New Age of Harmony

by Spirit Chaser

8: First Day

“Wait, so this happened last night?” Rainbow Dash asked while devouring her oatmeal, providing devastating results.

“It sure did,” Pinkie Pie replied, eating her own dandelion surprise.

The news of Pinkie and Applejack’s new relationship quickly spread throughout their friends, even though everyone had only been awake for an hour. Currently Twilight was just eating her breakfast whilst enjoying everyone else’s reactions. The mess hall was definitely a lot quieter when a raging party wasn’t going on in it, making it optimal for actual conversations. No one knew that Twilight found out last night because that would mean she would have to explain why she was up. No one should have to deal with her nightmares but her.

“Oh, I’m just so happy for both of you,” Rarity squealed for the hundredth time. “Honestly though, it certainly took long enough.”

“Get off my back, Rarity,” Applejack responded, smiling as she finished her soup. “Ah’ve never really been in touch with my feelings. If you wanna get through to me, you’re gonna have to use action because words just waste time.”

“Excuses, excuses,” Wild Side scoffed, enjoying his biscuits. “Getting a mate before I do. You better enjoy this victory, cowpony, it’s the only one you’re getting.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Applejack muttered, leaning in to nuzzle Pinkie.

“Gross, get a room you two,” Rainbow laughed. “What about you, Twi’? Why haven’t you said anything about the too-happy new couple?”

Looking up from her breakfast, Twilight immediately saw Rainbow’s face and felt her brain immediately shut down. Last night, after Pinkie somehow discovered that Twilight was there the whole time (when asked about it, Pinkie insisted that she always knew when friends were around), she teased her about asking out Rainbow Dash. At first, Twilight had obviously called the idea ridiculous, but after thinking it over....

“Uhh,” Twilight groaned like a zombie pony. “I mean, I haven’t said anything because Rarity said congratulations enough for all of us.”

Rainbow started laughing while Rarity simply pouted and held her head up. Twilight accidentally made eye contact with Pinkie and caught a distinct wink of unmistakable encouragement. Twilight merely smiled in response.

“Actually, you haven’t said anything either, Fluttershy,” Rainbow said after calming down from laughing. “What gives? You gonna use Twilight’s excuse or make your own?”

“Oh, no reason really,” Fluttershy admitted, looking down at her grass. “I was thinking about...stuff and um, things.”

Looking around, Twilight could see that Fluttershy’s cryptic answer was confusing everyone to the point that they weren’t going to ask anything else of her. Twilight guessed that Fluttershy’s scattered brain was due to her own crush that she was figuring out how to deal with. She still didn’t know who she had the crush on, but that was none of her business anyway.

“Enough with the lovey dovey stuff,” Sleeping Shadow demanded. “You guys have to finish your breakfast. You’ll need the energy for the first day.”

“Wait, are we already starting our training?” Rainbow asked. “I thought we’d get some sort of break period first.”

“I don’t know if you’re selfless enough to think of this, but the longer we wait to train new recruits, the more The Hollow suffers,” Shadow explained, narrowed eyes firing off daggers.

“Whoa, whoa, okay I get it, we’ll finish eating,” Rainbow announced, preparing to finish her food. Hmm, usually Rainbow would challenge someone who insulted her, but she was a little different when it came to her friends (except Applejack). The thing that really bugged her was how easily Rainbow complied, like she was trying her hardest to avoid a conflict. Kinda like Twilight’s usual thought process.

“Shadow, your hangover does not excuse your rude behavior,” Clear Mind stated, peacefully eating his eggs.

“Its not about that,” Shadow said more to them than her brother. “Its about making sure you’re all taking this seriously. Although I am sorry if I came off as rude, being kind is really, really hard to do with a headache.”

“That wasn’t just rude, Shady,” Wild Side said with a mouthful of biscuits. “It was also straight up mean. Can I start calling you 'Jerky' instead of 'Shady'?”

“Ugh, I can barely stand it when you talk normally, don’t even think about talking with your mouth full,” Shadow complained. "Besides, I never said you could call me 'Shady' in the first place."

Wild Side decided to test his luck by opening his mouth wide, resulting in several groans from anyone who was watching. Infuriated, Sleeping Shadow forced his mouth closed with her magic, causing him to choke and struggle against himself. As the table erupted in laughter at Wild Side’s misfortune, Twilight couldn’t help but wonder what obstacles they’d have to face today. How hard could the training be? They weren’t even in an official training facility, and she doubted any Resistance members had been in The Hollow's military force.

Having finished her breakfast and seeing that the others weren’t going to be finished for another few minutes, Twilight stood to leave. Despite her excitement at being a member of the Resistance, she was still haunted over what The Hollow was turning her into and needed some alone time to think about it.

“Where you going, Twi,?” asked Rainbow Dash. Twilight sighed in annoyance as she turned around. Of course, Rainbow wasn’t just going to let her leave.

“Look, I’m going to go rest back at the room, but be sure to come and get me when we're ready to begin training,” Twilight explained, hoping that Rainbow would take the hint.

“Sure, except I remember what you said yesterday, when you said how you felt about killing that guy. I want to go with you, to make sure you’re not beating yourself up over it,” Rainbow said, rubbing the back of her head with her hoof.

“That’s sweet, but I’m fine,” Twilight insisted, turning to leave.

“No you’re not,” Rainbow shot back. “Don’t forget that we’re here for you, no matter what. That’s what friendship means right?”

Once more, Rainbow showed off her new found intelligence. Twilight felt bad about thinking that because she was in no way dumb. Its just that certain words shouldn’t come out of Rainbow’s mouth and currently, they were.

“I suppose friendship does have to do with that,” Twilight admitted, still facing away from her friend. “But I always attributed being there for someone to be...loyalty. Never change, Rainbow.”

Turning her head, Twilight gave her friend a genuine smile and left the room. She was hoping that her last comment would daze Rainbow long enough for Twilight to make her escape. Due to the absence of rushing wind, it appears that it was a success. She definitely did still care immensely about her friends, but everyone needed alone time. After all, it would be hard to think of Rainbow if Twilight was sitting right next to her.

Pinkie’s comment had made Twilight think everything over and she was so close to a conclusion. If she has developed a...’crush’ on Rainbow, then it probably wasn’t because of the incident with the hole. If anything, that just ‘supercharged’ her crush. Rainbow was loyal, sweet, pretty and very lovable. In fact, her negative personality traits just added to her quality in her opinion.

That aside, she still wasn’t sure what she wanted to do about these feelings. Did Rainbow even feel the same? Could the two of them even work out? She didn’t even know that she liked mares! If she was going to focus on being trained to defeat the mad king, then she was gonna have to push these thoughts aside. Only problem was that it was easier said than done.

“Princess Twilight, it is you!” shouted a rough sounding voice from behind her. As she turned around to greet the source, she realized that in all her thinking, she had barely trotted anywhere and was still very much in the hallway. Much to her surprise, the voice belonged to an earth pony with a gray coat, light gray hair and light green eyes.

The pony's eyes clashed with his coat, but in a specific way, like he was purposely special. His smile matched the roughness of his voice and looked oddly familiar. She'd met this hollow before, but she wasn't sure where. Unless....

“Chaser?” Twilight asked, remembering the poor hollow they found in the forest. “Is that you?”

“Yeah, it is,” Chaser said, trotting towards her. “How did you end up here?”

“That’s what I should be asking you,” Twilight laughed. Last time they met, Twilight had sent him off with a new name and new goals for life. Their encounter also left Twilight feeling accomplished because for the first time since becoming a princess, she’d actually helped someone.

“Oh yeah, well I don’t really have an interesting story,” Chaser explained, rubbing the back of his head. “I’d much rather hear about how an underground organization recruited a princess.”

“Well if you wanna hear that, then you better stop referring to me as a princess,” Twilight insisted. It was hard enough trying to be considered a normal pony in Equestria. Now all of The Hollow either wanted her dead or worshiped her as their savior.

“Sorry, I can imagine what that feels like,” he said. “Well then, how did the normal Twilight become a member of the Resistance?”

“Hmm, well there’s the short version and then there’s the burning town version,” Twilight joked, even though it really wasn’t funny to her.

“Huh?” Chaser grunted. The fact that he hadn’t already heard the story surprised her. Surely that must have been on everyone's mind at the party dinner.

“Yeah...I—”

“Hey, Twi,” Rainbow yelped, flying up to her. “Clear Mind said that training starts in like five minutes. We gotta...oh its this guy again. What are you doing with the Resistance?”

“Great to see you too,” Chaser scoffed. “So you guys are going to training? Just so happens that I am too; let’s head over together.”

“Sure,” said Twilight.

“Whatever,” spat Rainbow.

After a heated staring contest between Twilight and Rainbow, the element of loyalty went to get Applejack and off the four of them went to combat training. Without her alone time, it instantly became harder to figure out her feelings for Rainbow. Then again, that may have been because they within inches of each other. Did she also like Rainbow because she could be a challenge? After years of acing every test she’s ever taken, Twilight appreciated something that actually required effort. Perhaps that transferred into her romantic interests. If it did, then Rainbow definitely qualified.

“How lame for you, Applejack,” Rainbow sneered. “Been together less than twenty-four hours, and you guys already need to spend some time apart.”

“How hilarious,” Applejack muttered, rolling her eyes. “Considering that Ah’ve never had one of these relationship things before, Ah’m sure Ah can handle one day apart.”

“We’ll see,” Rainbow snickered. “Although if I were you, I’d be more focused on our training. You need to be watching when I outperform you.”

“You don’t even know what trainin’ involves, element of overconfidence,” Applejack said, glaring daggers at her rival as she did so. “And if its anythin’ like applebuckin’, Ah’ll be the best in the class.”

“Do they only care about surpassing each other?” Chaser asked, only mildly interested in their heated conversation.

“Sometimes, I really think so,” Twilight sighed, hating that she was gonna have to listen to this while training.

Luckily she only had to suffer for another minute because the training room was close to the mess hall. Thank Celestia, she only had so much sanity left and she couldn’t afford to lose anymore. Twilight stepped through the opening to the training room and took in her environment. The first thing she noticed was how large the room was, despite the fact that it was labeled a room. She guessed that this was to contain the magic spells, and flying soldiers which could be an extremely chaotic duo.

The instructor hadn’t arrived yet, so the Resistance members were merely sparring with one another. Although with the intensity some of them were displaying, she would’ve guessed instead that they were actually fighting each other. They sure took their jobs seriously, but then again, with your whole world at stake, who wouldn’t?

She couldn’t bring herself to look away from one fight between a unicorn and a pegasus. The pegasus was using her agility and flight to attack from all directions. The unicorn was countering by forming barriers around the pegasus, making it impossible for the pegasus to move for more than a few seconds at a time. Had it not been a practice match, surely the unicorn would’ve slammed the pegasus into the ground with telekinesis already. Twilight sure would’ve...

“Are we going to have an instructor, or is this just where ponies go to spar?” Twilight asked, slightly confused. “Just what is training?”

“The instructor should be here soon, right?” Chaser stated in a questioning way. Somehow he knew more and less about the Resistance than them at the same time.

“I think we still have a few minutes before they arrive, anypony wanna spar?” Rainbow asked, flashing a confident smile.

“Ah’d take that challenge, but Ah think for your sake we should spar after the lesson,” Applejack replied with equal confidence. “Ah just don’t think you’re on my level at the moment.”

“Oh please,” Rainbow scoffed, getting close to Applejack. “I could knock you off your hooves before you could even blink!”

“Slow and steady wins the race,” Applejack whispered, replicating Rainbow’s confident smile.

Twilight was prepared to tune out their arguing, but didn’t have to as a loud whistle ripped through the air, effectively quieting everyone in the room. Noticing that the doorway was the source of the screech, Twilight turned towards it. In walked a unicorn mare with short auburn hair, silver coat and orange eyes. The whistle levitated directed in front of her mouth, ready to be blown at any second. It was attached to a string around her neck. The stern look on her face sent shivers down Twilight’s spine. From directly behind her walked a friendly face: Clear Mind, looking as deadpan as usual.

“Alright everyone, I hope you all enjoyed your sparring matches, because that’s what you’ll be doing today, and yesterday, and tomorrow,” the unicorn announced. “Commander Heart has informed me that I have four new recruits today. Now, I know here in the Resistance we like to just throw new recruits headfirst into our lessons, but I’ve been told to give extra attention to Miss Princess and her court jesters over here. Now what are you waiting for? Get to sparring!”

“Sir, yes sir!” they chanted back. A moment later, the sounds of magic and whooshing wind filled the room once again. Twilight usually had respect for anyone who could silence an entire room, but for this pony, Twilight established an unusually high amount of respect in the few seconds that she’s known her. What was she in for?

“As for you jokers,” the unicorn addressed them directly, not softening her gaze. “From this point on until I say otherwise, you are the students, and I...am the master. You will address your master as Instructor Stickler and you will do so with respect.”

“And what if we don’t respect you?” Rainbow asked confidently. Not only did that comment make Twilight slam her hoof into her face, it also silenced the entire room. She hear an audible sigh come from Clear Mind, and watched him walk backwards a few paces.

“What was that...recruit?” the look in Instructor Stickler’s eyes merely intensified.

“Look, I went to the Wonderbolts Academy, where I was trained and ordered around by the Spitfire,” Rainbow said, playing it up like it was a big deal. Although she probably should’ve considered that the hollows have never heard of Spitfire or the Wonderbolts. “After going through boot camp once, I really don’t wanna do it again, so can we skip that part and get to learning how to fight?”

The room was no longer silent, rather it was now filled with whispers from the hollows who were supposed to be sparring. From the sound of it, Rainbow had just dug her own grave. She attempted to make eye contact with Clear Mind, but he had lowered his head at just that moment.

“You want to learn how to fight?” Stickler asked, enunciating each word. “Then we have to see if you’re ready first.”

“Huh?” Rainbow grunted. Twilight just noticed that Chaser and Applejack had slowly edged away from Rainbow and were now to the right of Twilight. The farmer’s eyes told her that she was just as worried as Twilight was.

“Well I want to see just what this ‘Spitfire’ has taught you,” Stickler explained, slowing forming a sly smile.

“Well, all we really did at the Wonderbolts Academy was learn how to fly better and do cool tricks,” Rainbow admitted, looking slightly frightened herself. “We didn’t really learn—”

“Clear Mind,” Stickler said, turning to face the silent pegasus. “I want you to ‘evaluate her skills’, do I make myself clear?”

Clear Mind’s face was unreadable (as usual), but even Twilight could tell that what she just said had an impact on him. He loosened up and his eyes grew wider. What did she mean by “evaluate her skills” anyway?

“Sir...,” Clear Mind hesitated slightly. He looked like he was going to say something, but then his face relaxed. “Yes sir.”

Stickler nodded once and walked forward towards the rest of the room. Twilight tried once again to make eye contact with Clear Mind, but he merely stared unblinkingly ahead. He flared his wings and darted his eyes, making him look rather intimidating. She’d never seen him fight, but she just knew that he was good. The question was, how good?

“Don’t think I haven’t noticed you wimps eavesdropping,” Stickler shouted to the whole room. Once again, every eye was on her. “As long as you’re slacking off, you may as well enjoy this little show I’m putting on. Clear Mind versus the newbie, place your bets now, I doubt there will be enough time during the match.”

The hollows erupted laughter and cheers, something Stickler clearly appreciated. She gestured for Clear Mind and Rainbow to follow her. The winged ponies obeyed (Rainbow did so nervously) and stopped in the middle of the room. The hollows rushed out of the way to form a wide circle along the walls, looking very used to doing so as they did. Stickler pulled Twilight and Applejack off to the side, not quite along the walls, but not in the way of the competitors either.

“Face your opponent!” Stickler shouted, sounding official and joyful at the same time. Clear Mind did so without hesitation, keeping his wings flared. Rainbow followed his lead, including stretching out her wings. She started to look more confident in herself.

“Now when I say to start, do everything in your knowledge of fighting to defeat your opponent. Knock them unconscious, make them yield, render them unable to fight in some way, I don’t care. Just make sure you win, am I clear?”

“Yes,” Clear Mind stated, still perfectly monotone even though he’d just be told to knock Rainbow unconscious.

“Uhhh,” Rainbow stammered, sounding like how Twilight felt. Whatever the result of the fight was, it wouldn’t be good.

“Start!”

Rainbow immediately took to the air at high speed. Considering they were in an underground cavern, there wasn’t a lot of airspace, but she could still fly around considerably. She flew around in a circle, observing Clear Mind from above. Meanwhile, Clear Mind was watching Rainbow too, but his face clearly said that the gears were really turning in his head.

Rainbow suddenly dived towards Clear Mind, but the silent strategist dodged out of the way, causing Rainbow to crash into the ground. Twilight stood unblinking as small pebbles flew past her. As Rainbow leapt up, Clear Mind rushed forward and delivered a sharp blow to her foreleg, causing her to crumble with an audible groan.

“Hey! Watch it,” Rainbow grunted, standing straight again. Clear’s face offered no apology.

Rainbow dashed backward and then immediately dashed forward with an outstretched hoof. She attempted to bring it down on Clear, but he blocked it and pushed the hoof away. He then preceded to block all the blows from Rainbow afterwards. He finally countered when he grabbed her hoof and tossed her over his body and into the ground once more.

At this point, Rainbow was becoming visibly angry. Practically launching off the ground, Rainbow tried many more sloppy attempts at attacking Clear Mind, all of which he dodged with ease. Rainbow increased in speed in an effort to hit him, which according to Clear’s face, made it easier for him. Sure enough, Clear landed one good blow on Rainbow and effectively stopped her in her tracks. As she clutched her injury, Clear delivered a spinning kick to Rainbow’s shoulder and followed up with an elaborate series of attacks that each struck a specific part of her. Her shoulder, legs, in between her wings, chest and stomach were all hit with sharp blows at high speeds...and it looked like it really hurt. Rainbow collapsed onto the ground and shuddered with pain.

“Rainbow Dash, do you yield?” Clear Mind asked, voice surprisingly monotone even in the middle of a battle.

Rainbow continued to shudder soundlessly. The sight of her...friend shivering with pain was almost too much to bear, she was about to turn away just as Rainbow tackled Clear into the ceiling. Clear had just reached out to touch Rainbow’s shoulder when she gave a shout of adrenaline and flew into him. She continued flying until she flew them into the ceiling, his body first. They crashed into it with a roaring groan of destruction. Clear Mind fell along with the debris. Unlike the debris however, Clear never hit the ground. He extended his wings mid-fall and grabbed Rainbow by the foreleg. Using either pure agility or pure adrenaline, Clear spun in a single spot in the air, spinning Rainbow around him in the process. Finally, he let go, flinging her into the ground below, allowing him to follow up with a crushing blow to the chest from the air. Rainbow remained perfectly still on the ground as Clear backed away, preparing to continue fighting.

“Ugh, I think I yield now,” Rainbow groaned, her voice sounding small and strained.

“Took long enough,” Clear Mind breathed, finally allowing some emotion to his voice. Huffing slightly, Clear Mind walked through the exit, not even taking pride in his victory. Interestingly enough, the hollows didn’t cheer either, they just stood frozen, staring at Rainbow Dash. Stickler slowly walked up to Rainbow and leaned over her.

“So, do you think you’re shown enough skill to advance to fight training?” Stickler asked, smirking cruelly.

“No,” Rainbow strained. “I’ll accept...whatever training you give me...sir.”

“That’s more like it,” Stickler whispered. She turned to the rest of the room while Twilight rushed to Rainbow’s side.

“Hope you all won your bets, not that any of you have anything to offer! Now get back to becoming the defenders of your world!”

“Sir, yes sir!”

Chaser and Applejack joined Twilight beside their fallen friend. Rainbow had a confident smile on her face, which looked horrifying because she was covered in bruises.

“So? What’d you guys think of the match?” Rainbow attempted to ask ironically, but Twilight was in no mood at the moment.

“You’re an idiot,” Twilight spat, sounding as emotionless as Clear Mind.

“Twi’,” Applejack said like a warning, looking down at her rival.

“We need to get her to the medical wing,” Chaser stated the obvious. “I heard they get ponies from training in there almost daily. This is normal here.”

“I’ll heal her,” Twilight stated, making up her mind. “I know a healing spell or two, and her injuries aren’t that bad.”

“Whatever, let’s go before I lose feeling in my legs,” Rainbow grunted, getting to her hooves. Twilight helped with her magic, but due to her current emotions she did so rather aggressively. Rainbow hissed but didn’t say anything about it.

“Want us to go find Clear Mind? See what the victor has to say about the match?” Chaser asked.

“No, you two can stay and start the training, this probably won’t take long,” Twilight said, making way for the doorway. Dragging Rainbow with her, she marched out the exit without another word being said by anyone. Ignoring everyone and everything else, including Rainbow’s constant hissing at being dragged along, Twilight made way for their room.

Finally she arrived at her destination and her first act was to violently throw Rainbow into one of the beds. Ignoring Rainbow’s cry of pain, she looked around to make sure that Clear Mind hadn’t come here as well, and sure enough; the hollow was nowhere in sight.

“What was that for?” Rainbow asked, clutching her sides.

“Stay still,” Twilight commanded, already lowering her horn. Rainbow looked terrified, and she was right to. Twilight had never used the healing spell Trixie taught her until now, and with all her anger it might do more harm than good. Nevertheless, she concentrated and quickly fired the glowing purple orb directly into Rainbow’s chest. The grunt of discomfort from her friend calmed her down slightly.

“Hey, I think its working,” Rainbow said, sounding surprised. She watched as her bruises slowly faded into nothing. “Where’d you learn a healing spell, Twi,?”

“Trixie,” Twilight spat, sitting back on her rump.

“What? For all you know, that could’ve been like...a death spell or something,” Rainbow exclaimed.

“She used it to heal me,” Twilight explained, enunciating each word. “She’s the only reason I’ve made it this far, Rainbow Dash.”

“Well, uh,” Rainbow stammered, scratching her head.

“I don’t get why you still hate her so much,” Twilight stated, calming down. “She really helped me in the Badlands and she’s changed too. She practically shuns attention now and she’s actually a good pony.”

“Evil never changes,” Rainbow snarled, pounding her hooves together. “And she’s evil, as if being an attention hog wasn’t bad enough, imprisoning our town was going too far.”

“I’ve forgiven her for that, we all have,” Twilight said. “So why can’t you? She wasn’t in control of herself at all.”

“Why are you sticking up for her so much?” Rainbow demanded, throwing her hooves to the air. “If we’re not gonna see her again, then why do you even care?”

“Well I don’t know about never seeing her aga—”

“So what, you gonna get her a house in Ponyville?” Rainbow interrupted, eyes darted. “Or I guess since you like her so much, you might as well just have her stay at the library with you. You guys can live happily ever after!”

“Its not like that!” Twilight shouted, rage quickly returning. “I don’t like Trixie that way, you dolt!”

“Sure you don’t,” Rainbow muttered. “You don’t like anypony, because you’re a princess now and you don’t have time for that stuff.”

“That’s not it either!” Twilight practically screamed, no longer able to process her words before she said them. “I am still perfectly capable of having feelings for another pony!”

“Oh, are you?”

“Yes! I happen to have them at the moment!” Twilight quickly covered her mouth with her hooves, but it was too late. The last words she wanted to say had already been said.

“So Twilight Sparkle actually does have a crush on somepony?” Rainbow asked, her anger quickly changing to amusement. “So who is it?”

“I’m not going to tell you,” Twilight pouted, really hoping that her cheeks were still lavender.

“Why?”

“Because...”

“Mare or stallion?”

“M-mare.”

“Do I know her?”

“You could say that.”

“Is she awesome?”

“I hate to say it, but yeah she really is.”

“Its me, isn’t it?”

“What?!”

For the past few sentences, Twilight forgot who she was talking to, basically leaving her mouth on autopilot. Now she knew that she couldn’t trust autopilot to keep secrets. She would question how Rainbow guessed perfectly, but the hints were rather obvious.

“You like me, don’t you?” Rainbow asked, a large grin plastered on her face.

“I...I don’t understand what you’re talking about,” Twilight stammered, hiding her face.

“Man, you’re terrible at hiding things, Twi’,” Rainbow laughed. “Just admit you like me and you know, explain why or whatever.”

“W-why should I?”

“Just do it, come on.”

“N-no.”

“Nothing bad is gonna happen, I already know,” Rainbow pointed out. “Just admit it, Twi’.”

Twilight looked up into Rainbow’s eyes, the same eyes that she had become infatuated with. Then to her wings, the wings that gave her her insane speed. Her colorful hair that made her so unique compared to everyone else. She had to admit it, it was going to drive her insane otherwise.

“Rainbow Dash,” Twilight said, slowly and carefully. “I-I like you.”

“Sorry,” Rainbow laughed. “Didn’t quite catch that, can you repeat yourse—”

“I like you!” Twilight shouted, feeling the wave of emotions crash down on her. “You, Rainbow Dash, so-called fastest pegasus in Equestria! Yeah you’re fast, but you’re also annoying, rude, borderline insane, hyperactive, I can’t even find enough negative words to describe you! Fortunately for you, there are also positive words: loyal, brave, caring, pretty, I guess ‘awesome.’ You’re the craziest pony I’ve ever met, but my life would be boring without you and the girls.”

“Mostly me though, right?” Rainbow asked, relatively unaffected by Twilight’s verbal assault.

“I hate you!” Twilight exclaimed, effectively letting out all her frustration. “And I also really like you...for some reason. But if you ever get yourself beat up again just because you can’t respect someone, I’ll tear all the feathers off your wings!”

“Okay, so that’s a new one,” Rainbow chuckled. “But I’ll try my best not to get beat up if you’ll stop almost getting killed by every enemy we come across.”

“I-I’ll try, but I’m going to be on the frontlines a lot from now on,” Twilight stated. “I don’t know how likely it is that—”

“Just say ‘okay’ egghead,” Rainbow said softly, getting closer.

“Uh, okay,” Twilight said simply.

“Good, I’ll hold you to that,” Rainbow stated, winking. “And Twi’?”

“Yeah?”

“I really like you too.”

Before she knew what was happening...she had no idea what was happening. All her brain could comprehend was that Rainbow’s lips were pressed against hers, and it felt amazing. She wasn’t sure exactly what she was feeling, but she knew that her heart was threatening to burst and her face was growing hotter than the sun. At some point, she realized that she should probably start kissing back. Unfortunately, this was her first time so she really hoped her attempt at returning the kiss wasn’t embarrassing. After who knows how long, they broke apart, mostly for air, although she suspected that Rainbow was just recovering stamina to go again.

“I bet that was your first kiss, huh?” Rainbow snickered, leaning on her back, giant grin plastered on her face.

“Of course that’s the first thing you say,” Twilight sighed, wearing an equally huge smile.

‘I’m just teasing...it probably was though,” Rainbow tried unsuccessfully to whisper that last part to herself.

“Whatever, look, we have to get back to training before Stickler beats us up herself,” Twilight exclaimed, nervously glancing at the doorway.

“Whatever yourself,” Rainbow shrugged, leaving the bed and trotting up to Twilight. “I’ve been waiting a long time for this, and I can take another beating or two.”

“That’s great for you, but what about me?” Twilight asked, raising one eyebrow. “I sure don’t wanna get beaten up by Sleeping Shadow or something.”

“Uh, good point, let’s hurry back,” Rainbow stated nervously, heading towards the door.

Twilight quickly followed, and galloped alongside Rainbow to reach the training room. As she galloped, she allowed the situation to sink in. Were she and Rainbow...an item? How exactly did these things happen anyway? Did they need to come to an official agreement or was the kiss enough? It was sure going to be tough training with all this on her mind.

When they reached the training room, they were immediately greeted by Applejack and Chaser doing push-ups. As soon as she saw them entering, Applejack immediately shook her head viciously. Chaser just looked too tired to do any sort of signal. Twilight began to back away slowly when she heard her doom calling.

“Well!” shouted Stickler, suddenly appearing out of thin air. “The Princess came running back to the castle. And she brought her servant with her!”

“Servant?” Rainbow exclaimed, sounding eager to challenge authority for the second time in the past hour. “I think I prefer ‘knight’ thanks.”

“You like the term, you gotta earn it,” Stickler spat, darting her deadly eyes. “Now both of you drop to the ground and give me about two hundred push-ups.”

“T-two hundred?” Twilight whimpered. “Why not say...twenty?”

“You’re right Princess,” Stickler smirked, complementing the permanent evil look in her eye. “Let’s make it two hundred and twenty, starting now.”

Twilight felt her jaw drop and was about to pick it up, but decided against it. In a moment her entire body would be dropping to the ground, and she wasn’t sure if she’d be getting back up. She glanced at Rainbow to see if she was having similar thoughts, but was only met with a shrug in return.

“Now!” Stickler shouted, getting way too close. After Twilight’s constant encounters with evil, she never thought she would be intimidated by a loud pony. And yet here she was, adjusting her body to perform the first of two hundred and twenty push-ups.

“First time doing physical activity, Your Majesty?” Stickler mocked, glaring as Twilight continued her push-up marathon. “Let me know if it gets too hard and I’m sure we can find you a place in intel or something.”

“Why don’t you just lay off?” Rainbow grunted in-between her push-ups.

“Why don’t you shut up before you get disciplined again?” Stickler growled back. “So far my job has included training anyone Commander Heart throws at me. I’ve never gone against what Commander has asked of me, but I draw the line at training princesses!”

“What do y’all have against princesses around here?” Applejack asked, apparently having no trouble with her push-ups. Chaser seemed too focused on his set to say anything. At least that’s what the look on his face said.

“Look, you should know that princesses have bad reputations here and to me, you’re no exception,” Stickler spat, her voice becoming verbally unstable. “A princess got us into this mess, and I refuse to believe that another one can get us out. You’d be better off staying out of our way.”

To her friends, it seemed like Stickler was insulting Twilight, but to Twilight herself...she was telling the truth. From the beginning, Twilight wanted to stay out of the action and do intel, but Commander Heart wanted her on the front-line of the war. Now she felt like she was at a crossroads. Should she back down and convince Commander to let her into intel, or should she stand up and prove that she’s ready for battle?

“Instructor Stickler,” Twilight grunted, continuing her push-ups at a faster pace, “I don’t know what Princess Cel—erm, the other princess did to cause you all to lose faith in us, but don’t judge me because of the past. I have every intention of helping you all save The Hollow, and I truly believe that the best way to accomplish that is by entering the battlefield myself. So please, just train me, I don’t care how you do it or how intense the training is, just...just make me a soldier. I want to save you all.”

Twilight continued her painful pushing process, attempting to ignore the reactions of her friends. The attempt failed as she noticed Rainbow smirk with an audible snicker. Applejack mumbled something about Twilight’s inner strength. Chaser’s eyes said a thousand words, although none of them seemed to be about her speech....

She couldn’t blame anyone for being shocked, Twilight somewhat surprised herself. She just threw away any chance she had of living the peaceful life she always envisioned. Applejack’s words of wisdom said that her newly found violent side didn’t have to change who she was. Now she was embracing it, and carving her own legacy like the Commander said. She stopped her exercise marathon for a moment to look at Instructor Stickler. For the first time, Twilight couldn’t read Stickler’s face. It was as emotionless as Clear Mind’s voice. Finally she turned away from Twilight, and instead watched the other hollows spar.

“You may stop once you’ve reached fifty...Twilight,” Stickler mumbled, still facing away.

Greatly relieved, Twilight let out a small sigh and lowered herself to the ground with a smile.

“That goes for all of you,” Stickler decided, facing them once more. Her raised eyebrows and straight mouth told Twilight that she’d finally impressed the instructor. Declaring to save an entire country will have that effect. “You can all stop once you hit fifty push-ups, then we get started for real. Building muscle is great and all, but we’re all about technique here. Muscle can wait, the way you use it can’t.”

“So what are you saying? Again? Exactly?” Rainbow grunted, the confusion seeping into her voice. Twilight wasn’t surprised by how easily Rainbow could perform push-ups, but she was jealous. Doing a push-up by itself was so boring, she needed to find a way to read and exercise at the same time.

“I’m saying that the reason we’re so big on sparring here is because it refines technique,” Stickler explained, “just look around you.”

Once more, their attention was directed at the training hollows. It was at that time when Twilight realized that none of them were very muscular, instead they were narrow and extremely quick. Some of the matches merely appeared as blurs, especially the pegasi. She also took notice of the way the unicorns fought, taking on a “blast and dodge” sort of tactic. Considering she was both unicorn and pegasus, which fighting style would she adopt?

“Okay, so everypony is crazy awesome and you want us to be more like them, we get it,” Rainbow grunted, having just finished her push-ups. “Question is...how do we do that?”

Stickler lunged forward at Rainbow and tried to land an overhead blow. Luckily, Rainbow had good enough reflexes to stop that attack, but failed to counter the hit to the stomach that came afterwards. Stickler followed up with a powerful buck that rivaled Applejack’s, knocking Rainbow backwards. Twilight’s first instinct was to rush to her aid, but couldn’t because she hadn’t reached fifty push-ups yet. Helping Rainbow was one thing, getting punished by Stickler was another thing entirely.

“What,” Rainbow coughed, rising to her hooves, “was that...for?!”

“Practice makes perfect, if you’re gonna get the technique down, you’re gonna have to train, spar, spar again and train some more in order to get it down,” Stickler stated, not at all winded from her sudden assault.

“Uhh, that’s cool and all, but that sounds like a lot of work,” Rainbow groaned, laying on her back. “I mean, we’re already pretty awesome, do we really need training?”

Forty-eight...forty-nine...fifty! With a heave of victory (and exhaustion), Twilight pushed herself on her back. Her heaving slowed into panting as she wiped the sweat off her forehead. As she got her breathing under control, she slowly realized that the conversation had gone quiet. She turned towards her friends and realized with horror that they had indeed stopped talking, and were now staring directly at her.

“Ahem,” Twilight cleared her throat in an effort to mask her embarrassment. It didn’t work. “Um, i-it’s been a while since I’ve done push-ups. Heh.”

Rainbow slammed her hoof onto her face and let it rest there. Applejack, who’d also finished her push-ups, merely shook her head and lowered her hat, a move all too familiar. Chaser continued his exercise, but she could’ve sworn she heard a snicker come from his direction.

“Yes, you do really need training,” Stickler stated, maintaining a straight face.

“Ugh, thanks a lot, Twi’,” Rainbow groaned in frustration. “Now she thinks we’re out of shape. You know Stickler, I’m a professional daredevil—”

Twilight snickered at the word “professional”. Rainbow shot her a look that clearly marked her for payback and continued.

“—so I don’t think I need all this training junk, I’m naturally in shape.”

Twilight let out another snicker, much louder this time. She definitely heard a growl come from Rainbow this time. She was almost scared...almost.

“Look, you could all be professional bodybuilders for all I care, you’re still taking my training,” Stickler demanded, her orange eyes practically radiating light. “You told me that I would have your respect, and what I need you to do with it is obey me. I need to guarantee that all of our recruits are ready to fight. We need only the finest soldiers if we’re gonna end the mad king. It’s no secret that Commander Heart wants that guy’s head on a stake.”

“Ahem,” Chaser grunted, pushing himself onto his side. “Done with my push-ups. Now that we’re all done, hows about we get down to business?”

“Down to business? Princess could barely survive her set of push-ups,” Stickler glared at her, and due to the “princess” comment, she had the courage to glare back.

“Yeah, but that doesn’t change the fact that she’s most likely going to be leading this army into battle,” Chaser said, smiling slightly as he did so. “Therefore, its only right for you to treat her as if she was any old recruit. Which, by the way, is what she’s been asking for the whole time.”

Any negative feelings Twilight had for Chaser were erased as he voiced her thoughts exactly. She was surely ready for whatever Stickler had to throw at them, how bad could it be?

“Hmm, here’s the deal, you’re going to prove to me who’s ready and who isn’t,” Stickler grinned, clearly enjoying whatever she was imagining.

“And how are we going to do that?” Chaser asked, looking unsure of what reaction he had created.

“Chaser, Applejack, you two are fine, but I would enjoy a little sparring match between the least fit...and the most fit.”

Twilight’s face dropped, as did the faces of her friends. The least fit? As unflattering as it sounded, that was definitely her. As for the most fit...Applejack?

“You all heard me, Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash, front and center!” Stickler commanded, the look in her eyes utterly terrifying.

Her heart dropping out of her chest, Twilight slowly stepped forward. Rainbow did the same, with hesitation completely covering her face. She stopped in front of Stickler and faced Rainbow. Twilight suspected that at the moment, her face was a mirror of Rainbow’s. It was bad enough fighting one of her friends, but she had no idea what Rainbow was at the moment. Although whatever they were, it certainly wasn’t good that they were already fighting.

“Recruits, stop training!” Stickler shouted to the populace. “And watch the match of the century go down right now!”

“You and Commander Heart are finally gonna spar for us?” shouted one of the hollows. His comment immediately received whoops and cheers. Twilight had to admit that even though she hadn’t really seen either of them fight, she would pay to see that match.

“No, but I’m sure you watch that in your head when you pass out from the five hundred push-ups I’m assigning you,” Stickler growled in response. That reply received even louder cheers from the hollows. The one who said the comment looked like he’d just lost a bet. “Anyway, I want you all to observe this match, because I’m sure we’ll all be talking about it for a while. Princess Twilight versus her royal knight and survivor of Clear Mind’s wrath, Rainbow Dash.”

The crowd erupted into a chorus of murmurs and quiet conversations. She wondered if it was because to the match, or because of the magic word: “princess”.

“Feel free to begin at any time ladies, I’ll be over here, and they’ll be over there,” Stickler snickered, moving aside with a spring in her step. At this point, all eyes were on them, but their eyes were only on each other.

She liked Rainbow, and Rainbow liked her too. Sparring wasn’t really bad, it wasn’t hostile, it was just to improve skill. Unfortunately, she just couldn’t justify hitting Rainbow square in the face. Could she defeat her opponent non-lethally? Well the whole match was non-lethal but...this train of thought was getting her nowhere. What was Rainbow thinking? Didn’t matter, if she didn’t make her move soon... The legs, she would go for the legs. If she could (temporarily) paralyze Rainbow, then the match would end and she would win. Good plan, Twilight, good plan.

The look on Rainbow’s adorable face made her regret devising a plan to incapacitate her at all. She would just find a way to make it up to her later though. Readying her stance, Twilight prepared to lunge forward and sweep at Rainbow’s muscular legs. Although it would go way smoother if she wasn’t so distracted by her...body. Preparing to lunge...still preparing...Rainbow has the world’s cutest ears...and LUNGE!

“STOP!” shouted a voice from the room entrance. Insanely confused, Twilight landed a few feet to the right of Rainbow...on her side. Groaning, she looked to the source and saw two hollows standing in the Resistance’s signature vest with armored helmets to boot.

“Oh, did we interrupt a match?” the slightly larger one asked. “Because—”

“Shush,” barked the more narrow one. “Instructor Stickler, we need to borrow um, a lot of your soldiers.”

“Oh? And why is that?” Stickler asked, nonchalantly.

“Because...we’re under attack.”

Right on cue, a soft explosion echoed through the room. It clearly came from above, but they were so far below that it must’ve been a very big explosion. She expected the hollows to erupt in group chatter, but they remained silent with serious expressions.

“And just what are we being attacked by?” Stickler demanded to know, instantly becoming serious.

“The report said that they were pony-like, with black bodies covered in white specks. Almost as if they were made out of the night sky.

Twilight instantly made eye contact with Rainbow, then Applejack. Their eyes gave all the confirmation she needed. They’d been found...by the Starponies.