Felix wandered through the halls of Diamondshore High School, his eyes barely picking up enough light to see the numbers above the classroom doors. He wasn't usually here after school, but today was the first meeting of the science club, and there was no way he's pass up an opportunity to learn more about science. Though, the name "science club" was pretty vague. He guessed they must cover all sorts of sciencey stuff if they were called that instead of "biology club" or "physics club" or "chemistry club".

The only light in the building now came from the windows on the doors at either end of the hallway, making it hard to see where he was going.

315, 315, where is 315? He though, starting to walk faster. Was he on the wrong floor? There was no way, he had been going here for three years! Sure, it was dark, but he could still count the flights of stairs.

311… 313… 314… 316? Felix stopped, staring at the door- the last one on this floor. After a moment, he slowly turned around.

315. Right.

He'd forgotten the room numbers were set up like they were. Why not just go from 300 to 308 on one side of the hall, and then from 309 to 316 on the other? Shaking his head, he opened the door… and promptly ran into another door behind it. The window on the first door had been uncovered and dark, but the blinds had been pulled down on the second, and a dim light was visible behind it. He opened this one more slowly, not wanting to faceplant into a third door. Luckily, this one led to a small room that looked almost like a miniature lab.

There was a large counter in one corner, adorned with a sink, a few cabinets, and shelves that held graduated cylinders, beakers, and test tubes. There were piles of boxes against the walls, each labeled with the name of a different chemical or piece of equipment, some of which Felix didn't even recognize. The only light that was turned on was in the center of the room, above a circular table with a multi-faucet sink, hot plates, burners, and scales scattered around it.

Sitting at the table was a small unicorn mare with a light pink coat and shiny, dark hair that was tied into a ponytail. She was wearing safety goggles and a lab coat that was far too big for her, and was mixing some kind of powder with water over a burner. When Felix walked in, she looked a bit startled.

"Oh, uh- I must have the wrong room," He said sheepishly, starting to back up. "I… I thought the science club was meeting in here, sorry—"

The mare interrupted him hastily. "No, no, you're fine! This is the meeting room. I just… I guess I didn't really expect anypony else to show up." She covered the mixture with a paper plate and turned the burner off. "You can go ahead and grab a lab coat and some goggles- I'll be done with this in a moment."

"Okay," Felix said, relieved. He grabbed the normal lab accessories— the coat didn't quite fit on his enormous body, but it was good enough— and walked over to the table.

The unicorn was trying to wave some of the steam from the mixture she'd made towards the open window on the back wall. After a minute, she gave up, and turned to her guest. "You can turn on more lights if you…" she trailed off, looking up slowly to see the face of the stallion in front of her.



When Pluto turned around, she wasn't sure who she expected to see. Probably some scrawny stallion with thick glasses and acne who looked like he hadn't interacted with another pony in weeks. Or a scientist like her, who just happened to use the same lab that she did, and showed up on the club meeting day. Heck, even a pony that did have the wrong room would've been better than this.

Standing in front of her, now clearly visible in the light, was Prince Felix Valio Cadenza, the son of Princess Cadence and Prince Shining Armor. Known around the school for being loud, brutish, dishonest, and obnoxious. She had never actually interacted with him before, but from what she'd heard, he was an entitled oaf who payed freshmen to do his homework and cheated on all his tests. Why was he here? Actually, Pluto thought she knew the answer to that already- the club counted for half a class credit. He probably needed it to graduate because he took too many easy classes. Great.

She tried not to scowl as she took a deep breath, almost regretting it when she remembered the room was still filled with the foul-smelling steam. "Well," She began, looking up at the stallion, "I assume you're here for the club. I'm Plutonium Quartz— the founder, and only current member."

"You're the only one?" Felix asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, I think the description of this club scares a lot of ponies off."

"Really? You mean all the stuff about dissection and dangerous chemicals and fire and acid and… yeah, I guess I see what you mean," Felix chuckled. "But that's just par for the course when you're a scientist."

Pluto's expression was blank. She didn't appreciate being patronized.

"A-anyway," The stallion continued, "I'm Felix." He extended an intimidatingly large hoof. Pluto shook it, her eyes still locked on his.

"Yes, I'm aware. You are a prince, after all."

"Oh. Right."

There was a moment of uncomfortable silence. Pluto was scrutinizing Felix with the eye of a mare who could see into the souls of ponies.

"Well, let's not waste any more time," She finally said. "Let me show you what I'm working on."

Felix wasn't what she had expected, but she would make it work. Maybe she could get him to carry heavy stuff for her…