Equestria Girls: Friendship Souls

by thatguyvex


Episode 123: Resolution

Episode 123: Resolution

Euphoric glee glazed Midnight’s features as she felt the heat of the blood pumping through her, and Twilight’s, body. There was something inherently faded and dull about the sensations she felt while a phantom in Twilight’s mind. This, however, was flesh and blood, and she gave herself a loving, sensual hug just to feel skin again. She stretched and reveled in the oh so real pain in Twilight’s already battered body. Any sensation was pleasant at this point, but she knew she ought to do something about the damage.

Healing magic was problematic at the best of times, but Midnight’s memory of spell knowledge from when she was connected to magic’s very essence was still largely complete. She couldn’t pull off true miracles like... well, best not to concern herself with what she couldn’t do, but she could still handle some of the damage that had been inflicted on her and Twilight's shared body.

“Now,” she said as she ran a hand over herself, a gleam of intense purple magic aura coating her body and stimulating her body’s natural healing by several magnitudes, “Sapphire Shores, was it? I’m about to demolish you, but before that, satisfy my curiosity and tell me, just what are you seeing now with that Quintessence of yours? Is Twilight still going to kill Sombra? Just wondering what me being in charge does to your little predictions.”

Sapphire Shores was as still as a silver statue, but a rage fueled grimace turned her lips as her wing enclosed eyes gazed at Midnight, “My eyes see through you. Call yourself what you will, but you are still Twilight Sparkle. The worst of her, I think, and still the doom of our King hangs upon you, clearer now than ever.”

“That right?” Midnight’s smile turned flat, “You must be even more of an uptight shut-in than Twilight is. Now that I think about it, you two really do have a lot in common. You jump to conclusions, overthink things, and don’t have the courage to go after what you want and instead hide your real feelings, then pretend like you’re doing what’s best for everyone. I think crushing you is going to be cathartic.”

“Come and try, devilish child. My holy form shall not be bested by a mere girl drunk on a foreign world’s power!” Sapphire Shores declared in a booming voice like a choir of trumpets, her eight wings gleaming with shining rays of light as they unfurled further. Silver bolts of light cascaded from them, each ray of mercury colored power rushing forward at transcendent speed. 

Midnight breathed out, her smile returning to it’s genuine mirth, as she swept a hand out and tapped into the deep well of magic ingrained into her and Twilight’s body and soul. 

None other than her really understood what had happened that day, at the Friendship Games, and now that Midnight was in control once again, but this time with a somewhat different disposition... well, she wanted to educate her other self.

Inside the mindscape within, Twilight Sparkle was still gaining her bearings. She’d never been in the ‘back seat’ so to speak, and it felt different in many ways. Even compared to when she’d visited her mindscape before, she felt... less real, somehow. Her sense of body definition was weaker, and even when she tried to touch her own arm it was like touching an object through a dense cushion.

“Unnerving, isn’t it?” Twilight heard Midnight say, the voice echoing across their collective mind.

Twilight could still vaguely sense and feel what was actually happening to their body, and saw Sapphire Shore’s attack incoming, and even her sense of urgency and fear was somehow dulled. “Midnight, shouldn’t we be dodging that attack?”

“In a second,” Midnight said, “I just wanted to show you something.”

Midnight wasn’t visible in any sense of the term, but Twilight got a sensation of Midnight turning her head, and Twilight followed the motion to a point in the vast star field of their mind, somewhere vaguely pointing downward. There, she saw something glitter. Purple sparks danced in geometric patterns, at first small, then gradually gaining in size and shape as more and more sparks branched out between the stairs and formed more lines of violet light in the darkness. Shapes became symbols, symbols became words, words became script and sentence, yet somehow then became denser, as if there was something beyond language she was seeing. An entire galaxy of meaning being scrawled across her mind in purple, violet, teal, and brilliant white images upon a circular field at the bottom of her mind.

“W...what am I looking at?” Twilight asked.

“Magic,” Midnight said, “All of it. The script that birthed a world and gave it shape. When you tapped into the magic within those girls, sucked it out and then burned into us... you made this. Think of it like a copy of the instruction manual for reality, or at least the Equestrian reality. When I was born, I knew all of this, or at least a lot of it. I’ve lost some of the meaning, the ‘spells’ contained in this manual, but I know enough to put this Sapphire Shores bitch on her ass.”

“Why are you showing me this?” Twilight said, still trying to absorb what she was seeing. She couldn’t even focus on a single small portion of this ‘manual’ without feeling like she was trying to pull in the knowledge of an entire solar system’s worth of information.

“Because while I’m having fun with our body I thought it was fair you got to have some fun in our mind,” Midnight said playfully, “Don’t say I never gave you anything, right? Just don’t go crazy trying to study it. When I knew all of that stuff at once, well, you saw how I acted. Besides, I couldn’t keep this hidden from you since when I use our magic, this whole damn place lights up.”

And Twilight could see that, as a flare of brilliant light burst up from the center of the massive, intertwining sea of script and a fountain of multi-colored light shot forth into the heavens of her mind. Twilight could feel the unbridled magical power being drawn out of her, vast reserves she’d never felt before because unlike Midnight she hadn’t even known they were there.

Now that she could see and feel that magic, Twilight realized it was an incredibly deep reservoir, but not without limits. For now, all she could do was remain in her mind and watch as Midnight fought.

Back within the relative “real-time” of the battle itself, Midnight drew forth both magic and knowledge to craft spells at a rate so swift and natural it was effectively willing the spells into existence without the same need for slow channeling through a horn or forming any magical circles. Doing things this way was more power intensive, and she knew her magic reserves weren’t truly limitless, but she hadn’t gotten to stretch her magic muscles in awhile so she fully intended to enjoy herself.

Circular distortions in the air that shimmered like mirrors formed in dozens of multitudes in the air in front of her, and the silver bolts from Sapphire Shore’s wings flew right into these distortions like fish diving into the water. Identical distortions opened up behind Sapphire, and spat out her own attack straight at her from behind. More than that, as each silver bolt of reishi emerged, it was laced with a teal flame of magic that was placed there by a secondary spell attached to the distortion spell. This meant that as the bolts emerged and flew towards Sapphire, they started to explode in hails of witchfire, buffeting the angelic woman in a firestorm of magic and her own reishi.

Sapphire Shores growled, and dispersed the reishi of her attack while enduring the scorching bath of magical fire. It inflamed her hatred of Twilight to see her using a power all too similar to her King’s Absolute. Magic was a dangerously versatile thing, as it was seemingly all powers at once, limited only by its user’s knowledge and magical energy.

Not a weak minded combatant by any means, Sapphire Shores changed her tactics immediately. Instead of targeting Midnight, she’d target those still vulnerable. She had her pick among those Sternritter weaker than herself, or the aged, wounded Soul Reaper. As some part of her didn’t actually desire the deaths of more Quincy, she focused upon Captain Starswirl, and with a gesture of her bow, a literal wave of liquid silver reishi exploded from around her. Expanding rapidly, the tide of reishi filled the air beneath Starswirl like a silver lake. 

“Can your magic save any of your allies, child?” Sapphire said as her blow flared brightly and fired into the silver lake with a blinding white beam. The silver plane of liquid reishi reacted by bubbling and exploding with fiery geysers of silver power, creating a field of destructive pillars all around Starswirl. The Soul Reaper guarded his body with his wide warfan Zanpaktou, exuding spiritual chemicals from it that surrounded him like a white foam. However even this intensive barrier of spiritually heat resistant chemicals was nearly instantly burned away by the intensity of the reishi geysers that Sapphire Shores had made.

Midnight, a mere moment later, rushed the lake of bubbling silver and took up her own bow, which was changing in shape as she poured magic into it. Twilight’s Quincy bow was now burning with lines of teal witchfire and growing black feathers upon the ends of its arms, while the center portion’s beak-like protrusions grew in size and sharpened at the ends.

Channeling magic through the bow, Midnight unleashed an arrow that shone like a frozen blue star. Upon impact with the silver lake, the arrow exploded in an instant flash of absolute cold, freezing over the reishi with magical born sheets of ice. Midnight could feel the magic and spirit particles within Sapphire’s control interacting in a mad dance of subatomic dominance. Magic and spirit energy were fundamentally different, yet still were the essential building blocks of their respective realities. Yet deeper than that, it was as if they still fit together like pieces to a larger whole. Midnight’s magic could override Sapphire Shores Quintessence, but not necessarily overcome the brute force of her spirit energy.

In that regard, Midnight had to begrudgingly admit that she and Sapphire Shores were very close in terms of pure power. But Midnight held the advantage of versatility, and intended to make full use of the fact to end this in a manner that Sapphire Shores would never expect, but Midnight imagined Twilight was going to appreciate.

Not that Sapphire Shores was going to make it easy. Midnight’s very existence, the magic that poured from her body like a surging ocean wave, threw the predictive abilities of her Quintessence into confusion. That said, Sapphire could still use her own common sense to guess her opponent’s actions and had surmised that striking at Starswirl would draw Midnight in. So it was that Sapphire Shores was already moving at a godly speed to appear behind Midnight, the six crests of her bow filled with a cosmic corona of light. An arrow of silver luminescence was thrust out like a spear, aimed at Midnight’s spine.

A purple burst of light tore Midnight from one point in space to another, a teleport spell cast at the speed of thought. Even so Midnight felt the bite of the arrow, which had managed to get several centimetres into her flesh before she literally displaced her physical atoms out of the arrow’s path. Without Blut Vene she might have lost her spinal cord in that instant. Fortunately Midnight knew how to use Quincy techniques, absorbed from Twilight’s mind.

Sapphire Shores wore frozen death on her face as her wings brimmed with celestial light. Before she could pursue Midnight, however, prismatic beams darted towards her from the side. Sapphire flipped over them like a hawk, turning her death glare towards Cadence, whose butterfly wings discharged another steam of powerful multi-colored beams.

A wall of silver liquid sprang up in front of Sapphire to absorb the beams, but at the same time behind her Filthy Rich and Soarin appeared. Instead of aiming his bow, Soarin had his hand placed on Filthy Rich’s musket, while the elder Sternritter narrowed his eyes at Sapphire. His musket’s barrel was covered in a wave of gold which transformed it into the shape of a portable cannon. Upon firing, the cannon disgorged a golden shell of reishi that create a cone of force as it rushed Sapphire. In the same moment, Soarin poured the power of the Echo into the shell, or rather the noise it generated, to create a massive sonic vibration that was carried along with the shell.

With her defenses focused on Cadence, Sapphire wasn’t able to fully turn against the shell and was struck in her shoulder, the shell exploding with both a golden burst of reishi and a vibrating wave of pure sonic force. Whether this attack did any real damage or not was hard to tell, but it did knock even Sapphire’s large body off balance and sent her briefly reeling through the air.

“Hah! Good one,” Midnight called out, and held up her free hand to snap her fingers, “Now all of you; group huddle.”

With the snap of her fingers everyone in the sphere save for Sapphire Shores found themselves teleported to Midnight’s location. Even Spoiled Rich and Gladmane found that they were instantly shifted, magical bindings and all, into a circular formation around Midnight. With another finger snap, Midnight cast a spell that coated the entire world into a flat, sullen gray shade, except for herself and the people around her. Even Sapphire Shores was cast in gray, and was frozen in place with a murderous look of wrath etched upon her statuesque features.

“What in the world?” Cadence said, looking around, “Twilight, what did you just do?”

“First off, Midnight, not Twilight. Hello Cadence, it’s actually nice to get to talk to you for a second,” Midnight said, wearing a smirk laced with innuendo as she put a hand on her hip and leaned towards the other woman, “So, when did you get my bro’s bun in your oven? I thought Shining Armor, aka Mr. Bastion, would know the value of ‘protection’.”

Pure scarlet washed over Cadence as she flinched back, stammering, “I... I didn’t know I was... look, it doesn’t matter right now! As for you, are you the same personality that took over Twilight before?”

“I prefer to think of it as shared a body with Twilight, but call it what you like,” Midnight said, holding up a finger, “But to set things straight, this time around Twilight’s let me behind the wheel of her own free will, and I will be handing things back over to her as soon as we finish dealing with Sapphire Shores’ temper tantrum.”

“How can I know I can trust you?” Cadence asked, eyeing Midnight with uncertainty. Midnight was about to respond, but Filthy Rich spoke first.

“What choice do we have, Cadence? She is here, and in possession of seemingly enough power to end this battle. We don’t require trust to make use of the advantage she represents as an ally.”

“Well said, Rich, I knew there was something about you I liked. Nice and practical,” Midnight said, and cast a look towards Soarin and Starswirl, “What about you two? Any objections to voice here?”

Soarin was looking at her with pale features and distracted eyes, which seemed entirely intent on not looking towards Midnight’s face, or any other part of her body for that matter. She smirked in knowing satisfaction that the young fellow was trying really hard not to notice how her outfit accentuated curves that Twilight probably didn’t even realize she had. It was cute, that Soarin was going for gentlemanly. 

“I’m fine with it. We need to win, whatever it takes,” Soarin said, a simple sincerity entering his voice, “I'm here to protect Twilight, so I'm down for anything that'll help her to survive this.”

“Agreed,” said Staswirl, his own gaze unashamedly looking over Midnight, but with absolutely no hint of carnal interest, but rather a probing academic scrutiny, “I have quite a few questions about your present form and condition, Miss Midnight, but such analysis can wait until a more proper time. I take it you’ve used magic to create some manner of slowed or stopped time?”

“I was about to ask just why everything appears to have stopped besides us,” said Filthy Rich.

Midnight grinned in pure pride, “It’s not a true Time Stop. That’s High Magic. But this is about as close as I can get on the fly while outside of Equestria’s magical field. Right now Sapphire and this space is stuck at about a hundredth of normal time dilation. Before you ask, no we can’t attack her in this state, because the only matter that can move or be affected during this kind of spell is our own. This is just so I can tell you all the plan. Oh, and deal with this jackass.”

Upon that last statement she turned to Gladmane, who was still trying to yank his bonds free, although he froze as Midnight looked at him. Midnight’s smile deepened with a sinister quality as she made a gesture and removed the gag around Gladmane’s mouth. Sweatdrops glistened coldly upon his slick brow as he coughed politely.

“Ahem, before you do anything rash, I can offer my assistance-”

“Nope. No negotiations here. Wouldn’t trust you to not pull a fast one,” Midnight said, “And I prefer my servants loyally compliant, personally. That said, I do have a use for you, but I’m not trusting your consent on the matter. Cadence, if you please?”

“If I please?” Cadence asked, and Midnight gave her a flat look, pointing at Gladmane.

“Your Schrift. Lust. Use it on him. His own Schrift will be handy. I could try charm spells, but I’m not going to gamble with how effective those will be when I know your Schrift will work.”

“I’m not objecting, but won’t Sapphire Shores be able to use the Quintessence to alter the effects of the Lust and break it?” said Cadence, “Even when I hit her with my arrows, I can’t get the Lust to take hold on her.”

“That’s because Twilight didn’t pump you up with enough magic, and Sapphire’s defenses are too strong,” Midnight raised a finger and a mote of intensely bright magic sparked into existence in a teal flicker, “I can infuse you all with much more magic, fortifying your Quincy powers. Sapphire won’t be able to deal with them so easily.”

With a gesture, that spark of magic became a stream of incandescent power that struck Cadence, and flowed over her body with a healthy glow of magical might. She flinched at the unusual sensation for a moment, then looked at her glowing hands with a faint appreciation, if still giving Midnight an apprehensive look. 

“Very well then,” she said, and approached Gladmane, who started to stammer.

“N-now wait a moment, I’d be willing to help on my own. It’s clear Sapphire has gone a tad mad, so if you’d give me a chance I’ll cooperate.”

“I’m afraid I’m in agreement with Midnight,” Cadence said, reaching out so she grasped his head on either side with her hands, her butterfly wings enclosing him, “We can’t take any risks.”

The pulsating sheen of rainbow colors rose in frequency within her wings, strobing faster and casting Gladmane in a coating of overlapping lights. His next words faded from his mouth and his eyes turned into placid lakes that reflected the prismatic dance from Cadence’s wings. Within moments his body slackened, losing all tension, and a dreamy look settled upon his features.

Next to him, Spoiled Rich was looking wild eyed with fear, but was thoroughly unable to move or speak. 

“Command me,” Gladmane said, with a hefty, eager breath, his eyes filled with mindless devotion. Cadence stood back, glancing towards Midnight.

“He’s ours. So, what is this plan of yours?”

----------

Sapphire Shores had not expected to be pressed so hard. Certainly she’d known that taking on so many of her fellow Sternritter at once might prove a little challenging, but Twilight Sparkle was a barely tested girl, and only Cadence possessed a Schrift that was potentially dangerous. Twilight’s Schrift had potential as well, but was still too underdeveloped to worry that much about, and neither the Mason or Echo were that powerful... at least when compared to the Quintessence.

It was that damnable magic that was the problem! It could do too many unpredictable things, while eluding her Quintessence's power to manipulate reishi at its most base level. It was due to residual magic that Filthy Rich’s and Soarin’s combined attack had hit her as hard as it did and thrown her off balance through the air.

She recovered fast, snapping her wings out and halting herself as she spun, ready to punish her attackers with violent vengeance. But her targets weren’t where they’d been a mere instant ago. In fact, no one within the sphere was, and Sapphire Shores searched with all her senses to try and pinpoint them. It took less than a moment to spot them, all of them, lined up above her.

To her mild surprise Gladmane was now free of his bonds and stood with them, although the glazed cast to his eyes told Sapphire that Cadence had gotten to him through the Lust. Beyond that, each and every single one of her opponents, from the Sternritter, to the Soul Reaper Captain, to her former co-conspirator were infused with a luminous haze of purple and teal light. Magic. 

At the center of the group was Midnight Sparkle, holding aloft her bow which was channeling so much magic that the former dark purple construction of the bow was now like a solid beam of raw teal light that flickered with violet flares and formed a string of starlight. 

“Ready to end this?” Midnight called down to Sapphire.

“With your death,”  Sapphire replied, raising her own bow of shining silver. Though covered by wings, her eyes still beheld Midnight Sparkle with a blind intensity and consumed devotion to her King. She could still see Sombra standing over her when she was still that small, frightened child, her beloved Savoir. “I will never allow him to come to harm. Not from you. Not from me. Never.”

Midnight’s casual manner vanished with a moment of quiet, resolved understanding, “You’re blind, and I don’t have the patience to open your eyes gently. So I’m going to tear them open and burn the truth into them. Hope you’re prepared.” 

And so the fight drew towards its final conclusion as Midnight and her companions descended upon Sapphire, and both women fired simultaneous arrows from their bows at one another. An arrow of pure radiant silver rushed headlong into a bolt of raw burning teal. Reishi and magic collided in an interaction of power, particles, and conflicting physics that ripped through reality in a warbling mass before exploding in a brilliant flash that shook the entire prison dimension.

Before the cacophony of energies even began to subside, Sapphire Shores was in motion. Every eye upon her metallic wings filled with baleful silver power as she flew up to met her foes, drawing forth reishi from both within and without to ready a punishing tumult of attacks. Her body was struck by a sudden heaviness, and her momentum was slowed. Looking beyond the fading nimbus of conflicting energies from where her and Midnight’s arrow collided, she saw the mentally dominated Gladmane with his trademark ornate pistol formed. It barked out shots that spread a canopy of magnified gravity around Sapphire Shores, the bullets glinting with the magic Midnight had enchanted into her allies.

The Weight couldn’t possibly hold her, of course. Especially not if Gladmane didn’t have time to properly increase it, as he usually needed to ramp it up over the course of a fight. But it did slow her, infuriatingly enough, as Midnight’s other allies all leaped into the fray.

Filthy Rich remained up above near Midnight, his musket letting off several shots that sent golden balls of reishi spinning in complex patterns towards Sapphire, spiraling this way and that in an attempt to confuse her before coming in. She couldn’t afford to ignore these shots, either, for they were just as pumped up with flares of magic as Gladmane’s had been. With her wings she turned over and reversed direction, flying down while firing a thicket of reishi beams from her wing’s eyes. 

Each of Filthy Rich’s bullets were pierced by the beams, but then they proceeded to explode, for Filthy Rich had allowed Starswirl to use his Zanpaktou to lace the bullets before being fired with a core of explosive chemicals. The result were incredibly loud explosions that buffeted Sapphire Shores from no more than a few meters away. Then Soarin, having flown down to match her level, fired his own arrows into the explosions. What was merely loud then became a sonic burst of power as the Echo took the explosions and magnified their vibrations dozens of times over.

Further magnified by magic, this attack drew genuine pain from Sapphire as she was hammered by the vibrations, but she did not relent and flew down further, leveling off and concentrating her power within the tips of her eight wings. Silver arrows flowed into being at each wing-tip, their liquid silver expanse as large as halberds as she fired them, four at Soarin, and four at Cadence, who’d also descended on her other flank.

The speed of her arrows was supreme, and her foes could not dodge all of them, although they tried. Soarin could only evade one, while Cadence evaded two, but both were still struck... or they would have been if magical crests did not flare into existence around them, shells of thick purple magic forming to absorb Sapphire’s blows. 

At least, mostly. With the Quintessence Sapphire still controlled her reishi arrows even after they broke upon impact with the magical shields, and was able to sharpen the shards of the shattered arrows to piercing darts. Soarin was struck multiple times in the chest, while Cadence was able to shield herself with an arm, stabbed there several times but protecting her vitals.

Soarin grunted in pain, blood soaking his uniform, but the darts hadn’t penetrated his Blut Vene fully due to Midnight’s magic enhancing his whole body. He was injured, but still in the fight.

By now Midnight had made her next move, a circular swath of teal witchfire spreading from around her. Within a second the magical energies formed a halo of roaring power that flickered with a spectrum of purples, greens, and blues. Then, from this mighty circle, dropped a mountain. Not a literal mountain, but Sapphire’s eyes widened as a chunk of stone roughly the size of a decently large office building was conjured from thin air and dropped towards her like an anvil.

It’s speed of descent was increased by the field of boosted gravity from Gladmane’s Schrift, giving Sapphire Shores even less time to react as she raised her bow and fired another bus-sized silver arrow into the descending mass of solid rock. The arrow impacted with earth shattering force; in this case quite literally as the humongous edifice of stone was broken into several smaller chunks that fell to either side of Sapphire Shores.

Chunks that instantly halted in mid-air and began to change. Sapphire’s eyes sharply cut to the left as she spotted Filthy Rich, who had descended with the hunk of rock. Now he placed his hands upon one of the broken chunks and it immediately began to change, transmuting through the Mason into a golden burst of... chains!? The chains spread out and smashed into the other chunks of rock, transmuting them in turn into even more chains, all anchored by large inverted pyramid shapes that held solid in the air. All was suffused by the teal glow of Midnight’s magic.

The chains rushed Sapphire from all sides, and she let out a snarling noise unfit for civilized lips as she tried to use the beams of reishi from her wings to wipe them out. Now, however, Midnight descended in a popping flash of teleportation, and with a sweep of one hand over fifty magical crests took shape around her. She then drew back an arrow on her bow, and that same arrow was replicated amid the magical circles, and in a deafening roar of witchfire the barrage of magically charged reishi arrows blasted down upon Sapphire Shores. Although the barrage was brutal, Sapphire’s body was durable beyond any convention of Blut Vene and even with the magic she weathered the storm. 

That said, the purpose of the barrage had not been merely to inflict damage, but to carry Twilight’s Quincy reishi down to Sapphire and blanket her with it, allowing Midnight to draw upon Twilight’s Schrift. Within their shared mindscape Twilight was helping Midnight draw out the power of the Variable, and make it so that Sapphire’s wing beams all curved around the chains that Filthy Rich had created.

In that manner the mass of golden chains smashed into Sapphire, wrapping her legs, arms, torso, and most importantly wrapped tightly around her wings. Spikes grew from the chains, piercing into the wings and seeking to bind them tighter.

“No! I will not be stopped here! I will protect him!” Sapphire’s voice rose like thunder in a tempest, and she poured the might of the Quintessence into Filthy Rich’s chains, seeking to dismantle them on a particle level.

And Midnight’s magic was there to stop the Quintessence as Midnight threw out streams of power to infuse the chains, coating them in flickering auras of witchfire. 

Even so, Sapphire would not be finished. Her body, every silver inch of her angelic body, blazed with light as she called out an incantation.

“Göttliche Bildnissäulen!” (Divine Effigy Pillars)

Silver poured from her, between the bindings of the chains, and in less than a second four pillars of raw silver rose into being around her. Carved like marble supports of a grand Roman temple, the pillars were topped by silver busts of Sapphire Shore’s transformed features, angel wings spreading from their sides. The effigies as one opened eyes of pure white light and screamed trumpet calls as they unleashed bolts of silver fire upon Midnight Sparkle.

Not fast enough to teleport before the bolts, which moved at something approaching light speed, Midnight was wracked by explosions of silver flame. She raised a shield of magic and activated Blut Vene to its maximum, but she was still thrown around like a leaf within a storm, her skin blistering under the painful waves of explosions.

Starswirl rushed to her defense, throwing himself towards her and speaking an incantation of his own.

“Bakudo Number Eighty One: Danku!”

The flat plane of transparent force snapped into being in front of Midnight and briefly halted the bolts of silver fire from the pillars, long enough for Starswirl to Flash Step to Midnight’s side and grip her shoulder as she teleported them both out of the way. 

The pillars hardly ceased their firing, re-targeting their wrath upon Soarin, Cadence, and Filthy Rich. Retina burning bolts of silver heaven’s fire blasted out in all directions, melting through chains as they tried to reach the Sternritter. Filthy Rich, not daring to move, lest his Schirft’s potency lessen, used the Mason to slam a wall of chains in front of himself, and augmented it with his own blood, essentially reinforcing the chains with Blut Vene. Even so the wall was devastated by the streaking spears of silver flame, the magically and spiritually reinforced metal burning white hot to the near melting point.

Cadence had to risk everything to fly through the storm of bolts to reach Soarin, who was too badly injured to dodge effectively. He stumbled in mid-air, the darts embedded in his flesh disrupting his concentration as he tried to use Hirenkyaku. Cadence cried out in pain herself as a silver bolt pierced one of her butterfly wings and burned a hole through it like it was nothing more than paper, and even burned her side, melting her crystal armor against her hip. Yet she put on a burst of speed and caught Saorin in time to pull him away from a convergence of silver bolts that impacted into a conflagration of blinding light. 

Midnight gripped Starswirl’s arm in thanks but didn’t have time to so much as voice appreciation for his help before she flapped her ethereal wings and burst down towards where Filthy Rich was, channeling her magic into the melting wall of chains. Magical runes spread through the chains, reinforcing them further, while Midnight drew upon the Variable to change the chains’ fundamental melting point to make it even harder for them to break. 

“Don’t let up!” she shouted to her companions, “Pin her down with everything you’ve got!”

“Such goes without saying,” Starswirl breathed, holding his left hand in a complex gesture as he rushed through the motions of a Kido incantation, although the strain and sweat on his face suggested even he was running out of stamina, “Bakudo Number Seventy Nine: Kuyo Shibari! (Nine Sun Bind)

Eight black spheres, outlined in purple energy, snapped into existence around Sapphire Shore’s already chain wrapped body, while a ninth sphere appeared in the center of her chest right above the symbol of an eye she had engraved there. The binding energies of the Kido spell sought to further immobilize her and dampen her reiatsu, but Sapphire’s power just seemed to keep going as she roared out, “Even if I must burn my soul to cinders, I will stop the fate I see before me!”

The four pillars all became engulfed in a nimbus of incandescent heaven-fire, silver light spilling out as each effigy opened it’s metallic lips and fired beams of solid light out, two heading for Midnight, one aimed at Starswirl, and another rocketing towards Filthy Rich behind his wall of chains.

Midnight attempted the same she had once before, summon a redirection spell that created two large circular distortions in the air in front of her, like mirrors, that she hoped to use to shift the beams coming her way. Yet upon impact, instead of being absorbed, the solid beams of silver light cracked the foundations of Midnight’s spells! Such was the overwhelming reiatsu contained in Sapphire’s desperate attack that even the fundamental laws of magic were being disrupted by pure force.

Filthy Rich’s wall of chains, even reinforced by magic, fared little better, melting through in seconds and forcing the man to either move, or risk getting vaporized. This weakened his direct connection to the rest of his chains, slackening their grip on Sapphire Shores, who even under the influence of a high level binding Kido started to flex her wings and may well have broken free then and there... if not for two unlikely forms of interference.

The first was that Gladmane, under Cadence’s mental domination and following the instructions he’d been given, flew down closer and fired rapid shots from his pistol, striking Sapphire’s wings and redoubling the effects of the Weight upon them by concentrating the gravity effects directly upon the wings themselves. The second factor was Soarin, before even Cadence could react, dredged up the last of his energy and focus and managed to move in a blink of high speed to reach Sapphire Shore’s at head level where he aimed his bow at point blank range.

“No matter what, I won’t let you hurt Twilight! Erschütterung!” (Disruption)

What happened was not an arrow fired from his bow, but rather a series of small blue reishi spheres swirled out and began to clatter against one another at high speed, creating an incredibly loud set of repeated chimes. Then, with the Echo, this sound grew into a storm of vibrations that reverberated hundreds of times over across both Soarin and Sapphire Shores, intensifying with each echo of noise.

Sapphire Shores screamed, less in pain and more in elemental frustration as the increased weight on her wings and the sudden pummeling of vibrations around her skull caused her to lose focus and also the shot she had at freedom. In pure reflex she struck out at her tormentors. The wings around her eyes flew open, and with her eyes revealed it was clear to see that they were no longer human; but depthless pools of white radiance. Turning that baleful gaze upon Soarin, she fired directly into him with a combined set of silver beams that lanced through his chest and sent him spinning away like a rag-doll.

Soarin!, Twilight screamed in Midnight’s mind, and Midnight echoed the word, although hers was more a pained whisper than a scream. Her own wings flexed and she was rushing Sapphire, her whisper turning into a shout, “Cadence! Now!”

There wasn’t going to be another chance. All of them knew it. Filthy Rich, with his remaining might, rushed back to his chains and poured all his reiatsu through the Mason. Chains repaired themselves and constricted around Sapphire Shores, tearing into her silver wings. Starswirl used Flash Step to appear above Sapphire Shores and swung his Zanpaktou down to send a wave of hardening chemical to splash down upon her and the chains, further limiting her movement.

The effigy pillars blasted out a fresh barrage of radiant bolts, but Midnight flew through the hellstorm, erecting magical barriers to catch some of the bolts while relying on pure speed to weave her way through the rest. She reached the front side of Sapphire, and pulled back her right hand. Blazing lines of purple light spilled across her skin, forming sharp patterns through her arm and hand, which in turn was engulfed in violet energy.

Sapphire Shore’s eyes of pure white turned to Midnight, her expression a resolute visage of divine fury as she unleashed the twin beams once more. Midnight rushed them, using her bow like a shield to catch the beams. The power of those beams was beyond immense, and Midnight felt the bow she and Twilight had forged together with spiritual power and magic both start to crack and break. The Hexenfaust burst from her arm, sending sparkling fragments flying, some of which tore at Midnight’s own flesh. She wasn't concerned about the gauntlet. Another would be built. She pressed on into Sapphire's shining beams, and as her bow shattered in her hand she shoved the remains of it into Sapphire Shore’s face, blinding her eyes. Then, with her other hand, the one engulfed in purple magical power, she slammed that fist right into Sapphire Shore’s chest with a metallic crack of sound that echoed through the entire prison dimension.

A roar tore itself from Midnight’s lips as she poured all of her magic into Sapphire Shores, seeking to strip away her armor, her defenses, to quell even the very might of the Quintessence. Or rather, force the Quintessence to react to the invasion of magic. Sapphire’s metallic skin peeled back, exposing raw flesh beneath, the near impenetrable defenses, for a bare instant, were left open.

And Cadence was there to act within that instant.

Right behind Midnight she’d flown, and raised her crystalline blue armbow. A single pure arrow of pink flew forth as Cadence intoned her own strongest attack, and an ability she’d never had to use until this point, “Giftige Liebe.” (Poisonous Love)

The sliver of pink beyond pink flew straight into Sapphire Shore’s unprotected heart. 

There, the poison within went to work. No mere toxin, this was instead the essence of the Lust in its strongest form. A reishi based substance that overrode all thought and will, save service to it’s creator. Cadence had never used this before for two reasons. One was that, despite it’s overwhelming potency once it got into the bloodstream, it was incredibly easy to defend against for the concentrated Lust was physically no stronger than glass. Even an average Blut Vene could deflect it. That meant her opponent had to be rendered largely defenseless or be taken by surprise for it to work. 

The second reason were that, unlike her other forms of Lust, the effects were irreversible. It was the strongest Lust for it lasted eternally. An ‘love’ as everlasting as it was poisonous. She actually kind of hated it, and hoped to never have to use it.

But when she, Midnight, and the others had planned their attack upon Sapphire Shores there’d been no other viable trump card to use. And even with all their planning in that timeless space Midnight had created, it’d taken everything they had just to immobilize Sapphire Shores long enough for an opening to be created for Cadence to use the Giftige Liebe.

Such was the power of the Schutzstaffel Sapphire Shores, King Sombra’s strongest, and most trusted servant of six centuries. It had taken five other Sternritter and a Soul Reaper Captain, using all of their power, just to scrape out a victory... and one that still cost one of them their lives. 

As the Lust’s most insidious power spread through her, Sapphire Shore’s will still held out long enough for her to gaze upon the ones who had defeated her, uncomprehending.

“How did I lose?”

Midnight’s reply was simple, “You were alone...”

It really was that simple. At its core, the nature of magic was power, but people might not understand what that actually meant. Power wasn’t just something one wielded. It was a collective will, connecting everyone and everything. Sure, there were lots of ways it manifested; spells, spirit powers, physical might, speed, lifeforce. There were countless ways that magic, that power, took shape.

And there was one form of it that was always prevalent and available to everyone; allies.

In Equestria it might have a sappier catchphrase that Midnight was aware of, but she refused to think of it in those terms. Instead of friendship being magic, she thought of it as allies being power. A group could do more than a single person could. Basic math, really.

And for all Sapphire Shores’ power, she’d lost because Midnight had not fought alone. 

That answer caused Sapphire a moment of confusion, but it cleared up as she gazed further into Midnight’s eyes.

Strangely in Midnight’s face she saw not satisfaction... well, not just satisfaction. The girl wore a complex look that showed a certain bizarre empathy. Midnight, more than most, hated the notion of losing her own will, so didn’t relish robbing Sapphire of hers. More than that, however, there was still something Midnight wanted to know... so as Sapphire Shore’s body slackened, and her eyes started to lose the sheen of the pure resolve that had been within them, Midnight asked, “Tell me, when you look at me now, what future do you see?”

Sapphire looked, with the last iotas of her own will and mind, she gazed at Midnight, at Twilight, at the countless threads of beautiful starfire particles that spread from them and touched all around them. She looked into that infinite web of possibilities, of what ifs and could have beens that was formed from a weave of spirit so dense that even she’d never truly understood it. And there, she saw the future she’d always feared, of her love, her Savoir, her King, no longer being in this world, of him fading away due to the presence of the girl before her.

Yet now that she looked again, something was different. No, not different. The convergence of futures she saw was the same as it’d ever been. What had changed was that the way in which Sapphire Shores looked upon the threads of reishi was different, shifting her view, her perspective, to shine a new light upon what she had dreaded for all those years.

Silver tears fell from her eyes, which lost their white radiance and returned to their human, golden sheen.

“I see it now. My King... Radiant Hope... it wasn’t death I saw for the two of you. It was the end of the King, but not the end of him. Thank God. Oh, but why didn’t I see it before? Why did I only see death? The future... such a confusing dance... Twilight, you and Sombra... will...”

With that, the last of her will vanished from Sapphire Shore’s eyes, and she went as still and placid as a porcelain doll. Silence reigned, and none spoke for a second, but then Midnight, a grim look on her face, turned from the placid Sapphire Shores and said, “Filthy Rich, Starswirl, you can unbind her. She’s no threat now.”

Without waiting for their reply she teleported instantly to a fallen white form that was barely hanging onto one of Filthy Rich’s dangling chains with one, bloodstained hand.

Soarin was still alive, technically, but the hole in his chest and the blood pouring out of his mouth gave a gristly testament to the time he had left. Midnight clasped his hand and held him with her other arm, cradling him like a dark Valkyrie holding aloft a fallen soldier. 

“Can we really unbind her?” Filthy Rich asked cautiously, and Cadence gave him a sharp look.

“She’s controlled by the Lust, now, Rich. We have to check on Soarin.”

Filthy Rich nodded dutifully, glancing towards Starswirl, “I don’t suppose you’re capable of any of those Soul Reaper healing spells?”

Starswirl was looking with a flat look towards where Midnight held Soarin and gave a shake of his head, “I’m proficient, but nowhere near at Captain Zecora’s level. We would need someone like her to deal with that young man’s wound, I’m afraid.”

Cadence appeared next to Midnight, looking at Soarin’s injury with eyes reflecting the tired realization of the situation. Soarin, barely breathing, cracked an eye open and glanced between Midnight and Cadence. He coughed out a blood spattered laugh.

“Heh...well... least I get to go... in the company of some fine ladies.”

“You think this is funny?” Midnight said with heat in her voice that even surprised her, “I don’t recall giving any one of you permission to do something stupid like die.”

"Heh...sorry...just glad you're... okay," was his whispered, bloodstained reply.

Midnight, please... Twilight’s voice said painfully from within their mind. Within their mindscape Twilight was doing all she could to keep her own emotions under control. She might not have known Soarin for very long, but he’d been a dutiful companion and protector for her since Sombra had assigned him to be her bodyguard. He’s calm but boyish charm had been endearing, and she’d gotten used to having him around. He’d never complained about the dangers of protecting her from possible assassination, and had been understanding of her own quirks. 

They weren’t close, but dammit they’d been growing into friends, and Twilight was sick of seeing people die in front of her before she could form the bonds that she’d desired most of her life. 

And, perhaps not all that surprisingly, Midnight felt the same way. With her newfound freedom, with the promise of a future in which she and Twilight could both start living properly, she didn’t want to lose anyone either.

“Can you do anything?” Cadence asked her, and Midnight’s eyes flared with resolve.

“Close up a giant hole in somebody’s chest? No. Not here. I’d need Equestria’s magical field to even have a chance,” she said, “And Equestria is far away.”

Starswirl approached, contemplative, “The portal should still be in my laboratory.”

Cadence’s eyes widened, “That’s what you Soul Reapers were studying?”

“There’s no point,” Midnight said, seeing that Soarin had already slackened in her hands. The hole in his chest was below his heart, which was why he hadn’t died instantly. Well, that and residual use of Blut Vene to hold parts of his internal body together, but as his power waned along with his consciousness, that too was failing and for all intents and purposes he was already dead. She could tell his heart had stopped, and within minutes, brain death would follow.

And a part of her refused to accept that. 

So she did the only thing she could think of to do. She couldn’t heal him, but she could preserve him, couldn’t she? What was the point of all the magic at her disposal if she couldn’t use it to save the life of one measly person she personally preferred to keep around? So she placed her hand over his slack, pale body, and poured out her magic. Motes of luminous blue light brushed over Soarin’s body. Where the light touched, a sheen of stone covered his body. Soon enough, Soarin was frozen in stone, petrified from head to toe.

“Wait, what did you just do?” Cadence said.

“The only thing that made sense to me,” Midnight replied, “The petrification spell will put him in suspended animation. As long as he’s like this, he’s neither alive or dead. He’ll stay this way until either I or something else breaks the spell. Buys us time until I can... figure something else out.”

“Umm, I don’t mean to alarm anyone,” called Filthy Rich form some distance away. He’d unchained Sapphire Shores, who remind a disturbingly still and doll-like form. Her body hadn’t changed shape from it’s transformed state. She hadn’t said anything. She hadn’t so much as twitched a muscle. Because Cadence, the owner of the Lust, hadn’t given her any orders yet. 

However that wasn’t what Filthy Rich was drawing attention to. The middle-aged Sternritter had shouldered his musket and was now gesturing nervously towards the walls of the prison dimension.

Unbeknownst to those who had just defeated Sapphire Shores, the woman had planned things out quite thoroughly. She hadn’t erected this prison sphere as merely a way to keep any further reinforcements from arriving or to keep Twilight form escaping. It was a trap meant to ensure that, even if she lost, that her will would still be done.

With it’s creator no longer sustaining it’s stability the already inherently unstable dimension was starting to unravel. Massive quantities of spirit energy were now coming apart violently, and golden cracks of light were appearing all across the dimension’s silver walls. A rumble of unearthly proportions started to reach the ears of all those entrapped, and their spiritual senses would not miss the increasing pressure of raw spirit power that was taking violent shape.

Even the slowest minded among them would know what was coming. This dimension was coming apart, and, like the bomb it was meant to be, it was mere minutes from exploding and destroying everything within it.