The Watchful Guardian of Canterlot City

by Dark Nightshade

The new teachers

The rest of the weekend went by fast, especially with the fast traveling news of the new apparent hero in Canterlot City. Sunset Shimmer had been asked many times about the mysterious burning man, and by the time school had rolled around, her story had been told so many times that she was begging to grow tired of telling it. When she finally got to school on Monday, people had started gathering around her, asking if what the news was saying were true or not. As she answered, she checked the schools announcement board. One of the classes had been replaced with a survival class. Her first class was replaced with it.

That must be the class that Traveling Tide was talking about, she thought. She started walking towards the class room that it was in, and when she arrived, she realized that it was going to be an intense survival class. Traveling Tide was standing at the front of the class with a couple of other men that she didn't recognize. And they were holding weapons. One of the men was snowy white and had stone grey hair and beard. The other wore glasses and had metallic looking skin, and had hair that strangely looked like moss. Both of their eyes were covered, either by glare or hair.

Who is this guy? Sunset Shimmer thought as she stared at the various weapons that the men were holding. Interestingly, each man was wearing similar gloves to Traveling Tide, except they were shorter, only going up halfway past their wrists. Sunset Shimmer looked at the growing class and saw her friends. She sat down next to Rarity.

"Those are some sweet weapons," Rainbow Dash said. "Are we going to learn how to use them?" Sunset Shimmer shrugged, and was about to say something when Traveling Tide started speaking.

"Hello, class," he said. "This is your introduction for survival. If you survive this class, you pass. If you don't......lets just say you want to pass."

"Really?" one of the guys next to him said with a heavy Chinese accent. "You phrase it like that?"

"It's better than what he suggested," Traveling Tide said. "Do we really need to get into this?"

"No," the Chinese man said.

"Good," Traveling Tide said and turned back to the class. "Now, in here you will learn how to survive on your own, in case you decide to live a life style like mine, which for those that don't know, I live on the open ocean, in a little hut, hunting for fish."

"Is that why your hair is so terrible?" Rarity asked.

"Yes it is," Traveling Tide said. "It's also in part why I wear these gloves. It's because over the years of hunting fish, I have developed some nasty scars, and you don't want to see them."

"How bad?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Think Wise Fool's face, but worse," Traveling Tide said, gesturing at the Chinese man.

"Hey!" Wise Fool said as kids started laughing.

"Anyway, in this class, you'll learn how to hunt animals, make shelter, hold your breath for long periods of time, and how to spot weaknesses," Traveling Tide said. Sunset Shimmer raised her hand, and Traveling Tide nodded at her.

"How are these going to help in another life style?" she asked.

"Life throws curveballs all the time," Traveling Tide said. "It's better to know this stuff then to be in a situation and not know anything." For a moment, his face showed great pain, like he was remembering something from his past. But only for a moment, and his face changed back to normal. "And these other fine people standing next to me are going to help me teach you." Wise Fool waved slightly.

"As you heard earlier," he started. "I am Wise Fool. The man standing to my right is Snowy Torrent, and we will be helping you pass this class." Suddenly the intercom turned on, and Principle Celestia started speaking through it.

"Traveling Tide, can you come to the front office?" she asked. "We have a small plumbing problem." Traveling Tide frowned.

"You two have it covered?" he asked Wise Fool and Snowy Torrent. They nodded and he left the class.

"Now, your first lesson will be aim," Wise Fool said. "You will be throwing these spears at some of the targets on the walls and ceiling."