Following the tryouts, Zipp had spent the next day trying to find Mario to return the cards that belonged to the boy, but she had been having trouble finding him. Given the cards she saw he had, she could deduce that the boy was enrolled in the Fusion Course.
As for the boy himself, he was in his Biology class with his sister; they were seated next to each other. The pair and the rest of their classes await their professor to come in and start their lesson. It wasn't long before the teacher entered as the woman placed a box on her desk.
"Good morning, everyone. Please settle down. Now I have a fun announcement to make. You will all participate in a week-long project for our next lesson. You will be taking on the roles of... parents."
Everybody either murmured or had stunned and confused faces when they heard that. The teacher saw what she said and chuckled sheepishly while rubbing her cheek.
"My bad... I meant pretend parents. I will pair each of you up to care for a precious bag of flour. The objective of this assignment is to better understand how parenthood works. And hopefully, give you some insight ahead of Family and Friends Day in a couple of weeks." said the teacher as she looked at her clipboard to see her roster of students and began to label off pairs.
"Let's see... Sunny and Hitch. You'll be working together."
"Yes!" said the two childhood friends, pleased to be together for this assignment.
"Sprout and Dahlia," said the teacher, listing off the next pair.
The flower-loving girl smiled as the flower she held tickled Sprout's nose; he sneezed and made the petals fly. He wiped his nose as snot came out. The teacher, covered in the petals, sighed as she blew some out of her mouth. She continued down the list of pairings.
"And finally... Mario and Roll." said the woman as she paired the two siblings for this project.
Roll had a big smile, while Mario had a bored expression. Soon each pair was given their bag of flour and some markers to design how it looked. The final bell rang as the students filed out.
"Isn't this great, bro? We get to be parents together!" said Roll excitedly as she held her bag of flour.
"Yeah," groaned Mario, looking around the other students who had their bags of flour, "Really great."
"Oh, I can't wait to start the project!" said Roll as she and Mario walked side by side when the boy was knocked over.
"Whoops, sorry, Mario," apologized Sunny as she accidentally crashed into the boy.
"Sunny, you okay?" asked Hitch as he came up and extended his free hand to help her.
"Y-Yeah, I'm good," said Sunny as she grabbed Hitch's hand and allowed him to pull her up.
"Yeah, don't worry about me. Not like anyone cares, but I'm good," groaned Mario from the floor as nobody asked about his health.
"Why the sudden rush, Sunny?" asked Roll to her friend.
"Sorry. Just a bit eager to start the project. Oh, by the way, Roll, this here is Hitch."
"Nice to meet you, ma'am," said Hitch as he extended his hand to shake and showed some mannerisms to the girl.
"Come on, don't have to call me that. Just Roll is fine," responded the teen as she shook the boy's hand. "Never told me you have a boyfriend, Sunny."
"Boyfriend?!" stuttered both teens as they turned red and looked away while rubbing their necks, embarrassed by what Roll said.
"What?" responded Roll.
"Hitch and I are just childhood friends," said Sunny, rubbing a strand of hair.
"Oh... my bad," apologized Roll for thinking Sunny and Hitch were a couple.
"I'm outta here. I'll see you back at home, sis," said Mario as he had to drop by Spitfire's office to give the woman his sizes to order his jersey and cleats for soccer.
"Which reminds me, I'll meet you at your place, Sunny. Need to stop by Coach Spitfire," explained Hitch; like Mario and Zipp, he also made the team for soccer.
"No worries, I'll see you later," said Sunny as she took the bag of flour from her partner and waved goodbye as he left.
The two girls were left by themselves as they saw Hitch disappear.
"So... how long have you two known each other?" asked Roll.
"Since we were toddlers. Our parents were best friends and neighbors. I guess you could say we've been tied to the hip." said Sunny.
"Must be nice to have a friend you've known for so long," smiled Roll as she could see how special the friendship was between Sunny and Hitch. "Though, just between you and me, Hitch wouldn't be a bad choice if you two decided to uhm..."
Roll smiled with a smirk as Sunny felt a bit embarrassed, hearing what her friend was inciting. Soon both laughed as they parted ways.
Mario got back to his and Roll's dorm. After giving Spitfire his numbers, the woman also gave the boy the schedule for their season and the dates of their games. She also explained that any excuses for either skipping practice or games would result in immediate trouble as she wasn't here to play babysitter. To put it in the words that she always said to her players...
"If you want a friend, go get a dog!"
That was basically her saying she didn't have time to feel sympathy for anybody, play favorites, or any cliche high school drama. She was here to take a winning team the highest it could. And that meant treating every player as if they were privates in an army, and she was the drill sergeant. That and it became her new catchphrase.
"She must really like saying that," stated Mario as he approached his dorm.
The boy opened the door, entered the living room, and sat on the couch. His sister was coming down the stairs with their project.
"You're back!" exclaimed Roll with a smile as she reached behind her back, pulled out a long list that hit the ground and had some writing on it, "Anyway, bro. I took the liberty of planning out an entire parenting schedule for us this week... WAIT!"
"What?!" glared Mario as he got up on the couch to look at his sister as she shouted in his ear.
"We have to name the kid," said Roll.
"Name the kid?" said Mario as his eye twitched. "It's a bag of flour with a drawing face on it!" In annoyance, the boy waved his arms at how seriously his younger sibling was taking this project. She was starting to act like their mother.
"Just a temporary name, big bro. All right now, let's see..." pondered Roll as she paced around with a finger to her chin while holding the bag with her other hand.
"How about... Baggy?! No, too cliche. Uh, Grainy? No, no, no, no, wait... uh... I got it!" said Roll as she held the bag of flour up high above her head. "ALMOND!"
Big words that spelled out ALMOND appeared behind the girl as she held the bag up.
"Almond? Really?" groaned Mario, giving the girl a deadpanned look.
"Oh, it likes it," said Roll, looking at their "kid."
"I am not calling it that," mumbled Mario as he left his sister with their bag of flour.
The next day came as it seemed that Roll was sticking to the schedule she had drawn out. The girl was on the school playground swinging on the swings, and the one next to her had their "Almond" sitting. The girl was laughing and smiling as Mario leaned back against a tree with his arms crossed. The boy was clearly not enjoying any part of what he saw.
As the day continued, Roll treated their flour bag as if it were their own child. During lunch, Roll tried spoonfeeding their child while making airplane noises. Mario was seated next to her as he tried to eat his lunch in peace but was having a tough time, given how his sister acted. He was just grateful he wasn't receiving weird looks from other students.
Roll was in her and Sunny's Band class as the girl played some notes from her instrument. She then looked at her child seated by her seat as it had a tiny music stand in front of it, almost like it was also taking part. After that, the siblings were in a photo booth; Roll was wearing a baby carrier with Almond. The girl made faces and smiled as Mario was also present and kept a bland look with his hands in his pockets. He left halfway as Roll didn't notice.
The pair were walking side by side into the sunset as Roll rambled on with Mario, still unhappy.
"... Almond how to ride a bike and then go to the movies, and it's just like we're a real family again."
"Izzy, I said to make this move," stated Mario.
"I know, I know. But this one is cool as well. I can't decide what I should do," said the girl with a carefree smile as she looked at the cards before her.
Izzy had managed to find Mario during their free period as she wanted the boy to help tutor some of her moves that she had discovered. The girl had been learning due to Applebloom's lessons, as shown by the tricks she showed off to the boy.
"This one, and this one, and this one, and this one. Ooh, how about this one. Hey, Mario, can you give me your opinion?" asked Izzy.
"Oh, gees. Esta chica me va a dar dolor de cabeza," muttered Mario to himself.
"Ohh, that's a good move. I'll use that. Just one question, what did you just say?" asked Izzy, confused by what the boy had spoken.
"Nothing, I just said whatever move you make is a good one," lied Mario with a fake smile.
Izzy shrugged as she sang a song and continued playing with her cards. Mario turned his head to the side and groaned. The boy had a very weird problem with Izzy. It's not that he disliked her, at times,... all the opposite. She was actually a cheerful girl in general. A tad bit cute, he'd admit. She was also very creative with her "Recycling" skills.
However, Mario's problem with her is that she can be a little bit... too overwhelming. She was very irresponsible, too relaxed with life, and barely knew what personal space meant. She could literally be breathing right on his neck just to ask a silly question about anything, which makes him really uncomfortable because she's literally getting into his face.
Not to mention, she's also... what's the word? He doesn't want to say stupid because Izzy isn't stupid, since she gets some things that the others don't most of the time. Yet, she does tend to be very lost whenever others are talking in general about anything.
So she wasn't stupid, but she was stupid. But she wasn't really stupid, but she could be stupid. That made sense, right?
Mario didn't blame her much, though, because Izzy had never had friends before meeting him and Roll. Perhaps that's why he never says everything that bothers him because he doesn't want to hurt her feelings. It's been proven before to him that words have a bigger and more hurtful impact on others than actions, which is why he always tries to keep his thoughts like simply that.
While the boy was with the charismatic girl, Roll was with Sunny at a lunch table as the girls studied for the latest test Scootaloo had planned for their class. Both girls had their "child" next to them as they exchanged how their projects were going.
"And then, Hitch was extra paranoid as he built an entire child lock device for the sink. It can't even move!" groaned Sunny as she face-planted into her book.
"How do you childproof a sink?" asked Roll.
"That's what I'm saying!" yelled Sunny.
The girl waved her arms about as her volume was rather loud, attracting the attention of others. They all looked at the girl, who noticed the many eyes on her as she slowly put her arms down and smiled nervously. Eventually, they all continued about their businesses as Sunny popped back up from under the table and sighed in relief. Though there was no doubt nobody would forget what they saw.
"Never thought Hitch would be the protective parent between you two," said Roll, seeing Sunny was a bit bothered.
"I get he wants to be a responsible parent, but sometimes a parent needs to not be directly involved with everything. You can't protect your kids forever. They gotta learn to grow on their own." said Sunny.
"I hear that, sister," responded Roll.
"Anyways, how are things going with you and your brother?" asked Sunny. "I doubt he's not as crazy as Hitch."
"Well... I've been mostly with the kid," said Roll.
"You do realize that this project requires both individuals to participate," said Sunny.
"I know. Mario is gonna take Almond for the rest of the day after our free period," said Roll.
Upstairs in their offices, Celestia and Luna were going over the details for Friends and Family Day in a few weeks as they were already getting some emails from former graduates who wanted to stop by and see the school. The two older women were grateful that many other people apart from the student's family would be present. So the two sisters were now working on putting together some kind of grand event.
Given their giant Dueling arena building, the pair decided to have some kind of exhibition duel to entertain the people.
"What's the word, Lulu?" asked Celestia as she stood by a window and looked out.
"I believe this Family and Friends Day will be a big one. Many students are looking forward to it," responded Luna.
"And what of... those two?" asked Celestia.
"Well... they, I mean, Ms. Roll, said she would look into it," said Luna. "We could just contact them ourselves, sister."
"No... if we did that, it would feel like we'd betray their trust. As much as we want them to appear, it ultimately falls on the kids. Whether they want them to be here or not. That alone will affect them greatly." said Celestia. "For now, we will wait."
It was nighttime as the moon was high in the sky. The door was shown opening as Mario was stepping through.
"Yeah, I'll talk to you tomorrow, man. Good game!" said Mario to the person he was talking to on his phone. The boy hung up as he looked at his phone briefly before looking up and then flinching back.
Standing in the living room was Roll as the girl glared a hole in her older brother. Their child was on the table as she had her arms crossed.
"You're late, mister!" stated the girl.
"What shit are you going on about, sis? Late for what, exactly?" said Mario without a care as he sat on one of the sofas. The moment the boy sat, the thought hit him. "Oh... it was my turn with the bag of flour, wasn't it?"
True to what Mario said, he was correct. After their free period, Roll waited for her brother to approach her, do as he said, and take his turn looking over their child as part of their project. However, he didn't, as the girl was upset that her brother had broken his promise. Granted, Izzy and her antics made him almost pop a vessel he'd forgotten about meeting his sister.
"Uh, yeah!" said Roll, throwing her arms in the air. "You know, I'm disappointed in you, Mario! You've neglected our child since the moment we got it!"
"It's a bag of flour, little sis!" responded Mario. "Just make sure it doesn't touch water, and it'll be fine."
"That's not the point! The point of the project is to learn about parenthood. We're suppose to be acting like good parents." said Roll.
Mario then came unhinged when he heard that.
"WE DON'T EVEN HAVE GOOD PARENTS!" snapped Mario at his little sister for mentioning that.
The boy growled as his fury was on full display. His anger then ceased as he realized what he had just done. The boy looked at his younger sibling with regret for yelling and snapping at her.
"Sis, I'm sorry. I... I didn't mean to... I just..." said Mario before sighing and crossing his arms while putting his head down.
Mario lifted his head to see Roll standing with their child held out to him.
"I know what you meant, big bro. I understand your issues. If you can't do it yourself, can you at least do it for me. Your little sister." said Roll to her older sibling. "This project means a lot to me."
"Fine. For you," sighed Mario, "I'll take this stupid thing with me to school tomorrow."
"Thanks," said the girl as she approached her brother and hugged him, burying her face into his shirt. "I love you, big bro."
"I love you too... little sis," said Mario softly as he put his arms around the girl and embraced her.
No matter what issues he had with their parents. One thing that Mario would always do was love his little sister. He'd do anything for her. The boy may have been hugging his younger sibling, but the words that he shouted at her rang in his mind.
WE DON'T EVEN HAVE GOOD PARENTS! GOOD PARENTS! GOOD PARENTS!
The next day came as the sun rose over the school. Mario was shown with him and Roll's child on a nearby bench. The boy was seated on his legs with his hands on his chin; next to him was the bag of floor as it panned out to show the boy was glancing at it before looking away.
"Uh..." said Mario as he finally spoke to his bag of flour, rubbing his neck. "Okay, uh, Almond, right? Uhm... how are you?" asked the boy. "You like it here so far?"
The bag of flour stood there with its makeshift drawing, gazing back at the teen.
"Um... uh..." responded Mario nervously as if waiting for a response.
The bag kept looking at him as the boy was sweating; a bead was shown falling on his face.
"Oh, come on! This is pointless!" shouted Mario as he finally snapped and yelled to the ground. He soon let out a sigh.
"Finally!" said a voice. "I managed to find you!"
"Hey, Zipp. What brings you by?" asked the boy as he looked up to see the girl walking toward him.
"Been wanting to return this. You dropped it after tryouts were over," said the girl as she presented the deck box to the boy.
"That's... my..." Mario gasped at what he was seeing. "Be straight with me. Did you look through it?"
"I only looked at the first card," answered Zipp. "Sorry if I wasn't supposed to look through it."
"It's fine," said the boy as he grabbed the box from Zipp and put it inside his backpack.
"So, what's with the bag of flour?" asked Zipp as she sat down next to it.
"Stupid project that me and my sister have to do. This is supposed to teach us how to be good parents. But this shit is just too stupid." confessed Mario as he removed his hands from his chin and sighed. "I said I would do this for her, but... I don't know if I can handle this. I'm trying, but how am I supposed to care for this thing?! I've never done this before!"
Zipp just sat in silence as she listened to Mario. The girl could understand where the boy was coming from 'cause she also had a sister to deal with.
"Well... parents have to start somewhere, right," said Zipp as she scooted a bit closer to Mario. "As parents, they have weird ways of showing love to their kids. They often put us in ridiculous outfits, embarrassing us in front of other people, all to show how much they care about us."
"Story of your life?" asked Mario with a small smile.
"Well, somewhat," responded Zipp with a light chuckle.
"So... if it's not much a sore topic. What was it like growing up with your parents?" asked the boy.
Zipp looked at him before turning away and sighing. That alone showed Mario that this was a topic that the girl was often asked about, and she answered quite a lot. He was about to apologize when she began to speak.
"Well, our mother is a businesswoman. She runs a tight business; that's how she met our father. The two met after running into an issue with securing a contract. So they sat down and began to work out the issues; eventually, they began to know each other better, and before they knew it, they were dating. Years passed, and soon... they got married; my mom describes it as only the second happiest day of her life."
"Second? What's the first?" asked Mario.
"The day she had Pipp and me, respectively," answered Zipp. "My mom tells me how she held Pipp and me in her arms after birth. Then... a few years passed, and our father was... well," the girl turned away as that alone was enough for Mario to understand, "From then on, she was on her own. A single mom trying to raise two kids all while running a business. But she made it work. And even though she's trying to make me take over the family business and find a suitable partner, I know she means well. And that she loves me."
Mario sat there, listening to what Zipp said. Hearing the story of her and how she was barely old enough when it happened tugged at his heartstrings. It made him think about the relationship between his parents and how in a way, he had it well, given that they were still together after all these years. The boy took a deep breath as he looked at the bag of flour; the face with its makeshift smile was staring at the teen.
Mario felt himself smiling back at the bag as he heard a burst of past laughter in his mind. His laughter, with Roll and his parents. His family.
"You're right," said Mario as he got up and slipped on his backpack. "Thanks for returning my cards and... for having this talk. You helped me big time, Zipp. I owe you."
"Anytime for a friend. Catch you later," said the girl.
"Yeah," said Mario as he extended his fist, and the two touched them together before the boy left. Zipp watched Mario leave as she had a big smile appear on her face.
The rest of the day saw Mario treating Almond like his own child. In Art class, the boy was shown sitting before his easel while concentrating on his drawing. The bag of flour was next to him on a stool as Mario finished his drawing. He turned the easel to show his child what he had drawn. It was a drawing of him, Roll, and Almond as they were all seated on a hilltop, looking at the sunset and the many flowers and butterflies as the sky was a lovely shade of orange.
Next, Mario was in the library as he had some stacks of books with him. The boy was reading a story to Almond; the fake smile on the bag seemingly had much more meaning. In Math class, the boy was working on a problem as he explained it to the bag of flour as if to teach the child how to do it.
A whistle was blown as the students filed into the gym for practice. Mario exited the boy's locker room, dressed in his jersey, while having his gym bag slung over his shoulder. He set his bag by the bleachers as he tied his shoes.
"So, how are things with the bag of flour?" asked Zipp as she stood a few meters away from the boy tying his shoes.
"Great. Drew a picture of us as a family, read him a book, and even taught him how to do some math. He's a lot smarter than he looks." said Mario.
"Glad I could help," smiled Zipp before kicking the ball over to him.
Mario headbutted it and began to keep it up in the air as he alternated it with his knees. He then passed it back over to Zipp, as she did the same. The pair did the exchange momentarily as the boy passed it to the girl for the latest exchange when a sound was heard.
"Hey, lovebirds! Get over here!" shouted Spitfire as she blew her whistle.
"I'll be back. Just watch," said Mario to his child as it sat there watching him and the others gather around.
"Save the asking each other out for after class. Now give me fifty pushups!" yelled Spitfire to both Zipp and Mario as they began to do their exercise, which Spitfire then yelled for everyone else to do the same.
The day soon ended as Mario was shown in his home at the table in the living room.
"I haven't seen that smile on your face in quite a while," said Roll.
The boy turned, and there was his sister. The girl walked in and saw her older sibling looking at their child.
"Hey, sis."
"I'm guessing you had fun watching over Almond," said the girl as she sat down.
"You know, being a parent isn't half bad," responded Mario.
"Wonder what changed your mind?" questioned Roll.
"Let's just say I talked with a friend. Got some... perspective on things."
"Does this mean that you..."
"No! I'm still not done with this issue, sis. But... I'm not as angry as I once was with it." confessed the boy.
"Well... at least I got to see my brother smile again," said Roll as she reached her hand over and placed it on her brother. "I've missed that. I love you, big bro." Roll wrapped her arms around her older sibling and buried her face into his arm. Small tears fell as some sniffles could be heard.
"I love you too... little sis," said Mario as he put his arm around his sister and held her tightly.
Author's Note: A small project has led to even more layers of this issue to be peeled back. Everyone always has issues with parents and a small talk with Zipp has given Mario a bit of perspectiveon things. And the thing about Zipp and Pipp's father being open-ended since we don't know much of what actually happened to their father in the actual show. So the open-ended interpretation of what could have happen covers all my bases until it's actually revealed what happened, if the show ever goes there.