[Sorry guys!!!] The next morning, the ponies were awakened by a loudly chiming bell. As they filed out into the hall, rubbing their eyes sleepily, they were greeted by Ms. Mellow. She stood straight and silently, waiting for them all to pile out, and lead them to the cafeteria. Smells of oatmeal and fruit wafted through the air delightfully. After the fillies found their seats, Ms. Mellow cleared her throat. "Once you finish your meals, you will each be escorted to your personal attendants, who will interview you and see what classes will suit you best. You have 20 minutes to eat." She fell silent, sitting at another table to eat her own meal.
Star didn't eat. She never ate. Instead she just talked to the tables and chairs. "So then mister chair, how are you? Me? Oh I am just wonderfull! Have I met you before? I belive I did! You used to live in Canterlot! What are you doing here? Whats that? You lost your home? WELL YOU CAN ALWAYS TALK TO ME!"
Fernleaf somberly brought a spoon up to her mouth and sipped the soup they had been given to break their fast with. She purposefully sat next to Cherry to she could attempt and make up for last night. "Hey, Fruit Bowl..." she said after swallowing another gulp, "About yesterday..." Fernleaf hesitated. She wasn't good at making mistakes, therefore making up for them was even harder. "I'm sorry about the 'loony bin' comment. If it makes it any better, I'm pretty sure there's something wrong with me. I'm determined to find out what it is by the end of today!" Fernleaf announced, with more conviction than before. Wait, she was just reassuring herself, this was no apology! "Yeah, I'm really sorry..."
Silver sat down at the table next to Cherry and grimaced at his oatmeal. He hated oatmeal. It tasted fine, sure, but...all the oats in it...ugh. They were all arranged completely randomly. He began to organize them on his plate, each oat individually, evenly spaced, and completely devoid of glop.
Ultra sat across from Silver, who was picking at his oatmeal. After taking a hearty bite of her own, she leaned forward to see what he was doing with them. "Oooh, oatmeal art!" She said grinning. She assumed he was hoovepainting with the gloop, and piecing together a picture with the grains of oats, so she thought it'd be quite helpful if she added a bit of magic. Her horn glowed softly, her aura surrounding the oats, and they floated into the air in front of Silver. They started spinning around, until at last the dripping grains formed a smiling face. She giggled loudly. *** Toxic decided to sit near Star Trender, who seemed to be talking to her chair. She stared at the strange pony for a second, taking a bite of her juicy berries. "Um, Star... you know, you should eat. Who knows what we'll need our energy for today?" She said softly.
Silver watched his hard work go down the drain, metaphorically. He sighed and his head hit the table with a very audible BANG.
Sonicbeat sat wherever a seat was open, not looking around at the others. She had been looking at the food with an odd expression, something between hatred and being scared. What she saw, was some bubbling mess, of course, the others wouldn't see it, it would just be normal oatmeal to them, but she didn't know that. And what she heard, was something in the back of her head, like multiple ponies wispering the word poison. Suddenly a loud bang broke her out of her trance and she looked over at Silver. "Uhh... You alright?" She asked, then looked back at the oatmeal, it now perfectly fine. With a sigh, she began to eat, only having about ten minutes left.(Yay longest post yet... for me OwO)
Star shrugged then took a bite out of a flower on the table. "There! Oops! Sorry! I should continue my conversation with Mr.Chair!" She turned back towards the chair and began whispering stuff to it.
"No," mumbled Silver, depression coming across strongly in his voice. "The whole world is just one big disorganized mess. Either that or I'm crazy, and if I'm not, I will be soon." He spoke with great bitterness.
Sonicbeat shook her head. "Nah, your not crazy, and yes the world is disorganized." She had a problem pronouncing the word. "But maybe you could just try not to fix it for once? Just pretend that it's organised." SHe felt proud of herself, though that might not make much sense to anypony else.
Silver looked at her wearily. "It's just...ugh. It doesn't work that way. I can't just...ignore it..." He lowered his forehead to the table again, his horn scraping against the tablecloth.
Ultra frowned, feeling rather bad for making the other pony sad. "I'm sorry about messing up your food. Does it really bother you that bad when things are.. messy? I love it!" She couldn't help but summon a bright array of swirling colors that spun around Silver's head. They faded away quickly, but the air still sparkled faintly. "My parents always said I was crazy," she said quietly. "I just can't stop.. seeing things.." *** Toxic continues to eat, staring at the other pony strangely. "Star? Uh, Star? My chair is just a chair. Won't you talk to me?" She gave her a bright, friendly smile.
Star shrugged. "Okayz. So... Watz you name? Sorriez I waz talking about how the Quadratic formula and Starz have so, much in common!" Her mane changed to a brighter colour as well as her eyes. She held a nice smile with her.
Ultra couldn't help but giggle loudly from behind her hooves. Ms. Mellow cast an evil stare at the loud noise. *** Toxic grinned even wider, glad to have a response. And an intelligent one at that! "Quadratic formula, eh? I love math. You know that the forumal natal chart marks the positions of all the stars, in accordance with each other and the major planets!"
Star smiled. She jumped a bit in her seat out of excitment. She met someone who she could talk to about stars! "Yes! I love Stars! My Pappy named me after them because they are my friends!"
Toxic Rain winked. "You're as pretty as them too!" she said, trying her hardest to make friends. "I don't know a lot about them, only enough to help me with my science. I'm called Toxic, because I like chemicals." She bobbed her head happily, her neon green mane swinging.
Mango Tango stuck her tongue out at the oatmeal placed before her. "Ugh. Strawberry Cream, you eat it." "Ew! Now way. Let Lemon Lime eat all the boring, gross, icky, nasty-wasty gobbledy-gook!" "It's not nasty-wasty, Strawberry. It's healthy and can be quite delicious." Lemon Lime took a bite and grimaced. "This, unfortuantely, isn't..." She took another bite anyway. She knew that if any if the others had their way, there'd be oatmeal all over creation. It was then that she noticed Fernleaf and listened to her apology. Jelly Jam took a bite of her oatmeal and replied somberly, "It's okay. I know you're right. I over-reacted yesterday. I know I'm not real... I just don't want to admit it." Mango spat out the oatmeal and slammed her hooves on the table. "Oh, come on, Jelly Jam! You're just as real as any of us! Tell her, Fern!"
"But of course!" Fernleaf shouted, a little bit too loud. She blushed and put a hoof over her mouth. "Yes, yes of course you're real. You have your own name, you have your own personality, you are you. You're all as real as possible, you're just not..." she thought a moment. "...Tangible. Yes, we can't actually touch you, but you're still real. Like ghosts! You can't touch a ghost, but it's still there!'
