//------------------------------//
// Chapter 2 
// Story: Your Friends From Across Time 
// by EquestrianKnight97 
//------------------------------//

"I'm telling you, Lust, that isn't going to work!" Gallop shouted. "Professor Silverstream isn't going to be impressed with us satisfying a few creatures. If we go into a city and start some noise, that'll get her attention --- and a good grade!"

Across the table, the weary pink unicorn placed a hoof on her forehead and groaned, having reached a brick wall with the earth pony. Sympathetic, Georgia patted her classmate on the back and frowned at Gallop. 

"Dude, I don't think the headmare is going to be okay with spending a bunch of money on a festival that may or may not get a lot of creatures. And considering that she might be picky on the city, it could be a while before we even get permission."

"And...," Luster started to say, "if we do get permission for the festival, it'll be too close to the deadline, so we'll only have at least a day or two to pull it off --- and maybe an extra day to set up the whole thing. I sincerely doubt that the school will be willing to spend a good chunk of its budget on your idea for a single week."

In a light purple glow, a baby carrot was lifted from the plate with its siblings and flew across the table to a saucer of hummus. Being dipped down in the condiment, the carrot was sent into the mouth of River Song, who happily and gracefully chewed it down. The kirin then was careful as she then levitated a cup of juice to drink, trying her best not to spill liquid down on any of the reading material she and Gallop owned, who was by her side.

Having finished her drink, River Song offered her thoughts. "Come on, you two. Think about it!" she exclaimed with a smile. "We're not just talking about a festival. Gallop and I are trying to start a fundraiser! You know: a charity event. Think of all the creatures in need that we could be helping! We're talking about little diamond dog pups suffering from severe kennel coughs, and orphans that need to be taken in by loving folks!"

Gallop slapped a hoof on the table, causing the plates, bowls, books, and papers to jolt. "Thank you, River!" he shouted. "That's what I've been trying to tell you guys! This isn't just about throwing a huge party, there's another benefit in all of this. If you just listen to me, you'll see that I'm making sense!"

Yelena, seated between Georgia and River Song, softly raised her hoof as if she was in class. "Um, yak does not mean to be seen as rude," she said gently. "But friends appear to be repeating themselves. Yak is certain you've made these suggestions before about why party is the best choice."

Georgia nodded. "That's exactly what's happening. I don't mean to be sassy, but you both sound like a broken record. We get it --- a city fundraiser sounds exciting and all, but it's just too late to start doing that. Let's not forget it's also that the whole thing would be a hassle in general. You guys are way too obsessed to notice this."

River Song scowled at the griffon, taking offense to her comments.  As you looked up from the page you read on The History of the Most Charitable Acts in Equestria, you could have sworn that you saw a sizzle of steam rise from the kirin's forehead. Glancing to your left, Gallop simply rolled his eyes in disbelief. 

"And what exactly are you saying when you're calling it a hassle?" he asked with a bit of snark. 

You hoped that some of the snacks left on the table would ease your neighbor's mood, but his ire was apparently too much of a distraction for him ever since he and Luster started their argument. Even the cozy, late autumn atmosphere and the serene waterfall behind all six of you were of no use in securing peace.

"Because it'll be hard keeping track of so many creatures," Luster stated. "I doubt Professor Silverstream would want us to give her so many testimonies if this event is going to draw out hundreds of spectators. She would want their testimonies to be about they genuinely got to know us over a long period of time."

Georgia spoke up. "We won't be able to connect with so many people that quick without it looking shallow."

"At most, each of us would get around three to five minutes of bonding time with each attendant we get," Luster continued. "With my idea of a cultural trip to either the bushwoolies', the grundles', or the breezies' homeland, it'll be less expensive to get there and we'll have around an entire week to connect with a select number of inhabitants as we learn about their customs firsthoof."

River Song groaned, her annoyance equaling that of Gallop's. "But that's too easy. I'm pretty sure a whole bunch of the other students are thinking the same thing about a culture visit. If we follow along, our project will be seen as unoriginal and lacking, like, creativity. We're gonna get an average grade unless we blow the professor out of the waters."

Gallop nodded. "Which is why we need to think about making our project bigger and bolder than the others'."

Georgia sighed, streaking a clawtip across her forehead. "You two really don't get what a budget is, do you? Do you really think that Principal Starlight or Vice-Principal Sunburst are really gonna spend a bunch of bits on renting a super-duper rocket spinner or a couple of street performers?"

"If we got the money for all the extracurricular stuff, I'm sure they could lend a few bits our way to help our grades."

"Gallop!" Luster exclaimed. "The school budget is meant for its namesake, the school! The staff isn't going to waste resources on a project that might not even be worth staking a midterm on. Arrgh! I swear --- you're making even me sound like a broken record. I don't know how many times I need to point it out, but..."

The idea to study outside on the school grounds was Yelena's suggestion, as she hoped that the tranquil setting of being outdoors would make studying for the laughter midterm much easier for all of you. To you, the suggestion seemed pleasant, and at first, things were going well, with you even taking part in enjoying some of the snacks that were brought. But when the discussion of what the project would be came up, all of that peace you enjoyed went out the window.

Like Yelena, you decided to stay out of the conflict while the other four verbally duked it out. Sadly for you, you were sandwiched in between Luster and Gallop, who were the most vocal with their arguments. You buried yourself into the book you had in your hooves, trying your best to drown out the noise around you while you took down notes. Eventually, you blanked out to the point where you were not even studying at all --- just staring instead at the last page that you turned to. 

While whatever was happening in the outside world was happening, your mind drifted into various thoughts --- from concerns about how you would do in class tomorrow to whether or not you wanted to grab another chocolate chip cookie, though you felt that you already had enough. But one main thought that you concentrated on was your opinions on this school.

You have been here for only four months, having left your hometown due to... reasons concerning your old high school last spring. Your family decided the School of Friendship in Ponyville was a good suit for helping you become more "social" and "considerate", and to ensure that those traits rubbed onto you they arranged for you to be enrolled in the sophomore class. To them, it seemed best that you get involved in the more advanced courses the school had to offer.

Luckily for you, you only had to be here for a full year. Once summer came around, you were no longer dependent on your folks, at least according to the law. Once you graduated, you might have to stay with them for a few uncomfortable months, but once you have earned enough bits from a good job, you should have no trouble finding a steady place to live. And if that did not work out, there was always either charity or military service to take you in. 

But for now, this school was your life for the next several months. And so far, things were going okay. The school work was creative and definitely differed from the papers upon papers of classwork and homework that your old school offered, though paper was still a part of the curriculum at times. The classrooms were had a small student-to-teacher ratio --- despite the large attendance size overall --- so you had plenty of opportunities to interact one-on-one with a professor.

Speaking of the professors, you have gotten to know a bit about them in the few months that you've been here. Since you had only six classes, there were only six professors out of the dozens here that you have gotten a general read-on. 

Despite being a dragon with spunk and attitude at times, Professor Smolder as your kindness teacher always stressed the importance of being considerate to those around you and to never mock somecreature for their harmless traits. Professor Sweetie Belle regularly had assignments for her generosity class to do outside of school, and reminded the students to follow the tenets set by her sister, one of the Equestrian Elements of Harmony. 

Professor Applebloom also lived by the philosophy of her sister, another Element bearer, with the core message behind her lessons being that the truth will always come out one way or another, and thus it was up to her students to determine when that time would come. When she did not have to deal with her Wonderbolt duties, Professor Silverstream always came to class with an upbeat personality like a school-loving filly and tried to ensure that her laughter class would carry on the same enthusiam throughout her time with them. 

Professor Ocellus was your general studies teacher, in which you choose Equestrian history as the subject you felt you needed to brush-up on. Though eager to share her knowledge with fellow students, you found her to be overall reserved and mild-mannered. And finally, Professor Scootaloo taught the importance of being true to your friends and dedicating yourself to your community, such as with her midterm the day before --- which you did not do so well in.

Speaking about grades, you yourself were not afraid to admit how much of an average student you were. Despite the messages from your folks at home demanding that you apply yourself with your studies, you found yourself doing the bare minimum when it came to your assignments in and out of class. The lack of paperwork that would usually muddle your mind as the clock ticked on was a treat, but you could only find yourself dedicating half of your willpower to following through with the teachers' instructions. 

To put it simply, you could not see the point in caring too much about the anatomy of a proper hug, nor why it was important to be so sure why you maintained eye contact for some long when telling somecreature a statement.

You knew how significant the school was in terms of recent history. Nearly two decades ago, this institution was founded by Princess Twilight Sparkle and the Element bearers as a way of ensuring that the wisdom of friendship would expand beyond Equestria's borders. Even with those six mares no longer employed in the school, the fruits of their labor came true, with several of the current professors having been the first non-pony students welcomed in. Even the principal and head counselor were ponies that the Elements rehabilitated from their corrupt ways long ago.

But despite such rich context behind the foundation of the school, it was not enough to motivate you to go pass your limits and really apply yourself.

Luckily the presence of some effort on your part prevented you from being called out as a poor student by the staff, as you were not a troublemaker. Those traits did nothing, though, to stop your grades from being a mix of B's and C's. 

At the start of the semester, you did not mind those grades, as you figured that perhaps you could pass the school year without trying so hard. But now the previous flunked three midterms were on your mind, and a part of you was certain that you would get a poor report for your loyalty test. You knew that these midterms made a big chunk of your grade, so after a while you began to take your studies seriously.

That's where your five classmates came into play.

You had known them for some time, given that you shared at least one class with each of them, excluding Yelena, but after you bombed your generosity midterm, you decided to take Georgia's offer to join her friends for their usual scheduled study meetings. It was at these meetings that you got to know a bit more about your classmates, who have been together since their freshman year.

Georgia and you shared the same laughter class at the same period. The griffon was very relaxed and polite at times, seeming to not have a care in the world regardless of the circumstances around her, but when she felt like it she could be blunt and crass. Outside of classses, you could spot her playing her guitar on a serene spot on school grounds. And from one conversation she regularly attended public poetry sessions in Ponyville where the comedy club was.

RIver Song was in your honesty class. While she was an attentive student when the teacher was present, outside of the classroom the kirin was the spitting image of a bubbly extrovert. She was the one creature that you could find in a good and chipper mood for most of the day, with a bit of a talkative side to her that bragged about everything from the latest Carousel Boutique merchandise she bought to the any gossip going around in Ponyville. You rarely saw her get angry, though when she was frustrated a bit a steam would sizzle from her horn.

Luckily for you, yesterday was the only time you saw her burst into flames.

Yelena was the only one who you did not interact with during class hours, but your time with her during the latest study group sessions allowed you to see her personality. From what you could tell she was a very humble and respectful yak, always permitting others to have a say or make a choice before providing for herself. She was always curious and eager to learn more about foreign customs and was at times apologetic when creatures did not understand her ways of talking or communicating with others.

Like Georgia, Yelena could be frank at times, especially when something or somecreature confused her, but unlike the griffon she was usually unaware of how her critiques could sting or bother others.

Gallop J. Fry was very ... interesting to you. You do not call him nor see him as a friend, yet he is the only student here at the school that you have had the most interactions with. Out of the study group, Gallop is the only one in which you shared two classes with, one being loyalty and the other generosity. Thus, you got double the experience of being around him and understanding his habits.

As far as you were aware, he was struggling in academics just like you, but that did not mean that you two were exactly alike. In the classroom, though he never meant to by his account, he was often disruptive at random moments --- either by eating his secret snacks too loudly or mumbling too much to himself about whatever was on his mind --- which often led to a reprimand by Professor Scootaloo or Sweetie Belle. 

Outside of school hours, the earth pony was just as erratic and impulsive. Regardless of the conversation, Gallop always found a way to make a joke out of it or compliment those around him with a sarcastic remark. You could not for the life of you keep count of all the times that this pony has been on your nerves with his wise-crack, goofy antics that he always seemed committed to, despite the times he had been bitten on the rear because of them. 

And then there was Luster Dawn. If this group of friends represented different parts of a body, the pink unicorn would be the head. As far as you were aware, she was by far the brightest and most inquisitive out of the bunch. Those traits were evident by the fact that she led most of the discussions at the study sessions, and that everycreature --- including you --- took copies of her well-detailed notes whenever you got the chance.

She was also a model student, as given by her squeaky-clean behavior in your kindness class. She was always attentive, obedient to the professor's instructions, asked questions at the appropriate times, and was willing to help out her classmates during assignments. This charitable behavior extended even outside of the classroom, with her being a tutor on the weekends when needed and even volunteering to work at places such as Sweet Apple Acres and the Sweet Feather Sanctuary for animals outside of town.

Given that she was a protege of the princess, you were not surprised by her initiative of applying herself to her studies.

These five classmates have been your only meaningful interaction with the school's student body since you had arrived. Yet despite all the help you had received from them through these sessions, and the help you would give them occasionally, you ironically could not see them as anything more than acquaintances in this place meant to foster friendship and love. You did not know what it was in general, but you just could not connect with them. It was like trying to fit a plug into a clogged up outlet. The idea of being close to them just was not going to work.

And with the arguing going on around you, you definitely did not feel motivated to test that feeling again.

"An appreciation of different cultures is surely going to be enough to lift up the hearts of these species," Luster stated with annoyance. "We're already on good terms with them, so it wouldn't hurt to get to know them a bit more."

"Do you know diverse Equestria has been since Princess Twilight came to the throne?!?" Gallop asked with a raised voice. "We already got a good idea about how different various species are! We might as well just focus on getting as many creatures as possible to come together for a good cause, while having fun at the same time."

"And we can add in, like, audiovisual testmony-thingies for our project," River Song chimed in. "That way we can comb through the ones we like the most and present them to the professor. It might take a few hours to choose, but I think it's a smart plan."

After the kirin finished, Georgia let out a loud groan that prevented anycreature else from speaking up. 

"This is killing me," she said with a sigh. "Look. We've been bickering for nearly half an hour. We still need to get focused on studying. I'm not saying this should be a permanent decision, but let take a vote on this so we can get it out of the way. At least for now."

Gallop and River Song looked over at each other for a brief moment.

"Well, I'm not giving up on the city fundraiser party plan," he said.

"Me neither," she said.

Luster Dawn sighed, the signs of exhaustion clearly evident on her face. Her hooves rhythmically tapped on the surface of the table until she looked over at Georgia. 

"I'm guessing you're still with me on the culture trip?"

The griffon nodded in agreement, which brought a small smile to the unicorn's face. Georgia looked over at Yelena, who had buried her nose in one of her books. 

"Yelena, what you do think?" she asked. "What idea is the best?"

Caught off guard, the yak raised her head and looked around the table before responding. "Yak is not trying to make friends feel bad for their choices. Yak can't choose."

"Yelena, you keep doing this every time we make a big decision on something," Gallop said. "It's okay if you have your own thoughts about this."

"But if you could, try to give some thought to the city idea," River Song added in with a hopeful smile.

Yelena shook her head. "Yak isn't afraid to be honest, but the project needs to go well for good grade. Yak doesn't know which choice is best, and yak doesn't want to bring trouble by dividing friends. Yak chooses not to say anything."

Gallop grunted in defeat and sought comfort in the form of eating a bag of potato chips. 

"So, [Y/N]," Georgia started to say. "What's your final verdict?"

The call of your name was unexpected, given your lack of involvement within the study group due to daydreaming, and suddenly you found yourself in a similar position as Yelena did. 

"My verdict?" you asked with sincere confusion. 

"You know --- about what our project is gonna be about. Do you think a cultural visit is better, or some party in a city?"

"Oh! Um... Well..."

Like Yelena, you did not want to rock the boat. You've been to a few group meetings before, but today was the first instance in which a big argument broke out between most of the friends. You did not know what would happen if you took the wrong side here. These study sessions were important to you, and if heated discourse lead to the collapse of these sessions, you could count your chances of graduating goodbye.

As everycreature at the table stared at you for an answer to leave your mouth, you tried your best to think of a statement that would nullify any issues.

"They, um... both sound like good ideas," you finished with a nervous chuckle. "But if I'm being honest, I don't think I'm the right judge for this decision. I mean, I don't have any experience with choices like these. Since you guys have been through these exams before, I think it's best that you choose what project is best. Just... you know... keep it civil."

The disappointment in the air was easy to sense, with most of your classmates bestowing upon you looks of frustration and disbelief.

"Dude, we can't have a stalemate," Gallop complained. "Yelena's not gonna vote either, so we need you to be the tiebreaker."

Keeping your quaint smile, you could only manage a shrug.

"It's alright, everyone," Luster declared. "I know a way that we can solve this." The unicorn let out another sigh, as if she was almost unwilling to go through with whatever she announced. "I don't want this to be a permanent decision, but to get this out of the way, I'm going to flip a coin to end the vote."

Gallop grinned, his annoyance over your decision having gone away. "Well, I'm obviously going to go with heads."

Luster nodded. "Alright then, Let me just reach into my saddlebags."

Her horn glowed orange as she levitated up her saddlebags, which were situated between you and her. The flap on the left bag was flipped open, and to everycreatures' surprise a strange material was present inside. 

"What is that?" Luster asked with a puzzled look.

A pink poofy substance, resembling the appearance of cotton candy, was sticking out of the unicorn's bag. You knew nothing about what Luster had placed in her bag before she got the table, but given her reaction you knew that this thing was not something she was expecting to find. 

Suddenly, the substance began to wiggle and stretch itself within the bag, poking against the fabric. Eventually, a foal's face popped out from the bag with a big, wide smile. 

"Hey, guys!"

You and Luster both let out a shout at the appearance of this invasive foal. The unicorn herself was so shocked that she even dropped the bag to the ground. When the bag made contact, the foal inside produced a little "oof!" with a blank expression, but was overall alright. The foal's smile returned back to them and they managed to wiggle their way out of the saddlebag. 

Standing up on all four hooves, the earth pony foal gazed up at you six bewildered students. The foal was bright yellow, with green eyes and a pink poofy tail that matched their mane. On their flank was a cutiemark of some sort of pie slice, and within their mane was a yellow rubber toy, resembling either a duck or a chicken.

"Sorry for the scare," the young pony said. "I just thought that now was a good time to show up."

The atmosphere of panic died down once you and the others were aware of who was addressing you --- though your panic turned into a bit of annoyance rather than calmness. River Song was the first to greet the foal.

"Hey, there, Li'l Cheese," she said with a smile. "What brings you here today?"

A sparkle shone in the foal's eyes. "Well, I just wanted to bring in some treats today!" 

"He, she, or they today?" the kirin asked.

Li'l Cheese tapped a hoof under their chin while they mused the thought about inside their mind. "He."

Satisfied with the answer, River Song could only manage a nod. The little colt bent down to put his hooves back into Luster's opened saddlebag. After some rummaging around, he pulled out a thin box with a clear plastic roof --- the kind of box meant to store desserts such as cupcakes, cookies, and muffins. Inside of the box, you could see several colorful pieces of some sort of sweet.

Everycreature around Ponyville knew who Li'l Cheese was. Besides being the child of two of Equestria's greatest party planners --- with one of those planners being an Element of Harmony --- the colt was known for his unusual antics that occurred on a daily basis. At times, the colt was capable of doing absurd, unexplainable acts without the assistance of unicorn magic, such as being able to predict certain creatures' decisions like when they would sneeze, or suddenly popping into existence at random places like today.

You knew that the colt was not a troublemaker, yet you could not help but feel uncomfortable when near his presence. The first time you met Li'l Cheese was just a few days after you arrived to Ponyville, when you were traveling down the marketplace to get a better feel of the town. Just as you were thinking about buying a snack from a nearby stall, this little filly, as she was identifying as at the moment, sprang out from the hat of a neighboring pony to warn you about a baby duck you were about to collide with. 

Her advice came too late, as you accidentally flicked an unseen duckling with your hoof was you were looking at the filly with a bewildered expression. The baby was more stunned than hurt by your kick, as it got back up without a cry, but the act was not left unseen by the baby's mother. The bigger animal quacked at you with such ferocity before it charged at you to peck you in the face numerous times. It took about a few minutes for you to get the mother off your tracks, though Li'l Cheese was behind the both of you trying to help.

Though you never faced an incident like that again, you did occasionally see the colt perform various performances afterward that unsettled you. You were always courteous to him, given that he was always upbeat and polite to creatures, yet you never sought to extend the amount of time you were obligated to spent with him out of respect. His energy was just too much for you to handle, and having encountered his parents on just one occasion, you could understand where he got it from.

"Is that what I think it is?" Gallop asked with a proud smirk.

Li'l Cheese nodded rapidly. "It sure is!"

Luster levitated the box and placed it on the edge of the table after moving a few books and snacks out of the way. Flipping the top half up, the unicorn revealed that the contents inside were what looked like to you to be macarons. After examining the treats, Luster looked down at the colt. 

"Did you use three-fourth of the formula I gave you? And one-fifth of each of the food condiments?" Luster asked with a raised eyebrow. 

The colt nodded again.

"And you mixed the almond flour with cinnamon powder and lemon extract for around five minutes like my grandma did, right?" Gallop asked. 

The colt nodded once more.

"And the almonds were carmel, right? Not nonpareil?"

The colt nodded a finally time, his grin failing to fall off with against the rapid motion. "I followed it exactly like your grandma would!" 

Gallop's proud smirk grew bigger, as if Li'l Cheese was his own child. "That's what I'm talking about! I can't wait to try another one!"

"Um, what did little pony make?" Yelena asked, though in  a way she was speaking for you, too.

Li'l Cheese beamed at her. "They're macarons! They're for a special occasion, but I'm thinking about getting mom and dad to add them to the menu at the shop."

"Gallop and I were helping him back a few days ago to make sure he got them right," Luster said to her classmates. 

"I can understand him needing Gallop's help," River Song said, "since it's his grandma's recipe, but why did you need to be there?"

A sly smirk appeared on Luster's face as she scooted the box towards the table's center, the sight of which worried you. Though a serious student, Luster had her rare occasions of being mischievous or teaseful, as you were sometimes a witness to her acts. "Why don't the rest of you give a try first? Gallop and I already taste-tested them, and Li'l Cheese did okay with the first patch."

"Be careful!" Li'l Cheese warned. "They have a bit of a kick to them! So just take one bite at first."

River Song levitated one of the macarons to her face, one that was orange with a white middle filling. As the kirin examined the treat, Georgia and Yelena took possession of their own --- the griffon grabbing a pink and blue one while the yak possessed a brown and red one. You, however, declined to take a macaron. The combination of the colt's presence and Luster's cat-like grin served as an omen to you to be an observer instead of a participant.

The first one to take a bite was River Song, followed by Yelena and Georgia. Taking in the colt's advice, all three of them slowly chewed their bites, as seen through their puffed-up cheeks. Once each of them swallowed, they all looked at Li'l Cheese with uncertainity.

River Song was the one to break the silence. "I don't really feel anyth---"

A puff of orange and white smoke erupted from the kirin's unsuspecting mouth. The unseeable reaction scared her, as could to told by her wide, pinpricked eyes and the gagging she produced. Just seconds later, Yelena and Georgia went through the same uncomfortable experience. As they coughed and gagged through tearful eyes, smoke came out of their mouth that matched the colors of their macarons.

The smoke eventually dissipated, but what remained were tiny sparks that floated down to the table. When those sparks touched the surface, they burned brighter and brighter to the point where you realized that they were growing in size, and perhaps even shifting their shapes. When the lights died out, what was shown in front of you made your jaw drop.

In front of River Song were at least five small cups of orange and white ice cream. Yelena had several cinnamon sticks in her presence. And Georgia herself had a wide variety of berries at her disposal, with her talon tips she picking up a raspberry to examine up-close.

"Woah," the griffon said in an awe that you rarely saw her in. Seeing what was in front of them, the three girls decided to sample of the food items that came from their mouths. The initial shock from before eventually went away as they ate. The food they had must have been genuine, as you could smell the mixed aroma of berries, cinnamon, and orange ice cream in the air.

"Yep," Luster proclaimed with her smugness still intact. "All that is due to magic. It's all from a little formula I made with the usage of a multiplicity charm and a shrinkage spell combo."

"It, um --- koff, koff --- certainly was a surpise," River Song coughed out inbetween eating. 

"Yak thinks --- koff --- that pony should have warned about this happening," Yelena stated. "This wasn't so humorous to yak."

Luster giggled, though you noticed some consideration in her eyes. "I guess I could have warned you all, but it was somewhat funny to see your reactions firsthoof. And there was no danger of choking or anything. The same thing happened to Gallop and I, so you all were safe."

"True, but what's the reason for making these things?" Georgia asked, grabbing some cinnamon sticks and ice cream. "Is there some special occasion, or was this just a random magic experiment again?"

"There for the Grateful Festival tomorrow," Li'l Cheese answered. "It took me a while but with Luster and Gallop I was able to get mom and dad to be okay with my Marvelous Macarons idea! Mom said it's best probably just to make them for just the festival, since it involves a lot of magic, but I'm certain that after tomorrow that everycreature will want more of them to buy at Sugarcube Corner."

"If that's the case, I'll be more than happy with you making more," Gallop announced. "Grandma told me to trust the recipe with somecreature that was worthy enough to have it, and I think you make the cut, little dude."

The yellow colt hopped into the air. "Thanks! So how do you guys like them? Are they great?"

"The idea's pretty rad," Georgia admitted. "Making more food out of food sounds like a perfect solution to never going hungry ever again. That's really stellar."

"Pony did a good job with making macarons taste good," Yelena said. "But yak coughed too much from powder. If little pony could get rid of problem, then macarons might sell well."

River Song giggled. "Well, I think they're really nice, Cheezie. Not just the macarons, but even the ice cream. I can't believe you managed to get these inside!"

The smiling feedback seemed to uplift the colt's heart, as given by his constant bouncing through the whole thing. If he beamed anymore, you would have sworn that he would have shone as bright as the sun. But despite your overall feelings on the colt, you could not deny that his presence today lessened the tension going on with the group. So, you guess that you could be bit grateful for his uninvited arrival in a way.

"Well, enjoy those while you can, ladies," Li'l Cheese said. "There won't be any more until tomorrow. Be sure to stop by the Sugarcube Corner stall at the fairgrounds. I'll be there with Pumpkin and Little Mac."

"Crap!" Georgia shouted, snapping her talons. "I forgot about the festival! I gotta see how much bits I have back at the dorms when this is over. I hope I have enough for all those rides that should be up."

"Well, we got around less than an hour to finish studying," Luster proclaimed to the group. "Let's just finish with our readings and then we can share notes at the end."

"But first, we need to do the coin toss," Gallop reminded.

"Right. Of course. I almost forgot. Let me just get that coin I was talking about."

The pink unicorn levitated her saddlebags and drew out a small purple coin pouch with a rope tied at the top. Loosening the rope, the entrance opened up and a single golden bit floated outside of its habitat and above the middle of the table. As the coin stayed suspended in midair, you bit your bottom lip in anticipation for the outcome. The calm you enjoyed for several minutes might soon be nonexistent based on how the others would react.

Eventually, the orange glow on the coin evaporated, and the coin itself went falling down to the table below.