[Ponyville] Class Is In Session (Open to Ponyville Fillies and Colts)

[AlisonRose]

Silver Spoon pushed her glasses up and grinned a small bit at her friend Diamond Tiara.

"It shouldn't be too hard at all, what sort of supplies do we have to use? Anything and everything, or just what is in this small little box?" Silver asked, half at Cheerilee and half at Diamond Tiara. She flips her braids behind her with one hoof. Surely there would be something in the box that would help them to make sure that their tomato would be the best tomato in the whole land of Equestria once they were done with this little...excursion.

"I hope that there is something else fun after this besides more reading and book reports. Those can get very boring when no one is clearly into the finer arts of metallurgy." Silver said with a soft sigh, not really directing it at anypony just thinking out loud as she planned in her head how to best help Diamond Tiara and whoever else they got in their extra partner. Then Cheerilee said something about a new student, BeBop was her name. Very interesting. It was another blank-flank. They had been getting lots of them lately but not all of them were bad, Winter Dazzle wasn't so bad of a filly maybe this one wasn't so bad either.

Do we have a full list of the foals in the RP?

[Mojo]

Haywire's depressed mood suddenly changed when she held the 'new student' enter the classroom. When the sad filly lifted up her eyes, she saw a familiar face. It was Bebop! The unicorn filly she had met at Octavia's music shop a short time ago! WOW! The rust colored filly got along really well with her! Maybe this day won't end up being so bad after all.

"HI BEBOP!" Haywire anxiously shouted, waving both front hooves in the air. "Thar's an empty desk right beside me, you kin sit next ta me!"

One thing Haywire likes even more than making firecracker rockets, chasing frogs and shooting stuff with her slingshot was helping out her friends. As the 'new girl' in class, the blonde Earth filly was going to make sure Bebop felt welcome at school.

Previous RP relationship between Haywire and Bebop approved by Bebop's owner

[QuickLime]

Pip did not want to go to school but alas he was going to have to! He was in town for a few months while his parents were..at a peace conference..yeah that's it, and he had been a wee bit late for School on account of the fact he had a dentist appointment that morning! Pip trotted in with a note from the dentist and sat it on Miss Cheerilee's desk "G'day ma'am! I'm sorry m' late but I right had to have my teethers shined I did!" He grinned at her, his smile flashing "No Cavities at'tall!"

He then moved to go find a seat, finding an unoccupied one, and hopped up into it, it was a wee bit big, but Pip managed to wiggle his bottom onto it with a plop! Dragging his school books up with him, organizing things in his desk.

RoseHip had been zoned out most of the day, she was so new she didn't expect a partner at all, wiggling in her seat as ponies started to pair off, the new kid BeBop instantly had a partner and well Pip was probably familiar with the others..bleh..RoseHip was a right social butterfly but right now she felt like a wallflower to be honest, but that was fine with her, she could drop that tomato by herself.

I am so sorry for my absence! I thought I'd drop PIp in and bring back RoseHip, if it's a bother I can skedaddle!)

[Bramble Rose]

Sweetie Belle was relieved... she didn't know what grade she'd gotten ... probably horrible ... but at least it was OVER now. And at least they didn't ask any questions about the time-travel part of the book, so thank goodness. That had been closer to the end and REALLY confusing.

Still... it was time for a group project, and who else would she team up with than her two bestest friends EVER! United against the foul forces of bullydom! Shields against giggling mean fillies! Scootaloo and Apple Bloom were like her shining knights in no armor! She wondered ... when she became a princess, could she knight them? That'd be pretty awesome.

But just now, they had to focus on this! Dropping tomatoes? Well, they should be able to pull that off! "CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS TOMATO PROTECTORS!" she cried, her hoofcoming up into the air to high-hoof Scootaloo's - and Apple Bloom's, presumably.

She took all the stuff out of the box and laid it all out in a row before them.

"All right, girls... ideas? Maybe we could... hrm. We could take one of the boxes, and make a little nest out of newspapers, and stretch rubber bands from the corners of the box to the newspapers, so that it'll be all bouncy and stuff, and then we can use the popsicle sticks and the feathers to make wings! And then it'll fly down! Too bad we don't get the popsicle, too ... "

​

[Imagination]

((If we get a Snips post I can fill in for Snails for now))

Pinchy desperately needed to find her some partners! The Crusaders always stuck together, but she didn't really know many of her other classmates all that well! Well, she did, but she was really just having trouble deciding! She had to be quick though, or she was going to be partnered with them...

She gave a cautious look to Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. Anything but that! She gave a panicked look around the room and suddenly saw the tiny colt with great teeth walk into the classroom. She wished she didn't have any cavities... ANYWAY, he seemed delightful enough to work with! Quickly scrambling out of her seat, she went over to the spotted colt with a hopeful grin. "HI! You want to be my partner? Please?" Aside from having to partner up, this seemed like a neat project! Would they get to drop the tomatoes themselves?! No, no that'd be too cool. Wouldn't happen at School. Hey, that rhymed!

Seriously though, she wanted to make sure she did good with this whole thing. She already got one good grade today. If she came home with two, then her mother would let her do anything she wanted! ANYTHING! It was nearly as good as being a princess for a day! That would be would be so cool, man. But then she remembered the contents of the boxes and realised this was going to require more effort than she thought. EngineerPinch, go! "Maybe... We could just stuff the box FULL of cottonballs! Cotton is soft, right? There's cotton in your pillow, and that's pretty soft!" Awesome logic. Stuff cotton into it and it'll be fine.

[QuickLime]

He glanced at Pinchy and flashed her a flawless smile "Right-o ma'am!" He said clapping his hooves "So we ought't prevent it from getting jostled! Wot if we put it ina box an packed it right tight!? Like 'ow they pack packages fo' delivery?" He offered tilting his head, he liked Pinchy already "M'names Pipsqueak ma'am by t' way! But yah can call me Pip! Pip is at ya service!" He saluted Pinchy then before glancing around "Are there boxes nearby m'lady? I shalt go on a quest for one post hast ifn'n we not got one ! I'll get us one in a right jiffy I will!"

They were going to ace this! He was sure of it! They were going to smoke the two obvious bullies, he recalled mention of them before! Diamond Spoon and Silver Tiara right?

[Lux]

Scootaloo accepted the equally excited Sweetie Belle's high hoof as she set her mind on the task. The filly knew that if the three put their heads together they could create something awesome to show to the class. If there was anything that got Scootaloo interested in a task, it was the challenge. Sure it seemed trivial protecting a tomato, but the even got the wheels in her mind turning as much as it did coming up with new things to try and get her cutie mark in. The fact that her friends were there to help her and that if they succeeded it would wipe the smile off of Diamond Tiara's face was a sweet icing on the cake.

"Hmmm..." the filly said picking up a cardboard tube and looking into it like a telescope, "Wings may help slow the tomato down Sweetir Belle, but we still need something to make sure the tomato doesn't get smooshed when it lands. Why not wrap it in newspaper and these cotton balls? It'll be like putting it in a soft blanket."

[Pretzelparty]

Bebop looked on the rest of the class and frowned a bit. She'd put a fair bit of her heart in that introduction of hers and even when the teacher took the time to adress the class to introduce her, the rest of the class didn't bother to say hi. Then again they were in the middle of a project and she had arrived late so it likely wasn't fair for her to complain after a bad first impression. The teacher seemed to nice though.

“Oh! Well, it is nice to finally meet you Miss Bebop. I’m afraid you have missed half the day though. Now you are familiar with the school’s location, be sure to be here on time from now on.”

“the good news you arrived just in time to join in on our tomato drop! It is a group project so you’ll be working with other students right away!”

The silent filly nodded and began to write down her response, holding the notepad slightly above her head as if it was a speech bubble in a comic.

"It's nice to meet you too, Miss Cheerilee! I promise to be on time from now on. Are my partners going to fill me in on what to do?" suddenly the filly's pencil slid off the page and hit her in the head as her concentration was broken by the sound a familiar, but friendly voice. After taking a moment and mouthing what looked to be the word "Ow!" she looked to the source of the voice and smiled before galloping over and pulling her notepad along for the ride.

"HI BEBOP!" Haywire anxiously shouted, waving both front hooves in the air. "Thar's an empty desk right beside me, you kin sit next ta me!"

Bebop managed to hastily write down her greeting to her friend before turning the notepad in Miss Cheerilee's direction so she could read what must have been a part of the written statement that was aimed (literally) at her.

On top of the notepad was the word "Hi!" likely the part that was adressed to Haywire and below that there was a simple Inquiry,"Is it okay if I sit with Haywire, Miss Cheerilee?"

[brianblackberry]

((Magi, I am 100% fine with you running Snails for this RP))

Cheerilee was a little disappointed that her class was now so enthralled with their project, they paid the newcomer no mind. At least it was for reasons of excitement in their educational assignment and not simple snobbery of the new foal. She turned to the brown unicorn filly and gave her best encouraging smile, "it is quite alright, I am sure you'll be here bright and early tomorrow. Why don't you join Haywire, there is a seat available next to her."

Cherrilee turned to the ruddy coated farmer filly , who at that time was still without any group for the project. "Haywire, I think it would be great if you and BeBop teamed up for the tomato drop! Would you be so kind as to fill her in on what it is all about?" Haywire didn't come off as mentor material, given her long and illustrious record as school prankster, but for Cheerilee that was all the more reason the blond maned filly should be placed in the role; it was time she learned more responsibility.

The fact that the new filly seem to have a friend in the classroom certainly made it easier. It would have been uncomfortable for Cheerilee to have to put somepony who didn't know anypony yet into a random group. She dislike having to place foals together at all, preferring they take that initiative themselves, but time was ticking and the class was being a bit slow coming together, "please hurry and pick your partners for the drop, we need to start working on the project as soon as possible since we need to do the drop today. If you can't find a group, I'll have to assign you to one."

Please read:

Active Students:

Applebloom

Sweetie Belle

Scootaloo

Ruby Pinch

Snips

Guiding Light

Timid Star

Haywire

Diamond Tiara

Silver Spoon

Winter Dazzle

Pipsqueak

Rosehip

BeBop

Snails

Groups So Far:

Applebloom

Sweetie Belle

Scootaloo

Ruby Pinch

Pipsqueak

Timid Star

Guiding Light

Haywire

BeBop

Diamond Tiara

Silver Spoon

still not picked:

Snips

Winter Dazzle

Rosehip

Snails

Cheerilee will pick if students do not, she may even combine groups who are just two-somes for optimal performance (read optimal awkwardness )

[Mojo]

"I'd be glad ta tell'r all about it, Miss Cheerilee!" Haywire neighed happily as the blank flank filly motioned for Bebop to join her, "c'mon over here, Bebop, and I'll tell ya all about it!"

"Ok, here's the deal. All of us teams of ponies have ta create a package'n sort of thingie that'll keep a tomato safe when it's dropped from the roof! As you well know, tomaters bruise real easy an' kin swish purty hard if'n they hit the ground. You, me and somepony else is gonna take all the items from this here box and make somethin' that'll secure a tomater so it don't git hurt from the drop! We need one more pony.."

Haywire began looking all around the room to spot any 'free' classmates to join them.

[Imagination]

"I'll go with you!" she insisted! With a gleeful grin she would go to Miss Cheerilee's desk. She had a question to ask anyway!

Pip seemed nice and funny so far! They were going to ace this so hard, and it was going to be a lot of fun! Maybe they'd get their cutie marks for it! What if this was her true calling? To protect tomatoes? She'd be the TOMATO KNIGHT! She'd have to have a cool outfit, though. Evil respects a cool outfit, especially if they have fruit and produce to defend from sure annihilation. But in her daydreaming, she managed to wander face-first into Cheerilee's desk. Unhindered, she just beamed up at the teacher as if nothing out of the ordinary had transpired whatsoever. To be fair this was probably normal behavior for the pink filly. "Hi Miss Cheerilee! Pip and I are working together and I had a question!" she said, raising her hoof for emphasis.

"If we find a way to make the box fly, does that count?"

Um... What?

==============================================================================

Snails was left to his own devices on this one. For some reason he was having quite the time trying to locate his comrade Snips... Looking to the front of the class as Cheerilee had the announcement about the new student, the yellow lanky unicorn just gave a goofy wave in greeting from the back of the room. It seemed she was going to be paired up with Haywire, one of the other more eccentric members of the class. But, he figured that was better than nothing. They needed a third, and he needed a group, fast! He'd have to apologize to Snips later. Every colt for himself!

Approaching the two, it took him a moment to find the words. "Uhmm... Do you guys mind if I join in? I need a group!" Indeed he does. This project was interesting though... Miss Cheerilee had never given anything like this before. No that he could remember, really. She might have, and Snips and he may have just butchered it to the point where their product had nothing to do with the assignment. Looking over the materials, he took only a moment to come up with a brilliant idea! "Hey! What if we, um, put took the straws, and stuck em in the 'matoes, like those... uhm... support beams? That could hold it in place, eh?" Hey, even if it was a bad idea, it was a start. And it showed he was willing to contribute! Sortof.

[SteelEagle]

Apple Bloom met Sweetie Belle's hoof and so did Scootaloo, a sudden flash of inspiration striking her. If this worked out and they got their cutie marks, maybe it wouldn't be because they were protecting anything specific. Maybe it would be because they showed up a bunch of bullies whatfor and were destined to totally protect others from the slings and arrows of the rude and unkind! But they'd done that before, so it seemed unlikely. Inspiration denied, but her enthusiasm didn't dim at all. They'd still get the very best grade possible at this project and everypony would have to admit that the Cutie Mark Crusaders were truly the best trio in all of Equestria! Apple Bloom listened to the thoughts of her partners, nodding along as she thought about the ideas. Of the three, she had the most experience with stuff like this, so the plan was forming as she listened.

Using popsicle sticks and feathers to allow the tomato to float to safety could work, but it was fraught with question marks. If it worked all the way, it'd be the easiest project of all time. But if it failed earlier, then one of two things could happen. Either it failed immediately and the box tumbled any which way, or it tumbled a little later and used the momentum and lands awkwardly. Still, they could prepare for the worst and hope that it flew. Scootaloo chimed in and she was right, they would need to keep it safe no matter what. And both had some good dieas for how to protect it. Apple looked at the materials sorta blankly, but her head was spinning! A plan formed. Heck, they were just dropping it from the school roof. With this plan she wanted to just drop it from a hundred feet high and see what happened. She was sure it'd work.

"Y'all are right! We can get this thin' floatin' like a butterfly safely ta the ground and keep it protected just in case. We use one box, cut up the rest- they're all tha same size, so we can't put 'em in one another normally. But if we cut off the edges, we can line'm up inside. In the cracks and in between the layers, fill'r up with newspapers. Cover the tomato up. The box itself then should be snug and secure- heck, just that itself could survive the drop! But we can do better, Ah think. use the cardboard tubes and put'm on the bottom. Stuff them full of cottonballs. Rubber bands secure them to the top, and we glue the ends from the inside and crumple them. Do it right and we have just 'nough weight so when we fly it, we have it fall with that as the bottom, and it can take a bit. Then we use popsicle sticks, straws, glue, and feathers ta make it float!" Apple Bloom said, taking items out and imagining how well they work together.

"Sweetie Belle, ya got a heck of an idea for makin' it fly. Why, Ah bet you and Scootaloo could come up tha best flight plan ever!"

[AlisonRose]

-Silver Spoon-

Silver Spoon started to take out the items from the box and scratched her chin as she looked over at all of them.

"I have an idea, we could use the sticks and Popsicle sticks to make a smaller box to have the tomato in, glue them together. Then use the the feathers as sort of a blanket with cotton balls everywhere they can fit. That should in turn make it so that when we do drop our tomato it will be more weighted at the bottom and will fall down that way but with all the cushion from the feathers and cotton balls it should reduce the impact enough to make it not take much damage if any at all." She nodded her head a lot while she was talking as if she had done this before. She let out a small chuckle as she looked over at the Cutie Mark Crusaders. They were really going to attempt to make their tomato fly? Well that is a silly blank flank for you. But deep inside Silver actually was hoping that they got it to fly a little so that they would end up with Tomato dropping Cutie Marks.

"Good luck, blank-flanks." Silver giggled softly before finishing, "You're going to need it."

-Winter Dazzle-

Despite being here for a while now Winter Dazzle still really didn't know her class that well and to boot there was a new student today! Dazzle knew Apple Bloom very well but she was already in a group with her friends Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle. It was a darn shame but Dazzle had accepted her fate and would take the random group punishment if she had to. Her little nervousness tick kicking in as she looked about at all of the ponies working hard together with their other classmates. There was always Silver Spoon, but Dazzle would rather be put into a random group then have to deal with Diamond Tiara, she wasn't very nice to those who didn't have their Cutie Marks yet, as if it was a race or something to get them.

[RarityDash]

Diamond Tiara's eyes went for a moment to the new student, apparently called Bebop. Yet another blank flank. Gah, their class was quick becoming infested with them. How absolutely unfortunate. Ah well, it just meant there would be more pathetic little ponies for her to pick on. She rolled her eyes and then looked back toward Silver.

That wasn't so important now, however. What was important was doing the assignment and doing it well. She listened to Silver's plan and nodded. Silver was pretty smart with things and Diamond had to admit she seemed to be on the right track. She wasn't one to let her input go unheard when she was convinced there was a better way to do something.

"It's a good idea, but a box made of popsicle sticks would be a total pain to put together, and it might just fall apart anyway. The glue might not dry right, and there would be a lot of places where it could come apart during the impact," Diamond started as she looked over the supplies. She lifted one of the old boxes inside the larger box and nodded. "I say we just use this. We stuff it full of cotton and feathers and sit the tomato in the middle. Then we put that box inside the bigger box. We put the cardboard tubes at the bottom of the big box to absorb the impact, and we stuff the sides and the top full of lots of crumpled up newspaper and paper to keep it all from moving around very much."

Diamond smirked, confident in the idea. She wasn't sure Miss Cheerilee had intended for the larger boxes the supplies came in to be used, but she didn't see why not. It just made sense to her.

​

[Bramble Rose]

Sweetie Belle was so excited! They liked her idea! And they had good ideas, too! "This is gonna be the best Tomato Drop EVER!" she squealed happily! She started gathering up the popsicle sticks and feathers eagerly, then paused. In a rare burst of sense, she recognized that Apple Bloom was a far better craftspony than she, and that flying probably required having the best wings possible. She pushed the feathers and popsicle sticks into Apple Bloom's hooves. "OK, you make the wings, and Scootaloo, you start making the nest, like you said! I'll start making the tubes!"

She impulsively hugged her two bestest friends EVER and then settles down to crumpling paper. She was REAL good at crumpling paper! she started humming as she stuffed the paper into the tubes, then quiet words were added to the humming.

o/~ o/~ o/~ o/~ o/~
I was so scared this morning, a bundle of nerves,
But now it's all over, for better or worse.
It's too nice a day to be miserable long,
With the sun shining bright, and my friends around!
I did the homework, the speech has gone by,
and now it's time to see how this tomatoe can fly!

To-may-to to-mah-to! Sooooo-oooo-aring hiiiiiigh!
To-may-to to-mah-to! Throoooooough the skyyyyy!
To-may-to to-mah-to! His time has come niiiiigh!
To-may-to to-mah-to! He's gooooooing to flyyyyy!

He's been stuck on the ground, that's his whole veggie world,
But he wants to soar and so he came to us girls.
Some sticks and some feathers, a lil' bit of paste,
paper clippings and tubes, assembled with haste.
With some love and attention, and some never-say-die,
He'll reach his dream - the first tomatoe to fly!

To-may-to to-mah-to! Sooooo-oooo-aring hiiiiiigh!
To-may-to to-mah-to! Throoooooough the skyyyyy!
To-may-to to-mah-to! His time has come niiiiigh!
To-may-to to-mah-to! He's gooooooing to flyyyyy!
o/~ o/~ o/~ o/~ o/~

Through the magic of music, somewhere along the line their little tomato gained its own little leather flight-helmet and goggles, by the time she'd reached the refrain!

​

[Pretzelparty]

"Ok, here's the deal. All of us teams of ponies have ta create a package'n sort of thingie that'll keep a tomato safe when it's dropped from the roof! As you well know, tomaters bruise real easy an' kin swish purty hard if'n they hit the ground. You, me and somepony else is gonna take all the items from this here box and make somethin' that'll secure a tomater so it don't git hurt from the drop! We need one more pony.."

Bebop nodded as Haywire gave her explanation. She had heard of things like this being done in other schools, although she usually heard of the classes using eggs rather than tomatoes. It was probably a better idea to use tomatoes since they had a less likely chance of breaking than eggs did. Looking through the box she began to sift through the supplies with her telekinesis and then setting them down on the table to bring her pad up on her desk so she could have it face her friend

"Maybe we cou--" her pencil trailed off a moment as she heard a voice suddenly speak up. The voice apparently belongs to a tall, lanky, yellow unicorn with a greenish blue mane.

"Uhmm... Do you guys mind if I join in? I need a group! Hey! What if we, um, put took the straws, and stuck em in the 'matoes, like those... uhm... support beams? That could hold it in place, eh?"

Bebop looked at him for a minute not writing down anything but seemingly studying him. He seemed like a decent enough colt but she honestly didn't know anypony in this class except haywire. Figuring it was best to ask Haywire what she though of the new foal, she took her pencil in her teeth and began to write something down as Snails tried to make himself useful by making suggestions as to the design. At least he seemed like he was willing to help out. Bebop wasn't sure that was allowed though, seeing as sticking the straws into the tomatoes may count as breaking them. Eventually she managed to finish her written inquiry and turned it to Haywire.

"You've been in this class longer than me. Is this pony nice enough to work with us? He definitely seems like he wants to help at the very least"

[Lux]

"Sounds like a plan Apple Bloom," Scootaloo said listening as her friend came up with ideas for helping to give the tomato the best protection as possible. The earth pony was great at figuring out how to build things and which pony should do a certain task. Why, the orange Pegasus was certain that the three would get this project done with time to spare! At first Scootaloo thought that she would be the one making the wings as after all she had them, but seeing Sweetie Belle give that job to Apple Bloom made sense as if anypony could build them it would be her.

"Alright then. I'll build the best nest possible," the filly said as she took the box and began to stuff it with anything soft as she could imagine like cotton balls and crumpled newspapers. She tried to make it like the nest she saw in the trees around town with the tomato the precious egg or baby bird. The happy song Sweetie Belle sung helped pass the time as soon after Scootaloo had a box filled with materials, having a little depression in the center big enough for a tomato.

"Great song Sweetie Belle. Alright, the box has a nest. How are you doing with the wings, Apple Bloom?"

[SteelEagle]

Apple Bloom returned the hug with all her strength, letting go and looking to her project. Making the wings. Well, not really wings since they lacked the actual structure of a pegasi wing or a bird wing but she could still make it work. There were a few ways she could go about it, and as she thought about it, the choices narrowed considerably. She really wished she had been in charge of constructing the 'nest' for the tomato but that ship had sailed. Heck, the principles of it were probably not that much different. Right? Maybe. In any case, Silver Spoon's little whisper only goaded the filly into wanting to beat those hoity toity brats even more. What the hay did they even do outside of school and torturing others? Probably sat around and looked at the ground, as devoid of personality as they were.

Sweetie sang and Apple Bloom danced to it in rhythm by some unseen force that seemingly controlled their timing. As she did so, she put together the wings or her best impression of them. Four sets of wings, one on each side. The idea was to give it stability so the poor thing wouldn't collapse in the breeze because after all stray feathers does not a wing make. Four popsicle sticks per wing in stacks of two lined up with spaces in between so the feathers, which were spread liberally and out, could handle the drift. It would less fly and more sorta spin-float, but it would work. Probably. Maybe. Hopefully. She sure as heck hoped so because if it didn't work it would just spin and drop.

All three did their part and soon the inner hold or nest was done, the wings were done, and the packing was done. All they needed now was to finish up a lot of the ittle things and get some extra padding.

"Alright girls, seems we're on the right mark! Just a few tiny things ta go and we've got ourselves tomato savin' cutie marks...maybe!"

[AlisonRose]

-Silver Spoon-

Silver nodded her head as Diamond spoke, she knew that it was most likely going to be Diamond's way that they went about this.

"Totally, that sounds like a very good plan. We should most likely split up the work though so that we can get done with our preparations faster." She nods her head a few times before she started at the box with the cotton and feathers. She wasn't going to let the Cutie Mark Crusaders beat her this time! She looked over and managed to overhear Apple Bloom actually wanting to get a Tomato Saving Cutie Mark.

"But what would that even look like, a Tomato falling off your flank?" She mumbled softly to herself actually wondering about it but not wanting to get Apple Bloom's attention.

"I see that Winter Dazzle still hasn't gotten a group, maybe she will get lucky and get into a group with Pinchy or Pip." She said as she turned back to her duties. She was happily stuffing the small box with the feathers on the bottom then the cotton on top of them for maximum cushion and a less likely chance that the tips of the feathers would poke their tomato and make it bleed out.

[brianblackberry]

Cheerilee watched as the students began their projects with enthusiasm; she knew that a fun hooves-on project would get their creative, imaginative minds into high gear, and focus their boundless energy on something constructive. Now just to make sure the stragglers were included so that everypony be a part of the fun!

Before Cheerilee could assign the last few students, Ruby Pinch asked her a very strange question, seemingly out of left field. Having the container fly? Cheerilee smiled, the filly surely was just joking after all. “Well Ruby, if you and your team manage to somehow get the box to fly, it won’t only count, it’ll be an A plus!” There was no way to actually get the box and tomato to fly, but it wouldn’t hurt to allow them to try, after all having the tomato break wouldn’t count against them. It was all about using their ingenuity to attempt to solve a problem of physics; trying was the important part.

Of course to do that, no student could be left behind. Time was of the essence, Cheerilee had no choice now, she’d have to assign the stragglers. “Rosehip, why don’t you team up with Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon.” It seemed like a good idea to have an older filly work with the all too often exclusive pair. The mulberry colored mare tapped her hoof to her mouth in thought for a few seconds to best where to put the other remaining students. “Oh I know, Winter Dazzle, you help Ruby, and Pip”. That left Snips; normally she would team the rotund colt with his lanky friend but Snails was already in a trio. Well at least she could put him with the other colts, “Snips, why don’t you assist Guiding Light and Timid Star.”

There, that should work! Hopefully everything would be smooth sailing from this point on.

Groups:

Applebloom

Sweetie Belle

Scootaloo

Ruby Pinch

Pipsqueak

Winter Dazzle

Timid Star

Guiding Light

Snips

Haywire

BeBop

Snails

Diamond Tiara

Silver Spoon

Rosehip

[Mojo]

Haywire smiled as Snails approached them and asked to join. Quickly reading Bebop's note, she turned to her unicorn filly friend and quickly whispered.

"He's ok, Bebop. A real nice guy, not all that bright, but he's probably the nicest colt in class," she finished whispering before turning towards Snails. "Sure y'all kin join us, Snails! Glad ta have ya aboard! Now I know betwist the three of us, we kin make this here project work! Let's take a good look at all we got ta work with and then figger out how ta put it all together. I jist know we're gonna make a humdinger of a container!"

[Lux]

Everything seemed to be falling into place with the tomato drop project. The box was now prepped and sporting wings that would make a Pegasus proud and the tomato had its own protective covering. As the tomato was oh so carefully lowered into the nest built into the box, Scootaloo completed the nest by putting more newspaper and cotton balls over the top in case for some reason the box would flip over.

"Alright Apple Bloom, I'll start padding the box," she said applying liberal amounts of glue to the sides and adding cotton balls and other fluffy stuff to the box. As she added more to it, the container looked less like a box and more like a giant puff ball with wings.

"Looks good with padding on the outside. Do you need anything else to it Sweetie Belle or Apple Bloom?"

***

Progress over at Guiding Light and Timid Star's table had been a little less organized as the yellow colt struggled with how to design this thing to prevent the tomato from smashing! He already wrapped some newspapers around the fruit and began to add glue to the tomato when Cheerilee asked Snips to join his team.

"Great, we're going to need all the help we can get. Snips, can you start gluing as much fluffy stuff like cotton balls and feathers to this box? If we just make this into a big fluffy ball, then I think we'll do alright."

sorry about the wait

[brianblackberry]

Cheerilee watched as the students slowly made their contraptions to protect their tomatoes. It was going slowly but at least it was going. At least the mauve earth pony could put away her grading papers, they wouldn't be needed for this project; it was after all about participation and learning about physics, simply trying whether or not the tomato was smashed would get each foal a passing mark, the only way to fail was not to participate and she doubted that would happen.

Still time was of the essence and it seemed some ponies were struggling with group cooperation. It was important for the students to learn to work with those they otherwise normally wouldn't associate with, as it would be a regular occurrence in their adult lives. "Is everypony doing alright? The school day will be coming to an end soon, and we still need to actually test your creations to see how they work." Should be fun, she hoped. After all it was creativity and the chance for a sense of accomplishment.

At worst it meant that got to drop things and watch stuff get smashed.

There isn't much for Cheerilee to do here unless she is asked something directly, like a question or for help. That isn't necessary though for anyone to do.

More importantly this thread as slowed t a crawl and I am not sure why. I was hoping with a creative project, interaction and competition, and foals being foals that people would go nuts with silly and foalish postings, not sure what has happened. The thread is nearing completion and I would really like it to be a success given how long it has ran and all. Any questions, please bug me in Skype or PM.

[Bramble Rose]

Sweetie Belle looked on the little puff-ball coated box with shining eyes, eagerly anticipating how the little tomatoe inside would love his first flight! "Oooo, do you think tomatoes can get cutie marks? Probably not... but wouldnt' it be neat if he was the first to get a flying tomato cutie mark?"

She bounced happily in place, looking down, then frowned. "It looks too... plain. It needs somethin' more! Like a name! And a rainbow! We should get markers!" She never waited on setting deed to word, and ran into the schoolhouse, coming back out in just a moment with a basket full of art supplies. "All right! What should we decorate it with? It needs something to give it pizzazz! Oooo! Look, there's glitter and sequins! That'll be *per*fect!" her voice cracked with her eagerness to decorate the white fluffy box.

​

[SteelEagle]

The project had come together better than Apple loom could have hoped. The box was secure- more importantly, so was the tomato. Never again would this tomato have to fear a big drop from the top of a school, which Apple Bloom was sure was a common fear of greater tomatokind. Scootaloo did her part in making the container as packed effectively as they could ever hope to do. The key was to cushion an impact in such a manner that the force of an impact was absorbed before it even reached the center of the container, the smallest area where the tomato was held snugly in place. It had some room to move just so a hard impact wouldn't send it breaking itself, but in the end the box was secure, Mr. Tomato was safe, and three cutie marks were on their way to three deserving fillies. And another for an equally brave little tomato, so four cutie marks in this little project! Talk about efficiency!

"Yer right, Sweetie Belle! We gotta get Mister Tomater here a good name and a cutie mark 'fore we send him flyin'!" Apple Bloom added excitedly as the unicorn crusader came bouncing back in with some art supplies. While she was all about sequins and glitter, Apple Bloom was all about that paint! She grabbed a paint brush and some paint and plopped it down in front of one side of the box. She didn't waste much time going to work, painting a rainbow in stark arches of color. Everything was going according to plan and mister Tomato-in-a-box was going to look super snazzy on his way down! Apple Bloom finished her painting and admired her hoofwork, a tiny rainbow on one side. Probably the best rainbow ever painted, by her reckoning at least.

"Need any help with tha glitter, Sweetie Belle? Scootaloo, have a good name all lined up for Mister Tomater?"