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Moving into the Dorms (Open to the School of Friendship)


StrongCopper

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Spearmint had always believed that the act of moving from one home to another was a somewhat time consuming, emotionally challenging event that often required things like moving vans, tear filled good byes and a nostalgic sense of loss even as one moved forward into a new future. Now that he was doing it for himself... he was somewhat disappointed by the fact that the stories he had heard and believed didn't have a whole lot of truth to them for him. Leaving Green Meadows behind had been a rather quick and easy affair; He only had the one bag of stuff with him and the only pony who might have cared that he was leaving was his mother who at the time was currently being transported to a cell to await trial for crimes against the residents of Green Meadows.   

 

While it had taken some time to get to Ponyville proper (and thus the School of Friendship that was there), the young colt quickly found himself embracing the vast difference to his former home like a duckling being introduced to water for the first time. Everything was so colorful and full of life here. There were actual plants and the greenery was almost overwhelming compared to the near barren, dusty planes around Green Meadows. 

 

The school itself was... well,  it did kind of look a bit gaudy and the fact that it seemed to be covered by Princess Twilight's cutie mark seemed a bit egotistical to him but those were minor complaints that didn't bare being brought up. It was however somewhat bigger then he was used to, to the point where finding the dorm room that he was going to be staying at was actually proving to be something of a challenge. He even had a map of the school giving him directions and he was pretty sure he had gotten turned around a hallway or two back. The student lodging area just had a 'it all looks the same' vibe to it. Taking a seat in order to have a more in depth look at the map held in his magic, he started muttering to himself as he traced his hoof along the path he believed he had followed in order to try and work out where he was. "Okay, so I passed that janitors closest... I know I passed this mural here... where did I get turned around?"

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There are legends surrounding supposed benevolent spirits of nature that come to aid of lost travelers.  Some ponies take these stories literally, and given the magical and semi-legendary character of existence within Equestria, this is a perfectly reasonable attitude.  Others take the quite equally reasonable view that such stories are merely ancient encodings of natural knowledge, teaching techniques of orientation subconsciously from generation to generation.  Neither explanation, however, would satisfactorily account for the crow flapping around indoors, before perching its black body on top of Spearmint's head, looking over upside down into the colt's eyes.

"Craw, Craww?"  The corvid croaked, in a tone that was somehow questioning.

 

"Huginn!  There you are!"  There was a voice from behind the colt, heralding the arrival of what he could assume was one of his fellow students.

 

Chipper Banner.png

 

He was another unicorn colt, about the same age as Spearmint.  The contrast of his shock-white mane and tail to his dark blue coat gave him a somewhat off-putting look, which wasn't even accounting for the smell.  Not exactly an unpleasant odor, but there was something... feral about it.  It suggested, for one thing, long hours spent more in the company of animals than other ponies.  Nonetheless, he wore a big smile, and seemed every bit the outgoing pony typical of a town like this.  "Hey there new guy! My name's Chipper Demise; The Archancellor said I should be looking out for my new roommate today.  Good thing Huginn found you, getting lost in a place like this can drive you stark raven mad. NYAHAHAHAA!"  That laugh... wasn't quite normal, no.  It suggested something unhinged in the machinery of the mind.

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Crows were not an unknown animal to Spearmint; They were one of the only species of birds that came out to Green Meadows. Well, to be more precise it was the same family or families of crows that tended to stop by and stay for a number of months to lay some eggs and rise the next generation. Honestly, he and many of the other ponies in town had left the crows alone to their own devices and in return the crows seemed to like them enough that it wasn't strange for them to be almost within reach of a pony without even bothering to fly away. To some degree Spearmint had even been able to tell some of the crows apart and recognize them as individuals... through he never really bothered to give them names or anything.

 

The crow that had been flying through the hallway was not one of the crows he had recognized back at Green Meadows, but it seemed to be completely comfortable enough with ponies to land on his head as if he was a fleshy perch. As it looked at his face upside down and he gazed back at it, he blinked slightly but stayed relatively still in order not to disturb it. However, there was a slight narrowing of Spearmint's eyes as he gazed at the bird as he stated matter of factually "If you're just here to keep my company and enjoy a ride, that's fine... but I'm not dead so if you try and eat one of my eyes, I will end you. We understand each other?" One didn't grow up near crows without finding out what they ate... and he had seen family units of crows fight each other for the eyeballs of a body before like how a pony family might fight over a favored dessert. 

 

Hearing a voice calling out from behind him, Spearmint had to make an effort not to suddenly jerk his head towards the noise, mindful of the weight on his head. With a careful slowness, he turned to face the new arrival so as to not startle the crow on his head. Looking at the blue colt who had joined him who was clearly the owner of the bird, Spearmint... didn't really know how to respond right away. His raven pun got him to let out an amused snort from his nose, but he couldn't help but answer "You know, seeing you for a second I thought I was seeing a murder of crows. But clearly, there is no probable caws." He tried to keep a straight face as he waited to see how his own attempt at a pun went.

 

Offering the colt his hoof to bump, he introduced himself as "Spearmint Sovereign. I am actually a bit turned around. You wouldn't happen to know where room..." He carefully floated the map over to revel the marked room in question where he was trying to get to "... well, where this room is, would you?"

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Huginn seemed unimpressed by the threat, but in any case, he refrained from any unwanted pecking.  There was perhaps a less than comfortable grip to his claws, but there was no sense of discomfort with resting on a moving perch.  He was seemingly quite used to it, as evidenced by the fact that he soon took off to rest on Chipper's head.  The unicorn seemed about as used to the perch as the crow did.

 

For his own part, Chipper seemed delighted that his wordplay was actually eliciting something other than a patient groan.  "Hey, I'd never do you dirty like that, one good *tern* deserves another, eh?  Nyahahah!"  The second laugh was slightly more sane.  Slightly.  Misjudging the offer of a hoof-bump, the dark-coated colt seized Spearmint's hoof in a grip both physical and magical, and gave a vigorous shake.  

Upon seeing the offered map, though... his smile didn't go anywhere, but his expression developed a more worried, self conscious air.  "Well, lets see, need a close look...."  He held it up to his face closely, squinting at the page before his smile shed the worried tint and split his head like a jack-o-lantern.  "237!  That's mine!  I knew you were my new roomate!"

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To be fair, the crow not being impressed by the threat wasn't important. The fact that Spearmint's eyes were not being pecked was. So Spearmint was happy to deal with a less then comfortable grip of claws on his head for as long as Huginn was perched on him... through Spearmint wouldn't lie to himself that the sudden absence of claws on his scalp when the crow flew back to Chipper wasn't a pleasant one.

 

Having his hoof shaken rather then just a hoof bump was surprising but... not unwelcome either. It was just not what he was expecting. Then as Chipper examined the map Spearmint had been using, Spearmint himself couldn't help but be concerned for just a moment that the map would turn out to be some kind of welcome prank for new students before the mood suddenly changed. Honestly, it seemed like a major coincidence that out of all the people he could meet, the first one he encountered would be his roommate. Relaxing just a little, he offered a smile as he said "Well that's a relief. I was worried that I was going to be wandering around the place for hours trying to find it. You mind showing me where we're staying?" He asked earnestly.

 

There was also a brief moment before he also added "I wasn't aware that students were allowed to keep pets here." Hoping that it would open up a discussion.

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"Don't mind at all, we're right back there!"  Chipper pointed two doors down in the direction from which he came.  "And Huginn's not a pet, he's a friend from home!  And it's not so much that he's allowed to stay as much as they can't keep him out.  Crows are really clever you know!  Huginn here can pick most any lock there is, and his brother Munin can pick any that he can't!  I should take you to meet him, follow me!"  And with that, he turned around, practically skipping the way back to his dorm room.

The dorm rooms were split with a bunk and a desk on each end, to give students personal space as well as bring them together.  What was to be Spearmint's side was clear, for the most part, though long weeks of single occupancy had let some of Chipper possessions encroach past the halfway point.  And hoo-boy, what possessions....

Pride of place was given to a record player, atop which another crow, apparently sleeping.  Feathers were everywhere, not as castoffs, but as decorations.  Along with small, cleaned bones of various creatures.  "Can you believe the science lab was just going to throw these away, just because the skeletons weren't intact anymore?"  Chipper asked, as if complaining about a wasteful cafeteria hostess chucking away perfectly good food.  "You can do all kinds of good stuff with them!"  And now Spearmint would begin to understand why Chipper hadn't been assigned a roommate until now...

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Well this was going to be a new experience for Spearmint one way or the other; He had never been allowed to have a pet growing up so living with animals was going to be just another change he was going to have to adjust to. "I mean, the fact that between them they can pick most locks is kind of amazing... but I can't help but feel like this situation would be best summed up that they'll continue to outsmart the administration... provided they don't cause enough trouble for the administration to actually stop and think about dealing with them." That sounded like a weird way to word it, but it was the best way he could think about wording the idea out loud.

 

Entering his dorm room, it was hard not to notice the decorations that Chipper had put up and had scattered around the room. Sure, some of them would need to be pushed back into his half of the room but Spearmint couldn't help but connect the dots in his head. Chipper had a wild, messy mane, had actual bones decorating his room and was likely one of the few students at school who had animals in his dorm (somewhat illegally, but it seemed like the powers that be weren't trying to evict them). Chipper had to be one of the coolest kids in school!

 

Putting his bag down on his bed, he glanced towards the record player as he asked "So that's Munin I'm guessing?" in relation to the sleeping crow.

 

 

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Chipper, ever one to live up to his name, chuckled.  "Oh, I try to keep them out of trouble, but its not like I can mind control my little friends.  Well, I guess, technically I actually could, but mama says that's not what you do with friends, so I don't.  I don't want to make momma upset, you know?  She likes me, and not many back home do."  It was perhaps unfortunate that he unwittingly trod upon one of Spearmint's sensitive spots, but being so new to friendship as he was, Chipper hadn't exactly done the pre-reading on what traumas his roommate might be bringing to the table.  Hence, why Chipper was not, in fact, considered the "cool colt", aesthetics aside.

 

Not even noticing Spear's reaction, he tapped next to Munin's perch.  "Sure is, lets see if he's up to say hello!"
"Ra-w-wk."  The crow seemed to yawn as well as croak, his head not quite coming fully upright.  Even a peck from Huginn didn't get Munin to fully come upright, merely a half-flap of the wing to keep his brother from bothering him.  He seemed rather less well kempt than Huginn, ruffled feathers making a kind of 'bed-head' all over his body.  And the smell of wild bird about him was rather stronger.

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It likely was a good thing that Chipper hadn't been looking in Spearmint's direction. It wasn't really possible for him to have known of Spearmint's history, but his statement had caused Spearmint to blink in a manner that... honestly would have surprised some of the staff of the Friendship School. "I mean... there's nothing wrong with using a bit of magic to make someone a bit more empathic to you. I mean, Princess Twilight's done that a couple of times back before she was a Princess." He explained earnestly.

 

Walking over to watch Chipper and Huginn bother Munin a little, he politely said "If he wants to sleep that's fine. I can say hello to him later." before turning to look at Chipper and asking with some curiosity "So why did you learn mind control magic?... Or did you say that more in the sense that you could learn to do it if you put your mind to it?"

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"Yeah, sure, but she also made others explode and turned them into statues for all eternity!  Doesn't mean she won't put you in detention if she catches you trying to do any of that kind of magic."  Chipper spoke as if he had first-hoof experience.  And indeed, there were scorch marks underneath some of his decorations, and at least one of the feathers was of stone.  "Granted, I wouldn't actually do that stuff to anypony or anybird, but it still kind of worried her that I wanted to find out how to do it."

 

Huginn, having accepted his brother was not in the mood to play, took off from Chipper's head to once again perch upon Spearmint, scratching slightly along the colt's back, as if testing the mettle of his hide.  Chipper, meanwhile, had gone to his bunk and flopped down upon it, kicking his legs idly.  "And there is the rather minor thing that you'd have to be dead for me to control you.  Actually, I couldn't even do that!  You're too big, couldn't bring you back from the other side.  I can only do that sort of thing for my littler friends, isn't that right Munin?"

"KRAWK."  The scuffled bird responded, and his head flopped from one odd angle to the other.  

 

"Wasn't able to stitch all the bones in his neck back together.  I'm pretty good at putting skeletons back, but I think the bobcat got one of the vertebrae stuck between his teeth.  The wings still work, though!  That's the important part."  Chipper was still smiling happily, as he turned over to fix Spearmint with his gaze, watching for any reaction to the revelation of his own special talent.

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Meanwhile, at the Ponyville train station, Morning Glow stepped onto the steaming platform, levitating her luggage behind her. She breathed a sigh as she took in the town before it. It appeared the tallest buildings around were Twilight's castle and the school itself. No other building looked over two stories tall. "Well, no use prolonging the inevitable, Morning Glow. Might as well get started." And with that, she trotted her way toward the school.

 

The school itself actually provided her with some reassurance. It seemed very regal and reminded her of home. Other than the castle, it was the only building that didn't look like it belonged on a farm. She sighed again as she walked in. Immediately, she was greeted by the chaos of new students from across Equestria and beyond trying to find their bearings, chatting excitedly, laughing, and even yelling. She recoiled at first, then, after pulling the hood of her traveling cloak over her head, proceeded into the crowd. "Stay calm," she muttered to herself. "Just go to your dorm and everything will be fine." Having practically memorised the map on the train ride, she knew exactly where she was going and found it with ease, managing to stay undetected by using a deterrent spell that caused ponies not to notice her or pay her any mind. 

 

It appeared her dorm mate hadn't arrived yet, or at least hadn't found her way in yet, so Morning Glow took the opportunity to get herself settled. After assessing the space, she magically unpacked and stored all of her items in a matter of moments. She then looked around the room. "Something's missing..." she said. "Aha!" Her horn began to glow turquoise as a magical beam shot from it to the floor. She directed it around the room until she had divided the space exactly in half with a solid, white line, leaving a small space around the door for neutral ground. "Perfect!" she said. And with that, she went back into the hall with the book her parents had given her as a parting gift in search of the library, where perhaps she could read without interruption. 

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There was a small shrug of his shoulders as Spearmint quickly countered "I mean it's a matter of maturity and context. A sharp knife is a highly useful tool for prepping food in the kitchen but it would be foolish and dangerous to give one to a small foal who had never used one before, nor really understand what it is. Maybe after a few years when we're older they'll be an advanced, optional class we can apply for to learn those more dangerous magical tools because... well, you can't just trust anyone with the knowledge of how to turn a living being into stone!"

 

The look on Spearmint's face was hard to read... largely because there was a strong sense that Spearmint himself didn't quite know what to believe in that moment when it came to Chipper's claim. One would think that the knee jerk reaction to someone claiming to be a necromancer would be fear, but the multi-green unicorn instead just looked confused with a slowly growing look on his face that he believed that he was getting one of his legs pulled. "You're yanking my tail. There is no way that the staff would let you bring two birds back from the dead and let you keep them as-" He paused for a moment as his instinct was to say pets, but he changed it to "-additional roommates."

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Caramel was actually looking forward to this, the whole friendship school thing. Especially with her sisters here to help her move in. Not only did Ponyville seem like a good town, her older sister stayed in town too, so they’d be able to get together more. Looking around after departing the train, the earth pony filly started making her way towards the school, enjoying the scenery. 
 

It was kinda loud in the school itself, but that was fine, she could roll with it. Besides, she liked tinkering with machinery, and that stuff could get loud. After a bit of wandering, she found her room, blinking a bit as she looked at the white line dividing the space in half. Were all the rooms like that, or did she just end up with someone really serious about their space? 
 

“Huh. Oh well, no big deal I guess.” She shrugged to herself, setting the boxes she had been carrying down on the unoccupied side of the room. 

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Naturally, the smallest kernel in the cornfield was overjoyed to be attending a BRAND NEW SCHOOL! And a school about friendship of all things! Kettle wasn't sure why friendship required a whole school to teach, but she sure as shucking wasn't complaining!

 

Bouncing up and down on the tips of her hooves- and somehow miraculously balancing her own small load of a single box and comically oversized basket of popcorn- the little buttery bundle of boundless energy 'Ooh'd' and 'Ahh'd' at the crystally decor, occasionally making rapid-fire comments that would take a slow-time spell to decipher.

 

When they reached Caramel's room- Kettle had NO idea what her room was, but she could figure that out later- she shrugged the box off her shoulders- which had been under the kettle corn- made a quick excuse to go check out the rest of the school, and promptly darted back out the way they came to terrorize the faculty with questions. Either that or go find some new friends milling about.

 

Somewhere between 'Fast Travel' and 'The Speed of Corn Popping' little Kettle bumped into something very soft and plushy, horn-first, and fall on her flank with a start, her borderline magical basket of kettle corn plopping down by her side with a single kernal knocked loose.

 

"Huh!?

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Chipper nodded as Spearmint gave his thoughts on the proper pre-requisites for using dangerous magics, the reasoning made perfect sense to him.  "Yup, mama says the same thing about battleaxes!  You gotta trust that the young buck's not gonna round up a crew to pillage and plunder helpless villages before you show him how to use it to split a skull!  I didn't see any lessons about skull splitting in the extra classes here, though.  Fine by me, I can't use them unless they're intact, Nyahahaha!"  He shifted off the bunk, about to get up and show his new roommate about the place, when doubt was expressed as to his abilities.

 

"What?"  He said, softly, still grinning.  Well, his mouth was.  His eyes were not.  "You doubt me?   You think I am... a failed apprentice?"  The phrase was apparently a triggering one.  "Well, I'll just have to show you, won't I!?"  His voice had shot up in volume and pitch, disturbing Huginn and Munin who both took off and circled close to the ceiling, croaking and cawing as Chipper pulled bones from his decor into a little pile on the floor.  "Yes, this will do.  Skull from one, legs from another, they're all from mice, this will work.  Not for long, but I just need to prove it to you..."  His magic brought the dry bones together, the dark purple aura biding them into the form of a rodent skeleton.  "Just need a bit of blood now..."  He bit down hard on his fetlock, just enough to pierce the skin, before pulling it to drip on the construct.

 

A sickening, burnt-copper smell filled the air, but was soon overwritten by- "Popcorn?"  Chipper's concentration was shifted, but the magic had done it's trick.  The skeleton stayed intact, landing on all fours to the floor.  The legs scrabbled like beans in a maracas, and the eyeless skull lifted into the air.  A sepulchral SQUEAK was not so much be heard as much as it was inserted into the mind, before the undead aberration against nature scampered out of the doorm into the hall, ignoring everything else to make a beeline towards the dropped kernel of kettle corn.  The former mouse (or, given the motley nature of the sources, former mice) took up the puffed treat in bony claws and attempted to eat it, but the nibbled bits only fell through the hollow ribcage.  It was honestly kind of pitiful to see.

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Morning Glow walked back from the library, still cloaked, and moving shiftily despite the fact that her spell was still in effect. Who would have known that a library, a place renown for its silence, could be so loud? Students crowded the room almost as badly as they had the entrance hall, and were just as disorderly. As she backed into the hall down which was her dorm, she breathed a sigh of relief that nopon- er, nocreature had seen her and removed her hood. Then, just as she turned to proceed down the hall WHAM! A filly a little smaller than her ran horn-first directly into her side! She yelped and recoiled, and was about to scold the other unicorn for not watching where she was going, but then remembered that she probably had been watching where she was going, but Morning Glow's spell had prevented her from noticing. She removed it straight away.

 

"Ow..." she muttered, rubbing her side. "Where's the fire? Isn't there some kind of rule about running in the halls?" She didn't mean to be rude, of course, but the fact was that she had basically just been stabbed, and so she found it difficult to remove the edge from her voice. "Please watch where you're going in the future." Though she knew that last sentence really wasn't necessary in this situation as it was almost certainly her own fault for not being seen, she felt it was appropriate given how fast this pony had been cruising. Who knew if it had really been the spell's fault she hadn't seen Morning Glow?

 

As she rose and began to trot away, a small movement near the filly's bucket of popcorn caught her eye. She turned her head to behold... a mouse? No, a skeleton! No, a skeletal mouse! She screamed, the sight becoming more frightening the longer she looked at it. But her bones didn't seem to want to move. Was there truly a necromancer here at the School of Friendship??? No, that was impossible! This had to be an elaborate prank of some kind! Someone using levitation magic or something! But them mouse continued to move as if it were alive, and she stayed there, speechless as she watched it.

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While Spearmint might have been slightly confused by the manner in which Chipper had agreed with him, the fact was that the two still agreed with each other and that was a good enough start for him to cause him to smile. However, when Chipper looked challenged by Spearmint's statement he couldn't help but blink slightly. "I'm not saying you're a failed apprentice or anything, just that I'm fairly certain that necromancy is illegal in Equestria... I think." It had to be right? Even if Princess Twilight herself hadn't done anything about it, surely Princess Celestia would have taken some kind of action to make it illegal... right?

 

Thinking about it, it might just be a case that the field of magic was heavily looked down upon and considered taboo socially that nopony simply didn't believe that it was worth taking the time and effort to right it down in an official capacity.  But surely the alicorns wouldn't have overlooked something like that, right? Right?!

 

Regardless of if Necromancy was illegal in Equestria or not, Spearmint watched as Chipper did it anyway, using his blood and some mice bones in order to create an animated mouse skeleton. Seeing the crime against nature that took place before him, Spearmint was torn between two major mindsets. The first was how freaking awesome what he just saw was! The second was the knowledge that this was almost certainly going to get them a thousand years of detention, if not outright expelled if any of the teachers found out about it. "Oh wow... you actually did it." Spearmint offered to Chipper in his divided voice... before the scream caused him to look towards the hallway door and notice that:

A) Their door was open.

B)  The skeleton mouse was out in the hallway, trying and failing to eat a corn kernel in a pitiful but... kind of cute way.

C) The girl who had screamed was looking directly at said skeleton mouse in terrified horror.

 

"...I'm going to get detention for not trying to stop you, aren't I?" Spearmint asked aloud, watching the scene and... not really knowing what to do at the moment.

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Caramel had been unpacking until the scream sounded. The filly blinked a bit, looking around to see that Kettle had deposited part of her load before heading out again, so Caramel went to investigate. At least it wasn’t hard to find Kettle, since she was right around where the scream had come from, and it also wasn’t hard to see why it had happened once the filly got closer. She stopped slightly between Kettle and the skeletal mouse, tilting her head as she looked at it. Sure, it was kinda scary, but it was also interesting that it could move without any physical muscles or anything connecting the bones. 
 

“Well, at least it seems to like your corn, Kettle.” She shrugged as she watched it. 

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Kettle wasn't too happy about being talked down to by the older mare, but she guessed she had a point and mumbled an apology. "S'rry..."

 

That's when she noticed... A mouse... A skeletal mouse, and her pupils shrunk as she registered that an undead rodent was eating her popcorn.

 

Kettle joined in Morning Glow's startled vocalizations, hopping up onto her back to put as much distance between her and the corn-thief as possible, pointing a trembling hoof at it. "It's a scary mouse, it's a scary mouse! And it's eating my kettle corn!" What next? What happened once it got a taste for her corn? Would it turn on her next, the source of this delicious treat? Kettle could only imagine the horrors, never able to produce another miraculous kernel again as she's forced to serve basket after basket of buttery popcorn to the little abomination.

 

Luckily, her sister came to the rescue, so she swapped backs and balanced on top of Caramel's head, meekly peeking at the creature from just beyond her mane. "It's going to eat all my co-ho-hoooornnn!" Oh, the despair. 

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Upon seeing the bones come to life, Chipper's eyes lit up, losing that air of traumatized anxiety that Spearmint had unwittingly summoned.  "Nyaha!  Great success!"  He grinned over at his roommate.  "Well, it's not illegal if I don't practice it on ponies or use it to hurt others, perfectly fine if I do it on animals, just as long as I don't dig them up from the pet cemetery, 'cause that's stealing, and stealing's wrong!"  He nodded solemnly.  "Plus, I can actually use my magic to heal, too!  After all, if I can make something not-dead that was dead, I can also make something not-quite-dead fully alive!  So I'm sure we won't get in trouble as long as I don't hurt any-"

"AAAAAIIIIEIEEEEE!"  The sudden sound of a little filly's shriek interruped Chipper's self-congratulatory self-justification, causing his face to drop a little bit.  "Uh-oh, I think we might be in trouble after all..."  He said in a more subdued tone, cantering out of their shared room to see the scene of carnage outside, crows following in his wake.  It rather had to be said that the sight of him, wild-maned, berobed, with carrion crows circling above his head would likely not make the frightened foals think any the better of him.  Nor did was sense of humor calculated to endear, unless you were the sort of filly to dress all in black and wear much heavier eyeliner than all standards of beauty dictated. 

 

"Naw, don't worry, the little guy's not gonna eat all your popcorn; look, he can't even hold one kernel down, nyahaha!"  It was true enough, as at the end of the attempted consumption, all the mouse had to show for it was a little pile of crumbs where all the nibbled bits had fallen out of its hollow form.  Looking up with a faint sense of reproach at its re-animator, the undead animal then collapsed with a puff of purple magic back into its component bones, which the unicorn colt swept up with his magic.  "Just wanted to prove to my new roommate that I wasn't a failed apprentice.  Nopony can say I'm a failed apprentice."  The faint, chill breeze that seemed to accompany those words could almost be felt.  It passed as soon as it came, though, as soon as all the bones were placed in a little side pouch by Chipper's side and he stuck out his hoof.  "I'm Chipper Demise!  What's your names?"

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Following his necromancer roommate and... somewhat relaxing due to his explanation of what is and isn't illegal in that field (Granted he was taking his word for it, but considering Chipper hadn't been expelled or imprisoned yet there was likely a solid foundation of truth to it), he sighed as he looked at the fillies then down at the undead mouse... which 'died' and Chipper swept up. Taking a deep breath, he looked at the girls and said bashfully "I'm... sorry if my roommate frightened you. I thought he was making a joke at my expense and... well, he certainly proved me wrong."

 

"Are you... both okay?" He asked, not quite sure what to say to them under the circumstances but... well, maybe the skeleton mouse had bit them or something? Even if he kind of doubted it, considering they weren't focusing on any kind of wound or anything.

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Terror prevented Morning Glow from even noticing there was a filly on her head until she jumped to someone else's. After hearing the nonchalant response, she stared at the newcoming filly in disbelief. How could she be calm in a situation like this??? Perhaps what surprised her more, though, was what she could only assume to be her sister's reaction. A skeletal mouse was wandering about and all she could think about was her popcorn?? Then, an almost palpable change in the air as an intimidating colt strode out of the room. If his appearance and manner hadn't been enough to creep her out, his laugh certainly did it. 

 

His roommate seemed to be the more sane one of the two, though she couldn't validly say that either of them were playing with a whole hand. "Are you... both okay?" It took Morning Glow a moment to gather her wits enough to even move, let alone speak. 

 

"OK??? AM I OK???" she said, not bothering to lower her voice and not caring whether or not someone else had started speaking already. "I JUST SAW A MOUSE REANIMATED AND THEN DEANIMATED AND YOU WANT TO KNOW IF I'M OK???" Her voice squeaked several times, but she continued regardless, lowering her voice only slightly. "I should be asking you two if you're ok!!! What kind of pony in their right mind would practice necromancy?? And at a school, no less! Don't you know how dark magic like that is?? Have you ever read any comprehensive studies on what it does?? Not just to its victims, but to its practitioners?? I can't believe it's still in practice! I thought the discipline had died out ages ago! And now I'm face to face with a colt who is actually practicing it without even considering the repercussions! Are you out of your mind?? What in Celestia's name do you think you're doing!?" Had she been able to take in more oxygen, she would have yelled some more, but by now, what with the adrenaline rush she was still coming down from, combined with the large amounts of air she had just used, she was completely out of breath and was beginning to see everything through a tunnel. She stopped to pant for a few moments.

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Caramel was used to Kettle jumping on her, so she barely gave any indication that anything had even happened on that front.
 

“Nah, I think your corn is safe, Kettle.” She hummed, watching as the bits fell right through the creature and back onto the floor. The mouse was interesting to try and figure out how it moved, aside from the obvious answer of magic. She looked up when a couple of colts came out, the disheveled one apparently the one that had cast the magic. 
 

“Physically, I’d say we’re all fine. Looks like the only loss was that corn there.” Caramel shrugged, giving Chipper’s offered hoof a shake.
 

“I’m Caramel Corn, and this is Kettle Corn.” She said after the other filly’s tirade had finished, gesturing to her little sister as she introduced her. It didn’t seem like anyone else was introducing themselves, so she had to take it upon herself. 

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Seeing that her mealie treat was no longer staring down its eminent demise, the little filly quickly perked right up, thoughts about what just happened and how she could use it to reach new corny heights popping into her headspace. 

 

"Yup, that's me!" She chirped, beaming at the two- but mostly at the neko- merkrow- whatever the gibbering pony said. 

 

Quickly trading places, she hopped into Spearie's head, giggled, and then bounded onto Chipper's back, reading up on her hind legs to ogle his horn with stars in her eyes. "How did you do it, how did you do it!?" Oh, the possibilities. She still didn't like the idea of undead mice eating all her popcorn, but that didn't matter if she could have INFINITE POPCORN! "I Wanna make infan- infinante corn! Oh, I can just imagine it now, first I'll revive my own secret grove of kernies then I'll make even MORE kernies and then I can make lots of kettle corn and because the plants will never die I can plant more and still have the FIRST kernies so now I have DOUBLE the kernies and I can make DOUBLE the popcorn because the old ones didn't go all wilty and then I can bring more popcorn to school and more popcorn means I can make more friends and more friends means I'll need more popcorn but I'm sure I can get some of you to help me harvest and then I'll be able to make FOUR TIMES the popcorn because we'll all be working together like momma always said we should and-

 

Pausing, she gasped, eyes going wide. The next words that came out of her mouth could rival even Luna's legendary Canterlot Voice, but with several times the enthusiasm. "OH, DO YOU PONIES WANT ANY OF MY KETTLE CORN!? I made it this morning just for you! I hope you like it ~ I added extra butter this time, and some caramel too, because ponies like caramel- or my sister does, at least. Do you like caramel?" She looked down at Chipper, then to his... Crow. "Ooh, ooh, do birds like caramel!? I bet they do, although it may get stuck in their beak, in which case I'll have to make a new batch minus caramel for him."

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Chipper didn't really take offense to Morning Glow's rant on the ethical nature of his school of magic.  Even though necromancy was still practiced in the Northern Continent of Whitescar, most 'civilized' tribes and clans tended to shun practitioners.  The only exception being the arena town of Saavergerg, where they were the closest thing to healers that could be found to support the gladiatorial combat that was the lifeblood of that city.  "I dunno about Celestia, but I'm here to make friends!  Mama said that as long as I could keep my good attitude about what I did while I did, everything would be fine, but I'd need friends to keep my head on straight!  Which is good, cause it's very easy to break your neck.  Besides, if killing is wrong, then doing the opposite of killing must be right, right?  That's logic!"  Of course, Chipper had just said five minutes ago that killing wasn't always wrong.  Logic is a two-edged sword.

 

He shook Caramel's offered hoof, before twisting his head around in a rather avian fashion to grin back at Kettle.  "Pleased to meet ya!  And ma said I'm not allowed to make zombie plants after the parasitic lingonberry incident.  I can only make diseased ones healthy, and that doesn't mean making them immortal."   Chipper's regretful explanation trailed off as he finally got a good whiff of the tasty treat Kettle had graciously popped up for them.  "Oooh, for me?  For *us*?"

 

And there was much rejoicing.  And crunching.  And Cawing.  And Pecking.  And the kernels went everywhere.  Chipper's mama may have taught him a lot of things, but the warrior caribou of the north didn't seem to care much for table manners.  They did care about complimenting the chef, though, which he did.  With his mouth full.  "Thiff if delifuff!  *Munch crunch*"

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