Celestia's Academy for Protectors

Razor Back nodded. "Fine by me; you two focus on the generator and I'll see if I can get anyone out of these wrecked buildings, assuming that's good with you boss?" She asked; the way she addressed Fine Fantasy would hopefully be reassuring, for as gruff and independent as she clearly was there was no mockery or sarcasm in her addressing Fine Fantasy as the commander and being willing to take her orders.

Razor Back looked down a side road that fell between several houses. "Hey guys; does any of this seem odd to you?" She asked, pointing down the side road which was dark and rather dismal looking but otherwise seemed untouched. "No signs of life, no signs of destruction either; you'd think there'd be one or the other." She shrugged and nodded down it. "Should take us to the power sub-station anyway."



Docile Storm smiled and nodded reassuringly to Wild Card. "You are the Protectors in training here Mr Card, and you are the leader; it's important for you to get some practice at that, instead of some old has been holding your leash." He chuckled, checking the chambers of his revolvers to ensure it was fully locked and loaded. "Don't fret, I promise I won't get in the way." He smiled at the group, letting the Sirens express their desire to fly above the scene.

"Just be mindful of Nevermore's girls, we don't know exactly what kind of Grimm hit this place." He advised the Sirens before he produced a series of glass vials and handed them to Sunshine. "Ah, Mr Card, you presence please?" He asked it very calmly as he pointed through a hole in the wall to a throng of beowolves which were now snarling, having noticed someone still alive in the ruins.

"Scouting teams, please begin your duties; Mr Card's team and I shall handle these stragglers." Docile said, very calmly withdrawing his black revolver from the inside of his jacket.


As Sunshine turned to the rest of her team while Anja bounded off a blur flickered behind Nox; it lasted only a second, a flash of black and blue flitting between two of the cottages as it crossed the road so fast no detail could be made out.

As for Anja herself, there was the scent of several individuals on the air, as well as sadly a lot of blood and sweat pervading the once calm air of the village; a thestral was slumped over against the wall of the first cottage she came to, large gashes torn into his tunic and very clearly dead, his amber slitted eyes staring straight ahead at the opposite cottage without seeing it.

But there was something else under the scent of blood and sweat and farming manure; something unnatural, almost like a strong smell of chemicals. Certainly nothing that had any place in a small organic farming community.

Anja froze as she sighted the first body, lowering her head briefly in mourning, before she closed his eyes and lowered into a more peaceful position with a paw. She looked about as she came upon the new scent, that sent a shiver down her spine. She recognised the ingredients, but what it could used to do... she knew not. She didn't wait for the rest of her team, instead moving to scratch out a quick message.

"Caught something strange om the wind, have moved to investigate. Should not take too long. Will meet at the airship."

With her message done, she nodded to herself, before turning, and hurrying off in the direction of the scent, before it faded anymore.

Wild Card gave a nod to the professor, the confirmation at least clearing up his confusion but at the same time only fueling his nervousness. This was the first time he ever had to lead, and this made the pegasus quite frightened of the possibility of failure as a first impression, which was not entirely a bad thing for him. Wild took the chance to view this as a way to prove himself to his team that he was a confident leader to be respected. With that view in mind, he smiled and went about his duties.

Then he was called by Professor Storm, and looked over to where he was pointing. "Oh dear. Snarling isn't good, is it? They do that when they see a threat... or food... or both? Either way," Wild slowly flew up to the rest of his team and pointed towards the beowolves, "girls, we've got our first targets. Beowolves." He then looked between them and their weaponry, thinking for a moment. "Alright, Sonata, you see where they're looking? Fly in front of them and keep them at bay. Adagio, you head behind them and also stop any from escaping. Aria, come with me and the professor and we'll hit them in the side. Right? Let's do this quickly, when Aria and I reach the professor you two get into position and we'll all smash into them." Wild explained, flying back to Docile and landing next to him, readying his weapons and smiling. "Should be planned out, sir. I think it'll go quite well, hopefully. Let's kill us some Grimm."

Viridian blinks. "Who focus on the generator? I thought I just got done explaining that I'm not a mechanic. I'm a..." She shakes her head. "Never mind." She gives Razor a very slight mocking smile and a crisp salute. "Yes ma'am, almost-huntress Viridian Rain at your service, ma'am." She drops the lighthearted moment immediately when Razor points out the strangely darkened and untouched alley and she looks thoughtfully at it for a moment before she looks to Fantasy. "I think Razor is right, Fine. It's damned curious and I think that I'd better keep an eye on it while covering Sunset--and the rest of you of course--from my shooting position." She looks at the various rooftops and points out several high points with a wide sweep of visibility. "I'll be shifting between them as needed, I believe."

“Sounds good.” Fantasy said to Razor. Looking down the undamaged path, she muttered, “I dunno. Seems logical to me that something might be missed in all the chaos.”

“Yeah, like a Sun Bomb might forget to incinerate a random bakery.” Sunset retorted, hand on her hip.

Fantasy rolled her eyes, but did see her point. “I’d feel more comfortable covering Sunset from a close range. It may be because I read a lot of crap, but I feel like the more important places would… more frequently have something go wrong.” she told Viridian.


“Oh. I forgot about Nevermores.” Adagio said, deflating a bit.

“What’s a Nevermore?” Sonata asked.

“The birds, you idiot!” Aria snapped, smacking her on the head.

“Ow!” Sonata swatted back at Aria. “Wait, which birds?” Thwap! “Ow!”

“Enough!” Adagio snapped. Then to Wild, “Yeah, I don’t think that’s going to work. None of us are herders nor do we have the tools to herd. We have weapons, not shepard’s sticks.”

The sirens flew off and began their attack: Adagio whipped bolts of fire and lightning from high above the beowolves, next to Aria who simply shot at them. Sonata was a little more creative and risk-taking by diving into the horde and taking up individual beowolves (by her bare hands after her spear snapped in two) then dropping them, or throwing them, from great heights.

“Hey Sonata!” Aria shouted to her, “Try throwing the beowolves away from the town!”

“Oh! Okay!” Sonata yelled back, holding a thrashing beowolf by its neck. She turned around and threw it in a high arc into the wilds.


“L’oeil, wait!” Nox ran after her, sprinting at remarkable speed for a pony but still quickly falling behind the dire wolf. “You can’t just go running around a warzone! Especially when you don’t even know what's in it!”

“I’m also quite talented with Light Magic.” Shining told Sunny. “Perhaps we could work together to illuminate the town?”

Sunny took the vials and put a small ball of light in each, before handing them off to each team that had yet to leave. “Try not to shake them too much or expose them to dark magic. They’ll last about two hours. Maybe less. The light around here isn’t that good.” She then turned back to Shining. “That sounds good. Let’s get going.” She glanced briefly at her other teammates. “I guess we’re splitting into pairs then…”

As the direwolf followed the scent is suddenly went from faint and so strong it practically made the eyes water; odds are one no longer needed enhanced senses to pick up the foul stench pervading the senses, practically able to be tasted on the air.

No sooner had the smells intensified than a loud, high pitched cackle tore through the air. Not a gloat, not cruel, not even amused... it sounded simply deranged, the laughter of a creature that knew little else.

The wall of the nearest building, a storage building for farm materials, exploded outward in a blast of shattered bricks and dust. An ursa charged from the debris, snarling and bucking in anger at being ridden clearly unwillingly by the zebra on it's back, bottles and vials strapped to her clinking against each other as the ursa put up a tremendous fight against the lasso she had wrapped around it's jaw and was riding it with.

The zebra's pink eyes were alive with glee and manic energy, practically glowing above her wide, unnatural grin as she was thrown here and there; her mane was pulled back into at least a dozen dreadlocks, each reaching down her back and all with a long, differently coloured neon streak standing out against the black, a psychedelic view as her mane whipped around with the bucking Ursa and made an almost dizzying sight.

From the hole she had made, a stallion emerged; his appearance was a sharp contrast to his companion as he lacked a mane entirely and his slacks were the only attire he wore, which was as charcoal black as his chiselled, powerful form. The stallion noticed Anya instantly once he looked away from the manic zebra and, instantly, his eyes glowed a burning, violent orange and he took a combative stance.

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The beowolves were putting up a fight against the team on the wall, as though they didn't seem particularly smart or tough they came in heavy waves as knocked back members quickly recovered to rejoin the fray until they were finally taken down completely.

"I quite agree Mr Card." Docile agreed quite calmly as he spun his revolver to the chamber containing Ice Dust rounds, trying to keep the Beowolves at a sluggish pace by freezing their limbs to the ground. "At your command Mr Card." He said, neatly sending an explosive round into a crowd gathering before Sonata to scatter them, his revolver never seeming to need to reload.

-----------------

Even over the din of the beowolves at the walls, the chaos going on where Anja had tracked the scent was audible. "What was that?!" Razor Back demanded when she heard the first crash, looking around wildly, clearly expecting an ambush but finding nothing. "Uggggh... hey boss, can we get a move on with that generator? I think we could do with the defenses back up, like, right bloody now!" She said, getting louder as they all heard the crazed laughter echoing through the air.

While Razor was glancing around for an ambush and shouting at Fantasy for orders, something shifted at one of the high spots Viridian pointed out; a shifting of the air quite separate from the chaos around them and the occasional gusts of wind, a ripple as though of heat. Or, for those who had more know how, the sign of a cloaking device.

No sooner had Razor demanded answers of Fine Fantasy than a new problem presented itself; a smaller beowolf emerged from around the end of the alleyway and charged, it's red eyes glinting as it bore down upon them. Razor Back quickly stepped forward and, with surprising grace for her rough look, spun on her heel and unsheathed her sword in one motion.

"I thought the wall team was keeping these things out?!" She snapped before the beowolves' head had even hit the floor.

------------------------------

As Sunshine and Shining Light began to illuminate the area around them it was clear just how fortunate they had been to have so much of the wall left standing at all; large, deep gashes were torn into the concrete and steel structures and yet only very few holes had been made that could allow admission, the main one of which the professor and Wild Card's team had on lockdown.

The beowolves were still clambering over the rubble outside the walls in an attempt to reach the defenders, but were having a hard time dealing with the barrage of offense being dealt to them.

Soon however they had a different problem than the holes; over the wall entirely came a long, snarling Yin-Fang came slithering, the great twin headed serpent bearing it's teeth and quickly lunging for the source of the light and bearing it's fangs down upon Sunshine, it's second, white coloured head curling around, forming a horseshoe shape as each head picked a target and went for the kill.

"I think there might be just a little more going on here than we thought," Viridian says to Razor with a rather weird degree of calm given that there was a beowolf bearing down on them a mere moment ago. "Someone's using a visual cloak to observe the building from one of the vantage points I indicated, but they're not using their invisibility to eliminate targets of opportunity. Furthermore..." She narrows her eyes and cants her ears. "...I think I hear someone... cackling from the direction of that impact. Manically." She twists the part of her melee weapon that activates its transformation from naginata to long rifle, pulling back to open the chamber the moment it appears as the rest of the gun finishes making the transition. "Never met a grimm with enough soul or mind to cackle, much less with the overtones of a maniac. One must have a mind to lose it. Speaking of, my rather finely-developed mind tells me that it's not wise to leave a mysterious presence behind you when you're in combat, especially when you have no idea as to their intent." She uses a fingertip to rotate the cartridge that's in the chamber until faint glimmering lines of dust runescription are visible. She looks at the lines for a moment, tracing them along carefully, before putting a fingertip down and smearing one of the lines so it bends down and touches another, leaving the other part of the line protruding into thin air. "I'm sure they'll understand the paranoid hypercaution." In a single motion, she raises the rifle to her shoulder, closes the chamber on the altered cartridge, and pulls the trigger as soon as it's raised in the rough direction that she saw the cloaking distortion. The round is a tracer and even with fairly high velocity, it's in the air long enough for the trail to visibly begin to wobble as it approaches the spot where the cloaking was and then, short of the target, it bursts in midair and the forward velocity showers the area with burning fragments and a brief cone of blinding fire. Without looking for the result of her short, Viridian levers the spent cartridge out, catches it in midair, and looks to Razor although her eyes also occasionally flick in the direction of Fine Fantasy. "So, screw the generator and see what that ghastly noise is, or should we collapse on the generator to get it working before moving on to help get a handle on what's going on around here."

"But between your whip and Sonata's spear that's... and she's gone." Wild Card protested, but then threw his arms up in defeat as Adagio flew back and all his team mates just piled into the mass of Grimm to happily slay them. "Sure, tactics, who needs them, just fly on in and throw the beasts around with your hands. Why do you even have weapons if you can just suplex the damn Grimm?" The pegasus comments mostly to himself and sighs, shaking his head as he looks upon the rest of his team. "I can already tell these are going to be difficult years..." He added, turning to the professor as he fires the ice blast.

"Sir, while those three have the main brunt of the Grimm on them, I think you and I should focus more on any Grimm that stray from the pack or decide that one of the smaller holes in the wall is a more intelligent option. Though I think it best if you aid the rest of my team every now and then if they look like they need it given, well, what you just did to the big mass of Grimm right then." Wild suggested, flying into the sky and then patrolling around the smaller holes in the wall. If he saw any beowolf that was isolated, he'd hurtle down at it with both his blades and fell it with a strike or two before returning to the sky and continuing on his patrol.

“L’oeil!” Nox shouted again, “Damn it, L’oeil!” She nearly tripped over her own hooves as the air suddenly turned sour, throwing her into a surprise coughing fit, and she probably did fall over if she had to stop herself from running straight into Anja. Good heavens, what is that?!

Then the cackling started. At once Nox’s stomach turned cold and her heart burned, and her head whipped around searching for the source of the noise. A foolish endeavor, really, because Ipecac, not being one for subtlety, quickly made her location known via literally exploding onto the scene.

She rode on an Ursa- of course she did -with glowing vials of Dust hanging all around her body- of course they were -and her mane whipping wildly about in a whirl of colors- they would’ve been stunning to look at on another pony -and her eyes and her toothy, manic grin betraying her insanity. Her partner in crime, a stallion of such stark contrast to her that Nox could only wonder why, emerged from the wreckage soon after, and took a combative stance the moment he laid eyes on L’oeil.

“Are you going to listen to me now?” Nox asked the wolf, not taking her eyes off the zebra for a moment.

---

“Uh-” Fantasy said dumbly.

“Whoever’s over there probably has the maniac handled.” Sunset interjected, jabbing a thumb in the direction of the cackling. “Meanwhile, there is nopony at the generator.”

It took Fantasy a few seconds to collect her thoughts. “W-well, I think that- we should probably- uh, well, the generator might not… u-uh…”

“Today would be nice.”

“You’re not helping!” Fantasy grabbed her head and shouted at the sky. “Okay!” she said, collecting herself. “Me and Sunset are gonna go to the generators like we originally planned-”

“Implying you had a plan.”

“-cuntbasket, and you-” Pointing to Viridian. “-and… uh… thestral-I-don’t-remember-your-name, you can go check out the commotion, or join us, or… see where else needs help.”

---

Shining Light screamed in mortal terror as she witnessed the Ying Fang emerge from over the ruin’s walls, like some horrible Titan beast escaping from the darkest bowels of Tartarus.

The monster made a b-line for her and Sunshine, Shining’s terror surely drawing it to them like a shark to blood. The one black head reared back, maw open impossibly, grotesquely wide, to strike Sunshine with its fangs, to burn her from the inside out with its venom. The white one slithered over to her impossibly and opened its own maw to do the same to her.

Both heads lunged forward in the blink of an eye that paradoxically seemed to last a century. Shining, wishing she’d bought a gun, dove out of the way, the head’s jaw bumping her hoof.

Sunny looked up at the giant fuckoff snake as it seemed to think it could make an easy snack out of her and Shining. Then she looked to the side as Shining went into full Brown Alert. Either she had a phobia of snakes or she just wasn’t cut out for this job. Sunny’s wings twitched, then extended, and a glowing yellow dome of hardlight formed around her. As the Yin-Fang tried to strike her, it just bounced off the shield. After the strike, she dispelled the shield, but took the light and condensed it into a high-energy orb. “Waste not.” She then shot the orb right at where the two heads split, where it would release all that energy in an explosion of light.

There were many things that Anja had been expecting to burst through the wall. A deranged zebra riding an ursa and another, mysterious stallion were not that. Her nose twisted and she snarled in anger. Glancing at the unicorn who had followed her, she let a growl rumble free of her throat.

Of course that one had followed her. That one was always interfering. Considering transforming back, she shook it off, needing strength and speed more than partly illusions in this battle.

The zebra on the Ursa practically glowed at the sight of the unicorn, her streaked dreadlocks even seeming to light up akin to unicorn horns as she clapped her hands together with childish glee, utterly ignoring the Ursa's attempts to buck her off and dislodge the reigns she had forcefully wrapped around it's muzzle, not seeming to even notice the hulking beast's efforts.

"Ooooh, the wolf and the little pony in the red hood... aww, but she's forgotten her little hood today..." The bizarre trilled in a strange, sing song voice, as though she were cooing a lullaby. "Oh but she does have things to hide doesn't she?" Her grin looked rather disturbing upside down, as they found out since she had decided for reasons best known to herself to hang upside down from the shoulders of the ursa now. "All those secrets buzzing around like fireflies around a lamp, buzz buzzy, telling of lies and tales to the night sky..."

The large, charcoal coloured stallion stepped forward. "Forgive us, but you are not a part of this... and foreign elements are to be destroyed." The stallion's hands let out a loud whoosh as the smell of smoke filled their noses, flames gathering in his hands while the veins under his skin lit up his arms and chest like a pattern of scars.

"Oooohohohoho, pretty lights to burn away your little lies..." Ipecac trilled again, seeming to address them both this time as she slinked down off of the Ursa, drawing her spear and embedding it into the Grimm's neck in one smooth motion without even turning around; the zebra gave a graceful, ballet like twirl in the disintegrating ashes before she plunged her spear directly into the ground at her feet. Immediately the grass and plants began to rot and die, a slow circle of decay spreading out from the point where the spear touched down.

The stallion stood there, clutching his handfuls of flames, obviously waiting for them to make the first move. The zebra was not so patient, pacing back and forth behind the stallion with another of her spears in her hand, occasionally making false movements as if to lunge at the two, grinning and giggling to herself all the while.

Even as they stood there, the circle of decay and dead plant life continued to spread outwards from where Ipecac's spear was buried in the ground.
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Razor Back gave the corpse of the Beowolf a kick just before it faded into nothing, sending the head spinning back down the alleyway as it faded to nothing. "You two head for the generator then and I'll go-" But where Razor intended to go they did not find out, as before she could speak the thestral jumped at Viridian pulling out her rifle and launching a shot at the rooftops; though the figure under the cloaking spell did not reveal themselves, a loud yell and a scattering of rooftiles as they scrambled out of the way confirmed their presence.

"...alright, gonna guess that's not a Grimm." Razor said. "I don't suppose you reckon it might be a survivor?" She asked Viridian, hearing the sounds of chaos from the battlements even now. "You two head to the generator then, I'll hang back and see if anyone else is skulking around. Viridian, you with me?" She offered the green unicorn with a grin, drawing her swords again.

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The Ying Fang let out a loud, echoing snarl as it was hit by the blast of light, the blast severing the creature in two as it impacted; for a moment the two heads thrashed and made desperate, spiteful snaps at the two mares again but soon the creature's wounds began to get to it and soon it faded from sight before their eyes, nothing left but one final hiss on the air like a death rattle.

As the Ying Fang faded from view, one of the smaller holes in the battlements became visible behind it; although they did their best, whoever had been observing them through the hole had left it too late to leave their place of observation and both Sunshine and Shining Light had a brief glimpse of a gas mask with bright red lenses before the figure ducked out of sight again.

A strange rumbling continued near the two despite the Ying Fang's death however; even though the bulk of the battle was happening outside of the village boundaries, the ground upon which they sat seemed to shake curiously, as though something large was stomping nearby around them and yet they were mostly alone.

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"Right you are Mr Card!" Docile Storm shouted back to Wild Card, sending a few freezing rounds into the mouth of a beowolf about to take a bite out of Adagio from behind, freezing it's jaw open in the process and leaving Wild Card to patrol the smaller holes in the battlements.

Here and there a Grimm was trying to press it's way through the smaller holes but, curiously, they didn't seem to be able to break down the battlements; indeed the only Grimm which seemed capable of entering the city at all were the Ying Fang which Sunshine and Shining Light had dispatched and a few very small and young beowolves who would be easily dispatched in only a few blows, the weakened walls keeping out the worst Grimm quite easily...

As Wild patrolled however, the figure who had been witnessed by Sunshine and Shining Light slipped in through one of the small holes; their outfit was hooded and almost entirely black, trying to blend into the night and sneak in unnoticed it seemed. The only sign of colour was the red, luminous lenses of their gas mask as they checked their flank, checking to see if anyone had spotted them.

The red lenses soon fell upon both Wild Card as well as the duo they had been observing through the wall. The figure stayed still for a moment, seeming almost surprised, before they turned on their heel and began to run full pelt into the village away from the students as though their life depended on it.

Wild Card continuously darted from the sky to the ground and back again, each trip ending up with one or two dead beowolves as they got through the wall. Luckily none of the larger Grimm managed to do so, except for the Yin Fang who was... cut in half. 'Here I was being all proud of us. Compared to that? Not so much anymore.' Wild thought to himself as he paused to watch the giant snake creature thrash and then fade as Grimm do. After watching the beast vanish, his focus went back to the stragglers he assigned himself to dispatch.

Then he noticed the strange figure, their red lenses eerily creepy given the all black appearance of their clothing, much like they were the eyes of a monster peering from the darkness in a foal's story. All the pegasus did was stare at him, somewhat confused, equally surprised, but as the figure started to run Wild turned to where his team was briefly, "Someone take my place!" he yelled, just before giving chase to the mysterious figure. "You there! Stop!" Wild shouted after them as he pursued.

"I'm confident that a survivor wouldn't be pausing under a cloak to watch us, and would be screaming at us, angry that I shot at them, begging me not to do it again." Viridian levers the next cartridge into the chamber. "Survivors tend to be rather obsessed with the idea of, you know, surviving. At any rate, I do believe I hear the sounds of fighting, Grimm dying, and the concentration of a buckload of crazy into a single point on the map." She points in the general direction of where she heard the explosions and the faint sounds of insane laughing. "I think that if we're going to find skulkers to thrash, we should go that-a-way. Then maybe follow the sounds of targets for my rifle here if the anthem of pure crazy doesn't pan out."

Nox glared coolly at Ipecac, and didn’t allow herself to express anything solemn duty. Her facade faltered when the zebra started throwing her gleeful accusations at both of them, and spared a glance at the dire wolf. She wasn’t surprised that L’oeil was hiding something- she already knew that -but rather that Ipecac had addressed her as anything more than a stranger. Did they know each other? Or was Ipecac being… Ipecac again?

Nox stood her ground, still as a statue, watching Brimstone and Ipecac with unwavering focus. Well, unwavering but partial, as she kept some focus on her peripheral vision and other senses.

---

“Right.” Sunset looked at Fantasy and nodded in the direction of the generator. “Let’s go!” And ran off.

Fantasy huffed, but ran after her.

---

Shame flooded Shining Light as she sat on the ground hyperventilating. What was that? What had happened? She had trained for this! She had specifically exposed herself to snakes, even the large ones, and slaughtered them! Even when their eyes had turned red from the malice of a Grimm, she had successfully killed them, and only needed an antidote three times!

But here, on the battlefield, where it truly mattered, she’d failed. Miserably. She’d seen it, it came for her- for them, and… if it hadn’t been for Sunshine…

She would have failed.

She did fail.

She should be dead right now.

She realized hot tears were streaming down her face. “I’m- gasp -I-I’m so- gasp -sorry…” she stammered to Sunny.

---

Sonata glanced back at the beowolf that Professor Storm had shot in the face. Teehee, now it was a dumb pupsicle. Sonata grinned and dropped the beowolf she was currently holding to grab the other one by its frozen, crystallized maw. She took it up into the air, spun with it, and then its head popped off before she could actually get the momentum she wanted for the throw. “Aw!” She pouted and tossed the disintegrating head back down into the horde before diving down for another beowolf.

None of the sirens heard Wild’s order. Either that, or they were ignoring him.

Sunny grinned as the snake met a swift and unforgiving end. It was satisfying to kill such a great beast in a live combat zone instead of a controlled environment. She turned to let Shining know the snake was dead, but found her sobbing at her feet. She sighed and patted her teammate’s head. “Come on, now’s not the time for crying. We can talk when we get back. Let’s get this place under control first. Now get up, it feels like something big is incoming.” While she was focused on the crying mare beside her, she didn’t miss the observer on the other side of the wall. “Something tells me that wasn’t an innocent bystander.”

Docile Storm turned around at Wild Card's shout; the figure in the red eyed gas mask turned back briefly, took in the two winged ponies, then glanced at Sunshine and Shining Light. Whatever had made them turn back, it wasn't enough to make them stop, as they continued full pelt down the street away from the roaring laughter of Ipecac echoing down the streets and instead towards the far north wall of the village, where seemingly the least damage had been done.

"Your teammates and I have things in hand Mr Card, please you and Misses Sunshine and Shining Light feel free to pursue!" Docile assured Wild, firing over his shoulder as he spoke to quite calmly obliterate a beowolf that had managed to sneak through and had been just about to sink it's claws into his back.

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"One two, secret keeping ponies I see oh yes I do." Ipecac grinned and finally charged properly, leaping over her spear still spreading decay and rot into the crowd; Anya was, of course, much faster than the zebra, dodged her spear lunge with ease and sank her teeth into the arm of the zebra, producing a shout of pain mingling with the deranged laughter which never completely stopped even as curiously bright blood began to leak from around the wolf's teeth, almost crayon red instead of a deep scarlet.

Immediately it was apparent something was wrong: the snarls of Anya were quickly replaced by whimpering as the wolf withdrew sharply, seemingly struggling to stay upright under her own power. The blood dripping from both her teeth and Ipecac's arm had a foul smell to it, a mix of copper and various nose burning chemicals which, no doubt, had not been pleasant to ingest.

For her part the zebra seemed thoroughly unconcerned with the gaping bite wound on her arm, simply backing up once Brimstone gave her a stern look.

"We do not wish to fight, not today." Brimstone's deep bass voice rumbled towards Nox. "Save this village and tend to your wounded." He nodded to Anya. "And we shall leave... our mission has already been completed." He seemed to direct that stern word towards Ipecac, who pouted a little at him but said nothing for a change. "If we meet again I will be forced to immolate you all... I pray we do not meet again." With that, Brimstone simply turned his back and began to walk away. Ipecac seemed annoyed at this but, after one last manic, gleeful giggle at Nox, she turned to follow her partner.

Next to Nox, Anya had her tongue out and seemed to be retching, trying to spit up whatever it was that had been contained in Ipecac's blood.

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Razor Back nodded to Viridian as they turned in the opposite direction of Fantasy and Sunset, towards the sounds of insane laughter that suddenly became slightly strangled by painful grunts. "Any chance someone did the work for us?" Razor asked, and had no sooner asked than the figure in black whom Sunshine and Wild Card had witnessed ran straight in front of the exit to the alleyway they were in, bolting down the street at full speed.

"I think that might be our cue." Razor grinned, unsheathing her swords eagerly.

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The building containing the generator was a two-floored house, with the wooden door hanging off it's frame and the area around the lock reduced to splinters from a particularly heavy blow. The interior of the building was very damp, with water up to the ankles coating the floor that seemed to be coming from a burst pipe upstairs, the whole place gave off a rather strong smell of oil.

The generator itself was located in the largest utility room at the back, a trio of backup power generators linked into the same system. The floor here had been kept clearer thanks to a large grate in the center of the floor.

For some reason, the generators had been manually turned off it seemed, for nothing was actually broken. The only problem keeping the town's defenses down was that someone had deactivated the backups at the source, an easy few switches to flick to turn them back on but still... there was no denying it was a sign of sabotage.

No sooner had they entered and taken this in than an ominous sound came from upstairs, a creaking of the ceiling far heavier than a pony would make and a low growling. However it was the next sound, a voice, which spelled just how urgently they were needed, and how lucky they had arrived in time.

"Someone, PLEASE! Help me!" The voice could not have belonged to anyone but a foal, and definitely came from upstairs, very close to the obvious noises of a Grimm lingering upstairs, able to tell prey was near.

Wild Card didn't react at all to the words of the Professor, most likely because all he had heard were the words "free to pursue" as he currently was doing just that. Luckily for him, there wasn't exactly any form of aerial resistance in the form of winged Grimm, at least for now, so that made the pursuit a little easier on the pegasus. However as he flew over the town chasing the masked figure, he did see other, smaller Grimm occasionally and disposed of them with a few swift strikes and shotgun blasts.

"Okay, some are getting through the wall somewhere. Got to see to that after this..." Wild mumbled to himself. The lines on his sword shifted in colour, ending up as an icy blue, before the pegasus dove down in front of a beowolf and rolled to his hooves right in front of it, stabbing it multiple times in the chest with the ice-dust infused weapon. As the ice locked the Grimm's arms, chest and head in place, Wild stabbed into it with his tonfa and pulled the trigger on the handle in one motion (almost making it seem like he simply just punched the creature), shattering the beowolf's torso. The exploded beowolf could be seen flying past the exit of the alleyway Razor and Viridian were in, followed by a somewhat distraught looking Wild Card. "Stop running! We're here to help!" he yelled, taking flight once more to continue the chase.

"That would be a crying shame, but I doubt it." Viridian's response to the sight of the figure in black sprinting was to look briefly at Razor, give her an affirmative nod, and break into a full run to get to the exit of the alley they were in. Once there, she doesn't hesitate but turns after the figure, almost banking as she does so as not to lose speed. She carries the long rifle with the butt cradled in the crook of an arm and the other hand grasping the barrel midway between chamber and muzzle. She tries to get a good look at the person they're pursuing, looking for the moment where a sudden halt and taking a knee would brace her weapon, a breath would be taken, and released, then taken and held, and she would start her work in earnest and no more of the rigged shells she'd used to splatter the mysterious cloaked watcher in hot metal fragments.

"L'Oeil!" Nox shouted too late. She jerked forward, but stayed where she was. Whatever was in Ipecac's blood was in L'Oeil now, and charging towards the psycho and her henchstallion wasn't going to do anything except put both of them in danger.

Nox scowled at Ipecac, then ran to Anja when they were gone. "Are you alright?" she asked with urgency, "Do we need to get you medical attention?"

---

Shining nodded, wiped the tears from her eyes... and the rest of her face, and pushed herself to her hooves. "I-I..." she stammered, "I'm ready to move."

---

Sunset made to move, but Fantasy grabbed her shoulder and barely managed to hold her back without being pulled over onto her face. "Wait." Fantasy turned her gaze up, as if looking through the floor (which she couldn't do), and her eyes... seemed to turn a bit brighter. A faint white glow, almost.

It only lasted a second, then Fantasy's eyes lost their little bit of brightness and she turned to Sunset. She nodded, and they rushed upstairs to confront the Grimm.

(Okay, nothing's moving.)

By the time everybody was back in their dorms, the last minutes of sunlight colored the west horizon lavender and gold and lit the undersides of distant clouds pink, while a waxing moon rose from the eastern horizon, as ever surrounded by its darkness and brilliant stars.

No one noticed, though; it had been a long day, and for some groups, it'd be a longer one still.

______________________________________________________________________________

Nox had called for a team meeting on the air ride back to the Academy, and now everypony was sitting in their bunks. Nox sat straight and professional, her gaze piercing despite a relaxed and only moderately stern expression, in the bottom bunk, which was somewhat difficult given her height and proportionate horn. Shining Light sat in the bottom bunk opposite her, head down and not meeting anypony's eyes, her own eyes staring at her hands but clearly not seeing them.

When they were all ready, Nox began. "Ms. L'Oeil, know that I do have sympathy for your suffering, even when I say this: what you did today was stupid. You charged into the middle of hostile territory and forewent and sabotaged the team's plan of action in favor of your own whims. We were supposed to be rescuing survivors, but instead I had to rescue you because you went off without telling your team anything and engaged battle with Equestria's most wanted terrorist.

"But now that we actually have the chance to talk, I'd like to know your side of this story. What happened?"

______________________________________________________________________________

"That was awesome!" Sonata punched the air. It wasn't a fist-pump: the gesture was too sharp and violent. "Did you see how I was throwing those wolf-Grimm?!"

"Yeah." Aria, from her top bunk, hung her head pretty much off the bed to deliver her smirk to Sonata. "Too bad you threw half of them into town."

Sonata leaned forward with her hands on her hips. "Nuh-uh! Not after you told me not to!"

"Which was, what, after 30 Grimm?"

"Seven, actually!" Sonata put her hand up to her muzzle. "I think." She shrugged. "Eh, they died when they landed, anyway."

"You both did well." Adagio complimented them, wearing a smirk of her own that could have been interpreted as pride or mocking. Given the nature of sisters, it was probably both. "For having absolutely no combat experience."

Wild Card held a cheerful smile as he listened to the rest of his team talk to one another while pondering about his bed. The main problem was that he'd never really slept on a mattress before, and for good reason given he had wings. "Well there were a few Grimm in the town, but given Sonata's throwing arc I doubt those ones were ones that she got her hands on. There was probably another breach in the wall somewhere. Still, you all did a very good job," he said as he turned to face the Sirens.

"In fact, if what Adagio says is true, and you're without combat experience, you did superbly. A shame about the weapons though. However, Adagio," Wild looked directly at the orange Siren, "you mentioned having weapons and not shepherd's sticks... you know that spears are historically very good at keeping things back, given their reach, and that whip of yours could be used to keep Grimm in place or move them about surely. I know it ended well either way, just wanted to say that as it felt like you weren't seeing the potential of what you have. Now, about this blasted bed... How in Equestria do they expect me to sleep on it?" Wild asked out loud, but mainly to himself as he expected his team weren't at all interested in helping him figure this out.

After a few moments of deep thought, the pegasus shook his head, "Bollocks to it. I'll sleep on my front... I'm tired, and they'd probably get angry at me for dragging a cloud in here."

Razor Back paced up and down her team's dorm room, the thestral practically bouncing off the walls with pent up adrenaline and energy that still had yet to be burned off even by the battle they had gone through mere hours ago in the farming village, at least a hundred Grimm and yet Razor's appetite for destruction did not seem to be remotely sated, if anything she appeared more restless than ever.

"Come on, please tell me everyone else loved that?!" Razor rounded on her team, feet almost leaving the ground as she flapped her wings. "I knew I made the right choice coming here, oh this is... this is gonna be fun."


---------------------

In the rooms the newsfeeds were reporting on the incident that had taken place at the farming village.

"-an estimated fourteen thousand bits of damage to property along with the costs of the destroyed produce is estimated from initial reports. At this time it is believed that while several farm working thestrals perished in the Grimm attack that critical staff and civillians were rescued by the timely arrival of a time of Defenders."

The newsreporter shuffled her papers as the news displayed a listing of the deceased and missing.

"In other news, Celestia's Academy for Protectors will host the annual inter-academy combat tournament this year. Preparations are expected to begin shortly at the academy, which will look to secure only it's second victory in the tournament since it's inception."

((This post is shorter than desired due to real life circumstances; please feel free to respond, there will be another GM post on Monday at latest regardless of posting status of players. Apologies and thank you.))

Fantasy decided not to voice her opinions. She didn't want to be labelled as a buzzkill. Instead, she just watched the names scroll by under the newsmare from her top bunk.

Rosebush, Raspberry Tart, Elderberry Tart, Blueberry Tart, Cattail, Lens Flare, Eyeball, Echo, Candy Apple...

She liked that they were giving out names.

"How exactly." Sunset, lying on her bottom bunk, was not so reserved. "Was that. Fun?"

---

Adagio rolled her eyes at Wild.