"Now, are you absolutely sure he's this way, Pinkie?"
Pinkie jitters up and down rapidly, hammering her hooves against the hard ground as the group trots along it. She is unable to stop herself, for she is currently trapped in the machinations of a powerful spell known as a 'doozy'.
"I-I-I-I-I t-t-think soooo!" the party pony shivers, her teeth clattering against one another as she does. "Sssssuuuggggaaarrrccuuuubbbbe C-c-c-"
Fluttershy places a hoof upon her friend's back in a calming manner.
"There there," she coos. "We heard you earlier, Pinkie. Somethings happening at Sugarcube Corner. Just relax until your doozy is over."
"T-t-t-thank y-y-y-you F-f-f-flutters-s-"
Suddenly, the earth pony stops where she stands. Her shivers have all together ended, leaving her tired but no longer affected. She breathes a sigh of relief. "Phew."
Applejack raises an eyebrow.
"So... what does that mean then?"
"That the doozy is over," Pinkie replies between huffs. "We must have missed it..."
"But he might still be there."
Pinkie shakes her lowered head, not looking at her fellow earth pony.
"M-maybe? I don't know. Never had a Pinkie sense moment like that one before. It... i-it felt..."
The farmer takes a step back from the suddenly scared sounding mare.
"It felt...?" Applejack asks cautiously.
The saddened party pony lifts her head up, but refuses to meet Applejack's eyes.
"... I-It felt... dark, AJ," Pinkie reluctantly admits. "Really, really d-dark... and sad... it has to be Big Mac." In possibly the lowest, most painfully small voice Applejack had ever heard her friend use, she adds "S-something bad must have happened to him. Somepony's feelings must have been really badly h-hurt. It's the only thing I can think of..."
And that, right there, scared Applejack to her very apple core.
She knew Big Mac was hurting ponies.
She knew he was leaving mares heartbroken, politicians suicidal, and friendships tarnished, if not forever destroyed.
But this time... this time it had set off Pinkie's sense.
The pony of laughter and happiness had been blind to the happenings going on around town all day long.
Until now.
"..."
... But that doesn't matter to the farmer in this instant. In this moment in time, her friend's happiness is much more important. Applejack takes a step closer to the depressed pink pony, foreleg extended. "Oh Pinkie..."
Before she can give her a much needed hug though, Fluttershy gently flutters down to the ground and rejoins the group. This surprises both Applejack and Pinkie Pie; neither had noticed that she had left to scout ahead the very moment the doozy's effects had ended.
The pegasus folds her wings and gallops up to the two. "We need to hurry, girls," she says in a surprisingly commanding voice. "Something did happen at Sugarcube Corner. I-I only saw from the sky though... Come on!"
With an equally surprising burst of speed, Fluttershy takes to the air once more and heads towards the Cake's home. Pinkie and Applejack trade worried glances for only a second before they both gallop off after their friend.
It doesn't take long for the three of them to round the corner and behold the scene laid out before them.
Sugarcube Corner is closed; the sign plastered to the door is a clear indicator of this fact. Ponies are gathered here though; a rather large crowd of them, in fact. Many conversations can be heard from the open square, most blending into each other to form an incomprehensible mess. The chatter is loud and impossible to follow, but an overall sense of gloom and foreboding hangs heavily over the gathering.
Something has indeed happened.
"Closed?" Pinkie Pie asks over the noise. "T-that can't be right; it's not even noon yet! W-where are the little fillies and colts supposed to go to relax after school now?" she adds gloomily, eyes lowered to the ground.
"This is awful," Fluttershy comments at a volume she rarely uses. "There's so many ponies here... Whatever could have happened?"
Applejack glares ahead.
"We need to find out; we need to talk to somepony."
With a nod of their heads her two friends quickly agree. The mare then steps forward, foreleg raised, about to tap a random pony's shoulder... when Pinkie suddenly calls out "R-rarity?"
The two other ponies swirl their heads around, spotting their unicorn friend sitting on the ground just a short distance away. Her back is turned to them, her front facing towards the closed confectionery. She is still and unmoving, and ponies are making an effort to stay clear of her.
The three friends ignore this last detail as they approach their fourth.
"Rarity?" asks Fluttershy from the air, her wings beating a slow rhythm. "A-are you okay?"
There is no immediate response. Fluttershy is about to ask again, when Rarity's mouth opens slowly. She takes a deep breath.
"... I left my store to purchase a treat for Sweetie Belle today," the fashionista finally replies after a moment, though she still refused to face her friends. "She's been ever so helpful lately, you see, so I decided that I would surprise her after school today with a gift." She waves a hoof to the side, face still obscured. "I debated making something for her, like a scarf or a dress... but I decided I would appeal to her sweet tooth instead this time, to be different... I'm not very good in that department though, ha, so Sugarcube Corner was the obvious solution to my problem."
Silence.
"... And?" Applejack inquires nervously, her heart beating rapidly in her chest. 'Please don't say it. Please please please...'
"Well... then Big Macintosh appeared..."
Applejack's heart sinks.
"O-oh... a-and then, Rare?"
"..."
Rarity takes in a sharp breath of air.
"... And then, you ask...? Well..."
The unicorn finally turns around to meet her friends' eyes.
Pinkie Pie's face warps into a look of pure horror.
Fluttershy tries to hide a gasp with her hooves.
Applejack takes off her hat and hugs it close to her chest, her watery eyes now the size of saucers.
"Well," Rarity continues, her bloodied red face on full display. "Well then... 'things' happened, I'm afraid..."
The three mares are too shocked to reply.
"..." Rarity tilts her head to the side and looks at her petrified friends with a face full of just as much confusion as blood. "... Whatever is the matter, girls?"
"Y-y-y-you," Pinkie Pie sputters weakly. "Y-you've got a little something... here."
"... Pinkie Pie, you just gestured to the entirety of my face."
The party pony numbly nods her head.
"Y-yeah..."
Rarity raises an eyebrow at this, her hoof slowly rising to her face in response. She gently touches her forehead with the white appendage, unintentionally turning it a bright crimson color at its tip. Her eyes grow large as she brings the dirtied thing before her field of vision, but they just as quickly dial back into a look of calm passiveness.
"Oh... I see..." she replies in a neutral voice, staring at the blood sticking to her coat.
The three other ponies hold their breath as Rarity continues to stare. The fashionista soon notices this though and waves the hoof passingly at them in reply.
"H-heh, oh do not worry about it, ladies," she says, a weak smile now etched to her face.
"... It isn't mine."
She then, in a very ladylike fashion, vomits all over the ground and promptly passes out.
_________________
Meanwhile, atop a mountain, where a dragon once resided, two winged ponies are sitting on their rumps, licking their wounds... quite literally, in fact, in the case of the pegasus. The tip of her blue wing is firmly glued to her mouth as she tries to correct her messy plumage. While she occupies her attention with the right wing, her friend runs her horn, and its magic, over the left as soothingly as she can.
"... Anything broken?" Rainbow Dash asks, not looking up from her preening.
"No... no you appear to be just fine," Twilight replies, releasing the cyan appendage from her magical grip. "There's some bruising, but that's about it. You're flight capable."
"Awesome," the pegasus comments as she releases her other wing from her mouth and allows it to naturally fold back. "... You?"
Twilight stretches out her wings, pulls a stray feather with a burst of rough magic, and folds it back in.
"I'm about the same, though my horn feels like it's about to fall off."
"Oh... I see... that's good to hear."
"Yeah..."
"... Yeah..."
The mountaintop is silent.
"... WellthanksgottagoBYE!"
Rainbow suddenly surges forward, past the still alicorn, and prepares to take off. She stretches her wings and jumps into the air...
POP
... only to then come crashing back down right away. "W-what the...?" she asks, cranking her head backwards in an attempt to see what it is that has hampered her escape.
She stares blankly at the cause of her sudden groundbound-ness.
For those who are not in the know; one typically finds it difficult, if not impossible, to fly upon appendages made out of non-aerodynamic citrous orbs.
Oranges even more so.
Twilight blows the steam off her horn with a quick puff of air. "I warned you I would do it, Dash."
"W-well, un-do it!" the now very fruity pony demands. "This really hurts, Twi..."
"..."
The princess' eye twitches.
"... You know what hurts, Dash?" Twilight asks in a dark tone as she approaches the weather pony. "Flying on tired wings hurts, Dash. Using magic on an empty stomach hurts too."
Rainbow Dash sinks lower and lower into the ground as the alicorn bares down on her.
Twilight's voice begins to rise. "Headbutting somepony at damn near mach one hurts as well! Ha! Who knew?!"
"T-twi..."
She is ignored as Twilight continues.
"Falling on a pile of rocks from about a mile's height also really bucking hurts! Haha! Duly noted!"
It might be her eyes playing tricks on her, but Rainbow Dash swore she saw sparks flying off of Twilight's mane as her anger reached a fevered pitch. She was not able to confirm it though as the alicorn brought her face within an inch of her own, engulfing her entire vision with the sight of two bloodshot, twitchy eyes.
"But you know what really, really hurts, Rainbow?"
"W-what?"
"..."
Twilight's entire form wilts.
"... What hurts is seeing you look so hurt, yet being too tired to know what to do about it."
Taken aback by the sudden tone shift, Rainbow can only stare silently as the princess allows her wings to go slack and for her legs to finally give out. Twilight stares off into space, ignoring Rainbow as well as everything else around her.
"... It hurts," she admits. "to be this supposedly brilliant mare; to have this brain seemingly capable of solving any, if not all, problems thrown its way... yet be too fluffing tired to utilize it." Twilight looks behind her, at her saddle bags laying on the ground.
"... The cure for poison joke is in those bags," she explains. "The bags I brought with me while chasing you... the same ones that kept slowing me down during said chase... that contain the cure Big Mac needs right now... that doesn't need to be here right now, but instead with Applejack... yet I was too stupid to remember that... all I could think of was 'Friend plus Sad equals Bad'.
"Elementary math, Rainbow... that's what I've been reduced to, and I can't even do that right!" Her head now lays on the ground in a heap. "It's a miracle I didn't end up impaling you..."
Rainbow blinks.
"Wha?"
Twilight waves her off.
"N-nothing. Nothing at all."
A moment of silence passes; neither pony willing to say anything to one another.
The silence eventually gets to Rainbow Dash. As awkwardly as possible, she tries to restart the conversation she still didn't want any real part in.
"... Sooo..." she begins. "Poison joke... is that whats up with Big Mac?"
"... Eeyup," Twilight answers simply, not moving from her heap and not trusting herself enough to properly articulate the situation to Dash.
"... I-I... I thought he was a bit... 'off' today," Rainbow continues, adding an awkward laugh to the end of it.
"He made you cry," Twilight bluntly states, not even bothering to turn it into a question.
"... Yeah..." Rainbow weakly admits, the sound of it like a nail to the chalkboard that was the alicorn's heart.
Though it starts off small, a flame ignites in Twilight's being. Slowly it grants her strength, though not much more then to give her the drive to sit up again.
"Talk," she demands. "Some small corner of my sense starved mind is telling me that talking is a good thing. I'm elected to believe it."
Rainbow looks away.
"B-but I don't want to, Twi. I really don't..." A scowl appears on her face. "W-why'd you think I was flying away so fast for, huh?!" she asks frustratingly.
"Because you were being stupid," Twilight says, but then waves a hoof. "Sorry sorry; too tired to filter myself. I think I know how Big Mac feels right now... what were we saying?"
Dash's look of anger weakens for a moment as she blinks.
"... That you thought I was being stupid?"
"Oh, right. Yeah... stupid. Friends talk, Dash," she explains tiredly. "I remember that much at least."
"But I don't want to!"
"Well too fluffing bad, filly!" Twilight retaliates, her tiredness now even more prevalent. "You aren't going anywhere; not unless you'd like to blow my already fragile mind by flying on those darn things! After the things I've seen dealing with Cheerilee's now literally enchanted garden this week? I wouldn't even question it if it happened!"
"But-"
"Talk."
"But I-"
"Talk."
"I don't-"
"Talk."
"Twilight!"
"Talk."
"Stop saying that!"
"Then talk to me."
"FINE!" Rainbow screams into the air, her hooves raised and waving. "Fine... freaking fine."
Twilight sits silently as Rainbow gathers her thoughts. Her eyes dart around, trying to think of a way to avoid this... but she eventually sighs loudly and finally loosens her lips.
"... I heard what he said to Pinkie Pie..."
Rainbow expected a reaction from Twilight, but the pony remains still and unmoving, so Dash continues.
"... I was sleeping on a cloud nearby when he went off on her; telling her she was insane, warning ponies about her... it was horrible...
"When he was done and left, I was given the choice to either chase after him or to talk to Pinkie Pie. I wanted to talk to Pinkie, to see if she was okay, b-but I got so angry at Big Mac. Instead of doing the smart thing, I chased after him and stopped him right outside the park.
"I went after him the moment I landed. 'What the hay did you do that for,' is what I screamed at him. I was about to threaten him into turning around and apologizing when... w-when he started talking to me...
"... I think he was trying to explain the poison joke thing to me when he first saw me, but me talking back to him angered him so much that he started yelling back. He said... well the usual stuff about me, I guess. You know, the stuff most ponies say about me behind my back? That I'm a showoff, or that I'm a lazy loudmouth... that stuff didn't faze me. It felt bad coming from Big Mac, who I thought was my friend, but that wasn't enough to really bother me..."
Twilight roles her hoof in a circle, urging her to continue. "But...?"
Rainbow cringes, looking away.
"... B-but... then he pointed something out to me that I hadn't noticed... about the kids around town... they used to follow me everywhere, right? Hay, I even had that fan club that Scoots set up!"
"Yes I remember," Twilight replies. "It disbanded during the Mare-Do-Well incident; the first and last time I attempted to solve a friendship problem while intoxicated." The princess shakes her head. "I think the only reason the girls went along with me on that one is because they still had some lingering fears about the state of my sanity left over from the Great Smarty Pants War of two-o-eleven... but I digress."
"Y-yeah, well," Rainbow continues. "The group stopped meeting because they were all into Mare-Do-Well. After everypony admitted to it being a hoax and I apologized for the way I was acting though... why didn't that group meet up again? Scoots still loves me, no doubt, but what about everypony else?"
"I'd assume it's because your image was tarnished in their eyes, thus lowering the appeal of the group," Twilight comments, relying on cold hard logic to make up for her mental slack. "It makes sense when you think about it."
"Then what about the flag carrying tryouts?"
"... What about them?"
Rainbow huffs.
"All the fillies and colts went crazy when I flew in there, and for three straight days I received nothing but praise and admiration as I helped them all out on their routines. Twilight; the children in this town love and look up to me... but then what happened to that fan club?"
Twilight's mind draws a blank. She tries not to contemplate whether or not this is due to the answer being not that obvious or another sign of her mind not working.
"... I dunno," she replies bluntly. "Maybe Scootaloo didn't have the time to set it up again or something like that?"
Rainbow shakes her head.
"Twi, no... Scootaloo tried setting it up again, but she didn't know why ponies didn't come. I didn't know either... but Big Mac did... cause he's the reason why."
"... What?"
Rainbow lowers herself to the ground, not feeling up to standing anymore and too crestfallen to find the energy to do so.
"T-that thing he does for Pinkie?" Rainbow says. "That thing where he warns ponies about her? He... h-he used the Mare-Do-Well crud as ammo to do the same with me. Twilight, he secretly ran a smear campaign against me... a-and it worked... the children around town look up to me... but their parents tell them to stay as far away as possible..."
Twilight is too stunned to reply...
"He... he what?!"
... though not for a lack of trying.
"I... I... what?!" Twilight stomps a hoof. "That makes no sense! Why would he do something like that?!"
"H-he felt obligated, because..." Rainbow tries to answer, but the words don't come easily to her. Once they do though, they are no easier to say. "B-because while kids looking up to Pinkie Pie might end up eating one too many cupcakes or do something that annoys their parents... kids looking up to me might get themselves k... k-k-killed..."
Whatever snappy response Twilight was about to say dies on her lips as she watches her strong and brave friend lower her head to the ground and begin to shake.
"I-I-I never r-really thought about it b-but..." the mare's eyes begin to water "T-t-that's sorta how I started out, Twi; I imitated the Wonderbolts that were in service when I was a filly and got awesome b-because of that." She looks away as tears begin to fall. "B-but there's a big difference between being a pegasus filly in Cloudsdale and being a pegasus filly in P-ponyville; we're trained way, way early in flight safety. We know how to correct ourselves during spin-outs and how to tuck and roll during crashes... Scootaloo doesn't know how to do that stuff though; n-none of the kids here do!
"Y-yet they still watch me up there, doing my tricks, seeing me all 'cool' and 'awesome'... w-what the hay have I been telling them? 'Hey kids! If this doesn't crack your skull right the buck open it'll look so flipping cool!' I-is that what I've been telling them, Twi? I-if it is, then I'm a t-terrible pony..."
Rainbow Dash begins sniffing loudly, but this does not lessen the amount of tears leaving her face and splattering on the ground.
Twilight steps forward and places a foreleg around the athlete.
"Rainbow, I didn't know kids meant that much to you..."
Rainbow sniffs. "T-they didn't always, but as I keep getting closer to my dream, I'm starting to realize what kind of e-example I'm setting. I used to think being a Wonderbolt only meant flying fast, but it's also about inspiring ponies to be great themselves, r-right?"
The princess couldn't help but smile.
"That's absolutely right, Dash. You seem to understand that way better than even the Wonderbolts' current roster."
A sigh leaves Dash's lips. "Too little to late though; I've already p-poisoned all the colts and fillies in this town."
"Now that's absolute horseapples and you know it."
"But Twi-"
"What else did Big Mac say to you?"
"... What?"
"The Rainbow Dash I know is tougher to crack then this," Twilight argues. "Where's the Rainbow Dash who took completely and utterly failing a mock test before she wised up? Where's the Rainbow Dash who didn't quit the Wonderbolts until all her friends were put into serious life-threatening peril? Where's the Rainbow Dash who sold her friend into slavery for a book?"
Rainbow frowns.
"Twi, none of those sound like compliments."
"... Note to self; don't attempt enlightening speeches while being dead tired." Twilight looks Rainbow in the eyes. "Nonetheless; what else did Big Mac say to upset you? Tell me so that I can systematically point out the crap for what it is."
"Twilight..."
"Do it, Rainbow. Tell me."
"... H-he feels sorry for Scootaloo. He knows her parents aren't always around, so she's never been properly warned about me..."
"Horseapples," Twilight states. "She loves you like the sister she never had and you in turn do the same. You'd never let her get hurt because of your actions. Next."
"... He thinks my dream is 'the very definition of hypocritical'. I encourage ponies to be loyal to their friends, b-but when the day comes when I do become a Wonderbolt, I'm going to have to leave all you girls, and Ponyville, behind..."
"Horseapples the Second," Twilight says. "We would give you our blessing without a second thought, knowing full well that you will always be there for us in our darkest hours. Next."
"... I come from old money. My cloud mansion costs, like, a mill-"
Twilight slams her hoof down. "Stopping you right the buck there, Dash. Horseapples the Third; Big Mac, neigh, no-freaking-pony has the right to tell you or your family how to spend their money. Nopony. Did he try some version of the 'starving Zebras in Zebrica' line on you?"
"... He said the bits spent on my birthaversary alone could have fed Appleloosa for four winters..."
A loud groan emanates from Twilight's open mouth. She places a hoof over her face. "Celestia above... Dash, I was the one who helped you organize the finances for that thing. Do you remember what it was going to look like before Cheese Sandwich showed up?"
Rainbow pauses.
"... It was small, yet big enough for everypony to have a good time."
"Right," Twilight weakly smiles. "That's right; you wanted something that appealed to everypony in town, not just yourself, and you told me that bits weren't an issue to you. It was only because of your blessing that Cheese and Pinkie were able to expand it like they did. Expand, I might add, in a way that you had no control over.
"Yet you still paid for it all, Rainbow." Twilight adds. "It was big and expensive, yes, but you couldn't bear to reign in Pinkie's enthusiasm. She was sooo happy about that, remember? It was only because of you that she was able to express her love and happiness to the fullest in the medium she treasures so much; partying."
A hoof is firmly planted on Rainbow's slightly runny snout.
"You made that happen, Dash." Twilight goes on. "And only you could have done that; what if it were Rarity's birthaversary when Cheese Sandwich came to town? Would she be able to spend so many bits to see that the two of them were given every tool imaginable? Knowing her she would try, without a doubt, but then she'd be in debt up to her fake eyelashes for the rest of her life!
"What if it were Applejack's, or Fluttershy's, huh? Both of those girls would have had to break Pinkie's poor heart, then nopony would be happy!
"... But you paid for it all, Dash. Every last bit; whether it from whatever sort of allowance your family gives you or the ones you get for your weather duties it doesn't matter. Only somepony as loyal and caring to her friends as you could have done what you did. That's how children see you, Dash. That's how I see you; as somepony worth looking up to."
Rainbow is silent.
With a small hoof pump to herself, the sleep deprived alicorn mutters "Still got it" in a low voice then resumes watching the silent mare.
"... I still should have spent them on something more worthwhile for everypony..."
Twilight frowns.
"Sooo... from what I'm hearing here; you're disappointed in your financial decisions."
"I'm disappointed in all of my decisions, Twilight."
POP
With a burst of magic, an orange gemstone suddenly appears out of the aether. It is just as quickly thrust into Rainbow's hooves with the aid of Twilight's magic.
"Well then congratulations, Rainbow Dash," Twilight says, extinguishing her horn. "You are now the new Spike."
Rainbow is confused.
"... Wha?"
"Spike had this same exact problem at the Equestrian Games," explains the princess. "The very, same, problem... I'm going to tell you the same darn thing I told him; you keep saying you let everypony down, but I keep saying you didn't. You know who's the only pony disappointed in you is, Dash? You. And only you can make it right with you again. What would that take, Dash?"
"... I... I don't know..."
Twilight frowns once again, only to then immediately sigh. With another burst of magic, the gemstone cradled in Rainbow's forelegs disappears in a flash of purple light. A similarly colored object soon takes its place.
"Rainbow, listen." Twilight begins as she steps towards the mountain's edge. With one last burst of magic, Rainbow's orange warts disappear and her blue wings reappear. "I don't know what else I can do for you right now; my mind can't come up with a solution and I'm afraid I can't lend you an ear anymore... I need to get this cure to Big Mac as soon as possible. Every moment I linger here is another pony like you being hurt.
"But, listen," she adds, facing her friend one last time. Twilight points a hoof at the object in Rainbow's grip. "Snuggle or talk to or do whatever it is you need to do with that to start feeling like yourself again and then meet us all in town as soon as you can. I don't know what's going on now, but there's two things I will always know for sure.
"One; we'll need your help in some form or another.
"And two; you'll be there for us when we need you.
"... Goodbye, Rainbow. See you soon."
Twilight Sparkle disappears in a flash of magic...
... only to then reappear three feet directly up. She corrects herself with her wings and instead decides to fly back home. "Easier to summon than to teleport, dummy" she mutters to herself as she slowly vanishes into the distance.
The mountaintop is quiet.
In the silence, Rainbow sets the object in her arms down onto the stone's cold surface. She stares at the fluffy thing.
Scootaloo, in turn, stares back.
"..."
"..."
"... Um... aren't you supposed to be in school right now, squirt?"
Scootaloo shrugs.
"Aren't you supposed to be at work?"
"... Heh... h-heh... y-you got me there, kiddo. Heh..."
The young filly is taken aback by her idol's response. Approaching her carefully, Scootaloo places one of her much smaller hooves over Rainbow's much bigger one.
"Rainbow Dash?" the orange pegasus asks. "What's wrong?"
Rainbow looks away.
"N-nothing's wrong, Scoots. Just... j-just grown-up stuff."
Scootaloo doesn't buy it.
"Do you want to talk about it?"
Dash shakes her head.
"N-nah, Scoots. I... I really don't... I don't want to seem lame..."
"But, Rainbow; I've been lame before," the tiny pony is quick to point out. "And you helped me out both times it happened!"
"But-"
"Please," Scootaloo quickly adds, her purple eyes large and pleading. "C-can't I return the favor for you? Just this once?"
Rainbow Dash makes the horrible mistake of looking into Scootaloo's eyes. She quickly turns away. "B-but..."
"Please?" Scootaloo asks once more with the true feeling only a child could drum up.
"B-but... but I don't... you'll just... I-I'm..."
After a hard fought uphill battle against the forces of willpower and need, need finally comes away victorious.
"... Ah fluff it, " Rainbow curses, finally relenting under the tiny filly's not so tiny heart. "C'mere, sis."
Scootloo happily accepts the embrace.
And there was much sisterly bonding and feels to be had.
Meanwhile, in Cheerilee's classroom...
With a loud spit, the green furred substitute teacher releases her mouth's grip on the piece of chalk and allows it to drop to the blackboard's tray. The pegasus admires her mouthwork briefly before quickly moving over to the most relevant portion of the notes. She had no time to waste; Cheerilee's classroom had fallen behind in the past week due to their teacher's botany caused vacation. Though the mare was still in town, somewhere, the fact of the matter was that her students minds were anywhere but here, where it truly mattered.
"Class," the red-headed mare pipes up from the board. "Who here can present to me the answer to our current problem?"
She is met with silence.
"... Anypony? Anypony at all?" she asks over her shoulder. With a sigh she turns aroud. "For goodness sake, children! You need to pay mor-"
Words die on the pony's lips as her eyes are drawn to the center of the classroom, where everypony else's eyes are also drawn.
An empty desk lies in the middle of the once packed classroom; all that remain of its former occupant were the stray orange feather here and there and a suspiciously star-shaped scorch mark in the chair itself.
"M-m-m-misses substitute?" asks Apple Bloom, her small foreleg raised nervously. "Ah think Scootaloo exploded..."
The teacher is silent.
"... Huh... third time in my career..."
With the shake of her head, she returns to her lecture plan.
"Now, students; we can't allow Miss Loo's life choice to spontaneously combust distract us on our quest to better prepare ourselves for standardized testing! Let us resume; who here has the answer to the problem? Miss Tiara? Mister Weight? M-... Miss Belle; please refrain from crying while in my classroom."
The teacher sighs.
"Honestly now; foals these days..."