Ten More Yards

by 5aszs

OPERATION AMBER

Thursday was an unusually warm winter day; the clouds had cleared to reveal a very bright sun, there was a light breeze blowing through the air and the general atmosphere was pleasant.

In the Tangerine household, Tea Rose had already bought the Hearth’s Warming tree and it stood in the far right corner of the living room, it’s base not yet covered by presents. Pumpkin Spice was due to be released from prison today and the family looked forward to her returning home. Tea Rose’s parents were also planning to visit later that day to see Pumpkin Spice.

At the dining table, Atomic and Butterscotch were both finishing off their breakfast (three slices of Prench toast with a glass of warm milk). Tea Rose cut the toast into small pieces and fed them to Butterscotch slowly, wiping her mouth with a tissue to keep her clean.

“Alright guys, I’m off.”

Everypony said goodbye to Syracuse as he left. Butterscotch pushed the plate away and shook her head, signalling that she was full. Tea Rose finished off the food and took Butterscotch upstairs to get changed for her playgroup.

“Atomic, put all the dishes in the kitchen and make sure you have everything in your bag,” Tea Rose said as she went upstairs, and Atomic replied that he had everything he needed for school that day.

Tea Rose and Butterscotch were ready to leave at the same time as Atomic, and for the first time since he was in the 4th grade, Atomic left for school with his mother and sister.

“Today would be a great day to have a picnic, don’t you think?” Tea Rose thought out loud.

Thundehroof called Atomic’s name and caught up to him, his saddlebag swinging back and forth from his body.

“Hey, we should go and get one of those vegetable wraps, I didn’t get time to have breakfast.”

“Excuse me?”

Tea Rose came to a sudden stop. She turned around slowly and Thunderhoof whispered an apology to Atomic.

“Is that what you two do every morning, waste time getting food when you’re supposed to get to school on time?!”

“No Mrs Rose, I was just….joking, you know, I was trying to make Atomic laugh,” Thunderhoof laughed nervously and lightly punched Atomic’s arm, who understood and laughed nervously as well.

“Do you think I was born yesterday?!”

“No, but uh, you do look very young for your age Mom,” said Atomic. Thunderhoof facepalmed.

“Clearly you two can’t be trusted to go to school and come home yourselves. So this is what's going to happen; I will be collecting both of you everyday from school. Understood?”

“Mom, that's not fair! I’m not a baby, I can come home myself! We won’t go to the shops ever again, we promise! Right Thunderhoof?”

Thunderhoof nodded.

“You won’t be going to any shops before or after school, because I’m going to be with you the whole time. Come on, let’s go.”

Atomic groaned and dragged Thunderhoof to walk in front of his mother.

“Great, now I’m gonna be starving until lunchtime,” Thunderhoof grumbled, putting his money back into his saddlebag.

“It's fine, Mom’s not actually gonna collect us,” said Atomic. “Anyway, how d’you think I’m doing with.. You know, the operation?”

“Good, but we don’t know if Amber likes you yet. Has she acted differently around you recently?”

Atomic subconsciously put a hoof on his cheek. He was about to tell Thunderhoof about Amber thanking him, but decided that Amber would probably want it to stay between them.

“No, not really. The same as always, I guess.”

“You’ve got today to hang out with her anyway, so it’s fine.”

When Atomic and Thunderhoof reached the school gates, Tea Rose said goodbye to her son and reminded Atomic that she would be waiting at the gates for him at 3:20.

“She’ll have forgotten by recess,” Atomic claimed.

The best friends met up with Chestnut inside and went to their homeroom early, Thunderhoof insisting that they should get some extra revision done early in the morning. Ms Ivory had started leaving her classroom unlocked for students to come in early and get some work done. Atomic, Thunderhoof and Chestnut were the only ones in room 7 on this occasion.

“If we wanna get into Lakefield, then we have to get high grades in January,” Thunderhoof said, taking out a quill and answering some practice Maths questions.

Atomic decided to do some English (since it was his weakest subject) and Chestnut and Thunderhoof were answering Maths questions together.

At 8:45, the bell rang and Atomic, Thunderhoof and Chestnut moved to their normal seats as their classmates came in.

Ms Ivory took the register and allowed the pupils to sit together to do some work quietly. Atomic asked Ms Ivory permission to go to the toilet and he left in a hurry, making a note to not drink so much milk for breakfast.

---

On the other side of the school, Amber Breeze was getting to know the other fillies in her homeroom class. For most of her life, Amber had never bothered socialising with the fillies both living with her and at school, instead choosing to play hoofball with the other colts. Deep down, she felt guilty for replacing her deceased friend Daisy, but she pushed those thoughts away.

“So you’re close to Atomic and Pablo, right?” a filly called Petal asked, and Amber nodded.

“Do you like them?” another filly asked.

“Yeah, why wouldn’t I be friends with them?”

“No, like you know...like like.”

Amber laughed. “No way! That’s weird!”

Skye, a tall blue filly sitting behind Amber, got involved in the conversation. “Okay but if you had to say who you’re closer too, who would it be?”

“Um...well, it would have to be….Atomic.”

“Why?”

“Because….he saved my life.”

After swearing them to secrecy, Amber spent the rest of homeroom telling the fillies her escape from the care home with Atomic.

As the first period lesson bell rang, Petal and Amber checked their timetables and saw that they had Science together.

“You know Atomic’s like your knight in shining armour,” Petal suddenly said.

“He is?”

“Yeah, he saved your life, so that's what he is.”

Amber laughed. “Yeah, I guess he is.”

On their way to Science, Amber and Petal walked past Pablo, and they said hi to each other.

“He’s normally such a jerk, but he’s been acting differently recently,” said Petal.

“Yeah, he’s actually a really nice guy once you get to know him,” Amber replied, and Petal looked at her.

“Do you have a crush on him?!”

“No!”

Amber looked around to see if anypony had heard them, but thankfully nopony was listening to them.

“Sorry, was that too loud?”

“Yeah. But no, I don’t like him. He’s just a friend.”

“Okay then, if you say so,” Petal giggled.

---

“Come on, we have to finish this before recess ends, or it won’t work!”

In the library, Atomic, Thunderhoof and Chestnut were rushing to finish writing all of the letters. Luckily for them, the library was mostly empty since the students wanted to take advantage of the pleasant weather before winter arrived properly. Since the weather was good, Atomic decided to use the field for his big plan to tell Amber how he felt.

Thunderhoof and Chestnut were writing out the clues for the ‘treasure hunting Atomic had planned, and the ‘treasure’ was going to be him confessing to her. He was still worried about being rejected, and he voiced these concerns to his friends.

“Even if she doesn’t like you back, she’ll still be your friend. Now stop worrying and help me decorate this clue.”

Atomic gave Thunderhoof another pack of felt tip pens and drew colourful borders around the edge of the paper.

“Guys, she’s coming!”

Chestnut spotted Amber come into the library with Petal and some other fillies. The colts rushed to hide evidence of the plan, pulling papers, felt tip pens and their bags off the table and into their laps.

Luckily, the fillies didn’t see the colts and headed straight for the desks on the other side of the library.

Atomic sighed in relief. “Coast is clear.”

The papers and pens were dumped back onto the table and the writing and decorating resumed. Suddenly the bell rang.

“No! Now I don’t have any time to put the clues out!”

The librarian got up from her desk and walked over to the center of the library. “Alright everypony, pack up your belongings and get to your lessons quickly, you don’t want to be late.”

Thunderhoof checked his timetable. “Ugh, we all have English next!”

As they packed up, Amber spotted Atomic as she was leaving and rushed over to him.

“Hey, we’ve got English next, lets go.”

“Er, you go ahead, I’ll catch up with you.”

As Amber walked away, Atomic came up with an idea to finish the clues, but as expected Thunderhoof and Chestnut were against it.

“No way! This’ll be like the fifth time we’ve skipped class! We’re gonna get caught!”

“No we won’t Thunder, it'll be fine. We'll go to the back of the field like we did the first time we skipped and we won’t get caught. Chestnut agrees with me, right?”

Chestnut shook his head briefly and Atomic sighed.

“Guys, if we don’t finish this today, then I’m never gonna get a chance to tell her, and you guys don’t want that, do you?”

“Why are you three still here? Come on, go to your lessons now!”

As they were kicked out of the library, Chestnut suggested that they should take the long way to the field, so that they weren’t seen by any teachers.

“So you’ve changed your mind?” Atomic asked.

“We spent all of recess doing this, we might as well finish this now.”

Thunderhoof sighed. “Alright, let’s go.”

---

“Come in.”

“Amber needs to go down to reception, Miss, to go to her doctor’s appointment.”

Amber looked up. “Huh?”

“Yeah, they’re waiting for you downstairs, Amber. Come on.”

Amber slowly packed up her books, going along with whatever Atomic had planned. Atomic picked up her saddlebag and pulled Amber out of the classroom, thanking the teacher as he shut the door behind him.

“Okay, what’s going on?”

“Come on, I’ll show you.”

Atomic led Amber across the corridor to the fillies’ toilets. On the door, an envelope was attached to it by sticky tape. At Atomic’s request, Amber took the envelope off the door and opened it, reading the letter inside.

First clue: what goes up and never comes down?

“Are you serious?”

Atomic nodded. “Come on, answer the riddle.”

Amber laughed. “You took me out of English to answer a riddle?”

“Trust me, there’s a really good prize at the end.”

“Alright then. What goes up and never comes down…..I know, your age right?!”

“That is…..incorrect!”

“What?! But that’s the only answer!”

“Come on, you can get this.”

Amber clearly was not going to be able to guess the right answer, so Atomic gave her a hint.

“A four letter word? Umm……..”

“I’ll give you another hint. It begins with l.”

“......love?”

“Yep, that’s right.”

Amber crossed her arms. “Okay, you need to explain this.”

Atomic cringed as he recited the answer Thunderhoof had come up with. “Because...love never stops. Like, when you get married, you always love your husband or wife forever.”

“.....Okay then.”

Hopefully that didn’t creep her out too much.

Atomic took the envelope off the door and crumpled into a ball and threw it into the bin outside the toilets.

“So where’s the next riddle?”

“Downstairs, and there’s going to be one more question after this one.”

As they walked quickly across the corridor, in his Science lesson, Pablo saw Atomic and Amber rush past the window. He was tempted to pretend to go to the toilets and followed them, but he shook his head and got back to his work. When his teacher wasn’t looking, Pablo reached under his exercise book and pulled out a piece of paper.

Blaze and Mustang advised Pablo to make a grand gesture of his affection, and with the help of a guitar player in their grade, he finished the last few lines of a song he planned to perform for her at lunch.

And….there! Perfect! Amber’s gonna love it!

Pablo put the paper carefully into his saddlebag and got back to doing his work. Every few moments he would look up at the clock, willing time to move faster.

---

“Okay, Here is the next question.“

Atomic and Amber had reached the second clue, which was down the main stairs and on the door of the colts’ toilets. Amber peeled the envelope off the door and ripped it open to pull out the next clue.

What is my favourite holiday of the year?

“Easy, it’s got to be Hearth’s Warming, right?Or maybe it’s Sugar Bowl Sunday, but I don’t know if that’s a holiday.”

“Er, no it’s actually…..Hearts and Hooves Day.”

Amber stifled a few giggles and Atomic blushed.

“Atomic, are you sure you’re feeling okay?”

Amber touched Atomic’s forehead to check his temperature.

Stay cool, stay cool, stay cool!

“Yeah, of course I’m fine.”

Amber stepped back. “Hearts and Hooves Day? That’s your favourite holiday?”

“Yeah, you’ll find out why in a bit.”

Atomic took the envelope and letter from Amber and put it in the bin. He took a deep breath to try and calm his nerves.

“So for the last clue...you’re gonna have to find it yourself.”

“Why?”

“Trust me, you’ll understand when you find it. It’s taped to the bottom of Miss Bellflower’s door.”

“Okay, that’s just crazy. I’m totally gonna get caught.”

“You won’t, trust me. Please? For me?”

Amber nodded, and Atomic hugged her tightly. He broke the embrace and walked away, hoping that Amber would make it to him before lessons ended.

Amber watched Atomic go, wondering what was going on. She had never seen him act so strangely, and she wondered what was going on.

Something’s up with him. The question is, what is it?

---

“Was it supposed to take this long?”

“No, he should’ve been here by now.”

At the back of the school field, Thunderhoof and Chestnut were beginning to get impatient. The last part of Atomic’s plan was to wait for Atomic to arrive, hide him using a spell Thunderhoof had recently learned and reveal him to Amber when she figured out the last clue so he could talk to her.

Thunderhoof sighed and stepped out from behind a tree slowly, making sure that nopony could see him. He sat down in front of the tree.

“Hey look, he’s coming!”

Thunderhoof followed Chestnut’s outstretched hoof and saw Atomic running as fast as he could across the field.

“She’s answering the last clue right now! Quick, get into position!”

Thunderhoof pulled himself up as Atomic reached them and hid behind the tree again.

“How did she react to the other questions?” Chestnut whispered.

“I don’t know, kinda weirdly. She was looking at me kinda funny and she even thought that I had a high temperature.”

“Don’t worry, it'll be fine once she gets here and you can talk to her,” said Thunderhoof, and Atomic eventually nodded.

“Hopefully she gets here soon, we don’t have long before lunch.”

---

Back inside the school, Amber was still looking for the last clue. Atomic hadn’t given her enough clues to find the last envelope and she was stuck wandering the school corridors, keeping a lookout for any envelopes taped to doors. After the one week suspension, she’d promised herself that she wouldn’t skip any more lessons, and she hoped that a teacher didn’t appear and catch her skipping class.

Finally!

On Ms Ivory’s door, an envelope had been stuck to the glass pane, and Amber crept slowly towards the door. She peeked through the glass window next to the door and saw Ms Ivory writing at the whiteboard.

I need to get this quickly before she sees me.

Amber bent down and walked as quietly as she could to the door. Once at the door, she slowly lifted a foreleg up, looking through the door glass pane to make sure she wasn’t spotted.

Nearly….there…..finally!

Amber gripped the envelope and quickly pulled it down, holding it close to her body. She looked through the glass pane one more time and decided to make her move. The filly got up slowly and backed away from the door until her back hit a wall. She went into the first empty cubicle in the fillies’ toilets and opened the envelope.

This pony cares about you more than you realise. He thinks that you are an amazing, strong and beautiful filly who never fails to make him smile everyday. It took him a while to realise he had feelings for you, but now he’s ready to tell you face to face.

Where can this pony be found? (HINT - it's somewhere with a lot of grass)

Amber dropped the paper onto the floor in shock, refusing to believe what it read. She picked it up and read it again, the words hitting her like a slap to the face.

There’s no way he likes me, right?

We’re just friends, why would he see me that way?

I need to go to the field and talk to him.

Suddenly, the bell rang, and almost immediately doors were open and students crowded the corridors to go to the cafeteria. Amber put the letter inside the envelope and tried to get to the field, pushing through other foals.

“Amber, hey, Amber!”

Pablo caught up to Amber and tapped her shoulder. He tried to talk to her but they couldn't hear each other over the noise of the crowd, so Pablo pulled her to the side and waited for the corridor to become quieter.

“I have a surprise for you Amber, in the music room.”

“You do? But I have to find At-”

“Come on, let’s go quickly!”

Pablo pulled Amber through the corridor. Amber struggled to keep her balance, the envelope with Atomic’s confession dropping to the floor. Next to the envelope, Pablo had also dropped a piece of paper.

---

Dejected, Atomic entered the school building, crushed that Amber had not turned up to the field. Despite their best efforts, Thunderhoof and Chestnut couldn't cheer Atomic up.

As they waited at the back of the line in the cafeteria, Atomic suddenly realised that Amber may not have been able to find the envelope, and he dashed out of the cafeteria, telling Thunderhoof and Chestnut he would be back in a few minutes.

Within two minutes, Atomic found the envelope on the floor, and tears leaked from his eyes as he tried to pick up the envelope. Next to it, he saw the other piece of paper and picked it up to read.

What the?!

---

“5, 6, 7, 8!”

Octave began playing a slow tune on his guitar. Next to him, Pablo had closed his eyes and was nodding his head, waiting for his cue. When he opened his mouth and began to sing, Amber’s mouth dropped open.

“Your dark blue mane, yeah it drives me insane
Your kind sweet eyes make me feel so alive
With a smile on your face that suits you
There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you
Amber Breeze, you mean so much to me
Yeah Amber Breeze, you mean sooo much….. to me.”

Pablo opened his eyes and smiled sweetly at Amber, who was still in shock. Atomic and Pablo liked her. How in Equestria was she going to deal with this?

Suddenly the door slammed open. In the doorway, an enraged Atomic took in the scene in front of him. Taking a deep breath, he looked at Pablo and held up a piece of paper.

“This yours Pablo?”

Pablo frowned and walked over to Atomic. “Yeah, what’s it to you? Can you leave, I wanna talk to Amber in private. And give me that back!”

Atomic pushed Pablo and pulled the paper back.

Amber rushed over to Pablo to help him up. “Pablo, are you okay?”

“That's why you’ve always been hanging out with her! Because you wanted to steal her away from me!” Atomic shouted, tears brimming in his eyes.

“What do you mean steal her away?! I haven’t done anything wrong!” Pablo yelled back. Amber stepped back nervously.

“Your dark blue mane drives me insane! You wrote an entire song for her?!”

“Give me that back!”

Octave finally intervened and tried to seperate the two.

“Guys, calm down. Just take it easy and we can talk-”

Pablo pushed Octave aside. “Why are you so angry about - no way! You like her too!”

Octave looked back and forth between Atomic and Pablo, and he started wishing that he had never accepted Pablo’s request.

“Give me my song back, now!”

Pablo charged towards Atomic and the two fell to the ground. Amber and Octave tried to seperate the two. In the scuffle, Pablo ended up with the envelope Atomic had and scurried backwards away from Atomic to read the letter inside.

Atomic saw Pablo open the envelope and dived towards him. “Give that back!”

All of the shouting had attracted the attention of the music teacher in her classroom next door, and she came over to see what was going on.

“What in Equestria is with all the yelling?”

Both Atomic and Pablo ignored the teacher. Pablo read the letter inside the envelope and smirked.

“That was really the best you could do?!”

“Pablo, just give it back to him! Now!”

Pablo threw the envelope across the floor to Atomic.

“Atomic, give the paper back to Pablo.”

Atomic instead ripped the paper in half.

“HEY!”

Pablo shoved past Amber, Octave and the music teacher. Atomic used the half-second he had before Pablo got him to turn and run away. As they galloped down the corridor, Amber, Octave and the music teacher could only watch in shock.

---

In the cafeteria, Thunderhoof and Chestnut had finally gotten their lunch and were eating with Blaze and Mustang, talking about the next match Sycamore Oak would be playing.

“Wait, where’s Atomic? He’s in school today, right?” Blaze asked in between mouthfuls of spaghetti.

Thunderhoof and Chestnut shared a glance.

“Er, yeah he’s in the toilet I think, he’s coming back soon,” Thunderhoof replied.

The four resumed eating before Chestnut asked a question.

“Is Pablo going to be joining us for lunch?”

Blaze and Mustang looked at each other briefly, before turning around and whispering to each other. After a few moments they turned back.

“Okay, promise you won’t tell anypony.”

Thunderhoof and Chestnut nodded.

“Pablo likes Amber and he’s gonna ask her to be his fillyfriend.”

“What?!”

Thunderhoof slammed his head onto the table and Chestnut stared at Blaze and Mustang open-mouthed.

“But-but Atomic likes Amber. He was gonna tell her before lunch!” Chestnut eventually admitted.

“What?!”

Before BMaverick, Jackpot, Moon Dust and Spade Ace sprinted into the cafeteria. They spotted Thunderhoof and ran over to his table.

“Guys, Atomic and Pablo are having a huge fight in the hallway!”

The four ditched their lunch and grabbed their saddlebags. The table next to them had heard and they eagerly left their seats to see the fight.

“Atomic must have found them!” Thunderhoof cried as they galloped through the hallway.

Outside the library, a large crowd of pupils cheered on Atomic and Pablo, who were in the midst of a vicious brawl. Teachers charged through to try and separate the two and Thundehroof pushed through to the front. In the far corner, he spotted an upset Amber being consoled by a few fillies. As Atomic and Pablo were dragged away from each other, Ms Ivory arrived on the scene.

“OUTSIDE, NOW!”

The pupils quickly dispersed, and Thunderhoof went over to Amber.

“Amber, are you okay?”

Amber looked up and Thunderhoof saw tears in her eyes. “This is all my fault! They're my friends, I didn’t know they’d get so angry.”

“It's not your fault Amber, you had no idea they both liked you,” said Petal, putting a foreleg around her friend.

Thunderhoof was now sure that Amber did not feel the same way about Atomic, and he felt awful for his best friend. He wanted to do nothing more than go and talk to him, but he knew that was impossible. It hadn’t been long since Atomic had been suspended for a week from school, and Thunderhoof realised that there was a possibility that Atomic could be excluded permanently.

“I should’ve never encouraged him to tell her, now everything’s gone wrong,” Chestnut lamented.

“Come on guys, let’s go to the field and talk about this,” said Maverick, and the group left.

---

In the principal’s office, Tea Rose and Atomic had just finished their meeting with Principal Autumn Forest and Miss Bellflower, and to say that Tea Rose was angry would be a huge understatement.

“I don’t understand why you’re getting into trouble when you have exams coming up! Why did you fight that colt?!”

Atomic had been quiet the entire time, believing in his mind that Amber liked Pablo and not him. He never wanted to see either of them again.

“Because of you, I had to take Butterscotch out of her playgroup and leave her with Thunderhoof’s mom! Your sister missed out today because of you!”

As they entered the house, Atomic finally snapped.

“You don’t even know what happened today, so just leave me alone!”

Atomic stormed up the stairs and slammed his door shut. In the privacy of his room, he finally broke down and let the tears fall.

---

“Nope, sorry Thunderhoof but Atomic’s not going to be coming out to play today, alright?”

It had been hours since Atomic had been sent home from school, and he was still as upset as ever. In front of him his duvet lay on the floor, one of the victims of his anger. He sat at his desk and opened the top drawer of his bedside cabinet, taking out something he had written after he got onto the West Fillydelphia Under-13 Eagles.

Step 1- Get onto a good team
Step 2- Win the local youth league and get noticed by scouts
Step 3- Go to a good high school and play god enough to get college scholarships
Step 4- Go to a good college and win the College Bowl
Step 5- Get drafted by the Dragons
Step 6- Win the EHL championship/ Win MVP (each more than once)
Step 7- Become the greatest Dragons player of all time.

I’m never gonna get distracted from hoofball again.