A couple of weeks after meeting Sephiroth and Sunset and I joining Twilight in her training, all of the girls were over at Sunset's and my house for a sleepover.

"So you guys are training? Awesome! Can we come?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"I'm not sure if that would be a good idea Rainbow Dash. I mean, just look at them." Fluttershy said.

Them, being Sunset, Twilight and I laying on the bed covered in minor cuts and various levels of bruising with Cure Materia running at low levels as we struggled to breathe with bruised ribs.

"Sounds like this teacher of yers is a sadist." Applejack said from where she was attempting to beat Pinkie in a fighting game.

"Yeah, that is a loooooot of ouchies!" Pinkie said as she pulled off combo after combo.

"Nah, this is pretty standard for SOLDIER." I said with a groan before attempting to sit up. Managing it, I continued.

"He was just throwing rocks at us. It could have been fire dodgeball."

"Fire dodgeball?" Rarity asked.

I nodded. "Allow me to demonstrate. Dash! Think fast!" I said before hucking a weak fireball at the speedster.

"Huh? GAH!" Came the articulate reply before she just managed to duck out of the way and the fireball hit the wall, just leaving a soot mark on the paint.

"Like that, but with fireballs that, ya know, explode." I finished to the unamused glares of everyone except Twilight and Sunset.

"She's right." Sunset added. "My teacher back in Equestria would do that when they were training me."

I looked at her. "I notice that you keep saying 'they' when referring to your teacher. Were they non-binary or something?" I inquired.

"They never said their gender, they looked and sounded androgynous as hell, and would show up wearing pants and a shirt one day and a skirt and blouse the next." She explained. "I never bothered to get clarification from the little sadist. Their friend was definitely male though. Looked like a stallion, built like a damned minotaur."

I thought back to my short visit to Equestria and let out a whistle.

"Damn. Big Mac was huge, but nothing on a minotaur I saw in Ponyville, so that is one big stallion." I said.

She nodded and then winced.

"Neck still bugging you?" Twilight asked, having seen it out the corner of her eye.

"Yeah, twinges if I move wrong." Sunset replied.

Before I could move, Twilight had moved her hand with a Fire Materia in the bracer and rested it on Sunset's neck.

"Oh, that's the spot. Thanks Twi." Sunset replied.

"No problem Sunset."

I smiled and shook my head.

"So how are you doing better than them?" Dash asked.

"Super soldier and basically what amounts to a god." I replied. "Giant heritage waking up doesn't hurt either. Plus, it might have been in a different body, but I have a pretty damn high pain tolerance. I don't like being in pain because it tells you that something is wrong with your body, but below a certain level I can ignore it for extended periods if I am careful." I replied as I put my hand on my mates' knees and added my Cure Materia to the mix, letting them relax and heal.

"I can see that." Applejack said. "Kinda like doing manual labor and ignoring the burn in yer muscles and pushing on until yer done or ya pull something?"

"More or less." I replied.

I looked over Sunset and Twilight. The cuts and bruising that was visible outside their clothing looked to be mostly healed.

"Okay you two, shower time I think." I said.

"Don't wanna." Sunset replied.

"Me either." Twilight said in agreement.

I frowned. "Look we busted our butts today and are quite frankly disgusting from the amount of sweat and dirt we collected. I know my hair needs to be washed at the very least." I said firmly. "Am I going to have to carry you into the shower?"

"Probably the only way I am moving." Twilight responded.

"Same." Came the reply from Sunset.

"Fine." I replied before going to the drawers, fully aware that our friends were observing this minor argument.

"Darling, we can reschedule this sleepover if we need to…" Rarity said.

"No, we haven't had schedules line up for how long now to hang out outside of school? Give me half an hour and these two will be ready for bed." I said as I grabbed night clothes for the three of us.

Putting them in the bathroom, I went back out and carefully lifted Sunset and took her to the bathroom and then came back for Twilight, closing and locking the door behind me.

Thankfully, the master bath in the house that pre-awakened me had gotten was pretty fucking nice. Entire room was sound proofed so nothing could be heard from either side of the door and the shower was one of those waterfall types where the whole ceiling was the shower head.

I sighed and started the water heating up, before starting the task of undressing my mates.

"This is bothersome." I said as I removed Sunset's shoes and socks.

"Hey, you're finally gonna get to see me naked." She said with a tired smirk.

"Me too!" Twilight giggled, also in an exhausted stupor.

I rolled my eyes. "Not the way I had planned for it to happen after my birthday last week." I said.

"Bah, what were you hoping for us to be wearing some lingerie so that you could unwrap a last couple of gifts?" Sunset asked, smirk still in place.

I booped her on the nose, making her face scrunch up.

"Yes, actually. But sadly that witch had to pick that day to start shit." I replied as I removed Twilight's shoes and socks as well.

I knew that these two were exhausted, Morrigan knows that I was, but this, this was different.

"Okay. Now for the actual clothes." I said.

I helped the pair remove their tops and bottoms and then quickly stripped down myself before helping them into the shower and onto the bench that was inside it.

"Well, that certainly is impressive." Sunset said.

Twilight squinted a bit. "Oh my. Yes it is. I know you said those toys were to scale, but I thought that they might have messed up the measurements." She added.

I snapped my fingers. "Enough. Even if you two weren't in the condition you are, our friends are out there waiting for us. So let's get cleaned up and then at least try to spend some time with them." I said as I grabbed my shampoo and began cleaning the dirt and debris that had collected during our training session with Sephiroth today.

The pair of them moaned in protest behind me, before getting their own shampoo and started cleaning themselves.

I shook my head at their antics today. I know the training we were being put through was brutal, but compared to the memories I have from Zack and Angeal, this is a cakewalk. The General is easing us into things.

I quickly finished cleaning myself and waited for the pair to finish. I turned and they were both nearly asleep conditioner still in their hair. Frowning, I turned the temperature from nice and toasty, to something just above polar bear plunge territory.

"EEEEEEEP!" Came the surprised screeches as their eyes snapped open.

Looking at Twilight, I noticed something.

"Twilight, look at me for a second." I said.

"C-c-c-cold!" She said with a glare.

"You fell asleep. Now let me see your eyes for a minute." I replied.

She looked at me and opened her eyes wide.

"Now you Sunset." I said, having her do the same thing.

I blinked and reached outside the shower and killed the lights.

"Why did you do that?" Sunset asked.

"Both of you look at me for a minute, eyes open wide." I said, pushing the Mako into my eyes, intensifying the glow they always had.

Suddenly, two pairs of Mako eyes looked at me.

"Shit."

After getting dressed and finishing our nightly routines, we joined the other girls.

"So you three have f-OW!" Rainbow Dash started to say before Applejack slugged her in the shoulder.

"Don't go askin' thangs like that Dash! It's rude." She said.

"I agree, Rainbow Dash, it is most uncouth." Rarity added. "Besides, I think something may have happened that isn't good."

I snorted. "Well, I figured out why these two are being such pains in my ass right now." I said as I helped the two walk to the bed.

"Oh?"

"Kill the lights and you'll see." I said as I helped them sit at the foot of the bed.

Pinkie leapt over and turned off the lights.

"Wut?"

"Oh my."

"Goodness!"

"Cool!"

"Neato!"

"Turn em back on Pinks." I said. Once the lights were back on, I helped my girls under the covers.

"So, apparently they are getting Mako somehow." I said once I had them tucked in. "Judging from my memories, Twilight is a high ranked 3rd Class or a low ranked 2nd Class at this stage and Sunset is at about the level of a Turk. For now anyway."

"What do you mean, 'for now'?" Came a sleepy inquiry from Sunset.

"I have a feeling that you two will be at 1st Class levels before the school year is out. Which means more of what you are feeling now." I said.

"Tired? Achey? Sore as all get out?" Sunset asked as Twilight began to gently snore.

"Yup. Comes from the enhancements. That is why it was done in stages. We can figure out some way to track the changes and the rate of the changes later. For now, the two of you rest." I said.

"M'kay." Sunset replied before she passed out.

"Well, that is a thing." I said.

"Sounds like. What do you think is causing it?" Dash asked.

"Probably their ties to me. Meddlesome flower girls doing something probably." I said.

I glanced at my watch. "It's late. We should all get some shut eye and we can talk more later."

A chorus of quiet "Good nights" later everyone was asleep, probably except for me.

I layed between my girls and held them close while worrying about the implications of this latest development.

"So how are we going to track this latest development?" Sunset asked.

"I have a couple of ideas on that." I replied as we lazed around after breakfast the next morning.

"What are those?" Rarity asked.

I produced a photographer's light meter. "We can use this in a darkened room to measure the brightness of the glow in their eyes, using you girls as controls and mine as the high end for resting brightness." I said.

"What about if that doesn't give us results or at best mixed results?" Twilight asked.

"Then someone is going to need to open a vein." I said as I went to the garage to a chorus of shocked expletives.

Coming back in, I set a small piece of carbon steel on the table.

"What do you mean, open a vein?" Sunset asked.

"Exactly that. Well, vein maybe an exaggeration for what we need, but it may come to that. Allow me to demonstrate." I said as I pulled out one of the throwing knives I keep on my person at pretty much all times.

Quickly pricking my finger with the tip of the knife, I squeezed some blood out and allowed it to drop onto the one inch by one inch by one inch block of carbon steel.

The blood sat there for a moment before a thin coil of smoke started to rise up. Soon the drop disappeared as it ate a hole into the metal. I quickly grabbed the cube and doused the hole with water.

"That is why my doctor hates me. She can't do any blood work whatsoever. The needles and vials are destroyed in seconds. And they can't get approval to get the much more expensive slides for the microscopes because those are primarily used for government labs that handle chemical and biological weapons research." I said. "So never ask me for a blood transfusion unless you are trying to die."

"So if those vampires had fed on you?" Twilight asked.

"Honestly, I haven't got a clue and I didn't want to find out. It could have killed them or made them stronger. Not a chance to take, especially with you and Cadence in the crossfire." I replied.

Vampires amped up on Mako laced blood. Now that is one for the nightmare bin.

"So how would that experiment work?" Twilight asked, redirecting the conversation.

"Get a known substance, measure how long it takes my blood to eat through a set amount as the baseline, and then compare yours and Sunset's at regular intervals?" I suggested.

"Hmmm, that could work." Sunset replied as she contemplated.

"We are, once again, in unexplored territory when it comes to science and magic." Twilight added.

"Hopefully this isn't as weird as the last few times you have tried to science the shit out of magic." Dash said with a groan.

I flicked a small ice crystal at her head. "Points for The Martian references, but they are trying to understand something that for all intents and purposes, shouldn't exist at this level in this realm." I said. "Weird shit happening is gonna be the norm when figuring out the rules to it."

Author's Note

I figured a small break to see the rest of the gang and make a few developments that were certainly unexpected when I started this story. But hey, when the characters tell you something, a good author listens!