“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…….”