Chapter 6: Fool School
I felt like I had to have done something in a previous life to cause such a conga line of stress. I mean, seriously? School? If I had lungs within the void I would have let out a sigh for at least one small mercy though. I didn't end up in filly Twilight's head. I did not want to think about such a scenario for too long. Anti social, studious, know it all unicorn would have driven me insane with information overload, I just knew it. If she didn't try to self diagnose herself first.
If multiverse theory was sound, pondered the human who fell into a cartoon character's head, then some poor sucker woulda been filly Twilight's mental guardian. Or torture victim. Maybe. I didn't know how the universe actually functioned. They sure as hell didn't teach that in school.
School.
I tried to keep my composure. I had been losing control of it a bit too much for my liking, and besides, what good was I to Pinkie if I couldn't control my emotions? Anyway, I asked Pinkie a question, 'Pinkie, What exactly is your school like?'
Pinkie quirked her head in a bit of confusion, I assumed. "You don't know about school?" Maud glanced over to Pinkie, but didn't say anything.
'I know the concept of school, but specifics elude me. I may be good, but I'm not that good.'
I saw Pinkie's vision nod in understanding, granted what she thought she understood I would never know. Young minds are impossible. "That makes sense." She then turned to Maud who honestly looked bored with life. Was it a mental discipline, some kind of muscle problem? "Mena was asking what school is like."
I almost didn't notice the lightest, neigh imperceptible tilt of the head Maud gave in response to Pinkie. She faced forward again and started to give us a monotone lecture about school. My favorite.... "We live close to the town of Rockville. It is home to a large grouping of family businesses, so lots of foals are busy learning their family's work. To get foals traditional schooling everypony in Rockville get together and come up with days in the week where foals can get proper schooling."
That was... kinda weird. I never heard of that kind of system before, but then again I never lived in a small community before. Or an alternate universe small community made up of cartoon ponies with eclectic technology, culture and... everything. Maud continued, "This is done to help parents focus on work while their foals get proper teaching from a reliable source."
I guess that made sense. Some. A little. Slight. 'I suppose that would work. A bit unorthodox, but I lack information to judge properly.' But... I was curious about one thing.
I don't think Pinkie understood everything I said, but I think she got the gist. "Mena said a big word in there, but she said she got that."
I didn't wait for Maud's response, not like I could interrupt her, my knowledge of the world was obviously lacking and that wouldn't do. To do better, I would require to know more. 'How big is Rockville?'
Pinkie's vision quirked to the side, as if uncertain. "Uh, I... don't know. Maud? How big is Rockville?"
Maud didn't visibly acknowledge the question, but I could tell she was thinking on it. Was Rockville smaller than Ponyville, bigger? I knew Maud wouldn't know what a Ponyville was- come to think of it I didn't even know how big Ponyville was to judge myself. Darn cartoon perspective, always changing and shifting. Didn't help that Ponyville, at times, felt like it was a community of fifty ponies and a dozen clones each.
"I do not know." Maud said, much to my disappointment.
What a lot of knowers not we were.
'Eh, I guess I'll get to see it myself soon enough.' I hated that. 'Uh, tell Maud thank you for me please.'
"Mena says thank you, Maud."
She gave the mildest sign of acknowledgement, it felt nice, like I was actually part of existence.
In retrospect, Maud finding out first, or more preferably being the only one to find out, was a blessing. She didn't ask that many questions, she, hopefully, had decent intelligence and beyond scaring me to hell, had been chill as hell. And would probably kill me should anything happen to Pinkie under my watch, and I was half way sure she'd find a way to leave Pinkie without a scratch in the process.
I would rather spit on Celestia's flank than risk Maud's wrath, thank you very much. Seeing myself as that rock she obliterated in the OG timeline didn't help me any, sure helped Maud's perceived threat level, though.
I was scared of a literal child. Discord find my plight amusing and preserve me.
We walked back to the house in a nice, comfortable silence, even Pinkie was too tired to hold much of a conversation after the school talk, and Maud was her ever kind of paranoia inducing brand of quiet. I didn't mind it at all. Those few moments I had to myself when the sisters were moving rocks weren't all that productive and I fully blamed myself. I was never one for planning, let alone planning under such bizarre circumstances.
I just had no idea what to think. What to plan for. I guess it still hadn't fully sunk in what I was in store for. Ten to fifteen years before the prospect of Twilight marching into Ponyville would even be a thing, and that was assuming I didn't horribly eviscerate the timeline in the time being, if the timeline was predetermined at all and if the things I was familiar with were the ones set in stone.
That was another thing, I was always too busy dreading to actually try and plan for anything. Didn't help that the closest thing to plan for was homework, and good ol' Pavlov would be proud, because my brain always seemed to turn off at the mere idea of studying.
... Please horse god, don't let me accidentally turn Pinkie into Twilight two point oh.
It wasn't even that much of a joke, a few subtle nudges here, a suggestion there and even those who weren't at such a malleable age could be sufficiently altered. Needless to say, I was not happy with my potential for control. I worried about that enough when I was human, so being a voice in another's head did nothing to soothe me.
We quickly made it home and supper was obviously underway if not already hot on the table before we even passed the door. When we gathered around said table I saw that Maud wasn't quite the right pony to gauge how tired work makes you, as Marble and Lime looked absolutely exhausted. Either working with the parents was a much more draining experience, or Maud was simply above and beyond us mere mortals.
Once again, supper was a quiet affair. Pinkie was glad to get her fill of seemingly delicious food, and her sisters were glad to indulge in soup and sandwiches. Mother and Father looked like they were talking about something business related. Or something, I was still in 'school sucks' mode so anything remotely mentally taxing was put squarely on my ignore list. I knew I should probably pay some level of attention, but I was mentally fatigued, and really, how important would Rockfarm statistics or Lime and Marble's performance reviews be to me anyways? Pinkie was destined to be a party pony baker, not a rock farmer. And screw you Murphy, I would rather die than let you take that joy away from my charge.
Bed time rolled around at a surprising pace. Limestone and Marble were too tired to want to converse. Which was fine by me, a dreamless sleep or whatever to rejuvenate me sounded good at the time. I figured it would be nice, and wash away my ever present paranoia. Worrying about when or if Maud would spill the beans to somebody was not a happy carousal to be on.
The boring niceties of bed time prep went as expected, and soon enough Pinkie was lying in bed, soon to await the dawn. And school.
As she laid there she turned her focus inward, towards me, evident by her mental-scape self beginning to move again. "Hey, Pinkie."
"Hi, Mena." We just sorta sat there for a while. I figured Pinkie was just enjoying the comfort of her bed for a bit, which I totally respected. The silence didn't last of course, when she asked me a question I was sort of expecting, "Mena, do you like Maud?"
It was inevitable for that question to come up, especially since Maud confronted me and became, at the very least, not antagonistic. I could understand it, wanting me to get along with her family. "I guess. I mean after she stopped seeing me as something to save you from she was nice."
I think Pinkie was made somewhat happy by that and it hurt my heart. We didn't get to see much of Pinkie back before the Rainboom, but boy howdy it couldn't come fast enough. Pinkie was meant to be full of energy, bubbly and bright. Considering she held me so closely, for some reason, me accepting and being decently happy to be in one of her sisters' confidence should have sent her over the moon.
Another thing that didn't sit well with me, one that I was too various levels of frazzled to realize before was the quality of Pinkie's smiles. Her smiles were always small, and were always sad looking. I'm sure she wasn't actually sad, I sure god hoped not, but her happy just didn't look happy.
Like a muted sun.
Still, I was glad to inject some sort of happiness into her pre-Rainboom life. It was better than nothing. "So, you excited for school tomorrow?"
"No... school is boring most of the time. History is nice, but Mr. Chalk doesn't cover it that often."
Same kid. History was always a treat, at least until the test came around. Sorta like book reports. Great books made boring by the looming doom of writing. "History is fun. But if this Chalk guy doesn't cover history much what does he cover?"
Pinks gave me a forlorn look. "Math."
"You have my sympathies."
It wasn't too much longer until Pinkie eventually started to drift off, aided by the days work and I would quickly follow. I felt in an odd way as I drifted off myself. Like a weight was lifted slightly off my shoulders that Maud knew about my existence and wasn't hostile. I felt like some sort of equilibrium had been attained.
For the first time since I was thrown into Equestria, I felt some semblance of peace, and fell to sleep. And surprisingly, I actually dreamed. I'm not quite sure what about, as like most of my dreams, I couldn't remember much of it, if anything at all. All I remembered from that one was an assortment of colors, white, I think, and yellow with a splash of purple, but the one thing I clearly remembered was that it was a pleasant dream. I was thankful for that.
I was not quite thankful for what I awoke to, however.
God, diddly, damn math.
Yeah, I was the one who slept in. It was very disorienting. Like getting kidnapped in the middle of the night and awakening in an unfamiliar place. Granted, the scratching of pencils and just general atmosphere of a school room was familiar to me, as familiar as a fly buzzing.
What I saw was Pinkie scribbling away at math questions and equations that only served to hurt my brain. I groaned, both because math, but also due to a further obstacle rearing its head, one you'd think I would have thought about during my paranoid ramblings. 'Hey, Pinkie.'
'Mena. You were asleep for so long.' She luckily didn't jump like I did before, managing to continue her math quest with hardly a pause even if her surprise was clear to me.
'Yeah, we really need to synchronize better. But that will have to wait, 'cause I just learned something, I can't read.'
If I wasn't just waking up I probably would have been more freaked out, but it makes sense. The letters were alien, much like the show showed, or so my memory thought at least, and to me, completely illegible. The fact 'English' was the spoken language was a further blessing though. Imagine if I fell into Russian Equestria. In Soviet Equestria pony body fall into YOU!
At least Pinkie took it well. 'You can't read?!' Perfectly calm.
'Hey, I thought my general knowledge would be better than this, but apparently I was mistaken. Mathematics and the concept of physics seemed to take precedence over being able to read.' I wasn't sure if I was just tired or if I was becoming calm enough to be snarky. I wasn't sure if Pinkie was going do to be a bit more snarky or sassy. But, boy was she going to be at the rate I was going.
'Uhm, I guess we'll have to teach you some time.' A given, my liege.
Considering I couldn't read, the more intricate math questions alluded me more than usual, so Pinkie only occasionally consulted with me for when she got stuck on, well the more intricate questions, which took a bit of time considering A, I hate math and B, not being able to read meant I had no forewarning for them, so really it didn't save us much time.
Luckily Pinkie wasn't doing too badly, but since I was the judge that could only mean she was doing terrible.
It was a simple yet mind numbing experience. Question after question of mathematics that would hardly come in handy for really anything. Then again if my school said 'Hey, make sure you're good at math or you'll suffer it twice when helping a small child horse with their schoolwork' then I might have done better. Might.
'If Miss Butter Kite had a yard that was fifteen meters wide by twenty meters long and had a porch that was three meters long by four meters wide, and she wanted to extend her porch by three meters, what would be the new area of her yard?'
Well, if I was Miss Butter I would just measure out the area I'd wish to extend and see if the general space left was to my liking. Honestly, beyond a handful of occupations who would need to learn these?
My brain wasn't wired for such torment. I deeply wished I at least had scratch paper for jotting down the billion and a half equations in intricate detail only to get them wrong.
Guess the American school system got the last laugh on me in that area. I really wouldn't have a calculator on me everyday under such conditions. Too bad they sucked at teaching math so I guess it was even.
It wasn't much longer until an earth pony stallion, somehow being a dull, boring white that seemed to absorb all light around him, called out, "Alright class, time for lunch and recess, please be back here by one thirty." He sounded like a tool.
I was more than happy to get out of the school room, especially as Chalky started scritching and scratching away at the chalkboard again, also known as the worst sound in the world. Seriously, somepony invest in a white board dear god. Luckily, Pinkie, much like the rest of the class, gathered up their saddlebags and high tailed it out of there. The thing that I found the most odd when we got out was that there wasn't a playground and the foals were just walking into town. The honor system must be a freaking Pinkie Promise to these kids. Then again, small town.
I idly noted that most of the foals were of darker or basic colors, much like Pinkie's family. Greys, browns or at least darker shades of any color beyond, what few that were blessed with interesting colors were also darker shades of coat and mane. It was a far cry from most anywhere else in Equestria if the show was to be trusted.
Another thing I noticed was everypony already separated into their predetermined little groups. I wasn't sure how accurate Ponyville's school size was, or if it was actually that size, but Pinkie's class seemed similar at least, a bit over a dozen foals, but less than twenty five. If my terrible math was to be trusted. Oddly enough the Pie sisters flocked together and none of the other foals really tried to bother them at all, too busy finding their own preferred posse.
The Pie sisters quickly congregated without so much as a word and started moving through the town, destination unknown, at least to me. As we moved I was finally able to take in the town. It was pretty basic, wooden or stone buildings that were hardly uniform were everywhere. Though a few buildings stood out, mainly a few that towered over the buildings we were passing by, those towering ones seeming to be nearer the center of town, at least if my estimations were decent enough.
The most eye catching was like a mini skyscraper mixed with something like a gothic cathedral, bell tower and all. What should have been something clashed with the quaint little rock village atmosphere blended in while dominating the scene. May it provide sanctuary from the fires of math.
The silence started to get to me, so I decided to converse with Pinkie, 'So, where are we going now?'
'Lunch.'
Don't you be sassy with me, that's my job. 'This will be the first time I've had a meal that wasn't Ma's. What kind are we gonna get?'
'Just a little diner.'
Ya don't say, and here I was expecting a five stars establishment ran by that there Gordon Ramsey pony.
Either way, rather quickly, the Pie sisters found their way to an unassuming dining place that didn't look half bad and entered it, if anything it reminded me of a diner my family always went to when we visited my grandparents place out and away from my hometown. So, at least it was homely. Home...
Too bad Pinkie was in control of the taste buds, because the hay-burgers and hay-fries she and her sisters ordered looked oddly nice, but c'est la vie. I was sure I would enjoy such foods eventually.
As they ate they actually conversed, which was something I saw them rarely do at meals. If it was something that they just didn't do at home or if I just arrived at an anomalous time. Either way, I listened.
Limestone took a bite out of her own meal and spoke to the table at large, "So, how do you three think you did with the math this time?"
Maud, of course, didn't really react, but did respond, "I believe I did well enough."
Marble sighed and shook her head, before both she and Limestone turned towards Pinkie with odd looks on their faces. Maud wasn't as obvious but I still felt her attention on us as well. Limestone tentatively took a bite of hay fry before addressing Pinkie directly, "And uh, how did you do Pinkamena?"
Pinkie averted her eyes slightly, but quickly looked back to her sister. "Um, I-I think I did better this time. At least it feels like it." She mentally added on to that, directed towards me, 'Thanks Mena.'
Marble and Limestone looked happy for their sister, though it made me wonder why they singled her out. I felt like I was missing something, but eh, happy family, and I was happy to help. It isn't really cheating if you have two fools in one head doing the problems, right?
The sisters chatted away after that, Maud throwing in her own thought here or there, Marble a bit less so, and Pinkie only occasionally as well, with Limestone, while by no means a motor mouth, carried the conversation almost by herself for her less talkative sisters. The topics weren't that interesting. Rocks, Mr. Chalk's school work, rocks, Rockville's not even juicy gossip, rocks. At least it allowed me time to decompress from all that infernal math.
It felt like it was all too soon when the Pie posse started moving back towards the schoolhouse, and I took the opportunity to better absorb the town. I'd only spend a decent chunk of life there, so what the hell.
Yup, still not uniform, but it gave it a quaint feeling. The buildings were simple and looked cozy, heck even the wooden ones looked like they could withstand an earthquake. If they actually could was another mat-
"Augh!"
"Oof!"
What?
Pinkie's vision snapped to the scene. Really wasn't much of a scene. Limestone was sprawled on the ground rubbing her forehead while a silver maned, gray colt was fishing around for the thick rimmed glasses I presumed belonged to him. While Maud and Marble were checking on Limestone, glasses colt's own buddies, a light brown colt and a light grey filly, were helping Glasses with his, well, glasses. It was like Velma searching for her glasses after the door gag.
Limestone glared as Glasses finally pushed his glasses back in front of his eyes. "Hey! Watch where you're going, Frame!"
Gah bah dah, did I seriously guess his name through sheer obviousness? I sincerely hoped his full name pointed towards painting, or framing others for a crime. Else his parents were begging for an eyesight restricted child. Anyway, one of Frame's friends, the filly seemed ready to retort but Frame spoke first, oddly politely at that, "Apologies Limestone. I took that corner too quickly."
Limestone got to her hooves and kept glaring, if a bit less harshly than before. "Yeah, well, look where you're going next time. I don't want your parents getting onto me about breaking your glasses or something."
I was overall amused by the scene before me. Seeing any kind of interaction that wasn't just the Pie family was an interesting sight at the least. Extra interesting by the fact the only pony present at the little road corner who had much of a presence in the show was Maud, Frame and his friends obviously didn't exist, heck Rockville itself wasn't even in the show and Limestone and Marble weren't there too much either.
Oh god, was I living a spin off?
Suddenly feeling like I was living a Truman show ripoff, my attention withdrew from the somewhat strange back and forth before me. It was an odd feeling to tell the truth, to feel like I could have somehow become a fictional creation, or perhaps had always been a fictional creation. The major idea that plagued my thoughts somewhat brought me back to the start in a way: Was the world I was flung into a less sanitized reality that ran parallel to the show, or would my every move be watched and judged by home viewers and a rabid fandom all from a TV or computer screen?
God, if the point of view was from mine the show was shit out of luck for that there TV-Y rating. They could maybe keep it from Pinkie's perspective, but still. If I was still in episode one this was kind of a dreary first episode, and I have no idea how I'd fit into a "Friendship is Magic: Foal Years," type show. "Watch Rarity face her early fashion disasters! Twilight learning to deal with her new baby dragon brother! Dash's early flying failures and successes! Pinkie's traumatic mental health situation!" Not exactly the tagline for a cartoon show, fanfic sure, but then again, the world of entertainment wasn't exactly sane when I left. The odd thing was it was exactly the kind of show I'd watch. Maybe
Was I a bug or a feature? Was everything the unedited events that a show would be based on, or the show itself? The bard said it himself: All the world's a stage, mayhaps I just found myself onto a different one on the same lot. Like Hercules stumbling onto Xena.
Or a comic book crossover. Somehow I found that comparison degrading.
Either way, I was left with a new paranoia: That a poor underpaid writer would be told to throw some stumbling blocks in the way of the mental one of the cast for drama's sake.
Cartoon, comic, or average reality, where I found myself was my reality and while I did concede that I would constantly suffer an unhealthy dose of existential crisis, not helped by ninety nine percent improbable spin off of which a really unhelpful part of my mind wondered who would voice me in such a production.
Over the course of my zoning out that one part of my mind was trying to drag me back to Pay Attention Land. That ever helpful part of the brain that tells you "You want to go for a walk then go," then you never go, "If you want to get good at drawing start drawing," then you never draw, "If you want to play that video game then play it," then you never play it. Oh, that ever lovely part of the mind that says, "Your friends keep telling you to do it, I keep on telling you to do it, YOU keep on telling yourself to do it. Just do it!" Then you giggle at the Shia Labeouf that pops into your brain and waste away in front of Youtube, because Netflix would take too much effort.
As I came back to reality to see the Pie sisters and Frame and friends walking back to the School, but with a noticeable gap between the two groups, a more relevant worry inked through my mind. Well, less worry and more pondering. If I was in a cartoon then at least my potential killing of Pinkie was lessened, which meant Maud's wrath would be further away than before.
To try and distract myself from my imagination, which I lamented I never sold out and created trip worthy stories, I tried to converse with the Pinkie of the Pie. 'So. Those three just normal schoolmates of yours?'
Despite my being silent for quite some time she wasn't caught off guard like she was during my math awakening. 'Yeah. Frame, Folder and Sharp are okay.'
'Do... you know anything about them?'
'No.' Well, it was a silly question wasn't it?
'So-o-o-o I guess you just come to school, do school and leave without much gettin' to know anypony?'
'Yup.'
I didn't have the heart to ask for the names of other foals beyond the three, so I was doomed to a silent walk back to math hell. I was not naive enough to so much as hope the subject would be different. Fate would most definitely find it amusing to have a day of math and only math.
I still wondered why the Pie sisters and Frame's posse had the noticeable gap. Maybe the Pie sisters were singled out and avoided or it was typical school stuff, where everyone kept to themselves and their own out of fear of social awkwardness. Couldn't blame them really. They were just awkward...
How old are these fools? Come to think of it, the show didn't really qualify anybody's age from what I recalled, just anomalous and vague ranges. Cutie Mark Crusaders were, like, middle schoolers, Mane Six were late teen-early twenties and then there was Granny Smith. Not a single age and only a few birthdays were ever made known to even exist.
Hey! Silver lining! I get to know Rainbow Dash's actual birthday! And yes everypony else's, but best pony came first.
No offense to my unwitting vessel.
Silver medal for the silver conga linin- Crap. I didn't know Pinkie's birthday either.
Oh, dear math! Please come and distract my useless line of thoughts.
Wasn't much of a joke either, as the school building was quickly approaching with its promise of calculus as my little silent ponies were marching on. Add in some snapping and they might even appear a bit intimidating. More so than their teacher by any rate.
Sadly the math saving would have to wait as dear Frame spoke up. "Drat. We are too early."
Pinkie's vision shifted to Frame to see what he was talking about, and lo and behold the convenient clock with its little pointy hands pointing most definitely not one thirty. One ten ain't too far off though.
Limestone groaned, more put off by the time difference than I was. "Ugh. While we wait, Frame, anything interesting happen in town?"
The filly of Frame's group -I realized while I knew their names I didn't know who was who- tilted her head. "Oh, yeah. You wouldn't have heard."
If I had muscles my eye would be twitching. I did not like the bush beating that was going around. It was like opening up with, 'can I ask a question,' instead of asking the diddly damn question. Get to the question chopper!
There was general intrigue among the Pie sisters. Maud not showing it at all, Pinkie I could only assume a basic look of interest, Marble looked mildly worried while Lime quirked an eyebrow. "What happened?"
The three foals moved in a bit closer, which weirded me out a bit. It was like they were afraid the walls had ears and would snitch on them. Frame's colt buddy leaned in towards the sisters, and didn't really whisper but definitely spoke lower than normal, "Well, something happened regarding Rockhard."
Limestone scoffed at the mention of the name. "Rockhard? That literal nothing jerk that can't even scam Petri out of her lunch money without his buddies? What did he do? Fall through somepony's window?"
The three young ponies shared a look that implied something of greater depth, and Frame was next to speak. "Nopony seems to know. Except... something bad had to have happened. Me, Folder and Sharp just saw what had to be half the local guard run past us a few days ago. But, nopony is saying what actually happened."
Well, that all sounded ominous. Local delinquent, possible wannabe gang leader type either made a mistake or a power play. What that play was eluded me, and apparently everyone else.
Either way, Frame's words seemed to worry the sisters, so much so Maud decided to speak. "What could he have done to warrant such silence?"
"Are you talking about Rockhard?" Suddenly a new voice spoke to the group, drawing the eyes of the group. It was another filly, and she had to be second to Pinkie when it came to bright coats in Rockville, what with her dark green, unsaturated coat. Being the one out of the know, I did not know who she was, but by the quick glances between the other foals, I guessed that the filly was stepping outside expectations by talking to them.
Limestone was the one to answer the filly. "Uh, yeah. Frame was just telling us about what they saw and heard about it all. They haven't heard much." She tilted her head, "Have you heard something?"
The filly fidgeted slightly before responding. "No, I-I didn't hear anything." Everypony seemed to deflate at that, disappointed by the response. At least for the split second before she continued, "But I did see something..." That certainly caught everypony's attention, with Folder or Sharp, whoever the other filly was, gesturing for her to continue. She nodded and almost hesitantly went on, "W-well, almost everyday I walk by this same house where miss Rockfell lives. Uh, no relation. Every time I walk past, she's always there tending to her garden, but... a few day I was walking past, but she wasn't there and her front door was bucked in."
That didn't sound good, guess the Rockhard hard knock decided to move up to robbery.
Hopefully it was just robbery.
The reactions among the two groups were divided into two camps, some pretty angry by the break in, the rest were shocked and a bit scared. Understandable, really. I wouldn't have been pleased to have a break in gang in my neighborhood, either.
Wait. I live here. For all intents and purposes I did have a break in gang right down the road.
Crap.
The thought that the conversation wasn't really foal friendly went through my mind as Limestone responded. "Ugh, Rockhard broke into her house? I thought he was just an overgrown bully."
There was a series of nods from everypony, except for the newest addition to our little powwow, who only looked worse as she muttered, "I don't think it was just a break in."
Shit. I both did and did not want to hear whatever came next, but I wasn't in control of the ears at the time, so I didn't really get a say.
The filly of fifty fifty naming gulped from whatever feelings such ominous words could induce. "W-what was it then?"
The other filly shook her head, almost violently, as if to keep her mind at bay. "I don't know! I haven't seen Miss Rockfell since and Ma and Pa wouldn't tell me anything. But... but I think they know... whatever happened."
Much like a Grue, nothing was scarier than what you didn't know and laid in the dark. Which also didn't help that I didn't really want to know, but my paranoid imagination was still going to torture me with possibility.
The colt of fifty fifty naming also seemed to be at war with his imagination. "I-it could still just be a break in. Right?"
Even Maud was visibly... something. She felt something regarding the situation and it appeared negative. Reading her face was like reading a language I never heard of before. "If it were a break in there would be more talk about it. Whatever happened, the older ponies must want to keep it from us for some reason." Which basically all but confirmed one of two possibilities I didn't want to entertain.
"All right everypony, school is resuming soon, so file in!" Chalky was too slow on the draw for my taste. Sure we got the info, but with the looks everypony in the little group we formed had, I wasn't sure it was actually good that we did. Even if it did keep us from the info getting cut off.
As we filed back into the classroom I was sure of one thing then: There was no way in hell I was in a cartoon show. One paranoia dead only to be replaced by another: The world was probably a mix of cartoon logic and cold hard reality. Which meant if I was supremely unlucky I wouldn't be the only one liable to be the death of Pinkie Pie. And they might just be nearer than I would have hoped. A Rockville Horror Picture Show stood before me and there wasn't enough Tim Curry for my liking.
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Well, much like every chapter, this took longer than expected. At least the wait gave me time to ponder and add things in that weren't originally planned.
As always, hope it was worth the wait and thank you for your support! Please comment your thoughts, funnys and critiques as all comments give me something enjoyable to read as well as a burst of motivation.
Welp, back to writing for me. Tally Ho!
Oh dear, big trouble in a small town.
Oh, it's MUCH worse than that. All of your memories, the ponies' memories, and indeed all of history are fake and artificial, because reality was only just created Last Thursday.
I can hear Mauds voice saying it
an update!! yeeeeeeaaah boiiiii
i wonder if this is a 'dont be murdered' arc.
Mena please replace with me. I'll gladly help you with math cause I find math FUN!!!
Ooh lordy
Oh, you getting spicy with this story. Can’t wait to see what happens next!
Woo hoo update time
Current yard area: 15×20=300
Porch expansion area: either 3×3=9 or 3×4=12 (depends on whether the "length" or "width" is being expanded by 3, the wording makes that unclear)
Future yard area: cya-pea, i.e. 300-9=291 or 300-12=282
The strategy for word problems like this is taught during Algebra 1, despite showing up during arithmetic like it is here.
Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuugh!!!!!!!
Well why don't Mr. Butter Kite gets his lazy flank out of his sofa and do it himself instead of forcing little innocent foals do all the hard work for him
I doubt existential pondering is a good idea. It's kinda boring and a bit biased at the same time.
9758390
You forgot the part where she was extending the deck and the question wanted to know how much she had left afterwards. You just gave Pinkie the wrong answer, you monster.
Now you're thinking like Pinkie.
great chapter
9758390
Ah but you forget that the porch is already in the yard and thus taking up space before it is be extended
300 m^3 (total yard area) - 12 m^3 (current porch area) - either 3x3 or 3x4 for the expansion area
total 279m^3 to 276m^3
9758788
Ah, but the current yard already had the current porch subtracted from it. If it said the yard was including the porch, then you'd be correct about me missing that operation. Still, I had to think a moment before recognizing that when I originally worked the problem.
9758509
If it said "including", then yes. But it said "and had" instead, suggesting the current yard value already had the current porch value removed from it.
Then again, considering the other vague wording, the test author may have made a mistake there. Bringing it to his attention should give you the credit.
Yayyy!! An update. :)
I like the math part. More math plz.
Twilight 2.0 ftw
And mine
9757773
By the way, "Last Thursdayism" is a philosophical concept where people realized that it is impossible to determine if the past actually happened, or if the universe came into being with preloaded memories and structures. Very applicable for a character in this world who literally did not exist until this story was written.
You can learn more about it on Vsauce's "Did the Past Really Happen?" video.
This is really good so far, and I can't wait read more of it.
I really don’t get the trope in HIEs where they speak English but don’t write it.
Yea to make animating books easier they just use lines.
BUT! When Celestia visits Ponyville they put up a sign with English letters saying welcome Celestia. Twilight even pointed out that they misspelled Celestia.
9759640
Huh, good point. That always slips my mind as it's used so sparely. Maybe it could be like Japan where they have multiple letter systems? Thanks for reminding me and giving me something to think about!
I also seriously hate how i couldn't just use a calculator in high school and college for that matter. We're supposed to uae them but they won't let us
What would happen if mena got a cutie mark? Would the cutie marks switch to indicate who's in control of the body? Or maybe a different hairstyle for mena when she's in control when they are in ponyville?
Discord is probably astonished at somepony saying a little prayer to him. Because of course he knows.
Oh. Fuck.
9759640
Some of the Ponish is written with symbols. Moons and unicorns and such. Some of it is almost English, but written weird or with non-existent characters. It's only Showing English when focused on by the audience. Ponish is massively inconsistent in the show.
This story is awesome
Why is there a dark tag?
9764320
Mainly to give me wiggle room in the future in how I want to handle things. While I do have quite a bit planned out, I'm not quite sure how certain plot points and events will go exactly, so it's there as "Warning, I reserve the right to go to dark places."
Things shouldn't get TOO dark, but dark enough to warrant the tag, and depending on where I want to go later in the story, enough to warrant the tag and then some. I just hope to do it justice, without going overboard.
Would love to see how he explains death and murder to a child.
*clears throat*
Moo
9757773
Typical. I never could the hang of
Thursdays.
please more
eta of update? this is like one of my favourite fics rn and i dont wanna be without it for too long
9953440
Soonish, optimistic estimations are before November ends. Hopefully.
9954172
love to hear it <3
9954172
Heads up its now December and nearly January
10008775
Yup, my ghost of Anxiety past, present and future has had me in a headlock over this, BUT hopefully I have found a way to help me write more often and consistently. And this is why I do not like making promises just yet, can't trust meself to follow through.
Let it be known though, I am whittling it down. Slowly. Hopefully not so slowly soon, but for now slowly.
10008809
SIGH alright.
10008809
I will be waiting, I am really patient after all! Also, although I would like the next chapters to come soon, don't feel the need of rushing it! after all, a slow but good story is better than a bad and rushed one! (sorry if my English is bad, I'm an ESL)
Any news?
10008809
That's the problem with great stories; they take a lot longer to write than bad ones. This is probably my favorite 'Pinkiemena' identity story so far (which is weird because it's not actually 'Pinkiemena'), so thanks for writing it.
Nice story so far, hope you get back to it eventually.
10203947
Thanks to fortuitous timing, I can finally say this!
Tomorrow.
10204494
Awesome.
🤔🤔🤔🤔