I looked over the guards around me, the only ones that didn't go to get to the training grounds as quickly as possible, but stayed for one reason or another. Eh, I might as well give them a test, make sure they truly understand my training.

I looked over the guards, and shouted "ATTENTION!" They all got back in line immediately, and I walked up to them. "Question: who here can tell me what 'Harmony' truly is?" A single guard raised his hoof, he was solar. "Yes?"

"Harmony is a balance in all things." I smiled at this

"Correct, harmony is balance, balance between dark and light, good and evil, order... and chaos." I grinned at the last part. "I represent that balance, hence my title being 'Demon of Neutrality.' Now, my training will revolve around balance of body and mind, which is another reason the lunar guards will be training in the day, stealth is harder then, because there are fewer shadows to hide in, and another reason the solar guards are training at night, is because its harder to see your targets when its dark. Now, I think I want to get a basic outlook at your physical abilities, you have no idea how helpful that is, to start, Clare will increase the gravity in the courtyard to 10 times gravity. This is my first time training under increased gravity as well. Clare?" She nodded, and both me and Clare in the courtyard was suddenly on one knee, while the Guards were all struggling to get out of a kneeling position of their own.

I then raised myself on a dark platform 5 feet off the ground, and said "Now, try to jump up here." The guards just scoffed, saying it was impossible, at least except for one, it was a maroon earth pony, Lunar guard, he had a white mane and tail. He began to look around, and then got up, and moved quickly ran up to the top of the podium, and jumped across to the dark platform. Upon seeing this, I turned to the other guards, and said "See? Balance between body and mind. Your must be able to scan your environment quickly, and find what can assist you in your goal." The guards, other than the one who got up, were dumbstruck, and seemingly excited by this, I turned toward the Earth pony, and asked "whats your name?"

"Flame heart, sir."

"You've so far the sharpest mind, congratulations." He smiled, and I could swear he was blushing underneath.

"Thank you, sir." A grin crossed my face, as I looked out at the rest of the guards.

"So, lets get started on the next test, huh?" They groaned in response, "Good!"
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After the hour of torturing training the guards, I managed to determine four things:

1) The Solar guard and Lunar guard members are of roughly equal levels when it comes to strength, but their mind levels are all over the place

2) Ten times the gravity of whatever planet Equestria is on isn’t as much as I thought it would be, its actually quite light.

3) While the mind levels are all over the place, the unicorns seem to have overall high rankings, and earth ponies, as a whole, are a close second, while the pegasi seem more focused on the physical part of the training.

4) My dark form has a better sense of humor

I stood up, and looked over the exhausted guards, “Ok, I’ve gotten a good gauge of the most often occurring strengths and weaknesses, now, Die and Noctis should be starting their fight momentarily, so how about a break?” They suddenly were excited, suddenly remembering what they were told. I then said, “Exactly where is the normal training grounds, anyway? By which I mean as the crow flies.”

One of the Solar Guard pointed in a direction, “that way, it’s the only other open area of the castle.” I almost face-palmed, how could I have forgotten that?

“Right, well, let’s get going! I don’t want to miss this! Clare, please make the gravity change back to normal.” Clare nodded, and restored the gravity of the gardens. I then took off, headed for the training grounds. I’ve seen Die fight Akumu with no mercy, but I know that she will probably subconsciously hold back in this fight. After all, it’s her brother, plus it’s a practice fight meant to inspire the guards to train.

The training grounds were exactly like the ones in “my” Equestria. Then again, other than one difference in the chamber of stained glass windows, the whole world has looked the same so far. I looked down, and then noticed something: my pants were mostly destroyed, they were torn, scorched, and blown up so many times, I’m surprised they are still in one piece… sort of. I summoned a set of metal armor as I landed, similar to chainmail, It instantly turned black, luckily, just like the swords I train with, it only changed color to match me, and got no powers, so it’s safe to touch. Speaking of the swords I train with, I created a sabre with a black hand-guard, and a white blade and grip, for how it looks, obviously. Clare touched down a few seconds later. The guards I was working with then arrived about a minute after that. Sweating profusely, at which I scoffed, and said “What? Can’t handle increased gravity during training? It may burn now, but you will most likely get used to it in a few days.” They rolled their eyes, and then went and mixed with the other guards.

I then looked around, spying a large sparring area, in which Die and Noctis were about to fight, I also saw Ven off to the side, he noticed us, and waved a little bit. In the fighting area, Noctis and Die seemed to be talking about something or other. Then, they walked to opposite ends of the grounds, and turned toward each other. drew their blades, and said something i could barely hear, starting with Noctis.

“As long as we live,” Die continued, “And as long as we bear the eyes of the sun and moon,” and they finished it as one, “We shall protect the innocent, as the SOLDIERs of Night and Day.” Then, as though on cue, Noctis charge forward.
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Threw the first attack, letting loose a Firaga attack straight away. Noctis easily dodged the three fireballs. Then, as Noctis swung his blade, a shield of pure light appeared around Die, knocking him away, and Die took full advantage of the recoil to launch a flurry of strikes to counter.

So... I was right, she can use light, as well as the fire from before... This is gonna be good! I thought, leaning against the wall, a mad glint in my eye.

Die's strikes weren’t very accurate, and the wounds looked shallow, but they were enough to force me back slightly. Die continued to press the attack, not letting up for a second, and Noctis kept moving backwards to avoid her continued onslaught. Each strike coming a little closer. Suddenly, Noctis moved back to the far edge quickly. When she saw he couldn’t fall back anymore, she rushed towards him with some sort of wheels of ice and flame, contrasting each other in a display that could be described as perfect balance. Just as she was about to strike, he disappeared into a dark passage, warping right behind her and quickly putting as much distance as he could between them. He then dropped to one knee for a few seconds, gasping. Small wisps of darkness began to flow around him.

My eyes widened at this display, That idiot! He probably cracked the seal! Again! It took so long to fix it too! I made a dissapointed face at this, and kept watching, but kept a bit of light ready just in case of Akumu breaking free again.

Die then started to run towards him, sheathing her blade. Luna was also rushing towards him, if I were closer I could have told you more, but I wasn't.

“NO!” Both Die and Luna almost stumbled, caught off guard by his shout.

The small wisps dissapeared, and he was covered in a green glow for a moment, before standing and falling into an battle stance. Die then did the same, drawing the blade once more, and they continued the bout.

Noctis started with another charge, only faster, and slammed his elbow into Die's gut. He then put a foot on her back, and jumped roughly twenty feet. I knew the gravity was weaker, but DAMN thats cool. He then shot three orbs of electricity at Die from one of his materia, right before which, she put up another light shield, stopping them all. Noctis then threw his sword at her as her shield dropped. She dodged enough that it barely tore a bit of her shirt, leaving her unwounded, and Noctis with no weapon. Die charged and struck at Noctis, but he just knocked her blade aside, grabbed her arm, and twisted around, knocking her front foot backwards with one leg and using the momentum to throw her over his shoulder. He then ran back and grabbed his blade just in time to block a strike that came out of nowhere. It wasn’t Die, she was only just getting back up. Someone had attacked the SOLDIER while he was sparring. I turned to see a cloaked figure disappear behind the wall on the other side of the grounds. Noctis then ran towards, and jumped over the wall giving chase, with me in quick pursuit, charging large amounts of light and dark as I flew after them. All the while, thinking 'This gonna be good!'
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... I was wrong, Why is he taking so long? Its so fucking boring!

I had decided not to get involved in Noctis chasing the figure, and only intervene if anything bad happens, or if Noctis loses him/her/it. That was ten minutes ago. In which time, Noctis ruined the spines of several ponies by running on their backs to keep from having to slow down when the figure went into a crowd (I stopped to heal them, thankfully). They also ran through alleyways, knocking over trash cans, and such.

You know what? FUCK. MY. DECISION. I'm intervening. I thought angrily, as I summoned hands of darkness to grab the mystery figure. Unfortunately, the first few missed, so I moved on to creating a wall of darkness, the figure, whatever it was, just ran up the wall and jumped over. I quickly dispelled it so that Noctis could get through, and landed right in front of the figure, with a ball of light in each hand. The being gave pause at my sudden arrival, giving Noctis the chance to jump it and remove its cloak, and what I saw nearly caused my eyeballes to pop out.

It was an elf. He wore a green shirt, with some sort of a brownish red scale-mail shoulder pad on his left shoulder, on his back he wore a great-sword, a quiver, and... how the fuck did he hide that bow in his cape?! Its taller than HIM! ...anyway, his shirt had no sleeves, and he wore dark brown finger-less leather gauntlets, he also had some leather armor of the same color around his waist, that went up to his lower chest. His pants were made of slightly thinner, but just as brown leather as the gloves, and wore boots of even thicker material. He also wore more of the brown-red armor on the outside of his left leg, and all of his clothes were ripped up... a lot. He was about as tall as Noctis (give or take 2 inches), had short hair, the color a cross between red and brown, his large eyes were as blue as the sky on a cloudless day (I am poet!). He also had thin eyebrows, a pointed jaw, and a hateful look covering his face. The most memorable thing, though, was his scar, on his neck, he carried the symbol of Phyrexia!

“Alright, I’m only gonna ask once,” Noctis said as he circled him, drawing Tsuki no me, and charging up his orb, pointing both at him, “Who, or what, are you, and why did you attack me?”

He glared at Noctis with a burning hatred known to me as racism, saying nothing, all the while reaching for his bow. Noctis sighed, and let off a small blast towards his feet. He just stared at him, dumbstruck.

“How?”

“Excuse me?”

“HOW!? How can a human wield magic!? It’s impossible” he spat.

He then came to stand beside me, while I stared, my mind almost blanking as i tried to understand how this was possible.

“So, suggestions?” he whispered. I coughed a bit to clear my throat.

"So, how was Mirrodin, last you were there? Or should I call it by its new name, 'New Phyrexia'?" The elf's eyes widened, then narrowed with hatred.

And bingo was his name-o! I thought, Isn't it just GREAT to be a nerd?

"How do you know about that?" He spat out. I sighed, and pointed at his mark.

"Your neck, you've been marked by them, haven't you?" I pulled off the top of my chainmail (To clearshot: I made it earlier this chapter), pointed at my chest, and added, "You're not the only one. I didn't even know what I was fighting until I was marked, stabbed right through the chest, thank god for light magic. Now, if you would kindly NOT attack my good friend here, I would be happy to explain." I looked at Noctis, and said, "I'll explain it to you as well, as you don't seem to have ever seen an elf before." I turned back to the elf, "Do we have a deal? My explination will include how I know of the Phyrexian invasion of Mirrodin, as well as how the human can use magic." That part was probably the seal on it I just hope you react as well as Die did to similar news about her own world... I added silently to myself. I watched over to where his bow landed, and picked it up, instantly feeling the enchantment in it. It was a far-sight enchantment, with a steady hand, this would give perfect aim.... It's damn impressive.

Noctis sheathed his weapons, and dissipated the built up energy in his orb.

“So, introductions. I’m Noctis, this is Lumos. You are...”

“Erahaor Bonegleam. And I’m not interested in speaking to you, only to the marked one.” I nodded to him.

"Very well, Erahaor, now, to start my explanation, how I know of Mirrodin:" I created a ball of light, which I played with until it looked like this, and began.

"On my home world, there is a card game, known as magic the gathering, in which you collect cards to create decks of 60 of them, these cards are split into many types and subtypes, as well as what we call 'sets,' the invasion of your world was a full 3 sets of cards." My tone grew serious, and my expression hardened "This is the part I regret to inform you of, your world, has been corrupted beyond recovery, one of the cards, is this one," I said, slowly turning the card, to show its other side, "This is what has happened to the very core, of your world. I know this is a lot to take in, but there is more," Erahaor looked at me with sad eyes, ones I never expected on him, "There is still a group of pure people of Mirrodin, they are few, but when the sets of the Mirran/Phyrexian war were over, they still lived. They probably won't live much longer, though, you're lucky though, you escaped with only a curse mark, and the only Phyrexian for miles here has been turn to stone." Erahaor just stared at me, not sure if I was saying any of this as bad news, or as a pep-talk. In reality, its both. "He was the one to give me this guy, and with it came my wings, and a large amount of power, since I... absorbed him a bit."

"Next subject, why Noctis can use magic, in a sense of the word," I turned to him when I said his name, "Do you mind if i borrow a materia, to explain. Elves have a... connection with magic, so to speak, it's really hard to explain."

He just sighed and shook his head. “Sorry Lumos, I can’t let you use them,” he let a small smile slide across his face. “I can, however, give a small demonstration and explanation, if you’re interested.”

I shrugged sadly, and said,"It wouldn't help, I could explain them decently, and he's already seen what one can, I was hoping you could only let him touch it, even lightly, most beings with ties to magic can recognise an enchantment, but if we can't use them as an example, prehaps I could try an idea I've been forming since i saw them in battle when Akumu broke free," I turned to Erahaor, "Give me a moment,"

I first pictured two metal orbs, these appeared nearly instantly, landing next to my knees. I breathed in heavily, and said "now for the hard part" and began to create a ball of pure chaos, barely around the tip of my finger, i also created a somewhat larger ball of light, and tried to place them both into a single orb. The orb let out a large magical aura, before dying down, it still shone a pure white, and had a circle embed upon it. I looked at Noctis, and said, "Can you keep Akumu under control if i use a large amount of darkness for this one?"

I shook my head. “No, but in about a week it won’t matter.”

I felt my eyebrows rise of their own accord, but I decided not to press the matter, and began the process for the darkness, which caused my left arm's skit to turn black from the darkness, and I made the infusion, creating a ebony orb along with the white one, in it, was another circle. I tossed the white one to Noctis, and asked "Does this seem like an accurate copy?"

Noctis focused on the orb for several seconds before looking up.

“As far as I can tell, it’s a perfect copy. And I know you’re itching to ask, ‘what did I mean by it won’t matter in a week.’ I can see it in your eyes. So go ahead. Ask. I won’t lie. Honestly, lying about it will just put others in danger.” He then whispered the last part, though it was more of a stage whisper, “Including Luna.” Erahaor looked to me for what he meant, I just shrugged and gave him a look that said 'long story, don't ask' before turning back to Noctis.

I stroked my chin, "Lets see, from what you said after I drained your darkness, and the wisps of it I saw earlier, it probably has something to do with what you said about fighting Akumu in the sealed zone, right? Speaking of which, i need to examine the seal later, I think you may have broke it."

I just smiled. "It's not broken, but in a week, it will be, whether or not you fix it. At that point, instead of just taking over, he's gonna make a game of it. He'll challenge me for control, and if he wins, he'll let my consciousness exist just long enough to let me see him kill the one I care about most. And I'm guessing you know who I'm talking about." I stared at him for a few seconds, then Erahaor spoke up.

"Um, excuse me humans, but I don't appreciate being left out of the conversation like this. Who is this Akumu?" I rolled my eyes.

"Two things: one, I'm not human, at least, not anymore, now I'm more of a strange cross between an angel and daemon. Second, Akumu is a being of darkness that resides within Noctis' mind. He is stronger, than the Phyrexian, who ran a blade of pure energy through me. I have fought him, alongside Noctis' sister, Die, and a couple other humans." Era was now eying Noctis suspiciously, and I then added "I removed all darkness from him, and strengthened the barriar between the two personalities"

"Anyway, on with my demonstration." I picked up the dark orb, and tossed it in the air, it was about one and a half times the size of my closed fist. I aimed the orb strait up, and muttered, "Umbra Blaster," and a huge black beam shot out of it. I nodded in satisfaction, and put it down. I then said "These orbs are known as Materia, they are a condensed form of magic, where Noctis is from, it's made using the life force of the planet itself, I, however, simply infused my own brand of chaos into it with some of my own power. Apparently, the combination worked well, as it at least works, these orbs could hold many different powers, but only one general spell per orb, with the occasional exception, examples of basic ones are fire, thunder, Ice, and wind materia, as well as healing ones. There are also--"

"Non-elemental offensive, defensive, support, command and summoning materia. The only ones that don't fall under any one category are the Lunar and Solar orbs, since they're not really materia. They're also the reason your assassination attempt wouldn't have worked even if you had hit me. They made Die and I immortal." Noctis waited to see how I'd react. I shrugged. Anger hiding, like a boss!

"It's as he says. Now, any questions?" Era looked deep in thought for a moment, before responding.

"So, they are just rocks that hold magic?"

"Exactly, though I prefer Infusing weapons and items for specific uses personally, like... like this." I said, pulling out the fire blade I created upon arrival from that magical pocket all characters have. "This blade I haven't named yet, but it is enchanted with fire, so I can do, say... This." I pointed the blade up, and a small whirlwind of fire came out the top. Neither expected this, and to summerize, I think their jaws were almost dislocated.

"Interesting. You ever used it to perform the Fire Cross?" Noctis asked me.

I responded with my own question, "... The what?"

Era jumped at a new voice appearing behind him (so did I, but I don't think anyone saw it). I don't think anyone expected the princess of the sun to show up. "It's a unique fire wielder's technique. The user slashes vertically, leaving a vertical trail of flame and then across at the center of the vertical slash, leaving another trail of flame. Then, the two trails combine into a cross of pure flame, and the user propels the cross with energy. How far it can go before the flames disperse depends on how much energy you put into it. The more energy, the further they go."

I turned toward Princess Celestia, surprise probably obvious on my face, "Hello princess, when did you get here?"

She chuckled. "I've been here for a while, you just weren't paying attention. Also, Noctis," She turned to face him, and her expression was stern. "You do realise that both Luna and Die are going to have a talk with you regarding this, don't you?"

Noctis began visibly shaking "I am so dead..."

Era gave him a confused look. "I thought you said you were immortal?"

"Yeah, except I'm dead in the sense that Die's 'talks' always result in grievous bodily harm, so pray that she never wants to 'talk' to either of you. The princesses are exempt, not because they're royalty, but because Die doesn't 'talk', to girls."

I chuckled a little, "Well, good luck, my friend." I then put back on my chain-mail shirt, and picked up my new dark and light materia. I turned back to the princess and asked, "Is there anything else, princess?" FORMALITIES ARE WIN!

She let her stern expression fade, and exchanged it for a motherly smile. "Actually, I was wondering if I could ask you more about the Equestria you came from. If I know more about it, it may help get you home sooner. Remember, nothing is insignificant."

Noctis sighed. "Well, if you guys need me, I'm gonna get my scolding over with. I'd like to hear a little more about your Equestria myself. Oh, and Lumos?"

"Yes?" I asked, turning to face the warrior of the night.

Noctis smirked. "If I can't beat Akumu, do me a favour, and look out for Die for me. In case you hadn't noticed, she and Ven are crushing on each other, so be sure to try and create some awkward situations for them. Try and put them in a situation where they have to admit they like each other."

I laughed, "I was already planning on it." I turned back to the princess, "I will gladly tell you about 'my' world, but I'd rather talk back in the palace, where less would overhear it." Yeah, I like to play matchmaker, what of it? Trust me, awkward situations are what I'm best at.

Celestia nodded, her smile never faltering. "Agreed. So, let's get to it, shall we?"

Noctis, Erahaor, Celestia, and I began walking back to the castle. Celestia had cast a portable soundproof spell around us so they could listen to my descriptions of the Equestria I came from and the adventures I'd been on since my arrival there without any risk of eavesdroppers hearing us. I just gotten past being impaled by Discord, who I had managed to work out was a Phyrexian through CAREFUL DEDUCTION OF OPTIONS, when we arrived at the castle. Noctis had to leave at that point for his 'talks' with Die and Luna, but I continued to explain to Erahaor and Celestia after he left. You should have seen the look on Celestia's face when she found out I absorbed Discord! After my explinations were done, I asked Celestia to inform Noctis of what he missed. She then told me where my room was, which was greeted with a thank you... or seven... Anyway, I then headed off to my bed, where my last thought was "This day has been fucked up in so many damn ways."
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AN: seems the crossover is helping with my word count, at least. Also, Italics without any quotation is thoughts of Lumos
Flame Heart and Erahaor Bonegleam are Ocs created by me on the spot, hooray for being good at nothing of any importance!
Also, a Quick shout out to the following:
Skywing the Mutant: Thanks for helping me throughout book 1, and giving advice. Also, if you ARE reading this, sorry for not keeping in touch!

Phantom Thorns: Thanks for the name ideas! If it weren't for you, this section would probably have a worse name. :P

Clearshot01: Thanks for essentially doing what Skywing did, just in book 2 instead, and also for being a generally awesome guy (at least i THINK you're a guy o.0)