Cherry and the Friendship Games
Chapter 15
Previous Chapter Next Chapter'Good morning, students,' Vice Principal Luna announced for Canterlot High. 'I'm sure you're all thrilled to start the first day of the Friendship Games. Our competitors will face off in every aspect of the CHS curriculum, culminating in the elimination equation finale.'
Everyone was now in the entrance of the hallway.
"Welcome to the first event, the Academic Decathlon!" Dean Cadence introduced with a warm smile in deep contrast to Principal Cinch. "You'll be scored on chemistry, home-ec and everything in between. But remember, only the six students from each team with the most points will move on to event number 2. Good luck!"
'Even though I am angry at Cinch, I'm going to give it my all in the games.' Atticus thought to himself.
The Crystal Prep students and Canterlot High students all glared to each other. The Crystal Prep students looked more smug about possibly winning though more than the Canterlot High students. Atticus didn't glare at any of the students, but at Principal Cinch without anyone noticing.
They reported for the science lab, putting on coats and goggles, ready to work. Fluttershy was making a chemical concoction for her team. As was Atticus for his team even if he didn't like this one bit. Derpy stared at her tube, but smiled sheepishly after it exploded in her face by accident.
'That didn't seem to go well for Derpy.' Patch thought to himself.
Vice Principal Luna, Principal Celestia, and Dean Cadence jotted down their scores for the students.
The Humane Six then put on oven mitts with Mo, Cherry, and human Patch for the home-ec round. Pinkie Pie snuck some frosting in her mouth after topping their cake.
'Hopefully that won't take away any points.' Patch thought to himself, hoping.
The judges came to check on the desserts made by the students. Flash Sentry smiled bashfully at the cake he made with Bon-Bon, it did not come out as well as they had hoped. While two female students from Crystal Prep looked confident like they had won the home-ec round.
They had made fancy and velvet cake with smug smirks on their faces. The judges ate the cake and found it quite extraordinary. Pinkie cut hers, Fluttershy, Mo, and Patch's cake and revealed that it had the Mona Lisa imprinted on it. This made the three adult women drop their forks in surprise and amazement, obviously giving CHS that point, much to Principal Cinch's disappointment.
'Great job.' Atticus thought to himself with a smile.
Principal Cinch glared at the girls who competed in the home-ec entry. The girl holding the plate dropped it and smiled sheepishly while her friend death glared at her. Principal Cinch removed her glasses and pinched her nose in dismissal and aggravation.
'She seriously doesn't like losing.' Patch thought to himself.
The next activity was in wood-shop and building a birdhouse. Atticus was part of this round and where he was paired up with Cherry. Cherry looked to Atticus and gave a small smirk which was close enough to her for a smile.
'That's as close to a smile as I'm going to get.' Atticus thought to himself with a smile.
Atticus of course did most of the handiwork, but Cherry did supply a helping hand whenever needed or necessary. And where the birdhouse they were making was starting to look amazing. Two male Canterlot High students were out of the game because their entry destroyed in one hit of a hammer, but they didn't care, they walked away friendly with each other and comforted each other.
'Well, they did their best, that's the important thing.' Patch thought to himself.
Cherry and Atticus made a two-story birdhouse that had flaming skulls painted on it. And where this was shocking for the three judges, causing them to drop their clipboards.
"Let's go, Shadowbolts!" the other Crystal Prep students cheered.
Cherry and Atticus rolled their eyes, annoyed with their new classmates, they were happy they won, but at least they didn't rub it in Canterlot High's faces. Indigo Zap and Sugarcoat shoved the two Canterlot boys with a faulty birdhouse and stormed off, but Fluttershy and Applejack gave comfort.
'I could totally hurt those two.' Patch thought to himself while glaring at Indigo and Sugarcoat.
There was now a spelling bee. Cherry was going to be in this with Sci-Twi due to how great of a speller she was. Atticus was a good speller too, but he still had faults, so he decided to sit this round out. It seemed though that their opponents were all of the Humane Six, even Sunset Shimmer.
'Wow, this is sure getting intense.' Patch thought to himself.
The round was rather quick as there was misspelling, but not a challenge for Cherry and Sci-Twi on the Crystal Prep side.
'Wow, they sure seem to be on a roll.' Atticus thought to himself, referring to Cherry and Sci-Twi.
Sci-Twi gave her all, but she was really anxious for all of this to be over.
"Those really aren't your colors..." Mo whispered to Atticus. "Sorry, just being honest."
"It's alright, I don't like the colors either." Atticus whispered back.
Sunset and Mo were now against Sci-Twi and Atticus in the math game. The pressure was really on.
'I can't wait for this to be all over, there's still so much more that's going on.' Sci-Twi thought to herself.
The students were all in suspense as Atticus, Sci-Twi, Mo, and Sunset were working the equations on the board. Principal Cinch narrowed her eyes hauntingly as she watched this.
"That woman is seriously creepy and evil." Patch whispered.
"Mm-hmm..." Teller slowly nodded in agreement.
Principal Cinch came between the two teams and pointed sharply to Mo and Sunset. "INCORRECT!"
Mo and Sunset frowned that they did not outsmart Sci-Twi and Atticus. There was then a flash of light from a camera, showing Photo Finish, but now wasn't a good time for pictures. This made everybody glare to her to make her sit down. Even this dimension's Diamond Tiara was peeved.
"This means the winners of the Friendship Games' first event are Twilight Sparkle and Atticus Fudo for Crystal Prep!" Vice Principal Luna announced.
Sci-Twi and Atticus smiled, happy that they won, but the rest of the Crystal Prep students weren't very excited or happy.
"That was awesome!" Rainbow Dash ran to Mo and Sunset's sides, even if they lost.
"Truly amazing." Rarity added.
"But, we didn't win." Mo said to the others.
"Yeah." Sunset added in.
"That was as close as winnin', as Canterlot's ever been." Applejack smiled honestly, of course.
"Yeah, seems like it." Patch smiled.
Dean Cadence came on stage. "After a careful tally of points, we'd like to present the students moving onto the Friendship Games' second event."
The six students of both schools were then shown of who would move on. The Crystal Prep students smugly and dully presented themselves while the Humane Six cheered themselves on. Sci-Twi sighed, she actually wished her team was more enthusiastic like that. Flash Sentry decided to meet Sci-Twi and give her a little encouragement.
"We did great, Twilight, we don't need those guys to tell us." Atticus said, referring to their own team before seeing Flash Sentry and whispering to Sci-Twi with a smile. "And looks like someone is coming to give one of us some encouragement."
Before she could react, Atticus brought Sci-Twi over to Flash Sentry.
"Congratulations," Flash told them, though mostly to Sci-Twi despite knowing Atticus longer. "You were really great."
Sci-Twi saw her pendant was glowing and she held it in her hands. "I'm sorry... Excuse me..." she then walked off mysteriously as usual.
"Uhh... Okay?" Flash frowned. "Aww..."
"Please forgive her, she's just been trying to find out about the strange energies." Atticus told him.
Flash sighed and stared at the floor. "I know..."
"Anyways, I better get going so I don't lose her." Atticus said before going after her.
Flash shrugged and allowed him to go.