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// Chapter 8: Poison Jokes on You 
// Story: Friendship 101 
// by BrawnyBold 
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	With the upcoming hoofball game of the Wondercolts vs. the Fillydelphia Falcons, everypony was excited about it. This meant the Wondercolts would have to train like never before to become stronger. The cheerleaders would have to cheer their hardest to lift the players' winning spirits. From the minute Fireworks wakes up to the minute she falls asleep, she has been practicing nonstop. Fireworks was working on a new routine while she was with her classmates at the castle library. Princess Twilight thought that teaching her students about potion making would benefit them. Guide was so excited that she started working on some formulas for some good potions. Guide's classmates were with her because she needed somepony to test these potions. Guide was near a workbench as she did nothing but mix, heat, and pour ingredients. 
"Are you done yet?" Lone moaned.
"Chemicals can't blend within seconds." Guide said.
"Are you sure these potions won't do any harm on us?" Comfort said nervously. 
"Don't worry," Guide guaranteed. "these potions are made from safe ingredients that won't hurt anypony." she said as she poured some test tubes together. 
Lone and Comfort noticed that Fireworks was not focusing on the project and more on her cheer-leading. 
"Is it weird that Fireworks is focused just like Guide today?" Lone asked.
"I think there is a hoofball game tonight." Comfort guessed.
"Go! Go! Wondercolts! Go fast like lightning bolts!" Fireworks cheered as she finished with a pose. 
"She must really want the Wondercolts to win," Lone said.
"Some ponies say that this game could be the biggest for the Wondercolts." Comfort replied. 
Guide was trying to concentrating on her potions if it wasn't for Fireworks' cheers. "Fireworks!" Guide yelled.
Fireworks froze midway on her routine, showing that she was listening. "Yeah?" Fireworks asked. 
"This may not be a science lab, but can you please stop horsing around!" Guide said with a bit of anger in her voice.
"I would if I could...but," Fireworks landed with a perfect split. "I really need to practice."
"Well, can you at least get to a far distant so you don't break anything?" Guide asked.
Fireworks stuck her tongue out and walked farther away from the workbench. 
After that, Guide resumed with her project. Several minutes had passed and Guide finally completed her first potion. "Ta-da!" Guide said was she levitated a vile of blue liquid. 
Comfort was impressed from looking at the vile, but Lone just sat there with a raised eyebrow.
"What's in it?" Lone asked.
"Just a little potion that I made from some special plants." Guide said.
While Guide was explaining the long and complicated formula for her potion, Fireworks was preparing for another routine. 
"Okay Fireworks," Fireworks said to herself. "time for the Firewheel!" she started running at a short distance and made some large cartwheels all the way towards the the other students. Comfort and Lone got out of the way, but Fireworks ended up landing on top of Guide. This made Guide let to of the potion and it shattered on the ground. A large puff of blue vapor exploded in the library. Twilight and Spike heard the explosion and ran inside to see what happened. 
"What the hay is going on?!" Twilight called out. 
When the fog started to clear out, Guide was the first to appear. "I think we're all fine." Guide said, but she became shocked when Guide saw Twilight and Spike. "Hey, why is Princess Twilight red and why is Spike orange?" Guide then looked at her hooves and shrieked "Why are my hooves pink?!" 
Fireworks was the next pony to shriek when she appeared out of the fog. Fireworks started to panic from looking at her hooves, which were ten times larger than before. "My hooves!" Fireworks yelled. "How am I suppose to cheer now that my hooves are the same size as boulders. 
Lone was next to come out of the fog. He looked around his body to see any changes, but he was still the same pony. "Ha! Nothing happened to me!" Lone said with a high-pitched chipmunk voice. He quickly covered his mouth to prevent anypony else from hearing. Everypony did here Lone's new voice and Spike was laughing so hard that he rolled on the floor. 
"Th-this is even better than when Twilight and our friends were affected by the Poison Jokes!" Spike said.
Twilight ignored Spike's laughter and discovered that Comfort was nowhere to be seen. "Where is Comfort?" Twilight asked.
"I'm right here," Comfort replied but he was nowhere in sight. The other ponies looked around to find Comfort.
"Where?" Lone asked and he suddenly felt something on his shoulders. He quickly backed away and punched something very soft. 
"Ow!" Comfort yelled. 
It took Guide a few seconds to figure out what happened to their turquoise colt. "Comfort, The potion made you invisible!" 
"Whoa!" Comfort said. 
"Can anypony tell me what happened?" Twilight demanded. 
"Gladly," Guide insisted. "I completed a potion that had Poison Jokes as the main ingredient. Ms. Cheerleader just happened to land on top of me, causing the potion to shatter and the substance got on to us." 
Fireworks started to get into a panic frenzy. "W-we need to change back! The hoofball game is tonight and I can't cheer with these hooves." 
"Can't you just take a bubble bath? It is made of Poison Jokes after all." Spike suggested. 
"Yes, but the potion was also made of other chemicals, so taking a bath won't make the effects disappear." Guide explained. 
"Then how Guide?!" Fireworks yelled as she used her large hooves to shake Guide. 
Guide was able to recover from getting dizzy before she could reply. "The solution is to make an antidote to reverse the effects of the Poison Jokes." Guide tried to read some books on the table. "But unfortunately, color blindness makes me unable to tell which is red or blue."
"Spike and I can help you make the antidote." Twilight said as she walked to the workbench. Spike was too busy coming up with funny names for Twilight's students.
"Hmm....Guide Blind, Lone Chip, Firehooves ...and Camo Cub! Ha-ha!" Spike then went with Twilight to the workbench to help with the antidote. 
"Lone, Comfort, how about you two go help Fireworks get ready for the game, we'll meet you there when we are done." Twilight suggested. 
"Alright," Lone said as he made his way to the exit. "Let's go Comfort." 
"I'm already at the door, Lone!" Comfort yelled from far away. 
As the sun was setting, everypony made their way to the stadium for the hoofball game. Fireworks, Lone, and Comfort were behind the benches as they figure out what to do. 
"This is terrible!" Fireworks panicked. "The game is about to start and I can't go out there looking like this." Fireworks lifted her hooves, which was difficult because of their heavy weight. 
As Fireworks got more worked up, Lone tried to figure out what to say to calm her down. "Look, Fireworks," Lone said to get her attention. "I know that you're upset about what happened to you. Do you think you got problems? I have a chipmunk voice for Celestia's sakes!" Lone said with a serious tone, but it was hard for Fireworks not to laugh because it was high-pitched. You can't just give up just for some big hooves! The ponies here didn't come to see you quit! They came to see the Wondercolts win this game and the team can't win without that burning spirit inside of you!" 
Lone's words now made Fireworks tear up with hope. How could she have forgotten how important cheering was to not only to herself, but also to the ponies who needed it. Fireworks wiped off the tears and a new confident formed inside of her. "Thanks, Lone." Fireworks gave Lone a big hug, which caused him to suffocate due to the large hooves.
"There, finish!" Comfort said cheered as he showed Lone and Fireworks what he had made. It was a pair of large, blue and yellow pom-poms that were big enough for Fireworks hooves. "These pom-poms will are big enough to hide your hooves so no pony will notice." Comfort said as he helped Fireworks put them on. 
"They're perfect, Comfort!" Fireworks said with joy, "But, how did you make them?" 
"Oh, it was easy," Comfort replied. "I simply sewed those spare pom-poms together to make them bigger." 
Fireworks felt as little ticked, considering that those were her backup pom-poms. But she decided to let it go because Comfort didn't know any better. 
The intercoms called for all cheerleaders for the opening ceremony for the teams. "You better get out there and cheer for the Wondercolts. Comfort and I will find a spot to cheer you on." Lone said. Fireworks thanked Lone and Comfort before she went into the locker room to change into her uniform. After that, Fireworks made her way towards the other cheerleaders. Fireworks was able to make it in time to stand on her position next to an earth pony named Pigtails, a close friend of Fireworks. Pigtails had dark yellow manes that were tied into two long pigtails that reached all the way to the floor. Her coat was light pink and her cutie mark was a white pony mannequin head that wore a brown wig. Pigtails smiled when she saw Fireworks arriving to the position. 
"Hey Fireworks!" Pigtails said with relief.
"Hey Pigtails," Fireworks replied nervously. 
"Where have you been?" Pigtails demanded. "Coach Boots was about to have a fit if you didn't make it on time." 
"I...had some last minute errands to run, yeah that's it." Fireworks was giving a smile to show that she was fine. 
"Okay," Pigtails shrugged and turned back into position. 
Lone and Comfort were lucky enough to find some seats with a good view of the game. However, Comfort 's invisibility made things worse for him each time a pony tried to sit where he was or when a vendor throws peanuts at Comfort's face. 
It was five o'clock and the intercoms turned on. "Mares and gentlecolts, welcome to today's game of hoofball!"  Everypony cheered and clapped their hooves with excitement. "Let's give it up for the home team, the Wonderful Wondercolts!" 
Two cheerleaders opened a Wondercolts banner and several colts in blue and yellow hoofball uniforms ran through the banner. The ponies cheered as the Wondercolts made their way to their area. 
"Now, let us introduce the opponents of tonight's game!" The announcer said. "Similar to their mascot, they flew high through every victory during this season. Will this be another win for them? Give it up for...the Fillydelphia Falcons!" Another pair of cheerleaders opened up a Fillydelphia   Falcons banner and some colts in red and black uniforms appeared. "Now, let's start off with the Equestia National Anthem!" 
Several ponies in uniforms marched across the field as they held the large flag of Equestria. The marching band began playing the anthem as the flag stood tall and high. After the anthem, the cheerleaders went into position before they started their cheer. 
"You know," Lone whispered to Comfort. "I don't see what's the big deal about hoofball anyway."
The music played and the cheerleaders did their routine.The cheerleaders made some amazing flips and spins each time they jump. "Go Go Wondercolts! Go fast like lightning bolt!" Even though Fireworks' hooves were heavy, that didn't stop her from cheering. The cheerleaders finished things off with a group pose, which made everypony scream and hit the benches even louder. 
After they watched the cheerleaders, Lone turned to Comfort with a sly smile , saying "I'm starting to like this game." 
The game went on for two hours and the scores were tied. The cheerleaders were in a huddle as they figure out a plan. Among the cheerleaders was an older, dark-green mare who was Coach Boots, the cheer-leading coach. 
"Alright ladies," Coach Boots said. "It's still half-time and we really need to cheer our hardest to help our team win." she turned to Fireworks, "Ms. Fireworks, I believe it's time for you to shine by leading the cheerleaders for that finishing move of yours."
Fireworks felt her heart race when she knew what her coach was talking about. The Cheer Tower was a complex cheer routine that she and the other cheerleaders have been practicing for the past months. They were able to perform the routine perfectly because Fireworks didn't have large hooves back then. Fireworks felt very scared from the pressure until she remembered what Lone had told her, even though his chipmunk voice was still funny. 
Fireworks nodded and said "Yes, I can!"
"I knew I could, now let's go ladies!" Coach Boots yelled and the cheerleaders made their way to the field. Once the cheerleaders were on their positions, they began performing the Cheer Fountain. This routine involves each mare to spin jump to form a tall tower made of ponies. The cheerleaders started the stacking and Fireworks started to get more nervous. It was until Fireworks saw all of Ponyville, along with Lone and Comfort, cheering for the Wondercolts. After Pigtails jumped and landed on her spot, Fireworks was next as she did flips towards the stack of ponies. It felt difficult as Fireworks' hooves made her weight heavier. She finally jumped from the ground and performed the longest she had ever pulled. Fireworks landed right on top of Pigtails' fore hooves with her back hooves. The weight from Fireworks' hooves made it difficult for the bottom cheerleader to maintain balance. Everypony faced suspense as they watched to see if the tower will stay strong or fall apart. From a stroke of luck, the tower remained in balance and Fireworks struck a pose to make it part of the act. Everypony was silent for a few seconds until they cheered for the cheerleaders' excellent performance. At the same time, the Wondercolt quarterback was able to make it to the goal and made a touchdown. 
Twilight, Spike, and Guide made their way to Lone and Comfort. Guide was no longer color blind and she was very happy.
"Guys!" she yelled as she levitated a vile of light blue liquid. "We finally made the antidote!" Guide's jaw dropped when she saw the tower. "Fireworks did that?"
"Yep," Lone replied. "Even with large hooves, Fireworks still made it possible."
The crowd cheered as the Wondercolts gathered for their victory huddle for winning the game. Most parts of their victory wouldn't have been possible if it wasn't for Fireworks' burning spirit for cheering.