Starlight Academy, a school where geniuses, and idiots, are rigidly separated by their test scores. Those test scores are determined during The Academic Placement Test at the first of the year. The questions are unlimited, but get progressively harder. Each pony has about 3 hours to complete the exam. Pressure's on them to excel and be great to enjoy the pleasures of a comfortable school environment in Class A with recliners, laptops, a free soda fountain and an awesome snack bar. If your test scores are the lowest however, you will be placed in the pit of eternal damnation that is Class F, with squeaky low wooden tables and worn-out old mats.
"Alright students, it is now time to begin the exam!" Yelled the intimidating Mrs. Inkwell, Unicorn English teacher and proctor of the exam. "Each exam has unlimited questions and you get a certain number of points in each subject should you get one right. There are no penalties for wrong answers, so don't worry about taking your time on the multiple choice questions. Now start!" She barked, pulling out a gold watch with her hooves and looking at the classroom clock to see if the time on it was correct. Both read 8:45.
The sound of pencils and hooves hitting paper reverberated all around the room, only a few ponies were still looking over the exam, one of them was the sky blue and white pegasus Nova Blaze, a second year student who was not inherently bright. The first part of the test was elementary school math.
"Okay, so 6 x 6 is two sixes so that's 66 right?" Said Nova Blaze quietly to himself, trying to figure out this incredibly hard math problem. He jotted down the answer as 66.
Rainbow Dash however, was breezing through the elementary school math problems. "Easy!" She thought to herself, she skimmed over all the algebra questions though, silently protesting why letters needed to be used in math to begin with.
Mix-up, a cerulean Prench exchange student and pegasus, was relieved that the start of the test was only Math. He managed to finish all of the math problems on the original test except the word problems. He was the first pony to ask for more unlimited math questions, but that was mostly to avoid the English section of the test.
Some thought Thunder Quill would challenge Twilight Sparkle for the highest test scores in the academy, the Unicorn however, was out sick. Unfortunately, there are no makeups for The Placement Test, and he'll receive zeroes in all subjects for being absent from class.
Ocean blue Pegasus Skye Mist's strategy was to try and get the highest score in one subject, Equine History. Completely ignoring all other subjects for the first hour of the test.
Blue-Grey Earth Pony Lunar Love sighed at the fact that since the test had unlimited questions, she couldn't finish the test until the three hours were over. She still moved quickly, however, and instead filled out the bubbles randomly for every multiple choice question.
Among the other students, Gearhead, also one of the smartest ponies, had to leave early due to an undisclosed emergency, he left with a score of 775, but he was well on pace for at least 2000. The rest of the ponies were eager to rest after the 3 hours were over, except Twilight Sparkle, who had to be removed by security for refusing to put down her pencil.
It was early dismissal after the placement test, and far too many ponies were confident that they had good scores. After nearly getting molested by security, Twilight escaped to meet up with her friends at the Castle.
"Well..." Twilight said, panting. "Did everypony get high scores?" She asked, anxiously hoping that she didn't have to see her friends all go to different classes.
"I'm not really sure Twilight." Said Applejack nervously. "We should get our results mailed before tomorrow. You should be in Class A for sure."
"Come on Twilight!" Rainbow Dash said, rolling her eyes. "It's not like I took my test on flight, I'm doomed for class F."
"Well... um." Fluttershy mumbled. "I don't think I did terrible at it."
Rarity nodded. "I think I did well, a portion of the test was even on dressmaking."
"It was easy." Pinkie Pie said happily.
"Oh!" Twilight groaned. "We can't get split up! We'll have to go to war against eachother."
"Calm down Twilight." Rainbow said. "It's not like we're ALL bound for a different class, we'll just declare Summoner Test wars on classes that don't include one of us..." Rainbow was interrupted by mailpony Derpy, who handed each pony a letter, no doubt with the results of their Placement Test.
"What!" Rainbow Dash yelled. "Class F!" She groaned and slammed her head against the table.
Twilight gasped. "Class A!" She said happily. "And I have the highest scores in the academy."
"Class C!" Pinkie Pie said smiling. "Yay! I did it!"
"Class B." Rarity said casually. "It's not quite Class A but certainly a well kept environment for studying."
"Class D." Fluttershy sighed. "Looks like I didn't do good after all."
"Class E." Applejack said relieved. "I was sure I'd be in Class F."
Rainbow Dash lifted her head off of the table. "Wait... does that mean we're ALL in different classes?"
Derpy the mailpony, shook her head. "Hey! Look! I got class F too!" she grinned and showed Rainbow Dash her letter. "And look at the bottom of yours Rainbow Dash."
Rainbow shrugged and unfolded her letter in her hooves, looking at the bottom. "Class Rep?" She said dumbfounded. "So I'm the president of the idiot class?"
"Look at that, I got Class Rep too!" Twilight grinned. "This will be fun!"
"C Class Rep." Pinkie squealed. "Woo hoo!"
"That's peculiar." Rarity said puzzled. "I seem to have gotten class representative as well."
"Looks like y'all are not the only one's." Applejack said. "I got it too."
Everypony stared at Fluttershy, who was staring anxiously at her letter. "I- I'm one too." She said quietly. Everypony cheered, lifting Fluttershy in the air and Pinkie Pie blasted her confetti cannon.
Back at their respected homes, the not so well known students looked at their results as well. Nova Blaze could barely hear somepony's hoof knocking on his door over the loud rock music blaring through his headphones. He sighed, taking off his headphones and opening the door, at the door was Mrs. Inkwell herself. "You know Nova Blaze, when I first saw you I thought you might be one of the dumbest ponies in the history of this academy..." She handed him his letter. "And I was wrong." She continued, while Nova Blaze opened his letter. "You are in fact..." Nova Blaze read the letter carefully, which wasn't really necessary due to a big F being the only thing on the page. "The dumbest pony in the history of Equestria."
"WHAT!!!" Nova Blaze yelled, his piercing voice echoing at about a 5 mile radius.
Mix-up trotted up to his community mailbox, his being the only one splattered in stickers and paint in a row of plain white mailboxes. He promptly tripped over his hooves when he read the letter. "Ze F class..." He muttered, as the letter floated onto his mane. "Zis will not end well."
Thunder Quill was in his bed with his head buried into his pillow. His brother Red trotted into his room. "Hey I got A Class." he said happily, before changing his tone to console his brother. "What's the matter?"
Thunder Quill lifted his head from his pillow unamused. "You do realize that I was out sick today..." He said, before sneezing into his hoof. "The day of the placement test."
Red looked at Thunder Quill. "So?" He said. "That just means you'll be the smartest in Class F."
"I could've been the smartest in Class A had I taken that test!" He yelled, before burying his head back into his pillow. "I'm not going to spend all year being called an idiot." He said muffled, sighing into his pillow. "Go away Red."
Red shrugged and left, turning off the lamp and shutting the door.
Lunar Love sat lazily on her couch eating chocolate candy as an undisclosed colt handed her the letter. "Class F huh?" The mare said, taking another bite of chocolate. "I hope I can make some new friends." She said smiling, as she wiped chocolate off her face with her hoof.
Skye Mist had to go all the way into town to receive her letter, and she was not too happy about it. No mail pony would dare venture into the forest where she lived, and as a result of where she lived, one of her ears is partially shredded. She didn't have a mail box anywhere, so she had to go to the post office to receive her letter.
"Good afternoon, how are you doing today?" The colorful mare at the front desk asked. Skye Mist just continued as if she wasn't talking.
"Skye Mist, I'm here for my mail..." She said impatiently. "I don't have an address."
"Go ahead and sit down, we'll call your name as soon as we have more information." The colorful mare said with a smile. Skye Mist just blinked and stood there. The colorful mare sighed and pointed with her hoof to the nearest empty seat in the waiting room. Skye sat down to wait.
As soon as they called her name (about the 32nd time) Skye Mist stood up and claimed her mail, what she saw was shocking. "I came all this way just to be told I'm stupid! That stupid test is rigged!" She yelled, quite loudly I might add, due to her hearing loss. Security carried her out of the post office. "Did you hear that! That stupid test is rigged!" She yelled, as security carried her out the door.
Among the other ponies, Vinyl Scratch, Gearhead and Sapphire Flare ended up in Class E with Applejack. Trixie, Monotone, and Holly Shipper, ended up in Class D with Fluttershy. Lyra, Lily Bloom, and Moonshade, ended up in Class C with Pinkie Pie. Bon Bon, Opacare Prose, and Rose Velvet, ended up in Class B with Rarity. And Octavia, Sirocco, and Coalstone ended up in class A with Twilight Sparkle, with the top three scorers being Twilight Sparkle, Coalstone, and Octavia, respectively.
The first official day of Class starts tomorrow, and in addition to dividing the ponies based on academics, the school also implements a system called the Summoner Test Wars. Each class can declare war on another class in exchange for better classroom equipment, with the losing class having to exchange their equipment with the winner. The school implements a Summoning System where each student can summon a hybrid-pony avatar, with their offensive power determined by their test scores in one or all subjects. During a Summoner Test War, you can replenish your scores by taking a recovery test which can either increase or decrease your offensive power. If the class representative's avatar dies during a Summoner Test War, then the other class wins and has the right to exchange equipment with the other. But with low offensive power, Class F will have to fight an uphill battle to nab class A's equipment.
Basically Every High School Anime Ever
The school bell rang, and Nova Blaze sighed as he trotted through the hallway. "Class F... I was sure I did 'okay' on the test. I only skipped the essay questions." He sighed, eying Rainbow Dash as she trotted into the classroom. "At least there's some cute mares in class F." He smiled and went in, with Thunder Quill following right behind him.
"I swear I did not sign up for this." Thunder Quill groaned, his eyes moving around the classroom full of broken tables and dusty floor bags. "It feels like I'm in Saddle Arabia." he said, sitting down on one of the deflated cushions.
With the door open, several students on their way to class A stopped by and peeked in. "Thunder Quill?" Coalstone said, smiling and walking into the dusty classroom. Thunder Quill promptly covered his face with cushion. This cannot be happening. Coalstone cleared his throat and continued, towering over him slightly. "You're in Class F? Didn't you make 4.0 last year?" He said, before coughing.
"Yes." Thunder Quill said shakily, removing the cushion. "I can't help being sick on the day of the placement test." He said. "You better not stay in here too long... you'll catch a nasty cough from all the dust floating around..." He said, catching a clump of dust with his hoof.
"Yeah..." Coalstone said, coughing slightly. "I suppose you're right... I don't really know what to say at this point anyway. Other than good luck." He said smiling, offering his hoof.
"Okay thanks." Thunder Quill said calmly, extending his hoof which Coalstone nearly crushed within his tight grip. "Ow! Bones snapping! BONES SNAPPING!" He yelled painfully. Coalstone quickly released his grip.
"Sorry I sometimes forget that not many ponies can handle a handshake from me." Coalstone said apprehensively. "You being no exception. Hate to leave you like that, but I gotta go." He waved awkwardly and trotted along the hallways again, quickly leaving Thunder Quill's line of sight.
Thunder Quill sighed. "Already I feel like an idiot."
Nova Blaze just smiled and patted him on the back with his hoof. "You'll be fine, once you get your test scores up people will start to respect you again."
"As if." Rainbow Dash sighed, intruding on their conversation. "Everypony's already forgotten who I am since I ended up in this class."
Nova Blaze squinted at Rainbow Dash. "Now that you mention it, I do remember seeing you somewhere."
"You do?" Rainbow Dash said surprised.
"Yeah..." Nova Blaze said, scratching his head. "You work at the pastry shop right?"
Rainbow Dash facehoofed. "Um no..." She groaned angrily. "I'm the element of loyalty, saved Equestria about a thousand times."
Nova and Rainbow sat down, carefully eyeballing the teacher Mrs. Scales as she walked into the classroom.
"Ahem." She said, clearing her throat. "My name is Mrs..." She said, forcibly dragging a jagged piece of chalk across the chalkboard, applying pressure at such a force that it sounded like the dying squeals of a thousand pigs. "...Scales."
Everypony was noticeably uncomfortable except for Skye Mist, who shrugged and stared at the chalkboard, which now revealed the name "Mrs. Scales" as well as a lot of chalk dust.
"I know this classroom is not much to be desired, but I have already begun making improvements." She said, hiding an evil chuckle.
"Um... these lights are making me dizzy." Lunar Love said, raising her hoof.
"Don't worry dear, it's all for the best. All the improvements I will make are for the benefit of you and will help with focus, concentration, and the power of suggestion." Mrs. Scales said.
"What was that last one?" Lunar Love asked confused.
Mrs. Scales eyes shrank as she realized her mistake. "Oh, nothing. Keep in mind that class F's budget is dreadfully restricted and I will not be able to make all the necessary changes that I would like." She said, just as one of the light fixtures fell off of the ceiling.
She groaned in annoyance at the fallen light fixture. "I'm going to go get some tools, please study on your own while I'm gone." She murmured, leaving the classroom.
Nova Blaze smiled and turned to Lunar Love, who became startled in response. "Hi, I'm Nova Blaze." He said smiling.
"Lunar Love." She said, easing up slightly.
"Well, I'm glad there's two girls in this class instead of just one." Nova Blaze said happily.
Skye Mist walked over and glared at Nova Blaze. "Three girls actually."
"Hmm..." Nova Blaze said, eying Skye carefully. "Sorry, it was hard to tell with your voice, personality, and the fact that I couldn't get a good peek at your..."
"Don't you dare finish that sentence." Skye Mist snapped.
Nova Blaze backed off slowly and zipped his mouth closed with his hoof.
"Well... what about her?" Lunar Love asked, pointing to Mix-up.
Mix-up perked up in surprise. "Zis is ze mane and body of a étalon." He spat.
Thunder Quill rolled his eyes. "No need to be rude guys, what's your name big guy?"
"Mix-up." He said awkwardly. "And I also take offense to being called 'Ze Big Guy'"
Thunder Quill shrugged and opened up a textbook. "You know, you guys should really try studying if you want to win a summoner test war."
"Nah, all we really need to do is let you take a recovery test and lean on your nerdy scores." Rainbow Dash said arrogantly.
"Not if we want to beat class A." Thunder Quill said. "I Can't beat Twilight and the rest of A class by myself."
"What's the big deal?" Nova Blaze asked. "It's not like we can legitimately declare war on the first day of a new term anyway."
Rainbow Dash paused in thought. "Actually... it is possible. If we can get approval from a bunch of different teachers to fight in subjects that we're best at we could probably even beat class C." She continued. "Quick! What's your best subject?"
"Health and Phys Ed." Lunar Love said, smiling.
"Equine History." Skye Mist said, nodding.
"Prench, obviously." Mix-up said blankly. "I suck mad hard at ze English though."
"English, but my scores are all zero until I take a recovery test." Thunder Quill said.
Rainbow Dash looked at Nova Blaze curiously. "Well?"
"I don't have a best subject." Nova Blaze said awkwardly. Everypony facehoofed in response.
Rainbow Dash smiled. "It doesn't matter really... you see Nova Blaze is the village idiot, which means his avatar is unique."
"I think the term is probationary student..." Nova Blaze said timidly.
"His avatar can touch real life objects and inflict real pain upon the summoner." Rainbow Dash continued.
"I can feel my avatar's pain? That's messed up." Nova Blaze groaned.
"Still... if you use the objects to your advantage, you can block more attacks and inflict massage damage, despite your low offensive power in every subject." Rainbow Dash explained.
"So what happens when our avatar dies?" Lunar Love asked curiously.
"You get sent to a remedial class taught by Satan." Rainbow Dash said.
Thunder Quill raised an eyebrow. "Mrs Inkwell..."
Rainbow Dash groaned. "Well what class do we shoot for, E?"
"No way." Skye Mist said shaking her head. "Gearhead is in class E, I remember he had to leave during the placement test."
"Wow Gearhead is in class E? His scores are almost always up there with mine and Twilight's." Thunder Quill said nervously. "As soon as he takes a recovery test we'll have no chance."
"Hmm..." Rainbow Dash thought for a moment. "Class D then?" Everypony nodded in response. Rainbow Dash turned to Nova Blaze. "Alright village idiot, go declare war on class D."
"No way, I can't declare war on a higher ranked class. I'll get curdled like ham." Nova Blaze said anxiously.
"Curdled? Ham?" Mix-up wondered silently if he had learned the wrong definitions of those words.
"I don't think you can curdle ham, moron." Rainbow Dash snarked. "Don't worry, Class D's rep is Fluttershy, they won't be too violent."
"Okay, fine." Nova Blaze sighed, and headed off to Class D and declared war, where he was attacked by vicious wild animals. He limped back to class with various bruises and scars.
"I was attacked by wild animals." He growled.
"Huh... come to think of it I do remember Fluttershy wanting to get a class pet." Rainbow Dash said confused.
"I don't think hundreds of wild animals classifies as a class pet." Nova Blaze said angrily.
Rainbow shrugged. "I guess it's time then. Get ready for battle!" She yelled.
Everypony obeyed and moved out, getting ready to defend themselves.
"This war is ours!"
