Author's Notes:

Alright everyone, here is the next chapter, I am sorry for the long wait as well.
Also thanks to Azure5555 for helping with the editing for the chapter since Trithtale can no longer edit for me.

and as always Lets kick it up

In the following days since the attack and after meeting Katy, things have gone decently well for us, but that doesn’t keep me from being on edge. In the three days I had gotten some looks of hate thrown my way and I could hear some say that I should've done something to fix this instead of letting the princesses do it, but what they didn’t know was that I wasn’t allowed to do so, as it was Celestia that told me I should focus on something else while they focus on repairs.

Cadence had gotten word of what happened and was on her way with Chrysalis as well, I would’ve figured Shining Armor would’ve been with Cadence but I guess I’ll find out when they get here. Twilight sent her a message of what happened shortly after Spike went to Ponyville. Speaking of, it turns out that Spike didn’t meet any opposition at all. But he stayed until he was called back. Twilight was saying that Spike shouldn’t have just run off like that without first going over it with her first.

That argument lasted a good two hours before Twilight finally understood why. Spike told Twilight that he wouldn’t have been in as much danger as her and she and the others would be going through the same training as he did.

Of course when I found out he told them, I was disappointed in him because I was going to tell them, but it was no big deal in the long run. I was going to start heading towards where they were staying but Numberman had called me for something he found, so I told Nightmare to let them know I would be a little late in their training. As I lay on our bed, I closed my eyes as my vision soon goes blue and I shortly find myself in Numberman’s lab.

I look around a little, checking if anything was new and all that. I see some of the old things I saw last time, but I also saw some new stuff. However I didn’t even get a second to look at them.

“Ah good you’re here.” I hear Numberman say to me.

I look behind me and see him waiting for me.

“So, what exactly did you call me for?”

“Follow me and I will show and tell you.”

I just simply shrug as I follow him towards his computer area.

“Here you go.” He says as he tosses a spear towards me as I look at it in confusion.

“So why exactly did you give me this?”

“Well as I have found out through testing, and I am surprised you weren’t told this by your scanner, is that with your ‘connection’ that you have with Katy you have acquired a masters level of proficiency with spear type weapons. If she were still here I would’ve given her a custom built spear, like how I created yours.”

“Wait hold on, what exactly do you mean?”

‘Analysis: What Numberman has said is true.’

“That’s not what I mean.” I growl in frustration. “What I want to know is why exactly are you giving me a spear?”

“Well, I based the design off of the Dragonslayer Spear from Darksouls, then modified it to suit your needs. I even amplified the-”

“WHY?!” I interrupt him.

Numberman sighs before answering. “Because this connection you have is unheard of in the Megaman universe. And because of it, I wanted to see what new battle chips I could create. I am sorry for rambling and going off on a tangent.”

I bring a hand to my forehead and take a calming breath. “Look, just tell me what is with this spear here.”

“Well I built two spears, one for you and one for Katy whenever she decides to come back here. I built them differently because of how they are used. For you, I gave it more of a cybernetic design because it also doubles as a battle chip.” As he says that, I look at the spear as it dissolves into a blue light and I see a new chip has been added for me. “Good, it was successfully added. Now I know Katy just uses some sort of magic to create her spears, but I think this might help her.” Before he can even show me it, I stop him.

“Look, it is nice that you want to help her and all, but what makes you think she will just accept something like this.”

“I just thought it would be a nice gesture, that's all. Besides, I wouldn’t stay too long here.”

“Why?” I can only ask.

“Because all of the Navis who weren’t paired up know about your night time activities you had with Katy and Nightmare. About time if you asked me, and Roll will want to know what it feels like, considering… you know.”

“Yeah, I figured.” I sigh knowing full well what that means.

“Now then, is there anything you would like to ask me?”

“Yeah, what exactly are you building?”

He pauses, unsure of how to begin. He then turns towards his computer and starts working on something.

“I am building up a design on how to bring technology into Equestria. It is not easy because of the lack of necessary materials, but I am making progress.”

“Why not ask for-”

“They won’t. The griffins won’t share their technology because, well, two reasons. The first is that they are unsure of how the rest of the world would use it, like a black market and such. However the second reason is because of you, Gregar. They won’t share it because they would use it against you, or try to anyway. They are afraid of you.” He stops speaking for a bit and I can only stare in silence. “With what you did within that one year, well suffice to say most of the world wishes you were dead. Their views on such a thing however have changed because of your marriage with Nightmare. But the ones who are split are still the griffins. They feel that you can handle anything and protect everything, and before you say anything, I know you can’t. You can only do so much, despite what you wish you could do.”

Numberman then continues on working, not saying anything. I then begin to leave, but decide to ask one last thing.

“Anything else that is of note though?”

“Ah yes, thank you for reminding me about that.” He then stops working as he motions me over and has my Navi symbol appear on screen. “You see I have found out that your symbol, well token for the other Displaced you have meet, acts as a distress beacon that goes off if you are in mortal danger and if the time comes that you were to die, well it would send out a shock to them letting them know something is up before a crack appears on it. However Katy is a special case, I seem to be saying that a lot recently, because she came into contact with your SOUL as well, it would still send out the shock but it would also show your SOUL appearing on it and it would shatter like how it did in the games.”

I can only raise an eyebrow at that. “Seriously?”

“Yes, it would appear so.” He then lets a heavy sigh and rests his hands on the console. “Gregar I must ask this for the future but, why do you hold back?”

I stood there in silence and grit my teeth in annoyance, knowing full well where this was going.

“Look, I know you are afraid of letting go for fear of returning to how you were in that pit. But in all honesty, you can fight much faster if you just-”

“Enough.” I say as I Beast Out. I look at Numberman as my vision slowly becomes red. “I get what you want me to do, honestly I do. But do you think I would just want to let loose and let the cybeast out? If I did that I would be nothing more than a monster in their eyes, even more of a monster than how I am seen now.”

Numberman slowly backs away as he raises his hands in front of himself.

“That is not what I am saying. I am just saying that you don’t need to hold back when fighting to protect those you care about. The situation you are in is nothing like how it is with Naruto and Kurama. The cybeast itself cannot be reasoned with and will only seek out to either control or destroy you and those you care about. I don’t want you to just lose yourself in the bloodlust.”

“You think it is easy for me to just... let more of the cybeast’s power out without letting myself get caught up in it.” I growl at him, unaware of what is going on around us. “You think I don’t know I could just… not hold back and end fights quicker? I know I am stronger, far stronger than what I ever wanted to be. If you think I need to do that, then I should just let the cybeast take over.” I then stop and look around as see bug fragments surround us. I then calm down and raise my hand toward them and I begin draining the room of them all. Once it is done I close my hand and lower it to my side.

“I’m sorry, Gregar, but I didn’t mean to make you mad or anything like that. I just was saying that you could fight harder without letting the cybeast take over or your bloodlust take over. I am just saying to try and make the power yours.”

“Yeah.” I say as I calm down. “I know you have good intentions, but I won’t do that unless absolutely necessary.” I then let out a chuckle. “Besides that’s what Super Beast Out is for.”

Numberman sighs and shakes his head as I leave. I then close my eyes and after the blue light goes off I open them and I look at the ceiling of the room. I get up and get out of the bed as I head towards the training ground. I send a message to Metalman to let Nightmare know where to meet up.

Pov 3rd Location:Celestia's Study

Twilight, Celestia, Luna, and Nightmare had all gathered in Celestia's study and Twilight couldn’t help but be a little nervous.

“So, what exact training will we all go through and how bad is it?” Is the one question that Twilight asks.

The others all share a blank look and all turn to Twilight.

“In short, Brutal.” They say to Twilight as she goes pale in shock.

“Twilight, I know it probably isn’t what you wanted to hear considering what happened a few days ago, but this training won’t be easy.” Nightmare says. “Not only will you and the others go through physical training and mental training, but also the six of you will most likely be paired up with a Navi partner, so that only increases the pressure on you.”

Twilight is looking down and is ready to voice her complaints with all of this, but Celestia interrupts her.

“Twilight, believe me, I have had my own issues with all this but the reason he wants to do this is, well he has a point. He wants you all to be prepared for when something like this may happen again, you will be better prepared for whatever happens.” Celestia gives her a small smile as Twilight soon looks on in thought. “I know this will be difficult to begin with, but please see this through.”

After a few seconds Twilight sighs and nods her head.

“While I don’t know what the others will say, I do get why. I just don’t know how it will go.”

Before anything else happens, the door to the study opens and Cadence enters with Chrysalis following right behind her. Cadence sees Twilight as she stands and rushes over to her and embraces her tightly.

“I’m so happy you’re safe.” Cadence says as Twilight embraces her back.

“Please, I told you she was fine the entire time.” Chrysalis says as she sits down and rubs her head. She then turns towards the others in the room. “Is she always this emotional when it comes to family, because I had to endure a sixteen hour train ride with her fidgeting in her seat wondering if Twilight was safe and unhurt.”

“HEY!! I had my emotions under control.” Cadence shouts back and Chrysalis smirks at her and crosses her arms.

“Oh really? Then tell me how it was like when you had to tell the conductor what happened to the carpet in our room on the train?”

Cadence says nothing as she blushes in embarrassment.

“While this is nice to hear and all, but what exactly happened here?” Cadence asked as she and Twilight then sat down.

Nightmare and Twilight then begin telling both Chrysalis and Cadence what happened during Twilight’s coronation as Celestia and Luna both filled in the rest. When it came to the attack, Twilight goes silent and instinctively brings a hand to her throat and rubs it, remembering how close she was to dying. Nightmare then takes over and tells her all of what happened next.

Both Cadence and Chrysalis were shocked to hear about how Gregar had to do all of that while everyone else had to sit there waiting for him to finish disarming the bombs.

“After that, Gregar came back and Quickman had one last trick up his sleeve, he merged them all into a super bomb. Gregar then flew into the sky and I had to watch as the explosion went off. It wasn’t the easiest thing to watch.” Nightmare said as she clenches her teeth to fight back tears. She then lets out a breath and continues shortly. “After that, the entire city went into a wide panic. All of us tried to get them calmed down, but it wasn’t the easiest thing to do.”

“No, it wasn’t.” Celestia then says. “It took us nearly an hour before any sort of repairs had started. After that, well I told Nightmare to go and look for Gregar, hoping he was safe for the most part.”

“I did find him, but also there was someone else with him. And well when she saw me, it was an interesting experience.” Nightmare then tells them about Katy and how she was ready to skewer her with spears she made. After some talking the three of them made their way back to the castle and spent the rest of the night in their room.

“By the way, what exactly was Katy like?” Celestia asks, as she wanted to meet her but didn’t.

“I would like to hear this as well.” Cadence asks with intrigue.

“Hmm, well she is definitely energetic that’s for sure. She will try and help any who ask for her help. She is a great friend and can get a bit excitable, plus I found out she is quite the hugger.” Nightmare says with a smile. She thusly remembered the other things that happened that night as a blush comes across her face and her grins turns sly. “Plus we both found that she can very affectionate.”

“DETAILS NOW!!” Cadence yells out in eagerness as she knows immediately what happened. Chrysalis just rolls her eyes with a chuckle. Twilight is just sitting there in confusion, wondering why Cadence is so eager about this.

“Oh my.” Celestia then gets a blush on her face as she realises as well.

“Well, I can safely say that she will out do you, Cadence, with her… passionate side.” Nightmare says before she begins. As she tells them all of what happened that night, she spares no detail. She looks at each of them as she tells them about how their night turned into a simple card game to one turned into a night that they wouldn’t soon forget. Nightmare took all of their reactions in with a bit of a sick sense of glee. She enjoyed them getting uncomfortable with all that was being said.

“I-I…” Cadence failed to even think straight after what she just heard. She thought that her nights with Shining Armor were passionate, but after hearing this, she just doesn’t know anymore.

“I think you just broke her.” Chrysalis said, shortly before they were both teleported out by Cadence.

Celestia was the next one out, as she her entire became red and was stuttering. Nightmare however was laughing hard at all of their reactions. Luna, while she had a light blush, brought a hand to her face and mumbled something incoherent. Twilight was just stuck there with a wide-eyed expression and a massive blush on her face.

“T-Twilight, can you tell the others to meet at the training grounds when you get there.” Nightmare said as she wiped tears from her eyes, and calmed down from her laughing fit. Twilight nodded and teleported out.

“Really?” Luna asked.

“Cadence wanted to know, and well I wanted to get back at her.”

Luna just shook her head as they both got up and left to head to the training grounds.

“With the way that happened, would you have accepted Katy as another member of your little herd?”

Nightmare just looked at Luna with a thoughtful look. “Yes, I would’ve. As Gregar told her, it is very difficult for him to love, and well he does. It is a shame that it won’t work out between them like that, but while their will be no true relationship between them, if they want to hang or get a little frisky, well I won’t stop them.” She then smiles. “But in the end I am glad I got to meet her.”

Luna looks at Nightmare and giggled a little.

“What?”

“It’s just I never thought I would hear you say it would be alright for him to be with another, besides Celestia anyway.”

“While true, but it was just something that may have worked.”

“Besides that, have you or Gregar told Celestia all the details concerning him?”

“Not yet, but that time may come at a later date.” As they enter the grounds they see Gregar sitting down on a bench, apparently resting. “But that will be something we will tackle in the future, for now I hope the elements are ready for their ‘torture’.” Nightmare finished with Luna giving a guilty chuckle at their expense.

Pov 1st

I crack open an eye when I see both NIghtmare and Luna enter the area.

“So where are the others?” I simply ask.

“Calming down from what they heard.” Chrysalis said as she enters and sends a small glare towards Nightmare who just looks smug as hell.

“Uhh… context?”

“I told them about our first time having sex.”

“Ah, well that clears some things up, but Chrysalis, what are you doing here instead of Shining Armor?”

“Because he doesn’t trust me enough to run things in the empire for a few days. He wanted to be here himself, but someone would have to stay behind and run things, and while I would have been more than happy to rule for a few days so he could make sure Twilight is alright, I just don’t have that kind of trust with him yet.” She responded.

“Alright then.” I then get up and walk over to Nightmare when Twilight and her friends enter, and I hear a very interesting conversation.

“Oh come on, it can’t be that bad can it?” Rainbow Dash says when they enter.

“Please just stop asking me, okay?” Twilight says with her red face.

I look at Nightmare with a deadpan look, while she just has a smirk on her face.

“Oh come now Twilight, you need to hear some of those things when it will be your turn to experience it.” Nightmare says and Twilight's’ wings decide to pop open and she just groaned in displeasure.

Before anything else can be said I decide to stop it.

“Ok now that you all are here, it’s time to begin your training.” I then see Spike come shortly after I say that and he just looks at Twilight and shakes his head.

“Now do any of you have an idea of why you are going to be trained?”

None of them have a clue so I just roll my eyes.

“You are going to be trained so what happened at Twilight’s coronation won’t happen again. In short so you can defend yourselves.”

I hear Rainbow scoff.

“We have the elements for that, why would w-” she then stops as she feels the glare I am sending her.

“For how long? For how long can you say for certain that the elements can be used to defend you? Sure they can be a deterrent for some, but for others they are willing to take that risk. I mean if only one of you is out of commission, they are rendered useless and are nothing more than trinkets.” I look at Rainbow Dash and she grits her teeth and looks down in shame, most likely remembering what happened with Discord.

“Now you understand, well to start things off, who would like to go first?” Immediately after I say that I see Pinkie’s hand shoot up.

“Oh oh oh, me pick me.” I then look towards the others and none of them are eager like Pinkie.

“Alright Pinkie get over here.”

“Reporting for duty sir!” She said as she stands in front of me and snaps a salute. I Beast Out and put a hand on her head.

“Close your eyes.” she then does so and a purple glow begins to come around us.

I close my eyes as well.

‘Soul Unison activated. Calculating best partner for Pinkamina Diane Pie.

‘Partner found. Soul Unison at 93%’

I shake my head as I hear that and let go of her head. I look down and see her PET. I also see the emblem on her PET. It is a yellow background with a three pointed star in the middle and the three sections have a balloon in them as well.

‘I have a very bad feeling about this.’ I say to myself as I know all too well who her navi partner is.

“Ooooh, who is it?” She says as she looks at her PET.

“Just say Battle Routine Set, and your partner will appear.”

“Battle Routine Set!” She says as she holds the PET in front of her.

“Execute!” I hear her navi say, then Shadowman appears before her. Before Shadowman can even get a word in, Pinkie decides to do so.

“I GET TO BE A NINJA?!?! THAT’S TOTALLY-” Shadowman then puts a hand over her mouth as she continues talking, though it is heavily muffled.

“So... this is my partner then?” he says with hesitation.

“Yeah, apparently so. Anything wrong with that?”

Shadowman sighs as he then looks at Pinkie who just looks at him with big eyes filled with glee. He then shakes his head no as he removes his hand from her mouth. She doesn’t say anything, choosing instead to look at him with patience.

“Are you ready for this?” Pinkie then nods her head in anticipation.

“Then let’s begin.”

They both close their eyes and shortly afterwards shout out “Soul Unison activate: Shadowsoul!” A purple glow covers them both as it forms into one. When the glow is gone, there is Pinkie in her Shadowsoul.

Other than the main fact that her poofy mane and tail are now gone, there were very minor details that changed. The three stones in the headband instead of being green, are now the colors of her cutie mark. The two smaller ones are blue while the large one is yellow.

Pinkie then looks over her self in wonder as I hear her give out various oohs and aahs. She then giggles and chases the scarf around herself like a dog chasing its tail.

All I can do right now is just look at her blankly before having my palm give a very hearty greeting to my face.

Pov change: 3rd

‘WILL YOU QUIT DOING THAT?!’ Pinkie hears a very annoyed voice in her mind.

“AAAH!! STRANGER DANGER!!” She then yells outs… before coming to herself. ‘Shadowman, that you in my mind?’

He then lets out a heavy sigh ‘Yes, it is I. shall we begin your training?’

‘Wait… I’m a ninja now, right?’ Shadowman can literally feel the smile growing on her face under the mask.

‘Yes… but technically-’ he then gets cut off as Pinkie decides to do something.

“KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!!” Pinkie shouts out and two clones of herself are standing next to her. While off in the distance she could swear she heard someone shout out wrong franchise. She then decides to look over her two clones… that are standing there doing nothing except stand there.

“Please don’t let this be a repeat of the mirror pond, please!” Twilight and her friends shout out.

Pinkie however decided to look them over.

“Why won’t they move?”

Shadowman sighs ‘Because you haven’t given them any orders.’

‘You don-’

‘I gave up trying to think of you as anything logical, I will just adapt to who you are… despite it not being to my liking.’ He then takes some time to gather himself again. ‘Now then, these clones are comparable to you in strength, however they can only take one hit before they disappear.’

‘Neat.’ Pinkie then decides to look over the targets. She sees the two she wants to attack, and before she can say anything the two clones disappear and have slashed the left and right one.

“Woah…”

‘You only need to think of your target and they will attack it until it is no more.’

‘But, don’t they feel anything?’

‘No they do not. However they can also be used as scouts if you so choose.’

Pinkie then brings a hand to her chin and begins to think.

‘As a note before you get any ideas, they cannot do complicated tasks such as baking you’re MMM as you so call it. That is out of their range I’m afraid.’

‘Awww, that ruins it a little.’

‘They are combat clones, there is not much more to say. Now would you like my help in your training or can you handle yourself.’

‘Hehe, I would like some help.’

Shadowman sighs a little. ‘Well then next up will be your buster attack.’

‘Okie dokie.’ Pinkie then closes her eyes and after a little bit opens her eyes to look down and see her right hand is now a buster. She then sets her sights on the one target still standing and fires off her buster.

‘What else do I have?’

‘You’re charge shot is the long sword ability. You also have access to my fire bombs or Fire No Jutsu, which the clones can also do.’

‘What attacks can’t my clones do?’

‘Use battlechips.’ Shadowman dryly says before continuing. ‘Also your alternate charge shot is that you can throw shurikens out instead of using long sword, which also happens to be the AnitDamage battlechip. You also have the Floatshoes ability, which negates the effects of elemental panels such as lavastage. However I would recommend not using this on real lava. Finally there is the Image Slash ability which will activate which will cause the clones to turn blue and become temporarily invincible and increase their attack speed.’

Pinkie then looks at the sword on her back and draws it. ‘What about this?’ she asks as she holds it in front of her.

‘That is the Muramasa blade, it’s ability is that of a berserker, the more damage you take means the more damage you can do.’

‘Woah is there anything else I can do?’ Pinkie asks, but Shadowman stays silent for a few seconds.

‘Yes there is, but… Nevermind it would be best to let you know this now. There is another form you can take known as Shadow Chaos.’

‘Shadow Chaos?’ Pinkie asks hesitantly, and a look of worry crosses across her face, though none of the others there notice except Gregar.

‘He better not be telling her what I think he is.’ Gregar says to himself, preparing himself in case if Pinkie tries it.

‘Yes, that is what it is called.’ Shadowman tells Pinkie. ‘It is a form where you turn completely black and lose all sense of control. You also become invincible, but you will attack anyone in sight whether they be friend or foe.’

‘I… I don’t really like that.’

‘I thought it best to let you know about it now so you could be warned if you ever have to use Chaos Unison.’

Pinkie then lets out a breath and shakes her head. ‘Well thanks for letting me know, I think I should get a little bit of training in so I can get used to this.’

‘Fair enough.’ Shadowman says.

Pov 1st

While I am watching over Pinkie and seeing her in action with her soul unison, she does have good control over it. However I am still worried about what Shadowman told her, but that is for another time. Thirty minutes go by before Pinkie decides she is done.

“That was great, how did I do Gregar?” she asks me with a big smile.

I sigh a little before answering “You did great for you first time fighting like that, good job.” She then gives me a big hug before skipping her way over to her friends. They begin asking a few questions but she doesn’t really answer too many of them.

I roll my eyes at their antics, because I just get the feeling that those moments will become less in the future. Those words Quickman said about ‘we’ concerns me, but right now it is time for the next one.

“Alright next up is-”

“Me, I wanna go next!” Rainbow Dash says as jumps up and flys over to me with a confident smile.

I just look at her with a blank face before saying “No.”

Her face goes from confidence to confusion and then finally to anger before she flies right in front of my face “WHY NOT!?”

“Because you are injured, that’s why.” I say in a neutral tone trying to get across the fact that she is not ready yet.

“So, I won’t let an injury like this hold me back. I can sti-” Before she finishes I glare at her.

“You can still what, fight? Is that what you were going to say?” I growl at her in a low tone. Because I am done with listening to her right now. “The reason is not because you were going to hold yourself back, it’s because you were going to hold the others back. As you are now, you would do nothing for them except be dead weight if a fight broke out again like with Quickman.

You rush into a fight without regard of who it is, or how you can beat them. Because just like with Quickman they will either outsmart you, outrace you, or simply kill you without hesitation. Do you understand?” I ask her and I see her face move about in different expressions, trying to think of an answer. Before she says anything else to me though, I say something.

“Also, if the answer you give me isn’t a simple ‘I understand’ forget about training.” She decides to give me one more glare before saying ‘I understand’ in a strained voice and flying back to her friends. She may not be happy, but I am not going to get her killed because of it.

“Now then, Twilight your turn.”

“WHAT!?” She exclaims out.

“Just because you are now a Princess doesn’t mean you will get special treatment, so get over here and begin your training.” I think she was expecting to go last or something.

She then hesitantly comes over and stands in front of me.

“You ready?” I ask her.

“No.”

“Who really is?” I say before I motion for her to close her eyes, which she does. I then bring two fingers to her forehead as the purple light forms. I then close my eyes.

‘Soul Unison activated. Calculating best partner for Twilight Sparkle.

‘Partner found. Soul Unison at 87%’

I then move my fingers away from her forehead and open my eyes as I see the purple light die down and I look to see the PET in her hand. Twilight then opens her eyes and looks at the PET before showing it to me. The navi symbol that is there is one with four orange lines in the form of a circle with Twilight's cutie mark in the center.

“Alright, you know what to say?”

Twilight nods her head before taking a breath.

“Battle Routine SET!”

“Execute!” A voice says and a purple glow appears next to Twilight and when it dies down Searchman is standing next to her.

Searchman looks down at Twilight, but I don’t see the mild amount of humor in his eyes anymore. Twilight then looks up at him and looks nervous about this whole thing. Well I don’t really blame her for feeling like that, I mean she only comes up to his chest in height.

“Um… H-Hi?” Twilight decided to start, I really want to tell her to get on with it but considering only days ago her life nearly ended if it weren’t for me. I think she deserves some time to get used to this. However Searchman only nods his head in response.

“Not much of a talker are you?” she asks him.

“Depends on the situation.” He responds. Well I see he is willing to talk with her at least. “But are you sure you are ready for this?”

“Wha-”

“Because this won’t be an easy thing like those friendship reports you’ve made in the past.” Twilight looks angry and fully turns toward him to admonish him about, until he faces her and points his scopegun at her face. Twilight freezes up and her eyes go wide and her pupils shrink.

“What happened a few days ago will probably happen again, and more lives will be in danger. Gregar can’t always be the one to save the day or protect you. You need to learn how to defend yourself and how to use Soul unison as well. While using Soul Unison will take less time to learn, the abilities you need to learn in it won’t be easy.”

I look over at Celestia, Luna, Nightmare, and Spike as they all collectively wince. However he isn’t wrong about that.

“So I ask again, are you ready?” Searchman asks Twilight. She doesn’t answer but he does lower his gun from her face, but he doesn’t take his eyes away from her, waiting for her to answer. She takes a few seconds to compose herself and think it through. She lets out a breath and nods her head.

“Say it.”

“I’m ready.” Twilight tells him and her voice is full of conviction. I narrow my eyes at her, while it is good she has confidence I am not sure how long it will last in the coming months.

“Alright, now let’s begin.” Twilight nods her head and closes her eyes.

“Soul Unison activate: Searchsoul!” They shout out and the light consumes them and after a few seconds I see Twilight in the Searchsoul.

The one thing I immediately tell that is different is that the main color of green is now purple along with the scopegun. While the yellow coloring on it is now more faded than anything. I guess not everyone will get a visual change then.

“So how do you feel Twilight?”

I see Twilight look over herself before answering.

“I feel, well, different for one thing, but also stronger.” She then looks at me with determination. However I try to calm that.

“Just because you feel stronger doesn’t mean you are, you still need to learn how to fight.”

She then goes from being confident to slouched over.

“I didn’t need to hear that you know.”

“Hey I just don’t want you to get cocky because of a power boost. Anyway, you ready to begin?”

Twilight nods her head and stands ready.

“Alright.”

Pov 3rd

‘Twilight, raise your gun and aim at the target ahead of you.’ Twilight hears Searchman say to her in her head.

‘Um.. ok.’ as Twilight does so she hesitantly aims at the target.

‘Do you even know how to hold a gun?’ Searchman asks her.

‘This is my first time even seeing one, so how would I need to hold one?’ Twilight angrily says to him.

‘First widen your stance to have your right leg forward and your left slightly behind you. Next hold the gun in front of you and then have you left hold below the trigger to keep it stable.’

Twilight then does as he says, and the weight doesn’t seem too heavy for her now. She then looks down the sight and grips the trigger of the scopegun.

‘Ease the trigger, don’t pull it.’

Twilight then fires and she now feels that if she fired the scopegun in her previous position, her arm would be in a lot of pain right now. When she looks over at the target she then sees a giant hole in it. Then she looks down at the gun.

‘How powerful is this gun?’ She asks Searchman with a little bit of fear.

‘Very powerful, now would you like to hear what else you can do?’ Not giving much time for Twilight to adjust to what is happening, he forces her to concentrate.

‘Yes please.’

‘The basic stuff you can do is anyone either underground or invisible, you can see them.’ Twilight widens her eyes at that. ‘Next is you can charge the scopegun to do a five shot burst to the closest enemy next to you. One thing to note is that your accuracy with the gun is dependant on if you are moving or not, if you stand still you will be very accurate but wide open. However if you move, you won’t be very accurate but you can react faster to opponents.’

‘That is quite useful to know.’

‘Now onto the more complicated stuff you can do. One of the other things you can do is summon a satellite that can shoot a laser that can expand in four directions upon impact. The two other things you can use is a grenade that explodes in a cross pattern and search six ‘panels’ or in this case search anywhere within thirty meters of you and you can find anything within that radius.’

‘So I technically have no blind spots?!’ Twilight exclaims, already thinking of the possibilities she can do with this new knowledge.

‘Only when using this ability, you need to actively be using this ability, not passively.’ Searchman tells her.

‘Oh, well it is still a useful ability to have.’ Twilight says, only slightly put down after hearing that.

‘True, now would you like to use these abilities?’

‘Yes, and how do I do so?’

‘For the satellite just motion like you are tossing something underhanded.’

When Twilight does so above her a satellite spawns and locks onto the targets and fires a laser at them and then spreads out in four directions completely burning them. Next she does the same thing with a grenade and notices how it takes down the targets. And finally she gets ready to use a charge shot.

‘Do you have an idea on how to charge the scopegun?’ Searchman asks her, to which she sheepishly says no. he sighs and tells her. ‘Imagine like you are charging your magic but within your hand.’

‘That makes sense.’ Twilight says.

POV 1st

It has already been about fifteen minutes and I have to say, Twilight knows what she is doing. Even if she is just beginning to use this stuff.

“Alright Twilight, that’s enough for now.” I say to her and she stumbles.

“Huh, but I barely had got anytime to use this.” She says to me as she motions to herself in Searchsoul.

“Well I want you to begin a mock fight, so choose your opponent.” I say as I pull out the cube Numberman made for me.

“Really? Alright then I choose…” She pauses as she looks over at her friends. “Spike.” I can already tell some are going to say something so I intervene.

“Are you sure about that?” She looks at me and nods. “Spike how about it?” I say as I turn towards him.

“Sure, on one condition.” He says as he gets up and stretches a little.

“Name it.” Twilight says confidently, oh god dammit, I can already tell how this is going to go down.

“We don’t use our navi’s for help or assistance.”

“Deal.” Twilight says before I can even say anything.

I close my eyes and let out a heavy sigh. “Alright, both of you touch the cube and wait until I say so to begin.” They then both do so, and when they do I let go of the cube and it floats between the two of them before releasing a green light that engulfs them both. The light then disappears along with the cube. Spike then rubs his shoulder as he goes into Napalmsoul and prepares himself for a fight.

“I won’t go easy on you Twilight, just so you know.”

“I won’t either, Spike.” Twilight says as she levels the Scopegun at him.

“Alright, get ready for the fight.” Goddammit this is going to end a lot sooner than she thinks. “The only thing you two need to know is that the fight won’t end until one of you falls, understand?” I look at Spike and he nods his head. Twilight nods her head as well and I can only say one more thing. “Begin!!”

POV 3rd

After Gregar had said that Spike immediately rushed forward and got under Twilights guard and knocked her gun away and got punched right under the jaw and swiftly dropped low and sent a straight kick out into her stomach and launched her away. Twilight coughed hard as she landed and held her stomach as she got up.

She then uses her search ability and found Spike about to shoot at her with his buster so she quickly used one of the healing battlechips Searchman told her about earlier in training and moved out of the way. As She was running she aimed at Spike with the scopegun and fired. While it fired much slower than a normal buster, it was a little more accurate, but none of her shots connected with Spike as he dodged out of the way.

Spike then drops into a running position as the cannons on his back turn forward and launch out three seeker bombs toward Twilight. Twilight quickly aimed at all three. As they blew up in front of her she summoned a grenade in her hand and chucked it towards Spike and summoned another. This one however she launched into the air and it turned into the satellite and locked onto Spike position.

“Shit!” Spike exclaimed as he saw this happening.

“Spike, Language!” Twilight said as the satellite then fired its laser as Spike.

Spike then ran away as fast as he could while also running in a circle around Twilight, dropping bombs along the way. As they all blew up shortly one after the other a smoke cloud covered the area. Twilight then stood her ground but was looking all over to where she could look to try and see where Spike is.

‘Dammit, this isn’t good where is he?’ Twilight says to herself as she looks for him. Then she sees a orange light coming from her left and she aims towards it and fires. Then she sees another come from behind her and as she turns around she sees she is surrounded by the light, and that is when she feels the heat. Her eyes widen as she realises what he did. ‘This can’t be happening to me right now.'

“Spike is this really how you want this to end!?” Twilight says nervously and she starts to back up. Only to have her get punched in the back of the head and as she tries to look behind her, all she sees coming towards her is the leg of Spike as he comes in for a kick to her head.

Twilight then starts to hear music playing and she wonders where it is coming from until Spike once again punches her. He then grabs her by the leg and begins spinning her around and then launches her out of the smoke. As she lands and picks herself up, the light and heat is gone and she sees Spike walk out of the smoke as it clears away. She then grits her teeth and aims at Spike.

“SuperVulcan!” She says as the scopegun changes into a minigun and she fires at Spike. She holds her aim as Spike continues walking towards her, but all the shots go through him, as if he were made of mist. She doesn’t know how to handle it as Spike then runs at her.

“LavaStage!” Spike exclaims as all around Twilight the ground turns into lava and it begins to slowly damage her the longer she stays in it. Before she can react Spike is upon her and begins pummeling her. Punch after punch, kick after kick Twilight is slowly beaten to the lava.

“Repair!” Spike says as the lava is then cleared away from around them and is back to normal. Twilight is on the ground breathing heavily as she rolls onto her back she looks towards Spike.

“I... Yield.” she says as she closes her eyes, however…

“That’s not what it means when of us falls, Twilight” Spike says emotionlessly. Twilight's eyes snap open and look up towards Spike as he looks down at her.

“But I can’t fight anymore, you win.” She nervously says.

Spike then leans down towards her and says to her face. “There is no winner and loser in this fight, only a survivor and one who will never get back up.” Realization slowly dawns on her face she she slowly tries to crawl away from Spike.

“Y-you can’t mean that Spike, right?” Twilight says as tears begin forming in her eyes.

Spike however doesn’t answer and slowly begins to walk towards her, and her fear skyrockets as she tries to take aim at Spike and shoot him.

“ZapRing!” Spike then says and launches a ring of electricity toward Twilight and stuns her. Spike then grabs Twilight by the throat and holds her up. As the feeling in her limbs comes back to her she weakly tries to fight back and get out of Spike’s grip. The tears in her eyes then flow freely as she looks at Spike.

“Spike, p-please don’t do this. I-I-I don’t want to d-die.” Twilight weakly says to him.

“I know, but it’s too late for that.” Spike tells her, and she knows there is nothing more that can be done.

Spike then lets go of her and uses a gold fist battle chip against her and aims her towards the ground as it connects. She then coughs up blood as she hits the ground and can’t get up. She weakly moves her arm to try and move away from him, knowing there is nothing she can do but she has to try. She then gets kicked in the side and flipped onto her back. She sees Spike just looking at her and his buster has turned into a fire sword battlechip.

“This ends now.” Spike says as he then stabs Twilight in the chest. Twilight doesn’t even react to it. She just lies there as her vision turns black as she feels her body grow cold.

Minutes later she hears a voice call to her.

‘Huh, who is that?’ she wonders to herself until…

“TWILIGHT!!” She hears Spike call out to her right in her ear. She then sits up and covers her ears to stop the ringing in them.

“Spike stop ye-” Twilights eyes then shoot open as she very quickly notices something wrong. She looks down at herself, no longer in Searchsoul, but in her regular clothes. She then feels around her chest only to find no wound upon her. She then looks towards Spike who looked sheepish.

“You alright Twilight?” Spike asks her hesitantly.

“Huh- what- how - I don’t… WHAT JUST HAPPENED!?!” Twilight just exclaims out loud.

POV 1st

“I can answer that for you.” I say to Twilight before her panic goes overboard. “What you just went through was a battle to the death. It was meant to imitate a life-or-death situation you may find yourself in.”

Twilight then begins to calm down a little, thankfully, however she still looks confused.

“But what happened to all the wounds I received?”

“That green light that this thing releases,” I then pause as I hold up the cube. “Makes it so that when the battle ends any and all wounds you receive are all healed and gone.”

“But, why would you have me go through that?” Twilight then exclaims as she lets Spike help her up, she looks exhausted more than anything.

“Not just you, all of them will go through it.” I say as I motion towards her friends. I then turn towards the others as the other elements are in different moments of distress. Fluttershy is just crying her eyes out. Rainbow Dash and Applejack are being held back by Nightmare in her magic. Rarity has just fainted, while Pinkie hasn’t reacted at all, it seems shadowman told her what would happen.

“ALL OF YOU LISTEN UP!” I shout at them, which gets Rarity to come back from fainting, and they all look at me in silence. “What you just saw is what all of you will go through! Each of you will have to experience what it is like to be in a life-or-death battle. I know it isn’t easy, but you need to know what to do and not panic and end up dead before you can do anything. Now, any questions?”

None of them raise a hand or a complaint surprisingly. I guess Rainbow Dash understands this afterall.

Twilight then looks towards Celestia.

“Princess, um do you have to go through this as well?”

“Yes Twilight.” Celestia then lets out a heavy sigh. “To be honest I don’t think the peace we have will last for much longer with the enemies we will fight in the future.”

“What do you mean?” Twilight asks, even her friends are curious.

“What she means is that, while it is a notion that has become normal in equestria for the past fifteen hundred years, friendship won’t solve every problem. There will be those who don’t accept that notion and will attack those they deem weak. While this country hasn’t been invaded, it is currently the weakest out of all the nations on this planet.” All of the elements of harmony let out a gasp at that, while Celestia can only look down in shame.

“The reason for that is because Celestia wanted to spread peace throughout the world, but look at what has happened. Others around the world have advanced while this one remained stagnant.” I let out a sigh knowing this won’t be easy for them to accept my next words. “Because there is no true universal peace, the only way that you can protect that peace is by fighting for it. Do you all understand that?”

Twilight looks conflicted, I think she understands what I am saying, but she doesn’t want to accept it. Fluttershy doesn’t even say anything at all, while Rarity just huffs and looks away, but I saw her expression and it seems she out of all of them understands this the most. Pinkie just nods her head, of course she would. Applejack just grits her teeth at me but doesn’t rise to fight me. Rainbow Dash just looks at me, no expression, just a blank stare.

Well I see they mostly understand it.

“Now then, take these next few days to yourself and don’t over do it for yourselves in training.” I then make to leave, however I get stopped.

“Wait, I have a question.” Chrysalis says finally. I look at her in confusion as she then asks her question. “I get that you are married to Nightmare Moon and all, but what does that mean exactly? I mean it is something I have been wondering about.”

The mood around the training area went from somber to a more pleasant one. They all looked at me except Celestia and Luna, while Nightmare just put her head into her hands. Wow, she is going to let me explain it all, really? Fine I guess I will be the one to tell them.

“What it means is that Celestia isn’t the true ruler, well rulers in this case, of Equestria.” All of them just looked at me in confusion and this is something I didn’t want known but I guess it can no longer be hidden. “Myself and Nightmare are actually the king and queen of Equestria, that’s what it means.” It took them them sometime for it to set in before…

“WHAT?!?!?” They all let out a collective shout as they then looked towards Celestia and Luna, to which they both nodded. When they all looked back at me I couldn’t help but bust out laughing. They all had dropped jaws and it just looked so damn hilarious to me. After I had calmed down and they looked at me with blank expressions I let out a sigh of exhaustion.

“Yeah, I had to, but I won’t be training you for the next few days because me and Nightmare will be taking over for Celestia and Luna, while the two of them will be taking over your training in both the physical and mental aspect. Just so you understand.”

Nightmare then walked over to me and put a hand on my shoulder. “Now if you will excuse the two of us, we need to mentally prepare for tomorrow and the next couple of days.”

My only response to that was to let out a very heavy groan of disappointment.