For a few moments, it was a brief respite from the disconcerting, abbreviated field trip for the school’s counselor.
Alone in the auditorium, the stage empty save for a tray and an inconspicuous top hat, Starlight processes the behavior of the ‘School Six’ after their visit to the Tree of Harmony. Was it too much to take in? Did the experience literally blow their collective minds? Maybe all they need is a few minutes to regroup, and they’ll be perfectly fine for Trixie’s performance.
Her last thought is quickly discarded upon Smolder’s entrance … alone.
“Smolder, where’re the others?”
“Meh,” the dragon dismissively responds. “Not my problem.”
Seconds later, the others silently enter the room ... save one.
“Where’s Gallus,” Starlight asks.
“Griffin has rare griffin disease,” Yona says. “Covered in orange dots and green stripes. Say he’ll be better later.”
“I … see …” Starlight turns to Smolder, noticing the she was seated further away from the others. “Can you confirm Yona’s story?”
“What am I, my griffin’s keeper?” was all the counselor could get from the young dragon.
“I could tell you,” Sandbar offers, “… but I won’t.”
“ ‘Ha-ha’. See that? That’s me pretending to think you’re funny, which you’re not,” Silverstream retorts.
Starlight puts a hoof to her face. Maybe I can still convince Trixie to put this off for a bit. If only I knew where she—”
*POOF*
A puff of smoke fills the front of the stage, its dissipation revealing Trixie to the audience. “BEHOLD! THE GREAT AND POWERFUL TRRRIXIE ARRIVES TO AMAZE AND ASTOUND YOU!!!”
“Boo!”
…
So soon? Trixie thinks to herself as her eyes focus on Sandbar. Undaunted, Trixie’s horn glows as the top hat levitates towards the students. “Observe, an ordinary hat, with nothing insi—HEY!”
As the hat floats in front of Ocellus, she grabs at it and tightly clutches it. “My hat now!”
“Showpony did offer hat to changeling,” Yona remarks.
“I most certainly did not,” Trixie snaps back as she refocuses her energy. The hat slowly floats back towards her, with Ocellus in tow. The hat shakes violently, causing the changeling to lose her grip just as she feels the aura of Starlight’s holding spell surround her; the counselor proceeds to place her back in her spot on the benches.
The hat comes back to rest on the tray and Trixie continues. “Yes, well … as you have now clearly seen, the hat is completely empty … or is it …” Trixie closes her eyes and taps the hat with her horn; seconds later, a visibly dizzy bunny crawls out from inside the hat and falls from the rim down onto the tray, his eyes still spiraling.
“Yona seen this before. In Yakyakistan, trick done with child goats instead.”
“Yeah, next time use those,” Sandbar calls out to Trixie. He then stares at Angel. “Silly rabbit: tricks are for kids!”
Silverstream groans. “NO ONE thinks that’s funny! That’s not funny! That’s lame! You’re lame!”
“And you’re boring!”
“And you already called me that! You’re not even original!”
“Sandbar and seapony both make valid points,” Yona states as the two stare each other down with daggers.
Trixie cautiously walks over to Starlight. “Your students don’t seem themselves today. Something you’d like to tell me?”
“I tried to warn you, but … oh, Sweet Celestia!” Starlight’s exclamation causes Trixie to turn around and gasp as Ocellus pulls various items from the top hat.
“This is mine, and this is mine, and this, and this …” the changeling says as she pulls playing cards, flowers, handkerchiefs, and smoke bombs from the hat and tosses them to the ground. As the smoke bombs strike the floor, they go off in large puffs, enveloping the stage in a smoky haze.
“YOU STINK!” Sandbar calls out, causing Silverstream to groan yet again.
“Sandbar one who stink; yaks always smell like wildflowers.”
Smolder turns briefly towards her fellow students, then turns back and closes her eyes. “Just wake me after you all get in trouble.”
“That. Is. IT!!!”
Fuming, Starlight addresses all the students. “All of you, Twilight’s office, NOW!”
“Hey, don’t lump me in with these losers,” Smolder states. “I don’t even know them.”
“ALL of you!!!”
“ ‘All of you!’ ” Sandbar mimics before laughing to himself.
“You think you’re so special, but you’re not,” Silverstream says.
“Are we being rewarded for our behavior?” Yona asks as she passes Starlight.
“You’re not funny either,” Silverstream adds as she follows Yona.
Starlight turns to the stage, where she sees Ocellus again clutching the top hat as Trixie’s magic attempts to pull it back. “The hat’s MINE!” she asserts before Starlight again pulls Ocellus away.
“Go to Twilight’s office right now.”
“But that hat’s mine!” the changeling responds, causing Starlight to roll her eyes.
“Twilight’s office has stuff, too,” she drolly replies. Hearing those words causes Ocellus to elicit an ‘Oh!’ and fly out of the auditorium. Starlight inspects the mess left on the stage floor as she addresses Trixie. “I am so sorry for that!”
“Not the worst performance I’ve ever given,” the stage magician replies as she forces a smile. “You probably want to follow them before they cause any more damage.”
Starlight nods and runs out of the auditorium, leaving Trixie to clean up her props. As she begins, a ringing sound catches her attention. Her horn lights up as a banana levitates out of the top hat; she holds it against her ear and mouth as she speaks.
“Hello? … For the last time, I’m not interested in taking your stupid survey!”
Trixie hurls the banana to the ground and stomps on it … and promptly slips and falls onto her flank. She groans as she muses to the bunny: “I’ve had better days.”
Twilight sits at her desk reviewing her plans for the upcoming semester. The door to her office bursts open, surprising her as Smolder flies in. “Well hello there, Smolder,” she cheerfully greets. “What brings you here?”
“Got in trouble thanks to those idiots,” the dragon replies as she flutters to a far corner and sits on the ground. Before Twilight can follow up with another question, Sandbar and Silverstream barge into the office, still sniping at each other.
“Get a sense of humor, you starched shirt.”
“No one even wears shirts, your comment is just stupid, you’re stupid.”
Twilight quickly rises from her desk. “Whoa-whoa-whoa, that is not appropriate friendship behavior! What is going on with you two?”
“Seapony and nonseapony having rational argument,” Yona explains as she follows the others in. “All perfectly normal behavior, just like last several months.”
Twilight turns to Yona. “Wait, what?”
“Creatures secretly hating each other ever since coming to school. Friendship overrated anyhow,” Yona declares with a smile as she trots over to the back wall and plops down on the floor, taking in the scene.
Crestfallen, Twilight turns from the lone dragon to the bickering pair to the stoic yak. “You’re joking, right?” she asks with great sincerity. “You can’t truly believe—”
Before completing her thought, Twilight notices Ocellus fly into the room. She watches as the changeling peruses the numerous tomes before grabbing one and declaring ‘mine’ while clutching it tightly. Twilight again looks from one student to the next, unsure what to make of anyone, as Starlight rushes in.
“Starlight, please tell me what’s going on with these guys.”
“I wish I knew,” Starlight begins as the other professors enter the office to observe the spectacle.
“What’s with all the commotion,” Applejack asks. “Why’re these fellas tearin’ through the hallways like a bat outta Tartarus?”
Starlight turns to the professors. “Believe me, Applejack … everypony … I wish I had an explanation.”
“Maybe professors just bad at teaching,” Yona states, causing the professors to turn to her.
“Maybe you’re just a jerk,” Sandbar retorts, drawing attention away from the yak.
Yona shrugs. “All yaks are jerks.”
Silverstream utters a ‘bleh’ to the group while maintaining a steady frown.
By this point, all the teachers eye each student over, searching for explanations. “We can rule out ‘typical behavior’ for this, right?” Rainbow Dash asks the group.
Twilight turns to her counselor. “Starlight, you were taking them on a trip to see the Tree of Harmony. Can you describe how that went?”
“Everything was going fine. The students were upbeat about seeing the Tree of Harmony the whole trip there. We got there, they went in … and when they came back, they started acting funny.”
Pinkie quickly interrupts: “Believe me, this isn’t funny behavior.” Reaching into her mane, she pulls out a cream pie and smashes it into her face. “Now this is funny behavior,” she cheerfully declares. A forced yawn causes her to turn to Silverstream. “What?”
“Seriously? Pies in the face? Like, there is nothing entertaining about that.”
Silverstream’s acerbic comment causes Pinkie’s mane and tail to unpoof for a moment, as she reaches into her mane a second time to pull out a towel and wipe her face. “Okay, now I’m concerned.”
As Twilight and the others ponder a possible explanation, Spike enter the office, his head buried in a comic. “OK, I ordered a fresh palette of scrolls for the upcoming semester and … oh, didn’t know you had a conference scheduled,” he says as he looks up from the comic and takes in the scene. “So how’d the magic act go over?”
Ocellus turns from the bookshelves towards Spike, spots the comic, and quickly swoops in to grab it from his claws. “Mine!”
“Hey, I just bought that!” he shouts as he makes a grab for the comic, quickly engaging in a tug-of-war. “C’mon, you’re gonna rip it!” he pleads.
Ocellus grunts and strains as she refuses to back off. Spike bears down in kind.
A flash of light causes Spike to let go and fall backwards, as Ocellus changes form. “It’s mine!” she states as everyone gazes at her new appearance. “Everything in here is MINE!”
Spike turns to Rarity, then turns back to … the other Rarity, now laughing maniacally as she triumphantly holds his comic up for all to see.