Laughter is the Best Medicine

[Deleted]

(ooc: September 8th. Open to all in Cheese's comedy theory class.)

While he was more often considered a party pony by nature, Cheese would freely admit to dabbling in the realm of humor. It was unsurprising, then, that when Mr. Ponyacci left his post open that Cheese would undertake the job himself. Taking on two classes would be an adventure. At present, though, the poofy-haired pony was setting up for the comedy theory class he'd taken over. Would the students notice? Probably, but that didn't deter the party planner. He had brought his supplies with him into the theater, mostly because he thought it had more space available, and was digging through his trunk of belongings. His rubber chicken, Boneless, was seated on a stool in the center of the stage.

"Now let's see... Hey, Boneless? What's funnier to you? Pies to the face, or slipping on banana peels?" Cheese asked rather abruptly. He'd pulled his head out of the trunk long enough to glance at his rubber chicken friend who, unsurprisingly, didn't answer him. He took the silence as an answer regardless of that fact, and soon he was nodding in agreement.

"Yeah, I like pies too. They're messy, and who doesn't like pie? I'll tell you who doesn't like pie; unfunny ponies," Cheese said. Or just ponies who didn't like pie. Cheese thought his assumption sounded funnier, though, so he ran with it. Just as he was beginning to retrieve more funny items from his trunk, including clown noses and streamers, his ears gave a twitch. The door to the theater had opened, meaning that someone had come in. Green eyes flickered with delight at this thought and soon Cheese was on his hooves and ready to greet his students.

"Hello, everypony! Welcome back to comedy theory! Mr. Ponyacci isn't here anymore, but I sure am! Who's ready to make some folks laugh?"

[Yosuke]

"I am!" Yosuke said with excitement as he entered the room. Excited. The boy was excited. He was good at making people laugh, even when he didn't mean to. When he found out that there was a new teacher in charge of the class, he couldn't help but feel a bit sad. He didn't know Mr. Ponyacci very well, but the old pony seemed kind-hearted. But based on what he could see from this teacher, he was going to like him.

"Yosuke Hanamura sir! Reporting for duty!" he said giving a salute and a goofy smile.

[Deleted]

"Well, hi there!" Cheese greeted enthusiastically. He wasn't one to get deterred by the appearance of a human. Sure they didn't appear in Equestria, but that didn't bother him at all. Cheese trotted back to his trunk in the hopes of retrieving the pies he'd wanted to use, and as he did he began to speak once more. No harm in multitasking now, was there? No there wasn't.

"I'm Cheese Sandwich. You don't have to call me anything fancy like professor or mister or... Aw, man! This is not good," Cheese said. He'd looked back into the trunk and, unsurprisingly, the pies he'd wanted to use had been crushed by other, heavier objects in the trunk. That was lame. He'd wanted to give a demonstration of how that could be funny. Cheese looked back to Boneless as though expecting the rubber chicken to answer him and looked a bit pitiful as he began to speak. Maybe it was funny, though. After all, it wasn't as if anyone expected to see a pony having a conversation with a prop like it was totally normal.

"Boneless, why didn't you tell me that it was a bad idea to put pies in here? Now I can't do the demonstration! ...Oh well! Guess we'll just have to do something else," Cheese said. He retrieved some funny glasses instead and put them on before returning his attention to Yosuke. So far, it looked like he was the only student to have shown up. Well, that didn't bother the party pony that much. The other students would show up sooner or later, right? Right.

"Okay, since that's a bust I guess we'll just have to go the more traditional route. Making yourself look funny!"

[Yosuke]

Yosuke couldn't help but smile at Cheese Sandwich's antics. It was really actually kind of an ease from all the talk of the fights, and the tension that had happened over days. The boy blinked at the rubber chicken and the teacher talking to it. He wasn't sure what to say to that, it was just very odd but funny at the same time. Making himself look funny could he do that? Of course he could.

[Anna]

"Oh, sorry I'm... pffft." Anna, who had burst through the theatre doors looking a little dishevelled and still finishing off tying her tie - she'd overslept and had to throw her clothes on almost as she ran, skipping breakfast entirely to make it to the class on time - trailed off in the midst of her apology for being late and tried very hard not to laugh at the ridiculous glasses the pony teacher was wearing. The princess had to cover her mouth with one hand to try and stifle the laughter that threatened to slip out, and even then a few choked-off chuckles managed to escape before Anna could get ahold of herself.

As her laughter subsided, Anna straightened, finished tugging her tie tight and slid it up to her collar, and looked a little sheepish. As this was comedy theory class anyway, perhaps amusement had been the reaction the teacher - Mr Sandwich, had her timetable said? - had wanted; if so, she hadn't disappointed. And if not, well, she could always just apologise for that too, she supposed.

"Sorry I'm late," she tried her apology again, hoping she sounded a bit more dignified this time. Actually, the girl thought as she cast blue eyes around the classroom, she couldn't be that late; Yosuke was the only other student present, and Anna quickly made her way over to stand beside him; as she took her place at the male's side, she smoothed back a few strands of her white streak that had, in her hurry, managed to escape her braid entirely this morning.

It dawned on her that the teacher might be waiting for her to introduce herself. "Oh, uh, I'm Anna, sir."

[Deleted]

Success! Cheese had gotten someone to laugh at him! That was a great first step at the class in general. Were he a dog, the pony's tail would have been wagging back and forth in sheer delight when he heard Anna's attempt at covering up her laughter. There was no getting past Cheese, though. He knew laughter when he heard it, and in this case he was quite glad to hear it. The fact that Anna was late didn't bother him in the slightest, either. No one else apart from Yosuke had shown up by that point, so there was no real way to determine who was late and who wasn't. At length, Cheese shrugged it off.

"Aw, don't worry about it. I mean, you two are the first two here. So who's really late? You guys, or the ones who haven't shown up yet?" he asked. Since it looked like no one else was going to arrive any time soon, Cheese decided to just begin rolling with the lessons. Comedy theory wasn't exactly as easy as one might have assumed. There was an art to it. After all, one had to determine what people found funny and what people didn't. It was a matter of taste, practicality, and the art of actually performing the humorous actions. For the first day, though, Cheese would start out small. Since the pie demonstration was a bust from the beginning, they'd begin with the simplest of the simple. That is, the art of making one's self look funny.

"We were just about to begin with the first lesson, Anna. The general theory behind comedy, at least what most folks'll tell you, is that it's nothing more than telling jokes. I would disagree. A big part of comedy is looking funny! So, as you can see here, I'm wearing these glasses," he said. He didn't even have to point to them. If Anna had already laughed at them, there was little point in making it more obvious.

"It doesn't really matter what you wear. What matters is what others find funny. So these glasses might be funny to you, but someone else might look t them and go 'That isn't funny, Cheese. What are you doing?'."

He moved back to the trunk, all while looking at the two present, and motioned to it after a moment.

"This will be our first step on the road to success in this class. I want both of you to come up here, look in this trunk, and find something funny looking to put on. Just mind the pie. There was a... An incident."

[Anna]

In truth, Anna felt kind of glad that there had been an incident. She had a sneaking suspicion what the pies would have otherwise been used for, and while she didn't object the concept itself, getting a facefull wouldn't have been a great start to her morning. And getting it all over her uniform would probably have been even less so. The princess gave her tie a little tweak - normally it wouldn't bother her, but she felt that in her hurry she'd pulled it a bit tight, and the knot had an awkward crease in it that she couldn't quite fix - and stepped up to the trunk as indicated.

Making themselves look funny, was it? Anna looked with interest at the selection of items in the trunk. While that wasn't really something she'd have gone to the effort of doing before now - though she had a feeling that sometimes she made herself look funny without even trying - Anna figured this couldn't be too hard. It was actually a good thing here, Anna reflected, that she wasn't particularly regal like Elsa was. The redhead tried to imagine her sister donning one of the silly hats, and failed entirely. She just couldn't picture Elsa looking anything but as cold and collected as she'd always glimpsed her over the past ten years.

Leaning over to rummage through the trunk as best she could while avoiding the crushed pies, Anna selected a big red clown nose which she wasted no time sticking over her own. Anna figured she had to already look pretty silly now, but maybe there was more she could do? She'd spotted a bunch of ridiculous hats in one corner of the trunk... maybe one of them? And though she wasn't sure it was quite what Cheese was getting at, perhaps she could... Anna wasn't sure, do something with her uniform too? Ruck it up in a funny way? He'd approve of that, wouldn't he? She just wasn't quite sure what would count for that, though.

She was sort of glad Elsa wasn't in this class, truth be told; Anna wasn't sure she wanted even her sister to see her fooling around like this was seemed like it was inevitably going to entail.

[Yosuke]

Yosuke was up for the challenge, he could easily make people laugh. But that was mainly on his own actions. Not his looks. Well, that wasn't quite true. Sometimes if he crashed his bike, he ended up face first in a trashcan. That normally got people laughing like crazy. However, he seriously doubted that his teacher had a giant trash can in his suitcase. He would have to make due. Somehow he couldn't imagine any of his other friends taking this class. Well, maybe Yukiko but she would probably die of laughter after the first class.

---
Wilbell was late, of course she was. The girl hardly ever attended class to begin with, the witch had always tried to get others to make things or do her work for her. But this class seemed different. What was different and what most people even the teacher to see was a girl coming in on a broom, or rather falling off a broom as she flew in. The idea of not having her broom was not in her nature and she almost refused to go to class or even the school unless she could have her broom. The girl tumbled to the floor and looked up at the two kids along at the teacher with a goofy smile as her hat covered her eyes. "Sorry I'm late!"

[Skippy Squirrel]

Skippy ran into the class as fast as his little paws and legs could carry him. He didn't find himself very funny, but that was why he had decided to take this class to begin with. His Aunt Slappy had made a career out of making people laugh, and Skippy wanted to do just that. He had hoped he hadn't missed very much. "I am so sorry about being late sir. My name's Skippy, Skippy Squirrel. " Skippy said breathlessly trying to get his breath back. He had run practically the whole way here hoping he wouldn't be late trying to make a good first impression. He gave an Apologetic smile to Cheese Sandwich and than looked around for an empty place to sit, which shouldn't have been too hard at all. Skippy pulls up the closest table and looks up at Cheese Sandwich, eager and ready to learn.

[Deleted]

Cheese observed with quiet approval as Anna began to rummage around the trunk he'd brought in. What would she end up looking like? Well, he didn't rightly know but he was eager to find out. He was distracted from keeping as close an eye on her and Yosuke as he could have when he heard two more voices. More students! Oh, goody! Cheese couldn't wait to meet the new students. He turned around and soon was greeted by the sight of Wilbell and Skippy. Another human and a squirrel. Not the strangest of students, all things considered, but definitely welcome in his class.

"Good of you to join us! We were just getting ready for a demonstration of visual comedy. It's one of the most important aspects of the study, you see. If you can make yourself look funny, then usually you're guaranteed a laugh. There are exceptions, though," Cheese said. He motioned to Anna and Yosuke before looking back to Skippy and Wilbell. Surely these four would get the idea quickly enough. Then he could really give a complete explanation of the exercise. At least, he hoped he could. There was just something pleasant about this field of study and he couldn't wait to really try and pass it along to the students.

"So, how about you two tell me your names and join your fellow classmates? I brought a trunk filled with all kinds of things! Funny noses, glasses like these," he said, pointing to the goofy glasses he had on, "the silliest hats you could ever dream of, big bow ties, annnd... Well, we did have pie but they kind of got crushed by the boxes of props I've got. Just be careful not to get too messy, 'kay? I mean, too messy dealing with the pie. I really ought to clean out that trunk after class..."

[Skippy Squirrel]

Skippy smiled happily as he had found out this was visual comedy. Maybe this was his opportunity to become as funny as his Aunt Slappy. He waved shyly to the others in the class. "Hi, my name's Skippy. "He said shyly to the rest of the class, and than when he saw the big box of props and stuff he quickly hopped inside the box looking for the silliest thing he could find in that box . He was gonna make his teacher proud. He most likely didn't hear that last part about the squashed pie.

He continued going through the box hoping to find something perfect.

[Wilbell]

Wilbell was good at most things, magic, making sweets and well just being a good witch, she had made people laugh several times when she screwed up her magic spells, so how hard could it be to look silly? Surely, she could do it. Her pink eyes went over to the other students who were searching through the trunk. The witch knew that she would have to wait and be patient but maybe there was something she could do with her magic to help out the cause.

But maybe that wouldn't count. "Hey Teach, would it be okay to use magic?"

[Anna]

Anna looked up briefly as first Yosuke, and then one of the other latecomers, joined her at the trunk, unintentionally letting them get full sight of the large red clown nose that clung to the middle of her face. Already knowning Yosuke from around the water circle dorms, Anna gave him a quick smile, then returned her attention to the pile of hats. Shifting through them, she soon settled on one that was... well, less a hat than a headband, with a multitude of colourful and bizarre antennae sticking up from it in every concievable direction. That had to be perfect, didn't it?

Stepping back from the trunk to let the others get a better look and turning away from those present for a moment, Anna examined her prize, and a moment later slid it into place. The band pushed her fringe up from her forehead, making the hair stick up in what had to be the most ridiculous-looking manner, but Anna figured there wasn't any point in moving to correct it; that was what this class was all about, after all.

And then, for the finishing touch... once again, Anna contemplated how she could mess up her uniform and make it look amusing. Maybe if she... just...

The redhead ran a hand beneath her collar thoughtfully, then seemed to settle on a course of action. Rucking the right-hand side of her shirt collar so it stood straight up, Anna's next move was to carefully twist her tie around so that, instead of the knot sitting nicely against her throat, it instead rested just over her right shoulder and caused the tie's length to flop down her arm instead of its rightful place. She gave the knot a little bit of a tweak, wondering if to pull it tighter would be equally funny - or just a pain to undo later - and for the moment, decided against it. She had to look plenty funny as she was at present, anyway.

Time to see if Cheese thought so.

Anna turned to let the teacher and the rest of her classmates take in her appearance. From the rucked collar and deliberately-skewed tie, to the daft headband and sticking-up hair, to the giant round nose, Anna figured she had to look quite the sight; but whether the others found it funny or not, as Cheese had mentioned, might be open to debate.

[Wilbell]

When Anna turned to have others take in her look, Wilbell had been one of the first to look up. It didn't take long before her lip to start quivering and her to start laughing, she looked so silly. That was the point, so then why couldn't she stop laughing. "You...you look so silly!" she said through each breath of laughter. The witch was relieved to not be in her broom when it happened, otherwise she may have ended up with a few bruises.


---
Yosuke couldn't help but smile at Anna's new look. It was silly. It seemed that this class would be perfect to have their troubles go away. He was thankful for that. Now he had to find something to make him look silly.