Sun Slayer's radiance

Yoriichi's vision became blurry as he stared wide-eyed at his now demon brother. How the hell did it happen…again? Not even a month into his new life, he’d had to see his brother turned into the very thing he swore to destroy once more. But, while he felt immense sorrow, he was also confused as to why Michikatsu was acting so…normal. The first time they’d encountered each other like this, Yoriichi nearly killed his older brother. Now, they both just stood in place looking at each other.

Sensing the tension in the room, everyone besides the brother left the room with the door making a soft click sound as the door shut.

“...how…” Yoriichi managed to say.

Michikatsu’s six eyes looked down in shame. “After I got stuck in the wreckage, some of it trapped my ar- foreleg. I’d managed to cut it off and attacked, as you know.” He looked back up at his brother and sighed. “When that demon bit me and you stabbed it, I theorized that some of its blood got into the wound. And when the fight concluded, I found myself turning into this form. The sun nearly got me but I quickly hid in a destroyed building before I died.”

When the demon brother stopped, he gritted his teeth when Yoriichi frowned with a guilty look on his face. “Don’t you dare say that it was your fault.” Yoriichi looked up at his brother, “As I am now, I haven’t fallen under Muzan’s influence and didn’t consume any flesh during your rest.

A feeling in Yoriichi's heart, combined with his brother's words, truly believed he shouldn’t be at fault. But there was that nagging feeling again. It whispered doubts into his ear and stabbed him with cruel words. Throughout his life, he had always blamed himself. Michikatsu almost lost his dream of being a samurai, countless people were slaughtered due to his lateness, and the first Michikatsu had turned.

Uta…

All of those moments weigh on his mind and soul. If he had been a little quicker, if he had seen it sooner, if he had seen it coming…none of those would have happened.

“It was my fault that I ended up like this in the first place. If I hadn't rushed in like that, I would still be human.” To Yoriichi’s surprise, Michikatsu cracked a smile at him. “On the bright side, I can use the rest of my sword forms now heh.” He chuckled.

Despite that, all Yoriichi wanted to do right now was to forget about those terrible things and spend time with his older brother.

Michikatsu’s chuckling slowly died out, Yoriichi gave him a small smile that sent a slight chill up his spine. “God, you’re even creepier when you smile.” He grumbled. Despite his older brother's discomfort, Yoriichi let a chuckle leave his thought that quickly turned into a laugh, creeping out the older brother even more. “H-Hey! I said stop that you asshole!”

The Elements on the other side of the door listened in closely with their ears pressed against it. They all sighed in relief at the sound of laughter and light bickering. At least they knew Yoriichi wasn’t going to kill his brother. As the group slowly left with their goodbyes, Fluttershy took a second to look back at the door with a warm smile.

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A few days later, everyone was surprised when they saw the nearly healed Yoriichi walking around. Many nurses had been interrupted with their work to keep the swords pony from wandering off in the vast halls.

There had been days where some of the elements would visit him, only to find the stallion doing exercises that someone in his state shouldn’t be doing. Even after all that Yoriichi soon found himself walking around, what he found out to be, the Canterlot castle itself. It didn’t take long for him to discover the royal guard training ground.

Stallions in practice gear clashed wooden swords and spears in intense sparring matches. Some stood by either waiting for their turn or making idle chit-chat, and a few practiced shooting bows into hay bale targets. As soon as Yoriichi stepped onto the training grounds, guards quickly took notice and tried to remove him from the dangerous area. But one of the younger guards recognized Yoriichi, explaining who he was and what he did in the city all those weeks ago.

Yoriichi swiftly gained the respect of most guards, only a hoof-full still against letting the still recovering stallion trespass. For the fun of it, one of the guards hoofed a wooden practice sword to Yoriichi and challenged him to a sparring duel. This got the others hyped, with Yoriichi accepted emotionlessly, and the two got into their stances.

The guard stallion didn’t wait for Yoriichi to move as he charged at him with the wooden sword high above his head. Before he could strike though, in the blink of an eye, Yoriichi shot forward and landed three hard-hitting blows on the guard. One on the side of the neck, the middle of the stomach, and the back of his head. The guard fell face first onto the ground, knocked out cold.

Instead of deterring the rest, Yoriichi had somehow made the other guards more riled up than earlier. One after another they challenged the sun-breathing stallion. And one after another, they fell. Most of the matches were like the first, with them getting knocked out and falling to the floor. To Yoriichi’s surprise, a couple of guards stood their ground, requiring more effort from Yoriichi to take down. By the time the sun was its highest in the sky, more than half of the training ground guards groaned in pain as they rested on the nearby benches.

Yoriichi was about to place down the practice sword and head back to his room when Celestia herself made an appearance. He turned to her with his usual stone wall face, contrasting her elegant smile.

“My, that was sure that excellent display of skill, Yoriichi.” She said, stopping a few meters away from him. “I hope you don’t mind me intruding.”

Yoriichi fully turned to face her and placed the wooden sword down. “May I ask why are you here?” He asked in a polite tone.

Celestia groaned softly and huffed, “Royal courts have been in chaos since, and not the fun kind. Royals are either angry and confused about the attack, or are trying to guilt trip me into giving them bits for minor property damage.” She explained with an eye roll. “I got bored and decided to visit you, but when You weren’t in your bed, I looked out to see you fighting my stallions.” She motioned a hoof at the aching guards with a sly smile.

The swords pony cocked an eyebrow and tilted his head to the side. “Shouldn’t you be in court still? It seems irresponsible to abandon your duty like that.” He said with a frown. Celestia just giggled and waved a hoof.

“Not to worry, I have Luna and your brother taking up the court for this afternoon. There’s a spell she cast to keep any sun from shining through and hurting your brother. Also, from what I’ve heard, he’s doing a fine job keeping the royals from whining at much.” She grinned mischievously but returned to her pleasant smile. “Still, I want to make a request.”

Yoriichi suddenly felt an uneasy feeling, similar to when he fought Muzan. Yet it wasn’t the feeling of intense bloodlust, the best way he could describe it was intense grief and frustration.

“I’d like to spar with you as well.”

As soon as the words left her mouth, the guards all perked up at this with shocked expressions, even Yoriichi was surprised by this. Some tried to sway the solar princess from her decision but their cries fell on deaf ears as the two sun-related ponies stared each other down. Without warning, Yoriichi picked his wooden sword up from the ground and bit into its handle.

“If it will put your sorrow to rest, then so be it.” He said. Celestia ignored the comment though and took her stance as her horn lit up. Her magic had summoned a lance with a foot-long blade with a wrapping going down the length of the handle.

“Before we begin,” Celestia’s horn glowed a bit brighter and, in a flash of light, Yoriichi’s wooden blade was replaced by his steel one, its sheath at his side. “You’ll need that.”

No further words were said as the two sprinted at each other. Their blades clashed with a metallic ting with the two struggling to gain the advantage. Celestia then backed up and twirled her lance until the butt end of it was headed towards Yoriichis face. He easily dodged it and swung at the princess. The blades clashed again and again to the point the slack-jawed guards couldn’t keep up with their movements. As the fight went on, Yoriichi noticed the princess’s movement became more erratic and less accurate. Her breathing was heavy and disorganized compared to Yoriichi’s calm breathing. Deciding to test a theory, Yoriichi concentrated and focused his eyes on Celestia's body.

The solar princess’s white fur and skin soon disappeared to reveal something that he expected to find. The inside of her body was like the aftermath of a war-torn battlefield. Her organs appeared to be healthy, but after looking some more, Yoriichi started to notice faint scars and marks on her organs and flesh. Cuts, stabs, burns, any type of damage he could think of was hiding under this mare's white coat.

As Celestia grunted in frustration, she swung her lance down on Yoriichi, he nearly blocked in time but caused the ground under the earth to shatter and kick up chunks of stone and dirt. Due to her restrained anger, the solar princess sees the look of pity on the stallion's face.

She looked young, but Yoriichi knew otherwise. Under the illusion of her calm and well-kept demeanor was a hurt mare. He could tell through her attack. With each swing and slash, they were backed by overpowering strength that could only stem from strong, negative emotions. Even though Yoriichi felt a tiny amount of fear from her ferocity, he couldn't help but sympathize with her.

He too felt the same emotions in his younger years. It was the first time he’d shown any anger in his entire life. Something was bothering Celestia, and he wanted to find out what and stop it. So breathing in a large amount of air, Celestia roared in anger as she was about to bring down her lance. And with a burst of speed, Yoriichi charged her with a trail of sun fire behind him.

“Sun breathing, Thirteenth form.”

Yoriichi jumped and danced around the startled alicorns. She attempted to strike him, but before she could move her weapon, it had been sliced into pieces, burning them to ash before they could touch the ground. Celestia lit her horn and tried to keep her eyesight with the speeding Yoriichi, to no avail. Suddenly, her back leg was hit and it buckled, causing her to falter.

That’s when it started to end. Second, after second, her body was hit left and right with blunt strikes that were hard enough to just be uncomfortable. She could hear guards call out for her to get up and fight back, but every time she tried, a leg would be struck and make her fall again. Celestia gritted her teeth in frustration and her horn lit brightly again.

The solar diarch was about to launch an attack, but the strike came to a sudden stop as Yoriichi stood in front of her. He breathed heavily as sweat dripped from his forehead. In his mouth, her eyes widened to see that his sword had been sheathed during her beating the entire time.

The guards looked on in stunned silence. How could some earth pony defeat a powerful alicorn such as Celestia?! A good portion of the guards glared and growled at Yoriichi and started to advance with a hateful fire in their eyes for Yoriichi trying to hurt the princess.

"STOP!” Celestia commanded in her royal Canterlot voice. “Leave us at once!” She pointed at the training grounds gates. Although reluctant, the guards made the walk to the entrance, not without some glaring daggers at the exhausted Yoriichi.

Now alone, the two stood still looking at each other before Celestia got on her hoofs, dusting her chest off with a front one. “Well, you have certainly proven yourself. It was fun while it lasted, but I must-”

“Wait.” Yoriichi blurted out, making Celestia stop talking. “We need to talk.” He said with a serious tone as he sheathed his sword. “I know something is bothering you, princess. The strength behind your attacks was far beyond just sparring, it nearly made my legs give out.” Celestia grimaced, looking away with a guilty look, but Yoriichi continued. “So tell me, what is causing you to lash out?”

The solar diarch was silent as she shifted uncomfortably in place. She then sighed and looked at Yoriichi with a frown. “What I said before was half the truth. Yes, I did come out here because I saw you training with my guards. But I also came here for…therapeutic reasons as well.” Celestia walked closer to Yoriichi and sat down in front of him. “You see, during the attack a few weeks back, my castle was also swarmed as well. I saw many of my little ponies killed and slaughtered like wild dogs. Rage built up inside of me and I let it out, heck, I nearly used dark magic. I was so angry.” Yoriichi didn’t know what ‘dark magic’ was, but he chose to stay quiet.

“Nowadays, I feel as if I have failed my subjects. Time and time again, I’ve failed to prevent incident after incident all due to my foolishness. I hate having to see my subjects cower in fear because of my mistakes.” Celestia's eyes started to gloss over, her voice becoming shakier. “They all still look up to me as some goddess that can do no wrong still even after the worst events. Every chant and praise I get feels hollow to me, like I don’t deserve them. I’m disgusted with myself over my lacking abilities and it’s maddening.” She lowered her head in shame as she held back tears.

Now it was Yoriichis turn to be silent. They had a lot more in common besides their affiliation with the sun. The pain and hardships the two experienced couldn’t be matched when directly compared, but their emotions and doubts could.

Yoriichi bent down and placed a hoof on Celestia's cheek, gently making her tear-stained face look at his. “There are those times where I’ve felt the same.” He said in a soft tone. “We all face our inner demons, some battles harder than others. I can’t imagine how your life must have been and what caused all your scars. But I can sympathize with you when I say that, despite my strength, I faced those same problems.”

Celestia's eyes widened in shock at what the sun-breathing stallion just said. “H-How? You are one of the most powerful stallions I have met in my one thousand years of living, surely that can’t be the case!” Instead of answering, Yoriichi nodded.

“During my duty as a demon slayer, I was not an exception when it came to failure. I couldn’t even count how many innocent lives had been wiped out because I was too late. Thoughts of how I could have done better ate away at me. Even my brother had turned on me and the core due to his jealousy towards me.” Yorrichi’s gaze hardened, and his hoof left Celestia's cheek. “But with all that weighing me down, I still have those who would stay by my side to tell me it would be ok.”

Memories of Sumiyoshi and his wife flashed in his mind. Anytime Yoriichi had a bad day or felt like visiting, they both listened and talked with him. They didn’t criticize him for his failures or scold him, they felt pity and cared for Yoriichi, becoming something of a second family of sorts.

And even after over sixty years of living, the day he held their daughter, Sumire, and the moment he’d visibly shed tears as he softly hugged the little toddler. That day both hurt him and helped heal his soul. It hurt because it only reminded him of the family he could never have, to live in a house so small that they all had to sleep close together. But at the same time, it felt that no matter how hard it gets, there are always others that can help you back to your feet in the darkest times and show you the light.

“I feel your pain, but don’t try and hide it away. Always know that you aren’t alone.” Shocking the princess more, Yoriichi enveloped the alicorn in a gentle hug.

Celestia looked down at the stoic stallion for the longest time before a smile appeared on her muzzle. She took a deep, soothing breath and used a hoof to lightly pull the stallion off her. “Thank you, Yoriichi. I’ll take your words to heart and stay strong.”’And maybe have a talk with Luna tonight.’ She thought with an inward grimace. “But there is one more thing I’d like to discuss before you finish healing.”

Yoriichi looked up at her with his head tilted to the side in confusion. “What is it you’d wish to talk about?”

She giggled at the curious Yoriichi, then turned around while still looking at him. “Let us discuss it over some tea, shall we?” She asked with a smirk.

The two were soon making their march back to the castle as the sun started to set over the horizon, not seeing the glowing crimson eyes watching them from the shadows.

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was the next day, gray clouds caked the sky, and the smell of approaching rain filled the air. On the sidewalk, Yoriichi and a couple of guards made their way down the cobblestone street to the Canterlot train station.

Along the way, Yoriichi saw ponies eyeing the stallion with caution. They hadn’t been told of Yoriichi's exploits during the attack, so the lack of praise made surrounding the sun-breathing stallion look like some criminal with the armed guards around him. Also, some of the upper-class royals felt as if he’d resembled a bit of the terrifying-looking stallion they’d seen in court the other day.

Yoriichi ignored all the looks and continued to stare straight ahead. It wasn’t long before he had reached the station, and spotted the bearers of the elements waiting for him. Pinkie made no attempt of subtlety as she waved flags with his stoic face on them, and used a strange noise machine behind her to welcome him.

When he stopped and the guards walked away to return to their duties, Rarity made her way to him with a pair of saddlebags on her flank. “It’s nice to see you up and about again, Yoriichi. And as thanks for helping to save Canterlot,” Her horn glowed a soft blue aura that opened the saddlebags and levitated a small stack of clothes to Yoriichi. “I took up the responsibility of using the scraps of your old garments and fashioning a new pair.”

The clothes themselves looked high quality to Yoriichi. Instead of the haori being a solid red, It was now a clean white with the sleeves shifting to a bright red color. A sun emblem on the back that resembled his cutie mark. The rest had been their original colors, except for the kimono, which now had a rosy red color that matched his fur.

“It looks fantastic, thank you for the gift, Rarity.” He said with a small grateful smile on his face.

“No problem, dear,” Rarity leaned in close with a devilish smirk. “I don’t think Fluttershy would mind seeing you wear it.” She whispered into his ear.

Rarity then leaned away and walked back to the train platform, leaving a confused Yoriichi behind. And speaking of Fluttershy, he looked at the group and nearly missed the light pink tail poking out from behind Rainbow dash. The prismatic mare followed his gaze and chuckled when she saw that he was looking at the shy mare.

“Weird, isn’t it?” She remarked with a held-up hoof, “Ever since you’ve woken up, Flutters here has been hiding away in her cottage. Talking about something embarrassing she didn’t want to talk about.” Then her expression turned to annoyance as she looked over at Rarity, who was pretending not to listen in on the conversation. “Rarity somehow got Fluttershy to spill the beans, but she refuses to tell us!”

Luckily, Twilight stepped forward and put herself between Rainbow dash and Rarity, “I’m sure that whatever Fluttershy told her was juicy in detail, but we all need to get going, Spike is probably worried about me.” She sighed. But then, she perked up with a smile and turned to Yoriichi. “Oh, I forgot to say that we have a surprise for you!”

Yoriichi also perked up. “A gift? I couldn’t accept it, the clothes are enough of a present as it is.” He argued.

Twilight was about to speak when Pinkie pie suddenly appeared beside Yoriichi, almost startling the stoic stallion. “But it’s suuuuuper cool! When you see it, your non-existent sock will be blown off!” She excitedly said while bouncing forward until she stopped by the machine. “You can come out now!” She shouted. Yoriichi’s eyes widened when Michikatsu appeared from behind the noise machine.

There was some strange aura around him that looked to be the night itself. And despite some sun poking through the packing clouds, they touched the demon stallion's skin and didn’t burn him. Michikatsu just walked up next to Twilight with a slight grimace. “That damn thing was starting to hurt my head.” He grumbled.

“How is this possible?” Yoriichi muttered in surprise.

Michikatsu spoke up before Twilight could go on a lengthy lecture, making the studious alicorn angrily pout. “The short of it is that Twilight and Luna developed a spell that allowed me to walk during the day. It is some spell that combines Luna's magic with a defensive spell, don’t ask me how it works.” He then smiled and patted Yoriichi’s shoulder. “Now I’ve got a total of eight hours to spend in the day.”

Yoriichi smiled too, but it went away quickly as a thought came to mind. “It’s wonderful that you can roam in the daylight, but we must be heading back as Twilight suggested, I can smell that rain will be coming soon.” The mares and Michikatsu nodded in agreement and quickly boarded the train. Most of the mares sat on the opposite side of the train car due to a lack of closed seats, except for Fluttershy. She had managed to nab a seat behind Yoriichi, and for the whole trip, Yoriichi couldn’t shake the feeling of being intensely watched the whole time.