Equestria Girls: Friendship Souls

by thatguyvex


Episode 105: Bodhisattva

Episode 105: Bodhisattva 

Raging red and orange fire spread out in a thick fan from Sunset Shimmer’s swing, but she was already on the move before the flames even got close to the Arrancar warrior’s before her. As she’d hoped, they were distracted by the intense heat, some of them using their weapons and Heirro-hardened arms to shield themselves, while others instinctively leaped back. Those that tried to endure the fire found even their potent “iron skin” was not a total defense against the raw heat and spiritual power in Sunset’s fire. Granted she hadn’t built up much energy yet with her shield, but her overall power had increased so much of late she didn’t necessarily have to in order to produce potent flames.

Several of the Arrancar taking the brunt of her fire let out shouts of surprised pain as their skin was scalded. None of them saw her move, flipping over their heads and coming down on the purple haired female Arrancar. Purple Hair looked up just in time to get a face full of shield, Sunset bashing Hikari into the woman’s face hard enough to break her nose and sent the Arrancar barreling towards the ground.

Not slowing down in the slightest, Sunset swept Hokori out towards a stunned Arrancar on her left, holding little back in her swing as she aimed it for the man’s wrist. The blade’s flames hadn’t cooled, and the Zanpaktou’s edge was hot enough to cauterize flesh instantly as she cut the Arrancar’s right hand off, sending both it and it’s own drawn blade spinning off into the distance.

“AHHHRRGG!” 

The man’s roar of pain seemed to snap his compatriots out of their daze, and they all swiftly moved with flickers of Sonido to try and surround Sunset, any that hadn’t drawn their weapons yet doing so. Sunset glanced at them, and at the man whose hand she just cut off, and took a deep breath before speaking loudly and plainly, “One chance. Run, now. I can’t afford to play nice here.”

Please, some of you, see some damn sense, she silently pleaded. She knew she’d do what she had to, but she truly didn’t want to end anyone’s life. Or afterlife, as the case may be. She knew, logically, these were still Hollows, no matter how human they looked. Slain by her Zanpaktou, their souls would be purified and sent to Soul Society.

Unless I get one like that snake Hollow, in which case I’ll see the gates of Hell claim another, she thought, unsure of how to feel about that. She was just a pony turned highschool girl who wanted to keep her friends and home safe. But she’d accepted the role and power of a Soul Reaper, so she had to accept all the baggage that came with that.

If these Arrancar persisted in fighting, she’d hold nothing back, and live with the consequences, come what may.

There was a moment of hesitance among them. Clearly none of them had expected her to be quite this strong. Yet the intense discipline ingrained in these warriors by their Lord Guto, and their loyalty to their Espada, won out over any fear or pervading sense that they were well out of their league. 

The first one to attack was a burly fellow with black hair tied in a ponytail, wielding a big spiked set of iron knuckles for his Zanpaktou. His attack was fast, brutal. A straight up overhead punch with his whole body’s force behind it. Sunset could tell a hit like this might’ve demolished her or any of her friends in the early days of this strange adventure they’d fallen into... but now?

Hikari blocked the blow like it was a regular punch. Sure, Sunset felt some impact, like if someone had chucked a heavy rock at her shield, but it was nothing compared to the blows she’d endured from the likes of Captain Hurricane or Captain Platinum. 

With a sullen sigh but fire blazing to life in her eyes she said, “Warned you.”

She rammed Hokori, full force, through her shocked opponent’s chest, right below his Hollow hole. She tried to ignore his pained grunt, or the blood that spewed out, and simply channeled her fire through her sword in an intense blast that fired out of Hokori’s tip. Given the Zanpaktou’s tip was pointing outside the Arrancar’s back, that meant it was aimed at yet another Arrancar, who barely had time to react to the more focused blast of flame that struck him.

As that Arrancar screamed and fell to the distant forest floor, smoldering all the way, Sunset yanked her sword out of her first target and kicked the stricken Arrancar away from her, where he tumbled down to the ground without so much as another grunt.

“That’s three down,” she said, “Any more takers?”

The response of those still standing was to start rattling off a litany of sword release phrases, each of the remaining warriors deciding that taking this fiery Soul Reaper lightly was their biggest mistake, and their only chance of survival was to correct it immediately. One by one blasts of power erupted from the surviving Arrancar, Resureccions activating on the remaining three, while the one whose hand was severed wisely decided to flee.

Oh well, I tried to give them a chance, she thought, and knowing that her friends were still in great danger, figured there was no point holding much back either. Her training with Discord had been about more than just developing new techniques, but about increasing her stamina and spirit energy to sustain herself for longer battles, fighting at max power. 

She didn’t need Bankai yet, but it was time to really give her Shikai a proper workout, and put all her lessons to the test. Hopefully Fluttershy and Rarity could hold out until Sunset could reach them.

-----------

A prodigious swing of Gilda’s spear severed a tree at the base of its trunk. With a jump and spin, Gilda kicked that tree at Fluttershy and Rarity, sending the thing crashing through the forest with the force and speed of a runaway freight train.

Rarity gestured with her hand and a torrent of blood from her whirlpool crystallized into a frozen red wave, forming a barrier that the tree slammed into full force. As the tree splintered, Fluttershy set her shawl towards the ground and asked Smooze, “Can you stay near my friend Rarity? I’ll need my shawl to fight Gilda.”

“As you wish,” Smooze replied, sliding off the pure white shawl, which remarkably seemed to almost refuse to be stained by his bodies various fluids.

Rarity gave them both a look, “You said you needed a distraction, darling?”

“If you can,” Fluttershy said, but then sharply turned towards the crystal barrier as it was shattered by a titanic blow from Gilda’s spear, who had thrust it straight into the wave of crimson crystal.

A deep bellow was all the greeting Gilda gave, rushing both girls. Red droplets of her spear’s acidic blood coated the air with a caustic shower. Rarity had already seen the dangerous nature of that blood, and countered with a sheet of crystal that formed a diamond shaped barrier in front of her, while Fluttershy was able to jump aside, despite her injured leg causing her a moment of bursting pain.

Gilda spun her spear and used one end to try and trip Fluttershy while bringing the other end down to hammer Rarity’s shield, but both girls were already moving. Fluttershy flipped over Gilda’s strike and lashed out with her shawl, while Rarity ducked around her shield and came at Gilda hard with a fast series of thrusts from her rapier.

Gilda was forced to swiftly side-step and use the front end of her spear to catch Rarity’s rapier while trying to twist away from Fluttershy’s shawl. However she wasn’t quite fast enough, and the shawl wrapped around her right arm. Fluttershy pulled it tight, and adjusting her stance and planting her feet, she yanked Gilda into a shoulder throw that slammed her towards a nearby hillock. At the same time Fluttershy hammered her power into Gilda’s soul, weakening Gilda’s reiatsu and physical strength, which in turn would also weaken her Heirro.

This meant the impact with the hillock was quite a bit more painful than it normally would be as Gilda smashed into it in an explosion of dirt and rock. The Espada coughed and sputtered, rolling over and picking up the spear she’d momentarily dropped. She looked up in time to see both Fluttershy and Rarity coming at her, both mid-leap. Rarity’s weapon had shifted to a slimmer, more elegant spear of her own, and she was surrounded by a dozen various weapons that were slashing or thrusting in from various angles. Fluttershy was going low, arms pulled back for a two handed palm-strike towards Gilda’s chest.

For a moment Gilda’s eyes seemed shocked, but then something flashed in them, as if she was looking very far away. A roar as loud as the fiercest lion’s erupted from her as she pushed off the ground and ploughed into the girl’s attacks, smashing her spear forward. The blow caused such intense air pressure and wind force that Rarity’s own flying weapons were blown away and Rarity herself had to twist away from the sudden, tearing passage of Gilda’s spear. Even then, Rarity’s side took a nasty cut, gushing blood through her red battle dress.

The brunt of the attack, however, was aimed at Fluttershy, who barely had a moment to get her shawl in a guard position before the attack struck home and blasted her backwards. It was sheer luck that her shawl was able to turn Gilda’s spear tip away from her chest, but the hit still sent her tumbling back, smashing into the ground and skidding along for a few dozen yards before she halted herself. 

Coughing, she forced herself to start standing back up while Gilda turned her attention to Rarity.

Rarity had jumped back to gain distance, and red crystal spikes burst out of the ground around Gilda, stabbing inward. Gilda wheeled about, her spear a blurring circle in her grip as she used it to parry and smash the crystals that came for her. She got most of them, but one or two of Rarity’s spikes cut into Gilda’s hardened flesh.

“One of you just die already!” Gilda shrieked in growing berserker rage, eyes bloodshot as she thrust a hand towards Rarity and a chain of blood red Bala spheres shot out. 

Rarity formed a collection of crystal kite shields, similar in size and shape to the shield half of Sunset’s Shikai, and sent them flying to intercept the Bala. While this happened, Fluttershy regained her feet and reached out with her shawl, which extended well beyond the capacity of normal cloth and wrapped around a tree that had been damaged by one of Gilda’s earlier attacks. With surprising strength, Fluttershy used the shawl to yank the tree off it’s broken trunk, then commanded Gilda, “Turn towards me! Look only at me!”

The link between Fluttershy’s power and Gilda was still going strong, and Fluttershy’s eyes were nearly solid blue light now. Gilda felt the compulsion to turn, ending her Bala assault upon Rarity. She turned just in time to get a face full of hurled tree, courtesy of Fluttershy’s shawl.

The blow hurled Gilda to the ground amid the fragments of wood from the tree cracking in half. Fluttershy’s compulsion remained in place, muddying Gilda’s thoughts alongside the dizziness from the tree’s impact. Despite her best efforts, Gilda found herself still trying to look straight at Fluttershy as she staggered to her feet, unable to look away. 

That didn’t mean she couldn’t attack, however, and as Fluttershy rushed her, Gilda raised her spear above her head and then smashed it into the ground in front of her. A tremor shook the land, and the ground split apart in a localized quake that moved in a wave towards Fluttershy.

Miraculously the girl moved with smooth steps, wasting no motion as she hopped from piece of broken ground to piece of broken ground, slowed, but not stopped. Gilda heard and sensed the reiatsu from Rarity coming at her from behind, but couldn’t look that way due to Fluttershy’s power. In a desperation move, Gilda thrust a hand backwards and fired a wide-beam Cero, sweeping it around blindly.

Rarity saw it coming but even then had to pull a power slide, knees hitting the ground and back arching backwards as the tide of annihilating red energy coursed right above her face. Her rapier thrust out, several additional daggers of crystal forming in the air around it to add to Rarity’s attack. Still unable to look away from Flutshy, Gilda had to plant the butt of her spear and use it like a pole to push herself upwards to avoid the brunt of Rarity’s blades. Still, the rapier itself and one of the daggers cut along Gilda’s calf, sparking along the Espada’s tough Heirro hardened skin. They still drew blood, deep enough to cause Gilda to growl her pain, eyes still locked on Fluttershy, who now jumped to meet her with shawl outstretched.

The shawl bound Gilda’s arms, pinning her for the briefest of seconds, but Gilda’s eyes flared with undiluted rage and before her body fell back to the ground, a deep glow of crimson power appeared at the end of her spear that was still stuck in the ground.

Gilda fired a point blank Cero at the ground, right where she, Fluttershy, and Rarity were all standing, with complete disregard for her own safety.

----------

Lieutenant Posey thrust a hand out, shouting orders in what she hoped wasn’t too loud and aggressive a voice, but was still authoritative like her father’s, “Protect the humans in the intersection! You two, clear the debris over there! The rest of you follow me, um, please?”

Despite her still somewhat lacking command presence, the Soul Reapers of the Eleventh Division that had come with her spread out to follow her commands. They were in a busy, chaotic intersection of Canterlot City’s downtown, and everything was a true mess. The Hollows that were on the attack were showing no regard for their surroundings, smashing through buildings and going after any living soul they could find. It was only the rapid response of the Eleventh and Tenth Division Soul Reapers that was managing to keep damage to a minimum, although “minimum” in this case still left far too many humans in harm’s way.

This particular intersection was in bad shape due to an overturned semi-truck that had crashed into an office building after one particular Hollow had smashed into its side. That Hollow now dominated the intersection, it’s unusual body filling the street with a mass of seething black hair. The twisted pile of melted skulls at the center of its body mass howled at the sky as it whipped its hair tendrils at anything moving close by.

Posey saw one tendril reaching for a helpless woman trying to crawl away, and she Flash Stepped into the tendril’s path, slashing the coarse fibers with Kyoki’s edge. She held out the Zanpaktou and hoped for the best as she called out, ”Frenzy; Kyoki!”

Her Zanpaktou was still behaving oddly, and she sensed his hesitation as the blade reshaped itself into the form of a serrated long blade. The teeth of the blade just wouldn’t spin, however, and the reiatsu boost from the Shikai release felt weaker than it should. 

Why are you still acting this way, Kyoki?

Posey had no further time to think on it. The Hollow mass of hair sensed the Soul Reapers nearby and with a gurgling howl it frothed towards the largest group, which consisted of the ones who were with Posey trying to protect humans fleeing the area. Eleventh Division members eschewed Kido spells for direct combat, and all of them swiftly began to call out their Shikai releases, even as the Hollow erupted with a stabbing storm of tendrils strikes, using it’s coiled up hair like a wall of thrusting spears.

Entire chunks of the street were destroyed as Soul Reapers flickered away with evasive Flash Steps, some retaliating with Zanpaktou that possessed ranged powers, such as one that literally fired shards of itself like a railgun with every swing. Other Soul Reapers tried to rush through the thick wall of spear-like tendrils, hacking at the hair. The hair regrew faster than it was being cut, however, and Posey saw one of her people mistime a Flash Step and receive a spear of hair through his chest.

“No!” Posey grit her teeth and looked at her Zanpaktou with frustration as she jumped into the fray, slicing at the tendril that had speared one of her squadmates. Kyoki’s blade could still cut well enough, but it lacked the true severing power it was supposed to have.

She grabbed the bleeding, dying Soul Reaper under one arm and leapt away, setting him down as he hacked up blood. “Just hold on. I’ll get you to a Tenth Division member who knows healing Kido.”

However she was barely finished speaking the reassuring sentence before she noticed the man had already ceased breathing. She wasn’t unused to losing squadmates in battle. She’d followed her father into combat alongside the rest of the Division since she graduated from the Academy. But this was a loss she immediately felt more keenly for it could have been avoided if her Zanpaktou wasn’t being so... so... difficult

What would mother do? She was always so sure of herself. She always knew what to do, no matter what.

Several cries from behind her drew Posey’s attention, and she gasped. While some of her squad had managed to clear away debris from the damaged office building to allow some trapped humans to flee, the Hollow had taken advantage of their distraction to grab them up with it’s tendrils and was dragging them towards its face. Melted together skulls were gnashing their teeth in drooling anticipation of a feast of Soul Reaper flesh, and despite her squadmates’ best efforts they couldn’t cut themselves free of the thick hair that kept regenerating as fast as it was severed.

They  need me. They need me like I usually am with Kyoki!

She was frightened of that part of herself, but she needed it now, and it was high time she and her Zanpaktou hashed this out!

“Look!” she told her sword, eyes hardening with a volcanic sheen, voice tight with the restrained anger within, “That’s enough cowering! I don’t know if you’re scared to hurt me again, or if it’s something else, but I need your power, Kyoki, and I need it right now, buster! Get over yourself, and help me rip this thing to pieces.”

The response from Kyoki took only a second, and it felt like a melting of ice followed by a hot flash of prideful acknowledgement. It sounded in her head almost like the baying of a faithful hound, coming back to its master’s call. 

Suddenly power flooded Posey, her body gaining a bloody red glow, and Kyoki’s serrated teeth howled to life as they spun around at high speed. Posey felt a familiar, but not uncontrolled, blood lust rise inside her. It wasn’t overwhelming her mind anymore, but felt natural, righteous, and focused. The Hollow, seeming to sense the power and the sudden violent intent nearby, paused in trying to drag its meals towards its mouth and turned towards Posey...

...Just in time for her to leap straight into its mass, screaming a banshee warcry as her Zanpaktou started to flash in swift, sure strikes that ripped into the Hollows form like a savage beast tearing through flesh.

----------

The explosion of Cero energy rocketed up into the sky, and blasted away about a fifty yard radius of trees. The detonation could be seen easily from Camp Everfree, which caused a brief pause in the fighting, but only brief before campers and their defenders alike resumed a desperate struggling against a growing number of magically enhanced Equestrian fauna.

At the epicenter of the explosion Gilda still stood, hand on her spear. Both weapon and Espada were smoking from the blast, their bodies covered in burns and bleeding wounds from the explosion Gilda had just tanked in an attempt to destroy her foes. Breathing hard, wiping blood and sweat from her burned brow, Gilda looked around, not expecting to see anything besides charred pieces of human flesh.

She blinked when she saw instead a red, crystalline cylinder about ten feet long and five feet wide laying at the far side of the crater she’d just created. 

“The hell...?” she breathed, ripping her spear out of the ground and staggering towards the cylinder. Her balance was a bit shaky, but she growled at herself and ignored the pain, forcing her walk to steady to a stronger gait. 

She felt the ground tremble beneath her, and took a swift leap back as spikes of crystal shot out of the earth. She spat and swept her spear around to smash the spikes, but more drove her further back as the crystal cylinder rose from the ground on a mass of red crystalline growth and stood upright. Then the cylinder opened like an elevator tube, and Fluttershy and Rarity stepped out, both looking a tad harrowed but otherwise unharmed.

“How in the hell did you two survive that!?” Gilda shouted, still swinging her spear to break the crystal spikes stabbing at her.

Rarity, breathing rather hard herself, said, “It’s all in the reflexes, darling.”

What had actually happened was not overly complicated. It had taken a second for Gilda’s Cero to properly charge up, and then discharge into the ground. Neither Rairty or Fluttershy were limited by normal human reflexes any longer, after this long developing their powers and combat instincts. They’d reacted together, each one playing off the other and trusting one another in regards to what needed doing. Inside of that single second, Fluttershy had whipped her scarf out to Rarity, pulling Rarity to her, while Rarity instantly understood the need for a encasing, protective shield against the Cero. The moment Rarity came into physical contact with Fluttershy, she formed the cylinder of protective crystal, and Fluttershy used her own power to boost Rarity’s, further enhancing the crystal’s hardness.

The result was that they might have gotten knocked around a bit by the blast, but the crystal cylinder absorbed the brunt of the damage.

While the two girls were largely unharmed, Fluttershy did have one greater worry on her mind as she looked around at the crater they stood within, where once there’d been a nice chunk of forest.

“Mister Smooze! Where...?” She couldn’t sense him, but then he’d barely had any reiatsu to sense, so that didn’t necessarily mean anything. She hoped he’d gotten clear during the fighting, but that Cero had caused quite a bit of devastation. 

She spotted him at the top edge of the crater on the side opposite from Gilda, essentially putting herself between Smooze and Fluttershy and Rarity’s position. He was intact, but he must have caught the edge of the explosions, for his body was smoking slightly and the goop comprising most of it was bubbling strangely. He twitched his head up, however, and met Fluttershy’s eyes, so she knew he was alive.

Gilda noticed where she was looking and turned to spot Smooze as well, and she blinked for a moment, then barked out a laugh.

“Tenacious little pile of snot, aren’t you? You know what, it’s you girls lucky day. I’ve got bigger fish to fry, so I’ll go ahead and off Smooze, and you two are off the hook.”

“No.”

Fluttershy said the word with a note of absolute command as she hopped down from the mass of red crystal Rarity had made, and strode towards Gilda, “You will not hurt him! He’s suffered enough already!”

Rarity, also hopping down, said, “Besides, you uncouth beast, in case you haven’t noticed, you’re more injured than we are at this point. I’d say your odds are not favorable and it should be us considering letting you off the hook.”

Despite her words, Rarity was being cautious, and wished Fluttershy would slow down that confident stride of hers towards Gilda. Not that Rarity didn’t enjoy seeing her friend showing so much all-too often uncharacteristic backbone, but despite Rarity’s words she knew better than to underestimate an opponent. She hadn’t beaten Blueblood by being careless. Gilda was a far more straightforward, brutal fighter than Blueblood, but Rarity sensed the woman hadn’t quite used her full power yet. There was a fierce, feral energy about Gilda, despite her injuries... and a beast was most dangerous when it was wounded.

Just in case, Rarity called her whirlpool of blood back out of her bracelet, and readied a long line of blades in several floating rows. 

Gilda laughed at the sight, including Fluttershy’s steady approach, “You think these scrapes are going to slow me down? I’ve taken a hundred times worse proving myself to Lord Guto. And you, you wilting flower, don’t get to tell me what to do, no matter what freakish powers you’ve got. Now...”

She cocked her spear back, aiming it towards Smooze. The acidic blood from the spear’s lion mane flowed out and swirled around the spear head, forming a giant set of sizzling, grasping claws that pulsed with arcs of energy as drops of the thick red fluid struck the ground and ate through it even faster than before.

Gilda’s toned, corded muscles tensed for her throw, one that would have enough power to send her empowered spear hurtling into Smooze to destroy him utterly and completely. That was the reason she was using her strongest technique, after all, to ensure not a drop of Smooze’s body remained to regenerate. 

Even as she tensed to throw, Rarity swore under her breath and sent forth her readied array of blades, not hesitating to aim them towards all of Gilda’s vital points. There’d be no asking for surrender, like with Blueblood. Rarity was aiming to kill, this time, as Gilda had made it abundantly clear she wasn’t holding back either.

Yet despite all this, Fluttershy kept stepping forward, with a face of stillness akin to a calm winter morning after a fresh snow. 

Inside herself, Fluttershy looked upon the scene around her, and asked herself; why? Why was she always so afraid of the harm she might cause? Was her kindness only to make herself feel better? So she could say to herself when she looked in the mirror ‘I’m a good person’? 

It only made sense to avoid hurting other people, if only because you yourself don’t want to be hurt. But when that desire leads to inaction, to a denial of one’s own power to make a difference, then is it kindness, or cowardice? Fluttershy never wanted to use her power. She only did so because she couldn’t bear seeing her friends in danger. But as time went on, she just kept becoming more and more scared of that power inside her. It could do so much harm, if used improperly. 

Her brother’s blank face as he mindlessly obeyed her commands flitted through her mind. The placid faces of Soul Reapers she subdued passed across her thoughts. Posey’s frustrated expression as she’d talked about how her Zanpaktou was behaving strangely echoed in Fluttershy’s mind.

Her power could have consequences she didn’t intend. Inside her was a will and desire to control, to command, to be in charge. There was a part of her that wanted to be less than kind. Those parts of her scared her, and that made her power all the more frightening because it could make those desires a reality all too easily.

But if she kept fearing it, then she’d be unable to keep standing beside her friends, and any kindness she tried to do would be easily overturned by those with more power and no compunctions about abusing it. It was time to stop being afraid of the thing she’d always been most scared of... herself

“I. Said. STOP.

The words rang out with golden clarity as if sounded from the striking of a gong. A pulse of radiant blue light rushed out of Fluttershy, whose body was encased in a heavenly aura of gold, sparking with erratic lances of barely contained energy. Her spiritual pressure fell upon the area like an anvil, and Rarity could sense its erratic, explosive nature, and let out a wide eyed gasp.

Rarity knew what was happening, and what she had to do! 

During their weeks of training with Ditzy Doo she’d gone over this very scenario with each of the Fullbring using girls. Every since Rainbow Dash had evolved her Fullbring to its completed form, the goal for the rest of them had been to achieve the same. However, there was great danger in this. Rainbow Dash had lucked out that her mother had been present at the time of her Fullbring’s evolution, because when a Fullbring became complete it also released a massive burst of Hollow energy that could injure or outright kill it’s user if another Fullbringer or someone with extensive familiarity with Hollow reiatsu wasn’t present to help contain it.

Ditzy Doo might not have been a Fullbringer, but she knew Hollow reiatsu, and the needed techniques to control it. She’d drilled what she knew into the girls alongside their usual training, so in the event one of them evolved their Fullbring, at least one of the others would be able to contain the resulting explosion of power. That was why the girls had agreed to try to fight together in pairs, in the event a battle broke out. It was why Rarity had gone out of her way to try and subdue her own opponent fast and get to Fluttershy’s side to help battle Gilda. 

Now that it was happening, Rarity had seconds to act, and she didn’t hesitate to rush to Fluttershy’s side. Her feet glowed with green ‘Bringer Light’ as she kicked off the air and leapt the distance between her and Fluttershy, landing next to the glowing girl just in time. Fluttershy’s power was surging outward, and despite her almost frightfully calm features, it was clear the out of control energy was hurting Fluttershy from the twitches of her facial muscles. Following what Ditzy Doo had taught her, Rarity summoned up her own reiatsu and used it to form “funnels” around Fluttershy, meant to take in and channel the explosive energy that was about to come and shunt it outward in a controlled, and hopefully relatively safe manner.

She barely had time to do so before Fluttershy let out a piercing cry and a storm of brilliant gold energy burst out of her and shot into the sky. Rarity felt her hands heat up as if burning as she hardened her own reiatsu and tried to funnel the energy upward and outward from Fluttershy’s body, which was glowing so bright she couldn’t even see her friend clearly within the shining gold nimbus. The spiritual pressure was choking Rarity, nearly overwhelming her senses. Who knew Fluttershy contained so much raw power inside her soul? Was this the potential they all possessed? How much had the magic of friendship that bound them all together helped in creating this remarkable surge of energy?

It was a sobering yet electrifying thought to Rarity, and gave her hope that they truly could surpass the challenging hurdles in front of them, be it Starlight Glimmer, the Espada, or perhaps one day the mysterious Zero Division.

Gilda had been frozen in place by Fluttershy’s command, rendered utterly immobile. She too felt Fluttershy’s explosive spiritual pressure, and while she couldn’t so much as twitch a muscle, internally she boggled and seethed. It seemed utterly impossible that mild mannered slip of a human girl had this much power still hidden inside her! The difference between the reiatsu she’d sensed at the start of the fight and now was like a hill next to a soaring mountain! 

This is insane! I was stronger than her! Stronger than both of them together! So why is my heart trembling like this!? Why can’t I move!? I’ve come too far to lose now! Not to some human who hasn’t suffered a day in her life! It’s not fair! It’s not FAIR! Move, damn you! MOVE!

It took everything Gilda had, every inch of her anger, spite, frustration, and painful memory of the trials that had led her to this point to get her arms to move even an inch. Indeed the only reason she was able to start moving at all was because Fluttershy’s power had needed to retreat from Gilda’s soul in order to finish it’s evolution, and was now concentrated around Fluttershy herself. It was simply the memory of the command and it’s lingering traces of power that had kept Gilda still.

Now, she moved, slowly unpetrifying herself. With a feral, growling war cry Gilda spun around and brought her spear, along with its still fully charged claws of acidic blood, to bear on Rarity and Fluttershy. She couldn’t see Fluttershy within that halo of gold, but Gilda didn’t care. She knew her target, and that Fluttershy was undergoing some kind of change. But if she could strike a fatal blow before the evolution was complete...

"Garra Rugiente!" (Roaring Claw)

Gilda threw her spear with all her might, and it left a glowing wake of crimson energy as it’s clawed tip soared towards its target. The claws of blood began to spin like drills, the arcs of energy sparking from them joining together in a net of power. The ground was ripped asunder by the spear's passage. Rarity moved to defend, about to summon a crystal barrier... but that wasn’t necessary.

A hand of golden light shot out with the fluid grace of a beam of sunlight and with a simple motion caught the forward tip of the spear. Energy surged from the five claws of acidic blood, melting the earth beneath them, but then another gold hand reached out and grasped one of the claws... then another, and another, until a dozen hands of gold light held the spear, which continued to grind forward under its own power like an animal struggling against a surging tide wall. From the five claws, the blood and energy inside them exploded outward in streaking geyser, the golden hands steadfastly holding the energy at bay as the streaks of acidic blood blasted apart and melted entire swaths of the crater to either side of Fluttershy and Rarity and for hundreds of yards beyond. Had the gold hands not stopped the spear the attack would've likely melted anything it struck to nothing, but the gold hands appeared to drain the power right out of the attack. The blood torrent gradually vanished, the crackling energies fading. The spear fell to the ground in a clatter, leaving Gilda blinking in shock.

The dozen gold hands withdrew back to the nimbus of light, and in their wake gold motes fell to the ground, and greenery blossomed from their touch, growing fresh, beautiful flowers of peach pink color.

Rarity took a step back, not in fear, but awe.

“Flutter...shy?”

The nimbus of almost sold gold light faded somewhat, and Fluttershy stepped forward. 

She was glad in loose golden robes, interlaced with patterns of pink and green floral splendor, her feet bare. The halo behind her had enlarged to a pure golden disc, surrounded by beams of sunlight, and a smaller yet no less intense halo of gentle blue hung behind her head, framing it. Her hair was longer, flowing as if in a breeze, but with an elegant headdress upon her brow consisting of golden ovals embedded with pale blue gems that resembled eyes. Her own eyes remained pure and clear, with her third eye an open conduit to an endless, smoking stream of blue aura. 

But most notable of all were the additional arms and hands. She now had three apiece on either side, held together in prayer-like gestures. These arms and hands were solid and the normal color of Fluttershy’s buttery yellow skin, but they weren’t the only additional limbs. She also carried a multitude of identical limbs of pure gold light that appeared around her halo, fading in and out of view like phantoms, but clearly no less solid and real for how she’d employed them against Gilda’s spear.

Rarity was most taken of all by the expression of Fluttershy’s face. Kind, calm, and serene in a way Rarity had never seen before. 

“Oh my... that’s... quite the change, Fluttershy,” Rarity managed to say.

It was a tad unnerving the way Fluttershy seemed so relaxed as she turned to look at Rarity, her eyes absent of any hint of anxiety or fear. But her voice was still Fluttershy’s, and carried a bashful hint of embarrassment as she smiled at Rarity.

“Thank you. It’s, um, a bit more revealing than I’d like, but I feel really quite good right now.”

Rarity supposed she could understand Fluttershy’s feelings. The robes were quite loose and revealed more skin than any outfit she’d seen the shy girl wear before, especially around the shoulders. 

“Honestly I think it’s quite fetching on you, darling. I’ve always said you ought to be more proud of your figure and show off a little more. No harm in turning a few heads, I always say.”

“Don’t ignore me!” Gilda roared, blasting forward with Sonido, grabbing her spear in the same motion, and thrusting it at Fluttershy’s back with supersonic speed.

“Excuse me, Rarity,” Fluttershy said, moving in the same instant. There was no wasted motion. She turned and three of her more physical hands gripped the spear and flipped it, and Gilda, up and down onto her back, smashing the Espada into the ground hard enough to break rock apart for meters all around.

Fluttershy’s eyes sparked blue, and her voice gained a resonant, echoing tone, “Enlightenment Technique; Thousand Palms of Compassion.”

Gold light flared as the limbs of radiant light moved with precision, forming a litany of palm strikes that rushed down upon Gilda’s still stunned form. There was shockingly little impact from the strikes, yet Rarity could see each palm hit a precise point on Gilda’s body and blast a pulse of golden light into the Espada’s frame. Each hit rang with the sounding of a massive gong, the golden hands moving in a dizzying flurry.

“Your pain runs deep,” Fluttershy said, looking at Gilda with no animosity, just sad empathy as she withdrew her golden hands and knelt beside the gasping Espada, “Your anger has nothing to do with me, my friend Rarity, or even Mister Smooze. It’s another that is the true source of this fury. Show it to me. Let me help free you from your own chains.”

Rarity wasn’t even sure Gilda could respond. The Arrancar’s eyes were almost blank, and the only indication she was even still alive were the ragged gasps as she lay there limply after Fluttershy’s potent assault. Fluttershy reached out her right hand and placed it above Gilda’s Hollow hole.

“Fluttershy, what are you doing?” Rarity asked.

“Can you go check on Mister Smooze, Rarity? This won’t take me long,” Fluttershy said, not actually answering the question. Rarity hesitated a second, then decided it was best to let Fluttershy do her thing. 

As Rarity left to go take a look at Smooze, Fluttershy focused her attention upon the stunned Espada, and took a deep breath.

“Enlightenment Technique; Reflections Upon Still Water.”

It was amazing to Fluttershy how naturally the use of her Fullbring now came to her, although her mind felt quiet and calm as a void. Not an empty void, but one where all of her doubts, fears, and hidden angers had been allowed to pass through her, leaving behind a simple peace and acceptance of herself and her place in the world. She understood her power was a reflection of her soul’s desire to prevent and heal harm. A physical manifestation of her kindness, which at its most basic core allowed her to touch and influence others. 

Her attack might have seemed powerful in how it had stunned Gilda into submission, but Flutteshy knew her power could inflict no real harm. Each palm strike wasn’t to Gilda’s body, but her inner spirit, breaking it’s violent intent. But it wasn’t enough to just subdue Gilda. In time she’d recover, and the source of her pain and hatred would remain. Fluttershy was a healer. Sometimes that meant showing tough love. Gilda was about to get all the kindness she could possibly handle and then some.

A gold light like liquid metal poured out of Fluttershy’s hand and into Gilda. This was akin to the link Fluttershy used in the past to try and influence and command others, but was far more potent, and connected her soul with Gilda’s in a nearly unbreakable conduit. A hint of this power had emerged when she’d faced Posey, and connected herself to Kyoki. It’d worked largely because Kyoki was a Zanpaktou Spirit designed with his own inner world. This power Fluttershy used now was much stronger, and could create such a reflective inner world inside anyone, allowing Fluttershy to enter it to confront the person’s inner self directly.

It only took a split second before Gilda’s eyes opened, pouring out with pure gold light as Fluttershy and her minds were taken to the inner world of reflections.

----------

Fluttershy saw a girl physically no older than eight, or perhaps nine. The young Gilda was wearing torn white rags, stained with dirt and blood. She had no weapon in hand, but her hands were indeed bloody, clenched into fists even as her gaunt face wore weariness like a familiar mask. Yet determined anger filled the child’s eyes as she struggled to push a massive stone block up a steep hill of sand.

Around her other children, Arrancar like herself, struggled with their own blocks, pushing until their knuckles bled. There were only six of them, all of similar ages, with perhaps only a few years separating them. Watching this torturous training were several adult Arrancar, one of them bellowing at the children.

“Hurry it up you misbegotten weaklings! You want to earn your dinner or not!? Only three of you get to eat tonight, and that’s assuming you can get those blocks to the top! Move it! There’s no such thing as failures in Lord Guto’s horde! Only warriors!”

A sharp cry came when the child next to Gilda slipped in the sand. The stone block she’d been trying to push up started to topple back on her. Gilda, seeing this, let go of her own block and dove to grab the other child, just barely yanking her out of the way in time. However both their blocks went tumbling down to the bottom of the hill. The other children briefly glanced at the scene, but doggedly continued pushing their blocks. Meanwhile, holding her fellow child, Gilda said, “You okay, Greta?”

“Mmmhmm...I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have slipped... just so tired...”

“Hey, morons!” the older Arrancar fired a Bala at the pair, striking near enough to send both children sprawling, “Is the point of this exercise to help each other be weak? Gilda, you should’ve let the weakling get smacked around by her own stupid mistake. A block that size won’t kill an Arrancar anyway, even one as pathetic as Greta. But I’m guessing neither of you want to eat tonight.”

Fluttershy was just a bystander in this memory, but she wasn’t alone. The adult Gilda was with her, looking strangely confused.

“What... is this?”

“You,” Fluttershy said, “Or rather, a part of you that you buried. You really were kind to help your friend like that.”

Gilda growled, “Get out of my head!”

“No. Not until we get to the bottom of this. Such cruel training. Why?”

Gilda looked at the images of herself and Greta as children and huffed out a heavy breath filled with spite and regret, “This is how Lord Guto builds the strongest warriors for the horde. Long before that soft hearted Lament showed up, this was the best chance any orphan Arrancar child had to make it anywhere in Las Noches.”

“There’s more,” Fluttershy said, “I can feel it. Let’s go deeper.”

“Wait, dammit-!”

The scene shifted in a golden blur, the space around them rearranging itself until it resembled a dimly lit interior arena, surrounded by stone columns and seating. Arrancar warriors cheered and jeered as other, younger Arrancar, most in the early teens, were pitted against one another in brutal battle. Fluttershy could see Gilda’s past self, now physically around twelve, wrestling with an older, sturdier male Arrancar. They possessed Zanpaktou now, Fluttershy noted, and were not holding back in using them. The larger Arrancar managed to pin Gilda under him and raised his blade high, aiming to impale her neck. She got her hand up in time to take the stab through the arm, blood spurting as she screamed. Yet Gilda grit her teeth and twisted her wounded arm, trapping her opponent’s Zanpaktou in it and pulling it aside so she could ram her own blade upwards, impaling the other Arrancar through the stomach.

His own pained bellow echoed through the underground arena, and Gilda twisted the blade hard, and kicked his squirming body off of her. Standing, she yanked his own sword out of her injured arm, and now bearing both blades she finished him off with a double slice that cut his throat.

“Enough.”

A loud, strong voice called out, and the fighting ceased. The arena floor was strewn with bodies, and a tall Arrancar male stood from a golden throne situated within a tall alcove overseeing the arena. He leaped down to the arena, and appraised the survivors with cool, calculating eyes.

“Twenty entered this arena. Twenty seeking the glory of joining my horde as fledgling warriors. Some of you were mere cast offs! Worthless spawn of weak Arrancar who had nothing better to do with themselves than fornicate until you came squirting out. Some of you are desperate leavings of other hordes, or those so pathetic that other Espada don’t want you. Others are survivors of Hueco Mundo's deserts, wisely seeking better lives here in Las Noches, yet with none to sponsor your rise to glory! Yet I, Lord Guto, have the kindness to grant you this chance to prove yourselves worthy! Some of you have struggled for years to earn this opportunity, and now... here you stand. Wounded, covered in blood...” his eyes gleamed, “But victorious. Twenty entered this place, but only the eight of you have proven worthy.”

He paced among the wounded, exhausted survivors, and for a second his eyes lingered on Gilda, “Do not forget, however, that you still must prove yourselves further. There will never be a time where your strength is not tested. Failure, weakness, these things must be purged from your bodies like flaws are beaten out of a blade being forged. Do not disappoint me.”

As Guto walked away, Gilda, barely standing, managed to hobble towards where Greta stood, almost as badly wounded. Gilda put a hand on Greta’s arm, “Glad you made it.”

“Almost didn’t... but hey, we’re in. We’re actually part of an Espada’s horde now.”

“Yeah, things are looking up,” Gilda replied, eyes growing fierce, “And I’m not stopping here! I’ll keep clawing my way up. All the way to the top.”

As the scene froze in place, Fluttershy turned to the real Gilda, who was sitting on one of the stone benches lining the arena with a sour look.

“Why did you want to prove anything to a cruel person like that?”

“You don’t get it.”

“Of course not, that’s why I’m asking,” Fluttershy said with a tone of infinite patience. To this Gilda bristled and turned on her with a furious glare.

“This is what’s normal where I come from! You think this looks ‘cruel’? At least Lord Guto gave us a fighting chance! Better than becoming easy pickings for any other Arrancar that would do whatever they wanted with us! Or being stuck taking our chances out in the desert. So what would someone like you know about it, huh!?”

“I couldn’t possibly know about it, which is why I’m here now, trying to understand. But I do know one thing, Gilda. It’s not me you’re really angry at.”

Veins bulged upon Gilda’s forehead, “Is that right!? I feel pretty damned pissed at you right now I’d say!”

“No, Gilda. I’m who you’re venting your anger at. I’m who you’re lashing out at. I’m not the source of it, and the proof is right here around us,” Fluttershy gestured with several of her arms at the scene around them, “My power is following the course of your anger into the core of your soul. These reflections are of what truly is the cause of your pain, and your anger. And we haven’t reached the end, yet...”

The scene shifted once more, a wave off golden light rearranging all so that they now stood in a brightly lit chamber infused with crimson and gold light from countless statues, tapestries, and other finery of carefully wrought gold and deepest reds. It was a lavish chamber, fit for the most debaucherous monarchs. An even larger, ornate golden throne flanked by statues of tall, regal griffins dominated one end of the chamber. Nearly naked female Arrancar, dressed in the barest pieces of colorful, transparent silk, poured wine and gently fanned Lord Guto as he sat upon his throne. Before him, Gilda knelt, her body covered in still bleeding wounds.

“My Lord Guto, I’ve finished off most of the Soul Reapers who infiltrated our hunting grounds in South Africa. We lost two of our own, but the Soul Reapers took far more casualties-”

Guto simply took  a sip of wine from a painfully gold goblet shaped like a skull and then in several swift motions stood up, moved to Gilda, and backhanded her hard enough to send her sprawling several dozen feet.

“Most of the Soul Reapers, you said? Most!? My orders were to slay every single Reaper that disrupted our hunting ground in the human world. Worthless fool!” 

“But my Lord, only one or two escaped!” Gilda said, getting back to her feet, only to get a swift boot to the gut that doubled her over, coughing.

Guto tossed his wine goblet aside, knelt down, and grabbed Gilda by the hair, turning her face up towards his thunderous expression of displeasure, “One or two is enough to report back to their Seireitei where our hunting grounds are. Now we must find another location with easy pickings. That isolated human tribe was perfect for our needs, now we are short countless souls to feed our troops, and all because you let ‘one or two’ Reapers escape. Gilda, I have been magnanimously patient with you. You do show promise, child. But you must learn that there is no room for failure when you serve me. Certainly not if you strive to attain the rank of Espada yourself.”

“I... I understand, my Lord.”

“No, you do not. But I excel in education,” Guto said as he snapped his fingers, and one of the servant Arrancar swiftly went to retrieve a weapon that looked like a cross between a whip and a spiked chain. Gilda looked upon the weapon, then Guto and took a deep, bracing breath.

“If this is the punishment my Lord decrees, I can endure it.”

“I know,” he said, almost too quietly as he raised the chain whip, “That’s why I chose you in the first place. I know you can endure, and in doing so grow strong. But each mistake must have its price.”

Fluttershy forced herself to watch what followed, and didn’t blame the real Gilda for remaining almost deathly silent next to her. The Gilda in the memory was good to her word, enduring the abuse Guto meted out with a hard, determined mien that refused to break even after she no longer had the strength to remain standing under the powerful blows that rained down upon her. For Fluttershy it was impossible to not have her heart ache at the echoing sound of chain striking flesh that filled the chamber for some time to come. 

When it was done and Guto paused, looking reflectively upon Gilda briefly before he went and replaced the chain whip with no more emotion than someone putting away mere tool after use. He then turned to Gilda, who had fallen to her hands and knees under the bows, but stubbornly remained conscious throughout the ordeal. “You know it’s strange, you are... friends with Greta, yes? That child would be dead by now, if not for you, I imagine. Tch, she has so little of me in her. She far more resembles her mother.”

Gilda twitched slightly, but showed no other reaction as she looked up at Guto past a trail of her own blood coating her face. Guto just shrugged and returned to his throne, “It doesn’t really matter, I suppose. Blood means nothing in my horde. You and Greta have earned your places not through blood, but ability. Hmph, I think the wine has made me sentimental today. Begone, Gilda, and do not speak of this to Greta. And do not fail me like this again. Not if you intend to fulfill your potential. Serve me well, however, and you may one day become the Espada you desire to be.”

Things were silent for some time after the memory froze in place. Time meant little here, Fluttershy knew. Mere seconds had passed on the outside, while she delved into Gilda’s soul.

Gilda herself sat, looking at the image of her battered, bloodied past self, and there was nothing but loathing on her face. 

Fluttershy sat next to her, not saying a word.

“Well...?” Gilda said, “Aren’t you going to say something? Try and tell me it wasn’t my fault? Say some stupid platitudes to try and make me feel better?”

“No,” Fluttershy said, “I think this is something I can’t say any words for that’ll make it go away. I wouldn’t, even if I could. This is something you have to face. Just, maybe not alone.”

“Tch, like I need help. I don’t need help. Maybe she needed help,” Gilda pointed at her past self, snorting in a manner that sounded almost like crying, “I mean, look at her. Look at that stupid face! Like a loyal dog. And then Greta...”

“You didn't know she was Guto's daughter?”

“No, and neither does Greta. And you heard him. It doesn't matter. What’s stupid, what’s so incredibly idiotic it makes me want to puke, was that she, I... back then... I actually thought he cared about his people. I thought that’s why he gave chances to people like me and Greta. That if we worked hard and proved ourselves that we'd be rewarded because we were Lord Guto's favored warriors. That moron bleeding on the floor there thought she was special. Well, she’s not...” Gilda wiped at her eyes and then shouted at the frozen image of her past self, “You’re not special! You’re an idiot! He doesn't give two shits about you! That’s why... that’s why...”

Gilda clamped her eyes shut against the tears and slammed a fist into the ground, “I have to hold onto it! Every scrap of power I’ve taken! This rank of Espada! I have to keep it! Because damn it it’s mine! Mine! Not his. I did this for me! I...”

She seemed to deflate upon herself, hunching over, “But I’ve lost. I lost to a stupid human girl who kicked my ass with kindness, and once this is all done, it won’t even matter if Adagio or Grogar win or lose, or if Smooze survives or not... I’m done. Lord Tirek won’t accept this failure. I’ll be stripped of my rank, and then I’ll be lucky if I can lick Guto’s boots hard enough for him to take me back into the horde, and a part of me would rather die than do that! So you'd better finish me off while you’ve got the chance.”

Her tirade was stopped by a very strong hug from a girl sporting six arms. Gilda couldn’t breath for a second, so fierce was Fluttershy’s hug. 

“You know I’m not going to do that. I’m just trying to help you let go of all this pain and anger you’ve been carrying around. Why hold onto it so tightly?”

“How the hell should I know? It’s kept me going. Made me feel strong,” Gilda said, voice steaming with bitter heat, “I can’t stand being so weak. That’s why Adagio pisses me off so much. She’s so insanely strong, and she makes it look easy. I’ve worked so hard to be strong enough that nothing can hurt me anymore...”

Fluttershy pulled back a bit so she could look Gilda in the eyes, “Then don’t let Guto hurt you anymore. You’ve held this anger inside you for so long... don’t you think it’s time to let go of it, at least a little, and start living for yourself instead of these memories?”

“You’re just saying this crap because you want me to stop fighting. You don’t actually care.”

“Gilda, I’m doing this because I do care. If I didn’t, why wouldn’t I have let my friend Rarity take care of you instead of doing things this way?”

“I don’t know, because you’re a bleeding heart softie?”

“Well, yes, that too, but does that make anything I’ve said wrong?” Fluttershy said, gesturing at the memory, “Do you really think you should keep hating yourself and these memories, when you know you’re stronger than this?”

Gilda stared at the scene of her past, and slowly closed her eyes again and let out a long, slow breath like the sound one might make before diving off a cliff one isn’t sure there’s water beneath or rocks. “Funny thing is, that hate’s kept me going for so long, I honestly don’t know what I’m going to do without it.”

Fluttershy stood, and offered Gilda a hand up, “Don’t you think it’s time to find out?”

With a hesitant hand, Gilda took Fluttershy’s, and was lifted up, and the world turned to radiant gold.

----------

Fluttershy stood, pulling a now fully conscious, if somewhat shaky Gilda to her feet. Rarity had just reached Smooze, who seemed a little worse for wear but otherwise still alive. All of three seconds had gone by while Fluttershy and Gilda had linked souls. Gilda swayed on her feet, nearly falling over, until Fluttershy steadied her with with three of her hands.

“Fluttershy, darling, is everything alright over there?” Rarity called, warily creating several floating, crystalline weapons as she eyed Gilda cautiously.

Gilda blinked at the scene around her, and at her fallen spear. Then she looked at Fluttershy with a rather unsteady expression of mixed emotions. She slowly picked up her spear... and then sighed as it started to glow red. The spear had pieces of it fleck off into red motes until it faded into the form of Gilda’s sealed Zanpaktou. Her own body changed in a similar fashion, the armor and helmet vanishing in streams of red light until Gilda was left in her battered, torn clothing.

“I’m done here,” Gilda said, “I don’t have the energy to keep fighting, even if I wanted to.”

“Let me heal your wounds,” Fluttershy said, and Gilda looked her askance.

“Look, you might have pulled some weird mental power that’s... helped me see a few things, but that isn’t making us friends, and I don’t need help-”

Fluttershy’s eyes bored into her, “Let me heal you.”

Gilda blinked, turned, and sat down crossed legged without a thought. She then grimaced at Fluttershy, who offered her an apologetic shrug as she knelt in front of Gilda. Two of the golden hands of light moved out from her main halo and went to either side of Gilda. Soft light bathed the Arrancar, gradually causing her injuries to start fading. Rarity created a small crystal platform for Smooze to climb upon, and used it to bring both herself and Smooze down to where Flutteshy and Gilda were.

“Fluttershy, are you sure that’s a good idea? She was just attempting to murder us, I’ll remind you.”

Gilda made a soft grunt, glancing back at Rarity, “Don’t look at me. This wasn’t my idea. I told her to finish me off.”

Fluttershy let out a light, tingling laugh, “It’s okay, Rarity. After using my power on her, Gilda can’t attack me.”

“Huh?” Gilda said, and blinked, “Wait, what do you mean I can’t attack you?” She tried raising a hand, and it went right back down after twitching for a second. “Oh hell...”

“Sorry, I really do want to help you get over your issues, but in case you weren’t willing to overcome your problems or decided to start fighting again I did make sure to add a little insurance,” Fluttershy said, offering a kind but oddly hard smile, “I’m nice. Not stupid.”

Gilda looked at her... then smiled slightly, barking out a laugh, “Good. Would’ve pissed me off if I lost to someone who was a total naive dweeb.” 

Just then, a fiery streak of light slammed down from above, landing a few paces away in the crater’s center. Flames washed off of Sunset Shimmer as she brandished her sword and shield, “Fluttershy, Rarity, I’m here to... uh... help?”

Sunset’s impressive entrance was somewhat dampened as she cocked her head and noticed Gilda and Fluttershy standing side by side, apparently talking quite casually with one another. Sunset blinked, taking in the sight of Fluttershy’s new form, then glanced at Rarity. “Um, soooo... what did I miss?”