//------------------------------//
// Dissection 
// Story: Twisted Minds 
// by Booker Longlegs 
//------------------------------//

	“Alright, settle down everypony,” Cheerilee said. The class fell silent. “Okay class, today is Student Teach Day,” The class began muttering in interest, stopping as Cheerilee continued. “Now, I know it’s been a while since you all had your time to educate us, but with a new student it’s only fair to give him the same chance.”
Scootaloo had almost forgotten about Student Teach Day. Cheerilee started it at the beginning of the year, to let everypony show their interests and make new friends. She wondered what Knife Point would teach the class. She also wondered how it would help him make friends. Considering his interests, it seemed like more of a hindrance.
There were a few cries of disgust behind Scootaloo. Looking, she saw Knife Point passing something out of a box to the students. Her turn quickly came, and Knife Point placed a dead frog on her desk, along with a scalpel and a few other tools. Scootaloo remembered his words from yesterday. Dissection, that’s it!
He finished passing out the frogs and went to the front of the class. “Okay,” he said in a monotone, “As most of you have already guessed, we’re dissecting frogs today.”
“Why?” Diamond Tiara asked.
“Ms. Cheerilee told me to do something related to my interests,” Knife Point said, “This was the only thing I could teach.”
“And just what are your other interests?” Diamond Tiara persisted.
“Not related to the lesson,” Knife Point said. Diamond Tiara blinked. Scootaloo was impressed; he actually got Diamond Tiara to shut up. Knife Point continued, “Now, I know you’re all eager to get to the cutting-“
“We’re not,” Diamond Tiara interrupted.
“Correction,” Knife Point said, “I’m eager to get the cutting.”
“And just so you know,” Scootaloo said loudly, “he isn’t picky about what he cuts.” Cheerilee glared daggers at her, but it was worth it to see Diamond Tiara go pale.
“As I was saying,” Knife Point continued in the same flat voice, “Before we get to the cutting, there’s a few things I need to go over.” He walked to the board and drew a frog. He began drawing different body parts, labeling them and explaining what they were. Scootaloo was a bit confused; Knife Point was acting different than he had yesterday.
“And that about does it,” Knife Point said, “You all know what you’re looking for,” For the first time he smiled, a mischievous little grin. “Now we get to the fun part,” He grabbed a frog he had lying on the desk and a scalpel. With the ease of long practice, he drew a line down the stomach of the frog. Blood immediately began to flow, and the class drew back in disgust.
“Yuck!” Diamond Tiara exclaimed, “We have to do this while they’re bleeding!?”
“Yup,” Knife Point said happily, reaching for his other tools.
“Knife Point,” Cheerilee said, “You do know most dissections go without the blood?”
“Oh, I know,” Knife Point said, digging around inside the frog. He pulled out a small bit of tissue and set it on the desk. “I tried to drain all of them, but finding a class set of dead frogs and dissection kits took a while. I managed to drain some of them, but I realized class was starting in an hour and had to give it up.”
“Wait a minute,” Sweetie Belle said, “This is what you were doing all night?”
“Yeah,” Knife Point yawned, “Don’t worry, though. I’m used to late nights.”
“And just what do you do on those late nights?” Silver Spoon asked mockingly.
“Now, Silver Spoon,” Knife Point said in the same tone, “Do you really want me to answer that question?”
The other ponies looked uncomfortable, but Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, and Apple Bloom laughed.
Knife Point bowed. “Thank you, thank you, I’ll be here all week.” Scootaloo shook her head. Knife Point seemed back to normal. She wondered about his change of attitude, but her thoughts were cut off by Diamond Tiara.
“So,” Diamond Tiara said, “How do we know if our frog has been drained?”
“You cut it open and see if it bleeds,” Knife Point said.
“But what if my coat gets messy?” Diamond Tiara whined.
“Don’t be such a baby,” Knife Point admonished, “Besides, what’s the fun in cutting something open if you can’t feel the blood running through your hooves?” He pulled out the frog’s heart, placing it on top of the small mountain of organs he’d piled beside the frog. “There, see? While you were complaining, I’ve already gotten all the important bits of my frog out.”
Sensing their cue, the class sighed and grabbed their blades. There were cries of disgust and sighs of relief, as each foal made their first cut and discovered whether or not they had a dry frog. Scootaloo looked at her frog, and felt a thrill of something. She thought it was fear, but to her surprise she felt excited. It was similar to the feeling right before a stunt. The next moment would decide how the rest of the day went. It was down to luck of the draw. She made her first cut. Nothing came out.
Scootaloo released a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. She smiled, relieved her frog was empty. She might have been Knife Point’s friend, but that didn’t mean she wanted to experience his brand of fun. She glanced around at her friends and saw that both Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom had been lucky as well.
“Enjoying the surprise?” said a voice behind her. She started and turned to see Knife Point sitting in his seat.
“I can’t say I’m enjoying it,” Scootaloo said, “but it could be worse.” She glanced toward Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, who were both up to their fetlocks in gore.
“Yes, well,” Knife Point lowered his voice, “There are advantages to being friendly.”
Scootaloo stared at him. She too lowered her voice and said, “Wait, you’re saying you rigged the draw?”
He grinned conspiratorially. “I may have arranged the frogs so that you, Sweetie Belle, and Apple Bloom got dry ones.” He chuckled, “I was tempted to give Sweetie a bleeder, but I decided to cut her some slack.”
Scootaloo laughed as well. Sweetie had been pretty mean yesterday. “So, did you do any other arranging?”
Knife Point’s grin grew wider. “Maybe.” He glanced at Diamond Tiara, who by now was looking pretty miserable.
“And what are you two talking about?” Cheerilee said as she appeared from nowhere.
“The endocrine gland,” Knife Point said, “Scootaloo was having trouble finding it. Do you think you've got it?”
“Um,” Scootaloo said.
Knife Point sighed. “Alright, from the top.” He began explaining where the gland was located, with Cheerilee watching suspiciously. Eventually, she moved on. Once she was out of earshot, Scootaloo turned to Knife Point.
“That was really smooth,” she said.
“I try,” Knife Point said.
“Honestly, I hadn’t pegged you as the lying type,” Scootaloo said.
“I’m not, really,” Knife Point said, “Still, lying is undeniably a useful skill to have.”
“That’s true,” Scootaloo said. A thought occurred to her. “Do you ever practice?”
“Oh, yeah,” Knife Point said, “Use it or lose it, right? I practice with Elaine.”
“Elaine?” Scootaloo asked, “As in your knife Elaine?”
“Do you know any other Elaines?” Knife Point replied, “It isn’t exactly a pony name.”
“But,” Scootaloo said, “she’s a knife.”
“Exactly,” Knife Point said, “Knives aren’t easily fooled by the likes of ponies, and Elaine is a master lie detector. You need to be really convincing to pull the wool over her blade.”
Scootaloo opened her mouth to comment on how creepy Knife Point was, but she paused, then said, “It’s just not worth it anymore.”
“What’s not worth it?” Knife Point asked.
Scootaloo sighed. “Nothing.”
Knife Point stood up. "Well, if that's all, I've got to go help the other students," He glanced at Featherweight, who was looking a bit green. "I'm already going to have a hard time cleaning up all this blood. I really don't want to add vomit to the mess."
"Don't forget that we've got a Cutie Mark Crusaders meeting after school," Scootaloo said.
"I'll be there," There was a sound of somepony puking. "Ah, darn it all!" Knife Point muttered vehemently. He moved away, and Scootaloo stifled a laugh. Today has been a good day. Scootaloo thought. She faced the front and found her frog staring up at her. Well...mostly