//------------------------------// // Challenges and Determination // Story: Weapon of Math Destruction // by Ultimate Punch //------------------------------// Ding Dong Dang The peaceful chimes of the bell signaled the end of the first school day at Ponyville Elementary, and they were soon followed by a steady rumbling. The thunderous stampede shook the modest frame of the building until it made its way to the entrance, and with a loud thud, the wooden door leading into the classroom was blown open as students spilled out onto the lawn in a rush of colors and jumbled limbs. Outside, the foals were greeted by the afternoon sun as it dipped across the sky, its rays dying their sleepy, little town in a hazy vermillion with rosy hues. As soon as they stepped out into the sunlight, most kids galloped home in their excitement to regale their families of their first day at their new school, but four fillies stayed behind. It was in the mostly empty playground behind the schoolhouse where they lingered. An awkward silence hung over the area as if a unicorn had casted a mute spell over it, and in its center stood the quintet. They had assembled by the jungle gym, just as Cheerilee had demanded, and were now waiting eagerly for somepony to say something, anything to break the quiet and acknowledged each other’s presence. Finally, Lyra opened her mouth and was about to give a hearty hello, but she was beaten to it. “Haa…” The sudden noise broke the stand-off. All eyes went to Derpy, who reached her hoof up to stifle a yawn, though a soft mewl escaped her mouth before she could stop it. She smiled sheepishly when she noticed that all ponies present were staring at her. “Sorry, I’m not bored or anything,” she said, giving her friends a nervous smile. “Class just took a lot out of me.” Lyra and Bon Bon both smiled at her encouragingly and motioned for her to get on with the plan, so with an excited nod, Derpy turned to her play date. Her eyes went wide and she held her tongue when she saw the state the pink pony was in. Cheerilee was a nervous wreck. The poor filly stood on noodle legs, her unstable hooves barely keeping her up as she wobbled about. Her brow was furrowed and her eyes glazed over, giving her the air of somepony who had a lot on her mind, and this was only exemplified by the way she constantly mumbled unintelligible things to herself. The gray pegasus giggled silently at her friend’s antics. She guessed that it might be a little awkward; it was their first play date, after all, and it was only natural for the two fillies to be nervous. But she never imagined Cheerilee would be this shy about the whole thing. Knowing that she wasn’t the only one feeling a bit uneasy made the date a lot less nerve-racking. But as amusing as it was watching Cheerilee splutter nonsense, Derpy decided that it was time to start their play date. In only a few hours the sun would set and it would be time to go home. She wanted to spend as much time with her new friends as possible, so they had to play like crazy starting now. “Ahem. So, how do you want to do this?” Cheerilee flinched at the sudden attention. “Eh? Oh, uh, I don’t know. I’ve never actually done this before.” Derpy nodded patiently. Cheerilee didn’t know what to do because she had never been on a play date before. Well that was fine. It was perfectly understanda— “You’ve never done this before?!” Derpy’s sudden outburst blew her date right off her hooves. She couldn’t believe it! How could a swell pony like Cheerilee never have been on a play date before? Well, it just made this moment all the more significant for the both of them. Cheerilee would finally get to play with a friend, while Derpy would get to hang out with her childhood hero. Lost in her musings of how perfect it was, the grey pegasus almost failed to notice the low grunt coming from her rising chum. “Ouch...” She blinked back to reality and looked at Cheerilee, who was now cradling a head in one hoof. “Oh, sorry. Didn’t mean to startle you there.” Derpy grimaced as she watched the pink pony brush herself off with a miffed look on her face. Getting desperate to save their special moment, she panicked and said the first thing that came to her mind. “I was just so excited that I get to be your first!” she blurted out, hoping to pacify her irritated friend using sentimentality. Cheerilee visibly cringed at the odd remark. A wave of panic rushed through Derpy when she noticed her reaction. She was about to stammer out more apologies, fearing that she’d said something to upset her new friend even more, but her fears were allayed when she got a response. “Okay then… what do we do, exactly?” Derpy stood silently for a moment and thought hard. She was relieved that her friend wasn’t angry— a little peeved maybe, but no more than that. She had to make up for her mess-up if she wanted to get on Cheerilee’s good side, but what would be a good game to play for a pony so socially inept? Cheerilee had said that this was her first play date, so she probably didn’t know any of the games that were popular amongst the foals nowadays, and that didn’t leave them with many choices. Actually, it didn’t leave them with any choices at all! But then Derpy remembered that there was one game every foal had to know. It was universal. Innate. Every living creature knew how to play it, so Cheerilee had to know too. Plus, it was beginner-friendly. “Tag,” she said triumphantly. Her suggestion was met with a confused look from the pink pony. Oh Celestia, was Cheerilee so deprived that she didn’t even know the simple game of tag?! “You… you at least know tag, don’t you?” Derpy asked in a shaky voice, praying to the princess that Cheerilee’s answer would be— “Yes, of course I do,” Cheerilee snorted. Derpy released an unsteady breath she’d unknowingly held. What a relief, she thought. If the answer was no, she might have cried tears of pity. “So,” Cheerilee continued. “Whoever is ‘it’ by, let’s say ten minutes or until one of us gets too tired, will be the loser. Is that fair?” Derpy was surprised. For a filly who had never played with another pony before, Cheerilee seemed confident in the game and the rules she laid down. But that was a good thing, she supposed. With a shrug, she accepted the rules. “Sure, sounds fine to me.” “Alright, then let’s get on with this,” Cheerilee demanded impatiently. “I don’t want to be late for dinner—that is, if you can last that long.” Derpy stood still for a moment, staring at the haughty smile on her friend’s face while wondering if she’d heard correctly. That last sentence sounded an awful lot like a challenge. So Cheerilee wanted a challenge… Derpy crouched low into a primal stance, her legs bent and her wings unfolded to their maximum length. Her nostrils flared, a snarl escaped her clenched teeth, and her hooves scratched at the ground, aching to charge towards the fuchsia pony and tag the hay out of her. If Cheerilee wanted a challenge, then by Celestia, she was going to get one. Cheerilee gulped and stared at the transformed filly before her. So this was the bully’s true form… “Oh, I can last,” Derpy growled as she took a step forward, her hoof sending tremors throughout the playground. “But I wonder if you can keep up with me.” With every step Derpy took forward, Cheerilee responded with a step back. She knew the risks of coming into this fight, even knew that things were going to get messy competing in the bully’s sick interpretation of tag, but she never expected to be going up against such a beast. When she challenged Derpy to a fight, she thought she would be pummeling the dumb gray pegasus that had annoyed her all recess, but the thing in front of her now looked like some sort of damnable fiend that had crawled out of the deepest depths of Tartarus. Cheerilee broke into a cold sweat. She hated to admit it, and she probably never would out loud, but she was scared. It didn’t help that a stray wind came and blew a large cloud of dust over the group, effectively blinding her until it passed. The sudden vision impairment only made her panic. Thinking fast, she fluttered her eyes to prevent anything from going in them and tried to clear her vision to see where Derpy was, but try as she might, little specks of sand kept flying at her face, forcing her to keep her eyes jammed shut. Then there was the sound of revving wings. The cloud of dust was blown away as a grey blur burst out of it and zoomed towards her. Cheerilee heard the flapping of wings and immediately opened her eyes, but before she could react, she felt something spank her haunch and call out: “You’re it!” A high-pitched squeak escaped her lips as she realized would just happened. Oh pony feathers! Cheerilee mentally cursed. She underestimated the pegasus because of her slow manner of speech and her clumsy attitude, and now she was ‘it’. Things were not looking good. Her eyes spun as she tried to keep track of the swift pegasus who somehow eluded her vision. She felt a gust coming from her left and jumped towards it, hoping to catch the pegaus in her flight, but as soon as she moved, she saw a flash of bleached hair in her peripheral. Thinking quickly, and a little panicky, she began swatting randomly at the air, hoping to graze her enemy as she swooped around her. But after several failed attempts, she realized that there was no way she could win against such a ferocious show of wing power. Wherever she turned, she could only catch glimpses of the grey specter, and it was obvious that she was at the mercy of the pegasus. It was only now that she began to regret all of those days spent lounging on the sofa in front of the television instead of playing outside. But she couldn’t just give up! Despite her low confidence and non-existent athletic abilities, Cheerilee found the resolve to fight back. She couldn’t just let Derpy get away with the punch, or bop—whatever they called it, she needed to exact revenge! And what about all of the future victims of the bully? Who would stand up for them? Cheerilee needed to stop this before the pegasus reached out to abuse other foals. If she wanted a peaceful school life, she would have to fight for it. Having made up her mind, Cheerilee decided it was time to get real. Her prior attempts at tagging Derpy were just… practice. Enough horsin’ around, she resolved. It’s time to finish this. She shook the fear out of her head and stared Derpy down as she swooped by. The wind beneath those powerful wings caused Cheerilee’s hair to dance wildly before her eyes, but they remained unblinking. So Derpy could make whirlwinds with a flap of her wings, big whoop. Cheerilee was about to show her something even more impressive: a hoof to the face! With the hopes and dreams of future bullying victims riding on her small shoulders, the pink pony took a step forth and plunged into the monochrome cyclone.