I got up the next morning and smelled eggs cooking. I grabbed my hat and went to Jacob. He was in the kitchen cooking omelets. Surprise was eating pancakes, meanwhile, Jarvis was handing Jacob ingredients. He turned to me and handed me a plate. “You’re going to need the energy today.”

“What’s on today’s agenda?” I asked, starting on the eggs.

Jacob put his plate away, “First, we are going to do a usual sprint, then I will teleport you to a random place and you have to find your way back to your hat. Finally, you are going to wrestle my daughter.”

I coughed at the last thing, “You’re daughter?”

Jacob shrugged, “Well, she’s adopted, but yes, my daughter.”

“Wouldn’t happen to be anyone I know would it?” I asked.

“Unless you know a queen of the celestial beasts, then no,” replied Jacob.

“Can’t say I do,” I said, finishing the eggs. I then stood up and stretched, getting several pops from my back.

Jacob then slid a photo over to me. It showed a large bear like creature. She was about fifty feet tall, purple, and covered in brightly glowing stars. She also had a necklace that was similar to Surprise’s necklace.

I blinked several times at the photo. I had read about these in a book in Twilight’s library. “An Ursa Major?” I questioned in shock.

Jacob looked back in nostalgia, “Originally, she was an Ursa Minor cub about the size of a table. I educated her and she proved to be intelligent. A few years later she grew to the size of an average Ursa Minor. We had great moments and fun times as well as sad times, but in the end, I’m still her dad.”

“Well, I have to say that’s quite astonishing to hear, but it’s very incredible,” I said. A thought then occurred to me, “Is she here? This ship doesn’t seem big enough for an Ursa Major to be in.”

Jacob smiled, “I believe that you remember a certain amulet that Surprise has?”

“The one that turns her into an anthro?” I questioned. My eyes widened, “Are you saying that you made one for her as well?”

“Yes, the device functions similarly to a splicer of sorts. It allows the wearer’s DNA to temporarily fuse with another creature’s DNA. One example would be when Surprise became part human. This device doesn’t work on those like me, with their DNA permanently spliced with something else,” explained Jacob.

I scratched the side of my head, “So would it work on a griffon? I mean I know they aren’t necessarily spliced, but they are a combination of two animals.”

“Yes, it would,” replied Jacob.

“Huh. Well, should we get started before we stand here talking all day?” I suggested.

“Wouldn’t want that now would we,” said Jacob. We then jumped out the window, and started our run, this time however, we both ran barefoot across the woods, making us both susceptible to the thorns and tree roots that lay on our path. Finally, we made it to a cliff. Jacob grabbed me by the shoulder and I soon found myself surrounded by giant centipedes in a dark cave. I checked my head and found that my hat was gone.

I snorted in slight annoyance. Even though he told me he would be doing this, I hated not knowing where it was. I felt one of the centipedes approaching me from behind and did the cliche punch over my shoulder. I glanced back to see the bug crumpled on the ground.

“I can’t believe I actually did that,” I muttered. I heard the jet engine sounds in the distance. “Better hurry.”

I rushed out, punching bugs along the way, as I saw the ship slowly rising above the treeline. Before I could get caught up in the sight, I grabbed two trees and angled myself. “Gum-Gum Rocket!” I launched out of the trees before I landed on the window. “Gimme back my hat!”

Jacob smiled before opening the window and putting my hat on the table. “You did that a lot faster than I thought you would.”

“Well seeing your ship take off was kind of a giveaway,” I said, jumping through the window.

Jacob grimaced, “Yes, it was. Next time, I’ll be sure to make it trickier.”

“So, now I’m going to wrestle with a bear?” I asked, remembering how some people would say they could wrestle a bear. I chuckled slightly at the memory.

“Sort of.” Jacob then said, “Bubbles, please say hello to Sean, our newest guest.” Over in a large chair in the corner, a ten foot tall woman stood up and turned towards Sean. She had a bear like muzzle as well as purple ears. She had paws on her hands and feet like Kuma did. She was wearing a purple sweater and jeans on her body. There was even a small tuft of fur that might have been her tail. She had purple fur with specs of white as well as an amulet around her neck.

I let out a low whistle. “She looks like she’s taller than the Princesses and maybe even Brook. And he’s pretty damn tall,” I said.

Bubbles, taking the hint, squared downward and held her arms out. “The goal is simple little one, make me hit the ground once, and you win.” She then proceeded to knock me back a bit with a poke. “Boop.”

I regained my footing and rolled my eyes, “Really a boop?” I then ran forward before dropping to the ground and sweeping at her legs.

She calmly jumped upwards before reaching down and grabbing my leg. She then swung me around before throwing me to the ground with haki.

I coughed up a bit of blood from the impact. I slowly stood, wiping the blood from my mouth. I ran forward again, but this time jumped over Bubbles and wrapping one of my arms around her shoulders and pulling her back.

Bubbles caught herself, but she slipped and fell down. “You win Sean.”

Jacob groaned, “Alright, I have nothing else planned yet, so I think that I’ll show you a little trick.” He pulled out his pocket watch. When he opened it, there as a glowing orange gem in the center. “Can you guess what this is?”

“Is that one of the Infinity Stones?” I asked in disbelief.

“Yes, the time stone to be precise. I am it’s guardian, thus, I have it on me,” replied Jacob.

“And what exactly are you going to do with it?” I questioned a little warily.

“Well, it’s gonna take years for you to get ridiculously powerful, therefore I am going to make time slow down outside the Everfree so that, while the training may take a few years, it would only be a few hours out there. However, there is a downside to this. For you, you will not be able to see Ditzy, Ashley, or Nightmare for many years because for them, it would only be a few hours.”

I frowned at this. To not see them for several years would be rather difficult. However, I was doing this so that I could spend as much time with them without being separated from them. I gave Jacob a determined look and said, “I’ll do it.”

“That’s my guy.” He then concentrated before saying, “Time control sphere.” A large orange sphere surrounded the Everfree, except for Zecora’s place and a path into Ponyville. “Faster time, one year inside equals one hour outside!” The sphere then glowed bright before shrinking back into the stone rapidly. “There.”

“Alright, so how should we start this?” I asked.

Jacob put the watch away. “I was thinking that we work on your reflexes and your presence haki first, then work on maintain and coming up with new attacks and getting to use the other gear. After that, I was thinking about teaching you ki.”

I nodded, “That sounds good. Besides, while I’m decent at using it, I still have to deal with the side effects of Third Gear. It’s kind of difficult to get it down.”

Jacob nodded back, “The trick is to keep the air pressure low, so that the release isn’t so violent.”

“I’ll be sure to keep that in mind. Shall we get started?” I suggested.

“Sure, know the first lesson that you need to know is, DODGE!” I quickly evaded his punch. “Let’s play then.”

The training that Jacob put me through during those ‘years’ were intense and very painful. In some circles, it would be classified as torture. I was actually glad that Ashley, Ditzy, Nightmare Moon, and my friends didn’t come by because, for them, only a few hours passed. If they saw the training I went through, they would probably think that we were both insane. Jacob for putting me through it and me for going along with it. As promised, he taught me many things, one of them being the gear known as fourth gear, as well as many ki based attacks. Jacob almost never stopped comparing fourth gear to a gorilla. Meanwhile, Jarvis taught me advanced science and pressure points, Surprise taught me to expect the unexpected, as well as how to toy around with Discord’s abilities, and Bubbles taught me judo, kung fu, kendo, boxing, and street fighting.

The many different things they taught me were a lot to take in, but thanks to the fact that we spent years training I was able to get them down. The fourth gear always tired me out to where I would have to rest about half an hour before I could train again.

Finally, I walked up to Master Jacob, as I had learned to call him. He bowed before saying, “Sean, I have taught you all that I will be able to teach you in the ways of combat. All that is left is for you to have one last battle with me. Not as master and student, but as friends.” He then presented me with a red headband with a blue gear on it. “If you wear this, others across the multiverse will know that, if possible, not to mess with you. It also symbolizes that you are now also a master in the art of badassery, thus, able to take on a pupil when you deem yourself ready. Do you accept this honor?”

I bowed to him, “I gladly accept.”

Jacob bowed back before tying the headband to my hat. “Wear it with pride.”

“I will,” I said. “And I’ll be sure to keep training so that I don’t forget what you’ve taught me.”

Jacob rose before smiling with pride. “I need to make some calls before your final test. In the meantime, why don’t you go take in what just happened?” I nodded before wandering down a hallway in thought.

Meanwhile, Jacob was currently writing a letter to the Princesses.

Dear Princesses,

Sean has recently completed his training due to a time slowing bubble. While I would prefer not to explain how this time bubble came to be, I would very much appreciate it if you would get an arena of sorts for us to fight in. I expect the place to be packed.

With best regards, Jacob D. Finch.

He rolled up the letter before burning it in a lamp of enchanted dragon’s flames. The letter flew through the time bubble and into the Canterlot throne room. Jacob sighed before shouting, “Sean, grab onto something, because we are taking this show on the road!” The sails on the ship unfurled as the ship rose out of the ground it was in. The SS Starbear rose up into the very top of the time bubble, showing off just how large the ship was. The vessel was the same size as the titanic. It had multiple engines keeping it up as it flew out of the bubble. Due to the time stone leaving the bubble with no thought of keeping it intact, the bubble dissipated. Ponies from all around saw the titanic ship fly out of the sky as it continued to hover. “Sean, you know what to do. Happy reunion.”

I looked at the ground and saw a group approaching the ship. I jumped off and landed several feet in front of them. Jacob and the others following me down. I stood up and dusted myself off, before looking at the group. Standing in front of me was Ashley, Ditzy, Dinky, Amethyst, the Mane Six, Trixie, Spike, Heart, Brook, Eclipse, Fleetfoot, and even Nightmare Moon. All of the friends I had made and the ones that I loved. Yes, loved. Spending as long as I had in the time bubble, I realized that I had fallen in love with Ditzy and Nightmare Moon. I was still going to take it slow with Ditzy until she was comfortable moving forward, though I admit it took some restraint not to run up and kiss her. Nightmare Moon though was going to be a bit more difficult, since I don’t even know how she feels.

I was pulled out of my thoughts when Pinkie Pie spoke up. “Sean do you have a beard?” she asked.

I blinked a few times before reaching up and feeling my chin. I had grown beard. I hadn’t even noticed with all the training we’d been doing.

“And do you look older?” Trixie questioned.

“Probably,” I said. “You see, Jacob used something called the Time Stone to slow time down in the Everfree Forest. Every hour out here was a year in there.”

Brook then said, “And seeing as how it’s been four hours since that orange flash,” he let the sentence hang.

Fluttershy picked up on it, “That means that it was four years for you.”

“You’ve been training for four years straight?” Twilight asked in shock.

“Well, we did take some breaks,” I said. “But pretty much yeah.”

They all stared at me in shock and disbelief.

“But why would you do that?” Ditzy questioned.

I looked between all of them before saying, “Because practically all of the fights I’ve been in, I’ve either had help or my opponent underestimated me. Not to mention, that I was caught off guard by a bunch of animated twigs. So, I decided to go along with the training that Jacob set up.”

Jacob turned to Pinkie, “Animated in more ways than one, huh?” The two then shared a laugh.

I rolled my eyes at another one of his nonsensical jokes. Several times during training he would do or say something strange that only Surprise, and Pinkie it appears, seemed to understand.

“Anyway, him, Surprise, Jarvis, and Bubbles all taught me a great number of things. For example,” I took of my hat and reached inside before pulling out my flute. “Surprise taught me how to do things like this.” Everyone stared in shock at what I did. I chuckled before turning to Pinkie and whispering, “I see why you do this. It’s pretty funny to see others reactions to it.” She giggled and nodded in agreement.

“Wait, who’s Bubbles?” Ashley asked.

Bubbles, in her half human form, tapped her on the back. When she turned she gasped and looked up, and up, and up. “Hi.”

I gave slight smirk, “That’s Bubbles.”

“Wait, is-- is she an Ursa Major?” Twilight questioned in shock.

“Sort of,” replied Bubbles. “Due to this amulet, I can become half other creature as well. Surprise also has one on her. Why not give them a demonstration?”

Jacob quickly threw a cloak over Surprise before a muffled voice said, “Activate!” The cloak rose up as it showed an anthro mare that looked just like Surprise. “Hiya! I’m Surprise, but I guess that you already knew that. Anywho, I happen to still be me but taller, and cuter. Wait, that’s impossible.”

Twilight’s eyes lit up. “That’s amazing! To make it to where someone can change their shape without magic is incredible,” she exclaimed.

Jacob gave an embarrassed grin, “All I did was just reverse engineer a gift that a friend gave to me. That unitrix was the more complete version.”

“But to affect someone so large!” Twilight froze as she realized what she said and glanced at Bubbles. “No offense,” she said sheepishly. Bubbles just shrugged her shoulders.

Spike suddenly burped and a scroll appeared. He grabbed it and read a little before saying, “Uh, Jacob it’s for you.”

Jacob picked up the letter before saying, “It appears that is time for Sean’s final exam. Everyone who wants to see a good fight, get in the airship, and Sean, keep Twilight out of the library.”

Twilight’s ears perked, but Trixie wrapped an arm around her. “I think that’s a job better suited for me,” she said.

“I’m going to have to agree with her on that one,” I said. “I mean, even with your power would you want to stand between her and books?”

“Fair enough.” said Jacob. Me, Spike, Twilight, Surprise, Trixie, Pinkie, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Ashley, Ditzy, Dinky, Amethyst, Heart, Nightmare, Rarity, and Bubbles got in the ship. “Jarvis, park the ship near Canterlot, there is something that I need to do that I haven’t done in a long time.” Out of nowhere, pieces of armor flew in many directions before attaching to him to form the red and gold armor. The Crimson Avenger then flew to Canterlot.

I stared after him for a minute before turning to Surprise, “He’s not going to do anything to Celestia is he?”

Surprise smiled, “Nah, he just hasn’t flown that much and it's made him antsy. After all, he wants to have a clear head when he fights you. The only thing that I’m surprised about is that he didn’t ask me to lower his power restrictions.”

‘I doubt he won’t be going all out,’ I thought, as I watched Canterlot draw closer and was surprised by the anticipation I was feeling. I slammed a fist into my palm as a grin spread across my face.

We soon reached Canterlot and disembarked from the ship, where Celestia and Luna were standing there waiting for us.

“Are you really going to do this?” Celestia asked in concern.

I nodded with a determined look in my eyes, “This is his final test for me and I plan on seeing it through.”

The Princesses sighed, before Luna said, “Very well. Follow us and we’ll show you where it will be taking place.”

They led us to a large coliseum made of stone. Inside the coliseum was a packed house that was surrounded by a defencive barrier. In the middle it was a simple stone island surrounded by a spike pit. In the center of the arena was Jacob, standing in just his pants. His well defined muscles with the arc reactor in the middle of his chest were on full display and he had a look of excitement mixed with a determination. He also had three swords at his side. When he saw me, he laughed and said, “Before we begin, Surprise! Say the rules of the test. I also want you to remove my restrictions.”

Surprise, on the left cheering area, took out a mic, “Alright, the rules are simple. No killing, any injury that you can walk away from will not be considered an injury, and you may not in anyway, shape, or form, gain support from other ponies once the match begins. That being said, Jacob, I let you say the phrase.”

“My name be the demon of time, gaining back what is mine, for those who challenge me should know, you won’t walk away from this without a blow.” As he said the last words, he proceeded to glow dark red as if something evil was taking place. He had an aura of intimidation that managed to make even the princesses shudder. There was red lightning coming off of him. “Take your best shot my student!” He then put his swords at his sides before grinning like a madman. “I know that you are dying to start this as much as I am.”

[Third Person POV]

Sean grinned back before rushing forward at great speed and threw an Armament haki covered fist at Jacob’s chest.

He didn’t budge, but he did raise his head. “My turn,” said Jacob as a kick pushed Sean off before Jacob pulled out his smallest sword. It was a two and one half foot long blade that gleamed in the light. That is, before it turned black and slashed against Sean’s haki covered chest. Jacob sheathed his sword before delivering a series of haki covered blows along Sean’s body. He then kicked him into the air.

Sean went into Second Gear before slamming Jacob with many blows across the body. He seemed to keep a rhythm going. One hawk gatling mixed in with blows to the side and two ki blasts aimed at Jacob. Jacob on the other hand, punched through everything that was being thrown at him and then some. He teleported out of the way and gave an uppercut to Sean.

Jacob and Sean stood in front of each other. The two powered up in ki before charging at each other at sonic speeds. The two gave this their all as they both fought with each other. Sean tried many tripping methods, but Jacob kept the battle close and ready. He was punched in the face by Sean, to which he gave another punch to before grinning.

The two leaped away from each other before they prepared some attacks. Jacob held his hands back as he said, “Ka Me Ha Me HA!”

Meanwhile, Sean blew up his fist to giant proportions before condensing it with haki and surrounding it with ki. “Gum Gum, Elephant Galaxy Missile!” The giant fist barreled forward as it also had thousands of streams to ki swirling around it. The two forces collided as the two fighters rushed forward at each other.

The two individuals proceeded to bounce off each other before they both collided with more blows. Jacob hit Sean in the stomach, but Sean also punched Jacob in the stomach. For every move that one side did the other would do the same. They continued this until Sean slapped Jacob and jumped off of his leg.

Sean put his mouth to his haki covered arm as it started to grow along with the rest of him He expanded so much that his hat almost fell off. He then shouted, “Fourth Gear!” He charged at Jacob as he step sided him. Jacob roundhoused Sean into the floor. Sean got up before pumping his arm back and covering his fist in ki. “Galic Kong Cannon, fire!” A giant, fist shaped blast fired out as it impacted Jacob.

Jacob smirked as he held up his hand, “Good move, but can it match this?” He created a large sphere of energy as he also brandished all three of his swords. “Song of a million big bangs.” When he closed the swords, the death sphere quickly split up and grew into millions of big bang attacks as they all targeted and crashed into Sean. This also nearly destroyed the stadium. All that was left were pieces of the island that was once there next to a wall of spikes. Sean was found standing up, exhausted, but still standing. Jacob fired a laser to which Sean dodged. “Good, you remember lesson one.”

Sean smiled, “Yeah, well you kind of drilled that one in.” He was panting heavily not just from the blows, but also the strain that Fourth Gear put on him. However, he refused to fall and kept himself standing. Taking several deep breathes, Sean straightened and faced Jacob.

“Come on, last Sunday was worse than this!” exclaimed Jacob. Jacob started thinking to himself. “Then again, I did teleport you to the moon and back, so I guess that has something to do with it.”

“You think?” Sean snarked. “That’s the closest I thought that I was going to die… since the last time your training pushed me that far!”

“You look like you’re about to fall over, are you sure you wanna continue?” asked Jacob with an edge of worry in his voice.

Sean grinned, “I think I can do one more big attack.” He bit down on both this thumbs and inflated his arms, then coated both hands in Armament Haki and fusing ki into them. He threw his hands backward. He then activated Second Gear and moved faster than anypony could follow. Sean reappeared next to Jacob and shouted, “Gum-Gum Jet Grizzly Magnum!!”

The attack rocketed Jacob into the spikes, impaling him in many different places. There was blood streaming out of his mouth and many holes in his body. When he managed to pull himself out, he was pale and weakened, but not out. “Clever use of your surroundings there,” coughed Jacob. He was using his own ki to keep himself standing while haki was keeping him from bleeding out. “Now for my ending attack.” He closed his eyes before opening them as they were full of rage. He grabbed Sean by the arm, glares at him with enough overpowering will to take out his armament haki for about a few seconds. That was all the time he needed as he proceeded to slug his student in the face so hard, that Sean passed out from pain and exhaustion. Jacob soon did the same. Both warriors riddled with wounds as they both held the highest respect for each other.

Silence echoed throughout the area before cheering eventually erupted from the audience. “And there you have it folks!” shouted Surprise. “In a surprise turn of events, both fighters took out each other. Thus making it a tie. Speaking of taking out, someone should probably get them to a hospital. I’m serious, I think Jacob started bleeding again!”

Celestia teleported down to the two and started using her light magic to heal the wounds Jacob had sustained. Meanwhile, Twilight and Ashley teleported over to Sean and the two combined their light magic to heal the rubber man. Jarvis also assisted with his medigun.

Jacob weakly opened his eyes. “Huh, I’m being healed by Celestia of all creatures. Never thought I’d see the day.” He then fell asleep from the low amount of blood.

As the four worked to heal the two warriors, the rest of Sean and Jacob’s friends made their way down to the destroyed area.

“Are they going to be OK?” Ditzy asked in worry.

Celestia sighed, “I’ll be able to stop the bleeding and close the wounds, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he was sore for awhile.”

“With the three of us I think Sean will be fine,” Twilight said. She then glanced at Jarvis, “Though, I think Jacob needs that more than Sean does.”

“Understood Ma’am,” he then turned his beam to Jacob’s device.

The light in the center of his chest lit up as Jacob quickly sat up. “Thank’s Jarvis, coulda sworn that I saw my mother in an instant. Welp, good to know that I haven’t died.” He then got up and looked at Sean, “Oi, you. No sleeping.”

Sean turned over and said, “No, ground’s too comfy.”

Jacob smiled, knowing how to get his student to wake up. “Okay fine, I’ll just have to eat all the pancakes that Jarvis made without you.”

In the same manner Luffy would, Sean shot up to his feet. Hearing the laughter and giggling, he glared slightly at Jacob, but had a small smile on his face.

“Jackass,” he said, the smile still present.

Jacob was holding a plate of chocolate chip pancakes. “Who’s the jackass?”

“Your Celestia?” Sean snarked at him with a smirk, taking a few pancakes.

Jacob hummed as he chewed, “True.”

Celestia leaned in, “I’m sorry, but who’s a jackass?”

Jacob turned, “Not you, my version of Celestia. The xenophobe who couldn’t give a shit about what she does to me.” He held up the plate. “Want one?”

Celestia stared at Jacob for a moment before saying, “No thank you. And I’m sorry for whatever she’s put you through.”

“Nah, it’s cool, reminds me of one of my first lessons to Sean. Watch, Sean sit up and react to it how you normally would.” Sean did so. Jacob opened a portal with a snap, and summoned a cane. He then hit Sean on the head with haki.

“Ow, that hurt,” said Sean.

“It doesn’t matter!” exclaimed Jacob. “It’s in the past!”

Sean rubbed the back of his head, “It still hurts though.”

Jacob gave a look of understanding. “Ah yes, the past can hurt, but the way I see it is that you can either run from it, or,” He swung his cane at Sean, but this time, he ducked. “learn from it.”

“Don’t know how many times you nearly cracked my head open doing that,” Sean muttered.

“YOU WHAT!?” Sarah, Ashley, Ditzy, and Nightmare Moon shouted.

“Easy, you four,” he quickly tried to calm them. “Jarvis always healed me when he got too close.” He then glanced at the robot. “I still find it hard to believe he has a personality.”

Jacob began to explain, “His AI got so advanced that it essentially developed emotions of its own, and then a personality slowly formed into the caring and calculating butler that you see here.”

Everyone was shocked to hear how advanced Jarvis was.

Sean chuckled, “I think this much advanced technology is finally getting to them.”

“You would think seeing a one thousand ton airship flying would have hammered in the point that this is advanced tech,” Jacob grinned.

“Well, there’s a big difference between an advanced airship, no matter how big, and a robot that has a personality,” Sean countered.

“True, true. I actually now wonder how they would react to seeing your training videos that I recorded.” Jacob sat back in wonder before shivering. “That would almost be as bad as letting Twilight take my lab over.”

Sean snorted, “Yeah it would be bad if she did that.” He then winced, “And yes, unless you want the tar beaten out of you I’d keep those to yourself and your friends.”

Meanwhile with Nightmare-

“... And this is when Jacob broke Sean’s ribs, here is where he sliced his arm off accidentally, and here is where Sean was sent to the moon. Any questions so far Nightmare?” asked Surprise, who was doing this due to the fact that she didn’t get a pancake.

Nightmare Moon felt a stab in her heart every time she saw Sean get injured. As the pegasus, that reminded her greatly of a certain pink pony, showed her the videos from their training, she couldn’t ignore the fact that she had fallen in love with Sean as seeing him get hurt, angered and saddened her. There was a fire in Nightmare Moon’s eyes by end when she had seen what Jacob had subjected Sean to.

“Wait, before you go, I gotta show the good times as well.” She pressed another button which showed Jacob doing many good things for Sean when they weren’t training. There were four Christmases in there, there were four birthdays, there were many dinners in which someone was the source of entertainment. There were times when the group would even play instruments for a time. There was a whole video of Jacob performing surgery on Sean, as well as another one in which he gave blood to the guy. These showed that Jacob not only did a lot of bad, but a lot of good as well. “Now you can go after him.”

The look in Nightmare’s eyes softened, but she was still rather angry. So, she stomped over to Jacob and, after surrounding her fist in darkness, punched him on the top of his head, slamming him into the ground.

“S’bout time. I was wondering who’d be the first to crack.” said Jacob as he stood back up without a bruise.

Sean rolled his eyes, “I’m kind of surprised you didn’t try and bet who would be the first to give you a smack.”

“That would be you my pupil remember the fight?” stated Jacob.

Sean arched a brow, not remembering what he was talking about. “I’m afraid I’m drawing a blank,” he said.

“You slapped me and jumped off of my leg,” said Jacob, remembering the fight.

“I think he meant which of us would be the first to punch you for whatever you put Sean through,” Ashley said, a hand moving to her swords. “Considering what Nightmare Moon did, it was bad, but not awful as she only punched you.”

Jacob, taking the hint, said, “Ladies, before you start attacking me for what I did to Sean. I warned him multiple times and I got his permission to put him through hell if it made him stronger, which it did.”

“He’s right,” Sean spoke up. “I told him that I was willing to go through with whatever training he came up with.”

Jacob chuckled, “You know, all the hell I put you through was half of what Master Jack and Master Augus put me through.” Jacob’s chuckle turned into a maniac like cackle. “In fact, one example would be the time I had to do a fifty mile sprint through hot coals instead of a forest.”

Sean bopped the cackling man on the head, “Jacob, your crazy is showing.”

“We’re all crazy if you think about it. Even if we weren’t we’d be even more crazy.” Jacob breathed deeply before going back to the realm of sanity. “I am serious about the hot coals though.”

“Well, thank you for not being as harsh,” Sean said. He then rubbed his arm, “Could’ve gone without knowing how that felt though.” Nightmare Moon noticed this and gave him a look of sympathy.

“Then again, it was Tartarus that I was in and not the Everfree, so that might be a factor.” said Jacob in thought.

“Right, you trained in Tartarus. Forgot about that,” Sean said.

“You were in Tartarus?” the Princesses asked, raising a brow.

“Yes, I was searching for the mind stone, hoping that I could use it to fix Surprise’s mind that was corrupted due to dark magic crystals.”

“Sombra could do that?” Celestia asked in shock.

“I think it might of been another of the difference between our Equestria’s,” Sean said. “I think if he could do that he would have tried to hit me or Jack with it.”

“I don’t know about your world’s dark magic, but the dark magic in my world is a force that, while powerful, it corrupts the user in his mind, body, and soul. It got so bad that when I got Surprise out of being frozen in dark crystals, she was nice and kind when awake, but she kept trying to kill me in her sleep,” said Jacob, leaving horrified expressions on the everyone's faces.

“They have been through a hell of a lot,” Sean said. “I can seriously hardly even imagine what it was like.”

“Think about it like this,” said Jacob. “What would you do if Sombra left a curse on Dinky, causing her to try and kill everyone she ever loved while asleep, including you, Ditzy, and Ashley. How would you be able to stop the child? What if the child succeeded? This is all hypothetical, really.” Jacob looked around, “I need a drink.”

“What do you want?” Ashley asked, slightly shakily.

“Nothing really. My mind just tends to go to dark places,” said Jacob before drinking a bottle of soda. “Not strong enough.”

Ashley snapped her fingers and made a six pack of beer appear. “What about this?” she asked.

Jacob took a can and sipped. “Huh, cheap beer. Haven’t had this since college.”

“Sorry, don’t drink beer myself,” Ashley said. “I’m more of a wine woman.”

Jacob sighed, “Well, the good news is, the crazy is gone, for now. So, what do you guys wanna do now?”

Sean scratched his beard in thought. “Is there anything you are wanting to do while you’re here?” he asked.

“I guess I could give a parting gift before I leave.” He then got into a rather formal position, “Sean, step forward.”

The others glanced at each other as Sean stood in front of Jacob.

“Sean, you have done me proud in many ways. You have also shown your willingness to protect those that you care for. Thus, I reward you with one final gift.” Jacob pulled out a red card with the letter A on it. On the card, there was a picture of Sean giving a large grin. “Welcome to the Avengers kid.”

Sarah, Ashley, and Sean’s eyes widened as a grin spread across his face. He took the card and, disbelief and excitement in his voice, asked, “You serious?”

“Despite my personality and outlook on things, yes, I am one hundred percent serious,” said Jacob, confirming Sean’s thoughts.

“That… This… I can’t even think of what to say to this,” Sean stuttered.

Jacob smiled proudly, “There are many things that I better explain to you about the team, but I would prefer if we do it at my place.” He snapped his fingers as a portal opened, revealing a conference room that was basically a long table with a spherical hologram screen in the middle. Jacob also opened up a much larger portal under the ship, allowing it to pass through with Jarvis, Bubbles, and Surprise in it. “Could you park the ship for me Jarvis?”

“Yes sir,” replied the Butler.

Jacob put a leg through the portal, “Well, you coming?”

“Yeah, I’m coming!” Sean exclaimed following Jacob.

When they got in, Sean sat down on the end of the table. Meanwhile, Jacob took out his card. “Avenger’s assemble!”

All around them, ten portals opened up to reveal a chaotic mix of characters. The first of them was the Hulk, who sat down next to Sean. Meanwhile, Thor sat down next to him. After that, Surprise sat down. Next to her, was Jarvis. Bubbles sat next to her father, who was at the head of the table. Next to him was a robot looking anthro Babs. She had a familiar hairstyle that looked familiar to Sean. She also wore a black Jacket, a white tee shirt, and black shorts. Next to her was an anthro Sweetie Belle, dressed in a red trench coat that had an alchemist’s symbol on it. She also had a mechanical leg as well as a mechanical arm, but you wouldn’t be able to tell under the black shirt, white gloves, black shoes, and black pants that made up the rest of her uniform. Next to her was an anthro Apple Bloom. She had the only normal outfit on her, and even that was a stretch. Sure, the overalls were fitting, as well as the working boots, but the shield on her back that had an apple on it was kind of out there. Scootaloo was anthro as well, and she wore a black and yellow uniform that would normally be found on the Wasp. The final member was the strangest of all, sitting next to Sean was an anthro duck that had a purple cape, suit, and a gold utility belt, There was a D on each of the buttons of his suits and he was the only one here who had something covering his face. It was a large purple hat. After they all sat down. Holograms began to show their hero names. Going in order, there was Hulk, Thor, Fireshock, Angel of Death, Supernova, Iron Man, Astro Babs, Fullmetal Belle, Captain Equis, Hornet, and Darkwing.

Sean glanced around, rather overwhelmed by what was happening and those around him.

Jacob stood up, “Ladies, gentlemen, beings of all kinds, I, your fearless leader, would like to formally induct Sean as the newest member to the Avengers. Now, I could just toss him a hand book and see what he does from there, but I figured that I would let him ask each of you questions instead. So have at it Sean.”

Sean thought for moment before saying, “Well, I think the one at the forefront is Sweetie Belle and Babs. I’m sure you know what I mean Jacob.”

“You’re right, Astro Babs is Babs, and Fullmetal Belle is Sweetie Belle. Captain Equis is Applebloom, and Hornet is Scootaloo.”

“I actually haven’t met anyone named Babs. But what I meant is the fact that they seem to be from another show and anime instead of Marvel like the others.”

Babs spoke up. “Well, the term, 'Avenger' is someone who will try to do what they can, and, if unable to win, avenge what was lost. Therefore, anyone has the potential to be an Avenger, marvel or not. Also, I am Apple Bloom’s cousin.”

"That's interesting. I’ll have to keep an eye out for her in my Equestria," Sean muttered to himself. “And of course, I didn’t mean to imply otherwise.”

Babs shrugged, “I know, no offence was given. Do you have any questions about the team rules and privileges that you get with this?”

“That would be good to know,” Sean nodded.

“Alright, rule one. No killing unless if there is no other option. Rule two, no abusing your power. Rule three, If you are summoned with this card, you have to go. Rule four, no infighting amongst members. Rule five, if you want to fight with one of the other members, request a spar first. Rule six, follow all the rules or else you will be blacklisted and booted out. The privileges are simple, due to your long distance, you are able to use a card like a phone. The next privilege is if you say a hero’s name or Avengers, you will be able to summon one or more of the members to help you. You could also just summon us to hang out or whatever. Also, due to the fact that you are new, you will have to do one heroic act a week, for two months. If you fail to do this, you are booted off the team.”

“I’ll be sure to remember all of that,” Sean said.

Jacob spoke up, “Seeing as how Babs just went over the basics, I want you to lay your card face down on the table.”

Sean took the card he’d been given and did as Jacob had instructed.

The computer in the center activated as it showed a circle of pictures. Sean’s image was then added to the roster. “You are now a registered Avenger. I believe Babs forgot to mention that you have access to this facility at all times and that you will get paid a biweekly sum of 2,000 bits. As I said before, welcome to the team.”

Sean grinned, “It’s an honor to be a part of it.”

Hulk turned towards Sean, “Hmm, I hope that you’re stronger than you look stringbean.”

“Trust me mine bro, he hath the spirit of a warrior,” assured Thor.

Sean looked between the two in shock. “You two are brothers?” he asked. “Wait, so does that mean you’re Displaced as well?”

“Aye,” said Thor. ”Jacob, Caleb, and I were displaced by a vendor of ill repute. The three of us were brothers then, as we be now.”

“Well, I’m glad that the three of you weren’t separated,” Sean said with a smile.

“Well,” said Hulk. “We kinda were. We arrived one thousand years after Jacob.”

“That seems to be like a theme of some kind,” Sean muttered.

“A rather annoying one at that,” said Jacob.

“I’ll say,” Sean snorted. “I’m just glad that, so far, it seems to be bringing families back together instead of tearing them apart.”

“True, true. So, what’s the first thing that you wanna do as an Avenger?” asked Jacob.

Sean chuckled, “I have no idea. Even with everything that’s happened, I never expected something like this to happen.”

“Well, whatever you do, just know that you got people to back you up,” replied Jacob.

“I will keep that in mind,” Sean said. “And, for what feels like the hundredth time, thank you for everything Jacob.”

“Don’t mention it,” said Jacob. “Now, I can think of a few others that would like to hear the good news.” When he said that, a portal opened behind Sean. “See ya around, Sean.”

“See ya Jacob. Goodbye everyone,” Sean said as he stepped through the portal.

[POV Change: Ashley]

Sean walked through the portal that had suddenly appeared which closed as soon as he was through. He stood in front of us, completely still.

"So?" I asked, wanting to know how it had gone.

"I'm an Avenger," he said, probably still trying to wrap his head around it.

"What's with you guys?" Rainbow Dash asked, with an arched brow. "Who exactly are the Avengers?"

"Earth's Mightiest Hero's," Sean answered almost automatically. "A group that took on villains that no one hero could take on alone." He shook his head, "That's going to take awhile to fully set in." He then glanced around before turning to Celestia, "You know I didn't get to ask before, but what in the world was up with this coliseum? This doesn't really seem fit here, especially in Canterlot."

The Princesses sighed before Celestia said, "This was Discord's doing. He heard what Jacob had requested and set this whole place up. I'm just glad that he used an empty lot for it."

"So he's the reason that I slammed Jacob into a bunch of spikes?" he asked.

"Yes he is," Luna stated.

Sean sighed slightly, "I suppose since he seemed perfectly fine there's not much reason to say anything about it this time, but if something like this happens again he needs to avoid anything that's lethal." He stretched his arms over his head and bent to the side, getting several pops from his back and shoulders. "I think it's time we head back home. It's been too long," he muttered, a rather faraway look in his eyes.

Celestia and Luna looked at Sean in confusion. Before they could ask, Nightmare Moon said, "Go ahead, everyone. I'm sure you still have things to do."

I opened a portal to Ponyville and everyone walked through it and returned what they had to do. Sean was about to walk through before he remembered something.

"Oh, Princesses," he said turning back to them. He reached into his pocket and pulled out an envelope before handing it to Celestia. "I would appreciate it if you would follow what's written on that letter."

"Why?" Luna asked curiously.

"It says why on it," he told them. He turned around and walked through the portal.

The Princesses turned to me with looks of confusion, but I could only shrug before following him and closing the portal behind me.

"What was written on there?" I asked.

"Let's just say it's something that Ditzy will find useful," he said cryptically with a smile.

I stared at him as we made our way back to Ditzy's house to relax. Even if it hasn't been long for me, it has been four years for Sean. '...Four years,' I thought. 'Four years without seeing any of us. Whether it be family, friend, or someone he loved, he was alone with those four.' I grabbed his hand, making him stop and look at me curiously.

"What is i--?" he began to question before I cut him off by giving him a passionate kiss. We stayed that way for several minutes before we had to separate. "That was amazing, but why did you suddenly do that?" he asked, trying to regain his breath.

"Because for you, we haven't even seen each other in quite a while, so I thought you could use some of the love you've been without," I said with a sad smile.

He looked at me with a warm smile before returning the kiss. "Thank you Ashley. I really missed everyone. You and Ditzy especially," he said.

"No one else?" I asked, my smile turning sly. "You didn't miss Nightmare Moon?"

Sean looked flustered as a fierce blush appeared on his face. After a moment, he calmed down slightly, but was still blushing. "Yes, I missed her too. I just didn't know if you knew about that," he said. He then sighed heavily, "I don't know how she feels about me though."

'They both like each other, but neither one knows it,' I thought, mentally rolling my eyes. "You should just talk to her about it," I told him.

"I would, but she's a Princess," he said. "I could really care less what the nobles think, but I am worried about what they would try to do when we got together." He paused before correcting himself, "If we got together."

I scoffed, "They can't do anything. Like you said, she's a Princess. She can be with whoever she wants and they can just shove it."

Sean snorted before snickering, "You sure do become rather vulgar when you talk about the nobles."

"That's because they're almost all a bunch of jackasses," I said, causing him to chuckle. We soon reached Ditzy's home and went to our room and laying in the bed. We laid there a few minutes before Sean spoke up.

"I'll do it," he said, determinedly. "Some time soon I'll tell her how I feel about her."

I smiled before snuggling closer to him, "Good, now how about you get some rest?"

"Right," he said, putting an arm around me and relaxing. We spent the rest of the day sleeping peacefully together.

Author's Notes:

Continued crossover with Buck you, I'm Iron man. Awesome fight scene was written by Ink Sword.