private Slice of School (1x1 with Reality Check)

[Reality Check 645]

Once Skylight led them to Sugarcube Corner, The kirin and changeling just simply marvelled at how it looks. RC on the other hand has already seen plenty of intricate designs during his time as an artists, so the structure didn't phase him much.

Once inside Sugarcube Corner, the smell of pastries and baked goods hit their noses almost instantly. It caused some of them to salivate a little, but they pressed on nonetheless. Skylight soon rung the bell as Pinkie popped up.

"I'm down for tasting some of these." The kirin said, soon followed up by the changeling. "Me too! They're baked with so much love that I could taste them!"

"Ok you two, we can save the pastries for later." Reality told them. "But that aside, is there any tasks you got for us? Like the baking you just mentioned?"

[Skylight Scintillate]

"Yeah I'm pretty sure baking with others is on the list. For some reason, doing the shopping for Sugarcube Corner is also on the list," Skylight said, reading from his notes.

"Oh yeah the delivery ponies messed up the delivery this morning, so could you get some of the supplies I need to bake?" Pinkie Pie asked. She handed the group a list.

"Let's see, chips, soda, a cup of sour, and wheat worms?" Skylight asked, looking at the list.

[Reality Check 645]

"Supplies huh? Well, I could transform into anything. Maybe I can do the heavy-lifting." The changeling suggested, thinking he might be able to help with the task with his species' natural ability.

As they got the list and Skylight read it out loud, they were pretty confused. Reality looks at the list of ingredients for himself and was immediately weirded out by it. "What kind of baked goods uses these sort of ingredients? Especially wheat worms?!" RC asks back with a ton of skepticism

[Skylight Scintillate]

"Oh wait, that isn't baked goods! That's Applejack's baked bads recipe. I wanted to see if any of you would notice that. Here are the real recipes!" Pinkie Pie said, laughing as she grabbed the recipe out of Skylight's magical aurora and handed him a book. "Pick a recipe, go get the ingredients, and then we will bake it together," Pinkie Pie explained.

"Let's see, we have red velvet cake, carrot cake, strawberry shortcake, pineapple upside down cake, pumpkin spice cake, vanilla cake, chocolate cake, cheesecake, sponge cake, pound cake... There are a lot of recipes in here. What do you think we should do? Suggest something and I'll copy down the recipe and we can go get the ingredients," Skylight said, pulling out the magical spell he learned yesterday.

"Well it doesn't really matter to me because they all taste like love..." The changeling said.

"Oh my gosh! So many options! Why did you have to provide so many options? I would never to able to make up my mind!" the kirin said. Skylight and the changeling both glanced over to RC to see what choice he would make.

Once RC made his decision, Pinkie Pie would hand over the bits needed. "I suggest you get your supplies from the Ponyville marketplace!" Pinkie Pie said with a wave.

"Alright, how do you suggest we get the supplies?" Skylight said.

[Reality Check 645]

Looking over the list of recipes, there were many different kinds, ranging from simple to complicated. Needless to say, there were a lot of baked stuff they could make. "Maybe we should try somwthing simple, since I get the sense not all of us have baked a cake before." RC suggested. As Skylight readed the list, he thought about which is the best recipe for them to do.

"I think chocolate cake is simple enough, let's go with that." Reality suggested. As soon as he did, Pinkie handed the bits needed as they head off to the marketplace.

The marketplace was crowded with ponies and a few other different creatures. There also aren't a lot of signs, so they have to fly up just to see what they're selling. "We should split the list into two, that'll help get the stuff we need faster." RC spoke. "Skylight, you can go with the changeling, while I'll go with the kirin. And I just realized neither of you have told us your names yet." The unicorn looked to the two, wondering about their names

[Skylight Scintillate]

"Oh I'm Forest Flame and this here is Tibia. I guess we kind of forgot to introduce ourselves," The kirin said, introducing herself and the changeling to RC and Skylight.

"Hmm, well I suppose it would make sense to split up to get all the ingredients. Let's meet back up here at Sugarcube Corner once we get our half of the ingredients. We can get flour, milk, oil, and eggs from Sweet Apple Acres. That means that sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, salt, and vanilla extract will have to be obtained from the stores or stands here," Skylight explained, splitting the list into two.

"Oh, I want to take a look at the stores around Ponyville!" Forest Flame exclaimed.

"Sure, then I can lead Tibia to Sweet Apple Acres," Skylight replied.

"So what made you decide to join the school of friendship?" Skylight asked as the pair split off from the other pair and started walking towards Sweet Apple Acres.

~~~

"Oh my gosh, I'm so excited! Where do we begin?" Forest Flame said, practically bouncing up and down.

[Reality Check 645]

Once the groups were settled, they split up to fetch the ingredients they're looking for. Skylight went with Tibia to Sweet Apple Acres; Reality went with Forest Flame around Ponyville. Soon after, RC and Forest were in the market place, looking around for sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, salt, and vanillia extract.

After Forest raised her question, RC tried remembering some locations for some clues. That's when he thought of a place that might sell baking supplies. "A lot of these ingredients are dry and it looks like the marketplace had mostly vegetables. Maybe we can start with Barnyard Bargins? It did look like those supermarkets back at home." He suggested.

[Skylight Scintillate]

The walk to Sweet Apple Acres wasn't that far, and finding Applejack was pretty easy too. It seemed some other students were talking to her, but they finished their conversation and walked off once Skylight approached. "Hello Applejack, the two of us are doing some baking with Pinkie Pie, but we need these ingredients," Skylight said, showing the notes he copied down with his magic. 

"Sure thing! I'll get you everything right away!" Applejack replied after giving the list a quick scan. She darted off to get the ingredients. Once Applejack returned, the pair exchanged the ingredients for the bits, put the ingredients in their saddlebags, and headed back towards Sugarcube Corner. 

~~~

A bell rang as Forest Flame opened the door to Barnyard Bargains. She gasped at all the things she saw stocked. "Oh my gosh, there's so much stuff here! I have never seen any of this back home..." Forest Flame rambled.

"Hello, how can I help you two?" Filthy Rich asked from behind the counter. 

[Reality Check 645]

"We're looking for these ingredients." RC said as he showed Filthy Rich their half of the list.

"I see, allow me to show you where they are." Filthy responded joyfully as he showed the locations and Reality Check and Forest Flame collected roughly a pack of each ingredient. They then brought the ingredients to the cashier where they paid for the ingredients before putting them in a saddlebag and returned to Sugarcube Corner.

Not long after, both groups came back with their batch of ingredients. "So, I take it you guys got your ingredients?" RC asked Skylight and Tibia

[Skylight Scintillate]

RC didn't have to wait long before Skylight and Tibia returned with the rest of the ingredients.

"We sure did. I hope we didn't keep you two waiting for too long. Anyways, let's go bake a cake!" Skylight exclaimed before gesturing the others inside. Skylight glanced at the recipe again before saying to the others "So we just need to measure out all the ingredients and then we'll mix them all together, pour into a pan, and bake it," Skylight explained. Skylight and Tibia started preparing and measuring the ingredients before putting them into the mixer. 

"Come on everypony, let's sing the chocolate cake song!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed while the group was baking. 

[Reality Check 645]

The four of them looked at each other in confusion. "What?" they all replied.

Just then, Pinkie began singing about the ingredients needed, the equipment, the instructions, etc. The students simply followed them as they made the batter and put the cake tin full of it into the oven to bake. "Ok, the cake's in the oven." Tibia said. "The recipe said we need to bake it for several minutes."

"Soooo... what do we do until then?" RC asked, hoping someone has something they can all do.

[Skylight Scintillate]

"Well I have an idea! Since we all just started going to the school of friendship, why don't we share something about where we are from? Maybe there will be something in common that you can bond over!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed, hopping up and down as she led the group out of the kitchen and into the dining area of the bakery. "I'll bring out the cake to share when it's ready."

"Well I can start. I'm Skylight Scintillate and I have lived in Ponyville my whole life. It's a nice town, but it has a surprising amount of things to do for a town it's size. It seems a festival of some sort is happening or there is some drama that the whole town gets involved in. And if that isn't enough, we're just a stone's throw away from Canterlot. Oh, and this is the town that all the elements of harmony live in, so there's always something going on with them around. I remember when Twilight Sparkle moved in when I was quite young and ever since then I always looked up to her. She is so determined and intelligent, but she's also become extraordinarily friendly. What about the places you're from?" Skylight asked.

[Reality Check 645]

"Ok, guess I'll go next." RC started. "So, my name is Reality Check, but where I'm from, ponies just call me RC for short. I live in Canterlot, a place where a lot of famous ponies reside in. Fashion ponies, artists, actors, food critics, you name it. It's also Equestria's capital city, where the princesses rule and host the Summer Sun Celebration... well, most of the time. It was once held in Ponyville, the day when Nightmare Moon was freed from imprisonment, but that's beside the point. It's a great place for plenty of things, in fact, I'd say most important places I'm aware of reside in Canterlot, so you can high-quality everything when you're visiting there." RC finished there. "Sooo... who's next?"

"I'll go next." Forest said. "I'm Forest Flame. I live in a village where there are mostly kirins. It's a great place! There's drama sessions, a good view outside... We all love talking and expressing ourselves. Though that might be because we never got to before in a loooooooong time. We used to be all quiet because Rain Shine, our leader, decided to put all kirins into the sound of silence to stop us from fighting and becoming Niriks. Oh, I guess some of you don't know what they are. See, we turn into them if we feel angry, though ever since then, we've found ways to release our anger without fighting eventually." They all then looks to Tibia, the last one who hasn't introduced himself yet.

Edited February 13, 2023 by Reality Check

[Skylight Scintillate]

"I guess that leaves me. I'm Tibia and I'm from the changeling hive. It used to be pretty desolate and unfriendly, but now there are lots of plants growing there and the changelings are very friendly. We love being friends with each other and sharing love. However, we used to be really unfriendly and steal other pony's love because our leader made us do so. You see, as changelings, we need to feed off of love or we'll starve. However, Thorax demonstrated to us how we can create and share love by being friends with each other. That is why he is our leader now. It sounds like our two places share quite a few similarities with our leaders doing things a certain way before changing," Tibia noted.

"Huh, that is quite interesting," Skylight noted. "I wonder what similarities there are between Ponyville and Canterlot..."

[Reality Check 645]

"I mean, I'm from Canterlot so... I guess I can input my thoughts on that." RC answered. "I think one I can think of on the top of my head is that both places had a castle, both inhabited by a princess before. Though honestly, I can't think of much other than that. Canterlot is a place where rich ponies typically inhabit and just about expect high end everything."

Oh! And I've heard the love in Ponyville is a lot more delicious than Canterlot's. A lot of ponies there to care more about their own status and fame, so their love tends to taste a bit weird." Tibia added. "Ponyville has the best love out of any place in Equestria I've ever been to, everyone's always friendly with each other and being nice; It's one of the best sources of love for changelings."

RC sweat dropped after hearing that. "Blunt, but yeah that's kinda true."

[Skylight Scintillate]

"Hmm yeah I thought there would be more similarities given how close the two cities are to each other but I guess not," Skylight replied to Reality Check, pondering. There weren't many similarities that immediately came to mind other than the very obvious. Skylight gave Tibia a bit of a shocked look with how blunt he was about the differences between Canterlot and Ponyville, but after he worked through what that meant, he agreed with what Reality Check said. Just as Skylight thought about what to say next, Pinkie Pie appeared with slices of cake.

"Here's your cake! It's really good!" Pinkie Pie remarked as she handed every creature a slice of cake before hopping off with an empty tray.

"Mmm, this is good," Skylight remarked, trying the cake. "So what do you want to do next? Is there anything any of  you want to do in Ponyville?"

[Reality Check 645]

"Well, what other activities are there?" RC asked, thinking they should pull up the list again.

They took out the list again and looked at the other activities set by their teachers on the list. "Applebucking, performing stunt tricks, shopping... How about caring for animals?"

[Skylight Scintillate]

"Ooh, that sounds fun!" Forest Flame remarked. 

"I love it when you can feel the love flowing from the animals," TIbia added.

"Yeah let's go," Skylight said as he finished his slice of cake. He got up and led the rest of the group towards Fluttershy's cottage. The weather was warm and sunny, so the walk over was quite pleasant. Soon enough, they arrived at Fluttershy's place. There were various animals scurrying around outside. Skylight walked up to the cottage door and knocked on it. This was followed by various animal noises inside the house before Fluttershy opened teh door. "Oh hello there, do you all want to learn to take care of animals with me?"Fluttershy asked.

[Reality Check 645]

"Yeah, that's why we're here," RC replied as Fluttershy let the students in.

Inside were many different critters and animals, from large to small, and cute to intimidating animals. There are also some other students there that are also learning about caring for animals. "Wow!" Forest Flame reacted. "That's a lot of animals!"

"Ok, what are we supposed to do?" Tibia asked.

[Skylight Scintillate]

"Hmm," Fluttershy thought as she glanced around her cottage, trying to figure out which animals needed caring. "Well, the animals have been fed already... Ah, I know. Let the animals approach you. They can be shy sometimes, but treat them nice, and they will be nice back..." Fluttershy said. Before she could elaborate further, there was a loud crashing noise in the other room. "Oh dear, don't do that..." Fluttershy panicked as she flew into the other room.

Several animals noticed the recent arrivals and wandered over to look at them. A snake and Forest Flame eyed each other up and down. A cardinal landed on Skylight's horn and glanced down toward her, and a chipmunk ran up to Reality Check with a brush. The chipmunk held the brush out to Reality Check with a smile.

[Reality Check 645]

Noticing the chipmunk, Reality curiously picked up the brush as the chipmunk chirped before running somewhere. RC thought that it wanted him to follow them, so that's what he did. RC was soon led to a canvas with several other animals. Soon enough, RC knew what they wanted him to do, which is the draw them.

Forest Flame copied the snake as she moved her head up and down. The kirin and snake looked at each other in curiosity until Forest held out a hoof, seeing what the snake will do. Will it climb onto her? Curl around her hoof? She tilted her head at those thoughts