//------------------------------// // Episode 36: Crisis of Faith // Story: Equestria Girls: Friendship Souls // by thatguyvex //------------------------------// Episode 36: Crisis of Faith To Twilight it was as if she had entered another world, a hazy realm of smoke, screams, the smell of fresh blood, and the overwhelming noise of unending battle. Every shadow in the forest seemed to boil with menace as lesser Hollows emerged from coils of smoke to leap with talons and fangs at Twilight and her fellow Quincy as they tried to seek safe ground. Twilight wasn’t sure where the smoke was coming from, but someone, somewhere, who knew on which side of the fight, must have caught the forest on fire. That thought alone was terrifying because Twilight knew fully just how fast forest fires spread and how deadly such blazes were. The smoke alone was starting to becoming choking, and ensured that they couldn't see the Hollows until they were practically on top of them. Despite the painful and constant ache in her shoulder Twilight fought hard, spinning to face each threat with her bow of bright blue reishi ready to lance arrows into any Hollow that assaulted them. Sunny Flare was leading the blinded Sugarcoat along by the arm while using her free hand to fire her remaining dart gun, while Indigo Zapp was carrying Suri over one shoulder, unable to use her bow but tossing Ginto alchemy tubes to create small blasts of reishi to help keep the Hollows at bay. Sour Sweet staggered along without help, not because no one had offered, but because the enraged young woman had snarled at any such offer, insisting she could carrying her own weight despite the terrible burns on her back. Sour Sweet’s eyes were bloodshot and wild as she fired her huge crossbow from the hip at any Hollow that shambled out of the shadows. “Do we even know where we’re going!?” Sour Sweet growled, blasting the head off of a hulking beetle-like Hollow that had jumped from the bushes behind them. “Not really,” said Indigo Zapp, who happened to be at the head of the group, “Anywhere but here!” “We’re likely to run straight into the fire causing all this smoke and burn alive,” said Sugarcoat, her voice husky and strained with pain, blood still dripping from her ruined eyes like crimson tears, “At least, you guys will as long as you’re slowed down by those of us that can’t keep up.” “Sugarcoat, hun, please shut your overly blunt mouth for the next five minutes,” said Sunny Flare sharply, “I spent entirely too much time in front of mirrors to spend the rest of my life looking at myself and recalling leaving you behind to be torn apart by Hollows or burning in death. Suri... hmm, well I might live with leaving her behind, but not you.” “G-gee... that’s a heck of a thing to wake up to.” said Suri, blinking awake with a bleary and dazed look. “I don’t suppose anyone knows the number of the ocean liner that landed on my head?” “Suri! Are you alright?” Twilight asked, concerned, “Can you see clearly?” “Head feels like a squashed melon and I’m fairly certain I’m about to throw up, so... been better. Would kill for a cup of coffee.” “You likely have a concussion,” said Twilight, glancing at Indigo Zapp, “She probably can’t walk on her own yet.” “Greeeeat,” Indigo Zapp said, rolling her eyes and adjusting her grip on Suri, “She’s heavy.” Suri let out a weak snort, “Am not. I work out... m’kay... totally slim.” Somewhere in the sky above, beyond the forest canopy, there was the sound of thunderous explosions, a series of heavy roars like a line of artillery pieces going off all at once. The air shook with distant pressure waves, shaking the tree branches. The girls exchanged nervous glances as they ran on. “The instructors are really cutting loose up there,” said Indigo Zapp, licking her lips, “Who the heck are they fighting that’s taking that much firepower to take down?” “Espada, has to be,” said Sunny Flare, her blue face turning a paler shade, “I can’t believe they did this. Attacking so close to the Silbern. It’s insane.” “They knew how to bypass our wards.” said Sugarcoat, somehow maintaining a calm tone despite her condition, “This was a sneak attack meant to cripple us trainees. Weaken the Quincy by damaging the next generation of soldiers. The Hollows will probably retreat soon, to avoid the reinforcements that will be coming from headquarters.” Twilight felt her mouth going dry, “But until then they brought powerful enough fighters to keep the instructors busy while the rest hunt us down.” Almost as if her words were a prophetic omen, they girls came upon a grisly scene. In a small clearing, not too different from the one they’d fought Garble and his fellow Arrancar in, was a vision of bloody carnage. Here another group of Quincy trainees had made their stand against the invaders, but with much less happy results than what had befallen Twilight and her comrades. Twilight felt acidic bile rise in her throat as she looked at the torn, blood soaked remains of at least five or six Quincy, young men and women just like her and the girls by her side. Only it was hard to even identify who these other trainee’s had been, such was the horrific state of their remains. Twilight had never seen a corpse before, at least not a human one. Certainly she’d done an autopsy or two on frogs or the like for science projects, but that was nothing like what she was seeing now. A sterilized dead frog was like an organic doll, just a step up from a plastic toy by Twilight’s estimation. These ragged, red pieces of torn meat, ripped viscera, and glassy, sightless eyes had been people less than an hour ago. She wasn’t sure if it was the lesser Hollows still prowling around, or Arrancar that had done the killing, but these poor souls had been butchered like animals and their remains treated like a particularly messy child treats playdough. Twilight managed to hold out about ten seconds before losing what little breakfast she’d eaten that morning onto the forest floor. The sickness boiling inside her at the horrible sights in front of her were only eclipsed by an uncomprehending sense of utter moral dissonance that her mind simply froze up at. How could anyone or anything with a logical thinking, sapient mind do something like this? Purely academically speaking she knew that war was filled with such horror, but reading about the brutality of armed conflict in books was completely different than encountering the stark naked reality in front of her. And it sparked a flare of uncharacteristic anger inside Twilight, and even as she struggled to get herself under control from emptying her stomach onto the forest floor, her hand also gripped more tightly around her Quincy bow, her spirit power fluctuating inside her like a flame that just got a dollop of gasoline tossed onto it. Sunny Flare let out a whispered oath, and Indigo Zapp growled a much louder set of less flowery curses. Sugarcoat was silent, while Suri, who wasn’t being held in a position to see said, “W-what is it? What’s everyone stopped for?” “You won’t want to know,” said Sour Sweet, spitting, “Damn Hollows are monsters. I’ll kill every last one of them!” “We need to keep moving,” said Sugarcoat finally, voice terse and tight with the strain of keeping her emotions in check, “If we stay put we’ll be just as dead.” Twilight had fallen to her knees, but managed to get herself under control after a minute and forced herself to stagger back to her feet. She tried to not look at the bodies, but even if she couldn’t see them, she could smell the death hanging in the air, even beyond the smoke. Wiping her mouth, she stammered, voice filled with equal parts horrified bafflement and growing anger, “W-why did this have to happen?” “Don’t think about it,” said Sugarcoat, turning her blind face towards Twilight, “Just don’t let yourself think about it. All that matters is getting out of here alive. Focus on that.” Twilight nodded, then felt a bit foolish doing so given Sugarcoat couldn’t see the gesture, so instead she said, “You’re right. As long as it's all of us that get out.” She felt herself shaking, unsure if it was fear or anger causing it. The howls of Hollows sounded loudly from nearby as yet another cluster of lesser Hollows emerged from the smoke shrouded depths of the forest, entering the clearing and leaping at the girls. Before any of the other girls could react, Twilight found herself moving without thinking. With the flickering speed of Hirenkyaku she found herself now easily and instinctively controlling Blut Vene to keep her body hardened against the sudden press of G-force as she appeared amid the charging Hollows, bow upraised. Her bow was behaving oddly, its simple form now shimmering with pale white waves of light and its crescent shape slimming into a longer but thinner appearance. When she fired her arrows there was a chiming noise that accompanied it, like two pieces of glass clashing together. She took down two of the Hollows in a single shot, the arrow going through both creatures’ heads as it ploughed through them. One Hollow tried to get behind her with scything talons, but Twilight sidestepped, the Hollow’s motions seeming slow to her eyes now, as if it were moving through water. She raised her bow and sent an arrow through the Hollow’s chest, which blasted apart in a neatly shaped hole right above its Hollow hole. The other Hollows tried to converge on her, seeming to sense the sudden threat in their midst, but Twilight let the emotions boiling inside her out, still unable to avoid seeing the bodies of the dead Quincy in the clearing and her mind feeling like an egg about to break apart under the sheer need to deny the death around her and unleash that denial upon the creature’s responsible. It was a short fight. If fight was even the right term. The Hollows attacked, and Twilight moved through the weave of their claws and smashing fists, placing gleaming arrows through masks and throats and chests with simple, cold efficiency. The whole affair couldn’t have taken more than half a minute, if that. Twilight knew something was wrong, however, even as the last Hollow dissipated into nothingness. She felt wrong, like she was still sick and would start dry heaving at any second. However instead of vomiting, she was laughing, and it was an uncontrolled laugh, yet a disturbingly familiar laugh, one that sent icy shivers into her heart. No, this isn’t right. Stop laughing. Stop it. This isn’t how... Twilight struggled with herself, dropping her bow, which vanished as she stopped concentrating on it. She clutched at her sides, hugging herself, her laughter tapering off into hyperventilating gasps. Suddenly someone was holding her, and shockingly it was Sugarcoat, who had managed to disentangle herself from Sunny Flare, and even blind had used Twilight’s laughter to find her and put a steadying hand on Twilight. “Calm down Twilight. It’s okay. The Hollows are gone. We’re okay. Just breath.” Off to the side Suri said, “D-did you see her eyes? Those flames around her eyes were-” “We know Suri!” snapped Indigo Zapp, “The same damn thing from the Friendship Games.” “Well at least she didn’t go full demon,” said Sour Sweet, then added, “But seriously maybe we should report this when we get out of here.” Hearing those words, Twilight just shook more, breathing hard as she tried to calm her rising panic. She’d felt the magic inside her, as she’d destroyed the Hollows. Not the spirit power of her Quincy abilities, but magic. Equestrian magic. Midnight Sparkle’s magic... ---------- Explosions of searing heat tore across the sky in a curving arc, over a hundred detonations in the span of mere seconds. Spitfire left no room for her opponent to evade, entrapping him in a crescent of fiery destruction. Her bow blazed hot and bright, a sphere of raw heat extending four white hot rods of pure flame. Fire was the most basic element of destruction, which was why it was far from an uncommon element utilized by many warriors from all the factions of three-way war between Quincy, Hollow, and Soul Reapers. Spitfire knew well that the Soul Reapers had a number of Zanpaktou that bore the fire element, and her own memory burned brightly with recollection of the one time she’d faced one of the Soul Reaper Captains in battle, years ago. Celestia, Spitfire thought the name was. That woman’s Zanpaktou had been capable of heat that couldn’t have even been properly called fire. More like the sun incarnate. The thought left Spitfire mentally trying to compare the relative strength of the reiatsu she was sensing from the two Espada present compared to what she remembered from her skirmish with Celestia, back in the day. The Soul Reaper Captains didn’t rank themselves by their individual level of strength, so there was a range of power among the Captains that wasn’t obvious by appearance. However the Espada clearly ranked their power, from the weakest number Ten, to the most powerful, the number One. Currently she and Lighting Dust were up against the Fifth and Third Espadas, both in the upper half of their rankings. Just how strong were they compared to the Soul Reaper Captains? It was difficult to tell. There comes a point when reiatsu, spiritual pressure, is just so vast that getting an exact read on how strong an individual is becomes nearly impossible. Both Torch and Catrina’s reiatsu filled the air like a vast, suffocating ocean. All Spitfire could tell was that she and Lightning Dust could hold their own for a time, but were outgunned in this fight by at least a slight margin. Actually, Lightning Dust was probably outclassed by an entire order of magnitude against Catrina, but her Daredevil Schrift might make up the difference given the nature of its power. As for Spitfire’s chances against Torch... “Hahah! Nice little fireworks you got there!” He said with a hearty belly laugh as he walked out of the firestorm Spitfire had launched at him, his dusky skin slightly singed but otherwise still largely uninjured by the barrage. “Since you’ve been a good sport showing me your flame, I’ll show the same respect and show you mine!” From his mouth suddenly flickered crimson motes of flame, and his chest expanded like a bellows as he took in a deep breath of air far beyond what a human could have done. Spitfire had only a fraction of an instant to react before Torch opened his mouth wide and unleashed a concentrated sphere of scarlet fire. While the sphere was no larger than the average soccer ball, Spitfire sensed the immense energy in it and didn’t waste her split moment to evade, throwing herself backwards at full speed. The sphere detonated into an expanding cyclone of flame that was so large that even several hundred feet in the air it still touched ground and scorched a swath of burning destruction through the forest. Spitfire managed to escape the edge of the cyclone, but felt the heat of it. If she wasn’t somewhat resistant to fire due to the Inferno Schrift then she’d have blisters popping up on her skin, even from that near miss. Spitfire licked her lips and found herself smiling. She did always enjoy a challenge. She’d already guessed that Torch’s iron skin, his Arrancar Heirro, was probably specialized in resisting fire in similar fashion to her Inferno. That meant that her normal attacks which relied on heat wouldn’t injure him. She wasn’t going to beat him with fire. Alright then, fine. We do this old school. Closing her eyes for a second and taking a calming breath, she mentally commanded the power of the Inferno to drain from her bow. The bright orange bars of light that made up her bow started to fade to a more normal pure blue of a standard Quincy bow. She then rushed forward. There was a column of smoke billowing upwards from Torch’s attack, which obscured her movements as she propelled herself up at an angle so that when she broke through the smoke she was above Torch. Her bow’s bars glowed intensely as it disgorged a fusillade of arrows down on the Espada, a near waterfall of continuous blue bolts. Torch swung his axe in a wide arc, batting aside some, but there so many that it was like slapping at the rain. For a second Spitfire couldn't even see Torch underneath the deluge of arrows she’d hit him with. A moment later she ceased her barrage, seeing Torch looking almost like a porcupine, there were so many arrows sticking out of him. Blood poured from several wounds where her arrows had managed to penetrate his flesh, but Torch, while grunting in pain, still grinned as he flexed his muscles and shattered most of the arrows from his body. Despite his wounds he cracked his neck and looked up at her with an appreciative expression. . “Your arrows suddenly lost their heat. Going to guess you thought dropping the fire from them would help because you figure I’m fire resistant? Well, you’re right, I am, so that was a pretty smart move. Thing is, you’re still dealing with the Espada with the strongest Heirro, girl!” Torch bellowed, and then came at her with his axe. For such a big guy he still moved with impressive speed, but in this category Spitfire did have him beat. His first swing missed her by a proverbial mile, and his follow up she flipped over, landing on the extended half of the axe as she aimed her bow at his eye. “Is this part covered in a Heirro?” she asked as she fired point blank. To her surprise Torch managed to turn his head up and actually caught the arrow in his teeth, biting down and shattering the blue bolt of reishi with a grin. “No, but not about to let you hit me there.” He winked, “It’d rob me of the pleasure of appreciating the eye candy while I knock you around!” He twisted his axe to throw off her balancing act on it, and lashed out with a backhanded first. She was hardly frail so she blocked the blow with her bow, rolling with the attack to bled off its force as she flipped over him and fired an arrow into the back of Torch’s head. The arrow struck hard, shattering on his skull, but it did stagger the Espada forward a few steps and caused him to grunt in pain. Rubbing the back of his head, he turned towards her and looked about ready to unleash another cyclone of flame if the angry look in his eyes was any indication, but at that moment Lighting Dust came cartwheeling through the air next to Spitfire, who managed to catch the other woman and steady her. Lightning Dust looked both dazed and battered, but mostly pissed off, which was fairly normal for her. “Screw me sideways, that bitch is fast.” Lightning Dust said, spitting blood from her mouth due to a busted upper lip. She was covered in a number of shallow cuts that were clearly starting to mount in terms of blood loss. “Of course I am.” said Catrina as she appeared next to Torch, holding her warfan casually at her side. Spitfire could see the fan’s bladed edge was wet with blood. Catrina eyed Lightning Dust with smoldering hunger. “Did you think I’d obtained my rank solely for my unrivaled looks? Child, you are entirely too naive to believe yourself my match merely because you become stronger when taking risks.” Spitfire groaned and cast a deadpan look at Lightning Dust, “Did you go babbling about your Daredevil power again?” “N-no...” Lightning Dust said, then at Spitfire’s continued look she glanced downward and muttered, “Maybe. Hey, it's not like her knowing about it gives her an advantage or anything! It's not like she can counter the Daredevil, since I’m the one who takes the risks that give me the power boost!” Looking at the state of Lightning Dust’s body Spitfire said, “Unless she specifically only causes you light wounds and avoids putting you in any serious danger, in which case you can’t get any power at all out of the Daredevil.” She glanced at Catrina, “That’s what you were doing, wasn’t it?” “Ah, a woman of intelligence. You are most refreshing, after dealing with this one.” Catrina cast a dismissive gesture at Lightning Dust. “However as I am also a woman of no small intellect I know your banter is only a tactic to buy yourself more time. Torch, we should end this now. We’ve no more time to play.” Torch got a sour look on his face but gave a begrudging nod, “Aye, your right. Shame, I was starting to have fun.” Abruptly both Torch and Catrina’s reiatsu flared upwards, their bodies becoming wreathed in flowing auras; gold and emerald respectively. Spitfire swore under her breath. Were these two about to release their Zanpaktou!? Two Espada going into Resurreccion would be far beyond what she and Lighting Dust could handle without tipping their hand with their own trump card... but His Majesty had not given permission to unveil the Vollstandig transformation yet. Even if it meant death, neither Spitfire nor Lighting Dust could go all out without permission from the King. However, before either Espada could release their Zanpaktou, they were interrupted by the arrival of another spiritual pressure on the scene, one Spitfire instantly recognized. “You two alright, Spitfire, Lightning Dust?” asked Shining Armor, already forming his bow and aiming it at the Espada as he appeared beside Spitfire, “More importantly, what’s the situation with the trainees?” “We’re alive, thanks for the concern.” Spitfire said, too relieved to give Shining Armor too much of a hard time, “I sent Fleetfoot and Soarin’ to help the trainees, but I don’t know how many we’ve lost. These bastards hit us hard.” “I can see that.” he said giving the entire scene a look of sharp concern. Spitfire could tell he was searching for his sister’s spiritual pressure. Amid all the chaos down in the forest it was probably nearly impossible to pinpoint her, if she was still alive. Spitfire did feel a moment of sympathy for him as he stopped his concentrated search with a growl of frustration and turned angered eyes toward the Espada. “Where are the rest of the reinforcements?” asked Lighting Dust. “I’m the only one who was allowed to come,” said Shining Armor, “His Majesty’s orders. I’m to use the Bastion to protect the trainees from His Majesty’s spiritual pressure.” “Indeed.” That voice, spoke in a deep and smooth tone, got both Torch and Catrina looking behind them at the man standing a good dozen paces on their other side. Clad in all his regal splendor, Sombra, King of the Quincy, looked at the two Espada the same way the average citizen might look at a pair of scavenging raccoons in their backyard. “I’m impressed Tirek has finally worked up the nerve to launch a strike like this, however ill advised it was.” said Sombra, casually walking towards Torch and Catrina without drawing any weapon, just scratching his chin as if in deep thought. “I can only assume he was willing to be this daring because he knows Soul Society is distracted, otherwise I can’t imagine that coward being so bold as to threaten my people, my children, in our very home. He does realize that this cannot go unanswered? That I will have to respond to the bloodshed of this day with an even greater reprisal?” Torch, far more cautious than his boisterousness of mere minutes ago, turned to face Sombra with his axe held at the ready. “Reprisal? How many Hollows have your Quincy hunted down and destroyed? You wipe our souls out of existence, and you want to talk to us about reprisals, you King of hypocrites! What we’ve done today is just you a tiny taste of what’s been done to our kind!” “Torch, this is not the man to trifle with!” hissed Catrina, every muscle tense as a coiled cat’s, ready to spring. She gave Sombra a wide, false smile, one that had all the warmth of an evening on the moon. “So sorry to be poor guests, but we’ll be departing now.” Immediately a Garganta began to open between Catrina, Torch, and Sombra, blocking Spitfire’s view of the King while Catrina grabbed Torch’s arm and began to drag him, forcibly, an impressive looking feat for such a slim woman compared to Torch’s bulk, into the portal. Immediately Spitfire saw Shining Armor aim his bow downward and fire an intensely glowing arrow which then burst into a spreading shield of energy that covered the forest. She understood why soon enough as massive spiritual pressure exploded over the entire area, making it hard for her to breath and she was used to dealing with overwhelming spirit powers. This was His Majesty’s reiatsu, and it was so strong that had Shining Armor’s barrier not been put in place it may have suffocated any of the Quincy trainees in the forest. There was a blaze of silver light, cutting straight down the length of the black Garganta portal, and Catrina and Torch both jumped back from it as the portal literally tore itself apart like a crumbling dark cloth, revealing Sombra standing on the other side. He had his glowing blade of blue light rimmed in silver in his right hand, having obviously just cut an inter-dimensional portal in half through sheer overwhelming reiatsu. Sombra looked as calm as ever, but Spitfire did notice he had a small smirk of satisfaction on his face as well that he quickly hid as he said, “I have not given my leave for you to depart, esteemed Espada. Not without taking from you the toll for shedding blood upon my holy lands.” Spitfire could feel Sombra’s spirit energy flowing out of him and it was at once comforting, like being a child in the cradle once more, and terrifying, like peering over a bottomless pit. His Majesty was an inspiring beacon of hope and power for the Quincy, yet Spitfire couldn’t deny that she found that power somewhat... disturbing. The Quincy were humanity’s best hope for a future free of Soul Reaper and Hollows, yet with such power was His Majesty something that could be called human any longer? Gazing upon him, dark hair and mantle flowing like deepest night shadows shrouding his body, and his eyes gleaming like twin stars, Sombra seemed less human and more like a divine force of judgement. However Catrina didn’t cringe from that force and instead composed herself with a hand brushing her hair from her face and stepping out in front of Torch, who looked at her quizzically. “Catrina?” Torch asked as she strode between him and Sombra. “Torch, be a dear and go ensure the retreat through Squirk’s Garganta’s goes smoothly,” Catrina said with a smooth tone, “I’ll be along shortly, but it seems the Quincy King is in need of someone to entertain him with a dance. Since we’re being so rude as to depart without his leave, I’ll humor him and his Sternritters.” Torch growled, “Now don’t be a fool about this. Third ranked or not, you don’t have the strength to deal with this alone.” A look passed between the two, and Spitfire felt a strange discomforting seeing Hollows exchanging such a comradely look. It irritated her for reasons she couldn’t quite fathom to see the enemy acting all too human. “Torch, you’re an adorable man, but I don’t need protecting. Now scurry along already before embarrassing yourself further, oh, and do make sure that lovely daughter of yours and her friend survives. I might still want to play with them someday.” Torch’s teeth ground with an audible noise like two grating cinderblocks, but he gave a grave nod and with the flashing speed of a Sonido, he vanished. Sombra glanced downward, as if she could still see where Torch was heading, and Spitfire could also somewhat follow Torch’s movements, seeing the bulky man’s blurred form rocketing down toward the forest. He smashed into Shining Armor’s barrier. Spitfire saw Shining Armor widen his eyes in surprise as Torch’s impact rippled along the entire barrier like a wave from a stone hitting a still pond. He instantly leveled his bow and charged it with a flow of incandescent reishi, firing a large arrow with a blazing blue tip like a miniature star down at the barrier. Torch had hit the barrier axe first, leaning all his weight and momentum upon the blade, and then followed that up by opening his mouth and emitting a massive Cero blast at point blank range into the barrier, just moments before Shining Armor’s second arrow hit. That second arrow erupted into an even larger barrier, this one shaped like gleaming blue diamond, surrounding the first barrier in a tight lattice of crystalline strands like an intricate web. However Spitfire could see that Torch had broken through that first barrier before the second one had formed, as evidenced by the large hole in it with shards of reishi breaking off like bits of melting snow. “I didn’t think anything could get through one of your Bastion barriers,” she said, blinking in surprise. Shining Armor’s face was hard as rock, “I only set up the first one to block His Majesty’s reishi from the trainees. It wasn’t meant to stand up to a pissed off Espada. Dammit! Twilight’s still down there!” “Do not be concerned,” said Sombra, “The Hollows are fleeing. Soon only this one will remain.” He raised his sword and pointed it at Catrina, who looked at him with a tense smirk. “An impressive sword, but I thought Quincy only used bows?” Sombra raised an eyebrow at her, then with a rather sarcastic, deadpan look he inverted his grip on the glowing sword of blue and silver reishi. Suddenly another blade sprang from the bottom of the hilt, which in turn extended and curved, so that the two broadswords of energy formed a bow. “I hope this bow appeases your curiosity, for the brief moment you’ll see it,” Sombra said, and raised his other hand to draw back on what at first was an invisible bowstring, until the silver light edging either of the blades forming his bow took the form of the string. Then formed the arrow, only rather than blue, this arrow swirled into existence seemingly from the color of deepest shadow. With no further preamble Sombra released the arrow, and Spitfire wasn’t even sure she could describe the sensation that filled the air as an impact or shockwave. It was more like the world just sort of stopped for an instant, then came screaming back a second later with the howl of the windforce created by the passage of the King’s arrow. She saw Catrina’s form impaled upon the arrow, and for a moment Spitfire was certain that His Majesty had managed to defeat her in a single blow, but an instant later the image of Catrina shimmered and faded like mist and the Espada appeared some distance away, breathing heavily and clutching at a fresh wound gouged out of her side. Sombra glanced at Catrina, tilting his head in the barest nod of respect. “A speed clone, was it? I only know one other capable of that much speed, and she’s a Soul Reaper.” Catrina made a scoffing noise, “Not even Lord Tirek matches my Sonido, but even so...” she looked at her wound, snorting at the blood seeping down her hip and leg, “This, from a near miss? You are quite the monster, King of the Quincy. You might be less human than we Hollows are.” Sombra smiled, and it carried to his eyes a gleam of something akin to madness, though Spitfire thought she might have been imagining things. “Or perhaps I am merely what humans are meant to become.” “A world where every person holds that much power strikes me as a very boring world indeed,” said Catrina, showing teeth, “I like a world where there is a clear line between the haves and haves nots, between predators and prey. A world where some of the people get to enjoy themselves as they please is better than one where no one can. If making the rest of the world like you is your dream for humanity then I’ll gladly fight to tear it asunder.” “Come and try,” Sombra said, making an inviting bow. Catrina seemed ready to go on the offensive, her stance tensing to attack, but at that instant the air beneath her distorted and then split as another Garganta opened. She seemed as surprised by this as anyone else, as a tall Arrancar with red skin poked his head up from the Garganta and shouted, “Leaving now! Last call for idiotic felines!” “S-Squirk!? When did you-” “Less talk more get in the portal!” The red skinned Arrancar literally grabbed Catrina by her ankles and yanked her down into the Garganta, the Third Espada letting out a rather undignified yelp as she went. Then a red hand rose out of the portal as it began to close, giving Sombra, the King of the Quincy, a rather prominent middle finger before vanishing back into the Garganta, which closed a second later. For a few moments after that neither Spitfire nor Shining Armor said a word, instead just staring in pure stunned confusion. The silence was broken by Sombra making a sound that might have been a short, half choked laugh. “It seems Tirek has filled his court with some unusual individuals. It will be almost a shame when we kill them all.” Spitfire stood at attention almost by rote habit, previous military experience kicking in, but she soon transferred the gesture into kneeling towards her sovereign alongside Shining Armor. “Your Majesty, I apologize for what’s happened,” she said in an unsteady voice, “You placed the Academy in my charge, yet I let this happen under my watch.” “Spitfire, are you a god, or a prophet?” asked Sombra as he made a simple gesture, his bow seeming to break up into motes of shadow that melded back into his body. “Of course not. You could not have foreseen an attack of this scale. Our wards were penetrated without being triggered, likely by that red skinned fellow from just now. He will have to die first among those we seek in the hunt to come, for I will not allow such control of portals that can launch sneak attacks upon my people to remain in enemy hands.” “Hunt, your Majesty?” asked Shining Armor. “Naturally. This attack must be answered in kind. That is the nature of war, after all.” Sombra’s expression darkened, “First, however, we must count our wounded... and our dead.” ---------- Adagio took a brief breath of relief, finding it hard to believe that she was actually glad to be back in Hueco Mundo. That had not been a pleasant experience. She almost preferred the simple brutal efficiency of dealing with Grogar’s experiments as opposed to juggling her deceptions in the midst of that battle. However her relief was a short lived thing because she still carried Ember’s unconscious, wounded form on her back, and now that they were all through the Garganta portal and back inside the protection of Las Noches, Lord Torch was barreling down on her like a giant blue freight train. “Ember!” Adagio was quick to gently set Ember down and then wisely float to the side before being bowled over by Torch. She quickly spoke, taking on as reassuring a tone as she could, “She’s still breathing. I think she’s just exhausted.” “What happened, fledgling?” Torch rumbled with vibrant menace as he turned glaring eyes towards Adagio, and she could feel that sensation of her soul being crushed under heavy weight by his sheer spiritual pressure. She bore it and kept her tone level. “There was a disagreement over...” she took a moment to choose her words, “Kill rights, concerning a group of Quincy. Ember fought with one of your other Arrancar. Garble, I think the name was. They both ended up injured like this.” Torch’s massive brow furrowed, and he bellowed, “Garble, get your scrawny ass over here, now!” The Arrancar of Torch’s horde seemed to part like a small ocean, not a one of them wanting to be anywhere near a potential object of their Espada’s ire. Garble, for his part, walked forward with a surly cast to his features, but not lacking confidence. He was still missing an eye, and his right arm was essentially a blackened stump, but he managed to hold a confident pose despite his extensive injuries. Near as Adagio could tell he’d definitely gotten the worse of the clash between himself and Ember. “My lord,” Garble said with a strained tone, casting a furious glance at Adagio, “That witch isn’t telling you everything.” Torch’s voice was heavy with the promise of imminent violence, “Do tell.” “I don’t know what got into Ember, but she struck first after me and my pals were already claiming our kills. She spouted something about claiming them herself, but we’d already been putting the hurt on the Quincy so I don’t see how she had any claim to jump us like that. She didn’t even give me a chance to talk sense into her before going ballistic on me...” His gaze turned back to Adagio and he pointed an accusatory finger at her, “I’m thinking that little manipulative witch pulled some kind of trick on Ember!” Adagio sucked in a short breath and floated forward, knowing she had to squelch this talk now, before Torch had a chance to think about it too much. “What kind of ‘trick’ could I have pulled? You’re just sour over Ember putting you in your place. I she wanted to claim more Quincy kills for herself, well, the term for that is competition Garble. If you can’t measure up, then maybe you should back down.” Garble growled, drawing his falchion, but Torch made a halting gesture that froze Garble in place, gulping. Torch then cradled the unconscious Ember in his arms, Ember looking like little more than an infant in his huge hands. “If Ember started the fight, then she owns the responsibility for the results,” he said with a somber tone, “Can’t crush your skull like a grape, Grable, for behaving like a proper Arrancar and fighting for your kills. I ain’t hearing any excuses, like tossing blame at Adagio either. My Embers a firebrand and doesn’t need to be tricked into fighting...” He turned a slow look towards Adagio, “That said, I’ll be getting Ember’s side of things too. Hope for your sake your story checks out. In the meantime you ain’t leaving my camp until I get this sorted. Clear?” Adagio nodded, hiding her nervousness with a placid smile, “Completely. I hope Ember recovers quickly. She’s been a good friend so far.” Torch nodded at that and then turned away and began to walk towards the tents surrounding the pillar where his horde’s camp was. Squirk’s Gargantas had brought them all back to the same place they’d left from, and while Torch had been collecting Ember, Catrina and Squirk had been squaring off in an argument of some sort. Adagio cast a look that way, wondering what the two other Espada were arguing over. She noticed Garble glaring at her, but she ignored him and floated closer to where Catrina was slowly getting back on her palanquin, supported by her strange, furry Hollow servants. “You should not have interrupted my battle, Squirk! Your place was to ensure the retreat of the others.” Catrina was saying, face pinched in a displeased grimace. Adagio noticed the feline woman was holding a rather nasty looking bleeding wound in her right side, just above her hip. Squirk, spitting, said in a tone thick with irritation, “A ‘thank you’ wouldn't have killed you Catrina, unlike the Quincy King! The second Torch and the rest of his little horde were through my Garganta I went to collect you. Would you have rather I left you behind to be destroyed?” Catrina rolled her glittering green eyes, “I had the situation entirely under control you fool! I have several trump cards to play in such serious circumstances that would have ensured my survival, and I had the bastard talking. He wasn’t fighting seriously, and neither was I. After a few more minutes of testing each other he might have gotten more serious, but in the meantime who knows what kind of useful information I might have gotten him to inadvertently spill? You ruined that by just... just...” Catrina shuddered, “I did not give you permission to lay your grubby hands on me like that! Do it again and you’ll regret it!” Squirk’s muttered response was, “I already regret it, you ungrateful, mangy cat.” He then took note of Adagio watching him, “What are you looking at, low class peasant!?” “Nothing at all, my lord,” Adagio said with a well practiced bow, “Forgive my curiosity.” “Curiosity is a trait I encourage in my own servants.” said Catrina with a smile, strained somewhat by clearly being in pain from her wound, “If you ever tire of that goat Grogar, or of playing with the barbaric dragonkin, consider coming to my tower. I’d most enjoy playing with you, little fish.” She then made a gesture with her fan at a distant tower of conical shaped ivory in the northern portion of the fortress. “Come, my bushwoolies, take me home. After today I require a great deal of beauty sleep.” The small, bushy little Hollows immediately hopped to it, carrying Catrina on her palanquin away. Squirk watched her go for a moment, then grumbling under his breath he opened another Garganta and vanished into it, presumably to wherever he kept his own lair in Las Noches. Adagio was left alone, to consider her next move, which as near as she could tell was going to be doing all she could to survive until Ember awoke, and then do everything in her power to convince everyone from Torch on down that what had happened during the Quincy hunt had not involved any manipulation on her part. Otherwise Torch would squash her like a particularly attractive grape. Assuming Garble didn’t decide to kill her before that due to a completely unreasonable (from Adagio’s perspective) grudge. And failing that Ember might kill her if she found out about the teensy itty bitty bit of of mind control Adagio had used on her... which Adagio was still feeling some lingering guilt over despite its necessity. So in other words, her life (afterlife?) was just going swell. So much so that Adagio was starting to truly miss working at a fast food joint with her sisters, earning minimum wage and living out of a dirty apartment filled with unidentifiable smells. Dammit she missed Aria and Sonata. ---------- “Argh! This sucks!” Rainbow Dash shouted as the Reishi Modulator orb in her hands sparked and gave her a small shock. She’d been pouring her reishi into to the surprisingly light metal sphere, but was having trouble getting the spirit energy in there in a steady flow. She was more of an ‘all out’ kind of gal. This slow and steady stuff didn’t really suit her style. Didn’t help her mood that the other girls seemed to pick up on activating the Reishi Modulators pretty quick. “It's alright Rainbow, darling, you’ll get it soon I’m sure.” Rarity said, holding up her own orb in one casual hand. Her Reishi Modulator was glowing with a steady pulse of faint blue light, like an easy heartbeat. Rainbow Dash gave Rarity a tight smile. “Oh, yeah, I got this. No problem. Just gotta make this little jerk do what I want it to!” she declared, clutching the orb tighter and focusing on pushing more spirit energy into it. They were all standing in a relatively clear corner of Time Turner’s workshop, not long after they’d enjoyed a surprisingly well cooked meal. Food tasted a little differently to Rainbow Dash in this spirit world. Not exactly bland, but rather that all the normal tastes of sweet, sour, or salty were just a shade off. Still good, through,especially given how hungry she’d been after wreaking those lame thugs on the way into town. Ditzy said that using her evolved Fullbring was going to take up a lot of energy until she and the girls got used to using them, so the hunger wasn’t unexpected. “Dash, you're being too forceful with it.” said Sunset, leaning against one of the nearby tables. She’d been taking time to examine a lot of the random devices that Time Turner had strewn about his workshop. Rainbow Dash figured Sunset was just going egghead mode, wondering how some of the stuff in here worked or what it was for. All Rainbow Dash wanted was to get this stupid ball working! “Hey! I’m trying to be gentle! But it's hard! I don’t do gentle! It's like my spirit power just wants to go BAM, ZAP, WHOOSH!” she made a few emphasizing gestures, nearly tossing the orb in the process and only catching it due to her finely honed athletic reflexes. “Admittedly I only taught you girls how to fight all out, not much on how to fine tune and control your spirit energies.” admitted Ditzy Doo as she watched them from the sidelines. “Your nature might be to go full force, Dash, but you’re an athlete right? You’ve played all sorts of sports.” “Tch, not just played sports, but got awesome at them!” Rainbow Dash declared with assured confidence. “Then you got to have learned how to restrain yourself, because you can’t be ‘awesome’ in every sport without knowing when and where to hold back. Think of it like pacing your exercise. If you went all out exercising you’d tear up your muscles instead of strengthening them. Apply the same idea here to your spirit energy.” Rainbow Dash frowned, and focused back onto the Reishi Modulator, trying to imagine her spirit energy like she would her own limbs when getting ready for a workout. Stretch the limbs first, get them limber, start the workout slow until you start to feel the nice heady burn. Slowly her orb started to exhibit the same glow as the others had, and she grinned. “Hey! I got it!” Pinkie Pie, bouncing up to her, gave Rainbow Dash a heavy slap on the back, “Way to go Dashie!” She grinned, but her spirit energy fluctuated again beyond her control and the orb’s glow faded into a painful spark, “Gah! Aw for the love of...” As Rainbow Dash went back to practicing, she noticed Sunset shift off the table she’d been leaning against and look towards Applejack, who was standing a distance off by the door, stetson tilted down to shade her eyes and with her arms crossed firmly across her chest. “AJ? You alright over there? Been awfully quiet.” Sunset observed, and Rainbow Dash admitted she’d been thinking the same thing. Applejack had been acting a bit surly since arriving at Time Tuner’s. Actually before that too. Not that Rainbow Dash could really blame Applejack for being out of it. She’d gone through a lot lately, maybe a bit more than the others, due to the whole revelations about her parent’s deaths, which got even weirder with the notion that even with her mother being dead Applejack was facing the prospect of trying to find her and might even have to fight her own mother soon. Where with me, I won’t be seeing my mom anytime soon and don’t even need to think about her, skipping out on me and dad... Rainbow Dash thought, but shook the unhappy memories off as Applejack looked up at them and responded to Sunset’s query. “Just thinkin’, and wantin’ answers, and not sure I’d git ‘em even if I asked.” Applejack said while turning a hard glance towards Ditzy Doo, who in turn met Applejack’s look with a steady return glance. “If you have questions, Applejack, then don’t keep them in. I’ll answer what I can. You just have to accept that not everyone, even more or Discord, have all the answers.” “Alright,” said Applejack, and she gestured towards the door, “Tell me just what n’ tarnation is goin’ on with what we were seein’ out there! What kind o’ half baked, screwy afterlife are you Soul Reapers runnin’!?” Rainbow Dash flinched slightly. She hadn’t really been thinking about it too hard herself, but she had to admit that the district outside was kind of a dump. She’d never spent a lot of time wondering about the “big questions” of what happened after death. Rainbow Dash was very much the kind of girl who preferred to live in the moment. Yet it was kind of weird to think that the afterlife could have its slums just like the real world. “I was wondering about that as well.” said Fluttershy in a mild tone, but with oddly piercing eyes. Rainbow Dash had noticed Fluttershy had gotten a tad more... intense, since their training. “I don’t understand why there seem to be people living in such poor conditions. Shouldn’t the afterlife be more peaceful and restful than this?” Ditzy Doo nodded with a understanding look, “I can see why some of you might take it hard, seeing that. Quick question; how many of you girls are religious?” That question got the girls all exchanging looks with each other. Quite frankly the topic of religion had never actually come up between them, like, at all. Rainbow Dash was pretty much as unconcerned with religion as one could get. It just didn’t factor into her day to day life. She’d never even thought to ask any of her friends about the matter. Pinkie Pie giggled a bit, “Well mom and pop come from Amish roots, but that was a couple of generations ago. Not sure why great grandpa left. As for my parents, I guess they still go to church, but never tried to force us kids to go. I know Limestone and Marble go, but I don’t know about Maud.” Pinkie shrugged, “Guess I never really thought about it.” “My own family is technically Catholic, but much like Pinkie Pie the tradition has never been particularly influential in our day to day lives.” said Rarity with a small, dainty shrug, “I certainly considered myself more of an agnostic sort, although I admit recent experiences make it difficult to know what to think anymore.” “What about you Fluttershy?” asked Rainbow Dash, curious. Fluttershy looked at her with a calm smile. “My parents are, hmm, I think the term is ‘New Age’ in their beliefs. I suppose I’m the same, but I always kind of liked what I read about Buddhism. Peace and enlightenment seemed like such nice goals to work towards.” “Right, so basically you are a diverse bunch,” Ditzy Doo said, nodding at Applejack, “Going to guess Christian?” Applejack let out a large sigh, “...Yeah, more or less. Granny does take me, Big Man, an’ Applebloom ta church each Sunday. Can’t say I was hardcore about it, but fact is... I believed in something better than this existed after we all bite the dust. I thought there was suppose ta be a’... a’ better place waitin’ fer good folk one way or another.” Her hands clenched into fists, “But it ain’t like that. I’m lookin’ at the truth, an’ I can’t accept that when we die all we got ta look forward to is a world that’s just as unfair an’ prone ta pain and sufferin’ as the world we live in!” “You’re far from the first person to have their faith in what they believe shaken by discovering the truth of how the spirit world works and interacts with the living world.” said Ditzy Doo with a grave, but softly kind tone, “I know it’s confusing, even painful. Soul Society was built to try and make the spirit world the kind of place of peace and rest that you imagine an afterlife should be. The problem is that it was built by human souls that, just like living people, have differences of opinion and flawed ideas on how to do things. Our resources aren’t infinite. Souls might not starve for hunger like a living body does, only craving reishi based food if they expend spiritual energy, but pain is still a factor. People can still take advantage of each other, or seek to hurt each other for all sorts of messed up reasons. And there are only so many Soul Reapers available to police the Districts and also cover the living world, and fight the Hollows, and fight the Quincy, all at once. There just aren’t.” “But what about before Soul Society?” pressed Applejack, “There weren’t no one or nothin’ protecting people’s souls before that?” “No, there weren’t. Souls flowed from one world to the other, but in an uncontrolled state. It was anarchy for a very long time, a sort of primal world where souls wandered and battled for any reason that came their way, and Hollows haunted the souls like packs of wolves. It was a brutal and savage time. The... the advent of Soul Reapers changed that, but even thousands of years later we’re still struggling to create the ideal afterlife.” “Is this spirit realm the only one besides Hueco Mundo?” asked Sunset suddenly, “I recall you mentioning a Beast Realm at some point.” “There are spiritual realms attached to this one. Human souls naturally are drawn to this plane and dwell here after death, but you may have noticed there aren’t many animals wandering around. That’s because there’s a separate spiritual realm, the Beast Realm, that draws in animal souls. Then of course there's Jigoku, Hell, that draws in souls of particularly evil individuals. The thing is, these realms all existed since the beginning, near as any of us can tell. No one knows for sure how it all started, except maybe the Spirit Queen.” Applejack’s eyebrow shot up, “An’ just who is the Spirit Queen?” Ditzy Doo looked at Applejack, eyes taking on a guarded look. “That’s something very few people know. The official word is that she is the ruler of Soul Society and the ‘linchpin or the world’. However no one outside of the Captain Commander has seen her in Soul Society. She resides in a different realm, the Soul Palace, and is guarded by the Zero Division, a group of five of the original Soul Reapers who founded Soul Society. They never come down to this realm, only remaining in the Soul Palace. Theoretically they send decrees down to Central 46 to enact policies, but honestly I’ve never known for sure just how that communication works. The Soul Palace and Spirit Queen are mysteries that most of Soul Society just have to accept exist. Kind of our own religion, if you will.” “That’s insane!” Applejack said, “So, what, she’s God?” Ditzy Doo shrugged, “Your guess is as good as mine. I’ve never met the Spirit Queen. You’d have to ask the Captain Commander what she’s like, which I don’t recommend given we’re kind of wanted criminals at the moment.” Applejack let out a frustrated groan, “I hate how dang unclear all this is! Can’t anyone just give a straight answer!?” “Sad to say, probably not.” said Ditzy Doo. Rainbow Dash had been listening intently, and after a second realized someone hadn’t said much. “So, Sunset, what about you?” “Huh?” Sunset looked over at Rainbow Dash, “What about me?” “We spilled about our religious stuff. So how about you? You follow any crazy pony religion? Like the Church of Friendship or something?” Sunset let out a hearty laugh, shaking her head, “No, no nothing like that. Back in the past some ponies worshiped the Princesses as living goddesses, but Celestia and Luna discouraged that stuff pretty heavily. We don’t really have much in the way of organized religions. I guess understandably the sun and moon both have some meaning in our mythologies, but modern beliefs about the afterlife largely remain downplayed compared to traditions of actual lifestyles. Like, ponies are way more into specific life traditions. To the point where each town might have vastly differing traditions on how to live day to day, which can lead to, er... ‘friendly rivalries’ we’ll call them. You should really see how crazy it can get. It's like each town has its own dozen different holidays, and neighboring towns love to set up competitions between each other.” “So, what, ya’ll don’t got any traditions fer dealin’ with death or beliefs on what happens after ya die?” asked Applejack. “Well, we have various funeral rites and ways of mourning the dead.” said Sunset, “But the afterlife is basically a big mystery to us, and most ponies are just kind of... content to let it be a mystery. Then again, that’s ponies. Different species have other beliefs. I think the griffins actually do have a pantheon of deities they worship, but I’m not as read up on those as I should be.” “Huh,” said Rainbow Dash, “Wonder if your world’s got Soul Reapers and Hollows in it, and they’re just a lot better about keeping it secret than over here?” “I seriously doubt that.” said Sunset, but she did hesitate, rubbing her chin thoughtfully, “At least I’m pretty sure there aren’t.” With a grunt Applejack leaned off the wall and said, “Figure yer Princesses are honest sorts. They’d probably tell ya if there were beasties like Hollow runnin’ around. I can’t get my head wrapped ‘round all this. I just... wish things were simpler, is all. Anyway, I’m tired o’ talkin’ ‘bout this. When are we heading into get the rescue started?” “Now that you girls mostly got these Reishi Modulators working, we can go at any time you want.” said Ditzy Doo. “Then let’s not waste anymore time!” said Applejack, “Sooner we rescue Celestia and Luna, the sooner we can put this whole dang matter ta rest.”