“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.”