My class with Applebloom was nice enough. She told me that the entire class would be going on weekend field trip in a few weeks to the Foal Mountains, something all the upper level classes had already done this year. She and I would be gathering supplies while on the trip. That would be my first real supply gathering trip, and my first real chance to see more of Equestria. I’d walked around Canterlot and Ponyville a bit, but this would be my first time going off into the wilderness. It was a little scary, considering it was forests and mountains, and I struggled with just the trees in the park. I wasn’t going to let that get in my way. I’d go by the park every day so I could get more used to trees. If I could master the park, I’d be fine in the forest. How much worse than the park could it be?

It was off to lunch after that. I wasn’t as early to lunch today, given it was an alchemy class day instead of an artifact class day, so I arrived at the cafeteria roughly around the same time as my friends.

“Hey, Turnip,” Bright greeted me as I came up beside him just outside the cafeteria door.

“Hey,” I returned the greeting. “Did you hear about the field trip?”

“What field trip?” Summer asked.

“We’re going on a field trip?” Hannah asked. “Where to?”

“We’re going to the Foal Mountains,” I explained. “We’ll be staying at someplace called Mountainshade, doing nature walks in the forest, and visiting some ruins or something.”

“The old Kingdom of the Night,” Summer whimpered.

Hannah gave her a quizzical look. “Kingdom of the Night? That sounds ominous. I’ve never heard of it.”

“It’s the only country Equestria ever forcefully conquered,” Summer explained. “There was a war a long time ago. The Kingdom of the Night started it, I think, but they lost, they lost badly. They say that Princess Luna killed almost everypony in the old capital, the Hallowed Shades, because they refused to surrender. The cave ponies…nocturnal ponies… thestrals… whatever you want to call them, were almost completely wiped out, and the remaining ones were put under Equestrian rule. The kirin tribes were so scared of Equestria after seeing that that we isolated ourselves for over a thousand years before contact was reestablished. We were afraid Equestria would do that to us too.”

“Why? Were the kirin at war with Equestria as well, or were they allied with the Kingdom of the Night?” I asked. I had a hard time even believing such a thing happened. Luna didn’t seem like the type to put an entire city to the sword.

Summer shook her head. “No, but the idea we had was the Equestrians were willing to wipe out any tribe of pony that wasn’t one of their three tribes. We were different from them, so were the cave ponies. We didn’t know the details about what started the war, just that Equestria almost killed off a whole tribe of ponies. Maybe it was because they weren’t earth ponies, pegasi, or unicorns. Would they do the same to the kirin? Our ancestors weren’t willing to take that chance. We retreated into the mountains and hid.”

“Maybe your ancestors were misinformed. I don’t see Luna doing something like that. She seems nice, and she seemed very close to Psychic Calm, and he was a nocturnal pony,” Hannah said.

Summer shrugged. “Maybe, I don’t know. It’s been over a thousand years. Maybe things have changed.”

We stepped into the cafeteria and I immediately noticed a long table had been set up where all the headmasters and headmistresses were sitting in a line, easily able to view the entire student body and be seen in turn. Everyone seemed to be casting looks that way, and more than a few of the older students were giving extra attention to Headmistress Cinch. She had been their old headmistress. I wondered if they still felt some loyalty to her, or felt the awkwardness of having her here more keenly.

“Guess them leaders are all here,” Bright remarked.

“I met them in the hallway an hour or two ago,” I said.

“Really?” Bright asked in interest. “What they like?”

“Interesting,” I said, not elaborating too much.

Sweetie Belle stepped forward and got everyone’s attention. “Students, hurry and get your food so we can begin with announcements. As you can see, we have visitors at the school, so let me remind you to remain on your best behavior.”

“You’d think we were causing trouble all the time with how much she repeats that,” Hannah said with a smirk.

I certainly had been accused of that, though none of it was my fault.

I glanced a short distance away to see Prim chatting with her friends.

“The mares do look refined, don’t they?” one of Prim’s snotty friends was saying.

“Don’t you know? That older one is Headmistress Cinch. She was the headmistress until this year,” another of Prim’s friends said. “Really, she should rightfully still be headmistress, rather than that dreadful human.”

Prim and her other friends immediately fell in line with agreeing with the filly. I knew the general pecking order in that group, and knew that filly was the one they all kissed the flank of. She must come from some more important family. She could say that cat urine smelled like roses and all the others would rush to agree.

“I’m sure they are all Earthlings anyway,” the top filly continued. “That makes them all either former humans or descendents of humans, and they don’t belong in polite Equestrian society.”

“Are you being a closed-minded twat again, Daffodil?” Red said as he came up to the group, smiling.

“Don’t embarrass me, dear brother,” Prim practically growled.

“Oh, you are continuing to hang out with this trio, so I can add nothing more to that,” Red replied.

Bright joined me in looking at the group. “Guess they didn’ listen to the professor about bein’ on best behavior. Think they’ll start yellin’ at one another and causin’ a ruckus?”

I shook my head. “No, they are too concerned about embarrassment to do that.”

“They might get embarrassed by me going over there and slapping that Daffodil filly on her pointy nose,” Hannah growled. “I don’t belong in polite Equestrian society? What’s so polite about it?”

“Calm down, we don’t want to get in trouble,” Summer pleaded. “We know how mean and nasty Prim is, so it isn’t that shocking her friends are the same way. We’re already on thin ice after what happened before. Don’t get us in deeper.”

“Only on thin ice because we decided to figure out what your coltfriend was up to,” Hannah muttered. She took a deep breath. “Fine. I won’t go starting trouble with that stuck-up mule of a pony. Let’s just get our food and get to our seats. Looks like we have Inkwell as our professor at our table today.”

I glanced over at our class’s table and confirmed Inkwell had already taken a seat at the head of it. She seemed on edge and doing her best not to look at Cinch. Inkwell was the only carryover from the last administration, so she might have strong feelings about seeing Cinch again. Maybe she was worried Cinch would see her as a traitor.

We got our salads in relative silence, only broken by Bright and Hannah exchanging a few brief comments about the local professional buckball team’s recent playoff appearance. Summer and I weren’t really into buckball, so neither of us paid it much attention. Hannah was nice enough to levitate my tray for me on the way back to our table, saving me the effort of trying to balance it on my back. It wasn’t that I couldn’t do that balancing well, most earth ponies were very good at balancing things on their backs, but it did slow me down, and ran the risk of me making a mess if someone bumped me—something that was always a risk in the cafeteria.

We were just sitting down when Sweetie Belle started talking again..

“Alright, students, I know many of you in the second through fourth years are all very curious about Headmistress Cinch being here. She has come today as the new headmistress of Crystal Prep Academy,” Sweetie Belle announced.

There were a few muted whispers from those respective tables, but nothing I could clearly make out.

Sweetie Belle gestured at the rest of the adults at the table. “Since the majority of you are already familiar with her, let me give the others a chance to introduce themselves and give a few brief words first.”

The first to stand was Ivanoff. “I am Ivanoff Rasputin, of the Saint Petersburg Institute of Magic of Mother Russia. I hope the upcoming games are very sporting.”

Rasputin? Like the mad monk from history? I suppose it might make sense for a name Russians associated with magic.

The next to stand was the bandana-wearing stallion. “I am Obeah De Santiago, from the Havana Unicorn Studies School, located in the Caribbean Confederation. I hope we learn much from each other.”

The next to stand was the Chinese stallion. “I am Wū Shù of the Ponies’ Magical Research Institute of Beijing in China. We hope to show our dominance in the games.”

No speaking of sportsmanship or friendly competition or learning, just we intend to crush you,—charming. No wonder no one seemed to like him.

The next to stand was Bob. “I am Bob the Unicorn of Bob the Unicorn’s School which is located in the United States of America. I am enjoying my time in your country and hope that we learn much from one another.”

His name was literally Bob the Unicorn, seriously?! Who the heck names themselves something like that?! And his school name didn’t have any grand title either. I was pretty sure I heard snickering around the cafeteria, including from our table. Bob had to have heard it, but he seemed unconcerned about it. He must have long ago gotten used to it.

The next to stand was Gillmore. “Hello, I’m Jordan Gillmore of Wabash Manor. Our school is also located in the USA. We’ve only been around a few years, but I’m very proud of my students, and I hope that they, along with all of you, have a fun and engaging experience in the upcoming games. I look forward to meeting and speaking with all of you.”

Well, she seemed nice enough. I did notice they went out of their way to put Bob between her and Wū Shù at the table. Those two sitting next to one another might have provoked a fight. I also noted that Prim seemed taken aback at the mention of the school’s name, and it took me a moment to realize it was because it was a name that sounded like some rich person’s home. Did Prim seriously not think there were mansions or ponies with wealth on Earth?

Next up was Arcane, who stood with a smile. “Greetings. I am Arcane Swirl of the Skytree Institute of Magic, located in Skytree, South Carolina, which is in the United states for those of you unfamiliar with Earth geography. Our school motto is from the ruins of the cataclysm we rise. Our city was born of adversity, but is one of the most stunning in the world—any world, and we hope that our magical prowess stacks up to the lofty image of our home.”

Well, that was a bit more flamboyant introduction. Guy certainly sounded proud of his town. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to see it. Skytree was named Skytree because the heart of that city had a grove of trees that were supposedly taller than mountains. I had enough trouble with normal trees without having to deal with super mega colossal ones.

That only left one pony, Cinch.

Cinch stood and looked out at the body of students. “It is with a mix of pride and sadness that I come here today, headmistress of Crystal Prep Academy. Your former classmates are doing well, and I expect they shall do well in the games. I wish they had the opportunity to do it here, where they had already established friendships and a connection at a place they called home, but your villainous human headmaster seems not to care for them or for proper magical instruction or our culture and heritage. I am sorry, but I must see to your defeat in the games so I can prove that this injustice served no purpose.”

Wow….I expected her to say something confrontational, but—

My thoughts were cut off as Professor Newman suddenly stood up from the fourth-year table.

“Oh, no, Charlotte, don’t do this,” Inkwell whimpered.

Cinch looked at Newman with contempt. “Do you have an issue with what I just said, human?”

“You caught that?” Newman asked. “Good, I was afraid I would have to explain it, and I wasn’t sure how to simplify it enough for you to understand.”

There were gasps. There’d been a gasp or two at Cinch’s calling Newman a human, but nowhere near the number that happened when Newman basically just called Cinch stupid to her face. Sweetie Belle immediately ran to place herself between the two.

“Please! This is supposed to be about friendly school competition and cultural exchange. There’s no need for-”

“Sit your flank down, Sweetie Belle. This is being dealt with now. You cannot diffuse this. Cinch has directly insulted our school and our mission. It is time for a lesson,” Newman barked.

“A lesson?” Cinch replied with a contemptfull laugh. “A lesson from who? You, human? What are you going to do? Lecture me? You have no magic to back your strong words. You are nothing but bluster. It must be the main thing you rely upon to try to prove you belong here when you obviously don’t.”

Newman pointed at the old headmistress. “You, me, magical duel, now. I will set the terms of engagement.”

That elicited even more gasps. Everyone knew Newman had no magic. What was she even thinking by challenging a unicorn to a magic duel? She couldn’t possibly hope to win.

“Please, Charlotte, don’t humiliate her like this,” Inkwell continued to whimper. I had to raise an eyebrow at that. What did Inkwell know that the rest of us didn’t? Did Professor Newman have some way of winning a magic duel without using magic?

“This really isn’t necessary,” Sweetie Belle continued to plead. “We need to all retake your seats and-”

“A formal challenge has been made. It is up to Cinch about whether to accept or not,” Arcane injected.

“It would look extremely bad for her if she refused this, like she was afraid of a human,” Wū Shù added in.

Gillmore and Bob shared a look I couldn’t read. Most of the rest of our faculty looked horrified, except for Inkwell, who looked ready to cry. The other school leaders looked amused.

“I’m personally curious how this human plans to pull this off,” Obeah said. “You don’t issue that kind of public challenge unless you have some confidence in success.”

“I am curious as well,” Ivanoff stated.

Cinch looked around, as if weighing her options, and then shook her head in disgust. “Why am I even debating this? It is absurd. Why would I engage in such a pointless display? It is obvious who would win such a confrontation, and I won’t belittle myself by entertaining it.”

Newman smirked. “Alright, so you confess you aren’t qualified to beat a human in a magic duel. I understand. You are old and outdated, after all. You’ll be taking your earlier words back, then?”

Wow…Newman sometimes had biting remarks, but never like this. She was goading Cinch as hard as she could. Would Cinch take the bait? Should Professor Newman even want to have Cinch to take the bait?

Cinch’s face was contorted now with rage. She probably had never had anyone speak to her like that.

“What are your terms of engagement, human?” Cinch hissed.

Newman smiled broadly. “We’ll take a page from Tempest Shadow’s combat training playbook. This involves completing a combat objective with heavy restrictions. It encourages creative thinking and problem solving.”

“And what are the objectives?” Cinch asked.

“We shall have a combat area that I will define in a moment. Your goal will be to remain stationary and hit me with a stun spell. You cannot use any other active spell against me or my environment. I must stay within a certain set of prearranged boundaries that are all within your sight, and I cannot put any other individual or object between you and me as a shield. You must hit me with the stun spell within four minutes from the start of the duel.”

“And what is your goal?” Cinch asked.

“To not get hit by your stun spell, obviously. You win as long as you remain stationary and hit me with the stun spell in the allotted time,” Newman explained. “I cannot leave my area to come strike you, and the only weapon I am allowed to throw at you is—” She paused and looked around, walked over to a table, and then picked up a bunch of grapes. “These should do nicely. Oh, and my running commentary on how you are doing, of course. This is a lesson. Please try to pay attention so you can learn something.”

“That does seem like a way Tempest Shadow would set up a combat exercise, but your standards are unfair, even by the terms Tempest would set up. You have no hope of avoiding a spell cast by a mage as accomplished as Cinch—certainly not for four minutes with Cinch having unobstructed line-of-sight,” Arcane said in disbelief.

“Then let this be a learning experience for you as well,” Newman replied. She looked back at Cinch. “Do you accept my challenge and terms of engagement?”

Cinch looked both baffled and amused. “Very well, human. If you are determined to show how powerless you are, I won’t deny you that chance. I accept. I am ready to put an end to your arrogance."

My first thought must have been the same as everyone else’s in the class—that Professor Newman had to have lost her mind if she thought she could win this with just a handful of grapes, but I still had to look at Inkwell who was shaking her head.

“Charlotte, you can’t humiliate her like this,” Inkwell continued to mutter.

Author's Note

Verse 1:
In the halls of Celestia's School
Where magic reigns and knowledge rules
A challenge issued, tensions high
Newman and Cinch, about to vie

Chorus:
A duel of wits, not magic might
Grapes as weapons, an unusual sight
Strategy over spells, a lesson learned
Expectations upturned

Verse 2:
Headmasters watching, curiosity piqued
Bob and Gillmore, their interest leaked
Cinch's confidence, Newman's guile
The cafeteria tense all the while

(Repeat Chorus)

Bridge:
Inkwell's worry, Sweetie Belle's plea
A clash of old and new for all to see
Four minutes set, the stakes so high
Who will triumph? Who will cry?

Verse 3:
Earth pony Turnip, watching in awe
As the duel unfolds, breaking every law
Of what he thought magic should be
A lesson in creativity

Final Chorus:
A duel of wits, not magic might
Grapes as weapons, an unusual sight
In Celestia's School, on this day
A new approach had its say

Outro:
Questions linger, as lunch goes on
What just happened? What have we drawn?
From this clash of old and new?
In magic's realm, nothing's true