Once again we open in Ponyville. Flash and his friends were in the park, enjoying a picnic together. Flash, Twilight, Rarity and Fluttershy were helping set up the area where they'd be eating while Applejack, Pinkie, Spike, Spring and the CMC were enjoying a ball game. The only one yet to arrive was Rainbow, who had to do a little weather organising before she could come.
"Over here Spike," Applebloom yelled.
"Catch," Spike replied back as he kicked the ball towards the filly.
"Got it," Applebloom said as she caught the ball with her tail.
"Nice one Sugarcube," Applejack cheered to her sister.
"Sweetie Belle!" Applebloom threw the ball at the unicorn.
"I got it!" Sweetie said as she managed to kick the ball towards Springer, who caught it in his paws.
"Nice catch Springer," Scootaloo told him. The jakhowl gave a happy bark before tossing it towards her. "Here Pinkie," she said as she spun around and swiped the ball with her tail, sending it flying towards the older pony.
"Whee!" Pinkie said as she stood on her front hooves and kicked the ball, "Your turn Applejack!"
"Heads up Spike," she called as she bucked the ball towards the dragon. The only problem was that she put so much force behind it, the ball shot at him like a cannon.
"Woah!" Spike yelled as he ducked, causing the ball to fly over him toward the other ponies.
"LOOK OUT!" Applejack called out to her friends, catching her attention. Everypony looked over at them and saw the ball sailing towards them.
"Holy...GET DOWN!" Twilight exclaimed before everypony did so except Fluttershy, who instead froze at the sight of the projectile which was head straight for her. As the projectile continued to spin in the air, she just closed her eyes and waited for the ball to hit.
But it didn't.
A few seconds later, she cracked her eyes open, only to see nothing but blue. Said blue moved away from her, revealing itself as Flash's tail which he'd used to catch the ball. "Close one," he said as he bounced the ball on his tail. Fluttershy however, responded by simply fainting.
"Fluttershy!" Twilight rushed over to her, "are you okay?"
"She's fine." Flash replied as he threw the ball back and leaned down to examine her. “Thing just frightened her, that's all.”
"I hope so," Applejack said as she and the others rushed over to them. When Fluttershy finally regained consciousness and Applejack apologised, everypony helped get the area sorted for the picnic.
"And that's everything," Rarity said once they were done, "now we're just waiting for Rainbow Dash to get here."
"I'm sure she won't be long now," Fluttershy replied as she took a drink of water, still trying to calm herself down.
"Hope so," Pinkie rubbed her belly with her tongue out, "I'm hungry."
"Don't worry," Flash chuckled as he laid down on the ground with his hooves behind his head, "she'll be here soon."
"How can you tell?" Twilight asked.
"Because I can see her coming right now," he pointed up at the sky, where the blue rainbow maned pegasus was flying.
"About time," Rarity said.
However, it seems Rainbow had something on her mind other then eating. "FLASH!" she screamed as she shot towards them.
"What's up?" Flash replied as he got back up. “Something happen in town?”
"Yeah. I was flying over the town and I saw something you gotta see."
"What is it?" Twilight asked.
"No time," Rainbow replied, "come on." With that she shot off with Flash taking to the sky after her.
"Let's go," Twilight said as she and the others rushed after them.
"Couldn't she have waited until after we'd eaten?" Spike groaned as he followed.
The group rushed out of the park and followed the two speeding pegasi into town, trying to keep up with them. "How much further?" Twilight said with haggard breath. Thankfully, it was then that Rainbow came to a complete halt in midair, causing Flash to slam into her.
"What the-Rainbow!" he yelled as he tried to recover from tumble.
"That," Rainbow said, pointing to the ground.
Flash followed her hoof and saw, much to his amazement, "Grand Hoof." He flew down to meet with his mentor.
"Hey kid," Grand chuckled as he walked up to his old student, "been looking all over for you."
"What are you doing here?" Flash asked, "not that I'm not happy to see you Grand, it's just..."
"You don't usually leave Canterlot," Twilight told him when the rest of the gang arrived, "unless its on business."
"Exactly," Grand replied with a nod.
"So this has something to do with Royal Knights?" Scootaloo asked with wide eyes.
"Is something bad happening?" Rarity added.
"Do you need Flash's help with something?" Applejack continued, causing Grand to finally flash his hoof to make them stop.
"I'm actually here for Flash," Grand finally said. “That's all.
"Why?" Flash asked in concern.
"Flash my boy," Grand Hoof said as he patted the pegasus on the back, "It's time for you to take the next step in your knighthood training. Your apprehension of Shake Shocker along with your many other achievements have earned you the right to take the Great Test."
"The Great Test?!" everypony exclaimed in unison.
"What's that?" Pinkie asked.
"As you know, the Royal Knights are the highest section of security in Equestria, second only to the Princesses. As such, it is the duty of the Royal Knights to be able to lead when necessary. The Great Test is designed to see whether or not an apprentice is capable of such a feat."
"So if Flash passes this test, he'll be one step closer to becoming a Royal Knight?" Twilight asked.
"Exactly," Grand Hoof nodded.
"What is he fails?" Spike asked, getting a smack around the head from Twilight.
"He won't." Grand shook his head before turning to Flash, "the test will be tomorrow at dawn kiddo."
"So soon?" Twilight asked with a tilted head, "but that doesn't give him any time to prepare for it."
Grand Hoof just shook his head again. “The Great Test is something you're either ready for or you aren't." Twilight frowned at that, causing Grand to shrug. “That's just how it works lass.”
"But what about my work?" Flash spoke up, "what if something happens here in Ponyville while I'm gone? I mean, I know Springer can probably handle it but-"
"I'm sure the town will be fine without you for one day," Grand interrupted. “Don't start being a worrywart kiddo, I didn't train you to be one.”
"And if not," Applejack said, "we can deal with it."
"You sure?" Flash glanced at the earth pony, looking unsure.
"How hard can it be?" Rainbow added with a shrug.
"Alright...it is only for one day." Flash replied before muttering to himself. “Which kinda worries me...”
“What was that?”
“Nothing!”
"Alright," Grand said as he turned around, "If you're good with that, then I need to get the test area ready. Make sure you get an early night's sleep tonight."
"Got it," Flash nodded.
With that, Grand Hoof headed off to an unknown area, while the others returned to their picnic. Flash was a little concerned about this sudden out of the blue test, but refused to let that unease show. Though he knew that Twilight would be even more uneasy about it, causing him to already tell her to not worry.
Later that day...
As Celestia began to lower the sun, Twilight, Flash, Spike and Springer were in the library. Flash was preparing to go to sleep early, only to groan at the sight of Twilight looking through books a mountain of books.
"Will you knock it off Twilight?" Flash told her, "you're not going to find anything on it. Trust me."
"There has to be something here about the Great Test," Twilight growled while speed reading through another book. “I just know it.”
"Tch. I doubt it." Flash said as memories of random tests from Grand Hoof flowed through his head. "The Great Test is probably some big secret that only the knights and princesses are allowed to know. That or Grand Hoof messing with me like always."
“He really likes to do that, doesn't he?” Springer asked, only to get a nod in return.
“Oh yeah buddy. Trust me, under that rough coat is a complete prankster.” Flash chuckled as he let out a yawn. “I've had more than enough experience with him and his random assignments.”
"That won't stop me from trying," Twilight barked back as she grabbed another book, "I don't care what Grand Hoof says, being prepared for it is sure to help in the test."
"Except we have no idea what the test will be. It could be some great physical feat, or a fifty question multiple choice test."
Twilight sighed and lowered the books. "I just don't want you to fail."
"And I appreciate it," Flash replied, moving over to her and placing a wing around her. "But if I'm not ready, then I'm not ready. There's no amount of studying that will change that."
"I...” Twilight huffed as she looked at her foalhood friend, a big goofy grin now shining on his face. “Ugh...you're right." she said while putting her head on his shoulder, "just do your best, okay?"
"Hey," Flash chuckled as he hugged her, "when do I do otherwise?"
The two laughed at this before heading off to bed.
The next morning, Flash and Twilight were up before the sun had been raised, though Twilight found herself a bit annoyed at getting up that early. When they, along with Spike and Springer left the library, they found the rest of their friends waiting for them. Some were not particularly pleased at being awake at such an hour just like Twilight.
"Seriously Flash," Rainbow groaned as she scratched her back, "how do you do this everyday?"
"Years of habit," Flash replied. “You get used to it after a while.”
"I know we agreed to help you with your duties," Rarity said as she pulled out a comb and levitated a mirror in front of her, "but I have to say this hour is ridiculous darling."
"Oh stop your whining," Applejack barked as she adjusted her hat. “Mah family gets up earlier than this hour for apple buckin' all the time.”
"She's right Rarity, we promised Flash," Fluttershy added.
"And I appreciate it," Flash said with a big grin.
"Morning all," they turned to see Grand Hoof approaching them, a saddlebag over his back.
"Morning," they replied in unison.
"You ready Flash?"
"As I'll ever be."
"Well then," Grand went into his saddlebag and pulled out a glass vial full of a weird green liquid, "let's get started." He uncorked the vial and held it out, "drink this."
"What is it?" Flash asked as he took the vial, closing one eye as he glared at the green flowing juice. “Looks kinda funky.”
"Just a little something you need to drink for the test."
Flash shared a glance at the girls, who each just shrugged before looking back at the vial and drinking it down. All the ponies were waiting to see what would happen, only for nothing to be the response.
"How do you feel?" Twilight asked expectantly.
"I don't feel any different," Flash said, trying to look himself over, "do I look different?"
"No," they all shook their heads. As they did this, the pegasus suddenly went stiff as his eyes went wide before glowing a brilliant gold.
"Is that normal?" Twilight asked Grand Hoof, who looked just as confused.
"No," he shook his head, "they're supposed to go green." Just as he said that, Flash's eyes went from gold to green, before the light began to spread to the rest of his body. A few moments later, the light began to slowly fade and his eyes returned to normal.
"What the-" Flash grabbed his head as he started to titter around, "what happened? That was...that was weird."
"What was that?!" Pinkie asked.
"Its a special potion that temporarily nullifies a pony's abilities," Grand Hoof explained, causing the others to give him confused stares.
"Meaning?" Rainbow asked, not getting it.
"Flash," Grand said as he pointed his hoof upward, "get me a leaf from the top of the library."
This confused the young knight, but he did as he was told. He opened his wings and jumped up into the air, only to crash down onto the ground. "WHAT THE!?" he looked back at his wings and flapped them as hard as he could, but no matter what he did, he couldn't seem to get off the ground. "What in the-I can't fly!"
"Exactly," Grand nodded, "to make sure each pony who takes this test is on equal ground, we have them take a potion which prevents them from using their species's natural advantages. It's the same with an earth pony's strength and a unicorn's magic."
"This is temporary, right?" Flash asked in a panic. He didn't want to know what life would be like without his ability to fly.
"Oh course," Grand nodded again, "it lasts about twelve hours."
“Oh thank the stars!” Flash sighed in relief.
"Well, let's get going Flash," Grand said as he turned to leave. “Come on kiddo, we ain't got all day.”
"Right," Flash nodded before turning to his friends, "I'll see you girls later."
"Go get them Flash," Rainbow said with her hooves crossed.
"Good look deary," Rarity added.
"We'll have a big party to celebrate you passing," Pinkie cheered.
"Be careful," Fluttershy whispered.
"And don't do anything stupid," Applejack said with a tip of her hat.
"You can do it Flash," Twilight finished. “We all believe in you.”
"Right," Flash replied as he turned to leave, but then he noticed Springer was following him. "Sorry bud, but only Royal Knights can come."
"Oh," Springer's head drooped down hearing this.
"Cheer up," Flash said as he patted his partner's head, "I need you to keep an eye on everything around here. You're the only one who knows what I do on a daily basis, so it'll be up to you to show them what to do."
"Right," Springer nodded with a salute. Seeing this, they two turned to go their separate ways. As Springer returned to the rest of the group, they watched the two ponies leave town, waving them off until they could no longer see them.
"So what now?" Fluttershy asked.
"Simple," Twilight replied as she levitated a scroll up, "Flash left a list of the things he does on a daily basis. We just follow it and this should be a cinch."
"So what's first?"
"Let's see," Twilight said as she read it, "patrol town north to east, east to south, south to west, west to north."
"Seems simple enough," Rarity commented as she looked at the town. “Ponyville is not that big after all.”
"Then let's go," Twilight said as she rolled up the scroll. Springer leaped onto Fluttershy's back and pointed to the sky, causing Twilight to quickly figure out what he wanted. "Looks like he wants a pegasus's eye view.”
"But why me?" Fluttershy asked in fear.
"You're the only other pony that can understand him," Rainbow said in a deadpan tone.
"Right," Fluttershy said as she and Rainbow flew up.
While they got to work on Flash's usual assignments, Flash himself was making his way through a mountainous area close to where he and the others had to face the dragon. Seeing the long trek in front of him as he followed his mentor, Flash started to get nervous. He knew that nopony was around but his mentor, which was never the ideal situation in his mind and his memories.
"Here we are," Grand said as they set the bags down.
"So, now will you tell me what the Great Test is supposed to be?" Flash asked as he looked around, still noticing they were now near one of the mountains. “And why you led me all the way out here, in post-dragon country?”
Grand nodded, a smile on his face. "The Great Test is comprised of three separate tasks kiddo. Tasks that are designed to test a specific quality all leaders must have. In order for you to complete these tasks, an emblem with your cutie mark has been split into three pieces and will used as the goal of each task. All you have to do is collect all three, which have been enchanted to reassemble themselves by touch. The test ends when the emblem is whole again."
"Whole emblem, three tasks, all part of the test. Got it."
"Now the first task is a difficult path that which will test your strength, endurance and courage."
"Please, you're looking at the Element of Courage."
"Then you shouldn't have any problems then kiddo," Grand Hoof laughed as he pointed to a particular mountain that was at least one mile high. It's entirety was almost ninety degrees, with the top looking perfectly flat. "Best get climbing."
"Okay," Flash said as he took a deep breath and headed over to it. "Now I know why he had to take away my flight." He saw a few outstretched ledges he could use and began his climb, pulling himself up over them to get higher and higher. "Gotta...get to...the top," he said with struggled breath as he worked to pull himself up. “Sometimes I...hate...you...Grand...”
As he was about make it half way up the mountain, he felt his hooves start to struggle on his long trek up. He let out a long sigh as he grabbed another ledge, only to feel the rock loosen. “Oh no...don't tell me-” as his last words came out, the rock broke. "Whoa!" he yelled as he felt himself slide back down the mountain.
"FLASH!" Grand yelled, seeing his pupil in trouble.
Flash continued to fall until he managed to grab onto a ledge about a hundred feet from the ground. Flash let out a loud groan before scrambling back up, trying to get his footing back. A few moments later, he managed to pull himself onto the ledge. "I'm okay...I'm okay..."
"You sure?" Grand yelled. "Do you want to come down?"
"No...no Grand." he mumbled as he began to climb once again, "I know I can do this."
"Okay," Grand said as he shook his head. “Don't scare me like that kiddo.”
Flash continued his trek up the mountain, being extra careful where he put his hooves. A few minutes later, he finally made it to the top. "I...made it," he moaned once he'd pulled himself up. He looked over the top of the mountain and there in the center of it was a small wooden box. "What the-is this it?" He opened the box and there it was, a white piece of cloth that looked like it had the top left part of his cutie mark emblazoned on it. "I did it," he sighed in relief, before looking back down the mountain. "Now how do I get down?"
While this was happening, Flash's friends were continuing doing his work. They had already done the north, south and east sides of the town and were finishing up the regular morning patrol.
"Nothing out of the ordinary on the west side," Rainbow said as she, Fluttershy and Springer landed.
"This defending the peace thing is easier then I thought," Pinkie said as she bounced around.
"Yeah," Rainbow commented as she put her hooves behind her head with a smirk, "don't know why it takes Flash so long. That was easier than doing the weather."
Hearing this, Springer let out a bark. The others quickly glanced at him, but then turned to Fluttershy for the translation. "Springer said Flash doesn't just deal with big problems. They also deal with any little ones that might spiral into a big one."
"I guess that makes sense," Applejack said, "fixing something before it becomes to big to handle. Its like uh...what's that old saying?"
"Oh!" Rarity replied, "you mean prevention is cheaper then the cure?"
"Yeah, that's it."
"What small problem could possibly turn into a big one?" Rainbow asked, causing Springer to facepaw. Flash had taught him to never say or think something like that, and he knew that meant problems if somepony else did.
Meanwhile...
Over the skies of Ponyville was a lone pegasus. This pony's name was Derpy Hooves, the town's resident mailpony. As she began flying over to a certain house, a large package she was carrying began to sag in her hooves. Shortly landing with said package, the mare then began to try and stuff the oversized package into somepony's mailbox. Unfortunately, the package was three times bigger than the mailbox, making it impossible. Not one to give up, she continued to try and put the package inside.
As Derpy continued to try and stuff the package in the mail box, she'd unknowingly landed next to a series of barrels. As she did one big push, her hooves smacked a small peg that kept the barrels in place, causing the rope around them to snap. With this, the loosened ropes fell to the ground while Derpy continued to push, still not noticing what she had done.
But that would change when Derpy had somehow finished her 'delivery' by getting the package inside the mailbox. As she spun around to head to her next delivery, her hooves tapped one of the barrels. With nothing holding them in place, the first barrel knocked into the second, than the third, and soon all barrels ended up falling over and began rolling down the hill. Seeing this, only two words came out of her mouth. "Oh no."
Just down the street...
The Mane Six were walking through town when they heard it. What they heard was the screams of terror as a barrage of barrels rolled down the street, ready to run anypony over.
"HELP!" everypony yelled as the barrels continued their endless drive. Seeing this sight, the girls could only blink and look at each other.
"Why do I get the feeling Flash would have been able to prevent that?" Twilight asked.
"I don't think that matters! They're coming our way!" Spike yelled as he pointed at the incoming wooden stampede.
"Let's go!" Rainbow exclaimed, jumping into the air while Twilight, Springer and Applejack ran towards the incoming danger. As the barrels continued rolling, one of them hit a rock, knocking it into the air where Rainbow blasted through it at high speed. Applejack ran up to another, spinning around and bucking another to pieces. Springer threw an Aura Blast, blowing up several barrels while Twilight caught the rest with her magic. However, due to the amount and speed of the barrels, Twilight's magic had a difficult time holding them until Springer's next Aura Blast destroyed them as well.
"Thanks Springer," she said as she sighed in relief. Springer saluted in response.
"That wasn't so bad," Rainbow chuckled as she put her hooves behind her head, "bet Flash couldn't do any better."
"For some reason," Rarity replied while pointing at the town, "I doubt that."
Hearing this, they all looked around and saw that the street was covered in debris. Stands and streetlights were damaged as there were signs of property damage everywhere. Rainbow went especially wide-eyed at this. "Oh...maybe Flash could do better.”
Meanwhile...
Back at the testing grounds, Flash had finally found a way down and presented the emblem to Grand Hoof. "Excellent work Flash," Grand said as he looked over the cloth Flash had retrieved, which he placed in his saddlebag, "now we can move onto the next task." They moved out of the rock infested area, and towards a local forest nearby. "The next task is a test of intelligence. You must find the second piece of the emblem, which is hidden within these woods."
"How exactly does that test intelligence?" Flash asked in confusion.
"You have three clues," Grand Hoof explained. "The stars have fallen, the north will guide you and route out the problem."
"The stars have fallen," Flash repeated, "the north will guide you and route out the problem. Got it." With that, Flash rushed into the forest in his search to find the second piece of his cutie mark emblem.
Meanwhile...
Back in Ponyville, the girls were busy cleaning up the last of the mess they'd made. Rainbow was especially annoyed at this, grumbling at the job she had to do. "I thought this whole defender of the peace thing would be more along the lines of fighting bandits and saving ponies."
"In the time since we've moved here," Twilight replied while levitating some debris, "that's happened a grand total of once."
Hearing this, Springer barked something and everypony turned to Fluttershy.
"He said most days involve doing odd bits to help others out before training."
"So he's basically a handy pony with a weapon?" Pinkie asked.
"In a way," Twilight nodded. “Though he's not the most handy pony at times...especially involving research and studying.”
Springer barked something again and Fluttershy translated it to: "We also try to solve disputes between ponies."
"So he's a diplomatic handy pony," Pinkie joked.
In that moment, an earth pony many of them new as Time Turner, but for some reason many just called him Doc or the Doctor, showed up. "Oh hello girls," he said, "do any of you know where I might find Flash?"
"He's not in town right now," Twilight replied as she finished putting up the last of the debris, "what do you need?"
"I have an experiment I need to finish up but can't do it on my own," he explained, "Flash is usually willing to lend a hoof with these kind of things."
"We'll help," Twilight said as her eyes lit up at the word 'experiment', "I love science."
"Geek," Rainbow chuckled.
"Anyways," Twilight said after glaring at her, "I'd be happy to lend you a hoof."
"That's nice of you Miss Sparkle," he said before turning around, "then let's go. Allons-y!" With that, they all turned and headed for Time Turner's house.
Back to Flash...
Flash was still in the forest, looking around for anything he could use to point him in the right direction. "The stars have fallen and the north will guide you and route out the problem." Flash repeated those words for what felt like the hundredth time. "Come on Flash," he said to himself, "you've spent almost every day of your life with Twilight. You must have picked up on some of her brains." He sighed and looked up at the sky, though that was hard since the trees were so thick that they blocked out the sky.
"Think...think...THINK!" he yelled, his voice causing one of the leafs to fall off the tree and float towards him. As the leaf grew closer, he noticed something about it. The leaf, along with the rest of the leaves in the trees, were star shaped.
"The stars have fallen..." he went wide-eyed in joy as his brain got the riddle. "That's it! Grand Hoof wasn't talking about actual stars, he meant the leaves. I need to find a tree that's lost all it's leaves!" He got up and began rushing through the forest, trying to find such a tree. Some time later, he found it. Sitting in the center of a large clearing was a single small tree with all of it's leaves laying on the ground. "The stars have fallen," he cheered as he went up and touched the tree. "Now, what was the next clue? North will guide you, right?"
He looked up at the sky, but the thick trees made it impossible to see the sun and he knew he didn't have a compass. "Come on..." Flash said to himself as he rubbed the sides of his head. He knew he could leave the forest and check the sun's position before heading back in, but by the time he'd find this tree again, he knew he would lose track on the position. As he continued to think, he noticed that the tree had moss growing on it. As that fact entered his head, another fact surfaced, Twilight's voice speaking in it.
"Moss only grows north."
"That's it," Flash said as he moved over to the mossy side, "the moss is my compass. Now...route out the problem. Route out...the problem." He looked up and down the tree, not sure what that meant until he looked at the ground. "Oh," he facehoofed, "'root' out the problem Flash. Duh." He looked around the roots growing on the north side and there, nestled underneath an unearthed root, was a folded piece of cloth.
"There," he smiled, taking it and unfurling it to reveal the top right part of his cutie mark. He smiled seeing it, and turned to leave the forest, where Grand Hoof was waiting.
"Well done Flash," the earth pony said when he saw Flash place the cloth on the ground. He took the first piece of the emblem and placed it next to the second before they both glowed and became one piece. "Now, all that's left is to pass the final task and get the last piece."
“Sound good to me.”
With that, Grand Hoof picked up the emblem and stored it away. Grand then pointed back to the rocky area from before and Flash nodded, following his old mentor.
Meanwhile...
Back in Ponyville, Twilight and her friends were helping Time Turner with his experiment. Currently, Applejack and Pinkie were on the roof of his house, while Time watched from below.
"Little more," he said to Applejack, who was positioning an antenna on his roof. "Little more..." Applejack kept moving the metal device a little across the roof while Pinkie held a cable connected to it that went through the roof.
"Perfect!" Time finally said. “That's good girls! Thank you!
Once the two earth ponies were off the roof, Time Turner bowed. "Once again, many thanks for your help girls. It's such a hassle to position the antenna and then come off the roof to the see if it's right."
"No problem," Applejack replied as she wiped her brow.
"It was fun!" Pinkie added.
"Hey Time Turner," they turned to see Rainbow and Fluttershy flying towards them with some thunderclouds, "this enough for ya?"
"More then enough. Now, let's get downstairs so I can try this."
They all went down into Time's workshop, where Twilight, Spike Springer and Rarity were waiting. Spike and Springer were surrounded by different tubes, each filled with a different types of bizarre powder. Said powder, Spike and Springer were were coating potatoes with using brushes.
"Why are we doing this again?" Spike asked.
"As you know, pegasi are the only species that can handle lightning," Time explained, "but I intend to design a way for all living things to safely handle it."
"And how do you intend to do that?" Rarity asked.
"My first attempt is the powder your friends are coating the potatoes in," Time said. "Each powder is a ground up type of non-conductive material, which I'm hoping will block the electrical energy.”
"So, you're going to use the potatoes as a first test subject," Twilight guessed.
"Exactly," Time nodded as he took the potatoes and placed them on a machine in the corner. With thiis, he put the potatoes in several containers. "Each holding cell is connected to the antenna that was just placed on the roof. The antenna will pick up the lightning, channel it through the wire and the machine will divide it equally into each container. Once the lightning disperses, we'll take the potatoes out and see which ones aren't fried."
"And if any aren't, you'll know if the powder works," Spike finished.
"Exactly," he said before turning to Rainbow, "you mind firing the lighting?”
"Sure," Rainbow saluted, "this kind of science sounds fun."
"It is." Time grinned.
Meanwhile...
Flash and Grand Hoof had arrived at their final destination. Dead center of the rocky area was a pool of lava roughly twenty foot wide. Around it was several medium sized boulders scattered across around with two or three thick logs along the side. The sight made Flash nervous, especially if the final task required a lava pit. He looked over at Grand Hoof, hoping for an explanation.
"Your final task," Grand explained as he pointed ahead. "Is to find a safe way to cross the lava pit."
Flash's eyes went wide and looked back at the boiling hot lava. "So, uh..." he asked nervously, "what leadership quality is this suppose to test?!"
"I can't tell you," Grand shook his head, "that's part of the test." He took the emblem out of his saddle bag and placed it on the ground. “Go get 'em kiddo.”
Flash sighed and began looking over the lava pit, trying to find any way he might safely cross it. "I might be able to use those rocks as stepping stones," he said examining them, "but they're so small that one wrong move and...I won't recover from that easily. So...that's not a very safe way across the lava." The pegasus sighed and slumped over as he looked over the hole of pure danger. “This might take a while.”
Back in Ponyville...
"You all ready?" Time asked as he and most of the Mane Six prepared for the experiment. The only ones not there were Rainbow and Fluttershy, who were outside so they could unleash the lightning. Twilight, Spike, Springer, Pinkie, Applejack and Rarity were all wearing safety goggles inside, though Rarity needed some major convincing to wear them due to their 'non-fashion statement' they represented. With this, the ponies stood there as they made sure they were a safe distance from the machine.
"Ready," Twilight said as she adjusted the glasses.
"Then let's get this show on the road," Time replied as he moved over to a horn like instrument that lead to the ceiling. "Now!" he called out, his voice travelling through the horn and echoing up to the roof where Fluttershy was waiting.
When she heard Time's voice, she turned to Rainbow. "Now Rainbow."
“You got it!” Rainbow nodded and with one great kick, unleashing the lightning from the cloud which struck the antenna and sent the electricity through the wire into the machine.
"Geronimo!” Time exclaimed. Everypony watched in amazement as the machine came to life and began charging it's batteries before sending the gathered lightning into the chambers. The potatoes were each electrified for several minutes until the last of the electricity was dispersed and the machine opened the chambers before shutting off. Now safe to do so, the ponies moved over to the machine to check on the potatoes.
"So..." Spike asked, "did it work?"
"Well let's see," Time said, pulling out an amp meter out and placed it over to the vegetables. Poking the wires inside the first potato, the device came to life and showed a reading. "Fried," he said before moving over to the next one and doing the same, "toasted...this one's extra crispy...also fried..." He did this for all of them.
"So it didn't work," Applejack said with a slight frown.
"That's why we use the potatoes for the first test," Time said as he put up the meter, "but there's still several more powders we haven't tried." As he rushed over to the next batch of powders he wanted to test, he accidentally kicked something on the floor. "OW!" he said, his voice getting picked up by the horn.
Unfortunately, you'd be surprised how easy it is for an echoed sound of pain to be misheard as somepony saying 'now'. Because Fluttershy did.
"Now," she said to Rainbow who once again kicked the cloud, sending the lighting into the antenna again. Back in the lab, the ponies were about to start covering the next batch of potatoes with the powder when the machine activated again.
"What the?!" Time said as he ran over to the device. “What is...uh-oh..."
The machines chambers were open, meaning only on thing.
"Oh dang," Twilight said deadpanned before yelling, "EVERYPONY DUCK!"
They did so, right as the lightning was vented into and out of the chambers. The lightning shot around the lab, hitting several over devices which began sparking before they exploded. Outside, Fluttershy and Rainbow head strange sounds coming from the listening device, causing them to go down and investigate. Instead, they were greeted by something worse.
BOOM!
Back at the lava pit...
Flash was still searching for a way across and had noticed the thick logs on the edge. "I've seen earth ponies use logs like that to cross rivers and canyons," he said to himself as he crossed his hooves, "but if I push the log in, it's just gonna catch fire. That's not very safe either." He looked over at his mentor, "I guess it's against the rules to ask for a hint, huh?"
Grand Hoof just nodded at that.
As time kept passing, Flash grew more and more nervous. "If I can't find a safe way across the lava pit, I'll fail the test." Finally, after much worrying, he came to a decision. "I'll just have to jump it." He stepped back a few feet and readied himself, though he still felt worried. He wasn't much of a jumper. After all, being able to fly will do that to you, but he had to do this. Once he was at a far enough distance, he shot off running as fast as he could. Closer and closer the lava pit drew until he was almost at the edge. There, he stopped, coming to a skidding halt just as he reached the edge. The pegasus couldn't do it and backed off, still staring at the lava. What he didn't see was Grand Hoof's mouth inches away from his tail, looking like he was about to grab it.
"Oh," Flash gulped as he backed away even more, "there's no way I'd be able to make it across such a gap without my wings. I just...jumping's not gonna work."
Grand Hoof sighed in relief before moving back.
"I'm sorry Grand Hoof," Flash said, sounding upset. "I just can't find a safe way to do this one. I guess I fail."
Grand Hoof frowned sadly, before his frown turned into a happy grin as he went into his saddle bag and pulled something out of it. Looking over, Flash saw Grand pull out a piece of cloth which he placed on the ground next to the incomplete emblem. In a flash of light, the emblem was suddenly whole with the bottom piece now attached.
"Congratulations Flash. You've passed the Great Test."
"WHAT!?" Flash asked as he looked at the emblem and back at his mentor, "but how?! I didn't cross the lava pit, so how could I pass?!"
"This test was different from the others kiddo." Grand explained, "it was a test of judgment. The task was impossible, and you correctly decided not to try it."
"What if I had tried to cross the lava?"
"Then I would have stopped you, and you wouldn't have passed. But I knew you would make the right decision. This is one of the reasons I decided to assign you to be Ponyville's protector."
"I thought it was because I wanted to stay with my friends?"
"That was only one of the reasons," Grand chuckled as he patted his student on the back. "Helping around in Canterlot like you used to was a good start, but you needed to learn to be a protector who'd know how to act in any situation. Today proved you've learned the necessary judgements needed to be a leader, and I'm proud to say that."
Flash smiled hearing this. He had done it, he'd passed his test.
"Now let's get back, I'm sure your friends will be waiting to hear how you've done."
"I just hope they didn't get into any trouble," Flash commented, making Grand laugh.
"How much trouble could they get into in one day?"
“Don't ask that Grand. Never ask that about Ponyville.”
This caused Grand to stop in his tracks. “That bad?”
“Well..”
It turns out Flash's fears were right on the money. As the sun was beginning to set, Flash and Grand had successfully returned back to Ponyville. The duo's face were immediately turned into expressions of shock and despair. The place was a wreak, with several buildings knocked down and many others damaged along with signs of slight fire.
"What the?!" Flash asked looking around. “What happened this time?!”
"Sweet Celestia," Grand continued before looking at his student, “Guess you were right.”
"FLASH!" called out several voices, causing the young pegasus to turn around, only to be tackled by something. Once he had his baring, he up and saw all of his friends were on top of him. He noticed they all looked a little worse for wear, with their coats dirty and their manes sticking up as if they'd been playing with a plasma ball for to long.
"Oh thank Celestia your home," Twilight said as she tightly hugged him.
"Never leave again!" Pinkie cried.
"What happened?" Flash asked trying to push them off him.
"Something that won't ever happen again!" Rarity exclaimed.
"Because we won't let you leave," Fluttershy finished.
"I was gone for one day," he said in a deadpan tone as he found he was still stuck under them.
"One terrible day," Rainbow cried as she even continued the dog pile on the pegasus.
"Well well..." they all looked up to see Grand Hoof chuckling, "this test was supposed to see if you were ready to be a leader one day, but you already seem to be one Flash."
"Hooray for me," Flash grumbled as he was continued to be crushed under the weight of the six mares. It was here that Flash saw his partner Springer rolling on the ground in a fit of giggles as he laughed at the sight. “Yeah yeah, laugh it up fuzzball.”