It was a cool fall day, and a very important one, since today was the day was for the entrance exams for the prestigious E.S.D.E, or the Elemental School for the Defenders of Equestria, which was founded by the elements of harmony to train the next generation of defenders to help deal with the threats to Equestria and its citizens. The stadium in Canterlot was packed with potential students who wanted a shot to help their country and the people inside it.
Among these hopefuls sat two of the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Apple Bloom, the taller of the duo, had lightly tanned skin and long dark red hair that reached her back, orange eyes, and wore a simple bright yellow t-shirt, ripped dark blue denim jeans, and a dark pink bow in her hair. To her left sat Sweetie Belle, the smaller of the duo, who had shoulder length curly pink and purple hair, vivid green eyes, and a long white dress, white satin gloves and simple black flats.
"Where the hay is Scootaloo?" Apple Bloom asked, in an annoyed tone, "If I have to sit through this then she should too."
"Maybe she just woke up and is on her way right now!" Sweetie answered with a bit of enthusiasm.
"I hope you're right Sweetie Belle, I'd hate for Scootaloo to miss the entrance exam just 'cause she overslept." Apple Bloom said in a worried tone.
***
Elsewhere, "Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap!" cried a certain late teen. "You really messed up now, Scootaloo!" she thought to herself while rushing to get ready. Scootaloo was between Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom's height, with short spiky purple hair, and deep purple eyes. She quickly put on a purple tank top, orange baggy cargo pants, orange high tops, and around her neck was a pair of wonder bolt flight goggles signed by none other than Spitfire herself! She quickly grabbed a slice of toast and ran out the door as fast as she could toward the school.
***
Back at the Canterlot Stadium, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle noticed that everyone was silent, turning to focus on a thin pale woman with short lavender hair with a bright pink stripe in it, she had piercing purple eyes that looked like she could see your every mistake. Twilight stood in the center of the giant room. She wore a long sleeved blouse with a star pattern on it, a lavender skirt with a giant pink star burst pattern that reached her knees, and in her left hand she held a staff that ended with a pink star like gem that glowed a faint purple glow.
"Greetings, potential students! My name is Twilight Sparkle and I am the principle of this school." Twilight said with a friendly smile. "Now, as many of you know, out of the three hundred and sixty thousand of you here, only thirty-six of you will be accepted. The selection process is very straight forward. First, we will putting you all in groups of 6. Second, you will be tested on your ability to work together by overcoming a challenge. Now before you start panicking..." Twilight went on explaining.
Breathing heavily, Scootaloo tried to stealthily sneak into the stadium, but the people who occupy the stadium looked at her before shrugging and returning their attention to Principle Twilight Sparkle. As she approached Apple Bloom and Sweetie belle, Apple Bloom looked at her and waved her over. Scootaloo then walked over and sat down next to Apple Bloom. "So why are you late?" Sweetie asked in a curious tone.
"I... over... slept... whew." Scootaloo explained in between breaths. Scoots was about to explain how she overslept when she was cut off by Twilight.
"Alright. Now that you have been properly informed about the exam, the first team of six to enter the arena is Snips, Snails, Rumble, Featherweight, Peachy Pie, and Sunny Days. Good luck to you six and try your best!" Twilight said with a smile.
"So what do you guys know about how the exam works?" Scootaloo asked her two friends.
"Six ponies are put into teams the teachers have put together prior to today and that team will be tested by seeing their ability to overcome a problem through team work." Sweetie Belle, "but I don't know what the problem is. I kinda got distracted from the explanation on that part."
"Yeah, sorry about that." Scootaloo apologized with a sheepish smile.
"It's okay Scoots, we're kinda used to it by know." Apple Bloom said patting her friend on the back, "So we're just gonna wing it once we get to it."
"But what if we are not on a team together!?" Sweetie Belle suddenly exclaimed.
"Calm down! all the teachers know us so they wouldn't split us up, especially Twilight. "Apple Bloom tried to reassure her friend.
***three hours later***
Twilight walked onto the stage in the center of the Canterlot Stadium. "Alright, the next team to enter the Exam is Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, Peppermint Twist, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon..." Twilight announced. The trio froze altogether once they heard the last two names.
"Why the Hay would they team us up with them?" Apple Bloom exclaimed. "They definitely know that we don't get along at all."
"We haven't seen them in two years. so they probably changed." Sweetie added hopefully.
"Who cares if they did or not! We still have to work with them anyway." Scootaloo said to her friends only to get a look of surprise from both Apple Bloom and Sweetie.
"What!?" they exclaimed.
"We just never thought you would say we should work with Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon." Apple Bloom said. Sweetie nodded her head in agreement.
"Okay, but we need to hurry up and get down there." Scootaloo stood up and started heading down to the door that lead to the exam area. Apple Bloom and Sweetie followed. Once through the door the trio found themselves inside a locker room filled with armor of all types. In the center of the room stood a fully armored amazon of a woman with a
long blond ponytail with her back turned to them.
"I was wondering when you three would show up. You're ten minutes late!" The amazon said turning to face them revealing herself to be Applejack. Applejack was the largest of Elements of Harmony, standing at 6'3 she easily dwarfs most women and some guys. The armor she wore has an orange tone with a trio of apples stamped onto the breast plate, on her head sat her signature stetson.
"Applejack? Why are you here?" Apple Bloom asked her older sister.
"A'hm here to wish you girls luck and inform you what exactly your test is, so please step in line with the rest of your team so I may begin." Applejack said stepping aside, revealing three familiar looking girls.
Scootaloo stared at the trio in front of her, the one on the far left, who Scoots could clearly identify as Twist, was a small frail looking girl with thick purple glasses, short curly hair wearing a simple white t-shirt and a red skirt. Twist waved at the trio with wore a big smile on her face. Next to her stood Silver Spoon, who was taller than Apple Bloom. Silver Spoon wore thin blue framed glasses, she was dressed in a dark grey sweater, grey designer jeans, and a pearl necklace around her neck. Silver looked at them with a bored expression. Last but not least there stood the CMC's worst enemy, Diamond Tiara the grade school bully. The trio looked at her in confusion because she wore a friendly smile instead of her usual evil sneer. Diamond wore a light pink hoody, pink shorts, and on her head she wore a silver band instead of her signature diamond tiara.
"Good, now that ya'll are here let me tell you exactly what you're exam is. Since you all were told to bring a weapon of some sorts with you for the exam none will be provided. Your exam is pretty straight forward. The six of you will be taking on a pack of timber wolves." Applejack explained. "You will be judged on your team work skills, so stick together at all times and look out for one another, okay? Any questions? No? Okay, good luck! Use the locker room to put on some armor. Ya'll are gonna need it," With that, Applejack left.
As soon as Applejack left, Silver Spoon looked at the other five members in the group with an angry look, " I can't believe I'm stuck with this pathetic excuse for a team! We're guaranteed to fail 'cause we have the Cutie Mark Losers who are terrible at almost everything," Silver ranted pointing at the trio. Apple Bloom was about retaliate with some harsh words of her own but someone else beat her to the punch.
"Silver Spoon! Leave them alone," everyone turned to see it was Diamond Tiara that said that! Apple Bloom thought she was hearing things. Diamond would never defend them! Silver turned away and walked into the locker room with an angry growl. Diamond turned to the Crusaders and said, "Sorry about that, she's just really nervous about the exam." with that she too walked into the locker room.
"Am I hearing things, or did Diamond Tiara just defend us instead of joining Silver Spoon in ridiculing us?" Scootaloo asked her friends.
"No, she really did that," Apple Bloom answered.
"That is totally not like her," Sweetie Belle added.
"Well we should go get ready for the exam." Twist said to the trio as she entered the locker room, the trio shrugged then followed.