"W-Well, it was a lot more difficult to keep up than I expected, it started to hurt pretty quickly, and I had to go back to normal before I could do too much damage to Omega… do… do you think we can get around that? The kaioken is our best bet for now." Fluttershy sat at the table along with her friends, all of them resting from a recently finished sparring session. It had taken a good few days to get used to the increased gravity they were under, but now that they had, training had resumed as normal. The gravity of the moon was already proving beneficial, every training exercise was much harder but brought so much more reward, and they intended to use that fact to its fullest. Twilight chimed in with some realisations she had made over the last couple days, hoping to come up with a way forward.
"So, our bodies can only hold so much ki at once, which is why we reach a cap on our power eventually, you can’t just charge up forever. Now as long as we’re alive and y’know, have souls, we won’t really run out of ki, but our bodies act like a container for it, one with a limited volume and a maximum pressure it can take. The kaioken boosts all aspects of our strength and speed, but not endurance or stamina from what we’ve gathered. It suddenly amplifies the amount of ki being produced and our bodies, the containers, can’t keep up." Applejack put down her cup as she grasped Twilight’s analogy, able to tell what was being insinuated.
"Ah, I think I get it Twi. If we can increase our stamina or endurance we can handle it a lot better, and probably go even higher than a times 2. Like making the container bigger or stronger, right?"
"Yeah, exactly AJ! Seeing as the technique doesn’t help us there we’ll have to fill those gaps ourselves though…" Twilight got up and paced around a little, intermittently sipping from a water bottle as her mind raced over her recent ideas.
"Well forgive my lack of proclivity but that hardly sounds enjoyable darling, endurance and stamina training is essentially torture by a more pleasant name." Rarity joined in now, her dislike of the required type of training like salt in a wound for her. Then again, she knew the importance and what was at risk, pushing her grievance down and moving her pristine mane aside. "Although if it is necessary then I suppose we must. I at least hope I don’t damage my mane, it does need care after all." Applejack couldn’t help but snicker at that last remark from Rarity, her continued daintiness being the perfect target to poke some fun at.
"Aww I’m sorry M’lady, would ya like a bubble bath and a manicure while we’re at it too?"
"Actually yes, that sounds wonderful now that you mention it Miss Soil Turner, I appreciate the offer.” Applejack chuckled at the response, and Rarity found herself smiling as well, turning her attention back to Twilight. Just as she was about to continue, Rainbow Dash spoke up instead, cutting her off accidentally.
"Something I noticed as well, is the auras that surround our bodies when we power up seem to basically just be excess ki that we can’t contain. If we increase the size of our auras we could probably stay in kaioken for longer as is." Twilight’s shoulders sag as she finally got to chip in.
"Come on Dash, I was getting to that!"
"Too bad, shoulda been quicker bookworm! Come on, I got an idea how we can start, lemme show you all." Rainbow Dash stepped outside as she called her friends to join her. Fluttershy, Twilight and Applejack followed her outside but stayed close to the house, while Pinkie and Rarity looked out the windows. Whatever she was about to demonstrate she’d likely need space for. Rainbow Dash stretched a little before bringing both hands up to her sides, her mane and tail rising slightly before a bright red aura ignited around her.
"Kaioken times four!" The crimson aura was much larger than normal, flaring out violently as she struggled to vent all the excess ki. Rainbow Dash repositioned her hands and a familiar blue ki ball formed between them. "Ka… me…" the orb grew to fill the gap between Rainbow Dash’s hands as she started to feel the stress of the kaioken already, a multiplier this big clearly more than she could handle for long right now. But that was the point of this after all. “Ha…Me… Ha!!" The beam fired out from her hands and raced along the surface of the moon, sending out gusts of wind as it went.
Rainbow Dash sustained the beam for a few more seconds before dropping her hands and standing still, as if she was waiting. The kamehameha she had fired was bending around the moon due to its gravity, and came back towards her from behind at immense speed. Suddenly, she turned around, and the kamehameha slammed into her, pushing the air past her friends like a hurricane as they watched. Rainbow Dash pushed back against her own attack while still maintaining kaioken times four, until the form of the beam finally collapsed, exploding and dissipating into a cloud of smoke. Rainbow Dash regained her composure and powered down, breathing faster now.
"Ok, when you start out, I’d say stick to base, we wanna work our way up slowly so we don’t really injure ourselves. Then once you're feeling comfortable blocking the attack at that level, go up by one level of kaioken until you reach… let’s say times four, at least that’s where I’m peaking right now. Once you’re at your limit maybe start charging the kamehameha for longer, or let it hit you without blocking. That should also help us get used to higher kaioken multipliers as well so that’s a plus. It’s gonna be difficult and it’ll start hurting real fast, but it’ll work. And hey, Rarity and Twi can always heal us up if we overdo it a bit." Rainbow Dash winked at Rarity in a playful manner.
"Oh is that right? The healing spell takes quite some time to heal proper injuries, in a pinch it’s more like a stamina refill. And besides, Twilight and I aren’t medics you know." Rarity scoffed and looked away dramatically, drawing a giggle from Pinkie and Twilight.
"Yeah I know, drama queen, just playing around." Rainbow Dash began. "Anyway, eventually we'll be able to take what we can dish out in higher kaioken levels, which is exactly what we’re gonna need against Omega, we gotta assume she’s not done growing yet." Twilight noticed a smile creeping onto Rainbow’s face after she added that last point. She really couldn’t help but enjoy fighting now, it was like watching a bad habit slowly develop, and the alicorn hoped that wouldn’t spiral into an addiction and come back to bite them, but she saved that thought for later before joining Rainbow Dash along with the others and copying what she had shown them.
During the first day of this new training, they all managed to go up to kaioken, with Rainbow Dash and Applejack making it to times 2. There were plenty of channels carved in the surface of the moon from some of the beams not being held together that well, and quite a few craters from the collisions with each mare. Rainbow Dash fell to the ground, sitting in a cross legged position as she panted heavily and wiped her brow.
"Phew, great job everypony, you’re all doing good. What do you say we… try some sparring again, to see how much progress we’ve really made. If any of you girls are up for it that is… I’ll sit this one out while I catch my breath." The other five mares stopped their training for now, taking pause before somepony finally offered to spar.
"I’ll have a go, I wanna see how this progress translates to an actual fight." Twilight offered, hoping to test herself at her current level. She smiled as one of her friends responded, taking her up on the offer.
"Well, I can’t say I’m not curious darling, I’d be happy to be your partner for this." Rarity answered with a stretch before fixing her mane. The others moved closer to the house to watch the approaching match, Pinkie sitting on top of the roof with a box of popcorn already in her hands that she got from Celestia knows where.
"This one’s gonna be lotsa fun, don’tcha think AJ?" The party pony said to her friend as she was joined up on the roof.
"Yep, I’m looking to see how our training’s paid off so far, last thing I wanna be is left in the dust, y’know?" Applejack sat down and took her hat off, taking a piece of popcorn as she was offered it by Pinkie, before returning her focus to the match that was about to begin.
Twilight got into a stance she found comfortable, her left hand raised in front of her head ready to block, her right held out to the side for a counter, and her legs bent far to keep her steady. Rarity took a more elegant yet aggressive stance, most of her weight on her back leg with one arm raised in front and one held to her side, her hands open as if ready to scratch. Now they waited, looking for an opening to try and gain an early advantage.
Seconds passed with naught but the sound of wind blowing through grass and rustling trees. Twilight repositioned her foot slightly to keep her balance better, and that was all Rarity needed. She lunged forward, vanishing from view thanks to the sudden acceleration, and kicked up a cloud of dust. Twilight braced to block Rarity’s opening attack, but she reappeared off to the side instead of in front. Twilight barely had time to intercept Rarity’s kick from this new angle, blocking the strike just in time before pushing Rarity off and going on the offence herself. As Rarity spun away and was about to land, Twilight went for a sweeping kick, pre-emptively knocking her off balance just before she would’ve landed. Rarity adapted to the new spinning motion quickly, using it to wind up another kick. Twilight rose to her feet after the sweep, catching Rarity’s next kick with both hands and smiling at her before throwing her into the distance. The violent red aura of the kaioken exploded from her and she flew after Rarity, catching up incredibly fast.
"Crap, c’mon everypony!" Rainbow Dash managed to scramble out before following the battle. The others stood and flew after them to continue watching, not wanting to miss anything either. Rarity flipped over a few times before landing almost like a gymnast and even flicking her mane out of the way just before Twilight caught up. She threw a lunging punch at the pristine mare, blocked. Rarity sliced an uppercut towards Twilight, dodged as the alicorn rose into the air slightly, before coming back down with a ki empowered dive kick. Rarity stood taller and held her hands out ready, her horn glowing as she cast a paralysis spell. Twilight was caught by surprise and saw Rarity step to the side before catching her leg, and swiftly met the ground face first. Rarity stepped back and settled into a new, more elegant stance as Twilight flew at her once again, the pair trading and dodging each other’s blows as their friends watched nearby.
"W-woah… they’re already moving faster than I was against Omega, and they don’t seem tired at all… I think your training’s working Rainbow Dash." Fluttershy commented softly as she focused on the sparring match in front of her.
"Oh, thanks! If we can keep this up we might be able to deal with Omega the next time we meet before she can access more of her latent power, but she’ll only stay inactive for so long…" She turned her attention back to the match, and could see Twilight scolding herself under her breath and mentally at each of her mistakes, even the smallest. Twilight crouched as if for a low strike but as Rarity went to block, she sprung up into a flying knee that struck Rarity in the chin.
"Say, you ever think about being a teacher of some kind? You do a pretty good job so far Dashie." Applejack rested an arm on Rainbow Dash’s shoulder and jostled her a bit, a teasing but proud smile on her face.
"Nah, I never really thought it was my thing, but I guess when it comes to fighting something just clicks, y’know?" She let out a sheepish smile of her own and continued watching the match. Things seemed to be evening out between Rarity’s unorthodox fighting style, focused mostly on style and flash, and Twilight’s incredible analytical skills.
Twilight caught a punch from Rarity and held her arm as she spun into a strong kick, sending her back. Rarity had to dig her hands and feet into the ground to stop quicker, but Twilight wasn’t letting up, firing a Galick Gun almost immediately. She had been in kaioken for the almost the entire fight and felt fine, and Rarity decided to close the gap by doing the same.
She burst into kaioken before dodging the beam and flying along its length towards Twilight. Having not felt the Galick Gun hit anything, Twilight stopped firing it and watched it begin to bend above the moon’s surface, just before Rarity landed on her with an axe kick. Twilight took a step back but didn’t disengage just yet, raising a knee in front of her Rarity blocked her stomach expecting a powerful kick, but was met with an overhead hook to the head instead.
Twilight always regarded the first engagement as data collection, and now believed she had what she needed to get the better of Rarity in this particular match. She vanished behind Rarity and kicked her in the back, sending her back a good distance, before moving to a specific spot and firing another Galick Gun at her opponent. Rarity rolled and sprung back to her feet, but the attack was already too close to dodge, so she met it with a Masenko in a beam struggle. She pushed herself to kaioken times two and began to push the Galick Gun back, but from behind her came the first beam Twilight fired off not too long ago. Rarity was forced to drop the Masenko and turned to try and stop them both, holding both hands out to her side and pushing as hard as she could. Twilight decided to finish the job before Rarity got a chance to think of something, flying above and throwing one last ki ball down at her. The attack hit Rarity dead on and exploded, the Galick Guns blowing up as well in a booming detonation that kicked up plenty of dust and smoke. As the smoke cloud dispersed Twilight saw Rarity now in base form, panting hard, covered in marks and singed fur. She dropped to one knee and looked up at Twilight, smiling as she recovered.
"Whew… Good match dear, I think I’m done now unfortunately, the fatigue seems to have caught up with me finally. Although would it have hurt to end this less explosively? This dust will stick to my mane and tail quite incessantly." She took Twilight’s hand and pulled herself to her feet, the pair flying back to their friends slowly.
After the match, everypony headed inside, the evening quickly turning to night. They washed, got changed, and ate together. They had noticed that since finishing training with Zecora their appetites had massively grown. By the time they were all satisfied there was a pile of three or four plates and bowls high in front of each of them. Everypony went into the bedroom and laid in their beds; one by one, they all fell into deep sleep.
Three days in, and they had all achieved kaioken times two in the ki resistance training, Rainbow Dash managing to push herself to three. Their meditation sessions were an hour and a half long now, and all of the main 6 could use the kaioken for a whole three minutes before the pain kicked in. Twilight regularly established telepathic contact with the royal sisters, reporting their progress and her personal well-being, and checking whether Omega had attacked again yet. Rarity was developing a new attack, especially to use against Omega. Pinkie Pie had also created a new technique, which she had called the Scatter Bullet. Their progress continued steadily, spurred on by a ticking time bomb that could go off at any moment.
The grass blew softly in the constantly recirculating wind. Many drips of sweat had soaked into the soil, as Twilight ran through an intense muscle group exercise regime; the arms section consisted of various types of press ups and punches. She coughed violently from the lack of air, and blood splattered the grass as well. She took this abruptly as a sign to begin healing herself. The sun had risen about twenty minutes before Twilight began exercising, and she had been doing so for around the same time. Healing took another ten minutes, during which time she had decided to wake the rest of the main 6 up. She walked back into the main room, and clapped as loudly as she possibly could. The others all jolted awake, poised and alert. They realised Twilight's - slightly insensitive - practical joke, and were able to all relax.
Ki resistance training resumed once they had eaten breakfast.
"Alright everypony." Rainbow Dash began. "I know what I said when we initially started training up here, but I think we should stop the beam collision training now that we achieved kaioken times three, and focus all our time into stamina training. Mainly sparring with each other for as long as we can."
"How come? What are you thinking Rainbow?" Twilight questioned.
"Well, if Omega's anywhere near as impulsive as me, she won't be able to wait much longer, so we might not have the liberty of getting past times four like I hoped. She could be running rampant again for all we know…" Everyone quickly pushed that thought to the back of their minds, and they began the final session of beam collision training.
Rainbow Dash was the first to reach kaioken times four, followed quickly by Applejack and Twilight. After a few more tries, Rarity followed suit, then Pinkie Pie, and lastly Fluttershy. A few sparring matches ensued afterward, causing craters and distortions all around the main part of the moon. There was then one final stamina training session, and one last meal, then Rainbow Dash asked a very important question.
"So," she began. "Do you think we're ready to face Omega once again?" Everypony more or less agreed.
"That's good. Good." She lost her cheerful tone, and trailed off.
"Look, I can't promise that we'll all come back from fighting Omega, and I definitely can't promise we'll win. I just want you all to know... that none of this would be possible if we didn't all work together, and help each other progress and become stronger. I never would have been able to do this alone. You've all supported each other, and me. Thank you. All of you."
Twilight focused greatly, and her magic aura enveloped everypony. There was another blinding flash of light, just like the one that bought them up to the moon, and they were all back in Equis' atmosphere. They were freefalling toward the ground. It seemed Twilight's teleportation spell wasn't anywhere near as powerful as Princess Celestia's. The main six agreed that they would fight Omega as soon as possible, but Rarity was absolutely incessant that they acquire new gi before doing so. They flew directly to the Carousel Boutique without stopping. The new sets of gi that Rarity had given them were aesthetically identical, but they'd had half the weights removed. After ten minutes of meditation, the main six set out on the journey to their final battle. They located Omega's ki somewhere in the badlands, to the west of Equestria.
After flying for less than ten minutes, The barren desert, commonly known as the 'badlands', was in their sight. Nopony bothered to go through the trouble of hiding their power levels, not even Omega herself. The landing was hard and impractical, but made Rainbow Dash and Pinkie feel like true badasses. For some unprecedented reason, Omega was laughing maniacally.
"Well... I was beginning to wonder if you were gonna bother protecting this fragile, miserable planet of yours. I'm sorry to disappoint you all." She took a fighting stance. "But I will watch it all burn, and you can try your best to stop me." Silence dominated the moment.
"Who's first?!" She demanded. Twilight and Rarity looked at each other from the corner of their visions. They anticipated each other's ideas, powered up - making sure to preserve some strength - and flew toward Omega, without a single regret of thought of doubt.
Twilight started the battle by quickly firing a Galick Gun at Omega. She easily dodged it, and wasn't given the chance to retaliate. Rarity came at her with a flurry of kicks, which she blocked, then followed up with a flip kick. The change took Omega by surprise, and hit her square in the jaw. She charged a masenko, but it was the opening Omega was waiting for. She raised an arm, and fired a Death Beam towards Twilight. A cheap move, but it had its desired effect; Twilight didn't react quickly enough to dodge, so she created a shield out of magic, which absorbed the attack, but also shattered. The masenko in Rarity's hand disappeared as her concentration broke. Omega took advantage of the small gap, and raised a hand into the air, creating a Supernova. As it grew slowly, Rarity vanished from Omega's field of view, puzzling her. She reappeared behind Omega with another masenko charged and ready. Omega let the Supernova dissipate and decided to block the attack. Rarity fired it at almost point blank range, ensuring that her opponent had no chance of dodging. The beam cleared, and Twilight continued the fight quickly; she flew up towards Omega and kicked her in the spleen, then Rarity hit her with an uppercut to the chin. Twilight vanished above her, hitting her with a barrage of ki-enhanced punches and kicks and chased after her when she went flying; she smashed her back toward the ground. She took a few heavy breaths, then smiled.
"Wow... that was pretty good. But you'll have to try harder than that!!" She flew back up toward Twilight and Rarity, rage burnt onto her face. They knew she would no longer hold back, and so neither did they. They released one hundred percent of their power, and prepared to fight back. Omega started her retaliation with an uppercut and a spinning kick directed at Rarity, then she traded blows with Twilight until Rarity came back, firing a multitude of ki beams at her from behind. Omega vanished behind her and kicked her in the side of the head, before she had a chance to block it. The attack shook her, but Rarity didn't let up. Twilight had powered up to kaioken whilst Omega had been focused on her friend. Omega was serious when fighting, but slowly, a smile crept onto her face.
Time after time, both tried to land a hit on Omega, but she was always a step ahead, ready to dodge or block, and even counter-attack! Twilight formulated a strategy as she realised she held the speed and melee advantage. She held back momentarily, observing a possible fighting pattern. She rushed in at Omega after she knocked Rarity away from her; Twilight yelled, and pulled back a punch. Omega fell right for it, and got cocky. Twilight vanished above Omega at the last second so that she was already blocking one attack. She smashed Omega back down to the ground, but Rarity kicked her in the back, sending her flying. Twilight vanished into her path, and hit her upwards with a ki enhanced punch. She charged a Galick Gun, and Rarity charged a Masenko. They both vanished above Omega, and fired their attacks downward. Omega blocked the attacks mostly, but they still pushed her down toward the ground. Before she hit it, Omega charged and fired a Nova Strike back up at Twilight and Rarity. They couldn't combat the strength of the attack so they let their attacks dissipate, and dodged the blast. It flew up past them and into the sky, eventually fading. Twilight wasn't feeling tired yet, but she had come out of kaioken to preserve ki. Omega raised her power as high as it would currently go, by roughly a third, vanished above Twilight and kicked her in the kidney, sending her plummeting toward the ground. She crashed where the rest of her friends were observing the battle from. That last hit had taken Eve that was left out of her; she could barely move to sit up. After watching Rarity fight alone for a while, she began to heal herself. Rarity was losing on her own, but Applejack was ready to assist her. She released her full power and vanished above Omega, starting with an kick aimed at her head; Omega blocked the hit easily. She backed away slowly and took a fighting stance. She smiled maliciously.
"Come on, if you wanna beat me, you’ll have to use more than that. Unless... that’s all you have?." Applejack and Rarity took different stances, and waited.
"What are you waiting for?! Let’s see how long you live!!" Omega flew towards Rarity and Applejack, finally starting to enjoy the battle.
She threw a punch at Rarity and used the momentum to throw a kick at Applejack, but both attacks were blocked. Applejack noticed a small opportunity and put a hand close to Omega's chest. She sensed the sudden flare in ki, and blocked reflexively. The Burning Blast shot out from Applejack's hand, sending Omega backwards. She reacted, firing a barrage of Death Beams at both her opponents. Rarity and Applejack dodged them all luckily. Applejack powered up to kaioken, and began charging something up, while Rarity held her off.
"You do realise you can't win, right?! Not one of you stands a chance against me!!" She kicked Rarity in the stomach and hit her with an uppercut to the chin. Rarity powered up to kaioken as well and began her counter-attack. She shot through the air towards Omega and threw a barrage of kicks before vanishing repeatedly around her. Omega couldn't keep track of where Rarity was, so she decided to release some ki in the form of an explosion. It caught Rarity off guard, and damaged her as it knocked her back. Omega was about to continue, when Applejack spoke.
"Hey Omega!" She turned to face the mare.
"This is something that I've been working on since Fluttershy fought you." It was only then Omega noticed that their was a yellow ball of ki in her hands.
"I think it's fitting that you should be the first one to see it." Everypony was paying attention now. She grunted a bit as she expanded the ball. She spread her arms apart completely, and the ki ball surrounded her body. Omega tried to attack her through it, but her hits couldn't penetrate the barrier. She grew frustrated and fired a few Death Beams at Applejack, which also did nothing. Applejack screamed as her ki rose.
"Here it is! You said you wanted my full strength, well here you go Omega!!" This was a surprise for everypony. No one had imagined that Applejack would've been able to create a ki attack this strong. She brought her hands in to her sides and the yellow aura flared one final time. Applejack thrust her hands forward, firing the beam.
"HEAT DOME ATTACK!!!"