Windows of the Soul

Twilight teleported her notebook away. She and Spike faced each other.

"There are three kinds of strength you need to develop in order to defeat the underworld," the dragon informed her, "physical, mental, and spiritual. Physical strength will allow you to more easily attack and defend. Mental strength will make you more resistant to any mind games it would try to throw at you and let you quickly percieve a threat. Spiritual strength is the real table-turner. It revolves around the deeper truths of existence and emotional clarity. If your mind and heart are clouded by fear and uncertainty, you're leaving yourself wide open. Every aspect of your being must be safeguarded at all times."

"I understand."

"Let's start with a mental exercises. I want you to close your eyes."

Twilight nodded. She did as she was instructed.

"Now, take a deep breath."

The mare inhaled softly and slowly. She felt the tension in her muscles begin to ease.

"Think about the timeline of events that has led us to where we are now. What do you see?"

"I see...Me...As a filly...Before you were born..."

"What are you doing?"

"I'm playing with smarty pants in the kitchen. I think I'm trying to have a conversation with him, but my speech is garbled by infantile impediments."

"How do you feel?"

"...Happy..."

"Happiness is an emotion that's been mostly lost in the modern world, but there are those who still remember what it was like, and even more rarely, those who still experience it now. It's important to remember that life wasn't always grim. The ultimate goal in death is to create a new world where it can be felt again. What do you see now?"

"I see us when we were kids. You were such a goofball back then. We used to bicker all the time. I remember when I got annoyed because you kept stealing all the cookies. I was being so hypocritical, too. I used to do the same thing to Shining."

"Those were tasty."

"You dick," Twilight laughed.

"From there, we can clearly recall where things seemed to go wrong. With the internet and social media growing at an extreme rate, more negativity was being put out into the world than ever before. We started to understand that resources people depended on were running short, and the economic and geopolitical climates were worsening with no signs of improvement. Things like death, crime, and drug abuse were more visible to the public. It created a sense of hopelessness among the younger generations. Many people even began to celebrate it. A whole subculture that worshiped chaos and destruction was created, and the people involved with it adopted an altered notion of nihilism. To put it in layman's terms, they gave up on life and wanted to let the world know it."

"That explains the increases in suicides and murders over the last decade."

"Open your eyes."

Once again, Twilight followed the directive given by her brother.

"Now you know exactly what caused the world to corrode into the state it's in now. It was rife with conflicting ideologies and division about how obstacles should be handled. There wasn't an opportunity to find a real solution because people were too busy fighting. That's why we have to be ready to wage the final war. The only thing that will bring us together is standing against something truly evil."

"I'll do whatever it takes."

"We'll start by doing twenty push-ups. We'll follow up with twenty crunches, and end the basic warm-up with a twenty lunges."

"Why do they all have the same number of repetitions?"

"If you overtrain one muscle group and undertrain another, it can cause muscle imbalances which will impair your movement. Equally balanced muscles are the key to true physical strength."

"Makes sense."

"We'll divide each exercise into four sets of five repetitions with a thirty second rest period in between."

"Right."

Spike descended to the ground. He showed Twilight the proper form for the first of the three exercises.

"You want to keep your forelegs spread around shoulder level and keep your back and hips straight. This is called the plank position. If you do it correctly, it'll reduce the resistance to a more sustainable level. I think the world record for holding this position is eight hours."

"Impressive."

"We want to at least triple that number. Fighting any supernatural entity requires strength and speed far beyond the average person's capabilities."

"I figured."

Twilight mimicked her brother's pose.

"Like this, right?"

"You got it. Now let your chest fall to within an inch of the ground, then slowly raise yourself back up."

Twilight accomplished the first push-up with relative ease.

"Now I get it. By repeating the process, the tension and lactic acid will build up and make it more difficult."

"Each day we practice, we can increase our sets by one repetition. Over time, we'll be able to reach an insanely high set and repetition count. I kept it low today so I could ascertain what your limits were. Once we know, we can make any necessary adjustments."

"How will I know what my limits are?"

"The easiest way to tell is by training until your muscles stop cooperating, which will make it physically impossible to do another repetition. This is called training to failure, and it's a major component in determining your overall strength and endurance. Because you're new to this level of pressure but still use your forelegs on a regular basis for walking, twenty is probably about the right amount for you."

"Let's keep going."

Spike nodded.