Every muscle in Barricade’s body screamed for mercy as she somehow found strength to lift her hooves. She had been dragging herself around the royal garden’s borders for what felt like the hundredth time that afternoon, and she wasn’t feeling so good. Sweat dripped from her body like small waterfalls, stinging her eyes and drenching her mane.

She knew that the others in the group were doing little better than she was. A few Earth ponies were ahead of her; panting, but not suffering, not yet. Barricade drew a sharp hiss through her teeth and squint her eye shut as a salty droplet burned beneath her eyelid.

“Faster! I didn’t say you could slow down!” The officer barked, hovering in the air above the long line of recruit hopefuls. “If you don’t pick it up right now, you can forget joining the guard! Now run, you fillies!”

Barricade’s breathing hitched as a dry sob quietly escaped her. For the last four hours they’d been doing nothing but running. The only time they were allowed to stop was to get a drink of water, and they’d only had two breaks. Nearly a third of the group had given up, and anyone that got overlapped by the leader was immediately removed.

White foam clung to the corners of her mouth. Her hooves grew ever heavier with each step as she began to slow and her head bobbed slightly as it slowly began to fall.

A soft bump from her left side jolted Barricade back to alertness. An earth pony mare of golden yellow, smiled over her shoulder toward Barricade, as if to say: “Come on, don’t quit yet.” The mare looked forward again, keeping her pace and breathing heavily.

“Golden Beryl.” Barricade thought with a smile. Beryl had stopped at the same water station as Barricade the last two rest periods. She complained about it being cold of all things, and that it was nearly impossible to breathe all the way up here. But for the five minute intervals that Barricade had shared with her, Beryl seemed really nice.

The group rounded the corner, headed toward a clearing with numerous jugs of water sitting on tables. At around thirty minutes after they had started this gauntlet, a unicorn broke off from the pack toward the water tables without instruction to do so. He was quickly removed from the field. Ever since then, every lap would bring them right past it, as if to taunt them.

Normally, the officer would throw out some jeers and antagonizing words, inviting any wimps to go get a drink. But as they drew closer, the officer stopped the lead ponies and pointed to the tables.

“You all have ten minutes. If you’re not back on this path before then, go home.”

The entire group stumbled over to the tables with varying degrees of audible distress.

Five minutes and two jugs of water later, Barricade sprawled out on the grass. She stared up at the clouds wistfully, measuring her breaths as they caught up with her. A shadow fell over her face, followed by a familiar voice. “You almost quit on me back there, Barricade.”

“Oh,” Barricade groaned loudly as she sat up. “Yeah, thanks for the encouragement, Beryl. I was absolutely dying out there.”

Golden Beryl chuckled and rolled her shoulders. “You’re not the only one. Like I told you before, the air up here is so thin. It’s hard to maintain a steady pace when I can hardly breathe.”

“Form up!”

Barricade grunted, and pushed herself up on shaky hooves. She shook her mane aggressively, sending droplets everywhere. “Well, time for another ninety minutes of running.”

“Ah, we’ll make it, she can’t make us run forever,” Beryl said confidently.

As soon as Beryl said those words, Barricade’s ears wilted. “No, she can’t. But that doesn’t mean she won’t try.”

“Twenty seconds! Break’s over, get up!” The officer shouted. Everypony quickly scurried back to the track, a spring of new life in their step. But their enthusiasm was quickly dampened by the sinister smile on the Guard’s face.

“Alright! You know the drill! Get moving!”

A few groans and complaints escaped the group as it pushed forward. The officer hovered overhead, heckling everypony. “What was that? You want to quit? Is that what you said? You can go ho—”

The antagonistic voice was drowned out by a thunderous explosion that rocked the air around Barricade, and was quickly followed by a blast of wind. The guard tumbled a short distance, nearly falling into the recruits. Then she, and subsequently everypony else, stopped and stared in the direction of the noise.

A wide, multi-colored halo spread out across the sky. A ring of color that expanded outward, passing overhead until it faded away completely.

Barricade looked down to Beryl, who in turn, looked up to Barricade. Both shrugged and looked toward the point of origin.

Meanwhile, a wave of hushed murmurs washed over the group, only to fall silent as the officer turned to face the recruits.

“Well, I can honestly say that I’ve never seen that before. But I never told you to stop running! Mo—”

A second, thunderous crash rang out. This time from behind them. Everypony turned at once, looking up at the tower, and the massive dragon sticking out through the roof.

The guard’s gaze never left the dragon as she spoke. “You pass this portion. Be here tomorrow morning. Dismissed.” And with that, the officer rocketed toward the tower.

Barricade blinked a few times, casually scanning her surroundings and trying to process what exactly just happened. A second glance at the tower revealed a gaping hole, a number of pegasi guards, but no dragon.

“Barricade.” Golden Beryl nudged her slightly. “I’m not sure, but I’m fairly certain we just watched a dragon explode out of that tower.” Every word was drawn out, as if Beryl didn’t believe what she was saying herself.

“Aye, lass.” Barricade said, blinking a few times before reality caught up with her.

“You pass this portion.”

“I passed.” She whispered, a smile growing on her face.

Golden Beryl cocked her head slightly. “Come again?”

“We passed!” Barricade hopped in place then flopped to the ground. She stared up at the sky, giggling, and pulling her hooves to her chest. “We did it…”

It started with a snicker. Then a soft, gentle laughter played upon the breeze. It grew louder and louder until Beryl was sitting down, holding her stomach, and gasping for air. She sat there for a few moments until she was breathing normally again. “Barricade, you’re adorable; you know that?” Beryl pushed herself off the ground with a grunt and slowly began to trot away, still chuckling. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Right! Tomorrow!” Barricade said as she lifted her head.

She lay her head back down, grinning at the clouds as they passed.

“I’m doing it, Da. I’m really doing it.” She thought as she closed her eyes for just a moment.

She didn’t know how long she lay there, but it was at least until the throbbing in her legs stopped. Content that they weren’t about to explode from sheer exertion; Barricade opened her eyes, rolled over, and stood on shaky legs.

She slowly hobbled her way over to the side hall where she first entered. Gritting her teeth and growling a little with each step. She was used to physical exertion, but she’d never pushed herself as that guard did. A twinge in Barricade’s leg stumbled her, forcing her over to a pillar where she sat down, and leaned against it with a deep breath.

“So how did it go?”

Barricade gasped and looked around the corner. The grey stallion from before slowly trotted toward her. His middle was bandaged, which the most likely reason that he hissed through his teeth as he sat next to her.

A pang of guilt shot through Barricade, she averted her eyes and replied tersely. “It went fine.”

The stallion simply nodded.

Barricade cringed as the seconds dragged on into minutes. Soon enough, her hooves started to tap together of their own accord. The silence was unbearable.

“Sorry about your… um, sorry for accidentally kicking you.” Barricade shook her head gently, forcing herself to speak. “What’s, uh, what’s your name?”

The stallion chuckled, muttering a quiet “Ow” before answering. “Ah, I’m Vee.”

“Just Vee?” Barricade said, ear cocked to the side.

“Vee Form, sorry.”

“O-oh! no, don’t be,” Barricade stuttered. “Sorry about your uh, well, running you over like that. Is it bad?”

Vee shrugged gently “Well, I just got released from the medical ward. It was just a dislocated wing and a minor contusion; pretty good deal for what I should have gotten out of our— brief exchange earlier, if I say so myself.”

He began to laugh heartily, and Barricade quickly complemented his laughter with a nervous version of her own. “Heh. Yeah, lucky you…”

“I’ll be let off work for a week or two; paid sick leave. So, it’s not all bad.” He craned his head toward her field of vision, flashing a genuine smile. “I don’t get enough vacation after all, so thank you. Just a shame that I’ve gotta go and get myself roughed up to get it.”

Barricade nodded slowly, scrambling for something to say as the silence drifted nearer and nearer to critically awkward levels once again.

“So, did you hear about that dragon incident in one of the castle towers?” She said as she continued trying to free herself of the stiffness plaguing her body.

The stallion’s ears perked up, and he scooted over into better view. “I did, big ‘ole lizard just pops up out of nowhere, and is gone the next moment?”

“Yeah.” Barricade turned to face Vee. “Yeah, that’s exactly what it was like! It happened in the middle of our running drills. Do you know what that was about?”

Vee scowled a bit as he shifted his weight. “Well, One of the medical aids heard it was some Sparkle filly taking her entrance exam for Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. Evidently something went terribly right, I suppose.”

“Wait. Right?” Barricade’s ears wilted and she shook her head. “I’m confused.”

Again, Vee shrugged. “You and me both. Apparently, she was only supposed to hatch a dragon from its egg, and what she ended up doing was send that hatchling not only through its shell, but the roof too.”

Barricade’s eyes went wide, and she leaned against the pillar. “A filly did that? That’s terrifying.”

“It is.” Vee said with a nod. “Celestia herself intervened and controlled the situation; no one was injured, just shaken up.” He got to his hooves with a groan and bowed his head. “In any case, I’ve had enough fresh air for now. Doctor’s orders say I ought to be off my hooves and healing. I’m sure I’ll see you around…”

“Barricade.” She said with a smile.

Vee stamped his hoof lightly. “Gah, you’ll have to be patient with me, I’m terrible with names.” With a wave, Vee turned toward the building he had just come from. “Well, Barricade, see you around, and best of luck. Who knows, if you make it through the week, maybe you and I will end up working together sometime.”

A subtle panic gripped Barricade as Vee uttered those last words. She quickly flashed a smile and bowed her head in kind. “Maybe. I’ll have to make it first, then we will see,” she chuckled. “See you, Vee.”

He was already halfway to the building as he flashed that same sincere smile back over his shoulder. “Bye.”

“Bye.”

Vee disappeared around a corner as Barricade whispered one final. “Bye.” Under her breath. She paused a moment, and shrugged it off as she stood up. Her muscles ached in protest, but she somehow found a way to traverse the hall, despite the pain. Though, her mind was elsewhere: lost in thoughts of what the next day would bring. Unbearably curious about the little filly behind the appearance of the dragon. But most perplexing of all was that stallion, Vee.

Barricade stopped for a passing cart, and shook the thought from her mind. “Stay focused ‘Arri. Do Ma ‘n Da proud.”

She smiled a bit; she’d conquered the first day and she only had to survive the week’s trials to get into the guard. She could do it, she knew she could. Just as long as she managed to stayed focused.

The door clicked softly as Barricade shimmied her way inside and headed for the shower. She stopped in front of the mirror and grimaced at her reflection. Her wild mane hung heavy with sweat; shrouding her exhausted face.

“Barricade, you’re adorable; you know that? I’ll see you tomorrow.”

The shower door opened at her touch. Never had a small space seemed so inviting to her. She half-fell, half-stepped inside and sat down. With a gentle motion, she turned the hot water on, then leaned forward, pressing her head against the wall of the shower. The droplets pelted her coat and ran down her sides, relaxing her muscles and allowing her mind to wander once more.

“...see you around, and best of luck. If you make it through the week, maybe you and I will work together.”

“So what if it's day one? I’ll make it,” she thought with a gentle sigh. “I just gotta stay focused.”

Barricade lifted her head from the wall and held her mane beneath the shower head.

“I’m gunnae be okay…”