I couldn’t believe it. How was it possible?

“Akumu.” I hissed. “How are you here? You’re supposed to be sealed within Noctis’ mind, so how’d you break out of it?”

“You can thank your new friend with the horns.” He said, pointing Tsuki no me at Lumos. “He was giving off darkness, and when you and Noctis were separated the seal was damaged, just enough for me to be able to absorb darkness from the world around me. He gave off enough for me to completely break the seal and take over your dear brother’s body again. So thank you Demon of Balance!” He laughed maniacally.

I looked at Lumos, anger welling up inside me, not towards him, but towards Akumu for trying to take my brother away from me again.. “Lumos, Ven, Clare, I barely know you, but I need you to help me save my brother. Please. I can’t lose him. He’s the only family I have left.” I didn’t know if I could trust them completely yet, but for my brother’s sake, I had to take the risk.

"Very well, I've been looking for an excuse to try this in combat anyway." Lumos placed his right hand on his left shoulder, and began to channel darkness from the platform above into it. After a couple seconds, he added, his face hardening into a scowl, "Besides, I know what its like, to lose your family."

He knows what it’s like?

I was interrupted from my thoughts by what happened next. His arm turned black, and he moved his right hand down to his left, gripping it so that the fingers were interlocked, and he pulled back with his right, severing the flesh, and tearing it into five sections. These parts then changed slowly, smoothing out, and regenerating to the point where they had become five black tendrils. Clare pulled off her spear, and got into a defensive position, and Ven pulled off his own blade and held it above him in one hand, while the other was held out in front of him. Lumos then used the darkness from the platform to make blade of his own, which gave off the appearance of a saw of the length of a claymore, with a sword handle. He took a position, his tendrils and hair flowing with the breeze, and his sword pointed toward a spot on the ground directly between Akumu and him. A single tentacle wrote, just outside his vision, so that only Ventus, Clare and I could see 'Do NOT strike the final blow, you two know why.'

“No, don’t hold back. Like I said before, when our bodies fully adapted to the solar and lunar orbs, we became immortal. We can’t die, so there’s no point in holding back. Besides, Akumu didn’t hold back 5 years ago, when he used Noctis’ body to kill his best friend. All I need is to distract him long enough to grab Tsuki no me, then I’ll use it alongside Taiyo no me to perform the celestial seal on him. One more thing.” I took a deep breath. “I need one of you to go to Canterlot and inform Celestia and Luna of what’s happening. Worst comes to worst, they bring the Elements of Harmony here to do the job. Decide between yourselves who goes. Just be careful telling Luna. She might do something reckless when she finds out.”

Lumos just laughed. "If what that Akumu guy said is true, we have no need for them." He looked right at me. "Controlling darkness isn't just shaping it, after all." He said with a crazy grin, writing 'Right, I forgot to mention that part to you... I can remove darkness from anything, and add it to myself, and discharge it elsewhere, or convert it into chaos energy, Light I can do the same with, only rather than Chaos, I convert it to the power of Order.'

“Interesting power. How big a distraction will you need to get in range to use it? Cause I ca-SHIT!”

Akumu had rushed us while we were talking, slashing at us wildly. We scattered. I stood in front of him beside Lumos, while Ven and Clare stood on either side, all of us with our weapons ready.

“Ok, to those with knowledge of materia, then this one should be familiar to you.”

“FIRAGA!” Several fireballs erupted from in front of me and charged towards Akumu. He just smirked.

“Full moon shield.” A midnight blue barrier surrounded him, the fireballs bouncing off it harmlessly.

He started whispering, so as not for Akumu to overhear, "I need to directly touch any part of his body directly with my right hand, due to my left being... well, in its 'tendril' formation. As for the shield, let me handle it." He angled all five tentacles in front of himself, and arranged them in a circle. A black pentagon formed inside them. A grin spread across his face, as he shouted "MIDNIGHT CANNON!" A pitch black beam shot from the circle,heading into a hole of darkness, another of which then opened up, aiming from the inside of the shield, strait up. As this was happening, Ven shot a lightning bolt from his blade towards Akumu.

A huge explosion occurred from inside the shield, and for a second I thought he’d done it, I thought he’d managed to immobilise Akumu. Then I felt something sharp press into the back of my neck. I scowled, realising that Akumu was toying with us.

“Die, Die, Die. Did you forget. I can turn into smoke and move around freely, without restriction, just as you can turn into light, though you only used that ability once. Do you even remember how to use it?” He started laughing.

Wait, I could turn into light? Why can’t I remember doing that?

“Guys, I suggest someone gets Celestia and Luna here. NOW!”

Lumos sighed, "Fine, Clare! Go warn the princesses, while we can still fight! We may need a bit of help with this, remember, tell them exactly what happened, and DON'T STOP UNTIL YOU GET THERE."

Clare looked at Lumos with worry in her eyes, but she nodded, lifted herself up with her gravity, and took off to Canterlot so quickly she was almost untraceable.

I wonder, does she like him?

Lumos moved all the darkness around him into his shoulder spikes. He got a bit of a mad glint in his eye, and shouted "Cover me!" to me and Ven. I didn’t wait to see what he was doing. I turned as fast as I could, knocking Tsuki no me away and punching him in the gut. He barely felt it. He grabbed me and tossed me into the hut, completely demolishing it. As I got back up, I saw Ven rushing him, using the air around us as a weapon on top of his own sword, launching lightning bolts at odd intervals. Akumu kept dodging them, smirking the whole time. Then he got serious. He moved so fast that Ven couldn’t dodge in time. He slammed his fist into Ven’s gut, winding him, before slamming his elbow into the back of his head. Ven slumped to the ground, unconscious or dazed, I couldn’t tell. Akumu raised his blade to strike the final blow.

NO! This is just like my fight with him. Even together, we can’t do anything! Noctis, what do I do?

I was struggling to think of something, anything, that would save Ven, when it happened. A small tornado appeared around Ven, growing rapidly, and as he got back up, I saw his eyes glazed over with hatred. He lifted his sword to the side, and began to charge the whirlwind with lightning. He shot Lumos a look that said "you know what to do." He nodded, stopped whatever he was doing, entered a dark passage, also appearing inside the whirlwind, and began to shoot a beam of pure chaos into the sides of it from his shoulder spikes, powering it enough to begin to destroy the ground we were on. He then harnessed it via the chaos implant, and focused it into a spherical barrier around Akumu. "Lets see you escape a high density chaos tunnel." He began to walk toward him. Akumu just smirked as Lumos approached him.

What is he u-OH NO!

“GET BACK NOW! IT’S A TRICK!”

Lumos and Ven turned to me, giving Akumu the chance he was waiting for. The lunar orb embedded in his left arm began to glow, and he disappeared. The surroundings started to change, or at least it seemed to change. I recognised this move. It was one of Noctis’ most powerful moves.

“Full Moon Rush.” We were still in the same place we had been in, but what we were seeing was a part of the technique. Instead of rocks and hills, we were surrounded by darkness. Gradually, stars started to appear around us, and the moon hovered from above.

“LOOK FOR THE STARS THAT ARE FLASHING! THEY’RE THE ONES HE’LL ATTACK FROM!”

"Thanks for the advice, but if we do that, he can stab us," He grabbed Ven, and ran over to me, stopping a few feet away, creating a flashing, multi colored orb around us, just as images of Akumu started rushing past and slashing the shield, disappearing as soon as they made their attack. Somehow, Lumos’ shield held.

"Chaos magic is different. It's only limited by what you can imagine, and the amount of chaos used. This shield-which I call a 'Chaos field'- can't be passed through by anything, and nothing can warp inside it without my admission, so we should be able to live, the problem is how long I can hold it up, the slower the color changes, the closer the shield is to discharging." Lumos smirked, "The good news, is that I can convert the darkness Akumu just placed around us into chaos, thus weakening him, and keeping the shield alive longer, the problem is that it will weaken the shield itself a little bit. Wish me luck!" He sat down, and began to collect darkness with his left spike in the shape of a dark tornado. It then converted to chaos as it moved to his right shoulder, where it shot out as a flashing, multi colored beam, strengthening the shield, and keeping it alive. "One last thing about this: the way it discharges, is with an explosion, the longer it lives, the more powerful, so I say we have about 3 minutes if we don't want the explosion to take out Canterlot."

I gathered all the power I could muster into the solar orb. My only focus was to stop Akumu, protect Lumos and Ven, and save my brother. Nothing else mattered.

“3 minutes? Plenty of time. Lumos, do me a favour. If I don’t make it out of this, keep my brother from making an idiot of himself when he finally tells Luna he likes her.” I said as I walked outside the shield, despite his protests, and let the power from the solar loose, allowing my rage towards Akumu to build.

Ok, Solar orb. Do your stuff.

I felt the change, like when I had fought Chrysalis. My body became enveloped in flames like armor, and Taiyo no me glowed furiously bright. I stabbed it into the ground, and the shockwave dispelled Akumu’s illusion by changing the environment. See, in order the illusion to be maintained, the landscape has to remain exactly the same. If it changes even slightly from the way it was when the illusion was cast, it fails. I didn’t look back to gauge their reactions. I focused on Akumu, who was looking at me with genuine fear.

“You mastered it? You mastered the Burning Soul technique!? HOW!?”

I looked at him, feeling nothing but anger at this monster, this Nightmare, that dared to think it could take my brother from me. “So that’s what this is called? And as for how, I used it when I fought against this lady called Chrysalis. I almost killed her too. Celestia made me think though, and I realised I couldn’t kill anyone in cold blood. Anyone but you Akumu. This time, I’m not gonna bother sealing you away. I’m gonna rip your soul out of my brother’s body and watch as you fade away into nothingness. And I’m gonna enjoy every last second of it.” I smiled sadistically. This time, when I slammed my fist into his gut, he doubled over in pain.

“That was for Chris. This,” I smashed his head into the ground, “is for Noctis. And this one,” I focused the solar orb’s power into Taiyo no me as I drew it. “Is for me.” Just as I was about to stab him and rip his soul out, he started laughing, and it was making me angrier, which made the flames around me burn brighter and hotter.

“What’s so funny, you bastard?”

“Oh nothing, just the fact that you’re about to kill your brother.”

I frowned. “What the fuck are you on about?”

“My life is linked to his. Unless you sever that link, separating my soul from his body will kill him as well.” His laughing grew louder as I dropped him.

I can’t kill him without killing Noctis? No, NO!!!!

"Can't... hold... it... anymore." I turned to Lumos, who was losing control over the chaos field. It exploded. He and Ven were unaffected, as they we were inside the field before it went 'boom', but it hit both me and Akumu with the force of a Shinra train going at full speed.

The flames surrounding my body had completely disappeared. I couldn’t move. Akumu was right there, and I couldn’t move. I saw Lumos warp beside Akumu, and place his hand on him. I didn’t have a clue what was going on, but I prayed that he could help him. What I saw, more or less shocked me. It was like there was smoke being drawn out of Noctis’ body, and Lumos was absorbing it. His skin started to turn pale, and his pupils became round again. It was working, he was actually doing it. But of course, it all had to go wrong, just as it was about to go right.

“HALT! STOP WHAT YOU ARE DOING TO NOCTIS AT ONCE!”

I mustered up enough strength to look up, and what I saw made me feel both happy and worried at the same time. Luna and Celestia were standing a few feet away from us, and Twilight and her friends were there beside them. Clare was standing behind them, looking worriedly at Lumos. I tried to get up to say something, anything, but my body was too weak to respond. I saw Luna stare at Lumos, standing over Noctis, and I saw her face contort in rage.

“HOW DARE YOU! HOW DARE YOU HARM HIM! YOU SHALL PAY, DEMON!”

Luna was charging up a spell, and judging from her anger, I figured it would be a lethal one. In a desperate attempt, I turned to Ven, who had made his way over to me. I just about managed to muster up enough energy to speak.

“Hey, Ven. Can you use your...powers to get...me between Lumos...and Luna?” I whispered. It hurt to speak, but I didn’t have time to care about that. I had to stop Luna before she hurt Lumos or Noctis.

“Yeah, why? And it’s Ventus. But you can call me Ven, if you want.” He replied.

“I need to...stop Luna from harming...Lumos. He can’t do...anything while...he’s draining the...darkness...from Noctis.”

He gave me a ‘you’ve gotta be kidding me’ look and said “You’re crazy you know that?”

“So? You in?”

Ven sighed and said “Alright. But this is gonna hurt!”

I started to feel weird, like I’d suddenly lost weight or something. I saw Ven’s brow furrowed in concentration, and I could feel the air pushing me in front of Luna. She turned her attention to Ven and prepared to launch her spell at him instead.

“Luna...don’t.”

She faced me, puzzled. Angry, but puzzled. “Why, Die? They hurt you and Noctis. Even now, that one,” She pointed a hoof accusingly at Lumos, “Was trying to finish him off. Why would you want to protect them?”

“I think I’ll...let Lumos...handle that...when he’s done. So Lumos...you finished...removing the...darkness from...Noctis yet?”

“Darkness? What are you talking about Die?”

“Like I said...Lumos can explain. So, you ready...to start yet...Lumos? Or should I call...you Umbra when...you’re in that form...since your power...revolves around...shadows when you’re...like that.”

Lumos turned to me with raised eyebrows. "No, I'm fine with just being 'Lumos,' and yes, I'm done absorbing the darkness, I also managed to convert a small amount into chaos, and used it to seal up the cracks in that seal you placed between Noctis and that 'Akumu' thing. So I think I'm ready to begin explaining."

At the mention of ‘chaos’, Luna turned to Lumos again, with anger in her eyes.

“CHAOS! YOU ARE A CHAOS WIELDER!? GIVE US ONE GOOD REASON WHY WE SHOULD NOT STRIKE YOU DOWN!”

“Cause..he just saved my life. That enough...of a reason...Luna?”

Luna ran up to Noctis, knocking Lumos down, which I found funny, though I managed not to laugh, and she wrapped her wings around him as if both her life and his depended on it.

“Noctis, you’re ok.” She turned back to Lumos. “Explain. Now.”

Lumos cleared his throat and started talking. "Before I begin, chaos isn't something you should kill people over, it is, quite simply, a 'limit breaker,' meaning it allows the user to do anything, as long as they have the chaos energy required and a clear image within your mind. Law, or 'order' energy puts boundaries on chaos, creating harmony. Now, to explain what happened here, when I woke up on my dark platform, which as you can see is not here anymore, I saw Die approaching the hut. At first, she was accusing me of being here as an assassin of sorts, after explaining who I was, the best I could at least, she called her brother out, who, at that moment, had black skin, and was calling himself 'Akumu.'" He paused to rub his head.

"Anyway, it turns out my scarf, lower body armor, and platform of darkness all were being absorbed by this being. Die asked me for the help of me, Clare, and Ven," He said, motioning to Clare and Ventus "And damn, he was, as odd as it is to say, stronger than Discord himself, and that you can trust, I've had a first hand experience fighting him, and I won too, but thats a story for another day. Back on topic now, after the battle, I accidentally caused a large chaos blast, which is what caused this crater, I then moved through what I call the 'dark world' to teleport to where he was. I removed his darkness, then you guys, almost stopped the process, which would have made all my darkness go into him, which would have been a very, VERY bad thing." He glared at Luna. "Thankfully, Die stopped you, allowing me to finish, and asked me to explain, and thats where we are now, any questions, both related to what I just said, and not? Just... one at a time, please"

We stayed silent for a few minutes. Then, I spoke up.

“I have one. You said you knew what it was like to lose your family. What happened to them? I understand if you don’t want to talk about it, but in my experience, talking helps. It doesn’t make the pain go away, but it does make it a little easier to bear.”

Lumos sighed. "Very well, sadly, this is also the tale of how I got my first power: darkness control." He took a deep breath, and began. "I would rather not get into who my family was, but to say the least, I had a mother, father, and younger brother, all kind, all generally good people, despite their flaws. One day, back when I was still human, I woke up to find myself chained to a wall, in a dark room, then the lights turned on, and what I saw... It was horrible" He sat down and was hiding his face within his hand, "There were bodies everywhere, bodies whose body parts had been made explode without gunpowder, skeletons, the flesh of whom had been neatly peeled off, and their organs removed and put in a pile, so many organs. The worst part, the absolute worst part, was when I looked to the right, and I saw my whole family chained up next to me, then a man walked in, and slowly killed each one of my family, slowly, and painfully, first was my father, who he put eight metal bands on him, two on each limb, then he stabbed each one with a WASP gas injection knife, Its design, for those who don't know, is to move highly condensed air, through a small tube in the blade, and it causes whatever it stabs, to explode, he stabbed my father with it nine times, twice in each limb, and once in the chest, as I was closest, I was covered in his blood."

He was trembling now, tears streaming from his eyes, but he didn't look up, or wipe them away. "Next was my mother, who he slowly peeled the flesh off of, followed by breaking every one of the 206 bones in her body, after that, he gut her, and began tearing out her organs, starting with her intestines, next her liver, the stomach, some others I don't know the names of, then her lungs, and finally, her still beating heart. Finally, was my kid brother, he was only 7, and he was crying his eyes out, the man then said only one thing, he said 'I hate crybabies,' And stabbed him in the throat with the knife, the explosion killing him instantly. At least he showed him enough mercy not to torture him." He was sobbing between words, not daring to look up at us.

"Then what happened, is the part I remember clearest, I made a spike shoot out of the man’s shadow, killing him instantly, almost immediately some ball of light came through the wall, and complained about getting there too late, and that he was supposed to have arrived soon enough that my brother would be alive, and instead gave me what he was supposed to give to my brother: he allowed me to go to the world of Equestria, not this version, but a different dimension from this one, that part I figured out only five minutes ago, when neither of the princesses, nor the elements recognized me." I just stood there, silently processing what he just told us. After a few moments of silence, he said "Any other questions?” Noctis came up.

“Yes. Your weapons. They all give off a different magical energy, but the signature of said energy is basically the same. What’s more, it’s similar to the signature given off by Tsuki no me and Taiyo no me. Any ideas as to why?”

Trust Noctis to ask a technical question, rather than an emotional one.

“Noctis, can’t you actually think of something more important to ask?”

“Die, this is important. If we can understand more about the blades, then maybe we can unlock their secrets. We might be able to understand why they chose us. Don’t you ever wonder why the orbs and the blades chose us?”

“Yeah bu-” Lumos stopped me.

He shook his head to try to remove the emotions his story had reawakened, "Well, the first one, is because I made them all, and many more, including whips, bows, spears, katanas, and even my left hand, which is actually mechanical. As for why the energies are different, every human I caused to enter the Equestria I was in was infused with a small amount of Chaos, which formed itself into a power, each power, from what I've seen, has always been different, I have not seen two with the same power. Other than Clare, Ven, and me, there are 6 living humans in the Equestria I'm from. One of them has two powers, but other than him and me, all of them have only one. I am able to copy their power into the metal I make these weapons out of, but only at one time, after that, it will wound anyone else who so much as tries to grab it. There is no limit on the number of enchantments that can be placed on one object, but we decided four was the limit, as when I tried five, I lost my left hand, and had to create a mechanical replacement which you see now, the hand is the only one that can touch others without them becoming wounded in the process. I'm not entirely sure how it is different, though. As for the final part of your question. It is POSSIBLE that the blades are made of the same material as my weapons, but there is really only one way to find out, and personally, I don't want to try it, as it could lead to being encased in ice, burnt to ashes, blasted by one of those attacks relating to the heavens of yours, or simply stabbed by a sentient blade that knows I'm not it's owner. Although, you are right, the energy signature is only slightly different from those of your own weapons. However, yours seem to be of higher skill in enchantment, while mine are rather simple in comparison, not counting the Gate wand, the reason for me only having one hand."

He yawned, and I looked to Noctis who was paying close attention, his curiosity peaking with the mention of this ‘Gate Wand’. Lumos noticed, and went into a little more detail. "The Gate wand contains light, dark, gravity, fire, and water enchantment, it can create up to two portals on any surface, so long as light is touching them. Taiyo no me seems to contain every energy, I can recognize fire, light, electric, and the lot, Tsuki no me seems to have light, dark, land, smoke, and even a bit of water within it, I can't quite tell if there are others in either of them, though. In short, the energy similarity is likely because, just like my weapons," Lumos looked right at my brother, "Your swords, are fueled by Chaos."

So our weapons are fueled by chaos? That’s new.

“So you’re saying that our blades, which we found in ruins with carvings and paintings of ponies, who live through harmony, are fueled by Chaos? Now I’m definitely gonna need to do some research on them, figure out just how they balance the scales, so to speak. And as for being harmed by them, you shouldn’t worry. As long as the lunar and solar orbs remain in close proximity to their respective blades, you should be safe. I know because Die wielded Tsuki no me along with Taiyo no me when she first sealed Akumu within my mind.”

I looked at him, dumbstruck. “Noctis, you remember that?”

“Yes, I do, because I never forgot about it in the first place. And before you ask, I never talked about it because I’d already resolved to become strong enough to face him myself someday, plus you never mentioned it. You remember what he said about the two of us being linked? Well he wasn’t telling the whole story. It’s true that you can’t kill him without killing me. But I can kill him. If your life is linked to another, only you can kill the one whose life you are linked to, and vice versa. In other words, if I face him from within the seal and win, he dies, and I live.”

Is he crazy? How can he honestly believe that he can do that alone?

“Noctis, forgive my callousness, but ARE YOU INSANE!? You just barely made it through this encounter with Akumu, and now you want to face him again! WHAT IF YOU GET HURT!? WHAT IF YOU DIE!?”

Noctis just chuckled, much to Luna’s annoyance. “Don’t worry about that Luna. I’m not gonna be alone. As my mom used to say, no matter where you go, your friends are always standing by you, even if they’re not right there with you.”

A smile appeared on Lumos’ face, “A fair point, and there is more truth in it than you think.”

Noctis shot him a smirk, and said “Besides, we’ve got our new powers. How can we lose? Especially seeing as we’re not really human anymore.”

Lumos didn’t seem to hear that last part, he just sighed loudly and shook his head. “You know nothing about ‘dark sides,’ do you? When you gain a power, they gain it on an equal scale.” Noctis flashed a brief smile, before adopting a stern expression.

“I know that, or did you not realise I could see everything he did in that fight. I don’t give a damn how strong he is, I’m not gonna lose.”

A small grin appeared on Lumos’ face. “Just being cocky won’t get you through this, but I am working on a few theories, related to making the battle... easier for you.”

“Will they work if I’m not human?” Noctis asked.

"Wait, what do you mean by that? You look human to me, genetically modified humans, but still humans."

Luna smirked at him. “Looks can be deceiving, Lumos. Though they may look human now, that is no longer their true form. The celestial orbs saw to that. When they arrived in this world, they not only found the one place that the orbs could attain their full power, they were, changed, to be more suited to this world. Think of their human forms as a remnant, a memento of their past. Noctis, Die, show him.”

I looked to Noctis nervously. Luna had released him from their hug, though they were still staring at each other, blushing. He eventually noticed my look, and nodded slowly.

“Are you sure? I mean, you and Celestia are the only ones who’ve seen us in that form.”

“It’s fine Die. What’s the worst that could happen?”

I sighed, and focused on my other form. I saw Noctis doing the same. The flash associated with our transformation blinded all but Celestia and Luna. Needless to say, when the others saw us in pony form, there were dropped jaws all around.

The first to recover from the initial shock, and speak was Clare, "... What the hell just happened?"

Celestia put a hoof on her shoulder. “What you saw was a result of the celestial orbs granting Noctis and Die their blessing, as we prefer to call it. They bestowed that blessing on us, and that is how Luna and I became alicorns and were given the power to move the sun and the moon, though as the orbs themselves are permanently bound to Noctis and Die, they saw no need to give them a horn, as they only need to focus on the orbs to wield magic. Is that explanation satisfactory?”

Ven raised a finger, and tried to summarize, "I think she means the orbs let them turn into ponies."

A collective "oh," was made among us.

Lumos spoke again. "This is unrelated, but I don't have a clue how I even got here in the first place. So we may be here for a little while. Is there a way you could keep most ponies away from a specific forest?" Clare gave him a look that shouted, 'really, there?', while Celestia looked at him, puzzled.

“Are you sure you wish to stay there? I would be more than happy to grant you more fitting accommodations while we think of a way to get you back to your Equestria. Besides,” She gave Noctis and I a brief look, “I’m sure those two would appreciate having help training the guards.”

Wait, what?

“Uh, what do you mean, training the guards?”

“Oh, that’s right, we were interrupted before we could explain. Luna and I wished for you to train the Solar and Lunar guards. You, Die, would train the Solar guards, and Noctis would train the Lunar guards.”

“Ok. Sounds simple enough. But first, how many Solar and Lunar Guards are there?”

Luna answered me. “There are a little over two hundred Solar guards, and only around two dozen Lunar guards. Why do you ask?”

“Sounds like my kind of group. I could probably try and turn them into a covert ops unit. What about you, Die?”

I chuckled. “Come on Noctis. You know I’m more of a head-on clash kind of girl. So I’d be turning each and every single Solar guard into a veritable one-pony army. So, what about you, Lumos, Ven, Clare? You interested in whipping the guards into shape?”

Clare and Ven both agreed quickly, but Lumos just sighed. "I might as w-" Suddenly, he started clutching his tendril arm, and he looked like he was holding back a scream.

What the hell, what’s with his arm?

Clare tried to approach Lumos, but he shouted "STAY AWAY! IT'S TENDRIL, IT'S OUT OF CONTROL!"

He started screaming as the spikes retracted into his shoulders, followed by the horns curving around like a ram’s, and all four of his wings turned white. As soon as he had transformed, light began pouring into his left arm, and tendril started slowly fusing it back into his left arm, with a stump at the end. Once ‘tendril’ was calmed, he collapsed, breathing heavily, but still conscious, and strong enough to say, whilst panting between words, "I might as well help out, just remind me never to change forms again, will you? Also, Clare, do you still have my spare hand?"

So, I was right, he has separate forms depending on which powers he uses.

Clare nodded, and ran over, it was right then that I noticed something: the mark on his chest had gotten larger. He took the metal hand, and placed it onto the end of his arm, and sat back up.

“So, your tendril thing has a time limit? What happens if you exceed it? And why is changing forms a bad thing for you? Is it like Die’s Burning Soul technique, where her anger is amplified exponentially? Or is it like my Frozen Heart technique, where I become completely emotionless?”

"First, if I exceed the time limit, I will lose my arm, due to the fact i infused it with some of that metal from my weapons. Second, its not that changing forms is BAD for me, its just that while i change, my senses are all amplified, increasing my pain from tendril. Oh, while I'm on this topic, in this form, I am Lumos, the god of balance, or god of shadows, if you prefer." He grinned at the last part. "Oh, yeah, forgot this, but yes, I will help with training the guards, preferably working with some of both, if you don't mind."

“Alright. That sounds acceptable. Now, we can prepare rooms for all of you at the castle. Please hold still.”

Celestia and Luna charged their horns, and there was a bright flash, along with the feeling of being pulled apart and put back together again...
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So that’s what teleporting feels like. Kinda glad Luna didn’t do it when she first found me now, my head is pounding more than my heart.

All of us were in the throne room. Twilight and her friends were standing off to one side, staring at me and Die, probably still in shock after seeing us transform. Clare, Ventus and Lumos were standing around, looking at the stain glass windows, while Die was stealing glances at Ventus. Celestia and Luna were standing in front of us, smiling.

“So, what do you think? Is it any different to the Canterlot of your Equestria?”

Lumos smiled back. "I only see one difference, here, and thats that there isn't a stained glass window of Clare killing Discord by ripping him asunder."

Celestia, Luna, Twilight and her friends paled at this, but Die and I just chuckled, trying to imagine Clare ripping someone apart. Something then occurred to me.

“Hey, what does Discord look like? All you told me was that he was the God of Chaos here. You never actually said anything about his appearance.”

“Well, Discord is a Draconnequs. His body is made up of different types of limbs, and they are, for lack of a better word, random and chaotic.”

“Guess his body fits his style. So where is he in this Equestria?”

Luna answered this time. “He is sealed in stone, and it was Twilight and her friends that did that to him, wielding the elements of Harmony.”

Die and I took a moment to examine the six. Pinkie was bouncing in place, Fluttershy, Rarity and Twilight were blushing, avoiding eye contact, Applejack was rubbing the back of her head with a hoof, and Rainbow Dash was smirking.

Die cleared her throat. “Ok, so those six wield the elements, cool. Now, how’s this training thing going to work?”

“When they’re not on duty, we train them, and we keep training them until they’re as good as, or better than, 1st class SOLDIERs. Simple as that, right little sis?” I looked to Die, who was facepalming, realising that it was obvious.

“Right, just like back when we were in SOLDIER, we were constantly training when we weren’t on a mission. Kinda glad the orbs make us mostly immune to fatigue, huh?” We both nodded.

“So for starters, we’ll need to meet every single able-bodied guard, both Solar and Lunar, so we can make the announcement. How long will it take to gather them?”

Luna smirked as her horn started glowing again. “Not long, Noctis. Not long at all.” Just before she teleported us, I saw Celestia’s horn glowing, and an aura of the same colour around Twilight and her friends, then everything went white...
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When my head stopped spinning, Celestia, Luna, Die, Lumos, Ven, Clare and I were in the gardens, with every Solar and Lunar guard who was fit for duty standing in front of us. They were all standing at attention.

Ok, either they were here all this time, or, well I don’t know what else, but whatever.

Lumos shot a look at Luna, who just smiled in understanding, and said “Alright then.” Muttering under her breath, “You big baby.” eliciting a silent chuckle from me. It was only then that I noticed the absence of Twilight and the rest of the gang.

“Um, where are Twilight and her friends? They were with us in the throne room, right?”

Celestia smiled warmly. “I teleported Twilight and her friends home while Luna was teleporting the guards and ourselves here. The events of the past few days really wore them out. Now, allow me to introduce you to the Solar and Lunar guards.”

She and Luna then proceeded to a podium, which I, once again, had failed to notice. She cleared her throat, and addressed the assembled guards.

“Greetings, Solar and Lunar guards. You have been called here today for an important announcement. As you all know, yesterday, Canterlot was attacked by changelings, and we almost fell to them. What you may not know, is that we were aided by a visitor from another world. Her name is Die,” She gestured to my sister, who walked over and stood beside her, rubbing the back of her head with her right hand. “And she is a human. She and her brother Noctis,” She now had me stand beside Luna. My mind started to wander to thoughts of this world, how I had found friends in Luna and Celestia, in Lumos, Ven and Clare, I think. I almost didn’t notice when Celestia called the five of us up to address them.

“Die, Noctis, Lumos, Ven, Clare, you may now address the guards.” She smirked as she added, “Just don’t make them soil themselves on the first day. My sister and I occasionally made glimpses into your lives after you obtained the orbs, so we’ve seen some of the things you’ve been through. As long as you don’t mention the darker moments, you should do fine.” With that, she left the five of us to either make an inspirational speech, or to make complete fools of ourselves.

Lumos looked over at us, and said "May I?" in a tone that just screamed ‘PRANK!’

Oh god, this is gonna go so wrong!

Against my better judgement, I let him go first.

“I am Lumos, I have quite a few titles on the world I'm from. The first is 'Terra,' which is just a shortened version of my real name, which I will never utter aloud. Second is the God of Neutrality. I also have the titles of 'Lance Daemon,' which is Latin for balance demon. My final title, is 'The First,' as I was the first of my kind to arrive on the last world I was on. I will be working with both Solar and Lunar guards, mostly because I have been trained by the Wind Reapers well enough that I could easily take out a good three towns without my powers, at least, that's what I was told, but know this, my training," A sadistic grin spread across his face. "Is one of the most brutal things you will ever go through, Ventus here has been through the same training system as me, so he knows what I'm talking about, In fact, I lost three of my mechanical hands in one session once." He chuckled. "Anyway, my specialty is stealth training, and whoever I decide does the best, of each group, gets a... reward of sorts: a weapon made by me, with the powers of darkness and light infused within. Due to the difference in numbers between solar and lunar guards, there will be 2 rewards for the lunar guard, and 8 for the solar, each will be based off of a different achievement, 'most improved' is not one of them, they will be based off of your skills by the end of the next two weeks, which I will be testing then. Any questions?"

A single Lunar Guard spoke up, "Yes, how will the training schedules work?"

"... I have no clue, you have to ask Die or Noctis on that one." He bent backwards at an unnatural angle, looking right at us, and asked "Would you like to answer that?"

I answered with a simple “Sure.” and took the podium.

“First off, what Lumos says is true. This training will be brutal. You’ll be cut, you’ll be battered, and you’ll be bruised.” I took a moment to gauge their reactions. Not one of them even flinched. “But by the end of this, you’ll be either masters of covert operations, or one pony armies. As for your schedules, when you’re not on duty, you’ll be training. That means Solar guards and those who want to specialise in head-on combat will train during the night, and Lunar guards and those who want to train to be masters of stealth will train during the day. Any questions? No? Alright then.” I turned to walk away, then made one more line. “And remember, just because you’re going to be exhausted after training will be no excuse not to do your job. If I hear that any of you are slacking off, you’ll be running laps until you puke. No flying for pegasi, and no teleporting for unicorns. Otherwise you’ll be put in combat practice against me and Die for the entirety of your training.” Some of them scoffed at this, but soon became terrified when I moved right behind them in less than a second. “Am I clear?” They nodded fervently, and I walked back to the podium, standing beside Luna again. She was trying not to laugh, but it was a losing battle. She settled for muffling them with a hoof. Die gave the closing statement.

“Alright, we’ve said what we have to say. If any of you are still skeptical of my brother’s, or my, skills, feel free to watch our sparring session in an hour. Just remember this,” She smirked maliciously. “You haven’t seen anything until you’ve seen a SOLDIER fight.” She walked off with a lazy salute, while I was facepalming.

Really Die? We just got back and we’re sparring already? Oh well, at least it’ll be good training for when I face Akumu.

She came back a few minutes later, smiling weakly. “Uh, which way to the training area?”

Luna and I both covered our mouths as we chuckled. Celestia offered to show her the way, and the two walked off. The guards dispersed towards the training hall, though a few remained behind to speak with us. I saw some of them walk over to Lumos, though I couldn’t hear what they were asking. I ignored it and left Lumos with the guards. Ven followed me, while Clare stayed with Lumos...