It was another day of drills. This time through thunderstorm weather which wasn't going so well for the mares. It was proving to be hard to dodge lightning bolts and still go at the speeds they were going.

"Put your backs into it!" Echo barked.

"We're trying!" Rainbow snapped back, dodging another bolt. THIS IS INSANE.

Lightning flew over to Rainbow. "You doing okay?"

"No, Lightning, I've almost gotten hit twice now, help me!"

"I'll try, just stay close, try going into dive then glide, it'll get you up to speed."

Rainbow nodded as she followed Lightning Dust downward into a glide. It was actually started to work for Rainbow. She could feel herself getting up to the speeds she was used to traveling at, save it was a little wobbly. The Glider Feathers were still a bit of a bother.

"There ya go."

Rainbow nodded. She looked around for Thorn… and found the mare had gotten herself stuck in a cloud.

"... Thorn… What are you doing?"

Thorn gave a bit of a kicked puppy look. "I got stuck in a cloud… HELP!"

Lightning and Rainbow rushed over to her as fast as they could and started to help pull her out. She was stuck pretty good too.

"Pull harder!" Lightning shouted.

"I'm trying!"

The two mares pulled as hard as they could till finally she came loose and sent all three of them for a crash landing on the run way…. on top of Bravo.

"OOPH!"

Echo winced. "Ouch."

The three mares were all dazed and weren't really moving much… and were talking nonsense.

"Pretty stars…" Thorn said with dizzy eyes.

"Twilight… What have I told you about using magic to fix everything?"

"I didn't do it…"

Bravo had a very unimpressed look on his face. "I know you're all dazed… But would you kindly get your rears off me!"

Echo helped the mares off him as they snapped out of their daze.

"Talk about rough landing." Lightning said, rubbing her head.

Rainbow was rubbing her head as well… and trying to hide a smile. She couldn't help it. Pay back on the griffon. She thought.

"Well, could've been worse, and you three are improving, which means it time for one the bigger training exercises… or rather, a test." Echo said.

"A written test or physical test? If it's a written test can we wait a few minutes? My ears are still ringing." Thorn mumbled, shaking her head.

Echo chuckled. "It's not a written test, follow me."

Echo took lead with Bravo right next to him. They lead the three mares down to another lower level the island. There they saw a grey dragon with green eyes waiting by a door.

"Ladies, this is Stone Flame, he's the Gate Keeper of the Metal Birds World."

The mares gave a salute to the dragon as he gave a salute in return.

"Greetings." he said.

"So, what's our test?" Lightning asked.

Bravo stepped over to Stone Flame, gesturing to the door.

"One of the biggest things that is emphasized here on Flysenhower is knowing how to find your way around, how to navigate new terrain. Your test is to enter the world on the other side of this door, learn how to navigate it, and find your way home."

The three mares looked at each other a little nervously.

"It's… safe right?" Thorn asked.

Echo gave an unsure look. "I wouldn't say completely safe, however, every trainee has gone through this test and has made it back, this world you are entering is very different, it's a world without magic."

The mares couldn't help but gasp.

"A… A world… without… without magic?" Rainbow said.

Bravo nodded. "This world has taught the Jolly Wrenches a lot, particularly the creatures who live there, the Metal Birds."

"The who?"

Stone Flame cleared his throat. "The Metal Birds, they're one of the many creatures that populate this other world, they're unlike anything here in Equestria. The way they fly is different from us, the fact they can do it is incredible."

"Wow…"

Stone Flame nodded, and looked back to Echo and Bravo. "You may give them the last of their instructions."

The griffons nodded looking to the mares.

"You know your objective, but also note to keep out of sight from the Metal Birds and whatever else is there as much as you can, and as for where the endpoint is… go back to where you began. That is all. Understood?"

"Yes sir!"

"Good, Stone Flame… Open the portal."

Stone Flame went over to the portal, dragging his claw over the crack in the middle causing it to open. He looked to the mares.

"Step on through, to the world of the Metal Birds."

The three mares nodded and made their way over to the door. They got in line, with Rainbow in the front. They could all feel the adrenaline pumping through them.

Let's do this…

Rainbow took a deep breath before stepping through the door, Lightning and Thorn following after her. The door closed as soon as the last one had entered.

"And so it begins." Stone Flame said, closing his eyes.

Let's see how they do.

The mares were blinded by white light as they entered through the door. They couldn't see anything in front of them for what felt like forever. Finally the light started to dim as surroundings started to appear around them, and they could see each other.

When it was all clear they could see where they were. They were in a large open field, surrounded by mountains and trees. It was close to sunset from what they could tell from the lighting. The air had a fresh smell… but yet there was another smell they couldn't quite figure out. It was a bit of sour smell but they pushed that aside and focused on the task at hand.

"Okay… so we're in another world now… populated by creatures that are made of metal and we have to navigate it… sounds simple enough." Thorn said looking around. "If we had a map."

"We'll just have to improvise, and besides, part of navigating involves exploring, and we're in no rush, I don't recall them giving us a time limit." Lightning added.

Thorn nodded. "Right… Well, let's get to exploring."

The three started looking around the field, keeping to the ground for now since they were unsure if something would see them in the sky. There didn't appear to be anything but lots of grass… and wheat.

"Wonder if they do farm work around here…" Rainbow thought aloud.

She looked ahead and saw something milling around in the wheat.

Huh…? What's that?

Rainbow kept quiet as she got closer to it. She found no harm in checking out the local creatures. Though she wasn't sure exactly what she was seeing… but the noise it was making reminded her a lot of the cows back at home.

"The hay…?"

Whatever it was, it turned around and practically scared the daylights out of her.

"WAH!" She flew up a little in surprise, and had scared the creature as well as it rolled onto it's back making a loud mooing sound.

Thorn and Lightning came running over.

"Rainbow! What did you do?!" Lightning demanded, noticing the tipped over creature.

"I didn't do anything! It spooked me!" Rainbow said looking at it.

Thorn trotted over to it, poking it a little. "Seems you spooked it as well, its out cold."

"So much for keeping out of sight." Rainbow grumbled.

Then they heard a loud piercing noise. It sounded a bit like the creature Rainbow had just spooked… just angrier.

"... Did anyone else hear a bull?" Thorn asked.

Rainbow and Lightning nodded as they looked towards the source of the sound.

Out of the tall wheat stalks came another odd looking creature that they swore was ten times bigger than them. Their jaws dropped as they saw it come closer, making more angry sounds.

"Oh sweet Celestia, FLY AWAY!"

No one hesitated in following Thorn's command as they took to the skies, fleeing from the monster. They didn't dare look back, but they knew the thing was following them. They kept flying straight forward, disregarding the whole try not to be seen rule. They were more worried about their lives right now.

"Higher!"

They flew higher into the sky till they could no longer hear the rampaging monster.

They got into a static position and just looked around. It appeared they were on some kind of farmland from what they could tell.

"Well, that was one of the most terrifying moments of my life." Rainbow Dash panted. "Let's try to avoid scaring creatures like that one so we don't enrage whatever that monster was."

"Agreed… Let's keep flying before something else shows up." Lightning said looking around. "The fact they said Metal Birds means were probably not the only ones using the sky."

They all nodded in agreement and began flying forward again, taking in all the surroundings. They couldn't really see anything that would suggest there were other creatures, but obviously something was doing farming around here. They just weren't sure what.

"Anyone else getting nervous?" Rainbow asked.

Thorn and Lightning nodded.

"I don't know about you guys… but I feel some what vulnerable out here… like something doesn't feel right." Thorn said giving a worried look.

"Maybe we shouldn't be so close together, we're easily seen as a group. We don't have to go too far from each other, we just can't fly as a cluster." Lightning suggested.

"That sounds like a good idea, I don't want us getting caught by whatever the hay is around here, we can see each other easily as long as we're not too far."

They all agreed and picked positions. Thorn would lead up the front, Lightning would be in the middle, and Rainbow would be in the back to look for anything that might be following them. They kept a good distance with each other, but kept signalling each other by using the reflective metal on their Air Glider Feathers.

Finally, another good use for these things. Rainbow thought as she and her companions flew on. But she was still feeling uneasy. What Thorn had said about feeling vulnerable… she was feeling it too. I know they said it's a world without magic… but something else feels like it's missing-

VROOOM!

Her thoughts were cut short as she felt a big blast of wind throw her into a spin out. She saw over head something had flown above her. She wasn't sure what it was, but if she had to guess, it was probably a Metal Bird. She tried regaining her balance but then was knocked by another gust of wind caused by another Metal Bird.

She couldn't regain control, she was in a full spin out.

"GUYS-

WHAM!

She had run into something… hard. She fell to the ground feeling pain all over. Looking up, she saw she had run into what appeared to be a water tower. She was completely dazed though, and was having trouble getting back up on her hooves.

"Ow… my head…"

She tried gaining some balance by flapping her wings a little but felt a sharp pain in her left one. She winced as she looked at it. It was bruised.

Perfect… just perfect…

Unable to keep her balance she fell to the ground, holding her head a little.

"Help… somepony… any pony…"

"I think the noise came from over here."

Rainbow didn't recognize the voice, but she could hear something coming closer.

Gotta hide. She thought as she started dragging herself a little with her hooves, taking refuge under the water tower she had just crashed into. By the time she had gotten to it, she saw something approaching.

She wasn't exactly sure what it was… It was orange and white. It had a bit of dolphin shape to it's body (or least that's the best she could make of it.) and had what appeared to be wings sticking out of it's sides. But most importantly, it had eyes and a mouth.

It looked around the area, rolling along quietly on the wheels that were positioned under it.

"I swore I heard something…"

And it sounds like a dude… Rainbow thought. I gotta get out of here.

She tried standing again and was able to keep her balance this time, but her head wouldn't stop ringing and the pain in her wing was beginning to get worse.

"Ngh!"

The creature looked over to where she was hearing her.

"Who's there?" he asked.

Rainbow didn't answer and tried running away, only making it a little ways before falling over again. The creature came closer. Her eyes got wide and she kept doing her best to back away from it, eventually backing into a tree.

"S-Stay away!" she yelled.

The creature wasn't far from her, but he didn't come any closer. He looked at her carefully, perplexed.

"What… are you?" he asked.

"What's it to you?" she asked, snorting a little. She tried keeping a strong stance, but her wing was bothering her too much.

The creature noticed. "You're hurt."

"Yeah, I noticed."

The creature started to come closer again. Rainbow was out of room to run. She wasn't sure what to do. She looked up at him in fear.

He gave a gentle look, almost worrying actually.

"Let me help you." he said gently.

Surprise replaced the fear in Rainbow's eyes.

"What…?"

"I can help you… or least try, I'm not gonna hurt you, I promise."

Rainbow wasn't sure what to think. She got into a bit of a defensive stance again, snorting a little.

The creature came a little closer, lowering what Rainbow could guess was it's nose, and gave a small nuzzle on her head. Rainbow found herself relaxing a little. It reminded her of how she and her friends would comfort each other if they were upset about something or scared. She had seen Fluttershy do it countless times with her animals to calm them.

"Shhh…"

Rainbow felt herself calming down and nuzzling back.

"Let's get you some help, okay?" he asked.

"Okay…"

The creature pulled back a little, turning a bit so his wing was extended to her.

"Climb on." he said.

Rainbow did as told, curled up close to the creature's body. He felt really warm.

"Thanks…." she said.

He gave a nod and began rolling forward to wherever he was going.

"Got a name?" he asked.

"Rainbow Dash… You…?"

"Dusty, Dusty Crophopper."

Dusty… Crophopper… where I have heard that…?

Rainbow winced a little, her head still hurt from the crash.

I'll worry about it later… my head hurts too much…

"Nice to meet you Dusty…" She said, closing her eyes.

"Nice to meet you too."

Rainbow nodded as she slowly blacked out.