Several days passed, and at the start of a new morning Dominic found himself waking up in his familiar uncomfortable cot with his desk just a few feet away from him. Outside he could hear Jen yelling at her troops as the sunlight peeked through his window. The man tiredly stood up and stretched, several seconds later he extended his hand to his right, there was a loud thwack and he winced in pain as his fist closed around a wooden training sword.

“Good morning to you too, Insegnante.” Dominic said with a tired sigh as he turned and looked at the door, it opened and the princess walked in with her horn glowing. “Why do you always come from the right?”

“So thou will not be expecting something from the left.” Luna replied, several seconds later Dominic felt a book hit him in the side. Not hard enough to really hurt him, just enough to sting. It took him a few deep breaths, but he didn’t explode, instead he let go of Luna’s training sword and started walking towards the window.

His eyes were drawn to the latest addition to New Liberty, the first ever actual vault, compliments of the Crystal Empire. Dominic had played it off as the Crystal Empire wanting to show it was serious about trading with the United States, and while it certainly did store the gold taken in reparations, there was something else being kept there. Something that he’d put his top stallions in charge of. The mirror. It had been set up in one of the old POW bunkhouses, as the camp was the most secure area in New Liberty. The other two bunk houses had been converted into a communications building and an R and D lab.

“Thou hath a clear schedule today, we hath checked with Sonar.” Luna said, Dominic nodded and ran a hand over his head. “We will expect thee at the training grounds, after you’ve woken up properly.” Dominic nodded silently once again, once he heard Luna walk out the man stretched and made his to the bathroom, once he’d finished there he walked back to his office and looked around.

He’d set up the speakers from the other world on his desk, and oddly enough, they’d changed somewhat on their way through the portal. Now it seemed they drew power from ambient magical fields, which was nice considering there was ambient magic all over the place. He would’ve loved to put on a song or two before going out to the training field, especially since it looked like today would be a day where he’d be getting smacked with a training sword for extended periods of time. Briefly he looked at his jacket and contemplated putting it on, it would lessen the pain of the impacts, but after a second he shook his head and just stuck to his t-shirt, boots and jeans.

The man descended the steps once again, this time passing by Sonar’s desk and out onto the street. At that moment it seemed Jen was marching her troops along in formation, once again Dominic got a distinct feeling that they looked more like Germans than Americans, but it didn’t really matter to him. The man was about to walk towards the training grounds when he heard a gunshot from across town, he dropped to the ground out of instinct, only to see Jen give one of her soldiers a smack in the chest.

“Bang! A sniper just killed your company commander! What do you do!?” She screamed at the stallion next to her, the stallion blinked a few moments and then there was another gunshot. “Bang! He hesitated! He’s dead! What do you do!”

“Get out of the open!” Shouted the third soldier, this one was a changeling, and quickly the formation dispersed and took cover behind a building. Jen just turned and looked towards a building, then gave a wave. Dominic stood up and spotted Johnny sitting up there with the hunting rifle that the princesses had returned when they’d left.

“Do not get used to routines, boys!” Jen said as she looked at the two ‘Dead’ soldiers, whom she’d just made stand still. “You get sloppy and soldiers die. Back in formation!” The soldiers quickly came out from cover and got back into marching order, Dominic sighed quietly as it seemed that Johnny hadn’t been taking any real shots.

The man began walking towards the training grounds once again, pausing for another moment as he walked past the former POW camp. He could see that Fortress Wall was tinkering with a couple radios, Dominic didn’t mind, he knew the stallion had a thing for technology, and he wasn’t about to squash that. Besides, any damage done to the gear came out of Fortress’ paycheck, which was something Dominic didn’t want to do, but it was a good insurance policy.

Finally Dominic reached the training grounds on the outskirts of town, already Luna had set up a table and drawn a circle in the desert sand. On the table Dominic could see a couple canteens of water and two training swords, the man stopped on the edge of the circle and cleared his throat. The mare turned away from the table and looked at him with a faint smile, then nodded silently, only then did Dominic set foot in the circle. He’d learned the hard way to wait for her nod on the first day of training.

“Good morning, Dominic.” Luna said with a slight nod, Dominic returned it once again. “We’ll begin with our usual warm up.” The man nodded and sat on the ground, Luna walked towards him before she too sat down. The hot sand was a bit uncomfortable, but Dominic didn’t really mind, he was willing to do whatever it took for the people he cared about. The two of them closed their eyes, Dominic relaxed his muscles and did his best to clear his mind. The sound of the windy desert was all heard, the sand was all he felt, there was nothing else to worry about. Once he’d fully relaxed he opened his eyes, Luna was staring at him once again.

“I’m ready, Insegnante.” He said quietly, the mare nodded and the two of them stood up. Luna’s horn glowed and the two training swords floated over, Dominic reached out and took one while Luna’s remained in her magic. He gripped the hilt with both hands, and took up the stance that the princess had gone over in the days before.

“Good. Let us begin.” Luna said before she move her sword forwards in a jab, Dominic stepped to the side and took a swipe at the wooden blade. It connected and sent Luna’s training blade to into the ground, Dominic then attempted to kick at Luna’s face. His boot stopping just short of her muzzle. “Thou must stop holding back.” Luna said as she used her magic to pull the training sword from the sand and then took a swipe at Dominic’s leg. Off balance as he was already, he quickly fell onto his rear. “Thou shall not harm us, we art over two thousand years old.”

“I’m sorry…” Dominic said as he got to his feet and brushed himself off.

“Then next time thou shalt not hold back.” Luna said sternly. “Now… Again!” Dominic readied his training sword once more as Luna readied her own, this time she came at him with a swipe from the right. He brought the training sword up and caught the blow, then gave a hard shove against Luna’s magical force. “Good! Again!” This time it was an overhead slice, Dominic stepped to the left and caught the blade, this time Luna drew back the training sword and slashed at Dominic’s right side. Once again there was the thud of wood as Dominic once again defended against the blow. “See, thine skills are improving already. Again!”

There was a swipe to the left, once again Dominic caught the training sword with his own. He grunted at the force Luna had put behind it, it was clear she wasn’t holding back. The man narrowed his eyes and pushed hard against the blade, getting within a foot of Luna’s muzzle, Luna pushed hard with her magic but the man dug his feet into the sand and refused to budge. With a mighty yell he reached out and grabbed the alicorn’s horn, her blade fell to the sand and Dominic’s training sword found itself resting against her neck.

“D-Dominic! Let go!” Luna said as a blush formed on her face, the man released her horn and stepped back.

“You said not to hold back.” He replied, Luna nodded quickly as she touched her horn nervously.

“We know, but… An alicorn’s horn is very sensitive to certain things…” Luna explained, Dominic’s eyes widened and a blush spread across his own cheeks as he nervously rubbed the back of his neck. “We are fine, just… Please, refrain from doing that. Remember, your opponents will likely not have a horn.” It seemed that Luna had shaken herself of any embarrassment she’d had pretty fast, as already the training sword was floating again. “Again!”

From then on the training went well, much better than Dominic had imagined it would go in the beginning. He wasn’t being smacked as often as he expected he would, and Luna kept giving it her all, forcing Dominic to do the same. He’d never known he could move as fast or as agile as before, perhaps it was because he’d never needed to be. Hours passed, and the only breaks they ever took were for water.

The heat grew to a point where Dominic tossed off his shirt, the sand clung to his sweaty skin as his hair became matted against his head. It was safe to say that the both of them were fairly warmed up, and as Luna watched the way his muscles moved she found herself lose focus for several seconds. A hard stinging pain lanced across the side of her neck as Dominic’s training blade made contact with a smack.

The two of them would move back and forth in the sand circle, and yet neither one seemed to step out no matter how close they would come. It came to a point where the townsfolk came out around the late afternoon to gather around and watch, Luna didn’t bother to disperse them, and Dominic was far too busy dodging her attacks to care. Johnny soon made his way to the front of the crowd with a little black notebook, it seemed he was taking bets on who would leave the circle, who’d get the most hits, and so on.

Luna and Dominic backed away from one another for a moment and a hush fell over the crowd, the president and the princess were panting heavily, and sweat was pouring off the man’s body. By now Jen had even gathered to see what was what, when she saw Dominic with his shirt off and holding a sword, she nearly fainted. Not because she wanted to get with him or anything, but because he looked just as she’d imagined the knight in her book to look.

Dominic brought his sword out in front of him and took up an aggressive stance, his eyes narrowing as he watched the princess’ horn. Luna’s magic seemed to sway from side to side on her horn, generally swaying the opposite way she was swinging the sword. He’d noticed it a while ago, but now that he wasn’t on the defensive he planned to exploit it.

“Hath thou had enough?” Luna asked as she twirled her sword, Dominic shook his head. “Very well! Have at ye!” Luna surged forwards, her magic swayed to the right and Dominic brought his blade up to the left. He caught her attack with a grunt and pushed her back, the same with the next and the next. Gradually he began to become more aggressive with his counter attacks. His boots kicked up sand as he gradually fought forwards against Luna’s magic, until finally he was pushing his sword with all his might and their faces were inches apart, their teeth bared at each other.

Dominic gave one final shove, pushing Luna back to the edge of the circle as she staggered, the man followed up with a frontward kick and sent the alicorn face first into the sand. The two of them stared at eachother for a few moments as the crowd watched in awe, Dominic slowly walked forwards and knelt down to offer his hand to Luna. She accepted it and was pulled back to her hooves with a grunt, meanwhile it seemed that Johnny was paying off whoever had bet on the president.

“Thou hast done well, Dominic.” Luna said, Dominic nodded and bowed his head.

“Thank you, Insegnante.” The man turned to walk towards the table where the canteens were set, freezing when he heard a voice from behind him.

“Again!” Dominic spun on his heels and ducked just as Luna’s training sword flew over his head, the man quickly brought up his own weapon into a defensive stance. Meanwhile the crowd was watching with mild awe, Dominic wiped his nose as he and his teacher circled each other once again. Luna was much faster now, and Dominic struggled to keep up with her swipes as he had done before.

The man growled as he felt more pain lancing up his sides, in his legs, on his shoulders. His muscles burned more than he’d ever thought possible, still he went on fighting, even as Luna directed a blow to his face. It was an accident and the adrenaline masked the pain, but still blood began to drip down his face from his nose. Luna could tell he was running out of steam, and she would’ve stopped when she’d struck his nose if he hadn’t kept up the pressure. She had to admit she was surprised at how well he was following her attacks, her eyes met his, and as they did she saw them moving in tandem with her movements. He was calling her movements based on her magic, she had to admit it was pretty clever.

Luna delivered a blow to Dominic’s side, causing him to stagger and clutch at it in pain. He jammed his training sword into the sand and propped himself up on it, he refused to fall to his knees. Luna halted her attacks as she watched him slowly stagger to his feet, he swayed from side to side as he brought the sword forwards once again. Luna shook her head, they’d done enough for one day, and with that she used her magic to pull his training sword from his hands.

“That is enough for today.” Luna said as she floated both of the wooden items over to the table and set them down. Dominic opened his mouth to speak as if he were going to protest, but he paused and just nodded his head. The crowd began to disperse, Dominic could hear Jen yelling at her troops again in the distance. The man tiredly walked to the table and grabbed one of the canteen, then poured the entire contents of it over his head. “Thou hath done well, Dominic, we art impressed.”

“‘Well’ isn’t good enough…” Dominic said to himself as he wiped his forehead. “I’ve got to be the best if I want this plan to work, Insegnante. I don’t care what we have to do, take the training into my dreams if we have to, but-”

“Dreams are a refuge from the world, Dominic.” Luna cut him off as she levitated a canteen to her lips, after she took a sip she looked the man in the eyes, her expression was one of warm caring that “Thou shalt learn in time, do not worry. As thou hath said, thy plan will take many more months to put into action, that is more than enough time to train thee.” Dominic just sighed quietly and leaned against the table. “Thou didst not let thyself fall to thine knees, that brings you further along than many of my previous students.”

“Not far enough…” The man looked at the training swords, then back at the circle in the sand where he could some of his blood had dripped into the sand. “I can go longer…” The man started to reach for one of the swords, but Luna was quick to push his hand away.

“Thou hast yet to learn the importance of rest…” Luna said with a shake of her head. “We hath finished for the day, thou art free to go.” The princess watched her student quietly, the man took several moments before he nodded. “We are certain thou wishes to work on something else, correct?”

“The armor…” Dominic said quietly as he picked up his shirt and pulled it on, the water had washed the sand from his body and quickly soaked through the fabric. “I’ve been working on the armor plating, it’s a bit difficult without an angle grinder…” The man sighed and stretched, wincing slightly as he felt the the bruises on his side. Luna could see the familiar look of thought on his face, and she had a good idea what he was thinking about. It seemed that how the two of them felt about each other was what clouded his mind lately, Luna had hoped that training him would help her to see him a different way. In a way it had, she saw him more and more as a boy, a student, maybe even a son, perhaps because that was what he really was.

Luna feared perhaps she had mistaken a maternal instinct to protect him as something more, she had never truly been in a relationship before. She’d had many suitors over her long life, but she never before had felt such closeness to someone. The more she thought about it though, the more she wondered if she should perhaps put an end to it. Dominic seemed to the snap out of his thoughts and straightened up, that was enough to catch Luna’s attention.

“Alright… Until next time, Insegnante.” Dominic said with a nod before he turned and walked away, Luna watched him for a few moments before she looked back to the circle that seemed to be fading from the sand with a howling wind. Her heart was filled with uncertainty, and she seemed to know that no matter what she did, it would remain for some time. There was more to it than just her personal feelings, there was also that pesky theory of hers, one that she feared would perhaps do more harm than good if she voiced it.

As she was about to walk away herself, she heard a noise to her left. She turned and saw something rising from the sand, her horn glowed as at first she thought it was a diamond dog of some kind. However she soon recognized it wasn’t a Diamond Dog, that didn’t dispel her fears though. It was Discord, wearing a pith helmet and safari gear, he wasn’t nearly as tall as he normally was.

“Hello, Moonbutt.” Discord said as he stretched and scratched his belly.

“Discord? What art thou doing here?” Luna asked, the chaos god shrugged and wandered towards the table. With a snap of his fingers he was sitting in a chair that floated above the ground.

“You don’t think I’d keep an eye on my rookie of the year?” Discord replied simply as he leaned back in the floating seat. “Actually I decided to pop in so I could have a chat with you.” Luna raised an eyebrow and sat down on the sand, she looked at the draconequus with a questioning gaze that only prompted him to giggle. “That look on your face is priceless, but, that’s not why I’m here. It’s about this little thing your so worried about.”

“How did you…?” Luna asked nervously, Discord just chuckled again as he shook his head.

“I’m a chaos god.” Discord replied plainly. “Believe it or not, there’s more than physical chaos, like, for instance, mental chaos.” The chair continued floating in front of Luna, even as it dropped a little in height. “I’ll just come right out and say that theory of yours is spot on, but it extends to more than just him, it’s his whole species.”

“You mean…?” Luna asked, looking back to the town where she could see Dominic walking away.

“Yes, it’s the reason he doesn’t get drunk anymore, why he smokes those cigars and doesn’t get sick. He’s got a healing factor like yours or Celestias, well… It’s actually a little weaker. For instance, you could take a bullet to the chest and be alright a month or so later. He’d just be dead.” Discord mimicked firing a gun at Luna’s chest, an action she didn’t like. “I suggest making peace with whatever issues you have with him, because the two of you are gonna have to deal with each other for a very very very very very…” Discord seemed to stretch out with each utterance of the word. “...very very very long time.” Luna took a few deep breaths and looked at the sand quietly, Discord snapped his chair away and returned to his non-stretchy self.

“Look, I know Celly seems to think I’m some sort of jerk that doesn’t care about emotions, but that was because I used to be the big bad chaos bringer the world needed.” Discord explained in an honest voice, Luna couldn’t help but think he was being genuine. “That guy has done my job at least five times over by now, it’s freed up a lot of time for me not to be a jerk. Now I can afford to take a moment to be a good guy.” Discord’s safari attire vanished, replaced by a pinstriped suit. “I can’t tell you how to handle it, but I can say that agonizing over it isn’t gonna help.”

“But… An eternity of nightmares…” Luna said quietly, Discord put a claw on the mare’s shoulder, prompting her to look into his eyes. “How… How do we tell him he will live with those memories for uncountable years?

“Give the guy some credit, Luna. He hasn’t eaten his gun yet, and I know for sure he’s tried.” Discord’s revelation added a whole new layer of guilt to Luna’s shoulders, but she closed her eyes and nodded firmly. No matter what happened she’d be there for Dominic every step of the way, he deserved that much. “I just came by to tell you you’re right and that you shouldn’t worry about it, you’ll figure it out, you always do.” Discord took a bit of gum from his pocket and began to chew it quietly. “Now, I’ve got some errands to run, opening a big hole in space and time surprisingly takes a bit more effort than just pulling people out randomly. Ta ta!”

“Wait! How do we-” Luna began, only for Discord to snap himself away in a flash of light. “What did sister ever see in him…?” The mare muttered to herself before she rubbed her temples and watched the wind blow the circle in the sand into nothingness. At least she knew she was right, now at least she could think of ways to tell Dominic and the others. How could she, though? How could she tell them that the scars and pain they bore would remain. “If only mother were here… She would know what to do.”

[♦]

Chrysalis exhaled slowly as she walked through the Hive of Wasp, behind her marched the army of her hive. They hadn’t met any resistance entering the city, something that surprised Chrysalis greatly. She had grown concerned when Mizu had failed to return from Hive of Wasp on time, and that concern was growing even more as she saw the remains of the Queen’s palace. The wasplings that lived within the city seemed to cower away from their windows and doors as Chrysalis and her soldiers walked past.

The Queen of Queens stopped at the foot of the once regal building, a large chunk of stone debris now rested on what remained of the stairs that lead to the top. It was now that she was there she could see the flag of her Hive flying on the top of the structure, Chrysalis was unsure of what had happened, but she could sense that Mizu had succeeded in her mission in a way Chrysalis hadn’t thought possible.

After several tense moments of silence there was a noise to the left of Chrysalis, the soldiers closest to her prepared for combat, but that all stopped as they saw Illusion and Mizu step out into view. Chrysalis’ eyes widened in surprise at the sight of her daughter, her mane had grown to the point where Mizu had styled it into a very simple, yet regal, bun. She was taller and a second pair of wings seemed to be growing off of her back, and a headband was tied around her head. The army behind Chrysalis dropped into a bow at the sight, and as Mizu approached, Chrysalis’ expression became one of joy.

The heir to the throne dropped to her own bow, her wings twitching as she did so.

“Mother.” Mizu said quietly. “I discovered a traitorous Queen and was forced to destroy her.”

“Arise, Mizu.” Chrysalis said with a smile, Mizu did as she was commanded. “You have brought honor to yourself and all of the Hive.” Her attention turned to Illusion, the changeling soldier quickly snapped into his own bow. The Queen of Queen’s could sense ponies nearby, ponies that had been treated horribly. “There were slaves here, I sense them…”

“Yes, your highness! We have freed them as the treaty has dictated!” Declared the soldier, not rising from his bow. Chrysalis nodded and looked back to Mizu, her daughter staring straight ahead and waiting for her mother’s word.

“You will take the freed slaves to the American’s, they will be better off there.” Chrysalis said, Mizu nodded rapidly. “I will pick a new Queen to take the rule of this hive.” There was another nod. “Once you have reached the American’s and delivered to them the freed slaves, I want you to take several weeks to relax and meditate in New Liberty, return when your wings have fully grown.”

“As you command, mother.” Mizu said dutifully, she and Illusion turned and began to walk off towards the corner they had emerged from, Chrysalis turned back to face her army and cleared her throat as her wings began to buzz. Eventually she levitated off the ground and extended her hooves out in front of her.

“Route out any traitors that remain, for the hive!” She commanded, her army responded with a rousing chorus of yells before it descended upon the rest of the city. Chrysalis sighed quietly as she returned to the ground and looked up towards the flag that continued to flutter atop the remains of the palace. She closed her eyes and bowed her head, partially in shame and partially in sadness. Once again she had failed her children, once again she had let brutes rise to power, all she could hope for now was that she would somehow teach Mizu to become a better Queen.

Author's Notes:

*hides under his desk* So... Here's the chapter I worried about posting, there's also the next one as well, but that's for other reasons. Please don't kill me, I'll give you my watch! Oh, and this clip of the day!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVAFNTHUm3E

*continues hiding under the desk*