Celestia's Academy for Protectors

Celestia’s Academy, settled on the northern side of Canterlot Mountain, shone brilliantly in the afternoon sunshine. The building was white, with gold-colored roofs and intricately detailed door and window frames, and on the building’s tallest turret, the center turret, was a large metal rod. Ahead of the Academy was the courtyard: full of colorful, fragrant flowers, neatly-trimmed bushes, freshly-mowed grass, tall healthy oaks, and plenty of walkways through it all for students who wanted to take direct or scenic routes. Behind the Academy was a large statue garden, most of which had at least one gem as part of their design.

The air was hot, dry and full of the sounds of various vehicles. Transports from all over Equestria (typically trains or airships) were showing up and taking their turns to drop off new or returning students. Most of the students were unicorns, but also arriving were thestrals (who were generally given a wide berth and harshly whispered about (as if they can’t hear it)), pegasi, griffons, and even a few dragons. As well as some… other characters…

---

Players:
Wild Card
Sunny
Dual
Wise
OP
Pariah

---

“Get away from me.”

“I don’t wanna.”

“Too bad.”

“But you’re the only pony I know here.”

“I’d honestly prefer if we pretend we didn’t know each other.”

“Why?”

“Because I’m Celestia’s student and I’m here with a purpose, and you’re annoying and Celestia-knows why you’re here.”

This silenced the mare for a moment. Then she yelped as she bumped into the other, taller, orange mare in front of her who’d stopped suddenly and turned around.

“WOULD YOU STOP FOLLOWING ME?!”

The smaller mare jerked back, her ears flat against her skull and her arms held close to her chest.

“It’s bad enough you were staring at me the entire train ride- don’t deny it, I felt you staring -I don’t need a creep like you stalking me the entire time I’m at this school!” The orange mare was starting to draw attention. “And I’ll know you’re stalking me, because if I can help it Tartarus will freeze over before we end up in the same group- heck, in the same wing!”

“Um-”

“You are a nuisance and a creep and you need to stop following me like a lost puppy! I will not be here to babysit you! There are a million things that would be more worth my time!”

“Sun-” The smaller mare kept glancing at the mare’s purse, from which a vial of red dust was sneaking its way out the more the mare waved her arms and stomped her hooves.

“Whatever reason Celestia has for being so interested in you, I don’t care! Whatever her reason is for liking you so much, I don’t. Care!”

“Sunset-”

“I don’t care if she wants us to get together and become ”Besties” or whatever-the-buck! That’s not going to happen, because all you’ll do is slow me down-”

Both girls screamed as, with a final stomp, the vial finally fell and shattered on the ground, immediately causing a fiery explosion. When the smoke cleared, both girls were covered in soot and ash, and their manes were blasted back very cartoonishly.

Sunset just stood there for a moment, looking stunned and too enraged for words. Finally she seemed to regain her senses, as she finally noticed the crowd. “WHAT ARE YOU ALL STARING AT?!”

Some of the ponies quickly turned and started walking toward the school’s entrance again, while others laughed at her. The mare frowned, as if pitying her, but her next words dripped with sarcasm: “Very dignified for the personal protege of Princess Celestia.”

Sunset’s attention snapped back to the mare. She was definitely mad now. “Excuse me?!”

---

A dark grey mare stepped off a docked airship, one of the last to leave as she wanted to avoid ponies bumping into her from behind. She wore an obviously-new pair of sunglasses, which made the baggy hoodie she wore look only more battered and faded. She didn’t bother to wear anything else: it was way too hot for that. She regretted that she had to wear her hoodie, though appreciated the protection the hood offered from today’s hot sun. Her hooves were chipped and dirty and it was very obvious she had little skill in cutting fetlocks; luckily they were quite curly so it was hardly noticeable.

The dark mare kept a hand on her katana, purely for comfort, and hung on her shoulder was a simple bag that contained the supplies she needed for the school year, generously paid for by another pony, and her hiding phoenix, Pyra. She knew a pet phoenix would draw attention, and attention was really the last thing she wanted.

As she made a b-line for the school’s entrance, she passed by several ponies who caught her attention, more because of how they felt than how they looked. She made a mental note of all of them. Though, about halfway to the entrance, she took a rather long detour to avoid two loudly-bickering mares, one orange with a bold red-and-yellow mane wearing a black jacket (she couldn’t tell if the leather was fake or not) and the other very pale- almost white -with a brown and blue mane tied back in a ponytail and wearing a blue blouse and shorts. She wasn’t sure what pony in her right mind would wear clothes on a day as hot as this, but at least she had a hat.

A yellow pegasus mare stepped out of an arriving train. She wore a black maid uniform, which drew a few looks from others leaving the train or passing by. She didn’t care though. Not about the looks, her outfit of choice, or the heat. She just took it all in stride. So with that, she started walking towards the Academy, but was stopped short when she noticed somepony exploding. Again. She chuckled at that and continued walking. “Something tells me this is gonna be an eventful time.” She said to herself.

As the last airship docked with the school, a dark blue stallion jerked awake and looked around, a hand covering his mouth as he yawned. The mare next to him stirred, and he ran a hand through her short golden mane, his own unruly brown hanging over his eyes. "Better get up Silver, I believe we have arrived," he hummed in her ear, chuckling as she snorted, before her eyes snapped open and she looked around.

"Oh my gosh, we're finally here," shs squealed, standing up and smacking her head on the overhead backage rack. "Owww..." she moaned, rubbing it weakly.

Rubbing Silver's head for her, the stallion adjusted his uniform and sighed. "You alrighy sweetie?"

Silver nodded and kissed him, before hefting both their luggages, her arms shining silver. "I'm fine Pariah dear. Shall we go?" She asked, not waiting for a reply as she skipped off.

Pariah chuckled, rubbing the gauntlet that covered his left arm gently before following his fiancé out onto the docking bay.

A mare was leaned against the nearest wall when the smoke from the explosion cleared, watching the argument between Sunset and Fine Fantasy with something like boredom; her jacket was practically a piece of art as despite obviously being worn and having seen lots of action it was decorated in countless ways, with many shining studs and spikes embedded into the arms and shoulders as well as countless pins and chains attacked, most noticeably a series of coloured wings in a straight line going down on the left side of the jacket, white, then black, then grey, with a badge where the left wing was blue and the right yellow.

The rest of her outfit was nowhere near as well cared for as her jacket, her jeans were torn at the knees and looked as if they had been worn the day before as well and her black t-shirt with a faded logo for an underground band was so faded that the band's name was almost impossible to make out anyway.

Razor Back observed Fine Fantasy and Sunset's argument for a while but the explosion was to her the cue to stop it. Walking up behind Sunset as she rounded on Fine Fantasy for that last remark she tapped her on the shoulder.

"Ladies?" She asked in a tone of perfect politeness. The instant both of them faced her she grabbed them by the manes and banged their heads together. "Shut up." With that Razor walked back to where she had been leaning before with not a word more, picking up her ragged looking rucksack and slinging it back onto her shoulders along with a scabbard holding two long swords.

Walking off the airship with a rather excited smile, was an immaculately dressed pegasus stallion, looking as though he really should be at the Grand Galloping Gala rather than this academy due to his choice of attire. Either way, he looked around at the area that he would hopefully soon grow accustomed to, and the sights certainly did impress him. However some sights left him slightly curious and in the case of one thestral mare, a bit frightened and cautious.

This stallion completely ignored the conspicuous dark mare wearing the sunglasses, as he felt that she didn't want to be looked at and respected that, even if it was his assumption. The katana she wore and the fact she kept a hand on it also deterred him from looking too long at here. Instead, the dark blue pegasus stallion happily made his way towards the academy, pausing as the explosion sounded out and now staring at the two mares covered in soot.

Wild tried holding back a laugh, but ultimately he couldn't and a small chuckle came from him followed by an "Ouch..." as the thestral mare smacked the soot covered mares' heads together. Part of Wild said to go and see if the two mares were alright, another part said to stay back and watch the outcome of the event, and finally, he came to the decision to do the latter suggestion first, and the first suggestion later.

Viridian Rain stood near the railing of the observation deck but unlike most of those looking in wonderment at the approaching school, she's got a long lance-like weapon tucked against her and under an arm, and is reading through a large and weathered-looking notebook that if anyone was to get close enough to look contains diagrams and scribbled facts about the various monsters out there. Her white mane is tucked into a practical ponytail and she has a pair of tiny spectacles resting on the end of her muzzle. Clad in full mail with solid metal plates supplementing the protection, she bears more resemblance to some sort of knight than a monster-hunter with some manner of hybrid weapon.

When the airship docks, Viridian looks up from her book and looks at the port for a moment before she takes her naginata, lifts it up, and touches it blade-down and at a diagonal angle against the back of her armor. There's a barely-audible click and the weapon stays in place. Viridian next stoops and collects a duffle bag, putting the strap over her shoulder before she flips a page in her still-open book and begins to walk out into the crowd at a change of pace. Despite the fact that her attention is focused on the book, she seems to see everything around her and fluidly dodges her way through the crowd on her way off the deck.

On the same airship that pulled into the port, a single stallion sat, with a white coat and shimmering mane sat, flanked on either side by ponies wearing the silver armor of the feared Silver Knights of House Myalo, and carrying matching rifle glaives to boot. To the right of the trio was a caged cart of different cases and containers, probably belonging to the guarded stallion, which was also surrounded by three silver knights.

As the airship pulled into the port, the stallion would stand up and begin to walk towards the door, showing off that he was wearing pants with a lot of pockets either on them by default or sewn on later, and a strange, poncho-like garment. His movement prompted the guards to move too, staying on either side of him and gently guiding ponies away from him with a simple and rather polite sounding "Pardon." and a soft guiding motion with their polearm. Anyone who refused to move was shoved aside without a care in the world. The same thing happened with the cart, this time with three guards. Anyone who would try to reach inside would get an unpleasant shock and a swift strike from one of the guards.

As the group moved, they would pass by the two mares, and the stallion in the center stopped, turning and looking like he was going to say something to the pair, but then they blew up the red vial. When the Princess's personal student asked what they were all looking at, he decided to respond. "A pair of idiots who can't handle having dust. Such a powerful and volatile force is a privilege for those gifted enough to use it, and shouldn't be used by just anyone, as proven here."

"OW!" both mares shouted simultaneously, cradling their heads after Razor banged them together. There were more laughs from the surrounding ponies.

"Stupid-..." Sunset began, but stopped herself as she remembered that thestrals have vastly superior hearing. She whirled around when another freaking pony decided to insult her. She ground her jaw at Diamond's words. "Excuse me, Princess Celestia herself taught me how to use Dust! I am more than capable of properly handling it." She pointed at Fantasy. "It's this idiot you need to worry about."

Fantasy glared but said nothing.

Sunset paused, glancing at Diamond's Silver Knight body guards. "Wait a minute... are you a Myalo?"

"A what?" Fantasy asked quietly, glancing at Diamond.

"A Myalo." Sunset repeated, rolling her eyes. She turned her head toward Fantasy. "The Myalos are an infamous family who have a monopoly over the purest Dust in Equestria. They're infamous because when they first started monopolizing their Dust, ponies got upset and rioted on their lands. The Silver Knights slaughtered almost half the rioters, and injured and imprisoned the rest."

Fantasy looked back to Diamond, looking mortified.

"Have to explain everything to this mare..." Sunset muttered, shaking her head.

---

Dust:
Dust is a highly magical and volatile crystal, the magic of which is triggered by Auras and sometimes by other means. In the time before the Princesses, they were utilized by the ponies against the Grimm, though their usage was often primitive and untrained, and highly dangerous. When the Princesses came to Equestria, the ponies didn’t have to defend themselves all the time, and so had time to learn about Dust: the most effective ways to use it, how it could be combined with weapons and sewn into clothes, and how two or more elements could be combined to make an entirely different element.

In Equestria, Dust is most often used by Protectors and other select groups of ponies, as Dust is really only needed for a few specific purposes; ponies don’t often need outside sources of magic for their tasks.

Outside of Equestria, however, Dust is often the most powerful, or only, source of magic. And Equestria is the #1 known source in the world for Dust, followed far behind by the dragon lands and the lands of ancient Gallypt. Many races want that Dust…

Equestria was perfectly willing to trade. Equestria traded Dust for Dust-powered machinery, weapons, Dust-infused clothes, different elements of Dust, and more. But that wasn’t enough for some...

((Worked On with Very))

The stallion merely smirked at the pair, and began to laugh as Sunset claimed to be a student of Celestia as a point of argument. “Then Celestia is either the most amateurish Dust user in Equestria or you’re not her student. I’m willing to bet on the latter. If you knew anything on how to pack Dust, then that vial wouldn’t have exploded. If you were actually Celestia’s student, then I’d assume she’s just humoring you and pretending you have talent.”  

Sunset looked livid. “I- you- I can’t-”

“Okay, that’s enough.” Fantasy interrupted, stepping between the two-

And promptly being shoved away by Sunset. “You have some nerve to accuse me of being a joke student! I know perfectly well what I’m doing, it’s this one’s-” Once again, Sunset jabbed a finger in Fantasy’s direction. Fantasy merely huffed. “-fault I had to pack the last of my Dust so sloppily! I would’ve been more than ready to go if it weren’t for her forcing me to rush everything last minute!”

“This pony’s gonna make me her scapegoat…” Fantasy muttered, crossing her arms.

“You have no one to blame but yourself. Making excuses and blaming other ponies for your failures shows exactly how pathetic you are. The fact that you’re not willing to accept your failures as your own makes me sick, and according to a lot of ponies I’m scum of the earth.” The stallion said with almost an alien enthusiasm. One of the silver knights nudged him, and he frowned back at the knight. “Not now, it’s just getting good…”

“Just getting good? What, this is fun for you?” Fantasy asked, frowning. Sunset said nothing; she looked ready to explode.

“Oh you don’t even know how much I’m enjoying this.” The stallion licked his lips in an odd manner, and chuckled, seemingly enjoying the anger of both of the mares. “I’m sure that little mare desperate to believe that Celestia sees something in her thinks that if she can blame all her problems on you, she can make up for all her shortcomings.”

“Actually, to be fair to-”

“I for one think that’s lower than scum. The entire Myalo family, even the worst of us, acknowledge that we have shortcomings and claim them as our own. That’s what makes us such strong hunters.” He then spat in their direction, shaking his head. “Listen, miss ‘Celestia’s Student’, you’re going to die on your hunts if you continue to blame everything on her and other ponies. That’s how things go.”

Fantasy grabbed Sunset’s arm; she had made to lunge at the stallion. “Look, some of her… “shortcomings” have been my fault, directly or indirectly. Though, she does have a temper to work on.” Fantasy gave Sunset a pointed look; Sunset merely scowled in response. Fantasy turned her attention back to the stallion. “I think we should end this conversation. I have no desire to talk to someone who intentionally provokes others for fun, and I’d rather not have any fights break out.” Fantasy looked back to Sunset. “We should go. This stallion’s not worth the energy.”


Sunset smirked. “Y’know, for once, I actually agree with you.” She then turned and started walking again to the school, rather ignoring Fantasy now.

“I was only pointing out your shortcomings. If you want to lunge at me and see if what Celestia taught such a useless mare as yourself actually holds up in a real fight, you’re more than welcome to. I have places to be though, so we’d have to keep it quick, mainly because I don’t like wasting time.” He and his guards were already moving towards the school, moving at a rather brisk pace to make up for time lost.

“You realize she’s gone, right?” Fantasy quirked an eyebrow, walking a few feet ahead of him, her arms crossed. “She doesn’t hear you. Now you’re wasting your energy.”

“Out of the way lowborn, unless you’d like to be trampled.”

“Lowborn?!-”

He gave her a look that likely wouldn’t come from any natural pony. “And I already know that.” he continued, having no regard for Fantasy’s words. “I don’t know what Celestia sees in such a careless mare. I and a few other weren’t chosen for some reason or another.” They sped up just the slightest, and one of the Knights pushed Fantasy out of the way as she failed to keep pace.

“Oof!” Fantasy stumbled and nearly fell on her back. She looked at the ponies for a moment, then snorted and took one of the courtyard’s detours to the school’s entrance. She’d need to catch up with Sunset, or find her again later.

Silver giggled as she approached the school, spinning and grinning at Pariah, her eyes sparkling. “Can you actually believe we’re here love?” she asked, putting their bags on the ground and blowing a kiss at him.

Pariah rolled his eyes, chuckling and miming catching the kiss, before his eyes were drawn to the sight of two ponies having their heads slammed together. “Silver, darling… you go on ahead… it seems I have some business to take care of,” he said, turning and starting to walk towards the group that had started gathering.

Silver blinked, but shrugged it off. “Don’t do anything reckless,” she said, to which he merely nodded and waved.

Pariah arrived as the argument started, and he paused, listening to the trio begin to argue. Those are Myalo Silvers… then he must be… Pariah studied the stallion, noting his weapons and his words silently. Opening his mouth, he took a step forward, an easy smile on his lips. “Now, now, no-one here has called you the scum of the earth yet, Myalo,” he said, glancing between them. “But honestly, it will do your reputation no good at all if you start a fight on the first day of the new school year, will it?” Pariah paused, blinking as he took in that he was completely ignored by the feuding ponies.

Sighing, Pariah shrugged and started to walk off, his words having fallen on deaf ears, before his own twitched as a word started ringing in them. “Lowborn…?” he growled, claws twitching angrily as he spun back around, stalking towards the stallion who had started to leave the scene. “Oi, you bastard of the Myalo line,” he shouted, claws still twitching as he approached the stallion. “Watch your mouth, or I might just have to watch it for you,” he snarled, pointing a claw at him.

Wild Card continued to watch as the events played out, noticing how the Myalo stallion talked down to the two mares, and how he also had quite a hefty amount of guards with him, Silver Knights no less. Every now and then Wild glanced around at the other students watching the events unfold, though not many caught his attention and as such he carried watching the conversation with interest, not enjoying the Myalo stallion's attitude in the slightest but not wanting to step in given how it wouldn't achieve much.

Instead, after the rather unfriendly dialogue, Wild followed after Fantasy after she snorted and headed along one of the detours to the entrance of the school. After a little way he started to fly, hovering above the mare before tilting his head down to look at her with a smile, "Hey there," he said cheerfully, landing beside Fantasy and handing her a handkerchief, "you've still got a bit of soot on you from the explosion earlier. Anyways, that didn't seem like the best way to start the whole school thing, what with the dust explosion, the shouting, the rather irritating Myalo guy. So that's why I'll say hey," he continues in an upbeat tone of voice, "my name's Wild Card, what's yours?"

Razor observed the arrivals and the interactions for a little while, apparently 'slightly bored' was the most reaction she could be bothered to give to most of them until the knights and their spoiled brat of an escortee started getting pushy; funny as it was to see a unicorn get shoved around, it was usually more fun when she was doing the shoving.

Razor Back stepped forward and pulled a rag from out of her pocket and flew over to the knight, tapping one of them on the shoulder until it turned around to face her. The thestral hovered off the floor and scrubbed the knight's helmet like she was trying to polish it, humming an annoying tune in the process as if she was a shoe shiner.

"Lemme see, that's three bits for the polishing, four bits for the being an entitled prick and one bit because let's be honest you're being overpaid anyway." Razor said in a voice dripping with sarcasm, holding out her hand like a pony who expected payment for polishing shoes. "Hey, Myalo, wanna acknowledge your shortcomings? Acknowledge this one; being a Protector means having a spine, not having your babysitters shove around people you don't like."

Razor flew around the knights to stop in front of Myalo. "Way I see it Myalo is if you need five lumbering tin cans to protect you from the horrors of two mares who nearly blew themselves up before you even started, you won't even make it to the hunts." She said, folding her arms with a smirk on her face. "So, if you want to toddle off back home now and live on old money like most of you noble gobshites I'd say go right ahead; it'll look better on you than being outperformed by a group of 'lowborns' who you don't even have the stones to face on your own."

With that the thestral simply turned heel and walked towards the school, following after the white unicorn and the well dressed pegasus. As she walked she saw Pariah stalking the other way and deftly placed a hand out to grab him and begin dragging him the other way.

"Trust me, pick your battles. You fight him here with his babysitters and he gets to laugh about how he beat you." Razor hissed to him in an undertone. "People won't remember how you lose that fight, they'll just remember you lost it; choose your moment when he can't fall back on excuses." She dragged him only a few feet back before she let him go, walking past him and letting him decide for himself what he wanted to do.

Viridian turns another page in her book as the Myalo gets started on Fantasy and Sunset, stopping in place as she does, a slight twitch of one of her ears being the only sign that she even notices that anything's going on near her. She frowns thoughtfully, and then take a chunk of the pages of the book between two fingers and turns most of the way back to the beginning before rapidly advancing once again, her eyes twitching over the pages with an intense focus, taking in every detail as she turns. When the Myalo spat his taunts after Sunset, there was another twitch of her ear but no direct sign that she notices, although her hand goes behind her head and grasps the naginata. The weapon turns fluidly in her hand and the butt of it strikes the ground beneath her feet with slightly more than necessary force when the brat calls Fantasy a 'lowborn'. She holds the book in a hand and uses her thumb to page backwards, page twice forwards, back, and then five pages forward again, before she closes the book and looks up as Razor "polishes" the Silver Knight's helm with a filthy rag. The stunt, and Razor's put-down of the conceited scion of the Myalo family, evokes a tiny although oddly strained smirk from Viridian. She thrusts the now-closed book into a carrying case strapped on her left hip and then moved her hand behind the large and somewhat bulky case to withdraw a long cartridge with a silver casing and black bullet, tipped in yellow, from what is apparently a cartridge case hidden behind the bulk of the book case. She twists the naginata deftly to reveal a slot in the handle below one of the grips that is shaped perfectly to receive the cartridge, which she slips into the opening and then locks in place with another deft twist of the handle. This task done, she jerks the naginata straight up, catches the butt in a bent-wrist open palm, and walks after Razor and the rest of the class, the long spear-like weapon held parralel to her body with the tip rising high above her head. Given that she's easily taller than six foot, the gleaming blade at the end is exceptionally visible as she walks.

“Fantasy.” she answered, getting as much soot off her face as she could with the handkerchief. When she was done with it, she wasn’t nearly cleaned off, but the handkerchief was almost completely covered in soot. She held it in front of her and looked at Wild, unsure if he wanted the tarnished thing back. “Fine Fantasy. And today has not gone well on any front. Well, except for you, I guess… You’re cool so far.”

At that moment, the sound of speakers turning on rang out over the grounds, and an older mare addressed the students.

“All new and returning students please gather in the main hall in no more than five minutes. There are important matters that need to be discussed and I do not like to waste time.”

“Why does her voice sound familiar?” Fantasy wondered aloud. She picked up her pace to make up for lost time.

---

Once in the main hall, Fantasy found out why that voice was so familiar: on the stage, at the microphone, tapping her hoof impatiently, was Abacus Cinch. That… person… from The Friendship Games movie. Fantasy thanked the cosmos she was wearing what she had in the movie (actually, she was glad she wasn’t mostly naked), but also wanted to yell at the sky since she was there at all. Instead, however, Fantasy settled for muttering, “Sonofa…” and simply waiting for her speech.

After about a minute, Abacus tapped the microphone, producing some loud, unpleasant feedback, to get everypony’s attention. “Good evening mares and gentlestallions…” Abacus began, muttering out of the microphone’s range, “and others.”

“Don’t think I can’t hear you!” an elderly unicorn mare who’s eye was scarred shut shouted at her, gaining some chuckles from the students. Abacus winced and scowled at the elderly mare, then glared at the students before continuing. Fantasy noticed that unlike Abacus, this mare was only wearing a white tux jacket, a gold medallion around her neck, and black-and-purple legwarmers.

“It is my pleasure to welcome you to another year at Celestia’s Academy for Protectors, or your first year for some of you.” Abacus continued. “Now, this Academy is the first and oldest in Equestria, and founded by the Princess herself, so there are high expectations of this school and its students. However, today has, unfortunately, introduced some… underwhelming individuals.” She scanned the crowd briefly to give very deliberate looks to Diamond, Sunset, Fantasy, Razor, Nox, and even Sunny (she obviously didn’t approve of her attire). “I hope these students will realize soon enough that this school is not their playground, that we will not be catering to them like overprotective mothers, and that we expect everypony to behave like the mature, professional Protectors they’ve come to this school to become. If they- if anypony-” Abacus amended, feeling the elderly mare’s eye boring into her from behind. “-finds they cannot meet those simple expectations, they will not last long at this Academy. Would you like to take the microphone now, Inkwell?”

The elderly mare stood up shakily from her chair and shuffled up to the microphone. She lowered the microphone to better suit her height, cleared her throat, then started her part of the speech. “As Vice Principal Abacus Cinch explained, this school expects much of its students, and it is your responsibility to meet those expectations and grow into the Protectors you want to be. However, that does not mean you must, or even can, be alone in your time at this school. You can seek help from the teachers, or myself and Vice Principal Cinch, but you will also have a team to support you, and that you must support back. It is just as important that you all learn the value of love and teamwork as how to fight Grimm... and likely more.

“Now please gather in the ballroom; that is where you will be until tomorrow morning. Food and refreshments are already set up in there-”

“But please don’t leave a mess.” Cinch interjected.

“Yes, what she said. Also, please prepare as appropriate for tomorrow’s initiation: you will need your energy, as you will probably end up in mortal peril. Goodnight, sleep tight!” Inkwell had ended that speech on a rather inappropriately-upbeat tone, and Abacus seemed to realize this as she facepalmed and shook her head.

The students, murmuring, began to move to the ballroom as instructed, the first years following behind the ponies familiar with the school and looking fairly anxious. Fantasy started scanning the crowd, apparently looking for somepony as she started moving, too. Soon she spotted her, and started weaving through the crowd to reach… well, not reach her, but at last have her within sight.

Nox, meanwhile, was now attracting attention. She had her sunglasses off, revealing striking violet eyes that were completely focused, or so it appeared, on a book detailing different kinds of Grimm. However, what had everypony’s attention was the phoenix sitting comfortably in her lowered hood, smiling and singing at most of the ponies she made eye contact with.

Sunny smiled, walking to the ballroom along with the other first-years. Cinch the bitch or not, she was gonna enjoy her time here. Along the way, she noticed a pony with a phoenix. “Huh, since when were pets allowed? I would have brought my cat…” She wondered to herself. Of course, she was also getting looks. Partially for her choice of attire, and partially for her right wing, made completely out of metal. She took pride in the wing, a reminder of her past, present, and future. It was as much of a symbol to her as the mark on her flanks.

As she entered the ballroom, she made a beeline for the food, grabbing herself a snack, since she was hungry. She took a drink too, before some troublemaker would maybe try and spike the punch, or something. Though maybe that was just silly thinking, as that was kinda cliche and stupid for someone to do, especially on day one. So she shook those thoughts out of her head and just enjoyed the moment.

Pariah blinked as he was grabbed by a small mare, grunting as she started to drag him in the opposite direction, but offering no resistance. The claws on his left hand flexed and he nodded slowly. "I suppose... you are right. Doesn't make me want to smash his smug, egotistical face in any less. Just to leave a permanent scar..." he sighed and gave Diamond the finger before turning around and following Razor.

"Name's Pariah... who do I owe for saving me a trip to the mechanics, and the infirmary?" He smiled as he caught up with the mare, extending a metallic hand in greeting. After offering to shake her hand, he chuckled as the message came over the speakers. "I suppose we should head there... I doubt it would be good form to be late on the first day."

Whether she went with him or not, the stallion headed towards the main hall, taking a seat near the back of the hall. He was only half-listening to the announcements that Cinch was making, most of his attention on his right hand, the silvery metal pulled back so that he could get at the inner mechanisms. He clicked his tongue, looking up to see Inkwell take the stage, before returning his attention to the misbehaving robotic limb.

The Knight kept her composure the entire time through Razor's assault of her helmet, sighing and transforming her glaive into its rifle form, aiming it at Razor as she flew away, before realizing the one bullet she was about to shoot the uppity lowborn with was likely worth more than the uppity lowborn's entire family, and transformed the glaive back.

The stallion was horrified at what Razor had done, and rushed over to the Silver Knight, looking her up and down. "Lieutenant Mithral Wings! Are you okay? How bad did that cowardly lowborn dama-"

Lieutenant Mithral Wings shushed the stallion, taking off her helmet, revealing a rather short seafoam green mane and her light blue coloration. She smiled down at him, chuckling a bit. "Baron Diamond Mind, I'm perfectly fine, my armor is just a tad tarnished. Nothing serious." She looked at the other students with a strange, wistful smile. "I remember having such a fire when I was younger...but this place definitely beat that out of me." She set her glaive and helmet on the cart, taking out a notepad and a pen, writing something down and tearing it out. "You should probably run off to the assembly, Baron."

Diamond Mind nodded. "I'll speak to my aunt later, see if I can get them to believe that you can't make the return trip because of inclement weather long enough for you to polish your helm....and you should probably give that mare the fine, but make sure it's recommended to the school to seek actual punishment." And with that, he joined his guards in heading inside of the school.

Mithral turned to the other two knights. "Can I trust you two to get this to the storage area we had the school set up ahead of time?" "Yes ma'am." "Good, I have a fine to serve." She would carry her helmet in her left hand, while carrying the fine in her right hand. She would easily track down Razor and step between her and the school. "Miss...ah...You know what, that doesn't matter." She handed Razor the fine. "This is the fine for harassing a Silver Knight, I would recommend you take it up with the school since you did harassed me on the premises. I would request a duel for my honor, but that'd involve killing a student with a future ahead of them, and we don't want any of that. You have one day to repay the fine. Tear it in half and you'll do nothing but regret it." Mithral would then wait for Razor to take the fine before leaving. If Razor tried anything else, Mithral would easily throw her to the ground with all the skill and grace of a professional soldier and leave the fine with her anyways.

"If you're lucky, you might not have started a war, you delinquent shit. Hopefully this school beats some sense into you." Mithral chimed as she departed.

---

Diamond Mind looked around the main hall as he entered with both of his guards, and he almost immediately spotted Sunset, taking out a book and walking over to her. "I apologize about earlier. I was in a bit of a mood and watching you two completely bungle with the Dust sent me over the edge." He presented her a book, extending his hands which were cuffed together. Very noticiably, his hands and arms were covered in intricate scars. The moment Sunset took the book to read it, he'd basically vanish. The cover read Dust for Dummies and Other Inadequate Individuals.

Diamond would sit quietly through the whole speech, sighing and waiting for it to be over. When it was finished he would stand up and gesture to one of the silver knights. The knight would walk up and and remove his handcuffs, causing him to sigh in relief as he went into the ballroom. He was going to try to find a phone or something, but then a mare with a pheonix caught his eye, causing him to wander over and start reading a bit over her shoulder. "Is that newer edition of Compendium of Grimm?"

Razor Back didn't even spare the knight the time to look at her, she simply took the slip of paper, crumpled it up and stuffed it into one of the many pockets on her jacket without even breaking stride toward the school, Mithral's words not even reaching her properly; she could tell the knight had said something but the thestral had limited patience as it was and she didn't feel that the tin knights and the little bint they were leading around was worth the effort to acknowledge what they were saying.

"Scars aren't worth what they used to be." Razor said as she walked with Pariah behind the suited pegasus and the white student of Celestia. "Used to be all it took was the threat of ruining someone's pretty face and they'd fold like a cheap deck of cards, nowadays scars have become something to boast about." She shrugged, rolling back her left sleeve to show an arm covered in small nicks and scratches going up to her shoulder. "Hurt their pride though, that still has the same effect as usual. And that right there?" She said, nodding backwards to indicate the knight who had given her the now crumpled fine. "Pride well and truly hurt; people who retaliate and try and bully you but won't do anything about it are bothered by you and scared at the same time, and that's how I like things."

"Razor Back." Razor finally added as she walked with Pariah into the hall; the thestral was blatantly asleep before the speech was even halfway done, jerking awake again when people began to shuffle around and get out of their seats. "Huh, the windbag shut up now?" She asked dozily, throwing her rucksack back onto her shoulders.

Razor Back followed the crowd to the ballroom and immediately loaded up a plate with a frankly alarming amount of food and sat against a pillar, shoveling it into her mouth without even taking off her battered gloves. The mare acted like she hadn't seen food in weeks, refilling her plate at least twice more before finally seeming content, only to reach a hand into her rucksack and pull out a bottle of hard cider and a worn looking paperback book with faded silver writing naming the book as "In The Absence Of The Stars", a rather controversial book about an alternate history where thestrals had remained in the Princesses' favor.

Wild Card took his handkerchief back after it was held out for him and, after looking at the amount of soot that covered it, he tossed it into his hat. "You think I'm cool? Neat," Wild responded happily to Fantasy, "I hope I can keep ponies thinking that of me then. The cool Card." He said out loud, the last part mainly to himself. It was then that he heard the announcement informing the students to enter the main hall, and he was just about to follow the now hurrying unicorn mare as he heard something behind him, turning around to see the Silver Knight talking to a thestral.

After hearing what the Silver Knight had to say and seeing the paper, Wild took a note of the small thestral's face before heading off the the main hall to sit down and listen to the welcoming message from those running the academy. The topics were nice, teamwork and the like, along with a brief glimpse of Cinch seemingly singling out a few students before recovering from that little blunder.

Entering the ballroom later on, after the welcome speech had finished, the dark blue pegasus's first thought was to find that small thestral again. It was only a matter of seconds actually, as her stack of food and general look towards said food made it relatively simple to find her. "Um, Razor, was it?" Wild asked as he walked up to her, "I couldn't help overhearing the whole fiasco with that Silver Knight, and I was wondering if I could help in any way. If it's just a simple fine I'd be more than happy to help by-" It was at this time Wild noticed the phoenix sat comfortably in a mare's hood, and then he saw her eyes. "Um... well, I have to go now, but, do think about it. Again, more than happy to help." He said hurriedly, walking quickly over to the dark mare.

"Hey, couldn't help noticing the phoenix, but... I feel as if I've seen you before. It was... I can't remember how long ago but it was at the edge of the Hollow Shades forest, late evening. You saved me from a changeling attack back there while I was on my way to Filly Delphia from Manehatten. I know now not to take that road ever again." Wild chimed happily to Nox. "Name's Wild, and I thank you so much for helping me back then," he said, before noticing Diamond, "oh, and hello." Wild then gave a small wave to the stallion.

If any of the Silver Knights are looking in Viridian's direction when Mithral trasforms her glaive into a rifle and takes aim at the retreating Razor, they'd see that the prim-looking green mare with white mane has the butt end of her naginata resting on the ground and gripped in her right hand while the left has fished an ammunition drum visibly stamped with "HEAP" out of yet another of her pouches and has it poised to lock on to the concealed rifle up to the point that Mithral transforms her glaive back. Almost like magic, the can is stowed and the weapon is once again cradled at her side in a parade rest. Despite this sign of standing down, however, her eyes follow the departing Silver Knight, looking all the world like someone who's judging just how far she needs to lead a moving target. Seeing no apparent sign that the rich brat's thugs intended any further harm, she follows the rest of the class into the hall to listen to the speech. She appears to remain intensely focused on every word that's spoken on the stage, her eyes narrowed again and her ears pointed directly at the two speakers.

In the ballroom afterwards, the seemingly stoic mare is no less enthusiastic about her portions than Razor, piling her plate generously and devouring hungrily although with considerably greater delicacy than the thestral. All the while, her eyes are sweeping the room, lingering over a metal wing and two metal hands, although the direction that she ultimately ends up going in is towards Razor. When she reaches the other mare, she actually bows very slightly in her direction. "That was boldly done," she says in a very upper-crust Trottingham accent. "You tilt when others withdraw, and that in and of itself is more knightly than those shiny wanks in the tin suits that get called knights. I fear it may be unwise to do it again, however, as the guard you targeted was just as much a coward as a bully." She grimaces a bit. "The old saw is that when you strike at a king you must kill him, and I think it is much the same as the callous scrubs employed by the whole of that miserable Myago family. If you do that again, I recommend you leave them so broken that they cannot afterwards help themselves. The one you soiled would have shot you in the back; I'm still not certain why she chose not to, but it speaks much of the miserable curs that status has made them."

She extends a hand clad in a heavy leather gauntlet to Razor. "Viridian Rain, a pleasure to meet you."

Sunset growled and crumpled up the pamphlet Diamond gave her and let it fall to the ground. She moved with the crowd to the ballroom, not intending to seek out Diamond Mind, but if she ran into him...

---

Abacus approached Sunny at the punch bowl, scowling. "Miss Sunshine..." she said in a low voice. "Are you aware of how incredibly inappropriate your attire is? It's disgraceful, embarrassing to the school and I don't know what made you think it was acceptable!" Cinch put a hand on her chest and took a deep breath. "Fortunately, the school has a uniform requirement, and we will be giving you all your uniforms tomorrow after the new students' initiation. They're... unfortunately lacking, but at least they're not..." Cinch gave Sunny a brief lookover, contempt and disgust all over her face. "Well, at least they don't make the students look like they came from a brothel." With that, Cinch left Sunny to go scold other students for their misdemeanors.

---

Nox pretty much pretended to ignore everypony else in favor of her book (although she was reading it). She simply let Pyra do all the socializing, very occasionally answering a question about her. That is, until one pony asked a question that actually caught her attention.

"Is that the newer edition of Compendium of Grimm?" Diamond asked.

Nox looked up from her book at Diamond, and answered, "Yes, it is. A pony was generous enough to purchase this and my other school supplies for me." The book had very little to tell her that she didn't already know, but all information about the Grimm was valued to her.

Pyra suddenly squawked, and Nox immediately halted; she had been about to bump into the food table. Pyra jumped out of her hood and onto the table, where she took a plate from the stack and started going around to get food to put on it.

Nox then remembered something from earlier, and she turned back to Diamond, her eyes narrowed. "Waitaminute... aren't you the pony who was surrounded by those Silver Knights earlier?" She had no idea of any of their confrontations, but she was familiar with the Myalo family, and their practices and reputation.

---

Fantasy quickly shuffled out of the way for Razor. And Viridian. And Sunset. Most of the other ponies she tried to assert herself a little bit and stand her ground until she was done putting food on her plate. Wasn't going well: a lot of the students were pushy and impatient, or just pushed her to assert dominance. Like wild fucking animals.

But the problems really started when Fantasy picked up some bacon.

"Um, what do you think you're doing?"

Fantasy turned around. The mare who'd spoken was a unicorn who had a pure white coat, a long, wavy, light blue mane, and deep golden eyes. She wore a golden chain necklace with a gold sun pendant, and she seemed to be puffing her chest out trying to make sure it glinted off the lights in the room. She was also scowling at Fantasy.

"Do you honestly intend to eat that taint?" The mare's voice was very soft and quiet, but the disdain was clear. "Are you really so perverse as to indulge in the diet of a meat-eating beast?"

Fantasy blinked veeeeeeeeeeeeeeery slowly.

"Little pony, please think about what you are doing. You are not a beastly, flesh-eating thestral. You are a beautiful unicorn, Celestia's favored pony! You were not meant to eat fle-"

Fantasy bit off a piece of bacon, chewing slowly and crunching as loudly as possible, looking the mare straight in the eye as she did so.

Her jaw dropped in shock. "You... y-you... filth!" she squeaked. "You shameless, sinful filth! Were you raised by batponies?"

Now Fantasy's jaw dropped. This only disgusted the mare further, since in Fantasy's shock that the mare would so casually use such a heinous slur, she'd forgotten that she hadn't swallowed the bite of bacon. The mare turned green and quickly walked away into the crowd. Fantasy, quickly realizing why the mare had backed off, blushed and snapped her mouth shut.

---

Nox's attention turned to the dark blue pegasus, and her eyes widened as he spoke. “Oh, you… recognize me.” Nox’s expression appeared blank for a second, then she blushed faintly and her ears folded a bit. “T-thank you. I’m sorry to say that I don’t recognize you. I tend to meet a lot of faces, typically only briefly.”

Sudden phoenix song interrupted the conversation. Nox looked at Pyra and saw that she'd prepared a plate of food for her. A lot of food.

"Oh, thank you." Nox said, giving her a grateful and loving smile. She picked up the plate, Pyra quickly climbing up her arm and resting near the pit of her elbow as she reached, and started eating. She... didn't seem to consider a utensil, but most of the food on her plate was finger food anyway. Pyra had clearly chosen some food for herself, too: a chicken leg, two Sno Balls, and plenty of macadamia nuts.

---

"Excuse me, young man!" Inkwell called to Pariah after almost everyone had moved to the ballroom. "You should get a move-on, before all the good food's taken!"

Sunshine was going to apologize for her rushed choice of attire, but given how busy Abitchus seemed to be, she just chose to say nothing, making a mental note to get some different clothes next time she went into town. Maybe stop by Frosty’s as well, to get her wing checked. Then she noticed a mare, more specifically one of two mares that exploded earlier, getting some bacon and a smile crossed her face. She walked right up beside the unicorn and picked up a strip of bacon. “Hey there.” She greeted Fantasy. “Good to meet someone who appreciates the taste of bacon.” She took a bite of the bacon strip and paused. “Hmm, a bit crunchier than I like, but still good. Oh right, where are my manners?” She held out a hand to Fantasy. “Hi, my name is Sunshine. Who might you be?”

Pariah didn't respond for a moment, still fiddling with his arm till a small click echoed in the now empty hall. "Oh... yes, of course. Just a piston slightly out of place. Was making my whole arm slow and janky. Fortunately Inks, I think I'll be able to rely on someone else to get me something to eat..." He stood up and rolled his shoulders, rolling the sleeves of his jacket up. "What about you? You got yourself some food?" He asked.

Once he has heard her answer, he made his way over to the ballroom, humming a quiet tune as he slipped into the room, taking in the sights, before worming his way into the crowd. Stopping at the table to pick up a piece of bacon, he continued to hum as he chewed, his ears twitched and he turned slowly, catching the back end of the white mare's tirade. He watched her move into the crowd, and he smirked, stopping by the table to load a plate with bacon before following her.

He waited till the crowd had thinned a bit, before approaching her and chewing more bacon. "Excuse me miss, I couldn't help but overhear your conversation earlier, and I would like to know what you-" he grunted as somepony bumped into his back, causing him to let go of the plate covered in bacon and sending it tumbling through the air, before slamming into her chest, covering her shirt in grease and bacon. "Oh... dear."

Razor simply locked her amber, slitted eyes on Wild Card while he spoke and sipped from her bottle. She didn't say anything to the stallion and simply allowed him to walk away when he seemed to have his interest piqued by the phoenix; Razor Back herself didn't spare the bird more than a glance to be sure it was what it appeared to be, she wouldn't have put it past some of the noble brats to have tried to mock up an exotic bird as a phoenix to give themselves some shred of importance.

"What'd you want?" Was Razor's only response when Viridian walked up to her, though the way she immediately launched into what she had to say made Razor blink as if she had been caught off guard. Whatever it was, she didn't attempt to cut her off again and let her finish talking.

"Eh, kill them and you get labelled the bad guy for bothering to remove some crap from a world full of it." Razor shrugged, taking a huge chunk out of a steak. "You make them look like they can't handle you and it hits them where it hurts; see you get in a battle with them and it's lose-lose, they'll arrest you if you win and gloat about their skills if you lose. But the pampered brats don't realise that themselves, so get them to soil their britches a bit and they can't step up to you, they make themselves look even weaker than losing a fight because they can't bring themselves to stand up and face you."

The way she spoke made it sound like she was intimately familiar with intimidation tactics and probably not through the most innocent of methods. "Razor Back." She said simply, briefly shaking Viridian's hand, Razor's battered leather grappling gloves were a stark contrast to her maintained leather gauntlets. She was following the unicorn who had bothered Fine Fantasy with her eyes, her ears picking up every word. "Feel like helping me scare a stuck up bitch?" She asked Viridian, with a sharp toothed grin and a frankly predatory glint in her eyes.

Viridian nods along to what Razor says, her expression the picture of attentive listening, much the same way it was during the speeches of Cinch and Inkwell. "I much preferred, during my own youth, to make a thorough study of basic methods of observation and logical deduction," she says when Razor is finished, smiling just a little as the thestral shakes her hand agreeably. "It allowed me to create in the minds of my less socially-apt peers an impression that I could read their minds, knew their deepest and most shameful secrets, and would share those secrets if they were to earn my displeasure. I had few friends, as a consequence, but also no enemies, at least none with the courage to risk that I might expose them and damage their social standing. It worked less well as my peers grew older and came to understand that close observation and logical deduction had limits, and that I had far less damaging knowledge than they'd once believed. By that time, the efficacy of very sharp and efficient cutting instruments at deterring violence had become readily apparent to me, and I had become very adept at demonstrating their full capabilities when invited." She inclines her head towards Razor. "Your methods sound like they make up in effectiveness and simplicity what they lack in showy sophistication." The smile broadens. "I like it."

She turns from Razor to follow the zealous mare more overtly, making no attempt to conceal the fact that she was watching her intently and with a disturbing degree of focus. "I'd be happy to help you scare a stuck-up bitch, Razor," she says with a grin. "I find that the ones with the most delicate sensibilities are by far the most hysterical and amusing when offended, and quite hilarious when scared out of what little wits they have." She gives Razor a bow. "What do you have in mind?"