//------------------------------// // A friendship is born // Story: The powerpuff fillies // by Guillermo //------------------------------// The day was peaceful in Ponyville, as it was at that time of year, and at that time, in the small town school it was recess time, where all the children went out to play in the yard. But among all of them, there was one who preferred to be in the shade of a leafy tree, one whose eyes greedily devoured the contents of a large book, beside him, a notebook and a pencil, ready to take notes. It was a unicorn foal, with snow-white fur and a mane as black as coal, its eyes were of a green nature that expressed immense intelligence, to finish, the little one had not yet achieved his cutie mark. He read with interest the words written in the book between his hooves, and after a few moments, he turned to the notebook and the pencil, covering them in a magical aura of a greenish color equal to his eyes. It was strange that a unicorn that hadn't gotten his cutie mark and was already out of the magic outburst phase they had in early foalhood could use levitation so well. But the foal was a somewhat exceptional pony, since he went to a scientific convention at the age of six with his parents, he was fascinated by the stallions and mares of all pony breeds that made Equestria a better place thanks to his advances in science, and he knew that he wanted to be the same, and for that, he first had to learn, at a minimum, levitate perfectly, or at least, well enough to lift a pencil and a notebook. Now, two years later and at the age of eight, the colt already mastered this art with ease. He wrote various calculations and explanations on the paper, trying to absorb the information given by the book. Once done, he continued reading, at least that was his intention until he heard someone approach. With a resigned sigh, he raised his eyes, seeing a small pegasus with light blue fur, very light, while his mane was a duller one and emerald green eyes. Despite being the same age, he had already achieved his cutie mark, a winged lightning bolt. Since he moved to town last month, the pegasus had decided to make the new foal, which soon proved to be the top of the class, his method of getting ahead in school. The colt gave him a smug smile, followed by his two friends of his, two other Pegasi. "What's up, nerd?" "Hello, Soarin," said the little unicorn as he resigned himself to the inevitable. The pegasus noticed the book and, before the poor colt could do anything, he snatched it from him, observing it carefully and making a confused face. "These ... are math operations? Can you tell what you are reading?" "It's an introductory book on physics," the colt whispered, fear in his voice. "Please give it back to me, my parents gave it to me for my birthday last weekend." "How cute," Soarin said with a shrug. "Don't worry, I don't want this, it's pretty useless, like you." With that, he tossed the book aside, falling, to the colt's horror, into a puddle of mud that he had avoided when he reached the tree. Before he could go to pick him up, he was hit by Soarin and pushed to the ground. The unicorn looked fearfully at the pegasus, who did not seem very happy. "Do you know why we are here?" In fear, the little colt nodded, he knew why he was receiving the punishment. Soarin smiled at that and nodded. "Well, I thought I would have to remind you to beat. The deal was, you'd let us cheat on yesterday's test, and what did you do, geek?" "I ... I didn't let you." "Very well, it shows that you are intelligent, but my question is, why? You know the punishment was worse." "T ... the te ... teacher sa... said that his ... would suspend who ... who copied ... copied or let himself ... be copied. I could not ..." "And what? If we had done it carefully, he would not have known. Because of you, we are going to suspend, do you think that's good?" The little foal did not respond, causing Soarin to lose his patience and go to strike, at least until a voice stopped him. "Leave him alone, Soarin!" The pegasus turned next to his friends, and both they and the unicorn saw a group of three foals, all staring at the bullies. One was a pegasus with orange fur, a fiery red mane and yellowish eyes, to his left, in the center, was a earth pony, big enough to be eight years old, yellow in color, with a reddish mane and green eyes, and to the right of he was a unicorn, which due to its complexion could perfectly pass for an earth pony, with white fur, brown mane and bluish eyes. Soarin gave a little grunt and faced the new members of the little discussion. "Mind your own business, Bright Mac, this is none of your business." The earth pony, apparently named Bright Mac, smirked. "Yeah, but I don't like to see you abuse those who are weaker than you." "That, we are not going to let you continue like this, you are already over" said the orange pegasus while spreading its wings,to which Soarin gave a little laugh. "Really? And what are you going to do to me? If you can't beat me at flying, much less will you be able to defend that brainiac." That seemed to enrage the colt, who went to do something but was stopped by the hoof of his earth pony friend. "I don't think a fight is convenient for anyone, why not relax and each one of us go our own way?" "And why would I do that?" "For him," said the unicorn who pointed back. Soarin followed the helmet and saw the teacher from him, staring at the group. In annoyance, he gave a sign to his friends and walked away, leaving the foals alone. The three saviors of him observed with a friendly smile the little unicorn, who preferred not to make eye contact, but approached his book. He lifted it up with his magic and sighed in relief to see that only the cover was stained with mud. Once he cleaned it fairly well, he turned to the three children, who were still looking at him, the one called Bright Mac being the one who approached, to which the colt took a step back, still somewhat scared and insecure, causing the terrestrial to take a step back as a sign of peace. "Are you okay?" he ask kindly. The little colt was confused, the normal thing was that they made fun of him, and those who did not, did not intrude with those who did, both in Ponyville and in his old home, Manehattan. He had seen them in his class, he even saw the unicorn, whose cutie mark was three rugby balls, in the small children's team in town, but neither the three of them approached him, nor did he approach them, therefore Why help you? "Yes ... yes ... Thank ... thank you ..." "No need," Bright Mac replied with a smile before raising his right hoof for the colt to narrow. "I'm Bright Mac." The unicorn foal looked at the hoof for a few moments before shaking it and giving a small smile. "I ... I'm Atomic Utonium." Bright smiled even more before pulling away and pointing to his friends. "They are Cloud Sky" he said pointing to the pegasus, who spread his wings with pride, before pointing to the unicorn, "and Hondo Flanks." The so-called Hondo greeted Atomic cheerfully, who smiled weakly and returned the salute. After a few minutes, the small group approached the tree and lay down in its shade, with the little unicorn picking up his notebook and pencil to bring to his side. Cloud looked at the book that the colt was placing again between his legs with curiosity. "Hey, what is that book about?" Well, there was the relative friendship he might have had, Atomic thought, sure the colts would find him boring. "W... well ... it's about fi ... physics ..." "Physics?" Hondo Flanks asked doubtfully. "Yo ... you know ... you know, the la ... laws of ... physics." The three colts looked at each other, and Atomic was already sure they would either make fun of him or go away. "Could you specify a little more? We're not that good at science" said Bright Mac a bit embarrassed. Atomic's eyes widened and he stared at the three colts in front of him. Not only had they not laughed or left, but they asked him for an explanation on physics. "I ... Sure ..." in spite of himself, Atomic smiled, for the first time since he could remember, someone was interested in his tastes, something that made him feel comfortable between them. " Is simple, actually, we use physics for everything." "But there is math," Cloud said, looking suspiciously at the few calculations he saw in the book. "I don't do math every day! They are boring!" "Are you flying?" "What?" Cloud looked uncertainly at Atomic, who was now grinning at them with a twinkle in his eyes. "Are you flying?" He repeated again, and seeing Cloud's nod, he raised his smile. "Well then, you use it." "How? I failed the vast majority of math exams..." "It is not necessary to know mathematics to do the laws of physics. When flying, your body fulfills them, it is like magic, it is everywhere and its law is unbreakable. For example ..." Atomic looked around and saw a small stone, smiling when he saw it and placing it next to his helmet. "Look at this stone." The three foals watched her without knowing what she was referring to. "Yes, and?" Asked Bright Mac doubtfully. "According to the laws of physics, an object will remain motionless until energy is applied, which translates into force, that is, something like this." Atomic tapped and sent the stone towards Bright Mac, who stopped it with his helmet, staring at the curious unicorn. " And according to the same laws, only the loss of energy or a force equal to or greater than that applied to the movement can stop it." The three of them fell silent and looked at the stone, and Atomic got nervous, maybe he had gotten too excited? Hondo Flanks looked at him curiously. " So ... Everything we do on a daily basis is physical?" "Basically, yes," Atomic said with a nod. The three know how to lookThey on to each other and then to the stone, with Bright Mac slamming her away from them. "I had never thought about it ..." the earth pony gaze focused on Atomic, who felt nervous. "And did you know that?" "Well ... yeah ... I like science." Atomic was bracing himself for a laugh or a rejection, not a friendly smile and a feeling of acceptance on his part. "That's great," Hondo Flanks said with a smile. "You're like ..." the little boy put a helmet to his chin and thought for a moment. "Like heroes themselves!" "Yeah, it's super cool!" Cloud yelled with a huge smile. Atomic could not believe what he heard, those colts had helped him with Soarin, they were interested in his tastes and on top of that they said that he was cool for knowing those things. Maybe ... maybe he would finally have friends. The sound of the bell that announced the end of recess took him out of his reveries and forced him to return to reality, that had only been a thing of once, and it was reinforced when he saw the foals get up and go to class. The young unicorn sighed and stared at his book, suddenly depressed, at least until he heard Bright Mac's voice. "Aren't you coming, Atomic?" Atomic looked up in surprise and looked at the earth pony, who was looking at him curiously, and his hope rose. "Sure," he said with a small smile before getting up. About four months had passed, and the friendship between the four foals had only grown. Soarin no longer dared to mess with him, not with Bright Mac and Hondo Flanks, the strongest colts in the school, beside him. Atomic was happy, he finally had some real friends, and not those who pretended to be so that he could do their homework, no, they really were. They were meeting to play together, to go to a small candy store, they had even had pajama parties in their respective houses. But the best thing is that they supported each other, he helped them in mathematics, not by telling them the answers, but by helping them understand the method to find them themselves, and they helped him to be more outgoing, to stop being so Shy no longer being afraid to express his likes. That day, he was walking Bright Mac into the town square, ready to join the others. Despite his brief friendship status, he could already tell when something was happening to his friend, causing her to worry. "Is something the matter?" "No ... I'm just ... a little mad at my mother." "Why?" "Do you remember that filly that played with us last week?" Atomic remembered her, a earth filly with pale pale yellow fur, an orange mane, and bright turquoise eyes named Pear Butter. Kind, nice and funny, it was nice to play with her, he did not understand why Bright Mac had not brought her more times with them. "Yes, I remember her, why?" "Well ... her family is rival of mine, and my mother does not want us to be together, and her father thinks the same. It is unfair!" "If you want we can help you, surely between the four of us we will find a solution." "Leave it, we are used to it" said the terrestrial young man with a sigh and giving a small smile. "We are mastering seeing each other secretly, don't worry." "As you like..." The two finally reached the plaza, seeing Cloud Sky and Hondo Flanks talking to each other, but seeing their friends, they looked at each other and smiled as they approached, the Pegasus hiding something between its wings. "Hey, you're finally here," Cloud said with a smile, one directed especially at Atomic, who in the short time he knew him, recognized it as a warning of danger. "Let him go, what are you planning?" He said cautiously, to which Cloud groaned. "Oh come on, I'm not going to do anything." "You said that last time, and I ended up with mud even in places that I didn't even know existe" the unicorn commented with narrowed eyes, to which the pegasus sighed. "But you did have fun too." "Yeah, but I'm always the butt of jokes, it starts to tire." Cloud frowned before sighing. "Okay, maybe I spend a bit, but this time it's nothing like that! I promise!" Both Bright Mac and Hondo Flanks watched, enjoying the scene their two friends did. Although it was true that it annoyed him a little that it was mostly after him, Atomic was grateful that they were always jokes that she could enjoy, and his friends had received theirs as well. He was convinced that in time, Cloud would balance his jokes between the three of them. With a sigh, and smiling back, he nodded, to which the pegasus showed his own smile as he handed him a brochure, one that looked familiar to the colt. "This ... is the brochure for the fair," he said with a raised eyebrow. His and his friends had already been to the fair the previous two days since he arrived in Ponyville to five days. "Yes, and again, he looks at what he says below," Cloud commented smiling. Atomic, confused, did as he asked, looking at a part of the booklet in large print, drawing attention, and a drawing of what could only be a scientist. Do you have a talent with science? Do you have great ideas to share with the world? Sign up now for the science contest of the largest traveling fair in Equestria! It's simple, just bring that project that awaits in your young prodigy mind and show it to the world! "And what do you want me to do with this?" Atomic asked, somewhat doubtful of where all this was going, to which Cloud looked at him in amazement. "Is seriously? It's your chance to show everyone your talent!" "What a talent? I just like science, no ..." Bright Mac snatched the brochure from him and flipped through it with Hondo, then staring at Atomic in disbelief. "Are you kidding?" said Bright Mac. "You must participate here, it is made for you." "Hey, I don't ..." "Come on, you're the smartest I know, and you always talk about wanting to be a scientist helping ponies," Hondo Flanks continued. "But I..." "And what better than a science contest to start?" Cloud finished smiling. A few minutes later, Atomic sighed and nodded, practically being dragged into the fair to sign up. Even though he was nervous, deep down in his being, he was excited, at last he was going to be a true scientist. Atomic nervously looked at the table where his project was, hidden behind a box, and on which he had been working for a week. Nearby were his friends, who had helped him as much as possible, it was true that it was an individual contest, and the regulations indicated that the project should be presented by the person who devised it, but they allowed family and / or friends to help in the process. His parents were in the crowd, who walked among the tents and observing the covered projects until the arrival of the judges, and gave him encouraging glances. He was grateful for his presence, for they had been, until Bright Mac, Hondo Flanks and Cloud Sky, his only support. And speaking of support, Bright Mac walked over and gave him a friendly little smack on the shoulder, giving him a smile. "Ready?" "I hope so." "Oh come on," Cloud said, approaching Hondo. "You'll do great, and we'll be here to support you." Atomic smiled at his friends and sighed, trying to relax, but failing to hear the announcement that the judges had arrived. The unicorn foal peeked out as best as possible without leaving his position, nervous, but also curious to see what job his competition was in, since it was forbidden to see the projects of the other competitors until that moment. Despite what he expected, he was disappointed, for each tent they passed, what he saw was either a model of a volcano or an electrical circuit, the most original, one that simulated being a lit house. When they were happening, the other ponies could approach a specific project to see the demonstration again, and as things were going, seen one seen all. At last they approached him, three unicorn ponies, one of them a mare, and she felt a knot in his stomach. He saw his parents cheer him on, and heard words of encouragement from his friends from behind him. "I ... I ..." he saw their faces calm and, although they tried to hide it, bored, making him even more nervous. "Don't worry" said the mare with a kind smile. "You do your best and show us your great project." Atomic took a deep breath and calmed down, counting to ten and deciding to speak again. "Or ... let me ... present my pro ... project ... The bacterial hive." Using his magic, he removed the box and revealed what he was hiding, surprising the judges for the first time at the event, leaving them curious and interested. Before them was a sphere filled with water, a small tube came out of a hole made in the base, which was made of wood, and was connected to a funnel placed on a support. Along with all this were two boxes that remained closed. "You see, in nature, there are bacteria and cells that, independently, are tiny but, in some cases, they come together to support each other, creating an immense hive made up of billions of them, visible to the naked eye. Today, I am going to show you the creation of an artificial hive." The judges looked at each other doubtfully, in all their years, they had never seen a child who had presented such a project. As smart as he was, the doubt persisted, would he make it? Creating such a hive artificially sounded impossible, it was like trying to create life, and that was unattainable without using black magic, something forbidden both by the highest authorities of magic and by the law and Princess Celestia. Atomic did not focus on the faces of the judges or the audience of onlookers who had approached, no, he was already inside the presentation, and he planned to follow it to the end. He opened the first drawer with his magic and showed several vials filled with a transparent liquid wrapped in a halo of icy mist, the product of a spell cast in the hospital, which was where he got it from. "This" he said as he took one of the vials in his magic, then closing the drawer, "there are about three hundred stem cells, and I want to thank my mother, who is a nurse, for getting them for me" his gaze went to the aforementioned, who gave a smile. "Well, stem cells are capable of becoming any cell that is needed and do any work, therefore, they are the ones to be the ones to guide this hive." Atomic took the vial to the funnel, removed the cap and poured the contents, which, thanks to a spell from his father, propelled him to his destination. Everyone could see a small distortion in the water, but it soon disappeared. Next, he opened the second box and showed vials, this time, filled with blood, and the foal grabbed one of these in his greenish aura, without needing to close the small trunk, since its contents did not have to remain cold. . "This blood, donated by my dad" the aforementioned sent him a friendly wink "will serve as the bacteria in the hive." As before, he poured the contents into the funnel, which passed into the sphere and floated weakly, approaching the edges and spreading across the surface, staining some of the water red. Atomic paused for a moment and looked at the judges, who seemed quite interested, and the rest of the ponies, whose gaze did not leave the sphere. "Well, as many must be thinking, stem cells and a little blood are not enough to create a hive, not by themselves, at least. They need energy, and no, electricity will not work, although its effects on biology are interesting, they cannot give life, as horror and science fiction novels have led us to believe. Instead, we will turn to an energy that is intimately linked with living beings and is in all of us, whether we are unicorns, pegasi or terrestrial ... I am talking about magic." He lit up his horn and generated a small ball at its tip, barely the size of a marble, and it was already costing him. Thanks to Celestia, he had practiced quite a bit to achieve this. With concentration, he approached the funnel and released the small ball, which made its way to the sphere and exploded in the center in a green color, covering the entire blood before disappearing. For a full minute, nothing happened, and the judges looked at each other, making Atomic nervous, what if this time he had failed? His friends approached him and gave him moral support, which he appreciated, without them, the pressure would have been worse. Just when the three unicorns were about to write down their notebooks and leave, the mare noticed a small change, warning her companions of it before focusing on the water. Blood began to pool in the center, creating a perfect sphere that moved slightly in place. The judges had to use all their self-control not to let their mouths drop to the ground in shock. The other viewers, on the other hand, had no trouble expressing their surprise, muttering among themselves as they watched the apparent miracle. They weren't the only ones impressed, as his parents and friends, whom Atomic refused to tell what his project really consisted of until that day, stared unblinkingly at the ball of blood moving freely through the water. The small sphere approached the edges, drifted to the bottom before climbing, and soon after, it trembled and fell apart, returning the blood to its dormant state. At the end of this, the judges took out their notebooks and began to point before nodding to the little one, the mare with a smile, and walking away. Atomic let out the air he had held and gave a small smile, jumping scared when he noticed someone passing their front paw around his shoulders. The person in charge was Cloud, who gave him a huge smile. "That was impressive!" "It hasn't been that bad either," he commented with a small smile. "What not?" said Bright impressed. "It was the coolest thing I have ever seen." Atomic was going to respond, but the appearance of onlookers who had not seen the presentation kept him silent. With alacrity and help from his friends, he set about changing the water in the sphere and starting all over again. He wanted to deny it, but he was proud of his success, and he would lie if he said he wasn't excited. A stage had been set up in the center of the fair, and in front of it was a crowd of ponies, many of them colts who had participated in the science contest and were eagerly awaiting the reveal of the winner. The presenter, an Earthman who was looking at the audience smiling, had already announced the winners of third and second place, and now he was waiting for the judgesThey will name the first position. Atomic was with his friends, her parents a little apart, allowing her son to have some privacy with them, but still giving her his support. The unicorn mare that observed his presentation along with his companions, approached with a cup that served as a trophy and an envelope, giving them to the Earthman, who thanked him with a nod and a smile before turning to the audience. "And now, I want to introduce you to the first prize winner of our science contest!" The pony opened the envelope and took out a small card, reading before looking up, the smile never leaving his face. "The winner is ...!" Atomic closed his eyes and waited in silence, he never thought he would get so nervous, but if he won here, it would be a great first step into the world of science. "Atomic Utonium!" The unicorn foal widened his eyes in shock, joy flooding him and rendering him immobile in equal measure. His friends gave him a smile, but seeing that he was paralyzed, they looked at each other and nodded, dragging Atomic towards the small stairs, waking him from his reverie and starting to run a little. Once on stage, he saw the presenter give him his undivided attention and smile, causing the colt to take a deep breath before approaching, grabbing the award he was given. "Congratulations, young pony! Your artificial bacterial hive project has been the winner! Keep surprising the world with your ideas!" Atomic nodded furiously, delighted, before slowly walking away, first greeting the applauding audience. The trophy was made of stainless steel and painted with a layer of gold, but he didn't care, what mattered to him was the plaque that read on the wooden base: First prize in the traveling equestrian fair science contest, Atomic Utonium . He went downstairs to meet his friends, who were giving him huge smiles. "I knew it was a good idea to show you that brochure," Cloud said, puffing up his chest with pride, to which Atomic smiled. "Thank you, all three, if it weren't for you ... I would never have achieved this." The three of them gave him smiles, which turned to astonishment when they saw a flash on either side of his friend, who looked at them in confusion. "What's the matter?" Bright Mac looked at his friends before smiling at Atomic. "I think ... you should see for yourself." Atomic stared at him blankly, until an idea crossed his mind. With speed, he turned to look at his flank, seeing that, at last, he had managed to get his cutie mark, a vial filled with a bubbly bluish liquid in front of a microscope. The small smile increased even more, looming over his friends in a devastating hug. This was the happiest day he had ever had in his short life.