Tartarus High

(A/N sorry if it's not clear, but the last scene happens before Twilight's fight and the two have another class together. here's a small taste of action mixed with a bit of slice of life stuff. next chapter officially starts the story and will take place later in the day of this chapter. Enjoy! -Dark)

“Hey look it's the Gothic Nerd.” Twilight heard when she got to the school on Monday. She looked up and saw a group of people looking at her with less than friendly looks. Twilight just rolled her eyes and entered the building. One guy followed her though.

“Hey we were talkin' to ya.” he said.

“and I was ignoring you.” Twilight retorted.

“Ohoho. Listen, I'm a trained killer ya know. I could kick your ass any place any time.” he said, almost threateningly.

“And I could slit your throat. Or teleport you to the moon. Or just kick your ass.” Twilight said, clearly not amused.

“you plan on backing that up?” he asked, a small circle of kids had formed around them now.

“Do you?” Twilight asked. He looked around at the kids, they were expecting something.

“You know it's not really cool to hit a gir-” he started, but Twilight punched him in the gut.

“Quit stalling, if you're gonna hit me then do it.” Twilight warned.

“Bitch!” he yelled, charging at her. Trained killer? Heh, right. Yeah he had training, doesn't mean it worked. She just stepped to the side, leaving a foot to trip him. He went head first into some lockers.

“Hey!” another guy yelled. He and three others stepped into the circle. They all had the same jackets on.

“Oh great, a gang.” Twilight sighed and turned to them. She caught the wrist of one using a knife, twisted his wrist and confiscated the blade. Flipping it over so the blades faced down she took a stance, the other three had blades out as well. A second went with a clumsy stab as well, she did the same thing. Now sporting two blades like trench knives she took her stance once more.

“I really wouldn't fuck with me right now. I've got a lot on my mind.” Twilight growled.

“Get the Bitch!” one of the injured yelled. The two standing obeyed. They charged, but it wasn't clumsy. It was coordinated, but so predictable. Using one of the blades she deflected one and kicked him off his feet. For the other she slid to the side and grabbed the man by the arm and swung him around and into the other, who was just regaining his feet. Just as they were getting back to their feet they felt the blades at their necks, Twilight holding them.

There was a rather familiar click of a handgun cocking. The two on the other sides of the blades grinned. Without hesitation, Twilight smashed her fists into the faces of the two, dropping the blades in the process. As she did this she rolled sideways, the gun completely missing as it fired. The one holding it was the first guy, a look of surprise on his face. Before he even registered he had fired the weapon, Twilight had snapped his wrist and was now holding the disassembled sidearm up.

“Like I said...I reeeeally wouldn't want to fuck with me right now.” Twilight said darkly and walked off, the circle parting to accommodate her.

“I can't believe that bastard actually pulled a gun on you...” she heard. She turned around to see Spike, Celestia and Rainbow Dash. Dash was the one who spoke and she looked pissed.

“the Instructors watched. I hate it but those things are encouraged to weed out the weak...I never thought it'd start happening before the announcement...” Celestia muttered.

“I woulda helped, but Celestia held me back...” Dash grumbled.

“I knew you could take them, but I got worried when he pulled the gun...” Spike said.

“I thought they were only taking promising candidates...not gang thugs...” Twilight said.

“So did I, either they're getting desperate...or they're just here to be an obstacle...” Celestia replied.

“But you said this whole Tartarus thing hasn't even started right? Why would they be desperate? It's a test. At the Valkyrie town of Cloudsdale in flight school they'd do things like this...they'd throw in bad kids and bullies to toughen you up or weed out the weak.” Dash said.

“How'd Fluttershy get through then? She seems to shy to put up with that.” Spike asked.

“Oh, you just can't bully Fluttershy. It's literally impossible. She just accepts it as they're telling her flaws that she can try and fix and thanks them for it...if it ever got physical I'd punch them in the face.” Dash said casually.

“Right...so...I've got magic studies with you Spike, let's not be late.” Twilight said, looking at the clock.

“It appears we have Valkyrie Tactics Rainbow Dash. Shall we?” Celestia asked. The two groups split up and walked on as if the previous scene hadn't happened.

So you've got a lot on your mind. Care to tell?” Spike asked Twilight when the magic instructor gave them free time.

“Well Dash helped me figure out that little problem I had...” Twilight started, blushing lightly at the memory. Spike chuckled awkwardly and rubbed the back of his head. “Now that I know that...well...I'm thinking about WHO I could be in a relationship with.” Twilight finished.

“Ohhhh. Well let's hear it.” Spike said.

“Well, there's Dash, but like she said she's with Pinkie. Fluttershy is really nice and adorable, but I think she'd just freak out if I asked her out...but the one I think of the most is..well...um...” Twilight started, stammering at the end.

“Lemme guess...Celestia?” Spike asked. Twilight nodded. “Well I can see it, but how could you be thinking about her more when you've seen Dash?” Spike asked, apparently unable to get the image out of his head. Not that he wanted to, she wasn't exaggerating when she said she had an awesome body, it's just he was in public now.

“Well...about that..” Twilight started nervously and explained what happened at the bath.

“...I'm Jealous...I'd kill to bathe with her.” Spike said with a chuckle.

“Spike you Perv...but anyways...aside from...THAT...it was really, really nice...I could have stayed there with her all day and have been happy.” Twilight said.

“Alright...stop...please...I'm not into incest at all but you've got an image burned into my head and if you keep talking about it it's not going away...” Spike said. This earned a laugh from Twilight, but she decided to change the subject. That was done for her, however, when someone came through the door to go outside. Well more like was flung through with enough force to splinter the solid wood, but came through nonetheless. On the other side was Applejack, still in the pose of having thrown him.

“Shoot, sorry 'bout that...was aimin' fer the wall.” she said, a nervous grin on her face.

“Hey babe, I'm liking that look.” someone said from next to AJ. She looked at him and gave him an unamused look. Sure he was good looking, but she could already tell he was trash- if anything else than his terrible pickup line. She was currently in the outdoor gym class so she forwent her normal leather jacket and knee length jeans and instead just sported an orange tank and short shorts.

“Y'all just better keep on movin'. Not interested.” AJ said, returning to her recline leaning against the pole supporting a bar she had just been doing pull-ups on.

“Come on, you'd have to be interested to dress like that.” he commented.

“Pal, it's hotter than a Sauna out here. And when Ah'm exercisin' it just gets worse so Ah'd rather not make it worse by wearin' my casual clothes.” she retorted.

“Now you're just coming up with excuses.” he said with a laugh. She glared at him then.

“Pretty boy like you wouldn't know the meanin' of exercise. Just keep on walkin' now.” she said, starting to get really annoyed.

“Country girl like you wouldn't know a good catch when she see's i-” he started, but made the fatal mistake of trying to grab her ass. The second hand met ass she had grabbed his wrist and was in the process of flinging him over her shoulder. She was aiming for the two foot thick concrete separating the rec yard from the magic lab, but instead he crashed through the door.

“Ah'll pay fer that...” Applejack said sheepishly as the bell rang and quickly made herself scarce.

“Gotta hear the story on that one...” Spike said with a laugh.

“Yeah...” Twilight agreed.

“So...when are you gonna ask her out?” Dash suddenly asked. She and Celestia were taking a breather, having completed the cloud obstacle course.

“Excuse me?” Celestia asked, confused.

“Come on, it's obvious to those who're looking. And I see it like the sun in the sky.” Dash said, giving her a look.

“Well I'm not going to deny I want to, I don't think she's into women though.” Celestia explained.

“Oh, I know she is. Amazing what a flash can do when you're not sure of your sexuality.” Dash replied with a laugh.

“...not even going to ask...so you really think I'd have a chance?” Celestia asked.

“Dude, you're like her Idol. You may not know it but I've been talking with Spike a lot and they tell each other literally anything. Apparently you were her role model when she first started studying Magic. Plus he also told me she's got a wicked crush on you.” Dash explained.

“Really now?” Celestia said. Suddenly her mind ventured into a rather perverted mindset, namely imagining how things could have gone in the baths that weekend. She flushed up instantly at it and failed miserably at hiding it.

“Oh yeah, you got it bad.” Dash laughed.

“Oh shush, I see the way you look at Pinkie Pie.” Celestia said slyly, apparently thinking that fact was unknown.

“Ya, so does everyone else. She does too in the sack, for such a brutal fighting style she's got magic hands, let me tell ya.” Dash said with a grin.

“Ok! I get it! Hell am I that bad at seeing these things?” Celestia asked.

“Eh it's hard to tell sometimes.” Dash shrugged.

“What was that?” Celestia asked. Dash heard it too, it was a gunshot.

“Sounded like a nine mil. The hell are they doing down there?” Dash asked, punching a hole in the ground. The two looked down and saw twilight holding a disassembled firearm in front of a man holding his hand through a window. Needless to say they were down there almost instantaneously. They got the story from spike as she made her way through the circle. Dash, guilty for not being there to back her up, said something about being held back.