As Redheart was leading Twilight to the Trials grounds she tried multiple times to strike up any sort of conversation with the purple pony. "So... have you been traveling long?" Redheart asked another question while glancing back to the, once more, hooded Twilight. Like Redheart expected she received no response, again. Sighing, she turned back around and refocused on leading the soon to be ranked adventurer.

The pair was now in a more rural section of Ponyville, so there weren't as many ponies crowding the pathway compared to the marketplace. But there was still something off about this situation.

"Redheart," Twilight spoke up for the first time during the trek, "can I ask a simple question?"

Excited to finally rid herself of the awkward atmosphere Redheart answered, "Of course! I'm the receptionist for a reason you know."

"Why is there a group of ponies following us?" Twilight inquired.

Scrunching up her eyebrows in confusion Redheart looked back to Twilight. "How could you tell they were there? You haven't looked back once since we left the Hub."

"They're not exactly the quietest bunch." As soon as Twilight finished saying that a pony from the group let out a loud belch causing all the other groupies to chuckle.

Shaking her head and looking forward Redheart sated Twilight's curiosity. "They most likely overheard us talking about how you were here to become an adventurer, and from that, they probably deduced that when we left it was because we were on our way to the Trials grounds to begin your tests. So basically they just want to either watch you for entertainment purposes or to assess your skills. It's a pretty common thing with the newcomers, it doesn't bother you at all does it?"

"No." Was Twilight's blunt response. "Also it looks like we're here." Hearing Twilight's statement Redheart reverted her head back to see the grounds.

"Indeed we are." In front of the pair was four acres of fenced off land divided into multiple sections with each section devoting itself to a different test for the Ranking Trials. Also, there were a sparse few ponies already spread about the place currently occupying a few of the sections.

"This is quite a large amount of land dedicated simply to the trials, and considering how there are others present already using the grounds am I correct to assume there's another purpose for these lands?" Twilight deduced.

Having turned back to listen to her, Redheart was now staring blankly at Twilight. "That was... very perceptive of you. Yes, you would be correct. This land is not only for the Ranking Trials, but it also doubles as Ponyville's training grounds; accessible for anypony to use." Twilight just nodded her head in acknowledgment. Waiting to see if anything else was going to be said, Redheart sighed when she just lapsed back into silence. Turning and walking to an opening in the fence, "Follow me and I'll take you to the place we need to go to begin the first of your upcoming tests."

Walking through the opening in the fence the pair, and the persistent group of ponies still tailing them, began the short trek to their wanted destination. During the walk, Twilight glossed her eyes over the many different sections they passed by.

Basic shooting range with targets for any bow/crossbow and reinforced targets for any ranged magic; a simple obstacle course containing a wide variety of different obstacles; there was even a section where a tall mound was created and ponies would pick up sandbags and run laps up and down it. But there was one training regimen that gave Twilight pause for a second before continuing on.

It was such a simple little setup. There were multiple varying sizes of hoops attached to thin metal poles that were jammed into the ground. On a rack were baseball-sized metal balls that, Twilight could tell from a quick glance, were enchanted to have any magical hold slip off it. And while watching a unicorn shakily try to maneuver one of the balls through the hoop, Twilight could deduce that the training focused on improving a magic user's fine magic control.

'Such a simple yet effective method.' Twilight thought to herself, 'I guess a simple town like this has to make do with the simpler things, unlike Canterlot.'

"Annnd here we are!" Twilight was broken out of her musings after hearing Redheart's statement. "This'll be your first test!"

In front of them both were varying sizes of rocks and boulders lined up in rows from lightest to heaviest; the lightest being a measly 5lbs (2.2kgs) rock while the heaviest was a massive 800lbs (362kgs) boulder.

The group of ponies that had been tailing them moved off to the side to get a better vantage point.

Stopping and looking at Twilight, "Now as for your first test, it's pretty straight forward. Since your a unicorn I need to see—"

"—how strong my magic is and how much strain I can take by picking them up, correct?" Twilight finished while pulling down her hood again. Receiving a nod in return Twilight immediately began making her way to the heaviest boulder, a couple of the ponies in the group, who didn't see her eye from before, gasped as she walked by.

Noticing where Twilight was heading Redheart grew a little anxious and, not wanting to be on the receiving end to any more of Twilight's ire, followed silently behind. Redheart wouldn't admit it but there was something about Twilight that caused her to instinctively act a little on-edge around the unicorn mare; like there was something more... something monstrous, but she couldn't for the life of her understand why.

Now standing in front of the enormous boulder Twilight stared at it in deep concentration before her horn, then the boulder was surrounded in a purple aura.

As a short amount of time passed with nothing happening Reheart started to feel a little awkward just looking at the unmoving mare. Deciding to console what she thought to be a struggling Twilight Redheart walked up next to her and placated, "Uh, I know you've been trying your hardest, and you've been doing a great job! But maybe you should... lower... the weight..." She finished lamely as she witnessed the seemingly impossible to lift boulder slowly float out of its small divot in the ground.

A look of bewildered astonishment appeared not only on Redhearts face but on the faces of the spectators as well. "Redheart." Twilight called to the mare with a tiny amount of strain, gaining no response in return. Calling a couple more times she finally broke Redheart out of her stupor and the mare looked back at her with her jaw agape and wide eyes. "I'm going to need you to back away." Nodding silently the mare did just that.

Shocking everypony around, even more, Twilight started to slowly orbit the boulder around herself. As time went on the boulder increased in speed and a small blur appeared as it whooshed around. Not saying anything Twilight cut her magic from the boulder.

The group of ponies faces', who were still shocked into silence from the spectacle, switched to that of panicked fear as the boulder came hurtling towards them. Before they could react it whizzed directly over their heads and smashed into, demolishing, a small grouping of trees some distance away. Recovering as much as they could the group of ponies ran away shouting things like "She's fucking crazy!" and "You're a psychopath!"

Either not noticing or ignoring the comments from the fleeing group Twilight turned back to Redheart to receive her assessment.

As for Redheart, she was in a state between disbelief and anger. "W-What were you thinking!? You could've killed one of them, or worse, the entire group!" She yelled, looking back at Twilight with frustrated features.

Twilight, not showing an ounce of guilt for her actions, casually asked, "So what's my assessment?"

"Assessment? Assessment?!" Redheart started raising her voice before taking a deep breath in an attempt to calm down.

Now sort of calmed Redheart looked back to Twilight with a stern face. "Twilight, I think we're done with the Ranking Trials." With a small hint of confusion, Twilight was about to speak before Redheart cut her off. "As for your assessment..." Redheart stood up straighter and in a professional tone announced, "Twilight, because of your actions during this test I refuse to continue on any further. As for your rank, you may be a strong powerful individual, probably the strongest I've ever seen, but with your callous attitude towards the safety of other ponies, I hereby promote you to a Rank-B Adventurer. Our Guilds here in Ponyville prioritize the safety of the ponies above all else, but clearly, you don't."

"...What a hindrance." Is all Twilight responded with after the reveal. "Are we heading back now to make my card?"

Groaning, "Guh... fine, follow me." Both Redheart and Twilight went to leave but stopped when they heard somepony raspily yell.

"What the hell?!!"

Redheart was confusedly looking around trying to locate the source of the yelling, while Twilight focused in on the group of trees she chucked the boulder into earlier. Without pause, Twilight teleported herself with a flash just outside of the trees leaving Redheart by herself.

Redheart, noticing the small flash, turned around to check it out and when she did she caught sight of a small remaining bit of magical residue drifting down and disappearing. "Well now that's just rude." She muttered to herself before walking to where she believed the source of the yell came from.

Standing outside the mutilated gathering of trees Twilight attempted to locate where the shout came from inside. Most of the trees were completely shattered creating a pathway she could traverse if need be, the only problem was the tree stumps, branches, and sharp debris of wood littering the way.

Twilight perked her ears up when she thought she heard the faint noise of somepony struggling deeper in. Entering through the newly created debris-covered pathway Twilight used her magic to brush aside any menial obstacles in her path while walking closer and closer to the noises. As she continued on Twilight heard the noises deviate off to the right and switched directions delving into the minuscule forest.

After climbing over fallen trees and avoiding hanging branches Twilight was now able to clearly hear the loud sound of somepony's struggles.

"Urgh! Come on! Guh! Hah... hah... hah... Great just great! I just wanted to take a simple nap, and what does that get me? Waking up with a pounding headache with my tail trapped under a fallen tree! How the heck does that even happen?!" Peeking around a surprisingly still standing tree Twilight was finally able to view the pony responsible for all the racket.

A sky blue pony with an uncommon rainbow colored mane, and upon a closer look, she appeared to have a pair of wings. Walking out from behind the tree Twilight started to trot her way over to the unfortunate pegasus.

Hearing the sound of leaves crinkling and crunching the blue pegasus opened her eyes and lifted her head from her prone sulking position. Sighting the purple unicorn making their way towards her the blue pegasus' mood shifted to one of hope. Getting up into a sitting position the blue pegasus eagerly called out to the unicorn.

"Hey! Hey you! Do you think you could help me out here?" As Twilight got closer the blue pegasus forgot about her predicament when she took notice of the unicorn's scarred over left eye. "Whoa..."

Twilight, who hadn't said anything during the walk over, came to a stop a couple of meters away from the blue pegasus. Casually lighting her horn the tree trapping the pegasus' tail was lifted just enough for her to get out.

"Move." Twilight told the pegasus who quickly got over her surprise and did just that.

Now hovering over the ground the pegasus looked back to Twilight. "Thanks, I don't know how long I would've been trapped under there if you hadn't come along. By the way," The pegasus closed her eyes and puffed out her chest then slammed one of her hooves into it with a cocky attitude, "the name's Rainbow Dash! Best and highest ranked adventurer in Ponyville! So who are y—" Opening her eyes she was met with the back form of Twilight walking away. "Hey!"

Twilight, who was now going back to find the boulder she threw, was hoping the pegasus would just leave after helping her. But annoyingly that was not the case. Said pegasus zoomed right in front of her forcing her to stop as she got right up in her face.

"What was that for?! I was trying to be nice and thank you and everything! Yeah, you look pretty cool with those scars and all, but that doesn't give you the right to brush off the Rainbow Dash like that!" Growing increasingly more annoyed Twilight walked around the Rainbow Dash and resumed her search for the boulder.

The entire time Twilight was searching for the boulder Rainbow Dash was for some reason still pestering her. She was getting more annoyed by the second with this pegasus, but finally sighting the boulder a little ways away, an idea came to her head.

"Hey, Rainbow Dash," This was the first time the unicorn spoke, let alone say her name, so Rainbow Dash perked up her ears to listen to what she had to say, "you seem like the competitive type, how about a little wager?"

"Heh heh, bring it! I can take anything you throw at me!"

"You see that boulder over there?" Twilight asks while pointing it out with her hoof.

Rainbow Dash followed the direction of Twilight's hoof before laying her eyes on the massive boulder. "Yeah, what about it?"

"If you can somehow maneuver it onto your back and hold it for ten seconds I'll quit ignoring you and maybe answer any questions you might have about me, but if you lose—"

"Ah! Ah! Ah!" Rainbow interrupted Twilight. "I don't need to hear the penalty. Why? Because I'm not about to lose to something as simple as that!" With that Rainbow zipped her way over to the boulder while Twilight rolled her eyes before teleporting after her.

They both arrived at the boulder at the exact same time and Rainbow, a bit curious, asked Twilight, "You know, how did a boulder this big get over here in the first place? I swear I didn't see it when I flew here earlier."

Twilight, raising her eyebrow at Rainbow's lack of deductive reasoning, reiterated, "You'll have to win this wager before I answer any questions." After Twilight's answer Rainbow groaned before proceeding to the boulder, inspecting it, to try and find a way to get it on her back.

A minute or two passed by as Twilight, in peaceful silence, watched the pegasus attempt to find a strategy to get the 800lbs boulder onto her back. She probably would've sat there unhindered for longer if it wasn't for a familiar voice calling out to her.

"Finally! There you are Twilight!" Twilight looked to who addressed her to see Redheart walking straight up to her. "That was very rude of you teleporting away as you did! And... is that Rainbow Dash?" Redheart stopped what she was about to say when she noticed the pegasus inspecting the big boulder that was harshly thrown by Twilight earlier.

Nodding her head Twilight told Redheart about their little wager. "I don't know about this Twilight, even for a Rank-S adventurer like Rainbow Dash this will be still difficult and let's not forget unsafe." Redheart said feeling apprehensive about the whole thing.

'Rank-S huh? This might be interesting.' Twilight thought to herself. "Well then, it's a good thing we have a medic with us now isn't it?" Twilight said out loud while gesturing to Redheart's cutie mark. Looking back at it Redheart sighed and decided it would be futile to argue any further, so she walked over to Twilight and plopped herself down right next to her.

Whispering to Twilight, "I still don't condone any of this, but I know there's nothing I can do to stop Rainbow when she's like this."

"That's it!" Twilight's and Redheart's focus switched to Rainbow Dash just as she was beginning to put some sort of plan into action.

Without another word, the pegasus zoomed into the sky at an impressive rate before coming to a halt when she thought she was high enough. Turning to look back down Rainbow located the boulder and thought to herself, 'Heh, just you watch... what was it that Redheart said? Twilight? Yeah, just you watch Twilight!' and then nosedived straight for the oversized rock.

Back on the ground Twilight was blankly watching Rainbow gain velocity, already having an idea as to what her plan was. Then there was Redheart who was nervously glancing back and forth from Rainbow to the boulder trying to figure out what she was trying to do.

Her nervous curiosity didn't have to last long.

When Rainbow Dash believed she was close enough she did a complete one-eighty and stuck her rear legs out aiming for the middle upper part of the boulder. Her hooves connected to it with a loud *CLACK* creating a few cracks due to the sudden force acting on it. Not only that but the boulder was tilted off the ground just enough for Rainbow Dash to squeeze herself under if she got there fast enough. And she did.

Like a rocket, Rainbow Dash landed under the boulder with her back to it waiting for it to fall back down. When she felt the impact from the massive boulder her legs buckled slightly and she let out a small groan.

Twilight was looking on from the side and waited until she saw that the boulder was completely free from the ground to begin her count down. When it was, she started, loud enough for Rainbow to hear.

"1..."

Rainbow Dash's hind legs were shaking from holding the brunt of the weight.

"2..."

Her hind legs were shaking just a tad bit faster than before.

"3..."

Now her forelegs were beginning to shake.

"4..."

Her face was now growing a bit red from the strain of deadlifting 800lbs.

"5..."

Her breaths were becoming short and ragged but she still didn't give up.

"6..."

Her legs were now rapidly shaking and she shut her eyes tight to focus more for the final seconds.

"7.."

She was getting a little lightheaded and her small headache from earlier came with back full force.

"8.."

Her face was completely red and her eyebrows were crinkled together as her muscles showed the intense strain she was pushing herself through.

"9..."

Rainbow began swaying slightly as a small stream of blood came out of her nose and dripped from her chin.

"10."

When the ten-second mark hit Rainbow instantly collapsed and would've been crushed if it wasn't for Twilight's quick reaction in catching it in her magic and floating it off to the side. The mare flipped over onto her back breathing in deep and heavy breaths and spreading out her legs with a tiny cocky smile adorned on her face.

"How... about... that... I won!" Rainbow Dash boasted to Twilight between breaths. Twilight walked over to Rainbow and looked into her now open exhausted looking eyes from above her.

"Congratulations. I didn't believe you'd actually be able to pull something like that off. But alas my expectations were off, so a deals a deal I'll answer some questions you might have."

"Awesome." Was the last thing Rainbow Dash said before she decided right then and there to pass out. With a sigh, Twilight picked Rainbow Dash up in her magic and floated her over to the still shocked Redheart and plopped her right on her back.

"Wha— Hey! Why are you making me carry her?" Redheart complained.

"Because I don't want to. Now come on let's go back to the Hub so you can create my adventurer's license." Redheart was beginning to dislike this mare. She was crude, demanding, and always brushing ponies off, but she knew she couldn't do anything about it.

Reluctantly she followed behind Twilight. The quicker this was done and over with the quicker they could part ways, right?

Now later in the day, both arrived back at a less crowded Hub with Rainbow Dash still passed out on Redheart's back. Both walking up to the receptionist's desk Redheart grabbed the camera that was left there earlier and for some reason not put back up.

"Alright, I just need you to stand up against a wall and I'll take your picture, and after that, I'll drop Rainbow Dash off on the second floor and go to create your license while I'm at it." Redheart told Twilight. Gaining a nod from the mare she walked over to the wall and turned around to look at Redheart.

Redheart held the camera up and focused it on Twilight before a small flash came out of it. With that Redheart left to the second floor using a staircase on the other side of the Hub.

Now left alone Twilight decided to wander around for a little while.

The only ponies present at the moment were workers who were cleaning up the messes made by adventurers earlier in the day. There were a spare few adventurers present, but they were tamer than the ones before; probably just trying to wind down after a long day.

Taking a look around Twilight spotted the posterboard and decided to take a gander to see what monsters were posted on it. Back in the day's posterboards would most likely have been tacked to the brim with quests from the Guilds, but nowadays it was different.

Princess Celestia found out quests were enticing ponies to take on more than they could chew with some of the rewards they gave. She discovered that ponies were taking on harder quests, even if their rank wasn't high enough for it, in an attempt to gain the higher rewards the Guild's gave for completing them. This lead to multiple inaptitude ponies dying meaningless deaths all just for a bit a wealth. When she discovered this she placed a ban on Guild's from handing out quests and because of that, the pony morality rate decreased just a bit, but to Princess Celestia every bit counts in a world like this.

Since that ban, the posterboards in Hubs were usually used as a way for ponies/adventurers to see what kinds of monsters appeared around the area. Thus the reason pictures of monsters were tacked across the board.

As Twilight was busy examing the board she failed to notice a certain rainbow-maned pegasus fly up behind her.

"BOO!" Rainbow Dash screamed into Twilight's ear trying to scare her, but all Twilight did was slowly turn and face the smiling pony with a 'Really?' kind of look. "Oh, you're good. Most ponies would've jumped and shrieked scared out of their wits. Anyways, watcha doing?"

"Just checking to see what monsters commonly appear around Ponyville."

"Yeah there's a lot isn't there? Most of them appear from the Everfree Forest." Rainbow Dash said. Twilight had heard about the Everfree Forest before but not too much about it, just that it's a very dangerous place usually avoided by civilian ponies and adventurers alike.

"Ahh, I wish I was alive during the time where Guild's gave out quests." Rainbow Dash said changing the topic. "That would've been so awesome! Getting paid to go out on thrilling adventures and killing monsters, that would've been the life!"

Twilight just rolled her eyes to Rainbow's gushing over quests and kept scanning over the board. She didn't get to continue looking for long before her and Rainbow Dash were called out to.

"Excuse me." Rainbow Dash— shutting up— and Twilight turned around to see a semi-muscular stallion with grey fur and short black hair. "Hello, the name's Tungsten Forge and I couldn't help but overhear you two talking about quests." Tungsten said with a deep guttural voice

Twilight and Rainbow both eyed each other before looking back to the stallion. "Yeah, what's it to ya?" Rainbow Dash said suspiciously eyeing the stallion.

"Whoa, I ain't looking for no trouble miss!" Tungsten said while waving one of his forelegs around. "You two seem like tough mares, I just got a favor I'd like to ask of you two. What do you say?"

This time Twilight spoke up, "And just what is this 'favor?'"

"I'm not gonna lie, it's a bit dangerous. I'm hoping you two could go to a cave in the Everfree Forest and procure some of my namesake for me? I'll pay you finely depending and how much you bring back." After hearing the stallion's request Twilight began to mull it over, while Rainbow Dash...

"The Everfree Forest are you crazy?!" She shouted at Tungsten.

"Like I said, it will be dangerous. You don't have to agree if you don't want to."

"Of course we wouldn't agree to some—"

"I'll do it." Twilight finally spoke up interrupting Rainbow. Tungsten seemed ecstatic by the mare's answer while Rainbow looked at her like she was completely stupid.

"Pleasure doing business with you! Just come to shop whenever you're ready to sell what you got, it's called Tungsten's Forgery and it's located in the marketplace." With that, the stallion left.

Quickly turning on Twilight, "Twilight are you insane?! The Everfree Forest is infested with many monsters known and unknown! It's a deathtrap! Besides, I doubt they'll let you in, they rarely allow Rank-A and above adventurers to even step foot in the forest. What rank even are you by the way?" Rainbow finished by asking Twilight.

"I just became Rank-B," Rainbow, again, looked at her like she was the dumbest pony alive, "besides you don't have to come with me. I'll do fine, probably even better, on my own." Twilight said looking back into Rainbow's eyes.

Rainbow Dash just stood there contemplating it for a little bit before coming to an answer. "No, I'm going to go with you. If I'm not there to keep a Rank-B like you safe you'll most likely just get killed out there. So meet me on the outskirts of the forest tomorrow at noon." After that Rainbow flew out of the Hub without giving Twilight a chance to respond.

Sighing to herself Twilight turned around when she felt a hoof tap on her shoulder. "I have your license for you Twilight." Redheart said holding it out to her. Floating it out of her grasp Twilight saw her picture and rank on the card, as well as a magical mark indicating that the license wasn't foraged.

Stowing away the card in her cloak Twilight looked up to see that Redheart was about to walk away. "Redheart." She called out getting the mare to stop and turn quizzically towards her. "I need to show you something."

Author's Note

What?! No Ranking Trials really happened?! What blasphemy!

But anyways, onwards to chapter 3!