After their 2 hour workout, the 20 students were allowed to rest for a chance to re-cooperate for 15 minutes before their C.O. briefs them on their upcoming task. They were to meet at the briefing room located next by the clerks office.

It was late noon, around 12:58 PM.

"Find a spot to place yourselves. Okay, your next task will be a time trial to test your speed, agility, and acceleration. It will be here on training grounds. The task tomorrow will be much more difficult." Soul said.

Seng whispered to Shadow,"How hard can it be?"

It seemed Black Soul heard him because, she looked right at him and said,"You have to up half a mile up a mountain while dragging a 200 pound cart in under 10 hours. That's how hard it can be."

"Damn. That sucks." A Pegasus to the right said.

"You think that sucks wait until Dry Ocean and Ice Valley. Alright enough talk. Let's start the time trial." Knight Black Soul added.

The course had 10 rings with a diameter of 8 feet each, they were closely packed together. Shadow knew it was for agility. There was a flag at the starting, that was for acceleration. The faster you take off, the more violent the flag would wave. The finish line was about 7 meters away from the rings, that tested your speed.

"Alright, line up in an orderly fashion so we can begin. You will have one minute to complete this course." A Pegasus was by the starting line. He had a dark gray coat and his mane and tail were dark red. His cutie mark was covered by his armor. Like it mattered what it was.

"I would like for you to meet Knight Storm, he will be aiding me during your training. First up, Aero."

Seng and Shadow were too busy chatting so they didn't see how he looked like or how well he did in the course. It was over quick though, the next pony was up. And within no time it was Shadow's turn. Soul blew a whistle signaling to start. The whistle sounded off. Shadow felt like he was slacking off but when he came back Knight Storm said,

"Wow. New record, Knight Black Soul, Shadow here beat your record."

"What was his time?" Soul asked.

Storm answered,"23 seconds."

"You beat me by 4 seconds, Shadow. Congratulations. Seng you're up."

"What?! I can't beat that."

"SHUT UP AND GO TO THE STARTING LINE!!" Storm yelled.

Seng went up to the line nervously because, Storm was there. The whistle sounded off again. He returned with a time of 37 seconds.

"Not bad. Next" said Storm.

3 more times the whistled rung the ears of those who finished. The trial was done. Black Soul gave the top 3 times.

"Shadow: 23 seconds. Aero: 31 seconds. Seng: 37 seconds. You may return to your barracks."

They relaxed for the rest of the day, preparing for the course on the mountain.

Knight Black Soul came in to wake up everypony. She was wearing a similar type of armor that Knight Storm was wearing but, Soul's was full gold. Storm's armor had a golden armor with a outlining of silver. The colors on their armor distinguished the ranks. The 9 types of armor were: solid bronze, bronze with silver outlining, and bronze with gold outlining. Silver with bronze outlining, solid silver, and silver with gold outlining. The top were gold with bronze outlining, Storm's, gold with silver outlining, and finally solid gold.

It was early morning, 4:00 AM.

"We are going to the base of a mountain east of Canterlot. We leave now to go there in an hour." Soul started,"and after this you'll be granted 2 days to spend with your families. After those 2 days are up, you report back here."

They flew to the mountain base and saw 20 loaded carts that belonged to the earth ponies so they did not hover as the ones designed for Pegasi did.

"You will drag these up the mountain using your wings. If I see any of you use your hooves, you will be kicked out. Understood?" Soul said in a firm voice.

"YES, KNIGHT BLACK SOUL!" the 20 nervous Pegasus said simultaneously.

"5 minutes to start. Get ready." Soul added as she flew up.

Starting time 6:00 AM

Goal, before 4:00 PM

Current time 5:59 AM

Goal distance 804 meters(half a mile)

Current distance 0 meters

Storm yelled,"Begin!" then he flew back to the city in the clouds.

"YEAH!! FEEL THE BURN!!" Seng said while struggling to make a pace.

"Yeah. Come on, we just started." Shadow replied.

After a few minutes, they both found a pace that was comfortable.

"I wonder how the others are doing." Send said as he looked back.

There was one Pegasus coming up behind them. It seemed he was rushing.

"Whoa, there. Slow down you're going to pass out before you finish this." Shadow said.

He replied,"I don't want to fail though."

"Yeah but, you don't want to die either. Just stick with me and Seng. You'll pass so, don't worry. What's your name?"

"Lancer, and you're Shadow from the looks of it. You beat Knight Black Soul's time trial record."

"Yes he is, and I got third place, thank you very much." Seng said trying to pitch his name in the conversation.

"Oh yeah, you're the one who got yelled at by Knight Storm."

"Great now everypony is going to remember me as 'the pony who got yelled' at." Seng said then added sarcastically,"Yay me."

"Haha." Shadow quietly laughed.

They kept a steady pace for a while and made good progress. They did not make a sound until they heard a thud behind them. Somepony passed out.

Fyn Cour and her team were following them at the back of the line, waiting for either somepony to give up or pass out. Unfortunately, for one it was passing out.

Shadow heard Fyn Cour say a few words,".....worked........too hard. Take.........down......please."

"I feel bad for that one. He did all this just to have it end where he began." Lancer said.

"Yeah." added Seng."

Shadow stopped the conversation,"Back to us. Less talk more flying."

For about two hours they again didn't make a sound. The fair breeze cooled them down a few degrees.

Lancer broke the awkward silence,"What do you think Dry Ocean and Ice Valley will be?"

"Hot and cold." answered Seng.

"What he said." Shadow exclaimed.

"You two are blunt aren't you?"

Shadow and Seng looked at each other then looked at Lancer and they both said,"Yeah."

"This is going to be a long course." Lancer sighed.

"Okay.You guys are really boring." Lancer said.

Shadow replied,"That's because, we're concentrated right now."

"Yeah but, that doesn't mean you to have to be brick walls."

"Fine. I was getting bored anyways. Start a conversation."

"Where were you born?"

Seng answered first,"Far from here, I don't think I've been at the frontier very long. How about you Lancer?"

"I as well. Shadow?"

"Southern Equestria." This was a lie from Shadow, the others didn't know that though.

Seng responded,"Isn't that where dragons usually live?"

"I suppose you can say that. I never had a problem with them though."

Lancer sounded happy,"Bummer we can't continue this because, I can see the finish line."

The three used the rest of their energy they had to finish strong. They completed the course on the mountain. They were very tired and didn't feel how sore they were until a few moments after they were done.

"I feel a cramp in my wing." whined Seng.

"It's not so bad." Lancer tried to stretch his wings,"Never mind I feel it."