Section #1:
In a big classroom, 100 students sat in the desks. Ten of them were Royal Guards, including the two Shining Armor had caught fighting each other with spears (a stallion named Archer and a mare named Spearhead).
There were six gryphons (including Gilda), six dragons (including Fume, the purple dragon with blond hair), six changelings, one kirin, six yaks, and six hippogriffs. There were also one deer, one buffalo, and three Breezies. In total, there were 37 non-pony students, including Whirlwind, the little abada girl.
(All the dragons seemed rather big for their desks, along with the yaks. Whirlwind sat in the front desk directly in front of the teacher's desk.)
“Hello, class!” greeted Sweetie Belle, waving her arm.
"Good morning, Professor Belle!" said the students in various tones of voice.
In her hooves, Ocellus was sorting through some index cards. These cards had various notes written on them. It was a pretty big stack, 53 cards to be exact. As Ocellus sorted through them, she arranged them into a neat stack.
Ocellus cleared her throat. She took a moment to read the first card.
"Good ... good morning, class!" said Ocellus. She was trying to smile, but she was somewhat nervous. "I ... I hope all of you are feeling the love in your hearts."
Ocellus looked back at her card. "Because this is Camp Kindness! And we want to make friendship fun!"
She threw her hooves with excitement, as per the instructions on the card. As Ocellus spoke those words, she became a little more confident.
"That's right!" said Sweetie Belle. "In the School of Friendship, Fluttershy has long been the students' favorite teacher. In fact, she's won the Teacher of the Month Award every time! We want to carry on her legacy -- and keep making friendship fun!"
"Will we get to pet some dogs?" asked Zipporwhill (the pegasus filly with glasses and three paw prints for a cutie mark), raising her hoof.
"We'll get to that later," replied Sweetie. "But today, we have a different assignment."
Ocellus turned to the second index card, moving the first to the bottom of the stack. Taking a moment to read it, she cleared her throat once again.
"I love math!" said Ocellus. "What about you?"
Most of the students groaned (including Gilda -- and all the dragons except a boy named Lavaball). But one fifth raised their hands or hooves.
(Lavaball wore glasses. Although he looked kind of nerdy, he was still big and strong.)
"I used to think math was boring, too," said Sweetie Belle. "But now I realize it's an important part of life."
"How's that?" asked Fume, with a wry smile.
"When you're at the store," explained Sweetie, "you want to know how much things cost -- and how to add them up. You want to know how much money you have to spend."
Apple Bytes (dark purple earth pony filly with dark blue hair) raised her hoof. "I don't need to know that! The cashier adds it up for me."
Ocellus brought up the third index card. Reading this card, she cleared her throat once more.
"But," explained Ocellus ... "what if the cashier makes a mistake? Or what if somecreature realizes you can't do math -- and tries to cheat you?"
"Don't forget Flim and Flam," added Sweetie Belle.
"Please don't mention their names!" said Blossomforth (light gray pegasus mare with green and magenta hair). "I can still taste the bad cider in my mouth!"
"I think they want to get better now," said Sweetie Belle ... "but I don't think they'll reform overnight. But I know the magic of friendship is in them, too. They were with the army of creatures who helped save the world from the Windigos!"
Coconut Cream (light gray earth pony filly with purple, green, and yellowish green hair) raised her hoof. Nervously, she asked, "What if we get our math wrong? Will you fail us?"
Sweetie Belle laughed. "Of course not! This is not a math class!"
"I'm confused," said Toola Roola (another filly, who sat in a desk next to Coconut Cream), raising her hoof. "How's it not a math class if we're doing math?"
Ocellus also laughed for a moment. But then she caught herself. "Uh ... s-s-sorry."
Ocellus now glanced at the fourth index card.
"The goal," she explained, "is to work together as friends to solve problems. We just happen to be doing math. But it could have been something like building a clubhouse."
Apple Bytes raised her hoof again. "Why couldn't we build a clubhouse instead?"
Many of the students raised their hands and hooves, including Fume the dragon.
However, at least one student disagreed: a little orange pegasus colt with big round glasses (a background pony in "Daring Done?", whom I'll call "Number Cruncher"). He said, "I would rather do math. I hate having to lift heavy things."
"Well," said Sweetie Belle -- "when building a big project, you still have to calculate the resources you need. You have to do some heavy lifting with your brain -- not just your arms and legs."
Ocellus placed her index cards on the desk. From the desk, she pulled out the stack of assignment sheets. With her horn, Sweetie Belle zapped the sheets. Suddenly, all 100 students had their sheets on their desks.
"Wow, Sweetie Belle!" exclaimed Blossomforth. "I didn't think you had so much talent!"
"Not really," said Sweetie Belle. "It's just a matter of having the right teacher. Headmare Glimmer helped me write this script." For a moment, Sweetie pulled a script out of her "pocket".
"Again, students," said Ocellus, glancing at her fifth index card -- "the goal is to solve problems together as friends. Don't be afraid if you mess up! We're here to support you -- not grade you!"
"Without further ado," said Sweetie -- "let's get started! Everyone, find a partner! As many partners as you want!"
Section #2:
Fume sat with the other five dragons, the six desks crowded together. Again, one of the dragons wore glasses. His name was Lavaball. Although he looked kind of nerdy, he was still big and strong.
Lavaball was smiling, but the rest of the dragons seemed bored.
"This is a very interesting problem," remarked Lavaball. "Especially for us dragons."
He started to read the problem. "Sweetie Belle has 88 bits, and she wants to buy some gems. Emeralds cost 3b; sapphires cost 5b; and diamonds cost 10b."
As Lavaball spoke, another dragon yawned. Her name was Cinder, but usually called "Cindy".
"In addition," Lavaball continued, "there's a special promotion --"
"Who needs this stupid math?" interrupted Cindy, with a snide smile. "For centuries, we just took all we could steal!"
"Yeah!" added Fire Hazard (another dragon boy, the second biggest of the group). "But ever since Ember took charge, we don't get to plunder anything."
"She even made us return what we plundered from the yaks!" said Wildfire (another dragon girl).
"No Dragon Lord has ever felt guilty for attacking another kingdom!" said a third dragon girl ("Ah-Ah"; more formally, "A'a", the biggest of the group). "I thought being a dragon meant never having to say you're sorry."
Fume sighed. "I know ... I couldn't understand it at first ... But ever since I met Garble's little sister, I've found myself wanting a friend. I want somecreature to love me. And I want to love them!"
"That big red coward!" remarked Hazard. "That boy talks so tough, but he crumbles the moment he feels in true danger!"
"Don't you all remember a time when you felt loved?" asked Lavaball. "A time when you loved being in your mother's arms?"
The rest of the dragons paused.
Cindy sighed. Hazard started to sniffle. Wildfire's eyes started to get a little wet. Ah-Ah shed a tear.
"Why did my parents have to abandon me during 'the molt'?" asked Hazard.
Cindy crossed her arms. "Having to hide from giant hungry birds -- not fun!"
Ah-Ah started to cry. "I never felt so scared -- or betrayed!"
Wildfire was crying more quietly. "I never wanted to love anyone again ... but I still wanted somedragon who would treat me well. And that's how I met the rest of you ... Hazard, Cinder, Ah-Ah, and Lavaball. I didn't want to admit it ... but you feel ... kind of like my friends!"
"I must confess," said Hazard ... "trying to fight giant hungry birds ... that kind of brought us together."
"I suppose it was a psychological necessity," admitted Cindy.
"Whether we liked it or not," said Ah-Ah, using her assignment sheet to wipe her eyes ... "I was starting to ... love my new ... partners in crime?"
Ah-Ah finished wiping her eyes. Then she blew her nose, which burned up the sheet.
"I don't wanna fight it anymore!" exclaimed Ah-Ah, getting up from her seat (knocking down both her desk and chair in the process). "I love you all! You mean so much to me! No matter how much we enjoyed robbing and hurting other creatures, you've had my back and I've had yours!"
"I care about you, too!" said Lavaball, smiling to her.
Cindy laughed. "Lavaball, you always were a little mushy and sentimental. You would beat a pony into the ground and then help them get medical treatment!"
"I guess that's why I always trusted you," said Hazard, starting to smile. "There was always some good side to you."
Wildfire gave Ah-Ah a big hug. "I love you, too, Ah-Ah!"
Hazard hugged Lavaball. "You're big and tough -- yet you're the nicest thug I've known!"
Cindy looked toward Fume. "So, blond purple dragon," she asked with a playful smile -- "what's your name?"
Fume blushed. He smiled nervously. "My ... my name is Fume."
"I love the sound of that name! It has a nice noxious smell to it!"
Fume laughed nervously.
Cindy got out of her seat and walked to where Fume was. "I don't want to go too fast, big boy. But I really want to give this friendship thing a chance!"
"I ... I do, too!" stammered Fume.
Sitting on her knees, Cindy placed her elbows on Fume's desk. She rested her head on her hands. "So, Fume -- what was it like when you had your molt?"
"Oh! It was horrible!" exclaimed Fume. "It felt like a nightmare! I kept trying to wake up -- but my fears had really come true! And then ... the great big bird caught me. Helplessly, I found myself in its mouth. I was about to be eaten alive! But then ... then ..."
Fume popped out of his seat. "I grabbed it by its tongue -- and pulled as hard as it could!" He grabbed the air, as if he were grabbing the bird's tongue. "The bird started choking! Suddenly it threw up! I fell to the ground -- and so did five other dragons! And that's how I met Garble and his gang!"
"Isn't it ironic?" asked Cindy. "What felt like the ultimate betrayal by our parents ... caused us to find our own friends. We gave up on love -- but not completely."
"Dragon Lord Ember was one of the lucky ones," remarked Fume. "Her dad was secretly watching her. And when she'd defended herself all she could, he burned the big giant birds to ash! Torch may be cruel even for a dragon -- but not with his precious daughter!"
"I've seen some small purple and green dragon with the Dragon Lord," remarked Hazard. "When they think no one's looking, they love to hug each other. Are they brother and sister?"
"No," replied Fume. "But Spike and Ember certainly feel like family! I even hear that Torch is starting to warm up to Spike! He'd always wanted a son, though he's found that daughters can be just as awesome."
Sweetie Belle teleported herself and Ocellus into the scene.
"I'm so happy for you all!" remarked Sweetie. "You've all brought one another so much happiness!"
"Friendship may be a challenge," remarked Cindy. "But now I love friends almost as much as eating gems!"
"Many times, kindness really isn't that hard," replied Sweetie Belle. "When others love you, it makes you feel important. And when you feel that others value you, you want to make sure it stays that way!"
"Back when I beat up on creatures just for fun," said Lavaball, "there was always a bit of brotherly instinct in me. I couldn't go too far without feeling a little bad for my victims."
Ocellus started to sniffle. She cried a happy tear. "You're solving your problems as friends -- finding your love for one another. That was all that we wanted to give you -- the chance to see how magical friendship can be!"
"If you don't like math," said Sweetie Belle, "then feel feel free to skip the assignment! If you ever have trouble with numbers, we'll be here to help you out!"
"Actually," said Cindy, "I think I want to try some math after all. I think I'm ready to start buying stuff -- and stop beating up others and stealing."
"Us, too!" added the other five dragons.
"In that case," said Lavaball, "I'll read the problem again."
Section #3:
Once again, Lavaball started to read the problem. "Sweetie Belle has 88 bits, and she wants to buy some gems. Emeralds cost 3b; sapphires cost 5b; and diamonds cost 10b. In addition, there's a special promotion -- buy three gems of the same kind and get one free. How can Sweetie get the best value for her money?"
The other dragons sighed.
"I really want to learn this math stuff," said Ah-Ah. "But it's really hurting my head."
"How about we give you some real gems?" proposed Sweetie Belle. "And some real money? One of you could play the storekeeper."
"I'll be the storekeeper," said Lavaball.
"Of course, you will!" teased Cindy.
"In that case," said Sweetie, "I'll give Lavaball the gems and the rest of you the money. At the end, you can keep the stuff -- sharing it with one another! Here you go!"
With a flash of her horn, Sweetie teleported 88 bits and a box of gems into the scene. The box of gems landed on Lavaball's desk. A big pile of coins landed on the other five desks.
The dragons gasped with amazement.
"Wow!" exclaimed Hazard. "It's like you unicorns can just dream stuff into existence!"
"Actually," said Sweetie, "I was just teleporting it."
"Professor Belle!" called Apple Bytes. "Can I have some money and jewels, too?"
All the other students raised their hooves and hands. They had already formed their own groups, having brought their desks together or sitting on the floor.
Sweetie laughed nervously. "But, of course! ... There's no Kindness without Generosity. ... I'm sure Rarity won't mind if I share some of her stuff with you. But you must do the problem and make a proper effort to solve it."
Sweetie ran to the door and left the scene.
"So, my dragon friends," said Lavaball, "you can buy three emeralds and get one free. You can buy three sapphires or diamonds and get one free. So how can we get the most free stuff with our money?"
The other five dragons scratched their heads and chins.
"Diamonds!" said Wildfire. "Let's get as many diamonds as we can!"
Hazard pulled ten coins from the pile. He pulled two more tens. "Four diamonds for 30 bits. That's a savings of 10 bits!"
Hazard gave the 30 bits to Lavaball. Lavaball wrote "4 diamonds = 30b (savings 10b)". Then he picked up four diamonds and placed them on the other dragons' desks.
Ah-Ah pulled 30 more coins from the pile. "And 8 diamonds is 60 bits!"
She gave Lavaball the 30 coins. Lavaball wrote "8 diamonds = 60b (savings 20b)". Then he took four more diamonds and also placed them in front of the other dragons.
As the dragons were doing the math problem, Ocellus and Sweetie Belle were giving gems and bits to the rest of the classmates.
"Can we buy four more diamonds?" asked Fume.
"Let's count what we have left," suggested Lavaball.
Fume divided the coins into fives. "Five ... ten ... 15 ... 20 ... 25 ... 26, 27, 28."
Fume sighed. "If only we had two more bits. Then there would be two diamonds for each of us."
"Don't worry about that right now," said Lavaball. "I'm sure Professor Belle will help us again. Let's see what we can purchase with the remaining 28 bits."
"Let's get four sapphires!" said Fume. "That'll be 15 bits!"
Fume had the remaining coins divided into piles of five (except for the last three). He gave three of these five-coin piles to Lavaball. Lavaball grabbed four sapphires and placed them on the other five desks.
Lavaball wrote "4 sapphires = 15b (savings 5b)".
"I hope we can get four more sapphires!" said Fume. He counted the remaining coins: "Five ... ten ..., 11, 12, 13."
Fume sighed again. "I guess we'll have to buy four emeralds. That'll be 9 bits."
Fume gave nine coins to Lavaball. (He took the two five-coin piles but left out one of the coins.) Lavaball gave the group the four emeralds. He wrote "4 emeralds = 9b (savings 3b)".
"Well," said Cindy, "that leaves us with four bits. We can buy one more emerald -- but nothing else. Looks like we have one bit left."
Once more, Fume sighed. He gave three bits to Lavaball, and Lavaball gave the group one more emerald. Lavaball wrote "remainder of 4b".
"Well, Lavaball," said Cindy, "you've always loved counting coins and gems. So how much would you say we saved?"
Lavaball wrote a few more notes. "First, we saved 20 bits by buying 8 diamonds for the price of 6. Next, we saved 5 bits by buying 4 sapphires for the price of 3. Finally, we save 3 bits by buying 4 emeralds for the price of 3. That is 20 + 5 + 3."
Fume thought the problem over. "Twenty ... five ... 25!" Then he started counting with his fingers. "Twenty-six ... 27 ... 28! Twenty-eight bits! We saved 28 bits!"
"Exactly!" said Lavaball.
"That's a lot of bits!" remarked Wildfire.
"I think we can save one more," said Lavaball. "But we'll have to buy slightly different things."
The other dragons were confused. Fume scratched his head.
"I don't know what you mean," said Ah-Ah.
"We were able to save 28 bits," explained Lavaball -- "but we had four bits left over. Those bits weren't enough to get us any more free stuff. All the free stuff, we got by spending 84 bits. I know a way we could spend 87 bits."
"Then we'd have only one bit left over?" asked Wildfire.
"And we would save 29 instead of 28?" asked Hazard.
"Right! Once you learn to play with numbers, it's a fascinating problem to solve!" Lavaball continued to write more notes.
"You're the numbers guy, you big tough nerd," said Cindy. "You love to count coins, jewels, and even rocks! So why don't you just show us?"
Lavaball finished writing. "Here you go!" He gave the paper to Cindy.
Cindy studied the paper:
12 emeralds (3 groups of 4) = 27b (savings 9b)
8 diamonds (2 groups of 4) = 60b (savings 20b) *
___________________________________
Total gems = 87 (savings 29b)32 emeralds (8 groups of 4) = 72b (savings 24b)
4 sapphires = 15b (savings 5b)
___________________________________
Total gems = 87 (savings 29b)* Instead of 8 diamonds, we could get 16 sapphires.
Cindy was a bit breathless. "Wow, Lavaball! You waste your time on this stuff a lot more than I thought. But since we're now buying stuff, I guess these skills are really useful."
Ah-Ah grabbed the paper and studied it for herself. "Wow, Lavaball! Numbers are much more beautiful stuff than I thought. I notice that we could spend 27 or 72 bits on emeralds. These numbers look like each other spelled backwards. Why is that?"
"All these numbers," explained Lavaball, "are multiples of 3. That is, if I gave you 27 or 72 bits, then you could divide them into groups of 3."
"You mean like 3 ... 6 ... 9 ... ?" asked Wildfire, counting by threes with the gems.
"Right. The numbers 15, 27, 60, and 72 are all multiples of 3. So is 87, which is 29 times three."
"Hey!" exclaimed Fume. "That's the number of bits we save with your solutions!"
"That's because we've been buying four items for the price of three." Lavaball still had a bunch of gems left that he hadn't "sold". From this pile, he took out four more sapphires, making one group of three and leaving the fourth to the side.
"For example," continued Lavaball, "when we buy three sapphires, we pay 5 bits for each. Three groups of five equals 15. So we pay 15 bits."
For the group of three sapphires, Lavaball placed five bits behind each sapphire.
"Let me get this straight," said Hazard. "The number 15 can be five groups of three -- or three groups of five."
"Right. Three times five or five times three -- it's all the same numbers."
Lavaball paused for a couple moments to let the other five think. Indeed, the other five were still trying to comprehend the new things they were learning.
Lavaball continued, "Here's where the true magic of numbers comes into play. For every three bits we spend, it's like someone has given us one extra bit!"
Lavaball took the 15 bits behind the three sapphires and started dividing them into groups of three. "When we pay 15 bits for three sapphires, it's like someone has given us an extra 5 bits." For each group of three, he placed a fourth bit beside it.
"Therefore, when we pay 87 bits, it's like someone's given us an extra 29."
Lavaball took out another piece of paper and wrote some more notes. "We started with 88 bits, but the number 88 is not a multiple of 3. Therefore, 87 bits gets us the most free stuff."
"Is it possible to spend all 88 bits?" asked Ah-Ah.
"Yes," replied Lavaball, "but we won't get as much free stuff. We get the most free stuff when we spend 87 -- because it's the closest multiple of three without going over."
"You're kind of a genius," said Cindy. "I'll give you that. But I'm still the mastermind when it comes to successful heists!"
"At least I'm good at following your plans," replied Lavaball.
"And that's why I love you!" Cindy got up and gave Lavaball a big hug and a small kiss.
"Well, Cindy," said Fume ... "I might like you as a girlfriend ... but I don't wanna share you with another creature ..."
"He's just a good friend of mine; he's like a brother to me! I haven't actually picked a boyfriend yet!" Cindy rubbed her face against Lavaball's.
Ocellus and Sweetie Belle walked back to where the dragons were. They watched affectionately, enjoying how the six dragons were bonding with one another.
"Professor Belle," said Ocellus, "I never thought I'd say this, but ... I think I want to date a dragon! But would it be wrong to date one of the students?"
"Many of the dragons are at least as old as you," responded Sweetie Belle. "Still, Chancellor Neighsay says there might be some conflict of interest ..."
Curious on what will happen next.