Knight Mist has just finished working Seng, Lancer, and Hail to the bone but, they're not done yet. Mist will give them all she has to offer in training. The night after the 80 laps of running, the three were all sore, Mist didn't care.

"DID I GIVE YOU PERMISSION TO REST?!! GET UP!!"

The three got up, Seng was to tired to make anymore smart remarks.

"You're going to be standing here until the sun rises."

"Yes, sir!"

"I'm going to be a bit nice. Since you are all pegasi I'm going to make you with you didn't have wings. Each of you will be carrying one of these buckets using your wings until I say you are done."

There were 6 silver buckets in the corner, they were all already filled.

"Any questions? Good."

They hustled over to the buckets and held them up, they weren't sore. Yet. She worked mostly their legs but, their wings were about to go next. The same night Knight Randall was busy with Aero and Flood. She wasn't sure what to do with them since they were pegasi and not unicorns, she found something though. She, Aero, and Flood visited Wrench and Wither in the Everfree.

"Randall, good to see you."

"You too Wither. Say do you still have the shields?"

"Yeah, they're in the storage closet. Please try to not make a ruckus, Wrench is asleep right now."

"Okay. Go get them you two."

She watched them get the shields, she had drool coming from the side of her mouth.

"Randall." Wither saw what was going on in her mind and she wanted to distract her,"So what have you been doing lately?"

Randall was still distracted,"Uhh...ummmm...." she snapped out of it,"Oh nothing. You?"

Aero and Flood brought out the shields. They weren't plated or anything special. They were made out of metal. Their design was like a sock only made out of metal. They would use them as brass hooves as well as shields. They were very sturdy and well maintained. They each got a pair

"Let's go, bye Wither. See you later."

"Bye, Randall and don't be such a creep."

Randall and her students went to an open field. The moon was overhead and the breeze was cool. Crickets chirped and the owls who'd. There was a box where Randall went to.

"Put those shields on. I will strike you as hard as I can, your goal is to block my attacks and to withstand the force, not to be pushed back."

"What will you be using?" asked Aero.

"This." she hoisted a hoof-sword from the box and readied it."This may hurt a bit, Flood you're first."

He wasn't prepared for what was going to happen. Randall is fast, she disappeared without teleporting. It was just sheer speed. She was strong as well, she struck Flood but, he was lucky enough to get the shield up . His hoof was shaking and he was pushed back a few inches.

"I might have gone too easy on you, you're still standing. You know, I didn't become a knight just by luck, I earned it."

"You're up." Flood walked to Aero before sitting himself on the ground.

"You're not resting, come on get up. Just wait until it's you're turn again."

"I'm ready." said Aero.

Again she struck the shield, his hoof was shaking as much but it still was.

"We will continue this until the morning. Flood, your turn."

Tal took Cloudfire and Tint to the water reserves. The frontier wasn't active because, it was night. There were still a few residents just trotting around but, they didn't notice them.

"What're we doing here?" Cloudfire asked.

"I want to see how long you can hold your cool. We will stand in the cold water until the sun rises, if you get sick I won't care. Now let's get in."

Cloudfire went over t the water and touched it."Nope to cold." he backed away.

"Don't make me get you in here."

"It's way too cold so, I'm staying right here." he stayed about a foot from the water.

"No you're not." said Tal.

Tint pushed Cloudfire in and started laughing.

"HAHAHA!!" he laughed.

"Why'd you do that for?" Cloudfire replied angrily.

"Got bored."

Tint got in the water by will. They both were shivering.

"Only a few hours left boys, get comfortable."

"What is this suppose to do?" asked Tint.

"I want to see if you can get comfortable in the worst conditions."

Shadow took the offer, he only had one condition. That he started at the bottom, he wanted to earn his rank. Soul and Storm agreed and Bladedancer was happy that somepony other than Soul was giving him orders. They got hoof-swords and were getting ready. They were just outside Shadow's house.

"We will each spar each other, Soul who would you like to go against?" asked Shadow.

"You."

"Bladedancer that leaves you with Knight Storm."

"I never beat him in a sparring match." whined Blade.

Storm replied,"Keep at it and someday you might."

"Obviously no lethal hits, we only want to hit metal not flesh. Show your opponent where you got them. This is just a warm-up so, after I will show you how to properly use the weapons."

They split and Soul was eager to see how well Shadow fought. They were across from each other and Shadow charged towards Soul right as they were positioned.

"Don't give your enemy time to prepare themselves as soon as your ready, strike."

She evaded his attack and countered, she attacked back. Shadow blocked.

"Good hit, hit harder next time." He pushed her off, she was off balance and he tackled her, he landed on her with his sword at her neck."You're dead."

"So are you." Shadow looked down and saw her sword was at his stomach.

He let her up.

"Who taught you how to fight?" she asked.

"An old friend but, he is dead now."

"I'm sorry."

"It's okay, his lessons are still in my head. Again?"

"Of course, I want to get you without you getting me."

Bladedancer and Storm were having a fun time.

"I can never get you."

"Come on Bladedancer. You are one of Soul's squad members, you can get me."

"I'll try."

He flew towards Storm,he was sluggish.

"Faster, come on." Storm knocked him down.

The four divisions were busy training while Fyn Cour was inside with Dust and Dawn.

"What are they doing out there?" Dawn said.

"They're training maybe they could be a bit quieter." replied Dust.

All they heard were the clashes of steel outside and the sound of the crackling fireplace.

Fyn said,"So do you not go to school anymore?"

"Once in awhile I do but, I really don't have a need to. Usually I just stay home and read books, practice magic, that kind of stuff."

"Can you show us a spell?" asked Dust.

"Anything in particular?"

"No, just show us what you can do."

"Okay let's see....."

She went over to the kitchen and got a glass of water, she set it beside her. She made the glass disappear but, not the water. The water was still in a shape as if the cup was still there.

"Where did the cup go?" asked Fyn.

"Behind you."

"Wow. Impressive."

"That's nothing. I just noticed it's a full moon tonight."

She put the cup back in it's place, holding the water.

"It's getting late, I should head to bed. Goodnight."

Dawn went up to her room, she still had Celestia's bed. It was comfortable for her. She fell asleep rather quickly. She was in a dream, she was walking around and she saw her old friend, Zaz.

"Thank you for helping me save Fencer."

Zaz was about her age when he died. He was a white-coated unicorn. His mane/tail was black. He was Dawn's very first crush. He was joyful and optimistic.

"I am sad though, he was killed by Lacoden, she wasn't like that before."

"I know, she was nice and shy. I'd never expect her to be that way."

"When will your father be taken over?"

"Like when you took over my body to save Fencer?"

"Yes, it is necessary for the 6 powers to be taken over by their loved one in a time of need. From what I know, Excaelum's father took over when someone he cared for was killed."

"I haven't seen him ever since then. Do you know where he was?"

"No, I tried to contact Dragaitas but, he won't let me talk to him."

"You can talk to him?"

"We can communicate through telepathy. If he doesn't want to talk he can block me off."

"How?"

He chuckled,"It's one of the perks of being connected by this power. I can only communicate with only the positive powers."

"Lacoden and Garren are negatives."

"Sadly yes."

"Who is the other negative?"

"I don't know for sure, I never met the merciless holder while I was alive. Merciless is a dragon though, from my knowledge."

"When will this so called "war" going to start?"

"Not anytime soon."

The spirit world started to fade.

"Dawn remember, give love to those who lost it."

Dawn woke, it was morning. She went downstairs and saw that the division leaders were in the large living room. She saw that they were all tired.

They relaxed for only a bit and then went back outside to talk.

Mist ordered,"Everypony give me 80 laps around the frontier. No flying."

Everyone but, Shadow, Soul, Storm, and the other division leaders went.

"How was your night?" asked Tal.

Randall answered,"Good. Seems like your pupils are sick though."

"Yeah, I kind of made them stay in the water for a long time."

"So Soul, how was your training?" asked Mist.

"I think it went well. You Shadow."

"We got a good start with our sparring session."

Randall asked,"Aren't you suppose to know how to use the swords before you spar?"

"I wasn't taught like that. I was taught by fighting."

"How will that work?"

"Lancer and Aero did a fine job taking out some of those Changelings without proper training at the warehouse."

"Now that I remember, Seng blocked one of Lacoden's spear and he isn't that trained either." said Soul.

"We have some natural fighters with us then." Storm exclaimed.

For the next few days they repeated this routine. The pupils were getting tired of it eve, the leaders did as well. The leaders wanted to step up the game. Hell week. In the Canterlot Castle one night Gandore was wandering around the castle. She entered her study room. The room was messy, it had books piled high and had many candlesgiving off light. There was only a small couch and a large desk. She was reading an old book.

She was reading aloud,"There is a temple in the center of the island, it contains a crystal that can have amazing power to cleanse the world. The last time it was activated something stopped it from purifying the world. Three residents of the island came from the temple after the activation of the crystal was stopped. One was a young dragon, another a filly, and the last one was a pegasus. That pegasus was called the "Six-winged Pegasus". The whereabouts of the three are unknown."

She was at the end of the book, there was a drawing of a group of ponies that were there. The description said,"Survivors of the last activation of the crystal." There was a date.

"That's odd, this was made around 50 years ago but,... he and she are.............must be a coincidence."

She shut the book and Iril came inside.

"Gandore aren't you tired?"

"Not really."

"I am, do you mind if I rest here for a bit?"

"Not at all."

Iril untied her bun and her long purple mane fell and she set herself on the couch and began to sleep. Gandore stayed up for a few hours reading books. She made a stack of books to sleep on. She had the book that she just finished reading on her desk, it was titled The Crystal of a Star.

Fyn Cour was snooping around late after midnight. She was following somepony. She was in the frontier, she turned a corner so did Fyn Cour.

"Where is she going?"

"What are you doing?"

Fyn was startled and turned around,"Storm, you almost gave me a heart attack." she looked back and saw that the pony she was following was gone.

"Nothing. Did Shadow end your training for the night?"

"Yeah, he went back to his place with Soul and Bladedancer. I saw you and wanted to ask what you were doing."

"I was just out for a stroll, let's go back."

They both went back to the house, everypony was just sitting down.

Tal spoke,"Hell week starts today, all of you will be experiencing it together."

"There will be endurance and stamina training." Mist added.

They slept for only a hour then there was shouting all over the place. They ran, ran, and ran everywhere. There was no need to work their wings as much because, Soul did most of that at Dry Ocean and Ice Valley, they flew everywhere before this. Shadow was doing the training, he wanted to be moral support. He knew he could do this but, this training was absolutely almost mental. They say it's physical but, actually it's to see if you have the will and determination to go on. Anyone can be physically fit, it takes even more to be mentally fit. They ran for 8 miles under 40 minutes, Seng and the others were all tired. Shadow pushed them to keep on going, the next part was a push-up session of 120 in sets, in between the sets they had to run to a post 10 yards away and come back to continue. And again it was routine, routine, routine for five days. They weren't allowed to sleep but, they were fed every 6 hours that didn't help for they threw most of it back up. They ran even more during the night when it was cooler. They were almost always moving, after 5 days they were done. They were outside of Shadow and Dawn's house. The sun had just risen.

"I.....don't....want.....to.....move." whined Seng.

He was laying on the ground.

"It's not that bad, at least none of us failed." said Lancer.

"No time to whine. Now we will still be training only this is not like hell week. We will finally teach you skills in your division." Storm announced.

"Seng, Lancer, and Hail. Come with me." ordered Mist.

Hail complained,"Damn we just finished too."

Mist replied,"Don't worry it's just talking."

"My division come with me, I'll be teaching you how to turn your defense into an offense."

"Tint and Cloudfire, follow me."

"My division stay here." said Shadow.

Mist was giving orders in the Everfree.

"Okay. I'll give you all 1 hour to make ghille suits out of whatever is in this area. You'll have to reach the center ahead and to set off one of the fireworks. That will signal that you have evaded us."

"Us?" asked Hail.

"I have help to get you. 15 of us will start from the center, and go in different directions, and when the horn has been blown that is the start of this training. If you are caught you'll have two more chances before you are failed." she whistled and a pegasus and dropped a kit. "This is a small thing of materials that can help you make your suits. There is clear glue, tape, and some other things. Three suits are also in there, they are adhesive on the outside so, you'll be able to cover it with what you wish, they also have hoods so you can cover your head. There are many ways to get to the center, you can choose which path you want. Any questions?"

"Time limit?" Seng asked.

"None, we will take our time with this. We will be inspecting every little crack in this forest for you three. Now begin working, I'll leave so I can't see your suits."

She and the pegasus flew back to the center. There was a slight commotion coming from there. It was very faint, the three thought it was just Mist yelling at them and went to talking to each other.

"What's going to be your approach?" Lancer asked.

"Probably a brush type. Yours?"

"Thinking about a-" he looked to the left and saw a creek going to the direction of Mist, the creek was very close by ."A mud type. Hail?"

"Probably a tree, something like that. Let's start fixing up these things."

An hour later a horn was blown. It started. Seng has made a suit that had pieces of twigs, grass, and lots of leaves, and it was covered in a thin layer of dirt. This was his choice he stayed near where they were left at. He moved slowly when the wind blew to minimize the noise he made while traveling. After a hour or so of doing this he heard sticks breaking ahead.

"One of the 15." he thought."Stay still and let him pass."

The earth pony was looking around, listening for the slightest noise. He was getting close to Seng. Seng thought that he had seen him. A spider was crawling of Seng's face, he stayed as still as he could. His heart was beating like crazy and he had a hard time controlling his breathing, he had to breathe as quietly as he could. There was a noise that caught the attention of the patrol, he moved on and Seng let off a big sigh of relief and knocked the spider off of his face.

Hail took a more active approach, he put bark all over his suit and lathered on some dirt on it and climbed the trees. The forest had thick leaves and large trees, Hail used this to his advantage. Going from branch to branch he also advanced fairly slow. He and Seng both went in the same general direction. In the trees he saw a slight movement in the bushes a few yards away.

Hail thought,"That's Seng."

There was a patrol coming. Hail quietly broke off a piece of bark. The earth pony was looking around, listening for the slightest noise. He was getting close to Seng. Seng thought that he had seen him. A spider was crawling of Seng's face, he stayed as still as he could. His heart was beating like crazy and he had a hard time controlling his breathing, he had to breathe as quietly as he could. There was a noise that caught the attention of the patrol, he moved on and Seng let off a big sigh of relief and knocked the spider off of his face.

"Your welcome. Hopefully that patrol doesn't notice me." Hail threw the bark that he broke off to get the patrol off of Seng, he of course threw it away from his own position to help him as well.

He walked right under Hail.

"The center must be far." thought Seng.

Lancer covered his suit by first dunking it in dirt and threw some water on it to make dirt, then he finished it by again throwing another layer of dirt on it. His suit was heavy. Half of his body was in the water and the other half was on the muddy ground. He had to use a lot of his energy to move against the water with his suit on. A piece of bark landed a foot away from him, he heard a patrol go there. Lancer flattened his body as much as he could. Two more patrol members were on the opposite side of the creek.

"Any luck?" one of them yelled.

The one in front of Lancer replied back,"Not yet, they are a tricky bunch."

The other two left, the one in front of Lancer walked a few inches from him, a loud sound was coming from the forest. He ran to the source. The two on the other side of the creek flew to the sound as well. Lancer knew this was his chance to get some distance. He wormed forward and saw another patrol coming down the creek, Lancer heard a sound behind, he stopped his movements. It walked right passed, a small filly in a hood.

"What're you doing here?" the patrol asked,"Who are you?"

The filly didn't answer and took off it's hood.

Lancer's heart was racing,"Lacoden!" he thought. He wanted to warn the patrol but, he was frightened of her. Lacoden took out a dagger and turned into a black pony with bug-like wings and with holes in their hooves. The patrol screamed, the Changeling stabbed the patrol and took his form and threw the corpse down the creek. The patrol from earlier returned with 2 more patrol members.

"Damn that hurt." Hail had fallen from a trees weak branch, it collapsed right as he stepped on it.

Hail heard a sound.

"Hail wh-. Be quiet." Seng and Hail hid in the largest bush they can find

Five patrol member came along. Two coming from direction of the center and three from the creek.

"What was that?"

"I don't know."

"Let's look around, it may be the ones we're looking for."

"How many again are we looking for?"

"Four."

They rummaged around the area, a scream came from the creek. They left.

"Four? What were they talking about? Hail are you okay? You took quite a fall."

"I think my wing is dislocated."

Seng checked his right wing and saw that it was.

"I will put it back in place and we need to find Mist. Something doesn't feel right. Bite on this."

Seng placed a stick in his mouth and popped his wing back in place. Lancer's heart was racing,"Lacoden!" he thought. He wanted to warn the patrol but, he was frightened of her. Lacoden took out a dagger and turned into a black pony with bug-like wings and with holes in their hooves. The patrol screamed, the Changeling stabbed the patrol and took his form and threw the corpse down the creek. The patrol from earlier returned with 2 more patrol members.

"I just offed the last patrol member. Have you found their commanding officer and the three hiding."

They changed back to their original forms. They were all Changelings.

"I think Master Lacoden would be happy if she found out that you were using her look."

"She won't find out."

Lancer wanted to fight them but he wasn't properly equipped. The commanding officer they must be speaking of must be Knight Mist.

"It was satisfying seeing that she came back to start the training but, instead she saw us finishing off her friends. Her screams filled me with joy. It only took 5 five of us." they laughed.

Lancer realized something,"That must have been what we heard before we started."

"Seng. Hail. Help.....me."

The two thought it was Lancer but this voice sounded more feminine. Mist. She was wounded.

They slowly went to her.

"What happened?" Hail sounded frightened.

She fell down.

"She's bleeding. We need to get help." said Seng.

Hail was panicking but got himself together.

"Put pressure on the wound, we need to slow the bleeding."

Lancer was watching them laugh. Something whizzed past Lancer and one of them fell over. A sword pierced one in the neck and it died. It was Shadow. He killed four of them but, left one injured. He knocked it out.

"Lancer!" Shadow yelled."

Lancer stood up,"What is going on?!"

"I don't know. We were training a we saw a body coming down from the river. I'm going to ask this one what's going on." He kicked the Changeling on the ground."Fyn Cour and Dust are searching for Seng and Hail. Soul and the other leaders are going back to Canterlot to protect themselves and the princesses from whatever is coming."

Fyn and Dust located the three.

"Let's go we can't stay here!" exclaimed Fyn.

They arrived at Canterlot and put the Changeling in an interrogation room. The one-way windows allowed Luna and the others to view what was going on. The Changeling regained consciousness. Shadow was in the room with a sword.

"Who sent you?"

The Changeling smiled.