66 - Say Hello, Class
"Due to a timely suggestion of one of your classmates, we are putting together a special field trip."
The entire class collectively "ooed" at the idea, their little heads tilting towards Twilight.
"As I am sure you are all aware, we have new human guests." Twilight's horn glowed as she pulled down a screen from above, showing a basic human in a T-pose. They wore no clothes, nor did they have anything exposed that could be considered tawdry. It was just a basic drawing of their form.
Silverstream raised a talon, waving it wildly. "They're different than the first ones."
Gallus huffed softly. "Yeah, these ones have more sense."
Yona glanced at Gallus. "How more sense?"
Smolder shrugged softly. "It isn't obvious? Most of them aren't treating us like we're best buds right off the bat. We don't know them, and they don't know a thing about us. Why should we be all buddy?"
Twilight nodded softly. "They are not hostile by any means, but they are also not coming with the aims of becoming part of our family."
Sandbar tilted his head faintly. "Like that one you're family with now?"
"Speaking of him..." She turned and waved at the door. "I have a very special guest for today."
His cue spoken, Laud opened the door from the outside and stepped into the classroom, tall and proper. He closed the door with a subtle swat on the way past it, allowing it to click shut by the time he arrived at Twilight's side. He turned in a smooth pivot in place towards the students. "It is a pleasure to meet you all," he spoke in clear Ponish. "I am told this is a school of friendship."
Yona waved a cloven hoof wildly. "Yes! Yona best answer giver!"
Twilight smiled a little at that. "As Yona said, that is exactly what this school is, though we do cover many fields in addition to that. Our graduates should be ready to take on the world by the time they're done, both personally and with the help of the friends they make here and in the wider world. Now, Laud, would you introduce yourself?"
Laud bowed lightly towards the class, sweeping a hand aside. "I am Laud Mountbatten, of the Hawkwoods, husband of Twilight." He gestured towards her. "I was a pilot and young noble, seeking my place in the wider cosmos, just as you are doing here. Destiny itself, you could say, led me here, and gave me a tremendous duty and responsibility. It is one I fully intend to meet."
Ocellus timidly raised a hoof. "Excuse me, um... How do your friends, they were your friends, right? The first ones?"
"They were more than that. They were my family." He nodded softly. "Do go on."
"Yes, thank you, um, how are they different than the new ones? Are the new ones also family?"
"They are not family," he started, considering his words carefully. "They are a religious order, one that the vast majority of humans follow."
Gallus rolled his eyes. "Pass."
Smolder smirked lightly, resting her head on a lone hand. "What kinda religion are we talking here? Do we get to make sacrifices?"
The idea that the world even had knowledge of such things was a bit of a surprise to Laud. "N-no. The pancreator does not bid people to that, thankfully."
Twilight tilted her head. "Don't be so fast to deny that. You likely have some sacrificial rituals done in symbolism. Do you eat or drink particular foods with particular religious rituals? It may have its roots in older, less civilized, times."
Laud tried to wave the thought away. "Be that as it may, you will find no blood spilled across any Pancreator altar unless something has gone terribly wrong."
Yona tilted her head a little. "What about smashing something? Always good way to start things."
"When you visit the ship, you should endeavor to not smash, bump, or damage anything." Laud imagined how poorly it could go if they knocked over something precious. With hope, they would move all such things out of the line of fire of the young ones. "You are all far less surprised about the idea of religion than I expected."
Silverstream shook her head. "I don't know what that is but it sounds interesting. Will they tell us?"
Gallus rolled a hand with a bored expression. "They'll be happy to tell you if they're anything like anyone else like that ever. Can I just not go?"
Yona slapped the top of her desk with a great thud borne of yak strength. "How not go? Don't you want to see the inside? It's so big and amazing. Inside must be even better!"
Smolder smirked at Gallus, waggling her brows. "You wanna be the only one who doesn't know what the inside of their ship is like in the whole class? Sounds like someone may not be a griffon at all." She grinned all the more as Gallus went stiff. "Maybe he's more... of a chicken."
Gallus pounced right out of his chair and onto the laughing Smolder, the two falling to the ground in a sudden wrestling match.
Twilight's horn glowed as she yanked the two apart, glaring at both of them. "That's quite enough of that. If you don't want to go, you don't have to. This is not a mandatory trip. On the other hoof, this is a unique opportunity. Are you certain?" She gently set both back at their proper desks.
Gallus shrugged softly with an annoyed little snort. "Yeah, whatever. I guess I'll keep them out of trouble."
Laud pointed at the two, one finger at Gallus and the other at Smolder. "We cannot have fighting aboard the ship. Even were it not a religious thing, coming to blows in someone else's home is never appropriate."
"I couldn't agree more." Twilight nodded softly. "Leave all arguments at the door, or at least keep it to calm words. You can wrestle once you're back outside if you feel you must."
Silverstream clapped her talons, ignorant of any tension. "I want to see it all! There won't even be any time for fighting."
"Silverstream have right idea!" Yona thrust out a hoof across the aisle and Silverstream met it with a slap, the two smiling joyfully in expectation.
Sandbar rolled a hoof. "So... just making sure, they won't be angry if we don't, you know, do what they do, right?"
Twilight glanced to Laud, who answered with a nod, "they will educate you and show you. If you wish to join them, they will likely be pleased. If not, if they have any sense, they will not press things. I will be present with you, to keep things... reasonable."
Smolder hiked a thumb at Laud. "Wait, aren't you, you know, one of them? I mean, sure, you're not 'family', but that is your religion, isn't it?"
Laud did not attempt to refuse that. "I am, but my duty to my family comes first. I believe the Pancreator would not wish me to turn against what is right, and protecting you all takes higher priority. You are placing your trust in me. As a Hawkwood, I would never again be able to hold my head up if I didn't uphold that with every bit of strength I had."
The classroom shared nods and soft murmurs of agreement. The general energy of the room was high. It was sounding like it could be a fun trip.
Spike fell out of bed. His comic fell across his face. It was not a moment of clumsiness, but the sudden violent tremble that had shaken the entire castle. "What the?"
With sparkles, Starlight appeared. "Hey, Spike? You doing anything--Nope, good."
"Uh, thanks for checking before coming in." He stood up and set his comic back on his bed. "What just happened?"
Starlight waved outside. "There's... way too many dragons outside."
"What?!" Spike took flight, hovering on his wings. "Any we know?"
"Um, yeah. They called for you specifically." She trotted up to the closest window and threw it wide open. "Hey, dragons!"
An enormous eye filled the window, iris widening to take in the lesser light of the indoors. "Ah," boomed the great voice of the former dragon ruler. "There you are. Come outside this instant. Ember has come all this way to help you. Show some gratitude."
Spike blinked at the imposing... eye... "Oh, hey... Sir?"
"Dispense with the formalities. You. Out. Now."
Starlight shrugged softly. "You can see why I came straight here."
"I'm coming!"
Outside, those most loyal to Ember stood close to her. She stood on her own, trying her best to put on a brave face and ignore her injuries. Fortunately, the castle was a small distance from the town, allowing them to gather without having to scare off any ponies that came snooping around.
That didn't mean they were blind. One of them was staring at the space dock. "When did they get that?" He hiked a thumb at it. "And what's that thing poking up over the wall?"
Ember waved it away. "Focus on the current. We have bigger problems than hideous pony arch..." she trailed off, actually seeing what he was pointing towards. "By my father's roasted ribs! What is that doing here?!"
Torch craned his massive head, easily seeing over the wall and the ship landed on their pad. He burst into rough laughter. "The ponies are being invaded as well. Do you figure they'll put up a fight about it?"
Ember snorted a soft huff of smoke. "It'd involve rainbows if they do. Either way, if we weren't busy, I'd love to take another crack at them." Instead she held where her insides felt cracked. "Don't let me stop any of you if you're feeling feisty. Just be careful."
Ember's lady-dragon friend cracked a little smile. "It doesn't feel right, you know, right now. We need to... you know... visit Spike." It was a keyword for 'need to get you to a hospital right now', but she knew the delicate glass she stood on.
Torch gave a soft nod. "That is not the same one I saw before. If it were, we would not be discussing it. Spike had best have answers... Until then..." He crushed the ground beneath one of his talons in impatience.
"Hey, Torch, Ember... There are a lot of you here." Spike was jogging out of the castle, his wings twitching in the motion as if resisting the urge to lift into the air. "What brings all of you here, together?"
Ember slugged Spike on the shoulder the instant he was close enough for it. "I need a reason to visit you? You should be saying thank you, not asking why I'm here."
"You're hurt." His eyes were on her side, where her other hand clutched and shook a little. "Oh, um, you're really hurt!" The fact that he had been biffed had been entirely ignored. "Why are we standing here?!"
Ember's snout wrinkled. "What, no! I'm... not hurt that bad... but since you insist, for your sake... Which way are those stupid pony doctors?"
Spike danced from foot to foot before lifting up off of them on his relatively new wings. "This way!" He pointed into town. "Somedragon help her, she shouldn't be walking!"
"I can walk!" Ember hotly defended even as her friend gently picked her right up. "Ugh! Fine! For your sake, Spike. You are such a baby sometimes, I swear!"
The flight of dragons descended from the castle towards the town. Ponies yelped and fled from the sight of so many dragons, especially one as massive as Torch, making the way clear for them. Torch snorted softly. "If the doctors flee, I will cook them on the spot. You had best go ahead of us and ensure that does not occur, Spike."
"Yes, Sir!" He saluted sharply before fleeing ahead of them, hoping they would follow his retreating form.
As he fled in a panic, he hoped his dragon friend would be alright. "What happened to you?" There was noone there beside him mid-flight, but the question needed asking.
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Yeah, the Church is going to have to pay a lot of money to appease the dragons and the Hawkwoods. I really don't see them being able to wiggle out of that.
9322958
Most likely Equestria will give dragons lots of gems and gold as compensation, while Hawkwoods will bill Church, because Equestria is their protectorate.
It will be funny, considering Equestria can easily give away tens of tons of gold, while in the rest of the Cosmos the most likely as rare as on the Earth.
Now there's a sentence that never bodes well...
"their little head tilting"
"their little heads tilting"?
I continue to enjoy this. :)
so do i see a Ember and Spike ship?
9323085
Ember is the tsudarea princess...
But yea things are going to get, complicated to say the least. Twilight will only beagle to restrain the dragons so much. And if the Princesses have to be called... Well they are pretty close to gods (when not taken unaware apparently) and "The Wrath of the Sun" is not a book the priests want added to their scriptures. No being wants to see a star used like a mace.
You know the way your kind of just dropping in new cannon from later shows (spike has wings , the castle has a school in it ect ect) is really working a lot better than I would have expected. Mind I was looking forward to Cheerlie and class getting a visit in
.
Also the way laud shows that he's actually a little over his head here.....he'a not a theologian, a historian or even a diplomate. Just the guy willing to fly the thing through the other thing that might not work.
9323332
Thanks! I really thought the new elements could add to the story, and it's working out, as you noted. I like how it's shaping up.
How big is the ship relative to Torch?
Given the ship visit is of such delicacy, depening on just how edible the dragons find it, will it be just Twilight and Laud accompany the students, or will Starlight be going as well, given Sunset isnt available?
Mr Priest should already be worried because Torch sure as the Sun showed up on Collision, Meterological and Tactical radars, never mind Mark 1 take off clearence cameras?
collectively ooed at the idea - collectively "ooed" at the idea
attempt to refuse - attempt to refute
There was noone there - There was no-one there
Instead she held - Instead, she held
I think the worst possible thing the Church representatives can do is stick to their cover story in the coming confrontation, so I'm fully expecting them to do just that.
"So yeah, we kinda mistook dragons for demons. Sorry bout that, will you take this apology basket and please not take up to the high up how the church unprovokedly attacked Mountbacken's protectorate? Pretty please with sugar on top?"
Something tells me that's not going to fly
What about the signal that they landed in response to?
This incident looks a lot more complicated than it seems.
Ember has enough sense not to start hositilities in Ponyville and start a diplomatic incident if she learned from events of School Daze.
9322958
Oh it's going to be a LOT more than money. This world was protected, and they KNEW it was protected. Yet they came down when told not to, INVADED, and also HEAVILY WOUNDED one of the other ROYALS on the world.
The church will be trying to not start a Civil War with the entire Human Race from this incident.
Well, time for some grievances to be aired!
Keep going! ;)
Well, Embers non-nonchalant attitude and dismissal of her own injuries might just be a way to smooth this all over. If Dragons can go "Bah puny hyuumans and their silly weak weapons" the matter could quite easily be handled in VERY smooth fashion.
Dragons get to play the cool tough predators, Church gets to give them few gifts and marvel about how great beasts Pan-Creator has made and everyone could end up having a jolly good time.
9331764
Or the Church gets all uppity and declares the dragons to be devils/ demons and need to be purged along with any who support them. Would be fun either way.
I appreciate Gallus's cyncism.