//------------------------------// // Chapter XXVIII- Back in School // Story: Schoolhouse Shenanigans! // by Dragonborne Fox //------------------------------// "Welcome back!" Mr. Rhodes said heartily as he picked up the quarter-demon, "Did you get all better?" "Yes, I did. And I have even more siblings now!" Alexis replied with a cat's grin. "Are they being admitted to the classroom now?" Asked Miss Cherilee, confused. "Yeah. They should be here any moment now." Mr. Rhodes put the girl down as she rushed to her seat as if in a hurry. On her desk in a pile was all the assignments she missed due to her injuries. They consisted mainly of English assignments, some math problems here and there...and was that a chemistry project among the math sheets? She sorted out the papers into proper piles by subject and level of difficulty, and it was a good thing Katie helped her do just that. The fox had so many drawings of her current incarnation's child-and-teenage-hood she needed over 30 filing cabinets. Yes, that many. She sorted them out by skill level and what they were at least supposed to be--stick persons, mythical beasts humans previously thought to be nonexistent, animals like housecats, houses, scenery, comics and her attempts at manga with what she had on hand at the time...Jesus Flipping Christ, the woman was loaded with drawings galore! And then there were projects when she was in school, which included sketch books. Things like wire sculptures covered in paper-mâché and then painted over went into their own cases instead of the filing cabinets. There was a cabinet the kids weren't allowed to access until they were eighteen, and she made sure to back it up with a platoon of locks. Anyhow, the chemistry project struck her as odd because one had to have a pony partner--preferably a unicorn--in order to best succeed. The catch was one had to have the pony equivalent or closest thereof of Natalie's magic power if a unicorn partner was chosen. Grrrreeeeeaaaaat. Not even Vibrant Color qualified unless she could somehow make her paintings literally come to life and do the work for her. But she was the closest thereof, so why not? But there were other things to be done and bigger fish to fry now, so she set that aside, took out her favorite pen, and set to work on the math problems first. They were the hardest for her. Right when she finished her first problem did the new siblings enter the classroom and all nine stood before everyone so as to introduce themselves. The filly with the curly orange mane, gold pelt, and blue eyes was Shimmering Copper. Another filly with the same coat and cobalt mane with green eyes was Golden Cobalt. The colt next to Golden had a silvery pelt and blue mane and eyes. His name was Silver Adamantite. Another colt that had green-blue eyes, orange and blue stripped mane, and silver pelt with gold splotches here and there. His name was Mineral Ore. A filly with an orange mane that was wavy beyond belief and silver pelt with sea-green eyes was named Iron Zircon. The next colt had gold pelt, blue mane, and eyes of evergreen. His name was Cobalt Emerald. The colt after him had gold pelt and brownish...blue hair (orange + blue = brown, people!) and sapphire eyes. He was named Earthen Iron. The last two fillies looked like color swaps of each other--one had a blue mane with a single orange streak and silver pelt and the other had an orange mane with blue streak with silver pelt. Their eyes were sky blue with green rims. Their names were Sapphire and Bronze, respectively. They all had yet to obtain their cutie marks, so their magic was a little on the weak side. Granted, it was still usable, but then, they couldn't muster up a levitation spell to save their souls. Class resumed as soon as the foals were assigned to their seats. Alexis resumed working on her missed assignments, though the chemistry project kept on bugging her... ~~~~~~~ "What in the...?" Natalie asked as she reread the chemistry project paper for the fifteenth time. "Why can I not make sense of this?" Blake plucked the paper from the wizard's hands before reading it himself. "I get it." "Hmm?" Natalie asked, confused. "She needs to make one of those volcanoes with a unicorn helper. But the power that unicorn has must rival your own in some way." Blake said before adding, "Think of fireworks powered by unicorns and gunpowder." "Oh. Do you use paper-mâché to form the volcano?" Asked the wizard. "No, because this volcano is a keeper item. But it does state you can make one out of paper for testing purposes to make sure the design can take the pressure and whatnot." Blake answered again. "I mean, you have to make sure there are no faults which could jeopardize the whole thing. Why else would Lance have failed Valkyrie prototypes?" "Now that you mention it...." Natalie said aloud as she became lost in thought. "What's it gonna be like?" Alexis asked excitedly. "Well, to be blunt," Blake started with a half-smile, "You have to have a lot of building materials and a unicorn helper, for one. Two, you're gonna be working your little tail off to make a perfect model. Three, you're going to rebuild that model not in paper but in stone. I'd prefer if you used obsidian, but that's expensive. I forbid bedrock. Heck, use cobblestone if need be!" Alexis giggled. She wondered if Daddy was having another nutty moment. Being a crazy had its benefits. The foals immediately dog-piled the wizard again, knocking her out of her stupor and back into reality. "H-Hey! C-Could you guys lay off so I can make dinner?!" She cried with a laugh. "I'm already making dinner! Just keep the foals busy for a while longer!" Anna called from the kitchen.