Canterlot Academy Trials

‘Here’s hoping she doesn’t recognize us…’ Wyvern Blue thought to himself.

Thankfully, it seemed as if she didn’t for the moment. The grifonness appeared before them wearing a crudely designed blue leather jacket, shades, and a bandanna.

“The hell are you doing in my head?!” she shouted as she approached them, “Who even are you?!”

“...what’s with her fit?” Wyvern muttered to Priestess.

“It’s likely how she envisions herself,” Priestess explained, “Given that we’re in her mind, she likely sees herself. A roughneck gangster that follows nobody’s rules except her own. It’s honestly pretty sad.”

The inner version of Gaea called out to them once more. “Hey! I’m talkin’ to you knuckleheads! Is this some kinda weird dream I’m having or what?”

“Something like that,” Wyvern decided to approach her…and immediately lost track of what he wanted to say.. “Consider us uh…” he turned to the disguised Grimrose, “Priestess?”

Priestess sighed and stepped forward. “...consider us an omen. A foreboding cognition that represents the pain and suffering you caused to an innocent pony named Atomic Nebula in real life.”

“...wait…is this a nightmare?” Gaea held her claws up to her face and started to pat herself down. “No…no way,” she shook her head in denial and yelled back, “This can’t be! I’m being pranked! You’ve got no idea what I did…if anything!”

“Like you ‘pranked’ that pony who did nothing to you?” Wyvern countered her stance, “Do you know that you may have caused him permanent blindness?”

“...” Gaea’s inner self paused for a moment, freezing in place as she looked at the empty black expanse of her mind’s floor.

Priestess would continue, “Imagine if someone did that to you just because they didn’t like griffons? How would that make you feel? I’d bet you want their head on a silver platter--”

“Shut up!” she squawked as she slammed her claw on the invisible floor, “It’s…it’s just not the same! You ponies live your highly privileged lives under the rule of princesses who do everything for you! You worship her to the ends of the fucking planet as if you can’t make your own decisions! Griffons never had that sort of luxury! We had to fight every day just to survive!” She grit her teeth and spread her wings to take flight, “So don’t you dare compare me to those pastel-colored grass-eaters!”

“Dragons had it rough too ya know,” Wyvern stepped in, “But we never lashed out and committed hate crimes over it. We never tried to inflict blindness on someone just because we didn’t like them.” He spread his own wings and flew up to her, glaring daggers as he grit his teeth behind his facemask. “...so the fact that you still continue to make excuses shows just how weak you are.”

“...what did you say to me?”

“You’re weak,” Wyvern repeated, “You’re pathetic. An absolute petty loser who’s fulla shit. No wonder the other griffons tossed you out. You’re just…insufferable.”

“Yeah well…” Now unstable, the griffon was unable to come up with a proper response. “...W-well…at least…at least I don’t worship some friendship cult! Now get out of my head!”

Priestess flicked her tail--something was amiss in the mindscape. “...Bl--Wyvern. Get back!”

“...wh--?!” Wyvern immediately flew down, just in time to avoid being swung at by a crowbar.

Then, all the sudden, dozens of other griffons would appear, wearing the same sort of leather garments that Gaea was. Each of them had visible bruises and cuts on their bodies as they approached the two.

“What the hell…??” Wyvern muttered.

Naturally, Priestess took on the job of clearing things up. “...she wants to lead griffons back to their violent, destructive ways. She’s not even realizing how much suffering they’d have to endure just to uphold this flimsy ideal.”

“...hence why they’re all banged up,” Wyvern shook his head in disbelief. “...dammit. This is just…I’m not even angry anymore, I’m just…disappointed that someone even has the capacity to think like this.”

“We need to get her to realize her folly,” Priestess explained, “Otherwise, she’ll continue these destructive behaviors in real life. It’s the only way we’ll get her to fully comprehend what she did to Nebula.”

Wyvern paused, then pointed at the horde of violent-looking griffons in their way. “...you want us to go through that?”

“Got a better idea?” Priestess replied off-handedly.

Given that he indeed had no better ideas, Wyvern hung his head, then took a deep breath. “Welp. No other choice I guess. Just wish we had some extra help…”

In reality…

It was the middle of the night. Around 2AM to be exact. Atomic Nebula had bandages over his eyes. His treatment was nearly complete. Whether or not he’d be able to see again though…

For the moment, he tossed and turned in the hospital bed, desperately trying to get to sleep. “Hmm…grrgh…can’t…feel…”

But at some point…he wasn’t in his bed anymore.

Somehow, someway, he felt his back hit what felt like solid ground. “Oof…did I roll off? Nurse…?” When he stood up, he realized he wasn’t in the hospital room anymore, as the heated floor was nonexistent.

“This is…where am I? I must be sleepwalking…hello?”

While he couldn’t see, Nebula could still hear. And what he did hear clued him into what was going on.

“...Blue and Rose’s voices? I must be dreaming. Even so, I gotta go see what’s…oh, right.”