Noire used his forelegs to heave himself over the edge of the wall he had been climbing. It had taken some time, and had only resulted in Noire falling over the other side, and into the mud. Spitting out the moist dirt, he seethed at the drill instructor who had put him to this. Surely there had to be a better way to train. Grumbling to himself, Noire rose out of the mud, and headed back to the starting point. He was never going to finish this, not at this rate. Despite the reassurances he had gotten by the rest of the border defense, Noire found himself close to resignation. After another moment of thought, and a few more faceplants caused by the obstacle course, he remembered not everyone meant well.

On the first day of his training, Noire managed to become the target of an unruly unicorn mare, by the name of Bowstring. She was a first class archer, enough for her to boast that she can hit a bullseye from over a hundred yards. Bowstring had greeted Noire by shooting a arrow, with a suction cup on the end, right on his muzzle. After removing the rubber device from his muzzle, Noire questioned another pony in his squad, as Bowstring had already left. The stallion explained that Bowstring was the self proclaimed leader of the squad, and she was hard on new arrivals there.

There were three other ponies, all unicorns, in the squad, besides Noire and Bowstring. The stallion who explained Bowstring's behavior introduced himself as Brandish. Brandish had a blue coat and black mane, with a Cutiemark of two crossed swords. He had the ability to conjure a sword and use it for combat, whether it be in his mouth or gripped by a telekinesis spell. Brandish seemed nice enough, and had befriended Noire. The other two ponies were both mares. Bastille and Sarissa, their cutiemarks a shield and a spear, respectively.

Throughout the first week, Noire faced challenges he had never prepared for in the past. While Brandish had been there to give him some advice, Bowstring had nothing but torment him. Once, Noire was given the assignment of crossing a platform suspended by ropes without having the platform shake so far, that the edges hit nearby metal barrels. When he was halfway across, one of the ropes gave out, causing Noire to lose his balance. He had fallen of the platform, and landed on the barrels. While receiving instructions to retie the rope, and start over, Noire noticed alone arrow, half buried in the dirt. He looked in one direction, and saw Bowstring smirking at him.

He had also been obligated to train combat skills with various weapons. Since Noire couldn't conjure a sword, he was given a standard iron one to fight with. His sparring partner had of course been Brandish. After yelling "I yield!" for the seventh time, Noire decided to try a different weapon. He faired no better with spears. It turned out Sarissa's talent dealt with thrusting spears, not throwing spears.

Noire shuddered as he recalled the amount of times he saw the steel arrowhead pointed in-between his eyes. He sighed, and returned to the beginning of the obstacle course once again. Nopony in his squad seemed to be very interested in making friends. He was going to need the support from somepony if he was to stay here, as things were not looking great. Somepony who can relate, somepony who understood him...

"Ohai, Noire!"

Noire looked up and shocked to see a familiar pegasus trotting towards him.

"What are you doing here?" Noire asked.

The dark blue pegasus mare stopped in front of him and smiled. "Same reason you are, Noire. I want to maintain Equestria's harmony."

"You shouldn't be here. I...I don't think you're up for the....task..."

The pegasus mare raised an eyebrow. "What are you trying to say..?"

"Nothing!" Noire sighed, "Look, Polaris. This place is rough. I haven't been through any threats yet, but I can tell this is serious stuff. I -"

"You don't think I knew that when I signed up for it?" Polaris asked.

"I just don't want to see you get hurt. I've known you too long for me to call you a stranger."

It was true. Noire had met Polaris a yfew years ago, when he had first moved into Ponyville. He had purchased a small plot of land to farm, and keep himself busy. He had started growing potatoes as a cash crop, purely for sale. However, one day the weather schedule called for a continous downpour. Despite Noire's efforts, his potatoes had drowned. Polaris had been in charge of the section of sky over his farm. After some ranting and venting, Noire decided Polaris wasn't all too bad. She listened to his complaints and took them seriously (even though there wasn't anything she could do). Over time, they became friends. However, Noire had kept himself reserved, and there was no further development in their relationship.

Polaris flapped her wings, and started flying around Noire.

"Don't worry." she told him. "I'm just a scout and courrier. I won't be put into any major skirmishes."

"For your sake, I sure hope not. I'd hate to lose a friend." Noire paused. "Hey, what's the pegasai training like?"

"It's just a bunch of drills on speed, control, and combat with lances. What about you?"

"I think we get pretty much the same physical training as the earth ponies. With a magic refinement class in the evening." Noire saw a chance to impress his friend, and took it. "Princess Luna teaches it, you know."

"I know."

Noire's proud smile fell to pieces. "Oh, ok."

"They us know at the meeting," Polaris chuckled.

"Well, I have to get back to training. See you around, I guess."

Polaris waved a hoof in response, and flew elsewhere. Noire got back to climbing the wall. Polaris sat on a far off roof, and watched Noire fall into the mud and getting up to do it again.

She giggled, and took off into the air again.