Fifth Class: Cryptic

“Please be safe as you disembark the airship,” the steward told Twilight as she walked down the ramp off the ship.

Twilight, however, didn’t acknowledge whether she had heard it or not. She was preoccupied being utterly amazed at the sight before her. “Well, that explains why nopony has ever found this island,” she said breathlessly, mostly to herself.

“It’s… It’s…” Spike stuttered.

“It’s a flying island,” she said with a weak laugh.

“All first years, over here!” A young-looking golden-coated earth pony stallion called out from in front of a small fleet of wagons. Twilight followed the crowd of ponies toward the stallion. “Alright, is this everyone?” He turned to the grey unicorn mare beside him, who looked over the crowd and nodded. “Good, we can begin. I’m Professor Foxtail, one of the teachers here at Demongate Academy. As you all know, your peers among you all have powers of some sort. Some of these powers can be incredibly dangerous if used improperly, so there is to be no unsupervised use of powers, except in life-threatening circumstances.”

“He’s seriously gonna talk about rules?” somepony in the crowd whispered, just barely audible to Twilight’s ears.

Foxtail’s gaze sharpened and focused at one specific point within the crowd. “Yes, I am ‘seriously gonna talk about rules.’ They’re there for your own protection, so if you don’t want to get yourself hurt, I’d recommend listening to my spiel and learning them. Got it?” Everypony in the vicinity of his gaze shrunk back about a foot. “Good,” he continued. “Secondly, with the wide array of powers, nationalities, and species here, including the presence of Cambions, we want to stress very heavily that prejudice will not be tolerated. That said, for student’s protection, we insist that Holy Chosen maintain at least a foot, minimum, as a distance between yourselves and any Cambions, Demon Artists, or otherwise demon-typed students.”

One student near the front raised a hoof, and Twilight could see a ring of light glowing above his head. “What about Petitioners and Summoners, Professor?”

A sandy-brown pegasus stepped out from behind Foxtail. “I think I can field this one, right, Fox?”

Foxtail shrugged. “Go ahead.”

“Thanks. Okay, I’m Professor Sands, the primary Summoner teacher here. Since Summoners usually don’t have demonic blood or any other particularly strong link to demons, they’re usually safe from a Holy Chosen’s touch. Petitioners fall into a similar vein, as their connection to heaven is weaker than that of a Holy Chosen. They don’t burn demons with a their touch, so it’s really just between Holy Chosen and Cambions, as well as Demon Artists. Still, even with this imposition, you can all still be civil with each other. Let’s try to remember that as we move forward this year.” Professor Sands moved back to the wagons.

“That was a good question,” Foxtail said. “Any others?”

“Yeah, what’s your power?” someone in the back asked.

“You mean you hadn’t noticed?” Foxtail said, conveying slight annoyance. The crowd reacted with silence. Foxtail sighed, bringing a hoof to his face. “You all need to pay more attention. Why do you think I’m called Foxtail?” The entire crowd’s collective gaze turned to his tail. There were nine of them, all foxlike: bushy, orange, and swaying hypnotically. “My mother was a kumiho, a shape-shifting fox demon. That would make me a Cambion.”

Huh, Twilight thought. Why didn’t I notice that? That should’ve been immediately apparent to everypony here, especially the ESPers among us.

“Now, if you’re all done asking personal questions, perhaps you’d actually like to get up to the school itself, get yourselves situated in your dorms,” Foxtail continued, using his tails to point to the wagons behind him. “If you’d all get into the wagons here, you’ll be sent up to the dormitory halls. When you reach the dorm halls, you’ll go in the first floor of your gender’s building and find your room. Each of you has been allocated a roommate, with whom you will be living for the year, and perhaps for the next few if you can manage to get along. You will find that your luggage, except for what you have on hoof, or claw as the case may be for some, is already in your room. Once you’re all settled in, you’ll have some time to do as you please. I might recommend socializing, seeing as you’re going to be here a long while and you’ll be seeing the same faces day after day. You might want to get to know who it is you’re living with. We’ll be serving dinner in the cafeteria at seven tonight. It’s currently three in the afternoon, so that leaves you a good amount of time. After dinner, there will be an orientation presentation at eight, in the auditorium.”

The crowd began loading into the various wagons, with Twilight squeezed between a steely-eyed zebra boy on her right and a poofy-maned pink earth pony mare who started chattering at a mile a minute on her left. “Ohmigosh I’m so excited! Are you excited? ‘Cause I’m excited, I’ve never been so excited!”

Twilight chuckled hesitantly. “I don’t know, I’m kind of nervous,” she said as the wagons began pulling themselves up the road to the island’s central plateau. “I mean, we’re about to start learning how to fight demons. Doesn’t that scare you at all?”

“Well, only a little, but even if I do have to fight demons I know I’ll be okay ‘cause I’ve got Surprise protecting me. So I guess I’m a little nervous, but mostly excited- Hey, that could be a new word! Nervouscited! I’m so totally nervouscited now!”

Well, I’ve got her talking, at least. After that semi-defeat with Trixie, I guess I could stand to try again with the friend-making. So, first step, introductions. “I’m Twilight Sparkle, by the way,” she said.

“I’m Pinkie Pie. Nice ta meetcha. Something tells me you’re a… no, wait, don’t tell me…” Pinkie concentrated for a moment, her eyes squinted shut. “A psychic. I’m right, right? Right?”

“Yeah, that’s right,” Twilight said, mildly surprised. Pinkie looked up to her other side and grinned. “Though my ESPer badge kind of gives that away to anypony who bothers to look. Speaking of that…” A quick glance revealed a white badge with gold edging in the shape of two hooves held together, as if in prayer, with a halo above them. If I’m correct, that means… “You’re a Petitioner, right?”

“Yuppers, that’s right. At least, it’s what the letter and book-thingie told me. Oh, and Surprise explained a lot,” Pinkie said, waving one of her hooves in the air beside her.

“Actually, the Petitioner was one of the few sections of the basic pamphlet that I didn’t read through, so could you explain what you can do and who this... Surprise is?”

“Well, you know how that pegasus professor was talking about Summoners and Petitioners in a group before? That’s ‘cause Petitioners can call on angels in pretty much the same kinda way Summoners call on demons. That’s the basic gist of it, anyway. Oh, but Petitioners get a couple of added bonuses,” Pinkie explained.

“Like what?”

“Well, for starters, there’s the not having a chance of being eaten by whatever we petition. That’s always nice. Next is where Surprise comes in. Petitioners get a guardian angel,” Pinkie said, beaming. Twilight stared for a moment, looking between Pinkie and the space she had been waving at earlier. “Oh, right. Surprise just reminded me that guardian angels are invisible, except to their charge.” She looked down disappointedly, her poofy mane actually seeming to lose some of its poof.

“Aah, don’t worry, I believe you!” Twilight said hastily. “I mean, it’s kind of faint, but I can definitely sense something there.” As soon as she said as much, Pinkie’s mane puffed back out and a smile returned to her face.

Hey…

Huh?

Be careful…

Who’s there?

Beside you…

Twilight looked to her right, at the zebra boy. You’re using sending, aren’t you?

The zebra gave her a sidelong glance. Yes. I’m a Seer. I can do that.

Why don’t you just talk to me?

I don’t want the pink one to hear me. I wanted to warn you. There’’s something very wrong about her.

What do you mean, wrong? She seems perfectly fine to me.

He gritted his teeth and glanced over at Pinkie. I can see her guardian angel. It seems to be struggling against something. The energy she gives off just seems somehow off. I’ve never encountered anything like it before.

Twilight concentrated her thoughts on Pinkie for a moment, but felt nothing out of the ordinary. Whatever it is, I can’t seem to sense it.

The zebra rolled his eyes. ESPers can’t see the things Seers can. You can detect things like a certain demonic wrongness in the atmosphere, but Seers can pinpoint things like that. That mare’s powers may be of a holy nature, but deep within her soul, there is most certainly something evil.

Why are you telling me this?

He averted his eyes. By the end of the coming ordeal, you will need her. At some point, you may need to save her from herself.

Twilight scowled at him. What does that even mean!?

The zebra shot Twilight a smirk. I don’t know for sure… I just gave you a prophecy. If I had all the answers, there’d be no need for you, would there?

“Ooh, are you two playing a game by sending secret messages to each other by facial expression? Looks like fun!”

Twilight nearly jumped out of her seat when Pinkie started talking again. “A-ah, Pinkie! You startled me!”

“I know. I saw how you jumped. So, can I play?”

“It’s not a game,” the zebra boy said flatly. “Just a friendly chat. Nothing you need concern yourself with.” He gave Twilight one final sidelong glance. Just remember, be careful.

Twilight spent the rest of the wagon ride in silence.

Author's Note

Well, not exactly less than a week after the last chapter, I had been hoping to make this one longer, but it works like this, as its own self-contained scene. I really hope I can get better at writing quickly so I don't keep everyone waiting =.=

Anyway, Pinkie Pie. She exists now.
What could be hidden deep inside of her? Stay tuned to find out!