MLP: Journey Across Time

by B. J. Williams

In the Barracks

The next morning, they girls were sent to different training programs. They were able to see each other because all of the training programs were at the Barracks. Now, the first thing they had to do was learn how to stand on their rear legs for extended periods of time. Although it hurt a lot, they eventually they could do that for about 10 minutes straight. Then, they went to the different programs.

Fluttershy was in a section with animals. She was amazed by the amount of animals. They were separated by wooden fences. Her instructor was a violet colored unicorn. He had a lion head as a cutie mark.

"Look at all the cute animals." Fluttershy stated.

"Yes, they are." The instructor replied. They approached a circular area. "Now, we will begin your training as a summoner. You'll learn how to summon various creatures."

"But don't that require magic?"

"Well, mostly. However ones with a strong connection with animals, such as yourself, can also summon creatures." He was ready to cast. "This is a demo." His horn lit up and a creature appeared before her. It looked like a teddy bear with a red pom-pom on its head.

"It's… It's so cute." She went up to it and began to cuddle with it. "You're such a cute little thing, you."

"Hey, this is a training facility, not a petting zoo."

"Oh, uh sorry." She paused. "What is the creature?"

"This is a chibi bear. It was the first creature I summoned when I started training."

"I see."

“With work you can summon anything from the small creatures to the mighty aeons.”

“Um, what’s an aeon?”

“An aeon is an ancient creature. It is the reincarnation of an ancient pony hero from long ago. Did that answer your question?”

“I think so.”

"Now then remember, the first creature you summon is the default summon. Now, I want you to try."

"Okay, I’ll try." She began to summon. At first, there was nothing. She sighed. “It’s so hard.”

“I know it’s hard but I know you can do this.” She tried to summon again. Then, her cutie mark began to glow. “That’s it.” Then, suddenly there was an explosion. “Whoa.”

She looked around. "Sorry, I must have done something wrong." The smoke began to clear the creature she summoned was behind her.

"No, you did it right. But I'm amazed."

"About what?"

"You... You summoned Ifrit."

"Who's that?"

"Look behind you." She turned around. She saw what looked like a huge brown gorilla with large purple horns and claws. It had a lion's head with yellow eyes and a fiery mane.

"Oh my…" Then, the thing roared and it revealed its sharp teeth. Fluttershy was incredibly frightened by it.

“I guess that your default summon. Good luck.” Fluttershy quaked in fear.

Applejack was at the foundry where the artillery guns were built. She was noticing a large field where the cannons are tested. One of the heavy cannons there fired. She saw her instructor manning the cannon. He was a green Pegasus with a smooth gold mane. He had a stack of cannon balls as a cutie mark. He turned and noticed her.

"And you are?" the Pegasus asked.

"Applejack." She replied.

"So, you're the new student. My name is Bombard. I'll be your instructor on artillery. These guns are very powerful and are capable of large scale destruction. So, you need to be careful. Is that understood?"

"Yes sir."

"I really don't care if you use formalities or not." He paused and pulled out a grenade with the pin inside.

"What's this thing?" Applejack looked at it.

"This, Applejack, is called a grenade. It is an explosive device that is simple to use. All you need to do is pull the pin out of it and throw it in an overhoof motion." Bombard pulled the pin out using his mouth and threw the grenade into the testing field. The grenade upon hitting the ground exploded. "You can throw farther, if standing on your hind legs; that is why the commander had you guys stand on your hind legs for about thirty minutes. How are your hips?"

"They hurt, but no pain no gain."

"Can you give it a shot?"

"I can try." Applejack pulled the pin and threw it. It didn't go very far."

"Not bad for the first try."

Meanwhile, over in the gunpowder and firing range, Rarity is just upset by the "dirtiness" of the area. It was from the smell of gunpowder in the air from the muskets firing. Fortunately, the ponies had ear protection on their ears. Her instructor, Cassador, had to put up with her complaining and her whining. He was feared by his students; however,, there was no better instructor than him. Normally, he had nerves of steel but he was on his last nerve.

"Why do I have to use this stuff?" Rarity asked. "It's all dirty."

"You need to use it because it is useful." Her instructor replied he was annoyed from all of the complaining and is on his last nerve.

"But it's dirty and smells weird and…" Then, he finally snapped but not in the way Rarity had expected.

"THAT'S IT! I HAD JUST ABOUT HAD IT WITH YOU!" he shouted like a drill sergeant. "NOW, YOU ARE GOING TO USE THAT GUNPOWDER IN THAT MUSKET EITHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT!"

"But…"

"NO BACK TALKING, LITTLE LADY! EITHER YOU STRAIGHTEN UP, OR YOU WILL BE DOING PUSH-UPS FOR THE REST OF THE CLASS AND YOU WON'T LEARN A THING!!" Rarity tried to say something. "MAN UP, YOU STUPID WHINY BITCH!" Then, Rarity extremely upset almost about to cry. So, she picked up her rifle and start practicing her shots. Then, the teacher left. She looked to the pony next to her.

"Don't worry," the pony stated. "He was in a bad mood today."

"But why did he have to yell?"

"Well, you had to make him very angry by your whining. From that it turns him into an ass." On the other side of her was a donkey.

"I can second that statement." The donkey replied.

Rainbow Dash was in the mess hall with several trainees. Then, she noticed two of the trainees arm-wrestling. She went over and challenged them to arm wrestling contest. After some time, she got fans because she had won ten contests in a row.

"Yeah, who's next?" Rainbow Dash stated. "Anyone?"

"I'll take you on." Someone replied. Then, from of the crowd came Crash the rhino.

"Crash?"

"Yes. Stop being cocky and face a rhino."

"It… is… on." Then, they grabbed hands.

"Ready?" stated a pony. "GO!" Then, the contest began. Rainbow Dash at first had Crash leaning away. Then, Crash had Rainbow Dash leaning away. The advantage switched back and forth until the arms were too exhausted to continue.

"Not bad. But you can't beat me."

"I don't know about that." Crash stated. "We can switch arms."

"Okay." They switched arms and resumed the battle. At first, Rainbow Dash leaned Crash's over but ended up letting her guard down. Crash, then, used his energy to lean Rainbow's arm over and later he won. The others cheered. "Wait a minute, how is that even possible?" Then, a thing went through the window.

"DUCK!" Crash stated. The others ducked except Rainbow Dash. The thing looked cylindrical and had holes in it. It was a flash bang.

"What the hell is this thing?" Then, the flash bang went off. Then, Rainbow Dash lost her balance and her eyes derped. "Look at all the pretty colors." Then, she fell over.

"Sorry." Stated Applejack.

Pinkie was over at the hand combat area. She was going to be trained by a great swordsman. She was paired up with Basil.

“Okay, Pinkie.” the swordsman stated. “You are to whack the other person.” Both were handed wooden swords. “Ready?”

“Yeah.” Pinkie replied.

“Apparently, she has so much energy she could explode.” Basil said as a side note.

“Go.” The practice started. Pinkie Pie was able to predict every one of Basil’s movements. This was noticed by Basil and the instructor. Of course, Pinkie wasn’t even trying to block the attacks. “Stop.” The combat stopped. “Pinkie, you are supposed to be blocking his attacks.”

“Oh. Okay.”

“Now, begin.” She was not blocking the attacks only a few were actually blocked. The instructor facehoofed because Pinkie was not learning how to block the attacks. “Stop! I understand why you are not learning.” He went back and grabbed two gauntlets each one had a blackish green gem on each. Basil was asked to put them on. Pinkie Pie was worried because she sensed nothing from the gems.

“Uh, what are those things?”

“These are ezuste gems.” Basil stated.

“That makes no sense.”

“You will find out their power in about a few minutes.”

“Are we ready?” the instructor stated.

“Ready.”

“Okay.” Pinkie replied.

“Begin.” the instructor said. The combat started. However, when Pinkie started to battle him, her pinkie sense didn’t respond to his movement. Basil was able to disarm her.

“Wait, what happened? What happened to my pinkie sense?”

“You have psychic abilities or pinkie sense as you call it. You are not the only one with it.” he paused. “These stones have the power to cancel out that power, but only to those that have them.” Meanwhile, a rock was thrown at Basil. Pinkie sensed it and grabbed Basil’s sword. Then, she batted the rock like a baseball.

“That is how the stones work.” Basil stated.

“Can we do the training without them?” Pinkie asked.

“Uh, no.” the instructor replied.

Twilight Sparkle was meeting up with her instructor. She entered a room with a huge Chinese influence; unlike the barracks outside, the room was extremely peaceful. It was a round room; the walls lined with bamboo. The floor had a platform with the Taoist yin/yang symbol on it and in the middle of the room, stood her instructor Weida Ma.

“Excuse me.” Twilight asked the instructor. He turned around.

“Ah, Twilight.” Weida Ma replied. “I’ve been expecting you.”

“Wait, I remember you. I saw you yesterday.”

“You did. You are just in time for some stretches and movements. Care to join me?”

“Uh, aren’t you going to do the lesson?”

“We can do this first. Then, we can do the lesson.” Twilight was a little frustrated with his behavior, but decided to go along with it. It was primarily stretches and techniques that would get her chi (life energy) flowing.

“Okay, now I understand.”

“Understand what?”

“The way you are able to move your body. Now, I know what to teach you. But now, our lesson is done.”

“Wait, what? The lesson is finished?”

“Yes.”

“But you have taught me nothing. Absolutely nothing.” Then, a pony barged in and literally attacked Weida Ma and knocked him over. He turned to face Twilight and charged at her. She was able to block all of the opponent’s attacks. Then, triple punched the opponent and turning flying side kicked him sending the opponent flying. She stood then in a crane stance. Then, she was shocked at what she completed. “Wait a minute, how did I do that?” Weida Ma got up and so did her opponent.

“It is Wu Wei.”

“Weida Ma. You’re okay.”

“Actually, I was never hurt.” He turned to the opponent. “You okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.” the opponent stated. Weida Ma returned to Twilight.

“He really was not attacking in the first place.”

“So, why?” Twilight asked him. “Why did you set this up?”

“Would you have consciously do what you just did?”

“No, not really.”

“Look back at the things we did.” Twilight looked back and remembered. Some of the movements she did were in the stances and stretches they did previously.

“I want you to relax for now.” Twilight got into the bed and laid down to rest. When she woke up, she felt better. In fact, she felt better than before she even entered the room in the first place. Before she left for the day, she showed great appreciation to her instructor.

Comments

[Wind Whistler is love]

Well, I seem to be taking a long time to read this, sorry about that. Just wanted to say that so far I am intrigued by the plot and looking forward to seeing where this is going. And the first day of training is really funny.