//------------------------------// // Training // Story: MLPs: Agents of Harmony // by Amante //------------------------------// As the bus pulled away to the side, a large, booming voice greeted the girls from behind. They turned around and saw an appropriately large, crimson-toned man at the door of the keep. “Welcome, young agents, to the primary MLP training camp, The Dragon’s Nest. I am East Officer Reginald, head of the Reactionary Division.” He began to descend the stairs of the raised platform. “As your first lesson here: when a superior addresses you, your first action will be to straighten up and bow your head slightly. This is the salute of our organization, simple and subtle; as are our ways.” After taking a brief glance towards each other, the girls did as he said and performed the strange salute. Reginald nodded at their obedience. “Excellent. At ease, ladies. If I am not mistaken, Central has already informed you of your purpose here. We are still a paramilitary organization and thus require a certain degree of discipline and respect from all of our agents. You are here to learn, not just that, but also basic skills needed in an agent’s day-to-day life such as combat as well as the inner workings of our systems and ranks. “Your training will not just focus on the physical, but also on the mental as well as the psychological aspects. Anything can happen out there and considering the possibilities of what we could face, you need to be prepared for everything. You have already chosen your desired branch and will thus receive the appropriate training. Normally, agents are grouped up in threes from the same division, but considering your positions as Agents of Harmony, the six of you will be one group to promote, as your titles imply, harmony between all of you. “You will each receive dossiers that will go into more detail of what you can expect in the following weeks you will spend here. You are expected to report to your classes prepared and on time. Seeing as you are all still students, those habits should not be hard to adjust to.” He looked over the five girls. “You shall all reside in Cabin Six, basic rules and cabin etiqutte will be in the dossiers. That is all, dismissed.” He looked at them expectantly. Rainbow and Fluttershy, understanding what he wanted, performed the salute. The other three followed suit. After returning the nod, Reginald returned up the stairs and back into the keep. A moment after, a grey coat came out and handed each of the girls a dossier. Applejack’s had a red stripe along the side. She opened it and began scanning the pages. She let out a low whistle. “Looks like I’ve got a machine class and a potion class.” “I have deception classes, apparently,” said Rarity. Her’s had a dark blue stripe. Fluttershy gulped at one of her classes. “Anomaly Analysis and Containment,” she said in a low voice. Rainbow and Pinkie compared schedules and found that they were basically identical. “Makes sense, I guess, since we’re both grey,” said Pinkie. Rainbow pointed to a particular class on Pinkie’s schedule. “Check it out, Pinkie. We’ve got a High-Speed Pursuit and Containment class. That sounds awesome!” “Oh! Oh! Oh!” Pinkie said excitedly. “We also have Improvisation and Survival classes.” “Alright everybody, why don’t we get ourselves and our stuff to the cabin before we look into these things.” She pointed to their pile of things which had been unloaded from the bus. “Looks like we’ll be bringin’ ‘em there ourselves.” The others nodded and followed the cowgirl to their bags. After a few minutes, the girls found themselves at the door to Cabin Six, their home for the summer. It was located near the mess hall, which they found out was the cabin with the stone foundation and chimneys. Directly behind was also a spacious spot of grass which was perfect for exercise or practice. As they entered the cabin, they were met by a purple surprise. “Twilight!” Pinkie shouted as she ran to the last member of their group. After giving her a customary hug, she released her and the other girls, sans Rainbow, approached. “Hello, Twilight,” said Fluttershy as she gave her a quick hug. Waves and smiles were exchanged with Rarity and Applejack. “So are you also going to go through the same curriculum we are?” asked Rarity Twilight shook her head. “I’m here for more of a mentorship on leadership and to learn how to work with you girls as a unit.” “Aww. So we won’t be seeing each other that much?” as Pinkie as she put on a pouty face. Twilight smiled. “No, we still will be. Our free times are all synced up, if I’m not mistaken. Plus we’ll all be seeing each other during Combat Training and Combat Simulation.” Rarity frowned slightly. “Well that seems rather dark.” “Excuse me,” Fluttershy said in her speaking—which was whispering for everybody else—voice. “Why do we all have to learn combat? I thought only the reactionaries went against the dangerous anomalies?” “Technically,” Twilight began. “Reactionaries are a first response team. A lot of times they’d need Magiteks for support, particularly with tricky magical beings, Obfuscation to secure the area and keep things under a tight lid, and Medicals for, well, medical assistance. Since they’re all in the vicinity, it’s best if they all know how to defend themselves rather than act as a liability.” “Makes sense,” said Applejack. Rarity nodded in agreement. “But we won’t focus on that so much since that isn’t out specialty, right?” “Yes. Since you’re blue, you’ll learn more about illusions and misdirection.” As the girls continued to converse, Pinkie looked around and noticed they were missing their prismatic member. She excused herself from the group and went outside. She went around the house and found her target standing in the middle of the grass behind their cabin. She had her legs spread apart and her hands behind her back. Suddenly, her arms jolted upwards and grabbed the belt running across her waist. Just as before, it snapped in the center and expanded into her metallic aara. She spun her body around and brought with it her blade. It cut through the air with grace and wonder and twirled in response to its owner’s wishes. She jolted her arm in the opposite direction causing the flexible blade to crack like a whip. After a few more twirls and jumps, Rainbow ended with her feet on the ground and her arms outstretched. With a flick of her wrist, the sword retreated back towards her and shrank as it once again took the form of a belt and wrapped itself around her waist. To her surprise, she heard the sound of clapping behind her. “Someone’s been practicing,” said Pinkie. “Thanks.” Rainbow smiled at the applause from her friend. “Since I figured we’d get some actual teachers, it’d be best if I could show ‘em my A-game.” “That’s awesome, Rainbow.” She pointed a thumb towards the cabin. “You wanna show off you skills to the rest of the girls.” Her smile flipped into a scowl as she glared at Pinkie. “No.” Pinkie, brows furrowed, looked pleadingly to her friend. “You wanna come back inside then and-” “No,” Rainbow interrupted. “And not now, Pinkie,” she said as Pinkie opened her mouth. “But Rain-” Rainbow had put on her gloves and looked at her friend. “I’ll go check out what they’ve got around here. See what we can look forward to.” She used her ability and sped away from her insistent companion. She was too far to hear the irritated sigh escape her friend’s lips. The cabin they had been given was quite spacious. Three bunk beds for the six of them, six small desks neatly lining the wall and a common bathroom for them to share. She was also certain that there was some kind of magical temperature regulation happening since it was never too hot, nor too cold, for any of them while inside. Applejack slammed her head onto the surface of her desk. Beside her head lay the cause of her distress. It was a large, encyclopedia of a book that contained a considerable amount of schematics and designs. This was all well and good since she herself had gotten a certain affinity for machines. The only problem was that she had never even seen more than half the things mentioned. They apparently expected her to memorize all the little details of every little doohickey within the first week. She was about to scream when she heard a crash from behind her. She sat up and turned around to find Rarity, wearing a dark blue shirt, standing there with the cause of the sound at her feet. Her eyes darted awkwardly from the cowgirl to the pile. “You know, Rares, if you’re plannin’ bein’ all stealthy and unseen, it might be best not to knock stuff down,” said Applejack dryly. “Oh! It’s not my fault!” she cried. “This spell was supposed to make me intangible for a long enough time to sneak through the crack between the wall and the shelf. It only lasted half as long as they said it would.” She crossed her arms and pouted. “Maybe try givin’ it a little more juice when ya cast it?” “The last time I tried that, I was intangible for almost an hour. I only got it dispelled when I went to my instructor.” It was then that the door opened and in walked a visibly shell-shocked Fluttershy. The other two went to her and guided her to her bunk where she sat down with a thousand-yard stare. “Fluttershy, what’s wrong?” asked Applejack. Slowly, she turned her head and directed her stare towards Applejack causing the cowgirl to recoil slightly. “I just came from my Anomaly Anatomy class.” She paused for a good five seconds. “They showed us pictures of some of the more...terrible things that have shown up.” The pause was longer this time causing Rarity and Applejack move closer in concern. Finally, Fluttershy turned to Rarity and said, “They had samples. It. was. horrible.” They were about to say something when they were interrupted by the door slamming open. There stood Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash. One thing was very clearly missing from the pair. Energy. Rainbow dragged herself to the closest chair and plopped herself onto it. Pinkie, after taking a few steps into the cabin, decided that the floor was good enough for her. She dropped down in a pink spread across the wooden floorboards. Both were heaving with heavy breaths as they looked blankly at the ceiling. “Day three,” Rainbow finally got out. “Three days and they’ve got us doing stunts like that?!” Rarity looked at the two sympathetically, “I take it the Pursuit class has not been living up to your expectations.” “I never want to see another motorbike again!” screamed Pinkie Pie to no one in particular. After a moment, Twilight Sparkle hobbled into the cabin holding a bag of ice to her head. As she noticed the states of her companions, she said, “I see I’m not the only one who’s had such a wonderful day.” Applejack tilted her head in her direction. “Advanced Melee Combat,” Twilight answered. “So much more painful than they make it look.” Fluttershy, desperate to think of anything else, put on her gloves and approached Twilight. She placed one hand on the her friend’s head with the other at the hip. She began a particular breathing pattern. Slowly, warmth started to build up in her gloved hands as they glowed with a faint pink light. After a moment, the light faded and she retracted her arms. Twilight stood up straight with her mouth hanging slightly in amazement. “You already know healing?” “Just the basics.” Fluttershy smiled in her direction. “I learned it back in Canterlot with the help of Top Form.” Twilight looked to the two exhausted grey shirts. “Can’t you help them?” Fluttershy frowned and shook her head. “They don’t have any actual physical injuries, they mostly just have complete stamina drain. I still don’t know how to help with that.” Twilight herself frowned as she approached her desk and sat down. They weren’t wasting any time. The past couple of days were a whirlwind, at one point almost literally. The six of them were being pushed to their limits as much as possible, sometimes further. Deep down, she knew they were doing this on purpose. East Officer Reginald was accelerating the process. The large, windowless, stone structure acted as a combination armory, shooting range, and all around place-to-try-your-weapon-of-choice. Four of the Agents of Harmony were currently browsing the available selection. Fluttershy was the most obviously reluctant as her eyes scanned each tool with disgust and alienation. “Do we really have to pick something?” “Yup!” Pinkie said as she ran from one display to another. “Rainbow already had her aara made back in Canterlot and Twilight has enough power that she just uses pure magic to fight.” Fluttershy, though, was insistent. “Exactly. Do we really need to pick a weapon?” “Darling,” Rarity said as she looked to her friend with sympathy. “I know the idea does not sit too well with you, but you have to understand that, considering what we may end up doing, it will be necessary for us to defend ourselves.” Fluttershy knew she was right and so just moaned to herself as she continued to look. Applejack, meanwhile, had gone to a particular section of the armory looking for a particular kind of weapon. She knew that if she were to rebuild it, she would have to learn how to actually use it. As she looked amongst the multitudes of firearms, she found it. She grasped it like a delicate flower and held it in front of her. Long barrel, six chambers, bit heavier on the grip. It wasn’t an exact match, but it was close enough to Quickdraw that she could easily use it as a surrogate until she completed the real thing. She unclipped the chambers and found, to her surprise, that it was loaded with strange metallic cylinders. She pulled one out and held it against the light to get a better look. She could see on one end a very obvious circuit board with a number of microcomponents, yet on the other end were a certain arrangement of magical leylines that she couldn’t comprehend. The ‘bullet’ itself was extremely light, like a packing peanut, yet had the unmistakable feel of metal. Its make interested her. She would definitely have to look more into- “Energy rounds,” said a voice from behind her. She jumped, spun around, drew the revolver and pointed it straight ahead. The gun’s barrel ended neatly at the tip of another agent’s nose. The wrinkles on her face suggested middle-age, the intensity of her stare declared it didn’t matter. She had slightly greyed skin, a pair of rimless glasses and a bundle of black hair tied into a ponytail. Her brow was raised in amusement as she stared down the barrel of the revolver. The blazer she wore was the red of Magitek but also had a cream stripe running across her upper arm. Applejack recognized the last detail and immediately pulled the weapon back and saluted. “Ah apologize, Magitek Officer Raven.” Raven appraised the young agent. “At ease, junior.” “You took me by surprise so Ah-” She scoffed as she waved a hand. “Disregard.” She took the weapon from the younger’s hand. “Firearms?” “Yes, ma’am. I’ve been thinknin’ of restorin’ an old family heirloom.” “Aware. Plans are in your workstation at fabrication training. Quickdraw?” Applejack was slightly surprised, but after a moment figured it was natural since she was technically one of her teachers. “Yes, ma’am.” “Current design still built for combustion rounds. Not optimized for magical round.” She held up one of the rounds from the revolver. “Ah know, ma’am. Ah’m still tryin’ to figure out exactly how to adapt it.” She scratched tue back of her head, causing her stetson to tilt forward. “It’s also the first time Ah’ve ever seen that type o’ round.” She pointed to the tiny cylinder. Raven nodded. “Energy round allows user to fire compressed magical power.” She raised her hand to emphasize her silk glove. “Energy from conduit gloves pass through firearm into round. Allows for user’s energy to be turned into projectile. One in each chamber due to tendency to overheat requiring cooldown.” She reloaded the revolver and snapped the chamber back into place. “Advantage: nigh-unlimited ammunition. Limitation: own user’s reserves.” She spun the gun around and handed it back to Applejack. The cowgirl took it and looked at it with a more discerning eye. “Thank you, ma’am.” “Best for revolvers due to cyclical munition chambers,” she said before turning around and walking out of view. Applejack made to follow but found that she disappeared the moment she turned the corner. Rather than question it, she shrugged and went to look for her companions. The first one she bumped into was Fluttershy who was in the neighboring projectile section. In her hands was the a sleek and nicely curved long bow, the tips of which ended in a slight wave making the string stay firmly planted on the right side of the bow. Fluttershy stroked the woodwork of the bow and looked at it with fascination. “Archery?” Applejack asked. Fluttershy raised her head. “To be honest, I’ve always found it to be such a graceful sport. It’s also not as inherently dangerous as a sword.” She looked to the revolver in Applejack’s hand. “Or violent and explosive like a gun.” Applejack nodded. “True. Takes some steadier hands, though.” She shrugged in response. “I think I can manage.” As they returned to the door, they found the other two on the way. Rarity had a long rapier, sheathed and tied around her waist, whilst Pinkie Pie had nothing. “Um, Pinkie?” Fluttershy asked expectantly. Her friend grinned in response as she showed them her fists. On her knuckles were rows of menacing, barbed spikes. “Found these in the ‘unarmed’ section. They’ll never see it coming,” she said as she put on a manic grin. When she saw the weird looks they gave her, she immediately broke into laughter. Applejack smiled, relieved that her friend hadn’t suddenly gone psycho. She looked to the other and asked, “Swordplay, huh?” “I will have you know the I dabbled in a bit of fencing in the past. I may be rusty now, but that is nothing a little practice cannot solve. This also isn’t the only thing I picked up.” She put on a smirk. “Let’s just say that I have something that is going to take full advantage of my telekinetic ability.” “Suppose we better get used to this stuff then,” Applejack said before making her way to the shooting range. Twilight took cover behind a collection of rocks. She turned her head and found her cerulean teammate, likewise taking cover. “What are you doing here?” Rainbow demanded. “Getting a better tactical assessment of the situation. You?” Rainbow looked incredulous, “The same thing.” “Good.” The two peeked over their respective side of the rock. Across a small field from them was another outcropping of boulders. Hiding behind it were at least three fellow juniors. More importantly, though, a distance further away on a small knoll was their target, a yellow flag. Since the Agents of Harmony needed to be kept as one unit, the trainers had paired up two Reactionary teams to go up against them for an even, six-on-six game of capture the flag. Twilight spoke into her earpiece. “Pinkie, Applejack, move-in.” “Belay that,” Rainbow quickly said into her own earpiece before looking at Twilight. “Are you crazy? They’d be too exposed if they ran across.” “First of all, I’m squad leader, second, do you have any better ideas?” “Look over to the left, past the first line of trees.” The two took another peek. The only thing Twilight saw in that direction was more grass, rocks and trees. “I don’t get it.” Rainbow let out an exasperated sigh. “We can send someone in over those ledges to flank them. I’ve been watching that area and I know they don’t have anyone covering it.” Twilight realized what she was talking about. “Well, they’ll definitely notice people crossing it, don’t you think?” “I do. The best thing is for you and Applejack to provide a distraction since you can fire from right here, then Pinkie and I can move in and take the flag right from under them.” Twilight played out the scenario in her head. They would just need to hold the rock long enough for Pinkie and Rainbow to get past that window in the tree line. Once they were through, they had the forest to cover them. She had to admit, it was a good plan. “Alright, Rainbow.” She activated her earpiece again. “Applejack, you’re going to join me at the big rock near the center. Pinkie, you’re going to rendezvous with Rainbow on the left edge of the map.” “Roger,” came their voices through the earpieces. Rainbow nodded. “Okay, now I’ll just have to-” She was cut of by an orange, crescent-shaped energy wave cutting neatly between them and bifurcating the rock. Twilight immediately raised a gloved hand and produced a purple barrier that encased Rainbow and her. Not a moment later, two more waves slammed against it, producing an electric sound. With her other hand, Twilight reached for her ear once again. “Change of plans, Pinkie, you and Applejack are to give us support here in the-” “No! Pinkie, AJ use the ledge on the left edge to sneak around them. By the sound of things, we’ve got the defenders’ attention. You should be able to sneak through without problems.” Three more waves hit the purple barrier. “Rainbow, we can’t just send them in. The enemy’s got us pinned. We need their help. If they overwhelm us they’ll be able to head straight for our flag.” “It won’t matter if we get theirs first.” “That’s too much of a gamble. We don’t even know if these are all the defenders. They could have easily left someone to ambush whoever got near their flag.” Two larger waves hit the barrier. Two beads of sweat began to run down Twilight’s cheek. “I think they can handle whatever-” “Girls,” came the slightly static voice through their earpieces. “We may need backup. They found where we were keeping the flag.” Rainbow and Twilight exchanged looks of dread. Across the designated game area, an obfuscation agent and a medical agent were hiding behind trees that were a fair distance apart. Behind those trees, inside a ditch, was a lime green flag. Rarity was using her trusty hand mirror to get a visual on the situation. When she saw a possible target, she nodded to Fluttershy. The shy girl looked terrified. Her lip quivered and her knees shook as her right hand pulled an arrow back, across her bow. She closed her eyes and took a breath before turning and emerging from cover. The arrow flew true and slammed the incoming grey shirt right in the chest. He fell to the ground, frozen in the very pose he was hit in. Another grey shirt following him drew her own arrow and fired it forward. Fluttershy tried to move out of the way but was just too slow. She would have been hit, and likewise frozen, had a small knife—enclosed in a light blue aura—not intercepted its path. She gave Rarity a thankful smile as she leaned back onto the tree and watched the knife circle back and return to her friend’s grasp. . Rarity made a mental increment. She was about to repeat the process when she heard a rustling of leaves above her. On instinct, she jumped away from the tree and drew her rapier. Just as she moved away, a brown skinned, red haired grey shirt wielding a scimitar slammed onto the ground she was standing on. The two held their swords at the ready. Rarity took a step back as her opponent took a step forward. When Fluttershy noticed the grey shirt, she made to close the gap between her and her friend. Her action nearly cost her as an arrow flew just past her nose. She retreated back to the tree and got her own arrow ready. She notched an arrow and prepared to shoot the one wielding the scimitar. She was about to fire when the two had disappeared behind the cover of a particularly large tree trunk. Realizing she lost the shot ,she pulled back and released it against the other archer instead. It shattered into particles of light as it slammed against the rock her enemy was hiding behind. Rarity stood straight and smiled as she held her rapier upright in front of her. She leveled a look at the grey shirt and tilted the sword towards her until it was level with the ground. Her opponent smirked and repeated the gesture, but rather than tilt her scimitar, she brought it down to her side in a slash. A duel between sword-wielding agents had just been declared. The two entered ready stances and began to circle each other. Without warning, they charged. The sound of metal on metal echoed as blows were exchanged. The first strikes were enough for Rarity to know that she was severely outclassed. Her mind was filled with three primary directives: Dodge, parry, block. In the middle of strikes, though, she was able to notice that her opponent had a tendency to overstep her stride. With the right opportunity, she could easily turn the tide—she just had to survive the fight long enough. Back at the rock, Twilight and Rainbow were being harassed. The energy waves had at least stopped replaced, instead, by smaller surgical strikes. None had yet to hit them, thankfully. “Applejack, get back to the flag and give them an assist. Pinkie, see if you can flank around whoever is attacking us,” said Twilight into the earpiece. “Alrighty, ma’am. Sure y’all can handle it?” replied the cowgirl. “We’ll survive, but we lose the moment they so much as touch our flag.” Twilight looked back to Rainbow. “Either there are two of them taking pot shots at us, or one of them is running back and forth and hitting us from both sides alternately.” Rainbow tried to peek above the rock only to get a near hit from a magic missile. “I can’t get a good visual.” Twilight considered things. “You can control where you aara goes, right?” Rainbow nodded. “Good. I can use my magic to give you cover, you ready yourself to swing against whoever is out there.” A smirk formed on Rainbow’s face. “We might as well try something.” Twilight built up heat in her palm whilst Rainbow gripped her belt. When the next shot from the enemy hit the rock, Rainbow jumped and rolled. The first thing she saw once she was out was a magical projectile heading for the spot right between her eyes. It didn’t hit as a translucent purple wall extended from the rock, protecting her from any other projectiles. Her eyes locked onto their opponent, standing not too far from the trees. She pulled her belt and let out her aara. As she readied a strike, the wall stayed flexible and ensured that nothing could hit her. As her arm swung around, the shield retracted for the aara to extend just enough to hit the enemy. It was repelled, though, by a chunk of earth launched from the trees. There’s the other guy, she thought. She willed her sword to return and it did. They had a clear shot on her now, her only hope was to jump in the direction of the barrier. As she did, she found that Twilight had much more control over her shields than she expected as she harmlessly phased through the illuminating wall. Being on the other side of the barrier, she found a nice open spot in her opponent’s guard. She brought her aara up for another strike. It would have connected had a chunk of earth not come flying out of the forest, neatly intercepting her blade. Rarity, unfortunately, was not having as good a time. The opportunity she was hoping for never came and she was getting progressively exhausted. Her opponent, meanwhile, barely broke a sweat as she reared up for a particularly savage strike. She barely managed to block it as one of her knees buckled from the pressure. The duel severely worked against her favor in a one-on-one setup. She would have to use the tricks obfuscation had taught her. As she brought her rapier up to block another strike, her left hand went for a bracelet with seven beads being worn by her sword arm. The beads were sent flying before neatly revolving around her left hand, now balled into a fist, and transforming into seven small knives. She jumped back and parried her enemy’s strike as she threw her fist in her direction. The knives were sent flying towards their target. The grey shirt’s eyes widened before she took a daring leap to the right. One knife would have hit her badly had she not tilted her sword just right to block. She recovered quickly and looked at Rarity with wide-eyes—right before smirking. The duel was off, which meant anything goes. The look she was being given upset Rarity. She started thinking that she was more likely to win the duel. Her eyes momentarily glanced to her companion, only to widen as they saw Fluttershy, frozen in place with her arms in front of her cowering face. The odds were looking grimmer with every moment. A bloodcurdling battlecry came forth as the grey shirt charged her. Terror briefly overtook her emotions before she recovered and sent her knives flying forwards once more. The grey shirt bounced and danced around her knives in mid-air; leaping, strafing, and spinning gracefully. The gap between them closed in no time forcing Rarity to return to blocking and parrying. The attacks were too swift and too frequent for her to call her knives back. She would have to think of something- The grey shirt grabbed her sword wrist and held it away from them before plunging her scimitar right through Rarity’s core. There was no pain, nor was there blood. All Rarity felt was a slight pressure as she willed her eyes to roll down and get a good look. From her position, she could neatly see the scimitar half-way into her own body. The effect was disquieting to say the least; not helped by the fact that she couldn’t move at all. She clattered to the ground as she was released. Perhaps the most pain that she felt actually came from the fact that she had lost the fight, and consequently the game. Thanks, again, to her position, she had an excellent view of her better, casually walking towards their flag. She wanted to close her eyes, but she couldn’t. She wanted to shout for a rematch, but she couldn’t. She wanted to feel ashamed, but she couldn’t. She was locked in. Suddenly, she heard the sound of a spark emanate from the forest behind her. A small, glowing projectile that looked to be made of light shot at her opponent. The grey shirt tried to bring her scimitar to shield her but was just too slow. She toppled to the ground with the scimitar up and with alerted eyes. She heard footsteps behind her before she felt her stiff body being tilted. Her sapphire eyes met with Applejack’s emerald. She desperately wanted to thank the cowgirl and to warn her of the other remaining grey shirt. She wouldn’t need to as, out of the corner of her eye, she saw the very same grey shirt notch an arrow and fire it in their direction. It missed Applejack by a hair’s width as the gunslinger leapt back and brought her weapon out to bear. She fired a few suppressive shots which allowed her the chance to find proper cover. She returned to the trees. A number of arrows pierced several trees all around her. By their distance apart, she could tell that the grey shirt was firing blind. She used the chance to use the forest’s underbrush to get out of the area. At this point, it was a game of cat and mouse. Though the aara was blocked, the greys clearly did not anticipate Twilight Sparkle jumping from cover and sending a particularly nasty looking bolt of energy towards their exposed comrade. He fell to the ground with his face scrunched up from the literal and figurative shock. Rainbow shot Twilight a smile. “Nice one, egghead.” Twilight, shocked at the compliment, replied, “Thanks. We’re not out of the woods yet, though.” At that moment, the treeline exploded as a large golem-like creature made entirely from earth emerged. It snarled at the two as it raised a fist to squish them. As it was about to bring down it’s car-sized fist, a message was broadcast to all the players involved. “The reactionaries win. They have taken Team Harmony’s flag.” “WHAT?” demanded Rainbow. Her face was twisted up as she stared angrily at the sky above them. The golem brought its arms back and shrugged before walking towards the northern edge of the map. It’s body flashed and disappeared as it was replaced by a significantly smaller, grey-shirt wearing junior agent. Rainbow redirected her glare towards her teammate. Twilight shook her head. Two games in a row was not a good sign. She noticed the look Rainbow was giving her. “What?” Rarity was sitting, cross-legged, under a tree on a small knoll just outside the training compound. Her hair was tied back and she was wearing a blue tank top with the regulation exercise shorts. She had just finished a healthy morning jog and decided to read up on her lessons before her first class begun. She was starting to see the barrier that they passed when they first arrived. She was also beginning to hear a low hum, like the sound produced from grounded speakers, emanate from it. In the two-and-a-half weeks they had spent there, she learned so much more about the world around them. What fascinated her the most was, perhaps, the two types of magic that filled their world: Harmony and Chaos. The magic that she and her friends, as well as all the agents, were using was a refined and channeled type of Harmony. How you channeled it depended entirely on your birthright, leading to the three forms of Heart, Body and Mind. She herself used mind magic which meant that her thoughts envisioned what her abilities were to do. With her knives, for example, she had to imagine them flying to her target to get them to do just that. She took a breath and laid her tablet on her lap as she leaned back on the tree. Her eyes darted around surrounding area. She smiled as she noticed a patch of flowers growing contentedly under a whole in the forest’s canopy. The smile she was wearing faltered slightly as she noticed a fellow junior jog out of the compound in her direction. It was the grey-shirt that stabbed her. She stopped and stared at Rarity for a moment before smiling and approaching her. She extended her hand and introduced herself. She spoke with the slightly nasal accent of those from the desert country of Saddle Arabia. Rarity couldn’t catch quite catch, much less pronounce, the name she introduced herself with. She chuckled and instead gave her a rough Lhaytinization of her name: Ignia Terra. Rarity invited her to sit with her under the tree. “Sorry, by way, about other day. It did not hurt too much, I hope?” Ignia asked with a sheepish look. Rarity smiled and waved it off. “It’s fine. You were expected to beat us, after all.” Ignia nodded. “Thank you.” She looked to the tablet on Rarity’s lap. “What were you reading?” “Oh, just brushing up on the things I’ve learned here. Quite a lot to take in, if I do say so.” “I understand. When I awoke in my home town, I was terrified of what I was. Night of that same day, agents from Saddle Arabian detachment came to my home and talked to my parents. I was too young for training then so they just kept watch and visited for a check-up every week. I was finally old enough this year and so they sent me here to Equestria for formal training.” She had a wistful smile as she brought out a small locket from inside her grey shirt. “I miss my parents more than I expected.” Rarity shared her smile. “I myself haven’t seen my parents in a while. I was supposed to now but I had to go here for the training. I should probably visit them when we’re done here.” “Oh, did you hear what we’ll be doing as final exam?” Rarity tilted her head. “Not quite, no. Why? Is it that difficult?” Ignia shrugged. “Not sure. All I know is that each team we’ll be sent on their own missions to accomplish. If you succeed, you are a full agent. If not, you have to go to next year’s training.” “Oh my. I do hope we’ll manage. We haven’t quite gotten used to the whole strategy and tactics things.” Rarity snorted a laugh. “Or combat.” Ignia chuckled. “If you like, I can give you help with sword skills. I may use scimitar but I’m also familiar with other styles. Is why I chose grey.” Rarity had a truly sincere smile. “Thank you, I would appreciate that.” She extended her hand. “Friend?” It was Ignia’s turn to share the smile. “Friend.”