After Twilight’s recovery her progress was astounding. She initially struggled but threw herself at every challenge, even when she failed every other trainee could see she was giving it everything. Twilight did have a lot to catch up, she was pushed harder having to cover years of training and material. Her intellectual mind allowed her to quickly catch up on the theoretical portion.

Mendez was impressed on the physical side of things, Twilight seemed pretty unfit at first but quickly caught up over the following year. Mendez one day after the training approached Sunset “Twilight seems to be catching up at an extraordinary rate, this is odd. Do you have an explanation?”

Sunset frowned “On my home world there are three main races of my kind that exist, there are others but they are in smaller numbers. One tends the earth, the other shepard the skies and the third has mastery of spells, however through a process called ascension one who is worthy can ascend to become one who can wield all three traits at a heightened level. Twilight is one of those and her earth side grants increased strength, endurance and durability. Likely an underutilised part of her abilities given her attitude towards life.”

Mendez nodded “Natural ability is worthless without working to better it. I’ll be working to get her to where she needs to be.”

Twilight spent most of her time with John, Kelly and Sam. Kelly often cracked jokes at Twilight’s expense, John joined in or reprimanded her depending on Twilight’s reaction. Sam was more distant from Twilight then the other two but respected her hard work and tenacity.

One of her biggest challenges was going to come up, it was another training mission with Tango company. Sunset was standing there with Mendez, watching from a distance. Mendez frowned “Why do you have her doing this again so soon, it’s been only a year?”

Sunset frowned “If she is going to be of any use here, she needs to learn one last lesson. My people are very much pacifists, violence and conflict has been absent for centuries. She is the studious sort, determined and hard working. The training was going to be fine with time but can she take a life. I am going to test her today with that. I have given them the order to go it alone as a test as a final test before the procedure.”

Twilight moved forward with her tranq rifle and combat knife, poking her head around corners knocking out every enemy she saw with precise shots. As she pressed onward, she was ambushed by five of them, one who shot the gun out of her hand. She grabbed the closet one tossing him at another, she then punched another with a strike before turning to the other two.

Twilight kicked one in the chest as the other ran, she picked up her tranq gun only to see the guy slump down. She pressed his neck, a chill went down her spine. She went to the others, none of them had a pulse either. She shouted “No, no! I killed them! I killed them! I…” She took a deep breath as she heard footsteps, calming herself down. She could panic later. She backed away from the sound of footsteps and hid behind cover.

Twilight heard one of them growl “She must be around here somewhere?” Twilight stepped back quietly moving from cover to cover, she popped out shooting a target before sneaking away. Manoeuvring around silently taking out some of the guards, she soon found the sound fighting as the main base of the enemy. Twilight saw that everyone ended up being together just by happenstance. Rather than joining them as they were winning the fight, she snuck around the back taking out snipers and knocking out key guards allowing her allies to close the distance quickly.

Soon the base overrun as the trainees took the flag winning the wargame, Twilight joined John as they headed back “Mission success.”

John nodded “how did it go.”

Twilight looked down “Some of them, I killed by accident. I don’t know what to do.”

John shook his head “You will have had to kill at some point, it’s quite possible it’s why you were included in this exercise. The fact you are questioning it is good. A soldier who kills indiscriminately for fun is no good on the battlefield. Still, learning how to incapacitate without killing is important too.”

Kelly joined them “Relax pony girl, you did well out there. Chin up.”

Sam walked up behind her “You were impressive.”

Soon they made their way back to Sunset and Mendez. Mendez spoke with the rest of them as
Sunset pulled Twilight aside “You did well out there, even killed some of them.”

Twilight frowned “That’s nothing to be commended.”
Sunset frowned “Part of this was knowing you could kill if the need arose and that you would not become slaughter hungry.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow “You enjoyed slaughtering demons.”

Sunset frowned “Demon were created for sheer purpose to cause destruction. I was destroying living weapons, besides I enjoy the thrill of being challenged. I hold back in sparring sessions to get the best fight out of it. As for control, that will wait until after augmentation procedures, then I will become your personal partner for training you to control your strength.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow “Augmentations?”

Sunset nodded “They are to strengthen everyone, granted yours aren't as extensive and won’t be as effective. If you were at the level of Luna or Celestia I would have nothing to fear but you are still a new Alicorn thus you have barely scratched your potential.”

After returning they were given the rest of the day to rest. The following day was reserved for Augmentation. Twilight was in line with John, Kelly, and Sam. They all entered and laid down as the device was activated, he was different from the others. Twilight felt the injection start, pain shot through her body as everything started to fade to black.

Twilight awoke in bed, she looked around to see a few others still resting. She also saw bags being dragged out, she looked over herself. Her muscles were bigger, stronger. She could feel the strength. Her mind was working faster. She staggered to her hooves only to see Sam who was slightly taller and his massive muscles were even larger than before. Sam escorted her out of the room, Twilight frowned “What happened?”

Sam shook his head “Thirty didn’t survive, some haven’t awoken yet, some have been damaged. John and Kelly are alive, just recovering from the Augmentation.”

Twilight took a deep breath. “Good, they're alive.” The duo took time to rest as they waited for the others to awaken.

Author's Note

I hope you enjoy this chapter.