"Pick up the pace Corporal!"

Sundown groaned as he increased the exertion in his legs, pushing against gravity and the slope of the mountain as he, and the remnants of Class 2-4, trudged up the mountainside trail. The weight of the pack on his back was overbearing; coupled with his cumbersome armor, each step was made from a simple movement into an agonizing struggle. And yet, the instructors, their backs free of weight and their hides devoid of armor, kept demanding that they go faster.

The two lesser instructors, Sir, and the recently self-introduced Grinder, were more vocal than their crystalline superior, but the Major's piercing glare had a motivational tendency far above the insults of the other two. Even now, he could feel her gaze in his backside, and as he droned out the jeers of Sir, he, through great effort, caught up to the column in front of him, and continued uphill in formation.

Pine and aspen surrounded them, and the thin, crisp air of the late day's sunset was invigorating in its own way, helping to push the candidates still in the class upwards in a very subtle, unnoticeable sort of way. Those that hadn't quit by this point of the selection were few; out of the one-hundred and twelve that had started ten days ago, only forty-two remained. And there were still eleven days to go.

The jangling and clatter of gear and armor resounded through the column of ponies with each synchronized step, pushing higher and higher into the mountains to touch the sky, simply because they had been told to do so. Theirs was not to reason why.

"One more kilo Mules!" came from behind and downhill, signifying an imminent end to the day's endless march.

The distances seemed easier to cover now; the hours had begun to blend together, and it wouldn't be long before the days began to do the same. The last kilometer went by quickly, and before long, the instructors commanded the remaining candidates to stop in an aspen meadow on the peak's summit while they conversed among themselves as to decide what to do next.

Sundown welcomed the respite, however meager, and let his knees give as he fell heavily into the wet grass of the meadow. He rolled over onto his back, letting the straps of his pack come undone, and stared into the orange-shifting atmosphere. The artist in the sky was busy painting a masterpiece on the dome above, the sun adding in dashes of purple and gold to the orange and pink hued clouds, and the gilded light gave the air a luster like glitter. They were on top of the world; there was nothing to block the uncorrupted view of the sky, and it was beautiful. And, for the first time in a long time, the unicorn forgot his aching knees, and felt himself smiling.

"You holding up?" asked a familiar voice, calling him back from a moment of tranquility to the present.

He tilted his neck to his right, seeing a familiar black pegasus seated at his side, his lavender eyes and mane sparkling down at him in the serene light of dusk.

"Doin' fine," responded Sundown, his voice slightly deeper, yet clearer and less raspy than the other's, "How 'bout you Nightingale?"

"I think my legs are going to fall off."

Sundown suppressed a chuckle, for fear that the instructors may hear, and he shifted his amber eyes back to the delight of the simple, beautiful sky.

"Makes you think of home, huh?" asked Nightingale, his raspy voice scratchy, but pleasant to the ear.

"Yeah," came the response, made sweet by its hint of a honeyed southern accent, "Almost makes me think of a mare I knew."

The two looked up together, enjoying a moment of nothing, until the dreaded bark of the instructors made itself known again.

"Alright," yelled Major Persephone, marching forward to the no longer resting group of ponies, "You've all made it past first phase. For the next eleven days, we'll be up here. So, first things first. Erect a tent city in this meadow. Two per tent. Here are your assigned bunkmates."

The crystalline pegasus, through her one good eye, read off a small scroll she'd unrolled in front of her, announcing the names of the few that had persisted thus far.

"Nightingale Starlight, you're with Jay Cardinal."

The black pegasus leaned into his friend at his side, and whispered, "I'll see you."

"Good luck," Sundown responded, and with that, the winged stallion walked off to meet the side of a crimson pegasus mare, her mane a deep sky-blue.

Several other names were called, but Sundown never heard them; his mind was elsewhere, mostly the near future, at least, it was until his own title's annunciation brought him out of his self-induced trance.

"Sundown Stryker!"

"Ma'am," he responded, looking into the mare's icy eyes.

"You're with Buckwheat," she continued, pointing to an immense mahogany earth pony stallion, dwarfing even the largest of the group by his sheer size; yet, for his vast bulk, his eyes were kind, light green and inviting, and as his black mane fell over his brow, Sundown felt less intimidated, and approached his new bunkmate.

"Alright!" shouted the Major, "You've got until nightfall to get your tents set up. If not, you're sleeping on the ground. Get going!"

Sundown looked up at the earth pony; they exchanged a silent nod, and went to work, removing rods and mesh from their packs, hastily assembling them to try and make a walled-tent, but the sands of time decided not to wait for them. The pair only had half the shelter put together when the sun began hiding its bright face behind the horizon.

Sundown looked to his bunkmate, or rather, ground-mate, as they now lacked bunks themselves, and, after sighing, apologized. The stallion responded with a cumbersome shrug, and as he began lying down, extended a hoof his way.

"Lieutenant Buckwheat," he said, his voice deep and rumbling, with a heavy received pronunciation, "call me Angus."

"Sundown," came the response as the unicorn himself laid down in the grass, but not before he took the stallion's hoof in his own.

Sundown accepted the oncoming cold of the night as he curled up on the meadow floor, and, one last time, he turned to look to the western horizon, seeing the last few drops of sunlight as they fled behind the veil of night. The darkness began to take the sky, and as he looked up to the stars, only one thought came to mind.

"What am I doing here?"

Beneath the same stars, miles away, a certain yellow pegasus was also laying her tired head down to rest. Only she was doing so from the comfort of home. She sighed as her head came to a rest on her pillow, and closed her eyes for a few moments, the lullaby of the crickets and the night's serenity beckoning her to sleep.

But, her mind was reluctant to embrace sleep.

Her once pleasant dreams had been turned to nightmares lately. Once upon a time, she'd dreamed of pleasant sunlit meadows, or times she'd shared with friends. But ever since the invasion, dreams like those had become rare, and had been replaced with nightmares of the worst kind; memories. Memories, she did not want to relive, yet couldn't forget.

Some were scary, like when the changeling warriors had ambushed her and her friends in the hall of the elements, or how the massive armies of the invaders had blotted out the sun above Ponyville as they locked in battle with the Equestrian Air Cavalry over the town. But, the ones that truly haunted her, were the sad memories.

She felt a tear forming in her left eye, and rolled over onto her side, allowing it to wet her pillowcase, and as the solitary drop moistened her sheets, recollection came flooding back to her.

Sad memories.

But, she couldn't forget them.

Clyde had died for her, and now, she lived to remember him. Only, the things she wanted to remember, she couldn't. Only the sad memories.

Another tear fell onto her pillow, and she rolled over, trying to find sleep now, and an escape from her troubled mind beneath the face of the pale blue moon. There was a time when she felt comforted at night, because she knew that, up in the mountains, Clyde's all-seeing, protective gaze was on her, and she'd cherished in a mental vision of his muscled body, but kind face, looking down on her from his lofty perch in the Saddlebacks. But now, the night brought her a different vision.

She saw a smile, green eyes, broken wings. She heard quiet words, spoken with precious breath. She felt soft, obsidian fur, made wet by rain, and something thicker. She remembered holding Clyde on the palace lawn as he spent his last moments alive with her and her friends. She remembered him, one of the few ponies she'd ever loved, dying in her lap, and how powerless she had been to save him.

His blood had already been poisoned; death had claimed him long before Chrysalis had thrown him from the tower, his soft, all-embracing wings limp and shattered by his side. And, above all else, she remembered how helpless she felt. How, though all she wanted to do was save him, to have him back, she could do nothing for him when he needed her help the most, even though he had done everything for her.

Sad memories.

Ever since that night, the night Clyde had slipped away, she'd felt incomplete. A small part of her died that day too, and she couldn't get it back.

She needed purpose again. She needed a life again. She needed something to live for now, instead of remembering a life she'd once had.

Fluttershy looked outside at the moon, swallowing hard to try and conquer her sorrow, and a single solitary thought drifted through her mind.

"What am I doing here?"