“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!”