring intensely at the pitch. Cartwheel called the play and threw a short pass to Nick Foals at the edge of the end zone.

“YES!”

Nick Foals held the ball up in the air and yelled to the fans before being tackled to the ground by his other teammates.

“I knew he was gonna get it, I knew it!” Atomic and Syracuse high-fived and Chestnut did the same with his brothers and sisters, joining in with the home fans’ celebrations.

When the Hawks took possession of the ball again, they were unable to score the winning touchdown or get within field goal range. This meant that the Dragons has been provided with a last-second opportunity to win the game.

Atomic clasped his hoof together and squeezed them. “Come on, just make the field goal and we can beat them in overtime.”

The Dragons’ kicker waited beside his placeholder for the ball to be snapped. When the long snapper threw the ball backwards, the placeholder quickly brought it down to the ground as the locker turned around, and he bucked the ball with all his might.

“YES!”

The kicker was congratulated by his teammates and all of the players ran off the pitch in preparation for overtime.

With overtime entering the final thirty seconds, the score was still tied and the Dragons were currently attacking, the impressive thirty yard run of their running back bringing them up to the forty yard line.

“Come on, we have to win. We have to!”

Atomic began nervously chewing on his jersey and he leaned forward to focus on what was happening on the pitch. The tension in the stadium had reached a peak level by this point, with each fan hoping and praying that their team would come through to take the win.

The ball was snapped and Cartwheel ‍threw the ball long to Nick Foals, who was quickly making a dash for the end zone, desperately trying to keep pace with the ball. His defender Slate Gray used his wings to stay close with him, meaning that the two were neck and neck as they came closer and closer to the ball.

“Come on Nick, come on!”

The ball began to descend earlier and quicker than Nick Foals expected, and he realised in a panic that he would not be able to catch the ball in time.

“He has to catch it, he has to!”

In a final, desperate attempt to win the game for his team, Nick Foals dug his back legs into the grass as he reached the end zone line, and he dove forward into the end zone, his right arm stretched out as far as possible.

“I think he caught it!”

As his right hoof gripped onto the hoofball, Nick quickly pulled his arm inwards into his body to secure the ball as he landed onto the grass. Slate Gray tried his best to wrestle the ball out of Nick Foals’ grip. The two were quickly separated by the referees, and they declared that Nick Foals has caught the ball in the end zone.

“YEEEEESSSSS!”

The Dragons fans celebrated wildly; drinks were thrown into the air, ponies jumped out of their seats to celebrate with each other and the cheers rocked the stadium to its core.

“HE DID IT, HE DID IT!”

Atomic, Syracuse and Chestnut’s family hugged each other as they jumped out of their seats, and in the embrace of his father and newfound friend, Atomic never wanted this moment to end.

THE FIFTH DOWN

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“And then he dived forward and caught the ball with one hoof just as the whistle blew! One hoof, isn't that awesome?!”

The colts and fillies around Atomic listened in wonder as he concluded his re-telling of the dramatic finale of the Dragons-Hawks match that took place two weeks ago. The group had gathered on the courtyard in front of the main building as they waited for the first bell to ring, and Atomic had taken this opportunity to fill his classmates in on the weekend’s game. The Dragons had since been able to win their next three matches, thus placing them at the top of the league table.

“You’re so lucky you got to see the Dragons win!”

“And is it true that Nick Foals actually signed your shirt?!”

Atomic nodded and opened his saddlebag to take out his jersey, holding it up by the sleeve so that the message was clear to see.

“Woah!”

“I know! Hopefully me and my dad can go to a few more games this season.”

The first bell rang and Atomic stuffed his shirt back inside his saddlebag and said goodbye to the colts and fillies before heading off to homeroom alone, since Thunderhoof had come down with a bad flu over the weekend and was still not well enough to come to school.

Today’s gonna be crap without Thunder.

Atomic joined the back of the queue outside his homeroom and the group only had to wait for less than a minute before Miss Ivory arrived, and she unlocked the door to let her students in. The colts and fillies came in quietly, having become well accustomed by now to Miss Ivory’s expectations regarding behaviour.

“Good morning Miss Ivory.”

“Good morning. Now, before you begin updating your progress diaries, I have two announcements to make.”

The students immediately sat up and listened carefully.

“From next week, there will be a competition until the end of this semester between all of the homerooms in your grade to see who can get the most merits.”

Atomic rolled his eyes and began checking his bag to make sure that he had all of his books, clearly not interested in sucking up to his teachers to get more merits.

“The winning homeroom class…….a tour of Almerald Centre!”

Atomic’s ears perked up when he heard Almerald Centre.

“Miss, did you say Almerald Centre?!”

“Yes I did Atomic; clearly you were not listening.”

Atomic blushed and looked down at his desk.

The other students began excitedly discussing the prospect of visiting the Dragons’ stadium, with a few of the fillies complaining that the prize should be changed to something more interesting.

“Excuse me, did I give you permission to discuss the prize?”

Silence quickly descended upon the classroom.

“There is another announcement. There is a new pupil joining our homeroom today.”

The door opened and a colt walked in. He looked down at his saddlebag and adjusted the strap as he walked to the front of the classroom.

“This is Chestnut Oak.”

Chestnut lifted his head up and smiled weakly. Atomic immediately recognised him and gave him a huge smile.

“Master Oak, take your timetable and sit at the empty desk at the back.”

Chestnut nodded and sat at the desk next to Atomic. Miss Ivory handed out the class’ progress diaries and instructed them to review their monthly targets. She sat back down at her desk and se became quickly engrossed into her work.

“When you told me your mom wanted you to move schools, I didn’t know it would be so soon,” Atomic whispered, glancing at the front every few seconds to make sure Miss Ivory couldn’t hear them.

“My mom put me on the waiting list here before the end of last year, and we came in to see the deputy head on Friday and he told her that there was a space available in your grade.”

“Well, I’m glad you’re coming here. Since Thunder’s ill today, it'll be cool to hang out with you.”

Chestnut smiled gratefully and the two continued conversing quietly for the rest of homeroom. When the bell rang, Chestnut unfolded his timetable and turned to Atomic.

“Do you know where Miss Bellflower’s classroom is?”

“You’re in the same English class as me, that’s awesome! Follow me.”

“The food here is actually way better than my old school. How long is lunchtime?”

“An hour, but the bell always rings five minutes early.”

Atomic and Chestnut left the canteen and headed outside onto the field.

“This school’s actually really big; well, a lot bigger than my old school,” Chestnut remarked as the two colts walked through the grass.

“It doesn’t seem that big to me, but that’s probably cause this is the only school I’ve ever been to.”

Atomic led Chestnut to the back of the field to sit at the spot that he and Thunderhoof frequently sat at, and the two sat down before Atomic took out his EHL cards.

“I forgot to take these out of my bag last week. Do you have any EHL cards?”

“Yeah, but I only started buying them at the start of the summer holidays and the ones I got aren’t that good; my best one is a gold Shadow Mark from the Mustangs,” Chestnut admitted, rubbing the back of his head.

“Here, you can have one of my elites,” Atomic looked over his pile of cards and smiled as he picked out the running back Ice Heart, Chestnut’s team’s best player.

“Woah, you have an elite Ice Heart?! I can’t take this, here,” Chestnut immediately handed the card back to Atomic, who shook his head and put it back in Chestnut’s hoof.

“I’ve been doing this for nearly three and a half years, so I have elites to spare. Besides, I know the Manehattan Mustangs are your team, so it’s a win-win.”

Chestnut smiled gratefully and thanked Atomic as he placed the card in his bag.

“So, what are the ponies in our grade like?”

“They’re pretty cool, I don’t have any problems with most of them.”

“Most of them?”

“Yeah, there’s this colt in our homeroom class, lemme try and point him out for you.”

Atomic scanned the field looking for Pablo and spotted him nearly twenty yards away with Blaze and Mustang.

“You see that light green colt over there, catching the ball? Presenting the biggest asshole in Equestria: Pablo Scar.”

Atomic and Chestnut watched Pablo miss the ball thrown to him completely and fall onto the grass, and Blaze and Mustang sniggered quietly when Pablo’s back was turned. His ears perked up and he suddenly turned around and threw the ball at Blaze, aiming for his face and hitting it. Blaze immediately dropped to the ground, groaning and clutching his face. Mustang rushed over to see if his friend was okay, but Pablo shot him a fierce glare and the colt stopped in his tracks immediately.

Chestnut frowned. “I see what you mean.”

Atomic and Chestnut sat in silence for the next two minutes, with neither colt being able to think of a new topic of conversation. Atomic shuffled his cards back together into one pile and he carefully put it back inside his saddlebag.

“Does Greenfield have a hoofball team?” Chestnut asked, and Atomic shook his head.

“We did have one a few years ago but the old coach got caught putting his nephews that were in high school onto the team. When our principal found out, he fired the teacher and got rid of the team straight away.”

“Oh.”

“So, who d’you think is gonna get win the Sugar Bowl this season?” Atomic asked, and what followed for the rest of lunchtime was a debate between the two colts over their different opinions.

“You know that the Dragons are gonna win, we have Nick Foals, and you know that nopony is gonna be able to stop him this season. You know what, I’m gonna call it right now; he’s gonna be MVP this season!”

“Yeah, I get what you’re saying but you have to remember that they lost to the Canterlot Knights in the semi-finals last season; and they didn’t even have La Salle playing, and you know he’s the best QB in the league and a top-three QB of all time. Watch, they're probably gonna beat the Dragons today and then that’ll prove my point.

“Okay then, we’ll see who wins today, and it’ll be the Dragons, and then I’ll be right.”

The bell rang just as Atomic finished his point, and he sighed as they got up from the grass.

“I swear, they need to make lunchtime longer,” Atomic complained, and Chestnut shrugged nonchalantly.

“At least we have PE next,” Chestnut pointed out, and Atomic’s mood instantly brightened.

“Oh yeah, that’ll be cool! What was PE like at your old school?”

“Our teacher was so biased to the best hoofball players, so it wasn't really fun. Do you remember Alabaster? From the tryouts?”

“Oh yeah, I remember him!” Atomic exclaimed as memories of the pale gray colt’s stellar performance in the tryouts came back to him.

“He used to be in my PE class at Oakleaf, and he was the best in our class, so you can imagine how much he was adored by my old teacher.”

Atomic led Chestnut through the crowd of students that were heading inside and they walked through the buckball courts to join the line of colts waiting for Coach Cobalt.

“Look guys, Atomic’s already babying the new guy. Guess he’s replacing Thunderhoof as mommy today!”

Pablo was stood behind Atomic and Chestnut and he smirked as a few colts sniggered, and Atomic turned around and narrowed his eyes.

“Pablo, I don’t get why you’re so obsessed with me, is your life really that boring for you to be involved in mine 24/7?”

A chorus of ‘oohs’ rang out from the colts and Pablo grumbled before turning his attention into Chestnut.

“Hey Cheese Nut, or whatever your name is, why are you with this guy? Come over here and hang with us.”

Chestnut nervously shuffled his hooves and answered quietly.

“I’m fine, thank you.”

“What did you say?” Pablo moved his head forward.

“I said I’m-”

“Dude speak up I can’t hear you!” Pablo sneered.

“I said I’m-”

“Just ignore him, he’s an idiot,” Atomic whispered, glaring at Pablo.

Pablo stepped forward and opened his mouth to counter.

“Ladies! We have a hoofball unit to get through! Come on, go get changed!”

Me Cobalt clapped his hooves quickly as the colts began to make their way to the changing rooms.

“Hold on, where’s the new student?” Mr Cobalt asked, and the colts stopped where they were, with Atomic gesturing to Chestnut that he should speak up.

“Um, sir, I’m the new student,” Chestnut said quietly.

“This is your first day right? You can borrow a shirt from me for today, but you need to have your own one by next lesson, or the usual half an hour after school detention will apply. Understood? Now wait here, I’ll go and get you a shirt.”

Chestnut nodded and as the other colts entered the changing room and headed to their usual spots, he waited outside and watched Mr Cobalt gallop back towards the school to retrieve the shirt.

Nearly two minutes later, Chestnut was handed the spare shirt and Coach Cobalt ushered him inside. Chestnut stood still, looking for Atomic before his friend called out his name.

“Over here Chestnut!”

Chestnut quickly headed over to Atomic, who was at the back of the changing rooms, and he put his bag down next to Atomic.

“What are you guys doing today?” he asked.

“Probably some more drills, that’s what we’ve done for the past two weeks, but I really wanna play a game today.”

“I wouldn’t mind if we just did some drills today, I’m not really in the mood for a game.”

Atomic pulled his shirt down over his head and looked at Chestnut quizzically.

“How come?”

“I’m kinda tired, that’s all,” Chestnut suddenly yawned loudly and placed a hoof over his mouth. Atomic looked at him quietly, clearly not convinced by his excuse but decided not to push it.

“Let’s go! We’ve already lost ten minutes of the lesson!”

Atomic and Chestnut followed their classmates and left the changing rooms, but not before they were stopped by Mr Cobalt.

“Thank you in advance,” Mr Cobalt said as he handed two buckets one by one to Atomic and Chestnut.

Atomic grumbled as he carried the bucket out onto the field, but Chestnut didn’t have too much trouble with it. The two slowly walked up the steps and passed through the gates and onto the field. Atomic dropped the bucket he was carrying and groaned, rubbing his jaw with his hoof. Chestnut placed his bucket down next to Atomic’s one.

“How is your mouth okay? Mine feels like I was holding a ton of bricks!”

“You were holding the heavier bucket, so that’s probably why,” Chestnut replied.

The two joined the other colts that were all waiting in the middle of the field, and Chestnut began to talk to some of the other colts whilst they waited for their teacher.

The class had been split up into five groups of four for their first drill, and the colts waited silently for Mr Cobalt to explain the drill to them.

“Alright, this drill is called ‘Hit the Hole’. Pablo’s group, come on up.”

Pablo and the three other colts came to the front of the group, and Mr Cobalt organised them into a running play, with Pablo acting as the running back.

“Here’s how it works. Blaze and Mustang are the safeties for this example, and Pacific Sail is the quarterback. When I blow the whistle, he’s gonna hand the ball off to Pablo, who will try and get through Blaze and Mustang.

Mr Cobalt brought his whistle to his lips and blew loudly, and the ball was quickly handed off to Pablo, who moved the ball to his mouth and used his teeth to hold the strings. He lowered his head and tried to charge through the safeties, who were able to grab Pablo just before he made it through and they pushed him to the ground.

“Perfect handoff Limerick. Pablo, use your body to get your way through, otherwise you’re just gonna keep getting knocked down easily. Right, spread out and get going, and make sure that each pony in your group is the running back twice. Off you go!”

Atomic’s group moved back and Atomic quickly took charge, dictating everypony’s position whilst making himself quarterback with Chestnut playing as the running back.

“Okay, three, two, one, go!”

Atomic quickly handed the ball off to Chestnut and stepped aside, and Chestnut struggled to place the ball into his mouth, and he was charged by the two defenders, who didn’t hold back.

“Ow!”

Atomic winced loudly and bent down to help Chestnut up.

“You’re gonna have to be quicker next time, otherwise they’re just gonna keep knocking you down like that.”

Chestnut nodded and slowly moved back to his starting position. Atomic counter down from three and handed the ball off to Chestnut, and this time he was able to get a firm grip on the ball before making a move. Chestnut galloped forward and the two defenders came charging forwards very quickly. Chestnut tried to duck underneath the two defenders so that he could get through but he slipped and tumbled down onto the grass.

“Let’s switch over now, I’ll be the running back,” Atomic declared as he helped up Chestnut. “That was better.”

“Still pretty crap.”

One of the defenders became the quarterback and the next play began, with Atomic being able to squeeze his way through Chestnut and the other defender.

“How, did, you do that?” Chestnut exclaimed, his eyes wide open as he tried to catch his breath.

“Natural talent, Chestnut. Natural talent.”

Five minutes, everypony in the group had been the running back, and they waited for the other groups to finish.

“Right, let’s move on to the next drill!”

The colts stopped what they were doing and they stood quietly, waiting for further instructions.

“Right, for the next activity I want three ponies in each group to each get a ball.”

Atomic volunteered himself, Chestnut and another colt to get the three balls.

“Once you’ve done that, line up and stand away from each other and take….six steps back. The pony without a ball should move away from the others. You guys are gonna be the receivers for this play.”

Atomic quickly got himself into position, having already done this drill in the Buccaneers’ tryouts a few weeks ago.

“When I blow my whistle, the receivers will run, and when you pass the first pony with the ball, they’re gonna throw it to you and you need to make the catch. The same will happen with the next two ponies holding the ball. If you miss a catch, you have to start again and each time you make a clean row of catches, the three ponies with the ball will take two steps back. The group that lasts the longest without missing a catch will get a prize, so if I were you, I’d choose the best catchers for this drill.”

Atomic decided to be a thrower for this drill and their group began the drill as soon as they heard Coach Cobalt’s whistle. Their receiver was able to make the first six catches and Atomic’s group found themselves tied with Pablo’s group since Pablo was also able to make his first six matches.

“Come on guys, we can’t let them beat us! Let’s keep doing what we’re doing and win!” Atomic clapped his hooves together despite holding a ball to try and push his group to win.

The next round of catches was successful for both groups, and as the three throwers from each group took two steps back, the distance between the throwers and receiver became much more significant.

The receiver in Atomic’s group made the first two catches, however for the second catch he had to reach forward in order to catch the short ball. Atomic was stood at the end of the line and he reached back and threw the ball, it took a hit from the side of his head. This meant that the ball spun wildly as it travelled through the air, and despite the receiver’s best attempts to lunge forward, the ball fell short.

“Sorry guys, that was my fault, crap that was a stupid mistake!” Atomic called out, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. The others watched Pablo make his three catches, and he turned to check on Atomic’s group.

“Let me guess, Atomic was the one who messed it up,” Pablo sneered, taking note of Atomic’s downcast expression.

“Well done guys, nice teamwork from all of you. Right, let me check the time… we have just enough time to fit in a game, or we could head inside and I’ll give a lecture on the best defensive formations used in the league.”

Mr Cobalt smiled at the resounding cries of ‘let’s play a match!’

With seven minutes left of the lesson, the score was tied 18-18, and Atomic and Chestnut had been placed on separate teams, with Chestnut’s team on their fourth down and they were set out in a passing play, with Atomic ending up marking Pablo who was a receiver. As Coach Cobalt brought his whistle to his lips, Pablo elbowed Atomic’s ribs and he fell to the ground, groaning. Pablo quickly called for the ball whilst moving backwards, and he was able to make the easy catch and get fifteen yards forward before he was eventually tackled.

“Atomic, are you okay?” Chestnut rushed over to his friend and knelt down to help him up, but Atomic shook his head and moved Chestnut’s arms away from him.

“I’ll be fine, that jerk just elbowed me,” Atomic pushed his arms down and slowly got up, just as Mr Cobalt came running over.

“Atomic, is everything okay?”

“Yeah sir, I’ll be fine,” Atomic replied slowly, before glaring at a smirking Pablo when Mr Cobalt turned around and returned to the sideline.

“Play starts from where Pablo got tackled. Hurry up, we’re gonna head in after this play!”

The colts groaned but quickly huddled in their teams to decide which play they were gonna run.

“They’re gonna try and get it to Pablo again, we have to make sure he doesn’t get the ball or they’re gonna win,” one of the colts pointed out, and the others nodded in agreement.

“I’ll mark him again,” Atomic stated determinedly, and his teammates looked skeptical.

“What if he gets past you again?” they asked, and Atomic shook his head.

“He won’t, trust me.”

The two teams broke from their huddles and lined up in their respective formations, with the offensive team lining to throw another long pass, which didn’t go unnoticed by Atomic.

“They’re gonna throw it long to Pablo, get ready!”

The quarterback was shocked that Atomic had figured out their play, but he tried to downplay it by shrugging and as the whistle was blown and the defensive and offensive lines locked together, the quarterback moved back and threw a long ball to a running Pablo. Atomic tried to intercept as it came down towards Pablo, but he slipped and took a hard landing.

He’s not gonna make that catch.

Crap.

Pablo quickly moved the ball to his mouth and used his teeth to grip the strings as he made a dash for the end zone. One by one, he passed the defenders around him, sprinting along the clear path to the end zone. Atomic got up and gave chase, desperately trying to catch Pablo before he made the winning touchdown. Atomic’s teammates tried to help but weren’t fast enough to keep up with Atomic, and he quickly pulled away from them as he came closer and closer to Pablo.

Pablo whipped his head back and despite seeing Atomic running close by behind him, he judged that Atomic would not be able to catch up to him, and he began to slow down and relax a little as he came closer and closer to the end zone.

Nearly there!

Suddenly Pablo began to lose balance as he felt something pulling down his hind legs, and he desperately tried to twist out of the grip on his hind legs, but the grip did not budge and Pablo was roughly brought down a few yards before the end zone. He groaned loudly and felt his torso, which bore the brunt of the fall and now felt delicate to touch. Atomic was the first to get up and he walked around Pablo and knelt down to pick up the ball.

“YEAH!”

Atomic threw the ball high into the air and his teammates came hurling towards him and pulled him to the ground in jubilation. Mr Cobalt blew his whistle and brought an end to the match and lesson, telling the colts to pack up and head back to the changing rooms.

“Atomic, that was such an amazing run, I can’t believe you caught up to him so quickly!” Chestnut hoof-bumped a grinning Atomic.

“Ponies should never doubt my speed, never,” Atomic replied, and the two followed the rest of their classmates into the changing rooms.

“Thunderhoof, Atomic’s here to see you okay?”

Thunderhoof’s mother stepped aside to let Atomic come inside, and he rubbed his hooves onto the carpet before making his way up the stairs to Thunderhoof’s room. Once he reached the top of the stairs, Atomic walked straight towards the door with a large, green label that read ‘Thunderhoof’ hanging on the front, and he gently knocked on the door.

“Come in, it's open,” came the weak reply. Atomic opened the door and stepped into Thunderhoof’s room, which like his own room, had posters of the Dragons hanging on the wall. The mahogany carpet was covered with tissues, some of which were covered with snot, and Atomic grimaced as he stepped over a few of the snot-covered tissues. Thunderhoof was sitting up slightly in his bed, his pillow propped up against his back, his eyes were slightly red, and he sniffed as he picked up a tissue in his lap and loudly blew his nose into it.

“I was gonna ask how you’re feeling but I think I have a pretty good idea now,” Atomic remarked, and Thunderhoof smiled.

“You can sit over there,” Thunderhoof pointed to the wooden chair in front of his desk.

As Atomic sat down, Thunderhoof slowly pushed himself up into a sitting position.

“I still can’t believe that Nick Foals actually signed your jersey. Do you know how lucky you are?!”

Atomic took out his jersey and laid it down against his chest to show the front.

“I’m never gonna wash this jersey, no matter what my mom tells me.”

“So, how was school today?”

“It was alright, and I have surprising news.”

“Good or bad?” Thunderhoof asked, and Atomic smiled.

“Miss Ivory quit. For good. She said she’s never taught a class as bad as us lot and then she just walked out of the classroom and didn’t come back for the rest of the day.”

“She did what?!” Thunderhoof’s eyes widened and he began to breathe heavily. “She actually left, I can’t believe it, we’re finally gonna have a nice, normal teacher!”

Atomic bit his lip hard to try and stop himself from laughing, but as Thunderhoof began to do a little dance in his bed, he lost what little composure he had left.

“Why are you laughing? Wait, are you lying to me?!”

Atomic nodded mid-laughter and Thunderhoof glared at him as he eventually calmed down.

“Don’t do that to me, I actually got so happy for a second there!”

“Okay, that wasn’t true but I do actually have some good news. Do you remember Chestnut from the Buccaneers’ tryouts a few weeks ago? He’s goes to our school now and he’s in our homeroom.”

“Oh yeah, I remember him! That’s pretty cool, have you told him he can hang out with us?”

“I didn’t say it but he pretty much would be able to tell, we hung out the whole day. Anyway, are you gonna be able to come to school tomorrow?”

“I do feel a lot better now but we’ll see.”

The two sat silently for the next two minutes, neither colt able to think of something new to talk about.

“Oh yeah, I forgot, I was gonna give you something!”

Atomic unzipped his saddlebag and took out a pack of cupcakes.

“From past experience, I’ve learnt that cupcakes always help me feel better whenever I’m ill, so hopefully they’ll work and you can come to school tomorrow,” Atomic handed the cupcakes over to Thunderhoof, who thanked him before tearing open the plastic covering the cupcakes and taking out two cupcakes, handing one to Atomic.

“What team does Chestnut support? I don’t think I ever got the chance to ask him at the tryouts.”

“The Manehattan Mustangs, but he only moved here a few months ago and his family used to go to their games, so it makes sense.”

“True. At least he doesn’t support the Hawks.”

“Why would he support the Hawks? It’s not like he’d be able to go to their games in Cloudsdale anyways.”

“That’s also true.”

The two were interrupted by a sudden knock at the door.

“Thunder, it’s four thirty now, you need to rest for another hour!” Thunder’s mother called out from downstairs.

Atomic slowly got up from the chair and hoof-bumped Thunderhoof before leaving his house to go to his. As he walked up the steps leading to his front door, Atomic noticed that the door was slightly open and when he pushed it, it swung open.

“Mom, you left the door open!”

Atomic headed straight to the living room to find his mother, but instead found a note lying in the middle of the dining table.

I’ve taken Butterscotch to the doctor’s for her monthly check-up. Dinner’s in the large pot on the kitchen table. We'll be back at six o’clock, stay safe XO.

Atomic headed to the kitchen and his bag dropped onto the floor as he tiptoed up to reach the nearest pot on the cooker and take its lid off.

Vegetable soup again?

Atomic grumbled as he put the lid back onto the pot and he headed back into the living room, falling back onto the sofa and turning the radio on.

“We’re about two minutes away from kickoff! Final predictions, guys?”

“Dragons.”

“Knights.”

“Um…. I’m gonna go with the Knights.”

“Hmph, those last two are gonna be wrong,” retorted Atomic.

Wait, I don’t have to listen to the game by myself.

Atomic unplugged the radio from it's socket and got his saddlebag from the kitchen to ran out of his house with it, remembering to close the front door behind him, and he galloped towards a house a few blocks down the road.

“Atomic, what brings you back?”

“I was wondering if Thunderhoof wanted to listen to the Dragons’ match commentary with me?” Atomic asked, holding up the radio.

“If he’s awake then yeah, sure. I’ll just go and check on him.”

Two minutes later, Thunderhoof’s mother came down the stairs.

“He’s feeling a lot better now. Must have been the cupcakes. Come on in,” she said with a smile.

Atomic thanked Thunderhoof’s mother and clambered up the stairs, making sure that he didn’t drop the radio.

“Atomic, hurry up, we can’t miss the start of the match!” Thunderhoof called out, and as Atomic entered his bedroom, Thunderhoof was already fully sitting up in his bed, wearing his Dragons jersey.

“What? It’s for good luck!”

Atomic laughed as he closed the door behind him, and he placed the radio on the desk, plugging it into the socket nearby. He then took out his own Dragons jersey and put it on as we'll.

“Man, you were right about cupcakes, they do make you feel better!”

Atomic smiles as he turned the volume dial on the radio up.

“In fact, I’m not feeling too great right now, maybe one of these will help,” Atomic leaned over and took a cupcake from the box.

“Hey!”

“And the stage is set for a marquee match here between the Canterlot Knights and the visiting Fillydelphia Dragons. Stay where you are folks, you won’t wanna miss this one!”

THE SIXTH DOWN

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“Just before the bell goes, I’m gonna give back your tests, okay?”

Miss Bellflower picked up the pile of comprehension test papers on her desk and began handing them back to the front row of students.

“Miss, how did everypony do?” one of the students sitting at the back of the classroom asked.

“Most of you have definitely improved from last time, but there are a few of you that have stayed the same grade. But all of you can improve, no matter how well you’ve done.”

“I didn’t even finish the test probably, so I know I did really bad!” Atomic said to Chestnut, trying his best to mask his growing worry that he had failed yet another comprehension test.

“Atomic, you’ve improved a little bit, well done. But I need to speak to you so just stay behind when the bell goes, okay?”

Atomic took his test back from Miss Bellflower and turned it over, his face falling.

“Yay, I improved from a total trainwreck to a minor disaster!”

Chestnut’s eyes widened when Atomic showed him his test paper. On the front, a score of eighteen out of forty had been written with ‘see me’ written neatly in red underneath the score.

“It’s just a small test, so at least it doesn’t affect your working grade,” Chestnut said, trying his best to cheer up Atomic.

“My working grade is pretty bad too, so this doesn’t really bring it down too much.”

As the bell rang, the rest of the students packed up their belongings and Miss Bellflower took the test papers back as the colts and fillies left.

“I’ll see you tomorrow then,” Chestnut waved goodbye to Atomic and closed the classroom door behind him.

“Atomic, come up here please,” Miss Bellflower pulled out a seat from one of the tables at the front and moved it next to her desk. Atomic sighed and went to the front of his class, already knowing what Miss Bellflower was going to say.

When Atomic sat down, Miss Bellflower took out his test paper and laid it down on the table between them.

“Atomic, how many hours did you spend revising for this test?”

“Umm……. a few,” Atomic nervously replied, avoiding making eye contact with his teacher.

“Okay then,” Miss Bellflower looked at Atomic skeptically, before shaking her head and continuing with what she wanted to say.

“Atomic, this is your last year of elementary school, and the exams that you take at the end of this year will essentially decide what high school you can apply to. You are a bright colt, with a lot of potential to do whatever you want, but getting these sort of scores in a key subject like English are going to be very detrimental to your future.”

Miss Bellflower took out a folder from underneath her desk and opened it, turning to the fourth page.

“Atomic, this year you are averaging a D for English, and as you know, you have to pass this year in order to be accepted into any high school.”

Atomic slowly nodded and continued looking down at the desk. Miss Bellflower sighed and moved the test paper back over to her side of the desk as she continued.

“Atomic, I have decided that I’m going to move you down to Miss Sapphire’s class.”

Atomic suddenly looked up and shook his head quickly.

“Please, Miss! I don't wanna join her class that’s where all the dumb ponies-”

Miss Bellflower frowned at Atomic and he stopped and cleared his throat before correcting himself.

“I mean, I can and I will improve Miss, I promise. Can I make a proposition?”

“......I'm listening.”

“If I get anything lower than fifty percent on the next test, then I will go down to Ms Sapphire’s class.”

“Hmm..” Miss Bellflower rubbed her hoof on the side of her face as he considered Atomic’s proposition, before appearing to have made a decision.

“Alright then, you have to get higher than fifty percent on the next test in two weeks’ time or you will be joining Miss Sapphire’s class. Do we have a deal?”

Atomic nodded and he said goodbye to Miss Bellflower as he closed the door behind him. Outside the classroom, Thunderhoof was already waiting for him.

“Chestnut said that Miss Bellflower was talking to you but he never said it would take this long!”

“She was just talking to me about my work in class.”

The two colts silently walked through the corridor and pushed the large double glass doors to step outside.

“Oh yeah, what did you get for the comprehension test?”

Atomic slowed down and discomfort was evident on his face.

“Not...that great. What did you get? ”

“Thirty-three, but not the highest in the class this time.”

“You're actually so lucky that you can still get really high grades without doing any revision. It's not fair! You gotta tell me how you do it!”

“I do some revision, it's not like I don't do anything at all.”

The two colts crossed the busy high street road quickly.

“What time’s training again?”

“Five o’clock, and this is like the fifth time I’ve told you today Atomic!”

The colts passed a few of the stalls and Atomic stopped in front of their usual stall, pulling Thunderhoof in to join the back of the short queue with him.

“At least give me a warning if you’re gonna do that!”

“Who are you kidding, we both know you’re so happy that I reminded you!” Atomic teased, and Thunderhoof pretended to be angry for a few moments before sighing and looking through his saddlebag for his money.

After ordering their vegetable wraps, Atomic and Thunderhoof ate as they continued making their way home.

“What do you think, your coach, is gonna make you, do today?” Atomic asked, pausing every few words to take a bite from his vegetable wrap.

“Just some more drills, but we’re probably gonna start training with the first team. What do you think your group is gonna do today?”

“Probably that stupid bull in the ring again, it’s not like we do anything else.”

The two colts turned onto their road and made their way through their neighbours that were either passing by or going their way.

“Wait, Atomic, isn’t that your dad?”

“That’s impossible, he finishes work at-“

Atomic followed Thunderhoof’s outstretched hoof and it was pointing to his father, who was standing at their front door waving.

“How was school today buddy?” Syracuse ruffled his son’s mane and Atomic blushed.

“Good to see you Thunderhoof. How’s the family?”

“They’re fine sir.”

“That’s good. And call me Syracuse, no need for the sir.”

“Yes si-I mean yes Syracuse.”

Thunderhoof’s mother came out of her house and called Thunderhoof inside to have his dinner.

“See you at training Atomic!”

“You too!” Atomic replied with a wave.

“Right, I have some good news for you,” Syracuse announced as he led Atomic inside, and they came to a stop at the bottom of the stairs.

“Did you get tickets for another Dragons game?!”

“No, but do you remember when I told you a while back about the Eastern Fillydelphia Eagles, and that they were going to have tryouts for their under-thirteen team? Well, one of my friends told me that he was taking his kid to their tryouts today.”

“But I’m supposed to go to training today, what am I supposed to tell Coach Tornado?”

“Oh don’t worry about that, I went to the Broncos and I told them you couldn’t come to training today because you had a dentist appointment.”

“Oh, okay.”

Syracuse was surprised that Atomic wasn’t as excited as he hoped he would be.

“It’s a chance for you to play on the first team of a very good team, instead of being a reserve on a good team.”

“But what about Thunderhoof?”

“You guys will still see each other at school, and besides you’re neighbours, you’ll see each other everyday anyway.”

Atomic took his saddlebag off and sat down at the bottom stair, and Syracuse sat down next to him.

“If you wanna keep playing for the Broncos, then that’s fine Atomic, I’m not gonna force you to switch teams.”

“No it’s okay Dad, I’ll go to the tryouts today,” Atomic lifted his head up and wore a determined expression on his face.

“Okay then, get settled down and then come out into the garden in a bit, we’ll do some training.”

Syracuse had set up several plastic orange bowls in a zigzag starting from one end of the garden to the other, with a few metres between each cone. As Atomic came out into the garden, Syracuse told him to stand to the left of the first cone and he turned on his stopwatch.

“This activity is gonna help with your agility. You’re gonna run through these cones and I’m gonna time you okay? For every cone that you hit, there will be a five second penalty, got it?”

Atomic nodded and crouched down. His breathing slowed down and his eyes narrowed, the only thought occupying his mind was to get through the cones in the fastest times possible.

“Three, two, one, go!”

Atomic leapt forward from his starting position and tilted his body to the right so that he could get past the first cone. He then twisted his body in the opposite direction to avoid hitting the second cone, and he continued altering the direction his body was heading in whilst still moving in order to get past the other cones. However, on the last cone, one of Atomic’s back legs lagged a little behind the rest of his body and clipped the final cone, and this threw Atomic off balance slightly.

“An almost perfect run except for that last cone. Your time was nineteen seconds, would’ve been fourteen without the penalty.”

Atomic nodded and took a few seconds to catch his breath before helping his father clear away the cones for the next activity.

Syracuse picked up the hoofball behind him and motioned for Atomic to move back to where he had started the previous activity.

“I’m gonna test your hoof-eye coordination and reaction times, okay? First of all I’m gonna-”

Syracuse suddenly threw the ball at Atomic, who reflexively threw his arms up to catch the ball. The ball ricocheted off his hooves and bounced against the fence behind him, dropping onto the grass.

“You didn’t give me a warning!”

“I shouldn’t have to. When you’re on that pitch, you have to be prepared for anything everytime. Whether you’re thrown a good ball or a bad one, you always gotta be ready. Throw the ball back to me.”

Syracuse took a few steps back and threw the ball to Atomic’s right, forcing him to move quickly to his right in order to catch the ball.

“Good.”

Atomic made the rest of the catches, using his speed to move quickly to where the ball was thrown each time in order to make the catch.

“Syracuse, it’s four thirty, I thought you two were supposed to leave now!”

“Shit!” Syracuse threw the ball to Atomic and picked up the bowls before running inside. Atomic quickly followed him and placed the ball on the kitchen table as his father pushed the bowls into one of the cupboards.

“Okay Atomic good luck, do your best, and remember, whatever happens, you do your best, okay?”

Atomic nodded and hugged his mother before doing the same with Butterscotch, who was sitting calmly in her pram.

“Rose, you taking her anywhere special?”

“Just some mother-daughter shopping, but we should be home before you guys.”

The family left the house together and said goodbye to each other before heading off in separate directions.

“Dad, aren’t we gonna take a taxi?”

“Nope, the club’s within walking distance from our house, so we’re gonna use our legs to get there.”

“A taxi would be quicker. Just putting it out there.”

“Nope, we’re gonna walk.”

Entering the Western Fillydelphia Eagles main building was an unusual experience for Atomic. On the one hand, he didn’t have his best friend with him to keep him company. But on the other hand, Atomic had been presented an opportunity to both redeem himself for his unsatisfactory performance in the Broncos’ tryouts and play for arguably one of the best young hoofball team in Fillydelphia, and he was not going to let anypony stop him from achieving that.

“Remember, no matter what happens, make sure that you try your best, okay son?”

Syracuse and Atomic hugged tightly for a few moments before letting go of each other.

“I will Dad.”

“Good luck.”

The father and son said goodbye and turned around to go in opposite directions; Syracuse towards the pedestrian crossing, and Atomic towards the Eastern Fillydelphia Eagles. He walked up towards the large double doors and raised a hoof to open the door, but the doors moved apart as if by magic to let Atomic inside.

The main lobby was a lot larger than the Buccaneers’ one had been, yet it was almost completely filled with almost thirty colts, with only a few that appeared to be the same age as Atomic, with most of the colts being older. The atmosphere was tense, and silence hung heavy in the air as each colt stood silently with a serious expression on their faces. Atomic also noticed that each colt was wearing a white label.

The receptionist noticed Atomic and directed him to her desk so that he could sign his name on the sheet, and after looking through her drawers, she took out a label and copied Atomic’s name onto it, before handing it back to him and telling him to keep the label on at all times.

Atomic pressed down on his label so that it didn’t fall off, and he tried to start a conversation with the colt next to him.

“S’up, I’m Atomic.”

The colt looked down at Atomic’s outstretched hoof for a few seconds before turning away.

“Er, okay then.”

Atomic shuffled to the front of the crowd and looked at the colts standing next to him, unnerved by their stoic manner.

What is up with these guys?

“Has the equipment arrived yet?”

A stallion wearing a white cap with a whistle hanging around his neck came out from the door behind the receptionist’s desk. He was a tall pale green stallion with a bushy black moustache that hung over his top lip and covered the lower half of his face. His stern grey eyes swept through the lobby, his gaze resting on each face for a few moments before moving on to the next pony.

The receptionist shook her head in response to his question and the stallion continuing looking at the group of hopefuls before coming from behind the receptionist’s desk and walking past the front of it.

“When they do arrive, tell them to come straight to me. You lot, come with me.”

The group followed the coach through the corridor, arranging themselves into a line. Atomic found himself being moved to the back of the line by the other colts and he tapped the shoulder of the colts in front of him.

“Hey, why is everyone acting so weird?” he whispered.

The colt shook his head and made a shushing motion before turning back round to face the front.

Is this what it's like here all the time?

The stallion led the group through a few more corridors, and Atomic was surprised at how much bigger the Eagles’ compound was than the Broncos’ one. Each corridor was at least twenty metres long and was covered in a dark green wallpaper and the floor was covered with a smooth black carpet.

“We’re running late in regards to the schedule, so we’re gonna get straight into a game when we get onto the pitches,” the stallion announced as he led the group towards a set of double doors at the end of another corridor.

We’re not even gonna do any warm-up drills?

They don't waste time here.

The stallion pushed the double doors open and the colts walked through them one by one out onto the pitch. Atomic couldn't see over all of the other colts in front of them but as he emerged, he gasped loudly.

Woah.

The group had just walked onto a full hoofball pitch, complete with two goalposts at the opposite end zones. The cones on the pitch were being quickly cleared away by ponies running onto and from the pitch. There were dark green barriers that surrounded the outside of the pitch and behind them Atomic could see two other pitches, one on either side of the barrier, occupied by colts that were a good few years older than him running from one side to the other, with coaches on both sides yelling at the colts to run faster.

“Line up in front of me.”

Atomic and the other colts quickly and quietly arranged themselves into a horizontal line in front of the stallion as asked.

“My name is Coach Stargaze, and I am in the charge of the under-thirteen team here at the Western Fillydelphia Eagles. Today, it is your job to impress me enough to put yourself in the running for a place on this team.”

Coach Stargaze’s firm tone captured the attention of all of the colts, and after pausing for a few moments to make sure everypony was listening, he continued.

“A place on this team is never guaranteed, and this includes those who are already on the team,” Coach Stargaze nodded at some of the colts standing to one side of the line.

So even ponies already on the team have to fight for their spot.

“Right, get into a circle, I’m gonna lead you through some stretches.”

The colts quickly got into a circle, leaving a space for Coach Stargaze. He joined the circle and raised his left hind leg and right arm, holding them simultaneously. The colts also lifted the same hind leg and arm.

“Hold for fifteen seconds, then switch hind leg and foreleg.”

Five minutes later, Coach Stargaze concluded the warm up.

“Right, let’s split you up into two teams; who wants to be captain?”

Several of the colts’ arms shot up in hopes of being picked, but Atomic shied away and tried to escape the attention of Coach Stargaze, which did not go unnoticed.

“You, Atomic Tangerine, you're my first captain,” Coach Stargaze pointed at Atomic and told him to stand next to him.

Coach Stargaze turned back to the remaining colts to choose the second captain.

“And the second captain is gonna be...Tiny Thunder.”

A tall pale yellow colt nodded and moved to stand on the other side of Coach Stargaze.

His parents definitely got his name wrong.

Coach Stargaze quickly split up the remaining colts into two teams and once the last colt had joined Atomic’s team, he took out a coin and called the two captains over for the coin toss.

“Call it,” Coach Stargaze asked Tiny Thunder.

“Heads.”

Coach Stargaze flicked the coin up into the air and it landed on the grass with Celestia’s face facing up.

“Heads it is. Kickoff or receive?”

“Receive,” Tiny Thunder replied almost instantly.

The two captains shaked hooves and Coach Stargaze handed each captain a plastic bucket stuffed with bibs. When Atomic rejoined the rest of his team, he handed out the orange bibs to his teammates.

“Guys, we’re kicking off. Who’s the best kicker?”

“I’ll do it, I’m the kicker for the team,” one colt declared.

“So, let’s decide who’s gonna play where. Is three will be the linebackers, you two can be the cornerbacks, and…...you four can be the defensive line.”

The older, light red colt designated everypony’s positions and as they spread out, Atomic confronted him.

“Hey I’m supposed to be the captain, it’s my job to tell everypony what position they’re playing.”

“Relax dude, just helping out the captain like a good teammate should do,” the colt spoke with a condescending tone and patted Atomic’s head before joining the others.

Atomic narrowed his eyes and watched the colt join the others before shaking his head and taking his position with his team. Coach Stargaze threw the ball to the colt in the middle and he carefully placed it down in front of him. He then turned around and raised his hind legs before booting the ball far across the pitch.

The two teams quickly began to charge at each other as the ball landed at the five yard mark on the other side of the pitch in the possession of the other team. Tiny Thunder was one of the largest ponies on the pitch, and he quickly moved it to his mouth and used his teeth to grip the strings before sprinting towards the right side of the field.

Atomic and his teammates quickly swarmed towards the runner, but several players were taken out of the efforts to bring down the runner since they had to deal with his teammates protecting him, leaving three players to take down the runner. The runner used his size to charge through the first two defenders, leaving Atomic being the only player close enough to try and stop him.

Atomic lowered his head and charged at the runner, aiming for his midriff. He dove forward and wrapped his arms around the runner, trying to bring him down. The runner desperately twisted himself to try and slip out of Atomic’s grip, but with the help of Atomic’s teammates, he was ultimately brought down at the thirty yard line.

Atomic’s team high-fived each other before moving away from the other team and huddling up to decide their tactics.

Okay, maybe now I can finally take charge.

“Okay, they have Tiny on their team, so they’re probably gonna run a lot of running plays, and we need to counter that. Make sure that as many of you as possible are rushing him each play. That’s the only way we can stop him.”

Atomic glared at the older dark red colt for taking charge again, and Atomic knew that he had to do something otherwise his chances of making the team would be diminished.

“Make sure that you guys give it your all and do whatever it takes to bring them down. On three!” Atomic placed a hoof in the middle of the huddle and the others looked at each other bemusedly before joining their hooves with Atomic.

“One, two, three, LET’S GO!”

The team lifted their hooves up simultaneously and began to get into their positions.

“What’s your name, kid?”

Atomic turned around and saw that the colt who had spoken up twice was smirking at him.

“Atomic. What’s yours?” he asked skeptically.

“Alizarin. Now, come on, we don’t have all day to be standing around and chatting, we have a tryout to get through!”

Alizarin chuckled and trotted past Atomic.

“I know what you’re doing!” Atomic called out, and Alizarin turned around and grinned.

“I’m gonna do whatever it takes to keep my place on the team, maybe you should do the same to try and get on the team.”

Alizarin chuckled before taking his place in the team’s defensive formation, and a few seconds later, Atomic did the same, his teammate’s words still ringing in his head.

Two can play at that game Alizarin. You won’t beat me so easily.

Atomic lined up at the end of the defensive line and crouched down, placing a hoof on the ground. When the whistle was blown, the two lines locked, neither being able to barge past the other. The quarterback handed the ball off to the halfback behind him and Atomic noticed that he was about to run past him. As the halfback sprinted past him, Atomic pushed past his opponent and grabbed the halfback before he could get past him, pulling him down to the ground, at the thirty-seven yard line, so they still had three yards to travel.

Atomic’s teammates all clamoured around him, giving him high-fives and patting his back.

“That was good guys, let’s keep it up and they won’t score on us,” Atomic encouraged, before going through the next play.

The two teams lined up once again and the offence quickly executed a passing play, with the quarterback throwing the ball upfield to a waiting receiver at the twenty-five yard line. The receiver caught the ball with ease and he was able to move the ball ten yards before he was brought down.

“Come on guys, we can stop them, they’re not gonna score on us,” Alizarin brought the team together into a huddle.

“Right, this time we’re gonna run a blitz, okay? We need to stop their quarterback from passing it long all the time, otherwise they’re just gonna keep pitching it down the pitch and they’ll eventually get the TD,” Atomic kept glancing at Alizarin, waiting for him to interject, but surprisingly he didn’t.

The two teams lined up and when the whistle was blown, the quarterback threw the ball long to a sprinting receiver on the right hand side of the field, and he was able to make the catch. His defender grabbed him from behind and tried to pull him down, but the receiver was able to shrug off the tackle attempt and keep running. Atomic’s team quickly began to chase after the receiver, desperately trying to reach him before he reached the end zone. Alizarin was the pony closest to the receiver, and he used his long legs and large strides to get closer and closer to the receiver. Unfortunately, the receiver was too far ahead and he crossed into the end zone just as Alizarin had reached the ten yard line.

Damn it!

The receiver threw the ball down and celebrated with his teammates.

BEEP!

Coach Stargaze walked onto the pitch and blew his whistle, ordering everypony to get off the pitch. Ten ponies carrying equipment such as a yardstick, cones, and buckets of hoofballs came onto the pitch, and they spread out to set up their respective stalls.

“This is what we were gonna start off with before going into a match, so everypony sit tight for a few minutes and then we'll get properly started with these tryouts.”

The group sat down silently on the two benches on the sideline, still with their team. Atomic found himself sitting next to a dark orange colt that looked his age, and he decided to try and strike up a conversation with him.

“Hey, I’m Atomic. You, uh, already on the team or are you trying to get on it as well?”

The dark orange colt turned around and looked behind Atomic to make sure Coach Stargaze wasn't looking at him before answering.

“How old are you?”

“Fifth grade, and you didn’t answer my question.”

“Look, you wanna make it into the league, don't you?”

“Yeah.”

“You don't wanna be wasting your time trying to make friends here, at the end of the day, we’re all competing against each other. Do you really wanna be friends with the ponies who could take your spot in the league?”

“No, but-”

“Exactly. Take my advice, if you get on the team, the only pony that can keep you on the team is you, nopony else. Don't waste your time trying to make friends.”

Atomic sat silently, mulling over the colt’s words in his head.

“And to answer your first question, it's Helios.”

The ponies had finishing setting up the different drills and left the pitch to head back inside, and Coach Stargaze walked onto the pitch to talk to the group.

“We’re gonna do some drills and then we’re gonna finish off the match. I’ll tell you who’s on the team at the end. Let’s go.”

Coach Stargaze led the group over to an empty space at the back of the pitch.

“Forty-yard dash, I don’t think I need to explain this one to anypony. Line up, and first pony get ready.”

The colts quickly organised themselves into a line and Atomic ended up standing right at the back in front of Alizarin.

“We meet again, captain,” he saluted with a smirk, a twinkle in his dark blue eyes, and Atomic rolled his eyes before turning his attention to the colts doing the forty yard dash. Most of them were very fast, with only a few running average times, and Atomic began to slightly panic that he wouldn’t be fast enough as the line became shorter and shorter.

“Next! Hurry up, we don’t have all day!”

Atomic watched Alizarin step forward and Coach Stargaze blew his whistle. Atomic felt a strong rush of wind crash into his face and he took a step back to steady himself. Alizarin galloped across the distance with ease, his long legs an advantage, and as he crossed the forty yard mark, Coach Stargaze stopped his stopwatch.

“Next!”

Atomic stepped forward onto the starting mark and crouched, his breathing slowed down and he almost emptied his mind completely, with only one thought remaining; to run the fastest time possible.

“Go!”

Atomic leapt from his starting position, pumping his legs as fast as he could, his front and hind legs moving in succession to carry him to the forty yard line. He passed through the ten, twenty and thirty yard lines in quick succession, pushing himself to reach even higher speeds as he came to the end of his run.

“Okay, that’s everypony done, let’s move on!”

Atomic quickly rejoined the back of the queue and followed the others moving on to the next station, and Coach Stargaze stopped next to the yardstick. Another pony was stood next to it making final adjustments to the yardstick, which was attached to a thick wooden base, and when he stepped back and nodded at the coach, the colts were introduced to the next drill.

“Here, we are going to test your vertical jump. It’s important, especially for cornerbacks and wide receivers, that you have enough explosive power in your lower body muscles to lift yourself up. First pony, let’s go!”

The colt at the front of the line walked up to the yardstick and stood next to it, waiting for the helper to move the yardstick forward. He then bent down and jumped, stretching his arms up as high as possible and his hoof smacked against the ruler.

One by one, each of the colts took their turn at the drill, and before he knew it, Atomic was next up. He slowly walked over to the yardstick and stood next to it, looking at the higher end of the yardstick and aiming to reach there. He arched his back to straighten his body and his right arm stretched up, his right hoof travelling up the yardstick before settling at the 11 inch line with a definitive tap before coming back down with the rest of his body.

The helper recorded Atomic’s result and handed the clipboard back to Coach Stargaze, who then led the group over to the final drill.

“Get into groups of five and spread out.”

“Come on Captain, let’s do this!” Alizarin cheered as he sauntered over to Atomic, ignoring the younger colt’s dirty looks and slapping him on the back.

Atomic ended up in a group with Alizarin, Helios and three other colts he didn’t know, and they waited for further instructions from Coach Stargaze. He went round the groups and handed a ball to one pony in each group whilst ordering the others in each group to move well away from each other in a zigzag pattern.

“Those of you holding the ball are the quarterbacks for this drill. One by one, the rest of you are gonna run across and catch the ball. When you catch the ball, you’re gonna pass it to the next person along the line. You have to make three clean runs, without dropping the ball. Every time you finish a run, each pony has to take four steps back. If you drop the ball, you have to start again. First group to finish wins.”

When Coach Stargaze blew his whistle, the pitch descended into a frenzy, with each colt doing all they could to make sure that their group won so that they looked good in front of Coach Stargaze.

Atomic’s group wasted no time in getting started, and Atomic sprinted across in front of the quarterback, leaping into the air to catch the ball. As Atomic landed, he quickly turned around and threw a high pass to the next colt in their group, which unfortunately was too high for the colt and his arms flailed hopelessly in the air, his hooves desperately trying to reach the ball but only managing to scrape the bottom of it, and it landed with a small thud.

“Come on, hurry up, we have to start again,” called out the colt at the front of the line, and when the ball was thrown back to him, he almost instantly threw the ball to Atomic hard and fast. Atomic barely managed to catch the ball, and he was grateful for his father’s last minute coaching in their back garden.

The group were able to complete their first two runs successfully, and as they began their fourth run aiming to get a third clean run, Atomic noticed that the group next to them were neck and neck with them and he rallied his team to pass and catch faster.

“Come on guys, let’s finish this!”

Atomic was able to make his catch easily and when he passed the ball to the next pony, he spotted that the other group had just dropped the ball and were trying to restart as quickly as possible.

The last quarterback threw the ball long and hard to the last pony, and at first the ball appeared to have been thrown too short and the last receiver sprinted forward desperately, before tripping over his own hooves and sliding across the grass. But luckily for the group, the ball was close enough for the colt to stretch out his arms and grab it before it hit the grass, pulling it into his body.

“Yes, we did it!”

Atomic’s group celebrated with each other, and Atomic high fived each pony, reluctantly doing the same with Alizarin, who was wearing a huge smile on his face.

Coach Stargaze finished adding notes to his clipboard and brought the groups to split off into their teams to resume the match that they had been playing at the start of the tryouts.

The colts on Atomic’s team slowly walked towards him, and fuelled by what he believed was a good performance from him in the drills, Atomic began to speak.

“Look, we all wanna get on the team today, so instead of worrying about if you look good in front of Coach Stargaze, let’s all work together to win this game. Does anypony here wanna lose this match?”

The colts shook their heads.

“Then let’s go out there and beat the living crap of these guys, alright?”

Atomic put a hoof in the middle and looked around at the others, beginning to get slightly nervous when nopony else did the same.

“He’s right. We’re gonna have to work together if we wanna beat Tiny Thunder’s team.”

Helios joined his hoof with Atomic’s and gave him a reassuring smile.

One by one, the other colts joined hooves in the middle.

“One, two, three, LET’S GO!”

“YEAH!”

The team threw their hooves up into the air and high-fived each other as they made their way onto the pitch, and unbeknownst to Atomic, Coach Stargaze had been standing only a few metres away from their huddle, and he continued watching Atomic for a few more seconds before making some notes on his clipboard.

The other team quickly resumed the game with a kickoff, and as the ball flew across the pitch, Atomic’s team prepared themselves to protect whoever caught the ball. The ball ended up landing in the hooves of Helios, and he wasted no time in transferring the ball to his mouth and sprinting with it. He streaked past two defenders near him, but Atomic saw that Tiny Thunder was gaining on Helios from behind, barging aside Atomic’s teammates as he came closer and closer to Helios. Atomic ducked under the outstretched arm of an approaching opponent, and used his speed to chase after Tiny Thunder, weaving through the other team’s attempts to bring him down.

This is gonna hurt.

Tiny Thunder grabbed onto Helios and began to pull him backwards. Helios tried his best to escape Tiny Thunder's grip, but he quickly began to slow down. Suddenly he felt Tiny Thunder’s hooves slip away, and he quickly looked back to discover that Atomic of all ponies had tackled him. Helios turned around and was able to gain five more yards before he was eventually brought down.

Coach Stargaze quickly blew his whistle and the two teams split off. Atomic lay on the ground, holding his shoulder and groaning.

“You alright, kid?” Helios ran over to Atomic and crouched down next to him.

“It feels like I collided with a brick wall. What does that guy eat for breakfast, bricks?!”

Atomic tried rolling his shoulder and after a few slow rotations, he tried lifting his arm up, but he found that he could only lift it a few metres and he cried out loudly.

Coach Stargaze jogged onto the pitch and everypony stepped aside to let him get through to Atomic.

“What happened?”

“I, um, kinda landed had on my shoulder. But I’ll be fine, I can still play,” Atomic reassured quickly, slowly pushing himself back up and trying his hardest not to wince. Coach Stargaze looked at him curiously for a few seconds, before quickly glancing at his watch.

“It's six fifty, we don't have much time left, let’s go!”

The two teams huddled separately to discuss their tactics and play was hastily restarted at the forty yard line. The quarterback faked handing the ball off behind him before throwing a short pass to Atomic who had run a route across to the far right of the pitch to try and catch the ball. He jumped high into the air and grunted as he made contact with the ball, and he just managed to pull it into his mouth before he landed. However the pain in his shoulder had yet to subside, and Atomic cried out in pain as he tried to run forward, and his defender was able to stop him in his tracks easily.

I have to keep going.

Atomic got up from the grass and regrouped with the rest of his team, and to his relief, the quarterback suggested to run a running play, and he quickly agreed with the idea. The two teams broke from their huddles and lined up in front of each other again. When the whistle was blown, the quarterback tossed the ball behind him to the fullback, who quickly set off towards the thirty yard line. Atomic and Alizarin saw that Tiny Thunder and another defender were making their way towards the fullback, so they set off from their positions and charged at the defenders to protect the fullback, and Atomic audibly breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that Alizarin was headed towards Tiny Thunder.

“This is gonna be the last play! It's past seven o’clock and I have to announce who’s on the team!” Coach Stargaze called out, and his words had an instant impact on the colts. Any conversations taking place instantly stopped and the two teams slowly lined up once more, each colt preparing to give their all in this play to prove to Coach Stargaze that they were deserving of a place on the team.

Coach Stargaze blew his whistle and the quarterback took several steps back, surveying his passing options. He spotted that Atomic had broken free from his defenders and was signalling for the pass.

Atomic tried his best to block out the thudding sensation of pain in his shoulder as he landed with the ball, and he wasted no time in sprinting forward, his only aim being to reach the end zone and tie the game for his team. His defender slipped whilst in pursuit of Atomic, meaning that the only ponies that could stop him were on the other side of the pitch , and when they noticed that Atomic had a clear path to the end zone, they changed direction quickly, desperately trying to reach him.

Atomic turned his head to the left to check on the defenders and once he judged that they wouldn’t be able to catch him, he slowed down in order to ease up the pressure on his sore shoulder, making sure that he didn’t put too much weight on it in order to prevent aggravating the injury further. Atomic decided to check if his opponents were any closer, and was horrified to discover that Tiny Thunder was thundering down the pitch, closing the distance between the two. Atomic turned back around and sped up, wincing with every step that he took. Tiny Thunder continued advancing and was now only a few yards away from Atomic, who was beginning to panic that he would not make it to the end zone. Helios was the closest teammate to Tiny Thunder, but he was too far away to help. Tiny Thunder began to reach out his arms and he ended gaining a firm grip on Atomic, and he tried to pull him back. Atomic cried out when he felt Tiny Thunder’s rock hard hoof press down on his sore shoulder, and he used the other side of his body to twist out of his opponent’s grip. Luckily for Atomic, Tiny Thunder was still not close to maintain his grip on Atomic, and after breaking free, he dove forward towards the end zone, his arms outstretched with the ball to ensure that it's nose crossed into the end zone for the touchdown.

“Touchdown.”

Atomic cheered from his position on the ground and his teammates quickly helped him up, each colt giving him a high-five and Alizarin gave him an emphatic slap on the back.

“You should be captain more often kid, that was awesome!”

Coach Stargaze blew his whistle for the final time and called the colts over to the sideline.

“Right, well played all of you. Now, for what we’re all here for.”

Coach Stargaze looked down at his clipboard before nodding and telling the colts to move back. One by one, he read out the names of the colts that had made the under-thirteen team, and each of them joined Coach Stargaze’s side.

Come on, come on, say my name already!

Atomic watched the colts next to him continue walk over to the other side. He realised that Tiny Thunder, Alizarin and Helios were all selected and he began to prepare himself for the inevitable feeling of crushing disappointment that he had failed at yet another tryout, and he hung his head low, trying his best to hold back tears.

“Atomic Tangerine.”

Atomic’s head snapped up and he stared at Coach Stargaze, his eyes wide.

“Did, did you say my name sir?!”

“Yes I did.”

Atomic held back from celebrating openly, but his elation at being chosen for the team was clear in the way that he appeared to bounce over to the other side.

After Coach Stargaze had finished reading the list, he told the unsuccessful colts that they were free to try out next year and after dismissing them, he addressed the others standing next to him.

“You have all been selected for the team today because of your displays of passion, commitment and above all determination. You will all be the driving force behind our campaign this year to successfully defend our league title.”

Coach Stargaze told them the details of their first training session before dismissing them, and Atomic found himself heading out with Helios.

“I know this is a dumb question, but you were already on the team, right?” Atomic asked.

“Yeah, that’s right. Well done on making it in though. How old are you?”

“Ten. What about you?”

“Twelve. You know you’re probably the youngest colt on the team. Coach Stargaze must think pretty highly of you to put you on the team like that. But you deserve it.”

The two colts passed through the main lobby and Helios held the door open for Atomic. Once they made it outside, Atomic spotted his father waving to him from the other side of the road, and he couldn’t help but feel embarrassed.

“My brother’s waiting for me over there. I’ll see you at training?”

Atomic nodded and the two said goodbye to each other before heading their separate ways.

“Atomic, how was it, did you get in?!”

Atomic nodded with a huge smile on his face and Syracuse pulled him in and hugged him tightly.

“I knew you could it!”

“Ow, ow, you’re hurting me,” winced Atomic as the two separated, rubbing his shoulder.

“We'll get that checked over at the doctor’s tomorrow. Come on, we gotta get home and tell your Mom the good news!”

Nearly an hour later, Atomic had come to the end of his re-telling of the trial to his mother.

“Well done Atomic!” his mother cheered, and Atomic graciously accepted a short hug from her.

Just then, Syracuse came into the living room, holding an envelope in his mouth.

“Just found this lying in the hallway. We must’ve missed it when we left the house.”

Tea Rose took the envelope from her husband and opened it, her eyes scanning through the letter inside.

“Atomic Tangerine, care to explain this?!”

Tea Fose held up the letter to show Atomic, and although her hoof covered most of the letter, Atomic was able to make out Miss Bellflower’s name written neatly in black at the bottom of the letter.

Oh crap.

THE SEVENTH DOWN

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The academic year was now in full swing, which meant that several teachers were beginning to give out mid-semester class tests, and as they left Miss Ivory’s classroom to go to their first lesson, Atomic and Thunderhoof were doing last-minute preparation for their History pop quiz.

“Wait, so what year was Nightmare Moon banished?” Atomic opened his history textbook and desperately tried to find the section on Nightmare Moon. “Wait, I found it, it doesn't matter.”

“Did you get any revision done yesterday?”

“After the tryou-”

Atomic stopped mid-sentence but luckily Thunderhoof was looking through his saddlebag so wasn't paying too much attention to what he was saying.

“After I came back from the dentist’s, I just couldn't be bothered to do History.”

The two colts entered their History classroom and found that the tables had been separated out for the test and after guessing where they usually sat, they sat down in their respective seats, waiting for their teacher to arrive.

“No I can't come over today, I have to go to the tryouts. Obviously the Eagles’ one, I’m not on any other team am I, you idiot!”

Atomic overheard the backend of Pablo’s conversation with one of his friends, and he inched forward in his seat so that he could keep listening.

“But it's not like I need to worry anyway, I'm definitely still gonna be on the team.”

Wait, does he think the Eagles’ tryouts are today?!

Atomic suddenly leaned back into his seat when his History teacher entered the classroom. Miss Chrysanthemum was a fairly new teacher that had joined the school at the end of last year, and her positive demeanour combined with her entertaining methods of teaching history made her well-liked among her classes. She sat down at her desk and placed her folder onto her desk. She took off her thick-rimmed navy blue glasses and smiled at her students.

“Good morning. Are you all having a good day?”

There was a loud reply of ‘yes’ from the pupils. Miss Chrysanthemum smiled before taking out a large pile of papers from her folder and walking through the classroom, handing two sheets of paper to each student face down.

“There are thirty questions in this quiz, so I’m gonna give you thirty minutes to complete it. You can start once I’ve given out a quiz to everypony.”

Miss Chrysanthemum handed a quiz to the final student at the back of the classroom and went back to her desk, waiting her students do the quiz.

Atomic turned his paper over and his mood immediately deflated when he realised that he was going to fail this quiz.

Question 1: In what year was the city of Fillydelphia founded?

Atomic answered the first question with his best attempt at an educated guess, and struggled through the rest of the first page, giving a random answer to each question.

Question 16: How many Elements of Harmony are there?

Finally, a question I can actually get right!

Atomic answered the second half of the quiz quickly, using his usual method of random guesses to answer each question. He put his quill down and watched his peers tackle the quiz, and he wasn’t surprised to see that Thunderhoof was racing through his quiz. Atomic spotted the pony in front of him hold their paper up in front of them, and he could see a glimpse of some of their answers. Atomic slowly moved his head to his left, checking where his teacher was looking every few seconds. Once he had moved his head far enough, he began to lean forward and try and read some of the answers: and he was able to change a few of his answers.

“Right, that’s thirty minutes up! Quills down, please!”

Atomic moved backwards and leaned back into his seat, dropping his quill onto the table.

“Swap with the pony next to you. You’re going to mark this with your red quills, so take them out please.”

Atomic turned around to swap with Thunderhoof, but he found that his friend had already swapped with the pony next to him. Undeterred, he picked up the quiz on Thunderhoof’s desk and replaced it with his own, smiling innocently at him.

“Go easy on me.”

Thunderhoof shook his head with a smile as he pulled Atomic’s quiz closer towards him.

Miss Chrysanthemum went through the answers with her class, and ten minutes later, she told her students to get their quizzes back so that she could record what they got.

Atomic turned around and handed the quiz he’d marked back to it's owner, and he looked at Thunderhoof expectantly.

“I got at least half, right?”

“You’re so lucky I’m in the same History class as you,” Thunderhoof remarked as he handed Atomic’s quiz to him.

Atomic turned back around and read his score, his mouth wide open.

“Okay, when I say your name, call out your score,” Miss Chrysanthemum opened her planner and turned to her current class’ pages, holding her quill above the first name on the register.

“Atomic.”

“Twenty three.”

“Well done Atomic, that’s a great score!”

“Anything higher than a zero is great for him!” Pablo whispered, and his friends giggled. Atomic glared at him before looking to the front again.

The rest of his classmates called out their scores, and whilst Atomic wasn’t surprised to hear that Thunderhoof had got the highest in the class with a score of twenty seven out of thirty, he was surprised by the fact that his friend had bumped his score up so high that he had got one of the highest scores in the class.

“Okay, that’s everypony done, now, let’s get on with the rest of the lesson.”

When the bell rang at five past ten, the colts and fillies packed up their belongings and took their homework from Miss Chrysanthemum, who was waiting at the door to hand it to each student.

“What d’you have next?”

“Science, in, wait lemme find it….room 33,” Atomic replied as he checked his timetable.

“We’ve been at school for like a month, you should know what lessons you have by now!”

“At least I don't sit on my bed and memorise my timetable, unlike some ponies!”

“I only did it once last year, it's not like I’ve done it every year!”

Atomic laughed as Thunderhoof pushed him, and the two said goodbye to each other before heading their separate ways; Thunderhoof joined a few other colts in his Prench class, and Atomic joined the crowd heading up the stairs. He split from most of the ponies that continued heading up the second flight of stairs and turned to his right, walking down the corridor and coming to a stop outside room 33, his Science classroom. Atomic looked through the small pane of glass that was next to the door and saw that some of his classmates had already entered, and he opened the door to enter his classroom.

“Good morning Atomic! How are you this fine morning?!”

“I’m good, sir,” Atomic smiled awkwardly at his teacher before making his way to his seat. Mr Silver Shine had been the school’s science teacher for over thirty five years and was still just as energetic now as he had been when he had started teaching at the school. His flamboyant manner opposed his aging appearance and Atomic found his over-the-top mannerisms embarrassing. The last few members of the class entered the class and took their seats, and Mister Silver Shine closed the door loudly.

“Right, let’s get started with today’s lesson! Everypony, out of their seats!”

The classroom had been set up with the table at the front being moved into the middle. On the table, there was five jars labelled A, B, C, D and E, each filled with a different coloured powder.

“Today we’re finally going to be doing the flame test! Sounds fun, right?!”

When he didn’t get a reply, Mister Silver Shine shrugged and continued.

“Each of these jars contains a different element, and it is your job to find out which element each powder. How are we going to do that, I hear you you ask? Well, let me show you. Everypony take a step back, please.”

As the colts and fillies took a step back, a pale blue aura surrounded Mister Shine’s horn as he used his magic to slowly open the lid of jar A. He levitated a clean flame test loop over from the other side of the table and dipped it into the jar, twisting it a few times to ensure that some powder latched onto the loop. The flame test loop was levitated out of the jar and placed onto a clean metal tray.

Mister Shine walked over to the open cupboard behind him and took out a laboratory burner. He walked back to the desk he was using and connected the burner’s rubber tube to the gas tap on the desk.

“I will set up the burners for all of you, so when you get to that step, call me over and I’ll light it up for you.”

Mister Shine used his magic to light the burner and it burned with a blue flame, and he carefully levitated the flame test loop over to the burner, holding the loop over the flame. The blue flame suddenly changed colour to lilac.

“Woah!”

“That's not all! Can anypony tell me what element this is?”

The class was silent, each pony desperately trying to think of the answer in case they were picked on. A filly standing at the back of the group put her arm up quickly.

“Potassium, sir.”

“Correct! Did anypony do the extra reading I set last week?”

When everypony put their arm up quickly, Mister Shine decided to put this to the test.

“Atomic, what element burns with a brick-red colour?”

You just had to pick on me, didn’t you?

“Umm…...is it....sodium?”

“Nope, it’s calcium.”

Atomic’s face burned red with embarrassment.

“Right, I’m gonna switch this off, and I’m going to split you up into groups of threes to do this experiment yourselves. There aren't enough jars for all of you, so you’re going to have to share them. When I put you into a group, get some goggles on and get started.”

Atomic found himself in a trio with two other fillies, and he thought of asking to be put into a different group before deciding against it, believing that Mister Shine wouldn’t listen to him.

“So, do you know what we’re supposed to do?” one of the fillies asked, and Atomic shook his head.

“We'll just wing it. What’s the worst that can happen?”

“We finished the experiment, and we got colours for each jar, so that's good.”

“You almost burnt my mane! How in Equestria is that good?!”

Atomic shushed the filly, looking for Mister Shine to make sure he didn’t hear her. He then moved the burner towards him and turned it off.

“I’ve said sorry like ten times now. It was an accident and I didn’t mean to do it. Anyway, did you guys write down all of the colours?”

“Yeah, but I’m not sure that they're all right,” the other filly admitted.

“It doesn't matter, everypony probably got a few wrong. Besides, it's not like he’s gonna-”

“Right, let’s go round the class and hear what colours you go for each element. Um, Atomic’s group, what colours did you get?”

“Umm, well, we got orange, purple, red, green and for the last one we, uh, didn’t get anything.”

“Okay then, next group, what did you get?”

“I swear, this is the last time we ever do an experiment with you!” the fillies hissed, and Atomic shrugged.

“I didn’t choose to work with you, he put us together.”

When the last group had read out their results, Mister Shine picked up a chalk from his desk and wrote the names of the elements in each jar and their colours.

“Great, so we got nearly every colour wrong,” one of the fillies remarked, picking up one of the jars.

“I mean, it could’ve been worse, he could’ve made us do a surprise test or something,” Atomic replied.

“True.”

The colts and fillies cleared away the equipment and put their goggles back into the blue plastic tray at the front of the classroom, before sitting back in their seats for the last five minutes of the lesson as Mister Shine led them through an explanation of why metal elements burn with different colours in the flame test. As the bell rang to signal breaktime, Mister Shine wrapped up his explanation and dismissed the class.

Atomic headed out of the classroom with the rest of his peers and headed downstairs to ground floor to find Thunderhoof. He walked past several classrooms, keeping a lookout for room 17; Thunderhoof’s Prench classroom.

“Hey, let’s go to the hall, it’s raining outside.” Thunderhoof came out of his classroom and walked alongside Atomic.

“Wait, it’s raining? I didn’t even notice,” Atomic looked through the large door at the end and saw that it was pouring down with rain outside.

“Anyway, what class is Chestnut in? I saw him come into school late during Prench but I don't know where he went.”

“Look, he’s over there!” Atomic pointed outside to a shivering Chestnut, who was waiting outside alone. The two pushed the large door open and approached their friend.

“Hey, how come you're waiting out in the rain?!”

“Pablo told me you have to wait outside for ten minutes before they let you into the hall.”

“That jerk was trying to mess with you. Come on, let’s go.”

Atomic and Thunderhoof led Chestnut back inside, and Chestnut told his friends to move back as he shook his head to dry himself.

“So is everypony going to the hall?”

“Yeah, that's where most ponies go if it's raining. If we hurry, we can get a good seat at the back.”

The three colts hurried through the corridor, their wet hoofprints leaving wet marks on the grey carpet beneath them.

“Are you gonna come over after school to listen to the Dragons play the Manehatten Mustangs?” Atomic answered Thunderhoof’s question with a nod, and Thunderhoof turned to ask Chestnut the same.

“Do you wanna come to my house after school to listen to the game?”

“My mom probably won’t let me. Sorry.”

“It's cool. Next time, we'll just go over to your house when the Dragons and Mustangs play again. I think they play again in the last week.”

The three colts followed the stream of ponies heading to the hall, and they all ended forming a line, the teachers at the hall entrance being slow to allow students to enter the hall.

Atomic listened to Chestnut and Thunderhoof discuss recent tests, unwilling to join in with the conversation.

“That comprehension test was actually pretty hard. When did Miss Bellflower say you were going to do it?”

“Next week after school,” Chestnut replied. “I know she’s gonna give me a different test, but what sort of questions came up?"

Tea Rose’s hour-long lecture yesterday evening came rushing back into Atomic’s mind, her mother’s angry tone ringing loud and clear in his mind.

I can’t believe you’re failing English!

You promised that hoofball would not get in the way of your studies, and it has!

You better get your act together Atomic, or you won't be playing hoofball again any time soon!

“Atomic!”

“Huh?” Atomic looked up at Thunderhoof and Chestnut.

“We can go in now, come on!”

Atomic followed Chestnut and Thunderhoof and Chestnut into the hall, which was made up of several rows of plastic blue chairs, most of which were by now filled up with students. There was a projector to the far side of the hall that was displaying a picture of the front of the school onto the large whiteboard at the front of the hall. The large dark green curtains were drawn shut and all the side doors in the hall had been locked shut to protect from the rain. Most ponies had sat together in groups, filling the hall with conversations and laughter, with a few sitting at the back by themselves either reading a book or doing their homework.

Atomic followed Chestnut and Thunderhoof to the back of the hall and they sat down in three empty seats.

“Do you guys have your cards with you? I wanna see what sort of cards you have.”

Atomic shook his head but Thunderhoof opened his saddlebag and took out a plastic bag containing his trading cards. The other two looked at him curiously.

“What? I don't want them to get bent, and this keeps them safe.”

Atomic spotted Pablo and his friends sitting a few seats away from them, engrossed in their own conversation, and remembering what he overheard in History, he told his friends that he was going to look for a quill that he had just dropped. The two absent-mindedly nodded before resuming their conversation. Atomic got up and moved closer to Pablo, tuning out Thunderhoof and Chestnut talking about hoofball to try and listen in to Pablo.

“Wait, so would your coach let us on the team too, if we came with you today?”

“Nah, don’t think so. Most of the time, Coach Stargaze chooses the ponies that are already on the team, so he probably wouldn’t chose you guys. Me on the other hand….”

Atomic listening to Pablo brag about his hoofball abilities, the idea that Pablo had already missed the tryouts becoming a source of great amusement to him, and he couldn't help but snicker.

Pablo looked over his friends and saw Atomic struggling to hold in laughter. “What’s so funny?! Jealous that you're never gonna make it to the league?!”

“Trust me, I’m not jealous of you. If anything, I feel sorry for you, man.”

Atomic quickly erupted into full-blown laughter, drawing the attention of his friends and others sitting nearby.

Atomic took deep breaths to try and compose himself. “Man.. all I have to say to you is...good luck at the tryouts. You’re gonna need it.”

Atomic gave Pablo a smirk before moving back to his previous seat, relieved that Chestnut and Thunderhoof were still engrossed in their own conversation, oblivious to what had just happened. Atomic joined the conversation and the three friends continued talking about hoofball for the rest of breaktime. When the bell rang at the end of breaktime Atomic, Chestnut and Thunderhoof left the hall together before separating; Atomic and Thunderhoof set off to their Maths lesson with Miss Ivory and Chestnut headed upstairs for his Science lesson.

“I bet you she’s gonna give us a surprise test,” Thunderhoof predicted, and Atomic groaned.

“I swear, if she does, then I might just walk out.”

“You’d never do that! Besides, it's just a prediction, it's probably not gonna happen.”

The two colts joined the back of the queue outside Miss Ivory’s classroom, and after a two-minute wait, Miss Ivory appeared at the top of the stairs, holding a large stack of papers with a small key carefully placed at the top of the pile. She quickly made her way down them and placed the papers down in front of her door before using the key to unlock her classroom door and let her students inside.

“Equipment out. You’re going to be doing a test this lesson.”

Atomic looked over at Thunderhoof, who shrugged his shoulders. Atomic sunk down in his seat and his head banged against his desk loudly.

“Is there a problem, Mister Tangerine?”

Atomic’s head shot up and he realised that everypony’s eyes were on him, including a stern Miss Ivory. “No, Miss, there’s no problem at all. Everything’s perfectly fine,” Atomic laughed nervously and Miss Ivory frowned.

“Then you should be able to reflect that in your test scores. Right, there are sixty-five marks available, so you’ll have the rest of this lesson to complete it. Begin.”

Atomic headed straight to the back of the test paper to deploy his usual tactic when it came to Maths tests; starting with the most difficult papers and going backwards through the paper to make sure that he didn’t run out of time to attempt the hardest questions. Despite skipping a few questions, Atomic was able to mostly finish the test in fifty five minutes, and he spent the last five minutes finishing off the questions he had deliberately left out.

The bell rang just as Atomic was writing his name at the front of the paper, and he put his quill down and waited quietly.

Miss Ivory walked around the classroom and collected all of the tests. Once she had placed them back on her desk, she dismissed the class.

“You know what, that test actually wasn’t even that bad. For once I might actually get a good grade in Maths,” Atomic declared, his buoyant mood juxtaposing Thunderhoof’s stress.

“Are you kidding?! That test was so hard!”

“Wait, what answers did you get?”

Thunderhoof and Atomic headed outside to the beaches outside the hall, and they compared answers for the rest of break time, and with each different answer Thunderhoof got, Atomic became more and more worried.

“We got different answers for every question. I can’t believe I thought the test was easy. I’m gonna fail!”

Chestnut came outside to join them just before the end of break.

“Had to stay behind to do a Maths test,” he explained.

“I can’t fail another test, Mom’s gonna stop me from playing hoofball!”

“Atomic, this is probably just a small test, it won’t matter!”

“I thought the same thing about the comprehension test on Monday, and Miss Bellflower sent a letter home!”

“She did what?!” Thunderhoof and Chestnut exclaimed.

“Yeah she did, and my mom’s totally on my case now about my studies. She’s gonna try and stop me from playing for the Eagles!”

“What?”

Atomic stared at Thunderhoof open-mouthed, praying that Thunderhoof hadn’t heard the end of his sentence.

“The Eagles?”

“Um…….you see the thing is, I went to the Eagles’ tryouts yesterday.”

“The what? I can’t hear you.”

Atomic sighed. “Yesterday I went to the Eagles’ under-thirteen tryouts. That’s why I didn’t come to training.”

“The Eagles? Isn’t it super hard to get on their team?”

“Yeah, it is. But I’m on the team now.”

Thunderhoof sat silently, absorbing the news.

“So you’re gonna play for them now?”

“Yeah, I will.”

“Oh.”

Thunderhoof sat silently and Atomic watched him nervously, waiting for his reaction.

“......At least you're not a reserve anymore,” Chestnut nervously piped up, and Atomic nodded slightly.

“Yeah. Chestnut’s right, I'm happy for you. You deserve to be on a good team,” Thunderhoof smiled, and he patted Atomic on the back. “But you better watch out for our team, I think we’re supposed to playing you soon.”

Atomic inwardly sighed in relief, and he smirked. “What, do you really think I’m gonna let you beat me?!”

“We'll see.”

Atomic and Thunderhoof bumped hooves and the awkwardness that was previously present disappeared as if it had never been there.

“So, what were the tryouts like?”

“They were intense. I thought the Buccaneers’ one was bad, but the Eagles were on another level. They checked random things like how high we can jump, and most of the colts there were at least a year older.”

Atomic re-told what happened at the tryouts for the rest of breaktime, and just before the bell rang, he wrapped up re-telling the moment he was chosen for the team.

“And then he said my name. At first, I thought it was just a mistake, but he really did say my name! I’m still kinda surprised that he picked me over most of the colts that were there.”

“Thunderhoof shook his head. “It’s not surprising to me. According to what you’ve told us, you played out of your mind yesterday. If I was the coach I’d definitely pick you.”

“That is kinda biased, but thanks, I appreciate it,” Atomic smiled and put his arm around Thunderhoof as they walked inside to their next lesson, Chestnut following right behind them.

“Wait, Chestnut we have training today, right?”

“Yeah, at five o’clock.”

“Where do you live? We can go to training together if you want.”

“Okay, I’ll give you my address.”

Chestnut took out a piece of paper from his saddlebag and a quill, and he pressed the paper against the wall behind him as he wrote down his address.

“Here it is. Is this close to where you live?”

“Yeah, it's like fifteen minutes away from my house. I’ll come to you and then we can go training together.”

Chestnut nodded and the three headed off together to their third lesson of the day.

“Come on boys, lets go! We don't have time to be standing around! If you don’t want our lesson to run over into after school, get into your groups from last lesson, and do it quickly!”

Mr Cobalt clapped his hooves as he came out onto the field, holding a bucket of hoofballs in his mouth.

“Hurry up! We’re gonna start with something a little different today!”

Atomic, Chestnut and Thunderhoof joined three other colts that were in their group, and they waited with the rest of their class for further instructions from their teacher.

“In your group you're going to split off into threes. In each trio, there’s going to be a passer, a receiver and a defender. The passer is going to throw the ball, and the receiver’s job is to catch the ball whilst the defender’s job is to stop the receiver. After each play, you all switch positions until each of you have played all three positions twice. Right, split up and get started!”

Atomic decided to get into a three with his friends, and Thunderhoof went over to Mr Cobalt to get a hoofball.

“D’you wanna be the receiver or the defender?”

“I’ll be the receiver. Both of you are taller than me and I'm not a good defender,” Chestnut replied sheepishly.

Thunderhoof returned to the group and told Atomic and Chestnut to move back, and as a pale green aura surrounded his horn, Thunderhoof lifted the ball up with his magic and drew it back. Atomic began to try and get in front of Chestnut, who was trying his best to keep Atomic behind him. Thunderhoof threw the ball with his magic, and the ball flew high into the air, heading to the right of Chestnut, who quickly ran towards it with Atomic trailing behind him. Chestnut leapt into the air and caught the ball before Atomic could intercept it.

“I almost got it that time, almost,” Atomic lamented, and Chestnut threw the ball back to Thunderhoof. When Thunderhoof threw the ball to Chestnut again, Atomic was able to get in the way and smack the ball aside.

“I’ll be the receiver now. Chestnut, you can swap with Thunder.”

Thunderhoof and Chestnut swapped positions, and Atomic smirked as Thunderhoof stood in front of him.

“You’re not gonna be in front for long, Thunder.”

Thunderhoof turned around and smiled. “What makes you think I’m gonna let you catch that ball?”

Chestnut leaned back to balance on his two hind legs. He took a few seconds to adjust his balance. Once he was stable, he drew his arm back and threw the ball far. Atomic tracked back quickly to keep up with the ball as it flew through the air. Thunderhoof set off after Atomic, aiming to barge into him so that he couldn’t catch the ball. The ball began to fall and Atomic prepared himself to catch the ball by quickly moving to where he believed the ball was going to land. He jumped up into the air at the same time as Thunderhoof, and despite his height disadvantage, Atomic was able to get the ball and grab it first.

Atomic was also able to catch the second ball and four minutes later, the three colts had finished rotating positions, and they waited for their classmates to finish.

“I'm gonna get this with one hoof! Just watch!”

Pablo’s group was playing a few metres away from Atomic, Chestnut and Thunderhoof, and their quarterback threw the ball to Pablo.

“I’ll get it just like Onyx Bolt did!” Pablo called out, referring to the one-hoofed catch that the Vanhoover Giants receiver had made a few years ago in the regular season, which was instantly hailed as one of the best catches ever, and it also boosted his team’s profile and cemented Onyx Bolt’s place as one of the best wide receivers in the EHL.

Pablo threw himself backwards to reach the ball, with only his right arm being outstretched to catch the ball as he had promised. To the shock of the colts that were watching, Pablo was able to get a grip on the ball. However, as he pulled the ball inwards, the ball slipped out of his grip and tumbled onto the grass, quickly followed by a hard landing.

“My back!”

Pablo cried out and rolled around on the grass, one of his hooves holding his back. Coach Cobalt saw the commotion and ran over.

“Pablo! What happened?!”

“He was trying to do a one-hooved catch like Onyx Bolt,” answered one of Pablo’s friends.

Mr Cobalt knelt down and asked Pablo where it hurt the most, frowning when Pablo tearfully gestured to his lower back.

“Legs...can’t..feel ‘em,” he grunted out, shutting his eyes tightly.

“You, go get the nurse! And tell her it's urgent!”

One of Pablo’s friends dashed off to the nurse’s office, and the rest of the class were told to move away from Pablo to give him some space. Five minutes later, the school nurse came sprinting out onto the field, with her two assistants holding a stretcher right behind her. Mr Cobalt moved back when they reached Pablo.

“I actually feel kinda sorry for him,” Thunderhoof said, and Chestnut nodded. “Hopefully it isn't too serious, and he’ll be alright,” he added.

Mr Cobalt and his class watched Pablo being gently placed onto the stretcher.

“At least we know now that we shouldn’t try anything crazy,” Atomic stated.

Pablo was fastened onto the stretcher and was then slowly wheeled away.

“Sir, is Pablo gonna be alright?!”

“Yeah, he said that he couldn't feel his legs!”

“I'm sure Pablo will be fine. Now, we were gonna play another practise match but I don't feel like we should.”

Coach Cobalt led the class through some passing drills for the rest of the lesson, and as they packed up the equipment to take back to the changing rooms, one of the colts spoke up.

“Sir, why don't we have a hoofball team? All that stealing stuff happened years ago and most of the other schools have a team. If we have a team, we could be in the local league!”

Coach Cobalt stopped in his tracks. “I think that's something that you should take up with the principal.”

“That's actually a good idea. The only place we can play for a team is outside of school, and you have to tryout for them most of the time,” Thunderhoof added, and a few other colts agreed.

“We can go the principal tomorrow then,” Atomic concluded. “Who wants to have a hoofball team?”

Ten colts had put their hooves up, with the rest either claiming that they already played for teams outside of school or did not have time for hoofball.

“Alright, we’ll go to the principal’s office tomorrow morning. Make sure you all come to school early, and we can meet up at the front gate,” Atomic decided.

The other colts nodded and Atomic headed back to his place at the back of the changing rooms to get changed.

“Guys, I don’t think I'm gonna try out for the hoofball team,” Chestnut admitted.

“What?! Why not, you’d totally make the team!” Atomic and Thunderhoof cried.

“Maybe I could join the school paper and try and get a column on the team to be printed? It would mean that more ponies know about the team.”

“That's…..actually a good idea,” Thunderhoof nodded at Chestnut, and he promised to get an article on the new school hoofball team as soon as possible.

“Atomic! Dinner’s ready!”

“Coming Mom!”

Atomic finished his last sentence in his notebook. After his success at the Eagles’ tryouts, he had decided to write out a detailed plan of how he was going to get to the league and play for the Fillydelphia Dragons.

Stage 1: Get onto a good team.
Stage 2: Win the local youth league and get noticed by scouts.
Stage 3: Go to a good high school and play god enough to get college scholarships
Stage 4: Go to a good college and win the College Bowl
Stage 5: Get drafted by the Dragons
Stage 6: Win the EHL championship/ Win MVP (each more than once)
Stage 7: Become the greatest Dragons player of all time.

One down, four to go.

THE EIGHTH DOWN

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“Atomic, it's seven o’clock! You said you wanted to go to school early today, so up you get!”

Wait, why would I wanna get up so early?!

Atomic suddenly remembered that he had agreed to meet with some of the colts in his PE class to ask their principal to bring back the hoofball team. He got out of bed and picked up the folded sheet of paper on his desk, (which he had written reasons for why the team should be brought back) before suddenly deciding to go to the bathroom first. He dropped the paper back down onto the desk and left his room. After brushing his teeth, Atomic came down the stairs, holding the paper with a hoof, and greeted his mother, who was in the kitchen watching over an egg in the frying pan. He then made a turn and walked past the living room, heading towards the closed door at the end of the hallway.

“Dad, it's me. Can I come in?”

“Yep, the door’s open.”

Atomic pushed the door open and stepped into his father’s study. The large oak desk took up most of the space in the workroom, and it's surface was almost completely covered in papers. Several shelves clung to the wall, books taking up most of the shelves. A light breeze blew gently into the room, the source being the open window to the far right of Atomic. Syracuse was currently using his typewriter to copy up the paper to his left, taking a sip from his coffee mug on his right. When he heard his son enter, he stopped typing and looked up at him.

“How can I help?”

“Well, me and a few guys in my PE class wanna go to the principal and ask him if we can have a hoofball team. I wrote down the reasons why we should have one, so can you just check they’re alright?”

“Sure can.” Syracuse took the paper from Atomic and read it, the expression on his face never changing. When he finished reading it, he put the paper down and got out of his chair to pull out a folded chair next to one of the bookshelves, and as he pushed the seat down, he motioned for Atomic to sit in the chair.

“I’m going to tell you two things Atomic. First, you have some good points, and if I were the principal, it’d be good enough for me.”

“Okay then, what’s the second point?”

“Atomic, you don’t have time to be potentially playing for two teams. You’re already behind in your studies, and no amount of persuasion from you is going to change that. Do you really think it’s worth it to risk failing this year just for a school team?”

“Dad, I’m not gonna fail, and I’m not behind, Miss Bellflower doesn’t know what she’s talking about!”

“Atomic, do you really think it’s wise to completely abandon your studies for hoofball? I mean, how would your mother feel?”

Atomic jumped out of his seat. “I’m gonna play for the Dragons when I’m older, so it doesn’t matter if I flunk this year anyway!”

“What’s with the yelling?! Butterscotch’s sleeping, keep the noise down!” Tea Rose yelled from the kitchen, her voice coming through the study door clearly.

“Will do!” Syracuse replied, taking a long sip of his coffee before clearing his throat.

“Atomic, don't take this as me being nasty, but you don't have your cutie mark yet. We don't even know if hoofball is what you’re supposed to do.”

“But...when I told you I wanted to be a hoofball player, you said that you’d back me one hundred percent.”

When Syracuse remained silent, Atomic snatched the paper off the table.

“Atomic, I'm not saying you won't become a hoofball player, I'm just telling you to…...consider all of your options, okay?”

“Okay, fine. But I’m still gonna try and get the hoofball team back.”

Atomic left the study quickly, closing the door behind him.

“Atomic, come and get your food before it gets cold!”

Tea Rose came out of the kitchen and handed a bowl of cereal to Atomic, directing him to the living room’s dining table.

“You never told me why you wanted to go to school early.”

Atomic quickly scoffed down his breakfast, desperately trying to think of an excuse his mother would believe.

“Atomic, you haven’t answered my question.”

“I, uh, wanna do some revision with my English teacher, to improve my grade for English.”

“Okay then, that’s good! It’s nice to see you actually take initiative in your education for once!”

Tea Rose kissed the top of Atomic’s head and left the room, leaving Atomic by himself. As he finished his food, he looked up at the clock.

I said I was gonna meet everypony at seven thirty, and it's already seven twenty!

“Mom, I gotta go now, I said I’d meet my teacher at seven thirty!” Atomic called out as he took his plate back to the kitchen and left it next to the sink. He ran upstairs to his room to get his saddlebag, carrying the paper in his mouth. After putting the paper and packing his books he needed for the day, Atomic ran out of his room and down the stairs, shouting a quick goodbye to his parents as he left.

“Alright then, have a good day at school!”

“We’ve been waiting for nearly ten minutes, Atomic, what took so long?!”

“Sorry, I kinda lost track of time. Is everypony here?”

All of the colts that were in favour had come to school early as agreed, with Chestnut and Thunderhoof standing towards the front of the group.

“Okay, let’s go.”

The group headed inside, passing a few students and teachers already inside the building, and they approached the main stairs.

“Master Tangerine.”

Atomic yelped when he heard Miss Ivory’s voice, and the group of colts stopped as Atomic turned around to see his homeroom and Maths teacher standing a few metres behind them.

“You didn’t come to me for our progress meeting yesterday.”

Crap, how could I have forgotten about that?!

“Sorry, Miss, my…..aunt fell down the stairs and broke her leg, and I had to visit her yesterday in the hospital.”

Miss Ivory stared silently at Atomic, trying to gauge whether he was being honest with her.

“Come to me straight after school.”

“Yes, Miss.”

As Miss Ivory turned around and headed off in the other direction, Atomic breathed a huge sigh of relief.

“How did you even come up with that?! She’s so scary!” some of the other colts cried.

Thunderhoof spoke up. “When you’re in a classroom everyday with her, you start to get used to her. Let’s go.”

The group quickly headed up the stairs, and as they made their way to the principal’s office, Atomic made a note of the other colts that were with him, listing off their names in his head.

Blaze, Stormcaller, Starburst, Pacific Sail, Mustang and Banoffee Pie.

If we’re allowed to have a team, then maybe we can all become friends.

The group continued climbing up the two flights of stairs and reached the second floor, which hosted most of the department’s staff rooms.

“What are you kids doing up here so early?” a teacher asked as she came out of the Maths staff room.

“We’re going to talk to the principal about bringing the hoofball team back,” Blaze explained, and the teacher frowned.

“Good luck with that.”

Blaze turned to the others in confusion. “Why would she say that?”

“I don't know, come on, let’s go,” Atomic moved to the front of the group and took out the piece of paper he had prepared reasons for having a hoofball team. The principal’s office was located at the end of the corridor, the name ‘Mr Forest, printed in bold on the metal label stuck to the front of the door.

“Okay, who’s gonna go in with me? Cause we can’t all go in.”

“I think Thunderhoof should go in,” Blaze spoke up, and the others agreed.

“Why me?”

“Cause all the teachers like you, and you’re smart, so Mr Forest will be more likely to listen to you,” Blaze explained.

“Come on Thunder, let’s do this.”

Thunderhoof sighed before nodding and joining Atomic. They walked up to the door together and Atomic raised a hoof to knock. Suddenly a teacher came out from the principal’s office and she closed the door.

“What are you doing up here?”

“We wanna see the principal miss, it’s very important,” Atomic answered.

“Vanilla, who’s outside?” Principal Forest called out, and Vanilla opened the door to reveal Atomic and Thunderhoof.

“Sir, we have a very important question to ask you, can we come in?”

“Alright then, but it’d better be quick,” Principal Forest beckoned the two colts to come inside.

Atomic and Thunderhoof entered the principal’s office, Thunderhoof classroom closing the door behind him. Principal Forest’s office was mostly taken up by the several cabinets littered across the room. Next to the door, there were three small plastic chairs currently folded up. The large wooden desk was covered in papers and the principal finished writing his last sentence in a letter he was writing before putting his quill down and looking up at the two colts.

“How can I help you?”

Atomic handed the paper to Thunderhoof, and he stepped forward and began to read, making sure to look up at the principal every few seconds.

“Principal Forest, we were wondering if you would consider bringing back the school hoofball team. There are a lot of colts in our grade who are forced to play outside of school, and I know that we would really appreciate playing for our school. Every other school nearby has a hoofball team and if you allow us, we would really want to beat them and win as many trophies as we can.”

Principal Forest motioned for Atomic and Thunderhoof to pull out two of the plastic chairs next to the door and they did so, opening them up and sitting in them in front of the principal.

“Are you aware of why the hoofball team was cut in the first place?”

“No, sir,” Thunderhoof lied.

“The hoofball team was cut because the PE teacher in charge of them was caught playing his nephews on the team, both of which were in high school.”

“But he’s gone now, and we can start up a new team with Coach Cobalt in charge!” Atomic interjected.

“And where do you expect to get your kits from? How would you travel to other schools?”

Atomic paused, desperately trying to think of an answer.

“I’m sorry, but right now the school isn’t in a position to have a hoofball team.”

Principal Forest picked up his quill and continued where he had left off. Atomic got up and motioned for Thunderhoof to leave with him.

“Wait! I have an idea!” Thunderhoof cried, stepping forward. Principal Forest put his quill down and looked up curiously.

“I'm listening.”

“What if we organised a bake sale? We could then use the money to pay for some kits, if you’d let us have a team.”

Principal Forest stared at the two colts, clearly considering the proposal. In the distance, the faint sound of the bell could be heard ringing in the distance, and this suddenly prompted him to give his answer.

“If you can raise at least one hundred bits from this bake sale, then you have the team, but remember the money for kits and transport will come out of what you raise. Is that clear?”

“Yes, sir. Thank you.”

Atomic and Thunderhoof quickly left the office to tell the others the good news, but when they came out, they found that only Chestnut was waiting for them.

“The others said that they had to go to homeroom, or they’d get in trouble. What did he say?”

Atomic sighed, feigning disappointment. “He said…….”

“What, what did he say?”

“He said that we can have a team if we raise enough money for kits and other stuff!”

Chestnut breathed a huge sigh of relief. “Okay, that's good.”

“Wait, how are we gonna have a bake sale? I don't know how to bake, do you guys?” Thunderhoof asked, and the others shook their heads.

Atomic gasped. “Wait, my mom can bake! I’ll ask her if she can help us with this bake sale!”

“We should probably get to homeroom now, Miss Ivory is gonna be wondering where we are,” Chestnut said, and the three colts quickly headed off to homeroom.

“So what did Principal Forest say?”

“Yeah, did he say we can have a hoofball team?!”

Atomic and Thunderhoof met up with the others as soon as it was break time, and they were currently sitting in the courtyard. Chestnut had gone to the school newspaper to try and promote both the upcoming bake sale and the possible new hoofball team.

“He said we can have a team, but we have to get the money for kits and travel ourselves.”

“But how are we gonna do that?!” the others cried, and Atomic raised a hoof to silence them.

“We’re gonna have a bake sale, okay? My mom's really good at making brownies, so she can help us out?”

“My parents own a bakery in town, I could ask them to help?” Banoffee Pie offered, and Thunderhoof nodded, taking out a notebook from his saddlebag and writing the bakery’s name down.

“Guys, guys!”

Chestnut burst out into the courtyard and sprinted to the group.

“Guys, the newspaper wants to get a date for the bake sale. When are we gonna do it?”

“Err……..”

“Today’s the 20th of October, so we can do it next next Monday on the 7th of November?” Pacific Sail suggested, and the others thought over it for a few seconds before agreeing with the date.

“Alright, we'll have it then.”

“There’s also one more thing the newspaper wants.”

“What is it?”

“They want me to write an article about the tryouts if we have them and who made the team.”

“Wait, what position does everypony play?” Starburst asked , and one by one, the colts began to list off where they played.

So Stormcaller is a running back, Blaze is a quarterback, Pacific Sail’s a tight end, Starburst's a receiver, Mustang is a running back and Banoffee Pie is a cornerback.

So I would be competing against Starburst to get on the team.

I need to find out how good he is.

“Guys, why don't we play some hoofball after school on the field? You know, to try and figure out where we play best at,” Atomic suggested.

The others nodded in agreement and the colts all agreed to meet up on the field after school to play together.

“What the hell are you two doing with them?!”

Pablo came outside onto the courtyard slowly, the bandages wrapped around his lower back clearly hampering his walking pace. Blaze and Mustang rushed over to their friend, happy to see him.

“Pablo, you’re okay!”

“Yeah, we were really worried about you!”

Pablo pushed Mustang back slightly and glared at the two of them.

“I said, what the hell are doing with those guys?”

Mustang faltered under Pablo’s fierce glare and gulped loudly. “Oh, we’re just talking about the bake sale we’re gonna do in two weeks.”

“Why?”

“Because we’re gonna get a hoofball team, and we need the money for kits and travel,” Thunderhoof replied, speaking for the group.

“So when’s tryouts?”

“If we raise enough money from our bake sale, then it'll be a few days after that.”

“Stormcaller, Mustang, let’s go.”

“We’ll see you guys after school,” Stormcaller whispered, before following Blaze and Pablo.

Once Pablo, Blaze and Stormcaller had left, the other colts began to talk about hoofball and how the Dragons’ season was going. Aotmic waited for a few seconds, before dragging Thunderhoof to one side.

“Why did you tell him about our team?! You know what he’s like!”

“Atomic, as much as we dislike Pablo, he’s a good player, and he’ll be good for our team,” Thunderhoof calmly replied, before re-joining the others.

How can he side with Pablo like that?!

Whatever, Pablo won’t recover from his injury in time for the tryouts.

“Hey, Atomic!”

Atomic turned around and was surprised to see Spade Ace, Jackpot, Maverick and Moondust approaching. He quickly went up to them and hoof-bumped each of them.

“Where have you guys been? I haven’t seen you for ages!”

“Tests, tests and more tests,” Maverick replied. “Anyway, we heard that you’re tryna bring back the hoofball team, is that right?”

“How do you already know about that?!”

“That guy in your grade, the one with the big mouth, what was his name……” Maverick tried to remember, holding a hoof under his chin.

“Pebble, yeah, it was that Pebble guy!” Moondust said, and Atomic snorted.

“It's Pablo, not Pebble.”

“Yeah, we heard him talking about how he would carry the team for the whole year.”

“That's if he even gets onto the team in the first place,” Atomic muttered. “So are you guys gonna try out?”

“Course, but I don't know if we would be allowed, we’re not supposed to be going here after all,” Jackpot said.

“I'm sure Mr Cobalt would let you guys tryout, we need all the players we can get, after all.”

Atomic and the four older colts joined the others and they quickly interjected in the conversation surrounding the EHL season, eager to give their opinions.

“No, no, no, listen guys, lemme tell you what’s gonna happen. The Dragons aren’t gonna win the Sugar Bowl this year, and I’ll tell you why,” Maverick said.

“They have Nick Foals, why in Equestria wouldn’t they win?!” Atomic cried, and the others agreed.

“Don’t you remember Nick Foals choking against the Knights in the semifinals? I mean, he was open at the twenty yard line, the Dragons were down by five, fifteen seconds left in the fourth quarter and he dropped it!”

“So?! That was last year, he’s already dominating the league and we’re only four games in!” Atomic’s voice drew the attention of the other students in the courtyard, and Atomic lowered his head in embarrassment as the others giggled.

“So you guys are all Dragons fans then?” Wild Ace asked, and he smiled in agreement when most of the younger colts nodded.

“So who’s everypony’s favourite player?” Maverick asked.

“Nick Foals, one hundred percent,” Atomic said, and Stormcaller and Starburst agreed with him.

“I’m a Dragons fan and all, but I gotta go with La Salle, he’s on another level, and he's definitely the greatest quarterback of all time,” Thunderhoof admitted, and Maverick high-fived him.

“See, Thunderhoof knows whats up!”

“I didn’t get your name, little guy,” Moondust said, looking at Chestnut who was standing the furthest away from him.

“Che-Chestnut. Chestnut Oak.”

“Okay Chestnut, who do you support?”

“I’m from Manehatten, so I support the Giants.”

“You gonna try out for the team as well?”

“No, I’m not going to. But I will be writing about the team in the school paper.”

Thunderhoof opened up his notebook to the last page he had written on. “Hey guys, what positions do you play? We wanna keep track of what positions we need to fill up,” he asked the older colts.

“Defensive line. All of us can play either tackle or end,” Moondust replied.

“Okay, great! So we have most of positions for offense, and nearly half for defense! We only need an offensive line, linebackers and safeties now!” Thunderhoof declared, but everypony had already gone back to talking about the Dragons, and he rolled his eyes.

“Nopony appreciates me.”

Come on, come on, come on!

Hurry up, why is it taking so long?!

BBRRRIINNGG!

Atomic was the first to jump out of his seat and he threw his books into his bag. The rest of his peers quickly followed suit, and the teacher sat back at her desk and watched her students pile out of the classroom. Atomic was one of the first to leave and he headed to the back of the school where the field.

“Hey, Atomic!”

Thunderhoof shouted Atomic’s name three more times before he finally heard him.

“I called your name like five times!”

Atomic walked through the crowd of ponies leaving school and eventually reached Thunderhoof. “Sorry, I didn’t hear you!”

“Come on, let's go to the field.”

The two walked silently through the school to the back, before Atomic suddenly spoke up.

“Who do you think is the best of all of us?”

“I’d probably put Maverick, Jackpot, Wild Ace and Moondust at the top; they are older and stronger after all. But after that….. I dunno.”

“It would be me and then you and then everypony else.”

Thunderhoof smirked. “You think you’re better than me?”

“I know I’m better than you,” Atomic replied confidently.

Thunderhoof opened the exit door and the two stepped out onto the field.

“They’re over there!” Atomic pointed to the back of the field, where all the other colts were waiting for them.

“Last one there is a massive loser!” Atomic yelled, running off to the back of the field. Thunderhoof quickly ran after him before suddenly stopping. Atomic turned around to check how far behind Thunderhoof was.

“Hey, I’m over here!”

Atomic, still running, turned back around and gasped when he saw Thunderhoof had already reached the others.

“How did you do that?!”

Thunderhoof tapped his horn and grinned. “Took me a month to learn to teleport.”

“I told some of the guys in our class about the team and they’re gonna play a match with us, just to see how we all play together,” Wild Ace announced.

“Hey guys, over here!” Maverick shouted to a large group of thirteen older colts running onto the field.

Chestnut gulped nervously. “Guys, I’m gonna sit this one out. I’m not going to be trying out for the team anyway, so there’s no point.”

When nopony protested, Chestnut sat down onto the grass a few metres behind them as the other colts arrived.

“Who’s in which team?” the colt at the front asked.

“We’re just about to split up into teams.”

Two captains were selected and one by one, the colts were selected for the two teams. Once the last colt had been picked, Maverick took a hoofball out of his saddlebag and the two teams split off into separate huddles to discuss tactics.

“Hey, Chestnut, can you tell me when it's four o’clock? My aunt’s staying at our house so my mom wants me to be home before four thirty,” Thunderhoof asked, handing his watch to Chestnut, who nodded and checked the time before putting it on.

Atomic and Thunderhoof had ended up on the same team along with Starburst, Blaze, Stormcaller and Pacific Sail; but most of the older colts were on the opposing team, placing them at a disadvantage and they were quick to take their preferred positions for themselves.

“Okay, so we’ve got a quarterback and one receiver, what do you guys wanna play?” Thunderhoof asked, and once everybody had received a position, he began to draw up the first play.

“Okay, I read about this play in the newspaper, the Canterlot Knights did this at the end of the match and it won them the game.”

Thunderhoof designated everypony’s position and emphasised to them that they should stick to their role at all times.

The two huddled split and both teams lined up in their respective formations. The attacking team were lined up in a single set back formation, with Starburst lining up behind Thunderhoof and Atomic, Stormcaller and Pacific Sail playing as the wide receivers. The defending team were lined up in a basic 3-4 formation, with Wild Ace, Maverick, Jackpot and Moondust forming the defensive line whilst Blaze, Mustang, Banoffee Pie and the rest of the older colts filled up the remaining defensive positions.

The ball was snapped to Thunderhoof and he quickly moved back as the offensive and defensive line collided, looking for an open teammate. As instructed, Atomic set off from his position in the right hand side of the field, running towards the middle of the pitch. At the same time, Stormcaller and Pacific Sail overlapped Atomic’s run and they headed to the spot where Atomic had been waiting before the ball had been snapped.

“I’m open!”

Thunderhoof threw the ball to an open Stormcaller and Atomic suddenly turned around, confusing his defender who slipped, and sprinted back to Stormcaller, who was now beginning to put some distance between himself and his defender. Pacific Sail spotted Atomic’s defender, an older colt, making a charge for Starburst, and with the help of Atomic, he was brought down.

Starburst continued sprinting to the end zone. When he reached it, he immediately high-fived Atomic and Stormcaller, and the rest of the team quickly joined in with the celebrations.

“Dude, that was an amazing play, it worked perfectly!”

Thunderhoof was mobbed with high-fives and hugs and he grinned. “Told you it would work.”

“Guys, we don’t have all day. Hurry up and get back here!”

The two teams formed huddles again and it was Atomic who handed out everypony’s positions; making sure that the defensive line were older colts to match up with Maverick, Wild Ace, Jackpot and Moondust. Atomic made himself, Thunderhoof and Starburst linebackers whilst Stormcaller and Pacific Sail were the cornerbacks. As his team lined up in their formation, Atomic spotted Blaze having a quick word with the quarterback before standing at the end of the offensive line.

“Hey, Thunder, tell the guys behind us to watch out for Blaze,” he hissed.

Thunderhoof nodded and relayed the information to the two safeties behind him, and he turned back around just in time to see the ball being snapped to the opposing quarterback. The three linebackers leapt from their starting positions and swarmed towards the quarterback, but the fullback and tight ends met them before they could attempt a sack. The opposing quarterback continued moving back, watching the defensive line begin to overpower his teammates, and he waited anxiously. Mustang had managed to wrestle Pacific Sail to the ground and as instructed, he turned around and sprinted ten yards forward to his right, where Starburst was trying to push his marker off him. Mustang turned back and nodded to the quarterback. The defensive line had finally barged past their opponents and began to pull the quarterback down, and he just managed to get rid of the ball, flinging it desperately upfield in Stormcaller’s direction as hard as he could.

The ball sailed through the air, and as Starburst began to run his route, Blaze sprinted towards his blocker. Luckily for the defender, one of the safeties had seen Blaze and were now in hot pursuit of him. The ball had reached the top of its arc and it began to fall at a lightning pace. Stormcaller and the cornerback were still shoving each other as the ball fell, when suddenly the cornerback was pulled to the ground by Blaze, leaving Starburst open for an easy catch.

“Stop him, you can't let him catch it!” Atomic yelled, trying to reach the safeties to help but realising he was too far away, had resorted to yelling.

As the ball appeared to continue travelling through the air, Starburst realised that he had misjudged where the ball was going to land. He desperately moved back as quickly as he could to try and reach the ball before it hit the ground. Unfortunately for him, the cornerback had snapped out of his daze and quickly got up and lunged at Starburst. Having ran out of sensible options, Starburst arched his head back to look at the ball one last time before he threw himself backwards into the end zone, a foreleg outstretched to try and reach the ball.

“WOAH!”

Starburst hit the ground hard and winced. As he tried to roll onto his front, he finally noticed that everypony, including Chestnut, was staring at him with their mouths open.

“What?”

“How did you catch that?!”

Stormcaller suddenly realised that he was holding the hoofball in his left foreleg, and he immediately jumped from the grass in elation.

“I got it, I actually got it!”

As the other team ran to Starburst and crowded around him, Atomic watched them celebrate, his mouth still wide open.

How the hay did he catch that with one hoof?!

“That was just like Onyx Bolt’s catch!”

“Yeah, I think you even did it with the same hoof!”

He’s a lot better than he looks. I’ve definitely got to keep an eye out for him.

The two teams switched between offense and defence for the next half an hour, and at four o’clock, Chestnut reminded Thunderhoof that he was due home.

“Guys, I gotta go. My mom wants to be home before four thirty,” he informed the group.

“The teams are gonna be unequal, we might as well go home now,” Atomic decided, and as everypony began to get their saddlebags, called over all of the new older colts that had played with them today.

“Do you guys wanna try out for the hoofball team?”

When every colt nodded, Atomic smiled. “Basically, we have to pay for our kits and travel, so we’re having a bake sale on the 3rd of November. Can you guys gonna tell your friends and everypony you know about it, okay?”

“Yeah, sure.”

“Good. We’re probably gonna organise a few meet ups just to decide what we’re selling and how much it’s gonna cost, so watch out for that.”

Atomic went to pick up his saddlebag and he left the field with the others.

“One hoof. One. Hoof. I still can’t believe he did that!”

Thunderhoof had been talking about Starburst’s one-hoofed for most of their journey home, and it was beginning to seriously get on Atomic’s nerves. Starburst’s phenomenal catch also had Atomic worried that getting into the team as the starting receiver wouldn’t be as easy as he thought.

“He’d be a really good part of our team. Like, you and him, catching everything I throw. It’s gonna be amazing!”

“We haven’t even had the tryouts yet, we don’t know if he’s gonna get on the team,” Atomic replied abruptly.

“Are you serious?! We both know that Starburst has a good chance of getting on the team, you saw how he played in that game.”

“Anyway, what sort of stuff should we sell at the bake sale?”

Thunderhoof was caught unexpectedly by the sudden change in subject. “Uh, we should probably sell things that everypony likes.”

“Like what?”

“Er…..everypony likes cupcakes, don’t they?”

“That's true. Anything else?”

“We'll ask the others tomorrow,” Thunderhoof replied as the two approached his house.

“Thunderhoof, sweetie!”

Thunderhoof’s aunt from his mother’s side, Aurora, came galloping out of his house and pulled her nephew into a tight hug.

“Oh my goodness, you have grown so much since last time!”

Atomic sniggered as Thunderhoof tried to squeeze his way out of his aunt’s tight embrace.

“Now you have got to tell me everything you have been learning in school this year!”

“See...you...tommorrow,” Thunderhoof managed to choke out as he was led inside.

“You too!” Atomic called out after him, before continuing down the road to his own house.

After the fourth knock, Tea Rose finally opened the door. “How was school?”

“Yeah, it was fine.”

“And how was revision this morning? Did you get some work done?”

“Er, yeah, my teacher said that I’m improving.”

As Tea Rose headed upstairs to check on Butterscotch, Atomic decided that now was the time to ask the all-important question.

“Mom...can I ask you a question?”

“Yeah you can.”

“Me, Thunderhoof, Chestnut and a few other guys wanna have a bake sale on the 3rd of November.”

“What for?”

“Er…..”

Say something, quickly!

“For the….library! Yeah, we wanna raise money for new books and other stuff.”

“Are you sure?” Tea Rose asked skeptically.

Atomic nodded eagerly. “Yeah, one hundred percent. Cold you help us out with like the cakes and the money?”

Tea Rose considered it for a few seconds, before smiling.

“I’d be happy to help.”

THE NINTH DOWN

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“Let’s go, we don’t have all day!”

The under-thirteen West Fillydelphia Eagles ran out onto the pitch for the beginning of their first training session of the season, and they assembled into a line in front of Coach Stargaze and two other coaches. The pitch had been split into two by a line of cones along the middle of the pitch. After completing their warm-up and stretches, the team gathered in front of their head coach.

“Today, as you know, is the first training session of the season. This means that the hard work starts now- not in a few weeks, not just before the end of the year- but now.”

Coach Stargaze turned to the two coaches and introduced each of them.

“For those of you that are new here, I’m going to introduce you to Coaches Persimmon and Bouncer. Persimmon is our offensive coordinator and will be working with the offensive players, and Bouncer is our defensive coordinator who will working with the defensive players.”

The two coaches stepped forward one by one and nodded when their names were spoken. Bouncer, true to his name, was a heavy, thickset dark grey earth pony. He had a large whistle hanging around his neck and his white cap protected him from the sun’s harsh glare, which was still pretty high in the sky considering that there was less than three hours left before sunset. Persimmon was a small orange unicorn with a skinny build, and he was also wearing a white cap for protection from the sun’s rays. Unlike Bouncer, he was not wearing a whistle but was instead using his magic to hold a clipboard next to his head.

“Ponies that are new to the team, stay where you are. Everypony else, you know where you need to go.”

Most of the team went to stand next to their separate coaches, with Atomic and a few others staying put.

“Right, I’m gonna put you with a coach today based on where I thought you played best at the tryouts. Atomic Tangerine, you’re with Coach Bouncer.”

Atomic was surprised to hear that he had to work with the defensive coordinator when he played best as wide receiver, and when the remaining colts had been designated to their coach, Atomic approached Coach Stargaze.

“Coach, can I ask you a question?”

Coach Stargaze didn’t look up from his clipboard. “What is it?”

“I play wide receiver…..so why did you put me in defence?”

Coach Stargaze finally looked up from his clipboard. “You don’t decide where you play, that’s up to me.”

“But-”

“You are going to work with Coach Bouncer today, and that is that. Understand?”

“.......Yes, Coach.”

Atomic walked away and joined the others in his group, irritated that he was being forced to play defence. As he joined the others, he spotted Helios, who he had become friendly with at the tryouts, and he moved to the back to stand with him.

“Hey Atomic,” he greeted earnestly.

“Hey-”

“Right, let’s get started with the zone drill. The zone break drill is designed to teach you how to read a quarterback and gauge where they're going to throw the ball. In a game, being able to anticipate where the quarterback is going to throw the ball could be the difference between conceding a first down and forcing a turnover.”

Coach Bouncer asked Coach Persimmon if he had a quarterback and two receivers they could use for the drill, and a tall colt was quickly sent over. Coach Bouncer directed the quarterback to stand twenty yards away from the others, and the receivers were instructed to stand twenty yards opposite him.

“Your job is to read the QB’s movements and try and figure out which player he’s going to pass to. Once you’ve figured that out, try to make the interception. Each of you are gonna get two turns. Right, Helios, let’s go!”

Helios moves to the front of the line and the others moved to the side. Helios lined up in front of the two receivers, who were standing five yards apart. When Coach Bouncer blew his whistle, he threw the ball to the quarterback, and he moved the ball between his two front hooves quickly. Helios spotted the quarterback drop his right shoulder slightly just before he threw the ball, and Helios darted to his right to cover the receiver, managing to swat the ball away before it could be caught.

“Good, but try and catch the ball on the next go.”

Helios nodded and moved back to his starting position. When the whistle was blown again, Helios was able to pluck the ball from the air.

“Good job. Next pony, go!”

Atomic watched his teammates do the drill one by one, and he was surprised by the fact that nearly everypony had at least one interception.

How the buck am I supposed to do better that these guys?!

“Next!”

It was finally Atomic’s turn and he slowly made his way to his starting position, trying his best to hide his nerves.

BEEP!

The ball was thrown to the quarterback and he threw the ball straight to the receiver to his right almost instantly. Atomic was rooted to the spot and only started moving once the ball was well on its way to it's target. He desperately dove forward to try and hit the ball away, but he fell short and he landed roughly.

“You need to be quicker than that. By the time you moved, he could be ten, fifteen yards away with the ball.”

The ball was given back to the quarterback for Atomic’s second turn and the exact same happened again, with Atomic being too slow off the mark to have any effect on stopping the ball being caught.

“Right, let’s move on. We’re gonna be doing the stance and take-off drill next.”

Coach Bouncer led the group over to the other side of the pitch, and he split them up into groups of four.

“This drill is going to help strengthen your leg muscles and get you used to executing a proper take-off from the defensive stance. Right, first group, let’s go!”

Atomic had been put into a group with three other colts that he wasn't familiar with, and as they lined up to start the drill, Atomic tried to strike up a conversation with the colt next to him.

“So, what position do you play? I'm a wide receiver but they put me in this group for some reason.”

The colt stared at him silently with a blank expression before turning away.

Is everypony here like this all the time?!

“You’re gonna go on the second count, and you're gonna charge forward for five yards. Make sure that you maintain a low take-off.”

Coach Bouncer walked in front of the first group and stood ten yards in front of them, placing a cone down at the five yard mark.

“Green 80! Green 80! Hut Hut!”

On the second hut, the colts took off. Atomic, expecting to hear the number two, was caught out of place when he saw the others in his group already two yards ahead. He leapt forward from his spot and was just able to catch up with the others in his group before they reached the end of the five yards.

Oh, when he says hut that’s when I'm supposed to go!

Coach Bouncer frowned as he watched Atomic wall over to the side, beginning to think that Coach Stargaze had made a mistake in putting Atomic on the team.

“Hey, are you alright?” Helios asked Atomic, concerned.

“Yeah, I’m fine, it’s just that I’m not a defender so I’m sorta out of my comfort zone right now.”

“Hey don't worry about it, I’m sure Coach will put with the offensive team soon. Just ask me if you don’t get anything, alright?”

Atomic smiled gratefully and nodded.

“Hey you two over there, to the front, now!”

Both colts were startled by Coach Bouncer, and they slowly made their way to the front as instructed.

“So you think you two can get away with gossiping in the back, huh?”

“No, sir,” they replied at the same time.

“You’re both gonna do three laps of the pitch after practise, is that clear?”

“Yes, sir.”

Atomic and Helios went back to their spots. Soon enough, it was Helios’ turn to do the drill and Atomic watched him charge carefully, making a note to make sure that he maintained a low take-off just like Helios.

When the last group had done the drill, Coach Stargaze came out onto the pitch and blew his whistle loudly.

“Let’s get into a 7 v 7 game.”

The colts from both groups quickly joined Coach Stargaze in the middle of the pitch.

“Those of you on the special team, you’re gonna work with me over on the next pitch.”

About fifteen colts left their respective groups and left the pitch with Coach Stargaze for their training, leaving Coach Bouncer and Persimmon in charge of the remaining colts. They split the colts into two teams, with those left over bundled into a team and told to sit on the sidelines. To his disappointment, Atomic had been into a different team as Helios.

“Hey little guy, looking forward to playing with you!”

Alizarin bounded over to Atomic and put a foreleg over his shoulders.

“My name’s Atomic, not ‘little guy’,” Atomic said, shrugging off Alizarin.

“Okay little guy, no need to get aggressive,” Alizarin smirked, before joining the rest of their teammates, who had yet to split from the other team. Coach Persimmon stepped forward and began to explain the rules of the game.

“Before you split off into your huddles, we’re gonna tell you the rules of this game. First downs are gonna be fifteen yards, which means that you’re gonna have to move the ball upfield as far as possible to avoid turning the ball over. A touchdown will be worth seven points instead of the usual six, the QB must remain behind the line of scrimmage and they also have to release the ball within four seconds. Only running plays, no special team plays, interceptions will be called dead and first team to score a touchdown wins. Winning team will stay on, and we'll keep switching over until the end of training. Understood?”

“Yes, Coach!”

“Right, Alizarin’s team, go sit on the sidelines for now.”

Grumbling in annoyance, Alizarin’s team sat down on one of the benches, which was long enough to occupy all of them comfortably.

“Sir, I just remembered, I have a dentist’s appointment in half an hour!” one of the colts on the pitch suddenly said.

“And why didn’t you mention this at the start of training?”

“Sorry, it completely slipped my mind,” the colt said as he used his magic to open his saddlebag (which was on one of the branches at the sidelines) and take out his appointment card to show the coaches.

Both coaches looked over the card for a few moments before nodding, and the colt thanked them before packing up and leaving the pitch quickly.

“Crap, the teams aren’t equal now.”

Atomic stood up. “Coach, I’ll play for them, if that’s okay.”

“Alright, join their team. Okay, let’s get started, we don’t have all day!”

The two teams walked onto the pitch and split off into their huddles. The quarterback on Atomic’s team was none other than Tiny Thunder, and he was quick to assert himself as the pony in charge.

“We’re gonna run a singleback trey PA boot. Everypony knows where they’re playing right?”

“He should be one of the receivers, he was insane at the tryouts,” Helios said, smiling at Atomic.

“Okay then, but singleback trey PA boot. Break!”

Wait, what the hell did he just call?

I’ll just wing it, it’s worked before.

The two huddles broke and both teams lined up into their respective formations, with the line of scrimmage being at the thirty yard line. The ball was snapped to Tiny Thunder, who faked handing the ball off to the running back before retreating, waiting for his receivers to become open for the pass.

Atomic quickly set off from his starting point, and without having a clue on what route he was supposed to run, he sprinted aimlessly ahead, hoping to outrun his cornerback. Fortunately for Atomic, his cornerback eventually burned out and Atomic turned around to open himself up for the pass, preparing himself for the easy catch.

The ball was instead thrown to the receiver on the far right of the field, who had run a slant route as instructed. When he was tackled at the forty seven yard line, Atomic stormed over to Tiny Thunder.

“What the hell?! Did you not see that I was clearly open?! If you passed it to me, i would’ve got the touchdown!”

Tiny Thunder sneered. “Do you know what the buck the play I called was?! You were supposed to run a slant route, not straight bucking ahead!”

“Whatever.”

Atomic walked away, making a note to change where he ran next time.

The two teams went into their huddles again and this time Tiny Thunder called a play action short pass play, in which he instructed the running back to move with the ball for a few yards before tossing the ball to him.

“And remember, don't make it obvious,” Tiny Thunder instructed his teammates, who nodded before breaking from the huddle. Atomic headed over to the scrimmage line, confused about what a play action pass meant.

“Hey, Helios!” he hissed. After saying his name the third time, Helios heard Atomic and left his place on the offensive line and quickly went over to him. Atomic moved away from his cornerback and motioned for Helios to follow him.

“Yeah?”

“What’s a play action pass?” Atomic asked, but unfortunately his question had not gone unheard, and the cornerback closest to them listened carefully to Helios quickly explaining how the play worked. Once Helios went back to his place, the cornerback sprinted over to the middle linebacker and spoke to him quickly before heading back to Atomic to mark him. The middle linebacker alerted the rest of his teammates to what was going to happen.

The ball was snapped and as the defence expected, Tiny Thunder feigned handing the ball off to the running back before the ball was thrown back to him. The linebackers had quickly set off from their starting points and one of them was able to poke the ball out of Tiny Thunder’s hooves before he could retreat with it. The hoofball tumbled to the ground and several players piled on top of it to desperately recover it. Both coaches blew their whistles and ran out onto the pitch, ordering the ponies on the pile to get up. One by one, the pile reduced in size before a grinning linebacker remained on the ground, his hooves tightly wrapped around the ball.

“Defense’s ball!”

The defending team celebrated the interception, with the other team silently going into a huddle.

“What the hell, how did they know what we were gonna do?!” some of the colts cried, and before Tiny Thunder could reply, the linebacker that had intercepted the ball swaggered over to them, looking particularly at Atomic.

“Hey, thanks for the heads up on the play, couldn't have done it without you,” he smirked, slapping Atomic on the back before walking away.

The others instantly turned on Atomic, ganging up on him. “Why the hell did you tell him the play?!”

“Hey, it's not Atomic’s fault!” Helios stepped forward and pushed his teammates back away from Atomic. “He wanted to quickly go over the play with me, that's all. If anything, it's my fault, they must have overheard me.”

“So both of you made us lose the ball?! Gee, thanks, we all really appreciate it!” Tiny Thunder sneered, stepping up to Helios. The two glared at each other silently, their teammates watching them with bated breath.

“Hey, this isn't the time to turn on each other!” Atomic stepped between the two and pushed them apart. “Okay, we just lost the ball, but that doesn't mean we’ve lost the match! Coach said that three touchdowns wins the game, so are we really gonna let them get three touchdowns? Are we?”

Atomic looked at each of his teammates, waiting for somepony to speak up and agree with him.

“Atomic’s right. Let’s just go out there and do our best to get the ball back,” Helios said, putting his hoof in the middle.

One by one, everypony on the team placed a hoof in the middle, until there was only one pony left.

“Come on Tiny, I know you don’t wanna lose,” Helios said, and Tiny Thunder grumbled before putting his hoof in the middle.

“Don’t ever call me Tiny again.”

“Whatever you want.”

Helios quickly drew up the first defensive play that the team was set to run, and as the team broke from the huddle to get into their positions, Atomic went up to Helios.

“Hey, Helios can I ask you a question?”

“Sure.”

“How come they didn’t listen to me when I basically said the same thing as you?”

Helios sighed. “You’re new to the team Atomic, and it’s gonna take time for them to respect you. But don’t let that get to you, just keep working hard okay?”

Atomic nodded, and the team lined up into their positions. Helios has deliberately made himself and Atomic linebackers so that he could watch out for him. The other team snapped the ball and the quarterback quickly retreated away from the struggle between the offensive and defensive lines.

The three linebackers charged forward to try and sack the quarterback, and Atomic struggled to get his way through the offensive line and tight end, feeling the disadvantage of his height when he was thrown to the ground by the tight end.

BEEP!

Coach Persimmon blew his whistle again to stop play and ran out onto the pitch to the quarterback, who was still holding the ball.

“You were holding it for too long. I said four seconds and no more. Your team gets a five yard penalty. Right, move back to the forty yard line, all of you!”

“See, I told you we could get them on the back foot,” said Helios, leading his buoyant teammates back to the forty yard line.

Once they got into their huddle, Helios stood in the middle. “We need to cover everypony on this play, you all saw what happened when there was nopony open to pass to. Let’s keep up what we’re doing and we'll get the ball back. 1, 2, 3, break!”

The two teams lined up again and when the ball was snapped, the quarterback was quick to dish the ball out to the open tight end waiting in the middle. The tight end spun to avoid the incoming Tiny Thunder and he made a dash for the forty five yard line. Atomic pushed himself off the ground and watched two of his teammates bring the tight end down at the forty yard line.

“Crap, they got the the first down,” Atomic muttered as he joined the huddle.

Five minutes later, the opposing team scored their first touchdown and the defending team headed off the pitch for the other team.

“I swear, if we didn’t have that kid on our team, we’d still be on the pitch,” grumbled Tiny Thunder, deliberately sitting far away from Atomic and Helios.

Helios sat next to Atomic at the end of the bench.“Word of advice? Read up on the different types of plays when you get home.”

Atomic nodded. “Yeah, I definitely need to do that.”

It had just gone shy of seven o’clock when Atomic finished his dinner and excused himself from the table, rushing upstairs to his room.

“Atomic, come back down, I have a surprise for you!”

Atomic stopped himself in front of his door and headed back down the stairs.

“Yeah, Mom?”

Tea Rose was standing in the hallway, with an oven tray in her mouth. As Atomic came closer, he spotted the rows of brownies.

“Did you make these?!”

“Yeah, whilst you were at school. Go sit at the table and I’ll get a plate.”

Whilst Atomic went to the living room to sit at the table, a set of keys twisted through the keyhole and unlocked the door.

“Syracuse, is that you?” Tea Rose yelled from the kitchen.

“Yeah, it's me.” Syracuse put his saddlebag in his study before going into the living room and sitting on the sofa to turn the radio on. “How was practise, Atomic?”

“It was okay. Can I ask you a question?”

When Syracuse nodded, Atomic sat next to his father. “Could you teach me about plays and stuff?”

“About plays?”

“Yeah, in practise today the quarterback was calling different plays and I didn’t understand any of them.”

Before Syracuse could answer, Tea Rose came into the living room, holding a plate of chocolate brownies in her mouth. “Here you go Atomic, eat them and tell me how they taste.”

Atomic took two brownies from the plate and gave one to his father. The two put the brownies into their mouths at the same time.

“.........This is amazing, Mom!” Atomic quickly chowed down the first brownie and reached out to take two more.

“You should make these more often, they're delicious,” Syracuse said with a smile, making Tea Rose blush.

“Oh come on, they can't be that good. The last time I made brownies must have been a year ago!”

“Are you kidding?! They’re amazing, everypony at the bake sale is gonna love them!”

“What bake sale?” Syracuse asked.

“Oh, we’re having a bake sale next next Thursday for the hoofbal- for the library, to raise money for like, new books and stuff.”

“Oh, okay, that's really good. And how’s school, are you doing better now?”

Atomic groaned. “You don't need to bring it up twenty-four seven, it's not like I'm failing every subject!”

“Yes we do need to bring it up Atomic, we just want you to do well enough to go to a good high school,” Tea Rose interjected.

“Mom, I'm not gonna fail this year, don’t worry.” Atomic reassured, and the living room was silent for a few moments before Tea Rose left to check on Butterscotch.

“Dad, will you teach me? About the different types of plays?”

“Alright, let’s go to the study, it’ll be quieter there.”

As Syracuse went over to his shelves to take out a playbook, Atomic was beginning to regret asking for the lesson on plays. The amount of information that he had been bombarded with for the last ten minutes was enough to make his head spin.

“Okay, here it is.”

Syracuse blew on the cover of the book to remove the thin layer of dust that had gathered on it.

“This….is gonna help you understand what I’ve been talking about for the last ten minutes. It helped me a lot when I used to play quarterback for my high school.”

The book that Syracuse had taken out claimed that it was a simplified guide to hoofball and everything you needed to know about it. Syracuse opened up to the contents page and after finding the number of the page he was looking for, turned to Section 3 on page 57, which was titled ‘Offensive Plays.’

“I’ll get you started with the types of plays that you can run, it’ll make things much easier later on.”

Syracuse turned a few pages and came to a stop on the rushing plays page.

“Rushing plays are simple. When the ball’s snapped, the quarterback hands the ball off to the running back behind him, who then runs with the ball.”

“I get that Dad, but what’s a PA play? My team tried running it in a game today and it…..didn’t really work.”

“PA stands for play action. It’s basically the quarterback tricking the offense by pretending to hand the ball off to the running back before pulling the ball back and passing it out. It’s especially useful after you’ve run a few running plays, because the defence will be expecting another running play, so it makes much more effective.”

Atomic nodded. “Okay, now it makes sense.” He raised a hoof to his mouth to stifle a yawn.

Syracuse closed the book and put it back in the shelf. “You’re looking tired, Atomic. You should head up to bed, you don’t want to be half-asleep in school tomorrow.”

Atomic said goodnight to his father and closed the study door behind him.

“Mom, can I take the rest of the brownies to school tomorrow? You know, for the other guys to have?”

“Sure. I’ll wrap them up in some tissues for you and you can put them in your bag in the morning.”

Tea Rose kissed Atomic goodnight and he headed upstairs to his room.

“We’re gonna make like a thousand bits with these brownies!”

“Yeah, your mom’s brownies are amazing!”

Atomic watched his friends eat their brownies, a small smile on his face. As soon as the break time bell had rung, they had all met up on the field to receive Atomic’s surprise.

“So Banoffee, are your parents down to make a few things to help out?” Thunderhoof asked as he wiped a few crumbs off his face.

“Sorry, they said that they’re really busy baking this huge wedding cake for a client, so they’re not gonna have time to help us out.”

“It doesn't matter anyway, these brownies will be enough to make the money we need.”

“Hey, guys!”

Spade Ace, Moondust, Maverick and Jackpot yelled again and Jackpot brandished a radio from his saddlebag with a grin.

“The Dragons’ game is gonna kick off in two minutes, so I thought you guys would appreciate getting through the first quarter.”

Jackpot sat in the middle with Moondust next to him, and Jackpot put the radio down on the grass.

“Moondust, do your thing.”

Moondust lowered his head towards the radio and a dark blue aura surrounded his horn. A thin line of magic shot out of his horn and it hit the antenna, travelling down it before moving back up to the top of it. The radio then suddenly came to life, and Jackpot turned the dial to the appropriate sports channel.

“And you’re joining us live from the Almerald centre, in a twelve thirty kickoff between two of the best teams in the league, the Canterlot Knights and the Fillydelphia Dragons. We’re definitely in for an exciting match, folks, so grab your popcorn and get settled in for what will hopefully be one of the best matches of the season.”

“It's definitely going to be a good one, especially since it was the Canterlot Knights that stopped Fillydelphia from reaching the Sugar Bowl. So the Dragons are definitely going to be looking for revenge.”

“Especially Nick Foals, seeing as his drop at the twenty yard line was what threw the game away for them last season.”

“Yeah, he definitely choked on that last play, and I don’t think he’s ever going to hear the end of it.”

“Why are they still talking about that?!” Atomic cried, and most of the younger colts agreed with him.

“They're gonna keep talking about it until we beats the Knights in the playoffs,” Moondust declared, turning up the volume dial on the radio.

The colts continued listening to the pre-game commentary and the game was moments away from kicking off when the end of lunchtime bell rang.

“Come on guys, we have to go to lessons now,” said Chestnut, and Blaze, Starburst and Banoffee began to get up.

Jackpot looked up. “Wait, where are you guys going? Don't you wanna stay and listen to the match?”

“Yeah, but we all have lessons right now, so we have to go.”

“Me and Thunder skipped English like three weeks ago and we never got caught,” said Atomic, and Chestnut shook his head.

“I don't wanna risk it.”

“He’s right, if we stay here, we’re gonna get caught. Let’s go somewhere else,” said Moondust, turning off the radio and putting it back into his saddlebag.

“What are you kids still doing on the field? Come on, the bells already gone, get to your lessons!”

A teacher had come out onto the field and he put a foreleg over his forehead to block out the sun. “Come on, get to lessons before the second bell goes.”

The colts got up and headed off the field, with most of them walking at a leisurely pace to the displeasure of the teacher.

“You guys have five seconds to get off this field and inside or you’ll all be going to the principal’s office!”

As they all galloped as fast as they could to get off the field, Atomic recognised the teacher as being the same teacher who had caught him and Thunderhoof on the field after lunch, and he tried to warn Thunderhoof.

As they came off the field, Atomic and Thunderhoof avoided looking at the teacher.

“Have I seen you somewhere before?”

“Who are you talking to sir?” asked Spade Ace, and the teacher looked at Atomic and Thunderhoof.

“You two. Are you in any of my classes?”

Thunderhoof gulped. “No, no sir, we’re, uh, not in any of your classes.”

The teacher focused his gaze onto Atomic. “Are you sure?”

Atomic nodded quickly. “One hundred percent. We should get to our lessons now sir, we don’t wanna be late.”

The colts hurried past the teacher to get inside, Atomic and Thunderhoof particularly quickening their pace. The group split into two to avoid being seen by teachers; with Thunderhoof’s group headed to the library based at the centre of the school, whilst Atomic, Chestnut, Moondust and Maverick ran into the colts’ washroom.

“We should go to lessons, we’re gonna get caught and then we’re gonna get into so much trouble,” Chestnut gabbled, breathing heavily.

Atomic placed a hoof on Chestnut’s shoulder. “Chestnut, will you relax?! That teacher that was talking to us is the same one that caught me and Thunder on the field. So if he doesn’t remember us, why would anypony else be on our case?”

Spade Ace stuck his head out to check if the corridors were clear, and he led the others out one by one, emphasising that they should make as little noise as possible.

“This isn’t a frickin’ secret mission, you don’t have to be so over the top about it,” Moondust remarked as he left the washroom last.

“What are you all doing out of lessons?!”

Moondust squeaked and quickly slapped his hooves over his mouth. The others sniggered and tried their best to hold in their laughter and stay composed as a door was opened.

The teacher was an elderly unicorn mare and she frowned as she came out of her classroom nearest to the toilets and saw the colts standing outside the washroom.

“Miss, we’re just helping our friend, he’s having some……”

“Problems!” Spade Ace said, interrupting Moondust. “He’s just tryna do something in there and we don’t know if he’ll be able to do it by himself.”

The mare raised an eyebrow skeptically. “So this...friend of yours…...is in the toilet right now?”

“Yes, Miss. Come on Chestnut, you can do it buddy!” said Spade Ace with a nervous laugh, looking at Chestnut who was standing in front of the sink.

A filly burst of the classroom panting. “Miss, they’re fighting again!”

The teacher saw the commotion happening inside her class and quickly headed back inside, slamming her door behind her.

“Alright guys, let’s go to the library,” said Moondust.

The others looked at each other for a few seconds before bursting into laughter, with even Chestnut sniggering.

Maverick wiped a stray tear from his eye.

“Dude, you sounded like you’d wet yourself when she came out of the classroom!”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever.”

Moondust pushed a cackling Spade Ace away from him as they got close to the library doors.

“Do you think the other guys made it without getting caught?” asked Chestnut, and Atomic shook his head.

“They’re probably already waiting for us. Come on, the match’s already started!”

The colts entered the library quietly and saw their others waiting at the tables towards the back of the library.

“Guys, hurry up it’s nearly two o’clock!” hissed Thunderhoof, getting up and adding four chairs to their table.

“By the way, we told the librarian that we all failed last year and that we’re doing extra revision, so we have to keep quiet,” Maverick explained, gesturing to the several open books on the table.

Atomic, Chestnut, Spade Ace and Moondust sat down in their respective seats. Moondust took the radio out of his saddlebag as Jackpot peered over the bookshelves to make sure that nopony was looking at them.

“And Nick Foals is brought down at the twenty yard line, granting the Dragons yet another first down! This is a brilliant first quarter showing from the Dragons!”

“That’s right, I did not expect them to come out of the gates this quickly. We’re in for a much closer game than we thought.”

For the rest of the lesson, the colts quietly listened to the match commentary, trying their best to keep their voices down when anything exciting happened.

“Ten yards, five yards…...touchdown, Fillydelphia Dragons!”

As the others celebrated quietly, Jackpot checked if anyplace my could hear them, and out of the corner of his eye, he saw a familiar teacher enter the library. “Ms Ivory just came in!”

“Yeah, nice joke,” Spade Ace replied, still engrossed in listening to the match.

“I’m not kidding, look!” he hissed, ignoring the protests as he turned the radio off. He lifted his head up slowly and pointed to the main desk, where Ms Ivory was talking to the librarian.

“We need to get outta here, she’s gonna see us,” whispered Jackpot, and the colts quickly and quietly packed up their books into their saddlebag.

“Right, hide behind the bookshelves and we'll wait for Ms Ivory to leave,” Spade Ace ordered, and the others spread out and hid behind the bookshelves.

After what seemed like forever (but in reality was only five minutes), Ms Ivory finally borrowed a book and left the library just as the bell rang.

“Let’s wait for the corridors to become packed, and then we’ll leave,” said Spade Ace, stepping out from behind a bookshelf and inching towards the door.

“Excuse me, why are there so many chairs around this table?! Come on, get back here and clean up after yourselves properly!” the librarian exclaimed, pointing at the mess that the colts had left behind.

“Miss, we’re in a rush-”

“No, no, no, I don’t wanna hear any excuses. Get back here and put the chairs back properly. Now.”

“Come on, let’s just do it, and then she’ll leave us alone,” said Spade Ace with a sigh, heading back to the table.

Nearly a minute later, the chairs had been tucked in properly and the colts left the library swiftly.

“I feel like I’m forgetting something,” Atomic mused.

“We don’t have any overdue homework if that’s what you’re asking about,” replied Thunderhoof, trying to put his friend at ease.

“I dunno…..like there’s somewhere that I’m supposed to be……..”

The group reached the school gates and said their goodbyes as they headed their spectate ways.

“We’re so lucky Ms Ivory never saw us, imagine what she’d would’ve done to us,” said Chestnut, and Atomic gasped and suddenly stopped in his tracks.

“Ms Ivory! I was supposed to do to her after school for the progress meetings! Oh man, she’s gonna kill me! I gotta go, I’ll come to your house later!”

Atomic turned around and sprinted back to school. He barged past the students heading in the opposite direction, and he almost managed to get hit by a carriage as he crossed the road to get back into the school.

The carriage driver stuck his head out of his window. “Watch where you’re going, kid! I coulda killed you!”

“Sorry!” Atomic yelled back, before pushing the gates open and running inside.

“......So you mean to tell me that the reason you forgot to attend our last two progress meetings….is because your aunt is in hospital?”

“Yeah, she, uh, broke both of her hind legs,” Atomic replied. He was admittedly feeling guilty about lying, but when Ms Ivory asked (rather aggressively) why he hadn’t come to the progress meeting, it wa the first thing that came into his mind.

Ms Ivory took out a quill from the drawer next to her. “Take out your diary, and turn to where we last left off.”

Once Atomic had opened up his diary to the correct page, Ms Ivory turned the book around and read through the page’s contents.

“Have you made any progress in finding a team to play for?”

“Yes, I went to the under-thirteen tryouts for the West Fillydelphia Eagles, and I got onto the team.”

“Good, we can tick that off then.”

Ms Ivory lifted up her quill and drew a small box next to the step regarding joining a team, filling it with a large red tick.

“Have you got your cutie mark?”

“No...not yet, anyway, Miss. I know I’ll get it when I start playing some matches.”

“We'll see about that. Do not cut off any other options, however. Make sure that you are trying other things that will help you get your cutie mark.”

“Yes, Ms Ivory.”

Fifteen minutes later, Atomic was dismissed from his homeroom and he left school in a hurry, eager to get home.

“Hi, is Thunder in?”

“Yep, he’s just upstairs in his room. Come on in.”

Thunderhoof’s mother stepped aside to let Atomic into her home, and he ran upstairs to his friend’s room. He knocked on the door loudly, and without waiting for a reply, burst into the room.

“Hey, Thunder. Nopony’s at home, so I’m gonna wait here until my mom and Butter get back.”

Thunderhoof didn’t look up from his work. “Okay, that’s cool.”

“Wait, are you doing your homework now?”

Thunderhoof turned around. “Yeah, I always do it as soon as I come back from school, except for when I have to go to training, on those days I do it after I come back.”

“No wonder you’re so smart.”

Thunderhoof blushed slightly. “I’m not that smart, I'm only average in Maths.”

“You’re like the smartest in every single subject, who are you kidding? They're gonna put you in the top set for Maths soon, I'm telling you.”

Thunderhoof laughed and closed his book. “I’ve finished anyway.”

The two chatted about hoofball for another ten minutes before Atomic headed out to check if his mother and sister had come back.

“Oh, Atomic, could you give this to Thunderhoof? I think it’s the list of his team’s fixtures.” Thunderhoof’s mother handed an envelope to Atomic, and he went back upstairs.

“Thunder, your mom said that the Broncos' matchups are in this envelope. Here you go.”

Thunderhoof took the envelope and ripped it open, carefully taking out the white piece of paper. He read down the list of matchups slowly.

“So who do you play first?”

“.......You.”

THE TENTH DOWN

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“So fifty brownies, sixty cupcakes, and forty cookies. That’ll be…..”

Atomic, Thunderhoof, Chestnut and the other colts organising the bake sale to raise money for the hoofball team had met up in the library after school, and Thunderhoof was currently calculating how much money they needed to buy the treats they were going to sell at their bake sale.

“If a brownie, cupcake and a cookie is at least one bit each, which they probably won’t be, then we’re looking at least one hundred and fifty bits,” Thunderhoof declared, underlining the final result.

“So how much do we each have to pay?” Starburst asked, and Thunderhoof picked up his quill again.

“Eleven and a half bits.”

Everypony turned to Jackpot, stunned that he had worked it out so quickly.

“What? I don't wanna fail Maths again.”

Thunderhoof checked Jackpot’s answer by adding up the numbers before nodding. “He’s right, at least thirteen and a half bits from each of us should be enough.”

“We should check which shops have the cheapest stuff, that way we can save money,” Spade Ace suggested, and Banoffee suddenly jumped out of his seat.

“I know how we can save money! I can ask Pinkie Pie if she could send us some stuff!”

“Pinkie Pie?! The Element of Harmony Pinkie Pie?!” the others cried.

“Yeah, she’s my cousin,” Banoffee replied, but the colts were still shocked. “You know, Pinkie Pie, Banoffee Pie. It's kinda obvious.”

“Wait, so would she actually send us the stuff?” Maverick asked, still a little skeptical.

“I haven’t seen her since last Hearth’s Warming, but I can try.”

“Alright then, Banoffee, send a letter to Pinkie Pie about the bake sale, and make sure you tell her how much stuff we need,” Thunderhoof said, closing his notebook.

The colts picked up their bags and tucked their chairs in before the librarian could remind them to do so, and as headed out of the library, Thunderhoof suddenly stopped against one of the bookshelves and took out a thick book with a fireball on it's cover. He flipped the book over and read the blurb.

“How can you even read books that long? I’d struggle to make it to the halfway point,” Atomic remarked.

“I know, but it wouldn’t kill you to try reading, you might actually like it,” Thunderhoof replied, walking over to the librarian’s desk.

“Please, the only book I would ever read is one about hoofball, and there aren’t any books like that here.”

The librarian looked up from her desk and quickly took out her register, copying Thunderhoof’s name down onto the bottom of the page and writing the book’s title and it's return date in the same space.

“So, looking forward to playing us?” Atomic asked us as they headed out of the school, and Thunderhoof shrugged.

“Yeah, but I still wish we were playing with each other and not against each other.”

“Me too, but you know that we gotta play our hardest, no matter what?”

Thunderhoof sighed and quickened his pace to keep up with his friend. “Yeah. I don't even know if I'm gonna start though. Do you remember Alabaster, that white pony from the tryouts? He’s a quarterback too and the coaches really like him. I think they’re gonna pick him over me to start.”

“I don't think I'm gonna start either. Our coach has me playing defense.”

“What?! But you’re a receiver!”

“I know, and I told him that. But he said that he decides where everypony plays best, and according to him, I'm best on defense.”

“We both have today to prove ourselves to our coaches then, otherwise they won’t let us play.”

The two colts turned onto Mayfield Avenue and standing outside his house, Atomic saw a relative he hadn’t seen in months waving erratically.

“Oh no.”

“Atomic, it's me, your Aunt Pumpkin Spice! Did you miss me?!”

Pumpkin Spice was Tea Rose’s younger sister by eight years. A loud and bubbly pony, she was currently unemployed, having being dismissed from her last job as a barista in a cafe. She often turned up to her older sister’s house when she needed money, and Atomic had no doubt that it was money that had driven her to make the two and a half-hour journey from her flat on the other side of Fillydelphia to get here.

“Oh man, is that-”

“Yeah,” Atomic replied dejectedly, sighing loudly.

“Tell me how practise goes, okay?” I gotta get ready to go to training.”

Thunderhoof hoof-bumped Atomic and went inside his own house. Atomic slowly walked towards his own house, thankful that he had training so that he wouldn’t have to spend too much time in the company of his aunt.

“Atomic, pleased to see me?!” Pumpkin Spice beamed, hugging her nephew tightly.

“Yeah, I, uh, didn’t know you were coming.”

“I thought I’d surprise your mom and come round. She won't mind, will she?”

“Nope, I think she’s gonna be really happy to see you,” Atomic said unconvincingly, memories of the blazing arguments between his mom and his aunt the last time she visited running through his mind.

Pumpkin, you can't expect me to help you out every time you need money. I have a family to look after!

Oh, because living the perfect family life is so hard, isn't it?! I really feel for you, it must be so tough to have a perfect husband help you look after your two wonderful bucking kids!

As Pumpkin Spice knocked on the front door loudly, Atomic waited slightly behind her, expecting his mom to pick up where she had last left off.

Tea Rose opened the door holding Butterscotch and was shocked to see the last pony she expected on her doorstep standing there with a broad smile. “Pumpkin Spice!”

“Yep, the one and only. Did ya miss me?”

“Of….course I did. Here Atomic, take Butter upstairs to her cot, she needs to have her nap now.”

Tea Rose have Butterscotch to Atomic and hugged her younger sister quickly.

Tea Rose led Pumpkin Spice to the dining table. “Have a seat, I’ll make you some coffee.”

“Oh, no coffee for me.”

Tea Rose smiled. “Understandable, you do spend all day making coffee. I’d get sick of it after a while too.”

Pumpkin Spice smiled sheepishly. “Yeah, about that……”

Tea Rose looked at her sister confusedly before it dawned on her. “Again?! Really?!”

“Hey, it wasn't my fault! I was just tryna bring something new to the cafe, you know, to bring more customers in.”

“Explain.”

“Basically, about three weeks ago, a customer came in to get his morning coffee, and we started talking whilst I was getting his coffee for him. He told me he had a really long conference that day and he didn’t know how he was gonna get through it, so being the nice pony I am, I left the till and added something to his coffee.”

“What did you add?”

“.....some extra coffee beans to get his energy up. I found them in a plastic bag at the back.”

“Okay, why is that so bad?”

“I’ll get to that. The customer ended up really liking his coffee, and I thought I was really on to something. So for the next week or so, I added extra coffee beans from that plastic bag to every coffee that I made.”

“And then?”

“A week and a half later, a bunch of customers stormed into the cafe, demanding to see the manager. When the manager came out, they started yelling about how the coffee they had ended up giving them food poisoning, and that they wanted their money back. One of the customers saw me watching behind the till and pointed, yelling that I was the one who had made his coffee. The others all started crowding around me, demanding that I give them their money. My manager asked me what I had done to their coffees and I went to the back and showed him the extra coffee beans I’d been adding to the coffees.”

“And?”

“....Turns out the coffee beans had expired three weeks ago. He fired me on the spot.”

Tea Rose groaned. “Are you serious? You had that job for less than a month!”

“It wasn’t my fault! How was I supposed to know that the damn coffee beans were expired?!”

“Forget it. How are you paying for your rent?”

“I’m…...not. The stupid landlord kicked me out last week.”

“What?! Where have you been staying?!”

“At a friend’s house, but I can’t stay there forever. So I was wondering…….”

Tea Rose sighed. “Yes, you can stay here until you get back on your hooves.”

Pumpkin Spice jumped out of her seat and hugged her older sister tightly. “You won’t regret this, I swear. Also could you give me some money? It's just that I don't have a job right now and I wanted to get a few things.”

Tea Rose sighed again. “You have to pay me back whatever I give you though, okay?”

“Of course! When have I ever broken a promise?”

“Right, huddle up, I have an announcement to make.”

The Eagles’ under-thirteen head coach waited for his team to gather around him in the middle of the pitch, and when everypony was stood in front of him, he took out his clipboard.

“Our first match this season is against the West Fillydelphia Buccaneers, at five o’clock on Saturday. I am now going to announce who will be starting that match and what position you will be playing.”

Coach Stargaze looked back down at his clipboard and began to read down the sheet of paper fastened onto the front of the clipboard.

“On offense, we’re gonna have Alizarin at quarterback, Tiny Thunder at centre……..”

As Coach Stargaze listed through the offensive players starting on their first weekend game of the season, Atomic tuned out, having already accepted the fact that he was stuck on defence for the time being.

“On defense, it's gonna be Helios, Steel Stud, Colt Ice and Crescent as the defensive linemen…..”

Atomic waited for his name to be read out on defense, but was stunned when Coach Stargaze had still not said his name as he finished announcing who the kicker and punter was.

“Those of you who I haven’t called out, you’ll be sitting on the bench for this match, but that doesn't mean that you won't play in upcoming matches. You're free to go home now.”

As the others quickly headed off the pitch, Atomic hung back and waited for Coach Stargaze to walk past him.

“Coach, can I ask you something?”

Coach Stargaze looked up from his clipboard. “Yes, you can.”

“Um, how come I'm not starting on Saturday?”

“Coach Bouncer and I have evaluated your performance over the last few training sessions and we have decided that it would be best that you did not start on Saturday.”

“But why, am I not good enough or something?”

“Atomic, you only recently joined the team. For now, we want to make sure that our most experienced players are on the pitch. You'll get your chance soon.”

Coach Stargaze walked away, leaving Atomic alone on the pitch.

“And then she said that she saw him in the club talking to another mare that night! Can you believe it?!”

As Atomic stepped inside his house, his mother and aunt’s laughter rang out loudly throughout the house and as he entered the living room, the two burst into laughter again, with Pumpkin pouring herself another glass of red wine from the bottle on the small wooden table in front of her.

“What’s so funny?”

Tea Rose quickly got up from her seat. “I’ll go get you your dinner, Atomic.”

Pumpkin Spice patted the space next to her as Tea Rose left the living room. “Sit here, I wanna ask you something.”

Atomic tentatively sat down on the sofa next to his aunt. The fact that he wasn’t going to be starting the Eagles’ first match of the season was on his mind and he was in no mind to listen to his aunt’s gossip.

“So, you're in fifth grade, right? What high school are you gonna go to?”

“No idea, I haven’t even started thinking about that.”

“I’d recommend Lakefield, most of the teachers there are alright. At least they were when I went there.”

“What was high school like for you then?” Atomic asked, suddenly curious.

“It was okay. Why don't you ask your mom what Lakefield was like for her? She had a wild time there, from what she’s told me. I remember this one time a teacher she hated must’ve failed her end-of-year project, and you know what your mom did? She waited until everypony had left the school and then she-”

“Pumpkin, let me take that bottle to the kitchen.”

Tea Rose snatched the wine bottle off the table and gave Atomic his dinner, glaring at Pumpkin before leaving the room.

“Wait, so what..did..Mom..do?” Atomic asked in between mouthfuls of the pasta he was eating.

“Forget it, it's not important anyway.”

As Atomic ate his dinner, Pumpkin got up and left the room, coming back a few minutes later with a book she had taken from Syracuse’s study. She fell back onto the sofa and opened the book up to the first page.

Nearly ninety minutes later, just as the sun concluded setting in the west, the front door was unlocked and Syracuse locked the door behind him.

“I’m home!”

Syracuse walked into the living room to say hello to his family but instead bumped face first into Pumpkin Spice.

“Pumpkin Spice! I, uh, didn’t know you were here.”

“Yeah, thought I’d come round and say hi,” Pumpkin Spice replied with a smile.

“But it’s gonna be dark soon, shouldn’t you be on your way home now?”

“Yeah, I’m gonna be staying here for a while, just until I get back on my hooves.”

“What?!” Syracuse and Atomic cried at the same time. Syracuse stepped past Pumpkin and headed to the kitchen to find his wife.

“Rose, I need to talk to you.”

Tea Rose turned around. “Hey, I didn’t know you’d come back. I’ll get you your dinner.”

“It doesn’t matter. Why didn’t you tell me about Pumpkin Spice staying here?”

“She came whilst you were at work, how was I supposed to tell you?”

“Okay fine, you wouldn’t have been able to tell me. So why is she saying that she’s gonna be here for a while?”

“She doesn't have anywhere else to go! What, do you want me to kick my own sister out?!”

Syracuse took a deep breath. “No, it's not that. It's just, Pumpkin Spice is…..”

“Is what?”

Pumpkin Spice stepped into the kitchen tentatively. “Is this a bad time?”

“No, it's fine,” Syracuse left the kitchen and was almost immediately stopped by Atomic.

“Dad, did you know she’s gonna be staying here?”

“I had no idea, your mom decided that.”

“Anyway, Dad, I need help. We have our first game on Sunday against Thunder’s team and I'm not even starting. What do I do?”

Syracuse led Atomic into his study and closed the door behind him, directing ihs son to sit in the chair tucked into the large desk.

Syracuse sat down on the chair opposite Atomic. “So first of all, how’s training been?”

“Coach’s making me play on defence?”

“Why?!”

“I don't know, cause he thinks that I play best there.”

Syracuse placed a hoof under his chin. “Should I talk to him?”

“No, I'm not a baby. I just need to prove to him that I can play on offense.”

Syracuse got up from his chair and took out a thick, dark brown book sticking out of the nearest bookshelf, titled ‘A Guide to Hoofball For Beginners.’ He sat back down and opened the book to the contents page, scanning down the page before turning to the middle of the book, to a section titled ‘Offensive Positions.’

“Okay, we need to decide what position you’re best at.”

Atomic frowned slightly. “Wide receiver, why are you asking?”

Syracuse read through the descriptions of the different offensive positions silently, before suddenly closing the book and getting up.

“Come on, we’re gonna go to the garden.”

Syracuse, Atomic, and Thunderhoof, who had been roped into helping out, were stood in the middle of the garden at eight thirty. They were due to start half an hour earlier, but Tea Rose insisting that Atomic went to bed and Atomic and Syracuse’s attempts to change her mind had delayed the impromptu training session. Syracuse stood in front of Atomic and Thunderhoof, holding a hoofball.

“Right boys, we’re gonna go through each position on offense and Atomic’s gonna try out each one. We don’t have time to practise every single position properly, so we’re gonna do them quickly. Whichever he plays best at is the position, he’s gonna play there for the Eagles. Understand?”

The colts nodded and Syracuse tossed the ball to Atomic, informing him that he was going to start as quarterback. Atomic nodded and took a few steps, holding the ball hesitantly. Syracuse lined up in front of him and asked Atomic to give the ball back to him. Thunderhoof was acting as the receiver for this play and he was waiting for the ball twenty yards away from Atomic.

“I’ve never thrown the ball before Dad.”

“Just give it a go.”

“Okay, er, 3, 2, 1, go!”

Syracuse snapped the ball to Atomic, who immediately chucked the ball to Thunderhoof. The ball flew wildly in the air, spinning horizontally instead of the preferred spiral. Thunderhoof ran forward and only just managed to grab the ball and secure it.

“That was…good. Let’s try that again,” said Syracuse, and Thunderhoof threw the ball back to Atomic, and Syracuse noted that the ball travelled in a perfect spiral, landing straight into Atomic’s hooves.

“Now that's what I call a perfect throw. Keep at it and you’ll most definitely be a pro someday,” Syracuse complimented, and Thunderhoof blushed and quietly thanked him.

Atomic couldn’t understand why he felt a flash of jealousy when his father complimented Thunderhoof’s pass, but he was now determined to throw the best pass he could possibly manage. He gave the ball to his father and moved back, completely focused.

Syracuse snapped the ball to Atomic, who moved back straightaway. He then lifted his right foreleg up, and threw the ball high. The ball travelled in a perfect spiral and Thunderhoof made the easy catch without needing to move.

“Okay, let’s move on to running back,” Syracuse declared, before suddenly stopping in his tracks. “There’s not enough of us for this drill, we’re gonna need somepony to join us.”

“Rose, I’m just going to the shops, I’ll be back in ten!” Pumpkin yelled before slamming the door shut.

“Maybe your aunt could help us out,” Thunderhoof suggested, and Atomic shook his head feverently.

“No way, she probably doesn’t even know what hoofball is!”

“We'll ask her when she comes back,” Syracuse decided, and the the three ponies simply passed the ball to each other continuously until they heard the front door open.

“I'm back!”

“I’ll go ask her,” Syracuse threw the ball to Thunderhoof and went through the back door and into the kitchen. Pumpkin Spice had his back to him and it looked like she was trying to push something into one of the drawers unnoticed.

“Pumpkin Spice, could you do a favour for me?”

Pumpkin Spice gasped and quickly turned around to face her brother-in-law, trying to push what she had bought into the cupboard discreetly using a hind leg.

“Sure, what’s up?” she replied, trying her best to act like nothing was wrong.

“Would you mind helping me out in the garden?”

“Er, yeah sure, okay.”

Pumpkin Spice followed Syracuse out of the back door and into the garden, where Atomic and Thunderhoof were waiting for them.

“So, for this running back drill, we’re gonna have Thunderhoof as the quarterback, myself as the center, Pumpkin will be a defensive tackle and Atomic, you’re gonna be the running back. When I snap the ball to Thunderhoof, he’s gonna hand the ball off to Atomic, who’s gonna try and get to the end of the garden without being tackled.”

“Wait, so do I do?” Pumpkin Spice asked.

“You’re gonna try and tackle Atomic before he gets to the other side of the garden, and I'm gonna try and stop you. Understood?”

Pumpkin Spice nodded briefly, and Thunderhoof gave the ball to Syracuse as he positioned himself a few yards behind him. Atomic quickly followed and stood behind Thunderhoof. When Syracuse snapped the ball to Thunderhoof just as Pumpkin Spice took off and collided with him. Thunderhoof turned around and handed the ball to Atomic, who took it with one hoof and dashed past his father and aunt. Pumpkin Spice waited for Atomic to pass her before pushing Syracuse away from her and chasing her nephew. Syracuse, however, was much quicker than his sister-in-law, and he was able to reach out and bring her down gently, making sure that she didn’t hit the grass too hard. Atomic was able to avoid Pumpkin Spice ‘ flailing hoof and when he reached the fence at the other side of the garden, he threw the hoofball down emphatically.

“Atomic, it's eight-thirty now, you need to go to bed!” Tea Rose yelled.

“We just need to do one more thing and then he’ll be going to bed,” Syracuse replied. “Right, we won’t have time to do the tight end activity so we’ll finish up with wide receiver.”

“Finally, lets go!” Atomic clapped his hooves and ran over to Thunderhoof.

“Wait, so am I gonna be doing the same sort of thing?” Pumpkin Spice asked, a little out of breath.

“Yeah, pretty much. Why, do you want to go back inside? Because you can if you want, it doesn't matter.”

Pumpkin Spice shook her head. “No, I'm fine. Haven’t had this much fun in ages.”

The adults waited for Atomic and Thunderhoof to decide what play they were going to run.

Thunderhoof surveyed the garden, before coming to a decision. “Okay, you're gonna run a slant route, and when you reach the middle, I’ll throw it to you.”

“Wait, what’s a slant route?”

Thunderhoof quickly and quietly explained the route that Atomic would be running. They moved away from each other and Atomic took his place five yards to the right of Thunderhoof. Syracuse snapped the ball to Thunderhoof and Pumpkin Spice ran after him. As instructed, Atomic ran in a straight line for five yards, before suddenly cutting inside the middle. The sudden change of direction, combined with Atomic’s speed, meant that Pumpkin Spice lagged behind. When Atomic reached the spot that he and Thunderhoof had agreed upon, he opened up his body just in time to see the ball flying towards him. However, Thunderhoof had thrown the ball too hard, and it continued travelling to the right of Atomic. Instinctively, Atomic sped up to get closer to the ball, and as it fell down towards the grass, he stretched out his right hoof and caught the ball, pulling it into his body.

“Woah, that was amazing!” Pumpkin Spice cried, and she ran over to help her nephew up. “You’re definitely gonna become a hoofball player when you’re older.”

Atomic smiled. “Thanks.”

What if I got my cutie mark?!

Atomic quickly checked his flank and was disappointed to see that it was still bare. His mood was lifted though by the fact that he was best at wide receiver, and he knew he would be the Eagles’ top receiver sooner rather than later.

“We'll, I think it's pretty clear to everypony what position you should be playing,” Syracuse declared.

“I should probably go home now guys, my mom’s gonna be expecting me,” Thunderhoof said, and he high-fived the others before heading inside the house to leave through the front door.

Atomic threw the ball back to his father, and he followed him and Pumpkin Spice inside.

BANG!

Atomic suddenly woke up. He rubbed his eyes quickly and checked the time, relieved when he realised that school wouldn't be starting for another six hours. In the midst of his relief, his attention was brought back to the sound that had woken him up. He slowly got out of bed and quietly opened his door, making sure that the hinges did not creak. He stepped out into the hallway and looked over the bannister, seeing that the living room light was on. He tiptoed across the hallway to his parents’ room, opening the door. His parents were both sleeping soundly in their bed, and Atomic decided to wake up his father first.

“Dad, Dad, wake up.”

Syracuse mumbled and slowly opened his eyes. “Oh Atomic, it's you.”

“Dad, I think somepony’s in our house.”

Syracuse quickly sat up. “What?!”

Just then, the sound of a bottle smashing rang out from the living room, confirming Atomic’s theory. Syracuse got out of bed and bent down to pull out a bat from underneath the bed.

Tea Rose yawned and opened her eyes. “What’s going on?”

“Somepony’s in the house,” Syracuse replied, and Tea Rose tumbled out of the bed.

“I’ll call the police!”

“Let me just go down and check who it is first. Go and check on Butterscotch.”

Tea Rose nodded and quickly left the room to check on her daughter. Syracuse lifted up the bat and slowly left the room, with Atomic following behind him. The two headed down the stairs and just before they entered the living room, Syracuse suddenly stopped.

“Atomic, go back to bed, I’ll deal with this.”

“But what if something happens to you?!”

“I’ll be fine. Now go back to bed.”

Atomic nodded and turned around, quietly heading back the stairs. As soon as his father had turned back around, Atomic crept back down the stairs and waited quietly a few yards away from him. Syracuse lifted his bat up and stepped into the living room.

“What the buck!”

Pumpkin Spice was slouched on the sofa facing the door, greedily gulping down a bottle of trotska. Once she had finished it, she dropped it onto the floor, and the glass fragments landed on top of a steadily growing pile. She burped loudly and spun her head round.

“Why the buck are you shouting, Specter? I'm right here,” Pumpkin Spice slurred, sinking lower into the couch.

Syracuse stormed into the living room and carefully stepped over the glass. “What do you think you’re doing drinking at this time?!” He snatched the unopened bottle that was closest to him. “And where did you get all of this from?!”

“From that…..that place where you like, get things. What’s it called.....a trop?”

The cries of Butterscotch could be heard becoming louder and closer, and Tea Rose came into the living room holding her bawling daughter.

“Pumpkin, what in Equestria do you think you’re doing?!”

“Drinking, what does it bucking look like?” Pumpkin sneered, before burping again.

“Atomic, go to bed now! And take your sister with you!” Tea Rose gave Butterscotch to Atomic, but he remained frozen in shock, having never seen somepony so inebriated before.

“Now!”

Tea Rose and Syracuse waited for their children to reach the first floor of their house.

“Give me that.” Tea Rose took the two other full bottles on the table and carefully placed them on the couch behind her. “I gave you that money so that you could start saving up to rent your own flat, and you blew it all on alcohol?!”

When her younger sister did not reply, Tea Rose got right up in her face and looked to be ready to slap her.

“Well, do you anything to say for yourself?!”

Syracuse gently pulled his wife back. “Rose remember, the kids are trying to get back to sleep.”

Tea Rose took a few deep breaths to calm herself. “Syracuse, get me a broom.”

“Why d’you keep calling him that, it's Specter,” Pumpkin garbled.

Syracuse looked to his wife for any answers as he handed her the broom, and she simply shrugged her shoulders. Together they cleaned up the mess that Pumpkin Spice had made, with Syracuse bundling up the glass into a bin liner and taking it to the bins outside their house.

“Come on, get up. You’re gonna go wash up right now.”

Tea Rose led her sister towards the bath to help clean her up, and merely seconds later, the sound of retching followed by vomiting echoed throughout the house.

“Hopefully I can play today, but we'll see.”

Syracuse and Atomic were only a few minutes away from the Buccaneers’ grounds, which was to host the first match of the Western Fillydelphia U13 season. Atomic had been provided with the Eagles’ kit and helmet, and he was currently holding the helmet as he made predictions.

“If we lose today, then it'll be bad for the team, but it could mean that I start the next match,” Atomic theorized.

Syracuse put an arm around Atomic’s shoulder. “You will start at least a few matches, you weren’t put on the team for no reason.”

“Hey, Atomic!”

Thunderhoof waved erratically at his friend from the other side of the street, and he quickly crossed the road to join them.

“Hey, how come you’re by yourself?” Atomic asked.

“Mom and Dad said I could go myself. How come you’re wearing your kit now?”

Atomic frowned slightly. “What do you mean, we’re the away team, that what we have to do.”

“It's just that we have away team changing rooms as well, so your team can get changed in there.”

“So I wasted my time getting changed.”

“It doesn’t matter Atomic, at least you’ll be on the pitch early. Thunderhoof, are you starting?”

“No, but I managed to convince our coach to let me play in the second half, so I’ll be on the bench for a bit.”

The three arrived at the Buccaneers’ headquarters, joining the back of the long queue. Whilst talking to Thunderhoof, Atomic felt somepony tap his shoulder.

“Helios!”

The two hoof-bumped and once Atomic had introduced Helios to Thunderhoof, they conversed idly about hoofball to pass the time.

“Right, you know what we’ve been practising in training, and we know how this team plays. Stick to the game plan and make sure that every play is perfect. Eagles on three.”

“One, two, three, Eagles!”

The other side of the pitch had been prepared for spectators, with most of the plastic, foldable chairs being taken up. Syracuse had made sure to sit in the front row so that he would be able to cheer for his son’s team. On the pitch, the U13 Eagles had received the kickoff and taken the ball to the twenty-seven yard line to start their first play.

The two teams lined up on the scrimmage line, with Alizarin trying to deduce what type of coverage the defence was running. He instructed the receiver standing to his right to run in front of him. When nopony on defence ran with him, Alizarin knew that the Buccaneers were running zone coverage. Confident that their play would be able to beat the defense, he crouched, waiting for the ball to be snapped. On the second count, Tiny Thunder snapped the ball to Alizarin and the Buccaneers-Eagles matchup was officially underway.

SINGLEBACK

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“We’re playing well right now okay, just keep it up and we'll get the touchdown.”

The U13 Eagles’ offensive unit were currently gathered around their offensive coordinator as he wrapped up reminding them of their tactics for the game. With thirteen minutes left in the first quarter, the Eagles were currently on a third down at the thirty-five yard line in their own half, with the Buccaneers’ defense able to limit their movement down the pitch. An early timeout had been called by Coach Stargaze to rally the team to get the first down.

“I thought they weren’t gonna be this good, they’re much better than I thought they’d be,” Helios remarked, gesturing to the Buccaneers’ huddle on the other side of the pitch. The Eagles’ defensive unit, special teams unit and the reserves were all sitting on the benches behind their coaches, and Atomic was sat next to Helios, both colts quietly watching the Buccaneers’ huddle on the other side of the pitch.

“So have they always been this good?” Atomic asked, and Helios shook his head.

“They’re a decent team, but they’ve definitely stepped up this season.”

The referee in the pitch blew his whistle to signal the end of the Eagles’ first timeout and both teams ran back onto the pitch and huddled up respectively.

Helios tapped Atomic’s shoulder and pointed to the colt leading the Buccaneers back onto the pitch. “Watch out for number 33, their middle linebacker.”

“Why? Is he good?”

“Their best defender.”

Both teams’ benches watched their respective teams line up on the scrimmage line, with Atomic particularly paying attention to number 33. The ball was snapped high and Alizarin reached up to catch it. As he brought it down, the young quarterback waited for his tight end to get open in the middle of the field, and once he had, he flung the ball to him. Unfortunately, the tight end hadn’t reached the top of his route yet and so he was unaware that he was the intended target of the attempted pass.

“YES!”

The Buccaneers’ bench and supporters cheered wildly as their middle linebacker swooped in to take the ball before the tight end could even attempt to catch it. He charged past the opposing offensive line, easily opening up a five yard gap between himself and his nearest opponent. With the combined efforts of Alizarin and both offensive tackles, the linebacker was eventually brought down at the forty yard line in the Eagles’ own half.

Helios stomped his hoof on the ground. “Damn, we lost the ball already!”

A furious Alizarin led his team off the pitch and immediately ripped into his tight end as soon as they reached the bench.

“What the hay! Why didn’t you turn around, we still would’ve had the ball if it wasn’t for you!”

The tight end glared and squared up to his teammate, and they were quickly pulled apart by coaches and players.

Coach Stargaze glared at the two. “I don’t know what the hay you two think you’re playing at, but it stops now, or neither of you will see the pitch again for the rest of this match. We have plenty of time to get the ball back, stick to the game plan and we'll get the win.”

The two teams huddled separately on the pitch and met at the scrimmage line. On the other side of the pitch, Thunderhoof was sitting at the bench watching as he had said he would, and Atomic found himself hoping that Alabaster would mess up so that his friend could play.

The Buccaneers’ centre snapped the ball to Alabaster, and he quickly handed the ball off to his running back behind him. The halfback burst through a hole that the tight end’s blocking had created, and he was brought down at the thirty yard line, giving his team a first down.

On the next play, Alabaster faked handing the ball off to his running back, and he connected on a long pass to an open receiver, thus bringing the ball up to the ten yard line for yet another first down.

Helios frowned. “Who is their quarterback? I don’t think I’ve seen him before.”

“He’s new to the team, his name’s Alabaster,” Atomic answered.

Everypony watched as the Buccaneers resumed play from the ten yard line, and both the bench players and supporters were shocked by how calm Alabaster was in the pocket as his offensive line fought desperately to protect him. The quarterback waited for his running back to break free from his defender, and once he had, Alabaster threw a high pass that the running back caught just before it went out of bounds.

The Buccaneers’ offense celebrated in the end zone, and Alabaster sprinted over to join in, receiving lots of slaps on the back as they left the pitch.

“I knew he was good but I didn’t think he was gonna be this good,” Atomic said.

“We still have loads of time to come back and win, we'll be fine,” Coach Persimmon said, his voice faltering slightly.

The Buccaneers scored the extra point to bring their lead up to seven, and at the end of the first quarter, the Buccaneers were leading 7-0.

“Right, we’re gonna change it up a little, so listen carefully.”

There were two minutes left before the end of the second quarter, and despite their best efforts, the Eagles had only been able to score a field goal in response to the Buccaneers’ second touchdown, increasing the deficit to eleven points with the score being 14-3. Whilst Coach Stargaze was calm at the beginning, his composure had begun to slip after the Buccaneers’ second touchdown and he was desperate to mount a comeback as soon as possible.

“We’re gonna be targeting the quarterback. He’s their only weapon and if we stop him, we stop them from scoring.”

Coach Stargaze proceeded to make a few changes to the defence’s lineup, and Atomic noticed that the slower players were being swapped out for quicker ones. Predicting that he could be put in, he sat up straight and stared at Coach Bouncer, hoping that his name would be called.

Coach Bouncer clapped his hooves. “Right, go out there and get the ball back, we’re counting on you!”

Atomic dropped back into his seat, annoyed with himself for getting his hopes up for no reason. Before he went back onto the pitch, Helios sat down next to Atomic as he put his helmet back on.

“Hey, don’t worry about it. You’ll get your chance.”

Helios hoof-bumped Atomic and ran out into the pitch, giving him an encouraging smile as he followed the others.

The two teams broke from their huddles and they quickly got into formation on either side of the scrimmage line, which was at the forty-seven yard line. The ball was snapped high and Alabaster had to reach backwards to catch it, and this wasted precious time that could’ve been used to run the play. Once he got the ball under control, he quickly lifted the ball up to throw to a receiver. Helios has managed to barge past the offensive line whilst Alabaster was controlling the ball, and he dove forward and poked the ball loose, bringing down Alabaster with him. The other defensive end swooped in and picked up the loose ball, and he took the ball all the way to the fifteen yard line.

“AAAHHH!”

Back at the forty-seven line, Alabaster cried out for a second time, both of his forelegs holding his right hind leg. Helios stepped away from the quarterback precariously, and the rest of the Buccaneers’ offense quickly ran back to their quarterback to see if he was okay. A mare that bore a strong resemblance to Alabaster tried to go onto the pitch and she had to held back by several other parents.

“Now that’s what I’m talking about, Helios coming up clutch! That’s the play we needed!” Alizarin leapt out of his seat and hoof-bumped Helios as he reached the sideline.

Atomic joined the others in congratulating Helios, who sat down next to Atomic again as the Eagles’ offense went on to the pitch. Alabaster had been helped off the pitch by a few teammates to receive treatment and a nervous Thunderhoof was getting a pep talk from Coach Storm Shaker.

Guess Thunder’s gonna be playing the rest of this match.

The Eagles were able to quickly move down the field and at the end of the second quarter, they were on their second down at the four yard line. Alizarin caught the snap and quickly handed the ball off to the running back, who squeezed through a hole between the left defensive tackle and end, giving the Eagles their first touchdown of the season.

Alizarin hugged each of his teammates in the end zone. “That’s how it’s done, boys!”

The Eagles’ kicker completed the extra point attempt to make the score 10-14 to the Buccaneers at the end of the second quarter.

All eyes were on the second-string quarterback for the Buccaneers as he crouched behind the offensive line, nerves written all over his face. Atomic watched his best friend quietly, and despite them being on different teams, he found himself hoping that Thunderhoof showed everypony what he could do.

“At least their quarterback’s not gonna be a problem anymore, they are playing the backup after all,” one of the colts on the bench remarked.

“I’ve seen him play, he’s really good,” Atomic replied, sticking up for Thunderhoof.

Another colt pointed to the pitch. “Well, we’re about to find out just how good he is.”

The ball was snapped and Thunderhoof quickly moved back, using his foreleg to hold the ball up next to his head. He moved his head from side to side, looking and waiting for one of his receivers to get open. The offensive line were beginning to be overpowered by the defensive line, and Helios was the first to break through, hoping to achieve another strip sack. Thunderhoof finally spotted Helios and ran to the other side of the pitch, with several Eagles players in pursuit. Realising that he was about to pass the scrimmage line, Thunderhoof saw that his tight end had broken free from his defender and threw the ball ahead of him at the ten yard line, and he just managed to get the pass off before he was taken down. The tight end continued galloping as fast as he could to keep up with the ball, and he was able to jump up and catch the ball before it went out of bounds.

“How the hay did he make that pass?!” Atomic’s teammates on the bench cried, and Atomic couldn’t help but smirk.

“Told you he was good.”

“So they have two good quarterbacks this year? It’s gonna be a lot harder beating them this season,” Alizarin said, and Coach Stargaze turned his head back to face him.

“With that sort of attitude, it will be hard beating them. We still have plenty of time to win this. I don’t want to hear anymore negative comments, is that clear?”

“Yes, Coach.”

On the pitch, the two teams had left their huddles and they lined up on the fifteen yard line. Thunderhoof took the snap and threw a short pass to his receiver that was headed across the pitch. The receiver caught the ball easily and outpaced his defender for the touchdown.

“That’s what I’m talking about!” Thunderhoof yelled, running into the end zone to join the celebrations. At the Eagles’ sideline, all of the players’ mouth were wide open.

“How the-”

Even Atomic was stunned with Thunderhoof’s performance; despite knowing that his friend was good, he did expect Thunderhoof to show up the way he had and outperform everypony.

The Buccaneers kicked the extra point to make the score 21-10, and with only two minutes left in the fourth quarter, the game was too far gone for the Eagles. At the end of the match, both teams swarmed the pitch to shake hooves.

Atomic walked up to Thunderhoof and put a foreleg around his shoulders. “That was so awesome, I didn’t know you could play like that!”

Thunderhoof blushed lightly. “I was alright. But aren’t you angry that you lost?”

“Normally I would be, but I wasn’t even playing, so it doesn’t matter.”

Most of the players began to head into the changing rooms, and Atomic followed his teammates to the away changing rooms whilst Thunderhoof went with his team.

“There are a lot of things that we could’ve done better, and we are definitely going to fix those next week.”

In the away changing room, the Eagles were getting a stern telling-off from their defensive coordinator. Coach Bouncer looked at each player, frowning at them. He stepped back and Coach Stargaze stepped forward to speak.

“Today we lost a match that we should’ve won, against a team that that we can beat. I cannot stand here and say that any of you were perfect, there are weaknesses in all of you and some of those were exploited by the opposition today. That doesn't mean that none of you are good, all of you have the potential to become very good hoofball players. It's just the matter of whether you are going to take the steps necessary to improve. For our next match, I don't want to see any of you make the same mistakes again.”

The Eagles’ head coach stepped back and nodded to his team, giving them permission to get changed. As he was only a reserve, Atomic took off his dark green bib quickly and gave it to Coach Persimmon who was collecting all of the bibs.

“Man, I had no idea that your friend was that good. He was even better than the starting quarterback!” Helios exclaimed, trying to keep his voice down.

“He’s probably gonna be starting now, seeing as you injured their other quarterback,” Atomic replied, and Helios sighed.

“Normally, the starting quarterback being injured is good news, but in this case, it makes it worse.” Helios put his jersey inside his saddlebag and gave his helmet to Coach Bouncer. The two colts left the changing room together and headed out of the building.

“Do you live near here?”

“Nah, I had to get a carriage here. How about you?”

“I live close, so I walked here.”

“Alright, see you next week.”

“I still can’t believe you played like that, Storm Shaker definitely has to start you now.”

Atomic, Syracuse and Thunderhoof were walking through the busy high street on their way home. Atomic’s father had met them outside and he was the first to praise Thunderhoof’s performance. He was currently walking a little ahead, leaving the two colts to converse freely.

“Alabaster is gonna be out for a few weeks, so it looks like I will be starting. Do you think you’re gonna play the next match?”

“Hopefully. During a timeout, he was talking about how he was gonna put faster players on the pitch, and I thought he was gonna let me play, but I was wrong.”

Syracuse told the colts he was going to head inside the bank to get a statement, and the two colts continued talking as they waited outside.

“I have an idea, but it's kinda crazy.” Atomic suddenly said, and Thunderhoof tilted his head slightly.

“What is it?”

“Next week, we have training again before our next match, so what if I ‘accidentally’ bump into somepony, and they end up getting injured? That way, Coach Stargaze will have no choice to start me!”

Thunderhoof’s gaping mouth and widened eyes told Atomic that his idea was going too far. “Or I could just work really hard in training and prove that I deserve to start.”

“Yeah, that's a much better idea.”

Syracuse came out of the bank and the three set off again. When they got to Mayfield Avenue, Thunderhoof told Atomic that he was going to come round later to talk about the bake sale before heading inside his own house.

Syracuse unlocked the front door and stepped into the hallway. “We’re home!”

“Guys, lunch’s gonna be ready in a five minutes!” Pumpkin shouted from the kitchen, and Syracuse and Atomic looked at each other.

“I didn’t know your aunt could cook.”

“Me neither.”

Tea Rose was in the living room feeding her daughter, and she looked up with a smile when she saw her husband and son. “Nice to see you guys. Was the match alright?”

Syracuse nodded and pointed to the kitchen. “Um, I didn’t know Pumpkin Spice could cook.”

“Oh, she’s just making some pasta. She said she wanted to make something nice for us, after….last night.”

The awkward silence hung heavily in the living room, and Atomic was the first to break it. “I'm going to my room to put my things away.”

“Make sure you’re at the table when lunch’s ready, you don't want your food to get cold,” Tea Rose said as Atomic headed up the stairs.

A few minutes later, Atomic came back downstairs and went to the living room, where Pumpkin Spice was carefully laying out a plate of pasta at each seat. He sat down in his seat and thanked his aunt for the food.

The family began eating and Pumpkin went to fetch another chair so that she could sit at the table. When she came back, she placed her chair next to her sister’s and stood up.

“Before you guys eat your food, I would like to apologise for my behaviour last night. It was completely and utterly inappropriate and disrespectful, especially since I am staying at the house as a guest. I promise that I will never pull a stunt like that again and I’ll help around the house whilst I'm here to redeem myself.”

As she sat down, Tea Rose put an arm around her younger sister’s shoulders. “All is forgiven! This amazing pasta that you made is enough of an apology.”

Syracuse nodded and smiled at his sister-in-law, putting her at ease. Atomic continued eating until he sensed that everypony was watching him. He looked up and a piece of pasta fell out of his mouth and back onto the plate.

“What?”

Tea Rose gestured to Pumpkin Spice. “Do you have anything to say?”

“Oh, thanks for the food. This pasta’s really nice.”

“And?” Tea Rose asked again.

“Last night doesn't matter. I’ve already forgotten about it.”

Pumpkin Spice audibly sighed in relief and ate with the family, eventually clearing up their plates and taking them to the kitchen. A few minutes later, she came back with a huge plate of brownies covered with a sheet of clingfilm.

“These were made these yesterday, but she forgot to give them to you, so here they are,” Pumpkin Spice ripped the clingfilm off and put the plate down in the middle of the table. Atomic was the first to grab a large bundle of them, with the adults only taking a few.

Pumpkin Spice took a bite into her brownie. “These are really good, Rose! You should sell these, you’d make loads of money!”

“I’ll only start looking for work when Butter starts going to school. I don't want to leave her at home right now.”

“I could look after her for you. Like, during the day, I could babysit until you get home.”

Tea Rose paused mid-mouthful and thought for a few moments. “That’s…..actually a really good idea, Pumpkin! Yeah, I’d work during the day and you'll look after her for me. Yeah, that could work.”

Pumpkin Spice smirked. “I told you you wouldn’t regret letting me stay.”

“And I’ll pay you as well, so you can rent a flat nearby,” Tea Rose added.

“Wait, Mom, didn’t you already own a bakery? Like, years ago?”

“It was a cafe I used to own, not far from here. It belonged to our mom, and she gave it to me and your aunt to have.”

“What happened to it?” Atomic asked.

“Well, I met your father and when we got married, he bought this house for us. I left your sister in charge of the caf after I got pregnant with you.”

“And then?”

The table suddenly became quiet, and Tea Rose was saved from having to answer when she heard a knock at the door.

“I’ll get that!”

Tea Rose opened the door to let Thunderhoof inside.” Atomic, Thunderhoof’s here!”

Atomic jumped out of his seat and took a few more brownies from the plate before leaving the living room.

Thunderhoof used his magic to hold up the sheets he had with him. “Hey, I brought the plans with me, let’s go to your room.”

“Mom! You know the bake sale I told you about, the one for the library?”

Tea Rose stuck her head out of the kitchen. “Yeah?”

Atomic looked at the top of the first page that Thunderhoof had. “Can you make fifty brownies for Monday? That's when the bake sale is.”

“Fifty?! Why didn’t you tell me this sooner?!”

Atomic smiled sheepishly. “Sorry, I forgot.”

“Fifty...I think I could manage that. What time’s the bake sale?”

“Lunchtime. It starts at twelve-thirty.”

“Okay, I'll try my best, but don't be surprised if I can only make forty.”

The two colts quickly headed up the stairs as Tea Rose went back into the kitchen. Once they reached his room, Atomic closed the door behind him loudly.

“Your mom actually believes that it's for the library?! Why didn’t you tell her the truth?!”

“Because she wouldn’t help if she knew it was for hoofball. She’d say ‘Atomic, you have to focus on your studies, you don’t have time for hoofball’!” Atomic exclaimed, pulling off a near-perfect impression of his mother.

“Okay, but your mom's gonna find out when she hears everypony talking about how the bake sale raised enough money for a hoofball team.”

“It’ll be too late by then, so it doesn’t matter. What did you wanna talk about?”

“Everypony’s given the money for the cookies and cupcakes. The only pony left is you.”

Atomic reached under his bed and took out a metal container covered with pictures of the Fillydelphia Dragons players. “How much is it?”

Atomic gave the money to Thunderhoof, who put in into his saddlebag and ticked off his name on the register he had made.

“So everypony’s paid. Do you wanna come with me to the bakery now to buy the stuff?”

“Yeah, let’s go.”

In the local bakery, which was only ten minutes away from where Atomic and Thunderhoof lived, the cashier shook her head and explained for the fifth time that she wasn't going to lower the price of the cupcakes beyond a bit and ten cents each. Whilst she had been willing to accept negotiations for the cookies, she was unwilling to budge on the cupcakes. Atomic sighed before turning back to Thunderhoof.

“Should we just leave it?” he whispered.

“Yeah, I think there’s another place not far from here.”

As they headed out of the bakery, holding a plastic bag filled with cookies, Atomic spotted a poster stuck to the bottom of a lampost right outside the bakery. He quickly snatched the poster off the lampost and charged back into the bakery.

“Atomic, what are you-”

“Look at this. We’re holding a bake sale for our local animal rescue centre. It’s to raise money for new facilities, the poor animals are living in cramped spaces. Do you really wanna stop us from helping them?!”

The cashier peered over her till to look at the till. On the poster was a blown-up picture of a puppy. The puppy was dirty and had bruises covering its white fur, and underneath the picture, written in a bold red font, were the words ‘WOULD YOU LET THIS ANIMAL SUFFER?”

The cashier continued to look at the poster, before suddenly turning around and putting the cookies into different boxes. She put the boxes into two plastic bags and handed them to Thunderhoof.

“I have two puppies,” she explained.

Thunderhoof paid the cashier and the two colts left the bakery, with Thunderhoof using his magic to stick the poster back onto the lampost.

“We’re so lucky that poster happened to be there.”

Atomic grinned. “It got us those cookies though, did not they?”

“Come on, come on, where are they?!”

Lunchtime had begun only a few minutes ago, and Atomic and Thunderhoof had been waiting for their friends to come for nearly half an hour ago. The group had all been allowed to leave their lessons early in order to set up for the sale, but the others had not showed up.

“They’ll come, don't worry,” Atomic said, trying to reassure a panicking Thunderhoof.

“How much is a cupcake?”

Three fillies had come up to the table, and they were surveying the display of baked goods. Thunderhoof suddenly cleared his throat and answered.

“They're a bit each.”

“Okay, could you get us three, please?” The filly in the middle placed three bits on the table and Atomic took the money as Thunderhoof handed over the cupcakes.

“Thanks, guys. Good luck with the hoofball team!”

Atomic opened the plastic wallet lying on the table and dropped the coins inside. “At least we’re selling stuff.”

“But they have the brownies and the rest of the cupcakes, they said they were gonna add icing to them! It doesn't take that long to add icing to cupcakes!”

Atomic dragged Thunderhoof away from the table, yanking on his foreleg.

“Hey, what are you doing?!”

“Listen, I know it isn't great that the others aren't here right now, but we can't let that bring us down right now, okay? We need to sell this stuff so that Sycamore Oak can have its own hoofball team, and that's what you want, right?”

Thunderhoof sighed and nodded, and Atomic grinned.

“Then let’s get back to selling all of this stuff.”

Atomic and Thunderhoof went back to their stall, where a small line had formed.

“Hey, we’ve been waiting for ages!”

Atomic and Thunderhoof apologised before taking orders, and their table gradually began to empty as more and more ponies came to them. With twenty minutes left, there were only a few cupcakes and brownies left.

“I don't know how much we have right now, but it looks like a lot,” Atomic said, looking inside the plastic wallet where their money was kept, and Thunderhoof leaned over to look inside as well.

“We’re here!”

Spade Ace, Maverick, Moon Dust and Jackpot came down the main stairs, each carrying a plastic bag, and they each dumped their bag onto the table.

“Where the hay have you guys been?!” Thunderhoof cried.

“It's nice to see you too. We were getting some more stuff in case you guys ran out, and now that we’re here, it looks like we came just in time,” Maverick said with a smirk.

“Okay, but where’s Chestnut and the others?” Atomic asked as he began to empty out the bags and put the goods onto the plastic trays.

“They're gonna be here really soon, they’re just finishing up on the brownies. So, are you guys doing alright?” Moondust asked.

“Yeah, I think we’re doing good,” Atomic replied.

“Do you have any more plastic trays?” Jackpot asked, and Thunderhoof nodded before reaching underneath the table to bring out five more red plastic trays. The older colts each took one, and they began loading some of the cupcakes and cookies onto their trays.

“What are you guys doing?”

“We’re gonna go outside and sell them, so that more ponies can buy them,” Spade Ace explained.

“Okay, but come back when you finish everything, so we can put the money away,” Thunderhoof said, before turning to sell to some colts that had showed up.

The four older colts nodded and they split up, each heading in a different direction.

“Cupcakes and cookies! For one day only, come and buy some baked goods!”

Atomic and Thunderhoof sniggered as their older friends continued advertising, before turning back to continue selling.

“Look, they're over there!”

Chestnut, Banoffee Pie, Stormcaller, Starburst and Pacific Sail were each holding a small cardboard box and as they set it down, Atomic and Thunderhoof moved the trays to make space for the boxes.

“Are these all the brownies?” Thunderhoof asked, and Chestnut opened the boxes in response.

Each box held at least twenty brownies and fifteen cupcakes, with each having icing decorated over it.

“There’s like, over a hundred brownies and cupcakes in here! Where did you get all of this stuff?!” Atomic and Thunderhoof exclaimed, and Banoffee Pie grinned.

“Pinkie Pie sent all of this stuff! Can you believe it?!”

“Wait, she really sent all of this?!”

“Yeah, she got my letter a few days ago and she sent this all over from the Ponyville bakery she works in. I only got all of it this morning.”

“Woah!”

Atomic lifted up a cupcake and analysed the top of it, before realising that the icing depicted a familiar face.

“Is this Ms Ivory?!”

Banoffee Pie grinned again. “Yeah, that was my idea. I thought that if we decorated the cupcakes and brownies with teachers, then more ponies would wanna buy them.”

Thunderhoof took out a cupcake with Mr Cobalt decorated on it. “They’re so good, they look exactly like the teachers! Who did this?”

The colts pointed to Pacific Sail, who was standing towards the back of the group.

“It was hard though, and it took ages,” he said.

“Let’s see if more ponies will come to us.” Atomic held up the cupcake he was holding. “Cupcakes, cupcakes! Come and get the only cupcakes in Equestria where you can eat your teachers!”

A few ponies nearby stared bemusedly at Atomic, and he showed them the cupcake to explain. Once they realised what Atomic was talking about, they swarmed over to the table.

“Do you have all of the teachers?!” they asked.

“Not all of them, but most of them,” Banoffee replied. “Which ones did you want?”

“Ms Ivory,” they replied, and Banoffee took out a few cupcakes decorated with Ms Ivory and put them next to the other cupcakes.

Atomic nudged Thunderhoof. “Why do I get the feeling that most ponies are gonna ask for Ms Ivory?”

Thunderhoof smiled. “Yeah, maybe it's because she’s the maths teacher from Tartarus.”

The two laughed, and soon all seven colts were selling products, with the now-large queue and promise of cupcakes decorated with teachers bringing more and more ponies.

“Get them from over there! We don't have any left!”

Spade Ace, Maverick, Jackpot and Moon Dust came back inside, leading a large group of students to the main table. As the students joined the back of the queue, the four older colts put their trays back onto the table and began putting the money they had collected into the plastic wallet.

“You guys should expect teachers to come as well, they were asking about the cupcakes and brownies,” Spade Ace announced, before refilling his tray with some brownies.

“I’m gonna take this lot up to the staffroom,” said Maverick and Moon Dust as they left.

“We'll help you guys,” Jackpot and Spade Ace stood in front of the cookies and told the students to separate into three queues for what they wanted.

Gradually, the table began to empty of cookies, cupcakes and brownies, with the brownies being the quickest to run out. The plastic wallet also became very full with coins and just before the end of lunch, a second plastic wallet was being used to keep the rest of the money.

“Is that Ms Ivory?!”

Atomic followed Chestnut’s shaking hoof and saw Ms Ivory walking with one of the librarians towards their table.

“We’re gonna get in so much trouble!” Chestnut began to try and clear away all of the cupcakes and brownies with Miss Ivory’s face with them.

Atomic pulled Chestnut’s foreleg back and began putting the brownies and cupcakes back in their places. “Chestnut, relax! It's just icing, it's not like she’s gonna give us detention for that!”

“But look!” Chestnut picked up a cupcake and showed it to Atomic. The cupcake had Miss Ivory’s face iced on the top, but she had been decorated with a fierce scowl and next to her was a speech bubble that read ‘If I hear anypony breathe, they’ll be in detention for the rest of the month!”

“Actually, now that I think about it, she could get really angry about this.”

“Exactly!”

The two colts began to take all of the cupcakes and brownies with Ms Ivory and the added speech bubble, but as Ms Ivory approached the table, there were still a few cupcakes and brownies left on the table.

“This looks really good, well done!” the librarian beamed. Ms Ivory nodded in agreement and asked for two brownies and two cupcakes, and the librarian ordered the same.

Banoffee Pie got the cupcakes and placed a napkin under each one, placing them down in front of Ms Ivory as she took out her purse. The librarian stepped forward to pick up the cupcakes, but she spotted a brownie that Atomic and Chestnut had forgotten to hide.

“Oh my goodness, is that Ms Ivory?!”

The librarian reached out to pull the brownie forward, pushing one she had bought back the other way. She picked it up and showed it to Ms Ivory.

“This really does look like you!”

Ms Ivory stared at the brownie quietly. The others finished serving the other students and they all stared nervously at the Maths teacher, waiting for a response.

Ms Ivory put the brownie down and pushed some coins towards the colts. Thunderhoof pulled them closer to himself and put them into the plastic wallet, handing her the change just as the bell for the end of lunchtime rang.

“You will all be seeing me in my classroom after school for detention.”

“Why?” The colts asked quietly.

Ms Ivory picked up her change and smiled slightly. “For breathing.”

“Why are they taking so long?”

Atomic, Stormcaller, Starburst, Pacific Sail, Banoffee Pie and the older colts were nervously waiting in the library for Thunderhoof and Chestnut. The group had all met up in the library after school, and Thunderhoof and Chestnut had taken the responsibility of counting up all of the money since they were the best at Maths.

“I just wanna know if we have enough to start the team,” said Banoffee, and the others nodded.

“I think we’re about to find out.”

Thunderhoof and Chestnut came over to the large table to join the others, with Chestnut carrying the two plastic wallets whilst Thunderhoof held a pencil and a sheet of paper. They stood at the front of the table and Chestnut put the plastic wallets down.

“We’ve checked our calculations to make sure we did not make any mistakes, and we’re almost certain that this is correct. As you all know, we needed to raise at least a hundred bits to buy kits and get transport.”

Thunderhoof put this pencil down and turned the paper over.

“Today, we raised…….”

SHOTGUN

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“Okay, can we have some quiet now please?”

The fifth-grade students immediately fell silent and Miss Bellflower waited for the hall doors to be closed. The fifth grade’s weekly assembly (held every Tuesday morning during homeroom) was already due to start late and Miss Bellflower, who was also the head of fifth-grade as well as an English teacher, did not want to waste anymore time.

“Alright, today, Ms Ruby from Lakefield High School is here today to talk to you about what you can expect if you attend there next year.”

The students clapped politely as Miss Bellflower handed the microphone to the visiting teacher. Another teacher turned on the projector that was to the side of the stage and Ms Ruby stepped aside so that the image of the high school’s front gates could be seen on the whiteboard.

“Good morning. As you all have been told, my name is Ms Ruby and I am currently the head of twelfth-grade, so next year I will be in charge of the freshmans. At Lakefield, we pride ourselves in…”

As Ms Ruby continued to speak to the students, the hall’s back door was quietly opened and a group of twelve colts tried to enter the hall as quickly as possible. They crept behind the teachers sitting to the side of the stage and one by one, they all passed through the curtains.

“Alright, is everypony here?”

The colts all raised their hooves and Principal Autumn Forest gave a sheet of paper to Thunderhoof.

“Come out onto the stage so that you can listen to the talk.” The principal directed the colts to leave through the curtains, and the group walked out and stood behind the teachers quietly.

“......And we hope to see as many of you as possible on our open day at the start of next year. Thank you for listening.”

The students clapped as the projector was turned off and Ms Ruby shook hooves with Miss Bellflower before leaving the hall.

Miss Bellflower waited until the hall door had shut before looking towards the colts waiting next to the stage.

“Why don't you guys come on up?”

Thunderhoof led the group onto the stage, and he took the microphone from Miss Bellflower.

“Um, good morning everypony. As you all know, we had our bake sale yesterday lunchtime to raise money for a hoofball team.”

Thunderhoof flipped the sheet of paper over. “In order to fund a hoofball team, we needed to raise a minimum of one hundred bits.”

Thunderhoof pauses for a few seconds. “We managed to raise…...two hundred and eleven bits!”

Loud applause rang through the hall, and Thunderhoof gave the microphone to Atomic.

“We’re gonna be holding tryouts for the hoofball team very soon, so keep an eye out for that. And we would just to thank all of you for yesterday. This wouldn’t have been possible without you.”

The students and teachers applauded again and the colts got off the stage and sat down in the first row of chairs, where several chairs had been deliberately left open for them.

“How many ponies d’you think are gonna show up?” Atomic whispered as he sat down next to Thunderhoof.

“No idea, but probably most of our grade will come,” Thunderhoof replied, before he was told to be quiet by Miss Bellflower. For the rest of the assembly, Miss Bellflower spoke about the expectations that the teachers had for the fifth grade, and that the students should have an established revision timetable by now in preparation for the mock exams happening at the start of next year.

The bell for first period rang and Miss Bellflower dismissed the students row by row. Atomic, Chestnut and Thunderhoof all had PE first, and so they headed out of the hall and outside towards the buckball courts.

“Chestnut!”

Chestnut turned around to see a tall, dark green filly run up to him. “Have you finished the article?”

“Nearly, but I'm going to finish it at lunchtime. Can I give it to you after school?”

“Yep, that's fine. See you then.”

The filly waved goodbye before turning around and heading back the other way. Chestnut turned back around and was immediately faced with two curious expressions.

“I signed up for the school newspaper, and they want to publish my article about the bake sale.”

“Are you gonna finish it in recess?” Thunderhoof asked, and Chestnut shook his head.

“Lunchtime is longer, so I’ll do it then.”

“Hurry up and get inside, or we’ll do ten laps around the field!”

The colts in Mr Cobalt’s morning class hurried inside, and the three friends also began to sprint, rushing past their teacher and into the changing rooms with their peers.

“Sir, when are the tryouts for the hoofball team?”

The news that the school’s hoofball team had been reinstated had caused a buzz among the colts in fifth grade, and it had been the main topic of conversation for much of the lesson. Most of the colts had finished getting changed and they were waiting on the benches for the bell to ring.

“It's definitely not gonna be this week, I can tell you that. Umm…..next Friday, maybe. But don't hold me to that, it might change.”

Most of the colts took out their progress diaries and made a note of the date at the back.

Mr Cobalt led the colts out of the changing rooms and unlocked the gate just as the bell rang.

“What lesson do you guys have?” Atomic asked as he took out his timetable.

“English,” Thunderhoof and Chestnut replied at the same time.

“That means I’ve got Miss Bellflower then,” Atomic put his timetable back into his bag just as Thunderhoof took out his English book with his magic.

“What are you doing?”

“Test, remember?”

Atomic suddenly stopped. “Please tell me you’re joking.”

Thunderhoof shook his head, and Atomic kissed his teeth.

“I said that I was gonna pass the next English test to Miss Bellflower! Now she’s definitely gonna move me down!”

“The test could be easy, Atomic, you don't that yet,” Chestnut said, trying to reassure his panicking friend.

“Trust me Chestnut, it's gonna be hard, and I'm gonna fail again. Mom’s gonna kill me!”

Thunderhoof and Chestnut had reached their English class and they said goodbye to Atomic, wishing him luck. Atomic continued walking until he reached his English classroom, and he joined the back of the queue outside the classroom.

At this point, I'm gonna need a miracle to stay in Miss Bellflower’s class.

“How long do you have left?”

“I'm just finishing my last sentence...…..done!”

Chestnut put his quill down and picked up the paper he had been writing on. For the past twenty minutes, he had been finishing off his article whilst Atomic, Thunderhoof and the others who had helped in the bake sale were sitting around talking quietly in the courtyard. Maverick, Jackpot, Moon Dust and Spade Ace had been unable to join them because they had to serve a detention for coming late to homeroom registration.

“Read it out to us then!”

Chestnut held up the paper in front and cleared his throat.

“Yesterday’s bake sale was held to raise money for the return of the hoofball team. Friends from different homerooms in fifth-grade came together for this common goal, and their hard-work and determination was clearly reflected in the huge success that their bake sale had ended up becoming. Popular products that were sold included cookies, brownies and cupcakes that had been specially decorated with the faces of several teachers at this school. The bake sale ended up raising two hundred and eleven bits, which was more than double the target of one hundred bits that had been set prior to the sale. With tryouts for the hoofball team coming up very soon, Sycamore Oak can be sure that the local league trophy will be coming back here next year.”

Chestnut put the paper down and reached into his saddlebag and took a small polaroid picture. “I was also gonna add this to the article. You guys don’t mind, do you?” The picture showed the group standing behind the table during the bake sale, beaming smiles on all of their faces.

The others shook their head and commended Chestnut’s article.

“That sounds like something you’d read in the Fillydelphia Daily, it's that good!” Atomic said, and the others agreed with him.
“You guys are being too nice,” Chestnut said, and he carefully put his article and the picture back into his saddlebag. Suddenly, a flash of light emitted from his flank.

“Woah!”

“What?”

“Look!”

Chestnut followed Atomic’s outstretched hoof and looked down at his flank. The flash of light had brought a new, long sought-after addition to the area, in the from of a white quill will a curly line of black ink coming out of it.

“I got my cutie mark!”

The other ponies in the courtyard were drawn out of their conversations by sudden loud cheers. Chestnut jumped out of his seat ecstatically and he was soon brought down by the others, who were still cheering, and this formed a large pile of colts.

“What is all this noise?!”

The courtyard quickly fell silent as Ms Ivory came outside. The colts quickly clambered off Chestnut and Atomic helped him up.

“It was us, Ms. Chestnut just got his cutie mark,” Banoffee said quietly.

“I see. In future, keep the noise down. There are students studying in the library, and I’m sure they wouldn’t appreciate being distracted.”

Ms Ivory went back inside and the colts all sat back down.

“See, we told you your article was good!” Atomic said.

“So does this mean you’re gonna become a journalist when you’re older?” Starburst asked.

“It's what I wanted to be anyway, now I guess it's my destiny.”

When the bell rang for the first lesson of the afternoon, Atomic, Chestnut and Thunderhoof said goodbye to their friends and went to their History class.

“Do you guys think I'm gonna get my cutie mark before the end of this year?” Atomic blurted out.

“Yeah, if I got mine then you’ll definitely get yours before summer,” Chestnut replied, but Atomic still wasn't convinced.

“Yeah, but I got onto the Eagles and I thought I was gonna get it then, but I still don't have it. What if my destiny isn't hoofball at all?! What if it's something awful, like…...teaching.”

As they entered their History classroom, Thunderhoof sat next to Atomic and Chestnut. ”Atomic, you were the one who helped me get my cutie mark last summer, and you'll get your cutie mark in hoofball, trust me.”

Atomic was about to reply before he was cut off by Miss Chrysanthemum’s greeting, who closed the door behind her and began writing the title of the lesson on the blackboard.

“Right, let’s not waste anymore time, we’ve got a lot to cover today.”

“So did they like my brownies?”

“Yep, everypony loved it.”

Tea Rose poured a small serving of vegetable soup into a china bowl and gave it to her son, who was waiting in his seat at the dining table. Syracuse had yet to return from work and Pumpkin Spice was out visiting a friend. Tea Rose came back into the living holding her infant daughter, and she placed her on her high seat next to Atomic before getting her milk bottle on the sofa behind the the table.

“And did you guys raise enough money for the library?”

Atomic choked on his soup and coughed. “Uh, yeah, we’re gonna get loads of books now.”

“That's good. You need to read more anyway, I barely see you borrowing from the library anyway.”

“Yeah, Mom, I’ll get more books.”

Atomic quickly finished his dinner and told his mother he was gonna play with Thunderhoof outside as he slammed the door shut behind him. In the middle of the road, Thunderhoof was waiting with a few other colts that lived nearby. These colts all attended different schools to Atomic and Thunderhoof, so their meet-ups were rare but always fun.

“Come on, we’re gonna do something different today,” one of the colts said.

As the group headed off towards the high street, Atomic caught up with Thunderhoof. “Where are we going?”

“We were throwing the ball to each other on North Avenue, but it went into somepony’s window.”

“You guys smashed a window?!”

“No, the window was broken anyway, but that's not the point. The ball went into number 27.”

27 North Avenue was a house that had been abandoned for close to three years by this point. It was the house that was farthest away from downtown Fillydelphia on it's road, and several rumours about the house had been spread, with the craziest one being that the house was being occupied by changelings.

“Of all the houses, you guys were playing next to that one?!” Atomic cried.

“Yeah, but it doesn't matter, we'll just go in there and get the ball, it'll be quick,” the colt at the front answered.

When they reached North Avenue, the colts walked past the line of houses next to the sign that read ‘North Avenue’, and Thunderhoof kept track of the door number as they walked past the houses.

“19, 21, 23, 25….here.”

The colts stopped in front of the house, which was darker and colder than any of them had expected. The front porch was covered with smashed beer bottles and newspapers, which made the stairs that led up to the front door almost inaccessible. The front of the house was also covered in illegible graffiti, with the eligible spray painting being ‘ONCE YOU GO IN, YOU DON’T COME OUT!’. All of the front windows had been smashed, with only the first floor windows having thin, white curtains drawn closed over them. The front door was slightly open, and only a flight of stairs could be made out through the opening.

“Who’s getting the ball?”

Most of the colts immediately pointed at Thunderhoof, who had been the one who’d thrown the ball inside, and he sighed before nodding.

“I’ll come as well.”

The others looked at Atomic in shock. “Are you crazy?!”

Atomic shrugged. “I wanna see what it looks like inside. Let’s go Thunder.”

The two friends left their friends outside and they stepped over the glass fragments to reach the front door, with Thunderhoof using his magic to push the door fully open.

“Woah, it's really dark in here.” Atomic reached out and ran a hoof over the wall to his right, looking for a switch.

Thunderhoof used his horn as a source of light and the two stepped into the hallway. To his right, Atomic saw the kitchen, which had a strong smell of rotting food coming from it. Several pizza boxes had been left open and there was a swarm of flies on top of them. The living room was on the other side and it had been stripped bare of furniture, with only a fireplace in there.

“Where did the ball go?” Atomic asked, and Thunderhoof pointed upstairs. The two slowly went up the stairs, and when they reached the top, they decided to split up and look in the two different rooms to find the ball quicker.

Atomic chose to check the room next to the bathroom, and as he opened the door, a strong, pungent smell hit him. The floor was covered with newspapers and in the middle, was a large pile of grinded-up green leaves. On the bed there weee also small plastic bags filled with the same green powder. Atomic leant down and took a small sniff, retching and moving backwards. He stepped over the pile and stuck his head out of the window to get some fresh air, breathing heavily. As he moved across the room, Atomic spotted last week’s date on one of the newspapers.

So somepony’s been here recently.

“Hey, I found it!”

Thunderhoof came into the room and immediately covered his nose. “Man, this room stinks!”

“I know. It's cause of that,” Atomic said, pointing to the green pile.

“What is that?”

“No idea. But I need to pee.”

Atomic stepped over the green pile and left the room to go to the toilet, and Thunderhoof waited outside for him, holding the door closed for him since there was no lock on the other side. Suddenly, a loud cry came from the bathroom.

“Atomic! What happened?!”

Thunderhoof burst into the bathroom, where he found Atomic wincing on the toilet seat, holding his bleeding left hind leg, which had been cut by a stray piece of glass on the floor.

“Your leg!”

Atomic nodded, letting go of his hind leg and trying to push himself off the toilet seat. Thunderhoof lit up his horn and lifted Atomic off the toilet seat, holding him in the air with his magic.

“Press down on the wound to stop it bleeding.”

With the hoofball in his right foreleg, and his friend enclosed in a light green magical aura in front of him, Thunderhoof left the bathroom and slowly went down the stairs, making sure that he didn't trip. When he reached the bottom of the stairs, he used the hoofball to push the door.

“You guys took so long!”

“What happened to Atomic?!”

Thunderhoof ignored the question and slowly put his friend down. When Atomic touched the concrete and was standing, Thunderhoof panted and rubbed the thin sheet of sweat on his forehead.

“Atomic, can you walk home?”

Atomic lifted the afflicted hind leg up slightly. “Yeah, I think I’ll be fine.”

As the group headed home, Atomic and Thunderhoof were bombarded with questions about the house.

“Is it true that the house is haunted?!”

“We didn’t see any ghosts, so I don’t think so,” Thunderhoof replied.

“But there was some weird green stuff on the floor in one of the bedrooms, and it smelt really bad. So somepony’s definitely been in the house,” Atomic added.

The colts talked about hoofball and the Dragons as they reached Mayfield Avenue just as the sun began to set, and one by one, the colts said goodbye and went inside their houses until it was only Atomic and Thunderhoof left.

“What if there was somepony in the house, and they were watching us the whole time?” Thunderhoof said, and Atomic laughed.

“That sounds like the start of every horror movie.”

“It would explain where that green stuff came from.”

“True.”

The two stopped outside Thunderhoof’s house, and Thunderhoof could hear his mother talking inside the house.

“I better go in, Mom’s gonna be wondering where I am.”

“See you tomorrow.”

Atomic hoof-bumped Thunderhoof and slowly walked towards the front door and knocked, keeping his injured hind leg up to avoid further aggravating the wound.

Tea Rose eventually opened the door after a few knocks. “Your dinner’s getting cold, come in,” she said, before noticing that Atomic’s hind leg was raised.

“Why are you holding your leg up like that?”

“I, uh, hurt myself, whilst I was playing hoofball,” he slowly replied, stepping past his mother to enter the house. He pushed his injured hind leg back slightly to show his mother the wound.

“How did you cut yourself this badly on concrete?”

“I fell onto a broken glass bottle, that’s why,” Atomic explained, deciding to at least tell some of the truth.

Tea Rose took her son to the living room and bandaged up his wound, telling him to be more careful in the future. As he was having his dinner, Atomic heard the front door unlock and guessed that his father had come home from work.

“Rose, I couldn't find the olive oil, but other than that, I got everything on the list!”

Pumpkin Spice grunted as she dragged the heavy shopping bags into the hallway, and Tea Rose came out to help her haul the bags into the kitchen.

“Is Syracuse not home yet?”

Tea Rose began unloading the tins into the cupboards. “Nope, but he should be back before sunset.”

After they had put away the shopping, Pumpkin gave her older sister the change from the shopping and she went into the living room.

“Hey Atomic, how are you doing?”

“I’m good.”

Pumpkin sat at the dining table and poured herself a cup of water. The two sat quietly until Atomic finished his food and got up to put his plate in the kitchen sink. When he came back into the living room, he sat next to the radio and switched it on, turning the dial to the sports news channel.

”And if you’ve just joined us, you are tuning to the EHL Midseason Awards segment of our show today, in which we are going to give out awards such as MVP and Comeback Player of the Year to the best players of the first half of the season. You guys ready?”

“Yup!”

“Then let’s get started with the most important and highly-sought after one; the Most Valuable Player award. One by one, each of you guys are gonna write down your MVP’s name on your whiteboard and hold it up, and you have to give a reason why. Right, let’s put thirty seconds on the clock. Three, two, one, go!”

When thirty seconds was up, Atomic inched closer to the radio and turned the volume up.

“Okay, Cirrus, who’s your MVP?”

“I’m gonna go with the GOAT La Salle. He’s having one of the best quarterback seasons of all time, he’s led the Canterlot Knights to a 7-1 record so far, and each game he just looks better and better. Not only do I believe he is the clear-cut MVP this season, but I also know that come February, he’s going to be getting his fifth ring.”

As the presenters briefly discussed La Salle’s MVP chances, Atomic found himself understanding the reasons behind the argument. The Knights’ quarterback, who was also a Canterlot native whose family descended from Prance, had been playing for his hometown team his entire twelve-year career. He had won four Sugar Bowls, three Sugar Bowl MVPs and two regular season MVPs. His strong leadership and high intelligence combined with his dominating presence on the pitch also made La Salle Thunderhoof’s favourite player, and Atomic was well aware of the fact that the Canterlot Knights were strong favourites to win the Sugar Bowl. But he was still confident that the Dragons would be able to beat them in the playoffs and become first-time champions.

“Okay, Lipizzan, who have you written?”

“It's gotta be Comet Chaser. Have you seen how he’s been playing this season?! The kid only started one game last year for the Flamingos and now he’s putting up MVP numbers! I mean, he’s already over 3,000 passing yards, has thrown 23 touchdown passes and is leading the Flamingos to a 6-2 record. There is nopony else in the league that is on his level right now, and mark my words, he will keep this level of play up for the rest of the season.”

“That’s true Lipizzan, but you have to consider the fact that Las Pegasus still have Hillclimb and Bowman, who I’d class as top three running backs and wide receivers respectively. The MVP is for the most valuable player, and if you take out Comet Chaser and put in another quarterback, I think the Flamingos are still at least a first-round playoff team.”

“Cirrus, the Flamingos’ roster has stayed mostly the same over the off-season; they traded a few reserves, cut some other players but their starting lineups have stayed nearly 100% intact. So why didn’t they play like this last season? Comet Chaser is why, and he’s the guy pushing this team to Sugar Bowl contention.”

“Atomic, I need to ask you something.”

Atomic turned the radio off and left the living room to where his father was standing in the hallway.

“I'm here.”

“Atomic, did you play outside with Thunderhoof today?”

“Yeah, I came in like twenty minutes ago. Why?”

“Because you were spotted on North Avenue with a group of colts going into number 27.”

“What?! I wasn't even on North Avenue!”

“Atomic, don't lie to me.”

“Who lied and told you I was there anyway?!”

Syracuse frowned. “Atomic, be honest now.”

Atomic sighed loudly. “Okay fine, but I only went in there to get the ball with Thunder, he accidentally threw it in there.”

“You went into that abandoned house?!”

Atomic sighed again as his mother came out of the kitchen. “Mom, it doesn't matter, it's not like anything happened to me.”

“How many times have I told you to stay away from that house?!”

“I’m sorry Mom, it won’t happen again.”

“Wait, are you guys talking about 27 North Avenue?”

Everypony turned to Pumpkin Spice, who came out of the living room.

“You know it?”

“Yeah, one of my friends from high school used to live there. I remember going there a few times to see him a few months ago. Did you say it was abandoned?”

“No, there were loads of pizza boxes in the kitchen and I saw loads of newspapers on the floor, and there was a big pile of green leaves on top of them.”

Tea Rose and Syracuse stared at Pumpkin, who gulped nervously.

“It's probably coriander.”

“It didn’t smell like it, and why would it be in the bedroom?”

“I don’t know, but I’m gonna go down to the high street and pick up a few things, okay? Bye!”

Pumpkin hastily left the house and slammed the door behind her.

“You are never gonna go near there again, okay? I don't even wanna hear that you’ve been on North Avenue. Understood?”

“Yeah, Mom.”

Atomic went upstairs to his room and finished his maths homework due in the next day. Afterwards, he went back downstairs to the living room and turned the radio on, just in time for the kickoff of the marquee Thursday night matchup between the Canterlot Knights and Las Pegasus Flamingos.

“Atomic, have you done your homework?”

“Yeah, Mom, I already finished it,” Atomic said as he turned up the volume. As the two teams lined up on the scrimmage line for the Knights’ first drive, Syracuse came into the living room.

“Has the game started yet?”

“And La Salle throws a crisp short pass to his tight end for another first down!”

Syracuse sat next to Atomic and the two followed along with the commentary for the rest of the first quarter.

“Dad, who are you gonna vote for MVP?”

“I can’t vote, only ESNN journalists can vote for MVP.”

“Okay, but who would you vote for if you could?

“Err……..probably Comet Chaser.”

The father and son listened to the match commentary for the rest of the match, and when the final whistle was blown, Atomic turned the radio off.

“Thunder’s definitely gonna be talking about La Salle’s three TD passes tomorrow.”

“His performance is definitely something to talk about, and he’ll probably end up with the MVP now.”

“Atomic, it’s eight thirty, you know where you’re supposed to be!”

“I’m going to bed Dad, see you tomorrow.”

“Night, son.”

Syracuse ruffled his son’s mane as the two left the living room, and Atomic went upstairs to his room to get ready to sleep.

“I already read the newspaper this morning and made notes on what plays the Knights ran. I’m gonna tell Coach Storm Shaker about them in training and hopefully he’ll let us run them.”

As Atomic had predicted, Thunderhoof had been talking nonstop for the last five minutes about the Knights-Flamingos match, and his tirade had spilled over from homeroom into first-period Maths.

“Good morning.”

The class immediately fell silent as Ms Ivory closed the door behind her. She walked over to her desk and put her belongings down, before reaching into a drawer underneath her desk and pulling out a large stack of papers.

“I have marked the test that you did two weeks ago. Overall, most of you did satisfactory, with a few doing well and a few doing poor. This result will affect your working grade, and it will also be brought up in your upcoming progress reports.”

And I probably failed this test too. Five-hour lecture from Mom, here I come.

Ms Ivory went round and gave back the test papers to the students. The class remained mostly silent during this time, with a few relieved outbursts from some students being immediately shutdown by Ms Ivory’s fierce glare.

Atomic and Thunderhoof were one of the last ponies to get their papers since they sat at the back, and both of them slowly turned their papers over, hoping for the best.

I didn’t fail!

Atomic beamed down at the front of his test paper, which read ‘36/60, B-’ in bright red ink. He turned to Thunderhoof, who held up his paper to show that he had achieved a near-perfect score of 57 out of 60, earning him an A+ grade.

“Take out your green pens, we are now going to go through the answers.”

“For the first time ever, I can actually go home and show my mom a test paper and not throw it away on the way home.”

Atomic carefully put his test paper back into his saddlebag. He was currently with Thunderhoof in the cafeteria, who was finishing off his lunch of macaroni and cheese.

“I wanna try one of the Knights’ plays on the field,” Thunderhoof announced as he shoved another mouthful of macaroni into his mouth.

“If you don’t hurry up, we’re not gonna get time to try the play,” Atomic replied, and Thunderhoof rolled his eyes.

“It's not my fault they gave me so much today!”

When Thunderhoof finished, he took his plate to the large metal tray that was next to the door and Atomic waited outside for him whilst Thunderhoof carefully put his place on top of the wobbling stack of plates.

“Are they waiting for us on the field?” Thunderhoof asked when he came outside, referring to their other friends who had already eaten and were waiting for him on the field.

“Yeah, Stormcaller brought his ball in, so we’re using his.”

The two walked silently through the courts and onto the fields, looking for their friends.

“Do we know how good the other schools are?” Atomic suddenly asked.

“No idea, but they’re probably decent, we can ask Moon Dust and the other guys later.”

The two eventually joined the others, who were waiting at the back of the field, and they branched off into a circle, with one pony standing in the middle trying to intercept the pass.

“Damn Thunder, that was a clean pass!” Maverick commended as he caught the ball. “You’re gonna be one hell of a quarterback for our team!”

“I don't even know if I'm even gonna make it onto the team, let alone be the starting quarterback,” Thunderhoof replied nd Maverick chuckled.

“You’re too humble man, there isn't anypony else in this school that’s taking your place from you.”

“Hey guys, do you mind if we join in?”

The group stopped playing and fell silent as Blaze and Mustang nervously walked into the middle of the circle.

“How come you didn’t show up to the bake sale?” Banoffee asked, and Blaze shuffled nervously.

“We did wanna help, we really did, but….Pablo didn’t let us,” Blaze said.

“What, he just said you can’t go and you accepted it?” Maverick asked a tad aggressively.

“Yeah……”

“We’re really sorry. If you guys don’t want us to tryout for the team, then we understand,” Mustang said quietly.

The group came into the middle of the circle to from a small huddle.

“We can't ban them from trying out, it isn’t fair. And besides, we got the money we needed for the team and they did do their bit to help us buy all of the stuff in the first place,” Thunderhoof whispered, and the others nodded.

Atomic stuck his head up to look at Blaze and Mustang. “You guys can join us, it's cool.”

Blaze and Mustang thanked the group as they joined the circle, putting their bags down next to the pile behind them.

“There’s…..thirteen of us, and I wanna try running a play that the Knights did yesterday.”

Thunderhoof took the ball and directed the others to their playing positions and where they would standing, starting by putting the older colts on the scrimmage and Chestnut, Banoffee Pie and Pacific Sail as the linebackers.

“We’re gonna need more ponies,” Thunderhoof called out, and Maverick left the scrimmage line and went through the field, eventually coming back with seven other colts.

“Basically, we’re gonna pretend this is a 4th and 2, so I’m gonna need everypony to line up that way.”

The colts all bunched together in the middle, with both teams’ players lined up less than a yard away from each other. Thunderhoof called Pacific Sail, Atomic, Stormcalller and Starburst over to him. They all hoof-bumped each other and went back to their respective positions. With Pacific Sail playing as the running back whilst Atomic, Stormcaller and Starburst were the wide receivers, the ball was snapped to Thunderhoof, who quickly handed the ball off to Pacific Sail. Pacific ran towards the middle, where the offensive line were still holding the defensive linemen back. He jumped up into the air and threw the ball to Atomic, who had gotten ahead of his defender running a slant route. Atomic leapt up and caught the ball with ease, before coming down and running with the ball for another forty yards.

“Yes Atomic, that would’ve definitely been a touchdown!” Thunderhoof yelled, and Atomic came to a stop, before running back to join the others.

“That’s an awesome play, we should definitely use that in one of our matches!” Mustang said, and Thunderhoof grinned.

“Yeah, I’ll tell Sir about it when we have our first training session,” Thunderhoof replied.

The colts played hoofball for the rest of lunchtime, and they followed the other students and cleared off the field when the bell rang.

“Well done Atomic, I'm so proud of you!”

Atomic smiled as his mother hugged him again, and he gave her the test paper.

“Next time, I wanna see an A, okay?”

“Can I go outside now, Mom?”

“Of course you can, but make sure you’re back here before seven thirty.”

Atomic grinned as he quickly left the house, relieved that his mother had forgotten his visit to 27 North Avenue. As he went down the steps at the front of his house, Atomic quickly turned back and lifted up his left hind leg. The bandage had been removed from the wound and it appeared to be healing quite quickly, with some of the redness around the wound having already faded away. Atomic knocked on Thunderhoof’s door and waited for him to come out.

“There you are. Come on, the guys are all waiting for us at the end of the road.”

Thunderhoof closed his front door and walked quickly with Atomic. At the end of Mayfield Avenue, the colts they had been playing with yesterday were waiting impatiently.

“We were waiting here for ages!”

Atomic smiled. “Well, we’re here now, so let’s get started.”

Two teams were quickly formed and they colts lined up in their respective formations.

“Let’s play some hoofball!”

FLEX BONE

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“Atomic, take these cones and spread them out with Helios.”

Atomic took the gym bag from Coach Bouncer and walked across the pitch to Helios. The Eagles’ training session was running late due to the head coach being ill, so both Coach Persimmon and Bouncer were running today’s practise.

“Hey, where am I supposed to put these cones?” Atomic asked as he walked to Helios, who was already laying out his cones.

“Here, I’ll show you.”

Together, the two colts set out the cones until they spread out across a 20 yard radius, covering one side of the pitch. There were twenty lines of three cones, and each cone was placed five yards away from each other.

“What drill are we gonna be doing?”

“Shuttle run, I heard them talking about it in the changing rooms,” Helios replied.

“What’s that?”

“Right, three laps of the pitch, let’s go! And no cutting corners!”

“I’ll tell you afterwards.”

Most of the team had finished getting changed changed by now, and they began their three laps from the sideline on the other side of the pitch. Atomic and Helios joined the back of the group and conversed sporadically as they ran around the pitch.

“So..how..did you get….your cutie mark?” Atomic gasped out.

“Strip sack in the last three seconds. We were up by one and the offense was at the five yard line, but we ended up getting the ball back and winning the game.”

“So why does your cutie mark look like the sun?” Atomic asked, peering at Helios’ cutie mark, which depicted several rays of light coming down from an oval shaped like a hoofball.

“Um…..I think it's because…...I actually don’t know, I’ve never really thought about it.”

The team finished their three laps and formed a circle in the middle of the pitch to go through their stretches, with Helios leading them. After they had finished, the team lined up and stood in front of their offensive and defensive coordinators.

“As you all know, Coach Stargaze cannot be here as he has unfortunately come down with the flu, which means that Coach Bouncer and I will be running today’s session. But before we get started with the first drill, Coach Stargaze has passed on an announcement to us for you.”

Coach Bouncer stepped forward. “For those of you who don’t know, this team has an offensive and defensive captain chosen at the start of every season. But this year, we’re changing things up a bit; we are only going to have one captain.”

“And that captain is….Helios. Come to me at the end to get your armband.”

The colts clapped politely as Helios nodded.

“Right, let’s not waste anymore time and get started.”

The team were led to the right hand side of the pitch, where Atomic and Helios had set up the cones for the shuttle run drill. Coach Bouncer explained to them what the drill entailed before Coach Persimmon split them up into pairs and told them to line up in front of the cones.

“Hey, well done on being the captain,” Atomic whispered to Helios, who was front of him.

“Thanks,” Helios whispered before Coach Persimmon looked at him pointedly, and Helios blushed and apologised.

“Okay, we’re gonna go from left and right and one by one, you’re going to do your run whilst we time you. The four ponies with the slowest times will be doing five laps around the pitch at the end of training, so keep that in mind when you’re doing your run.”

As his teammates did the shuttle run one by one, Atomic watched them carefully, noting the different approaches that each pony took and making a note to implement their techniques into his run. Soon enough, the colts to Atomic’s left had finished their runs and it was Helios’ turn.

“Helios, you’re up.”

Helios nodded and crouched down, and Atomic moved back to give him some space. Coach Bouncer blew his whistle and Helios burst forward, hitting the first cone with his foreleg before turning back and sprinting back to the start line. As he completed the drill, Atomic noticed that Helios was using his long legs to his advantage, reaching forwards to hit the cones instead of taking a few extra strides to reach them.

“Okay, Atomic, you’re next.”

A panting Helios walked to the back and stood behind Atomic, who stepped up to the starting mark.

“On my whistle...BEEP!”

Atomic leapt off the starting mark and reached the first cone quickly, using his speed to get back to the starting mark as quickly as he could. At the last cone, Atomic stumbled a little as he turned to go back to the starting line, and as he finished the drill, he was frustrated with himself for not getting a quicker time.

“Crap, I'm gonna be one of the slowest now, I know it,” Atomic grumbled as he went to the back.

“Hey, there’s nothing to worry about, there were loads of ponies that were slower than you, okay?” Helios whispered, before checking if he had been heard by the coaches.

When everypony had finished the shuttle run, the coordinators cleared away the cones with the help of Helios and a few other colts, and they ran some simple fitness drills for the rest of the session. When it had passed seven o’clock, Coach Persimmon and Coach Bouncer wrapped up the session and announced the name of the four colts with the slowest shuttle run times, and Atomic was relieved to hear that he didn’t have to do five extra laps.

“Wait, you said you got your cutie mark at the end of the match, right?”

“Yep.”

“I think your cutie mark looks like that because you guys were close to losing the game, so you were all dejected and you needed somepony to step up for the team-and that's what you did. You’re also the team’s captain, so clearly I’m not the only one who realised.”

“......Wow, I never thought of it like that.”

The team headed back into the changing rooms to get changed, but before they could leave, Coach Persimmon told them to wait.

“I just got this from reception,” he said, holding a crumpled-up piece of paper. “It's the starting lineup for our next match.”

The colts all gathered in front of the coaches and they began to read out the list of colts that would be playing in the next match, and Atomic wasn’t surprised to hear that he would not be featuring in the game.

“Can't wait to be on the bench for another hour on Sunday,” Atomic remarked as he walked of the Eagles’ training grounds with Helios.

“Pine Hill’s gonna be an easy match, so you never know, they might put you in if we’re up by a lot.”

“Hopefully. Wait, is Pine Hill that school that’s like fifteen minutes away from here?”

“Yeah.”

“So does that mean that we play all the other school teams in the area?”

“Yeah, why?”

So Sycamore could potentially play the Eagles!

But that’s never gonna happen, we only just got the school team back.

“Oh, I was just asking.”

Atomic and Helios said goodbye to each other as they went their separate ways. Since it was still light outside, Atomic was allowed to go home by himself and it wasn't long before he had turned off the high street and onto the path that led him to Mayfield Avenue.

“Nopony’s been in there, will you relax?!”

“Some kids were hanging around outside yesterday, my mom saw them!”

Two stallions, who were in their late teens, were leaning against the front door of 27 North Avenue and as he walked past, Atomic saw one of the stallions push the other against the wall.

“Don’t buck this up! We both know what’s gonna happen to us if we don’t find out who’s been using the house! We’re gonna go in there, find the pony smoking our stuff and beat the living-”

The other stallion pointed at Atomic, who had been watching the exchange silently on the hoofpath. When he realised that he had been spotted, he made a run for his house.

“Hey, get back here!”

The teenagers threw their saddlebags through the window behind them and ran after Atomic. Atomic sprinted as fast as he could across the hoofpath, and when he saw his house in the distance, he suddenly changed direction and ran past the back of the houses in his road, looking behind him every few seconds to check that he wasn’t being followed. When he reached his house, he jumped up to reach the top of the fence and he dropped down into his garden.

“.......I’m home!”

Atomic staggered to the kitchen door and opened it, where his mother was chopping up carrots in the kitchen.

“Why didn’t you come in from the front?”

“.....It's quicker from the back.”

Tea Rose stared at Atomic skeptically for a few moments, before sighing and turning back the chopping board.

“Put your stuff away, dinner will be ready in half an hour.”

As Atomic went up the stairs, the doorbell rang.

“Open it, that’s your aunt and sister!” Tea Rose called out from the kitchen as she closed the door, and Atomic went back downstairs and opened the front door, not bothering to check through the letterbox who was knocking.

“You alright, kid?”

Atomic was dragged forwards by one teen whilst the other closed the door.

“MO-”

Atomic tried to yell again, but the hoof stuffed into his mouth meant that his cries for help only came out as muffled noises. Once they had checked that the road was clear, the stallions dragged Atomic down the road, leading him to North Avenue.

“ARRGHHH!”

The stallion holding Atomic cried out and pulled his hoof out of Atomic’s mouth, which he had bitten. Atomic took a chance and wriggled free from his abductor, making a run for it. Unfortunately, the other stallion reached out and pulled Atomic back by his mane, punching him hard before wrapping a foreleg around his neck to hold the younger colt in a headlock.

“Scream like that again and the next time you wake up will be in a hospital bed. Understood?”

Atomic nodded frantically and the two took him inside the house, pushing him down to hit the bottom of the stairs.

“We’re gonna ask you one question, and if you tell the truth, then you can run back home to mummy.”

“If you lie to us, then you already know what we’re gonna do.”

“I didn’t do anything, I swear!”

“We'll be the judge of that. Did you come in here yesterday?”

“Yeah, but only because my friend accidentally threw the ball in here through one of the windows. I went inside to help him find the ball!”

The stallions stared at him for a few moments.

“He’s telling the truth.”

Atomic slowly pushed himself up. “Does that mean I can go now?”

“Did you see anything in the house? Any bags or newspapers?”

“No, I didn’t even go in any of the rooms, we found the ball in the kitchen!” Atomic cried, deliberately avoiding mentioning the green powder he remembered seeing in one of the bedrooms upstairs.

“But the kitchen’s windows are at the back, How is that possible?”

When Atomic couldn’t give an answer, one of the stallions grabbed Atomic by the neck and lifted him up.

“You’re lying to us, aren’t you?!”

“N-no, I swear,” Atomic choked out, struggling to breathe.

“Let him go, his parents are gonna call the cops if he’s missing for too long,” the other stallion said, pulling his friend away from Atomic.

Atomic was dropped and he hit the ground on his front hard.

“You’re gonna go back home now, and you’re not gonna tell anypony about us, got it?”

“I won’t, I swear!”

The stallions pushed Atomic out of the house and made a run for it, turning at the end of the road toward the high street. Atomic slowly walked out of the house, wincing as he rubbed his chest. He collapsed on the front porch and began to cry.

“I said I’m not hungry, how many times do I have to tell you?!”

When he did not hear a reply, Atomic slammed his door shut. When he finally got home, his mother had questioned him endlessly about where he had gone and why his neck and face were bruised. When Atomic explained that he had taken a hard hit in training and that he had quickly gone round to Thunderhoof’s house, his mother warned him to be more careful in practise.

Those guys aren't gonna come back for me, are they?! They know where I live!

“Atomic!”

Atomic snapped out of his daze and slowly opened the door, revealing a worried Pumpkin standing at his door.

“Is everything okay? How come you don't want your dinner?”

“I'm not hungry. I just wanna be alone,” Atomic replied abruptly, putting a hoof on his doorknob and beginning to shut it.

“Alright, if that's what you want, then I’ll go.”

Pumpkin closed Atomic’s door for him, and he waited until her hoofsteps became quieter and quieter before he sat back down on his bed. He pushed his science homework off his bed to make more space, in no mood to complete the two-page long pop quiz due the day after tomorrow. He fell back onto his pillow and rubbed his sore chest tenderly, his attackers’ threats plaguing his thoughts the whole night.

“.....and then I said- hey, Atomic!”

“Huh?”

Thunderhoof tapped Atomic’s shoulder again and Atomic yawned before looking up. He had unable to focus the whole morning and he had called out by his teachers more than once for dozing off.

“What were we talking about again?”

“Did you even get any sleep last night?”

Atomic yawned again. “No, I…..didn’t.”

Atomic absentmindedly rubbed his bruised chest and Thunderhoof gasped.

“Woah, what happened to your chest?”

“Training.”

“Man, your sessions must be rough then.”

“Yeah, they are.”

“Chestnut!”

Atomic slowly lifted his head up as Chestnut got his lunch and sat next to him.

“Hey, are you alright? You look really tired.”

“Yeah, didn’t get much sleep last night, that’s why.”

Chestnut and Thunderhoof chatted about hoofball as they ate, and when they finished , they picked up their saddlebags from underneath the table, and Atomic did the same as he took his unfinished plate of pasta to the bins.

“I need to revise for Maths, I have a test next lesson,” Chestnut announced as the three colts left the canteen, and he told them that he was going to the library to revise.

“Did you bring your EHL cards?” Thunderhoof nodded, and Atomic nodded morosely.

“Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. How many platinums do you have now?”

“Four, I got Comet Chaser in a pack I bought yesterday after training.”

Atomic stopped. “You got a platinum Comet Chaser in a regular pack?! How?!”

Thunderhoof grinned. “Luck.”

“Man, the only platinum I got is the Nick Foals one, I need to start getting packs again.”

The two headed to the back of the field, where their other friends were waiting for them on the grass. Maverick, Moon Dust, Jackpot and Spade Ace had told them in recess that they would be missing lunch for revision so only their friends in fifth-grade were waiting on the field for them.

“Did you guys all bring your cards?”

The colts pointed to their cards lying face down on the grass, and Atomic and Thunderhoof sat down in front of them.

“Wait everypony show the best card they have.”

The colts all flipped over a card in their pile to show their highest-rated player. Whilst a few only had gold players, most of them had a high elite player with ratings that ranged from 86-90. Pacific Sail was the only other pony with a platinum card- and it was Cartwheel card, the Dragons’ quarterback.

“Wait for us!”

Blaze and Mustang panted as they finally reached the others, and they collapsed onto the grass.

“Wait, don't you guys normally hang out with Pablo?” Starburst asked, and Blaze shook his head.

“Not anymore, we wanna be with you guys.”

For the rest of lunch, the friends traded their cards casually, breaking out into laughter frequently as they spoke, and Atomic’s worries about yesterday’s trauma was pushed to the back of his mind as he joined in with the banter.

“You guys should’ve seen Thunder on the first day, Ms Ivory had him scarred for life!”

“Excuse me, weren’t you the pony that whispered her name when we came in? You sounded like you were in a horror movie and Ms Ivory was about to kill you!”

Atomic pushed Thunderhoof lightly as the others laughed, with Banoffee finding the story particularly as he hiccuped loudly, sending the others into hysterics again.

“It's….not....funny,” Banoffee said with a smile, hiccupping every few seconds, and eventually Stormcaller gave him his bottle of water.

When the bell rang, the colts got up and made their way off the field and back inside the school , and they said their goodbyes to each other as they headed off to their lessons.

“Well, at least we know Ms Ivory’s not gonna give us another test,” Thunderhoof remarked, and Atomic groaned.

“Don't say that! Last time you said that, she gave us a test!”

“Yeah, but that was just a coincidence. Besides, you’re good at Maths, so it won’t matter even if she does.”

The two waited outside their classroom with their classmates, and Ms Ivory unlocked the door from inside to let her pupils in.

“Thunderhoof, I have moved you up to the top set,” Ms Ivory announced as he entered the class.

“You did?”

“Mr Topaz has already added you to his register.”

“Oh, okay.”

Atomic stepped aside to let Thunderhoof pass, annoyed that his best friend wasn't in the same Maths class as him anymore.

“Wait for me outside his class, okay?”

Atomic nodded and Thunderhoof closed the door behind him as Atomic made his way to his seat at the back of the class.

“Open up your textbooks to page 76 and answer questions 1a, 1b, and 1c as a starter.”

“I thought Ms Ivory was bad, but Mr Topaz is a million times worse!”

Thunderhoof continued to rant about his new Maths teacher as he turned off the high street with Atomic.

“Hey, you were never gonna stay with Ms Ivory forever, you were way too smart for us anyway-”

“Yeah, go and tell him to bring the stuff here!”

Atomic heard an all-too familiar voice to his right and prayed that he was wrong and that it wasn't who he thought it was. As he glanced to his right, his fears were confirmed when he recognised the stallions coming down the road.

Atomic pushed Thunderhoof forward as he began to gallop. “Come on, first pony to their house wins!”

The two colts sprinted to their houses as fast as they could, and Thunderhoof spotted Atomic look back a few times past him. When they reached their houses, Thunderhoof decided to question his friend about this.

“Hey, why did you keep looking back?”

“Oh, I, uh, just wanted to make sure I wasn't beating you too badly,” Atomic replied, breathing heavily.

“It's not like you’re so much faster than me, you only just beat me!”

“Oh no, is Thunderhoof gonna cry?!”

Atomic sniggered as Thunderhoof pushed him, and the two said goodbye as they went inside their houses.

“Atomic, put your bag away, you’re coming shopping with me!”

“What?! Why?!”

Tea Rose came down the stairs, holding one of Atomic’s shirts. “Because none of your clothes fit you anymore and I can't have you walking around in shirts that are two sizes too small.”

“Can we go next week? Please?!”

“No, we’re going today, put your bag away and I’ll make you a sandwich.”

Atomic groaned and stomped up the stairs, closing his door loudly. He groaned again when he found that his mother had thrown most of his clothes onto his bed and the floor , and he pushed some shirts aside as he threw his bag onto his bed.

Shopping with Mom, it can't get any worse than that, right?

“Atomic, you’ve said no to nearly everything! Start choosing some clothes or I will!”

Atomic rolled his eyes and looked back at the shelves of shirts. This was the third clothes shop that he had been to, and his reluctance to buy anything meant that his mother’s patience was wearing thin, and Atomic knew that if he didn’t pick out anything soon, his mother would lose it.

“Okay, I wanna get those ones,” Atomic declared, pointing to two shirts. The first was a dark green shirt displaying the Dragons’ logo with the team’s motto ‘FEEL THE HEAT’ written in a bold, white font. The second was a simple, plaid blue t-shirt, designed to be comfortable.

“Alright, I suppose it's better than nothing.”

Tea Rose reached up and pulled the shirts and their hangers down, placing them at the bottom of her shopping basket.

“Alright, let’s go to the checkouts and then we'll go home, I need to put Butter to sleep.”

Finally!

After they had paid for the shirts, the mother and son left the shop and headed out of the shop, headed towards the shopping centre exit.

“Can I get a milkshake?” Atomic suddenly asked, pointing to a small milkshake stall that had been set up in the middle of the shopping centre.

“Atomic, we don’t have time to-”

“Please, Mom?!”

“Okay fine, but it's coming out of your pocket money this week.”

Atomic thanked his mother and led her to the back of the queue.

“What can I get you?”

“One large cookie dough milkshake, please.”

As they stepped to the side to wait for the milkshake to be made, Tea Rose and Atomic talked about school and the improvements Atomic had made in his subjects.

“Hey, Atomic! We said your name like a million times!”

Atomic turned around and froze.

“Er, it's nice to see you too,” one of the stallions said, pulling a stunned Atomic into a quick hug.

“Oh, we’re Atomic’s friends from school,” the other stallion explained to a confused Tea Rose.

“Ye-yeah, this is Maverick and Moon Dust,” Atomic said quietly.

“One large cookie dough milkshake!”

Atomic quickly took his milkshake and pulled his mother away, telling the stallions that he would see them at school tomorrow.

“They seemed nice, do you know if they’re going to Lakefield next year as well?”

“Er, I don't know, they said they haven’t decided yet,” Atomic said, looking back at the stallions that had attacked him the previous night, who were laughing their heads off. “Let’s go home, Butter needs to go to sleep.”

“We’re only gonna ask you one more time. Did you touch anything in the house?”

“No, I swear!”

“Atomic, when are you gonna learn? Telling lies is only gonna hurt you.”

Atomic watched his mother scream and he desperately tried to shake himself free of his restraints. The stallions had broken into their house in the middle of the night and had everypony, including Butterscotch, tied up in the living room. His aunt had already been silenced with a hard blow to her head, and Syracuse watched the events in front of him unfold silently.

“Dad, do something!”

Syracuse looked up silently and shook his head, muttering incoherently before he dropped his head again.

“No, no, LEAVE ME ALONE!”

Tea Rose shrieked as the tip of a knife was placed underneath her eye, and she screamed even louder when the knife made a red line underneath her eye.

“NO, LEAVE MY MOM ALONE!”

The stallions cackled as they continued marking Tea Rose’s face with the knife, and Atomic spotted some ponies walking past their house.

“HELP! SOMEPONY PLEASE HELP US!”

Ponies continued walking past the house, with some even stopping right outside the window for a few moments before continuing on their way.

“I'm getting bored now, finish her off.”

Atomic screamed and covered his eyes, unable to watch what was about to happen.

“Atomic, Atomic Tangerine.”

Huh?!

Atomic lifted his head up and was shocked when he realised that he was no longer bounded by ropes. He slowly got up and saw that nopony else was in his living room, with even the stallions being absent.

“Atomic.”

“Who is that?” Atomic shakily called out, and he got his answer a few moments late when a flash of light brought somepony else into his dream.

“Princess Luna!”

The night princess stepped forward and smiled at the colt. “That is correct.”

“But what are you doing here? Where’s Mom, Dad, Butterscotch and Aunt Pumpkin?!”

“They’re fine, Atomic. This is just a dream.”

“This is a dream? But…...it feels so real,” he whispered, looking around him.

“I can assure you Atomic, you are fast asleep right now,” the alicorn replied. “But why do you think you are having such a graphic nightmare?”

“It's because of those….stallions. They….caught me watching them a few days ago and they dragged me out of the house and beat me up. They even followed me and my mom shopping today,” Atomic replied shakily.

“And have you told anypony about this?”

“I can’t. They said if I tell anypony, they’re gonna…...they’re gonna……”

Tears ran down Atomic’s face and Princess Luna quickly wrapped her forelegs around the colt in a tight embrace, holding him close to her chest. When he had calmed down, he slowly stepped back and wiped his eyes, before telling Princess Luna the entire story of how they had met.

“Atomic, you have to tell the police about this, those stallions are engaging in illegal activity, and they will not be able to cause you any harm when they’re put behind bars.”

“But they could tell their friends where I live, and then they could come for me!”

“Atomic, you cannot live in constant fear. You know what the right thing to do is. It's up to you to make that choice.”

“Woah! Look at how many cops there are!”

Atomic was glued to his window, watching the street below. Tuesday morning in Mayfield Avenue was crawling with police officers, with ponies being led out of their houses as different search teams entered the different households. Waiting on the pavements, the neighbours all clamoured together to try and figure out what was going on.

“Atomic, get ready for school now!”

Tea Rose entered her sons bedroom and found him sticking his head out of his window, which he had opened fully.

“What are you doing, do you wanna fall out and break your back?!”

“Mom, look!”

Tea Rose looked out of the window and gasped. “What in Equestria is going on?”

Suddenly there was a loud knock at the door.

“Are those the cops?” Atomic asked, and Tea shrugged her shoulders.

“Pumpkin, could you get that, please?”

Atomic and Tea Rose headed out of the former’s bedroom and down the stairs, just as Syracuse came out of the bathroom, a towel wrapped around his neck.

“What’s going on?” he mumbled, rubbing his mouth.

“Police,” Atomic replied, just as Pumpkin opened the door, revealing two police officers standing at the doorstep.

“Good morning, may we speak to Mrs Tea Rose and Mr Syracuse?”

“We’re here,” Tea Rose replied, quickly coming down the stairs with her husband, who quickly tossed his towel off his neck as he came downstairs.

One of the officers held up a piece of paper. “We have a search warrant here for this house.”

“On what grounds?” Syracuse asked.

“On the grounds of possession and distribution of narcotics.”

“Wh-what?! You think we’re selling drugs?!” Tea Rose spluttered.

“We’re searching every house on the road, so if you could step outside, please.”

Syracuse, Atomic and Pumpkin walked out of the house whilst Tea Rose went upstairs to get Butterscotch, and her loud cries were being desperately countered by Tea Rose.

“Sshh, Butter, it's okay, we’re just going outside for a bit, and then you can go back,” Tea Rose said as she carried her daughter outside. The two officers stepped aside to let a team of five ponies wearing white bodysuits enter the house.

“Hey, Atomic!”

Thunderhoof waved at Atomic and walked over to him. “Hey, are they searching your house too?”

Atomic nodded. “They said something about drugs.”

Thunderhoof led Atomic away from their families. “Do you think it's something to do with that green stuff we saw in that house?”

“Maybe, it did smell really weird and it was everywhere in that room.”

“I heard one of the cops say that they got an anonymous tip-off about somepony hiding drugs on our road. Who do you think it was?”

“No idea,” Atomic replied, beginning to connect the dots.

It must’ve been Princess Luna who called the police then.

She must’ve got the road wrong though, those stallions were on North Avenue.

I should tell the cops later when I'm going to school with Thunder.

Atomic and Thunderhoof rejoined their families and waited for the search team to clear out of their homes.

“There’s nothing in there, sir!” one of the ponies on the search team announced as he came out of Thunderhoof’s house, and a few minutes later, the same declaration was made from the search team working in Atomic’s house.

As they entered their house, Tea Rose was furious that the search team had made the previously tidy house messy. The sofa had been lifted up and left on its side, the dining table’s plastic cover had been tossed to the floor. In the kitchen, the cupboards had been rifled through and tins, plates and plastic containers covered the floor. Of the upstairs bedrooms, Syracuse and Tea Rose’s room had been left the messiest, with clothes covering the carpet, their bedsheets discarded onto the floor, and their drawers emptied out onto the bed.

“Okay everypony, me and Pumpkin will fix this later, come and get your breakfast!”

Syracuse was the first to leave the house for work, and Atomic left for school ten minutes later, just as Thunderhoof came out of his own house.

“If we’re late, we can tell Ms Ivory that the police were searching our houses,” Thunderhoof said as they set off, and Atomic nodded.

As the colts walked past North Avenue on the footpath that led to the high street, Athe police had moved onto North Avenue, and they were now searching the houses on that road. When they reached number 27, the police officers knocked on the door and waited for a reply, before one of the residents told them that the house had been abandoned. Curious to see what would happen next, Atomic and Thunderhoof walked away from the hoofpath and towards the police, interested to see what would happen next as the search team were cleared to enter the house.

“HEY!”

Two stallions had jumped out of one of the first-floor side windows and landed roughly. When both were up on their hooves, they checked around the corner of the brick wall to see if anypony could see them. When they were sure the coast was clear, the two had made a run for it down the road, but they had been spotted by an officer. Luckily for the Fillydelphia Police Department, the officer that had seen the stallions was a unicorn, and he quickly used his magic to teleport and get closer to the stallions.

“MOVE OUT OF OUR WAY OR I’LL PUT THIS THROUGH YOUR STOMACH!”

One of the stallions waved a knife at the residents as they galloped, using the scattering of the terrified residents to clear a path so that they could escape police custody. The unicorn officer used to teleport only a few yards away from the stallions, and the other officers were already chasing after the stallions, with some clambering into their carriages.

Atomic and Thunderhoof quickly moved aside as they saw the knife being pointed in their direction, but as they did, one of Thunderhoof’s hind legs unintentionally clipped the knife-wielder’s back leg, and he tumbled to the ground.

The other stallion turned around and saw that his friend had dropped to the floor. With the police gaining on the two, he decided to ditch his friend and make a run for the high street to save himself.

The grounded stallion quickly got up, and when he saw that his friend had already ditched him, he tried to desperately catch up to him. But by that point, several police officers had reached him and the knife was taken away from him as he was restrained.

“Sir, sir!”

Several members of the search team came running out of 27 North Avenue, and they were holding several plastic bags. As they came closer, a pungent smell filled the air.

“Sir, there’s loads of it in there, and there’s even a garden in the basement,” one of the search team members gasped out, and the officers turned back to the apprehended stallion.

“You are under arrest for the crime of producing, possessing and distributing narcotics, and also for attempted bodily harm. You have the right to remain silent, but anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to have an attorney present during questioning. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed for you.”

As the stallion was carted off to the nearest police carriage, Atomic slapped Thunderhoof on the back.

“Dude, if it wasn't for you, they wouldn’t have got him!”

“Yeah, but I didn’t mean to trip him up, it just...happened.”

“Send a team out to find that other stallion,” one of the officers ordered, and a group of pegasi quickly took flight to find the escapee.

“You kids should be in school now, it's nearly nine o’clock,” one of the officers pointed out.

“Oh crap!”

“Yeah, and Thunder tripped the guy up so that the police could catch him!”

The news that one stallion had been arrested and another was on the run in the area was the main topic of conversation amongst the Sycamore Oak students and teachers, with each pony giving their own theory as to where the escapee could be. In their second-period History lesson, Miss Chrysanthemum had stepped outside to print off the class’ homework, and Atomic had taken the opportunity to retell the morning’s events to his classmates.

“Thunderhoof, you’re so brave!” one of the fillies said, and Thunderhoof’s face flushed bright red.

“It was nothing, the police were gonna catch him anyways.”

“That's nothing, if I was there I would’ve taken the knife off him as well!”

“Pablo, just be quiet and stop being jealous!”

A chorus of ‘oohs’ rang out as Pablo glared at Blaze.

“Yeah, why are you so obsessed with Thunderhoof and Atomic, are you in love with them or something?!”

Pablo lept out of his chair and swung for Mustang, his hoof connecting with his former friend’s face with a right hook. The two tumbled to the ground, both trying to gain an upper hoof over their opponent. Blaze also jumped into the fight, throwing a couple of shots at Pablo.

Atomic, Thunderhoof and the other colts in the class quickly separated the three colts, and they were able to hold them in separate corners of the classroom.

“I'm gonna kill him!”

“Trust me Mustang, he isn't worth it,” Atomic pleaded, desperately holding his friend back.

“What in Equestria is going on in here?!”

Miss Chrysanthemum slammed the door shut behind her, and she stood in front of the classroom.

“I trusted you to behave yourselves whilst I was out printing, and you decided to get into a fight?!”

The class remained silent, and the young History teacher slammed the pile of papers onto her desk, before pointing to the colts keeping Blaze, Mustang and Pablo separate from each other.

“All of you are coming back after school for detention, and I will be notifying Miss Bellflower about this. Get back to your seats!”

“I didn’t think they’d hit him like that though.”

“He deserved it though, props to them for teaching him a lesson.”

An hour and a half after school had ended, Atomic and Thunderhoof were on their way out of school, having just completed a detention with Miss Bellflower in her room.

“So Pablo has no friends now?” Thunderhoof queried, and Atomic smiled.

“Yep, we'll see how big-mouthed he’ll be when he’s by himself every day.”

The two friends crossed the busy pedestrian crossing and stopped outside a local off-license.

“This is where I got the platinum Comet Chaser card from,” Thunderhoof explained, pushing the door open.

The two colts each bought two EHL packs, and they left the shop and continued on their way home. As they walked past the shops, the colts spotted some wanted posters, displaying a picture of the runaway who’d escaped arrest, were fastened to nearly every window.

“What if he’s nearby?”

“Hm?”

“That other stallion, what if he’s still in the area,” Atomic said, and Thunderhoof shook his head.

“There’s no way he’d still be around. He’s probably already been caught by now.”

Stop worrying, he could be in a cell right now.

Or he could be coming for me…..

When they reached their respective houses, Atomic and Thunderhoof said goodbye to each other and went inside their respective homes. Atomic knocked on the door and waited to be let in.

“Hey, Atomic.”

A blunt object hit the back of Atomic’s head, and as he dropped to the ground, the last thing he remembered seeing was a blurry figure standing over him.

GOAL LINE

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“Atomic, where are you?!”

Tea Rose put the plate of food down on the dining table and went upstairs to check her son’s room. As she came back downstairs, there was a knock at the door.

“Atomic, there you-”

Pumpkin was at the door with Butterscotch in her pushchair. “Hey, I was gonna come back sooner but I went to the shops to get something.”

“Did you see Atomic?”

Pumpkin shook her head. “No, was I supposed to?”

“It’s fine, he’s probably with Thunderhoof right now.”

Pumpkin pushed the pushchair into the hallway and Tea Rose unbuckled her daughter, picking her up and taking her up to her bedroom. When her daughter had fallen into a peaceful slumber, Tea Rose went back downstairs and served Pumpkin with her dinner.

“How’s Atomic doing at school?” Pumpkin asked in between mouthfuls of vegetable pie.

“He’s doing fine,” Tea Rose replied, looking out of the window, expecting to see her son.

The two chatted for half an hour, and Pumpkin took her plate to the kitchen sink just as the front door was unlocked.

“I’m home!”

Syracuse hung up his coat on the hanger next to the door.

“Syracuse, have you seen Atomic?” Tea Rose asked, and Syracuse shook his head.

“Okay, I’m gonna go and get him from Thunderhoof’s house, get your food from the kitchen,” Tea Rose said as she threw on a light pink scarf and closed the front door behind her. Nearly two minutes later, there was a loud knock at the door, and Syracuse opened it.

“He’s not there, he isn't in their house, they haven’t seen him!”

Tea Rose pushed past her husband and threw her scarf onto the floor.

“Where is he?! He didn’t tell me he was going anywhere!”

Syracuse hugged his panicking wife. “Don’t worry about it, he’ll come back.”

“You guys should go out and ask the neighbours if they’ve seen him, I can stay here and look after Butter for you,” Pumpkin suggested, and the couple left the house to look for their son.

“I swear, he is going to get the biggest grounding of his life when we find him.”

Syracuse and Tea Rose had asked every house on their side of the street, and they were crossing the road to start asking the ponies living on the other side of the street.

“What time was he supposed to be at home?”

“Seven thirty, so nearly an hour and a half ago,” Tea Rose replied, reading the clock hanging on the door of the first house’s front porch they had approached.

“I think we’re gonna have to call the police, Rose, it’s been too long.”

A tearful Tea Rose was being comforted by her husband and her sister, and she looked up when Pumpkin suggested that the police should be involved, echoing the advice that most of the neighbours had given the worried parents..

“I just want him back!”

“We all do Rose, and the police will find him,” Syracuse said, who was trying his best to keep it together for the sake of his wife.

“Should I go and…..”

“No, I’ll do it.”

Tea Rose slowly got up off the sofa and left the living room with Syracuse, and Pumpkin headed upstairs to check on Butterscotch. The couple left the house and made their way down to the end of the street. At the end of every road in Fillydelphia, a special communication box had been installed, which allowed residents to call their local police department in an emergency.

“You do it Syracuse, I can’t,” Tea Rose whispered, and Syracuse gave her a hug before opening the door and stepping inside the emergency box. He picked up the walkie talkie hanging from the metal chain and he pulled out the antenna, turning the walkie talkie on. A ringing tone erupted from the walkie talkie and a few moments later, he got through.

“West Fillydelphia Police, what is your emergency?”

“I need to report my son missing.”

“Okay, what’s his name?”

“Atomic Tangerine.”

“Thunderhoof, your breakfast is ready!”

“Coming, Mom!”

Thunderhoof finished packing his saddlebag and threw it over his shoulder as he left his room to get his breakfast.

“What lessons do you have at school today?” his mother asked as she gave her son his bowl of porridge.

“Er, Maths, English, Science, Prench and PE.”

“Finished all of your homework?”

“Yes, Mom, I did it yesterday.”

Five minutes later, Thunderhoof finished his breakfast and put his bowl back in the kitchen.

“Has anypony seen my glasses?!”

Thunderhoof’s father, who worked as a professor of the history of magic at University of Fillydelphia alongside his wife, burst into the living room, rifling through the bookshelves to look for his spectacles.

“The last time I saw them, you were wearing them.”

“You left them here, dear, in the cupboard.”

Thunderhoof’s mother came into the living room and gave her husband his glasses back. She quickly went upstairs to her room to get her saddlebag, and the family were ready to leave the house.

“The police are back again!”

Thunderhoof watched as a police carriage park outside his best friend’s house, and Atomic’s parents, younger sister and aunt being led out of the house, and tears were streaming down Tea Rose’s face. Thunderhoof’s parents joined him at the window.

“Is this about his mom asking if he was here yesterday?”

“Not sure, Thunder. Let’s go and find out.”

The family left their house and were met with other neighbours coming out of their house, and some residents were already comforting the Tangerine family.

Thunderhoof’s mother quickly walked over to Atomic’s family. “Rose, is everything okay?”

Tea Rose embraced Thunderhoof’s mother tightly as Thunderhoof’s father spoke to Syracuse, and the two ponies returned to their son with ashen faces.

“What happened to Atomic?”

“He never came home last night.”

“Thunderhoof!”

Thunderhoof lifted his head up to see that the whole class was staring at him.

“Sorry Miss, I couldn’t hear you.”

Ms Ivory shook her head before continuing with the register. When she had finished, she quickly scanned through the register, counting the number of absent pupils.

“Has anypony seen Atomic Tangerine or Chestnut Oak?” she asked, directing her question mostly to Thunderhoof.

Chestnut’s probably late, but I shouldn’t tell her about Atomic. They would’ve found him by now.

“No, Ms Ivory.”

Ms Ivory sent a student to take the register to the main reception, and for the rest of homeroom she led the class through updating their progress diaries. When the bell rang, Thunderhoof quickly left the classroom to find Banoffee Pie and Stormcaller, who were both in his Maths class.

“Thunderhoof!”

Chestnut burst into the school building and Thunderhoof turned around just as his friend caught up to him.

“Did she mark me absent?”

“Yeah, but I told her you were coming in today.”

Chestnut sighed. “I’ll have to go to detention then. Hey, where’s Atomic?”

“He’s…..he’s missing. But they’re gonna find him.”

“He’s missing?!”

Thunderhoof dragged Chestnut away from the several queues that had formed outside the ground floor classrooms, and he led him up the main stairs.

“Yeah, the police came to his house this morning, he never went home last night.”

The two colts reached the first floor and stopped in front of the stairs.

“What if he’s just bunking school today?” Chestnut theorised, and Thunderhoof immediately shook his head.

“He can’t be, if he wanted to do that he would’ve told me, and you.”

“Excuse me, why aren’t you two in lessons?!”

Two teachers were coming up the stairs when they noticed the colts standing at the top.

“Sorry, we’re gonna go right now,” Thunderhoof apologised, before leading Chestnut away.

“Meet me at break on the field, and tell everypony to come,” Thunderhoof instructed Chestnut as the two went their separate ways.

“Do you think he’s alright?!”

“What if somepony’s foalnapped him?!”

Thunderhoof wordlessly listened to his friends debate where Atomic could be. Fortunately, all of his friends were able to join him on the field, and Chestnut had helped him break the bad news.

“I don’t understand it though.”

Everypony fell silent as Thunderhoof suddenly stood up.

“We went home together yesterday, I saw him going to his house!”

“Maybe somepony followed you guys home, waited until you went into your house before doing something,” Maverick said, and the others agreed.

“I bet it was that wanted stallion that took him!” Starburst said, and Thunderhoof gasped.

“We were there yesterday when the police tried to arrest him and some other guy! I remember one of them fell over my hoof, and he got arrested, whilst the other guy escaped!”

The colts all gasped as Thunderhoof sat back down.

“But why would they take Atomic?! If anything I should be the one they took!”

Chestnut put a foreleg around Thunderhoof shoulders. “They’ll find him Thunderhoof, don’t worry.”

“And I heard that the hoofball team tryouts are this Friday,” Blaze said.

“Wait, how do you know that, Mr Cobalt hasn’t said anything yet,” Banoffee asked.

“Pablo told me a few days ago that he heard Mr Cobalt tell another teacher say it, but knowing Pablo…..”

“He was probably lying,” Mustang finished.

“Wish I was there for the fight you guys had in your History lesson,” Pacific Sail said, and the colts laughed.

Mustang smiled. “He had it coming anyway, the guy’s a massive jerk.”

The colts’ banter managed to improve Thunderhoof’s mood and take his mind off off his best friend; but when break time was over and Thunderhoof was alone in Prench, he started to worry again. He had hoped that Atomic would’ve been found by now, and he was supposed to be in school, but it was nearly lunchtime and Atomic was still absent.

What if something really bad happened to him?!

What if he’s hurt and nopony can help him?!

“Thunderhoof, quelle est la date aujourd'hui?”

“Huh?”

Thunderhoof’s Prench teacher, an elderly unicorn mare called Madame Pones, tutted and shook her head.

“Thunderhoof, you’ve been in your own little world this entire time, having fun in there?” she admonished in a heavy Prench accent.

Thunderhoof blushed and shook his head as his classmates sniggered.

“Le date aujourd'hui est mercredi le 29 novembre.”

“Très bien!”

“Sir, when are the hoofball tryouts?!”

Mr Cobalt waited for his students to calm down before giving them the answer that they had been waiting for. The entire lesson had been dominated by the return of the school’s hoofball team, and Mr Cobalt was equally as excited to be taking charge of the team.

“This Friday at four thirty, we’re gonna start then. Make sure you’re on time.”

Mr Cobalt opened the changing room door and let the colts in to get changed.

“What if Atomic isn’t back by Friday?” Thunderhoof asked Chestnut as they changed out of their PE kits.

“I don’t know, but we can always ask if the tryouts can be moved to next week,” Chestnut suggested, and Thunderhoof agreed with him. When they finished getting changed, Thunderhoof tapped Mr Cobalt’s shoulder as he was entering the storage cupboard whilst Chestnut waited for him outside.

“Sir, can I ask you a question?”

“Sure.”

“Could you...move the tryouts to next week?”

“Why?”

“You see, Atomic is….”

“Is what?”

Thunderhoof lowered his voice to a whisper. “Missing.”

“Missing?”

“Yeah, the police came to his house this morning to search it, and his parents told my mom and dad.”

Mr Cobalt fell silent and scratched his chin.

“Thunderhoof, the U13 season has already started and the board in charge of it have said that I have to submit the school’s roster by Friday evening at the latest…..so I’m sorry, but the tryouts have to be on Friday.”

“But Atomic is one of, if not, the best player in our grade and you know that! If we don’t have him on the team, how are we supposed to beat all of the other schools?!”

Mr Cobalt shook his head. “Sorry Thunderhoof, but that’s how it has to be.”

Thunderhoof stormed out of the changing rooms, barging past his classmates and ignoring their complaints as his made his way to the gate.

“Hey, what the hay is wrong with you?!” Pablo exclaimed as Thunderhoof muscled past him. Since Blaze and Mustang had unceremoniously ditched him following their fight, Pablo had taken refuge with a few other colts in their grade. However, he was still furious that he had been embarrassed by his former friends, and he saw his chance to save his reputation.

“Why don’t you just shut the hay up, Pablo?! I don’t have time to listen to you whining like a baby!”

Thunderhoof turned away from Pablo and went over to Chestnut, wanting to leave school as quickly as he could.

Pablo caught up to Thunderhoof and pulled him back by his saddlebag.

“And what the buck are you gonna do if I keep talking, huh?! Just because Atomic isn't here doesn't mean that you can get brave with me!” he hissed.

The next thing Thunderhoof knew, he was being dragged backwards by Chestnut and a few other colts, and he was stunned when he saw Pablo on the ground in a heap, crying as he held his lower back, blood dripping down from his nose.

Did I do that to him?!

“Thunder, let’s go,” Chestnut whispered, leading Thunderhoof away. Thunderhoof looked back one last time and saw that Pablo was being helped up by Mr Cobalt.

The two colts entered back into the school, and found that their friends were already waiting for them.

“We’re gonna look for Atomic ourselves,” Starburst said, and Moondust used his magic to hold up a stack of papers, displaying a picture of Atomic and that the police should be contacted if anypony had seen him.

“But what about the police, it's their job to find him,” Chestnut argued.

Thunderhoof shook his head. “But we know him better than anypony Chestnut, we have to try. If one of us was missing, Atomic would do all he could to find us, so let’s do that.”

Thunderhoof led the group onto Mayfield Avenue, telling him that he was going to put his saddlebag away and ask Atomic’s parents if any progress had been in finding Atomic. Most of the adults living on the road were gathered outside his best friend’s house, and Thunderhoof spotted that most of his neighbours were carrying maps.

“What’s going on? Have they found Atomic yet?”

“No my dear, but we’re gonna go out and look for him,” one of Thunderhoof’s mother’s friends replied.

“We’re gonna go as well,” Thunderhoof declared, gesturing to his friends behind him. They joined the ponies waiting behind.

“Take this and search- Thunderhoof!”

Pumpkin Spice had put herself in charge of organising a search party; the police in her opinion weren’t doing enough to find her nephew, and with Tea Rose at no state of mind for any organisation and the neighbours eager to help any way they could, Pumpkin set up a table outside the house and split ponies into groups of five, giving a map of the local area to each group.

“Could you give us a map, please? My friends and I wanna help find Atomic.”

“Um….”

“They can’t help, they’re kids!”

Two residents came up to the colts, and one of them took two maps from the table.

“Not only are they just gonna cause chaos for everypony that's actually searching, but they could also find something that foals their age should never see!”

“I haven’t even made a decision as to whether they can help!” Pumpkin exclaimed.

“What do you mean there’s something we shouldn't see?” Thunderhoof asked, and Pumpkin shook her head.

“You guys should go home, they’re right, let the police do their job and Atomic will be back.”

“But-”

“Come on, let’s go,” Spade Ace said, pulling Thunderhoof away.

“Did anypony pick up a map?” Pacific Sail asked, and Moon Dust held one up.

“Look!”

Blaze sprinted over to a discarded local newspaper lying on the floor in front of a house, and he showed the front cover to his friends.

FILLYDELPHIA FAMILY DESPERATE FOR MISSING SON’S RETURN

West Fillydelphia Police are on the hunt for eleven year-old Atomic Tangerine, who did not come home last night from his hoofball team’s training session. Atomic was last seen inside his house by his mother, who claims that she was in the kitchen when she realised that Atomic was not in his room. With the 19-year old criminal Marble still wanted for drug possession and trafficking charges in the area, police fear that Atomic may been abducted.

A neighbour who is very familiar with the Tangerine family spoke to us: ‘It's shocking that something like this has happened in our area; only a few days ago police were arresting drug dealers and now there’s a missing colt?! Tea Rose and Syracuse are brilliant parents and I am praying that Atomic comes home safe and sound.”

If you have any information on Atomic’s whereabouts, please do not hesitate to contact West Fillydelphia Police Department immediately.

A bucket of freezing cold water was unceremoniously dumped over the colt’s head, and he yelled as he shook his head. Standing in front of him, was a glaring stallion. Atomic blinked several times to get the water out of his eyes, and he realised that he was tied up on the ground.

“Where am I?”

“Don’t worry about that.”

Atomic was currently being held in a large, dark room, which he assumed was a basement. The basement was mostly an open space, with the only furniture being a metal chair propped up against the opposite wall. The only window Atomic could see was a small, murky one which was mostly covered in dirt. He tugged on the ropes binding him and he realised that the ropes had been tied around a metal pipe that had been slightly detached from the brick wall behind him. The ropes had been tied in such a way that Atomic had been forced into a sitting position, his hind legs were tied together in front of him, and his forelegs were suspended above and behind his head. At the back of his head, Atomic could feel a bruise had formed from the knockout hit he had taken, and he discreetly tried to use one of his hooves to check how bad the bruise was.

“Hey, what do you think you’re doing?!” the stallion yelled, slamming Atomic’s head back against the pipe, causing the younger colt to cry out in pain.

“You’re not going anywhere for a long time buddy, so don’t think you’re gonna get out of this!”

Tears streamed down Atomic’s face, caused by a mixture of pain and terror. “Why am I here?!”

“I warned you that if you snitched to the cops, something bad would happen. You brought this upon yourself.”

“But I didn’t snitch on you, I swear!” Atomic cried, and his foalnapper growled.

“You’re lucky we still need you, otherwise I’d be sending you back home in pieces.”

The stallion threw a bottle of water with a straw sticking out of the top onto Atomic’s lap and grumbled as he walked away.

“Where are you going?!”

The sound of stairs being climbed followed by the door slamming was the only reply Atomic got, and the colt broke down crying.

He’s gonna kill me and nopony will ever find me down here!

I’m never gonna see my family or my friends again.

I’m never gonna become a hoofball player.

Atomic tried to use his knees to hold the bottle up, lifting them up as high as he could to bring the bottle closer to his face. After several tries, he finally succeeded and he sucked greedily from the straw until he had drank nearly half of the bottle’s contents.

I should save the rest for later.

Atomic lowered his knees and let the bottle sit in his lap. Soon, painful cramps ravaged his forelegs, and Atomic tried his best to alleviate the pain by shifting them into a different position, but they were stuck.

“You’re not going anywhere, so if I were you, I wouldn’t bother trying.”

The stallion closed the basement door behind him and pulled up a chair to sit in front of Atomic. He took out a small pitch of green powder and opened it with his mouth.

“Can you at least move my forelegs, they’re killing me!”

The stallion thought to himself for a few seconds before putting the bag and walking over to Atomic, holding a new set of ropes in his mouth. He took out a knife and began to cut through the ropes holding his hind legs together.

“You better not try anything.”

Atomic knew that his foalnapper wouldn’t hesitate to use the knife on him if necessary, and he decided to follow along for now. “I won’t, I promise.”

The stallion sliced through the last threads holding Atomic’s hind legs together, and he tossed the ropes to one side, moving on to freeing Atomic’s forelegs. He pressed his hind legs down over Atomic’s hind legs to keep him still as he cut through the second set of ropes.

“Finally!”

Atomic pulled his forelegs down and rubbed them gently to ease his painful muscles. The stallion suddenly moved back from Atomic and grabbed his shoulders, turning him around to face the wall.

“Hey, what are you doing?!”

Atomic did not get a reply, and he continued protesting as the stallion re-fastened his hind legs and forelegs to the pipe, with his forelegs now in a more comfortable position crossed over in his laps. The stallion picked up the water bottle and jammed the straw into Atomic’s mouth.

“I don’t wanna hear any more complaints from you, okay?”

The stallion went back to his chair and took out a piece of rolling paper, and he used his hooves to sweep the green powder off the chair and onto the paper. He rolled up the paper into a thin tube and lit the end of it with a lighter. Soon, the smell of the burnt green powder clouded over the basement.

“What is that, it smells disgusting!” Atomic cried, before descending into a coughing fit.

The stallion ignored Atomic and continued smoking, throwing his joint onto the floor and stepping on it to put it out.

“You know the police are looking for you, right?” Atomic blurted out, and the stallion shrugged his shoulders.

“I know.”

“They’re gonna put you in prison for the rest of your life when they get you. Just let me go.”

“Can’t do that, buddy.”

“I won’t tell anypony about you if you let me go, I promise!”

The stallion ignored Atomic and walked over to him, sticking his face upside down in front of him.

“How you doing?”

Atomic jerked his head back in shock and the stallion laughed, grabbing Atomic’s head and moving it side to side.

“Get..off...me!”

The stallion chuckled again as he let go of Atomic’s head, and the sound of the basement door slamming left Atomic alone in the basement again.

89 bricks, 90 bricks, 91 bricks……

Atomic had been locked in the basement for nearly twenty-four hours by this point, but to him it felt like he had been in the basement for a lifetime. The smell of the smoked green powder still hung heavily in the basement and Atomic had been forced to press his face into his shoulder to avoid breathing in the pungent fumes. The stallion had given him a hay sandwich a few hours ago to tide him over, but he was still hungry. He stopped counting the number of bricks on the wall and tried to think of ways he could escape.

These ropes are way too thick, so there’s no way I can bite through them.

Maybe I could pretend to be ill, and then when he unties me, I can make a run for it.

Nah, that won’t work.

The door suddenly opened and Atomic lifted his head up. The stallion approached Atomic and unsheathed his knife, and the sound of metal scraping against leather as it was taken out sent Atomic into a frenzy.

“No, please don’t hurt me, I didn’t do-!”

Atomic stopped mid-scream when he felt the ropes holding him down loosen, and he stayed silent as the stallion continued cutting through the ropes. When he had finished, the stallion held out a hoof and helped Atomic get up.

Is he letting me go?!

Atomic stretched his legs, relieved that he had finally been freed. The stallion suddenly whipped out a pair of hoofcuffs and fastened them to one of Atomic’s forelegs and his own forelegs, binding them together.

“What the-”

“If you thought I was letting you go Atomic, then you’re even dumber than I thought you were. We’re going on a little trip.”

The stallion pulled Atomic forward and led him up the stairs, pushing the basement door open and the two stepped out into the hallway.

“Where are you taking me?!”

Atomic got no reply as he was pulled forward towards the ajar front door, and waiting for them outside on the road was a carriage with four seats in the back. The street was quiet and there were no other ponies outside, so Atomic knew that he had no chance of getting somepony else to help him. There was only one street light that flickered dimly, barely illuminating the road and the road’s name that was written on a sign plastered against the brick wall on the first house on the other side. The sun had completely disappeared from the far west of the sky, and Atomic guessed that the time was probably between nine and ten o’clock. There were two unicorn stallions in black tracksuits and as one of them opened the door, the other glared and pointed at Atomic.

“Why the buck isn't he wearing a blindfold?!”

“Sorry, I’ll go and get it right now!”

So they’re his bosses.

Atomic was uncuffed from his abductor and the two stallions in black grabbed hold of Atomic and bundled him into the carriage, pushing him down into the seat opposite them. When the carriage door was opened again, Atomic’s foalnapper lifted up the black fabric and wrapped it around Atomic’s eyes, tying the blindfold tightly at the back of the colt’s head.

The light blue colt instinctively closed his eyes when the blindfold was put on him, and his plan to look out of the window and try and figure out where he was being taken was now out of the question.

“You’ve already messed up Marble, this better be the last mistake you make tonight.”

Marble apologised as he entered the back of the carriage to take the last available seat next to Atomic, and the carriage set off towards an unknown destination.

“Get out.”

As the carriage finally came to a stop, Atomic felt his blindfold loosen before being pulled away from his face, and he opened his eyes, blinking to get used to the street lights that they had stopped next to.

Marble grabbed him and pulled him out of the carriage, setting him down next to the cariage’s side door. The two stallions slowly got out of the carriage and as one waited next to Atomic and Marble, the other addressed the driver.

“Be here in an hour’s time.”

“Yes sir.”

The driver set off, leaving the four ponies standing on the pavement. The carriage had dropped them off at the end of an empty high street with nearly all of its shops closed, except for a nightclub at the end of street that would be open until the early hours of the morning. The roads were completely empty of carriages and only the lampposts were the only source of light. Atomic quickly scanned the area, looking for any shops that he could recognise to give him a clue as to where he was.

MD Sports! So we’re still in West Fillydelphia!

Atomic was shocked that he had been taken to the high street nearest to his house, and as he was handcuffed to Marble by one of the suited stallions, he was frustrated with himself for not making a run for it.

“Damn it, hide!”

Atomic was suddenly pulled into an empty alleyway by Marble, and the two stallions pushed them further into the alleyway. A flashlight was suddenly shined into the alleyway and through the gaps of the dumpster that Atomic was hiding behind, he recognised the stallion’s police uniform.

“HELP!”

Marble immediately stuffed his free hoof into Atomic’s mouth, but it was already too late, and the police officer slowly walked down the alleyway.

“Who’s there?”

One of the suited stallions stepped out from behind the bins. “I stepped on a bottle and my hoof’s bleeding, should I go to hospital?”

The officer looked at the stallion skeptically, who was holding up a limp hoof on his foreleg before approaching him slowly.

“Which hoof did you injure?”

“This one.”

As the officer bent down to look at the hoof, a dark blue magical aura appeared over the suited stallion’s horn, and a flash of dark blue light knocked the police officer out, who dropped like a stone.

Atomic was dragged out into the open and the stallion that had knocked out the police officer grabbed him by the throat.

“You’re lucky we still need you, pull a stunt like that again and we'll dump your body somewhere nopony will ever be able to find you.”

“I...got..it!” Atomic choked out, and he was lowered down to the ground.

The suited stallions dragged the officer’s unconscious body away, hiding it behind the bins whilst Marble put the hoofcuffs back onto Atomic.

“Let’s go.”

The group went out of the alleyway and Marble stuck his head out to check that the streets were clear. The group continued walking down the street and Atomic saw that another carriage was waiting for them at the end of the street. One of the stallions in black paid the driver whilst the others got into the back. Atomic knew that he was lucky he had not been hurt too badly in the alleyway, and so he decided to keep his questions to himself.

The group arrived at their destination, and Atomic was dragged out of the carriage with the blindfold put back on over his eyes and his foreleg still to Marble’s via the hoofcuffs. Marble walked forward and Atomic heard automatic doors slide open, feeling the rough carpet underneath his hooves.

“The theatre is ready for him, we'll take him there now.”

Atomic was freed from Marble and immediately grabbed by two new ponies, and they dragged him down the corridor to a room which had ’Operating Theatre’ written in black marker pen on the front.

“What are you doing, let me go!”

Atomic struggled against his much stronger captors, and he crashed against a door as he was pushed inside it. The door was slammed and Atomic’s shouts continued for a few more seconds before suddenly going quiet.

Marble was still standing in the main lobby, and when he couldn't hear Atomic, he turned around and walked back to the carriage, getting into the back.

“You’ve done better than I thought you would, Marble. We'll done.”

“Thank you, sir…….does that mean I’m free to leave?”

One of the suited stallions titled his head slightly. “Leave?”

“.....you said that if I took Atomic and brought him here for you, then I could leave, and start a new life.”

“I do remember making that agreement with you!” the stallions said with a smile, and Marble gulped nervously, not knowing what would happen next.

“But you see Marble, you and your friend’s incompetence in guarding the safe house has brought us unwanted attention from the police. The fact that you decided to take Atomic from the front of his house has also led to the start of a manhunt for you right now.”

Marble lowered his gaze.

“Would it really be fair if you left us to deal with the chaos that you caused?”

Marble looked up and slowly shook his head. “No, sir.”

“You are going to be assigned to a new safe house with more experienced colleagues. Here is the address.”

Marble took the piece of paper and read the address.

“But that’s on the other side of Fillydelphia! When am I gonna get time to see my family?!”

“You won’t Marble, you’ll be too busy making up for your mistakes. Understood?”

“.........Yes, sir.”

“Good. Driver, take us back to where you picked us up.”

Marble squeezed his eyes shut to stop the tears from falling down, cursing himself for getting into this mess in the first place.

“Guys, we have to go back home,it's getting dark.”

Atomic’s friends had spent the last few hours searching their nearby area, putting up missing poster as they desperately looked for their friends. They were currently in their local park with the colts that lived on the same road as Atomic and Thunderhoof, arguing over where they should search next.

“We have to the high street and check all the alleyways in there!”

“No, let’s go back and check 27 North Avenue, I bet whoever foalnapped him is keeping him there.”

“What if he ran away?”

“GUYS!”

The colts stopped talking as Thunderhoof stomped his hoof on the ground.

“We don’t have time to be arguing! We came here to help find Atomic, not fight about where we look next! We’re gonna go to the high street and ask a few shopkeepers-”

“Look! Over there!”

Starburst pointed a small green hat sticking out from underneath a nearby bush, and he galloped over to it, dragging it out. The hat was a Fillydelphia Dragons hat, but it had mud and bark all over it.

“Isn't this Atomic’s?”

Starburst gave the hat to Thunderhoof, who checked the inside of the hat, gasping in shock when he saw the initials ‘A.T’ written on the inside white label.

“It's Atomic’s!”

“Woah, there’s blood all over the back!” Starburst pointed out, feeling the dry blood at the back of the hat. The colts all gathered round and checked if Starburst was right. Thunderhoof was the last to check and when he saw the large, dark red stain and felt the dry wool, his heart sank.

Atomic, where are you?!

NICKEL

View Online

Light streamed through small holes in the velvet curtain on the open window, and it proved a small source of light for the small room. A single bed had been propped up against the wall next to the window, and two pillows had been stacked on top of each other to provide as much comfort as possible to the sleeping pony. The bedside table had a clipboard (with a single piece of paper attached to it) lying on it, which consisted of notes reminding doctors to run necessary checks on the patient every few hours. The patient had been unruly before the start of their operation, and so they had been given a larger-than-normal dose of anaesthetics. The patient had also been tied down to the bed to ensure that they didn’t try and discharge themselves and/or pick at the stitches that were holding the large abdominal incision together.

Ugh, where am I?

Atomic slowly opened his eyes and lifted a hoof to rub his eyes, but his hoof couldn’t move. Atomic gingerly lifted his head up and saw the ropes holding his forelegs and hind legs down.

Why does my tummy feel so weird?

Atomic inhaled deeply and was horrified when he felt something move inside him. He sucked in his stomach again and felt something press against his stomach when he relaxed. His head was sore and his mouth felt dry, his throat aching for water. The wound at the back of his head had fully closed by now and a hard scab covered it. Atomic spotted a mirror in the far corner of the room and was shocked at how dishevelled he looked. Suddenly, a sharp, stabbing pain struck Atomic’s temples and he winced loudly, throwing his head onto the pillows and forcing it down to try and stop the pain. Eventually, the pain faded away and Atomic moved himself into a more comfortable position.

What the buck did they put inside me?!

The door suddenly opened and two doctors and a nurse came in. One of the doctors held Atomic as the nurse began to slowly untie the ropes. The other doctor, who was wearing a stethoscope, trotted over to the bedside table and picked up the clipboard.

“Now let’s see…...a blood test, senses test and an X-ray. Is the patient untied?”

The nurse untied the last knot and stepped away from the bed, and the second doctor continued holding Atomic down, who was too tired to try anything.

“Yes, sir.”

“Tell the X-ray team to bring the moving bed here.”

The nurse nodded and quickly left the room. The second doctor slowly let go of Atomic and the first doctor knelt beside him.

“How are you feeling, Shadow Mark?”

“Shadow Mark? My name’s Atomic Tangerine.”

Four more ponies came into the room wheeling in a large bed.

“We’re going to do an X-ray on you right now, but it won’t hurt one bit.”

The four ponies slowly lifted Atomic up, being careful to not touch the wound on his abdomen. Finally, Atomic was brought down onto the second bed, and he was taken down the corridor to the X-ray room.

As Atomic was wheeled into the new room, he saw a large screen in front of what he guessed was a king-sized bed. In front of the screen, there were three unicorns reading through sheets of papers on the desk, and one of the doctors looked up.

“Put him on the bed on his back, please.”

Atomic was picked up and put onto the new bed. The ponies that had brought him in quickly left the room, leaving Atomic alone with the new doctors.

“Okay Shadow, we’re gonna check if everything is alright inside your body.”

“My name’s Atomic, not Shadow,” Atomic repeated.

“Okay Shadow, we’re going to start the X-ray now. Please stay still.”

Magic burst out of one of the unicorn’s horns, and the large blue screen suddenly came to life, extending upwards and turning around to face Atomic. The unicorn continued moving the screen until it was positioned a few feet above Atomic. The second unicorn lit up his horn and used a shield to cover the three doctors. The first unicorn stepped forward within the shield and shot a new line of magic to the back of the screen, and a large, dark blue light immediately covered Atomic’s body. The third unicorn looked down at the blank piece of paper on the table in front of him, waiting patiently. At the back of the screen, a large blue ball could be seen getting bigger and bigger. Suddenly, the blue ball was fired from the back of the screen and the magical shield was broken. The third unicorn held up the blank piece of paper and the blue ball hit it.

“Job well done. Now, let’s see what’s going on.”

The screen was levitated back to it's first position and the unicorns pored over the results for several minutes.

“You guys put something inside me, didn’t you?”

The three doctors looked up at Atomic.
“We'll, you’re definitely the most talkative patient we’ve ever had here Shadow, but we’re gonna fix that,” the doctor sitting at the desk said with a laugh.

The unicorns went back to analysing the X-ray results.

“The package is directly in front of the vital organs, it isn't pushing down on anything. Tell the guys they did a great job, probably the best ever.”

Another two doctors entered the X-ray room and Atomic spotted one of them holding a large syringe.

“What are you-”

Atomic was suddenly grabbed by the doctors and he saw the syringe coming down towards his neck.

“GET…..OFF ME!”

The doctor holding Atomic down forced the colt’s mouth closed, and Atomic’s muffled cries were then silenced by the needle, sending him into yet another deep slumber.

“Morning, folks.”

“Morning, lieutenant.”

Lieutenant Charger sat down at his desk and took a long sip from his cup of coffee. The West Fillydelphia lieutenant was a tall, slim blue pegasus; with thick, light blue hair that was swept over his forehead. He had piercing green eyes and a long scar running from the bottom of his ear down to the corner of his mouth, the result of a bloody battle with a knife-wielding criminal a year earlier. His cutie mark was a yellow lightning bolt with a blue outline shaped in a circular manner across his flank. He had swiftly risen through the West Fillydelphia Police Department ranks in the nine years he had been there, his leadership skills and level-headedness in times of chaos granting him the rank of lieutenant and his own team to take charge of.

Now, where are those files?

Lieutenant Charger opened the filing cabinet next to his desk and rifled through it, eventually taking out a large folder with MISSING PONIES CASES’ written on the front of it. Every time there was a missing pony case in the area, Lieutenant Charger (who was only an officer the last time a pony had gone missing for more than a day) would add observational notes that he made when questioning the missing pony’s family and friends on their behaviour and mannerisms, in case they had something to do with the disappearance. He opened the folder and turned to the last page he had written in, filled with information he had received from the officers that had searched Atomic’s house and questioned his parents.

Mother is understandably very worried about her missing son, unlikely to be involved with his disappearance.

Father is also very concerned, appears to be trying to distract himself with work. Several pictures of Atomic and Syracuse were found in the colt’s room, and mother also spoke of how close Atomic was to his father. Unlikely to be involved, but there still could be a possibility.

Aunt recently moved into the house. Possible suspect?

Lieutenant Charger looked up from his notes to check the time, before getting up from his desk and heading towards the stairs for his scheduled nine o’clock meeting with the station’s chief.

“Good morning Lieutenant.”

“Morning, Chief.”

The lieutenant closed the door behind him and sat down in front of his boos. The department’s chief was a earth pony stallion in his late fifties, who had been with the police for nearly thirty years, becoming the department’s chief nearly a decade ago.

“Have you met with your team yet?”

“No, sir, I'm waiting for the search team to return.”

“Alright then, tell me when they’re back, I'm going to come down for the meeting. That’s all.”

“Yes, sir.”

Lieutenant Charger quickly left the room and went back downstairs to find a commotion in the lobby.

“Where’s the lieutenant?! We found something!”

Officers quickly stepped aside to let the lieutenant through and in the middle of the crowd, he spotted a plastic bag being given to one of the station’s forensic scientists.

“What’s going on?”

The pony that had given the plastic bag cleared his throat.

“Sir, some colts found a hat in the local park. Atomic’s hat.”

“They did?”

“Yes, sir…….and it's covered in blood.”

COMMUNITY COMES TOGETHER TO SEARCH FOR MISSING COLT

All over West Fillydelphia last night, ponies of all ages came together and united behind one goal; to find 10 year-old Atomic Tangerine. The locals split up into several groups and covered several miles of ground surrounding the local area, and residents also put up posters of Atomic around town as part of their search efforts.

‘Ponies just can't believe such a thing has happened, the whole town is devastated and in shock,’ one resident said, and another pony commented on the community’s search efforts: ‘It just shows the community spirit of the town and how ponies can get together in a crisis to do anything they can to help.’

Last night, the local police released pictures of Atomic Tangerine and they have urged anypony with information to come forward as soon as possible.

“What?! That’s impossible!”

“I’m sorry, but it's true.”

Tea Rose shook her head repeatedly as the officer told her the results of the previous night’s search. A family liaison officer had been assigned to Atomic’s family to keep them informed of what was going on with the search and to also break any bad news, and to the police, it was looking more and more likely that that was going to happen.

“His hat was found in the nearby park in one of the bushes.”

“But….somepony would’ve seen him in the park if he was there!”

Tea Rose rubbed her eyes hard and blew her nose loudly into the tissue lying next to her. Her son’s disappearance had hit the family hard, with Syracuse drowning himself in work and Pumpkin leading the local search. Tea Rose felt more alone than she had ever felt in her life, and she spent most nights awake in her bed or in Butterscotch’s room, praying for her son’s return.

There was a knock at the door, and the officer told Tea Rose to stay where she was as she got off the sofa and headed to the front door.

“Yeah, just come in, she’s here.”

Two police officers, a mare and a stallion entered the living room and greeted Tea Rose.

“Have you found Atomic?”

The mare shook her head. “No, Ms Rose, but I can assure you we are doing everything we can to find your son.”

The stallion looked down at the piece of paper he was holding. “Is Pumpkin Spice here?”

“She’s out searching with our neighbours. Why?”

“We just need her to come down to the station with us.”

“Why? She hasn’t done anything.”

“Your sister isn’t in trouble, we just need her to confirm something for us,” the mare said, before her and her colleague left the house.

Tea Rose turned to the family liaison officer. “Pumpkin’s not in trouble, right?”

“Like they said, they just want to speak to her.”

“She better not have done something stupid,” Tea Rose muttered.

“Thunderhoof, is it true that Atomic’s missing?”

“Do you know where he is?”

Thunderhoof ignored his classmates’ questions as he sat down in his seat. Last night’s discovery of Atomic’s hat had left him shaken up, and he was in no mood to talk to anypony.

Ms Ivory came into her classroom and closed the door behind her.

“Take out your progress diaries and turn to page 53.”

The students did as their homeroom had instructed and waited for further instructions.

Ms Ivory quickly did the register, and the students noticed that she deliberately skipped Atomic’s name, and this only further dampened Thunderhoof’s mood, serving as a reminder that he had no idea where his best friend was.

“Sorry I’m late Ms Ivory, there was loads of traffic!”

Pablo closed the door behind him and went to his seat, and he glared at Thunderhoof, who returned the gesture with a glare of his own, before taking out his progress diary.

“You all have mock exams coming up after the winter holidays, and these grades will determine which high schools you can apply for. On page 53 are the minimum grade requirements for all of the local high schools. It is up to you to work out which high schools you can apply for with your grades.”

Thunderhoof began reading down the list of high schools in the area, underlining each school’s minimum requirements for Maths and English. Whilst most high schools only had grade requirements for Maths and English, a few schools specialising in other subjects also grade requirements for those respective subjects; with the Willow School of Fine Arts having a B- for art, the Grove Institute putting it's minimum grade for science at B, and Lakefield High School having a minimum of B+ for Pe. Thunderhoof immediately circled Lakefield and wrote the number ‘1’ next to it in bold. Lakefield was the most realistic option for him; it was the school closest to his house, they had the best high school hoofball team, and Thunderhoof knew that the better the high school team he played for, the more likely it would be that he would end up playing for a good college. The cutie mark on his flank confirmed that he was destined to play hoofball, and Thunderhoof wanted to make sure he put himself in the best position possible for that to happen.

What if Atomic isn't back in time for the school tryouts tomorrow?!

Before he knew it, the bell for the end of homeroom rang and the students quickly packed their bags and headed out for their first lessons. Thunderhoof flicked to the front of his diary to check what lesson he had first, hoping it was anything but Maths.

Brilliant, an hour with Mr Topaz. Just what I wanted!

“To solve simultaneous equations, you first need to make sure…..”

Mr Topaz’s melancholy tone made it easy for Thunderhoof to stop listening. Although he was pleased that his hard work in Maths had finally been rewarded with a move to the top set, he wished that he was still in Ms Ivory’s class, where her strictness and homework paled in comparison to Mr Topaz’s demand for perfect grades.

“Hey, Thunder.”

Banoffee poked his friend again, and frowned when Thunderhoof barely responded.

“Hey, did I get this right?”

Thunderhoof briefly looked over Banoffee’s calculation and told him he got it right, before looking down at his own worksheet, which had been left blank.

“You know he’s gonna pick on somepony for the answers.”

Thunderhoof stayed silent.

“At least do the first few questions Thunderhoof, otherwise he’s just gonna try and embarrass you in front of everypony. Trust me, he’s done it to me before.”

Thunderhoof slowly lifted up his quill and began working through the questions, stopping when he finished the first five.

“There, all done.”

“They’re gonna find him, you know.”

“Will they? It's already been two days since anypony last saw him, and the police have no idea where he is.”

Suddenly there was a loud knock at the door. The students fell silent as Mr Topaz used his magic to open the door, revealing two police officers standing there.

“Good morning, is Thunderhoof here?”

Thunderhoof slowly lifted a hoof up.

“Could you come with us please, we would like to talk to you. You’re not in any trouble.”

“About Atomic?”

The officers nodded, and Thunderhoof quickly packed up his things.

“Tell me what happens,” Banoffee whispered, and Thunderhoof nodded before leaving the classroom.

“We were playing with some guys that live on our road, and I accidentally threw the ball through one of the upstairs window of the abandoned house. Atomic said he wanted to see what it was like inside the house, so he came in with me to get the ball back.”

Thunderhoof had been taken to a vacant classroom, and he did not need any encouragement to speak about his friend, knowing that if he gave as much information to the police as he could, then his best friend would be home soon.

One of the officers had been taking notes as Thunderhoof was speaking, and the colt had paused to allow the writing officer to keep up.

“Okay, what happened next?”

“Me and Atomic split up to find the ball quicker, and I found it in one of the bedrooms upstairs. Atomic called me into the room he was searching to show me something.”

“What did he want to show you?”

“The carpet was covered with newspapers, and in the middle of the room, there were loads of plastic packages filled with green powder, and some of it was wrapped up in paper on the carpet.”

The two officers looked at each other briefly before resuming their questioning.

“Thunderhoof, did you see anypony in the house?”

“No, but I saw loads of pizza boxes in the kitchen, so I think somepony was in the house recently.”

“Okay, do you know if Atomic was ever involved in any…..gangs?”

“Of course not! We always hang out together, and he would never do something like that!”

The officer making notes finished his last sentence and closed his notebook.

“Um, can I ask you a question?”

“Sure.”

“Do you know what happened to Atomic? My friends and I found his hat yesterday, and it had blood all over it.”

Both of the officers quickly stood up.

“That's what we’re trying to find out, Thunderhoof.”

The officer took Thunderhoof back to his lesson just as the lunchtime bell rang.

“Thunder, what did they ask you?” Banoffee asked as the two headed downstairs to the canteen.

“They asked about the day we went into that abandoned house, and they asked if I knew whether Atomic was in a gang or not.”

“What?”

“Yeah, crazy right?”

The two colts got their lunch and joined their other friends, who were all waiting for them on one of the large tables next to the exit.

“Did anypony watch the Manehatten teams play?” Maverick asked as the group ate, and only Chestnut put his hoof up.

“There was no way I was gonna miss the Giants beat the Mustangs,” Chestnut said.

“You know, my dad named me after the Mustangs,” Mustang suddenly confessed.

Chestnut looked up. “He did?”

“Yeah, it was after we won the Sugar Bowl ten years ago, he thought it was a good idea to name me after the team.”

Chestnut smiled. “Do you think he regrets it?”

“With how we’ve been playing for the last years? Yeah, probably.”

“Does anypony know how many quarterbacks we have for the team, cause I think there’s gonna be a lot coming tomorrow,” Spade Ace said, and Blaze reminded the group that he played at quarterback.

“Okay, so far it's us two as the quarterbacks, but there’s gonna be more,” Thunderhoof said, and Jackpot shook his head.

“Nah, I reckon most of the ponies that show up are gonna be running backs.”

“Why?”

“Cause running through defenders and showing off how fast you are is gonna be more appealing. Me personally, I prefer taking quarterbacks down.”

Thunderhoof gulped. “I'm glad I never have to play against you.”

When they finished their food, Starburst announced that he had brought his hoofball with him so that they could practise for tomorrow’s tryouts, and the group of friends quickly left the canteen to play on the field.

“Hey look, some of the guys in our class are there,” Spade Ace said, pointing out the group of twenty or so colts sitting at the back of the field.

“Wait, how many of you are in this class?” Starburst asked.

“Um, like twenty five, I think. All I know for sure is that we’re the highest number of ponies to fail the final exams. You should’ve seen how pissed the principal was.”

“Did anypony bring a hoofball?”

Pacific Sail took out his hoofball and tossed it to the pony that had asked for it.

“So, is everypony here coming to the tryouts tomorrow?”

Every pony nodded, and the colts quickly ordered themselves into two teams. Luckily for them, the weather had become colder recently, so they had enough space on the field to play a full match.

“So what position does everypony play?” Thunderhoof asked his team, and he was able to appoint a position to everypony on his team, telling Blaze that they would swap positions every first down to give them both a chance to play quarterback.

The two teams lined up on opposite ends of the pitch, using their saddlebags to mark out the sidelines and end zones. The ball was kicked across the field and Starburst (who was the team’s kick returner due to his speed) was waiting at the other end. He caught the ball and set off to his right, where most of his teammates were already blocking for him. He slipped through a gap created by two blockers and pulled away from his pursuers, eventually being brought down at the makeshift pitch’s halfway mark, for a return of fifty yards.

“Wait, how are we gonna know when we get a first down?” a colt suddenly asked, and the game was paused.

“I’ll get Cobalt here, he can be the referee as well,” Starburst yelled as sprinted off the field.

Whilst they waited for a referee, the two teams sat on the grass together and talked about high school applications.

“I wanna go Lakefield, but my parents want me to go to Grove, that science high school,” Mustang lamented.

“But your cutie mark is a test tube,” Chestnut pointed out.

“Yeah, but Grove doesn’t have a hoofball team, so I’m just gonna be stuck in labs all day. I wanna do science when I’m older, not now.”

“But it’s good to start early, that way you have an advantage over everypony when you go to college,” Thunderhoof said, and the others agreed.

“Guys, guys!”

Starburst came sprinting back into the field with Mr Cobalt in tow, and the colts quickly got up.

“So, you guys couldn’t wait until tomorrow to play?” Mr Cobalt asked with a wry smile and the colts nodded.

“We just wanna show what we can do, make the choice a little easier for you,” Maverick replied with a smirk, and the colts quickly rejoined their teams and formed two separate huddles.

“Alright we’re gonna do a HB counter play, does everypony know what that is?”

Thunderhoof quickly explained the play to the ponies that didn’t know it, and aware that the other team was waiting for them, Thunderhoof quickly broke the huddle.

The two teams lined up into their respective formations and on the second count, the center snapped the ball to Thunderhoof. Stormcaller, who was ready on Thunderhoof’s right, took the handoff and charged through the open hole, gaining twelve yards before he was tackled.

“First down, Thunderhoof’s team.”

The two teams huddled again and this time Blaze took over as quarterback for the team.

“Um, I don’t really know a lot of plays but we can run a long pass to Starburst. I’m gonna throw it to you when you get to the middle of the pitch, so you’re gonna run across. Is that alright with everypony?”

The two teams broke from their huddles and lined up at the scrimmage line. When Blaze received the snap, he quickly dropped back a few steps to avoid the clashing offensive and defensive lines. His eyes flirted over each of his receivers, waiting for Starburst to get away from his defender so that he could throw the pass to him.

As soon as the ball had been snapped, Starburst had immediately set off on his dig route, and his defender was able to keep up with him. Starburst quickly shifted direction after fifteen yards and this confused his defender, giving Blaze a time frame of a few seconds to throw the ball to Starburst before he was covered by a safety.

Maverick and Jackpot, who were the defensive tackles, were pushing past the guards and Blaze quickly sprinted to the right. Both defensive tackles finally burst through and they chased after Blaze. The young quarterback quickly ran to his right, trying his best to keep the ball away from the defenders, and just before he was tackled, Blaze threw a thirty-yard pass to Starburst, who easily caught the ball and gained an extra ten yards before he was tackled.

Mr Cobalt took out his notepad and began making notes as the two teams went into their huddles.

Thunderhoof is definitely smart, he know his plays, he knows what works against defences.

Blaze has a really good foreleg though, his long passes are definitely a threat. His moving passes are really dangerous, I could use a quarterback like that.

The two teams lined on the scrimmage line again and Thunderhoof took the snap, quickly moving back and surveying his surroundings. When he saw that Pacific Sail (playing at tight end) had broken free from his tight end, he pulled his foreleg back, ready to throw.

“OOF!”

Thunderhoof hit the ground hard, his back taking the brunt of the fall. Luckily for him, he had been able to keep the ball gripped in his right foreleg when he was sacked.

“WOO! LET’S GO!”

Maverick was mobbed by his teammates and he soon helped Thunderhoof up and ruffled his mane.

“You alright?”

“Yeah, I’ll be fine.”

On a second down and twelve, Thunderhoof decided to give the ball to Stormcaller. When the play began, Stormcaller took the handoff from Thunderhoof and ran towards the scrimmage line, before suddenly moving outside to run through the gap that opened up next to the sideline. He was able to burst through this gap and he stiff-armed a defender, sending him face first into the ground.

“GET HIM!”

The two safeties galloped after Stormcaller, desperate to catch him before he reached the end zone. Stormcaller looked over his shoulder and saw the safeties getting closer and closer to him. He increased his speed and was able to keep a good amount of space between him and the two defenders, galloping into the end zone for a forty-five yard TD run.

Stormcaller threw the ball down emphatically and he was mobbed by his teammates. Mr Cobalt opened his notepad again and made a few brief notes, reminding himself to keep an eye out on Stormcaller.

The two teams switched over on Mr Cobalt’s request, explaining that he was going to disregard everypony’s position in tomorrow’s tryouts and he wanted to see what he could expect from everypony.

Although Moon Dust played as a defensive end, his teammates decided that he should be the quarterback because he had the most stable hooves on the team, and he was inclined to agree. He decided to use the fact that most of his teammates were bigger and stronger than the other team to his advantage, calling a running play with Spade Ace (the fastest pony on his team) as the running back.

As his teammates debated over what type of coverage they should run, Thunderhoof looked over at the other team and watched their huddle quietly, before he came to a sudden realisation.

“They’re probably gonna run the ball with whoever’s at running back, cause none of them can play quarterback, so we can run man coverage.”

The others agreed with him and Thunderhoof designated each of his teammates to an opponent to mark. As the two teams lined up on the scrimmage line for Maverick’s team’s first drive, Mr Cobalt was impressed with how quickly Thunderhoof had taken charge of his team, and he added this to his notepad.

Maverick took the snap and quickly tossed the ball to a running Spade Ace. Spade Ace caught the ball and sprinted forward, aiming to use his speed and power to get through the gap between his two blockers. However, Thunderhoof had made sure that the linebackers were the strongest ponies on the team, and it was the middle linebacker who reached Spade Ace first and brought him down.

When they huddled again, it was the middle linebacker who called the play, deciding to run a cover 2 play to prevent any long passes from being caught. The two teams lined up opposite each other and as the defence had anticipated, the receivers, running back and tight end set off on their routes as Maverick moved back with the ball to wait for an open teammate.

Thunderhoof and Banoffee Pie had been playing as the cornerbacks on defence from their opponents’ first drive, and as he tried to stay close to a sprinting Mustang, Thunderhoof was beginning to regret agreeing to be a cornerback. Maverick saw that Mustang had broken free from his defender first, and he threw a long pass to him. Mustang turned around just as the ball was descending, and he lept high into the air to grab it. When he landed, Thunderhoof had grabbed onto his back and pulled him down to the grass.

The lunchtime bell rang and the colts stopped playing, shaking hooves before getting their belongings.

“So, impressed with what you saw?” Maverick cheekily asked Mr Cobalt.

“No comment, now get to your lessons or you’re gonna be late.”

Thunderhoof went inside with Chestnut since they both had English together, and on the way, he couldn't help but make comparisons between Atomic and Starburst.

Atomic’s faster than Starburst, but he’s not as tall as him, and I think Starburst’s stronger as well, so if he was double-teamed, then he could probably still catch the ball.

When Atomic comes back, they’ll both be the starting receivers, 100%.

“I saw sir making notes on you when you were quarterback, you’re definitely gonna make the team,” Chestnut said, and Thunderhoof shook his head.

“But it's not gonna be the same without Atomic, we were supposed to play together.”

Chestnut opened his mouth to reassure his friend that Atomic would be back, but the fact that Atomic had been missing for two days now without any leads made him close his mouth.

“Shadow Mark, it's time to wake up.”

Atomic opened his eyes and found that most of his vision was being blocked by a pony’s face that was right in front of him.

“AAHH-”

The pony immediately covered Atomic’s mouth and glared at him.

“Now, now, Shadow, if you misbehave you won't get any dinner. You’ve been asleep for a long time and you must be so hungry. You don't wanna miss out on some lovely food, do you?”

Atomic’s stomach suddenly rumbled in agreement, and Atomic slowly got out of bed as the mare stood back. His room’s walls were painted a shade of dull gray and the only other piece of furniture in the room was an empty wardrobe with no doors.

“Where am I?”

“You’re home, Shadow, and here you’ll be safe,” the mare replied with a huge smile on her face, and she led the confused colt out of the bedroom.

As he was taken downstairs, Atomic figured that he must have been taken to a foal’s home, but he was still confused as to why he was still being called Shadow Mark. the sudden itchiness he felt inside his stomach as he went down the last step reminded him of the most pressing issue he was facing.

Why does it feel like those doctors put a bag inside me?

The mare led Atomic through the door on the left of the staircase, where the other twelve inhabitants of the house greeted him. These foals were all sitting at the large, wooden dining table that took up most of the space in the room. Each pony was looking down at their plate, which consisted of a meal of stale-looking spaghetti. Atomic sat down at the last available seat in the middle of the table, opposite a filly who was watching him.

Why is she looking at me like that?

The filly was an earth pony with yellow fur, complementing her light blue hair that was tied up high. Her face looked slightly gaunt and her eyes had sunken in slightly, but this did not stop her from giving Atomic the fiercest glare she could muster.

What the hay is this filly’s problem?

The foals began eating her dinner, and the adults watched over them quietly. One by one, they left the room, telling the foals that there was some business they had to deal with. Atomic put a mouthful of spaghetti in his mouth and forced himself to swallow it down, trying his best to ignore the undercooked spaghetti scraping at his throat. The filly continued glaring at Atomic, and he had had enough.

“Why the hay are you looking at me like that?!”

The filly twirled her fork through the spaghetti, before her glare broke into an arrogant smirk.

“Why don't you sit down and keep eating? You’re not gonna do anything to me anyway!”

Atomic glared at the filly before sitting back down and continuing to eat his food. The filly swallowed her food at the same time as Atomic, before suddenly standing up.

“What are you-”

The filly picked up her half-full plate and flung it at Atomic, watching the plate break into fragments and the spaghetti slide down Atomic’s face.

Enraged, Atomic wiped the spaghetti off his face and threw his own plate back at the filly.
The filly however, saw it coming and ducked out of the way, and she leapt over the table at Atomic.

“WHAT IN EQUESTRIA IS GOING ON HERE?!”

The care workers had charged back into the dining room and struggled to separate the foals, who were rolling around erratically on the carpet. Two mares dragged Atomic up whilst the stallions struggled to calm the out-of-control filly.

“Delilah, we’ve talked about your anger issues. You can't get angry if something you don’t like happens.”

Atomic tried to escape the grip of the mares but their iron-like grip held him in place. Another mare entered the room, holding a large syringe.

“Delilah, you’ve been a very bad filly.”

The stallions holding Delilah moved her hair aside to expose her neck, and the needle was plunged deep into her fur, the syringe’s contents being emptied fully into the filly’s body. Atomic watched the filly lose consciousness, but just before she blacked out, Atomic thought he saw her swipe something from a stallion’s pocket. He turned to look at the other foals, who were still sitting at the table, eating their food quietly.

“And as for you Shadow Mark, go to your room and reflect upon your actions!”

The mares let go of Atomic and he left the dining room, heading upstairs and closing his bedroom door loudly.

Here’s a little smoothie for you to drink. We'll let you out in a bit.

Atomic stared down at the tall glass of smoothie that had arrived in his room nearly half an
hour ago. When he had first been sent to his room, Atomic had immediately realised that he had a chance to escape but to his disappointment, the windows were locked.

Looking back at the glass, Atomic picked it up and finished it quickly, surprised that it had been a lot nicer than he had expected. Moments later, the glass was dropped onto the carpet and Atomic hit the carpet hard.

“Wake up.”

“Hey, wake up!”

Atomic slowly opened his eyes as he was shaken again, and he recognised the filly shaking him.

“Hey, what the-”

The filly covered Atomic’s mouth and shook her head frantically, begging him to stay quiet. After a few seconds, she slowly moved her hoof away. She walked over to the switch and turned the light on.

“Why are you here?”

“You’re gonna help me escape.”

“How? The windows are locked!”

The filly grinned and held up the key. “This should help.”

DIME

View Online

“How the hay did you get that?!”

Atomic and Delilah were still in the former’s bedroom when Delilah announced that she was escaping from the home with a key.

“Took it from one of the staff before they knocked me out. Now come on, let’s go!”

Atomic slowly got out of his bed and looked out of his window, where he could see two large stallions standing guard outside the home’s entrance.

“How are we gonna get past them?”

The filly looked out of the window and swore under her breath.

“Didn’t even think of that.”

Atomic fell back onto his bed and sighed.

“Why did you choose me to help? Don't you want to escape with one of your friends here?”

The filly sat down next to Atomic. “They’re not my friends, they’re too far gone.”

“What do you mean?”

The filly sighed. “They took you to a hospital before you got here, didn’t they?”

Atomic nodded.

“That’s where they put something inside you. When they bring you here, you’re given a new name.”

Atomic pressed down on his stomach. “I knew they put something inside me!”

“Every few weeks, some doctors come to give everypony a check-up, and one of us is taken away back to the hospital. I don’t know what they do there but whenever they come back, they look like they’ve been to Tartarus and back. The last filly they took came back with a massive scar on her tummy.”

“What if they take out whatever they put inside?”

“That's what I think happens as well. But that doesn't matter, we need to go.”

“I still have more questions!”

Atomic had spoken too loudly and he quickly slapped his hooves over his mouth. The filly jumped off his bed and quickly left the bedroom, closing the door behind her quietly.

“Delilah, what are you doing?”

“Sorry sir, I was just looking for the toilet. It's really dark, I can't really see anything.”

“.....Alright, but you go straight to your bed as soon as you’re done.”

“Yes, sir, thank you.”

Atomic heard his bedroom door open and he quickly fell back onto his bed and closed his eyes as a care worker came in. The stallion watched Atomic quietly, before picking up the empty glass and leaving the room.

That was close.

Atomic got out of his bed and slowly walked towards the door. Luckily for him, his door had not been closed properly and through the small gap, he saw Delilah come out of the toilet and head off down the hallway. Downstairs, Atomic heard the chatter of the care workers but he still wanted to play it safe. Inch by inch, Atomic pulled his door open, keeping an ear out for anypony coming up the stairs. When his door was more than hallway open and Atomic was sure that nopony was coming, he stepped out into the hallway. Atomic peered over the bannister to check on the care workers one last time, and he was confident that he wouldn’t be caught. He moved away from the bannister, before suddenly realising that he did not know where Delilah had gone.

Brilliant, now I have to guess which room is hers.

Atomic walked over to the first door he saw, and he noticed that each door had a label on the front, and he hoped that this would make finding Delilah a lot easier. The first door had a large sticker stuck diagonally to the front and Atomic had to tilt his head to make out the name.

Definitely not her.

Atomic continued to read the labels on every single door that he passed, getting more and more frustrated. He finally reached the last door and didn’t bother reading the label on the front, opening the door.

“Sorry about that, I didn’t mean to be so loud,” he whispered, closing the door behind him.

Delilah had already opened her window and was currently looking out of it, not bothering to turn around and face Atomic.

“Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t just ditch you and make a run for it.”

Atomic blushed. “Er, because if we both go, then we’re less likely to get in any trouble. And I can fight off anypony that tries to stop us.”

“Fine. I could use somepony helping me.”

“Thanks, Delilah.”

The filly moved away from the window and motioned for Atomic to sit next to her, placing the key carefully on the windowsill.

“My name isn’t Delilah by the way.”

“It isn’t?”

“Just like your name isn't Shadow Mark.”

Atomic held out a hoof. “I'm Atomic Tangerine.”

The filly looked down at the hoof quietly for a few moments, before returning the gesture with a small smile.

“Amber Breeze.”

“So when did you come here?”

“About two months ago. I used to live in another foal’s home, but it got destroyed in a fire and we were all transferred here. The next thing I knew, I was in a hospital and these doctors were doing a blood test on me. After that, I woke up here, and all the social workers were calling me Delilah.”

“And what about the others? Were they alright?”

“…...No. My best friend, Daisy, used to always get in trouble, and they kept giving her an injection to knock her out. Soon, I noticed that she was losing weight and she looked really thin. When the doctors would come to check up on us, Daisy was the one that they always took away, and she always came back in the night unnoticed. Then a few weeks ago, she fainted during dinner and the doctors came to take her away. I overheard one of the doctors tell a care worker that Daisy was too weak, and that her body couldn't handle everything that was being put inside it. I haven’t seen her since.”

Amber stared off into the distance quietly, and tears threatened to spill out of the corners of her eyes.

“I’m sorry, Del-Amber.”

Amber suddenly got up off her bed. “And that’s why we have to get out of here, so that we aren't next.”

Atomic got up as well. “Wait, you didn’t give a proper reason on why I’m coming.”

Amber smiled. “I wanted to see if you were good enough to come with me, and I think you held your own at dinner.”

“Your punches did hurt a lot.”

“Sorry about that. Now, how should we do this?”

Atomic and Amber looked out of the window. Amber’s bedroom window was at the back of the house, and the window showed that large bushes surrounded the back of the house and behind them there was a large fence enclosing the house.

“So do we just climb out and drop down?” Amber asked, and Atomic shook his head.

“The drop is too big, we’re just gonna hurt ourselves.”

What to do, what to do…..

Atomic suddenly gasped and moved away from the window, sprinting over to the wardrobe and pulling out different clothes.

“What are you doing?”

Atomic reached the bottom of the wardrobe and pulled out a few long dresses.

“We can tie these together and hang it down from your window.”

“And then we slide down on them?”

Atomic nodded, and together the two made a long rope out of Amber’s clothes. Atomic dragged it over to the window and tied one end of the rope to the window’s handle, and he dropped the other end down.

“You can go first, I’ll keep watch,” Amber said, and Atomic climbed onto the windowsill and grabbed the rope, slowly moving off the windowsill. Once all four of his legs were holding onto the rope, Atomic began sliding down the rope slowly, stopping every few seconds to readjust his balance.

AAHH!

Atomic scrambled back up the makeshift rope, tucking his hind legs up.

Amber stuck her head out of the window. “What happened?”

“They're gonna see me! They’re in the living room!” Atomic hissed, and Amber began to panic.

“Um, okay, we could…….swing! I’ll swing the rope and you’ll jump off when I tell you.”

Amber reached up and gripped onto her end of the rope.

“It's….too….heavy,” she said through gritted teeth, and Atomic began to try and swing himself to try and help. Eventually, Amber was able to swing the rope with him and when Atomic was sure the coast was clear, he swung forward and jumped into the air, managing to land on all four hooves.

“Okay, now it's my turn.”

Amber clambered onto the rope as Atomic kept watch for her, checking through the window every few seconds to make sure they weren’t caught. Through the glass window separating Atomic and the care workers, the colt tried to listen in on their conversation.

“Brutus, it's your turn to check on the foals! I did it last time!”

Atomic watched one of the stallions grumble before getting up and leaving the room.

“Amber, he’s coming to check on everypony! Hurry up!”

Amber gave up trying to carefully go down the rope and she pushed herself off the rope and jumped, hitting the ground hard.

Atomic rushed over to her. “Are you okay?”

Amber slowly pushed herself off the ground. “...I’ll be fine. Let’s go.”

The two foals pushed through the bushes that they had landed next to, trying to reach the fence as quickly as they could.

“Hey, Delilah isn’t her room! And what the buck is this?!”

The care worker charged with checking on the foals walked over to the window and looked out of the window. Suddenly, he realised what had happened.

“Hey, call security now!”

Atomic and Amber had finally reached the fence, and they began climbing. Meanwhile, the two guards stationed at the front of the home had been notified of the escape, and they were on their way to the back of the field.

“Do you think they’ve checked our rooms yet?” Amber asked, and Atomic shook his head.

“Nah, but let’s get out of here before that happens.”

“Hey!”

The two foals turned around and were terrified when they saw three stallions galloping to them, two of them holding large batons. The foals moved their hooves faster to reach the top of the fence as quickly as they could.

The stallions reached the foals and began swinging their batons high in the air, hoping to catch the foals’ hind legs and stop them. The care worker that had raised the alarm began scrambling up the fence, and the gap between him and the foals became smaller and smaller with each passing moment.

Atomic was the first to reach the top of the fence and he precariously stood at the top before dropping down. Amber was right behind him, but the care worker had caught up to her and he began to pull her back down by her hind leg.

“Atomic, help!”

Atomic pushed a hoof towards the fence and tried to pull the stallion off Amber. When that did not work, he climbed back over the fence and dropped down onto the stallion, and they both hit the ground.

“Amber, go!”

Atomic yelled at her to climb over the fence just before he was dragged away by the guards, but Amber had another idea. She dropped down from the fence and picked up several stones lying around nearby. When she gathered a small pile, she sprinted towards Atomic and the adults, throwing the rocks at the stallions. Whilst some were wildly off-target, several stones hit the stallion’s eyes and noses, their grip on Atomic loosened enough for him to get free.

“Come on, let’s go!”

Amber and Atomic ran back to the fence and they were able to climb over and drop down. They quickly hid behind another set of bushes that were on their side of the fence and waited silently, pushing holes through the leaves to see what was going on the other side of the fence.

“How the buck did you two idiots let them escape?! It's your job to stop them!” Brutus (the care worker that had chased after Atomic and Amber) yelled.

“How the buck were we supposed to know that they would try and escape from the back?!” the guards replied.

The other care workers had all reached the back of the home, and they told the arguing stallions to calm down.

“They won’t get far anyway, we'll just tell Mr X to tell his guys to keep a lookout for them.”

“I’ll go send that letter now.”

The foals waited until the care workers and security guards had left before coming out of the bushes.

“Are they gone?”

Amber nodded and sighed loudly.

“Well, we’re out of that hellhole. Where do we go?”

The foals found themselves standing next to a long, winding concrete path that appeared to led into a road of houses in the far distance.

“Let’s go down here, I think I can see some houses in the distance,” Amber said, and the two set off.

“Is this path ever gonna end?”

Twenty minutes later, the foals were no closer to reaching the end of the path. They passed through some woodland and Amber even spotted an owl swoop down and catch a mouse. But the sightseeing hadn't alleviated their fatigue, so Atomic suggested that they play a game.

“Two truths and a lie?”

“Yeah, basically you have to tell three things about yourself, two are truthful and one is a lie. The other pony has to guess which one is the lie.”

Amber thought about it momentarily, before nodding.

“Okay I’ll start; I love brownies, I love reading and Nick Foals signed my jersey two months ago.”

“It has to be the Nick Foals one, there’s no way that‘s true.”

“And the lie is….I love reading!”

“No way, you’re telling me you met Nick Foals?!”

“It's the truth! When the Dragons played Cloudsdale in September, my dad got us tickets to the game. We got to our seats early and we were watching Nick practise when he messed up a catch and it hit me on the nose. My dad ran inside to get a first aid kit, and Nick came up to me, apologised and signed my jersey!”

“How do I know that’s the truth?” Amber said with a laugh.

“I would show you my jersey, but it's in my room.”

“Alright, I’ll take your word for it. Now, it's my turn. I’m scared of spiders, I once got caught trying to graffiti the hallway at my old school, and…...I don’t know how to swim.”

“Um…..I’m gonna say…...the first one is a lie.”

“Nope, I’m actually really scared of spiders.”

“So you actually tried to graffiti in your old school?! Now that’s a story I have to hear!”

“Alright I’ll tell you-”

Amber suddenly pulled Atomic behind a nearby tree, and told him to be quiet. On the path that they had just been walking on, the foals saw a large group of stallions walking down it, and the pony in front suddenly came to a stop.

“They’re gonna be somewhere in this forest, so spread out and look everywhere!”

The stallions dispersed, and some were heading towards the area that Atomic and Amber were hiding behind.

“We need to move, now!”

The foals darted through the forest, making sure that they avoided the ponies searching for them. Suddenly, Atomic tripped over a stary branch and he landed on top of a jagged rock that pierced his stomach. He felt something move inside his stomach, and he knew that something bad had happened.

“Argh, it really hurts!” Atomic hissed as he slowly got up, and Amber spotted the thick line of blood flowing out of the deep wound.

“It looks really deep, Atomic!”

Atomic whispered that he would deal with the wound when they got to safety, and he grabbed a leaf and pressed it down on his stomach to stop the bleeding. With three legs, Atomic followed Amber through the forests, and they were soon close to the end of the woodland.

“Hey, look what I found!”

The foals dove into another set of bushes and watched a stallion find a small pool of blood several yards away.

“Look, there’s a trail!”

A stallion lit up a torch, and a group followed the trail, slowly coming closer to where the foals were hiding.

“We need to make a run for it, they’re gonna find us. Do you think you’ll be able to run?”

Atomic winced as a branch poked his wound, but he nodded determinedly.

“Alright then, we need to distract them first.”

Amber scanned their surroundings and picked up a few pebbles. She went back behind the bush and flung them in the air. The pebbles ended up reaching nearly thirty yards away, and Amber hoped that the distraction would give them enough time to escape.

“They’re over there!”

As Amber had hoped, the stallions galloped over to where the pebbles had landed.

“Now, let’s go!”

Amber pulled Atomic up and when she had checked that the stallions were distracted, she dragged the injured colt out from behind the bush and they began to run.

“Hey!”

The stronger and faster stallions quickly began to chase after the foals. Atomic dropped the leaf he was holding on his wound and ignored the blood running down his body, desperate to escape. He saw that they were coming up to a row of houses and he led Amber to run behind them, hoping to confuse the stallions. They continued running until they reached one of the houses in the middle.

“D’you think they’re gonna catch us?!” Amber said, and Atomic began to shake his head when he suddenly winced and grabbed his head.

“Are you okay?!”

“No, I think I’m gonna-”

“What are you kids doing in my garden?!”

The elderly mare squinted her eyes and stepped onto the grass.

Atomic began to stumble and Amber caught him before he fell.

“Please Miss, you have to help us, my friend is-”

“Oh my goodness!”

A small line of blood began to run down Atomic’s face from his nose as he collapsed.

“Wait, could you tell us that again?”

“So I was on my night time patrol, when I heard a voice crying for help in the alleyway…..”

Inspector Skychaser took the officers through the events of his last shift, and when he was finished, the officers checked over their notes.

“So the last thing you remember is checking the stallion’s wound?”

“Yeah, I looked down at his hoof, and the next thing I know it's nearly nine o’clock and I'm lying behind a bin in the same alleyway.”

“And could you tell us what this stallion looked like?”

“He was...wearing a black suit, and he….had a really deep voice…….sorry, that’s all I remember.”

“It's alright Skychaser, thank you for coming forward.”

“Right, let’s go over what we know.”

In the aptly-named ‘war room’ of the West Fillydelphia Police Station, Lieutenant Charger stuck a picture of Pumpkin Spice on the pin up board.

“So we know that Atomic was last seen at home on Wednesday evening at approximately seven o’clock. His mother said that she told him to open the door for her aunt, who was supposed to coming home at that time.”

“So he was snatched on his doorstep? How come nopony saw it?”

“The foalnapper could’ve been able to go through the back of the houses, that why nopony could’ve seen him,” an officer called out, and Lieutenant Charger wrote this on a post-it note and stuck it onto the board.

“Can we confirm that the foalnapper is Marble?”

“Forensics ran tests on the hat, but they came back inconclusive,” another officer announced, and the lieutenant added to the pin up board.

“Have we had a chance to interview the aunt?”

The officers that had been looking for her yesterday stood up.

“We brought her in last night sir, we were going to go and interview her after this meeting.”

“Okay then, I’ll watch from behind the screen.”

The meeting finished twenty minutes later, and the two officers led the lieutenant to the interview room, where an irate Pumpkin Spice was waiting for them.

“Good morning, Miss Spice.”

“When are you gonna let me go?”

“Not just yet. We’d like to ask you some questions first.”

In the room next door, Lieutenant Charger greeted the two unicorns sitting and he pulled up a chair to sit next to them.

In the interview room, a folder had been placed on the table and the female officer took out a glossy piece of paper, turning it over and showing it to Pumpkin. “Do you know who this is?”

Pumpkin looked down at the mugshot and gulped. “Nope, never seen him before.”

The female officer looked at Pumpkin quietly for a few moments, before pulling the paper back across. The male officer leant forward.

“Pumpkin, this stallion says that you bought narcotics from him over a period of several months. Is this true?”

“No! Why the hay would I ever take drugs, who do you think I am?!”

The mare took over. “Pumpkin, please calm down. This would really help us find Atomic.”

Pumpkin fell silent, before sighing loudly.

“Okay, you got me. A friend of mine told me about these new dealers in the area a while back, and I….bought from them more than once. I would normally go to that abandoned house to get the stuff.”

“Was there another pony there whenever you went to the house?”

“Yeah, it was always two of them that would be there; one would weigh the right amount, and the other would take the money.”

The stallion took out another sheet of paper, and on it was the mugshot of the stallion that had been arrested during Mayfield Avenue's drug raid.

“Is this the other stallion that you saw in the house?”

Pumpkin nodded.

“Pumpkin, did you ever see any other ponies in that house?”

“Er, lemme think…...yeah, there was one time when I saw one of my dealers giving some guy in a suit money from a safe, but that was the only time.”

“Thank you for telling us.”

“Could you not…....tell my sister about this? She’s gonna get really pissed and I don’t think this would be good for her right now.”

There was a loud knock at the door and two officers suddenly walked in, and one of them was holding a pair of hoofcuffs. “I'm sorry, but we’re not gonna be able to do that Miss Pumpkin. You are under arrest for the use of narcotics.”

As the first officer began to read Pumpkin her rights, the other fastened her front hooves together.

“We’re gonna put you in a cell until tomorrow, we'll let you go after that,” the mare interviewing her said as Pumpkin was led out of the room and towards the cells.

“Don’t you worry my dear, I’ve already taken it out. He’ll be fine.”

Where the hay am I?

Atomic woke up on a plush sofa, covered by thick cotton blankets. He lifted his head up and saw Amber come into the living room, holding a bowl.

“Are you alright?”

Atomic nodded and Amber sat on the sofa next to him.

“Where did those guys chasing us go?”

“Apparently they gave up and left after half an hour. We’re safe here.”

Atomic slowly sat up on the sofa, pushing the blanket off his lower body. On his stomach, he saw that there was a new scab on his stomach, longer and redder than the last one.

“What happened to my tummy?”

“The mare that lives here know a surgeon that lives on her road. She brought him in and he took out what was inside you.”

“Which was?”

“A bag full of drugs.”

Atomic sat up fully. “What?!”

“Yeah, turns out they were putting drugs in us the whole time, and when they take you back to the hospital, they take them out.”

“How are you feeling, dear?”

The elderly mare slowly walked into the living room and sat next to Atomic.

“I’m okay now. Thank you so much for your help. You saved both of us.”

“No need to thank me, I only did what was necessary. I’ve already called the police and they’re sending officers to come and collect you now.”

“What about me?” Amber asked.

“Sorry, they didn’t say anything about me.”

“Don’t worry, you’re gonna come with me, there’s no way I’m leaving you!”

Amber smiled and thanked Atomic, and the two talked quietly to each other until there was a knock at the door.

“Where is he?”

“He’s just in the living room.”

Two police officers entered the living room.

“Hello, Atomic.”

Atomic slowly stood up. “Hi.”

“We’ve come to take you home.”

Atomic grinned before remembering his friend.

“She’s coming with me.”

The officers looked at each other before looking back to Amber.

“And what’s your name?”

“Amber. Amber Breeze.”

“Please, she doesn’t have anywhere else to go, and if it wasn’t for her, then we’d still be in that awful house,” Atomic pleaded.

“House?”

“We'll interview you later, Atomic. For now, you need to come with us.”

“No, I’m not leaving without Amber.”

“Atomic, don’t be stupid, go. Your family’s gonna be worrying about you. I’ll be fine,” Amber whispered.

“You’re coming too, let’s go.”

Atomic suddenly pulled Amber forward and out of the living room, pushing past the police officers.

“Thank you for taking care of them, you will be rewarded very soon.”

The officers shook hooves with the mare and left the house to find Atomic and Amber already inside their carriage. The officers decided that they should Foals both foals to the station, and they got into the front.

“What are the ponies at your school like?” Amber asked as the carriage set off.

“They’re alright, most of the ponies are nice.”

The two fell quiet and simply stared out of the windows next to them.

“You looking to seeing your family?” one of the officers asked, and Atomic nodded.

“I thought I was never gonna see them again. I’m just thankful Amber woke me up last night.”

“Well, we’re not too far away from the station now, so you won’t have to wait too long.”

The driving officer handed their walkie talkie to their colleague, who turned it on and pulled out the antenna.

“Base, this is Officer Sunshine, the report has checked out and we are on our way back with the target and another filly. Over and out.”

“Sorry I’m late, there was loads of traffic on the way here.”

The Fillydelphia Daily’s editor-in-chief stepped aside to let Syracuse into his office. Once the journalist had sat down, the editor closed his door and walked over to his chair on the other side of the large mahogany desk.

“Syracuse, how have you been?”

“I’m…….I’m doing okay, I guess,” Syracuse replied, before yawning loudly and rubbing his eyes.

“Are you sure?”

Syracuse sighed. “No, sir, I’m not alright.”

“Listen, I think you should take a break.”

“A break?”

“It isn’t good for your health to be here working every morning, you shouldn’t be forcing yourself to come here. Take a break, get some rest and come back when you’re ready.”

Syracuse nodded slowly, and he shook hooves with the editor. Suddenly, the door opened.

“Syracuse, the police are here and they want to speak to you,” the receptionist announced.

“Alright, see you soon.”

Syracuse quickly left the editor’s office and followed the receptionist downstairs to the ground floor, where two police officers were waiting for him the lobby.

“Are you Syracuse?”

Syracuse nodded.

“Is it about Atomic? Have you found him?!”

“We have found a colt in North Fillydelphia, and he’s currently being identified by your wife at the police station.”

“He’s at the station now?!”

The officers nodded, and Syracuse sprinted outside and jumped into the police carriage.

“Come on, let’s go!”

The officers left the reception and got into the front of the carriage, quickly setting off and joining the line of traffic.

“.....and that’s the last thing I remember. I woke up this morning and the mare gave us some breakfast before the police came.”

Atomic was being interviewed by two officers in a small room. As soon as he had arrived at the station, he had been separated from Amber and he believed that she was probably in another part of the station.

“What’s gonna happen to Amber? They’re not gonna send her away, are they?”

“We don’t know Atomic.”

The door was opened and another officer came in.

“They’re here.”

“Okay Atomic, could you turn around for us?”

“Please Faust, please let it be him.”

Tea Rose, Pumpkin Spice and Butterscotch were in the back of the police carriage that had come to their house to pick them up ten minutes ago. Pumpkin had been unable to avoid telling her older sister why she had been away from the house the previous night, and saying that Tea Rose was disappointed with her would be putting it mildly. Only the police’s arrival at their house had been able to stop Tea Rose’s lecture.

“It'll be him, Rose. Trust me.”

Tea Rose stroked her sleeping infant daughter’s mane out of her face and wiped a tear out of her own eye.

“But what if it isn’t? Then I’ll have just got my hopes up for nothing!”

The police carriage pulled up outside the West Fillydelphia police station and the officers helped Pumpkin get out Butterscotch’s pram. Once Butterscotch had been buckled in the pushchair, Tea Rose and Pumpkin were led inside the station and told to wait in the plastic chairs in the reception.

“Rose!”

Syracuse ran over to his wife and hugged her tightly.

“Did they tell you the news?!”

“Yeah, we’re just waiting for them to take us,” Tea Rose replied, and Syracuse sat next to his wife.

“Okay guys, if you could come with me please.”

The three adults were led through the station and into a long corridor of rooms. The officer walked to the first door and knocked, directing Tea Rose, Syracuse and Pumpkin through into a small space with a large glass pane.

“I’ll wait outside, you guys go in,” Pumpkin said as her sister and brother-in-law went inside, and Tea Rose left Butterscotch in her pushchair with Pumpkin.

“Just wait here, please.”

The couple stood quietly in the space, waiting as instructed. Tea Rose suddenly spotted the colt sitting at the table and gasped loudly.

“Is that-”

“Okay Atomic, could you turn around?”

Atomic turned around and saw the two most important ponies in his life that he thought he he would never see again.

“Mom! Dad!”

The door burst open and Atomic galloped to his parents, embracing them tightly. He felt his mother’s tears dampen his head and he gripped onto her tighter, hoping that this moment never ended. His father had the two wrapped around his forelegs and he also shed a few tears as Atomic slowly moved back from the embrace.

“Atomic, it's you, it's really you!” Tea Rose cried, before hugging him again. She took a tissue and blew her nose loudly as Syracuse picked his son up.

“Have I ever told you how much I love you?”

Atomic hugged his father and laughed as Syracuse swung him around in the air.

The officers sitting at the desk watched the reunion with huge smiles on their faces, a stray tear falling from their eyes.

“Is it him, is he back?!”

Pumpkin had burst into the room when she heard her sister’s cries, and she beamed when she saw her nephew. The two hugged eagerly and Atomic sat back down at the desk, with his parents and aunt standing behind him. butterscotch laughed loudly when she saw her older brother, and Atomic carefully took her out of her pushchair and hugged her.

“Okay Atomic, you’ve given us a full statement and we'll make sure that the ponies that did this to you will not get away with it.”

“Did what to you?”

Atomic stood up and pointed to the large scab on his stomach.

“Oh my goodness!”

“You guys are free to go home.”

“Wait, what about Amber? Where is she gonna go?”

“Sorry Atomic, we don’t know.”

“Amber’s the filly that I escaped with, if it wasn’t for her, I’d still be at that foal’s home.”

Atomic had spent the last few hours retelling the full story of his ordeal to his parents and aunt, and he was now at home eating some lunch, with the clock having just gone past three o'clock. The news that he had been found had been announced by Pumpkin to the neighbours, and there were plans to hold a large street party to celebrate.

“Here you go, I made them for you when you went to training,” Tea Rose said, placing a bowl of brownies in front of Atomic.

“Wait, was everypony looking for me?” the light blue colt asked, and Tea Rose nodded.

“It was your aunt here that organised the search, even your friends helped to look for you.”

“They did?”

“Yeah, I remember them saying that they had to find you before Friday cause something was happening then, but I have no idea what it was.

The tryouts!

Atomic suddenly pushed his plate back and stood up.

“Mom, I have to go to school, now!”

“For what?”

“The tryouts, I’m gonna miss them, it's nearly the end of school!”

Atomic ran out of the living room and dashed upstairs, coming back down a few moments later with his saddlebag.

“I’ll see you later, Mom!”

BRRIINNGG!

The pupils quickly packed up their bags and left the classroom, eager to get out of school as soon as possible. But for the colts that were staying behind after school, it was the event that they had been waiting for for weeks.

Thunderhoof, Banoffee Pie and Pacific Sail left Mr Topaz’s lessons together, complaining about the difficulty of the test that they had just completed.

“Watch when I get an F for this test,” Pacific complained.

“He probably finds it funny that everypony hated that test,” Banoffee added, and Thunderhoof nodded.

“At least we got tryouts now.”

“Look, I think they’re all going too,” Pacific said, pointing at a large group of colts headed to the buckball courts.

The three colts met up with their other fifth-grade friends, and despite not trying out, Chestnut was tagging along to support his friends. He was also attending the tryouts with other foals that were on the school newspaper to report on who made the hoofball team.

The group walked into the courts and followed the others that were headed to a waiting Mr Cobalt.

“Right, is that everypony?”

The colts all gathered in front of him and nodded, and Mr Cobalt led them down to the changing rooms.

“There’s a lot of big guys here,” Chestnut remarked, commenting on the fact that the majority of the colts trying out had at an above-average build.

“It’ll be fine, most of them will probably be running backs,” Thunderhoof replied as he pulled his shirt down over his head.

“Right, those of you that have already changed, come and take these to the field.”

Thunderhoof joined a few others and took two buckets of bibs with his magic.

I should go to the toilet first, I don’t wanna need it when the tryouts start.

Thunderhoof quickly put the buckets down next to the other ones. He shut his eyes and pictured himself standing in the colts’ toilets that were closest to the field. As his horn's magic died down, Thunderhoof opened his eyes.

It actually worked! Next time I should try doing it after the tryouts and see if I can get all the way home!

They won’t have started yet, I still have time.

Atomic sprinted through the school, ignoring the gasps from ponies that he passed, his only focus benign to get to the tryouts as soon as possible. He rushed into the toilets that were closest to the fields and saw that all of the cubicle’s doors were locked. He quickly knocked on the first one.

“Occupied!”

Thunderhoof!

Atomic went into the next cubicle and took out his PE shirt, quickly putting it on. He went out and checked himself in the mirror, before looking at the occupied cubicle with a grin. He suddenly knocked on the door and cleared his throat.

“I really need the toilet, the tryouts have already started!” he cried in a higher-pitched voice, hoping Thunderhoof would believe his impression of a younger student.

“Okay, okay, I’m coming out right now. There, it’s all-”

Thunderhoof turned around and fell silent, his mouth hanging open.

“Pleased to see me?”

“ATOMIC!”

Atomic staggered backwards to keep his balance as Thunderhoof squeezed him.

“You’re back, you’re alright!”

Atomic nodded, and the two eventually broke from the embrace; and Thunderhoof tried to discreetly wipe a tear from his eye.

“Dude, is that a tear?!”

“No, it’s just the wind….it’s really windy outside, that’s why,” Thunderhoof retorted, but there was no aggression behind the denial.

“How’s everything at school been?”

“Boring without you. But where the hay have you been?!”

Atomic sighed. “It’s a long story, I’ll tell you after the tryouts.”

“The tryouts, they’ve probably already started!”

The colts galloped out of the toilets and sprinted into the field, desperately trying to reach the others before it was too late.

“You know there’s gonna be loads of other receivers there,” Thunderhoof panted out, and Atomic grinned.

“It just means that I’ll do better than a lot more ponies. We’re making the team, 100%.”

QUARTER

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“ATOMIC!”

Atomic was mobbed by his friends as he and Thunderhoof ran over to them. The group had been standing with the other colts after their warm up, and they had been wondering why Thunderhoof was taking so long when they saw them.

“You’re back!”

“Where have you been?!”

“Guys, I’ll tell you everything afterwards!”

The colts slowly moved away from Atomic and together, they joined the other colts waiting for Mr Cobalt.

The PE teacher came running out onto the field a few moments later, and the foals immediately fell quiet as the teacher reached them.

“Alright guys, welcome to the tryouts for Sycamore’s hoofball team. First of all, could you guys write down your names on this register, just so I know who I assign each position to.”

The colts lined up and they quickly scribbled their names onto the sheet of paper. As Atomic reached the front of the line, Mr Cobalt let out a small gasp.

“Atomic…..good to see you. You alright?”

Atomic took the quill from the colt in front and wrote his name down. “Yeah, I’m okay now.”

Atomic gave the quill to the colt behind him and joined his friends.

“Is anypony nervous for these tryouts?” Maverick asked, and most of them shook their heads, except for Atomic and Stormcaller.

Stormcaller nervously scratched his chin. “Hopefully I make it, there’s a lot of really good guys here.” What about you, Atomic?”

Atomic had been overconfident for the Buccaneers’ tryouts, which made the rejection feel several times worse; and whilst he went into the Eagles’ tryouts with low expectations and was pleasantly surprised, he was comfortable with the knowledge that he would most likely make the team, but he didn’t want to get arrogant.

“I’m just focusing on performing at my best,” he replied, and the others nodded in agreement.

Starburst wrote his name on the register and joined the group.

“Guess who’s here.”

The group looked at where Starburst’s hoof was pointing, to a loud and boisterous Pablo who was signing his name on the register.

“Can’t wait to get on the team, Sir!”

And of course Pablo thinks he’s guaranteed a spot on the team.

Pablo glared at Atomic and his friends as he walked past, especially at his former friends Blaze and Mustang.

“Guys, do you know what position Pablo plays?”

“Um…...running back I think,” Blaze replied.

Once everypony had signed the register, Mr Cobalt gave the register to Chestnut, who was sitting next to the other journalists, telling him to look after it. The PE teacher picked up the bucket with helmets inside behind him and gave one to everypony, telling them that if their helmets were too big or too small, they could get a different one from the changing rooms.

“Right, we don't have a lot of time because I have to submit our roster the league before the end of today, so let’s get started. Split into offense, defense and special teams based on what position you believe you are strongest at, so if you wanna be a quarterback but you can't throw a ball to save your life, then you’ve got a minute to change positions.”

Atomic, Thunderhoof, Blaze, Starburst, Stormcaller, Mustang and Pacific stood to the far right in the offense, whilst Maverick, Spade Ace, Jackpot, Moon Dust and Banoffee Pie joined the other defenders on the far left. In the middle, there were only four ponies.

Mr Cobalt waited for the colts to settle into their groups, before realising that the special teams group had only four ponies in it.

“Are you guys just kickers and punters?” Mr Cobalt asked, and when they nodded, he took the register back from Chestnut.

“Congratulations, you guys are on the team,” he announced, making a large tick next to each of their names.

“What?!”

“That’s not fair!”

Mr Cobalt ignored the protests and gave the newest team members two balls, instructing them to practise on the other side of the field.

“Right, we’re gonna start with an offensive drill.”

The colts were split into groups of seven, with each group having a quarterback, offensive and defensive lineman, two cornerbacks and two receivers. The colts that played the other positions were currently sitting on the side, waiting for their turn.

“The quarterback is gonna decide which routes the receivers are gonna run, and when the ball is snapped, it’s up to the quarterback to make the throw. But just because this is a quarterback drill doesn’t mean that I won’t be assessing everypony else, so play your best. Right, I’m going to assess you group by group and you’re going to have three turns each to impress me. First group, let’s go.”

The first group had Thunderhoof as quarterback, Atomic and Starburst as receivers, Maverick and a bulky fifth-grade colt as the defensive and offensive linemen respectively, and Banoffee Pie and an older colt as the cornerbacks. Thunderhoof gestured for Atomic and Starburst to come over to him.

“Atomic, you‘re gonna run a corner route and Starburst, you’re running a post corner.”

The receivers nodded and the colts broke from the huddle and lined up in front of the waiting defenders. The center snapped the ball to Thunderhoof, and he dropped back immediately as Atomic and Starburst set off on their routes.

“OOOF!”

Maverick brought Thunderhoof down hard, ripping the ball out of his hooves as they fell. The ball rolled on the grass before it was quickly picked up by the center.

“Well done Maverick. It's your second turn now, let’s get some better protection for the quarterback.”

The center blushed but nodded as the teams lined up again. This time, Thunderhoof had enough time to step up and throw a twenty five yard pass to a covered Starburst, who was still able to bring the ball down despite the good coverage from Banoffee Pie.

“Good job, Starburst. Last go now.”

Atomic was determined to do whatever he could to be the recipient of the last pass, so when the ball was snapped, he burst forward and used his speed and foreleg to create some space between himself and his defender. When he reached the end of his corner route, he saw the ball flying in the air towards him. However, the cornerback marking him had caught up to him and the two colts leaped into the air, their hooves flailing as they tried to catch the ball.

“Great job Atomic, very, very good catch.”

Atomic threw the ball back to Mr Cobalt and the next group went on.

“I didn’t hurt you too bad, did I?” Maverick asked Thunderhoof.

“No, I’ll be fine.”

“It’s actually hard defending you man, you’re so fast!” Banoffee said, and Atomic grinned.

“You made that catch really hard for me, we'll both dominate the other schools.”

Atomic and Banoffee went quiet as the second group started. Only a few moments after the ball was snapped, the center was quickly overpowered by a stronger Spade Ace. Blaze realised that he would have to start running to avoid the sack, and he began scrambling to his right, checking where Spade Ace was and which receivers were open. Spade Ace reached Blaze and tried to bring him down, but Blaze was able to squeeze out of the tackle and throw the long ball to an open receiver, who made the easy catch.

“Excellent, Blaze!”

Blaze nodded and high-fived his center, and for the next two turns, he was able to make two more successful passes.

“He’s definitely making the team,” Thunderhoof said with a sigh.

“He’s good, but I don’t know if Sir would start him over you. You’re already a starter for the Buccaneers, you should tell Mr Cobalt that,” Atomic replied, but Thunderhoof shook his head.

“Alabaster’s recovered, so they gave him the starting job back.”

“What?! Did they not see how you played against us?!”

When all of the groups had had their three turns, Mr Cobalt announced that they were going to do a running back drill, and with the help of a few colts, cones were laid out on the field in a large rectangle that bent to the right.

“Okay, are there any good spellcasters here?”

Mr Cobalt spoke to the unicorn that had stepped forward, and eleven magical lines were formed to separate the rectangle into eleven smaller rectangles.

“Running backs, you’re gonna get three chances to run through eleven zones.”

Mr Cobalt got a group of colts to play all of the positions on offense and defense, and he told Pablo to get ready next to the quarterback.

Can’t wait to watch him fail.

The quarterback caught the low snap and gave the ball to Pablo, who quickly cleared the first three zones in front of him. The next eight though, were bending to the eighth and with some defenders breaking free from their blockers, it was expected that Pablo would be brought down soon. However, to everypony’s shock, Pablo was able to dodge a charging linebacker and he stiff-armed a cornerback. By the time he had passed through the eighth zone, he was too far gone for any the defending team to catch, and he walked through the eleventh zone.

Pablo smirked at the colts watching him as he walked off. “Hmph, that was easy.”

Once all of the running backs had completed the drill, Mr Cobalt looked at his watch, realised that the drills had taken up too much time and quickly split the colts into three teams, handing out red, orange and yellow bibs to avoid confusion.

“Right, red team and yellow team, you’re up first. First team to score a touchdown wins, and the winner stays on. The first team to win three matches will be declared the winners.”

Luckily for them, Atomic and Thunderhoof had both ended up on the red team, whilst Maverick, Moon Dust, Blaze and Mustang were on the other team.

“Right, Mayday!”

The unicorn that had previously created the running back zone drill rushed over to Mr Cobalt to have a quick word with him. Mayday closed his eyes and a magical aura surrounded his horn. A light blue rectangle enclosed part of the field and markings slowly began to emerge on it. Nearly two minutes, the enclosed part of the field had become a 100-yard hoofball pitch.

“Thank you, Mayday. Red team, you’re starting with the ball at the twenty-five yard line.”

Thunderhoof caught the ball and led his team onto the pitch, and they formed a huddle ten yards away from their opponents.

“Right, we’re gonna start with a running play. Can you get us a first down, Stormcaller?”

“Sure can,” Stormcaller said with a grin, and twenty seconds later, the two teams left their huddles and lined up opposite each other on the twenty-five yard line.

“Hut!”

The center snapped the ball to Thunderhoof, who quickly gave it to Stormcaller. Thunderhoof had drawn up a slant route for Stormcaller to run, hoping to take advantage of the defensive linemen likely over pursuing.

Stormcaller galloped through the gap created by the blocking of two guards, and he was able to move the ball fifteen yards before he was tackled.

“Okay, seeing as the last play worked so well, I want you to run a…...sweep.”

As soon as the ball was snapped to start the second play, the left offensive guard and tackle left their stances and ran towards the far right of the scrimmage line. Stormcaller took the handoff from Thunderhoof and ran parallel to the scrimmage line, waiting for his blockers to lead the way around the end. Once a large enough gap had opened up, Stormcaller burst through it, but he was only able to gain three yards before he was brought down by a cornerback.

“Alright, now we’re gonna run play action. Atomic, I want you to run a go route….”

Once Thunderhoof had informed his teammates of their roles, they lined up on the 43 yard line to start the second down, Atomic lined up opposite a colt a good few inches taller than him, but this did not dent his confidence.

He won't be able to catch me.

Atomic watched the center push the ball back and he set off, immediately making contact with the cornerback that was trying to hold him back. Atomic was able to create enough space to run his route properly, and he used his speed to open up a five-yard pass between himself and his defender.

And now for the pass…..

When Atomic reached the thirty yard line, he looked back and saw that Thunderhoof had already gotten rid of the ball, and it was heading quickly towards him. Atomic upped his speed and looked over his shoulder again, startled when he realised that the ball was headed into the end zone. He ran a few more strides and checked on the ball one more time before he jumped, making sure that his forelegs were stretched out wide enough to catch the ball.

“Touchdown, red team!”

Atomic pulled himself up and celebrated with his teammates. One of the ponies in the school newspaper rushed over to them and took out her camera, taking several pictures.

“Right, orange team, on you come!”

Atomic threw the ball to Mr Cobalt. The teacher announced that the red team would now be playing defense whilst the orange team were offense.

“We can just play the opposite position of what we normally play; so I’ll be the middle linebacker….”

Thunderhoof assigned his teammates their new positions on defence, and he told them to ‘just stay with your pony for as long as you can’. The two teams lined on the twenty-five yard line.

All I have to do is make sure that Starburst doesn’t get ahead of me.

Atomic stood opposite Starburst and watched him carefully in case his body language gave away what type of play the green team were going to run.

He’s not giving anything away. Blaze is probably gonna throw a pass.

The ball was snapped to Blaze and the receivers set off on their routes. Atomic closely followed Starburst as he ran, making sure that there wasn’t any space between the two. Suddenly, Starburst made a U-turn and stopped. Atomic looked over his shoulder and quickly sprinted back to Starburst just as the ball was about to arrive in his hooves.

“First down, green team. Good catch, Starburst, keep it up.”

Atomic helped Starburst up and he joined his teammates, frustrated with how the play had ended.

Not only did Starburst make the catch, but sir complimented him too!

The two teams broke from their huddles and lined up on the fifty-yard line. Blaze took the snap and gave it to Pablo, who had been relatively quiet during the match. He charged through the gap between the right guard and centre, and broke a few tackles to pass the forty-yard line.

There’s no way I'm letting him score a touchdown.

Atomic abandoned Starburst and quickly ran after Pablo, who was taking advantage of the open field in front in front of him.

Come on, come on, I have to catch him!

Once he had passed the fifteen-yard mark, Pablo glanced back and judged that Atomic would not be able to catch him, and he slowed down to cross the end zone at a jogging pace.

“Touchdown, green team.”

Mr Cobalt looked at his watch and announced that the next match would be the last one.

The red team walked off the pitch as the yellow team came on, and Atomic was angry with himself. As the team sat down on the grass and waited for the match to start, Chestnut ran over to his friends.

“You guys were amazing, you’re all gonna get on the team!”

Atomic shook his head. “I most definitely wasn’t amazing.”

“Atomic, don’t worry about it, you’ll get picked. When you got the touchdown, I saw Mr Cobalt make some notes on his clipboard.”

“He was?”

Chestnut nodded, and this slightly eased Atomic’s nerves.

The last match resulted in a win for the green team due to Pablo’s thirty-yard rush, and Mr Cobalt called the colts over to gather in front of him.

“Right everypony, That was a really good showing from all of you today, you’ve definitely made this decision a lot harder for me.”

Mr Cobalt looked down at his clipboard for a few seconds.

“If I choose you for the team, you’ll get a letter in the post. You’re free to go home.”

The colts pestered the teacher with questions, but he dismissed them and told the colts who had brought the buckets out to take them back to the changing rooms. Mayday reversed his spell so that the impromptu hoofball pitch was turned back to its original state.

“Well, guess who’s gonna be camping outside next to the letterbox,” Banoffee said. Atomic was lagging behind the group slightly, and Thunderhoof slowed down to walk with him.

“I just hope I can be a receiver on the team, Stargaze is never gonna put me on the starting lineup,” Atomic said.

“We'll both make it, trust me, and when you get that letter in the post, I’ll be there to say I told you so.”

The colts laughed and they joined the rest of their friends.

“Watch, we’re all gonna make it,” one of Pablo’s friends said, but Pablo shook his head.

“I wouldn’t be so sure about those lot,” he said, pointing to Atomic, Thunderhoof and the others.

“Just ignore him,” Blaze whispered, glaring at Pablo.

The colts entered the changing room and charged out of their PE kits.

“Oh, one more thing!”

The changing room fell silent as Mr Cobalt cleared his throat.

“Our first training session will be next Thursday. If you’re on the team, you’ll be there unless you have a valid reason, or I’ll give your place up.”

“And I thought Coach Stargaze was strict,” Atomic remarked.

Once they had got changed, the colts left the changing room.

“Hey, so what happened to you?” Moon Dust asked, suddenly breaking the silence.

Atomic thought silently for a few moments, before sighing. “It's a really long story, I’ll tell you everything tomorrow lunchtime, I promise.”

When they reached the gates, the colts said their goodbyes and headed off on their separate ways home.

“Hey, is that your mom?”

Atomic looked to the pavement opposite the school gates, and saw his mother waiting there with a stern look on her face.

“I should’ve known this would happen.”

When the colts crossed the road and reached Tea Rose, the mare looked at Atomic quietly.

“Did you get on the team?”

“Don’t know yet, he’s gonna send a letter home if I do.”

The three of them walked home slowly, Tea Rose walking ahead of the colts, who were talking sporadically on the journey.

“Hey, what’s this?”

Atomic bent down and picked up the poster, showing it to his best friend.

“We printed it off at school and put that up, to help the search,” Thunderhoof explained.

“You guys did that?”

“Why wouldn’t we, it’s what friends do.”

Atomic smiled at Thunderhoof. When they reached Thunderhoof’s house, Atomic spotted a letter lying in his front porch.

“Thunder, you’ve got a letter!”

Thunderhoof galloped over to the letter and levitated it up.

“It just says my name on the front.”

Thunderhoof carefully opened the envelope and pulled the letter out, reading it quietly.

“I got on the team!”

Atomic ran over to his friend and read the letter.

Congratulations Thunderhoof, you're on the team. Make sure you come early to our first session next Friday, I am going to decide between you and Blaze who the starting quarterback will be.

Mr Cobalt

Atomic high-fived his friend. “I told you you were gonna get in, I told you!”

Thunderhoof folded the letter up. “He made me the starting quarterback as well, I thought I would be the backup.”

“You are way too hard on yourself Thunder, and you know it.”

Atomic and Thunderhoof agreed to meet up at five o’clock once Atomic had caught up with the work he had missed. As Thunderhoof went inside, Atomic followed his mother into their house.

As Tea Rose closed the door behind her, Pumpkin came out of the living room. “Atomic, where did you run off to?”

“Had to go to school otherwise I would’ve missed the tryouts.”

“And did you get on the team?”

Atomic shrugged his shoulders. “No idea, my teacher’s gonna send a letter home if I do.”

Atomic went up to his room and took his PE kit out to be washed by his mom. He dropped his saddlebag next to his wardrobe and lay down on his bed.

I thought that I was never gonna come home again.

I’m never taking anything for granted again.

Atomic rubbed his stomach, not surprised to feel that the large scab on his stomach had been reduced to a thin scar. He got out of his bed and went to the bathroom, standing on the edges of the bath to check his stomach in the mirror.

Is this gonna be here forever?

Atomic slowly got down from the bath and went back to his room.

“Atomic, there’s a letter for you!”

Atomic rushed downstairs and saw a large parcel waiting for him on the welcome mat.

What the hay?! Thunderhoof only got a letter, not an entire parcel!

Atomic picked up the parcel just as his mother came out of the kitchen.

“That’s just the schoolwork you missed,” she explained.

Atomic sighed and took the parcel upstairs to his room, putting it down on his bed before tearing it open. Inside the parcel were a few books and lots of papers, which Atomic assumed was homework that he had missed. He began to sort the papers into their different subjects, prioritising the longer ones over the shorter ones.

Wait, what’s this?

At the bottom of the parcel, underneath all of the books, lay a neatly folded piece of paper. Atomic pulled it out, opened the paper up and began to read it's contents.

Atomic, on behalf of all of the staff here, I’d like to say that we are all so relieved that you are back and doing well. Your teachers have taken the time to provide you with the materials you need to catch up with what you’ve missed, but if it you have any problems with the work, do not hesitate to see your teachers as soon as possible. Could you also come and see me tomorrow morning before homeroom?

Miss Bellflower.

Atomic put the letter on his bed and moved his homework and books onto his desk, deciding that the sooner he got started, the sooner he could go outside to play with Thunderhoof.

“I’m coming, I’m coming!”

Atomic moved back from the door and waited for it to open.

“It’s nearly six, and my mom said that we can only be out for an hour,” Atomic announced.

Thunderhoof stepped out and levitated his hoofball, dropping it into Atomic’s outstretched hoof.

“I wanna see how far I can throw the ball, so go back as far as possible.”

Atomic gave the ball back and galloped down the road until there was a sixty yard gap between him and Thunderhoof.

“Is this far enough?”

“Wow, that’s really far…….”

Thunderhoof drew his arm back and threw the ball. Atomic quickly realised that the ball was going to come up short and he dashed forward, looking up at the ball every few seconds.

Thunderhoof shook his head as Atomic caught the ball. “I knew that was too far.”

“I still caught it though, so it doesn’t matter.”

“Yeah, but what if Blaze can throw the ball further than me, and Sir makes him the starter?!”

Atomic walked back to Thunderhoof and tossed the ball back to him.

If I were Mr Cobalt, who would I pick for the starting quarterback job?

“We should work on what Blaze is good at, that way when he tests you, you can do what Blaze can do, if not better.”

Thunderhoof thought about the suggestion for a few moments, before agreeing with Atomic.

“Okay, so Blaze was really good at…. Running with the ball and throwing it when defenders were chasing after him.”

Thunderhoof closed his eyes and his horn was surrounded by a green magical aura. On the road in front of them, three buckets were formed in mid-air, and Thunderhoof cast a spell to keep them in the air without needing to use his magic.

“Somepony’s improved with their magic,” Atomic remarked.

Atomic stood in front of Thunderhoof and the two colts crouched.

“Green 80, green 80, hut!”

Thunderhoof picked up the ball and immediately scrambled to his right, his faster friend launching from his starting spot and trying to rip the ball out of Thunderhoof’s grip. Thunderhoof looked up momentarily at the three buckets and instinctively aimed for the middle one, releasing the ball before Atomic tackled him.

The ball flew wildly in the air, spinning horizontally. Thunderhoof had put the right amount of power behind it but his aim was badly off, and the ball only managed to slightly graze the middle bucket before it landed onto the road.

Atomic helped his friend up. “You were pretty close.”

Thunderhoof sighed loudly. “Yeah, but ‘pretty close’ won’t be good enough.”

“Okay then, we'll just keep doing it until you get the ball in all of the buckets, and you will.”

It took Thunderhoof several tries to get the ball into all three buckets, his faster friend being able to get to him before he could throw the ball for most of his attempts, but Thunderhoof got rid of the buckets and levitated the ball over to himself, catching his breath.

“Hopefully, he doesn’t...make us do that.”

“Hey, isn't that the postmare?!”

The local post mare strolled down the road, tossing letters onto the houses’ front doorsteps. Atomic waited for her to pass the house next to Thunderhoof’s before running to her.

“Excuse me, do you have a letter for me?”

Atomic told the post mare his name and she looked through her bag, eventually pulling out a white envelope with his name written on the front.

“My name’s in a different colour to yours, what if it's not about the team?”

Thunderhoof stood next to Atomic and watched him open the envelope.

“Yes, I’m on the team!”

Atomic high-fived his friends and read the letter out loud.

“Congratulations Atomic on making the team. I was very impressed with your performance in the tryouts and I'm expecting you to be great for the team this season. Don't forget that training is every Friday after school.”

Atomic knocked on his door and when his mother opened it, he told her the good news.

“That's brilliant Atomic, well done!”
Tea Rose hugged her son tightly and told him that he had half an hour left before he had to come inside.

“Hey, Atomic!”

The colts living in Mayfield Avenue that Atomic and Thunderhoof played with came rushing down the pavement towards him.

“We heard loads of ponies saying that you were found. Where the hay were you?!”

Atomic whistled loudly and the colts went quiet.

“Guys, sit down and I’ll tell you everything that happened.”

The colts all sat down on Atomic’s front porch.

“One of the care workers came to get me from the room and took me downstairs to the dining room….”

Thunderhoof and the others had been enthralled in Atomic’s recount of his foalnapping ordeal, and Atomic was about to introduce Amber to the story, when he suddenly remembered.

Amber! I don't even know where she is!

Atomic made a note to write to the police station later to find out where Amber had been taken, before continuing the story. Tea Rose opened the front door to tell Atomic that his time was up.

“And then I came home with Mom and Dad- oh, hey Mom.”

Atomic got up from the front porch and told his mother that he would be coming inside in a bit.

The colts said goodbye to Atomic and Thunderhoof, before heading off to their homes.

“Do you know where Amber is right now?” Thunderhoof asked as he got up.

“I'm gonna write to the police station, they should know where she is,” Atomic replied.

Atomic turned around and knocked on his front door, before suddenly turning back to call Thunderhoof.

“Yeah, what is it?”

“You should come inside, I'm pretty sure there’s loads of brownies left over from the bake sale.”

“Okay, but I need to tell my mom first.”

Thunderhoof re-emerged from his house nearly two minutes later, and followed Atomic into his friend’s house.

“Mom, are there any brownies left?”

“Let me finish making dinner and then I’ll check!” Tea Rose shouted from the kitchen.

The colts went upstairs to Atomic’s room, and Thunderhoof sat on Atomic’s bed as the door was closed.

“So Amber was the one who saved you from that foal’s home?”

Atomic sat at his desk and pulled out a plain piece of paper. “Yep, and now I have no idea where she is.”

Atomic quickly scribbled out a letter addressed to the West Fillydelphia Police Department, and folded it carefully in half when he was done. He reached under his desk for the pile of envelopes (his mother had given them to him to send his annual Hearth’s Warming cards to friends and family). He carefully put the letter inside the envelope and pushed it to the back of his desk, telling Thunderhoof that he would put the letter in the mailbox tomorrow morning before school.

“Atomic, where are you?”

“I’m up here Dad!”

Syracuse came into the bedroom and greeted Thunderhoof before embracing Atomic.

Syracuse opened his saddlebag. “I have a little surprise for you.”

The stallion looked through his saddlebag, before taking out three thick pieces of paper, and he put them down on the bed.

“Are those-”

“Three tickets to the Dragons’ last home game next week, yep.”

“Wait, who are they for?”

“There’s one for you, one for Thunderhoof, and the last one is for whichever one of your friends you want to come.”

Thunderhoof picked up one of the tickets and grinned.

“I actually get to see the Dragons live! Live! Like, they’re gonna be playing on the pitch and I’m gonna watch them in real life!”

“Wait Dad, what about you?” Atomic asked.

“I’ve already got a ticket, my editor wants me to write a piece on the Dragons’ season so he paid for my one.”

“Atomic, who should come with us?”

“I have no idea, let’s decide at school tomorrow.”

Thunderhoof looked out of the window and was alarmed to see that the sun had already set.

“Atomic, I gotta go, my mom’s gonna be wondering where I am.”

“See you tomm-”

Thunderhoof had already sprinted down the stairs and the front door slammed loudly.

“Atomic, come and get your dinner before it gets cold.”

Atomic followed his father downstairs to the dining room, where Tea Rose and Pumpkin were putting dinner plates onto the table.

Atomic sat down and stared at the unfamiliar meal on his plate. “What’s this?”

“Cheese and potato pie, I thought I’d switch things up today.”

“It can’t be too bad then,” Atomic mumbles, before picking up his knife and fork, cutting out some pie, and putting it into his mouth.

“This is amazing, Rose!” Pumpkin exclaimed, and Atomic and Syracuse nodded.

“Maybe I should make that for the party tomorrow.”

“What party?” Atomic asked.

“Well, the neighbours think it would be nice to have a little street party tomorrow night, to celebrate your return. Is that alright with you?”

“Oh, okay, I’m cool with that.”

When Atomic finished his dinner, he put his plate in to the kitchen sink and came back to the living room to turn on the radio, eager to catch up with the latest EHL news.

“And we’re getting reports from Detrot that Nick Foals has just broken the Dragons’ reception record with his 133rd catch of the season!”

“That’s right, and whilst the Dragons have cooled down from the hot start they had earlier this season, they are taking care of business against the Detrot Rams.”

“The Dragons will need a win today and next week to enter the playoffs as the third seed, so Dragons fans everywhere will be hoping for two straight wins to end the season.”

Atomic listened to the Rams-Dragons match for the next hour, before his mother reminded him that he had to go to sleep.

After brushing his teeth, Atomic went to his room and turned the light off before getting into bed.

Who should I give the third ticket to?

There’s Chestnut, who’s already been to the Dragons’ first game of the season.

Or I could give it to one of my new friends, none of them have ever seen the Dragons live.

Atomic yawned loudly and decided that he would worry about the third ticket tomorrow. He turned over and closed his eyes, relieved that he was home safe and sound.

BLITZ

View Online

SEVERAL ARRESTS MADE AT FILLYDELPHIA DRUG BASE

Last night, Fillydelphia Police Department’s Special Law Enforcement Unit (SLEU) responded to an anonymous tip and they were able to arrest multiple leading figures of the city’s criminal underworld. It's believed that these ponies were involved in the foalnapping of 10 year-old Atomic Tangerine. We will have more news on this story when we receive it.

“Atomic Tangerine.”

“Here, Ms Ivory.”

The foals in Ms Ivory’s homeroom were quietly either getting revision done or completing their homework as Ms Ivory did the register. Atomic was usually one of the pupils desperately trying to finish homework, but he managed to surprise himself and catch up with all of his schoolwork over the weekend, and he watched Thunderhoof finish off his Maths homework.

“I swear Mr Topaz is not allowed to give us this much homework, it's not fair,” Thunderhoof grumbled as he answered the final question.

“Did Mr Cobalt make you the starting quarterback?” Atomic asked, remembering that Thunderhoof had gone early in school as per their teacher’s instructions.

“No idea, he said he’ll tell us in training.”

Ms Ivory ticked off the last name on the register and sent a student to take the register to the main reception. She instructed the pupils to take out their progress diaries and turn to the last page that they had filled in.

“If there have been any updates to your goals, then you are to write them down.”

Atomic summarised Friday’s tryouts and wrote that he had achieved becoming the starting receiver for the school’s hoofball team. Suddenly, he realised that he was now playing for two hoofball teams.

Do i have to choose between the Eagles and Sycamore?

Ms Iory led the class through an activity for the rest of homeroom, distracting Atomic from what would be a big decision. When homeroom ended, he left his bag underneath his desk (since he had Maths first period) and left the classroom to line up outside.

“Have fun in Maths,” he said to Thunderhoof, who only groaned in response. Ms Ivory told the students waiting outside that she needed to get something from the Maths staffroom, and she left the door unlocked to let the foals in.

“Atomic, were you really missing?!”

Atomic had been expecting more questions about where he had been, and whilst he had been surprised that not a lot of ponies had asked him too many questions, he knew that his classmates wouldn’t be satisfied until he gave them an answer.

“I was-”

Ms Ivory closed the door loudly behind her and picked up the chalk on her desk.

“For your starter task, you are going to complete these questions.”

Atomic watched his friends as he finished his retelling of his ordeal. Chestnut had been the most vocal with his reactions, gasping loudly more than once throughout, whilst the others mainly remained silent.

“Do you know what they put in you?” Maverick asked.

“I'm pretty sure it was drugs, but I'm not certain,” Atomic replied.

“Why don’t you come and say that to my face?!”

“FIGHT! FIGHT!”

Atomic and the others turned around and saw the gathering crowd in the middle of the field around what looked like two fillies.

“A fight! I haven’t seen one in ages!”

Maverick, Moon Dust, Jackpot and Spade Ace got their belongings and galloped to the middle of the field, barging through the others to get a better view. The younger colts quickly followed and as Atomic saw hooves being thrown, he recognised one of the voices.

Is that-

Teachers ran onto the field and barged through the crowd, pulling the fillies apart.

“GET OFF ME, I’M GONNA BUCKING-!”

One of the fillies had clearly come off worse in the physical confrontation, but it was the other filly who was still eager to throw hooves, and it took three teachers to subdue her.

By this point, Atomic, Thunderhoof and Banoffee were standing the closest to the front, which gave them a clear view of going on, and it didn’t take long for Atomic to recognise the filly being held down by multiple teachers.
“Amber!”

Amber looked up and gasped. Atomic tried to come closer, but he was pushed back by a teacher, and he watched the fillies being taken away.

“Is that the filly you were talking about?!” Thunderhoof asked, watching the events with wide eyes.

Atomic watched Amber being dragged away. “Yep, that’s her.”

The crowd quickly dispersed as instructed, and the others joined Atomic and Thunderhoof.

“Did you see what she did to that other filly?! She was bleeding so loudly!” Maverick exclaimed.

The colts returned to the back of the field and talked about the Dragons for the last five minutes of lunch.

“Hey, did you guys finish that practise test?” Moon Dust asked as the bell rang.

“What practice test?!” Maverick, Jackpot and Spade Ace cried, and Moon Dust sighed loudly.

“See you tomorrow.”

Maverick, Spade Ace and Jackpot sprinted after Moon Dust, bombarding with questions about the practise test.

“Ugh, Science,” Banoffee announced as he checked his timetable, and he quickly said goodbye and left with Stormcaller and Starburst, leaving Atomic, Thunderhoof, Chestnut, Blaze, Mustang and Pacific Sail to go to their PE lesson.

“Did everypony get onto the team?” Atomic asked, and everypony nodded.

“Can't wait to play against the other schools,” Pacific said, and the others agreed.

“Oh, that reminds me, I’m gonna tell the Buccaneers that I'm leaving,” Thunderhoof announced.

“Hurry up, or you'll be doing the bleep test!”

Traumatic memories of the gruelling fitness test they had endured at the start of term made the colts sprint to join their classmates, and they were to join the back of the queue just before Mr Cobalt began the register.

“Look guys, Thunderhoof’s mommy came back!”

Pablo and his friends laughed amongst themselves as they passed Atomic and Thunderhoof. Thunderhoof simply glared at Pablo and pointed at his eye, reminding Pablo that the last time he had provoked Thunderhoof had not ended well for him. Pablo however, did not see the gesture and had returned to talking to his friends.

One of Pablo’s friends had accidentally spilt his water over his bag, and he cringed under Pablo’s fierce glare.

“You're such an idiot, now half of my books are wet!”

Atomic initially kept quiet, believing that Pablo wasn't worth it, but as he went past him to get changed, he couldn't help making a slight dig.

“They’re a downgrade from Blaze and Mustang if you ask me.”

Atomic smirked and joined his friends.

“I have an announcement!”

Mr Cobalt cleared his throat loudly and the colts finally fell silent.

“Everypony on the hoofball team, training is today after school,” the teacher announced before disappearing.

“I'm supposed to train with the Buccaneers today,” Thunderhoof said as he pulled his shirt down over his head.

“You can just tell them next week, can’t you?” Chestnut said.

“Oh yeah.”

“Right Thunderhoof, lead the warm up whilst I go and get the bibs.”

Mr Cobalt had been able to spread the message regarding the hoofball to all of the teachers and all 33 colts had shown up to the field on time.

Thunderhoof and Blaze still had no idea which one of them was going to be the team’s starting quarterback, but Thunderhoof wanted to make sure he did everything he could to convince their coach and teacher that he was the right pony for the job, starting by taking charge of the team.

“Alright everypony, three laps of the field, lets go! And no cutting corners!”

Thunderhoof led the team around the field, staying at the front and looking back every few seconds to make sure that his teammates were keeping up and not cutting corners. The occasional attempt to cut a corner was immediately stopped by Thunderhoof’s pointed stares at the perpetrators, and the rest of the run went smoothly.

When the three laps were completed, Thunderhoof got the team to form a large circle and he led them through some stretches, remembering to tell his teammates to hold each one for ten seconds as they did in every PE lesson.

Mr Cobalt came onto the field, holding two buckets in his mouth. He put them down just as the team concluded a stretch. “Thunderhoof, has everypony stretched?”

Thunderhoof nodded, and Mr Cobalt told the team to gather in front of him.

“Okay guys, before we get started with training, there’s something I need to tell you.”

Mr Cobalt reached into the small pouch he was wearing, and he took out a piece of paper.

“I’ve spoken to the board in charge of all the elementary hoofball teams, and they’ve said that we have our first match this week.”

“What?!”

“I know, it's really soon, but there’s nothing we can do about it. We’re gonna be playing the Buccaneers this Friday here after school, and I’m gonna tell you who’s gonna be playing for this match. This doesn’t make this final though, I could still swap a few of you out or in if it's what’s best for the team. On defense, we’re gonna have…...”

Mr Cobalt read out the starting defenders, including Maverick, Moon Dust, Jackpot and Banoffee’s names.

“What? I’m gonna be on the bench?”

Spade Ace muttered under his breath and shook his head. Mr Cobalt turned the paper over and began to read out the names of the ponies starting on offense.

“.......Pablo and Stormcaller at running back, Atomic and Starburst at wide receiver, Pacific Sail and Mayday at tight end, and Thunderhoof as the quarterback.”

“Well done Thunder, you’re gonna do amazing against the Bucs,” Blaze said, and Thunderhoof smiled at him.

“They’re not gonna be able to stop us,” Atomic said to Starburst, and they grinned at each other.

Mr Cobalt also called out who would be on the special team, informing Starburst and Pablo that they would be the punt returner and kick returner respectively. Mustang and Spade Ace were both disappointed that they wouldn’t be starting the team’s first match, and the others tried to console them. Blaze on the other hand, had taken the news much better and he was currently trying to lift up Mustang and Spade Ace’s spirits on the sidelines.

“Right, let’s not waste any more time and get started with the first drill; 11 on 11.”

Mr Cobalt split the colts starting on Friday into two groups of twenty-two ponies (eleven on offense and defense respectively for both groups). He chose Thunderhoof’s group to demonstrate and like last time, Mayday was called upon to use his magic to create a hoofball pitch.

“At the end, I’m gonna ask him how to do that spell,” Thunderhoof muttered to himself, before focusing on the drill again.

Mr Cobalt told the first group the rules of the drill, stressing that Thunderhoof wasn't allowed to hold the ball for too long. He called Thunderhoof over and instructed him to run a short pass play, allowing him to decide what routes the receivers and tight end should run .

Thunderhoof relayed the information to his teammates, and he quickly decided to get Atomic to run a curl route, Starburst and Pacific Sail had slant routes to run and Stormcaller would run a flat route as an extra passing option in case the other three weren’t open.

The two teams lined up on the forty-yard line and Thunderhoof waited five yards behind his center.

“Hut, hut!”

Atomic and Starburst immediately set off on their respective routes, whilst Pacific pushed a linebacker off him before running across the field. Thunderhoof had enough protection and he threw a ten yard pass to Atomic, who despite being double-covered, was able to catch the ball.

“Excellent Atomic, that’s the type of catch we need on Friday!”

Atomic threw the ball to Thunderhoof, and the offense had a first down at the fifty yard line. To keep the defense guessing, Thunderhoof decided to try and trick the defense and the two teams lined up on the scrimmage line.

The ball was snapped and Thunderhoof pretended to reach up high to try and catch the ball. However, the ball had actually been snapped to Stormcaller (who had lined up behind one of the guards), and he burst through the gap behind the two guards for a gain of twelve yards.

The offense gathered around Thunderhoof.

“Alright guys, that was great, but now we’re gonna go for it.”

Before the ball was snapped, Atomic lined up next to Starburst on the far right of the scrimmage line. When Thunderhoof caught the snap and dropped back, Starburst sprinted to his left in a diagonal line whilst Atomic ran across the scrimmage line and made a sharp left turn, sprinting straight ahead.

Thunderhoof surveyed all of his passing options, and he spotted a safety lagging behind Starburst. The quarterback threw the long pass just before he was brought down by Maverick.

Starburst caught the ball at the twenty yard line and with the help of Atomic and Pacific’s blocking, he had a fairly easy route to the end zone.

“Alright, both teams come off.”

The colts waiting on the sidelines went onto the pitch as the first groups went off. The next offense started on their forty-yard line and it quickly became clear that Pablo was the best player on the pitch, as he was able to break tackles and move the offense down the pitch. His last run had given his group a first and goal at the three yard line.

Blaze quickly gave the ball to Pablo and he charged through the middle for the touchdown.

Mr Cobalt blew his whistle and announced that he was going to work with the defense. He gave Thunderhoof a ball and told him to make sure that the offensive players didn’t cause any trouble.

“Thunder, you played for them, tell us what the Buccaneers are like,” an offensive lineman said.

“Let’s see…...their defense is definitely strong, especially their linebackers, they always make plays…..but their offense is good as well, and Alabaster, he’s gonna be hard to stop.”

“What’s he like?”

“He can throw the ball really well, but he’s really fast as well, so he can run with the ball.”

“So they’re overall really good,” Stormcaller concluded, and Thunderhoof nodded.

“Okay, Sir said we should do something productive.”

Thunderhoof called one of the kickers over and together, they decided to help the special team and the kicker with some field goal drills. Thunderhoof and two other unicorns used their magic to create a goal, and Thunderhoof made himself the placeholder of the ball.

The field goal drill took place for twenty minutes, before Mr Cobalt instructed everypony to gather on the pitch and he decided that the starting offense and defence should play a match, to get more practise playing together.

“Thunderhoof, come over here for a second.”

The two waited on the pitch as Mr Cobalt and Thunderhoof spoke to each other, before Thunderhoof ran onto the pitch.

“Defense, listen up. Since Thunderhoof knows the most about our opponents, he’s gonna play like the Buccaneers’ starting quarterback. This is your opportunity to get used to how Alabaster plays, so no messing around.”

Thunderhoof told his teammates what play they were going to run, and the two teams met on the line of scrimmage at the offense’s twenty five-yard line.

Mr Cobalt had been working with the defensive line on their rushing, and clear signs of improvement could already be seen as Maverick and Spade Ace quickly burst through the offensive line within a few seconds. Thunderhoof knew that one of Alabaster’s strengths was making throws on the move, and so he scrambled to his right, waiting to spot an open teammate.

Atomic and Starburst were both being covered by the defensive backs, and Pacific Sail was waiting in the middle of the field, covered by two linebackers. Maverick and Moon Dust were only a few yards away from Thunderhoof now, and as they grabbed his hips, he got rid of the ball.

Thunderhoof had thrown the ball straight to the hooves of the waiting linebacker, who quickly ran with the ball. The defense immediately switched roles from stopping the offense to protecting the ball, and their blocking enabled the linebacker to take the ball thirty yards for a pick six.

Thunderhoof had fallen hard when he was hit by Maverick and Moon Dust, and he was helped up by his teammates. He muttered to himself as the defense celebrated in the end zone.

“Brilliant work defense, that’s exactly what I want you to do on Friday!”

Mr Cobalt told the offense that they would start with the ball at the twenty-five yard line again. Thunderhoof wanted to redeem himself for the interception, and so he called a short pass play. When the center snapped the ball to him, Thunderhoof quickly threw the ball to a sprinting Stormcaller, but the ball was underthrown and it landed in front of the running back.

“Come on Thunderhoof, I know you can throw it better than that,” Mr Cobalt called out.

On the next play, Thunderhoof threw a short pass to Atomic, but he was only able to add three yards to the four-yard pass before being tackled.

Mr Cobalt watched Thunderhoof shake his head and call his team over, and the teacher suddenly had an idea, blowing his whistle loudly.

“Blaze, swap places with Thunderhoof.”

Thunderhoof looked up in shock, not expecting to be switched out of a drill. Nevertheless, he made his way off the pitch and gave the ball to Blaze.

Blaze’s impact on the offense was instantaneous; he was able to use his hooves to escape sacks and his long passes cut through the secondary, which meant that after only a few plays, Blaze had brought the offense to a first-and-goal at the nine-yard line.

As much as Thunderhoof didn’t want to admit it, Blaze was doing a much better job at imitating Alabaster’s play style, and he decided that he would get Atomic to help him improve his passing whilst on the move after training.

The ball was snapped low to Blaze, and he had to bend down to pick up the ball. He quickly dropped back and looked up to see that once again, Maverick had broken through the offensive line. Blaze quickly dropped back and seeing that there was lots of space to his right, he scrambled towards the sideline.

Atomic was close to reaching the edge of the end zone, and he whipped his head back to see if the ball was coming his way. When he saw Blaze was trying to avoid the sack, he made a left turn and ran across the end zone, making it easier for Blaze to throw him the ball if he chose to do so.

Blaze was coming close to going out of bounds. Maverick had stumbled whilst pursuing him, and this gave Blaze a few seconds to throw an uncontested pass, which he knew he had to make. He saw that Atomic was the most open receiver and he threw the ball.

“Seven points to the offense! Right, let’s get the special team on to attempt the extra attempt.”

Some of the players stayed on the field whilst others came off for the rest of the special team. Atomic gave the ball to the kicker and came off the pitch.

As Mayday used his magic to create a goal, Mr Cobalt wrote a reminder in his notebook to speak to the principal about getting goals before Friday’s match.

The kicker took a few steps back and turned his back to the goal, waiting for the snap. The ball was snapped and the holder held the hoofball vertically. The kicker raised his hind legs and bucked the ball through the uprights for the extra point.

The rest of training consisted of Mr Cobalt leading the team through different drills that covered different aspects of the game in order to prepare the team for the match as best as possible. At five o’clock, Mr Cobalt blew his whistle and the colts gathered in front of him.
“Right everypony, that was a good session, but we got a lot of work to do this season if we want to compete with the best, okay? Oh, that reminds me.”

Mr Cobalt walked over to the the buckets that were behind him and he brought them over, placing them down in front of the colts.

“These are your jerseys and helmets,” he said, pointing to the buckets. “Everypony is only going to get one choice of number, so choose wisely.”

Atomic already knew that Thunderhoof would want to take number 12, so he began thinking of what number he wanted to wear. His favourite player Nick Foals wore number 17, but Atomic’s birthday number was 27, and he struggled choosing between the two.

“Starburst, what number?”

“Er…. 17, please.”

Now I have no choice but to take 27.

One by one, the jersey numbers were split between the colts, and Atomic and Thunderhoof were the last ponies to choose.

“Okay Atomic, what’s your number?”

“27.”

Mr Cobalt wrote Atomic’s name next to 27, and told the colts that he would get their names printed on the jerseys before Friday’s match.

Atomic helped carry one of the buckets into the changing rooms, and he put his bucket down inside the changing room.

“Sir, what time does the match start?”

“Four thirty, so I want everypony on the field as soon as school ends,” Mr Cobalt replied.

As Atomic got changed out of his PE kit, he noticed that Thunderhoof was quiet.

“Thunder, what’s wrong?”

Thunderhoof sat down on the bench as he folded his shirt.

“How bad was I in training?”

“Bad? You were great, why else do you think you’re starting on Friday?”

Thunderhoof put his shirt into his saddlebag and sighed. “It's just, when Sir told me to play like Alabaster does…...you know what happened. What if he decides I’m not good enough to start?”

Blaze was actually really good in training, and Sir did say that the starting lineup could be changed at any moment.

What do I say?

When Atomic didn’t reply right away, Thunderhoof sighed again.

“I guess I better get used to being on the bench.”

“.......Okay, so maybe Blaze might start over you in some matches. That doesn’t mean you’re just gonna accept it, are you? If you want to be the only option to start as quarterback, then you’re gonna have to work on your game, and turn your weaknesses into strengths.”

Thunderhoof considered what Atomic said, before nodding and asking Atomic if he could help him with throwing the ball whilst moving.

As they made their way through the school and to the front gates, Atomic suddenly spotted Miss Bellflower speaking to a familiar pony.

“I know it's your first day here, so I’m not punishing you too harshly. But this doesn't mean that you’ll get the same treatment if you do this again. I don’t want to see you in my office for behaviour issues, do you understand?”

“Yes, Miss.”

The teacher went back inside her office and Amber spotted Atomic staring at her.

“Nice to see you too.”

Amber walked over to the colts. “She’s actually so annoying, is that what you have to deal with?”

Atomic nodded, and the conversation fell silent.

“Er, Thunder, this is Amber, the filly that I told you about.”

Thunderhoof stuck out a hoof. “Nice to meet you, Amber.”

The two shook hooves and Amber walked with them.

“Your school’s actually pretty big. Well, it's a lot bigger than my last one,” Amber remarked.

“How come you got sent here?” Atomic asked.

“They found a foal’s home for me a few miles away from here. I was supposed to go to Lakefield, but they didn’t have any space so I’m coming here now.”

“So how did you get into a fight on your first day?” Thunderhoof asked, and Amber breathed out slowly.

“My homeroom teacher asked me to tell the class something about myself, and the only thing I could think of was that I love the Dragons. This filly then shouted out that I looked like I hadn’t washed in ages and that I must live in a foal’s home.”

Atomic and Thunderhoof winced.

“At lunch, she kept following me around, and….she got what she deserved.”

The three foals passed through the school gates and Amber told them that her care worker was coming to pick her up, so she would wait outside the gates for the carriage.

“Imagine getting into a fight on your first day,” Thunderhoof said.

“I bet the teachers already hate her,” Atomic added.

The colts stopped outside the small off-license shop and went inside to get their usual EHL trading cards.

“Atomic, is that you?!”

The pony working at the till was an elderly mare and she stared at Atomic.

“Oh my goodness, you’re safe!”

The shopkeeper came out and hugged Atomic tightly.

“When I heard about you on the news, I was so scared!”

Atomic hesitantly returned the hug.

The mare ended the hug and saw that Thunderhoof had picked up a few packs of EHL cards.

“You know what, you can have the cards for free.”

“Really?!”

“Yes, really!”

Atomic took two more packs and put them into his bag as Thunderhoof thanked the shopkeeper.

“You’re welcome. Stay safe!”

Thunderhoof put his packs into his saddlebag. “That was really nice of her, wasn’t it?”

Atomic nodded and took out an unopened pack from his bag.

“Hopefully I get a good player at least…..woah!”

Atomic’s pack contained five cards and at the top, was a platinum version of the Dragons’ starting quarterback.

Thunderhoof looked over and gasped.

“You got Cartwheel! That’s not fair!”

Atomic looked through the other cards (which were two silvers and a gold), and put them back inside his bag.

“Now I have two platinum Dragons players!”

“The Dragons’ season finale. Who will triumph, and who will be defeated?”

The large billboard was playing the advertisement, warning fans that tickets were almost sold out. Atomic and Thunderhoof watched the rest of the advert, and Atomic suddenly Weber’s What his father had given him last night.

“Crap, who am I supposed to give the third ticket to?”

Thunderhoof shrugged his shoulders, advising Atomic that they should get home quickly before his parents started to worry.

The colts walked down the hoofpath leading to their road, and in the distance, Atomic thought that he could hear music.

“Thunder, can you hear that?”

Thunderhoof stopped and listened.

“Yeah, I can hear it. Is there a party going on or something?”

The colts reached the end of the path and turned onto their road.

“What the-”

Mayfield Avenue had been transformed. The houses were covered with decorations and the street was lined with several white tables, covered with food. Atomic looked up and saw that a banner saying “WELCOME HOME ATOMIC!” had been hung between two lamp posts. A filly playing with a doll saw Atomic and pulled her mom’s leg.

“Mommy, he’s here!”

The mother turned around and gasped.

“Everypony, he’s here!”

The ponies quickly stopped their conversations.

“SURPRISE!”

STRONG I

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“Did you really think we weren’t gonna celebrate?!”

The sun was close to setting but the party on Mayfield Avenue was still going strong. All of the snacks that had been put out were finished in a matter of minutes, and parents were more relaxed with their children, allowing them to stay up for a while longer. The music (a playlist put together by one of the residents) was blaring from speakers controlled by the hired DJ, and the atmosphere was warm, everypony enjoying themselves. Atomic had spent most of the party hanging out with Thunderhoof and the other foals his age, and they were currently passing the ball to each other in a circle.

Thunderhoof threw the ball to Atomic, who caught it and passed it onto the pony opposite him.

“I just never thought I’d have a party dedicated to me,” he pondered.

“Everypony, can I have your attention for a moment please?”

Tea Rose tapped the microphone again and gradually the ponies fell silent, and all eyes were on her. Syracuse, who was standing a little behind his wife, gestured to Atomic that he join them at the front.

“I would just like to thank everypony who helped in the search for Atomic,” Tea Rose paused whilst the ponies applauded, before continuing.

“If it wasn’t for you, then...then…”

Tears began to cloud Tea Rose’s vision, and she stopped to wipe her eyes. Syracuse hugged her and she gave the microphone to him, Pumpkin quickly comforting her sister.

“What Rose and I want to say is that we don’t how we would’ve coped without Atomic in our lives, and it’s thanks to you that he’s home safe and sound. We will forever be in your gratitude, and we wouldn’t want to live anywhere else in Equestria. Thank you.”

Loud cheers erupted, and Syracuse mumbled a quiet thank you. Atomic wet back to his friends. The DJ announced that he was taking requests, and the foals began shouting out the names of their favourite songs.

“Alright, the ponies have spoken and the first song will be…… Good Times by Sapphire Shores!”

The fillies cheered and the colts groaned. A few seconds later, the speakers blared out the electronic track, and the fillies quickly taking up the space in the middle of the road as they danced. Some of the adults also joined in, with Pumpkin’s voice being the loudest as everypony joined in with the song.

“And all I wanna do, before the night is through, is share these good times with you…”

Atomic turned to throw the ball back to Thunderhoof, but was shocked to see that he was mumbling the lyrics and slightly nodding his head.

“Thunder, what are you doing?”

Thunderhoof let out a small gasp as he looked up, and he quickly tried to compose himself.

“I was-was doing, nothing!”

“Are you a Sapphire Shores fan?!”

“No! What the hay, she’s so annoying!”

“Okay, if you say so.”

Atomic walked away and joined the other colts, watching Thunderhoof out of the corner of his eye.

When he was sure that nopony was watching him, Thunderhoof dropped the ball and wandered closer to the dancing fillies, singing along as the song reached the beat drop.

“Woah!”

Thunderhoof was dragged into the crowd, and he found himself in the middle of everypony.

Atomic was talking to his father about the Dragons when he realised that Thunderhoof had disappeared, and he asked the other foals if they had seen him.

“Don’t worry about Thunderhoof, he’s having a good time,” Tea Rose said with a laugh, pointing to Thunderhoof, who was happily dancing with the others.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

The Eagles were well into their training session, which today focused on endurance. The team had been put through several physical drills to improve their fitness, and a brief break in between drills had finally given Helios a chance to check up on Atomic.

“When I saw your face on the front of the newspaper, I thought you’d won some science quiz or something.”

“Imagine that!”

The two laughed quietly, before falling silent as Coach Bouncer came back with two receivers.

“This is the tipped pass drill.”

Coach Bouncer explained the drill to the defensive unit, and he told them that they would have two turns each. Helios was the first pony up.

The two receivers had lined up on either side of Coach Bouncer, and he moved back with the ball and threw it to the receiver running to his right. The ball had deliberately been thrown a little too high, and as instructed, the receiver jumped up and batted the ball. Helios had set off as soon as the snap to catch up to the receiver, and he jumped into the air and grabbed the ball.

“Atomic, you’re next.”

Atomic took his starting position opposite Coach Bouncer. When Coach Bouncer got up and prepared to throw the ball, Atomic dropped back, following Coach Bouncer’s eyes and shoulders to try and figure out where he was throwing the ball.

Coach Bouncer threw a forty-yard pass to the receiver on the left and Atomic sprinted after the ball, trying to judge where it would be batted. The targeted receiver batted the ball high into the air, but as Atomic sprinted to it, he tripped over his own hooves and fell down.

Brilliant, I just completely embarrassed myself in front of everypony.

Atomic slowly got up and went back to his starting position as the receiver threw the ball back to the defensive coordinator. Atomic was able to catch the deflected ball on his second go, but he was still embarrassed about how his first turn had ended.

“Watch out!”

A badly-thrown hoofball was headed towards the defensive unit, who were trying to move out of the way. Atomic saw what was happening and pushed himself to the front of the group.

“Woah!”

Atomic had jumped up into the air and stretched his forelegs backwards to catch the ball, coming down with the ball in his right hoof. As he tossed the ball back to Alizarin, he realised everypony was staring at him.

Must’ve been a good catch.

Training resumed as normal and at seven o’clock, Coach Stargaze announced the starting lineup for the team’s next match, and whilst he was disappointed to be on the bench again, Atomic was relieved to hear that the match did not clash with Sycamore’s match against Thunderhoof’s former team.

“Coach is definitely gonna consider you as a wide receiver now,” Helios told Atomic as they headed into the changing rooms.

“I dunno, he’ll probably see it as a lucky catch.”

As they left the premises, Helios pointed at somepony waving at Atomic.

“Your mom sent me here to get you,” Pumpkin explained as Atomic reached her.

Atomic said goodbye to Helios and headed home with his aunt.

“Hurry up and get your books out, you’re behind.”

Amber grumbled under her breath as she sat at the front of the class. It had been over a year since she had attended school, and she was struggling to adjust to the daily routine of having different lessons in different classrooms.

As Ms Ivory instructed the class to complete two pages of questions on the blackboard as a revision activity, Amber turned around and tried to get Atomic’s attention.

“Hey, Atomic.”

Atomic looked down and felt a quill hit his leg. He picked it up and tried to find the quill’s owner.

Ms Ivory was busy marking exams and Amber slid out of her seat and walked to the back of the classroom, looking backwards to make sure she hadn’t been caught. When she reached Atomic, she picked her quill up and smiled.

“You have a death wish. If Ms Ivory catches you, you’re finished.”

“Can you help me with the questions?” Amber asked, looking at Atomic’s answers.

Atomic sighed and turned his book around to let Amber see his answers. Amber memorised as many of the answers as she could before going back to her seat.

Fifteen minutes later, Ms Ivory told the class to pause so that they could go through the questions they had answered. She picked up her quill and wrote numbers 1-5 on the blackboard.

“Atomic, come and answer the first question.”

Atomic took his exercise book with him as he went to the front of the class, and Ms Ivory gave him the chalk. Atomic explained his calculations to the class as he wrote on the blackboard and when he finished, he gave the chalk back to his teacher.

“And for the last question….Amber, come up and answer the question.”

“Huh?”

Amber finished the fifth question in her exercise book and went up to the board.

“So for question 5, I got 18.”

Amber wrote the answer on the board, but My Ivory wasn’t satisfied.

“And how did you get that?”

“Umm….I added the….”

Amber desperately tried to come up with a response, but she was clearly struggling. Atomic held up his exercise book and pointed to the relevant working out, but Ms Ivory saw him and he quickly put his book back down onto the desk.

“I just guessed,” Amber finally said.

“Guessing is not going to get you full marks in an exam.”

Ms Ivory told Amber to go back to her seat and the foals continued answering the rest of the questions. Just before the bell rang, Ms Ivory gave the class their weekly homework and set it's completion deadline for next week.

“Hey, Atomic.”

Amber followed Atomic out of the classroom and showed him her timetable.

“Do you know who this is?” she asked, pointing to her next lesson’s teacher.

“That’s your PE teacher, you just have to line up with the fillies. Come, I’ll show you.”

On their way to PE, Thunderhoof and Chestnut joined Atomic and Amber.

“What are you guys doing in PE right now?”

“Hoofball, and I think the girls are doing dance,” Thunderhoof replied, and Amber groaned.

“Dance?! But I’d rather play hoofball! Can't I just join you guys?”

“I don’t think our teacher would allow that,” Chestnut said.

“I’ll ask nicely, then he might let me,” Amber decided.

The foals fell silent as they saw their classmates waiting outside, and Amber suddenly remembered something.

“Atomic, you never told me about when you saw the Dragons play.”

Memories of the Dragons’ season-opener win against the Cloudsdale Hawks flooded through Atomic’s mind, and he gladly retold the story to Amber as they walked.

“I’d love to see the Dragons live, it’d be my dream come true. Plus I’m Nick Foals’ biggest fan.”

“Oh really? I wouldn’t be so sure if I was you,” Atomic replied.

“Whoever gets this right is the bigger fan. when’s his birthday?” Thunderhoof asked.

“20th of January,” Amber and Atomic replied at the same time.

“Okay…..what college did he go to?”

“University of Fillydelphia.”

“um….Chestnut, can you think of anything?”

Chestnut shook his head after a few seconds, and Thunderhoof declared that both Atomic and Amber were equal superfans of Nick Foals, and this did not satisfy either of them.

“Hurry up, everypony’s already gone into the changing rooms,” the fillies’ PE teacher yelled, and the group quickly split up to head into their respective changing rooms.

As Amber entered the fillies’ changing room, she was hit was a gust of perfume, and the filly who had sprayed it apologised profusely, asking if Amber was alright.

“I’m fine,” Amber said, and she found an empty space at the front bench. As she put her bag down, the teacher came up to her and told her that since she did not have a kit, she would have to sit out and watch for today.

By now, most of the fillies had finished getting changed and they headed through the changing room’s back door and into a neighbouring building, where the dance studio was located.

“Excuse me Miss, could I go to the toilet?” Amber asked politely, and quickly ran off when she was granted permission. She sprinted through the open gate outside the changing room and slowed down when she saw the colts warming up on the field.

Here’s my chance.

Amber trotted through the buckball courts towards the gate that separates the courts from the field. She placed a hoof onto the sliding lock and kept a lookout for the colts’ teacher as she unlocked the gates.

When she had fully unlocked the gate, Amber slowly pushed it open and slipped through the gap, closing the gate behind her.

Now, how should I do this?

The colts had finished their warmup and Mr Cobalt was in the middle of splitting them up into small groups for the first activity.

“.....There's not enough of you,” Mr Cobalt muttered to himself, realising that the final group had only four ponies instead of five.

“I could join their group, if you don't mind.”

“What the-”

All eyes were on Amber as she smiled sweetly at Mr Cobalt.

“You’re supposed to be with the girls what are you doing here?” the teacher asked.

“It's just….I love hoofball but my class is doing ballet. Miss said I could come and join you, I asked her first.”

Pablo pushed through the other colts to get to the front and give his opinion.

“You can’t let her join, she’s a filly!”

Pablo suddenly fell silent when he saw Amber properly for the first time. His mouth hung open slightly and his eyes widened.

“You know what sir, you should let her join us, it’s fine.”

Pablo quietly rejoined his group, sneaking glances at Amber every few seconds.

“Are you sure your teacher allowed you to come here?”

Amber nodded eagerly, and Mr Cobalt added her to the final group, telling her to ask the others in her group for an explanation of the drill. One of Pablo’s friends was in the same group as Amber, and Pablo was able to switch groups with him so that he could team up with Amber.

“When I blow my whistle, you’ll have one minute to get through three turns in your group. 3, 2, 1, BEEP!”

The first activity was a repeat of one the class had done a few weeks ago; the ponies in every group would line up ten yards away from each other and they would have to each throw and catch a pass without dropping the ball. Every time a group completed five passes, the first pony would shout the number of perfect turns they had completed, and the P.E. teacher had promised to award the winning group with a prize.

Atomic caught a perfect pass from Thunderhoof and he threw the ball to the pony in front of him. As the ball was moved down his group, Atomic checked on how the other groups were
Doing, and he was shocked to see that Pablo and Amber were surprisingly working we'll together.

“Atomic!”

Atomic was able to catch the ball just before it hit the ground, and he tossed it to the next pony in their group.

Most of the groups were on their second turn, and Atomic was confident that they would win. As the last pony threw the ball back to the pony in front, he told his peers that a perfect third turn would confirm their victory.

“3! We’re done!”

Mr Cobalt blew his whistle to end the activity and declared Pablo’s group as the winning group.

“And the prize is…..an afternoon cleaning the changing rooms with the janitors!”

The winning group paused mid-celebration. “What?!”

Mr Cobalt grinned. “I’m just kidding. You guys are gonna get your prize at the end of the lesson.”

As they gave the balls to Mr Cobalt, Amber tapped Pablo’s shoulder.

“Er, yeah, how can I help?” he gabbled, kicking himself for sounding so nervous.

“You know, you weren’t that bad. We should pair up more often,” she said, patting his shoulder before walking away. Pablo watched her go with a dazed smile on his face, before suddenly shaking his head and rejoining his friends.

Atomic and Thunderhoof watched Pablo join his friends. “He’s acting weird, even for him.”

“I bet he has a crush on her,” Thunderhoof claimed, and Atomic scoffed.

“Pablo having a crush?! Now that would be hilarious!”

“AMBER BREEZE!”

The fillies’ PE teacher stormed onto the field and Amber ducked behind one of the colts.

“What seems to be the problem, Miss?”

The young teacher looked for the truant filly, but when she couldn't see her, she told Mr Cobalt had disappeared after asking to go to the toilet.

“Amber, come here now.”

Amber sighed and revealed herself to the two teachers. She cringed under the mare’s glare and laughed sheepishly.

“I can explain……”

“And it's that time of the week where our presenters will give their postseason predictions! Stay tuned folks, you won't want to miss this one!”

Thunderhoof had come over to Atomic’s house after school and they had revised together for an hour before turning on the radio to listen to the latest sports news. Atomic had informed Thunderhoof that the Canterlot Knights would be playing the Cloudsdale Hawks after the show, so they both agreed to listen through the current show.

“Right guys, who do you think’s making the Sugar Bowl?”

“First of all the Knights; I don’t even need to go into why they’re making it, La Salle’s MVP-caliber season alone should speak for their chances of repeating as champions.”

“I agree, the Knights will be there but I also think that the Dragons are gonna make it. They might have slowed down this season but I wouldn’t count them out, especially when they have Nick Foals.”

“Oh yeah, who are you gonna give that third ticket to?” Thunderhoof suddenly asked.

“.......No idea, and the match is this Sunday.”

“We’re gonna take a quick break, but when we’re back, we'll be going live at Aero Arena to provide you live commentary of the Cloudsdale Hawks-Canterlot Knights match; a match we hope will live up to its billing of a Sugar Bowl preview.”

“And that’s the final whistle; the Knights win 29-21!”

“That was one of the best matches of the season in my opinion, and the Knights have definitely strengthened their case to be the first repeat champions in over a decade. Polo, what did you think of their performance?”

“Excellent from start to finish; the stellar Cloudsdale defence that we’ve been seeing all season were nowhere to be found in the fourth quarter when the Hawks were up by , and as a result their secondary was easy pickings for La Salle, who had a great game.”

Atomic turned off the radio and fell back onto his bed.

“Do you think the Dragons can win the Sugar Bowl this year?” Thunderhoof asked, and Atomic nodded.

“We will.”

There was a knock at the door and Tea Rose came into the room.

“Atomic, the police are here to speak to you.”

Atomic rolled off his bed and as his mother had said, saw the two officers that had brought him home waiting in their living room. Tea Rose told Thunderhoof that he should go home as it was already dark, and the two friends said their goodbyes before Thunderhoof left. Butterscotch awoke from her nap with a loud cry, and Tea Rose rushed upstairs to calm her down as Atomic continued to the dining table.

The female officer smiled as Atomic sat down opposite her. “How are you doing, Atomic?”

“I’m okay now.”

“That's good.”

The male officer took out a newspaper from his saddlebag and showed the front page to Atomic, which told yesterday’s breaking story of the arrests the Fillydelphia Police Department had made in the local area.

“Atomic, we think we may have found the ponies that foalnapped you. Do you recognise any of these ponies?”

Atomic quickly picked out Marble and one of the two suited stallions that had been involved in his foalnapping.

“That's great Atomic, but we’re going to need you to come down to the station with us now and officially identify these ponies. If you can identify them for us, then we can officially charge them and they’ll go on trial,” the mare announced.

“Right now?”

The officers nodded, and the mare went upstairs to tell Tea Rose the news whilst her colleague led Atomic over to the front door. Atomic was understandably anxious that he was going to be seeing the ponies that had taken him from his home, and he voiced his concerns to the officer.

“They’re not…..gonna do anything to me, right?”

“Atomic, you’ll be behind a glass screen and we'll be there with you the entire time. You'll be safe, trust me.”

“Pumpkin, I need you out of the bath now.”

“Why?”

“I need to go to the police station with Atomic, so watch over Butterscotch, make sure she’s alright. When Syracuse comes back, tell him where we went.”

Pumpkin came out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around her head, and she headed straight for her niece’s room.

The officers stepped aside for Tea Rose, who took out her key and unlocked the door. “Okay, we’re ready to go now.”

“Okay, tell them we’re ready.”

Atomic and Tea Rose had been waiting in the lobby for ten minutes when they were informed that the officers were waiting for them, and they were led to a different part of the station. As they followed the officer, Atomic was panicking; he thought that once he had come back home, he would never have to deal with his ordeal again, and despite the reasurances from his mother and the officers that had come to their house, he was still anxious to identify his foalnappers.

The mother and son entered a room similar to the one Tea Rose and Syracuse had to wait in when they came to identify Atomic; there was a blind covering the glass screen and another officer was already waiting for them.
“Okay Atomic, we can start whenever you’re ready.”

“.....I’m ready,” Atomic nervously replied, and the officer pulled up the blind. Behind the blind, there was six hoofcuffed stallions waiting in a line, all of them either staring blankly or appearing nonchalant about the situation. They all had fur in different shades of grey, and their heights were mostly the same, with only a few standing an inch taller or shorter than the others.

“Okay Atomic, which one of them do you know?”

Atomic looked at each stallion carefully, trying to determine which one was his foalnapper.

“......I don’t recognise any of them.”

The officer frowned. “Are you sure, Atomic? Take another look.”

Behind the screen, a door suddenly opened and another officer dragged somepony in.

“Sorry Misty. This one tried to get out of this by locking himself in the toilet.”

The seventh stallion joined the line as instructed, keeping his head down. Atomic prepared to check the first six again, and an idea suddenly came into his mind.

“Can i get them to say something?”

“Of course, what do you want them to say?”

Atomic whispered into the officer’s ear and she repeated the request to the stallions behind the screen, nistructing to step forward when it was their turn.

“Number one, step forward.”

The first stallion stepped forward.

“You’re not going anywhere for a long time buddy, so don’t think you’re gonna get out of this!”

One by one, the stallions spoke, but Atomic didn’t recognise any of their voices. Finally, it was the seventh stallion’s turn.

“Number seven, step forward.”

The seventh stallion kept his head down as he stepped forward.

“Head up, please.”

Atomic gasped when the stallion did as instructed, and his fears were confirmed when the stallion spoke.

Marble deliberately spoke in a morose tone so that Atomic didn’t recognise his voice. “You’re not going anywhere for a long time buddy, so don’t think you’re gonna get out of this,”

“It's him, he’s the one that foalnapped me.”

The officer nodded and told the officer who had brought the seventh stallion in to take him away.

“IT WAS YOU!”

Tea Rose suddenly barged past the officer and stormed into the room where the accused were, charging towards Marble. It took the efforts of three officers to calm Tea Rose down and she was dragged outside.

“Mom!”

Atomic ran out of the room and saw his mother receiving a stern lecture from the officers, warning her that she would be arrested if she pulled another stunt like that again.

Tea Rose hugged her son tightly and asked the officers when Marble would be charged, and the officers replied that he would officially be charged very soon. The officer that had collected them from the front lobby escorted them out of the station.

Suddenly, at least four police carriages pulled up on the pavement outside the station, and the passengers doors were opened one by one.

“This is unnecessary roughness, and my lawyer will hear about this!”

Atomic and Tea Rose watched the police officers drag the arrested out of the police carriages, and Atomic recognised some of the ponies.

“Mom, they’re the one who operated on me!”

“Get them in, they’ve got a long night of questioning ahead of them!”

The officers that had come to Atomic’s house to inform them about the identification parade came out of the station and offered to take the mother and son home.

CARE SYSTEM AND DRUG TRAFFICKING: FILLYDELPHIA SCANDAL

Last night, there was a raid at a private hospital in the outskirts of Fillydelphia and the majority of the doctors, surgeons and nurses working there were arrested in connection to Atomic Tangerine’s foalnapping. At the same time, care workers at a foal’s home a few miles away from the hospital were also arrested, accused of being linked to the recent foalnapping case. The foals living at the home have been transferred to other homes nearby on emergency fostering placements, and it was one of the care workers that broke down and finally told police the horrible truth: the doctors at the private hospital had inserted packages of narcotics into the foals living in the home as instructed by generous benefactors who frequently donated money to the hospital. Later in a police interview, the same care worker explained that she and her other colleagues had been forced to take care of the foals and keep silent, or they would be killed.

In an official statement released this morning by the Fillydelphia Police Department: “We can confirm that we have apprehended all of the ponies involved. The foals that were living in the care home have been put into emergency placements, and we are working as hard as possible to get to the bottom of what has happened.”

Pumpkin finished the last sentence and put the newspaper back down onto the table.

Atomic swallowed a spoonful of cereal. “So everypony has been arrested?”

“Looks like it,” Syracuse replied as he sat at the dining table with a mug of coffee.

Tea Rose tossed Atomic’s saddlebag to him as she loaded Butterscotch into her pushchair.

“Mom, where are you going?”

“Oh, I found a playgroup for Butterscotch so we’re gonna go and check it today.”

Pumpkin got up from the dining table. “Oh, that reminds me. I’m meeting up with a few friends from high school, so I’ll be back late.”

Tea Rose nodded and Pumpkin took her bowl to the kitchen.

“Atomic, have you given the third ticket yet?”

Atomic shook his head, telling Syracuse that he still hadn’t decided.

“The match is this week, so if I were you, I’d decide today, son.”

“I will.”

“Right everypony, I’m off. Love you all!”

“Ms Ivory, can I go to the toilet, please?”

Atomic thanked Ms Ivory and quickly left the classroom. Ten minutes ago, two police officers had come to their class to speak to Amber, and Atomic wanted to know if they had asked her about last night’s arrests.

Okay, if I was the police and I wanted to have a private conversation, where would I go?

Atomic figured that the police would want to go upstairs to one of the empty classroom, and he slowly walked up the stairs. When he reached the top of the first flight of stairs, he saw the officers sitting in front of Amber in the classroom on his right, and he approached it, keeping an eye for any teachers nearby.

Why is she crying?

Atomic placed an ear against the door and heard Amber’s muffled sobs. He peeked through the small glass pane on the door and saw that the officers were comforting her. One of the officers suddenly got up and headed towards the door, and Atomic swiftly moved to stand behind the corner.

“I’m fine, I’ll..be fine.”

“Are you sure? You can talk to us, remember that.”

The officer that had left came back into the classroom with a box of tissues, and he gave it to Amber. A few minutes later, Amber told the officers that she wanted to go back to her lesson.

Now’s my chance to ask her what happened.

The officers went downstairs whilst Amber ran to the fillies’ toilets, slamming the door shut. Atomic came out from his hiding place and gingerly approached the fillies’ toilets.

No-one can ever know I went in here.

Atomic gently knocked on the door. “Amber, are you in here? It's me, Atomic.”

The door swung open and Amber stepped out. Her eyes were red and sniffed loudly before blowing her nose into a tissue.

“Are you okay?”

Amber shook her head. “Do you remember I told you about my friend, Daisy?”

Amber’s friend in the care home.

“Those officers came to tell me that….that….they found her body in a ditch near the home. She’s dead.”

Amber broke down into tears and Atomic was quick to sit down next to her, holding her tightly.

“I can't stop thinking about...how much she suffered. I should’ve been able to save her but I…..”

“Amber, you and Daisy were in a situation that you should’ve never been in, and you both did the best you could to get out of it. Daisy wouldn’t want you to be sad all the time, okay?”

How can I cheer her up?

“You know what, I have a present for you.”

Amber rubbed her eyes and looked up.

“My dad got three tickets for the Dragons’ game on Saturday. Me and Thunderhoof took the first two tickets, and I was wondering if you wanted to have the third ticket and come with us to the game.”

“You’re not playing a prank on me, are you?”

“Nope, I’m being 100% serious.”

The corridor was silent, before Amber suddenly nodded.

“Okay, I’ll go with you guys.”

Atomic smiled. “You won’t regret it.”

The two got off the carpet and quickly went back downstairs to their lesson; Atomic deciding to go inside first.

“Sorry I took so long Ms Ivory…..all of the toilets were blocked and the janitor told me to use the toilets upstairs.”

Ms Ivory watched Atomic sit in his seat.

“I do not appreciate lies, Atomic. You’ll be staying back after school.”

“But-”

Atomic stopped himself from protesting the detention, resigning himself to the fact that he wouldn’t be leaving the classroom when the bell rang.

As they had agreed on their way back, Amber came into the classroom two minutes after Atomic, and Ms Ivory simply told her to copy down the missed classwork from the filly sitting next to her.

Fifteen minutes later, the bell brought an end to the school day, and when she had packed up her belongings, Amber walked over to Atomic’s desk. “I would wait for you, but my care worker will be waiting outside.”

“It's fine. I shoulda known Ms Ivory wouldn’t let me get away with missing twenty minutes of the lesson.”

“Oh yeah, one more thing. Your dad has to ask permission from my social worker.”

“He does?”

“Yeah, it's the rules. Your match is on Friday, right?”

“Yep.”

“Okay, after the match I’ll come home with you and then I’ll tell my social worker to take us to my home. Your dad can sign the papers there.”

Ms Ivory came back into the classroom. “Amber Breeze, if you do not want to be leaving here at four o’clock, then I suggest you head out now.”

“Tell Thunder I have to stay behind.”

Amber shut the door behind her, and Atomic was alone with Ms Ivory. Atomic decided to get a headstart on his homework and he took out his English book to complete the comprehension questions.

“Atomic Tangerine, you’re free to go home,” Ms Ivory announced at four o’clock, and Atomic eagerly put his books away and left the classroom.

“Atomic, wait up!”

Thunderhoof galloped to catch up with his friends and they trotted towards the gates together.

“Didn’t Amber tell you that I was in detention?”

“Yeah, but I figured I’d do some revision in the library.”

The pair passed through the school gates and waited at the pedestrian crossing for the road to clear.

“You know how you had to identify that guy at the police station last night?”

“Yeah?”

“Are they gonna go to trial?”

“Trial?”

“Yeah, because if they’re gonna be charged with foalnapping, then they have to go to court.”

The foals reached the other side of the pavement and Atomic suddenly stopped.

“So I have to tell the judge what happened.”

“Probably.”

Atomic exhaled loudly. “I’ll worry about that later. Guess who I gave the third ticket to?”

“Chestnut? Your mom? Somepony on the Eagles?”

“Um, promise you won’t get angry.”

“Why?”

“You see…..I gave the third ticket to Pablo.”

“You did what?!”

Thunderhoof lowered his voice when he felt the stares of ponies passing by.

“Why the hay would you do that?!”

“Because we were talking and we actually get along, he’s a nice guy deep down.”

Atomic had to bite down on his lip to not laugh as he watched his friend lose it.

“Brilliant, so now we have to spend what could’ve been the best day of our life with the worst pony in the world! Thanks a lot, Atomic!”

Atomic burst out laughing and Thunderhoof immediately realised he had been tricked.

“Thunder, you’re so gullible!”

Thunderhoof pushed Atomic. “Whatever. So did you actually give the third ticket to?”

Atomic eventually calmed down enough to answer the question. “Amber.”
“So are we gonna pick her up on Sunday?”

“Yeah, after Dad gets permission for her to come with us.”

Five minutes later, the two colts reached their houses and arranged to practise outside together for their match tomorrow.

“Night, Mom!”

Atomic closed his door and headed over to his calendar, crossing off the 29th of November. In the box next to it, the school team’s first match took up all of the space and in Sunday’s box, the word ‘DRAGONS LIVE’ had been written into the box. Atomic turned his light off and settled into his bed, pulling his duvet over his head.

If all goes according to plan, then we'll win tomorrow and the Dragons will get into the playoffs.

WEAK I

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“And Sycamore has a first down at the thirty-five yard line with nineteen seconds left on the clock! Can they pull off the win?!”

Atomic tossed the ball to the referee as he followed his teammates to the sideline where their coach was waiting. The Sycamore-Buccaneers match had been an entertaining, back-and-forth affair, with both teams trading touchdowns the entire game. The best players on both teams had been the quarterbacks, who had played remarkably and led their teams to multiple scoring drives. Alizarin and his team were currently in the lead with a score of 22-17, and Mr Cobalt’s team needed a touchdown to win.

“Alright guys, we’re gonna go for it on this one…….”

Mr Cobalt quickly explained the play to the team, and the spectators (who were mostly Sycamore students, teachers and a few parents of the players) cheered loudly as the two teams went back onto the pitch.

Atomic lined up alongside Starburst on the far left of the scrimmage line. He had been the primary receiver for most of the match and Atomic had not disappointed, making several key catches to help the team get to the position they currently found themselves in, and he knew that he had to step up and not let the team down.

“Hut!”

Atomic leapt forward from the scrimmage line and galloped across the middle of the pitch, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.

And…….NOW!

Atomic hit the safety and cornerback with a double move, first darting through the space between the defensive backs (who both had outside coverage), before changing direction and sprinting behind the safety. This opened a huge amount of space for Atomic and he knew that Thunderhoof would be able to find him.

The play had so far lasted ten seconds and Sycamore’s offensive line had given Thunderhoof good protection, allowing him to remain in the pocket. When he saw Atomic lose both of his markers, he stepped up and threw the ball.

This is gonna be an easy touchdown…….WHAT THE?!

Atomic dove forward to desperately catch the ball before it hit the ground, but he was too late, and the ball rolled away from him.

The defensive backs that had been marking Atomic high-fived each other, relieved that their team was still ahead, and Mr Cobalt quickly used Sycamore’s last timeout to stop the clock with nine seconds left in the match.

“I’m sorry guys, that play was on me,” Atomic apologized as the team huddled around Mr Cobalt.

The other reassured him that they still had time to win the game, and Mr Cobalt looked through his notebook before calling the play.

“2, 4, 6, 8, who do we appreciate? Sycamore, Sycamore, go Sycamore!” the pupils cheered loudly, waving their banners and posters high in the air.

The two teams came back onto the pitch and lined up on the twenty-five yard line for what would most likely be the last play of the game.

“Hut, hut!”

Thunderhoof quickly dropped back with the ball and scanned the field. His primary option was Starburst and Thunderhoof saw that he was well covered with two defenders on him. He set his sights on the next receiver, but Atomic was being covered by a physical cornerback, and the two were pushing each other as they ran. Thunderhoof’s last options were Pablo and Pacific Sail (who were playing running back and tight end respectively), and Thunderhoof scooted forward as he prepared to throw a pass to Pablo.

Suddenly, the offensive line’s pass protection finally collapsed, and the two defensive tackles burst through and charged towards Thunderhoof. The young quarterback quickly took off towards the sidelines, checking which teammates were open as well as trying to escape from the defenders. Thunderhoof saw that Atomic had finally gotten ahead of his defender and had continued running along the backside of the end zone, and Thunderhoof saw that there was a gap in the middle where he could fit the ball in between for Atomic. He threw the ball just as the defenders finally caught up to him, and he watched the ball as it flew in the air.

Atomic, I’m counting on you.

The game clock had hit zero just before Thunderhoof had let go of the ball, and Sycamore students, teachers and parents watched with bated breath, praying that a Sycamore player would come down with the ball.

Atomic had been following the ball’s progress, and he realised that Thunderhoof had put too much power behind it and it would go out of bounds if he didn’t do something about it. He continued following the ball to the far right of the end zone, and as he was followed by three other defenders, Atomic prepared for the ball’s arrival.

The ball had finally passed into a reachable height for Atomic, but it was still headed out of bounds. He jumped up at the same time as two of the defenders and stretched his right foreleg out as far as he could. Atomic felt the hoofball’s strings and gripped them tightly as he came down, wrapping his other foreleg around the ball for protection as he landed on his back.

The closest referee was standing only a few yards away from the end zone on the sidelines, and he checked that Atomic had control of the ball before raising a foreleg, declaring that Atomic had scored.

“IT'S A TOUCHDOWN! SYCAMORE WINS!”

Atomic quickly pushed himself up as the defenders let go of him, and his teammates piled on top of him, all of them cheering estastically. Sycamore’s defensive unit ran onto the pitch and joined in with the celebrations, hauling Atomic up and carrying him.

“You’re the greatest!”

“Best catch I’ve ever seen!”

“We won!”

Atomic had a huge smile on his face, and he waved to the fans as he was carried off the pitch, his smile becoming even wider when the foals cheered and waved back.

“Atomic.”

“You guys played one hay of a game, I’m proud of all of you,” Mr Cobalt said, high-fiving his players.

“Atomic.”

“ATOMIC!”

“Huh?”

Atomic turned his head away from the window and saw his history teacher Miss Chrysanthemum frowning down at him. At the desk next to him, Thunderhoof shook his head apologetically and mouthed that he had tried to warn him.

“Is this lesson boring for you?”

Atomic shook his head and apologised for being distracted, and the teacher went back to the front of the class and continued the lesson. Atomic opened up his textbook to the page that the rest of the class were on, and he was soon fully focused on the lesson.

“Come in.”

Maverick and Moon Dust came into the classroom and informed Miss Chrysanthemum that ponies on the hoofball team needed to come with them to the field for practise. Atomic, Thunderhoof, Blaze, Mustang and Pablo immediately put their belongings away and headed out.

“Alright guys, good luck and don't forget to read Chapter 8, we'll be covering it next lesson.”

Atomic was the last to leave and he closed the door quietly.

Maverick grinned. “You guys ready to win today?”

“Yeah,” the others replied, and they walked through the corridors towards the back doors. Pablo walked behind the others quietly and alone, sparing a few glances at the others.

When they reached the field, the colts were surprised by the field’s new addition; two goals that were on opposite ends of the field. The field had also been converted into a football pitch with all of the necessary markings on the field, including thick white lines that bordered the pitch. The team were currently warming up on the field and Mr Cobalt shouted at the arriving colts to take their kits and get changed quickly.

Banoffee Pie ran over to the colts as they headed towards the changing rooms.

“Thunderhoof! Blaze! I need to tell you something.”

Thunderhoof and Blaze trotted over to Banoffee and the three ponies spoke quickly before Banoffee went back onto the pitch.

“What was he telling you?” Atomic asked.

“He said that I’m gonna be playing the first half and Blaze will switch with me for the second half,” Thunderhoof replied.

“At least you both get to play,” Moon Dust commented.

Ten minutes later, the colts had gotten changed into their kits and pads, and Thunderhoof helped the others fasten their helmets.

“He got us a decent kit,” Maverick remarked, checking himself in the mirror. Sycamore’s home kit consisted of a maroon red as the base colour with a yellow stripe down the middle and the jersey number in white. The shoulder straps also had yellow stripes on them, and the helmets had the school logo (a sycamore tree) on both sides.

“I’m just glad he didn’t spell my name wrong, that would’ve been embarrassing,” Thunderhoof added.

The colts quickly left he changing rooms and went on to the field. Their teammates had already been split into their respective units, and the kickers were practising kicking from the twenty-five yard line.

“Three laps of the field as your warm-up!” Mr Cobalt announced, and Moon Dust quickly took charge of the warm-up.

When they had finished their warm-up, Mr Cobalt called everypony over and informed them that kickoff would be at three-fifty instead of four o’clock and that the Buccaneers would be arriving soon.

“There’s a play I came up that I want to practise, so let’s hurry up. Offense and defense, twenty-five yard line please.”

The two units waited whilst Thunderhoof and Mr Cobalt discussed the play. Thunderhoof quickly ran back onto the pitch and told his teammates the play.

Thunderhoof received the snap and took a five-step drop back, the offensive line giving him good protection in the pockets. He scanned all of his options and threw a screen pass to Pablo, who was able to break a tackle and take the ball to the thirty-seven yard line.

“Sir, they’re here!”

Next to the canteen was a gate that connected the field to the front of the school, and the Buccaneers’ head coach unlocked the gate to let his team through.

Sycamore’s hoofball team went quiet and watched their opponents make their way onto the field, noting that there were several coaches accompanying them.

Coach Storm Shaker was the first to reach Me Cobalt, and the two quickly shook hooves.

“Which side of the pitch do you guys want?”

The field was quickly split into two to accommodate both teams, and as the bell rang ten minutes into pre-game practise, pupils flooded towards the field to watch their team.

“Woah, they really did that?!”

Atomic pointed out the banners for Thunderhoof, most of which had encouraging messages on them teamed with the school’s emblem.

“Guys!”

Chestnut came galloping through the field to Atomic and Thunderhoof, and they trotted to the sidelines.

“You guys looking forward to the match?”

“We’re looking forward to winning,” Atomic replied with a grin.

Chestnut held up the camera he was holding. “Good, because the school paper wants me to get pictures for next week’s article.”

The sidelines quickly became packed with Sycamore students cheering for their team, and even a few teachers had come out onto the field to watch the match.

“Sycamore! Sycamore! Sycamore!”

The pupils’ cheers started to gain volume and even some teachers joined in with the chants. As Atomic caught a ball from Thunderhoof, he high-fived a few of his classmates standing on the sidelines, assuring them that they would get a good show. He spotted Amber standing towards the back of the crowd and waved at her, giving her a huge smile that she eagerly returned.

At three forty-three, the four referees (all wearing black and white striped shirts, black caps and had yellow flags tucked into their sleeves) for the match arrived and they quickly ran onto the pitch, apologising for being late. The colts cleared the pitch and stood at their respective benches on opposite sides of the pitch. On the other side of the pitch, a few yards away from where the Buccaneers were, a table had been set up by two teachers with a whiteboard and marker on it to keep score.

Mr Cobalt sprinted over to his team and told them to gather in front of him.

“There’s one more thing that I forgot to announce; our captains. For today’s match, Thunderhoof, you’re leading the offense and Maverick, you’ll be the defensive captain. Special teams, I’ll decide who your captain will be next week.”

The team applauded and Atomic patted Thunderhoof’s back, confident that Thunderhoof was the right choice for captain.

“If the two captains could come onto the field, please,” the head referee announced, and Thunderhoof and Alizarin joined the referees at the centre of the pitch.

Thunderhoof sprinted back to his team. “I won the coin toss, and I chose to receive the ball.”

“Alright, hooves in.”

The colts all placed a hoof in the middle.

“I know we’re going up against a team with a lot more experience, but I want you all to work together, play hard and give it your all. No matter what happens, when the final whistle blows, I want each and every one of you to come off the field knowing that you tried your hardest. Sycamore on three. 1, 2, 3-”

“SYCAMORE!”

Both special teams ran onto the pitch and lined up in their respective formations; the Buccaneers all standing in a straight line on their thirty-five yard line, and the home team waited to receive the ball in a 5-3-2-1 formation, with Stormcaller waiting at the back of the pitch to catch the ball.

The whistle was blown and the Buccaneers’ kicker powerfully bucked the ball. Sycamore’s special team quickly moved back to keep progress of the ball, and Stormcaller dropped back to catch the ball at the three-yard line.

Stormcaller saw the large gap to his right and headed straight towards it, reaching the gap just as he passed the fifteen-yard mark. Ahead of him, two Buccaneers players had gotten past their blockers and they quickly brought Stormcalller down for a return of twenty-six yards, which meant that Sycamore's offensive would start their opening drive at the twenty-nine yard line.

Mr Cobalt opened up his notebook and showed Thunderhoof the first play he wanted the offense to run, and Thunderhoof relayed the information to his teammates. Sycamore’s offense ran onto the pitch where their opponents were waiting for them and both teams lined up on the twenty-nine yard line, with Thunderhoof taking position directly behind the center.

“Hut, hut!”

The center snapped the ball too hard and it bounced off Thunderhoof’s hooves, forcing the quarterback to chase after it and fall on top of it to avoid turning the ball over to the linebackers that had caught up to him.

“Dammit, we lost seven yards,” Mr Cobalt muttered, flicking through his notebook desperately to find another play.

Both teams went off the pitch and returned to their coaches.

“Right, Pablo, you’re getting the ball for this play,” Mr Cobalt announced, giving out blocking assignments to the rest of the offense.

When the next play began, Thunderhoof handed the ball off to Pablo. Sycamore’s running back had an instant impact on the game, carrying the ball fifteen yards before he was pushed out of bounds.

The pupils cheered loudly for Pablo and he lapped up the attention, juggling the ball with his hooves.

“Pablo, come on! Stop showing off and get over here!” Thunderhoof yelled.

Thunderhoof had to drag Pablo away from the crowd, and the running back smirked as he joined his teammates.

“They love me.”

Sycamore’s coach decided to call a running play again and the two teams ran back onto the pitch to resume play. As he watched the defense line up in their formation, Thunderhoof noticed that most of the defenders were standing closely behind the defensive line, and he realised that the defense were most likely going to blitz. This would make the running play ineffective, and Thunderhoof decided to do something he had heard his favourite quarterback (La Salle) do.

“Er….27 post, 9 go, 20 protect!”

Atomic, Starburst and Pablo looked at Thunderhoof, clearly confused. Thunderhoof repeated the commands again, but his teammates were still confused.

“Delay of game, offense. Ten yard penalty, repeat first down,” the head referee announced after blowing his whistle.

The students and teachers booed as both teams came off the pitch.

“They were gonna blitz us, I was trying to change the play. I was telling you two to run go and post routes, and you were supposed to an extra blocker for me,” Thunderhoof explained. “I completely forgot about the game clock!”

“Alright, it's fine. We still have twelve minutes left in this quarter to score, we’re fine.”

In his notebook, Mr Cobalt made a note to call a team meeting next week to come up with codes for different plays. He also added that he needed to meet with Thunderhoof to come up with a group of backup plays he could call at the scrimmage line.

Thirty seconds later, the two teams lined up for a first and 20 at the thirty-five yard line, with eleven and a half minutes left in the first quarter.

“Hut!”

Mr Cobalt had decided to call a play action, with Starburst as the primary receiver.

Thunderhoof took the snap and quickly dropped back. The four receivers for the play (Atomic, Starburst, Pacific Sail and another wide receiver) set off on their respective routes. Pablo was also doing a decent job blocking, helping to keep the pocket clear for Thunderhoof. The quarterback’s primary option was running in open space and Thunderhoof stepped up and threw the ball.

Starburst arrived at the thirty-yard line and caught the ball, using his height as an advantage to jump higher than his defender. He quickly balanced himself when he landed and galloped straight towards the end zone, outpacing the nearest defenders to score.
Sycamore pupils and teachers cheered loudly as Starburst celebrated in the end zone, throwing the ball down hard. As his teammates ran over to him to celebrate, the teacher holding the whiteboard at the score desk wrote ‘6’ underneath Sycamore.

As the offense came off the pitch, Starburst was mobbed by the other players, receiving high-fives and pats on the back.

Mr Cobalt was one of the flast to congratulate Starburst. “Good job, keep it up.”

Both teams’ special units came onto the pitch for the extra point attempt, and the kicker’s nerves were as clear as day. He slowly lined up behind the placeholder (who was also the team’s punter) and tried to calm himself.

Sycamore’s placeholder quickly handled the ball and the kicker bucked it with his hind legs, immediately turning around to see if his kick was good.

As the ball flew between the uprights to give Sycamore a seven-point lead, the special teams came off, and two minutes later, the Buccaneers had returned the kick to start their drive from the nineteen-yard line.

“Let’s go defence, let’s get a stop now,” Mr Cobalt called out as Sycamore’s defence went onto the pitch.

The Buccaneers’ first play was a good one; the offensive line were able to hold back Maverick and the other defensive linemen to keep the pocket open for Alabaster, and he delivered a clean pass to a receiver for a first down at the thirty-yard line.

The next snap saw Alabaster hand the ball off to the running back, who was able to gain six yards for a second down, before another rushing attack by the offense saw the Buccaneers move downfield to the halfway line.

“Their pass and rush protection’s a lot better than I thought it would be, they’re not letting anypony get through,” Maverick said to his teammates on the sidelines, breathing heavily as the defence came off the pitch.

“We need to counter their run game, let’s go for it for this one.”

Mr Cobalt told the defense to blitz Alabaster and both teams returned onto the field. Alabaster stepped back and surveyed the offense, trying to decipher what sort of coverage they were playing. He quickly realised that his running play would be ineffective against the defense’s likely blitz, and he quickly rushed forward to stand directly behind his center.

“Blue 42, blue 42!”

Alabaster’s commands had their desired effects instantly; the wide receivers shifted further away from the offensive line, and the running back moved a few steps forward.
By changing the play, Alabaster had saved his team from a potentially huge loss of yards, and the outcome of the audible were almost instantaneous. As soon as the ball was snapped, Sycamore’s defensive line, linebackers and half of their secondary rushed forward, leaving a huge amount of space for the wide receivers to run their routes. Alabaster was able to stay calm in the pocket, and he threw a perfect pass, which was caught by his tallest receiver, and he ran the length of the pitch for a 50-yard touchdown.

The crowd fell silent as the Buccaneers celebrated, with some pupils booing loudly. The extra point attempt was good and the Buccaneers allowed the clock to run, meaning that at the end of the first quarter, the score was tied 7-7.

“We’re not gonna let them beat us at home, are we?!”

“NO!”

“Then let’s go out there and get the win!”

“YEAH!”

Mr Cobalt watched Maverick led the defence back onto the pitch, pleased that the young defensive tackle was a natural leader. He watched the two teams line up on both sides of the scrimmage line, and the teacher glanced at the game clock. After the first quarter, both teams had slowed down in terms of scoring, with Sycamore scoring two field goals whilst the Buccaneers only scored one. However, the last drive had seen the home team unable to take the lead, and with four minutes left of the match, the Buccaneers led 15-10.

Alabaster dropped back and waited for his pass targets to get open.

“OOF!”

Mr Cobalt had moved Maverick onto the edge of the offensive line, believing that he could do more damage there. When the play began, Maverick had pushed past the left tackle and delivered a crushing sack to the unsuspecting quarterback fo a loss of seven yards.

On the next play, Alabaster performed a clean hand-off to his running back, but he was stopped after a gain of two yards by Moon Dust, and this set up a third and 15 on the Buccaneers’ thirty-yard line.

“Come on guys, stop them one more time,” Thunderhoof muttered on the sidelines, hoping that the offense would get onto the field with enough time to win.

Alabaster allowed the game clock to continue running, and when he only had three seconds left to begin the third down, he called for the snap. Unfortunately for Sycamore, Alabaster scrambled to his right and completed a twenty-yard pass to his tight end for a first down.

“We’re not gonna have enough time to score,” Mr Cobalt gabbled, and he quickly called a timeout, stopping the game clock at two minutes and fifty-nine seconds.

“We can get the ball back, we just have to stop their pass game,” Maverick told the other defenders as they came off the pitch.

On the other side of the field, the Buccaneers’ offense appeared relaxed as they huddled around their head coach. Atomic watched Alabaster point to different parts of the pitch, apparently giving out routes to his receivers.

“Hey, Maverick, come here a sec!”

Maverick quickly came over.

“What’s up?”

“Look at what they’re doing!”

Atomic and Maverick discreetly watched their opponents’ timeout, and when they prepared to go back onto the pitch, Maverick grinned.

“Atomic, you may have just won us the game.”

Maverick dashed back to the other defenders and told them what he’d seen. The referees instructed the two teams to come back onto the pitch to resume the game.

“Hut!”

Alabaster faked the handoff to his running back and waited for his primary target (the slot receiver) to get open. The quarterback timed the pass perfectly and threw the ball across the middle of the field.

Before the snap, Maverick had assigned Banoffee with covering the slot receiver, and the cornerback easily kept up with his opponent. When the receiver jumped to catch the ball, Banoffee rose up above him and snatched the ball away.

“YES!” Sycamore’s bench yelled.

Banoffee carried the ball for another seven yards before Alabaster finally tackled him at the forty-three yard line.

Banoffee was mobbed by his teammates as the defense came off the pitch.

“Didn’t I tell you we were gonna get a stop?!”
Maverick said, and Banoffee grinned.

“Alright, settle down now everypony.”

Mr Cobalt waited for silence before choosing a play for the offense to run, and Atomic was pleased to hear that he would be the primary receiver.

Sycamore’s first play at the halfway line went well; Atomic was able to catch a five-yard pass and added a seven-yard carry to the play to set up another first down in the Buccaneers’ own half. On the next play, Thunderhoof threw a screen pass to Pablo for a gain of two yards.

The Sycamore pupils raised the volume of their chants. “Let’s go Sycamore, let’s go!”

The game clock had just gone under the one minute mark when the two teams lined up opposite each other on the scrimmage line.

“Hut!”

Pablo took the handoff and quickly got the first down, running out of bounds at the eighteen-yard mark.

The offense quickly came back onto the pitch and Thunderhoof spiked the ball, stopping the clock at twenty three seconds.

Atomic caught up to Thunderhoof as they went off the pitch. “Thunder, tell coach to get me the ball. My defender's not covering me properly on the corner routes.”

“He isn’t?”

“Nope.”

Thunderhoof told Mr Cobalt the news and he then called a play action, instructing Atomic to run a corner route to the end zone.

This is my chance to win the game for our team. I can’t mess this up.

Both teams lined up on the 17 yard line for the first down, and the centre snapped the ball to Thunderhoof.

He isn’t covering me properly, just as I predicted.

Atomic quickly got open in the end zone, and he turned around, expecting the ball to be heading his way. But the ball had never left Thunderhoof, and the quarterback was helped up by two teammates.

The next play saw the defense stop Pablo from gaining any yards. With twelve seconds left of the game, the home team had to overcome a third-and-fifteen at the twenty-three yard line.

“Hut hut!”

The offensive line were finally able to keep the pocket open for Thunderhoof, with Pablo providing additional pass protection. The quarterback stepped up and threw the ball to Atomic.

In the end zone, Atomic pushed past his defender and jumped up for the ball, confident that he would come down with it. But the Buccaneers had other ideas.

And I get the touchd-

In a last-second attempt to hold onto the lead, the cornerback marking Atomic batted the ball away before the receiver could catch it. Pablo instinctively sprinted forward to catch the pass, and fortunately came down with it. Atomic, Starburst and Pacific Sail immediately provided blocks for their teammate, and just as the game clock hit zero, Pablo scored his first (and the game-winning) touchdown.

“This is the end of the game. Sycamore wins 16-15.”

Pablo threw the ball up in celebration, and he was carried off the pitch by the others, the Buccaneers walking off dejectedly.

The celebrations were paused to shake hooves with the Buccaneers. Once that was over, the referees declared that Maverick was the player of the game, and he was given the match ball.

Chestnut snapped several pictures of the school team, deciding that the photo of Pablo being carried off the pitch was the best picture for the front page of the school paper’s next issue.

“I know you guys wanna celebrate, but lemme just say something to you,” Mr Cobalt said, pushing his way onto the pitch to get to his team. He eventually made it to them and stood in the middle of the huddle.

“You guys played one heck of a game today, and you should all be proud of yourselves. I know I am. You left everything you had on the field and got the win!”

Sycamore pupils ran onto the pitch to celebrate with their team, and the field was quickly overrun with foals and teachers alike.

“Atomic. Atomic. Atomic!”

Amber tapped Atomic’s shoulder and waited for him to turn around.

“You were amazing. I knew you’d win!”

“I wasn’t amazing, but the team was.”

Amber shook her head. “You’re being too hard on yourself. Without you, the team wouldn’t have won.”

A few yards away from them, some students were chanting Pablo’s name, and he eagerly sang along, declaring himself the greatest.

Atomic watched the celebrations and groaned. “We’re never gonna hear the end of this.

“She’s ready to see you.”

Two hours after the match at school, Atomic, Amber, Thunderhoof and Syracuse had travelled to Amber’s home on the other side of town, and they were about to speak to Amber’s social worker and the head care worker of the foal’s home.

“Have a seat. Tea or coffee?”

“Black coffee, please,” Syracuse replied.

“So, Amber tells me that you would like to take her to a hoofball match?”

“Yes, to the Dragons’ match on Sunday to be precise,” Syracuse replied.

“Do you have the tickets with you now?”

Syracuse nodded and took the four tickets out of his bag, sliding them across to the head care worker. Once she had determined that the tickets were genuine, she pushed them back to Syracuse. The secretary came into the room with Syracuse’s coffee, and she put it down on the table in front of him.

“So you would collect her at ten o’clock, and bring her back at nine?”

“That’s correct.”

“Okay, I just need to sign here and here.”

Syracuse read the two pages the head care worker had given him (informing him that he was responsible for Amber’s well-being and he would be held accountable if anything went wrong) and he signed the bottom of both of the pages.

Five minutes later, the meeting came to an end and Amber said goodbye to the others, assuring them that she would be ready on Sunday morning. The journey home in the carriage was silent.

“Storm Shaker talked to me,” Thunderhoof suddenly said.

“What did he say?” Atomic asked.

“He just said that I played well today and wished me luck for the future.”

“He’s probably wishing he didn’t start Alabaster over you,” Atomic said, and Thunderhoof nodded.

The carriage stopped outside Thunderhoof’s house and Syracuse paid the driver as the colts got of the back.

“Maybe I should try and get Nick Foals to sign my jersey.”

“I got lucky last time. But there’s no harm in trying.”

“Atomic, your dinner's getting cold. Hurry up and get inside!”

Atomic and Thunderhoof agreed to meet up tomorrow afternoon to play outside, and the two said goodbye and headed into their homes.

Atomic sat at the dining table and Tea Tose put a plate of pasta down in front of him “So, how was your day?”

“Great.”

PISTOL

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“Have a great time Amber!”

“I will!”

Amber rushed out of her home and jumped into the back of the carriage waiting outside, sitting in the empty seat next to the door.. As the carriage set off, she yawned and leaned back into her seat.

“Did you guys have to wake this early as well?”

Atomic and Thunderhoof nodded. Both of the colts were wearing their Dragons jerseys, Nick Foals’ autograph scribbled over the front of Atomic’s jersey in black marker accompanied with a few brown drops of old blood. The late November weather had also brought in colder weather, and the three males were each wearing a woolly hat. In the front of the carriage, Syracuse was sitting next to the driver, and the two adults were chatting amicably.

“The other kids were so jealous when they found out I was going to Almerald Centre,” Amber said as the carriage turned into the high street.

“You guys alright back there?” Syracuse asked, and the foals nodded.

“Where are we gonna be sitting?” Thunderhoof asked.

“Let me check.”

Syracuse opened his wallet and took out the tickets, reading the bottom of the slip of paper.

“Looks like we’re gonna be sitting at the end zone this time.”

“So if we score, they might throw the ball to us!” Atomic said excitedly.

“That would be so cool!” Amber agreed, before her eyes fell upon the writing on Atomic’s jersey.

“Hey, what’s that?”

Atomic looked down and grinned when he saw what Amber was pointing at. “Remember when I told you that Nick Foals signed my jersey?”

Amber read the note and sighed. “So you were telling the truth.”

“Told you.”

Thunderhoof had brought a large bag with him and he stuck his head into it, trying to find something. A few moments later, he closed his bag and took a deep breath. “Did anypony bring a pen?”
Amber and Atomic shook their heads, and Thunderhoof began to panic.

“I can’t believe I forgot my pen! How am I gonna get my jersey signed?!”

“Don't worry Thunderhoof, we can buy a marker from the train station,” Syracuse said, and Thunderhoof calmed down.

Amber took out a book from her saddlebag. “I found this this morning.”

Amber opened the book and showed her friends its contents. She explained that she had compiled some pictures of the Dragons over the last year and hoped that one day, the book could be signed by her favourite player.

“I really like the picture at the end,” Thunderhoof pointed to the picture on the last page. The picture displayed a few members of the Dragons with the team’s motto (‘FEEL THE HEAT’) written in capital letters with a bold font underneath.

For the rest of the journey, the three friends talked about school and the Dragons. The carriage stopped outside Fillydelphia Station. The foals got out of the carriage as Syracuse paid the driver.

“Let’s get the train.”

The group entered the station and they stopped in front of the train timetable. Their train (Baltimare to Manehatten) was due to arrive in four minutes, so the four ponies quickly went to the nearest desk to pay for the train, joining the back of a short queue.

“Since when did I have to pay for my foals?!”

“The new rules came into effect last week, sir. Nothing I can do about it.”

As the mare in front paid for her three children (who all looked at most seven years old), Syracuse suddenly remembered leaving the envelope containing the extra money in his study.

“Guys, I don’t have the money to pay for you,” he whispered.

“Next, please.”

Syracuse took a deep breath and stepped forward.

“Four tickets for Baltimare to Manehatten, please.”

“What are we gonna do?” Amber whispered, and the colts shrugged their shoulders.

“Thirteen bits, please.”

“Oh, my kids can ride free. They’re all under nine.”

The pony behind the glass; a dark blue mare wearing red glasses that were low on her face) peered at the foals.

“Are you sure?”

“Daisy, Daisy’s going to the moon!”

Amber continued singing, her voice a few pitches higher to help make her seem younger than she really was. The song she was singing was the theme tune of a foals’ travelling show that was very popular nationwide.

“My kids love her as well,” the blue mare said, before reaching down and passed four pieces of paper through to Syracuse, and he passed the five bits the other way.

“You can't tell anypony about that,” Amber demanded as the four ponies walked away, and she grumbled when the colts burst out laughing.

“Thanks to you, we can get the train, so just ignore them,” Syracuse said.

The Baltimare-Manehatten train had already pulled into the station when the group had reached the fourth platform, and they quickly got onto the train, Syracuse showing their tickets to an employee on the train.

“This train is ready to depart.”

The four ponies settled into their seats as the train departed, and Syracuse took a copy of the day’s newspaper from the stand, flicking to the back of the paper.

“Are you guys friends with Pablo?” Amber asked, and the colts shook their heads fervently.

“No way! He’s so annoying and he thinks he’s so cool!”

“It's just, after yesterday’s match, he asked me if I wanted to come to his house, just to hang out. Should I go?”

“It's up to you, but if I were you, I wouldn’t go,” Thunderhoof replied.

Amber got up to find the toilets, and once she was out of earshot, Atomic turned to his friend.

“Why the hay would he ask Amber to go to his house?!”

“Cause he probably has a crush on her.”

Atomic sighed and Thunderhoof smirked.

“Is somepony jealous?”

Atomic shot up from his position.

“No! Why would I have a crush?!”

Atomic’s outburst had drawn the attention of most of the other passengers sitting in their carriage, and the light blue colt’s face burned bright red as he sank back down into his seat.

“I don’t have a crush on her, seriously. You know what Pablo’s like, when has he ever asked a filly to hang out with him?.”

“True.”

The colts fell silent as Amber returned to her seat.

“What were you guys talking about?”

“Nothing important,” Atomic replied instantly.

Amber raised an eyebrow, but decided it wasn't worth questioning, and she rested her head against the window and closed her eyes.

“This is Glider Square on the Baltimare-Manehatten train. Please make sure you have taken all of your belongings with you.”

“Come on guys, this is our stop.”

Syracuse, Atomic, Amber and Thunderhoof got off the train. Platform 1 of Glider Square Station was situated outside, and the platform was soon crowded with ponies that were getting off the train and those who were waiting to get on. There were two set of stairs at the entrance of the platform, and the group quickly went up them.

There was a small shop in the main area of the station, and Syracuse quickly bought a pen for Thunderhoof. At the exit, Syracuse checked the large clock hanging on the wall and told the foals that since they still had nearly two hours until kickoff, he wanted to find the nearest bank and withdraw some money from his account.

“Woah, is that Cloud Glider?!” Thunderhoof exclaimed, pointing at the large statue.

The group had stopped in Glider Square, which was a few hundred yards away from the train station. Syracuse told the foals to stand in front of the statue as he took a small, portable camera out of his saddlebag, snapping several pictures of them.

Once he had shown them the pictures, the group walked away from the square and towards a pedestrian crossing. When the traffic light turned red, the four ponies crossed the road and turned left, walking straight ahead to the bank that was forty yards down the street.

“Wait for me out here,” Syracuse said before he entered the bank, joining the back of the line.

Five minutes later, Syracuse carefully placed the notes into his wallet as he left the bank.

“Right, do you guys wanna get some food now or wait till the game starts?”

“The burgers they had at the stadium were really good,” Atomic told the others, and the three foals told Syracuse they would wait until the game started.

At the end of the street, there was a line of carriages waiting at a carriage station, and there was a long line of ponies waiting to et one, and by the time Syracuse and the foals had joined the back of the line, there were only two carriages available.

As two stallions got into the last carriage, Syracuse sighed. “Looks like we’re going to be waiting here for a while.”

It took twenty minutes for the next carriage to pull into the docking station, and at the forty minute mark, Syracuse and the three foals were at the front of the line just as another carriage arrived.

The driver rolled down his window and stuck his head out. “Where d’you need me to take you?”

“Almerald Centre, please,” said Syracuse, climbing into the passenger seat as the foals got into the back.

“There’s a lot of traffic, so it’s gonna take longer than usual,” the carriage driver warned as he started the carriage’s engine.

“It's fine, we still have loads of time before the game starts,” said Syracuse.

“You guys rooting for the Dragons then?” the driver asked as he stopped at a red light, and sighed when all four passengers nodded.

“I’m originally from Canterlot, so I’m gonna be rooting for the Rams today.”

“Are you from Detrot originally?” Syracuse asked.

“Yep. Moved here last year.”

Syracuse and the carriage driver engaged in casual conversation about hoofball, and in the back, Amber put her book back in her bag.

“I’m gonna say yes.”

“Yes to what?”

“Hanging out with Pablo. What’s the worst that can happen?”

“When are you guys gonna meet up?” Thunderhoof asked.

“Monday after school, he told me to wait for him at the school gates.”

Atomic stared out of the window, until he realised that both Amber and Thunderhoof were staring at him. “What?”

Amber continued looking at him, before telling him it was nothing. As Thunderhoof asked her about how she was finding school, the pale yellow filly looked at Atomic.

Is he mad that I’m gonna hang out with Pablo?

“You should buy a jersey from the stadium,” Thunderhoof suggested, snapping Amber out of her thoughts.

“Huh?”

“I said you should buy a jersey.”

“I don’t have any money to pay for it though.”

Syracuse turned around. “Don’t worry about that, I’ll pay for you.”

“Okay then, I’ll get it.”

With an hour left until kickoff, the carriage finally arrived at Almerald Centre, and the foals quickly got out as Syracuse paid the driver.

“Woah, look at how many ponies are already here!”

The front of the stadium was completely crowded with Dragons fans, and there was another crowd waiting at the entrance to be let inside.

“Come on, the quicker we get inside, the quicker we can get our stuff signed!”

Amber sprinted ahead towards the stadium’s entrance, and the others quickly followed after her.

“I’m actually gonna see the Dragons live! Like they’re gonna be on the field and I’m gonna see them play!” Thunderhoof cried as he ran.

Eventually, the four ponies were reunited and Syracuse gave each goal their ticket, telling them to be careful with them.

“Look, it says Dragons-Rams here, and the kickoff time is underneath! Now can you let me in?!”

The mare glanced down at the paper, which was the fan’s pathetic attempt at trying to trick his way into the stadium. “Do you really think I’m gonna fall for that? Security!”

Inside the building, the unruly fan was dragged out by two large security guards, and they ignored his threats to assault the mares working behind the desk.

“Ponies must be really desperate to watch the match,” Syracuse commented, stepping aside to let the security guards escort the fan out.

When they reached the front of the line, Syracuse handed in the four tickets, and the mare at the desk told him their seat numbers. As the next ponies gave in their tickets, Syracuse pointed out the kit shop to Amber and they quickly entered it.

Amber headed straight for the fillies’ jersey aisle and picked up a Nick Foals jersey. She checked the age tag and put it back for another jersey, eventually finding her size at the back of the rack.

Amber checked the tag and held the shirt on her chest. “This is my size.”

At the till, Thunderhoof remembered that he needed a pen and he quickly put it on top of the jersey just before the sales assistant began to calculate the price. Once they had bought their items, Amber put the shirt on and the group went up the stairs that led to the seats.

A few changes had been made to the interior of Almerald Center since Atomic had last attended a Dragons match; the number of seats in the stadium had been increased and on both banners above the field goals the team’s motto had been replicated with ‘DRAGONS DEN’. The stadium was also mostly full now, and Syracuse, Atomic, Thunderhoof and Amber struggled through the ponies in the middle to get to their seats next to the players’ tunnel.

Once they got to their seats and had settled down, two ponies carrying trays of hot dogs, hayburgers, fries and drinks around their necks came down the steps and began serving the fans.

Syracuse opened his wallet and took out a few notes. “What do you guys want?”

Atomic and Thunderhoof bought hayburgers and fries, whilst Amber got a hot dog and a large soda. As they ate their food, the Dragons came out onto the pitch to resume pre-game practise, and Nick Foals waved to the fans as he came out of the tunnel.

“Nick! Over here!”

“We love you Nick!”

The Dragons’ star receiver joined his teammates and the fans that had been cheering for him were disappointed, but they soon distracted themselves watching their team practise.

“Woah, look at how big he is!”

Atomic pointed to the large brown pegasus wearing a light blue uniform that was talking to his coaches. In the last few years, the Detrot Rams had focused on beefing up their defense (especially the defensive line) and this tactic had culminated in the drafting of Rocky Mountain. In his four years in the league, the edge rusher had quickly developed to become the best at his position and he posed as the biggest threat to the Dragons’ high-flying offense.

“Imagine going up up against him, he probably eats bricks for breakfast,” a colt sitting next to Atomic commented.

The fans watched the two teams practise, with Atomic’s attention particularly on Nick Foals catching passes from Cartwheel with one hoof. Ten minutes later, Cartwheel pointed to the fans next to the tunnel and they made their way over.

“They’re gonna sign our stuff!”

The fans quickly got their pens and items out, and as the players came closer, they all tried to get their attention.

Cartwheel was the first to start signing jerseys and ponies tried passing their items forward to be signed. Nick Foals decides to handle the other side and he immediately recognised Atomic.

“Hey, I remember you!It's….Atomic, right?”

Atomic nodded eagerly, shocked that his favourite player still remembered him from the first match of the season. “You remember me?!”

The wide receiver nodded with a grin, and he finished signing another jersey before Amber gave him her scrapbook.

“What’s this?”

“It’s just a scrapbook of the team,” Amber explained, her voice noticeably quieter than usual. As Foals flicked through the pages, she nervously awaited his response.

“This is awesome! You’ve got some great pictures in there!”

Amber gave her marker to Foals and he sighed the front of the book, before giving it back to her with a smile.

“Cartwheel! Cartwheel!”

Thunderhoof called the quarterback’s name for a third time, and he finally got his attention. But just as Thunderhoof tried to get his jersey signed, the Dragons’ head coach called the team to come together.

“Sorry, I gotta go. Don’t worry, I’ll come back at the end of the game.”

Cartwheel galloped back to his team and Thunderhoof sighed.

“Don’t worry, he’ll come,” Syracuse said, trying to reassure the colt.

“Fillies and gentlecolts, are you ready?!”

The stadium erupted into cheers, the fans eagerly waiting for the two teams to come back out onto the pitch (the two teams had gone inside to get changed).

Suddenly, the smoke machines on both sides of home team’s tunnel cane to life, billowing smoke so fast that within two minutes, most of the tunnel was foggy with smoke.

“Here come the Dragons!”

The home fans cheered loudly as figures broke through the smoke in the tunnel.

When the away team came out from the other tunnel, the cheers were noticeably quieter except for the other side of the stadium where most of Detrot’s fans were watching, and they rallied together to make as much noise as they could.

Cartwheel and Rocky Mountain met with the referees in the middle of the pitch, and the head referee announced that the Dragons had on the coin toss and decided to receive the ball.

“This isn’t what I expected.”

Seven minutes into the first quarter, the promise of an exciting match up had mostly faded. The Dragons has been forced to punt the ball away after having possession for only five minutes. It was immediately clear that Detrot’s offense was not as talented as their defense, and with the ball on the forty-eight yard line on a second-and-six, the quarterback let the clock run down before catching the snap and tossing the ball to his running back.

“And the Rams have got another first down!”

“I thought this game was gonna be fun,” Amber complained, taking a long sip from her soda.

“Defensive games are entertaining to watch as well, you know,” Syracuse countered, but his argument fell on deaf ears as Amber had started talking to Atomic.

The Rams resumed play at the forty-yard line, and a short pass over the middle to an open receiver awarded the Rams with yet another first down.

“Why can't we stop them, we’re better than them!” the colt sitting next to Atomic cried, clearly frustrated that Fillydelphia’s defense were letting the Rams advance down the field.

For the first time in the match, the Rams’ offensive line were unable to hold back Fillydelphia’s front four, and they pushed through the gaps to sack the quarterback. The Rams’ number 12 saw some space to his right and quickly sprinted towards it, dropping back a little when he got there in preparation for a long pass into the end zone. However, the Dragons’ edge rusher was only a few yards away from the quarterback. Spotting one of his receivers running back towards him, the quarterback threw a soft pass to him just before he was brought down by the defense. The receiver jumped up to grab the ball and turned around. A few of his teammates had began blocking to create a path to the end zone, and just before he was pushed out of bounds at the one-yard line, the receiver was able to stretch his right foreleg out, ensuring that the nose of the hoofball crossed the end zone line.

“Touchdown, Detrot!”

As the Rams celebrated in the end zone, the receiver that scored the touchdown ran to the home fans sitting at the end zone and taunted them, grinning when the fans booed in response. As the security guards tried to stop a stallion from throwing a punch, the receiver walked away, but he had not realised that the Rams’ special team were already in formation for the extra point attempt, and whistles ad yellow flags were blown and thrown onto the pitch respectively.

“Too many players on the field, offense. Five yard penalty.”

The home fans cheered as the Rams moved back, and the receiver that had scored the touchdown was lectured by his coach as he came off the pitch.

From the twenty-yard line, the Rams’ extra point attempt was good, and two minutes later, the head referee announced that the first quarter had come to an end, with the Rams leading 7-0.

“Pass interference, defense number 26. The ball will be placed at the spot of the foul. Automatic first down, Fillydelphia.”

Fillydelphia’s offensive struggles continued into the second quarter, and if not for a defensive foul on Nick Foals, then they would’ve most likely have to punt the ball away for the second time. The foul allowed them to move twenty yards downfield for a first down at the thirty yard line.

“We’re gonna score, trust me,” Atomic stated, and a few ponies sitting near him agreed, cheering louder to try and encourage their team to score.

The Dragons ran a short pass play, with Nick Foals and another receiver running slant routes across the middle of the pitch whilst the third receiver and tight end provided extra pass protection for Cartwheel. The ball was thrown five yards to Nick Foals, and the receiver caught the ball. As he ran towards the sidelines, Foals saw some space between two pursuing defenders (a few yards separating the two), and he quickly juked the first defender and sprint through the gap, giving him a clear path to the end zone.

“YEESSS!”

“I told you he was gonna score, I told you!”

Nick Foals threw the ball into the crowd and celebrated with his teammates. The recipient of the ball quickly tucked it into her chest to avoid having it being taken away from her.

“I got it! I actually got the ball!”

Amber held the ball up and grinned. “I’m keeping this for the rest of my life.”

“If I were you, I’d try and get that signed at the end of the match,” Syracuse suggested, and Amber agreed with him.

With the score tied 7-7, the Rams got the ball back at the twenty-five yard line with six minutes left in the half. They were held to a 44-yard field goal at the end of their drive, and both teams headed into their locker rooms at the end of the first half, the Rams holding a slim three-point lead.

“And with the ball in the red zone now, the Dragons will be looking to stop the Rams from scoring what would most likely be the game winner. Do you think they’ll be able to manage it?”

“I’m not sure, Meteor. The Rams have been very good today on both sides of the ball, and the offense in particular has kept the Dragons’ defense on the field for most of this match. The fatigue will get to them and the Rams are going to take advantage of that.”
The third quarter had been scoreless for both teams, and the fourth quarter featured two Dragons field goals that brought their score to with one behind the Rams. But the Rams, sticking to their offensive game plan, had kept the fatigued defense on the field for as long as they could, and the Rams’ offense prepared to score the winning touchdown.

“Number 12 takes the snap, he’s looking to his left, he’s looking to his right. He scrambles to the five yard, looking, looking…..CAUGHT BY SORBET! TOUCHDOWN, RAMS! And that may have just ended the Dragons’ playoff hopes!”

“We can’t miss the playoffs! We can’t!”

Some disgruntled fans got out of their seats and made their way out, clearly not in the mood to watch the Dragons’ season come to an end.

“One minute and forty seconds. We have time, we just have to have faith,” Syracuse said.

The Dragons’ kick returner let the ball bounce through the end zone for a touchback, and the offense quickly came onto the field.

“And with forty seconds left, can the Dragons score a miracle to ensure that they play post-season football?”

The first down at the twenty-five yard line saw the Dragons attempt a running play that only brought them to the thirty-yard line, and the second rushing attempt did not gain the Dragons any yards, which left them at the thirty-yard line on a third-and-five.

“Hut!”

Cartwheel dropped back and stepped into the pocket once he was sure his offensive lineman could keep him open. He spotted Nick Foals breaking past his cornerback and the quarterback threw the twenty-yard pass, expecting Nick Foals to catch it at the fifty-yard line.

“The ball is headed for Foals, it's gonna be a first down…..HE DROPPED IT!”

The Dragons’ number 9 hung his head low as he entered his team’s huddle, and a chorus of boos rang out throughout the stadium.

“Hey, why are you booing him?! We still have a chance to win this!” Atomic cried, trying to get the ponies next to him to stop.

“This is the second time he’s dropped it in a big game! Face it, we’re not going to the Sugar Bowl this year,” the colt next to Atomic retorted, before resuming his booing.

“And the Dragons are gonna go for it on 4th-and-five, which doesn't surprise me at all. They’re gonna let the snap clock run down, I believe.”

“Their entire season relies on this play.”

The stadium had become the quietest it had been all day; the home fans hoping that their team would find a way to move the chains, and the Detrot fans hoping that their defense could stop them one more time.

“And Cartwheel takes the snap. He fakes the handoff, he’s looking, looking….Rocky Mountain has broken through! Cartwheel is scrambling to his left, still looking for an open teammate….and he’s able to throw it downfield!”

Come on Nick, you got this!

The ball flew high and far through the air- Cartwheel had put a considerable amount of power behind the hoofball before he had been brought down. At the ten-yard line, Dragons and Rams players pushed and shoved each other, each pony desperate to be the one that came down with the ball.

“AND NICK FOALS COMES DOWN WITH THE BALL! UNBELIEVABLE!”

Nick Foals had somehow managed to rise up above all the other players, and he quickly covered the ball with his forelegs to protect it. The whistle was blown and two referees ran onto the pitch to break up the defenders on top of Foals that were desperately trying to rip the ball away from him.

The clock continued running as the Dragons’ offense quickly went into their huddle, and as the defense waited for the offense to break from their huddle, they believed that Cartwheel was going to spike the ball in order to stop the clock.

The Dragons quickly lined up on the ten yard line, eight players lined up on the scrimmage and Cartwheel and the two running backs waiting behind the ball.

“And they’re gonna spike the ball- hold on!”

Instead of throwing the ball intentionally onto the ground as expected, Cartwheel quickly threw the ball to Nick Foals, and he was able to take advantage of the defense’s confusion to score the touchdown.

“TOUCHDOWN, DRAGONS!”

The stadium erupted into raucous cheers, and Nick Foals once again ran towards the fans in the end zone and jumped into the stands.

“How d’you like that, huh?!”

The receiver was eventually pulled down by security guards and celebrated with his teammates in the end zone.
The Dragons’ extra point was good and the referee blew the whistle to signal the end of the game; the Dragons coming out with a 18-17 win to give them the fourth seed going into the playoffs.

Monday at Sycamore Elementary had progressed as most Mondays normally did; the pupils spent the morning complaining about how tired they felt and the teachers took a slower approach in the morning, eventually returning to teaching at their normal pace as the day went on. This did not apply to Ms Ivory, and she showed no signs of fatigue as she began first-period fifth-grade Maths.

“For your starter, you are to complete the questions on…..”

At the back of the classroom, Atomic was reliving Nick Foals’ winner on Saturday, but instead it was Atomic who had scored the game-winning touchdown for the Dragons.

“You have ten minutes. You may begin.”

Atomic quickly snapped out for his daydream. Fortunately for him, the pages containing the starter questions had been written on the blackboard, and the light blue colt quickly turned his thoughts onto his work, his focus only breaking when the lesson ended.

Atomic caught up to Amber as she left the classroom. “Did you tell Pablo you wanted to meet?”

“Yeah, but I don't know where we’re going.”

“Tell me what happens, yeah?”

Atomic said goodbye and went upstairs for Science.

“Hey, Amber.”

Pablo shyly smiled at Amber.

“Hey,” Amber replied, surprised that her greeting sounded nervous. There was a long silence, before Pablo suddenly cleared his throat.

“...What lesson do you have next?”

The two foals compared timetables, and realised that they both had English next with the same teacher. Pablo led the way, the conversation between the two stilted and awkward.

“Why do you wanna hang out with me after school?” Amber suddenly asked.

“Cause…..I just wanna get to know you. Nothing wrong with that, right?”

Amber shook her head, and another question popped into her head.

“Are you and Atomic…..friends?”

Pablo’s face broke into a frown.

“Nope, never have been and never will be.”

After school, Amber and Pablo had met at the school gates as agreed, and the two had decided to go to the local fast food restaurant, which was only a few blocks away from their school. Pablo told Amber that he would pay for both of their meals, and Amber accepted his proposal. She was currently sitting at a table at the back of the restaurant, waiting for Pablo to bring their food.

“Here you go.”

Pablo set the tray down in front of them and sat opposite Amber.

“Thank you.”

As they ate, Amber decided to break the silence.

“Did you listen to the Dragons’ game on Saturday?”

Pablo shook his head. “I’m a Hawks fan.”

“You support Cloudsdale? But you live in Fillydelphia!”

Pablo unfurled his wings as an explanation. “My family’s from Cloudsdale originally. We moved here when I was four.”

“What was it like in Cloudsdale?”

“I don’t remember a lot, but I do remember my dad used to fly me around the city on the weekends, before I could fly.”

“That must’ve been cool.”

“It was.”

The foals fell silent again as they ate.

“What about you? How come you’re going to Sycamore now?”

Amber coughed loudly and slowly swallowed down her food. Whilst Pablo seemed nice, she wasn’t sure if she wanted to tell him about her past.

“My, uh, mom got relocated here. She works in a bank. When we moved here, I had to transfer schools, and Sycamore was the closest to our house.”

A few minutes later, the two finished their food and exited the restaurant.

“Is your house nearby? I really need the toilet?” Amber suddenly asked.

“Er, yeah, it’s…..just down here.”

The two foals crosses the road and began heading down the street.

“We could always check if any of these ships have a toilet,” Pablo suggested, but amber shook her head.

“They’re gonna be dirty.”

Amber noticed that Pablo was reluctant to show Amber his house, and as they turned onto another road, she wondered why.

Pablo’s house was a product of the large salaries that his parents earned as accountants. Amber could count at least three storeys and the neighbouring houses all appeared to belong to ponies with high-earning jobs.

Pablo pointed at one of the houses at the end of the street. “It’s just down there.”

Pablo knocked loudly on the door and stepped back when it was opened.

“You’re late.”

Pablo’s father was a tall, intimidating dark green pegasus, with grey eyes that seemed to peer into the soul of anypony they looked at. He looked at Amber for a few moments before turning his attention back onto his son.

“Where were you?”

“Revision, with Amber. She needs help with Maths so I thought it would be easier if she came with me.”

Pablo’s lie came easily to him, and amber suspected that it wasn’t the first time that he had five dto his father.

The stallion stepped aside to let the foals come inside, and Amber was blown away by the house’s interior. A large, crystal chandelier adorned the ceiling and the scent of lavender hung heavily in the air. On the wall next to the flight of the stairs, the maroon wallpaper held framed pictures of the family, the frame in the middle depicting the entire family.

“Your house is really cool,” Amber whispered.

“It’s alright,” Pablo replied with a shrug of his shoulders.

Pablo’s father closed the front door and told Pablo to come to the garden after he finished his work.

“Why do you need to go to the garden?”

“Hoofball practise.”

Amber winced as Pablo took a hard hit and dropped onto the grass.

“Do it again.”

Pablo slowly got up and picked up the ball, moving back to his starting position. Opposite him, the two defenders crouched.

“Hike!”

The ball was tossed to Pablo and he quickly sprinted out wide, hoping to beat his defenders with his speed. Whilst one defender couldn’t keep up with Pablo, the other shifted to his right and hit Pablo hard, sneering down at the colt.

“Stop being such a baby, I barely hit you!”

Pablo’s father instructed his youngest son to get up, and Pablo eventually did, though he was clearly shaken up.

From what Amber understood, Pablo’s older brother were both linebackers that played for Canterlot University’s Wondercolts, and they were spending their off week at home. Amber had also learned that Pablo’s father had instructed them to not go easy on their youngest brother.

“Can we…..take a break?” Pablo panted.

“Excuse me?!”

Pablo’s older brothers winced when their father confronted Pablo.

“You want to take a break?”

“It’s just…..I’m tired, I had a long day at school.”

Amber decided to stick up for her friend.

“If you don’t mind sir, I can sit inside with him.”

Pablo smiles gratefully at Amber, and his father eventually relented, warning Pablo that he would have five minutes to rest.

Inside the kitchen, Amber poured out a large glass of water of Pablo.

“Is your training always this hard?”

Pablo nodded, and he took a large sip from the glass.

“Dad wants me to go pro. Even before I got my cutie mark, he would make me practise in the garden for hours. Instead of being happy for me when I got my cutie mark, he started making my brothers practise with me, and you’ve seen how rough they are.”

“Doesn’t he know that you won the game for Sycamore?”

“I told him. He just made our practises longer.”

“Time’s up.”

Pablo slowly made his way back outside, and his father instructed him to run the same plays from before the break. As Pablo tried to get past his older brothers, his father walked over to Amber and stood next to her.

“What do your parents do?”

“Her mom works in Fillydelphia Central Bank,” Pablo answered, before slowly getting up.

“She does? What’s her name, I might know her.”

“Vanilla….Ice.”

“Never heard of her.”

“My mom’s new, we recently moved here, maybe that’s why.”

Amber suddenly noticed the setting sun, and realised that she hadn’t told her care worker that she would be coming home late.

“I’ve gotta go, my mom doesn’t know I’m here.”

Amber quickly picked up her saddlebag and sprinted through the back door and into the kitchen, looking for the front door.

“Let me show you out.”

Pablo had ran after Amber, and she had reached the hallway when she heard his voice.

“My dad probably locked the door. Lemme find the key.”

Next to the front door, there was a table that held three plant pots, and Pablo reached into the middle one, pulling out the small key.

“That’s our secret.”

Pablo unlocked the front door and opened it.

“Pablo, get back here now!”

Upon hearing his father’s voice, Pablo sighed and stepped aside to let Amber pass.

“See you tomorrow?”

Amber nodded, before suddenly hugging Pablo. The colt was taken aback for a moment before returning the embrace.

“See you tomorrow.”

As she made her way down the street, passer-bys would notice the small smile on the yellow filly’s face. As for Amber, she made her way home believing that for the first time in a long time, things were looking up for her.

WILDCAT

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As he put on the dark green and white kit of the U13 Eagles, Atomic realised that the last time he had attended training was before his abduction, and he had missed a lot. The team had since played their next two season fixtures, both of which they had won, placing them in second in the local league. Today’s training session preceded another weekend match that Atomic knew he wouldn’t be starting, but in today’s session, he was going to try and change that.

The team ran out onto the pitch and Helios led the warm-up and stretches, before the team split into the offensive, defensive and special units.

For the defensive unit, Coach Bouncer split the team into the front seven and secondary
groups for their first drill; practising zone coverages.

“We're not gonna have the offense with us right now, so just imagine they’re lined up in front of you. When I blow my whistle, you stop, no matter if you’re in the right place or not. Right, Cover 2!”

The defense quickly got into the formation; the defensive line crouched in their starting positions, the linebackers had spread out a few yards behind the defensive line (the middle linebacker stood alone in the middle whilst the outside linebacker stood five yards to the left and right of the middle linebacker), and the cornerbacks were on the scrimmage line at the edge of the field, fifteen yards in front of the two safeties covering the rest of the field.

“Cover 3!”

Atomic had been positioned as a cornerback for this drill, and whilst he knew some of the basic coverage formations, he struggled to get into the right position for the more complicated formations.

“Nickel!”

Atomic panicked and watched his other teammates get into position with ease, desperately trying to remember his position. He ended up colliding with a linebacker and when the whistle was blown, he found himself stuck in the middle of the pitch, with everypony staring at him.

The defensive coordinator sighed loudly. “Atomic, why are you standing there?”

“......Extra protection in the middle?”

“Can somepony tell Atomic where he’s supposed to be?”

One of the cornerbacks pointed to the far right of the field and Atomic quickly sprinted over there.

Coach Bouncer ended the first drill five minutes later and let the team have a quick break.

“Come to me at the end of training. I need to speak to you.”

Atomic nodded slowly, and sat down at the end of the bench, taking a long sip from his water bottle.

“Did Coach tell you about all of those different formations?” the light blue colt asked Helios.

“Not all of them, he told us to read up on all of the other formations.”

“Break’s over, let’s get back to work!”

“Atomic, how would you rate your performance here?”

After training, Atomic had met with Coach Bouncer and Stargaze in the head coach’s office as instructed, and the colt was feeling nervous sitting opposite the two stallions. He suddenly remembered that he had been asked a question and quickly answered.

“...Alright, I think.”

“I’d agree with that. But you’ve got a long way to go before we consider you as a starter for the team.”

Atomic sighed. “But Coach, I’m not a defender, I’m a wide receiver. I’ll never be able to start on defense because it’s not what I am good at.”

The two coaches spoke to each other for a few moments, their conversation almost inaudible. Eventually, Coach Stargaze turned back to Atomic.

“You say you’re a wide receiver?”

Atomic nodded.

“Let’s see what you can do.”

On the pitch, Alizarin stood with the ball at the twenty-five yard line. On his right was Atomic, ready to show the coaches what he could do.

“Hike!”

Atomic leapt forward and quickly got into his stride. Alizarin took a three-step drop back and waited for Atomic to reach the halfway line, before hurling the ball through the air.

Atomic made the easy catch at the forty yard line and sprinted back to the twenty-five yard line, and Alizarin picked up the next ball.

“I want you to run a post route. Do you know what that is?”

“Yes, Coach,” Atomic replied, silently thanking Thunderhoof for teaching him some of the basic running routes.

The next four passes were all caught by Atomic, and Coach Stargaze made a few notes. At the end, the head coach called the two colts over.

“Alright, Atomic. You’ve clearly got talent as a receiver. You’ll start our next match. Can you handle it?”

Atomic nodded eagerly, ecstatic that he had finally proved himself. “Yes, Coach. Thank you so much.”

“So, how was it?”

As soon as break time had begun, Atomic had dragged Amber outside onto the field. The weather had taken a turn for the worse; the temperature had gotten noticeably colder and a harsh wind blew through the air. Most of the pupils had come to school wearing their hats and scarves, and Amber groaned when Atomic tugged on her blue wool scarf again.

“Atomic, let go! I’m not gonna run away!”

Atomic apologised and loosened his grip on the scarf.

“What did you guys do?”

“I wanna ask those two guys, the ones you said were friends with Pablo….”

“Blaze and Mustang?”

“Yeah, I wanna ask them something.”

Instead of sitting at the back of the field as usual, the group of friends had waited at the benches next to the courts. As they sat down, Chestnut informed Atomic and Amber that their older friends were in extra Maths classes and so were unable to join them. The attention immediately shifted to Amber and before anypony could ask her how yesterday was, she looked at Pablo’s former friends.

“Blaze, Mustang, did you guys ever go to Pablo’s house?”

“No, we’ve never been. We did go past it once in the summer, but Pablo made us rush past it. I think he was trying to avoid being spotted.”

Amber nodded quietly, before realising that everypony was staring at her.

“What?”

“Aren’t you gonna tell us how-”

“Oh, that. It was alright.”

Amber quickly retold her time with Pablo, breezing over what happened inside his house.

“It was actually really good,” she concluded.

“It was?” Atomic asked, and Amber nodded.

Blaze sat quietly for a few moments, before suddenly speaking up. “There’s only one reason he would be so nice to you. I think he has a crush on you.”

“What?!” Amber exclaimed, and Mustang agreed with Blaze.

“Knew it,” Thunderhoof added, and Amber shook her head.

“There’s no way he likes me, he was just…..being friendly, that’s all.”

The bell suddenly rang and the students quickly went back into the building; Atomic and Amber split from the group to go to their Maths lesson, and on their way, they bumped into Pablo, who eagerly greeted Amber.

Atomic watched the two talk, a confused expression on his face.

Did somepony swap bodies with Pablo?!

Atomic tuned back into the conversation, waiting for the right moment to tell Amber that they were going to be late to Maths if they didn’t hurry up.

“Why don't you come and hang out with me and my friends at lunch?”

“Er...yeah, okay,” Amber replied with a nod.

“She can't, she’s gonna be with us at lunch,” Atomic replied quickly, and he dragged Amber away before she could say anything.

“Hey, what the hay-”

“We’re gonna be late, and I really don’t want to get lunchtime detention.”

Amber grumbled and ripped her foreleg out of Atomic’s grip. The conversation the rest of the way was silent and when they finally reached room 6, they found that the classroom door was locked. Atomic looked through the keyhole and was able to make out Ms Ivory writing on the blackboard.

“Brilliant, we’re late! And it’s all your fault!”

“My fault! How was I supposed to know she locks the door?!” Amber countered with a glare.

“If you weren’t flirting with Pablo of all people, then we wouldn’t be locked outside!”

Unbeknownst to Atomic and Amber, their arguments had drawn the attention of the foals inside the classroom, and Ms Ivory unlocked the door.

“Inside. Now.”

Atomic and Amber ignored each other and went to their seats, everypony’s eyes on them. Ms Ivory closed the door and resumed the lesson.

Atomic’s anger faded as he took out his books and quill, and he asked himself why Amber and Pablo’s budding friendship bothered him so much. After some deliberation, he came to two conclusions; either he was just irritated by Pablo actually being nice to somepony or...

I don't like Amber!

Do I?

Ms Ivory placed a pile of papers onto Amber’s desk. “Amber, hand out a sheet to everypony.”

As Amber went around the classroom to give out the papers, Atomic stared at her. He didn’t find her ugly; in fact he thought her short, light blue hair suited her. Now that he thought about it, Amber’s grey eyes also looked really nice and-

“Here you go.”

Atomic looked up and took the sheet of paper from Amber.

“Thank you,” he said quietly.

Do I have a…….crush on Amber?

Atomic decided to worry about Amber later, and looked through the questions on the sheet, relieved that they were easy enough for him to complete. At the end of the lesson as expected, Ms Ivory told Atomic and Amber to come back for detention.

As he made his way out of the classroom, Atomic decided that he should apologise to Amber, his potential attraction to her being the driving force behind his decision.

Amber felt a tap on her shoulder and turned around.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have yelled at you.”

Amber sighed. “Me too.”

“Leave me alone! I said I’m sorry!”

At the end of the corridor, Chestnut pushed past the ponies walking out of his classroom.

“All of my platinum cards are wet because of you, get back here!”

Pablo came out of the classroom after Chestnut and grabbed his shoulder, forcing him to turn around.

“Don’t ever touch my things again!” Pablo proceeded to shove Chestnut so hard, that the smaller colt fell onto the carpet and skidded a few yards before stopping. The top of his hind legs were red from carpet burn and ponies passing by Chestnut desperately tried to blink away his tears. The pupils that had been walking past all stopped and watched Pablo walk up to Chestnut in a menacing manner, nopony trying to stop him.

“Leave him alone!”

Atomic barged past ponies walking the other way and came flying through the corridor and charged into Pablo, sending the two tumbling into the ground. Ponies started cheering as they exchanged blows, and Amber ran to Chestnut.

“Hey, are you okay?” she asked, helping me up. Chestnut nodded and a few tears rolled down his face.

Atomic and Pablo were still fighting each other as teachers came rushing out of their classrooms to break up the fight, and it took five teachers to separate the colts. As they were pulled up off the carpet, both colts glared at each other and continued shouting insults.

Miss Bellflower eventually arrived and took both colts with her to the principal’s office, instructing everypony to go their lessons immediately or they would face after-school detention. The teachers that had separated Atomic and Pablo checked on Chestnut, and one of them gave him a tissue to wipe away his tears.

“I accidentally spilled some water onto his cards and I said sorry! I don’t know why he did that to me!”

“We'll take him to medical. Take this note and show your teacher.”

Amber picked up her saddlebag and headed back the way she came. She was still in shock that Pablo had pushed Chestnut; he was a completely different pony to the one that had paid for her food and talked to her politely yesterday. Atomic’s warnings about Pablo came flooding back to her, and Amber decided there and then that she would not speak to Pablo again.

“He started it, it was him that charged into me!”

“Because you pushed Chestnut!”

Principal Autumn Forest sighed and lay back into his seat, waiting for the arguing colts to take the hint and be quiet.

“Who the hay told you to get involved, anyway? It had nothing to do with you!”

“I had every right to get involved, Chestnut’s my friend!”

BANG!

Atomic and Pablo fell silent as the principal lifted his hoof off the table. Principal Forest cleared his throat and began to speak.

“I would try and get the both of you to sort out your differences and come to an understanding, but that’s clearly not going to happen. Both of you will be in isolation for the rest of term and I will be sending letters home to your parents.”

Atomic opened his mouth to protest, but immediately caved under the principal’s harsh glare and remained silent. Pablo on the other hand, acted as if the punishment didn’t mean anything to him.

Principal Forest also decided that both colts would be taken out of lessons for the rest of the week, and Miss Bellflower came to the office to collect the both of them.

“I’m very disappointed with both of you,” she said with a frown.

Atomic and Pablo continued glaring at each other as they were escorted to their head of grade’s office, each colt blaming the other for the situation they found themselves in.

Miss Bellflower’s office was on the first floor; it was a small room at the end of the English department’s corridor and had pictures of the fifth-grade over the last few years on the office’s walls. Miss Bellflower had left her office unlocked and pushed it open to let the colts inside. The two seats opposite the desk had piles of papers stacked on top of them, and the teacher quickly moved the papers onto her desk for Atomic and Pablo to sit down.

“Take out your books and revise,” Miss Bellflower instructed and Atomic flicked through his History textbook absentmindedly, glancing over at Pablo every few seconds, who was reading a book. Suddenly, there was a knock at the door.

“Come in,” Miss Bellflower said without looking up.

“We’re here to speak to Atomic Tangerine.”

Atomic immediately recognised the two police officers- they were the ones who had taken him to the police station after he escaped the foal’s home with Amber, and they were also the same officers that had escorted him with his mother to the police station.

“Er, yeah, he’s right here,” Miss Bellflower eventually said, gesturing to Atomic.

Atomic quickly packed up his belongings and the officers stepped aside to let the colt walk out of the office.

“We'll be taking him out of school, so he won’t be coming back,” one of the officers said, before closing the door gently.

“Where am I going?”

“To the station. Your mom’s already waiting for you there.”

“Could you explain that again please?”

In Interview Room 1, the officer sitting opposite Atomic and Tea Rose explained what was going to happen within the next few weeks.

“The ponies that kidnapped you are going to be on trial in a few weeks, and we need you Atomic, to testify against them.”

“So I have to stand up in front of everypony and talk about what happened to me?”

“Yes.”

Atomic sat back and contemplated what it would be like to come face-to-face with the ponies that had foalnapped him, and the police officer sensed his nervousness.

“You’ll be perfectly safe Atomic, don’t worry. We’ll help you with your testimony.”

The officer opened the folder in front of her and took out the statement Atomic had provided to the police after his foalnapping ordeal. She also took out pictures of the scene that had been taken after the arrests and asked Atomic to identify them.

Atomic looked down at the pictures, which had been printed onto laminated paper. “That's the hospital they took me to, and that's the foal’s home I woke up in.”

For the next hour, Atomic, Tea Rose and the officer worked together on Atomic’s testimony, making sure that everything that happened to Atomic was written concisely and in chronological order. Half an hour after the sun had set, the three had finished working on the testimony, and Atomic and Tea Rose were informed that they would be contacted before the trial, which was set to take place after Hearth’s Warming. The mother and son were escorted out of the police station and crossed the road to wait for a carriage at the small carriage station.

Atomic suddenly pointed at a mare on the other side of the road. “Isn't that Aunt Pumpkin over there?”

Tea Rose squinted her eyes and recognised her younger sister. As Pumpkin spoke to a few other ponies, Tea Rose watched her carefully. Pumpkin’s overnight stay in jail for drug use whilst Atomic was missing had soured the sisters’ relationship, and Pumpkin had spent most nights out with friends since. A carriage parked in front of Atomic and Tea Rose and the two got in, Tea Rose watching her sister out of the window she sat next to. The group had split up, with only Pumpkin and another stallion left standing on the pavement. The two appeared to be speaking about something that they didn’t want anypony knowing about- Pumpkin would look up every few seconds to make sure nopony could hear them.

“Where can I take you, ma’am?”

“Oh, 27 Mayfield Avenue please.”

The driver turned on the carriage’s engines and performed a U-turn. As they drove the other way back home, Tea Rose saw Pumpkin give a bundle of notes to the stallio, and she was given a white package in exchange. Tea Rose made a note to ask Pumpkin what she had bought when she came back home. A voice in the back of her mind told her that Pumpkin had bought something she did not want anypony knowing about.

“I’m surprised you guys didn’t fight sooner.”

“Yeah, well, he was asking for it.”

Atomic and Thunderhoof were on their way to school together, and Atomic was eager to spend time with his best friend before he was put in isolation for the rest of the day. As they crossed the road and headed straight towards Sycamore’s entrance, Atomic told Thunderhoof about the upcoming trial he was going to testify in.
“So you have to tell everypony what happened to you?”

Atomic nodded. “Yep.”

At the school’s main reception, Atomic and Thunderhoof said goodbye to each other and Atomic waited next to the desk for Miss Bellflower to come and collect him. Atomic quickly checked his saddlebag to make sure he had brought his reading book, and he moved it to the front so that it would be easier for him to take out.

“Good, you’re on time.”

Miss Bellflower came to Atomic holding a pile of papers, and she gave it to him, telling him that it was his classwork from the lessons he would be missing today. Together, they stood at the desk and waited for Pablo to arrive.

Just as the late bell began to ring, Pablo stumbled inside. “I’m not late Miss, I’m on time.”

Luckily for Pablo, Miss Bellflower decided that he had come on time, and she escorted them behind the receptionist’s desk and through a small corridor, stopping in front of the last door.

“You guys are going to be in here today.”

Miss Bellflower unlocked the door and let the two colts enter. The isolation room was a small space with desks and chairs packed tightly against the walls. Between each desk was a wooden barrier that Atomic assumed prevented ponies from talking to each other without being noticed. Atomic and Pablo were instructed to sit on opposite sides of the room and Miss Bellflower left the room briefly, coming back two minutes later with another teacher.

“Pablo, I’m going to go to my office and get your work. Behave yourselves whilst I’m gone.”

The door closed and Atomic and Pablo sat under the watchful eyes of the teacher monitoring them. Deciding that he could get started on his work later, Atomic opened his saddlebag and took out his book, opening it to where he had last left off. To stop his mom from lecturing him about his lack of reading, Atomic had decided to consult Thunderhoof for book recommendations. Despite his dislike of fantasy novels, Atomic was thoroughly enjoying ‘To The End of the World’, and he was close to reaching the story’s climax (in which the hero and villain would face off for the last time).

“Atomic, you’re supposed to finish your work before the end of the day, so if I were you, I’d get started now,” Miss Bellflower said as she gave Pablo his work for the day.

Atomic sighed and moved his bookmark to the page he was on, before putting his book back into his saddlebag and looking over his work, deciding which tasks were the easiest and hardest.

This is gonna be a long day.

Now’s my chance.

In 27 Mayfield Avenue, Tea Rose was brushing her hair when Pumpkin came to tell her that she was going shopping with a few friends. As soon as she heard the front door being opened and closed, Tea Rose tied up her hair into a bun and went upstairs, heading straight for the room next to Atomic’s. She had dropped off Butterscotch at the playgroup she had recently joined, using the free hours she had to look for a job, but currently she was focused on finding something else.

When was the last time she opened a window in here?!

Tea Rose coughed and covered her nose as the strong smell of Pumpkin’s favourite perfume hit her. She staggered over to the window and opened it, sticking her head out o fit for a few seconds to get some fresh air.

Okay, if I wanted to hide something from my older sister, where would I put it?

The wardrobe was the first place that was searched- clothes flew off their hangers and several scarves were thrown backwards, and soon there was a large pile of clothes behind Tea Rose as she reached the bottom of the wardrobe. She looked behind her and quickly threw the clothes back into the wardrobe, trying her best to put her sister’s belongings back the way she had found them. Tea Rose peeked under the bed and wasn’t surprised to see nothing under there. She stood quietly in the room, wondering whether it was right of her to be going behind Pumpkin’s back like this.

If there’s nothing in here, then I’m just going to leave it.

As a last resort, Tea Rose suddenly lifted up the mattress. There she found Equestrian notes held together with rubber bands. Tea Rose quickly counted the money and the total came to nearly 2000 crowns.

Where the hay did she get all this money from?

Suddenly, Tea Rose heard a key being put into the front door’s lock. Panicking, she quickly pushed the mattress back down and left the room in a hurry.

“It's me!”

Upon hearing her husband’s voice, Tea Rose breathed a huge sigh of relief and came down the stairs.

“How come you’re back early?”

Syracuse came out of his study holding up his saddlebag. “Forgot this. I have to go, I told my boss I’d be back as soon as possible and there’s a carriage waiting for me outside.”

Syracuse quickly kissed his wife’s lips and said goodbye as he left in a hurry. The front door slammed shut and Tea Rose was all alone again.

“We’ve been walking for ages! You said this place was nearby!”

“Stop complaining, we’re literally only a few seconds away now!”

Pumpkin had met up with her friends at the shopping mall to help find one of their friends a dress for her brother’s wedding. Once they had found the perfect dress, the group headed straight for the exit and Pumpkin led them down the high street, making several turns until they reached the entrance of an alleyway.

“Come on, it's just through here!”

At the end of the alleyway was a single, rusty brown door without a doorknob, and Pumpkin’s friends nervously waited behind her as she tried to push it open.

“Are you sure this is safe?” one of them asked.

Pumpkin finally opened the door and grinned. It was just like she had been told. The room had six chairs (more than enough for the group) and a small wooden table in the middle. Behind the chairs, the wallpaper was peeling off the walls in the far right corner and a stale smell hung heavily in the room’s airspace. The mares piled into the room and Pumpkin closed the door, taking a seat in the chair next to the chair. She picked up a block of wood and placed it against the door so that they wouldn’t be disturbed.

“Where’s the stuff then?”

Pumpkin opened her purse and took out a few white packages, putting them down one by one onto the small table in front of her. The other mares immediately tried to grab a package for themselves, but Pumpkin swept them back towards her before they could.

“Money first.”

The mares took out notes from their purses and handed them over to Pumpkin, who counted the money and gave out the packages. One of the mares took out some rolling paper and a lighter to share between all four of them, and soon the room stank of narcotics.

“I still can't believe you managed to get this much! What did you have to do?”

“Just used my charm, and he was all ears,” Pumpkin replied with a smirk, before taking a deep draw from her rollie.

Despite spending a night in a police cell for using drugs, there was little that could stop Pumpkin from purchasing drugs soon after she had returned home. One fateful night out partying on the other side of the city six months ago introduced Pumpkin to the illegal substance, and regular use of the drug had become a part of her life. She did not class her as addicted, but could only go at most three days before she gave up and went out to buy. The mares smoking with her were ponies Pumpkin had met whilst getting used to the town’s nightlife, and she quickly became close friends with them. Pumpin knew that her older sister would probably kick her out of the house if she was ever caught using again, but with every puff she took, Pumpkin’s doubts and worries slipped further and further to the back of her mind.

Pumpkin took one last puff and leaned back, feeling the drug take effect. She suddenly laughed out loud, prompting the other to look up at her.

“You know if my sister caught me here, she’d put me in hospital.”

“My mom would do the same to me,” one mare said, and the others nodded in agreement.

“Hey, anypony in here?!”

Suddenly, there was a long knock at the door.

“Hide the stuff!”

The mares quickly cleared the table and hid behind the chairs.

“Pumpkin, answer the door!”

Pumpkin, still under the influence, slowly moved the wood away from the door and banged the door.

“Hey! I’m using the, the…...toilet! Yeah, so leave me alone!”

“It don't sound like it from out here!”

“Er….”

Pumpkin’s friends helped her out by making noises, and Pumpkin crouched next to the door.

“I’m tryna do my business in peace, leave me alone!” she yelled, and a few moments later, she heard hoofsteps moving away from the door. She slowly got up and suddenly fell back against the door, losing her balance for a brief moment before chuckling.

“You can come out, we’re clear!”

The mares sighed in relief and came out of their hiding places, taking their seats back.

“Yeah, there’s a weird smell coming from here. When I knocked on the door, a mare replied and said that she was using the toilet, and there were….worrying noises coming from inside.”

“Alright, I’ll check inside.”

Pumpkin looked up at the ceiling and saw that the smoke was escaping the room through a small air vent, which explained why the mares hadn’t suffocated in the room. She then heard the voices and hoofsteps coming closer and closer, and the mares panicked again.

Outside in the alleyway, the police officer knocked on the door loudly. “West Fillydelphia Police, open up!”

“Use your magic and get us out of here!” Pumpkin hissed, directing her demand at the only unicorn in the group. The said unicorn closed her group and a purple aura surrounded her horn. The mares packed tightly together, and waited to be teleported from the room.

“It's not working! The spell’s not working!”

“Do it again, quickly!”

The unicorn closed her eyes and after the magical aura covered her horn, the group were pushed even closer together by the unicorn’s magic. Pumpkin opened her eyes and the room appeared blurry. A few seconds later, the police officer kicked the door open. The room was empty.

“Was this your idea of a joke?!”

The pony that had reported the noises he heard stepped inside the room and shook his head.

“Can't you smell that?! That proves somepony was in the room!”

Despite having a bad cold, the police officer sniffed deeply and was finally able to catch the scent of a substance that he was very familiar with.

“Somepony’s been using in here!”

The officer moved the chairs aside and tucked in the right corner of the room, was a large bag. The officer read the name on the front and recognised the shop.

“Whoever was in here left their shopping behind,” he declared. He told the pony with him to step out and once they were outside, the police officer took out his walkie-talkie and requested a search team to come as quickly as they could. He took the shopping bag out and looked for the receipt, planning to go to the mall and find out who had left the bag behind.

“So how was shopping with your friends?”

“It was alright. Took us a while, but we found the perfect dress for Petal.”

Tea Rose watched her younger sister go upstairs to the guest room, wondering if she was adding to the stash of money under her mattress.

In the guest room, Pumpkin closed the door behind her and fell back onto her bed. The teleportation spell had dropped them in the middle of the road where they were nearly hit by carriages driving by. Once they had safely gotten off the road, the ponies went their separate ways, and Pumpkin came back just after three o’clock.

Pumpkin took out the second rollie she had prepared from her purse and stared at it, wondering if she could risk smoking it without getting caught.

Nah, Rose would be able to smell it. I’ll do it later.

Pumpkin wrapped the rollie up inside a tissue and tossed into her wardrobe. She went downstairs to find her sister, who was in the kitchen cleaning the tables.

“How’s Butterscotch finding the play group?”

“She really likes it, it’s a good place. At first I thought I was going to have to stay with her the whole time, but she’s fine by herself. Besides, none of the other parents were staying.”

Pumpkin took some tissues and began drying the tables that her older sister had just cleaned.

“So how’s life?”

Pumpkin turned around. “Huh?”

“Are you happy here?”

“Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?”

“Just asking.”

Pumpkin went back to drying, and Tea Rose suddenly hugged her from behind.

“You know you can tell me anything, right?”

Pumpkin nodded slowly, confused as to what had brought in the change in her older sister. “Why, what’s up?”

“Just wanted to tell you that.”

“You can go home now. Make sure you’re not late tomorrow.”

Half an hour after school had ended at three-twenty, Atomic and Pablo we’re finally free to go home. The two had managed to complete all of their work before the end of the day and they were eager to get out of school and away from each other as soon as possible.

“Atomic, wait up!”

Thunderhoof and Amber galloped to Atomic as he turned around, and he greeted them eagerly.

“What are you guys still doing in school?”

“I was helping Amber with maths, and we figured we’d wait for you as well.”

As the three of them chatted, Pablo had almost passed the main reception when he stopped and watched Amber talk to Atomic eagerly. He took a step forward and was about to go and say hello to Amber, when he remembered what he had done to Chestnut yesterday. Amber had paid no attention to him since the incident, and Pablo realised that she probably wouldn’t want to talk to him right now.

Brilliant, I’ve ruined my chance with her.

As they left school to go home, Atomic’s potential crush on Amber suddenly resurfaced, and he decided to stay quiet and not take part in the conversation.

“My ride’s here guys. See you tomorrow.”

Atomic suddenly felt forelegs wrap around his body, and he realised that Amber was hugging him. As she broke the hug and said goodbye to Thunderhoof in the same way, Atomic felt his cheeks redden and he tried to cover them before they were seen.

Amber got into the carriage waiting outside the school (which also held Amber’s housemates that attended other schools in the area), and she waved as the carriage drove away.

“Atomic, why are you blushing?”

“Huh?! I’m not blushing, it’s just….I feel really hot right now, that’s all!”

“Okay, if you say so,” Thunderhoof replied, a knowing smile tugging at the corner of his lips.

“I’m home Mom!”

Atomic dumped his saddlebag at the bottom of the stairs and went into the living room to sit on the sofa.

“Pumpkin, could you collect Butterscotch for me? I need to start dinner.”

“Alright, I’ll get ready now.”

Ten minutes later, Pumpkin left the house and headed towards the high street to call a carriage.

“Mom, somepony’s knocking at the door.”

“Atomic, can you open it and tell them I’ll be out in a sec?”

Atomic sighed and got off the sofa. He opened the door.

“Is Pumpkin Spice here? We really need to talk to her?”

“She just left to collect my little sister.”

Tea Rose came out of the kitchen and was surprised to see two police officers on her doorstep.

“D’you need us to go to the station?”

“No, we need to speak to your sister.”

“Pumpkin?”

Tea Rose invited the police officers inside, desperately trying to hide her growing panic. Did the money stashed under Pumpkin’s mattress have something to do with the police’s visit?

The officers politely declined Tea Rose’s offer of coffee or tea, and the four of them sat silently in the living room.

“Come on, Butterscotch, your mom’s waiting for you.”

Pumpkin turned the pushchair right onto Mayfield Avenue and pushed it down the pavement.

“Rose, we’re home!”

Pumpkin was taken aback by the glare Tea Rose was giving her.

“Miss Pumpkin Spice?”

Pumpkin’s eyes widened upon seeing the police, and she gulped loudly.

“Yes, that’s me.”

“Could you step outside with us for a moment, please?”

Pumpkin nervously nodded and stepped aside to let the police pass.

It’s probably nothing, don’t let them see you stress.

JET SWEEP

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The date was the first of December on a Monday, and the beginning of the final month of the year had overnight begun the annual Hearth’s Warming hype. Radio stations across the country advertised special sales and deals occuring in shops all over Equestria, and whilst the impending stress of choosing the right presents for their loved ones increased, ponies eagerly anticipated the 25th of December. This was not the case for one family.

“The jury have come to a decision. Please rise.”

In West Fillydelphia’s local courtroom, the defendant, her lawyers and the audience sitting at the back of the court all stood up as the jury (made up of nine ponies) entered the court.

Once they sat down at the bench next to the judge, the verdict was passed.

“On the charge of drug distribution, how does the jury find the defendant?”

The jury’s spokespony, a pegasus grey stallion wearing a suit, stood up.

“Not guilty, your honour.”

The defendant and her lawyers breathed a huge sigh of relief. The sentence for drug distribution was the most severe out of the charges the defendant was facing, and the defense lawyers were relieved that their client wouldn’t be facing a substantial sentence.

“On the charges of drug purchase, how does the jury find the defendant?”

“Guilty, your honour.”

“And for the charge of drug purchase?”

“Guilty, your honour.”

“Miss Pumpkin Spice, your drug usage has already been documented by the police, and I believe that time in jail will be a suitable punishment. Therefore, I will be sentencing you to a month in jail. Take her away.”

The judge banged his gavel on the table as he passed Pumpkin’s sentence, and two security guards began putting hoofcuffs on Pumpkin, and they took her out of the court and to the carriage waiting at the back that would take her to the local jail.

The ponies that had been watching the trial slowly filed out of the court.

“It's okay Rose, she’ll be fine.”

Tea Rose wiped her eyes and blew her nose loudly. She was angry with Pumpkin for taking drugs again, but also with herself for not stepping in when she found the money under her sister’s mattress. During questioning, Pumpkin admitted that she had withdrawn the money from her bank account to pay for her drug habit, and Tea Rose felt betrayed that the money she had given to her sister over the past six weeks had been blown on drugs.

“Come on, let’s go home.”

Syracuse led his wife out of the court and Atomic followed after them.

“Sir, sir, would you like to answer a few questions?”

Outside the courtroom, a few journalists and photographers were waiting, and when Syracuse, Tea Rose and Atomic came out, they hurried towards the family. The three of them continued walking, trying their best to ignore the reporters.

“Atomic, how do you feel knowing your aunt is a drug addict?” one reporter asked, shoving a small recording device into the colt’s face.

“Hey, leave my son alone!”

Syracuse stepped between Atomic and the reporter, and he gave the journalist a ferocious glare.

“We’re not going to answer any of your questions, so leave us alone.”

The journalists finally moved away from the family and let them pass.

The mood at the Tangerine home had mostly been solemn in the four days following Pumpkin’s trial and incarceration. Atomic spent most of his free time either outside playing with Thunderhoof or hanging out at his best friend’s house. In school, Atomic was still out of lessons with Pablo, and the two colts had swapped glaring at each other and exchanging occasional insults to simply ignoring each other. Right now, Atomic and Pablo were in the isolation room behind the main reception, waiting for their lunch.

“Here you go. A cheese sandwich for you, and macaroni cheese for you.”

The teacher watching over the two colts gave them their lunch and went back to her seat next to the door, picking up her book and reading.

In front of him, Atomic picked up a fork began to scoff down his lunch, the combination of pasta and cheese satisfying his hunger. He briefly turned around and looked at Pablo, who was slowly opening the package holding his sandwich. As he turned back around, thoughts of Amber surfaced from the back of his mind.

You don’t have a crush on her Atomic, you’re just friends.

Yeah, she might be above-average looking, but it doesn’t mean anything.

“Miss, can I go to the toilet please?” Pablo suddenly asked.

“Come on then, I’ll go and find Mr Swift.”

Pablo followed the teacher out of the isolation room, and he waited the door whilst Mr Swift came to take him to the toilet. The teacher eventually arrived, and Pablo was taken to the colts’ toilets. On their way, Pablo spotted Amber walking with Blaze and Mustang the opposite way, and he decided to not say anything.

After he came out of the toilet, Pablo was taken back to the isolation room and he finished his lunch, plotting how to get out of isolation and get a chance to speak to Amber. Suddenly, Miss Bellflower came into the isolation room.

“Have they been behaving themselves?” she asked, and the teacher sitting next to the door nodded, telling Miss Bellflower that the colts had been quiet the entire day.

“Miss, is there any way I can apologise to Chestnut?” Pablo suddenly asked.

“Er, yes, you could write a letter,” Miss Bellflower suggested, and Pablo agreed.

“Atomic, I also want to apologise to you.”

“Huh?”

“It was wrong of me to fight you the way I did, and I understand that you were defending Chestnut. Can you forgive me?”

Atomic stared at Pablo with his mouth wide open, wondering if the colt in front of him was the same pony he had known for years. He finally closed his mouth.

“Yeah, I…..forgive you.”

“Atomic, do you have anything to say to Pablo?”

Atomic shook his head. Miss Bellflower cleared her throat and stared pointedly at Atomic.

“Oh yeah, I’m sorry too. I shouldn’t have attacked you.”

Miss Bellflower stood silently, considering whether the two should return to their lessons.

“Miss, I’ll get started on the apology letter now if you want,” Pablo said, trying to push Miss Bellflower’s mind towards letting him out of isolation.

“How about I take you to him now?” Miss Bellflower asked eventually.

“Yes, Miss.”

Pablo began packing up his belongings and Miss Bellflower told Atomic that he was coming too. They left the isolation room and Miss Bellflower took the colts to her office so she could check what lesson Chestnut had. Once she had found Chestnut’s timetable in his file, Miss Bellflower escorted Pablo and Atomic upstairs to room 24, where Chestnut was in the middle of his Science lesson.

Once Chestnut had come outside, Miss Bellflower nudged Pablo forwards.

“What did you want to say to Chestnut?”

“I’m sorry for what happened last week. I know what you did was an accident and I shouldn’t have lost my temper. Can you forgive me?”

“.....Alright then.”

Pablo smiled and held out a hoof, and the two shook hooves.

“Alright then you two, you can go back to your lessons,” Miss Bellflower said, and Atomic checked his timetable. His mood instantly deflated.

Room 6, here I come.

Ms Ivory’s fifth-period Maths lesson had crawled along for the first half, and Atomic was struggling to stay focused. He looked at his exercise book (which only had the date written in the top right corner) and sighed.

I never thought I would say this, but I’d rather go back to isolation than be here right now.

“Hey. Atomic.”

Just as Ms Ivory had left the class to fetch what she had printed from the printer in the corridor, Amber had tossed her pen back to Atomic’s desk, and as the other pupils took advantage of their teacher’s absence by talking, she dashed over to him.

“How come you’re back in lessons?”

“I had to say sorry to Pablo, and Miss Bellflower let me go.”

“Oh.”

There was a brief silence.

“Atomic, I’m sorry for not listening to you.”

“About what?”

“About Pablo. You were right, he is a total jerk and I don't wanna be friends with somepony like him.”

“Well, at least you know now.”

A small voice told Atomic that Pablo had already apologised to Chestnut, but the colt decided that Amber didn’t need to know that.

“I also need you to come to my home after school,” said Amber.

“Why?”

“The police came to me and told me about the trial, and my social worker’s been helping me with my testimony. Do you wanna compare?”

“Yeah, sure,” Atomic said with a nod.

“Thanks!”

Amber smiled and quickly went back to her seat before Ms Ivory returned with the final task of the lesson.

“It took me a while to find it, but here it is.”

As soon as school had finished, Atomic had sprinted home to find his testimony (which he had begun writing on a piece of lined paper he had found under his bed) and walked all the way back to school, where Amber was waiting for him with her social worker in her carriage. When they had arrived at Amber’s home, the social worker unlocked the front door and let the foals inside. Two fillies came running out of the living room and sprinted up the stairs, laughing all the way. A tall, skinny colt galloped after them, begging the fillies to give him his book back.

“You guys can go upstairs to Amber’s room. It'll be much quieter there.”

Amber led Atomic up the flight of stairs and towards the last room on the first floor, which had her name written on a plastic name holder on the front of the door.

“Amber, is that your boyfriend?”

Amber rolled her eyes at the colt that had spoken.

“No, he’s just a friend. Why don’t you just leave us alone?”

Amber opened her door and let Atomic inside. The bedroom was mostly bare with only a few personal belongings; a poster of the Fillydelphia Dragons on the light blue wall, a stack of books in the small desk next to the bed and an open wardrobe packed full of clothes.

Amber invited Atomic to sit on her bed whilst she looked for her testimony.

“Here it is.”

Amber had kept her sheet in much better condition than Atomic, and she carefully straightened out her paper onto her bed.

Atomic quickly read down the sheet, remembering the details from what Amber had told him the ugly the night they’d escaped.

“My best friend is dead and I have to live with the guilt of surviving for the rest of my life,” Amber’s testimony concluded.

Atomic sat back in silence, realising that Amber had gone through a lot more hardship and pain than he had thought.

“Here’s my one if you wanna read it.”

Atomic gave Amber his testimony and she read through it slowly.

“I had no idea you were locked up in a basement, Atomic.”

“Yeah, but at least we made it outta there.”

For the next hour, the two compared their testimonies, making sure that their statements matched up chronologically so that there weren’t any mistakes or contradictions in it.

“Atomic, your mom’s here to collect you!”

Amber came downstairs with Atomic and she hugged him goodbye at the door. As soon as Atomic saw his mother smiling at him, he knew what she was going to say.

“You’re spending a lot of time with Amber recently. She seems really nice.”

“Yeah, we’re just good friends, that’s all,” Atomic replied quickly, although his reddening cheeks contradicted this.

Tea Rose gently pinched her son’s cheeks.“These are telling me a different story.”

“I don’t like her or anything! We’re just friends!”

Tea Rose smirked. “I never said you liked her.”

Atomic groaned as his mother laughed loudly.

“Hey, there’s nothing wrong with having a crush. I remember when I met your father, he had the biggest-”

“Lalalala, I can't hear you!” Atomic exclaimed, covering his ears.

Tea Rose laughed again but dropped the subject. On the opposite street of the foals’ home, the carriage that had dropped Tea Rose off to collect Atomic was waiting.

“Thanks for waiting,” Tea Rose said as she got into the carriage after Atomic.

Once the carriage stopped outside 27 Mayfield Avenue, Atomic got out and knocked on Thunderhoof’s door as his mother paid the driver.

After a few knocks, Thunderhoof opened the door. “Nopony was answering when I knocked. Where were you?”

“I was with Amber. She wanted to make sure our testimonies were alright.”

“Just you?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Nothing,” Thunderhoof replied with a small smile.

“I’m gonna put my things away and then I’ll come outside,” said Atomic, before quickly going inside his house. A few minutes later, he came back outside and caught the hoofball that Thunderhoof had tossed to him. The two lined up approximately twenty yards away from each other and began playing throwing the hoofball back and forth to each other.

“We can’t let Pablo win the game for us again,” Atomic said as he threw the ball back to Thunderhoof.

“Yeah, but you have to admit he did play really good. By the way, what was it like in isolation with him?”

“You’ll never guess what he said to me.”

“What?”

“He said sorry.”

Thunderhoof laughed. “Now I know you’re trying to trick me.”

“No, I’m being serious. He said that he understood why I fought him and he said sorry to Chestnut as well.”

“.....Wow. Maybe he has changed,” Thunderhoof eventually said, and despite himself, Atomic agreed.

The two colts were soon joined by their neighbours who had just come back from their elementary schools, and soon Mayfield Avenue hosted a large hoofball match, with nearly all of the colts living on the road taking part.

“How have you been? Are they treating you alright in here?”

“Yeah, it’s okay.”

In the Fillydelphia Correctional Facility’s female wing, it was visiting hours for the prisoners and on one of the tables in the visiting room, Tea Rose sat opposite her sister. Pumpkin was dressed in an orange jumpsuit with her prisoner number (1932645) sewn in black across the breast pocket.

“Do they search everypony this severely?” Tea Rose asked, referring to the search she had undergone when she arrived at the prison. The mare that had searched her had been excessively rough, and Tea Rose was irked about it.

“Not usually, but they probably just wanted to make sure that you weren’t bringing anything in for me,” Pumpkin replied, and the two mares sat silently for a few moments.

“Pumpkin, why didn’t you tell me what you were going through? I could’ve helped you, and I wouldn’t have judged you or anything.”

“You would’ve judged me. Besides, I didn’t think you’d ever want to see me again.”

Tea Rose shook her head. “Don’t be silly, of course I’d come and visit you.”

“How are Atomic and Butterscotch?” Pumpkin asked.

“They’re doing fine, although I think Butter misses you.”

The crushing feeling of guilt (which had become very familiar over the past few days) washed over Pumpkin, and tears formed at the corners of her eyes. She took a tissue from the pile in front of her and wiped her eyes.

“I’m sorry for what I did, Rose. I should have never taken money out for drugs and now I have to pay the price.”

Pumpkin hung her head low and let the tears drop onto the table. She suddenly felt a warm hoof enclasp her own and she looked up.

“I forgive you Pumpkin.”

“You do?”

Tea Rose nodded, and Pumpkin broke down into sobs, drawing the attention of her other inmates and their relatives. The older sibling got out of her chair and comforted her younger sister.

“Ssshh, it's okay now. No need to be upset,” Tea Rose said, and eventually Pumpkin calmed down. Tea Rose went back to her seat.

“Who’s in your cell?”

“Some mare in her seventies. She got caught stealing from a department store.”

The two mares spoke quietly for another half hour, the topics of conversation ranging from
life in prison to the latest dresses available in Fillydelphia. When the clock reached noon, the security guard announced that visiting time was over.

Pumpkin and Tea Rose got up. “Same time next week?” the younger sibling asked.

“Mom and Dad are coming to see you, after they stop by at my place,” Tea Rose announced.

“How did they take the news?”

Tea Rose grimaced. “Not very well.”

The two sisters embraced tightly and Tea Rose promised Pumpkin that she would be back soon.

“Hurry up, or we’re not gonna enough space!”

On the first floor of Sycamore Elementary School, Atomic had dashed out of his Science lesson and met up with Pacific Sail and Banoffee Pie at the stairs, and they hurried downstairs to the ground floor, sprinting through the corridors to the canteen.

In the canteen, there was already a large line waiting at the hot meal section (the colder weather leading to more pupils wanting to eat something warm for lunch) and at the front of the queue, Pacific Sail pointed out Thunderhoof and Amber, who had just gotten their food.

“There’s no way we’re waiting back here, let’s go,” Atomic said, and the three colts shifted to the right, before walking towards the front of the queue. Every few moments, the colts would stop next to the ponies they reached to avoid getting caught, and luckily for them their peers were too engrossed in their conversations to notice them.

“I’ve never made it to the front without being caught,” Pacific Sail said at the front of the queue.

Once they got their food, the three colts joined their friends sitting at the large round table next to the canteen exit.

“You guys took your time,” Thunderhoof commented as Atomic sat down next to him.

“You’re lucky your Science teacher always lets you out on time,” Atomic replied, before tucking into his food.

The foals quickly ate their food and threw away their leftovers in the bins. The colder weather had pushed the teachers to ban anypony from going onto the field, and this meant that the courts outside the canteen had become much more packed than usual.

“There’s some space back there, quick!”

The group sprinted to the last court outside, which luckily for them Maverick, Spade Ace, Jackpot and Moon Dust had already reserved for them.

“We practically had half of the ponies here fighting for this last place,” Maverick remarked as the younger foals arrived.

The group quickly split into two teams and started playing a game of 7v7 hoofball.

“Hey, what are you doing here?! This is our space!”

Pablo and his friends charged into the court and the game quickly came to a stop.

Pablo pointed to a group of rucksacks propped up the fence sweating the court from its neighbouring court. “We left our bags here at the start of lunch, so you guys can find somewhere else to play!”

“We’re not moving for you, so why don’t you go and find somewhere to hang out?!” Atomic countered. The two colts approached each other and appeared to be ready to fight.

“Atomic’s right, Pablo. Why don’t you just go away,” Amber said, stepping between the two colts and directing her request to Pablo.

Pablo was stuck. On one hand, there was no way he was going to let Atomic kick him off the court that he had reserved. But he wanted to get back into Amber’s good books, and maybe finding somewhere else to play would be a good start.

“Lemme think about this.”

Pablo turned his back on the group and called his friends over.

“Ringside, get all of our bags.”

Ringside sprinted to the back of the court and brought the rucksacks back. Pablo took his and quickly took out a quill and small piece of paper, writing a note on it.

“Alright, we'll leave you guys alone.”

Pablo led his friends past Atomic and the others. As he walked past Amber, he quickly stuffed a piece of paper into her hoof.

Once Pablo and his friends had left, Amber unfolded the piece of paper and read what was written on it.

“What does that say?” Atomic asked, trying to peer over and read the note.

“Nothing important,” Amber said, before putting the piece of paper back into her saddlebag.

She’s gonna come. I know she will.

Instead of following the rest of his friends out of school, Pablo had gone straight to the library as soon as school was finished. He took out a book from his bag and tried to read it, his eyes looking up at the library door every few seconds.

“Why did you want me here?”

Pablo looked up from his book and quickly closed it.

“I just wanted to talk to you.”

Amber slowly sat down opposite Pablo.

“Um, I don’t know how to say this but…..I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

“For what I did to Chestnut. I’ve already apologised to him.”

Amber was surprised. “You did?”

Pablo nodded.

“Oh.”

Amber had enjoyed spending time with Pablo outside of school and she couldn’t deny that she had a lot of fun with him whenever they teamed up in PE. But she had seen a side from him that she didn’t like at all, and she was stuck between two decisions.

“You’re the only pony I’ve ever taken to my house,” Pablo suddenly said.

Amber looked up and took a deep breath.

“Alright. You get one more chance. But I don’t ever wanna see you be rude to anypony for no good reason again.”

Pablo grinned. “Deal.”

There was a brief silence.

“So….do you wanna go get something for my the shops?”

Amber nodded and the two got up, ticked their chairs in and left the library.”, with Pablo unable to wipe the beaming smile off his face.

MOVING THE CHAINS

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“Atomic, come down here now!”

Atomic finished the last sentence of his English homework and dropped his quill onto his desk as he got up, and he closed his bedroom door behind him and quickly came down the stairs. In the living room, two guests were waiting for him.

“Atomic, is that you?! You’ve grown so much since the last time we saw you!”

Atomic embraced both of his grandparents and sat next to them on the sofa. Both Sapphire and Swift were in their mid-fifties and they lived in an apartment two hours away from their daughter Tea Rose. The couple’s eldest daughter entered the living room and placed a china try (holding two cups of coffee) down in front of her parents.

“Oh, that reminds me! Atomic, we’ve got a little present for you!”

Sapphire pulled out her handbag and looked through it for a few seconds before taking a small blue box.

“Consider this an early Hearth’s Warming gift.”

Atomic thanked his grandmother and eventually found the metal lock at the front of the box. He pressed the small button underneath the lock and watched the box slowly open to reveal what was inside.

“Woah, that’s so cool!”

Inside the box, there was a small rectangular white platform, and top of it, a miniature Nick Foals was in a stationary position, his body thrown backwards and his right hoof outstretched and holding a hoofball. In front of him, there was another small button and Sapphire encouraged her grandson to press it.

“Fly Dragons fly! Fly Dragons fly!”

“This is so cool! Thanks!”

Atomic hugged his grandmother and slowly closed the box.

“Mom, Dad, I’m gonna go and wake up Butterscotch. I’ll be back in a bit.”

Two minutes later, Tea Rose came into the living room holding her infant daughter.

“Oh my goodness, you’ve grown so much, my dear!”

Tea Rose handed Butterscotch to her father and sat down next to him.

“So, when’s Syracuse coming home?” Sapphire asked her daughter.

“He should be back before seven o’clock.”

The five were quiet for a few moments before there was a knock at the door.

“I’ll open it,” said Tea Rose, leaving the room. “Atomic, Thunderhoof’s here!”

Atomic left the living and saw his best friend standing on his doorstep.

“Hey Atomic, d’you wanna come round to my house?”

Atomic nodded. “Lemme show you what I just got though.”

Atomic showed his present to Thunderhoof, and he was a fan of it.

“I wish my parents got me something like that,” Thunderhoof said.

“Hearth’s Warming is in three weeks, you’ll get loads of presents and you know it.”

“Oh yeah! That’s why I love being an only child!”

Atomic quickly went upstairs to his room to his present away, and he shouted goodbye to his mom, sister and grandparents before slamming the door shut.

In the living room, Tea Rose sat awkwardly next to her parents, knowing the real reason her parents had shown up unannounced. Swift gave Butterscotch back to her and Tea Rose held her daughter, absentmindedly playing with the infant’s mane.

“How is your sister?” Sapphire suddenly asked, cutting through the silence that had hung over the room, and Tea Rose sighed loudly.

“She’s….doing okay, Pumpkin’s keeping her head down and serving her time.”

“Because we want to know how you could allow your sister to get into such trouble,” Swift retorted.

“Me?! Pumpkin’s an adult and she knows what’s right and wrong!”

“It's your responsibility as her older sister to be looking out for her! Isn't that why you let her move in with you in the first place?!”

Tea Rose sighed. “I know, I know.”

“If somepony had told me ten years ago that Pumpkin would be arrested for using drugs, I would have laughed at them,” Sapphire said.

“I just thought that….after the first time she would’ve learnt her lesson.”

“First time?!” the elderly couple exclaimed simultaneously.

Tea Rose realised her error and quickly retracted her statement. “Not that she’s done this before, I just meant that, you know-”

“Tea Rose, don’t lie to us now.”

Under her mother’s intimidating expression, Tea Rose eventually crumbled.

“Alright, this may…...have happened before.”

“When?”

“.....Whilst Atomic went missing. She had to spend a night in jail.”

“And why in Equestria didn’t you tell us?!”

Tea Rose had held her patience, but she finally erupted. “You were on the other side of the country whilst I was trying to cope with Atomic missing and Pumpkin taking drugs! You never once sent a message or even tried to come and see me!”

Sapphire jumped out of her seat. “Don't you dare speak to us like that! Is that how you speak to your parents?!”

Sensing the mood shift, Butterscotch burst into tears, and this seemed to calm the three adults. Tea Rose quickly attended to her daughter and took a deep breath to calm down. “I’m just telling you the truth, that’s all.”

“We told you months ago that the post service in our area isn't very good. We sent you several letters and we were already on our way to you when we heard that Atomic had been found,” Swift explained, and Tea Rose felt guilty.

In the house next door, Atomic and Thunderhoof were in the latter’s bedroom talking when they heard shouting through the wall.

“That’s probably Mom,” Atomic said.

“Are they..talking about you aunt?”

Atomic nodded. Thunderhoof had been the only pony he had told about his aunt’s arrest; his other friends at school had no idea what had happened but the page seven article printed in the Fillydelphia Daily was making pupils talk, and Atomic knew that it was only a matter of time before everypony at Sycamore knew what happened to Pumpkin Spice.

“Yeah.”

“...Do you know how long’s she gonna be gone?” Thunderhoof awkwardly asked.

“A month, that's what Mom and Dad told me.”

“Alright, let’s get back to revision.”

The fifth-grade pre-public exams had been scheduled for January after the winter holidays, and Thunderhoof was determined to get the highest grades possible. Atomic was less inclined to revise for these exams and Thunderhoof knew this, which was why they were in his room preparing to revise History.

Atomic opened his History textbook and sighed loudly. “You know we have all of the holidays to revise. Why do we need to start now?”

“Because the sooner we start, the more content we can cover, and then we’re more likely to get good grades in January.”

Thunderhoof instructed Atomic to turn to the end of Chapter 1 (titled ‘Equestria like 1000 years ago?’), where there was a quiz for the chapter.

“Question 1: How many tribes were there in Equestria and what was each tribe in charge of?”

“There were three pony tribes; unicorns, pegasi and earth ponies. Unicorns ruled the land, pegasi controlled the weather and earth ponies were in charge of the crops.”

“That’s right. Question 2….”

Atomic and Thunderhoof went through the rest of the quiz and when Thunderhoof had answered all of the questions, the two switched over and Atomic did the quiz in Chapter 2, writing down his answers on a piece of paper for Thunderhoof to mark.

“...you got 17 of 30,” Thunderhoof said, writing the score at the top of the paper.

“That’s a B, right?”

“Er….no, I think that would be a C.”

“Boys, can I come in?”

Thunderhoof’s mother came into the room and gave Atomic and Thunderhoof a slice of chocolate cake, and the colts thanked her.

“You guys should take a break,” Thunderhoof’s mother suggested, but her son shook his head.

“We’ve gotta finish History first Mom.”

“Alright, but don’t burn yourselves out, otherwise you’ll end up forgetting everything you’ve revised.”

As soon the door was shut, Atomic got up and went over to Thunderhoof’s window, looking out onto their road. On the other side of the road, some of the colt’s neighbours were playing hoofball and Atomic was sorely tempted to join them.

“Look, let’s join the others outside Thunder.”

Thunderhoof went to the window and saw the colts playing.

“We shouldn’t, there’s still-”

“We have loads of time, and besides, it's not like we didn’t do anything today.”

“Um….”

Atomic widened his eyes and pursed his lips, waiting for Thunderhoof’s reply.

“Alright, fine.”

“Why don’t you teleport us there? It would be quicker than going downstairs and leaving through the front door?” Atomic suggested.

Thunderhoof nodded and closed his eyes. Atomic stood next to his friend and watched the green unicorn’s horn be surrounded by a magical aura. Atomic shut his eyes and suddenly felt a rush of air blow over him, before he felt something hit the back of his head.

“Ow!”

“Woah, where did you guys come from?”

The colt that had thrown the ball apologised and asked Atomic if he was okay, who quickly reassured him that he was fine. The other foals made the circle bigger so that Atomic and Thunderhoof could fit in, and the game was resumed.

“Atomic, inside now!”

Tea Rose stood on her doorstep and instructed Atomic to come inside again. The light blue colt tossed the ball to the colt opposite him and quickly went to his mother.

“Mom, can I have five more minutes? Please, me and Thunder only just started playing, we were revising History the whole time. You can ask his mom if you don’t believe me.”

In her cot, Butterscotch began to wail and Tea Rose realised she was holding the milk bottle. “Alright, ten minutes and then you’re coming back in.”

“Thanks, Mom!”

Atomic rejoined his friends and ten minutes later as his mother had instructed, Atomic said goodbye to his friends and went back into his house.

“Wait, are Grandma and Grandpa still here?” Atomic asked his mother as he closed the front door.

“No, they left nearly half an hour ago.”

Atomic went up to his room and read a book in his bed for the next hour, and when it was eight-thirty, he brushed his teeth and went to bed.

FILLYDELPHIA’S BIGGEST TRIAL EVER: PONY TRAFFICKERS SET TO GO TRIAL AT THE END OF JANUARY

This morning, we received confirmation from the Department of Justice that Fillydelphia drug barons and several doctors, nurses and surgeons involved with the recent kidnapping of Atomic Tangerine are to go on trial at the end of next month in Fillydelphia’s Crown Court accused of drug production and distribution crimes as well as pony trafficking. Although we do not who will be in the prosecution team, we were able to speak to the defendants’ lawyer, Whistle.

“I am confident that our clients are not guilt of the crimes that they have been accused of. The police are clearly looking for a scapegoat to blame the city’s growing drug problem on and they unfortunately decided to choose our clients. Rest assured that my team and I will be doing all we can to ensure that our clients walk free.”

We also wrote to Sweeper- often regarded as the best prosecutor in the country and currently based in Canterlot - on what he thought of the trial.

“The sentence is monumental for this- life imprisonment with a minimum of thirty years. We have never seen a trial of this magnitude, especially with the crimes that the defendants are being accused of committing. Both princesses are going to definitely be keeping a close eye on this as will the rest of the country. Do I believe the defendants are guilty? That’s not up for me to decide, but if I was on the prosecution team, with all the evidence against them, I would be more inclined to believe that they are guilty.”

Syracuse finished reading the article and put the newspaper down.

“When do I have to go to court, Mom?” Atomic asked.

“I don’t know, but the police will tell us when they need you.”

The trial of Atomic’s foalnappers had not been at the forefront of the colt’s mind for the majority of the few weeks since he had returned home- Atomic was eager to put his ordeal behind him and move on with his life as soon as possible. But the confirmation of the upcoming trial had l thrown the colt off, and he couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like to see his foalnappers in court again.

Suddenly there a knock at the door.

“We’re not expecting anypony, who could that be?” Tea Rose pondered as she headed to the front door.

“What the-”

On the front porch, a piece of paper had been left behind. Tea Rose picked it up and closed the door, assuming that the foals her son played were playing some sort of prack on her. As she came into the living room, Tea Rose turned the paper over.

“Oh my gosh.”

On the other side of the paper, a picture of Atomic locked up had been drawn. The colt was held to the wall behind him via thick metal chains (eerily similar to how he had been locked up by Marble) and underneath the picture there was a caption.

SNITCH AND YOU’LL BE SORRY!

Tea Rose threw the paper onto the table for Syracuse and Atomic to see for themselves.

“They sent it, the ponies that foalnapped me, it was them!” Atomic gabbled, and he began to panic.

Syracuse took the paper off the table and gave it to his wife. “We’re showing this to the police. Atomic, you’re not going to school today.”

Tea Rose took Atomic’s empty bowl to the kitchen to wash, and Syracuse left the house to go to the phone box at the end of their road and call the police.

“Two officers are on their way,” Syracuse announced as he closed the front door behind him.

Tea Rose woke up Butterscotch and brought her downstairs to wait for her breakfast in the living room.

“Tomic, tomic!” the infant gargled as she bounced around in her high chair.

“It won’t be long before she can say your name properly,” Syracuse remarked, and Atomic smiled fleetingly.

Tea Rose came back into the living room with Butterscotch’s breakfast, and the family sat silently as they waited for the police.

The second lesson of the day for all of fifth-grade was Maths, and as Thunderhoof watched Mr Topaz write out questions into the backboard at the front of the class, he began theorising why Atomic was absent today.

Something bad didn’t happen to him again right?

“You are to answer these questions in ten minutes. When you’re finished, I’ll choose one of you to come up to the board and show everypony your answers with an explanation.”

Thunderhoof looked up and saw his classmates had already begun. He quickly copied down the first question and answered it, eventually finishing all of the questions on the blackboard just as Mr Topaz announced that time was up.

“Banoffee Pie, come up to the board, please.”

Banoffee took his exercise book with him and took the chalk Mr Topaz gave him. Banoffee set his book down onto the last page he had written in and he began explaining his answer for the first question.

“Does anypony know why that answer is wrong?”

There were quite a few hooves raised across the classroom, and Mr Topaz ended up choosing a filly at the back to answer.

“Sir, he forgot to make the equation equal on both sides.”

“Banoffee, answer the question again please.”

Banoffee nodded and used the blackboard eraser to rub out his answer. He corrected his calculations as instructed and wrote the correct answer at the bottom of the blackboard.

“Thunderhoof, can you answer question 2 please?”

Thunderhoof and Banoffee swapped places and Thunderhoof rubbed out the previous calculations on the blackboard.

“For this question, this is how I did it….”

Thunderhoof proceeded to answer the second question, and Mr Topaz nodded when Thunderhoof wrote his answer, confirming that he had got it right. Thunderhoof rubbed out his work and began answering the third question. When he had finished explaining his calculations for the fourth question, Mr Topaz thanked Thunderhoof and told him he could go back to his seat.

“Here is your homework for the holidays.”

Mr Topaz reached under his desk and took out a large stack of papers held together by a thick elastic band.

“Each of you will have a booklet for pre-public exam revision. I have specifically tailored each of the booklets for your strengths and weaknesses, so this should be your main source of revision over the winter holidays.”

Mr Topaz went around the class and have each pupil their booklet. Thunderhoof opened his and realised that it would take him a while to complete what he guessed was the 200-page long booklet.

When the bell rang at eleven-fifteen, Mr Topaz dismissed his class and Thunderhoof, Banoffee Pie and Pacific Sail left the first-floor classroom together.

“What are you guys hoping to get for Maths?” Pacific Sail asked.

“I’m aiming for an A at least, but I wouldn’t be surprised if I came out with a B,” Thunderhoof replies, and Banoffee agreed with him.

The three colts met up with their other friends (Amber had chosen to spent break time with Pablo and his group) and rather than hanging out on the buckball courts at the back of the school, the group opted to stay inside, sitting at the round table at the end of the corridor that led to the outside courts.

“Atomic’s alright, isn’t he?” Chestnut asked, articulating what everypony was worrying about.

“They already arrested the ponies who took him, he’s probably at home with a cold or something,”
Thunderhoof eventually said, and this seemed to calm everypony.

“Does anypony know when our next match is?” Moondust suddenly asked.

“No idea, but Sir should tell us tomorrow in training,” said Maverick.

Stormcaller, Blaze, Mustang and Pacific Sail took out their EHL trading cards and began to play with them, with the others watching on quietly.

“Yeah, can you believe she did that?!”

“Wow, your mom is somepony you shouldn’t mess with!”

Amber, Pablo and his other friends walked past the others, and Amber smiled and said hello to the colts.

“I still don’t get what he said to make her his friend,” Blaze retorted.

Stormcaller, Blaze, Mustang and Pacific Sail continued playing with their cards, and at the end of break, the colts said goodbye to each other and headed their separate ways to their respective lessons.

“Do you think I’m gonna get in trouble if I tell Miss that I forgot my homework?” Chestnut asked Thunderhoof, a worried expression etched across the smaller colt’s face.

“This is the first time you’re giving in homework late, don’t worry about it. She’ll probably just tell you to bring it in tomorrow.”

The two reached their classroom and went inside, sitting together in their assigned seats on the large table at the back of the classroom. The English teacher (a unicorn hailing from the Crystal Empire named Mrs Clementine) entered her classroom and instructed the pupils to take out their reading books as she put her belongings down onto her desk.

Thunderhoof reached into his saddlebag and took out his reading book. For the last month or so, the top-set fifth-grade English class had been studying ‘Voyage to the End of the World’, a Foals’ adventure novel that the class would be tested on in both the January mock exams and the end-of-year exams.

“Before we continue reading, could everypony take out their homework so I can take it in now, please?”

The class took out their homework and Thunderhoof nudged Chestnut, whispering that now was the only chance he had to tell Mrs Clementine he had forgotten his homework.

“Mrs Clementine, I accidentally left my homework at home. Could I bring it in tomorrow for you?”

“Alright, but that’s the last time you can give homework in late, understood?”

“Yes, Mrs,” Chestnut replied with a nod, relieved that he wasn’t in trouble.

The lesson returned to normal once Mrs Clementine had collected the homework, and Thunderhoof had been called upon to read aloud.

“Flash Spark awoke in a panic, desperately rooting underneath his bed to look for the watch…..”

“This is where you’re going to be until the trial’s over.”

When the two police officers had arrived at the Tangerine household, they were quick to escort the family to the police station. At Fillydelphia Police Station, the family were informed that the police were going to house in a safe home with security. A team of officers went back to 27 Mayfield Avenue to collect the family’s belongings, and they were due to arrive later that day.

Outside the safe house, the male officer took out a small key and inserted it into the lock, opening the front door and stepping aside to let the family through.

“It smells really weird,” Atomic pointed out, and Tea Rose sniffed the air before agreeing with her son.

“This is the closest place we could find, and you’ll be safe here,” the officer said.

“We'll, as long as we’re safe in here, then it’ll be fine,” Syracuse said.

“There’s food in the fridge and cupboards and there are two toilets here. Let me show you how to turn the gas on.”

The officer led Tea Rose and Syracuse into the kitchen whilst Atomic pushed Butterscotch (who was asleep in her pushchair) into the living room.

“So will Atomic be allowed to go to school whilst we’re here?” Tea Rose asked.

“Yes, a police carriage will take him to and from school everyday.”

The police officer pointed to the four guards standing at the front of the house and told the parents that they should consult them if they had any worries. He also pointed out the walkie-talkie
in the hallway that could be used to contact the police station.

Once the police officer said goodbye and left the house, the family gathered together in the living room.

“There’s barely any vegetables in the kitchen, what am I supposed to cook?” Tea Rose complained.

“We could always get hayburgers and fries, Mom,” Atomic suggested, but his mother shook her head.

“There’s no way you’re eating unhealthy food. You’re a growing colt and you need your nutrients.”

“Come on Mom, When was the last time we had takeaway? It’s just while we’re in here!”

“There’s nothing wrong with unhealthy food every once in a while,” Syracuse added.

“.....Alright, fine! But this is only because we’re in here and not at home!”

Tea Rose got up and left the house to tell the security guards.

“This is exactly what happened last time!”

The time had just passed four o’clock and school had ended for Sycamore students forty-five minutes ago. Since his mother and siblings were out shopping and were coming home late, Chestnut had opted to go home with Thunderhoof and stay in his house until his mother came to collect him.

Thunderhoof’s concern about his best friend had grown bigger and bigger on the way home, and as they approached his house, he spotted the poster staplers onto Atomic's front door. Using his magic, Thunderhoof peeled the paper off the door and levitated it over to him to see what was on it.

“They took him again, we have to go to the police!”

On the paper was a drawing identical to the one Tea Rose he seen that morning, but this time there was a different caption: WE WARNED YOU.

Thunderhoof sprinted to the end of their road, with Chestnut following behind. Thunderhoof reaches the phone box and immediately called the police.

“Fillydelphia Police, what is your emergency?”

“My friend, Atomic, I think he was kidnapped again!”

“Again?!”

“Yeah, the house is empty and on the front door, I found a paper!”

“Saying what?”

“It's a picture of Atomic, and underneath it there’s a threat!”

“Bloom, could you check in with the guards at the safe house, please?”

The mare on the other end told Thunderhoof to wait for a few moments.

“Atomic is fine, we’ve just got him and his family staying somewhere else for a while, to keep them safe.”

“Oh. Could you tell us the address?”

“Sorry, I don’t think I’m allowed to. Safety guidelines.”

“We won’t tell anypony, I swear!” Thunderhoof pleaded.

The mare on the other end put her walker-talkie down and Thunderhoof could hear her speaking to somepony.

“What’s going on? Is she gonna tell us?” Chestnut asked, but Thunderhoof shrugged his shoulders.

“Alright, where are you guys right now?”

Thunderhoof told the mare he was on Mayfield Avenue, and the mare explained that a police carriage would come and pick up the colts, to ensure that they weren’t followed.

Twenty minutes later, Thunderhoof and Chestnut were in the back of a police carriage, well on their way to the safe house Atomic and his family were staying in. The passenger windows were black on the outside to prevent passer-bys from looking in, and the officer driving opted not to use the sirens so that less attention was drawn to the police carriage.

The carriage turned off the main road and into a short side road. At the end of the street, the carriage turned right and draw a couple hundred yards before suddenly stopping.

“We’re here, guys.”

The colts unfastened their seat belts and took their saddlebags with them as they got out of the carriage. The officer that had been in the front passenger seat took them towards the guards in front of the lone house.

“They’re friends of Atomic, they’ll be in the house for a bit.”

One of the guards led the colts the the house and knocked on the door.

“Thunder! Chestnut!”

Atomic opened the door wider and greeted his friends eagerly.

“The police said we could stay with you for a bit.”

“Cool! Come in!”

Thunderhoof and Chestnut entered the house and Atomic closed the front door. On the sofa in the living room, Syracuse, Tea Rose and Butterscotch were having dinner.

“It’s nice to see you guys. Have some food, they bought way too much for us.”

Tea Rose reached into the carrier bag and took two hayburgers and two boxes of chips,”. Thunderhoof and Chestnut took the food and sat on either side of Atomic.

The ponies chatted casually as they sat, the conversation topics focusing on school and the upcoming pre-public exams. When they finished their food, Atomic, Chestnut and Thunderhoof threw away their wrappings.

“Yes!”

Atomic had randomly opened a cupboard and to his surprise, a hoofball was inside it. He took t out and showed his friends.

“We can’t play outside, though.”

The three colts debated playing inside but Tea Rose entered the kitchen and saw the hoofball.

“Don’t even think about playing with that in here.”

Atomic sighed and left the kitchen with Thunderhoof and Chestnut. Suddenly he remembered that there was one part of the house he still hadn’t visited.

“We can play out back!”

The light blue colt led his friends through the hallway and towards the slightly-open door. He pushed it and saw the small patch of grass closed off by a wooden fence.

Thunderhoof and Chestnut formed a triangle with Atomic and the three colts began playing catch, until Thunderhoof had a better idea.

“We could practise a few throws, and Chestnut you could mark Atomic.”

“Oh, I don’t think-”

“Come on Chestnut, I’ve barely seen you play hoofball with us. Besides it’s s just us, there’s nopony else here.”

With some additional persuasion from Thunderhoof, Chestnut eventually agreed to mark Atomic. The two lined up to the far right of Thunderhoof.

“Hut!”

Thunderhoof took a five-step drop back with the ball. Atomic had opted to run a post route and when he cut into the middle, he pushed off off Chestnut to give himself extra space. The move worked and Atomic was open to catch the pass.

On the next play, Atomic wanted to test his speed against Chestnut and he told Thunderhoof he was going to run a go route.

Thunderhoof took a seven-step drop back and Atomic burst from his starting spot. Surprisingly, Chestnut wasn’t too far behind him and Atomic turned back to see that Thunderhoof had already let go of the ball. The receiver kept track of the ball’s progress with his eyes and prepared to catch it.

When the ball was within Atomic’s radius, he prepared to jump for the ball. But as he took off, Chestnut had turned around and also reached up for the ball, making it a lot harder for Atomic to catch the ball. The hoofball ended up deflecting off Chestnut’s hooves and it tumbled towards the grass.

“I caught it! I caught it!”

Just before the ball had landed, Atomic had been able to reach backwards and pull the hoofball in. When he hit the grass and didn’t drop the ball, he jumped up and celebrated ecstatically.

“I can’t believe you caught it!” Chestnut exclaimed as he got up, and he high-fived Atomic.

As they continued playing hoofball, Atomic’s worries about the trial and his foalnappers disappeared entirely from the back of his mind. For now, he was happy to playing hoofball with two of his closest friends.

FACE TO FACE

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“Bring the witness in.”

Atomic Tangerine followed the security guard into the courtroom. The baby blue colt felt the sweat on his forehead slide down the sides of his face and he quickly wiped it away. In the glass box on the other side of the courtroom, the doctors that had inserted narcotics into Atomic glared at him, hoping to intimidate him enough to mess up his testimony. Fortunately, one of the guards standing next to the defendants noticed this, and stood in front of the glass box to block the doctors from seeing Atomic.

Atomic made his way up to the witness stand (which had an extra step to accomodate for Atomic’s height) and nervously looked upon everypony in the courtroom.

“State your name for the court, please,” said Judge Gavel.

“Atomic Tangerine.”

“Atomic can you take us through what happened on the afternoon of 29th November?” the head prosecutor Fuschia asked.

Atomic took a deep breath. “I left school at 3:30 with my friend Thunderhoof. We got to our road 10 minutes later and Thunderhoof went into his house first. When I was about to knock on my door, I felt something hit the back of my head and the next thing I knew, I was hoofcuffed inside a basement.”

“Did you initially know who assaulted you?” Fuschia asked.

“No, but I heard him say my name before he hit me in the back of the head. I found out his name was Marble later,” Atomic replied.

“Okay, what happened next?”

“I woke up in the basement and the pony that foalnapped me was watching me. I asked him if he could let me go home and he smashed my head against the wall.”

Atomic turned around and showed the scar, drawing winces from the spectators and reporters.

“Marble and these two other stallions put me in a carriage and took me across town. I saw a police officer and I tried to call him over. But Marble stopped and when the officer came to us, one of the other stallions knocked him out.”

“Where did they take you?”

“We pulled up outside this massive hospital. Some nurses dragged me out and injected me with something to put me to sleep.”

“As you can see, Atomic was subjected to abuse that nopony, let alone a foal, should ever experience. And what do the defendants have to say for themselves? Absolutely nothing.”

Fuschia turned everypony’s attention to the glass box. Suddenly, the doctor on the right jumped out of his seat and used his hoof cuffs to smash through the glass. With everypony in shock, both of the defendants looked at each other briefly before leaping through the broken glass. Although their forelegs and hindlegs were hoofcuffed together, First Aid and Aspirin were still able to barge past the guard and move with alarming speed towards their target; Fuschia. She barely had any time to react before the stallions were on her, taking their anger at their predicament out on her. She tried her best to defend herself and was able to protect herself for a few moments before Aspirin’s punches starting hitting their mark.

From the witness stand, Atomic ducked down underneath the table, looking up after a few seconds to make sure the doctors weren’t going to come for him. Fuschia’s colleagues and the defence prosecutors tried to seperate the defendants from the lawyer. But their efforts were met with blows from First Aid, who thrashed about wildly to try and get the other lawyers off from him.

At the back of the court, eager spectators who had never seen a trial before, let alone witness or hear about a fight as big as this one, got out of their seats to get a better view of the. Reporters stood up and took out their cameras, the bright flashes documenting every second of the chaos. A group of stallions jumped into the brawl and began throwing punches at the defendants - not at all considering that they should try and stop the fight.

The guard that had been standing next to the glass box was trying to drag the defendants off Fuschia, and he lifted his bat high over his head and brought it down with considerable force onto their heads.

At least 10 security guards rushed into the courtroom and split off into two groups; the majority of them restraining the defendants - both doctors had not done any serious harm to Fuschia. The rest escorted Atomic out of the courtroom. Judge Gavel banged his mallet repeatedly.

“Order!”

After what seemed like hours, things finally calmed down. Fuschia was taken out of the courtroom and rushed to the hospital to tend to her broken nose and other injuries. First Aid and Aspirin were held down in headlocks and properly restrained. The stallions that had joined the fight were also restrained and they were being read their rights Judge Gavel ordered the guards to throw both defendants and the other stallions into the nearest jail. The spectators and reporters all got back into their seats.

Judge Gavel announced that court would be adjourned for the rest of the day, followed by his gavel coming down hard against the wooden table. Ponies rushed out of the court, eager to tell the story of what had happened in court. Outside the court, a large group of reporters were waiting with cameras and microphones, and news of the large brawl was quickly being broadcasted on news stations across all Equestrian radio stations.

Inside the court building, Atomic was being tended to by his parents. Tea Rose and Syracuse Orange had left their infant daughter Butterscotch with a neighbour and travelled to the court to support their son during his testimony. When the fight had broken out, they had been in the audience section and left the courtroom with their son when he had been taken out by security guards.

“Apologies for what happened today. We’ve never seen anything like this happen before,” said Judge Gavel. When he’d ended court for the day, he immediately went to check if Atomic was okay.

“It's alright Judge, we understand. This was never a ‘normal’ trial anyway,” Tea Rose replied, relieved that Atomic was okay.

Atomic had to sign some paperwork and the Tangerine family were escorted out of the courtroom and into a police carriage waiting for them. As the doors were shut, a few reporters spotted them and galloped over to the carriage, shoving their cameras and microphones into the windows, yelling questions.

The driver pushed the gas pedal down and the carriage made a speedy departure, heading to 27 Mayfield Avenue.

“Atomic Tangerine?”

“Present.”

At Sycamore Oak Elementary School, Monday morning was going smoothly. In Ms Ivory’s homeroom class, Ms Ivory was away from school to attend a work conference, and in her absence, the pupils were instructed to do some extra revision. The January pre-public exams would take place after the Hearth’s Warming holidays, and Atomic was dreading all of the revision he had waiting for him.

On the other side of the classroom, Thunderhoof and Chestnut Oak called Atomic over and the best friends sat together next to the windows.

“It was so crazy, one second the lawyer asking me questions, the next thing I knew, those doctors were attacking her!”

As Atomic retold the events of the first day of the trial, some fillies sitting around the colts joined the conversation.

“Did they try and come for you as well?” one of the fillies asked.

“No, I was lucky they didn’t. I remember seeing some random stallions jumping into the fight as well, and then all these security guards ran in and arrested the doctors.”

“Guys, can you get back to your work please?” the supply teacher asked, looking up from her book.

The foals turned back to their desks. Atomic, Thunderhoof and Chestnut Oak took out their EHL cards and began trading them.

Across the classroom, Pablo day stewing one his seat. After the massive fight he had with Blaze and Mustang, his former best friends were moved to another homeroom. He watched Atomic quietly, all the while becoming more and more angry.

How the hay is this guy in a better position than me?! He has friends, he’s on the Eagles- he even made it into the newspaper!

When Atomic got up to put something in the bin, Pablo quickly averted his eyes and reached into his saddlebag to take out a random book and look like he was busy with his work. Pablo did some extra Science for the rest of homeroom, and when the bell rang at 09:15, he packed up his bags and prepared to go to English.

“Pablo, Pablo!”

Amber Breeze caught up to Pablo and greeted him cheerily. Pablo’s bad mood instantly dissipated, and he greeted Amber.

“How was your weekend?” Amber asked.

“Hoofball practise with my brothers, usual homework, same old, same old.”

“Yeah, same for me. At least I get to see you now. Oh yeah, I wanted to tell you this crazy story!”

Amber put her hoof on Pablo’s shoulder as she spoke, not seeming to notice the growing blush on Pablo’s face. He tried to call himself down and tuned back into the conversation just as Amber finished her story.

“And then we had to clean the whole house for a week!”

“Yeah, that was crazy!” said Pablo with a grin, trying to bring his focus back to the conversation.

Amber and Pablo reached their class and lined up outside. As their teacher arrived and unlocked the door, Amber gasped out loud.

“Are those comprehension questions due today?!”

“Yeah, didn’t you do them?” Pablo asked and he quickly got his answer.

“No! I really don’t want detention!”

Amber suddenly dragged Pablo away and down another corridor before their teacher saw them.

“What are you doing?!”

“Let’s not go to English. Please.”

Pablo couldn’t say no to Amber, and he figured that an hour with the only friend he had left was a lot better than English. His mind was made up.

“Okay, lets go.”

The two foals quickly went down to the ground floor and Pablo pulled Amber back, pointing to their Science teacher that was outside. Once they were sure that they weren’t going to get caught, the foals laughed to themselves and headed for an outdoor working space that was nearby, away from prying eyes.

“Okay everypony, let's continue reading.”

On the first floor, Miss Bellflower was teaching her fifth-grade class. At the front of the classroom, Atomic was struggling to stay focused. He began looking around the classroom and out of the corner of his eye, Atomic saw two ponies walking past his classroom.

What the?! Amber’s skipping English with Pablo?!

There was no way Atomic was going to miss out on an opportunity to slip English, even if it meant hanging out with Pablo for an hour. Atomic wracked his brains for a good excuse to leave class, and settled on one after a few moments.

Another colt was reading from ‘The Isle of the Lost’ (the book Atomic’s class was studying) when Atomic suddenly groaned loudly. The colt stopped reading and everypony turned to look at Atomic.

“Miss Bellflower, I think I’m gonna be sick,” Atomic said, holding his stomach and squeezing his eyes shut. As the teacher walked to him, he began packing his books into his saddlebag.

“Okay, quickly go to the nurse’s office,” Miss Bellflower opened the door for Atomic, and he made a speedy exit from the class, still feigning nausea as he put his saddlebag on.

Once he heard the door close behind him, Atomic crouched down and peeked through the keyhole. Miss Bellflower had returned to her desk to resume the lesson.

Right, where did they go?

Atomic headed down the corridor quickly and quietly to avoid detection. At the end of the corridor, he turned right and saw Pablo and Amber sitting at the outdoor workspace.

“Hey guys.”

Pablo narrowed his eyes as Atomic walked over to them. Amber on the other hand was much more welcoming. She waved to Atomic and pulled out a chair for him to sit in on her right.

“It’s so cool that we’re all hanging out together!” Amber exclaimed, trying to lift the tension. It didn’t work.

“Aren’t you supposed to be in English?” Pablo’s retorted.

“Don’t you have English too?” Atomic replied with a glare.

“Come on guys,” Amber wheeled herself int he middle of Atomic and Pablo. “Let’s have some fun and not argue all the time. How about we play Truth or Dare?”

“Nah, Atomic would be too scared to pick Dare,” Pablo sneered.

“No I’m not! Give me a dare right now and I’ll do it. Any dare?”

“Any?”

“Any. Dare.”

“Fine, I dare you to go to that classroom,” Pablo pointed to the door behind Atomic, “and start jumping on the tables and acting crazy.”

Amber interjected. “Okay, that’s too crazy, there’s no way Atomic’s gonna…”

Atomic had already left his seat and was walking up to the nearest door. He took a deep breath and knocked.

“Come in.”

Atomic opened the door loudly. “Who’s ready to see Buster the Clown?!”

Atomic pushed past the teacher and jumped onto the first desk, whipping his hair back and forth.

“Buster the clown, he’s here to make you smile, Buster the clown, he’s here to make you laugh,
Buster the clown, you’re gonna have a great time when Buster puts his hands on his hips and moves like this!”

The class, which were between six and seven years old, erupted into laughter as Atomic began shaking his hips wildly. When the teacher yelled at him to get down and tried to grab him, Atomic jumped to the next desk, still dancing and singing his song.

Outside, Amber and Pablo stood in the doorway. Pablo was shocked and irritated that Atomic was actually doing the dare, whilst Amber laughed loudly, enjoying the show.

“GET DOWN THIS INSTANT!”

The teacher sprinted to the back of the class to try and pull Atomic down from the table, but he was too quick. The pupils started chanting ‘Buster, Buster!’ as Atomic continued.

“What in Equestria is all this noise?!”

At the end of the corridor, Principal Autumn Forest and another teacher had heard the commotion, and they were closing in on room 40.

Amber saw the teachers first and quickly grabbed Atomic’s, Pablo’s and her belongings, tossing Pablo’s saddlebag to him.

“I’ll get Atomic, you distract those two!”

Pablo nodded and met the the teachers in the middle of the corridor, blocking their path.

“Good morning Principal, Mr Lime. I had a question about the January exams….”

As Pablo distracted the teachers, Amber rushed into the classroom.

“Atomic, the principal’s coming, we gotta go!”

Atomic jumped down from the table and took his saddlebag from Amber.

“Okay guys, Buster has to go now but he’ll see you again soon! Bye!”

The pupils cheered and waved goodbye as Atomic ran out of the classroom.

“Guys, lets go!” yelled Pablo, before pushing past the principal and running away from them.

Amber and Atomic also pushed past the teachers and followed Pablo to the end of the corridor. Principal Forest instructed the other teacher to catch the three foals whilst he went to the classroom to check if everything was okay.

Mr Lime opened his wings and flew across the corridor quickly, keeping low to avoid hitting the ceiling. He soon spotted the three foals rushing down the stairs and followed them trying to physically pull them up by their saddlebags.

As Amber reached the bottom of the stairs, she suddenly felt herself being pulled up.

“Guys!”

Atomic and Pablo jumped up and gripped each of Amber’s shoulders respectively. They pulled down with all of their might, but Mr Like was too strong for them, and Amber was pulled higher and higher.

“What the hay do you think you’re doing Mr Lime?!”

Mr Bouncer had suddenly appeared from the male toilets.

“Let go of her, now!”

An embarrassed Mr Lime obliged and put Amber down.

“You three, come with me now.”

The three foals sheepishly followed Mr Bouncer to the head of fifth-grade’s office, waiting for recess to start so Miss Bellflower could come.

“I’m in so much trouble when she comes,” Atomic whispered to Amber, dreading Miss Bellflower’s arrival.

“Mr Bouncer, what’s going on?”

As Miss Bellflower put his her folders down onto her desk, Mr bouncer gestured for Miss Bellflower to follow him out the office. Inside the office, Amber, Atomic and Pablo watched.

“Five bits she gives us detention for a month,” said Pablo.

“Ten bits we have detention for the rest of the year,” replies Amber, and the two shook hooves.

Miss Bellflower came back into the office and closed the door.

“Atomic, what did you say to me when you left class?”

Atomic reluctantly spoke. “I said I felt sick.”

“You did. You three are supposed to be setting an example for the younger pupils at this school, and this is what you decide to do during a lesson?!”

Miss Bellflower had fully lost her temper and she let rip at the foals.

“Not only did you embarrass yourselves with your behaviour, but you also embarrassed me in front of Mrs Clementine!”

Miss Bellflower was normally a polite and quiet teacher, but when angry, was almost as fearsome as Ms Ivory. Atomic nervously shuffled about in his seat, his mind racing with possible punishments.

Mom’s definitely gonna find out about this. I’m so dead.

She wouldn’t suspend us, right?

“You three are going to the principal’s office now, and I’m calling all of your parents. Get your things, let’s go.”

“Don’t even think about playing outside, mister!”

Atomic dropped his hoof from the doorknob and stomped back upstairs to his room.

Miss Bellflower actually suspended us for a week!

And I thought she was supposed to be nice!

As part of his punishment at home, Atomic was forbidden from playing outside with Thunderhoof and his other neighbours, and Atomic felt bored out of his mind. He dropped onto his bed and closed his eyes. Taking a nap was the only other thing he could think of doing.

At the Scar family home, Pablo wipes the tears from his face as his father moved back from him, his hoof red from the blow to Pablo’s face.

“You insolent child! This is the sort of trouble that you are causing at school?! I should keep you here every day to be homeschooled!”

“No Father, please! I promise I’ll behave, I promise!” Pablo cried.

Pablo’s father left his son’s room, and Pablo threw himself backwards into his bed, tears streaming down his face.

It’s all Atomic’s fault, he was the one that did the stupid dare!

Meanwhile in Atomic’s bedroom, Atomic was thinking the same thing, blaming Pablo for giving the dare in the first place.

In her bedroom at the local children’s home, Amber had received a much lighter punishment from the head care workers. As she got started on her homework, she suddenly started giggling as she remembered Buster the clown.

Today was actually fun, aside from getting in trouble.

When Atomic and Pablo aren’t arguing, they’re actually really fun to hang out with.

Amber suddenly pushed her schoolbooks aside and reached under her bed to pull out her diary. On a new page, she began writing.

Before the end of elementary school, I’m gonna get Atomic and Pablo to be best friends.

BREAKING DOWN BARRIERS

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The date was Monday 17th of December, and after a week of suspension, Atomic, Amber and Pablo were back at school. Pablo came in with a noticeable bruise on his cheek, and he claimed that he had gotten into a fight to anypony that asked. Atomic had left home in a hurry, eager to see all of his friends again. Amber also left for school early and she met Atomic at the gate, greeting him with a hoof bump.

“So, how was your week?” she asked.

“So boring! I swear, it's all Pablo’s fault!”

“Atomic, you were the one that did the dare, though,” Amber pointed out as the two began walking inside.

“Well, yeah, but ….. I had to!”

“Hey, Atomic!”

Thunderhoof galloped up to Atomic and high-fived him.

“Where the hay have you been?!”

Atomic opened his mouth, but then the bell rang.

“I’ll tell you after homeroom. Come on, let’s go.”

Thunderhoof and Atomic said goodbye to Amber and went to room 7 for homeroom.

“Buster the clown, he’s here to make you smile,
Buster the clown, he’s here to make you laugh!
Buster the clown, you’re gonna have a great time
When Buster puts his hands on his hips and moves like this!”

Atomic and Amber laughed as their friends sang the song that had landed the two in huge trouble. As soon as recess began, Atomic and Amber left Maths and met with all of their fifth-grade friends and Maverick, Moon Dust, Spade Ace and Jackpot. They were all inside the school building sitting at an outdoor working space, laughing and having fun together.

The same could not be said for Pablo. His new friends, as much as he loathed to admit it, were not the same as Blaze and Mustang, and he longed for his old friends. Over his week of suspension, he had also come to the realisation that he had not treated his former friends in the kindest manner, and he wanted to apologise to them. Amber, the only real friend Pablo had left was with the colt he despised the most, and he resented Atomic for getting him in so much trouble. He came out of the colts’ toilets and went straight outside to look for somepony to talk to.

In the middle of a conversation, Amber spotted Pablo and quickly got up to go and talk to him.

From the desk, the others watched Amber and Pablo talk. To their surprise, amber came back to them with Pablo in tow. She moved her saddlebag so that Pablo could sit down next to her.

There was an awkward silence, as everypony tried to think of something to say.

“Look, it's Buster!”

Foals from the lesson that Atomic had gatecrashed galloped over to him. Atomic got up and met them in the middle of the corridor.

“It was so cool what you did!”

“And funny! I've never seen Mrs Clementine get so angry!”

“Do you guys still remember the song?” Atomic asked.

“Of course we do!”

As the young colts and fillies sang the song, Pablo got even angrier. Everywhere he went today, there was a reminder of what had happened, and the bruise on his cheek throbbed continuously.

When Atomic came back to the table, the silence returned, and it was eventually broken by Amber.

“So who does everypony think is gonna win the Sugar Bowl?”

Everypony began talking at once, the majority of them declaring that the Fillydelphia Dragons would lift the EHL trophy in February. Pablo and Maverick were the only ones who disagreed.

“Canterlot Knights win in a blowout, La Salle gets the regular season and Sugar Bowl MVP,” Maverick boldly predicted, but Pablo shook his head vehemently and finally spoke up.

“No way, the Cloudsdale Hawks are winning it! They’re the best team in the league!”

All eyes were on Pablo, and the neon green colt uncharacteristically shrunk back from the attention.

“The Hawks are more likely to win it then the Dragons, so Pablo’s half right,” said Maverick, and Pablo sighed in relief as the others looked away and disagreed loudly.

“Okay, how about MVP?” Amber asked. “I think it's gonna be Comet Chaser, he’s so awesome!”

Comet Chaser was the star quarterback of the Las Pegasus Flamingoes, and the team’s high-flying offense and solid defense brought them to the 2nd seed in the league, ahead of the Cloudsdale Hawks but behind the Canterlot Knights.

“Did you see that no-look pass he threw in Week 8 against the Detrot Rams?! Best pass of all time!” Pablo exclaimed, and the others nodded in agreement.

“I still think La Salle’s the best quarterback in the league, but Comet Chaser’s MVP,” said Thunderhoof, before suddenly pulling out a notebook from his saddlebag.

“Since everypony here is on the hoofball team, I’ll give this all to you now.”

Thunderhoof gave out copies of Sycamore Oak’s matchups for the season. Atomic took a copy from Chestnut and scanned through the list, checking off the different schools. Suddenly, his heart stopped.

Week 13: West Fillydelphia Eagles

What the hay?!

I should’ve known this was gonna happen!

The match is ages away though, I’ll worry about it later.

“Hey guys.”

Blaze and Mustang had been kept behind to finish off their work, and their eyes widened as they spotted Pablo sitting with their friends.

Still feeling guilty about mistreating Blaze and Mustang, Pablo took a deep breath and stood up.

“Can I talk to you guys in private for a sec?”

Blaze and Mustang looked at Pablo apprehensively, before agreeing. If Pablo tried anything, he was outnumbered anyway.

Pablo led the pair to the end of the corridor. He looked back at the group and saw that they were all talking amongst themselves. He turned to Blaze and Mustang.

“Blaze, Mustang, I’m sorry.”

“Huh?!”
Pablo had never apologised for anything before, and Blaze and Mustang wondered if the forlorn colt in front of them was even the same Pablo that they had known for years.

“You guys were the only ponies that were ever my friends, even if I didn’t appreciate it. I know I was a bully and not a nice pony to be around.”

“...What made you change your mind?”

Pablo looked back to the group, particularly at Amber. After he’d gotten into a fight with Atomic a few weeks ago for harassing Chestnut, she had made him promise never to treat somepony like that again. Pablo intended to keep that promise and not ruin his budding friendship with Amber.

“Let’s just say somepony made me realise that I needed to change.”

Pablo lifted his head up and stuck out a hoof. “If you don't wanna be friends with me ever again, I understand. But can we at least be civil?”

Blaze and Mustang looked at each other, and then at Pablo.

“Of course we’ll be friends with you, how could we not?”

Blaze gently pushed Pablo’s outstretched hoof down and pulled him into a hug with Mustang.

“Guys, look!” Thunderhoof whispered, pointing at Pablo, Blaze and Mustang.

“They’re friends again, that’s good,” said Amber, and pulled out chairs for Blaze and Mustang to sit with them.

As Pablo walked back to the table with Blaze and Mustang, he silently thanked Amber, promising that he wouldn’t let her down.

“Amber’s pretty cool, isn't she?” Blaze asked, and Pablo nodded.

“Yeah, she really is.”

Pablo had a smile on his face and was daydreaming. Blaze nudged Mustang.

“You don't think…?”

Mustang stopped Pablo by standing in front of him.

“Do you have a crush on Amber?”

“N-no! Why would you think that?! I don’t-”
Blaze and Mustang smiled and shook their heads, knowing that Pablo was lying.

“Alright, maybe I do.”

“What did you say?”

“I said maybe I do,” Pablo said loudly.

As they returned to the group, Pablo groaned and covered his face to hide his red cheeks as Blaze and Mustang continued teasing him.

“So are you guys cool now?” Atomic asked and Blaze nodded.

The bell rang a few minutes later and the group split up to go to their lessons, agreeing to meet up in the canteen at lunch. Since they had Maths with Ms Ivory, Atomic and Amber walked together.

“D’you think Pablo’s gonna hang with us all the time?” Atomic asked, and Amber shrugged her shoulders.

“No idea, but it was alright today, wasn't it?”

“Maybe, but it's not like we’re gonna be best friends or anything,” Atomic retorted, and Amber punched his shoulder jovially.

“You’re saying that now, but by the end of this year, you will be. Trust me.”

Amber smiled at Atomic and the colt’s cheeks quickly reddened. He turned away and took a deep breath.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, my tummy kinda hurts, that’s all.”

“I never said thank you, you know.”

“For what?”

Amber stopped Atomic and led him away from the crowds.

“For saving me from that foal’s home. I’d still be there if it wasn't for you.”

“You came up with the plan too, you know. And you distracted that care worker. We’d have been done for,” Atomic replied a little nervously.

“Thank you.”

Amber hugged him tightly, tip toeing slightly to place her head between Atomic’s head and left shoulder. Atomic returned the embrace readily, secretly trying to stop himself from blushing.

Amber broke the embrace after a few moments, staring at Atomic quietly. She suddenly leaned in and kissed him gently on the cheek.

“Come on, Ms Ivory will make us stay behind if we’re late.”

She walked past the shell shocked Atomic and off towards room 7. Atomic touched his cheek gently and breathed out slowly.

I need to talk to Thunder and Chestnut.

As soon as they had finished eating, Atomic dragged Thunderhoof and Chestnut away from the group as they left the canteen, telling the others that they were going to the toilets. He pushed them into the first empty cubicle he saw and squeezed in after them. He locked the door and put his ear against it, making sure nopony outside would hear them.

“You know that ponies normally use the toilets alone and not with others,” Thunderhoof remarked.

“Ha ha, very funny. This is serious.”

“Is something wrong?” Chestnut asked in a concerned tone.

“Well yes, but...no. kinda?”

Atomic took a deep breath.

“I think I…. no I do. I….like Amber.”

Thunderhoof smirked. “Yeah, I already knew that.”

“What?!”

“It was kinda obvious, you know, the way you were looking at her, always blushing when she talked to you. Even Chestnut agrees.”

Atomic turned to Chestnut. “You do?”

Chestnut nodded. “I could tell you did.”

Atomic sighed. “Okay, so you guys already knew. What should I do?”

“Tell her, duh! She might like you back too!” said thunderhoof, but Chestnut shook his head.

“I don't know if you should, she might just see you as a friend,” the timid colt said. Chestnut took a deep breath.

“Promise you’ll never tell anypony this?”

Atomic and Thunderhoof promised.

“Last year, there was this filly in my Prench class. Her name was Saffron and she’d moved to Fillydelphia from the Crystal Empire. I don't know when I started liking her, but she was always so nice to me. She helped if I didn’t understand the work and she always stuck up for me when the other colts in my class would tease me.”

“One day, I decided I was going to tell her how I felt. I went to the library at recess and made a card. I wanted to give it to her after Prench, which was the last lesson that day. When the bell rang, I picked up my saddlebag and left with Saffron because we went the same way home. We were just talking when I heard somepony start reading the letter out loud.”

“Yeah, it's kinda hard, but I think I’ll understand it soon.”

“You will, you’re actually really good at Prench, you know.”

Chestnut blushed and thanked Saffron for the compliment.

“Maybe I'm not that bad - ”

“DEAR SAFFRON, I’VE WANTED TO TELL YOU THIS FOR A LONG TIME NOW, SO HERE GOES!”

Chestnut whipped his head around and saw a colt standing outside his Prench class, waving about a familiar piece of paper. Chestnut realised that he must have dropped the card in class , and now his big plan was about to be ruined. Chestnut began galloping through the crowd of pupils, desperately trying to get his card back before it was too late.

“YOU ARE AN AMAZING, KIND AND BEAUTIFUL FILLY. YOU ALWAYS STICK UP FOR ME AND WITHOUT YOU, PRENCH WOULD BE AWFUL.

Chestnut reached the colt reading out the card and tried to grab the card. But the colt was a good few inches taller than Chestnut and he laughed as he lifted the paper above Chestnut’s head. Chestnut jumped up but the colt sidestepped him and finished reading.

“DO YOU WANT TO BE MY FILLYFRIEND?”

All eyes were on Saffron, who stood frozen in shock. The colt and his friends began laughing loudly and Chestnut wanted the ground to swallow him up. The card that he had spent so much time on was ripped up into little pieces and dropped over him.

Chestnut slowly picked up his saddlebag and looked down at the pieces of paper, trying to hold back tears. Suddenly, he remembered that Saffron had heard every word of the card, and he rushed back towards where he had left her to try and explain to her.

But she was gone.

“After that day, she didn’t speak to me again. It was like…… I was invisible.”

Atomic and Thunderhoof were silent as Chestnut finished his story.

“But it doesn't matter. Amber could actually like you,” said Chestnut.

“What if she just sees me as a friend?” Atomic asked, chewing on his hoof nervously.

“Then we have to help her…..realise that she likes you,” said Thunderhoof, and he took out a notebook from his saddlebag. At the top of a new page, he wrote in bold ‘OPERATION B AMBER.’

“Guys, this is what we’re gonna do.”

“Atomic, what are you doing?”

Atomic made a high-pitched noise and turned around. As part of Thunderhoof’s plan, Atomic was to bring some flowers to school the next day for Amber. At home, he went straight for the vase of flowers on the dining table. Atomic smiled at his mother and quickly tried to put the flowers back into the vase discreetly.

“Just….hanging around, you know, doing nothing,” Atomic said with a grin.

“Okay then, if you say so.”

Tea Rose turned around and left the living room. Atomic quickly put the flowers back in the vase and left to go to his room, planning to wake up early tomorrow and take the flowers then.

“Atomic?”

Tea Rose came out of the kitchen smirking.

“You can give Amber something better than flowers, you’re a bright kid.”

“But-what-huh?”

Atomic’s mouth hung open as Tea Rose headed back to the kitchen laughing.

The next morning, Thunderhoof stood waiting outside impatiently. Atomic as usual was running late.

“Okay, love you mom, bye!”

Atomic closed the door behind him.

“Where’s the flowers?”

“Oh, I'm not taking them.”

“Why?”

“I thought of something better.”

“Alright, maybe flowers weren't such a good idea.”

Atomic smiled and patted his saddlebag as the two crossed the road. A pack of EHL cards to get Amber started in collecting them was a much better idea, and Atomic knew that she would love it. As they passed through the school gates, they saw Amber talking to Pablo. Atomic groaned.

“And of course, he’s talking to her.”

Atomic and Thunderhoof walked past Amber and Pablo. Amber greeted Thunderhoof with a hoof bump and Atomic with a hug, the latter of which did not escape Pablo’s attention. Pablo reminded himself to follow Blaze and Mustang’s advice.

“Just be yourself.”

“Yeah, and then she’s bound to like you.”

Pablo nodded, but then sighed.

“What if she doesn't like me for who I am?”

“Pablo, if she didn’t, then she wouldn’t be friends with you,” Blaze pointed out, and Mustang nodded.

“You guys sure she’ll like me too?”

“Yeah, definitely.”

As Amber let go of Atomic, Pablo greeted Thunderhoof, who returned the greeting with a smile. When Atomic and Thunderhoof went inside, Amber resumed talking to Pablo about their plans for the day.

“So I’ll come to your Maths class at 3:15 and we'll go,” said Pablo.

“Okay, sounds like a plan.”

The bell rang and students began filing going inside to go to their homerooms.

After they had eaten their lunch, the twelve colts and one filly went to the library. Maverick and Jackpot pushed 2 large tables together so that everypony could fit. Moon Dust took out his radio and turned to the sports station commentating on the Fillydelphia Dragons-Vanhoover Raiders. The Raiders were one of the worst teams in the league whilst the Fillydelphia Dragons had already guaranteed playoff spot, so the game was pretty meaningless for the Dragons. Nevertheless, it was a chance for the Dragons to get another win and go into the playoffs with momentum.

Around the radio, Atomic, Starburst and Stormcaller were predicting how many receiving yards Nick Foals would have for the game, with Atomic making the boldest prediction of 200 yards.

“Come on, the Raiders have the worst cornerbacks and safeties in the league. It's gonna be way too easy for Nick Foals!” exclaimed Atomic.

Moon Dust shushed the others and turned the volume up as the Raiders kicked off. The foals cheered quietly when the Dragons’ kick returner was brought down at the 40-yard line.

As the game continued, Atomic decided that now would be the best time to give Amber the present, and he quickly took his saddlebag and pulled Amber aside.

“I got you something I think you’ll really like.”

Atomic reached into his saddlebag and took out a small packet.

“It's a pack of EHL cards. There aren't gonna be too many good ones in there but I can bring you some of my elite ones from home.”

“I was asking Pablo about these this morning! Did you read my mind or something?!”

Atomic laughed and pointed at his head. “No magic.”

Amber took the packet and hugged Atomic tightly. At the table, Pablo saw the two hugging and pointed it out to Blaze and Mustang.

“Relax, it’s probably nothing. Don’t even worry about it,” Blaze reassured.

Pablo nodded. “Yeah, you’re right.”

Atomic and Amber returned to the table just as the Dragons began their first drive of the game at their 40-yard line.

“And Cartwheel drops back with the ball, scanning the field…..the o-line is doing a great job here, he’s got all day to make a throw! And….Nick Foals catches the ball. Twelve yards, first down.”

“And the Dragons continue moving the ball downfield, the clear difference in talent is clear for everypony to see. Fillydelphia is in the red zone now, lets see what their first play is going to be….. the ball is snapped just as Nick Foals runs across the scrimmage line….and he gets the handoff! It’s an easy fifteen-yard touchdown run for Nick Foals!”

When lunch finished, the Dragons-Raiders game was coming to the end of the first half, with the Dragons up by 2 touchdowns. The librarian opened the library doors and made sure that all of the pupils left the library.

“We'll tell your guys the score when school ends,” said Moon Dust as he packed up his radio into his saddlebag.

The friends left the library and went to their lessons; Maverick, Moon Dust, Jackpot and Spade Ace went to Maths whilst the fifth-graders headed outside for PE.

“Will your teacher let you join us again?” Pablo asked Amber.

“Probably not. Guess I’ll be stuck doing boring old dance today.”

“Oh, okay.”

Amber sighed. “But it was fun working with you Pablo. Maybe I can sneak away from the lesson and join you for a bit.”

Pablo grinned. “Okay, but don’t get in trouble.”

Behind them, Atomic rolled his eyes as he watched Amber and Pablo talk.

Why does he always talk to her?!

How am I supposed to ever get amber to like me if Pablo’s stealing her away from me everyday?!

Next to him, Thunderhoof saw that Atomic did not like what he was seeing, and he placed a hoof on his best friend’s shoulder.

“Relax, it'll be fine.”

Atomic nodded, focusing on having fun in PE.

To start the lesson, Mr Bouncer’s 5th-grade class did their usual three-lap warm up and returned to their teacher in the middle of the field.

“Alright, I’m gonna split you up into groups of five and you’re going to practise blocking and tackling for a run play. There’s going to be a running back, two offensive linemen and two linebackers. When you have your group, pick a position and I’ll explain more about this drill.”

Atomic ended up in a group with Pablo, Pacific Sail, Banoffee Pie and Starburst. Pablo immediately announced he would be the running back and Atomic ended up being a linebacker. He decided that being a linebacker would be the best position, since he would be able to tackle Pablo.

Mr Cobalt gave a hoofball to each group. “The running back has one simple job; follow his blockers and get past the linebackers, extra points if you break any tackles. Everypony will have three tries at each position, and then we’re gonna play a match.”

Pablo picked up the ball and the colts lined up in position. Atomic and Starburst crouched down and Atomic put one hoof on the ground, rmerbing the position from training sessions with the West Fillydelphia Eagles.

For his first try, Pacific Sail and the other guard leapt up and pushed Atomic and Starburst to the right, creating a huge amount of space for Pablo to sprint through.

Mr Cobalt had watched the first try and praised Pablo, Starburst and the other guard for their play. Atomic and Starburst got into position again.

“Hey, as soon as he starts, I’ll go to the left and you go to the right, that way Pablo will have nowhere to go,” Atomic whispered, and Starburst agreed with him with a nod.

Pablo held the ball for a few seconds before sprinting to the left. But Atomic was waiting for him. Before Pacific Sail could block for Pablo, the neon green colt lost the ball as he was brought down by Atomic, and it rolled away.

“Okay everypony, last go and then you’re gonna switch positions,” Mr Cobalt called out.

On Pablo’s last try, he was able to break a tackle from Atomic and get through to the other side.

Mr Cobalt looked at his watch and realised that there wouldn’t be enough time for a match if everybody had 3 turns each in the drill. He blew his whistle and called the class to gather in the middle.

“Guys, were just gonna play a match for the rest of the game now.”

The colts cheered and after a few seconds, Mr Cobalt whistled and waited for silence.

“Thank you. I’m gonna split you up into 2 teams. Blaze, Thunderhoof, you two are gonna be my captains. I’ll let you pick one pony each.”

Blaze and Thunderhoof chose Pablo and Atomic respectively. As Mr Cobalt put the rest of the class into either team, Atomic was comparing the two teams, trying to figure out which team was stronger.

“Alright everypony, pick your positions and take a bib from your captains.”

Thunderhoof’s team wore yellow bibs whilst Blaze’s team had red bibs on. On Thunderhoof’s team, everypony on the school hoofball team was playing their designated positions - Atomic and Starburst were the main receivers, Pacific Sail was going to be the tight end and Banoffee Pie was one of the cornerbacks.

On Blaze’s team, the captain was going to be playing as quarterback. Pablo played his usual position of running back. Stormcaller decided to switch from playing running back and wanted to try out being an offensive lineman with Mustang.

“Don’t worry, Storm, just follow me when I’m blocking,” said Mustang.

Mr Cobalt took out a coin and Blaze won the coin toss, choosing to receive the ball first.

In the huddle, Blaze decided to start off with a quarterback run play to surprise the other team, with everypony else blocking one pony on the team. Mustang and Stormcaller were both going to be blocking the strongest defender on the other team (a colt called Tusk who was playing at left defensive end).

The center snapped the ball to Blaze and Pablo sprinted ahead to block for his friend. Mustang and Stormcaller put their hooves on tusk’s shoulders and tried to push him back. Bus at they blocked, Stormcaller suddenly lost his footing and fell, leaving Tusk free to break through and run after Blaze. But it was already too late - Blaze has gotten past the first down line and eventually slid to avoid being tackled, making his team’s first play a fifteen-yard run from Blaze himself.

The next play was going to be a play action; Blaze would pretend to hand the ball off to Pablo, only to keep and look for an open teammate. Blaze took the snap and held the ball tightly as Pablo faked getting the ball. Blaze dropped back slightly and looked downfield, waiting for a teammate to get open.

Downfield, Atomic was marking Banoffee Pie, and he was mostly keeping up with him. On the other side of the field, Starburst was losing his one-on-one matchup and Atomic saw Blaze wind his foreleg back to throw a long pass.

Blaze made a successful pass 30 yards downfield, and Starburst was able to get a hoof onto the ball, but it wasn’t enough. The receiver caught the ball and galloped towards the end zone. Atomic chased the receiver as darts as he could, but he couldn’t reach him in time.

At the end of the lesson, the colts packed up all of the equipment and went back to the changing rooms. Atomic put the bucket of hoofballs at the door and went inside to get changed.

“You know what you should do about...you know who?”

Atomic rolled his eyes. “Thunder, I know who you’re talking about.”

Thunderhoof looked around to make sure nopony was listening and lowered his voice to a whisper. “Okay, I was saying that you could be, more…..touchy feely with her.”

Atomic scrunched his nose up. “Touchy….feely?”

“Yeah, like, give her a hug or put a leg around her shoulder, that kind of thing. Fillies love that.”

“Oh, and you're an expert in fillies now?” Atomic queried with a smirk.

“Trust me, it'll work. Do it now after we get changed.”

When school ended, Atomic left PE with Thunderhoof and Chestnut. A few steps
behind them, Pablo was getting some advice from Blaze and Mustang.

“Make sure you get her a good gift, something she’ll like.”

“I was gonna get her an EHL card pack, but Atomic already got her that,” Pablo grumbled.

“You have to show her that she’s more than a friend to you. Spend more time with her,” Mustang insisted.

“And you guys won’t mind?”

“Of course we wouldn’t.”

Ahead, Atomic saw Amber and gave her a hug.

“Ooh, Atomic likes Amber!” a few fillies needed. Atomic ignored them and led Amber away with a foreleg on his shoulder.

Pablo saw this and quickened his pace, reaching Amber and Atomic quickly.

“Hey Amber, should we go now?”

“Oh, yeah! I’ll see you tomorrow Atomic!”

Amber left with Pablo and Atomic was seething when Thunderhoof and Chestnut reached him.

“What’s his problem?! Everytime I try and talk to her, he steals her away from me!”

Later that night, Atomic was getting ready for bed, still irritated about what Pablo had done. He lied down and closed his eyes, willing himself to fall asleep.

In his bed, Pablo was pleased with how the day had gone, and he was sure that Amber would feel the same way about him sooner rather than later.

That’s it. Tomorrow I’m gonna hang out with Amber the whole day and there’s no way Pablo’s gonna stop me!

Tomorrow is gonna be the day Amber likes me back, and nopony’s going to stop me!

Atomic and Pablo both fell asleep quickly, unaware of the chaos they would cause at school the next day.

OPERATION AMBER

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Thursday was an unusually warm winter day; the clouds had cleared to reveal a very bright sun, there was a light breeze blowing through the air and the general atmosphere was pleasant.

In the Tangerine household, Tea Rose had already bought the Hearth’s Warming tree and it stood in the far right corner of the living room, it’s base not yet covered by presents. Pumpkin Spice was due to be released from prison today and the family looked forward to her returning home. Tea Rose’s parents were also planning to visit later that day to see Pumpkin Spice.

At the dining table, Atomic and Butterscotch were both finishing off their breakfast (three slices of Prench toast with a glass of warm milk). Tea Rose cut the toast into small pieces and fed them to Butterscotch slowly, wiping her mouth with a tissue to keep her clean.

“Alright guys, I’m off.”

Everypony said goodbye to Syracuse as he left. Butterscotch pushed the plate away and shook her head, signalling that she was full. Tea Rose finished off the food and took Butterscotch upstairs to get changed for her playgroup.

“Atomic, put all the dishes in the kitchen and make sure you have everything in your bag,” Tea Rose said as she went upstairs, and Atomic replied that he had everything he needed for school that day.

Tea Rose and Butterscotch were ready to leave at the same time as Atomic, and for the first time since he was in the 4th grade, Atomic left for school with his mother and sister.

“Today would be a great day to have a picnic, don’t you think?” Tea Rose thought out loud.

Thundehroof called Atomic’s name and caught up to him, his saddlebag swinging back and forth from his body.

“Hey, we should go and get one of those vegetable wraps, I didn’t get time to have breakfast.”

“Excuse me?”

Tea Rose came to a sudden stop. She turned around slowly and Thunderhoof whispered an apology to Atomic.

“Is that what you two do every morning, waste time getting food when you’re supposed to get to school on time?!”

“No Mrs Rose, I was just….joking, you know, I was trying to make Atomic laugh,” Thunderhoof laughed nervously and lightly punched Atomic’s arm, who understood and laughed nervously as well.

“Do you think I was born yesterday?!”

“No, but uh, you do look very young for your age Mom,” said Atomic. Thunderhoof facepalmed.

“Clearly you two can’t be trusted to go to school and come home yourselves. So this is what's going to happen; I will be collecting both of you everyday from school. Understood?”

“Mom, that's not fair! I’m not a baby, I can come home myself! We won’t go to the shops ever again, we promise! Right Thunderhoof?”

Thunderhoof nodded.

“You won’t be going to any shops before or after school, because I’m going to be with you the whole time. Come on, let’s go.”

Atomic groaned and dragged Thunderhoof to walk in front of his mother.

“Great, now I’m gonna be starving until lunchtime,” Thunderhoof grumbled, putting his money back into his saddlebag.

“It's fine, Mom’s not actually gonna collect us,” said Atomic. “Anyway, how d’you think I’m doing with.. You know, the operation?”

“Good, but we don’t know if Amber likes you yet. Has she acted differently around you recently?”

Atomic subconsciously put a hoof on his cheek. He was about to tell Thunderhoof about Amber thanking him, but decided that Amber would probably want it to stay between them.

“No, not really. The same as always, I guess.”

“You’ve got today to hang out with her anyway, so it’s fine.”

When Atomic and Thunderhoof reached the school gates, Tea Rose said goodbye to her son and reminded Atomic that she would be waiting at the gates for him at 3:20.

“She’ll have forgotten by recess,” Atomic claimed.

The best friends met up with Chestnut inside and went to their homeroom early, Thunderhoof insisting that they should get some extra revision done early in the morning. Ms Ivory had started leaving her classroom unlocked for students to come in early and get some work done. Atomic, Thunderhoof and Chestnut were the only ones in room 7 on this occasion.

“If we wanna get into Lakefield, then we have to get high grades in January,” Thunderhoof said, taking out a quill and answering some practice Maths questions.

Atomic decided to do some English (since it was his weakest subject) and Chestnut and Thunderhoof were answering Maths questions together.

At 8:45, the bell rang and Atomic, Thunderhoof and Chestnut moved to their normal seats as their classmates came in.

Ms Ivory took the register and allowed the pupils to sit together to do some work quietly. Atomic asked Ms Ivory permission to go to the toilet and he left in a hurry, making a note to not drink so much milk for breakfast.

On the other side of the school, Amber Breeze was getting to know the other fillies in her homeroom class. For most of her life, Amber had never bothered socialising with the fillies both living with her and at school, instead choosing to play hoofball with the other colts. Deep down, she felt guilty for replacing her deceased friend Daisy, but she pushed those thoughts away.

“So you’re close to Atomic and Pablo, right?” a filly called Petal asked, and Amber nodded.

“Do you like them?” another filly asked.

“Yeah, why wouldn’t I be friends with them?”

“No, like you know...like like.”

Amber laughed. “No way! That’s weird!”

Skye, a tall blue filly sitting behind Amber, got involved in the conversation. “Okay but if you had to say who you’re closer too, who would it be?”

“Um...well, it would have to be….Atomic.”

“Why?”

“Because….he saved my life.”

After swearing them to secrecy, Amber spent the rest of homeroom telling the fillies her escape from the care home with Atomic.

As the first period lesson bell rang, Petal and Amber checked their timetables and saw that they had Science together.

“You know Atomic’s like your knight in shining armour,” Petal suddenly said.

“He is?”

“Yeah, he saved your life, so that's what he is.”

Amber laughed. “Yeah, I guess he is.”

On their way to Science, Amber and Petal walked past Pablo, and they said hi to each other.

“He’s normally such a jerk, but he’s been acting differently recently,” said Petal.

“Yeah, he’s actually a really nice guy once you get to know him,” Amber replied, and Petal looked at her.

“Do you have a crush on him?!”

“No!”

Amber looked around to see if anypony had heard them, but thankfully nopony was listening to them.

“Sorry, was that too loud?”

“Yeah. But no, I don’t like him. He’s just a friend.”

“Okay then, if you say so,” Petal giggled.

“Come on, we have to finish this before recess ends, or it won’t work!”

In the library, Atomic, Thunderhoof and Chestnut were rushing to finish writing all of the letters. Luckily for them, the library was mostly empty since the students wanted to take advantage of the pleasant weather before winter arrived properly. Since the weather was good, Atomic decided to use the field for his big plan to tell Amber how he felt.

Thunderhoof and Chestnut were writing out the clues for the ‘treasure hunting Atomic had planned, and the ‘treasure’ was going to be him confessing to her. He was still worried about being rejected, and he voiced these concerns to his friends.

“Even if she doesn’t like you back, she’ll still be your friend. Now stop worrying and help me decorate this clue.”

Atomic gave Thunderhoof another pack of felt tip pens and drew colourful borders around the edge of the paper.

“Guys, she’s coming!”

Chestnut spotted Amber come into the library with Petal and some other fillies. The colts rushed to hide evidence of the plan, pulling papers, felt tip pens and their bags off the table and into their laps.

Luckily, the fillies didn’t see the colts and headed straight for the desks on the other side of the library.

Atomic sighed in relief. “Coast is clear.”

The papers and pens were dumped back onto the table and the writing and decorating resumed. Suddenly the bell rang.

“No! Now I don’t have any time to put the clues out!”

The librarian got up from her desk and walked over to the center of the library. “Alright everypony, pack up your belongings and get to your lessons quickly, you don’t want to be late.”

Thunderhoof checked his timetable. “Ugh, we all have English next!”

As they packed up, Amber spotted Atomic as she was leaving and rushed over to him.

“Hey, we’ve got English next, lets go.”

“Er, you go ahead, I’ll catch up with you.”

As Amber walked away, Atomic came up with an idea to finish the clues, but as expected Thunderhoof and Chestnut were against it.

“No way! This’ll be like the fifth time we’ve skipped class! We’re gonna get caught!”

“No we won’t Thunder, it'll be fine. We'll go to the back of the field like we did the first time we skipped and we won’t get caught. Chestnut agrees with me, right?”

Chestnut shook his head briefly and Atomic sighed.

“Guys, if we don’t finish this today, then I’m never gonna get a chance to tell her, and you guys don’t want that, do you?”

“Why are you three still here? Come on, go to your lessons now!”

As they were kicked out of the library, Chestnut suggested that they should take the long way to the field, so that they weren’t seen by any teachers.

“So you’ve changed your mind?” Atomic asked.

“We spent all of recess doing this, we might as well finish this now.”

Thunderhoof sighed. “Alright, let’s go.”

“Come in.”

“Amber needs to go down to reception, Miss, to go to her doctor’s appointment.”

Amber looked up. “Huh?”

“Yeah, they’re waiting for you downstairs, Amber. Come on.”

Amber slowly packed up her books, going along with whatever Atomic had planned. Atomic picked up her saddlebag and pulled Amber out of the classroom, thanking the teacher as he shut the door behind him.

“Okay, what’s going on?”

“Come on, I’ll show you.”

Atomic led Amber across the corridor to the fillies’ toilets. On the door, an envelope was attached to it by sticky tape. At Atomic’s request, Amber took the envelope off the door and opened it, reading the letter inside.

First clue: what goes up and never comes down?

“Are you serious?”

Atomic nodded. “Come on, answer the riddle.”

Amber laughed. “You took me out of English to answer a riddle?”

“Trust me, there’s a really good prize at the end.”

“Alright then. What goes up and never comes down…..I know, your age right?!”

“That is…..incorrect!”

“What?! But that’s the only answer!”

“Come on, you can get this.”

Amber clearly was not going to be able to guess the right answer, so Atomic gave her a hint.

“A four letter word? Umm……..”

“I’ll give you another hint. It begins with l.”

“......love?”

“Yep, that’s right.”

Amber crossed her arms. “Okay, you need to explain this.”

Atomic cringed as he recited the answer Thunderhoof had come up with. “Because...love never stops. Like, when you get married, you always love your husband or wife forever.”

“.....Okay then.”

Hopefully that didn’t creep her out too much.

Atomic took the envelope off the door and crumpled into a ball and threw it into the bin outside the toilets.

“So where’s the next riddle?”

“Downstairs, and there’s going to be one more question after this one.”

As they walked quickly across the corridor, in his Science lesson, Pablo saw Atomic and Amber rush past the window. He was tempted to pretend to go to the toilets and followed them, but he shook his head and got back to his work. When his teacher wasn’t looking, Pablo reached under his exercise book and pulled out a piece of paper.

Blaze and Mustang advised Pablo to make a grand gesture of his affection, and with the help of a guitar player in their grade, he finished the last few lines of a song he planned to perform for her at lunch.

And….there! Perfect! Amber’s gonna love it!

Pablo put the paper carefully into his saddlebag and got back to doing his work. Every few moments he would look up at the clock, willing time to move faster.

“Okay, Here is the next question.“

Atomic and Amber had reached the second clue, which was down the main stairs and on the door of the colts’ toilets. Amber peeled the envelope off the door and ripped it open to pull out the next clue.

What is my favourite holiday of the year?

“Easy, it’s got to be Hearth’s Warming, right?Or maybe it’s Sugar Bowl Sunday, but I don’t know if that’s a holiday.”

“Er, no it’s actually…..Hearts and Hooves Day.”

Amber stifled a few giggles and Atomic blushed.

“Atomic, are you sure you’re feeling okay?”

Amber touched Atomic’s forehead to check his temperature.

Stay cool, stay cool, stay cool!

“Yeah, of course I’m fine.”

Amber stepped back. “Hearts and Hooves Day? That’s your favourite holiday?”

“Yeah, you’ll find out why in a bit.”

Atomic took the envelope and letter from Amber and put it in the bin. He took a deep breath to try and calm his nerves.

“So for the last clue...you’re gonna have to find it yourself.”

“Why?”

“Trust me, you’ll understand when you find it. It’s taped to the bottom of Miss Bellflower’s door.”

“Okay, that’s just crazy. I’m totally gonna get caught.”

“You won’t, trust me. Please? For me?”

Amber nodded, and Atomic hugged her tightly. He broke the embrace and walked away, hoping that Amber would make it to him before lessons ended.

Amber watched Atomic go, wondering what was going on. She had never seen him act so strangely, and she wondered what was going on.

Something’s up with him. The question is, what is it?

“Was it supposed to take this long?”

“No, he should’ve been here by now.”

At the back of the school field, Thunderhoof and Chestnut were beginning to get impatient. The last part of Atomic’s plan was to wait for Atomic to arrive, hide him using a spell Thunderhoof had recently learned and reveal him to Amber when she figured out the last clue so he could talk to her.

Thunderhoof sighed and stepped out from behind a tree slowly, making sure that nopony could see him. He sat down in front of the tree.

“Hey look, he’s coming!”

Thunderhoof followed Chestnut’s outstretched hoof and saw Atomic running as fast as he could across the field.

“She’s answering the last clue right now! Quick, get into position!”

Thunderhoof pulled himself up as Atomic reached them and hid behind the tree again.

“How did she react to the other questions?” Chestnut whispered.

“I don’t know, kinda weirdly. She was looking at me kinda funny and she even thought that I had a high temperature.”

“Don’t worry, it'll be fine once she gets here and you can talk to her,” said Thunderhoof, and Atomic eventually nodded.

“Hopefully she gets here soon, we don’t have long before lunch.”

Back inside the school, Amber was still looking for the last clue. Atomic hadn’t given her enough clues to find the last envelope and she was stuck wandering the school corridors, keeping a lookout for any envelopes taped to doors. After the one week suspension, she’d promised herself that she wouldn’t skip any more lessons, and she hoped that a teacher didn’t appear and catch her skipping class.

Finally!

On Ms Ivory’s door, an envelope had been stuck to the glass pane, and Amber crept slowly towards the door. She peeked through the glass window next to the door and saw Ms Ivory writing at the whiteboard.

I need to get this quickly before she sees me.

Amber bent down and walked as quietly as she could to the door. Once at the door, she slowly lifted a foreleg up, looking through the door glass pane to make sure she wasn’t spotted.

Nearly….there…..finally!

Amber gripped the envelope and quickly pulled it down, holding it close to her body. She looked through the glass pane one more time and decided to make her move. The filly got up slowly and backed away from the door until her back hit a wall. She went into the first empty cubicle in the fillies’ toilets and opened the envelope.

This pony cares about you more than you realise. He thinks that you are an amazing, strong and beautiful filly who never fails to make him smile everyday. It took him a while to realise he had feelings for you, but now he’s ready to tell you face to face.

Where can this pony be found? (HINT - it's somewhere with a lot of grass)

Amber dropped the paper onto the floor in shock, refusing to believe what it read. She picked it up and read it again, the words hitting her like a slap to the face.

There’s no way he likes me, right?

We’re just friends, why would he see me that way?

I need to go to the field and talk to him.

Suddenly, the bell rang, and almost immediately doors were open and students crowded the corridors to go to the cafeteria. Amber put the letter inside the envelope and tried to get to the field, pushing through other foals.

“Amber, hey, Amber!”

Pablo caught up to Amber and tapped her shoulder. He tried to talk to her but they couldn't hear each other over the noise of the crowd, so Pablo pulled her to the side and waited for the corridor to become quieter.

“I have a surprise for you Amber, in the music room.”

“You do? But I have to find At-”

“Come on, let’s go quickly!”

Pablo pulled Amber through the corridor. Amber struggled to keep her balance, the envelope with Atomic’s confession dropping to the floor. Next to the envelope, Pablo had also dropped a piece of paper.

Dejected, Atomic entered the school building, crushed that Amber had not turned up to the field. Despite their best efforts, Thunderhoof and Chestnut couldn't cheer Atomic up.

As they waited at the back of the line in the cafeteria, Atomic suddenly realised that Amber may not have been able to find the envelope, and he dashed out of the cafeteria, telling Thunderhoof and Chestnut he would be back in a few minutes.

Within two minutes, Atomic found the envelope on the floor, and tears leaked from his eyes as he tried to pick up the envelope. Next to it, he saw the other piece of paper and picked it up to read.

What the?!

“5, 6, 7, 8!”

Octave began playing a slow tune on his guitar. Next to him, Pablo had closed his eyes and was nodding his head, waiting for his cue. When he opened his mouth and began to sing, Amber’s mouth dropped open.

“Your dark blue mane, yeah it drives me insane
Your kind sweet eyes make me feel so alive
With a smile on your face that suits you
There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you
Amber Breeze, you mean so much to me
Yeah Amber Breeze, you mean sooo much….. to me.”

Pablo opened his eyes and smiled sweetly at Amber, who was still in shock. Atomic and Pablo liked her. How in Equestria was she going to deal with this?

Suddenly the door slammed open. In the doorway, an enraged Atomic took in the scene in front of him. Taking a deep breath, he looked at Pablo and held up a piece of paper.

“This yours Pablo?”

Pablo frowned and walked over to Atomic. “Yeah, what’s it to you? Can you leave, I wanna talk to Amber in private. And give me that back!”

Atomic pushed Pablo and pulled the paper back.

Amber rushed over to Pablo to help him up. “Pablo, are you okay?”

“That's why you’ve always been hanging out with her! Because you wanted to steal her away from me!” Atomic shouted, tears brimming in his eyes.

“What do you mean steal her away?! I haven’t done anything wrong!” Pablo yelled back. Amber stepped back nervously.

“Your dark blue mane drives me insane! You wrote an entire song for her?!”

“Give me that back!”

Octave finally intervened and tried to seperate the two.

“Guys, calm down. Just take it easy and we can talk-”

Pablo pushed Octave aside. “Why are you so angry about - no way! You like her too!”

Octave looked back and forth between Atomic and Pablo, and he started wishing that he had never accepted Pablo’s request.

“Give me my song back, now!”

Pablo charged towards Atomic and the two fell to the ground. Amber and Octave tried to seperate the two. In the scuffle, Pablo ended up with the envelope Atomic had and scurried backwards away from Atomic to read the letter inside.

Atomic saw Pablo open the envelope and dived towards him. “Give that back!”

All of the shouting had attracted the attention of the music teacher in her classroom next door, and she came over to see what was going on.

“What in Equestria is with all the yelling?”

Both Atomic and Pablo ignored the teacher. Pablo read the letter inside the envelope and smirked.

“That was really the best you could do?!”

“Pablo, just give it back to him! Now!”

Pablo threw the envelope across the floor to Atomic.

“Atomic, give the paper back to Pablo.”

Atomic instead ripped the paper in half.

“HEY!”

Pablo shoved past Amber, Octave and the music teacher. Atomic used the half-second he had before Pablo got him to turn and run away. As they galloped down the corridor, Amber, Octave and the music teacher could only watch in shock.

In the cafeteria, Thunderhoof and Chestnut had finally gotten their lunch and were eating with Blaze and Mustang, talking about the next match Sycamore Oak would be playing.

“Wait, where’s Atomic? He’s in school today, right?” Blaze asked in between mouthfuls of spaghetti.

Thunderhoof and Chestnut shared a glance.

“Er, yeah he’s in the toilet I think, he’s coming back soon,” Thunderhoof replied.

The four resumed eating before Chestnut asked a question.

“Is Pablo going to be joining us for lunch?”

Blaze and Mustang looked at each other briefly, before turning around and whispering to each other. After a few moments they turned back.

“Okay, promise you won’t tell anypony.”

Thunderhoof and Chestnut nodded.

“Pablo likes Amber and he’s gonna ask her to be his fillyfriend.”

“What?!”

Thunderhoof slammed his head onto the table and Chestnut stared at Blaze and Mustang open-mouthed.

“But-but Atomic likes Amber. He was gonna tell her before lunch!” Chestnut eventually admitted.

“What?!”

Before BMaverick, Jackpot, Moon Dust and Spade Ace sprinted into the cafeteria. They spotted Thunderhoof and ran over to his table.

“Guys, Atomic and Pablo are having a huge fight in the hallway!”

The four ditched their lunch and grabbed their saddlebags. The table next to them had heard and they eagerly left their seats to see the fight.

“Atomic must have found them!” Thunderhoof cried as they galloped through the hallway.

Outside the library, a large crowd of pupils cheered on Atomic and Pablo, who were in the midst of a vicious brawl. Teachers charged through to try and separate the two and Thundehroof pushed through to the front. In the far corner, he spotted an upset Amber being consoled by a few fillies. As Atomic and Pablo were dragged away from each other, Ms Ivory arrived on the scene.

“OUTSIDE, NOW!”

The pupils quickly dispersed, and Thunderhoof went over to Amber.

“Amber, are you okay?”

Amber looked up and Thunderhoof saw tears in her eyes. “This is all my fault! They're my friends, I didn’t know they’d get so angry.”

“It's not your fault Amber, you had no idea they both liked you,” said Petal, putting a foreleg around her friend.

Thunderhoof was now sure that Amber did not feel the same way about Atomic, and he felt awful for his best friend. He wanted to do nothing more than go and talk to him, but he knew that was impossible. It hadn’t been long since Atomic had been suspended for a week from school, and Thunderhoof realised that there was a possibility that Atomic could be excluded permanently.

“I should’ve never encouraged him to tell her, now everything’s gone wrong,” Chestnut lamented.

“Come on guys, let’s go to the field and talk about this,” said Maverick, and the group left.

In the principal’s office, Tea Rose and Atomic had just finished their meeting with Principal Autumn Forest and Miss Bellflower, and to say that Tea Rose was angry would be a huge understatement.

“I don’t understand why you’re getting into trouble when you have exams coming up! Why did you fight that colt?!”

Atomic had been quiet the entire time, believing in his mind that Amber liked Pablo and not him. He never wanted to see either of them again.

“Because of you, I had to take Butterscotch out of her playgroup and leave her with Thunderhoof’s mom! Your sister missed out today because of you!”

As they entered the house, Atomic finally snapped.

“You don’t even know what happened today, so just leave me alone!”

Atomic stormed up the stairs and slammed his door shut. In the privacy of his room, he finally broke down and let the tears fall.

“Nope, sorry Thunderhoof but Atomic’s not going to be coming out to play today, alright?”

It had been hours since Atomic had been sent home from school, and he was still as upset as ever. In front of him his duvet lay on the floor, one of the victims of his anger. He sat at his desk and opened the top drawer of his bedside cabinet, taking out something he had written after he got onto the West Fillydelphia Under-13 Eagles.

Step 1- Get onto a good team
Step 2- Win the local youth league and get noticed by scouts
Step 3- Go to a good high school and play god enough to get college scholarships
Step 4- Go to a good college and win the College Bowl
Step 5- Get drafted by the Dragons
Step 6- Win the EHL championship/ Win MVP (each more than once)
Step 7- Become the greatest Dragons player of all time.

I’m never gonna get distracted from hoofball again.

ROAD TO RECOVERY

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BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP

Ugh, why does it have to be so loud?!

Atomic reached out from under the duvet and eventually reached the ‘stop’ button, silencing the room again. He tucked under the duvet again and tried to get a few more minutes of sleep.

“Atomic, get up now!”

When Atomic didn’t reply, Tea Rose left Butterscotch in her cot briefly and went across the hallway to her son’s bedroom door. She knocked on the door loudly and pushed it wide open.

“Atomic, it’s 07:30, get up!”

“But I don’t have school!”

“I don’t care! We’re going out!”

“No! I’m not going shopping, I hate it!”

Tea Rose entered the room and stood over Atomic’s bed.

“I’m not gonna have you moping at home all day. And for your information, we’re not actually going shopping first. We’re gonna go somewhere and in the afternoon, we’re picking up your aunt.”

Atomic sat up slowly. “So where are we going first?”

“Get ready and you’ll find out.”

Tea Rose left and Atomic pushed his duvet to the end of his bed. He sat up again and swung out of bed to go and brush his teeth. As he left his room, Syracuse came out of the bathroom.

“Morning Atomic.”

“Hey Dad.”

Atomic did his business in the bathroom and then went downstairs to the living room to have his breakfast. The radio was already on and Atomic switched it to the sports news channel.

“And the regular season has come to an end, which means that we now have playoff hoofball to look forward to. Your playoffs teams this season - the Canterlot Knights, Las Pegasus Flamingoes, Fillydelphia Dragons and Cloudsdale Hawks will each be aiming for the title. Guys, what are your playoff predictions?”

“Canterlot Knights are gonna win it all, they’re the best team in the league and their defense in particular is something to behold; so even if La Salle has an off game, their defense will get the job done.”

“I disagree. Cloudsdale have the best defence in the league, and Slate Gray in particular is going to shut down the passing game of every team.”

“That’s obviously biased, everypony knows that you’re a Cloudsdale fanboy!”

Syracuse came into the living room with a mug of coffee and a plate of scrambled eggs with two slices of bread. He sat down opposite Atomic and began eating, glancing up at his son every few seconds.

“Atomic?”

“Yeah?”

“Can I ask you a question?”

Atomic nodded, and Syracuse put his mug down.

“Are you gonna tell me why you fought Pablo?”

Atomic shook his head, and Syracuse sighed.

“Atomic, your mother and I both know that you didn’t get into a fight for no reason. If you tell us, then maybe we’d understand why it happened.”

Atomic was torn. He knew that he had had a genuine reason to fight Pablo, but he was reluctant to tell his parents about his unrequited crush on Amber. He still couldn’t believe that Amber had chosen Pablo over him, and Atomic had promised himself to put Amber out of his mind. Ultimately he decided to meet Syracuse in the middle.

“Can I think about it and decide later?”

“Alright then.”

Syracuse finished his breakfast and took his plate and cup to the kitchen.

“Atomic, come and get your breakfast!”

In the kitchen, Tea Rose had prepared two bowls of porridge for Atomic and Butterscotch. Atomic didn’t complain and took the porridge back to the living room.

After Syracuse left for work, Tea Rose woke up Butterscotch and brought her downstairs to have breakfast.

“We’re gonna take Butterscotch to her playgroup first and then we’re going downtown to get you some new clothes.”

“But I thought you said we weren’t-”

“Don’t talk back to me, mister. This is the second time you’ve been suspended this year, so you’re in no position to argue with me!”

Atomic fell silent and resumed eating his breakfast, anticipating that today was going to be the most long, boring and tiring day of his life.

“Good morning Butterscotch!”

Tea Rose greeted the playgroup teacher and chatted with her as she unbuckled Butterscotch from her pram. Atomic led his sister into the classroom and helped her join the circle of toddlers sitting on the carpet in the middle of the classroom. The other teacher in the classroom greeted the foals and took over. Atomic left the classroom and returned to his mother.

“Alright Rose, see you soon!”

Tea Rose and Atomic left to put the pram back home. On their way, Atomic spotted Thunderhoof heading towards the school gates. Tea Rose told Atomic to wait outside whilst she went to the bank to take money out of her account. Atomic looked inside the bank to make sure his mother couldn't see him, before galloping towards Sycamore Oak.

“Thunder!”

Thunderhoof heard his name being called and turned around to see Atomic standing behind him with a huge grin on his face. They hoof bumped and stood to the side to talk.

“Are you okay? I haven't seen you in forever!”

“I'm okay. They suspended me for a week again and Mom’s not letting me outside to play, so I've been stuck at home the whole time. How about you?”

Thunderhoof lowered his voice to a whisper. “Everypony’s been talking about you and Pablo, but nopony knows why you guys fought.”

“And Amber?”

“She told Miss Bellflower she skipped Science and got put in the internal exclusion room.”

“Oh, okay.”

Thunderhoof put a hoof on Atomic’s shoulder. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

Atomic nodded, but Thunderhoof could tell that he wasn’t. Just then, a teacher spotted Atomic and Thunderhoof and strode over to them.

“Atomic Tangerine, what are you doing here?!”

“Nothing sir, I’m just talking to Thunderhoof,” Atomic said meekly.

“Thunderhoof, get inside. And as for you young man, where are your parents?”

Atomic turned around to look on the other side of the road. Tea Rose came out of the bank a few moments later, and Atomic watched her look fervently around her, calling out Atomic’s name. She asked passer-bys if they had seen her son, and Atomic saw her go back into the bank.

“Sir, my mom’s in the bank, I'm gonna go back to her.”

Atomic galloped towards the pedestrian crossing, waiting impatiently for the lights to turn red. When they did, he barged past other ponies and raced across the road towards the bank.

“Yeah, he was standing outside and now he’s disappeared! I don't know where he went!”

The bank manager pointed to the colt that had just come into the bank. “Is that him, ma’am?”

Atomic sheepishly walked over to Tea Rose, fully expecting his mother to start shouting at him there and then. Instead, she hugged him tightly and thanked the bank manager before leaving the bank.

Wow, she's actually not mad at -

“How dare you run away when I told you to wait outside for me?! You could've been hit by a carriage or snatched by anypony!”

Tea Rose eventually fell quiet and the rest of the journey home was silent. When they reached their front door, Tea Rose pushed the pushchair into the hallway and folded it to put next to the staircase. Atomic went up to his bedroom, instructed by his mother to tidy up his bedroom before they left the house.

Back at Sycamore Oak, homeroom was underway, and in room 7, Ms Ivory had instructed her pupils to revise quietly. At the back of the classroom, Thunderhoof gestured for Chesnut to come and sit next to him so they could work together.

“Atomic was at the gate this morning.”

“Is he okay?”

“He said he was, but I don't think he was.”

After the huge fight, Atomic and Pablo had both been suspended for a week. Things had become awkward between Thunderhoof and Chestnut, and Blaze and Mustang. Each pair quietly blamed each other for encouraging Atomic/Pablo to pursue. As a result, Thunderhoof and Chestnut spent recess and lunchtime with Stormcaller, Starburst, Banoffee Pie - Blaze and Mustang opted to hang out with each other.

Amber had quickly become close with Petal and Lily, and the three friends could often be seen chatting on the outside playground or in a breakout space between lessons. Amber had not been able to speak to Atomic or Pablo, and Thunderhoof believed that she liked Pablo, not Atomic.

“D’you think we’d be allowed to go to his house?” CHesnut asked, but Thunderhoof shook his head.

“Atomic’s mom isn't letting him outside, so there's no point. I guess he’s gonna miss tomorrow’s match too.”

Sycamore Oak were due to play Chestnut’s former school Greenfield on Tuesday at 15:30, and Atomic was definitely not going to be allowed to play. Thunderhoof knew that the match would be a lot harder without his best friend as a receiving option. Alabaster also played quarterback for Greenfield alongside the Broncos, and he would be looking to avenge the Broncos’ loss to Sycamore Oak nearly a month ago.

“You guys will still play really well. I’m gonna have to get some pictures of you guys at the end of the match,” said Chestnut checking his saddlebag to make sure he had his camera.

“When are you gonna have your cutieceñera?” Thunderhoof asked.

“I don’t know, I don’t think I really want one.”

“Come on, it'll be so fun. We'll all come round and you’ll get so many presents!”

Ms Ivory looked up from her desk. “Thunderhoof, quiet studying.”

“Sorry Ms Ivory.”

“I’ll think about it. Are you gonna go anywhere this Hearth’s Warming?”

“Last year our whole family was at my grandma’s in Canterlot, so we’re probably gonna go there again.”

“I’m just gonna be at home with my family, same as every year.”

Thunderhoof and Chestnut passed the time in homeroom chatting and studying until the bell rang, and they said goodbye to each other as they went to their first lesson of the day, Maths.

“Pablo Scar, get your lazy plot out of your bed now!”

Like Atomic, Pablo hasn’t told his parents the real reason that he had gotten into a fight, and like Tea Rose and Syracuse, Dew Spice and Vault were furious with their son.

“Yes Mother.”

Pablo quickly got out of bed and went downstairs, where his mother and father were waiting for him at the door, dressed in smart attire for work.

“You’re going to be spending the day at your grandmother’s house.”

“But she’s so boring! I’m gonna have nothing to do the whole day!”

“Excuse me?! You will speak about your grandpa mother with respect!” Vault yelled.

Dew Spice went into her study and came back with a stack of papers, dumping them into Pablo’s hooves.

“Your father and I have been given your schoolwork for this week. You can finish it all at your grandmother’s house.”

Pablo left the house behind his parents and climbed into the taxi waiting outside. Vault told the driver the address of Pablo’s grandmother’s house, and instructed him to drop himself and Dew Spice off at Fillydelphia Central Bank first.

As they drove through downtown Fillydelphia, Pablo stared out of the window, dreading the long day ahead of him.

Maybe I could fly away when they drop me off before Grandma sees me.

But where would I go?

“And don’t even think about trying to get out of this,” Vault said, remembering what had happened the last time Pablo had been sent to stay at his grandmother's house.

What’s the point of escaping?

In first-period Maths, Amber Breeze’s focus was nowhere near the work in front of her. She was the only pint in the internal exclusion room, and she pushed the Maths question sheet away and put her her head down onto the desk

Amber still couldn’t believe that last Thursday’s events were real and not a dream. She’d had no idea that Atomic and Pablo liked her, and she was admittedly annoyed that Atomic had pulled her out of her lesson for a bogus ‘treasure hunt’, thus landing her in the internal exclusion room.

As soon as Atomic and Pablo had been taken away by the teachers, Amber knew immediately that she did not have any romantic feelings for Atomic or Pablo.

It’s gonna be so awkward telling them, I don’t know how I’m going to do it.

Lifting her head up, Amber picked up her quill and decided to get started on her work, just to make sure the teacher watching over her didn’t start shouting at her. Ms Ivory had given Amber a practise test as revision, and Amber turned to the first page.

“Atomic, are you ready?”

“Yeah, I’m coming now.”

Atomic closed his door and went downstairs to the front door. At the door, Tea Rose was closing her saddlebag.

“Ooh, I forgot my purse! Atomic, can you go outside and call for a taxi whilst I look for it? Tell them we’re going to Fillydelphia Shopping Center.”

Ugh, so we are going shopping.

Atomic went outside and towards the telephone booth at the end of Mayfield Avenue. He entered the booth and picked up the telephone, dialling the number on the advertisement for Fillydelphia’s taxi service.

After he booked the taxi, Atomic went back home and told his mother that the taxi would be arriving in three minutes. The mother and son stepped outside onto their doorstep and waited.

“So are you gonna tell me why you’re suspended?”

Atomic sighed. He figured that if he told his mother the truth, she would be easier on him and maybe he could even convince her to buy him something he wanted.

“It was because of Amber.”

“Amber?”

“Yeah. I……..like her, and I got an idea to tell her by doing a treasure hunt with her.”

“Okay, so what happened?”

“We'll, she was taking so long to finish the treasure hunt, so I went inside to check if she got lost. I found the last clue of the hunt on the floor inside…..”

“Then?”

Atomic was interrupted by the taxi driver beeping his horn.

“Tell me the rest when we get into the taxi.”

Atomic and Tea Rose climbed into the back of the taxi, and the driver checked that the doors were locked before restarting the engine.

“So you’d found the last clue on the floor?”

“Yeah, and then I found Amber with Pablo in the music room. He was singing a love song to her.”

“Oh.”

Atomic turned his head away and took a deep breath, trying his best to force the tears back. Tea Rose put a foreleg around her son and held him close to her.

“It’s okay Atomic, it'll be fine.”

After a few moments, Atomic felt a little better, and Tea Rose moved her foreleg back.

“You still shouldn’t have attacked that colt, but…. I do understand your reasons.”

Atomic smiled at his mother and decided to change the subject, relieved thatTea Rose wasn’t angry with him anymore. “So we’re going shopping?”

“Yes, but not for what you think.”

Atomic looked at his mother curiously, but she didn’t give any more explanations.
“Could you drop us off at gate B please? Thank you.”

The driver nodded and turned left, driving slowly through the carriage park and towards the five gates - which shoppers went to call for a taxi.

When they arrived at gate B, Tea Rose reached into her purse and pulled out the appropriate change, passing it to the driver. He put his change into his glove box and wished Tea Rose and Atomic a pleasant day.

As they got out of the taxi, Tea Rose heard her name being called out. A tall, slim mare was walking quickly towards her, and Tea Rose smiled eagerly.

“Violet!”

The two mares embraced and began chatting. Atomic stood to the side awkwardly, wondering how long his mother and her friend were going to stand outside talking. He suddenly felt a drop of water land on his nose, and he looked up at the sky. Thick dark clouds were gathering and rainfall was imminent.

“It's going to start raining, let’s get inside!”

All of the ponies standing outside rushed indoors, crowding outside the two shops nearest to the gate’s entrance.

Tea Rose resumed her conversation with her friend. “So what brings you here Violet?”

“My nine year old got her cutie mark this weekend!”

“Sunflower?! Wow, I remember her as a baby, and now she’s got her cutie mark!”

“Yeah, it's a bouquet, so she’ll be leading the family business when she’s older. I'm here to pick up some party supplies for her cutiecenera.”

Tea Rose looked across at Atomic.

“We’re still waiting for Atomic to get his cutie mark, but there’s no rush.”

“You should take him to the cutie mark club.”

“The cutie mark club?”

“Yeah, it's a small club downtown that helps kids get their cutie marks - it's the main reason Sunflower got her’s. Do you know where the old law offices are, near the bank? That's where it is.”

“Okay, I’ll take Atomic there after we shop. We’re having a party today too, a surprise one for my parents, they’re coming to visit today.”

Atomic looked at his mother. He was surprised that he had not been told his grandparents were coming - normally his mother would've had the entire house cleaned from top to bottom.

Violet and Tea Rose walked through the mall towards Bonanza, the chain of shops across Equestria that sold party supplies. Atomic walked behind them slowly, picking out the shops he would try and persuade his mother to take him to later.

Inside Bonanza, Violet and Tea Rose picked up a basket each and went straight for the back of the shop. Tea Rose picked up a banner template and instructed Atomic to get some streamers. Violet looked through the alphabetic candles and picked out the S, U, N, F, L, O, W, E and R candles to spell out her daughter’s name.

Atomic found the streamers and picked out the pack containing the blue, red and orange streamers, guessing that his grandparents wouldn't be too fussed about the colours of the streamers. He went back to Tea Rose and dropped the streamers into the basket.

“What’s next, Mom?”

“Balloons. Get the pack with 50 inside them.”

When Atomic came back with the balloons, Tea Rose and Violet got party hats and went to the tills to pay.

“We’re probably gonna go there after shopping. Does it take them long to sign kids up?”

“Nope, it's pretty quick. they’ll give Atomic a questionnaire and he’ll tick the activities he likes.”

Behind the mares, Atomic grumbled. He knew that hoofball was his destiny and he believed that it was only a matter of time before he got his cutie mark in hoofball. The fact that he was missing today’s match annoyed him.

Violet and Tea Rose said goodbye to each other and they planned to meet up for coffee the following week.

“Since when did Grandma and Grandpa want a party?” Atomic asked.

Tea Rose looked around to make sure nopony was listening. The mall wasn't too busy and when two ponies walked past her, she looked around once more and bent down to reach Atomic’s height.

“Your aunt is coming out of jail today. After we get Butterscotch from her playgroup, your father is going to collect her at 2 and we’ll be at home getting her party ready.”

“Yes! Can I invite Thunderhoof? Please?”

“Behave yourself for the rest of the day and I’ll think about it.”

Atomic was now in a much better mood. When Pumpkin Spice had first arrived on their doorstep, Atomic wasn’t too pleased to see her. Over time however, he had gotten used to her presence in the house and she was the one who had organised the search for Atomic when he had been foalnapped by Marble. Atomic was a lot more excited than he thought he would be about Pumpkin coming home, and he was looking forward to the party.

“Good afternoon Miss, how can I help you?”

“Hi, I’m looking to sign up my son for the cutie mark club.”

“Of course! Wait here and I’ll get all of the forms ready.”

Across town, Atomic and Tea Rose were waiting to admit Atomic into the cutie mark club, and he wasn’t pleased. They were waiting in the main corridor and to Atomic’s left, the pictures of all the club’s attendees had been stuck to the wall.

“Mom, I’m gonna be the oldest foal here! It's gonna be so boring!”

“Shush, this’ll be good for you. And besides, if you want Thunderhoof to be at that party, then you’re gonna do as I say.”

Atomic muttered under his breath but became quiet when the head of the cutie mark club came back to them, a huge smile on his face.

“First of all, my name is Anemone and I’m in charge of the cutie mark club here.”

Tea Rose and Anemone shook hooves. “I’m Tea Rose and this is my son Atomic Tangerine.”

Anemone stuck her hoof out to Atomic. “It's very nice to meet you Atomic.”

Anemone led the way to the office and closed the door once all three ponies were inside.

“Okay, Atomic, I have a questionnaire for you here, and I want to tick all of your favourite hobbies, just so we can get to know you. Tea Rose, there’s some bank and personal information forms to fill in.”

30 minutes later, Atomic and Tea Rose were saying goodbye to Anemone and leaving. Atomic was due to come to the club the following Tuesday after school for his first session.
“Now we’re going to go home and get ready for the party.”

“We’re gonna miss you Pumpkin.”

“Don't forget to visit!”

Pumpkin Spice waved goodbye to the other mares and grinned. Four weeks in Fillydelphia Correctional Facility had been a wake-up call for her, and she promised herself that she was going to get her life together. She was especially excited to see her sister and her family as well. She’d promised Tea Rose at their last meeting that she was going to change, and Pumpkin intended to keep her promise.

“Okay, we just need you to sign here and here.”

Pumpkin scanned through the papers and signed at the bottom of each page. Her personal items were returned to her and she was taken to the nearest toilets to take off her orange jumpsuit.

At the facility’s gates, Syracuse was waiting for her. Pumpkin was happy to see him but was also a little disappointed that her sister wasn’t collecting her. The guards opened the gates for Pumpkin Spice and she was officially a free mare.

“Pumpkin, it's good to see you.”

The two hugged briefly and Syracuse led Pumpkin to the taxi waiting for them.

“Where are you going?”

“27 Mayfield Avenue.”

“Come on, come on,they’ll be here any moment!”

Tea Rose and Atomic were setting up the table as quickly as they could, whilst Butterscotch sat in her high chair and clapped eagerly, enjoying the show. The table had been moved to face the door, and Atomic, Tea Rose and Butterscotch were going to hide behind it and jump up and surprise Pumpkin when she came in.

Atomic looked out of the window as he pumped a balloon and gasped loudly.

“They’re here Mom!”

Tea Rose sprinted into the living room, holding 3 balloons in her mouth.

“Rwe rar?”

Atomic sniggered, unable to hold back the laughter. “I’m just joking Mom!”

“This is not the time for joking!”

Atomic got back to pumping up balloons and tied a knot at the bottom of the balloon. Tea Rose came back in holding a plate full of brownies, and she put it down next to the crisps, cookies and two bottles of fizzy drinks.

“Mom, they’re here!”

“Do you really think I’m going to fall for that again?!”

“I’m not joking, look!”

The taxi pulled up outside the house and Syracuse and Pumpkin Spice came out of the carriage.

“Quick, pull the blinds down!”

Atomic jumped up and pulled the blinds down before Pumpkin could see them. Tea Rose pulled Butterscotch out of her high chair and the three of them squeezed under the table.

Syracuse took out his keys and unlocked the front door, stepping inside after Pumpkin. The house was unusually quiet and all the lights were off.

“Is Rose out shopping or something?” Pumpkin asked, peeking into the kitchen.

“Yeah, something like that. You can make yourself comfortable in the living room.”

Pumpkin walked across the hallway and entered the living room. As her hoof reached for the switch, she felt a balloon bounce off her face.

“Huh?”

The light came on and Tea Rose, Butterscotch and Atomic jumped up from underneath the table. Behind them, a large banner hanging from the ceiling read ‘WELCOME HOME PUMPKIN SPICE!’

“SURPRISE!”

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“2, 4, 6, 8, who do we appreciate, Sycamore, Sycamore, gooo Sycamore!”

Sycamore Oak’s football team ran out onto the field to huge cheers from pupils and staff. Thunderhoof was at the front leading, waving to the students and teachers as the team reached the middle of the field.

Lakefield’s team came out to a much quieter audience, the teachers encouraging the foals to be polite and clap for the away team.

In the middle of the field, Thunderhoof and Alabaster shook hooves as did Mr Bouncer and Lakefield’s head coach. The three referees arrived a few moments later and the two captains went over to them.

“Thunderhoof, if we get the toss, we’re gonna kick it okay?”

“Yes Mr Cobalt,” said Thunderhoof before walking to the middle of the field.

As they waited for the coin toss, Lakefield spread out and began warming up.

“Sycamore has won the coin and elected to kick the ball. Lakefield will be receiving the ball first.”

Thunderhoof and Alabaster returned to their teams and began warming up with them.

Whilst his team warmed up, Mr Cobalt flipped through his notebook. Without Atomic and Pablo playing, Sycamore’s offensive game had to be changed. Stormcaller and Starburst would both step into the roles of starting running back and primary wide receiver respectively. Mr Cobalt was well aware of Alabaster’s abilities at quarterback, and the defensive plan for Sycamore was to put as much pressure on Alabaster as possible.

As the away team began their stretches, a few Lakefield players called Alabaster’s name and pointed to the far right of the spectators gathered. Alabaster stopped stretching and led some teammates away.

“Thunderhoof, look.”

Thunderhoof and Starburst watched their opponents approach the spectators, wondering what they were doing. In between the players standing in front of the spectators, Thunderhoof saw glimpses of Chestnut shouting at Alabaster.

“Let's go.”

Thunderhoof galloped towards Alabaster, Starburst following behind him. As they approached, Thunderhoof heard the remnants of what he thought was most likely teasing.

“And what are you gonna do if I keep talking about her, huh?” Alabaster sneered, looking down at Chestnut.

“Just… shut up and leave me alone,” said Chestnut, but the Lakefield players laughed.

“Saffron, Saffron, Saffron. Are you gonna start crying now?”

Thunderhoof pushed through the Lakefield players and shoved Alabaster aside. “Leave him alone now.”

Alabaster stumbled but did not fall, and he glared at Thunderhoof. The two stood face to face, evenly matched in height. The Lakefield players surrounded Thunderhoof but Starburst was there by Thunderhoof’s side, keeping them back.

“Talk to him again and you’ll have me to answer to,” Thunderhoof gritted through clenched teeth.

The quarterbacks continued glaring at each other.

“What’s going on here?”

Miss Bellflower approached the group and crossed her forelegs, a frown on her face.

“Let’s go guys, they'll be sorry they ever messed with us anyway,” said Alabaster, and the Lakefield players left.

The players dispersed and went back to their teams.

“You okay, Chestnut?” Thunderhoof asked.

“I'm fine. Go on,you’re missing your warmup.”

Thunderhoof and Starburst returned to their teammates and after stretching quickly, began throwing and catching practise. Mr Cobalt had planned for Blaze to play a few snaps in this game, and so both Thunderhoof and Blaze took turns throwing to each receiver.

As he practised, Thunderhoof spotted a few Lakefield players with their coach gesturing towards him, trying to look discreet. He made a note to himself to keep an eye on the opposing team.

After a few minutes, the players cleared the field and both special teams came on. Sycamore’s kicker took the ball from the head referee and placed it on the 35-yard line. As soon as the whistle was blown, the Sycamore Oak-Lakefield game was underway.

At 27 Mayfield Avenue, the Tangerine family were enjoying Pumpkin Spice’s welcome home party. There had been an emotional reunion between Pumpkin and Tea Rose, and Butterscotch was excited to see her aunt, yelling ‘Pupki!’ as soon as she saw her. The adults and Atomic had gotten through the brownies fairly quickly, and were currently playing ‘Pin the Tail on the Pony.’ A paper with a large picture of a pony was stuck to the wall, and the sisters were up first.

“No Rose, your left! Yeah, keep going, slowly……now stop and turn a tiny bit to your right. Okay….no that’s too much to your right!”

Atomic and Syracuse giggled as Tea Rose and Pumpkin bickered briefly.

“You’re finally there, now just…… not there!”

When she heard laughter, Tea Rose ripped her blindfold off and also laughed. She’d stuck the tail onto the pony’s stomach.

“Alright, Atomic, Syracuse, you’re up.”

Tea Rose gave Syracuse the blindfold and Atomic stood a few metres away. Syracuse stood in the middle and spun around 5 times.

“Take 3 steps forward Dad. Okay, now… take a half step right. And keep walking until I say stop……..stop!”

Atomic had directed Syracuse to stand right in front of the picture. Syracuse held up the tail and slowly moved his hoof towards the wall.

“Yes, Dad, you did it!”

Syracuse took off his blindfold. The tail was exactly in the right spot.

“We’re such a great team!”

Atomic and Syracuse high-fived, and the party resumed. After an hour, when the food and drinks were nearly finished, Tea Rose announced that Butterscotch needed to have a nap, and the party ended there. As he tidied up with his father and aunt, Atomic heard a knock at the door.

“Mom, there’s somepony at the door, I’ll get it!”

Before Tea Rose could answer, Atomic hurried towards the door and unlocked it.

“Thunder, hey - woah!”

Thunderhoof’s purple mane was messy, he had a large bruise under his cheek and he looked like he was limping.

“Hey Atomic.”

“What the hay happened to you?!”

Thunderhoof sighed. “It's a long story.”

Lakefield’s kick returner knelt with the ball deep in the endzone, signalling a touchback. Sycamore’s defense and Lakefield’s offense made their way to the field. Thunderhoof spoke with Mr Cobalt briefly, before joining his team in the huddle on the pitch.

“Stormcaller, you’re up.”

Sycamore’s first play would be a run down the middle, opposite to the passing plays that the home team tended to start with. The teams lined up opposite each other on the 25-yard line, and Thunderhoof crouched begins his center, observing that the Lakefield defenders were spread out, a sign that they were in zone coverage.

“Hut!”

Thunderhoof turned around and gave the ball to Stormcaller. The offensive line had managed to push back the defensive line to create a gap in the middle and Stormcaller galloped through it for a gain of 7 yards.

As he lined a few yards behind his offensive line, Thunderhoof scanned the field. It was strange not seeing Atomic lined up with the receivers. The young quarterback looked back at the ball and called for the snap. As he dropped back, a linebacker burst through the offensive line and charged towards Thunderhoof. Before the quarterback had any time to scan the field for an open teammate, he was taken down hard, wincing when he hit the grass.

The center and left guard rushed over to Thunderhoof and helped him up. Thunderhoof called his team back into the huddle and called a play action, with Stormcaller staying back as extra protection.

This time, the Lakefield defenders did not get any pressure on Thunderhoof, and he had enough time to see Starburst breaking away from his defender on his curl route. Thunderhoof threw the ball just as Starburst reached the top of the route, and Starburst caught the ball at the 35-yard line for a first down.

As the snap clock continued running, Mr Cobalt called Thunderhoof over and whispered in his ear briefly. When Thunderhoof came back to his team, he told them the play and they broke from the huddle, lining up on the scrimmage line.

From the 35-yard line, the center snapped the ball to Thunderhoof, but as he turned to give the ball to Stormcaller, both defensive ends pushed past the offensive tackles and galloped towards Thunderhoof and Stormcaller. The quarterback and running back were thrown to the grass and as he fell, Stormcaller felt the ball being ripped out of his hooves. The ball bounced away and was scooped up by a linebacker. Luckily for Sycamore, the tight end Pacific Sail was close enough to tackle the linebacker so that he was not able to return the ball for a pick six.

On the sidelines, Lakefield’s offense cheered. Thunderhoof loosened the straps on his helmet and pulled it off as Sycamore’s offense came off the field.

“Plenty of football left to be played guys, don’t worry,” said Mr Cobalt as he flipped through his notebook.

As Stormcaller apologised for losing the ball, Sycamore’s defense weren’t doing much better than the offense. Alabaster had gotten into a rhythm and had plenty of time in the pocket. Maverick, the best defender on the team, found himself being double-teamed on every snap and he was growing more and more frustrated.

“Just put one guy on me, that's all I need,” Maverick muttered to himself after every play.

In under three minutes, Lakefield had moved the ball from the 20-yard line to Sycamore’s 25-yard line. Sycamore’s secondary were struggling against the larger and stronger receivers, benefiting from the excellent job Lakefield’s offensive line were doing to protect Alabaster. The only positive thing Sycamore’s defense had done on this drive was restrict Lakefield’s run game to less than 5 yards per carry.

Lakefield had the ball at the 25-yard line on a 3rd-and-6, and Alabaster scanned the defense quickly.

“Hut hut!”

As he leapt off the ground, Maverick was met by the left tackle. Lakefield’s tight end, who was normally lined up next to the right tackle to block, but since it was a 3rd down, he’d been given a route to run. Maverick grinned as he dug his hooves in and shoved the tackle aside, charging towards Alabaster.

A huge cheer sprung up from the crowd as Alabaster was sacked for a loss of 5 yards, and Maverick stepped over him and celebrated briefly. As he came off the field, Maverick was swarmed with high-fives and hoof-bumps.

“Excellent job, defense! That's how you start a game!”

Lakefield’s kicker converted the 38-yard field goal to give the away team a 3-0 lead at the end of the first quarter.

On the other side of Fillydelphia, Pablo Scar was bored out of his mind. It had been hours since he had finished all of his homework, but other than the radio and a few dusty old books, there was nothing that Pablo could do to entertain himself.

Pablo’s grandmother - a kind and quiet mare called Daffodil - had fallen asleep on her resting chair hours ago, and her loud snores filled the otherwise quiet house. In the kitchen, Pablo was pouring himself a glass of water. As he left, he caught sight of the clock hanging above the kitchen door, and he suddenly got an idea.

I could go to school and watch the match. Grandma’s not going to notice and I’ll be back way before Mom and Dad come to get me.

Having decided on his plan, Pablo drank his water quickly and left the cup on the table. He went upstairs and to get his saddlebag, checking that his money was in his saddlebag. Palo fancied getting a hayburger and chips on his way to school. He peeked into the living room to check Grandma Daffodil was still asleep.

Okay, time to go.

Pablo unfurled his wings and opened the front door. Closing it behind him, Pablo took off for Sycamore Oak.

Fillydelphia was a city mostly comprised of earth ponies, and there were few ponies in the sky. This made it much easier for Pablo to speed through the sky. Spotting a takeaway shop a few minutes away from the school, Pablo descended and started slowing down, landing a few yards away from the shop’s entrance. As he entered the shop, Pablo found himself at the back of the queue. Remembering that students from nearby high schools often came to this shop, Pablo sighed as he waited, hoping the ponies in front of him wouldn’t take too long to order.

“Let’s go guys, let's show ‘em what Sycamore’s all about!”

A good return by Stormcaller meant the home team were starting the second quarter on their 40-yard line. Adjusting to Lakefield’s blitz packages, Mr Bouncer assigned Stormcaller to stay back on most plays as extra protections. Starburst, tight end Pacific Sail and the other receivers would run shorter routes that developed quicker, giving Thunderhoof more time to throw the ball.

As he lined up behind his center, Thunderhoof saw the Lakefield defenders had crowded the middle, most likely intending to blitz. Thunderhoof knew his receivers were running across the field, so there was going to be at least one open pass to throw. Thunderhoof moved back and braced himself for the hit he knew was headed his way.

“White 90, white 90, hut!”

As he predicted, Lakefield’s front seven came charging forward, easily pushing through the gaps. Starburst was the first open receiver and the closest to Thunderhoof, so the quarterback flung the ball to him before he was sacked.

Starburst caught the ball and carried it for another 15 yards before getting out of bounds to avoid a tackle. Back at the 35-yard line however, things weren’t looking good for Sycamore. Thunderhoof groaned as the defenders slowly got up off him. His right foreleg (his throwing leg) had taken the brunt of the force, and he struggled to get up. Around him, he heard the Lakefield defenders laughing and they took their time getting up. Thunderhoof knew this was revenge for defending Chestnut before the match. He wasn't sure if he would be able to throw the ball.

Sycamore’s first aid staff (who were on standby on the sidelines) rushed onto the field and pushed through the crowd of players to get to Thunderhoof. A few moments later, they helped him come off the field.

“We’re going to take him to the medical room, he’s not going to be able to play the rest of the game,” the head nurse told Mr Bouncer.

Thunderhoof winced as he took another step on his sore leg. “I’m fine, I can still play sir.”

“Thunderhoof, I’m not gonna risk it, okay? you‘re struggling to walk, you’re hurt. Blaze, you’re up.”

As Blaze suited up to get on the field, Pablo arrived by flight just as Thunderhoof was led off the field.

Thunderhoof is injured?! What the hay?!

On the other side of the pitch, Pablo spotted a tree that still had a few leaves left, and he figured that he would be able to get there without anypony seeing him. He flew towards the spectators and flew over them slowly, reducing his wing movement and gliding through the air. Pablo reached the tree and perched on a branch, pushing leaves aside to get a better view of the game.

On the field, Blaze took the first snap and tossed the ball to Stormcaller. Pablo cheered as quietly as he could as Stormcaller passed the first down marker and was tackled at the 30-yard line for a 20 yard run.

On a 2nd-and-8 at the 18-yard line, Blaze took the snap and dropped back, seeing Starburst had an opening on his slant route. Starburst caught the ball and took the ball into the endzone for Sycamore’s first touchdown.

Starburst spiked the ball as the spectators cheered loudly. On his tree, Pablo pumped his fist and moved forward slightly to get a better view.

With the score 7-3 to Sycamore, Lakefield took over and Alabaster dominated the drive, finding open teammates easily and even running the ball himself a few times. The away team’s drive took up most of the second quarter. With 35 seconds left, Lakefield’s running back carried the ball into the end zone for a touchdown. The extra point went through the uprights and the first half of the game ended, the score 7-10 to Lakefield.

In the tree, Pablo suddenly felt an urge to empty his bladder, and he slowly turned around and pushed through the leaves to the back of the tree. Looking behind to make sure nopony could see him, Pablo jumped off the branch and flew quickly to get to the toilets in time. Once he’d entered the building, Pablo landed and ran into the colts’ toilets, entering the first cubicle.

“Alright, I think the first half has finished, so you can still go and watch the match.”

“Thanks Miss Bellflower.”

Pablo gasped. He had a chance to get an answer to the question he’d asked nearly two weeks ago.

“Amber!”

Amber Breeze stopped suddenly. Maybe she was just imagining things. There was no way Pablo was right behind her.

“Hey Amber.”

Amber turned around and Pablo closed the taps and came out.

“Hey...Pablo.”

Amber was not ready to tell Pablo that she did not have feelings for him, but she knew the sooner she got it over and done with, the quicker she could move forward from this incident.

“Did you…..uh…. like the song I wrote for you?” Pablo asked nervously.

“Yeah, it was really good. Listen Pablo,”

Amber cringed as Pablo’s face dropped when she told him she only wanted to be friends with him.

Hopefully he doesn’t get upset or anything.

Pablo stood in silence. This was all Atomic’s fault - if he had not interrupted them Amber could've been telling him what he wanted to hear. Remembering that the match’s second half was due to start soon, Pablo took a deep breath. He had to put on a brave face.

“That's okay. I'm happy to be friends with you.”

Amber breathed a sigh of relief and hugged Pablo. Pablo held Amber for a few moments before letting her go.

“I'm not actually supposed to be here. D’you wanna watch the match with me from a tree?”

It was 16:27, and there were only 2 and a half minutes left in the game.lakefield had held onto their lead for most of the match. The score was currently 17-10 to the away team, and Sycamore still had 65 yards to go.

Blaze had had to use his legs to escape several sacks from the Lakefield front seven, who were able to get pressure on the quarterback on nearly every play. Stormcaller had played decently but clearly wasn't as good as Pablo. Starburst on the other had stepped up in Atomic’s absence and was the key target of Blaze’s passes.

Just before the ball was snapped, a Lakefield tackle jumped forward prematurely, and whistles were blown. The offsides penalty brought Lakefield ten yards forward and gave them an automatic first down, helping in their attempt to tie up the game.

“Come on guys, let’s go get a touchdown,” Blaze said in the huddle, clapping his hooves.

On the 45-yard line, Sycamore’s first play was a screen pass to Starburst. Mr Cobalt hoped that all of the pressure Lakefield were sending up front, they’d neglect the sidelines.

Starburst caught the ball. Ahead of him, Pacific Sail and another receiver blocked the 2 closest defenders, giving Starburst a clear path to the end zone.

On the sidelines, Sycamore’s players cheered Starburst on, crowding around on the sideline and chanting Starbust’s name. Mr Bouncer told his team to move back to avoid a penalty.

At the 10-yard line, Starburst was finally tackled. He was mobbed by his teammates and it took a while for the crowd to quiet down. Everypony watched the teams line up on the 10-yard line. Blaze read the defense’s formation. He knew there was no way they’d be able to cover everypony in that blitz formation.

“Hut hut!”

Uncharacteristically for Sycamore’s center, the ball was snapped too hard. Luckily Blaze was able to control the ball, and he took his customary 5-step drop back. Sycamore’s offensive line and Stormcaller were doing a great job holding back the blitz, and sprinting inside the end zone, Starburst saw the ball coming his way. After he let go of the ball, Blaze threw up his forelegs in premature celebration

What the hay?!

In the end zone, Lakefield’s number 34 knelt down in the end zone with the ball, signalling a touchback. The safety had been able to jump in front of Starburst and catch the ball.

Dejected, Sycamore’s offense slowly walked off the field to loud boos. On the sideline, Maverick was trying his best to get the sentence fired up, reminding them that they still had time to force a turnover and get the ball back.

“Come on, let’s finish the game strong, no matter what,” said Mr Cobalt.

Lakefield’s offense started the ball at the 20-yard line. Watching on the sidelines with a bandaged foreleg, Thunderhoof assumed that Lakefield would run the ball a few times and kneel the ball to end the game. But Alabaster had other ideas.

Alabaster threw a dime downfield for 30 yards, then he ran the ball himself for an extra 14 yards. At the 36-yard line, Lakefield’s running back carried the ball for 10 yards.

“What the hay?! Why aren’t they just kneeling?!”

At the 10-yard line, Alabaster turned around and locked eyes with Thunderhoof and sneered. On a 2nd-and-6, Alabaster scrambled to the far right and threw the ball over two defenders to connect with his tight end in the end zone for a touchdown. It was an incredible throw. There was no coming back from a 14-point deficit with only 11 seconds left.

On the sideline, Thunderhoof glared at Alabaster, who was too busy celebrating in the end zone.

He did this on purpose.

A few moments later, the referees blew their whistle to end the game. As the two teams swarmed onto the field to shake hooves, the same Lakefield players that had been harassing Chestnut before the game made a beeline for him. Out of the corner of his eye, an already annoyed Thunderhoof saw Alabaster lead some teammates over to the dispersing crowd. He knew exactly where they were going. He pushed through the ponies on the field, limping towards Chestnut.

Chestnut and the other school newspaper members had gotten lots of good pictures of the match. It was typical for one of the reporters to interview the winning team’s quarterback for the following week’s article.

“Hey Chestnut, did you get some good pictures of us? Hey, maybe we should get Saffron to join us for pictures?”

Lakefield players laughed as Alabaster reached over and pinched Chestnut’s cheeks tightly.

Chestnut’s face burned red with embarrassment.

“Yeah, remember how he’d look at her in Prench?!” another colt retorted as he made a face, and this time the Lakefield players laughed even louder.

Chestnut took a deep breath. Around him, his Sycamore classmates were watching on in silence. None of the teachers had noticed what was going on, so Chestnut was on his own.
The colt took a step forward and tried to compose himself.

You can't have somepony defending you every time. Come on Chestnut, say something!

“Shut up and leave me alone.”

Alabaster continued laughing, making a point to ignore Chestnut.

“I said, shut up and leave me alone!”

Ponies turned around and saw the growing tension on the sidelines.

The Lakefield players stopped laughing. Alabaster stood over Chestnut, sneering down at him.

“The buck did you say?”

Thunderhoof had almost reached Chestnut, but he decided to hang back and watch, surprised that Chestnut had the courage to stand up for himself when he was clearly outnumbered.

Alabaster pushed Chestnut back. “Come on then, get me to shut up? Or are you gonna start crying?”

Chestnut was sick and tired of being pushed around by his former classmates. They’d ruined his chance to tell Saffron how he felt in his own time, and they were embarrassing him in front of his new friends. He just wanted it to stop.

Thunderhoof gasped loudly. There was no way that had just happened.

Alabaster blinked slowly. His nose was sore. In front of him, Chestnut was breathing heavily. His right hoof was outstretched and shaking.

Alabaster jumped over the yellow line separating the match and spectators. He crashed into Chestnut and the two rolled around on the floor. Alabaster threw wild punches, and whilst most of them were off the mark, some connected with Chestnut’s head and face.
Around the fighting colts, foals watched on in awe, whilst teachers and coaches charged in to try and break up the fight. Thunderhoof limped forward as fast as he could and snuck through the crowd. As Alabaster and Chestnut were pulled off each other, Thunderhoof was enraged. Chestnut had a huge cut on his face and a swollen cheek. Aside from his bruised nose, Alabaster had only a few scratches. As he saw the other Lakefield players high-five and congratulate Alabaster, Thunderhoof’s anger reached a boiling point. Not only did they deliberately injure him and beat his team, but now they’d attacked Chestnut too. He wasn't going to get away with this.

As Alabaster was being led away, he suddenly felt somepony pulling him back. Alabaster lost his balance and tumbled onto the grass. Above him, Thunderhoof glared down at him. With his good foreleg, he drew it back and struck Alabaster in the face as many times as he could before he was dragged off by Mr Cobalt and a few other teammates.

In a tree far from the field, Pablo and Amber were watching the altercation in shock. Chestnut was the last pony they expected to start a fight, but Pablo found himself respecting Chestnut for standing up for himself. He looked down as everypony on the field began to disperse, waiting for a clear opportunity to leave undetected.

Pablo stood up and put his saddlebag on. “Amber I gotta go, I have to get back to my grandma’s house before she wakes up.”

“But how am I supposed to get down?” Amber asked.

“Oh yeah.”

Pablo directed Amber to climb onto his back. He took flight and slowly dropped down, landing as softly as he could.

“Thanks Pablo.”

Pablo said goodbye to Amber and flew out of the school as quickly as he could.

Inside 27 Mayfield Avenue, Atomic was shocked. The last thing he ever expected from Chestnut was to start a fight, and he wished he was at the game to give the Lakefield players a piece of his mind.

“Then they took me inside and let me off because it was my first time,” Thunderhoof concluded.

“Wow. I wish I was at school today.”

“Thunderhoof.”

Tea Rose came into Atomic’s bedroom. “Your mother’s here.”
“I'll see you tomorrow at school Thunder.”

After Thunderhoof left, Atomic decided to pack his school bag for the next day. He went downstairs to clean up the living room with his mother, father and aunt. Afterwards, he had dinner at the dining room and got ready for bed.

At 20:30, Atomic turned his bedside lamp off and fell asleep quickly. As he dreamt, any worries about seeing Amber at school faded away. For now, Atomic was at peace.

Ten More Yards

by 5aszs

KICKOFF

THE FIRST DOWN

THE SECOND DOWN

THE THIRD DOWN

THE FOURTH DOWN

THE FIFTH DOWN

THE SIXTH DOWN

THE SEVENTH DOWN

THE EIGHTH DOWN

THE NINTH DOWN

THE TENTH DOWN

SINGLEBACK

SHOTGUN

FLEX BONE

GOAL LINE

NICKEL

DIME

QUARTER

BLITZ

STRONG I

WEAK I

PISTOL

WILDCAT

JET SWEEP

MOVING THE CHAINS

FACE TO FACE

BREAKING DOWN BARRIERS

OPERATION AMBER

ROAD TO RECOVERY

BACK TO NORMAL