Post by Sky Blue on Mar 13, 2015 1:39:18 GMT -5
Memoire Musique waddles into class, her pet spider perched on her back. The pony-sized spider is chittering at her, and she appears to be chittering back.
It takes Cheerilee exactly 0.049 seconds to take cover behind her desk. "Memoire?" she asks tentatively, poking her head out. "What IS that thing?"
Memoire Musique is about to open her mouth when the spider holds up a small sign. 'Hello! My Name is Archimedes! I am a Goliath Spider!' *flip* 'Please do not be alarmed, I am a friendly spider!'. "I found him in the Everfree forest!"
Cheerilee looks like she might faint. Or vomit. Or run away. Possibly all of the above. "What were you doing in the Everfree Forest?!" she exclaims in shock, rising up to her usual height, before spotting the spider and shrinking down again. "You know my rules on pets in class, Memoire. I'm afraid it will have to wait outside for you."
Memoire_Musique pouts and chitters at Archie, who gives a spidery nod and scuttles out a window and up into the belltower. "Sowwy... I was getting flowers!" she says, brandishing a bunch of brightly colored flowers. "Miss Fluttershy helped me pick them out!"
Once the spider is safely out of the classroom, Cheerilee visably relaxes and returns her attention to the young filly. "Well, if you're accompanied by a grown-up, that's okay," she replies, smiling warmly. "And they are some very lovely flowers, Memoire! Who are you going to give them to?"
Memoire Musique promptly waddles up to Cheerilee's desk and pops the flowers into a vase, then waddles back to her seat.
"Aww! That's really sweet of you, Memoire!" Cheerilee says brightly, before leaning close up to the bouquet and taking a deep sniff. She then scribbles something that looks suspiciously like an 'A' down on a piece of homework.
Memoire_Musique settling down at her desk, Memmy gets out her homework and double checks it with the rest of the class.
All business once more, the chirpy teacher starts reading through her notes. "You all were able to name three different capitals correctly... Almost all of you answered 'Who is the ruler of Equestria?' correctly; for those who got it wrong," a pointed look is given at a certain pink filly, "Diamond Tiara does NOT, in fact, rule Equestria."
Memoire Musique sticks a little hoof in the air. "Miss Cheerilee, is the Crystal Empire part of Equestria?"
"It is indeed, Memoire!" the eternally cheerful Cheerilee replies brightly. "Though it is ruled by Princess Cadance, it is still part of Equestria. An easy way to remember which areas are part of Equestria is to think of who participated in the Equestrian Games."
Alula shoots up her hoof with a question or comment. Her expression is concerned to match, tongue pressed against her lips.
Memoire_Musique thinks a bit... "Den why does we got four princesses? Why don't we gots any queens?" she asks. Then she notices Alula, and flinches a bit. "Sowwy."
"That's quite alright; I'll answer Memoire first, if that's okay, Alula," Cheerilee informs the latter, smiling brightly at her, before focusing her attention back at the DJ offspring. "The four princesses in Equestria both represent and, to an extent, govern an important element in the world. Princess Celestia is the sun, Princess Luna the moon, Princess Cadance love, and Princess Twilight the magic of friendship (tm). I could only theorise on why Princess Celestia is not Queen Celestia, however. Perhaps you can write to her and ask why she is titled 'Queen'?" An excited look comes into being. "That shall be your homework assignment for tonight, everypony! Each of you write a letter to Princess Celestia with a question for her, and I shall mail them off to her tomorrow."
Dinky slowly raises her hoof.
"Oh," the scattered-brained teacher adds, "You had a question, Alula? And then I shall get to yours, Dinky."
Dinky stews.
Alula grins snarkily at Dinky for a split second. "Miss Cheerilee, there were griffons in the Equestria Games! Does that mean the Griffon Kingdom is part of Equestria?"
"Both yes and no, Alulu." Cheerilee pulls down a handy map of Equestria from above the blackboard and points to a section of the map. "As griffons are widespread across the world, there are a number of different griffon settlements across it, and, as such, Equestria. Your question, Dinky?"
Dinky lowers her hoof just as slowly. "Princess Celestia came to my birthday party," she says. Not pointlessly, like some other empty filly might say. Instead, she continues: "And I'm friends with Princess Luna. Maybe instead of mailing her a bunch of letters she'll probably never read, I could take everyone's letters over to the palace and ask them everyone's questions in person, instead."
"I'm sure Princess Celestia would find time to read letters sent to her by her beloved subjects," Cheerilee counters sweetly, doing her best to try and not upset the delicate balance of nature that is Dinky. "Though we COULD potentially do a field trip to her castle in Canterlot to ask her the questions in person. Good idea, Dinky!" Ten points to Griffondor.
Memoire_Musique has been busily writing notes this whole time in that oddly neat handwriting... Her papa taught her well it seems. "What about Princess Twilight? Doesn't she live right here in town?'
Dinky is -so-not a Gryffindor.
Snapdragon looks up from just whatever it is she'd doing in the back row, drawing, or making pictures by erasing the pattern printed on the cover of her composition book, or whatever it is she's doing instead of paying attention, and chimes in, "My friend Rook Ramparts says that Twilight's title is only nominal." She looks back down at her desk, "Whatever /that/ means."
"Just remember she and Luna are on vacation this month," says a slightly startled Dinky. She looks over at Snapdragon, frowning, but doesn't respond.
Snapdragon doesn't notice the frown, so it's just as well. She's back to scribbling on a piece of paper with a purple crayon.
Oh dear, two at once. "PRINCESS Twilight," Cheerilee says, with a pointed look at Snapdragon, "May not govern any land, but neither does Princess Luna. Just as Princess Luna represents the night, Princess Twilight represents the magic of friendship. It IS how she was able to defeat Nightmare Moon, Discord, and Lord Tirek, after all."
Memoire Musique nodnods as she sticks out her tongue at Snapdragon. "Yeah! Twilight is BEST Book Princess!" she says, nyaaaaing.
Snapdragon rolls her eyes as she's rebuked. This is her standard reaction to verbal correction, no matter where it's from. Memorie gets a verbal response though, "Well, Princess Luna gave me a ton of candy!" No really, it was a literal ton.
Cheerilee clears her throat. "All of the princesses are fantastic in their own ways," she says, attempting to keep the peace. "Though Snapdragon is arguably right, considering the size of Princess Twilight's library and that she lived in Ponyville library for the best part of four years."
Alula's hoof goes up again.
Snapdragon looks placated, and maybe a bit triumphant.
Memoire Musique's eyes go wide. "That's a lot of candy!" she says, and looks down at the floor. "My papa doesn't let me have candy."
Cheerilee does not voice her personal opinion of the ex-chancellor, or his policies that lead to her mane catching fire and multiple explosions. "Yes, Alula?"
Apple Bloom is bored. Again. Her last two pages of notes have been filled with the phrase 'cutie mark' over and over again. It's been too long, she was supposed to have hers by now. She starts on a new page.
Beside the hayseed, Sweetie Belle has been keeping considerably more accurate notes, though occasionally punctuated with the odd 'dumb <X>'.
Snapdragon leans over towards Memorie, and whispers, sotto voce, "I'll let you have some candy if you want."
Alula asks, "Isn't Friendship a lot like Love? And if we only get four princesses, why are two of them about something so similar? I mean, even just with emotions there are so many other ones they can do. Why isn't there a princess of jealousy or a princess of getting really excited or a princess of sadness or boredom?"
Snapdragon glances up at Cheerilee to make sure that she didn't hear.
Dinky huhs. "That's actually kind of a good question."
Memoire_Musique perks up significantly and nuzles Snapdragon. "Just a little, please. I'm trying to stay healthy for papa," she says, looking quite serious.
"Or a princess'a cutie marks! Ah would love t'meet that princess!" Apple Bloom pipes in. She's got cutie marks on the head. So much effort for nothing.
Snapdragon looks left, then right to make sure the coast is clear, then passes Memorie a sucker. Not one of those lame ones either, but one with bubblegum at the center!
Why can't her foals ever ask her simple things, like the times table, what's safe to eat, or why is Diamond Tiara always such a- "Friendship is similar, but different to love," Cheerilee replies, apparently having not heard the hushed to-and-fro. "For instance, a father can love his son, while not getting along with him. While love can be deeply personal, it can also be more generic, such as the love one extends to a neighbour. A friendship is ALWAYS a deeply personal thing. The other potential elements you mentioned are either inappropriate or not important enough to have a princess made for them, Alulu. Snapdragon, no giving out candy in class."
Alula seems unsatisfied, but doesn't press the subject. She looks over at the other foals. "Someone's got candy?" she asks, thus demonstrating why you don't give out candy in class.
Memoire_Musique happily flutters her wings as she noms the sucker... Of course, with her recent training, this kicks up as small whirlwind that sprays straw across the classroom. "Whoops.
"Why in't there a Princess of Spiders?" asks Snips, getting into the thing. Or maybe he just senses that they're getting on Cheerilee's nerves.
Snapdragon wrinkles her nose, and grumbles something about The Mare always trying to keep ponies down.
"Because spiders are grossy, icky, and are not a vital element of life, such as love, friendship, light, or darkness," Cheerilee replies, before promptly getting a mouthfull of hay. "Mf affl mf mn."
Dinky repeats after Cheerilee in disbelief, pausing in her sporadic notetaking. "Love, friendship, light... and -darkness?-" Which of these things is not like the others?
Memoire_Musique's wings snap to her sides. "Sowwy... Mister Virga's teachin' me, and I don't got so good control. And MEMMY is princess of spiders!" she claims loudly.
Snapdragon opens her mouth to be contrary, and talk about how her friend said that spiders catch horse flys and mosquitos, but all that gets out is an "awwwk!" as she gets a mouthfull of straw too. Ew!
"Wait... darkness. Is there a cutie mark in darkness?" And this goes in her notebook. "Darkness." There have to be ideas in there somewhere!
Alula wipes the straw off her desk. "Wait. Is that allowed? For a \first grader\ to be a princess?"
Oh sweet Celestia. "No, there is no cutie mark in darkness," Cheerilee aims at Apple Bloom, after spitting out the hay from her mouth, "Spiders are still icky," she throws at Memoire, "by darkness, I meant more the importance of night rather than anything sinister," she lobs at Dinky, "And, despite Memoire's AND Diamond Tiara's claims to the contrary, no-one in this class is a princess," she concludes at Alulua.
Snapdragon grumbles quietly, "I'm a princess."
Dinky sits patiently, waiting to keep taking notes, a frustrated scowl on her face. Only Dinky can be patient and frustrated at the same time.
After waiting for a few moments to make sure she does, in fact, finally have peace, Cheerilee announces, "... question three of last night's homework, you each had to name an unrelated person in Equestria that you idolise, along with three facts about them. Who would like to go first?"
Dinky sits in taut stillness.
Apple Bloom has gone back to writing 'cutie mark' over and over again, screening out Cheerilee.
Snapdragon is more absorbed in drawing her picture than ever. She's swapping crayons like a mad mare.
"No takers?" Cheerilee asks, sounding a little disappointed. "Very well. Dinky, then Apple Bloom, then Snapdragon." Delegation!
Snapdragon hears her name and looks up suddenly, her eyes big, her expression innocent. She has no idea what's going on.
Dinky looks appalled. "You didn't say we were going to be reading these out loud!" she objects, holding up a creased essay written with a quill pen on wide-ruled paper.
<OOC> Snapdragon shows off the picture she's been drawing. She is the most clever unicorn ever! It's just too bad she can't actually magic like that.
Cheerilee raises a surprised eyebrow at the intensely grumpy filly, before asks, "What ever's the problem, Dinky? I've had students reads out answers before."
Dinky huffs quietly, half to herself. She slaps the paper angrily on the desk. "It's just kind of personal, you know? Idolizing. It's like saying, I wish I were like you, instead of being like me. If that isn't personal I don't know what is."
"'Re y'all sayin' y'all admawr Cheerilee?" Apple Bloom pipes up. She seems to have picked up on part of what Dinky's saying.
Cheerilee's expression is somewhere between ponderance and a frown. Eventually, she nods, however. "It's a pity you don't want to share, but I understand, if you feel-" Her frown takes over and focuses upon the hayseed. "Apple Bloom, you know it's not okay to tease other students. It's your turn to tell the class who your idol is and three facts about them."
"Of course I admire Cheerilee," grumbles Dinky back in a half-voice. "But I didn't write about her, that would just be dumb."
Snapdragon is staring at Dinky, a small frown on her face. She makes a decision, and pipes up, out of turn, "Well, *I* wrote about Green Jello. He's the singer for the Dead Kolts and he's /totally rad/! He sings about stuff that matters and doesn't afraid of /anything/!"
"Sure," says Dinky, "but how punk rock is he?"
Snapdragon narrows her eyes, and tells Dinky without any irony at all in her voice, "SO punk rock."
Apple Bloom stands up, walking past Dinky, casually snatching the paper right from Dinky, then opens the paper to read. "Don't be such a baby."
"Oh, you're a Deadite too?" Cheerilee asks Snapdragon excitedly, her eyes lighting up... and then that frown coming back. "Apple Bloom, no swiping! Give that Dinky her homework back."
Dinky jerks her head toward Apple Bloom, but sits there blinking in shock otherwise.
Snapdragon's excitement cools just a touch as Cheerilee expresses her interest in the band, "Oh, well, they're /okay/ I guess, Day Glo Horseapples are.. Hey!" She has noticed that Apple Bloom has taken Dinky's paper, "HEY! That's /not/ cool!" She's standing up.
"'Mah hero Dusk...'" Apple Bloom starts, then clears her throat. "'D'rector'o th'Magic Research Center. He's so patient an' understandin' even fer ponies that treat Dinky bad... he done invented th'silver magical-enhancin' crystals... and that there pony works with Chance on luck magic and tawm..." Apple Bloom frowns. Then giggles. "'Ah wish ah could learn more from Mr. Duck is ah'd only let mahself.' What kawnda closin's thait? Y'sound lawk yer some scared lil filly, jus' walk up t'him an' ask t'learn!"
Dinky's blush drive is going into afterburn mode. She leaps up and swipes the paper back, enraged, only realizing afterward that she's standing on Apple Bloom's desk.
"APPLE BLOOM!" Cheerilee marches across the class room and comes to a halt before the hayseed's desk. "For that act of spitefulness, you have detention! AND you must write me a five hundred word essay on what you did wrong, to be handed in tomorrow morning! And get off the desk!" Without waiting for a response, the teacher turns to Dinky, whispers something in her ear, and then starts walking back to the front of the classroom.
Cheerilee whispers, "You can go outside and have an extra break, if you want some time to calm down." to Dinky.
Snapdragon sits back down, and stares in impotant anger at the back of Apple Bloom's head. She considers throwing a jaw breaker at her.
Apple Bloom glances down, noticing she's on her desk with Dinky. She hops down and takes her seat. "Yes, Ms. Cheerilee."
Dinky jerks stiffly, her tail falling in line. Her blush resurges for a moment as he hops off the desk. She gives Apple Bloom a brief glare, looks lost for a minute, and then returns to her desk. Looking scared.
Alula speaks up softly to her neighbors. "I didn't think there was anypony Dinky liked."
Upon returning behind the safety of her desk, Cheerilee glances over at Dinky with a small amount of concern, before staring imperiously over to Apple Bloom. "As you seemed so eager to share, Apple Bloom, please read out your answers to question three."
Snapdragon busies herself drawing another picture. It doesn't take her much time, and when she's done she folds it into quarters, glances up at Cheerilee, and when the coast is clear she passes it to Dinky.
Apple Bloom stares blankly for a moment, then looks down at her 'cutie mark' filled notebook. Then she decides she screwed up and will have to wing it! Ha ha! The filly stands up, grabbing her notebook and pretends to read. "Mah most admawred pony is... uh..." Apple Bloom has a think. "... Zecora." Actually, not a bad choice. "Because... um..."
Dinky's shocked deer-in-the-glow-lamp look is interrupted by the arrival of a drawing on her desk. And then she chortles. And guffaws, trying to keep it down but not really succeeding.
Cheerilee tilts her head in the classic 'listening' pose towards Apple Bloom, with a distinct air of expecting something good about her. She doesn't seem to notice Snapdragon's exchange of picture, though does briefly glance over at Dinky when she starts laughing.
Snapdragon ducks her head, her ears splaying right out as she looks everywhere that is Not Dinky. She is not to blame. She has not been passing notes.
Dinky stuffs the drawing quickly into her desk. And keeps further spurts of laughter from escaping her cheeks. Which are soon rather puffed up.
"... She cares about everypony..." Apple Bloom says, continuing down her train of thought. At least she's not wrong so far. "And she's got this way of knowin' jus' what t'do when things go wrong... and..." Apple Bloom freezes. She is drawing a blank. A blank! Panic! PANIC! "... She's... she's... she's... she's... she's... she's... she's... she's... she's... she's... she's... she's... she's... she's... she's... she's... strawpy."
Cheerilee raises a single eyebrow. Strawpy. "Apple Bloom, did you DO your homework?" she asks, sounding suspiciously like she might end up having a talk to Applejack about misbehaving little foaldemons. "Because while Zecora IS vary caring, knowledgable, and strawp- I mean, stripy, it sounds like you just made the last one up, if not the other two also."
Dinky is tempted to raise her hoof to make a joke at Apple Bloom's expense, but she prefers to savor the moment and lowers it again.
Snapdragon starts mouthing 'she's' along with Apple Bloom, making the goofiest face she can as she does it, glancing over at Dinky now and again to see if she's noticing.
Oh, Dinky notices. She makes a screwed up puzzled face.
"O'course ah did! Ah'm readin' it... ah'm jus'... havin' trouble readin' mah own wrahtin'm" Apple Bloom says, holding her notebook this way and that. Thing is, the filly is quite the legible writer. But one can't get a lot of academic value out of 'cutie mark cutie mark cutie mark cutie mark cutie mark cutie mark cutie mark cutie mark cutie mark.' "Says rawt here she's strawpy!"
Snapdragon looks pleased with herself regardless. She's a comic genius with a biting with and an eye for incisive satire.
"How did you spell 'strawpy?' asks Dinky on a cruel whim.
"Dinky!" Cheerilee frowns briefly at the unicorn filly, then returns her frown to Apple Bloom. "I will be looking through your homework during recess, along with that of your classmates, so I do hope, for your sake, that you've done your work properly." She clears her throat, glances at the clock- ONLY NINE FIFTEEN?! COME ON! - and moves on. "Question four... Dinky, read out the question, Apple Bloom, your answer." Ahh, delegation.
Dinky clears her throat, disciplining herself. "Describe one of your ancestors: What did they do, what were they like, and how did their life affect your own? If it's someone you know, what do they mean to you? If it's someone you never knew, do you think you would have gotten along with them, and why?"
... Oh no. Oh no! Oh no.....! Apple Bloom's caught now. "Uh..." Her voice cracks. She's knows she is sunk. Disengage, disengage, disengage! The filly panicks and shouts, "S-Sweetie Belle ate all her crans!"
Snapdragon has done all /her/ homework. She looks quite pleased as she watches Apple Bloom panic.
"Hey, I didn't eat anything!" Sweetie Belle defensively declares. "... what are crans, anyway?"
"Cra-yoooons," Apple Bloom enunciates to Sweetie Belle. If she's going down, she's taking the CMC down in her sinking ship with her!
Dinky stands there, satisfied. Who says school is no fun? "Maybe cranberries?" she wonders back to Snapdragon.
Snapdragon looks back at Dinky, "Cranberries? Maybe! Maybe they're like raisins, but made with cranberries instead of grapes!"
"No, those are craisins," Dinky replies. Her mom wrote a song with those in it, that's how she knows.
Cheerilee facedesks. They're only on question four from last night's homework. Out of twenty. Today is going to be a very, very long day.
It takes Cheerilee exactly 0.049 seconds to take cover behind her desk. "Memoire?" she asks tentatively, poking her head out. "What IS that thing?"
Memoire Musique is about to open her mouth when the spider holds up a small sign. 'Hello! My Name is Archimedes! I am a Goliath Spider!' *flip* 'Please do not be alarmed, I am a friendly spider!'. "I found him in the Everfree forest!"
Cheerilee looks like she might faint. Or vomit. Or run away. Possibly all of the above. "What were you doing in the Everfree Forest?!" she exclaims in shock, rising up to her usual height, before spotting the spider and shrinking down again. "You know my rules on pets in class, Memoire. I'm afraid it will have to wait outside for you."
Memoire_Musique pouts and chitters at Archie, who gives a spidery nod and scuttles out a window and up into the belltower. "Sowwy... I was getting flowers!" she says, brandishing a bunch of brightly colored flowers. "Miss Fluttershy helped me pick them out!"
Once the spider is safely out of the classroom, Cheerilee visably relaxes and returns her attention to the young filly. "Well, if you're accompanied by a grown-up, that's okay," she replies, smiling warmly. "And they are some very lovely flowers, Memoire! Who are you going to give them to?"
Memoire Musique promptly waddles up to Cheerilee's desk and pops the flowers into a vase, then waddles back to her seat.
"Aww! That's really sweet of you, Memoire!" Cheerilee says brightly, before leaning close up to the bouquet and taking a deep sniff. She then scribbles something that looks suspiciously like an 'A' down on a piece of homework.
Memoire_Musique settling down at her desk, Memmy gets out her homework and double checks it with the rest of the class.
All business once more, the chirpy teacher starts reading through her notes. "You all were able to name three different capitals correctly... Almost all of you answered 'Who is the ruler of Equestria?' correctly; for those who got it wrong," a pointed look is given at a certain pink filly, "Diamond Tiara does NOT, in fact, rule Equestria."
Memoire Musique sticks a little hoof in the air. "Miss Cheerilee, is the Crystal Empire part of Equestria?"
"It is indeed, Memoire!" the eternally cheerful Cheerilee replies brightly. "Though it is ruled by Princess Cadance, it is still part of Equestria. An easy way to remember which areas are part of Equestria is to think of who participated in the Equestrian Games."
Alula shoots up her hoof with a question or comment. Her expression is concerned to match, tongue pressed against her lips.
Memoire_Musique thinks a bit... "Den why does we got four princesses? Why don't we gots any queens?" she asks. Then she notices Alula, and flinches a bit. "Sowwy."
"That's quite alright; I'll answer Memoire first, if that's okay, Alula," Cheerilee informs the latter, smiling brightly at her, before focusing her attention back at the DJ offspring. "The four princesses in Equestria both represent and, to an extent, govern an important element in the world. Princess Celestia is the sun, Princess Luna the moon, Princess Cadance love, and Princess Twilight the magic of friendship (tm). I could only theorise on why Princess Celestia is not Queen Celestia, however. Perhaps you can write to her and ask why she is titled 'Queen'?" An excited look comes into being. "That shall be your homework assignment for tonight, everypony! Each of you write a letter to Princess Celestia with a question for her, and I shall mail them off to her tomorrow."
Dinky slowly raises her hoof.
"Oh," the scattered-brained teacher adds, "You had a question, Alula? And then I shall get to yours, Dinky."
Dinky stews.
Alula grins snarkily at Dinky for a split second. "Miss Cheerilee, there were griffons in the Equestria Games! Does that mean the Griffon Kingdom is part of Equestria?"
"Both yes and no, Alulu." Cheerilee pulls down a handy map of Equestria from above the blackboard and points to a section of the map. "As griffons are widespread across the world, there are a number of different griffon settlements across it, and, as such, Equestria. Your question, Dinky?"
Dinky lowers her hoof just as slowly. "Princess Celestia came to my birthday party," she says. Not pointlessly, like some other empty filly might say. Instead, she continues: "And I'm friends with Princess Luna. Maybe instead of mailing her a bunch of letters she'll probably never read, I could take everyone's letters over to the palace and ask them everyone's questions in person, instead."
"I'm sure Princess Celestia would find time to read letters sent to her by her beloved subjects," Cheerilee counters sweetly, doing her best to try and not upset the delicate balance of nature that is Dinky. "Though we COULD potentially do a field trip to her castle in Canterlot to ask her the questions in person. Good idea, Dinky!" Ten points to Griffondor.
Memoire_Musique has been busily writing notes this whole time in that oddly neat handwriting... Her papa taught her well it seems. "What about Princess Twilight? Doesn't she live right here in town?'
Dinky is -so-not a Gryffindor.
Snapdragon looks up from just whatever it is she'd doing in the back row, drawing, or making pictures by erasing the pattern printed on the cover of her composition book, or whatever it is she's doing instead of paying attention, and chimes in, "My friend Rook Ramparts says that Twilight's title is only nominal." She looks back down at her desk, "Whatever /that/ means."
"Just remember she and Luna are on vacation this month," says a slightly startled Dinky. She looks over at Snapdragon, frowning, but doesn't respond.
Snapdragon doesn't notice the frown, so it's just as well. She's back to scribbling on a piece of paper with a purple crayon.
Oh dear, two at once. "PRINCESS Twilight," Cheerilee says, with a pointed look at Snapdragon, "May not govern any land, but neither does Princess Luna. Just as Princess Luna represents the night, Princess Twilight represents the magic of friendship. It IS how she was able to defeat Nightmare Moon, Discord, and Lord Tirek, after all."
Memoire Musique nodnods as she sticks out her tongue at Snapdragon. "Yeah! Twilight is BEST Book Princess!" she says, nyaaaaing.
Snapdragon rolls her eyes as she's rebuked. This is her standard reaction to verbal correction, no matter where it's from. Memorie gets a verbal response though, "Well, Princess Luna gave me a ton of candy!" No really, it was a literal ton.
Cheerilee clears her throat. "All of the princesses are fantastic in their own ways," she says, attempting to keep the peace. "Though Snapdragon is arguably right, considering the size of Princess Twilight's library and that she lived in Ponyville library for the best part of four years."
Alula's hoof goes up again.
Snapdragon looks placated, and maybe a bit triumphant.
Memoire Musique's eyes go wide. "That's a lot of candy!" she says, and looks down at the floor. "My papa doesn't let me have candy."
Cheerilee does not voice her personal opinion of the ex-chancellor, or his policies that lead to her mane catching fire and multiple explosions. "Yes, Alula?"
Apple Bloom is bored. Again. Her last two pages of notes have been filled with the phrase 'cutie mark' over and over again. It's been too long, she was supposed to have hers by now. She starts on a new page.
Beside the hayseed, Sweetie Belle has been keeping considerably more accurate notes, though occasionally punctuated with the odd 'dumb <X>'.
Snapdragon leans over towards Memorie, and whispers, sotto voce, "I'll let you have some candy if you want."
Alula asks, "Isn't Friendship a lot like Love? And if we only get four princesses, why are two of them about something so similar? I mean, even just with emotions there are so many other ones they can do. Why isn't there a princess of jealousy or a princess of getting really excited or a princess of sadness or boredom?"
Snapdragon glances up at Cheerilee to make sure that she didn't hear.
Dinky huhs. "That's actually kind of a good question."
Memoire_Musique perks up significantly and nuzles Snapdragon. "Just a little, please. I'm trying to stay healthy for papa," she says, looking quite serious.
"Or a princess'a cutie marks! Ah would love t'meet that princess!" Apple Bloom pipes in. She's got cutie marks on the head. So much effort for nothing.
Snapdragon looks left, then right to make sure the coast is clear, then passes Memorie a sucker. Not one of those lame ones either, but one with bubblegum at the center!
Why can't her foals ever ask her simple things, like the times table, what's safe to eat, or why is Diamond Tiara always such a- "Friendship is similar, but different to love," Cheerilee replies, apparently having not heard the hushed to-and-fro. "For instance, a father can love his son, while not getting along with him. While love can be deeply personal, it can also be more generic, such as the love one extends to a neighbour. A friendship is ALWAYS a deeply personal thing. The other potential elements you mentioned are either inappropriate or not important enough to have a princess made for them, Alulu. Snapdragon, no giving out candy in class."
Alula seems unsatisfied, but doesn't press the subject. She looks over at the other foals. "Someone's got candy?" she asks, thus demonstrating why you don't give out candy in class.
Memoire_Musique happily flutters her wings as she noms the sucker... Of course, with her recent training, this kicks up as small whirlwind that sprays straw across the classroom. "Whoops.
"Why in't there a Princess of Spiders?" asks Snips, getting into the thing. Or maybe he just senses that they're getting on Cheerilee's nerves.
Snapdragon wrinkles her nose, and grumbles something about The Mare always trying to keep ponies down.
"Because spiders are grossy, icky, and are not a vital element of life, such as love, friendship, light, or darkness," Cheerilee replies, before promptly getting a mouthfull of hay. "Mf affl mf mn."
Dinky repeats after Cheerilee in disbelief, pausing in her sporadic notetaking. "Love, friendship, light... and -darkness?-" Which of these things is not like the others?
Memoire_Musique's wings snap to her sides. "Sowwy... Mister Virga's teachin' me, and I don't got so good control. And MEMMY is princess of spiders!" she claims loudly.
Snapdragon opens her mouth to be contrary, and talk about how her friend said that spiders catch horse flys and mosquitos, but all that gets out is an "awwwk!" as she gets a mouthfull of straw too. Ew!
"Wait... darkness. Is there a cutie mark in darkness?" And this goes in her notebook. "Darkness." There have to be ideas in there somewhere!
Alula wipes the straw off her desk. "Wait. Is that allowed? For a \first grader\ to be a princess?"
Oh sweet Celestia. "No, there is no cutie mark in darkness," Cheerilee aims at Apple Bloom, after spitting out the hay from her mouth, "Spiders are still icky," she throws at Memoire, "by darkness, I meant more the importance of night rather than anything sinister," she lobs at Dinky, "And, despite Memoire's AND Diamond Tiara's claims to the contrary, no-one in this class is a princess," she concludes at Alulua.
Snapdragon grumbles quietly, "I'm a princess."
Dinky sits patiently, waiting to keep taking notes, a frustrated scowl on her face. Only Dinky can be patient and frustrated at the same time.
After waiting for a few moments to make sure she does, in fact, finally have peace, Cheerilee announces, "... question three of last night's homework, you each had to name an unrelated person in Equestria that you idolise, along with three facts about them. Who would like to go first?"
Dinky sits in taut stillness.
Apple Bloom has gone back to writing 'cutie mark' over and over again, screening out Cheerilee.
Snapdragon is more absorbed in drawing her picture than ever. She's swapping crayons like a mad mare.
"No takers?" Cheerilee asks, sounding a little disappointed. "Very well. Dinky, then Apple Bloom, then Snapdragon." Delegation!
Snapdragon hears her name and looks up suddenly, her eyes big, her expression innocent. She has no idea what's going on.
Dinky looks appalled. "You didn't say we were going to be reading these out loud!" she objects, holding up a creased essay written with a quill pen on wide-ruled paper.
<OOC> Snapdragon shows off the picture she's been drawing. She is the most clever unicorn ever! It's just too bad she can't actually magic like that.
Cheerilee raises a surprised eyebrow at the intensely grumpy filly, before asks, "What ever's the problem, Dinky? I've had students reads out answers before."
Dinky huffs quietly, half to herself. She slaps the paper angrily on the desk. "It's just kind of personal, you know? Idolizing. It's like saying, I wish I were like you, instead of being like me. If that isn't personal I don't know what is."
"'Re y'all sayin' y'all admawr Cheerilee?" Apple Bloom pipes up. She seems to have picked up on part of what Dinky's saying.
Cheerilee's expression is somewhere between ponderance and a frown. Eventually, she nods, however. "It's a pity you don't want to share, but I understand, if you feel-" Her frown takes over and focuses upon the hayseed. "Apple Bloom, you know it's not okay to tease other students. It's your turn to tell the class who your idol is and three facts about them."
"Of course I admire Cheerilee," grumbles Dinky back in a half-voice. "But I didn't write about her, that would just be dumb."
Snapdragon is staring at Dinky, a small frown on her face. She makes a decision, and pipes up, out of turn, "Well, *I* wrote about Green Jello. He's the singer for the Dead Kolts and he's /totally rad/! He sings about stuff that matters and doesn't afraid of /anything/!"
"Sure," says Dinky, "but how punk rock is he?"
Snapdragon narrows her eyes, and tells Dinky without any irony at all in her voice, "SO punk rock."
Apple Bloom stands up, walking past Dinky, casually snatching the paper right from Dinky, then opens the paper to read. "Don't be such a baby."
"Oh, you're a Deadite too?" Cheerilee asks Snapdragon excitedly, her eyes lighting up... and then that frown coming back. "Apple Bloom, no swiping! Give that Dinky her homework back."
Dinky jerks her head toward Apple Bloom, but sits there blinking in shock otherwise.
Snapdragon's excitement cools just a touch as Cheerilee expresses her interest in the band, "Oh, well, they're /okay/ I guess, Day Glo Horseapples are.. Hey!" She has noticed that Apple Bloom has taken Dinky's paper, "HEY! That's /not/ cool!" She's standing up.
"'Mah hero Dusk...'" Apple Bloom starts, then clears her throat. "'D'rector'o th'Magic Research Center. He's so patient an' understandin' even fer ponies that treat Dinky bad... he done invented th'silver magical-enhancin' crystals... and that there pony works with Chance on luck magic and tawm..." Apple Bloom frowns. Then giggles. "'Ah wish ah could learn more from Mr. Duck is ah'd only let mahself.' What kawnda closin's thait? Y'sound lawk yer some scared lil filly, jus' walk up t'him an' ask t'learn!"
Dinky's blush drive is going into afterburn mode. She leaps up and swipes the paper back, enraged, only realizing afterward that she's standing on Apple Bloom's desk.
"APPLE BLOOM!" Cheerilee marches across the class room and comes to a halt before the hayseed's desk. "For that act of spitefulness, you have detention! AND you must write me a five hundred word essay on what you did wrong, to be handed in tomorrow morning! And get off the desk!" Without waiting for a response, the teacher turns to Dinky, whispers something in her ear, and then starts walking back to the front of the classroom.
Cheerilee whispers, "You can go outside and have an extra break, if you want some time to calm down." to Dinky.
Snapdragon sits back down, and stares in impotant anger at the back of Apple Bloom's head. She considers throwing a jaw breaker at her.
Apple Bloom glances down, noticing she's on her desk with Dinky. She hops down and takes her seat. "Yes, Ms. Cheerilee."
Dinky jerks stiffly, her tail falling in line. Her blush resurges for a moment as he hops off the desk. She gives Apple Bloom a brief glare, looks lost for a minute, and then returns to her desk. Looking scared.
Alula speaks up softly to her neighbors. "I didn't think there was anypony Dinky liked."
Upon returning behind the safety of her desk, Cheerilee glances over at Dinky with a small amount of concern, before staring imperiously over to Apple Bloom. "As you seemed so eager to share, Apple Bloom, please read out your answers to question three."
Snapdragon busies herself drawing another picture. It doesn't take her much time, and when she's done she folds it into quarters, glances up at Cheerilee, and when the coast is clear she passes it to Dinky.
Apple Bloom stares blankly for a moment, then looks down at her 'cutie mark' filled notebook. Then she decides she screwed up and will have to wing it! Ha ha! The filly stands up, grabbing her notebook and pretends to read. "Mah most admawred pony is... uh..." Apple Bloom has a think. "... Zecora." Actually, not a bad choice. "Because... um..."
Dinky's shocked deer-in-the-glow-lamp look is interrupted by the arrival of a drawing on her desk. And then she chortles. And guffaws, trying to keep it down but not really succeeding.
Cheerilee tilts her head in the classic 'listening' pose towards Apple Bloom, with a distinct air of expecting something good about her. She doesn't seem to notice Snapdragon's exchange of picture, though does briefly glance over at Dinky when she starts laughing.
Snapdragon ducks her head, her ears splaying right out as she looks everywhere that is Not Dinky. She is not to blame. She has not been passing notes.
Dinky stuffs the drawing quickly into her desk. And keeps further spurts of laughter from escaping her cheeks. Which are soon rather puffed up.
"... She cares about everypony..." Apple Bloom says, continuing down her train of thought. At least she's not wrong so far. "And she's got this way of knowin' jus' what t'do when things go wrong... and..." Apple Bloom freezes. She is drawing a blank. A blank! Panic! PANIC! "... She's... she's... she's... she's... she's... she's... she's... she's... she's... she's... she's... she's... she's... she's... she's... she's... strawpy."
Cheerilee raises a single eyebrow. Strawpy. "Apple Bloom, did you DO your homework?" she asks, sounding suspiciously like she might end up having a talk to Applejack about misbehaving little foaldemons. "Because while Zecora IS vary caring, knowledgable, and strawp- I mean, stripy, it sounds like you just made the last one up, if not the other two also."
Dinky is tempted to raise her hoof to make a joke at Apple Bloom's expense, but she prefers to savor the moment and lowers it again.
Snapdragon starts mouthing 'she's' along with Apple Bloom, making the goofiest face she can as she does it, glancing over at Dinky now and again to see if she's noticing.
Oh, Dinky notices. She makes a screwed up puzzled face.
"O'course ah did! Ah'm readin' it... ah'm jus'... havin' trouble readin' mah own wrahtin'm" Apple Bloom says, holding her notebook this way and that. Thing is, the filly is quite the legible writer. But one can't get a lot of academic value out of 'cutie mark cutie mark cutie mark cutie mark cutie mark cutie mark cutie mark cutie mark cutie mark.' "Says rawt here she's strawpy!"
Snapdragon looks pleased with herself regardless. She's a comic genius with a biting with and an eye for incisive satire.
"How did you spell 'strawpy?' asks Dinky on a cruel whim.
"Dinky!" Cheerilee frowns briefly at the unicorn filly, then returns her frown to Apple Bloom. "I will be looking through your homework during recess, along with that of your classmates, so I do hope, for your sake, that you've done your work properly." She clears her throat, glances at the clock- ONLY NINE FIFTEEN?! COME ON! - and moves on. "Question four... Dinky, read out the question, Apple Bloom, your answer." Ahh, delegation.
Dinky clears her throat, disciplining herself. "Describe one of your ancestors: What did they do, what were they like, and how did their life affect your own? If it's someone you know, what do they mean to you? If it's someone you never knew, do you think you would have gotten along with them, and why?"
... Oh no. Oh no! Oh no.....! Apple Bloom's caught now. "Uh..." Her voice cracks. She's knows she is sunk. Disengage, disengage, disengage! The filly panicks and shouts, "S-Sweetie Belle ate all her crans!"
Snapdragon has done all /her/ homework. She looks quite pleased as she watches Apple Bloom panic.
"Hey, I didn't eat anything!" Sweetie Belle defensively declares. "... what are crans, anyway?"
"Cra-yoooons," Apple Bloom enunciates to Sweetie Belle. If she's going down, she's taking the CMC down in her sinking ship with her!
Dinky stands there, satisfied. Who says school is no fun? "Maybe cranberries?" she wonders back to Snapdragon.
Snapdragon looks back at Dinky, "Cranberries? Maybe! Maybe they're like raisins, but made with cranberries instead of grapes!"
"No, those are craisins," Dinky replies. Her mom wrote a song with those in it, that's how she knows.
Cheerilee facedesks. They're only on question four from last night's homework. Out of twenty. Today is going to be a very, very long day.