Science Fare

by totallynotabrony

Rating: everyone
Tags: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Comedy, Octavia, Cozy Glow, Berry Punch
Length: 5389

Octavia and Berry Punch low-key save the world.

Octavia is asked to play her strangest concert yet at a school science fair.
Berry is asked to stop being a freeloader and work at a school science fair.
Unfortunately, it's the same one.

Runner-up in the Season 9 Bingo contest. Title suggested by Dafaddah. Prereading by Goldenarbiter and Noble Cause. Cover art by Shrink Laureate.

Published 2018-12-01 07:10:02 UTC
Last updated 2018-12-01 07:10:02 UTC

Accidents Happen

The drop of green liquid slowly welled up at the tip of the pipette until it grew too heavy for surface tension and broke away, falling into the narrow neck of the flask below. It disappeared into the pale yellow liquid already residing within, the mixture turning purple.

Octavia sighed with relief and the tension went out of her withers. She put the pipette down and picked up her pencil to note the potion’s reaction. The school science manual said it would turn purple, and so it had. Now was time for the next step.

She turned to her lab partner. “Berry, could you please prepare another pipette, this one of the orange-colored reagent?”

“Uh…” The filly next to her blinked. “What was a pipette again?”

“The dropper.” Octavia pointed to a clean one.

“Oh. Okay, I thought they were Caneighdian squirt guns. I was just trying to figure out why they were so small.” Berry put down her bag of potato chips and held out the pipette to Octavia.

Octavia stared at it, not taking it from her. “Can’t you at least wipe your hooves? Why do you even have food in the science lab?”

“This is hard work.”

“I’m doing the work!”

Berry held out the bag. “Do you want some?”

“No!”

“So what’s the problem?”

Octavia glanced around at the other students and lowered her voice. “Since you’ve already got grease on that, I don’t want to touch it. Just add one drop of this to the mixture.” She pushed a beaker of orange liquid towards Berry.

Berry used the pipette to suck up some of it and moved to add it to the purple mix in the flask.

The full pipette slipped out of her hooves and fell in.

Octavia’s eyes snapped open.

The bedroom was dark. Moonlight pooled under the curtains, showing her just enough to realize that she was nowhere near primary school. She exhaled, blinking away phantom images of flaming lab equipment.

A hoof touched her shoulder. Octavia gently rolled towards it, her own hoof reaching back. A spark of magic grew into a dim glow, just enough to see a pair of eyes glinting at her from the other side of the bed.

“The same dream?”

“Yes,” Octavia replied.

“What’s with you and this science fair coming up?”

Octavia groaned. “I don’t know why this is happening, Vinyl. It’s been ten years! All I agreed to do was help a foal and since then I’ve been plagued by memories of the worst lab partner in history.”

Vinyl slid closer and her horn light went out as she touched her forehead to Octavia’s. “You’ll be fine.”

Octavia let out a breath, relaxing. She closed her eyes again.

“Woooooooo~!”

Berry Punch stood on her hind legs atop the bar, bottle raised. She didn’t know who had just bought a round for the entire bar, but regardless, it was cause for celebration.

She slugged the rest of the bottle and hopped down, looking around hopefully for her next drink.

A stallion at the bar had a full bottle in front of him, out of which he was pouring shots. Berry headed towards him, putting on her best flirty grin. However, she wasn’t halfway there when a mare stepped into her path. She was magenta, and looked strikingly similar to Berry. She should; it was Berry’s sister Cheerilee.

“What are you doing here?” said Cheerilee, in a tone that suggested the question was rhetorical.

“Hey…” Berry began weakly.

Cheerilee didn’t wait to hear the rest, not that Berry had a full thought left to express. “You know what we’re doing tomorrow.”

“I was just relaxing, you know I don’t do well under pressure,” said Berry, trying to edge around her towards the bar.

“I also know that showing up drunk is going to ensure that your life gets a lot more stressful.” Cheerilee glared at her.

“Okay, okay.” Berry waved a hoof. “Come on, Cherry, it’s not like I would actually show up drunk.”

“Just hungover?”

“Well, would that keep me from it?”

“This is school. You’re working with children.”

“Okay! Alright, let’s go.” Berry shook her head and turned for the door.

Cheerilee followed her out. “You don’t have a tab or anything?”

Berry flashed her a grin. “I’ve never paid for a drink in my life.”

Cheerilee rolled her eyes. “Oh, right. Meanwhile, my special talent is ensuring the education of the next generation.”

“At least I don’t have any expenses.”

“No income, either,” Cheerilee pointed out.

“Well, if you’d pay me for helping you around the school…”

Cheerilee threw her a look. “You agreed to help at the school so I would let you stay at my house.”

“Jeeze, you’re cutting deep tonight.”

“Maybe you’d be better at arguing if you weren’t drunk.”

“Maybe you’d be more fun if you were.”

Cheerilee sighed deeply and closed her eyes for a moment. “Look, I really need you to be lucid tomorrow. It’s the science fair and even with your help we’re going to have our hooves full. Just...please, okay?”

“Okay.”

They arrived at the house. Cheerilee opened the door and went straight for the bathroom, getting ready for bed. When she came out only a few minutes later, Berry was already snoring on the couch.

Cheerilee glanced at her, tossed a blanket halfway over the couch, and headed for her bed.

Octavia’s alarm clock woke her in the morning. She got up promptly and began to prepare for the day.

Vinyl stumbled into the bathroom after her, yawning. They brushed their teeth. Vinyl stumbled back out. Octavia brushed her mane.

Finished grooming, she headed for the kitchen. Vinyl was placing two slices of bread into the toaster. Octavia asked, “Are you staying in today?”

Vinyl nodded. “Want me to make dinner?”

“That would be lovely, thank you. Should I pick up any groceries to help?”

Vinyl paused in thought. “Uh...no, I guess I’ll go out after all. I probably should have remembered that the pantry’s empty.”

Octavia smiled. “We’ll make a housemare out of you yet.” Vinyl blushed.

The toast popped up and they ate it plain, and in silence, standing across from each other in the kitchen. Finished, Octavia wiped her mouth and started to turn for where her cello case rested by the door.

“Do you want your tie?” Vinyl asked.

Octavia paused. “It’s not a concert.” She tilted her head back and forth in indecision. “Well, okay.”

Vinyl summoned it from the bedroom closet. She looped the strip of pink fabric around Octavia’s neck and made short work of the bow with her magic. She gave it a tug, pulling Octavia forward into a willing kiss. “Have a good day. It’s just a science fair, and you’re not the one being graded.”

“Thank you.” Octavia smiled and picked up her cello, heading out the door. As she closed it, she heard Vinyl begin practicing her music.

Octavia headed down the street towards the school. Both Octavia and Vinyl regularly commuted to Manehattan, or wherever their musical services were required, but Ponyville was a more economical place to live. Less ambient noise, too.

The school was just up ahead. Octavia would have to find the filly who had knocked on her door the previous week, asking for a performer to help her with a science experiment. Octavia didn’t know exactly what the experiment was about, but it had something to do with music and waves.

To Octavia, it had sounded more up Vinyl’s alley, hooking up wires and sensors. The filly had flatly refused any electronic music, however. That wasn’t too surprising; she’d seemed a Shirely Dimple sort. Her name was even Cozy Glow.

Berry had to reluctantly admit that the only reason she wasn’t hungover was that Cheerilee had cut her off early the night before. That didn’t put any extra pep in her step, though. She still had to go to work.

Cheerilee didn’t ask for help at the school every day, but it still felt like a chore. Berry’s special talent was eating, drinking, and generally being merry. It kept one going, but didn’t exactly fund a retirement, or much of anything else for that matter.

So it was good that Cheerilee was letting Berry stay. She didn’t have to wonder where her next meal would come from. Not that Berry ever had any problem getting a meal, it was just nice having a stocked refrigerator.

Based on Cheerilee’s expression when she walked into the kitchen that morning and found Berry helping herself, she had the opposite reaction. Berry had made enough eggs for them both, though, so Cheerilee sat down at the table without a word. Berry put two plates down and sat down across from her.

“Thank you,” said Cheerilee.

Berry nodded, her mouth already full.

They ate in silence. There was nothing to discuss. There was little time to dawdle. A big day beckoned.

After breakfast, Berry dumped the plates in the sink. Cheerilee gave her a look, but said nothing. The two of them headed for the door.

School wasn’t far. Cheerilee might as well live close; she was never disturbed by rambunctious children because whenever she was home, so were they.

“I’ll take roll,” said Cheerilee as they walked through the front door. “You go see that all the exhibits are in order.”

Berry nodded and headed for the gym. There simply wasn’t room for all the science fair projects elsewhere. As she walked in, there were a few students performing final tweaks to their experiments, but the projects were supposed to have been dropped off the night before, so all of them should already be present.

The projects ran the gamut from unidentifiable high-end electronics to unidentifiable rocks. There was more than one baking soda volcano. Fortunately, nothing looked too dangerous.

Berry watched the last few students depart for homeroom. When she was alone in the gym, she walked over to a vending machine. Placing her hoof on the side, she carefully felt for a certain spot. When she judged that it was right, she gave the machine a sharp rap with her hoof.

A package of fried hay sticks fell into the receiving tray. Berry smiled and picked it up, found a chair near the door to sit, and opened the snacks.

She looked out at the room of projects and their tri-fold cardboard stands. Cheerilee was a generalist and had never been much for science, but when she was a filly, she had designed a science fair project to find out what learning style her friends and family preferred. Berry’s project had involved unidentifiable rocks.

The door opened and Berry’s head turned to it. Her eyes widened in surprise as she saw who it was, even as the bag of hay sticks was still stuck on her muzzle.

Octavia Melody stood in the doorway, a cello case slung over her back. It was the closest Berry had been to her since the two of them were fillies. They hadn’t spoken since then.

Octavia wore much the same wide-eyed expression as Berry, though minus the snacks. In a composed voice, however, she said, “I’m looking for Cozy Glow.”

“What are you doing here?” Berry asked, pulling the bag off her face.

“I’m looking for Cozy Glow.”

“Um, well, the kids are in class, but they’ll be back here shortly.”

Octavia looked at the room. Berry paused, and then stood up. “It’s been a while.”

“Yes, it has,” Octavia replied, though she still examined the rows of tables and science experiments.

After another moment, Berry pointed. “I think I saw Cozy Glow’s name down there.”

“Thank you.” Octavia spared her a glance and walked down to the table that hosted Cozy’s experiment.

Berry was still standing by the door when she heard an incoming stampede of small hooves. She balled up the empty snack bag and pitched it into a trash can as the crowd of kids flooded into the room, Cheerilee washed along with them. She looked at Berry, raising her eyebrows. Berry nodded back, though she was sure Cherilee had caught in her expression that something was troubling Berry. They were sisters, after all. Cheerilee’s eyes narrowed slightly, but her attention was pulled away by the dozens of foals clamoring around their projects.

Octavia kept one hoof around her cello case protectively as she watched the crowd entering the room. Having once been a child herself, she didn’t trust them.

The filly who’d asked for her help, Cozy Glow, came over. She put on an enormous smile. “Golly, it’s good to see you. Thanks for coming, Octavia! I really appreciate the help.”

Octavia wasn’t sure when they’d graduated to such familiarity, but nodded. “Let me know what you need me to play.”

“Well, let me get set up.” Cozy began unpacking her equipment, setting it up on the provided table. It all looked quite complicated, with wires going everywhere. They all traced back to a central box that had some sort of oscilloscope and antennas mounted to it.

“So, what does this all...do?” Octavia asked.

“Oh, it’s quite simple,” said Cozy, talking as she continued to set up. “I’m sure you’re familiar with the wave properties of sound. It’s my belief that just like sound or light or radio signals, friendship is also transmitted in waves. Of course, that would be difficult to prove with electronics available to foals, so I intend to investigate this possibility by experimentation with this modulator. By using music - your music - as a carrier wave, I want to see if I can bond friendship to it in order to receive it on conventional radio equipment.”

“Transmitting friendship,” said Octavia. “It certainly sounds revolutionary, if it works out. Have you decided on an application for this technology if it proves viable?”

Cozy hesitated, glancing up at Octavia. “No. I suppose it could...perhaps monitor friendship levels in an area. Maybe Princess Twilight and her friends could use it as an early warning of friendship problems.”

“Perhaps,” Octavia said. “Though in their book, isn’t the crystal table described as performing much the same function?”

“Well, we’ll have to see,” said Cozy. She turned away, rummaging among her wires, and came back with a hoof full which she held up. “Let’s get your instrument fitted so you can start playing.”

Octavia took her cello out of its case and watched attentively as Cozy wrapped wires and sensors around and through the body.

Cozy turned to her machine and flipped the power switch. The lights turned on and from somewhere came a low hum. Her brows scrunched as she concentrated on it.

“Play,” said Cozy.

Octavia picked up her bow. She could have asked what to play, but Cozy’s tone of voice suggested that she didn’t much care. Octavia improvised on the spot.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the oscilloscope began to react. Cozy sat in a chair next to the table and focused intently on her equipment, occasionally adjusting something or taking notes in a spiral ring pad of paper.

Octavia let her mind drift. Her cello was able to drown most of the excited foal conversation around the gym. Whenever a song came to her, she played it.

This went on for more than an hour. Cozy didn’t say a word to her in that time or move from her chair. Whenever Octavia had glanced at her, she’d been hard at work on her device, once even digging in its electronic guts with a screwdriver.

Standing on her hind legs with her cello was getting tiresome, even for a practiced musician such as Octavia. Before she became sore, she paused and put down her bow.

Cozy’s head jerked up. “Why did you stop?”

“I’m just taking a break. Please give me a few minutes.”

“Well, golly, okay.” Cozy frowned, but then hopped down from her chair. She closed her notebook. “I guess I’ll take a look at the rest of the science fair.” She started to go, but turned around. “And please don’t touch anything. It’s very sensitive.”

Octavia carefully leaned her cello against the table. It would have been better back in its case, but that might require taking off the wires. She sat down in the chair Cozy had vacated, and stretched.

A pair of hooves dropped over her eyes. “Guess who?”

Nothing had blown up yet. That was okay with Berry.

It wasn’t like the foals weren’t trying, either. Cheerilee hurried all around the room putting out figurative fires. Fortunately no literal ones, but there were fire extinguishers handy.

Berry kept her eyes on things. Self-preservation, if nothing else. She’d helped Cheerilee often enough to know to pay attention when large crowds of kids were trying to impress each other.

To be fair, there were some impressive science fair projects this year. Berry was particularly interested in Twist’s instant ice cream experiment, though Cheerilee had put a firm no on using actual liquid nitrogen.

Not that Berry minded samples of melted ice cream, but she dutifully did her rounds through the rows of tables to make sure nothing else went wrong.

She stopped near Scootaloo’s table. Her exhibit was about which fireworks made the biggest and best explosions for Rainbow Dash’s Wonderbolts show. Fortunately, some common sense had prevailed, and while there were example firecrackers on display, there would not be a live demonstration.

Rainbow Dash herself was there, never one to resist things with her name on it. Maybe she had provided the bowl of Wonderbolts ThunderMints on the table. While she chatted with Scootaloo behind the table, Berry snagged a mint.

There was a small warning on the wrapper. Made with lightning - real lightning - don’t crunch, just suck!

Knowing Rainbow Dash, that might be true. She might also have written the grammatically questionable disclaimer. Huh, maybe Berry was learning something from hanging around school after all.

Vinyl Scratch appeared just then, wearing empty saddlebags and her trademark sunglasses. “Hey Berry.”

“Oh hey.” The two of them bumped hooves. Berry asked, “What are you doing here?”

Vinyl tossed her head towards the cello music in the background. “I was on my way downtown and decided to swing by and hear Tavi play.”

“I was hoping you were here to make this booth bounce,” Rainbow called from the other side of the table.

Vinyl laughed. “Nah, I’m taking the day off. It’s nice of you to be here to support your sister, though.”

“We actually aren’t sisters, but it’s super cool that you think so!” said Scootaloo.

“Oh?” Vinyl frowned. “Huh. As much as you hung out with Rainbow, I thought she was practically raising you.”

“Her parents are around here somewhere,” said Berry. She glanced around, but didn’t see them.

“Scootaloo’s parents are great ponies, but they’re so boring they blend into the crowd,” said Rainbow. “But that’s okay, because Scootaloo got all the family awesomeness instead.” The two of them slapped hooves.

“I’m looking forward to hanging out with you even more when Princess Twilight gets the School of Friendship built,” said Scootaloo.

“What’s that?” asked Berry.

“Just what it sounds like,” said Rainbow. “Me and the rest of the Element Bearers are going to be teachers. I don’t know how many transfer students we’re going to have, but when we get it open it’ll attract students from all over, maybe even here in Ponyville.”

Fewer students to deal with. Excellent, thought Berry.

She and Vinyl said goodbye to them. Vinyl turned towards where Octavia had just finished playing and Berry decided to go along.

When they arrived at Cozy Glow’s table, the filly herself was nowhere to be seen. Octavia leaned back in the chair, apparently meditating. Vinyl covered Octavia’s eyes. “Guess who?”

Octavia smiled, even as her eyes were still closed. “Nice of you to come.” Vinyl let her go and she sat up. Her lips abruptly stopped smiling as she saw Berry.

“What does this kid have you doing?” Vinyl asked, looking at Cozy’s equipment.

“Something about exploring friendship as if it were a wave,” Octavia replied, getting up from the chair.

“Neat.” Vinyl lifted her sunglasses, peering closely at the electronics.

Cozy returned just then. “Can I help you?”

“Just looking,” said Vinyl.

Octavia picked up her cello again. Cozy sat down in the chair.

“Though,” said Vinyl, reaching out to point at the equipment. “You might want to keep this directional transmitter pointed away from you. With enough power, that could give you a nasty RF burn.”

“This has nothing to do with electromagnetic waves,” Cozy said flatly.

Vinyl shrugged and turned away. “Anyway Tavi, I’m going to the store. I’ll see you at home later.”

“You want to go out for drinks later?” Berry asked.

Vinyl’s eyes flicked to Octavia. “Maybe some other time.”

She touched Octavia’s shoulder and headed for the door.

Cozy turned her machine back on, but just then Cheerilee called from across the room. “Alright everypony, it’s time for lunch. We’ll have some classroom instruction through the afternoon and you can pick up your projects at the end of the day.”

Cozy grumbled under her breath and turned the machine off again. She got up and headed for the cafeteria.

“Lunch, my favorite part of the day.” Berry elbowed Octavia playfully, though apparently Octavia wasn’t anticipating elbowing of any kind. Already on her hind legs with her cello, she wobbled and nearly fell over, only just catching herself on the table.

She glared at Berry, who sheepishly turned away and put a hoof to the back of her head. “Sorry.”

Octavia didn’t reply, instead starting to delicately unravel her cello from the wires that encircled it.

“Are you leaving?” Berry asked.

“If the science fair is over, I don’t see any need to stay,” Octavia replied. She placed her cello in its case and shut the lid.

“Do you have any plans for lunch?”

“N-” Octavia paused, and then sighed. “No, I don’t.”

“Well then, come on,” said Berry. She smiled. “It’s on me.”

Against Octavia’s better judgement, she went with Berry to a restaurant.

To her surprise, Berry insisted on Café Hay. Not that Octavia was complaining, but opting for the more upscale of the available lunch options in town was not what she would have expected from Berry.

Even still, Berry buying lunch wasn’t exactly an apology. Not that Berry was apologizing, or perhaps even aware that she had any reason to apologize to Octavia. Not that Octavia was owed an apology from a foalhood lab accident.

She shook her head. It probably wasn’t healthy to still be obsessing over something unintentional that happened years ago. But she couldn’t control her nightmares.

They found a table for two. Octavia leaned her cello in its case against the wall and picked up the menu. The smartly-attired waiter came over. Octavia noticed his eyes narrow as he spotted Berry.

They placed their orders and the waiter departed again. Octavia said, “Do you mind if I take a moment to wipe down my cello? I’ve never played at a school before, much less a science fair, and I want to take a close look as soon as possible.”

“No problem.” Berry waved a hoof and smiled.

Octavia turned, reaching for the cello case, but a panicked yelp grabbed her attention. A mare in the restaurant uniform crashed into their table, spilling the half-dozen plates of food she was carrying.

Octavia’s chair had started to go over backwards and she made a desperate grab for her cello case to steady herself. The latch popped open and the cello fell out, so she twisted her body and made another, separate desperate grab for it. This left her stretched over the chair as it balanced on two legs, awkwardly unable to right herself.

“I’m okay!” the waitress said, stumbling back and sheepishly raising a hoof.

Berry got up and steadied Octavia’s chair. Octavia managed to gently place her cello and case against the wall and extricate herself. “Thank you.”

“No problem,” said Berry. “I had a feeling something like this would happen.”

Their waiter reappeared, flustered and carrying a washrag. “We’re extremely sorry for the mess. Please, let us move you to another table. You didn’t get anything on you, did you?”

Octavia and Berry checked themselves, but the mess seemed to be confined entirely to the table.

Picking up her cello to return it to its case, Octavia noticed Cozy’s notebook lying on the floor. She frowned in confusion before remembering how Berry had nearly knocked her over at the science fair. When she hit the table, it must have bumped the notebook off and into the cello case.

Sighing, Octavia turned to her new seat, which was just one table over. The waiter pulled it out for her and she sat, tossing the notebook onto the table.

“What’s this?” Berry asked, already seated opposite her.

“I think it fell into my cello case back at the school when you elbowed me,” said Octavia tersely. “I’ll have to return it.”

“Huh, I didn’t expect that to happen,” said Berry, picking up the notebook.

“What do you mean?” Octavia asked.

Berry looked up, gesturing with the notebook. “Things just kind of work out for me. Usually related to food. I’m not sure what this notebook has to do with it, though.”

Octavia frowned. “Wait, you said you expected the food to spill?”

“No, I said I expected something like that to happen.”

Their conversation was interrupted by the waiter returning. “Ladies, we want to apologize again for the mess. Please consider your meal paid for.” He bowed, and departed again.

Octavia looked back across the table. In a sharp whisper, she asked, “What did you do?”

“I didn’t do anything.” Berry shrugged. “Things just usually work out for me. I didn’t even bring money.”

“I find that highly unethical!”

Berry shrugged. “It’s not like I can turn it off. It’s not like I’m always benefitting from the restaurant’s misfortune. Sometimes I win an unexpected free meal contest. Sometimes I run into an old friend and they insist on treating me. If I don’t abuse it too much, I do okay.” She gestured to Octavia. “I can share it, too, so it’s not like I’m selfish.”

Octavia frowned as she considered it. Berry went back to flipping through the notebook. The two of them lapsed into silence.

To distract herself, Octavia picked up her cello to inspect it as she had earlier intended. She was nearly finished wiping the lacquer when Berry let out a gasp.

Octavia’s eyes came up. Berry was staring wide-eyed at the notebook in front of her. She turned it around. “Look at this!”

Squinting, Octavia examined the page of notes.

Cozy had nice writing. Extremely neat for a foal. Focusing on the actual words, Octavia reviewed much of what Cozy had told her about the strange machine.

As she read further, however, new details began to emerge. ...friendship=power...collecting friendship from the surrounding area...antenna is focused, but I’m not feeling anything yet...do foals not like classical music?...must increase gain to produce tangible friendship capture and redirection...

Of course, the drawing at the bottom of the page depicting Cozy as an alicorn sitting on a throne surrounded by worshiping ponies with the caption Future Empress of Friendship also drew some scrutiny.

“So if I’m reading this correctly, she was trying to somehow...collect friendship and infuse herself with it?” Octavia shook her head. “I can’t imagine this leading to anything good. She wasn’t upfront about it, either, which only deepens my suspicions.”

“Yeah,” said Berry, her brow furrowing as she looked at the drawing.

“To think, we only learned of this because we accidentally have her notebook,” mused Octavia.

“If you believe in accidents.”

Octavia looked up. “What’s that?”

Berry gestured to where the waiters were just finishing cleaning up the other table. “Well, maybe accidents happen to you. I just kind of go with whatever happens.”

“Are you suggesting that this happened for a reason?” Octavia tilted her head.

“Well, now that we know, maybe I should say something to Cheerilee,” Berry suggested.

“Maybe you should,” Octavia agreed. “Cozy sounds like she could use some...guidance.”

The two of them lapsed into silence.

Octavia stared at the table, thinking deeply. Foals would be foals, though she was disturbed by Cozy’s intention, regardless of her ability to carry it out. Though, what concerned her more was Berry. Octavia didn’t put much stock in fate, but if things truly did just work out for Berry and those around her, it had serious implications. What if the lab accident all those years ago had never happened? Would Octavia have fallen in love with science instead of music?

She prayed the food would arrive soon to relieve her of this line of thought.

Outside the restaurant, Berry cheerfully waved goodbye to Octavia, though the latter simply replied with a nod and turned away with her cello. That was all right. Most ponies weren’t as enthusiastic as Berry. Octavia also seemed the type to overthink things. That was also why Berry didn’t tell many ponies what she’d told Octavia.

Refreshed after lunch, Berry trotted back to the school, carrying Cozy’s notebook. The kids were probably in afternoon lessons, but she poked her head into the gym just to check. As she suspected, it was empty.

Cheerilee had only asked her to help with the science fair, so Berry saw no need to hang around after dropping off the notebook. Sure, she would talk to Cheerilee about Cozy, but it wasn’t like it was a matter of life and death.

She dropped the notebook back on the table and was about to leave, but spotted the extravagant sign of Scootaloo’s booth across the room and remembered the mints. Would there be any left?

There were. Berry grabbed one and unwrapped it. She paused, though, seeing the warning about lightning again. What would happen if one disobeyed the warning and crunched it?

Well, this was a science fair, why not find out? Berry put the mint down on the table. There was a table nearby exhibiting unidentifiable rocks and she picked one up. Gingerly, she dropped it on the mint.

A miniature flash of lightning left her seeing spots. Wow, they weren’t kidding. Berry blinked, a goofy smile sliding across her face at the spectacle. Maybe this learning thing wasn’t so bad after all. Maybe she could prank somepony who didn’t know about the mints.

She turned to pick up another one, but paused, hearing a faint sizzle. Glancing at the table, she saw a wisp of smoke from one of the display firecrackers.

Eyes going wide, Berry looked around frantically for water or something, anything, to stop it. She lifted a hoof to tear the fuse out, but it burned into the body of the rocket just then and it took off with a scream.

The firecracker caromed off the tri-fold board, knocking it over like a domino into the next table. Rocket motor still going strong, it hit the ceiling and bounced around the support girders before soaring into the center of the room and exploding with a shower of blue and yellow sparks.

Stomach sinking, Berry hurried over, panicking at the potential damage. She looked for any smoking wreckage or ruined displays.

What she found was that the rocket had almost perfectly struck Cozy Glow’s strange machine, leaving it a heap of melted electronics and twisted metal. The notebook burned next to it.

Openmouthed, Berry slowly regained composure. She looked around, seeing no one.

Maybe things just worked out.

Berry took a step back, turning for the exit. Well, it wasn’t her problem now. Though, maybe she would recommend that Cozy go to Princess Twilight’s new Friendship School when it opened. Someone like that deserved to be watched by a professional.

She put a mint in her mouth, tucking it in her cheek, and headed out the door, whistling innocently.

Author's Note

This story was written as part of the Season 9 Bingo contest. If you're reading this and Season 9 hasn't premiered yet, you can still enter!

This was my prompt, drawn randomly from the bingo card: