The next few weeks I trained around the clock in both my world and my dream world. My magic and flying still needed work but my strength had come along. Each day after I fell asleep Blaze greeted me and we began training immediately.

“Well Silver I think I have done all that I can do for now. Go see Ace or Violet.” He looked over a clipboard satisfied.

“Who do you think I should go see?” I was use to training with Blaze and was unsure of what to do now.

“Well personally I would rather you not do anymore of that magic. So I think you should go see Ace. He’s one of the best fliers we have in our group. Comes in handy when you need an aerial assault to keep you alive.” He pointed towards where Ace was landing.

“Ok.” I smiled and trotted over to him.

“Oh heya Silver. I bet you’ve come here to train with the best flier of us all. I suppose I was paid to teach you so come on.” He flapped his wings a few times and then took off.

Ace was well over a hundred feet in the air in a few seconds. I looked timidly up at him before taking off at a much slower rate.

“Come on. You’ll need to fly faster than that before we can call your training complete. Honestly if you try at all you should be able to keep up with me in about a week or two. Just know this won’t be easy.” He hovered down twenty feet or so.

“Hey Silver if you are going to train up that high I think we should also train you on your magic.” Violet amplified her voice using some magic.

“Violet don’t you think we should take this slow?” Ace’s voice was not nearly as loud.

“We are already behind schedule Ace. Besides he is an alicorn. He should be able to handle a little bit of magic with his flying.” Violet dispersed her magic and motioned for us to fly lower.

“Fine.” Ace folded his wings to his sides and dropped rapidly towards the ground.

I again took the slower path. Just before I was level with Ace a target was thrown into the air in front of me. Instinct took over and I charged up my magic. I released a bolt of magic aimed at the target. I missed just barely. Ace took this opportunity to smash the target to pieces with his talons.

“Well for not being ready for that you did pretty well.” Violet was still shouting but didn’t have to use her magic.

“Not well enough.” Ace was nearby observing.

“Oh you are already going into a more advanced course of flying and magic. I hoped we wouldn’t see anymore of his alicorn magic for a while. This isn’t going to get crazy is it?” Blaze trotted over looking up to us.

“Only a little.” Violet teased him.

A second target came flying through the air directly at me. My reaction was slow but I still beat the target. It whizzed less than two inches by my muzzle. My reaction was not magic. I felt a little angry that these ponies were going to push me beyond what I thought was capable.

My left wing flicked towards the target. Fire erupted from my wing and engulfed the target. It’s fall ended in front of me as it was turned into ash.

“Holy shit.” Ace was staring in awe. An expression I had never seen on his face. “Nice shot.”

“Well if you keep that up we’ll be done in less than a week's time.” Violet was motioning for a few more targets.

A few ponies had gathered below me and were lightly tapping their hooves on the ground. I felt better. I watched the fire on my wing die down.

“Hey kid.” Ace drew closer to me.

“Yeah Ace?” I turned to look at him.

A look of disgust covered his face. “No one loves you. You are going to die alone. Look at all those ponies down there they are only applauding you because we get paid more if we do.” He pointed a tallon down to the group below us.

“No.” I sniffled a little bit. “No you’re lying. I won’t believe you.”

“Get used to it kid. That’s how the wasteland works. You’ll never be able to protect yourself much less anypony else.” He prodded my chest.

Something inside me snapped. I lashed out with my empatha and my horn. Through foggy eyes I saw three targets still rising into the air. All of the magic I had summoned up had entirely missed Ace and was headed straight for the targets.

The center one exploded as the other two were frozen solid. I shifted from being sad to being enraged. At my will the two remaining targets exploded into fireballs.

I looked around for a few seconds before my gaze fell upon Ace. I summoned up another wave of magic and teleported behind him. He jumped as I appeared behind him. He tried to fly away from me but found himself contained within a bubble.

“Hey Silver I would very much appreciate it if you let me out of here.” He was pressing up against the bubble trying to break it.

“After what you said I think it is safe to say when you get out of that bubble you will be nothing more than a pile of ashes.” My eyes shifted. A filter of red covered them.

“Silver this isn’t funny. Look I’m sorry about what I said but we needed to test you on your empatha. It wasn’t my idea I swear.” Ace’s face was contorted in fear.

“Keep talking. You might find yourself in a position to live longer.” I felt myself lose control. I tried to fight it but my body took over.

I brought both of us down to the ground. I shrunk the bubble around Ace as I touched down.

“Whose idea was this?” I could feel myself slipping.

“I’m not at liberty to disclose that information.” Ace responded trying to sounded strong.

The shield started shrinking.

“Tick Tock. The clock is running down. I say you have another minute or so before you are crushed to death.” I was fighting to regain control.

“That won’t be necessary.” Violet spoke calmly.

Violet and Blaze were approaching me. Two shields formed around them.

“Until I get answers these three are staying inside those bubbles. Now tell me if you would please. Whose idea was it to do that to me.” A small portion of the red filter was lifted from my eyes.

A new stallion stepped forward.

“The Celestia and Luna from your world have requested that we train you to use your powers. Not many alicorns are just born that way. Those that are have incredible power that must be used for good.” The stallion’s horn was glowing.

“Thank you. They are still not going free though. I think a little bit of pain is in order.” I was fighting as hard as I could to pull myself away from whatever was controlling me.

Before I could act a bolt of magic struck my side. The spell was meant to stun and knock me out. I hit the ground and everything went dark.

“Well thank you for that Crimson.” Ace was poking me again.

“Nopony threatens the Skulls and gets away with it.”

Instead of waking up in my bed at home I found myself lying on the ground in a prison cell.

“You caused quite the disturbance in our little camp. It is not wise to mess with Crimson Skull. I am a powerful pony you know. I could have you killed and nopony would care.” By my best guess this was the stallion who had stunned me with his magic.

“What. This is all I dream that I’ve been able to control so why haven’t I gone home yet.” i looked around.

“This isn’t a dream. This is the real world. You have been brought here because it is safer for you to be here than in your own world. You have been deemed important enough by those who can travel between dimensions, universes, worlds and have been brought here for training.” The stallion stood.

I looked at him and laughed. “Ok. So if this is an alternate world or whatever where is the me of this world?” I knew I had this all figured out.

“Let’s see the you of this world died before his mother gave birth to him. I may have been the one to cause that. Trust me though she deserved it. Do you want to see the skull? I’m pretty sure I still have it around here somewhere.” He looked around.

My wings began to burn as my hatred for this stallion grew. He simply looked at me. I let loose a little bit of flame. The cell I was in had been enchanted so that any attacks from inside would be bounced around inside. I narrowly avoided being burned.

“Well it seems you have a lot to learn.” The stallion charged his magic for a moment before hitting me with a bolt of lightning. “The first is to learn where you stand in this world. Anytime you step out of line you will be electrocuted. It will be excruciatingly painful.”

For the next thirty seconds he hit me continuously with bolts of lightning. I had collapsed after the first one and was writhing in agony every time I got hit again.

“I would hate to have to kill you. Your princesses can’t travel here alone so for now I am safe. Now get up we have more work to do.” He unlocked the door to my cell.

“Ok. Just don’t shock me anymore.” I got shakily to my hooves.

The door to the cell opened and I hobbled out. Thoughts were racing through my head. Part of me wanted to tear this stallion to shreds for what he had done to me. I understood why he had done what he did. I had nearly killed three individuals who were just trying to train me to use my magic.

We trotted into a room where Ace, Violet, Blaze and a pegasus I had never met before were sitting.

“So the kid seems more or less ok. I thought the mighty Crimson Skull would surely have killed him. Care to explain why you didn’t?” The mare pegasus looked rather irritated to see me.

“The princesses from his world can come here and kill me. They could kill us all. Remember? They only need one of the displaced to travel with them.” Crimson Skull was glaring at the other three present.

“So what if they do come over here? You can just rip their skulls out and hang them high on the wall.” The mare shrugged as she spoke.

“I could but not on two alicorns at once. I would be lucky if I killed one of them. We can’t risk it.” He glared at her.

I took a seat on the floor feeling a little bit weak from what I had just heard. Seriously this pony could rip skulls out of ponies.

“Now we are going to decide the future of this colts training. Ace for being so irresponsible in your training methods you are being demoted. You will not train this colt any longer. Violet and Blaze you two are only getting a minor reduction in how much you are getting paid. Ace you may leave anytime you wish.”

Ace cursed under his breath before flying out the nearest window.

“Now Lieutenant. You are tasked with training him. Do well and you might get a raise.” He spoke to the mare.

“Understood Sir.” The mare stood and saluted.

“Good. Dismissed.” Crimson turned to me. “Go meet your new teacher.” He pushed me towards the new mare.

I got to my hooves and trotted very very slowly over to this pegasus mare who would be teaching me.

“Hello?” She looked down at me.

“Never thought I would have to train somepony who is as hopeless as you.” Her voice was cruel.

“What?” I thought I had proved decent at most things that I did until this point.

“Nevermind. The names Spitfire. From now on you will do exactly as I say when I say it. Understood?” She glared at me.

I cowered a small bit. “Um.” She smacked me across the muzzle with her right wing.

“Answer the question you were asked.” She was standing over me menacingly.

“Yes.” I rubbed my cheek.

“This is going to be a long week. I hope you didn’t have anything else planned because you are getting a crash course in flying over the next week.” She turned and trotted to the door. “You coming or not?” She stretched out her wing again.

“Well.” I looked out the window. “The sun is setting and I was told that I would be returning home after the sun went down.” I was hoping I could escape and never come back.

“Well tough shit. You aren’t leaving here until you are able to keep up with me.” She flapped her wings a few times.

“But.” I cowered as she approached me.

“No butts except yours in the air now.” She slammed a hoof into the ground.

I leapt into the air. She eyed me over a few times.

“Now give me twenty laps around this place.” She pointed out the door.

I shot off into the distance. One thought occupied my mind completely. This mare is a complete bitch.