Boring.

Doctor Daring Do's class is boring. There is no fancy words to describe it, no clever metaphors or similes. It. Is. Boring. And it became painfully obvious as soon as Team PART walked in late and nearly missed getting the synopsis of the course. Not even the anatomy posters of the Tartarus demons, maps, drawings, and time lines that are on the walls can alleviate this. It is so boring that being in the vicinity of the room is bringing Pinkie Pie to the verge of an early siesta. This lack of energy to put her all in the class certainly has nothing to do with her mind swimming in fish oil, or her eye lids feeling like someone has hooked cinder blocks to them, or that she and her new team of super friends spent the waking hours organizing their room and converting their beds into bunk beds using sheets and books after spending the whole night partying.

“Tree Trolls, Thunderbirds, Timberwolves, Goblins, Changelings, Zombies, Vampires, these are just a few of the things that you will be facing once you graduate this prestigious academy. But after you graduate you will come to call them something simpler. Prey,” says Daring Do, her overly rehearsed voice echoing in the round chamber where a few more teams sit. These teams include Team FORT, Team DAFT, Team AVAS and Team NOBL

From what Pinkie Pie's weighted eyes have observed, Doctor Do is incredibly uncomfortable in her blue pleated skirt, blue blazer and white blouse. On the professor's desk, aside from stacks of papers, books, a mug of pens and a globe, is her tie, and she has loosened the two top buttons of her shirt, giving some view of her cleavage. Not that Daring seems to mind. If Pinkie did not know any better, she would think that Daring did it on purpose, but she is certain that no professor would purposely flaunt themselves to students half their age. The uniforms are uncomfortable, after all, and maybe the professor just needed a little room to breathe. Nothing wrong with that.

Daring Do places her hands behind her back and starts pacing in front of the class, her polished shoes echoing in the chamber and the eyes of a few male students -one being Flash- following her closely.

“Now, as I was saying earlier,” says Daring Do, “this world is treacherous, but there are safe havens, Equestria being one, the Crystal Empire Remnant being another, then there is the Altain Federation and the Republic of Bernese. But even these places are not completely safe, as you all know, and that is where you come in. Huntresses. And Hunters.”

Daring finishes with a wink directed at Flash as her fingers glide across his desk, and he smiles and clicks his tongue when he pretends to shoot her with a finger gun. This gets him a quick slap on the shoulder and an annoyed look from Twilight, which he meets with confusion, mouthing: “What?”

Twilight huffs and rests her cheek on her fist. On the other side, Pinkie yawns and groggily moves her pencil on her paper to make a three headed banana monster destroying a city. Nothing extravagant, just a simple doodle to keep her eyes open.

“You will all be trained to be honorable individuals who will protect this nation and those who cannot protect themselves,” says Daring. She stops and stares dramatically at the students with a hand balled in front of her chest. “But from what, you may ask? Why, from the very world!”

Crickets chirp in the strange silence, someone coughs, and Trixie mutters: “No shit.”

Seeing the disappointing reaction, Daring clears her throat and leans against her desk, arms folded beneath her chest and her eyes focusing on the crowd more intently. However, Pinkie Pie barely looks at her teacher, and her cheek has found a nice spot on her hand so it is not moving, and she is having too much fun drawing her banana monster to stop.

“You kids are obviously lacking focus,” says Daring Do. She then stands up and starts unbuttoning her blazer, earning her a scrunched brow from Pinkie Pie and confused looks from students. “So it appears that I'll have to get your attention.”

Daring tosses her blazer on her desk, putting her loose blouse on display, and then she pushes a button on her desk, which summons a projector that is brought up on a platform which was hidden under the floor. After that, she flicks switches on her desk that dims the light and she turns on the projector, filling the silent room with a gentle hum and breaking the dark with a black and white photo of a considerably younger Daring Do kneeling next to a camp fire, smiling and stirring something in a pot above the flames.

“And I'll get it with a story. When I was eight I killed my first rabbit,” says Daring Do.

Rarity gasps, Pinkie Pie grimaces, Trixie yawns, and Applejack perks up, but when Daring Do begins her exposition of traveling across the land boredom returns. The words blur into blahs, the tone becomes less interesting than a wet carrot, and time has decided to fall asleep on the job. In a pitiful attempt to keep herself awake, Pinkie Pie resumes doodling her banana monster, but this time she is adding more detailed lines with various strengths of her strokes.

“Now, my grandpa smelled like cabbages-”

Pinkie Pie does not care that Daring Do's dziadek smelled like cabbages, but she does like cabbages, so she starts on another creature, using swift, circular motions. In seconds time a circle has leafs wrapping around it, a stem pokes from the top and bulky limbs with large hands and feet sprout from it. Pinkie Pie bites her lip a bit and rubs her pencil on the paper, making the shadows follow the lines for both creatures in an appropriate manner, with the occasional correction from her trusty eraser, which is getting a bit worn. Nothing a five dollar eraser bundle pack can't fix.

“That was when I learned the many ways to use a cucumber-”

With Daring Do mentioning cucumbers, Pinkie Pie realizes that she has not had a cucumber in a long time. About five hundred and five days if she is not mistaken. She also realizes that a cucumber will make one helluva of a rocket. So, with some hard erasing and speedy strokes the cabbage man now wields a bazooka, which has fired a cucumber at the banana monster. Some more rubbing and erasing ensues and now there is an exhaust cloud, darker shadows and a bit of fire.

“Of course, I was also able to slay the beast using my superior intellect-”

Intellect is important, that is something obvious to Pinkie Pie. But she wonders how intellect can be drawn into her doodle of cabbage man versus banana monster. Perhaps a mad scientist in a floating egg thing? Or a portal to other star systems? It certainly is a hard to draw intellect, so Pinkie Pie settles with drawing a man with broad shoulders, big arms, tight abs and great legs. A shirt is not needed, but a book is included since she needs to have intellect in there somewhere.

“And he got on a bike and I never saw him again.”

And so Pinkie Pie decides to draw a bicycle behind the buff man with the book, just because Daring Do's stupid bike statement put one at the front of her mind. She does not even know how to draw bikes, and now that she thinks about it, why is there a shirtless muscle man with a book and a bike near fighting two plant monsters? She settles with the classic 'don't know, don't care' approach and puts her focus back on the bicycle. The spokes are a pain in the butt and she is certain the seat looks more like an anal violation device than a seat. The seat must go.

“I guess what I am trying to say is that to be a true Huntress and Hunter you must put others first, you must be honorable and diligent, and above all else, you cannot be a complete dickwad,” concludes Daring Do.

Pinkie Pie stops erasing the seat and looks up, eyes wide and ears perked.

“Wait, what?” says Pinkie Pie.

“Any questions?” says Daring Do, completely ignoring Pinkie Pie and once again leans against her desk with her arms folded under her chest.

Pinkie Pie has a lot of questions, but every single one will point to her not paying an ounce of attention in class, and she really does not feel like being crucified. That said, she nibbles her lips and glances to her left and to her right, heart racing and throat going dry since no hands are being raised. Though, when Trixie raises her hand, Pinkie Pie's tension is washed away with relief and she sighs and slouches a bit in her chair.

“Yes, Trixie has a question,” says Trixie.

Daring Do scratches her head. “Eh, okay.”

Trixie places her hands on her desk and sits prim and proper, like a good school girl. “Will we be getting hands on experiences about these things?”

Daring Do smiles and walks behind her desk. “Actually yes. In fact, you'll have one today.”

The professor pushes a series of buttons on her desk, and the projector goes down, the lights turn on, and the floor opens up at the far end of the room. Clicks, whirs, hums and bangs are reflected off of the walls, and the class leans as far as they can to see what's coming. A metal container slides into view and is locked in place with multiple clangs. The only opening is a metal slot, and when something inside squeals and bangs against the thick door, the students jerk back, some swearing others laughing, and Daring Do pulls out a pad from her desk and flashes a wicked smile.

“And I'm going to need a volunteer,” she says.