Chapter 5: The Earth's Rage
A loud voice wakes me up from my nap and I lazily look to my left. "Iiiiiiichiiiiiiiigooooooo!" a pink blur shouts as it gets closer and closer.
It takes a few seconds for my brain to register that whatever it is, it's on a direct course for me. "SHIT!" I yell out before it impacts me. "Oof!" I grunt as it and I tumble down to the ground.
"Ow..." I then mutter and look at the pink ball of fluff on my chest. "Why did you do that, Pinkie?" I ask her with a frown.
"Sorry! But Applejack wanted to know when you wanted to start working to pay back the apples you took," she tells me.
'Oh right, that.' "Alright fine, thanks for telling me. Where is she right now?" I ask her.
"Back at her farm waiting for ya," she replies as she gets off me and I get up.
"Okay, guess I'll see you around then," I tell her and use my Shunpo to get across town.
I stop in front of the archway into the apple orchard, I look around but see no one nearby. I shrug and walk towards the farm house and knock on the door. "Hello?" I say.
"Hold on, ah'ma coming!" an elderly voice replies. The door opens to reveal a very old lime green mare with a white mane and tail tied up into buns and she has a mark of a pie on her flank. She's also wearing an orange neck scarf with red polka dots on it. "How can ah hel... Sweet mother of Celestia! Ah'm not ready ta kick the bucket just yet ya varmint!" she shouts out in alarm and with speed defying her age, she gets a military style helmet and a pan and starts hitting me with it.
"OW! Ma'am, please stop hitting me!" I tell her.
"Quiet you! Git off our farm!" she replies and continues to bash me.
"Granny! You stop that this here second! That's the human ah told ya about," Applejack says as she walks in the room with her zanpakuto on her back, followed by the red stallion named Big Mac.
"Huh?" the elderly mare says and looks back at me, "So yer not gonna take mah soul?" she asks cautiously. I just raise an eyebrow at her.
"No?" I reply confused while rubbing my bruised hip.
"Well then, why didn't ya just say so?" she says and throws the pan to her right where it clatters onto a kitchen top perfectly. "Name's Granny Smith, but ya'll can just call me Granny," she tells me.
I just give her a deadpan stare while still rubbing my hip. "I'm Ichigo Kurosaki," I reply.
"So ah take it Pinkie gave ya mah message?" Applejack asks me.
"Yeah, quiet forcefully as well," I tell her.
"Pinkie always manages to find whoever she's looking for, but enough about that, yer here to work off those apples ya took from the farm. Follow me and ah'll show ya what yer gonna be doing," she tells me and walks out the house.
I follow her north to a section of apple trees still with fruit on them. "So I'm helping you to pick the fruit?" I ask her.
"Eyup, see that there cart?" she asks while pointing to said cart.
"Yeah," I reply.
"Ah want ya ta fill it with as many apples as ya can and then take it to tha barn. Once ya do that, we'll call it even," she tells me. "Ah'll be to the east of ya if ya need anything!" she says and walks off.
I look back at the trees and grin. 'This will be pretty quick with my Shunpo,' I think to myself and get started.
Thirty-Seven Minutes Later
I sigh as I finish, the cart is practically overflowing with hundreds of apples now. I grab the two side bars and begin to haul it back to the barn, I see the big red structure ahead and leave the cart next to the barn doors.
"Well, I better tell Applejack that I'm done," I say to myself and head in the direction where I can feel her reiatsu.
I find her kicking a tree with her back legs which causes all the apples to fall into baskets below.
With a wicked smile, I creep up behind her and stand right next to her. "Hey, Applejack," I say to her.
"AAAHH!" she yelps and kicks her back legs out at me. I use my Shunpo to quickly dodge the hooves, she then looks at me with a scowl. "Gosh darnit, Ichigo! Ah could have hurt ya!" she tells me.
I just raise an eyebrow at her. "Uh-huh. I'm just letting you know I'm done and that the cart is by the barn," I tell her.
"What? How?" she asks and looks at her own cart. "Ah'm not even at a quarter way done yet!" she tells me.
"Like this," I reply and pick a tree clean of apples in a matter of seconds and put them into the cart.
She shakes her head and sighs. "Right. Ah almost fergot about that," she says. "Alright, ah'll take yer word for it since ya ain't lying ta me," she tells me and moves onto the next tree.
"Would you like some help?" I offer. I ain't got nothing better to do right now.
"Naw, ya did what ah asked ya to an that's good enough fer me. Ya can go an do yer own thing till tomorrow, then ah'll start payin' ya fer yer work, but don't ferget to come back fer supper at six!" she tells me.
"If you say so," I reply and turn to leave.
*Beep beep beep* My phone starts to beep at me and I quickly get it out and open it. "What's yer phone making that noise fer?" Applejack asks me.
"Three hollows are nearby, over there," I reply and point to the south.
"AAAAAAAAAHHH!" three young female sounding screams echo throughout the orchard.
"That was Applebloom and her friends!" Applejack says with wide eyes and runs off towards the screams.
I follow behind her and see three small fillies huddled together under a small play or club house. Surrounding them are three identical looking hollows that look like wooden wolves with large masks that have some nasty looking teeth and claws. They're biting and clawing at the fillies, trying to reach them.
One of them manages to cut the yellow filly's left hind leg."AAAAAHH!" the filly cries out in pain.
"APPLEBLOOM! " Applejack screams in fear for the filly. I suddenly feel Applejack's reiatsu spike in power and she surprisingly leaps ten metres into the air above the hollows, her reiatsu is an orange colour just like her fur.
"Shake the earth! Furue!" she yells with anger in her tone and her zanpakuto shines brightly. When the light fades, all four of her hooves are covered with heavy looking brown metal boots with spikes along the rim of her hooves, an apple shaped like cap on the top covering each knee on her front legs.
I can only watch wide eyed as she drops back down.
She lands right on top of the hollow that cut the yellow filly and crushed its head instantly as the very earth quakes from the impact. Before it could even dissolve, she turns away from the next one and kicks her back legs out. It looks like she bucked the air itself as a shockwave blasts the hollow away a good twenty or so metres.
She then faces the last one and rears up on her hind legs. "Daichi no ikari!" she yells and slams her forelegs onto the ground. The ground shakes as a spire of stone raises out from under the hollow and spears it through its stomach. It cries out before it, and the stone spire dissolve into particles.
She turns back to the one she blew away as it was getting back up. "RRAAAGGHH!" she cries in rage and kicks off the ground, launching herself at the hollow like a rocket.
It sees her coming and opens its jaw to bite her. Applejack just keeps going and when she finally reaches the hollow, she throws a foreleg in its mouth and its mask is shattered with half of its head caving in from the resulting shockwave. Applejack tumbles into a roll and quickly gets back onto her hooves while breathing heavily.
When the hollow finished dissolving, I just stand there with my jaw on the ground.
'Holy crap, she released her zanpakuto!'
"Applejack!" the little yellow filly with a red mane and tail and large pink bow says as she limps over to her and the other two rush up to Applejack.
"Wow, Applejack! That was awesome!" the orange pegasus filly with a purple mane and tail says.
"How did you do that!?" the white unicorn filly with a pink and light purple mane and tail asks.
Applejack seems to have calmed down now as her zanpakuto returns to its sword form.
She shakes her head and grabs the yellow filly. "Applebloom! Are ya alright?" Applejack asks her and checks her all over.
Seconds later, Luna lands beside us. "Is everypony alright? We felt the presence of a de... hollow nearby," she asks us.
"Yeah we're fine. Applejack took care of the hollows herself," I reply.
"She did? How?" Luna asks me with wide eyes.
"She released her zanpakuto when she saw the yellow filly get hurt," I tell her.
"She released her zanpakuto? Amazing..." Luna says and turns to Applejack. "How art thou feeling, Applejack?" she asks the farm mare.
"Ah... Ah don't rightly know. When ah saw Applebloom get hurt, ah wanted to do what ever it took to save her, then ah heard this voice and then found mahself in a clearing with thousands of apple trees around me. Then this stallion that looked like he was made of stone told me ah could save her and told me his name... Then ah felt a rush of strength and jumped into the air," she replies and tells Luna what happened during the fight.
"We see. So thou met thy zanpakuto," Luna says.
I walk up to Applejack and pat her on her shoulder. "Well done, Applejack. Now you just need to get to know Furue more and practice with your Shikai and learn its full potential," I tell her and start heading back to town.
"Where art thou going now?" Luna asks.
"To the tree house, I saw a lot of books there and I want to read up on a few things!" I call back to her.
I walk through the streets towards the tree house and the ponies move out of my way, I just roll my eyes at them. 'Still just as skittish as ever.'
I arrive at the tree house and knock on the door. "It's open!" the voice of the boy says.
I walk in and see him putting books back on the shelves. "Oh hey! If you're looking for Twilight or Princess Celestia, they're upstairs," he tells me.
"Na, I'm just here to read a few books. I didn't get your name last time, I'm Ichigo Kurosaki," I reply and hold my hand out to him.
"I'm Spike, Twilight's number one assistant!" he says and shakes my hand. "So what book you looking for?" he asks me.
"Anything to do with hollows, or demons as the ponies call them," I reply.
"Demons? Erm, sure, hold on," he says and runs across the room. He looks through the book shelves and pulls a red book out, he walks back over to me and hands me the book. "Here you go, anything else?" he asks me.
"Na, this should do for now. I just wanted to find out how much ponies knew about the hollows compared to me," I reply and sit down on the small couch, more like an armchair to me. It groans in protest but stays intact.
"Alright, I'll be over there sorting the books out," he tells me and goes to do his own thing.
I open the book and read the introduction.
The Demons of Tartarus. By Silver Arrow.
The demons of the realm of Tartarus are horrifying creatures with tremendous strength, speed, and magic; some can even fly, burrow under the ground, or even turn invisible, but it appears not everypony is capable of seeing these monsters. I myself have seen hundreds of these creatures and have nearly died a few times from their attacks while observing them.
These demons come in all shapes and sizes. Most resembling the races of Equus such as: ponies, gryphons, minotaurs, zebras, diamond dogs, and many of the wildlife of the world. Others take on grotesque or horrifyingly lethal forms.
It is still unclear to this day where these abominations originated from, but popular theories point towards the gates of Tartarus themselves where the Princesses have thrown the most twisted and vile creatures and villains to walk Equus inside.
'They just threw people into this Tartarus? What kind of crimes did they commit to get them to do that? I should be glad I was just stoned then...' I think to myself.
I continue reading the book, seeing all kinds of hollows. The one we fought at the ruins was a minotaur hollow, but all the hollows this Silver Arrow saw were all small weak ones.
The three hollows that attacked the fillies were timberwolf hollows, weak on their own but dangerous in a large group.
The sound of hoofsteps makes me look up to see Twilight and Celestia coming down the stairs. "Please Princess, you need to talk to Ichigo about your hollow half. If anypony can help you control it, it's him," Twilight tells the Solar Princess with worry in her tone.
"I just can't, it's his fault Luna and I are in this condition in the first place," she replies to the little unicorn.
"Is he really? And what if he's not around next time it takes over and you go on a rampage? Are you willing to take that risk?" she asks Celestia.
"I... I..." Celestia starts but then sighs. "I don't know, but I just can't face him right now. I blamed him for what happened to my ponies and Luna... but after going through the same thing... to feel what he must have felt... I just don't know what to think anymore," the Princess replies.
I close my book hard, getting their attention. "Then just let me help you," I tell her.
"Ichigo? When did you get here?" Twilight asks.
"About ten minutes ago actually, I just wanted to see what you ponies knew about hollows," I reply.
"And why would you want to help me after what I said and did to you," Celestia asks me with a sad frown.
"I don't blame you for sealing me away in stone, you didn't know how to stop me and had to do it to end my hollow's destruction," I tell her.
She looks away with a frown for a few seconds and then sighs. "Then I'll ask you right now," she says and looks at me. "Will you help Luna and I to control our demo... hollows," she asks me.
I place the book on the small table in front of me and stand up. I walk over to her and place my right hand on her left shoulder. "Sure, but I will warn you. It won't be easy," I reply. I then look at Twilight. "By the way, Applejack just learnt her zanpakuto's name and even released it, you might want to go and ask her what it was like and how she did it. Could help you and the others to do the same," I tell her.
Her eyes light up and a saddlebag levitates over to her, overflowing with parchment and quills. "Then I need to go and take notes on this! This could be a big help in understanding the zanpakuto and their abilities!" she says and bolts out the door.
After the door closes, I turn back to Celestia. "So, when do you want to start?"