Episode 39: Facing the Hurricane
Feeling personally violated was almost passe at this point, yet it never ceased to fill Adagio with a bubbling, boiling rage and seething hatred for the old Arrancar who subjected her to these humiliating experiments. She had barely floated an inch back into Grogar’s lab before he ordered her bolted onto an examination slab and had her under both literal and proverbial microscopes. Painful, probing needles the function of which Adagio could only guess at pierced her limbs, but worse than that there was a device that constantly hovered over her siren gem, emitting a pale green beam of energy that kept scanning the gem, producing a terrible resonating pain in her whole being each time, like having her teeth grated upon with a file.
Of course the old goat insisted on asking questions while he examined the results of his devices probing her on the sickly green glow of a monitor attached to the examination slab.
“So Torch’s little whelp recovered from her injuries, and has agreed to train you, starting this evening?”
“Th-that’s the idea,” she said sourly past clenched teeth, flinching as the pain intensified at his glaring look and she added, “...Lord Grogar.”
In truth she was somewhat surprised she’d managed to maintain her web of lies up until now. Ember had awoken from her injury induced slumber the previous night with little clear memory of the battle against the Quincy trainees, or Garble for that matter. That was as it should have been, given Adagio’s spellsong was meant to leave next to no clear memory within a manipulated mind. The key was ensuring Torch didn’t find that too suspicious or ask too many questions, and fortunately Adagio was able to spin things in her favor by offering the Quincy crosses she’d taken off of defeated trainees as “proof” of her and Ember’s exploits. As for the fight with Garble, well Ember was a hot headed sort, and it hadn’t been a stretch to convince either the tomboyish Arrancar girl or her giant of a father that Ember had gotten into a scuffle with Garble over kill-rights to the Quincy they’d found.
Garble, of course, protested and grumbled, insisting Adagio had used some kind of trickery, but without proof, and with Garble lacking any Quincy crosses of his own to show he and his companions had made any kills, the surly Arrancar had lacked much credit with Torch.
So Adagio was accepted into the horde, with the understanding she still had to “pretend” to be in Grogar’s service as a double-agent, where from Grogar’s perspective she was instead a double-agent against Torch, where in truth the only goal Adagio had was to learn the secret to evolving into an Arrancar so she might gain the power to kill Grogar. After that, well, she hadn’t planned that far ahead yet. The whole situation was a tad convoluted, but such schemes came naturally to Adagio. She’d been scheming her whole life, why should the afterlife be any different?
A particularly painful jolt from the device probing her gem made her almost scream, but Adagio managed through sheer will and pride to keep her mouth tightly shut in a teeth grinding sneer. Grogar paid her expression little mind as he looked intently at the data on his screen, and let out a dry, rasping laugh that made Adagio want to shudder all the way down to her soul.
“Ah, there it is. I see it now. The nature of your gem.” He turned his abhorrent gaze towards her, approaching her and running a bony finger across the ruby red surface of her gem. The touch, cold and dusty as that of a corpse’s, made Adagio want to vomit.
“It acts like a second soul, derived from and connected to your own. I had wondered why it only appeared after you transformed into a Hollow, but now I understand. Your soul was wounded prior to your transformation, and this gem was somehow damaged or perhaps even destroyed by another force before you tore your soul chain out. Rebirth into a Hollow created the regenerative force for the gem, this second soul, to reform from its shattered state and fill the void left by your normal soul’s Hollowfication. Now it acts as second well of power, filled by your consumption of souls just as your Hollow soul is.”
He ran a hand across her cheek, eliciting a shiver of disgust from her that only seemed to make him laugh more. “Now that I have a complete map of the reishi particles making up this gem and how it is connected to your soul, I can start designing a method of replicating it. With such a second well of power at my disposal, why, I could easily begin to make certain changes around Las Noches.”
“And what becomes of me, after these experiments are finished?” she asked, trying to keep her voice neutral as she spoke.
“Remain loyal and useful, and you’ll find me a generous master. You already understand the price of disloyalty.” Grogar’s menace turned to almost grandfatherly understanding at the blink of an eye, “You are a creature of betrayal, Adagio Dazzle, this I can smell on you as clear as the stench of death. However I also sense your ambition, your lust for power. These traits could continue to prove of use to me well beyond the research I’m doing on your body. I shall rise in power, do not doubt that. Whether you follow in my wake, or are drowned in the undertow of my passing, that is for you to decide, my dear. Now then...”
With an idle gesture of Grogar’s the bolts holding Adagio to the examination slab snapped open and the invasive needles withdrew from her flesh, leaving only small wounds that quickly clotted and closed.
“Go to your ‘ally’ and grasp what power you may from her. Becoming Arrancar will not be easy, but I am confident you’ll take to the task... eagerly. After all, you want to kill me, do you not?”
Adagio, who’d already been floating towards the lab’s exit, halted, and turned wary eyes towards Grogar. She was ready to fight, no matter the odds, right then and there, in order to survive. However Grogar just laughed, a dark and cracking noise like the rattle of broken bones on a crypt’s floor.
“Do you think I would care? You are but a newborn barely able to crawl, and you think yourself a threat to a full grown adult. No, Adagio, I do not care what you scheme. On the contrary, I eagerly await whatever you attempt. It will make the final breaking of your will all the sweeter. So go, learn the mysteries of the Arrancar. Transform yourself. Become stronger, and let your hatred of me grow with your power. In time, you will learn that no matter how you struggle, I will forever be your master.”
Adagio growled, deep and seething in her throat, and turned away from the laughing Espada. His cackles still echoed like hot wax in her hears long after she left the laboratory behind her.
----------
Unlike most hospitals with their sterile environments and cold hallways, the medical wing inside the Quincy Silbern fortress was a surprisingly warm and comfortable place. Well furnished, bathed in soft light from electric lanterns, and cozy in atmosphere, it’d be easy to slump into any of the many plush leather chairs or benches lining the hallways and drift off to sleep. The beds were even more conducive to this sleep inducing feeling, but Twilight found that at best she could only find a few fleeting, frightening hours of rest. What little sleep she’d gotten had been bloated with horrifying imagery, nightmares that clung at her mind like quicksand.
Each time she’d awoken, it’d been with a half choked scream, and it’d taken time for her racing heart to calm and to drift back into troubled slumber. Several times her tired mind had only let her half awake, the shadows of her hospital room seeming alive and ominous extensions of her nightmares. She'd also seen her mother and father at one point, hovering worriedly over her bed, but had fallen back to sleep before being able to say a word to them.
Now, when she awoke, feeling almost refreshed, she saw that while her parents were gone, she still wasn't alone.
“Easy there, Twily, it’s okay.” Shining Armor said, sitting by her beside and putting a calming pair of hands on her shoulders as she’d snapped awake, gasping. “I’m here. You’re safe.”
“Shining...? Oh, I’m... I’m alright,” she said, taking slow breaths to try to calm her racing heart. The last image in her mind from her dreams was of blood soaked trees, fire, and a pair of cold, malevolent eyes wreathed in blue wisps of magic. Her own eyes. Glancing at the window, seeing the darkness outside, she said, “What time is it?”
“Lateish. I just got done with debriefing the situation with His Majesty and Spitfire.” Shining Armor sighed heavily, looking more tired than Twilight had ever seen him. “What a mess.”
“How...” she struggled to find the words. After she and the other girls had been picked up outside the forest by arriving Quincy soldats they’d all been rushed to the Silbern and the medical wing to have their wounds tended to. Twilight hadn’t seen any of the other trainees since then, and had been put under anesthesia while her shoulder injury had been treated. The rest of the day she’d been here, so she had no idea what had happened since then. “How bad was it? How many... didn’t make it?”
Shining Armor looked hesitant to answer, his blue eyes, usually so open, turning hard and guarded. “Your friends all made it out and are recovering-”
“I know that, Shining. But how many other trainees-”
“Do you really want to know that Twilight?” he asked, dropping his usual nickname for her and his voice held nothing but brotherly concern, despite how rough it sounded. Gulping, she nodded, and he closed his eyes in a pained but resigned look.
“Official casualties are still being tallied, given some of the Hollows and Arrancar didn’t... leave much in terms of remains. Initial guesses put the count at nineteen dead, and over forty wounded, half of them in critical condition. More than half this generation’s crop of trainees.”
Twilight felt sick to her stomach. She hadn’t made an exact count, but a sharp memory and a head for numbers had her recalling many of the faces she’d seen at the Academy. There hadn’t been that many trainees there, and with at least nineteen dead, that was a hefty blow to the Quincy. Not that she thought of it in those terms. Her own mind pictured the faces she’d seen and wondered how many of them were among those dead. Acid bit at her gut as she said, “How could this happen? I thought this land was protected against attacks like this.”
Shining Armor’s eyes lit up with a heated flame, “They’re supposed to be, yes. An Arrancar Garganta portal shouldn’t be able to open up right on top of the Academy training grounds like that.”
“Then how...?”
“The present theory is that one of the new Espada has powers over Gargantas that we haven’t encountered before,” Shining Armor said, grimacing, “I shouldn’t be talking to you about this. His Majesty hasn’t authorized us to discuss whatever his plans are for retaliation.”
“Retaliation?” Twilight asked, eyes widening.
“Of course, Twily! What, did you think we were going to take this attack laying down!?” Shining Armor snapped, then seemed to catch himself and softened his tone, “Sorry. I... I’m just a little... freaked out. You were right in the middle of that fubar situation and I wasn’t...” He took a slow breath, wringing his hands together nervously, “I wasn’t there to protect you. Any of you. I’m the Bastion. My power is a gift from His Majesty to protect all Quincy, but I wasn’t there to stop this.”
His voice was strained with a fresh river of misery, and Twilight felt her heart clench for her brother as he hung his head.
“I should have been there.”
Twilight reached out, brushing some of his hair away from Shining Armor’s face and looking at him with kind sympathy. “Shining, you couldn’t have known. Nobody did, not even Sombra.”
He blinked at her, “You really do call him by his name. He joked about it, but I thought His Majesty was just jesting.”
Twilight just shrugged at this, “He doesn’t seem to mind. But I’m serious, Shining Armor. A sneak attack from an enemy using a new power, nobody could have done anything more than they did. I’m just...” she swallowed, “Just glad most of us are safe.”
He nodded, but then his eyes turned guarded again, even guilty looking. “So am I but there’s something we need to talk about. It’s a good thing you woke up now, instead of later, because I can get your side of the story first. Your teammates, they, well, some of them had some strange things to say. About you.”
“Huh?” Twilight blinked, and after a moment reached for the side table next to her bed to grab her glasses and put them on so she could look at Shining Armor more clearly. “What do you mean?”
“Two things. One, they said that during the fighting you spoke to a Hollow. And the Hollow seemed to know you.” Shining Armor frowned, “The other thing was that you went a little... strange, when destroying some other Hollows. That you partially resembled the odd form you took on when magic transformed you at the Friendship Games.”
For a moment her frantic mind wanted to find a set of lies to wash all that away, but Twilight couldn’t bring herself to lie to her brother. So with a deep breath she explained as best she could. “I don’t really know the Hollow that talked to me. At least not well. I think. She bought us time to flee, but I don’t know why. I only know that I think it was a girl my friends from Canterlot High knew. Adagio. She became a Hollow to save her sisters, at least that’s what Sunset told me. I wasn’t there when it happened.”
She’d felt plenty of sympathy for what had happened to Adagio, former foe or not. However Twilight wasn’t sure what to think of Hollow Adagio. Things had happened so fast it was hard to even be certain that Adagio had been there to help or not. Certainly Adagio’s appearance alongside that other female Arrancar had bought Twilight and the other trainees time to escape, but why had Adagio been with the Arrancar in the first place?
Shining Armor watched her quizzically for a moment before slowly leaning back in the white leather chair he’d been sitting in, crossing his arms over his broad chest. “I see. Its strange a Hollow, even one who might have known you in life, would have done anything to intentionally help you. Given the confusion of the battle it's possible any number of flukes could have occurred. Now, about the other matter...”
“I-” Twilight paused, licking her lips and trying very hard to control the clammy and cold fear rising in her chest, “I don’t know what I can tell you, Shining. W-when I saw all those dead people, and the Hollows were coming for us, I just lost control of myself.”
She hugged herself, suppressing a shudder. “I remember moving, but not thinking about any of it. I destroyed the Hollows without any conscious thought, but... but I remember laughing, and it was her laugh.”
“Hers?”
Twilight’s mouth felt dry and her hands shook slightly, but she took a deep breath and forced herself to keep talking, even if all she wanted to do was avoid this topic. But there was no point trying to do that. Shining Armor was not only her brother, and someone she still felt she could trust, but he represented the command structure of the military she’d already agreed to be a part of, and they deserved to know everything she did; even if that wasn’t very much yet.
“M-my friends and I named her ‘Midnight Sparkle’.” At his look she managed a half choked laugh, without much humor, but Shining Armor could always get a rise out of her. “Shut up, it fit... fits. I, well, I don’t think she’s gone.”
“You’re talking about the personality that came out when you absorbed all that magic.” Shining Armor’s expression held a sharp edge to it, but it was tempered by clear worry for her well being. “Mother and father won’t react well to this. They nearly had a conniption the first time it happened. If there’s reason to think this ‘Midnight’ is still in your head somewhere I’m not sure what His Majesty will want done about it.”
“I can answer that now, if you’d like.”
Twilight nearly flew out of her bed as Sombra himself just seemed to appear in the room, as if melding out of the shadows near the far corner by the door. Shining Armor was out of his chair and kneeling before the King in barely an eyeblink.
“Your Majesty, you honor us with a personal visit.” Shining Armor said, then glanced nervously at Twilight, “I was trying to learn the specifics of the battle’s events from my sister’s perspective, before too much rumor and gossip spread.”
“And I commend the effort in protecting your kin. Rumors do have a tedious habit of spreading, becoming difficult to stomp out. Much like roaches. Or Hollows.”
Sombra glided across the room to stand at the foot of Twilight’s bed, somehow seeming to become more solid and lifelike once he left the shadows and stood in the clear light shining down from the room’s lamps. He didn’t even cast a glance Shining Armor’s way, the King’s eyes fixed entirely upon Twilight, which made her shift uncomfortably on the bed.
“So you know about what happened.” she said, not making it a question and instead just stating it, and leaving her question as to what was going to happen to her an unspoken question, hanging precariously in the air. Sombra offered her a thin smile that might have almost been charming if it wasn’t also rather unsettling.
“I know that you have a power within you that is unique, and it helped you rescue the lives of your fellow trainees. Some might fear this power, and perhaps caution is not without merit, but I personally consider this power of yours more of a potential boon than a danger.”
Fear rose rapidly in Twilight and she all but shouted at him, “Boon!? You didn’t see what I nearly did when I let that power take me over! I was ripping holes in reality and would have kept going if Sunset and the others hadn’t stopped me! I’d say there’s far more danger than potential here!”
“Um, Twily, maybe you shouldn’t yell at His Majesty?” Shining Armor whispered, but Sombra simply raised a hand.
“It's alright, I prefer she speak her mind. Now, Twilight, let me ask you a question. When a scientific mind discovers something new, like say a new source of energy, how do they approach the discovery?”
The question caught her a bit off guard, and her fear took a back seat for a moment as just adjusted her glasses and said, “Well, they study it. Something like a new energy source would be a huge...” she gulped, “B-boon to mankind. It’d... It’d be the scientist's responsibility to study the energy and seek to understand how it could be harnessed for the good of humanity.”
Sombra’s smile turned warmer, “Precisely. You studied magic out of scientific curiosity, and yes you allowed matters to get too far out of hand, losing control of a power you didn’t yet understand. However this doesn’t mean that seeking to understand that power was wrong. And it doesn’t change the fact that, whether you fear it or not, that power is now a part of you.”
Shining Armor looked at Sombra nervously, “Your Majesty, might it be possible to remove this... magic, from Twilight? If it's dangerous to her and to those around her, shouldn’t that be our course?”
“Possible to remove it, perhaps. But I shall not condone such a waste unless I foresee no other option.” Sombra looked Twilight in the eyes, an arresting look that held her attention entirely. “Twilight Sparkle, I will not command you to do anything you truly do not desire, but I ask you to consider this; rather than fear the power inside you, seek to understand it. It may seem dark and terrible now, but if you shine a light of knowledge upon it, you might find this ‘Midnight’ is not a thing to fear, but something wondrous instead. If you wish it, I shall ensure you have the opportunity to fully study the power inside you, with all of your scientific talent and prowess backed by the best resources the Quincy can provide you.”
Twilight felt dizzy, shaking her head, “I... I don’t know. What about my training?”
“You will finish training, of course. However afterward I will allow you to form a research team of your choosing, with the specific purpose of studying and understanding the power of magic, both inside yourself, and from any exterior sources the Quincy discover. If you desire it.” He paused, raising an eyebrow. “Do you?”
The very idea felt overwhelming to Twilight, who put a hand to her forehead, closing her eyes as she tried to sort through her jumbled thoughts. She was terrified of Midnight Sparkle, and yet Sombra wanted her to head up some kind of research team to study that part of herself that could have destroyed the world!? Granted Twilight’s natural curiosity was piqued. She’d begun all of this, meeting Sunset and the others, all because she’d become curious about the mysterious energy known as magic. She was still curious about magic, but her fear of it was now almost as potent.
...Almost.
Gulping, she met Sombra’s eyes with an even gaze of her own. “I’ll do it.”
----------
Churning flames baked the ground to black ash as Sunset’s unleashed pillar of fire careened towards Captain Hurricane. Many Soul Reapers, from both sides of the conflict, shielded their eyes against the bright flames, others taking cautious steps back, while those near Hurricane used the speed of Flash Step to evade the fire’s destructive path.
Hurricane himself did not budge, facing down the oncoming pillar of blazing fire with eyes narrowing intensely. He thrust his left hand out, palm up, just as the flames reached him. The fire crashed into his hand, and the pillar undulated around it, like water breaking over a boulder. For a moment Sunset thought Hurricane had stopped the flames entirely, but soon enough the roaring embers surrounded the man in an explosion of heat.
“Whoa, did that do it?” Rainbow Dash asked, and Sunset shook her head.
“Not a chance it's that easy.”
Soon enough her words were proven true. The flames that had engulfed Hurricane were parted by a single sword strike from his Zanpaktou, dispersing the fire from him in a billowing blast of air. His hand was burned, and his body was bearing a few scorch marks, but Hurricane himself stood tall and menacing. He glanced briefly at his burned hand, flexing it, then grunted and looked at Sunset.
“Sunset Shimmer I presume? Captain Platinum spoke of you briefly to me. She seems to think you’re some sort of threat. I confess I don’t see it, if that was the best shot you had to offer.”
Sunset smiled in a manner that was more like baring fangs than a gesture of friendliness. “Don’t worry, that's just my way of introducing myself. When I hit you for real, you’ll know it.”
“I hope so. Be a shame for you to come all the way here to the Seireitei without having enough power to put up a worthy fight.” Hurricane said, “I am curious, however, before I crush you all for your impudent manner... you say you’re here to rescue the traitors. Does that mean you’re in league with them, or simply ignorant of their guilt?”
“Neither. Far as I’m concerned, Celestia and Luna couldn’t have done anything to deserve execution. Even if they had betrayed Soul Society for some reason, I have more reason to trust their judgment over Soul Society’s any day.”
Hurricane snorted at that, raising his Zanpaktou in a ready position before him. “So arrogant. I’ll enjoy re-educating you on the limits of your strength.”
At that moment Applejack started to walk forward, causing all eyes to turn towards her as the young lady marched towards Sweet Cider. Sunset only then realized that the mother and daughter, even if one of them didn’t know that fact yet, hadn’t taken their eyes off each other since she and the girls had arrived.
“AJ, hey!” Rainbow Dash called, “Don’t forget the plan!”
Ditzy Doo moved swiftly, vanishing and reappearing in an instant at Applejack’s side and putting out an arm to bar the girl’s path. “Remember what we agreed on. I’m tackling Sweet Cider.”
Applejack didn’t look at Ditzy, her eyes glued to Sweet Cider with an unblinking gaze that held such a shaking pot of emotions it was hard to tell just what she was feeling besides being overwhelmed. Her voice was frothing with uncertainty, eagerness, fear, anger, joy, just about every emotion under the sun.
“I know that. I just got ta say somethin’ first. Won’t take but a’ tick, so ya’ll can wait ten bleedin’ seconds. Now out of my way.”
Ditzy looked at her for a moment, then slowly moved her arm out of the way, allowing Applejack to continue walking forward. Sweet Cider, a moment later, started to walk out as well, moving to meet Applejack. Even Hurricane seemed too interested in this development to do more than watch, though he did keep one eye on Sunset and the others, never losing his ready stance.
There were a few wondering whispers among the watching Soul Reapers, but no one dared move or interfere as Sweet Cider, the famed Kenpachi, the youngest in Soul Society’s recorded history, met with a seemingly random human girl in the middle of a battlefield. Standing directly in front of each other it was suddenly almost too obvious, the family resemblance. Sweet Cider had a good head and a half of height over Applejack, but somehow Applejack managed to not look small at all next to the towering Captain.
Sweet Cider’s hand clenched tightly around her Zanpaktou, and Sunset could feel the potent spirit energy vibrating from the blade, leaving her fearful for her friend’s well being.
“Well, spit it out girl,” said Sweet Cider, “Ya got somethin’ ta say, say it an’ let’s git on with the fight.”
Applejack’s fists nearly cracked with how tightly they clenched, but she raised her right hand... and took off her stetson. She held it out to Sweet Cider, something close to tears shimmering in her eyes.
“Been holdin’ onta this fer ya, ma. Now I’m givin’ it back.”
The simple, blank look on Sweet Cider’s face could have been anything from shock to incomprehension, but she stared at the hat for a good ten seconds before saying, “That ain’t my hat, and I ain’t got a daughter.”
From the shaking of her shoulders and the twists in her expression every one of those words hit Applejack hard as any blow from a Zanpaktou. Slowly, almost too slowly, she put the stetson back on her head, shading her eyes, and the subsequent tears, with the brim of the hat.
“Yer wrong. Ya got a’ whole family that’s been missing you an’ pa somehin’ fierce fer too long. Ya just don’t remember. But that’s alright. I’m gonna beat the memory back inta yer stubborn skull, ma. I’m draggin’ ya back home, even if yer just a damn ghost, ‘cause you deserve ta know yer family, and that we’re doin’ alright.”
Sweet Cider’s hardened features twitched with something like eagerness, “If ya think ya got the muscle fer it, girl, then daugher or not, I’m game fer a brawl. Got ta warn ya though I ain’t in the habit o’ holdin’ back.”
Suddenly Ditzy Doo zipped behind Sweet Cider with such speed that practically no one on the battlefield could follow her movements as the woman cast out her left hand and a line of thin white cloth that wrapped around Sweet Cider’s right arm.
“Huh?” Sweet Cider barely had a chance to glance down before Ditzy Doo, with a powerful leap, took both herself and Sweet Cider soaring through the air, leaving behind a confused and blinking Applejack.
“Sorry, but reunion chit-chat’s over! Fighting time is now!” said Ditzy, hauling away a confused Sweet Cider at high speed, vanishing into the forest with the Tenth Division Captain.
Clover, rubbing at the back of her head, bluntly stated, “Uh, I think that’s our cue to attack. Just a tactical suggestion, as I don’t know how long Miss Doo can keep the Kenpachi busy, but taking down Captain Hurricane quickly seems prudent!”
Almost on the very tail of her words there was a breeze of air, and quite abruptly Hurricane had moved from his position from before and now stood directly in front of Clover, glaring down at her. Clover started to move, but Sunset could see it wouldn’t be fast enough, taken off guard as she was. Sunset moved swift and easy as a leaf billowing on the wind, and as Hurricane’s Zanpaktou flashed for Clover, Sunset appeared in the blade’s path and interposed her shield. There was a heavy impact, nearly knocking Sunset to one knee, but she held firm as Hurricane pressed down on her shield. He seemed surprised to see her there, and Sunset couldn’t stop a smirk from blossoming on her face.
“What’s wrong? Didn’t think I could follow your movements?”
Hurricane’s eyebrow twitched, eyes flashing with anger as he pushed hard on his Zanpaktou, with enough strength to force Sunset to skid backwards like she’d been hit by a wrecking ball. However despite the force of the blow, she held firm, keeping her balance and letting all the energy that just got put into her shield to transfer to her broadsword, making its enveloping flames burn even brighter.
Clover had hopped back a distance, giving Sunset a grateful nod, and placed Chishiki in front of her with the ring blade positioned to have Hurricane standing in the center of the circle from her perspective. Sunset could tell Clover was already starting to analyze Hurricane’s spirit energy by the way the ring blade on Chishki started to illuminate with a green glow. It’d probably take awhile to analyze someone as powerful as Hurricane, but if Sunset and the other girls could keep him busy long enough then they’d have a serious advantage over him.
Speaking of the other girls, all five of them burst into action, even Applejack who looked with frustration towards the direction Ditzy had hauled off Sweet Cider.
Rainbow Dash hit first, her speed advantage giving her the initiative over the other girls as she snapped from one spot to the next in a flash of lightning, her fists crackling with indigo bolts of power as she slammed a punch straight towards the side of Hurricane’s face. He seemed surprised by the young athlete's speed, eyes flicking towards her as he interposed his Zanpaktou to block Rainbow Dash’s fist. Sparks of blue electricity twisted about from the point of impact, the lightning shocking across Hurricane’s body. He grunted in pain but kept his stance as he adjusted his grip on his Zanpaktou and turned it around to cut horizontally at Rainbow Dash, the blow so fast that Sunset almost didn’t see it.
Rainbow Dash managed to contort her body like an expert gymnast, barely evading the blow but was forced to fly back from Hurricane’s follow up slash, which caused a blast of air like a heavy wind to cut across the battlefield.
Pinkamena slipped in behind Hurricane in the meantime, twirling the Pinkie hammer above her head and then smashing the ground about five feet away from the Captain. Hurricane made a undignified noise as the ground beneath his feet suddenly undulated like rubber, and bounced him into the air with a audible boing.
“Batter’s up applegirl!” shouted Pinkamena, and Pinkie also giggled, “Get him AJ!”
Applejack, who’d taken to the air with a blast of thruster energy from her boots, spun through the sky and intercepted the off balance Hurricane, somersaulting in mid-air to launch a rocket empowered heel kick at him. However, even taken by surprise, Hurricane reacted with incredibly swift reflexes. He was able to cross his arms in front of him and take the blow, being sent flying down to the ground, but he used the momentum of the hit to flip himself and land on his feet, cracking the ground with the landing but remaining standing.
Now Fluttershy and Rarity came at him, Rarity raising her left hand to unleash the torrent of blood from her flower bracelet while lightly and gracefully coming in at Hurricane head on with her rapier. Fluttershy matched Rarity’s quick and elegant movements step for step, and as Rarity made blindingly quick thrusts with her blade, Fluttershy made equally speedy jabs with her palms. Hurricane became of blur of evading Flash Steps, his image flickering as he turned aside from the seeking rapier and palm strikes. However he was forced back several steps and was clearly unable to make a counterattack. Meanwhile Rarity’s torrent of blood formed into a whirlpool that disgorged a cloud of needle-like crystal shards that then instantly rained down at Hurricane as Rarity and Fluttershy both leaped away out of the line of fire.
Hurricane spun to face the cloud of crystal needles, his Zanpaktou whirling in front of him to deflect many of them, however one blood red needle got through and managed to stab into his right shoulder, causing the Captain to grunt in pain even as he tore the needle away. Then suddenly a pink tentacle limb covered in sharp toothed mouths lashed his unprotected back, tearing scraps of his Captain’s coat and robes away as Pinkamena tittered happily.
“Yum, you taste like blue cotton candy! Pinkie, can we keep him?”
“He’s too grouchy Mena, now go for the knees!”
Pinkamena complied with a macabre grin, moving faster than Sunset had ever seen the oddball clone move, almost like a pink streak of mist, as she dashed around Hurricane’s right side and swung the Pinkie hammer in a wide arc. Hurricane turned aside, using his sword to try and block the hammer, but the hammer hit the sword with an odd ‘twang’ noise and made the whole blade react like a cartoonish xylophone, bouncing Hurricane back as the laws of physics were forced to take a back seat to Pinkie Pie's power.
“This is getting ridiculous,” Hurricane muttered, and Sunset took the opening to Flash Step into range, sweeping her blade up at his sword arm in an attempt to outright sever it. He was fast enough to block, but Sunset didn’t slow down, spinning into a fresh series of swift slashes. Hurricane reciprocated, taking his Zanpaktou in both hands to meet her blade to blade. For a few seconds Sunset and Hurricane were nothing more than dark blurs of motion and sparks, her sword and shield both working in tandem to parry and strike. Sunset could feel how much faster she’d become since her fight with Platinum. She had barely kept up with Platinum's movements back then, and now she was able to evenly match Hurricane, an opponent on a similar level.
Hurricane had a solid defense, however, and Sunset wasn’t able to get more than a few glancing blows through, taking several shallow cuts in turn. On the plus side, the exchange had charged up her shield even more, making her sword blaze intensely. It also served to distract Hurricane while Fluttershy got behind him.
Sensing the impending danger, Hurricane surprised Sunset with a swift kick that hit her shield and sent her flying back, and he spun to meet Fluttershy. The calm young girl kept her composure as he slashed at her, and the white cloth that was part of her new Fullbring moved, as if of its own volition, to block Hurricane’s slash. The blade struck the cloth as if the silken material were steel, and it wrapped around Hurricane’s sword to yank it aside as Fluttershy stepped into him and struck him full in the chest with one of her palms.
Sunset saw a wave of white light spread in a circle from the palm strike as Fluttershy commanded, “Cease fighting and drop your sword.”
Hurricane’s body seized up for a second, his eyes blinking in glazed shock. For a second his hand loosened its grip on his blade... but then there was a violent surge of reiatsu from within him and he snarled, smashing a knee into Fluttershy, who was sent skidding backwards with a pained gasp.
“Get your filthy Ryoka voice out of my head, wench!” Hurricane shouted, tearing his Zanpaktou free of the grip of Fluttershy’s cloth. To Fluttershy’s credit, she didn’t drop from the blow she’d taken, and immediately went into a defensive stance as Hurricane came at her, spinning away to evade his blade, which cut a nasty gouge in the earth where she’d just beeing standing.
“Don’t let up girls!” Sunset shouted, rushing in. She jumped and brought her sword down in a heavy overhand swing. Hurricane raised his sword to block, the two blades clashing with a ringing crash that echoed all across the field. Then Sunset unleashed her flames from the blade at point blank range. A concentrated firestorm in the shape of a focused, explosive blast hit Hurricane, and while his reiatsu fortified body took the blow, he was sent flying backwards and crashed hard into the ground, fifty yards away.
Sunset’s friends took her words to heart, and Rarity turned to Rainbow Dash. “Rainbow, dear, could you add a little of that electrical pizazz to this?” As she spoke she snapped her fingers and her whirlpool of blood flew above her, and then down from the swirl of red liquid a giant and ornately carved spear descended. It floated down to Rarity and Rainbow Dash, turning horizontal while Rainbow Dash gave the weapon and Rarity an eager grin.
“Heck yeah I can!” She reached out and touched the spear, and her electrical wings buzzed with power as streams of lightning poured into the crystal spear, making the whole thing hum with power. Rarity winked.
“Thank you darling. Now, go my pretty!” With a single gesture Rarity launched the freshly electrified spear straight at Hurricane.
Meanwhile Clover, with her Zanpaktou still analyzing Hurricane, took a moment to reverse her grip so the pointed end of Chishiki was aimed at the Captain. She began a full Kido chant, holding her fore and index finger of her left hand in front of her as she spoke.
“Carriage of thunder, bridge of a spinning wheel,-”
As Clover chanted, Hurricane, the chest of his robes burned away by Sunset’s attack, growled and met Rarity’s incoming spear head on. He swung his sword straight into the spear’s path, electricity dancing over his body from the contact, but he managed to send the spear flying aside on raw strength alone, breaking it in half in the process. However by now Clover finished her chant.”
“-With light, divide into six! Bakudo Number Sixty One; Rikujokoro!” (Six Rods Prison of Light)
Bolts of gold energy split in six parts flew from the tip of Chishiki, and instantly slammed down around Hurricane, locking him in place. Sunset recognized the binding Kido as being the same one Captain Platinum had used on Applejack, back in the park. The Kido had completely immobilized Applejack, and given that Clover had just used the full chant in combination with her Zanpaktou to empower the Kido, she assumed it’d do the same with even someone as powerful as Hurricane.
Hurricane made it very clear just how much she and the rest of the girls were underestimating him.
”Howl across the endless sky; Tetsukaze!” (Iron Wind)
A nimbus of lime green spirit energy engulfed his body, and the six beams of gold binding Kido that Clover had summoned broke apart like glass under the sudden rising tide of immense reiatsu. His Zanpaktou became wrapped in a thick current of swirling white wind, and within seconds an explosion of typhoon level wind force blew out from Hurricane. The wind smashed branches from trees, making the whole forest sway like grass, and many of the watching Soul Reapers had to shield their faces or kneel down to grasp the ground in order to keep from being blown away.
Sunset had to dig her shield into the ground to keep herself rooted in place, and Pinkamena did something similar with the fingers of her free hand, which extended into claws and sunk into the ground, while the Pinkie hammer giggled.
“Wow, heehee, this wind tickles!”
“I don’t think tickling is what he’s got in mind, Pinkie,” said Rainbow Dash, using her wings to stabilize herself as she shielded her face with her arms.
The other girls had all managed to ground themselves as well, either with their weapons or in Applejack’s case by simply pushing her feet so hard against the ground in a wide stance that they sunk into the dirt and held her in place. The wind died down soon enough, although Hurricane’s potent spiritual pressure remained as an overbearing presence pushing down on the girls. However Sunset was glad to see that not just herself, but all of her friends could stand up to that spirit pressure, their own spirit energies rising to the challenge like bonfires remaining bright and flickering in a windstorm.
When the currents of air parted around Hurricane his Zanpaktou was transformed. No longer a curved katana, the weapon had become a massive halberd with a long, dark iron haft and a bearded axe blade. A long spear tip rose from the top of the halberd, its tip slightly curved to resemble something closer to a naginata than a traditional spear.
Hurricane slammed the butt of the halberd into the ground, creating another blast of wind, albeit not as an attack but more as a show of force as he cast a pleased but equally condemning gaze at Sunset and the girls.
“Landing a few scratches on me makes you bold enough to think you can win this match? I’ll admit you lot seem to be stronger than I would have given any of you credit for, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Against Tetsukaze’s mighty winds, you won’t stand for long!”
“Well, long winded, maybe, I don’t know about ‘mighty’.” Rarity said with a ladylike wrinkle of her nose, a small floating armory of crystalline red weaponry already forming around her in preparation for the next round. Sunset meanwhile cast a glance at Clover.
“How’s Chishiki doing? You got a fix on his power yet?”
Clover nodded, “Almost. Just another minute or two...”
It was just then, almost as if Clover’s words had sparked the move, that another Soul Reaper appeared, Flash Stepping in front of Hurricane and facing Sunset and her friends. She was a demure looking woman with dark yellow skin and a long, neon pink head of hair. She almost immediately made Sunset think of Fluttershy, even down to the nervous manner in which the woman tried to hide half of her face with her long bangs as she spoke to Hurricane in a soft tone.
“Captain sir, if, um, if I may, I think I should assist you.”
Hurricane grimaced, “Lieutenant Posey, you know I dislike having personal battles interrupted. Outnumbered as I may be, I am more than capable of dealing with this riff raff without your assistance.”
“My apologies sir, but I...” Posey visibly gulped, “I disagree. I recognize that woman with them as Third Seat Clover from the Twelfth Division. I’m familiar with her Zanpaktou’s ability to scan the powers of others and then negate them. She’s been scanning you since the battle began and is probably, um, close to being able to try to negate Testukaze’s powers.”
“Preposterous. Even if her Zanpaktou did have such an ability, my reiatsu is so much higher than her’s the ability would be ineffective.”
“Possibly yes, but be that as it may, you are my Captain and it is my duty to, um, you know, deal with things that might inconvenience you. S-so may I have permission to engage Third Seat Clover while you deal with the others, Captain sir?”
Hurricane made a textbook ‘harumph!’ that would have only been made perfect if he had a giant moustache to go with it, and said, “Oh fine then! You have permission, Lieutenant. Don’t dissapoint me.”
Posey’s smile at that was positively beaming, and Sunset got an uncomfortable impression this was some sort of odd case of hero worship going on under the hood, but she didn’t have time to consider the odd relationships between her opponents as Posey immediately went into action, Flash Stepping with remarkable speed straight towards Clover. Sunset moved to intercept, but Clover threw up a hand, yelling, “Don’t. I’ve got her! Just focus on Hurricane and I’ll come help once I’ve defeated her!”
Then Posey, who’d drawn her own Zanpaktou, consisting of a slightly shorter katana blade and a teardrop shaped hilt, was right on top of Clover and the two Soul Reapers both clashed their Zanpaktou in an instant of sparks, followed immediately both both vanishing from sight as they Flash Stepped away, locked in their own combat.
That left Sunset and her immediate group of human friends to face Hurricane’s might as he brought his newly released Tetsukaze to bear, slashing it at them in a horizontal arc that unleashed a crescent shaped pressure wave of cutting air that careened right for them.
----------
A single strike of Sweet Cider’s sword was enough to sever the trunks of more than a dozen trees that crashed around in a cacophony. Her eyes darted left and right, tracking the barest flicker of movement that was her foe. She didn’t know who this ‘Ditzy Doo’ really was, but Hurricane had known her, and called her an exile. A former Soul Reaper Captain, then? She knew there’d been a couple of those that had gone rogue over the years. But what was she doing back here now, with those Ryoka girls!? This was going to throw everything out of whack! The chaos these nutjobs could cause would make it all but impossible to get things to quiet down so she could figure out who set up Celestia and Luna! Now the conspirators, if there really were conspirators, would have all the cover they needed to pull whatever shenanigans they were up to!
“Ya chose a bad time ta show up here!” Sweet Cider barked, tracking Ditzy’s movements and timing a backhanded slash where she felt sure the woman would be. Ditzy’s insane agility and swiftness saved her once more, if just barely as her wisp-like gray form narrowly bent out of the way of the slash, which in turn took out another chunk of forest. Ditzy’s giggling voice echoed back to Sweet Cider, irritating her more.
“That’s me, the Goddess of Bad Timing. But hey, I’m not the one who planned this. It was those sweet human girls who were so hot to come here and rescue Tia and Lulu from Soul Society’s cockemamy laws. And what, no reaction to the revelation one of them is your flesh and blood?”
“Don’t try ta rile me up. Ya ain’t gonna like the results!” Sweet Cider muttered dangerously, closing her eyes and focusing all of her senses upon Ditzy’s bouncy reiatsu, which was moving all around her in a hazy blur. Still, Sweet Cider could pick out the general current of those movements, and felt it when Ditzy switched tracks and went in for a blow at her back. Sweet Cider waited until the very last possible second to Flash Step aside from the blow, Ditzy’s fist hitting only air. The look of mild surprise on Ditzy’s face was highly satisfying as Sweet Cider landed a heavy, heel-first boot to the other woman’s ribs and sent Ditzy’s flying like a ping pong ball.
“An’ I ain’t that girl’s ma, so ya can stop flappin’ yer lips ‘bout it!”
Having carved a furrow in the ground with her bouncing body, Ditzy proved herself incredibly durable by flipping back to her feet, stretching and rubbing at her bruised side with a pitying look on her face as she turned her golden, walled eyes towards Sweet Cider.
“You sound real sure about that, but c’mon, even you can’t be so hard headed to not see the resemblance.”
Sweet Cider hesitated for a second, but then shook her head, pushing down the strange, empty feeling in her gut that seemed to long for something she didn’t have a name for, and the eager buzz in her Zanpaktou that seemed to recognize the young blonde girl from before and wanted to clash with her.
“Resemblances don’t mean a’ dang thing. Maybe the girl honestly has the notion stuck in her head that I’m her ma, but that don’t make it so. An’ even if she was, this sure as shootin’ snakes n’ the field ain’t the place fer her ta stick her nose into! This here’s Soul Society business, and it ain’t got nothin’ ta do with them Ryoka! Bottom line is that none o’ ya’ll shoulda come here, an’ daughter or not, I’m gonna smack sense into that fool girl’s head an’ send her and her pals packin’ back ta the living world ‘fore they make a bigger mess o’ things than they already have!”
It really was the only way. If she didn’t defeat those girls herself, then any of the other Captains might simply execute them on the spot for being intruders in the Seireitei. Hurricane certainly would, and so would Thunderhooves, Blueblood, or Platinum. Softer hearted types like Cheese Sandwich or Amore might give them a pass, and Zecora wouldn’t hurt a fly if she didn’t have to, but others like Daring Doo or Starswirl were wildcards. Regardless, the best way to ensure those idiot girls survived their stupidity was to defeat the quickly and toss their unconscious butts right back through a Senkaimon gate back to the realm of the living.
Of course she had to deal with Ditzy Doo first.
“If you think it will be that easy to stop those young ladies then you weren’t paying very close attention to them.” said Ditzy, cracking her knuckles. “Not that I plan to give you the chance to try.”
If it was even possible, Ditzy moved faster than before, seeming to appear in a score of places at once, creating the illusion of having surrounded Sweet Cider. She recognized this kind of effect. Some high speed techniques, especially those who were masters of the Flash Step, could make ‘speed clones’, essentially being in multiple spots simultaneously through sheer use of raw speed. It was faster than what Sweet Cider could easily follow, but she wasn’t concerned.
She was excited.
As Ditzy began her assault, individual speed clones rushing past Sweet Cider and launch powerful kicks and punches that knocked Sweet Cider one way or another with rocking blows, the Captain of the Tenth Division started to grin. Her heartbeat pulsed strongly and she licked her lips, letting a familiar old feeling creep over her. The battlelust. The hot, pounding joy of the fight. Her very first memories of Soul Society was of fighting. She’d wandered the most lawless districts of the Runkongai, only barely knowing her name, and had gotten into countless fights with the various scum who dwelled in such places. It had only been a matter of time before the Soul Reapers found her, with her unusually high spirit energy, and extended the offer to join them. She’d refused at first, but after that old codger Scorpan had asked her to duel him, she’d changed her mind. Mostly because he showed her that beating up useless thugs was a poor, poor substitute for finding a real challenge in a powerful foe.
She’d earned her title of Kenpachi by pursuing that longing for battle, although she’d never told anyone the reasons why she enjoyed it. The thing of it was, when she found a strong opponent, someone who could actually stand up to her power for any length of time... it meant she could finally unleash the dark, simmering rage that lay slumbering deep inside her, and had always been there for as long as she could remember from those early days in the Rukongai.
So as she took blow after blow from Ditzy’s blindingly quick attacks, Sweet Cider started to laugh, and let the hot anger she usually strove to keep in check bubble up like pressure from a volcano. Her spirit energy rose with it, the reiatsu surrounding her in a burning bronze aura of power, and she slammed her Zanpaktou point-first into the ground.
The resulting shockwave created a localized earthquake and indented the ground into a crater for several dozen yards around her, breaking apart the ground in uneven chunks. Ditzy Doo’s speed was suddenly hampered by the uneven footing, exposing the woman amid her high speed movements for just an instant. In that instant Sweet Cider took her Zanpaktou in both hands and cleaved upward in a slashing arc that made the air waver as if from heat, but it was simply air pressure from her slash cleaving apart trees for several football fields worth of distance.
Blood soared from a deep wound that cut along Ditzy’s side, only caught by the barest edge of Sweet Cider’s blow, but still knocked back like a rag doll.
“Is that all!?” Sweet Cider growled in a husky voice, “Now that ya got me this pissed off ya better give me somethin’ worth the trouble!”
She never understood what the origins of this anger was. It was an ever present thing for Sweet Cider. She usually struggled daily to keep it in check, and it never ceased to feel good to let it out, even a little. Most people pegged her for surly and difficult, and this was true, but the reason was because she always had to restrain herself from giving in to this rage, always there, pushing her. But for now, against Ditzy, she cut loose.
She charged Ditzy, every footfall breaking apart more of the ground beneath her as her spirit energy and anger seemed to synergize with one another. Her Zanpaktou felt like a hot iron in her hand, its own energy buzzing in equal amounts of anger and excitement. Sweet Cider reached Ditzy, who was only just starting to get up from being knocked away, and slammed her sword down towards the other woman.
Only to find the sword strike blocked, the force of the blow blasting away foliage and loose rocks around the two women. Ditzy’s arm was what had made the block, and was surrounded by a swirling encasement of white spirit energy. At the same time Ditzy’s other hand went to her face, almost like she was grasping at some invisible object.
“Is that all?” Ditzy asked, her voice calm and steady as her own body became enshrouded with a red aura and she pushed up against Sweet Cider’s blade, pushing it back as she got to her feet.
With a single swiping motion with her other hand, Ditzy brought down a bone white mask across her face, a mask like that of a feline Hollow. Her eyes turned black upon yellow, and her voice took on a distorted, unnatural tone as Sweet Cider felt Ditzy’s spirit energy turn heavy with the distinct feel of a Hollow’s.
“That’s my line!”
Pushing Sweet Cider’s Zanpaktou aside, Ditzy jumped up to Sweet Cider’s head height, and decked the Captain square in the face with a punch strong enough to sound like thunder.
----------
Word of the battle taking place within the forest surrounding the Thirteenth Division headquarters spread swiftly as reports from both Eleventh and Tenth Division runners were brought to the other Divisions and the Gotei 13’s central headquarters. Within minutes Captain Commander Scorpan was informed of not only the resistance of the Thirteenth and Second Division, but of the presence of a small group of powerful Ryoka who had invaded the Seireitei and sided with the rebels.
And as much as it pained the old man, his duty to the law was clear, and with civil war facing the Gotei 13, decisive action had to be taken to bring order as quickly as possible.
So the alarm was sounded, gongs ringing like war drums through every corner of the Seireitei. Orders were dispatched to every Division Captain not already engaged in battle, with the follow, simple orders:
”Mobilize all available forces. Full wartime use of all Kido and Zanpaktou powers is authorized. Detain all rebellious elements and invading Ryoka, alive and captured if possible, but lethal force is authorized.”
And so one by one, the remaining Captains of the Gotei 13 began to move. Some, such as Cheese Sandwich, kept his preparations simple, fortifying his own barracks and sending out scouts. Others like Thunderhooves took on a stoic, dutiful mein as he ordered his Division to prepare reinforcements for the battle already in progress.
Captain Platinum, with a thin, satisfied smile lighting her face upon hearing of the presence of the Ryoka, simply ordered her Lieutenant Fancy Pants to attend her, and left towards the battlefield with just the two of them alone.
And from the Fourth Division barracks... an ominous silence.
Meanwhile the sounding of the alarm gongs echoed like haunting moans, carried through the air all the way to the tall, shining white towers of the Repentance Cells, the prison towers overlooking the Sokyoku Hill that jutted from the side of the massive fortress plateau. Celestia flinched at the sound of the alarms, her gaze out of her cell’s one, thin slit of a window shifting to see if she could see anything amiss from her limited vantage.
She couldn’t see anything, but if she stretched her spiritual senses to the limit she thought she could detect the barest hint of the conflicting reiatsu from the far off battle. The feeling, along with the alarms, left her feeling cold fear and deep, churning worry.
They came. It couldn’t be anyone else. Those foolish, brave girls actually came.
The sentiment was warming, but the implications were horrifying. With all the Gotei 13 mobilizing for all out war, she couldn’t imagine those young women standing much of a chance. Even if they cooperated fully with her own Division, it wouldn’t be enough. It only redoubled Celestia’s resolve and she cast a glance around her.
Repentance Cells were among the most secure rooms in the fortress. There was no need for guards, because it was believed that escape was essentially impossible from a room that had wards designed to suppress spirit energy and was made of reinforced walls that wouldn’t break even under the force of high level Kido. Celestia was alone in a circular, featureless chamber, save for the massive red stone doors leading in, and the single small window looking out. She knew Luna was in the next tower over, and they two could even speak to each other without having to shout.
“Luna, you know what this means.” Celestia said gravely. Soon enough she heard her sister’s voice, filled with equal parts anger and concern.
“I can’t believe they were crazy enough to try coming for us. They’re going to get slaughtered!”
“Faith, sister. Discord would not have allowed them to try if he didn’t think they had a chance of succeeding.”
Luna’s voice was soaked with sarcasm, “I do not find that particularly encouraging, Tia. I trust Discord as much as I trust Central 46 at this point.”
“Regardless, we can do nothing to change what has happened. They have come here by their own free will, and will face what challenges come their way with the strength of that resolve. In the meantime, I think I am getting quite tired of our present accommodations. What say you to a daring escape?”
“Oh, I don’t know, and here I was becoming so comfortable with the idea of allowing myself to be executed.” Luna replied dryly. After a pause she added, “Did you have a plan?”
“Don’t I always?”
“Yes, and if memory serves they only work about half the time, and that’s me being generous. Perhaps I should come up with the plan this time?”
“And what would your plan be, Lulu?”
“...Jump the guards when they open our cell doors and make a run for it?”
“And this is why I do the plans. Relax little sister, I didn’t walk into this situation without making preparations in case things became this dire.” Celestia said, examining her cell’s window more closely. It was too thin to fit more than her arm through, but that would be enough.
“Alright, I’ll bite, what’s your ‘brilliant’ plan this time?” Luna asked, and after a suspicious pause added, “This isn’t going to involve another song and dance number is it? Because I am not wearing that dress again!”
“Aww, but you looked so cute in it, Lulu!” Celestia laughed, then sighed, “Sadly I didn’t hide away any dresses this time around. Or any convenient explosives. Our captors were rather thorough in removing everything from us before putting us in these reiatsu suppressing cells.”
“Yes, everything but our undergarments, before sticking us in these drab white robes.” Luna said, referring to the plain and simple white robes that they, as prisoners, had been made to wear. Luna was right, the only thing they’d been allowed to keep were their underwear, which of course had been exactly what Celestia had been counting on.
“Indeed sister. Tell me, do you remember that trick Discord taught us? About how to make ward passes?”
“Vaguely. Didn’t he carve them into tacky little wooden badges with a skull motif? But, yes, I remember. We used to use the to sneak in and out of the Academy grounds after curfew. We’d be up until dawn screwing around the Rukongai with him and Ditzy...” a sad note entered Luna’s tone, “I miss those days. They were so much simpler.”
“Yes, well, I never forgot how to make those passes, and attune them to any ward I wanted. Including the one’s on these cells. They haven’t changed the attunement of these wards in centuries.” Celestia said as she reached into her robes and carefully slipped off her underwear. “Also, funny thing, you can turn any object into a ward pass, including undergarments.”
After a brief, shocked pause, Luna said, “You’ve got to be joking.”
“Not at all. Here, catch!” Celestia said as she put her arm through the window, panties twirling on one finger, and knowing her sister’s reflexes were even better than hers, gave them a toss. A moment later she heard Luna catch the pair, and made a groaning noise.
“Ugh, really Tia!? And why are they black lace!?”
“Oh shut up, yours are red of all colors.”
“T-t-they complement my complexion!” Luna cried, and Celestia giggled at hearing the glowing blush in her sister’s tone.
After a moment Luna joined the laughter, but it soon died out as the seriousness of their situation pressed in, and Luna asked, “Alright, so what am I supposed to do with these? Even if they bypass the cell wards that doesn’t mean I can force open the door or crawl out of this window any easier.”
“No, but what you can do is hold onto those until the guards do come and open the door for our execution. With that ward pass you also bypass the reiatsu suppression of your cell. Luna, you’re faster than I am, possess superior unarmed combat skills, and are a master of stealth.You have a better chance of defeating the guards in combat than I do, and then evading recapture after escaping your cell. There’s no doubt they’ll have at least one of our fellow Captains present to escort us, so it won’t be easy... but I’m relying on you to get away and help those girls in any way you can.”
There was a heavy silence for a long minute, then Luna’s grave voice said, “Even now you’d rather be the one to put yourself at risk. Damn you, Tia, do you expect me to abandon you just like that?”
Celestia laughed, although it was a short and strained sound, “Of course not. I expect you to go find those courageous young ladies and then come back with them to rescue my butt! I’m far too young and gorgeous to be executed.”
“Hmph, but then again if I wait a day or two after escaping I won’t have to listen to anymore of your singing in the shower,” Luna mused.
“Lulu!”
“Or fight over the last slice of cake. That would be nice.”
“That was one time, over a century ago, and I apologize for it!”
“I suppose you did. Alright, it's not as if I have a better idea, although I’ll point out this is basically my plan of jumping the guards, just made more likely to work because you had the foresight to prepare this ward pass.... ugh... on your panties. Seriously, Tia, you have a smutty mind. Your students would have their heads spin if they knew you like I do.”
Celestia smiled in wry amusement, “It's all part of my carefully constructed image of wise mystique.”
“Suuuure,” replied Luna with a thick helping of snark, and the two sisters shared a final laugh before the conversation petered out. There wasn’t much more to say or do at that point. They couldn’t do anything until the time for their execution came and Luna had her shot at breaking free, and possibly helping Sunset and the other girls to put an end to this madness that had overtaken Soul Society.
All Celestia could do now was wait.