Tip the Balance

Twilight found herself making her way back inside Urahara Shop, back to the room she woke up in. The room looked almost exactly the same as it did before, only there was a small parcel sitting on the floor in the corner of the room. Maybe she missed it when she left the first time. Twilight approached the parcel carefully, and read the note attatched.

Hello! Miss Primera Espada, you are my contingency plan for this unfortunate series of events. I hope that your sudden change in quarters and lifestyle does not affect you negatively. I know that it is unexpected and probbably unwanted, but I needed someone to act as an emergency powerhouse in this war. I must ask you, first, to do your best in fighting Aizen and the rest of the Espada. And I would ask you, second, to possibly make allies among the other Espada and the Fracciones in Hueco Mundo, as well as any allies that you may have in the human world. But until the time comes, I would ask you to protect this place from attack from hollows, and take the opportunity to get stronger. In the meantime, you have permission to take refuge in my humble abode, where you probbably found yourself waking up in. You have no reason to trust me, but if you do, this whole world will be grateful not to be ruled by Aizen. Enclosed is some clothing, as you came here without. It should fit, as I had plenty of time to take measurements while you were unconsious<3. It is styled after other Arrancar outfits I have seen, I hope you like it. Also enclosed are some gifts from me. They will disguise you from rowdy Shinigami, Arrancar, and Quincies. I will contact you when it is appropriate. Enjoy Karakura Town!

P.S: I hope you’re not evil. It took a whole lot of work to get you out of Hueco Mundo and to supress Aizen’s Shikai. I hope you don’t make this all for naught.

There was no signature. The note was right, there was no reason to trust the person behind the package, but she opened the paper anyways. His intentions sounded pure, at the very least. She found what looked like a set of long, flowing robes, white fringed with black, that seemed to loosely fit Twilight’s current form. She pulled it on the same way she pulled on a dress, and it felt like it fit well; it covered almost every inch of her body, hugging tightly to her form and covering her arms and legs to the wrist and ankles, albeit with interesting holes in places: a circular cut in the front that showed the hole in her chest, a split in the lower right side that showed her number one Cutie Mark, or ‘tattoo’, or whatever it was, slits near the wrists and ankles. Lying next to the clothes was a small medallion, like a badge. A small loop of cord was attached. On one side was a pentagon that looked almost like a face, wreathed in flames.  She picked it up and tied it to her left wrist.The other side had a stylized flower on it with a small lump in the center. She wasn’t sure of the magical properties of the talisman, but she didn’t want to leave it behind. Maybe it was important. The third gift, she found, was one of those portable gigai that she noticed in the shop. She placed it in a pouch on her waist.

Twilight, now dressed in something that seemed modest, slowly turned and entered the front of the store, only to find a large man there, his hair in cornrows and glasses on his mustached face. He was sweeping. Twilight walked towards him and waved, but the large man paid her no attention. He continued sweeping. Twilight spent about five minutes trying to get his attention without touching him, but the man continued his sweeping of the aisles, seemingly oblivious to her, just like the others. She left the store and wondered about her new gifts.

I wonder who would need me like this? If whoever brought me here needed me for something important or fighting evil, they really should have brought all of us. All six of us, plus the Elements, are what’s needed to defeat most kinds of evil, so why just me? And why me at all? There are obviously good soldiers here, and if the person who brought me here has mastered interdimensional space travel, then why not get a warrior, or someone that could actually fight? Why me? But... it seems like I canfight. I fought that Ichigo person. I fought well.Maybe, there was a reason for them to pick me out of all the super-soldiers and great mages in the multiverse... but what?

Her thoughts were cut short as a crack appeared in the sky, filling with a strange purple shape that looked like the world was made of strips that were being pulled apart.

A demon fell out.

A huge, monstrous thing, maybe one hundred feet tall, landed with a thump on curled feet. It was black, massive and almost formless, like it was a human wearing a sheet over his head. There was a massive, white mask, with a long, spear like nose on the top, and spikes ran through its ‘neck’. The beast screamed evil. If this was the type of monster that the note was referring to, then maybe the person chose wrong. But even as she stared at the behemoth, the tower of evil black and white, she noticed it felt... weak.  Like it was beneath her notice, and that she could squash it with her foot, like a bug. That gut feeling gave her the confidence to draw her sword and approach the beast. She jumped, landing on the air, and continued to climb until she was at the height of its stomach. Twilight glanced at her seemingly short sword, sent up a silent prayer to Celestia, and held it sideways in a reverse grip, her left palm flat against the butt of the hilt. She focused, eyes closed, and let familiar energy flow, like magic, into a ball in front of her fist. She focused like she was casting a spell, and the blue beam shot forward, boring a hole straight through the demon, blowing out a part of its side. She opened one eye, and stared at the hole as the thing fell down, down, down and landed with a thud right in the street. But it was still alive, thrashing on the ground like a wounded animal, which, Twilight realized, it was. She ran over the rooftops to where the creature fell, and Twilight, finding the spell she was using was relatively easy, proceeded to fire several thin blue beams again and again into the creature’s mask until the mask crumbled and the entirety of the body deemed itself ready to disolve into a mass of swirling black. Twilight, moving on impulse again, flew back down and approached the mist, and found herself taking large bites of the stuff, swallowing and sighing. The mist took not even ten seconds to finish completely. It tasted good.

It tasted good? Twilight looked at the note that was now tucked away in her sleeve. Protect the town, get stronger. She could feel the energy from the mist she consumed. But that thing was evil, she could feel it. Eating the demon felt wrong, just like the majority of her actions in the past day had been. It also felt instinctual, normal. Just like everything else. Twilight glanced around, then started in a random direction, floating above the houses, looking around at the town. The portal she saw, the one that had the demon fall out of, gave her hope, that maybe she could find her way back to Equestria and her friends. But the solution seemed so far away.

She landed in a secluded area so that she could investigate the other gifts that the package contained. The first was the talisman on he wrist. It held no purpose that she could see, other than being neat. Maybe it was situational. She set the thought aside and looked at the other gift: the portable gigai. She picked up the ball, rolling it in her hands, wondering what it did. Well, there’s an easy way to find out. So, she blew on the small nozzle in the side.

The gigai blew up like one of Pinkie’s balloons until it popped like a firecracker. A full-sized body fell to the floor.

“Ah!” Twilight flinched and stumbled at the replica of her human body laying on the ground.There wasn’t a mask-thing or a hole in the dummy, but it was wearing a black coat and a white undershirt, with baggy pants and sandals, as well as a striped hat that didn’t look quite right on her. She took a step towards it, and felt a tug, like it wanted to get closer to her, like a magnet. She took one more step, and felt a sucking sensation, and found herself gasping on the ground, wearing a black overcoat, white undershirt, sandals, and a floppy striped hat. She got to her feet, dusting herself off.

“This doesn’t feel right.” Just like everything else with this world...

Regardless, she made her way, for the third time, back to the Urahara Shop. Finding the building Ichogo destroyed should be easy, and the shop wasn’t much farther from there. However, a shape blurred into existence in front of her: a man in a black robe, with a floppy hat almost exactly like hers and a cane in his hand. He was smiling.

“Hello! I’m Kisuke Urahara. You must be Primera Espada-san, yes?”

She stepped back in surprise, her sword still out form her encounter with the demon. “My name is Twilight.” What’s with this guy? he’s so... relaxed.

Urahara pointed to the cracks in the street from where the demon landed. “It seems you took care of the Menos rather admirably.”

“Is that what that demon-thing was?”

Urahara frowned at her words. “Yes.” He shook his head slowly, thinking.  “You’ve found my package?”

Twilight nodded numbly, holding up the medallion on her wrist. He seemed nice, but she could feel it: the huge, deadly power coming off of his body, even as he smiled sweetly. If he tried, he could probably cut her, even if the other person, Ichigo, couldn’t.

“Good! Please, follow me, and we can talk in secret. I suppose,” he added, lowering his voice, “that this is confusing. I can explain. And maybe... you can explain, too.” He gestured with his cane, and started walking away from her. Twilight quickly followed.

“YOU IDIOT!”

Ichigo Kurosaki was sent flying into his bedroom wall as he was kicked in the small of his back by Rukia Kuchiki. “Ow...”

“You let the Primera Espada... leave!” He was kicked again. “What were you thinking? You could have significantly weakened Aizen and the Espada by killing her while you could!”

Ichigo groaned as he regained his feet. “I know, I know.”

Rukia Kuchiki was standing in front of her closet (really his closet that she slept in sometimes) fuming, ready to kick Ichigo again if the desire arose. Ichigo turned to sit on his bed, leaning back on one of his hands. Kon was cowering under the bed, scared that Rukia was going to step on him or something in her rage, coughing from the dust (and other things).

“Gah! We had a huge break, and you waste it!” Rukia continued on her rant. “Why didn’t you kill her where she stood, as soon as you found out she was an Espada? She was helpless.”

Ichigo rubbed his neck. This was going to be hard to explain, especially to Rukia. “See, that’s the thing. I couldn’t.”

“You couldn’t what?”

“I couldn’t kill her.”

“Why not?”

Zanpakutō. But she never tried to kill me, only giving me flesh wounds.” Ichigo frowned as he continued. “ When I tried using Getsuga Tenshou, she dodged by moving to the left! Like she didn’t care about whether or not it hit her! Her Hierro was basically indestructable, too. It’s like she cheats. She said it herself; the only thing I managed to hurt was Karakura Town.”

“Invincible Hierro? Well, that would be a problem.” Rukia was frowning as well. “And you said that Getsuga never landed?” Rukia was leaning on the closet door, frowning.

“No. The second time I tried, I used the black Getsuga Tenshou. She cut straight through it with a Doom Blast that knocked me off my feet just from being near it.”

“Why didn’t you use Bankai, if you couldn’t cut her?”

“...you know why.” Ichigo glared.

“I see.”

“But...” Ichigo paused, thinking about the strange Espada’s protests and crying.

“But...?”

“She seemed scared.”

“She was toying with you, cutting you open, taking every shot you threw, destroying your Getsuga Tenshou, knocking you back with her Doom blasts,  exchanging witty banter, and she was scared?”

“Yeah. She acted like she didn’t even know she was an Espada. It sounded like, to me, didn’t even know about the hole in her chest until she saw it through her bandages. Like she never realized she was dead. Said her name was Twilight, or something. And she denied being an Arrancar.”

“That... is strange. Anything else you want to add?”

“She was naked.”

“...”

“Ow!” Ichigo held his bruised face. “What the hell was that for?”

Rukia huffed and climbed out of the window. She needed to speak to Urahara.

Twilight slowly sipped at the bitter tea in her hands, letting the warmth fill her, calm her down. Urahara was sitting across from her, sipping tea as well. His cane was across his lap. Urahara was staring at her from under his hat. “...What are you, Espada-san?” His voice was barely above a whisper.

“Hmm?” Twilight looked up when he spoke. “Did you say something?”

“I was wondering, Espada-san, why you act so different from every other Arrancar ever encountered by the Soul Society.”

“What is an Arrancar?”

Urahara looked up in surprise, his hat almost falling off of his head. “Excuse me?”

“Well, you just compared me to an ‘Arrancar’. That one man, called me that several times. I was wondering what it meant.”

“You don’t know what you are?”

“No! It’s really confusing and it’s kind of scaring me. I don’t know why I’m even here in this place!”

“What do you remember?”

        Twilight breathed deeply. If this man didn’t believe him, then she would probbobly be stuck here forever. Or be killed. She chose her words carefully. “My name is Twilight Sparkle. I am... I’m a magus, and I’m not from this universe, it seems. I don’t know how I got here. I woke up in the other room and stepped outside after putting on a pair of sandals and the sword.” She looked down to take another sip of the tea. “When I stepped outside... I panicked. I breathed too deeply, and...” She trailed off, thinking about the people lying in the street.

        Urahara said nothing, gesturing for her to continue.

        “That’s when Ichigo Kurosaki showed up. He attacked me-”

        “Ichigo Kurosaki?”

        “He told me his name.”

        “I suppose he showed up after the Gonzui.”

        “What is a Gonzui?”

        “Literally, it translates as Soul Suck.”

        “Oh...!” Twilight covered her mouth with one hand. “Is... is that what happened?”

        “Most likely.”

        “Oh, right.” Gonzui... Soul Suck.

“Continue.”

        “Well, he attacked me. But his sword never cut my skin... only my bandages. I started fighting back after the second strike to my neck... and I was better than him. I’m no fighter, Mr. Urahara,” she said, even as Urahara raised an eyebrow at the American expression, “but my body seemed to... to know how to use a blade. I could have killed him several times in that fight. My body seemed to be able to tell. But I didn’t. I tried to explain to him what I said earlier to you, and he let me go. I came back to the shop, and found the parcel, then came back out again to find the demon-”

        “Menos,” Urahara supplied.

        “Right. To find the Menos falling from a hole in the sky. I managed to destroy it with magic.”

        “Magic?”

        “I fired blue beams at it until the mask crumbled.” Twilight explained.

        Urahara frowned, getting up from the table. He gestured for Twilight to follow him down a set of stairs, pushing her with his cane. She felt a tug, and found herself, once again, in the white and black robes, her sword now tucked into a sash on her waist. She glanced back at her body, her other body, now lying prostrate next to the table. That is wierd. But she said nothing. Instead, she followed Urahara down to a huge cavern, the walls made of stone. In the distance, steam rose from must have been a spring, and large rocks and pillars jutted out of the ground in a few places. She clambered down the ladder after Urahara. He pointed to the closest of the rocks. “Show me.”

        “Show you what?” Did he mean the blue beams?

        “Show me your Doom Blast. Your ‘magic’ that you used to defeat the Menos.”

        Twilight drew her sword from the sheath, and held it like she did when fighting the Menos. She focused, felt the familiar pull of magic in her core, and let it go. The beam flew, humming loudly, and blasted against the rock, tearing a small chunk out of it.

        Urahara glanced at the rock. “The pressure on that blast was weak,” He remarked, adjusting his hat. “It didn’t feel contained, more like a wave of force rather than a real attack with merderous intent. There was the appearence of a Doom Blast, but it wasn’t as concentrated and focused as most I’ve seen used by Espada-class Arrancar and Visoreds. More like a directed force of spiritual pressure than an Arrancar level attack. Not to insult you or your techniques, Espada-san.”

        Twilight frowned. If she understood what he said correctly, then Urahara just called her magic unstable. Twilight had been honing her magic for more than ten years with the most powerful being in her world. She trained and studied almost nonstop, she was the greatest mage in Equestria, the Element of Magic! And this attack, this simple technique, was unstable?

        “Unnacceptable.”

        Twilight felt the magic build, holding up the sword again, this time in a two-handed grip, the point facing the rock. She focused on the sword like she would her horn, and watched the ball of energy form again, but this time the light came off as a familiar lavender glow. She fired again at the rock, and the beam, the Doom Bast, screamed towards its target.

        The rock exploded. Twilight expected that. What she didn’t expect, however, was the ten-yard long hole that was shot through the wall, cracked on the outside, but smooth and shiny inside. The hole was almost seven feet wide, and perfectly circular.

        “Impressive.” Urahara quipped.

        “I don’t like anyone calling my magic unstable. Sorry.”

“No, no. Not at all!” Urahara was inspecting the hole in the wall. “I’m sure we can find a use for this cavern.  In the meantime,” He turned to Twilight, “Draw your Zanpakutō. We’re sparring. You said your body knows how to fight, but your mind doesn’t, correct?”

        “Y-yes,”

        “Well, we’re going to have to change that. I can’t have my last line of defence a blundering swordsman running only on instinct, now, should I? From this point, I am your mentor, training your mind to be able to keep up with your body. If you would choose, you may call me Urahara-sama, mainly because no one has ever done that before and I wanted to try being a sama at least once.” He grasped the barrel of his cane and pulled, revealing a long, straight blade with a angled tip. “This is one of my favorite games to play. Knock off my hat, and you win!” He tapped his head.

        Twilight frowned, sword in her hand. She had to knock his hat off? “How do I lose?”

        “You die.” Urahara charged.

“Hey, pigeon. Who’re you?” asked Lilynette, prodding Rainbow Dash in the head.

Rainbow Dash shook herself, sending dirt everywhere. “Who’re you?” She asked angrily.

Lilynette frowned. “I asked first.”

“Well, the name’s Rainbow Dash!” said Rainbow Dash proudly, hoisting herself in the air. “So, who’re you?”

Starrk stepped in for Lilynette. “I’m Coyote Starrk. This is Lilynette Gingerbuck. Why were you attacking us?” Starrk cocked his head. This one was brash, loud, and light blue. Just like Jeagerjaques. Maybe it would look better if it was missing an arm.

“Why were you in Twilight’s house?”

        Starrk put a hoof on his forehead, almost hitting his horn. “I asked first.”

        “Because you broke into Twilight’s house!” Rainbow Dash was mad, or at least she was trying to sound mad. It was almost... cute. Maybe she didn’t know how to act angry. “Why were you in Twilight’s house?”

        “We woke up there. Don’t know why.” Starrk decided now was not the best time to go around asking their way back to Hueco Mundo. Their tattoos suddenly came to mind. “Could you explain this?” He glanced back at his and Lilynette’s tattoos, and the rest of their strange forms..

        Rainbow Dash glanced at Starrk’s Cutie Mark, then Lilynette’s. Then Starrk’s again, then Lilynette’s. She put them together in her mind. “Why do you have Twilight’s Cutie Mark?”

“I asked first.”

“I don’t have an answer for you.” Rainbow Dash replied.

“And,” added Starrk, “What is a Cutie Mark?”

“You don’t know what Cutie Marks are?”

“No.” Starrk cut off Lilynete’s objection to the order of asking and answering questions.

“Well, Cutie Marks show your special talent. And you two split Twilight’s Cutie Mark in half!”

“Is that not normal?”

“No!”

“So, what should we do about it?” Lilynette asked. “Because I’ve got no clue.”

“Let’s go ask Twilight what’s up.”

“She lives in the tree, correct?” Starrk glanced behind them.

“Yeah. Let’s go. I need to get this over with, then maybe I can finally have my nap.” Rainbow groaned.

Starrk smiled thinly at her comment. “Amen to that.”

Rukia banged on the locked door of Urahara Shop. She stared angrily in the window at Tessai, who was ignoring her as he sweeped the aisles of dust.

“Tessai! Let me in!”

Tessai sweeped his way to the door and calmly opened it. “Yes, Rukia-san?”

“Where’s Urahara?”

“I believe he is downstairs. Do you need him?”

“Yeah. Downstairs?”

“The training room.”

“Why?”

“I’m not exactly sure. I think there was someone with him as well.”

“Well, whoever they are, I need to talk with him.”

Rukia made her way to the ladder and peered into the room, just in time to see a rock formation explode in a flash of dust, with Urahara revealed on the other side. In front of him, was an Arrancar. He set into motion as she did, their swords clashing inches away from his head. Rukia stared at the Arrancar as the clash continued, every strike aimed at Urahara’s head, neck, or shoulders. The Arrancar didn’t seem to want to press any particular advantage to wound any part of Urahara other than his head. The strikes kept coming, blows exchanged for much longer than any encounter that Rukia ever experienced. Hushed words were exchanged that couldn’t be heard over the sounds of scraping and clanging metal. She jumped down and hit the floor lightly, drawing her Zanpakutō. Urahara was to the side in profile to her, and he turned slightly at the noise. The Arrancar took the opportunity and lunged, piercing the side of his hat. Urahara never flinched as his hat was lifted slowly off of his head and pulled off the sword carefully by the Arrancar with purple hair. She gently held out the stabbed hat to Urahara, smiling.

“Got it, Urahara-sama.”