Rainbow was given three months by the Caesar before the physical aspect of her training would begin. She spent much of this time recovering, or with her new child. Like her, he was an energetic little colt, often trying to test out his new wings, or shuffling around the floor. She was helped in this endeavor by Castus, who provided a bit of expertise, as well as doing other, more menial jobs: fetching more baby food, getting fresh linin for wraps, etc. All in all, it was almost perfect.

Almost. While he rarely cried during the day, he would seemingly compensate by wailing up a storm at night. Even crackers didn't help with the crying, even if they still helped with the dreams. He would wake her up in the middle of the night, wailing about something. Occasionally this was something actually necessary like he needed a change or to be burped. Mostly, however, it seemed like he wanted to be close to his mommy. Eventually, she brought his bed, a large basket with blankets in it, up to the side of her bed. That way, not only would she wake up sooner, she wouldn't have to go too far to figure out the problem. She could just reach down with a wing and lift him up.

In that time, she recovered well. Now, her once long mane had been clipped short and was now often pulled back into a short braid. She had begun to thin down quickly, becoming her original size from before her pregnancy in a few days. The semi-regular trips to the bathhouse had cleaned up her mane and coat. If it weren't for her scars and new hairstyle, she could've been mistaken for still living in Equestria.

Finally, her three months were up. The next day, she was expected to be down at the entrance of the villa by an hour before sunrise. There, she would meet her instructor.

She felt a faint shoving sensation against her head. It touched one of the scars over the right side of her face, which finally coaxed her out of the void. She was greeted by Castus, who said, "Wake up, Domina."

Rainbow shot him an angry glare, then attempted to roll over. "Five more minutes," she muttered.

"I suggest you get up, Domina," he said back. "I have known Praefectus Dorus for some time, and he isn't the kind of gryph you want to keep waiting." Begrudgingly, she complied and began to get up. As she walked over to her tunic, he added, "I'll keep an eye on young Depressi during your training. Have a nice day, Domina."

She pulled on her tunic, belt, and caligea, and pushed open the door. She then unfolded her wings, shot back to the basket, and kissed her son. In his sleep, he turned over and smiled, which made her smile. Then, she shot back out the door, out the window, and out over the courtyard.

Even in the darkness of the early morning, she could look out over the area around the villa and see things quite clearly. The villa was situated on a large island, which, given the geography lessons showed the territory of the Empire was mostly in the Pryhan Archipelago, then it made sense. As such, much of, if not most of the visible horizon was dominated by the sea. In the distance along the coastline, she could make out the faded lights of a small city or town. Rocky hills and mountains dotted the region between here and the city, with the silhouettes of animals made visible in the early morning light.

Below her, in the courtyard, stood a Demigryph in armor. Rainbow dove down, flapping her wings at the right time to avoid becoming a pancake. The Gryph backed up, giving Rainbow a minute to soak them in. He wore the same mail armor, steel chest plate, and brass helmet as the demigryph guard on her first day here, but with a few notable differences. For one, the plate had engravings on it, and the helmet and mail looked to be of higher quality. In addition, his helmet crest was red and was much bigger, stretching to the side like a massive fan. He also had a red cloak, a slightly bigger sword, and had a massive hardened vine slung over his shoulder.

"So, you're the one that the Caesar is so interested in? Rainbow Dash, right?", she said, not without a hint of snarkiness.

Rainbow shot back with her usual cockiness, "The one and only!" This only made the Preafectus frown a little deeper.

"Well, ok then. I assume you know who I am?", he said. After a quick nod from Rainbow, she said, "Alright then. Let's get started. I've been told you're a good flyer. Would I be correct?"

"The best!" she said almost immediately.

"Ok," Dorus said. "The only one I've seen, but ok. Now, how fast can you run? Or lift?"

That caused her to stop and think. "Huh. Well, back in Equestria, I never really lifted, and I didn't run all that much. Soooo, I don't know."

"Alright then," he said. "That works fine by me. Let's find out. Zahir!" A zebra trotted out the door, carrying a crate on his back. He set it down, then opened the crate, stepping back as Rainbow looked inside.

Inside were several sets of armor. The largest was white with red trim. It looked pretty stiff and looked as if it would completely cover her whole torso with interlocking leather tassels covering the areas that would be her upper legs. Next to it was an iron helmet that looked pretty bare. Its cheek guard was a bit smaller and further back and the rest of it sloped back over her head, completely covering most of her now clipped short mane, leaving only the tip of her braid exposed. On the opposite sides of the cuirass was two sets of armor. One was a pair of fully enclosed, segmented metal greaves, the only opening being a spot for her to slip her caligea into. Along with these were a pair of small iron vambraces to go over her forelegs, adding redundant protection to the already purely iron prosthetics.

"Try 'um on. They'll be part of your first exercise," he said. As she complied and began to slide on and fasten the torso armor, he turned to the zebra. "Zahir. Go and grab the sarcina. Make sure it's full." The zebra nodded and walked off as Rainbow started grunting, pulling up on the greaves to fit them over her caligae. "Next time, putting on the greaves first, then the vambraces, then the linothorax. Helmet goes on last."

"That would've been nice to know from the start!", she groused. She then saw the zebra come back, holding a long stick with pack on it. The pack appeared to be made of leather and looked a lot like a saddlebag actually. Several other items hung on short cords along the sticks crossbar. These were an adze, a pickaxe/ax thing, a turf cutter, and a small net filled with a tin bowl.

"See this?", Dorus said. "This is a legionaries best friend: the Crossbar Sarcina. Inside, normally you will find one's personal kit, food for between five to fifteen days, and a few other items. However, we haven't procured these yet. So, instead, we've substituted those for 85 pounds worth of rocks." He then shoved it into her hooves as she pulled the helmet on, saying, "Now, I know you can fly well, as I've said. Now, let's see how much you can run. Lugging this, run down the road until you touch a large rock in the shape of an oval with an olive tree on top. Touch it, then run back here. Do that ten times, or until...." He paused, looking up at the now nearly risen sun. "....Say about noon. Whichever comes first. Now go!"

"What!?" she yelled. "Why should I have to run when I can fly?"

He replied, "Well, besides building up your stamina and strength? It'll just be a backup to flying. Now, fall to command. Move!"

Rainbow snarled under her breath, but still slung the stick over her shoulder, adjusted her helmet, and took off down the road.

Before anyone comments, I'd like to illistrate exactly what Rainbows equipment is:
Linothorax
Attic style helmet
Fully-enclosed greaves
Vambraces