Kyōka Suigetsu, crumble!

by The Archiver

Chapter eighteen: The king of hot-headedness (and back to back darkness!)

Pov: Sōsuke Aizen

Never thought I’d watch reruns of Jujutsu Kaisen with Luna, Nightmare Moon, and Blueblood all within the same room. Makes a man wonder whether or not they ever finished the anime with all the time that’s passed or left it to rot.

“Auntie Nightmare, please pass the popcorn.” Nightmare Moon, surrounded by the large blanket that covers us all, lazily moves the bowl of popcorn with her own hooves. Unsurprisingly she didn’t even bother looking at her partial nephew.

“Do not bother me while sir Yuji and Nanami are doing the ‘art of jumping’ on Mahito as Aizen put it. Imagine if all of Equestria was this smart with their tactics, then we would never lose.” Nightmare wasn’t wrong, I feel like this was one of the only anime that all of us would enjoy because of the fighting.

“None of that attack one at a time bullshit, this is straight up fighting, real fighting.” Kyōka Suigetsu affirmed.

Luna cheers as Nanami and Yuji both attack in tandem with each other, not allowing for any room to breathe for Mahito. “Nightmare Moon is correct if everypony in Equestria battled as they are then victory would always be in sight. I only hope that sir Nanami does not lose in any way down the line.” The shorter alicorn agrees.

“She ain’t gonna like the Shibuya incident arc then.” That time I purposely didn’t use the telepathic link for Nightmare, strictly keeping that thought to myself.

We’ve been binging this show for a good three and a half hours now. And it’s as good as I remembered it to be. Luna and Nightmare both thought it was symbolic that Sukuna possessed Yuji Itadori and they had similar situations with each other, except Nightmare Moon pointed out that she was way more helpful than he was.

Blueblood almost looked intimidated by their show of strength as Mahito finally used his domain expansion on Nanami while leaving Yuji outside. “To create an entire separate reality while being a mere technique from a near newborn no less.”

“Too bad there’s no known technique in Equestria that allows you to do that… As far as the public knows.” I replied, which isn’t entirely false, they’re more like incomplete domains that simply shroud the area in something or some concept.

We all hear a knock on the door that makes me look away from the on going technique and accidentally pauses it just as Yuji begun breaking into Mahito’s domain expansion.

“Aw, I wanted to see what happened next Aizen!” Blueblood whined.

Nightmare Moon throws the bowl of popcorn at me which I catch inside my Reiatsu and even the few stray pieces of popcorn that few out. Making it float as if pausing in time.

“How could you do something so sinister as to interrupt my enjoyment of otherworldly entertainment?!” She snarls.

“There was no need for that Nightmare Moon, he was merely going to answer whoever was knocking to receive the attention of myself.” Luna defends rather quickly.

Making the smart choice of not drawing this out I leave the blanket huddle and open the door. Which reveals a rather frightened maid who is shakily holding a letter inside her mouth.

“What brings you here little one?” I take the letter from their muzzle and they let me, breathing a sigh of relief.

“Apologizes s-sir, for my flakiness, Princess Celestia was in a rather bad mood today, apparently somepony she knew made a terrible suggestion to her and ran off to avoid the consequences. I was on the receiving end to a portion of her rage.”

“I wonder who that could’ve been.” I wonder to myself. I could almost hear Kyōka Suigetsu’s eyes roll from my sword.

The maid uses a wing and points at the letter. “But I have to know where Princess Luna is. She has to give this letter to somepony important, somepony that she’d probably know the location of.”

I swing the door all the way until it hits the other side of the wall. Using Kyōka Suigetsu I force the maid to not hear, see, or even feel Nightmare Moon’s presence in the room. Canterlot isn’t ready to see her yet. I also use illusionary text for both Blueblood and Luna’s eyes as well to see a short message saying that they shouldn’t mention Nightmare.

“Nightmare, don’t try to interact with the maid, she can’t see you right now nor are you auditory.”

“Watching interdimensional entertainment and then staying silent for a simple pony was not something that was on my mind today.” The now living nightmare replied.

“Princess Luna is over there, let me give her the letter. Since said letter is already within my grasp.”

The pegasus mare had used her left wing and wiped some sweat from her neck. “Thank Celestia, okay make sure to give it to her, and I apologize but I do have other duties to take care of.” She gently closes the door and leaves the four of us to guess what’s inside the letter.

“Mail for auntie Luna that only she can deliver? Perhaps we should open it to check its contents it wouldn’t hurt to see who it’s for.” Blueblood helpfully suggests.

I start chuckling and hold up the letter. “One step ahead of you.”

“Wait, it could be very important for me to carry out this task Aizen.” Luna tries to reason, I tore open the seal anyways.

I unfurl the letter and begin to read its contents. Getting a quick glance I grimace with disappointment. “The letter was meant for me, sorry everyone but the fight between Yuji and Nanami verses Mahito will have to be postponed.”

Blueblood’s mouth gaps open. “What could auntie Celestia possibly be requesting that would have our enjoyment postponed?”

“That is a ridiculous question, nephew. The correct one is what doesn’t my sister need.” Nightmare said, obviously taking a jab at her own sibling.

Ignoring her once bonded spirit Luna looks at me with concern. “Aizen, is it of true importance that you must leave?”

I nod my head and open a Senkaimon to the train station in Ponyville. “Sadly as there is time to explain I shall tell you this… Nightmare you must stay here, I cannot risk any animosity between you and the princess of love or the captain of the E.U.P, speaking of which, they need me in the crystal empire. But since I haven’t seen it except for before I was imprisoned I can not accurately use a form of transportation there. Nightmare keep yourself hidden, Blueblood and Luna you can just go on with your normal life.”

“I… Huh?” Blueblood appears confused so I enlighten him by walking through the ajar Senkaimon and leaving him here to stay as he is now.

---

I ended up yanking all of the elements at Ponyville’s train station except for Twilight since she wasn’t there. A lot of the mares were pissed off because they wanted to use the tickets that Celestia paid for. I said I was sorry, I wasn’t actually, that didn’t stop me from saying it though. Braeburn was even with them, and said he wanted to visit Canterlot. Celestia must’ve not given the full details of the letter to Twilight’s friends, leave it up to me to give as little casualties to others as possible. How could she hatefully give me a letter and state that the crystal empire came back but not tell her own defenses? Besides that Spike wasn’t even there because he didn’t feel like going to near back to back emergencies. A shame I couldn’t bring Nightmare with me, she could definitely help me with what diplomacy that would occur.

In the end I got Braeburn to leave with the promise of taking him to Canterlot some other time. As the girls waved Braeburn goodbye I made a second Senkaimon directly in the corridor inside the castle since I didn’t want the possibility of one of the five mares landing on some other unsuspecting pony by accident. I pushed them all through and forced the doors leading to Celestia’s place of help.

The solar alicorn sat atop her throne as always once we actually got through the door leading into the diarch’s place of order. She was panicked, Celestia didn’t outwardly show it. Her bodily functions betrayed her; however, she had small beads of sweat forming just inside her brow. Not noticeable to anyone who wasn’t trying to look for imperfections but I was. The repeated tapping of her hind hoof was the real smoking gun though. That kind of thing was only for extreme situations.

Fluttershy looked up at her princess. “Princess Celestia, you said there was some sort of emergency?”

“Yes my little pony, sadly there is a state of emergency that is a test for you all, even Aizen. No matter how regrettable his decision making can be, I also apologize in advance for any hardships you all may face.” Celestia stares at us all, trying to remain as stone faced as ever.

Rarity brushes her hair to the side with a single movement of her hoof. “No need to say you’re sorry Princess, everypony is always happy to help Equestria in its time of need. I made sure to postpone all requests for my business until further notice as well.”

“Ah gave Big Mac and Granny Smith that ah’d be out too on some element business. This time Applebloom wanted me to bring something back for her.” Applejack tipped her hat ever so slightly forward, probably thinking of her smaller sibling now

Fluttershy widens her eyes. “A state of emergency? Not to worry anypony but where is Twilight at? Shouldn’t she be here when something so important is happening?”

“Pft, knowing Twi she’s probably half-way through wherever we are going to be sent.” Pinkie Pie confidently said.

“Close but not quite Pinkie Pie. I sent her letter this very same day instead of giving her the two day notice as I did with you all. In reality my student is waiting at a train station to be taken up to her destination. Where is that exactly? Aizen shall notify you all. Now please hurry so that you all may meet together once more.” Princess Celestia smiles to cover her concerns for the group, specifically at them, because not once did she look at me during those caring moments.

“That’s our princess for you. One of the smartest mares in all of Equestria already planning two steps ahead. We won’t disappoint Princess Celestia!” A small whoosh passes overhead as Rainbow Dash is already hovering above the two doors we came from with a prideful smirk on her muzzle.

“Maybe, or maybe this’ll end in total failure with all of us losing in one way or another, only one way to find out.” I say aloud.

“intrusive thoughts made by a pessimistic given form, uncontrollable at times and yet used as a stepping stone for moving forward.” What a deep thought to have right as I’m about to meet an old assailant, what a bitter sweet beginning to restart a new life being brought.

“ I don’t know if you’ve noticed but everyone is already leaving while you were doing that entire internal monologue.” Hearing my Zanpakutō’s comment I look up to find that indeed everyone else was leaving, except Applejack, she uses a hoof to poke my hip.

“Hey sugarcube, y’all alright there? Ya ain’t gettin no pre-mission jitters or anythin like that, right?” The farm mare asked

“If I did, you wouldn’t know. My mind simply wandered off elsewhere. Go, do not worry about me because I will not compromise the objective.” Moving away from Applejack I can’t help but think whether or not this is truly going to affect me in some way.

Going back through the doors we came from and down the many halls of this castle I find five mares arguing, Applejack looks as confused as I do.

“No girls you don’t understand, there’s not a single doubt in my mind that you all are capable of helping me at the Crystal Empire but this is a test for me to see how capable I am.” Twilight’s muzzle is slightly scrunched up as she tries to apply, what I can only guess based off what this mission is and how I can make and estimate on what Twilight’s habits are, she’s probably trying to do this all on her lonesome.

“Darling, we always work as a team whenever we have to solve problems. Besides, Princess Celestia sent us herself.” Rarity sympathetically replies.

Pinkie Pie somehow manages to leap over Twilight and in front of the rails leading to the train that’s rapidly approaching. What I would do to figure out the source of such power. “We may not know what’s about to happen, but whatever type of super duper bad problem is gonna happen? Well we’ll just have to stick together, like always.”

Fluttershy joins Pinkie Pie, the wind kicking up their manes as the train begins drawing closer. “Pinkie’s right Twilight, though I may be a bit frightened to go so far from Ponyville I can be brave to stand up for the ponies I care about.”

“She’s right partner, we’ll be by your side pushing through till the end, now stop being so silly.” Applejack walks by me and is even followed by Rainbow Dash, who funnily enough decided to stay silent, the mare stayed serious the entire time.

“You’re lucky Twilight…” I say as I watch the train doors open. A stallion wearing a conductor’s uniform fit for a cartoon shouts from his place, a classic “all aboard” this really is a surreal world we live in.

“If this were me one thousand and sixteen years ago on Earth then I’d kill to be you.” I make sure to keep that to myself however, and in doing so Twilight becomes confused. She only heard the words “you’re lucky” such a broad statement could be used for anything.

The librarian does get any plausible answers from her mind. Instead she settles for going with her friends as everyone enters the train. Leaving me to my own thoughts.

---

This has been going on for a good three or so hours. I dislike taking public transport but love it at the same time. I enjoy it because of the view and time it offers to think but I also dislike it because of how you could easily lose time when the advanced movement techniques one has is so much faster than this.

Rainbow Dash has been pacing back and forth through the train, doing her best to wrap her head around this. “Lemme try and make sure I got this correctly. Basically there’s this evil conqueror who trapped himself and an entire empire for one thousand years and it’s only coming back now to take it again?”

“According to what Princess Celestia informed me, yea that’s what’s happening.” Twilight still doesn’t take her gaze from the window. She still has been staring outside while rapidly tapping her hoof on the available chair beside her. The mare is grasping at something around her neck as if it were a lifeline, the same necklace I gifted her.

Pinkie Pie vibrates in her seat next to Fluttershy and Rarity. Call me surprised that she hasn’t phased through the molecules of it. “Do you think that everything there is made of crystals? The food, the buildings, the parties? Everypony, we will be the first ponies in a thousand years to see the Crystal Empire. If we didn’t celebrate this then we’d be mad mares.”

“Are you sure that our power is great enough to go up against Sombra? Is our mind sharpened enough to be called a weapon as well?” Kyōka Suigetsu’s voice rings through my ears.

My face scrunches up. “That was rather foolish of you to say Kyōka, Sombra was, at best, a quarter or so of our strength back then. What makes you think that anything different would have happened?”

Applejack suddenly speaks up, resting on the chair beside me. She puts a hoof up to her chest. “Partying comes later Pinkie, we got a job to do and doggone it, we’re gonna do it well. Ponies are waitin for us to come over there and fix whatever problem they got.”

“Nopony is saying that this task won’t be done darling, Pinkie is simply energetic with these things, come now you know this.” Rarity reasons, a sudden screeching noise from under us begins to sound. The train is now coming to a stop.

The farm pony shakes her head. “Sorry, ah’m still a little anxious. Kinda feel like ah gotta prove that ah can do this to mah cousin. Seeing him so strong makes me feel a bit weak. Like ah ain’t no big sibling.” The screeching grows louder, the sensation of the brakes finally comes to a halt. These train doors finally open up and reveal the freezing lands outside. Everyone begins walking out.

Fluttershy walks over to Applejack’s shoulder as we exit and massages it. “Applejack, what you’re feeling is completely normal. That means you really care for your siblings, it’s nothing to be ashamed of.” The pegasus slightly shivers in the cold, as a response she also wraps her wings around her entire body. Her apple loving friend nods her head, getting the general message of what Fluttershy was communing.

“Ugh, could it get anymore bucking freezing out here?” Rainbow Dash yells.

“Rainbow, calm down, we aren't going very far, use your eyes.” I finally speak up, having enough thoughts to myself for once. I point in front of us and gesture to the giant barrier around what is indeed the crystal empire. Appearance wise the barrier is similar to Shining Armor’s, although the Reaitsu’s flavoring is different.

“Right, I knew that!” Somehow I didn’t believe the rainbow maned pegasus.

“Girls what exactly are we going to do when we get there? I was personally thinking that it would be a great idea to check with the Crystal Empire’s inhabitants and-” I cut off the talkative unicorn with a snap of my fingers.

“Your friends are freezing, worry about whether or not they’ll get sick instead of this little ‘test’ discussion can come after we get out of this unforgiving weather.” I gesture to her shivering friends who are staring at the two of us.

“O-of course, my apologizes everypony.” Twilight’s head hangs towards the ground as she guides the group towards the large barrier. Silence looms over us except for the constant jittering of teeth and crunching of snow.

“Ah’m sorry for complainin but mah hooves don’t feel nothin right now. Ah was tryin to restrain myself from sayin it but ah couldn’t.” Applejack’s pace began to pick up as we drew near the large barrier.

“Xavier what the fuck are you doing?” Kyōka Suigetsu questions out of the blue.

“What? I’m walking, I like to see the ponies suffer a bit while we get there.” I answered, I thought he would’ve known this by now.

I can hear him mentally groan in my head. Yup, definitely contemplating life again. And funnily enough he’s making a small crackling noise… Fuck okay I see what he meant.

I face away from the barrier and put my well rested vocals to use to yell. “GET BEHIND ME!”

Fluttershy seemed to have already taken this advice as she was behind me in no time. Her friends aren’t lucky enough to actually take cover, this is going to be a large barrier then.

“Flag of Resolve.” A large purple banner manifests behind me, purely made of my Reiatsu. It generates a large shield with corresponding color around all of us and blocks the barrage of dark shards of crystal covered in unstable energy.

“I actually felt that in my Reiatsu, I guess splitting my power really did do a number on me. No that can’t be it.” My head moves from side to side, finally figuring out what Kyōka Suigetsu was hinting at. “I may have gotten weaker but Sombra was never this strong. Shit, did the Umbrum inside him do something?” The shield shows a slight indent in it, nothing major but the fact it showed must mean something. Flag of Resolve is meant to create a shield that has the capability to hold anything equivalent to the amount of Reiatsu put into it once summoned. It was my go-to impenetrable fortress whenever I had to protect multiple people. To dent the amount of Reiatsu I put into it just now means that I might have to actually try.

A dark chuckle resounds through the now blizzarding snow. “Sōsuke Aizen the scientist, traitor, and now the softy? I expected you to have to work your way up from using something so major off the bat. My power has grown so it is nigh impossible to blame you.” Green eyes followed by small purple trails emerge from the windy cold. Dark magic, I really shouldn’t have egged him on to try and control an Umbrum with zero mental preparation.

“All of you, go, right now.” I whisper, the purple barrier opens up a small portion of itself. Large enough for them to all get out. Rarity is one of the first to gallop to the exit, Applejack steadily nods and whispers back a “Be careful Aizen.” I use that as an opportunity to give them a chance to escape. I take my Reiatsu and form a grip on my tome and Zanpakutō separately, grabbing them from my cloak and quietly mumble.“[Ruin], Hadō #31. Shakkahō.” A crimson orb of light appears from the tip of my sword, firing at towards the crazed unicorn as an instantaneous effect of dark flames in a large dome surrounding Sombra at the same time. He laughs before holding out his hoof while hovering on the ground, yet no visible magic is being used. His hoof materializes a small spike of pure darkness which absorbs the dark flames around him. Sombra flicks his hoof at my spell which briefly collides before shattering it and embedding itself into Flag of Resolve.

One crack, then another, only a few seconds pass and his attack stops, leaving five cracks throughout the barrier in total.

“Good show, great show. Entertain me further Sōsuke, because once I kill you and gain his praise then I will move up in their ranks. Before long I shall be able to free my brethren from the cage you put them in.” Sombra takes a few steps down from the air until he gets to ground level from me. That white get-up, I’m so tired of seeing that, the basic indication that you’re a Sternritter. I turn around behind me to see that everyone’s successfully fled so I drop Flag of Resolve and get into a combative stance, dark magic probably won’t be effective against him anymore. I’ll still keep the tome however.

“There’s no way you went to Yhwach of all people. Hubris is something that’s flawed most of your people for millennia on end.”

Sombra holds a hoof up to his mouth, holding back a smile. “Anything for the power I’ve gained. This power may as well have come from a god themselves. If I’m as strong as you then it shall be of no trouble to extinguish the competition of these petty little opposers inside that castle. The only reason I have yet to break through is because I wanted to try and reason with them to surrender peacefully so I could forever have them under my hoof, have as little casualties as possible, make it known that I am the strongest-”

Sombra stops as he sees what I’m doing. Holding my hand in a mocking gesture, making it open and close whenever he spoke, truly a jabberbox, seriously how could a Umbrum humble themselves so badly? “Yeah yeah keep fucking yappin. Since I’ll exterminate you for good this time I won’t have to hold back my emotions or gestures, no use being polite to somebody who’s going to be dead in a few minutes. You’re being exorcized from my friend no matter what.” Not bothering to listen to what he has to say, I use Flash Step and close the distance between the two of us, raising my sword until it crashes down for an overhead strike on him which he blocks with two of his bare hooves. Blue veins run through his skin

“As I thought, his Blut Vene is the real deal unlike that “Nomad” guy.” I raise my leg up and preform a gut kick on him which manages to knock him away.

He stops himself from being pushed too far and regains his footing. “Sōsuke, you are a pitiful excuse of being called “perfect” why not join Yhwach in this mission-”

I cut him off by letting go of my tome and allow for it to float in the air with my Reiatsu. Instead I use my finger and point at him. “Cero Death beam.” I fire a focused beam of purple Reiatsu at Sombra. Yeah I know, why did you say Death beam if you can’t actually fire one? Well sometimes I like to mask my attacks from other sources of media each time I get fired up.

The slippery possessive Umbrum turns its host into pure smoke and maneuvers around the blast of energy. “If you cut me off one more time then I’ll actually have to get serious…” He pauses as if he’s about to say something else, but instead he opens his mouth and dashes directly in front of my face before forming a bolt of Reishi and stabbing me with it. My heirro stops most of the force but it ends up still bludgeoning me to the side. Sombra tries to intercept me as I start ragdolling up into the air.

I can’t fully recover myself in time, however there’s still something I can do. “Cyclone!” I twirl as I spin with my blade in full motion. Sharp gales of wind block Sombra from coming towards me while I right myself up. What had then been a ground fight is now one in the air.

“You still aren’t accustomed to fighting in this state, you’re recovering. We have to make a tactical retreat back and hope the Umbrum in him can still be cocky during victory.” Kyōka Suigetsu rings.

“Got it, activate yourself, I’m gonna mess with his perception.” I get no response but I know for a fact that Kyōka heard me.

Sombra dashes backwards on the air, both of us at a stand still. I readjust my grip on my weapon and utilize basic movement at Sombra instead of my Flash Step. I hold Kyōka Suigetsu in my right arm, draping it around my neck to prepare for a wide slash.

The possessed stallion smiles, igniting his horn and putting a small circular shield that only covers his front. Perfect for what I’m about to do. “Flower passage.” As I run towards him, the visual of small purple petals coat my sword, an illusion but I think such style is necessary for demoralizing opponents.

I leap upwards and somersault through the air. Directly above the barrier and once my body is facing the ground I swing at Sombra’s wither’s, leaving a small gash on his clothing and even on his flesh. He briefly falters and a decently sized gash is what I get for my effort from this which gives me my chance to realign myself for a perfect flip. Landing on my own two feet.

“What happened? Thought you were invincible against all that shit. If that’s the case then how’d you get cut?” Maybe jokes weren’t the best thing to do. Sombra growls, enraged from my comment. He materializes a standard blue bow of Reishi and magic, firing a storm of arrows at me. Forcing me to Flash Step in the opposite direction from the barrier to allow the arrows to spread out more and make it easier for me to dodge. And whatever I don’t dodge doesn’t have enough strength to pierce my heirro, they’re more like low powered Balas now.

At this rate Sombra’s becoming angry enough to where even his abilities are effected, the Reishi infused magical bolts are becoming more chaotic and also deadlier. “Quit running and face your demise already! You subjected this vessel to my people. Accept the consequences that come with it.”

Some of them manage to strike me, making a small noise of resistance against my heirro before passing through. A numbing sensation passes through me, the Hōgyoku is nullifying the pain as it should. So I can run farther and farther away. “A bit more, I have to push a little more.”

I halt, scared, I start turning my head back and forth as if searching for an exit. “Running yourself out here? Didn’t want your pathetic little underlings to see their master die? Understandable, however I will be dragging your corpse back for them to see.”

Should I give him the dignity of even facing him? Maybe, not like it’s going to matter in a second. “Sombra, I’m gonna get you out of there. I just need some time so keep holding on. I may not have seen any resistance but I know your strength.” The world around us shatters once I finish speaking. The illusion skewed their perception as I predicted. The entire time I was running I ran towards the barrier, I only made him think I was running into the opposite direction.

And wouldn’t you know it since it didn’t take me that long to run to somewhere the girls had gotten to within thirty seconds. I had been dodging in between strikes and setting up several Kidō barriers, specifically the Shijū Saimon around the entire barrier, all four parts of the barrier enveloped within the pre-existing one.

“Did you play me for a fool? A bucking illusion, is there really no bound to his foul play?” He quietly mumbled to, so taking this as a good opportunity to run to safety I reel back my hand and strike. “Enhancement, Bakufuu” I pour as much strength as possible into the move. Purple circuitry rushes through my veins, pushing me past my usual strength. Forcing a gush of wind to crank the snow and cold air into Sombra’s face and pushing him away. Temporarily blinding him and allowing me to run into the five layered barrier.

“Come back here so you can at least face your work, what you’ve done! Nopony will be safe!” Sombra screeches as he bangs on the barrier with his bare hooves, striking with small shallow blows. “One last chance after this Sōsuke. Only one more chance, by then I’m going to destroy everything here and rule with an iron hoof to claim it as my own territory. Know that you are lucky I chose not to use my Schrift’s ability.” Sombra disappears in a mist of smoke. Slowly dispersing in his own shadow.

How bitter of him, that Umbrum inside puppets his body, contorting his mind in ways it shouldn’t. I slump down against the barrier. A soft ringing fills my ear drums, out of nowhere.

“This is so fucked.” My mind wanders off. Flashes of what happened when I left Sombra while he was being controlled because in my head back then it wasn’t my problem, and it still isn’t, leave it up to me to fix something. Continuing my innermost thoughts I finally have my hearing tune back in.

Applause is raining throughout this entire kingdom. Stomping, yelling, laughing, crying, cheering. I can’t help but raise my head, confused by it all. An entire crowd formed a semi-circle around fifty hooves in front of me. Giving me praise.

“Views between me and the masses, if I’m meant to keep manipulating them to make me seen as a hero then… I’ll just keep up the mask.” I keep whispering, assuring myself into the sculpture everyone sees in front of them.

A pink pony jumps up from the crowd, defying the laws of gravity and then slams into me at full force.

Wasting no time at all she entangles me in a bone breaking hug, for anyone who doesn’t have insane durability anyways. “Oh my Celestia that was bonkers Aizen! We saw you all fighting that King Sombra guy. Even Cadance wobbled her way down her to see it. Shining wasn’t a real fan of that but he was even routing for you.”

I feign nervousness while rubbing the back of my head. “Aw you guys really routed for me? There was already so much pressure I had Pinkie.”

In a split second a small flash of light appears beside me. Frantic as all hell, a lavender unicorn pops out and puts her hooves on my face. “Are you kidding Aizen? You put up an entire barrier with a complexity which could only be achieved via multiple highly experienced mages joining together in a matter of twenty seconds, maybe even faster!”

I guess all the other crystal ponies took this as a sign to get free access for greeting, questioning, and thanking me all at once. Next thing I knew they all turned that semi-circle they formed into a crescent.

“What even are you?” One of them frantically asked as she poked at my hair.

“Is that mare your marefriend?” A small hopeful look was on the stallion’s face. The only reason I could see it was because he was one of the first to rush over here. Pinkie Pie’s face flushes and lets go of me after that, don’t know if that’s an insult, compliment, or something in between.

“What’s your opinion on the current diarchy of the Crystal Empire?”

“Jeez do these guys ever give up whenever a person in power is in front of them?” I question myself.

The voice of Nightmare Moon echoes throughout the spiritual link. “They do not, unless you are blatantly evil of course. This is coming from personal experience no less.”

“Oops, sorry Nightmare, sometimes I leave my thoughts out in the open without thinking.” How embarrassing, if I cared for any capacity anyways.

“Tis alright, be sure to not allow it to happen again. For Luna and I are speaking about the current military situation.” She goes silent after that, safe to say she’s talking obsessively over that topic.

“Sir, would you answer our questions?” Dammit they’re still going, perhaps I should make an improvised exit.

“Everypony back up and give this dude some space. Those kick flank moves come at a cost y’know?” And it looks like I won’t need to. Rainbow Dash, the bro-mare as I heard Spike call her at some point from long ago. Man Spike really doesn’t talk like a nerd anymore. Some great progress right there. Wait yeah Rainbow, the mare flew in front of me with her wings outstretched.

“Back it up ponies! Bit more, let a stallion breathe.” She shoos some of them away but most of the crystal ponies stay and only slightly move much to Rainbow Dashes’ irritation.

Ah and now the Twilight problem, she’s still on my side, gripping my face, determined to get some answers. “Uh, Twilight mind letting go of my face?” Twilight’s muzzle makes a brief ‘O’ form before backing up and rubbing the side of her foreleg, out of her anxious little habits.

Managing to stand back up I see just how many of these ponies are here. Hundreds, maybe even thousands of these reflective ponies are all at awe in my presence, fraud or not I feel great about this. Ah and now it sounds like someone’s trying to tune their megaphone.

“My subjects, please calm down! Allow our… Savior (I wish that wasn’t true) to recuperate after their honorable service to our kingdom.” I look around, trying to determine where that voice came from. My eye suddenly pierce Shining Armor using his magic to hold some type of spell up to wife’s mouth. Both of them are just barely outside of the crowd’s grasp. Cadance’s voice reverberates, the might of a fully grown alicorn is behind it.

She really does have this entire ruling thing down to a T. Who knew a pony with laffy-taffy for a mane could be so demanding. Not that I’m complaining, she managed to halt the crystal pony’s onslaught of questions. In turn the rest of my friends associates manage to push through to get to me.

“Oh geez are you injured, anywhere?” A certain butter colored pegasus inspected my body from top to down, only seeing small rips in my clothing.

I smile and wave my hand, trying to divert her concern elsewhere. “I’m fine Fluttershy, I can regenerate pretty quickly. By now all my wounds are gone.”

She returns my smile by hugging me. “After you told us to get out Rarity and Twilight had to guide us through that small blizzard that had happened. We were all so a-afraid that something would have happened to you when we saw you getting hit by Sombra. But then Princess Cadance and Prince Shining Armor came down and reassured us that everything would be fine.”

And now the strongest out of the six of these girls comes over here, physically at least. And one of my favorites but don’t tell any of them I said that. “Partner, we’re all happy that y’all are okay. More than ya will ever believe.” Applejack moves her hoof to gently jab at my hip. What an aware pony, which is one reason I both hate and like her, she can see through any normal bullshit but she can give good advice that won’t completely screw you over.

I watch Rarity go to my left and “Darling your clothing seems as though it got into a fight with a storm of razors. This is a tragedy most troubling, yet your skin is as healthy as ever.” The pristine unicorn puts her magical grip on both sides of my face, which I allow, and brings me down to her level, even as I hold Fluttershy. “One of these days I will figure out how to replicate what that device of yours does.” Rarity lets go of me and brushes me off. “I appreciate what you did for us darling.”

“Sōsuke- I mean Aizen. Your aid is much appreciated, we potentially may not have had a choice to keep holding out here if Sombra could’ve done all of that to us.” A weakened voice says, unlike the one when Cadance was speaking through her megaphone she sounds sickly. She puts hoof after hoof down to approach me, even with her husband’s disapproval.

“Jeez, Pinkie I know you said she was wobbling but this is an entirely different level.” I comment as I place Fluttershy down on the floor.

Pinkie Pie was pretty reluctant to even answer that. “Yeahhh, Cadance isn’t in the best state right now. She’s been using her magic for four days non-stop to keep this barrier up.”

“Which is exactly why she shouldn’t be up right now! I could’ve handled this Cady.” Shining Armor points out.

Twilight moves over to Cadance’s unoccupied side, a frown not too dissimilar to Shining Armor’s is there.“Shiny is right Cadance, keeping this up now could have adverse effects on your health.”

“Actually I could help her. In fact I will. But first, I need you six to do something for me. It’s a part of Celestia’s test.” I point to the six mares chosen by the elements themselves. “You all need to figure out a way to defeat Sombra on your own.” I swear if not even one of them gets lethally injured enough for there to be an excuse of turning them into a hollow then I call bullshit on the account that fate is literally kissing their asses… Or maybe my Hōgyoku is manifesting my desire to keep them alive or their own desires to be felt through the Hōgyoku.

“Aizen’s right, if we don’t prove ourselves as the elements and let him do all the work then how could we call ourselves heroes?” Rainbow Dash, the ever brash and brazen pony agrees. Such a mare, always eager to please herself and the public to be seen as one of the best.

“Then we’ll do our very best, like no pony ever has before.” Pinkie Pie pumps a hoof in the air before holding it back down to her eye level. Bringing about a chorus of reassurance from her friends.

Twilight carefully let’s go of Cadance once she sees that her brother has a good grip on Cadance. “Then I’ll be your lead mare. We’ve got some discovering to begin.” Twilight gathers her friends around, galloping elsewhere into this place that has let itself back into reality in the first time for one thousand years.

Shining Armor stares at me for a moment. “And what do you need from us?”

Ah, I guess it’s time to be dramatic. Hovering over my eyepatch I take it off and stare at both him and his wife. “I’m glad you asked, I need you to surrender to Sombra.”

The former captain of the E.U.P. without question, nods his head. “Of course we will surrender to- wait what?”

Cadance begins coughing, whether it be from weakness or my comment she still did it. “Give up our kingdom? I thought you were pasting helping Equestria’s enemies.”

I hold up my chin and do my best “know it all” impression. “There’s legitimate planning behind this. Open your ears because I need you to both pay close attention. This is your make or break moment.”

Author's Note:

Guys I have an announcement to make. I will not be doing anymore weekly uploads because lets face it, that was unrealistic of me, in short I've hit what most call 'writer's block.' But I love and appreciate all the support you guys have been giving me. It's been cherished and loved.