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// 4. The Orange Bricks 
// Story: Sprout's Wall 
// by Illinois Mapping 
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There was no stopping them.

The entire school was suddenly turning against the teachers. The tables and chairs were toppled. The posters were being ripped off the walls. Even some teachers were being trampled. Out of nowhere, this school full of obedience and quietness has erupted into complete mayhem, as if all order was just lost. There was no one to maintain control. The teachers were powerless against the massive wave of students spread across every hallway. Some of the students were screaming things such as “Peace with the Pegasi!” and “Unicorn Lives Matter!” when approaching the schoolmaster, who just opened his door to try and deal with the commotion. Like the teachers, he was quickly overrun. While some of the mob was chanting for peace, others didn’t seem to want a part of it, instead just wanting an end to the tyranny they’ve been given by the school for years. For a few seconds, I stood still, being pushed on all sides by other students, but eventually, I decided that the right thing to do in this situation is try to put a stop to the rioting. That’s what a good sheriff would do, after all. I realized how this mess would be impossible to end on my own, so I squeezed my way through the crowd and eventually found my way to one of the school’s phones. I was able to reach the sheriff and ask for police interference. At this point, the sheriff had begun to trust me, so he responded by saying he’ll bring reinforcements immediately. About 2-3 minutes later, a few officers arrived, and they were holding shields to push through the massive mob. One of them grabbed a megaphone and ordered everyone to leave the building immediately. However, he wouldn’t need to order them, as the fire alarm sounded seconds later. The moment we exited, the smoke appeared above a part of the building, and the roaring flames soon followed. The fire department showed up, and they quickly ran inside the building. As the flames continued, I eventually found Hitch, who was staring in awe at the flames as they tore apart the school. I found my way through the crowd and approached him. He didn’t notice me until I spoke.

“What happened?”

“I don’t know. I.. I… I didn’t mean for this to happen.” He responded.

“Didn’t mean for what to happen? The fire?” I replied.

“This whole riot. I only thought it was only a joke, or it’d be something small to get back at the teachers for being so hard on us.”

“Why’d you do it?”

“I.. umm… Sunny insisted.”

“Really? You literally destroyed half the school because Sunny told you to? You’re stronger than that, Hitch.”

“Yeah, but.. but she’s my friend and… I didn’t want to let her down.”

That was the last thing he said before he trotted away, distraught.

The flames raged on for another 30 minutes, slowly growing smaller and smaller. As this went on, a few teachers were carried out on a stretcher, one by one. Only a few of them were harmed, but as they were brought past the crowd of students, they all began to scream indistinct things at them in a massive uproar. One of the students even managed to spit on one of them as they were carried by. As the fire was finally put out, there was nothing left to be there for, so we were just told to go home. The crowd slowly dispersed, but one pony I could recognize was an orange and pink filly, Sunny, holding a rainbow sign with wings and a horn on it, looking tired and a bit horrified at what she caused. When I arrived home, my mother looked very worried after hearing what went down. When she saw me at the door, she looked extremely relieved, and asked me to tell her everything. I told her about the mob, the fire, and how Sunny was behind it. While it looked like my mom was about to take a trip to see Argyle herself, at that point, Hitch arrived at the door. He walked up to us and apologized for his actions. He agreed to never take part in such an event again, and would learn how to keep Sunny under control. Now, as I look back on that moment, I believe that Hitch’s promise to control Sunny is the reason he became sheriff instead of me.