“Apple Bloom, it’s not even sunrise yet. It’s too early for stupid questions.” “It’s not a stupid question!” Apple Bloom stomped. “I was up all night ‘cause of this and I had to catch you first thing.” Applejack wandered over to the stove and switched it on, then took a tea kettle to the sink. She scratched at her face. “All right, then. Explain. I’m listening.” “It’s just… we were learning about geometry the other day. 3D n’ stuff, so spheres and cubes and the like.” Apple Bloom held up a small mirror to her face. “So looking at my eye, it’s not really all that curved. Almost flat. Means my eyeballs are pretty big, right?” Applejack lowered her head and stared at Apple Bloom’s eye. “Yeah, okay. We got big eyes.” “Right,” Apple Bloom said, “and if it were a sphere, it’d have to just about wrap all the way around the inside of my head, wouldn’t it?” Applejack grimaced, turning the filly’s head to examine her eyeball’s curvature. “But that ain’t right. That doesn’t leave any space for the brain.” “That’s what I was thought. That’s what I was up all night about!” Apple Bloom opened her mouth wide. “Doesn’t leave any space for the mouth either. Or the nose tubes. And don’t the ears have tubes, too?” Applejack’s eyebrows crinkled as she slowly turned off the stove. [hr] “Here,” Twilight said, yawning as she floated a plastic pony skull over to Applejack. “I was going to give this to Cheerilee eventually for educational—” “Good. Sooner the better,” Applejack said. She shared the skull with Apple Bloom. “I mean, the eye holes are about eye-sized,” Apple Bloom whispered. “Hard to tell how deep it goes, though.” “Too dark,” Applejack muttered. “Hey Twilight, isn’t there supposed to be some bone or something between the eyeballs?” “Um, yes, probably. I would assume so.” Twilight rubbed her eye, then paused. “Why? Is… is that not in there? “No, it’s not.” Applejack lifted the skull up against the light of the rising sun. “You got a flashlight or something, Twi?” She most certainly did. Minutes later, Applejack shone the light inside the skull through one eyehole and peered in through the other. “Well?” Twilight said, standing behind Applejack to get a peek. Applejack could only frown deeper. “See for yourself.” Twilight took Applejack’s place in front of the eye socket. “That can’t be right. It looks like the eye socket goes all the way… to the back…” [hr] “Yes, this is a pony skull,” Celestia said. “But are you [i]sure[/i] it’s a pony skull?” Twilight said. “How positive? Is it just the outside of the skull, maybe? It is a plastic replica, after all. Is there anything on there that you’d say is, I don’t know, anomalous? Odd? Blasphemic? Anything like that?” “As a matter of fact, yes, there is something odd about this skull.” Twilight’s wings perked up. She, Applejack, and Apple Bloom drew in close. “What? What is it?” Celestia smiled. “It’s missing the rest of the body. Legs, arms, all that.” She ignored her student’s eye roll and set the skull down. “But yes, Twilight, this is an ordinary pony skull as far as I can tell.” Twilight exhaled. “Okay. Then can you please explain why the skull has one large, spherical cavity that goes from the back of the skull to the eye holes? [i]Both[/i] eye holes?” “Well, yes. That’s because ponies have one eyeball.” Twilight’s lips carefully curled into an ‘O’ shape, threatening to retort but ultimately failing. “Yes. One eyeball. It’s giant, and takes up about the size of the whole head. Two pupils, two irises, one big eyeball.” Twilight squinted, looking to Applejack and Apple Bloom for help but receiving none. “That… that’s not what they taught us in school. All creatures have two eyeballs.” “Most creatures. Ponies have one.” Celestia waved her hoof. “And zebras, and giraffes, and a few others.” “But, but…” Twilight paced. “Where’s the space for the brain? And the nasal passages? The ear canals?” “All very small, and very efficient,” Celestia said. “Sometimes even I stop to marvel at how complex and weird and wonderful us ponies are.” Twilight and Applejack and Apple Bloom didn’t stick around to marvel with her. Instead they saw themselves out, muttering and frowning to each other. Once alone, Celestia giggled, having chosen not tell them that their skull was a hollowed-out cheap plastic replica. After all, “it’s magic” was a much more boring explanation.