This strange world

by SwarmLordAbdonis

Subjects of friendship

It didn't take long for Jack Jason and Ash to find themselves being led away from the library by the farmer pony known as Applejack. It only took a few minutes of chatting and probing to realise that the mare was one of the professors that taught here at the school of friendship. Upon learning that important piece of information Jack made sure to pass Ash a glance that warned him to be on his best behaviour. After getting to know each other the conversation turned towards the reason they were now following the country pony. A sort of proposition according to herself.

"So Miss Applejack." Jack started off formally. "I don't suppose you could give us any more details on what you have planned for us, do you?"

The farm pony chuckled. "Ain't no need for the Miss there sugarcube. Just Applejack is fine and dandy."
Jack nodded warmly while the other two said and did nothing.

"To what ah hear, all five of you are gonna be sharing a few stories about friendship to some of our classes."

"We're doing what?" Jason asked out loud, quickly silenced by Jack nudging him.

"What he means is that we weren't informed about receiving such a generous offer." The yak smoothed over.

"No? Huh. Ah guess your friends had to skedaddle off to the changeling kingdom quicker than a pig jumping into mud if they didn't have time to share that news. I was hoping to talk to all of you at once, but no hassle. I'm sure I can get a minute of their time when they return."

Jack agreed. "I'm sure that'll be no problem for them at all."

"Anyway, I suppose it's best to get right on into it then. Considering what I just said, how are all of y'all at speaking in front of crowds?"

Each answer was different.

"Not too bad."

"Could be better..."

"I've never done it before."

Applejack hummed at the answers from each creature. "Fair enough. Well ain't nothing a little practise won't fix."

Ash was about to press further until he noticed Applejack take a sharp right into one of the many doors that covered the walls of the hallway they were heading down. They all followed. As the three creatures stepped inside, with Jack barely squeezing his way through the narrow door, they realised that they were now standing inside of a classroom. One filled with fifteen students that sat patiently at their desks. Jack and Jason seemed a bit taken back by this as surprisingly Ash was the one who managed to put two and two together before anyone else.

"Oh, I see." He exclaimed with a nod of his head as he rested his hands on his hips. "So this is basically like an interview to make sure that we're suitable to this line of work."

"In a way, yeah." Applejack nodded.

"Okay, cool. No problem." The dragon smiled before looking back to the others and mouthing the words 'we're fucked' to them.

Jack and Jason ignored the overgrown lizard and looked over the class of students. The majority of them were ponies along with one of their own kind each, a changeling, a griffon and something similar looking to a griffon but neither were sure what species it was. Applejack broke the silence.

"Right. Now that you're here I'll go over what this here is all about. What I'd like is fer each of ye to go over a different subject of friendship in front of the class here. It'll only take y'all five minutes each to say yer piece before switching to the next speaker."

"Subject of friendship?" Jason questioned.

"That's right, subject of friendship. Ya know, Honesty, generosity, kindness and what not. T'aint no trouble, is it?"

"Not at all." Jack responded before anyone else could, despite the tightness in his chest. "Though I don't suppose we could have a couple minutes to talk it over do you?"

"Course not. I wasn't expecting y'all to know exactly what to talk about right away so take ten minutes to think about it. Especially since this is the first you're hearing of this opportunity Twi's offering y'all. I'll hold the fort in the meantime."

Jack gave a thankful nod and ushered the others outside, failing to spot the distrustful look from the student yak at the very back of the classroom. Once the door was shut ensuring that no-one could hear them, the talked amongst themselves in hushed tones.

"So... how the hell are we going to pull this off?" Ash asked a little worried of failing and possibly being kicked out of their only refuge.

"It'll be fine, all we have to do is pick a subject of friendship, first time I've ever heard that before, and just talk about it for five minutes. We can do that." Jack reassured his friend before Jason took the lead.

"Plus she just gave us some of said subjects. Honesty kindness and... um..."

"Generosity." Jack reminded the unicorn.

"Yeah, that."

"Really wishing Craig was here right now." Ash sighed. "He'd know everything about these subjects and how to go about it. No offense Jack." He apologised to the yak who was clearly doing his best to organise and address the issue at hand. A job normally entrusted to the missing griffon.

"None taken."

"So continuing on, we have our three subjects. Who wants to tackle what?"

"I'll take generosity." Jack pronounced.

"Honesty seems to work for me. Least more than the other choices." Ash muttered half heartedly.

"Okay so that leaves me with kindness. No problem. Now how are we going to go over them?"

"Well that's probably easier than you might think." Jack chimed in with a relaxed grin. "All we have to do is make up a scenario that relates to each of them. You know, like when you're at a proper job interview and you're asked what experience you have working in teams? It's kind of like that."

"So make shit up as you go along then." Ash confirmed.

"Yeah, that's what I do when that happens."

"Well I'd think considering that we have a few minutes you can think up something now while you have the chance, don't you think?" Jack added in.

"I'll try my best. Any other tips?"

"I guess try asking some of the students in there what they think about our specific field of friendship? Their answers might give us a bit more of a clue on what to go over."

Jason and Ash nodded, not able to come up with anything themselves.

"Okay then. We have our subjects and ideas. All we have to do now is execute them flawlessly."

"No pressure there." Jason frowned.

"Also if we manage to pull this off, let's hope Craig and Mike don't fuck up when it's their turn." Ash reminded the group.
"Well, Craig will probably ace it. But Mike... we'll cross that bridge when we get there."

The next few minutes passed quicker than the three expected. It was a productive few minutes so at least it wasn't spent in vain. Each creature managed to think up their own ways of going about their own lectures in the very limited time they had, hoping that there were enough to impress the professor. When the earth pony reopened the door, Jack agreed to go first. At least that way the other two had more time to think and, with all honesty they needed the extra time. The other two had no issues with this and waited patiently for him to return while putting on their own brave faces, at least until the door closed once more. The yak no separated from his friends soon found himself standing in the front of the classroom just behind the desk where more than a dozen pairs of eyes watched him. This was certainly going to be an interesting experience.

"Welp, no time like the present I suppose." He thought before beginning.

"Good afternoon!" Jack started after clearing his throat. He made sure to sound loud so as to capture the attention of the entire classroom. "My name is Jack, and I will be going over the benefits of generosity for the next few minutes." He wanted to glance at Applejack to see her reaction, whether she was interested or suspicious that he went for one of the 'subjects' she had picked from her example. Unfortunately doing so might have caused her to be even more suspicious so he kept going. "Now the way I am going to show you these events is to portray a few scenarios and have you point out what you think the best way to show or express generosity."

From what he could tell the students listening were either intrigued, bored out of their minds or just plain tired. Least they weren't talking over him or attempting to wind him up like some students back on earth most certainly would. That thought in mind immediately made things easier to bear.

"Now, I would like all of you to picture two... ponies who have decided to buy a uh, a sandwich each. They decide to wait ten minutes before settling down to eat them. However before one of them can take a bite, the sandwich falls onto the ground in the dirt. They're upset about it. The other pony still has their sandwich, still completely uneaten. What could this pony do to help their friend out?"

Two hands, or rather a claw and a hoof raised up into the air. One from the changeling and the other from the pink griffon-like creature. Jack decided to go with the latter first, mainly due to her constantly going 'ooh ooh, I know this one' and similar phrases sounding and acting like a very excited child.

"Silverstream." She responded with a smile sweet enough to melt even the coldest heart. "The pony with the sandwich should give their friend the sandwich."

Jack nodded his head slowly acknowledging the answer before reviewing her answer in front of the class. "That is an option, yes, and a very generous one too. But it's a bit too generous. While it is good to give the other pony the sandwich, there would be nothing left for the first one. Does anybody else want to have a guess?"

The changeling from before shot her hoof up just as fast as the first time. Since she was the only one too Jack went with her.

"Ocellus." She introduced before Jack could ask, having picked up on the fact that the yak was new to teaching and most of them. The yak upon hearing the name recalled Mike mentioning it last night before they headed to their dorms sounding somewhat annoyed upon bringing it up, though the reason why that was he couldn't remember. Hopefully she wasn't going to be trouble. "I would think that the first pony should buy the other pony another sandwich. That way the first pony would keep his sandwich and the other would have fresh non dirty food." She answered confidently.

"Again, a very generous offer, but not the answer I'm looking for."

The little blue bug horse looked disappointed in getting the answer wrong, but said nothing else as she took a pencil in her... mouth and prepared to scribble down the proper answer. Jack looked round the room, waiting for a third arm to rise.

"Anyone else wanting to guess?" He asked, making sure those at the back could hear. No-one else dared to have a go. "No? Very well. While it is important to be generous to your friends, it is important not to be too generous. If you are you may miss out yourself or others may take advantage of it. This is why the first couple answers were, while not entirely wrong, not the best choice." Truthfully Jack had no idea if he was hitting the nail on the head here since most of what he was saying was based on his own opinion of generosity. But at least he was displaying confidence and keeping everyone focused on him. Something that not every teacher could manage. "The answer I'm looking for is for the first pony to simply give half the sandwich to the other. That way both are able to enjoy a delicious meal."

Jack made especially sure to say 'the answer I'm looking for' instead of 'the correct answer is' since he had no idea if it really was the right answer, if there even was one. At least that way he wasn't giving them any wrong information. The entire question was based around his belief, nothing more. He wondered if Applejack had picked up on that.

For the remainder of the time, Jack decided to include each and every student in the second part of his teaching method and had them stand up one at a time and give a short few sentences on an example of generosity. By the time he got round to the last student the professor stepped in, thanked Jack for his time and asked the class to thank him for his time, which they did verbally and with the stamping of their hooves or clapping of claws. Jack bowed his head, expressed his thanks and then left the classroom where the dragon and pony waited patiently. Applejack followed him out the room.

"Not too shabby." She noted. "You knew what you were doin I'll give you that, and I like how you included the kids having them give their own answers. I know Twilight would approve."

"Well, good to know one of us passed at least." Jason joked.

"No need to fret there fella. Twi told me y'all will be giving your own stories on friendship when your buddies return. Nothing more nothing less. Ain't no pass or fail here."

"Wait, didn't you say this was an interview when I asked?" Ash cut in.

"I said it was in a way. Though I suppose a more accurate term would be a learning experience. Heh. Sorry for the confusion there. Suppose I should have said exactly what I meant."

"Well no worries. What's done is done." Jack added hoping to keep the conversation short.

"That it is." Applejack agreed before turning to the blue dragon. "Ready to throw your hat into the ring there Ash?"

"Sure am." Ash replied with a grin, feeling much more relaxed than he had done twenty seconds ago. "This is going to be a piece of cake!"

It was anything but.

Comments

[MosAnted]

Thanks for the update!

[Mix-up]

Nice to see an update again so soon. Boy I can't wait to see how they will screw up this test.