Peaceful Intermission
Chapter 72: It's just the Twins!
"Old dog..." Wushu's eye twitched at the blatant remark at his person.
"This is Master Wushu, he's my current teacher for Martial Arts," Sinai answered the two twins.
Ken and Kira looked to the old diamond dog.
"Stare..." They whispered quietly.
"I don't think that's necessary..." Copper Will sweat dropped from the two siblings' antics.
"Ssh, Copper-san, it's totally necessary," Ken replied to Copper's sentence.
Kira stopped staring and pointed a thumb at herself, "I'm Kira!" She exclaimed happily, then pointed to her twin, "And unfortunately, this is my brother, Ken."
"Sorry," Ken said, "Unluckily for us all that I have such a sister like her," He glared back at Kira.
"Yeah," Kira continued, "My brother will stop had nothing to ruin your day, so pay him no heed and just ignore his presence."
"It'll be better to ignore her, but I doubt you have the tolerance to survive her endless chit chat," Ken countered.
"But at least with me, you can rest assure that any candy in your possession doesn't disappear," Kira said.
Ken wiggled a finger, "However, you'll have to pay in frost tarts for her services in keeping me at bay,"
Kira suddenly whips out a piece of paper, handing it to Sinai, "Here is my daily charge, for the first week you get a discount of only one frost tart per day, afterward it's a weekly cost of a frost tart package," She explained.
"However, if you can't afford such pricing," Ken began, "We can also do via bi-weekly charges, more long term, but much cheaper in the short run."
"If you have any other questions, please be sure to visit our mom, Lyra, who handles customer support," Kira finished.
Finally, Ken said, "You can get to her through our front desk secretary, Auntie Bon-Bon."
After completing their little charade, the two twins looked towards their audience. Copper Will seemed to be facepalming as hard as he could while Sinai's brain had malfunctioned and futilely tried to reboot. Wushi, on the other hand, appeared to be busy coming up with something to say but failed miserably.
Chris sniffled from within the seal, "They grow up so fast... I'm so proud."
A small while passed before Ken and Kira decided to repair whatever remnants back to the original topic.
"So, you're Master Wushi?" Ken questioned the old diamond dog, martial artist.
He recollected himself, "Yes, I'm Wushu, a world famous martial artist."
"Cool!" Kira exclaimed excitingly, "Sorry I left the tournament before we fought! We were exhausted!" She finished, her tail wiggling around behind her. She smiled sheepishly, scratching her scarred nose which she did in a habit of hers.
"That is fine, actually, I came to Ponyville looking for you two and any potential students," Wushu explained his purpose for arriving in the town.
"Huh?" Ken and Kira both questioned in unison.
Sinai finally recovered, "I said that I don't need fellow students, I'll be pit perfect on my own! Amazing even!" The small unicorn filly announced out loud.
Copper Will laughed, "I bet ten equestrian bits you wouldn't last a minute against Ken or Kira," He said.
Sinai looked spectacle, but replied, "Well, probably not, I know they made it in the tournament! So, of course, they're strong!"
Wushi then said, "Remember Sinai, pure strength and power isn't everything."
"I know, you've taught me that, Master Wushi," She replied.
Kira suddenly appeared behind Copper Will, and pushed him forward towards the diamond dog, "Here! You got a student right here!" She exclaimed, "Copper-san needs some training, and he can't spar against us without going flat on his butt all the time!"
"Not my fault you two have ridiculous strength!" Copper argued.
Ken grinned, his tail curling upward, "Not our fault you're kinda weak, Copper-san."
"Ugh, I have such rude companions," Copper sighed. "If only Kira was a bit nicer to match her appearance."
"I am nice!" Kira countered, "You're just delusional with all your weird remarks!"
"And less dense," Copper added as well.
Kira pouted adorably.
Ken giggled, "Well, nee-chan can be a bit of a blockhead sometimes," He commented.
"At-At least I'm not really shy anymore..." Kira stuttered.
Wushu laughed, these children had barely any cares in the world. Such lighthearted demeanor truly fitted them, as expected of Equestria though. "I'll have to test his, and both of your's, aptitudes first," He said.
"You want to train us?" Ken questioned, "Well, I guess we could train some more, but you'll have to get permission from mommy first."
"Good luck with that!" Kira exclaimed, "Mom won't let us so much as leave Ponyville then go out with a stranger!"
Ken giggled, "Uncle Raze got a stern talking from that, mommy can be very scary."
"You make it sound like Master Wushi is a-" Sinai was interrupted by the hitting of a cane to her head.
"Don't finish that sentence," Wushi said with a long drawn out sigh following it. He looked toward the two nine-year-olds, "Alright, is there a good time to visit?"
Ken and Kira paused briefly, before the brother answered, "I think mommy can talk right now if you wanna see her,"
Kira raised a hand, "I can go ask her right away."
"You want Ken and Kira to become your students?" Lyra Heartstrings said to confirm what she had recently heard from the old diamond dog.
Within the Heartstring household, Lyra and Wushi discussed calmly over a few drinks in the living room, sitting comfortably across from one another on some couches. While the adults conversed, the children, being Ken, Kira, Copper, and Sinai, paced and explored the home in either a playful matter or simply being dragged along by their fellows.
"Yes, I feel they have great potential. While I know they are primarily martial artists, there is more someone can learn than just fighting from martial arts. I'm also experienced with dealing in unique talents that certain individuals have, and have a teaching degree in private tutoring if you're worried about their summer school work," Wushi explained.
Lyra Heartstrings blinked in surprised, she didn't expect the diamond dog to lead off on with both Martial Arts and education hand to hand, the unicorn took a brief moment to recollect herself, "That may be true, I do not know much about you as a person, outside of the renown I've read up on during the Four Border Tournament," She replied to him.
"There's a quite bit of misconceptions due to rumors floating around, I'm sure you're no stranger to gospel when you live in a small community," The diamond dog said, bringing a cup to his muzzle and downing the contents before laying it back down. "I'm actually am looking for students, no, I'm not a pervert, I'm far away from that title I can assure you. Yes, I can be sometimes strict in training regimens, no I don't make students do work that is against child labor laws."
The mother of the twins sighed, thinking back further than the recent tournament. Sure, the competition had been an eye opener when concerning the more... Well, the public face of the world's strongest fighters... But she knew, Lyra absolutely knew with conviction, that there were dangers far beyond the small quaint town of Ponyville, and even larger, but still small, the nation of Equestria.
She couldn't keep Ken and Kira isolated, not any longer, especially with the gamble they did, and succeeded with, in the Four Border Tournament. It had taught her much... EIOSES had taught her much... Lyra never wished for another incident like that to happen to the twins just because they didn't prepare nor paid any heed to the outside world out from their little town.
The unicorn looked towards the children, laughing happily as they chased one another around before heading outside towards the backyard, a question clicked in her mind.
Lyra glanced back to Wushu, "Who's the small filly?" She questioned, observing the foal that ran about, the filly didn't have a cutie mark and had an abnormal color mixture for a unicorn.
Wushu took another drink, before answering, "That's Sinai, she's my newest student. I've only been teaching her for a few weeks now, but the filly is very positive about herself, however, she's a bit spectacle of strangers. But she'll get over it after asking a few questions to see how they are like," He replied.
"Where's she from? I don't think she's anywhere from central of Equestria," Lyra said, using her magic to levivate another drink.
"Clovervale, it's a tiny village, barely five dozen individuals. She lived with her grandparents, as her own birth ones died early in life," Wushu finished, "She can tell you the rest, but her grandparents gave her permission to find herself in life when they allowed for me to be her teacher."
Suddenly, the table shook, a small earthquake before it settled.
A resounding explosion.
*Boom!*
"What was that?" Wushu asked on alert.
Lyra finished her own drink, "Don't worry, it's just the Twins," She said calmly. "I've thought about it, and I agree, I'll let the twins be your students."
"I'm honored-"
"But!" Lyra cut him off, "There are a few requirements, and these are extremely, vitally important for yours, and everypony else's safety."
"Our safety?" Wushu questioned curiously.
"Yes, I must visit once a week, one because the twins won't survive being without my fried fish days, two because they won't dare go with you without my being there or consent, and finally because there's a bit of a full moon concern that I have to cast a spell before it's coming to prevent... Well, certain large-scale incidents."
"Incidents...?"
Lyra smiled, "Let's just say, you're going to be taught a few lessons as well, material that will expand and break the knowledge of the world as you knew it."