"Good morning, Princess."
"Twilight? How did you get here so fast?" Asked Rainbow, her primaries shaking from the fatigue of exchanging blows with the winged curse.
"Discord sent me, though it seemed I was too late," Twilight replied, her eyes wavered slightly as she looked at the carnage below. Her voice trembling slightly, "Yuta, lives were lost today. I'm sorry, but I can't allow you to carry on your operations like this if it endangers my subjects. "
Yuta tilted his head slightly at the comment before nodding in agreement.
"I'm sorry too, princess, but I can't abide by your request. I've been doing my best to exorcise these curses."
"Two innocent lives were lost because of your altercation!!"
"I'm a Jujutsu Sorcerer. I can't guarantee I'll save everyone, but I can guarantee I'll exorcise the curse, and the only way for me to do that is to continue fighting." Yuta replied, his voice firm and unwavering. He turned his back towards Twilight. "I will not actively forsake lives in battle, Princess. But there's even so many lives I can protect."
The last remark caught her stunned. He stood up from where he sat; his reversed cursed technique doing enough that he could move with no issue. Walking past Twilight, he left her staring at the spot where he'd just laid. She could feel her body shudder slightly as he moved past him.
In a flash, three magic walls surround the human, trapping him in the middle. A Ceiling materialised over him. The last side, facing Twilight, was rows of bars wide enough for his hand to pass through, but not his body. Now, he was on guard, drawing his sword.
Twilight turns around, her horn blazing a beautiful violet.
"You're right, Yuta. You can't guarantee you'll save my subjects, but how can I guarantee you're not an enemy? Your memory clearly shows even Sorcerers can turn selfish; that person with black robes and weird bangs is evidence of that." So, tell me, how can I, the ruler of Equestria, put my trust in you?"
Rainbow took a step back, her wings trembling. She hasn't seen Twilight this fierce in a long time. The magic of an Alicorn and the aura of a Special Grade Shaman is clashing right in front of her. She gulped down a stuck phlegm in her throat. For the first time in a while, Dash doesn't want front-row seats in the show.
Yuta grabbed his chin, causing his lips to purse slightly. Closing his eyes, it took him a couple of seconds of thinking before a lightbulb lit up, snapping his finger to his problem with a solution as he finger gunned the princess.
"How about making a binding vow, Princess?" This piqued her interest. "A contract created through cursed energy, you read my memories, didn't you? Surely you know what I'm getting at."
"What are the conditions?" Twilight asks with no hesitation nor wariness in her voice.
"Woah, Woah, Woah! Wait a second, Twi. You just said he can't be trusted, now you're gonna make a deal with him? A guy you just said can't. Be. Trusted?? Even if he did save my eye..." Rainbow finished with a rub of the recently recovered organ. Twilight smiled at her friend's cautiousness.
"Well, it's a long story, Dash, just know that he can't break this vow. Otherwise, there be uncanny repercussions for the one who broke it in the first place. Am I correct to say that?" Yuta nods at her statement. With no further objections from Rainbow, Twilight continues, "Getting back on track...what are these conditions you propose?"
"...I will exterminate the root cause for the curse's appearance in your world, and I promise I won't betray you or your friends. In exchange, bring me the cursed spirit that brought me here alive. Alternatively, if I happen across the curse that brought me here before you are able to, then my original offer is still in effect, the only criteria change would be I require you to send me back to my world. Once either side has fulfil the requirement of the binding vow, we cannot back out and must complete it. This ensures that there is no way for either of us to gain something for free, and this also ensures that I won't betray you, your friends, or your subjects here in Equestria. Does that sound good?" Yuta stated, sheathing his sword.
Twilight gave it a thought. The promise sounds foul-proof: Yuta wouldn't cause harm to them, and all Twilight and her friends have to do is bring the curse to him, not even kill it. Even better if Yuta finds the curse himself, all she has to do is send him home. Snapping out of her mini-trance, Twilight moved closer to the caged Sorcerer.
"This does sound good, I am also right to assume you cannot change the vow once made correct?"
"That's right unless both parties agreed to break off the vow before either one has fulfilled their end of the vow, as I had stated. It is irreversible thereafter once made."
Twilight visibly hesitated for a moment before reaching out a hoof for a handshake.
"It's a mutual agreement then." She said, eyes steel with resolve. Yuta, in response, grabbed her hoof, giving it a firm handshake. Twilight could feel ethereal chains tightening themselves onto their limbs. Solidifying proof that the deal was made.
"Correct, from here on out, may the vow guide us."
Dash sighed in relief while Twilight shook herself, releasing Yuta from his enclosure, and continued, "Now that we've got that settled, let's return to the matter at hand. With the curses in the area taken care of, you should return with the rest of the students. I'll help with whatever I can in the meantime. Dash you too, and bring Aj and Starlight with you."
With a flick of her wings, Twilight began to fly higher into the sky, gaining altitude to see the entire school below. Yuta grabbed the two unconscious ponies lying next to Rainbow and secured them with his arm. Walking to the edge, he looked back at the cyan pegasus.
"Ms. Rainbow Dash, are you coming?"
Rainbow shook her face to clear her head before facing Yuta. "Y-yeah! Coming!"
Yuta hopped off the edge, landing with a loud crash. Rainbow, on the other hand, zipped through the skies and had already landed where Fluttershy and the others were located. The human was quick to follow, reaching just seconds after Dash.
Upon his arrival, everybody in the vicinity except for Discord took a step back. Some out of fear and others out of acknowledgement of his strength. Pinkie, along with some of the other students, lay comatose while others were in a stupor-like state. He turned over to the Young Six, their eyes and breaths baited from what Yuta was about to do next.
"I'm so glad you guys are safe!" Okkotsu exclaimed, his smile showing his genuine expression at their safety.
Waltzing over, he gently sets AJ and Starlight next to Pinkie, and he quickly makes his way over to the six. Checking their wellbeing.
"How are you guy? Sorry I couldn't make it to see all of you perform. You know, with the incident just now..." giving a quick glance at the three sleeping ponies under Fluttershy's watchful eye, he adds, "Looks like they got hit pretty hard, I think they can fully recover, but it might take a bit."
The six slacked at his somewhat goofy attitude to the situation, clearly having a history of dealing with such incidents.
"Um, Yuta? Was that what you mean by you're a Special Grade Sorcerer?" Sandbar asked, pointing a hoof at the now crumbling School of Friendship. Okkotsu chuckles at the statement.
"That wasn't exactly what I meant, but I guess you could say...it was an impromptu demonstration of my abilities."
"So... you're saying you can destroy Equestria if you wanted to?" Chimed Gallus.
"Gallus!" Silverstream gasped.
"What? I'm just curious is all." Gallus replied. This caused Yuta to stare at the Griffon, pointing a finger at himself.
"Do I really look like a rampaging gorilla?"
"I mean, you kinda are, seeing what—" Talons were quick to wrap themselves across Gallus's beak. Muffled cries could be heard soon after as Silverstream restrained him. Beads of sweat now rolled down the sorcerer's forehead.
"Ah, so I really am a rampaging gorilla." The Gorilla said in defeat, his posture slouching slightly and head hung low.
"No, no, no! You're not a brute!" Ocellus commented.
"Okkotsu dear? I'm not interrupting, am I?" Rarity interjected, joining the conversation. "The hospital has been contacted, though it might take awhile for paramedics to arrive, however, some of the survivors are still heavily wounded, there's medical equipment in the doctor's office on the first floor of the school. Perhaps you could go and retrieve some?"
"Okay!" Yuta replied, giving a thumbs up. Turning to the six, he gives them a nod. Telling them to keep safe without actually uttering a word as he got up and dashed back into the collapsed school, making sure to dodge any possible falling debris onto his way in.
Entering through the gates, he was about to scour a little for the nurse's office. Until the trail of cursed residuals was sensed by the sorcerer, the cursed energy left on the ground was similar to that that sent him to Equestria. Yuta snapped his neck towards the direction of the residuals, his eyes sharpening as he gave chase to the trial.
Footsteps rang through the desolate halls as Yuta slid from the corner turn, gracefully kicking off the wall and continuing his dash. With the library doors drawing close, he leapt into the air and dropkicked the doors down with a hefty smash. Dust clouds envelop his person, settling slowly onto the dirty carpets from the confrontation above the school grounds earlier that day.
Okkotsu brisked through the aisle of the walls of books, carefully observing the residuals and his environment, all the while keeping his dominant hand close to the handle of his katana, ready to draw at a moment's notice.
Reaching the end of the trail, books littered the floor. He reached down to pick one up, reading the title.
"History of Equestria and the rise of Friendship."
The book had pages creased and folded in an uncaring manner, probably from the impact done when the curse had dropped it onto the floor when it was no longer useful to her. Opening the crumpled pages, he began reading the contents.
Twilight had just finished clearing the last of the waste debris around the stadium, the magic on her horn dying down in the process.
"What a disaster." She noted bloodstains still decorated the arena. "How do I even begin to break the horrible news to the parents of those poor students?!" Her hoof rubbed her temple, her eyebrows scrunching up in both sadness and annoyance, hatred and self-loathing. Annoyance that she couldn't reach the scene in time to help. Hatred to the curses that dare cause harm to her people, and self-loathing for not being able to protect her citizens. "Lives were lost, Twilight! How are you this incompetent!?" Her eyes started to shimmer as she dipped her head. "Celestia, what would you do?"
"Princess!" Turning around, Twilight watched as Yuta dashed to her side, a book in his hand. "Who's this?!" He asked, pointing to a picture of a pony shrouded in black fog. The purple Alicorn was quick to hide her emotions away. Clearing her thoughts, she gave Yuta his answer.
"The pony of shadows? He was banished to limbo. Why? What's wrong?"
"Banished? Like, teleported? Not killed?"
"Yes... What are you getting at?"
A sudden flash of rainbow light from the skies blinded the two for a second, using their arms and wings to shield themselves from the light. The nearby inhabitants did the same until the glow died down. Everybody could now clearly see what was going on up in the skies, with the object in question draining the colours from its surroundings as it fell, leaving a trail of discolouration in its path. Giving the young six, main seven, and Yuta a clear indicator that the object in question was pretty damn far away.
To be fair, what they were witnessing was not an object but rather a place.
"H-hey," Gallus asked, his voice shaky. Pointing his talons in the direction of where the trail of greyscale was falling. "I-is Cloudsdale supposed to be falling from the sky?"