Twilight and Lemon entered the detention room. "Oh, what fresh hell is this," Twilight said in disbelief as she looked around. Twenty-five desks were arranged in the center of the room in a five by five square. The walls were painted a pale yellow, each one sparsely decorated with a poster or a calendar of the current month in school activities.

In the front of the room was a desk where a burnt sienna-skinned man sat. His bright cyan eyes noticed Twilight and Lemon, and he cracked his neck, causing his wavy blue hair to move to and fro. He wore a staff uniform, and had a pink and white striped scarf filled with several groups of three spears, which Twilight believed to be his Power Symbol. The chalkboard behind him read "Mr. Spearhead".

"Wait," Lemon said, quirking a brow in confusion. "I thought you were an art teacher."

"Nothing says I can't be both," Mr. Spearhead said gruffly, then opened up a drawer from the desk and held out his hand. Twilight blinked in confusion.

Lemon leaned over to Twilight as she sighed and took off her headphones. "Give him your phone, Twi. We can't use any electronics while we're in here." She took her phone out of her pocket and gave it to Mr. Spearhead.

Twilight frowned, then fished her phone out of her pocket and handed it over. Mr. Spearhead took both items, then placed them in the drawer. "All right. Now go sit," he said, gesturing to the desks. Lemon made a sputtering noise as she walked and sat down. Twilight stood still for a moment, then complied. She didn't want to get yelled at on top of everything else if she could help it!

Twilight gulped, then asked the one question she both did and didn't want the answer to. "H-How long are we supposed to stay in here?"

Mr. Spearhead looked at the clock above the chalkboard, then back at Twilight. "Two hours," he said as he folded his arms.

Twilight nearly fell off of her chair. "T-Two hours?!"

"I can make it three if you want to have another outburst."

Twilight sunk into her seat and put her head in her hands. Why should she be so surprised? She knew she was going to get into trouble for what she did! She just wanted to curl up into a ball and become one with the cosmos... Resisting the urge to bang her head on her desk, she turned to look at Lemon, the whole reason why she did what she did.

Lemon glanced at Twilight and noticed a great deal of worry on her friend's face. In an effort to cheer her up, Lemon gave a genuine smile and a thumbs-up. Twilight took notice. Lemon then mouthed the words "Hang in there. I believe in you!".

Twilight sighed and put her head in her hands again. She appreciated Lemon's confidence in her, she just wished she actually had some herself. If only there was some way to communicate with her without getting Mr. Spearhead's attention... She shook her head rapidly. No. She was already in enough trouble as it is, and she didn't even want to think about what her parents would say or do if or when they found out!

Lemon watched Twilight with a frown. As much as she wanted to support her friend, she had to keep to herself if she wanted to avoid more trouble. The two of them would just have to tough it out. She sighed, imagining how pissed off her parentals would be. Staying in this windowless room was the easy part. She would have laughed at that if it didn't have the potential to extend her stay. She just wanted to lay her head on her desk and sleep, but she knew that doing so would likely make Mr. Spearhead think that she was napping. She sighed again, unable to think of anything to do to pass the time. Tough it out, indeed...

An undetermined amount of time had passed, and Twilight had avoided looking at the clock on the wall like the plague. She felt that even the slightest glance would bring her one step closer to the madness she felt encroaching upon her sanity. She had already mentally recited the Periodic Table of Elements several times over, and when she got bored of that she went over the digits in Pi. She began to get bored of that as well, and the temptation of looking had grown stronger by the minute. Maybe Lemon was faring better. Hoping that in doing so would set her at ease, Twilight looked at her friend.

Lemon was bored. Bored, bored, bored, bored, boooooooorrrrrreeeeeeeed. She had already glanced at the clock several times over, each time trying her hardest not to groan out of frustration. She started wondering what her fellow teammates were up to. Indigo was probably being annoying, Sunny was probably still being a bitch, Sugarcoat was probably being blunt with someone, and Sour was likely still bitter and miserable. Maybe even more so, since Lemon had Sunny spread the word of her intent to make everyone play nice until after the Friendship Games. They're all going to be so pissed... Out of the corner of her eye, Lemon noticed Twilight looking at her. Lemon tilted her head.

Twilight tugged at her hair, then pointed at the clock while averting her gaze from it.

Lemon raised an eyebrow in confusion, then glanced at the clock. Her eyes widened and it took her a great deal of willpower to not jump up and down in excitement. Keeping herself in check as best she could, she gave Twilight a huge grin and another thumbs up.

Twilight blinked, then finally summoned the courage to look at the cursed clock. She almost immediately put her hands to her mouth and made a barely audible squeak. She took a deep breath, exhaled, and waited as patiently as she could, until finally...

"All right," Mr. Spearhead said. "Time's up."

Lemon and Twilight eagerly got out of their seats and reclaimed their belongings, then left the detention room.

Author's Note

I'm reiterating this here since it's been a while, but I like to think of Cutie Marks in the human world as Power Symbols. Even though the CMC were referred to by name once.