36. Everyday Life
I can't say I've ever really done anything like this before. I'm not sure how well it's going to go, either. But this was my idea, and I've already dropped some money on it, so I'm going to finish this. It shouldn't be that difficult.
Basically, Twilight, Spike, and I are standing in the kitchen of the library. The kitchen table is covered with all of the ingredients that we've gathered, separated into two groups. One's for the filling, and the other is for the crust. As neither Twilight, Spike, or I have ever made a pie, this is all new for us.
Since the dough is the hardest part, we start on that first. And it turns out a total disaster. Because Spike is a total klutz, he ends up dropping the flour right on to my back, covering my clothes and skin with the powdery substance.
“You...what the...fucking...goddammit, Spike!” I curse, turning around the moment I feel the flour hit me in an attempt to catch the bag. Thankfully, I'm quick enough to scoop it up into my arms, though the sudden stop sends flour out of the top of the bag and into my face. My eyes sting, so I shut them and blow out to keep any of it from getting in my airways. “Son of a bitch!”
“Sorry! I forgot how heavy it was,” Spike admits apologetically, wiping the flour off of his hands. I stare at him with a twitching right eye.
“It's a bag of flour. Of course it's going to be heavy! Idiot!” I berate him while putting the bag back on the table. I turn over to Twilight. “Give me the bowl. I'll get this thing started...what's so funny?”
Twilight is holding a hoof to her mouth, giggling helplessly. “You're all covered in flour...” she observes, pointing her other hoof at my face. Really...okay no.
I scoop out a handful of flour from the bag and promptly throw it into Twilight's face, causing her to recoil. “What the...ah!” Twilight yelps, and then she begins to cough and squint as the cloud of flour obscures her vision. “Did you really just...”
“And now, so are you. Bet it doesn't feel great, does it?” I tell her with a grin. With bits of flour clinging to her face and mane, Twilight glares at me.
“Quit wasting all the flour!” she admonishes both Spike and I, puffing. I can't help but laugh a little at the white cloud that comes out of her mouth. “How much do we have left?”
“About half a bag left,” Spike observes. Twilight's jaw dropped.
“Where'd all that flour go?” she demands.
“All over me!” I complain, ruffling the back of my shirt to get excess bits of flour out. “Fucking Spike, dropping the flour.”
“Do we still have enough?” Twilight asks worriedly, checking the recipe. “See if there's at least two hooffuls in there.”
“Stop worrying, Twilight! There's plenty!” Spike declares, lifting up a cup filled with flour...which I immediately take from him. “Hey!”
“Like I'm trusting you with the flour,” I retort, taking the cup and pouring it in the bowl. I repeat that motion one more time before turning back to Twilight. “What else goes in here?”
“Um...salt and butter, but the butter is added bit by bit,” Twilight says after a second of peering at the recipe. Oh sheesh, this is nuts. We've barely even started, and this is chaos. “You need a quarter hoofful of the salt.”
“How the fuck do I know what a quarter hoofful is?” I demand, putting the cup down in irritation.
Twilight huffs and grabs the bag of salt herself, along with a measuring cup. “See this cup? This one is equivalent to a quarter hoofful. It even says as much on the handle.”
“I can't read, Twilight,” I remind her, scratching an itch on my arm because of the flour all over it. Twilight forms a small “o” with her mouth, and then giggles sheepishly.
With the two of us working together, we manage to get the dough ready to go into the refrigerator. Yeah, refrigerators run on electricity, supposedly, so I have to ask Twilight about it.
“Oh my refrigerator? It works by forcing the heat from inside to the outside air using an energy transfer enchantment.” Twilight was only too happy to explain it to me. She shows me the purple orb on the side of the refrigerator. “I keep it powered by directly channeling my magic into this crystal.”
“Fucking magic,” I reiterate, to which Twilight nods with a wry expression. I open the refrigerator and place the bowl in which the dough is sitting inside. “How long does this thing have to stay in there?”
“According to the recipe, a few hours,” Twilight answers, causing me to groan.
“Really? What the hell am I going to do for that long without food?” I complain, my stomach growling again. Twilight bops me lightly on the nose with her hoof.
“You do realize we're essentially cooking dessert, right?” Twilight says with a smile. “And you can't have dessert without dinner. We can always whip something up in the meantime.”
“Like what?” Twilight responds by first opening the refrigerator again.
“Well, I have a decent amount of rice in here...some vegetables...eggs...” Twilight lists. While she's talking, I walk up behind her to take a look at her stock myself.
Wow, there's a lot of fruit and vegetables in here. We could always make a fruit salad with what's in here. In fact, that sounds good. I've had practically nothing but vegetables since I got here. “Twilight, what if we throw some of these fruits together and have that?”
“Ooh, that sounds good,” Twilight agrees. She opens up a cupboard above us and withdraws another bowl. “What kinds of fruit do you like?”
“No honeydew, cantaloupe, or bananas. Anything else is fair game,” I answer her, telling her the fruits that I hate the most. The first two I mentioned are just disgusting. Bananas aren't too bad, but they have no place in a fruit salad. “Especially strawberries and pineapple. The more of those you put in, the happier I'll be.”
“Oh? I'm more a fan of grapes and blueberries, myself,” Twilight relates, though she's already pulling out cases of fruit from the fridge. “But those are good too.”
“Ugh, this meal sounds...way too healthy,” Spike complains, getting dangerously close to the bag of sugar. “Why can't we have anything sweeter? Like gems?”
“Spike, if you stick a single claw into that sugar, I'll chop it off,” I warn him. Spike immediately takes the claw he was inching into the bag right out, attempting to look innocent. Suddenly, I turn around to face him. “Hold on, what did you just say?”
“Uh...I was asking why couldn't have something sweeter, like gems,” Spike repeats, confused. I turn to Twilight.
“He eats gems?” I ask incredously. Twilight nods absentmindedly as she starts placing fruit into the large bowl with her magic. “Seriously? The fuck. How does a dragon eat gems?”
“We just do. And they're deeelicious,” Spike responds with a lick of his lips, much to my frustration.
“You just...do. That makes about as much sense as magic does...and shut up, Twilight,” I deadpan, cutting off Twilight before she can protest about my quip on magic. “Oh, and if you have raspberries, toss those in too.”
“I think I have a few left in here,” Twilight replies. Seconds later, she lets out a little “aha!” and pulls out a case that's half full of raspberries.
I start to salivate as I watch her fill the bowl with all of these fruits. Finally, the bowl is nearly full with all of those delicious fruits. “Now, for the dressing. I have cream cheese, feta cheese, whipped cream, shredded cheddar, and a few others. What do you prefer, Seth?” Twilight asks, pulling out the aforementioned toppings.
“Hm, all of those sound good. I doubt you can really mix any of those, unless...” I muse. I have an idea a few seconds later. “Oh! Do you have honey?”
“Yes, but what would you need honey for?” Twilight asks curiously.
“Use the honey as dressing, and then mix the feta and shredded cheddar together, and place all of that on top.”
“Honey as dressing?”
“No, shut up, it's really good. Trust me, I did this once with apples and carrots, and it was amazing,” I press. Twilight looks unsure, but despite that, she does produce a bottle of honey from the pantry.
“Apples and carrots?” Twilight questions wryly.
“Don't you judge me. It was delicious.”
“I'll take your word for it.” With that, Twilight and I put together the dressing for our meal.
At last I have something to put in my stomach. Working with all this food while being hungry is never fun.
Now that the salad is done, Twilight dishes out a serving to all of us, even though Spike grumbles the whole time.
Twilight lifts the fork to her mouth with magic and takes the first bite, while I watch her expectantly. What? I want to know what she thinks of my dressing idea.
“This is...good!” Twilight compliments me after she swallows. “I have to say, I was a bit skeptical.”
“Told you. I suck at cooking, but I know what I like,” I say with a shrug.
Now that all of the talking was out of the way, the three of us dig into our fruit. And goddamn, it is delicious. And nutritious. God knows I haven't had much vitamin C since getting here. I bet when I get sick for the first time, it'll be a bitch.
Anyway, food now, thinking later.
At last, just before the dough is ready to be taken out, we get started on making the filling. Most of the waiting part is over, so all it takes now is heating up the cherries, and mixing the resulting juice with more sugar and cornstarch. As I've never really cooked more than typical college meals, this is a fun experience.
While the filling cools, we spread out the dough in a pan, which is now perfect. The filling goes in next, and then finally the entire confection goes right into the oven, which Spike lights with a burst of flame.
After an hour of small talk and reading, the pie is at last done.
“Oh my god, would you look a this gloriousness,” I gasp, my mouth watering up a storm the moment I open the oven. Inside is a golden brown steaming pie of awesomeness, put together by our haphazard cooking skills.
“Step back,” Twilight orders, and the pie is surrounded by her magical aura. So that's why she doesn't have any oven mitts. She doesn't need any when she has magic.
Using her magic, Twilight sets the pie down on the table, which she then cuts into several pieces. While she's doing that, Spike sets the table for us, setting out cups of water and small plates with forks. Lastly, Twilight sets the whipped cream down on the table.
“All right, this was your idea, Seth, so you get the first piece,” Twilight decides, placing a sizable piece of pie on a plate, and then smothering it with whipped cream. She slides it over to me, where I don't waste any time in stabbing it with my fork and shoveling a piece into my mouth.
“Ooohhh, my sweet baby Jesus, this is like, sex in my mouth,” I emit, relishing the warm cherry flavor exploding in my mouth. Twilight's eyebrow shoots up at my words.
“Is...that another human phrase?” she asks with an odd expression. I nod absentmindedly, still engrossed in eating this magnificent pie that we've spent practically the entire night making. “Your kind certainly has some...er...interesting phrases.”
“Oh please, you haven't even heard the worst yet,” I say with a shrug. Twilight sighs and shakes her head, and then serves herself a piece of pie as well.
“Wow, this turned out very well!” Twilight exclaims, and then she starts imitating me. And by that, I mean shoveling it down because it's too fucking awesome for words. “This was a good idea. Thank you for doing this with me. I had a lot of fun.”
Wait...what? I was essentially just using your facilities to get me something I craved...and she apparently had fun with it. Well, that wasn't my intention at all. There I go, making another pony happy without really trying. Is it really this easy to make ponies happy?
“Whatever. I just wanted some pie,” I reply uncomfortably. Twilight doesn't seem perturbed by my seemingly unemotional response, though. “Oh, and here.”
Twilight sighs in exasperation when I pass over a few more bits to pay for the salad. She knows she's not going to persuade me to keep my money, so she takes the bits reluctantly, placing them on the counter.
“Now this is more like it!” Spike proclaims, interrupting the two of us by loudly chomping into his slice of pie. Only with much less decorum, to the point where he's sending bits of it everywhere.
“Spike!”
“Goddammit, Spike.”
“I'll see you later!” Twilight calls after me as I leave through the front door. There's a content smile on her face as she watches me go.
“Damn right you will. We've only eaten half of that pie,” I reply without turning around. “It had better still be there the next time I visit.”
“Don't worry, I'll keep Spike away from it,” Twilight jokes, tapping her assistant dragon on the top of his head, much to his chagrin.
“Hey!” Spike protests.
“I'm talking about you too. You totally seem like the kind of pony that eats pie when no one's looking,” I tease her. Twilight flushes.
“I do not! You're confusing me with Pinkie!”
“Oh dear, two Pinkies. How would I ever survive?” I return with a laugh. With that, I leave the giggling Twilight behind and walk into the darkening streets of Ponyville.
The other ponies that are still in the street spot me and watch me with some interest. Yes yes, the human is back. Go ahead and look until you get used to it again. Goddamn, sometimes I wish I could look like them so I wouldn't stand out so much. Actually, no. I think I like my current form the way it is.
When I get back to to my current place of residence and walk inside, I don't see Vinyl anywhere. Instead, I can hear loud music blaring from somewhere on the bottom floor. Which means Vinyl is practicing those new mixing techniques, probably. Oh well. All that means is that I don't have to bother talking with her before going upstairs.
The first thing I do upon getting upstairs is throw these clothes aside and step into the shower. I have to wash off all of this flour that Spike poured all over me. Twilight is probably doing the same right about now.
I've worn those regal clothes for several days now. I'll probably start wearing the new outfit I got from Rarity this morning, and then I'll figure out how to do laundry without the machines afterward.
Once that's taken care of, I shut myself in my room and open up my journal. It's about time I wrote down the events of what happened in Canterlot. It was one hell of a trip. I'll get as much of this done as I can, and then I'll head to sleep.
I'm woken up by the sound of something slamming right into my window. It's not an easy awakening either. Adrenaline fucking shoots through my body, causing me to lurch up in bed and look around in alarm.
From outside, I hear a muffled, “Oww....” spoken in that scratchy voice I've come to know so well. Now officially awake, I plant my face into my hands.
“Really?” I say after I open the window. Looking down, I see Rainbow lying on the ground, nursing her head. “How can you fail that bad?”
“Oh shut up. The window looked open from a distance!” Rainbow defends, getting to her feet. “I only noticed about three meters away that it wasn't.”
“Why the hell would I leave the window open? That's like asking for a dumb pegasus to nose her way inside,” I remark. Rainbow glares up at me, probably thinking that I meant her. I kinda did, especially with how she slammed into a closed window. I mean, come on, you have to be pretty dumb to fuck that up.
“I dunno. Maybe you wanted a breeze?” Rainbow attempts to defend herself, but even she realizes that her argument is a bit weak.
“In the middle of winter?” I deadpan.
“It could happen! Now enough about the window. Get down here, we've got work to do,” Rainbow deflects, beckoning to me with a hoof.
Wait what? I duck back inside the window and check the clock, noticing that it's just turned 8'o'clock in the morning. Fuck, there goes my night. I stayed up too late writing in my damn journal. I peek back down at Rainbow. “All right, I'll be down in a bit. Gotta throw on some clothes.” I call.
Okay, so what to wear? I look through the drawers in my room, where Rarity's outfits for me are stored. Hm, I could go with the new clothes I just got...or I could go with one of the sets of clothing I haven't worn yet.
Quickly deciding, I throw on a set of jeans and the Rarity-themed shirt. By that, I mean the long sleeved white and purple one. That'll be enough to keep me warm in the wintry weather.
With that, I soon join Rainbow out front, where she's already stretching herself out in preparation for exercise. I guess I should probably do that too, especially if I'm going to be running for a whole hour. God, this is going to suck.
“You ready for this?” Rainbow asks enthusiastically, stretching out her back like a cat. “I'm not gonna let you stop for this entire hour.”
“I gathered as much. No, I'm not ready. I'd much rather be at home asleep, or doing something else other than running in circles,” I say bluntly, stretching out my legs first. It feels damn good, but no doubt I'm going to be sore as hell by the time this is over.
“It's for your own good. Look at you, you're like a twig!” Rainbow teases me, feeling the width of my leg muscles with her two front hooves.
“Hooves off,” I tell her irritably., shaking her off. “Yeah, fuck this. I never planned on going into a job that required me to use muscles of any kind.”
“Really? What kind of job were you thinking about getting?” Rainbow inquires, looking up from her stretches curiously.
“Something in computers. Basically all it entailed was sitting around at a desk all day and making things work,” I relate without thinking. And there I go talking about my time again. Fucking...dammit Rainbow. Every time I talk to you, I feel like I'm talking to Amaryllis. And then things I'd rather not talk about end up spilling out without me realizing it.
“That's boring. I'm a weather pony, but I'd much rather be a stunt flier, like the Wonderbolts. I want to be part of them one day,” Rainbow reciprocates, practically having little stars in her eyes.
“Well, I doubt that'll be difficult for you. They already know who you are,” I remind her, recalling our time spent eating lunch with them. They were pretty okay, I guess, if a bit annoying. By that, I mean I kept getting that feeling like I didn't really belong, since they've known each other for who knows how long.
“You think so?” Rainbow seems really happy for some reason. I nod, finishing my stretches. “Awesome! I'll do it, and then I'll get you into all of our shows for free.”
“Jumping the gun a bit there,” I warn her, only for her to look confused.
“Jumping the what now?” Right, human phrase.
“Skip it. Basically, don't get ahead of yourself. One step at a time, and all that bullshit the trainers tell you.”
“Right. Anyway, let's get going,” Rainbow commands, and then she lifts up her hoof, where there's what looks like a stopwatch attached. “We'll start running when I start the timer, and stop when it beeps. Got it?”
I nod, and I get ready to run. Rainbow steps in front of me. “I'll set the course. Follow me, and don't stop until I say so,” she continues. “Ready?”
“Not quite,” I say, remembering something. Rainbow looks at me curiously, as I shut my eyes. “I don't have to use magic again until later this evening, so I think I'll do some magical endurance exercises as well.”
“Some what? Will that hinder your running at all?” Rainbow asks, concerned. I shrug.
“No way to know for sure. Stand back a second,” I warn her. She takes a few steps back, just as I unleash my magic. My vision turns green once more, tendrils of purple magic streaming from the corners of my eyes. At first, the darkness explodes from around me, but I quickly get it under control, until I'm in what Shining Armor called my base form. At this point, if it weren't for the faint dark smoke surrounding me, as well as the eyes, it's hard to tell from the outside that I'm even using magic.
“Wow, I forgot how awesome that looks. Actually, I don't think I've seen you use this magic up close since that time in the forest,” Rainbow expresses, peering into my eyes with admiration. “You're in control, right?”
“Yeah. I can feel the crazy lurking in my mind, but if I keep what's important close to me, it isn't really a problem,” I assure her. Suddenly I realized how I phrased that. Great, now she's going to ask.
“What's important? What does that mean?” Just as I thought, Rainbow is curious. I look at her silently. Well, if I'm honest, the whole reason I'm doing this is for you and Apple Bloom. What's important is you. And I won't let this magic use itself to harm you. Ever.
“Like I'm really going to tell you that.” My response gets Rainbow to huff and look at me with exasperation. “Anyway, running time?”
“Right. Running. Okay. Ready? One, two, and go!”
Rainbow hits the button on the stopwatch, and then she takes off running. I start off at a jog as well, only to realize that I'll have to run a bit faster if I want to keep up with her.
So I'm not sprinting, but I'm not jogging either. And god, it already hurts. My poor muscles are burning with this trivial exertion, crying from so long without use. As I run, the darkness of my magic trails behind me slightly.
The best part is that Rainbow is nowhere near trying. I can tell just by looking at her leisured expression. The way she's smiling, this seems like a walk in the park for her. She can probably go much faster than this, if those muscles in her legs are anything to go by.
It seems like we're going to be running a few laps of Ponyville for the course of this hour. Whatever I guess. If I'm doing this, I'm going to do this.
A few minutes into the run, the pain in my legs dies away, and it actually starts to get rather enjoyable. As long as I force myself to keep a steady, deep breathing rhythm, I don't feel much pain at all. This is actually the longest I've ever run in my life, so I didn't really know there was a “zone,” so to speak, where it actually feels good to run.
Of course, if I push myself any farther than this, it starts to hurt again. Maintaining this pace is relatively easy though.
I do start to get tired as the run goes on as well. It's also getting rather hot, despite the fact that there's still snow on the ground. I can feel sweat beading on my brow and in my armpits. It's a disgusting feeling, but also somewhat satisfying to know that I'm getting a good workout from this.
My magical reserves slowly dwindle as well, because I don't let myself block the magic for this entire period. If what Shining Armor said was true, doing this will slowly increase my magical reserves. Though what I need more magic for is beyond me. I took down one of the most lethal predators in the Everfree without really trying. Hell, it took the fucking Princess of the Sun to take me down. I'm probably one of the strongest things in the country, for whatever reason. That fact does wonders for my ego.
Though why I couldn't have discovered this magic in my time is beyond me. Or did magic not even exist then? Fuck, this timeline is confusing as hell. All I know is that Discord fucked shit up, but I don't know when he did. Sometimes I wish I could ask him myself.
Look at me, thinking while running. Doing this every other day might not be so bad after all.
I take it back. I take it the fuck back. Yeah, so I'm exhausted by the end of the run, but I don't feel much pain. That is, until Rainbow signals for me to stop.
“Wow, you did pretty good!” Rainbow praises me after she slows to a stop back where we started: at Vinyl's place. “I didn't expect that from you at all....and what are you doing?”
“Fuck...ow...son of a bitch...oh my god it tastes like blood,” I hack, kneeling down on the ground. All of the pain that I should have been feeling during the run seems to have all hit my at once. My thighs and ankles burn like fire, and I can taste phlegm in the back of my throat. It tastes all irony, like blood. “Owwwwww, it fucking hurts.”
“Oh come on, how does it hurt now? You were fine during the rest of the run,” Rainbow questions incredulously, watching my pitiful form on the ground with some amusement.
“Don't ask me, I don't fucking do this on a regular basis...” I snap, and then continue groaning. Oh god, I don't think anything has ever hurt so much. My leg muscles feel like they're dying. “It's like it all hit me at once when I stopped.”
“Come to think of it, that may have happened to me too early on,” Rainbow muses, causing me to look at her in disbelief. Thanks for warning me, you prick. “Oh well. Get up and walk. You'll feel better.”
“I can't feel my legs, dammit!” I complain. Rainbow laughs at my pain, but she does offer me a hoof to help me get up. Wincing, I take it and climb back to my feet. I wobble a bit, unused to this kind of physical exertion. I'm glad I did it though. The running part was rather enjoyable. Though the stopping part I can do without.
I shut off my magic next. My reserves are a little over halfway empty, but it should all be replenished by the time I have to deal with Rose this evening. So the next thing I should do is probably get a shower.
“All right, I should probably get a shower and clean off all this sweat,” I tell Rainbow. “Don't want to walk into the school smelling like a dog.”
“I thought you didn't care what other ponies think of you?” Rainbow reminds me with a nudge.
“I really don't. But this isn't about them. This is about what I think, and I know I look like shit right now. Besides, my hair is all greasy, and I hate that,” I clarify for her, my voice somewhat irritated. Rainbow nods, finally understanding.
“In that case, I'm gonna scram. I gotta get to work myself. Gotta set up a light dusting of snow before the storm in a few days,” Rainbow tells me. Suddenly a thought strikes me.
“Why do you need to do that?” I ask curiously. Rainbow stops just before taking off to look at me. “Like, why not just make it sunny all the time, and just keep the weather constant, provided you keep the land hydrated? Why make storms?”
“I dunno. You should ask the Board of Weather Control. They're the ones in charge,” Rainbow says with a shrug, before taking to the air. “See ya later!”
“That's not what I...ugh, whatever,” I grunt as she flies off, leaving me alone in the street. Well, now that she's gone, I should get ready to go to the school. Apparently now I'm going to be the equivalent of a student teacher. Oh well. At least I'll get to work with Apple Bloom if she needs it.
As I step inside Vinyl's house to smell the aroma of eggs, I realize I should probably eat as well.
After eating a quick meal with Vinyl and getting my shower, I get dressed in Rarity's more formal wear, leaving the sweat encrusted clothes I'd worn earlier. I'll wear those for workouts and training. I'll probably change into those later, before meeting with Rose and picking up supplies for Fluttershy. Because I'll probably be sweating then too.
Maybe I should learn how to do laundry tonight as well. God knows all of my clothes could use a wash. Also, I should probably tell Rarity that one of the clothing sets she made for me got incinerated. Yeah, I doubt she'll be happy to hear that, but it wasn't exactly my choice either. How was I supposed to know how fucking OP Celestia was?
Right then. After a farewell to Vinyl, I make my way out into the streets. School has probably already started. Which means I should get there soon if I want to make good on my promise to Cheerilee.
My legs still feel like lead as I approach the schoolhouse. I grab onto the mailbox for the school to catch my breath for a bit before continuing on.
As per usual, I don't bother to knock before throwing open the door and stepping inside. Also as per usual, the class is already in session, which I interrupt with my sudden entrance.
All of the little foals look up from their desk at my arrival. Some are more happy to see me than others. By that, I mean Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon look slightly worried, while Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom are waving happily at me.
“Ah! Welcome, Seth. I'd heard you were back in town,” Cheerilee greets me, stepping out from behind her desk and approaching me. “How was your trip?”
“Better than I expected, really. But I didn't come here to talk about that. I'm your student teacher for today, remember?” I remind her. Cheerilee tilts her head to one side curiously. Moments later, she smiles brightly.
“Student teacher? Well, that's not what I would have called it, but I like that idea. And you're staying the whole day?” Cheerilee responds, her cheerfulness practically emanating from her in waves. When I nod, she turns to address her students. “Pardon the interruption, everypony, but I have an announcement to make regarding our human visitor.”
That gets the foals interested, seeing as how some of them lean forward in their seats, looking between me and their teacher with curiosity etched on their little faces.
“Seth here will be standing in with our class today, as my assistant teacher,” Cheerilee announces. The foals all start to chatter amongst themselves at that. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon exchange worry-filled glances, while Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle cheer happily. “If you ever need help, feel free to ask either myself or him.”
After a quick nod to the class, I take the same seat in the back of the class, next to Dinky, who also seems happy to see me.
“Now then, class. Let's get back to learning how to properly use gerunds, shall we?” Cheerilee declares, turning back to the board, where a presentation is running. Oh boy, grammar. I think I'll pay attention in this one. Who knows? I may be able to extrapolate the meanings of some words if I look closely enough.
Like last time, math doesn't occur until after the grammar, science/magic, and history portions of the curriculum. So there's not really much cause for me to do anything except rest. Which is fine, because I really need that rest. I don't sleep though. All of this is interesting. Well, most of it. The science/magic thing? I've learned the science bits a long time ago in like, elementary school. The magic bits I've just learned from Twilight yesterday. Even so, it's good to know that at least some rules of science still apply.
No, it's when math rolls around that I actually have to do something. Cheerilee decides that today would be a good time to pass out a worksheet on advanced multiplication. Like, with three digit numbers and stuff. Needless to say, it's time for me to start earning my keep.
“Remember, if you need help with any of these problems, feel free to ask Seth or myself,” Cheerilee reminds the students as they start to work on the sheet.
Well, she says that, but what ends up happening is that most of the students ask Cheerilee for help and not me. Probably because of how I look. Or maybe because of the fact that I beat up Diamond and Silver a while ago. I'm sure that rumor made the rounds. Who knows. Either way, if I want to earn my lessons, I have to do something.
I look over the room a few times, looking for somepony that needs help, but isn't asking for it. Sure enough, I notice one filly in particular that seems to be staring at the page, pencil clenched in her mouth and her brow wrinkled in concentration. Despite that, she hasn't written a thing on the page.
“You seem to be having trouble,” I observe, kneeling down next to Scootaloo. She puts down the pencil and looks at me, irritated.
“It's none of your business! I can handle this on my own just fine!” she protests vehemently. In other words, she still doesn't like me enough to let me help her. You know, at this point I would say fuck her and leave it be, but I want my lessons.
“Yeah...I would be inclined to believe that, if there was a single number written on your paper,” I point out, much to her chagrin and frustration.
“T...that doesn't matter! I'm figuring it out, you see? I certainly don't need any help from you!” Scootaloo doesn't seem to be backing down at all. And I'm just about at the end of my patience.
“Okay, no. Remember your whole 'let's start over' speech? It's kinda falling a bit flat here, especially since I'm offering to help you. Me. Offering to help. I don't do that often,” I tell her flatly, being brutally honest. It seems to be working. Scootaloo flinches and looks at me with an unreadable expression.
“I suppose...but can you even do this? I've never seen you do anything academic like...ever,” Scootaloo challenges me.
“Let's find out. Tell me what Cheerilee is trying to have you do,” I reply. Scootaloo looks down at the worksheet and points a hoof at the first problem.
“She says we're supposed to use our basic multiplication tables to figure out these larger numbers, but I can't do it for the life of me,” Scootaloo explains. “If you're so smart, can you explain it?”
“Oh my god, is she trying to teach you the standard multiplication method?” I ask incredulously, looking at the problem. I can't read the numbers, but it seems to be laid out the same way. “That method sucks. It's difficult and confusing. I can't even do it if you asked me to.”
“Then how? This is going to be on the test; Cheerilee said so!” Scootaloo laments. I tap her lightly on the muzzle.
“I got this. There's a better method. My professors hated me for using it, but it works so much better and is so much easier to learn than standard multiplication. Give me your pencil,” I order her. Scootaloo hoofs over the pencil to me obediently. “Now read out that number to me. I can't read Equestrian yet.”
“Oh, so you need me to teach you something?” Scootaloo asks smugly. I give her a deadpan stare. “Just kidding. It's three hundred eighty two times fourteen.”
“Right. This shouldn't be that hard then. First thing you do is draw a box, like so,” I begin, drawing a box just below the problem on her worksheet. “The first number is three digits, so draw three columns. The second number is two digits, so split the entire box into two rows.”
Scootaloo looks down at my drawing, which is now a box with the dimensions 3x2. “Okay, what next?”
“Then you draw little diagonals through the whole thing, like this,” I continue, drawing lines diagonally to the left, starting from the upper right corner of each box and bisecting each box on the way down. “Now, to finish setting it up, you write the individual numbers out. That first box on top will have the three, and so on. Go ahead and do that.”
“Okay...let's see...” Scootaloo takes back the pencil and writes down the numbers as I'd directed her. Thankfully, she picks up on how to do it pretty quickly, so I don't have to help with with that much. “Now what?”
“Now take the first box, on the upper left here. What numbers would you say this box corresponds to?”
“Um, the three and the one,” Scootaloo answers, confused.
“That's right. And what's three multiplied by one?”
“Just three, right?”
“Yup. And therefore, write down a two digit version of three in this box here. So, zero three, with one digit on either side of that diagonal there,” I say, pointing at each individual spot. Still perplexed, Scootaloo does what I say. “Next, the next box corresponds to what numbers?”
“Eight and one. Which is just eight....oh, I see!” Scootaloo exclaims, writing down the two digit form of 8 in the box. “Which means this next one will just be two!”
“That's right. Now that the first row is done, move onto the second,” I direct her. I'm letting her do most of the work, so she can do it herself later. “Tell me what goes in that first box.”
“That's...a three and a four. So...twelve. So I write that in the same way? Like...one two?” Scootaloo asks as she picks up the pencil again. When I nod, she writes down the number. “Okay...so the next box will be thirty two, and the last one will be eight. That's all the numbers. So what happens now?”
“Now, the problem is no longer multiplication.” At that, Scootaloo gives me an odd look. “I'm not kidding. You've done all the multiplication necessary for this problem. See the diagonal channels formed by all those diagonal lines I drew?”
“Yeah.”
“Take all the numbers in each of them, add them up, and place the resulting number down at the bottom, outside the box. If the resulting number goes over ten, carry the tens place to the next diagonal, like you've been taught to do.”
Scootaloo still looks confused, but she does what I say, easily adding up the numbers in each of the columns, until she comes out with the result, which is 5,348. “Is...is this the answer?” Scootaloo asks, jabbing the result with a hoof.
“That's right. Easy, isn't it?” I reply with a smug expression. Seems like even I can be a decent teacher, when given a good enough incentive.
“Wow, that was easy!” Scootaloo exclaims. “Thanks! Now I can do the rest of these...I think.”
“Well, call me back if you get stuck. It's what I'm here for,” I say with a shrug. With that, I stand back up to see that other students have seen my success with Scootaloo, and are now raising their little hooves, looking for help. Goddammit, I have to do that more than once, don't I? It's a good thing I'm getting something for this.
Finally, as class nears its end, Cheerilee collects all the worksheets. “I'll have these back to you by tomorrow, everypony and...” suddenly she cuts off when she sees what's on the top sheet. “Scootaloo, what is this?”
“What is what?” Scootaloo asks with trepidation. I cross my arms confidently. I know what's coming, so I can't help but feel a little smug.
“All these boxes and lines. That's not how I taught you to...what!?” Cheerilee sounds even more surprised as she looks through it.
“What is it, miss Cheerilee? We all know Scootaloo never does well on any of these sheets, so what's the deal?” Diamond Tiara speaks up irritably. Scootaloo responds by shooting the little bitch a glare. Huh. I don't know if Diamond meant that as an insult, or if she was just telling the truth. It better be the former, because I'll kick your ass again if its the former.
“Actually....all of these are right!” Cheerilee exclaims. Both Diamond Tiara and Scootaloo look at one another, both with shocked, wide-eyed expressions.
“Really?” Scootaloo asks hopefully, as Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle look at their friend proudly.
“Yes! This is...amazing, Scootaloo! This is some high quality work indeed, even if I don't recognize the method. How did you do this?” Cheerilee praises her student.
“Well...” Scootaloo says but then pauses. She sighs, and then looks at me. “It wasn't all me. I learned this method from Seth. I did the work, but he taught me the method.”
“What method would that be?” Cheerilee looks at me curiously.
“It's called Lattice Multiplication. It's essentially the same thing, but better suited to visual learners. I don't know about you, but that standard multiplication you're teaching them never worked for me,” I explain. Right now, I expect her to denounce it, since that's what all my college professors did. Lattice multiplication? It's obviously an asinine method meant for those with a lower intellect. The bastards.
“In that case, it's good that we'll be seeing more of you. If this method helped Scootaloo so much, I'm eager to see how it will help the rest of my class,” Cheerilee praises me. Hold on a minute, what? She's accepting it? Well...she's a better teacher than my dumb math teacher was. I guess Cheerilee agrees with me. If it works, why worry about how it's done? “Now then. You've all been working so hard today. I'm proud of you all. Class dismissed!”
There's a chorus of cheers from the students as they leap out of their desks and make for the door.
“Hey! You two!” I yell at Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle, just before they leave. When they look back at me, I continue. “Don't wait for me. I'll be sticking around here for a few hours.”
They nod and leave as well, leaving me alone with Cheerilee. Well then, I guess it's time for my lessons.
Maybe after today I won't have ponies reading shit to me all the time.
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They let a dragon around flour? Especially one dumping it everywhere?
Free floating flour + Fire = a LOT more fire. They were standing inside a bomb one hiccup from exploding.
As a project in college, I made a flamethrower using a wick, piping, some flour and a bicycle pump. And thats how I spent a year blacklisted from a number of classes.
Is that an actual method of doing equations?
Awesome chapter can't wait for more!
4825589
Yes it actually is.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lattice_multiplication
I used it when I was first learning how to do multiplication. Until later I started getting marked off for using it.
4825586
Well. There's my trivia for the day. Thank you for that. I'll keep that in mind.
Great chapter, loved it! Even learned something new, amazing O_O
'Aight there, mister "Draped in mares".
That whole food segment can certainly make a person hungry. Ahem- I'd better go get a bite to eat; good chapter, if it was, as you said, a tad slow and boring.
Wow awesome chapter
This one didn't have a lot of detail, just showing the start of a normal day for Seth. However, even if it was designed to just be a normal day, it works really well for character development and character interactions. Starting off was making a pie with Twilight. He won't admit it to himself, but it was clear from the writing that he enjoyed himself quite a bit while making the pie. Throwing flour at Twilight, making a fruit salad and showing Twilight a new dressing method, even actually getting to eat the pie. At the end he justified it as just wanting to eat a pie, but it was still clear to the reader that it had been enjoyable for him. This was doubly so for Twilight and even Spike a bit. So far all of Twilight and Spike's interactions with Seth have either been from a scholarly point of view, calmly discussing things over tea, or trying to not to break down into tears as he berates them. Having them spend an afternoon having fun in the kitchen was good for both of them, especially after Twilight and Seth had just gotten over their argument and returned to a more neutral relationship. While Seth went back to being his grouchy self after eating the pie, the experience has shown Twilight and Spike that under the right conditions, they can have fun with Seth without upsetting him or arguing world views. Also, excellent choice of music for this scene, really fit with the whole screwing around in the kichen vibe.
Rainbow nailing into the side of Vinyl's house just made me crack up. It's just so 'her' to not pay attention to the slightly relevant detail of the window being closed
. When he powered up his magic for Rainbow and explained about how he concentrates on what is important to him, it made me smile. While Rainbow wasn't sure what he was referring too (although after he relayed to her Celetia's explanation of dark magic, she may subconsciously know what he meant) it was clear how strong Seth felt on the issue. He didn't even have to argue with himself or try to justify himself. His immediate thought was that she and Applebloom were important to him, and he would make sure he wouldn't hurt them. It really shows just how much their friendship means to him. Rainbow has shown Seth how much his friendship means to her, but this thought of his, and just how casually he thinks about it, show that she really does mean a lot to him as well. It was also notable how his casual assessment that she was a shoe in for the Wonderbolts meant a lot to the Pegasus. It's probably not clear to Seth just how deeply joining the Wonderbolts actual means to Rainbow. He has seen her reactions as over the top fan hype, while in reality, joining the Wonderbolts is her most important goal in life (after her loyalty to her friends of course). For Seth to say that she is definitely going to make it in, and so casually at that, you could tell this really made her day 
. The run itself was a good bonding exercise and while Seth hates the exhaustion (I think I'm in worse shape then he is so I can tell that must have been painful 
) he didn't mind the experience and I can see him and Rainbow eventually turning these runs into a social experience rather then just a straight training regimen.
Now the school probably had the most obvious development, ie his interaction with Scootaloo. As was seen at the beginning of the arc, Scoots is willing to give him a chance but she has far from forgotten his attitude and behaviour since he arrived. She is actually being rather brave to do this, because she (like her mentor, whether Dash will ever admit it or not
) can actually be rather sensitive, and having to put herself on good terms with what is essentially an angry predator that physically assaulted her school yard tormentors like it was nothing, would be extremely difficult, especially for a kid. His teaching her how to do math (I like the method by the way, Scoots definitely seems like more of a visual learner) was a good bonding exercise for them, and it has definitely won Seth some good will from the foal. She will probably still be a little more hesitant when spending time with him unlike Apple Bloom and Sweetie Bell, but this was an excellent first step, and I suspect it won't be long before the entire Cutie Mark Crusaders are driving him insane on a day to day basis 
.
Great work. I can't wait to see how his tutoring goes, or his first job experience with Flutters followed by training with Rose. I'm excited
Why hasn't he said yet that he eats meat?
4828216
He has. In chapter 12, when he's eating with Twilight.
Well, that method thoroughly confused me. Eh, different minds, I guess.
Edit:
382
x 14
1528
+3820
5348
i used to use Lattice all the time it's very helpful :P
HELL YA LATTIS IS THE BEST
I always broke it down into smaller problems
382 X 14
382 X 2 = 724
764 X 3 = 2292
2292 +382 = 2674
2674 X 2 = 5348
Never even heard of lattice multiplication, though it looked simple enough when I looked it up. I don't know why anyone would care what method you use. By college most math classes let you use a calculator for basic arithmetic, at least that was my experience. Though I also have an engineering degree, so my math courses assumed you either knew how to do basic math or - more likely - how to use a tool to do it.
6138957
I know, right? I was just using my own personal experience as a basis for that method. I was taught it once in 3rd grade, but then from every grade on, I was yelled at and penalized for using that method, and I never understood why. It shouldn't matter what method you use as long as it works and it's consistent.
The sad thing is, I still don't know how to multiply the standard way. I have to use lattice.
Math!
My problem with math teachers is that they always nagged at me to show my work, and never took "I did it in my head" as an answer, despite it being the fastest method. I do most math in my head, including full equations. I do have to agree though, horizontal multiplication and division is the crappiest way to present problems.
You know that one kid in class who's handed in the paper before the teacher is even finished explaining it? I'm that guy.
6342233 you have no idea how much I can relate to that comment
My teacher taught us the lattice method
382
x14_______________________
(2x10)+(2x4)=28
(8x10)+(8x4)=112x10=1120
(3x10)+(3x4)=42x100=4200
28+1120=1148+4200=5348
That makes more sense to me than the lattice thingy which made me more confused than anything else... and I'm a visual learner and flunked math(algorithms and math theory... burrr, stuffs gives you nightmares).
I barely passed math in high school
Huh... I just realized that I only know the Lattice Multiplication method. I didn't even know that it was named that and that there were other multiplication methods!
Now I'm wondering what the 'standard' multiplication system looks like and if it is really that complicated, than Seth lets on.
6590293 same, that's how my teacher taught it to us as (however, that teacher was the maverick instructor of the 5th grade, never really fitting the norms.... how many other math/science teachers have a chinchilla, a ball python, a millipede, a colony of Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches, half-a-dozen Venus Fly traps in a cage filled with flies and maggots, an oppossum, a ferret, and a black widow in their classrooms?), so I'm curious as well....
Heh, this chapter made me smile without the need for smart assayer
6632003
Ah dude, your teach sounds bad-ass.
6590293
The "standard" method (or at least the one I'm familiar with) is basically 6412400 this, only instead of writing each individual problem out separately, you do part of it in your head (also typically a different order). Since there's a lot of multiplying by powers of ten, you can basically figure out one digit at a time.
Start with the lower right digit, multiply it by the top number, right to left:
382
14
= 4*2 + 4 *80 + 4 *300
+ 10*2 + 10*80 + 10*300
382
x 14
8 (This is an extra step I have added for clarity. The addition
+ 320 for each digit is usually performed as you go.)
+ 1200
+ 20
+ 800
+ 3000
1528
+ 3820
5348
Um...I'm just gonna say that 'box' method is about as 'simple' as a 'unblock me' puzzle. You do know that you could just simply do '4*2,4*80*4*300' and all that jazz right? hundred times simpler.
7694196 Depends on the individual. Some methods work better for some people than others.
He thinks standard multiplication is difficult..? How the fuck is he in college?
Personally I'd solve it that way:
382 * 14
382 * 10 + 382 * 2 * 2
3820 + 764 * 2
3820 + 1528
5348
Learning so much in this comment section
7925707
*cries in kumon*
7925707
Not just college xDDD
How the hell is he in computer science xDD you gotta take calculus for that one hahah