Celestia's Academy for Protectors

Viridian stays entirely still on her bed, disassembling her gun and systemically cleaning each spring, rod, pin, and piece without actually looking at them. Instead, she's looking at Razor, her eyes fixed on the pacing and agitated thestral, turning her head to follow her back-and-forth progress. "Were it not entirely inappropriate, I'd offer to donate some bits to getting you a piece of hot flank to burn off all that excitement and excess energy," she said offhandedly, as if offering a teammate a prostitute was a completely normal thing to do in these circumstances. "You're entirely correct however: that was an exciting, engaging, energizing, enervating, enthralling, and various other synonyms that mean approximately the same thing. I only regret that I hadn't an opportunity to spit-roast the psychopathic stripe with some HEAT." She pauses. "Or with considerable heat, depending on whether the spit-roasting was the fun kind or the combat kind. Ah, for lost opportunities..."

Wild Card scrunched his muzzle slightly at Adagio rolling her eyes, before sighing. "You're right. I shouldn't complain. We're all alive and well, and that's more important than worrying about weapons... oh..." The stallion looked at the broadcast and frowned as the reporter mentioned the deaths of the thestral workers, and silently watched the names scroll by on the screen. "Well... that's quite unfortunate. Quite unfortunate indeed. Then again, many more would have gone the same way had we not arrived, so I guess we can take pride in the fact we saved as many as we could, eh?"

Wild wandered over to his bed and sat down on it, continuing to watch the broadcast and smiling at the next announcement. "Well, well, well. That's a more uplifting thing, isn't it? The combat tournament. Oh they're wonderful to watch, even if we do lose most of the time. But still, the food, the atmosphere. It's worth it just for that. Oh hay, I'd love to participate actually... but I'm not sure. What about you girls, any opinions on the combat tourney?"

"Are you kidding, what part of it wasn't?!" Razor retorted to Sunset gleefully, spreading her wings and launching herself up and over to her bed. "This tournament is great timing too, and to think I was worried when I got here that this place would be too much books and not enough blood, if this is what an average day is like around here I could get VERY used to this." Razor declared happily, violence and mayhem seeming to bring calm and contentment to the thestral until she would be eager for more.

The newscreen continued on from the farm massacre to cover the upcoming tournament. "Man, they really don't linger on the fact people died do they? Just thestrals I suppose..." Razor's voice was calm and measured but she had clenched her fist so hard that her leather glove was straining against her hand, as if it was merely paint over her fingers with how tightly it was clinging to it.

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"This year's festival will be the first since the foundation of Celestia's Academy for Protector's to allow first year participation in the tournament, let's go to Princess Celestia herself for her explanation for this recent change to the rules." The news announcer said, the picture feed cutting to Princess Celestia sat upon her throne, microphones being held by reporters around her.

"Equestria may be stable for now but it is important for us to always look to the future and be vigilant; our Protectors are the first line of defense and are to be valued as the indispensible resource they are. But they are not mere weapons to be used without consideration; they have undertaken a dangerous occupation to ensure our safety and as such even at this early stage I feel it is best that they have the chance to prove themselves."

"Princess." A reporter spoke up. "Do you have anything to add regarding the recent farm-"

"The attack on the farming settlement has had all information we currently know released to the public." Celestia said calmly. "We implore anyone with information on missing ponies to please come forward, their families wish to have their fears laid to rest."

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In Wild Card's room, Adagio Dazzle snorted. "Liar." She said, a small grin playing about her face as she looked directly at the video screen. "That little press release of hers didn't mention a certain cackling zebra or friendly gas mask wearers... sounds to me like the big white princess is telling little white lies~"

The lead siren's eyes stayed locked on Celestia on the screen, a strange mix of amusement and satisfaction glinting in her eyes... why would Celestia lie that the public had been told everything and leave out the ones responsible?

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A buzzing on the scrolls of the students came just before most would be going to bed, a message sent to all of them from Professor Docile Storm:

"Due to the strange events of the previous evening and the exceptional work you all put in, I feel you have all earned a chance to show everyone else your dedication; should you all want it I can secure all of your teams a place in the upcoming festival tournament, with my highest recommendations. If you wish to do so, please see me after class tomorrow."

"More than thestrals," Fantasy finally chimed in, after minutes of listening to Razor with a certain... look, on her face, "But yeah, not a lot of time spent on that town." And then she went into mumbling. "Not like towns even fall every day, either. This sort of thing is significant even for Equestria, and yet..."

Sunset, once again, was a bit more vocal about exactly what she found wrong with Razor's attitude (though she didn't share Fantasy's priorities exactly). "You are way too excited about violence."

Bzzt!

Fantasy and Sunset both checked their Scrolls. Sunset rolled her eyes and put the Scroll away. Fantasy didn't express much until the last bit, where her eyebrows furrowed a bit.

"That's kind of..." she began, fishing for the right word. "Cheating, isn't it?"

"What-?" Sunset remembered what she'd just read and dismissed. "Oh. Yeah. Nepotism, more or less. It happens all the time in Canterlot, Fantasy. May as well get used to it." Then they were both silent. Fantasy looked mildly upset for a minute, before turning her attention to something on her Scroll. Sunset, however, stared at the tv, brows furrowed in thought.

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"Why would she do that?" Sonata voiced Adagio's question.

"Typical reason: you can't trust a ruler as far as you can throw them." Aria commented boredly, exploring her Scroll.

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The Tournament? Nox wondered. She didn't voice her ignorance, though: she'd learn about it soon enough. She had ears.

...

And also a Scroll, now.

It was not entirely clear whether Anja had actually heard Nox, and refused to answer, or had not heard her at all, as her attention seemed to be entirely on her scroll. It was also impossible to tell precisely what emotion she was feeling beneath that enormous hood of hers. "I beg pardon, did you say something, Miss Light?" She asked head cocked slightly. "I was a little preoccupied with my scroll."

"If you were asking what happened, then you should know that I ignored you because you were wasting valuable time. I also do not recall what happened after I bit the assailant, because she was loaded with enough drugs that had I not been a dire wolf, I likely would have died. Had you wasted less time and had us drop directly into the combat zone, this would not have happened." The elven pony sighed. "If you want me to follow you, stop acting like a child. Demonstrate to me, in this tournament, that you are a leader worth following."

Nox took a deep breath. Then another. And another. So she was dealing with one of these ponies, was she? "Gathering information about the enemy and territory is not a waste of time. Especially if, say, one day the enemy is not as... rambunctious, as that zebra was. Say, if they have a modicum of sense and some idea of what stealth is."

Then she blinked. "The... tournament?" she asked, and before Anja could reply, "Why would the tournament prove anything? What would a game prove?" The pause did give Anja some time to reply, but Nox continued shortly, "That I can beat ponies up better than you? What would it prove about me as a leader?"

The elven queen watched as the pony in front of her took several deep breaths, before standing up slowly. She vanished as her magic cloaked her, leaving nary a sign that she had ever been there. "There is only so much information one can gather, Miss Moon. Eventually, you must act. And had our enemy been stealthy, there is no amount of information that we could have gathered in any meaningful amount of time. Besides that, it is beyond paranoid to assume that there would be any but grimm attacking a farming settlement. Justified in this case, but paranoid nonetheless."

"It would prove that you are worth following. I did not allow you the opportunity in the assault on the farm, an extremely unladylike action on my part, and for that I am sorry. So prove to me that you were the right choice." Anja sighed, before she decloaked. "And seeing as we are a team, regardless of my feelings on the matter, you should know I suffer from haemophilia."

"Haemophilia?" Nox asked, "And once again, how would the tournament prove my leadership skills?"

"If you cut me, I bleed. And I do not stop, ever." The elven mare replied, pulling up her top to reveal a patchwork of burns, the skin long since healed, though the scars remain. "Before I had access to the healing magic of Canterlot, the only real way to stop myself from dying was to cauterise the wound. And it is simple. You will lead the team to victory."

"Oh." Nox said simply, quietly, looking at the wounds. Then back up at Anja, she protested: "And how would I-... how would... a fighting game, even a very popular one, is not a good way to judge leadership qualities."

"Huh, well there you go. We can actually participate in the tournament even though we're first years." Wild Card commented as he watched the broadcast, without the strange air of satisfaction that Adagio had about her. Then again, she was odd, as were her sisters, however she did raise a good point. Celestia didn't mention the assailants at all. "Well..." Wild started after Sonata voiced her question and Aria gave a less than helpful answer, "perhaps she wants to keep panic down to a minimum? I mean panic isn't good for anything. Besides, I'm sure with the way you threw those Grimm you could throw Celestia quite a ways if she allowed it, Sonata, so you could trust her quite far indeed. Plus wings, gliding. Yeah, that's quite a hefty distance, I'm sure."

Just then Wild's scroll started to buzz in his pocket, and he immediately assumed it was his parents messaging him regarding forgotten luggage. He was quite surprised to see Professor Docile's name as the sender, but this just made him think it was a typical 'Well Done on your First Mission' message. Wrong again, well, not entirely. Wild's eyes lit up as he read the message and he grinned to himself, "Oh wow. I don't know if that's something that is technically allowed, but I'm not exactly going to turn it down either. Also, while this is out and I remember..." The pegasus started typing away on his scroll, mumbling to himself every now and then about having forgotten his personal belongings.

Sunshine had spent the last few minutes silently writing in a journal, only passing the occasional glance at the conversation and newsfeed. She sighed at their bickering and set the notebook down. “I don’t think it’s a good idea to even sign up for the tournament right now. We showed zero teamwork out there, and we really need to work on that before we even think about taking on other teams.” She then added, “plus I dunno if they’ll even let me compete. Eh, I got this far, maybe.”

She passed a glance at Shining, who had also remained quiet. She wondered what the mare was thinking, but before she could ask, she got a call from her Scroll. She rolled her eyes when she saw who it was from and answered it. “Hey. Yes, I was there. Yes, I got to try it. Yes, it works well. Bit bulky though. Another one? You know, you should probably focus on your own work instead of coddling me with all this. Yes, you’re welcome for that. We’re all here-yes I miss you too. Sorry you couldn’t join me. Oh, sorry to hear that. She okay? Alright, just have her deliver it. What? No, I won’t tell them you said hi. They never even met you. Alright, if we’re in town, I’ll introduce you. Okay, bye.” She sighed again. “That mare, I swear…”

"I doubt it had anything to do with the race of those that died, Razor," Viridian says calmly as she begins sliding newly cleaned and oiled parts back together in a systemic fashion, reassembling her weapon the way she had cleaned it, without any apparent need to look at what she's doing. "Dwelling overmuch on death and destruction, showing too many pictures, creates an impression of a great and tragic disaster. Of course every death is a tragedy and us being too late to intervene at the outset is a minor disaster, a failure of foresight or simply of intelligence-gathering, but death and destruction in a single farming town is neither tragic nor disastrous on such a scale as to warrant a great deal of news coverage. The more you speak on a thing, the more important and significant that thing appears to be. so whether on their own initiative or because of a royal request, the news touches lightly on the dead and speaks nothing of the maniacal stripe still at large and certainly to perpetuate worse."

She works the chamber with a loud click-klonk and her eyes became hard and opaque. "But we haven't forgotten, have we? It will be paid for, and we will collect, as soon as the matter of these little games are concluded in a satisfactory fashion." She looks to Fantasy. "That, captain, is where the rest of us are going to prove to you that you're a good leader. You'll be leading the team to victory and when we win, we'll hear no more of any doubts from you."

"Somehow I'm pretty sure they'd be having a moments silence and a full read out of their names if they were unicorns..." Razor mumbled in response but seemed to decide not to press the issue as she instead sat down and began to clean her swords, for at least he fourth time since her return to the academy; it seemed to be a calming behavior for her, something to keep her mind and hands occupied until her scroll buzzed and she took it out, listening to the others as she read the message herself. "You know you talk a whole lot and most of the words sound like you're speaking another language right?" She asked Viridian as the green unicorn explained the probable rationale behind the news' take.

"Hey if there's one thing I've learned in life it's that you shouldn't look a gift dragon in the mouth." Razor Back spoke up from where she was standing with her scroll, looking more enthused about the possibility than the others. "Yeah what Viridian said; besides, can't exactly hurt your studies can it to show that you're taking it seriously by showing off practical skills can it?"


The message had reached all of the teams and left them, particularly the team leaders, with much to ponder as the stars shined overhead and they took their rest from the day's events. Tomorrow classes would formally begin and their potential entrance into the tournament could give them a chance to shine...

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Rain battered the windows the next day as walked through the hallways of the school to the mess hall for morning breakfast with classes set to start within the hour; in the mess hall among their many fellow students was a holographic board set up for students to register their teams for entry into the upcoming tournament that Docile Storm had promised their teams preferential entry to.

"Hey, guys, sit here!" Razor called loudly to the two teams who had been on the mission besides her own, quickly barging her way to an empty table and gesturing for them to all sit together. "So, you guys get the message from Docile last night too?" She asked, quickly taking a huge bite out of an apple. "Going for it?" She asked thickly, apple remnants splattering the table.

Fantasy decided not to comment on the matter, lacking true exposure to Equestria's political climate and news media (for a reason), though she did give a side-long scowl at her dragon comment. Sunset, however, just rolled her eyes harder at Razor, particularly at her first comment.

"Fantasy has no practical combat skills." Sunset said more than a little harshly, "If we entered the Tournament, she'd drag us down."

Fantasy seemed to wilt at that. She didn't deny it, and instead focused on the tv. "Besides that..." she said after a minute, "...I don't see the value in what is essentially a contest of bragging rights, not if the supposed point is to show our skills. I'm pretty sure that's what a final exam is for."

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"I think we should." Shining, though her voice was still soft and heavy with failure, at least spoke with confidence in her own opinion on the matter. "It could give us... more reason to... pull ourselves together. To... improve ourselves. Because we won't win otherwise."

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Nox gave a single nod. Shining scrunched her muzzle and leaned back in open disgust at Razor's behavior (And it was just her behavior, because Shining wasn't that kind of pony. Absolutely not.), and she gave a curt, "Yes." Shining had made it a tie... for about a minute, before Nox tipped the votes 3-to-1 in favor of participation.

"I don't see why not." Adagio seemed to almost purr that. Then, a glance at Fantasy: the slender little shrinking violet who looked halfway to completely collapsing in on herself just to avoid the rest of the world, hardly touching her breakfast and yet keeping her eyes so firmly locked on her plate so as to ensure not even a chance at glancing another pony. "Are you?" while the question was technically for the whole of Compass, Adagio directed it at Razor.

Wild Card raised an eyebrow at Razor's beckoning after having collected his breakfast, but given her calls seemed to get the rest of his team over he decided to heed the call and sit down near to the rather... uncouth mare. Wild, however, was a far different sight than normal - mostly because his hat was nowhere to be seen and no shirt, jacket or tie was being worn either. The stallion looked mildly uncomfortable as he sat down quite quickly next to his team mates and made a start on his food.

"The message? Oh, about the tournament. I got it for sure. Might be fun. Nice reward for a stressful first night." Wild responded, giving a slight disapproving glance at Razor as her apple ended up on the table in various bits. "As for if we're going to sign up... might as well if we've got preferential treatment. The worst thing that happens is we get beaten on the first round. Even then that's not the worst thing because there's lots more to do than just the tournament, I think."

Though she didn’t like it, Sunny too caved in the end, agreeing to go along with the tournament. She wasn’t gonna take the blame if they got creamed though. As for the following morning, she joined the teams at the table. She passed a curious glance at Wild’s team, before turning to Razor. “Yeah, we’ll be joining. It’ll give us a good excuse to learn to actually work as a team. Though if we can’t by then, all it’ll mean is public humiliation. Should be fun.” She then turned to Nox and smirked. “I sure won’t be carrying you guys through it.” She joked, though she would probably be the only one that understood the joke.

"If she lacks practical combat skills, what are her impractical ones?" Viridian smirks a little at Sunset. "Is she a master duelist with silverware? Is she secretly versed in dictionary combat? Can she fling razor-sharp paper airplanes like an automatic weapon?" Her smirk becomes a more serious expression. "You never know what strange and inexplicable skill can be turned to your advantage until you actually get into the thick of things and draw on everything you have for victory. If your impractical combat skills cannot serve the current situation, then change the situation." She unscrews the muzzle brake from the end of her rifle and pulls out a file, beginning to do fine adjustments of the edges of one of the baffles. "Besides all that, I simply do not believe you, Sunset. Celestia is neither stupid nor cruel enough to drop someone she gives the tiniest buck about into a situation where it's impossible for her to accomplish anything. Even if I don't believe in the image of a harmless and infinitely benevolent ruler--and I most certainly do not--wasting resources is gross incompetence and if Celestia was grossly incompetent, we wouldn't even have safety where we do."

She looks up from working the baffles and gives Razor a smug little grin and wink. "I was sent to Trotsford, my dear thestral, that I might talk our bestial adversaries to death or so confuse them with ingenious jabberwocky and blatherskite that they might momentarily have no idea where up and down were, and their throats may be cut with greater facility. Eh wot."

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"You know my vote," Viridian says as she takes a seat across the table from Razor. "And do at least pretend to have good breeding and manners, Miss Back. I'm sure the perceptions of other ponies mean very little to you but you fail to account for the ways in which those ponies might be manipulated by habits of speech, comportment, attire, and behavior to better facilitate your goals and more readily align themselves to your wishes. Like the baring of fangs or a rude gesture, silent modes of speech can speak entire volumes without a word actually spoken, and it is highly efficient." She takes a bite from her own apple with very exaggerated delicacy and elegance, the gestures practically a mockery of propriety while technically proper, before glancing between the other gathered teams.

"I take it, Mister Card, that the strategy of your own team shall involve the deployment of the considerable... assets," here she looks rather pointedly over the more eye-catching aspects of the three sirens with a mix of polite interest, somewhat impolite prurient interest, and amusement, "of its members alongside a spirited application of Trottish fists and stiff upper lip to the problem of competent teamwork on the part of opponents. Or less than competent, if seeing creates an irrational impulse for touching." She beams merrily at him, cheerfully leaving it up for interpretation of how serious she's being about what she says.

"I'm not sure that daintily dusting the enemy team while making a firm display of southbound pony heading north will have productive results," she continues, not looking at Sunny or the rest of the yellow pegasi's team while she says it, ostensibly shifting the direction of her commentary back towards Razor. "But who knows... we have a pleasant prodigy with hidden potential. No reason for the dark side of the moon not to be a shining exemplar for the rest of us, eh wot?"

Fantasy, Sunset, Nox, and Shining blinked at Viridian in unison.

"I don't suppose we have a translator at the table?" Sunset asked rhetorically, looking around.

Nox had experience with enemies trying to talk circles around her, but was rather at a loss with this pony.

Shining had experience with double-speak and silent words, but this just seemed outright nonsensical to her.

Fantasy was simply lost. She didn't even have that much experience with flowery language to give her an advantage, and had trouble with implication by default. The only thing she'd gotten out of Viridian's metaphor was that she might know more than she let on, and had no intention of being straightforward about it.

"Eh public humiliation builds character." Razor responded to Sunshine as she kicked her feet up on the table and drained the contents of a soda can in one gulp. "Or at least that's what my old gang mates used to say anyway; it'll be really funny for someone else even if it doesn't build any character for you, so.... at least something good comes out of it? I dunno, either way I wouldn't turn down the chance to bash some heads if I were you."

Razor Back turned to the table at large as she heard everyone's responses. "Come on, what's the worst it could do?" She asked, dropping her voice a little. "Worst case scenario we don't do well, we go out early and we've got some experience under our belts. But think about it, this Docile Storm guy has been teaching here for years now, you think he'd just hand out an opportunity if he didn't think we were any good? It's gotta be worth a try yeah?"

Razor paused and her eyes dipped around. "Hey ain't we missing someone?" She swiveled round in her chair and her eyes sought Anja across the dining room. "OI! No bailing on your friends, come on over here or I'll drag your chair here!" Razor bellowed across the dining hall, producing some annoyed glares from students and teachers alike which she utterly ignored.

Fantasy giggled at Razor's shout.

"Graphic." Shining said with a grimace.

"Well, some of us are good," Sunset said, "but unless one or two can- or will -carry a whole team through the Tournament, I don't like any of our odds." A glare at Razor in particular.

"It does seem odd to me that Docile would choose us." Nox piped up in her unpinnable accent. "From what I've seen, a few of us are exceptionally gifted, but all of us displayed poor teamwork on the battlefield. How does that make us the better choice than our peers?"

Wild Card raises an eyebrow at Viridian due to her rather lengthy and verbose dialogue, eventually leaving the eyebrow raised in an expression of light confusion. It took a few more seconds for Wild to process what had been said, but as soon as the meaning had been figured out, he smiled and shrugged. "Well, my team's assets include being able to throw Grimm about like they were dolls. That could be useful in an arena fight, for sure, especially if there's a ring-out rule."

Wild then looked at Razor and scrunched his muzzle, "You know you can stand up to walk over and converse at a quieter volume to not, well, bring attention to yourself. Just a suggestion for next time," he said calmly, taking a drink afterwards, "also, 'your gang mates'? That... sounds suspect if I have to say. And Moon, it's a little rude to make such an assumption of all of us. Now I can't speak for the others with certainty but I'm pretty sure you and I were not able to see one another during the mission the other day, given our tasks."

"Forgive me, I do not mean to make assumptions about your skills. I merely mean to say that that mission was all Professor Docile has seen of us so far, and I'm sorry, but it wasn't very impressive. I mean, we were competent, but boldly flawed." Nox clarified. "Though I cannot make more than a guess as to how we compare to the other students so far."

"Translation is, Sunshine here showing off an admittedly great ass while in a maid costume might not be the most... effective combat strategy." Viridian grins. "The rest were oblique and deliberately silly references to New Moon and Shining respectively."

"Assets as in tits and plot, Wild Card," Viridian said rather bluntly. "I'm sure you've noticed that even shackled, your three sirens are pants-expandingly pleasant to look at. And high degrees of sexual magnetism are just as much a power as a semblance and aura, although I myself prefer the lethal power of a light anti-armor cannon and its attendant shells to inducing an irrational need to cop a feel." She chuckles as she watches Razor calling Anja over, letting her gaze slide momentarily in the direction of the attractive and regal mare, and then back to the attractive and energetic one with a generous helping of a brawler's swagger.

Adagio grinned and very deliberately held her chest further out as she further straightened her posture. Sonata was even more blunt with the display, and even openly flirty as she briefly gave bedroom eyes to everypony across from her. Aria apathetically slouched over her food.

Sunset and Shining just scowled at Viridian, with respective annoyance and disgust, while Fantasy and Nox both tried to hide their reddening faces behind their bangs with respective intentions of pretending not to notice what Viridian was talking about and pretending not to have heard the language Viridian had used.