"Oooohhh!! This is so exciting!!" Most of the Young Six smiled as their bubbly hippogriff friend hovered above their heads, excitement positively radiating from her as she did loop de loops, "I can't believe we're going to a class taught by an alien! I mean, coming back to the surface after being living underwater for so long has been really cool and all! But a class with an alien?! I just...I can't-!"
Silverstream pulled out a brown paper bag and took several deep breaths in and out with it, the flimsy material quickly rupturing from the force of her breathing.
"Meh," said Gallus and Smoulder together as they pulled bits of brown paper from their feathers/scales.
"Oh, come on!" whined Silverstream towards her more complacent friends, "This is an alien we're talking about! Surely you must be excited, I know my brother Terramar's going to be super jellyfish when I write home about this"
"I think I had quite a bit of excitement already when we came back early to help the Tree of Harmony" replied Gallus, "Besides, It's probably going to be boring anyway. More homework to do if you ask me"
"Yeah" agreed Smolder, "Remember the first classes we had with the professors? Those were so boring you could convince us dragons to write poetry instead"
Smolder and Gallus did raise up good points. The first time the School of Friendship opened, they had all been super excited to see what the school had to offer, barring Gallus and Smolder. Just what were the famous heroes of Equestria, who vanquished so many evils such as Tirek and the Storm King, going to teach them?
Memories of the heavily structuralized lectures set forth by the EEA quickly left a bitter taste in each of their mouths though.
"Come on guys, classes have gotten better haven't they? " reminded Sandbar as he noticed the strained looks on his friend's faces, "Ever since headmare Twilight decided to ditch that book"
"Yona agree with good friend Sandbar. School more fun now, even better with friends" Not that any of them noticed, but Sandbar blushed quite heavily when Yona stepped up to support him, "Yona wants to know what alien look like though"
"Shame we didn't get to see it at the party last night too" Ocellus, ever the studious one amongst them, carried several thick notebooks with her in preparation of class, compared to the one the rest of them brought along, "Though if it was too busy working on its lesson, then I can't wait to see what it's going to teach us"
"Yeeeah...I don't think it was working on its lesson" said Smolder.
"And how could you be so sure about that?"
"Because I told her" replied Gallus as he gave Smolder a fistbump, "Seriously. Did you guys not notice how tense Professor Twilight was when she came back and Professor Pinkie started questioning her? Her ears were twitching like crazy. Smolder saw too after I told her"
Most of the group thought back to the party. Thinking back to it, Professor Twilight did seem rather frazzled when she returned through the door. They must have missed it since they were also so disappointed that they weren't going to see the alien.
"Why Gallus know so much about professor anyway?" asked Yona curiously.
"What?" Gallus raised his arm up defensively, "I'm young"
"Ever the griffin, huh?" The group smiled as Gallus flustered from Smolder's comment. As the group got closer and closer to the main auditorium, which Twilight told them to all go last night, the number of fellow classmates in the hallways quickly got bigger and bigger. All ponies, most were just as excited as Silverstream as they chatted amongst their own friends about the upcoming lesson.
"Are we having one big class with the rest of the school? That's so cool!" Every creature, even Gallus and Smolder, had to agree with Silverstream on that. Most of the time classes were split into smaller groups to accommodate the variety of classes taught at the school. But seeing as how the alien's class was first up in the morning, seems Twilight had decided to combine all the classes for one big lesson before they broke off for the rest of the day.
The alien's class was being taught in the main auditorium, usually used for the drama club or when there is a massive presentation by Twilight. It consisted of a depression where the main stage was placed in the middle with a large blackboard in an apple-themed frame behind it. Surrounding the center stage was a semi-circle seating area, multi-tiered with crystal stairs and decorated with plush magenta cushions. Surrounding the walls were shelves upon shelves of books, many open to whatever creature was interested. Finally, a large bronze model of the solar system hung above all of them, giving off the impression of staring into space if they were lying on their backs and turned off the lights.
The Young Six were quickly ushered through one of the two doors to the auditorium with the rest of the student body by Spike and counselor Starlight, quickly finding seats in the middle row. In time too, as just as the last student was seated, the other door to the auditorium opened and their professors walked through in single file. It was a pretty standard procedure. Twilight was holding flashcards with her magic, Rainbow Dash hovered above the ground like she always did, Applejack was talking with a hyperactive Pinkie Pie, Rarity came dressed in another one of her... 'interesting' outfits, and Fluttershy took up the rear.
This time, however, significant attention from every student in the room was placed on the figure coming up from behind Fluttershy.
The first thing they all collectively noticed was how tall the alien was. Tall as Celestia, he (it probably was male based on its looks alone) had features very similar to that of minotaur's, except for the excessive furs. He had small, brown beady eyes, a shrunken mouth, high cheekbones, olive skin and long locks of black hair on only one side of his head. The other side was completely shaved, making room for the blue and red wires attached to the surface with metal clamps.
Sandbar, and probably most of the students in the room, winced. Prosthetic technology existed, but it was primitive at best and it was limited to loss of limbs only. The markings on the alien's head looked like they had been drilled directly into the flesh, without any prior wounds. Sandbar wondered if the alien did that to himself, though that was something he couldn't fathom any creature doing.
Most of the class 'oohed' and 'ahhed' when they noticed the floating creature attached at the end of the alien's wire, with even a particular griffin whistling in astonishment.
"Hey Ocellus what is that thing?" asked Smolder in a hushed tone voice, as Silverstream and Yona squealed at how cute the thing looked.
"I think that's a machine" replied the changeling to her roommate, "How is it floating though? Is it magic?"
"Nevermind that. Why is the alien covered in so many...wires?"
That may have been an exaggeration, but it certainly got the class to break out of their stunned trance and whisper amongst one another. In addition to the wires out of the alien's head, the outfit that it wore also had a few pieces of tubbing too. The alien wore a faded white lab coat that was covered a considerable layer of grime, so much so that Sandbar was impressed with how Professor Rarity was able to stand to be next to him. While others were interested in the wires wrapped around its body, what really interested the Young Six, however, where the two symbols etched to the shoulders of the coat. The first was a rod with a snake enveloping its body around it. The second was a rusty red circle with what looked an elongated healer's cross extending from the red circle in the middle. Several smaller markings stuck out from the larger points, so they couldn't really be sure if it was a healer's cross or not.
It sure looked like one.
"May I please have every creature's attention!" announced Professor Twilight as she folded her flashcards up and vanished them with her magic, "As many of you should realize now, we have been graced with the arrival of an extraterrestrial being from another world" She paused for a moment as she let the students whisper excitedly amongst themselves, "Many of you would have been introduced to him last night, but due to certain...complications that wasn't possible. So let me be the first to introduce you to Houston. Under a contract, he's agreed to teach classes for the duration his stay here about his world. I'll let him tell you more about it, but for now, give a warm welcome to Equestria's first visitor from another world"
There was polite applause from the students as the alien, now named Houston, and his attached floating machine made their way up the steps to the stage and thanked Twilight. As he got himself comfortable behind the wooden podium, Twilight returned to her seat with the rest of the professors in the front row of the seating area.
"Thank you. Thank you Twilight, for that warm welcome" The Young Six, and probably the rest of the class too were quite surprised to hear the voice come out of the floating machine instead. While the main body of the alien still emulated the features and expressions of what he was saying, the only thing missing was movement of the mouth. Weird, but not too weird.
"Before I begin though...I would like to make a confession" He looked gravely at the class while they looked at one another in synchronized confusion, "When I first came to this world, the first thing I noticed was how it was so different from my mine. There were forests that stretched as far as the eyes could see. There was water in abundance and untainted by pollutants. The air...it did not hurt to breath in the air. This place is veritable utopia"
Some of the sympathetic students smiled towards him, as they could only struggle to imagine a world which the alien described. More attentive ones clung onto the alien's every word as they had better attempts in picturing it. Only Gallus and Smolder, who lived in places similar to what the alien described, could picture it the most accurately, not that they realized it.
The dilapidated Griffonian Empire. The Dragon Lands. That was the gist of what they believed the alien's world to be.
"And then I saw the inhabitants of this world. And I said to myself, what a pathetic and sad bunch of animals. Friendship? What kind of garbage was that?" Houston watched as the mood in the room quickly dropped, many of the ponies glaring at him in offense. There would have been a much more volatile reaction, if he didn't raise a hand up to silence them, "Horrible. I know. And until recently, I believed every word of it. That was why I didn't show up at your party last night. Neither did I acknowledge the efforts of one Pinkie Pie like your princess might say. I was not in the market, nor did I care about making friends"
He looked at them, almost sadly. "But I learned rather quickly afterward. And since then I have only regretted what I did" He directed his attention to Pinkie Pie, whose mane and color palate had gone stiff and grey slightly. Still, she didn't look at him with anger like Professor Rainbow Dash next to her but stared at him intently. It was almost as if she was expecting something.
"I'm sorry. Please believe me when I say from the bottom of my heart that I'm sorry" As if she'd been hit by a party cannon, her color and mane returned to her in the blink of an eye, accompanied by the familiar sounds of said cannon.
"That's okay Houston! You owe me another party though!" She called back to him. Her cheerful laughter and the alien's light chuckle brought a few smiles back to the class's faces, though quite a few remained cautious.
"Thank you. Now before we can begin class, I have to give you all a warning" He leaned forward from the podium and smiled at all of them gently, "To teach you about my world, what I have to teach you is a story. Or rather a collection of stories. The beauty of these lies in their tragedies, for there are no traditional archetypes written within these passages of blood. There are no definitive evils, nor are there paragons of justice. Every good is just as evil as every evil is just as good. These will...scar you in some way or another. Be it emotional or mental, I assure you that you will not be the same creature you were stepping through the doors. You shall see me differently. You shall see my world differently. You shall see your world differently. And above all, you shall see yourselves, and each other, differently"
Houston paused as he watched the looks of anticipation on the faces of the class. Most showed excitement. But there were a select few that showed a hint of fear.
"If..." continued Houston, "...you believe that you are incapable of handling the stress of what I am about to teach you, then the door to your left is open for you to leave" Their eyes wandered to the door he gestured, "I will not hold it against you, and neither will those who remain behind to learn. You also shall not fail. You will merely get the average of your classmate's marks from the end of semester exam"
"Now..." He stepped away from the podium and begun walking down the stairs of the stage, "You have five minutes to make your decision while I go get the materials for the first class. Choose wisely"
"So Gallus...do you still think this is boring?" asked Smolder to the blue and yellow griffin teasingly.
"Yeah, yeah. I was wrong. I get it" He glared at her lightly as she gave him an arrogant smirk back. The moment their newest professor, Houston, left the room, it became a flurry of activities as groups formed and discussions rang about this latest turn of events. Some conversations were about how interesting the alien and his machine looked, but the majority was on what he said as he left the room.
"What about you? Do you think it's boring?" rebutted Gallus to the dragon.
"Meh, I think its fine for now," said Smolder lazily, "Got my blood pumping with some of the things he said. Though, what did he mean by stuff like traditional archetypes and passages written in blood?"
"Yona agree. Alien interesting, but speak too complicated" complained Yona.
"I think when he said no traditional archetypes, it means there are no definite good guys and bad guys" explained Ocellus with some thought, "Guess that means we're going to see some morally grey things. I have no idea what he meant by passages written in blood though"
"Then why alien not say that, to begin with?!" asked an outraged Yona, "Just say no good guys and no bad guys!"
"I don't know why. Must be his way of getting us interested in his lesson"
"Well I for one am really excited about this!" added Silverstream with a wide grin, "All of this is so exciting! The mystery! The suspense! This is better than the first time I discovered stairs"
They all smiled at the hippogriffs optimism, something expressed in a number of their classmates around them. While there were a few dissenters, they quickly caved in to the pressures of their more prospective peers and agreed to stay with them.
"So are we all staying?" asked Gallus to the rest of his friends.
"Definitely!" chirped Silverstream.
"I'm quite interested where this goes, so yes, I'm staying" added Ocellus.
"Yona stay. But hopes alien gets less confusing" frowned Yona.
"Me too" replied Smolder lazily.
"If you guys are staying, then I'm staying" Sandbar smiled mischievously to Gallus, "What about you?"
"*Pffft* Though you guys knew me better. Of course, I'm staying" replied a flustered Gallus, "Besides, what am to do for the next few hours if you guys aren't there with me"
"Aww...do we really mean that much to you?" squealed Silverstream as she reached over and pulled Gallus into a friendly hug. The embarrassed griffin snuck a glance around the room to see if anyone else was watching, before patting her gently on the sides and pushing her away gently.
"Guess we are all on the agreement then" laughed Sandbar light-heartedly. Looking around the class it seems no one else decided to leave the room too. Some of them, he recognized as well, such as Patty Peppermint, Huckleberry and End Zone. Of their professors, all remained behind to observe as well, though Spike pulled out a comic book to most likely entertain himself and Professor Fluttershy looked as if she was already greatly regretting her decision.
It couldn't be that bad thought Sandbar as he sat back with the rest of his friends to wait for their mysterious professor to return, Professor Fluttershy is probably exaggerating. Sure he gave us quite a foreboding warning, but what's the worst that could happen?
Oh, how he would regret saying that later.
"Not one of you left?" Houston expressed genuine surprise as he wheeled in a cart through the doors, "Perhaps all you creatures deserve more credit than I give you. You have bravery, that much is assured"
What he wheeled to the back of the class and behind the seating area was some sort of media-playing contraption, though mutilated beyond what a standard media player would look it. Parts of its main chassis was ripped out, the internal wires within severed and reattached to numerous external ports and other devices. The usual two wheels mounted at the top to play the tapes were removed, instead, replaced with two large disks lined with wires and flashing light. A singular antenna stuck out of the machine and to top it all off, their teacher removed the device on his arm and plugged it into the machine with a large spike attached to a red cable. Flicking a section of the device open, he placed a small rectangular cartridge in and closed it up, pulled out a small grey remote, and then pressed one of the buttons built on it.
The media player sparked to life, ejecting out beams of lights that collided with the projector screen Houston pulled down to formulate images. The class leaned forward eagerly as the images got clearer and the room got darker.
Images of a small town came into fruition; trees, white picket fences, houses and streets, all rather standard things in a town. Some things of noticeable interest, however, were the large poles of wood jutting out of the grounds connected by black cables, and the strange box-like machines with wheels that took up the sides of the road. Some were small, others large. Some were unnecessarily complex with metal tails, others simpler with spaces at the back.
"Aww...they look so cute!" A student, Pizzelle, called out as small creatures emerged from the houses. Dressed in loosely-fitting flannel shirts for the males and spring dresses for the girls, the group of children picked up various toys scattered around to play. The students smiled as the boys raced each other down the footpaths with their bicycles and the girls played with skipping ropes.
The happy smiles on their faces just made the students more confused at their professor's words. Based on what they currently saw, it didn't seem as bad as they thought it would be. So why did he have to warn them beforehand?
They soon their answer as an ear-splitting siren erupted from the speakers of the media player. All of them flattened their ears and held hooves to their heads in hopes of drowning out the demented choir that screamed at them. Though they couldn't understand where the sound was coming from, it seems the children in the footage did as their smiles quickly vanished and they looked at the skies in terror. The doors to the houses in which they came from slammed open and what was probably their parents came rushing out to scoop up their children.
The students watched with one-parts pain and the other parts dread as the parents scooped their children up in their arms and rushed them back into the house, into the strange box-like machines, or simply held them in their arms tightly as they braced for something inevitable.
"What in tarnation is goin on here?!" yelled Professor Applejack as she brought her stetson down to her ears in an attempt to muffle the sound. Her question was promptly answered.
An explosion. Louder than anything any of them ever heard with their ears, erupted in the distance in a bright flash of white light. The distinctive resulting mushroom cloud loomed over the spot where the explosion took place, larger than the tallest building in Manehatten.
An upside of the explosion was an abrupt end to the screeching siren noises, so the students were able to quickly recover to continue watching the images on the screen. Their hearts dropped as they saw the parents hold their children even closer to them as the resulting clouds of ash and dust enveloped them, as well as the houses around them.
Houses enveloped by the shockwave of ash and dust quickly buckled underneath the force of the clouds, crumpling like paper mache to water. Roofs were torn off buildings, walls collapsed and the strange box machines from before were swept off the ground and flung hundreds of meters away. To their horror, a few bodies could be seen being tossed around as well, some smashing to the ripped up ground in platters of blood, others smashed into or against buildings, wooden poles and the box machines.
"What...What is this?" Ocellus's question was the question of the entire class as they watched the destruction of the dust cloud slowly die down. What was once a peaceful town was now reduced to a pile of rubble. Houses were completely wiped off from where they originally sat - and those that weren't laid in dilapidated states of ruin. Trees were uprooted from the ground, smashed into houses, machines, wooden poles, and the occasional human as indicative by the limbs that occasionally poked out.
"This is a story of tragedy" Those words brought their attention back to their professor, who watched the screen with an apathetic expression. "Now I am become death. The destroyer of worlds"
Instantaneous, students broke themselves out of their shocked trance and quickly scribbled what their teacher said down into their notebooks. As the scratching sounds of quill points on paper contrasted with the distant rumblings from the media player, the gravity of the nine words they wrote down left shivers down their spine.
"Julius Oppenheimer, the man who created this monstrosity, thought these very words as he watched his creation detonate in the distance" continued Houston while his students continued to write notes based on what he said, "He saw the light show touch the tips of the heavens, he felt the warm glow that came from its discharge. It was a monster, born not from the deepest pits of hell, but created by the hands and minds of people. Its carapace, not chitin, nor fur, nor flesh. But cold, hard metal. And its kill count is by far greater than anything the world has ever seen, or will ever see again. It is the single greatest mass murderer in the history of humanity. It is the atomic bomb"
Atomic? Now that was a word foreign to every creature in the room, apart for say Twilight, who still then only had a basic understanding of particle theory. Bomb, however, was something they'd seen before though it was usually small and used only in parties.
Putting the two words together, they stared in awe and fear at the destruction wrought on screen. What was this atomic that he spoke about? And how does this connect with a bomb?
"But why, you would ask yourselves, would such a weapon be created? To what purpose can truly fathom its creation?" He gave a light, and slightly sinister chuckle, "Simple. War"
War.
That small word brought dread to each and every one of them in the room. Each of them had never seen a war on a large scale before, only read about it in history books or heard from the mouths of veterans, but all were fully aware of its destructive capabilities.
To the ponies like Sandbar, War was something that they hadn't had to deal with for as long as they can remember. Their philosophy of Harmony and Friendship had kept them to their longest period of peace yet. In fact, the only war that they have any distant memory of is the war between the original three pony tribes and a brief squabble with the Minotaurs over trading routes.
Ocellus bit her lips. War was something still very fresh in her mind. Though she was too young to participate in the invasion of Canterlot sanctioned by Queen Chrysalis, her parents had fought in it and her mother specifically nearly died to a Royal Guard's spear. Chrysalis was prepared for another attempt with the ponies and had spent many resources rebuilding up her forces. This meant a new generation of warriors, including Ocellus, had to bred and trained up. She could still remember the days when her trainer, Pharynx, taught her to sink her fangs into a replica pony's neck and inject venom. It took her a lot of attempts, but she was eventually able to do it properly and was expected to do so when the second invasion was to be called.
Now with Thorax as their king...let's just say she's really glad Chrysalis was dethroned before she was sent to war.
Silverstream was in the same mindset as Ocellus. Being born after the fall of Mount Aris to the Storm King, she grew up in an environment very suspicious of the outside world. Despite retreating to Seaquestria, there was always a sense of paranoia in the waters. How many times had she been warned not to go too far when exploring with her cousin Skystar? How many times had she and her brother watched their parents constantly train in case the Storm King ever came back to finish them off?
War...it drove her people to the brink. It cost them huge chunks of their culture, something they still struggle to recover from to this day and sowed paranoia and suspicion into their future generations. It was only until Twilight and her friends defeated the Storm King that the Hippogriffs were able to recover.
As a Yak, the term 'war' was thrown around quite often in their culture, so it didn't instill the same level of dread in Yona as it did with the rest of her classmates. It did get her thinking though. Yaks usually declared 'war' on one another or another tribe when that yak or tribe in question did something extremely insulting to the other. 'War' really just consisted of yaks smashing the opposing yak's things until both sides were satisfied. It wasn't as destructive as the images on the screen and felt more like a sport to the yaks, something to easily resolve their disputes in a way that they all knew and treasured. That was why Prince Rutherford declared war on the ponies, much to Twilight's ignorance of what it actually meant.
Seeing the level of destruction wrought on the screen...it made Yona think deeply as she wondered whether Yaks, while best at smashing things, had gotten the concept of war completely wrong.
Being a dragon and griffin, Gallus and Smolder were the least concerned amongst all their classmates. Sure the level of damage surprised them, maybe even excited them a bit, but it wasn't something new for the students of traditionally warring species, especially since the effects of these wars still plagued their societies to this day. Griffins for one, are pretty much broken at this point - many of their people scattered amongst numerous principalities and fiefdoms that made a mockery of the original Empire. Not that the original empire has much left to say either.
Same for the dragons who, despite their natural raw strength, were the most stunted in technological development amongst all species. Despite changes from Dragon Lord Ember, the generational scars of constant wars could still be seen in the Dragon Lands to this day.
For all their thoughts, attention was quickly brought back to the screen as the images changes and a new slide was brought in.
"Humanity is not a unique species" Two images of creatures, most likely a male and female of this human species they were learning about, came up upon the screen. Correct to their teacher's words, the creature called humans didn't really look special in any way. In fact, they all looked lame by Smolder's definition, "We exhibit no external traits that made us special in anyways. We are not physically strong nor are we fast. We cannot breathe underwater and any temperatures above 104 Fahrenheits would most likely kill us. But we are a resilient bunch, and what we do possess is an...appetite and ingenuity for war"
"Ironically enough, the destructiveness of war is what the foundations of humanity's history is built upon. Every technological achievement we've ever created, its purpose of manufacturing, can be traced back to a specific war with a specific need" What followed next was a slideshow of images involving humanity at different stages of history.
"Our first war started with sticks and stones. Wars for survival" The accompanying images showed two primitive humans dressed in loose garments made of animals furs, fighting over the carcass of a large mammal. Wielding crudely made spears and slings, the students watched with growing concern as they saw the bloodlust in both the human's eyes as they clashed with one another.
"In our second war, we found ways to tame the beast of the earth to fight with us. Wars for land" The next images were much larger than the last one, this time scoping an entire landscape. Two armies clashed this time, dressed in better fur outfits and sporting more deadly looking spears. Some even had bows, peppering the opposing side with arrows. What really made this scene stand out were the wolves and dogs that accompanied the humans, much to Fluttershy and a few of the student's chagrin. Fluttershy felt especially green when she noticed one of the dogs rip a man's throat out with its teeth.
As the students saw the massive lake and meadow in the background, the reason for the humans to be fighting over land made all the more sense.
"With the third war, we tapped into and forged from the lifeblood of the earth itself. Wars for religion" This time the armies fighting were decked out in full suits of metal. Some of their faces were covered up with helmets, others had their visors lifted up to provide a better view. Clearly a massive upgrade from the last images, these humans bludgeoned and sliced each other with metal swords and clubs. The metal tips of archer's arrows shone in the sun's light as it pierced the exposed flesh of any unfortunate soldier on the battlefield.
"Is that a pony?!" shouted one the students from the back. True to her words, the faint outline of an equine being mounted by a human could be seen in the far corner. The horse looked nothing like the ponies in Equestria, and it was equally decked in metal plating like its rider. Before they could stare at it any longer, the image changed.
"The coming of the fourth war taught to use to sling hot lead at our enemies with the power of thunder. Wars for culture" continued Houston without any notice of the student's outrage. Contrary to the last image, the combatants in this one had less armor and no heavy-looking weapons. In fact, all they had were these weird poles like things in their arms and wore uniforms deeply dyed blue or red, depending on what side they were standing on.
Humans showed more discipline in this picture. Rows upon rows of them stood in formation, taking turns to aim their poles at the opposing army. They couldn't see what came out of the poles, but the large clouds of smoke produced at every volley probably indicated something small and too fast for them to see with the naked eye. Cannons were also in play, more complex than Pinkie Pie's party cannons and fired massive balls of lead the size of a small rock. It was particularly brutal when they saw a soldier get his legs blown off by the resulting cannonball, flying at least 3 feet away from the force alone and screaming his head off.
"In the fifth war, we manipulated and weaponized the matters of the universe. Wars for ideology" The most distinctive thing about this image were the symbols worn on the armors of the fighting humans. One had a yellow star against a red background. The other had red and white stripes with a small corner dedicated to a blue box with white stars. The armor that they wore was like a fusion of the last two, with several metal components placed over the clothes of the soldiers.
Their weapons were the most distinguishable. While once side still utilized the same pole-like weapon from before, though much more advanced in design and fired faster, the side with the red, blue and white symbols used some sort of weapon that fired beams of red lights, or glowing balls of green fire similar to that of unicorn magic. Whenever these would hit the opposing soldier, to the student's horror, he would disintegrate into ash or be reduced to a pile of green goo.
"Just how many wars do you humans have?" asked Twilight bitterly from the sidelines. She had a steely-eyed look as she stared at the images on the screen, something her friends looked at her with concern.
"Just the one more" replied Houston with a sad smile and one raised finger. Then came the final image.
It was a mushroom-shaped cloud. The same one that they saw before at the beginning of the lesson. However, this time, as they skimmed the image to look for the humans, all they saw were the bones lying in the dirt together. Tragic enough, these bones were arranged in a way that made it look like in their last moments, they were crawling towards one another with knives still clutched in their hands. Poised to kill.
"And in the sixth, final, and most distinguishable war of humanity, we remolded the particles of life itself. That is what the atomic bomb is. And used it to destroy not only ourselves but also the world. This was a war unlike any other before it, for it was a war of annihilation"
The image stayed on the screen for a considerable amount of time, enough for them all to feel slightly ill as they stared at the skeletons. Eventually, the lights came back on in an instant and the projector turned itself off with a simple press of a button from the device in Houston's hand.
"Let us have a recap of what you have learned so far," said Houston as he allowed the class to regain their bearings and return their attention to him in the center of the stage, "You've been introduced to the species known as humanity. You have seen our physical limitations and where we are placed on the natural order. And most importantly of all, you have learned our illustrious history of war"
"But..." he seemed to focus on each of them individually as he skimmed his eyes across the room, "Devastating as humans are, the world I come from wasn't created by just humans alone. The atomic bomb is also equally responsible. And by now, you should all have a good understanding of what it does"
True to his words, the memories from before came flooding back to all of them, especially that memory of the destroyed town.
"Oh no..." Fluttershy's little squeak was the only thing that came out across the room. They all had the same thing in mind.
The atomic bomb.
Seems class is not over yet. Not by a long shot.