Chapter Text
Pony was pretty amazed by just how many of her classmates she’d managed to loop in on this surprise party plan. She was even more amazed by how well everything was coming along! Ibara, Momo, and Todoroki were handling the decorations. Sato, his girlfriend from General Studies Hime, and Bakugo were handling the cooking. She convinced Jiro to DJ for the event, and she even got Ms. Fukukado to sign off on their use of the 2-A Common room for this!
There was a bigger scheme at play though, this wasn’t just a welcome home party for the students who spent a month on Nabu Island. That would be silly. This was a plot to get approval for her culture festival project. If it was going to work, she would need students from both 2-A and 2-B! She could only get that if she got approved by their homeroom teachers, Eraser, and Snipe, and they would only approve it if she could convince the majority of students from both classes to agree to it.
If she was going to make that happen, it starts here. This party needs to be perfect.
Pony starts inspecting everything with a clipboard and pen in hand-
Manga Fukidashi, her project partner in all of this, pulls her aside while the preparations are underway, “So, how exactly do we present this to them… -I’m not really the best uh, public speaker.”
“I’ll handle that part, don’t you worry! We already convinced Shinso, and Reiko, and I thought that’d be impossible.”
“But like, what are you going to say?”
“You’ll see! I’ll get those signatures for sure!”
The front door opens, and Pony just about has a heart attack, till she sees it’s Kendo, and the rest of 2-B, at least, most of the rest of 2-B. As the others flood into the room, Kendo walks up to explain to Pony, “So, a bunch of the guys are still out doing some training camp up in the mountains or something.”
“Oh no, even Monoma-”
“No, I got him right here.” Kendo presents an unconscious Monoma! Lifting him up by the collar. “He was saying that he refused to do any sort of party with 2-A, even after I calmly explained to him it was for 2-B too.”
Manga sighs, and Pony says, “That doesn’t bode particularly well…”
Kendo tries to peek at Pony’s clipboard, “Whatcha got there?”
Pony presents, “It’s a petition for our classes to work together on a stage play for the culture festival! Manga and I have already written it, but since we’re from different classes, and the people we want to cast are from different classes, we need a majority from both classes to agree to it! So will you sign?” She bows her head and holds the clipboard out to Kendo.
Kendo scratches her head, but takes the pen. “Isn’t the culture festival like, not for another month or two?”
“This is a big project.”
Manga adds, “It’s going to be way better than the play we did last year!”
Kendo signs her name on the 2-B side. “Am I one of the people you wanted to cast?” She sees a sweat drop appear on Manga’s speech bubble face.
Pony and Manga harmonize, “Uh…”
“Right. Well, I still hope you get approved!” She starts to drag Monoma away.
Pony waves, “We’ll hold auditions as soon as we can! Kendo I’m sure you’ll do great!”
Kendo waves back, and goes to help out Momo.
Most of the classmates Kendo brought with her come up to sign Pony’s petition. Hagakure is the last of them to sign, and she says, “If you guys are holding auditions, then I want to give it my all!”
Even after being in the same class with her for a whole semester, and passing the Rescue Exam with her, Manga was still mildly terrified of the invisible girl. However he swallows his fear to ask the important question of, “Have you ever acted before?”
“Well no… But there’s a first time for everything right?!”
Her determination infects Pony, “Yeah!”
“Yeah!” After signing, Hagakure runs off to join in on the party prep.
Manga and Pony split up, but Pony can’t help but worry that she’s forgetting something… As if sensing her concerns, Momo walks up, “Hey Pony, I was wondering if there was anything else I can help with? We’re all finished decorating, and I checked in with the cooking team, and they’re just about ready- I think. Bakugo shouted that ‘It’ll be ready when it’s ready!’ but Yamato said ‘Soon!’ At least I think that’s what she said, it was kind of hard to hear her from behind Sato…”
Pony whispers, “Who’s Yamato?”
“Sato’s girlfriend, tiny, pink hair. Cute?”
Pony snaps her fingers, “Hime!”
“Yes!” Appearing next to Momo, giving her a mild heart attack, from a mist of cherry blossom petals, is the general studies student, Hime Yamato! “You called for me, Tsunotori?”
“How’s the cooking going?”
Hime sweeps up her petals, “Great! The cupcakes Riki and I made are already finished!” She says that with such a sparkly smile, but then she adds, “The fried rice is done, and the yakitori skewers would be done too, but a few of the mushrooms got a little burnt-”
“Mushrooms! I forgot about Kinoko!”
“No you didn’t!” Komori appears! Giving Momo a second heart attack. “I was just tending to my shroomies upstairs! Are you ready for your presentation by the way?”
“Still waiting on everyone else to get here first.”
Momo cuts in, “Oh, did you want me to go keep a look out and tell you when they’re almost here?”
Pony says, “No, that role’s already being taken care of by Tsu.”
. . .
Momo looks around nervously, “I thought she was going to just suddenly appear too. I mean did everyone learn how to teleport while I was abroad?”
“I don’t think so.” Tsuyu Asui appears! “I can’t teleport, I can only camouflage myself.” She sees she’s given Momo a third heart attack. She pats Momo on the back, proud of her for still standing.
Pony says, “Okay, so I think everything’s taken care of already, Momo. We got music, decorations, food, just need to cut the lights when Tsu tells us the others are almost- Wait, Tsu, what are you doing here?”
“Oh right. I came to tell you they’re here.”
“-what?”
The front doors swing open, revealing the students who’ve at last returned from Nabu Island. What those students see is a bunch of deer caught in the headlights… Momo is quick to act, making and setting off a bunch of confetti poppers with her quirk, “Surprise!”
Setsuna, at the head of the Nabu Island Crew sees the utter despair on Pony’s face from across the room, and barrs everyone from entry, she shouts at her crew, “Go back! They need more time!”
The Nabu Island Crew groan but go back outside.
Pony sighs. “Momo, can you pass out poppers to everyone, and Kuroiro can you get the lights?”
Momo thinks, Kuroiro?
He rises from the shadows with a salute, “Of course, Madame Tsunotori.” He sees Momo frozen in fear from her fourth heart attack, but still creating party poppers that the rest of the room collects.
Pony slips outside as soon as the lights go off, and she’s greeted with a barrage of hugs from Setsuna, Ochako, Mina, and the rest of the Nabu Island Crew.
Izuku says, “Tokage told us that you had a party planned for us, you really didn’t have to go through all the trouble!”
Pony hugs back as many of them as her little arms allow, “I wanted to!” She pries herself from the group hug to say, “It sucks that you guys had to miss out on a whole month of summer vacation- I mean it feels like it’s been two years since I’ve seen the lot of you!” She shares a sweet smile with Setsuna, and then remembers all the people waiting inside. “Anyways- Let’s get to partyin’!” She pushes the doors back open, and the lights go back on.
Everyone who gathered pops out with a hail of confetti, “Welcome back!”
Bakugo, placing a massive tray of yakitori skewers on the table with the rest of the food, shouts at the confetti vandals, “You extras better not forget to clean this up when we’re done here!”
The two groups merge at long last, sharing laughs, hugs, and stories from their time apart.
Ms. Fukukado walks up to Pony to tousle her mane, “You did great with this Pony. I think you could lead an agency of your own someday.”
Pony sneers at the thought, “No way, that’s way too stressful.”
Fukukado gets a good giggle out of that, and she sees the clipboard still clasped tight in Pony’s hand. She nudges her, “Don’t forget to tell everyone about your project.”
Pony lets out a dry little laugh, “Y-yeah. Just uh… Gathering the nerve…”
Fukukado recognizes that feeling across her student so clearly. She wraps her arm around her, trying to shake the anxiety out of her shoulders. “You got this!”
Pony nods, and heads for the front of the room where Kinoko’s waiting for her with Jiro. Every step is wobbly, though she didn’t understand how this was so much scarier than everything else she’d already done for the party, everything she’d done preparing for this exact moment…
Jiro turns down the music when Pony reaches them, and even she can see the girl was shaking. It reminded her so much of her first performance last year, she hands Pony the mic, but covers it to say, “You can do this Pony. Remember, deep breath.”
Pony smiles and nods at her, she takes the mic, and a deep breath. Accidentally breathing right into the mic, causing a little squeak of feedback. That gets everyone’s attention, Pony is frozen in fear for what feels to her like eternity. Staring at them just like a deer in the headlights. Then she sees Setsuna in that crowd, a smile she’s been waiting to see again for so long. A smile that reminds her that everyone here isn’t some scary judgemental stranger, these are all her friends! She finds her courage, and says, “Hey everyone!”
“Hey Pony!” They all call back, like a concert was about to begin.
“Okay, so! While you guys were gone, a bunch of us got to work on a big project we want to do together for the culture festival!” She holds up her petition clipboard, hoping no one will notice her trembling hand.
Everyone who was close enough to notice is so ready to sign the petition for her before they even fully understand what Pony’s proposing.
She rehearsed what she wanted to say probably a hundred times the night before, but that doesn’t make remembering it in this moment any easier. Her brain works overtime, trying to translate her thoughts from English to Japanese so they can actually understand her. She’s unable to control her volume, so she peaks the mic a few times as she goes on, “Manga and I wrote a stage play, and we just think it’d be really -really super cool if it was something all of us could do together! y-You don’t have to act in it! Anything you can do to help out would be nice, but for our classes to work together on this I need all your signatures!” She bows deeply, shakily holding out the pen and clipboard for everyone.
Kinoko comes up to help her hold it more steady. She was supposed to make a stage of bouncy glowing mushrooms for Pony, but when she saw her friend start talking, she was so worried that she’d mess her up, that she just stood aside. This was something she could do though. She gently takes the mic, and speaks with the practiced confidence of a future idol, “If you want to help us out, please sign your name under your class!” She passes the mic back to Jiro, and wraps her arm around Pony encouraging her to stand back up.
Setsuna makes sure she’s the first to sign, but she’s far from the last. Everyone at the party lines up to sign Pony’s petition! With guidance from Iida. Bakugo is the last one to sign, surprisingly not dragged into it by Ibara this time. He actually says, very nicely to them, “Tsunotori, Mushroom Girl, I think it’s cool you worked so hard on this. It’d be really lame if I was the reason it doesn’t happen for everyone. So, yeah.” He signs his name and walks off with his hands in his pockets.
Kinoko shouts, “It’s Komori!”
He says, “Whatever!”
Jiro cranks the music back up, and says, “Now we can party!”
Once everyone gets back into party formation, Pony hands the petition off to Ms. Fukukado, still a little a shaken, “Do you think this will convince Mr. Snipe and Mr. Aizawa?”
Fukukado smiles, “I’ll make sure it does.”
Pony smiles back, and is promptly tackled by Setsuna. “You did so good!!!”
Fukukado giggles and leaves the pair. Pony squeezes Setsuna so tight, miraculously still standing, “What took ya so long to say so!?”
Setsuna nuzzles Pony like a cat in dire need of closeness, “I didn’t want to distract you!”
Pony pulls back, her head hung a little low, “I was starting to worry you were mad at me or something…”
Setsuna squishes the girl’s face between her hands, making her look back up at her, “How could I ever be mad at this face?”
Pony pouts, and gets a soft kiss for it.
Setsuna smiles and says, “Told you I’d ‘chuu’ you first by the way.”
Pony blushes, her eyes widen, “-I can’t believe I forgot!” She attacks Setsuna with a barrage of little kisses! “I missed you so much!!!”
Setsuna laughs, trying to keep her at bay. “I missed you too!”
Kinoko walks up to them with her Veggie-Sis Ibara, “Before you two shrooms go anywhere, I- uh… Need to apologize.”
Pony already knows what for, “It’s okay Kinoko!”
“I just thought you were doing so well and I didn’t want to mess you up!”
“It’s really okay!”
“I still need to say I’m sorry!” Kinoko hugs her!
Setsuna joins in to pat the mushroom girl, “I don’t know what you did Kinoko, but I forgive you too.”
Kinoko sticks her tongue out at her, and Ibara joins in on the hug too, “Hugs are nice.”
After the party dies down a bit, and the Nabu Island Crew starts to take their bags back up to their dorms, Pony sneaks Setsuna back up to hers. “I have an extra-party surprise for you.”
“Okay.” Setsuna squeezes Pony’s hand and follows, just a little nervous.
Pony stops her at the door, and says “Close your eyes!”
Setsuna chuckles, and puts a hand over her eyes.
Pony pulls her into the room, gently closing the door behind her, and flicking a switch, she says, “Okay… Now you can look.” Even she sounds a little nervous.
Setsuna gulps away the fear before looking, Pony’s room is much the same as before, but she decorated it with string lights, and -Grant!!! Setsuna’s prized gobisaurus plushie! Just sitting there all alone with a bunch of pillows and a bucket of popcorn on Pony’s bed!
A little worried by Setsuna’s silent staring, Pony asks, “Well, what do you think?”
“I’m not gonna lie… -When you said you took Grant, I did think you were joking.”
Pony snorts, “I mean about the room. I redecorated.”
Setsuna drops her bag and dives onto the bed to snuggle with Grant, nearly knocking over the popcorn. “It’s sick dude! What are we watching?”
Pony hops on the bed, and lies next to her. “Cretaceous Park Two.”
“The best one!?”
Pony nods with the brightest smile.
“Before I forget!” Setsuna floats her hand over to dig in her bag. She pulls out, a horn!
“Hornby!” Pony says, “I’m not gonna lie. I really didn’t think you’d keep her.”
“It’s a fair trade.” Setsuna smiles, “You keep a part of me.” She puts Grant on Pony’s lap, “And I keep a part of you.” She holds the horn between them.
“Awww.” Pony gives her a little chuu. “That’s kind of gross…”
Setsuna laughs, “Come on, I was thinking about that line for like the past hour!”
Pony snickers, “Wouldn’t you rather have like one of my anime figures?”
“Now, there is a part of me that wants to say yes.” She glances over at some of Pony’s figures, her gaze lingering on a certain green ninja before returning to Pony, “But I think it’s a much funnier bit if I just keep your horn.”
Pony chuffs, “And that, is why I love you so much.”
Setsuna says in English, “I love you two .” floating a hand over to the remote so she can start the movie.
Pony, recognizing the pun, pulls away from the kiss just to laugh, “Cretaceous Park Two . You’re funny.” She rests her head on Setsuna’s shoulder.
Setsuna smiles, having absolutely zero idea what she’s talking about. Her English studies have not yet covered puns.