ORP - Phonyland Elementary - Open!

[theCorniest]

As he sat down, Fab blew a loud, wet raspberry at the red foal's sarcastic question - and without lacerating his tongue, quite a remarkable feat considering the sharp edges his mouth had.

Friend-Ship jumped in his seat and turned his worried, wide-eyed gaze to the red and grey unicorn. "Am I... ? Nooo," he started slowly, "I'm - I'm just an earth phony. My wings are... a manufacturing defect, I guess," he said, giving them a helpless flutter. "Too small to be useful."

He blinked a few rapid, nervous blinks at the red colt before thinking to ask, "Umm, what's your name?"  

[Kitomyx]

Eyes widening at the rude, immature display, Hard Truths had every intention of going back there and giving the pegasus a piece of his mind.

"Let me guess. You only speak French and Stupid." He would have done and said more, but by then the pale phony was speaking to him.

Turning about to respond to him, Truths noticed how nervous he seemed. Recalling how he'd nearly scared off the last shy foal he'd met, the unicorn took a deep breath and made an effort to calm both himself and the gruffness of his tone.

"I see," he answered. "They don't seem so much a defect as ornamental. Besides, I think wings are overrated anyway." He nodded behind them to where Mooncake sat. "Pancake there and his brother, Paperweight, can tell you about it. I'm betting their wings are so delicate it's more of a hindrance to them making sure they're out of harm's way than anything else."

Upon being asked his name, however, he hesitated. "I'm Hard Truths," he stated. "And you are...?"  

[Scaramouche Fandango]

Taters grinned at the earth colt next to her. He seemed to be a cool dude. "Po-TAY-Toes, but you can call me Tater. Everybody does!" She was going to tell him how much she liked school, but the imminent drama between the red unicorn and the other creamy pegasus looked like an interesting conflagration about to start. "I like school just fine," she finally said. "Lots to learn- and lots to WATCH, from the looks of these two. Do you know him?"

Niner waved at two phonies he knew. Fab and Shipper, fun blokes the both of 'em. If either of them wanted to sit next to him, that wouldn't be so bad.  

[The Semblance of Unity]

Tater's smile was like a shot of sugar to the colt, and he summoned up one to match it. It was somehow so much easier to hide his utter fatigue around nice phonies. ...Po-TAY-toes was a bit of an odd name though. He agreed with her, to a certain extent, nodding his head mechanically, much like a bobble-headed doll. Although sometimes, he hated learning tings he felt he would never use. But Taters' voice was nice and smooth; he could listen to it for a while.

"Weellll," Acid said slowly, drawing out the syllable needlessly. "The red dude is Hard Truths. He's really a good guy, if a bit misunderstood. He's just far too blunt. The two fluttery phonies are hmm Moon something and Lantern? I can't recall. I don't know anyone else here, though." Acid nodded matter-of-factly and called out a greeting to Hard Truths. If it came to an argument, Acid would step up for Truths, no question.  

[theCorniest]

Fab wrinkled his nose at the insult, but held himself back from giving one of his own. "Let 'im think what he wants," he muttered darkly to himself, moving to a seat that was both farther away from the red unicorn and next to Warp Nine.

"Good morning, Niner. I'm sorry you 'ad to witness ze jealousy of a lesser man for my knowledge, grace and charm." He ran a hoof through his hair, and spoke with the practiced calm of one with many irritating siblings. His thickening accent may have betrayed his anger, but there was no need to be uncouth in the schoolhouse.

That could wait until recess, or perhaps until after school.

It was growing somewhat obvious to Friend-Ship that he had managed to sit himself next to the class bully. Nobody else would toss an insult like that for so little offense, right? He decided the best thing he could do to keep everyone out of trouble was to keep the unicorn occupied.

"I - suppose they could be," he floundered. "Never thought of it that way, but they... are kinda cute, I guess." He glanced at his wings as the red colt continued.

"I dunno, flying seems like a fair reward for taking care of your wings. Er, nice to meet you two," he added as an aside to the foals apparently named Paperweight and Pancake - decidedly odd names.

He hesitated himself after the introduction, but, with unexpected seriousness and resolve, solemnly offered a hoof for a shake. "My name is Friendship," he said, mistakenly failing to pronounce the hyphen. "Its nice to meet you."  

[Kitomyx]

Ear swerving, Hard Truths couldn't help scowling at the accented words of the haughty pegasus. "'Grace and charm' my phony butt," he grumbled, though with the teacher around (watching them with her creepy, twinkling eyes) he wasn't about to do anything rash. Still, he would have to keep an eye out for that one.

Acid's greeting caught his attention and he raised a hoof in a return greeting hesitantly, still feeling somewhat uncomfortable with the green colt's open friendliness toward him. It made him feel odd.

He nodded faintly in absent agreement in regards to the pale pony with the vestigial wings. "I'm sure that was what your manufacturers had in mind. No need to think so little of yourself."

"Right, right...'weight', 'lantern'; same difference," Truths replied to the flutter, waving a hoof carelessly before returning to his conversation with the pale colt. "And I suppose you're right about flight being a reward. I'm just not sure it's a reward all phonies with wings deserve." He tried hard not to glance the rude pegasus' way. Suddenly, though, he was presented with the other foal's hoof and appeared to be caught off-guard, as if he had never expected another phony to show him such politeness.

After a moment he recomposed himself and returned the hoof-shake. "'Friendship', is it?" he repeated, casting the other an amused half-smile. "Your makers certainly did have something special in mind when making you, didn't they?"

And then the teacher was stomping her hoof. Hard Truths looked over instinctively - oh god, those eyes - and promptly averted his gaze to the ground in front of her. Ugh, why did they have to have this phony for a teacher?  

[cursedandwandering]

Mooncake scowled as it reached his ears that the awful phony known as Hard Truths was not only harassing others, but also seemingly intentionally giving other phonies incorrect information as to his and his brother's names. His wings twitched as he glanced up from his book to stare at the poor unfortunate phony that had the misfortune of sitting next to Truths.

"It's Mooncake." He sniffed and glanced towards his brother with a small frown, practically pleading for his sibling to back him up if it came to it. Fortunately the teacher was ready to start class, a welcome distraction from Truths.  

[The Semblance of Unity]

Acid clopped his hooves up on the desk, awaiting the teacher. He snuck glances at the other phonies as he waited. A chuckle escaped his mouth. "Truths, those names are very close at all! Have you got a bad memory?" Truths was a little behind him and he leaned his head back to talk, purple and white mane sliding along his chair. Unfortunately, leaning back in his chair was a bad idea, and he overbalanced and crashed over rather dramatically. Papers floated around his head as he stood and shook himself.

Quickly, sheepishly, he righted his chair and tried to slink back into it, avoiding the eyes of other phonies. He could feel his own cheeks darkening in a blush. "S-sorry," he mumbled. What a great first impression: tired and clumsy!  

[Scaramouche Fandango]

Taters waved over at Hard Truths and the two flutterbrothers. She was going to introduce herself when the earth colt's chair fell over. leaned down to help Acid Beat pick up his fallen papers. gave an excited little wiggle as the books flew around the room. Her pile looked the best- who else got books with pictures of delicious food on the cover? And a whole book about potatoes! There was no way the teacher could have found THAT easily. She made a mental note to thank her after class. She made a grab for the potato book as it was levitated back out of her reach, but was soon distracted by the test. She pulled out her pencils and her variety of whimsically-shaped erasers before propping her head up with one foreleg and starting to scribble down answers. Reading and writing were easy for her, and she had her basic maths under control. Still, that was no cause to rush through things! She took her time, slowly and diligently, all the while trying not to think about lunch.


Niner waved a hoof in the air. "Eh, could be worse. I mean, he didn't actually punch you or something. Or throw a spitball at you. That would have stuck in your hair." Niner's mom had convinced him that wearing his space suit to school would be a bad idea, so for once in his life, he wasn't a fashion disaster. As the tests came flying out, he rolled his eyes good-humoredly. Ahh, school. He started working on his paper, occasionally taking a break to doodle Borg cubes. They were the easiest ship to draw.  

[Kitomyx]

Acting as if he hadn't heard Mooncake, Truths cast Acid a wry smirk - at least until the green foal fell over. The unicorn then got up to help his classmate pick up his papers without the use of magic. This brought him close enough to Acid to ask in a hushed voice, "Are you alright? You don't seem yourself today."

The exceedingly friendly-seeming pegasus filly kind of unnerved Truths as most blindly nice and kind phonies and gestures did. He always had to wonder why. Why were they so nice? Did they want something from him? Or were they just one of those obnoxious phonies who thought everyone was their best friend? Well, he could figure that out later. He imagined there would be plenty of time for that in the future and, in the meantime, at least she was treating Acid well so far.

Niner's voice carried to him from the back as he spoke to the pegasus colt with the serrated mouth. Hmm...punch him? No, far too uncouth. Words often stung worse, anyway. As for spitballs, if the concept of how they were created weren't so disgusting, the unicorn thought that might have been fun to see. Not a bad idea. Maybe he could get something else stuck in that French freak's mane...

Truths was distracted somewhat by Glory's 'bookworm' display, wondering if and when the books that came to orbit their heads would fall down and hit them. It unnerved him and he frowned. How could she keep so many levitated at once? But as some books began to land on desks, he found there were other things to worry about.

"What?" Truths cried. "What about the Earth phonies? Do they simply have less work?" As he watched, though, books pertaining to what he assumed was the foals' talents landed on their desks. The unicorns and pegasai were included in this distribution as well, however, and Truths found this somewhat unfair. Still, he had to admire and wonder how Morning Glory knew just what books to give each phony. Some were obvious by names and natures, but others he wasn't sure. "How do you know...?" He had no idea that he and Friend-Ship were the only phonies without parents and stared, dumbfounded, at the Cutie Mark books on their desks. He decided he'd ask how she knew about the others' interests when he went up to see her as instructed by the post-it.

When all the things were in order, Hard Truths had to admit he was impressed with their teacher's magic skills. He assured himself he would one day manage to do the same, even if he had to practice extensively outside of school. His thoughts were interrupted by the test booklet that had settled itself before him, however, and he scrutinized it. Interesting. This was really a no-nonsense mare; straight to business. Well, that was just fine with him. As long as it didn't involve having to be excessively nice to other phonies, he was determined to give it all he had - this test and school in general.

The loophole in her language regarding tests and quizzes also earned the admiration of Hard Truths. It had been a clever and honest remark. Perhaps if he could get over her disturbing gaze, she wouldn't be such a bad teacher after all. Silently, he took out a simple pencil and began to fill out the test as best he could.  

[theCorniest]

"Spitballs are spat from straws -" he began, but stopped as Mme. Glory called the room to order and - oh merde, that was entirely too many books. Subject after subject piled their terrible weight upon his soul... although those last few looked interesting. He was about to leaf through one when it was whisked away again (Fab may have squawked in dismay, but that would have been completely uncool).

And then the quizzes were passed out, and Fab officially gave up the day as a lost cause. He grimly readied his pencil and began. The reading and writing gave him some trouble, but the math seemed easy enough.

Friend-Ship was excited about the stack of books on his desk. As far as he knew, within these pages lay the secrets of adulthood, everything he would need to know to get his cutie mark, grow up and become a functional member of society. He didn't think about it quite in those terms, but that is generally what students are led to believe.

He didn't have long to puzzle over the note on the cutie mark book before they all flew into the air again (this being his first major exposure to magic, he was suitably awed) and placed themselves in a cubby on the side of the room. Then the quizzes were passed out, and Friend-Ship thought he might, too. He hadn't even learned anything yet! This was going to be a disaster, he just knew it!

Well, the reading and writing bits weren't so bad, at least. Of course he knew how to do that! The math questions took him a long time, but he made sure to show all his work. There was still a little time left when he finished, so he flipped back to the stories in the reading section and reread a few choice bits.  

[The Semblance of Unity]

How embarrassing! Acid thanked Truths and Taters sheepishly. "I'm just.... really tired. I'll be... fine. I think." His words were a little slower than normal, blurred somehow. Acid shot Truths a wobbly smile and wiggled his nose. The desk was hard and he had clipped his snout on it most thoroughly. At least the staining ensured he wouldn't be falling asleep asleep in class anytime soon.

Acid gave an inward groan as the word 'quiz' was mentioned. He was far too exhausted for this. Despite his painful nose, he could feel sleep weighing down his eyelids like so much lead. Morning Glory's voice was like a rich blue, reminding him of nighttime and lazy breezes. He stifled a yawn. There was just no way he could ace an quiz like this! Acid was normally relatively bright, inquisitive and full of unneeded knowledge. But today... today was fuzzy and unfocused, like a broken camera.

But what would happen if he got a bad grade on this?! His blue eyes slid over the floating books, a flicker of interest igniting cyan depths at the books specifically for him. He glanced at Tater's desk, the bright young pegasus seemed geared up to go. Acid fished out a pencil of his own. Interestingly enough, he could see the entirety of Tater's desk and a sneaky thought slipped into his mind. She seemed smart enough, and he'd be able to see her quiz. Surely, it wouldn't hurt... just this once?  

[Scaramouche Fandango]

Taters was being extremely careful on her test. It wouldn't do to screw it up, and she was making pretty good progress. She flipped her paper over, brushing eraser crumbs from her desk. Yes, she'd have this done and then be ready to eat! Lunch was going to be so awesome. Especially that brownie. Dotted with chocolate chips and thick, gooey salted caramel, with just a hint of mocha in the batter. It would have made her father proud.

But then something caught her eye- a quick flicker in her peripheral vision. A flash of green, maybe? She shot a darting glance back around her, but her classmates were all engrossed in their own work. Must have been a figment of her overactive imagination.

Niner shook his head at Fab. "Thrown, spat, what's the difference? They'll still mess up your mane," he whispered, knowing that he had a legitimate point here. He returned to the test before their teacher could call them out for talking.

The Semblance of Unity

Figured it'd be easier to quote you, since this is their story arc!