"...and, once again," Ms. Harshwhinny repeated monotonously, as the gaggle of students made their way down Cloudsdale Glade with clipboards in hand, "if I find out that any of you have disturbed any of the residents during this fieldwork, I will report it directly to Principal Celestia. I will only have the upmost professionalism from you all - otherwise, you're out."
"I have to say, this all sounds a bit dramatic," Twilight whispered to Pinkie. "I really don't see how any of us could disturb anyone living here. What are we going to do, trash their gardens?"
Pinkie giggled. "Oh, Twilight! You know you don't put your trash in people's gardens!"
Twilight blinked. "Well, yes, I know--"
"Do I hear talking?" Ms. Harshwhinny snapped suddenly, startling the girls (and a passing old lady, who quickly hurried past the group). "As I was saying, you are strictly here for fieldwork. You all have your housing surveys. I want you to rate every second house on this street for the factors on the sheet, and then do the same on the opposite side. Is that clear?"
A chorus of "yes"'s rang out from the students, and Ms. Harshwhinny strode off down the road.
"Alright, Pinkie," Twilight instructed, unclipping the sheets of paper from the clipboard and handing one to her friend, "I think we'll get done faster if we each do a different side of the street. So, I'm thinking you do the houses on this side, and I'll cross over and... Pinkie, what are you doing?"
"Eh, I was getting thirsty while you were talking," Pinkie responded nonchalantly, clutching a can of soda that had appeared from apparently nowhere, "so I thought I'd grab a drink!"
"But where did you get it? We left our bags in class," Twilight enquired confusedly.
"Well," Pinkie explained, beaming, "I was walking to school this morning when I passed a newspaper stand that I'd never seen before! And I thought, 'that's odd! I come this way every day, and I know where all the newsstands are near school'! So I went up to the man on the stand and I asked him if he was new to the area! And he said yes, and I said that he should totally--"
"How is this related to your can of soda?"
"Because he gave me it from his stand!" Pinkie held up the can triumphantly. "For free! And now I get to--"
"Hold on a sec, Pinkie," Twilight interrupted, a thought suddenly coming to her mind. "That gives me an idea. You know how you can make sprinkles explode?"
"Yeah?"
"Have you ever tried it with other stuff?"
Pinkie paused, frowning in thought. It was only the two girls left on the pavement at this point; the rest of the class had moved further down with their surveys. "I don't think so! Do you think I should?"
"Would I ever say no to researching magic?" Twilight questioned, smiling. She unclipped a notepad from her clipboard. "What do you have to do, anyway?"
"Weeeeeeelll," Pinkie began, shaking the soda can, "usually I just throw the sprinkles in the air! And they explode! Kablam! Kapow! Ka--"
KABLOOEY!
Twilight was hit by a wave of concentrated sugar water. Her hair sopping wet, she wiped her glasses with her fingers and put them back on to see the lawn they'd been standing in front of had been drowned. "Pinkie! Look what you've done to the garden!"
Pinkie followed Twilight's gaze to see the ruined lawn, covered in bits of the aluminium can. "Wow, someone hasn't been taking care of their garden! That's a 1!" She ticked a box on the survey and ran off to the next house. "Twilight! Come on!"
Twilight just looked on in bewilderment. There really was no-one quite like Pinkie Pie.