The New Recruit

After his week in the infirmary, all trials for the basics were done, and all students were graded for the first three weeks of their course. To nopony's great surprise, Blitz Break was at the top of the first-year class. Poinsettia was ranked twelfth, but that was because all of the classes were being ranked together. Ninety-five of the original hundred students were still here.

Ace was ranked at number seventy-nine. That was far better than he expected. It wasn't great, but he'd thought he'd score in the low eighties, at best. Peregrine's scores were probably the reason for his high ranking. Peregrine was ranked at number thirty-six. If you were starting in the top forty, the chances that you'd make it to the end of the year were fantastic, and if you were in the top ten at the end of year four, there was a good chance you'd be let into the Wonderbolts.

"Hey, buck up, Ace," smirked Blitz, smacking him hard on the shoulder as he pointed to his score. "Or should we call you "flunky" now? 'Cause you certainly didn't "Ace" your exams!" He laughed right in Ace's ear, which by now was healed enough to make it just an annoyance, rather than a painful experience. "Did you really expect to make it here at the academy? Earth ponies like you don't belong here."

Peregrine wrapped a wing around Ace's shoulder and pulled him away. "Don't worry about it too much," he said, glancing back as Blitz continued to laugh in the background. "He's just being a jerk."

"Oh, I wasn't worried," assured Ace. "I kew going in that this was going to be an uphill battle. I'm just sorry that I brought your score down so much."

Peregrine just waved his hoof. "Don't worry about it. Sometimes, your teammate is injured, and you have to put in the extra effort to come away with a lower score. I'm sure you'd do the same for me."

Ace just kind of shrugged. "I mean, I guess you're right, as I would need to try harder, and since we wouldn't be averaging scores, I'd come away lower regardless. And certainly, I wouldn't be trying to lower your score."

"So you wouldn't try to raise my score if I was out sick?"

"I'm not saying that. I'm just saying that there is a cutoff as to how effectively I could raise your score."

"True, true..."

"I mean, if I'm at rank seventy-nine, and you're at thirty-six, how can I possibly elevate your score?"

Peregrine scratched his neck. "That is a tough one..."

Ace sighed. "I wasn't originally thinking of how low you'd sunk. I only thought about that later, when you brought up the ranks again. And I wasn't worried about the scores that much."

"What were you worried about, then?"

Ace shook his head. "Nothing."

"You definitely looked worried..."

"Looked and were are two different things, my friend," smirked Ace. "I was thinking to myself about the individual scores that brought me to my ranking. And I know that there's a newbie trap coming."

Peregrine brought a hoof to his lips. "That's meant to be kept secret." He looked around, and was pretty sure nopony had heard Ace. "You're talking about the recess, right?"

Ace nodded. "I heard it from higher-level students."

After the first month, when the initial scores were posted, the students would be granted the next three weeks with no scheduled training. They were still expected to attend their classes, but there would be nopony dictating their flight training. They could slack off and rest for three weeks and suffer no consequences, as long as they attended and participated in their clerical classes.

There was recorded evidence of pegasi doing well in the first month, and then being kicked out in week seven because they were tested again in rapid succession and were not prepared. Anypony that had made it to the end of their first year would know, and could warn students they liked, about the trap.

Gentle Giant had been the one to warn Ace about it, and Peregrine had probably heard about it from Fleetfoot. Those three weeks of no structured classes came right after the initial scores were released for a good reason; The students would see where they needed to improve, and then were given time to work on doing so. If they chose to take the extra time to flop down on the couch and snack on chips, then they would likely fail.

"So, what are you thinking we do about it?"

"Well, I have a few ideas," answered Ace. "I've spent enough time with older students to know that the group obstacle course is a struggle, because the first time you go through it alone, and only need to know what's going to be where. In the group course, you have to keep track of where your partner is, too. So that's something we should come up with a plan for."

"I can already tell you that the dizzitron is going to be easier," noted Peregrine. "Me having wings and catching you is going to stabiliise everything just a little bit easier."

"Still, we should practise that," agreed Ace. "I want to be able to do that twice in a row. By the way, do you mind if we set the dizzitron to the highest setting? I think we can score higher if we push a little bit harder."

Peregrine looked a little bit nervous. He wasn't very good at the dizzitron on the normal setting. "I don't know if I can handle it..."

"That's what the practising is for," assured Ace. "It's ultimately your call, but I think you should at least try."

Peregrine nodded. "We'll try both. Whichever one we seem to score better in is the one we should display."

"Good. I also want to work on building a lightning storm."

Peregrine balked at that. "Are you sure? Because last time--"

"Last time was proven not my fault," said Ace. "Not yours, either. I was struck because the other team put theirs together backwards. I don't like to leave tasks half-done."

Peregrine took a breath. "I don't want you to end up in the infirmary again. Can we keep you off the cloud?"

"I could wear rubber boots and gloves."

"That'll make me feel a little bit better..."

"Or... You know how I was stating that the record for this task was set by Thunderstruck?"

"Yeah?"

"Let me show you what he did..."