At Equestria's newest academy, six perfectly qualified ponies teach the foundations of harmony to a batch of wide-eyed youths. Well, perhaps "perfectly qualified" is a bit of a stretch...
For several years, Twilight Sparkle and her friends have both embodied and defended the very essence of harmony itself. Now, at the request of Princess Celestia, they will found a new school to teach the six pillars of Harmony: Honesty, Kindness, Laughter, Generosity, Loyalty, and Magic. After all, who else is more qualified to teach such ideals? And with Twilight Sparkle's diligent planning and sure-fire teaching methods, this school is sure to help shape the youths of Equestria for a better tomorrow.
Spike marched down a long, narrow hallway. The same long, narrow hallway he'd been patrolling all day. Things were mostly quiet at the moment, much in the same way a newborn babe may take breaths between shrieks of discomfort. As he turned to begin his pace anew, he jerked backwards at the sight of four purple legs standing where they were not a second before.
"Hi, Spike!" said Twilight Sparkle in a far higher voice than usual.
"Um... hi?" Spike gathered his senses and focused on lowering his heart rate. "Do you need something, Twilight?"
Twilight crooked her head at a ninety-degree angle. "I need a hammer!" she said with more enthusiasm than anyone in need of a hammer ever said.
"O... kay?" Spike scratched his head, utterly perplexed by Twilight's strange behavior. "What do you need a hammer for?" he asked.
"It's for my head!" Twilight stated matter-of-factly.
Spike winced. "Um..." He took Twilight by the hoof and guided her to a nearby doorway. "I think you need to sit down for a bit," said Spike as he opened a door. "Maybe get some water."
"Good idea, Spike!" answered Twilight. She trotted into the room in a daze. With the door open, Spike couldn't help but overhear Fluttershy sobbing. He peered in to see a frazzled Rarity comforting her, Rainbow Dash rubbing her temples by the windowsill, and Applejack sitting at a table, staring at her hat as though eating it could solve world hunger. From down the hall he could hear Pinkie Pie yelling in a manner entirely uncommon to her.
Spike shook his head and closed the door behind him, continuing his patrol.
"This school was a terrible idea," he muttered to himself.
A few weeks earlier
Ponyville is, ordinarily, a rather small and quiet town. However, that hasn't stopped it from seeing a few events in its time: an annual race, the opening of cider season, regular appearances by rampaging monsters several stories high, and the Ponyville Days Festival, just to name a few. Perhaps the most striking thing about it is the tall, crystalline castle that stands on the outskirts of town. On this day, five ponies make their trek towards the castle, their visit by no means an uncommon occurrence. They still can't help but be curious about the reason behind their summoning.
Applejack adjusted her favorite hat after a small spring breeze set it rather uncomfortably. "What do you think she's got this time, y'all?" asked Applejack of her companions.
"Maybe there's a monster attack going on in Manehattan!" suggested Rainbow Dash excitedly, somehow under the assumption that such things happen in other towns. She mimed a few martial art moves mid-flight above her friends.
"Oh, I hope not," Fluttershy said timidly. Her blue eyes showed the wear of the pony relied on to try talking to creatures first.
"Maybe it's a cake!" suggested Pinkie Pie, despite her bouncing stride showing no sign of a sugar deficit. "One with lots of frosting!"
"I pray not," said Rarity, her elegant gait barely keeping pace with the others. "I've been doing so well on my diet, and even a nibble could completely knock me off track." Her voice lowered to a point few could hear it. "Good grace, I hope there's cake."
Applejack smirked and came close to making a comment, but cut herself off when a familiar pony came into view. "Howdy, Twilight!" she said instead, greeting their sixth friend.
"Hey, girls!" Twilight said, beaming. Fluttershy's composure relaxed seeing her friend's smiling face. Rainbow Dash gave a small pout. Twilight waved a hoof, signaling them to follow her into her castle. "C'mon! I've got some exciting news!"
Twilight's castle was unique in that its throne room contained not one, not two, but seven chairs within, all seated in a circle around a table that served as a map of their country. A baby dragon sat in the smallest of these seats, and waved happily as his friends entered.
"Hi, guys!" Spike said to them. The others gave cheerful greetings back as they each took their own seats around the table. Almost as soon as they did, however, Spike hopped up from his own and made for the door.
"Aren't you staying, Spike?" asked Rainbow Dash.
Spike shook his head as he placed a claw on the exit's door handle. "Nah," he answered, "I was just trying to see if I could watch a hoofball game on the map." He sighed. "No luck." He opened the door, but before he left, he finished with, "Besides, this is more for you guys anyway, and I've got a cake in the oven. I'll bring you some when I'm done!"
As the door closed, Pinkie's smile threatened her eyebrows. Rarity's expression was indiscernible.
"Now that you're all here," Twilight began, bringing the attention in the room back to the center, "there's something I need to discuss with all of you." Her horn lit in a purple aura, and a recently penned letter floated into view. It was met with five curious faces.
"I just received this letter from Princess Celestia," said Twilight. She floated the parchment closer to read its words. "To keep things brief, she's asking if the six of us would like to start a school where we would teach young minds about the elements of harmony."
"The Elements?" said Rainbow Dash incredulously. She leaned forward and pointed towards a point on the map deep in the forest on Ponyville's border. "We put those into the Tree of Harmony! How are we supposed to teach about them if we can't get them back?"
Twilight shook her head. "No, not the actual Elements," she explained. "This is more about the foundation of harmony. Its aspects." She tapped a hoof on the table. "Think about how most academies have pillars they use to represent their core ideals and what they strive to excel in. For us, that would be our elements!"
Fluttershy's quiet voice spoke up as she shifted in her seat. "So, um, you mean we'd be teaching little fillies and colts about harmony? About magic, and kindness, and... um... the rest?"
Rainbow Dash looked indignant, as though Fluttershy forgot to mention something of importance, but didn't say anything.
"That's right!" answered Twilight. "Six pillars, six teachers..." She motioned a hoof around the room. "Six of us!"
Applejack shook her head. "I don't know about this, Twilight," she said. "I mean, the six of us? Running a whole school? Heck, I'd be missing more days than I'd be teaching trying to keep the farm in shape!"
Rarity nodded and shifted her gaze from Applejack to Twilight. "I'm inclined to agree with Applejack," said Rarity. "I already have quite the backlog of orders to fill, and I can't imagine spending almost every day of the year away from my work."
A few agreeing hums echoed in the wake of Rarity and Applejack's words.
Twilight shook her head and smiled. "It's not a traditional school," she explained. "It would be more like a one-day camp than a customary class structure. Students arrive in the morning, learn all they need to know through the day, then head home again in the evening." The others exchanged looks. Twilight continued, "And with us only needing to worry about one day at a time, I'm sure we could find days that works for all six of us!"
Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie looked at one another. "That... might actually work," said Rainbow.
Rarity scratched her chin. After a beat, Applejack gave the table a cordial slap. "Well, shoot, Twilight," Applejack said, "I think it's a terrific idea!"
Still scratching her chin, Rarity's eyes focused on nothing in particular as she thought. "I have to admit, the idea of shaping young minds is a rather endearing opportunity," she said.
"Count me in!" exclaimed Rainbow Dash. She leaned back and put her hind legs on the table. "I kinda like the idea of getting a bunch of little me's running around!"
"Me too!" said Pinkie, mimicking Rainbow's actions. Rainbow's expression faltered a hair.
The group of ponies turned their attention to and leaned towards their one member yet to vocally sign on. Fluttershy flinched under their collective gaze. "I... uh..."
"You don't have to if you don't want to," Twilight said to Fluttershy from across the table. Her eyes were kind and sincere. "But we do need all of us in agreement if we're going to do this."
"Um... I... um..."
Fluttershy looked around the room. Each face and each expression were slightly different, but at their core were the words and emotions they always used to get her to tag along on their adventures. When she next spoke, Fluttershy's word would have gone unnoticed by any other than the five trained to hear it.
"Okay."
"Great!" Twilight exclaimed. She leaned back in her chair, and the others did the same. Pinkie had to take several paces to get off the table and back to her seat. Twilight continued, "I'll let Princess Celestia know that we're willing to do it. Sounds like we'll have a few weeks to find a location, build the school, and prepare our classes." Then, clapping her hooves together, she said. "This is so exciting!" Twilight propped herself up on the table. "Spike!" she called. "Spike, can you take a letter?"
"Sure thing!" said a voice from the other side of the room's doors. Just then, the doors lurched forward, revealing two stubby purple legs underneath a mountain of cake and frosting at least three times taller than the dragon carrying it. "Cake's ready!" he said, announcing the obvious.
Six pairs of eyes widened. Rarity moaned in anticipation. The others glanced back at her, Spike looking particularly agitated.
A small train pulled into a recently constructed station settled a few miles away from Ponyville. Seven young fillies and colts were ushered off its lone passenger car, where they gathered around a young dragon not much taller than themselves. His pony friends watched from behind a far away window as he did a little jig, complete with a twirl and jazz-claws to finish. The small ponies showed no response.
"...Well, that coulda gone better," said Applejack.
Rarity tilted her nose up. "I found it to be quite charming, if I do say so myself."
"I don't know," Fluttershy said, getting as close to the window as she could without being seen, "I hope it was enough to help them feel welcome here." Her eyes drooped to the floor. "I know I'd be pretty scared," she muttered.
After a small motion, Spike led the parade of young ponies towards their new school. As they got closer, Rainbow Dash's eyes darted between the fillies and colts while she lightly tapped a hoof. "That's it?" she asked. "There's only seven of them! Shouldn't there be more?"
"This is only our first day, Rainbow," Twilight said to her. "Princess Celestia hoof-picked these seven to be a sort of... trial class. Let us get our hooves underneath us before tackling something bigger."
Rainbow shrugged. Pinkie quivered with anticipation. "Can we got meet them now?!" she asked.
Twilight smiled. She could finally give the answer Pinkie wanted to hear. "Yes. Let's go out front."
As the cavalcade of tykes came to a stop in front of the new school, Twilight and the others walked out to greet their new students. Well, except for Pinkie: she just kind of vibrated into place.
"Welcome!" Twilight said to the youthful eyes locked on her. She gave a wave to the elegant building behind her. "Welcome to Twilight Sparkle's School of Harmony!" She took a step forward. "My name is, uh, Twilight Sparkle," she finished with a grimace. The school's name was not her idea, but it was hard to ignore the big, bold letters engraved across the building's surface. "Follow me inside, and we'll get things started!"
Seven pairs of wide eyes meandered in every direction as they paced through the institution. The school only really consisted of one long hallway with just under a dozen doors within it, but the walls and ceiling were beautifully decorated with murals dedicated to harmony and those chosen to represent it.
Twilight led them all through one of the doorways, labeled with a small plaque that read, "Miss Sparkle's Room". Inside was a typical classroom: an assortment of small desks, one larger for the teacher, a blackboard, and windows peeking out to a currently empty playground with a forest at its edge. The seven fillies and colts took their seats at arbitrary desks, while Twilight and her friends stayed standing at the front of the room.
Twilight cleared her throat and stepped forward. "Is everypony ready for their lessons on harmony?" she asked. Her genuine smile turned strained as she looked around and received no responses from her new students. She cleared her throat again and continued, "Okay! So, first thing we're going to do is run down the day's agenda. Does that sound like a good plan?" Her response this time bore no difference from the first.
Twilight gave a motion to Applejack, who slid the chalkboard to reveal another underneath. This one showed an itemized list of events planned for the day. Twilight lifted a piece of chalk with her magic, and tapped the top of the list.
"As you can see, the first thing we have for today is introductions!" said Twilight. A few of the students shifted uncomfortably. Twilight moved the chalk piece and gave the board more taps as she spoke. "After that will be a tour of the school, then your lectures on the different elements of harmony, then lunch, then in the afternoon we'll be doing activities!" Some of the students leaned in closer. Twilight continued, "After that, we'll have a brief recess before your final evaluations, and after that is graduation!" Twilight put the chalk back down before continuing. "So, to get things started, I know I said it before, but my name is Twilight Sparkle," she said. "You may call me Miss Sparkle if you prefer, and I will be your Headmistress and Magic instructor! You'll have my class first after your tour."
Twilight turned and smiled at her friends. Applejack stepped up first.
"Howdy!" greeted Applejack. "My name is Miss Applejack. I'll be teaching Honesty right after Twilight's Magic class!" Then, with a wink, "And I mean that honestly."
No one laughed. Applejack took the silence only slightly better than Twilight did. As she stepped back into line, Applejack saw Rainbow Dash roll her eyes, and shot the pegasus a quick look of pure indignation.
Pinkie Pie bounced forward. "I'm Miss Pinkie Pie, and I'll be teaching you all about the joys of Laughter!" Confetti sprang from nowhere at the end of her sentence. One of the fillies giggled, and Pinkie replied with the same. She gave Applejack a smug grin as she stepped back into place.
Rainbow Dash quickly and unnecessarily rose into the air. "I'm Rainbow Dash!" she exclaimed. "You can call me 'Dash', or 'Your Awesomeness', or–" Twilight cleared her throat loudly and Rainbow grimaced. She coughed and continued, "Uh... heh. Or 'Miss Rainbow' is fine. I'll be teaching all about how awesome Loyalty is!"
Rarity rolled her eyes and stepped forward as Rainbow landed. "You may call me Miss Rarity," she told the class, "and I'll be instructing you on the benefits and implementation of Generosity."
As Rarity stepped back into line, two heavy hoofbeats caused her to flinch. Fluttershy stood tall with her chest puffed. She opened her mouth and words fell out.
Twilight hesitantly tapped Fluttershy's shoulder. She asked, "Er, Fluttershy?"
"Yes?!" Fluttershy turned to show an uncomfortably large smile, and Twilight retracted her hoof instantly. Seven small, curious faces peered from behind Fluttershy.
"Um... Never mind," Twilight said. She retook a forward position as Fluttershy retreated back into line, breathing heavily through a clenched grimace. Rarity patted her back, and Applejack whispered something in her ear. Fluttershy's expression and breathing relaxed.
"And, of course, you already met Spike," Twilight said to the class, waving a hoof in Spike's direction. He gave a timid wave. "He'll be our hall monitor while you're in class, and is in charge of keeping an eye on you when you're not." Twilight winked and added, "And I know he looks cute, but be sure to not get on his bad side!" Spike groaned and rolled his eyes.
Twilight cleared her throat and continued, "So now that you know all of us," she said, "it's time for us to get to know all of you!"
A few students shifted in their seats again, while others found random points in the room to focus their attention on.
A clipboard magically appeared next to Twilight, and her aura brought it to where she could read it.
"Now, when I call your name, I want you to come up and tell us your name and where you're from!"
An off-white colt sank into his seat so low that only his violet mane could be seen.
"Now then," began Twilight, "First up is... Street Smarts!"
A green colt hopped from his desk and walked forward, occasionally glancing at the fellow students he walked past. When he stopped in front of Twilight, she gave him a sincere smile, then motioned for him to turn and face the class.
"Uh... my name is Street Smarts," he began lamely, "And I'm from Manehattan."
Street looked back up to Twilight, who still wore a soft smile. She nodded and Street returned to his seat, a little quicker than he left it. Twilight returned to her list.
"Roly Poly!"
An orange colt stood up and did the same as Street Smarts. "I'm Roly Poly," he said, "And I'm from Canterlot."
"Ooh, Canterlot!" said Twilight, "I'm from there too, you know."
"Cool!" exclaimed Roly. He stayed standing at the front, but said nothing more. After a beat, Twilight gave a polite motion to signal that he could sit down again. Someone in the class snickered.
"Okay, next," said Twilight, "is... Tootie Frootie!"
A slightly overweight filly bounded to the front of the room. "Hi, everypony!" she said without prompt, "My name is Tootie Frootie, and I'm from Filly Delphia! I can't wait to be friends!" She then wasted no time getting back to her seat. Pinkie Pie giggled.
Twilight blinked a few times. "Alright," she said, regaining composure, "We have... Vroo–"
A small, midnight-blue filly bolted to the front of the room. She puffed her chest out as a light blue blanket tied around her neck fell gracefully onto her back. "I'm Vroom!" she declared. Her blanket-cape picked up a soft breeze and floated along with it. Rarity gave Rainbow Dash a disapproving look, prompting Rainbow to fold her wings back up. The cape fell again. Vroom continued, "I'm from Cloudsdale, and I'm gonna be the best Harmony student ever!"
Twilight chuckled. "I'm happy to see such enthusiasm!" she said. Vroom proudly trotted back to her seat as Twilight returned to her list. "Next we have... Once Bitten!"
A ruffled violet mane sifted around a desk's edge as the small off-white colt began his death march to the front of the room. Fluttershy stood a little taller to get a better look at him. When the colt turned to speak, his voice sounded like it was coming from two rooms down the hall.
"I'm sorry, you're going to need to be a little louder," Twilight said to him.
Once's volume improved to the point it sounded only one room away instead of two.
Twilight leaned in close and spoke softly. "It's okay," she told him, "Why don't I do your introduction for you?"
Once quivered through a soft nod.
Twilight stood back up and said, "Class, this is Once Bitten. He's from Baltimare!"
Once slowly moved back to his desk, eyes locked on the ground. He inextricably sank even further into his seat than before.
Nearing the bottom of her list, Twilight called out, "Okay... Sullen Stare!"
A dark-coated colt stood from his desk at the back of the room and slunk to the front. Once there, he turned decisively and said, "Sullen Stare. Hollow Shades." He slowly took his place again in the back, glaring at his soon-to-be teachers.
"O...kay?" Twilight cleared her throat one final time and called, "And last but not least: Whoopsie-Daisy!"
A squat, light-grey colt bounced his way forward. "I'm Whoopsie-Daisy!" he told them in a voice that sounded unfamiliar with words. "I ting Vanhoover!"
"You... What?" asked Twilight. She shook her head, and before she got a response said, "Never mind." She motioned Whoopsie back to his seat before once again addressing the whole class. "It's so very nice to finally meet you all!" she told them. "Now Spike will lead you on a tour to show you where everything and everyone is, and then we'll be ready to start learning!"
After a brief tour of the small institute, the seven students found themselves once again in Twilight's classroom, though this time with only Twilight herself standing at the front. She wasted little time in presenting her lecture.
"Magic," she began, "like all of the elements, is a very important part of harmony." She pulled a string dangling from the ceiling, revealing a collage of ponies in everyday activities. "We use magic for many of our day-to-day problems, from anything as big as a doctor performing an operation, to as small as opening a jar of peanut butter."
Twilight pulled down another picture, this one a diagram on a unicorn's bone, muscle, and nervous structures. "Magic exists within a pony's core, and is an inexhaustible resource, meaning we can use it as much as we want, and it'll never run out!" She turned with a smirk. "Though we can still get tired from using it, of course."
One of the fillies gave a small giggle. Satisfied, Twilight returned to her chart. "Now, using magic, though trivial as an adult, can often be harder for younger ponies to pick up until their horns have matured. Some of you are still a little young, but I think your horns should be far enough along for us to–"
"Um, Miss Sparkle?"
Twilight turned back to her class, butterflies in her stomach after hearing her teacher name. "Yes, Street?"
Street Smarts lowered a raised hoof. "We don't have any horns."
"What?" Twilight looked around the room. Seven faces. Seven hornless faces. "That's... uh..."
A clipboard appeared out of nowhere in front of Twilight's face. Pages flipped at a hurried velocity, first forward, then back, then forward and back again.
"Well... you see..." Two purple eyes blurred as they scoured several pages for an answer they would not find. "The thing about magic..."
Twilight gulped.
"Oh dear."
Applejack began her class with a rather detailed drawing of her home on the chalkboard.
"Now, Honesty," she said to her class, "is probably both the easiest and the hardest part of harmony. Though I may be a bit biased," she said with a wink. Applejack put her chalk down, dusted her hoof off on a mat, then took a few steps towards her class. She was pleased to see that she had their undivided attention.
"You see," she continued with a motion towards her drawing, "Honesty is a lot like working on a farm. You've gotta work hard at it, even when the weather isn't all that nice, but come harvest season you'll see that all that hard work paid off."
Applejack beamed at the faces in front of her, but they gave her bewildered stares in return.
"Uh... Have any of you ever worked on a farm before?" she asked.
A few students shook their heads. The others just kept staring. Then, Tootie flailed an excited hoof.
"Ooh!" Tootie exclaimed. "I had an ant farm once! Does that count?"
Applejack sighed. "No, darlin', I'm afraid that's not quite the same."
"Oh, good," said Tootie, lowering her hoof. "Because I stepped on it and ants got everywhere and Mom got mad and–"
"Okay, okay," Applejack said, waving Tootie down. "It's okay, not a lot of towns have farms." She looked back at her intricate, pointless drawing. Applejack sighed and regained her smile. "That's okay!" she told them. "The good thing about Honesty is that you can find it no matter where you live. Kinda like mud."
Roly raised a hoof. "We don't have mud in Canterlot," he told her. "Dad says it's dirty."
"It's mud," said Applejack, eyebrows lowering. "It's supposed to be dirty."
"So Honesty is dirty?" asked Vroom.
"No!" Applejack said, a hoof slapping to her forehead. Whoopsie mimicked the action with a smile. "It's more like... apple pie. Y'all like apple pie, right?"
More blank stares.
"Don't tell me..." stammered Applejack, "Don't tell me y'all don't like apple pie?"
It was a blank staring contest.
"Wait... have y'all even had apple pie?"
Applejack was losing the blank staring contest.
"How can y'all never have had apple pie?!" Applejack said, throwing her hooves into the air. "Apple pie is like–!"
Pinkie Pie waited quietly at her desk for her new students to arrive after Applejack's class. Well, quietly from the waist up; her legs would be pounding out the world's fastest jungle beat were they an inch closer to the front of her desk. They somehow sped up as seven fillies and colts made their way into her room. Pinkie's legs slowed back down as the last student, Once Bitten, entered with his eyes locked on the floor. Pinkie tapped his shoulder and he jumped before giving her a fearful look. Pinkie said nothing, smiled, and raised her two front hooves. Bewildered but heart still beating fast, Once kept his eyes on his weird pink teacher. Pinkie then brought her two hooves into her face, contorting it into a shape no pony's face should ever take. Once couldn't help but giggle at the spectacle. Smiling, Pinkie removed her hooves and motioned for Once to have a seat. He did so with his head held up, showing off his new smile.
Pinkie giggled and rose from her desk. "Hiya, class!" she greeted. "In case any of you forgot, my name is Miss Pinkie Pie! We're going to be learning about Laughter today!"
"Is that like apple pie?" called Vroom.
"What? What about apple pie?" Pinkie asked, now looking for baked goods.
"No, I think pie is Honesty," corrected Street Smarts.
"No, Pie is Laughter!" Pinkie said. She stood herself taller. "Me Pie, teach Laughter!"
Vroom opened and closed her mouth a few times, but said nothing. Whoopsie giggled and clapped his hooves.
"Now, this may sound like a silly question," Pinkie began, "but what is laughter, anyway?"
Her students offered no answer.
"I mean," continued Pinkie, "what is the deal with laughter?"
A few students tilted their heads, but still said nothing. Pinkie turned around and pulled a string from the ceiling, revealing a picture of some pony's shaved flank. The students roared with laughter.
"Correct!" Pinkie called over them. Then, to herself, "Oh, yeah. I've got this in the bag."
"Come on, come on, put some hustle in it!"
Rainbow Dash herded her first class into her room from the hallway. After making sure she had all seven, she closed the door behind them.
"Alright," she said to her seated class, "Who's ready to learn about Loyalty?" When no one answered, she said, "Yeah, me neither. Learning is boring, am I right?"
Tootie raised a hoof. "Miss Dash, does that mean we can have lunch early?"
Rainbow shook her head. "Not so fast, kid," she told her. "I know learning isn't fun, but Loyalty is important."
"So, uh..." Street Smarts raised a hoof before continuing. "What are we going to be doing then?"
"Well, for starters," Rainbow said, lifting an empty desk and hovering it over her students, "You can help me by moving all the desks out of the way." She placed the desk at the back of the room. "We're going to want a little space."
The students exchanged confused glances before slowly standing and following Rainbow's lead. In just a few minutes, the students were sitting in front of Rainbow on an empty floor.
"Talking is boring, so I thought it'd be way more fun to have a class about doing," Rainbow told them. "Now, for this lesson, I'm going to need two volun-tolds." Before anyone could ask what a "volun-told" is, Rainbow pointed at Whoopsie-Daisy and Roly Poly while saying, "You and you. Stand up and follow me."
Whoopsie rolled onto his hooves and Roly followed suit. Rainbow Dash led them just a few paces from where the others sat.
"Okay," Rainbow said in a hushed tone, "We're going to play a little pretend. A game, see? So, for this game, you two are best friends."
"But, Miss Rainbow," Roly interjected. Before he could continue, Rainbow prodded him in the chest.
Whoopsie happily followed Rainbow back to the other students, their necks stretched trying to figure out what they were missing out on.
"Now, I want you all to make a circle around Whoopsie here," Rainbow said to them. "Not you!" she shouted at Roly, who was inching back towards the group. He recoiled a few steps back.
Once the circle was formed, Rainbow said to them, "Alright, now we're going to call this exercise 'Standing Up For Your Friend'. I want everypony in the circle to pretend to be a bully."
The students all looked at one another. Tootie asked, "Um, Miss Rainbow, how do we do that?"
Rainbow slapped a hoof to her forehead. "Oh for the love of... Okay, so like this," she turned to Whoopsie, who gazed up at her with an innocent smile. "Hey!" Rainbow bellowed, "I bet your mom likes oats!"
"Oh!" said Street Smarts, "I know this one!" He stood tall and said to Whoopsie, "Your dad's job is dumb!"
"Yeah!" said Rainbow Dash, "Like that!"
"You probably can't run very fast!" added Vroom.
"Yes!"
"You're fat and stupid and dumb and nopony likes you!" chimed Tootie.
"Okay, whoa," said Rainbow, pumping her hooves. "Back it up. That was harsh. This is only pretend, remember?"
"Yeah! Stupid!" called Roly from across the room.
"Not you, Roly!" Rainbow scolded. Roly flinched and his ears flattened. Rainbow made her way towards him while the others continued with odd insults pointed in Whoopsie's direction. He looked completely unaffected by the taunts.
"Okay, now," Rainbow said privately to Roly, "I want you to go over there and tell the others that Whoopsie is your friend, and that they shouldn't be saying those things about him!"
"What?" asked Roly. He peered over Rainbow's shoulder. "But you told them to say those things!"
Rainbow slapped her forehead again. "It's just part of the game, okay?"
Roly tilted his head and hesitated before speaking again. "But wouldn't it be easier to be in the circle?" he asked. "I mean, there's more of them."
"What? No!" Rainbow exclaimed. She took Roly by the shoulders and gave him a small shake. "That's not the point! You're supposed to show that you're being a loyal friend!"
"Oh, right!" Roly said. Then his face scrunched up. "Wait, which one was Loyalty again?"
"Are you kidding me?!" Rainbow yelled. "It's–!"
The school bell sounded, and Rainbow's students shuffled out to their next class.
Rarity stood tall at the front of her classroom, an elegant smile greeting each of her students as they walked through the door.
"Good morning, class!" she said to them. "To remind you, my name is Miss Rarity, and I'll be your instructor on all the wonderful things Generosity has to offer!"
After the last of her students took their place, Rarity turned, lifted a piece of chalk with her magic, and wrote neat bullet points as she spoke.
"Generosity is unique from the other elements in that it, above all else, requires sacrifice," she told them, putting a heavy, chalky period at the end of her first sentence. "Now, while one can argue that the other elements can also ask for a pony to give up something precious to them, Generosity is the only one where this is a consistency." She made a long underline on the board. "Now, when I say that a pony has to sacrifice something, some of you may find that to be a bit of a scary thing to do." Rarity put the chalk down and turned back to face her class. "But I can assure you from experience, that things given out of the goodness of one's heart tends to lead to–"
Rarity froze as her gaze locked onto one of the students in the back. Sullen Stare met her gaze with one worthy of his name. Upon closer inspection, however, his eyes moved from hers and down to where they were actually pointing: his propped-up hind legs.
"What?" Sullen asked as though no answer would please him.
"Your legs–" began Rarity.
"Yeah, I have four of them," Sullen stated.
Rarity shook herself out of a trance. "Sullen Stare, I must ask that you remove your legs from your desk. It's not good for your posture, and is rather disrespectful."
Sullen shrugged, but did as he was told. Satisfied, Rarity made to turn back to her board.
"Now, as I was saying," she continued, "Things given from the goodness of one's–"
Rarity stopped mid-turn to see Tootie Frootie, her cheeks puffed wide.
"Tootie, are you–?" Rarity shook her head. "Are you... eating something?"
"Ahm no' ea'in' nuffin!" retorted Tootie, crumbs flying from her mouth.
"Tootie, please," Rarity implored, "Eating in class is also disrespectful, both to me and to your classmates. Not to mention distracting!"
"Ahm no' ea'in' nuffin!" Tootie said again, this time louder than the first.
Rarity clicked her tongue. "Well, for the sake of continuing class I'll pretend that I believe you, but please, don't make me ask you again. Now–"
This time Rarity caught sight of Once Bitten. His eyes were only barely above his desk, and seeing that he now had Rarity's attention only sank him further into his seat. "Once!" she exclaimed, causing Once to sink so low that he needed a shovel to go any further, "You are going to ruin your back sitting like that! Please, you must sit with correct posture!"
Once slowly rose from his seat, his timid eyes unable to look away from Rarity's stern gaze.
Rarity nodded. "Good. Now then— Sullen Stare, what did I say about your legs?!"
Crunch.
"Tootie, I swear to Celestia–!"
Before her students arrived, Fluttershy made sure the side of her head that tends to sweat the most when nervous was covered by the part in her hair. As the fillies and colts filed in, she greeted each in turn.
"Hi! Um, Hi. Um... Hi... Hi... Um..."
As each student sat, they looked at a piece of candy that rested on their desk. Roly excitedly started unwrapping his, but after noticing no one else was doing the same, he put his back down.
"Hi, um, class," Fluttershy began, "I'm, um, Miss Fluttershy, and– oh, wait, you know that already..."
The class looked at her inquisitively. Fluttershy took a deep breath, smiled, and continued.
"My name is Miss Fluttershy," she said, her composure refreshed. "And today I'm going to be teaching you about Kindness."
A few students smiled back. Fluttershy let out a sigh of relief.
"Kindness is one of my favorite parts of harmony, because it has everything to do with how ponies treat one another," she told them. She moved to her chalkboard and drew a series of happy ponies on its surface. "Everypony wants to be treated like they're somepony special, but in order for that to happen, we have to also treat everypony the same way!"
Once Fluttershy finished drawing her eighth happy pony, she turned back to the class.
"Now," she said to them, her face brimming, "who can tell me why I've put a candy on each of your desks?"
The class was silent, each head looking around to see who might speak first. It wound up being Street.
"Because," he began slowly, "you're being... generous?"
"Yes!" Fluttershy exclaimed. "Wait, no, Rarity is Generosity. Well, I mean, I guess it's generous, but it's also... kind?"
She looked around and saw a series of confused expressions.
"Oh no," she whispered to herself. She swallowed before addressing the whole class again. "Kindness is, um, lots of things!" said Fluttershy as a hidden drop of sweat made its way down her neck. "Like, um, it can be..." Her eyes darted around the room. "It can be... um... oh!" She stood herself up a little taller. "It can be when you stand up for someone! That's a really kind thing to do!"
"You mean like Loyalty?" asked Roly.
"Yes! Wait, no, um," Fluttershy rubbed her temples. "It's... It's when you make something for a friend!" she almost yelled, proudly pointing at something unseen to her students.
"Like... an apple pie?" Tootie said.
"Yes!" Fluttershy answered, turning her pointing hoof to Tootie.
"No, apple pie is Honesty," stated Sullen.
"I thought apple pie is Laughter?" asked Vroom.
Fluttershy stood with her mouth agape.
"WHAT?"
As the final bell before lunch rang, a baby dragon showed the school's students outside to a few tables. It was a pretty nice day, after all. Meanwhile, the teachers were slowly making their way to their private lounge to eat, relax, and regroup. Rarity and Fluttershy, the last of the morning's instructors, lagged behind their counterparts, deep in conversation with lunch bags in tow.
"...And that's when I noticed his hooves a fourth time, if you can believe it," said Rarity.
Fluttershy hummed and nodded, her mind elsewhere.
As they reached the door to the teacher's lounge, Fluttershy stepped inside, but something made Rarity falter.
"Er, you go on ahead, dear," Rarity said to her friend. "I won't be but a moment."
Fluttershy tilted her head, but said nothing. The door closed quietly behind her. Rarity took a few steps towards the entrance to the school, where a young filly sat alone, a blue blanket draped around her.
"Vroom?"
The dark blue pegasus from Cloudsdale turned at the sound of her name. "Huh? Oh, hi, Miss Rarity."
"It's lunch time," Rarity reminded her. She lowered her neck to ease the distance in their conversation. "Why aren't you outside with the others?"
"Oh, I don't have a lunch today," Vroom said simply.
"What?" asked Rarity in disbelief. "Why not?"
Vroom shrugged.
"Well, why can't you still sit with the others?" said Rarity, pointing lightly to the picnic tables outside.
Vroom shrugged again. "I'm not really hungry," she said, "but sometimes if I see food, I get hungry. And I don't have any food, so, yeah."
Rarity let a few moments of silence pass. A brown paper bag with three neatly drawn diamonds dropped between the two ponies.
"Here," Rarity said, giving the bag a small nudge towards Vroom, "You can have my lunch today."
"What?" Vroom looked at the bag, then up to Rarity. "But then what are you going to eat?"
"Oh, don't worry about me," Rarity said with a flick of her hoof. "I'm actually on a diet right now." Her voice lowered as she said to herself, "And I actually mean it this time."
Vroom pulled the bag close, opened it, and gave it a sniff. "Are... are you sure?"
"Of course, dear," Rarity said to her with a wink. "Just promise me you're not a picky eater, and we'll call it even, okay?"
Vroom stood herself up, stumbling slightly on her cape. As soon as she was up, she put two hooves around Rarity's neck. Rarity hesitated, then smiled and wrapped the filly in a leg of her own. A few seconds later, Vroom released Rarity's neck, snatched up the bag in her mouth, and ran off calling through grit teeth, "Fank you, Mish Rariree!"
Rarity giggled and waved at the galloping youth. "Yes, Rarity," she said to herself, "this is why we do what we do."
"Rarity?" The fashionista turned back to see Applejack's head sticking out from the teacher's lounge. "I think you better come in here. Twilight's having a... Well, she's having a Twilight moment."
"Oh dear." Rarity followed Applejack into the lounge at a quick pace.
Twilight was already deep into a conversation with herself as they entered. She sat at one of three small tables, her chin on the surface and hooves on her head. Pinkie was sitting happily on one of the other tables, her hind legs casually swaying over the side. Fluttershy stood near a window, taking occasional glances at the students outside. Rainbow sat reclined at the third table, eating her lunch with content.
"I mean, how was I supposed to know none of them would be unicorns?" Twilight asked herself while the others could only exchange glances. "Well, of course some wouldn't be unicorns. Not everypony is a unicorn, silly! But still, how am I supposed to teach about magic without... And what does mean for harmony? Do other ponies not get harmony without unicorns? That hardly seems fair... How do I teach that to a bunch of kids?!"
"Er, Twilight?" said Applejack, raising a hoof.
Twilight shook herself out of her trance. "Sorry, lost in thought," she said.
Rainbow took a bite out of an apple. "Yeah, we noticed," she said with snort.
Twilight grimaced. "Sorry again. I just had a really hard time with my first class," she told them. She took a few calming breaths before continuing. "I'll get it figured out. How did you guys do? I think that as the headmistress, I should know how all the classes are going."
"Mine went great!" exclaimed Pinkie Pie, leaning forward. "I had them laughing the whole time!"
"That's great, Pinkie!" Twilight said, showing signs of relief. "Do you think they learned a lot about laughter then?"
"What do you mean?" Pinkie asked, her head tilting. "I just told you they laughed the whole time! How could they not know what laughter is after that?"
"I mean the concept of laughter!" Twilight said. A glimmer of hope left her eye. "About how to actually make laughter and why it's important as an element of harmony!"
Pinkie's expression didn't change. She didn't say anything for several moments. "I don't get it," she finally stated.
Twilight's head slammed back into the table, causing everyone in the room to flinch. Pinkie's hooves shot up to her mouth.
"I'm... sorry?" Pinkie offered.
"No, no, it's fine," Twilight replied, her voice muffled by the table. She waved a hoof in Pinkie's direction. "You can... focus on it this afternoon, or something."
Twilight unstuck her horn from the table's surface and shook her head. "Rarity, how did your class go?" she asked.
Rarity jumped at the sound of her name. "Oh, I, er, uh, um..."
Twilight's gaze slowly turned in Rarity's direction and pierced her soul.
Rarity gulped. "I'm sorry, Twilight," she finally said. "It started out well, it really did, but then one of the students needed to be taught how to sit properly, and then another, and one of them was eating snacks, and–"
Twilight waved the rest of Rarity's sentence away. "It's alright, it's alright," Twilight said to her. The alicorn then turned to her orange friend. "Applejack, what about you?"
Applejack scratched one hoof with the other and looked towards the ceiling. "Uh... We, uh... talked about... apple pie?"
Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie gave a unison "Oooooh" of understanding. Twilight looked between them and held her hooves up as though she could grasp an explanation out of thin air. When none came, she lowered them back to the table.
Twilight sighed. "Okay. Fluttershy."
Fluttershy gave a small "Eep!" as attention turned towards her.
"How did your class go?" Twilight finished, monotone.
Twilight stared at her yellow friend. "Well, do you think the students understood their lesson?"
"Um..."
Twilight shook her head. "You know what?" she asked. "Fine is good. I'm good with fine. Fine is fine."
Applejack and Rarity exchanged worried expressions.
Twilight groaned. "Rainbow, what about you?" she asked, shifting her attention. "How did your lecture go?"
Rainbow Dash rocked herself as she took a bite out of her apple. "Yeah, I skipped the whole 'lecture' bit," she said.
Twilight blinked several times. "You... what?! You knew we were supposed to do lectures in the morning, then practice in the afternoon!"
Rainbow took another bite of her apple. "Lectures are so boring!" she said defensively. "You know that's not how I learn! So I had the kids play a game to teach them about loyalty."
"Fine. Whatever," Twilight said, rubbing a temple. "So how did your 'game' go then?"
"Er..."
"Twilight!"
Six heads turned towards a new voice as Spike leaped into the room. "You gotta come quick!"
"What is it, Spike?" asked Twilight, exasperated.
"The kids are fighting!" Spike explained, a claw pointing back out the door. "They're all ganging up and teasing one another! At least two of them are crying, and nothing I'm saying is working!"
"That's–" Rainbow began. Six heads turned towards her. She swallowed a large chunk of apple and coughed. "That's... some... really weird behavior... huh?"
Twilight glared at Rainbow for several seconds. Rainbow gave a fake smile and shrugged. Twilight shook her head and turned back to her other friends. "Applejack, could you–?"
"Yup, already on it," Applejack replied. She raced out the lounge door, Spike not far behind her.
Twilight gave a very long sigh and slowly put her chin back on the table in front of her, rubbing her temples. Her friends exchanged one more look before Twilight stated, "We have no idea what we're doing, do we?"
"Is far too busy to help us with something as tedious as teaching school children. Besides, she wouldn't have asked us to do this if–"
Seven fillies and colts rounded a corner to see Twilight and Applejack in conversation. Upon seeing them, the teachers' words came to a halt and they both gave wide, strained grins. Twilight gave Applejack one last look through her plastered-on smile before leaving.
"Ahem!" Applejack coughed, letting her smile fall back to normal proportions. "As you know, we're shaking things up a little bit this afternoon, and I'll be your first teacher for your after-lunch classes!"
Her students stared at her wordlessly. Applejack grimaced and waved her hoof a few times.
"...Y'all can have a seat now."
Seven students took their now-usual spots in the room. A few looked happier with food fresh in their bellies, while others looked like they were recovering from an emotional breakdown.
Having broken up a few of the fights over lunch, Applejack thought about asking how everyone was doing, but decided against it.
"Alright, y'all," Applejack began, pacing, "so as you know, we'll be starting with our more hooves-on activities here now that we've, uh..." She swallowed. "...covered the basics this morning."
Tootie raised a hoof. "Miss Applejack, do we get pie now?" A few others murmured with anticipation.
Applejack's eyebrows furrowed. "No, no pie," she told them. Disappointed eyes looked back down at their desks. "Now, as I was telling you earlier today," Applejack said, turning to her chalkboard. She paused after seeing her drawing from that morning on its surface, then erased it and began writing. "Honesty can be hard." Applejack underlined the only point written on the board. Satisfied, she put the chalk down and dusted her hoof on a nearby mat. "To demonstrate this, I'm gonna need a volunteer."
"Ooh! Me!" called Street Smarts. Happy to see a student actually responding for once, Applejack smiled and motioned him to come up in front of the class. Once there, Street grinned at his classmates as though he won a contest.
Applejack reached out and gently turned his head back toward her. She then put two hooves on either of Street's shoulders.
"Now, Street," Applejack said, "do you have a sister?"
"What? No," Street replied. "Was I supposed to have one before class?"
A few of Street's classmates giggled. He snapped around, glaring, daring someone to laugh while he was looking.
Applejack couldn't help but chuckle herself, and once again brought Street's attention back around. "No, it's quite alright," she told him, "and it might be best if you don't for this exercise."
Street tilted his head, but said nothing.
"Now, what we're gonna do," Applejack said, addressing the class, "is pretend that Street here has a sister. Now, his sister has made some bad friends, and I'm worried about her, and I'm worried about her around him. I have to let Street know I'm worried, but in a way he understands that I just want what's best."
"Why?" asked a voice from the back. Applejack stretched her neck to see Sullen Stare.
"Well, look who else found their voice!" Applejack joked. "Well, Sullen, I gotta tell him because it's the honest thing to do."
Sullen squinted, but Applejack's focus was back on Street.
"Alright, now, Street," she said to him, her tone turning somber, "I need to be honest with you. I've seen the friends your sister has been hanging out with." She gave his shoulders a gentle squeeze. "They're not good ponies, Street, and I'm worried that she might start acting like them. And I'm worried that you might start acting like her."
Street's eyes dashed between Applejack's. "I... won't...?"
"There!" Applejack said, beaming. She stood taller so the class could hear her better. "Now, does everypony see what I just did there?"
"Yeah!" Tootie leaned over her desk. "Hey, Street! Your sister is a terrible pony, and you should stop hanging out with her!"
Applejack took a step back, "No, that's not what–"
"Shut up!" Street shouted at Tootie, rounding on her. "You don't even know my sister!"
"You don't even have a sister, dummy!" Vroom retorted.
"Yeah! No sister!" Roly added.
"Shut up!" Street's green face was quickly adopting a new shade of red.
"Alright, now that's enough!" Applejack said with a stamp. Her students flinched. Tootie sank back into her seat. "Street, thank you for volunteering," she said to the colt. "You can take your seat again now."
Street trotted back to his desk in a huff. Tootie snickered.
"Now. Who would like to be next?" Applejack asked. Once sank into his seat. Whoopsie gave a content hiccup.
"Now, remember what y'all learned today," Applejack reminded her students. "There's a test after recess!"
Seven fillies and colts shuffled out of her room, grumbling at her reminder. She watched as each left, with Sullen and Tootie bringing up the rear.
"Tootie, can you hold up a minute?" asked Applejack.
"Um... okay?" Tootie replied.
Sullen also stopped and looked between the two of them. Applejack gave him a wave.
"Go on, now," she said to him. "You don't want to be late for Twilight's next lesson."
Sullen shrugged and continued wordlessly down the hall. Tootie turned to Applejack, who leaned in close.
"I didn't want to tell ya in front of all your friends," Applejack began, "but I think you mighta sat in some mud during lunch."
"WHAT?!" Tootie screeched. Applejack's head shot straight back up again, hoof digging into her ear. Tootie ran in circles, trying to get a better look at her flank.
"Shhhh!" hushed Applejack, half soothing and half quieting. "It's alright, really! Just go on to the bathroom and wash up. I'll let Twilight know why you're late, and get your seat cleaned in the classroom. Alright?"
"Promise you won't tell anypony!" Tootie exclaimed, her spinning coming to a halt.
Applejack smiled and said, "Cross my heart, hope to fly."
Tootie nodded and sprinted for the fillies' room. Applejack sighed as she left. She turned to reenter her classroom only to find a colt blocking her way.
"Why?" Sullen asked simply.
"You mean like why aren't you in Twilight's class?" answered Applejack, scolding.
"Why did you let her know?" Sullen clarified. He adjusted his weight. "About the mud. You really embarrassed her. I sat in the back, so I could see, but I didn't say anything. Now she's freaking out about it."
Applejack shook her head. "She woulda found out eventually," she said, "And then she woulda wondered why nopony ever said anything."
Sullen raised an eyebrow. "And now you're just going to pretend it never happened?" he asked. "Isn't that, like, lying?"
Applejack studied the youth with curiosity. "As far as we know, the three of us are the only ones who noticed, and she's the only one who coulda gotten hurt." Applejack waved a hoof. "Besides, I also promised her I wouldn't tell anypony. If I broke that promise, wouldn't that also be a lie?"
Sullen shrugged.
Applejack shook her head. "You really need to be getting to Twilight's class. I'll send Tootie when she's ready. If you still think I did something wrong, you can talk to me about it during recess, okay?"
Sullen shrugged again, then turned and walked away.
To herself, Applejack murmured, "Now these confound kids have got me wondering if I even know what honesty is..."
Twilight found the bright sunlight calming as she looked around at her students, each of them stretched across the grass. She watched as Sullen came sprinting from the school's entrance.
"Sullen, there you are!" she called.
"Sorry," he said as he got closer. "I had a question for Miss Applejack. So did Tootie."
"That's quite alright," Twilight told him. She motioned toward a nearby basket. "Please take an apple. It's important for our next lesson."
Sullen gave her an inquisitive look, but did as she asked. He walked and settled in a spot just a bit further than most of his classmates.
"Now, an apple is a very common tool that unicorns use to practice magic spells on," she told her class. She paced and let blades of grass tickle her hooves, soothing a deeply hidden part of herself. "It has cells like a living being, but we don't have to worry as much about accidentally hurting it. Plus, you can find one in almost every lunch box in Equestria. Convenient, right?"
A few students looked from their apples to her, then back again.
"Originally I was going to have us try to levitate or move the apples, but considering–" Twilight looked around at her class again. "Well, considering, we're going to pretend like we feel a magical connection to the apple, and work on understanding what it's like to use that connection to change the apple's properties!"
Sullen dropped his apple and stared at Twilight. Vroom closed her eyes and put her apple against her forehead. Street set his down carefully and started waving his hooves around it. Once curled over so that only he could see his apple. Whoopsie stared at his own with wide eyes, a drop of drool clinging to his lips.
"Miss Sparkle?" The pony addressed felt a tug on her mane. Twilight turned to see Roly standing next to her, an apple core in his mouth. "Can I have another?" he asked.
Twilight sighed. "You weren't supposed to eat it, Roly."
"Well I know that now!" Roly replied defensively.
Twilight rolled her eyes and levitated another from the basket. "Don't eat this one, alright?" she asked her student. "I only have one left, and we're still waiting for Tootie to join us."
Roly nodded and took his new apple from Twilight's aura. "I'm sorry, Miss Sparkle, I couldn't help it. These are a lot tastier than the ones in Canterlot!"
Twilight nodded. "I remember. It takes a long time for apples to get to Canterlot from the farm. They're fresher here though, as we're a lot closer to the where they come from. See?" Twilight pointed a hoof toward the horizon, where dozens of red-speckled trees stood tall.
"Oh, yeah!" said Roly, eyes squinted. He absent-mindedly moved his apple toward his mouth, then stopped himself. He looked back up at his teacher. "Um, Miss Sparkle? Can I ask you something?"
Twilight couldn't help but smile at the youth's innocence. "Of course, Roly. That's why I'm here!"
"Earlier today, you said..." Roly scratched his head, dislodging his memory. "You said all ponies have magic, right?"
Twilight nodded. "That's right. Pegasi use it to fly, and earth ponies have a stronger connection to the earth through it. Unfortunately, without a horn–"
"Do other animals have magic too?"
Blinking a few times, Twilight paused before answering. "Follow me, Roly. I want to show you something." Twilight walked toward the nearby forest, and Roly fell into place behind her. The other students watched with casual interest.
"Do you see this?" Twilight asked, pointing to a low-hanging branch at the forest's edge. A silvery cocoon clung to its surface. Roly stretched his neck toward it and nodded. "I noticed this butterfly's cocoon about two weeks ago," said Twilight. "If my calculations are correct, we should be about to see–"
A small crisp cracking interrupted Twilight. Roly watched in amazement as a regal creature emerged from its unassuming shell. Twilight instead watched the colt's face, amused and pleased with his reaction.
"There's magic all around us," Twilight said to her student. "Sometimes not in the places we expect it, and not in the way we traditionally think about it, but it happens every day. Both in big moments and in small ones."
Roly watched the fresh butterfly take flight and gave a soft, "Cooool..."
Twilight sighed and smiled. For the first time since that morning, she felt like she was actually going to make a difference in someone's education.
"Miss Spaaaaarklllle!" called Tootie from afar. "Do you have any more apples? These things are tasty!"
Twilight groaned. "And we're back," she muttered to herself.
Rainbow Dash stood expectantly near a goal net as she watched Twilight and her class appear over a ridge.
"About time!" Rainbow called out to them. She stood at the bottom of a hill, a playing field stretch out beneath her. As the fillies and colts saw the surplus of rubber balls surrounding Rainbow, they bounded down the hill to play. Rainbow gave their amusement a smug smile as she approached Twilight.
"Hey, Twi, thanks for letting me give the hooves-on thing another chance," Rainbow said.
Twilight sighed. "I really think you should have done a lecture," Twilight said to her, "but at this point I just want to stick to schedule and have some sort of control over all of this."
Rainbow chuckled and flicked a hoof. "Don't worry, I got this." Then, after a stern look from Twilight, "What? I do!"
Twilight shook her head. "Anyway, I'll be hanging onto Whoopsie a little bit longer, if that's alright."
"Whoopsie?" Rainbow asked, tilting her head. "What did he do?" Then, quieter, "Wait, you got him to do something?"
"Kind of?" Twilight answered. "He turned his apple blue."
"Wait, what?" Rainbow lowered an eyelid. She looked at Whoopsie-Daisy, who was balancing himself (poorly) on a ball, then back to Twilight. "He doesn't have a–"
"I know!" Twilight hissed.
"Then how did he–?"
"I don't know!" Twilight answered. She raised a hoof to her temple. "I was showing a cocoon to Roly, and when I turned around–"
"You were showing a cocoon to Roly?" Rainbow asked with an eyebrow raised. "Why?"
"Why?" repeated Twilight, incredulously. "Because... You see... Magic... Look, don't question my teaching methods, alright?"
Rainbow chuckled. "Alright, but you can't judge mine either!"
Twilight opened her mouth to give a hot retort, then shook her head. "Never mind. Whoopsie! I need you to follow me. We're going to work on, uh, extra credit!"
The short, squat colt happily tore off in Twilight's direction. The two of them walked back toward the school together.
"Hey!" said Street, his ball rolling away from him, "How come he gets extra credit?"
"Because he needs it," Rainbow replied in a low tone. "Alright, fillies and colts!" Rainbow shouted with a wave. The young ponies followed her over to a small box set beside one of the field's nets. "We're going to play a little hoofball!"
All the ponies except for Once cheered.
"Now, I've got some red and blue bandanas in this box," Rainbow told them. She pulled out a red one and tied it around her neck. "I want you to wear one like this so we know who's on whose team. Sound good?"
After a few enthusiastic hums of understanding, the students huddled around the box and dug through it. One by one, they each tied a bandana around their necks like Rainbow showed them.
"Uh, Vroom," Rainbow said to the filly, "We need to be able to see your bandana. Can you take off your blan– er, cape?"
"NO!" Vroom screeched. The other youths stared. Rainbow flinched, then chuckled.
"Okay, okay, you don't have to take it off," said Rainbow. "But since it's blue, that means you're on the blue team, okay?" Vroom nodded vigorously. Rainbow smiled and turned to the rest of her students. "Now, before we begin– ...Roly, red team already has three members."
Roly looked up at Rainbow. "...Okay?"
Rainbow shook her head. "Can you switch to blue so we have even teams? Please?"
Roly hesitantly removed his bandana and exchanged it for a blue one.
"Right," Rainbow said with a nod. "So sports are a great way to learn about loyalty." She started pacing and her students sat in a line in front of her. "Sometimes a team can represent your school, or your town, or even your whole country. Showing your team your support is showing how proud you are of where you come from!"
Street raised a hoof. "My dad says cheering for a team is pointless, and that ponies should just watch to enjoy the game."
"Well, your dad is wrong!" Rainbow said at an elevated level. Street flinched and Rainbow coughed. "Uh, I mean..." She cleared her throat. "What I mean is that while your dad likes to do things his way, having a team to root for and watching them win is an experience unlike anything else!"
Rainbow resumed her pace.
"Now, the only thing better than watching your team win," she told them, "is helping your team win!" Rainbow switched directions. "And winning comes from working together with your teammates, and never giving up." Rainbow stopped her pace. "So: who's ready to play some hoofball?!"
"YEAH!"
Twilight stepped into her room and turned on a light. Whoopsie was only a few paces behind her, a blue apple in his mouth.
"Have a seat, Whoopsie," Twilight said to the colt. Whoopsie squat himself into the nearest desk and dropped his apple on its surface. It started to roll, and Twilight grabbed its stem in her mouth before it hit the tile floor.
"Be careful!" Twilight said through grit teeth. She placed the apple upright back on the desk. "We have to study this carefully, and we don't want anything happening to it!"
Whoopsie said nothing, but lowered his head to gaze at the apple, wide eyes inches away from its blue exterior. Twilight sighed and turned to her desk.
Purple magic opened a drawer as Twilight extracted a few strange instruments. "Now, Whoopsie," she said with her back turned, "I need you to tell me exactly what you–"
A rolling sound cut Twilight off, and she once again caught the odd-colored apple, this time with her magic. "Whoopsie, please!" she scolded. She replaced the apple upright again. "I told you, we need to–"
The apple flopped over and began another descent. Whoopsie watched, entranced. Twilight caught the apple in her aura yet again, and floated it in front of her eyes. She rotated it to get a good look at its underside. In the middle of a few lumps of blue stretched a long, thin stem. The kind of stem that, seconds ago, stood at the top of the apple.
"...How?" Twilight whispered.
The hoofball game was intense. Well, intense if you count fillies and colts missing goals only a yard in front of them, constant time-outs to "heal" grass-stains, and occasional distractions from passing butterflies. That said, the score stayed neck-and-neck for most of the game. Street and Vroom both proved to be natural athletes. Once Bitten showed a lot of promise in his aim, but cowered whenever Sullen came too close; he played aggressively, and found a weakness in Once's fear of him. Roly kept accidentally passing to the other team, and Tootie had a hard time keeping up with the action.
Dash kept tabs on the school's clocktower, and ten minutes before the end of her class she called, "Alright, guys! Next goal wins it!"
Roly, distracted by the statement, immediately lost his ball to Sullen.
"Over here!" Tootie called, huffing and puffing with no blue bandanas in sight.
"No, here!" countered Street, only a few paces from the goal.
Sullen narrowed his eyes and charged forward. Vroom lunged at him, and he just barely managed to slip her. Growling at Once managed to get his final opponent to back down. Now clear of rivals, Sullen took the game-winning goal.
Rainbow blew a whistle from the sidelines.
"Nice job, Sullen!" she called. "Alright, everypony, huddle up!"
Six young ponies in varying degrees of exhaustion plopped onto the grass in front of their instructor.
"Now, what did we learn?" Rainbow asked.
"That Sullen is a ball-hog," Tootie growled, a low glare in his direction.
"At least I can make a goal!" Sullen retorted.
Street snorted and ripped up some grass. "So can I, you know."
"You made almost all of them on our team!"
Rainbow blew her whistle a few times to get her students' attention again. "Alright, alright, calm down," she said. "Let's not forget this was a team effort. It took all three of you to win!"
"So..." Once sniffled and circled a hoof through the grass. "So blue team wasn't a good team then?"
"What?" asked Rainbow incredulously. "Of course you were! Good teams sometimes lose, you know, but you can't let that get you down!"
Roly pawed at the grass in front of him. "Miss Rainbow," he began, "can I be on the other team next time?"
"What?" Rainbow shook her head. "Why?"
"Well, they won," Roly said matter-of-factly.
"That's not the point!" Rainbow replied, throwing her front hooves into the air. "You guys are supposed to be learning about teamwork, and sportsmanship, and loyal–!"
The bells in the distant clocktower echoed across the field. Those in the grass looked toward the school and saw Fluttershy walking toward them. Not wanting to be late for class, the fillies and colts got to their hooves and began their trek to their next teacher.
On his way up, Street Smarts remarked to Tootie, "I hope she figured out how to use all of her words again." Tootie giggled and raced ahead of him. Street took two gallops forward, then promptly fell back onto his flank. Wincing, he looked back to see a large blue hoof on his tail.
"One sec, Shy," Rainbow said to her counterpart. "This won't take long."
Even from their distance, Rainbow could see the small tilt in Fluttershy's head.
Street looked up toward Rainbow's face. "What did I do?" he asked.
Rainbow's eyebrows furrowed. "What you said about Miss Fluttershy wasn't very nice," she explained.
"What wasn't?" Street said innocently.
"You know what," said Rainbow, her expression hardening. "I admit, she can have a hard time saying stuff, but she's trying really hard to be a good teacher to you right now." Rainbow lowered her stern gaze closer to Street and gave him a not-so-gentle prod. "You need to show a little respect. You're still her student, and she's one of the nicest ponies you'll ever meet in your life."
"Okay, jeez, I'm sorry," said Street, leaning away from Rainbow's gaze. Rainbow removed her hoof from his tail, and he stood up and brushed himself off. "It's not like I said anything bad about you, you know."
"You may as well have," Rainbow said, her tone still rock-solid. "She and I are close." Rainbow gave Street another prod in the chest. "Really close. And even if we weren't, that wouldn't change the fact that she's still one of the best ponies in Equestria. I don't care if you can't see it. Don't talk about her that way, got it?"
Street gave a quick nod. Satisfied, Rainbow waved him in Fluttershy's direction, and the colt tore off.
Rainbow sighed. "I really hope her class goes well."
Twilight placed a metal bowl with a few wires extending from it onto Whoopsie's head.
"Ting, Miss Sparkle?" Whoopsie asked.
"What?" Twilight shook her head. "It's just to take some measurements," she answered. She raised individual wires as she spoke. "This is to help test your magical output in conjunction with leyline crossings, giving us an optimal reading for–" Twilight stopped after glimpsing Whoopsie's blank stare. "Um... it's technical," she finished.
"You ting me, Miss Sparkle," answered Whoopsie.
"...Right." Twilight hopped down from a stool and walked toward a machine attached to the same wires as Whoopsie's strange hat. "Now then, once I turn this machine on, I want you to–"
She turned around to see Whoopsie still staring at her blankly, but missing something of some importance.
"...Whoopsie," said Twilight with apprehension, "Where is the apple?"
Whoopsie's expression did not change as he pointed straight up. There, upside-down, hung a blue apple, its bottom-stem firmly attached to the ceiling.
Twilight winced. "Why?" she asked.
Fluttershy led her students back into her classroom. She looked toward her clock and took a deep breath.
"Okay, class!" Fluttershy turned and gave her students a bright smile. "So because we had such a hard time figuring out what Kindness is this morning, I thought this afternoon we might try talking about what it isn't!"
She gazed around the classroom, and her expression dropped.
"Three, four..." Fluttershy's hoof shot to her mouth. "Oh, no!" she exclaimed, "I left somepony outside!"
"Whoopsie stayed with Miss Sparkle!" Tootie called.
"Really?" Fluttershy asked, "Why's that?"
Then, from down the hall: "HOW DID YOU MAKE THE INSIDE ORANGE?"
"I ting, Miss Sparkle!"
"Um..." Fluttershy let the moment rest before shaking her head. "Okay, so who wants to go first?"
Vroom raised her hoof.
"Yes! Vroom!" Fluttershy exclaimed, clapping two hooves together. "What's an example of something that's not nice?"
"Oh, not that," said Vroom. Fluttershy lowered herself back to the ground. "It's just... aren't we supposed to be doing an activity this afternoon?"
"This is the activity!" Fluttershy said with a smile.
"...Oh." Vroom slunk back into her seat.
"Um..." Fluttershy took a hesitant step forward. "Do you... Do you want to share something not nice anyway?"
"No, I'm okay," Vroom said, not meeting Fluttershy's eyes.
"Oh..." Fluttershy's head lowered. "Um..." She looked around the room. "Tootie! What about you?"
Tootie snorted and said, "When ponies don't share the ball."
"Hey!" Sullen shouted, his tone causing Fluttershy to step back, "I already told you–!" He cut himself off and turned toward Fluttershy. "You know what's not nice?" he asked her. "When ponies just won't let stuff go!"
"Okay, now, um," Fluttershy's hoof hovered in front of her. "That's... Neither of those are nice, yes, but–"
"I think it's not nice when your teammates don't carry their own weight!" Vroom said. Once sank deep into his seat.
"Or when ponies don't share snacks!" Roly added. Tootie rounded on him.
"You know what?!"
"And I think it's not nice when we don't get to do a real activity!" Vroom shouted over the cacophony.
The room went dead silent, save for a few giggles. Fluttershy's lip quivered. Tootie turned to Street with an expectant grin. Street opened and closed his mouth, then found something more interesting out the window.
"Um..." Fluttershy's voice could have been mistaken for a mouse with a sore throat. "That's... right... Those aren't very nice things."
Fluttershy took a few steps backward as six necks stretched to see and hear her better.
"I'm..." Fluttershy swallowed. "I'm... going to the bathroom... You..." She swallowed again as she neared the door. "You just... keep practicing... being not nice."
Like a whip, the Kindness teacher turned and rushed from the room. The fillies and colts left inside exchanged glances.
Finally, Vroom spoke. "So do we just wait here, or... or what?"
"Well, that was pointless." Twilight powered off her complicated machine and groaned. Whoopsie tilted his head, causing the tin on his lid to go lop-sided. The apple of Twilight's discontent sat at a separate table, pinned down with parts of it dissected and labeled. Twilight sighed and moved to take the contraption from Whoopsie's head.
"Clearly we need a different method to study you," Twilight said, more to herself than to Whoopsie. "Every time my back is turned, you do something to that apple." She leaned into Whoopsie's unwavering smile and glowered. "I am going to figure this out. Just you wait." She took a few steps back toward her desk and tossed the metal cap into the bin. Twilight leaned into her desk, closed her eyes, and rubbed her temple.
The room was silent.
"...Ting, Miss Sparkle?" asked Whoopsie.
"I'm fine," Twilight insisted. She sighed and placed her hooves back on the ground. "I'm going to use the bathroom," she told Whoopsie. She turned to him with a stern gaze. "While I'm gone, I want you to stay put, and–"
Twilight paused as the sound of galloping hooves and galloping sobs doppler'd past her door.
"Was that... Fluttershy?" Twilight asked. She took a step out the door, but before she could go any further, something tickled her nose. Twilight gave a light sneeze as something came to rest on her snout. She scrunched her nose and grabbed the object with her magic, then held it at a distance. She squinted at the green feather.
"Fluttershy's feathers aren't green," she said to herself. She peered at the object inquisitively. "No pony's is here. So whose–"
Twilight's eyes widened as she turned around to see Whoopsie sitting on the dissection desk. Pins littered the floor beneath him, and his eyes traced something near the ceiling. Twilight looked up. Every degree her neck cranked back was another her jaw dropped, and another pitch higher for the guttural noise emanating from the orifice.
"Come in, come in!" Rarity said, greeting her students back into her room. "Four, five... Where's Whoopsie?"
"He's doing extra credit with Miss Sparkle," Street explained.
Rarity opened her mouth and raised an eyebrow, but was cut off by a distant, "HOW DOES IT HAVE WINGS?! FUNCTIONAL. WINGS. HOW?!"
The corners of Rarity's mouth drooped. "You know what, perhaps it's best I don't know." She waved a hoof in front of her face and adopted a sophisticated smile. "Okay, class," she said, turning to face her students, "I'm sure you've noticed, but I placed a piece of candy on each of your desks."
"Aha!" Vroom exclaimed, taking Rarity aback. "So Generosity is Kindness!"
"Er... No," Rarity answered.
Vroom lowered her chin to her desk and placed her front hooves on top of her head. Eyes wide, she murmured, "I am so confused."
Bewildered herself, Rarity stood from her desk and winced at the sound of a low growl. She gave an embarrassed giggle and patted her stomach. Vroom looked up from her desk.
"Now," Rarity said, pretending no strange sounds were just made, "when I was explaining the core of Generosity to you all earlier this morning, I mentioned that it's about giving. For this activity, I want each of you to pick up your piece of candy and give it to a neighbor."
The students did as Rarity said, if at a slow and awkward pace. Satisfied with their work, the students turned their attention back to Rarity. Once Bitten held his candy close, looking quickly between his classmates. He frowned and slumped into his seat.
"Excellent!" Rarity said to her class. "Now, what have we learned?"
"That... Tootie's candy is bigger than mine was?" Roly offered.
"Hey! No fair!" said Tootie. She reached toward Roly as he leaned away from her. "Give mine back!"
"Tootie, sit down," Rarity said sternly. The filly did as she was told, though with a pout. Rarity hummed and rubbed her chin. "Maybe we need to try something with more sentiment," she suggested to herself. She looked around the room and zeroed-in on Vroom. "Vroom, can I ask you a favor?"
Vroom looked up, befuddled, but nodded.
"Good," Rarity said with a smile. "We're going to play pretend, okay?"
Vroom blinked but said nothing.
"...Alright." Rarity took a few steps closer to Vroom. "Now, let's pretend that you happen upon somepony who is freezing cold, with no fire or garments to warm them. What do you do?"
"I..." Vroom looked to be straining her mind. "I... tell him... that stinks?"
Rarity shook her head. "No, as a generous pony, what do you do?"
"...Give him a piece of candy?"
Rarity sighed and shook her head again. "No, Vroom." A few of the other students snickered, and Vroom glared at them. Rarity pointed to the cloth around Vroom's neck. "Why don't you give them your blanket?" she asked.
"No way!" Vroom said defensively, wrapping the blanket around her tight. "I'm not giving some strange pony my cape!"
"But–"
"No!"
"Vroom–"
"NO!"
Rarity groaned a rubbed a temple. When next she spoke, she said, "Alright, fine. We'll just have to go back to the candy." She returned to the front of the room. "Class, I want you to trade candies again, and–"
"Tootie already ate hers!" declared Street. Tootie shot him a dirty look. He continued, "I'm not trading with anypony if I'm not going to get one back!"
"Actually," Rarity said with a small smile, "in the Generosity community, we have this phrase called 'Pay it Forward', which means–"
"Now Roly ate his!" said Street. Roly's eyes darted around the room.
"Why do they get to eat theirs?!" Vroom asked, sitting up in her desk. "Tootie's already been eating snacks all day!"
"Have not!" Tootie retorted, marking the beginning of a truly sophisticated and respectable debate.
"Have too!" Vroom rounded back, providing a rather stunning counter-point.
"Girls, please!" Rarity said, stepping between them. The two fillies lowered themselves back into their seats, but their glares never parted. Rarity sighed. "Tootie, I know I said this morning that you should not eat in class, but perhaps you could share with your friends?"
"I DON'T HAVE ANY SNACKS!"
Twilight and Whoopsie sat opposite one another in a dimly-lit room. Twilight's pupils were minuscule, and bags stretched themselves out beneath her eyes. She stared unwavering at the student in front of her. Whoopsie gazed back with a sunny expression, as though no other situation could be as pleasant as this one.
"You ting, Miss Sparkle?" Whoopsie asked.
Twilight didn't move a hair. "I'm not going to let you beat me," she uttered. Her horn glowed as a leather sack floated into view. It overturned, and out fell a blue apple with green wings strapped to its sides. It hit the desk between the ponies with a thud and gave what sounded like a squeal of pain from where a slice had been cut from it. "You are going to tell me how you did this, you are going to replicate it in a sterile environment, and you are going to sign the release waivers granting me full recognition for the discovery. Do you understand these terms, Ting?"
Whoopsie tilted his head and frowned. "I ting, Miss Sparkle?"
"Yes, you ting, Ting," Twilight answered. She pushed the apple monstrosity toward Whoopsie without removing her eyes from him. The apple squirmed uncomfortably. Twilight slowly drew her hoof back and resumed her previous position.
"Do it," Twilight commanded. Her tone was not loud, but it carried weight. "Do your magic."
Whoopsie tilted his head back to his other shoulder. He looked down at the apple, leaned in to sniff it, then looked back to Twilight.
Twilight stamped two hooves on the desk between them and stood up as tall as her body allowed. She glared down at Whoopsie, heaving, teeth bared. For the first time that day, Whoopsie flinched at the sight of her and whimpered. Something clicked in Twilight. A tear came to her eye. She looked at the distressed colt in front of her: an impossibly young pony by comparison, both scared and confused. Twilight closed her eyes and let out a deep sigh as she lowered herself back into her seat.
"I'm sorry, Whoopsie," she said. "I'm sorry I've put you through all this. It's really not fair to you, and–"
Twilight opened her eyes to connect with the colt, and when she did, she couldn't help but notice what he was holding: a perfectly ordinary red apple. The fruit of her nightmares was nowhere to be seen.
Twilight smiled all the way back to her ears and every wrinkle on her face made themselves apparent. Without a word, she put all four hooves on the ground and stumbled from the room.
Whoopsie leaned forward and yelled out the doorway. "Ting, Miss Sparkle?" he called.
"Hi, everypony!" Pinkie greeted her class with the widest smile possible. Each student likewise gave her a sincere grin as they scampered into her room. As the sixth youth took their seat, Pinkie motioned to close the door, but hesitated.
"Where's Whoopsie?" she asked.
"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!" screeched Twilight from down the hall. "HOW?! HOW?! HOW?!"
"Uh..."
"Whoopsie's with Miss Sparkle, Miss Pinkie," said Street.
"Oh! Okay!" Pinkie closed the door without a second thought. She propped up a microphone stand at the front of the class. "Now who's ready to learn some more about Laughter?" she asked.
Pinkie's students cheered and leaned forward in anticipation.
"There are lots of ways a pony can use laughter," Pinkie said, removing the microphone from its stand and pacing with it. "For example, it's a great way to break ice!" She pulled out a cube of frozen water from parts unknown. "Unlike this tail here!" To demonstrate, Pinkie quickly swung the ice chunk at her hind hair, which was rather uneventful save for a small "Fwoomp!" as her tail swayed from the impact.
The class laughed at Pinkie's antics, Tootie perhaps a bit too enthusiastically.
"Yeah, your tail's dumb!" the filly claimed.
Pinkie's expression instantly went stern. "Okay, we're going to skip the self-depreciating humor activity." She placed her cube of ice onto her tail, where it sank until it was no longer visible. She then paced to the other side of the room. "Now, for this next bit, I'm going to need a volunteer!"
Most of the students in the class raised their hooves eagerly. Pinkie pointed to one who did not.
"Once!" she called, waving him forward. "You haven't had much to do in this story! Come on up!"
Once's eyes went wide as he dipped his snout under his desk, eyes still above and fixed on Pinkie. She gave him a few more waves and a big smile, and the colt gradually left his desk and made his way toward her. Pinkie clicked her microphone off and placed it back on its stand.
"Now," Pinkie said, reaching out and pulling the colt the rest of the way forward, "we're going to learn about one of the best things a pony can do with laughter. Help cheer somepony up!"
The seated students looked at Pinkie with curious expressions. Once Bitten looked at the floor.
"Okay, Once." Once Bitten looked up, and Pinkie leaned in close, blocking out the other students from Once's view. "We're going to play a little pretend, okay?"
Once tried to look at Street and Vroom, but a pink foreleg still blocked his vision. "O... okay."
"Okay!" Pinkie repeated, though far more chipper. She stood herself back up so that the rest of the class could see Once again. "Now, class," Pinkie said, turning to them, "Once is feeling pretty sad today." Pinkie winked and nudged Once. "Aren't you, Once?"
"Yes," said Once without hesitation.
"Miss Pinkie!" Tootie's hoof waved as high as she could stretch it. "Why is Once sad?"
"Good question!" answered Pinkie with a sway of her hoof. "Before we can cheer a pony up, we have to know why they're sad!" She opened a foreleg toward Once. "Today, Once just found out that his mom is very, very sick, and might never wake up!"
Once Bitten's head snapped in Pinkie's direction. "W-what?!" he stammered.
"Who has a joke?!" Pinkie asked, oblivious to Once's reaction.
"Ooh!" Street's hoof shot into the air, and Pinkie gave him a gesture to speak. "If your mom's as good at being sick as you are at hoofball, I bet she'll be okay!"
Tootie giggled. Once's eyes welled up. Pinkie shook her head. "No, Street, that wasn't very nice, or very funny."
"I thought it was funny!" said Tootie.
"But Once is the one who has to laugh!" explained Pinkie. "We're trying to cheer him up!"
"I'll tell you what's 'up'," said Sullen from over top his propped-up hooves. "Your chances of never seeing your mom again."
Several tears dropped down Once's face, but he made no noise.
"Quit it!" Pinkie commanded. Her seated students flinched backward at her tone. Pinkie glared at them, her next words inbound, but a soft tug on her mane turned her attention downward.
"Miss Pinkie," said Once in what little voice he could muster. "Is... is my mom... is she going to be okay?"
"What? Of course she's okay!" Pinkie exclaimed. "We're only pretending, remember?"
"Oh," said Once with a sniffle. "Oh yeah..."
"Hey," Pinkie cooed, leaning closer to Once. He looked up into her bright, blue eyes. Without warning, she smashed her face into the same shape she showed him earlier that day. Once's expression did not change. Undeterred, Pinkie rotated her hooves and concocted a new facial abomination. Once adopted a macaroni-sized smile and gave a small giggle. Content, Pinkie stood taller and said to him, "Okay, Once, thank you for coming up here. You can go back to your seat now."
Once nodded and began a slow trot back to his desk. He didn't make eye contact with anyone on the way there.
"Miss Pinkie?" asked Vroom, "Are we going to do another activity?"
"Yes!" Pinkie said, getting a few smiles from her students. "Just... just one second, okay?" Pinkie pulled out a clipboard from her mane and poured over it, her eyes an inch from its surface. The fillies and colts in her room stretched to try to catch a glimpse of what was written on it. "There's got to be some kind of joke here that can't be made mean," she muttered to herself, voiced tinted with desperation.
"First it was blue. I could have just left it. I could have gone on with my life, that being just one more mystery and never gone any further, but I just had to know–"
Pinkie entered the teacher's lounge to find her friends already inside. Twilight once again sat at her table, muttering to herself. Rarity sat next to a shuddering Fluttershy, who looked like she was getting over a bad cold. They sat against the wall opposite the windows. Rainbow paced in front of the windows, her gaze shifting between the floor and the playground outside. Applejack stood next to Twilight, hoof hovering near her shoulder. Applejack looked up as Pinkie walked in.
"Howdy, Pinkie Pie!" the farm pony said to her. "How, er... How did your class go?"
Pinkie adopted a pained grin, but before she could speak, Twilight interrupted her.
"It's like studying light!" Twilight exclaimed. Pinkie trotted toward Twilight, mouth open to speak again, but before she could, Twilight grabbed Pinkie's cheeks and pulled their faces inches from one another. "You ever try studying light?!" demanded Twilight. She released her captive before Pinkie could answer. "It's like it doesn't want to be studied!"
"Calm down, sugarcube," Applejack said, finally letting her hovering hoof pat Twilight's back. "It's recess now, and you could both use the break."
"Oh, Ting doesn't get a break!" said Twilight, crazed. "Ting is staying in my room until he can explain how he disobeys the laws of nature every time my back is turned!"
"Er, 'Ting'?" asked Applejack.
"You didn't give Whoopsie recess?!" said Pinkie, hoof rising to her heart.
"Ting is an anomaly," answered Twilight, her eyes piercing Pinkie's soul. "Anomalies don't get recess."
Pinkie motioned to argue, but was interrupted for a third time by the sudden presence of Spike.
"Howdy, Spike!" greeted Applejack as he wandered in. Then, after seeing his face, "Uh... something happen?"
"Tootie threw a dog treat at me," Spike explained, rubbing his cheek. "She said I was a 'teacher's pet'."
Pinkie's head tilted. "But you're not even in any of the classes!"
Spike shook his head. "I don't think that's what she meant," he said, looking at the ground.
Pinkie and Applejack looked toward Twilight, but their headmistress was busy drawing triangles. On the table. With her hooves. Wood shavings drifted around her. Fluttershy looked up, and Rarity whispered something unheard to her.
"Wait, why does she even have dog treats?" asked Applejack.
"Are you kidding?" answered Spike. He threw his claws in the air and said, "She's been munching on them all day!"
"Did I hear you correctly?" said Rarity, joining the conversation. "Did you say Tootie is eating... dog treats?"
Spike nodded. Rarity shuddered. "She's been throwing them at everypony, really," Spike continued. "I don't think she realizes that it's not generosity if they have escape velocity."
"I'll talk to her," Fluttershy said, walking into the discussion as well.
Rarity shook her head. "Fluttershy, darling, really, that's quite alright. You are–"
"Fine," Fluttershy insisted. Rarity looked concerned, but Fluttershy assured her, "Really, Rarity, thank you, but I can do this. Please, try to help Twilight if you can."
Rarity looked over her shoulder toward her distracted friend.
"All the triangles make a square," Twilight whispered as she placed two hooves at the edges of the desk and drug them inward.
"Er..." emitted Rarity.
"Come on, Spike," Fluttershy said, stepping toward the door.
"I... I didn't think..."
"And you made that very apparent when you said such hurtful things to Spike," Fluttershy said, motioning to the baby dragon. Spike said nothing and looked at his feet each time Tootie glimpsed in his direction. Fluttershy continued, "Just think how you would feel if somepony called you names, or threw things at you."
"I..." Tootie swallowed and avoided Fluttershy's gaze. "I wouldn't like that..."
Fluttershy nodded and said, "Good. Now I want the two of you to hug, and promise me that you won't do this again."
"What?!" said Tootie and Spike in unison.
Fluttershy extended a hoof and flicked it. "Hug," she said simply.
Tootie and Spike looked at one another for a moment. Spike blinked and opened his arms. Tootie blinked twice, stepped toward him, and gave him a brief wrap.
"There," Fluttershy said with content. "Now wouldn't the world be a much nicer place if more ponies hugged instead of being mean to one another?"
"I guess," Tootie said, eyes on the grass beneath her.
Fluttershy nodded. "Okay, Tootie. You can go back and play now."
"Thank you, Miss Fluttershy." Tootie wasted little time in getting back to the playground.
Fluttershy turned to Spike. "I'm going back inside to check on the others," she told him. "Are you going to be okay out here?"
"Yeah, I think I've got it," he said to her. "There's still a few arguments here and there, but it's nothing I can't handle."
Fluttershy waited a moment before nodding and re-entering the school.
Back in the teacher's lounge, four ponies stood around Twilight, pleading with her. Fluttershy stepped in carefully, hoping no one would notice her.
"I'm telling you, no!" Twilight said to no one in particular.
"Twilight, please," said Applejack. "Things are a mess right now, and there's no way we can get these kids back on track for a graduation today!"
Twilight shook her head. "No!"
"Twilight," Rarity said gingerly, extending a soft hoof. "Celestia–"
"Is busy!" Twilight reminded them. "And already trusted us with this! We are not sending her a letter!"
The argument came to a halt when they all heard what sounded like a bucket of water being upturned. Everyone in the room turned toward Pinkie, who was now standing in a large puddle.
"...Okay, that is not what it looks like!" Pinkie claimed, pointing at the wet mess beneath her.
"...Twilight," Rainbow said, bringing the conversation back around. "It's hit the fan. We need help."
The alicorn princess sighed for a full minute. Pinkie timed it.
"Fine," Twilight said curtly, her face on the table. The others sighed with relief. "Spike, take a letter."
Twilight's friends looked around the room. "Um," said Fluttershy, reintroducing sound and grabbing everyone's attention, "Spike is outside again. Watching the students." Then, as an afterthought, "Um... like we asked him to."
Twilight shot a hoof in Rarity's direction, who made the mistake of standing too close.
"You're Spike now," Twilight said.
Rarity rubbed a new bruise on her cheek as she spoke. "I beg your–" A quick glimpse of her friends' expressions and waving hooves cut Rarity's sentence short. "I mean, uh..." Applejack pushed a paper and quill in Rarity's direction, and she picked them up in her magic. "What, um..." Rarity adopted a husky voice. "What are going to say to the Princess, Twilight?"
"Big circle," answered Twilight with a wave of her hoof. Her eyes were still inches from the table's surface. The others looked at her, then one another, then Rarity.
"Er..." Rarity coughed. "Big... circle..."
"You did it wrong!"
"I'm doing exactly as you said!" answered Rarity hotly. Twilight's face snapped in her direction, bones popping. Rarity flinched.
"I can hear your quill strokes," Twilight hissed. She slowly sat herself taller and prodded a hoof in Rarity's direction. "Big. Circle."
"Er..." Rarity looked around the room for guidance. Rainbow shrugged. Applejack blinked a few times. Fluttershy shook her head from behind two hooves, and Pinkie stood at the ready with a stopwatch, staring at Twilight. Rarity cleared her throat. "Big..." She placed the quill on the parchment's surface. "Circle..." She made one massive stroke around the parchment's edges.
"Perfect!" Twilight said, the cheeriness in her voice somehow more unnerving than her previous tone. "Now, write, 'Fix Everything' at the center of it."
Rarity made another noise of confusion as she did as she was told. No sooner did she get the last letter printed did Twilight snatch the parchment from Rarity's magic. The others didn't even see her stand up.
"Wonderful!" Twilight said in her frightening tone, holding the drawing at foreleg's reach. She took a few clunky steps toward a wall, picked up a roll of tape with her magic, and attached the drawing where all could see. She took a step back from her accomplishment, turned to her friends, and pointed.
"This is our new 'Fix Everything Button'!" Twilight explained through worried glances. "It works like this!"
In an instant, Twilight's head smacked directly onto the circle and she stopped moving, jolting the others backward. After a few seconds, her friends made a few hesitant steps toward her, then she unhooked her horn from the wall and gave her best impression of a woodpecker.
Fluttershy's wings shot open and she made to lunge at Twilight, but Applejack shot a hoof out to stop her. "It might be best to just let her finish," she said.
Fluttershy opened her mouth to argue, but Spike once again entered the scene and prevented more dialogue.
"Twilight!" he squealed. He was sweating and his chest was heaving. The others raised their hooves to explain their situation, but found no words. Spike paid them no mind and continued, "You have to come outside!"
Twilight stopped removing drywall. She turned toward Spike with a bored look on her face. "What is it now, Spike?" she asked. "Can't one of the others handle it? I'm busy."
"No!" Spike shouted. "We need all of you! Come quick!"
The ponies only had time for a quick, worried glance before dashing out the front door.
The scene was something only a work of fiction could come up with.
Street was wearing Vroom's cape, running and hiding under any piece of schoolyard equipment he could find. Vroom, meanwhile, was tearing up said schoolyard, dive-bombing the colt at every turn in an attempt to get her coveted blanket back. Both ponies were oblivious to the tribulations of their classmates. Roly was running on his hind-legs, fore-legs outstretched with an egg between them. Behind him flew two angry phoenixes who didn't seem to care where their bursts of fire landed, so long as it was in his direction. "No!" he shouted at them. "There's magic inside! You have to let me get the magic out!" Whether or not they understood him, their attacks did increase in intensity. Tootie, meanwhile, was desperately trying to escape the pursuit of two timberwolf pups. She screamed and changed direction as often as she could while the pups playfully nipped at her tail, stopping only to happily gobble up treats that managed to slip from her hold. Sullen was ducked underneath one of the slides, yelling at everyone in a voice that could not be understood, both due to his lack of vocal use and pre-pubescence. One can imagine it involved a series of insults and threats. Once Bitten sat in the middle of the playground, crying.
Spike rushed forward and changed direction several times, trying to figure out which pony needed his help the most. Five ponies watched the chaos with their jaws dropped. Twilight wore a small smile and pupils like pin pricks.
"I didn't know we had this class," Twilight said simply.
"Twilight!" shouted Applejack, rounding on her friend. "This is no time for jokes! We gotta help these kids!"
"On it!" said Rainbow, zooming toward the nearest student. Fluttershy and Applejack likewise took off in the most helpful direction they could.
"Er, Twilight..." Rarity swallowed, hesitant to follow the others. "Do you think perhaps we could send a letter to Princess Celestia now?"
Twilight's head popped in Rarity's direction. "Rarity, I know things look bad, but I think we're still perfectly capable of–"
The deafening sound of a crumbling building came from behind them. Where their school once proudly stood, a horrible two-story-tall concoction of fruit and animal parts slithered its way onto the playground. On what could be considered its head, a small, squat colt stood waving.
"MISS SPAAAAARKLLLLLE!" came Whoopsie's voice, "I MADE A TIIIIING!"
Even the wild animals stopped to watch in horror as the creature made its way into the nightmare.
Twilight's expression, however, remained unchanged. "I just had a thought," she said as casually as ordering ice cream. "We should write to Princess Celestia. Spike!"
"WHAT?!" the baby dragon screamed while avoiding a giant oozing... something.
"Take a letter!"
"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!" Spike dodged a fireball as he made his way toward Twilight and Rarity. "NOW?!" he asked.
Twilight nodded, her lifeless eyes still wide. She motioned for Rarity and Spike to join her in the remnants of their school. The two gave one last look at the mayhem behind them before following Twilight away from it.
In what was left of the teachers' lounge, Twilight found a stack of parchment and a functional quill. Spike took them and squatted down with disdain. Rarity kept looking over her shoulder, checking on the others.
"Dear Princess Celestia..."
After an eternity of particular word choice and diligent spelling and grammar checks, Spike took a deep breath and engulfed the scroll in flame, its embers instantly making their way toward Canterlot.
"There," said Twilight, satisfied. "Now, with any luck, we should be hearing back from her any–"
"Helloooo, my little ponies!"
Twilight's eyes grew so wide that they took up the entire real estate of her face.
"No," she whispered. "Not him."
A maniacal cackle cracked through the air as hula hoops, dancing lemurs, and giant buckets of hoof clippings appeared for no reason at all. Above the chaos that was now their reality materialized the one being who could find enjoyment in such a fiasco.
"Oh, you got the party started without me!" said Discord, looking down at everyone beneath him. He waved a piece of parchment with Spike's claw-writing on its surface. "And here I thought I got my invitation early!"
Rarity and Spike gawked at the newest addition to the worst day of their lives. They turned to what sounded like a high-speed camera catching every detail; Twilight was blinking rapidly while she processed what had just transpired.
"I need to send Celestia another letter," Twilight said simply, ending her rhythmic eyelashes.
"Uh... okay..." Spike sifted through the rubble in the teachers lounge. "Just let me find a new piece of parchment, and–"
"Oh, no, no, no, no, no, Spike!" Twilight said at a quick pace. She walked toward him and Rarity and ushered them out. "This letter I need to write myself, as it's going to include a lot of language that baby dragons shouldn't hear!"
Once where the teachers' lounge door formerly stood, Twilight closed a non-existing door behind Spike and Rarity. She then dusted off a seat, sat, and levitated a (mostly) fresh piece of parchment toward her, quill in tow.
"Dear Princess Celestia..."
Rarity wordlessly covered Spike's ears.
"Ahem." Twilight began her composition. "WHAT IN THE ACTUAL FLYING–"
Discord cackled as he added spice to the school's chaos gumbo. He cracked his knuckles and the phoenix pair froze. Another twist and the timberpups lost their legs and writhed in the grass. A whip of his tail and home appliances fell from the sky. Rainbow Dash only just barely scooped up Once before a kitchen sink fell where he sat crying.
"Discord?!" Rainbow snarled angrily as she sped around obstacles. She dropped Once near Vroom and Street, who long since settled their feud regarding Vroom's blanket. "What in the hay are you doing here?!"
"Oh, Rainbow Dash, please," replied Discord, twirling through the air. He gave his back a nasty twist and Rainbow's head and tail switched places. She yelped and her legs flailed as she tried to grasp the situation. "Look around you!" Discord continued as Rainbow sped past him, missing her mark by a mile. "Well, look where you're able to. It's as though you wanted me show up!" He wiped a tear-shaped stone from his eye. "I'm touched."
Applejack dropped Sullen and Roly from her back near the others. "This ain't funny, Discord!" she yelled up at the spirit. Then, turning to the students, she said, "Stay here, stay quiet, and stay together. We'll take care of this." Pinkie galloped up to them with Tootie dangling from her mouth like a kitten. She dropped Tootie in stride and joined Applejack's run toward Discord. The students huddled closer as they watched with wide eyes.
"Fluttershy!" Applejack yelled. "Can't you talk to this guy?!"
Fluttershy stopped midair, halfway between Discord and Whoopsie's monster. She looked between them, caught between a rock and a hard place. She gave a last look to Whoopsie, perched on his creation as it rumbled into the forest. He was giggling innocently while enjoying his ride. Fluttershy grit her teeth and sped back toward the chaos king.
"Discord!" Fluttershy scolded, coming to a halt in front of him. "This is no time for you to be doing this!"
"I'm sorry, Fluttershy, but I beg to differ," said Discord. He snapped his fingers and Fluttershy's ears grew several yards taller. Discord just barely managed to flick a paper triangle between them before she collapsed to the ground, her balance askew. "The way you ponies set this up for me, just," he gave a gracious sigh. "It's just so kind of you."
"Leave her alone!" shouted Rainbow Dash, grounded and awkwardly making her way back toward him. Discord spun a finger and Dash reversed direction. She stumbled after two more steps.
Discord chuckled, but stopped when he felt a hard tug on his tail. He looked to see a rope tethering him to Applejack's mouth, and Pinkie Pie adding her own weight on top of it.
"Really, now," Discord said, irritable, "where do you even keep a rope?"
"Pull, Pinkie!"
Discord remained stationary in the air, a flat look on his face. He groaned, disappeared, and reappeared on the ground. Applejack and Pinkie bowled over from the sudden absence of tension in their rope.
"You know, I didn't have to come!" Discord said, throwing his hands in the air.
"Then you shouldn'ta!" shouted Applejack from underneath Pinkie's collapsed body.
Discord flicked a claw onto his chest. "Now that burns, Applejack," he said to her. He snapped his less-dramatic hand and the phoenixes cracked back to life. He wiggled his toes and suddenly the fire birds were now in place of Pinkie and Applejack's manes. Both mares gave shrieks of fear as they scrambled to their hooves and ran, confused manes flapping in the wind behind them.
Meanwhile, six students shuddered together from afar, watching the whole ordeal. They could only just barely make out three more figures joining the mayhem. In a matter of seconds, a white figure was bouncing around like an inflated balloon, a smaller purple figure walked backwards into the school at twice the velocity he left, and a taller purple figure floated into the air and started emitting several different colors of light at a rapid pace.
The fillies and colts had trouble finding words.
Roly swallowed. "We..." He swallowed again. "We gotta do something."
"Are you kidding?!" asked Street. He broke his awestruck gaze to give Roly an incredulous look. "What are we supposed to do against that?!"
"I don't know," Roly admitted, looking at the ground. "But shouldn't we at least try?"
Vroom shook her head. "You heard Miss Applejack! We're supposed to stay away from all of this!"
"But... But..." Roly's eyes traced the ground as he thought. "But this is our school! And we've been learning all about harmony and stuff!"
"It's only a day-long school!" Once piped, his knees shaking.
Tootie spoke next. "I'm with Once! If our teachers can't handle this, what chance do we have?"
Roly shook his head. "I don't know... Sullen, what do you think?"
Sullen did not answer.
Sullen was not there.
Sullen was halfway across the field, running straight toward Discord and his antics.
"Sullen!" yelled Street. He took off after his classmate. The others exchanged glances before doing the same, one-by-one, legless timberpups nipping at their heels as they passed.
Discord laughed as he watched Twilight spin through the air, basking in her glow. "Oh, Twilight," he told her, "you really do sparkle!"
"Hey."
Discord froze and blinked. He looked down to see the sternest face ever worn by a colt.
"You're being a jerk," Sullen finished.
Discord blinked a few more times before rearing back into a powerful guffaw. Sullen's teachers all made to tell or motion him to run away, but found their attempts hindered by their predicaments.
"Oh ho ho ho!" Discord clutched at his sides. "Oh, that tickles me more than anything I've seen today! And I just watched Rainbow Dash burp!"
"I'm serious," stated Sullen with a stamp of his hoof. Discord arched forward to get a better look at the tiny pony before him. Sullen continued, "All this stuff you're doing... It's not funny. I'm not laughing. They–" Sullen motioned to his teachers in various states of impaired locomotion. "–are not laughing... You're just being a bully."
"Well, look at you, coming to rain on my parade," Discord said, annoyed. He lowered his head further and squinted. "Maybe you're being a bully too. Maybe there's only room here for one bully."
"Hey!" another voice called.
"Well, now, what have we here?" asked Discord looking up.
Street Smarts ran up and stood in front of Sullen Stare.
"You leave him alone!" he piped.
As Twilight's face rolled into view, she opened her mouth to speak before instantly closing it, her cheeks puffing, and her face turning green.
"Uh-oh!" mocked Discord, hand rising to his mouth. "Did I upset another friend? Has he told you he's a bully?"
"You don't even know Sullen!" shouted Street, standing tall. Sullen looked on from behind, an eyebrow raised.
Discord snorted. A scroll and a pair of reading glasses materialized. He put on the scroll and read the glasses. "From what I recall," he said matter-of-factly, "this is a one-day school. I bet you don't even know him." Discord's props vanished back into the abyss.
"I know he's a great hoofball player!" countered Street. "And he's from Hollow Shades, and he's got black hair, and–"
"Alright, alright," Discord said, flailing a paw. "I can tell you're just best friends."
"We haven't been here long," said Roly, panting as he joined the conversation, "but we've been learning a lot!"
Rarity exchanged a worried glance with Fluttershy as she bounced by.
"Now this I need to hear!" Discord lowered himself down to his elbows, level with the colts in front of him. "Tell me: what have Twilight and her friends taught to you?"
"That's there's magic everywhere!" Roly said proudly. "That you can find it... uh... everywhere!" Discord smirked, and Roly continued, "In big and small moments!"
Discord chuckled and flicked Roly's nose. Roly stumbled back into Sullen and Street, who stopped him from falling. "Dear child," Discord whispered malevolently, "you are a small moment."
"Well you're still a big bully!" Sullen squeaked.
"Yeah!" joined Street. "You big, stupid, mean–!"
"Fat–!"
"Ugly–!"
"Booger-headed–!"
"Piece of–!"
Discord's lips curled back, half in amusement and half spite. He raised his fingers threateningly, but stopped when yet another voice made itself heard.
"Stop it, you guys!"
"Oh, what now?" Discord sighed, ears dropping.
Tootie ran up and set herself between the colts and Discord, but facing the opposite direction of her classmates with hooves outstretched.
"What are you doing, Tootie?!" Street asked incredulously.
"You guys are being mean!" she answered.
Three boyish jaws dropped.
"Are you kidding me?!" Sullen screeched. He jabbed a hoof at Discord. "So is he!"
Tootie shook her head as Discord looked at her with curiosity. "That doesn't matter!" said Tootie. "Being mean is just going to make everypony keep being meaner, and–" she glanced back at Fluttershy, who was tripping over her ears trying to turn toward the commotion behind her. "–And even Discord has feelings too!"
Discord said nothing, but folded his arms and continued staring at the filly. Tootie turned around to face him.
"I bet you just wanted be here, huh?" Tootie asked. "With your friends."
Discord raised a contemplative claw to his mouth. "Well, yes, actually, now that you mention it." He leaned in closer to Tootie. "You know, it's never any fun how they keep leaving me out of things like this." He looked up in thought. "Well, maybe it doesn't mean much to them, but–"
A small burst of air crept out of Discord's mouth as his lungs contracted. He looked down to see Tootie with her forelegs around his midsection.
"I... erm..."
Tootie squeezed harder. The colts behind her stared.
"I..." Discord sighed. He bent low to return the hug. "Thank you," he whispered to Tootie. He looked around and took in the sight of his actions. Spike was having a reverse conversation by himself in what was left of the school. Applejack and Pinkie Pie were running circles trying to avoid flames erupting from their necks. Fluttershy could barely lift her head from the ground. Rarity's legs flailed as she tried to bounce somewhere safe. Rainbow finally got to her hooves again, only to squat directly onto her face. Twilight swallowed and turned greener, and not from Discord's magic.
Discord sighed. "Perhaps..." He licked his lips. "Perhaps I was a bit... inconsiderate in my additions to today's proceedings. I–" Discord sighed again. For once, he had no words to speak. A soothing warmth shrouded his wings. He looked up to see Vroom flying and smiling at him. He turned his neck to see a tiny blue blanket draped over him.
"You ponies..."
Discord closed his eyes and lowered his head all the way to the ground. He felt a tap on his cheek. Discord turned and peered at a sixth pony, this one tinier than the rest. Once Bitten gave a small wave before smooshing his face together with two hooves.
Discord blinked.
And then he laughed.
Hard.
Discord laughed, chuckled, guffawed, and chortled. He didn't giggle though, weirdly enough. After a beat, the fillies and colts around him joined in, his rhythmic tones infectious. Without warning, they all found themselves clasped in his arms.
"Oh, you ponies!" he exclaimed over his hug. "Perhaps there's some hope for you yet!" He released the tykes and rose into the air. With one mighty snap, two timberpups regained their legs and raced into the trees, and two untethered phoenixes did the same, one snatching up an egg as they went. Rarity deflated, Twilight eased down and turned monochromatic, and Fluttershy's fulcrum returned to normal. Applejack, Pinkie, and Spike, free from their own curses, raced toward the rest of their friends. The teachers galloped to their students and inspected every inch of them, speaking rapidly and checking for any leftover abnormalities. As Discord landed, Twilight and her friends herded the fillies and colts behind a barrier made with their own bodies. Discord approached them slowly, eyes closed and arms behind his back.
"Twilight Sparkle," addressed Discord as his pace neared her. Twilight and her friends glared and braced themselves against the ground. They hesitated when Discord went into a deep bow. "I am sorry," he said simply, yet earnestly. "Please accept my sincere apology."
Twilight glanced around at her friends before stepping forward. "Apology... accepted," she said. Discord quickly rose, grinning until Twilight clarified, "Tentatively. As penance, you'll need to help us rebuild the school."
Discord's eyebrows furrowed as he threw his arms in the direction of pure rubble. "That was like that when I got here!" he protested.
Twilight shook her head. "It doesn't change the fact that–" Her eyes shot wide. "Wait... Where's Whoopsie?"
Discord scratched his head while the ponies before him looked around in all directions. Fluttershy mumbled something and pointed toward the tree line. There Whoopsie sat, happily snacking on a perfectly ordinary apple.
"And... send."
"Are you sure, Twilight?"
"I am, Spike. Fire away."
Spike drew a deep breath and incinerated a newly penned scroll. He watched as its embers floated to the horizon. He turned and squinted in the setting sun, and followed Twilight toward a lonely train station.
A very short train stood waiting as seven tiny faces crammed into its windows. The students waved farewell to their teachers, and the five ponies outside waved back fondly, wearing proud yet melancholy smiles. Discord waved a handkerchief vigorously just a few paces behind them. Twilight walked up the train's engine, smiling and returning the waves also directed at her.
She approached the stallion at the front of the train. "Are you the conductor?" she asked.
"Sho' am!" the stallion said, puffing out his chest. "What can I do you fer?"
Twilight twirled a hoof in front of her. "You wouldn't happen to be the same conductor from this morning, would you?"
The stallion nodded vigorously. "I am indeed, missy!"
In an instant, Twilight reached out, grabbed the stallion by his overalls, and yanked him to a point their eyes met. "Did you see Ting's parents?!" Twilight said rapidly.
"I... uh... what?"
"Were they both there when you picked him up?! What did they look like?!" Unseen until now, Rainbow Dash and Applejack looped two hooves through Twilight's forelegs and drug her away from the befuddled conductor. "HOW MANY HORNS DID HIS FATHER HAVE?!"
The conductor scratched his head a few times before shrugging and pulling on a lever. The train jolted forward, then slowly began its course down the tracks. He turned behind him to see a few young faces peering at him through the lone car's front window, pumping their hooves. He smiled and tugged a rope, and his train bellowed. The sound drowned out the cheers coming from the car behind him.
Meanwhile, six ponies, a dragon, and a draconequus watched the train disappear into the distance.
"Well... I guess that's that," said Applejack, breaking the silence.
"It was rather enjoyable, looking back, don't you think?" asked Rarity, turning and walking toward the school. The others followed her lead.
"I had a ton of fun!" Pinkie agreed, bouncing along.
"It kicked all kinds of tail!" Rainbow Dash added, floating and doing a few flips above them.
"Um," Fluttershy mumbled, "It was... nice."
Twilight grumbled, "That was the worst day of my life."
The others looked at her as they walked.
"Yeah, that tanked," said Rainbow.
"Horrid," echoed Rarity.
"Yep, pretty much," said Applejack.
Fluttershy hummed her agreement.
Pinkie shrugged mid-bounce and continued smiling.
"I thought you all did wonderful!" chimed Discord bringing up the rear. "Those tykes really stepped up to the plate for their final exam!"
Twilight froze in place and didn't budge, even after both Applejack and Fluttershy ran into her. She turned on Discord. "What final exam?!" she asked.
"You know," said Discord, waving a claw, "Blah blah harmony, blah blah chaos, yadda yadda friendship is magic." He poofed a scroll into existence. "It's all right here in this letter I purposefully never sent."
"You... WHAT?!"
"My, my, though," Discord tutted as he stuffed the scroll into a newly minted pocket. "I didn't think you had that much faith in them. I mean, phoenixes and timberwolves?" He slapped a paw up to his forehead. "And what in the world was that big... apple... animal... thing? I mean, bra-vo!"
Twilight snarled and opened her mouth wide to retort. In that moment, Spike belched an eruption of fire straight at her. She gagged, and after a few smacks from Rainbow Dash, Twilight spit up yet another scroll.
"It's... a reply... from the princess..." she huffed.
"No kidding," said Rainbow, giving Twilight a few softer pats on the back. The others circled in closer. "What's it say?"
Twilight opened the scroll and cleared her throat in a few different ways before reading. "It says... she's happy to hear that our first class performed so admirably." Twilight shot Discord a glare before continuing. "She says that she's very proud of us, and can't wait to see how well we do with our... next... class..."
"Uh..." Applejack took a hesitant step forward. "We're actually going to do more than one of these things?"
"Yippie-skippie!" cheered Pinkie Pie.
"I, er, uh, I mean," said Rarity, head changing direction with each thought. After settling on one, she finished, "I suppose we... could take another class... maybe? At the very least, we have an idea now of what to expect."
"Yeah, and what not to do," added Rainbow Dash. Fluttershy nodded.
Twilight shook her head. "I don't know... This really felt like a disaster. And we've only just started cleaning up the school! Maybe we should ask for a little time first."
"Uh... Twilight?" The princess turned to see Spike hesitantly pointing toward the scroll in her hoof. He swallowed. "There's, uh... more on the back."
A small lump on Twilight's stomach showed where her heart dropped. She turned her letter over as though she were diffusing a bomb. Amidst several superfluous words, one sentence stood out more than any other.
"I will be sending you seventy-four more students come morning."
Rarity blinked. "I... whaaaaaaaaaaaaa?!"
Applejack shook her head. "Uh-uh."
"No way!" shouted Rainbow Dash.
"I, um..." Fluttershy hid behind her mane. "I'd rather not..."
Twilight threw her letter up into the air. Her eyes were wide, pupils minuscule, and smile unnerving. "Too late, girls, we're doing it! Time to fix the school!" Twilight resumed her trot toward the ruined academy, her gait mechanical. Exchanging worried glances, the others trotted to keep up. Twilight stopped in front of the leftover carnage, expression unchanging.
"Here, Twilight, allow me," Discord said, stepping forward. "I mean, it's the least I can do." With a snap of his fingers, bricks and mortar flew from acres around, and in a matter of seconds, their school once again stood tall. The only difference was the name emblazoned over the school's entrance.
Twilight Sparkle's School of Kindness
"I think it has a better ring to it, don't you?" commented Discord. He smirked at the sight of Fluttershy's hoof covering her mouth.
Twilight didn't look as though she noticed any change. She slowly and methodically lowered herself to the ground. Then, satisfied with the distance, promptly punched a new hole into the dirt with her horn.
