"Great, now we're stuck without the Third Eye helpin' us!" Applejack complained.
"But hey, we already know the Shadow's weakness! Now it's just him and Sombra!" Rekka replied with a mix of anguish and glee in his tone.
"There's that." Shining chimed.
"How many times must I tell you to shut it?" Asked a rather ticked Cadence, who shoved her muzzle in front of Shining's nose.
"You and your timing with words..... I think she loves you enough to not kick your sorry ass whenever you don't do what she says." Tenmei said a bit mockingly, only to once more get glared at by Yuuki and Nagare who, mind you, could say the same about Tenmei himself. But this time, Rekka was also glaring at him which, frankly, was worse than both Yuuki and Nagare combined.
"Eep." Tenmei squeaked, ears folded back.
"Yeah, we thought so too." The other three alicorns said in eerie unison. "So shut it."
"I think I know who the Shadow is." Started 01, "I mean, think about it: Koto finished off the Wyvern, and Rekka the Kelpie. One was Maki, and the other was Saki."
"Frankly, we came to the exact same conclusion-- unless Discord did a switcheroo himself." Yuuki chimed.
Twilight, Rainbow, Rarity, Applejack, and Pinkie's jaws all dropped.
"You're kidding!" The mares shouted, save for Yuuki who sided with the stallions, albeit silently.
"Are not." Replied the alicorn stallions.
"Are too!" Repeated the mares.
"Are not!" Repeated the stallions.
"Quit fighting. Please. Before the Shadow senses it and kills us all." Sighed Chrysalis as she rolled her eyes.
Shining was going to raise a hoof and speak, but he remembered Cadence getting pissed. So, he remained silent this time.
"So, when the Shadow comes, all we need is Ocean Flame?!" Asked Gilda.
"Yes, but she's still....in training. Look at her flank, she's yet to earn her cutie mark." Answered Rekka, who held a hoof to the back of his head.
"We've very little time. However, if she succeeds, then she earns that mark?" Cadence remarked, tilting her head sideways.
"Maybe, maybe not. But we'll head into battle first before she does. Send her in if we fall in, say, fifteen minutes?" Nagare replied.
"You'll hold out until then?" Chrysalis said.
"Yes." Replied Yuuki.
"I have some good news, and some bad." Misaki said as she walked into the room.
"That being?" Asked Twilight.
"The good news is, Koto will only be out cold for two weeks. The bad news is she won't be able to move much after waking up in four months. The pressure underwater broke her hind legs." Misaki answered, realizing her wings were open and deciding to close them.
"So, even when she wakes up, she'll still be down and out?" Gilda asked.
"Yes." Misaki answered again.
----
Two weeks of extensive and not to mention harsh training made Ocean Flame wonder what the hell was going on. Magic training, learning how to fly, and don't forget trying to make her own weapon appear and failing miserably on every single occasion. One day, she made Yuuki grow a beard, though only briefly. The next day after that, she turned Tenmei into a mare, which lasted for three hours and got her hit on by the Changeling drones. Day after that, she turned her dad blue. And the day after that, Nagare became a potted cactus.
One day of training, after failing a spell miserably and turning Rekka into a talking tree, she began to wonder if something was wrong with her. She should've been able to master magic, because her parents did that in two freaking months!
"Daddy, I think something's wrong with me." Complained Ocean.
"I think your mind isn't focused." Replied Rekka, whose branches started moving.
"My mind?" Asked Ocean.
"To truly understand magic, put it like this: make up an image in your head, like a picture drawing. Keep your mind and magic focused on that drawing. Now, do that but instead with making me, well, not a tree." Explained Rekka.
"But it's not that simple!" Ocean pointed out.
"I know it isn't-- for first-timers, anyway. But with experience, one will learn eventually." Rekka said, shaking a branch like he was waving a hand. "Now, take a deep breath and focus."
Ocean's mind began to form an image of her dad, well, not a tree. She closed her eyes and focused on the image. Her horn started to sputter with magic as she kept herself focused. Sweat started to form on her forehead, but she remained true to the image in her head. The magic began sparking and hissing fiercely. She suddenly fired it at the talking tree... and opened her eyes. Her dad was normal again!
"I knew you could do it, sport!" Rekka shouted in glee as his daughter tackled him.
----
Koto was laying in bed, just having scarfed down her lunch. As a matter of fact, she was about to drift off into la-la land had Rekka and Ocean Flame not barged in all of a sudden.
"Mommy! I learned how to concentrate my magic!" Ocean cried as she pranced to her mother Pinkie Pie-style.
"Really?" Koto beamed with a huge smile.
"Yeah!" Ocean replied, hugging her mother.
"It was a long story. I heard Tenmei ended up a mare for three hours." Rekka said with a smile.
"Seriously?" Koto asked.
"Yeah. He had to postpone training because of that." Ocean said.
"Rekka, does she know healing magic?" Koto asked.
"No, but we can try." Rekka replied.
Ocean's horn started sputtering again, this time aglow with a purple aura with blue-and-red sparkles. Her mother's hind quarters became encased in this glow as well. Broken bones started regenerating and then loudly snapping in place. The pain was quickly fleeting. Numbness lasted for only five seconds longer. The glow abruptly stopped as the mare's lower quarters landed back onto the bed with a pomf.
Koto approached the floor with caution, then carefully placed all four hooves on it. She walked around for five seconds before taking her daughter and giving her a great big hug. And then, it turned into a group hug.