Chapter 10: Why does Pony say that two friends of his died that night:one a hero and one a hoodlum?

Pony says this because it's the truth. Johnny would always be remembered as the boy who died as a result of saving children from a burning fire. Dally would be remembered, if at all, as the kid who pulled a gun on the police after robbing a grocery store. Nobody would ever know that Dally was a hero to the boys he helped.... to his friends.

Nobody would write editorials praising Dally. Two friends of mine had died that night: one a hero, the other a hoodlum. But I remembered Dally pulling Johnny through the window of the burning church; Dally giving us his gun, although it could mean jail for him; Dally risking his life for us, trying to keep Johnny out of trouble. And now he was a dead juvenile delinquent and there wouldn't be any editorials in his favor. Dally didn't die a hero. He died violent and young and desperate, just like we all knew he'd die someday. Just like Tim Shepard and Curly Shepard and the Brumly boys and the other guys we knew would die someday. But Johnny was right. He died gallant.