That morning at the school, everypony was waiting anxiously to hear the results of the test (I however already know what my results will be, so there's really no point for me to be worrying). But meanwhile, the two snobs were busy plotting to even think about their grades.
"I don't know Diamond," said Silver Spoon, "I still think that Sheldon is like more interested in Apple Bloom."
"If forcing him to be your boyfriend isn't enough," Diamond analyzed, "then maybe we need to have Apple Bloom break his heart."
"And how are we like suppose to do that?"
"Why do you think those Blank Flanks hate us to begin with?"
"Because we're like better than them at everything."
"Exactly. So if we were to convince Apple Bloom that he's better than her, then she'll end up hating him, and he'll have no choice but to stick with you."
"That sounds very foolproof, Diamond; but what is it that Sheldon can do that Apple Bloom can't? It's not like he can get a perfect score on the test."
As soon as she said that, Ms. Cheerilee had finally came in to announce the results. "OK everypony, I know that some of you can do better, and I won't point out who, but it seems we got ourselves a prodigy."
"Ms. Cheerilee," Sweetie Belle raised her hoof, "what's a prodigy?"
"It's a term for genius, Sweetie."
"And who is it?" Diamond eagerly asked.
"Well as much as I don't like putting ponies on the spot, but it would seem that Sheldon had answered every question correctly."
If you don't like putting ponies on the spot, then why did you do it? anyway, while everypony seemed to be impressed by this small accomplishment, Diamond Tiara had a devilish grin on her face as she said to Silver, "You were saying?"
...
When school was finally over for today, Ms. Cheerilee was making some brief announcements while everypony was rushing on out. "Now remember everypony, tomorrow is Family Appreciation Day; so don't forget to bring one of your family members to school." As I was about to walk out as well, she stopped me and said, "And Sheldon, I almost forgot. Seeing as how you're the new top student, it's only fair that you receive this." And for no reason at all, she places some star sticker on my board...yeah, that's pretty much the reward you get for passing a test.
Anyway, when I had left the school, I came to my friends--who just happen to be talking to the Cutie Mark Crusaders--and when they saw my star sticker, they of course were amazed. "All right Sheldon," said Rumble, "you got yourself a gold star!"
Scootaloo noticed that I had an expression on my face that suggested that I didn't seem to care. "Gee, you act as if you've never had a gold star before."
"Exactly," I've written on my board. "Back at my old school, the only reward the teacher would give us is not calling us an idiot."
"Oh Sheldy!" that was when I was glomped by the silver menace herself. "Like how's my handsome genius?!"
And then she was joined by the pink she-devil. "Check it out Silver, your boyfriend's got a gold star!"
"That's like because nopony's as smart as him!"
"Especially you, Apple Bloom!"
"And what's that suppose ta mean?!" Apple Bloom asked in offense.
"It like means that Sheldy is much better than you at anything!" Silver Spoon claimed.
"Just because he made a few lucky guesses on one test, doesn't make him better than me."
"Lucky guesses" is a bit of an understatement. As I was thinking this, Diamond Tiara told her, "Wanna put a wager on that, Blank Flank?"
"I don't know, what do ya have in mind?"
"Why don't you and Sheldon compete in some challenges and prove just who the better pony is?"
"All right, I'll accept yer challenge. But on one condition: my friends get ta be the ones who chooses the challenges."
"Fine by us," said Silver. "Because anything you can do, Sheldy can like do better!"
"We'll see about that."
The first round was hay pushing: and seeing as how Rumble was the one who came up with this challenge, it was he who went over the rules. "OK this one should be simple: the first pony to push their bale of hay over the finish line wins."
As we were preparing ourselves, Diamond Tiara was giving me a pep talk. "OK Sheldon, now remember why it is you're doing this..."
Before she could tell me more, I just had to write this down. "Is this really necessary?"
"Of course it is," said Diamond. "You're trying to show that Blank Flank who's the better pony."
"But is it really worth it?"
"It will be afterwards; because when this is over, I'm treating you and Silver Spoon to a romantic dinner all to yourselves."
Yeah, a star sticker is starting to sound like a better reward at this point. Anyway, as me and Apple Bloom were standing in front of the giant bales of hay, I gave her a look that suggested a bit of sportsmanship; all she gave me was the look that you'd expect from an overly competitive type of pony. But when we did finally start, it was clear that pushing a bale of hay is harder than it looks. Apple Bloom might've been struggling while pushing hers, but I could barely move mine an inch. Seeing as how I just want to get this over with, I decided to keep pushing it while I was applying some pressure with my Mind Powers. And you can probably imagine the looks on everypony's face when they saw me cross the finish line.
"OK, this one shouldn't be too hard," Pecan explained. "Whoever scores the most points wins." In case you're wondering, the next round was a simple game of horseshoes. While the others were cheering for Apple Bloom, I could hear her inner voice say, "This one I can't lose." And she then tossed all three of her horseshoes--and neither of them had landed on the stake.
When it was my turn, the two snobs were of course giving me their little cheerleading routine, but all I had to do was toss and direct all three horseshoes with my mind and had them all land on the stake. And like before, everyone couldn't believe what they saw--especially Apple Bloom.
And so we came to the third round; Apple Bloom herself had chosen this one, and she seemed confident that I wasn't going to win this one. The game she chose was basically some type of guessing game: while Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle picked a card with some image, Apple Bloom would press a button of a certain image to see if it was the same one. So basically this is the kind of game that only a Mindbender like me could win. While she was guessing, I noticed she was doing this stupid thing that involved rubbing her hoof on her head. Yeah, like that's suppose to improve your perception.
After failing to get any of them right, she turned to me and said, "I'd like ta see you get any of 'em right." When she selected a card, I could hear her inner voice say, "Heh, there's no way that he'll pick the heart." And I did just that. She then picked another one, "He won't pick the blue star." You bet I did. She was getting slightly agitated when she picked the next one, "Now I know fer a fact that he won't pick the green clover." Boy was she wrong. A scowl was slowly forming on her face at this point. "I swear ta Celestia if he picks the yellow circle." But to her everlasting dismay, I did pick it. Instead of picking another one, she just tosses the table away and shouted, "That's it, I'm finished with this!"
As she was storming back to her home, Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara both started to brag over it. "I like knew that some Blank Flank couldn't stand a chance against my Sheldy!"
"Was there really any doubt?" and while they did their flank shake and continued bragging some more, I took this time to sneak past them and tried to follow Apple Bloom.
While this was going on, somewhere in Sweet Apple Acres, Tex was in the room of his girlfriend as they were both lying in bed with one another. "You sure can show a stallion a real good time, Applejack." Said Tex.
And his girlfriend, whose name is Applejack, said to him, "I only save the best fer my special somepony." And as soon as they started to smack each other's lips, that's when they saw Apple Bloom and me coming. They both looked out the window as Applejack pointed out, "Looks like my sister's finally comin' back. But who's that blue colt?"
"That's Sheldon," said Tex. "He's Pecan's new friend."
"But why is he followin' Apple Bloom?"
"Well I did remember Pecan mentionin' somethin' about Sheldon havin' a crush on her."
"Really? Well ain't that just adorable; my little sister's already havin' herself a little admirer."
And this was when Apple Bloom turned and snapped at me, "Will you go away already?! You've beaten me at everythin', so just get lost!"
I took my chalk and wrote down, "Did I do something to upset you?"
"Ya dang right ya did! You pretty much humiliated me in every game!"
"I wasn't trying to make you look bad." I erased that sentence. "I was just trying to get it over with."
"Ya mean so you could hang around with yer snobby girlfriend?"
"She's not my girlfriend." I erased that statement. "I don't care what she or Diamond say, we're not in a relationship."
"Oh, and I suppose we are?! That's right, I know about these 'feelings' that you're havin' tawards me; and I'm telling ya right now that it'll never happen! My friends might've told me that you love me, but if you can't even admit it yerself, then why should I bother believin' ya? So why don't you just do yerself a big favor, and stop wastin' yer time!" and then she went into her house.
As I stood there, I drooped my head down as tears started to fall out of my eyes. I guess the flower petal was wrong. And so I just turned away as I silently sobbed away home.
Meanwhile, Apple Bloom was watching me leave through a window. "I thought he'd never leave."
"Now Apple Bloom, was that anyway ta be talkin' ta yer little boyfriend?"
She turned and saw Applejack and Tex with playful smirks on their faces. "Applejack, he ain't my boyfriend! Besides, I don't even love him!"
"Then why are ya blushin'?" asked Tex.
"I'm just angry, that's all!"
"And why's that, sugarcube?"
"Because Sheldon kept beatin' me in every game we could come up with!"
"Isn't that cute, Tex, she already remembers his name."
"He's not my boyfriend! I don't want a boyfriend, and I don't need one! All I need is my Cutie Mark!"
As she stormed up to her room, Applejack said to Tex, "Young love."
"Don't you know it," said Tex. "Well, I better go home and check on Pecan." And so he kissed his girlfriend goodbye and went back to his home. While Applejack went up to have a private talk with Apple Bloom.
She knocked on the door and said, "Apple Bloom, I think we should talk."
"If it's about Sheldon then forget it!"
She went in anyway. "Now Apple Bloom, you should know better than ta be raisin' yer voice at that young colt. And he looked like he really liked ya."
"Just because he likes me, doesn't mean I have ta like him back."
"Well be that as it may, I think you should be a little more nicer ta him."
"What fer? he has his Cutie Mark, and he's datin' Silver Spoon; so what more could he ask fer?"
"That's because you don't know colts like I do. You see Apple Bloom, most colts want what they can't have--the same can be said for stallions. Like one time I remember this Trenderhoof fella who did nothin' but dote and fawn over me, and I was in no way interested in him--that is until I found out that he was only usin' me ta get closer ta Big Mac. But the point is Apple Bloom, there's gonna be a lot of colts who'll be attracted tawards you, and Sheldon's one of 'em."
"But I'm not even interested in him or any colt at school."
"Maybe not right now, but at some point you'll start seein' him in a different perspective." And with that said, she left the room and allowed Apple Bloom to think over the matter.