When Clyde walked up to the school the following Monday, he was confused on why there was a giant crater in the front of the school and why half of the entrance was destroyed. He watched the construction workers tack on bricks to close the gap while some of them were filling in the crater with dirt.
“I told you we were going to miss something,” said Sticky from behind him. He walked up to Clyde's side and whistled. “Seems like an explosion went off or something.”
“Probably,” replied Clyde. “Maybe Tyrone did it last night?” They laughed and walked up the stairs and passed through the crowd of students in the main lobby of the school. Clyde said goodbye to Sticky and walked to homeroom. As he sat down in a desk, the loud speaker came on with Principal Celestia’s voice.
“Good morning students of Canterlot High! As you may know, the events of Friday’s Fall Formal had some impact to our school. We are still in the process of restoration, however, it has costed us some financial problems. To help with that, I have someone who wants to talk to you all.” The intercom crackled for a few seconds before a louder voice rang throughout the class, hallways, and even outside the school.
“Hey Wondercolts!!!” yelled the jubilant voice of Pinkie Pie. “You may ask yourself, why is Pinkie talking to us today? Why isn’t the school fixed up yet? Why did I get out of bed today? Why is she asking so many questions? Well, I’ll tell you!” Clyde watched his homeroom peers look up at the intercom to await Pinkie’s second round of vocal blasts.
“As the head of all fundraising activities relating to our school, I’m proud to announce Pinkie’s Balloon Pop! What is Pinkie’s Balloon Pop, you may ask? I’ll tell you! Over the weekend I blew up over one thousand balloons! For only $10, you are able to pop one balloon! Of course, you can pay way more than that!”
“$10 dollars for one balloon?” asked a boy near Clyde. “Why is that price so steep for something pointless?”
“I’m glad you asked that random boy in Room 213!” replied Pinkie on the intercom. The boy looked around stunned as other kids laughed. “I needed a reason for boys to participate because they are so lazy and don’t care about school affairs unless it’s a sport! So, I put the names of my friends and myself inside of five random balloons! If you find it, that person owes you a dinner or a hangout session! So come today after school! We need to raise money for fixing our beloved school! Bye!–” The loudspeaker cracked and soon Celestia came back on.
“Thank you Pinkie. Like she said, we are all part of the Canterlot High family. Even if you don’t want to participate, please donate some money for repairs.” She wished them a good day and signed off. Homeroom soon dismissed and the students fled into the hallways, trying to get to class.
* * * * *
“Pinkie!” yelled Rarity as she sat down at the lunch table, looking straight at her friend. “Why ever did you put us all on the spot like that?”
Pinkie stroked her chin. “What are you talking about silly? I put you in balloons, not a spot! Besides, I can’t be the only one whose name is in a balloon!”
Rarity angrily sighed. “You should have asked me if I wanted to be part of your fundraiser!” She crossed her arms and looked away from her.
The rainbow haired girl laughed. “Why are you so upset, Rares? Maybe fate will finally find your Prince Charming you’ve been wishing for since you were a young girl?”
Applejack laughed. “Don’t kid Rainbow Dash, we ain't in a fairy tale.” Both of them continued laughing as Rarity ignored them and began drinking some water. She looked over to the other girl sitting at the table that barely spoke to anyone except this table.
“Fluttershy, how do you feel about this?”
The pink haired girl looked up and shrugged. “I don’t know... I just hope some bully doesn’t get my name.”
“See?” said Rarity to Pinkie. “What happens if we simply can’t get along with the winners?”
Pinkie laughed and patted Rarity on the top of her head. “Just be like me and be friends with everybody! You might not even have to worry about anything! There’s one thousand balloons and only five of us!”
Rarity rolled her eyes and looked around the cafeteria before returning her stare at her bottle of water. “If I have too...it’s just, some people aren’t worth the time.”
Rainbow Dash grinned and looked over at her. “Knowing your luck, you might get Trenderfoot again.” Rarity quickly looked up at her in anger.
“I told you never to speak about that again!” she said, raising her voice. “That was my fault and I jumped into that too fast. I don’t like being used.”
After calming down, Rarity and the others sat there in silence for a few moments, thinking about Twilight and what she was doing now. Of course there was their world Twilight, but she went to a private school and would probably never bother with them. Before she left, they promised to keep a watch on Sunset Shimmer so she never did that again. She, however, was serving school suspension for the rest of the semester, maybe even rest of the year. The silence of the table was finally broken when they saw a boy running through the cafeteria towards a table in the back of the room.
* * * * *
“Guys!” yelled Poncho as he finally ran up to Clyde’s table, flailing his arms around. He quickly slouched down to take a breather and looked back up. “Did you see that giant hole in front of the school!” Clyde and the others looked at him and sighed.
“Dude, that’s like a few hours old now,” said Patel with a sigh. Poncho shook his fist at him and the bell rang. They quickly threw away their trash and made their ways to the last classes for the day.
Clyde and Tyrone went to gym class, which was finally back in the gymnasium due to the Fall Formal being over and done with. They went outside where Coach Iron Will had the boys playing football and the girls walking the track. After gym and school was over, Clyde and Tyrone walked through the hallways before meeting back up with Poncho.
“Oh hey guys,” said Poncho.
“Poncho, my dawg!” yelled Tyrone, getting the occasional stare by the students walking by them. “Why are you standing in the middle of the hallway?”
“Me? What? I’m not standing in the middle of the hallway...” Poncho looked around before giving a nervous laugh. Tyrone glanced at Clyde before just leaving the scene in general due to the sketchy vibe.
“You kind of are just standing in the hallway,” repeated Clyde.
“I guess I am, aren’t I....” Clyde stood there for a moment before ultimately deciding to follow Tyrone’s actions. As Clyde walked by him, Poncho lifted out his arm to stop him. “Wait!”
“What is it?” asked Clyde.
“Are you going to the balloon thing in a few minutes?”
Clyde blinked. “I wasn’t planning on it, but why? Do you want to go?”
Poncho zipped up his hoodie and zipped it back down rapidly. “Whaaaat?”
Clyde laughed. “I’ll go with you if you want me too. I wanted to donate money anyways seeing how I do go to this school now.” Poncho nodded and they both traveled through the half filled hallways of “After School”. As they got to the cafeteria, they were stopped by a huge line waiting to get in.
“You’re kidding, there’s a line for this?” asked Clyde in shock.
“Of course there is!” said one student Clyde had seen before in the hallways who went by the name of Thunderlane. “It’s not everyday where you have the chance for a free dinner with Rainbow Dash!” Clyde only knew his name as he was a member of the now, 0-3, school football team that Coach Iron Will always complained about.
“No way!” yelled some freshman boy. “I’m totally going to be with Rainbow Dash!” Thunderlane laughed and told him to turn around.
“Freshmen,” he said wiping away a tear. He looked at Poncho and Clyde and grinned. “I bet one of you two want Rainbow Dash.”
Clyde shook his head. “I don’t have high hopes for me winning this. I just want to contribute to the school.” Thunderlane nodded at his humble deed and turned to Poncho.
“Well if isn’t my chemistry partner!” he said loudly to Poncho. “How’s our project going?”
“Well, I haven’t started it yet,” said Poncho giving a nervous chuckle.
Thunderlane gave a gasp. “It’s due tomorrow though!”
“I know, but truth is, I actually haven’t started the project from the first week of school still.” Poncho laughed as Thunderlane worriedly looked around.
“Oh no! If I would’ve known that, I would have actually done my project myself instead of partners!” Thunderlane slowly turned around to hide growing tears in his eyes. Poncho tried to talk to him, but Thunderlane ignored him in sorrow.
“Way to go Poncho,” joked Clyde.
Poncho looked at him and frowned. Thunderlane quickly turned back around and smiled. “Nah, it’s okay Poncho. I don’t like chemistry anyways.”
“So we’re good then?” asked Poncho, wiping away a bead of sweat on his eyebrow. “I didn’t mean to be that guy and bail out on a project that I said I was going to do.”
Thunderlane slapped him hard on the shoulder. “We’re good bro.”
The three of them waited for the line to dwindle by either talking about sports or talking about some chemistry thing. Obviously, Clyde and Poncho didn’t know about chemistry and sports, respectively, so as the topic they didn’t like was brought up, they watched the disheartened boys walk out of the cafeteria due to not being able to get lucky.
Once they entered the cafeteria and close to Pinkie’s table, they saw the massive sea of colorful balloons scattered on the floor. Near Pinkie’s table was a whiteboard with a chart on it. One side of it had the names of her friends and herself, while the other was mostly blank. The only name on the other side was “Bulk Biceps” that was beside “Fluttershy”.
Clyde had no idea who Fluttershy was. He thought that it was probably one of the girls at Pinkie’s lunch table, but he did know Bulk Biceps, or at least heard of him. He was the strongest, fastest, biggest, and most feared guy on the school’s front seven in football. He was averaging at least two sacks and a fumble per game.
The group watched more boys, mostly younger students Clyde and even Thunderlane didn’t know, pay a random amount of money and stomp on a balloon or two. After more and more failures, Thunderlane grinned.
“The less balloons the better my odds are!” he said excitedly. He turned around to Clyde and Poncho and gave a small salute and walked up to Pinkie’s table. The two of them watched as he paid his money and walked around the cafeteria, studying the ground. After picking a balloon near the center mass, he quickly stomped on a balloon and lifted his foot in disappointment.
After Thunderlane walked away in shame, Clyde stepped up to Pinkie’s table. She looked at him strangely before shouting. “Someone I’ve never seen before! That means a new friend!”
“Uh, hey,” said Clyde somewhat worried at her volatile nature. He looked back at Poncho and back to her. “I’m Clyde, who happens to be friends with Poncho behind me. It’s my first year here too.”
Pinkie’s eyes widened. “If he’s your friend, that means I’m your friend!” She reached over the table and shook his hand. After sitting back down, she waved at Poncho, who nervously looked away, and stroked her chin. “So, you want to help the school, huh?”
Clyde nodded. “Yeah, seeing–”
“Thanks for saving my spot, “friend”,” said a familiar voice Clyde knew. He turned around and saw Trenderfoot behind him. Trenderfoot laughed and nudged Clyde aside, cutting in front of him and standing near Pinkie's table. Before Clyde could say anything, Trenderfoot pulled out a stack of money. “Here’s a thousand dollars for the school and your fundraiser.”
“A thousand dollars!” yelled Pinkie. “That’s more than I made so far! That also means you can pop like...” She stopped to count in the air as Trenderfoot sighed.
“It’s one hundred balloons–”
“One hundred balloons!” she yelled, completely ignoring him. She quickly squinted her eyes. “Wait a minute, why do you want to pop so many balloons?”
Trenderfoot looked at Clyde and smirked before looking back to her. “Oh, it’s nothing. Thought I would show my “school spirit” and help the restoration process.”
“Great!” replied Pinkie. “Well, looks like you have one hundred balloons to pop! I’ll keep count!”
Trenderfoot nodded and walked over to the outer edge of the balloon sea. He began stepping on them one by one, causing the line to flinch many times due to the loud sounds of popping. After about eighty or so pops, Trenderfoot lifted up his foot and stopped and smiled. He leaned down and picked up a small scrap of paper.
“We have a winner!” yelled Pinkie through a megaphone. The line gasped as Clyde and Poncho watched Trenderfoot gloat and stride towards the table. He handed Pinkie the slip of paper and looked over at Clyde with a smile. They watched Pinkie open up the paper and look up at them. “It’s...”
“Yes?” asked Trenderfoot.
“It’s...”
“Yes?”
“It’s....”
“YES?”
“It’s Applejack!” yelled Pinkie. The room fell silent as Trenderfoot scratched his head.
“Applejack, huh? I wasn’t expecting that at all.”
“Good!” yelled Pinkie. “It’s way more fun if you get to meet someone you never expected to in the first place!” She handed him another small slip of paper. “The address on there is where she told me to write down so you can meet her Saturday afternoon. Don’t be late! Applejack doesn’t like lazy folk!”
Trenderfoot walked away as Clyde looked at the angry line still waiting. He realized he was keeping the line still so he quickly turned around and looked at Pinkie again.
“So, is it my turn now?” he asked her.
Pinkie nodded and wrote “Trenderfoot” beside “Applejack” on her whiteboard chart. “How many did you want to pop?”
“I only have $10. So, one.” He handed her the bill and walked over to the balloons. Trenderfoot may have cleared a hundred of them, but that still didn’t make a large dent into the mass of balloons. Deciding to play it safe, he walked over to the nearest balloon and stomped on it. As he lifted his shoe, he gasped.
“Another winner!!!” yelled Pinkie. The line gasped again as Clyde picked up the scrap of paper and walked over to Pinkie. She took it from him and opened up before smiling. “Well, well, well, look who we have here.”
“Who is it?” asked Clyde in wonder.
“It’s...”
“Please just say it.”
Pinkie sighed. “Fine.” However, she quickly smiled again. “It’s me!” Clyde heard the crowd moan, sigh, and gasp. Clyde looked over at Poncho who looked disheartened. “I’ll see you Saturday!” said Pinkie happily, handing him a slip of paper. Clyde nodded and decided to wait for Poncho’s go at it.
After Poncho nervously paid his ten dollars, he walked over to the balloons and debated to himself on which of the two to pop. Hearing the angry line, Clyde walked over to him and pointed at one to hurry him up. Poncho nodded and stomped on a balloon, only to be surprised by yet another slip of paper.
“ANOTHER WINNER!!” yelled Pinkie. “You’re really good at this Clyde!” Clyde shrugged as Poncho walked over to the table, looking way from the angry line. Pinkie opened up the paper and looked at Poncho with a grin. “Looks like you got Rarity. Good luck with that!”
The lined moaned again in disappointment as Clyde began to watch Poncho take the slip of paper and turn to leave. Clyde quickly followed him out, ignoring the angry stares of the line. Once in the hallway, they walked together, talking about some show that was on last night. As they turned the corner, they both crashed into something and fell to the floor.
“Ow,” said Poncho, rubbing his shoulder. He looked at the “obstacle” they crashed into and saw it was Coach Iron Will.
“Coach?” asked Clyde who was sitting on the floor looking up at him. “What are you doing in the hallways at this time? Don’t you have football practice or film to watch?”
Iron Will looked down at them and snorted. “Does it look like Iron Will cares what you think about his coaching methods! I’m taking a break by drinking some of my water I had over here!” He lifted up a water bottle and set it back down on the floor. “It’s my secret water storage spot for when someone makes me mad in the film room! I run full speed over here to calm myself!” He turned away from them and began running down the hallway, back to the film room. “Make sure you pick up your scraps of paper! Don’t litter or you’re a quitter!”
“That doesn’t even make any sense...,” said Clyde as he and Poncho looked around and saw the two scraps of paper laying near each other. They quickly grabbed the closest one and quickly sat back up. “Well, I guess it’s that time to finally get out of here. It’s already four.”
“Hey Clyde,” said Poncho looking away from him, “I don’t really want to be that guy, but...”
Clyde sighed. “I can drive you home.” Poncho gave a “victory fist pump” and followed Clyde to the parking lot, where they hopped in the car and drove off.
It was a few minutes of silence before Poncho spoke up when they were at a red light. “So, are you excited about this hangout thing?”
Clyde ignored him for a few moments, mesmerized by the traffic. Once he had a green light, he sped up and shrugged. “Yeah, it should be fun. Weekends are pretty boring anymore so I have at least something to do now. Of course, I could always practice for the upcoming basketball tryouts next month, but I think social interaction is just what I need right now.”
“Easy for you to say, man,” said Poncho looking out the window. “I’m terrible at talking to people. I have no idea how to make blatant conversation with people I’ve never talked to before. The only reason why I’m friends with you and the others at our table is because you guys spoke to me first.”
Clyde nodded. “I felt the same way.” They remained silent for the rest of the way until Clyde pulled into Poncho’s driveway. “Well, there you are. I guess I should begin studying on how to get around Pinkie Pie’s randomness.”
Poncho laughed. “I know what you mean man. I think her randomness and my awkwardness would have a crazy hangout session. I don’t even know Rarity, or even talked to her before.”
Clyde smiled at the mention of her name. “Just try to act like a non-sketchy dude for once.”
“Hey,” said Poncho, “that’s not my fault.” They both laughed and Clyde departed the driveway and headed back to his house. Once he reached home, he quickly ran inside and turned on the television to watch some of his favorite sport reporters debate back and forth about trivial football games going on in the early season.
Clyde felt his phone vibrate constantly in his jacket pocket due to the group chat so he quickly pulled it out and turned it on silent. As he pulled it out of the pocket, the small scrap of paper from the balloon pop Pinkie gave him fell out. He decided to finally look at the address.
From what he could tell and remember from the city layout, the address of the note was some small cafe in downtown. It seemed strange to him that Pinkie’s location was a cafe, but he soon realized he hadn’t really talked to her for more than a few minutes so he didn’t know how she really was. He waited for the program on the television to end so he could go and practice some hoops at the park.
The remainder of the school week was nearly the same routine. Clyde would get there, go to his classes, which was math, English, musical history, and after lunch, gym. Poncho and him decided not to tell the lunch table about their plans for the upcoming Saturday, as they didn’t want to get harassed by millions of questions. After returning from the park on Friday, Clyde decided to get to sleep early for whatever tomorrow would bring him.