Canterlot Academy Trials

Nebula’s ear flicked as he heard something approach them.

“...Someone’s coming,” he muttered, then turned to the pegasus mare flying next to him, “Split up. Rose you flank around and see what you can find at that campsite.” He retrieved the recorder from his saddlebag via magic as he gave her the command, “I’ll distract whoever’s coming up.”

“Roger.”

As Grimrose flew upwards, Nebula eventually found himself in an empty field of sand face-to-face with the doberman woman.

“You,” he muttered with a scowl, noting her leather attire, “So you’re one of the bandits, huh? Black leather for staying hidden in the darkness, huh? Smart.”

“The brat’s smarter than he looks,” she huffed in response as she stood upright and growled, brandishing her claws. “Let’s cut right to the chase, then--!”

Before he could blink, the diamond dog lady leapt at him. Fortunately, Nebula side-stepped her attack just in time to where he was at her left. Without hesitation, he blew a shrill note into his recorder that stunned the dog lady’s sensitive ears, causing her to cover them with her paws as she collapsed to the ground.

“There’s more to life than petty theft!” he shouted as he threatened to blow another note, “Surrender now and submit yourself to the court.”

“Like hell I’d submit to a brat like you,” she hissed as she stood up once more, and flung a dagger from her paw in his direction.

FWIP!

“Woah!” Nebula dodged it, albeit barely. This left him open to a hefty punch from the dog’s massive fist that sent him onto his back with a thud! “Not bad…”

But as soon as he rose to his hooves, the dog woman was nowhere to be seen. With his eyes steeled and ears open, Nebula focused hard on his surroundings to try and figure out where she went…

To no avail.

POP!

With a swift eruption of dust, the dog woman dug herself out of the sand beneath them, grabbing Nebula with a fierce grip of her paws, squishing his body in place.

“ACK!” he coughed up air involuntarily as he felt it all being squished out of him.

“Neat little whistle you got there,” she smirked as she reached up to grab the ivory recorder…

ZAP!

“Agh! What in the goddamn--?!”

But as soon as she tried to touch it, it left a burn on her paw which caused her to reflexively let go of the stallion and drop him to the sandy ground below.

“Oof!” left Nebula’s lips as he hit the sand and he quickly lifted his recorder up via magic before it hit the ground. “Let’s try something different.” The stallion leapt backwards and his horn lit up with magic to enchant his recorder…

EEEEE!

He played a sharp note that ejected hard magical projectiles. Bass clefs, treble clefs, and other notes were flung in the dog woman’s direction.

“Huh?!” she performed a quick backflip to avoid the explosive, concussive blasts that each note would leave after a short period of time. “You ponies astound me…”

“We’re more than just friendship lasers and rainbows, lady!” he called back with a smirk on his face. Nebula knew that if he could keep her at bay with ranged attacks, he’d eventually tire her out.

‘Come on, Rose. You got this.’

With Grimrose on the other end of the sandy field…

The pegasus mare had eyed the stocky stallion from afar. Within her left hoof, she held a blank book and began to write in it using a quill made out of one of her own feathers.

‘In order to pull this off, I need utmost focus,’ she thought to herself as she finished up working on her curse.

“Oi…?” the stallion’s ear flicked. His innate, passive magic-sensing aura tipped him off that something wasn’t quite right. He immediately turned to the direction of the bush that Grimrose was hiding in, and shouted, “You lot! Whoever’s out there, show yourselves!”

“Shit,” Rose cursed her plan, as she didn’t expect him to figure her out so easily. With that, she opted to go for a different strategy: Intimidation.

With a swift flap of her wings, Grimrose flew up, and landed in front of York. “By order of Princess Twilight Sparkle and the Royal Guard, we hereby stake claim for your arrest under Equine Code M-6-0: ‘Banditry is illegal.’”

“...Bugger it,” the stallion grit his teeth, “S’pose I oughta cut my losses and get while the gettin’s good. C’mon out, you lazy bums!”

Moments later, several other ponies in fur jackets and bowler hats would exit their tents around the camp, allowing York to slip through and make his escape. “Tell the princess that we ain’t done yet!” he shouted as he scampered away, suspiciously leaving the body bag behind…

Which in turn, left Grimrose surrounded by four stallions that were a part of York’s gang. To their surprise, she didn’t seem fazed by this at all.

“Well this seems fair,” she quipped dryly as she stared at the bandits, “Four against one, and I didn’t bring any soul jars…”