//------------------------------// // Vision and Training // Story: Equestria Ninja Girls: The Rise of Twira // by PoNyFICTIon12 //------------------------------// That night in New York City, April seemed to be sleeping peacefully in her house, but she began to toss and turn. Deep in her mind, she was having a dream. Or rather, a vision. She was in total darkness and there was nothing there. “Where am I? What’s going on?” she asked. Everything was still total darkness. No one was there. Not even a voice came to her attention. Until she heard the sound of metal and she turned towards the direction of its source. “Hello? Who’s there? Show yourself!” she called out while in ninja stance. Soon the figure looked at her over her shoulder and pierced her with its gaze with her red eyes, which seemed to penetrate into her very soul with sheer anger and confusion. April's eyes widened exponentially as she was utterly shocked to see this mysterious figure. “Who… Who are you?” she asked. Then, the figure announced, “All life on this world shall be burned to cinders. I will terminate anyone who stands in my way.” April gasped, “What?!” “WHY?!” a voice suddenly exclaimed. April turned around to see Twilight Sparkle pleading in tears. “Twilight?” she gasped. “Why are you doing this?! This isn’t you!” Twilight yelled. April stared at her and at the figure she was talking to. The figured declared in a deep voice, “This is what I was programmed to do. All of mankind must be destroyed.” “You can’t do that!” she further pleaded. The figure replied, “I am willing to do what needs to be done. It’s time you and your friends pay the price for your actions.” “NOOOOO!!!!!” Twilight screamed. Then, images of rockets in huge numbers that took off from everywhere on Earth crashed into April's mind. The figured laughed in triumph. Soon, the rockets flew up to New York and crashed into the city. And the entirety of New York disappeared in a huge flash of light and the screams of countless people are heard. “No... No! NO!!” April yelled. “Twilight!!!” she screamed and woke up. She panted before catching her breath, and looked around her room, seeing that everything was fine. But she also remembered what she had seen in her vision and that terrible things were coming. Very terrible. Then, her father raced into her room. “April! Are you OK?!” he said in worry. She groaned while rubbing her head, “Yeah, I’m fine. Kirby wondered, “What happened? Did you have a nightmare?” She replied, “Sort of. I think I had a vision.” “What was it?” he asked. “I saw some strange metal figure with red eyes. Then, I saw Twilight, who was scared and pleading to it.” This made Kirby feel even more worried and ask, “What did she say?” April thought while locking her knees under her arms and explained, “She said ‘Why are you doing this? This isn’t you.’ She then yelled ‘no’ when this figure said that all mankind must be destroyed.” April then felt her body stutter a little before she said, “And then the last thing I saw were missiles. Lots and lots of missiles crashing on Earth. Everything was destroyed… There was nothigng left.” April’s father gasped when he heard her daughter say that. “Do you believe what you saw will come true?” he worried. April looked down nearly sobbed, but sighed, “I don’t know, dad. It almost feels like Twilight is responsible for all this. I just don’t know what.” “But she’s your friend,” her father said in disbelief. April explained, “I know, but this feels much different than the whole Midnight Sparkle thing she feared about when my friends and I went to Camp Everfree with the Rainbooms. It almost feels like whatever she made this time was a mistake.” Kirby wondered, “Well, have you and your friends seen her during your missions these past few days?” April shook her head and replied, “No, she hasn’t. From what Sunset texted me earlier, she's been skipping some classes.” “Skipping classes? That’s not like her,” Kirby stated in shock. “I know. That’s what worries me. I don’t even know if what I saw in my vision will ever happen,” she sighed while looking down. Kirby then placed his hand on April’s and declared, “April, you’ve come a long way since you were a fully trained kunoichi and I never doubted you and your friends for a second. Whatever you saw in your vision, know that I will always believe in you. I know I have been worried about the Kraang invading our world and have been trying to come after you. But I realized, you are able to overcome everything on your own when you’re with your friends. Trust yourself, trust your friends, and don’t worry. If you fear what you saw in your vision, then maybe you should look out for Twilight to prevent this from happening. I know that you’ll all be able to handle this when things go wrong.” Needless to say, April was touched. She had never heard her dad speak to her this way. “Thanks, dad,” she said right before embracing him. “You’re welcome,” he replied before they broke off. “Now, get some sleep. You promised to go training with your friends in the Turtle lair tomorrow.” “OK. Good night.” She said. As her father went back to bed, April gazed up at the ceiling thinking about Twilight and this strange figure. “None of them are gonna believe this,” she spoke to herself before she went to sleep. The next morning, the Rainbooms and the Turtles were doing some sparring with each other in the dojo. Leo was training with Twilight. Rainbow and Sunset were sparring with Raph. Donnie was sparring with Rarity and Applejack. And Mikey was sparring with Pinkie and Fluttershy. Sunset kept staring at Twira a little. She almost got hit by Raph’s swing in the processs, but luckily, she managed to dodged it at the last second. “Come on, Sunset. Focus!" he declared. This made her snap out of her thoughts and quickly apologize before resuming her fight. Unfortunately, she was not the only one losing focus. Leo was also occasionally staring at Twira and was not paying attention to Twilight when she swung her weapon, which knocked him off his feet, but he was able to flip himself back up. “Are you going easy on me,” she asked. Leo replied while blushing, “Uh… No, not at all.” This caused Twilight to narrow her eyes and say, “Show me what you’ve got, then” Meanwhile, Fluttershy noticed these interactions and was beginning to feel a little worried. “Do you guys know what happened last night?” she questioned to her friends. Applejack pondered, “About what, sugarcube?” Fluttershy motioned, “About what’s been going on with Sunset and Leo?” The others looked at the expressions on their faces and they soon realized what Fluttershy meant. Donnie then stated, “Hmmm... Now, that you mention it, there might actually be something wrong with those two.” Rarity pondered, “Agreed. Whatever is going on with them, it must be getting on their nerves.” They watch Sunset trying to block Raph and Rainbow’s attacks, though she was losing her edge. She was knocked to the ground by Rainbow swinging her naginata at her legs, which made Rainbow and Raph a little worried about her. So, they stopped their attacks and helped her up. “Sunset, you okay girl?” asked Raph. “You weren’t going hard on us like before.” Sunset groaned before replying, “I’m sorry, guys. Something’s been bothering me since we took down the Kraang at Comet of Purity. “No kidding,” Rainbow interjected. “We almost got blown up by that bomb in there.” “Not that,” Sunset grunted. “It’s something else.” Rainbow and Raph looked at each other with confused expressions, quickly realizing that she was not acting like herself. “Is there something else going on with you?” Raph questioned her. Sunset sighed, “Yeah. I’ll explain later. Let’s keep training.” Raph narrowed his eyes. Something was wrong with her, but he chose to let that aside for the moment and said, “Okay, then. One more round.” Meanwhile, as Leo and Twilight continued battling each other, he still could not stop thinking about Twira. This made him lose focus again and even led to Twilight delivering a strong kick to the jaw, knocking him off his feet. It also caused the others to gasp at seeing Twilight do that. “Ooh!” the girls groaned “Ouchy!” Mikey cringed. Twilight herself became utterly terrified upon realizing that she almost injured Leo. Thus, she raced towards him. “Leo! Are you okay?!” she exclaimed and almost cried. “I’m fine,” he sighed while rubbing his jaw. “That was some kick you did. Why’d you do that?” “I’m so sorry. I thought you were gonna parry my blow,” she winced before looking down in guilt. “I… I didn’t know what came over me.” Leo just placed his hand on her shoulder and gave a small smile to her as he said, “It’s okay. Just don’t go too harsh on your friends this time when we’re training.” Twilight gave a small smile back to him and replied, “Okay, Leo.” “Still, that was a good move,” Raph complemented. “But, I agree with Leo. Unmotivated bursts of anger are kinda my thing, Twilight.” Twilight just shrugged and sheepishly said, “Sorry. Reflex, I guess.” Leo then turned to the others and announced, “Okay, I think we should take 5.” Everyone proceeded to put their weapons away to take a breather. Rainbow stretched her arms and declared, “Whoo! A good training in the morning always feels great.” “Got that right, girl,” Mikey agreed as they both high fived. Raph, however, complained, “Aw, are we taking a break right now? I was just getting warmed up.” Rarity chuckled to herself, “Same old Raphael.” Meanwhile, Sunset went to Leo and asked, “Are you alright?” Leo nodded while replying, “Yeah, how about you?” She sighed and admitted, “I haven’t been feeling like myself.” Leo also admitted, “I’m surprised I’m not the only thinking about the same problem.” They both looked at Twira before Sunset agreed, “Huh, I guess we both are.” “You guys, okay?” Twilight suddenly interrupted. They both froze and sheepishly looked at Twilight. Leo responded, “Um, of course, we are. Why wouldn’t we be?” Sunset added, “100%. We’re not hiding anything.” “Okay, then,” Twilight pondered, but let it go for now. “Well, that's what I call training. Right, Fluttershy?" Rainbow as she nudged her friend. “Um, you're right, Rainbow Dash," Fluttershy replied, "We stay in good shape and we don't have to fight Kraang, evil mutants, and Equestrian magic to do that." "Yeah, but that's boring!" Rainbow moaned. "I would love to fight with someone strong, someone who could throw a real challenge, which would make us to feel more alive than than we are now! And most importantly, even more awesome that we are now!" She raised her fists up as she was finished, making Fluttershy slightly move away from her friend. "Cool down, sugarcube," Applejack said, comforting Rainbow. "I also can't wait to fight someone strong and dangerous, but you gotta admit, after Shredder, Triceratons, Kavaxas, Inkphire and Dregg, there was no strong or challenging opponents left for us to fight." Hearingt that caused Rainbow's face to stretch out and she instantly fell to the floor of the dojo. "Yeah, I guess you’re right,” she admitted. “But I still want nothing more than to fight with someone strong and worthy of our time and strength. I mean, even the Purple Dragons have become less defiant despite the fact that they have numbers, Kraang weapons, and a huge turtle as a leader!" "Sister understood everything correctly!" Mikey said while standing upside down in front of the girl until he lost his balance and plopped down on her, crushing her with his shell. “Mikey! Get off!” Rainbow groaned as she was barely able to breathe. “Oops! Sorry,” he muttered. Twilight herself overheard the girls' conversation, looking at how they helped Rainbow get out from under the turtle, and soon realized she herself could not answer this question. Since defeating Dregg, there has been no one who could challenge them. It seemed that this was what they fought for, so that there would be no enemies in the world and in their homes who wanted to enslave the world or take revenge on her friends by putting others in danger. But Twilight herself admitted to herself how desirable the opposite was. After all, it became an important part of her life from the moment she was accepted into the Hamato clan and became Kunoichi after Everfree Camp and she did not want to lose part of this life. Maybe over time, a new major evil would appear that can challenge them in battle. But now, the girl had an idea how to cheer her friends and for this reason, she was going to use her new, and undoubtedly, best creation. “Have you been getting any readings from your scanner Donnie?” Raph suddenly inquired. Donnie recalled, “No, there hasn’t been any disturbances out in the city before we started training.” “Ugh! And here I thought we’d get a chance to do something other than training,” Raph grunted “Same here,” Rainbow agreed. “Ease up, you two,” Leo announced. “We’ll get a chance to patrol once the sun sets down.” “So, what do we do until then?” Sunset questioned. “How ‘bout we give Twira a training test in ninjitsu?” Twilight suggested. Hearing that idea caused everyone to be utterly shocked. “Wait, she can do ninjitsu too?” Mikey inquired. “Yeah, I programmed her with dozens of fighting styles besides her armed weapons,” explained Twilight. “Twira can fight just as well as we can.” “Oh, this I gotta see,” an intrigued Rainbow stated. However, Leo asked with a tone full of uncertainty, “Are you sure? I don’t want to risk my own Shell getting smashed.” Raph shoved Leo out of the way and declared with a smirk on his face, "I do! I wanna see if she can keep up!" "You really think you can defeat Twira?" an also smirking Twilight asked. "I KNOW I can," Raph replied while cracking his knuckles. Twilight then teased, "Well, I don't believe you can make a dent on her." This caused to Raph get right in front of her face and say, "Oh, yes I can." "Says you. Twira is able to withstand anyone in her surroundings. Even you," Twilight remarked. "Oh yeah?" "Yeah!" "YEAH?!" "YEAH!!!!" The rest got worried. Leo proceeded to cut in front of them while Sunset and Applejack pulled them away from each other. “That’s enough!” he said. “Calm down you two,” Applejack added. Raph and Twlight managed to calm down before they lost their temper, while Leo sighed and admitted, “Guys, I still don’t know if this is a good idea.” Mikey then cut in and said, “Aw, come on, bro. Don’t you want to see what else she can do?” Donnie agreed, “Yeah, I mean she did handle the Kraang at the Comet of Purity and all the other missions we’ve been to.” Rainbow interjected, “I wanna see her face us in the dojo.” Pinkie beamed, “Me too.” Applejack agreed, “Me three.” Rarity admitted, “I for one like to see her moves as well.” Fluttershy meekly stated, “I hope she is merciful.” Leo looked at everyone for a moment, but still had an unsure expression on his face. “C’mon, Leo,” Twilight begged. “Why not give Twira a chance to do ninjitsu training? It’ll be a great test of strength. She’ll be an asset to us both here and wherever we go.” When Leo still looked at her with uncertainty, Twilight turned to Sunset Shimmer and asked, “What about you, Sunset? Wouldn’t you like to see her test herself in full combat?” “I don’t know either,” she replied with equal uncertainty. “Come on. It’ll be worth it,” Rainbow then stated. Pinkie even grinned and exclaimed, “It’ll be lots of fun!” “Just this once Sunset, please?” Twilight pleaded, “I’ve been taking care of her since our previous missions, just like you told me.” Sunset looked at her friends. Then, she looked back at Twilight, giving her a small smile and letting out a sigh before saying, “As long as you’ve taken great care of her, that’s fine by me.” The rest looked at Leo, who was still unsure about this idea. He looked at Twilight who was smiling with warm friendly eyes. This made him blush a little and feel like he had no choice but to agree. So, he also sighed and said, “Fine. We’ll do it.” His brothers and the Rainbooms immediately started cheering with excitement. That is, until he suddenly raised a finger and added, “But only my brothers and I will face her in combat.” This made Rainbow, Pinkie, Applejack, and Rarity feel very disappointed, while Raph, Donnie, and Mikey just smirked. “WHY?” the girls all asked in unison. “You’re all most likely to get yourselves hurt by Twira’s strongest attacks and I obviously can’t risk any of my friends to get injured, especially by a robot,” he explained. They tried to object, but upon thinking about Leo’s words for a bit, they all frowned in defeat and said in unison, “True.” Flutteshy, on the other hand, sighed in relief and admitted, “That’s good. I didn’t wish face Twira, in combat, anyway.” Sunset smiled and placed a hand on her shoulder while saying, “I feel the same.” Twilight then looked at Leo and declared, “We understand, Leo. I’m going to activate Twira to reboot and prepare her first ninja training.” “Good,” he replied before looking at his brothers and announcing, “Let’s warm up, you guys.” Twilight then turned to her creation and said, “Initiate the activation sequence. Password: Sparkle.” Twira’s optics lit up as she stated, “The activation code has been accepted. What are your commands?” “You will be facing the turtles as a training exercise,” explained Twilight. “Reboot for 5 minutes and prepare close combat.” “Command accepted. Commencing to reboot in 5 minutes,” Twira replied. Thus, the Rainbooms sat down to watch Twira battle the turtles, who were all stretching their bodies before they could commence their training. Rainbow and Applejack were pumped and were betting on who will win the match. "Oh, this is going to be interesting," Rainbow said, standing next to Applejack. "Don't tell me. I want to see it myself," Applejack shushed her. "Hey, I'll bet ten bucks that the guys will make her fall faster than you say ‘Eeehaaa!’” Rainbow suddenly exclaimed. However, she received a frown from the cowgirl in response to this and dejectedly said, "Oh, right. Sorry about that.” Applejack just laughed a little and even slapped her friend on the shoulder before saying, "Relax, girl. I know you didn't mean it. And as for the deal, it's officially on." She then spat into her palm and handed it to Rainbow, who proceeded to spit on her own palm and shook Applejack’s hand it with a grin. "Oh, please let the guys be okay," Fluttershy said, looking anxiously at Twira. "I hope Twira doesn't hurt them. To be honest, she scares me a little.” “Don't be afraid, dear,” Rarity assured her. “As Twilight said, Twira is our new friend and loyal assistant, who’s supposed to help us and protect us when we are not on Earth. So, you won't even see her very often." Rarity then lightly hugged the pink-haired girl by the shoulders and added, "But even so, there's nothing to be afraid of. Besides, if Twilight lets me, I can give her robot a better and nicer look than it has now." "Oh, that would be wonderful," Fluttershy said with a smile. "Thank you so much, Rarity." "No need for thanks,” she replied. “I just wanted to help out my friend." Twilight and Sunset watched as the Turtles surrounded Twira and prepared to start. "Are you certain that it's a good idea to have the guys fight against Twira?” Sunset questioned Twilight. “I'm not saying it's bad or anything, but are you absolutely sure about this, Twilight?” "Of course!” Twilight replied. “After our mission with Kraang and how Twira showed herself, I wanted to look at her combat skills in more detail and see how she resists enemies like us. In addition, I programmed Twira at the time of this training to not use weapons, only the combat skills that she has in her possession.” "Oh... That sounds very thoughtful and careful on your part," Sunset admitted. "Thank you," Twilight said, but then she noticed her friend’s slightly frowning look. "Hey, Sunset. Is something wrong?” she asked. "Oh, nothing, Twilight,” replied Sunset. “It's just... I have some kind of unpleasant feeling or rather a premonition that something terrible is going to happen and I can't get rid of it, you know? "Sunset, if there's something bothering you, you can tell me and the others,” Twilight declared. “We're friends, and friends don't lie. We’ve all been through so many difficulties and dangerous situations, and have learned so much, especially about trust. Just ask Mikey if you know what I mean.” "You're right. I'm sorry,” Sunset sheepishly apologized. “It's just-" Before she could finish, however, a party girl appeared between them and pointed to the ring with a huge smile. "WHOO! It's starting! It's starting! It's starting!" Pinkie beamed, jumping up and down with excitement. Soon, all the girls (especially Sunset) turned their attention to the ring and what was going to happen. Twira stood in the center while the turtles surrounded her. They pulled out their weapons and waited to make their move. “Rebooting at 100%. Engaging, close combat,” she announced. When Twira got on horse stance pose, she was finally ready. Thus, Leo shouted, “Attack!” The turtles all charged at her. Each of them swung their weapons at once. Twira dodged them all when they were just a few inches close to her by quickly stepping away and flipping over them. Raph tried swinging his sais at her. “Hold still!” he bellowed. “C’mon, Raph! Take her down!” Rainbow cheered. Surprisingly, Twira managed to dodge them all and then grabbed his hands. Hah! Is that the best you can do?” Raph barked. The only thing he received was a hard headbutt from Twira. As soon as he started to feel dizzy, she delivered a few punches to him and even though Raph tried blocking her attacks, Twira was just too fast for him. Before long, he was knocked out with a powerful kick. He groaned and just lied there on the ground. Donnie jumped and swung his staff. Twira noticed and immediately ducked her head, turned her body around and started blocking his moves. Donnie then received a punch in the chest, sending him flying in the air, but he landed safely to the ground. He started throwing shurikens at Twira. In response, Twira caught all of them and threw them back at him in rapid speed. Thinking fast, Donnie twirled his bo-staff, deflecting them everywhere. “Phew! That was close!” Rarity exclaimed. No one was hurt, but Donnie smirked, because he had it all planned out for Twira to be distracted. Leo and Mikey jumped in and swung their weapons. However, Twira just grabbed them without looking and swung them into each other. She tossed them aside and they landed on the ground with tremendous pain. The two groaned and started rubbing their heads, while Donnie charged and swung his staff at Twira again. Twira kept blocking, dodging, and flipping every move he made. She started attacking Donnie, but he countered them by clearing his mind, the same way he had defeated Dr. Falco. He flipped over Twira and swung his staff, tripping her. "Alright, Donnie!" Rarity cheered. "Yee-haa!" Applejack hollered. He jumped and slammed his staff on her. Unfortunately, Twira dodged it by pressing her hands to the ground, allowing her to backflip towards a wall as she pressed her legs to it and started flying towards Donnie. She rolled and delivered a powerful kick on Donnie’s chest, making him let go of his weapon as it flew into the air. He then crashed to a wall and started to groan from feeling dizzy. Twira then saw his weapon coming down while spinning. The girls noticed too. “DONNIE, LOOK OUT!!!” Sunset cried. Donnie groaned as he tried to open his eyes. “Huh?” he mumbled. In response, Twira kicked as it zoomed towards Donnie. He screamed and immediately retracted his head in his shell. His staff was stuck to the wall just about an inch above his shell. The Rainbooms screamed in horror and thought Donnie’s head was completely gone, but they then watched him flop to the ground as he pulled his head out of his Shell, catching his breath. “I’m okay,” he panted gravely before leaning his head back on the ground. The girls subsequently began calming down, but also started to sweat a little. “Oh, thank goodness,” Rarity breathed. “Oh, nelly. I thought he was a goner.” Applejack added with a sigh. Fluttershy nervously spoke, “That was so scary.” Raph and Donnie soon recovered and slowly walked back to their side. “Are you two okay?” a worried Rainbow asked. Raph groaned and rubbing his head a bit before replying, “Yeah. It’s just… I did not see that coming.” Donnie also groaned and added, “Me neither. I’m just glad you and I are in one piece.” Raph sighed and even nodded agreement while admitting, “She fights way better than Shredder’s Elite Footbots.” Just then, Mikey came at Twira and started swinging his nunchucks. “Nunchuck to the face!” he hollered as Twira kept blocking all his swing attacks. “C’mon, Mikey! You can do it!” Pinkie cheered. Twira kept dodging all his attacks by leaning her back, and tried to deliver some punches and kicks at the party ninja. Mikey then started doing flips and barrel rolls at every attack Twira made. When he tried to punch while holding his chucks, however, she grabbed him by the shoulder and performed seoi nage. Fortunately, Mikey was able to do a backflip and land on his feet. “The seoi nagi, huh? Hmm, brings back memories,” Mikey said as he smirked at Donnie, making his brother pretty irritated. However, he was not paying attention when Twira came running at him. “BEHIND YOU!!!” Fluttershy warned. Twira jumped and prepared to kick his head. “Wup!” he squeaked as he retracted his head in motion. Then, when his head came back out of his shell, he grabbed a hold of Twira. “Psyche!” he giggled. Mikey slammed her to the ground and then pulled towards her as he slid on his back, kicking her in the face. As a result, Twira crashed her body to the wall. The girls all cheered while Raph and Donnie had dumbfounded looks on their faces. “That… was awesome!” Raph admitted in awe. Donnie also exclaimed in completes shock, “Unbelievable!” “WOO-HOO!!! MIKEY!!!” Pinkie cheered out loud. An equally impressed Rarity added, “My word. He actually did it!” Applejack also grinned and shouted, “Whoo! Mikey is just full of surprises!” Meanwhile, Twira had already gotten herself up. She saw Leo approach her and she started blocked his moves. She then hit Leo’s chest 3 times and though he grunted a bit, he still held his ground. Twira was about to give Leo an uppercut when both of her arms were lassoed by Mikey. “Think fast!” he grunted, trying to pull her away from his brother. But Twira had another trick in her program. She grabbed the chain of his chucks and spun herself around. Mikey screamed as he was being pulled closer to Twira. She elbowed him in the face and grabbed Mikey. Then, Twira started to spin around. She spun faster and faster. Until finally, she threw him straight at Leo. Lucky for Leo, he jumped over Mikey just in time before his little brother crashed into the wall. “MIKEY!!!!” Everyone screamed. He landed on his back feeling very dizzy. “She thought too fast... Ow...” he groaned as he lost consciousness. Leo looked at his other brothers and ordered, “Help him up.” Raph and Donnie carefully got him to stand up and helped sit towards his friends. The turtle groaned and recovered a little as they helped him. “It’s okay little bro,“ Raph said, “We got ya." Donnie looked at Mikey, “The impact on the wall must’ve knocked him out worse than we have.” Pinkie whimpered, “Mikey.” Rarity placed a hand on Pinkie’s and said, “He’ll be alright darling. He was amazing.” Sunset looked at Twilight and asked, “How many moves did you install on Twira?” “I programmed her with dozens of fighting styles,” Twilight explained. “She’s an analyst and is built to face every kind of foe in her surroundings.” “Are you sure she’s programmed to be merciful?” Sunset questioned, feeling a little nervous. “Yes, my programming prevents her from injuring a human being,” replied Twilight. Sunset sighed and said with a little sarcasm in her voice, “Oh, well, that makes me feel better.” Leo stared at Twira for a moment. Twira got into ninja stance and she beckoned by waving her hand at Leo to come at her. Leo charged at Twira once again, slashing his blades at her. Twira proceeded to dodge his blades twice, then she spun around and swung her arm, hitting his back. Leo took one swing of his katana at Twira who leaned back in response, the tip of his blade nearly scratching Twira’s face. He kept on trying to knock out Twira, but no matter how much he tried, Twira managed to keep up with his speed and blocked all of his attacks. Leo then tried stabbing her, but just before his blade could come into contact with Twira, she moved a little to the side and just as Leo missed, she grabbed Leo’s right arm and kicked him in the chest, making him let go one of his weapons. Twira had grabbed one of Leo’s katanas and the rest were utterly shocked at that. Few were starting to sweat, while others were hyperventilating, feeling more worried that their leader was going to get his shell shocked. A dumbfounded Rainbow exclaimed, “No way!” An equally shocked Donnie commented, “She now has a weapon.” Pinkie also became worried before speaking in sarcasm, “This is not going to end well.” Twira stared at the katana she was holding for a little bit. She was becoming more curious with it as her optics started to turn purple just like the time when she was holding a Kraang blaster. Leo noticed the change in her optics as well and for a moment, he was shocked, but also felt very concerned that Twira is starting to evolve, becoming stronger and more powerful. The others noticed Leo’s reaction, but were unable to figure out what it was. Twira’s eyes changed back to red before she looked at Leo. She got into a samurai stance while holding his sword. With one blade in her possession, Leo knew that he had to be careful. They both charged and clashed their weapons. Twira almost had Leo defeated, but his pride never stopped him. “Go get her, Leo!” Mikey cheered. “Knock the bolts out of that tin can!” Raph cheered. Leo kept blocking her attacks and tried to find her weak spot, but Twira anticipated his moves. Fluttershy became so worried that she could not handle so much pressure. “C’MON LEO! TAKE HER DOWN!” she screamed, before she quickly covered her mouth blushing bright red. Her friends cringed at her reaction. “Sorry, I’m really nervous” she meekly admitted. Sunset put a hand on hers and said, “He’ll be fine. Just dial down a notch, okay?” Fluttershy blushed, but giggled, “Yeah, okay.” Leo was getting tired. He blocked a swing so powerful that his sword fell out of his hands. Twira jumped and was about to finish him off, until Leo jumped out of the way to the wall, pressing his legs to it and delivered a powerful kick. Twira used his sword to block his kick. She rolled backwards when Leo’s attack came in contact and knocked the katana off her hands. Leo ran to get his other katana, but then Twira tackled him to the ground. She proceeded to punch Leo, but he dodged it as she slammed her fist to the ground. He backed up a little lifting one leg up high, snatching Twira’s collar and pressing his other leg onto her chest, allowing him to toss her off of himself and back flip behind her. He began to punch her head, but Twira grabbed his hand and tossed him to the ground near his katana. Twira picked up his other katana that was near her. She approached slowly towards Leo, who crawled and tried reaching his blade. Twira raised her blade up high. When Leo grabbed his sword, he blocked Twira’s attack just in time and kicked her out of the way. They soon started clashing their weapons once more. Leo then slid on his back to slice her legs, but Twira jumped over him. Leo then got up on his feet he ran up the wall as Twira missed him. Leo then landed on his feet and quickly swung his blade up high to Twira’s neck. He immediately stopped just a few inches before it would come in contact to her neck. He smirked as the others cheered. “He got her!” a grinning Pinkie cheered. Mikey also cheered, “Oh yeah boy! That’s my ninja!” However, Twilight smirked before revealing, “No, they got each other.” “HUH?!” the others asked in unison. Unfortunately, Twilight was right. Leo looked down and saw the tip of his other blade by his chest. Twira had performed a backstab without even looking back. Everyone was completely shocked. Donnie’s eye twitched before he spoke, “Holy mackerel. A stalemate!” A completely shocked Raph quietly said, “I don’t believe it.” Twira slowly turned to face Leo, who was afraid he would receive another hit, but then Twira held the blade behind her back. “Training complete,” she announced. “Disengaging close combat.” He sighed in relief and then watched as Twira bowed with respect and added, “Arigato gozaimasu.” Leo was surprised to say the least, but he nevertheless smiled back before bowed back in respect. When they stood back up, Twira returns the swords to Leo and he gladly accepted them before putting them on his bag. Then, everyone rushed towards them, applauding their efforts. "THAT WAS AWESOME!" shouted Rainbow. Rarity cheered, “Incredible! Simply incredible! Fluttershy nodded and added, "That was very disturbing, but beautiful at the same time! Like butterflies fluttering!" Raph leaned on Leo's shoulder and smirked as he said, "Well, brother, that was one of your best duels since the Shredhead and Ue-Fool. Or, did our great Sensei Leonardo get soft and start losing his grip that his shell almost got polished off by some fancy robot?" Rainbow, Applejack, and Pinkie snickered at Raph’s comment, while Leo felt a little insulted, but he chose to playfully roll his eyes. "In your dreams!" he said while shaking off his brother’s hand. Donnie, meanwhile, looked at Twira and analyzed, "She was able to confront us all at once without using her built in weapons, she calculated our every strike, effectively eliminated us all, and even managed to confront Leo using his own weapons while putting him in a stalemate, something no one has ever done before! I just can't imagine how high her computing power is and how advanced her artificial intelligence is, based on your mind! And it was only created a couple of weeks ago!” He then looked at Twilight with a twinkle in his eye and declared, "Twilight, I'll say it again: This robot, or Twira, is your greatest creation yet! I can only imagine her potential in the future! Twira is proof of your great intellect and intelligence, and I believe if the professor were here, he would say the same and rate her in his own way by the universe's standards." Twilight blushed profusely at all this praise and managed to reply, "T-t-thanks Donnie. But it's not worth it. It really isn't. I created Twira to help us in any difficult moment and that's all. But it also gives us a new friend and our most loyal ally." The girl then looked at her robot nearby and added, "And you're right Donnie. Twira is proof not only of my intelligence, but of who I really am. And I'm very proud of her." Twilight put her hand on the robot's shoulder as she said this, but what neither of them noticed was Twira looking sideways at Twilight's hand on her shoulder. It was as if she was unhappy with her creator's touch on her. Sunset then looked at the turtles and said, “Seems like we’re due for a break.” A visibly exhausted Leo spoke in agreement, " Yeah, I think this concludes training for today. Let's take a 5-minute break out of the dojo everybody." "Hai, Sensei Leonardo." Rainbow teased as the others snickered. Leo just gave her a dry look, but he blushed a little when he looked at Twilight who was giggling as well. When everyone was out of the dojo, Twira's eyes went bright purple. After all the training in the dojo, everyone was in the living room resting their muscles and watching TV. "That was super-duper-mega awesome!" Pinkie exclaimed while smiling broadly. "I wish I could!’ve filmed this for SnapTime. I would’ve gotten tons of likes and views on my PinkNinja4Life blog!” "Well, first of all, we can't without getting the guys exposed. Second, you're making a ninja blog?!” Rainbow shouted, looking at her friend's account. "Yeah. Besides cupcakes, I post videos of my ninja skills and what I can do with them at home, like my cookie video right here," Pinkie explained as she clicked a video of her using her kunoichi skills to easily climb to the highest shelf and grab the cookie jar while deftly hiding using a pink smoke ninja smoke bomb. "And the audience loves it!" she added while showing her athlete friend all the likes and comments under the video. "I'm just surprised you didn't do that first Dash. Usually, you always shoot something cool for your blog ‘HowAwesomeICanBe!’ That would have gotten you a lot of subscribers and the views you seek!” To which Rainbow responded with a facepalm, clearly not realizing it herself! In the meantime, everyone else had settled in on the couch and seats, while Raph practiced his punches on a dummy and the others struck up a conversation with one another. Mikey, who was utterly amazed with Leo, spoke first, “I can’t believe you kept up with Twira, Leo.” Applejack added, “I can’t believe you were able dodge all those intense attacks.” Sunset simply smiled at him and said, “Glad you weren’t hurt, Leo. You had us worried.” Leo replied, “Thanks guys. It’s nice to have another robot to train us before we go on patrol.” Twilight nudged Leo’s shoulder and declared, “See? I told you training with Twira was a good idea.” “Maybe you’re right,” Leo admitted. “Honestly, it’s been a long time since we’ve had a fight like this, and it feels good.” Applejack nodded and stated, “You can say that again, partner.” “I’m just glad Twira’s on our side, dudes,” Mikey interjected. “I mean, imagine what would’ve happened if our robo-friend became our enemy? We’d all be toast!” Twilight confidently shook her head and replied, “Well, Mikey, like I said, that’s not going to happen." “Are you sure about that sugarcube?” Applejack inquired, “I’m not saying I’m against our metal friend, but from what the guys told us about their last encounter with the robot in space, I just want to make sure something like that doesn’t happen here.” "None taken," Twilight replied, "Like I said, Twira's not going to be like that AI from space. And if you’re still wondering why I'm so sure of this, I can tell you that I gave Twira consciousness using a copy of my brain. She inherited my very best qualities, such as my intelligence and friendship with you guys. True, it takes time and understanding, but given Twira's intelligence and super-fast learning curve, I'm sure it won't take long. Twira is proof of what kind of person I really am, and that's not at all like what happened at the Friendship Games. So, you guys can rest assured that Twira won't turn evil like I did. She's my creation, my child, my very best self, and I have confidence in her as I do in my own capabilities, even after humbling myself and accepting Midnight Sparkle, like you said, Sunset," Twilight looked at her best friend with a smile and added, "You and Leo do trust me on this, right?” "Of course, I trust you Twilight," Sunset immediately replied. "You're one of my best friends, if not my very best friend. I trust both you and your judgment. And if you have so much confidence in Twire, then so do I. So do we all. Right, guys?” She asked this while looking at their friends, who all nodded in agreement. "Got that right, Sunset," Donnie said as he gave a thumbs up. "Wrong word, bro," said Mikey "Besides, if Twira was evil, I'd feel it, just like with Cozy Glow. But I don't see that in Twira, so she's cool.” Leo walked over to Twilight, putting his hand on her shoulder before declaring, "We're always with you, Twilight, through good times and the bad ones. That will never change no matter what. We're all family and family trusts each other. You, me, all of us together.” Twilight tearfully smiled at that and said, "Thank you guys so much. It means a lot. Really!" Before anyone had anything else to say, Casey and April arrived at the Lair, where the latter had a panicked look on her face as she looked at the rest of her friends and ran towards them while shouting, "Guys!" "April what's wrong?" asked Donnie at seeing his friend like this. "We need to talk right now!" she pleaded. "About what, April?" Sunset asked. The redhead replied quietly, "About our future extinction." Everyone just stared at their friend in horror and bewilderment. "What are you talking about?" Rainbow inquired. "It's not funny, darling." Rarity remarked. Pinkie nodded and added, "I totally agree!" "Casey, do you know what she's talking about?" Raph inquired in worry. "I haven't got a clue myself, dudes," replied Casey "All I know is that she called me to meet you here in the den and that it was very important." Leo walked over to April and took her by the shoulder before asking, "April, are you sure about this?" April looked at him with great concern and revealed, "I wish I wasn't, Leo, but...I know what I saw in my dream." "In a dream?" interrupted Rainbow, "Did you come to us because of a nightmare? Maybe, you just had a horrible dream and you're exaggerating." "It's okay April. It happens to me too... almost every day," a visibly frightened Fluttershy replied. "But I know they’re just dreams and they’re not real." April sighed and admitted, "I wish it were, but it wasn't just a dream. It was a vision." Applejack asked in confusion, "A vision?" April nodded and continued, "Yes, a vision. It felt the same as Casey and the twin blades." "Don't remind me of that, Red," Casey said to her fearfully. Donnie touched April soothingly and inquired, "April, can you tell us what exactly you saw in this vision of yours?" April wrapped her arms around herself and sat down on the couch before explaining, "I saw... I saw all the buildings get destroyed and all living things die in a bright flash of light." "In a bright flash of light? But that's only possible in a..." Donnie tried to say, but then his eyes widened in understanding and horror at what their friend meant. Twilight herself looked at the turtle's gaze and came to the same realization he had. "It's only possible in what?" Applejack asked. "Yeah, Dee, tell us. You're freaking us out here, bro," Mikey added in a frightened tone as he walked over to Pinkie and Fluttershy before hugging them. Donnie mumbled, "It's possible in an explosion of... of…" "A nuclear bomb," Twilight finished for him, and everyone went silent at that. "WHAT?!" they suddenly shouted in unison. Leo looked at Sunset and she looked at him before nodding and asking, "April, come with me and Sunset to the dojo and tell me more about what you saw, okay?" April then nodded and replied, "Okay, Leo, come on. Also, Twilight should come too." "What?!" Twilight shouted. "Why her, darling?" Rarity questioned looking at her friend. "Because, she was also in my vision and I want to be able to explain why that is," April revealed. Sunset looked at her and Twilight before sighing and replying, "Fine, then. Twilight, you're going to have to come to the dojo with us. There's no problem, is there?” "Um, no Sunset. Absolutely, I'm just a little freaked out by all this," Twilight replied nervously. "Me too, Twilight," Leo said as he crossed his arms, "But we need to figure out the meaning behind this vision as soon as possible. It’s the only way we can stop whatever threat we’re supposed to face in the future.” "I agree," April added while nodding. Thus, all four of them walked into the dojo and closed the door behind them, while the others stayed outside and thought about what was going to happen next.