Ten More Yards

by 5aszs

DIME

“How the hay did you get that?!”

Atomic and Delilah were still in the former’s bedroom when Delilah announced that she was escaping from the home with a key.

“Took it from one of the staff before they knocked me out. Now come on, let’s go!”

Atomic slowly got out of his bed and looked out of his window, where he could see two large stallions standing guard outside the home’s entrance.

“How are we gonna get past them?”

The filly looked out of the window and swore under her breath.

“Didn’t even think of that.”

Atomic fell back onto his bed and sighed.

“Why did you choose me to help? Don't you want to escape with one of your friends here?”

The filly sat down next to Atomic. “They’re not my friends, they’re too far gone.”

“What do you mean?”

The filly sighed. “They took you to a hospital before you got here, didn’t they?”

Atomic nodded.

“That’s where they put something inside you. When they bring you here, you’re given a new name.”

Atomic pressed down on his stomach. “I knew they put something inside me!”

“Every few weeks, some doctors come to give everypony a check-up, and one of us is taken away back to the hospital. I don’t know what they do there but whenever they come back, they look like they’ve been to Tartarus and back. The last filly they took came back with a massive scar on her tummy.”

“What if they take out whatever they put inside?”

“That's what I think happens as well. But that doesn't matter, we need to go.”

“I still have more questions!”

Atomic had spoken too loudly and he quickly slapped his hooves over his mouth. The filly jumped off his bed and quickly left the bedroom, closing the door behind her quietly.

“Delilah, what are you doing?”

“Sorry sir, I was just looking for the toilet. It's really dark, I can't really see anything.”

“.....Alright, but you go straight to your bed as soon as you’re done.”

“Yes, sir, thank you.”

Atomic heard his bedroom door open and he quickly fell back onto his bed and closed his eyes as a care worker came in. The stallion watched Atomic quietly, before picking up the empty glass and leaving the room.

That was close.

Atomic got out of his bed and slowly walked towards the door. Luckily for him, his door had not been closed properly and through the small gap, he saw Delilah come out of the toilet and head off down the hallway. Downstairs, Atomic heard the chatter of the care workers but he still wanted to play it safe. Inch by inch, Atomic pulled his door open, keeping an ear out for anypony coming up the stairs. When his door was more than hallway open and Atomic was sure that nopony was coming, he stepped out into the hallway. Atomic peered over the bannister to check on the care workers one last time, and he was confident that he wouldn’t be caught. He moved away from the bannister, before suddenly realising that he did not know where Delilah had gone.

Brilliant, now I have to guess which room is hers.

Atomic walked over to the first door he saw, and he noticed that each door had a label on the front, and he hoped that this would make finding Delilah a lot easier. The first door had a large sticker stuck diagonally to the front and Atomic had to tilt his head to make out the name.

Definitely not her.

Atomic continued to read the labels on every single door that he passed, getting more and more frustrated. He finally reached the last door and didn’t bother reading the label on the front, opening the door.

“Sorry about that, I didn’t mean to be so loud,” he whispered, closing the door behind him.

Delilah had already opened her window and was currently looking out of it, not bothering to turn around and face Atomic.

“Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t just ditch you and make a run for it.”

Atomic blushed. “Er, because if we both go, then we’re less likely to get in any trouble. And I can fight off anypony that tries to stop us.”

“Fine. I could use somepony helping me.”

“Thanks, Delilah.”

The filly moved away from the window and motioned for Atomic to sit next to her, placing the key carefully on the windowsill.

“My name isn’t Delilah by the way.”

“It isn’t?”

“Just like your name isn't Shadow Mark.”

Atomic held out a hoof. “I'm Atomic Tangerine.”

The filly looked down at the hoof quietly for a few moments, before returning the gesture with a small smile.

“Amber Breeze.”

“So when did you come here?”

“About two months ago. I used to live in another foal’s home, but it got destroyed in a fire and we were all transferred here. The next thing I knew, I was in a hospital and these doctors were doing a blood test on me. After that, I woke up here, and all the social workers were calling me Delilah.”

“And what about the others? Were they alright?”

“…...No. My best friend, Daisy, used to always get in trouble, and they kept giving her an injection to knock her out. Soon, I noticed that she was losing weight and she looked really thin. When the doctors would come to check up on us, Daisy was the one that they always took away, and she always came back in the night unnoticed. Then a few weeks ago, she fainted during dinner and the doctors came to take her away. I overheard one of the doctors tell a care worker that Daisy was too weak, and that her body couldn't handle everything that was being put inside it. I haven’t seen her since.”

Amber stared off into the distance quietly, and tears threatened to spill out of the corners of her eyes.

“I’m sorry, Del-Amber.”

Amber suddenly got up off her bed. “And that’s why we have to get out of here, so that we aren't next.”

Atomic got up as well. “Wait, you didn’t give a proper reason on why I’m coming.”

Amber smiled. “I wanted to see if you were good enough to come with me, and I think you held your own at dinner.”

“Your punches did hurt a lot.”

“Sorry about that. Now, how should we do this?”

Atomic and Amber looked out of the window. Amber’s bedroom window was at the back of the house, and the window showed that large bushes surrounded the back of the house and behind them there was a large fence enclosing the house.

“So do we just climb out and drop down?” Amber asked, and Atomic shook his head.

“The drop is too big, we’re just gonna hurt ourselves.”

What to do, what to do…..

Atomic suddenly gasped and moved away from the window, sprinting over to the wardrobe and pulling out different clothes.

“What are you doing?”

Atomic reached the bottom of the wardrobe and pulled out a few long dresses.

“We can tie these together and hang it down from your window.”

“And then we slide down on them?”

Atomic nodded, and together the two made a long rope out of Amber’s clothes. Atomic dragged it over to the window and tied one end of the rope to the window’s handle, and he dropped the other end down.

“You can go first, I’ll keep watch,” Amber said, and Atomic climbed onto the windowsill and grabbed the rope, slowly moving off the windowsill. Once all four of his legs were holding onto the rope, Atomic began sliding down the rope slowly, stopping every few seconds to readjust his balance.

AAHH!

Atomic scrambled back up the makeshift rope, tucking his hind legs up.

Amber stuck her head out of the window. “What happened?”

“They're gonna see me! They’re in the living room!” Atomic hissed, and Amber began to panic.

“Um, okay, we could…….swing! I’ll swing the rope and you’ll jump off when I tell you.”

Amber reached up and gripped onto her end of the rope.

“It's….too….heavy,” she said through gritted teeth, and Atomic began to try and swing himself to try and help. Eventually, Amber was able to swing the rope with him and when Atomic was sure the coast was clear, he swung forward and jumped into the air, managing to land on all four hooves.

“Okay, now it's my turn.”

Amber clambered onto the rope as Atomic kept watch for her, checking through the window every few seconds to make sure they weren’t caught. Through the glass window separating Atomic and the care workers, the colt tried to listen in on their conversation.

“Brutus, it's your turn to check on the foals! I did it last time!”

Atomic watched one of the stallions grumble before getting up and leaving the room.

“Amber, he’s coming to check on everypony! Hurry up!”

Amber gave up trying to carefully go down the rope and she pushed herself off the rope and jumped, hitting the ground hard.

Atomic rushed over to her. “Are you okay?”

Amber slowly pushed herself off the ground. “...I’ll be fine. Let’s go.”

The two foals pushed through the bushes that they had landed next to, trying to reach the fence as quickly as they could.

“Hey, Delilah isn’t her room! And what the buck is this?!”

The care worker charged with checking on the foals walked over to the window and looked out of the window. Suddenly, he realised what had happened.

“Hey, call security now!”

Atomic and Amber had finally reached the fence, and they began climbing. Meanwhile, the two guards stationed at the front of the home had been notified of the escape, and they were on their way to the back of the field.

“Do you think they’ve checked our rooms yet?” Amber asked, and Atomic shook his head.

“Nah, but let’s get out of here before that happens.”

“Hey!”

The two foals turned around and were terrified when they saw three stallions galloping to them, two of them holding large batons. The foals moved their hooves faster to reach the top of the fence as quickly as they could.

The stallions reached the foals and began swinging their batons high in the air, hoping to catch the foals’ hind legs and stop them. The care worker that had raised the alarm began scrambling up the fence, and the gap between him and the foals became smaller and smaller with each passing moment.

Atomic was the first to reach the top of the fence and he precariously stood at the top before dropping down. Amber was right behind him, but the care worker had caught up to her and he began to pull her back down by her hind leg.

“Atomic, help!”

Atomic pushed a hoof towards the fence and tried to pull the stallion off Amber. When that did not work, he climbed back over the fence and dropped down onto the stallion, and they both hit the ground.

“Amber, go!”

Atomic yelled at her to climb over the fence just before he was dragged away by the guards, but Amber had another idea. She dropped down from the fence and picked up several stones lying around nearby. When she gathered a small pile, she sprinted towards Atomic and the adults, throwing the rocks at the stallions. Whilst some were wildly off-target, several stones hit the stallion’s eyes and noses, their grip on Atomic loosened enough for him to get free.

“Come on, let’s go!”

Amber and Atomic ran back to the fence and they were able to climb over and drop down. They quickly hid behind another set of bushes that were on their side of the fence and waited silently, pushing holes through the leaves to see what was going on the other side of the fence.

“How the buck did you two idiots let them escape?! It's your job to stop them!” Brutus (the care worker that had chased after Atomic and Amber) yelled.

“How the buck were we supposed to know that they would try and escape from the back?!” the guards replied.

The other care workers had all reached the back of the home, and they told the arguing stallions to calm down.

“They won’t get far anyway, we'll just tell Mr X to tell his guys to keep a lookout for them.”

“I’ll go send that letter now.”

The foals waited until the care workers and security guards had left before coming out of the bushes.

“Are they gone?”

Amber nodded and sighed loudly.

“Well, we’re out of that hellhole. Where do we go?”

The foals found themselves standing next to a long, winding concrete path that appeared to led into a road of houses in the far distance.

“Let’s go down here, I think I can see some houses in the distance,” Amber said, and the two set off.

---

“Is this path ever gonna end?”

Twenty minutes later, the foals were no closer to reaching the end of the path. They passed through some woodland and Amber even spotted an owl swoop down and catch a mouse. But the sightseeing hadn't alleviated their fatigue, so Atomic suggested that they play a game.

“Two truths and a lie?”

“Yeah, basically you have to tell three things about yourself, two are truthful and one is a lie. The other pony has to guess which one is the lie.”

Amber thought about it momentarily, before nodding.

“Okay I’ll start; I love brownies, I love reading and Nick Foals signed my jersey two months ago.”

“It has to be the Nick Foals one, there’s no way that‘s true.”

“And the lie is….I love reading!”

“No way, you’re telling me you met Nick Foals?!”

“It's the truth! When the Dragons played Cloudsdale in September, my dad got us tickets to the game. We got to our seats early and we were watching Nick practise when he messed up a catch and it hit me on the nose. My dad ran inside to get a first aid kit, and Nick came up to me, apologised and signed my jersey!”

“How do I know that’s the truth?” Amber said with a laugh.

“I would show you my jersey, but it's in my room.”

“Alright, I’ll take your word for it. Now, it's my turn. I’m scared of spiders, I once got caught trying to graffiti the hallway at my old school, and…...I don’t know how to swim.”

“Um…..I’m gonna say…...the first one is a lie.”

“Nope, I’m actually really scared of spiders.”

“So you actually tried to graffiti in your old school?! Now that’s a story I have to hear!”

“Alright I’ll tell you-”

Amber suddenly pulled Atomic behind a nearby tree, and told him to be quiet. On the path that they had just been walking on, the foals saw a large group of stallions walking down it, and the pony in front suddenly came to a stop.

“They’re gonna be somewhere in this forest, so spread out and look everywhere!”

The stallions dispersed, and some were heading towards the area that Atomic and Amber were hiding behind.

“We need to move, now!”

The foals darted through the forest, making sure that they avoided the ponies searching for them. Suddenly, Atomic tripped over a stary branch and he landed on top of a jagged rock that pierced his stomach. He felt something move inside his stomach, and he knew that something bad had happened.

“Argh, it really hurts!” Atomic hissed as he slowly got up, and Amber spotted the thick line of blood flowing out of the deep wound.

“It looks really deep, Atomic!”

Atomic whispered that he would deal with the wound when they got to safety, and he grabbed a leaf and pressed it down on his stomach to stop the bleeding. With three legs, Atomic followed Amber through the forests, and they were soon close to the end of the woodland.

“Hey, look what I found!”

The foals dove into another set of bushes and watched a stallion find a small pool of blood several yards away.

“Look, there’s a trail!”

A stallion lit up a torch, and a group followed the trail, slowly coming closer to where the foals were hiding.

“We need to make a run for it, they’re gonna find us. Do you think you’ll be able to run?”

Atomic winced as a branch poked his wound, but he nodded determinedly.

“Alright then, we need to distract them first.”

Amber scanned their surroundings and picked up a few pebbles. She went back behind the bush and flung them in the air. The pebbles ended up reaching nearly thirty yards away, and Amber hoped that the distraction would give them enough time to escape.

“They’re over there!”

As Amber had hoped, the stallions galloped over to where the pebbles had landed.

“Now, let’s go!”

Amber pulled Atomic up and when she had checked that the stallions were distracted, she dragged the injured colt out from behind the bush and they began to run.

“Hey!”

The stronger and faster stallions quickly began to chase after the foals. Atomic dropped the leaf he was holding on his wound and ignored the blood running down his body, desperate to escape. He saw that they were coming up to a row of houses and he led Amber to run behind them, hoping to confuse the stallions. They continued running until they reached one of the houses in the middle.

“D’you think they’re gonna catch us?!” Amber said, and Atomic began to shake his head when he suddenly winced and grabbed his head.

“Are you okay?!”

“No, I think I’m gonna-”

“What are you kids doing in my garden?!”

The elderly mare squinted her eyes and stepped onto the grass.

Atomic began to stumble and Amber caught him before he fell.

“Please Miss, you have to help us, my friend is-”

“Oh my goodness!”

A small line of blood began to run down Atomic’s face from his nose as he collapsed.

---

“Wait, could you tell us that again?”

“So I was on my night time patrol, when I heard a voice crying for help in the alleyway…..”

Inspector Skychaser took the officers through the events of his last shift, and when he was finished, the officers checked over their notes.

“So the last thing you remember is checking the stallion’s wound?”

“Yeah, I looked down at his hoof, and the next thing I know it's nearly nine o’clock and I'm lying behind a bin in the same alleyway.”

“And could you tell us what this stallion looked like?”

“He was...wearing a black suit, and he….had a really deep voice…….sorry, that’s all I remember.”

“It's alright Skychaser, thank you for coming forward.”

---

“Right, let’s go over what we know.”

In the aptly-named ‘war room’ of the West Fillydelphia Police Station, Lieutenant Charger stuck a picture of Pumpkin Spice on the pin up board.

“So we know that Atomic was last seen at home on Wednesday evening at approximately seven o’clock. His mother said that she told him to open the door for her aunt, who was supposed to coming home at that time.”

“So he was snatched on his doorstep? How come nopony saw it?”

“The foalnapper could’ve been able to go through the back of the houses, that why nopony could’ve seen him,” an officer called out, and Lieutenant Charger wrote this on a post-it note and stuck it onto the board.

“Can we confirm that the foalnapper is Marble?”

“Forensics ran tests on the hat, but they came back inconclusive,” another officer announced, and the lieutenant added to the pin up board.

“Have we had a chance to interview the aunt?”

The officers that had been looking for her yesterday stood up.

“We brought her in last night sir, we were going to go and interview her after this meeting.”

“Okay then, I’ll watch from behind the screen.”

The meeting finished twenty minutes later, and the two officers led the lieutenant to the interview room, where an irate Pumpkin Spice was waiting for them.

“Good morning, Miss Spice.”

“When are you gonna let me go?”

“Not just yet. We’d like to ask you some questions first.”

In the room next door, Lieutenant Charger greeted the two unicorns sitting and he pulled up a chair to sit next to them.

In the interview room, a folder had been placed on the table and the female officer took out a glossy piece of paper, turning it over and showing it to Pumpkin. “Do you know who this is?”

Pumpkin looked down at the mugshot and gulped. “Nope, never seen him before.”

The female officer looked at Pumpkin quietly for a few moments, before pulling the paper back across. The male officer leant forward.

“Pumpkin, this stallion says that you bought narcotics from him over a period of several months. Is this true?”

“No! Why the hay would I ever take drugs, who do you think I am?!”

The mare took over. “Pumpkin, please calm down. This would really help us find Atomic.”

Pumpkin fell silent, before sighing loudly.

“Okay, you got me. A friend of mine told me about these new dealers in the area a while back, and I….bought from them more than once. I would normally go to that abandoned house to get the stuff.”

“Was there another pony there whenever you went to the house?”

“Yeah, it was always two of them that would be there; one would weigh the right amount, and the other would take the money.”

The stallion took out another sheet of paper, and on it was the mugshot of the stallion that had been arrested during Mayfield Avenue's drug raid.

“Is this the other stallion that you saw in the house?”

Pumpkin nodded.

“Pumpkin, did you ever see any other ponies in that house?”

“Er, lemme think…...yeah, there was one time when I saw one of my dealers giving some guy in a suit money from a safe, but that was the only time.”

“Thank you for telling us.”

“Could you not…....tell my sister about this? She’s gonna get really pissed and I don’t think this would be good for her right now.”

There was a loud knock at the door and two officers suddenly walked in, and one of them was holding a pair of hoofcuffs. “I'm sorry, but we’re not gonna be able to do that Miss Pumpkin. You are under arrest for the use of narcotics.”

As the first officer began to read Pumpkin her rights, the other fastened her front hooves together.

“We’re gonna put you in a cell until tomorrow, we'll let you go after that,” the mare interviewing her said as Pumpkin was led out of the room and towards the cells.

---

“Don’t you worry my dear, I’ve already taken it out. He’ll be fine.”

Where the hay am I?

Atomic woke up on a plush sofa, covered by thick cotton blankets. He lifted his head up and saw Amber come into the living room, holding a bowl.

“Are you alright?”

Atomic nodded and Amber sat on the sofa next to him.

“Where did those guys chasing us go?”

“Apparently they gave up and left after half an hour. We’re safe here.”

Atomic slowly sat up on the sofa, pushing the blanket off his lower body. On his stomach, he saw that there was a new scab on his stomach, longer and redder than the last one.

“What happened to my tummy?”

“The mare that lives here know a surgeon that lives on her road. She brought him in and he took out what was inside you.”

“Which was?”

“A bag full of drugs.”

Atomic sat up fully. “What?!”

“Yeah, turns out they were putting drugs in us the whole time, and when they take you back to the hospital, they take them out.”

“How are you feeling, dear?”

The elderly mare slowly walked into the living room and sat next to Atomic.

“I’m okay now. Thank you so much for your help. You saved both of us.”

“No need to thank me, I only did what was necessary. I’ve already called the police and they’re sending officers to come and collect you now.”

“What about me?” Amber asked.

“Sorry, they didn’t say anything about me.”

“Don’t worry, you’re gonna come with me, there’s no way I’m leaving you!”

Amber smiled and thanked Atomic, and the two talked quietly to each other until there was a knock at the door.

“Where is he?”

“He’s just in the living room.”

Two police officers entered the living room.

“Hello, Atomic.”

Atomic slowly stood up. “Hi.”

“We’ve come to take you home.”

Atomic grinned before remembering his friend.

“She’s coming with me.”

The officers looked at each other before looking back to Amber.

“And what’s your name?”

“Amber. Amber Breeze.”

“Please, she doesn’t have anywhere else to go, and if it wasn’t for her, then we’d still be in that awful house,” Atomic pleaded.

“House?”

“We'll interview you later, Atomic. For now, you need to come with us.”

“No, I’m not leaving without Amber.”

“Atomic, don’t be stupid, go. Your family’s gonna be worrying about you. I’ll be fine,” Amber whispered.

“You’re coming too, let’s go.”

Atomic suddenly pulled Amber forward and out of the living room, pushing past the police officers.

“Thank you for taking care of them, you will be rewarded very soon.”

The officers shook hooves with the mare and left the house to find Atomic and Amber already inside their carriage. The officers decided that they should Foals both foals to the station, and they got into the front.

“What are the ponies at your school like?” Amber asked as the carriage set off.

“They’re alright, most of the ponies are nice.”

The two fell quiet and simply stared out of the windows next to them.

“You looking to seeing your family?” one of the officers asked, and Atomic nodded.

“I thought I was never gonna see them again. I’m just thankful Amber woke me up last night.”

“Well, we’re not too far away from the station now, so you won’t have to wait too long.”

The driving officer handed their walkie talkie to their colleague, who turned it on and pulled out the antenna.

“Base, this is Officer Sunshine, the report has checked out and we are on our way back with the target and another filly. Over and out.”

---

“Sorry I’m late, there was loads of traffic on the way here.”

The Fillydelphia Daily’s editor-in-chief stepped aside to let Syracuse into his office. Once the journalist had sat down, the editor closed his door and walked over to his chair on the other side of the large mahogany desk.

“Syracuse, how have you been?”

“I’m…….I’m doing okay, I guess,” Syracuse replied, before yawning loudly and rubbing his eyes.

“Are you sure?”

Syracuse sighed. “No, sir, I’m not alright.”

“Listen, I think you should take a break.”

“A break?”

“It isn’t good for your health to be here working every morning, you shouldn’t be forcing yourself to come here. Take a break, get some rest and come back when you’re ready.”

Syracuse nodded slowly, and he shook hooves with the editor. Suddenly, the door opened.

“Syracuse, the police are here and they want to speak to you,” the receptionist announced.

“Alright, see you soon.”

Syracuse quickly left the editor’s office and followed the receptionist downstairs to the ground floor, where two police officers were waiting for him the lobby.

“Are you Syracuse?”

Syracuse nodded.

“Is it about Atomic? Have you found him?!”

“We have found a colt in North Fillydelphia, and he’s currently being identified by your wife at the police station.”

“He’s at the station now?!”

The officers nodded, and Syracuse sprinted outside and jumped into the police carriage.

“Come on, let’s go!”

The officers left the reception and got into the front of the carriage, quickly setting off and joining the line of traffic.

---

“.....and that’s the last thing I remember. I woke up this morning and the mare gave us some breakfast before the police came.”

Atomic was being interviewed by two officers in a small room. As soon as he had arrived at the station, he had been separated from Amber and he believed that she was probably in another part of the station.

“What’s gonna happen to Amber? They’re not gonna send her away, are they?”

“We don’t know Atomic.”

The door was opened and another officer came in.

“They’re here.”

“Okay Atomic, could you turn around for us?”

---

“Please Faust, please let it be him.”

Tea Rose, Pumpkin Spice and Butterscotch were in the back of the police carriage that had come to their house to pick them up ten minutes ago. Pumpkin had been unable to avoid telling her older sister why she had been away from the house the previous night, and saying that Tea Rose was disappointed with her would be putting it mildly. Only the police’s arrival at their house had been able to stop Tea Rose’s lecture.

“It'll be him, Rose. Trust me.”

Tea Rose stroked her sleeping infant daughter’s mane out of her face and wiped a tear out of her own eye.

“But what if it isn’t? Then I’ll have just got my hopes up for nothing!”

The police carriage pulled up outside the West Fillydelphia police station and the officers helped Pumpkin get out Butterscotch’s pram. Once Butterscotch had been buckled in the pushchair, Tea Rose and Pumpkin were led inside the station and told to wait in the plastic chairs in the reception.

“Rose!”

Syracuse ran over to his wife and hugged her tightly.

“Did they tell you the news?!”

“Yeah, we’re just waiting for them to take us,” Tea Rose replied, and Syracuse sat next to his wife.

“Okay guys, if you could come with me please.”

The three adults were led through the station and into a long corridor of rooms. The officer walked to the first door and knocked, directing Tea Rose, Syracuse and Pumpkin through into a small space with a large glass pane.

“I’ll wait outside, you guys go in,” Pumpkin said as her sister and brother-in-law went inside, and Tea Rose left Butterscotch in her pushchair with Pumpkin.

“Just wait here, please.”

The couple stood quietly in the space, waiting as instructed. Tea Rose suddenly spotted the colt sitting at the table and gasped loudly.

“Is that-”

---

“Okay Atomic, could you turn around?”

Atomic turned around and saw the two most important ponies in his life that he thought he he would never see again.

“Mom! Dad!”

The door burst open and Atomic galloped to his parents, embracing them tightly. He felt his mother’s tears dampen his head and he gripped onto her tighter, hoping that this moment never ended. His father had the two wrapped around his forelegs and he also shed a few tears as Atomic slowly moved back from the embrace.

“Atomic, it's you, it's really you!” Tea Rose cried, before hugging him again. She took a tissue and blew her nose loudly as Syracuse picked his son up.

“Have I ever told you how much I love you?”

Atomic hugged his father and laughed as Syracuse swung him around in the air.

The officers sitting at the desk watched the reunion with huge smiles on their faces, a stray tear falling from their eyes.

“Is it him, is he back?!”

Pumpkin had burst into the room when she heard her sister’s cries, and she beamed when she saw her nephew. The two hugged eagerly and Atomic sat back down at the desk, with his parents and aunt standing behind him. butterscotch laughed loudly when she saw her older brother, and Atomic carefully took her out of her pushchair and hugged her.

“Okay Atomic, you’ve given us a full statement and we'll make sure that the ponies that did this to you will not get away with it.”

“Did what to you?”

Atomic stood up and pointed to the large scab on his stomach.

“Oh my goodness!”

“You guys are free to go home.”

“Wait, what about Amber? Where is she gonna go?”

“Sorry Atomic, we don’t know.”

---

“Amber’s the filly that I escaped with, if it wasn’t for her, I’d still be at that foal’s home.”

Atomic had spent the last few hours retelling the full story of his ordeal to his parents and aunt, and he was now at home eating some lunch, with the clock having just gone past three o'clock. The news that he had been found had been announced by Pumpkin to the neighbours, and there were plans to hold a large street party to celebrate.

“Here you go, I made them for you when you went to training,” Tea Rose said, placing a bowl of brownies in front of Atomic.

“Wait, was everypony looking for me?” the light blue colt asked, and Tea Rose nodded.

“It was your aunt here that organised the search, even your friends helped to look for you.”

“They did?”

“Yeah, I remember them saying that they had to find you before Friday cause something was happening then, but I have no idea what it was.

The tryouts!

Atomic suddenly pushed his plate back and stood up.

“Mom, I have to go to school, now!”

“For what?”

“The tryouts, I’m gonna miss them, it's nearly the end of school!”

Atomic ran out of the living room and dashed upstairs, coming back down a few moments later with his saddlebag.

“I’ll see you later, Mom!”

---

BRRIINNGG!

The pupils quickly packed up their bags and left the classroom, eager to get out of school as soon as possible. But for the colts that were staying behind after school, it was the event that they had been waiting for for weeks.

Thunderhoof, Banoffee Pie and Pacific Sail left Mr Topaz’s lessons together, complaining about the difficulty of the test that they had just completed.

“Watch when I get an F for this test,” Pacific complained.

“He probably finds it funny that everypony hated that test,” Banoffee added, and Thunderhoof nodded.

“At least we got tryouts now.”

“Look, I think they’re all going too,” Pacific said, pointing at a large group of colts headed to the buckball courts.

The three colts met up with their other fifth-grade friends, and despite not trying out, Chestnut was tagging along to support his friends. He was also attending the tryouts with other foals that were on the school newspaper to report on who made the hoofball team.

The group walked into the courts and followed the others that were headed to a waiting Mr Cobalt.

“Right, is that everypony?”

The colts all gathered in front of him and nodded, and Mr Cobalt led them down to the changing rooms.

“There’s a lot of big guys here,” Chestnut remarked, commenting on the fact that the majority of the colts trying out had at an above-average build.

“It’ll be fine, most of them will probably be running backs,” Thunderhoof replied as he pulled his shirt down over his head.

“Right, those of you that have already changed, come and take these to the field.”

Thunderhoof joined a few others and took two buckets of bibs with his magic.

I should go to the toilet first, I don’t wanna need it when the tryouts start.

Thunderhoof quickly put the buckets down next to the other ones. He shut his eyes and pictured himself standing in the colts’ toilets that were closest to the field. As his horn's magic died down, Thunderhoof opened his eyes.

It actually worked! Next time I should try doing it after the tryouts and see if I can get all the way home!

---

They won’t have started yet, I still have time.

Atomic sprinted through the school, ignoring the gasps from ponies that he passed, his only focus benign to get to the tryouts as soon as possible. He rushed into the toilets that were closest to the fields and saw that all of the cubicle’s doors were locked. He quickly knocked on the first one.

“Occupied!”

Thunderhoof!

Atomic went into the next cubicle and took out his PE shirt, quickly putting it on. He went out and checked himself in the mirror, before looking at the occupied cubicle with a grin. He suddenly knocked on the door and cleared his throat.

“I really need the toilet, the tryouts have already started!” he cried in a higher-pitched voice, hoping Thunderhoof would believe his impression of a younger student.

“Okay, okay, I’m coming out right now. There, it’s all-”

Thunderhoof turned around and fell silent, his mouth hanging open.

“Pleased to see me?”

“ATOMIC!”

Atomic staggered backwards to keep his balance as Thunderhoof squeezed him.

“You’re back, you’re alright!”

Atomic nodded, and the two eventually broke from the embrace; and Thunderhoof tried to discreetly wipe a tear from his eye.

“Dude, is that a tear?!”

“No, it’s just the wind….it’s really windy outside, that’s why,” Thunderhoof retorted, but there was no aggression behind the denial.

“How’s everything at school been?”

“Boring without you. But where the hay have you been?!”

Atomic sighed. “It’s a long story, I’ll tell you after the tryouts.”

“The tryouts, they’ve probably already started!”

The colts galloped out of the toilets and sprinted into the field, desperately trying to reach the others before it was too late.

“You know there’s gonna be loads of other receivers there,” Thunderhoof panted out, and Atomic grinned.

“It just means that I’ll do better than a lot more ponies. We’re making the team, 100%.”