Canterlot Academy Trials

Down in the infirmary tent…

“Blue! Are you okay?!” Mei squealed as she burst through the doors, much to the chagrin of the nurse ponies.

The dragon smirked in her direction, seated upon one of the infirmary beds within the medical tent. “Yeah, I’m alright,” he replied with a few bandages around his waist and arms, “That match really showed me a thing or two. I need to work on my melee skills a bit more.”

Across from him on another medical bed, Kuno had been treated with similar bandaging to treat his wounds alongside some healing magic from the nurse unicorns. “Likewise, my friend…I underestimated you based on appearance alone. I figured a dragon would allow pride to overcome him and prevent him from performing well in battle. I owe you an apology as well as my gratitude, Blazes.”

“...Whew…” Mei breathed a sigh of relief, “I thought you were really hurt back there, Blue.”

“Nah, it was a test of each other’s skill, Mei. Nothing to worry about,” he replied to the kirin before glancing at the minotaur, “And no big deal, bud. Dragons in general have a bad reputation but I’m looking to change that.”

“Spoken like an honorable man,” Kuno replied with a nod, “Allow me to show you the reason I choose to fight.” He reached up, and undid his blindfold…showing a pair of empty eye sockets that were a pure, soft white. “In truth…I was born this way.”

“You what?!” Blue’s wings spread automatically, causing the nurses next to him to flinch defensively. “...sorry,” he muttered as he folded them back in. “So Kuno…was that like a defect or something?”

“Blue, don’t embarrass him,” Mei scolded the dragon, but it only caused Kuno to chuckle.

“Don’t worry yourselves. To make a long story short…I didn’t know my birth parents. One day I washed up on a shore in a far Eastern land of ponies and was trained by a master to overcome my blindness. Now? I can more or less see everything around me…in a different way to the rest of you.”

“That sounds sick,” Blue muttered in amazement, “I’d like to learn about that someday.”

“Maybe when I have extra time…” Kuno yawned and stretched his arms out, “But for now, we should rest.”

One of the nurses approached Mei. “Sorry, but I’m gonna have to ask you to leave for now so they can recover, dear.”

“Oh…alright. It was great to meet you, Mr. Itami,” Mei smiled at the minotaur, then looked at Blue who had also begun to lie down, “...see you later, B.”

“Ah, don’t worry about me. You’ve got your own match against that ‘Dew’ person or whoever they are.”

“You’re right,” Mei shook her head as she backed out of the room. “Gotta stay focused.”

Meanwhile, with Nebula…

“Mei? Gah--where did she go?” Nebula swore under his breath as he trotted through the sports arena’s purple and gold-tiled floors and pearlescent white hallways which matched Canterlot’s signature colors. Such a labyrinthine building was not to his liking at all. For Nebula preferred the comfort of a simple music auditorium. “I think navigating this place is gonna be more difficult than my exam battle,” he grumbled while rubbing the side of his head.

That’s when a familiar voice called out to him.

“Hey, is that--yo, Nebula, my man! What’s happenin’?”

Nebula turned to find a fellow college-age stallion with a similar color scheme to himself. Albeit this one had a duller blue coat color and more of a dusted brown mane compared to Nebula. He was also an earth pony whereas Nebula was a unicorn. Lastly, this stallion’s cutie mark was a gold star and three horseshoes.

“Hm?” Nebula turned to look up at his fellow freshman and tilted his head. “Eh? Wait a sec--oh!” When the realization hit him, he gasped with his eyes shooting open. “Star Tracker, right? It’s been a while, huh?”

“For real,” Tracker agreed with a snicker as he trotted up to his old friend, “You still look nearly the same as when I last saw ya--just…bigger. But we still kinda match like we did in middle school, eh?”

“Sorta,” Nebula giggled in response to his earth pony ‘twin’. “I remember when our teacher would sometimes get us mixed up. Then we’d prank the principal by taking each other’s places and making him think he had memory loss.”

Tracker snorted. “Ha! Those were the days. When we could just be dumbasses and get away with it.”

“No kidding. Speaking of which, did you ever manage to get over your obsession with Princess Twilight?”

Tracker narrowed his eyes, then rolled them. The Zeppelin incident was a long time ago by now, and something that he wanted to forget. “Aw, c’mon. Don’t remind me. You know getting a chance to hang with the princess was rare back then.”

“Sorry, shouldn’t’ve said it like that,” Nebula admitted with a smile, then changed the subject, “Come to think of it, I think I’ve seen you around the campus. What’re you majoring in?”

“Blacksmithing,” Tracker replied, “Lookin’ to get my hooves in some metal and work on armor for folks like Tungsten and the other Guards.”

“Sweet! I’ll introduce you to him whenever I get the chance,” Nebula replied.

As the two continued talking, a certain pink mare would enter the halls in order to escape the loud noise of the spectators. “Blech…too much going on…hm?” Luster Dawn stopped on a dime, blinked, then rubbed a hoof across her eyes to make sure she wasn’t seeing double. “What the…?”

“Hm? Oh, hey Dawn,” Nebula waved her over, “Was just catching up with an old friend from middle school. What’s your name again?” he teasingly smirked at the earth pony next to him.

“Very funny,” Tracker scoffed, and nudged Nebula’s side with his hoof. Then, he glanced at Luster Dawn with an interested smile on his face. “Oh yeah. You’re Princess Twilight’s student, right?”

“...yeah, that’s me, unfortunately,” she lamented sarcastically, “--kidding, kidding. Yeah. You’re…Star Tracker, right? Twilight’s told me a bit about you actually. How you used to be one of her biggest fans until you started doing your own thing.”

“Well at least she got that part right,” Tracker rolled his eyes, then gave an amicable grin. “But yeah Was just havin’ a chat with this guy here about my newfound passion for hammers.”

“...Huh,” Dawn muttered in disbelief, “That’s…surprising.”

‘Nebula really has a lot of friends, huh? I’m almost jealous…wish it was that easy for me.’

After a bit more chatting, Tracker broke things off. “Alright, I gotta get back’ta my seat. You guys take care now, huh? Maybe we can catch a bite at the Tasty Treat? I hear their business is getting better.”

“...Oh? Is it?” Nebula replied with withheld excitement and made a mental note to check up on Saffron’s restaurant at a later date. “Gotcha. See ya, Star.”

As Star Tracker left, Luster Dawn glanced at him with a rather longing stare--something that didn’t go unnoticed by Nebula.

The unicorn stallion leaned in with a knowing, ear-to-ear grin on his face. “...Whatchalookinat?”

“EGH!” Dawn whinnied and cleared her throat while prancing in place, “N-nothing. I’m just…interested in blacksmithing is all.”

“You know, Hearts and Hooves Day is around the corner,” Nebula added with an even wider smirk, “I could introduce you to him and help you get along with him when I’m finished with my date with Rose.”

Such generosity touched Dawn. She wasn’t entirely sure how to process the offer at first. “...you’d do that for me?”

“Sure, why not?” Nebula replied, “Just what a friend does, right?”

'A friend…how is he so good at this?' Dawn thought to herself then quickly buried her emotions. "Huh? Oh, right…thanks. Anyway, I need to get ready. My training battle is coming up soon…hope you guys will watch me.”

“Wouldn’t dream of missing it--” Nebula’s ear flicked upon hearing a voice speak through the loudspeakers.

“Up next, Grimrose Orcus!”