Crossblade ducked under an incoming cutlass, the blade grazing his hair, he swung his own blade towards his attacker's left hip and stopped about an inch away,

"Better, but you forget," he felt something hit his ankles and making him cartwheel on to his side. He rolled on to his back and looked at his opponent,

"I am as much a spiritual enemy as I am a physical one," she finished, sliding her cutlass into its sheathe, the item that had knocked him off his feet. Crossblade took notice of the hilt, the knuckle guard was meant to be a crescent moon while the hand grip was meant to be a magic wand, the bottom of the hilt was a star. The girl it belonged to was slim, her light blue hair shined in the moon light along with her blue skin. She clipped the weapon to her hip and pushed her bangs out of her right eye,

"No wonder our fearless leader wanted me to train with you, you are just as reckless as I had been," she smirked and held out a hand to help Crossblade up. He took her hand and pulled himself up,

"Thanks, now what's your next 'great and powerful' trick," she glared at him and tried to push him, but he was expecting this and pushed back, making her stumble. Her face turned red as anger rose through her body,

"Trixie will make you pay for that," she clenched her fists and threw a right hook, forcing him to duck again. She then used her left to uppercut his stomach making his gasp for air and picking him up slightly. He fell to the ground and caught himself,

"So you wanna play that way huh," he said and swung his legs around, sweeping Trixie off her feet. She grunted as she hit the ground,

"That...hurt," she managed to get out as she tried to catch her breath. Crossblade lifted his head up,

"Had enough," he mocked with a toothy grin. She responded with a hand motion that forced his hood over his eyes,

"Oh shi-" he didn't get to finish as the breath was knocked out of him from something heavy landing on his stomach. He pulled the hood back to see Trixie's foot on him,

"That was dirty, even for you," he looked up at her, a triumphant smile on her face.

"Do you expect Sombra or his guards to fight clean," she questioned him.

"Not really," he answered grabbing her ankle and trying to push it off of him. She tried to balance herself and maintain that same weight on him, but he used his own Spirit to help him push. It sent her downward again, except this time it would hurt both of them as their foreheads collided. They groaned at the throbbing pain,

"That didn't work out the way I hoped," Crossblade said, dazed.

"Ya think," she retorted, lifting herself up into a sitting position. It took her a moment to realize she was straddling his stomach. He wiggled his eyebrows at her, making her blush and react with eye roll. She put her hand on his head and pushed herself up,

"You...are such a perverted dunce," she scolded him. Foolishly she tried to help him up again, only this time he pulled her down on top of him,

"You're one to talk," he said inches away from her face.

"I didn't know we bathed in the same lake, its not my fault I saw you with no clothes on," he raised an eyebrow,

"But it is your fault for staring, and then attacking me a few nights later," he said pushing a strand of hair away from face. She blushed again and let their lips meet as their night continued.

.................................................

Crossblade snapped out of the memory from eight months ago, his eyes planted on the girl he loved. She was at a stand in the busy market, one that sold some type of vegetable. She smiled and thanked the man behind the counter, dropping a bag of gems on it and waved bye as she made her way to Crossblade. He smiled, they had come a long way from before Sombra's take over. Back then, Crossblade had been a bully, thinking himself mightier than everyone else because his father was a respected knight. He wore only the best and was extremely spoiled, bragging about everything he would accomplish, but after Sombra's brutal take over, he started to despise himself as he did the king's bidding, realizing that he had acted the exact same way, just not as evil. Trixie had been a liar, a bully, and had some type of rivalry with Princess Twilight, throwing herself recklessly into duels against the much more powerful princess and always losing due to her lack of Spirit and her attitude, and then Sombra took the princess and killed her like she was nothing to him at all. This changed Trixie, she joined the Flames of Justice about two months before Crossblade did and with some training and some fixing, she was much nicer and a lot calmer, her attitude changed and she vowed to get revenge for her rival, who she considered to be one of her only friends.

When Crossblade had met Trixie, they had never actually talked, they just insulted each other and tried to best each other in every competition that came up, that is until their leader had enough of their antics and paired them together to train, Trixie was the mentor and Crossblade was the student. She trained him new attacks and how to control his emotions and they quickly bonded leading to their relationship now, one they kept secret,

"Hey, you ready to get going," she said, tossing him a cob of corn. He caught it and looked at it,

"Yeah," today was different for them, usually they would be looking for new members but today, they were on the hunt. This hunt would last a few weeks, as their leader had been informed about the newcomer from Crossblade himself. She wanted Twilight with Flames, but she also knew that the Masks had her from what Cross had told her about the princess' disappearance that day, so she tasked him and Trixie on finding her. Crossblade glanced at a few guards as they walked,

"They are everywhere today," he told her.

"Well of course, that damned tournament is coming up," she replied.

"The Champion's Tournament? I thought Sombra only held those when a war was upon us," Crossblade questioned, watching as a few more guards walked by, their armor clanking with every step.

"Well with the Masks and the Flames causing an issue and the people of Yakistan accusing Sombra of making their traders disappear, there may very well be a war," she said, holding up a few fingers.

"Right, that means another attack is in the works back at camp," Crossblade sighed.

"We better find her before that tournament, or shit is gonna go down...quick," Crossblade looked at Trixie worryingly.

"Yep, so the best thing we can do is prepare and find Twilight before that tournament," Trixie made a fist,

"I'm not going to let those bastards ruin everything we have worked towards, especially when we are so close to ending this," she whispered through gritted teeth. Crossblade nodded and the two continued on their search.

................................................

"So, what you're saying is, that where you come from, we are ponies an' have destroyed Sombra," Applejack said crossing her arms.

"Well yes, but we also defeated him with friendship," Twilight told them. Rainbow Dash snorted in response while Rarity looked at Twilight,

"We have already tried that approach, darling, but instead it ended with Twilight dying and Sombra taking control," She said woefully. Twilight snapped her fingers,

"We also couldn't do it without Spike," Twilight said excitedly,

"Is there a Spike in this place?" she said looking around the room.

The room was like a cafeteria of sorts, there were tables everywhere and they were filled with other people, who sat and ate their lunch casually. Discord had already informed them of everything while Pinkie had been giving Twilight the tour of her temporary home. Twilight's friends had all sat with her and had been asking questions about Twilight's universe, all eager to know what it was like,

"Spike? He was the first to go Twilight, he was thrown off the castle while trying to attack Sombra," Pinkie said looking down at the table. Twilight felt tears run down her cheeks,

"He was a good dragon," Rarity said, gripping a necklace around her neck, it had three scales, two purple one green. Twilight felt a wave a sadness come over her,

"How...how do you cope with it...death I mean, in my world, death isn't a common thing," Applejack clenched her fists at her side,

"We get over it, use them as a reason to be happy and in some cases fight, like ah'm doing now." She told Twilight, placing a hand on her closed eye,

"We don't just fight for freedom, we fight to stop any more families and friends from losing each other," Rainbow Dash added. Everyone nodded in agreement, other than Twilight who was still confused about something. She looked at her friends,

"In our world, Discord is the 'god' of chaos and although it never happened, it was believed he could take on Sombra and win, I'm guessing he is different here though too," she sighed.

"Well on the contrary Twilight, I may not be a god, but I am one of three people that can control chaos magic," Discord replied from behind her, a green, purple, and black flame sat in his hand.

"What happened to the other two?" Twilight asked.

Discord frowned,

"That's the issue, Twilight, Sombra is the only other user of it, while the third, is deceased," he told her, extinguishing the flame. He wrapped his arms behind his back and came to the table, staring specifically at Twilight,

"Then why not train other ponies to wield it?" She asked. He shook his head,

"It's not the simple...it takes time and after using it for so long...it changes you, mentally-" he tapped his temple with a finger,

"-and physically," he held out his scaled arm and pointed at his eyes. Twilight sighed,

"Well then, what DO we do?" She questioned with a frustrated look. Discord smirked and held out his hand, a paper appeared in it,

"Well at first it was going to take maybe years for us to stop Sombra and his army but with you here the time has shortened-" he put the paper down on the table,

"You see this, it's an announcement for the Champion's Tournament, everyone will be there, mainly because they are forced to be there, but that's beside the point. Anyways, the plan is to make this the start of our major plan...first, we sneak into the arena, Twilight, you will be with us but under a specific spell to keep you hidden from Sombra. Second, we have you reveal yourself to the public and with some hope we gain some new followers. Third, we make a quick and easy escape, that is the outline for the plan but we have a few weeks, so we will make a full fledged plan as the days progress, but right now our main task is to train you the skills you need to survive against Sombra and whoever decides to attack-"

"Train me?" Discord nodded,

"You're going to need to defend yourself, this isn't your world where magic is used for fun and games, it is used for attacking and defending, and I can promise you, there will be blood spilled and death will always be around, waiting for its next victim, and you do not want it to be you, now, do you?" He told her. She was silent and in her thoughts, she could only think of what she could do. Discord wasn't wrong, most of the people here would try to kill her and she needed to defend herself, but did she have to kill them? She looked at Discord,

"Do I have to kill them?" He sighed,

"I would say no, but we are supposed to stay hidden Twilight, and as of the moment we don't exactly have a spell that makes you forget things, so yes you will have to kill them," he said casually. Twilight sighed,

"Ok...so...when...when do we begin," Discord looked at Rainbow Dash,

"She is yours Rainbow," the girl nodded and shook her head towards the door,

"Come on, we gotta get you a weapon," Rainbow said, a glint in her eye.

...............................................

Crossblade punched a wall,

"Dammit! Where the hell could they be," he growled quietly. He looked up at the sky and sighed,

"Time to regroup," he told himself as he rubbed his knuckles. He and Trixie had decided to split up for awhile and they would rendezvous in the market when mid-day came around. He turned and started to make his way to the market, trying to think of places where the Masks would hide. He thought of alleys, hidden temples, and other things, but had to stop when he realized he was in the market. He looked around, Trixie was no where to be seen. Crossblade shrugged and waited for a few minutes before he started to worry. He looked around once more but didn't see anything, he felt his heart start to be faster and his hands started to shake. He felt a hand on his shoulder and did a quick turn, readying himself for an attack, he threw a blind punch. Trixie caught it and stared concerningly at Cross,

"You good?" She asked, letting go.

"Um...not really, I was just a little worried is all, but at least I know you're ok," he answered quickly. She sighed and nodded,

"I couldn't find anything, they must be hiding her, that not only makes it harder, but also annoying," she changed the subject. Crossblade sighed as well,

"At least we know they have her and not Sombra," he added to her sentence. They looked around for a moment,

"We better split...see ya tonight?" He said, nodding towards a few guards staring at them. She glanced over and nodded before turning away and saying bye. It took everything for them to not express their feelings, but they couldn't chance it. Crossblade sighed and watched her go.

____________________________

"WAAAH OOF," Twilight fell to the ground with the very large hammer that Rainbow had given her. Rainbow sighed and picked it up with ease,

"You are definitely not our Twilight," she said making the hammer erode in her hands.

"Sorry, I'm not the best with hands," Twilight apologized. Rainbow Dash pushed her hands down and walked closer, only a few inches away,

"Time for plan B," she said, grabbing Twilight's head.

"What're you-"

"Shush and relax your mind for me," Rainbow interrupted and closed her eyes, Twilight followed her lead.

In mere moments Twilight felt a surge of energy flow through her, making her feel light headed, but powerful. Soon Rainbow Dash's hands were gone and Twilight opened her eyes. In her friend's hands was a swordstaff, a staff with two blades, one on each end. Rainbow stared heavenly at the weapon and moved her right hand to the center of it. She let go with her left and spun the weapon around, moving it behind her back and switching to her left hand she did a quick spin and with both hands thrust one of the blades into the target now in front of her,

"Awesome," she fangirled, yanking the staff out of the target and facing Twilight. Twilight looked at the weapon, it was beautiful, long and slender but when it came to the blades, it was sharp to the tip. She looked at the blades worryingly,

"I guess this means I will have to...kill someone," she said shakingly. Rainbow Dash sighed,

"I get that from your world you don't kill, but here, killing is surviving and mercy is another word for death," she told her, holding out the weapon for Twilight to grab. Twilight hesitated for a moment, and then came to a realization,

"Is that how you got injured, you tried to be merciful," Rainbow Dash sighed,

"No...but Applejack and Fluttershy both paid the price for trying to be merciful, Applejack lost her eye and Fluttershy...she lost more," Rainbow looked down,

"She lost more than any of us, and when it came down to a choice she went with The Flames, but that is besides the point," Rainbow Dash changed her tone along with the subject,

"Right now all that matters is we get you prepared to deal with whatever enemies come after you," Rainbow clenched her fists and smirked,

"Now lets get started!"

__________________________

The night had come quickly for Crossblade, he was ready for another session with his mentor. She had been training him to unlock his soul, and tonight would be the night that she did it. He kept to the shadows of the kingdom, the forest only a small distance away from the outer walls. He smiled as he nodded towards a guard, one of their spies. The guard nodded back and opened the gate just enough to let Cross through before waving and closing it again. Crossblade did a quick sprint to the right and could make out the silhouettes of the trees ahead, tonight was going to be a bright one.

____________________________

Discord sat in a chair and watched the Twilight's training making notes as to what she would need to work on, balance would definitely need to be worked on. Twilight tried to spin the blade in both hands and was almost successful until Rainbow Dash blocked the speeding blade and made the staff bounce out of Twilight's hands. Rainbow looked at Discord who nodded in approval, she smirked and punched Twilight in the stomach making the girl fall to her knees and hold her stomach. Rainbow Dash crouched and lifted Twilight's head,

"You'll either learn to defend yourself or get beaten to a pulp until you do!" Rainbow Dash told her before grabbing Twilight's hair and shoving her face into the ground, making the girl groan in pain. Rainbow wiped away her tears and stood up. She sniffed and placed a foot on Twilight's back,

"I will teach you how to fight so I don't have to watch my friend die again, but that doesn't mean I won't hurt you to do so," she took her foot off of Twilight and looked at her,

"Now get up, we have work to do," Discord smiled at Rainbow Dash, her strength and will doubled her power, making her a stronger opponent in battle and a better friend at heart. He watched the two try over and over and over, their grunts and heavy breathing along with their weapons clashing were the new noises of the night. Discord eventually went to his quarters as the two were going to train all night and his eyelids were heavy. He sat on his makeshift hammock and looked at the picture the was in front of him. He was a young boy, his hair brown and short, his body was normal. Next to him sat a figure he knew all too well, a man of light grey color and short white hair. They were smiling as a figure in the middle had his hands on their shoulders, the hands were gloves and the figure wore a cloak, but her face could be seen. She was smiling wide with her eyes closed and she was an adult. Her long hair was silver. The picture was of course a painting, but it looked so real to Discord. He stared at it for one last second before shedding his clothing and going to sleep.

Author's Note

And that's chapter 2 hope you enjoyed and I will return for Chapter 3