"...and that girls, is why a 'Accelero' spell is more affective against a manticore than a 'Persuadere'." Celestia finished the lesson. They were using a room near the basement that had been renovated specifically for the girl's training. Rainbow liked to call it 'The Lair'. Books filled with magical knowledge lined the shelves and bookcases, along with various alchemy ingredients and other various objects. Up against the wall, in a glass case, were the Elements of Harmony displayed in all their glory.

Twilight was eagerly taking notes while the others had a little bit of a harder time concentrating during the lecture. Fortunately the bell rang, ending class and signaling for lunch to start.

"Alright everyone, I want you try practices fifteen to thirty for Monday." Celestia announced. Twilight grinned widely, eager for the challenge while Rainbow groaned, dreading the work. They quickly gathered up their stuff and headed out, except for Applejack who was trying to figure out how to include the extra work into her already busy schedule.

"Is something wrong Applejack?" Celestia asked, sensing her worry.

"Oh! Ah'm fine, just...trying to figure out how to do the work." AJ said, though Celestia quickly saw through the poor liar.

"Applejack, you know that as the element of honesty, I trust you to tell me the truth."

AJ sighed. "It's just, ever since the Fall Formal, everythings' changed. People ah have never met are looking at me and wantin' to talk to me. Problems are poppin' up out of nowhere pretty much every week. And on top of mah farm chores and regular work, I have an extra load of 'advanced' magical training to do and go out and deal with the monsters that pop up! Ah barely managed to get my homework done last night after dealing with the timberwolves!" She slumped her face on her desk, as just thinking about all of these changes felt exhausting. Celestia offered her a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"I understand that this is all very stressful, especially for someone as young as you. But you girls were given an incredible gift, and it's my job to train you to use those gifts responsibly. With great power, must also come great responsibility. When another huge threat to Equestria rises, you girls may be the only ones who can stop it, and it's Luna's and my job to prepare you for that."

"But why us? I didn't ask for any of this, none of us did!" Applejack exclaimed, waving her hands around as she talked.

"I understand. I may not know how or why you girls in particular were chosen, but from what I've seen, you girls are strong, capable and resourceful. You each exhibit the best parts of your elements and use them to help and inspire others. I believe you girls are capable of great things, once you have the skills to do them of course." Celestia offered Applejack a warm smile, which she returned.

"Thanks."

"Anytime, now you'd better head to lunch. Don't want you starving during your next several classes do we?"

As AJ headed to the cafeteria, she thought about Celestia's word. While they were nice and comforting, she still felt uncertain about being a part of the Elements. She just didn't know how she was gonna do this.

At lunch, three freshman girls were sitting together, talking excitedly. Well...one of them was.

"So, if we're going to find our talents with spelunking, we're gonna need a place to test it out." Scootaloo, a girl with orange skin and purple hair, said while looking at her two companions for suggestion.

"I don't know..." Sweetie Belle said. She was a cute girl with pale skin and curly, pink and purple hair and was also the younger sister of Rarity. "There aren't that many caves in town. And I don't want to go into the Everfree forest..."She shuddered, remembering all the strange creatures that lived there.

"We don't have too. I was looking at a few maps, and there are a few mine shafts near Sweet Apple Acres! A mine is sorta like a cave..."

"What!? No way!" Apple Bloom exclaimed, slamming her hands on the table. "My sis would kill me for even going near there! Besides, she says their too dangerous and could collapse any minute!"

"Relax! We'll only explore a few feet or so, we'll even have helmets! We might even discover some treasure! Besides, it's at the far edge of the farm, nobody even has to know we went there!" The other girls still looked unconvinced at this.

"Look, we'll have our cell phones and the signal still works over there, I checked. We don't even have to touch anything! Just a few feet. In and out, I promise! So, what do ya say?" Scoots looked at them with wide, hopeful eyes.

"Well..I'm in if your in Apple Bloom." Sweetie finally said after a moment. Both sets of eyes were now on Apple Bloom. She though this over for a minute, going through the pros and cons, debating the dangers with her sis's warning. Finally she sighed and said:

"Alright, why not?"

The final bell rang, signaling the end of the school week and the beginning of the much longed for weekend. Applejack was trying to get her stuff from her locker, but it kept getting stuck.

"Consarn it..." She tried entering her combination and pulling again when suddenly the whole door came off it's hinges. She, along with several students who were nearby, just stopped and stared for a moment before AJ just gave a nervous laugh.

"Old lockers, am I right?" Everyone seemed to buy it or just shrugged it off before going on their merry way. AJ sighed and tried to put the door back on.

"Hey AJ." Twilight greeted as walked up to her. She noticed the door and gave a confused look.

"What happened?" Applejack just gave up and set the door against the locker next to her.

"Old thing got stuck and then just came off." She sighed, she would have to tell Celestia and hope she wouldn't get charged for damages.

"So the mayor wants us to do a quick boarder patrol near the Everfree Forest after the timberwolves last night." Twilight informed her. "She just wants us to make sure there won't be coming out again anytime soon."

"Ah can't go. I have chores and homework to get to." Applejack explained.

"But the mayor needs us to do this! She needs to make sure people aren't in danger."

"But why's it gotta be us?" Applejack asked, frustrated. "Can't she just get someone who's actual job is doing this?"

"Applejack it's our duty to keep people safe now. Look, I can help you with your homework if it'll help..."

"It ain't just about the homework!" Applejack was angry now. She punched the broken door in frustration, leaving a very noticeable dent."It's everything! The training, the expectations, the attention!" She took a deep breath and calmed down a little. "Sometimes I wish we could just quit all of this."

"Applejack I know it's hard right now, but you can't just quit! This is our responsibility. Besides, I don't even know if we can quit even if we wanted too. If there's anything I could do to help..."

"Yeah. Tell the others I can't make it tonight. Ah've got too much to do." Before Twilight could say anything else, Applejack quickly walked away, leaving Twilight standing there with a look of sadness and worry.

Meanwhile, Celestia was in the lair, packing up today's teaching materials and she noticed something glowing near the Elements. She went over and saw that the gem on the Element of Honesty seemed to be...beeping? The gem would glow for a second, then die down, then glow again. It repeated this for a moment until it finally stopped.

"That's odd..." She packed up her stuff and went to tell Luna about this. What was going on?

Author's Note

I honestly don't know what the spells in the beginning do or mean, I just found them on the wiki.

Also yes I know I copied Spider-Man with Celestia, but the point still stands.

And yes 'The Lair' is a reference to Wizards of Waverley Place, I just find it easier to call it that.

Huh, never thought I'd be using this many references at once...