Canterlot Academy Trials

“...shit…shit…that ain’t good at all…!” Marrow squeaked to himself as he watched his captain and first mate get captured by a purple dragon man and a bunch of griffons. “Were they the targets that Nebula and his friends were after? Dagnabbit man…”

With his options limited, Marrow knew he couldn’t exactly charge in and play hero all by himself. Even him and his trusty harmonica couldn’t accomplish that alone. What he needed was something that his captain was so stubbornly against: Some help.

The rat man scampered off on all fours, hurrying away from the shacks until he heard sets of footsteps and wings flapping nearby. His ears twitched in response, and he quickly scurried up a nearby tree to see who it was. Once there, he narrowed his eyes to find Nebula and his entire team on their way to the very same location that he was headed towards.

“This way,” Blue called out, “I can smell dragon scales not too far from here.”

“Alrighty,” Mei replied as she galloped after Blue, then glanced at Nebula, “What’s the plan, leader?”

Using his knowledge from many strategy meetings and siege simulations while training under Royal Guardspony Tungsten Wolfe, Nebula would seek to apply that to a practical situation with variables.

“Alright, first we--”

But before he could even speak out about his plan, the group was interrupted when a small rat man appeared in front of them.

“Mr. Big Pony and friends…wait a second!” he squeaked to get their attention, causing them all to stop on a dime.

“Marrow? What’s going on?” Nebula asked.

One quick explanation later…

“Tch. Well no shit,” Nebula grumbled and rolled his eyes. Having officially lost his patience with Pollux, he was more than prepared to give her an earful when this was over. “Color me an unsurprised bronco.”

“...fuckin’ hell,” Blue groaned while leaning against a tree, “So the stubborn-ass mouse got herself captured because she refused our help.”

“And it seems that griffons are here working with Gloomtail,” Mei reasoned out rather quickly.

Grimrose had stayed mostly silent as she read from her tome to get potential curses ready for the ensuing battle.

Mei then had an idea, “Nebula, I think it’s time we show this rodent chick what a bard can really do.” She commented, pointing to his holstered recorder.

“...are you certain?” Nebula glanced down at it apprehensively, “Would she even appreciate such an effort?”

Grimrose finally spoke her mind. “There’s no time to worry about that, Atomic. You can’t win battles worrying too much about what others are thinking.”

“She’s right,” Blue agreed as he stepped forward off of the tree while rolling his right shoulder, “We need to strike while the scales are hot and see what we can do for them. Gotta act fast, and you’re really the only one with any tactical skill here, brother.”

Marrow would add, “Please. Ya’ll gotta help. However ya can. I wanna show Madam Paula that I can perform under pressure!”

“...” Nebula whinnied, and flicked his tail upon hearing the word ‘perform’. That’s what gave him an idea as to how to formulate a plan. “Hrrm…Rose. Can you recreate our disguises from the Mindscape?”

“...I can try?” she muttered out of confusion as she tried to remember their costumes and codenames. Though she was unsure of how it’d work in the real world, she was more than willing to experiment. “You want to use them so they have no idea who they’re up against, right?”

“That and so that frickin’ ungrateful rodent won’t know who we are when we show up,” Nebula added with a scoff, “She’ll see just how effective we can actually be, right Marrow?”

Marrow gasped and flicked his tail with an excited squeak when he realized he was being included in this plan. “O-oh…y-yeah! I’m ready when ya’ll are!”

Meanwhile, within those shacks, in a cellar beneath the upper floor…

Gloomtail casually walked down to a dark cellar that was only lit by a rather dim bulb. The dragon glanced at the bound badger man who was in a nearby chair as well as the bound mouse woman who was hung from the ceiling by rope. In one of his claws, he held a small case…

“I mean…goddamn that was just disappointing, really?” Gloomtail casually started up a conversation without any input, “I mean, the so-called great ‘Captain Pollux’ outsmarted by just a few griffons? Come on. I was expecting an actual fight like something out of one of those novels about the little pirate beasts. But you? That was just awful.”

“...shut ye trap!” she squealed from where she hung, “I was merely caught off-guard. Me crew will be here before long. Ye’ll see!”

Gloomtail would idly scratch under his chin, as if he wasn’t listening to a word she had to say. “...right. Yeah. This is what happens when you let your past continue to consume you even to this day.”

Eastman would call out. “What are you playing at?! My captain has nothing to hide from me or the rest of us!”

“...she doesn’t, does she? Really?” Gloomtail glanced over at Pollux. The mouse lady was stunned into silence and broke eye contact with the dragon. Immediately, Gloomtail started to cackle. “OH…waitwaitwait…hol’up…don’t tell me…” he continued to laugh for a moment with a claw on his head as he leaned backwards. “Ah…this is priceless! Don’t tell me that the legendary Pollux has kept her secret from her own crew!”

“...Ye…ye know nothing about me…!” Pollux stammered with her eyes darting around the room, and eventually chose to look down.

“...Madam…?” Eastman muttered in confusion, “...what is he talking about? You trust me…and the rest of us…don’t you?”

Pollux would continue to hide her face in shame as she looked down.

And then Gloomtail would continue with a snarky tone. “This bitch here is hilarious. You wanna know the truth, ‘first mate’? Well a long time ago, Pollux, like the rest of you, used to live in Klugetown. As the story goes, someone paid her an assload of gold to take up the flute. See there’s a specific tune that only works on rodents and it can actually screw with their minds.”

“...no…” Eastman muttered in horror as he realized just what Gloomtail was referring to. “...the ‘Theme of the Piper’. It’s real?!”

By now, Pollux was gritting her teeth out of shame.

“Yessir,” Gloomtail continued, “I don’t have all the details, but she actually herded a bunch of rodent beastmen onto a ship solely just so they could shower her with attention and praise her as her the best in the world while also lining her pockets with bloody gold as she reported to her benefactors.” He lowered his voice and gave a disgusted trill, “...when all she is is a talentless hack. An actual pied piper. That’s why she hates music. It reminds her of how utterly shit she is. She didn’t save any of you. She merely placed you under new management. I mean, don't get me wrong; I'm a greedy, selfish asshole myself, but the difference is that I'm honest about it.”

“You…no…” Eastman looked between his captain and the dragon, “...you lie…I-I don’t believe you.”

Gloomtail scoffed as he walked around behind Pollux. “Pft. You don’t have to believe me. I’ll show you.” From that case in his claws, he opened it…and retrieved brilliant flute made of shining silver. “Play.”

“...” Pollux remained silent.

“Wanna do this the hard way, eh?”

SLAP!

With a quick swipe of his claw, Gloomtail smacked her ass, causing her entire body to jiggle as she fell to the floor.

“ARGH!” She squeaked as she took a tumble, only for Gloomtail to walk over to, and squat in front of her where he placed the flute case down.

“Pick it up.”