Kyōka Suigetsu, crumble!

by The Archiver

Chapter eight: Training a drake

"Well that sure was something, with everyone heading home now to rest after this new discovery I can't blame them either. And this only confirms that there are more like me out there." My fingers are locked around the staff and tome Grima gave me, my mind still wondering about the recent events that had just played out. These plain cobblestone roads mixed in with the sun finally setting, it really makes you feel like you’re in a movie.

The slow quiet mood of the world around us made me turn to my right, watching Spike tiredly ride on Twilight's back. It had sparked something inside me, something that only existed a long-long time ago. Smiling from the nostalgia I’m getting. Walking closer to the older sister of my apprentice. “Hey Twi… I know you’re tired after all that so let me just teleport you home, how does that sound?” 

She looks to be considering my offer before shaking her head. “I’d really like that Aizen yawn, it's been a long day and I’d appreciate the rest.” I only nod my head, no extra movements, no fake smile, no quips, I simply nod my head and create a senkaimon in front of us. A small sigh of relief is heard and then we both walk through.

Stretching my arms on my bed I hold my new shared tome in my hands. “Twilight.G and Grima said that simply by staring at this tome while trying to decipher it would unlock more of its secrets but I’ve only been getting bits and pieces, I suppose that this will be a very slow process. Just like molding Spike into someone that I can always rely on in this world… And maybe become my friend too. And maybe, just maybe, become friends of his friends.” Feeling my internal clock I can tell that it’s already around ten p.m.

Seeing that I should probably go to sleep since I have nothing better to do as of now I go to blow out my candle. A knock on my door interrupts me though. “Hey Aizen it’s me, Twilight, can we talk for a second?” Debating whether or not I should answer, I curse the timing and open the door.

“Hey Twilight, did you need anything?” Asking her like clockwork.

She shakes her head, bits of her mane going back and forth between her eyes. “No, it’s just. I need to do better. I know it’s obvious that I don’t like you and yet you still put up with it all with a smile on your face. So I just came to apologize and tell you that I’ll be doing better from now on, if not for me then for Spike. And to prove it, tomorrow at six a.m. sharp, lets come together to plan something for my little brother.” Sticking her hoof out she waits for me to shake it, but it doesn’t take long for me to do so.

“Twilight, I’m glad that we could come closer like this, but if you’ll excuse me, I need to rest, I still need to sleep on today’s events.”

She lets go of my hand and sheepishly smiles. “No I understand, I was just about to hit the hay myself. Goodnight Aizen.” She walks out and closes the door behind her.

Walking back to my bed I promptly close my tome and put it on my desk, and sit in the flower position on it, meditating. “Heh, ‘Aizen’ she called me by my last name again ever since we met, guess she is warming up to me, truly gullible. But enough thinking, I’ll just figure it all out tomorrow then.” Blocking the rest of my thoughts off I continue taking note of my spiritual body for the rest of the night

Briefly yawning, I stretch my arms before getting out of bed… “Wait, I don't remember going to sleep.” But it didn't take me long to figure out what had happened.A soft chuckle is heard from me as I pull my blanket away from me. “Heh, thanks Twi.”  

Gently getting out of bed I feel my bare feet hit the wooden floorboards, making a near inaudible thump sound as it happens. I’m still tired after both of the nearly inexplicable transformations that happened to me but still find the power to carry out my morning routine, training, brushing my teeth, hopping into the shower, and going downstairs to make breakfast. Yet a strange smell starts to leak into my room before I leave, it’s sweet… My mind trails off for a second but I end up shaking my head. “Nah, no way Twi would do that, she’s probably busy right now anyways.”

Heading down stairs though I find my suspicions to be both right and wrong at the same time. Twilight is cooking on her hindlegs but Aizen is helping her? Two things I never expected to happen in a lifetime the way these two act around each other.

“Hey Spike, how’d you sleep?” Aizen asks me while flipping something over on one of the pans.

“Uh. I slept fine, thanks for asking. What are you two doing?” Tilting my head I try to get a better angle for both of them.

“Well Spike we both decided that you could use a break from making breakfast all the time. And considering the training regiment that Aizen and I choose to best accommodate yourself, it’d be best for you to save your energy in the morning anyways.” Twilight answers for Aizen this time. Shimming over to the side now, she grabs and presents three plates, all of them filled with pancakes, one with gems on top too, haybacon, and scrambled eggs… Y’know come to think of it, I haven’t had eggs since we lived back in Canterlot. That’s not what I’m worried about though.

“Wait did you say training regiment?” I walk up to the dining table, taking a seat across from Twilight while Aizen takes the seat to the other side of the dining table to the left. And finally levitates our plates and silverware to each of us. I start tearing into my food as a respectable dragon does, but I’m stopped by my sister

“Of course, did you think that gaining these new found abilities would come easily Spike? I thought I taught you better than that. Celestia always said that the more you know about yourself the more you can apply in life. So you need to train your body and apply yourself to helping others.” Twilight states in a somewhat motherly tone.

Shaking my head I try to clear this up before Twilight gets mad at me. “No, I’m just surprised that you would work with Aizen to train me. I always thought you two…” I trail off, staring at both of them.

Aizen decides to pick off where I left off and say “Hated each other’s guts? Eh maybe a little, but we both came to an agreement that it was unreasonable to do so in the first place. And if we’re going to be living together then we need to at least be able to work together. So finish your food quickly, because after thirty minutes we’re gonna asset you. Before when I was training you about sword fighting that was before you got the Mercenary class and turned into a Vastocar. Now we’ve got no choice but to integrate that into your fighting style as well.”  Aizen tells me. And something else I didn’t notice was that he was also eating. That’s something that I rarely saw Aizen do, eating food. I guess today really is a special occasion.

“Alright, you’ve both got it, I’ll make sure not to disappoint you both.” Aizen starts laughing after hearing me say that.

“Oh boy, you’ve got a lot of spirit in you Spike, I’ll give you that.”

Twilight dismissively kicks Aizen’s shin which I can tell hurt Twilight more than Aizen if any, (it did not) and waves Aizen off. “Don’t listen to him Spike, I know you’ll do just fine.

“Today is going to be a long day today, I can already tell…” After finishing breakfast, Twilight and I both agreed that magical studies should come first before physical exercise. That being said… We both remembered that dragons can’t use pony magic, which is yet another reason why Kidō is better. It’s inclusive to all races. Nevertheless we agreed to just focus on Spike’s draconic fire manipulation, so instead of staying indoors for a boring lecture about where magic comes from. We’re instead all at the outskirts of town. After hanging a sign out on the library that we’ll be back soon, of course.

“I am so ready for this.” Spike tells us, walking through the grass field. “I’ve gotta know though, what are we doing first?”

“Well first off is how large you can naturally make your fire breath. It’ll be an important point to check considering this will show how much magic you have flowing through you.” Twilight told her little brother.

“Just make sure not to over exert yourself over this. We don’t need you passing out from a lack of Reiatsu in your body.” I pitch in.

“You guys got it, and I’ve been meaning to test this out for myself believe it or not. I just never got a chance to since Twi has always been a buzz kill.” Clearing his throat Spike looks at both of us, almost like he knows he’s gonna get good  results.

“I am not a buzzkill Spike, it would just be dangerous to do so without a proper testing environment.” Twilight responds, before looking at me. “And Aizen, why do you do that?”

Tilting my head I look at the lavender mare, confused. “Do what exactly?”

“You call magic “Reiatsu,” it’s kinda hard not to notice you doing that too since you just did it two seconds ago.” She further clarifies.

“Oh! That’s simply because we have different systeming for how we perceive magic. Funny thing really, you see-” An eruption of flames is heard behind us.

“Fuck yeah, that’s the type of fire power I’m talking about!” Spike shouts aloud, as if he just won an award.

Turning around at the same time as my new partner. We both see Spike in front of a scorched arch that stretches on for the entire right half of the field.

“S-Spike, what kind of magical output do you even have right now? That was something only an adult dragon could’ve done, and even then it’d leave a strain on their throat but you’re speaking just fine.” Staring at the damage her little brother did. Twilight teleports in front of him, excitedly moving her hooves back and forth.

“Uh Twilight? You’re kinda freaking me out right now. I know that I couldn’t breathe fire to this magnitude before but there's no reason to get so excited.” Trying to calm his sister down, Spike tries to downplay that feat he pulled off.

A single eye twitch from Twilight is already everything I need to know to see that this isn’t gonna go well for either side if I don’t do something soon. Clearing my throat, I try to deescalate the situation.

“What Spike meant to say was that this is only the starting tests so it’s not something that you should get so riled up about. Save that for later instead, Twilight.”

Maybe I shouldn’t have said that though. Because the result of it was a pouty face and trembling eyes. A completely opposite reaction from what she was previously displaying.

“B-but the science behind it though…” She weakly argues.

Crossing my arms, I shake my head. “No, we’re doing it later. If we stopped to take notes at every test we did then that’d quite possibly be the most inefficient thing we could do.” I counter. “And speaking of more tests, the runner up is for your Arrancar sided skills.”

“Arrancar sided?” Spike reiterated.

“Yes, Arrancar sided. And I’m gonna start you off with something all Arrancars can do, a cero. It should be extremely simple for you considering the fact that you already have a magical focus. Simply concentrate on building up energy just in front of your mouth and release it in a condensed stream.” I explained to him.

“Hold on, you expect Spike to know how to do  a cero? With those loose ended instruction you gave him. I understand that a cero is a hollow’s natural ability, from what you told me while we were planning this. But this just doesn’t make any logical sense.” Attempting to reason against my very sound teachings, Twilight tries to disprove my credibility.

“It’s more of a natural thing than something that can be taught, Twilight. Rather than making a pointless effort to figure out a way to use cero, instead I can only give him an outline to work with.” My sagely words of advice don’t seem to really pierce the ears of my apprentice’s sister.

“I’ll never understand you Aizen.” Twilight Sparkle silently mumbles.

“Hmph, just watch, oh also I’d recommend taking some steps backwards. A Vastocar’s strength is extremely volatile, especially when they can’t control it..” Twilight, upon hearing this, pops out of existence for a brief moment before teleporting twenty hooves back, while shouting “Okay I think I’m good over here, proceed!” Giving her a thumbs up I turn my attention back over to the newly birthed Vastocar and Mercenary . “Spike, are you ready for this?!” I yell out.

Nodding his head, the adolescent dragon closes his eyes before taking some deep breaths. His mind tries to settle itself, ignoring all his excitement, anticipation, and emotions. Instead though, he only ends up making the chaotic mess in his head further fuel his instability in power.

I can feel his Reiatsu spike in front of him, forming a large green neon ball in front of Spike’s mouth. Seeing the panicked look on my student’s face, I cusp my hands and shout. “Release it as if it were your own fire Spike!” Appearing to be calm and collected towards my student. Spike’s confidence starts to swell up again. Puffing up his chest, he blows out the charged cero, crackling with energy it shoots with the potency to mimic five railguns  (picture the tiny white speck on the right to be Spike.)  The blast itself still hasn’t impacted until a whole five seconds later when all of us feel a large tremor in the ground. A huge explosion surrounds it from the origin point with a huge hole being left in the ground.

Trying to swat at the smoke in front of him, my student stares off into the distance where his work lays, with an unreadable look.

“Is this, is this real?” Spike blankly asks.

“It’s only as real as you make it dear student, but if I may give my humblest input. Yes, yes it was real.” I answer

“Huh… Thought so.” Spike looks at the palms of his claws. “That was fucking awesome, on so many levels and I wish you taught me that sooner Aizen.” The dragon immediately says. 

When I’m about to reply a brief pop is heard behind me, small white sparkles sprinkle throughout the air and that familiar taste of Reiatsu is felt. “Aizen, do you have any idea on what just happened because based off what I saw, was a ticking mana bomb that’s ready to go off at any moment. When you turned my little brother into an Arrancar and Grima turned him into a mercenary I thought it’d be a simple change. Not result in him being about to blow up half of a town in an instant!!!” The elder sister screamed.

“Oh relax, it wasn’t even that bad, if anything we just know that he’s a tiny bit stronger than last time-” While in the middle of trying to argue my point I’m rudely cut off by Twilight.

“A little bit? This, this is probably breaking some type of record for the most energy output by an adolescent in all of history!” The not all sane mare concludes. “Yeah this is gonna require a lot of testing. But until further notice. Aizen, you have to prohibit Spike from ever using a ‘cero’ without direct supervision, that move was way too dangerous to ever be used in a combative situation, period.” Twilight says in a serious tone of voice.

“Okay fine, no using ceros or anything of the sorts, trust me I understand. I didn’t think he’d fire one off with that much output.” I replied. Spike’s idleness disappeared around the same moment I answered Twilight’s question.

“Come on! Twilight you can’t say that it wasn’t cool enough to never be used again.”

Twilight immediately facehoofed before loudly groaning. “Spike you cannot be serious.” The unicorn turns over to me. “Can you… Make sure you help train my little brother properly so that something like this doesn’t cause any casualties?”

 “That’s what I’m here for isn’t it? I already guessed that his Reiatsu output would be a little higher than most, of course nothing to this extreme, but you’ve got nothing to worry about. I’ll only be teaching Spike Zanjutsu for right now.” I assuredly return a knowing smile.

“Zanjutsu…? You did say something about that, the art of fighting with what you call a Zanpakuto.” Making a reference to earlier this morning, Twilight connects the dots. “I can’t necessarily see sword fighting to be that big of a deal. But to be safe I’ll just watch from over here.” Twilight walks a few hooves back before waving her hoof in the air.

Nodding my head I rotate over back to Spike. “Okay, you heard your older sister. No more Kido related things until we get this magical spiking under control. So draw your new Zanpakuto and watch.” Unsheathing my own Zanpakuto I hold it in front of me with my right hand.

Spike’s previous disappointment seems to disappear after hearing how he’ll get to test out his new skills. “I was wondering when we’d get to this. I hope that this new body will give me some real improvements.” Unsheathing his straight edged katana. Spike’s entire demeanor changes, in the past when I trained him for that brief week he always seemed eager, but now it’s more calm and insightful … This probably has something to do with that patient skill Grima and Twilight.G were talking about.

“This move is extremely basic that all must know before starting off, Ryōdan or bisection, you got that?” Spike gives me a thumbs up, with that same observant gaze. Not entirely dissimilar to mines. “Its steps are simple but its mastery is a little more difficult. All you have to do is grip your sword with both hands.” I proceed to mimic the movements I illustrate. “And twist your body to bring down your sword, straight down the middle to your opponent like so.” Tightly gripping Kyōka Suigetsu in my hands I bring the ancient Zanpakuto above my head before making a vertical slash downwards, slightly twisting my body to the right to increase my force. A huge gust of wind crashes in the same direction. Twilight and Spike both cover their faces as best as they can before the pressure stops. “And that’s how you do Ryōdan successfully.”

“I thought you said that was basic Aizen. Yet it appeared to be a really advanced technique.” Twilight points out.

Re-sheathing my Zanpakuto, I shake my head. “That’s only because of the mastery I’ve gained over the years when I had trained myself prior to being turned into stone. Spike only has to practice this same move ten thousand times today without fail.” My demeanor changes into that of one who’s being completely serious, but Spike and Twilight seem to be in disbelief.

“Are you… Are you actually kidding me right now?” Spike questions.

“Does it look like I’m kidding? I meant what I said, every other day this is what you’re going to be practicing while those days in between are going to be the rest of the basics, basic stances, posture, striking, and how to use your speed properly.” Eyeing my student, I watch to see what his reaction will be. Is he going to quit right now or go through with it?

“But that look in your eye tells me everything I need to know, so don’t disappoint me Spike.” Inside my mind I’m quite ecstatic about this. On the outside however, I’m stone cold, this is something that could possibly mean life or death for Spike depending on how he applies it to combat.

“...Only ten thousand? You got it then, I’ll have ‘em done before four hours past. Just you wait Aizen.” The drake rises to his task, and spontaneously gets into the stance for Ryōdan as I had shown him, before bringing his sword up and vertically slashing downwards. He continues repeating the process with that same caution I had only seen a few other skilled fighters showcased back in my time period.

“Aizen, were you actually being serious when you said that he has to do ten thousand of ‘bisection’ as you called it?” The older sister of my student trots up next to me with a raised eyebrow

“More serious than you could possibly know Twilight, I also need you to watch Spike’s form and make sure he doesn’t mess his posture up half way through” I replied.

“I can only make a guess on how he’s supposed to do this based off how you showcased the technique but I’ll try.” She megearly responded. Which was good enough for me.

“That’s fine, so if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to study this tome Grima gave me. It’s taking me longer than I thought it would to decipher it. Speaking of which, I should probably get some type of casing for it as well.” Thinking aloud I retrieve my tome from underneath my black outfit. And flip through the pages, trying to decipher another piece of its text.

This rhythmic slash that resounds in these grassy fields have already melded together at this point into a pure white noise. It was already very sweet of Twilight to coach Spike for me, while I figure out what the next piece of this tome includes, the only thing I’ve been able to make out so far though is [Nosfera] which I know is yet to be the complete word. Although my mind has been in disarray ever since I saw that one pony. I know it was a warning so I have to protect my best piece first before I help out the elements. Speaking of which, I’ve simultaneously been using Pesquisa as I’ve read this sacred tome. If only to measure how Spike’s Reiatsu fluxes every time he uses Ryōdan. I have picked up a weird Reiatsu signature, one that’s contradictory to itself. And is actually coming this way along with one other.

“Eight thousand and eight hundred fifty two.” Already sweating an extreme amount, Spike still finds the will to keep going with his training without taking a single break.

Brushing my pride for my little prodigy aside I call out to Twilight. “Hey Twi, I think we’re about to have some company.” I told her.

“Did he just call me ‘Twi?’ since when has he…?” The mare’s mind trails off before pushing those thoughts back for now. “How do you figure Aizen? Also, how would anypony even find us all the way out here?” Twilight inquiries, not sure how I could possibly come to that conclusion.

“No clue, they’re just coming. As for the how? I can sense them, simple as that.” I mysteriously retort.

“You know what, I’m not going to question it.” The mare wisely decides. “Spike keep practicing. We’ll be back with you in a bit.” She only gets a grunt in response. “Now Aizen, show me where they are so we can intercept them. We don’t want anypony to get too concerned about me training my younger brother and seeing a crater just a mile or so away.” Twilight reasons.

“Fine lets just try and make this quick. I know I’m almost done with this next spell. And I do not like losing concentration.” Involuntarily I show my impatience to Twilight. Even if it was for a second she still seems to question it inside her mind. “Don’t stare at me like that, let's get going already.” I urge her, getting up myself to go towards the energy signature.This doesn’t stop Twilight from giving me this look of surprise but chooses to follow me instead of questioning it further.

Upon arrival I can see why exactly there’s been a conflicting Reiatsu output within a heartbeat. There’s Apple Bloom with an array of different cutie marks, tap dancing and plate juggling, two skills I know she can’t possibly have normally. And based off of the elder sister, Applejack’s, expression I can tell this most definitely isn’t normal.

“Twi! I’m sorry ah came to ya while you were off but y’all see Apple Bloom has more cutie marks on her than a porcupine has spines. The only reason we found y’all was because we overheard some ponies talkin bout you, Aizen, and Spike all heading towards these plains. But they didn’t know which so we’re lookin for ya for a while now.” Applejack quickly splurts out.

“Oh my Celestia! Applejack I am so sorry that I didn’t hang up a sign to tell everypony where I was going, especially when you needed me in such a dire time. And poor Apple Bloom, she looks like she can barely even stand with how much sweat there is dripping from her.” Twilight’s mood is brought down from the pitiful state Apple Bloom is in. It’s not necessarily something that I should concern myself with, however I shall tag along to make sure these ponies don’t get into any unnatural trouble. It’d be a real shame if something were to attack them both and then for Spike to become distant from me as he was before.

Scratching the back of my head I attempt to look as if I’m contemplating the situation before looking at the three of the ponies. “Here, why don’t I see what I can do to help.”

“Um, that’s fine Sōsuke, really ah just needed to borrow Twilight for a bit. But thanks for the offer.” The orange earth pony politely declines.

In advance to my counter argument, Twilight is already defending me. “No, no, it’s okay Aizen can come with us. Maybe he’ll find some way to help us.”

Applejack doesn’t seem very pleased with the idea of me coming along but isn’t going to argue about it any longer. “Fine, ah guess you can tag along Sōsuke, just make sure you don’t do any of that special voodoo magic of yours.” The stetson wearing pony warned.

Rolling my eyes I crouch down and I come face to face with the tap dancing pony. “Hey Apple Bloom, how’d something like this happen? It appears to be magical in nature so I can’t imagine that this happened naturally.”

The red maned filly looks to be extremely nervous about the question itself. “A-ah don’t know, ah just woke up one day with one cutie mark until a whole bunch of ‘em had showed up outta nowhere!” Apple Bloom states.

Making a small “Mhm” sound with my mouth I can obviously tell that she’s lying. But I’d like to see how much longer she can keep this up for. I do like toying with ponies whenever I get the chance. “Well do either of you know anybody who can fix something like this?” I ask, using a false dumbfounded tone laced within my voice.

“Hm… Oh I know! There’s this one Zebra named Zecora who lives inside the Everfree. Maybe she can figure out a cure for Apple Bloom.” Twilight brilliantly suggests.

“Well shucks Twi, I ain’t even think of asking Zecora. Let’s get going then, that shaman’s gotta have somethin for mah poor poor sister.” Agreeing with Twilight’s plan of action, Applejack starts galloping off back to Ponyville, only to look back and see that nobody is following her. “Uh… Hello, we’re gonna go get Zecora, are y’all not coming with or somethin?” The element of honesty asks.

“Actually I was just going to teleport us to her. Zebras have different Reiatsu that they give out. It’s more spiritual than a regular pony’s so I should be able to pinpoint it as long as she’s not in a different town.” I swiftly answer.

“I… Ah guess that makes some sense. Alrighty fine, I’ll let you do whatever Sōsuke since you’re such a genius.” Applejack sarcastically remarks.

Twilight disapprovingly glares at Applejack, silently saying. “Calm down AJ, he’s just trying to help.” With Applejack retorting that “Ah don’t need that snake’s help.” While Apple Bloom is left in the middle of this incessant arguing.

Interrupting them both I tell them about my findings. “Found them, or at least it should be them. They’re in the middle of Ponyville right now, so you two can stop your bickering. Though I do appreciate you standing up for me Twilight.” Opening up a senkaimon to the marked zebra’s location I travel through it, the three other ponies ollowing beside me.

The town of Ponyville was pretty quiet before Twilight came along, now there’s always some sort of problem every few weeks now and again. Today was one of those weeks. When  Sōsuke Aizen first made his appearance known it traumatized a lot of ponies, making most of them go into psychological therapy to help soothe their minds. When Aizen just showed up in the middle of town through a sliding door with a darkness akin to a void, nopony even cared. It was just another normal tuesday for them.

“Okay so this Zebra should be around here… Or be directly in front of me.” And there she was. A striped zebra in all of her glory.

“Oh dear Twilight, Applejack, and Apple Bloom, these circumstances are all but mink, so please tell me, what is it that you seek?” Asked Zecora.

“Mah sister’s got some sort of cutie mark disease and we need ya to help her.” Applejack said, practically leaving no space to add onto what she said.

“Ah, for your sister’s ailment I may have a cure, but first allow me to ask a question to be sure.” She rhymed, yet again.

“Sure go right ahead, I’m ready to get this thing done and over with anyways.” I interject.

Turning her head she gets a better look at me before raising an eyebrow. “And who might you be, mysterious creature that I have seen?”

“I’m just someone that was famous for a while, I’m surprised you haven’t heard of me from the townsfolk.” I say.

“Well these ponies have always been shy around me, but I will not mind, so long as I can be.” She answers.

“Yeah yeah, y’all can introduce y’all selves later. First, cure mah sister.” Applejack impatiently points to her sister, who’s now cleaning windows for some odd reason.

Zecora nods her head, understanding the situation. “Right, right. Little Apple Bloom, you know, I had a heart’s desire within my home. But now it cannot be found, do you know why that is?” She calls over to the filly.

Apple Bloom, in response, starts sweating bullets, moving to and fro from windows. Not sure what to do. So Zecora speaks up again. “That is fine if you have no answer. For you see I have something that can help this case of cutie pox if you’d be so inclined to call it.” Pulling three white seeds from her pocket she places them on the floor. “The truth is what these seeds seek, and only the most important truth of who are ill shall work. So Apple Bloom, was it you who stole my Heart’s Desire?”

Applejack raises an eyebrow at the plant’s peculiar name. Twilight’s doesn’t, I can only guess that she’s heard of this plant before.

“Wait hold on everyone, I just remembered that I can reverse this. Give me a second.” Quickly interjecting I grab a hold of the fast moving filly. “Well it was fun while it lasted, but I needed to brush off my Kaidō skills anyways.” Working my Reiatsu into Apple Bloom’s Reiryoku itself. I tune it back to its originality. While this is proving difficult since there’s about twenty different conflicting energies I need to sort out.

“Uh. Aizen are you okay?” Twilight questions since it looks like I’m struggling a bit.

“No-no, I’m fine, give me a second.” I told her. The healing procedure took longer than a minute but Apple Bloom soon had zero cutie marks on her.

“Aw thank ya mister. You really saved my hide, and now ah think I’ll fall unconscious now since I’m bone shakingly tired.” The filly proceeds to do just that, falling to her sides but immediately being caught by me. And I hand over the tired filly to her sister.

“Thanks a bunch Sōsuke, ah… Ah really appreciate it.” Applejack heaves Apple Bloom over her back before walking back to her barn.

Crossing my arms, I already start waving goodbye to the protective older sister. “Anytime Applejack, anytime.”

“You know, while I did not appreciate such a feat, I must admit it was quite neat.” Zecora disappointedly admits. “The truth is what I needed, yet you made it blockaded.”

“My way was more efficient so can we just leave it at that?” I shoot back.

Twilight jumps into the conversation to meditate. “Zecora I’m sorry for my friend here. He’s more direct and doesn’t really like taking roundabout paths unless he has to. But we have to get going, maybe I’ll catch you for tea later on to discuss this matter further?”

Zecora, seeing as though she wont be able to get through to me, holds the bridge of her muzzle with one of her hooves. “Hm… I suppose that will do, fine go and take care of your business. I must be running along elsewhere to carry out my own matters.”

“And since our job here is done, Twilight and I should get going. Isn’t that right?” I direct my question to the only unicorn in the group.

Nodding her head Twilight sends one last apologetic glance to her zebra friend. “Again, I’m sorry for my friend’s direct attitude but at least everything ended up working out fine. Twilight weakly reasoned. Zecora merely shook her head before trotting away in the opposite direction.

I justify my actions by saying. “Hey, not everyone can leave happy.” Shrugging my shoulders I open a senkaimon back to our little training field. Seeing a very satisfied Spike with several sword-like marks in the ground, wiping the sweat off his forehead.

"Told you I could do it in three hours..." He tiredly gloats.

"Bravo Spike, I suppose that since you finished early I can show you how to properly utilize the sonido technique." I tell him. And even though my demeanor is relaxed despite having to go on with that little accident Apple Bloom so obviously lied about. I manage to meet Spike's intense and determined gaze. "Now then, let me show you how you dance around your opponents." Within a few seconds, I disappear from sight with Spike following close behind.