Soul Reaper Pony

Chapter 4: Destroy and Rebuild

The next day, after Princess Celestia checked up on me, and deemed me good for travel, Twilight and I left on the next train to Ponyville. I wore a cloak, due to the fact that I had not found a way to hide my cutie mark, and the way I looked was not… cheery. In fact, a child saw me, and screamed, because I had a healing gash over my left eye, plus a permanent scowl of pain planted on my face. I wasn’t in the greatest mood either.

“So… I was wondering if you could tell me more about… well, about Soul Reapers?” Twilight asked sheepishly. We were on the train, and obviously she was curious about me.

“Well, where do I begin? I won’t say much, because I actually told you most everything after we got back to Canterlot, but what I didn’t touch on was zanpakuto's,” I began, “You see, a zanpakuto is, technically, a sentient being.”

“Wait, that thing is alive?”

“Not alive, but it does have a soul. Well, actually, it is a part of my soul, and as such, is a part of me. That is why zanpakuto are considered “‘sentient.’” I finished my brief explanation, and looked at her astonished face.

“So, it isn’t living, but it is?” she queried. I was astonished at the question. She seemed to understand my botched attempt at explaining what a zanpakuto is. She was intelligent, that much I could tell before, but not that intelligent. I’ll keep that in mind. Might end up being interesting to talk to at least.

“Now, if that is the case, then that would mean that each zanpakuto is unique,” she stated. Not even a little questioning, just fucking stated.

“Correct. Each zanpakuto is unique to it’s wielder. And as such, they all have unique abilities, with a little overlap, but even then, it’s rare.” I explained this to her, and as I did, her jaw slowly opened, eyes widened, and she screamed.

“Ohmygoshthatissocoolwhatelsecanyoudocanyoushowme-” I cut her off with a hoof. Calming down a little, she tried again, “So, heh, what else can you do? And are you able to show me?” she asked with a glint in her eye.

“Well, that is why Reaper and I don’t exactly get along. There are two parts to my ability. The first is deconstructing the soul down to mere basics, and store it away. Normally, I will just send the soul back into the cycle of rebirth. That is a soul reaper’s job, and my zanpakuto basically goes against the status quo.” I finished, waiting, and dreading, to see if she asked what I hoped she wouldn’t ask.

“What’s the second part,” she asked, slightly tilting her head.

Oh, boy, here we go. “I can reconstruct the soul, at any point, and use that Hollow/soul reaper/soul to fight for me, like a puppet.” She stared at me for what seemed like eternity, and tried to speak, but couldn’t. “And before you totally freak out, there is another thing about my zanpakuto. Released in the Shikai state, I cannot harm nor hurt anything living. It can’t even affect the environment around me. It is purely for souls, which is not something normal for them. Nor is the ability to storage souls like I can, because once the soul is stored, unless I send it to the cycle of rebirth, it stays stored. It is an infinitely extensive ability.”

“Wow.” was all she uttered. She smiled then, and hopped over to the other seat, to sit next to me. “Now I know why I feel so comfortable near you. You are so collected, and have a level of control.” I couldn’t believe it. She was saying these things, and as I looked over, with a smile. I think she’s hitting on me. Why, though? was what I thought. It didn’t make sense, not to me at least.

“I need to use the restroom,” I said nervously. With that, I got up and left to collect my thoughts. I was confused, and didn’t know what to think of the situation.

‘Maybe, oh, I don’t know, you should see what happens? I know you pretty well, and I have got to say, she likes you, and you are too damn depressed. So go with the flow,’ Reaper quipped. She was giving me advice, which didn’t happen often. And I knew from experience to listen to her advice. The first time I didn’t listen, I almost died. With that resolve in mind, I walked from the bathroom back to our car.

I entered the car and immediately saw it. I didn’t even feel it. It stood at about six feet, and was lean but toned. It’s body was completely white, but the mask had black swirls all over it. It was a Hollow, and from my guess, a Vasto Lorde.

I knew I couldn’t defeat it, even if I wasn’t recovering. I looked at Twilight, and she was shaking, frozen in fear. I looked at the Vasto, and he looked at me. For a moment, there was silence, but as it finally realized who I was, it spoke.

“Why, hello there. This little pony and I were having a lovely chat. Care to join us?” It seemed more like a demand than a question. His speaking to me, however, shook Twilight out of her stupor. She turned to see me, and bolted to get near me. I didn’t move, because I knew that I would never be able to get away.

“No, I think I would prefer to stand here and listen. To be frank, I know that I can’t beat you, even if I wasn’t recovering from the damned Judchas that did a number on me yesterday.” He didn’t blink (technically, they can’t anyway). He just stared at me, and started to shake his head.

“What makes you think I want to fight you? I am only here to talk. Our fight will be in the future, for your soul is the biggest catch in this damn world,” he said, and I believed him. He didn’t seem to have any hostile intent about him.

“Than what do you want?” I asked him with a death glare.

“To ask a favor. Don’t die, please? At least, not yet. I want to be the one to kill you, and I want to do it while you are at your best.” This was odd, he just praised me for being the best meal around, and he wanted to wait?

“Well, you can be damn sure that I won’t die, and in the end, I will be the one to kill you, you damned freak.” I replied. He chuckled, and stood up. With a little wave, he walked to the back of the car, opened the door, and left. I shuddered, knowing full well what that thing could have done.

“Crimson, what happened? Why didn’t you kill it?” Twilight asked, looking at me with tears in her eyes. She was distraught and scared, and I told her the truth.

“Twilight, I couldn’t have beaten him, even in prime condition. That was the strongest Hollow I have ever met. It was a Vasto, and it has the ability, as far as I am aware, to destroy Canterlot and Ponyville with a single attack.” As I explained this, she looked forlorn.

‘Apparently, she thought you were the strongest thing ever! I find that to be rather hilarious!” Reaper started to laugh, and receded before I could retort. I looked at Twilight, and knew she understood. Just yesterday, she found out that there was somepony stronger than the princesses. It would make sense that there was something out there even stronger. We took our seats, me next to the window and her next to me. She got close enough to lay her head on my shoulder, and she said something under her breath, which I didn’t hear.

“What was that?” I asked her. She looked up at me, no longer tearful, but with a glint of determination in her eyes. She was determined about something, and it was giving me a bad feeling.

“I swear, I will help you in any way possible so that you can defeat that monster. I will help you get stronger,” she stated, with fire in her eyes. I had to say, I admired that look. It wasn’t something I saw often, and that is because I’ve only ever seen it when I looked in a mirror. This was the look of someone that would do anything to accomplish the goal in mind. I chuckle and nod my head.

“Alright, I’ll hold you to it,” I told her. As she smiled, though, I poked at her and stated, “But, you better keep up.” She only nodded, and laid her head back on my shoulder. I was content, to my surprise. I never thought I could feel so… right with this mare. She was warm, and- Stop, you idiot! You can’t get attached to *anypony.** For all you know, you’re immortal. Maybe not invulnerable, but immortal all the same!* I shook my head, and just to be nice, let her lay her head on my shoulder until we got to Ponyville.

As we arrived, we saw her friends get off on the car ahead of us (we would have sat with them, but there were no more seats). She rushed over to them to talk. I heard snippets of the conversation, but none of it was about the Vasto. She is keeping the secret, eh? That is good. All of her friends waved goodbye to her, and she walked over to me once again.

“So, shall we get going? I want you to meet my number one assistant.” I only nodded, getting a confused look from her, but she shrugged and started to walk. I followed, her, not knowing what to expect. Maybe I should have asked her where she lived, because I didn’t expect a fucking tree! “Well, here we are. This is Ponyville’s library, and where I live.”

“Ummm, doesn’t it bother you that it’s a tree?” I asked her, may voice carrying a chilling breeze with the words. Again, she was confused with how cold I was being, but shrugged again.

“Yes, at first, but now that I look at it, I kinda like it,” she responded. Great, now I get to live in a fuckin tree for Celestia’s sake! was all I thought before I heard a voice. I look to see what looks to be a small dragon coming out of the front door to greet Twilight. I wipe my eyes, just to make sure I wasn’t seeing things. Sure as shit, it was a little dragon. Oh, Celestia, what have I gotten myself *into?***

The dragon walked over to me, and greeted me with, “Hi, my name’s Spike. What’s your’s?” I looked at him, quizzically. I honestly was shocked to see a living dragon in front of me. “Uh, hello? Hey, Twi, I think I broke your friend.”

“No you didn’t, silly. He has never seen a dragon before, let alone a baby dragon.” Wait, *baby!?** He isn’t even an adult? Now I know I left Soul Society.*

“Ahem, sorry, but Twilight is right. I have never seen a dragon before. My name is Crimson Tide. Twilight has invited me to stay here until I found my own place.” Twilight shot me a look at this comment. I just stated, in a monotone voice, what was going on. That was when she knew that something wasn’t right about my demeanor, as far as she could tell.

“Uh, Spike? Could you go make some lunch please. I’m famished, and I need to speak with Crimson. Alone!” and quick as a whip, he vanished. “Why don’t we go to my room. I can tell something is off, and I intend to get down to the bottom of it.” Shit, my cover’s been blown.

‘Well, what did you expect, all of a sudden getting so cold, dumbass? I mean, I’m a fucking sword/soul that resides within you, and even I can act better than that,’ Reaper muttered scornfully. She only got this way when she didn’t approve of a choice I made. Honestly, she couldn’t stop talking sometimes.

We ascended the stairs, and entered her room closing the door. “Okay, you had better tell me what made you start acting so cold all of a sudden, or I’ll make you tell me,” she commanded. I had to say, if I wasn’t taller than her (only slightly, but still), I would have been intimidated.

“Why did I get so cold? So I wouldn’t get attached. If you haven’t noticed, I’m almost immortal, like the princesses.” This put a look of shock on her face. “And before you ask, no, it’s not because I find you unattractive.” This only made her mad.

“What is that supposed to mean?” she demanded.

“I’ve noticed how… flirtatious you’ve gotten with me. And that ends now,” I growled. She went through at least a million emotions at that point. Anger, guilt, shock, terror, sadness. And she looked at me, and began to cry.

“What… but… I-” she ended abruptly, and broke down. I didn’t know what to do, I was so shocked. I had expected her to get angry and kick me out, but to just start crying. I heard claws coming up the stairs, and Spike burst into the room. He looked at Twilight, than at me, then back at Twilight.

“What did you do to Twilight!” he yelled in rage. He lunged at me, but a lavender field of magic surrounded him, and gently set him outside of the room. “Twi-” was all i heard before the door was again closed and locked this time.

“I’m sorry, I just thought that, maybe… but I was wrong. You can still stay here, but please, leave me be for a little while, until I get all of my emotions sorted out,” she sobbed. I couldn’t believe it. She wasn’t angry at all.

‘Well, good fucking job! You managed to make the only pony beside you I like cry. Hope you’re happy, jackass!” I heard Reaper yell from the depths of my soul. She actually liked Twilight. And she hated everypony! I was going through some emotions then, mostly shock, but I was at a loss. It wasn’t normal. This world was changing us, both of us. And I didn’t know if it was bad or good.

As I was lost in thought, Twilight looked at me. She had almost stopped crying, and there were only sniffles. She was adorable. My emotions exploded, and I felt things I never felt before. Logic went out the door at this point, and i did the only thing I felt was right. I leaned forward and kissed her.

‘Well, I didn’t expect that, coming from you. Hm, shows that you aren’t always a cold hearted bastard.’ Reaper’s comment went unnoticed, as I kissed the mare that I knew was for me. I leaned back, and tried to explain, but her hoof stopped me.

“I understand, I think. You were only trying to protect me from the inevitable,” she started to cry again, only she started to cry tears of joy. “But, you decided to stop listening to logic, and listen to your emotions. Thank you.”

‘Wow, I didn’t think that you, the master of destroying and rebuilding souls could also destroy and rebuild a girls dreams.’

‘Shut up, Reaper.’ With that, I threw her to the side and we made way our way to the bed.