Fate's Armor

by Flicka

Rating: mature
Tags: Gore, Violence, Dark, Death, Alternate Universe, Twinkleshine, Trixie, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Adventure, Sunset Shimmer, Twilight Sparkle
Length: 5730

A chance encounter with some cultists as a filly leaves Twilight Sparkle determined to follow the path of a Paladin

Ever since three of Twilight's young friends had died right before her eyes, Twilight has been haunted by dreams of that day. Were it not for the courageous actions of a single Paladin, the young unicorn filly would have been turned into a cultist herself-- if not something far more sinister. Twlight's single goal since then has been to be a Paladin, no matter what it takes. She wants to be able to help other ponies, just as someone she didn't even know helped her in her time of need. But Twilight's path isn't easy. Between hostile remarks, three other unicorn trainees, and a meddling Princess, Twilight also has to find time to answer an important question or two. Why can so few others hear Celestia? And why do so many cultists want to make sure the Goddess' voice is drowned out for good? But when something sinister targets the princess she was sworn to protect, Twilight finds herself at the head of a frantic chase to save the day.

Published 2017-12-30 21:50:06 UTC
Last updated 2019-08-01 12:26:03 UTC

Purity

They say only a pony who’s had their heart shattered will ever be able to hear the Voice of Celestia.

Blood. It was everywhere. It coated everything. It oozed down the ramshackle plywood walls, dripped steadily from the thatched roof. There was so much of it the vital liquid had completely soaked the straw and still managed to freefall to the pitiful dirt floor below. Dotted here and there throughout the sparse room were great big muddy puddles, the once red substance turned black as it sat. Yet even more disturbing than the blood were the body parts. Bits and pieces of foals were scattered about the area, almost as though a giant unseen hand had casually tossed them there after playing with them. Identifying the individual parts were impossible; most had been so badly mangled it would take a full team of mages to determine what had been a foreleg and what had been a hind leg.

Even worse was the stench. The coppery tang of blood mixed with the overpowering smell of burnt ozone. To a lesser degree the scent of blasted wood and melted plastic also hung in the air, mixing with everything else to create a nauseating cocktail of poison. For once, even the smell of the smog that normally covered the Canterlot slums appeared to be wholly absent in the wake of this disaster.

And in the epicenter of what had once been some of her friends sat a shell shocked Twilight Sparkle. The foal’s violet eyes were wide and vacant, staring deep into nothingness. She had been spared from the savage carnage that had ripped apart others, though the blood matting her lavender fur called that into question. Her little horn was blackened and cracked, with smoke still wisping from its tip. Her mane, once so meticulously cared for, was badly singed around the broken appendage. Across from the little filly the entire back of her family’s little shack had been blown out, the result of a panicked magic flare. Of the oily light sucking shadows that had ripped apart the other occupants of the room, there were no sign.

The day had started out as a relatively normal day. Twilight had earned her cutie mark just the day before, after practicing magic for years on end. Ordinarily such an event was a relatively normal occurrence; but in the slums of Canterlot where sickness and other accidents ran rampant, a foal living long enough to earn a cutie mark was cause for hearty celebration. And so, Twilight’s parents and brother had saved what coin they could for a cute-ceañera for their little special filly. Unfortunately their jobs prevented the rest of her family from being there to enjoy the party, which left Twilight Sparkle and her three friends-- Buttercream, Star Singer, and Ravenhide-- at home alone. While such an arrangement might have caused alarm for other parents, Twilight had always been extremely mature for her age; Twilight Velvet and Night Light had no issues with leaving their only daughter unattended for a little while.

But then disaster had struck. They came with no warning, phasing in through the solid plywood of the shack. Intangible shadow creatures that seemed to suck in what little light came in from the grimy windows. Before any of the young foals could react they had struck, literally ripping apart three of the four occupying Twilight’s little corner of her home. And as they approached the purple unicorn she had screamed, high and shrill. Her magic responded. The entire world went bang as she sent her fear and anguish ripping towards those she had perceived as a threat, blowing out the back of the little shack she called home and dispelling the creatures of darkness and shadow. It was at that point Twilight Sparkle promptly shut down, staring at nothing. She didn’t even register the whispers that she was only vaguely aware of.

“What just happened?”

“Don’t get too close, the last thing we need is a target on our own backs.”

“Don’t look at her! She’ll kill you next!”

“Is that… blood? Sweet Celestia, it is!”

After an indefinite amount of time, a pony did approach the ruined building. Several ponies, in fact, garbed in concealing black robes. On their heads they wore twisted little masks with a pointed horn spouting from the forehead. And on the back of these robes sat what appeared to be a cutie mark, a nebulous cloud and crescent moon motif. One of them reached down and roughly gathered the still comatose unicorn filly into their forehooves. “We lay claim to this filly,” one of them announced in a feminine voice, and then they were gone.

Twilight Sparkle finally came to days later. She appeared to be in a cell of some sort, surrounded by four stone walls and a wooden reinforced door. There was a guttering candle providing barely adequate illumination. She was chained to the far wall, next to a table with a moldy piece of bread and a saucer of stale water. She nibbled on a corner of the bread absently. She didn’t even seem to realize her predicament or her surroundings, as her eyes still held the glassy look of one who wasn’t quite all there. The rattle of a key in a lock did cause one of her ears to twitch against her will, but that was all of the response she managed, even as the door to her prison was thrown violently open. Her eyes did light up a bit in recognition as a cadre of the cloaked ponies marched right in. The leader halted inches from the foal and spat to the side in obvious disgust.

“You’re pretty damn weak, you know that?” No response from the filly. “Seriously, how are you going to avenge them in your pathetic state?”

These words did have an effect, and the filly weakly raised her head to stare up at the sickly thin mare. “Avenge…?” Twilight’s voice was almost non-existent, hoarse from disuse.

“Yes, avenge, you stupid foal. Do you not want to get payback upon those who did this to you? Not in your current self-pitying state you’re not!”

“...How?” More vitality seemed to seep back into Twilight as she spoke her single word question; for the first time she noticed that she was miraculously free of blood and her horn had been sloppily bandaged.

The unicorn filly never saw the twisted smile hidden behind the mask as her tormentor answered. “Let’s go do a revelation, then. Let’s see what the Goddess has in store for you.”

“You mean… Celestia?” The question caused a slight ripple of laughter out of the ponies now surrounding her.

“Sure. Her. Now let’s go.”

Twilight was lead to a huge circular chamber. There were only a handful of candles illuminating this room, and even they weren’t enough to banish the shadows that seemed to huddle along the outer circumference. Twilight stared at them fearfully, so fearfully she never even noticed the huge pentagram drawn with chalk under her hooves. She was deposited in the very center of this pentagram, next to a metal pole in the floor. There was a slight clink of metal as a collar was fastened around her neck, chaining her to the pole. It was only after the collar was in place that Twilight became aware of the chanting. The words were alien to her ears and didn’t sound like anything she had ever heard before in her short life. The leader of the cloaked ponies approached her slowly, making sure to stop just outside the outermost circle of the pentagram. In her hooves she held a metal bowl full of a deep purplish red liquid. Traces of something, some shadowy substance curled off the top of the mixture, almost like steam.

The chanting rose to a startling crescendo before there was complete silence. “Come, child. Drink deep from the chalice, finish it all, so we can see our revelation.” The bowl was gently placed before her with a delicate clink, well within the drawn symbol upon the floor. Twilight reached for it with shaking hooves, grasping it carefully and making sure not to spill a drop. She was hesitating greatly, but some unseen force had grabbed ahold of her hooves and was gently forcing it closer to her mouth. The filly with a shattered heart screwed shut her eyes and opened her mouth. The thick, cloying liquid oozed down her throat and it burned. She screamed in pain, trying to fling the bowl away but finding her hooves ignoring her commands. The traitorous things pressed the bowl closer, ensuring every last drop entered her mouth despite her frenzied bucking.

She wasn’t even aware of her own screaming any more. Visions filled her mind faster than she could hope to comprehend as an icy dread filled her thundering heart. The visions stopped and settled upon a terrifying visage, that of a fang-filled grin set under icy draconian eyes. The unicorn horn of the unknown entity was filed to a point, and a helm of a dark metal held an ethereal mane full of twinkling stars. Please, please, make it stop! she begged silently within the torment that was her own mind. Goddess Celestia, mom, anybody just make it STOP. Then, blessedly, it was over. She could still feel her body convulsing, feel her throat blistering where the cursed liquid had touched, but she could no longer feel the pain. Instead, a sense of warm calm surged through her, in addition to a general sense of acknowledgement.

Her eyes flew open as the door to the chamber was suddenly consumed in a fiery explosion. Shouts and screams echoed into her consciousness as her still ringing ears picked up the sounds. She watched as a newcomer cut through the cultists who had imprisoned her with a longsword sheathed in liquid flames. The pegasus was extremely agile, leaping about the air with outstretched yellow wings. The yellow and orange tinted armor they wore didn’t appear to even slow them down, nor did the tower shield still clamped to their side. The cultists never stood a chance. In what seemed like the blink of an eye, the battle was over. The mystery pegasus rushed over to the fallen unicorn filly, and Twilight could just barely make out hurrid words. “Hang on, little one.” The voice was rough and gravelly, but Twilight found it the most comforting thing in the world. “I’ve gotta exorcise the shadows attempting to take root inside of you. You’ll be safe now, I promise.”

The last thing Twilight Sparkle saw was the large flask of gently glowing liquid strapped upon the pegasus’ foreleg. She knew what a bottle of Purity signified. A paladin had come to rescue her from her nightmare.

<<((*))>>

Twilight awoke from her dream with a muted gasp. By reflex her magic reached out and grabbed up the glass of water that rested upon her nightstand, then promptly dumped it all over her head. The coolness helped further wake her up and clear out the remaining cobwebs from her dream; the same dream she’s had steadily ever since that fateful time. Constant vigilance had trained her to no longer cry out upon awakening, and as a result the other three cadets she shared the unicorn barracks with were still sound asleep. She let out a deep breath as her slightly elevated heart rate finally decided to slow. Checking the clock upon the wall, she noted that it was a full half an hour before muster. Knowing that attempting to go back to sleep was an exercise in fruitality, the unicorn instead decided to just get up and start getting ready for her day.

As she swung herself out of her stiff bed, she caught sight of glowing yellow from her nightstand. Her own bottle of Purity sat there where she had placed it next to her glass of water the night before. Just looking at it suffused the young mare with a surge of pride. It had been a gruelling process, a slums rat aiming to be accepted at Thors Military Academy; it had been almost impossible for a slums rat unicorn to earn a spot as a paladin-in-training. But all of that effort was going to be completely worth the payoff. Twilight had wanted to be a paladin ever since she had been saved from those cultists and returned to her family. That same paladin-- Lance Corporal Spitfire-- had went above and beyond to help. Not only had that amazing pegasus saved Twilight from being turned into a cultist or something even more sinister, she had also started a number of fundraisers to help Twilight’s family to start over. While they were still living in the slums, they were at least in the more well-to-do area. And then if that wasn’t enough, Spitfire had agreed to start putting Twilight through standard paladin entrance training.

The result had been that little bottle of Purity, sent to Twilight with a letter of acceptance from Thors. Not only had she passed the written exams with the highest marks possible, she had even scored well in the physical exams. Getting that letter and that flask had easily been the best day of Twilight’s young life. Even more so than the iconic longswords and tower shields, Purity was the symbol of a paladin; it was where they got their cleansing flames from, after all. She gave her Purity a little pat before turning to the huge chest at the foot of her bed. A quick flick of her magic deactivated the locking mechanism, and another toss of her horn erected a privacy barrier around her section of the rather spacious room; it wouldn’t due to wake up her roommates early if she didn’t have to.

Her training armor was her first order of business. Her linked undershirt went on first, to act as a final line of defense should her armor be breached and, incidentally, also helping insure the heavy plate didn’t chafe too badly. The rest of her armor followed in short order, magically tightening straps to ensure it fit snugly. It had taken every bit of coin saved over the years to be able to afford to get training armor designed with her size in mind. While she was rather bulky by mare standards after years of vigorous exercise, unicorns were also naturally more lanky than both their pegasus and earth pony counterparts. Still, though, at least she wouldn’t be forced to wear armor that was simply way too big for her. Thors Military Academy allowed students to wear the vestments of their chosen profession even in standard classes, so the opportunity to further get used to wearing heavy armor all the time was a simple decision with no drawbacks as far as Twilight was concerned.

The flask of Purity was the last part of Twilight’s ‘uniform’, which fit snugly into the holster fastened to her left foreleg. If she remembered correctly her first class of the day was aptly named Purity 101, where Twilight assumed she would learn how to make more of the magical liquid among other things. Dispelling the privacy barrier, the unicorn noted that she had fifteen minutes before her bunkmates needed to be up before muster. Straightening her back as much as possible, she left the barracks to head towards the mess hall. Unsurprisingly she wasn’t the only one out and about this early, and also unsurprisingly whispers followed her as she went about her way.

They didn’t really bother her as much as they did yesterday, although Twilight wasn’t entirely sure if that was a good thing or not. Thors didn’t discriminate between any race, but when the vast majority of paladins were either earth ponies or pegasi a unicorn dressed as a paladin was going to draw some ponyist remarks. Most unicorns went into schooling for the more magical and mental based occupations simply because their structure supported such endeavors easier. Still, Twilight made it to mess while managing to tune out most of the stage whispered remarks; this was made easier with the knowledge that she wasn’t the only unicorn aiming to become a paladin. She had three other ponies in the unicorn barracks who were in the same boat she was. She would do this. She would be completely fine. She was not about to let Spitfire’s faith in her be misplaced.

They say only a pony who’s had their heart shattered will ever be able to hear the Voice of Celestia.

Author's Note

So this one starts off a little more dark than most of my other works, but alas it is finally here! Really took me a looonngg time to decide how I wanted to start this one off. I really wanted to capture why Twilight is so determined to be a Paladin, and set up some nice bits of conflict for her in the future. Enjoy!

Lesson

Surprisingly enough, Twilight wasn’t the only one who decided to wear her armor on the very first day; her three other barracks partners also showed up in full training gear, bottles of Purity gleaming upon their legs. Twilight was equally glad that they were capable of rousing themselves to be on time; her brother Shining Armor had told many a story about strict instructors punishing an entire barracks when so much as a single one of them was late for morning muster. The four unicorns were still the first new students in the mess hall, although more and more began trickling into the spacious area in short order. While the mess hall was primarily used to serve food to the students, on the very first day of a new school year it also served as the location of the orientation for the newest students. Twilight herself stood patiently off to one side, in front of a massive armored stallion that was unmistakably a paladin instructor. The other four unicorn recruits lined up to the right of her, while the rest of the students lined up in front of various other teachers. Just by glancing around Twilight recognized the battlemage, air force, and infantry instructors; however there were just as many that she did not recognize. At the front of the growing assembly was the griffon hen who was unmistakably the headmistress, Loretta Vorazun.

Finally the great doors to the hall slid shut with a muted boom and the hushed conversations slowly died away. Ignoring the wonderful smells of breakfast emanating from the cook lines on the far left and right walls, Twilight stood a little straighter as the headmistress began to speak. “Welcome, first years. Welcome to Thors Military Academy.”

Loretta’s voice was powerful, carrying easily without having to raise her voice. “I know you are all eager to get some breakfast in you before starting your first day, but allow me to get this out of the way quickly. I notice that all of you have found your instructor for whatever military occupations you plan on following. This is good. These instructors are also in charge of the first class on your schedules, so each and every morning you will report directly to those teachers as soon as breakfast is done with. These classes will also act as your homeroom, so to speak, so it is there that you will find yourself spending a great deal of time whenever you are not partaking in other classes.

“Thors Military Academy prides itself on excellence. Perform well, and you might just find yourselves fast tracked into your chosen occupation quicker than the usual three years most spend within these halls. Perform poorly, and not only will you be here for longer than the three year term but you may be informed that any sort of life in the military is not for you. Thors was founded by none other than the original King Magnum centuries ago, and we have always striven to uphold his ideals. As such, I shall simply close this morning’s statements with his founding quote that eventually became our school motto: Arise, O youth and become the foundation that supports the world. Thank you.”

With that, the headmistress retreated. Twilight decided she liked her. Short, sweet, to the point, and far more practical than most nobility. There was a sudden explosion of sound as the first year students began their conversations again. Eager to avoid the worst of the crowds that were bound to start stampeding towards the food lines, Twilight broke ranks and darted towards the closest station. Nor was she the only one to do so. The instructor she and the rest of the paladin cadets had lined up in front of joined her. He glanced down at the young unicorn from the corner of his eye and winked. “Ah, I’m glad to see I’m not the only one with some decent common sense.” His voice was oddly soft for such a massive stallion, with rich undertones sprinkling his speech.

“Uh… I suppose so, sir.”

He chuckled. “No need to get all ‘sir’ with me right now. It’s too early in the morning still for all that nonsense. Name’s Mountain Ember. Instructor Mountain Ember if we’re getting fancy, but again, it’s far too early for that.”

“Cadet Twilight Sparkle, sir.” The response came automatically, although Twilight wasn’t entirely sure why she answered in the first place. This paladin wasn’t anything like she had imagined just looking at him.

“I know,” he said a bit gruffly. “Believe it or not, your name was the first to cross my desk when they first began assembling my class for this year. Not really surprising; top marks in everything the testers threw at you, and even in some they didn’t. What was surprising was you being a unicorn.”

“Is that going to be a problem, sir?” Twilight sounded off stiffly. It was one thing to endure it from random ponies in the halls. It was another entirely to get the same treatment from the teachers.

“By Celestia, I would say its not!” Ember’s voice grew several decibels louder, drawing the attention of a few students. “Look, I don’t particularly care what race you hail from. Far as I’m concerned, you’re a paladin-in-training and that’s all that matters. I’ll admit I was a bit concerned about your overall stature and posture. Unicorns aren’t usually able to develop enough mass to wear heavy armor, much less swing the longswords and shields paladins do. But looking at you there, in your full training kit, I can safely conclude that my concerns were rather baseless. I don’t know exactly how you managed it, but you were that armor more naturally than most cadets I get.”

“Oh… I’m sorry,” Twilight did her best to hide her sheepishness as a serving pony loaded up her plate with eggs and pancakes.

“For what? Assuming that I was going to be prejudiced against you? No harm, no foul. I imagine that you get this sort of thing quite a bit, to the point where you assume that everypony is going to see you that way, right?”

“Well… yeah. How many other unicorns do you see walking around with bottles of Purity strapped to their armor?”

“Well, you’d be the first actually. And the other three cadets that are also in my class would make the grand total up to four. However, I do feel like I have to head off your line of thought a bit: You won't have to expect this sort of thing from the instructors. Our job is to teach you everything you’re going to need to know once you actually get out there on the field. For paladins especially, the turnover rate is pretty high. Lot of graduates simply can’t handle the workload after a while. For that reason as well, most instructors will also turn a blind eye to the prejudice. It sounds harsh, but if you can come to grips with it while you’re still at Thors, it’ll be much easier to deal with once you get out there in the real world. We’ll intervene if it gets to be too serious, but just like with the non-ponies that grace these halls you’ll have to learn to deal with such things on your own. Understood?”

“Yes, sir. I don’t really mind other students or even random ponies in the streets, but… thinking about my teachers cutting me down gave me a little pause,” Twilight admitted.

Ember clapped her armored shoulder. “You’ll get there, Sparkle. Don’t hesitate to come to me if you think blood will be shed over it, though. Can’t have our students trying to kill each other. I’d better be getting to the classroom to get it set up. I’ll see you there soon, cadet.”

“Yes, sir!” The young unicorn saluted her instructor as he turned smartly and moved away. His words did give her some measure of comfort. She didn’t particularly care what other students thought of her, nor did she really need friends. All that mattered was that she completed her schooling as fast as possible so she could get out there into the real world, and prevent what had happened to her from happening to other colt and fillies. Twilight had learned the hard way that the world was a cruel place, filled with all manner of cultists and shadows under the bed. Paladins were trained and equipped to deal with such things. That’s all there was to it.

The rest of her breakfast passed rather uneventfully. She seated herself at a table along one of the back walls, and by doing so made it fairly obvious that she wanted to be left alone. She caught glimpses of the other unicorns she shared her barracks with, hanging around what Twilight assumed were members of the Mage Corps. Ordinarily she might have joined them if only to discuss magical theory, but she was already almost finished with her food anyway and didn’t see the point in moving. Scooping up the last little bit of syrup covered waffles into her mouth, the young unicorn sat back before glancing at one of the many clocks along the wall. She had five minutes before the bell for home room rang, so she grabbed her empty plate in her magic, placed it within one of the return receptacles, and exited the mess hall. She had spent a good portion of time after being accepted into Thors studying a map, and as such she knew exactly where the paladin homeroom was located.

Roughly halfway to her destination the bell chimed its deep gong, announcing that students had five minutes to get to homeroom before they would be counted as tardy. There was a distant rumble behind her, of thousands upon thousands of hooves moving from the mess hall towards their respective hallways and classrooms. The sound was then promptly muted as she stepped passed the sound dampening field over the doorway of her class. Instructor Mountain Ember had clearly just finished his own breakfast, and arched an eyebrow as Twilight entered.

“Punctual, eh? That’s good. Hate to say it, but fresh paladin cadets who are late on their first day almost never make it through training. My class this year is entirely made up of baby-faced recruits, so let's see who ends up being tardy on the first day. Feel free to pick a seat, since you’re the first here.”

Twilight murmured a quick thanks before taking a desk front and center. These desks had very clearly been made in anticipation of students being garbed in full armor, but Twilight still made a mental note to look into air cushion spells if she was going to spend any real length of time sitting at a desk while in her gear. Less than a minute later other students started filtering into the room, and to Twilight’s dismay, not a single one of them had chosen to wear their full armor. A few of them even snickered at seeing the unicorn sitting right in front of the instructor, looking as though she was expecting a fight. They also made a point of taking seats behind the object of their mirth, although that mirth did die somewhat as three more armored unicorn cadets took up station on either side of Twilight in the front row. One of them, an orange mare with a fiery mane, tossed something that was a cross between a smile and a smirk Twilight’s way. Then the second bell rang, and Instructor Ember stood up.

“Well now,” he rumbled, his voice far more imposing than it had been over breakfast. “Not a single one of my newbies was late for home room on their first day.” There was a soft murmur of pride that rippled throughout the room, and he was quick to nip it in the bud. “However, I am rather displeased by the very obvious lack of proper paladin attire.”

There was a distinct pause, before a nameless recruit towards the back spoke up. “What do you mean, proper attire?”

“You will not address me unless spoken to, recruit!” Instructor Ember boomed. “And as for your question, I see all of four members of my class that appears to be taking this seriously. Would any of you care to explain to me why you’re not in armor, recruit?” None of the others dared utter a word. “Let me make this perfectly clear to you, then: All day, every day, while you are enrolled in Thors Military Academy you will be in full armor while you are on school grounds. If you cannot handle the sheer weight of a full suit of armor from the very first day, you are not cut out for the paladin profession and I won't have any qualms about booting your sorry arses out the door. Do I make myself clear?”

“Sir, yes, sir!” The entire class chanted back.

“Well, at least I won't have any issues hearing you mice. However, this does put most of you at a slight disadvantage. Today I’m going to give you a lesson you won’t soon forget: school issued armor is ill-fitting and is one of the single most uncomfortable things you’ll ever wear! Now we’re going to the obstacle course. I was going to do this later in the week, but since most of my class doesn’t seem to be taking this seriously we’re doing it today. You have five minutes to get school-issued armor from the campus armory before I expect you to be at the course. And so help me, if any of you return to your barracks to retrieve your custom fitted gear you’re done. I’ll sign your discharge papers before the end of the day. Now get moving.”

((<<.>>))

Some time later, Twilight Sparkle and her class stood at the top of a very tall cliff, the entrance to the course. Calling it an obstacle course was a bit on the generous side, of course; in reality it was essentially a “don’t die” course. At the very bottom of the cliff, hundreds of feet below, was a veritable forest teaming with hostile life. Even so far above the forest, Twilight could hear the rattling growls of Timberwolves and whuffling roars of Manticore. These sorts of monsters were what paladins were often tasked with taking care of, so it was only natural that the cadets learned how to fight said monsters. And from what Twilight’s seen of Instructor Ember, he seemed to prefer throwing new students to the literal wolves and see how they shaped up. Injuries were fairly common, but as far as Twilight knew no deaths have ever occurred.

“So,” Instructor Ember began, pitching his voice to carry over the slight wind. “Your task for today is fairly simple. Get down there into the forest. Survive the forest. Do that, and you’ll make it back tomorrow. Any questions?”

Twilight was only partially listening to his words. A greater part of her focus was staring straight down, analyzing the best way to go about her orders.

“How do we get down there? Sir?”

“Figure it out, recruit. If you don’t, you fail.”

“But sir! We’re on top of a cliff several hundred feet into the air! It's impossible to even get down there.”

“That isn’t stopping her.” Ember gestured towards Twilight Sparkle. The mare in question had already deployed her shield, and she was still staring down into the canyon. Then abruptly, she leapt off the side of the cliff and plummeted straight down. A collective cry of alarm echoed from the rest of the class as they rushed over to the edge.

Twilight fell in a controlled manner, angling her head slightly to reduce wind drying her eyes. She saw her target rapidly approaching and adjusted her training shield at the last possible moment. There was a deafening CRACK as her shield slammed into the thick trunk of the tree she had picked out, her shoulder denting the defense piece as it followed her previously forward momentum. It stung a bit, but no more than anything else she had put herself through under Spitfire’s training regime. She continued to fall down instead of forward, until her hind hooves slammed into a lower, thick limb. She rested there for a moment, poised, before letting gravity take hold of her again. She slammed down right on top of an unfortunate Timberwolf, scattering the magical construct into drywood. She stood there for a moment, getting her bearings and rotating her shoulder a bit. She could have just teleported straight down, but Spitfire had taught her fairly early on to not immediately rely on her magic for everything.

She spared a quick glance upward. The other students were mere dots by now, and none of them seemed to have any idea how to get down there. A few of the pegasi cadets would probably end up flying the rest down, but that ultimately wasn’t Twilight’s problem right now. The unicorn about-faced and moved off at a steady trot. Home room was two and a half hours long, meaning she had about two hours to survive down here. She was fairly confident in her ability to do so; Spitfire had taken her on plenty of monster hunts before. This should be fairly easy.