Dreamy's next class had been Arts and Crafts, and unfortunately it was not as exciting as he had been lead to believe yesterday. The class wasn't give any sort of tools or resources to craft powerful objects. Instead, they were given a long, boring lecture about the science between weaving magic into objects. Dreamy knew full well that such information would be important for any future experiments or creations, but after the hype he had built up, listening to the process of creating a fire enchantment on a river rock was a lost less attention grabbing than actually putting the knowledge to use.

Dreamy was on his 3rd period class and still had not shared a class room with any of his roommates so far. It was unlikely that all three of them had chosen completely different schedules, but so far that seemed to be the case. When the bell rang for the next class, Dreamy rubbed his eyes and stretched his upper body, trying to reclaim some of the energy he had lost from sitting through the detailed explanation. Luckily his next class was Combat and Defense, just the sort of thing he needed to ignite his adrenaline.

And ignite it, it did, for this was the first class of the day that wasn't about quiet study and practice. The gymnasium was loud, specifically build for the coach's shouting voice to echo off the walls, amplifying the volume. He had the students lining up shoulder to shoulder as he marched up and down like a drill sergeant giving them a military strike mission.

"Today, you will be performing the Magic Missile spell!" he shouted, "It is a fairly simple combat spell that will serve to get you accustomed to using your magic in an offensive manner." He stopped his marching for a moment to discipline one unicorn who had been slouching in posture. He pulled a riding crop out from behind his back and smacked the foal on the head, making him yelp and grab his head in pain.

"Am I boring you, soldier!?" the coach demanded, "I must be boring you, because it looked like you weren't very interested in my class!" The whipped student quickly straightened their posture as the others stared at the outburst.

"That's more fucking like it!" The coach exclaimed before returning to their marching and continuing their lecture as if nothing had happened. "Any rookie can perform this spell. You simply charge up and release a concentrated burst of magical essence at your target! I have prepared a bulls eye for each of you. You will be graded based on accuracy, power, and time!" He used the crop to point to the far side of the gym, revealing brand new targets instead of the ones from the day before.

"Every missile you cast is worth 2 points. Every bulls eye you hit is worth 5 points. The amount of damage you inflict is worth 1 to 3 points depending on severity!" He went on, "Impact equals 1 point, scorch marks equals 2 points, and destruction of material equals 3 points!" He finished.

"Now everypony stand at least 10 hooves away from your target and start casting!" He ordered. The students quickly approached their targets and got to work on attempting to perform the spell as they had been instructed.

Dreamy kept his gaze focused on the target ahead of him. Between dream walking on his roommates, and levitating the book earlier, he was getting more accustomed to channeling his magic, but this would be the first time he used it for directly offensive means. As he felt his horn beginning to pulse with magic, he willed it forward and released a beam of energy.

Unfortunately the beam was faint and only traveled a couple feet before it fizzled out in mid air. He blinked in surprise, but then realized the spell had failed as he tried to use it again. Next to him there were students having better luck than him. He thought he recognized some of them as being colts who were practicing at orientation day; cheaters!

The next bolt he tried, he focused a higher concentration of magic. It was a little tiring, but the beam was able to stabalize itself half way to the target before it fizzled out again.

"How much magic is this gonna take?" Dreamy muttered as he tried to catch his breath before trying a third time. He channeled so much energy his knees felt weak before firing. The bolt managed to strike the target, but was off center, missing the bulls eye and striking near the edge due to his lack of aim.

"Darn it..!" He moaned, feeling too tired to shoot another...

By the time gym period was over, Dreamy was exhausted both physically and mentally. He immediately regretted not making it the last class on his schedule, because next he had to sit through History, which was already renowned for being a boring subject by default. He could barely pay attention as the teacher explained the history of how the Caribou had managed to bring peace and prosperity to Equestria with the aid of the Crystal Heart.

By the time the bell rang to signal the end of the day's lessons, Dreamy didn't even bother to wait around for his roommates to show up, he simply wanted to get some rest, and made his way to the dorm room, where he quickly set his supplies down by the bed and flopped into the mattress.

"Note to self, change Combat and Defense Class at earliest convenience." He muttered, closing his eyes and letting sleep take him.

End of Chapter 8

Author's Note

Sorry about the length, this chapter ended up a bit shorter than I had anticipated. Not really much I can do to fit into Dreamy's classes given its only the first day.

I would also like to say that I was considering changing the title of the last chapter insulting Nine Tails. But then I noticed I have some unknown stalker following me around the FoE community giving me a down vote with no explanation on all my comments. So I think I'll leave the chapter up, just in case...