Silver Spoon let out a long sigh, and resisted the urge to pound her head against her desk. The last day of school every year seemed to have some sort of curse about it. Every year, going all the way back to when she was a student herself, something happened to make what should be the easiest day of the school year into a disaster. This wasn't the worst disaster ever, but it was undoubtedly in the top two or three. In the past few years, her empathy for Cheerilee had grown exponentially. If Cheerilee really had gone crazy, the last day of school every year had to have played some part in that.
Candy Apple had a surge, a big one, right after accidentally starting a food fight. Either one of those things would have been bad, but manageable on their own, together they were more troublesome, but combined with the fact today was also career day, and visitors to the school had gotten pulled into it. It had been chaos, and she was still dealing with spooked students now that the tumultuous lunch hour had ended.
Most of the students had settled down, though a few of the more skittish ones still looked unhappy. The most skittish of her students, Sisstet, was the only one not back in his seat; the poor little naga was coiled up under her desk, and seemed to have no intention of leaving his safe spot. She was content to let him stay there, at least for the time being. He could be coaxed out after class was over.
"Alright, class. I know the lunch break was chaotic, but it's over now," she called out in a firm voice. She then softened her expression and smiled after she saw she had their attention. "Luckily, it's the last day of the school year, and we will be dismissing early."
The class's mood immediately changed to happy excitement, and she spotted a few of them getting ready to break for the door. "Not yet! We're dismissing early, but not that early! Don't worry; we won't take long. I just have to give you your report cards and explain the details of your summer project."
Disappointed sighs echoed through the room as students settled back down in their seats. She'd told the class that there would be a summer project earlier that day, so there weren't any looks of shock, but there were a number who looked as if they wished she'd forgotten about it.
She walked back to her seat behind the desk, and gave Sisstet a check to ensure he was still alright, before taking her seat. "Next year will expand your social studies curriculum. In anticipation of this, I have assigned each of you a tribe or species that is not one of the three main Equestrian pony tribes, and you'll be doing a brief report on their culture, history, and what you think they bring Equestria with their friendship. I expect at least a page each for their culture and history, and at least half a page on what they contribute to Equestria with their friendship."
Her griffin student raised a talon, and she pointed a hoof at him to acknowledge him. "Yes, Godfrey?"
"Can we do our own species?" Godfrey asked.
She shook her head. "No, none of you will be doing your own species or tribe. This is about learning about others. I have already picked out an assignment for each of you. There are some duplicates."
Godfrey raised his talon again, and she rolled her eyes as she anticipated his standard question when he got assigned something he didn't like. "No, you can't trade assignments," she answered before he could ask. The griffin lowered his talon, and this time it stayed down.
She opened the big drawer of the desk and reached in with both forelegs to pull out the stack of report cards, then reached down once more with her mouth to grab her assignment sheet. After carefully setting them all down on the desk, she smiled at the class. "I'll be calling each of you one by one to come to get your report card, and I'll tell you your assigned tribe or species at that time. Return to your desks afterward; the entire class will be dismissed together. If anycreature has any questions about their report card or assignment, they can come ask me right after dismissal."
She gave one final beaming smile at the class. "Right now, I'm pleased to announce that nocreature here failed at any expectations or subject areas this year, though a few of you came close on one or two areas, but you all pulled through. I'm very proud of all of you." Technically, Candy Apple had failed her attendance expectations, but as per-the-usual, she wasn't present at the moment; therefore, the praise of the class was accurate.
She pulled the first report card off the stack with her mouth and set it on the edge of the table. "We're going in alphabetical order, so first up is Autumn Fire." The kirin colt came up, and she pushed the paper with her hoof, so the edge of it was hanging off the table. As he grabbed the report card with his mouth, she gave him his instruction. "Your assignment is the thestral tribe. There are plenty of books on them in the library, and there are a few thestrals in town you can consult, although you should try to be courteous of their nocturnal schedule if you do. Understood?"
The kirin nodded while still holding his report card in his mouth, and then walked back to his seat. The next report card was Candy Apple's, and that would need to be passed on to Principal Doo in order to give to the filly and her mother.
"Autumn, can you do me a favor and run Candy's report card to Principal Doo's office for me?"
The kirin immediately hurried back over from his desk. "Yes, Miss Silver Spoon."
"Hurry straight back once you are done, and don't disturb Candy," she instructed. "Tell the principal her report is on changelings."
The kirin already had Candy's report card in his mouth, and just nodded his affirmation before rushing out the door.
With that taken care of, she moved on to the next. "Cheese Slice! Come and get your report card. Your report will be on dragons."
The process continued with few problems. Most took their assignments without protest or noticeable reaction. There were some wistful sighs of 'lucky' by other students when Egg Yolk was assigned crystal ponies, although the earth pony colt seemed disappointed he hadn't gotten something more exotic. They were the easiest tribe to do, but somecreature had to get them. Godfrey seemed perfectly happy when he was assigned the Abyssinian cats. Melody Rhyme stared blankly for a moment when she was given buffalo, as if she'd never even heard of them. Mint Cherry blanched when he was assigned diamond dogs. She set Sisstet's aside when his turn came up, with the intent of giving it after the class dismissed. Star Bell let off an exaggerated sigh when she was assigned Yaks. Zappy Cloud was the only student that put up an open protest when she was given her assignment.
The yellow pegasus filly went rigid upon hearing who she'd be reporting on. "Naga! But they're so big and scary! Can I just interview Sisstet?"
She leveled a firm gaze at Zappy. "No. Sisstet didn't grow up with his culture. There are books on this subject in the library. You aren't required to do an interview if you don't want to. It is just a good way of learning straight from the source. However, if you interview a naga, it should be one of Sisstet's guardians."
The filly's ears went flat as her eyes widened so much that they might pop out of their sockets. Silver Spoon did feel some sympathy for her student. Sisstet's guardians could be frightful to be around. They wouldn't hurt anycreature, but that was because they'd been told not to. Just like the crystal pony assignment, this was a case where somecreature had to be assigned the naga; She was making sure all the major races and tribes with significant ongoing interactions with Equestria were covered, and naga were one of those races.
Zappy retook her seat, and that was the last of the report cards she needed to call students up for. She lifted her hoof in the air and made the announcement everycreature had been waiting for. "Have a good and happy summer. Class is dismissed!"
It was amazing how quickly students could move when being dismissed for summer. She was of the strong opinion that they could outrun Rainbow Dash herself.
There were a few students that lingered behind. Autumn Fire and Cheese Slice both wanted to ask about Candy Apple, and she could only recommend that they check on her themselves. Mint Cherry tried to argue he should have gotten a better grade on getting along with other students. The colt was lucky the report cards were made out before today, or he might have gotten a lower grade in that, and she informed him she would be taking time very soon to visit his parents and discuss those issues. Egg Yolk wanted a different tribe to report on because his twelfth cousin, twentieth removed, was a crystal pony, which meant he was practically a crystal pony himself. She told him she would overlook his 'close' crystal pony relatives, just this time, and that he still needed to do his report on crystal ponies.
After a few minutes, there was only one student left in her classroom to deal with. She looked under her desk at her final straggler. Sisstet was still coiled up in what looked like a brown and green ball. "Hey, everycreature else is gone. You need to come out. You can't spend the whole summer down there."
"I can too."
She grinned. "Really? What are you going to do about food?"
"I'll eat ratss and bugss." Okay, she was now sorry she asked that question.
She was undeterred, though. "I keep my classroom clean and sanitary. You won't find any rats or bugs here. Even if you did, you wouldn't want to eat just those things all summer, would you? Plus, it would get pretty lonely."
Her timid student finally decided to peak his face up, and tasted the air briefly with his snakelike tongue. Naga faces were remarkably ponylike, if you could ignore the fangs, and the rest of the body. Sisstet had the very beginning of a frilled hood forming around his head, similar to a cobra's. Both his guardians had full frilled hoods, and she assumed this to be something that all adult naga had, but for some reason were not born with. If she just looked him in the face, she could imagine she was dealing with just another pony colt. A few things were true, though; he was a student in her class, and all her students were unique individuals who had different needs she needed to account for. His needs were just a little more complicated than some of her other students.
"It's perfectly safe to come out," she assured him, beckoning him with one of her legs. "Candy's surge is over, and she's gone home. There's no more food fight. Mint has also gone home, and won't say cruel things anymore. I'm going to walk you home personally, and will make sure you stay safe."
He lifted his head a bit more and pulled sat upon his clawed hands. "You promise?"
"I promise. I'll Pinkie promise if that will reassure you more."
He blinked. "What's a Pinkie promise?"
It was her turn to blink. "You've lived in Ponyville most of your life, and you don't know what a Pinkie promise is?" He shook his head. "Well, it's a special promise that no one is allowed to break, or Cheese's mom will come and hunt them down."
He recoiled back down. "I don't want you to be eaten!"
She cocked her head and one ear to the side. "Who said anything about being eaten?"
His tail gave a shiver. "That's why things hunt, to eat. I don't want Cheese's mom to eat you! You're nice!"
She shook her head. "She's not going to- never mind. The point is, I'm not going to have to worry about that, because I'm going to keep my promise to you. Come on out. We can stop for chocolate along the way."
Resorting to bribery wasn't a great habit to get into, but it was the end of the school year, and he was about to have to face his guardians with his report card. That hadn't gone over well last time he'd given them his report card; another reason why she was personally taking him home, to see that there was no repeat of that.
Sisstet uncoiled himself and started to move out from under the desk. Naga didn't have hind legs, so he did a combination crawl with his arms and slither with his tail. He looked so tiny when he was coiled up in a ball like that, but she knew he was actually longer in the body than her, and when he lifted himself to full height with that tail, he stood taller than her. His guardians were much more impressive in stature, and much more intimidating when they went full height. She'd heard tales about their kingsnake leaders (the term was used for both genders for some reason), and they supposedly make the regular naga look small. She hoped she'd never have to meet a kingsnake.
She hopped down from her chair and hugged him. "There now. That wasn't so hard, was it? Are you ready to go home?"
He dipped his head. "Yess, Miss Silver Spoon."
She beamed. "Good." She then grabbed his report card off the desk and passed it to him. "You've gotten excellent grades for this final semester, which had you end the year with excellent grades in most areas."
He held the report card in his clawed hands and looked up from it after reading for a moment. "I made a lower grade in getting along with everycreature than the rest of my grades."
"Yes, you did," she confirmed. "You didn't fail it, though. I can't give you top marks in that if you don't socialize more. There's nothing wrong with that, but I have to recognize the students that make that extra effort to be friends with lots of others. If you want a higher grade in that, you'll need to try to be more involved with other students."
He flicked his tongue and cowered slightly as he went back to looking at the report card. "Guardianss might be mad about it."
She sniffed. "And I'll explain to them that there is nothing to be angry about. You're a little shy, but that's alright. Now, your summer project is going to be on changelings. There's three of you in the class that got them for an assignment, so if you want some extra credit towards your grade for socializing, you can try maybe working with one of the others over the summer to help get the project done. Do you understand the assignment?"
He sat up and nodded. "Yess, Miss Silver Spoon."
She gave him a brief pat on the back. "Good. Now, gather up your things, and we'll be on our way."
Sisstet did his crawl-slither back to his desk and grabbed his backpack. He carefully put his report card inside and slipped his arms through the straps. He then turned around to her. "Misss Silver Spoon, I have a question."
"What is it, Sisstet? You can ask me anything."
"If Cheese's mom hunts down creatures that break Pinkie promises, and she doesn't eat them, does she grind them up and put them in cakes for others to eat?"