SEVERAL ARRESTS MADE AT FILLYDELPHIA DRUG BASE
Last night, Fillydelphia Police Department’s Special Law Enforcement Unit (SLEU) responded to an anonymous tip and they were able to arrest multiple leading figures of the city’s criminal underworld. It's believed that these ponies were involved in the foalnapping of 10 year-old Atomic Tangerine. We will have more news on this story when we receive it.
“Atomic Tangerine.”
“Here, Ms Ivory.”
The foals in Ms Ivory’s homeroom were quietly either getting revision done or completing their homework as Ms Ivory did the register. Atomic was usually one of the pupils desperately trying to finish homework, but he managed to surprise himself and catch up with all of his schoolwork over the weekend, and he watched Thunderhoof finish off his Maths homework.
“I swear Mr Topaz is not allowed to give us this much homework, it's not fair,” Thunderhoof grumbled as he answered the final question.
“Did Mr Cobalt make you the starting quarterback?” Atomic asked, remembering that Thunderhoof had gone early in school as per their teacher’s instructions.
“No idea, he said he’ll tell us in training.”
Ms Ivory ticked off the last name on the register and sent a student to take the register to the main reception. She instructed the pupils to take out their progress diaries and turn to the last page that they had filled in.
“If there have been any updates to your goals, then you are to write them down.”
Atomic summarised Friday’s tryouts and wrote that he had achieved becoming the starting receiver for the school’s hoofball team. Suddenly, he realised that he was now playing for two hoofball teams.
Do i have to choose between the Eagles and Sycamore?
Ms Iory led the class through an activity for the rest of homeroom, distracting Atomic from what would be a big decision. When homeroom ended, he left his bag underneath his desk (since he had Maths first period) and left the classroom to line up outside.
“Have fun in Maths,” he said to Thunderhoof, who only groaned in response. Ms Ivory told the students waiting outside that she needed to get something from the Maths staffroom, and she left the door unlocked to let the foals in.
“Atomic, were you really missing?!”
Atomic had been expecting more questions about where he had been, and whilst he had been surprised that not a lot of ponies had asked him too many questions, he knew that his classmates wouldn’t be satisfied until he gave them an answer.
“I was-”
Ms Ivory closed the door loudly behind her and picked up the chalk on her desk.
“For your starter task, you are going to complete these questions.”
Atomic watched his friends as he finished his retelling of his ordeal. Chestnut had been the most vocal with his reactions, gasping loudly more than once throughout, whilst the others mainly remained silent.
“Do you know what they put in you?” Maverick asked.
“I'm pretty sure it was drugs, but I'm not certain,” Atomic replied.
“Why don’t you come and say that to my face?!”
“FIGHT! FIGHT!”
Atomic and the others turned around and saw the gathering crowd in the middle of the field around what looked like two fillies.
“A fight! I haven’t seen one in ages!”
Maverick, Moon Dust, Jackpot and Spade Ace got their belongings and galloped to the middle of the field, barging through the others to get a better view. The younger colts quickly followed and as Atomic saw hooves being thrown, he recognised one of the voices.
Is that-
Teachers ran onto the field and barged through the crowd, pulling the fillies apart.
“GET OFF ME, I’M GONNA BUCKING-!”
One of the fillies had clearly come off worse in the physical confrontation, but it was the other filly who was still eager to throw hooves, and it took three teachers to subdue her.
By this point, Atomic, Thunderhoof and Banoffee were standing the closest to the front, which gave them a clear view of going on, and it didn’t take long for Atomic to recognise the filly being held down by multiple teachers.
“Amber!”
Amber looked up and gasped. Atomic tried to come closer, but he was pushed back by a teacher, and he watched the fillies being taken away.
“Is that the filly you were talking about?!” Thunderhoof asked, watching the events with wide eyes.
Atomic watched Amber being dragged away. “Yep, that’s her.”
The crowd quickly dispersed as instructed, and the others joined Atomic and Thunderhoof.
“Did you see what she did to that other filly?! She was bleeding so loudly!” Maverick exclaimed.
The colts returned to the back of the field and talked about the Dragons for the last five minutes of lunch.
“Hey, did you guys finish that practise test?” Moon Dust asked as the bell rang.
“What practice test?!” Maverick, Jackpot and Spade Ace cried, and Moon Dust sighed loudly.
“See you tomorrow.”
Maverick, Spade Ace and Jackpot sprinted after Moon Dust, bombarding with questions about the practise test.
“Ugh, Science,” Banoffee announced as he checked his timetable, and he quickly said goodbye and left with Stormcaller and Starburst, leaving Atomic, Thunderhoof, Chestnut, Blaze, Mustang and Pacific Sail to go to their PE lesson.
“Did everypony get onto the team?” Atomic asked, and everypony nodded.
“Can't wait to play against the other schools,” Pacific said, and the others agreed.
“Oh, that reminds me, I’m gonna tell the Buccaneers that I'm leaving,” Thunderhoof announced.
“Hurry up, or you'll be doing the bleep test!”
Traumatic memories of the gruelling fitness test they had endured at the start of term made the colts sprint to join their classmates, and they were to join the back of the queue just before Mr Cobalt began the register.
“Look guys, Thunderhoof’s mommy came back!”
Pablo and his friends laughed amongst themselves as they passed Atomic and Thunderhoof. Thunderhoof simply glared at Pablo and pointed at his eye, reminding Pablo that the last time he had provoked Thunderhoof had not ended well for him. Pablo however, did not see the gesture and had returned to talking to his friends.
One of Pablo’s friends had accidentally spilt his water over his bag, and he cringed under Pablo’s fierce glare.
“You're such an idiot, now half of my books are wet!”
Atomic initially kept quiet, believing that Pablo wasn't worth it, but as he went past him to get changed, he couldn't help making a slight dig.
“They’re a downgrade from Blaze and Mustang if you ask me.”
Atomic smirked and joined his friends.
“I have an announcement!”
Mr Cobalt cleared his throat loudly and the colts finally fell silent.
“Everypony on the hoofball team, training is today after school,” the teacher announced before disappearing.
“I'm supposed to train with the Buccaneers today,” Thunderhoof said as he pulled his shirt down over his head.
“You can just tell them next week, can’t you?” Chestnut said.
“Oh yeah.”
“Right Thunderhoof, lead the warm up whilst I go and get the bibs.”
Mr Cobalt had been able to spread the message regarding the hoofball to all of the teachers and all 33 colts had shown up to the field on time.
Thunderhoof and Blaze still had no idea which one of them was going to be the team’s starting quarterback, but Thunderhoof wanted to make sure he did everything he could to convince their coach and teacher that he was the right pony for the job, starting by taking charge of the team.
“Alright everypony, three laps of the field, lets go! And no cutting corners!”
Thunderhoof led the team around the field, staying at the front and looking back every few seconds to make sure that his teammates were keeping up and not cutting corners. The occasional attempt to cut a corner was immediately stopped by Thunderhoof’s pointed stares at the perpetrators, and the rest of the run went smoothly.
When the three laps were completed, Thunderhoof got the team to form a large circle and he led them through some stretches, remembering to tell his teammates to hold each one for ten seconds as they did in every PE lesson.
Mr Cobalt came onto the field, holding two buckets in his mouth. He put them down just as the team concluded a stretch. “Thunderhoof, has everypony stretched?”
Thunderhoof nodded, and Mr Cobalt told the team to gather in front of him.
“Okay guys, before we get started with training, there’s something I need to tell you.”
Mr Cobalt reached into the small pouch he was wearing, and he took out a piece of paper.
“I’ve spoken to the board in charge of all the elementary hoofball teams, and they’ve said that we have our first match this week.”
“What?!”
“I know, it's really soon, but there’s nothing we can do about it. We’re gonna be playing the Buccaneers this Friday here after school, and I’m gonna tell you who’s gonna be playing for this match. This doesn’t make this final though, I could still swap a few of you out or in if it's what’s best for the team. On defense, we’re gonna have…...”
Mr Cobalt read out the starting defenders, including Maverick, Moon Dust, Jackpot and Banoffee’s names.
“What? I’m gonna be on the bench?”
Spade Ace muttered under his breath and shook his head. Mr Cobalt turned the paper over and began to read out the names of the ponies starting on offense.
“.......Pablo and Stormcaller at running back, Atomic and Starburst at wide receiver, Pacific Sail and Mayday at tight end, and Thunderhoof as the quarterback.”
“Well done Thunder, you’re gonna do amazing against the Bucs,” Blaze said, and Thunderhoof smiled at him.
“They’re not gonna be able to stop us,” Atomic said to Starburst, and they grinned at each other.
Mr Cobalt also called out who would be on the special team, informing Starburst and Pablo that they would be the punt returner and kick returner respectively. Mustang and Spade Ace were both disappointed that they wouldn’t be starting the team’s first match, and the others tried to console them. Blaze on the other hand, had taken the news much better and he was currently trying to lift up Mustang and Spade Ace’s spirits on the sidelines.
“Right, let’s not waste any more time and get started with the first drill; 11 on 11.”
Mr Cobalt split the colts starting on Friday into two groups of twenty-two ponies (eleven on offense and defense respectively for both groups). He chose Thunderhoof’s group to demonstrate and like last time, Mayday was called upon to use his magic to create a hoofball pitch.
“At the end, I’m gonna ask him how to do that spell,” Thunderhoof muttered to himself, before focusing on the drill again.
Mr Cobalt told the first group the rules of the drill, stressing that Thunderhoof wasn't allowed to hold the ball for too long. He called Thunderhoof over and instructed him to run a short pass play, allowing him to decide what routes the receivers and tight end should run .
Thunderhoof relayed the information to his teammates, and he quickly decided to get Atomic to run a curl route, Starburst and Pacific Sail had slant routes to run and Stormcaller would run a flat route as an extra passing option in case the other three weren’t open.
The two teams lined up on the forty-yard line and Thunderhoof waited five yards behind his center.
“Hut, hut!”
Atomic and Starburst immediately set off on their respective routes, whilst Pacific pushed a linebacker off him before running across the field. Thunderhoof had enough protection and he threw a ten yard pass to Atomic, who despite being double-covered, was able to catch the ball.
“Excellent Atomic, that’s the type of catch we need on Friday!”
Atomic threw the ball to Thunderhoof, and the offense had a first down at the fifty yard line. To keep the defense guessing, Thunderhoof decided to try and trick the defense and the two teams lined up on the scrimmage line.
The ball was snapped and Thunderhoof pretended to reach up high to try and catch the ball. However, the ball had actually been snapped to Stormcaller (who had lined up behind one of the guards), and he burst through the gap behind the two guards for a gain of twelve yards.
The offense gathered around Thunderhoof.
“Alright guys, that was great, but now we’re gonna go for it.”
Before the ball was snapped, Atomic lined up next to Starburst on the far right of the scrimmage line. When Thunderhoof caught the snap and dropped back, Starburst sprinted to his left in a diagonal line whilst Atomic ran across the scrimmage line and made a sharp left turn, sprinting straight ahead.
Thunderhoof surveyed all of his passing options, and he spotted a safety lagging behind Starburst. The quarterback threw the long pass just before he was brought down by Maverick.
Starburst caught the ball at the twenty yard line and with the help of Atomic and Pacific’s blocking, he had a fairly easy route to the end zone.
“Alright, both teams come off.”
The colts waiting on the sidelines went onto the pitch as the first groups went off. The next offense started on their forty-yard line and it quickly became clear that Pablo was the best player on the pitch, as he was able to break tackles and move the offense down the pitch. His last run had given his group a first and goal at the three yard line.
Blaze quickly gave the ball to Pablo and he charged through the middle for the touchdown.
Mr Cobalt blew his whistle and announced that he was going to work with the defense. He gave Thunderhoof a ball and told him to make sure that the offensive players didn’t cause any trouble.
“Thunder, you played for them, tell us what the Buccaneers are like,” an offensive lineman said.
“Let’s see…...their defense is definitely strong, especially their linebackers, they always make plays…..but their offense is good as well, and Alabaster, he’s gonna be hard to stop.”
“What’s he like?”
“He can throw the ball really well, but he’s really fast as well, so he can run with the ball.”
“So they’re overall really good,” Stormcaller concluded, and Thunderhoof nodded.
“Okay, Sir said we should do something productive.”
Thunderhoof called one of the kickers over and together, they decided to help the special team and the kicker with some field goal drills. Thunderhoof and two other unicorns used their magic to create a goal, and Thunderhoof made himself the placeholder of the ball.
The field goal drill took place for twenty minutes, before Mr Cobalt instructed everypony to gather on the pitch and he decided that the starting offense and defence should play a match, to get more practise playing together.
“Thunderhoof, come over here for a second.”
The two waited on the pitch as Mr Cobalt and Thunderhoof spoke to each other, before Thunderhoof ran onto the pitch.
“Defense, listen up. Since Thunderhoof knows the most about our opponents, he’s gonna play like the Buccaneers’ starting quarterback. This is your opportunity to get used to how Alabaster plays, so no messing around.”
Thunderhoof told his teammates what play they were going to run, and the two teams met on the line of scrimmage at the offense’s twenty five-yard line.
Mr Cobalt had been working with the defensive line on their rushing, and clear signs of improvement could already be seen as Maverick and Spade Ace quickly burst through the offensive line within a few seconds. Thunderhoof knew that one of Alabaster’s strengths was making throws on the move, and so he scrambled to his right, waiting to spot an open teammate.
Atomic and Starburst were both being covered by the defensive backs, and Pacific Sail was waiting in the middle of the field, covered by two linebackers. Maverick and Moon Dust were only a few yards away from Thunderhoof now, and as they grabbed his hips, he got rid of the ball.
Thunderhoof had thrown the ball straight to the hooves of the waiting linebacker, who quickly ran with the ball. The defense immediately switched roles from stopping the offense to protecting the ball, and their blocking enabled the linebacker to take the ball thirty yards for a pick six.
Thunderhoof had fallen hard when he was hit by Maverick and Moon Dust, and he was helped up by his teammates. He muttered to himself as the defense celebrated in the end zone.
“Brilliant work defense, that’s exactly what I want you to do on Friday!”
Mr Cobalt told the offense that they would start with the ball at the twenty-five yard line again. Thunderhoof wanted to redeem himself for the interception, and so he called a short pass play. When the center snapped the ball to him, Thunderhoof quickly threw the ball to a sprinting Stormcaller, but the ball was underthrown and it landed in front of the running back.
“Come on Thunderhoof, I know you can throw it better than that,” Mr Cobalt called out.
On the next play, Thunderhoof threw a short pass to Atomic, but he was only able to add three yards to the four-yard pass before being tackled.
Mr Cobalt watched Thunderhoof shake his head and call his team over, and the teacher suddenly had an idea, blowing his whistle loudly.
“Blaze, swap places with Thunderhoof.”
Thunderhoof looked up in shock, not expecting to be switched out of a drill. Nevertheless, he made his way off the pitch and gave the ball to Blaze.
Blaze’s impact on the offense was instantaneous; he was able to use his hooves to escape sacks and his long passes cut through the secondary, which meant that after only a few plays, Blaze had brought the offense to a first-and-goal at the nine-yard line.
As much as Thunderhoof didn’t want to admit it, Blaze was doing a much better job at imitating Alabaster’s play style, and he decided that he would get Atomic to help him improve his passing whilst on the move after training.
The ball was snapped low to Blaze, and he had to bend down to pick up the ball. He quickly dropped back and looked up to see that once again, Maverick had broken through the offensive line. Blaze quickly dropped back and seeing that there was lots of space to his right, he scrambled towards the sideline.
Atomic was close to reaching the edge of the end zone, and he whipped his head back to see if the ball was coming his way. When he saw Blaze was trying to avoid the sack, he made a left turn and ran across the end zone, making it easier for Blaze to throw him the ball if he chose to do so.
Blaze was coming close to going out of bounds. Maverick had stumbled whilst pursuing him, and this gave Blaze a few seconds to throw an uncontested pass, which he knew he had to make. He saw that Atomic was the most open receiver and he threw the ball.
“Seven points to the offense! Right, let’s get the special team on to attempt the extra attempt.”
Some of the players stayed on the field whilst others came off for the rest of the special team. Atomic gave the ball to the kicker and came off the pitch.
As Mayday used his magic to create a goal, Mr Cobalt wrote a reminder in his notebook to speak to the principal about getting goals before Friday’s match.
The kicker took a few steps back and turned his back to the goal, waiting for the snap. The ball was snapped and the holder held the hoofball vertically. The kicker raised his hind legs and bucked the ball through the uprights for the extra point.
The rest of training consisted of Mr Cobalt leading the team through different drills that covered different aspects of the game in order to prepare the team for the match as best as possible. At five o’clock, Mr Cobalt blew his whistle and the colts gathered in front of him.
“Right everypony, that was a good session, but we got a lot of work to do this season if we want to compete with the best, okay? Oh, that reminds me.”
Mr Cobalt walked over to the the buckets that were behind him and he brought them over, placing them down in front of the colts.
“These are your jerseys and helmets,” he said, pointing to the buckets. “Everypony is only going to get one choice of number, so choose wisely.”
Atomic already knew that Thunderhoof would want to take number 12, so he began thinking of what number he wanted to wear. His favourite player Nick Foals wore number 17, but Atomic’s birthday number was 27, and he struggled choosing between the two.
“Starburst, what number?”
“Er…. 17, please.”
Now I have no choice but to take 27.
One by one, the jersey numbers were split between the colts, and Atomic and Thunderhoof were the last ponies to choose.
“Okay Atomic, what’s your number?”
“27.”
Mr Cobalt wrote Atomic’s name next to 27, and told the colts that he would get their names printed on the jerseys before Friday’s match.
Atomic helped carry one of the buckets into the changing rooms, and he put his bucket down inside the changing room.
“Sir, what time does the match start?”
“Four thirty, so I want everypony on the field as soon as school ends,” Mr Cobalt replied.
As Atomic got changed out of his PE kit, he noticed that Thunderhoof was quiet.
“Thunder, what’s wrong?”
Thunderhoof sat down on the bench as he folded his shirt.
“How bad was I in training?”
“Bad? You were great, why else do you think you’re starting on Friday?”
Thunderhoof put his shirt into his saddlebag and sighed. “It's just, when Sir told me to play like Alabaster does…...you know what happened. What if he decides I’m not good enough to start?”
Blaze was actually really good in training, and Sir did say that the starting lineup could be changed at any moment.
What do I say?
When Atomic didn’t reply right away, Thunderhoof sighed again.
“I guess I better get used to being on the bench.”
“.......Okay, so maybe Blaze might start over you in some matches. That doesn’t mean you’re just gonna accept it, are you? If you want to be the only option to start as quarterback, then you’re gonna have to work on your game, and turn your weaknesses into strengths.”
Thunderhoof considered what Atomic said, before nodding and asking Atomic if he could help him with throwing the ball whilst moving.
As they made their way through the school and to the front gates, Atomic suddenly spotted Miss Bellflower speaking to a familiar pony.
“I know it's your first day here, so I’m not punishing you too harshly. But this doesn't mean that you’ll get the same treatment if you do this again. I don’t want to see you in my office for behaviour issues, do you understand?”
“Yes, Miss.”
The teacher went back inside her office and Amber spotted Atomic staring at her.
“Nice to see you too.”
Amber walked over to the colts. “She’s actually so annoying, is that what you have to deal with?”
Atomic nodded, and the conversation fell silent.
“Er, Thunder, this is Amber, the filly that I told you about.”
Thunderhoof stuck out a hoof. “Nice to meet you, Amber.”
The two shook hooves and Amber walked with them.
“Your school’s actually pretty big. Well, it's a lot bigger than my last one,” Amber remarked.
“How come you got sent here?” Atomic asked.
“They found a foal’s home for me a few miles away from here. I was supposed to go to Lakefield, but they didn’t have any space so I’m coming here now.”
“So how did you get into a fight on your first day?” Thunderhoof asked, and Amber breathed out slowly.
“My homeroom teacher asked me to tell the class something about myself, and the only thing I could think of was that I love the Dragons. This filly then shouted out that I looked like I hadn’t washed in ages and that I must live in a foal’s home.”
Atomic and Thunderhoof winced.
“At lunch, she kept following me around, and….she got what she deserved.”
The three foals passed through the school gates and Amber told them that her care worker was coming to pick her up, so she would wait outside the gates for the carriage.
“Imagine getting into a fight on your first day,” Thunderhoof said.
“I bet the teachers already hate her,” Atomic added.
The colts stopped outside the small off-license shop and went inside to get their usual EHL trading cards.
“Atomic, is that you?!”
The pony working at the till was an elderly mare and she stared at Atomic.
“Oh my goodness, you’re safe!”
The shopkeeper came out and hugged Atomic tightly.
“When I heard about you on the news, I was so scared!”
Atomic hesitantly returned the hug.
The mare ended the hug and saw that Thunderhoof had picked up a few packs of EHL cards.
“You know what, you can have the cards for free.”
“Really?!”
“Yes, really!”
Atomic took two more packs and put them into his bag as Thunderhoof thanked the shopkeeper.
“You’re welcome. Stay safe!”
Thunderhoof put his packs into his saddlebag. “That was really nice of her, wasn’t it?”
Atomic nodded and took out an unopened pack from his bag.
“Hopefully I get a good player at least…..woah!”
Atomic’s pack contained five cards and at the top, was a platinum version of the Dragons’ starting quarterback.
Thunderhoof looked over and gasped.
“You got Cartwheel! That’s not fair!”
Atomic looked through the other cards (which were two silvers and a gold), and put them back inside his bag.
“Now I have two platinum Dragons players!”
“The Dragons’ season finale. Who will triumph, and who will be defeated?”
The large billboard was playing the advertisement, warning fans that tickets were almost sold out. Atomic and Thunderhoof watched the rest of the advert, and Atomic suddenly Weber’s What his father had given him last night.
“Crap, who am I supposed to give the third ticket to?”
Thunderhoof shrugged his shoulders, advising Atomic that they should get home quickly before his parents started to worry.
The colts walked down the hoofpath leading to their road, and in the distance, Atomic thought that he could hear music.
“Thunder, can you hear that?”
Thunderhoof stopped and listened.
“Yeah, I can hear it. Is there a party going on or something?”
The colts reached the end of the path and turned onto their road.
“What the-”
Mayfield Avenue had been transformed. The houses were covered with decorations and the street was lined with several white tables, covered with food. Atomic looked up and saw that a banner saying “WELCOME HOME ATOMIC!” had been hung between two lamp posts. A filly playing with a doll saw Atomic and pulled her mom’s leg.
“Mommy, he’s here!”
The mother turned around and gasped.
“Everypony, he’s here!”
The ponies quickly stopped their conversations.
“SURPRISE!”