The Lements of the School in the Everfree

by ImAPonyXY

Chapter Two

Warriors

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In the mist of things, the starting of the assignment was shrouded in eager shouts or panicked murmers, but most of all, the greatest sound was the trampling of feet owned by students of who ran into the forest without hesitation. Hurrying with haste in order to prove themselves to a high destinction.

Among these student were the three mediocre, young hunters that placed themselve together to form a group now known as team 8. The students in this group consisted of the formable, scruffled, orange pegasus known only as Scootaloo. An honourable, green dragon of whom shared spikes instead of hair who went by the simple name of Spike. Last, but not least, was also a girl who owned the ears and tail of a grey, hunting wolf known as Cinder Ash. This was team 8, and their chances of success would be merely determined by how fabourable the woods were... and the meat on their bones.

"So what's our strategy?" asked Spike in a semi audible tone as he looked around for an alert of anyone else.

"Fight, survive... win," Scootaloo replied, "not much else to do."

Spike sighed and Cinder merely rolled her eyes.

"That isn't good enough." He retorted, "we need an actual plan."

Cinder nodded in agreement.

"Okay but what would we do, mister strategy guy." Scoots teased

"I'm not too sure." He admitted.

"How about go deeper into the forest, find a good place to rest and then make a plan. It'll be safer than doing it here where people might here us," she suggested.

Spike and Scootaloo thought about for a while. Since though, they had no other strategy and no other plan of action, they decided to fo with her suggestion and venture deeper in before making any plans.

And so, that's what they did, journey deeper and deeper in. They followed a slim, nearly unnoticeable, dirt path that seemlessly led to nowhere.

After time and time of walking down this seemlessly long and poinyless path, they found themselve arriving at a small, crumbling ruin of what once seemed to be a shrine of the Elements of Harmony. Weeds and vines grew through the cracks of the stone and the dirt littered the hard ground surrounding the statue.

"Well, here we are I guess. This should be good enough," Cinder stated and sat on the ground.

"Great, any ideas anyone?" Scootaloo asked, "We should start planning our strategy."

"Okay, any suggestions Scoot?" spike asked, he himself was clueless as to any strategies that might be of use.

"why are you asking me? I have no idea, Spike!"

Spike sighed and Cinder rolled her eyes.

"Well that's no help, Scoots," he turned to Cinder, "What about you, Cinder, you've been awefully quiet."

"Umm, I'm note too sore, Got maybe we should try the approach of stealth and attack people when they least expect it." She suggested. "But it may not be the best idea."

"That's actually not too bad!" Praised Spike.

"How do you think we should go about it though?" Scoots asked.

"We could hang out in the trees or move though the bushes then ambush a group when they come along and then we take their gem." she explained.

"That seems we a good idea for now but we should keep , moving so we don't get caught but any creatures." Spike suggested.

"Okay, that seems good, Let's go with that." Scoots added.

"Right then, let's go get us a gem!" Spike chimed encouragingly.

"YEAH!" shouted the other two.

On that not, team 8 scurried into their hiding positions. Scootaloo climbed into a nearby tall tree Where she would be clouded by the canopy of the leaves. Spike and Cinder rushed into the nearby, thick bushes to conceal themselves while still keeping close to the ground for quick movement.

The three of them moved secretly through the shrubery as they kept a lookout for anyone or anything that could harm them but still looking for a gem that they needed so desperately in order to continue their education at the school.

After a while of moving through both the trees and shrubery of the dense forest did they finally saw something of worth.

"What is that?" Scooteloo asked genuinely.

"I think that's what we're looting for!" praised Cinder as she let off a sigh of relief.

"Yeah, I think she's right!" Spike agreed as he pointed to what looked like a glowing gem.

"finally, we found it!"

Spike cautiously wandered out of his hiding spot to go quickly investigate and sure enough, it was what they were looking for. Spike leant over to pick it up, but little did he know that he was being watched, but he was being watched by cinder and Scoots, one, he was being watched by some else... someone dangerous.

A rustling could be hard, and spike turned around in order to see who, or what made the sound. As he turmed though, it was already too late as someone... no... something was jumping after him.

"SPIKE!" Scootaloo yelled as she noticed what was happening.

In the heat of the moment, he raised his shield and only moments later could they all her a loud 'CLANG'! Spike had blocked the attack, but what did he actually defend from? He peeked from behind his shield as he saw a grotesque and hideous form of what looked like dead pony. It had black, crispy flesh that peeled away from the bones and muscles, glowing, yellow eyes with slit pupils that reminded Spike of a snake. Its teeth were razor sharp and so it's clawed fingers that adhered the appearance of a cat.

"What the hell is that?!" yelled spike.

The dark figure just stared at Spike and dug its claws through the metal that lined the edges of his sheild.

"Kill it, Spike!"

Without hesitation, Spike did a horizontal Slash with his sword and dug the blade deep into the creature's neck... and in response, it let out a horrifying scream that made their blood curl and their ears shrivel. Then, there was nothing, no sound at all as its lifelessly body fell to the ground. There was no blood and after a while, there was no body at all as it all just faded away into the shadows and dust.

"What. The hell... just happened?" spoke Spike who was extremely confused and shocked.

Cinder and Scootaloo both hurried out of than hiding spot to join him.

"I don't know," sootaloo began lo say, "But we should prepare for more of them."

"But we don't even know what they are, how can we hope to beat them?!" Cinder stated with fear all to evident in her voice. "maybe we should just try to avoid them."

Scoots turned to Cinder and smiled supportingly and said, "we should try to stand our ground, or else we might get caught off guard." ... "If we face them now, then we can secure the area."

"That's the smartest thing you've said all day," chuckled spike, ''but it's a really good idea."

"Oh, hah hah!" scootaloo rolled her eyes. "Let's just do this already."

Scootaloo widened her stance and raised her arms on take on a defensive position. As did spike, except he raised his sword and positioned his Shield by his side, ready to raise it at any time. Cinder soon joined them as she flicked her fingers and straightened her had, causing her black, metal gauntlets to mold into the form of a blade of which she the raised in front of her small, delicate body for protection.

"You guys ready? I hear Some rustling," asked Scootaloo whose ear twitched and she stored before the bushes.

The Dragon and Palphony both nodded and braced themselves for a fight. One of which, Cinder did not want to be a part of.

The grotesque form of their flesh peeling appearance was enough to send shivers down her spine and make her knees Shake in horror... As a result of this, she began to panic and sweat.

"Guys, I really don't want to be here anymore...can we just go back into hiding?" she panicked.

"No we can't Cinder, and if you dont help us out then we won't pass," Scoots explained.

"Don't worry Cinder, if you're in trouble then just run to me, I'll protect you with my shield," Spike said, "Now get ready, here they come."

The three of them went silent and focused their eyes upon the darkness that lay out in front of them, and at that moment, charged out three dark figures of which attacked Spike before.

"Brace yourselves!" Yelled Spike and raised his shield as it collided with the slash of his enemy.

The other two monsters also swung, one at Cinder and the other at Scootaloo.

Scootaloo used her shin pads to kick the claws away, then she followed through with a roundhouse kick and pummeled her heel into the mouth of her attacker.

Unlike Scootaloo though, Cinder was still quite scared and instead of attacking she just simply dodged the slash and he breathing became heavier as the shadow monster continued to slash and hack away, trying to dig is razor sharp claws imto her feeble flesh. Spike on the otherhand was fighying valiantly, as he swunghis sword on multiple angles and areas as he cut through the rotting skin of the rebolting monster that stood before him. However, it was vigilant and wouldnt go down, no matter how many hits it received to the body. Blow after blow after blow after blow did Spike dig his bloody blade through in and through out the demonic monstrosity before him until he decided to swing higher and his sword sliced the cheek and neck in an upwards diagonal angle. It screamed out allowed at an ear piercing and blood curdling scream.

Now only Scootaloo and Cinder had to fight off their attackers. Kick, kick, kick, punch, spin and kick, did Scootaloo do to the monster in front of her.

"Fall, damn you!" she yelled as she spun around and kicked it again but no matter how many kicks of her magical-fibre shin and wrist pads it would not lose balance.

It slashed again and as Scoots tried to kick it away its claws slashed her ankle and caused drops of blood to drip.

"AAAARRRHHH!!! FUCK!" she cried when she felt the throbbing pain throughout her ankle.

In a burst of rage she jumped up and slammed her heel into its head and crushed the skull. Its lifeless body fell to the ground and in a matter of seconds it decomposed into dust and shadows.

She turned to face the last monster who was attacking Cinder, and she saw that Spike was helping her out. She wanted to help too but her ankle shot a dramatic pulse of pain through out her leg. At the moment she figured that Spike and Cinder had it under controlled, especially since the dark figure had a sword through it.

"Cinder, finisn it off!" Yelled Spike as he held the blade of the sword in the torsa of the enemy. "Slash it's neck!"

Cinder was hesitant, but she gathered up her courage and caught her breath, she had been doing nothing but leaping and dodging out of the way, until now. Now she had a chance to see how strong she actually was since it was caught on Spike's blade. The gem flashed on her gauntlets and she shaped themselves into a short, dagger like blade, now she was ready. She lunged forward and swung her arm, cutting the head clean off of the being. She smirked, her first kill was a decapitation.

"I did it!" she cheered.

"Good job, Cinder," he applauded, "nice kill, girl."

"Yeah... good job," Scootaloo winced but held a soft smile.

The wince caught their attention and Spike and Cinder turned to look at Scoots both with slightly concerned faces.

"Are you alright, Scoot?" Cinder asked, softly.

"Y-Yeah, it's just a scratch," she faked a smile and tried to nod reassuringly but the pain expressed on her face was all too apparent.

Spike sighed, "You're not alright."

"Yes I am, it just stings a little," she tried to reasure them again, but to no avail.

"Show us your ankle," demanded Spike.

"Why?" she looked at them sternly, but all she got were sterner looks back. "Alright, alright... I'll show you my ankle."

She rolled her eyes and slipped off her shin pad to expose her cut-up ankle, which was now unfortunately red and swollen.

"Holy shit!" Spike yelled, "that is not okay!"

"What do you mean, it's just a scratch," she said and then took a look at her ankle, only to see how much worse it had gotten, "oh my god... oh my god! I think it's infected!" She winced again and squeeled in pain.

"Alright Scootaloo, you're not walking on that, I'll carry you," Spike picked her up and put her up on his shoulder.

"Hey, Spike, put me down!"

"No Scoots, I'm not letting you walk on the foot and I'm not leaving you behind. We're finishing this together, as a team." ... "c'mon Cinder, lets get her out of here." He walked over to the glowing gem that he saw before and picked it up, handing it immediately to Cinder, "keep it safe."

"I will." she nodded but couldn't take her gaze off of Scootaloo's ankle.

'I hope she'll be alright," Cinder thought to herself. She didn't want this, she didn't want one of her new friends to be seriously injured and be forced to fail.

They began to leave the forest as all thry had to collect was a gem. Spike carried Scootaloo on his back and led the way for Cinder who was still trying to calm down from their encounter with those shadowy monsters.

"What were those things?" Cinder asked nervously and curiously as she once again held her tail between her fingers.

"No idea, but I'm glad we made it out alive." He admitted. "Now lets hurry up so we can get Scootaloo here some attention, no doubt that those 'things' had some sort of bacteria on them."

"Spike I'm fine, I can walk on my own," she winced again as she spoke.

"You are not alright, Scoots. Your ankle has swollen up so much in only a few minutes, that's not normal. So please, swallow that stubborn pride of yours and just accept my help."

The injured orange pegasus looked down, "sorry Spike... I trust you."

"It shouldn't be too much longer until we get out of here. I think I see the end of the path."

They continued along their path only to see the light of the natural sun to get closer and closer. The exit of their mission was nearly complete and they could pass the test set by the ones they were so eager so impress. As the ventured closer and closer to their successthey heard another rustling inthe bushes and trees.

Spike looked up at the canopy of leaves snd branches and saw a quick flash of a silhouetted person. He gulped and turned his head to look at Cinder.

"Cinder, I'm carrying Scootaloo, can you go see if anyone's following us?" the purple dragon commanded.

"U-Umm... okay, I can do that," she nodded and looked up too. She saw the canopy of branches and leaves as Spike did, and she also saw the flash of a silhouetted person. "Someone is there..." she said nervously.

"Curses!" He muttered under his breath, "Scootaloo, hold on, and Cinder, follow me closely." He broke into a run, holding onto Scootaloo tightly without harming her already swollen and cut-up ankle.

Cinder ran by his side, closely following him. She was looking around nervously because someone could pounce on them at any time and take them out. She gulped, and with Scootaloo taken out, their chances for survival were even slimmer if they did happen to be attacked.

"Spike," she said, "we need to be more stealthy."

"Why?"

"Because we can't keep running forever, they'll catch us eventually, and we won't be able to fight back."

"But they've already found us," ... "going into hiding won't help us at the moment."

"But what if they haven't found us," ... "and besides, hiding in a bush or tree will mean that we're not running or wasting energy."

"We don't have time to argue this, we have to do something and we can't take the risk of being caught out."

"What is that supposed to mean?!" She inquired.

"It means thay we can't waste time hiding and taking a detour, we need to get Scootaloo to safety so she can get help."

Cinder looked forward, he was right, but she didn't like being open like this when their were potentially dangerous people around. She gulped and then turned her gaze upwards. They were so close, yet the ever present danger of being attacked got closer and closer every moment they idled. She shook her head, "no, we're safe," she said to herself and tried to distract herself withthe thought of making it back and feeling the sunlight.

However, they weren't safe, as at the moment Cinder replaced her gaze a shadowy figure swung down from the tree and kicked Scootaloo straight off Spike's shoulder.

THUD!

The orange pegasus hit a tree and her attack held one hand onto a branch as she balanced herself to the side of the tree. It was a girl... no, it was a woman. She was not young, she was a fully grown Unicorn. She had purple eyes, bright yellow fur and a orange & red mane. She was wearing a red and white top with orange accents accompanied with tight, black shorts and black boots. In her hand was a long, wooden staff tipped with a glowing, red gem.

"Hello, kids," the woman let off a sinister grin.

Cinder gulped, and Spike took a step back.

"Sc-Scoot.... Scootaloo!!!" Spike yelled out in rage as he gripped his hands into a fist.

He then broke into a run so he could get her to a safer place, however, the moment he actually got anywhere close to her, the woman swung he staff and pushed the dragon back.

"Ah ah ahh!" She hopped down from the tree and stood up tall, towering Cinder and Spike, "lets play fair now shall we."

Two more people pounced down from the tree to join the woman by her side. One was a dragon-pony hybrid who had black scales, green eyes, and a purple mane and tail. The other was a snake type Palphony of whom had green fur, black, slittle pupils and bared razor-sharp fangs.

"Three against two, that hardly seems fair," Spike argued.

"Oh boo hoo, don't take me seriously," she smirked and pointed the tip of her staff at Spike, "now, who should we kill first?"

She pondered to herself then looked at them in astonishment. "Ahh, how rude of me, I beleive introductions are in order, don't you think?"

"You psychotic bitch!" Spike cursed.

"Oh well that wasn't very nice," she flicked the staff and tiny sparks flew over and popped in Spike's face. She giggled, "now, my name is Sunset," she pointed to herself then to the dragon hybrid next to him, "this is Fang... and this is Razor." She finished by finally pointing to the Palphony.

They all bowed, "we are last years top class graduates," .... "but now, we are your dismay!"

Spike growled and raised his shield, "Just try to fucking touch us!"

The unicorn woman glanced at her team and shrugged, "okay," she replied simply, and with an eager swing of her staff she generated a massive wave of fast moving arcane magic that knocked Spike off his feet and into a tree. The impact was so hard that the last thing Spike heard before he fell unconscious was the sound of his own scream of pain.

"Sp-Spike!" Cinder called out, but she dared not move from where she stood. She was scared and her knees were about to give way. She glanced up at their attackers, "Please.... leave me be... I just want to pass this test," she pleaded.

Sunset sighed, "whatever," she took a step back and turned to the Razor, "take her out will you, I feel bad harming a wolf."

Razor simply nodded, "yes, Sunset."

He looked at Cinder and stared her down, slowly approaching her, "I'll make this painless, but you were never meant for such a school, weakling!" And with on hard whack on the head, everything went black... and Cinder was conscious no more.

Author's Note:

Not much to really say her, but I'm sorry if the writing style has changed a bit. I had written this chapter on my Tablet and so I had to change things up in order to much my typing speed.

Anyway, I hope you enjiyed it and as always, if there's any mistakes or suggestions you would like to point out, please do down in the comments below.