Avengers of Harmony

Chapters

A Strange New World
An Announcement
Pairing Up
First Lessons
Awakening
Working Together
An Unexpected Battle

A Strange New World

Ingar Magnusson walked through halls crowded with ponies, their bright colors swirling around him like an endless sea. He glanced down a hallway as he passed. Was that the direction he needed to go? He couldn't remember. He'd made so many turns. Head back and to the right, that was what the pony at the front of the school had said. But which way was back, anymore? Which way was right? All the halls looked the same. Had he seen that door before?

The looks he kept getting from the ponies didn't help. Hadn't they heard about the Asgardian refugees living in Equestria? How one of them was coming to the School, as a diplomatic gesture?

A diplomatic gesture that pulled him from his home, his family and his friends...

“We can’t be isolated,” King Thor had told him. “We all need to get out of our comfort zones and make friends with the ponies, and all the creatures, who inhabit this new world of ours.”

He’d just said that to make Ingar feel better. Maybe they ‘all’ needed to get out of their comfort zones, but Ingar didn’t see anyone else leaving everyone they’d ever known and the new city that already looked like home to attend school with hundreds of complete strangers.

“It won’t be so bad once you get used to it,” his father, Magnus, god of strength, had said. “You’ll make friends and settle in quickly.”

How was he supposed to do that? Just pick someone… somepony… out of all the students in the entire school? Strike up a conversation and hope for the best? He couldn’t meet everyone, so how was he supposed to decide who he would meet?

“You won’t be alone!” his mother had said. “There are lots of other students attending the school from all kinds of cultures. I’m sure they’re struggling to fit in with ponies, too!”

If that was true, he didn’t see any of them. Just ponies, as far as the eye could see. Some had wings, some had horns, some had neither. Some were sparkly, and he could almost see through them. Some of them had stripes. It didn’t matter. They were all ponies. Young though he was, he towered over them all.

He grumbled to himself and adjusted his satchel. Stupid school. Stupid Thor, sending him here. Stupid Hela and Surtur, destroying… destroying his home…

He wasn’t going to cry. He was a god, for Odin’s sake! He was a member of the proud race of Aesir, he wasn’t going to let a little homesickness bother him!

He turned around yet another corner. Might as well. He was thoroughly, thoroughly lost, but maybe eventually he'd stumble back out into the front of the school, where he could get directions again. There was a map hanging up in the front of the school, probably to help lost students--but it didn't help much when they had to go off memory.

What was that he was passing--a bathroom? He was pretty sure that was what the sign meant. One of the ponies had mentioned that before, he was pretty sure. Maybe the purple one. They marked their bathrooms with silhouettes of mares and stallions.

Was he supposed to use a pony bathroom? How did pony bathrooms even work? Questions for another time. He felt awkward enough already. More concerning was the fact that he'd passed it before. Or maybe he was thinking of another, identical bathroom.

He reached another intersection and turned left, more for the sake of it than anything else. He'd heard ponies were very friendly. Any of them would be willing to help him, he was sure. But that meant picking someone, somepony, out of the crowd to ask. Picking some... pony to inconvenience. Maybe, if he just looked as lost as possible, somepony would notice and offer to help him. It would still be awkward, but at least he wouldn't have to ask.

Another corner. He stood there for a while, looking down both ways, perhaps overly dramatizing it. He was uncomfortably aware of ponies' eyes on him, but none of them were bold enough to talk to him. He moved off down the right path.

Just as he turned, it occurred to him that he was going about it all wrong. No wonder he was going in circles, if he kept turning randomly! If he kept going in a straight line, he was sure to hit something. He might at least find the edge of the school, maybe somewhere with windows, and if he went along the outside wall, he was sure to reach the front again. Or perhaps the headmare's office--the place he was supposed to be going in the first place--would be on the edge. A boy could hope.

The hallway dead-ended up ahead, reaching another, perpendicular hallway, but not continuing through it. The light in the perpendicular hall seemed a little bit different, warmer, more natural. There was a door set in the wall. Ingar picked up the pace, aiming for the door, and without thinking he reached to open it.

He burst out into the sunlight, and a wide grassy field opened up before him. This was definitely not the front of the school--he couldn't even remember seeing it from there! But at least he was outside now, so maybe if he went around the building he'd find his way.

Before he could continue on this train of thought, though, he noticed the ponies who were out on the field. Their laughter drifted towards him, and a ball bounced between them--they must have been playing some sort of game. But what really caught his attention was the ponies themselves. More specifically, they weren't ponies, at least not all of them. As he took notice of them, they also took notice of him, and the ball fell into their midst as their attention turned from their game.

Maybe his mother had been right after all. There were other creatures at the school than just ponies! As they began trotting and flying interestedly towards him, he looked them up and down, trying to describe each one. There was a normal pony, and then a large and furry creature, equally grounded. One flew on thin, clear wings that buzzed, and with her pupil-less eyes, she almost looked like an insect in the shape of a pony, rather than a pony itself. There was a small dragon--that he recognized--and two creatures with front halves like birds, and backs of a pony and a lion. Altogether, it made up for quite an assorted party.

"Hi!" said the front-half-bird-back-half-pony, who'd gotten ahead of the rest. "I'm Silverstream! Who are you? What are you? Wait, oh no, is that rude?"

"No, perfectly reasonable," Ingar said. The creature seemed very excitable, but friendly enough, and he didn't want to make her feel upset. "My name is Ingar Magnusson, and I come from Asgard. Well, New Asgard, I suppose."

Silverstream gasped. "OHMYGOSH! I heard about the Asgard refugees, and that made me so sad, because I know what it's like to flee from your home, and I wished there was something I could do, but no one told me they were going to be at the school! And now I get to meet one! And be their friend so it won't be so sad! This is so great!" She reared up and tackled him in a hug, wrapping her wings around his body. He tensed, startled, and she pulled back. "Sorry! Sorry. I get excited. But it's great to meet you!"

"Ingar, huh?" the dragon said. "I'm Smolder." When the others looked at her, she sighed and pointed to each of them in turn. "Yona, Sandbar, Gallus, and Ocellus." The dragon scowled at her companions. "There, ya happy now?" Ingar could only nod vaguely and hope he would remember all the names.

"We were just playing a game of buckball," the pony--Sandbar--said. "Care to join us?"

Ingar would be a fool to turn down the offer. It could be the first step in making friends with the only creatures he might, someday, fit in with. "I'd be honored, although... I do not know how to play."

"Oh, we can teach you!" Ocellus chirped eagerly. "Come on, it's really simple!"

Ingar tipped his head. "As you wish. Lead on."

"Ooh, you talk so old-fashioned!" Silverstream giggled. "Wait, no, was that bad again? I keep saying such stupid things!"

"It's fine," Ingar said, trying to pretend it didn't sting a little. More than he wanted to admit. But it wasn't her fault, it had just slipped out.

Gallus flapped back towards the field and picked up the ball they'd been throwing around. "There are two teams in buckball, each with three positions."

Smolder grabbed the ball out of his claws. "They were designed for the three types of ponies--earth ponies, pegasi, and unicorns."

Smolder tossed the ball down to Yona, who understood without missing a beat. "Earth ponies buck ball!" she exclaimed. "That where name come from!" She kicked out, launching the ball into the air.

Silverstream swooped over and caught it. "Pegasi try to keep the ball from reaching the unicorns behind them! Then they toss it down to the earth pony on their team." She dropped it to Sandbar, who bucked it across the field.

Ocellus levitated a basket into the air and caught the ball in it. "The unicorns try to catch the ball. If they do, it's a score for their team!"

"Interesting." It was an easy game to follow, for which Ingar was grateful. There was just one problem. "But it appears to be for only six players."

Six pairs of eyes blinked awkwardly back at him. Someone mumbled "Oh," but Ingar didn't see who.

"It's all right," he said. "Perhaps- Maybe I'll just watch for a while. To make sure I understand the flow of the game."

"You can be referee!" Silverstream suggested eagerly. "We've been needing someone to start us off!" She grabbed the ball out of Ocellus's basket and tossed it to him. "You bounce it on the ground between the 'earth pony' players, and then it's easier to start the game."

He shrugged. "All right."

He tossed the ball into the air. It peaked, red against the blue sky, then fell. It bounced weakly a few times, never higher than a few inches. Soon it was rolling slowly off the court.

Sandbar stopped it with a back hoof, then kicked it across the ground back towards Ingar. "Guess we should've been more specific. Throw it against the ground so it actually bounces."

"Oh. I'm sorry." Ingar leaned down clumsily and picked it up.

"Hey, it's all cool. We didn't tell you any better."

Ingar nodded awkwardly and straightened. "All right. Here it comes." His parents had told him that he would be stronger than the average mortal. He should probably throw it pretty gently. Lightly, he tossed it downwards. Again, it barely bounced. "Sorry. I'll throw it harder."

He tried for something relatively balanced this time. Not no-effort, but not his full strength either. The ball soared above both Sandbar's and Yona's heads, and nearly topped his before it arced back down to the earth. Yona was ready for it and bucked it as it fell, and the game began. The ball flew back and forth so rapidly Ingar could barely follow it, but with a sudden thunk it vanished into Ocellus's bucket.

She pulled it out in her magic and passed it to Ingar, and when his hands touched the ball, he could feel her aura. It flowed over his hands like water, cool but not cold, and tiny sparks drifted in it and tingled as they brushed past his hands. It was bursting with energy, and the hair on the back of his neck stood up. Then her aura faded, and the feeling passed.

He shook himself and bounced the ball again, a bit carelessly. It drifted off to the side. Sandbar still bucked it squarely and sent it straight to Silverstream. His mind wasn't on the match, though--it was caught on that feeling of magic. He barely noticed that Smolder was holding the ball out to him until she practically waved it in his face.

After that, he started paying attention again, and within a few more rounds was feeling pretty comfortable with the way the game worked. He certainly understood it well enough to replace someone as goalkeeper, the only part he could really imitate--Smolder held the bucket in her hands, so he certainly could as well.

But nobody offered to let him exchange. And he was still a stranger, while they were all friends--what right did he have to ask them to move for him?

So he kept bouncing the ball, until they decided to end the game. Then they all agreed to get lunch at the cafeteria, and they invited him to join them--after, he noticed, they'd already discussed what they were doing next. It wasn't that Ingar objected to going. In fact, he was getting very hungry. And he suspected they hadn't even noticed.

It was a start. But he was far from part of the group yet.

Author's Note

You are currently running AU version 2.0. Features:
-Kept Quicksilver alive
-Upgraded Rainbow Dash with Iron Man suit
-Upgraded Scootaloo with Spiderman suit
-Added magical books like Sunset's, linking ponies and Avengers
-Upgraded Twilight's mane and power levels
-Upgraded Discord to Harmony
-Removed Thanos
-Added Asgardian Refugees to Equestria area

An Announcement

“Thank you all for coming.” Headmare Twilight reared up and put her front hooves on the podium as the last students filled into their seats. “I’m sorry to call the entire student body together on such short notice, but it’s something of an emergency.” A pink glow lifted a sheet of paper from the podium up to her face. “As those of you who have been studying should remember, the first time my friends and I worked together was when we were defeating Nightmare Moon. Princess Luna recovered from the effects of the Nightmare on her body and mind, but she feared it might not be defeated.” The Headmare shuffled her hastily-prepared notes. “When it bonded with her, she remembered it let out a pulse of magic, so she kept monitoring for that same signature, which theoretically would inform her if it had bonded again.”

Twilight sighed deeply. “And she’s just reported that another, identical pulse of magic appeared, sometime within the last 24 hours. Right now, we don’t know what the Nightmare’s goal is, but we’re afraid it might involve the school. The Nightmare seems to be attracted to anger and resentment, and we teachers have certainly made some enemies. The lure of revenge is strong. With this in mind, I think it’s wise to tell you all everything I know about the Nightmare, just in case it tries to attack us again. Knowledge, after all, is the best defense.”

She tapped her index cards twice on the podium, straightening them, and lifted the top one off, glancing at it occasionally, but mostly speaking from memory. “Before the universe began, before there was space or time, there were six singularities, each with a magic greater and deeper than we can even comprehend. But then-”

In a blur of technicolor light, Rainbow Dash was in Twilight’s face. “Can we do the Clopp’s Notes version? We’ve got classes in fifteen minutes, and the story is kinda long.”

“You don't even know how long it is!” Twilight protested. “You fell asleep when I was telling you about it!”

Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Yeah. ‘Cause it was long. Clopp’s Notes, Twilight.”

“Fiiine.” Rainbow Dash retreated to her seat, and Twilight cleared her throat and continued, skipping ahead by several note cards. “In the beginning of the universe, there were two beings, more powerful than anyone who’s been born since. Their names were Infinity and Harmony.”

Ocellus waved her hoof. “Ooh, ooh! Are they related to the Infinity Stones and Elements of Harmony?”

Twilight nodded, smiling. “That’s right! A shame somepony told me to skip that part, it’s fascinating…” She sighed. “Be that as it may, they were there in the beginning of the universe, and it wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to describe them as gods. Infinity wanted everything to be preserved, unchanging, but Harmony wanted new and different things, working together as one, not being one. They clashed often, and usually ended up with a compromise, but overall, they were friends. Maybe more. Then, at some unknown point… they both fell. They became less, darker--I would say corrupted, but there wasn’t an outside force affecting them. Both of them became less powerful, but also evil. Infinity would rather have had no life at all, a perfect unchanging void, than allow even a little bit of chaos. Harmony didn’t care if different things worked together, and actually preferred them to clash, total chaos forever, constant quarreling. And, since they’d both lost so much power, they came down to just one planet, instead of spreading over the entire universe. They came to Equestria, and ponies started to call them by new names… the Nightmare, and Discord.”

Murmuring broke out among the students. Headmare Twilight waved a hoof to quell it. “Recently, Discord was able to regain himself and become Harmony again… but I’m sure I don't have time to talk about that,” she added, with a glare towards Professor Dash, who was already yawning. “Suffice it to say that it took a very dramatic gesture to bring him back. We can’t count on being able to reform the Nightmare.

“Which means that, now that she’s come back, we’ll be keeping an eye out. I mean, it should be pretty easy to spot--she’s got a tendency to dramatically change ponies’ appearances. It’s completely possible she’ll ignore the school altogether, but we really can’t count on that. And, of course, there’s a few other security measures, of the ‘surprise’ type that generally doesn’t get explained in front of a large crowd. I’m sure you understand.” She cleared her throat and looked around the room. "Now, if you're wondering what you can do to help... just keep an eye out. If you see somepony who looks different, maybe with a mane that floats in the air, a darker color scheme, or a taller body, let one of your professors know. I know we don't have a lot to go on right now--everything we know is nebulous. Just keep your eyes out for something suspicious. If you see something, say something!"

Gallus rolled his eyes. "How are we supposed to see something if we don't know what we're looking for?"

Twilight sighed. "Like I said, I know we don't have a lot to go on. But the main thing we're watching for is unusual appearance and behavior, and as much as we'd like to, we don't know every student in the school. But you all know each other. This is a school of friendship, right? You know your friends. Don't be overly suspicious, but be aware. Let us know if there are any issues." She smiled. “Any other questions? Yes, Professor Dash?”

“Yeah, uh, why are we still here?”

Headmare Twilight rolled her eyes. “All right, assembly dismissed. You can return to your normal classes.”

Ingar stood and stretched as the students began to file out of the room. He looked over at his—maybe not friends, yet, but the group that he spent time with. Silverstream gave him a cheerful wave from across the room. He waved back, then made a shooing motion with his hands. Go ahead.

Headmare Twilight was stacking her notes back up when he approached her. She looked up. “Ingar! Our newest student! How can I help you?”

He shuffled his feet awkwardly. “Well- um- Well, Headmare, your school is amazing, and I’d like to thank you for allowing me to come here.”

“Oh!” She smiled. He hadn’t been finished, so she was really interrupting, but he was sure she hadn’t noticed. “You’re welcome! This school is meant to represent all the creatures of Equus, so now that your people are living here, it was only natural to invite one of them as a student. Are you adjusting well to the change, or are you homesick? Are you making friends? All of your professors are here for you if you need anything.”

He shook his head. “I was homesick at first… and lost. Very lost. But then I met a group of six creatures of all sorts. I might not fit in among ponies, but I fit in with them.”

Twilight’s eyes widened. “Did you say six?”

“Uh… yes?”

Her horn flared, and a paper and quill floated in front of her face. “Yes, of course, the other foreign students… I should have thought of this before… this is a great idea! I can’t believe I didn’t-”

Ingar cleared his throat awkwardly. “Uh, Headmare, there was something else I wanted to talk about.”

“Oh!” Sheepishly, she tucked the paper away. “Sorry! Sorry. I got carried away. What’s on your mind?”

“I… This school is amazing, but… When I came here, there was one thing I was hoping to learn, above all else, and none of the classes are telling me.”

Twilight cocked her head interestedly. “Oh? What’s that?”

He took a deep breath. There was nothing for it but to take the plunge. “…magic.”

“Hmm.” Twilight tapped her hoof on her chin, thinking. “One second.” Her horn flashed even brighter, and there was a faint pop. A stack of paper appeared out of thin air in front of her. She flipped through the pages for a moment. “Aha! Yeah, that’s what I thought. We were planning to start a class in magic—elective, of course—next year. Assuming you, as an Asgardian, are able to mimic pony magic, unicorn magic specifically, you can feel free to join us. But don’t you all have magic of your own? You should be learning that, and I can’t teach it to you.”

Ingar looked down, rubbing his arm. “No one can,” he mumbled.

Twilight tipped her ears forward. “What?”

“No one can!” he snapped. “Asgardian magic is all special and unique. The king shoots lightning. His crazy brother creates illusions. My dad is really, really strong. But they’re all different, and nobody can help me find mine. It’s supposed to ‘come in its own time’, but everyone else had theirs when they were my age. But all ponies have magic, all the same magic. So I thought… maybe I could learn that instead.”

Headmare Twilight smiled sympathetically. “Of course. Every foal goes through that with their cutie mark. Here, I’ll tell you what. I’ll tutor you in magic for now, so that when magic classes start next year, you’ll be at the same level as everypony else. Now you should get to class. But…” She winked as she turned away. “…I might have a surprise for you and your friends soon.”

Author's Note

Sorry this is so late in the day, guys! I try to update on Saturdays but I was crazy busy today. :twilightblush:

Pairing Up

“I bet you’re all wondering why you’re here,” Headmare Twilight began, pacing back and forth.

“Uh, yeah,” Gallus said. “Because you gave no explanation.”

They were standing on a wide stretch of grass beside the school. Behind Twilight were all the professors. They were standing across from the small group of students, making two lines that faced each other.

“As I’m sure you know, my friends and I have been to another world a few times, and what we saw there was intriguing. The people there had no Elements of Harmony to defend their world, so they chose a few special people to do it—people with unusual powers or great training. Superheroes.”

“Are you gonna go through the entire backstory, Twilight?” Professor Dash interrupted.

“I’m being dramatic!” Twilight snapped back. “It’s cool!” She cleared her throat. “Well, anyway, all of us think that Equestria could use some superheroes of its own, for smaller problems—or for a backup plan. We’ve been looking for just the right group to train for the task… and we think you fit the bill. Only if you want to, of course.”

Silverstream gasped and put her hands against her face. “No way! You want us to be superheroes? THIS IS SO COOL!”

Smolder shrugged. “Sounds cool. I’m down.”

Ingar’s mouth just dropped. “You want me… to be a defender for all of Equestria?”

“I can’t think of a better team,” Headmare Twilight said warmly. “But even though we’ll do our best to keep it from affecting your studies, it will make your lives much busier, and there is a possibility your grades will suffer.” She looked at Ocellus, easily the most studious of the bunch, as she said it.

“This is the opportunity of a lifetime,” said Ocellus. “Not just for us, but for all our nations. I don’t see how we could refuse.”

“Then it’s settled.” Twilight beamed. “I was hoping you’d agree. Ooh, this is so exciting!” She reared up and clapped her hooves together, then settled down quickly. “Ahem. Uh, each of your teachers has a special friendship with one of those superheroes from another world. We’ll each spend some time with one of you, one-on-one, teaching you some of our own techniques and some of the humans’, helping you refine your own unique style. So we’re going to go down the line and explain a little more about ourselves and our friends, and you can choose who you want to learn from. Sound good?”

“That sounds GREAT!” Silverstream shouted, and the others nodded in agreement.

“Ooh, ooh, can I go first? Can I can I can I?” Pinkie Pie asked, and Twilight gave a nod of approval. “Okay! If you’re with me, you’re gonna learn some totally amazing stuff! You can learn to make your own party cannon and a secret party cave and hop around through reality and also bake! And maybe…” She put a hoof next to her mouth and stage whispered. “…maybe I’ll even teach you to shoot lightning like Thor! With your hair!”

“Ooh,” said Ocellus.

"With your hair?" Silverstream asked, tilting her head.

"Yep! That's why I always carry a battery in my tail!" She turned around and waved her tail in the air. It was sparking with electricity.

Before Silverstream could ask another question, Rainbow Dash stepped forward. “If you want to be the coolest pony—er, or creature—in the whole school, I’m your mare! I learned from Tony Stark, the awesomest egghead on the planet Earth, and I made a super suit that can take on the toughest of tough bad guys, even with almost no magic!”

Twilight coughed. It sounded a great deal like, “I helped.”

“Okay, Twilight did help me make it,” Rainbow Dash admitted sheepishly. “But I’m the one using it! And between the two of us, we can make something just as cool for you too!”

Fluttershy cleared her throat awkwardly. “Um, I ended up with Clint Barton. He goes by Hawkeye sometimes. He’s an incredibly skilled archer with a lot of trick arrows. I learned to shoot because of him, and I can teach you too. And I’m not sure if I can teach you to talk to animals, but I can definitely try!”

“Ah learned from a man called Steve Rogers,” Applejack drawled. “He’s stronger and faster than anybody ‘round. Now, Ah can’t make you that, but Ah can sure make you strong. Ah can teach you to buck like nopony’s business. And Ah can teach you to make your own shield, just like his, and just like mine.” She reached backwards and pulled a round wooden disk off her back. “Nothin’ better to use in battle than what you made with your own two hooves.”

Rarity tossed her mane. “If you want to learn a more elegant style of combat, with less brutish force and more precision and style, I’m your mare, darling. With me you’ll learn to fight hoof-to-hoof like the famed assassin Natasha Romanov, as well as my own twist, tactical fashion—clothes that help you look fabulous and fight well, blinding your opponents, hiding blades, or any number of other things.”

Finally, Headmare Twilight spoke. “I’ve already agreed to teach Ingar magic. Despite my friendship with Bruce Banner, also known as the Hulk, I will not be teaching any of you to turn into giant green monsters. But if you study and commit yourself, you can be just as much of a powerhouse.” She stepped back into the line, and others shuffled slightly to bring it back to even. “We’ve all spoken,” Twilight said. “It’s time to make your choices.”

“Ooh!” Silverstream bounced up and down. “I want Professor Pie to be my teacher! I want to learn about parties and lightning!”

“Yesss…” Pinkie Pie whispered dramatically. “Come with me, young padawan, and I shall teach you the way of the Party.”

Gallus raised an eyebrow. “Well, I think archery would be easier for someone with, y’know, fingers. And good eyesight. I’ve got both, so I’ll go with Fluttershy.”

“Yona want to learn strength! Applejack teach Yona?”

“Ah’d be happy to, Sugarcube.”

There was a brief pause. “Well,” Ingar said, more to fill the silence than anything, “I guess I’m already with Headmare Twilight.”

Smolder shrugged. “Professor Dash sounds kinda cool. I don’t see why not.”

Ocellus and Sandbar both started to speak, then stopped and looked at each other. “You go first,” Ocellus said.

“No, no, go ahead.”

Twilight looked between them in confusion, then suddenly smacked her hoof against her face with great force. “I can’t believe it! I’m an idiot!” She rubbed the site of the impact with a wince. “I got so excited when I heard the number six that I didn’t stop to think, I just got carried away with the planning… Ingar said he had six friends, not that there were six of them all together!”

“I’m sure it’ll be okay,” Fluttershy said softly. “Surely one of us could teach two students.”

Twilight sighed. “Yes, you’re right. It’s not a disaster.” She took a deep breath with a hoof to her chest, then exhaled and pointed outwards. “We can still make this work.”

“In that case…” Sandbar said slowly, “I would like to learn from Rarity. I think it would be fun to make clothing with a purpose.”

“Ocellus, would you like to join me?” Twilight suggested. “I’m sure you’d be dedicated to your studies and pick it up quickly. You and Ingar could learn together!”

“Oh, I wouldn’t want to make it harder for him,” Ocellus said, buzzing her wings awkwardly. “He’s never done magic before, so he needs all the time you can give him. I’d just be in the way.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, I’d be happy to have you! Any of the others would too. It’s your choice.”

“But I don’t want to be in anyone’s way!” Ocellus complains.

Twilight opened her mouth to object again, but a noise caught her attention, and she perked up her ears. A faint whirring was coming from the town, growing louder and closer each moment.

As they all turned to see what it was, a red speck appeared on the horizon. It quickly resolved into a small filly in a funny red suit, propelling a scooter forward with the force of her wings, creating that buzzing noise. As she drew near to them, she swerved the scooter to bring it to a rapid halt, but, preserving her own momentum, leaped from it. A strand of white string flew from her hoof to a tree, and she swung, releasing at just the right point to land right in front of the group, in line with the professors. “Hey, guys!” said Scootaloo, aka Spidermare. “I heard the superheroes were figuring out who to train for what. I’m not late, am I?”

Ocellus’s mouth curled into a smile. “Actually, I think you’re right on time.”

First Lessons

Twilight stood in front of a blackboard of rather intimidating size. Ingar hoped she wouldn’t cover the entire thing. He wasn’t sure he’d ever be able to learn that much.

“For a young foal,” Twilight began, “parents start with the practical aspects, and the theory comes later. We can try that, but I’m not sure you have the instincts required to learn to channel magic without understanding it first. And most of the exercises for foals involve focusing on the magical pathways in the horn, which, you know, you don’t really have. We can try to adapt them and see if they’re useful, but there’s no guarantee.”

“I thought you said you could teach me!” he burst out, unable to stop himself.

“We can,” Twilight said. “It just might take a while. If the basic exercises don’t get you anywhere, we’ll need to dive into the theory. You’ll cast magic better when you understand how it works.”

He looked back up at the massive blackboard and swallowed hard. “But we try the simple way first?”

“That’s right. Now, hold your hands out in front of you. Cup them—perfect. Close your eyes. Picture a ball of light between your hands. Focus on it. Will it into existence. Feel the magical center of your body…”

Pinkie Pie paced back and forth across the room like a drill sergeant. Silverstream tried to stand up as straight as she could.

“So,” her professor said. “You want to learn to fight.”

She’d seen General Seaspray do this a time or two, and she knew the right response. “MA’AM YES MA’AM!”

“You think you’re strong enough? You think you can handle it?”

“MA’AM YES MA’AM!”

“You think you’re ready to face what the world has to throw at you?”

“MA’AM YES MA’AM!”

Silverstream blinked, and Pinkie, who had been on the other side of the room, was suddenly right in her face. “WELL YOU’RE WRONG!” Silverstream felt her feathers ruffle in the wind from the shout. She blinked again, and Pinkie was still in front of her, but a reasonable distance away. “You’re not strong enough, and you’re not ready. But with my help… you will be.”

“Uh… yes ma’am?” Silverstream tried uncertainly.

For a moment, Pinkie smiled breezily, her tone light and cheerful. “Well, either that or you’ll descend into madness from seeing things beyond mortal sight.” She shrugged nonchalantly. “But hey, those are the risks you take, right?”

Silverstream blinked and said nothing. Really, what could she have said?

“Anywhoo.” Pinkie stretched out, then snapped back into that serious, military pace. “Some of what I teach you will be strange. You’ll think you don’t need to learn it. But know this…” Suddenly, she was far too close again. Silverstream hadn’t blinked. “I may act silly. I may make mistakes sometimes.” She leaned even closer, whispering now. A few of the lights in the classroom dimmed, creating a dramatic effect. Silverstream tried to stand straight and unmoving. “But I never do something without a reason. Do you understand?”

“Yes, ma’am!” Silverstream chirped, voice high with nerves.

Pinkie Pie pulled back, and the lights flickered back on. She smiled. Silverstream thought her mane might even have been curlier than before. “Great! Then let’s get started!”

Scootaloo buzzed up to Twilight’s castle to find Ocellus waiting for her. “I don’t have a suit for you yet,” she said apologetically, “but I wanted to teach you to swing around first. I know you can fly, but it’s a more unpredictable way to move, and in a fight that makes it safer.” She tossed a small tube like a long bracelet to Ocellus. “I’ll use one, and you can use one, until you have your own suit. Deal?”

“Actually…” Ocellus reached into her saddlebags and pulled out a book. “I decided to do some research before our first class, into exactly what real spider silk is made of. Changelings are used to making all kinds of different goops and slimes, so I knew I could make it internally if I just knew what to eat. Professor Pie helped me figure it out.”

“Pinkie Pie?” Scootaloo asked incredulously.

“Well, yeah! Chemistry is just fancy baking, that’s what she says!” Ocellus’s wings buzzed eagerly. “Anyway, it only took me a few hours of practice to learn to shoot them out of my hooves. Now I’m ready to go!”

Scootaloo rubbed the back of her neck with a hoof. “Feels a little awkward when the student is more prepared than the teacher,” she mumbled.

Ocellus shrugged. “That doesn’t mean I have your expertise. I mean, you’ve been in actual battles!”

“Two. Two actual battles. Both of which I lost.”

“Yeah, but you fought! I didn’t do anything. I was barely a grub when the changelings started sharing love, I wasn’t even in the same room with Queen Chrysalis where all the transformations threw her back and destroyed the throne!” She drooped a little. “The most important thing I’ve ever done is coming to this school in the first place.”

“Hey.” Scootaloo put her hoof under Ocellus’s chin and lifted it up. “So neither of us are that experienced. I’m younger than my own student, and you haven’t done much of note yet. But isn’t that why we’re here in the first place?” When Ocellus tilted her head, Scootaloo clarified, “To learn! I’ve never taught anypony—or anycreature—before, and you haven’t had any experience in battle, so this will help both of us, right?”

Ocellus nodded, more determined. “Right. And I can’t wait to learn!”

“Me either!” Scootaloo agreed. “So let’s get started!”

Rarity bustled into the classroom, a large bag of fabric suspended by her side in her magical aura. “I hope you don’t mind, darling, but I only bought the most horrendous fabric I could find for you to practice with. Otherwise, I was afraid I’d get caught in a whirlwind of inspiration, and you might find yourself with nothing to practice your sewing on!” She set the bag down on the counter.

“Nah, that seems fine,” Sandbar said, poking his nose into the bag. Swirls of green and orange filled his vision, competing with each other for which could be the most blindingly bright color. “I mean, this stuff is hideous, but that just makes it easier to ruin, right?”

“Exactly so. And I’m afraid you’ll be doing a good deal of ruining at the start.” She pulled a short length of the fabric from the top of the pile. A spark of magic ran down it, shearing it off from the rest. “Hoof-stitching, or horn-stitching, is more elegant and shows more care in your work, but it’s also irregular for beginners, and—frankly—takes a great deal of time. Even I use a sewing machine for all but my most delicate work. You can see I’ve already set up two machines, one for me to demonstrate and one for you to follow along.”

Sandbar trotted over to the machines. Even his untrained eyes could tell this was a high-quality machine. Every inch of it was crafted with care, the casing a shiny red with swirling gold designs. It had clearly been used but taken care of lovingly, cleaned and polished regularly. “Woah,” he said.

“Indeed.” Rarity slid into one chair and gestured to the other, which he took readily. “Now, you feel that pedal on the floor beneath your hoof? That controls the machine. It takes a delicate touch, so I can’t expect you to pick it up immediately.” Her horn glowed, and a spool of thread unwound itself and wrapped intricately around different parts of the machine, neatly flowing through the eye of the needle and coming to rest. “The machine is complex to thread, so for your first lesson I’ll do it, but I’ll expect you to learn next time. Now, try to just make a very straight line. Set the knob to the lowest speed, and feed the fabric in from front to back.”

He followed all her instructions carefully, then with a wince tapped the pedal. The machine roared, pulling the fabric through his hooves in a rush. He jerked backwards. “It’s, uh, touchy.”

“Takes time to learn, darling,” Rarity said, pushing on the pedal in a steady, even motion. “Gentle touch, remember?”

“Gentle. Yeah.” He took a deep breath and gave it the gentlest possible tap, then immediately brought his hoof off of it. It took another short jump. Hesitantly, he repeated the action, making sure to keep the fabric straight. The machine progressed in tiny hops.

“Most beginners are uncomfortable with long distances at first,” Rarity encouraged. “You’re doing very well. You’ll grow faster and smoother much more quickly than you think.”

He looked down at the shaky line growing across the fabric. It looked awful, and it wasn’t even a seam. But she apparently thought he was pretty standard for a beginner, maybe even… good?

He would take it.

The bell over the door dinged merrily as Fluttershy and Gallus entered the shop. “I’m very sorry about this,” Fluttershy was saying. “I just didn’t have much time to prepare for having a student, and really you need to be sure it’s the right size anyway, and…”

“It’s okay, Professor.” Gallus waved his hand. “I’m interested to see what an archery store is like anyway.”

An old earth pony, with white hair and a mustache, trotted cheerfully out of the back and slid behind the counter. “Welcome, strangers! Well, a stranger and Fluttershy. What can I do for ya?”

Fluttershy puffed up with pride. “I’m teaching Gallus archery! He needs a bow, and some arrows that fit him.”

“That fit me?” Gallus repeated skeptically. “I’m not trying on clothing, here.”

“No, but they have to be the right length for your legs, y’see,” the stallion said amiably. “If they’re too short, they’ll fall right through the bow as soon as you draw it!”

Gallus shrugged, not really caring to contest the point with an expert. “So, what do I need?”

“Recurve is a good way to start,” the proprietor suggested. “Not so complicated as a compound bow, not as large and unwieldy as a longbow. Best way for a beginner.”

“I still use one anyway!” Fluttershy chimed in. “I just like it better!”

“Lots of ponies think it feels more ‘natural’ than a compound,” the stallion agreed. “I think either works fine.”

“Wow, I never knew this stuff was so complicated!” Gallus said. “I thought it was kinda just… point and shoot.” As soon as he said it, it sounded silly.

“Well, not if you want good results,” the stallion said, but not unkindly. Stretching, he walked out from behind the counter. Gallus noticed, with some confusion, that his cutie mark actually had nothing to do with archery—it was a pencil on what looked like a blank comic strip, with three empty squares in a line.

Before he could think too hard about that, the pony was trotting across the store to some racks of bows. To Gallus, they looked like the letter S with an extra curve, but the curve in the middle was longest. They were smooth and elegant, like something he might see on a sheet of music. “Let’s try a few of these on for size.” The shopkeeper looked Gallus up and down, then picked one from the middle and handed it to him.

Gallus reared up to use both his forefeet and pulled back on the string. It was harder than he expected, but he got it past his beak. The shopkeeper watched, then nodded. “It’s a good fit, but you’re going to have to work hard on his poise. Try… this arrow. Pull your arm back, put your other one forward, and hold it along the length of the second arm.”

Gallus did as instructed. The arrow barely reached past the tips of his claws. “Is that good?”

The stallion nodded. “That’s perfect. Fluttershy? How many arrows?”

“Twenty.”

“Twenty?” He whistled. “What’s the kid doing, going into battle?”

“Maybe.”

“Maybe?” He grabbed a mouthful of arrows from the rack and headed back to the counter. “What’s ‘maybe’ mean?”

“Uh… not for a long time, hopefully?”

“Hopefully. Well that’s great.” He rang up the total. “Twenty arrows and one recurve… that’ll be a hundred bits.”

“Twilight gave me an official grant for the purpose,” Fluttershy whispered to Gallus, reaching into her saddlebags to pull out a large bag of bits. The transaction was quick, and before Gallus knew it, they were leaving. “Thanks, Mister Lee!” Fluttershy called behind her.

“So, was that it?” Gallus asked hopefully.

“It?” Fluttershy pranced in place. “We’re just starting!”

Gallus groaned.

Yona’s brow furrowed in concentration. Her hoof kept shaking, but she forced it to steady. The small block of wood in front of her stared up into her face, challenging her. She glared right back down at it. Yona will show you, she thought. Yona will make smoothest line in history!

The knife in her hoof slid into the wood and made a long, thin cut. It wobbled and wavered. The wood mocked her. I defeated you, it said. You couldn’t make it straight.

Her eyebrows lowered in anger. “Not… perfect…” she growled under her breath.

“Now, Yona, you’re still a beginner,” Applejack began over her shoulder. “It’s not a bad cut if you’ve never carved bef-“

“YAK SMASH!” she shouted, rearing up and driving her hooves onto the block. It broke into shards. She leaped up and down, destroying the stupid mocking block and the stupid crooked line, until all that was left was splinters. Dust shaken from the hay on the barn floor glittered in sunbeams from the windows.

Applejack blinked slowly at all the destruction. “Um,” she said. “Why don’t we take a break?”

Yona gestured proudly to the pile of splinters and sawdust. “Is already broken!”

“No, Ah mean… maybe we should try somethin’ else. Oh, Ah’ve got an idea! Before you carve your own shield, you should understand how one handles, right? Maybe you should try mine out a little, and get a feel for it. Can’t expect you to learn everything about it only after you make the thing, right?”

Yona’s eyes gleamed. “Yona get to try shield?”

“Sure thing, sugarcube! Just aim and throw, like a frisbee!”

“What frisbee?”

“Well, uh… Ah guess that metaphor ain’t useful for you, huh?” She mimed the motions. “You move your front leg across your chest and curve the hoof in, and the hoof is holdin’ the frisbee, or the shield, in this case. And then you just snap that whole leg out forward-” She demonstrated, whipping her leg out and opening the wrist. “-and release!”

Yona mirrored her motions, readying the shot. Applejack’s eyes widened with sudden alarm.

“Uh, but maybe we shouldn’t do it-”

Yona threw. The shield flew into a support beam with a crack, bounced off of it to hit a wall, bounced off of that into another beam, and finally skidded across the ground at her feet.

“-inside.”

“Yona think that went well.”

There was a slow rumble, then the wall and both support beams cracked through. The barn shook around them, then, as if in slow motion, began to collapse. Applejack threw both hooves over her head, but Yona leapt into action, snatching up the shield and holding it over her own head and her teacher’s. When the pounding of falling wood against it subsided, she shook herself and looked around tentatively.

“…Maybe Yona speak too soon,” she concluded.

“Now, I know what you’re thinking,” Rainbow Dash began, pacing at the front of the room. “‘Engineering’? What kind of lame, boring stuff is that?”

“I mean, I wouldn’t have phrased it like that…” Smolder hedged.

“Well,” Rainbow steamrolled, as if she hadn’t even heard her, “I’m here to tell you that engineering isn’t just boring nerd stuff! I mean, there is kind of a lot of that, not gonna lie. But at the end you get something super awesome and totally worth it!”

“Okay.”

“Can I give examples, you ask? Of course I can!”

“I didn’t, but-”

“Number one: I made this suit.” She gestured to the shiny armor of red and gold that covered most of her body, light enough to keep movement easy, lines smooth as running water. “Number two: I made this suit. And number three…” She paused dramatically.

“You made that suit?” Smolder guessed dryly.

Rainbow Dash reared up, pumping her hooves in the air like a symbol of victory. “I MADE THIS SUIT!”

“Right. So do I get one?”

“Uh.” Professor Dash’s hooves settled back on the ground again. “Well, no. These things take forever to make, and you need to be training to actually use your equipment sometime this century. Plus, isn’t it cooler if you get to decide what you want to make?”

Smolder shrugged. “I guess. As long as I get to shoot some kind of energy blast thing.”

“Tony calls them Repulsor Rays.”

“Whatever.”

“Right. Well.” Rainbow coughed. “Any ideas in particular?”

“Not right now.”

“Yeah, I thought that might be the case. So Twilight helped me put together a super general overview of some things you’ll need to know about for almost any project, and then she and I will help you learn whatever you need for the specific idea you want to make. So let’s start by talking about circuits, both magical and electrical…”

Smolder had been prepared for boring work, slowly putting together something from scratch. She hadn’t been prepared for something as boring as a lecture. How long, she wondered, could she stay asleep before Professor Dash noticed…?

Author's Note

Normally, my update schedule for these stories is supposed to be on Saturday (although I didn't expressly say so this time around). But Sunday is actually going to work better for me right now, so I'm officially moving it.

Awakening

Ingar sighed hopelessly, and then squared his shoulders and marched into Twilight's library for his next lesson.

"Hi, Ingar," Twilight said, waving cheerfully. "Ready for something a little different?"

"I am ready for anything," he replied, then wilted, just a little. "...that would make a difference."

Twilight smiled sympathetically. "Before we begin," she said, "I wanted to give you a heads-up about some changes we’re going to make to the lesson plan. The first week went well--"

“Well?” he burst out, unable to stop himself. “I couldn’t muster a shred of magic!”

“-for most of the students,” Twilight finished. “And since this is supposed to be a team, we didn’t think having you all learn separately was a good idea.” With a not unkind smile and wink, she added, “You might forget you weren’t the only student, or something!”

Ingar blushed and looked down. Twilight continued.

“But a lot of what you were learning would be boring for the other students to see. They don’t need to watch you practice magic endlessly, just like you wouldn’t need to see Yona learn to carve wood. We—the teachers—went back and forth for a while with different ideas, but eventually we decided to have two classes, one as individuals and one as a team, so you can hone your skills by yourselves and learn to work together.”

He nodded. “That sounds excellent.” Besides, if they were training as a group, they’d bond as a team, all seven of them together. Maybe it would make them forget about Buckball and whatever else they used to do without him, things that the six of them could do, but didn’t know how to include him. Maybe a time when they’d all be together without an established routine, one set before he’d come along, was exactly what they needed.

“If that’s the case,” Twilight continued, oblivious to his thoughts, “then the team class is in just a few days. If it’s at all possible, we want you to be using magic by then.”

As if. “But nothing we tried last week worked!”

She nodded. “I know. But there’s one more option.” Almost on autopilot, she lifted a piece of chalk in her aura and began sketching on the blackboard behind her as she talked. “For foals who are really struggling with their magic, when neither practice nor theory will help them, teachers have a special method, but it’s rare to actually see it used.” A vague outline of a filly took shape on the board. “The teacher will take some of their own magic, and push it—gently, of course—into the foal’s body. It spreads out, filling the magic pathways in the foal’s body and highlighting them.” The chalk splintered into tiny pieces and traced out an intricate series of lines spreading throughout the filly’s shape. “It helps the foal understand what the flow of magic feels like, and I don’t think I’ve ever heard of a case where they couldn’t imitate it once they had that picture.” A sheer wave of magic washed over the drawing, erasing it.

Ingar sighed with relief. “That sounds like a good solution.”

“Of course,” Twilight added, “if it doesn’t work, that means our types of magic are just incompatible, and I can’t help you.”

“Does that mean… I wouldn’t be part of the team?”

“What?” Twilight’s eyes widened. “Of course not! I’d have to find something else I can teach you, but I’ve heard the Aesir all have unparalleled strength, don’t you? I’m sure I can find a way to coach you in fighting with it, though I’d have to do some research on that. But it’s a little too early to be deciding on all that, right? For now, we have one more option with magic.”

“Yes, let’s begin.” Ingar braced himself. “I’m ready.”

Twilight’s horn glowed, not with an aura of pink surrounding it, but with a thin line of white that traced upwards through its spiraling grooves. Holding it, she trotted over to Ingar and leaned forward, rearing up slightly to get high enough.

Her horn touched his chest.

In a flash, he felt the light piercing through him like golden lightning, illuminating pathways. Intricate lines spread through his body from head to toe, through his fingers, down his legs, all centering in a swirl of energy around his heart.

And then he was the swirl of energy, and the energy was his heart, and magic was all there was, the glorious light that filled his body with a warm tingle. The library seemed to fade and go out of focus. He couldn’t tell for sure, because the world outside seemed so disconnected and unimportant, but he didn’t think his feet were touching the floor. He felt like he could do anything, level mountains and crush forests, maybe even make a friend.

“Ingar!”

The voice wasn’t important. Only the magic was important. The magic that was finally his. The magic his teacher had given him.

“Ingar!”

His teacher…

He shook his head rapidly, and the world came into focus again. He felt his feet touch the floor. His head twinged, not a true ache but hardly pleasant. “What happened?”

Headmare Twilight looked uncharacteristically serious. “Magic overload. I gave you too much, and it totally overwhelmed you! You could’ve drifted off in the high it gave you. There are documented cases of ponies with magic overload who tried to spread the magic in their core over their whole bodies and set themselves on fire with it." She took a deep breath, then added gingerly, "Observers say the last thing they saw before the magic consumed them utterly was a smile.”

Ingar stumbled backwards in horror. “I- I could’ve-”

“And it’s all my fault!” Twilight wailed. “I was thinking like I was just normal, an ordinary pony with an ordinary amount of power to give. But not only am I an alicorn, I’ve finally reached my full power! How could I not have thought of this?” She took a deep, harsh breath, let it out just as hard, and took another. Hyperventilating, Ingar realized. She was hyperventilating.

It felt strange with a teacher, but he gently stroked a hand down her head, through her mane. Physical touch, his lessons had said, was a good way to comfort. “Breathe,” he reminded her. “It’s okay. Nothing bad happened.”

“But something could’ve!” she cried. “I could’ve killed one of my own students! It’s unforgiveable!”

“Headmare, you always tell us nothing is unforgiveable! Least of all a mistake. Counceller Starlight…” He fumbled, realizing he couldn’t remember exactly what she’d done. He’d missed that lesson, and despite his friends’ best efforts, he still wasn’t completely up to speed. “Counceller Starlight was really bad, but you forgave her! Wasn’t what she did worse?”

Twilight heaved a hysterical sob. “She did some bad stuff, but you students are my responsibility! My job is to take care of you, not put you in danger!”

“We’re training to be heroes!” Ingar argued, increasingly feeling the absurdity of the situation. Him, trying to comfort the headmare of the whole school? “We’re going to be in danger eventually. For all you know, I’ll need that experience someday!” It was utter nonsense, but it seemed to help Headmare Twilight.

She sat up a little straighter and sniffled.

“You’re right. Some of my worst experiences while I was still learning were some of the ones I most needed later.” She managed a weak smile. “Thank you, Ingar. But I promise, I’ll never be so careless again. Until you and your team are actually ready, I’ll make sure-”

A loud chime emanated from her horn, and she nearly went cross-eyed trying to look at it.

“What was that?” Ingar asked.

“Doorbell charm,” she answered absently, already beginning to trot though the room. Ingar followed her to hear the rest of the explanation. “Notifies the caster of a disturbance to an area. It means either one of my friends has arrived through unusual methods, or I have a break-in in a restricted area of the castle. Hopefully the former, in which case someone should be right about…” She turned a corner, revealing a small area clear of bookshelves, in which two tall mirrors stood near each other. “…here!”

“Hey, Twilight!” a young pegasus stallion called out, waving from just in front of one of the mirrors. His mane and tail were blue, and his coat yellow. “Figured I should stop waiting for you to visit again and just come over myself!”

Ingar glanced at Twilight, only to notice the second unexpected emotion in his headmare in just a few minutes. Her cheeks were brilliant pink, and she was flustered and sputtering. “Flash?” she choked out.

“It’s about my turn, I’d say.” He winked, and she flushed even brighter. “And who’s this?”

“Oh!” Twilight turned to Ingar. “This is one of my students!” she announced, with evident pride. “Flash, meet Ingar! Ingar, this is Flash.”

“Nice to meet you!” Ingar said, searching for an excuse to leave. It was clear something was going on between the two of them, and he felt more and more like an intruder with each passing moment. “Uh… I’ll just let you two catch up, then?” Without waiting for a response, he turned and left as fast as he could without looking like he was running. Headmare Twilight’s giggles chased him all the way out of the room.

He leaned against the wall outside of the library and stretched out his fingers. He could feel the magic moving through the pathways Twilight had opened for him, and a tiny ball of light appeared in his hand, the very thing she’d been trying to coax out of him all of last week.

“Besides,” he whispered to himself, “the most important part of the lesson was already a success."

Working Together

Ingar and his friends filed slowly into the large gym room, looking around in awe at what Twilight had set up in just the few short minutes since her last class. An obstacle course, more like a jungle gym than anything, stretched across the left wall, all the way into the back of the room. On the near side of the right wall was what looked like a series of puzzles. In the back corner, some large crystals were set up, shimmering with the kind of magic that showed they were enchanted.

“Welcome to your first group lesson!” Twilight pranced in place eagerly. “I see you didn’t have any trouble finding it. Each of your teachers will take a turn deciding what challenges you’ll face for a lesson, but for my turn, I wanted to do a general overview of everything you might encounter. This lesson will test your agility, your critical thinking, and your fighting abilities—but most of all, your teamwork. Are you ready to get started?”

Silverstream jumped into the air, pumping her fist. “YEAH!”

“That’s the spirit!” Pinkie called, from behind Twilight.

“Right, then let’s start with the obstacle course. There are two pathways, and you’ll need to divide into two teams and go down each simultaneously. There are levers that need to be pulled to open the route for the other team, things like that. Ready?”

Slowly, they divided. Silverstream shifted to one side, Gallus to the other. Sandbar and Yona followed Gallus; Ingar slid towards Silverstream, followed by Smolder. Ocellus hesitated for a fraction of a second before joining Silverstream’s side. Twilight gestured to two doorways, right next to each other, and each group clustered around one. Some of them thought of a jungle gym; a few of a fast food restaurant's playground for foals.

Twilight held up a stopwatch, glinting in her magic. “I’ll be timing you, but don’t worry about that, and don't move so fast you make silly mistakes. Ready? Set? Go!”

They almost tripped over each other in their haste to enter the course. The first bit seemed fairly straightforward—a small ladder led up to an elevated rope bridge. The two paths were identical, and each group could easily see the other. Silverstream cleared the ladder with a few flaps of her wings, barely touching the rungs, and Ocellus buzzed up after her. Smolder clambered up with no trouble. Ingar took a quick glance over at the other side, where Gallus, from the top, was helping Yona up. There was the teamwork the headmare was after—they were off to a great start! He followed up the ladder.

Silverstream was already on the short bridge, giggling as it bounced. Ocellus was simply flying across it, Smolder not far behind. Ingar took a hesitant step onto it and was immediately flung to one side as it wobbled. He grabbed onto the rails on either side to steady himself and crossed slowly, though he noted that his speed increased when Silverstream had stopped bouncing.

Shouts of “Hey!” and “What gives?” floated over from the other side, and he glanced over to see that the other team’s way was blocked by a wall. His team, on the other hand, had a clear path onto an elevated platform, surrounded by a railing. On one railing rested a lever.

Silverstream shrugged. “Well, Headmare Twilight said there were levers we had to pull, right?” Without waiting for a response, she reached over and flipped it. Gallus, Sandbar, and Yona cheered as the wall blocking them slid aside.

As they moved forwards, they found their paths changing. Ingar and his group discovered that their road led on a sloping path downward and to the right, towards the other team. The others, meanwhile, were moving upwards and left, until they were directly above the first group.

Fake walls, made of tumbling mats, forced the bottom team into a narrow hallway, and obstacles were set up on either side of it, causing them to move back and forth, side to side. Ocellus seemed the most agile, zipping back and forth like a dragonfly, while Smolder struggled with the sharp turns in the air. Silverstream didn’t have enough room for her wingspan to even try to fly, so she trotted along happily on the ground. Ingar jogged right behind her, easily keeping up a steady pace.

At the end of the hallway, they encountered another door. Ocellus was the first to reach it. “Hey, guys!” she called upwards. “Do you have a lever?”

“Don’t see one,” Sandbar replied through the floor. “There’s this weird tube thing that goes up, though.”

“No room in front with a lever inside?”

“Nope. Up next… looks like a slide? I think we’re going back down to your level.”

“Yona think lever in tube!” There was a loud thump, and Ingar guessed the yak had stomped on the floor for emphasis. “Meant to be reached by flyer. They go up, pull lever, come down!”

There was a pause, and Ingar could practically hear the other two turn toward Gallus, who laughed nervously. “Right. Okay. Just go up into that… tiny, thin tube… and pull a lever. Easy peasy.”

“Exactly!” A softer thump, probably Sandbar patting Gallus on the back. “You’re the only guy here with wings. It’s gotta be you.”

“Yeah, I guess so.” Another nervous laugh. “Well, now or never, I guess.” There was a soft ruffle of wings, and the scrape of talons against… Ingar wasn’t sure. Maybe the “plastic” thing these ponies had come up with. A tense silence followed.

“Well?” Smolder demanded. “What’s the holdup?”

“Nothing!” Gallus’s voice was higher pitched than normal. “Everything’s fine! Really good!”

“Then why isn’t this wall opening?”

Ingar winced at the harshness of her words, but couldn’t deny her point. It shouldn’t be taking this long. Weren’t they being timed?

“Just… just give me a minute, all right?” Gallus squeaked. “It’s… back in here a ways. Further than I expected.”

Talons scraped against whatever the tube was again, repeatedly this time, as he pushed his way through. He seemed to be moving quickly, but Ingar was just happy he was moving at all. The wall slid out of their way, and they cheered.

In front of them, an ugly yellow slide, plastic again, curved off to the left, while their path twisted right, bringing the two teams side by side once more. Sandbar and Yona slid down, waving their hooves in the air and giggling. Gallus darted out of the tube like ghosts were after him, drenched in sweat and panting.

“Dude,” Sandbar said, “what happened?”

“Nothing!” He smiled a little bit too broadly. “Everything’s great! Super!”

“O… kay.” Sandbar was clearly skeptical, but Gallus was eager to brush the whole thing off.

“Well, come on, let’s get moving! We’re being timed, remember?” He was already moving forward, and Sandbar and Yona had to hurry to keep up with him.

The next obstacle was hurdles, with a sign requesting flyers to remain grounded for the purposes of the course. Smaller print confirmed that touching the hurdles to vault was allowed. Smolder and Ocellus hit the ground on either side of Ingar, and he hung back to let them take the first hurdles first. Silverstream, ahead of all of them, easily leaped each one, laughing all the way. Ocellus jumped, brushed the top, and used it for an extra push over. Smolder clambered over like it was a ladder. Ingar took a running start, laid one hand on the railing, and swung his legs out to the side, vaulting it in a smooth motion. Alternating hands, he continued this way down the entire section of the course, passing first Smolder, then Ocellus, and gaining quickly on Silverstream.

On the other side, he saw vague glimpses of Gallus’s smooth leaps, Sandbar’s steady pace, and Yona’s short leaps that usually smashed the hurdles behind her two companions. Then the view was abruptly cut off as they left the hurdles. The teams moved into two separate rooms, and theirs, he saw, had both a lever and a closed wall.

“All right! Time to help each other out!” Silverstream bounded up to the lever and pulled. “Does that do it for you?” she shouted through the wall, but there was no reply. Still, their own wall began to move, sliding smoothly open. Silverstream let go of the lever and trotted towards the door, then froze as it began to close again. “Uh…”

Smolder looked over at the lever, which had flipped back to the upright position. She pulled it down, then let go, and it pulled itself back up. The door drifted open, then back closed. “Right, okay. I don’t think this thing is connected to the other team at all. I think it’s just us.”

“So, one of us has to stay behind and hold it open?” Ocellus asked.

The four looked at each other for a few moments. Then Ingar’s desire to actually contribute something got the best of him. “I will stay,” he volunteered.

Silverstream smiled. “Thank you!” She gave him a swift hug, then bounded over to the door. Ingar pulled the lever, and the three girls filed through.

“Oh, hey!” Silverstream’s voice echoed from the other room. “There’s another lever here!” She pulled it, and even after Ingar let go, the door stayed open.

“Heh.” Smolder snorted a puff of smoke. “So much for your big sacrifice move.”

Ingar shrugged. “Someday more may be required.”

“Gosh, I hope not.” Silverstream’s wings fidgeted. “Aren’t we supposed to be, like, the small-time guys? And the headmare and the professors will handle the really dangerous stuff?”

“I mean, life is unpredictable,” Ocellus said. “Maybe there’s a threat that looks small but is actually super dangerous.”

“Right now the threat is that we’ve got a time limit!” Smolder reminded them impatiently, gesturing to the next doorway.

“Oh, yeah!” Silverstream trotted through right behind Smolder, followed by Ocellus and Ingar. They found a wide open area, with Sandbar, Gallus, and Yona laughing and chatting. No barrier separated them, and no paths were laid out. “Ooh! Did we do it?”

Twilight trotted over, pressing a button on a stopwatch. “You did. Pretty good time. I had your professors run it before you did, and while they were faster than you, it wasn’t by much.”

“Are you going to compare us to them on each of these?” Smolder asked nervously.

“Well, they are the gold standard of teamwork and experience…” Twilight mumbled.

Ocellus’s wings buzzed with enthusiasm. “Do we get to solve puzzles now?”

“Yes!” Twilight perked up instantly. “Right over here…” She led the group across the room to a series of small tables. “There are some riddles and some more physical puzzles. I wanted to set up an escape room, but there wasn’t time. Maybe another lesson. For now… feel free to split up! Look for the type of puzzle you’re most suited to. A good team knows where their own strengths lie, and when to rely on others’ skills. Ready? Begin!”

Ocellus gravitated immediately towards the riddles. The others drifted around a bit before settling on their choices. Sandbar invited Yona to join him at a table where the challenge was to sort colored items into order. Gallus found a puzzle involving moving small pieces around to form shapes, and Smolder eventually joined him, though based on the smoke from her nostrils, she didn’t find it enjoyable. Silverstream trotted over to the last table, covered in some kind of complex, fast-moving machinery. And Ingar… just wandered.

He passed Ocellus, who was already on the third riddle of five. “Box without hinges, key, or lid, yet golden treasure inside is hid,” she read aloud.

“Who would make an unopenable box?” Ingar asked, from behind her.

She didn’t seem surprised at his approach. “It’s probably not literally that. That’s why it’s a riddle. It could be completely closed, but not an actual box. Like a changeling’s chr… cocoon.”

“Then what’s the golden treasure?”

“I don’t know.” She tapped a hoof on her chin. “Celestia was cocooned at one point, and she represents the sun, so gold? But that’s so specific. It should be a general thing.”

A container with no opening, and something golden inside? “An egg?” he suggested.

“Ooh, that’s good!” Ocellus moved the pen closer to the paper, then hesitated. “But usually riddles are, like, super vague stuff. Maybe your heart? Because you can’t see it, or get inside it, but there’s… I don’t know, friendship inside? That’s the sort of riddle Twilight would write.”

He shrugged. “Well, you certainly know more about it than I. Is there a particular reason to say friendship is golden, though?”

“Yeah, an old pony rhyme.” Her voice turned singsong. “Make new friends, but keep the old, one is silver and the other gold.”

“Oh.” He was a new friend, so he was silver. The others were gold. But she clearly hadn’t meant to insult him, so he put on a smile. “Makes sense, then. I’ll leave you to it.” She was already writing down her answer. He wandered over to Silverstream’s side instead. “What is that?”

“Don’t know!” She beamed. “But it’s super fun! Look!”

A tiny ball bounced around the inside of a sloping box, full of bouncy sides and things that moved back and forth. Every time it approached the bottom, she pulled a lever, and a tiny paddle leapt into motion, flinging the ball back into the center. The goal, it seemed, was to keep the ball from falling down.

“Well, it seems like a game for one player. And you seem to have quite good reflexes. I’ll leave you to it,” he finished, for the second time in only a few minutes.

Gallus and Smolder, meanwhile, were fitting colorful tiles of different shapes into a large square. “I think this one goes here,” Gallus said, placing a small square into an empty space.

Smolder removed it and replaced it with a piece shaped like an L. “No, this one!” she argued.

Ingar took a brief look at it as he passed by, but it was utterly incomprehensible to him, so he moved on. Sandbar and Yona were comparing a bright red rose and a sparkling ruby.

“Both red!” Yona argued, stomping her hooves and making the table shake. “Why red different?”

“Well, the gem is scarlet,” Sandbar said, gesturing, “and the rose is crimson.”

“Forget fancy words! Both red!”

“There’s a wide range of reds,” Sandbar protested. “You can’t just equate them.”

“Heh,” Gallus said, from the next table over. “You sound like Professor Rarity.”

“Well, this is her kind of puzzle, isn’t it? I should think like her to solve it.”

Yona snorted in evident frustration.

None of these games seemed like something Ingar would be good at. Maybe he’d go back to the riddles with Ocellus, at least he wasn’t hopelessly lost there…

But just as he thought that, Ocellus put down the pen. “Done!” she announced eagerly.

“Yeah, I think we’ve got these in order,” Sandbar seconded.

Gallus placed the last piece, neatly interlocking with the others. “Done!” he and Smolder announced in unison.

Silverstream was still playing her game, laser focused on her one and only task. “You can stop now,” Twilight reassured her. “The point of that game is just to last a long time, so there’s no real end goal to accomplish. I just wanted something to test your reflexes, and that was all I could think of.”

She turned around. “So… we won?”

Twilight nodded. “You certainly did. Congratulations! You moved quickly and divided the work well." "

"What about me?" Ingar objected.

"Well," Twilight said, "You weren't part of a group working on something, but you were ready to contribute where you were needed if an issue arose. The fact that one didn't doesn't mean you weren't playing a role."

Ingar nodded. Maybe it had been a useful task. Maybe, even though he was just trying to find a place, he had a role after all.

"Now," Twilight continued, "there’s just one more part, and you’re already ahead of schedule!” With a wave of her hoof, she directed them towards the three large, enchanted crystals in the back. They shimmered with a purple glow--was it only Ingar who found it drawing him like a magnet? “These crystals are designed to simulate the movements of a few different types of monsters. You’ll be able to interact with them physically, but they can’t actually hurt you. Once they take enough damage, they’ll power down. Your task is to get past them, either by force or by stealth, and retrieve that golden orb from the shelf behind them. When you bring it to me, the challenge is complete.”

Applejack and Fluttershy trotted forward. “Yona,” Applejack said, “you can use my shield for now.”

“And here are your arrows, Gallus,” Fluttershy offered, holding them out.

“Everycreature ready?” Twilight asked. Almost as one, the group nodded. “Then… begin!” Her horn flashed pink, the crystals flared in reflection of it, and three projections made of light popped into existence in front of the team. They stood near each of their crystals--one in front and two in the back, like a triangle.

“Pukwudgies,” Gallus recognized immediately, wincing away from the front crystal’s projection in memory.

Sandbar pointed to the right. “I think that one back there is a Windigo!”

Smolder shivered. “The Flame Freezer? That’s a legend I’d rather not meet.”

Silverstream recoiled from the image on the back left, shuddering breaths taking over her body.

“What’s wrong?” Ocellus asked.

“N-nothing,” Silverstream dismissed. Looking closer, she’d misestimated the horned figure. “Just some shadows.”

“…okay? Well, that guy back there is Tirek, I think.” Ocellus shivered. “Right now he’s not too big, only about twice the size of a pony, but he’s probably designed to absorb magic attacks. They’ll only make him stronger.”

“Yeah, like we all have so much magic in the first place,” Smolder snapped.

“Well, I have some!” Ocellus defended. “…A little…”

“I have some,” Ingar whispered. “I have magic now.” Not that he actually knew any offensive spells anyway.

“Tirek” charged a beam of light between his horns that drove towards the team. They yelped and darted out of the way, breaking the cluster. “Enough talking! Let’s figure out a plan!” Silverstream called.

“The pukwudgies aren’t actually that aggressive,” Gallus said. “They just defend their home. Fluttershy was showing me how to talk to animals so they don’t get nervous, maybe I could-”

A flurry of quills flew towards him, but Yona took them with the shield. “Whatever Gallus want to do, do it!” she called. “Talk later!”

The windigo exhaled a frosty breath, and the temperature dropped several degrees. “If we don’t get rid of that one first, it’s gonna freeze our tails off!” Smolder complained.

“Isn’t Tirek most urgent?” Ocellus asked. “He can-”

Another magical blast, barely dodged, interrupted them. “-do that,” Ocellus finished.

“All we really have to do is get the golden thingy!” Silverstream protested. “Ocellus, can’t you sneak past them and get it? Changelings are sneaky, right?”

“No!” Ocellus shouted. “No, we’re not anymore!” Then she sighed and wilted a little. “Yes, I was trained for stealth, but that’s not me anymore! And I don’t ever want it to be again!”

“Okay!” Silverstream held up her hands in a placating gesture. “Okay, that’s fine, you don’t have to!”

Another magic blast was coming their way, but Yona darted in to block it. “You all should have more fighting, less talking!”

“What are we fighting first?” Smolder snapped.

“We- I mean- We don’t all have to fight the same thing, right?” Ingar suggested. Everyone turned to him, and he immediately felt silly and conspicuous, but he kept talking. “After all, the last two challenges we split up, and those went well, right?”

Smolder shrugged. “Meh, better than doing nothing.” She turned and, with a flap of her wings, darted up towards the Windigo.

“Gallus, how pukwudgies doing?” Yona asked.

“Uh, not sure.” He was sweating a little with nerves. “I think I’m calming them down, but I can’t actually understand them. All I can do is speak in a soothing tone.” A few of them seemed to be getting restless, so he turned back to them. “Hey, it’s okay,” he said quietly. “We’re not trying to hurt you or... uh... encroach on your territory.”

A couple of them made funny little grunting noises. “Ahh!” Yona shouted. “Creatures growling!”

“I… I’m pretty sure that’s just how they talk,” Gallus said. “But I’m not certain…”

“Grr!” Yona’s eyebrows lowered in anger. “This taking too long! Yona not like tiny creatures!”

“No, wait!”

“Yak… SMASH!”

Her hooves came down hard on one of the smaller creatures. The sheer force of her flattened it, and it fizzled out. But the others, four or five of them, immediately turned on her and on him in anger.

Gallus smacked his talons against his forehead. “Now they’re growling.”

“Hey, meanie!” Silverstream shouted, circling Tirek’s head, “why don’t you pick on somecreature your own size?”

“There isn’t one,” Ocellus objected. Her wings buzzed as she hovered in the air, seemingly uncertain how to contribute to the fight.

“How about someone his own strength?” Ingar suggested, leaping up to Tirek’s height to punch him solidly in the face. Tirek’s hand whipped up in reaction, blocking Ingar’s fist, and Ingar fell back down. “Yes, that seems about right.”

“Ocellus, you wanna give me a hand over here with that spider-silk of yours?” Smolder shouted, as a breath of icy air knocked her backwards and coated her wings with a layer of frost. “Why don’t we bring this guy down to earth a little?”

“On it!” Her wings buzzed, propelling her forward.

Down below, a buck from Sandbar destroyed one of the small pukwudgies, which rippled and vanished from the illusion. Yona reared and stomped down on another. Gallus pulled an arrow from his quiver, flipped it around in his hand, and simply stabbed another one, and it flickered out; the range was too close to use his bow. The one that was left fired spines at him just as Yona readied herself to take it down with a charge. He covered his face with his large wings, but stabbing pain struck them for just a moment before fading. “Ow!”

“Sorry!” Headmare Twilight called from the sidelines. “I didn’t want to hurt you guys, but I had to put a little pain into the projections, or you wouldn’t know you’d gotten hit.”

“Oh, I knew it all right.” He turned to Yona as the final one faded away. “What was that? I thought you were supposed to be the tank!”

“Yona not tank! Yona yak!”

“You know what I mean!” he snapped. “You’re the biggest one, and you’ve got the shield. You’re supposed to cover us! You're supposed to distract them and take the fire off of the weak ones!”

“Maybe somecreature should have toldYona that!”

“Hey, relax!” Pinkie Pie put in. “This is only your first lesson, remember? Nothing’s going to be perfect, but you need to learn from it, not argue about it!”

Gallus shrugged and turned around. “We still have to get that golden thing, right? Well, the path is pretty open.”

Ingar and Silverstream were keeping Tirek busy. Silverstream was the distraction, flying around his head. She hovered for a moment, then, as his large hand swept towards her with crushing force, darted around it. “Ha! You missed! Can’t catch me!”

Ingar swerved between his legs, hitting several of them alternately. Something cracked in them, and Tirek fell heavily into a kneeling position. “Bird creature!” he roared. “I will destroy you!”

“Yep, that’s right!” Silverstream said cheerfully. “Worry about me! I’m dangerous!” Ingar could hear the laughter bubbling beneath the surface of her voice, yet her tone sounded perfectly genuine.

“I’ll crush you like a fly!”

Ingar darted behind Tirek’s hindquarters and leaped over them. His fist hit Tirek’s back first, then his legs as he pushed off and nearly flew back over the barrel and flanks. Tirek jerked forward from the injury, leaning on his hands.

“You will pay!”

“Ooh, keep saying threatening things like that!” Silverstream giggled. “Maybe one of these times you can do something about it!” Tirek swung his horns towards her, then as she dodged upwards, fired a magic blast at her. She swerved, but it singed her tail. “Hey! Meanie!”

“Don’t worry, I’ll get him for you,” Ingar joked, jogging back around Tirek’s crouched body. “How’s this?” He swung his lower body around, bringing up one foot to connect solidly with Tirek’s face. With a low grunt, the centaur fell to the ground, and the projection dissolved.

Ocellus streaked through the air like a white arrow, dripping silver strands of web in her wake. Slowly, they wrapped around the windigo. Parts of them, the parts touching the windigo, were sticky; the ends draping down were not. Ocellus dropped to the floor, handing off a set of strings to Smolder. “Pull!” she shouted.

Together, the two gave a tremendous yank. The windigo pulled against them for a moment, then fell, as if in slow motion, to the ground. Ocellus pushed the sticky ends to the floor. “That should hold it for a while,” she panted. “I used a lot of string. Light it up!”

A burst of flame covered the monster. It recoiled from the heat, hissing, but as the flames covered it, the webs blazed into light. They’d lit on fire, which slowly spread over them, gold flickering over silver. The windigo cried in pain as the fire licked its nonexistent skin.

“Cool,” Smolder said.

“But if all the webs burn up, it’ll get loose!” Ocellus objected.

Smolder’s eyes widened, and she bit her lip, watching the slowly burning webs as they damaged the windigo—but was it fast enough? “What do we do?”

Just as they watched, the projection of the windigo faded with a tinkling sound. The webs, still smoldering, fell to the floor.

Gallus trotted past them, the golden orb held in one wing. “Got it while you guys were busy,” he answered the unspoken question, gesturing towards the two groups: Silverstream, Ingar, and the crystal that had held Tirek on one side; Ocellus and Smolder with the newly fallen windigo on the other. “We finished first. Not that it was a competition or anything, obviously. But, if it was, we would’ve won.”

Smolder rolled her eyes. “Yeah, whatever.”

Still smirking, Gallus handed it to Twilight. “Here you go, Headmare.”

Twilight accepted it. “Thank you.” Then she turned to all of them. “You’ve all done very well today. Now, it’s almost time for your next class, so run along! Your teachers and I will be right there soon.”

At the door, Smolder turned around and glanced at the towering crystals, still visible at the back of the room. “Enchanted gems…” she whispered thoughtfully to herself. Then she turned around and left, her tail waving behind her as she slipped through the door to catch up with the others.

For a moment, eager chatter drifted back through the room towards them.

"Did you see me?" Silverstream giggled.

Ingar laughed. "Yeah, you were everywhere! He couldn't keep up!"

"You weren't bad with those tiles, Gallus," Smolder admitted. "I was wrong a few times."

"Yak smash mean hedgehogs!"

The voices faded down the hall. With a smile, Twilight watched them turned to her friends. “Well, what did you think?”

“Yona don’t always got the best judgement,” Applejack admitted, “but her shield instincts are good. Mostly she’s protectin’ her teammates, like she should, though she missed a chance or two.”

Fluttershy clapped her hooves. “I’m so proud of Gallus! He tried talking to the little pukwudgies instead of fighting them! And that thing where he used his arrows close-up—I didn’t teach him that!”

Scootaloo’s wings buzzed with excitement. “Who knew our spiderwebs were flammable?”

“Sandbar didn’t get the chance to use most of what I taught him,” Rarity admitted, “but he worked well with the others.”

“Smolder totally kicked windigo tail!” Rainbow shouted, pumping a hoof in the air. “She rocked!”

Pinkie bounced up and down. “Silverstream was awesome too! She moved so fast! And she’s great at pinball!”

Twilight nodded. “Ingar did pretty well too. But I’m more worried about how they worked as a team. The groups they formed for different tasks were formed spontaneously, without careful judgment of what might be needed—we’re lucky the top group even had a flyer to pull the lever.”

Fluttershy nodded. “I think they need to know their roles in the team,” she whispered. “Yona can take damage, but one hit could crush Ocellus. Silverstream and Ocellus are really agile, but Sandbar and Yona are slower. We should tell them things like that, help them find their fighting style and roles.”

“Yeah, exactly!” Twilight agreed. “They have to know what they’re best at and where they need support. They’re a team, after all, and so they need to fill in where the others don’t fit.” She sighed and started pacing. “I hoped, if they worked together during the battle, a clear leader might emerge to give the team a bit of cohesion. But they split up instead, which might be my fault for having the other challenges split them up.”

Rarity stepped forward. “I checked the riddles, like you told me to, and two answers were wrong. I suspect Ocellus was overconfident in her ability to answer them alone.”

“Yona also seemed annoyed with the puzzles,” Applejack added. “But Ah think that’s just because she’s more of a brawler than a thinker.”

“Anypony notice how Sandbar is always with Yona?” Pinkie brought up. “Anything going on there?”

“I think Sandbar didn’t do a lot,” Scootaloo admitted. “Except he was pretty good with the colors.”

Rarity tossed her mane. “Well, of course he was! I was his teacher!”

Rainbow Dash shrugged. “He was okay. I thought Silverstream was really good, distracting Tirek so Ingar could take a hit.”

“Well, that was kinda a risky move-”

“What was with Gallus after the tunnel?”

“Ocellus and Smolder had the best teamwork…”

“Smolder and Gallus wouldn’t stop arguing about the tile puzzle…”

“Silverstream kinda took the lead of her group during the obstacle course…”

The conversation swirled around Twilight in whirling eddies, ponies talking over each other too fast for her to follow. She tried to interrupt, and get them back on track, but with seven ponies all talking at once, nopony noticed her. She growled softly, and her horn began to glow, ready to cast the voice-projecting spell, but before it could come to completion, a small chime sounded from her horn instead.

Though it was quiet, it had a piercing quality to it, and every head turned to her. “Doorbell charm,” she said awkwardly. “That one specifically is an alarm. I’d better go.”

One more time, her horn flared. A bright flash of light surrounded her, and when it cleared, she was gone.

She appeared in a hidden hallway below the school and looked around. Many rooms opened off the side of it, each containing a different treasure, some valuable, some dangerous. She glanced into one room, where the necklaces and crown that had once held the Elements of Harmony rested. It was empty of intruders.

She fluttered down the hall and looked into the next room. Her royal spending accounts; heaped with gold and jewels. And empty.

The Misfortune Malachite left over from the Storm King’s attack. Empty. A lovely stained glass window, a diplomatic gift from the Hippogriffs that she still needed to put somewhere. Empty. The gauntlets of Infinity and Harmony. Emp-

Wait.

“Flash?”

“Hey, Twilight.” He trotted out of the room. “Sorry, you were busy and I was just looking around. Am I not supposed to be down here?”

She laughed nervously. “No, no, that’s fine! You should’ve just let me know first. I had an alarm on this hallway.” One hoof scuffed against the floor. “What were you looking at?”

“Oh, I don’t know.” He waved a wing at the room. “The other stuff around here looked valuable, but that room was just some weird gloves.”

Twilight giggled at that. “No, those aren’t just some gloves—those are actually tools to use the Infinity Stones, or the Elements of Harmony, all of them at once! Crazy, right?”

“No way.” He took another peek at the room. “Those little things?” His voice lowered to a conspiratorial whisper. “Have you ever used them?”

“Them?” Her grin widened. “Oh, I’ve used both! At once!”

His jaw dropped, but then he smiled and kissed her cheek. “My marefriend is so awesome.”

Twilight giggled. “Oh, you.”

He just smiled at her, then took another peek into the room. “But where are the gems?”

“Oh, we don’t keep them here.” She waved a hoof vaguely. “The Elements are on the Tree of Harmony, and the Infinity Stones are scattered throughout both this galaxy and the next, in hopes of keeping someone from getting their hooves—or hands—on them and using them for evil. It’s already happened once. We can’t let it happen again.”

He drooped a little. “Aww. Would’ve been cool to see one.”

Now it was her turn to give him a peck on the cheek. “Maybe I can arrange a trip to New Asgard some time, and you can look at the Tesseract. Just don’t touch, okay? They’re dangerous if you’re not very powerful.”

“Of course.” He smiled gently. “And maybe you can tell me about the others, and all your adventures with them?”

She nodded. “I’d love to. But right now I have a class to teach. Try not to poke around anywhere too dangerous, okay? I’ll be right back after school!” With a flash of light, she vanished, back to the school.

And Flash, left alone in the room, slowly started to smirk.

An Unexpected Battle

“What have you guys been working on?” Ingar asked, as they waited outside the gym for their second group lesson.

“Eh, same old, same old,” Gallus shrugged. “Still mostly target practice. But I’m starting to understand birds! And check this out!” His friends crowded around. "Count the arrows in my quiver," he said, then pulled one out. To their astonished eyes, the number remained the same. He put it back in; nothing changed. "Professor Fluttershy got Headmare Twilight to help with it. She called it the Infinity Charm--if I understood the egghead talk right, it locks the quiver into the exact state it was in before the charm was cast, so it can't change at all. You can take as many arrows as you want out of it and there'll never be any fewer in it. Ponies use the charm on trash cans so they never have to empty them!" Laughter spread through the group.

Silverstream bounced up and down. “Professor Pie and I are working on my very own party cannon! It’s gonna be able to go on land or underwater, just like me!”

“Rarity’s started teaching me hoof-to-hoof,” Sandbar said. “Maybe next time we get in combat, I can do something about it.”

Smolder shrugged. “I have an idea for a pretty simple design,” she admitted, “but it’s taking way longer than I thought. We still haven’t even started building the thing yet! Silverstream, your party cannon must be taking even longer!”

Silverstream shook her head. Ingar noticed how her feathers ruffled a tiny bit in the breeze she created. “No, actually, it’s almost done! Pinkie says party pony stuff doesn’t work the same way as regular stuff.”

Smolder tilted her head in confusion, but Yona spoke up before she could ask more questions. “Yona still not carve well. Professor Applejack get upset when Yona smash shield, but shield must be perfect!”

“You destroy your work because it’s not perfect?” Sandbar asked, then laughed awkwardly. “If I did that, I’d never get anything done! My sewing is terrible, but I’m almost done with this big cape thing. It doesn’t have to be perfect, right?”

“Yes it does!” Yona objected.

Ocellus’s wings buzzed eagerly. “Scootaloo is teaching me to swing on my webs! I’m not sure why, since I can fly, but if something bad ever happens to my wings, I guess it’ll be useful?” It sounded more like a question than a statement.

“Ingar?” Silverstream asked.

“Oh, yeah! Check this out!” He looked around and saw a small, blue and white vase on a ledge. He concentrated hard, extending his hands in front of him. A wavery, pale blue aura surrounded it, and it lifted unevenly into the air, wobbling only a little.

“Woohoo!” Silverstream cheered. He turned to look at her, and his concentration wavered. The vase slipped through his grasp and shattered on the floor. “Oops,” she muttered, drooping.

“That is okay, I am- I’m just still learning. Headmare Twilight says I’m making progress fast, but I don’t know if I believe her.”

“Well, duh." Smolder patted him on the back. "Yeah, you're not making a ton of progress, 'cause you only have an hour a week."

The door opened, and Headmare Twilight peeked out. “We’re ready for you!”

Inside, they found Applejack waving to them. The other professors stood behind her, but she was clearly “in charge” this lesson. “Howdy, y’all! With my help, y’all are gonna work on your strength. Let’s get started!”

On one side of the room, full trees had been planted in the very floor; on another, a strength game from a carnival was placed against the wall. A set of weights completed the room. Applejack rubbed the back of her neck with a hoof. “Ah… might have taken the idea of havin’ multiple stations from Twilight’s last lesson.”

“Yeah, but…” Smolder waved vaguely. “Isn’t all of this kind of Yona’s thing? Maybe Ingar’s?”

Applejack snorted. “’Course not! Ah talked to Twi about it, and we realized something each of you can learn here.” She gestured to them each in turn as she named them. “Yona and Ingar are really strong already, but they can learn technique, hittin’ the right place at the right time with just the right amount of force. Sandbar too—Rares says precision is the name of the game in hoof-to-hoof combat. That’s what the trees’re for. Now Silverstream and Ocellus, y’all ain’t the strength players here, but you can always improve. You’re on the weightlifting.”

“Uh, Professor?” Gallus interrupted uncertainly.

“Ah’m gettin’ to you, just hold your-”

“No, look!” He pointed to the center of the room. Everyone turned to look, and a gasp ran around the room.

It looked like a flame was spreading over the floor, but it wasn’t growing naturally—it was like it was pulling itself forward. It was tracing a straight, even line. And that wasn’t the strangest thing. The fire was green, a bright, shocking green. As it moved, it began to seem more like an entity all of its own than anything else; the flames it left behind disappeared when it got far enough away, like it was leaving behind nothing but a train or a streak, like Professor Dash, not like fire. But it was undeniable that it was growing, and fast.

Even as everyone was noticing all of these things, the fire lifted off the ground and hovered in midair in a single bright green flame, about the size of a pony. And then they could all see clearly that what could have been sparks or embers were simply white sparkles, hovering there inside of it like stars.

Smolder gave voice to the thoughts of every student. “Uh… what?”

Headmare Twilight’s eyes were wide. “It’s the Nightmare,” she whispered. “This is just what it did last time, it took an incorporeal form. It’s hiding its host’s identity!”

“Ha!” Professor Dash snorted. “I’ll give it in-core-photo-reel!”

“That’s not even close,” Headmare Twilight muttered, as Dash’s wings wound up. Then she gasped. “No, wait-”

Professor Dash charged, leaving a rainbow streak and a gust of wind in her wake, right into the Nightmare with the kind of force that could level buildings (and had). She passed right through the cloud and hit the ground on the other side with a pained “Guaahhhhhh.”

“Rainbow!” Twilight shouted, charging her horn.

“I’m fine!” Rainbow called back. She was already standing back up. “I just felt really weird for a second.” The sound of her wings blurring back into action came through the hovering blob of fire. “Just let me hit it again…”

“No!” Twilight shook her head. “No more touching it! We don’t know what it’ll do!”

The Nightmare had had enough of waiting. It charged towards Twilight, but she threw it back with a shield. Fluttershy leapt into action, loading and firing three arrows in quick succession, but they passed right through it, embedding themselves in the walls and floor behind it.

“Don’t touch it,” Rarity grumbled. “Great advice for the hoof-to-hoof fighter.”

“Blind it with your cape!” Applejack shouted.

“Darling, it doesn’t have eyes!”

One long flame, like an arm of fire, lunged out towards Applejack; Yona beat it back with the shield. “Yona not think this real fire,” she commented, examining the wholly unburnt wood.

“Well, yeah,” Rainbow said. “It didn’t feel hot, it felt like ice water.”

Twilight blasted the cloud of flame with magic, which only passed through. She turned to look at Rainbow. “Ice water?”

“Yeah. Like it was freezing my blood or something.” Rainbow shivered. “Not fun.”

“Gh-ack!” Rarity screamed, as a limb of green fire passed through her. She almost fell, but held herself up with a concerted effort. “I see what you mean, Rainbow.”

Gallus, hovering near the ceiling, loaded and fired an arrow, more to feel useful than from any expectation of accomplishing something. It whistled through the Nightmare harmlessly, but he’d neglected to note what was behind; only the shield, still firmly held in Yona’s grasp, prevented it from reaching Professor Applejack.

Sensing opportunity, the Nightmare crept a tendril of fire around Yona and behind the shield, reaching through Applejack like a ghost. “Ghhhhh!” Applejack shivered, as a shudder passed through her whole body.

Smolder whistled overhead, raining fire from above on the Nightmare. And for the first time, something happened; it recoiled away from the heat. “Huh,” Smolder chuckled. “The fire is afraid of fire.”

“Of course!” Twilight shouted. “Fire is combustion, heat, pure change and energy! The Nightmare is sameness and stagnation! Keep it coming!”

Smolder gave a salute and dove over the Nightmare again, but the green flame suddenly seemed to become more solid, like a real arm and not a ghost’s. A tendril whipped out and struck her aside, and she hit a wall with a grunt.

Headmare Twilight’s horn sparked with a new spell, producing a gust of brilliant orange fire. The Nightmare flinched away, shifting down and to the side.

Smolder picked herself up, preparing to dive back in, and noticed Gallus hovering right next to her, nocking an arrow. “Mind if I borrow a light?” he asked.

The Nightmare whirled and charged towards Fluttershy, but was stopped by Twilight casting a wall of flame between them. It turned and changed its target, heading for Scootaloo, with the same result. An arrow blazed towards her, tip crackling with fire, and passed right through it. Something akin to a gasp of pain came from it. The hole the arrow left was blackened on the sides, singed, but the Nightmare reconsolidated quickly, as if it had never happened.

Walls of flame pressed against her from every side. Flaming arrows rained towards her, gusts of fire came from Smolder, and Ingar had picked up two dropped arrows, swinging them at her like firey swords. She rose into the air, spiraling, and seemed to grow smaller. It was as if she was consolidating herself into as small a mass as possible. Then she dove through a hole in the flames and out an open window.

As Twilight galloped to the open window, there was a flash of green light, but when she looked out, she couldn’t see anything but the usual landscape, the rocks and trees and bushes.

She turned back to the room. “I think we’d better cancel the lesson for today,” she said. “Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, put the school on alert. We’re looking for a pony with a mane that looks like green fire; shouldn’t be that hard to spot.”

“Should we assemble all the students?” Fluttershy asked. “Keep them in one place where we can protect them?”

“I doubt it,” Twilight said. “The Nightmare is looking for us. When you’ve alerted the school, go someplace with fire handy. Scootaloo, you too. Stick close to Starlight if you can, she’s another magic user and she can cast flames. You three are the ones who haven’t been hit yet, you need to stay safe.”

Pinkie Pie tilted her head. “But you didn’t get hit either! Why aren’t you coming with us?”

“I’ll be looking at what the Nightmare did to the other three.” Twilight turned to look at them. “No matter how much Rainbow protests that she’s ‘fine,’ I’ve got this feeling there must be something going on there.”

Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy nodded firmly and left with Scootaloo and the students. With a sigh, Twilight turned to Rainbow. “I’m going to perform a magical scan. This is probably going to tickle.”

“Tickle?” Rainbow snorted. “I’m not ticklish.” A magenta field ran up and down her body, like a solid plane moving through her. Twilight frowned in concentration. Rainbow’s mouth twitched, then she fidgeted, and then a tiny giggle slipped out of her. She tried to stifle it, but it only got worse, until finally it burst out. “Bwahahahahaha!” She rolled over on the floor. “Stop it- st- haha- stop it!”

“Ah thought you weren’t ticklish,” Applejack called from the sidelines.

“Sh- hahaha! Shut uhuhup!”

Twilight’s brow furrowed with focus. “Hold still and it’ll be over faster.”

Rainbow Dash’s limbs waved. “Easy for- bahaha! Easy for you to say! Hahaha!”

“Just… give me a minute! I’ve almost got-” Her eyes snapped open. “There!”

“What is it?” Rarity asked, her voice tinged with concern.

“A spell of some kind. It’s inert right now. It can be activated at any time, it looks like. I can’t figure out what it does, but if the Nightmare went to that much effort just to leave behind a spell on all of you, it can’t be good.” She paused. “I might be able to remove it… but it won’t be a pleasant experience. For any of us.”

Rainbow puffed out her chest. “Bring it! I can handle it!”

“If you’re sure…” Twilight’s horn, which had barely been flickering while she held the location of the spell, flared brighter again. Rainbow didn’t show much reaction at first, then suddenly winced. “Are you okay?” Twilight asked immediately, her corona dying down slightly.

“Fine! Keep going!”

Reluctantly, Twilight nodded, and her horn brightened. She watched Rainbow’s face carefully as it winced again, then was pulled tight with pain into an awful grimace. She paused. “Should I-”

“Don’t stop!”

“Okay…” She closed her eyes in concentration. A groan of pain escaped Rainbow Dash, growing slowly in volume.

“Nnnnghhh…”

“I can stop!”

“No!”

Applejack and Rarity watched the back-and-forth with wide eyes, bracing for their turn.

“Are you at least-” Rainbow gasped, “-making progress?”

“Not much,” Twilight murmured apologetically. “It’s really tightly bound to you. I’m worried I won’t be able to get it off.”

Rainbow closed her eyes and clenched her teeth against the pain, but it came through anyway. “Nghh… Nnnnnnn…. AAAAAAAAAAAGGGHHH!”

Twilight froze, dropping every bit of magic from her horn. “No. I can’t keep going.”

Rainbow was panting heavily, shivering. “You’ve gotta get it off of me, Twi.”

“I can’t do that to you!”

“We don’t even know what it does! What if it’s worse than that?” Rainbow stared Twilight in the eyes. “Twilight, I can handle the pain!”

“I’d barely started,” Twilight mumbled to the floor. “It would have gotten so, so much worse before it got better.”

“I can take it!”

“And what if I did get it off?” Twilight snapped, staring down Rainbow Dash with just as much intensity as Rainbow was staring down her. “Then what? There are still two others I’d have to remove it from. Can you tell me, honestly tell me, that you want me to put Rarity through what you just went through?”

Rainbow looked down first. “No,” she said. “No, I can’t.”

“I don’t know what to do,” Twilight whispered. “I don’t want to hurt you. I can’t do that to you. But it’s just as dangerous to leave it.”

“Well, maybe-”

There was a knock on the door. “Knock knock!” a singsong voice exclaimed. “Class time is over, right, Twi?”

Color rose to Twilight’s cheeks. “Flash?” she sputtered.

The door creaked open. “Come on, you can’t tell me you forgot! We were supposed to go get coffee together when your classes were over!”

“Oh,” Twilight whispered, the blush deepening. “This… isn’t really a good time.”

“Why?” Flash trotted into the room, looking around. “What happened?”

“An attack,” Applejack said flatly. “One of our oldest enemies is back, and it means business.”

“She,” Twilight said. “We don’t know who the host is, but the Nightmare is a she.”

“Whatever. Important thing is, she left some sorta spell on us all to use later, and it’s gonna hurt like Tartarus to remove the dang thing.”

“If we even can,” Rarity added gravely.

Flash’s hoof came up over his mouth. “Sweet Celestia… uh, that is what you guys say here, right?”

“Yeah.” Twilight was digging at the floor with her hoof. “There’s a distinct possibility that, if I try too hard to remove the spell, I might actually kill them.”

Rainbow’s eyes widened. “WHAT?”

“You think I was afraid for no reason?” Twilight snapped.

Flash put a hoof on her shoulder. “Hey. You did what you could. There’s no shame in admitting a problem is insurmountable.”

“Or that you’re coming at it wrong,” Twilight retorted. “What I was doing is like yanking a lock off the door, and if the lock is strong enough, it’s no wonder you could damage the door, right? But maybe there’s a way to pick the lock instead, to undo the spell with finesse.”

“Why didn’t you try that in the first place?” Rainbow whined.

“Well, there aren’t any obvious exploits,” Twilight defended. “On first examination, it looks impenetrable. Every spell has a chink in its armor somewhere, but it might take a lot of research, and a lot of studying you guys, to find it. I’m not giving up… but I can’t keep going the way we were.”

“And the research can wait for a little coffee with a friend, can’t it?” Flash pushed with a wink.

“Well… I guess,” Twilight admitted. “It’s not like it’s urgent.”

“So… that’s it? We’re just stuck with some mystery spell in us, and it could go off at any moment?” Applejack asked.

Twilight sighed. “I guess so. I can’t get rid of it right now. There’s no reason I can’t work on it with a relaxed mind after a break. You guys go find Fluttershy, Pinkie, and Scootaloo. Help them with anything they need.” Rainbow snapped a salute; the others just turned and trotted out. Twilight sighed, looked at Flash, and smiled. “Yeah,” she said. “I think a little break is exactly what I need.”

“Don’t worry,” Flash smirked, as they trotted out the door. “I won’t keep you too long.”

Author's Note

Me, hitting "Publish": Nah, I don't think the voice sound effects in this chapter are too over-the-top, why?