All of the little fillies and colts that had arrived the day before at the camp, lined up in three rows; earth ponies, pegasi, then unicorns all outfitted in with their new weapons and armor. Steel Skin was in the middle of the earth pony line. He couldn’t look back to see where his friends were for he as at attention and was not allowed to move.

Captain White Mane appeared before the three wide rows. “Today we leave for Mt. Snow Point. This is your first test as a warrior. Most of you will not survive the trip.” Shutters and whimpers came the group, but Steel Skin kept his composure quite well. “Do not fear, for if you die in battle it is the ultimate death for a warrior. If you live to see the gates of Mt. Snow Point, you will be trained to be the very best warriors, spell casters, and aviators.” All the little ponies started to gain back their moral. “Now go and show this mountain what you’re made of!”

As the Captain turned to position the guards for the assent, the lieutenant, the Pegasus who had trained Sky Splitter, announced, “Alright, you will be assigned to groups of four, an earth pony, Pegasus, unicorn, and one other pony. Your group will be assigned a squad and a squad leader, once you are assigned a company we will leave for Mt. Snow Point, so lets move people we will be off shortly.

The other lieutenants went row by row, assigning them to a group. When they came to Steel Skin, they quickly said with out even looking at him “Congratulations you’re the squad leader for Delta, over there.” He pointed towards a cart with food supplies.

Steel Skin trotted over to the cart and waited for a few minuets before he noticed Fire Light approach with Enchanta and Sky Splitter right behind him.

“Ello mate.” “Sup bro.” “Hello Steel Skin.” Fire Light, Sky Splitter and Enchanta all said.

“Hey guys.” Steel Skin said to all his friends.

“Wow I can’t believe we’re all in the same company” Said Enchanta.

“Yah bit of a stroke a luck eh’.” Fire Light replied.

“Ok everypony, are we ready?” Steel Skin asked.

“Yah!” They all shouted.

With that they rushed to take their food cart to the caravan and be off on their adventure.

Once the caravan was on its way, the four started to imagine what the school was like atop the mountain. They imagined it with high walls and long hallways, all covered in pure white snow. They stayed lost in their imagination all the way to about a mile from the base of the Mountain.

The towering sight of the mountain stopped their train of thought. “Bloody ell, ats heuge.” Fire Light stated.

Sky Splitter, flying overhead at a good height, shouted, “That’s what she said!” Even though it was barely audible, Fire Light, Steel Skin, and Enchanta all looked at him with a disappointed look. Sky Splitter landed with a surprised look, “It was just a joke, sheesh.”

Once the convoy was just in front of the base of the mountain, the Captain call out, “Holt!” The whole convoy stopped at once. Everypony was still and silent the wind picked up slightly. The only sound that could be herd was the soft flapping of the flags the color guards were carrying and the Captain’s red cape.

The Captain turned to face the army of little ponies and said. “This is it! This is your first test, don’t fail…for your sake.”

The clanking sound of the little ponies shaking in their boots filled the ranks for almost five minuets then finally they began to slowly move up the mountain with the Captain and the other guards. It had been a few hours and there was no sign of any danger. As the squads of ponies moved up the mountain it was calm and serine. It was a rocky and unfertile setting but still it did not seem as bad as the Captain portrayed it. One by one the squads of ponies let their guards down and tried to pass the time by talking about different things like what they thought the school would look like and what they planed to do once they graduated.

Steel Skin noticed the other squads and began to think that that maybe the mountain wasn’t as bad as he had thought but he knew that if the Captain said it was dangerous it was dangerous. Steel Skin stayed focus on his surroundings, his eyes scanned everywhere for anything suspicious in any way.

The other members of delta squad did not have the same mentality about the situation as Steel Skin. The fear of the mountain was still in the back of their minds, but they also dropped their guards a little as the others had.

“Soooooo, Steel Skin. What do you plan on doing after you graduate from the school bro?

“I’m more focused on getting to the school in one piece first.” Steel Skin replied.

“Oh cum of it mate, we avent see nutin’ fa hours, loosin’ up a bit.” Fire Light added.

Steel Skin gave Fire Light a menacing glare and said, “Look I’m your squad leader and as much as I hate sound like an ass, it’s for your own good. Now stay focused.” Fire Light looked at Steel Skin as if he was going to say something, but stopped and held his silence. The others set their minds straight and were now on the look out for any dangers.

Although the group was on guard, Enchanta tried to make conversation with Steel Skin.

Enchanta slowly glided next to Steel Skin. “So, I wanted to learn a little bit more about you Steel.”

Steel Skin still watching his surroundings asked. “What exactly did you want to know Enchanta?” Steel Skin was unsure why she was so interested in him all of a sudden but he didn’t care, he was glad that she was interested in him at all.

Enchanta gave Steel Skin a grin. “Well I wanted to know why you decided to go to Mt. Snow Point. I mean you don’t seem like the type that is only after fame or fortune and from what happened in the woods on the way over to the camp you don’t enjoy killing very much. So why did you decide to go?”

Steel Skin slowed his strut to concentrate on the question. He had only known this pony for 2 days and she already knew more about him then he did. After a long pause he finally answered, “Well your right I don’t enjoy killing, I don’t have a problem with it I just wouldn’t go doing it for fun. Your also right about me not doing it for the fame, but it’s the fortune I’m after. I don’t want if for my self I’m hoping to use the money to help my uncle.”

Enchanta look at Steel Skin with a “Daaaw” look and said, “That’s so sweet of you thinking of your uncle like that but don’t you want to help your parents out too.” Enchanta immediately realized what she had done once she saw the look on Steel Skin’s face.

Before Enchanta could apologize a voice from one of the groups yelled out “LOOK OUT!” Steel Skin did not notice that night was setting in and a fog rolled over the setting while he was talking with Enchanta. All of Delta squad quickly was searching for what caused the commotion.

Finally Steel Skin heard a loud humming around his squad. The fog was now so thick that the only thing they squad could see were the lights from the torches that each squad had. Sky Splitter, keeping his eyes on the fog line, shouted, “Enchanta we could use some light!”

Enchanta closed her eyes hard and released a ball of fire from her horn, which widened their visibility. Although the squad could see farther they still could not find what it was that was causing the humming. After a few seconds they then began to hear screams of pain from all around them “OH CELSTIA WHY!! No, no, NOOO! MY LEGSS!”

The screams were unsettling and the group grew more, and more nervous. Finally Fire Light busted out with. “We con’t jus sit ear we gotta do sumfin!”

“Fine, but what?” Steel Skin asked Fire Light back.

As the two were arguing a small floating object landed on a rock between the two of them. It was a Para Sprite, Steel Skin had only herd of them but knew of their dangers. “It’s a Para Sprite, it looks cute and friendly but it eats everything and sometimes ponies.” Steel Skin quickly stepped on it with a quick “squish”.

“I’ve had enough of this fog!” screamed Sky Splitter. He unfurled his wings and began to flap them in a swirling motion creating a gust of wind that blew away the fog. What Delta squad saw then struck fear into their hearts instantly.

Once the fog cleared the image that met Delta’s eyes was that of all the groups scattered and running around in fear form swarms of hungry Para Sprites that were ripping everything to shreds, from ponies to carts. The ones that were fighting back were gathered around White Mane who was doing well protecting himself but could do nothing to help the little ponies that were being massacred by the swarm.

Steel Skin had to think fast if he was going to keep his squad alive. Once he formulated a plan he turned to face his squad, “I have a plan but it’s going to take all of us. Enchanta can you still make that fire ball?”

Enchanta put on a confident face and said “Yes, but that’s as much as I can make.”

“That’s good enough. What about you Sky Splitter can you do that whirlwind thing you used to clear the fog to make a tornado?” Steel Skin asked.

“Sure as shit… uh Sir.” Sky Splitter quickly answered.

“Alright now here’s the plan. Fire Light, you and I are going to herd them into a center point, then Sky Splitter is going create a tornado that will suck them all in. Finally Enchanta will shoot her fireball into the tornado, with the air suction it will light the whole tornado on fire, killing all the little basters. Understood!?” Steel Skin looked at his squad expecting an answer.

They all shouted simultaneously “YAH!” and preceded with the plan just as Steel Skin described. Everything went according to plan up until it was time to light the tornado. The tornado didn’t just burn up all the Para Sprites it blew up in a fiery explosion.

The explosion blinded everypony who was watching including White Mane. Since Enchanta was so close to the tornado it blew her back, with enormous force, off the edge of a near by cliff. Steel Skin immediately jumped off to save her.

As the two were in free fall Steel Skin positioned himself to gain speed dodging dead tree branches the stuck out from the side of the mountain to catch Enchanta. He finally grabbed hold of her unconscious body and brought it into his own to protect her.

The last thing he saw before hit the ground with bone crushing force was, even after all that had happened, how beautiful Enchanta was. Then everything just went black.