W.A.F.E.

by DNA Hochburger

Squads of idiots

Princess Celestia and Princess Luna circle each other, both deep in thought. They are like that for a couple of hours already, unsure what to do. Finally there is a knock at the door and both sisters snap their heads towards in and say in perfect unison, "Come in."

It opens and a female pegasus guard steps in. She has a bright yellow coat that is partially covered under her golden armor, her blue mane sticks out from her helmet a bit. To be precise she is the guard that has also been with Princess Celestia when she was at the Castle of the Elements the other day. Flash Strike salutes. "Lieutenant Flash, reporting for duty."

"At ease," begins the monarch of the sun, causing the guard to lower her hoof. "Thank you for coming on such a short notice. You can probably remember DNA from the conversation yesterday. My sister and I would like your honest opinion on him."

"He was strange for sure. When I saw him for the first time, that was when FREEZER wanted to finish the captain, I was scared especially when he disarmed us so easily. But then he talked to us as if we were just recruits and I felt like one again, so I followed his orders without questioning him. After the captain and his sister left he had a plan where everything we had brought with us should go. The next couple of hours he helped us and even joked around even when it was a bit awkward in the beginning. He even involved the foals when they came. DNA made a job that would have been tedious, fun. After we were done and he talked to me, I felt again as he is my superior, but I could trust him," she sighs, "Honestly, I don´t know what to think about him. While he acts extremely kind, I can´t help but think that he is hiding something."

"Then let us ask you another question. If he were your commanding officer and a war were to break out, would you follow him onto the battlefield?" continues Luna.

"Yes!" answers the pegasus mare immediately without even thinking about it. She folds her ears back, a bit nervous. "I don´t know why, but for some reason I feel like I could trust him."

The two sisters look at each other shortly before they turn back to the guard and Celestia continues, "After you left he said that he would indeed be willing to train some of our guards. That is why my sister and I called you here today. You met him, saw how he acts, had a deeper conversation with him and are a guard. We think you are one of the most qualified ponies to help us with our decision."

Flash Strike ponders for a moment before she gives her opinion. "If you should accept his offer then the guards that you sent should have a strong bond between them alreaady as well as an open mind, varying personalities and strengths to have a balance between them. If they had a good teamwork that would be even better."

The lunar sister nods. "We agree. Do you already have a squad in mind."

"Well... If you really want to just send one squad, then I have two squads in mind. The Light and the Shadow squad."

"And why is that?" questions the older alicorn.

"I know a pony from each squad since they were just foals, to be more precise my son is in one of the squads and his childhood friend is in the other," explains Flash Strike the lightest of blushes forming on her face.

Princess Luna takes an agitated step towards the guard. "So you use your position to give your son the chance to move up?"

Before the lieutenant can respond Celestia puts a wing in front of her sister. "Luna, Lieutenant Flash Strike is already working for me for many years. She isn't a pony to do something like this. I am sure she has a reason for suggesting these squads to us," while she says the last part she turns her head towards the yellow mare signaling her to start explaining herself.

Flash Strike harrumphs before she starts. "In my position I don't have a lot to do with young young, which I think is important for this mission. For one the least amount of recruits wants to come to the palace guard and it doesn't make it easier that I have already mostly to do with the higher ranks. But because my son is in one of the squads and his oldest friend in the other I had plenty of chances to get to know both of their squads. If you want a wider selection I suggest talking to Armmaster Red, he has the most to do with the recruits."

The sun monarch lowers her wing before speaking again, "Very well. We will do this. You are dismissed."

The smallest mare in the room salutes before departing.

---

Several hours later Princess Celestia, one dozen guards and a messenger walk through the halls of the guard academy, ponies bowing or saluting left and right. They continue their way until they reach the door of a certain instructor. She knocks before a gruff voice calls from the other side, "Come in."

The princess of the sun opens the door and steps in alone before closing it behind her. The whole room is clustered with papers, leaving only one small path to the desk. On said desk sits a large darkish red earth pony stallion with a dark brown mane where a couple of gray hair already are. He currently has some papers in his hoofs and without looking up he says, "If this is about the attacks, file a report and put them in my cabinet. If it's about something else, leave me alone, I already have enough on my hoofs as it is."

"Attacks? Should I be concerned?" replies Celestia, while raising an eyebrow.

The stallion finally looks up from his papers and responds, "Ah Princess," without sounding necessarily surprised. "I don't think you need to concern yourself with these attacks. Just a bunch of racist unicorns attacking the other two tribes and in one case a griffon. Nobody has died yet and I'm sure we will have them soon. But I'm sure that isn't why you are here. What can I do for you today?"

"I have a mission, for which I need a squad of guards. They should be as young as possible, but should be good none the less. Can you maybe point me to some?" inquires the white pony.

Red taps his chin in thought. "In all honesty, Princess, I have to admit that the recruits we get in year for year are getting gradually worse. The percentage of ponies passing is sinking too." He stops thinking again for a second. "Could you maybe give me some more pointers as to what you need?"

"I think I will just give you the whole situation."

One explanation later.

"Well I see what you, your sister and your lieutenant mean. Well if what I think is true I may have two squads for you. The Light and the Shadow squad. Probably some of the best ponies that graduated at this academy for years... Well with exception of Armmaster White and her squad," explains the red stallion.

He says the same as Lieutenant Flash, thinks Celestia. "Could you maybe tell me a bit more about the ponies in these squads."

"Of course, Princess." He clears his throat. "The Light squad consists of the blue unicorn leader, Night Light, the pink earth pony Gleaming Coat and the pegasus Flash Sentry. I haven't seen anypony use the scythe better than Night Light for a long time. I would even dare say he can use it better than Armmaster White. Gleaming Coat exceeds in hoof to hoof combat. And Flash Sentry can use the sword better than the average.

"The three members of Shadow squad are the dark brown leader Dark Voice, the dark green unicorn Shadow Slash and the dark thestral Blood Raven. Dark Voice focuses on using small weapons ranging from short swords, to daggers to mini crossbows. Shadow Slash has a surprising amount of skill with the long sword and his skill equals that of Night Light. And Blood Raven is probably the weakest out of all of them, but she is also the one that trains the most. She started with a normal sword and had some problems with its weight. So I gave her a short sword and she seems to be alright with it," finishes the armmaster his summary.

She nods once before saying, "And what can you tell me about their personalities and backgrounds?"

He inspects her before he begins again, "As I understand it they have quite the interesting relation between them. Night Light and Shadow Slash are cousins, both coming from extremely wealthy families. They are both more reserved, but Night Light is a bit more talkative than his cousin. Flash Sentry and Blood Raven are childhood friends, but she had some problems when she was younger. She was put in front of an orphanage when she was a baby and growing up she was bullied for being a thestral. It seems Flash was her only friend until they came here. Here she started coming out of her shell and gaining confidence.

Dark Voice has probably the most tragic story out of all of them. His farther left his mother and him when he was born and he lived together with her in the barber shop that she owned. One day he came home and saw his mother being killed by a group of stallions. In the investigation it was never really cleared how, but when the guards arrived there were three dead stallions and one badly injured one. It seems Dark Voice used a pair of scissors to do this alone. Seeing as he wasn't old enough yet and that it was self defense he didn't got any punishment, but instead recognizing his skill he was accepted into the academy despite his young age. That is the reason he is the leader of his squad.

And lastly there is Gleaming Coat. He was put as a baby on a door step in a shady part of Manehatten. There he grew up quite well and although the family that took him in was really poor he is one of the most cheerful ponies I have ever met." He pauses shortly before continuing, "When they were assigned to their squads the six of them became friends quickly. And I think Gleaming Coat and Dark Voice are a couple." Red coughs into his hoof, when he remembers who he is talking to. "All in all they are good ponies and are competent."

Celestia raises a hoof to her chin as she thinks about the information she was given, when she notices someponies information is missing. "And what about Flash Sentry?"

"Flash? He is the most average one. He finished school with average marks, only exceeding in sports. If I can remember right he had some problems in math. Like I already said he has some skill with the sword, but not too outstanding. His father makes the bread for the guards and his mother is a lieutenant. I think there isn't a single thing that sticks out particular." He thinks for another second. "No there is one thing. He has problems doing nothing for a long time, for example standing guard."

"So there isn't anything that makes him stand out?" digs Celestia further.

"No. He seems to be socially active. He goes to clubs. I think he is the most normal one of 'em," answers the stallion.

Celestia thinks for a moment before nodding and conjures a piece of paper and a quill. She writes a quick note before sending it off in a green flame.

"Princess?"

"I just send the one I told you of a letter if he wants to train one of them or if he wants to train both of them," replies the sun monarch, not even needing to hear the full question. "While I wait for a responds, how about you show me around the academy that I can see how everything is holding up."

The large stallion stands up. "Of course, princess."

As he walks around the table a green flash appears in the air and a second later a scroll falls down, which is quickly caught by the princesses magic. She looks apologetic to the armmaster. "I am sorry, but I have to read this immediately." She unfurls it and is surprised to find that it is from DNA.

The letter reads as follows: Hiya Celestia! I've read the information you sent me and I like what you presented me with. Thing is I can't decide with just a piece of paper. Gotta see um up close! I'm probably going to see the candidates at the speech. Just bring them all. See ya!

"Well it seems that this is cleared up now," states princess of the sun, more to herself than for Red. She calls another blank paper before she writes an order on it seals it and levitates it outside to the messenger who then proceeds to fly back to the castle to deliver it.

"Princess, should I still escort you through the academy?"

She thinks for a second before answering, "Yes please. I could use the time when I'm here anyways. Besides when I come here for just a couple of minutes ponies can get nervous."

---

A day later the group of six ponies leaves the briefing room, where they got their their vague mission intel.

"So we got off the rest of the day. What do you guys wanna do?" asks the yellow-orange pegasus his five companions.

"How 'bout we get down to chow hall and grab something to eat? I'm starving," suggests the pink earth pony.

"Yeah, because somepony forgot to go shopping," accuses Blood Raven, who has a brilliant red mane and tail with a dirty-white coat currently, while she glares at Gleaming Coat slightly.

"It wouldn't be the first time that he forgot it," interjects Night Life.

Flash lets his head drop with a sigh before he remembers where he is and puts its up again. "That still doesn't make it better."

But then comes the reply from Dark Voice in his usual dark, amused voice that is like sugar in the ears, "In his defense, he helped me with some important leader stuff."

Everypony of their group knows what stuff they do behind closed doors. At least it was only behind closed doors. But they all accept how their two teammates express their love for each other and agreed to leave them be.

"Sure," comes the reply deadpan reply of the rest of the team, as they make their way to the guard cafeteria. After they enter the mess hall they each get their preferred food before sitting together at an empty table.

"So, what do you guys think about the mission?" asks the only mare of the group before she takes a bite out of her apple.

"You mean other than it being vague as buck?" responds the leader of Shadow squad casually, while putting some chocolate sirup that he took from Gleaming Coat into his oats.

"Yes besides that," is the answer of her, which is accompanied by a roll of her eyes.

"Probably just a bodyguard job."

"But don't you think it's weird that they said we should bring anything personal that we want to bring?" inquires the blue unicorn before taking a spoon full of oats.

They stay silent for a moment before Flash says, "Probably just a special request by one of these snobby nobles."

The rest of the group thinks about it for a couple of seconds the most of them voice their agreements, except Shadow Slash, who just continues to munch on his food.

"Well," begins the male pegasus as he stands up, "I'm going to go to the training grounds."

"Wait! I'm gonna join you!" exclaims his childhood friend also standing up.

He turns around to the table again and asks, "Is anypony going to join us?"

"Shadow and me are going to join you later on maybe," tells them Night Light.

"Me and Gleam are going to do some personal training, so don't expect us," is Darks answer.

The two winged ponies roll their eyes in synchronization before walking out.

---

The following day the same group of ponies walk through the hallways of the castle, but this time something is different. For one they don't have their armor on which makes three of them look much different. To be precise the three members of Shadow squad. Dark Voice's light brow fur is now much darker and his mane and tail are now black. Shadow Slash's white mane and tail are now a muddy brown and his coat is a dark green. And Blood Raven's before light red mane and tail are now a deep crimson with her coat being a dark gray and her bat like wings showing.

"It feels weird walking around the palace without armor," states the thestral mare.

"Yeah," adds Flash Sentry.

Night Light nods. "I agree."

"It's almost as if we are doing something forbidden," states Gleaming Coat as he looks suspicious around them.

The rest of them ignore him except Dark Voice who first chuckles before putting a hoof around his coltfriend lovingly.

After a short trip through the palace they reach a door, that leads to the royal chariot place. They step through it and descend the stairs. When they reach the bottom they salute to the two ponies that are already waiting for them.

Princess Celestia says, "At ease." The two squads lower their hoofs. "I am sure you asked yourself already what your mission entails seeing as you got very little information on it until now. The mission is not a real mission per say, but it is actually training. Now if this were normal training this wouldn't be handled as we are handling it. Instead this is a special kind of training, as he described it. Now he said I need to give you a choice on were ether you want to be trained by him or not and that I have to give you following warning. The training that he will put you through will put immense pressure not only on your body, but also on your mind and soul. In some instances this will include things that are considered embarrassing and or gruesome. He said that you will need to stay at his until you finish training." She stops as she looks at the ponies before her. "After hearing this do you accept?"

There is an erie silence on the platform as the six ponies think about what the princess said. But not for long as the first reply comes from Shadow Slash. "Yes!"

His friends look to him shocked. It is rare for him to talk and even rarer for him to take the initiative so is naturally a surprise to them that he is the first to answer. After staring a couple of moments at him they turn to Celestia and one by one agree.

"Very well then. There are still a couple of things you need to know before you arrive there. For one there is a reason I only referred to your trainer as he. He is not a pony and his name is DNA. His race is called human," explains Celestia, but stops when Night Light raises a hoof. "Yes?"

"How much will we need to concern ourself with him?"

The princess suppresses a sigh before she replies, "Not much, but there is another human for which I can not say the same. His name is FREEZER and it seems he doesn't listen to or respects anybody, but DNA. Furthermore my sister and I predict that you are going to be interacting with the bearers of the elements from now on and I want you, on their request, to not treat them like celebrities. I addition you won´t be royal Canterlot guards from now. Instead you will be part of a specilized unit that my sister and I are still setting up, but basically the only ponies you have to report to from now is Princess Luna, me and Lieutenant Flash Strike. We expect a report from each of you bi-weekly. And lastly DNA is currently foalsitting four foals. Three of them are going to leave at the end of the week, the fourth one seems to be staying with him for now. That is everything for now. Are there any more questions?"

There are still plenty of questions, but not a single one is voiced by the guards. After a couple of moments of silence the sun monarch nods. "Very well." She begins to charge up her horn. "This is disorientating the first couple of times." And in an bright flash the eight ponies disappear.

---

They reappear a second later at the edge of the Everfree a meter in the air. Celestia lands on her hoofs and so does Lieutenant Flash, not as gracefully as the princess, but still better than the other six ponies as their faces meet the ground.

The princess of the sun turns around to look at them. "I´m sorry, but the first time teleporting is always hard. Are you alright?"

The ex-guards stand up a bit shakingly. "We are fine, Princess. Thank you for your concern."

"That is good. Now let´s get moving," says the sun monarch as she starts moving, with the other seven walking behind her.

After a bit of walking they reach the entry of the forest with a group of mares standing in it. As they get closer one of the mares, a blue pegasus, indicates to the others that they approach. The princess group stops a couple of meters in front of the mares.

"Good morning to you all," greets Princess Celestia the female civilans. They reply with their own replies before the Princess turns around to her companions. "This here are the element bearers," starts the co-ruler, "You will be seeing them in future. Be sure to get along with them." She turns around, while pointing at the six former royal guards. "This are Flash Sentry, Gleaming Coat, Night Light, Dark Voice, Shadow Slash and Blood Raven. They are the trainees to be. The same goes for you."

They nod, but something far more interesting occupies them at the moment. That being that Pinkie Pie and Gleaming Coat look quite a bit alike. To be precise they are completely identical safe for three features: their gender, their cutie mark and one of them has a slightly more gleaming coat.

"Okay now that´s weird," states Rainbow Dash pointing out the obvious.

"Agreed. They are like the same pony, but with a different gender," confirms Rarity.

"Ah don´t know 'bout you, but it´s mighty fine to meet ya. Ah´m Applejack," welcomes them Applejack while offering a hoof.

Flash accepts it first. "Hi."

Night takes it after his friend let go of it. "A pleasure to meet you," says the unicorn in his usual cool, but not unpleasant tone.

The next to take the hoof is Blood Raven. "Nice to meet you."

Shadow Slash just nods to the orange farm pony.

Dark Voice shakes her hoofs as the last. "Hello." His voice sends a shiver through the mares.

The orange earth pony also offers it to the last of them, but he ignors it and just continues to stare at his female counterpart.

The yellow pegasus male waves a hoof infront of his pink companions face. "Hey Gleam, you there?"

The action is mimic by the rainbowed maned pegasus, but by the other pink pony. "Hey Pinks, anypony home?"

Not a second later both of the pink ponies vanish, leaving only a note behind. Twilight picks it up and reads it out loud, "Go on without us, we will meet you at DNAs." She looks up at her mentor for what to do.

She clears her throat. "Yes, I think they are correct. Let us go, we still have a schedule to keep." And with that the group of nine ponies enter the Everfree forest.

---

"How fast are you?" asks Rainbow the male pegasus.

"I guess I can get a decent speed, but I´m more an endurance flier," replies Flash. "Blood here is actually faster than me."

"I'm not that much faster than you," responds the thestral with a blush that is well hidden under her dark fur.

"Endurance is so boring," states the blue mare, letting out a groan. "I´m more a speed type."

Twilight rolls her eyes at her friends behavior. She turns to the two unicorns that walk next to her. "Do you specialize in any kind of magic?"

"If I had to give a specilation, it would be manipulation. I´m pretty good at working with levitation. But I guess I have a fare arsenal of runic enchantments," answers Night Life. "Shadow, is a lot better at magic than me."

"Oh," is the only reply from the magic student. While she thinks it´s a shame that he doesn´t use spells, she understands that not every unicorn makes more use of their magical reservoir. At least the other one does. "So what is it that you carry with you?"

It´s true. Each of them carrys something wrapped in a cloth.

He ponders for a second before answering, "I guess we can show you." He nods to his couisin who mirrors the gesture.

The blue one levitates his from its position and unwraps it from its protection first. What the ponies see lets most of them stop in fear. The object hidden by the fabric is a scythe, but it´s no ordinary scythe. It has a black-purple colour and the point where the handle meets the blade is connected with a rough looking blob of the same material, but despite it looking so chunky one can clearly tell it is made to look exacly like that. From the meeting point two lines snake down the shaft one clockwise and the other counter clockwise, intersecting in regular intervals. At the bottom they meet to encompass a glowing red crystal. Furthermore on the blade itself are multiple runes that glow a soft white.

Next unravels the green bulky unicorn his equipment. If Night Lights weapon looks like a deadly masterpiece, then his looks like it was desinged by a foal with building blocks. On the handle, that is nothing more than a leg long cylinder, sits a giant rectangular box on which in turn sits a triangle. All in all it looks more than a club imitating a sword than anything that is meant to cut. If you were to try to cut anything with it you would either crush or squash it. Honestly it's longer than Princess Celestia. The only think that sticks slightly out are the GIANT runes on either side of blade.

"Are they made from IDM?" question Twilight in disbelieve.

"I am honestly suprised you know about it," states the scythe wielding unicorn flatly.

"You maybe wanne explain what this IDM is, sugarcube?"

The purple unicorn turns around to her friends. "IDM, or ice demon material, is an extremly expensive material that has unique properties that are in no other material to find. It is said an evil tyrant thousands of years ago loved it and used it despite the inconveniences."

"How expensive exactly, Twilight?" pokes Rainbow Dash further her interest taken.

"Well..." begins the element of magic as she inspects the weapon.

"The material alone cost four million bits, at least mine," explicates the unicorn guard.

More than one mouth hits the ground.

"F-four million..." starts Rarity almost falling, the only reason she doesn´t is because Fluttershy manages to catch her.

"From where do you have that kind money?"

"Their families are kinda rich," elaborates Flash.

Twilight shakes her head to get the shock away. "But that´s not everything. That gem is a high quality heat crystal and the runes are also not from a beginner."

"I think the gem was four thousand when I remember correctly, but the runes are from myself," explains Night Light.

Princess Celestia turns her head slightly just enough to see the truly fear infusing weapons. The lieutenant has of course warned her that they would be bringing the deadly tools with them and how they have a darkish aura about them, but to see them is a totally different thing.

"They are impressive, aren't they?" asks the mare next to her without taking her gaze away from the path.

"I have to admit I underestimated them," admits the princess of the sun. It is the complete truth. The weapons rival the personal weapons of her own and her sisters.

"So I have a question," butts Rainbow in. "How do ya plan to cut anything with this thing."

"What you see there is just the scabbard," informs them the scythe wielder. Again eyes widen. "Show them, Shadow."

With another nod the dark green unicorn takes the steath off. What lies beneath is definitely meant for cutting. There are two heavy blades seperated by a gap, which is about as thick as the neck of an average pony. At the bottom of the gap is a gem that looks identical to the one Night has on his weapon. On the blades are multiple runes.

"This is the actual blade," informs them the blue unicorn.

Their little show is stopped when an authoritative throat is cleared. "As much as I appreciate that you all get along we have to get going."

The rest of the trip went by with nothing special to happen.

The former guards eyes widen at the sight of the massive building before them. They expected a run down excuse for a castle, but instead find a surprisingly well looking castle.

"Seriously, how fast is he?" asks Rainbow.

Celestia wonders herself the same thing as she looks at the building. How fast can one po... person make all the renovation alone?

They continue their way until they reach the door, which is quickly opened by a short use of magic by Princess Celestia. As the group filters in another pony meets them. She has a blue coat under the maid uniform and it is a complete maid uniform with headwear, socks, everything.

The five element bearers would have gone into their individual fighting stances if it wasn't for aforementioned dress.

Instead after the initial jolt wears off Rainbow Dash begins laughing so hard that she falls to the ground. Even Applejack chuckles a little.

Twilight shakes her head as confusion takes over shock. "Trixie? I don't understand. Why are you here?"

The mare in question bows. "Welcome. The master is already expecting you. If you would please follow me." Her face is nothing, but stoic, betraying no emotions. She turns around and begins to walk away.

The Princess and the military ponies from the group don't acknowledge the reaction from the mares and instead follow the singular mare.

After some moments and some exchanging glances the other five ponies also follow.

A short trip trough the castle later they reach a door, which is opened by Trixie before she walks in. "Master, your guest are here." After the blue mare steps to the side the view is free for the chaos on the other side.

The kitchen is covered with flour and chocolate. In the middle of the room are standing five figures, four foals and one human, all covered in the white powder used for backing.

DNA turns towards the group. "Oh hi!" exclaims the human while waving at them.

Applebloom and Sweetie Belle run towards their respective sisters. While the yellow filly tackles Applejack and gets her a bit dirty, the white filly remembers how her sister can be and skids to a halt before her.

"Hi, Applejack/Rarity," greet both fillies their older family members.

"You look..." starts the fashionista, "... white, Sweetie."

"We are baking," replies the little marshmallow unicorn.

She lets her gaze flow over the room. "I can see that."

There is a ding sound and everyone in the room turns towards it. The sound was emitted from an alarm atop of the stove.

"It´s done! Quick! Get it out!" exclaims DNA as he puts on a pair of cooking gloves. The four foals run over to the oven and open it before the human swoops in and takes the interior out. After the steam lessen a bit the ponies can see what the biped holds in his two appendages. A platter of cookies. He goes onto his knees to put the sweets on eye level with the children, who greedily take one each. He then continues to stand up and offer one to the other ponies. That is when Pinkie Pie and Gleaming Coat come in completely out of breath. After taking one for himself he sets down the rest of the treats and asks, "So what can I do for you on this delightful day?"

"Well for one we are here to get you for the announcement I will be doing soon," starts Celestia.

DNA stops mid bite looking at the clock of his M.E.I.S.G. "Huh, already so late?" He turns to the four foals. "You four go and make yourself ready. I can´t have you go out like this," says the black clad biped before spinning around to adress the blue unicorn, "Trixie could you go with them and help them?" After the five of them leave he then looks at the to be trainees. "And I guess this are the ponies I am supposed to train," states the human as he intensly inspects the six. After looking at the them long enough his smile vanishes and he says, "Why are you here?" When they don´t answer and just look at him in confusion he continues, "Why did you accept to be trained? I know she gave you a choice."

"I want to save somepony," answers Gleaming Coat immediately.

"I have a promise to uphold," follows Night Light up instanly.

"I need strength," responds Shadow Slash.

"I want to protect somepony," retorts Blood Raven.

"I need to stop something from repeating," says Dark Voice.

The human can´t help, but grin on the inside. Perfect. He then turns to the last of the squad. But he...

Flash Sentry hesistates shortly before he respondes, "Because the princess chose me."

DNAs before neutral face shifts to a frown as he lets his gaze linger unapprovingly on the yellow-orange stallion. "Fine," is his final statement before he takes the other five back into his field of vison. "Before I agree I must warn you. The training for what I will teach is not what you might think it is. Sure, there are elements in it what you see as standard, but not all. That said, when you really accept you will be required to do things that are considered weird and in some cases even embarrassing. But if that had been all I wouldn´t be so serious about it. No. The reason for that is a complete different one.

There will come a point in your training where you wont be able to go back and have to finish it. If you still choose to abandon it, then me or FREEZER will have to take measures neither you nor we want to take. Having heard all that are still sure you want to be trained?"

They look at each other, uncertainty creeping up on them before Night Light asks, after taking a deep breath, "Why will you have to take these measures?"

The human takes off the glove covering his right hand and shows it to the ponies. On everyone of his fingers exept his thumb there is a silver ring. "I think it is time for a serious explanation on what I am going to be teaching you. It´s called simply the Power or EP for short. EP deals and strengthens body and soul, but it is not without drawback. Like so often with great power comes great responsibility. When you get far enough with your training there is a chance that you lose control and this can have terrible consequences for you and the ponies around you."

"H-how bad?" inquires Flash.

"How does a massacre sound to you?" replies DNA.

There is a shriek from the back before there is a sound of a collapsing body from the same direction.

"Fluttershy!" screams Rarity as she stands over the unmoving body from her yellow friend.

"She´s fine. She´s just unconscious," states the human.

"DNA, I think we should stop. Most of us don´t need to know this," interjects Princess Celestia.

He focuses his gaze on her. "I think the opposite. Most of you are going to either come to the point where it is possible that this happens to them, or interact with the ones who run a slim danger of doing this." He then turns his head to look at them all again. "Rainbow Dash for example wanted to ask me to train her too before she heard of what could happen. Isn´t that right?"

The blue pegasus ears lay back when everyone focuses on her before she nods.

"See? I want to make sure every single one of you understands the cons of this. Just to be clear, I am willing to train everyone who I see fit. But back to the six of you. So do you want that I train you? Yes or No?"

The former guards exchange a couple of uncerain glances before they nod.

DNA nods. "Very well. We will begin training tomorrow. Now if you will exuse me shortly I will get ready and meet you at the front entrance again." With that his smile appears on his face again as he takes another cookie for himself and makes his way deeper into the castle.

Author's Note:

FINALLY DONE! After three rewrites and two months I am finally done. This chapter is uploaded because my OP went better than expected. So yay me and I hope you enjoyed.

Luna, please. Why would you mention a war? That seems a bit rash. Right?

Does Shadow Slash give off an end boss vibe, or is that just me?