The sound that followed the crack of a single clay bullet impacting the ceiling was blissful; pure silence. All of the kids looked at me in slight fear, not wanting a bullet to smack them in the back of the head. It's painful, but I only do that to troublemakers, so they keep themselves in line. Anybody sleeping only gets poked with the butt of my rifle until they wake the fuck up.

"Yes, they made a herd. So the hell what?" I said, crossing my arms and letting the rifle fall to my side. "Does it honestly matter in a day-to-day basis?"

"When you put it that way..." Pipsqueak said in his british accent. "It honestly doesn't."

"Then stop having a freak out about it and listen to Cheerilee." I grunted, sitting back down. Sweetie Belle and Jonathan shot me an appreciative look, while Scoots doodled, Applebloom just sat there silently (good girl), and Apple had a wicked grin across her face. After a moment, everyone else did too, though Diamond Tiara still shot the lovers a few glances.

Math; best subject that I went through in school, despite everyone else hating it. You can call me a nerd if you want, but remember; I'm able to plug a 5.56mm NATO round into your ass at a hundred yards without a scope.

As usual, Scoots was having the most trouble with it, so she came over to me for help.

"What seems to be the problem this time?" I muttered, squatting down to look closer at the paper.

"Number twelve." She replied, looking down a bit. I took a glance at the problem, and it was a slope-intercept equation.

-5y = 4x + 3

"Alright, follow along." I told her, putting my rifle down and grabbing my pen. After a moment, the answer was written down for her.

y = -4/5x - 3/5

"Thanks." Scoots said, looking a little happier now. Since I showed her how I did that problem, she knew what to do now. With a small trot, she went back to her seat.

"Alright class, pass your papers to mister Duran!" Cheerilee chirped twenty minutes later. Within moments, I had twenty papers on my desk ready to be graded after school, Johnnie's being the top one. With a frown, I noted that he didn't write anything at all down. Pretty sure they didn't have this kind of math back in the early 1900's, so I'll cut him some slack.

The school bell rang again, allowing the masses to swarm out and enjoy lunch, followed by recess.

"Johnnie, I'd like to speak to you for a moment." I told the kid before he was able to leave with the CMC's. With a small sigh, he waved to them before coming over to me.

"I'm not in trouble, are I?" He asked, looking up at me while I looked through some papers.

"No, I'd just like to know why you didn't do your math assignment." I told him, causing him to look confused.

"I aint never seen any math like that before, so I don't know the first thing about it." He said, frowning.

"What kind of math did you learn?"

"I memorized my times tables and how to divide before I graduated," John said while trying to dig a hole in the floor with a hoof.

"And what grade did you make it to?"

"The sixth grade, but I started in the second…" the little colt brightened. "Sister Agnes said I was really smart 'n all, so I got to skip the first 'n fourth grades."

"Sorta figured." I said, before glancing around. "Look, I'm offering half an hour of tutoring after school everyday and if you come, it'll help you out a lot. Scootaloo and Applebloom stay after school too, so you wouldn't be the only one of your little 'group' stuck here." I told him.

"Does this tutoring cost any money?" Johnnie asked with a raised eyebrow; he was learning. I chuckled as I answered.

"Son, most of these kids don't even have jobs yet, and I don't force the parents to pay for their kid's education." I told him. "Just stay in your chair after school, and when Cheerilee leaves with the others, I'll start teaching."

"Alright, as long as I can still make it to work." He nodded. "May I go eat now?"

"Yea, but just remember; pony bodies don't like meat too well. You're able to eat the stuff, but it'll feel like hell if it isn't an MRE." I said, watching as he left the room to dick around outside. Not literally, because that's just weird.

"I heard what you told him." Cheerilee said to me as I stood outside, slowly opening my MRE packet.

"He's technically seventy seven years older than I am, so he grew up with a different learning environment." I told her, taking a seat against the wall. "It wouldn't be fair for him to be forced through this without any help other than what the CMC's can give him."

"How different was it?" Cheerilee asked, accepting a cracker. In return, I got an apple slice.

"Unless you were rich, most backwater schools only went to the 6th grade, and all schools still taught religion… hell most teachers were Nuns." I answered. "By my time, because of all the different religious groups in America, that was outlawed."

"What would that be like, here?" Cheerilee asked, nibbling on her cracker.

Now, I had told her and the class about religion because they asked for an explanation (considering that I was a Christian before, I kinda gave up my religion for the most part), so she knew what it was a little.

"Like nobody could tell if Celestia actually existed or not but still talking about her, while keeping out the Theory of Evolution from your teachings." I explained. "One guy, in the mid 1920's, taught the ToE because he felt that the law banning the teaching of it was wrong. It caused a whole debate over it, that in the end he technically lost. Because of a technicality, the case never got put on trial in the upper Courts."

"Hmm..." Cheerilee muttered, eating a sandwich before looking at me. "So how's Luke doing?" She asked, changing the subject. While I didn't know the BAR gunner as well as I knew Callum, I knew everyone in Ponyville was worried about him. Especially Mark, who I wanted to sucker punch for allowing him to go into that reactor.

"They've moved him to Canterlot, where Dawn and Lunacae will attempt to heal him." I sighed. "His hair's already starting to fall out, so I don't know if he'll be fine."

"And Mark? Didn't he retrieve Luke?"

"Mark has a coughing fit, but he won't accept treatment until Gallan's better." I answered. "I'm surprised you didn't notice when he popped in before I arrived."

"He looked like he was a little ill, but other than that there wasn't anything seemingly wrong with him." She explained. "I heard he's using his sick days at the Spa for some reason."

"Radiation poisoning isn't contagious, I think." I said. "But better safe than sorry. I bet he's keeping physical contact to an absolute minimum to even Apple." The changeling, who happened to wander over to us while we were conversing, nodded in confirmation.

"H...He...He's r-right." She stammered, surprising the hell out of the both of us.

"Oh my, you can talk!" Cheerilee grinned, hugging the changeling as hard as she could without breaking her shell.

"D...Don't t-t-tell daddy... Want to s-s-sur-surprise h-him." She managed to get out, sounding a lot like somebody who has a severe studdering condition. Went through the facial expressions and everything.

"We'll respect that." I said, leaning back. Cheerilee let go of the poor girl and smiled too.

"Does anypony else know?" She asked.

"Cu-cu-Cutie M-Mark Crus-s-saders." She said. "T-they pr-promised to n-not tell."

[CMCs, TP]

"So you're really a human," Diamond Tiara scrunched up her nose in disgust. "No wonder those blank flanks decided to make you part of a herd, there isn't a real colt or stallion who would want them."

"And what's that supposed ta mean," Applebloom demanded.

"That the only ponies that take humans as mates," Diamond snorted, "Are either the ones nopony wants, or are just desperate for attention."

"Miss Cheerilee, Rainbow Dash, and the elements of harmony have human mates," Scootaloo snapped back.

"Yeah," Sweetie Bell backed her friend. "Even the Princesses have human mates."

"Well… well there is no accounting for taste," Diamond tried to defend herself before trotting off in a huff.

"Why do you gu…girls let her get to you like that?" Johnnie finally asked once Sweetie, Bloom and Scoots had calmed down.

"Because even though we are all the same age, she's an adult and at this rate, we never will be."

"Wait," the colt blanched and shook his head in confusion at Scootaloo's response. "You want to run that one by me again?"

"Now a days, you are considered and treated like a foal until you get your cutie mark," Sweetie Bell sighed as she leaned heavily on her colt-friend.

"Yeah," Bloom nodded as she brushed up against him from the other side. "It doesn't matter how old yah are, if yah are a blank flank, yer not an adult."

"We only have one more year of school and after we either get jobs or go on to finishing school for jobs, or magic, that requires further learning." By now Scoots was pressing her back to his as she spoke. "And yet we three are still treated like yearlings."

"Even mah sister still treats me like a foal," Applebloom grumbled. "And mah first heat should be soon."

"First Heat," John flinched. "And, ummm, just when would that happen?"

"If'n Ah'm anything like Applejack," she giggled at his sudden discomfort. "Then by this here upcoming Nightmare Night."

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