One, nothing wrong with me
Two, nothing wrong with me
Three, nothing wrong with me
Four, nothing wrong with me
Chapter 23: Something's Got to Give
"Shatter, Kyoka Suigetsu."
I heard the whispered phrase. My ears perked up and I turned to find the source. But I couldn't find it. No one else seemed to notice the voice. Asking at the time wouldn't gain any results. At least, that was what I thought.
"It's been a while," said the voice. It sounded like it was just behind me. I slowly turned around to verify the voice's location. However, I couldn't see anything behind me. Actually, that was the problem. I couldn't see anything behind me. There was no sky, ground, or grass behind me. So naturally, I turned back around to see the rest of the group.
"What the...?" I half-asked, half-remarked. In lieu of my friends stood nine clones of one man. His features matched Firewall's literary description of him perfectly. They were Harry Potter with rectangular glasses and no lightning bolt scar.
"How have you been?" asked the closest clone. It sounded like he was right next to me, but I saw him move his lips from over three feet away.
"Impossible!" I exclaimed, "Kyoka Suigetsu's illusion only works if the victim sees the blade! How could you have cast the illusion?" None of the clones of David said anything for what felt like forever.
Finally, the furthest one said, "I don't know what you mean."
One of the others said, "I'm afraid you're slightly mistaken."
The next in line said, "My powers can distort your senses regardless which one of them observes my Shikai."
My eyes went wide as I whispered, "Your voice. I... heard your voice."
"Correct," all of the clones moved their lips but it sounded like only one of them spoke.
"Where are you, David?" I asked loudly turning to the right, "Show yourself!" I turned to the left.
"What would it matter?" said his voice, "Even if I did reveal my true location, I could just make you see and hear me somewhere else."
"Bleep it!" I said without curse. I decided to close my eyes rather than try to wade through the illusion.
Let me be your eyes.
I held out my right hoof. The grasp of my Zanpaktou felt familiar.
"Dance, Sode no Shirayuki," I whispered. I couldn't see, but I recognized the extension of my spiritual pressure glow with energy. What happened next was kind of hard to explain unless you were there. I could "see" friendly spiritual pressures in front of me. It was kind of disorienting the first time I did this.
One spiritual pressure felt foreign and threatening behind me. It was this pressure I lunged out at.
"Tundra!" shouted the voice of Twilight. I opened my eyes and saw that my blade had just narrowly missed the figure of David. I looked back and saw the wide, shocked eyes of my friends.
"Where are you looking, fool?" asked David's voice. I turned back and stared disbelievingly at the sudden tug against my grasp. Somehow, that bastard had laid his entire hand around Sode no Shirayuki's blade without cutting or freezing.
"Don't you know it's unwise to look away from the enemy?" he asked rhetorically. Next thing I knew, a small red geyser had started squirting. But it wasn't from his hand. My eye glazed down to see the deep cut on my shoulder. I lost sight of David after that.
"Hax," I whispered, "I call hax." Black became my vision's favorite color.
---
He stood behind the black alicorn as she bled and fell to the ground. The other nine ponies in the vicinity looked horrified only for a moment. Multiple katana were quickly summoned into their grasps. He held a sad smile as he casually flash stepped to the left and right of the various members of the group. One by one, the ponies fell to the ground in bleeding messes.
The lavender unicorn tried to release a reishi arrow. He absentmindedly snatched it out of the air and crushed it out of existence. Simultaneously, the unicorn felt her own heart being crushed as she fell to the ground unable to scream in pain. The only pony left standing was the pink earth pony.
Said earth pony's mane had looked rather lively and puffy. Now it looked shaded and straighter. In fact, it almost helped to set the stage for her darkening mood.
---
Pinkamena Diane Pie called forth her katana before letting out a rage filled scream.
"Reap, Kazeshini!" she screamed.
Her one blade transformed into two scythes attached by a black metal link chain. She swung one of the scythes in a circular motion by the chain for a while. Then without warning, she threw that particular scythe in the man's direction. Amazingly, the sharp edge of the scythe managed to trim a single hair follicle as he stepped to the side. She briefly let a smirk cross her face as she yanked the chain to call her boomerang-esque weapon back.
That smirk quickly turned into a wide-eyed, open-mouthed shock. Before the scythe could make its return trip, the man's hand snatched it out of the air. She let out a gasp as a large gash appeared across her chest. Blood spilled as if a sharp sword had cut through her. But no pony had cut her... had they? She could barely form the thought as she fell to the ground.
She didn't notice the large energy buildup from another being in the area.
---
"Getsuga Tenshou!" called a raspy voice. The man barely flash stepped out of the way of the giant blue energy wave. When he turned to face his new adversary, he was mildly intrigued by the appearance. The cyan Pegasus was fluttering in the air again. But there was something different about her spiritual pressure. The fact that half of her face seemed to be covered in a bony exoskeleton didn't go beyond his notice.
"And who might you be?" he gently asked. The orange-eyed creature let out a hysteric laugh in response.
"Who am I?" it echoed, "Well that's a pretty stupid question. I'm ME!" In her grasp was the Zanpaktou called Zangetsu. She seemed to use both hooves to grab the bandage taped to the hilt and swung the blade in giant circular motions. As she did this, her raspy laughs filled the otherwise silent air.
She then regained a natural, one-handed hold of the weapon and let out a giddy yell. Taking a hectic swing, she released a second giant blue wave of energy. The man held up a hand as if to block this wave. That would prove to be a mistake, as the wave soon collided with his hand. His feet slid back and uprooted a large portion of grass. He opened his eyes in surprise.
"Impossible!" he whispered as the blue wave exploded in his face. The half-masked Pegasus let out another round of raspy laughs.
"What's wrong? Are you dead already?" she mockingly called. As the smoke cleared, however, her expression changed from one of joy to disappointed. The man was holding out both arms out straight and he was mostly unharmed. The only sign of damage was his pair of glasses that neatly cracked in half and fell to the ground.
"Tch! So you're pretty tough," complimented the creature, "This ought to be fun." She then made a forceful push with her wings to launch herself forward. The man braced for the incoming attack. He needn't have been so cautious. Somewhere midway, the Pegasus halted her flight. She reached her free hoof toward her half-mask.
"No!" she yelled, "Rainbow Dash! Stop! What are you doing?!" The Pegasus shook and trembled while somehow managing to stay airborne.
"I was about to finish him!" she continued, "If you take back control now, you'll die! Don't you understand?!" The tugging became stronger until at last, the mask broke into several white pieces. The last sign of this creature was a raspy scream of agony.
The man let go of a breath that he was unaware that he had been holding.
---
Rainbow Dash breathed heavily as she slowly fluttered down. Three of her hooves made contact with the ground as she struggled to hold Zangetsu in her fourth. What remained of the mask crumbled into almost nonexistent dust. As she was trying to regain her steady breath, the man appeared in front of her in a quick whisk of motion. He held out a single index finger almost touching her shoulder.
"In retrospect," he whispered, "You were probably safer with that mask on. Hado number 4: Byakurai." A straight beam of white lightning flung from his finger into the Pegasus. As the electricity surged through her body, Rainbow Dash could only yell in agonizing pain. The man watched wearing a sad smile as the bearer of Loyalty lost her balance and fell to the ground. Patches of fur and feathers were charred.
"I really do hate violence," he sighed. With that, he vanished in a flash step motion.
---
Oddly, I found myself hearing the lyrics to a sad Gary Jules song.
All around me are familiar faces.
Worn out places
Worn out faces
Bright and early for their daily races
Going nowhere
Going nowhere
Their tears are filling up their glasses
No expression
No expression
Hide my head I want to drown my sorrow
No tomorrow
No tomorrow
And I find it kind of funny
I find it kind of sad
The dreams in which I'm dying are the best I've ever had
I find it hard to tell you
I find it hard to take
When people run in circles, it's a very very
Mad world
Mad world...
---
...
"Fulfill, Hisagomaru!" At least, that's what I think I heard somewhere in mid-consciousness. But the next thing I knew, I felt a cross between icy and hot feelings as something pricked my neck. The foreign feeling caused me to yell out my thoughts really loudly.
"Yaaaaah! I don't know why, but I suddenly feel a whole lot better!" It was true. I distinctly remembered getting cut up at some point. Despite that new prickly feeling, I felt like the pain and numbness was almost entirely gone. With this new feeling of invigoration, I immediately stood up on all fours to look around.
"Your highness!" called the voice from before, "That's all it can take. The meter is full."
"THEN RELEASE THE WAVE AT US, NOW!" ordered another voice.
Luna? I mentally asked.
"But, what if I-?" started the first voice.
"DO NOT HESITATE!" roared Luna voice. My vision was soon relieved of the blurriness.
"Is that-?" I started to ask.
"Akeiro Hisagomaru!" declared the pony in my sight as an item in her possession released a large red wave made of energy.
"Holy crap!" I exclaimed. The wave collided with something spherical in shape before bursting into the sky. The wave remained visible for at least five seconds. When the energy started to dissipate, I managed to get a better look at the sphere that had been attacked. It looked like an orb made out of pure ice. Three purple flowers with rectangular petals floated behind it. Two of these flowers were now crumbling to dust.
"Daiguren Hyorinmaru?" I asked no one in particular. As if to answer my question, the orb opened up into a pair of giant ice wings attached to a certain alicorn of the night. It was Luna, no doubt about that. But that left one other immediate question on my mind. Well actually, I had a few questions, but the first one held predominance.
"Who was that other pony?" I asked rhetorically. I turned my gaze back to the pony in question. The coloration seemed familiar enough. It was that pink pony with the chartreuse mane. It was that pony that several fans disliked the color combination of because it was 'gross' or something like that.
It was...
"Daisy?" I thought aloud while tilting my head in confusion. Her ear perked up at the mention of her name and she turned to look at me. In her hoof's grasp was what looked like a scalpel.
Is that Hisagomaru? I thought while looking at the object.
"You know my name?" she asked. I couldn't concentrate on an answer as I was listening to what her voice actually sounded like. You know that one line she had in "Cutie Pox"? "Enchanted"? Yeah, that was her voice I was hearing now.
Why does she have Hisagomaru? I asked myself mentally, I thought for sure it would go to someone like Nurse Redheart. But then, my thoughts decided to pull a random flashback to a scene from Bleach.
---
"Where I come from, 'Hana' means 'flower'. That's not exactly something to be proud of."
---
Oh, I thought as the flashback ended, Hanataro, flower, Daisy, duh.
At this point, my other immediate question poked its way into the open.
"Wait, where's everyone else?" I asked. When I looked behind me, I saw every pony of the group standing and healthy.
Oh thank goodness, I thought, I thought for sure that David was going to do something dreadful to them.
"You're all okay!" I happily called out as I trotted over to the rest of the gang.
"Not all of us, I'm afraid," lamented Rarity with a noticeably troubled tone.
"What's wrong?" I asked. Then, I laid eyes on exactly what was wrong.
Twilight Sparkle. She was sprawled out on the ground. At first, I thought she was just sleeping. But, that should have resulted in some noticeable motion from her lungs expanding and shrinking. But there was no alternate shifting motion in her chest. She wasn't breathing.
"My Hisagomaru only repairs wounds," breathed Daisy with regret, "It can't restart a stopped heart."
"Her heart... stopped?" I stammered, "But that means that she..." Died.
It can't be! thought Shirayuki.
"But she can't be!" I practically shouted against my restricting throat, "She's not supposed to...! She's the main character for crying out loud!" Yet, all the other ponies could do was hold their heads down in sadness and grief. My heart felt heavy for even thinking of the possibility that Twilight's would never start again. I could feel my body shake and shiver in disbelieving fear.
"No," I whispered, "Twilight."
"Stand aside, my little ponies," requested a new voice. Everyone backed away as the source trotted into view. Princess Celestia's face was unreadable, despite it being in broad daylight. I immediately complied with her request. I wasn't going to stand in her way. She slowly made her way over to the bod- er, Twilight's form.
For a second, I allowed a small light of hope cross my eyes. Celestia was all powerful, right? This was the part where she'd perform some awesome magic or god-like technique to fix everything, right? There was still a chance. She stood with her face above Twilight for a few seconds. I think the rest of the group was as hopefully expectant as I was. I even saw a sign of Pinkie Pie's typical smile.
Celestia crashed to her knees and began to mourn.
I fell on my rump in utter shock and sadness. I'd never heard Nicole Oliver perform a crying voice on record before. But, I could guarantee that this wailing, this absolutely hopeless sobbing, was more deep and heart wrenching than anything Ms. Oliver could act.
Have I ever heard God cry? I don't think I have. Sure, I've seen reenactments of the periods in the bible where Jesus wept, but that was just an actor in a play and/or movie. This was the figure known to most of the land of Equestria as their almighty deity weeping in front of me. I'd never heard such a resolve-shattering cry as this. In fact, I think that's why my eyes felt itchy and dry. My tears did not feel worthy to share the same air space as Celestia's tears.
My fear-filled shaking from before resumed. The air literally felt colder with this alicorn crying in my immediate vicinity. I barely even noticed a certain red bird fly in. What, had a stray cardinal decided to watch the scene? I hoped it was enjoying the show! (Heavy sarcasm implied in that last sentence.)
I immediately regretted that lashing thought as the bird became more visible and landed on Celestia's shoulder. It was the phoenix Philomena. She must have heard her master crying and came flying to her side. One of her stray, vermilion feathers floated down on... the lavender body. I could see something quite liquid form in Philomena's eye.
Oh, great, I lightly sarcastically thought, Even the bird is crying. This really is hopeless. It didn't even register to me that the bird's tear dropped onto the feather that laid atop Twilight's lifeless form. If the main character of this land was dead, what was the point of going on?
"Ph...Philomena?" croaked Celestia as she briefly looked up with her watery eyes, "Y...you're giving her... another chance?"
Princess of daylight say what? I stumbled in thought. A sort of shimmering noise and light started erupting from the moistened feather. The light covered Twilight's entire body and the feather seemed to be consumed in it.
What? I thought still quite confused. The corpse began to float in midair for a second before gently lowering itself onto all four hooves. It gasped in a huge breath of missed oxygen.
Whaaaaaaat? my mental circuits tried to communicate.
"Wh-what just happened?" asked Twilight's voice. The voice had come from the corpse.
"Augh! Zombie pony!" yelled Pinkie Pie, curling herself up under her wild, pink mane.
"Oh, Twilight," whispered Celestia as she pulled in her faithful student for a hoof hug, "Thank goodness."
Just then, a million thoughts hit me at once. A phoenix feather was dropped. A phoenix down was dropped. A phoenix tear was also shed. Phoenix tears have healing powers. Philomena just revived and healed Twilight Sparkle! Okay, maybe not a million, but it felt like a lot at the time.
"Da flip?" I asked completely baffled.
---
A phoenix normally never allows itself to cry. It is a fiery bird of the sky. Its tears would normally burn anything unholy. But when it does cry, it chooses someone it deems worthy of the second life. Just as the bird itself rises from the ashes, so to does the entity it weeps for. Combined with the life-giving properties of a phoenix down feather, the tears can heal a body that has almost lost its soul. At least, that's how it was explained.
I still didn't get it.
"Uh..." my mouth exhaled as I tried to process everything I had just been told.
"Think about what you know about phoenixes from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and the Final Fantasy series," tried Luna, "Then combine those facts."
"Okay," I uttered with eyes still held in a position of confusion.
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that we had all moved into the slightly roomier library. By 'all', I mean the main nine ponies, the two princesses, and me. I guessed Daisy was sent home.
"In any case," said Luna standing up from her sitting position, "The advance is happening faster than we had first assumed. We must get started with advanced training right away."
"Advanced training?" echoed several members of the group.
"What do you mean?" asked a curious Applejack as she readjusted her hat.
"Now that David himself has entered the battlefield," continued Luna, "It is imperative that more of us master Bankai."
"I... recognize that term," commented Rarity, "It's a version of our Zanpaktou's power, but greater in strength."
"Precisely," confirmed Luna.
"But, don't normal circumstances make Bankai impossible to obtain for over a hundred years?" I asked, "Let alone be mastered?"
"Yes," confirmed Luna, "But I have good news and bad news. The good news is I have the necessary tools to allow a pony to at least achieve a Bankai in less than a day."
"And the bad news?" piped in Sweetie Belle.
"There's only enough for three ponies," conceded the Princess of the Night, "and the tests will likely be lethal if some pony should fail."
"So..." I paused for dramatic effect, "any volunteers?"
"I'll do it!" hollered Rainbow Dash almost immediately flying to Luna's side.
"So will I!" vouched Applejack without a second thought.
"I guess I'm excluded from the list of candidates since I already have a Bankai," lamented Rarity dramatically.
"Um... uh," mumbled Fluttershy. She made no move whatsoever. I couldn't fault her. Pacifists need to be peacemakers, not warmongers.
"I will!" chirped Pinkie Pie, "Oh, wait! No sword! Never mind!" She still held that energetic smile despite contradicting herself.
"I can't either," said Twilight, "Sorry."
"I'll go." The rest of us turned to the unexpected voice.
"Scootaloo?" asked Sweetie Belle.
"Are you sure?" added Apple Bloom, "You heard what the Princess said. It could be lethal."
"I'm not going to let a word I don't know the meaning of stand in the way," chuckled Scootaloo.
"Lethal means 'it could kill you'," I deadpanned. There wasn't any point in being all cushy with the situation now.
"Like I said," she reiterated, "I'm not going to let that stand in the way." She walked over to Luna's side.
"Very well then," said Luna with a nod, "Let us be off." On that note, she activated a white burst of magic from her horn. The four ponies disappeared in a pop of white light.
"Twilight," spoke the soft, gentle voice of Celestia. I had almost forgotten that she was there.
"Yes, Princess?" asked Twilight as she looked up.
"I... um, how do I put this?" struggled Celestia. I've never known her to be one to struggle with finding the right words to say. But that was assuming my knowledge of her in the show coincided with what I knew about this Celestia. (Guh, thinking about different dimensions makes my head hurt.)
"Feel free to say whatever's on your mind," said Twilight with a small smile.
Celestia took a deep breath before saying, "Okay. Yesterday, I took a look through the old inventory in the Starswirl the Bearded wing of Canterlot's library."
"Oh?" said Twilight indicating she wanted to know where this was going.
"And," Celestia continued, "I found something that may relate to your newly developed powers, specifically the Quincy powers."
"Really?" Twilight questioned with renewed excitement, "What did you find?"
"These," the Princess of the Sun answered as her magic produced five small objects from thin air. They appeared metallic and rectangular. What caught my eye was the specific pattern on them as well as the small ringlets on each of their ends, kind of like what you'd attach a key chain to.
Those are Seele Schneiders! I thought.
"Princess," said Twilight with eyes wide in wonder, "What... are these?"
"I'm not entirely sure," replied Celestia with a twinge of regret, "But I thought perhaps if you meditated with them, something might click into place."
"Okay, Princess," said Twilight while using her own magenta aura to take hold of the thin metal bars, "I trust you."
"And Twilight," said the princess as she stood up.
"Yes?"
"I love you." Celestia bent down her swan-like neck and nuzzled Twilight gently. Twilight returned the favor with her own nuzzle.
D'aaaaaaw, I thought while wearing a stupid smile, That is so adorable. I wish I brought my camera.
"Awwwwww," cooed the remaining Cutie Mark Crusaders. The absence of a certain filly saying "ew" reminded me of something else.
"I wonder how Scootaloo's doing," I muttered.
---
Princess Luna appeared in a flash of bright light along with her three passengers. The large room resembled a cross between an old throne room and a barracks for the Royal Guards.
Rainbow Dash whistled, "Nice place you got here."
"What is all this?" wondered Scootaloo.
"This is a special training ground," replied the princess, "Here, the Elite Royal Guard usually practice their more heavily armored bodies against greater magic and harsh climates. Today, however, I have specifically given the order for them to 'take their necessary vacation hours'."
"So... this is where we're going to train to use Bankai?" pondered Applejack.
"Sort of," answered Luna, "I didn't tell any pony about this because there wasn't a need. But now, there is something I must show to all of you." With a pattern of flashes resembling telegraphic 'Horse Code', Luna's magic opened up a compartment in one of the walls. She then used her midnight blue aura to draw forth three objects from the depths of the compartment. The objects looked kind of like the mannequins in Carousel Boutique. However, these had specific patterns of black lines traced around their 'bodies' and red crystals in their 'hearts'.
Luna set these objects down in front of the three other ponies before saying, "These are based off a tool I witnessed in my burst of knowledge from the human world."
"Wow... what is it?" said Rainbow Dash as her awe quickly turned to confusion.
"By striking these statuettes," explained the princess, "They will bring the spirits of your Zanpaktou into the real world. Then, they will test you in ways they see fit in order to see if you're worthy of using their Bankai."
"What kind of tests?" asked Applejack.
"As I said before, they could be lethal," continued Luna, "Each individual Zanpaktou is different. So it's likely that no two tests are exactly the same."
"What... happens if we fail?" asked Scootaloo.
Rainbow Dash, however, quickly interrupted before declaring, "We won't fail! We've come too far to back out now! That's why we came here in the first place, to get stronger." Scootaloo gazed at her idol with sparkles in her eyes.
"You're right," affirmed Scootaloo without another word.
"So how do we go about doing this?" asked Applejack.
"First," said Luna, "Call forth your Zanpaktou." In three flashes, the two katana and one butcher's knife were in their grasps.
"Then, activate their Shikai form. Fortunately, Rainbow Dash, your Zanpaktou is already in that form."
"Aw, yeah!" pumped Rainbow Dash with her free hoof.
"Roar, Zabimaru!" called Applejack. Her katana flashed in red light before transforming into the six-segmented, spiked blade.
"Shroud the world in darkness, Kagehime!" called Scootaloo. The blade in her grasp glowed black before growing a second blade of similar size on the opposite end of the handle.
Luna flapped her wings and flew over to the old throne seat that was currently a few feet behind the mannequins. She stood in front of the seat as she took on a slightly more authoritative tone of voice. Thankfully, for her little ponies, it was not as ear-splitting as her Royal Canterlot tone.
"Today is a momentous occasion," she decreed, "Not one, but three of the Zanpaktou's chosen stand here to take this trial. But this is neither a competition nor a contest. You will each be judged for your individual efforts. All three of you may prevail or none of you. But we did not come all this way to watch you fall short of the mark. I trust that you are ready."
"Yes!" stated the two Pegasi and lone earth pony.
"Then let the test begin!" decreed Luna, "Thrust your blades into the statues before you."
"Hyah!" shouted Rainbow Dash as her blade pierced her statue's 'heart'.
"Hup!" grunted Scootaloo as one side of her double katana pierced the statue before her.
"Rah!" shouted Applejack.
A bright, red light erupted from each of the statue's 'hearts' and engulfed the three ponies. When it cleared, they were gone from the immediate vicinity.
"Good luck, my little ponies," whispered Luna hopefully.
---
"This course of action, I do not find wise, majestic creature of courage and skies."
"Just shut up and tell me how to use this thing."
"Very well, but you have been warned. Now thrust your weapon into this horn."
"Finally, something I know how to do."