The sun rose over Yalkell, showering the city in light for the citizens to go about their busy days. However, in the upstairs of Kirill’s bedroom, the ponies and Hanji were still sound asleep, not a care in the world. Footsteps could then be heard coming from downstairs, getting louder and louder as they came higher and higher. Once the bookshelf door opened, the first to be awakened by it was Fluttershy, who shot up in her bed with her bedhead mane.

“Oh?” she wondered. “What’s Kirill doing?”

The footsteps soon sprinted loudly up the stairs, the quick rhythm and noise scaring Fluttershy as she screamed and covered her body with her blanket. The resulting noises awoke everyone soon after, who were shocked to see Kirill coming up the stairs like a child wanting to open up presents on Christmas morning.

“Kirill?” moaned Hanji as she put on her glasses from the floor. “What are you–”

“I’ve done it!” he exclaimed. “I figured a way to have the ponies use 3D Maneuver Gear! Come down!”

Kirill rushed back to his workshop as eager as ever. While the ponies were a bit frazzled from his wake-up call, Pinkie Pie, felt dejected. Rarity was the first to notice.

“Pinkie Pie?” she queried. “What’s wrong?”

“He…” sobbed Pinkie Pie. “He never apologized to me!”

Pinkie wiped her eyes with her blanket while Rarity walked over to give her friend a consoling hug. She wasn’t exactly sure of the reason, but she knew that her friend was hurting and she needed healing. Hanji merely sighed, cursing Kirill’s over-eccentricity.

“Do you know what’s wrong?” asked Twilight, looking at her.

“Pinkie Pie went to check on Kirill while he was working. When she advised him to go to bed, he snapped at her and scared her something fierce.”

“Oh my! That’s terrible.”

“I even told Pinkie Pie to expect an apology from him when she saw him next… but you saw him come in.”

“Ladies!” Kirill called down from the living room. “You must see!”

Hanji made another sigh.

“It’s alright, Hanji,” Twilight assured her. “We’ll make sure he makes it up to her.”

“Don’t be too hard on him,” Hanji requested. “He could be inconsiderate at times, but he’s got our best intentions at heart. Just let him see an error and he’ll fix it, just like any good mechanic would.”

“I sure hope so, Hanji. Come on, girls. Let’s see what he’s got.”

The girls tiredly climbed out of bed while Pinkie Pie slumped out, still feeling upset over Kirill’s outburst the previous night.
_________________________________________________________________________________________

Kirill was almost ready for his big reveal, having his finished pieces out on the table side tables. The first pony to walk in from downstairs was Pinkie Pie, her sad and frightful look immediately piercing into Kirill, remembering his words to her the previous night. Next was Twilight and Hanji, looking at him to remind him fuller of his belated apology, the latter crossing her arms in disappointment. The others, now having been told of Kirill’s actions, came in with the same stern, demanding faces.

Kirill took a sigh, knowing what he had to do. He walked up the group, whose faces began to soften upon seeing the genuine remorse on his face. Stepping even closer to Pinkie Pie, he finally mustered the courage to kneel down and look her in the eye. Pinkie Pie had a bit of trouble looking back to Kirill, but kept at least one eye on him.

“Pinkie Pie,” he cooed, “I’m sorry for snapping at you. I don’t want this coming off as an excuse, but I tend to get very worked up when I’m working, and I don’t like being bothered. If I scared you last night, please know that I never wished to do so. I just ask that you can forgive me. Could you please do that?”

Pinkie Pie turned her head to look straight at Kirill. Her face was still in a sad frown, but all Kirill hoped for was an acceptance from Pinkie Pie. With no time to react, Pinkie Pie leapt onto Kirill, knocking him to his back. The others in the room feared the worst, but upon Kirill sitting back up, Hanji and the ponies were relieved to see Pinkie Pie giving Kirill a tight hug with a wide close-lipped smile on her face.

“It’s alright!” Pinkie Pie squeaked, as she hugged Kirill tighter. “We all have our busy days!”

“I’m glad you say so,” he responded. “Now… would you all like to see what I’ve came up with?”

“Would I?”

Pinkie Pie ran to one of the tables, looking at one of the six 3D Maneuver Gears on one of the two long tables. The other ponies walked up to observe Kirill’s hard work. Using his hands, he directed each pony to the 3D Maneuver Gear that they would call their own. Kirill called Spike over. As the tiny dragon ron to him, Kirill picked him up under the armpits and placed him upon the back table where his own 3D Maneuver Gear was.

The others appeared to be normal 3D Maneuver Gears in size, but almost each of them looked vastly different from the other. Instead of a handheld operational device like a human would have, the devices of Applejack and Pinkie Pie were disc-shaped, metal controllers with a ring inside of them that looked to be the same size as their hooves. Inside the center, there were five buttons that ran along the inside of the upper bend. The sole attached to the bottom was about two inches thick, and on the insides of the side of the sole were slots with latches inside of them.

Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash also received these controllers with their 3D Maneuver Gears, but theirs only had two buttons upon the top. On top of that, there were no axles for wire on the main body, despite having the metal arms that connected to the sheaths, which also did not contain gas canisters atop them.

Twilight’s 3D Maneuver Gear had a normal handheld operational device, but the buttons and the level on the front side of it were not there. The only thing that remained similar about it was the small switch on the top-back of it near the blade slot. Like Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, she also did not have wire axles and gas-canisters. Rarity’s device resembled a humans in every way, shape and form: a normal operational device, wire axles, and gas canisters.

“Well,” Kirill said, “here you all go!”

“Hey, uh, Kirill?” asked Applejack, pawing at her oblong controller. “Not that I’m not grateful or nothin’, but can y’all tell me what this contraption does?”

“Ah, yes!” he exclaimed, jogging over to see Applejack’s controller and picking it up for Applejack and Pinkie Pie to see. “After discovering your… digits, I came up with a way to allow you to use the 3D Maneuver Gear to its full potential.”

“So, what’s it do?”

“I’ll explain,” he said pointing at the top center button. “You wear this around onto your hoof like a shoe. Once you get it in there nice and snug, push that button, and rubber stoppers will catch your hooves in between themselves and the interior of the shoe, keeping it on. Go on,” he finished, putting it back on the table, “try it!”

Applejack wasn’t too sure about doing this, but she had no reason to doubt Kirill. Standing on her hind legs and putting her front hooves on the table for support, she slowly lowered her hoof onto the center and pressed into it, making sure her hoof was in.

“Now, push the button,” Kirill said.

Applejack gulped.

“Well, here goes nothin’…” she sighed.

Pressing the appropriate button, a quick, metal sliding sound was made as Applejack widened her eyes.

“Yah!” she exclaimed, leaping her front hooves off the table with the shoe still on.

The other ponies gasped, frightened about Applejack’s reaction.

“Careful!” warned Kirill, gently setting her back down on the table. “You don’t want to drag all that gear down off the table. Sure, it’s durable, but I’d like these to be in the best conditions possible.”

“Aha…” she embarrassingly giggled. “Sorry about that…”

“Applejack,” wondered Twilight, “are you alright?”

“Yeah, I’m fine, it’s just…” Applejack told her, looking at the device affixed to her hood, “weird.”

“Ooh!” Pinkie Pie squeaked, lowering her pointing hoof to the button directly to the right of the top-center button, “what does this button do?”

“PINKIE!” shouted Kirill. “Don’t push that!”

Pinkie Pie, remembering Kirill’s loud voice, pulled away immediately.

“I’m sorry,” he panted, “but don’t press that button until I bring you all into the other room.”

“Why?” she asked. “What does it do?”

“That’s the wire release button. It shoots out the wire and hooks with which soldiers grapple with. If you pressed that, a wire would have shot off and very well could have killed one of us!”

“Yikes! Gee, I’m sorry, Kirill! I promise not to touch anything until you show me.”

“Thank you.”

Kirill then pointed to the button to the left of the top-center button.

“This button will retract the wire after you shoot it.”

He then moved to the button below the wire release button.

“This will release gas through your main body,” he explained. “You can use this to make sure your gas is ready after refilling it or if you want to soar faster. It burns a large amount of gas, so use it sparingly.”

“Got it,” Applejack said. “And the final one?”

“Those slots on the side of those shoes are where your blades go. Once one of the ends slides in, the mechanics hold the blade inside it for proper use. Once your blades begin to dull or they break, you press this button to release the blades out so you can replace them.”

“That’s very nice,” Twilight said. “And you were able to do this all last night?”

“It wasn’t too difficult. Once I disassembled some operational devices, I just put the wires and the slots in different places and built a comfortable shoe for your hooves around it, and once that was done, repeating the process was easy.”

“Easy peasy lemon squeezy,” Pinkie Pie added, pointing at Twilight and sternly nodding her head.

“What about us?” asked Rainbow Dash. “We only got two buttons.”

“Right,” replied Kirill. “Since you can fly on your wings, you don’t need gas, wires, or anything of the sort, so those features weren’t necessary on those shoes. The right button is for the shoe to come on and come off…”

“Really?” asked Applejack.

Applejack pressed the center button again, and with another metal sliding sound, the hoof clanked to the table off her hoof. Kirill turned around at the noise, seeing Applejack rub her hoof.

“Sorry about that,” she said. “It’s just something I’m going to have to get used to, I guess.”

“Anyways,” Kirill resumed, “the left button is for your blades.”

“Oh, awesome!” Rainbow Dash responded. “Less work for me.”

“Maybe Kirill gave me more bells and whistles because he knew I was smart enough to handle them all,” Applejack mentioned with a smug smirk.

Rainbow Dash stared daggers at her friend, who only laughed in response.

“As for the horned ponies and Spike,” Kirill stated walking towards Rarity, “you received a normal operational device. Here’s how it works.”

He picked up one of the handles and showed her the ropes, first pointing to the top trigger button, then the one below it, then the long handle on the front, and the switch at the back of the blade slot. Spike paid attention to his own as he observed Kirill work her device.

“This is your wire release button, your wire retract button, your gas release lever, and the blade release switch. Twilight, since you can fly, your operational device only has the blade release switch. You think you can handle it?”

“Of course!” she replied.

“Good. And that concludes showing off your gears. Now all that’s left is for you to use them.”

The ponies eyes began to glow, excited to try out their new machines.

“However, you’ll need your clothes, jackets, cloaks, and harnesses first, so get going!”

All at once, the ponies and Spike galloped and ran off upstairs with similar enthusiasm to Kirill earlier that morning. Hanji walked up beside Kirill with a smile as she watched the ponies go off.

“You certainly have a way with words,” she told him.

“I know,” he said.
_________________________________________________________________________________________

After an hour of becoming more acclimated with the functions of the 3D Maneuver Gears, Kirill, now dressed in a red, collared shirt, tight black pants, and his Military boots led the ponies into the back-corner room. He was wearing a harness and 3D Maneuver Gear of his own, his operational devices held by his harness.

The ponies and Spike, also equipped with their 3D Maneuver Gears (with the pegasi and earth ponies wearing their operational shoes), walked in a straight line behind each other. They also had shirts on under their harnesses and/or jackets, boots, and cloaks. Twilight, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy all had white collared shirts while Rarity and Spike wore bright purple.

Upon entering into the room, the back wall had deep holes in it that were from all the practice wire shots the ponies and Spike took, and there was a white pillar of simulation titan flesh with deep scores inside of it. Also, there was a long and wide, metal spiral staircase that led up and up. Kirill began to climb the tall stairs, followed by the ponies and eventually Hanji. The stairs were wide enough to allow them to move, even with their bulky 3D Maneuver Gear on their bodies.

After an exhausting climb, they had finally made it to the top of their destination: a large bell tower capable of overlooking all of Yalkell. The floor was littered with tiny orange flags, but the ponies avoided them as they looked out over the city.

“What a view!” Rarity exclaimed.

“Isn’t it?” replied Hanji from behind.

“And a great perch for me to fly off of!” Rainbow Dash added.

“So,” asked Twilight, “what are we doing here?”

“Your final test,” Kirill responded.

“And that is?” wondered Spike.

“Alright, all you ponies, listen up!”

The ponies stood in line, awaiting to hear what their test was.

“What Hanji and I will do,” he explained, “is take three flags and put them in a various spot on the rooftops of Yalkell in a somewhat straightforward line. They are sturdy enough to equate to the thickness of titan flesh, so slash hard! Hanji and I will take turns placing the flags in as we will timing you.

“Your starting line will be here at this tower. Off near the northeast corner of the city will be another bell tower; your finishing point. This tower you're all in now is located near the center of the town, so you will need to use all your strength and speed to cut down all three flags and make it to the other tower in your allotted time of one minute! Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes, sir!” the seven Equestrians answered, saluting him.

“Good. Who wants to go first.”

Rainbow Dash was set to volunteer, but Pinkie Pie landed atop of her with her front hooves in the air.

“Me!” she cried. “Me, me, me!”

“Alright,” Kirill chuckled. “You can go, and then Rainbow Dash is next.”

Kirill grabbed three flags from the pile on the floor and stepped out on the edge of the building facing the other tower. Kirill then turned to face the ponies before he leaned backwards and fell towards the city streets. The ponies all rushed to the side to see him go down, wondering just what he was going to do. Once he was halfway to the ground, Kirill pulled the operational device from the right side of his harness with his left hand and twisted to face forwards.

Kirill shot his hook out at a building, and using his momentum, swung just about a foot over the people below and onto a rooftop, sprinting down it before he fired off another hook and flew to a higher building.

“Whoa,” Rainbow Dash exclaimed. “Kirill kicks flank!”

Kirill landed atop the building where he drove a flag in to the roof. He then flew down towards the river, zipping over the rooftops. Once he got close to the river, he approached a closed drawbridge, swinging and looping towards it. Once Kirill was over the bridge, he began to freefall again. Before he could hit the water, Kirill fired his hook at the very edge of the bridge, hitting his mark dead on.

Kirill began to retract his wires as his arc was bringing him closer and closer to the water, however, the wires pulling him in reduced the size of his swing as Kirill put his feet out, ready for them touch the water. Just before they did, Kirill took his wire out of the bridge as his heels skated upon the water underneath.

The ponies watched in amazement from the tower as Kirill skimmed the surface on his boots before he rocketed to a building on his left before he would eventually fall into the water.

“He was also the biggest showoff,” sighed Hanji, although still impressed with his handiwork.

Upon making it to the top of the building, Kirill placed the second of the three flags atop the roof. As Kirill passed over more roofs as he continued to the other tower, he took his final flag and chucked it below, where it landed on the side of another tall tower.

With his hands free, Kirill took his other operational device in his right hand and swung effortlessly higher and higher to the other bell tower where he landed as gracefully as he flew. Putting his devices back in his harness, he took out a stopwatch in his left hand and a smoke pistol in his right which he held to the sky, blocking his left ear with the watch and his right ear with his arm.

Hanji observed this from her tower through a telescope.

“He’s ready,” she said. “Are you, Pinkie?”

“Ready is my middle name!” she confirmed. “At least it would be if it wasn’t Diane.”

Kirill, after waiting just three more seconds, pulled the trigger. With a bang, a white smoke pillar raised itself, telling Pinkie Pie to go ahead. She jumped off the tower, using her shoes to swing from rooftop to rooftop to head to the first flag. Upon finding it, she pulled both wrists back and slipped the ends of one of her blades from her each sheath into the slot. With a couple of clicks, Pinkie Pie pulled her swords out and slashed at the staff of the flag, cutting it in two.
_________________________________________________________________________________________

Pinkie Pie landed on the other tower with Kirill timing her. Before her front hooves touched, she slid both blades back into her sheaths and released them inside, allowing her to pull her now free shoes away and land on the floor with both of them. Kirill stopped his watch.

“Thirty-eight seconds,” he said. “Not bad.”
_________________________________________________________________________________________

Rainbow Dash made beelines for her flags, reaching the first one from the first tower in just four seconds, cutting it down with the blades already in her shoes. Looking out from where the next flag was placed, she zipped straight there and just as efficiently cut it off, finally bending sharply in the direction of the last flag, cutting it off, and landing at the tower ahead before Hanji, switching places with Kirill. Hanji and Kirill were insanely impressed. Hanji didn’t even stop her watch as she looked at the pegasus with utter awe.

“Stop the clock!” she shouted.

“Oh!” exclaimed Hanji, forgetting about it.

With a click, she read and calculated the time on her watch and subtracted a few seconds.

“Sixteen seconds,” Hanji stated.

“Oh, come on!” she shouted. “That has to be at LEAST four seconds more than it really was.”

“I guess it doesn’t matter,” Hanji said. “You’re good.”

As Hanji leapt off the tower to take Kirill’s place and vice versa, Rainbow Dash huffed and crossed her hooves as she sat on her rump.

“Sixteen seconds my flank!” she hissed.
_________________________________________________________________________________________

Rarity leapt up at her flag in view and held her swords out.

“You’ll rue the day you crossed my path, flag!”

Once she was close enough, she swung her swords in, as if hugging herself with them, cutting the metal pole of the flag.
_________________________________________________________________________________________

Forty-one seconds!” dictated Kirill upon her finishing.
_________________________________________________________________________________________

Twilight zoomed past a flag, giving a forceful upwards thrust along with her momentum to slice the flag away. As she did so, she flew over one of the streets. Annabel, who was with her mother, saw her shadow from the ground, prompting her to look up. While she was visible for only a second, the girl could recognize the purple wings. Once Twilight passed, Annabel giggled as her mother continued to lead her through the street.
_________________________________________________________________________________________

“Twenty-five seonds!” dictated Hanji with a stop of her clock.
_________________________________________________________________________________________

Applejack , with her strong animalistic arms, swung her blades at the next flag, cutting it off and pulling herself to the next building on her wires.

“Woo-wee!” she cried out. “Even without wings, I can still fly!”
_________________________________________________________________________________________

“Thirty-nine seconds!” declared Kirill.
_________________________________________________________________________________________

Fluttershy approached the first flag timidly. Her wings weren’t nearly as strong as Rainbow Dash’s, and with Twilight’s ability to learn, she got a hang of flying rather quickly and had proven herself a faster and stronger flyer than her. These facts, along with her timidity to kill the monstrous titans, didn’t help increase her speed in the slightest. However, she remembered Levi’s words two days before during her friends’ aptitude tests.
_________________________________________________________________________________________

“And if you cannot pass something as simple as this, you might as well pack up your prissy saddlebags and return home.”
_________________________________________________________________________________________

As she looked to the flag, she envisioned Jean, in his cadet uniform and, standing on top of a freshly-killed titan on the roof she was aiming at. She gasped as she saw the apparition look back at her, she gasped, stunned by its nonexistent gaze still reading into her.

“Come on, Fluttershy!” he shouted at her. “You haven’t got all day!”

Once she blinked and opened her eyes back again, Fluttershy was surprised to find that he disappeared. Either way, real or imaginary, she was going to do everything she could to ensure her spot in the Scouting Legion and live up to her best human friend.

Squinting her eyes and gritting her teeth in a determined scowl, she flapped her wings harder, winding up her arms to slash. With a hard thrust, Fluttershy, broke the pole apart, not waiting to celebrate as she flew as fast as her wings could to the next flag.
_________________________________________________________________________________________

Fluttershy arrived on the next tower to the congratulations of her friends. Hanji stopped the watch.

“Forty seconds flat,” she said. “Alright, Spike’s all that’s left, and we’re golden.”

From the first bell tower, Spike stood alone with Kirill before he jumped off to set up his last trio of flags. Spike watched intently as he made out his path.

This is it, Spike, he told himself. Your last chance to prove yourself as a soldier. All you gotta’ do is meet your friends back at the other tower. They could do it, and so can you!

Not much longer, Kirill appeared at the next tower alongside Hanji, Kirill, and the ponies. Kirill aimed his smoke pistol up into the air, leaving everyone near him to cover their own ears. Once Kirill pulled the trigger, and Spike saw the smoke, he set off.

He swung to the first building and sprinted as fast as he could. While he wasn’t as fast on his feet as he was in the sky, he was still making decent time.

“What’s he doing?” wondered Twilight.

“He’s conserving his gas,” Kirill answered with a smile, looking at Spike through the telescope.

“He’ll never make it in time!”

Neither Kirill nor Hanji said anything, only hoping that Spike would pass. Eventually, Spike made it to the first flag, pulled out his blades, and cut it. To make for lost time, he flew over the streets on his gear. He knew that the river would prove to be a challenge when it came, as he wouldn’t have nearly the speed or comfort with his machine as Kirill had.

Upon getting to it, he gasped in shock and elation. A boat was passing by, letting the drawbridge raise itself up and provide another thing for him to swing across. With a hard reel-in, Spike was airbound towards the bridge, hooking into the front half and swinging to the back half. On swinging to the next buildings ahead, he pressed down on the front handle on both his operational devices, causing gas to pour out and propel him to the taller building where the next flag was. The ponies, seeing him use his gas like that, were extremely impressed with his ingenuity.

Spike landed upon the same roof as the next flag, running to it and cutting it off like he was swinging two golf clubs at it. He continued to run, straining to make it. He knew that with his running, he had no more than twenty seconds left.

“To hay with this!” he shouted.

Pressing both top triggers of his operational devices, he soared over the rooftops, scanning his eyes for the flag. He soon found it sticking out of the building, gliding down towards it with his swords held out like wings. Once he got close enough, he flipped forwards, his added momentum giving him the strength to cut the flag.

Before he could hit the ground, he hooked onto the walls of the nearby buildings and shot himself up. Just a few seconds left tops. Using all the gas he had, he climbed up the buildings, aiming for his goal at the top of the other bell tower with all his friends. Spike thrust his body forwards each time his wires pulled him forwards with every ounce of his strength, all to ensure that he made it up to the top of the tower.

With one final heave and puff of gas, Spike soared to the top of the building, each of the ponies and humans making way for him to land safely. He did so, rolling to protect himself from the recoil in the process. Immediately, Hanji stopped her watch. Spike stood up, giving a pleading smile to Hanji. The silence was sickening and Spike only wanted to hear the answer above all else. Hanji then broke the tension.

“Fifty-three seconds,” she stated. “Just made it.”

“YEAH!” shouted Spike, throwing his hands in the air. “I did it!”

The ponies all began to crowd around Spike and give him congratulatory hugs, happy that once again, they’d be able to fight together. Kirill and Hanji looked happily at their friends, glad that they too would be able to join them on the battlefield.
_________________________________________________________________________________________

The ponies and Spike, all with their new 3D Maneuver Gears and their operational shoes on their front hooves, as well as Hanji, who was back on her horse, were with Kirill near the city exit. The ponies and Spike also had their shirts, harnesses, jackets, and cloaks upon them, fully packed for the long journey back.

“Thank you very much for doing this, Kirill,” said Hanji. “I hope we can still see each other again.”

“I look forward to it, baby-girl,” Kirill said, giving his friend one last handshake. “And it was very pleasant to meet all of you ponies. Good luck in your mission next month.”

“Thank you, Kirill. It was a pleasure working with you,” Twilight said.

“The pleasure was all mine,” he said, shaking her hoof.

Going around, he gave each of the ponies and Spike a handshake. As he came to Pinkie Pie, both of them knew what was coming. Kirill threw his arms out and Pinkie Pie locked her arms around his chest, giving him a final hug.

“Well,” Kirill said, backing away, “I don’t wish to keep you until sundown, so I shall bid you farewell.”

“Прощайте, Кирилл!” Hanji bid with a wave.

“Прощай, Ханджи!” called “Прощай, пони!”

With that, the eight of them turned to exit the city and head back to the Scouting Legion. The gate was opened for them to pass through, and they galloped out of the city. With them finally leaving, Kirill watched as the gate was lowered, separating him from both his old and new friends once again.

счастливого пути, Ханджи, he thought as the gate closed. счастливого пути, пони.