//------------------------------// // Chapter Five // Story: Yona Found Butter // by TheVClaw //------------------------------// Meanwhile, Completely Across Campus… Since so much was happening in other regions of the school, no ponies seemed to be in need of any guidance around Trixie Lulamoon’s office. It had only been a couple weeks since she earned her new job and title, but she was appreciating the perks far more than expected. The powder-blue mare was sprawled out in her plus faux-leather chair, her hind-hooves resting on the oak desk like there wasn’t a care in the world. Her cape was carefully hung up on a nearby wall-rack, but she wasn’t coy enough to be without her trademark hat. Not only was it impeccably stylish, but it helped to shade her eyes from that pestering bright fluorescent light in her office… “Mmmmphh~” Trixie happily munched on a thick, fudgy brownie with a gleam in her eyes, and the corners of her mouth nearly drooling in elation. The baked goods were remarkably good, with a rich and velvety texture that made each bite more satisfying than the last. The only complaint she may have had was how thirsty it left her; but then again, she was fortunate enough to have a whole pint of milk on standby. Trixie’s magic grabbed hold of the tip of an absurdly long silly-straw adorned with blue, pink, and white stripes, while the other end was firmly lodged inside the glass bottle. Without even needing to lean forward, the unicorn remained comfortably seated as she sipped from her super-long straw to quench her thirst. “Aaaaahhhhhh~” -Knock! Knock! Knock!- “Come iiiiiinnnnnn!!~” Trixie gave a big wave of her foreleg to greet whomever was on the other side of that door.  When it opened up, both Starlight Glimmer and her new Head-’Mare’ Sunburst rushed in frantically. Both of them had panicked looks on their faces, with Starlight asking, “Trixie! What the hay did you call us here for?!? We just got a report of a bear tearing through the cafeteria building!” “AND one of the international students was accidentally hit with a tranquilizer dart!” Sunburst tried not to sound too freaked-out, but he winced when he noted how obviously aloof the mare was acting. “H-HEY! Trixie, what was so important that you needed us NOW?!” “Ohhhhh… this is the thanks I get for saving the day?~” Trixie spun in her chair just enough to pull her hooves off her desk, but she kept sitting all chill with a toothy grin. Both of the other unicorns could see the brownie bits lodged in her teeth, as well as the partially-cut baking dish that was on the desk between the three. A large square had been taken out right from the middle, foregoing any of the edges and just taking the interior like a psychopath. Trixie leaned forward with her horn lit, and began to cut up several more portioned squares with a plastic butter knife. Starlight and Sunburst were still looking rightfully confused, and just widened their eyes and motioned for her to continue. “I know that neither of you feel like I take this job seriously sometimes, but I do take matters in my own hooves when the situation calls for it! For example, I just discovered and confiscated four tins of pot-brownies that could’ve gone out to the public.” Both of the Head-Mares reeled back in shock. “WHAT!?!”  They turned to see the mini-fridge beside her desk, which had its door wide-open to reveal three more glass baking pans packed inside. Nothing else seemed to be removed, but it was obvious that someone made room to store all of them for cooling. Trixie also used that moment to float out a plastic bag, which was transparent enough to show the empty containers left behind in the kitchen. She tossed it over to the two to inspect, who noticed the cannabis labels almost instantly.  While the two stood with their muzzles agape, Trixie just rested back in her seat with her half-eaten brownie in her hoof. “And like a good, responsible adult, I’m making sure none of this reaches the student body~” “E-EXCUSE ME!?!” Sunburst looked utterly appalled at the Guidance Counselor’s behavior. “Trixie, are you serious right now?! Who the heck made… p-p-pot brownies on campus grounds?!” “Oh my gosh, this is bad…” Starlight was looking mortified as she read the disclaimers on the back of the vanilla bottle in her aura. “What the… where did you find these?” “They were scattered across the lawn nearby the woods off campus...” Trixie gave that answer remarkably well, and finished up the brownie with a confident smile. After washing that down with another sip of milk, she made sure to add insistently, “And I already checked the Home Economics room. All of the baking tins were still accounted for, so I think these were made elsewhere…” Starlight hummed to herself in suspicion, and leaned in to inspect the baking dish. It clearly wasn’t the metal ones used in classes, and most-likely weren’t for the bake-sale; however, since the brownies were already cut, there was no easy way to determine whether or not they were just lifted out of a metal tin and fitted inside of this one. She took that moment to walk over to the mini-fridge, and pulled out one of those glass containers to inspect the contents; but alas, all three tins were already pre-cut with the pieces spread about, thus ruining any potential investigation. “Okayyyy… Trixie?” She peered back at her with her eyes more narrowed. “Where exactly did you find these brownies?” “They were in an unmarked box outside the gymnasium.” Trixie pointed to a discarded box beside her wastebasket, which Starlight could’ve sworn was there the other day. Trixie then said, “If I were to guess, I would assume someone tried to take the rest of the real brownies meant for the bake sale, and replace them with these as part of some ‘prank.’ But since I acquired them in time, there won’t be any issues! Well, aside from the lack of extra brownies, I suppose…” “Oh, nooooo…” Sunburst took off his glasses with his magic so he could cover his face with a hoof. Starlight closed her eyes for a second with a frustrated grunt, but huffed before staring at Trixie more intensely.  “Soooooo… you’re telling me that someone just baked a bunch of brownies with THC-laced ingredients, destroyed the brownies our students made, and were planning to sneak these in to drug a bunch of innocent ponies in a charity bake sale?!” Trixie just shrugged her shoulders and nodded. “Well… compared to the things I did, I would consider this form of villainy pretty tame.” Starlight groaned and face-hoofed. Despite how flimsy that retort may have been, she knew that both of them were guilty of doing worse than that assumed plan. Sunburst shook his head and tried to regain control by speaking up. “W-Wait a minute! Shouldn’t we, like… report this to the police or something? This feels like… a-attempted terrorism or something!” “Psh! Oh, don’t be so high-strung about this!” Trixie stunned both unicorns with that dismissive comment as she waved her hoof. “What’s important is that they’re not at the charity sale. It’s too late to cancel that event, and calling the police now would only hamper the efforts of everypony working on it. Besides, if word were to get out of this incident, all we’d be doing is ruining the sale ourselves, and giving whomever made these brownies a second-hoof win.” Starlight wanted to say something, but paused to look over at Sunburst in silence. The stallion seemed quite a bit perturbed by Trixie’s hypothetical, and ended up biting his bottom lip while lost in thought. After a few seconds, he breathed out through his nostrils and shot Starlight a guilty shrug. “Ummm… Honestly, I… I can sorta see her point here?” Starlight sighed and hung her head, basically showing her agreement without actually saying it. Fortunately, Trixie was too busy sipping her milk to gloat or act too smug in the moment. The Head-Mare eventually threw her head back up with a huff. “Ugh! So what, we’re just going to ignore this happened?!” “Well, would you rather bring the authorities here to investigate a drug-lead, which would most-definitely be reported to the EEA and Chancellor Neighsay himself?” Just the mention of that name was enough to leave Starlight and Sunburst frozen for a moment. Trixie took that moment to wipe some milk off her upper-lip. “Plus, you just mentioned a bear-attack and… a blow-dart? Let’s be completely honest here: Do either of you REALLY think that reporting some brownies will do more good than harm?” Neither of them had a word to say in response. Instead, the two pensively glanced between Trixie in her chair, and those other brownies all waiting in the fridge. They understood how seriously those individual pieces could stack up to a massive felony charge, so the weight of Trixie’s words definitely pressed down on their paranoia. Starlight bit her cheek and looked down at her hooves, while Sunburst scratched the back of his neck with an awkward wince. The two turned to each other with unified looks of contemplation, but it was the mare who was the first to sigh and close her eyes.  “Ugh… N… No…” She reluctantly shook her head in response to her friend’s question. “I… I can’t see that ending well for any of us…” “Or any of the students…” Sunburst feebly nodded as well, but he turned back to Trixie to ask, “S-So what, are we supposed to just eat all of these?!” “Well, not all at once!” Trixie scoffed at such an assumption, and finally got up from her seat. “Oh, that reminds me! Starlight, I might need to borrow your vacuum-seal thingy to bag up the rest of these! I was just about to clock out and enjoy my three-day weekend, so I think I got myself covered~” The mare walked off with her dish, and began to float out the rest of the uneaten pieces to place inside individual sandwich bags. She took a moment to point back at the fridge and happily proclaim, “Go ahead, take your pick!” Despite the mare’s enthusiasm, Starlight decided to smartly close the fridge door with her magic. She and Sunburst thought about it for another moment, but eventually turned to discuss things themselves. “Okay, so… You check on the damage in the cafeteria, and I’ll rearrange the bake sale tables in the gym. Got it?” “Alright, that can work… So, uhhhh… are we also, ummm…” He motioned back to the fridge with a heavy blush. Starlight’s face softened enough for her to raise her brows in intrigue. “Have… Have you ever…” “N-No! Ummm… No, I… I never had…” “Hmmm… How about this…” Starlight made her way to the doorway, but shouted out to Trixie, “Alright, I’ll come back here with vacuum sealer after I get back from the gym! And then we can meet up with you this evening at your cart. Will that work?” “Alright, but be quick! I have no idea how long I have before these brownies take effect…” As the Counselor continued to work as diligently as she could in her state, the other two exited her office to return to their other duties. Starlight made sure to give her friend a comforting nudge before they parted ways, and whispered to him, “I promise you, I won’t speak a word of this to your Mom.” She then ran off, bolting down the hall so she could get the bake sale finished as best as she could. Sunburst began to walk at a brisk pace towards the cafeteria, but he couldn’t help smiling to himself a little in relief. “Hmph… Wow, she actually knows me pretty well…” At the end of the day, those brownies ended up causing quite a lot of havoc at the School of Friendship. Not only did half of the Young Six end up higher than kites, but they also accidentally caused several thousand bits worth of damages to their school. However, given the circumstances they were able to just barely avoid, the group found themselves unbelievably lucky to have escaped the blame so far. They had no idea what to do with Trixie, who was basically the school’s wild-card and now in possession of several grams of pure-grade THC. But alas, by the time Yona was able to safely exit the infirmary, the bake sale was already underway with everything running smoothly; and with a heavy veil of confusion and paranoid hitting all six of the now-aware students, they were very quick to make themselves scarce after their pre-organization duties were finished.  None of the students were ever questioned. Sure, there were definitely a couple weeks when all six of them were utterly terrified, but there was never any knocks at their doors by police, or surprise tests to force them to pee in a cup. If anything, the only sign they got of anything being amiss was their Head-Mare and Vice Head-’Mare’ needing to take a couple days off for “medical leave” following that weekend. The group were able to eventually relax a little, and accept their brush with edibles as a precautionary warning. From that moment on, Sandbar no longer kept his “medicinal” recreational goods inside of an old hiking bag stuffed in his dorm room closet… … Instead, he and the others decided to keep them in a private chest in their Tree of Friendship. The End