You stepped into Applejack’s classroom, as seemingly the final student to arrive. You take a look around the place, looked like a basic room you’d see in high school, but more blue and purple when it came to the walls. Desks set up the same way as any other school, there was a chalkboard, bookcases. Hell, the only thing that seemed to match Applejack’s personality was the single apple on the desk at which she sat. Actually, looking at all the students, most of which are ponies, as they look back at you seemed rather unnerving to you for some reason. Within the class, you only recognized Smolder, Ocellus, Gallus, and… Wait, no, that greenish pony with the palmtree-leafish like mane and three turtles cutie mark didn’t seem too familiar, despite the fact he was chatting it up with Gallus as if they knew each other. Maybe they do? Though, now that you notice she wasn't here, you wish you had this class with Cozy Glow. No doubt Starlight at least made sure you had a class with her at some point, despite not actually talking about it.
“Good mornin’, Anon, good to have ya here in mah honesty class and-” Welp, despite the warning you got from Twilight, Applejack didn’t seem upset or unnerved to see you. Though she is interrupted all of a sudden by a few ponies suddenly gazing at you.
“Woah, is that really Anon?! The Hero Colt?! That’s totally rad! You guys were right, he does look more awesome up close!!” The green pony said, apparently excited to see you and well knowing of your reputation. I mean, of course he does, you’re awesome.
Gallus just ducked his head a little bit, groaning. “Sandbar, c’mon, now you’re just making us look like groupies.”
Applejack could already see other ponies across the class murmuring to themselves. And while Applejack didn’t mind some discussion among the students when she wasn’t explaining anything, she also didn’t want everyone getting excited just because you were here. “Now settle down, y'all. Anon is a student, just like everycreature else, he ain’t getting no special treatment and ah expect none of you to give him as such neither.”
A cute pegasus mare, pinkish in color with a blue swirly mane, started waving her hoof towards Applejack. “Excuse me, Professor, ya mind if Anon sit with us? He’s toooooo cute, I think he could use some big sisters to help him with his friendship lessons.” She said, other pony mares around her nodding. Hoo, big sisters? Y-y… No, you must resist.
“Ain’t happenin’, sorry. Ya already have a full group anyhows. Anon, while not gettin’ special treatment or nothin’ like that, does have a special assignment given to him by Headmare Twilight herself. Gotta sit him with the nonpony folk so he can learn friendship lessons from all their cultures. Ah expect everycreature to learn that too, of course, but Anon needs it for his hero work.” Applejack announces as she looks away and whispers, annoyed with what she just said. “Even though none of that makes a lick of sense.” She then looks to you, and nods with a smile. “Anyhoo, Anon, saved ya a seat right between Smolder and Ocellus. Yer lucky ya just showed up today too, got a hootananny of an assignment for the whole class and ya complete the team of five needed to make it fair. Oh, but first, why don’t you introduce yourself to the class.”
Holy crap that was a lot of information to absorb. An assignment already? And a special assignment specifically for you? That was never explicitly mentioned, or your arrangements even explained to you as a special assignment, but obviously it was just the whole ‘cultural learning’ thing or whatever mixed with your ‘spy work’. Anyway, you walk over to the front of the class and give an adorable wave of your hoof. “Hello everycreature! I’m Anon, the Hero Colt! And I’m glad to be here today! It’s nice to meet you all.” You say, as the class says hello back to you with actual sincerity compared to a class you’d hear from earth.
“There we are, yer all acquainted, soon to be all friends, ah hope. Oh but, Anon, before you sit down, gonna have to ask ya to not use that horn, AT ALL, in mah class, ya hear? Don’t want it used for cheatin’ or nothin’.” Applejack said, as politely as she could, though the hint of disdain in her voice was there.
“I, er, guess? But Professor Applejack, this horn is sort of my thing, it’s part of my talent. Ya know, it’s a symbol to what my cutie mark is. I can’t just not use it when I need it.” For anyone else, you could swear they would have been nicer about it. Hell, Applejack had to have been told you were not to cause any shenanigans already with the horn, so what gives?
Applejack seemed impressed for a half moment with the fact you already respectfully were calling her professor, but still, it seemed she really was ticked about the O&O game from before. “Ah know that, and I ain’t tellin’ you not to use it when somethin’ important happens. But this class is all about honesty, Anon.” And that’s when Applejack comes in close to you and whispers in your ear. “And ah don’t want to deal with any tricks like before. And ah expect you to not cheat me or yerself with your magic. If ya have to use it, then ah expect you to use it if Queen Chrysalis decides to mosey on in here. Understand?”
You? Tricks? Bah, you weren’t going to do that! Just a tiny little one, that Fluttershy herself would be ok with. She didn’t know what she was talking about. But whatever “Yeah, understood. Can I take my seat now?”
Applejack nodded, and turned to the rest of the class. “Alrighty then, good to have ya, Anon. Anyway, everycreature take yer time discussin’ how yer gonna tackle that scavenger hunt. Now, remember, ah don’t expect y’all to bring it all back here. This is an honesty class, after all, and ah expect you to just be honest with the items yer all checking off. Before anycreature asks, ah’ll say it again, this is pretty much gonna tell me where y’all stand with honesty so far. Now, get to discussin’.”
Ok then. You take your seat between Ocellus and Smolder as Gallus and the young green stallion named Sandbar scooted their seats closer to join in on the discussion.
“Hello, Anon, it’s nice to see you again.” Ocellus said with a gentle smile, a bit of timidness in her voice. “How coincidental it is to have you in our group.”
“Coincidental nothin’, looks like he’s pretty much forced to be in our groups for the whole semester. Not like that’s a problem, pretty much gives us an edge with that horn of his.” Gallus said, just giving a boredly cool look as he gazes at the horn around your neck.
“Hey, hey, remember what the Professor said, he can’t use it, or else it’s cheating. Oh, by the way, big fan of yours, Anon, my whole family are. Though, I don’t think I’m as big a fan as Silverstream is, she is REALLY into you.” Sandbar said as he found it hard to contain his fanboyism. Ah christ, another one. Well, at least he was a dude, much easier to deal with than a cute hippogriff.
“Oh, uh, thanks. Cool to know I have fans inside the school. But, uh, what is with the team thing? What are we doing?” You asked.
“Scavenger hunt, and not a really hard one either. Like, really, it is super simple.” Smolder said as she brings up a long sheet with a list on it. “Red wagon, blue string, house with a chimney on it, a donkey, a rabbit, an apple, a fish, and finally, a needle in a haystack. Which, uh, I guess all of them are really easy except that last part. I can kinda see where Gallus is going with this, would it really be cheating to use Anon’s horn to find the needle?”
Ocellus gives a sure nod. “Absolutely. Despite what you all have seen so far, you haven’t seen what I’ve seen. Anon’s father, and by extension, Anon himself, can bend reality to fit their needs should they choose to. It would be dishonest to use the horn to find the needle.”
The fuck? A needle in a haystack? “Why is that even on the list, anyway? That doesn’t seem like something anycreature can find. How many needles did the Professor hide anyway?” Like christ, she expected them to get that last one?! What the fuck did any of this have to do with honesty?!
“One, just one, in some random haystack. Heck, it’s not even something we need to find, but it’s worth twenty ‘A’s’ if somecreature can find it. Meaning, if we find it, we’re set for almost half the semester.” Gallus said before whispering. “It’s not like anycreature has to know we used Anon’s horn to find it, just saying.”
“We’d know, and I’m not going to do it. It is just… Just… So dishonest. But it isn’t like we can’t just look either, we should be able to find everything else very quickly if we look around thoroughly.” Ocellus said, unwilling to cheat the lesson, at all. "It'd give us time to find the needle."
“Yeah, but what are the chances of us finding it before we have to come back to class?” Gallus asked.
“Er, well, it’s zero point zero zero zero zer-” But as Ocellus went on, Gallus just stopped her by raising his talons, sighed, and slumped in his seat.
“Ugh, I get it, basically impossible. Ok, ok, so if we’re going to do this the ‘honest’ way, then we’re ALL gonna do it, right?” Gallus asked, somewhat unsure if his friends were going to try to check off the needle anyway. "Nocreature is gonna go behind anycreature's back or anything and check off the needle?"
“We’re in this together, if we can’t find the needle, then it’s no biggie.” Sandbar said with a nod.
Smolder shrugged. “Yeah, and besides, if we do manage to find it, then we’ll pretty much be able to do anything. Like, literally against the odds. What about you, Anon? You in?”
“I mean, yeah, I am. I just find it-guh?!” You are suddenly stopped as a sheet, being the same as everyone else's, drops on your desk. Applejack stood before you, ready to explain something it seems.
“Here ya go, Anon, yer own sheet. Now, ah know you might not know what’s goin’ on yet, so let me give you the jist of it. In mah class, I expect hard work and plain ole’ honesty, both with me and the friends you’ll be making. Today, ah just want to test everycreatures’ honesty with this here Scavenger Hunt and-” But you interrupt her, as you had already pretty much gotten that information already.
“Er, Professor Applejack, ma’am, I sorta already know all that, we’ve been talking about how to tackle the scavenger hunt. Erm, thanks for the sheet though. And, uh, I do have a question.” There was one thing you needed to know, and that was the exact rules on the needle.
“Oh, er, hm, well, that’s good then. Hm? What’s that, Anon?” Applejack asked, feeling a little off balance and embarrassed.
“The needle in the haystack. Like, do you really expect somecreature to find it before the class ends? Is there anything we can use that isn’t my horn to help us find it? A magnet, maybe? Is there a hint as to know where the right haystack might even be?” Just, something, you just needed something and you were sure you’d be able to figure it out with your human intellect.
“Well, ah suppose using a regular ole’ magnet would be fine. But as for the haystack?” Applejack let out a soft chuckle about that. “That’s for y’all to figure out. It’s worth a lot of grades, so I ain’t just gonna tell you where to find it. If you don’t find it by the end of class, then don’t worry about it, it ain’t gonna count against you.”
Not even a hint? You look back at your friends, whose optimism seemed to take a varying hit among them as they came to realize that it may really be impossible. “I see, thank you, Professor.”
“No problem. Now, ah don’t want to waste everycreature’s time now. So y’all get going and have fun while ya do it. And remember, be honest. I know I ain’t expectin’ you all to bring everything back, but I do expect ya all to have actually seen it before you mark down that ya have.” Applejack announced to the class before letting you all out to do your search.