A new school year at Mane Island Academy and a new batch of students transferred down into E Class, the end of their hopes for a bright future as a graduate of the school. But their new teacher has other ideas- kill him before they graduate or else.
MLP/Assassination Classroom Crossover.
Mane Island Academy, situated on Mane Island this school stands as the best education the world over. Every year children are enrolled with the hope of becoming the next generation of heroes, politicians, scientists and overall the best of the best their kingdom has to offer.
E Class is the exception, the one place no student of Mane Island Academy wants to end up. As both punishment and a laughing stock to the main student body E class has produced nothing but the worst society has to offer, once bright futures diminished in the wake of the school's strict rules and even stricter work ethic. A new year brings a new batch of students into E Class and as they all discuss what led them to the rundown, old campus that served as their new classroom for the next few years, a new opportunity presents itself in the form of a large yellow octopus like monster claiming to be their new teacher.
Either kill him before graduation or bear witness to start of another world war between dragons and rest of civilization, for their new teacher is the soon to be crowned Dragon King. E Class has three years to either convince their teacher to not go to war or destroy him first. Either way, this first day is proving to interesting for E Class.
The cool breeze and melting snow didn't make the climb up the forested mountain any easier for the teenaged pegasus with an orange coat, messy purple mane and underdeveloped wings as she trudged up the path to the building that would serve as her classroom for the foreseeable future. her saddlebags, filled with textbooks, notebooks and other school supplies served to weigh her down and make the trek even more unbearable.
"What I wouldn't give for my scooter right now.."she muttered and focused on putting one hoof in front of the other
Ahead of her, a yellow furred, red maned Earth Pony around the same age as her casually walked backwards up the path, smiling encouragingly at her.
"You can do it Scootaloo! Almost there!" the other pony called out and the pegasus rolled her eyes with a huff.
"Easy for you to say Apple Bloom, you've had three months to get used to the climb!" Scootaloo shouted back.
Something flew overhead and the two looked up to see a blue furred griffin whiz by them carrying his school supplies in satchel, smirking as he looked down at them.
"Welcome to E Class shrimp! Better get used to it 'cause that's what you'\ll be doing for the next three years." the griffon stated cheekily.
"Dude, Gallus cut her some slack man. We were all like that once." Another student, an earth pony with fur that was somewhere between green and yellow, with a two toned green mane that sorely looked like "bed head" was it's natural state of being, saddlebags lazily slung over his back and threatening to come off with every step.
Gallus flew back slightly to fly alongside the green maned pony colt and grinned. "Ok, yeah I remember you complaining about it being too early to start school for like, your entire first week."
"Yeah see, we all start of not used to things!" the pony said brightly, the implied jab either unnoticed or ignored as he walked up to Scootaloo and offered a hoof in greeting. "Hey, I'm Sandbar, nice to meet you!"
Scootaloo smiled and bumped her hoof against his. "I'm Scootaloo, glad to see not everyone here is a bunch of jerks."
"Gallus is a nice guy once you get to know him, he has just too much self confidence." Sandbar replied and grinned at as the griffin sighed.
"You can't tell her I'm nice! That goes against my rep. If word gets out-"
"Aw come on Gallus, you scared about the new kids pickin' on yah?" Apple Bloom asked, humor evident in her voice.
"Suurre, imagine what my gramps would say if he heard I was nice, he'd chuck me out on the street as soon as I graduated." Gallus snarkily replied.
"I thought being tough was a dragon thing?" Scootaloo asked and Gallus shrugged.
"Sorta, dragons are tough, griffins are mean, it's kind of our thing you know?"
"Kinda like how ponies are nice and friendly right?" Apple Bloom retorted.
"Are you asking for another prank war Apple Pony? Because I can start another one." Gallus threatened and a sigh from behind the group caused all four of them to stop and turn around.
Walking behind them, and looking none too pleased by their antics, was a white furred unicorn filly with a two toned pink and purple mane done up in long curls. Walking beside her was a light blue insect like pony with a single horn, a pair of wings concealed beneth a red bettle like shell, a hard carparace instead of fur, large, dark green, bulbous eyes and pink , glittery fins instead of a pony's mane and tail.
"Can you guys knock it off? I don't want us to be late on the first day of class!"the unicorn stated seriously.
"We have plenty of time Sweetie Belle, it;'s only 7 'O clock. School doesn't start for another half an hour." the bug like pony said reassuringly.
"Who are you and what have done with Ocellus?" Gallus flatly stated. "You're always worried about being late, for anything."
"I'm trying to follow Queen Chrysalis' advice about keeping calm in stressful situations." Ocellius stated with a smile.
"Huh so you actually took Miss Yukimura's advice? Did it help?" Sandbar asked and Ocellus nodded.
"Yeah, talking things out with the queen helped a lot. Sometimes it's hrd to remeber that us changelings need to care bout ourselves as well s others."
Sunlight momentarily blinded the group as the reached the end of the path and out of the shade of the trees lining the path. As her eyes adjusted, Scootaloo took a look at the wooden building before her. it was old,a few roof tiles were missing and there were small holes in the thin paper and wood sliding door that served as the main entrance. The steps leading up to the door loked well worn, as did the overgrown, weed infested courtyard in front of the place.
"This is the E Class campus?" she exclaimed. "It's looks like dump."
"Yeah but it has its charm, you know?"Sandbar said as he walked past.
"Maybe as a bunch of firewood and scrap metal" Gallus retorted.
"It could be worse?" Apple Bloom suggested as the rest of them headed inside and made their way to their classroom.
Scootaloo wasn't sure what to expect when she walked into E Class. The clean, if slightly worn down wooden floor, twenty or so outdated wooden desks and chairs, matching teachers desk and large blackboard on the front wall was certainly a far cry from the polished marble floors, state of the art furniture and tech that was the pride and joy of the main campus. She saw a few seats were already occupied as she walked in, a dragon, a couple of humans wearing the gray jumper, pants and white undershirt that acted as the uniform for the humans in the school, a unicorn colt hunched over a large book but the bundle of thick brown fur with horns and a face was something that immediately took her by surprise.
"Yona? I thought you got expelled?" Scootloo asked.
"Principal wanted to expel Yona but Principal does not know Yak way so Yona end up here!" the young yak cheerfully replied but paused, looking curious. "But why is Scoot Pony here? Did you smash classroom too?"
Scootaloo's wings tensed, pressing her back as she chuckled nervously. "N-no but I just, failed last year's end of year exam..."
Several of her classmates winced in sympathy, a fair skinned human with blue hair tied up into two messy bunches atop their head looked up at Scootaloo from their seat near a window. "You too, huh?"
"Don't sweat the small stuff right?"A friendly, green haired human girl spoke from her seat in the next row over. "Even you did fail there's always this year."
"Kaede's right, you still have a chance to get back onto the main campus if you get high enough scores in the mid year exams." Ocellus added.
Scootaloo slung her saddlebags off her and let them rest on the back of her seat as she sat down. "i guess, but what about you guys? Why are you all here?"
Sitting in the back row, an orange dragon with purple spines and a pair of horns atop her head laughed. "Man, where to start? Sandbar here got punted down to E after he showed up late for class twice in a row."
"Smolder! Wasn't my fault my alarm clock died on me." he protested protested.
"Maybe if you remembered to change the batteries." Gallus snickered.
"Gallus is the guy that got caught pickpocketing on the first week of term last year." Smolder stated, much to the griffin's annoyance.
"I was just having an off day!"
"Anyway's, you know Yona broke an entire classroom during PE last year, Apple Bloom, Ocellus and the blue haired kid, Nagisa, bombed exams, same as you," Smolder explained and grinned, her sharp teeth giving her a shark like smile as she looked over Sweetie Belle. "The marshmallow has the best reason to be here if you ask me."
"I thought I told you to quit calling me that?"Sweetie Belle huffed.
"Whatever." Smolder replied with a shrug.
"How did Sweetie Belle end up in E Class?" Scootaloo asked and the dragon's grin only got wider.
"Little miss perfect here thought she could incite some kind of change, get rid of the E Class system and have everyone be treated as equals," the dragon said with an eye roll. "she got transferred here faster than you can say "Friendship is Magic". The principal really doesn't like it when someone argues against the system."
"A lot of this seems kind of harsh..." Scootaloo stated. "There's no way the government tolerates this, right?"
It wasn't Smolder who answered but a bespectacled, lanky, orange furred, unicorn colt with a darker orange mane and tail and the beginnings of a goatee growing on his chin. "A-actually with the amount of revenue the school makes from tuition fees and it's connections to various companies and governments, almost every world leader is willing to turn a blind eye if it means results."
The conversation was abruptly interrupted when a pink, feathery creature a mix between a pony and a grifiin, a hippogriff, flew into the classroom, a bright smile on her face.
"Good morning everyone!" she cheerfully singsonged.
"Morning Silverstream." Ocellus politely replied and Silverstream beamed.
"Guess what? I was on my way to class when I saw this really stern guy in fancy business clothes walking up here! he was all frowny-face and serious!" Silverstream excitedly said.
Gallus waved a talon in dismissal. "probably some big shot from the school board or the government-"
"He was human! Maybe the president of Manland has super secret orders for us!" Silverstream gasped.
"Yeah right, and I'll become captain of the Griffonian guard." Gallus replied sarcastically.
"You could if you wanted to!" Silverstream happily replied.
"He might be from the International Defense Force," Nagisa suggested. "Humans are resistant to magic so a lot of us end up joining when we're old enough."
"Was there anyone with him?" Scootaloo asked. "I haven't"seen our teacher yet, maybe here's holding her up?"
Silverstream gasped, recollection clear on her face as she plopped into her seat. "That's right! you guys will never believe who I saw with him."
"Our teacher?" Smolder asked mockingly.
"Even more unbelievable! I saw...A Sea Pony!" Silverstream squealed.
The class was silent, some looking at the hippogriff in confusion, others as if she were crazy. Scootaloo was firmly in the first camp.
"What's a Sea Pony?" she asked.
"Ah think they're ponies that live underwter?" Apple Bloom suggested
"I thought they were only an old foal's tale." Sweetie Belle admitted.
"They were real, until the end of the Dragon War." Smolder stated and turned to the orange furred colt. "Hey Sunburst, isn't this kind of thing you're always reading about? Old stories and junk?"
Sunburst sighed in irritation. "You just said Sea Ponies were real, how can they be old stories?"
"I dunno, you tell me. You're the history nerd."
"So...?" Scootaloo assked, motioning for the unicorn to explain and the rest of the class looking on. Clearly not anything to be a part of whatever the discussion was turning into, Sunburst ran a hoof through his unkempt mane and began to explain.
"Sea ponies are a hybrid between a pony and a water dragon, they vary in appearance but generally they have the ody of a pony and the wings, tail and horns of a water dragon."
"So, fish pony." Smolder stated.
"That's accurate but insulting," Sunburst admitted. "Sea ponies made up about seventy percent of the population of Pearl Island, the home territory of water dragons and domain of the goddess of the sea, The Dragon Lord of Water. During the Dragon War the water dragons remained neutral when the fire and shadow dragons formed an alliance to conquer humanity while the earth and wind dragons sided with humans-"
"Blah blah blah, earth dragons went into hiding, wind dragons died stopping the Dragon Lord of Fire- we know all this already! Stick to the Sea Pony stuff." Smolder interrupted.
"I was getting to that!" Sunburst replied. "The International Defense Force knew the shadow dragons were going to attack Pearl Island to draw out and capture the Dragon Lord of Water, since her power was needed for their ultimate goal of ruling the world under a new Dragon King and...used the Island to set a trap."
"The trap worked but, the Sea Ponies and water dragons were wiped out as a result, that enraged the Dragon Lord of Water and she went on a rampage, killing the shadow dragons and forcing the fire dragons to surrender which ended the war," Sunburst explained. "No one has seen her or a Sea Pony ever since."
"Maybe they were in hiding, like the earth dragons?" Sweetie Belle suggested.
"Pfft, could just be a new student, a changeling that wants us to think they're cool." Gallus quipped.
"What if they really are a Sea Pony?" Sandbar asked.
The speculation was cut short as a pair of footsteps and a set of hoof steps could be heard down the hall and approaching the classroom.
The man that walked in had spiky black hair, dark eyes and a serious, no nonsense expression that fit the black business suit with a white undershirt he was wearing. Scootaloo could almost feel the tension in air as this intimidating man stood at the front of the classroom.
"My name is Tadaomi Karasuma, from the International Defense Force," he stated. "I know you've all just gotten here and the school year is due to start today but I am here with an important announcement."
"What you're about to hear is classified information, known only by the world leaders and the higher ups over at the Force, so listen up!" he ordered and once he was sure he had everyone's attention, he resumed. "You've all seen or heard about the incident regarding the damage to Princess Luna's moon correct? About a month ago the Force managed to track down and capture the one responsible or rather, he let himself be captured."
"Aren't you guys like, the best soldiers in the world or something?" Gallus asked. "How could you not capture the guy who blew up the moon?"
"Nuhuhuhuhu, an excellent question!" a new, much more cheerful voice replied.
There was a rush of displaced wind and suddenly, there was something else standing beside Tadaomi Karasuma. The individual's height, towering over them and a head taller than the strict military man was what caught Scootaloo's attention first, the fact that it was yellow was followed by the large round head with a pair of beady eyes and a grin so wide it she wasn't sure if it was rel or not. Then there were the tentacles, two long ones acted as it's arms and end with two strange feeler like fingers on the end of them and several round tipped tentacles keeping it upright. the creature was garbed in some sort of teachers robe, complete with a little square hat and a black necktie with a yellow crescent moon adorning the front resting against its chest.
Whatever this thing was, it looked much someone had shoved an octopus sports mascot into a teachers attire and called it a day.
"Um, not to sound rude but... what is that?" Sweetie Belle asked and pointed a hoof at the large yellow thing now standing in their classroom.
"While that was rude, I am well aware of how my appurtenance looks to others the first time around," the voice from before stated and it took Scootaloo a second to realize it was coming from the giant yellow octopus. "I, boys and girls, am the one responsible for blowing up the moon."
"This is a joke right?" Gallus deadpanned and the creature's grin shifted ever so slightly as it looked over at the griffin.
"Now why would I joke about such a thing? I'll have you know Princess Luna was very upset with me when she found out," it said, still as calm and cheerful as ever and paused, head tilted to one side in contemplation. "Perhaps you'd believe me if I offered some proof to back my claim?"
"Like you could prove you blew up the moon." Smolder chimed in.
"H-he's telling the truth." Ocellus blurted, looking very much like a deer caught in headlights as she looked at the creature.In response, the octopus, moving faster than any of them could see was right beside her desk and he looked to smiling at her in appreciation.
"Ah, a changeling! I take you could sense the that I wasn't lying?" he asked and Ocellus nodded shakily.
Silence befell E Class as the information sunk in. Fear began to grip Scootaloo and she could see she wasn't the only afraid as they realized that something powerful enough to destroy a good portion of the moon was in the same room as them.
"Now, now students, there;'s no need to be afraid. I'm not going to harm any of you," the Octopus stated and in a blink he was back in front of the class. "In fact, you'l be the ones going to harm me!"
Karasuma took that as an opportunity to clarify. "We've spent a month working with people around from the world to find out what this creature is and what he's capable of. We've discovered that this thing is what dragons call a Fledgling Dragon King, in two years he will have gained enough magic to garner the attention of the Dragon Lords, beings so powerful they're akin to gods and in three he will be powerful enough to control every once of magic on the entire planet."
"Governments the world over fear that he could start another war if he managed to ascend into a real Dragon King, while the Equestrian Princesses believe he could be reasoned with so that's where you all come in," he continued. "Princess Celestia and Luna managed to negotiate with this creature to buy us time to either kill him or track down the Dragon Lords for information on how to safely nullify his magic and all of you are part of the agreement."
"In return for allowing me to be your new teacher, I'm letting both the International Defense Force and the Global Preservation Guild study me for a solution to the danger I pose to the world at large." the octopus stated.
"Furthermore, the Force added it's own conditions to the agreement, they don't to take any chances with this. He can teach this class until you all graduate on the condition that you students be allowed to make attempts to solve the problem yourselves, either by killing him outright or working with Lady Pearl of the Preservation Guild." Karasuma explained and motioned for someone to enter the room.
The pony that entered was a young mare, with fur that was primarily white with orange splotches on her torso and legs and it reminded Scootaloo of some species of exotic fish she had once seen in an advertisement. the mares long serpentine tail ending in flowing while fin and large, almost cloth like fins in place of wings further emphasized the fish like qualities of the pony before her. The mare's white mane rested in soft waves against her neck and a pair of pink coral like horns adorned with blue tear shaped jewels grew out of the top of her head. Around her neck was a flower patterned bandanna adorned with a cream colored pin shaped like a kite shield bearing the international symbol of medicine, a red cross.
Ruby red eyes looked out over the class nervously as the mare smiled and waved in greeting. The quiet moment was soon broken however.
"See! I told you guys I saw a Sea Pony!" Silverstream exclaimed and excitedly gestured at the mare, who blinked in surprise.
"Alright settle down," Karasuma stated before the class could voice their excitement. "Pearl here was found under the care of Princes Luna and after hearing what was planned for all of you, the princess herself requested that Pearl be brought on as a member of faculty to see to your well being. She'll be providing you with your meals and will be available for you here on campus to talk to should you have any concerns."
"So we gotta kill our teacher and a Sea Pony is what, our babysitter?" Smolder asked.
"Pearl is here to monitor you and the creature, her job is aid and protect you kids in ny way she can," Karasum explained. "As for killing your teacher, that's entirely up to you. This isn't the army, as far as the legalese goes, you're all volunteers, you can back out at any time and your teacher, the target in question, has agreed not to harm any of you during his time as your teacher. If he breaks those terms of agreement then we have full authorization to lock him up in a lab somewhere and continue our research that way."
"Then why not just do that then?" Apple Bloom asked and she got stunned the entire class.
"Even if we wanted to, we can't. He can reach up to speeds of mach twenty, is extremely intelligent and no modern day weaponry can even lay a scratch on him, he claims to be unkillable and so far he appears to have the power to match his claim," Karasuma stated. "We only got him because he came to us under the promise of negotiation from the Equestrian Dirachy, if weren't for the princesses, he'd be goddess knows where by now and he knows it."
He motioned to the octopus, who's head now sported green stripes going across his face. "Something else we've learned is that he can change color based on his emotions, the most common one we've encountered are these green stripes. He's feeling cocky that he got his way with his demands and knows full well that none of us have the power to stop him."
"Granted, You children may not be a threat now, but I assure you once I'm done teaching you all, every single one of you will be a force to be reckoned with!" The octopus stated and green stripes grew even more vibrant as he grinned smugly. "Enough to take me on though? We'll just have to wait and see, won't we?"
"Why us though? You have the best the world has to offer over on the min campus." Sweetie pointed out.
"Well, I am a matter of international security, can't have the public finding out and panicking now, can we?" replied the octopus, his stripes quickly fading as he spoke. "And you could also say I wanted a bit of challenge, this is my first teaching job you see so why not cut my teeth on the underdogs of this academy and prove my worth as a teacher by helping the bottom rung students climb to the very top!"
"Good for you and all, but what do we get out of it?" Gallus asked.
"Due to the danger this thing poses, the International Defense Force has placed a bounty of ten thousand bits on him, backed by a majority of major world governments with an identical bounty being offered by the Global Preservation Guild. If one of you kids are successful in killing him or find a way to non lethally take him out of the equation, you'll claim the bounty. Simple as that." Karasuma explained.
Scootaloo's eyes went wide at the amount of money the man just casually mentioned was now up for grabs.
"That's- that's a lot of bits." Gallus said, voicing everyone's opinion.
"As I stated before, this is a volunteer job, if anyone wants to back out, now's your chance." Karasuma stated.
"Are you kidding, with that much money at stake? I'm in!" Smolder said.
"Oh yeah, definitely in." Gallus added.
"We kill him and we save the world right? Sounds like a no-brainer to me." Sandbar said.
"We don't even have to kill him! If we make it so he can't control all the world's magic then we still win!" Sweetie Belle added.
"I'm kind of glad there's a peaceful option, I uh don't think I'd be able to kill anyone to be honest." Ocellus admitted, clearly relieved at being given a choice.
"Remember, I'm both your teacher and you target, I expect you to be taking your academics just as seriously as your attempts to deal with me regardless of which option you choose," their new teacher stated and gestured over to Pearl. "Miss Pearl will be here to assist you at her discretion, while she won't take part in trying to kill me, she will make sure that everyone here is as safe and happy as possible."
"I've been instructed to remain on site as a member of E Class faculty for your protection," Karasuma added. "From Tomorrow, I'll be your new PE teacher as well as supplying you with the anti-creature weapons needed for assassinations and the knowledge on how to use them. until then, today is just a regular school day."
The bell rang, signalling the beginning of the new school year. Karasuma and Pearl left the classroom and The Octopus pulled out an attendance book from the teachers desk, smile ever present.
"Alright I know you're all excited but settle down now and answer calmly and clearly when I call your name..."
The bell rang and Scootaloo found herself strangely curious as their new teacher put the roll book away, pulled out a copy of their history textbook and addressed the class.
"Alrighty class, this term's subject for International History is The Dragon War," he stated and received a number of groans from the group as a result. "I know, boring right? Everyone already knows about it thanks to frequent media and government coverage but I've got something special planned for you boys and girls that should make this topic a bit more interesting."
The octopus moved over to the classroom door and Pearl walked inside, a calm smile adorning her face and Scootaloo noticed that several shiny gold medals were pinned to her bandanna. Their teacher moved back over to the blackboard and began writing with a piece of chalk as he spoke. "The faculty of E Class has the wonderful privilege of being able to teach students as they see fit, so long as they follow the school curriculum and don't break their contract's terms of service. So instead of reading from a textbook, I thought it would be more engaging to learn about The Dragon War from someone who was right in the thick of it!"
Written on the board was the sentence The Dragon War by Ms.Pearl.
"The war was years ago, there's no way she fought in it," Gallus protested. "She looks way too young."
"Normally I'd say you're right but sea ponies age very differently due to their dragon ancestry, Miss Pearl here is well over three hundred years old I'll have you know," the octopus replied. "Sea ponies don't show signs of advanced ageing until they're at lest eight hundred and can live to be a thousand if they are in good health."
"Sir?" Ocellus asked with a raised hoof. "Not that this isn't interesting but, why isn't Miss Pearl telling us this herself?"
Their teacher moved to answer but paused as the sea pony in question plucked the chalk out of his grip and stood on her hind legs to write on the board herself. Scootaloo and the rest of the class watched in silent curiosity as words quickly took shape.
I cannot speak as I suffered a Mana Wound during the bombing of Pearl Island.
"A Mana Wound children, is an injury either caused by or exposed to, large quantities of magic that expose a person's innate magical energy. Imagine a wound that bleeds magic instead of blood," the octopus explained and gesturing to Pearl's neck. "Such an injury does not heal and while not lethal, is extremely painful. The person's magic is exposed, its flow throughout the body interrupted by being open to the elements, this causes pain as the body forces their magic through the wound to complete the circuit and maintain a steady of energy throughout the body."
"This, however is a topic we can discuss during today's PE lesson, right now Miss Pearl is here to explain the events that started the Dragon War." Their teacher stated and gestured for the white mare to start.
Pearl cleared the blackboard and began writing up a simple timeline while the Octopus narrated key points. While he talked, Scootaloo got out a pencil and a blank book and began taking notes.
"The kingdom of Penumbra was founded in 700 A.D, that's After Discord for you folks reading at home, and led by the Dragon Lord of Shadows, Sombra. Populated by what we know today as Bat Ponies, Umbrum and Shadow Dragons, the kingdom followed a philosophy of mental strength and fortitude for use in every day life. Sombra himself was intelligent, charismatic and well liked by his subjects and wholeheartedly believed in the philosophy of his kingdom."
"Sombra believed that system put into place after the death of Dragon King Discord, separating the various magics he controlled into more creatures and ruled over by new Dragon Lords, was a temporary solution at best as many types of magic had either been lost or were running rampant and out of control even several centuries after Discord's defeat at the hands of the Dragon Lords of Fire, Earth, Wind and Water. He believed that the only way to restore the world to normal was for a new Dragon King to be put into power, one with the will and knowledge to not make the same mistakes Discord did and Sombra believed only he himself was worthy for the position."
"He appealed to the other Lords in 795 A.D but the other Dragon Lords did not share his view on the matter and refused to grant him the position, believing he was unfit for the task. So he decided to force himself into the role by amassing as much magic as he could and become stronger than the other Lords. To achieve this, Sombra set his sights on the technologically advanced human race and by forging an alliance with the Dragon Lord of Fire, Lord Torch, who's people had a long and violent history with humanity, began attacking mankind."
"The first wave of fire dragon attacks happened in July of 830 A.D, prompting the Wind and Earth Dragon kingdoms to stand up for the humans and retaliate on fire dragon territory a week later. This incident marked the start of the nearly two hundred year war that followed, in the wake of large scale attacks that destroyed entire cities, various world governments banned together to form the Intentional Defense Force to protect civilians and aid in the war effort. The war finally ended in 1003 A.D when, in an attempt to trap Sombra, the IDF used Pearl Island and it's people as bait to lure him out onto the battlefield by leaking information that the island was sheltering the Dragon Lord of Water, who was already being hunted by Sombra's forces."
The atmosphere seem to grow heavy as Pearl paused in her writing, before she shakily added a large skull and cross bones symbol to the end of the timeline. Nevertheless, the octopus continued speaking
"The IDF developed a poison that they used on the island in the hopes of decimating Sombra's forces and weakening him enough to capture him. Whether they underestimated the strength of their bio weapon or something else went wrong is unclear but, the resulting gas bomb spread farther than predicted, wiping out the island population taking shelter in a temple far way from the battlefield on the other side of the island and polluting the water around the island. Not a single water dragon or sea pony made it out alive."
"This drew the Dragon Lord of Water out from hiding and she was furious. While she went on the warpath and not only wiped out the Shadow Dragons and Sombra himself in vengeance, a storm blanketed the entire world as she did so. It rained for twenty fours straight and only ended when Sombra himself was slain in the early hours of the morning the next day."
"Afterwards she vanished and a group of IDF soldiers patrolling for survivors found Pearl, battered, bloody and in the process of performing the last rites for the dead in her vicinity," The octopus stated and Pearl sat down beside him. Scootaloo wasn't sure to feel about the more personal touch added to end and was even more confused when the yellow creature returned to his usual cheerful self not a moment later. "Now does anyone have any questions they''d like to ask?"
"Uh yeah, what was that bit about Miss Pearl, were you making that shit up?" Smolder asked.
"Language Smolder and no, I wasn't making that up. I discussed the idea of explaining her history with the war on the way here and she agreed that it would best to mention where she fit in to sate your curiosity but not to make it the main focus of the lesson." he answered.
"So Pearl Island got gassed? It seems fine to me since the class that gets the highest scores in the mid year exams gets to go there over the summer break." Gallus pointed out.
"That's because after the war the island and surrounding waters were bought by the Griffin Empire for restoration and turned it into what is now known today as The Pearl Island Resort, I hear it's quite popular making on average seven thousand bits a year." their teacher replied.
"So are there other Sea Dragons out there?" Silverstream asked.
"... Unfortunately no, a lot of information was lost during the war, including the fate of other sea pony cities but deep sea exploration in last few decades has confirmed that every Sea Pony and subsequently, Water Dragon colony was wiped out over the course of the war by Sombra's army. The most commonly accepted theory is that the Dragon Lord of Water fled from one city to the next and her subjects gave their lives to defend her as she escaped."
"Why was she so important?" Apple Bloom asked. "It sounds like Sombra went to an awful lot of trouble to try an' catch her."
Pearl once more moved over to the blackboard to answer that particular question.
The Dragon Lord of Water is the oldest and most powerful of all the Dragon Lords. Records kept by Sombra himself indicate he wanted to capture her and use human technology to steal her magic in his bid to become the next Dragon King.
"From all of this, you can see why your governments and the IDF don't want me running around, the Dragon war ended with eighty percent of the dragon population wiped out and over half of the different species of dragon now extinct, all the culture, history and all the good those dragons did for the world are now nothing more than statistics and information on a page and Sombra wasn't nearly as powerful as I am now," the octopus stated. "Even today, decades after the war ended, the remaining dragon population still faces discrimination and scrutiny for what happened during the war while both the IDF and the governments responsible for its creation are struggling to regain the trust and cooperation of the Dragon Lords that fought for them in the war after the loss of so many innocent lives brought an end to the conflict."
"So boys and girls, whether you want to kill me or not, just remember that your actions will have consequences and affect more people than just those you know or those around you," their teacher stated and green stripes once more appeared on his face as Pearl kept writing. "I doubt you'd e able to land a hit on me thought-"
A piece of chalk bounced off his head and Pearl pointed at the newest message on the board with a smirk.
Does that count?
"What?! What do you mean does that count! You're not even here to kill me!" the octopus explained and the look pearl adopted was one easily read. It practically screamed "Your point is?"
Scootaloo couldn't help but chuckle alongside a few of her other classmates. "I say we have a good shot if she can peg you sir."
"That doesn't count!" the teacher protested.
"Eh, you must be a pushover if Miss Pearl can get you off guard." Gallus added.
Cue flailing and further protests from the giant yellow octopus "I was not off guard! I was being mindful of her presence!"
Soon the classroom was laughing and taunting their teacher, with Pearl adding to the mischief by pelting more chalk at him and while he easily dodged them now, it was still a sight to see the supposed future Dragon King getting worked up over a bit of teasing.
Scootaloo pulled out her textbook and compared her transcript of her teachers speech and the timeline Miss Pearl had drawn with the introductory chapter that covered a brief summary of the war. She checked again, and again. While her notes weren't nearly as long as the textbook summary, she found it had all the relevant points that pertained to the homework questions listed in the book and she found it was easier to just refer to her notes than to try and parse out meaning from the dry, wordy text the school had issued.
The fact that she wasn't bored and understood it as more than just dates and bits of trivia certainly helped. Seeing someone who had been there, even if all she got out of it was the same information already in the textbook, made the lesson feel more real to her. It wasn't a bunch of things that happened somewhere to a bunch of people she didn't know, here was someone who had lived through it, it had happened to them and now that person was willing to serve as proof of that to help others understand.
The young pegasus certainly agreed that it was more interesting than reading form a textbook.
"And that's the bell, please put your math textbooks away everyone. Now, normally you'd all have PE but, since Mister Karasuma won't be taking over that class until tomorrow, we decided to have today's lesson tie into this terms topic for Magic Studies which is all about how magic interacts with nature and biology," the octopus explained. "Let's make sure everyone is up to speed, shall we? Does anyone here know the difference between Innate Magic and Species Magic?"
The class was silent, Gallus shrugged, Smolder didn't look she actually cared and Yona looked confused. Scootaloo saw that both Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom looked to be as reluctant to answer as she was while Sandbar looked to be trying but failing to remember the correct answer. Ocellus shyly raised a hoof but Sunburst beat her too it, giving out the answer in a clipped tone before he was addressed.
"Innate magic is the magic that everyone is born with, and grows with us. Species magic are the magical properties or abilities someone has based on what they are and is usually learned through their kind's rite of passage into adulthood."
"Correct!" their teacher stated, his face turning orange with a large red circle in the middle before returning to its usual shade of yellow. "Innate magic is tied to the individual, who you are whereas species magic is defined by what you are."
The octopus tilted his head forward, peering down at Sunburst. "However, that doesn't mean you should jump to answer the question without giving your classmates a chance to prove their own academic ability Sunburst. Even if they answer incorrectly the whole point of school is to learn, to make mistakes and learn from them. I noticed ocellus was attempting to get my attention before you so rudely answered on your own."
"I still got it right didn't I? That's what matters." the unicorn argued.
"Sometimes the right answer isn't enough, you won't get anywhere in life just reciting from a textbook expecting to get praised for basic memorization, you need to show you understand the material covered,"the octopus chided and turned to the changeling. "Ocellus, did you have anything to add?"
Caught on the spot, she blushed and fidgeted with her pencil before she spoke. "Well, innate magic is shaped by your surroundings, your family and who you are as a person and it can change as you grow too."
"An excellent point, you see class? Ocellus added onto what we just learned and I'm sure you all have something to contribute if you just try," their strange teacher said encouragingly. "Would anyone else like to add to the discussion?"
"Um, a ponies innate magic is tied to their cutie mark?" Sweetie Belle added hopefully.
"Another good answer!" The octopus praised.
"I guess a dragons species magic is what type of dragon we are?" Smolder suggested.
"Another correct answer! Dragons are divided into tribes based on their element as their species magic determine their appearance as opposed to their innate magic, which is the case with most other races, does anyone know why that is?"
"Hell if I know." Smolder admitted with a shrug.
"Aren't you guys like, super magical or something? That's why the gods are literal dragons right?" Gallus asked.
"I though the Dragon Lords were just really strong dragons." Smolder replied.
"Actually, you're both right!" their teacher happily explained, his face once more lighting up with the red circle. "The Dragon Lords are dragons so powerful, so in tune with a specific type of magic that they are that type of magic, burdened with the responsibility of maintaining it in the world and keeping it in balance with all the other types."
"Let's use what we learned about the Dragon War earlier today as an example, the Dragon Lord of Water, so enraged by the loss of her people lost control of her magic which caused a storm to cover the entire world until she had finally calmed down. Another example is with Torch, the previous Dragon lord of Fire. His death sparked wild fires across the globe as his power escaped his body and was left unchecked until Dragon Lord Ember came into power," explained the octopus. "This is why the selection of a new Dragon Lord is such a momentous occasion, whoever inherits that magic has a duty of care not just to their people, but to the entire world."
"Do they have to pick a new one? Like how we vote for a new student president?"Apple Bloom asked.
"No, in fact the Dragon Lord of Water has been the only one as far as back as anyone can remember, it's simply a matter of who fits the role best at the time. Some simply get tired of the position while others feel the next generation would do a better job," the teacher replied. "But we're getting off topic. Now, species magic varies by race and in the case of dragons and ponies, by tribe as well. So why don't we go through all the different things each of you can or will be able to do once you're older, shall we?"
"Who wants to go first?" the octopus asked brightly.
"Nagisa mentioned humans are resistant to magic." Kaede said.
"Indeed they are, the death of Dragon King Discord forced many races to change to the sudden shift in magical energy that followed his demise, magic once everywhere, was shrinking in both scale and scope as it lost the focus it needed and the era bought by the Dragon Lords to correct this resulted in the abilities you all have today," the yellow entity stated. "Humans, unable to cast magic, became resistant to it as a defense mechanism, while a race like the Yaks, only hunkered down on the abilities they possessed, owing to their incredible strength and resilience in the harsh mountains they call home."
"Yaks smash! Yona good at smashing!" the class' resident yak exclaimed.
"Well yeah, you kinda broke a building." Gallus retorted.
"That not Yona's fault, school not built for yaks!" Yona protested.
Before the griffin could reply, a yellow tentacle prodded him gently.
"Gallus, why don't you share with the class what griffins can do?" the owner of said tentacle asked.
"I dunno, does liking money count? That's all anyone up in Griffinstone gives a damn about." Gallus huffed.
"You mean to say you've never noticed anything about griffins that could e chalked up to them being griffins?"
The young griffin scratched the back of his head with a talon. "Uh, not really. All the griffins are money grubbing jerks."
"Alright Gallus, from what I've read on your file you were transferred to E Class for pick pocketing another classmate yes? How, exactly did you end up here instead of say, getting expelled?"
"Grampa Gruff pulled some strings to keep me in the foreign exchange program or something, ask him." Gallus replied.
"Exactly, your guardian either had the connections or the money to convince the principal to keep you enrolled and that is an example of why griffins are some of the most shrewd businessmen in the world." the teacher stated. "Their magic, instead of being something more active and physically present, is a talent more driven by will and personality. Any griffin has the ability to recognize both danger and opportunity more easily than other races due their races' history as hunters and traders but it takes years of practice to fine tune that natural talent into something that could create opportunity or get you out of trouble."
"So not every race has species magic that's immediately noticeable?" Nagisa asked, looking a bit more interested in the conversation.
"That's right Nagisa and species magic isn't limited to one specific thing either. Let's use Silverstream s an example," the octopus replied. "She is a Hippogriff, a race descended from a group of Pegasus and Griffins that banded together during a particularity dangerous time in the late Discordian era, the danger present from monster attacks forced the two races to work together and eventually, inter species relationships became the norm as the needs changed from surviving to reestablishing themselves as a society."
"Silverstream can manipulate weather just like a pegasus but she, like all other Hippogriffs, have the unique ability to fly and live at much higher altitudes than either a griffin or a pegasus, the combined magic of the two morphing into a power that protects her from extreme temperatures and allows her to breathe the thin air found at high mountain peaks," he continued. "They used this in the Discordian Era to protect themselves from monsters by flying higher than their pursuer, followed by diving down to land a killing blow with their beak or talons when the monster either lost interest or passed out from exhaustion."
"I didn't know i could do that! I sound awesome!" Silverstream said, her wings opening in surprise.
"You need the proper training first, your body will need to get used to such environments before you deiced to try flying up a mountain taller than the one we're on," their teacher advised. "but I'm sure your family will teach you once you graduate."
The young hippogriff looked a bit crestfallen as she closed her wings. "I guess, if they're not too busy."
"I'm sure they'll find the time, yes Sweetie Belle?" the teacher asked s he noticed the unicorn raise a hoof.
"I had a question, I know a unicorn's species magic is the ability to levitate stuff but what about casting spells? what's that classified under?" she asked.
"i understand you're confusion Sweetie Belle, most merely assume that a unicorn's ability to cast spells is tied to either their innate magic due to most unicorns learning spells related to their cutie marks, or class it under species magic due to needing to channel their magic through their horn, which is what separates them from the other tribes biologically," the octopus explained. "The answer is actually both."
"You see boys and girls, a lot of the time magic isn't as clear cut as to what goes where. Changelings for example can understand any spoken language as well shape shift into another animal or person, however their shape shifting ability is affected by their innate magic as some changelings may find easier to turn into a cat, while others may prefer a lizard or even birds. whereas their ability to understand languages, read emotions and other mental abilities they possess are a trait all changelings share yet both are classified under species magic," he continued. "Both are things only changelings can do, yet they are developed and used differently by every changeling out there and the same if true for unicorns. Unicorns can cast magic, even if the spell isn't related to their special talent they can learn the spell with hard work and dedication."
"The same holds true for any skill that can be learned or taught so long as you the capacity to acquire it. humans can't cast magic, but they are still able to brew potions, enchant object and work with magical plants or animals because those skills don't require the ability to cast magic," the octopus added. "A dragon's species magic makes them powerful yes, but there are many other uses the ability to breathe fire, wind or earth could apply to."
"So like how earth ponies are good with nature and that lets them be good cooks because they can tell how fresh the ingredients are?" Apple Bloom suggested.
"That's certainly one use for a green hoof!" Their teacher replied.
"What about sea ponies, what can they do?" Silverstrem asked excitedly.
"Why don't I go fetch Miss Pearl and we can ask her ourselves?" the octopus suggested.
Scootaloo found herself excitedly curious at what Pearl was capable of as the sea pony in question looked around the classroom, clearly amused by the attention.
The octopus slithered up beside his coworker, looking to be just as excited as his students. "Miss Pearl, care to share with the class what your species magic is?"
With a smile, still one that wasn't wide enough to show teeth Scootaloo observed, the sea pony picked a piece of chalk and began writing.
As a sea pony, I can survive the high pressure found in depths of the ocean and can live their quite comfortably thanks to my mana leylines running throughout my body as opposed to having be squarely located in key areas.
"Leylines, as I'm sure many of remember from primary school, are the veins that carry magic from one are of the body to another, able to generate more magic as the body requires and is the source of magical energy in a living creature," their teacher explained. "A unicorn may have most of their leylines around their horn, a pegasus may have more leylines in their wings but sea ponies have an even amount throughout the body, granting them their capacity to reach depths any other creature would surely die from."
As Pearl wrote, she seemed distant, lost in thought or in some long forgotten memory.
Sea ponies share this trait with water dragons but what separates us from our dragon brethren is out mastery over water magic. Water dragons can heal injuries and exhale powerful blasts of water much like how fire dragons can breathe fire but sea ponies can control and manipulate water, bend it to our will much in the same way The Dragon lord of Water can.
"whether you call it water bending, hydrokinesis or something else. a sea pony is a master over all forms of water."the octopus stated and Scootaloo saw Pearl look sadly at her own writing before a calm smile overtook her features as she wrote her next sentence.
I can also fly.
"You can what?" Scootaloo yelled out in shock.
"What the chicken said," Smolder added, earning a glare from the pegasus. "you, can fly? No way!"
Pearl smiled cheekily, her body glowed blue, the light from the windows scattering off her form like it was bouncing off of water and with one powerful flick of her tail, was moving through the air as if it were water.
"Sea ponies can spread their magic across their body evenly and generate lift by using that magic to alter their physical properties so they are lighter than air. their tails provide forward momentum while the fins on their back allow the sea pony to steer and turn, using their legs for stability as needed." their teacher elaborated as pearl demonstrated by "swimming" around the room. "Now... Normally Miss Pearl would be able to share this experience with us by letting us borrow some of her magic for a time but, due to the mana wound on her neck, is unable as it would too taxing on her body."
Scootaloo stopped listening after the octopus mentioned the sea pony could share her magic. "What about just one of us?"
Pearl swam back to the front of the class, landed and shook her head as she returned to normal, pointing to the white badge on her bandanna.
"Does anyone know what this badge stands for?" their teacher asked and the young pegasus paused in recognition, looked down at her desk and tried not to think about the almost identical badge hidden in the depths of her saddlebags. Fighting a conscious urge to hide her wings, Scootaloo shakily raised a hoof.
"Yes, Scootaloo?"
"It stands for the World Healers organization, a doctors guild to help patients with special needs and stuff..." she admitted as tried very hard to not sink into her seat in embarrassment.
"Yes, this badge means that Pearl requires special care, be it amenities, diet or medication due to her condition. this also means she can no longer use her magic as freely as before," the teacher clarified. "Imagine using magic like a muscle, it's as easy as walking from one end of the room to the other when using it on yourself but to use it on others is like, trying to carry something heavy from one of the room to the other, it takes more energy and do it too often or with too heavy a load and you put yourself in danger. Pearl can no longer use her magic on others, save for some small amounts of hydrokinesis as it puts too much strain on her body as it forces more magic through the mana wound."
As Scootaloo and the rest of the class processed the information, the sound of pearl writing on the blackboard once more filled the silence. When Scootaloo looked up, the sea pony was smiling warmly at the entire class despite the heavy topic being discussed.
I learned the hard way what my limitations are, make sure you don't follow my example.
"Ah yes, to know ones limitations is a valuable skill indeed, both in life and in assassination." the octopus stated.
"Oh yeah, kinda forgot we have to kill you." Gallus admitted.
"Everything just seems so... normal it's hard to believe the IDF has asked a bunch of kids to kill their teacher, you know?" Nagisa added and the octopus nodded.
"I understand completely, what you've all been asked to do is not an easy task but it's not the only avenue you have to go down. Whether you want to kill me or save me, you should play to your strengths, learn of your weaknesses and overcome them to achieve your goal!"
"Weaknesses? What kind of dragon worth their scales would call themselves weak?"Smolder debated and their teacher chuckled.
"A smart one of course! Though you don't appear to be all that bright Smolder but not to worry, we'll have that sortedby years end." the yellow entity stated with a smug look and green stripes adorning his face.
"What about you sir? Do you have any weaknesses?" Nagisa asked.
Still with the green stripes on, the octopus nodded. öf course i do! But I'll never-"
The rectangular eraser for the blackboard bounced off his head, the green stripes faded as the octopus turned to see that pearl had not only thrown the object at him, but had silently written something on the blackboard.
"That;s not fair! You can't go and tell them all my secrets!" he wailed as Pearl smirked.
Weakness Number 1: The octopus has a sweet tooth.
"Sweets huh, maybe we can use that?" Nagisa wondered as the rest of the class laughed at their teacher's expense.
"What/ You should most certainly not use that!" he huffed, red faced and with steam coming out his non existent ears he wrote something else beneath his listed weakness.
"Hah! Take that!" he crowed.
Pearl's Weakness Number 1: Hoards round objects.
"Um no offense sir, but Pearl isn't the one we've been asked to assassinate."Sweetie Belle pointed out.
"Aw, but that not fair... She's supposed to be on my side." he pouted.
Pearl rolled her eyes, smiling at his antics and patted his side gently. He eered down at her.
"I'll only forgive you if... you make the class lunch." their teacher stated, Pearl gave him a tired smile and went over to the board to write her reply.
I was already going to do that you doofus.
"Well now you have to, won't you?" he replied as the bell rang. "Alright class that's the bell, let's move on to the magic studies portion of this class. please get out your Realm of Magic textbooks and we'll do a brief overview of the history of enchantments before we begin today's lesson on how enchantments affect the body."
Scootaloo, along with a few others, waved farewell to Pearl as she left the classroom and everyone settled back down for another hour of learning from their strange new teacher.