//------------------------------//
// QUARTER 
// Story: Ten More Yards 
// by 5aszs 
//------------------------------//

“ATOMIC!”

Atomic was mobbed by his friends as he and Thunderhoof ran over to them. The group had been standing with the other colts after their warm up, and they had been wondering why Thunderhoof was taking so long when they saw them.

“You’re back!”

“Where have you been?!”

“Guys, I’ll tell you everything afterwards!”

The colts slowly moved away from Atomic and together, they joined the other colts waiting for Mr Cobalt.

The PE teacher came running out onto the field a few moments later, and the foals immediately fell quiet as the teacher reached them.

“Alright guys, welcome to the tryouts for Sycamore’s hoofball team. First of all, could you guys write down your names on this register, just so I know who I assign each position to.”

The colts lined up and they quickly scribbled their names onto the sheet of paper. As Atomic reached the front of the line, Mr Cobalt let out a small gasp.

“Atomic…..good to see you. You alright?”

Atomic took the quill from the colt in front and wrote his name down. “Yeah, I’m okay now.”

Atomic gave the quill to the colt behind him and joined his friends.

“Is anypony nervous for these tryouts?” Maverick asked, and most of them shook their heads, except for Atomic and Stormcaller.

Stormcaller nervously scratched his chin. “Hopefully I make it, there’s a lot of really good guys here.” What about you, Atomic?”

Atomic had been overconfident for the Buccaneers’ tryouts, which made the rejection feel several times worse; and whilst he went into the Eagles’ tryouts with low expectations and was pleasantly surprised, he was comfortable with the knowledge that he would most likely make the team, but he didn’t want to get arrogant.

“I’m just focusing on performing at my best,” he replied, and the others nodded in agreement.

Starburst wrote his name on the register and joined the group.

“Guess who’s here.”

The group looked at where Starburst’s hoof was pointing, to a loud and boisterous Pablo who was signing his name on the register.

“Can’t wait to get on the team, Sir!”

And of course Pablo thinks he’s guaranteed a spot on the team.

Pablo glared at Atomic and his friends as he walked past, especially at his former friends Blaze and Mustang.

“Guys, do you know what position Pablo plays?”

“Um…...running back I think,” Blaze replied.

Once everypony had signed the register, Mr Cobalt gave the register to Chestnut, who was sitting next to the other journalists, telling him to look after it. The PE teacher picked up the bucket with helmets inside behind him and gave one to everypony, telling them that if their helmets were too big or too small, they could get a different one from the changing rooms.

“Right, we don't have a lot of time because I have to submit our roster the league before the end of today, so let’s get started. Split into offense, defense and special teams based on what position you believe you are strongest at, so if you wanna be a quarterback but you can't throw a ball to save your life, then you’ve got a minute to change positions.”

Atomic, Thunderhoof, Blaze, Starburst, Stormcaller, Mustang and Pacific stood to the far right in the offense, whilst Maverick, Spade Ace, Jackpot, Moon Dust and Banoffee Pie joined the other defenders on the far left. In the middle, there were only four ponies.

Mr Cobalt waited for the colts to settle into their groups, before realising that the special teams group had only four ponies in it.

“Are you guys just kickers and punters?” Mr Cobalt asked, and when they nodded, he took the register back from Chestnut.

“Congratulations, you guys are on the team,” he announced, making a large tick next to each of their names.

“What?!”

“That’s not fair!”

Mr Cobalt ignored the protests and gave the newest team members two balls, instructing them to practise on the other side of the field.

“Right, we’re gonna start with an offensive drill.”

The colts were split into groups of seven, with each group having a quarterback, offensive and defensive lineman, two cornerbacks and two receivers. The colts that played the other positions were currently sitting on the side, waiting for their turn.

“The quarterback is gonna decide which routes the receivers are gonna run, and when the ball is snapped, it’s up to the quarterback to make the throw. But just because this is a quarterback drill doesn’t mean that I won’t be assessing everypony else, so play your best. Right, I’m going to assess you group by group and you’re going to have three turns each to impress me. First group, let’s go.”

The first group had Thunderhoof as quarterback, Atomic and Starburst as receivers, Maverick and a bulky fifth-grade colt as the defensive and offensive linemen respectively, and Banoffee Pie and an older colt as the cornerbacks. Thunderhoof gestured for Atomic and Starburst to come over to him.

“Atomic, you‘re gonna run a corner route and Starburst, you’re running a post corner.”

The receivers nodded and the colts broke from the huddle and lined up in front of the waiting defenders. The center snapped the ball to Thunderhoof, and he dropped back immediately as Atomic and Starburst set off on their routes. 

“OOOF!”

Maverick brought Thunderhoof down hard, ripping the ball out of his hooves as they fell. The ball rolled on the grass before it was quickly picked up by the center.

“Well done Maverick. It's your second turn now, let’s get some better protection for the quarterback.”

The center blushed but nodded as the teams lined up again. This time, Thunderhoof had enough time to step up and throw a twenty five yard pass to a covered Starburst, who was still able to bring the ball down despite the good coverage from Banoffee Pie.

“Good job, Starburst. Last go now.”

Atomic was determined to do whatever he could to be the recipient of the last pass, so when the ball was snapped, he burst forward and used his speed and foreleg to create some space between himself and his defender. When he reached the end of his corner route, he saw the ball flying in the air towards him. However, the cornerback marking him had caught up to him and the two colts leaped into the air, their hooves flailing as they tried to catch the ball.

“Great job Atomic, very, very good catch.”

Atomic threw the ball back to Mr Cobalt and the next group went on.

“I didn’t hurt you too bad, did I?” Maverick asked Thunderhoof.

“No, I’ll be fine.”

“It’s actually hard defending you man, you’re so fast!” Banoffee said, and Atomic grinned.

“You made that catch really hard for me, we'll both dominate the other schools.”

Atomic and Banoffee went quiet as the second group started. Only a few moments after the ball was snapped, the center was quickly overpowered by a stronger Spade Ace. Blaze realised that he would have to start running to avoid the sack, and he began scrambling to his right, checking where Spade Ace was and which receivers were open. Spade Ace reached Blaze and tried to bring him down, but Blaze was able to squeeze out of the tackle and throw the long ball to an open receiver, who made the easy catch.

“Excellent, Blaze!”

Blaze nodded and high-fived his center, and for the next two turns, he was able to make two more successful passes.

“He’s definitely making the team,” Thunderhoof said with a sigh.

“He’s good, but I don’t know if Sir would start him over you. You’re already a starter for the Buccaneers, you should tell Mr Cobalt that,” Atomic replied, but Thunderhoof shook his head.

“Alabaster’s recovered, so they gave him the starting job back.”

“What?! Did they not see how you played against us?!” 

When all of the groups had had their three turns, Mr Cobalt announced that they were going to do a running back drill, and with the help of a few colts, cones were laid out on the field in a large rectangle that bent to the right.

“Okay, are there any good spellcasters here?”

Mr Cobalt spoke to the unicorn that had stepped forward, and eleven magical lines were formed to separate the rectangle into eleven smaller rectangles.

“Running backs, you’re gonna get three chances to run through eleven zones.”

Mr Cobalt got a group of colts to play all of the positions on offense and defense, and he told Pablo to get ready next to the quarterback.

Can’t wait to watch him fail.

The quarterback caught the low snap and gave the ball to Pablo, who quickly cleared the first three zones in front of him. The next eight though, were bending to the eighth and with some defenders breaking free from their blockers, it was expected that Pablo would be brought down soon. However, to everypony’s shock, Pablo was able to dodge a charging linebacker and he stiff-armed a cornerback. By the time he had passed through the eighth zone, he was too far gone for any the defending team to catch, and he walked through the eleventh zone.

Pablo smirked at the colts watching him as he walked off. “Hmph, that was easy.”

Once all of the running backs had completed the drill, Mr Cobalt looked at his watch, realised that the drills had taken up too much time and quickly split the colts into three teams, handing out red, orange and yellow bibs to avoid confusion.

“Right, red team and yellow team, you’re up first. First team to score a touchdown wins, and the winner stays on. The first team to win three matches will be declared the winners.”

Luckily for them, Atomic and Thunderhoof had both ended up on the red team, whilst Maverick, Moon Dust, Blaze and Mustang were on the other team.

“Right, Mayday!”

The unicorn that had previously created the running back zone drill rushed over to Mr Cobalt to have a quick word with him. Mayday closed his eyes and a magical aura surrounded his horn. A light blue rectangle enclosed part of the field and markings slowly began to emerge on it. Nearly two minutes, the enclosed part of the field had become a 100-yard hoofball pitch.

“Thank you, Mayday. Red team, you’re starting with the ball at the twenty-five yard line.”

Thunderhoof caught the ball and led his team onto the pitch, and they formed a huddle ten yards away from their opponents.

“Right, we’re gonna start with a running play. Can you get us a first down, Stormcaller?”

“Sure can,” Stormcaller said with a grin, and twenty seconds later, the two teams left their huddles and lined up opposite each other on the twenty-five yard line.

“Hut!”

The center snapped the ball to Thunderhoof, who quickly gave it to Stormcaller. Thunderhoof had drawn up a slant route for Stormcaller to run, hoping to take advantage of the defensive linemen likely over pursuing. 

Stormcaller galloped through the gap created by the blocking of two guards, and he was able to move the ball fifteen yards before he was tackled.

“Okay, seeing as the last play worked so well, I want you to run a…...sweep.”

As soon as the ball was snapped to start the second play, the left offensive guard and tackle left their stances and ran towards the far right of the scrimmage line. Stormcaller took the handoff from Thunderhoof and ran parallel to the scrimmage line, waiting for his blockers to lead the way around the end. Once a large enough gap had opened up, Stormcaller burst through it, but he was only able to gain three yards before he was brought down by a cornerback.

“Alright, now we’re gonna run play action. Atomic, I want you to run a go route….”

Once Thunderhoof had informed his teammates of their roles, they lined up on the 43 yard line to start the second down, Atomic lined up opposite a colt a good few inches taller than him, but this did not dent his confidence.

He won't be able to catch me.

Atomic watched the center push the ball back and he set off, immediately making contact with the cornerback that was trying to hold him back. Atomic was able to create enough space to run his route properly, and he used his speed to open up a five-yard pass between himself and his defender.

And now for the pass…..

When Atomic reached the thirty yard line, he looked back and saw that Thunderhoof had already gotten rid of the ball, and it was heading quickly towards him. Atomic upped his speed and looked over his shoulder again, startled when he realised that the ball was headed into the end zone. He ran a few more strides and checked on the ball one more time before he jumped, making sure that his forelegs were stretched out wide enough to catch the ball.

“Touchdown, red team!”

Atomic pulled himself up and celebrated with his teammates. One of the ponies in the school newspaper rushed over to them and took out her camera, taking several pictures.

“Right, orange team, on you come!”

Atomic threw the ball to Mr Cobalt. The teacher announced that the red team would now be playing defense whilst the orange team were offense.

“We can just play the opposite position of what we normally play; so I’ll be the middle linebacker….”

Thunderhoof assigned his teammates their new positions on defence, and he told them to ‘just stay with your pony for as long as you can’. The two teams lined on the twenty-five yard line.

All I have to do is make sure that Starburst doesn’t get ahead of me.

Atomic stood opposite Starburst and watched him carefully in case his body language gave away what type of play the green team were going to run.

He’s not giving anything away. Blaze is probably gonna throw a pass.

The ball was snapped to Blaze and the receivers set off on their routes. Atomic closely followed Starburst as he ran, making sure that there wasn’t any space between the two. Suddenly, Starburst made a U-turn and stopped. Atomic looked over his shoulder and quickly sprinted back to Starburst just as the ball was about to arrive in his hooves.

“First down, green team. Good catch, Starburst, keep it up.”

Atomic helped Starburst up and he joined his teammates, frustrated with how the play had ended.

Not only did Starburst make the catch, but sir complimented him too!

The two teams broke from their huddles and lined up on the fifty-yard line. Blaze took the snap and gave it to Pablo, who had been relatively quiet during the match. He charged through the gap between the right guard and centre, and broke a few tackles to pass the forty-yard line.

There’s no way I'm letting him score a touchdown.

Atomic abandoned Starburst and quickly ran after Pablo, who was taking advantage of the open field in front in front of him. 

Come on, come on, I have to catch him!

Once he had passed the fifteen-yard mark, Pablo glanced back and judged that Atomic would not be able to catch him, and he slowed down to cross the end zone at a jogging pace.

“Touchdown, green team.”

Mr Cobalt looked at his watch and announced that the next match would be the last one.

The red team walked off the pitch as the yellow team came on, and Atomic was angry with himself. As the team sat down on the grass and waited for the match to start, Chestnut ran over to his friends.

“You guys were amazing, you’re all gonna get on the team!”

Atomic shook his head. “I most definitely wasn’t amazing.”

“Atomic, don’t worry about it, you’ll get picked. When you got the touchdown, I saw Mr Cobalt make some notes on his clipboard.”

“He was?”

Chestnut nodded, and this slightly eased Atomic’s nerves. 

The last match resulted in a win for the green team due to Pablo’s thirty-yard rush, and Mr Cobalt called the colts over to gather in front of him.

“Right everypony, That was a really good showing from all of you today, you’ve definitely made this decision a lot harder for me.”

Mr Cobalt looked down at his clipboard for a few seconds.

“If I choose you for the team, you’ll get a letter in the post. You’re free to go home.”

The colts pestered the teacher with questions, but he dismissed them and told the colts who had brought the buckets out to take them back to the changing rooms. Mayday reversed his spell so that the impromptu hoofball pitch was turned back to its original state.

“Well, guess who’s gonna be camping outside next to the letterbox,” Banoffee said. Atomic was lagging behind the group slightly, and Thunderhoof slowed down to walk with him.

“I just hope I can be a receiver on the team, Stargaze is never gonna put me on the starting lineup,” Atomic said.

“We'll both make it, trust me, and when you get that letter in the post, I’ll be there to say I told you so.”

The colts laughed and they joined the rest of their friends.

“Watch, we’re all gonna make it,” one of Pablo’s friends said, but Pablo shook his head.

“I wouldn’t be so sure about those lot,” he said, pointing to Atomic, Thunderhoof and the others.

“Just ignore him,” Blaze whispered, glaring at Pablo.

The colts entered the changing room and charged out of their PE kits.

“Oh, one more thing!”

The changing room fell silent as Mr Cobalt cleared his throat.

“Our first training session will be next Thursday. If you’re on the team, you’ll be there unless you have a valid reason, or I’ll give your place up.”

“And I thought Coach Stargaze was strict,” Atomic remarked. 

Once they had got changed, the colts left the changing room.

“Hey, so what happened to you?” Moon Dust asked, suddenly breaking the silence.

Atomic thought silently for a few moments, before sighing. “It's a really long story, I’ll tell you everything tomorrow lunchtime, I promise.”

When they reached the gates, the colts said their goodbyes and headed off on their separate ways home.

“Hey, is that your mom?”

Atomic looked to the pavement opposite the school gates, and saw his mother waiting there with a stern look on her face.

“I should’ve known this would happen.”

When the colts crossed the road and reached Tea Rose, the mare looked at Atomic quietly.

“Did you get on the team?”

“Don’t know yet, he’s gonna send a letter home if I do.”

The three of them walked home slowly, Tea Rose walking ahead of the colts, who were talking sporadically on the journey. 

“Hey, what’s this?”

Atomic bent down and picked up the poster, showing it to his best friend.

“We printed it off at school and put that up, to help the search,” Thunderhoof explained.

“You guys did that?”

“Why wouldn’t we, it’s what friends do.”

Atomic smiled at Thunderhoof. When they reached Thunderhoof’s house, Atomic spotted a letter lying in his front porch.

“Thunder, you’ve got a letter!”

Thunderhoof galloped over to the letter and levitated it up.

“It just says my name on the front.”

Thunderhoof carefully opened the envelope and pulled the letter out, reading it quietly.

“I got on the team!”

Atomic ran over to his friend and read the letter.

Congratulations Thunderhoof, you're on the team. Make sure you come early to our first session next Friday, I am going to decide between you and Blaze who the starting quarterback will be.

Mr Cobalt

Atomic high-fived his friend. “I told you you were gonna get in, I told you!”

Thunderhoof folded the letter up. “He made me the starting quarterback as well, I thought I would be the backup.”

“You are way too hard on yourself Thunder, and you know it.”

Atomic and Thunderhoof agreed to meet up at five o’clock once Atomic had caught up with the work he had missed. As Thunderhoof went inside, Atomic followed his mother into their house.

As Tea Rose closed the door behind her, Pumpkin came out of the living room. “Atomic, where did you run off to?”

“Had to go to school otherwise I would’ve missed the tryouts.”

“And did you get on the team?”

Atomic shrugged his shoulders. “No idea, my teacher’s gonna send a letter home if I do.”

Atomic went up to his room and took his PE kit out to be washed by his mom. He dropped his saddlebag next to his wardrobe and lay down on his bed.  

I thought that I was never gonna come home again.

I’m never taking anything for granted again.

Atomic rubbed his stomach, not surprised to feel that the large scab on his stomach had been reduced to a thin scar. He got out of his bed and went to the bathroom, standing on the edges of the bath to check his stomach in the mirror.

Is this gonna be here forever?

Atomic slowly got down from the bath and went back to his room.

“Atomic, there’s a letter for you!”

Atomic rushed downstairs and saw a large parcel waiting for him on the welcome mat.

What the hay?! Thunderhoof only got a letter, not an entire parcel!

Atomic picked up the parcel just as his mother came out of the kitchen.

“That’s just the schoolwork you missed,” she explained.

Atomic sighed and took the parcel upstairs to his room, putting it down on his bed before tearing it open. Inside the parcel were a few books and lots of papers, which Atomic assumed was homework that he had missed. He began to sort the papers into their different subjects, prioritising the longer ones over the shorter ones.

Wait, what’s this?

At the bottom of the parcel, underneath all of the books, lay a neatly folded piece of paper. Atomic pulled it out, opened the paper up and began to read it's contents.

Atomic, on behalf of all of the staff here, I’d like to say that we are all so relieved that you are back and doing well. Your teachers have taken the time to provide you with the materials you need to catch up with what you’ve missed, but if it you have any problems with the work, do not hesitate to see your teachers as soon as possible. Could you also come and see me tomorrow morning before homeroom?

Miss Bellflower.

Atomic put the letter on his bed and moved his homework and books onto his desk, deciding that the sooner he got started, the sooner he could go outside to play with Thunderhoof.






“I’m coming, I’m coming!”

Atomic moved back from the door and waited for it to open.

“It’s nearly six, and my mom said that we can only be out for an hour,” Atomic announced.

Thunderhoof stepped out and levitated his hoofball, dropping it into Atomic’s outstretched hoof.

“I wanna see how far I can throw the ball, so go back as far as possible.”

Atomic gave the ball back and galloped down the road until there was a sixty yard gap between him and Thunderhoof.

“Is this far enough?”

“Wow, that’s really far…….”

Thunderhoof drew his arm back and threw the ball. Atomic quickly realised that the ball was going to come up short and he dashed forward, looking up at the ball every few seconds. 

Thunderhoof shook his head as Atomic caught the ball. “I knew that was too far.”

“I still caught it though, so it doesn’t matter.”

“Yeah, but what if Blaze can throw the ball further than me, and Sir makes him the starter?!”

Atomic walked back to Thunderhoof and tossed the ball back to him.

If I were Mr Cobalt, who would I pick for the starting quarterback job?

“We should work on what Blaze is good at, that way when he tests you, you can do what Blaze can do, if not better.”

Thunderhoof thought about the suggestion for a few moments, before agreeing with Atomic.

“Okay, so Blaze was really good at…. Running with the ball and throwing it when defenders were chasing after him.”

Thunderhoof closed his eyes and his horn was surrounded by a green magical aura. On the road in front of them, three buckets were formed in mid-air, and Thunderhoof cast a spell to keep them in the air without needing to use his magic.

“Somepony’s improved with their magic,” Atomic remarked.

Atomic stood in front of Thunderhoof and the two colts crouched.

“Green 80, green 80, hut!”

Thunderhoof picked up the ball and immediately scrambled to his right, his faster friend launching from his starting spot and trying to rip the ball out of Thunderhoof’s grip. Thunderhoof looked up momentarily at the three buckets and instinctively aimed for the middle one, releasing the ball before Atomic tackled him.

The ball flew wildly in the air, spinning horizontally. Thunderhoof had put the right amount of power behind it but his aim was badly off, and the ball only managed to slightly graze the middle bucket before it landed onto the road.

Atomic helped his friend up. “You were pretty close.”

Thunderhoof sighed loudly. “Yeah, but ‘pretty close’ won’t be good enough.”

“Okay then, we'll just keep doing it until you get the ball in all of the buckets, and you will.”

It took Thunderhoof several tries to get the ball into all three buckets, his faster friend being able to get to him before he could throw the ball for most of his attempts, but Thunderhoof got rid of the buckets and levitated the ball over to himself, catching his breath.

“Hopefully, he doesn’t...make us do that.”

“Hey, isn't that the postmare?!”

The local post mare strolled down the road, tossing letters onto the houses’ front doorsteps. Atomic waited for her to pass the house next to Thunderhoof’s before running to her.

“Excuse me, do you have a letter for me?”

Atomic told the post mare his name and she looked through her bag, eventually pulling out a white envelope with his name written on the front.

“My name’s in a different colour to yours, what if it's not about the team?”

Thunderhoof stood next to Atomic and watched him open the envelope.

“Yes, I’m on the team!”

Atomic high-fived his friends and read the letter out loud.

“Congratulations Atomic on making the team. I was very impressed with your performance in the tryouts and I'm expecting you to be great for the team this season. Don't forget that training is every Friday after school.”

Atomic knocked on his door and when his mother opened it, he told her the good news.

“That's brilliant Atomic, well done!”
Tea Rose hugged her son tightly and told him that he had half an hour left before he had to come inside.

“Hey, Atomic!”

The colts living in Mayfield Avenue that Atomic and Thunderhoof played with came rushing down the pavement towards him.

“We heard loads of ponies saying that you were found. Where the hay were you?!”

Atomic whistled loudly and the colts went quiet.

“Guys, sit down and I’ll tell you everything that happened.”

The colts all sat down on Atomic’s front porch.





“One of the care workers came to get me from the room and took me downstairs to the dining room….”

Thunderhoof and the others had been enthralled in Atomic’s recount of his foalnapping ordeal, and Atomic was about to introduce Amber to the story, when he suddenly remembered.

Amber! I don't even know where she is!

Atomic made a note to write to the police station later to find out where Amber had been taken, before continuing the story. Tea Rose opened the front door to tell Atomic that his time was up.

“And then I came home with Mom and Dad- oh, hey Mom.”

Atomic got up from the front porch and told his mother that he would be coming inside in a bit.

The colts said goodbye to Atomic and Thunderhoof, before heading off to their homes.

“Do you know where Amber is right now?” Thunderhoof asked as he got up.

“I'm gonna write to the police station, they should know where she is,” Atomic replied.

Atomic turned around and knocked on his front door, before suddenly turning back to call Thunderhoof.

“Yeah, what is it?”

“You should come inside, I'm pretty sure there’s loads of brownies left over from the bake sale.”

“Okay, but I need to tell my mom first.”

Thunderhoof re-emerged from his house nearly two minutes later, and followed Atomic into his friend’s house.

“Mom, are there any brownies left?”

“Let me finish making dinner and then I’ll check!” Tea Rose shouted from the kitchen.

The colts went upstairs to Atomic’s room, and Thunderhoof sat on Atomic’s bed as the door was closed.

“So Amber was the one who saved you from that foal’s home?”

Atomic sat at his desk and pulled out a plain piece of paper. “Yep, and now I have no idea where she is.”

Atomic quickly scribbled out a letter addressed to the West Fillydelphia Police Department, and folded it carefully in half when he was done. He reached under his desk for the pile of envelopes (his mother had given them to him to send his annual Hearth’s Warming cards to friends and family). He carefully put the letter inside the envelope and pushed it to the back of his desk, telling Thunderhoof that he would put the letter in the mailbox tomorrow morning before school.

“Atomic, where are you?”

“I’m up here Dad!”

Syracuse came into the bedroom and greeted Thunderhoof before embracing Atomic.

Syracuse opened his saddlebag. “I have a little surprise for you.”

The stallion looked through his saddlebag, before taking out three thick pieces of paper, and he put them down on the bed.

“Are those-”

“Three tickets to the Dragons’ last home game next week, yep.”

“Wait, who are they for?”

“There’s one for you, one for Thunderhoof, and the last one is for whichever one of your friends you want to come.”

Thunderhoof picked up one of the tickets and grinned.

“I actually get to see the Dragons live! Live! Like, they’re gonna be playing on the pitch and I’m gonna watch them in real life!”

“Wait Dad, what about you?” Atomic asked.

“I’ve already got a ticket, my editor wants me to write a piece on the Dragons’ season so he paid for my one.”

“Atomic, who should come with us?”

“I have no idea, let’s decide at school tomorrow.”

Thunderhoof looked out of the window and was alarmed to see that the sun had already set.

“Atomic, I gotta go, my mom’s gonna be wondering where I am.”

“See you tomm-”

Thunderhoof had already sprinted down the stairs and the front door slammed loudly.

“Atomic, come and get your dinner before it gets cold.”

Atomic followed his father downstairs to the dining room, where Tea Rose and Pumpkin were putting dinner plates onto the table.

Atomic sat down and stared at the unfamiliar meal on his plate. “What’s this?” 

“Cheese and potato pie, I thought I’d switch things up today.”

“It can’t be too bad then,” Atomic mumbles, before picking up his knife and fork, cutting out some pie, and putting it into his mouth.

“This is amazing, Rose!” Pumpkin exclaimed, and Atomic and Syracuse nodded.

“Maybe I should make that for the party tomorrow.”

“What party?” Atomic asked.

“Well, the neighbours think it would be nice to have a little street party tomorrow night, to celebrate your return. Is that alright with you?”

“Oh, okay, I’m cool with that.”

When Atomic finished his dinner, he put his plate in to the kitchen sink and came back to the living room to turn on the radio, eager to catch up with the latest EHL news.

“And we’re getting reports from Detrot that Nick Foals has just broken the Dragons’ reception record with his 133rd catch of the season!”

“That’s right, and whilst the Dragons have cooled down from the hot start they had earlier this season, they are taking care of business against the Detrot Rams.”

“The Dragons will need a win today and next week to enter the playoffs as the third seed, so Dragons fans everywhere will be hoping for two straight wins to end the season.”

Atomic listened to the Rams-Dragons match for the next hour, before his mother reminded him that he had to go to sleep.

After brushing his teeth, Atomic went to his room and turned the light off before getting into bed.

Who should I give the third ticket to?

There’s Chestnut, who’s already been to the Dragons’ first game of the season.

Or I could give it to one of my new friends, none of them have ever seen the Dragons live.

Atomic yawned loudly and decided that he would worry about the third ticket tomorrow. He turned over and closed his eyes, relieved that he was home safe and sound.