The three mares were settled in quickly to their barracks down below. It had been decided the three would be rooming together during their stay at Flysenhower.

Their barrack was comfortable. It had all they needed. Beds, lockers, all the basic needs.

"Well... least it's not metal beds." Thorn said lying out on hers. "Could be so much worse."

Rainbow nodded in agreement.

"I'm just curious about the training they're gonna put us through." Rainbow said, staring up at the ceiling. Dragons... They have DRAGONS as training instructors... I'm not sure what to expect.

She looked over to Lightning to see she was well on her way to sleep. Guess she's not worried about anything… well, glad to see that trait didn't leave her.

"I'm not sure I want to think about it… I mean, what if one of their training exercises involves the dragons chasing after us breathing fire?" Thorn asked, a bit of panic in her voice.

"I don't think they're THAT crazy, we saw a bit of what they were doing when we flew in, I guess one of their exercises involves having to deal with extreme weather conditions, which we have done at the academy."

"Yeah, but ours was CONTROLLED, these guys just have to roll with the punches as it were."

"Then we'll just have to adapt as well… and I'm sure they just wouldn't let any of their trainees get hurt." I think.

"I don't know, these are the Terrifying Wrenches we're talking about… Who the heck named them the JOLLY Wrenches anyway?"

"I don't know, go back in time and ask the founder."

"... Who am I? Doc Brown?"

Rainbow couldn't help but laugh. "Too many movies Thorn?"

"... Maybe."

"Come on guys! Let's move it!"

Thorn and Rainbow's heads turned to their door, hearing commotion going on outside. Rainbow went over to the door taking a peek to see what was going on.

She could see a whole herd of ponies and griffons rushing down the hallway.

"We don't wanna miss it!" a blue Pegasus called out.

Miss what? Rainbow thought.

She watched as the herd cleared the hallway before following after them.

"Hey where ya going?" Thorn asked, following behind her.

"I wanna see what's got them all fired up." Rainbow answered.

They followed close behind the herd till they arrived at a room with a giant monitor. There they saw ponies, griffons, hippogriffs, and even dragons gathered around the monitor, sitting with some snacks and drinks.

"They watching a movie?" Thorn asked.

Rainbow shrugged as she made her way over. Some of the other creatures in the room eyed her as she came over to the group. She gulped a little as she came closer.

"Um… Hi." She said, almost a little too quiet. She couldn't help but feel intimidated by some of the eyes that were fixed on her, especially from the dragons.

"Well if it isn't Rainbow Dash!"

Rainbow looked over to see Echo grinning and waving his claw at her. He had another griffon next to him that almost looked exactly like him, save a different helmet and long feathers around his cheeks.

"Be nice to her now, she's a hero for Equestria and she was also a Wonderbolt cadet that proved Spitfire wrong."

The mood of the room changed as Rainbow was greeted by many of the ponies and griffons in the room. The dragons even gave a warm greeting.

"Thanks for the welcome… and be nice to my friend Thorn too, she's working just as hard."

Thorn gave a sheepish look as the others greeted her.

"Come, sit, we're just gonna tune into the big race." Echo said inviting the mares to sit with him and his companion.

The mares came over and made themselves comfortable. The blue Pegasus Rainbow had seen earlier came over offering her and Thorn cider.

"Want some? Freshly brewed."

Rainbow's face lit up at the sight of the drink. "YES!"

Thorn nodded as the Pegasus handed over the drinks, chuckling a little. "Nice to meet both of you, I'm Jet Stream." He said, sitting by them, looking towards the screen.

The mares nodded as they looked towards the screen as well.

"The big race huh?" Rainbow asked.

"Yep, the Wings Around Equestria Rally, we always make an effort to watch it every year."

Rainbow's eyes widened a little as she recognized the name. "Wait…"

Before she could say anything, up on the monitor came the Princesses, including Twilight.

That was the race Twilight mentioned… Rainbow thought, keeping silent as she watched.

Celestia came forward as faced the crowd of excited ponies before her.

"Welcome all to the annual Wings Around Equestria Rally."

The crowd cheer and as did the Wrenches as Celestia carried on with her opening speech.

"We have many racers come here from all parts of Equestria, many who have trained hard to make their way here, stepping onto this runway is a step into history."

Luna came forward, joining her sister. "And for the first time in history, we have an Earth Pony in the race this year."

Rainbow's eyes went wide. AN EARTH PONY?!

The image on the monitor changed to show a young brown clydesdale stallion with a rusty orange mane and blue eyes… and metal wings on his back.

"Is… Is he crazy?" Rainbow asked, completely shocked at what she was seeing.

"Maybe, but that takes a lot of guts… especially for him." Echo said, sipping his water. "Ponies like him aren't exactly… em… respected."

"What do you mean?"

The griffon beside Echo pointed at the stallion's wings. "Those wings on his back are artificial as you might have guessed, he would be what others call a fake Pegasus."

"Well… it's kind of true, considering he isn't one."

The griffon scowled a little. "Well, the reason he is one is most likely because of a job he has, but he wants to be like those other Pegasi we see there."

"What kind of job would require an Earth Pony to have wings like those? I've never even heard of such a thing."

The griffon rolled his eyes. "Boy are you sheltered."

Echo elbowed him. "Let it go Bravo, not everypony knows what goes on in our part of Equestria."

Rainbow shook her head, looking to the screen again at the Earth Pony. He had a determined look in his eyes… Something she had seen in herself and her friends.

An Earth Pony who flies… Talk about defying what you are.

"For real?" Lightning asked the next morning while she Rainbow and Thorn were waiting at roll call on the run way.

"Yeah! He had artificial wings and everything, guess he really wanted to fly." Thorn said.

"No kidding… wonder how they work."

"That's what I was wondering too." Rainbow chimed in.

"Attention!"

The three mares stood in attention as Echo came forward with Bravo at his side.

"I know last night was exciting girls, but right now let's focus on training." Echo said in his official tone. "Today you begin your training, and fortunately nature has smiled upon you today, we have nice weather."

The three mares mentally sighed with relief. They really didn't want to fly through another thunderstorm like yesterday.

"But, don't think we'll be going easy on you, we're going to be pushing you till your wings are about ready to fall off."

Bravo stepped forward. "I can see Jet Stream already delivered your uniforms to you, looking sharp."

The mares had been surprised too when he had come to their room earlier this morning. It was different than what they were used at the Wonderbolts Academy. Instead of a vest that only went up to the neck and goggles, they had a full uniform, complete with Hoof Guards and a harness that had the Jolly Wrench crest on the front.

"But you're missing a piece, which is fine since we have to show you how to use them."

Echo went over to crate pulling out metallic yellow and black feathers. "These, are Air Glider Feathers. For those of you who were watching the Wings Around Equestria last night, you may have seen feathers similar to these on some of the racers. These types of feathers are special to our part of Equestria, they allow us to catch more speed and save on energy with just gliding instead of having to flap more."

Rainbow looked at Echo and Bravo carefully. I don't see any of those feathers on them… She noted but didn't dare speak since she was in attention.

"Of course, these feathers are meant for Pegasi only, griffons like me and Bravo don't need them."

"Now, enough chatting Echo, let's get them their feathers and take to the skies, nothing hard today ladies, just some laps around the island so you can get acquainted with your feathers."

The mares held still has the griffons put the feathers into their wings. It didn't hurt too much, but there a few pinches here and there as the clips in the feathers clipped onto their wings.

"Alright, to the sky!"

The griffons took off with the mares following close behind.

"Show us what you got, ladies."

Rainbow smirked. Gladly. She thought.

She gave her wings a hard flap as she began to speed up, her rainbow streak starting to form. A Sonic Rainboom should impress-

She felt a wing stop her in her tracks. It was Echo's.

"Whoa whoa, hold it. What do you think you're doing?" Echo asked, giving a slightly unimpressed look.

"Showing you what I got, that's what you asked."

Echo shook his head. "I guess we forgot to mention no magic flying, only natural flying."

Rainbow gave a confused look. "What's the difference?"

"It means no streaks behind you and more importantly, no Sonic Rainbooms." Bravo chimed in.

"You-"

"Yes, we know about your little talent, Spitfire told us everything we needed to know about you guys, and our orders are to teach you how to fly like us."

"And our way, is natural flight, not magic flight, understood?"

Rainbow was just speechless. She looked to her fellow Pegasi who were just as shocked.

How do they expect to train us then if we're not pushing our limits? Rainbow thought, giving the two griffons a glare.

Echo just stared right back at her. "Don't make this any harder than it has to be, it's our rules here now."

"What about the rest of your Pegasi? Do they use magic flight?"

"Nope, they fly like us, and they went through this same training as well."

"But magic let's us fly at incredible speeds, how could not using magic be pushing our limits?"

Bravo growled. "This is another version, we're trained for emergencies where magic can't be used… very much like when Tirek struck. Survival without magic is useful."

"Right, and how do you expect to train ponies like us who naturally use it without meaning to? That's something you can't just take away."

Echo narrowed his eyes. "We have our ways…" He looked to Bravo. "Guess she'll be going in sooner, won't she?"

"Oh yes, we'll see what we can do here before we decide." Bravo looked to Rainbow. "For now… Suck it up and fly, got it?"

Rainbow gave a curt nod and followed behind the griffons as they began to move again.

Be going in what sooner? She thought as she looked at the griffons.

Thorn flew in a little closer to the blue pegasus lowering her voice. "Think they got something to block our magic?"

"Maybe…" She whispered back.

The training continued as Echo and Bravo lead them around the moving island, occasionally stopping them when their streaks started to appear.

"Been meaning to ask, why does the island move?" Lightning asked, looking down at it.

"Our little island is attached to a giant Sea Turtle who moves it." Echo answered with a grin.

"His name is Flysenhower."

"... Really?"

"Yep, he let us move onto his little island, he likes us and we like him. We give him protection and he gives us a nice little home."

"I see."

Echo nodded, slowing Lightning down again since her flight streak was starting to appear. She let him do so which surprised Rainbow when she saw no look of resistance in Lightning's eyes.

I expected her to push back…

After a few more laps, the training ended. Echo and Bravo had kept their promise of their wings feeling ready to fall off. It was mainly from stopping so much in mid flight that had caused them to become sore. Plus, the Air Glider Feathers were a little irritating.

"How are these supposed to help again? All they did for me was scratch my wings with their clips." Thorn grumbled, picking at them.

"You were flapping too hard, reason they scratched you, they're called Air GLIDER feathers for a reason." Echo said, giving an amused look.

Thorn rolled her eyes.

"You girls go get something to eat, we need to have a word with one of our chief dragons, report back here on the runway at 3 for your next training exercise."

The mares saluted. "Yes sir."

Echo nodded flying off with Bravo behind him.

Rainbow looked to her team mates. "So… anyone else sick of them?"

Thorn raised her hoof. "Me."

Lightning shook her head. "They're just trying to teach us their way, Rainbow, let it go."

She left before Rainbow could say anything to her.

"... Okay, who is she, and what has she done with Lightning Dust?"

Thorn gave a confused look. "I'm pretty sure that's Lightning Dust, Dash."

"But she's acting so differently. The one I knew would've been trying to do things her way, not following orders exactly."

Thorn shrugged. "Ponies can change, I think it's good she's having an okay attitude about it, we need someone in the group who's actually listening."

"We are listening, we're just struggling."

"I think I forgot to add she isn't complaining. I don't think Echo and Bravo are going to treat us well if we keep whining… even though I don't find their training methods that great. I am already sick of them… but we have orders to learn their techniques… I hate to quote them… but… suck it up, and fly."

Rainbow sighed. "... Yeah… I guess you're right."

Thorn nodded. "Come on, let's go get some food."

"Yeah, I'm starving."

Thorn grinned. "Last one to the mess hall owes the other cider."

Rainbow grinned back. "You're on!"