The Lements of the School in the Everfree

by ImAPonyXY

Rating: teen
Tags: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Spike, Other, Scootaloo, Adventure, Dark, Alternate Universe, Anthro, Original Character
Length: 21139

Did you ever hear of the castle-like school built within the forests of the Everfree? Where monsters rampage and heroes triumph, and all that is good and all that bad is blurred into one fine line of chaos and power.

This story was done in Collaboration with Korasoki1993

"Greatness is achieved through constant pressure and persistent motivation... but that is not all that can be achieved. For there are good and bad forces within the land of Equestria that wield both such mental powers to develop physical dominance over the weak... and the strong."

Follow the story of Cinder Ash as she grows up and learns to become strong and survive within this cruel world. But keep in mind, that no-one lives forever...

Published 2014-08-08 03:30:03 UTC
Last updated 2014-09-23 05:39:55 UTC

Prologue

The Letter

On the beautiful, sunny day of a perfect, cloudless, February did a young girl be spotted with her one and only friend. This girl’s name was Cinder Ash and she made her residence with her mama and papa in the large, towering and bustling city of Manehatten.

Cinder was not the ordinary teenage girl that many might expect her to be, she was only the age of 16, stood only at the height of 145cm tall and unlike most girls of her age, she was extremely unsocial and the amount of friends she did not possess was nearly laughable. In appearance she was regularly normal except for a few noticeable physical traits about that will be explained a little later on.

Her fur was dyed the colour of light yellow, much light Fluttershy’s, except Cinder’s was brighter and more vibrant, even if a little dull. Her mane was deemed the tint of gold and an occasional yellow stipe traced through it. Her mane was long but tied back into a ponytail so it wouldn’t dangle any further than past her nape. He facial features that stood out were her shining, amber eyes, a line a freckles starting from one cheek and ending at the other and her smile she was missing a tooth of the far right of her mouth.

It wasn’t because she looked different from the greys and browns that surrounded her that made her stand out, no, it was th fact that she possessed the ears and tail of a light grey wolf.

These features were not uncommon upon the growing population of Equestria but nor were they normal. These people of whom possessed certain physical traits of any chosen animal were not know as Unicorn, Earth Pony, or a Pegasi, they were known simply as Palphony.

Palphonies was one of the newer races that were only recently introduced to the populace of the world. Unlike most races, their appearance was not passed down through generations and genes, but instead nature chose randomly who would be burdened by such traits.

I say burdened because Palphonies were not respected among society, they were discriminated against and were accused of not being pure or worthy of the rights of normal people. They were accused of being attention seekers and were normally denied the basic rights of work or a primary education. Yet, there were people out there who didn’t care whether or not if they had an Elephant trunk or a Cat tail and still saw them as people who had emotions, feelings, rights, wants and needs. Unfortunately, there weren’t enough people like that in the world and the growing population of Palphonies meant that common folk might start seeing them as a threat... they were not.

However, such people that didn’t mind of the Palphonies were a beacon of light and hope in the eyes of those who suffered discrimination. One of these people was Cinder’s best and only friend, Lil’ Dew who was walking by her shy and timid friend.

“Beautiful day, isn’t it?” Lil’ Dew announced to break an awkward silence that had been lingering between the two of them for a while.

“Yeah... I guess.” Cinder replied quietly and she held her wolf tail between her fingers.

Lil’ Dew sighed, “It’s so rare that we get sunny days like this, don’t you think?”

Cinder looked up, “It’s been continuously sunny for over a month.”

Silence dripped between them once again as Lil’ Dew knew that this conversation was not gong to last for much longer. Instead, she was going to start up a new topic, one that she knew would make Cinder talk.

“So did you hand in your application?” she asked.

Cinder looked away from the sky and back to her friend. “Yeah,” she nodded.

“Great, me too. Do you think we’ll get in?”

“Not really... they prefer seventeen year olds... you know that.” Cinder sighed.

Lil’ Dew rolled her eyes. “I know that silly, but would you really hand in your application if you didn’t think you were going to get in?”

“Well I just want to be like the great Hunters, Shadow Wing and Silver Blaze... I heard that they were teaching at the school this year...”

Dew sighed and giggled slightly, “Yeah that’s my reason too. They’re so heroic and brave.”

Cinder smiled a little, “Well what do you think, we will get in?”

Lil’ Dew thought to herself for a little, pondering all the facts and how good her application was. “Well, I think that we will get in. As in, I’m awesome and you’re a determined gal.” she nudged Cinder’s shoulder and grinned. “C’mon Cinder, we’re amazing.”

Cinder eyed Dew weirdly and suspiciously, for her that wasn’t an adequate explanation. “Dew... I’m serious. What if we aren’t good enough?”

Lil’ Dew stopped in her tracks and faced Cinder, holding her shoulders. “Cinder, we are amazing, we have what most people don’t.”

“And what’s that?” the light yellow Palphony asked curiously.

“Well, you have determination and I have courage. We’re a perfect team.” Dew replied vigour.

“I doubt that’s enough.” Cinder rebutted.

Lil’ Dew looked down at Cinder’s wrists and eyes a pair of black bracers.

“What do your bracers do again?” she asked sternly.

Cinder looked down and sighed, she knew where this conversation was going.

“They form a shape of which I want... I’ve told you so may times already.”

“Exactly. You can do whatever you want with them.”

Cinder’s eyes widened a little in realisation and looked Dew in the eyes. “So...?”

“So...?” Dew rolled her eyes, “So it means that your weapon has the greatest potential, they can teach you anything with that.” Lil’ Dew smiled at her uncertain friend. “I may only have a simple bow, and it may not be anything fancy. But I know how to write a convincing report about myself.”

“I guess you’re right.” Cinder admitted and looked up at the clear blue sky, wondering what was in store for them. Would they be accepted into the academy of hunters, or would they have to remain normal people?

Never the less, all would be revealed when they finally get their letter within the next few weeks.

When the letters finally came in the mail, it was the 15th of February and both Cinder and Lil’ Dew were lying under a tree, on the grass in the middle of the local park.

Both girls firmly gripped their letters and eyed each other, they couldn’t conceal their excitement and so they were both bouncing in joy. Over the past few weeks, they had been thinking nothing but positive thoughts about this academy and how they would be able to personally meet their favourite heroes.

“Ready?” Lil’ Dew said, shaking with anticipation.

“Yeah!” Cinder replied excitedly and she tore the top off her letter.

Cinder gave Lil’ Dew a small smile of reassurance and pulled out her letter, instantly racing her eyes over the accepting, handwritten words of the letter.

Dear, Miss Cinder Ash.

You application for acceptance into Everfree Forest School of Exemplary Hunters has been successfully approved by the Headmaster Tinder Box and Deputy Principles Shadow Wing and Silver Blaze.

Congratulations on your acceptance into our prestigious academy, you will be to meet at you local train station on the 23th February at the following times.

Canterlot City: 9:00 am
Ponyville: 9:30 am
Manehatten: 10:30 am
Appleloosa: 11:00 am
Hoofinton: 12:00 pm
Los Pegasus: 1:00 pm
White-Tail Woods: 1:30 pm
Fillydelfia: 2:00 pm

You’re estimated time of arrival at our school will be at 3:00 pm.

For equipment you will be required to bring your own clothes, weapons and battle attire. You textbooks, stationary and food will be provided for you at every class. We hope you enjoy your journey and will greatly anticipate your arrival.

Yours Sincerely: Headmaster Tinder Box

Upon reading her acceptance she squealed in excitement like a little girl. “I got in... I got in!”

There was no reply from Lil’ Dew who was blankly staring at her letter with wide, shocked eyes as she was transfixed upon what it seemed to be one, simple sentence.

“What does yours say, Lil’ Dew?” Cinder questions, realising that the answer to follow may not be good.

Lil’ Dew gulped and faced her innocent friend with somewhat teary eyes. “I... didn’t get in...” she admitted.

“What...?” Cinder said in monotone, shocked at what she had just heard. She was hoping that it was a joke that Dew would often play; she really didn’t want to go to a school with no friends... she knew no one else.

“Please don’t make me repeat it....” Lil’ Dew begged a little and stood up, glancing over to the other end of the park.

“Oh... y-your serious....?” Cinder spoke sadly and she looked down.

There was no reply from Lil’ Dew, instead, she began to run. To where, Cinder didn’t know, but she assumed that it was to home.

“W-Wait!” Cinder called after her, “where are you going?”

Again, there was no reply, the only thing that she saw was her best and only friend running off in either frustration... or what it seemed, sadness, maybe even both.

Cinder wanted to run after her, but two things were stopping her. One of those things was the very fact that Cinder was not a fast runner and the other was that even if she caught up to Lil’ Dew, she would have no idea what to say or do. It was at this point that Cinder felt helpless and useless. She couldn’t help but let a wave of guilt flood over her, as she knew that it was she that got in, and not Dew.

That night, Cinder began to feel better about what had happened, but she still couldn’t help but feel guilty, even though she had been told constantly by her mama and papa that it wasn’t her fault.

At this point, she was lying in bed, pondering about her new school and fiddling around with her wrist weapons.

She was wearing a short, sleeveless, soft pink nightdress with a purple hemline and light blue lace. On her finger sat a black ring with a centred red ruby. Around her neck hung a simple, silver necklace with a locket concealing a picture of Shadow Wing and Silver Blaze.

On the side table next to her was a pair of black earrings and a small case of contact lenses.

It was late at night, past midnight in fact and yet she was still wide-awake. This was due to the fact of her being a Palphony. As well as receiving the burden of physical aspects of an animal, she also inherited the abilities of common animals and heightened senses. For instance, she had enhanced night visions, acute hearing and a heavily accurate sense of smell. All of which allowed it to be extremely hard to sleep.

Now, lets skip ahead a week or two to the day of Monday on February the 23rd. Cinder Ash was standing on Manehatten platform awaiting for the arrival of her train at the time of 10:20 am. Beside her stood her mama, and on the other side, stood her papa.

“I’m so proud of you, sweetie,” squealed her mama.

“I know you’ll do great. Just remember, we’ll support you as much as you can.” spoke her papa performing a large, goofy smile.

“Thanks, mama, thanks papa...” Cinder said dully and held her large suitcase in her hand ready to roll it towards the train when it would finally come.

“Are you nervous?” asked mama.

Cinder nodded slightly, but barely noticeable “A little.”

“You’ll be fine. I’m sure you’ll make plenty of friends.” her mama reassured.

“How do you know that? I’m a Palphony, no one likes me...”

“That’s not true sweetie, Lil’ Dew likes you... and I’m sure that there are plenty of other people eager to meet someone as unique as you.”

“That’s reassuring.” Cinder replied sarcastically.

“As I said, Cindy. You’ll be fine.” she repeated. “I know you will.” moving Cinder’s hair as she planted a small kiss upon her nervous daughter’s forehead.

CHEW!! CHEW!! Sounded the train as it slowly rolled into Manehatten station. Cinder eyed it as the breaks screeched and came to a stop. There was a carving on the front engine that read, ‘Everfree Forest School for Exemplary Hunters’.

Her body filled with excitement as she kissed her parents goodbye and slowly walked toward a carriage with her suitcase rolling behind her.

Author's Note

The first instalment to this story. Both me and Korasoki1993 hope you enjoyed it.

If you have any suggestions or see a mistake that I didn't pick up then please let me know and I'll fix it immediately.

Chapter One

Golden Kindness

Along the crowded aisle did Cinder walk, looking to both her left and right hoping that she would find a seat. It seemed so far that everywhere had been taken by all the bustling and chatting students of whom gave her weird looks and a not so gentle yank on her tail.

“Hey! It is real!” one student laughed and jerked again. “What a freak!” he insulted and pushed her away even though she had no intention on sticking around.

Cinder kept her eyes dashing around the room hoping to find somewhere where she could sit alone. She yet again held her tail in between her fingers so no one else would decide to tug.

As she walked, she could feel the eyes on her, it was normal for people to stare like they did, but it still didn’t make her feel any more comfortable.

“Freak!” one shouted and the rest laughed.

Cinder rolled her eyes in both disappointment and in shame. These were the annoyances that she was stuck with for years.

She continued along the aisle, soon reaching an available seat and without hesitation, she slid her suitcase underneath the chair and sat down. She looked to her side to see who she had placed herself with.

Next to her, was a purple dragon with green spike and emerald eyes. He wore blue jeans, a white, buttoned-up shirt and a black jacket. Next to him, was an orange Pegasus of which had a scuffled purple mane, emerald eyes and an ear piercing. She was wearing black shorts and a blue, T-shirt.

There was nothing particularly eye catching about these two future hunters, except for the fact that they paid her no attention. They didn’t shoot her hostile or disgusted looks, nor did they yank her ears or tail. No, instead they just sat and spoke to each other about whatever it was they were talking about.

Cinder sighed. Without Lil’ Dew, these next few years would be challenging, especially if she didn’t find any friends.

Behind her was a spectacular view of the ocean and distant off islands. She turned around to stare out the window and saw a group of whales diving out of the sea and splashing fabulously back into the water. If she looked hard enough, the salted water was just clear enough to see a school of fish swimming peacefully and gracefully through the currants.

“Hey!” ... “Get out of my seat!” demanded a strong voice from in front of her.

Cinder swapper her view from the ocean to the figure standing before her.

“But... I was here first?” she timidly replied.

The figure growled, “stupid Hybrid!”

Cinder winced upon hearing that.

Hybrid was another way of saying Palphony; it was actually the non-polite way. If you were meaning to insult a Palphony, you would call them a Hybrid.

Cinder looked the figure up and down, it was a male, and a stupid looking one at that. He was baggy jeans, a ruffled, unironed, tank top and black boots. He had a dark crimson colour of fur with blue eyes and a black mane.

“Did you now hear me? I said get up! You’re in my seat!” he order and took a hold of one of her ears.

“H-Hey!” Cinder tried to get the guy to let go of her, but he had a tight grip. “St-Stop that... you’re hurting me!’

She tried to dig her fingernails into he hand in hope that he would let go. Alas though, they were not sharp enough and her merely just laughed.

“C’mon, girly. I’ll let go if you stand up.” he yanked upwards, forced her to her feet and listened to her whimper slightly in pain. “You’re so pathetic.” ... “What’s a Hybrid like you even doing here?”

Cinder didn’t reply, she simply just looked nervously at her feet and rubbed her ear. She wanted to use her weapons on him, to show him that she wasn’t a just a pushover. Yet, the only thing that stopped her was that she was indeed, a pushover.

“Hey!” she heard another voice spoke angrily. It was a girl’s voice, and it too sounded strong, yet somewhat childish. “How dare you treat her like a piece of trash... you trash!”

She looked up to see that the orange Pegasus that was sitting beside her was holding the man by the scruff of his top and the dragon cracked his knuckles.

“She is trash... she’s a filthy Hybrid!” the man said defensively.

“They’re not Hybrids, they’re Palphonies and they have no choice over what they are.” she raised a fist.

Cinder couldn’t believe what she was seeing. It was hard to comprehend that two complete strangers would stand up for her. She couldn’t help but let a smile onto her face.

“Woah, woah, woah!” the man put his up in front of him, “you’re seriously defending her.”

Both the dragon and the Pegasus nodded and gritted their teeth.

Cinder could see a few drops of sweat break from his forehead and he gulped deeply. “Alright... she can have the damn seat back.” ... “I didn’t want it anyway.”

The Pegasus scowled and let go of the man, letting him get up and run off to his group of friends. She then turned to look at Cinder and smiled, holding her hand out.

“You alright?” she asked.

Cinder nodded, “yeah... I’m fine, I’ve had worse.” she admitted and shook the hand of the girl.

“Good to here. My name’s Scootaloo, but you can call me Scoots...” she then point to the dragon, “... and this is my friend, Spike.”

“My name’s Cinder... I don’t have any friends with me.”

Scoots smiled and sat her back down in the seat that she was so rudely ripped out of.

“That’s not true. You have us?” she explained and scuffled Cinder’s soft mane.

“Really? We’re friends. We’ve only just met?”

“Exactly. How do you think people become friends?”

“Oh, right.” she tilted her head down a little, embarrassed “I don’t have many friends...”

Scootaloo sat down in between Spike and Cinder and wrapped her arms around both of them. She then let out a sigh of relief.

“It’s okay, everyone has to start somewhere.” Scoots said optimistically.

“So you’re a wolf Palphony?” Spike chimed in. Although he could blatantly see what she was, it was a topic that interested him.

Cinder looked at the purple dragon and nodded. “ Yes.” She answered simply.

‘That’s cool.” he said, “Palphonies are great, they’re so unique and spectacular. You never know who’s going to be one or which one they’re going to be. Not to mention the heightened senses that you guys have. It’s as if you guys are more animal than pony.”

“...Right...” Cinder didn’t like where this was going, she hated having her traits pointed out. She never wanted to be Palphony, if she had the choice she would be a normal pony.

“Spike, you’re making her nervous.” Scoots butted in. “Lets talk about something else, hmm?”

Cinder looked around nervously and awkwardly, she knew that getting and keeping friends could be a challenging event, but she didn’t like being bombarded with questions unless it was something that she could talk about confidently.

“Umm... how about we talk about weapons?” Cinder suggested, showing them her gauntlets.

“Ohhh! What do they do?” Scootaloo ask intrigued, “Can I touch them?”

“Okay...” she allowed Scoots to touch, poke and fiddle with them, “They can form whatever shape I want.”

“So like a sword.”

“Yes.”

“Shield?”

“Yes.”

“Knives?”

She nodded.

“What about a hook, or sling?”

Cinder hesitated her response and thought to herself. “Maybe, but it would require a lot of effort to keep it a loose, flexible state.” she explained. “You see, I have to focus really hard to mould it into something, then it hardens straight away. If I was to keep it stringy and loose I would exert a lot of energy really quickly.” ... “I need a bit more training.”

Scootaloo and Spike were trapped in awe of her weapons.

“That’s so cool.” Spike marvelled. “Can you tell us more?”

“Umm, sure I guess so.” she took a deep breath, “There’s not much more to really say but I guess I could give you a demonstration or something.”

“Yes. That would be awesome!” Spike eagerly encouraged.

Cinder clicked her fingers and a small gemstone in the centre of the black, metal work began to glow a bright yellow. From there she straightened her fingers out and the metal soon followed, then she clenched her fist and the metal formed over her hand, creating a giant, metal, glove.

“Oh, wow! That’s really cool!” both Scootaloo and Spike admired together, their jaw dropping in awe.

“You can do so much with that.” Scoots said.

“Man, the teachers are gonna love you, Cinder.” Spike spoke.

Next, Scootaloo displayed her weapon. She had metal bracers and a shin pad.

“I’m a kick boxer.” she explained and showed them that the bracers and shin pads were made of an extremely strong magical fibre as she kicked a nearby pole and dented it without effort.

Cinder then looked at Spike. “What about you?” she asked curiously.

“Nothing too special. Not like yours or Scoots’” he pulled a sword and shield. “Shining Armor gave it to me as present for my birthday. He said that it was made from the best blacksmith in Canterlot.” he explained. “I would show you something but I don’t want to use them here.”

“I still don’t understand why you need a shield Spike. You have scales.” Scoots questioned.

“Because my scales aren’t hard enough to deflect a blade and even if they do, then I have a massive bruise.” He explained. “Also, I plan to use it to protect others, such as you,” points to Scootaloo, “I know how reckless you are.”

“Hmpt!” Scootaloo pouted and looked away from him, turning her attention back to Cinder. “Wanna get something to eat?”

“What?”... “Oh. Yeah.” Cinder wasn’t really paying attention, she was too busy looking at the people who were now pointing and laughing at her.

Scootaloo sighed. “Don’t pay them any attention.” she stood up and grabbed Cinder’s hand. “Now c’mon.”

Spike, Scootaloo and Cinder all walked along the aisles of many carriages and passed many bustling passengers until they reached the food car.

Once there, a barrage of students of who were hungry, rude and obnoxious greeted them as they obliviously walked through the doorway.

Spike lead the group by pushing through the crowd and made their way over to one of the many free tables along the windows of which faced the ocean.

They sat and glanced around, the crowded room made it difficult to see where the beginning of the lines for each food stand began or ended.

“I think we should wait until people start to clear out.” Spike suggested.

Scootaloo nodded, “smartest thing you’ve said all day.” she giggled.

Spike rolled his eyes and leant back in his seat, glaring out the window. “Beautiful day, isn’t it.” he changed the subject.

“Yeah... it is.” Cinder said, ending her streak of silence.

“Finally, she talks.” Scoots said, wrapping her hand around Cinder. “C’mon, say something more.”

Cinder looked down, she wasn’t a talker by nature. On the rare occasion when she did speak she only spoke for a short time. She strongly believed that she didn’t have anything to interesting to say and that no one wanted to listen to her.

“I’m sure you don’t want to listen to me. I’m not interesting.” she admitted.

“Oh well, if you don’t want to talk then I won’t make you.” she smiled comfortably, “but you are an interesting person ya know?”

“Really?” Cinder asked confusedly.

“Hell yeah!” she cheered, “You’re an interesting gal. As in, you’re a Palphony with the most amazing weapon.”

Cinder smiled pleasingly and looked up. “Thank you, Scootaloo.”

“No problem!” she gleamed, “Now.” she looked at the line, “I’m going to get us food before anyone else comes.”

“Okay...” Cinder replied and watched her walk off, continuing to sit down at the table and seat. Across from her was Spike who was sitting and fiddling around with his claws.

“So how old are you, Cinder?” he asked curiously and looking at her interested.

“I’m 16.” she replied simply.

“Wow really? You got accepted as a 16 year old?” he stared in disbelief, “I though the Headmaster preferred seventeen year olds. Like me and Scoots.”

“Well, I was surprised when I saw the acceptance letter... So I must have been good enough right?” she said uncertainly.

“I bet, but I’m still very impressed.” he smiled and scuffled her mane again, “And what did you say in your application anyway?”

Cinder looked at him suspiciously. “If you’re implying that I got in through unlawful terms then the answer is no.” she scolded.

“No, no, no. That’s not what I meant. I’m just curious. As in, you must have impressed them.”

“Oh. Well. I just told the truth and filled in the questions as best I could. I told them about my Palphony appearance, my weapon and me. Not really much else to tell, and I didn’t even believe that I would get in.”

Spike snuffed and grinned, “tell me about it. I don’t think anyone here expected to get in.”

He smiled softly at Cinder and looked out the window once more. His stomach growled at him and he rubbed. He was quite hungry and was hoping that Scootaloo would hurry up, but the line did look quite long.

“I knew that I would get in.” spoke a familiar sounding obnoxious voice and the person placed their firm, scarred hand that had somewhat of a tight grip.

Cinder turned around to see who it was and the hideous face of the bully from earlier who had ripped her from her seat greeted her.

“What do you want?” Spike said in a sort of flat, hostile tone and he clutched his hand into a fist.

“Well I want to apologise to this lovely and rather beautiful wolf.” he said and eyes her strongly.

“Go away... Please.” she begged and tilted her shoulder away in hopes that his grip would fall away. It did not. “And don’t call me a wolf.”

“Well that’s what you are, a wolf.” he rolled his eyes and pulled her closely. “Now gimme a kiss and I’ll go away.”

She tried to pull away but she wasn’t too strong. “Go away, asshole!”

He chuckled and pulled her closely, “nah.” he replied simply and leant in for a kiss.

Yet before he was able to, he was ripped away from Cinder by an angry purple dragon. “Don’t you dare lay a hand on her, creep!” he punched the bully hard in the face and held him by the scruff of his shirt.

The bully growled and went to punch back but Spike simply just caught his fist and crunched down upon the hand. Soon, the sounds of popping and crunching as well as the screams and yelps of pain that were let from the yielding stallion.

“AAAAARRRHHH!!! L-Let go...! I-I’m sorry... I’ll leave her alone now...! AAAARHHHH!”

Spike shot him a devious glare and pushed the stallion away, letting go of his hand and trying not to look at the damage he had caused. The bully scurried away and as he did, Spike tripped him with his tail and laughed.

“Now run, asshole.” Spike snarled as he went up to Cinder and placed a hand on her shoulder.

“You okay?” he asked softly.

“Yeah,” she nodded, “I’m fine. Thanks for dealing with him.”

Spike smiled, “No problem, that’s what friends are for.”

Over the next hour Scootaloo came back with food for the three of them and from there one until they reached the school they did nothing but eat and talk. They leant of Lil’ Dew and how she didn’t get in and Cinder leant of Scoots friends, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle as well as Spike’s carer, Twilight.

The Journey took a few hours and they arrived precisely on time at three o’clock in the afternoon.

Cinder glanced out the window to see the large, bared, metal gates that gained entry to the school. These gates were the only way in as the school was surrounded by a large, stonewall that stood at least twenty metres tall and towers dotted the top. The royal guard heavily guarded the platform that they arrived on; Cinder guessed that they were to protect the students from the creatures that lurked within the dark woods.

Cinder, Scootaloo, Spike and every other person that rode on the train walked from the platform, along the path, through the gate and finally into the school.

From there, everyone was directed in the main hall where the only thing that could be seen was a circular, stone stage with a podium in the centre of the room and rows of chairs surrounding it.

The three of them sat together, staring curious at the stage. When Cinder tried to ask what was going to happen, Scoots and Spike simply shrugged. They were seated at the front, just as all junior students were.

A tall figure approached the podium. He looked old and frail and used a can to get around. He had long grey hair, half-moon glasses and a glorious, grey beard. He wore a long, brown robe and black boots. He had a necklace around his neck and from the string hung a silver manticore figure that was inscribed with words that Cinder could not make out.

“Good afternoon.” he spoke. He had a strong and powerful voice, one that did not demand respect, but one that earned it. “I am Headmaster Tinder Box.” he greeted. “I welcome you all to my prestigious academy.”

There was a round of applause.

“I look around and I see a crowd full of belonging, of desire to prove yourselves and of worthy talent. To that, I say well done.” he gave a small smile. “But just because you impress me and the deputy principles by writing a letter to us does not mean you are a admirable addition to this school. With that said, tomorrow you are all to meet me, Hunter Blaze and Hunter Wing at the gate at the time of nine. From there I will organise you into teams of three and you will prove yourselves on a challenge that I will give you before you start.” he looked up, “Any questions?”

A student put their hand up.

“Yes?” Tinder asked, pointing at the student.

“What’s the challenge?”

The headmaster looked weirdly at the student, “As much of a legitimate question that is, I have to say that you weren’t listening properly. I said I will give you the challenge before you start.” he replied.

“But it is before we start.”

“You are right on that point, I will not argue. But still my answer is no. You will find out tomorrow morning at nine when I see all the new students.” ... “Any more questions?”

Another student put their hand up, this one was on the front row of seats too. “Where will we be sleeping, sir?”

“Now that is a very legitimate question.” he smiled, “And thank you for using you manners. You will be sleeping in the old main hall that has been set up a bed for each one of you. After tomorrow, you will be assigned dorm rooms.” ... “Anything else?”

No one put their hand up.

“Marvellous. Now if some seniors would like to come down to the stage. I would like you to put on a customary performance to show the juniors what they should aspire too.”

Two girls came down. One was blue and the other was pink. The blue one had long white robes and the same weapon as Scootaloo, while the pink one wore a basic hide overcoat and thin, leather armour. She wielded a small dagger that had been blunt for this occasion.

“Excellent.” the headmaster gleamed and stepped off the stage. “Now you know the rules, you are to stop fighting as soon as one yields.”

The two girls nodded and positioned themselves at opposite ends of the stage, stepping into their stances.

“Fight!”

The two of them charged each other, the blue girl keeping a defensive stance and was blocking every attack that the pink girl threw. As the pink girl tried for a lunging attack, it was simply dodged with a side flip and then counted by a spinning kick. Knocking the blue girl’s opponent to the floor, yet she still was not done.

With a simple roll, the pink girl got up and threw the knife at perfect precision towards her rival and it hit her directly in the chest. Luckily the blade was blunt and so she was only winded, but she was stunned. The pink girl ran towards her dazed opponent and kicked her into the air.

From there, she flapped her wings, flying higher than the blue girl and kicked her back down into the stage floor. She then softly flew back down with a smile planted on her face. She knew she had won.

The blue girl didn’t get up, she couldn’t fight any longer and a teacher came along to help her up. There were a few droplets of blood dripping from her mouth and nose, which stained the stone.

The headmaster took a moment for the girls to be seated again and the pink girl had a piece of cloth placed on her mouth. He took his place back behind the podium and spoke once more.

“So that match may have been quick and not all fights will end so fast. But that’s the level of ability I wish for new students to reach by the end of this year.”

Murmured chatter broke out between the crowd.

“But do not worry, the flips are only extra skills. You do not need to know that, only basic combat techniques.” ... “But please remember, you will be fighting demons, monsters and monstrosities, it will be rare that you will ever fight another person in open combat.”

He waited for the loud crowd to quiet down to an inaudible whisper before speaking again.

“But for now. You are all to head to bed. Juniors, you sleeping chamber will be opposite here. You are all dismissed.” he then turned and walked slowly away from the stage and out through a door. He was joined by the deputy principal Blaze and Wing.

Cinder looked at the blood on the stage and said in a blank, almost horrified tone. “That was brutal...”

“Yeah.” Scootaloo agreed.

“At least they weren’t us, eh?” Spike said hopefully.

“But we have to be like that by next year!” Scootaloo complained.

“Oh c’mon Scoots, they’re going to train us. We’ll be fine. I’m sure that those skills will come with ease with time.”

“I don’t know... I don’t think I’ll be good enough to continue after tomorrow...” Cinder said.

“What do you mean?” Scoots asked curiously.

“Well... I’m not strong and I couldn’t even handle that bully on the train by my self. I’m weak and a pushover. I don’t deserve to be a hunter.” she explained.

Spike and Scoots turned to look at each other and then back to Cinder. “Hey, you’ll be fine. Just focus on teamwork tomorrow and avoid combat at any cost. You’ll be fine, you don’t have to do it alone.” She explained. “Just... stay positive.”

Cinder nodded and smiled, as they stood up she hugged her, “Thank you, Scoots.”

She felt good to have friends while she was here, if Lil’ Dew couldn’t get in then she would have to settle with these kind souls that have shown her nothing but kindness.

They went over to the old hall just across from the main hall and were greeted by hundred of beds. Three of which they slept in for that night and dreamt of positive outcomes of the day to follow.

The following morning at the time of nine, every student of whom had arrived only yesterday lined up in rows of twenty along the patches of grass. The sky was cloudy but spots of the morning sun were able to seep through and only black crows could be seen. In front of the rows, facing the sixteen to seventeen year olds was the Headmaster and is deputies.

“Good morning, students.” he welcomed. “I hope you all had an appreciative night’s sleep.”

He was replied with only groans and yawns.

“Charming.” ... “Well I suppose you want to know your challenge for today and the teams that you are to be placed into?”

“Yes!” the crowd answered.

“Well then. The closest Palphony and closest Pegasus to you will be your teammates.”

This worked out perfectly for the trio. Spike was closest to Scootaloo, who was a Pegasus and also closest to Cinder who was a Palphony.

“So we’re together?” Spike asked.

“Yeah I guess. That’s exciting isn’t it.” Scoots said with glee.

Cinder nodded and bounced in joy. With both Spike and Scootaloo on her team, then she’s bound to pass.

“Now that you teammates have been chosen.” He said after a good few minutes of nothing but chatter and scuffling. “It’s time for your challenge,” he took a breath and looked at them all, “Within the forest there are ten glowing, white and yellow gem stones that you and your group must collect. You may only take one and yes, I am aware that there are not enough gems for each group.”

He let his words sink in, “now you will need to be vigilant for your enemies will not only be the dangerous beasts that lurk within the forest, but also each other.”

Author's Note

Just a quick brief of a chapter to tie a few things together. We hope you enjoyed this chapter and please, if you did not like then then tell us why in the comments bellow. It helps us out greatly.

Chapter Two

Warriors

In the mist of things, the starting of the assignment was shrouded in eager shouts or panicked murmers, but most of all, the greatest sound was the trampling of feet owned by students of who ran into the forest without hesitation. Hurrying with haste in order to prove themselves to a high destinction.

Among these student were the three mediocre, young hunters that placed themselve together to form a group now known as team 8. The students in this group consisted of the formable, scruffled, orange pegasus known only as Scootaloo. An honourable, green dragon of whom shared spikes instead of hair who went by the simple name of Spike. Last, but not least, was also a girl who owned the ears and tail of a grey, hunting wolf known as Cinder Ash. This was team 8, and their chances of success would be merely determined by how fabourable the woods were... and the meat on their bones.

"So what's our strategy?" asked Spike in a semi audible tone as he looked around for an alert of anyone else.

"Fight, survive... win," Scootaloo replied, "not much else to do."

Spike sighed and Cinder merely rolled her eyes.

"That isn't good enough." He retorted, "we need an actual plan."

Cinder nodded in agreement.

"Okay but what would we do, mister strategy guy." Scoots teased

"I'm not too sure." He admitted.

"How about go deeper into the forest, find a good place to rest and then make a plan. It'll be safer than doing it here where people might here us," she suggested.

Spike and Scootaloo thought about for a while. Since though, they had no other strategy and no other plan of action, they decided to fo with her suggestion and venture deeper in before making any plans.

And so, that's what they did, journey deeper and deeper in. They followed a slim, nearly unnoticeable, dirt path that seemlessly led to nowhere.

After time and time of walking down this seemlessly long and poinyless path, they found themselve arriving at a small, crumbling ruin of what once seemed to be a shrine of the Elements of Harmony. Weeds and vines grew through the cracks of the stone and the dirt littered the hard ground surrounding the statue.

"Well, here we are I guess. This should be good enough," Cinder stated and sat on the ground.

"Great, any ideas anyone?" Scootaloo asked, "We should start planning our strategy."

"Okay, any suggestions Scoot?" spike asked, he himself was clueless as to any strategies that might be of use.

"why are you asking me? I have no idea, Spike!"

Spike sighed and Cinder rolled her eyes.

"Well that's no help, Scoots," he turned to Cinder, "What about you, Cinder, you've been awefully quiet."

"Umm, I'm note too sore, Got maybe we should try the approach of stealth and attack people when they least expect it." She suggested. "But it may not be the best idea."

"That's actually not too bad!" Praised Spike.

"How do you think we should go about it though?" Scoots asked.

"We could hang out in the trees or move though the bushes then ambush a group when they come along and then we take their gem." she explained.

"That seems we a good idea for now but we should keep , moving so we don't get caught but any creatures." Spike suggested.

"Okay, that seems good, Let's go with that." Scoots added.

"Right then, let's go get us a gem!" Spike chimed encouragingly.

"YEAH!" shouted the other two.

On that not, team 8 scurried into their hiding positions. Scootaloo climbed into a nearby tall tree Where she would be clouded by the canopy of the leaves. Spike and Cinder rushed into the nearby, thick bushes to conceal themselves while still keeping close to the ground for quick movement.

The three of them moved secretly through the shrubery as they kept a lookout for anyone or anything that could harm them but still looking for a gem that they needed so desperately in order to continue their education at the school.

After a while of moving through both the trees and shrubery of the dense forest did they finally saw something of worth.

"What is that?" Scooteloo asked genuinely.

"I think that's what we're looting for!" praised Cinder as she let off a sigh of relief.

"Yeah, I think she's right!" Spike agreed as he pointed to what looked like a glowing gem.

"finally, we found it!"

Spike cautiously wandered out of his hiding spot to go quickly investigate and sure enough, it was what they were looking for. Spike leant over to pick it up, but little did he know that he was being watched, but he was being watched by cinder and Scoots, one, he was being watched by some else... someone dangerous.

A rustling could be hard, and spike turned around in order to see who, or what made the sound. As he turmed though, it was already too late as someone... no... something was jumping after him.

"SPIKE!" Scootaloo yelled as she noticed what was happening.

In the heat of the moment, he raised his shield and only moments later could they all her a loud 'CLANG'! Spike had blocked the attack, but what did he actually defend from? He peeked from behind his shield as he saw a grotesque and hideous form of what looked like dead pony. It had black, crispy flesh that peeled away from the bones and muscles, glowing, yellow eyes with slit pupils that reminded Spike of a snake. Its teeth were razor sharp and so it's clawed fingers that adhered the appearance of a cat.

"What the hell is that?!" yelled spike.

The dark figure just stared at Spike and dug its claws through the metal that lined the edges of his sheild.

"Kill it, Spike!"

Without hesitation, Spike did a horizontal Slash with his sword and dug the blade deep into the creature's neck... and in response, it let out a horrifying scream that made their blood curl and their ears shrivel. Then, there was nothing, no sound at all as its lifelessly body fell to the ground. There was no blood and after a while, there was no body at all as it all just faded away into the shadows and dust.

"What. The hell... just happened?" spoke Spike who was extremely confused and shocked.

Cinder and Scootaloo both hurried out of than hiding spot to join him.

"I don't know," sootaloo began lo say, "But we should prepare for more of them."

"But we don't even know what they are, how can we hope to beat them?!" Cinder stated with fear all to evident in her voice. "maybe we should just try to avoid them."

Scoots turned to Cinder and smiled supportingly and said, "we should try to stand our ground, or else we might get caught off guard." ... "If we face them now, then we can secure the area."

"That's the smartest thing you've said all day," chuckled spike, ''but it's a really good idea."

"Oh, hah hah!" scootaloo rolled her eyes. "Let's just do this already."

Scootaloo widened her stance and raised her arms on take on a defensive position. As did spike, except he raised his sword and positioned his Shield by his side, ready to raise it at any time. Cinder soon joined them as she flicked her fingers and straightened her had, causing her black, metal gauntlets to mold into the form of a blade of which she the raised in front of her small, delicate body for protection.

"You guys ready? I hear Some rustling," asked Scootaloo whose ear twitched and she stored before the bushes.

The Dragon and Palphony both nodded and braced themselves for a fight. One of which, Cinder did not want to be a part of.

The grotesque form of their flesh peeling appearance was enough to send shivers down her spine and make her knees Shake in horror... As a result of this, she began to panic and sweat.

"Guys, I really don't want to be here anymore...can we just go back into hiding?" she panicked.

"No we can't Cinder, and if you dont help us out then we won't pass," Scoots explained.

"Don't worry Cinder, if you're in trouble then just run to me, I'll protect you with my shield," Spike said, "Now get ready, here they come."

The three of them went silent and focused their eyes upon the darkness that lay out in front of them, and at that moment, charged out three dark figures of which attacked Spike before.

"Brace yourselves!" Yelled Spike and raised his shield as it collided with the slash of his enemy.

The other two monsters also swung, one at Cinder and the other at Scootaloo.

Scootaloo used her shin pads to kick the claws away, then she followed through with a roundhouse kick and pummeled her heel into the mouth of her attacker.

Unlike Scootaloo though, Cinder was still quite scared and instead of attacking she just simply dodged the slash and he breathing became heavier as the shadow monster continued to slash and hack away, trying to dig is razor sharp claws imto her feeble flesh. Spike on the otherhand was fighying valiantly, as he swunghis sword on multiple angles and areas as he cut through the rotting skin of the rebolting monster that stood before him. However, it was vigilant and wouldnt go down, no matter how many hits it received to the body. Blow after blow after blow after blow did Spike dig his bloody blade through in and through out the demonic monstrosity before him until he decided to swing higher and his sword sliced the cheek and neck in an upwards diagonal angle. It screamed out allowed at an ear piercing and blood curdling scream.

Now only Scootaloo and Cinder had to fight off their attackers. Kick, kick, kick, punch, spin and kick, did Scootaloo do to the monster in front of her.

"Fall, damn you!" she yelled as she spun around and kicked it again but no matter how many kicks of her magical-fibre shin and wrist pads it would not lose balance.

It slashed again and as Scoots tried to kick it away its claws slashed her ankle and caused drops of blood to drip.

"AAAARRRHHH!!! FUCK!" she cried when she felt the throbbing pain throughout her ankle.

In a burst of rage she jumped up and slammed her heel into its head and crushed the skull. Its lifeless body fell to the ground and in a matter of seconds it decomposed into dust and shadows.

She turned to face the last monster who was attacking Cinder, and she saw that Spike was helping her out. She wanted to help too but her ankle shot a dramatic pulse of pain through out her leg. At the moment she figured that Spike and Cinder had it under controlled, especially since the dark figure had a sword through it.

"Cinder, finisn it off!" Yelled Spike as he held the blade of the sword in the torsa of the enemy. "Slash it's neck!"

Cinder was hesitant, but she gathered up her courage and caught her breath, she had been doing nothing but leaping and dodging out of the way, until now. Now she had a chance to see how strong she actually was since it was caught on Spike's blade. The gem flashed on her gauntlets and she shaped themselves into a short, dagger like blade, now she was ready. She lunged forward and swung her arm, cutting the head clean off of the being. She smirked, her first kill was a decapitation.

"I did it!" she cheered.

"Good job, Cinder," he applauded, "nice kill, girl."

"Yeah... good job," Scootaloo winced but held a soft smile.

The wince caught their attention and Spike and Cinder turned to look at Scoots both with slightly concerned faces.

"Are you alright, Scoot?" Cinder asked, softly.

"Y-Yeah, it's just a scratch," she faked a smile and tried to nod reassuringly but the pain expressed on her face was all too apparent.

Spike sighed, "You're not alright."

"Yes I am, it just stings a little," she tried to reasure them again, but to no avail.

"Show us your ankle," demanded Spike.

"Why?" she looked at them sternly, but all she got were sterner looks back. "Alright, alright... I'll show you my ankle."

She rolled her eyes and slipped off her shin pad to expose her cut-up ankle, which was now unfortunately red and swollen.

"Holy shit!" Spike yelled, "that is not okay!"

"What do you mean, it's just a scratch," she said and then took a look at her ankle, only to see how much worse it had gotten, "oh my god... oh my god! I think it's infected!" She winced again and squeeled in pain.

"Alright Scootaloo, you're not walking on that, I'll carry you," Spike picked her up and put her up on his shoulder.

"Hey, Spike, put me down!"

"No Scoots, I'm not letting you walk on the foot and I'm not leaving you behind. We're finishing this together, as a team." ... "c'mon Cinder, lets get her out of here." He walked over to the glowing gem that he saw before and picked it up, handing it immediately to Cinder, "keep it safe."

"I will." she nodded but couldn't take her gaze off of Scootaloo's ankle.

'I hope she'll be alright," Cinder thought to herself. She didn't want this, she didn't want one of her new friends to be seriously injured and be forced to fail.

They began to leave the forest as all thry had to collect was a gem. Spike carried Scootaloo on his back and led the way for Cinder who was still trying to calm down from their encounter with those shadowy monsters.

"What were those things?" Cinder asked nervously and curiously as she once again held her tail between her fingers.

"No idea, but I'm glad we made it out alive." He admitted. "Now lets hurry up so we can get Scootaloo here some attention, no doubt that those 'things' had some sort of bacteria on them."

"Spike I'm fine, I can walk on my own," she winced again as she spoke.

"You are not alright, Scoots. Your ankle has swollen up so much in only a few minutes, that's not normal. So please, swallow that stubborn pride of yours and just accept my help."

The injured orange pegasus looked down, "sorry Spike... I trust you."

"It shouldn't be too much longer until we get out of here. I think I see the end of the path."

They continued along their path only to see the light of the natural sun to get closer and closer. The exit of their mission was nearly complete and they could pass the test set by the ones they were so eager so impress. As the ventured closer and closer to their successthey heard another rustling inthe bushes and trees.

Spike looked up at the canopy of leaves snd branches and saw a quick flash of a silhouetted person. He gulped and turned his head to look at Cinder.

"Cinder, I'm carrying Scootaloo, can you go see if anyone's following us?" the purple dragon commanded.

"U-Umm... okay, I can do that," she nodded and looked up too. She saw the canopy of branches and leaves as Spike did, and she also saw the flash of a silhouetted person. "Someone is there..." she said nervously.

"Curses!" He muttered under his breath, "Scootaloo, hold on, and Cinder, follow me closely." He broke into a run, holding onto Scootaloo tightly without harming her already swollen and cut-up ankle.

Cinder ran by his side, closely following him. She was looking around nervously because someone could pounce on them at any time and take them out. She gulped, and with Scootaloo taken out, their chances for survival were even slimmer if they did happen to be attacked.

"Spike," she said, "we need to be more stealthy."

"Why?"

"Because we can't keep running forever, they'll catch us eventually, and we won't be able to fight back."

"But they've already found us," ... "going into hiding won't help us at the moment."

"But what if they haven't found us," ... "and besides, hiding in a bush or tree will mean that we're not running or wasting energy."

"We don't have time to argue this, we have to do something and we can't take the risk of being caught out."

"What is that supposed to mean?!" She inquired.

"It means thay we can't waste time hiding and taking a detour, we need to get Scootaloo to safety so she can get help."

Cinder looked forward, he was right, but she didn't like being open like this when their were potentially dangerous people around. She gulped and then turned her gaze upwards. They were so close, yet the ever present danger of being attacked got closer and closer every moment they idled. She shook her head, "no, we're safe," she said to herself and tried to distract herself withthe thought of making it back and feeling the sunlight.

However, they weren't safe, as at the moment Cinder replaced her gaze a shadowy figure swung down from the tree and kicked Scootaloo straight off Spike's shoulder.

THUD!

The orange pegasus hit a tree and her attack held one hand onto a branch as she balanced herself to the side of the tree. It was a girl... no, it was a woman. She was not young, she was a fully grown Unicorn. She had purple eyes, bright yellow fur and a orange & red mane. She was wearing a red and white top with orange accents accompanied with tight, black shorts and black boots. In her hand was a long, wooden staff tipped with a glowing, red gem.

"Hello, kids," the woman let off a sinister grin.

Cinder gulped, and Spike took a step back.

"Sc-Scoot.... Scootaloo!!!" Spike yelled out in rage as he gripped his hands into a fist.

He then broke into a run so he could get her to a safer place, however, the moment he actually got anywhere close to her, the woman swung he staff and pushed the dragon back.

"Ah ah ahh!" She hopped down from the tree and stood up tall, towering Cinder and Spike, "lets play fair now shall we."

Two more people pounced down from the tree to join the woman by her side. One was a dragon-pony hybrid who had black scales, green eyes, and a purple mane and tail. The other was a snake type Palphony of whom had green fur, black, slittle pupils and bared razor-sharp fangs.

"Three against two, that hardly seems fair," Spike argued.

"Oh boo hoo, don't take me seriously," she smirked and pointed the tip of her staff at Spike, "now, who should we kill first?"

She pondered to herself then looked at them in astonishment. "Ahh, how rude of me, I beleive introductions are in order, don't you think?"

"You psychotic bitch!" Spike cursed.

"Oh well that wasn't very nice," she flicked the staff and tiny sparks flew over and popped in Spike's face. She giggled, "now, my name is Sunset," she pointed to herself then to the dragon hybrid next to him, "this is Fang... and this is Razor." She finished by finally pointing to the Palphony.

They all bowed, "we are last years top class graduates," .... "but now, we are your dismay!"

Spike growled and raised his shield, "Just try to fucking touch us!"

The unicorn woman glanced at her team and shrugged, "okay," she replied simply, and with an eager swing of her staff she generated a massive wave of fast moving arcane magic that knocked Spike off his feet and into a tree. The impact was so hard that the last thing Spike heard before he fell unconscious was the sound of his own scream of pain.

"Sp-Spike!" Cinder called out, but she dared not move from where she stood. She was scared and her knees were about to give way. She glanced up at their attackers, "Please.... leave me be... I just want to pass this test," she pleaded.

Sunset sighed, "whatever," she took a step back and turned to the Razor, "take her out will you, I feel bad harming a wolf."

Razor simply nodded, "yes, Sunset."

He looked at Cinder and stared her down, slowly approaching her, "I'll make this painless, but you were never meant for such a school, weakling!" And with on hard whack on the head, everything went black... and Cinder was conscious no more.

Author's Note

Not much to really say her, but I'm sorry if the writing style has changed a bit. I had written this chapter on my Tablet and so I had to change things up in order to much my typing speed.

Anyway, I hope you enjiyed it and as always, if there's any mistakes or suggestions you would like to point out, please do down in the comments below.

Chapter Three

A lot of Questions with Limited Answers

Cinder slowly opened her eyes to herself lying on a soft, white bed staring up at an equally white roof. She let out a groan and with the limited movement she could do without causing pain wasna simple scratch onnthe head.on her fingers she felt a rough, cloth-material and when she fianlly cam to her senses she realised that it was a bandage.

She immediately remembered what happened in the forest and the images of what befell her teammates. She gulped and panicked drops of sweat from through the skin of her forehead. What had happened to them? Where were they? And where was she? Were all questions that flashed in and out of her head. Her breathing hastened and her vision went blurry.

"Miss Ash, calm down," spoke a somewhat familiar voice that she could put her finger on, "it's alright. Just stay calm, you are safe." The voice placed a hand upon her should calmly and the touch of a friendly figure was enough to start easing her stress.

Cinder turned her head curiously and looked at who was beside her, and to her shock, she saw the Headmaster, Professor Tinder Box. Her face pulled one of complete shock and glee as she let out a small squeal in excitement. Although, she was still quite dazed and somewhat deliriously she couldn't entIrely take this seriously.

"Hello," he greeted calmly as she looked at him and gave her with a warm smile.

"Headmaster?" she inquired curiously, "why are you here?"

Tinder Box took a deep breath and looked out the window at the glorious Everfree Forest that sat just before their school, "I am here, Miss Ash, because it is my knowledge that you and your team were attacked by a group that does not belong to your trials or this school. Am I right?"

"You mean that Sunset woman and her team?" she asked curiously.

"Precisely," he replied, "now, I have to ask you a few questions so I can be sure of everything that happened. Is that alright?"

Cinder nodded.

"Excellent," ... "Now, first question, do you know who Sunset, Razor and Fang are, I'm assuming it's them, right?"

She looked up, trying to remember if they said anything about themselves that was of any importance. Then, something came to mind, "Wait, I remember that they said that they were the top graduating group last year,"

"Then I was was right, it was them," he sighed, "but do you know why they attacked you?"

Cinder shook her head, "no," she replied uncertainty.

"Well," the headmaster eyed her, "then I suppose we'll have to figure that out now shall we. But do not digress, we won't leave this out in the air, we will get to the bottom of this," he smiled warmly in order to comfort her, "in the meantime though, you will attend your classes normally and continue to participate in out school's assesments." ... "Now,"the old man stood up, "I need to get back to my duties," he began to walk off.

"Headmaster wait!" she called out, and he turned around, "can I ask you something?"

"You may ask me many things if you so desire," he simply replied.

"Did we pass?"

"You found the gem, so yes."

"But we didn't make it back, we weren't able to return with it, so how did you accept it?"

"Because the rules say that you don't have to return to the start with it, but that you must have it when we see you. We found you unconscious in the forest with the gem poking out of your pocket, therefore we found it on you and you were passed," he explained, "anything else?"

"Yes,"

"What is it?"

"One of them, I think it was Razor, said that I'm too weak to be part of this school, is that true?"

The headmaster paused and stared at her seriously, "it may be true or it may not be true. The reason you are at this school is that we believe you are either are strong or that you have the potential to be strong. You are at this school to learn, not to be. Always remember that."

"Okay....?" That statement wasn't very reasuring but at least she knew that she had the chance to prove Razor wrong, but now, there was another thing on her mind, a lingering thought, "can I ask you one last thing?"

"You may."

"Are they alright, are Spike and Scootaloo okay?"

"Spike's dragonic scales protected him from a majority of any serious impact damage so he is alright, however, Scootaloo is on heavy medication in order to treat her infected foot as soon as possible and she has quite a painful headache. But they are both awake and have passed the exam, above all though, they are alive," he explained and turned to leave the room for a final time, his foot steps echoing throughout the empty room as the old man left her sight.

After the headmaster left Cinder shut her eyes and lay her head on a fluffy pillow. Even after all that sleep that she had just woken up from she was still tired, and none of her acute, Palphony senses would keep her from her much needed rest. And so, after a few ticks of the clock, her heavy eyes sealed shut and she slowly drifted off into the dreamworld. It wasn't until a number of hours later that she eventually woke up from her deep sleep to the sounds of blurred chatter or recognisable voices. It was Spike and Scootaloo who she heard and she slowly lifted her head away from the pillow to meet the warm rays of the pleasant sun that shone through the stained-glsss windows.

"Morning Cinder," greeted Scootaloo who had a brace upon her foot and was confined to crutches.

"Morning..." she groaned.

"Did you get a good sleep for today?" the orange pegasus asked.

"Good sleep for what?"

"We have class today, silly!" she giggled a little and gave her a timetable with her name on it, "You're in all of our classes, give or take the specialist classes."

"And let me guess, classes start now?" she yawned.

They shook their heads.

"No, it starts in an hour," she explained, "we thought we should wake you up early."

"Anyway, we brought you your uniform and some breakfast," Spike said, placing a folded up white shirt and a folded red and black checkered skirt om the base of her bed. He then handed her a bowl of chocolate flavoured cereal and a spoon. "Eat up and let us know when you're ready to get dressed so we can leave the room, okay?"

Cinder nodded and looked to Scoots, "how's your foot feeling?" she asked cautiously.

"Not too good, it hurts a lot but the crutches help me a bit," she winced a little, " but I'm better off than that girl over their," she points to a small, blue, girl that lay on a bed in heavy pain who was missing a leg.

Cinder shivered at the sight and turned her focus away from the seriously mained girl towards the less hurt Scootaloo.

"How did that happen," she asked curiously.

"She was attack by a Manticore," Scoots explained briefly, "they say that she won't be able to continue anymore at this school, since movement is key in combat and she doesn't have a leg anymore. So her team is already a person down from averyone else."

"Oh... oh... I feel so bad for her," .... "it must be horrible to be suffering as she is. To have your dreams ripped away because of an oversized beast that took a bite of you."

"Hmm well, I guess that's just something that she'll have to live with. What's done is done and now she's the ome who has to live a gamble that she took. I hate sound likena dick here, but she's the one who tried to fight a Manticore and this is what she gets. Unfortunately life isn't fair and some things are unavoidable," Spike said and he crossed his arms, "but I agree with you Cinder, what happened to her is horrible and unthinkable. I would be horrified if that happened to any of you."

"Aww, thanks Spike. That's actually really sweet of you," Cinder giggled and went back to eating her cereal.

"Well I might as well try to ptotect you guys, I am the one with the shield,"

Scoots nudged his arm in agreement and smiled at him, they then sat down next to bed near Cinder, soaking up the morning sun. Soon the wolf Palphony finished her breakfast and asked for her two teammates to leave the room while she got dressed into her new school uniform. It sort of felt weird, she was only sixteen and had been accepted into a school aimed at people aged seventeen and then told that she may or may not be strong enough to succeed. It confused her on the fact that she wouldn't have been accepted if she wasn't strong enough. It felt like a riddle, and she hated riddles.

Throughout the day she attended her many classes with Scootaloo and Spike as well as many other teams. She attanded Classes such as Everfree Creature Biology, History of Hunters, Acrobatics and Strategy Building, however the class that stood outthe most was the Combat class taught by Professor Bataille. This was her last class of the day and by far, was her favoutite so far.

The reason why? Because it was the most engaging and interesting, every class has the potential to inherent a new trait or uphold a new responsibility. She loved seeing the diverse traits and abilities of all her fellow students. Unfortunately, she didn't actually do anything thrilling in this class since it was only the first day, but by the time she was in this class next she knew that it would be satisfying.

"Simmer down students," Professor Bataille commanded as he srood behind his desk. Behind him was a blackboard with only his name written upon the top as he patiently waited for his class to sit down and pay attention. By the time they did five minutes had already gone by. "Excellent!" he dashed his eyes around the room to see his eager students thst he had only met yesterday, "now, for today I have a little demonstration planned."

Murmered chatter of excitmemt broke our between the students.

"Now, now class be quiet," he sighed and waiting for everyone to stop talking and when they did he spoke again. "Can two volunteers please step forward."

Without hesitation a girl from another table and Spike stood up and walked to the front of the classroom. The girl was small but sturdy, she had a rather feminine body accompanied by a cream colout coat of fur, blonde hair that was tied back into a short pony tail and bright, blue, eyes. She wore a white tank top with black exercise shorts, over her top she wore a red, hooded coat with a thick, black belt aligned with twenty or so throwing knives attached to it.

"Ahh excellent, excellent," he clapped his hands together, "what are your names?"

"My name's Spike," the purple dragon replied with a humblr tone.

"I'm Lyvia. Lyvia Sounds."

"Great, now I want you two to put on a demonstration of your skills for the rest of the class."

"With sharpened weapons?" Spike asked curiously as he looked at the belt around Lyvia.

"No," the professor replied and his horn flashed, soon the blades started to glow and after a moment of concentration, the magic ceased, "never will their be fighting in my class with sharpened weapons."

Spike felt a little safer now and ready to show just how good he was in front of the class. He smirked, knowing that both Scoots and Cinder would be watching closely. He stared at the cream coloured earth ponywho stood lazily at the other end of the class.

"Fight!"

Spike unsheathed his sword and shield and charged towards Lyvia with full force, since she wss so small she would be easy to win through brute strength. By the time he reached her he lept in the air to slash down and finish the fight quickly. However, to his surprise she rolled out of the way and whiped her armr to the side. On each finger was a string that had at least three knives attached to it, meaning that she was weilding thirty knives at once as a single weapon against him, and the worst bit was that they acted like whips.

Spike eyed them as she flicked her hand towards Spike and the knives followed. Spike raised his shield and blocked the knives however their was another flick of the knife whip and the wrapped around Spike's arm.

Lyvia smirked and yanked on the string, pulling him closer at an alarming speed, as soon as he was close enough she flipped around and landed a foot onto his chest and kicked him away. Spike groaned and stood up slowly only two see the small girl grappling onto wooden beams along the ceiling in order to kove around at a gracious speed. The movements of what she did in order to attach the knives to her surroundings as she moved hastily towards him looked like she was dancing.

Spike raised his shield again, ready to deflect any attack that she would throw and when she flung the string of kmives towards him again she allowed himself to be grabbed by them and as he was quickly pulled towards her he slashed his sword and landed a diagonal hit on her hip.

She yelped and winced in pain, but in response she kicked him again, grappled him again and kicked him. She did this over and over again until Spike was in severe pain. He stared at her in the eyes and all he saw was carelessness and despair, yet, Spike got up again and charged at her one last time. And with one final swing, the fight was over.

In her hand, Lyvia held Spike's sword that she had taken in the last moment ans the purple dragon was on the wooden floor. He groaned.

"Well, it looks as though the fight is over," Professor Bataille spoke, "any triumphant words to say, miss Sounds?"

Lyvia eyed Spike then proceeded to go back to her seat without saying a word. Not too soon after did Spike stand up slowly and he groaned again as he shambled back to his seat near Scoots and Cinder.

"You're a silent warrior aren't you?"

"I shouldn't bother distracting myself on the enemy, not should I waste my time explaining my victory or overstsating the obvious. It was clear that I would win from the start, Spike took me as small amd weak and he underestimated my abilities, and so he was defeated. It's as simple as that, I will, and always will win."

"I see..." ... "and what happens when you're outnumbered greatly?"

"Won't make a difference, as you saw, all my techniques attack an area not a single target. And if my knives were sharp then I could kill someone with each slash. I'd like to see someone even touch me."

"But Spike did touch you, he lamded a hit on you,"

"And with that hit I was able to counter it and do a combo that nearly wiped him out... I plan everything that I do,"

"Understandable I suppose, but if I may hive you a word od advice, don't take you abilitues dor granted, you can't do everything on your own,"

Lyvia rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, "I've heard that too many times before..."

Cinder turned to face Spike and gave him a soft, worried look, "are you okay?" she asked with concern.

"Yeah," Spike nodded, "I'm alright, just a few scratched and bruises but I'll be fine," he reasurred. "But if those knives had been sharpened then I would have been dead by the first attack."

"Why did you stand up to fight?" asked Scoots, "you could have let someone else."

"I stood up because you can't fight and Cinder isn't a very strong warrior, it didn't seem right to let you guys fight but not have our team fight at all. I stood up becjause it felt right," he explained.

"Well in my opinion. That was stupid," Cinder spoke, "you could have really hurt yourself and I don't want another injured person on my team, we might need to work together on somethinh later on and if you have a broken bone then I have to do it on my own!"

"But I'm not injured because just was just a mock fight, I'm sure that the teacher wouldn't allow anyone to actually be seriously injured in his class," Spike said confidently and eyed Lyvia who was staring out the window, ignoring the praises of her fellow class mates.

"But she seemed a little ruthless, I may not know her but she was kinda fighting by the rule of 'no mercy' and so anything could have happened. Remember, you are surrounded by outstanding warriors who have a future in protecting Equestria, most people here aren't going to go easy in combat," Cinder said cautiously, "except for maybe me, because I feel bad for harming anyone that isn't going to kill me."

"That's a god moral to live by," Scootalo complimented, "but it's not a good one to keep you alive,"

"Well if I'm going to die, then I'll fight for my life, but if it's just a mock battle like that then there's no need making enemies," argued the Palphony.

"And what if you need to in order to pass the year?"

"Then I'll reluctantly do it, but I'll appologise afterwards,"

"How do you know that you'll win if you have no experience in fighting a pony opponent?"

Cinder didn't know how to reply.

"You need practice," Spike continued, "you can't just rely on fighting monsters for practice," he said sternly.

"Then what do you suggest that I do?" Cinder asked sounding slightly annoyed, she felt like she was being forced into this and she really didn't feel right fighting beings of not-darkness.

"Well I guess you could practice with me, and when Scootaloo gets better then you can train with her too," he suggested with an open, opportunilistic tone.

"Well that sounds good..." she replied nervously.

Spike and Scootaloo nodded and then the three of them stopped their chatter to pay attention to Professor Bataille who was now starting his lesson about different kinds of weapons and their potental uses in combat and teamwork. The lesson pretty mush just outlined the uses of various ranged weapons such as throwing knives, bows and the occasional pistol, he also went over melee weapons like a sword, staff, dagger, gauntlets and whips. He made a not about Lyvia's tool and made her give a demonstrstion on her abilities with them, it turned out that she could swing through the air, move objects out of her way and kill multiple targets at once. She was deadly, and the whole class knew this now, by the end of the period nesrly everyone was scurrying to befriend her but she just brushed them off and ignored their presence.

Team eight went through the rest of the day and Cinder founf it strange that she hadn't had a single class that was taught by Professor Blaze, and she knew that she was supposed too, he was on her timetable as the Stratergy teacher. Never the less, she assumed that there was going to be a god reason for that and she followed her knew friends back to their dorm, which they all shared together.

Day had been a good day, despite Spike's injuries, Scootaloo's ankle was starting to get better and she was supposed to be off the crutches soon. She had learned who to stay away from and how she was going to get better at fighting, every Tuesday and Thursday nights she would go with Spike to the school's roof and practice her techniques and possible stratergies to help her win. But for now though, she would go to bed and prepare for the next day.

-- Meanwhile in Manehatten --

"OOF!!" A large, grey, stallion with a jet black mane fell to the ground out the front of a theatre complex known as the Manehatten Theatre.

"Com'on, get up! You're just going to stay down to a girl," mocked a hooded, feminine figure known as Lil' Dew how was wearing short exercise short and a hoods, purple coat with brown gloves, "...and weren't you going on about how tough you were? I Ain't impressed," she taunted.

The man growled and slowly got himself off the ground, "you lil' bitch!"

The small girl giggled, "Ah Ah Ahh! That's not my name, my names Lil' Dew, not lil bitch!" she clenched her fist and cracked her knuckles.

He stared at her for a little bit while her tried to catch his breath, "are you one of those Everfree hunters or something...?"

Dew smirked, "man, I wish I was, but I got rejected. Doesn't mean I still can't help society by beating' up scum like you!"

He broke into laughter, "HAHAHAHAHA!!! You expect me to believe that you can beat me up when you got rejected from a fighting school, you were't good enough for 'em..." he grinned, spat on the ground and let the moonlight illuminate him as he broke into a run and charged her, his fist out in front.

She rolled her eyes and took a simple step aside and raised her leg up, which he ran right into. From there she slammed her leg to the ground and the large stallion led the way. When her knee hit the ground it pummeled the man hard forcing him to cough up blood and the small shower of crimson pooled on the concrete path.

The loud scream of pain that he let out meant that thr petty fight was over and Lil' Dew was victorious.

"Hah! I've faced worse than you!" She laughed and took a crossbow out of he bag to point it at him with a loaded, silver bolt, "now, where is the money?"

The stallion groaned and panicked, "he-here... I... I have it it," he took out his wallet and handed her what seemed about two thousand Bits, "t-take it... just leave me alone will ya!" he begged.

"Thank you," she smirked and put the crossbow away.

The girl then went over to a small, panicked group of elderly people and gave them the money, "here you go, sorry if it has a little blood on it."

"Oh thank you young girl!" They praised.

Lil' Dew smiled and nodded before taking her leave and went back to walking down the footpath on her midnight walk. However, by the time she got to a park lake she was rudely interupted by a tall man dressed in golden armour and a dark brown cloak.

"Who are you?" she asked intently.

"You should know who I am, girl," the armoured man replied and he stepped forward revealing a recognisable face.

"S-Silver Blaze!" squeeled the young mare in excitement and she hopped up and down on the spot.

He grinned, "you have blood on your knuckles, Lil' Dew."

"Huh? How do you know my name?" she inquired.

"Because, Miss Dew," he took out a peice of parchment with writing all over. He then proceeded to read, "Miss Dew, you have been accepted into Everfree Forest School for Exemplary Hunters. Your application had been reviewed for a second time after an accident happened at the school and a student was forced to drop out. You have taken the final spot in the school. You are to meet me, Professor Silver Blaze, at Manehatten Train Station tomorrow morning at ten a.m with you battle attire, weekend clothes and your weapon. Everything else shall be supplied, understand?" He finished.

Lil' Dew couldn't contain excitment and she merely yelled, "YES!!"

"Right, I shall see you tomorrow morning, now go home and get a good sleep, you will need it," and with that he began to walk off, "be safe and don't bloody your knuckles anymore," he disappeared.

Lil' Dew let out another burst of excitement before rushing home to tell her parents the good news.

Chapter Four

Motivation

"Alright Class. Get out you text books and turn to page forty-nine. Today we will be studying the effects and impacts of motivation," called out a professor from the front of the class as her faced the black board, writing what he had just said onto it.

The class did what they were told, Spike, Cinder and Scootaloo all opened their book to the designated page. Scootaloo groaned as she saw the amount of words implanted on the paper.

"Isn't this supposed to be a fighting school, not a reading school?" she complained and leant back in her seat.

"Just remember Scootaloo, we have to know the theory before we are able to learn the actual techniques. Reading books is just as useful as training in the gym and learning to do flips," Spike replied.

"Plus Scoots, it's not too bad, it's not as though this is part of every class," chimed in Cinder.

"I know, I know. I just wish there wasn't so much reading, it's just not how I learn," Scoots argued, "I'm more of a hand-on girl. Besides..." Scootaloo was cut of by the booming call of the professor.

"Excuse me, Miss Scootaloo," he said, "would you mind sharing what you, Mr. Spike and Miss Ash are chatting about. It must be important if you so desire to disrupt my class."

Scootaloo gulped and shook her head, "No. Sorry professor."

"Please try to keep quiet from now on, Miss Scootaloo. Wouldn't want you to miss out on any important information."

"Yes sir. Sorry sir." she apologised.

The professor nodded and went back to writing on the board and speaking to the class, "I want everyone to read through this chapter and answer the questions at the end. Be sure you finish this in class as I have an assignment to hand out when you are all done," he said.

"Aww..." the class went as they heard of the assignment.

"Yes, yes, I know, I'm such a horrible teacher for giving you work to do," he rolled his eyes, "this is to prepare you for your upcoming exams coming along in the next few weeks," he explained.

A student put his hand up and the professor immediately noticed, telling him to speak.

"Sir, do we really have our exams happening so soon?" the student asked.

The professor nodded, "yes, you do. However, these exams will be determining whether or not you are fit to thrive against other students. If you do not pass then you will be kicked from the school. Just like the other exam you had in the forest," he explained with a tone of seriousness.

"Is every exam going to determine whether or not we stay at this school?" the student asked another question.

"Why yes, yes it will," the professor sighed, "You see, this school trains only the best warriors and the smartest tacticians, and to keep the best, we must constantly pressure the students to achieve their full standards by threatening them with expulsion. And before you go ahead and tell me that it is illegal, let me say this. Normal laws do not apply within the Everfree Forest and they most likely never will."

The entire class went silent as they heard these, and realised that the person they were sitting next to now, may not be with them in the years to come.

Scootaloo turned and leaned in close to Spike, "Well that turned rather dark didn't it?" she snickered.

"Aren't you the slightest bit worried, Scootaloo?" Spike asked, looking at her seriously, "us three might not stay as a team."

Scootaloo giggled, "They can't kick out the best team in our year, ya know that, Spike."

"But we aren't the best team Scootaloo, we got out butts kicked in the forest the other day."

"We're not the best... yet," she grinned, "and besides, we only lost because I couldn't fight."

Spike sighed and rolled his eyes, "sure, sure. What ever you say."

Cinder snickered but snapped back into student-mode as soon as the professor shot an annoyed glare towards the three of them. Spike and Scootaloo also went quiet and acted as though they were paying attention. Although, whether they were or not was debatable. None the less, the three of them, plus the entire class, stayed quiet for the rest of the lesson and began to learn about motivation, which most people found boring, but Cinder couldn't deny that it was somewhat interesting and fascinating that a simple emotion could change the tide of a fight so easily. By the end of the two hour long period, everyone had received an assignment that was unfavourably chosen to be due in the following week. This posed to be an issue as they not only had to train for their acrobatics class, which Cinder was failing already, but they also had scheduled training sessions between Spike, Cinder and Scootaloo during that time. So actually getting anything done through that time was going to difficult.

However, throughout the rest of the day teachers tried to be interesting and fulfil their promises of keeping the students intrigued and passionate about what they were studying. Mainly it was interesting because a majority of their classes consisted of showing off to everyone at how good they were in combat. Although there was always someone stronger within a pairing and the match was usually a bias towards that person and no one so far has managed to reign victorious against Lyvia.

It was during the final two hour period today in Strategy class that Cinder learnt of an assembly that was happening tonight and that it were to be held in the main hall. What the assembly was about was a complete mystery to her and nearly every other student but most people just assumed that it was about the upcoming exams that were taking place before the end of the first semester. Yet, no matter what kind of rumours spread throughout the varied students, they would never know until tonight after dinner and they sat upon their chairs.

It was now that Cinder saw the headmaster again, accompanied by none other than the deputy principals, Professor Wing and Professor Blaze. The old man stood at the podium and began to speak in his usual clear and expressing tone.

"Good evening students, I understand that this assembly was put together at the last minute and you did not receive a proper notification until earlier today. This is due to the fact that we have a very important event tonight that was expected to happen next week," he took a breath and looked around the room, glaring at everyone's eager face. "You see, tonight we welcome new students into our school. Tonight we accept those who are to replace those who were no longer able to continue due to physical or mental issues." ... "This is much like your arrival assembly, except we will not be having a demonstration and nor will they have to sleep in another room. They will be immediately placed within groups that need them most." He finished and took a took a step back from the podium and up stepped Silver Blaze.

"Thank you Headmaster," he said and eyed everyone, "as you may or may not have noticed is that I have been away for the past few days." A few people in the audience nodded, especially Cinder, who noticed his absence the moment he didn't show up for class. "This is because I have been searching for worthy students who had applied but not accepted. We will now hold a short session to welcome them. I will announce their names and you will get to see them as they stand behind me."

He took a deep breath and flipped over the page of which he was reading off, "the following have been newly accepted into our school."

He read out a few names, not many, no more than twenty. Not many people had been reconsidered into the school and most of them meant nothing to Cinder, except for one particular person who made her perk up when Professor Blaze spoke her name.

"...Lil' Dew..." he announced.

Cinder couldn't contain her excitement. She squealed loudly but abruptly stopped when people started to look at her. It felt so good to know that he best friend who had originally been denied such education was now part of this prestigious academy and they could learn together. Although it was extremely unlikely that they would be on the same team, they may still be in the same classes and the same exams. They could also eat together and hang out during break-times.

She watched her friend confidently walk onto the stage and take her place behind Professor Blaze, joined with her fellow newbies. Lil' Dew's eyes were shooting across the room and when her eyes met Cinder's, she smiled. Cinder was Lil' Dew's only friend at this school and now they both had what they wanted.

After Blaze had finishing reading out all the names of the students, he too stepped back from the podium followed by a round of applause from the audience. Then Professor Wing stood forward and took the podium, holding his katana by his side and cleared his throat with a few coughs.

"Evening, everyone," he began and cleared his throat again, "I suppose you are all wondering what's going to happen about these coming exams that a majority of you most likely already know about. You see, these exams are not just testing how well you can work in a group, but also how well you can survive in an army-like situation against another team. You will be graded on your combat abilities, strategy and communication throughout the entire day." ... "That is all the information you are getting for now. You will be told more on the day. Have a pleasant night." he turned to look at the newest arrivals, "and congratulations on making it this far."

Lil' Dew smiled and nodded slightly, although not wanting to break character and draw attention to herself, she kept her actions subtle.

Later that night in the common room between four separate dorms sat Lil' Dew, Cinder, Scootaloo, Spike and Lyvia upon the couches next to the fire. The air that night was chilly and whenever someone would exhale they could see the vapour leaving their mouth.

Lyvia was the one who sat closest to the fire but furthest away from the group, Lil' Dew and Cinder positioned themselves right next to each other while Spike and Scoots sat opposite them. The five of them had been chatting and catching up, although Lyvia kept distant with her answers and kept her actions subtle and simple.

"So Lil' Dew," Cinder asked, "what team did you get put into?"

"I can't remember the names of who I was placed with but I remember the number of the team, I think it was team 3," she replied and looked around the group, "anyone here in group 3?" she asked.

Lyvia perked up and glanced over at her, "yes. I'm the captain of team 3, you're with me." ... "My name's Lyvia Sounds by the way, and your other team mate's named Diamond Tiara."

Scootaloo and Spike dropped their drinks and spat out what they had in their mouths, joining each other in staring at Lyvia.

"What?!" Scootaloo yelled, "Diamond Tiara's here?" ... "Why haven't we seen that bitch anywhere?"

Cinder and Lil' Dew giggled and snickered, and they split their attention between Lyvia and the others.

Lyvia sighed, "well she doesn't even want to be here so she's keeping to herself and skips most of her classes. She's hoping to fail this next exam so she will be kicked out," she then smirked and looked at Scootaloo, "and you're right, she's an absolute bitch!" ... "There's a reason why I'm the captain and not her, she can't even fight, let alone work in a team."

"So why is she here?" Lil' Dew asked.

"Apparently her father sent her here as punishment," Lyvia replied.

"So her father sent her here to die?"

"No, I don't think her father expected her to even do anything dangerous enough to be in harms way. She acts like a spoilt princess and whines if I don't take her to a safe place."

Lil' Dew giggled and focused her glare at the door of her dorm, "then I hope she does fail this exam. But at least you have someone else who can fight now!"

Lyvia rolled her eyes and looked back at the fire, "Let's just hope you live up to your words. I don't appreciate cocky attitudes smothering actual skill."

Lil' Dew pouted and drew her attention to Spike and Scootaloo as they tried to suppress their anger. They didn't like the fact that their childhood nemesis was attending the same school as them. They would gladly help her get kicked out and especially if they had to do it by beating her in a fight. Scootaloo looked at Lyvia and eagerly asked, "you don't mind if I kick her ass, right?"

"Unfortunately for you I have to protect her otherwise I will fail the teamwork assessment. As much as I wish I could, I can't abandon her to the enemy. I would have no choice but to kick your ass." Lyvia replied, without even turning her head to acknowledge the orange pegasus.

Scootaloo laughed, "Kick my ass? Are you kidding, I'm world class!" ... "Listen, you may have defeated Spike, but I'm on a whole different level than him and I already know how you fight. You can be easily countered." ... "I could beat you and still have enough energy to take out Tiara."

"You're all talk. Do you remember how you were injured by a stalker?" ... "Well I never got a scratch, sure, my other teammate lost her leg and Diamond hid in a tree, but I took down a manticore without even breaking a sweat."

Cinder quickly had memory flashes of the girl she saw in the hospital who had lost her leg to a manticore. 'Was she the girl on Lyvia's team?' she thought to herself. If Lyvia was telling the truth then that girl was most likely too cocky and made a foul move. Maybe that was the reason why Lyvia disliked cocky attitudes. But she had no idea, Lyvia was too secretive to give away any hints about what she's like outside of battle. Which is an understandable strategy since you can never truly know where your enemies are and you never want to give away anything personal to someone you don't trust.

Now Cinder had a flash of the team of three that attacked them in the forest and how she was too weak to do anything useful. She just stood their and accepted what she thought was going to be death. Now she couldn't help but think about them, where were they? who were they? and why did they attack her? These were just some questions that shot through her curious mind.

She sighed, maybe it would be a good idea to go and speak to the headmaster. He did after all seem like an approachable and understanding man, she felt as though she could trust him even though she knew absolutely nothing about him. Never the less, it would be safer to talk to him then someone else, so it was settled. Tomorrow after classes she would go speak with him. But for now, she had to start work on her motivation assignment.

"Spike, Scootaloo." she spoke to grab her teammates' attention, "c'mon, we should start our assignment. It would be easier if we worked on them together."

"Right..." Spike replied gloomily, he wasn't looking forward to this.

Scoots did the same but she agreed that it would be better to get it done now so they could have time to train later. "Okay, I'll meet you in there. I want to speak to Lyvia for a little more."

Spike and Cinder nodded and retired into their dorm to set up and wait for Scootaloo who was done talking in no time and the three of them began their assignment that was due next week. For the next few hours they worked on this and they were completely unaware on the amount of research that they had to do to at least understand the simplest answer. Motivation was apparently quite a hard topic to explain and the questions were even harder. It didn't help that they also had to write an essay on the effects of motivation.

Eventually though, they retired off to bed to get a good sleep for the following day which surprisingly would go extremely quickly. They had their first class with Professor Blaze teaching and he was a remarkable one. Well maybe it was because Cinder and Lil' dew were both massive fans of him and so they paid attention to every word he spoke and wrote. Although, the fact that he was teaching finally was the only exciting thing that happened. Well, except for the fact that in Combat class that Scootaloo challenged Lyvia to a fight and surprisingly the fight was extremely close... but Lyvia reigned victorious over her.

From the end of the classes, Cinder made good of her promise to herself and followed her plan. She headed straight to the headmaster's office, which she reluctantly remember the way. It was down the hall, left at the staircase and over the courtyard. When she got there she was greeted by a large wooden door and the sounds of hurried chatter. If she listened hard she could just make out what was being said... and she recognised the voices which belonged to the Headmaster and the two deputy principals.

"...It's not safe. the students will get hurt." spoke Blaze, "if they return then people could die."

"I recognise your concern, Professor Blaze. However, we cannot postpone the exam over a theory and prediction. Unless we had solid evidence of their return then I have no choice but to let this continue." the Headmaster explained.

"Headmaster, Professor Blaze does bring up a good point though. if they were to return and we aren't prepared then students could die. I suggest that we take some precautions. Just to keep people safe." added Professor Wing.

"And what precautions do you suggest we take, Professor Wing?" asked the Tinder Box.

"Well if you were to head my advice, i suggest we should intervene with the exams. After all, don't the teams need a leader...?"

"Are you saying that I appoint you two as team leaders?"

"Yes." ... "That way we can keep a lookout over the students and inspect their skills on a closer scale."

"Hmmm. You bring up an excellent point Shadow. I will think upon it and give you an answer tomorrow. You two are dismissed."

"Yes, headmaster." the two deputy principal began to walk out, but then Cinder heard the footsteps stop. "Headmaster..."

"Hmm, yes Professor Blaze?"

"It would seem that you have a visitor." he said simply and went back to walking.

Cinder took a step back and her breathing hastened. They had known she was their and whether or not they were aware of her for the entire time or just now was a different concern. She took another step back and the door creaked open slowly and out stepped the two Professors. Wing eyed Cinder as he walked out and she could see a small smile broke out onto his face but soon they had passed by Cinder.

She gulped and watched them as they walked before she entered the Headmaster's office. The room was huge, larger than her team's sleeping chambers. It had two levels connected by a staircase with an old kind of wood which gave the room a somewhat ancient feel. The windows had large, purple curtains that were tied back to let the natural light of the sun illuminate the office and bookcases lined the walls. At his desk, sat the headmaster reading over a slip of paper that he may have only just received from the deputy principals.

As Cinder entered he lifted his head up to meet he gaze. He lifted an eyebrow upon seeing her and laid the paper on his desk and out of his hands.

"Hmm? What do you need?" he asked with a sort of rushing in his tone.

Cinder gulped and stopped, holding her arms in front of her. Hand in hand. "Umm, headmaster, sorry to interrupt but I need to talk about Sunset and the other two that attacked me and my teammates...." she said nervously, "do you have a few minutes?"

He let off a slight smirk, "of course, Miss Ash. Take a seat and ask away." he gestured to one of three cushioned chairs in front of his desk.

Cinder sat down and positioned herself until comfortable and began to speak. "I was just wondering if you knew anything about those three?"

"It would so happen that I do. As you know they were the top graduating class last year, but what you probably don't know is that they have a fascination with Palphonies and experiments..."

"Experiements?"

"Ay. They like conducting experiments on others. Whether it be a social experiment or a physical & mental one. They had dark minds and many times I asked them to leave the school."

"Why didn't you just kick them out?" Cinder asked.

"Because they never got out of hand. Although I could tell that they weren't right I had no supporting evidence. I couldn't just kick them out and make it sound just." he explained. "I think that was one of the worst choice I ever made because now they're back and we predict that they will attack again. Who know's what they're planning."

"So you think this is more than just mindless attacking?"

"Yes, they've never not had an agenda, and if they're going to the length of even enjoying the assaulting students through their exams then I wouldn't be surprised if they were planning something."

Cinder gulped and took a step back. If was confronting to hear this, although she felt as though she was becoming part of something important. She felt like she was learning something that other's would never dream of hearing. It was a good feeling... being important.

Now though, there was something else going through her mind. The words of what the headmaster clutched onto her mind, but a single word spoke loudly to the young wolf girl. When he said Palphony he ears perked up and she became curious, inquisitive and worried.

"When you said that they were interested in Palphonies, what did you mean?" she asked, eager to here the answer.

"Are you sure you want to here the answer?" the headmaster shifted nervously in his seat but then stood up.

Cinder nodded and braced herself for the answer. Although she did not know, she realised that what she was about to hear could not be friendly to her ears.

The headmaster sighed, "You know how no one knows of the creation of the Palphonies, where the genes came from?" he spoke. Then continued, "well... I know."

Cinder's heart skipped a beat as she heard these words and she froze in place. "What?" she replied simply. She was in shock, would she finally know the answer to the question that runs through nearly everyone mind. Would she learn of a secret kept from most.

"I know how Palphonies were created..." ... "It was an experiment, and Fang was the first. He was tested on, and the results are what you see. The gene was made waterborne and anyone who drunk water with the gene in it would have Palphony offspring. Although not all water has the gene in it. Some rivers and lakes contain it. You see, the Palphonies were made by through a twisted experiment. By the alteration of nature."

Author's Note

Dun Dun Duuuh! Plot Twist and stuff!

Hope you enjoyed.

Chapter Five

A Four-Man Squad

"Wha... What...?" It was a good thing that Cinder was sitting down as she felt her knees becoming weak upon hearing that. "I'm.... an experiment?" She was beyond shocked at the moment and she stuttered her words.

The headmaster shook his head. "No." he replied, "you are not an experiment. You are still the offspring of your parents. The gene that altered you was an experiment but you, yourself, are not." he said sternly and stood up, "don't ever think that you are a product of twisted nature. You are you and you have only be refined by genetics. Always remember that!"

"Oh... Okay..." Cinder said uncertainly, she still wasn't very happy with what she had just heard. Every single Palphony was born they way they were because of an experiment conducted by some people who tried to kill her. This made her feel uneasy and slightly nauseous.

It was extremely hard to believe all this and how she came to be. All the subjected hate and discrimination she received could have all been avoided if Sunset, Razor and Fang weren't as twisted as they were. Now though, learning this didn't put her mind at ease at all, and she was still curious of the origin of the Palphony gene. Now she felt compelled to search for more answers. The next time she would meet Sunset's group, she would chase them down and question them.

It was funny, she felt different now, she didn't feel as helps or as lost, she knew what she was and how she became it. She wasn't a freak or an animal... she was the product of an experiment. The determination that she felt was admirable and the boon of bravery washed over. It was now that she was entirely compelled to discover the full answer and mother would stop her... Not even her friends.

She stopped her thoughts and took another gaze at the headmaster, smiling. "Thank you, sir," she thanked and rushed out of his office. She was to head back to her dorm and speak to her team mates about what she had just leant. Surely they would understand her plight and want to help, but if not, then she would just have to work on this by herself.

Never the less, she went back through the school to her dorm where Lyvia, Spike, Scoots and Lil' Dew would be sitting. Although, after today's earlier presentation of Scootaloo losing to Lyvia then Cinder was unsure if they would actually be near each other. Scootaloo had a tendency to act like a child at times and so did Lyvia; although it was rarer.

When she reached the common room the sun had already began to set and the orange light broke through the glass of the gigantic centred window that illuminated the area and gave the outlines of all objects an orange glow. As she entered she saw Spike and Scoots sitting on the couch. When they noticed her, they turned their heads to her, "Where have you been?" Spike asked hastily.

"I've been at the headmaster's office all afternoon." she explained, "why, did I miss anything?"

"No, not really, but we were just concerned. We had no idea where you were, you just disappeared after class." Spike said, "Why did you go?" he asked.

"Because I had some questions I needed answered..."

"Questions about what?"

"About the people who attack us in the forest the other day. I wanted to know who they were and what they were cab able of, just in case we ever met them again." she explained.

"What!?" Lil' Dew blurted out, "you were attacked?!"

Spike and Cinder stared at Lil' Dew and nodded, however, Scootaloo was the one to actually speak to her. "Yeah, in our entry exam we were attacked by a group that graduated last year. They were powerful and ruthless, well, so I heard. I was unconscious for the entire encounter. But we're at a school in the middle of the Everfree, I'm not surprised that we were attack by some unfriendly foes," she explained carefully and calmly, putting a hand on Lil' Dew's shoulder. "But we're fine, no one got seriously hurt by them, and i doubt that we'll see them again."

"Okay..." Lil' Dew said uncertainly, then she turned to Cinder, "what did you discover about these assholes?"

Cinder gulped and looked down, fiddling with her wolf tail as she usually did when nervous as she held it firmly between her fingers. "Well, I learnt what they take pride in. They like to experiment with things, whether it be physical or social tests... and I also learnt something else."

"What is it, Cinder?"

"U-Umm.... I know where the Palphonies come from..." she said slowly, nervously and quiet.

"WHAT?!" Scootaloo, Lil' Dew and Spike jerked their attention towards her as shock consumed them. This mystery hadn't really bugged them, but now that there was an answer that their attention soared. Lil' Dew was extremely curious to discover how her best friend became who she was and why she was deemed to suffer a life of prejudice.

"Tell us, Cinder."

"I... no... we were created as a waterborne genetic experiment that when someone consumed that water would give birth to someone like me..." she gulped and the fiddling of her tail became more prominent.

"So you're an experiment?" Scootaloo asked.

"Scootaloo!" Lil' Dew yelled and stormed to her feet in anger, "Don't say that! She's not an experiment, she's just a little different. Sure she was the product of an experiment but she wasn't directly created because of it... She's her own person and just because someone else dictated her future doesn't mean that she's any less than you!"

Scootaloo moved over to other side of the couch, "WOAH! watch it! I didn't mean it like that. I never said that she was an experiment." the orange pegasus looked down, she felt bad now. She then looked to Cinder, "Sorry, I didn't mean to offend you like that..."

Cinder tilted her head and giggle slightly, loosening up a little, "You didn't offend me, Scootaloo. The headmaster already explained to me that I'm not an experiment and I trust his judgement." she explained.

"Well that's good." Spike stated, "but, how do you feel anyway. It mustn't be easy discovering something like that?"

"Not much to feel, but I guess I feel relieved, maybe excited. All I've ever know is that i was born with the ears and tail of a wolf, it's hard to comprehend that this could be the answer to such a mystery. But I bet none of you really tried to find out the solution, right? Normal people didn't really care, and i've only wanted to be normal, so why should I care too much?"

Lil' Dew snickered. "Wow, that was deep!" ... "But don't say that Cinder?"

"Why not?"

"Because you're not normal, you shouldn't act like something your not, Cinder." ... "Feel how you want, you just find out why you're who you are and you're acting as though it was nothing. Cinder, this is the biggest thing you could learn, it is not nothing!"

"Lil' Dew, I know it's nothing, but it's not much of a big deal. Whether or not this experiment happened I would still be i this world. Sure, I would be different and I would look normal, but this piece of information shouldn't dictate how I think and feel." she smiled, "You've always been there with me Dew, there's no need for me to feel left out, like there was chunk of my life missing. I felt complete, I didn't need to know this, but I do. To me it's nothing special for I already knew that I wasn't normal. I don't need someone respectable to tell me why I'm not normal to feel anything." ... "But thank you for your concern."

The other three just looked upon Cinder, some with concern, most with happiness and proudness. Lil' Dew for one, was one of them who was proud, this was the first time ever that she had seen Cinder speak up for herself and think of herself like that. She couldn't help but bare a large smile of joy.

"Are you sure?" Spike asked concerned, "you do know that if you need to talk about anything that you can speak to us."

Cinder nodded, "I know Spike, I just spoke to you guys," ... "Again, thank you for your concern. But I'm fine."

"Okay then. Well. Should we get some sleep then. I heard that something special is going to happen tomorrow." Spike suggested and everyone agreed.

Without further a dew did the four of them head off to their dorms and go to bed for the night. Most were silent but as usual, Scootaloo caused a ruckus when trying to find her sleepwear. Eventually though, ever dorm connected to the common room fell silent for the night as everyone was asleep.

When the morning sun rose it beamed it's light through the large, glass windows and awoke all the sleeping students. The warm rays it gave off put most people in a good mood. I say most people because as usual, Lyvia was pissed off, she was not a morning person. Everyone got ready by having their morning shower, getting dressed into their uniform and heading down to the food hall for breakfast. It was there that they soon discovered of the change of plans that was to happen for today and the next few days.

It seemed that the classes would be split up into their teams and assigned a professor for the examination training happening in two weeks. Ever student was given a piece of paper stating who their trainer was and where they needed to go for the next few weeks for training.

Cinder picked up hers and examined it carefully, a small smile on her face.

Student Name: Cinder Ash
Team Number: 8
Team Rank: Strategist
Team Members: Spike, Scootalooo
Trainer's Name: Shadow Wing
Training Location: Grand Courtyard

At the bottom of the page she was given was a a note to all students.

To all students reading this note, you all to head to the designated location provided to you by the time of 8:30 am in order to meet your instructor and begin your daily training. All classes have been dismissed due to this change unless you misbehave, then you will be sent to the Headmaster for an appropriate punishment. Thank you and have a successful two weeks. Good-luck upon you examinations.

There was nothing left to read and so Cinder folded up the note and shoved it into her pocket. She was trying to hold back her fangirl squeal since she had Professor Shadow Wing teacher her and her team. It was so good, they would no doubt be the best team amongst all the other students. With that said, Cinder and the rest would finish off their breakfast before heading down to the Grand Courtyard to meet their trainer.

The Grand Courtyard was like all the other basic courtyards except it was significantly larger and it was lined with trees, vines, a pond and hedges. Occasionally some wild, peaceful animals from the forest would come and rest here, animals such as birds, critters and maybe a baby beast. None the less, the sun shone upon the stone to warm up the cloudless day and in the middle of the place stood Professor Shadow Wing.

He turned around as he heard Spike, Cinder and Scootaloo step onto the stone and enter the courtyard perimeters. His eyes stuck on Cinder and he remembered her from the day before after he left the Headmaster's office.

"Hello miss eavesdropper, how are you today?" he remarked with a smirk.

Cinder sighed and rolled her eyes, she could tell that he was speaking to her since she was the only one out of the three that saw him yesterday. "Sorry about yesterday, sir. I didn't mean to." she apologised and crossed her arms.

Wing chuckled and sternly looked at her. "It's quite alright, curiosity suits the sneaky type perfectly."

Cinder frowned, she didn't find any of this funny at all. However, Spike and Scootaloo did, and they tried hard to hold back their laughter, but occasionally did they let off a snicker. They found it hilarious that Cinder was caught spying on the principals.

"Anyway, enough for the jokes, I think we should start to introduce ourselves. I know you've probably all met each other, but you have not me and I have not met you. So shall we spend a few minutes to get to know one another?" he suggested, and he wash't going to take no for an answer, he would do it whatever the response. "Anyway, let's start." he sat down on a rock and gestured for everyone else to do the same.

"So, we'll start off with names, then hobbies, then desires. Occasionally I may also ask questions to you about yourselves if I'm interested enough." ... "So miss eavesdropper, why don't you start off?"

"Me?" Cinder perked up and gulped, "Well umm... I don't really know. I guess I could start off," she took a deep breath and eyed their instructor. "Well... my name is Cinder Ash, I'm sixteen years old, a wolf Palphony and I'm not much of a fighter. My hobbies include of eating, studying animals and sleeping. And I desire to become a strong warrior like you," she looked at Shadow Wing, "to be able to prove my self on a battlefield." she finished and smiled.

"Well, Miss Ash, let me tell you something, eavesdropping on your principal isn't going to get you far on that pathway. But none the less, that is a worthy goal." he replied. "Next, you." he pointed to Spike.

"My name is Spike, I'm seventeen years old and as you can see, I'm a dragon. In my spare time I like to read, research, sleep and eat. In the future I see my self being a guardian of others. I want to help and protect the ones I love and anyone around me." Spike explained with a smile sprouted onto his draconic face.

"Interesting, I can always respect a fellow dragon." ... "Now, for the last one," he pointed to Scootaloo, "time to shine."

Scootaloo smirked, "Saving the best for last, eh?" ... "My name is Scootaloo, I'm seventeen just like Spike and I'm a pegasus. My hobbies include of flying, scooting and anything involving physical activity. I wish to one day live up to Rainbow Dash's expectations and become a strong warrior, that's why I'm here."

"Sounds noble enough." ... "Now I guess it's my turn to introduce myself," he took a deep breath and smiled, "My name is Professor Shadow Wing. I like to train, teach students how to defend themselves and deal damage to the opponent as well as get drunk with my friend Professor Silver Blaze and giving him absolute hell. My main desire is to rid the world of evil and monsters, to keep the defenceless safe and out of harm." he took another breath and relaxed, "and that is all you need to know about me. Any questions?"

No one, except Cinder put her hand up.

Shadow smiled, "Of course, the inquisitive one asks the question." he chuckled, "please, ask ahead."

Cinder pouted and shook her head in disapproval, "Well I was going to ask what made you such a competent warrior, but I', not sure if I want to now."

"Too late, you already asked the question," he grinned, "and it is a good question, I like it and my answer would be pure dedication and persistent training." ... "Anything else?"

The three of them shook their heads and sat still. Cinder had her hands rested upon her lap after lowering them from her chest when she crossed her arms. She new that Professor Wing wouldn't stop with the jokes about her curiosity, but she didn't even mean to eavesdrop on them, she just walked up to the door and managed to catch a glimpse of their conversation.

Shadow stood up and looked at the three of them, "Such capable warriors," he said to himself, then turned his attention to Cinder as he spoke his next sentence. "Now, Cinder already knows this from yesterday, but me, Professor Blaze and Headmaster Tinder Box have decided that each professor should be assigned a team to train and develop over then next few weeks to prepare you for your exam. However, we will also be participating in the exam with you so we can evaluate you closer. We will not intervene in any conflict unless you are about to be killed. We will not aid you in anyway so don't ask us any questions about the exam when within the arena. And may I say again, we will only be marking you closely and jumping into combat to save your life, that is all." ... "understood?"

They nodded, "yes, professor," they replied in synchronisation and monotone. That monologue that he gave them nearly put them all to sleep, Scootaloo would have preferred if he just simplified it instead of repeating what he had said over and over again. However, she was snapped back into reality when he spoke once more.

"Now, that's enough introduction, we have a busy two weeks and you guys need to be prepared quite a lot. So, we shall start off with basic manoeuvring abilities?" he suggested but didn't bother waiting for a response. "Because that's what you will be working on today. We might as well start off with the basics. So, I want you three to try and do a flip... go!"