I walked through the desert, occasionally wiping the sweat from my brow. While I had definitely got used to the heat again while in Endless it made it no less hot. By the end of the day I had made some decent progress towards the mountain before I decided to call it a night. Curling up on the cold sand with some blankets was the closest thing I had to a proper bed, I'd have to try and fix that when I entered the next town.

As I awoke in the Dreamscape I noticed the area was a forest and had a very earthy smell. Great, I'm being invaded again.

"Not invaded, old friend, merely visited." I turned and saw Guardian relaxing by a tree, the roots intertwined with him.

I smirked, "Enjoying yourself?" It's good he's relaxing for once, but what's he doing here?

"Your mind certainly has some enjoyable textures and feelings." He said, slipping deeper into the roots.

Yeah, that's enough of that. I waved my hand and the forest disappeared. "What do you want, Guardian?"

He stood and stared at me for a minute. "Very well, I won't waste your time. It is time for the Knight of Hope's training, but unfortunately it has become clear that I will be preoccupied with...events for the next few weeks. Thus, it has been asked of me that I request you to teach him."

Me? Teach Spike? This is going to end in tragedy. "I'm not sure about this, but I don't really have a choice, do I?"

Guardian shook his head. "Unfortunately not, he is simply too important to leave untrained and unguarded."

"Unguarded? I'm not sure about that." I said, shaking my head slightly. "The town's got some defense."

"Be that as it may they are no match for the creatures that will be drawn to him." Guardian stated. "You know better than anyone what will be drawn to him. What he must face alone."

I winced and rubbed my chest where a large, almost diagonal, scar ran from just under my heart to the bottom right of my stomach. "Did you really need to bring that fucker up?" I spat. "Can't you keep him dead or locked up?"

"He serves his purpose." Guardian replied cryptically. "As we all do." Great, more vague comments, I swear he gets most of this stuff out of a cracker. "And you enjoy mutilating the corrupt a little bit too much."

I frowned and waved a hand, "Hey, stop reading my thoughts." I paused and quickly replayed his comment in my head. "Wait...was that snark?"

"No, I will not. Farewell, Blood, train him well." Guardian then faded away. Once again IGNORING MY QUESTION!

I grumbled under my breath about how bullshit it was before shaking it off and waited for Guardian to throw me into Spike's dream. I wasn't waiting for long before the landscape transformed into some kind of chocolate and ice cream world, complete with cotton candy people wielding cans canes as swords. I sighed, great, a weird dream. I watched as the candy people charged a green and purple Dragon. With a grin I decided to screw with things. I turned myself into a certain Doctor.

With a raise of my hand I blasted the candy warriors with lightning. "ALL SHALL BOW BEFORE DOOM!!!" I bellowed, my voice changing into something more acceptable for Doom while my green cloak waved behind me. "DOOM WILL RULE THIS LAND, INSIGNIFICANT CREATURES OF SUGAR!!!"

As I blasted my way to Spike I noted that I was maybe having too much fun, but honestly, I didn't care. As I destroyed the last candy warrior I morphed back into my normal self. "Having a good dream, Spike?" I chuckled.

"Dream?" He asked. "Well that does explain the cotton candy people. Wait, does that mean you're part of my dream too?"

I shook my head, "Nah, I'm here due to a third party. Speaking of which, Guardian's busy, so I'm training you in his stead."

"Guardian?" Spike asked, cocking his head. "Who's that?"

I growled, "You know, I get that he's busy, but he could at least say hello!" I sighed. "Forget it, Guardian's a special case. He's pretty much the only line we have to the big boss. Although, not much of a boss, more of an overwatching presence. Thing." I shrugged. "You get the point."

"What?"

I groaned, "The point is I'm going to train you to fight."

"I already know how to fight!" He boasted proudly. He paused. "Somehow. Anyway, you saw me on Nightmare Night!"

I frowned, "I saw you use borrowed skills, yes. They were the previous Knight of Hope's abilities, they were merely temporarily given to you to protect your friends and family. Now, do you want to learn from me or are you going to whine for the entire thing?"

"You are not a nice person."

I sighed, "I want you to live. Would you prefer I act all nicey nicey and you die because I didn't train you as hard as I could?"

"Alright, I get it! You're nasty to be nice." he sighed. "Where do we start?"

"We see what you can do." I waved my hand and a copy of both Twilight and Rarity, nothing like the originals, they were really just coloured, shaped blocks, appeared in a puff of smoke. The environment changed from candy land to a Romanesque arena. I stood at the edge of the ring as two Pony bandits spawned. To make things more interesting I used one of Guardian's enchantments and made him think that the two blocks were really Twilight and Rarity, both restrained and unable to cast magic.

"Rarity?! Twilight?!" He cried.

"Go on, hero," I said with a small smirk. "Go save them."

I sighed as I watched him fight, as I had suspected, he couldn't even defend against the most telegraphed attack, the most he managed to do was dodge a few strikes. I eventually realised he wasn't going to show me anything new so I changed the bandits' target from Spike to the two coloured blocks, they quickly moves towards them as Spike got to his feet before they began attacking the blocks before they disappeared.

Spike stared in horror as the copies of his loved ones bled out from their wounds. "No...NOOOO!!!" He screamed, I could practically hear his heart shattering. He turned to me, tears running down his face and snarling. "YOU!!! WHY DIDN'T YOU HELP THEM?!"

I snapped my fingers and the enchantment ended. "Better?" I asked.

He blinked, looking dazed before wiping the tears from his eyes. "Why...why did I think they were real? It...doesn't make sense."

I shrugged, "Some kind of enchantment. I don't claim to understand it."

"That was unnecessary and you know it." He growled.

"Maybe." I admitted. "But it was the best way to simulate a real battle. I needed the data."

He kicked my shin, "Just don't do that again."

"Deal."

"So...uh, what now?" Spike asked.

"Right now you take a small rest, then we'll start on your melee weapons training." I said. "You'll train with swords, axes, knives, daggers, and other common weapons."

"Why do I have to train with all of those? I only have a sword!" He cried.

I glared at him, "And what happens if you lose that sword or it gets knocked out of your hand?" Spike threw the sword away and simply flexed his hand before it materialised in his hand with a blue glow. I blinked, "Okay, so you have that going for you, point taken." Spike gave a smug smile, time to get rid of that. "We're still training with the other weapons."

I instructed and trained him for three whole days he was a slow learner but he had a natural talent for weapons that made me excited to be teaching him.

I blocked Spike's strike and made to counter with my own before I cancelled out and rolled away as flames engulfed the area I previously stood.

"That it?" I taunted, charging him. He dodged under my blades and stuck me across the face with his wooden training sword. I wiped my face with my spare hand and noticed it came away with blood on it. "Not bad, Spike." I complimented before swinging my sword at him, looking to overpower his blocks. "You've got better since we started training."

"Do you always use the brute force method?" He asked, rolling away from me. "Doesn't really seem productive."

I dashed towards him and swung my blade towards him madly, "You're a beginner, I'm not going to use skill until you've beat me like this." I swung out with a hand and punched him in the face.

"Ow! What the heck?!" He yelled, clutching his nose. "You said you weren't going to use any skill!"

I rolled my eyes, "I didn't. The thing most people forget about combat is that your entire body is a weapon, if it'll help you win then punch, kick, bite, claw or do anything else. When you used your fire a moment ago was smart, start thinking like that. It'll save your life."

"Okay, I..." He yawned. "I can go again."

"No." I said firmly. "We've been at this for three days now, you need to rest. So wake up then go back to sleep."

"Three days?!" He cried. "Twilight's probably worried sick!"

I chuckled, "Don't worry. Three whole days here equals one night in the waking world."

"Whoa." He muttered. "I see why you like it here."

I nodded, "Wake up." He faded from the Dreamscape right before I awoke myself.

"So, what today?" Spike asked as he arrived in the arena on our fourth day of training.

In response I strolled over and kicked him in the face. "Take a guess."

He picked himself off the floor and spat blood between us. "You couldn't have just said something?!"

I shrugged, "Your enemies aren't going to warn you, why should I?"

"You're supposed to be civilised! Or are you really just a beast?!" He snapped.

I gave him a cold look, "You know, they used to call me 'The Beserker' for a reason. I was just a murderous monster. Not. Any. More." I sighed. "I don't want you to die, so I fight dirty, I cheat. If you can beat me, then bandits and wild beasts won't even phase you."

He sighed, "I'm starting to hate the whole 'tough love' thing you have going here."

I smirked, "Well, I'm using some skill today, you've progressed well."

I beat him nine times out of ten, although I was taking it easy on him, throughout the two days I kept slowly increasing my skill and to my delight he kept up with me. Maybe he wouldn't be a loss after all.

On day six Spike arrived in the Dreamscape looking ready for a fight. "Alright, bring it on!" He yelled before he noticed that the usual arena was replaced with a field with a large picnic.

"Relax, you don't can't always be stressing yourself about a fight. They'll come when they do, you can plan for them, but don't overwork yourself. You need to learn when you can relax and how to live."

"How to live? What's that supposed to mean?" He questioned.

I sighed, "The life you knew before I started training you is gone. You can't be the child anymore, you're a Knight now, that comes with responsibilities."

"What kind of responsibilities?" He asked.

"You'll have an obligation to protect the innocent, so long as you see it fit to do so. Although unlike me I suppose you're going to try and save everyone you come across."

He gave a firm nod, "Don't think you're going to make me think otherwise!"

I chuckled, "Wouldn't dream of it." I took a bite of a chicken sandwich. "Just remember, you can't always save everyone, you just have to do your best."

He nodded slowly, "I get it. But, uh, we've finished melee training. What about some ranged weapon training?"

I sighed, "I don't think many ranged weapons will work for you just yet. Crossbows are heavy things and I doubt you're tall enough to use a bow." I shrugged, "I'd recommend just using your fire and getting yourself a good shield." I coughed, "You know, unless you want to go full offence and dual wield, but, uh, that's...hard to do."

"Sword and shield, huh?" Spike said with a smile. "I don't know, that sounds good. I just need to find somepony who sells them."

"Orc or Minotaur." I said.

"What?"

"Orc or Minotaur. That's the species you want to look for. Orcs are amazing with limited materials and make good armour and swords, while Minotaurs craft good shields and almost any type of weapon you can think of, but you'd have to find one of their tribes, and that's hard work."

"So I best look for an Orc? It's a good job a bunch of them popped up practically overnight then, huh?" His voice held an accusing tone.

I nodded, ignoring the implied accusation. "Probably for the best. You know, I know this Orc who's really good. Skaret, don't know where she is though, probably with her brother. They look like this." I pulled up an image of Skaret and Ratbag from a memory and displayed it over a wall.

Spike studied the image. "Hang on, I've seen those two somewhere."

"Oh?"

He nodded, "Yeah, definitely seen that duo. Can't remember where though."

I smiled, "Just relax. You're in a dream, remember? We have full access to your memories." I waved my hand and our surroundings changed to a seemingly never ending corridor filled with doors with dates on them. "Remember, you're not awake, stop acting like you are. Trust your gut. Act, don't think. Which room?"

"This one." He pointed to a door with yesterday's date on it. As we entered the room a film reel was showing all of Spike's memories of that day in a few seconds, constantly looping. He stared at the flickering images before pointing, "There!"

The reel stopped on an image of Twilight reading a newspaper. On the front cover was a story about the Orcs appearing, and the picture had a group of Orcs walking through a city, two of them were Skaret and Ratbag. Below the image were the words 'Orcs in Manehattan'.

"Well, there you go!" I chuckled before dragging us out of that place and back to our picnic. "Those places give me the creeps. Anyway, Manehattan, huh? Never heard of it, but it sounds interesting. She most likely lives with her brother, tell her I sent you and she'll probably give you a discount." I shrugged. "Maybe. Just remember to practice with it. I have no idea how to use one, so I can't train you in that."

"Oh. Got it."

"Now let's enjoy this picnic, huh?"

The last three days were spent tying together everything I had taught him. Offence and defense, strength and skill, blade and fire. By the end of the third day he only had one more test to pass.

Spike spun around the bandits, avoiding their clumsy attacks and attacking them with both his claws and sword, but never killing them. At the end he had five bandits slumped over, unconscious.

"How was that?" He asked with a smirk.

"Pretty good." I admitted. "Now finish them. End them."

He froze, "I...I can't! I know they aren't real, but I can't kill them!"

I sighed, "I was trained the same way as you are right now, except I was in the real world. I killed just to survive! What's your problem?"

He shivered, "I can't. I...I'm not a killer!"

I walked up to him, waving his opponent away. "I see. And you won't ever kill?"

"I..." He paused. "I can't promise that. But...Never as a first option."

I offered him my hand. "I see." I flashed him a grin. "Well done, you passed."

"W...what?" He muttered. "But...you said I couldn't do what you did!"

I chuckled, "Good thing too, I'm not the hero, I doubt I ever will be, but you, Spike, you are! 'The Knight of Rage, darkening the world with his unstoppable might and anger, and the Knight of Hope, bringing light to the people in even the darkest of times, together these two will start a new path for the world. Together these two will once again bring back the Knights of Life.'"

"That...sounds odd coming out of your mouth, Blood. I more expected something proclaiming you to be an unkillable force."

I chuckled, "Nothing is unkillable, Spike, remember that. And that was a...heh, a quote from a supposed book, a tome, Guardian has. He thinks that it's about me, he told me it after I became the Knight of Rage, only seemed fitting I passed it on. It might have do with you, don't read too deep into it though, this stuff tends to screw with your head." I paused. "Though...expect a lot of attacks or similar stuff to happen to you. You'll have to grow up fast, you can't afford to lose focus at a critical moment." I sighed and relented a little. "But you did hold your own against some of the tougher bandits I've faced, and you have passed my test." I closed my eyes and sighed again. "Fine, you'll survive as you are, just...don't lose sight of who you are. Don't end up like me."

Spike gave me an odd look, "Blood, you're getting weird again."

I shrugged, "Ah, whatever! But there's only one part of that damn prophecy I agree with. I'm the monster that Celestia will hunt down, you need to be the one people look to in times of need. Be the hero, Spike, I know you can be."

There was a pause before he asked, "Well, what do I do now?"

I chuckled, "Now? Now you wake up and practice all the things I've trained you, you need some real practice, everything we've done is just theory in the real world. Training here doesn't transfer into the waking world."

"What?!" He yelled. "Then all this work was for nothing?!"

I sighed, "It was nine days, not exactly a long time. Besides, it's not like I can teach you in person, is it?"

"Alright, alright, I get it." He flashed me a smile, "Thanks for this."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Get out of here, will you?" I let out a sigh as he faded away. "You'll be fine, kid." I muttered before I awoke.

By midday I was approaching the base of the mountain when I felt eyes on me. I waited for them to make the first move. After a few minutes I started growing annoyed and I threw my arms out, "WELL?!" I yelled. "COME FACE ME!!!"

A few moments passed before a small group of Changelings appeared practically out of nowhere. "You're...It's true!" One of them gasped and bowed, "My Lord." They all followed his lead, bowing to me.

I cringed and looked away, "Don't do that."

They slowly stood, the one that started the bow spoke up again, "If you would come with us, our Queen would be overjoyed to meet with you."

I smiled, "Sure, that's why I'm here." I motioned with my hand, "Lead the way."

Author's Notes:

Well, here it is!

As you can probably guess Spike is going to play a big part in the world I'm building. But until then we meet the Changelings!