In the chamber of yet another classroom, Pinkie Pie sits at her desk, cheek squished in her hand, drool collecting in her mouth and her eyelids feeling like concrete slabs. Her pencil drags along her paper, creating a picture of a super-heroine in an armored suit, fedora and cape fighting a robot with electric cannons. It has nothing to do with what the current lecture is about, but Dr. Rene Caballeron does not seem to notice her lack of attention, for he is talking to his hearts delight with an accent Pinkie Pie would have liked if he were younger. And better looking. And shaven. And some deodorant, too.

Pinkie's sluggish eyes glide up from her paper to see Caballeron standing behind his desk, still talking, with a map of the Old World being projected behind him. Next to her, Rarity is taking notes, Applejack's book is open but her notebook is blank, and Trixie is typing on her phone. On her other side is Team FORT. Flash is snoring softly with his head resting on his folded arms, Rainbow Dash is fidgeting in her seat, rocking back and forth, drumming her fingers and looking at everything other than what's in front of her, and Octavia is munching on a bag of crackers with a sparsely filled notebookbook. Twilight, however, is diligently taking notes and has her heavily marked textbook open.

“Prior to the Fall of the Kingdom of Levant, the Royal Family made a lot of enemies in every facet of their culture,” explains Caballeron. “From religious, to ethnic, to class, and even in their military and their congress. Obvious rampant corruption, endless wars, class and racial divisions, and so on led to the rise of dozens of factions, but three distinct ones took the historical spotlight. Can anybody tell me what those factions were?”

Twilight's hand shoots up.

“Yes. The celebrity,” says Caballeron.

“There was the People's Prosperity Front, which was a faction made up of disenfranchised laborers, such as farmers, miners and factory workers,” says Twilight. “They wanted to create a state where the workers ruled, everybody was equal and nobody would be without a home, work, food, education or healthcare.”

“Right, right, an idealistic society. Now let's give someone else a chance to answer.” Caballeron points at Pinkie Pie. “How about you?'

Pinkie Pie points at herself. “Me?”

“No, the other pink haired girl.”

Near the door, where Team DAFT sits, Fluttershy looks around nervously before hesitantly pointing at herself with a quivering finger. “M-Me?”

Caballeron does a double take. “What? No. I still meant Pink Cakes, or whatever her name is. Not that I could hear you if I wanted your answer, anyway.”

Fluttershy looks down, face flushing pink, and Pinkie Pie throws up her free hand in defeat while keeping her head on her other hand.

“Beats me. I don't even know what today is,” says Pinkie Pie.

“It's Wednesday, and your answer is terrible,” says Caballeron.

“Meh,” grunts Pinkie Pie.

Caballeron shakes his head and approaches Trixie. “Fine, then. How about the other celebrity? The one who is on her phone.”

Trixie's obliviousness is no thanks to her eyes being transfixed on her phone, and by this point her thumbs are almost blurs with her typing. That comes to a quick end when the Doctor yanks her phone out of her hand, eliciting a surprised and angry whine from Trixie.

“Hey, that's mine!” says Trixie.

Caballeron takes the battery out of the phone and stuffs it in his pocket while placing the phone on his desk, next to two stacks of books and a golden pony skull with gems in its eye sockets.

“You'll get it after class,” says Caballeron. He then leans against his desk and eyes Trixie critically. “Now, tell me, what was one of the major three factions during the Fall of the Kingdom?”

“Um...” Trixie gulps and drums her fingers on her desk, shifting her eyes and body uncomfortably for a moment before looking at the Doctor with an uneasy smile. “The PPF...?”

“All ready taken. What's another one?”

“Um...”

Trixie shifts side to side and glances at every student she can see for help, but no one comes, and Caballeron frowns and shakes his head.

“How disappointing,” says Caballeron. “Should I call on another student?”

“No, wait, Trixie knows one!” says Trixie desperately.

“Okay, prove it.”

“There was the, uh, the... the Tsiun Liberatyon Militer! It was made up of the Tsiunites, an ethnic group targeted by the government, media and various hate groups. They eventually waged a guerrilla war for survival against the Kingdom and other militias.”

“What a pleasant surprise. We got one more major group in the Fall. Does anybody know what it was?” Caballeron points towards the back. “Yes! The one with way too much hair!”

Pinkie Pie looks behind her and sees Caballeron pointing at Team AVAS and Adagio Dazzle lowering her hand.

“The Antiquity Society led by General Solar Flare,” says Adagio Dazzle smugly.

“Yes, that was the last one. What do you know about the Antiquity Society?” asks Caballeron.

Adagio shrugs. “I just remember the name and something about occult stuff.”

“Yes, General Solar Flare was a fan of the occult and was rumored to dabble in splicing humans and monsters. I actually wrote a book about the General and his passions that you can buy for forty bucks. An extra five if you want a signature.”

Caballeron returns to his desk and picks up a book from one of his two stacks. Its cover is a close up picture of a bronze colored man with a thick white beard and eyebrows with yellow eyes, and its titled: The General of the Lost Society.

The Doctor grins and shows it off, but all he gets are blank stares from the students. Save for Octavia, who is digging in her wallet. That said, the lack of excitement eats away the smile that Caballeron had and he returns his book with a moody frown.

“Let's get back on subject,” says Caballeron. “Under General Solar Flare's direction, the Antiquity Society shifted its goals from cultural preservation to expansion. They worked tirelessly to promote diplomatic, scientific, military and economic operations that would lead to the revival of Kingdom prior to the emergence of the Creatures of Tartarus. But when a civil war breaks out between twenty four factions plus the invasion of the Creatures of Tartarus, ambitions tend to fall flat.”

Caballeron pushes a button on his desk that changes the map to a picture consisting of four symbols. The first one being a sun and moon crossing into each other with winged unicorns rearing on either side, marked as the Kingdom of Levant. The second one is made up of an eye inside a triangle with the sun above it, and it is labeled as the Antiquity Society. The third is a red star with gold scales in the center, and has People's Prosperity Front underneath. The last one is a white eagle clutching arrows inside a blue shield, and it is labeled as the Tsium Liberation Army.

Pinkie's brain goes kaput for a second, but when she regains her bearings she scribbles down cheap doodles of the symbols with their names next to them.

“The Society was actually the first to go since they were mainly scholars with very little experience militarily wise,” continues Caballeron. “However, they were still very valuable, so they were accepted into other factions. In fact, their research actually laid the foundation for modern science. Gem tech, aura enhancers, shields, transportation, et cetera.”

Caballeron changes the picture to a black and white group shot of a group of men and women in suits, lab coats and military uniforms, with the bearded man in the center. All are holding neutral expressions, save for the bearded man. He is smiling brightly.

“As I said, when the Society disintegrated their members joined other factions,” says Caballeron.

He changes the picture again, only this time it is the same picture, but with names and dates and which person joined which faction.

“Many of these Society guys went to the PPF and TLM,” says Caballeron. “However, the TLM was eventually defeated by the PPF and was scattered across the world. The PPF was able to gain control of East Levant and formed a new country with members of the Society greatly influencing the new government.”

The picture changes to the PPF's flag draping over the ruins of moderately damaged palace with celebrating militants and civilians outside.

“According to historical accounts the celebration was fantastic,” says Caballeron, “but eventually the Workers Republic of East Levant crumbled due to constant engagement of rebel factions, Tartarus monsters, government sanctioned purges, corruption, and economic and social plight. East Levant did ask for help to fight against rebels and monsters, but none was given. Any ideas why?”

Thorn flicks a paper football at the back of Flash's head, waking him up with a start and a loud snort. Caballeron marches over to him in a snap and slams his hands on the student's desk, causing him to jump in his seat.

“Finally, Flash decides to contribute. So, what is the answer to the question?” says Caballeron.

“Right... The question...” says Flash, his hands held up and voice steady like a politicians formulating their words. “The question which you asked and the question that I got an answer for... It's, um... It is a very, very complex issue that essentially comes too, eh... People suck?”

The class laughs and Caballeron sighs, grabs Flash's book, and then whacks him over the back of the head with it, causing Flash's face to have a hard landing on the table with an echoing BANG! The laughter disappears immediately, save for Thorn, who is snickering, and as Flash seethes and rubs his head Caballeron tosses the book down and looks at Thorn.

“Oh, you think that's funny?” says Caballeron.

“A little bit,” says Thorn.

“I'll tell you what will be even funnier. If you knew the answer to my question.”

“Well,” begins Thorn, “I think it was only a matter of priorities. Like why would we waste our time on a backwards race when we could be doing something more important? Like protecting our civilization, for example.”

“You aren't the most open minded of people, are you?” says Twilight.

“It's easy to criticize others for lack of open-mindedness when you've lived a narrow life,” says Thorn sharply. “But, I will give credit where credit is due. The Levanites did do one thing right and that was their extermination of the Tsiuns.”

Trixie's pencils snaps in half.

“But that one favor still does not change the fact that they were backwards and were not able to coexist with the rest of the world, so that is why we had to let them go. It was sad,” says Thorn.

Caballeron hums. “Fascinating. You, Drake and Flash can see me after class. Same with Pinkie.”

“Wait, why me? He's the dick!” says Drake.

“Yeah, what gives?” says Pinkie Pie.

“Now before we travel further off course, does anybody have an answer to my very simple question? Preferably somebody who is not a complete retard,” says Caballeron without making any attempts to answer the two.

Twilight waves her hand up.

Caballeron sighs and halfheartedly points at her. “Sure, why not? What do you got?”

“It was not that we didn't want to, it was that we couldn't,” replies Twilight. “We didn't have the manpower or resources to break through the swarms, and what we did have we had to use to defend our borders from the monsters.”

Caballeron nods approvingly. “Yes, yes, that is a good platform. During the Fall of the Kingdom there was another event occurring simultaneously called the Surge, which was when there was an unexpected spike in Creature activity that consumed a dozen nations, leaving just the four we got now.”

Caballeron then smiles brightly and pulls out a book with the picture of a burning skull imprinted on the map of their world, titled: The Surge: How the World Was Reshaped. Again!

“It is another subject I wrote about, and you can purchase the book for only forty dollars,” he says. “But purchases must be made after class with hard cash only.”

2,700 seconds later Caballeron ends his class, returns Trixie's phone, and gains a broad smile, for a few students have bought his books. Two of which are Octavia and Adagio, and they each bought one copy of his two books. That said, the students that are having to stay behind are not exactly thrilled. Drake's frown is tugging on his face like a wire; Thorn is leaning against a desk, arms folded across his chest and smoldering eyes locked on the brown carpet; Flash is also looking at the floor, but is nervously massaging his hands; and Pinkie Pie has her hands clamped behind her back and is rocking back and forth on her heels, watching the students file out with a critical eye, and blinking at each one. Her stomach also feels like it has been shriveled and twisted into a knot, which brings her to thinking of each student as food. Such as Rarity being a vanilla cake with grape frosting, Rainbow Dash being candy, and Octavia as burnt toast.

“Do you have a nervous twitch or something?” asks Caballeron as he walks by Pinkie Pie.

“What?” says Pinkie Pie, snapping away from her food thoughts.

“You're blinking a lot.”

“I got something in my eye.”

Caballeron hums skeptically. “Sure you do. Now, students, I am sure you are wondering why you are here while your teams get to have lunch.”

“Yeah, I'm definitely wondering that,” says Drake.

“Me, too,” says Pinkie Pie, her stomach growling right after.

“The answer is quite simple. You are all lacking,” says Caballeron.

“Hey, I'm not lacking. I got bad ass grades,” says Drake defensively.

“You're lacking as a leader,” says Caballeron. “And so are you Flash and Pinkie. You're supposed to set an example and you two are off in lalaland. The leader influences their team, so if they see slackers they see more than enough justification to slack off themselves. As for you, Drake, if you were a proper leader you would have had Thorn's attitude straightened out a long time ago. Yes, your grades are fine, but Thorn's grades suck, and that reflects on you as much as him.”

The group is silent, and Drake glares at Thorn, who in turn rolls his eyes away. Seeing this, Caballeron sighs and rubs his face as he paces in circles. He stops a moment later and looks at them harshly.

“Do you guys want to know a secret?” says Caballeron.

“Ooh, I love secrets!” says Pinkie Pie, grinning widely.

“You are being graded.”

Pinkie's smile drops, and Drake and Flash stare at Caballeron curiously while Thorn arches a brow.

“That's not a secret,” says Thorn.

“You are being graded outside of academics,” reiterates Caballeron. “Everywhere you go, you are being watched and graded. How you conduct yourself in public, how you treat others, how you organize and present yourself, it is all being graded. You represent this Academy and a legacy, and if we deem you to be a poor representation there will be consequences. Are we clear?”

The group nods quietly.

“Good,” says Caballeron. “Drake, you are exempt from this since your grades are fine, but Pinkie, Flash and Thorn, you are to do extra work until your grades are at a satisfactory level. Starting with the History of the Equestrian Hunter, chapter one, the end chapter quiz completed and an essay no shorter than four pages about the said chapter. It'll be due next week.”

Pinkie Pie groans and Thorn shakes his head, muttering curses under his breath.

“Do we have to do that as well as that, uh, other book thing?” asks Flash.

“If by other book thing you mean notes on chapter four of the Tartarus Wars, then yes. Any more questions?” says Caballeron.

The group shakes their heads.

“Good. Get out and enjoy your lunch,” says Caballeron. “I heard sloppy dogs are on the menu.”