Six months. It's been six months since John left Gilda and the others to train in Void. Things haven’t been easy. It was at first with training and preparing, but with Tirek, Discord, and the heartless/unversed things have been bad now and then. Now and then a patrol will turn up dead while outside the towns barrier. Some dead from being overwhelmed by the creatures that haunt this world because of Core, and the others found dead with all of their magic drained and then killed. Tirek is growing stronger by the day. From the small instances the princesses can sense him he is stronger than he was in the past and continues to grow.
Although the thing that makes Gilda both mad and happy is one thing both she and Rose got from John. They were both pregnant with his kids. She was happy to be a mother, but since she is about five to six months pregnant she and Roseluck have been banned from training to keep from harming the kids they are carrying. They found out what the genders were a week ago, Gilda was carrying a boy and Rose has a girl. Even though they cant train they do what they can. From Gilda managing the training for the recruits to Roseluck working at the shelter in town to help feed the villagers. Town is now made up off different races from ponies to dragons.
The others are doing ok as well. A few months ago Vanitas went to check out the orb the patrol found that one time. It was called an Absent Silhouette, and it was Zeke’s. He fought him with everything he had and even with some new stuff he gained while there, but it wasn’t enough. After telling us what it was like we all came to two things. 1, The A.S. will be a milestone for us to measure our growth. Zeke is powerful so if we can manage to beat it it will show how far we have come. And 2, all of us knew without a doubt that John will be able to beat it in one try. John was stronger than all of us before. He will be much stronger when he gets back.
Rose and Gilda just wish he would be able to make it to their children's birth, but knew he wouldn’t be able to. He doesn’t even know both she and Rose are even pregnant and he is stuck in his training with Hollow. They doubt he will be done anytime soon. Which means he won’t be there for their birth, which both saddens(which you won’t hear from Gilda if you value you health) and angers her. The father should be there when they are born, but they understand that this is something he needs to do. He has to complete this training to protect not just them and this world, but his kids that he doesn’t know of as well.
Gilda sighed as she walked the town with two guards following her. Since she and Roseluck are carrying the “Blade of Equestria's” kids they have guards following them while they aren’t battle ready to protect them from anything that might target them. Even though she can still claw off the face of anything stupid enough to try. She was heading to the spa the town has. The twin ponies that ran the old Ponyville spa survived and now have a new shop in town. Roseluck had talked Gilda into coming here to relax and ease the burden that comes with child carrying. She said she was fine but Rose wasn’t having it and told her either go willing, or she will drag her by her tail here is she must. Gilda does not like it when someone messes with her tail(that and she really didn’t like the creepy look in Rose’s eye, but you didn’t hear that from her). Gilda decided to go anyway. Who knows it might take some of her stress off.
Twilight was in the Castle Archives again organizing them. She does this most of the time nowadays. It keeps her busy, and to make sure everything is going smoothly. Some errors were found now and then which she quickly corrected. When a fraud was found Twilight would find the source as fast as possible and an arrest was made. Some people think she isn’t smart enough to notice such things. Twilight made sure things like the info and currency of the town and its traders were stable and true. She really loves this job.
When she has free time, which is rare because of her schedule she made for herself, she practices her magic and keyblade skills. Her keyblade Three Wishes was a magic type keyblade which she was glad for. While she learned to use magic without her horn her keyblade helped amplify them. She practiced her magic both in its power and control. Like John and Princess Celestia told her “What good is having lots of magic power if you can’t control it.” She has also been making her own fighting style that involves her teleportation spell and her keyblade techniques. Even the princesses are having a tough time keeping up with her. Though Vanitas keeps beating her in their spars. His new Reaction Commands are annoying to deal with. She hasn’t even seen this new spell he learned and it frustrates her.
She also has been training her...Assassin skills. She, Gilda, Roseluck, and Luna joined Blade’s group of Assassin and were given more training then the others. Before he left they were trained vigorously in stealth, parkour, infiltration, and assassination. Before Gilda and Rose stopped training do to their pregnancy they were at the top followed by Luna then herself. Luna took it better than her because of her duty as Princess of the Night. She could blend in with shadow easier than the other but Gilda and Rose trained much harder than them. Twilight wasn’t use to it at first and made many mistakes, normally do to her overthinking how to stealth and/or infiltrate. John told her to not do that. Because with their line of work not everything will go according to plan. A good assassin improvises on the mission and does whatever it takes to complete it. They weren’t given Void marks to use because John was sure they weren’t ready for them. Hopefully when he returns he will see that they are more than ready.
Twilight got down with what she was currently doing and got up to stretch. She decided to walk around the castle for a bit to make absolutely sure she has the entire place memorized. As she trotted around the castle she thought about things. Like….her friends. Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Spike. It's been a while since the day they died. She missed them everyday. Applejack, Apple Bloom, Sweetie belle, and Scootaloo miss them as well. They all wish the others had survived as well. Thinking about spike made her realize some things. Spike was more than an assistant. He was her son. She raised him since she hatched him. She also realized that sometimes she ended up treating him like an assistant more than what he actually was. In fact...she never even told him what she actually thought of him. Now she never will. Twilight stopped for a bit to wipe some tears that were starting to form. She continued onward. She failed Spike and the others. She won’t fail those still here. She’ll get stronger to protect them.
Celestia and Luna looked at the town from the top of their old castle. Which now is John’s castle. They saw the ponies and other species interact with each other. Most of the time they saw kindness. Each race helping each other to prosper and keep eachother safe. Though now and then they’ll see someone be the exact opposite. Yelling at others for petty reasons, blaming a different race for what happened, or other insticess of hate that festered from someone. The guards made sure nothing to serious happened, but it still worried them. John advised them to watch their citizens closely and not to just trust guards to report everything. When John was here he sent Doppelganger in secret to watch for anything suspicious. He watched his town no matter what was going on.
Compared to them they haven’t really done a good job before he appeared in their world. They realized they have gotten soft over the long years. Some of the punishments they dealt to criminals should have been harsher than what they got. They are glad John came to their world. While he tried to keep the death count low he killed those who even they would agree that were beyond safing. Although they wish he didn’t use such brutal methods like being eaten alive by swarms of rats. He himself admits to hating that ability.
Luna was adjusting well to her new limbs. She is able to run faster than before thanks to them. Luna joined as one of John’s assassins and is one of his best. Her powers of the night make it childs play to blend into the dark and sneak. She is amazed that those other two are higher than her in the ranks of the Assassin’s group. Although thats because they have both been at this longer and have trained really hard. Well they did till their pregnancy stopped them. On her time off she spends time with her sister. Who also has time off at the same time as her. Both are glad to be here. Even if they wished more had survived.
Luna’s dream activities have been busy as well. These Dream Eaters are very active here. Which isn’t a surprise given all that's happened. One of the things that warms her heart is that sometimes while she is attending a foal or filly's nightmare to help a dream version of John would appear and defend them with ferocity and versatility. The Dream Eaters never stood a chance.
Celestia looked towards her sister and gave a small smile. Luna was working hard to keep everyone safe at night. She herself was busy during the day. Day court was different than what it was. She is now stricter with her sentences for the accused. Thankfully she hasn't come across a case that requires execution, but according to John it's a matter of time for someone to do something horrible enough to deserve it.
Her own training has been going well as the others. Neo Light Seeker is a strong Keyblade. Her spell uses are strong and controlled. She is currently the strongest magic user in the town. Followed by her old student Twilight and her sister Luna. Although like the others she still losses to Vanitas. He is more well rounded of his basics than the others and is strong, and that was before he left to fight the Silhouette.
Luna looked at her and smiled back. They both looked back at the town watch citizens mingle.
Gilda and Roseluck were on their way back to the castle from the spa. Gilda had to admit. It was relaxing. A lot of stress she has been building up from everything lately was gone. which they were both glad about. Stress isn't good for babies. As they went back they looked over the town. Noticing how the others acted towards each other. Most were behaving. Being nice to the other races and helping where they can. Roseluck smiled at this. Glad things were starting to look up. Gilda than frowned when she noticed the rest of the races.
They weren't getting along. Most blamed the others for what happened. Why they thought that she'll never know. Probably because their stupid and needed to blame something. If it weren't for her pregnancy and the guards that were moving in when some started to get violent she would have handled herself.
“Don't worry Gilda.” Gilda was a little surprised at the sudden words and looked at Roseluck who was smiling at her. “Things might look bad in some areas, but things will get better. We have to make it better. Don't want John to come home to a civil war now do we?”
Gilda let loose a little chuckle before she gave a playful hit to Rose’s shoulder. “Whatever RL. Let's head back. Getting cravings again.” Rose giggles at that.
They continued on back to the castle. Vowing to keep their home safe.