All righty... Lets get this started again.

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Fan fiction stories that is-

    Rebooting my own fanfics and starting from the beginning - Prologue chapter

 Lilac Spadeserra was quite a normal pony by all usual standards. She ate pony things and said pony things. As a filly she never believed she would ever accomplish anything too exciting. This didn't mean she wasn't happy of course, as she was quite happy, it just meant she was content to be average. Lilac's mother had a number of other plans.
    When she had grown into her prime, she awoke one day to find her mother telling her, "Excellent news Lilac! I've signed you up for a free trial experience at the Spacetime Protection and Defense Entity!"
    Lilac looked at her mother in shock, "You- You signed me up for a free trial at SPADE? Me? At- SP- MOM!?!? What are you thinking?" She shook her head, and twitched in surprise as her Mom quickly lowered a saddle bag down upon her back. "You're supposed to be there in about an hour! Train ticket is in the bag! Good luck Lilac!" And Lilac suddenly found herself being shooed outside.
    Lilac sat there for a few seconds in utter confusion and surprise. "Wh-what? Where am I going? Where is it? I didn't even get breakfast! Mom!"

    Big Brass, the large dark gold stallion in charge of trainee introduction, glared in his usual uninterested way as Lilac entered the building. She looked very upset and quite like she hadn't wanted to come here.
     She was a typical earthpony mare, one of the younger recruits but certainly not the youngest. She had a purple mane with surprisingly dark blue tips, and a yellowy green coat. Her most distinguishing feature was usually her glaring bright yellow eyes, but at this particular moment her eyes were half closed as she sighed deeply. "Okay... Let's just get this over with. They'll just send me home after they find out how unsuited I am for this stuff." Big Brass momentarily had thoughts of 'I wouldn't be so sure Missy, A lot of other ponies that apply for this are super under-qualified.'
    Lilac strutted her way through the main lobby, ignoring the other lost recruits claims of not knowing where to go, and walked straight up to Big Brass. "Oy! Who do I talk if I want to get this over as quickly as possible?"
    Big Brass tried to formulate an answer, the answer being himself, but unfortunately a chime rang through out the lobby as a pleasant voice claimed "All trainees must meet in the main training grounds in five minutes. Have a lovely trial session~!"
    Lilac groaned, "This is SPADE, and you have a cheery greeting like that? Do most people not know what sorts of violent space criminals you people are after?" Big nodded, "Yeah, actually I'm surprised to hear you even know what we do here. Most of SPADE is kept under the table, and- Why am I telling you this? Hmm, I have to go help set up. Good luck trainee." He shook his head grumpily, wondering how the mare known as Lilac had managed to pry any sort of conversation out of him. 'I must be slipping, I used to be the silent veteran. And now this random trainee is getting me to chatter away. Harrumph.' And he walked away.

    Lilac proceeded into a courtyard that was slightly more cramped than she preferred. There were a great deal of ponies there, and more colts and stallions than fillies and mares. The smell of sweat and deodorant had somehow already begun to spread through the morning air. 'I know Mom want's me to get a head start on life... But I graduated two days ago! Can't I have just one last summer vacation before I do things with my life?' She trotted her way to the north-eastern corner of the courtyard, and waited in silence for some of the boring ponies to come out and say things.
    After a few minutes of quiet panic and frantic trainees running everywhere looking for friends, a sudden silence loomed over the place. A balcony protruding from the walls of the building was now under the attention of all 246 ponies in the courtyard. A middle aged male earth pony stepped out, giving a quick glance of surprise when he saw Lilac, but quickly returning his attention to the rest of the masses. This pony was Lilac's father, Dianthus Spadeserra, the founder of SPADE.
    'Oh, Dad is here. No wonder Mom wanted me to sign up today, I haven't seen him for three years until now.' Lilac liked her father, he was a nice stallion and a gentle caring Father, but she still felt her mother hadn't any right to send Lilac to visit the academy today. Unless of course- 'OF COURSE! Dad is probably taking a break from service today, and Mom wants the family to stay with our company at all times. Geez Mom, why not send my cousin or something? Why am I here?' But Lilac knew full well that her mother had been trying to get Lilac to get off her rump and do something exciting with her life for years.
    She sighed, hoping to get this over with as quickly as possible, maybe if she were lucky she might be able to- 'Hold on a sec, Dad is back. Wasn't he hunting down the most dangerous time-travellers of all time?'
    Her father began his long winded introductory speech Lilac had heard practiced at home so many times, and she tried to drift off into thought pondering as to who had taken the task of dealing with the most potentially dangerous pony ever to hop dimensions and travel through time. A pony known only to her in stories, a pony shrouded in mystery. A pony known as Violet Nightfire. A pony who Lilac did not expect to learn that she would be meeting in less than a day.

Chapter 1 - Preparation -

    Lilac finally heard the academy's alarming chime, as a long lunch was offered to all the trainees. She slipped her way through the crowds, and somehow found herself at the end of the cafeteria line anyway. She stared blankly at the crowds, and began to realize how much she missed her school friends. 'It's only been two days, but it already feels like months since I've seen them. I wonder if this is how Dad feels all the time.' The line must of been moving really quickly, because Lilac suddenly found herself holding a tray and sitting at an empty table.
    It only took about twelve seconds before her table was full, and she found herself assaulted by various admirers she wasn't aware she had. "Oh my goodness! It's Lilac Spadeserra herself! Lilac! Hey Lilac!" The cries of what appeared to be dedicated fan girls sounded out.
    "Umm, Hi? How do you know me?" She asked timidly, already aware that she had probably gotten enough looks of surprise to fill a lifetime just this morning when her name had been announced in the attendance call. Lilac was something of a famous pony here, and several of the staff had actually asked for autographs.
     "Oh come on!" A young deep voiced mare responded, "You practically own this place, and you don't expect to be recognized? There is literally a glass statue of you standing beside your dad IN THE MAIN LOBBY! Granted, you are six years younger in that picture- erm- statue... Thing." Lilac shied away from the attention, trying to eat her fried carrots in peace.
    She attempted to look up at the assortment of colour and vibrance located in the admiring faces before her. She gave a polite smile, and internally sighed. 'Alright, I might as well make friends for the whole SINGLE day I'm stuck here...'
    "True enough... So what are your names?" She asked.

    Lilac and her group of new friends giggled merrily as they shuffled away from the table. Somehow the group of friends had escalated from 12 fillies and mares to three dozen ponies of all sorts.
    "And then the pancakes just landed right on her head! I felt so bad for her!" Lilac retold a story that had happened moments ago to the larger group that had assembled, while the pancake pony, incidentally named Syrup Flow, blushed at the attention she was getting. A laugh and a hearty cheer echoed through the crowd, as Lilac noticed her father enter the room, and nod approvingly at the crowd Lilac had gathered.
    Lilac slithered her way through the crowd, and arrived at her fathers side before anypony in her crowd could even notice. "Hello Daddy!" She greeted as she nuzzled his cheek, pulling him into a hug. He felt stiff and unhuggable at first, but melted into the gentle father she always knew within seconds. "Hello sunflower! What did I miss? You've graduated now haven't you?" He had always called Lilac sunflower in reference to her glowing yellow eyes, which were now wide and full of affection for the father she hadn't been aware she had missed so much.
    "You bet I did! Didn't even have to repeat one year, take that uncle Kapplin!" her beaming smile catching the glance of some of the ponies in her recently abandoned group.
    "So now down to business Dad..." She took a step back, turning quite serious, "Why did you and Mom decide I had to attend this academy? You both know that the higher ups are going to want to make me succeed!" Her father sighed, turning his head to the side and giving an innocent expression. "Now Lilac, Your Mother and I have always wanted for you to do something great and exciting, and you are a very talented young mare..." He looked back, and gave his best attempt at a pout, "Pleaseeeeee Lilac? The training programs were practically built for ponies like you! Just give it a chance, for me? For your Mom? For you? even for your old Uncle Kap-" "Alright! I get it! I'll give it a try..." She replied in mock annoyance, smiling the whole while. She loved when her Dad teased her, it reminded her of the old days when she would spend weeks and weeks with him.
    Her father dropped the pout, smiling and giving her an affectionate rub on the noggin with his left fore hoof. "I thought you'd come around. Now you know what comes next?" "Actual challenges? Not just tours?" "Actual- Quit reading my mind sunflower." He replied with his biggest grin yet. He walked past her with a quick nod goodbye, and headed for the staff room.

    Lilac stood on the edge of courtyard, wondering what the first challenge might be. A chime went off as the famous cheery announcer voice announced: The Trainee's first challenge has now begun. If you are a Trainee... BEGIN~!
    'But... I don't know what the challenge is.' Lilac complained mentally, before looking around to see if anypony else was as confused as she was. They were.
    A large section of the court yard wall suddenly began to shake and shudder, before pulling open on it's suddenly visible wheels. The large section of gate/wall revealed a peaceful forest, and hundreds of ponies made their way in that direction. Lilac hung back, ever cautious. Lilac looked back to the balcony, just as somepony called, "Look everypony!" The balcony was suddenly overflowing with small white papers, and hundreds and hundreds of them floated on the gentle breeze to reach even the furthest trainee ponies.
    Lilac pounced on the nearest paper, and discovered it was the instructions she had been hoping for so desperately.

    Dearest trainee competitor -

YOUR FIRST AND LAST CHALLENGE ARE ONE IN THE SAME, TO REACH THE BOX AT THE END OF THIS FOREST'S MANY PERILOUS PATHS AND OBSTACLES, AND TAKE ONLY ONE PAPER, AND PUT YOUR NAME IN THE BOX. PEGASUS PONIES ARE NOT ALLOWED TO FLY ABOVE THE FOREST CANOPY, AND UNICORNS MAY NOT TELEPORT OR USE EXCESSIVE AMOUNTS OF MAGIC. EARTH PONIES ARE NOT PERMITTED TO USE EXCESSIVE FORCE AND BREAK THE OBSTACLE COURSE AND OTHER EQUIPMENT. CONSEQUENTLY NO PONIES MAY DESTROY ANY OF THE EQUIPMENT, NOR ARE ANY PONIES ALLOWED TO BREAK THE RULES ALREADY SET FOR OTHER PONIES. YOU WILL BE MONITORED AS OFTEN AS POSSIBLE, BUT WE CANNOT GUARANTEE SAFETY AT ALL TIMES UNLESS YOU FOLLOW THE RULES OF ALL OUR EQUIPMENT AND DEVICES.
    THERE ARE LIMITED AMOUNTS OF PAPER, AND ONLY THE BEST WILL SUCCEED AND EARN THEIR NAME IN THE BOX. YOU MAY ONLY WRITE ONE NAME, IT DOES NOT HAVE TO BE YOURS. EVERYPONY IS BEING EVALUATED, AND MAY ALSO REFUSE CONTINUED TRAINING IF THEY FEEL UNWILLING OR UNABLE TO CONTINUE THE TRAINEE PROGRAM.


Lilac read over some of the finer print and legal document stuff claiming how injuries were not the fault of the academy, before realizing she had to make good time. She skimmed to the very end, making sure there was no trick, please proceed back to the lobby if you wish to win, type thing. There was not, and Lilac sprung into action.

Chapter 2 - The First and Last challenge

    And so Lilac found herself hopping easily over dirt and rocks, and giggling silently at the frilly unicorn who refused to proceed over the tiniest patch of mud. "Come on Ribbon!" "You know I can't go on, you must leave me behind to my patch of dry and un-muddied ground." The significantly less clean unicorn, Kammy, sighed. She turned to Lilac, who was sticking by the group of twelve she had found at lunch time.
    Lilac gave a private whisper to Kammy, who paused for a second, then shared her evil grin. She in-turn gave a whisper to Syrup Flow, who nodded in agreement. She played along quite well, beginning with. "Well, I guess we just have to leave you alone over there Ribbon. It really is a shame, I mean, over there you have clean grass and spiders, and over here we have victory and pancakes." She turned away, and spread her wings to cover up her all revealing grin.
    "SPIDERS?" Ribbon cried as she bounded easily over the mud puddle, and quickly found herself trapped on the wrong side. She looked down at the puddle now behind her, glared at her friends for a seconds, then joined them in their laughter. To prove to herself that she would be brave, she dipped a hoof into the mud, and continued on her way. This got a few whoops and cheers from the group of friends.
    The twelve met up with 2 colts and 4 stallions, allowing the group to total 18 ponies in all. A stallion seemingly obsessed with Ribbon was quick to gasp at her mud stained hindleg and question which cruel pony had done this to her. Much laughter was shared amongst the friends for several minutes, as they headed towards their first real obstacle.
    "A fork in the road? And no instruction to guide us?" Sryup asked, her head tilted in confusion. She looked to somepony for instruction, and when all heads present did the same they came to rest on Lilac, who was standing in a thoughtful and heroic way. Little did anypony know that Lilac was just in deep thought about her Father's return, but she did look cool with the gentle breeze blowing her mane perfectly away from her glowing yellow eyes.
    Lilac blinked, and looked both ways. The path to the left looked like it had never before been trodden on, so without a word she began making her way that way in a slight daze. It was only when she heard the crunching of leaves belonging to the eighteen sets of hooves behind her did she wake up from her thoughts.
    "So... Guess I'm the leader of today?" Lilac asked with a chuckle, whilst Kammy responded immediately with a big, "YEP!" Kammy was an interesting pony, being the most athletic and dirt loving unicorn Lilac had ever known. Apparently she had been adopted by a family of farmers, and grew to love them and their way of life completely. Kammy was a really really dark green, but with a brilliliant rosy mane tied into an adorable loose ponytail.
    "I'm certainly glad you're here," continued Syrup, a cream and pancake coloured pegasus, with a strawberry sauce mane and maple brown eyes. Syrup seemed to be wary of everypony else at first, but now she was chatting away and he even having a meaningful conversation with Ribbon.
    Speaking of Ribbon, she was now getting muddier than anypony, and seemed to be enjoying it. Her bleach blonde coat made quite a contrast with the curled pitch black mane she sported.
    One of the stallions, Lilac thought he might have been called Nebula Twist or something, pointed ahead with a slight gape. Before the mass of ponies lay a collosal ravine, spanned only by a rickety looking supension bridge. Lilac had lost herself in thought again, and soon found herself halfway across the bridge before she heard the concerned shouts of her friends.
    She looked around at her surroundings, raised a confused eyebrow at the terrified ponies behind her, and proceeded to skip along merrily.
    "Aaaaaaaah!" one of the mares cried in horror as the bridge tilted precariously this way and that as Lilac skipped along without a care. "We aren't going to make any sort of good time if we don't take risks! Come on girls, it's only one bridge!" She hollered back, as Ribbon began steadily making her way across, supported a slow flying Sryup. One by one her friends made it across, as some of the better fliers helped steady and balance them.
    Numerous comments of, "How did you learn to fly so well Syrup?" could be heard amongst the herd.

    From the distant bushes, Big Brass watched the massive amount of team work flourish within the group of 19. He turned around, and looked to another bridge, where ponies were proceeding cautiously, and no sense of team existed as they ran off without a single care for those behind them. "So what do you make of that? Is your little 'sunflower' the whole reason for the team? Or would those ponies have stuck together on their own?"
    Dianthus gave a half smile, "Well, I told you she wasn't just an ordinary mare. Take that how you will." He replied, as he gestured towards the friendly and laughing 19 ponies.

    Lilac and her friends soon came upon the first real challenge, one that would almost certainly stop at least a couple ponies from continuing. There were nine doors to enter, and a riddle inscribed on a sign in the dead center.

 Of the nine, one will win
choose right. You may begin~!

 Lilac took a seat, and pondered the sign. "Does it mean that the one on the far right is the correct door? Or that we have to simply guess?" She received no answer from her peers, but several ponies walked past her and immediately took the far right door. Lilac thought she smelled something, and stood up quickly. 'Is this... Smoke? That means-' Some of the other ponies had begun to notice as well, and quickly chose the nearest door. About 6 ponies took door nine, and 3 more took door one. Lilac noticed an orange glow seep through the branches on the far left, and took an eager glance to her left. She dashed in the opposite direction, and ran straight past the last door. "Where are you going Lilac? We have to pick a door quick!" Ribbon called out in fear, and then followed Lilac hopelessly.
     Kammy and Syrup, glanced at each other nervously, and then ducked inside the final door. The rest of the group that remained panicked and followed them, and soon it was just Ribbon and Lilac, running far to the right of the doors. "We have to go back! Lilac! What are you doing!" Lilac quite suddenly found herself on the edge of a steep forested cliff, and skidded to a stop. To her left was a thin ledge, beside it the massive stone wall of the edge of the stone door building.
    "Quick! We're going around. I don't think this fire was planned, and if I'm right then we have more important matters on our hooves than a simple door test." Lilac informed Ribbon as she skirted her way around the enormous stone wall barely staying on the slim ledge keeping her from a nasty drop.
    Ribbon was busy asking Lilac what was going on for the third time when they came to the other side of the wall. Sure enough, as Lilac predicted, there was a cavernous opening, with nine doors leading straight into it. Everypony was there, and there was something else right in their path.
    Blocking the entrance to the cave, was a young dragon, growling and spitting fire at her friends. "A- a- a dr- Dragon!?" Ribbon breathed in horror, immediately relived she had followed Lilac.
    "Ah! Hahahahaaa! Stupid ponies, i've got ya now!" The blue adolescent dragon teased, spewing forth another jet of flame that scared Syrup into hiding behind Kammy.
    "Stop it ya jerk! Get back!" Kammy called, using her magic to levitate a convenient sharp stick towards the 'jerk.'
    Upon seeing Syrup hurt, Ribbon flew into a rage, and seemed to forget that she was just a pony. "EXCUSE ME? ARE YOU GOING TO HURT MY FRIENDS AND EVEN THINK ABOUT GETTING AWAY WITH IT?" Her horn glowed a dangerous yellow, and uncontrollable energy bursts dripped away from it.
    The dragon responded by bathing Ribbon in a quick smoke bath, causing her to choke and her magic to collapse. "Gah! ack! Brush your teeth! Seriously!" She mocked as she fell to the ground.
    "And how about you? You gonna try anything ya stupid filly?" The dragon mocked Lilac, beforing noticing a deeply troubling anger in her eyes.
    "I will try everything, and I will remove your scales one by one and stab every single one into your eyes." She replied calmly, her voice dripping with loathing.
    She took a step forward, and the dragon stepped back in horror. "Hah! Good luck with that! I'm gonna roast ya!" He said, but not with much confidence.
    Lilac's yellow eyes glowed with rage, and she began taking continuous steps forward. The dragon was now noticeably nervous, his calm shaken by the terror brought on by Lilac's eyes.
    He finally regained his composure enough to try blasting Lilac with a flash of flame. Her legs coiled and released, launching her into an upwards spiral. She avoided the flame with ease, and was suddenly landing upon the dragon's face.
    The dragon struggled backwards, immediately terrified by the yellow rage staring him in the eyes. He fell onto his back, and Lilac continued her menacing stare, adding in one thing that immediately paralyzed the unfortunate dragon. The scariest smile she could manage, a smile of pure joy as she reached a single hoof up to the dragons face.
    And it was right then that the dragon passed out from pure fear.

    The silence was deafening. 'I think I may have over done it,' Lilac thought as she retracted her hoof from the smelly dragon's face, and hopped off of him to help Ribbon to her hooves. She expected some sort of fear reaction from her, and instead found herself getting hugged.
    Ribbon's muddy hooves wrapped around her neck, and she quickly found herself being choked. "Oh my gosh Lilac! I didn't even know ponies could do that! That was fantastic! Are you okay?" She released Lilac from her death grip, as some of the cave-bound ponies began cheering. Lilac was somewhat confused, the last time she had used 'the stare' as it was known, she had been avoided by the only witness for months. These ponies seemed glad that she was able to do such things. It was different.
    "Seriously? I get cheers? Most ponies are freaked out and terrified in cases like these." Lilac stammered in surprise. Kammy and Sryup ran over, and continued the hugging/choking fest. Soon she found herself being hugged from all sides, and a great feeling of relief spread through her. She had been quite worried that all her newest friends would abandon her and leave her behind when they found out about her 'abilities.' Of course, Lilac still had a few tricks up her sleeve, but she didn't want to reveal them all just yet.

    Lilac stayed by the dragon as the rest of her friends dashed onwards, waiting for the perfect moment. The dragon opened it's eyes, and was met by the same horrifyingly intense yellow. "Now tell me, what did you do wrong?" She asked in a deep foreboding voice.
    The dragon tried to curl into a ball, exclaiming, "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! I'll never even think of harming another pony again! I won't even want to see another pony after this! Please don't hurt me!"
    She stepped away, with a terrifying grin. "And if you ever break that promise, I will haunt you. Day and night. I will stand over you in your dreams, and I will make every moment of your life a nightmare."
    In a single swipe her hoof suddenly broke off the dragons top right sharpest tooth. Blood leaked from the dragon's mouth, and the utter terror that consumed him returned in full. "Y-y-you-you Broke my t-tooth! Dragon teeth aren't su-suppos-supposed to be br-breakable! What are you!" He whispered in terror, quickly crawling away from what he now considered the most dangerous pony in history, ever.
    She smiled intensely, "My name, is Lilac. And ponies are not for dragon consumption under any circumstance. Now fly away home, and never return to these lands." She stomped a hoof for emphasis, and the dragon was all to glad to shake open his wings and drag himself through the air as quickly as possible to get away from her.
  

     Sryup came out of the bushes she had been observing from. "How did you do that? I've never seen anypony have such lack of care for their own safety. You are literally the bravest pony ever!" She flew towards her, tackling her into one last glomp. Lilac allowed her self to relax and smile, and cease using her serious face. "Lilac the dragon-slayer! Lilac the super-brave! Lilac the best pony! Any of these sound good to you? My sister is a reporter, and I think she'd love to interview somepony like you! Seriously! You are the best!" Syrup continued choking Lilac, pulling her into an aggressive nuzzle and not letting her go.
    Lilac sputtered and coughed, but endured the forceful affection. "It's not a concern about my own safety that matters Sryie," She began, making a new nickname on the spot, "It's about caring more about the safety of others you care about... Or something. I'm really not good at saying motivational things." Syrie beamed, and then realized Lilac had lost her ability to breathe and released her.


Chapter 3 - The finish line

    Lilac and Syrup quickly caught up to their friends, having only taken a short delay to turn the lost dragon tooth into a necklace for Lilac. When they returned they discovered Kammy already complaining, "Where's all the obstacles? Where's the zip lines and climbing walls? How long is this going to take?" She was quickly joined in her whining, though the issues were of a different nature. "This is such a long walk! My hooves are killing me! I want some water..."    The last complaint received several echoes, and Lilac realized that she herself was beginning to feel a tad thirsty.
    The group came upon a plastic table, set up with only nine water bottles.
    "So... who gets the water?" Ribbon asked immediately, magically levitating one bottle, and checking the label. Lilac crouched and checked under the table and saw a disturbing sign. "Put that down! Nopony drink any yet!" Kammy called out, having joined her in her sign reading. Lilac retreated from underneath so that one of the colts could crawl under and read. "One of these bottles is poisoned! Why would anypony even do this to us!"
    Lilac puzzled over the bottles, wondering if there were any way to tell which was safe to drink. "Maybe it's like the doors? And all of them are safe?" somepony remarked, and was countered with, "what if it's like the doors, and ALL THE BOTTLES ARE POISONED?!" This led to a miniature panic that lasted all of five seconds.
    Ribbon took a deep breath, and before anypony else could stop her she opened a bottle and took a small sip. "Ribbon! Wait-" Kammy cried out, as Ribbon stood there for a second, bracing herself for the unknown.
    "Well, I feel fine so far, I just-" Ribbon then made a gurgling sound, rolling her eyes skyward, and lay her head down. "NOOOOOOOOO!!!!" Kammy cried out in terror, evidently a lot closer to Ribbon than she had let on. Ribbon raised her head with a smile, "My goodness Kammy, it's only a joke! I feel fine!" One of the younger fillies went to take a sip, but Ribbon's horn lit up and her magic pulled the bottle away. "Ah ah ah! We should wait at least a few minutes before drinking, just incase It's a slow acting poison. What if my heart stops right after you take a sip! What would you do then little one?" She asked the filly, who stepped back nervously.

    Minutes went by, and one by one Kammy and Ribbon and two others tested the bottles, until only two remained. Neither of the ponies had collapsed and died quite yet, so either it was a very slow acting poison, or the poison was in one of the two remaining bottles. Lilac looked from the bottle on the far right, to the bottle that had originally been in the dead center. "Okay, so what if like, the message on the sign from earlier was like, not for the doors but for, like, the bottles!" One of the mares chimed in her opinion. The opinion that everypony else had already considered three times by then.
    'middle or right, middle or right...' Lilac thought to herself. Lilac finally looked at the remaining seven bottles, which were still full except for a tiny sip from each one. "Well, I know what I'm choosing." Lilac said, before taking a sip from one of the seven safe bottles. "There's probably enough for all of us to take our fill just from these seven." She said with a slurp, before once again asking ribbon if she was okay.
    Nearly all the ponies began drinking from the seven bottles, and seconds after that they were all empty.
    It was about seven seconds later that one of the ponies chose to drink the bottle on the right. It was thirteen seconds after that that she immediately collapsed.
    "And so it begins," Lilac shook her head. "Which of the other bottles did she drink from?" A few murmurs passed through the group, but nopony knew for sure. One pony stood up and said, "Well i think she drunk from the-" And then he collapsed on the ground with equal speed. It wasn't the bottle on the right that had been poisoned.
    Kammy nudged his neck, searching for a pulse, did the same with the first, and happily reported, "Well, they're still alive, but I don't think we have time to wait for them." "Right, I keep forgetting that there are hundreds of other Trainees marching through here.
    "I don't think it's the bottles, there was a strange smell in the tunnels when I-" A third pony collapsed, followed by a fourth, and then a fifth.
    The air in the tunnels had been poisoned, and soon everypony that had taken a tunnel that wasn't the one on the far right had collapsed. now only ten ponies remained, Kammy, Ribbon, Syrup, Lilac, Two mares, a filly, and three stallions.
    "Well, do we just leave them here? There isn't really much we can do for them..." Kammy pointed out. Lilac looked towards the path, and noticed one of the stallions beside the table opening and drinking the last bottle of water. "Oy! What are you doing! Just because people were poisoned by the door tunnels doesn't mean the bottles aren't poisoned too!" She called out, and was met by gags and chokes as the Stallion collapsed immediately.
     Ribbon ran over to him, and Lilac recognized that he was the Stallion concerned for Ribbon's muddy coat so much earlier. "Seriously!? Why would you even? Gah! I'm sorry Garrison, goodnight." She mumbled as she crouched low to his body. Garrison stopped shaking and closed his eyes. Ribbon gave him one last kiss, and stood up. She then checked his heart beat to make sure that things weren't getting too real for her. "Alright, well now that that's over with." She trod over his collapsed body, walked straight into a really deep mud puddle, and returned to wipe mud all over his coat. "Take that you clean freak! Aahahahha!" Ribbon laughed vilely and then continued on casually as if nothing had happened.
    "Uh, wasn't that your special somepony?" The young filly, Whistle, asked in confusion. "Oh no sweetie, he was just a Stallion who thought I might like him if he acted concerned and worried about everything I do. Little did he know that as of today, I LOVE MUD!" She proclaimed, jumping neck deep into a thick puddle of it.
    And on that day Ribbon learned that having fun was far more important than remaining posh and spotless at all times.

    The Nine ponies continued on their way, whilst Lilac wondered why the number Nine kept coming up so many times. They had pulled their fallen friends off of the trail, and made sure they were positioned comfortably for when they hopefully woke up. Supposedly a monitor or two would come by and help pull them back to the main lobby after this was all over.
    Suddenly a Pegasus fell out of the trees, and landed with a flop next to Syrup. "Gah! Oh... Oops. I really thought that branch would hold!" He was wearing a vest filled with an assortment of tools, wires, and things.
    "Umm... This is really awkward, I'm one of the monitors of your group, and I gotta say that we aren't supposed to talk to you. Um, Ignore me!" He suddenly pulled a smoke bomb from his vest, and there was a flash. A large cloud of smoke gathered about, and the Nine huddled together. The smoke began to clear, and they noticed the Monitor still standing there, with a pained face.
    "Usually you throw down a smoke bomb, and then run away in the confusion, it's a very effective tactic for retreating stealthily." Lilac began explaining to the monitor sarcastically.
    He shot her a glare, and attempted to flap his wing just one last time. The feathers were stretching out backwards, and he was unable to bring himself to flap very hard.
    Syrup dashed forwards immediately. "Stop! Stop! It's broken, you need to wrap it up and try not to stretch it, or you might damage it even more."
    The monitor looked into her concerned and sympathetic eyes, and sighed. "Yeah, I guess I should probably stop trying to get away from you in a panic. Thank you." He watched with interest as Syrup swiped his bandages off his vest and expertly wrapped his wing until it would move no more.
 "Alright, now it wont stretch, but we need to take off your vest to make sure it doesn't move at all."
     The Monitor was now feeling the full effects of his pain, and simply nodded through his short breaths. Syrup removed the vest in seconds, and expertly wrapped him up a second time. She plopped the Vest straight back on him, and then interrogated. "Okay, now that we have that out of the way, We need to know a few things."
    The monitor sighed, "I can't tell you anything- AH! Okay maybe I can!" He changed his mind as Syrup prodded his wing. "That's great news! Now tell us how much farther it is and what sort of things we have to go through."

    A monitor stood by the edge of the final challenge, the most physically challenging part of the entire trial. He had often wondered why they didn't make the tests harder, as truthfully nothing real members of SPADE ever did could be considered fun or easy. This year he had been selected to direct construction of the obstacle course, and direct he did.
    A shout from around the corner told him the first wave of ponies was arriving. "OBSTACLESSSSSSSS!!!" Kammy cheered as loud as she could, approaching way too fast for the monitor to clear the way. The dark green Unicorn slid directly under the larger pony's legs, and sprung straight back up, continuing her mad dash without even reading the instructions.
    Lilac was hot on her hind legs, rushing forwards almost as fast. "Kammy! Wait! We don't know which path to take! What if-" She gasped for breath as she passed by the unfortunate monitor, who forgot to see who was coming behind Lilac. He turned, and suddenly found himself flying through the air as one of the Stallions collided with him. "SO SORRY!" He called, as the monitor flopped onto the ground. "Next year, these kids are climbing over a mountain, I swear," He breathed angrily, crawling his way to the side just as Ribbon glided gracefully over him, spattering everything below her with piles of mud.
    Kammy raced towards the massive hill of ropes and wood structures without a care, only taking time to enjoy the care taken into putting it together. There was full entire buildings of paths and zip lines, and she had no idea where to start. She bounded towards a semi-distant log swing hanging over an abyssal ravine, and soon found herself hanging on for dear life as the log swung out sixty feet.
    Somehow Lilac had caught up to her, and Kammy realized that Lilac was clinging to her tail with impressive determination. Suddenly Kammy heard a snap near the top of the ropes, and one edge of the log began tilting downwards. Kammy kicked herself into action, and flicked her tail to swing Lilac to the nearest ledge. The log swing came to the end of it's swing, and the other rope snapped off. Kammy felt herself begin to fall and then-
    Lilac stood precariously on the edge of a thin platform, gripping Kammy's tail tenaciously with her teeth, and hauling her up with the fore hooves that she probably wanted desperately for balance. Somehow Lilac tugged Kammy up and over the top of a wooden platform behind her, then climbed over to join her.
    "I suppose that's why we look before we leap, huh." Kammy gasped, aware that she had been very close to falling an uncomfortable distance. She looked to Lilac, fearful that Lilac would be chiding and scolding Kammy for being so reckless. Instead, Lilac was grinning, and proclaimed, "That was the funnest thing ever! Do you see any more log swings? I wanna be the first one to jump next time!"
    Kammy laughed, "And I thought I was the reckless one! I think we should take it easy for now, the others are going to be miles behind us." Sure enough she looked through the various piles of ropes and lines, and found that Ribbon was the only other pony on the obstacle course, and she was giving Kammy the scolding look she was waiting for from Lilac.
    Kammy turned around, and already found Lilac attempting to climb a nine foot slanted wall with only three hoof holds on it.

    Lilac and Kammy were way ahead of Ribbon, and she finally reached the point of their log landing point by the time they were nearly finished. Syrup had joined Ribbon, and the two tried to copy Lilac and Kammy's perfect co-operation, unsure how the two could go for so long without any miscommunications in teamwork. They hoisted each other, held loose wooden planks steady, and Kammy even used Lilac as a springboard at one point.
    It was around this time that disaster struck, and Ribbon had been paying so much attention to Lilac that she hadn't watched her own hooves. "EEEEEEEEP!" She cried out, as she slipped through an obvious hole in the floor and crashed onto a rickety platform.
    Lilac and Kammy stopped what they were doing, and quickly scanned for the fastest route back to Ribbon they could find. Kammy burst forward, trying to go backwards through every obstacle, and Lilac began biting down on a suspension rope. Lilac chomped and chomped, and suddenly the rope snapped and a huge section of the obstacle course began collapsing. Lilac lunged straight after the rope, clasped it hopefully in her teeth, and swung down towards her friend in what Ribbon would later describe as, the coolest way possible.
    "Lilac! Behind you!" Ribbon called out as massive chunks of wood came flying out after her as she swung, heroically dangling from her lone rope. and then she was right there beside her, snatching Ribbon out of the air as her platform collapsed beneath her.
    And then they began to swing upwards, and it was clear they weren't going to make it. Suddenly both Syrup and Kammy lunged outwards from behind an obstacle, snatching the two of them from mid air.

    Syrup tried to catch her breath, as the four stood isolated from level ground. It was a thirty foot drop if you wanted to go anywhere, as the path ahead had collapsed hideously. "So... we're stuck, and Lilac just destroyed about 1/10th of the obstacle course." Ribbon commented blankly. Lilac nodded glumly, "yeah, that wasn't one of my better moments." The others nodded, and then one by one they proceeded to laugh, small giggles at first, then fits of hysterics. Lilac tried to catch her breath in between her spontaneous laughter, and glanced over to the path they still had to take to make it to the finish line. "All right. Only a little ways to go now girls. Lets finish this!"

Chapter 4 - She must

    "I will not allow her to finish this!" Big Brass yelled in Dianthus's ear, enraged at the destruction of the obstacle course. He retrieved the ever familiar instruction paper, and pointed to the rule specifying that ponies may not destroy the equipment, earth ponies in particular as they were generally the strongest.
    Dianthus sighed, "I must insist that we allow Lilac to complete her training and take my role on the case. My attempts have already
messed up the timeline enough, and we need a fresh outlook on how to deal with-" Big interrupted, "If she can't even follow the simplest of instructions, there is no point in wasting our time with her! You aren't in charge any more, so from now on we are playing by the set rules, No more working on hunches! Your silly case can wait." Dianthus shook his head in frustration, "No no no, we can't wait! That's the problem! Before I left she took the MOT device from my partner! She could be anywhere in time now, even here, today!"
    Big looked at Dianthus in horror, "And you waited to tell me this? She has a Manipulation of Time device and you decided to go ahead and wait until we were at the end of trainee day to tell me? WHY!? WHAT GOOD DOES IT DO TO WAIT?"
    In answer, Dianthus pointed the the group of four friends, as Syrup flew down and pushed the entire platform structure so it would fall towards the edge. "So that you would know we have a chance. Those four seriously did prove themselves to be determined, and a great team. They've only known each other for a day, and they already risked their lives for one another. You need to understand that we can't simply time lock Her and be done with it, we must finish it all, and a new team to work on it is our best bet."
    Big watched the four mares with spite in his eyes, silently remembering the day when he had been left behind on that same platform. "Alright, they've got something new that I haven't seen for years, but I'm still going to get your 'sunflower' back for what she did to this poor obstacle course. Scare her real good I will."
    Dianthus' smile of success turned smug, "Scare Lilac? Hah, that won't work. My girl is incapable of feeling fear. No seriously, she hasn't been scared once in her life." Big chuckled, "Oh really? Well I'll consider that a challenge when I'm training her past the finish line." Dianthus paused for a second, as he processed those words. "So you'll do it then? You'll take her through it all and make sure she finishes it for me?" His smile grew bigger as Big nodded with his own sly smile. "I can't risk not training somepony like her with Her around."

    Lilac and her friends beamed as Syrup gracefully fluttered up to meet them. "Excellent work, now we just have the final stretch to go through!" Lilac proclaimed, turning around to come face to face with an angry monitor. "Excuse me, but what part of the rules claimed that you could DESTROY OUR EQUIPMENT LIKE THAT?" He yelled ferociously, forcing Kammy to take a step forward and attempt a debate. "Hey! Ribbon was stranded on a rickety platform, and seriously what kind of lunatic builds an obstacle course that collapses if you lose one rope?" The monitor shoved Kammy to the side, "I wasn't talking to you Kiddo, I'm talking to HER!" He pointed an accusing hoof at Lilac, who was giving him an odd look. Finally the look expired as she burst out laughing.
     "Which rule? Wh- Ahahahaha! Gimme a second, Which- Ha! Which rule?" The incredulous looks she received prompted her to explain. "Which rule? You guys do read your own pamphlet right? Rule 9 paragraph 4, If a teammate or somepony you care about is stranded, in danger, or physically prohibited by our equipment to continue the trial course, you may do whatever you deem necessary to rescue or help them, including breaking our other rules." She finished with a snort and dissolved into continued giggles, apparently finding it hilarious that she had followed the rules by destroying a section of the obstacle course.
    The monitor now had a look of pure embarrasment plastered on his face, and he apologized quickly with a, "Right, that. Sorry, carry on girls, ha ha. All a terrible misunderstanding..." Before he took his reddened cheeks and flew off into the forest.
    "Is that seriously a rule? I didn't read that one." Kammy asked, picking herself up off the ground she had so rudely been shoved onto. Lilac gave one last giggle, before foraging ahead of her friends, bursting out into more laughter on the way. "I'm not so sure what is quite so funny, that was terrifying. I thought for sure we'd be kicked out of the running." Ribbon remarked, as she went out of her way to traverse through every mud puddle. Lilac smiled as she said, "Well, It is pretty funny if you recall what the rules actually say."
    This remark made everypony else stop in their tracks, as Syrup asked, "Wait, did you just say- Wow! You really are Lilac best pony! That wasn't a real rule? You just made up a rule on the spot like that?" Lilac nodded with a mischievous smile, as her friends immediately burst into laughter at the monitor's misfortune in running into Lilac.

    They continued onwards, as Ribbon repeatedly glanced behind them, looking to see if anypony was following them. The friends came round the corner, and beneath the overhang of a large rock was a simple table. On the table was a jar of pens, a surprisingly thick stack of paper, and a simple lidded box with a hole in the lid.
    The friends approached the box, and breathed a sigh of relief as they reached the table, marking the end of their journey. Ribbon suddenly sniffled. "Aww, I guess this means it's over, and we wont see each other again for a while." "What do you mean Ribs?" Syrup asked, genuinely confused, "We all made it, aren't we going into training together?" "Yeah, they wouldn't dare break up a dream team like this! We were fantastic!" But the nervousness in her voice indicated that she was now beginning to worry they would be separated if they were taken into training. Lilac brushed the fears aside, "If they try and force us together, I'll make them wish they shared the fate of that dragon." Syrup gave a chuckle, but Kammy and Ribbon shared a nervous glance, "What... Did you do to that Dragon Lilac? We saw you and Syrup go back, and most of our group thought you were going to finish him off," Kammy inquired, taking a step towards her.
    "She only went and-" Syrup started, but was cut off by Lilac's hoof gently holding her mouth shut. "Lets say that I always keep my promises..." She stated with an evil grin, making Kammy retract in fear. Syrup's laughter was quite shrill and noticeable. Kammy blinked as she noticed Lilacs grin, and began giggling to herself. "So- the dragon is still alive?" Ribbon asked, slightly amused by her friends. Lilac nodded, and the friends shared one last final laugh together, before they stepped forward to finish it all.

    Numerous other ponies joined Lilac and her friends, including a few of the ones that had been poisoned. Garrison was awfully muddy and really annoyed with it all. "Come now! It's only water and dirt!" Ribbon was proclaiming, as Garrison countered with his silly attempt at a rebuttal, "Only water and- Ribbon! This stuff could have worms and other icky things in it, what is wrong with you!" Ribbon shook her head, desperately trying to hold back laughter, "Icky things? Seriously? Since when were you a filly Garrison?" Garrison blushed horribly, and wandered away awkwardly.
    A number of the ponies filling out their names, and occasionally a friends name, went unrecognised by Lilac. One pony in particular, however, Lilac felt she recognized. "Hey Lilac! See you on the other side!" The pegasus mare announced as she walked by. She had a lavender coat, solid purple eyes, and a deep blue tipped mane that looked quite glossy and shimmery. The tips of her wings seemed to be stained red, but Lilac wasn't certain.
    Lilac couldn't understand why exactly she picked her out in particular of the hundreds of ponies who walked by, but she did, and it felt strange. 'Why do I get the feeling I should know her, when I really don't?' She asked herself, before finally shaking her thoughts of the mystery mare from her head.
    Everypony filed into a great field behind the rock and table, and Lilac trailed behind everypony else, ensuring she was the very last. At last the filly she was waiting for trailed in glumly, but noticeably brightened when she saw Lilac. "Come on Whistle! You're going to miss all the fun! It's only a few more steps to the table, and then we're done!"
    Whistle nodded, filling out the very last paper, and then followed Lilac up to the field. 'Strange that they would give us the exact number of papers for everyone, I guess they don't want to hurt anypony's self confidence.' She considered. She joined a large crowd right behind whistle, and watched as everypony mirrored the early morning mingle they had organized themselves into. 'Or not quite a perfect mirror,' she realized as she noticed certain groups of ponies crowding together, where as this morning there had been large scale displacement and confusion.
   A slow silence grew over the crowd as Big Brass wandered up to the front, before retrieving a megaphone from the crowd of monitors that had formed on the opposite end of the field. "Well done everypony, today you and everpony else have proved themselves!" There were brief cheers, and Big Brass continued on.
  Lilac zoned out, knowing that all he was going to say was all sorts of compliments and commendations on the groups courage, before directing them to the perfectly safe trail which would lead them to a bus depot outside the academy's grounds. They would also get free water, and bus passes.
    The real excitement would begin when everypony recieved their call backs at home, and were welcomed back to the academy in three days.
    Big Brass was actually a very dramatic speaker, and quite the opposite of the monotone voice she had expected to hear.
    Suddenly it ended, and Lilac found herself shuffling along quickly behind the other ponies. There were mutters of excitement over the next few days, and Lilac felt it odd that she shared the excitement, completely forgetting her initial disdain towards the entire affair. Instead she was looking forward to returning to this place, and visiting the friends she had made today.
    There was only one problem.
    Big Brass was standing in her way.
    "And so we meet again, after a full day. How was it Ms. Obstacle Murderer?" Lilac chuckled at her unique nickname, "It was fine Mr-" She paused, realizing she hadn't learned his name.
    "You seriously didn't catch my name? I said it about three times in my speech." He looked a little rejected, then brightened. "Ah, I'm just messing with you. I never said my name once today. And knowing who your father is I wouldn't doubt you know exactly what to expect from these speeches." Lilac nodded, than glanced hesitantly at the friends who were now looking back at her longingly. She raised a hoof to wave goodbye, and they did the same before walking away slowly.
    Big Brass smiled, "Only one day and you girls look like you've known each other forever, guess that's what happens when you repeadetly risk your life for somepony." Lilac raised an eyebrow, "Who risked which life?" "You did!" "I did? When?" Big Brass face-hoofed in exasperation, "You scared off a dragon, tried multiple possibly poisoned bottles, and leaped after that unicorn who jumped face first onto a swinging death bridge. And then you rescued that other unicorn from a rickety platform, without stopping to think of your own safety. Did you know that you nearly gave six of our monitors heart attacks?"
    Lilac tilted her head, "My own safety? Oh, yeah I guess that was a bit dangerous of me." She thought back on it, and realized that most ponies would have been terrified.
    "So it's true then, your father told me you don't get scared." Lilac began nodding, and then stopped, realizing something that twisted her whole face. Her usual indifference was replaced by wide eyed horror.
    Big Brass raised an eyebrow, "Okay, so if you don't get scared, then what's all this about missy?" Lilac began to stutter out her explanation. "I- I saw somepony ear-earlier, and I just recognized h-her. T-That was..." She shook her head trying to regain her senses. "V-Violet- Ni-" She couldn't finish, as the sheer terror of the space criminal her father had described so often pierced her mind, especially when she realized said space criminal had recognized her.
    Fear was a really unfamiliar sensation for Lilac, and she had no idea how to deal with it. The criminal that had ended countless lives no matter how her father had tried to change the timeline, knew Lilac on a first name basis.
    Big Brass certainly wasn't taking the situation lightly, he knew the stories too. "You saw her. Here? How long ago, when! WHERE!?" He stampeded away, demanding to know if any of his monitors had seen the mystery pony.
    Lilac was left there, uncomfortable with her current emotion, paralyzed.

    Nopony except Lilac had seen her, and the wave of trainees had already returned to their homes. Lilac had been brought back to the main lobby, as Big Brass sent out search teams around the entire grounds. "I'm really trusting you on this Lilac, you aren't just making it up, rig-" "I am not making this up! I saw hUpdate Journaler, I've seen enough of Dad's pictures to know what she looks like. There is no way it could be anypony else." She breathed out a stressed sigh, and asked quitely, hoping to change the subject. "Will I be able to go home yet?"
    "I'm afraid not, in fact we might not be able to send you home for a great deal of time. You've obviously been accepted into our academy on the grounds that you demonstrated exceptional leadership and bravery. And unfortunately you were the only pony who qualified for the immediate acceptance role."
    "Perfect." Lilac hissed spitefully, cursing her apparent immpressiveness. "Actually there is something we need you to get towards working on immediately. The case you father was working on."
    Lilac had managed to regain her usual non-fearful manner, but she still swallowed anxiously. "Perfect," She repeated. "Wait a second, I just got here today! Don't I need a ridiculous amount of training before I can even think of taking up my fathers place?" Big Brass shook his head, "I'm afraid that we don't have time for that." "But you time travel! How can you not have time for something if you can time travel!" "Because Violet can time travel now too, and that means that she can follow you, and certainly stop us from succeding. You are literally our last hope."
    Lilac was disbelieving. "Are you serious? I thought you guys had hundreds of ponies to do this type of stuff, why are you sending out a day one recruit to do this job? Even if I'm the only pony who was nominated for such and such award, I'm still far from qualified!" She shook her head once more, muttering something about her day turning into a nightmare.
    Big Brass sighed, "Look, I don't like it either, but I can't change my orders. I was asked by your father to send you directly there, and I have no idea why he insists we rush this. It's possible that the sooner we get you there, the sooner we can focus on changing the future."
    But then Lilac shook her head, and said something quite unexpected, "I'm afraid we both know that's a lie Mr. Brass. My Dad asked that you privately train me, but you are too worried about Violet's appearance. Rushing this won't help, I can't do this without your help." He started to say something, but was cut off by Lilac a second time. "No, that's another lie, and yes I can read minds. And before you go questioning that, you still haven't told me your name, which is Big Benjamin Brass."
    Big was quite taken aback, as he hadn't said or mentioned his middle name for at least five years. "How did you- can you actually read minds?" Lilac gave a sarcastic laugh, "Almost. Either way, I am not going through any sort of anything until I have recieved some proper training Mr. Brass." She stood up, and made her way to the lobby door. "And if you don't like that then I feel like this door may be calling me.
    Big stood up, alarmed. 'Would she actually go through that door and just leave us in a state of panic like this? Gah, she is just a young mare, she doesn't need understand how important this is.'
    "Actually I understand exactly how important this is, call me if you change your mind about rushing things. Bye." And she proceeded to attempt walking out the door, before hearing the expected, "Wait! Okay, I'll do my best, don't leave just yet!" She turned around with a smile, "That's more like it! I'll be waiting in your office before we discuss the details. Get there soon." And Lilac walked straight past him and down the hall like she owned the place.
    A secretary walked out from behind the counter and asked, "I thought you were the one in charge around here? I guess those Spadessera's just have a way of taking over, huh Benjamin?" She chuckled and returned to her boring counter. "You know the facility is still under lockdown, you didn't even have to try to stop her." the secratary continued, amused at her Boss's humiliation.
    He shook his head, shaken at his loss of control over the situation. 'Well, I'm glad she stayed of her own accord at least. I just hope she's every bit as skilled as her father claims she is. She must be the one to take her father's place. She must.' He paused for a second, before following Lilac down the hall, wondering whether or not she really could read minds.

Chapter 5 - Time skip

    Lilac proved to be every bit as skilled as her father had claimed, and sometimes even more so. No evidence was ever heard of Violet's appearance, and the lockdown was called off quite quickly. Lilac was enrolled at the academy full time, though she did get to return to her home on weekends, and finally spent the time with her family she had been wanting to for years. The best thing about academy life was certainly Lilac's living quarters. "I can't believe we actually get to share a room together! Just us! This is going to be like, the greatest and longest slumber party ever!" Syrup proclaimed on the first day, while Lilac chuckled quietly. "I dunno about that, the few days I've been here have actually been quite challenging, you girls are in for some heavy stuff." She claimed, only to find out that the courses they took were about six times easier than her own.
     Big Brass wasn't going easy on Lilac, but she certainly wasn't going to roll over and give up. When he asked her to repeat two pages of law and pony rights, she repeated two extra pages along side them. When he asked her to run a kilometer, she ran ten. Athletics were no problem for her, and neither were any of the other challenges. Big Brass nearly gave up when she began breaking some of the academy records set by her own father.
    I guess you really live up to the cutie mark of yours. He studied the Ace of spades card, surrounded by a red swirl. "It's supposed to represent you being an ace in the hole or something like that, right?"
    In only one month, Lilac passed an official test declaring she was ready for basic duties. She refused to believe this meant she was ready for her task of course, much to the frustration of Big. "You are better than nearly all our first year officers! What will it take to get you to go through with this! Might I remind you that we don't have an unlimited amount of time?" Lilac nodded, "True enough Benny," Which is a nickname she had begun calling him, "But could a first year officer complete my task? I need to be better than every officer before I'm ready." Big gave an exasperated sigh, "Arghhh, you're killing me Lilac, that just isn't possible! Could you settle for five year officers?" Lilac nodded slowly, "Alright, I could settle for that. What I really want is field expierence, but of course-" "There is not a chance, the only field i'll have you on is Violet's fields."
    And so time went by, with even some of the officers becoming jealous of Lilac's success. The older officers knew that she had no real experience, even if she could pass every test she wasn't ready for anything real.

    But then one day, she was ready.


And then the authour discovered that these dA journals had a limit in size...