Balancing Forces

An awkward silence followed Kazuki's declaration, however, that was broken by a group of royal guards charging at the alien, which included the ones that were hiding on the wall behind the throne.

“No don-” shouted Celestia but it was too late.

“Rimbo: Hengoku(輪墓・辺獄, Wheel Grave: Border Jail)”, whispered Kazuki and all the guards were flung back as if they were struck by some invisible force. Kazuki's eyes never left Celestia as he said, “That's quite hypocritical of you, my faithful student, you condemned me for my actions yet you are still making use of my teachings.”

Panic erupted and the ponies present started to scream as they run for the exit. Celestia just kept glaring at Kazuki and just replied almost snarling when most of the crown was gone, “Don't call me that.”

It was this moment that Luna teleported in and as she appeared the Elements were immediately placed on their respective hosts/users.

“Sister, wh-” Luna started but stopped when her eyes landed on Kazuki, she gritted her teeth and her eyes became dragon-like before she leaped forward while shouting, “Kazuki!!”

Kazuki simply grabbed the hoof that was aimed at his face with his right hand before using Shinra Tensei(神羅天征, Heavenly Subjugation of the Omnipresent God) of moderate strength to launch her backward. The lunar alicorn just flipped midair and landed on her hooves while still glaring at him.

“Impulse as ever, Ru-chan,” said Kazuki with an amused smile.

“Hey, who do you think you are to talk to the princesses like that?!” shouted Rainbow remaining the godly trio that there were others in here besides themselves.

“That doesn’t concern you, Bearer of Loyalty,” said Kazuki dismissively, much to Rainbow's irritation, before adding offhandedly, “But if you insist, I'm their former teacher.”

“We refused to acknowledge you as such, fiend,” said Celestia with venom in her voice, much to the surprise of the Elements since this was the first time they ever heard Celestia speak like that. Either way, she said in a whisper, “Girls, prepare the Elements, Luna and I will distract him.”

Twilight and the other nodded before closing their eyes in concentration while Kazuki just rolled his since he heard what was said.

“When did you free yourself from your prison? Was it Discord who freed you?” asked Celestia as her horn started to glow, her sister doing the same.

“Out of order: Discord wasn't responsible for my prison's destruction, it was Nightmare Moon. As for when I freed myself, well, my body was encased in stone for millennia but my mind has been switching bodies ever since our little scuffle,” said Kazuki to the sisters while he projected his thoughts to Hon-chan, “Just wait a little longer, I want to see how far they have progress.”

Hon-chan's response was sending Kazuki a pout, both mentally and physically, as he closed the book and as soon as he did that Celestia and Luna were engulfed by a flash of light that soon disappeared and revealed that they were wearing their armor. However, instead of attacking they just stood ready to defend the Elements, they probably thought or hoped that Kazuki was uninformed about the Elements or just arrogant enough to give them a shot, which he was willing to give but not out of arrogance. In no time at all, the six mares were lifted in the air by their combined magic and when they opened their eyes they were glowing with power, which was followed by the “friendship cannon”. The beam hit Kazuki and the princesses had to shield their eyes but relaxed in the knowledge of their victory, or so they thought.

The light slowly subsided and when the light no longer hurt their eyes Celestia and Luna opened them only to witness something they thought impossible, Kazuki was still sitting on the throne just as bored as before but with his right palm facing forward, however, the horror came from the fact that the being was absorbed by his hand. When the beam stopped and the six mares were lowered on the floor where they stumbled for a moment since their magic subsided and they were a bit dizzy, which revealed a familiar ripple patterned metallic gray purplish eye but with each section flashing different colors briefly before returning to the normal color. He brought his hand closer and looked at the eye on his palm before thinking as he felt the energy he just absorbed, “They have matured quite nicely, still not quite there yet.”

“Did we win?” asked Rainbow as she shook her head, the others doing the same.

“Such potential, wasted,” commented Kazuki with disappointment and disdain as his Rinnegan moved from each mare to the other, all of them frozen at the impossibility that just happened, so he continued, “You are like younglings with a new toy, just battering your foe with your power and hoping that it would be enough to defeat it. Such uncivilized and primitive brutes. Oh, Seri-chan, if you let them keep the foci and practice a little they wouldn’t be so bad.”

“Excuse me, I refused to be called uncivilized, primitive, brute or any combination of those three. Who in Equestria do you think you are, mister?” asked Rarity with an indignant tone but as soon as she finished her question Celestia recovered and placed herself in front of the unicorn as she glared at Kazuki.

“I already answered your question, Bearer of Generosity,” said Kazuki as if he was speaking to a child just as he extended his right hand and the gemstones that represented the Elements of Harmony started to shake before removing themselves from the necklaces and tiara they occupied. The gemstones floated toward Kazuki before settling in a small orbit just above his right palm as he continued, “I’m their former teacher.”

“Impossible,” said Twilight and the princesses in disbelief at the same time, the former at the statement and the former at the situation most likely.

“Your belief isn’t required, Bearer of Magic,” said Kazuki as he inspected the gems, then he just nodded and the gems just turned into streaks of light that moved from the place they were floating back to the jewelry that they came from.

“How?!” shouted Luna both in anger and fear, her eyes and horn glowing with magic ready to be used.

“Oh, Ru-chan, why wouldn’t I know how to control and counter my own power, which reminds me,” said Kazuki as a portal opened above and behind him from were four blurs were shot before embedding themselves on the floor cracking the stone and spreading a cloud of dust. When the cloud settled it revealed two sets of familiar weapons, one golden and one black, and Kazuki spoke, “Pick them up, I want to see how much you two have progressed.”

“We refuse to play your games,” said Celestia with conviction as she glanced at their former weapons trying to discern if there was some kind of trap, after all, they were in possession of their most devious enemy for thousands of years.

“Is that so,” said Kazuki as two portals opened behind the group.

Out of instinct, the sisters reached for the weapons before teleporting in front of one of a portal each just a barrage of kunai and shuriken came through. Using all their martial prowess they deflected and blocked each projectile with their staff and sword combo, at one point they tried to make a shield but the moment the projectile touched the barrier they passed through as runes of some kind lightened up.

Not wanting to get in the way, Twilight tried to gather her magic to teleport herself and her friends out of the throne room but the moment she tried to do so one of the portals changed its angle and aimed at the purple unicorn. She barely had time to notice the sharp blade approaching her before Celestia got in the way and blocked them while shouting, “Don’t move!”

Kazuki’s amusement turned into disappointment as he saw his former students’ performance, at first it looked they were blocking every projectile but some were slipping past their defense and hitting their armor. After he saw enough he stopped the barrage and closed the portals, which caused the sisters to briefly look around to make sure the none of the guards were injured and there were no more portals before once again place themselves between their subjects and their former teacher.

“I’m disappointed with your performance,” said Kazuki flatly before continuing, “Perhaps, you two need more motivation.”

Kazuki snapped his fingers for dramatic effect and to catch their attention, which caused six small portals to open behind the six mares behind the princesses.

*shnk* *shnk* *shnk* *shnk* *shnk* *shnk* *shnk*

Celestia and Luna turned to face the origin of the sound and their eyes widened.

”Prin…cess…” whispered Twilight before a trail of blood escaped from her lips, coming out of her chest was a blood soaked blade. Not only from the purple unicorn but also from the other Elements as well as Spike who was in the middle of the group.

The blades retreat rather roughly and a sickening wet tearing was head before drops of blood landed on Celestia's right cheek. The seven fell like puppets without strings as a pool of blood just widened.

“Twilight! Hang in there!” shouted Celestia as she dropped her weapons and knew down beside her injured student, she tried to stop the bleeding and heal Twilight but it wasn’t working. Celestia could do nothing as she felt Twilight’s life-force diminish like a candle just moments before being snuffed out, she just looked at those purple lifeless eyes and asked weakly, “Twilight?”

“More often than not, death comes either too quickly or too slowly,” commented Kazuki as he placed Hon-chan on the armrest of the throne and got up before waking to the base of the dais.

*ROAR*

The awkward silence was broken by a wave of magic, raw and primal. Kazuki was about to make a comment when Luna rushed at him at incredible speed and slashed with her sword, he barely had time to raise his arm and reinforced it as the blade bit into his flesh down to the bone before launching him through one of the murals.

*crack*

The glass shattered as Kazuki was flung out of the palace and sensing that words would no longer reach the alicorns he created a hanbō(半棒, half-staff) of about 3ft in each hand out of pure chakra using the Dōgu Sōzō no Jutsu(道具創造の術, Tool Creation Technique). Just as he finished forming his weapons his geta make contact with the stone from the settlement around the castle and left a trail as his feet dug into the ground to decelerate. He activated his Byakugan just before he stopped and he saw two flashes of light on either side of him and he placed the batons to block Luna’s staff at his right and Celestia’s sword at his left, seeing that their attacks failed they tried again with the other weapon. Celestia’s sword was stuck on the baton as it lengthened until it was a bō(棒, staff) to block her staff while he kicked Luna with his right leg, when his right baton was freed he pointed it forward before extending the opposite end enough to hit Celestia in the gut, thus sending the sisters in opposite directions. All of that happened in less than a second and it took a while for the crowd to process what happened, which resulted in mass panic but he ignored the panicking ponies as he shrunk his weapons back to their original length as he looked at the two alicorns buried beneath the rubble.

Luna was the first to get up, so Kazuki pointed his index finger at her and on its tip, a small Rasengan began to form, then it increased in size to the point it became bigger than him. Just as Luna regained her bearing she saw the sphere of energy being thrown at her by Kazuki’s telekinesis and was about to dodge when she heard him say, “Are you sure you want to dodge?”

Luna was about to ignore the question but a shift of the rubble behind her caught her attention, she glanced behind her and saw an unconscious but still living mare behind her. She cursed Kazuki and her luck as she dropped her weapons and placed her hands in front of her to brace for impact.

*thud*

“Oh, let's see how long you can hold that Chōōdama Rasengan(超大玉螺旋丸, Ultra-Big Ball Spiralling Sphere),” commented Kazuki as he let go of his batons and moved his arms out of his kimono to let it hang from his obi before taking hold of his floating weapons.

“Damn you!” shouted Luna as she struggled to hold the spiraling sphere of energy as it kept grinding against her gloves and pushing her back little by little.

“Ha!” shouted Celestia as she jumped toward Kazuki with her staff and sword ready to strike while Kazuki's head was facing Luna.

“Shuradō,” thought Kazuki and Celestia's blows didn’t make it as two arms burst out of his left shoulder and each hand took hold of one of her arms, then the wrist split open and unfolded before metallic tentacles emerged and immobilized her arms, wings and wrapped around her neck.

“Huh?!” Celestia barely had time to make a muffled exclamation as the mechanical tendrils silenced her.

“Haven’t I thought you to not give away your position to the enemy?” asked Kazuki as he turned to face Celestia and all she could do was glare at the alien since a tendril was wrapped around her muzzle. Then the two hands detached from the extra left arms and the metallic tendrils held Celestia’s arms and wings tightly as the princess fell on the ground while the two extra arms became chakra cannons, which were pointed at the downed princess as they were charging, ad he said, “I expected more from you two.”

“Aaaaahhhh!” screamed Luna as she managed to push back the swirling sphere of energy, which caused Kazuki to extend his right hand and open a Rinnegan on the palm after dispelling one of his batons and absorb the Chōōdama Rasengan that was sent in his direction. However, just as she finished absorbing the technique Luna teleported in front of him and blasted a beam from her horn on his chest, which sent him flying.

Once Kazuki was launched Luna summoned her staff and sword back to her hands before cutting her sister free from the metallic tendrils, however, before she could smash the pair of left hands they jumped before flying toward Kazuki, who was floating above the sisters.

Kazuki didn't even acknowledge the sisters as Luna helped Celestia up and just dispelled the remaining baton as the two left hands connected back to their respective arms and two right arms appeared from his right shoulder. Each pair of hand was clapped together before forming three seals —Ram, Snake and Bird— as he spoke calmly, “Tengai Shinsei(天碍震星, Heavenly Obstacle Quaking Star).”

The sisters just kept their eyes on Kazuki and prepared for whatever he was doing since they knew the type of magic he was using was made with hand gestures. However, they become confused as nothing was happening but an eerie silence followed as the packing ponies seemed to stop what they were doing, which was followed by the area slowly becoming darker. The sky was supposed to be clear today so there shouldn't be shadows, so they looked up while keeping their enemy in the peripheral vision. Their minds stopped at what they saw and their knees trembled as their mouths seemed to dry in disbelief, a meteor the size of a mountain.

“Was he always this powerful?” thought Celestia and Luna as they watched the meteor approached the city of Canterlot. Their line of thought was interrupted by the sound of the ponies around them falling to their knees in despair at the sight of the meteor coming while other resort to the thing that all mortals who believe in higher powers do, praying. Seeing their little ponies needing more than ever the princess shook their heads and hardened their resolve before flying up toward the instrument of their imminent doom in order to stop it.

“Give everything you got sister!” shouted Luna as her eyes and horn glowed with as much power as she could muster, and more than it was safe to wield, but even as she felt like a rod of hot iron was driven into her spine she poured more into her weapons, which caused them to glow as well.

“You don’t need to tell me,” said Celestia in a menacing tone as she did the same as her sisters, for the first time in their long lives they pushed themselves past their limits before unleashing the accumulated mana in order to push back or destroy the meteor.

“Aren't you going a bit overboard?” asked Hon-chan as she floated beside Kazuki where the alien and the sentient grimoire witness the desperate struggle of the two alicorns.

“I thought you hated them?” asked Kazuki with an eyebrow raised and not at all bothered by the devastation was about to cause.

“I do, but I don't think it was necessary to just drop a meteor on them like that,” said Hon before shaking for a bit while bobbing down and up, her version of a shrug, and say with a dismissive tone, “Ma, it's not like it matter anyway.”

“AAAAHHHH!!!!” screamed the sisters and Kazuki was about to make a clinical remark but stopped as he saw cracks started to form on the meteor as the sisters did their beam struggle with the meteor.

“It kinda reminds me of Dragon Ball Z,” commented Kazuki as he looked at the cracks widened, which caused him to add, “Oh, bad move.”

“Oh no,” thought the sisters as they saw the meteor crack and split into smaller pieces instead of being completely destroyed, they watched in horror as the pieces fell all around Canterlot and devastated the surrounding area.

*clap*

“Congratulations, you two saved Canterlot. But about half of the country ended either in or near a crater,” commented Kazuki as he clapped slowly, then he stopped clapping before lifting his left hand as a Rinnegan opened in its palm. A blue sphere of energy formed on Kazuki’s palm before growing in size and as it grew a group of familiar looking whirling spheres started to form inside the see-through sphere.

“Wait, something is not right,” thought Luna as she looked around at all the devastation caused by their battle. Her sister on the other hand just saw another threat and her tired mind and protective instinct just reacted to what she saw, which caused Luna to shout, “No, sister, wait!”

“Rimbo: Hengoku,” said Kazuki without even glancing at the charging alicorn and because she couldn’t see the clone moving in the invisible world that coexists with the physical world, however, its movement affected the mana on the air but Celestia was too far gone to notice this and just ended up receiving a punch on the face that sent her back to the ground. Then he just said with amusement before throwing the sphere that resembled a planetarium in a not so dissimilar way to a certain galactic tyrant from the show he was just remained of, “Let’s see how you deal with this one. Ōamenomihashira(大天御柱, Great Pillar of Heaven).”

Seeing no other choice Luna used the same spell that the Captain of the Royal Guard was entrusted to use in order to protect the capital, she might not be as good as him but she was far more powerful. As a blue barrier formed around Canterlot Luna looked around and thought, “Speaking of which, where is Captain Armor? Unless-”

The alicorn’s question was interrupted by the sphere of chakra pressed against the barrier she created, which brought her to her knee. Then, on the corner of her vision, she saw her sister and called out, “Sister! I can’t hold this alone!”

Celestia shook her head as she got up, then she heard her sister and ignoring the taste of her own blood in her mouth she looked up and saw the barrier was cracking. So, to help she did the same spell and merged her magic with Luna, which caused the barrier to recover and expand as it acquired a golden hue while pushing back the chakra sphere.

“Um, at least they can cooperate when push comes to shove,” commented Kazuki before chuckling at the pun he just made and said with his left hand still extended toward the sphere, “I wonder if they noticed already. Ma, either way, Takamimusubinokami(高皇産霊尊, High and Exalted Creator of the Universe).”

The sphere halted before trembling before expanding in bursts until it was just as big as the meteor that was destroyed, Kazuki actually had to put some effort into breaking that barrier.

*CRACK*

A loud and horrible cracking was heard as the sphere grinding against the barrier, however, it was not the barrier that was giving in it was the rock on which Canterlot was built upon. Little by little the city was pushed against the rock and by the time that the mountain started to crumble the outer shell of the Ōamenomihashira exploded and showered the rest of the country, and beyond its borders, in Rasengan-like orbs that exploded upon impact, the result was a wasteland with only Canterlot remaining amongst what was once the mountain that stood at the center of their nation.

*clank*

Kazuki’s geta clanked against the stone floor as he stood beside the tired Celestia and all he did was sight before making a Gudōdama in his right hand and turning it into a black katana.

“Any last words?” asked Kazuki as he held the sword with both hands and got ready to decapitate the kneeling alicorn with an overhead strike. The response came in the form a Celestia spitting on Kazuki’s face but he didn’t even blink as the mixture of saliva and blood slashed on his left cheek, he just raised an eyebrow and said with a disappointed tone, “Really, that’s so petty of you?”

*slash*

The edge of Kazuki’s katana would disintegrate the flesh it came in contact making death quick and painless, so Celestia closed her eyes and accepted her death. Luna was witnessing all this from where she was laying on the ground, just gathered all the magic she had left on her horn and thought, “Gods, I hope I’m right.”

From Luna’s perspective, the world slowed down until it stopped, Kazuki’s katana just touching Celestia's neck, and the only thing that was still moving in the world was Luna.

*CRACK*

The air cracked the point of origin being the tip of Luna’s horn.

*CRACK* *CRACK* *CRACK* *CRACK* *CRACK*

Soon reality itself became like a broken mirror and when the pieces fell they were back in the throne room, the sisters were holding their weapons as they stood between Kazuki and the mane six.

“What-” Celestia started to question but immediately dropped her sword and moved her free hand to the back of her neck where she felt the tip of the sword starting to cut into her flesh, then she asked, “How?”

“Princess?” asked Twilight in confusion at how the princess was acting.

Celestia turned at the sound of Twilight’s voice and when her eyes saw that her faithful student was alive along with the rest of the Elements, the guards and likely all the citizens that died in the recent battle, she almost cried.

“An illusion,” concluded Luna as she used her spear/staff to help her stand, she used this time to feel how much magic she had left and she was surprised that she only lost the energy she used to break the illusion, the mental exhaustion of the battle was still with her though, and by the look of things with Celestia as well. She didn't get distracted by the shift in reality and kept her eyes on Kazuki as she asked, “Twilight Sparkles, how long have we been standing between you and him?”

“Just a few moments ago he snapped his fingers and all of sudden you looked tired for some reason,” explained Twilight, much to the disbelief of the Royal Sisters.

“What?” asked Luna out of reflex.

“But we have been fighting for almost an hour,” commented Celestia as she returned her attention to Kazuki, who was still sitting on the throne and calmly reading Hon-chan.

“No that can’t be right,” said Luna and Kazuki just scoffed at that statement.

“But you’re right, Ru-chan, that was just a simple illusion,” commented Kazuki with amusement.

“Impossible, there has to be more than being a ‘simple illusion’, it felt so real,” said Celestia to herself.

“‘Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one’, ‘Reality is that part of the imagination we all agree on’, ‘A dream you dream alone is only a dream. A dream you dream together is reality’. These are some of my favorite quotes about reality, thus I ask, ‘What is reality?’” cited Kazuki as he flipped a page before continuing, “If you answer ‘its what I can see, smell, touch, taste and hear’ then how that’s different than the illusion I just showed you? If I can trick all of your senses in every conceivable way, stretch your perception of time where you live a full life and dies happily, so convinced your mind is that was reality that your body simply wills itself to stop living. Was that, illusion or reality?”

That made the alicorns and Twilight pale at such implication, while the rest looked either confused or uninterested.

“I’m surprised you would question the power of the mind and dreams in general, Ru-chan,” said Kazuki ignoring the responses of the group before closing the book and say, “Maybe I placed too much faith on them. What do you think, Hon-chan?”

“This guy is nuts, he talking to a book,” whispered Rainbow.

“I reckon he ain't right in the head when he tried to kill us,” whispered AJ.

“Now, that was just rude,” said Hon as she appeared floating near Rainbow and AJ, which caused the duo to jump in surprise and everyone turned to the book that had a mask for on the cover. Hon herself just kept showing a pouting face as she continued, “I’m quite capable of holding a conversation, thank you very much.”

“A talking book…” whispered Twilight, Rainbow and Spike, the first with stars in her eyes and the last with two with disbelief and dread.

*slash*

“Begone, you foul grimoire! You will not taint their minds with madness like you did so many other before!” said Celestia as she tried to hit Hon with her sword but the sentient book simply teleported back to Kazuki.

“Those meanie mean pants got what they deserved,” said Hon childishly.

“Oh, that makes sense,” commented Pinkie Pie as she nodded to herself like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“Indeed, not only they tried to attain knowledge that was not mean for them they also did so against Hon’s wishes. As far as I’m concerned they paid the price for the knowledge they sought,” commented Kazuki as Hon floated beside him.

“Uh-huh,” said Hon she bobbed up and down, nodding.

“Still, you two could have done better on your little test,” said Kazuki with a shrug before getting up and say, “Either way, time to see how the Elements hold up.”

The ponies tensed and Kazuki snapped his fingers.