W.A.F.E.

by DNA Hochburger

Training starts... kinda.

It's Saturday morning and the six former guards wake up like they do every morning in the span of a couple of minutes. When all of them are awake they form a circle in the middle of the room to discuss their next step.

"What now?" starts Flash Sentry the discussion.

"I'm not really sure," replies Blood Raven.

Their conversation is broken when something knocks three times against the door of their room. The problem is that it isn't a soft knock like one would do to asks for permission to enter, but one that rattles the whole door.

The six friends look at each other uncertain before they turn to the door, the unicorns of their group levitating their weapons next to them.

The gamboge pegasus clears his throat before calling out, "Come in."

The door is getting slammed open making the thestral flinch a bit at the noise.

There in the entrance of their room stands Trixie. A very annoyed looking Trixie, that even in her maid uniform manages to look intimidating. She inspects them for a couple of seconds with an strict gaze making them feel like they've done something wrong before she states, "Breakfast is in half a hour. Come or don't," in a harsh tone and closes the door again with enough to shake the general area.

The group of six looks at each other with a mixture of confusion and shock and Dark voices what they all think. "The buck?"

---

About half a hour later the former guards arrive at the dining room. Inside already sit the four foals with Trixie sitting with them. Her expression is different than before. Before it was despising, but now it is more indifferent while still looking not annoyed. That changes as soon as notices the military ponies entering. Her mouth changes into a frown as she stands up and says, "Please wait a second I will get you your breakfast." And with that she vanishes in an other room, presumebly the kitchen.

She returns shortly after with six plates in her magic before she places them in front of them. On them are scrambled eggs and two pieces of toast for each.

"I hope you can eat it. I'm not the best of cooks," states the light blue unicorn with an icy voice and matching look.

"That's not true!" exclaims Scottaloo with her friends nodding behind her in conirmation.

Her face shifts into a small smile as she looks down at the kids. "That's really nice of you to say," her smile gets a hint of evilness, "But you still have to do your homework." The foals groan and she continues, "Go on now. When you're done we can play together." Their attitude makes a 180 and they hurry to the exit.

Trixie follows them, but just as she is about to go out the door Flash stops her with a call. "Do you now where DNA is?"

The maid turns her head to glare at them, but after a couple of seconds she answers none-the-less. "He said he will return in the course of the day and you should wait in your room, in the libary or the gym." And without waiting for a reply she leaves, banging the door close.

"What's her problem?" inquires Dark.

"I honestly have no idea," answers Flash.

---

The hours pass with the six trainees lounging in their room trying to pass the time. Suddenly there are three loud bangs on the doors making them jump. Without that they have time to react it already swings open, revealing a beaming DNA one arm outstretched the other holding the egg. Behind him stands a frowning FREEZER his arms crossed over his chest.

"Good afternoon!" greets them the black clad human as he strides inside. "I hope you had a good time 'till now, because now training starts." He suddenly points at Flash. "Now troubleboy. Do you have an answer for me?"

All eyes turn to the yellow-orange pegasus who blushes slightly at the sudden and unwanted attention before he looks at him and answers, "Yes."

He nods. "Sure." His voice is not accusatory neither is it happy over his decision. Sure it's generally happy, but not specifically at this decision.

"Now as you might might already thought today starts training, but that is only partially true. Today and tomorrow are the preparation days for your fire trial." He raises a finger to silence their replies. "Let me finish first before you complain. Despite it being called fire trial there is no fire involved most of the times." Five of the ponies eyes widen a bit and one raises a curious-confused eyebrow. "Calm down. It won't happen, unless one of ya gets hit by lighting or spontaneously combusts in flames. And let's be realistic that won't happen." He stops, looks up in contemplation for a couple of uneasy seconds in silence before he continues, "Anyway it's quite simple really. I'm going to take one at the time and put you in the Everfree with nothing but a knife." Again eyes widen. "No one said it's gonna be easy. On the contrary I told you what awaits you. Now," he claps into his hands, "Any questions so far?"

There is an eerie silence as they think about what to ask when Night speaks up, "What purpose serves this trial? I was the assumption we were already accepted as trainees."

"It's quite simple really. If you survive this you should in theory survive the training. Let me change the phrasing. It's better for you to die in this than let anything the demon might to do to you happen without you being qualified. I'm using the word qualified here pretty loosely, 'cause there isn't really any qualification you can or need to have. That reminds me actually. There's something I wanted to tell you yesterday, but I thought it unfitting at the time."

DNA pulls off his right hand glove and then points with his index finger of his left hand to the rings of his other, holding the egg meanwhile between his legs. "The point of no return I mentioned yesterday is generally, when the student receives one of these rings. Each ring suppresses or helps the wearer with EP. There are four stages: Wisdom, Bodily Activation, Ability Activation and Demon. That isn't the order the trainees get them. They can happen in every random order. But that also means Demon can be the first one to come. The ones that get it as the first are generally referred to as the Lost Ones. I'm not gonna lie, when one of you is one of them, then there isn't a big chance of you surviving. It isn't likely that this happens to you, seeing that you can count the number of the one which got it first off on two hands, but I thought I'd let you know just in case. Now me being a master at EP and all I don't necessarily need them, but I want to make sure I keep control. That said while I still wear all four of them just two of them are active at the moment."

He pauses which gives Gleaming Coat the chance to ask a question. "Why would it be bad if Demon came first?" His voice just the smallest hint of shakiness in it."

"Like I already said with great power comes great responsibility. EP comes at the cost that you have to host something that is quite similar to an actual demon, always trying to break free and fight for dominance. But you shouldn't worry too much about it, during the training I'm gonna teach you how you make the demon listen to you or similar."

"How long will this training go?" inquires Night Light, having still the second most confidence of both squads.

"That depends entirely on you. The fastest anyone has become an master was three years which is the minimum time it takes. On the contrary the longest anyone needed to become a master was fifteen years, but that was just a fluke. I general it takes about five to six years," explains the earth tamer.

"So how long did you take," asks Dark his curiosity quipped.

"I was kinda fast and became master in about four and a half years." He clears his throat. "Anyway, I need a volunteer to go first. Anypony?"

It doesn't take long for somepony to step up as Shadow almost immediately does so.

While his teammates look at him shocked, DNA looks very pleased as he nods. "Very well." He then reaches behind his back and brings back a combat knife. "This is the only thing you're allowed to take with you," states the biped as the unicorn takes the weapon, "No other weapons, no other equipment and no magic except levitation. And I don't want to say I don't trust you, buuuuut..." He reaches behind his back again and brings forth a suppressor collar. Some eyes widen. "This will let you still use levitation, but not anything else. And all of you will wear it. It will prevent you pegasus of flying, but you'll still be able to glide and you earth ponies... I'm not actually sure, but you'll still require to wear it because. Now any questions before the preparations begin?"

"Yeah I have one," says the thestral. "What's up with the egg?"

"Yeah... I'm not really sure, but I got it and now I care about it. Are there any other question?" When no one speaks he turns around and as he leaves he says, "Okay I'm leaving you in FREEZERs care. Good luck~!"

The green haired human steps in front of them, an evil smile on his face as he cracks his knuckles. "Oh I'm gonna enjoy you."

Author's Note:

So yeah this egg is now a thing. It was was more of spontaneous idea on April the 1st, but I'm gonna stick with it.

Also Trixie doesn't seem to like the guards. Wonder what's that about.