Applejack trudges through the Hollow Shades Forest with grit and determination in her steps. Her heavy boots easily crush everything in her path, leaving clear footprints in the wet ground, and she bullies her way through the trees. Branches are pushed aside or broken off, shrubs are stepped on, and obstructions are blasted away.

All the dark bark trees and gnarled roots look the same to her, and the gunshots and explosions all sound like to be the same distance away from her. She has not seen any signs of Pinkie Pie or any familiar faces anywhere, and as much as she hates to admit it, the forest is freaking her out. Between the damp environment, the roaming beasts and the idea of having to spend four years with a potentially random person who she may or may not like depending on attitude, work ethic and moral code is something that leaves her mind running in a hamster wheel of barely contained panic.

That said, Applejack has never thought of herself to be anti-social, but the kind of random team generating that is incorporated into the test is begging for a disaster. Much like how sacrificing a virgin or a baby goat is inviting a demon into the house. Bad ideas, all around.

“The things I put up with to make my family proud,” says Applejack to no one in particular as she pushes a branch out of the way. With the branch out of the way, she gets an up close, nose to snout view of a yellow eyed wolf made entirely out of wood. It growls and grips venomous sap from its fangs, and she smiles and calmly pulls the branch back in place. “Nope.”

The wolf leaps through the shrubbery, roaring viciously and splattering Applejack's face with sap, and she falls on her back, screaming and swearing. The claws slash at her, but her aura merely flickers, leaving her body free of harm for the most part. However, she thinks her heart and lungs might explode, and she screams again when the wolf pins her down by pressing on her shoulder, and when it lunges at her head she puts her arm in the way, giving it a taste of her gauntlet.

The wolf growls and gnaws at Applejack's gauntlet, covering it in sticky drool, and ripples scatter across her gauntlet from the creature's teeth. The wolf bites harder and shakes its head while its paws claw at her shoulder, and Applejack's ears and eyes start hurting when an alarm flashes with its noisy accomplice.

Aura Low! Recharge Needed! is what she sees on her eye-piece, and below her aura bar is another bar. Only this bar grows a little bit more with every bite into her.

After some very fast and gut wrenching seconds of gnawing leading to her near complete depletion of her aura, Applejack roars and activates her glove. It jerks in the wolf's mouth from its sudden jet-powered burst, and the wolf reels back, yelping with broken teeth flying. Applejack then aims her other hand at its head fires off a ball of flame that blows its head apart.

The headless wolf crumbles, and smoke rises from its neck as its body twitches on the ground, but Applejack can barely get to her knees before she hears more paws hitting the ground. She turns, swears and rolls away right before another wolf can land on her, and she has to dive away from yet another wolf that jumps towards her.

Applejack turns on her back fires off two more fiery rounds that strikes the newest wolf in the leg and chest. It collapses with a pained howl and a smoldering hole in its chest, and Applejack scrambles to her feet and charges the remaining wolf. The wolf snarls and runs towards Applejack and when it is enough it roars and jumps towards her, but she slides on her back on the ground shoots of a stream of fire balls across its stomach in rapid succession. When she stops sliding she lays flat on her back and gets an upside down view of the wolf falling into burning pieces. Applejack's aura is back to being fully charged and her other bar is completely depleted, as well.

Applejack turns on her stomach, sighing with a smile of relief when its flaming carcass crashes into the ground, splashing mulch and dirt all over. However, when a growling shadow covers her and heavy paws slam on her back with something thick and wet drips on her, her smiles vanishes and she looks up to see yet another wolf looking down at her. Grinning nonetheless.

But before the wolf can do anything more than growl, a purple streak slices through the wolf's neck, and its head rolls away with wretched smelling, sappy blood jetting out and getting all over Applejack. Applejack coughs and sputters the foul fluid out of her mouth, and when the headless wolf collapses Trixie is revealed, deactivating her wand and staring at Applejack with an unimpressed frown.

“Need a hand?” asks Trixie.

“Nope,” replies Applejack. She pushes herself up and brushes herself off, and then smiles meekly. “Thank you kindly for the help, but I think I could've taken it just fine.”

“Would that be before or after your head was ripped off?” says Trixie.

Applejack says nothing, and Trixie smirks arrogantly as she brushes herself off and adjusts her cape.

“Anyway, Trixie believes that we are on a team, now, and as team leader Trixie's first order is for you to take a picture of Trixie standing proudly with her kill,” says the silver haired student. She tosses Applejack a small camera and then kneels next to the headless wolf. “Chop, chop, subordinate. Time's a wasting.”

Applejack looks at the camera, and then at Trixie with a quirked brow. “Say what, now?”

Trixie frowns impatiently. “Take Trixie's picture with the magical device. Its not that hard.”

“I know what a camera is, but we should be going towards the ruins to get the chess piece, not... whatever this is.”

“Its a photo shoot. The camera's already on, just point it at me and push the red button and it will take care of the rest.”

Applejack tosses the camera to Trixie. “I ain't got time for this.”

Trixie tosses the camera back to Applejack. “There's always time for a picture.”

Applejack tosses the camera back to Trixie. “Not for me, there ain't.”

Trixie tosses the camera back to Applejack. “Take my picture.”

Applejack tosses the camera back to Trixie. “Take a selfie!”

Trixie tosses the camera back to Applejack. “Trixie is above selfies!”

“Fine!” Applejack stuffs the camera in her pocket. “I'll take your picture when we're done. How's that sound?”

“No!” whines Trixie. She stands and marches towards Applejack with her hand outstretched. “Gimme back my camera if you're going to be like that.”

“Never mind. You'll get your camera back when you get a better attitude,” says Applejack.

“Why you little...!”

Trixie lunges at Applejack, and Applejack merely holds out her hand, once again keeping Trixie at arms length. The smaller girl swears and tries to swing at Applejack, but the farmer is out of her reach and shakes her head with an amused smile.

“It didn't work last time, hun. It ain't work this time,” says Applejack.

Trixie swings a few more times and Applejack chuckles and shakes her head, but when Trixie suddenly stops struggling and gains a wicked smile, Applejack's spine shivers. Trixie's wand then clicks and its gem changes to blue, and after that a blue circle is shot at Applejack's feet.

“What the?” says Applejack as she flicks her eyes to the strange circle.

Trixie then changes the gem to orange and shoots it at a tree that is a short distance from another tree. Applejack's whole body is suddenly sucked away from Trixie, and before she can so much as think she gets a face full of bark. The tree shakes, her vision is knocked out of focus, and she lands flat on her back, eyes rolling and branches and leafs falling around her.

Applejack hears Trixie laughing, and she groans and clutches her head as she turns to look at the menace, who is red faced and having trouble standing from how hard she is laughing.

“Ha! How do you like them apples, hick!” says Trixie.

“CAW!”

A black blur suddenly takes Trixie away, and her wand twirls in the air for a few seconds before it clatters to the ground. Trixie's shriek is carried off with her body, and Applejack can only watch, eyes wide and mouth sealed shut as the ego-maniac is carried higher into the sky by an enormous black feathered raptor. Then she looks at the wand and then at Trixie again, who is screaming something that Applejack cannot understand.

With a sigh, Applejack brushes herself off, picks up the wand and tilts it down as she inspects it, knowing she is well out of range to attack the creature with her equipment and figuring the device might have a trick up its sleeve. It is during her prodding that she accidentally switches the orange gem to a teal gem, but she thinks nothing of it.

“Leave it to the farmer to save the city slicker,” mutters Applejack. “How's this contraption supposed to work anyway?”

During her inspection, her thumb presses the trigger and the wand shoots out a teal orb that splashes on the ground, forming a circle with four arrows pointed in the center. Next thing Applejack knows she is rocketed into the sky with a boing!

“SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!”

Pinkie Pie follows Rarity through the forest. Strangely she has not heard a peep from Rarity after their initial conversation of agonizing screams, apologies, failed attempts to calm down, and more apologies, followed by a mutual agreement to not speak to each other for the rest of the trip.

“SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!”

Pinkie Pie stops and looks around, but doesn't see anyone, so she shrugs and carries on without much thought of the strange sound. Besides, she has bigger fish to fry, like Rarity, for example, who has not said a word to her the entire time after she helped her out of the mudhole.

Pinkie Pie watches her new teammate, blinking and inspecting her body and movements every few seconds. Rarity's movements are guarded, her facial features are warped by a never ending scowl, and her gauntlets are on a constant charge. There are also her steps and unnecessarily rough handling of branches that get in her way. One particular branch has the misfortune of being stubborn and therefore being mangled to shaved and twisted remains due to a whining fit Rarity throws when she tries to move it without much luck.

“Rarity, you should probably calm down a little bit,” says Pinkie Pie.

Rarity snaps to Pinkie Pie, eyes red and wide, veins throbbing and the destroyed branch in her hand. “I AM CALM!”

Pinkie Pie slides back with her hands held up defensively, and Rarity throws the branch down and continues stomping her way through the forest. The two continue their walk in silence, occasionally killing demon bugs and removing obstacles, and after around ten minutes Pinkie Pie takes a deep breath and matches her pace with Rarity's.

“Hey, I know you're mad and all, but you need to breathe and relax a little,” says Pinkie Pie.

“Mad? I'm not mad,” says Rarity. Her glove and gauntlet glows, and from them come an aura of energy that solidifies into a light blue, curved blade. “I'm beyond mad, actually.”

Pinkie Pie gulps and slides back, sweating nervously. “In a good way?”

Rarity looks at Pinkie Pie from over her shoulder. “In a bad way, dear. A very, very bad way.”

Rarity then slices a branch off with on fell swoop and quickens her steps, but Pinkie Pie keeps pace.

“Would an apology make things better?” asks Pinkie Pie.

“When have apologies ever made things better?” retorts Rarity.

Pinkie Pie cocks her head quizzically. “Eh, not the answer I was looking for.”

Rarity slashes through yet another branch, and sighs and pinches her brows. “Fine. I'll be blunt. No an apology will not work. An apology has never worked, an apology will never work, so don't apologize. Just stay away from me, you hooligan.”

“But we're a team, now, remember?”

“Teammates don't shoot each other with cannons!”

“Oh, my gosh! For the fiftieth time that was an accident! Holy crap, why can't you get that through your pampered head?”

Rarity stomps forward and points at herself. “Maybe because that accident almost killed me!”

Pinkie Pie goes toe to toe with Rarity, meeting her feisty eyes with her smoldering eyes, and getting red in the face. “Maybe you shouldn't've dressed up like a soul sucking mud monster!”

“Maybe you should exercise some caution before shooting everything that moves!”

“Maybe you should lose the attitude before I go rock farm on your butt!”

Rarity scoffs and stomps away from Pinkie Pie. “Typical uncouth ruffian. All brawn, no brain, no sense of civility. Of all the people I had to run into it just had to be you!”

Pinkie Pie growls and shakes in her spot, and when Rarity is a good distance away, she screams furiously and swings her hammer against the closest tree. Its side is gutted with its interior scorched and flaming splinters scattering everywhere. She then marches after Rarity, and doesn't look back when the tree falls behind her and crashes into the ground.

“Okay, I bet you four snack bags of cracker fish that you won't be able to shoot that banana patch out of the tree,” says Rainbow Dash, grinning mischievously with her arms across her chest and her eyes locked on a healthy bundle of bananas hanging from a tree.

Octavia hums and scratches her ear. “Okay. I'll see your bet and raise you one that you cannot do the same for that banana bundle.”

Dash and Octavia look at each other, and the latter meets the former's grin and they both raise their weapons. Steady their arms. And right as they are about to fire there is a very nearby roar of something vicious, followed by the thud of something big crashing into the ground.

The two whip to the direction of the source and aim their weapons at the trees, each taking careful steps back.

“That sounds big,” says Octavia.

“Yeah, it does... Race you to the ruins?” says Rainbow Dash. She turns her head, only to see Octavia disappearing into the trees. “Oh, son of a bitch.”

The distant sound of crashing wood stops Flash in his tracks, and he looks over his shoulder, but sees nothing.

“I wonder what that was,” says Flash.

Twilight glances over her shoulder. “Whatever it was it sounded big. We should keep moving, just to avoid it.”

Flash nods in agreement and resumes following Twilight. With the way she is walking and constantly looking in every direction she can, Flash has come to a solid conclusion.

“You're lost,” says Flash.

“I am not lost,” says Twilight. “I have studied many maps of the Hollow Shades Forest and know exactly where we are going.”

Twilight moves a branch aside and freezes in her tracks, eyes wide and muscles tense, and Flash leans over her shoulder, whistling when he sees the far, sharp drop to the shallow, rocky creek below.

“You were saying?” says Flash.

Twilight scoffs and pushes her way past Flash. “Don't be a jerk.”

Flash snickers and walks after Twilight.

“Look, just admit that you're lost. There's no problem in admitting that,” says Flash lightly.

“And I suppose you know where to go?” says Twilight.

“Yeah, we gotta get to the ruins, and we may have gotten a little turned around, but I think I can get us there if I take point.”

“Have you ever seen a map of this forest?”

“Have you ever memorized a map of this forest?”

“As a matter of fact I have and we are...” Twilight paces in a circle, hand raised, and then she stops in her starting spot and points at the ground. “We are in the third quadrant.”

Flash shakes his head and walks towards Twilight. “That's it. I'm taking point.”

“No, I got this. I'll get us to the ruins with no problem, you'll see.”

Twilight speed walks ahead, and accidentally runs into a tree. She stumbles back, shakes her head, and then smiles with flushed cheeks and an embarrassed laugh. Flash can only shake his head, but a little smile does make a flicker of an appearance.

“Right, well, considering that you don't even know where we are, I stand by my idea of me leading,” says Flash.

“But you don't know where we are, either,” points out Twilight.

Flash nods. “Yeah, I know, but I can get us unlost quicker than you.”

Twilight folds her arms across her chest and raises a brow, gaining a tiny smile of her own. “Oh, really? And how can you be sure of that?”

“Because I've gone camping before, so that automatically makes me better at nature stuff than you.”

Twilight's jaw drops, as does her hands, which ball into fists. “What? I've gone camping before, too, so by that logic that means we're equal.”

Flash leans against a tree, lips puckered in mock interest and he looks down his nose at Twilight, fighting to hold back an amused smile.

“Really? What kind of camping was it?” asks Flash.

“Well,” begins Twilight snobbishly, “when I was little my father rented us a cabin for a family vacation, and we went to a fish farm, grilled out and... and... Why are you looking at me like that?”

Flash resistance has crumbled. Now a large, toothless grin has spread across his face and he shakes his head slowly. Seconds later, he sighs, pulls away from the tree and approaches Twilight, tuting playfully.

“Twilight Sparkle, student extraordinaire, four time champion of the Simulation Tournament, and mascot of a cereal company, does not know about camping,” teases Flash.

“I do to!” says Twilight with a whiny pitch.

“Oh, no. What you did was not camping. So, first chance we get I'm going to show you real camping, with tents, sleeping bags, s'mores, hot dogs and brats, and fishing with just a stick, a string and a hook. None of that fancy cabin stuff or cheap fish farms. It'll be camping done right.”

His grin widens to show off his pearly white teeth and he leans close so that they are nose to nose, allowing him to see his lidded eyes and suggestive grin reflecting off of Twilight's glasses.

“And since we're now a team we can call it team bonding,” says Flash.

Twilight's cheeks flare and she steps back, balling her hand over he chest, and Flash clicks his tongue and winks, and then walks ahead of Twilight. As he walks, he unslings his guitar case, pulls out a blue guitar with yellow lightning bolts on it and its strings covered by a metal casing, and then he presses at the base of the guitar's neck. The guitar clicks, whirs and hums, and from the body comes a trio of curved blades. Once the blades are locked in place, he looks over his shoulder and smiles at Twilight.

“Now you get to follow my lead,” says Flash.

Twilight says nothing in response, so the two walk in silence. This goes on for a little while with no dangers, save for the inconvenience of shrubbery and fallen logs in the way, but Flash makes the mistakes of getting distracted by a flock of birds taking flight. He turns his head for a fraction of a second, but that's all it takes for his foot to get snagged in a twisted root. For the briefest of moments time slows to a crawl for him when he starts falling, but that slow down only helps him realize that he is about to get a face full of jagged rock. He closes his eyes, turns his head, and feels his bones crack and flesh rip right after.

The pain is immediate and Flash's excruciating cry of pain is loud. He jumps to his feet, clutching his jaw as blood flows out of his mouth and past his fingers. He can hear Twilight's stream of apologies, sees her bulging, panicking eyes and feels her hands on his shoulders in her attempt to keep him still, but she cannot stop him from stomping in circles and swearing up a storm.

“Oh, fuck! Fucking hell! Holy fuck this hurts!” cries Flash as blood pours past his hands.

“Oh, my goodness, are you okay?” says Twilight.

“I think my teeth are loose!”

“Okay, hang on! Just hang on! I'll fix this!”

“What is this flap? What am I holding!?”

Twilight grabs the device on her necklace and her fingers fumble to activate it, bringing up a holographic display of various icons. She then sifts through the icons, muttering unintelligibly to herself until she comes to a cross with a heart in it, and after tapping on it, her device and hands glow white and she gently grabs Flash by the back of his head and instructs him to keep still. Despite her gentle touch and tone, he still curses and trembles in his spot, but Twilight is able to place her glowing hand on Flash's jaw. Twilight then closes her eyes with a deep breath, and with a slow exhale white energy seeps all over Flash's injury and he stops swearing, fidgeting, and bleeding. When the glowing stops and Twilight pulls away, all he has to do is wipe the blood from his face. The pain is still there, but it is a throbbing feeling and nowhere near as bad as earlier.

“Huh,” says Flash. He smacks his lips, runs his tongue along the inside of his mouth, and pats his jaw. “My mouth feels weird.”

“You're jaw was pretty bad, so I fixed it as best as I could,” says Twilight.

Flash tenderly rubs his face. He can feel small bumps along his face, like the remnants of a scab and pain flares in his jaw, but it is bearable. Satisfied that he is not holding his mouth together, he smiles brightly and picks up his weapon.

“Well, you did a great job. My teeth feel fine and my mouth isn't broken, so... yeah, good job,” says Flash.

Twilight steps back and rubs her chin, scrutinizing Flash. “Your injury doesn't make sense, though. Your aura and the aura booster should have stopped such an injury, unless... Have you unlocked your aura?”

“My aura? Psh, of course I did.” Flash points at Twilight accusingly. “Did you unlock your aura?”

“I just used my aura to fix your mouth,” says Twilight flatly.

“You could've faked it.”

Twilight raises an eyebrow. “Flash, do you even know what aura is?”

“Yeah, do you know what aura is?”

“Yes.”

“Oh... Well...” Flash forces a cough into his fist. “Why don't you tell me, just so I can see if you're right or not.”

Twilight huffs. “All right, I'll play along. Aura is a barrier that shields our bodies from harm while allowing us to use special abilities, but its power is limited and its origins are unknown. The theologicals believe that it is formed by our souls, or is a divine gift. Others, like myself and the scientific community, believe that it is created by some sort of network of nerves and chemical reactions, or perhaps a defense mechanism provided by brain waves.”

Flash gets a teasing smile. “You don't know, do you?”

“It is an energy that our bodies produce with no definitive origin. How am I supposed to explain that? Besides, at least I am able to use my aura. You can't.”

Flash seethes mockingly. “Ooh, the burn. Look, I haven't been able to use this aura thing for as long as I can remember and look at me. I'm perfectly fine.”

“You're face was busted until I used my aura to fix you!”

“And I'm thankful for that, but we wasted enough time talking and need to move. I don't like this area.”

“But you could get hurt... Again.”

“Wouldn't be the first time.”

Flash walks ahead of Twilight and gets a few more paces before Twilight stops him.

“Wait,” says Twilight.

Flash groans and moodily turns to Twilight. “Yes?”

“I'm not going anywhere until you're aura is unlocked.”

“Then we're going to be here for a while.”

“But I know of a process that can release your aura. I read about it and I know I can do it.”

Flash places the head of his weapon in the ground and leans against the handle, frowning. “Uh, yeah, I hate to spoil your fun, but reading and practicing are two different things. So, why don't we wait until we're near a hospital before you do whatever it is you want to do. Just in case you almost kill me or something.”

“Flash, you can't continue on like this! You need your aura if you want to survive in this forest.”

“I have made it this far without my aura. I think I can manage a few more hours.”

“Flash, don't be difficult or else I won't go camping with you.”

Flash sighs and approaches Twilight, shaking his head. “All right, fine, I'll let you try it, but you gotta make it quick, okay?”

Twilight nods and places one hand on Flash's shoulder and the other his forehead. His muscles twitch, and his throat tightens with his heart feeling like it is trying to jump out of his body. He tries to take a step back, but Twilight keeps him in place with a firm grip, and he looks at her nervously with beads of sweat trickling down his face.

“Hey, wait a second. What are you doing?” says Flash, his voice trembling slightly.

“Close your eyes. Clear your mind of all thoughts and relax,” says Twilight.

“Is this part of the procedure thing?”

“Yes. Now please relax and be quiet.”

Flash takes a deep breath, closes his eyes and exhales slowly, letting his shoulders go slack and his legs do the bare minimum to keep him up.

All Flash sees is a darkness. A heavy darkness that is crushing every part of him, but seconds later a gold light appears in the dark and he feels warm hands holding him steady. The light breaks apart the darkness, brick by brick, and as each brick floats off they disintegrate into blue powder that spreads and eats more of the blackness. The hands soon go from warm to hot and the light becomes blinding and like a flame in the shape of a palm. The flame turns into shades of purple and mingle with the blue, fusing as one, like roots in the ground. The two colors crackle and white cracks spread rapidly, and when the two colors are separated by the white like pieces of a mosaic later there is an explosion of white that obliterates the two colors. With that explosion comes a shocking pain that strangely feels good to Flash and leaves him feeling lighter.

Flash opens eyes, and everything is blurry at first, and the ringing in his ears covers his heavy breathing and heartbeats. The seconds go by, and his vision becomes clearer so he can see Twilight in front of him with her glowing hands on his shoulder and head. Her limbs are quivering, though, and she is breathing heavily with lines of purple slithering and fading around her body.

Flash gently grabs Twilight's wrist, snapping her out of her trance with a startled gasp, and he pulls her off of him and guides her to sit on a root. He then kneels in front of her, ax in hand and concern heavy on his features.

“I don't know what you did, but you don't look so good,” says Flash.

Twilight looks up, swallows some air and wipes sweat from her face, and then smiles wearily. “I used my aura to unlock yours. But I think I'll need to sit for a while, now.”

Flash nods and stands up. “Take all the time you need. I'll keep watch.”

Flash turns around, adjusts his weapon, flicks down a pair of grips and a trigger, and then watches the forest intently.

“Hey, Flash,” says Twilight.

Flash looks over his shoulder. “Yeah?”

“You're glowing. Just thought you'd like to know.”

Flash stares at Twilight with some skepticism, but when he inspects himself, his eyes pop wide open from seeing the blue fading around him, like a shield disappearing from view. His shock quickly turns to glee, and he giggles and scans the forest with more enthusiasm with hops in his steps.

“Oh, cool! This day isn't turning out to be so bad, after all,” says Flash.

And that is when a large pair of red eyes opens up behind Twilight.

In a dim, armored room far off site, Celestia sits in a large chair with a notebook, pen and computer tab on her lap, and standing behind her is Luna. Her chair is attached to a ball-joint system that is bolted to the floor, and on its thick arms are buttons and speakers. Her chair also has a cup holder, which is housing the thermos of tea. Facing the sisters are numerous screens showing first person footage of students going through the forest, fighting or walking, or in many cases arguing. As of now, Celestia and Luna are focused on Flash and Twilight's screens, which have been enlarged and are showing their vitals and aura levels. For Flash, his aura is being measured at a level Celestia has rarely seen, whereas Twilight's aura is low recharging. The protege's breathing and heart rate is also a bit high, but it is nothing a quick rest cannot fix.

“He didn't have his aura unlocked? That is not a good sign,” says Luna. She pulls up Flash's information on her pad and furrows her brows as she scrolls through them. “His transcript says he graduated in the top ten percentile of Tall Tale, but how can that be if he did not even use his aura?”

“His transcripts are fake,” says Celestia.

Luna types in a command on her pad and it brings up a red button with white wings. “If that is the case then he must be removed immediately.”

Celestia sips from her thermos. “No need to be rash, Luna. We'll keep an eye on him, see how he does, and if he proves his worth we'll overlook it. If not, we'll send him back home.”

Luna looks at Celestia, baffled. “But, Tia, he broke the rules!”

“Luna, you know as well as I do that we need every hunter we can get and fast. As of now we cannot afford to be picky of our selections, and if this student thinks he is well enough to be in our ranks then we shall amuse him for the time being. Besides, this will be an overall hard lesson for him as to why he should not be doing things the wrong way.”

Luna huffs, closes out Flash's tab and then stomps out of the room, leaving Celestia to watch the many screens in silence. Celestia hears Luna's steps fade and the door slam shut, but she refuses to break away from the live feeds. After some minutes of watching students fighting monsters, arguing and hurting themselves or each other, one student feed catches her attention. It is footage is a pack of a dozen manticores flying away, wailing like cubs, and the student that scared them off turns towards a group of three students sprawled on the ground. Celestia pulls up their vitals and aura and sees that the latter is depleted and their physical damage is almost in the red.

“Principal Faustsend, maa'am, students Drake Firewall, Astro Neptunio and Thorn Shoot are nearing the critical zone, should we pull them out?” asks a man over the radio, which is built into Celestia's chair.

Celestia pushes a button on the arm of her chair. “No. I want to see what this student does.”

“Roger that.”

The student's hands extend and she and the three others she is with are covered in a white mist, and their auras and vitals are returned to normal, save for hers which her aura drops to near zero. The student collapses to her knees, and her breathing becomes labored and heart rate increasing sharply. Her pink hair partially blocks some of the footage, and her hands are barely able to keep her up. She looks up when one of the students approaches her with a flanged mace and wearing Gothic armor of black and red, which is covered in scratches, dents and blood and mud. He extends his hand to hers, and she swallows and hesitantly takes it and is helped to her feet.

“That was so badass what you did,” says Drake, his cuts healing before Celestia's eyes. “Can you walk?”

The student shakes her head, and Drake grins.

“Well, all right, then. Hold on,” says Drake.

The student squeaks and the feed gets topsy-turvy as she is lifted off of the ground and placed over his shoulders, giving Celestia a sideways view of the world.

“Thorn, take point. Astro, you're in the back,” orders Drake.

A student with a red helmet and three lens monocle armed with a bulky sniper rifle nods in agreement, but the other, a gold haired student with a grayish blue trench coat and double barreled shotgun scoffs.

“Who died and made you king?” says the student.

“Don't be a dick, Thorn,” says Drake. “We got to get to those ruins, get that checkers piece or whatever it is and get back to those teacher people, and it'll get done faster if we don't argue.”

“Why don't you take point?”

“Because I'm carrying the girl.”

“How about I carry the girl?”

“Dibs on carrying the girl. Now shut up and walk.”

Thorn grumbles and starts walking without much discipline, griping and using his shotgun to whack away branches the whole time while Astro sweeps the area with his rifle.

With what she has seen, Celestia hums and scribbles in her notebook, which is filled with notes on students, appointments and doodles. She then looks at her pad and studies autopsy photos of bony corpses with gray skin, sunken, cracked eyes and mouths petrified wide open with shriveled tongues. Next to each photo is the name, age, rank and place of birth, as well as location of their discovery and other notes. And all of them are seasoned hunters and huntresses that have been found in a condemned city of San Palimino in the Badlands. Their weapons energy reserves were dry, no spare gems have been recovered, and vital records show a spike in activity followed by a sharp drop in all of the fallen. None of their cameras or audio devices have been recovered.

Celestia frowns and leans back in her chair, one leg draped over the other with the pad on her lap, and she tee-pees her hands and lifts her eyes to the many screens displaying the students performing. Seeing all of the students fighting and traveling through in the forest brings a chill through her body, for if this unknown enemy can annihilate a group of veterans, how can her students fight what is coming?