Once everybody was ready to begin their war training, Flurry led them to the simulators and they got inside. After powering up, they took in a warning from Flurry before starting the simulation.
"This training will be harder than your previous sessions. It is likely that you will have more failed missions during this. I know this because it happened to me and anyone else who went through this training. I will be in a simulator myself to keep an eye on each of you."
Having acknowledged the heads-up, everyone started by learning how to properly open their wings.
"Lock S-Foils in attack position.", Flurry instructed after everyone had spotted the switch that opened and closed their wings.
As the wings opened in the simulation, all of the trainees watched an LCD that displayed their ship's orientation and status. They also saw an indication of their wings' position. When the wings were fully opened, the position on the LCD changed to indicate that the wings were in attack position. After everyone had opened their wings, they followed Flurry's ship to a target range where they had to shoot a certain number within a time limit. This would have been easy, but they had to watch for each other's laser blasts in order to avoid being shot down as they were flying. The flight portion of this was easy for Skye, just like the previous portion of the training, but the addition of weapons made this a lot trickier for her. Nevertheless, she caught on quickly and everyone finished the target shooting before the time ran out.
"Good work, everyone. Now it's time to focus on moving targets. In the next phase of this, you will be shooting at enemy ships. Also, this will be a team effort. So, you will be helping each other to avoid getting shot down.", Flurry explained as the screens flashed up the words: "Mission Complete".
When the next simulation started, they were already in space and their wings were open. This mission involved watching radar more frequently and communicating with each other. Once they had armed their weapons, they started getting enemy readings on their radar. They opened fire in a flash to take out the enemies, but this simulation was more intricate than they anticipated. The enemies were quick to avoid their attacks and they even shot back. Some of the enemy fighters snuck up and tried to shoot them down from behind. Minnie and Ryder were the first to notice this.
"Skye, watch out. You've got one on your tail.", Ryder called out.
"Mickey, I've got one chasing me.", Minnie called out.
"Copy that, Minnie. I'm coming to help you out.", Mickey replied.
Skye desperately tried to get away from the fighter that was behind her, but she was having little to no success. At one point, her shields were lowered to 50% before Ryder managed to alert Chase that Skye was in trouble. Chase rushed over and shot down the enemy. Mickey distracted the fighter who was pursuing Minnie, and then dropped a bomb to take it out. The first battle simulation was one of several that had to be completed before they were deemed ready, and it only took two days to complete. It took place in open space to make it easy, but the others would have obstacles that had to be dodged so no-one would crash.
These simulations took a whole week to complete without any flaws because many of the trainees ran into obstacles while evading the enemies or they'd be shot down before their shields were recharged. They also fell victim to each other's E M P's due to being too close. However, they learned from their mistakes and soon passed all of the simulations with flying colors.
"Congratulations everyone. You are now ready for battle in space. It is now time to train you for hand-in-hand combat.", said Flurry as everyone got out of their simulator chambers.
The next morning, Flurry led everyone to a large room that resembled a gymnasium. There were mats and replica weapons neatly arranged around the room, and there were smaller side rooms that housed what looked like helmets and replicas of guns.
"What are the side rooms used for, Flurry?", asked Donald.
"Good question. Those rooms are where you will be trained for ground battles. The easiest way to do that is with Virtual Reality, or VR equipment.", she replied.
As the days passed, those with hands dueled with paintballs, fake swords, hardened rubber gloves, and their hands alone. The pups and the cats practiced with their paws and wrestled each other. They all wore helmets so they wouldn't bite each other. In the VR areas, they wore the helmets to see what the scenario was that they were going through. Flurry even designed props for the pups and the cats to use so they'd be equipped with guns as well. These props involved a rubber piece held in the mouth that acted as the trigger. In order to fire the weapons, they would squeeze the rubber in their teeth.
After six days in the gym, Flurry could tell that everyone was doing spectacularly with the hand-in-hand training. The next day, she said that they had all passed the training exercises and were ready to present themselves to Twilight.
After leaving the training area, everyone boarded the train to Canterlot and gave the news to Twilight that they had passed their training exercises.
"Well done to all of you. Now that you have been trained for space piloting and for war, I think you are now ready for anything that might get in your way.", she said.
All of the allies took a bow and then returned to their ships for their journey home. Once they were home safely, they continued their normal lives while keeping an ear to the radio for anything that would necessitate utilizing the skills they had been trained for. At the same time, they built their own ships and kept them at the ready. They even did their own missions to practice taking off for real and for landing, along with shooting down targets to better their weapon skills. So far, they had not needed to take down any real enemies, but they never knew when they would have a surprise attack.
After a day to chill out from the hard training they had received on piloting their own ships, it was time for the new allies to learn the basics of space battles. Everything started with an introduction to wings and the different types of weapons on starships. After getting seated in the meeting room, Flurry started explaining how the wings could change position in a battle scenario.
"In battle terms, the wings are referred to as "Strike Foils" or "S-Foils". So, if the wings need to be opened; you must say to lock S-Foils in attack position. This basically means to open your wings. As this simulation shows, the wings on one of our fighter ships are comprised of two sets of three pieces. Two pieces on each set are hinged. When the wings open up, the two pieces on the top and bottom will swivel 30 degrees up or down."
Everyone was shocked at her description of how the wings would open up for battle. They were about to learn how many weapons they would have in their arsenal to use in battle.
"The main weapon is your lasers. They will deal significant damage to an enemy, but they are not the only weapon you have. Other weapons you have include missiles, torpedoes, and electromagnetic pulses, or E M P's.", explained Flurry Heart.
"That's quite a spread. We might be able to take down anything that gets in our way.", said Daisy.
"Don't overestimate yourself Daisy. You must also keep a close eye on your shields. If they get too low, you will have to pull away to recharge. Otherwise, you will be killed when your ship is destroyed."
Hearing this made everyone nervous, but it also told them that keeping tabs on their defenses was critical. They were ready to begin training for battle in space.
