The entire class filed out of the classroom, looking forward to the rest of the day. Once the entire class had left, Sigma walked out of the class with his head held up high, while Theta quickly trailed behind him, fearing that if he was alone he would be singled out. As they began walking away from the class to find Delta and Twilight, Sigma felt that somebody was watching them so he stopped walking.
"Hey, your name's Sigma, right?" A voice came from behind him.
Sigma whipped around defensively, stepping in between Theta and the pony that was talking to him. Sigma expected to see either Diamond Tiara or Silver Spoon coming back to try and make themselves look better, but instead he saw a pair of colts staring at him with large smiles on their faces. The colt on the left was a tall, amber colored unicorn with turquoise mane and tail, as well as a cutie mark of a snail. The colt on the left was a small, chubby, opal unicorn with muddy orange hair and buckteeth that matched his bushy eyebrows. His cutie mark was a pair of shears.
"Yes, it is." Sigma muttered reluctantly.
"Cool!" The short unicorn laughed, sticking his hoof out. "The name's Snips!"
"And I'm Snails!" The lanky one said loudly.
"I see." Sigma squinted at Snips's hoof, then back to his face. "You wouldn't happen to have laughed when those two were giving us trouble, were you?"
"Uhhhhhhhh-" Snails began.
"What he means is of course we didn't." Snips said, headbutting Snails in the neck.
"Ow, what did you do that for?" Snails asked.
"And your name was Theta, right?" Snips asked, stepping around Sigma to look at Theta.
"Yeah." Theta grumbled, trying to walk back to his position behind Sigma, but Snails was standing there.
"Leave him alone." Sigma grunted.
"Why?" Snails asked, then Snips gasped and tackled him to the ground. "What are you doing?"
"Don't argue with him." Snips said nervously. "If he wants us to leave his brother alone, then we should do what he says!"
"Oh, right." Snails nodded, twisting his head to address Theta. "Sorry, didn't mean to be any trouble."
"That's okay." Theta said quietly.
Sigma watched as Snips and Snails snapped to their hooves, staring at him, waiting. Sigma raised his brow at them, wondering what they wanted. But they continued staring at him without saying anything else, large grins on their faces.
"Well, it was nice meeting you." Sigma said, turning away from the pair of creepy colts. "Come, Theta, we have much to think about."
"We should probably get going anyways." Snails said, squinting at the sun.
"If you ever need any backup after school, don't hesitate to call on us!" Snips said as he used his stubby legs to gallop after Snails.
Sigma turned back to look at them, but they were already running away at full speed. Sigma shook his head and smiled at Theta, who gave him a weak smile of his own.
"There you two are." Delta said, quickening his pace to get to them as Twilight trailed behind him. He paused when he saw Theta and tilted his head. "Ah, one of the ponies in the class gave you trouble?"
"Yeah." Theta nodded after a second of hesitation. "But Sigma stuck up for me."
"Interesting." Delta noted as he shifted his sight towards Sigma, who smiled smugly at him. "I hope you did nothing too drastic."
"Of course not. Drastic just isn't my style." Sigma shook his head.
"Because setting up dozens of traps in the Everfree Forest isn't drastic." Twilight said sarcastically.
"That was not drastic, they were necessary precautions." Sigma corrected her. "Are Theta and I ready to resume classes tomorrow?"
"Yes." Delta replied quickly. "Cherilee was more than helpful and she also seems to be quite knowledgeable and friendly, so do not give her any-"
"Trouble? Of course, I wouldn't dream of it."
"Good, now we must go to Sweet Apple Acres. I am most certain that you will be welcomed warmly."
Sigma and Theta nodded and began following Delta and Twilight to their new, temporary home. When they arrived, Delta told Sigma and Theta to go to the barn to get used to the place where they would be sleeping while he and Twilight went to go talk to Applejack.
"Certainly looks big enough to hold us." Sigma noted as he walked up to the barn door.
"Looks dark in there too." Theta mumbled. "I don't think I want to go in there."
"Come Theta, it won't be so bad with company. You have nothing to fear."
"That's what they always say."
"Hey!" A high pitched greeting came from behind them.
Theta turned around, saw three fillies trotting towards them. He stifled a scream as he ran into the barn to hide. Sigma closed the door slightly, blocking their path to his brother so he could see what they wanted.
"Hey, are you that Sigma guy from class earlier?" Sweetie Belle asked as she trotted towards him with Scootaloo and Applebloom.
"Yes, why?" Sigma replied abrasively.
"Well, we just wanted to thank you." Sweetie Belle said slowly, wondering what she said wrong.
"Yeah, those two are always giving us trouble because we don't have our marks yet either." Scootaloo laughed. "It's about time somepony put those two in their place."
"You shoulda seen how fast she ran home too!" Applebloom whooped. "I ain't never seen those snobby ponies run so fast in their entire lives."
"Happy to have been of service then." Sigma bowed politely.
"Hope ya don't mind me askin', but what are ya doin' here?" Applebloom asked, taking a step closer to him.
"I am going to be living here with my brothers."
"Wow, you really are running an inn here." Scootaloo giggled at Applebloom.
"Am not, we're just-" Applebloom began then turned to Sigma. "Wait, did ya say brothers, as in more than one?"
"Yes, I did." Sigma sighed. "I have many brothers."
"Do we know any of them?" Sweetie Belle asked.
"One has been living here longer than most, just not on the farm."
"Oh, what's his name?" Applebloom asked. "Maybe we know him."
"He goes by Church." Sigma said, then saw the girls take a step back. "Something the matter?"
"Nah." Scootaloo shook her head and smiled. "Sarge didn't tell us Church had brothers."
"Ah, Sarge. I remember him." Sigma remarked. "Very brave stallion. Willingly puts his life on the line when he is clearly being outmatched."
"Yeah, we've noticed." Applebloom nodded slowly.
Sigma glanced to his right when he saw a pair of bald stallions walk out of the farmhouse. He then turned around without saying anything and began walking towards them. The girls stared at each other, wondering where he was going, when suddenly the door to the barn began to open.
"It's really dusty in there, and it's pretty dark, but all in all I-" Theta began, then yelped when he saw the girls with Sigma nowhere in sight. He quickly slammed the door shut and jumped into pile of hay. "Wheredidhegowheredidhegowheredidhe-"
Theta shut up when he heard the door to the barn open, so he retreated further into the pile of hay, wishing they would go away. His breath caught in his throat when his nose twitched due to a piece of hay falling into his nostril.
"Hey Theta, are ya in here?" Applebloom called out as she walked inside with the girls.
"Of course he is, there isn't a second exit anywhere." Sweetie Belle said.
"I don't know, Sarge always said it's good to have a back up plan." Scootaloo giggled. "It wouldn't surprise me if there was an escape tunnel in here that he dug up while he stayed in here."
Theta blew air out his nose, trying to get the stray strand of straw to get out of his face.
"Didja hear that?" Applebloom asked, looking around.
Theta took a deep breath and sneezed loudly, making the hay around him fly into the air. The girls turned to the source of the sneeze and saw a wide-eyed Theta staring at them. With another yelp, he lowered his head to the ground and piled the remaining hay onto his head, providing the weakest of covers.
"We can see you." Scootaloo chuckled, flicking some of the hay off of his head.
"Go away." Theta whimpered as he backed away on his haunches, eyes closed. His flank skimmed across a wooden support beam, so he yelped and fell to the ground, quivering in fear.
"I think we scared him." Sweetie Belle said, holding back a laugh as to not make Theta feel sad.
"If you want to make fun of me, make it quick!" Theta said trying to cover up the fact he was fearful by talking louder. "When Sigma comes back he's going to-"
"Why would we make fun of ya?" Applebloom asked curiously.
"Why wouldn't you?" Theta retorted. "Look at me! I stand out worse than... well, a lot of things! I mean, my hair is all discolored, my eyes make me look like a mutant and-"
"I think your eyes are pretty cool!" Scootaloo interrupted happily.
"Me too!" Applebloom chirped.
Theta opened his eyes a crack and stared at them, reluctant to open them all the way in case they were just trying to get him to open his eyes so they could make fun of him. He saw that they were smiling at him, so he forced a smile onto his muzzle.
"It's nice to meet ya, Theta!" Applebloom said, extending her hoof to shake his.
Theta yelped and jumped into another pile of hay, thinking she was going to hurt him.
"Guess getting to know him is going to be harder than we thought." Scootaloo said quietly.