Back at the training ground it was till oh six hundred and there were no ponies around.

“Wow, I thought they’d be someone out here by now,” Gilgamesh thought aloud and unceremoniously dropped Duncan on the ground.

“Ow. Its crack of dawn muster isn’t till seven then cleaning quarters till eight. Then training starts.” Duncan explained dusting himself as he stood up.

“Huh. Well, gives me time to get ready, then. Go ahead and do whatever you need to, I’m gonna go get some supplies,” he said before cutting open a hole in reality. “Oh, and could you get Enkidu something to eat? Thanks,” he said quickly before jumping in.

“Huh?” Duncan asked aloud, only to feel a hot panting on the back of his neck. He turned to see the wolf had somehow gotten behind him without his noticing, eyeing him expectantly.

“I think we have some steak in the fridge, MC is going to be pissed.” Duncan calmly walked the wolf back to his house. He greeted the few ponies that were up this early with a nod. Opening the door he let Enkidu in who found his way to the kitchen and sat at the table expectantly.

Duncan rummaged through the fridge, he pulled out milk and cereal for himself. Finding the steak finally, it was hidden behind a bag of oats and some flowers.

“This work?” He asked holding the bag of meat up.

The wolf barked back, wagging his tail vigorously as he panted even harder. Duncan opened it with a knife and put it on a plate before passing it to the extremely happy wolf. “Enjoy, that stuff is expensive to get in Equestria. Mistress imports it though one of her friends.”

After a quick shower to wash the smell of alcohol off Duncan lead the wolf back to the training grounds. By this point several ponies were arriving, Boom De-yada was currently laying on his side in the grass.

“Come on, big guy, if you can’t get up in the morning after a night of partying, then you shouldn’t have done it in the first place,” Gilgamesh berated the stallion, his head out of a portal. Duncan back peddle a little bit in surprise.

“Welcome back. How was breakfast?” Duncan asked.

“The Everfree Forest now has one less cockatrice,” he replied simply before ducking back in and throwing a few boulders onto the training ground, the impact startling many of the guards. This drew the attention of a large blue pegasus. The grizzly old chief approached the displaced with a look of anger.

“Just what the hay do you think you’re doing?” He demanded of Gilgamesh. He walked with confidence and precision earned from years of military training. Duncan sidestepped out of the way, content to let the much more experienced, and powerful, Displaced handle the Chief.

“Oh, I’m just gonna give a little training to Duncan here. Thought maybe you guys would like to see it and throw in your own two bits,” he replied casually before dropping out of the portal and landing on his feet, seemingly ignoring or not noticing his frustrated demeanor.

“Listen I am CHIEF Phantom Thorns, I don’t care who you think you are. You want to ‘train’ one of our members you gotta ask first. Who gave you permission!?”

“Oh, it was Mis-I mean, uh… crap, what name is he using?”

Duncan interrupted Gilgamesh,”It was Morning Glory, Chief. She instructed us to ask for Miss Starlight.”

“Ah, right, that was it!”

“Freaking government mare. Fine go speak with the DivO next time get it all cleared before you destroy my training field. Also Recruit Duncan, I don’t care who Morning Glory is, you answer to me, is that clear?”

“Yes Chief!” Duncan responded snapping to attention.

“Oh come on, don’t get so upset, I promise I’ll find a way to make it worth your time,” Gilgamesh said, trying to smooth things over with the Chief.

“Listen, you I don’t know you, I don’t care what you are. I am a Chief and have been in the military longer then you have been alive, if you want to make it worth my time bugger off and leave me alone! I will not be treated this way by some creature an entitled mare summoned!” He huffed indignantly glaring at Gilgamesh.

Duncan broke military bearing and facepalmed.

Gilgamesh snickered, trying to hold back his mirth, before bursting out laughing.

“What is so funny! Do I look funny to you? Do I!?” He yelled at the Displaced waving a stern hoof at them glaring with fire in his eyes.

Gilgamesh’s laughter died down as he tried to restrain himself. “Ha ha! I’m s-sorry! I-I’m not trying to make fun of you, ho-onest! Hahaha! It’s just that you have no idea how wrong you are!”

“Really? And how is that?”

Gilgamesh smirked. “Well, I don’t usually do dick measuring contests but... “ he stood up straight before continuing. “I am Gilgamesh. I am one thousand, six hundred and thirty nine years old, though admittedly I did spend fifteen hundred of those years sealed in stone. I spent one hundred years of my life fighting almost every day, whether it be against wild animals, dragons, or the armies of the minotaurs, griffins, or ponies, Celestia and Luna included, and didn’t lose a single fight fight for a century. And to top it all off, if we were back in my universe, I could pull rank on you.”

At that moment there was a flash as a very angry looking purple unicorn appeared in front of Gilgamesh. Glaring at the human she began yelling. shoving a piece of paper in his face. “Why did Celestia give you a commission as a Vice Admiral over a thousand years ago? And why in Celestia’s name am I having to play delivery mare?”

Gilgamesh only looked surprised for a moment before taking the letter and scanning it. “Oh, that’s right, I forgot that she gave me that right the last time I was here.” He chuckled for a moment. “Funny, since back in my universe I’m above her in rank.” He then handed the letter over to Phantom Thorns. “So yeah, from what I remember about the system in this universe, I outrank you here, too. Feel free to check for the royal seal of approval. Oh, and sorry about you having to be delivery girl, Twilight. Maybe you’d like to stay so you can research some other branches of magic I could show you?”

“ADMIRAL ON DECK!” called the chief before anypony could do anything else, causing every guard to snap to attention and salute Gilgamesh. Begrudgingly he apologized, “My apologies Sir. What can we do for you today?”

“Hey, no problem, Chief, I didn’t mean to show you up in front of your soldiers. Give me sec,” Gilgamesh replied before turning to Twilight. “So, what’s your answer, Twi?”

“Yes! give me a moment to grab Spike so I can take notes. Feel free to get started it will only take a moment,” she said excitedly with a twinkle in her eyes. With that Twilight teleported out.

“Alright then, to start off, you can just run them all through their morning drills, Chief Thorns. After that, have all of them meet me out here for some sparring and demonstrations. If they won’t be finished before noon, let them have a chance at the mess hall before they come.”

“Sir, the only thing on the schedule aside from standard training drills is morning cleaning quarters. We will return here by oh eight hundred. Is that all sir?” Phantom Thorns’ body language had reverted to the peak of military bearing, betraying nothing of his inner turmoil.

“That’ll be perfect. Carry on, Chief.”

“You heard the Admiral, Everypony Dismissed!” Chief sent everypony about the morning duties. He approached Duncan. “You recruit on the other hand broke military bearing, and acted disrespectfully to a superior. For the next twenty minutes we are going to be having a fun little IT session.”

While everypony else was cleaning Duncan was pushed through a ringer of push ups, lunges and whatever other workout Chief Thorns thought was fun. Chief’s face never once reflected anything other than a blank stare. After twenty minutes were up Duncan was a sweating mess breathing heavily his clothes drenched.

“Good now get back to cleaning.” Chief dismissed Duncan and walked away.

“So, are you harsh on the kid because you expect more from him, or because you don’t like him?” Gilgamesh asked, walking along with the stallion.

“Military isn’t for the weak or undisciplined. I act in the hopes that maybe someday I can trust the next batch with defending our country, sir.” Chief answered eyeing the rest of the squads he was responsible for.

“Well, I don’t know about the disciplined part, but you can certainly be assured he won’t be weak, especially after I’m through with him. Also, just in case you were wondering, you have my permission to speak freely.”

“Well sir, I have no idea who you are but after the events yesterday I must assume you are strong. Just remember strength is more than power, I’ve seen too many soldiers go the wrong way and end up ruined by it. They get entitled by the power they wield then miss an advancement or something stupid and end up in the brig or tossed out of the guard.” Chief explained, “Honestly I want you to teach him to have a strong heart, to do what needs to be done, and to look certain death in the face and charge forward. That sir, is what I want.”

Gilgamesh smirked as the soldiers returned from cleaning. “I like you, Chief Thorns. You would’ve been well respected in my army. In fact, there’s one person in particular who I think you would’ve really gotten along with, or at the very least you’d respect each other. You know, if you didn’t mind the fact he was a changeling.”

“...You have changelings in your army? I’ve heard of minotaurs and griffins, but a changeling, didn’t even know about them till they attacked a little while ago.” Chief raised his eyebrow.

Gilgamesh looked sad for a moment before returning to his more upbeat demeanor. “Ponies, mules, horses, changelings, zebras, dragons, diamond dogs, minotaurs, griffins, buffalo, and reindeer. It’s amazing how something threatening to destroy the world can cause bitter enemies to put their grievances aside. With any luck, they’ll still be friends when I get back.”

“Well as our motto says “Friendship is Magic” so I’m sure you’ll be surprised when you get back. Now then shall we get started sir?” Chief had lead them to stand before the loosely assembled company of guard ponies. Twilight could be seen sitting to the side on a bench with stacks of paper and pots of ink with her.

“Absolutely,” he replied with a nod before stepping towards the assembled group. “Atten-TION!”

The ponies all snapped to attention in a perfect formation, everypony ware a thousand yard stare waiting for the next call.

“As a veteran Displaced I will be training Duncan here on how to properly use his powers and mold him into a proper fighter. Duncan, step forwards.”

Duncan quickly slid out of ranks running to the front of the group,”Sir!”

“Since Duncan is unique among you all, I’d like you all to observe his powers and fighting style so you can be accustomed to working with him. I will also be demonstrating my own fighting methods which may or may not coincide with your own, as well as go over some basic fighting skills. To some of you, this may be new. To others, consider this a refresher course. Either way, you will observe, and will be free to make your own comments or suggestions. In the meantime, you may be at ease and make yourself as comfortable as you like so long as I have your attention. Are we clear?”

“YES SIR!” They all moved quickly to the sides of the area outside of the boulders, finding spots on the grass they took seats watching the two displaced.

“Ok then, Duncan. Before you became a displaced, what was your fighting experience? Don’t be shy to say it was nothing or just video games, I’ll count anything.”

“I was part of a group called Ampguard, we used foam weapons for LARPing.” Duncan answered. He stood at attention with his arms by his side. Many of the other soldiers snickered at that.

“Hm. Better than nothing. At least you’ve been in some combat, even if it was just make believe. Alright then,” he hopped back and took a fighting pose, standing straight and at a profile like a fencer with only one arm extended, his palm open and facing up. “Show me what you can do. Attack like you mean to kill.”

“Sword and Magic?” Duncan asked to clarify as he shifted his stance placing one foot farther back and extending his arm. He kept his eyes locked on Gilgamesh.

“Fight as if you would die if you lost this battle, whatever that entails.”

Without another word Duncan summoned his sword dodging slightly to the side, he summoned the Sword Card, taking both swords in his hands he charged Gilgamesh leading with a swing from his right arm, currently holding his jian. Gilgamesh responded by stepping in and stopping his swing blocking his arm at the elbow, then quickly slapping Duncan across the face. Duncan stumbled back, taking a moment to process that he wasn’t hit with a punch or a kick as Gilgamesh returned to his original stance.

“Funny.” Duncan said with a neutral tone, maintaining the Sword Card he charged again this time, keeping low to the ground, with both arms pulled tight and his swords held close. He lunged with the Sword Card aiming for the center of Gilgamesh’s chest. Gilgamesh pushed the sword away with the most minimal of efforts, tapping it on the flat of the blade, before stepping in and flicking Duncan on the nose with the same hand.

Duncan dropped lower in a bid to swing his jian to cleave Gilgamesh arm that just flicked him. Gilgamesh spun to the side, tucking in his arm to avoid the swing, and got behind Duncan in one fluid motion before backhanding in the side of his face, causing him to stumble for a few steps, and once again returning to his starting stance.

“Right, that’s not working.” Duncan released the Sword Card tucking it back in his pocket. Pulling out the Dash and Arrow he started launching a volley at Gilgamesh, holding the Dash in reserves for the right moment. Gilgamesh casually smacked the arrows away, not moving any more than his arm, or in some cases just his wrist, to redirect the projectiles away from him.

Activating the Dash Duncan circled to the side lunging forward with his jian again aiming for right under the arm that was deflecting the arrows. Gilgamesh caught the sword between his index finger and thumb, the blade humming a moment as it vibrated, before stepping forwards and hitting Duncan in the face with elbow of the same arm, letting go of the blade as he stumbled back.

“Ok you know that hurt. Hows about some feed back or a tip?” Duncan asked, he was already running out of ideas. Add in the exhaustion from his IT session, and the use of three cards in rapid succession.

Gilgamesh lowered his arm. “I think that’s enough for now. You’ve got good instincts and you adapt quickly, but your attacks are too readable. How long have you been here?”

“A little over a week.” Duncan dismissed his jian, hanging the orb over his neck.

“In that case, you’re doing remarkably well, all things considered, but not good enough. Using those cards requires quite a bit of energy, doesn’t it? How many can you use at once and for how long?”

“Right now I can sustain one at a time for a few minutes, I can burst others doing so drops me to about a minute. I have almost zero mana pool right now. Certain cards are more intense than others, I can’t even use Time yet, however Move I can use for about fifteen minutes till I start to feel winded.” Duncan explained he rested with his arms above his head taking slow deep breaths.

“I’m impressed. Many forget to test their limits, thinking they can just keep going on so long as they have willpower. Anyway, that’s enough sparring for now. Before your real lessons begin, I’ll need to give a rundown of my own philosophy. To paraphrase Bruce Lee, ‘the individual is more important than the style or the system.’ I’m not here to teach you how to fight, I’m going to find out how you fight and mold that.”

“I never heard that before, I like it. So what’s next, I think some of the ponies are getting bored?” Duncan tilted his head towards where he saw Boom De-yada and another large stallion ‘cloud watching’.

“Gotcha. Let’s involve them for a moment. Boom De-yada, over here!” Gilgamesh called.
The stallion startled awake, looking around, the other stallion pointed him in the direction of Gilgamesh. Trotting over he looked up asking, “You need something, sir?”

“Just a little demonstration for Duncan and the rest of the troops. Duncan, Boom, face each other.”

The two stood before each other waiting for further instructions, Duncan assumed a fighting stance, prompting Boom to do the same.

“I said ‘face each other,’ not ‘take your stances.’”

“Sorry I assumed,” Duncan returned to attention. Boom smiled rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment.

“My bad.”

“It’s perfectly fine. If nothing else, it’s good you’re prepared to do that on instinct. Now, Duncan, tell me about what you see before you.”

“Earth pony, male, guard, friend.” Duncan described the pony before him, the last bit caused Boom to smile wide.

“Alright. And if was tell you this was your opponent, what do you see now?”

“Relaxed, unfocused, angry?”

“I”m not angry! Or unfocused. I’m a trained fighting machine,” He quipped back making hoof gestures causing most of the guards to laugh.

“Not bad, but you need to look deeper than that,” Gilgamesh began. “Quadruped, no digits but still able to hold things, physically strong, likely quick too. Young, near or at its prime physically. And yes, I said ‘it’. Because when a fight starts there are no genders. There are no names, no ranks, no bloodlines, no wealth, no species. There is only physical ability, technique, body structure, habits, disposition, weapons, abilities, etc. Once a fight starts, if it’s not important to combat, it isn’t important until the battle is over.”

“I understand, although I think Power taught us yesterday that genders do exist in combat, even if it’s just a little.” Duncan smirked as Boom started laughing, remembering what had happened to the Displaced.

Gilgamesh sighed, but chuckled all the same. “I did say ‘body structure,’ but yeah, kinda walked into that one. Thank you Boom, you can go back now.”

The stallion trotted back to his spot on the grass sharing a joke with the other stallion who was still sitting there. A Unicorn mare, with golden fur and red tinted mane approached.

“Sir, permission to ask a question, sir?” she asked stood at attention before Gilgamesh.

“Your name, please?”

“Petty Officer Steel Will. I am the leader of Wolf Squad, sir.” She answered looking him square in the eyes.

“Go head, Steel Will.”

“What would be your advice for fighting Displaced, sir?”

“Oh, good question. Seeing as how we’re all quite different, there’s really not much that’s universal. Hell, I once met a living gold statue who was able to empower her allies and depower her enemies with song. Basically, ask Duncan or anyone else if they know their abilities first. If not, I’d suggest keeping a safe distance and waiting for them to act, maybe attacking from distance with a few weaker attacks to see how they react. That’s pretty much the most universal advice I can give.”

“What about fighting bipeds like yourself? Anything that is normally a weak point?”

“Well, once again, not all bipeds are alike, but not much different from many other creatures. The face will always be a weak point, and striking joints will disable most if they don’t have some sort of healing. Eyes, nose, throat, temple, heart, kidneys, liver, all those will always be damaging if not lethal. If nothing else, I suggest either going for the hands to disable the ability to wield weapons or attack then legs to get them to fall and bring them down to your level.”

“Thank you, sir.” Steel Will walked away speaking with Snow Drop.

“Chief Thorns, what time is it?” Gilgamesh asked.

“It’s around nine thirty sir.”

“Alright, got some time. Now, Duncan, to mold your fighting style, I’ll need to do some explaining. Basically there are four kinds of major categories to classify fighters. These are by no means concrete, unbreakable categories with no overlapping, but they should give your thinking a framework. Now, let’s call these categories ‘Technician’, ‘Deviator’, ‘Imitator’, and ‘Self-Taught.’ Did you ever play or were familiar with the Street Fighter series?”

“Once a long time ago,” Duncan replied.

“Alright well, for examples of the first to, let’s review the difference between Ryu and Ken’s approaches to the Shoryuken,” he said before levitating two of the boulders over to him, catching everyone’s full attention. “Now Technicians and Deviators are both formally taught a fighting style, but have their own takes on things. Deviators get their strength from understanding how styles and techniques work and then going ‘ok, now how can I make this work in a way I’m comfortable with?’”

He walked over to one of the boulders, effortlessly picking it up with one hand and motioning for Duncan to move back a bit. “Now, in Ken’s case, he looked at the shoryuken and thought ‘ok, jump uppercut with some ki application, got it. Throw in a little fire for flair, call it a day.” He effortlessly tossed the boulder skywards, long enough for him to assume the proper position, crouched down with his right arm at his side. Moments before the boulder fell to earth he took action. “Shoryuken!” he cried, his fist lighting on fire as he jumped up and struck the rock, splitting it in half and severely cracking what was left, not to mention charring the center black. The two halves landed with heavy thuds.

Many of the guards stomped their hooves in applause. “That was awesome sir. Do it again!” Duncan looked at the remains of the boulder, tapping his chin thoughtfully, “Ya know with the Power, I could probably do that.”

“I’m sure you could, but strength isn’t everything,” he said as he picked up another boulder. “Now Technicians, get their strength from trying to get what they’ve been taught done perfectly. They might have talent already, but they still practice tirelessly to get their techniques and their blows just right. For example, back to Street Fighter, while Ken just got the basic gist of the technique down before doing what he felt comfortable with, Ryu practiced the same move over and over again, trying to get every last movement, every last application of strength and power done perfectly. As a result, his attack is less flashy, but otherwise more powerful.”

Again he tossed the boulder into the air, and again he positioned himself. As the boulder fell he jumped at it just like before. That, however, was where the similarities ended. “Shoryuken!” he cried, this time punching without any fire. However, upon contact with his fist, the boulder broke apart with a loud bang. The only other sound was the thud of Gilgamesh hitting the ground, and it took the group a moment to realize why: the boulder hadn’t merely been broken, it was pulverized. Only dust-sized particles of rock remained.

There were gasps of surprise as everypony watched the dust blow away in the wind, several other ponies started stomping again. “THAT! WAS! AWESOME!”

“Interesting, what are the pros and cons of one or the other?” Duncan asked offering a clap.

“Deviators are slightly less polished, and the same techniques don’t tend to have the same strength or bite to them, but their creativity can more than make up for it. Technicians’ styles tend to be sharper in their execution, but because they’ve worked on getting their styles done exactly the way they’re supposed to, they don’t tend to work on coming up with new things as much, spending most of their time just trying to make their techniques even more perfect.”

“Alright, and the other two?” Duncan mulled over the information trying to identify where he fit into all this and where he wanted to go.

“Next are Imitators, who have little in the way of actual formal teachings and learn more from watching and figuring things out for themselves. Sakura would be the Street Fighter example, but I’d like to point to something else for an example. Namely, the Rasengan from Naruto. I’m assuming you know that one.”

“Yes,” Duncan confirmed.

“Right well,” he levitated the other two boulders over to him. “As you remember , Jiraiya tried to teach Naruto the Rasengan, but he just couldn’t quite get the technique down,” he began as he summoned the blue ball of swirling chakra into his had before rushing forwards and smashing it into the boulder, causing a massive hole to burst out the other side before the rock crumbled completely. “So, rather than giving up, he found a way around the problem.” He summoned a clone himself who rapidly added its own chakra to help create the technique before disappearing. He then struck the other boulder, producing the same effect as before. “Imitators know what they want to do, but they just don’t know exactly how. They’re moves are obviously less polished, much more than Deviators, so to be successful they have to be extremely creative. This often leads to them creating their own techniques as well.”

“Wow that’s a lot to take in, so far it sounds like the difference is a choice of precision vs creativity?”

“That’s about right, which leads me to the final category, ‘Self-Taught.’ As you can guess, these types of fighters have little if any formal training and if they copy anything it’s usually only a technique and not a whole fighting style. Hell, sometimes they outright refuse to be taught formally. Obviously, the precision is extremely low here, but the creativity is extremely high. The kind of fighters who can effectively pull this off are few and far between, either developed by a lot of trial and error just having a knack for fighting. Now, the main point I want to make here is all of these fighting categories are equally viable. No one is better than the other.”

“Wait, what? How can that be? I mean, if a Technician and a Self-Taught went at each other wouldn’t the Technician win just because he has better foundation?” Duncan asked.

Gilgamesh smirked and turned back to the soldiers. “Those in Wolf Squad, please raise your hooves,” he asked.

All of wolf squad, Spear Head, Snow Drop, Boom, Steel Will and Twisted raised their hooves and claws.

“Who among you would you say is the most experienced fighter?”

“Me, sir.” Steel Will stood up and approached Gilgamesh.

“Ok then, here’s the scenario: You’re a master of your art. You’ve practiced it for decades. You know and have mastered every technique, know where and when to hit your opponents, and even if they are faster than you it doesn’t matter because your timing is so impeccable that speed isn’t a factor anymore. Now, what would you say would be your deadliest opponent? Duncan?”

Duncan stared for a moment before something seemed to click in his head. “A lucky novice?”

“I agree,” Steel Will replied.

“Well, I’m legitimately impressed with your answer Duncan. And why is that?” Gilgamesh asked.

“Because as a master you have certain ways of anticipating your opponent. You expect them to act certain ways. A novice has no idea what they’re doing, and because of that you have no idea what they’re doing either,” Steel Will explained.

“Very good, Petty Officer. You may return now.”

“Sir.” She saluted and returned to her spot.

“And that’s basically what a Self-Taught is, an extremely powerful and well-versed novice. So, I think it’s about time for a break. Duncan, I want you to think about this while you eat. Chief Thorns, all you.”

“Two hour break for chow return here at fourteen hundred. Dismissed!” Chief ordered the guards. The guard wandered off to their various choices for lunch.

“By the way Gilgamesh, sir. Where is Morning Glory?” Duncan asked he noticed that she wasn’t around, normally she would get lunch with him or have poked fun at him by now. Come to think of it she wasn’t around for breakfast either.

Gilgamesh looked around them, checking that no one was in earshot, before leaning down to whisper. “Remember I told you about Chrysalis?”

“Ya, did you guys find out what happened to her?” Duncan asked with a look of concern.

“Unfortunately, despite our best efforts, she still tried to take over Equestria, which we tried to prevent. Changie’s heading to figure out what went on so we can give her a stern talking to and get her agree to some war reparations so Equestrian won’t bring the hammer of justice on her and her hive even harder.”

“Yikes, that sucks, I hope it goes well… how long will she be? I imagine getting past the south end of the badlands would take along time. Atleast I assume she is heading where to where Chrysi ended up in the comics.”

“Well, with any luck, I’ll hear back from her by the end of the day. Three days, tops. Anyway, go eat, we’ve got a little more to go over before the day is done.”

“Alright… I don’t suppose you have more of that cocatrice from this morning?” Duncan asked with hope in his eyes.

“Nope, but I do have something better. Hey Enkidu! Get over here, buddy, it’s lunch time!” The dog barked and ran over as Gilgamesh cut open a portal in the air, pulling out a delicious smelling bag.

“Oh what is it?” Duncan’s eyes were wide and he started salivating at the delicious smell.

“Applewood smoked hydra jerky,” he replied, opening up the bag and tossing a piece to Enkidu, who nabbed it and began to chew at it viciously. Gilgamesh began to slowly savor his own piece before handing the bag over to Duncan.

“Jerky…” Duncan looked at the bag with wonder, he pulled out a piece and began chewing shivering a little at the wonderful taste, “even better than back home. Kat taught you well.”

Gilgamesh paused for a moment before looking to Duncan. “So do you know that because you met Kat, or because you read my fanfic?”

“Fanfic.”

“Hm. Still getting used to the idea that my life is entertainment for some perception. Then again, I’ve come to terms with the idea of living inside a show and falling in love with what was once to me just some color and outlines on screen. How are you coping?”

“Hum, I use to think about multiverse all of the time, I came to terms with such concepts years ago. It’s one of the reasons I got into reading the Displaced fiction I loved the ties and references, made it feel cozy and friendly.” Duncan sighed resting on the grass he started petting Enkidu lazily.

“Well don’t get too cozy. It’s just another life for you, and lives are filled with tragedy. Promises can go unfulfilled, those you love can be lost without a moment’s notice, and it can be filled with more pain than you ever thought you could bear. But no matter what happens, can you promise me one thing?”

“I’ll do my best.”

“Try. No matter how bad things might turn out for you, always try your hardest. As my own father figure once told me, ‘Even if you give it your all, you still might not get get what you want. But if you don’t try at all, you can be assured you won’t.’”

“That I can always do, I will try. There is something that MC and I learned along time ago, where there is a will there is away, I will get home to Terra, no matter what it WILL happen.” Duncan swore with as much resolve as he could muster.

Gilgamesh smiled. “I hope you will,” he said simply, placing a hand on his shoulder.

“No hope only fact. So then we ready for part two? Your jerky is magical, I feel energized and ready to fight.” Duncan changed the subject getting up.

“Let’s give the others time to get back,” he replied as they waited for the soldiers to return from the mess hall. “Also, Twilight and Spike should be back by now.”

As if summoned by the words the two made their way over to the Displaced.

“Thank you for the information, although I do have a few questions. If I may?” She asked as a scroll unrolled in her magic bouncing along the ground, it was around ten feet long.

“‘A few,’ she says,” Gilgamesh snarked, exchanging glances with both Duncan and Spike. Duncan smirked but didn’t say anything, Spike nodded in agreement.

“Yes a few, then a few more if you want, I have the categorized by most important.” She huffed in offence.

“Ok, shoot. Though I may have to cut you off to go back to practice.”

“Where do your powers come from?”

“For the most part they come from me, whether it be my own magical reserves or more body related techniques, like Ki or Hamon. Some I’ve just been blessed with by others, some from DNA splicing, and some from objects on my person.”

“Where were you born? And how did you come to be here?”

“I was born in the country of the United States of America, on one version of the planet Earth. I came to my own version of Equus due to the machinations of a powerful Sys Admin known as ‘The Merchant.’ Or at least one of the versions of him.”

“Do you know of a way to protect a world from invasion by Displaced?”

“Yes, though you may not like the option given to you. At least not yet,” he then reached behind his back and pulled out a manilla folder. “This folder contains a formula written by one Frank DeFontaine, also known as Auric Fulcrum. With this a Displaced could find their way back home or create a barrier to keep all but some of the most powerful Displaced out of this realm, unless they were invited.”

“Perfect, what wouldn’t I like about it?” She asked using her magic to grab the folder.

“It requires Discord to work,” Duncan answered eyeing the folder.

“WHAT!? How would we use the Lord of Chaos to do something like this?” She asked her eyes wide with fear.

“He can alter reality. Who would be better? Besides, he’s the Embodiment of Chaos, not the Embodiment of Evil. I’ve met several versions of him who could be called friends, if not heroes. Including my own reality’s version.”

It’s not time for them to know yet wanderer. Please reveal no more. A disembodied voice spoke directly to Gilgamesh, it sounded very familiar.

“What in Faust’s name?” he asked aloud, looking around him. It took him a moment, but he soon recognized the voice.

Ok, ok. I guess you’ve got plans, he thought. If you want do this your way, though, I’m gonna have to ask you be as straight as possible with them.

Thank you. For being such a good boy, have a cookie! A random chocolate chip cookie appeared in Gilgamesh’s hand.

“What's going on Gilgamesh, you got all quite?” Duncan asked watching his sensei.

“Look, I know you hate to hear this, but your answers will come in time. As for you, Twilight, take this and rest on it,” he said as he handed her the folder.

“Thank you, last question and the most important. Do you believe friendship is magic and have you found happiness?”

He smiled. “Twilight, though maybe not in the way you might think, I believe that love and friendship are some of the greatest powers in all existence. As for happiness, well… I think so. I just need to be able to get back to someone before I can tell you for sure.”

“Well you could write me a letter. That is all the questions I have for now, I’m sure this packet will answer most of the rest.” Twilight returned to her bench with Spike in preparation of the next session, several of the mane six and also arrived to watch.

“Attention! All guard return to your positions and observe what the Admiral has to teach.” Chief Thorns called everypony to attention now that lunch was over.

“Alright then, kid. Back to the meat grinder.”

Author's Notes:

Suprise Double update it's more with Shinigamisparda and his story The Mighty Warrior of Epicness and its sequel, For Glory! For Equus! For Epicness!

Shinigamisparda is a lot of fun to work with, things just kept coming up^-^ stay tuned.