"All right class, settle down, it’s time for the lesson to begin.”
The instructor, an older gray Pegasus mare, attempted to shout above the excited chatter. It took about two minutes for them to quiet down, but Cyrus could tell, by the knowing smirks on some, that they were still carrying on a conversation the teacher would never hear.
Thank you class, and welcome to your first day of Defensive Military Tactics. I am Professor Steel Wing retired member of the Wonderbolts, and I am glad to have you hear with me, and hope you are enjoying your stay in Canterlot. If you open your books to the chapter on Aerial Forces, which you should have read in advance, we can start our exercises. I will come up with various situations which may arise in a battle situation, and in small groups, you will think up an appropriate response. Suppose your scouts have spotted a griffin army of two thousand heading your way across an open plain and will be there in an hour. They are split in half ground force and half aerial force. You have fifteen hundred soldiers, including about 300 pegasi, 20 artillery and 50 mages. What is your response to the situation? You have five minutes.
The students grouped together, leaving Cyrus alone. The room was silent as they used telepathy to hide their plans from the others. Cyrus wasn’t exactly sure how it worked, but he knew that horse telepathy could be selective, and only worked from a certain distance, and that the force of it, much like magic, was up to the individual user. Also, like magic, it developed with age, cumulating with the telenitiation, where they went through some secret ritual to prove their worth. He supposed it was similar to a pony earning its cutie mark. He was not sure what to do, so he idly flipped through his textbook. He looked at it without really absorbing the knowledge until Steel Wing called time.
“ Professor, we propose that the mages throw fireballs at the air forces, or perhaps forcefully levitate them so they crash onto their comrades.” A colt named Arak piped up
“No, that’s stupid, you brain dead weasel. Obviously the mages cant do that to all of them in time, so you have to rely on the more evenly matched ground forces. Then you pound them with some boulders with artillery” Another colt interrupted before Steel Wing could respond. Soon the others started joining in, offering everything from an infantry charge to using the expendable grappling donkeys to rope down the aerial forces. They also devolved into more petty name calling. The future officers of Saddle Arabia, everypony.
Enough! Said Steel Wing. They are all interesting suggestions, but you are not being mature about them! I know many of you want to join the military when you are finished, but this is not the qualities expected of you. Before I go over your strategies, which you will restate in a CIVILIZED manner, there is one I have not heard from. Mister Cyrus, if you please.
Cyrus, who had been staring into space, jolted. He looked awkwardly at the class, then down to his desk. The fur on his face was starting to mat from the sweat. He adjusted his fez ( a nervous habit) and stammered,
“W-well maybe the pegasi could create a tornado filled with fire that the mages made. Then the army could retreat to a narrower place, where they could stand abreast and hold back the griffins, at least until reinforcements could arrive.”
“Creating a firenado is a very risky move, you could lose control and hurt your own forces. But I do like the idea of calling for reinforcements. I believe you are the only one to say that. Not bad for a first try. Thank you.”
Cyrus smiled weakly, then sunk into his chair.
“You never said we could call in reinforcements, Professor.”
“ I never said you couldn’t, Mister Arak”
But Professor, wouldn’t that be cowardly to ask for help? We could take them.”
“Not when you need it. Keep that in mind that your sense of pride is nothing. You want to keep everypony, and every-equine as safe as possible. They look up to you.”
There was some rumblings, but the class settled down.
“Now then, since we are agreeing to be civilized, perhaps we can get on with the lesson. I will call on the groups, and there will be no interruptions. Arak, you can restate your response, and nopony will speak. Clear?
Yes, Professor, the class said in unison.
“Ok, I propose that-
There was suddenly a rumbling noise, and then, out of nowhere, the entire classroom was covered in green and flowers. They sprawled so fast that they broke the left wall, exposing the room to the hallway. A brownish-grey unicorn with wavy brown hair and an open scroll cutie mark dashed into the classroom with a panicked look in his eye.”
“ Oh, dear, I’m so sorry, we were working on an experiment, the-plants-,they went everywhere” He seemed quite out of breath
“Dusty you dolt, I don’t’ care, just fix it now!” Screamed Silver Wing
“ Oh yes, yes of course, I’ll try.”
With a green blast from his horn, he managed to clear some of the plants away, but it was still spreading. His glasses started to slip, and he attempted to adjust them as he was shaking.
“ Class dismissed!” Silver Wing flew out of the classroom, presumably to find reinforcements. A few daisies were caught in her iron mane, and she trailed a thin line of leaves after her. The class was not far behind, as they galloped in a panicked manner. One colt known as Wilhelm even started screaming. Cyrus stayed and watched as more unicorns entered the classroom and helped Dusty put down the plant spell gone awry. The unicorn was still shaking. It was certainly a pitiful sight, and everypony seemed to avoid making eye contact with him.Cyrus reluctantly went to his next class, feeling a little guilty that he just stood there, unable to help.
Lunchtime soon rolled around. It was quite an interesting sight to see this strange jumble. It was packed with students and faculty from the Royal Exchange Program, as well as several of the staff from the Research, and even a few off duty Royal guards, mostly for the cook’s celery soup. You just had to be careful, because he was easily offended, and would refuse soup on the smallest perceived slight. Cyrus came in and, of course sat alone in the corner. He had gotten used to it, and although most of the pony staff was friendly to a point, they seemed to be in their own set groups. Plus, he was a student, and most of them were professors or researchers, so there would be little common topics. So he was surprised when the grey unicorn plopped down next to him.
“ I hope you don’t mind, everywhere else is full.”
“No, not at all, feel free. I’m Cyrus, by the way.”
“Nice to meet you. Dusty Scroll, junior magic researcher.”
“ You sound like you don’t come down here usually.
“ Well, normally I’m helping write papers and conduct experiments, but with today’s ah, incident, I’m afraid that the lab will be closed for awhile. Plus, I had to check out the soup.”
“ I’m so sorry, I’m sure it won’t last for too long. What were you trying to accomplish, anyway?”
“ I’m surprised you would want to know.” Dusty stopped as he looked at Cyrus’s annoyed face, “ Not as an insult, of course, it’s just that few outside the Academy actually care about this.”
“It’s alright. I wouldn’t expect a donkey to be interested in he arcane myself.”
“Well, basically, we were working on a permanent duplication spell. You see, we can’t magic things into existence and expect them to stay around forever. It takes a lot of power to convert raw magical energy in the air into something tangible. But I messed up. We were supposed to use it on a small block. I accidently hit a professor’s Everfree samples and it just, exploded. I’m sure they’re still laughing it up.”
“It was kinda scary, but still amazing. Imagine if you could do that to crops, though I’m not sure how earth ponies would feel about it.”
“ We managed to beat it back, but I’m still not sure how it happened.”
“What if it’s because it’s the Everfree? I’ve heard about that place, maybe the spell just made them accelerate something they were already doing. Don’t your plants here normally need constant tending?”
Dusty Scroll looked interested at this, and seemed to perk up.
“Are you saying plants grow in Saddle Arabia all by themselves?”
“Yes, and the weather is crazy too. We were at the mercy of drought in my town for years until we got our own Pegasus team.”
“That’s really weird.”
“Equestria’s weird, it’s the only place where this stuff happens.”
“ Ha, I guess we are a little weird. But we make it work, no?” Dusty Scroll said with a half-smile playing about his features.
“ It’s certainly the most welcoming place I’ve been. Mind you, that’s not saying much, since I’ve barely been out of my hometown.”
“It’s not that special. Especially in Canterlot, they can get a bit snobby. If you want real friendly, go to Ponyville.”
“ But it is. They actually talk to me like I’m equal or something. I wish we could have that at home, but things stay the same there.”
“ You are an equal, and quite knowledgeable I must say. In fact, you may be on to something about your plant theory. I might need to look into that one. Maybe we can discuss it in the library sometime.”
“I thought only ponies in the Academy could access that.”
“Nonsense, you are free to come, besides, I could vouch for you. Its amazing how everypony keeps thinking that. Why, I heard a story once about how a unicorn was caught sneaking around the archives, when she could have just asked to be let in! The guards are really only there to prevent theft.”
“Alright, lets meet up as soon as we can.”
“ See you at lunch tomorrow?”
“ It might mess up my schedule, but I can make the time.”
The bell rang, and everyone started going their separate ways. As Cyrus and Dusty departed, each couldn’t help but notice a smile involuntarily form.