Chapter 1
“This is not fun!” A brown earth pony sprinted her way through the woods jumping over roots and ducking under branches. Behind her, slithered a massive basilisk. It’s path snaking it’s way through the canopy of the forest.
“Nopony said this would be fun! I said it would be easy.” A red unicorn fired back while almost out of breath. She was running along with her partner parrying their puserser’s grab attempts with her long bladed tail.
“Why did you tell her it would be easy! This is not easy!” A white pegasus interjected as he glided over them. His mind started to wander back. There must be a reasonable reason for all this happening, he just needed to think of it.
==
The white pegasus blew a leaf out of his view. He has been on a stakeout of the academy grounds for more than a week now. This bush had become his second home. It didn't have a door or a roof, but it has a view of the academy dorms and that was most important. It was hard living out in the elements. hard still dodging the groundskeeper, but all he needed was a chance. Just one stroke of luck and he knew he could make it in.
The sun was starting to set and the pegasus was about to stay his watch for the night for when there was a loud boom! The pegasus looked up to see a fireball blast out from a corner window. Was this the stroke of luck he was looking for? Maybe not, but he was itching to get out of that bush of his.
He dashed up into the air and flew his way to the room where the explosion came from. The idea was to land in the window, but the window was gone and replaced by a hole in the wall. “Thorn you read the book wrong!” A brown coated earth pony rubbed her hooves over her yellow mane that was now tipped black and a few inches shorter. “Ahh. At this rate I’ll never get long lush hair that pops wings.”
‘I can assure you I read the right part Ninx.” A small hand brush took flight surrounded by a magical black aura and brushed soot off the red coat of a scowling mare. They must be thorn.
“Well then why did it’ explode!” Ninx must be the name of the earth pony then. She trotted over some wall pieces on her way to the bookshelf and knocked a book down with her hoof. “See it says right here you read the wrong part.”
“That is your diary.” Thorn stated flatly as the glanced at the pegasus in the hole before looking back to her roommate, “It’s facts are unfounded and it’s view is often slanted. In your favor.”
“Says you.” Ninx huffed as she reshelved her book.
‘Yes, it is what I say.” Thorn looked back at the pegasus wondering who they might be and if they could be any help to her problem. “Ninx. there is a stallion here to see you.” apparently he could be.
“Stallion!” Ninx exclaimed.
“Stallion?” the stallion squeaked.
Thorn’s plan worked as the source of all her problems leaped over to what use to be the window to inspect her new stalker. “Who are you? Why are you here? Are those wings?” Ninx pelted the pegasus with questions and never giving him any time to answer.
“Hi.. I’m Necro Feather and I’m here to.. help?” This was definitely a chance, but he really thought about maybe waiting for the next one.
==
Thorn swung her tail at the wall driving in a spike to hold up the sheet that is now covering the hole in their wall. After the third or fourth time of patching it with wood they were running out of quality supplies and good ideas. “Why are you here?” Thorn glared at the pegasus. Indifferent before she had found a reason to be spiteful now.
“I’m tried to join the academy, but they said I didn’t qualify.” the pegasus was holding a board steady with his hooves while Ninx pounded in nails, “so I waited outside watching the dorms for an opportunity.” He looked to the floor. what would any sane pony say to that.
“You watched the dorms waiting for something bad to happen so that you could swoop in and help save us gaining our favor and asking us to hide you in our room.” Thorn’s eyes could stare straight into one's soul it seemed, or maybe Necro simply wore his guilt on his sleeve. “You can’t stay here.” Thorn looked down down at new pegasus. “This is the mare’s dorm and this room is full.”
“He can sleep in my bed!” Ninx interjected from her place behind Necro.
“I’m okay with that.” said Necro as he tried to put a hoof in, but it was futile.
“No he can’t! There are rules and you can’t be trusted with a stallion or a pegasus.” Thorn flicked her head back to scold her roommate.
“One time I did it! One time and she had to make such a big deal about it.” Ninx crossed her forelegs in a huff.
“You plucked all her feathers and tried to make them into a pair of wings. She had to quit the academy.” Thorn flicked her mane. “After that I was the only one who would be your roommate.”
“Well now I have a new one.” Ninx threw her hooves around the pegasus who was trying his best not to be pulled into this catfight.
“Fine.” Thorn trotted over to what was left of her bed. “You can keep him, but he sleeps on the floor.”
“I’m not a pet.” Necro grumbled as he tried to talk to the mares in the room, “Wait plucked her feathers?!”
==
The sleeping pegasus had no idea what danger he was in. Agreeing to their terms was the only way for him to join. The school was out of intact rooms and sane roommates, but he didn’t fully understand the risk he was taking. It was late at night when a pair of tweezers floated out of the aether followed by a pair of mischievous yellow eyes.
“No.” A critical command called from the darkness.
“But!” the yellow eyes pleaded with the hidden voice.
“I said no. That stallion is our only chance to go out on field training. I’m not letting you ruin that with your crazy wing fetish. Now go to bed.”
==
Necro was still hoping for a few more minutes of sleep. It may have been the floor, but it was clearly better than the bush. He didn’t want to wake up, but it wasn’t going to be his choice. “Gah!” Necro cried out as a pair of hoofs landed on his flank.
“You should try to wake up before her.” Thorn advised the new member from her position looking into a broken mirror. She sighed a little. “She is why I can’t have nice things.” Her black aurora slowly creeped down her long purple tail inserting sharp pieces of metal in the braid.
“Like he has a chance of doing that.” Ninx was rolling on her back trying to put on a leather belt. Her lack of magic or wings adding a lot of contorting and stretching to the process.
“Stop that!” Thorn threw a pillow at Ninx and took over the earth ponies’ dressing responsibilities. Her magic easily tying the belt around ninx’s waist “You're going to give him a bloody nose if you get dressed like that in front of him.”
“Umm Actually, I’m fine.” defended Necro. His back was to the mare’s with a slight bit of blush on his cheeks from the conversation and his own imagination.
“See. He is fine with it.” Ninx injected before pulling some vials from a expansive chemistry set in the corner. Odd that that wasn’t the first thing that exploded.
“What’s going on?” asked the confused Necro as he turned to looked around the room.
“Combat day!” Ninx shouted well snaking her head through a pocketed vest.
“It’s the day they hold field training.” Thorn slipped a narrow axe head onto the tip of her tail and gave the whole length one last sweep looking for any hair.. or blade out of place. “We are going to sneak you out of our room and take you with us. If we show up with a third member, then they should finally let us go on one.”
“Are you sure that will work? You know I’m still not officially a student here. I just crash with you two.”
“You bet your flank you do!” Ninx was about to throw her hooves around her potential future lovebug when she was held back with black colored magic.
“Ninx let him go.” Thorn pushed Ninx back to her side of the room. “Necro you’re going out that hole in the wall to get your stuff. We will meet you in the north ground, but don’t get caught. I really don’t want to have to explain why we allowed a strange stallion to sleep with us.” Ninx and Necro both lifted their eyebrows at Thorn. “Yes I heard it. just go!”
==
“The girls will be here soon, and I can’t get these blades on….what did grandma say to do...something to do with a bunny” Necro muttered to himself as he tried to put his hoof blade on. As he fumbled with it, Ninx and Thorn watched him from a distance.
“Why did I even think adding him to our group was a good idea?” sighed Thorn as she walked to him. Ninx was training just a few hooves back.
“Because he is big and strong and he didn’t run away screaming when he saw your mane.” Ninx answered, but it wasn’t an answer Thorn wanted to hear.
“My mane.” Thorn answered back. “Mine is the only mane that wasn’t caught in an explosion.”
“Mine is two tone now!” Ninx trotted up to give Thorn the evil eye. “It’s all the rage in Canterlot.”
“It’s true.” said Necro as he hovered on his back over the mare pair.
“How did you get up there?” Ninx cranked her neck to view the flying Necro.
“Umm, wings.” stated Necro as he rubbed one of his feathers over her muzzle, “Duh.”
“Oh sure rub it in why don’t you.” Ninx pouted, before making a complete mood 180. “Come on they are handing out the field cards. If we don’t get there fast all the good ones will be gone.”
“Field cards?” Necro was starting to think that asking questions was his assigned role on this team. Well he was good at it at least.
“The academy only has so much space cleared in the everfree forest, so they hand out field cards that say where your team is allowed to go. It’s a first come first serve program. If you get there late, you are assigned one of the boring parts or you might not get a spot at all.” Thorn knew her team job as the one to answer the questions. She also felt she was rather good at it as well.
“Then what are we waiting for? Lets go!” said Necro as he started to fly off but stopped, “umm...where are we going?” He landed by Thorn, hoping that Ninx would not get him like this morning.
“Don’t tell Ninx, but we aren't going for the best cards yet.” Thorn smiled as she watched Ninx dashing ahead pushing other ponies out of her way. She wouldn't be able to get a card herself and the only other ponies willing to joining her were leges behind.
“Were lagging behind?” asked Necro as he looked out at the energetic Ninx.
“That is the plan. The best cards are too much for us. It’s the middle of the semester, but this is Ninx’s first time in field training. I need to make sure she doesn't bite off more than she can chew. We will just walk slowly and let the good cards get taken up before we get there.” Thorn snickered softly. Is it normal for a pony to be that happy with their own deception?
“Come on! what is taking you two!” Ninx shouted back from her place at the front of the line. Her hooves waved in the air as she saw team after team take the cards she wanted.
“She is like an energetic filly.” joked Necro as he pushed Thorn towards Ninx with his wings.
“If she is, she is my filly. Keep that in mind if you ever think about reciprocating that infatuation she has with you.” Thorn gave Necro a playful flank bump, but somehow she managed that to be more threatening than her glare.
“What?’ said Necro as he stared with a blank stare.
“What took you two so long!” Ninx was bouncing back and forth in front of a very annoyed stallion decked in full armor. “All the good cards are gone we misses out on the basilisk caves.” Ninx wined. “All they have left is the bunny fields!”
“Which team got the snake?” asked Necro with great concern.
“The first team did. If you wanted it, you should have been here faster.” The armored stallion handed Necro a slip of paper. “It’s first come first serve you know.” the stallion took a second look at Necro. Maybe he recognised him, or recognized that he had never seen him before. Maybe he was just surprised to see anyone with the academy's terror pair.
“Shouldn’t you send a teacher to check on those students. Do you know what terror they may be in?!” said Necro as he leaned into the stallion’s face, muzzle to muzzle. the stallion glared down necro lifting a hoof and turning an about face. Necro found himself glaring icly at a tail before it walked away.
“Necro. Your new here, but you need to pick up on things faster. Don’t question the guards and don’t worry about the other teams...” Thorn glanced over at Ninx who was weeping into her hooves. “They are the ones who know what they are doing.”
==
“Ninx? Ninx?! WHERE DID YOU GO?!” Yelled Necro as he flew in the tree tops.
“See this is why I told you to watch her..” Thorn ripped a bush out of the ground. She was half hoping to find Ninx under it and half just wanting to break something.
“I didn’t know she would run after hearing we had to collect bunnies.” said Necro as he landed by Thorn, “ and besides, she’s your partner. I’m not an official student yet.”
“She can’t be that far away.” Thorn dug a hoof into the mud. “I know where she went.” She huffed as she started running into the woods. “I knew this was a bad idea. Why didn’t I listen to myself. I should have just bucked you out the window when I saw you.”
“Don’t start to blame me CAPTAIN. You knew she liked this day, so you could have just stayed in your comfy dorm and braided your mane or think about cute stallions.”
“Ninx is the one who.. Oh just shut up and..” There was a rustling in a bush.
“No, you hush.” Necro covered her mouth with his wing. The bush stayed steady for a second before simply exploding in a shower of leaves.
“Run Run Run!” Ninx dashed through the cloud of leaves sprinting at full run for your ever loving life speed.
“That was Ninx.” said Thorn as she turned to see her partner run off.
“And That’s a snake.” said Necro as he pointed to where Ninx was running from.
==
“This is not fun!” A brown earth pony sprinted her way through the woods jumping over roots and ducking under branches. Behind her, slithered a massive basilisk. It’s path snaking it’s way through the canopy of the forest.
“Nopony said this would be fun! I said it would be easy.” A red unicorn fired back while almost out of breath. She was running along with her partner parrying their puserser’s grab attempts with her long bladed tail.
“Why did you tell her it would be easy! This is not easy!” A white pegasus interjected as he flew over them. “So that is how this all happened.” Necro shook his head. Looking back didn’t help anything. He figured it was time to look forward. They wouldn’t be able to outrun the basklist. It was big, but still very fast. they would have to fight it if they wanted to get away.
“We need to find a field!” shouted Thorn. The basklist darted his head out of the cloak of leaves and snapped at the mare’s heels.
“A field?” Necro questioned it, but he ended up taking the advice to heart. He rolled to his side carving his wings in the air circling out in a spiral over the forest. He scouted his eyes over the tree tops looking for a break in the foliage that should signal a field. “There it is!” he had one off to the right. It was not far, so he tucked his wings and dived down at his target. He came in fast and the ground was wet. As his hooves made contact, the ground slid away and necro found himself skidding into a muddy stop.
“What is the field for?” Ninx shouted at Thorn as the two crashed through a thicket into the open ground. Ninx tripped over her hooves and went rolling through the field to Necro while Thorn flipped around and made a stand at the hole the two had made broke through. Her tail high in the air poised for a quick strike.
“Gack.” moaned Necro as he tried to push Ninx off him, “Ninx, your heavy.”
“Opps, sorry.” Ninx blushed as she pulled herself off Necro. Maybe it was the comment about her weight, or how she had lead a dangerous snake to eat the one stallion who managed to stand being around her.
“Did you really have to bring a basilisk with you?” asked Necro as he steadied himself on his hooves.
“It followed me home, can we fight it.” Ninx snapped back. She rolled her eyes at necro.
“Fine! Just fine. Bring back a monster that could literally kill us by sitting on us.” respond Necro who was brushing the mud off him with his wings.
“How is that? Students always go after this and are fine.” said Ninx as she started to climb out of the hole to Thorn.
“Cause they can cause paralysis when they have eye to eye contact with a pony. there is only two ways to cure this: Kill the basilisk or use a potion for it.”
“Potion?!” that word made a grin appear on Ninx’s face that scared Necro. “I could make one if that happens to you.”
“Umm..” Necro was scared for a moment, then Thorn called for them.
“If you two would stop messing around and help me please?!” yelled Thorn as she glared at the two ponies in the hole.
“Okay, messy mane.” mumbled Ninx as she crawled out of the hole and stood by Thorn.
“Why did I even think that these two would be good ponies towards me? I should have been fighting, not giving a biology lesson to her.” mumbled Necro as he finally got out from the hole. Then he saw the monster at hoof: A tall, green, Basilisk. “Oh dear Celestia.”
Thorn saw that Necro was just sitting there like a bump on a log and sighed, “I got to do everything with this team.” she said as she rushed towards the Basilisk. She whipped her tail and a blade came out and hit the snake with enough force to break a tree, but nothing. “Dang it, there scales are like armour, what to do now?”
Then She looked at her foe and the Basilisk did the same. Thorn stood in fear at the snake before her. She couldn’t move, or even speak. She hoped that her team would know what to do now.
“Thorn, move!” yelled Ninx as she started tossing potions at the great serpent, with little results. Soon she was down to just three flasks on her belt and turned to Necro, “Anytime ladybug.”
“Umm...okay.” said Necro as he stood on his hoofs. This was his time, time to show what he could do for this team. He flew straight up into the sky and started to circle the Basilisk.
“Wow, bird brain, thanks for the help.” yelled Ninx as she dodged an attack from the snake.
“She’s gonna be in trouble is she sees his eyes...his eye?” Then he realized what he had to do. He dove down and with his right hoof blade, he stabbed one of the Basilisk's eyes, “Now for the other one.” he said as he punched the other eye. It hit him like lightning when he realized his big mistake: He forgot his other hoof blade. “opps.”
==
“Well, I got half way done with it.” Chuckled Necro as he rode the Basilisk's head like a rodeo pony. “We could try hitting it’s insides?”
“You mean I have to get into it’s mouth!?” cried Ninx as she dove down into the safety hole, “How about we cook me medium rare while we’re at it? No way I’m going into that thing’s mouth.”
“If you do...I’ll….give you one of my feathers.”said Necro, regretfully.
“So Blow him up or poison?” gleefully asked Ninx as she started to mix up her last three potions.
“Light him up.” yelled Necro as he swung around and stabbed the other eye.
“I’m gonna need some time Bird brain.” said Ninx as sweat dripped down from her head as she tried to hurry with her brew.
“Okay. I could give you two minutes, maybe three.” Necro stated as he dove to the Basilisk's face. “Yo, snake face? I saw your mom, she was ugly.” The Basilisk must have understood him, because no sooner had he said that. the Basilisk started to try to eat him. “Oh buck! I do not want to be Rockodile Jack!” Yelled Necro as he started to fly around. “Ninx! Is that potion done yet?”
“Almost, just need water to finish this.” she said as she beamed with her almost done potion.
“Okay, Severus! Time for potion’s class.” said Necro as he flew past Ninx with the snake’s jaws ready to eat him. Ninx tossed her potion as Necro grabbed her, but then tossed her on a branch as he ran into a tree.
The Basilisk stood still for a moment, as if to say ‘I won’, but then he realized that that victory was served short as he coiled in agony.
Ninx was about to cheer as Necro flew back to the snake. “Bird Brain, we won!” cheered Ninx as she saw why he went back. “Oh no Thorn.”
Thorn was laying on the ground in a state of unconsciousness, as Necro stood in front of her. He tried to pick her up, but his hooves were too tired. So he turned and acted as a shield to her as the flailing tail of the Basilisk continued to move. He thought it stopped, but then the tail gave one more twitch and sent him into a tree trunk. By then, Thorn regained consciousness, and saw what had happened.
She turned and saw Necro in a tree and Ninx climbing down one, “What happened here?”
==
“I thought you gave them the bunny card.” A brown coated mare with a thick blond mane lifted a spy glass to her eye as she looked out into the forest.
“Maybe they got lost?” The armored stallion was hesitant to speak.
“Maybe.” The mare hummed softly putting the scope down on the edge of the tower. “They killed it at least. That takes away one thorn in my side. I wonder how they will deal with the other ones.”