Canterlot Academy Trials

Rufus and Blue approached the goblin woman’s stand. The goblin herself looked rather aged with wrinkles upon her face and graying hair, but somehow had a rather curvy body with the usual short stature native to goblins--colloquially known as ‘shortstacks’ due to their large bottoms and bustlines for such small bodies.

“...damn she’s so sweet-looking…” Rufus muttered under his breath.

“Yup, you’re hooked,” Blue snarkily replied, “Try not to make the lady feel weird upon first sight though, alright? Don’t wanna give her a heart attack.”

“Yeah, yeah…you’re right.”

The elderly goblin woman glanced over at them and spoke up with a calm, sweet tone of voice. “Hello, boys. Are you interested in my wares?”

“Yeah, well mostly interested in seeing if you got anything edible like gems,” Blue commented.

Rufus stopped for a moment and took a look around the stall’s numerous shelves and displays. The metal ores the goblin had on sale made his eyes dart around. “...huh. I think I could use some of this. The local blacksmith might be able to help us.”

“That’s the idea,” the goblin lady nodded and sighed, “I used to be one hell of a blacksmith back in my own day when my hips didn’t hurt. These hands could handle so many heavy metals at once to where your heads would spin.” She chortled as she held up her small green hands that were now rather wrinkled due to age. “But that’s all behind me now…”

“Well I can def see where you got your skill from,” Blue commented as he took a close look at the goblin’s hands. “You look like you’ve been at it for years. Huh, Rufus?”

“Yeah, you might wanna be careful,” the yak added, “You don’t wanna hurt yourself, ma’am.”

“Oh don’t worry yourselves about little ol’ me,” she continued, “Anyway--do either of you need anything? I hate to be rude but I don’t want any other customers to get impatient if they see a line forming.”

Blue looked around her stall and found some gemstones that would serve as a decent snack for a dragon. “I’ll take these. They don’t look particularly valuable or useful for smithing.”

As Blue paid with some bits, Rufus shook his head. “I’m good for now--oh but by the way: What’s your name?”

“Matriel,” she replied with a smile, then tilted her head as she adjusted her glasses. “Oh wait. Now I recognize you. You’re apparently the yak boy that--”

Rufus’ eyes darted around as she began speaking. He grabbed ahold of the dragon and quickly turned away. “...let’s go, Blue,” he muttered.

“H-h-hey hang on!” Blue yelped, his eyes bulging out of their sockets from the force of the yak tugging on him as he grabbed the pouch of crystals.

Matriel looked on in confusion, then silently looked down at her stall with a forlorn frown on her face. ‘...maybe I shouldn’t have mentioned that,’ she thought to herself.

Later on, the gentlemen headed back to the academy’s campus…

“...she knows me man…gah!” Rufus groaned as he slammed his head into the nearest wall of the academy building.

Nearby on a bench, Blue was lying on his back while reading a book held within his left claw as he idly snacked on gems from the pouch with his right. “Look, just talk to her. I’m sure she just wants to get to know you.”

“...it’s just…it’s kinda hard to think about, Blue,” Rufus went on, “What if the same thing happens again?”

“We got the guy who’s been causing all this shit, right?” Blue casually reasoned as he bit into a crystal, “Shouldn’t be much else we need to worry about. Not to mention this gob-lady seems to be living here in Canterlot now so you’ll be able to keep good track of her. You just got back from a mission, so don’t stress out so much, yeah?”

Rufus couldn’t exactly argue against that. “I guess so. Honestly though I need to stay behind for a while anyway. Fang’s gonna need me here.”

“Good. Do your best for him. Though speaking of which,” Blue closed his book and sat upright, “I’ve been hearing talk about something going on in the East where Lee is from. Know anything about that?”

“Oh yeah,” Rufus went and sat next to Blue, “Something about her family causing problems back home. I don’t have all the details, but I know enough to make an educated guess: She’s likely gonna be sent back home to deal with that soon.”

“Shit,” Blue shook his head and sighed, “But I can’t be mad. I know what that’s like. Though I gotta wonder who they’ll have accompany her--if anyone at all.”

“Guess we’ll find out soon,” Rufus replied, “The professors are likely gonna work with the Emperor to make a decision.”

Blue’s eyes shot open along with his wings, “Ayo for real? The Emperor of Wukong? Coming here?”

“S’possible, yeah,” Rufus shrugged. "Why--?"

No response. Blue simply took off in a hurry, darting into the air with his wings spread...

"...well okay then," the yak muttered as he watched the dragon leave.