Canterlot Academy Trials

Later on that evening…

“So you’ll help us out, right? You can keep whatever treasures you find on the way there, but they really need you to take them to the Scalebound Wildwood which is located on the Fragmentation Islands South of here,” Smolder would explain the situation to someone that was standing in front of her.

The individual in question was only about 4 feet tall, but their head was covered by what appeared to be a pirate’s hat, rendering their face hidden from view for the moment as two other much taller, bipedal figures stood next to them.

“...does that work for you?” Smolder asked, tilting her head.

The short individual with the hat nodded, before turning to leave with their bodyguards.

“...jeez,” Smolder bemoaned as they left, rubbing her face, “Why do they always have to be so mysterious?”

Meanwhile, in the guest rooms of the castle…

Everyone was allowed to settle down for the night in the rooms that Smolder allowed them to use. Regal little abodes with soft beds and orange carpeting to match her scale color in addition to purple cobblestone walls to match her horns.

Blue was resting upon his bed with a nervous thumping in his chest from his heartbeat. Visibly disturbed and unable to shut his eyes, the dragon stared up at the ceiling as he mulled over what Hooktail had said about him.

His state of moping would soon be interrupted by Mei calling out for him, “...Blue, are you alright?”

“...huh? Y-yeah, I’m fine…” the dragon replied hesitantly, snapping out of his stupor, “You can come on in if you want.”

The kirin mare trotted inside and closed the door behind herself. “I…noticed you were a bit antsy earlier. Did Smolder mention something to you about Hooktail?”

“...kinda,” he went on as he sat upright, “...I told you that we used to date, right?”

“Ah…and I’m assuming that things didn’t go too well, huh?” Mei asked as she sat next to him.

“...not really, no,” Blue answered, “It’s…she was a bit too aggressive for me, honestly. Even by dragon standards.”

“...yeesh,” Mei whistled in awe. “Then again, I can relate. We kirin can get a bit…too angry at times as well. So I feel you.”

Thanks Mei but I...just wanna relax for now. Until the mission starts anyway,” Blue lied back down and turned over. “Don’t worry about me, alright? We need to get ready to carry this out tomorrow.”

“...” Mei hesitated, but ultimately respected Blue’s wishes with a sigh. “...alrighty, Blue. But if something really starts bothering you, then please don’t hesitate to tell me, okay?” And with that, she left the room and headed back to her own for the night, leaving Blue alone…

The dragon would bite his lip out of frustration, and sob to himself to sleep quietly…

The next morning…

The mercenary students of Dorm Block Epsilon would follow the directions that Smolder had given them and would walk away from the volcanic brimstone-laced castle towards a less fiery port where a traditional wooden pirate ship had been resting. Smolder could be seen speaking with the captain of that very ship, and turned to Nebula’s group once she was done talking with them.

“...alright, so before you guys head out, lemme just tell you something: Apparently a griffon pirate and her posse’s been causing trouble in the Southern Ocean as well. If you see her, be sure to bring her in for me, alright?”

“No problem,” Nebula replied with a nod, “We’ll keep it in mind as our secondary objective as we look for Gloomtail.”

“Noted,” Grimrose added as she wrote Smolder’s warning down in her tome.

Meanwhile, Blue was focused entirely on the pirate ship in front of them. “...sweet jeebus, we’re gonna ride on that to get there?! This looks awesome! Haven’t been on one of these before!”

“Lucky you,” Smolder added with a grin, “The captain just fireproofed it with some wax, so you guys shouldn’t have any trouble.”

“...that’s…pleasantly surprising, and smart of them. Speaking of which, who is the captain anyway?”

Smolder spread her wings and took off into the air, leaving the group with one final word of caution, “You’ll know them when you see them!”

“Guess we better approach,” Nebula encouraged them as they all walked up to the ship.

It was a large, typical buccaneer’s vessel made of mostly wood with cannons placed on both sides. Its main sail was currently folded and its anchor was weighed down into the water for the moment.

But as soon as they got close, a folding wooden plank incline would shoot out from the ship down to them and they’d hear the voice of what sounded like a young woman.

“Avast landlubbers! Are ye prepared for yer mission?” The 4ft tall individual from before would call out to them, much to the group’s surprise.

Blue would speak up first, “...yeah, uh--hey we’re looking for the captain. So if you could like, go get ‘em for us, that’d be--”

“Oi! What poppycock! Ye already be in the presence of the captain of this here vessel!” she tilted her head up to reveal herself fully as she drew her cutlass with her left hand. A mutated mouse-woman who appeared to be from Klugetown. She had gray fur and wore a red pirate captain’s suit with a matching red hat that had a golden feather sticking out of it. Her two bodyguards also revealed themselves as dull-blue colored warthog beastmen who were also from Klugetown. “Now, show me what weapons ye intend to fight with!”

“...weapons?” Nebula tilted his head and looked at his team, “...is she serious?”

“May as well entertain her,” Grimrose muttered with a roll of her eyes as she stepped forward and showed off her tome. “I fight with a spellbook.”

“Not bad, not bad at all!” the mouse lady approved, “A mage is important on a team.” She then pointed her cutlass at Blue, “Dragon. You next.”

Blue blinked his eyes out of surprise before showing off his usual weapon of choice, a two-sided spear made of fire. “Uhhh…fire spear I guess?”

“Good for close range and long range!” she pointed at Mei next, “You next, fire-horse.”

Mei gasped, her glasses nearly falling off of her face, “Oh uh…I fight with my body mainly when I’m in nirik form. Guess you could say I’m a…CQC specialist?” she made it up on the spot, hoping the captain would buy it.

Thankfully, she seemed to. “You can take the front then, lassie! And how about you, freckled pony-man?”

Nebula cleared his throat and stepped forward, revealing his Ivory Recorder. “...I fight with this at a distance and support my team. Musical magic is my forte…literally and figuratively.”

“...”

Everyone stood in silence as the mouse woman glared at Nebula for what seemed like an eternity…

Eventually, the unicorn stallion would speak up, “...Um…is there something wr--?”

“Ohohoho!” the mouse lady laughed at him with the back of her hand up to her mouth akin to how a noblewoman would laugh, “You cannot be serious? You mean to tell me a lowly bard is the leader of this crew? What folly are you trying to pull over me, lad?”

“...what?” Nebula tilted his head out of confusion.

Blue was the first to come to his defense. “Hey. Don’t mess with Nebula’s tunes. That shit’s powerful.”

“There’s things he can do that no book can show you,” Grimrose added with a fierce glare behind narrowed eyes.

“And that’s a bit rude to boot,” Mei added, “You just met us, ma’am.”

“Forgive me…agh…ohoho….” the captain muttered in between laughs, “I’ve never met a useful bard in all me time sailin’. Nobody who plays music for a livin’ has been able to hold their own in an all-out battle before. Are ye sure you don’t have an actual weapon, lad? Something that might actually help us? What are ye gonna do? Shanty our enemies to death?”

Nebula paused for a moment with wide eyes that darted ever so slightly as the insults to his skillset that he worked on for so long cut rather deep. But he took them in stride for the time being. With a flick of his tail and a horse-like whinny, he replied, “...Hey…you’ll see.”

And yet, the captain regarded him with an uninterested groan as she looked at her pocketwatch, “Ugh…if you’re certain.Ye can play us a ditty or two, but don’t get in me way, bard. Come on up. Time’sa wastin’.”