Canterlot Academy Trials

Spearklip immediately leapt backwards and prepared herself to fight, but Rufus inspected the club in a nonchalant manner.

“...Steel. I knew it. It’s got potential though.” Being a yak, he was used to others pointing their weapons in his face, so it didn’t faze him at all. Instead, he simply called out to the wielder, “Hey, yeah we’re from Equestria. We got your message in a scroll.”

“...”

And out stepped…a female goblin. Standing at about four feet tall, she had the iconic traits of one. Green skin, pointed ears, sharp teeth, freckles on her face, and a rather raspy voice. Her overall appearance was also rather humanoid, with a muscular abdomen, plump breasts and wide hips for her short stature, muscular thighs and a head of purple hair that was done up into a spiked ponytail. Upon her body she wore a set of leather armor which included brown boots, a brown leather loincloth with what appeared to be bones sewn into the fabric, and a brown breastplate to complete the look.

The goblin girl held her club up and rested it upon her shoulder once she saw who they were. “Ah, it’s you guys. Great. There’s some junk we need you to take care of near Abyssinia. Some creepy-ass tiger asshole is getting ready to wage a war on the dogfolk or some shit.”

“A war on dogfolk?” Fang repeated what the goblin girl had with a sense of empty fear in his voice. “...utterly deplorable. Do the Abyssinian King and Queen even know about this supposed uprising?”

“Uh, no?” the goblin girl replied in a sarcastic tone as she raised a brow, “The fuck you think we called you out here for, Spots? The reports get stopped by some gangster bitches he’s paid off to do his dirty work. You won’t get shit done unless you take them out first.”

Spear would speak up, “I see. We need to cut off their support system before we take him on directly.”

“Take out the hydra’s heart before cutting off its heads,” Fang added, then looked at the goblin girl, “Alright, kiddo, take me to your parents.”

“The f--” she pointed her club directly at Fang while yapping, “I am a fully-grown adult goblin! I like beer, hunting, and sex with massive schlongs! Don’t you dare test me!”

Lee simply skipped over to the goblin and patted her on her head. “Aw…sweet monster lady is adorable!”

“I am NO--...w-woah…that feels great…” she relaxed as the monkey’s hand ruffled through the hair on her head. “...just…just make sure you don’t call me a kid again or I will fuck you.”

Rufus would point out the absurdity of such a statement. “...is that supposed to be a threat or--”

“Shaddap!” the goblin turned around, and opened the door to the cave she had been living in. “Follow me. I’ll have more info for you inside.”

Since it was a small opening into the depths, everyone more or less had to crawl just to fit inside. Rufus had the toughest time being a large yak and all, but with the help of a push from Spearklip, they all managed to get inside…where they were greeted with a much larger, and vast underground cavern landscape.

To be more specific, it was unlike the crystal caverns found beneath Canterlot and the Crystal Empire in Equestria. This was a more traditional cave system complete with drab browns and grays all over with a few colored gemstones jutting out of the walls and ceilings of the cave itself. Once they were inside, the ceiling was at least two stories high above where they stood.

“This is not unlike the mines in Caninia,” Fang commented as his tail wagged. The familiarity of the underground setting put him at ease. “I kind of like it.”

Spear meanwhile had noticed the various crystal structures that naturallyed formed along with cave’s insides. “Those crystals look pretty interesting. Hope we have some extra time to check them out.”

“I wanna check out their forge,” Rufus added, “Wonder what kinda material they use for their armor…”

“Woah…it’s so peaceful here…” Leelee marveled at the lack of noise within the cave as she could imagine herself meditating in such a place.

All of their mumblings would be interrupted by the goblin girl who had brought them there. “So yeah…here’s where I live, losers,” she led them ahead to a set of huts built out of wooden sticks and animal fur. In the middle of the small clearing, there were several large logs and a fire pit with a cauldron where they’d cook and eat their food. To the right of that was their forge complete with a heated furnace that burned with the power of coals next to their underground forge. “Just don’t break anything.”

“...I’m actually kinda interested in that weapon you got,” Rufus pointed at her club as she set it down next to one of the tents, “How’d you make it?”

The goblin simply rolled her eyes in an annoyed fashion, completely uninterested in answering his question. “I didn’t bring you down here to answer a buncha questions. Just listen to what I have to say about that tiger,” she huffed as she sat down on one of the logs.

Moments later, a much older goblin would poke her wrinkled face behind thick-rimmed glasses out of one of the huts. “...are those visitors, Uziel? The ones going to stop those wretched gangsters?” she spoke in a gentle, yet aged tone of voice.

“Yes mom,” the goblin who had been leading Fang’s group to her home whose name was Uziel, replied with a softer tone, “Don’t stress yourself out, okay? You need to rest.”

Uziel’s mother would glance at the yak, zebra, diamond dog, and monkey before nodding her head. “I understand. Please make yourselves at home while I make something for you all.” She exited the tent wearing a tattered dress made of random patches of old cloth and approached their iceboxes. “Now where did I leave that bread…?”

Fang would then ask, “...is that--”

“My mom, yeah,” Uziel nodded as she folded her arms and turned her head away from the group, “...it’s just me and a few of my sisters here. My brothers and dad were…” She paused for a second and shook her head. “...no. Fuck that. I didn’t bring you here to give you my sob story.” She gestured to the other logs with her hand and pulled out a map, “Cop a squat and listen up. Oh, and just call me 'Uzi' please.”