Smolder followed Rainbow through the halls. The dragon knew why she was pulled aside, but not why her specifically. They stepped into Rainbow's classroom, which was devoid of all life except them. They stepped inside, and Rainbow closed the door.
"Smolder, what really happened?"
"First, why me?"
"Well, the others seemed... you didn't look as bad off as them. If you aren't comfortable talking about it now, I can-"
"No, I can talk about it. And... yeah. I don't think the others are in a good mood right now."
The teacher sat in front of her student and put a hoof on her shoulder. "So... what happened?"
Smolder took a deep breath, then began from the top. "It started as we were getting ready for bed. We were using our powers to talk-"
"With telepathy, right?"
"Huh?"
"I... read through that book. I have a better idea of what you kids are capable of now."
"Oh. Anyway, we were just chatting when we all felt something bad was happening. We realized we felt it before, during the field trip, and figured someone else was getting corrupted."
"Fluttershy..."
"She was the last one we wanted to fight, but... she nearly killed us all."
"R-really?"
"Gallus and Silver took lead, in spite of what Sandbar was telling them to do. Whatever happened at the start, we mostly missed, since the two of them led her around all over the forest. The rest of us were just... wandering for a while until they called out to us."
"I'm guessing it wasn't to say, 'we won'."
Smolder shook her head. "Professor Fluttershy was... suffocating them. She managed to bind them, and had a tight vine around their necks and leaves covering their beaks."
"H-how'd they survive?"
"Ocellus. She apparently took control of Silver's body and forced her to create a... a... tracheotomy, or whatever it's called, on both of them."
"If I'm remembering correctly, that means creating another hole to breathe through. Sounds easy to do if your body is made of water, but it's probably not pleasant if you aren't."
"I think Silver was able to heal Gallus up after they were free. Anyway, Sandbar really laid into them for that. They were our best fighters, but they got themselves taken out before we even knew what we were dealing with. Then the professor showed up."
"What happened with Yona?"
"Professor Fluttershy made a bunch of plants grow out of her, eating her nutrition or something like that."
Rainbow cringed.
"It's... as disturbing as it sounds. She was practically ineffective throughout. Eventually, I saw her... just sink into the ground. I thought for sure she had died."
Rainbow looked over her shoulder at the door.
"I tried to use my fire on her, you know, elemental advantage, but... It didn't work."
"Wait, what? How does that work?"
"Something about keeping the plants 'moist and healthy'. I don't really get it. I just knew my powers weren't working on her, and I couldn't go much hotter without destroying the forest completely. So I wasn't doing much."
"So it was Sandbar and Ocellus. The physically weakest."
"Two of the three. Silver is weaker than Sandbar, but she more than makes up for it in skill." Smolder sighed. "Which we really could have used."
Rainbow gripped Smolder firmly. "Don't linger on that. It wasn't your fault."
"There's a reason it bothers me, but we aren't there yet." Smolder took another deep breath. "Ocellus and Sandbar were shooting thoughts at each other rapidly, and attacks at professor Fluttershy."
"But Ocellus is missing."
"Because..." Smolder gulped as tears welled up in her eyes. "I think she did die."
Silence.
"What?" Rainbow's voice was completely broken.
"Eventually, that... thing, created a tree to knock Ocellus into the air and... shot a bunch of branches at her, pinning her to a tree. I... I still hear her scream of pain."
"Oh geeze. That didn't kill her?"
"No, but we checked the tree later, and she wasn't there. The monster tried to shoot one last branch, but Sandbar caught it out of the air."
"Did Fluttershy try to use that against him?"
"I think she tried, but I don't know for sure. That's when he went ballistic. He apparently can turn himself into air, but only to teleport. And... boy did he teleport. He kept disappearing and reappearing, hitting the professor fast and hard."
"That's where the bruises are from?"
"It got to the point that I had to grab him, and I'm still not sure how I did, and yell at him about letting his emotions control his actions."
"Isn't that what he usually preaches?"
"Yeah, but I think he loved Ocellus, so I don't blame him for losing it." Smolder was visibly shaking.
"It sounds like you're almost done. Can you tough it out?"
Smolder nodded. "She tried to run off, but we gave chase, and caught up to her. At that point, she was too weak to do whatever it was that made my fire useless, so I was able to keep her from doing anything to us. But... she had one last, very dirty move up her sleeve."
"Seriously? What was it?"
"She realized we were trying to keep her alive, so she bound up her wings, tied herself to a huge log, and stood at the edge of a ravine, threatening to jump with the log if we did anything."
"... How did you stop her."
"To be honest, a Deus ex Machina."
"What? Isn't that when something comes out of nowhere?"
"It is, and it's hard to say Yona didn't come out of nowhere."
"Yona?"
"Apparently, she had enough energy to pull off one last stunt and launched herself at the professor. I was completely shocked to see a massive rock come out of nowhere and smash the professor into the ground. For a second, I thought she was obliterated. Then Yona lifted her out of the earth before vanishing again."
"And that was it?"
"Almost. Gallus and Silver showed up right after that, looked around, then bowed down, I guess as an apology. I looked at Sandbar... and it was so clear that he blamed them for what happened. He told them to get up, and then we went and set up the scene you guys found."
"You couldn't exactly feign ignorance with two of you missing."
Smolder chuckled. "That's exactly what Sandbar said."
"You guys need to get stronger. You aren't all going to be there when something like this comes up, so you need to make sure the ones that are here are able to handle it."
"Yeah."
"I'm sorry for pulling you aside, I needed to know. Let's get you back with the others, so you can rest."
"Yeah. I hope Gallus and Silver learned something about sticking together."
"I'm sure they did, darling."
Smolder and Rainbow looked at the door, which was wide open with Rarity standing right here.
"How long have you been there?"
Rarity giggled. "I just got here, right when you apologized for pulling her aside. I won't bother with asking what you were asking her since you wouldn't have pulled her aside if it wasn't private. I came here to ask you something, though. Have either of you seen Sandbar?"
Smolder and Rainbow stared at the unicorn. "Sandbar?"