Celestia's Academy for Protectors

Fantasy was less than a second away from telling them that Celestia had first informed her of Ipecac when she’d first seen her on the news, but thankfully was wise enough at the last moment to omit that part. “Through the news. How else? Also, noting that ‘fixation with sharp objects and turning Grimm to salsa’ thing. I don’t know if that’s cool or something to be concerned about.”

“She stole more Dust.” Sunset answered her, sitting in the bunk beneath Fantasy’s and her muzzle already buried in a book.

“Oh…” Fantasy responded flatly. “What exactly does she plan to do with all of that Dust?”

“Oh, I don’t know, maybe blow something up? What the buck else would an insane arsonist do?” Sunset snapped.

Fantasy seemed rather silenced by Sunset’s hostility. She turned her attention to the tv, trying to invest herself in a subject matter she had no interest in: sports. Fortunately, Buckball was pretty easy to understand.

---

“I’m Adagio.” the yellow siren said, waving briefly.

“Aria.” the purple one said. “And we’ve been working together longer than your tiny pony brain can comprehend, before your Pegasopolian ancestors even had disputes with the earth ponies and the unicorns. Don’t lecture us on being a team, bird-horse.”

“Aria.” Adagio scolded. “Be. Nice.”

Aria harrumphed and turned away from the group.

“...I’m Sonata!” the blue siren said finally. “Are you part chicken? I’m hungry.”

---

“What?” Nox asked, eyes going wide as the dorm was suddenly turned into a mini-forest.

“How?” Shining Light squeaked. “W-w-what is this?! What did you do?! Undo it! Undo it this instant!” She punctuated this with a stomp of her hoof.

Neither pony noticed Sunny or her dibs on the top bunk.

“Trompe, what did you do?” Nox asked, her voice deceptively calm for how surprised she was. “And can it be undone before we get into trouble for damaging school property?”

“If you don’t undo this right now, I’ll chop this forest down myself!” Shining shrieked.

My goodness, you are all so very loud, she typed out, before petting the wolf some more, watching as it rolled around in her lap before jumping down and bounding away. I would not recommend that you attempt that, for you would cut naught but air, she explained, before waving her hand, the forest fading away as if it had never been there in the first place. I was not aware I had been paired with such a violent pair of girls. But, I do owe you an explanation. This was naught but an illusion, created by my semblance, she explained with her scroll, before yawning delicately, covering it with a hand.

The mare looked at the two, before looking at the two remaining beds. I suggest one of you makes a decision regarding which bed you will take. And Miss Sunny, whilst I am not excited, I do look forward to the years ahead. Perhaps first, we should do formal introductions, starting with our leader.

"New Moon." Nox said.

"Shining Light, of... of the Celestial Witness branch of the Ponies of Light." Shining introduced herself, placing her hand on her chest proudly, over the sun pendant hanging around her neck.

Sunny nodded as she read Anja’s explanation. “Alright, makes sense.” She smiled at Nox and gave Shining an amused glance. “Ponies of light, eh? Dunno if it’s a shame or not that I wasn’t invited. Then again I like to stay off the radar. I’m Sunshine. Nice to meet you all.” She said cheerfully.

"Probably not." Razor said simply from where she was sat on her bunk. "You wanna blow something up there are cheaper and less obvious ways of doing it; even if you would need Dust for whatever you had in mind, she's already stole enough from those shops that she could've blown Canterlot Castle clean off the mountain by now if she really wanted to."

The dark grey thestral seemed to realise she was saying too much and shook her head as if chasing off a fly before turning the channel over to a music station instead, hanging her jacket off her bedpost in front of the window, causing all the little pins to catch the afternoon sunlight.

"Hey, bookworm." She turned to Fantasy as if a thought had just struck her. "Do we get student parking in this school?"

"It's a pleasure to meet all of you, and I hope the pleasure continues during our time together." Wild Card replied happily. Then he stared at Aria and simply smiled, "Well that's a common misconception about us pegasi having bird-sized brains. In actuality our brains are the same size as anypony else's. If you're still wondering about the size of those, I can find a decent picture of one on my scroll with some size comparisons." The stallion commented, showing absolutely no sign that Aria's words had any effect on him.

Wild then wandered to the last bed and sat down on it, "Though I do apologise if you felt I was lecturing you, and no Sonata, I'm not part chicken. If I had to guess what kind of bird I somewhat seem like... I'd say magpie?" He said with a smile. "As for the hunger... dinner will be soon I think, and I sadly don't have anything on me right now. While we're just waiting around here however, I'd love to know a bit more about you girls, your species and such. Aria, you mentioned having known one another for longer than any pony can fathom for instance, and we ponies can imagine back a long long way."

"Something that ponies who're on my side don't need to worry about, boss," Viridian tells her easily, lounging comfortably under Razor's bunk. "The grimm might want to worry about the sharp objects and being turned into chunky salsa, but I don't think they do much in the way of thinking, just doing instinct things. Smart buggers from time to time but I'm not sure they can conceptualize danger as such." She looks up at the dangling legs of Razor. "I sort of wish I had access to the kind of dust that Coo-Coo Train has... I could do some really innovative things with shells and shell fusing."

“Um… I don’t mean to be rude, but if I may ask… are you mute?” Nox asked Anja.

“It’s not a shame.” Nox said to Sunny, drawing a deep scowl from Shining Light. “‘The Ponies of Light’ is a term that encompasses both Celestia’s Witnesses and Celestia’s Flames. Surely you know of them?”

---

“...even with all that Dust, how do you blow a castle off the mountain? I’d think it’d be turned into rubble for a landslide first. Unless, of course, there are specific sweetspots that can cause the desired effect, which I imagine there would be because why wouldn’t there be?” Swear to God, Equestria, you are magical Australia.

Sunset, however, seemed a little more suspicious of Razor’s comment, as a mere eyebrow-raised glance up from her book indicated.

“Um,” Fantasy began in response to Razor’s question, “I didn’t see any parking lots. I don’t think enough students use cars for student parking to be a priority. Or any parking, really.” She paused, then, “The mountain’s also rather treacherous on this side so carriages aren’t really an option anyways.

“And noted.” Fantasy said to Viridian.

---

“Imagine, yes. But to creatures as small as you, a thousand is just a number. You can never understand just how long that is.” Aria said over her shoulder, then turned back to continue staring at the wall.

“Also, be careful of Sonata.” Adagio warned Wild. “She’s… especially carnivorous. Among other things… but I mean as long as she’s well-fed, you’re generally safe.”

Viridian grins at her. "Just keep taking notes, Boss, and you'll get along well." The grin becomes an actual smile. "But seriously, Fine... except for your 'friend' over there," she gestures to Sunset, "we all want our boss to succeed at this. I can tell you aren't the happiest about being stuck on the top of the totem pole but you're sorta kinda... well, stuck there. Unless you want to go to Headmaster Inkwell and ask her to make sunny disposition over there the boss. Or maybe you want to be taking orders from the enforcer up top," she gestures with her head in the direction of Razor, "or much worse, taking orders from me. If none of those options are your bag, start getting used to being the mare in charge, like a smaller and more easily-bullied version of the Great and Mighty Day Princess herself."

Wild Card just shrugged, "Fair enough. I don't pretend to know precisely how long it is, but if imagining how long it is is all I can do, then I might as well stick to that instead of just not bothering." He replied, turning and lying down on his bed, looking up at the underside of Adagio's bunk on top. "Carnivorous... wonderful. Not to say I find it bad or anything, it just unsettles me slightly. Something in my subconscious just tells me it's wrong and I should be afraid of meat eaters..." The pegasus said bluntly, shuffling about a bit before giving a defeated sigh.

"These beds aren't exactly good for me. No room for wings, mattress isn't that soft... enclosed space too. I'm not used to sleeping with something right above me, it's a bit worrying." Wild commented, sitting back up and stretching his wings out. "Maybe after dinner I'll grab a cloud or two. Evening clouds are normally the softest~ Anyway, I'd still love to know more about seaponies, and how you flew, so many questions given I've never met a seapony before... Also why does Aria keep referring to me or things about me as small?"

Anja blinked, before quickly typing something out. My name, you already know thanks to the introductions given earlier when our teams were announced. I was a... circus performer for a few years, but I lost all my troupe members in an accident. I came here to become stronger. And no, I am not mute. I just prefer quiet is all. I do hope you don't expect me to talk anytime soon however. She stood up and gave a small curtsy, before sitting back down and smoothing her skirts. Ah, one more thing before I forget. I don't know why my ears are more pointed than yours, so asking me is pointless, she explained, before her fan appeared in her hand, and she waved it gently. Do any of you know when our first class is?

Razor shrugged. "I'm gonna check, my bike ain't staying outside the school gates all semester." She said, walking out into the hall. But instead of making for the front gates, Razor turned to the room a few doors down from her own and let her ears perk up as she heard the voices of the three strange mares from downstairs, and the strange stallion who seemed to think they were in a casino rather than a school.

"Good to know." She smirked, idly knocking on the door before walking on and checking on her bike. It took her a few minutes to find a spot that no one was using, well okay maybe there had been a nameplate on it but there wasn't now. By the time she was walking back through the gates she heard the PA system announcing dinner.

First though she returned to their room and changed into a slightly less battered t-shirt, though whatever the logo had once been on the grey long sleeve was, again, long since faded into memory. "Time for a proper meal and not that crap I had to get from stalls and roadstops on the way here." Razor declared to the rest of her dorm room. "You think it's all you can eat here? Hope so, I reckon their kitchen needs testing." She smirked.

Sunny nodded. “Oh, the Flames I heard of. For some reason a few of them attacked me about a week ago. One of them had a flamethrower. Iiiiiit… Didn’t work out so well for them. One would think a group called the Flames would handle being on fire better. Ah well, they got third-degree burns and I had to start borrowing my sister’s uniform. A loss on both sides, really.” She said with a shrug. “Anyway, classes probably start tomorrow. I dunno about you, but I’m itching for food.”

Sunset barked out a laugh when Viridian equated Fantasy to Celestia. When she looked up, her expression was an odd mixture of anger and forced amusement, as if she were trying to be more than just bitter. “Well, you’re right about one thing: she is small and easily bullied. Honestly, the least we could have is a leader who won’t fold under pressure like wet parchment.”

Fantasy huffed and took a book out of her luggage to read. Just as she opened it, though, dinner was announced. “Oh, food.” She put the book down and hopped down from the bunk, and was the first one out of the room. Sunset followed behind her with something of a satisfied grin on her face.

---

“We’ll… or at least I’ll be happy to answer any questions you have about seaponies.” Adagio said. “And Aria’s basically calling you insignificant, mainly because of your woefully short pony lifespan.”

knock knock knock

None of the sirens got up. Adagio looked at Wild expectantly. “Shouldn’t our leader meet the strangers on the other side of the door?”

When dinner was announced, Sonata squeed and leapt up from her bed, and barreled right over Wild on her way out of the room (yelling “foooood!” the entire time) and down to the cafeteria… then she realized she had to follow the rest of the students to know where to go.

“Come on, leader~” Adagio said to Wild, she and Aria flying right over him and out with the rest of the students. “Lead us to the cafeteria.”

---

Nox raised an eyebrow, and even Shining Light seemed rather skeptical of Anja’s tale.

Now Sunny, on the other hoof… “Last week? ...you seem rather calm for somepony who was attacked by terrorists a mere week ago…” Nox observed.

Shining Light was silent. One could almost see all the red flags waving themselves frantically in her vision trying to get her undivided attention.

“Well, let’s go. We can talk on the way… or not. I don’t know.” Nox said when dinner was announced. Shining all but ran out of the room, while Nox calmly walked out after her.

---

Fantasy was kinda disappointed seeing that the academy’s cafeteria was very similar to one of an average high school. At least, from a distance. It had tall windows and a very tall ceiling with a beautiful stained-glass roof, but the tables and the food lineup were… kinda typical, and slightly concerning if the food was like high school cafeteria food, too.

Fantasy didn’t even want to go up and see. Not because she was a food snob (although she was quite picky), but because the line was moving quite fast; at least, much faster than she’d like. She couldn’t go up there, she did not make decisions quickly and would hold up the line! She didn’t want to make a fool of herself more than she already had today. “I think I’m just gonna save us a table.” she said, turning around and walking quickly to the nearest relatively-empty one while wondering how she was going to feed herself this year if she couldn’t even handle a quickly-moving queue.

---

Adagio, meanwhile, had no qualms with holding up the line once she got to the food. While Sonata piled her plate with everything but a kitchen sink and Aria wrinkled her muzzle at almost everything, Adagio was simply taking her sweet time choosing this or that particular item. “Oh, sorry I don’t simply plop something onto my plate like it’s a pig’s trough!” she snapped at the people behind her when she’d finally had enough of their groaning and complaining, and a few pokes.

Nox’s stomach growled loudly with all the food in front of her. There was more for her to choose from than she’d had in fifty years (200 if one didn’t count the occasional party)! With all of it just feet away, Nox found herself somewhat more than a little irritated when one particular seapony started holding up the line.

Shining was a bit more vocal about it than the silent shadow mare, though, with plenty of “excuse me”s and “can you move please” and “you’re holding everypony up!” to spare for her, at least until said seapony snapped in her general direction, which reduced her to grumbling under her breath until she sighed with exaggerated relief when the seapony had finally gotten what she wanted and left the line. Then Shining got to stare at Nox and her precariously-balanced mountain of food, which she didn’t seem to have a problem carrying and kept safe and balanced with magic.

Wild Card smiled, and then frowned as Adagio continued, "Well, I'd prefer to not be called insignificant just for how long I live for. You can do quite a lot in a pony's lifespan, and the knowledge that it is limited drives us to achieve much greater things. So- Oh, someone's at the door?" The pegasus said, getting cut off by the knocking at the door. He stood up from his bed and wandered over to it, opening the door and looking around only to see a thestral mare making her way down the hall. "Huh, guess she didn't want anything." He said idly as he closed the door again and went back to lie on his bed.

After the announcement rang out for dinner, Wild stood up once more and walked to the door yet again. After opening it he was quickly knocked to the ground by the rather excited Sonata flying straight out of the dorm room, falling on his face and groaning a little. "Okay, so she's very hungry. Glad to know..." Wild picked himself up from the floor as Adagio and Aria flew over him, shaking his head a little and quickly hurrying in front of them to lead the way as Adagio said he should. Luckily for him he only had to follow the flow of students to soon arrive at the cafeteria.

While in the line, just next to Adagio as he let the three choose their food first, Wild had to quietly and constantly apologise for Adagio's lack of haste when making decisions on what to eat, often times explaining that one can't be too hasty in deciding what to have for dinner or that it would only take a few more moments. This niceness was, however, blown away as Adagio snapped at the other students, though Wild quickly apologised for her outburst (with the explanation that she wasn't used to large crowds). Eventually he gave a few last apologies for holding up the queue, and wandered over to where a unicorn was sitting without any food.

"Hey there. Mind if I sit here? Name's Wild. Wild Card. Guessing you're not a fan of the hustle and bustle of the dinnertime rush?" The pegasus smiled, awaiting confirmation on whether or not he could sit opposite to the mare. If she allowed it, he would happily sit down and make a start on his dinner, which was what looked like a rather fancy and large portion of salad, and nothing more. No meat could be seen whatsoever. "If you'd rather not wait for the queue to die down, you can have a few bits and pieces from my dinner." Wild offered cheerfully.

Viridian grins and follows Sunset out of the room. "You know, Sunny Disposition, you'd probably be the boss if you were actually as great as you think you are," she tells her, not bothering to keep her voice down. "That you're not the boss but want to be sort of points at you just not being cut out for it. Enjoy that thought." She beams at Sunset with exaggerated cheer and then goes passed her to walk a little closer behind Fantasy. Precisely why she's doing this become obvious when Fantasy saw the speed of the line, completely noped, and announced she was going to save them a table. Viridian lets her get to the table, quietly padding behind her and out of her peripheral vision and looms as Wild cheerfully greets her, and then suddenly hooks Fantasy under the armpits and hoists her just enough into the air that Fantasy wouldn't be able to touch the ground with her feet. "Sorry handsome stallion with the fetching accent, I need to borrow this Fantasy for her own good, self-improvement, and edification." She looks to Fantasy. "You're going to learn something really neat today Boss," she tells the struggling mare as she frog-marches her back over and into the queue. "You'll learn how to be quick and decisive about what you want to eat. If you'd like, I could help feed you, like a mother who's probably like a year older than you at most."

Anja didn't react to their disbelief, instead continuing to fan herself quietly on her bed. At the mention of food, she froze, her fan almost dropping from her hand, before she quickly composed herself and stood up. We best get going, I would hate for the food to go cold, she typed out, before following the rest of her team down to the cafeteria. She looked around, though she seemed nonplussed about the decor.

As she waited in line, she watched her teammates start to get irritated by the apparent indecision of a certain siren. Calm yourselves, we'll still get our food, she messaged them. It was only once they reached the food did Anja's mask slip, and even then it was hidden by a simple illusion, as though it appeared she had grabbed a reasonable amount of food, she had in fact grabbed a substantially larger amount.

Her food now obtained, Anja vanished, leaving some decidedly confused ponies behind. Her escape secured, the mare left the cafeteria, tracking her way to a spot she had located when she had arrived, a small outcropping on the roof invisible from the ground and hard to spot from the air. Setting down her tray, she started to dig into the food ravenously, tearing and biting with a ferocity and base instinct she as a mare of high standing shouldn't have. Not that she cared, for if there was one area she allowed herself to be lax, it was eating, class and sophistication be damned.

Razor Back followed her team to the cafeteria without paying much attention to the conversations around her; when she actually did reach the hall she piled her tray high with apples and a pair of jacket potatoes which she proceeded to cover in cheese, which promptly melted into the potatoes and created a delicious smell.

Once she actually had her food however, the thestral broke away from her own team and instead walked over to where the seaponies sat, after having to wait an inordinate amount of time for the yellow one to actually choose what she wanted to eat.

"Hope no one was using this seat." Razor said gruffly as she sat down next to Adagio. "You lot going to hold up every line in here or is this just a one off?" She asked Adagio before she took a large bite out of a green apple.

Sunny shrugged. “I’ll take them seriously when they come at me with more than fire and knives.” She said as she went with them to the mess hall-sorry, cafeteria. After waiting in line, she ended up with a very sizable amount of food. Not as much as Nox, but more than enough. She sighed as Anja left. “That mare is odd, and that’s coming from me.” She commented, taking a seat with Nox and Shining, wherever they decided to sit.

Sunset’s horn burst into blue-hot magical fire, but she fumed silently because she couldn’t think of anything witty and scathing to throw back at her she was the better mare… whatever the fuck that was supposed to mean.

...
“Go ahead.” Fantasy muttered, propping her head up a hand and staring at the table. However, she finally looked up at him when he offered food. She was just about to accept and thank him when she suddenly yelped because Viridian yanked her right out of her seat and carried her over to the dinner queue.

“Joy…” Fantasy droned in response to Viridian’s enthusiastic and slightly humiliating speech, grabbing a plate, utensils, and a cup. “Well… not that I’m ungrateful that somepony in my group has my back.” She glared pointedly at Sunset, who was about two ponies ahead of them both.

Sunset pretended not to hear her, or Viridian for that matter; she was just glad to be ahead of her so she couldn’t be held up. In fact, she started moving even faster just a few seconds after Fantasy had gotten in line.

---

“Wha- where the heck did she- UGH!” Shining fumed, stomping her hoof like a little filly. “I hope she’s not going to be like this the entire year. Our team can’t be three ponies and sometimes a fourth snobby vagabond.”

“‘Vagabond’ would imply she’s homeless.” Nox informed her, sitting down with her food.

“What would you call her, then?” Shining asked, sitting across from her.

“Um…” Nox thought for a moment, then answered, “I don’t use that kind of language.”

At that, Shining Light almost cracked a smile. Almost. She wouldn’t allow herself to get friendly with a confessed and remorseless criminal. Only when she’d shown the mare the error of her ways could they be friends.

Nox saw the repressed grin. She pretended she hadn’t and turned to Sunny. “Normally fire and knives are more than sufficient for one of their targets. You got lucky.”

Meanwhile, some school security began quietly investigating the spot where Anja had vanished, and started following her magic signature back to her.

---

The sirens didn’t go to Wild’s table and instead sat down at the one next to it. Then they began whispering hurriedly between each other, as if they needed to resolve the conversation before they got interrupted by a certain dark blue pegasus.

Instead, they got interrupted by the thug from initiation. Aria glared, Sonata blinked, and Adagio repressed an irritated growl. “I don’t like to rush my decisions, dear.” she told Razor in a calm, civil tone. “Nor do I like being rushed.”

Anja continued to tear and rip into her food, gulping down the food. She paused to daintily sip her cup of tea, before latching onto a leg of something, and tearing a great chunk from it. Chewing the food thoughtfully, she reclined into her small alcove, before blinking as she realised the alcove was actually a small window. Licking her lips nervously, she peeked inside, swallowing the meat quietly.

Inkwell smiled back at Anja and gave her a cheery wave, a PB&J in her other hand. Anja stared at the elderly mare in horror, very quietly trying to hide her half-eaten plate of food.

Inkwell giggled. She walked over and gently opened the window a crack, trying not to compromise Anja's balance as the window opened outward. "Would you like to come in? I feel like you're looking for some privacy."

Anja nodded carefully, dispelling her illusion, before picking up her plate and carrying it inside, looking for somewhere to place it, before messaging Inkwell Thank You.

Inkwell drew up a chair to her desk across from her own and gestured for Anja to sit. "You're very welcome." Then she sat down herself and picked up her sandwich. "Would you like to talk, or do you just want quiet?"

Anja sat down carefully in the chair, eyebrow raised, before placing her food on the desk. I would prefer quiet she messaged, before typing out a second one. Though you can talk if you want, Principal.

"I'm afraid I don't have much to say at the moment." Inkwell said, shrugging. "So quiet it is." She took a bit out of her sandwich. Anja nodded and began to dig into her meal again, this time a lot more carefully and with a great deal more dignity. "Don't worry about me, dear. I won't judge." Anja sighed and nodded, digging into the meal with her typical animalistic hunger

Inkwell continued eating her sandwich, picking up a book that had been gaining popularity among adolescent mares across Equestria. It was about a forbidden vampire love, and Inkwell seemed to be enjoying it quite a bit, judging from how it made her chuckle. "Hehe, this reads like something I would've written in my early adolescent years."

Anja looked at her curiously, but continued to eat, almost finished now. Inkwell looked at Anja and said, "This book is called Twilight, and it's one of four. It's... got an interesting perspective on romance, to say the least." Something seemed to occur to Inkwell. "Don't you think your teammates are wondering where you are?"

Probably. But let them wonder. She typed, finally finishing the mountain of food and delicately wiping her mouth.

"Well, alright then." Inkwell responded, wondering just how many students were going to be this antisocial and standoff-ish.

I can just sense you disapproval. Of my teammates, one is sane, one is a cultist, and the third is... Anja stopped typing, before standing up. Very well, I shall go back to them.

"I didn't mean to pressure you into anything." Inkwell assured her. "You can stay if you wish."

No, I better go back. Do you know... what New Moon is? She asked, as she wiped her hands clean.

Inkwell blinked. "Uh... what do you think she is?" she asked, not with accusation but with care.

Would you prefer I say it? She asked as she walked to the door. I am a Queen of elves, and a mistress to illusion. Her... trick, if it could be called that, does not fool me.

For a moment, Inkwell stared, not sure how to respond to this. Finally, though, she said, "Well, until further notice, would you keep that information confidential? And perhaps assist her in improving her disguise?"

I will keep her secret, but unless you want to kill myself with a constant illusion, there is little I can do.

"Alright. I'll talk to her about this and see what I can do. Thank you for bringing this to my attention.'

You are welcome... thank you for letting me eat here. And for not judging. One must do what one must to survive.

Razor Back shrugged and chomped loudly on her apple. "Well, don't let me interrupt then." She said, taking the hint and vacating the siren table, making her way over to the suited stallion who shared a room with them, continuing to take huge chunks out of the many apples she had on the way to sitting opposite him.

"Hey, guy in the bowler hat." She said as she sat down and nodded backwards to the sirens. "How many bits am I gonna have to bribe you to lose your room key somewhere near me?" She asked, kicking her feet up onto the vacant chair next to her and speaking in a tone that made it very apparent what she had in mind for him "losing" his key. She spoke without even acknowledging her teammates who were right there other than a quick nod, obviously fixated on her goal of getting some private time with the three beautiful mares sharing a room with Wild.

Wild Card was quite surprised to see another mare just waltz to the table, pick up Fantasy and then wander away. "Oh, okay. Sure. Have fun. My team is nearby so I won't be far if you decide to come back afterwards." He responded with a happy wave, before sliding his plate of food back to himself to continue eating. 'First normal mare I've spoken to suddenly whisked away...' 'Well, I mean we did chat with Inkwell.' 'I meant a mare around our age. Another student.' Wild thought idly to himself as he had his meal.

Then the thestral who had just been sitting with the rest of his team sat opposite him, and her initial greeting regarding his hat - though it internally irritated Wild - was met with a polite nod. "Oh, no. This is a top hat. Bowler hats are like domes, whereas this hat has a flat top." The pegasus informed the mare with a smile. "And I don't think that will be possible. You see, I've no need for more bits, so if you truly want to make a deal then I suggest you look for something I may have more desire for. However, I also don't guarantee that my team mates will be... approving of your intentions. Plus I'd rather keep my key so I know where it is at all times." Wild replied in a polite tone of voice.

Sunny let out a chuckle between bouts of eating. “She may or may not be a vagabond, but she ain’t boring. And all I’m asking for from my life is that it isn’t boring. Kinda why I’m here, really. To keep my life interesting. Even if it means going back to school.” She said, turning to look at Nox. “Well then, they better come with bigger knives next time. The ones they had were easily deflected.” She gave her hand a wave as she said that.

"...but you wish I hadn't hauled you out of your seat and bodily dragged you into the line, all the while talking about how I'd make a mare out of you loudly enough that everyone can hear me," Viridian finished the thought. "Well, I have to go from personal experience with this one, and that personal experience is that when there's any kind of leader of any kind of group, the group rises and falls by how good of a leader they have. Good leaders elevate a group beyond what the constituent components of the group can achieve; poor leaders bring the group down. Attitude also reflects leadership, and from attitude grows morale, and from morale grows victory." Viridian smiles broadly to Fantasy. "Headmare Inkwell wouldn't have selected you if she didn't know, in the way that all good headmasters do, that you can rise to the occasion. You can be our leader, Fine Fantasy; I believe in this. I think you can be a good leader too; I believe in this as well. So my job, having determined that you can be the leader and that you can be a good leader, is to do whatever it takes to get you from reluctant, unsure, hesitant, and slightly oppressed by that Sunset mare being a bit of a cunt, to certain, confident, decisive, and bowing your head to no peer. Urging you into a lunch queue and pressing you to choose your food quickly and decisively is the first small step to doing my job."