“Class,” she announced to the herd of chattering young ponies, “we have a new student here with us today!”
The herd then went silent and looked to the front of the room, all gathering in the new sight. And then the whispers started.
Where did he come from?
Who is he?
Is he nice?
Could he be a changeling spy?
Why haven't I seen him before?
"Now, is that a polite way to introduce a new friend?" The teacher asked to nobody in particular. "Why don't you introduce yourself?" Cheerilee asked turning to Angel. "Can you write your name on the board?" Angel was silent, and clearly very irritated. Despite his silent fury, he still picked up the chalk with his mouth to show that he shouldn't be patronized to the point of being treated like a filly.
The resulting writing was comparable to the flight patters of dragon over the last several moons, but to everybody including Angel it looked more like poor writing. Angel didn't admit it to anybody even himself but he was starting to consider if maybe he should be treated like a filly.
The class actually had somewhat good self-control, except for Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon who acted like it was the funniest thing they had seen in their lives. This was mended by Cheerilee giving a stern look that Angel knew all too well from Fluttershy. Cheerilee understood that they were cruel but also realized that they probably didn't know what such poor hand-writing and seemingly coming out of nowhere with no education meant: poverty. It's honestly a shame Angel and Diamond got off on the wrong hoof, if they hadn't there's a good chance they would've gotten along perfectly in their mutual lack of properly functioning empathy.
Because of their utterly spectacular treatment of outcasts, Angel was seated next to the CMC. Most of class was honestly unnoteworthy. It mostly consisted of Angel sitting clearly pissed while Cheerilee went on about math and grammar. He had his fair share of glances followed by more whispers from the class. This pattern kept up for what felt like an eternity until recess, at which point the CMC and Angel gathered in the play-yard. As in the CMC cornered him. "Ya like bake'n?" Applebloom asked, gesturing to Angel's cutie mark.
Angel was momentarily confused, before looking at it for himself. "Oh that...Actually I'm not sure what that's for." Angel was startled to say the least when he looked back up and saw three fillies that were very excited. It almost seemed like they had stars in their eyes. "Are you...okay?" Angel asked almost cut off by: "We can help you find what your cutie mark is for!" in unison...creepy. It was this moment that Angel remembered the horrifying fact the Fluttershy knew several cuite mark obsessed children.
They actually were around Angel somewhat often before they got their marks, always coming over to find their "special purpose" or whatever. Fluttershy was always helping them with animal-related skills and such. He actually answered the door for them a few times when Fluttershy was...busy. Come to think of it, he operated the door all the time. Relying on your pets to interact with people actually might not be that good of a sign for Flutter's mental health. "Cutie Mark Crusaders Animal Psychologists" probably didn't help either.
It was the moment after this Angel realized letting them know about a transformed animal gaining a cutie mark may be a terrible idea on account of the endless stream of questions that it would cause. Angel, being no stranger to lying, quickly formed a plan and identity. This thought was cut short when he realized that the CMC had somehow been moving closer that whole time, now almost touching his face. He could swear their necks were stretching.
"Listen that's very...nice" he said, pushing the statue-like ponies away from himself, "But I'm not really interested in what it means." Surprisingly, this seemed to work. For the rest of the period Angel sat silently while staring off into the nearby forest. Cheerilee watched all of this from the window, slightly worried about the potential complication of an anti-social foul. After class, Cheerilee would go down to the Ponyville Police Office to figure out where exactly this kid's parents are.
The rest of class was rather uneventful, even less than the first half. Angel learned about numbers, letters, and Ponish's complex relation with pictograms. The paranoid whispers had gone down, not to mention they now lacked changeling-related implications as the class realized how politically incorrect that is these days.
When class ended, The CMC were assigned to Angel while Cheerilee went down to the PPD1 Office to report an unattended foul. To outsiders it may seem strange to have three more fouls watch one foul, but the CMC are more capable than many grown ponies. They spend hours on end in a treehouse with just themselves and have done so for years, one grumpy foul isn't going to through that much of a wrench in things. They also wouldn't need to tell the CMC's respective guardians as they often undertake projects in said treehouse after school without telling anybody, even eachother. They have been known to wordlessly gravitate to it without the slightest hint of a plan.
Come to think of it, They hadn't seen Rarity or Applejack all day. Applejack has been known to sleep in after a hard days work so Applebloom went to school without a second thought. A similar case applies to Sweetiebelle, who went to school without having any concerns about Rarity still apparently being in bed. Rarity has before slept far into the day for "beauty sleep" and over-reacting to every small event takes a-lot of energy. After all, you can't be the element of generosity if you aren't generous to your own body. Granted, the elements in their crystal form seem to be having some problems at the moment, and not because they broke in the season 9 trailer. Something long forgotten turned on with an eye for the elements. A horrible machine from a war lost before Equestria started. Something Discord hopes will never come back.
On their way to the treehouse, Applebloom could've sworn there was somebody that didn't work at the farm of in the distance but brushed it off as one of the many hard to keep track of family member or a farm-hand. As they climbed up the ladder Angel simply flew up to the deck, making Scootaloo a little jealous. It was at this point Mr. Bunny wondered how he actually knew how to fly, it had seemed to come naturally. Same with speaking Ponish now that he thought about it. Fluttershy's purple friend will probably write a whole book about it. He can see it now:
The Strange Case of Angel Bunny
By Twilight Sparkle
It would go on to explain how the event was similar to those involving the mirror and "humanoid world". He briefly wondered if he has a counterpart there. Is he still a bunny? Fluttershy never really talked about the place. Gummy claimed to be able to see through his plush counter-part but then again it's...Gummy, who also claims to have a psychic connection with Pinkie Pie and be a literal "zombie". Nice guy but he has a questionable relationship with the truth. Smart too, but he doesn't show off. Angel likes somebody that keeps to himself, although it sometimes gets...disturbing.
Back at the treehouse, the CMC were sitting in a half-circle just staring at Angel. He didn't even remember sitting across from the semi-circle, it was as if he just suddenly manifested there. And considering the things he's seen these fouls do, there's a good chance that's what happened. Come to think of it, maybe they'd get along better with Gummy than him.
"So..." Angel broke the frightening silence.
"What were you doing right before you got your cutie mark?" Sweetiebelle asked, possibly without an inhale.
"Well I was...baking."
They all nodded, in perfect harmony.
"A cake. And then I got my cutie mark."
The CMC all, again in unison, changed looks to that of poorly hidden disappointment. Internally, they wanted to ask "You didn't figure it out?" and other potentially insulting questions, that when coupled with Angel's already apparent poor performance at school would not help one of the easiest to anger being in all of Equestria.
"Is that all?" Scootaloo asked.
Angel nodded, slightly off-put by the sudden lack of nightmarish actions.
"So your special talent is baking!" The CMC half-shouted at the exact same time, warranting a "there it is" thought from Angel.
"Yeah...I guess it is."
Is this just how you have conversations with most ponies? No wonder Fluttershy is so...shy. Huh. Ponies apparently have naming down, too.
They just kinda sat in silence, Usually CMC projects last longer than this, sometimes even a full day. "Well, I'm gonna get heading." Scootaloo said after an unclear amount of time, with that the aformentioned filly began to climb down the ladder. This was followed by an "Awwwww" and "You guys have gotta come see this!" Nearly running down the ladder, the rest of the CMC and Angel saw Scootaloo holding a strikingly colorful turtle, making very frantic clicking noises. Unlike Fluttershy's noieses, Angel could understand them this time.
Upon closer inspection, the turtle seemed injured. Its shell was covered in scratches and mud, like somebody threw it into the ground very hard. Looking back it seems to have come out of the forest near Applejack's farm. Its limbs and head seemed fine, likely because of the shell. It was around the time of this realization that Angel started to pay attention to the clicking noises, most of which were variations of "Put me down Scootaloo!" or something similar.
Now, Angel might not be a rocket scientist exactly, but it didn't take long to figure out who this turtle was.
1Ponyville Police Department