//------------------------------// // Class is in Session // Story: That Particular Instance I Performed Metempsychosis As An Equine Named After A Piece Of Silverware // by Yuri Fanatic //------------------------------// "Is the floor supposed to be made out of dead grass and dirt?" I asked my pink friend as I stood at the entrance of the classroom. I didn't notice before, but with the two of us the first fillies there I was able to take in my surroundings with a little more perceptiveness. "I dunno. It feels nice under my hooves though. The shiny tiles at home make my hooves hurt." Dia remarked before unpacking her things at her desk. "Why don't they just use carpet then?" I ask again, doing the same as her. "I dunno, maybe Miss Cheerilee likes it this way?", my friend shrugged disinterestedly, "Why are you asking me weird questions? Shouldn't you ask Miss Cheerilee?" "Eh I dunno, I just noticed this now." I say awkwardly. "It's... nothing. You're right, it is a weird question." The door opened again to reveal a couple more colts and fillies coming into class: Shady Daze, Twist, Snips and Snails, and a couple of others I can't remember the names of. "Huh, well of course the two egg-heads are the first in class." My ears perked up to hear Scootaloo's mocking voice behind the group. I see her turning to Sweetie Belle with a smirk, expecting a response. However, the light-grey unicorn looked at her with unamused eyes, before walking over to her seat. "H-Hey, did you hear me?" She asked before sitting next to her. "Hey Sweetie Belle, you home?" Scootaloo waved a hoof over her friend's muzzle. "Yeah I heard you." Sweetie Belle rolled her eyes. "...Are you still mad at me?" Scootaloo said quietly. "No it's not that," she said passively aggressively, "it just wasn't funny." "Not funny? But you were laughing with me just yesterday." "Eh, I think that joke's run its course." "Run it's what?" The pegasus tilted her head. "It's an expression." She copied my words with a deadpanned expression. I couldn't help but chuckle a little bit overhearing their conversation. "Hey!" The pegasus shouted, drawing the attention of most of the other students. At that moment, Miss Cheerilee burst through the door, cheery as usual. "Good morning class!" Miss Cheerilee said brightly, her soothing disposition infectious. “Morning, Miss Cheerilee!” the class replied in unison, their attention quickly being turned away from Scootaloo's outburst. "I'm sure all of you had a pleasant night." "Eh, it was alright." Applebloom said with a blank look while laying on her hoof. “Good,” she said, not acknowledging Applebloom’s expression. “But today, we need put our learning caps on! Today is important!” Scootaloo snorted once. “Okay. Let’s begin with the lesson plan, shall we?” Miss Cheerilee, chalk in mouth, pivoted to face the chalkboard. The class looked on as she began to write in neat, tall, legible chalkmanship. When she was finished, the words splayed out onto the board read: Sugar and The Sun Miss Cheerilee set the stick of chalk aside to admire the faces of her audience. They all looked on in confusion. I was looking on with mild interest. I had learned some mention of it in the books I've read, but nothing too detailed. “Now, I assume everypony here knows what these two subjects are?" Everypony nodded and raised their hooves in confirmation. "Good, now can anypony tell me the connection these two share?" Nopony raised their hooves. They certainly knew what the giant flaming ball in the sky was, and how sugar is used in a lot of their favorite foods and snacks, but not whatever connection their teacher was trying to allude to. Miss Cheerilee chuckled. “Don’t be shy, there are no wrong answers. It’s entirely open for discussion.” A few more cautious moments passed before I finally raised my hoof into the air. Miss Cheerilee called on me with no hesitation, catching me completely off guard and earning stares from the rest of the class. “Uh...” I stuttered. "Is it... energy?" "Almost right on the mark Silver Spoon. But no, anypony else?" Something clicked inside of everypony’s head at that point, and more of the class started to raise their hooves. Miss Cheerilee called upon a mare in thick-rimmed, purple glasses and curly red hair, comparative to the “Annie” of ponies. "Twist?" The light amberish gray filly lowered her hoof and timidly said, "Uh, is it magic?" "Very good, Twist!" Miss Cheerilee praised, turning to write the point down on the board. After writing it, she turned back to the filly. "Now could you explain to me how did you got that right?" "I uh, well I learned it from my thsister. She runs a candy shop." Twist explained. "That's wonderful. I'm glad that your sister taught you." Cheerilee said assuringly, before getting her chalk and writing on the board. "Yes, both Celestia's sun and sugar contain magic. And every single living thing needs magic to survive and thrive!" She drew a sun and some flowers with happy faces on them. "And for us ponies, we use magic for everything. From Earth Ponies getting their strength, to Unicorns being able to cast spells, and Pegasi having their ability to fly and shape the weather!" Cheerilee finished drawing with each race on the board respectively. Scootaloo was listening on intently on that last part. "Wait so, everything needs magic?" I hear a colt in my class ask. "Yeppers! And Celestia's sun is important because it gives our plants the magic they need to survive. And crops give us sugar, and sugar gives us magic! Magic is an important for all our food! But also animals too." Cheerilee drew on the board again, this time adding various animals and birds. "Why animals? Animals can't do magic." Sweetie Belle asked curiously. "A valid point," Miss Cheerilee replied, dropping her chalk on her table. "But why is it that you think some animals can understand us?" "Because they're smart?" Shady deadpanned as if everypony knows this. "Yes, but why are animals smart enough to understand us?" The magenta mare clarified. "...Because of magic?" Applebloom guessed, playing a pencil in her mouth. "Right! Clever answer Applebloom! And how did you come up with your answer?" Cheerilee wrote again on the board. The yellow filly rolled her eyes before dropping her pencil out of her mouth to talk. "Because mah sister always tells me ta make sure Winona's food has enough magic in it. It's on the packaging label." "Exactly! Magic gives animals the ability to think! And when animals are fed and taken care of well, they can be trained much like our pets!" The magenta mare finished with a drawing of a dog eating food. Then she draws an arrow pointing from the sun to the plants and then the plants to the food. "So... if an animal doesn't get enough magic then what happenths?" Twist asked after raising her hoof. "Then they become reliant on pure instinct." Cheerilee turned to face the class. "You see class, when a living thing doesn't get enough magic in their bodies, they lose the ability to be sapient. That means they won't be able to think properly. They then simply become animals that can't understand ponies and just do what their bodies tell them to do." "So like, what happens if ponies run out of magic?" I asked without even bothering on raising a hoof, my voice was genuinely curious. The chalk stopped on the board and Miss Cheerilee paused from moving a single muscle. Suddenly, the classroom became deathly quiet. Not a peep was to be heard. "That is something we must avoid at all costs,” Miss Cheerilee admonished, turning to me while getting strange looks from the rest of her students. "A good question Silver Spoon, and it's why it's very important for everypony to know this." All the students had her attention. Almost as if she cast a spell. "Ponies need magic, more than anything else. Without it, we would become extremely tired as our bodies won't be able to keep up with our thinking. We would become, basically no different than the animals we see everyday. But worse. We could be tired, and start doing strange things like eating the grass." The magenta mare said with all seriousness, earning some gulps from a couple of students while others expressed with disgust. "So everypony here now understands just how important sugar is?" Everypony nodded. "Good. So class, be sure you take your daily snacks and food alright?" Everypony nodded, but Diamond Tiara raised her hoof high. "Miss Cheerilee! What happens if a pony eats too much sugar! I eat loads of snacks everyday!" She asked while earning some jealous glances from the others. "Yeah, wouldn't too much sugar give us like, diabetes?" I asked in her support. This earned a couple of curious glances at me and sudden laughter from the magenta mare. "Oh Silver Spoon, diabetes doesn't happen to ponies." What. "What's that?" "What is she talking about?" "What's diabetes?" A couple more curious whispers are heard in the background. I felt their eyes piercing into me from behind. "And to answer your excellent question Diamond Tiara, ponies have a special way of taking care of that. Who here knows a pony named Pinkie Pie?" Everypony's eyes widened, almost everyone recognized the name and raised their hooves in confirmation. I've never seen the mare myself, but Cheerilee had just confirmed that she definitely indeed does live here. Timidly, I raised my hoof along with them. "Wonderful, now for anypony who doesn't know, Pinkie is our town Party Pony. She spends all day planning for special occasions and is overall bouncy and cheerful with lots of energy." Our teacher explained, receiving nods from the colts and fillies. "However you all probably also have seen how active she is, jumping around, moving from place to place with immense speed, and even talking to ponies extremely fast for ponies to understand." Again the class nodded, fully knowing what she was talking about. "Now that's exactly what happens when a pony consumes a lot of magic, a Sugar Rush." She wrote the words on the board along with a rough drawing of Pinkie Pie. "In a Sugar Rush, ponies deal with the extra magic they receive by doing all kinds of tasks. They find things to do and do them really fast in order to use up the energy they have in their bodies. Perhaps some of you experienced it once? Or maybe a whole lot more than once." Cheerilee smiled at the class knowingly, a couple of students looking away with embarrassment much like Dia and a couple of others giggling in their seats. "And that's why we don't have to worry about diabetes. Frankly I'm quite surprised to be hearing that from you Silver Spoon. Diabetes isn't terribly common." "I uh... learned it in a book." I nervously scratched the back of my head. "Well you must be well studious Silver Spoon. Perhaps one day you'll be a star example of what the class has to learn from." Miss Cheerilee smiled at me reassuringly, before cleaning the board with an eraser. "Egg-head." I heard the all too familiar voice and a couple of chuckles escaping from the back of the class. My ears flattened as I was quickly annoyed by their incessant teasing. "Hey!" Dia shouted, turning around in her seat to glare at the other students. "Diamond Tiara, what are you doing out of your seat?" Cheerilee asked sternly. "I-I, but Miss Cheerilee," the pink filly turned to her teacher with pleading eyes, "they were making fun of Silver Spoon!" "Is that so?" Miss Cheerilee said, before stomping towards the back of the classroom and glaring down at every student. "Perhaps some of us didn't learn the lesson I taught yesterday. We do not make fun of other students in my classroom. If I hear anymore teasing coming from any of my students, then I'll start suspending recess for them while excluding the rest of the class. Do I make myself clear?" She stomped the ground with enough force to be barely felt. Some students nodded their heads in full understanding while others, most notably Scootaloo, rolled their eyes and replied in dry sarcasm. "Yes Miss Cheerilee." "Good." Miss Cheerilee said darkly before stomping back to the front of the room. I looked back and I saw a couple of students taking nervous glances at me, and some even glaring back at Diamond Tiara. "Don't worry about it." Dia said as she drew my attention, softly smiling at me. "Those losers don't understand what it's like being smart. Especially not that Scootaloo." She put major emphasis on that last part. Relief and concern filled me. Relief that Dia still had my back and understood that I don't do well under pressure, but also concern as she still wasn't completely on board with the idea of befriending the orange pegasus. Taking a quick glance behind me I could still see Scootaloo laying back in her seat, her eyes meeting mine before sticking her tongue out at me. I take another glance to see Sweetie Belle giving me a look of sympathy and mild annoyance at her pegasus friend. Looks like things were going to be harder than I thought... "-And that's why Celestia's sun is very important for crops and all the animals we live with!" Miss Cheerilee finished her lecture. "Any questions? How about you Silver Spoon?" My thoughts were immediately pulled back towards the magenta mare and her lesson, my anxiety quickly kicking in. "Uhhhhhh, w-why do you call it Celestia's sun? She doesn't technically own it." I blurted out. "Of course she owns it!" A voice calls out from the back of the classroom. Eyes turn around to see Scootaloo sitting forward on her desk with confidence. "She made the sun after all." She dismisses the classroom's gaze with a hoof. "No she didn't." I retorted. "Did too!" Scootaloo said in a mocking tone. "Actually," Cheerilee interrupted the would-be shouting contest, "you're both wrong." "Hah?" Scootaloo's eyes blinked. "Celestia did not in-fact create the sun. The sun existed for far longer than any of us had and she only have been moving it for well over what anypony remembers." "But... if she lived fer so long, how do ya know fer sure?" Applebloom asked. "Why Celestia said so herself, and on multiple occasions." Cheerilee chuckled, drawing some confusion from the other students. "So no Scootaloo, Celestia did not create the sun." The orange pegasus scrunched her nose and crossed her forelegs, before laying back in her chair disinterested. "And as for you Silver Spoon, let me answer your question with another question." "Huh?" I say surprised. "If you had a wagon and pulled it for years and nopony else did, would you say that you owned it?" The magenta mare asked. "I guess..." "Then there you have it. That's why we consider Celestia to own the sun, since she moves it every day for us to enjoy and to give all of us the magic we need to live our lives." Our teacher smiled before ending the lecture. She then opened a drawer and pulled out a stack of papers. "And I also have all your excellent spelling papers graded!" She spoke through her mouth. I never understood why she could speak clearly through that. "Now class, I'm going to pass these papers in to the front row, and those ponies are going to take the first page on top and hand the stack to the pony behind them. Then we'll repeat the process until everypony has their paper back. I hope you're all excited to see how well you did!~" Predictably mine and Dia's were perfect scores. There was even a red apple stamp that circled our scores. Other students looked at their papers and looked overall confused at what their scores meant, while others were pretty happy with their own writing. "Now all of you can bring those papers home and show your parents your excellent scores!" Behind me, I saw everypony excitedly putting their papers in their saddles, but Scootaloo wore a sour expression as she crumpled up her paper and tossed it in a nearby bin. "Can we go to recess now?" Snips voiced his complaints. "Yeah! I wanna go outside and play ball!" Snails joined in. "Oh, is it already that time?" Cheerilee looked at her clock hanging on the wall. "Oh dear, I must have lost track. Sorry class, I guess you can all go to recess now." The class didn't need any further confirmation as every colt and filly trotted off the front door. The sounds of the class bell echoed throughout the hallway, leaving only me and Dia alone. "Urgh... that filly has problems." My pink friend remarked. "Tell me about it..." I couldn't help but agree, but the pit in my stomach plummeted as my confidence weakened. "Hey Sil," Dia placed a hoof on my shoulder, "even if things don't work out, at least you'll still have me and Sweetie Belle. Right?" She asked hopefully. I looked at her, my face uncertain, but I sighed and nodded anyway. "Yeah, but... I really thought maybe I could be friends with her." "Maybe you can, maybe you won't. But if your dreams say that we will be enemies with both Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle in the future, then we wouldn't be friends with Sweetie Belle now would we?" I look up, only to see her reassuring smile. A faint glimmer of hope instilled in me that I managed to lightly smile once more. "You're right. I shouldn't give up now." "I didn't say that-" "We're going to snag Scootaloo as a friend whether she likes it or not." I say triumphantly on my desk. "I'm not sure that's how friendship works-" "Then we're going to make the best team of friends this school will ever see!" "I'm pretty sure that belongs to Snips and Snails-" "Then we'll take over Equestria and make Celestia bow at her knees!" "Okay maybe you're going a little too far with that-" "We'll be known as Pink Diamond and Silent Silver! One-hundred years Dia and Sil! Twelve seasons! Twenty-six episodes each!" I howl in the middle of the classroom. "What are you even saying-" "One-hundred years Dia! That's how long our rule will be!" "I'm going now." Dia stood up. "One-hundred years Dia and Sil!" "Bye, I'm leaving." "And then we'll have even more! We'll have movies and spin-offs!" "I'm leaving through the door." "And terrible fanfiction!" "Bye Sil, see you at recess." "One-hundred years!"