//------------------------------//
// Episode 2 - The Triforce 
// Story: The Halcyon Days 
// by Ivo 
//------------------------------//


The Halcyon Days



Episode 2 – The Triforce



“Pull stronger!”
“Any more? I can´t!”
“Come on! They´re tired!
“We are, too!”
“I think I´m losing grip!”

This was tug war something different.
The class room was filled with the young student´s shouts of encouragement. The wooden desks rested in the back of the room and made place for the two opposing teams of young fillies and colts.
Every team tried to pull the rope and the red mark in its middle over a white line of chalk.

The only difference between normal tug war and this version - the magical version - was that nopony used its hooves but its magical grip.

“ComeoncomeoncomeonCOMEON!”
“We are too weak!”
“Nothing is lost, yet! We still can win this! We…”

“Okay, my little ponies! Seems like a draw. The lesson is over. Time for breakfast!” Mister Albert broke the game.
Disappointed, one after another, the students let the rope go, some of them sweating heavily because of their mental efforts. Only two foals won´t stick to their guns.
“Twilight! Bleach! Stop now!” Mister Albert animated them to quit. But they won´t do so.
“I´ll not give up!” Twilight snorted.
“Me! Neither!” Bleach said fervently.
The teacher sighed.

The others watched them excited and followed every inch of the purple and the white glow of the two competitors. One after another, they started to cheer their favorite up.
“Go on Bleach! You´ll do this!”
“You birdbrain! Twilight is much stronger! Get him Twilight!”
“Yeah, give him hell, Twilight!”
“Don´t give up, Bleach!”
The glows around the ropes increased with the cheers and Twilight and Bleach grimaced in their big efforts to pull the red mark to them.

They continued their fight, until the others got bored and decided, to precipitate the end of the competition. Slowly, they started to tickle their favorite´s opponent. And it was obvious, that the white stallion was the primal favorite.
“H-h-hey! S-s-stop t-t-thaHAHAHAHAHA!” Twilight tried to resist them fruitless. She collapsed to the ground, laughing loud.
Bleach wasn´t prepared for the sudden lack of his counterweight.
“Woooaaahhh-UFF…”
Still pulling, he flew backwards with a surprised shout and crashed into the desks.
“Ough…” he groaned and instantly, there were several hooves to support him. He chose the purple one, which pulled him back to his hooves.
“Are you hurt?” his concerned friend asked.
“No…I´m fine. Thank you. Phew! That was…unfair. You sure would have won!” he meant.
“Nah! You have way more condition! You would have won!” Twilight opined and smiled wide.

“Okay, enough for now! Now, go and enjoy your breakfast, my little ponies!” Mister Albert said and they all left the room and headed for the fourth floor and the canteen.

The structure of the palatial school pile was simple. The first two floors were for the class rooms. The third and fourth floor was for the canteen, the library, the assembly hall, the secretary´s office and some lounges for the students to rest or do their homework. The upper stories to the tenth floor were for the student´s chambers, but to have an own chamber, Twilight had to wait until she was fourteen.
In the meantime, she stayed with her parents.

“You can go ahead.” her friend next to her suddenly said and interrupted her thoughts. They were on the third floor and Twilight already wanted to climb the stairs to the fourth floor, but Bleach didn´t join her. “I just want to return a book back to the library. I´m back in an instant. Do you search us a nice table? Preferably at the window?”
Twilight smiled and nodded. “Okay!”
He also nodded and trotted off.

Twilight turned around and headed for the canteen…


______________________________________________________________________


One month had passed since Twilight´s first day at school and she slowly accustomed herself to her new surrounding and her new life.
Monday and Thursday, she had a personal lesson with Celestia in the afternoon. During her first lessons, she had learned from her how to control her magic and how to canalize it effectively through her body. She also repeated with her the spells she learned at school.
Actually, they were learning the ‘magical grip’. And that she couldn´t defeat Bleach at magical tug war showed her, that she already had to learn a lot. Even if she was sure that she had done everything right! But still he was up to her! Twilight´s ambition couldn´t bear that!
She smiled.
Bleach had become her best friend during this month, sure, but he also had become her main rival - maybe excepted at PE. He was also as intelligent as she was and controlled every spell as good as she controlled them!
How was that possible?
He wasn´t Celestia´s student and still he was as good at magic as her!

And he was different from the other colts.
While the other colts and fillies stayed among themselves, he stayed with her. And he was on another level as the other colts. While others laughed about every vulgar joke, he only smiled artificially and tried to lead the conversation into something more…profound.
Anyway, they already had found a time to meet at the playground. They met every Wednesday and Friday, sometimes also Saturday. Tuesdays, he never had time. She had asked him why, but he hadn´t answered her. He kept it secretly. But she was determined to lift this secret!

Thinking about how she should do this, she entered the canteen…and sighed. There was no free table anymore. Raindrops drummed against the window panes and she heard a low rumbling outside. Of course, who wants to breakfast in the rain…
She bought a daisy and a rose sandwich - her favorites for breakfast - with her allowance for food and searched for a table. Meanwhile, she eavesdropped for the actual central theme of the other young students she passed.
Today, it was cutie-marks and she automatically thought back how she had gotten hers.

She finally found a table at the window, only one single filly at her age sitting at it. It wasn´t one of her class mates, so it had to be one of her parallel class.
“Excuse me…Are these seats reserved? Can my friend and I take place here?” She asked politely, pointing at the two chairs opposite of the young mare.
She slowly turned her head to Twilight and watched around, asking herself if she really was talking to her. Finally, she nodded, slightly smiling. “S-sure…” she replied slightly nervous.
“Great!” the purple filly beamed, put her tray with the sandwiches from her back down on the table and sat down opposite to her.

Twilight looked the filly in front of her over.
She was a silver-coated young mare with a neat green and white mane. She was looking through the window with her golden eyes, lost in her inner thoughts. The sandwich on the tray in front of her wasn´t touched yet.
“You are looking sad…” Twilight assessed.
The silver filly snapped out of her thoughts with a start. “W-what?” she stuttered and faced her.
“You are looking sad.” Twilight repeated and bowed her head. “Or am I wrong?”
“N-no…”
“What is it?” she asked instantly with concern. “Maybe talking about it is helping.”
“W-well, I-I…i-it is…”
“Hey! Look who we have here! Miss Blank Ass!” a male voice announced behind the silver filly and a red colt with a dark-blue mane appeared, flanked by two other colts and one filly. “How does it feel to be the only pony without a cutie-mark? Are you too dumb-ass to find out what you are good at? Oh!” he shouted and face-hoofed. “I forgot: You aren´t good at anything!” the others behind him laughed.
The silver mare only shrank in her seat, her eyes watery. She sobbed low.
Twilight´s anger rose.

“Hey! Stop hassling her! Right now!”
She hadn´t said that. The red stallion turned around by the sudden voice.
“Oh, how cute! Another Blank Ass!” he mocked. Twilight couldn´t see, who was standing behind the stallion, but she identified the voice as Bleach. “Well, Mister Blank Ass has to pretend his wife, right? Oh, isn´t that cuddly?”
“You are talking non-sense.” he hit back smirking. “I´m asking myself: Who is a dumb-ass? Yes, she and I haven´t a cutie-mark yet. But is it that important to have one? We only get one chance to discover our special talents. If we once have found it, there´s no way back to change it. So it´s better to take time and find out, what we really are made for and what´s our destiny in life, don´t you think so?”
“Aha, listen to this!” the stallion mocked again. “I never heard such bullshit! Had your daddy told you these words?” Again his clique laughed.
“Yes.” Bleach replied, still smirking. They laughed even harder. “And it where words filled with wisdom. Maybe more wisdom than you will ever have…”
“Did you…did you say I´m thick?” He snorted angrily. “That´s not good for your health!”
“I would prefer the expressions ‘simple-minded’ or ‘feeble-minded’…” he said slowly. “And I´m not worried about my wholesomeness…” He stretched his head to the side. “So your cutie-mark are some nails…interesting…what do you do with them? Count them? Impressive!”

He instantly ducked down. One second later, the red stallion soared above him, missed him and landed behind him. With an elegant half-turn Bleach rose to his hind legs and faced the red stallion, his smirk still on his lips.
“Well, I hate this sort of fighting…but we can dance, if you want…”
“DANCE? Are you batshit crazy now? I vow, in a minute you´ll see stars!” He assaulted him again, but Bleach again just avoided with a side-step.
Several times more, the other stallion attacked him and every time, Bleach only took one or two steps to avoid him. And he was right, it looked like a dance. And Bleach was leading it.
“Fight like a real stallion, you damned prima ballerina!”
Bleach ignored it, twisted, ducked and avoided his next attack. His mane and tail waved graceful to his music-lacking rhythm. The red stallion was panting. Twilight´s friend faced him, his smirk ineradicable on his lips. “As I said: I´m not worried about my wholesomeness…but your condition, oh dear! I saw babies keeping up dancing longer than you…”
“Come on, just let´s get out of here…he´s not worth any trouble!” one of the red stallion´s companions suggested. He snorted displeased but agreed.
Together, they withdrew.

Bleach took his tray from the table he had put it down before he had interfered, picking up some low-whispered words of cheer from the students around him which had watched the scene, and took place next to the silver filly…


______________________________________________________________________


“Are you okay?” he asked concerned. The filly nodded, still sobbing. Small tears streamed down her cheeks. Twilight had taken place on the filly´s other side and hugged her comforting.

“Hey…please don´t cry anymore! These idiots are not worth any tears…” he pleaded with his soft voice.
“But they´re right! I´m not good at anything! I am a complete failure!” she cried.
“No, you aren´t.” Twilight objected gently.
“Oh yes, I am! I am the biggest loser at the entire school!”
“Nonsense! You´re surely good at something! You only haven´t found it yet!”
“But I am the worst in my class! And the only one without a cutie-mark…”
“If it´s any comfort for you: I also haven´t a cutie-mark yet. And many of our class mates too!” Bleach said and looked at Twilight. “That mint green mare behind us, for example. What was her name?”
“Lyra.” Twilight replied. “And that black colt in the last row with the yellow-white mane…Shadow Star!”
“Yeah or…”
“Okay, okay…” the silver filly interrupted them with a mix of a chuckle and a sob. She tried a faint smile and dried her tears with her hooves. “…I see what you want to say…”
“Hey, look at this! She even can smile!” Bleach cheered.
“Yes. At least one thing I can…thank you two for trying to comfort me…I don´t even know your names…”
“Oh, I am Twilight!” she introduced herself and pointed at her white friend. “And this is Bleach!”
“And you are?...” Bleach asked for the filly’s name.
“Silverleaf…”
“Lovely name!” he beamed. “Nice to meet you, Silverleaf!”

Her last sobs died down and her tears stopped streaming. Twilight and Bleach sat back on the other side of the table and finally started breakfasting. Their recess was almost over and they had to hurry up a little bit.
“So, Silverleaf…” Bleach began between two bites of his hay-cereals “…are these idiots always bullying you like this?” Annoyingly, she nodded.
“But why don´t you tell your teacher?” Twilight asked. “They can´t ignore such a behavior!”
“They say they would beat the hell out of me if I do so…”
Bleach huffed. “Tell them, they´ll regret it if they lay only one hoof on you!”
“Would you bandy with them?” Twilight asked, concerned about her friend.
“No. You should know, that that´s way too much under my level! You saw it for yourself: Sometimes, you haven´t to attack an enemy to defeat him!” He took a firm bite.
“But we can´t do nothing!” Twilight meant determined. “Your father is a teacher! Can´t he do something?”
“Your father is a teacher here at school?” Silverleaf interposed before he could answer. The white colt nodded.
“Yes, he is. He is the PE-teacher here at school. Of course, I could plead him to have a wary eye on them during PE and to punish them if they threaten you. But that won´t change anything. They only would be more aggressive against you. There must be another way…”

For a moment, all three thought about a solution for themselves. But none of them found one.
“We should think about it another time.” Twilight suggested sighing with a glance to the big clock in the middle of the canteen. “It´s late. We´ll be tardy!”
“Keep your head!” Bleach calmed her giggling. “We still got five min…”
“If you want to be late, it´s your problem!” she interrupted him harsh. “I´ll not be tardy! What should Celestia think of me? Maybe she´ll drop me out! That would be A DISASTER!” and with that, she galloped off.
Bleach and Silverleaf left in the emptying canteen and gazed after her.
“Is she always over the edge like that?” Silverleaf questioned. “And what does she mean with: ‘what should Celestia think of me’?”
Bleach chuckled in response. “She´s only like that if it´s going about punctuality or things that she can´t explain…”
“I see…”
“Oh, and that with Celestia: she´s her personal student. Never heard about Twilight Sparkle? The filly with the possibly greatest magical stock in history?”
Her eyes widened. “THAT was THE Twilight Sparkle?”
He smiled and nodded. “Yes, she is…Anyway: For now, you just should stay with us. We´ll protect you from these bullies.” Bleach offered and Silverleaf accepted grateful. He beamed.
“Oh, and one last question…” he added while he slowly left his seat to get back to the class “…Do you have time in the afternoon? Twilight and I meet every Wednesday and Friday at the playground at the park. And today is Wednesday! You can join us, if you want. Then, we can think together about a solution for your bully-problem.”
Silverleaf beamed too. “That would be great! Thank you!”
“No problem. So we meet at three o´clock at the playground, okay? But prior, we meet at lunch time. Until then: Keep your chin up!”
She nodded. “Okay! See you then!”
“Bye!”

With that, both went off and lessons continued…


______________________________________________________________________


The door closed and with a low thump the saddlebag landed beneath the big mirror in the entrance room of their nice apartment. The white ceiling, the sky-blue walls and bright red carpet assorted well with the bright wood of the other furniture of the cottage and created a wonderful place of peace and quiet.

“I am ho-ome!” a young male voice announced singing his arrival.
He loved his home!
Here he always felt free. Of course are there some rules between him and his parents just like all foals had their parent´s rules at home. To his chores ranked taking out the trash and helping his parents with the dishes, whether it was drying them, washing them or clearing the table.
“Oh, my little lambkin is back! How was school today?” a sweet female voice asked from the kitchen. Chuckling, he trotted into the eat-in kitchen and faced his mother. Normally, Bleach didn´t like all these pet names, but here at home, it was okay with him. And his mother anyhow had an extra twenty-four-hours-allowance for it.
But he though always complained.
“Mom, don´t call me like that!” he said with no real resistance, knowing his mother would ignore it just like ever.
“What? Is my little warrior too proud to accept his mother´s love?” she replied quipping and gave her son a kiss on his forehead. He just smiled wide and sat down at the wooden kitchen table.

“So, how was school after all?” the pale pink mare asked again, preparing a cup of cocoa for Bleach.
“Great as ever!” he beamed. “Mister Albert showed us a new form of tug war! We use our magic to pull instead of our hooves! Twilight and I had a small duel in the end, but it was a draw…”
“Well, that sounds funny.” she answered smiling, putting the cup down in front of her son and joining him at the table. “Too bad that I couldn´t play that game with you…” the pink earth pony-mare added with mild disappointment.
“Well, you could pull with your hooves and I with my magic!” he suggested. His mother chuckled soft about his effort to comfort her.
“Just go on. I didn´t want to interrupt you, sorry.”
“No need to apologize. Anyway, I got a new friend!” he continued.
“Really?” his mother questioned interested. “That sounds great! Who is it? Is he nice?”
“Yeah, she is nice.” he replied with a chuckle.

At lunch time, Silverleaf was in a way better mood and had showed them that she already was a very vigorous, kind and happy pony. It was a shame that these bullies had replaced her sunshine-nature with shyness, reticence and inferiority!
“Ah, another filly…” his mother chuckled and gazed at him with an ambiguous look.
“Yeah…” the white colt replied slightly blushing. “Her name is Silverleaf. We met her at breakfast. But she has a problem and I don´t know how to solve it…”
“What is it?”
“Some other ponies from her class are bullying her because she hasn´t a cutie-mark yet and they threaten her with beating if she tells it a teacher…she don´t deserve such a treatment!” he said compassionate. His mother looked at him with her turquoise eyes.
“Oh, that really doesn´t sound good. But I know you´ll find a solution for her, my little warrior.” she cheered him up nuzzling. “You should ask your father. Maybe he knows a solution.”
“Thank you mom! I surely could bandy with them. I know how to fight and defend myself! But violence isn´t a solution! It never was and never will be! Sure, I would defend her and Twilight if somepony lays a hoof on them, but I would only protect, never attack!”

“That´s the voice of reason! I am very proud of you and your wisdom, my son!”
Bleach´s gaze wandered to the owner of the sudden deep male voice and faced his father in the threshold. None of them both had heard him enter during their conversation.
“But how should I set an example without using violence if violence is the only language they speak?”
“You have to use your brain! Your intellect is your advantage! Use it! You remember the events at breakfast? There, you did the same.” he said smirking.
“Wait…where do you know that?”
“The supervisor, Mister Antinod, told me about it. He didn´t intervene because he saw that you had the situation under control. And after they had left the canteen, he headed them off and now they have detention for two weeks for trying to start a brawl.”
Bleach couldn´t help but giggle with glee. “Serves them right! There´s no excuse for treating a filly like that! The only thing they need is self-esteem! And to get at least a little bit of it, they have to bully helpless fillies!” he snorted scornful.

“Keep calm…” his mother placated him. “I know it´s annoying, but…this Silverleaf now has you and Twilight! You three will surely find a solution.”
“Just stick to your principles and think about what your mother and I told you and what you´ve learned. And always remember: Everything comes to him who waits!” his father added.

Bleach just beamed. “Thank you mom! Thank you dad! You´re the best parents in the world, do you know that?”
Both giggled.
“Thank you!” his mother said. “But now, you should get yourself ready! It´s nearly three o´clock! Your friends are surely waiting!”
“Oh!” he looked at the clock at the wall and frantically emptied his cocoa. “I really should get ready! Twilight hates it being unpunctual. I should hurry! Bye mom!” he pecked a kiss on his mother´s cheek, left his seat and the kitchen.

He shortly hugged his father with a “Bye dad!” and left the cottage with his saddlebag…


______________________________________________________________________


“Where is he?”
“Relax!...You shouldn´t worry…about him. It…are only five minutes…till now…”
“But he´s never late! Sometimes a little bit badly off, but never tardy!”
“I think, you´re worrying…way too much!...Granted, I only…know him a few hours, but…he doesn´t create the impression…to be weak and not able…to take care of himself.”

Twilight sighed and stopped her pacing in the big sandpit of the court. Sure, the silvery filly, which was swinging back and forth on a swing set, was right. But after the incident with the bullies this morning, she was concerned. What if they had met him on his way here? He surely couldn´t stand against them all at once!
“Or is there another reason…why you´re worrying?” the swinging filly asked cooking an eyebrow.
Twilight looked at her wondering. “What other reason do you mean?”
“Awww…don´t look like that!...You know exactly…what I mean!” Silverleaf said, puckered her lips for an implied kiss and smirked at Twilight.
The purple filly blushed and went wide-eyed. “What? Nonononono! We´re…we´re just friends! Nothing more! Nothing like that!”
“That you aren´t…anything like that…doesn´t mean…you´ve no feelings for him!”
“He is only my friend and nothing more! Period!”
“Whatever you say…Miss Red Head…”
Twilight growled but her blush was undeniable. Bleach was her best friend and nothing more! Granted, he maybe was the most handsome colt she had ever met with his white coat, black mane and tail and the ocean-eyes, but that hadn´t to say anything!
Bad enough that her parents always quipped about Bleach being her special somepony!

“Oh, look!...There he comes!” Silverleaf announced and Twilight turned around to find the white colt galloping straight to them.
“Sorry for being late!” he apologized. “But I…”
“…was bursting and caught in the toilet?” Silverleaf guessed cheeky smirking.
“Uh…Noooooo?...I…”
“…hit my head on a sudden opening door, had an amnesia and wandered through whole Canterlot searching for my memories and finally found them whilst staring at a giant poster of a sunny beach and hearing the melancholy melody of the cello of a busker?” Silverleaf had stopped swinging and looked at Bleach with sparkling eyes.
“Er…no?...”
“Oh, come on! That would have been soooo cool, don´t you think so? THAT would´ve been a great short movie!...’Lost in Canterlot’, yeah, THAT´S a title!”
Twilight and Bleach cooked an eyebrow, glancing at each other.
Silverleaf only giggled.

“Anyway…I am late because I was caught in a conversation with my parents and…”
“Oh, how booooooring…” the silver filly interrupted. “Now that we´re complete: Let´s play something!” she urged.
“Sure!” Twilight agreed wide-smiling. “What about hide and seek?”
“I´d prefer tag.” Silverleaf opined.
“Me too!” Bleach added beaming.
“And that´s why I say: hide and seek. Believe me, Silverleaf: You won´t play tag against him!”
“Okay. Then it´s hide and seek!”
“Pity…” Bleach meant with spurious disappointment.
They all laughed.
“Okay, I seek first!” Twilight announced, closed her eyes, turned around and began counting.

The other two branched and searched for their stashes…


______________________________________________________________________


The surrounding of the playground with its huge sandpit, the huge helter-skelter, the swing sets and the many climbing frames, which all formed together a big climbing house, was perfect for playing hide and seek!
Everywhere were small bushes and big trees to hide behind. Along the sidewalk were some benches with resting ponies, which simply savored the peace around them. The playing foals, the fresh summer breeze after the rainfall this morning and the colorfulness of the uncountable flowers on the meadows around the clearing with the playground in its central created a picture of pure harmony.

Only one spot of the meadow with a sheer mass of blazing red flowers should be avoided by everypony. The flower was known as ‘Burning Hoax’, descending from the same family like the lesser-known ‘Poison Joke’.
Compared with its blue next of kin, the red version´s ‘pranks’ endured only twenty-four hours and were, in the majority of cases, harmless.

Sneaking around the spot with the tricky flowers, a purple filly lurked searching for its hidden friends. She closed her eyes and perked her ears. There! A low rustling in the bushes to her left! And a low giggling! She smirked, waiting, expanding the moment, augmenting the tension…
She concentrated and…
“GOTCHA!” she shouted and her horn glowed.
She heard a surprised “Wow!” and a rustling. Shortly after that, a white stallion appeared out of the bush to her left, hanging headfirst with a surprised look, carried by Twilights magic, which created a purple glow around his tail´s end.
He smirked, crossing his fore hooves. The awkward position he was in with his wide-spread hind hooves, long stretched tail and saggy mane didn´t care him. “Means: I´m searching next!”
Twilight beamed. “Yep! But first, we have to search Silverleaf!”
They now played hide and seek for about one hour and still they found always new stashes to hide. Granted, the area was really like made for this game!
“Sure…if you´d be so gentle to let me go…”
“Su-HUUUUR-UMPF…”

Twilight suddenly felled forward and landed hard on the ground. Her concentration broke and her magic instantly faded.
“Woooa-UMPF”
Bleach landed hard on his stomach and only saw colorful blurs for a short moment. Groaning, carrying his head with one fore hoof, he rose back to his hooves.
Twilight did the same and turned around to face the one who had bucked her.
They heard a chorus of laughter and a mocking voice. “Oh, did you unlearn how to stand on your four hooves?”
Twilight growled and recognized the four ponies from this morning, the red stallion of course as their head in the middle. “Hey, that hurt, you idiots!”
“Yeah, why can´t you just leave us alone?” Bleach added angry.

“Twilight? Bleach? Is everything allri-“ Silverleaf asked and interrupted herself, when she came out of her hiding and recognized her bullies.
The red bully grinned and his companions instantly split up and surrounded her. She fearfully glanced around and shrank.
“Well, well! Who we have here? The filly that´s to blame for our detention…”
“What? No! I…I haven´t told anypony! Really! Please, leave me alone!” she begged wide-eyed, tearing up.
“Oh, we really would leave you alone, but we had a deal: Nopony hears something or…” his companions made a step towards her.
“You WON´T DARE doing that!” Bleach growled.
“You prima ballerina want to stop us?” the stallion laughed while the others made another step towards Silverleaf. “I´m sorry, but this time, your dancing wouldn´t help anyone!” he mocked and took a deep breath. “Well, let´s come to the unpleasant part…” he said and clopped his fore hooves.
His companions pounced on Silverleaf.

“NO!” the trio yelled in unison.
With that, one of the three assailants was carried away by a sudden magical pulse, one was held back by a purple glow around his tail and the last was bucked off by a sudden wave of courage and resistance, flooding Silverleaf´s body.
For a short while, time seemed to stop.
Bleach was the first who reacted. He ran towards Silverleaf to protect her. The red stallion, stunned by the surprising failing of his friend´s attack, tried to stop and buck Bleach, but the white colt simply ducked down, avoided the attack and kicked the red colt´s fore hooves. He lost his stand and landed hard on his stomach.
Meanwhile, two off Silverleaf´s assailants had rose back to their hooves and tried to attack her again. The third was still fighting against the purple glow around his tail, which was slowly fading, loudly cursing the purple filly with words even Bleach didn´t know…and didn´t want to know.
Twilight wouldn´t hold it very much longer.

He reached Silverleaf just in time.
He planted himself protectively in front of her and he began to concentrate. His horn began glowing faintly. In this moment, Twilight´s magic faded completely and the three bullies assaulted…and ran against an invisible wall. They tumbled and held their heads in pain and confusion. Bleach smirked.
“And now: Back off!” he yelled and another sudden pulse of magic sent them backwards through the air.
Groaning loudly, the three bullies landed on the ground. Reluctant, they rose to their hooves and slowly withdrew from him. Their confusion about the things that happened held them back.

Twilight and Silverleaf only watched the scene with amazement.
“Wow, Bleach! That was awesome!” Twilight cheered beaming. He only looked back at her sheepish smiling and shrugging. But then he noticed…
“Twilight, watch out!” he and the silver filly suddenly shouted.
She looked behind her with a questioning look. “What-AAAAAH!”
They totally had forgotten the bully-leader. The red colt bucked and kicked Twilight through the air. She landed hard on the ground, groaning. Only one second later, a pulse of Bleach´s magic carried him off and the bullies´ leader disappeared in a bed of high-grown red flowers.
Bleach and Silverleaf ran over to Twilight and helped her rising back to her hooves.
“Are you all right?” Bleach asked concerned. She nodded.

“You´ll regret this, I swear to you!” a voice behind the trio announced. They looked back in wonderment. The red stallion slowly rose back to his hooves, his face a grimace of hatred. “Just wait until tomorrow, Silverleaf! Then, your friends aren´t around you! This´ll have bad consequences for you!”
The three glanced at each other…and then suddenly started to laugh loud. They fell on their backs and rolled in the aisles.
“What´s so funny about that?” the colt shouted angrily and the three friends only laughed louder.
He looked to his companions with an asking look and noticed that they tried to stifle their laughs. “What the hay is so funny?” he screamed out loud again. Now, his friends can´t hold back any longer and started laughing too.
“What the hay…”
And then, he realized. He looked down to his hooves and recognized the red Burning Hoax he had landed in. One of his hooves went to his throat. He mumbled some words for himself.
He growled.
“SHIT!” he shouted with his new high-pitched girlie-voice and forced the others only to laugh louder at him.

“That isn´t funny!” he yelled at his companions with his girlie-voice and chased after them. A moment later, they were out of sight.

“I think, they won´t bother us again so fast!” Bleach meant still laughing…


______________________________________________________________________


“That was really close!” Silverleaf said relieved, resting on the top of a climbing frame next to the swing sets and her friends. Twilight was resting on one swing while Bleach was inspecting her left hind leg.
Her knee was skinned and bleeding because of the bully-leader´s attack. The white colt put a patch out of his saddlebag and placed it over her wound. Luckily, his parents always put some of them into his saddlebag for emergencies. They knew, Bleach sometimes was a little bit…stormy. And some small wounds are always a side-effect of this trait.
“Alright, that´s it!” he announced. “Feeling better now?”
“Yes!” Twilight beamed. “Thank you!”
She savored his attention and the rough but still soft hooves caring her injury.

“Do you know what also would help healing the wound?” Silverleaf suddenly asked, watching her new friends. They answered with a questioning look.
“Well, I only think about what my parents always did when I had a ‘booboo’…” she hinted cheeky grinning.
Both blushed, glancing sheepish at each other. Silverleaf giggled.
“You´re quite sassy regarding that we saved you from these idiots five minutes ago!” Bleach meant.
“Get used to it…” she sang in response.
Bleach and Twilight only giggled, happy and relieved to see her new friend this way.

“But now serious: Do you really think they won´t bother us anymore?” Twilight questioned her friend. Bleach shrugged.
“I don´t know, to be honest. If they´re intelligent, they do so. But precautionally, you should stay near other students and teachers when we´re not around at school.” He suggested. “We can only watch and wait.”
“Why don´t you simply beat them up? They´re weaker than you, we both saw it just moments before! Take them to task!”
Bleach only grimaced and snorted displeased in response. Twilight answered for him.
“That´s not the way, Silverleaf! Violence breeds only more violence! We´ll watch out and only act, if they lay a hoof on one of us again!”
“As you may suppose…” she only answered. “Thank you, anyway! Without you, I´d be a bunch of blood and bruises now…”
“Hey, we´re friends now! That goes without saying!”
Silverleaf´s answer was a happy beam. She never had had friends before and now, she had two at once.
For her, this was the best day ever!

After a while, Bleach also started climbing the monkey bars and Twilight started to swing. They enjoyed the rest of their time together until sun went down and it started to get dark.
Together they left the park and stopped one last time before they would split up.
“This was a great day!” Silverleaf beamed. “I really have to thank you two! I never had any friends before and you simply…”
“No need to thank us.” Twilight replied.
“Yeah, we simply couldn´t let you leave alone with these bullies in your neck! And moreover, you´re a very funny filly! We had so much more fun today than usually, right Twilight?”
“Right!” she assured beaming.
The silver filly beamed too.
“Hey, you know what?” She then asked.
“What?”
“Now that we´re friends, we should create a closet hoofshake! As a sign of our friendship! What do you mean?”
“Sounds great!” Twilight agreed. “Do you have something in mind?”
“Actually not, to be honest…”
“What about ‘all for one and one for all’?” Bleach suggested.
“Oh, you´re a fan of the Maresketeers?” He nodded. “Well, that explains your elegant way of moving!” Silverleaf said.
Twilight frowned. “Yeah, but isn´t that a little bit boring? And you said: create! ‘All for one’ is a little bit outdated, don´t you think so?”
“You´re right! It has to be something new! Or something not so familiar and well-known…”
“We should think a time about it. It hasn´t to be here and now!” Bleach suggested. “More important is that we are friends now and our friendship lasts forever, right?”
“Right!” both fillies agreed.

Finally, the trio separated and headed for their homes, happy to have one, or in one case: two, new friends and a bonds of friendship, that will last forevermore…