//------------------------------// // Episode 151: A Confrontation of Beliefs // Story: Equestria Girls: Friendship Souls // by thatguyvex //------------------------------// Episode 151: A Confrontation of Beliefs  Dawn, the next day... The rays of morning always felt a shade brighter to Celestia, even if she knew the sun was ever the same whether she was raising it or lowering it. Perhaps it was simply that there was a faint hint of optimistic promise inherent in the start of a new day, the perception of hopeful things to come that made those pale white beams of sunlight cresting a morning horizon feel just a bit more bright than their evening counterparts. Regardless, she could use the optimism. While some liked to paint her as the consummate immortal schemer, who always had a plan for every occasion and was ten or twenty paces ahead of anypony else, the truth was Celestia never did know for sure how any given day was going to go. And today of all days it would have been nice to have been certain. Oh, she’d planned. She’d considered as many possibilities as her mind could conjure, and prepared as best she could. Yet would it be enough to win through what was likely to be a confrontation as dangerous and unpredictable as any she may have faced from the likes of Discord, Tirek, or Chrysalis? Well, considering one of those three was now an ally, one locked away safely in Tartarus, and the last defeated if still at large, Celestia at least had to take comfort in her track record. Not that she hadn’t always had a healthy dose of help in accomplishing many of her feats, while today she, at least in appearance, stood alone.  Raising the sun took a lot less energy than most ponies would think. The celestial body was largely eager to move on its own, Celestia just provided the needed guidance at the proper time. That was largely thanks to her innate connection to it, of course. Regular unicorns would drain themselves by the dozen trying to do the same, but in essence all Celestia was doing was the magic equivalent of flicking a light switch, just one that was quite heavy and she herself best suited to flick. This meant that once the sun was rising into the sky it would largely continue it’s daily journey on its own, until time came to guide it back down, although “down” was just a matter of hemisphere and perception.  This left her a moment to take in her surroundings once more time. Ponehenge was not a remarkable looking location at first glance, nestled in a heavily wooded glen, the clearing was filled with a set of old stone monuments, six of them, built in a circle around a wide circular area of similarly ancient stone. The monuments were bare bones affairs, like broken pillars, and they surrounded the center of the stone circle, which held a carved pool-like edifice. While the area did not appear special, Celestia could feel the faintest hum of magic in the air, like the tinge of warmth beyond the sun’s rays. She knew the monuments contained a power of their own, and that great magic had once been worked here. Magic that trapped a most potent and old entity of malice, and six heroes bound to contain it. Looking upon the old stones made Celestia hold back a long sigh of regret. She and Luna had not been as strong then as they were now, and it had fallen to others to contain the threat, including a mentor she’d admired. And it wasn’t until later that she even understood the true nature of the threat, of that “Pony of Shadows” and what he truly was.  But she could not afford to ruminate on the past. The present was what concerned her, and Ponehenge was the site she’d chosen for this confrontation. All that was left to do was await the one she’d invited here. Not far away from where Celestia stood within the stone circle, the Bount named Trixie shuffled about in an uneasy manner, her eyes watching Celestia with unblinking calculation. The Bount was still separated from her hat which bore the crest that summoned her Doll. Celestia suppressed a laugh, if not wholly her wry, small smile. “I’m surprised you haven’t tried to run away yet,” she commented, causing Trixie to jump slightly, although the mare swiftly composed herself and held her chin up defiantly. “Trixie has no need to run. Starlight is coming here, after all. Why should I not stay and watch? I don’t even know why you brought me.” “Truthfully I no longer had much use for keeping you in the castle,” Celestia admitted, “And I suspected your Starlight Glimmer wouldn’t come here without a little extra bait to seal the deal. A part of me even hopes our good treatment of you might encourage her to hear me out, before things fall to... unpleasantness.” Trixie’s mouth pursed in a contemplative and incredulous pout, “What, you plan to try to negotiate?” “I intend to utilize every single method at my disposal to resolve this conflict,” Celestia said in such a manner that the meaning of her words held within them an ocean’s worth of potential meanings. Her eyes, usually so warm and inviting, had a cast to them that made them look like uncompromising, unbreakable gems that glittered almost like flame, “It will be up to Starlight Glimmer just what methods work.” “She won’t lose to you,” Trixie said, breathing a tad quicker as Celestia could see her prance in place with strung tight nerves, “She’s the strongest, smartest person I know. She ran circles around Soul Society, and that includes you.” Celestia’s brow rose just a tick, her smile deepening even as it thinned, “I’ve no doubts about the prowess of my Soul Reaper counterpart, or of Starlight Glimmer’s for that matter. Even having never met her, I can tell she is extraordinary to have done the things she has, including earning your loyalty. I cannot even say I consider her an evil individual, for to have inspired such loyalty requires some ability to care, not merely invoke fear.” “It’s Soul Society that’s evil,” Trixie spat, “Hunting my people relentlessly, imposing their laws on everyone. Starlight is the only one with the courage to stand up to the whole, rotten system!” “And by any means she deems necessary,” Celestia said, almost more to herself than Trixie, “Means that put my world and those under my protection in danger. This I cannot abide.” She raised her gaze to the slight rise in the woods across the way, “Are you done listening, or are you going to come out into the light?” Her words resulted in the bushes rustling ever so slightly as a pony walked out into the morning sunlight and made her way towards Ponehenge. It was Starlight Glimmer, her own alicorn body not matching Celestia’s height, but having gained a few inches of regal height all the same. Celestia knew this wasn’t a natural alicorn evolution, but something artificial, just by the sensation of magic around Starlight. Some manner of transmutation? Not changeling magic, Celestia thought, although that was always rather difficult to detect even for her. No, she imagined Starlight must have used some spell or item she’d discovered in her plundering to take on the wings of an alicorn upon her unicorn body. Other than the slight edge in height and the wings, Celestia was indeed struck by how identical this Starlight looked to the one she knew. There were even similarities in attitude, in the confident strut in which Starlight carried herself, although in this case it was smoother and far more intense. Celestia had not known the pony Starlight during her spat as a desperate cult leader and time traveling revenge plotter, but she imagined if her world’s Starlight hadn’t been turned around by Twilight, than she might have gained this extra level of intensity she was feeling from the human world’s Starlight. Yet she also sensed it was more than that. This Starlight had gone through... so much more. Experienced more terrors, more pains, more responsibilities, and the burden of far more power. Indeed, Celestia could tell Starlight Glimmer was not bothering to contain her spiritual pressure, her “reiatsu”, which filled the air with a heavy weight. Celestia bore that weight readily and took a few confident steps forward to meet Starlight Glimmer in the middle of Ponehenge. She was alert for traps or sneak attacks, and could tell Starlight was equally alert for the same. Just as Celestia had planned for this meeting, no doubt Starlight had her own plans. Who would blink first? Starlight was openly armed, her Zanpaktou sheathed at her flank, which was covered in a dark purple leather coat worn over a gray jumpsuit consisting of just a few too many belt straps for practicality’s sake. Celestia recalled what she knew of the weapon from Sunset Shimmer’s journal entries, which truthfully wasn’t much. She had no reason to worry about the weapon stealing any powers, since that aspect only worked on other Zanpaktou, but it was unclear how many Zanpaktou powers Starlight had stolen over the years. The only ones Celestia knew about for certain were those of the Soul Reaper Zecora, a Zanpaktou that reportedly saw the true nature of things, and that of Clover’s Chishiki, with its analysis powers and ability to amplify Kido. What other powers might Starlight’s other stolen Zanpaktou possess? And furthermore, although she could not see it beneath the leathers Starlight wore, she knew that strange object, the Hogyoku, was fused with this mare. She was even less clear on what powers it had than Starlight’s Zanpaktou. Celestia put the thought aside for the moment. After all, she hadn’t been lying to Trixie, she had come here to talk first, even if that may inevitably fail. “Starlight Glimmer,” she said, “I am Celestia.” “I’m aware of who you are. First things first. Trixie, are you alright?” Starlight Glimmer asked, looking past Celestia at the Bount in question.  Trixie practically beamed with happiness upon seeing Starlight, flashing white teeth, “Yes, I’m fine! The ponies... didn’t mistreat me. Look, I have a lot to tell you, but you’ve got to be careful! This Celestia is smart, and has Discord on her side, so you should watch out for-” A dome of pale gold light surrounded Trixie, trapping her and cutting off sound. The Bount looked most irritated and gave the dome a pound with her hoof, shouting silently at Celestia, who in turn shrugged as she glanced back at Starlight. “I brought her unharmed as a sign of good faith, but really I’d rather not have her interrupting our talk. You understand?” Starlight’s eyes grew colder but she gave a sliver of a nod, “I’m just glad to see her unhurt. I knew sending her on the mission I did was going to be dangerous, but I was betting on you ponyfolk being gentle with your prisoners.” “You did some homework on us, which I’d find flattering if you weren’t being a menace to my people,” Celestia replied in clipped fashion, “Now let me address the reason you’re here, since I was the one to invite you to this talk. Starlight Glimmer, I want you to cease your plans to steal magic from this realm and return to your world. Agree to do this, and I will ensure your friend Firefly’s cursed wound is treated, and that no further retaliation will be leveled against you.” There was a dripping gravy boat of bitter incredulity from Starlight as she spread her wings and barked out a laugh, “Hah! That can’t be the real reason you went through the trouble of asking me out here, Celestia! What, I go through all the trouble of coming to this world and you expect me to pack my bags and go back, just like that? Come on! You can do better than that! At least try to make it sound like a good deal, sweetening it up with some offer of magical trinkets. Not like you ponies don’t have magic doo-dads aplenty to share, and I thought Equestria was all about the magic of sharing, caring, friendship, etcetera.” “Oh, we do have countless magical artifacts of innumerable levels of power, some just sitting collecting dust in vaults even I’ve forgotten about,” Celestia said, almost teasingly, before her eyes hardened to dagger slits, “But I have no intention of allowing you to take a single one with you back to your world. Starlight Glimmer, you do not understand the dangers involved in your actions.” "Oh spare me the lecture! I was tired of it from you as a Soul Reaper, I don’t expect it to be any better coming from a puffed up magical horse Princess. I don’t know the danger? Really!? I’ve been up to my neck in the dangers of my actions ever since I watched my best friend dragged into Hell by the very organization I had placed my faith in. Do you have any idea at all why I’m even here? Why I need the magic of this world?” A deep bellows breath entered and exited Celestia’s lungs as she took control of her own ire and continued to stare down her snout at Starlight’s passionate stare, “I have some idea. I’ll refrain from judging until I hear all the details, so feel free to enlighten me. Then, perhaps, if you have the sense to listen, I can enlighten you in turn.” Starlight returned a measuring look to Celestia’s patient gaze, and began tapping a back hoof in an unconscious habit of consideration. She then huffed, lowering her wings, “The details? I don’t have time to sit here and recount the whole story, so I’ll simplify it for you. I was made into a Substitute Soul Reaper after getting caught up in my world’s Discord’s Xcution project, you know the one that tried to turn innocent people into living weapons? Yeah, I still trusted him and Soul Society, thinking I could use my powers to help poor souls find rest and make the world a better place. But even then, I felt something was wrong with Soul Society. With the whole damn war. So even before I lost Sunburst I was investigating, picking up bits and pieces of the truth. But it wasn’t until that horrible gate opened and dragged Sunburst away in front of my eyes that I was able to put it all together. My world’s afterlife is built on a foundation of lies. Lies told by the Zero Division, who stand like almighty gods in that damn Soul Palace of theirs, thinking the world belongs to them!” Passion poured out of Starlight Glimmer along with her reiatsu, her face growing into an ever more contorted stormfront of indignation and rage, “I will tear them down, no matter what it takes. No matter what I have to sacrifice. My humanity, my morals, whatever it takes so that no soul ever has to endure that twisted excuse of an afterlife. So... tell me, Celestia, what can you possibly say to me to dissuade me from my ‘dangerous’ course, hmm? What words of pony wisdom do you have for me?” The ground had shaken slightly from the outpouring of spiritual energy from Starlight, but Celestia did not show any signs of concern. Rather she’d simply listened attentively to Starlight’s words, betraying nothing of her thoughts save for a hint of sympathy that did not remain by the time she spoke, “I cannot speak as to the nature of your world’s afterlife or the decisions being made by this Zero Division. I learned long ago that to judge as an outsider looking in can easily lead to poor decisions. I don’t doubt your conviction. You clearly believe you’re fighting against an unfair system. You may even be correct.” “No ‘may’ about it,” Starlight said past grit teeth, “I know that Zero Division is wrong, and my world won’t know a true, proper afterlife until they’re gone. But to make that happen I need power. All that I can possibly gather. You have no idea how horrifically strong the Zero Division is. I’ve gathered enough strength that I can maybe match one on one with most of the high ranked Captains, but I’d still lose to Scorpan if it came down to it, and I know each Zero Division member is at least on par with him. And there’s five of those bastards I need to take down. So you see-” “So you see,” Celestia said, cutting Starlight off, “That is one of several reasons I cannot allow you to continue.” Starlight eyes lit up with the embers of indignation, but also a light of understanding, “Oh... ooooh, so that’s how it is with you? I think I’m starting to understand the difference between you and the Celestia I know. You’re a coward.” “Oh?” “You’re afraid. Afraid of what the Zero Division might do if I steal a bunch of magic from here, go charging into the Soul Palace, then lose,” Starlight said, almost laughing, although it was more like a bitter spit, “You’re scared that if that happens, they’ll retaliate against this world. Maybe they’ll think ‘magic’ is too dangerous and come here seeking to wipe it out. Better to just stop me from doing that, than risk pissing off enemies that powerful, right?” “Ah, I see the point of your confusion,” Celestia said, leaning forward, her own wings starting to spread out, “I am not a coward. I am a leader. And a leader must take her responsibilities with utmost seriousness. Countless lives in Equestria depend upon me and my sister for guidance and protection. That means I must assess every potential threat through the lens of what will or won’t bring harm to all of Equestria’s citizens. So, yes, it has occurred to me that allowing you to do as you please could easily lead to bringing an enemy down upon Equestria that, even if Luna and I could stand up to them, would still likely inflict untold damage in whatever apocalyptic battle might ensue. Why then should I not try to stop you, to protect Equestria as a whole?” “In short, you’re looking at the ‘big picture’,” Starlight said with an unimpressed chuckle, “Just as long as your little ponies are safe, who cares what happens to the souls of the human world, eh?” That dug at something sharply sensitive in Celestia’s gut and while she did not lose her full composure, there was a noted heat that seeped into the air from her body, a spilling of potent magic from within that acted as a counter-tide to Starlight’s reiatsu and only added to the faint rumble in the earth.  “I have immense care for anyone forced to suffer unjustly. If your world is truly under the tyrannical heel of those abusing their power, it is my greatest hope that such injustice will be rectified. There are even those I care deeply for who live in your world who are entwined with the very conflict you speak of, individuals whose lives you have had no small part in turning upside down for the sake of your crusade. I sympathize with your cause, Starlight Glimmer, but I cannot condone your methods in pursuing it. I am giving you the chance to return to your world not merely to protect the safety of this realm, but in the hope you might consider abandoning your present methods to make common cause with those whom you seemed so intent on making enemies of. Sunset Shimmer would likely consider aiding you if only you were honest and forthright with her instead of recklessly threatening those around you.” “Ah, Sunset Shimmer...” Starlight appeared to lose a hint of tension, but only a hint of it, her voice containing no ire, “She and those girls are extraordinary, but they were still just young, inexperienced children when I last left them. I’m hoping by now my... motivational conflict with them has sharpened them into something more, but even so, they are a backup plan, nothing more. Taking them with me to the Soul Palace would still feel like bringing lambs into the lion’s den. If I fail, maybe they’ll pull something off, but if I’m being honest I don’t actually have high hopes of that. On top of that I don’t trust my world’s Discord, and he’s still got his grubby hands all over those girls. No Celestia, going back and teaming up isn’t an option as far as I’m concerned. I have to be the one to take down Zero Division. I can’t trust anyone else to do it, at least not while I’m still alive. If I die, Sunset and her team can have their crack at it, but until then, I’m proceeding as planned.”  Starlight’s expression lightened with a shrewd and exacting gaze up and down at Celestia, “And while we’re on the subject, just so one can’t say I never offered... perhaps you would be willing to team up with me? I mean, if you willingly cooperated with me that’d make things so much easier, wouldn’t it? I wouldn’t have to guess at what artifacts are worth taking, or arcane knowledge worth learning. You probably already know what the best spells and magic items are. Help my forces grow powerful and you wouldn’t have to fear me losing to Zero Division, and I could much more easily guarantee no harm would come to your people in the process.” A grim shadow washed across Celestia’s marble features, “I’m afraid that is something I cannot do. Simply giving you everything you want, without considering the consequences?” Starlight scoffed, “What consequences? Saving my world?” “Let us assume you did ‘save’ your world, Starlight Glimmer, what then? What could I expect from an entity so horrifically powerful that she unseated the gods of her realm and imposed her own vision of an ideal afterlife upon her world? Do you have the right to do that? If you surmise you do have the right to remake your world’s afterlife according to your beliefs, how long before you think that other worlds would benefit from your ‘wisdom’? Would I then find you returning here, far more powerful than you are now, and beyond my ability to stop? Should I consign my little ponies to such a future, simply because right here in this moment you simply ask me to hand over my world’s magic for you to use as you see fit?” A twist of a snarl appeared at the corner of Starlight’s lips, “And what of Zero Division? Let them do as they please and how long before they decide your world might benefit from their vision of how the realms ought to be? You think Equestria will remain safe from them once they’re done with Earth?” “I do not know, but I do know that if one sends a dragon to deal with another dragon, whichever one emerges victorious does not change the fact that you will still have a dragon problem on your hooves.”  Starlight cocked an eyebrow, “Isn’t that a little speciesist against dragons?” Celestia groaned slightly, “Give me a break, it’s an old metaphor, and the point still stands. I can either deal with the eventual possibility of Zero Division causing my world problems, or I can deal with the possibility of you causing problems. Right now, you’re a problem in front of me I can still deal with. So either take my generous offer to remove yourself from my realm willingly, or...” She didn’t need to finish the sentence, the magic gradually starting to surround her with an intense, golden aura speaking for itself.  Starlight regarded her with a calm, even stare for a few seconds, then blew out a small sigh, “It seems it was inevitable it would come to this. It really appears that people like you and people like me will never see eye to eye. Neither of us can turn our backs on our worlds, but you would do anything to preserve things the way they are, while I would do anything to change the world into what it should be. And the only way either of us can pursue our beliefs...” Her Zanpaktou came out in a steel flash, gripped in Starlight’s magic as she brandished it at Celestia, “Is by crushing the other’s underfoot!” It was impossible to tell which moved first, which struck first. Both were bleeding lines of stark motion on a still canvas. Blades of purest fire appeared around Celestia and cut the air in sizzling lines of incineration, while Starlight’s Zanpaktou severed the air around her in a godly display of speed. Sekai Chisujo had instantly transformed to it’s Shikai state, not even requiring a command phrase as it transmuted into a long metal staff with twin pronged blades at the end. Celestia’s swords of flame where difficult to count for the speed at which they cut through the air making them seem like legion, yet Starlight was a streak of pure speed, Sekai Chitsujo carving arcs through the air that sent each blade of flame flying off like comets. In the span of an eyeblink the stone circle of Ponehenge had become bathed in intense, radiant heat. Each clash of flame and Zanpaktou sparked a burst of fire that heated the stones and burned nearby foliage. Trixie yelped and ducked down, but fortunately for her the shield Celestia had erected around her protected the Bount from the flames and the raw clashing shockwaves of power that filled the area. She could, however, feel the overwhelming pressure of both Starlight’s reiatsu and Celestia’s magic as the two combatant’s auras clashed like a pair of immense tidal waves surging into one another. As potent as Trixie was in her own right, it was enough to almost make her double over, sweat beading her face as she tried, and mostly failed, to follow the course of the battle unfolding before her. Breaking free of the encircling tempest of flame blades with a powerful spin of her Zanpaktou, Starlight shot upwards, clearing miles of distance in a single Flash Step that took her high above Ponehenge. In one smooth motion she aimed her Zanpaktou downward and delved within Sekai Chitsujo’s power, pulling up her list of... inmates. The way her Zanpaktou functioned was a mystery to many, and Starlight kept it that way intentionally as to minimize the ways in which her opponents might take advantage of its limitations. Much like she knew she was a difficult woman, Sekai Chitsujo was also a difficult Zanpaktou to get along with. Time all but froze in her vision as she called upon Sekai’s power, and in her mind’s eye she saw her; the Zanpaktou’s spirit. A feminine being of glass, shaped like that of a long haired woman in a drab, frayed warden’s uniform. Sekai’s Chitsujo’s features were that of a middle aged woman with blunt demeanor, with enough detail in her glass eyes to show her immensely judgmental mindset as her voice, ringing like a knife on a glass plate, filled Starlight’s ears. In another spot of trouble, are you? Which inmate will it be this time? In that moment of frozen time, Starlight still felt impatience at her Zanpaktou’s unhurried, even flippant manner, and mentally growled back, “I’m going to need most of them this time, Sekai, so better get them on deck. Right now give me Number 018! Standard thirty days off their incarceration as per signed agreement.” Inmate Number 018, Tonde Kiba (Flying Fang). Understood. Try not to die, Starlight. Your opponent is stronger than others we’ve faced. “As if I don’t know that!” Starlight groused, feeling Sekai Chitsujo’s power fill with the essence of one of the many Zanpaktou she’d captured and incarcerated within her blade’s power. Sekai Chitsujo changed form from its bladed staff into the shape of a rather straightforward gladius of dark iron, with a circular hilt. The blade had odd, V-shaped segments along its length, nine in total. The segment at the very tip began to glow with a fierce blue light as Starlight slashed downward. The first segment fired off from Tonde Kiba with a sonic crack of force and a wide shockwave, the metal shard propelled with electromagnetic force like that of a rail gun, only hardened and propelled at an even greater speed with the boost of raw spiritual energy flowing out of Starlight Glimmer. Each Zanpaktou she captured was an “inmate”, with a sentence to serve within Sekai Chitsujo’s prison for a thousand days. Only those days did not lower with the passage of time, only with the agreed upon lending of their power to Starlight in whatever capacity she chose. The caveats were that a Zanpaktou spirit could negotiate the terms of their use. How many days were taken off the “sentence” with each use and what ways in which their use would be limited. Unusually this meant Bankai was prohibited, as would be the killing of their owner. One might think the imprisoned spirits had the advantage, but the nature of Zanpaktou instead tended to work in Starlight’s favor. A Zanpaktou would almost always desire to be reunited with their owner, and knowing full well their sentence of imprisonment would only go down through use, it was rare a Zanpaktou would absolutely refuse terms.  Hence most of her “Inmates” had signed contracts concerning their use. Details differed slightly, but often the broad strokes were the same.  And of course, Starlight’s own Bankai was a unique case that changed the rules, but had its own unfortunate drawbacks. A difficult Zanpaktou, for a difficult woman. Even Starlight had to admit she and Sekai Chitsujo were made for each other. The super-sonic metal shard from Tonde Kiba had been aimed at where she’d seen Celestia flying up to chase her into the sky, but Starlight wasn’t surprised to see the alicorn Princess’ reflexes were such that even an attack moving several times the speed of sound was readily dodged. The shard impacted the ground a few dozen yards from Ponehange, and erupted the ground like a geyser of shattered earth, sending fissures sprawling about. Oddly, the actual stone circle of Ponehenge itself took no damage, as if somehow shielded from the force of the impact. So Starlight’s suspicions were right. She’d already sensed the odd magic in the air, but now was fully convinced Celestia hadn’t chosen this location purely for the scenery. She fired off several more of Tonde Kiba’s shard segments at Celestia, using Flash Step to change her position after each swing so that the high speed metal shards came at the alicorn from varying angles. Each time Celestia anticipated the attack and moved more smoothly than any swan to deftly evade the blows, reaching Starlight’s height in mere moments in a dazzling display of aerial grace. Her horn was a white hot beacon of magic power, and Starlight felt the ambient temperature magnify by multiple factors as a solid wall of fire encased her in a sphere almost before she could blink. The sphere was about half a dozen meters wide, made of such solid, intense fire that it almost looked like physical matter rather than pure flame. The heat was unreal, and Starlight barely had an instant to think before magic circles appeared all over the interior of the sphere. As if channeling the imprisoning sphere’s heat, beams of cutting fire, focused and intensified to steel melting levels, came in at Starlight from all sides. Survival now being a factor of as much battle hardened instinct as it was cold calculation, Starlight pushed her Flash Step as hard as her Soul Reaper powers could take it, her perceptions allowing her to view each beam of heat in detail as she wove herself between them. Even so, there were so many that before long she’d run out of room to dodge them, no matter how fast she was, so Starlight tapped into another factor of Tonde Kiba’s ability. The segments multiplied, each one creating newer, smaller segments within them. When she swung the Zanpaktou this time, those multiplied segments blasted outward in a cone, like a highly amplified super-sonic shotgun blast.  The shear overwhelming physical force of the passage of dozens upon dozens of metal shards at such speeds created enough wind to rip through the enclosing sphere of flames, not only giving Starlight room to escape, but forcing Celestia to teleport out of the way, as the shotgun-like blast of shards had been aimed in her direction. Starlight had not needed to physical see Celestia, just sense her presence, which she’d gotten good enough at picking out magical auras amid the confusing haze such magic caused spiritual senses to accomplish this even if she didn’t also now have magical senses to make use of herself. It was these same senses that allowed her to pick up on Celestia’s teleported location, taking the “high ground” near a small cloud bank nearby. Celestia was not trying to conceal herself at any rate, as Starlight felt immense magical energy building and could look up to see a bright point of eye searing light gathering at the tip of the clouds, obscuring Celestia herself with the aura of golden white light being gathered. Starlight had only milliseconds in which to react before Celestia lowered her horn, and from it sliced a line of all consuming sunfire that cut a blinding path across the sky and to the ground below. Starlight felt the intensity of the beam’s heat evaporating any trace of moisture from the air, but also felt it scorching her shoulder as she just scantily avoided direct contact with the beam. Her Flash Step had almost been too slow, and even the near miss had melted a portion of her outfit and burned her skin, despite the potency of her reiatsu protecting her. The beam itself tore a melting path through miles of forest as it cut along the hilly and heavily forested terrain, leaving a blackened trail in its wake that bubbled with molten rock and burning trees.  Oh Hell, Starlight thought, I suspected she’d been holding back on Firefly and Platinum, but not by this much. I knew this wasn’t going to be a walk in the park, but didn’t think I’d need to bust this out so soon. It’d probably just been ego that told her to try her luck with just her Soul Reaper powers alone, just to see if she could measure up. Even during her days working for Soul Society she’d considered Captain Celestia as something of a benchmark to measure herself against, just as much as Discord or Ditzy. This had seemed as good a time as any to see if she was close to the level she needed to be at to face the Zero Division.  But that wasn’t going to happen if she didn’t start making use of all the tools at her disposal, of which she had many. This fight had only begun, and Starlight didn’t doubt both she and Celestia had plenty of cards left to play. In a swift motion she drew her right hoof up and swept it down across her face. Dark energy gathered and solidified in a black and purple wave to take the shape of a Hollow mask that settled neatly upon her equine features, a smooth and near featureless mask with two pointed horns that curved up in a wave shape from her brow and strips of red running down from a single narrow slit for he eyes, within which Starlight’s eyes bled to black and yellow. Around her body a thick spiritual aura of intermixed shadow and purple crackling energy flowed as her reiatsu shot up by leaps and bounds, her Hollow powers rushing to the fore to augment her body. With her power, and subsequently her senses, so enhanced she could see clearly Celestia lining up another shot of sunfire from her perch upon the cloud. Narrowing her Hollowfied eyes, Starlight moved with the combined might of Shunpo and Sonido, crossing the distance to Celestia with such speed that the alicorn had only started to fire her beam before Starlight’s sword was slicing at Celestia’s back. Celestia’s reflexes were truly beyond mortal limits, however, and she rolled with the attack, instantly summoning a sword of solid flame to deflect Starlight’s blow while sweeping her horn around and firing her beam of sunfire in a quickly aimed arc. Starlight ducked the arc, spinning herself with Celestia’s parry. The sunbeam split the sky above, visible for leagues around. Celestia kicked off the cloud, wing’s spread, while Starlight rushed her, throwing out a kick with her right hind leg that cracked the air and had a tornado swirl of black Hollow energy surrounding it. Celestia used her left fore leg to intercept the kick, and an explosion of energies erupted from the two from the combined impact as Starlight’s kick was halted, albeit with clear effort on Celestia’s part.  A row of flame blades appeared in a semi-circle above Celestia and drove down at Starlight, who countered by backing up with a Sonido that took her several football fields of length back. The flame blades homed in on her, joined by a score of their fellows that Celestia summoned in an eyeblink. Grinning beneath her Hollow mask, Starlight leveled her head at both the swarm of flame blades and Celestia. Both magic and spiritual energy gathered at the tip of her horn, Hollow power turning a brilliantly bright sphere of pulsating purple light dark with a rim of shadowy energy.  The resulting Cero blast that fired from Starlight’s horn was a wide beam of dark purple encircled by crawling lines of ink dark power, annihilating the swarm of flame blades and closing in on Celestia like a tidal wave.  Showing collected calm, if also supreme focus, Celestia’s horn shone with droplets of sunlight that drew an instant circle of incredibly complex magical runes in the air before her. In a snap a flat barrier of magic erected itself like a castle wall in front of Celestia, and this barrier took the brunt of Starlight’s Cero in an immense detonation that even miles above the ground caused the earth to quake. Starlight made no assumption about her Cero doing Celestia much harm, even if it had broken through the barrier, which she couldn’t tell anyway. Instead the moment had simply been to buy her a second to switch Zanpaktou. Tonde Kiba was a straightforward attack-type Zanpaktou, suitable for the Eleventh Division officer she’d taken from way back when. She needed something with a more unusual power to throw Celestia off and create an opening. Once more her perception of time slowed, Sekai Chitsujo’s condescending features of glass appearing before her as her Zanpaktou spirit made a show of straightening out her warden’s uniform. Another inmate? “Yes, give me inmate 010.” Of course. Inmate 010, Sakuran (Confusion). Perhaps you’ll do better with this one? You seem to be struggling. “Don’t need the commentary!” Starlight hissed out as the gladius form of Tonde Kiba turned into a wash of light and reshaped itself. Now within her grip of levitation magic the shape of a long chain of spiked metal appeared, with three lengths of chain connected to a central ring. At the end of each chain dangled a thick spike of metal, their tips gleaming bright.  With this Zanpaktou, Sakuran, a brief flash of memory did flit through Starlight’s mind. A memory of Screwloose’s face, partially covered by a white, wax-like substance as Hollow energy infected her. Starlight shook the memory off Sakuran’s owner, focusing on wielding the set of spiked chains as she moved swiftly at a downward diagonal that would take her towards the ground, but also beneath where she’d last seen Celestia. As she had figured, Celestia dove down out of the fading energies of the Cero’s explosion, slightly singed but largely unharmed due to her barrier. Celestia could see Starlight had switched Zanpaktou, and was immediately wary. This was always going to be the tough part of facing Starlight, not knowing just how many Zanpaktou with how many different powers she might possess. Celestia didn’t mind that, for even if Starlight managed to escape, every bit of information Celestia gleaned from this battle could be used to make defeating her later easier. Celestia briefly considered playing an additional card, but she didn’t feel pushed enough for that yet. Especially considering she doubted Starlight had even come close to revealing her full hand. That disturbing mask, which Celestia knew from Sunset’s reports as a Hollow mask, radiated an unpleasant, violent power. Celestia still felt she had the power advantage, but that Cero had nearly overwhelmed her barrier. She couldn’t afford mistakes. Focusing magic through her horn, she reached out with raw telekinesis, seeking to halt Starlight in place. She knew from her experience sparring with Flash Sentry that the aura of spiritual pressure from Starlight would act as a natural defense to this, but it didn’t need to actually stop Starlight, just cause her to be distracted. Celestia’s golden aura of magic surrounded Starlight, and immediately the other alicorn growled as the dark power inside her well up and started to shred away the telekinetic grip. This did make Starlight slow her descent for a second, which Celestia used to do two things. One, she boosted her speed with a magical circle she flew through that would vastly amplify her body’s kinetic energy. And two, she extended her hooves and cast a spell upon the golden hoof ornaments she wore, causing two brightly glowing runes of orange light to appear on them. Starlight turned to see Celestia coming down like a shooting star, and spun the spiked chains in her own magical grip, one spike shooting up at Celestia while the other two went flying down towards the ground. This happened a mere moment before Celestia would impact with Starlight. In that moment she saw the small spike rise to meet her descending hooves, and the second the metal made physical contact the explosive runes she’d cast into her hoof ornaments would unleash their powerful eruptions of power. Given how close Celestia was to Starlight she thought those twin explosions would be pretty damaging even if triggered a moment too early, but what surprised Celestia was that in that same instant she found herself no longer in the air but instead slamming into the ground! The two explosions obliterated the ground around her in a massive, smoking crater, but Celestia was left standing there, confused how she even got to the ground so suddenly. Then she saw the spiked chain laying on the ground next to her, which instantly pulled back, flying back up to Starlight! Celestia quickly realized what this new Zanpaktou’s power was. It could teleport objects between the spikes at the end of the chain! If Celestia’s own sudden presence back on the ground wasn’t proof enough of that, further proof was seen in the fact that now standing next to Starlight as they both landed on the ground just outside Ponehenge’s circle was Trixie. The third spike had flown down to penetrate the shield Celestia had put around Trixie and teleported her out to Starlight’s side. “Trixie, get clear of the area,” Starlight said, using her magic to summon forth what appeared to be a small rolled up scroll that she floated to Trixie, who took it with surprise etched on her face.  “Wait, I can help-” Trixie began, but Starlight shook her head. “No, not against her. You’ve done your job. Now do as I say and get clear.” With instant speed the chains of Sakuran snapped out, one extended hundreds of yards through the forest to the south while one of the other spikes lightly touched Trixie’s shoulder, immediately teleporting the still protesting Bount all that distance away and leaving her in the middle of the forest well away from Ponehenge. “Aah...arrrgh!” Trixie shouted, gripping the scroll Starlight had given her in her own magic. Her yell was solely of frustration, because she knew full well that Starlight was right. She didn’t even have the ability to summon Eisenwand at the moment, and even if she did, it was obvious how useless she’d be against an opponent of Celestia’s caliber. So with frustrated tears in her eyes, Trixie turned tail and started to gallop even further south, following Starlight’s instructions to get clear, for she understood that in a battle of this magnitude that she probably wouldn’t be safe until she got many miles away.  Celestia walked out of the crater she made, and the ground melted under each of her hoof falls. She moved unhurriedly, despite the tension of battle still hanging thick in the air. She said nothing as she emerged into the clearing around Ponehenge and moved towards Starlight, who in turn started to walk with deliberate steps towards the other alicorn. The air wavered and distorted under a combination of immense heat haze and conflicting magic and spirit energies that poured off the two mares. Sparks of errant energy crackled and buzzed around the pair, and filled the area with erratic arcs of uncontained power.  Starlight held Sakuran poised with its three spiked chains floating around her like the bobbing heads of snakes, while Celestia slowly summoned dripping swords of solid white fire, shining with even more intensity than the ones she’d created earlier, until six spun around her in a deadly circle. The two halted, eyes unblinking, measuring one another.  Everything went still for a sliver of time, until a branch broken loose by Celestia’s earlier impact fell free of its tree and crashed to the ground behind the two combatants.  Sakuran’s chains blinked in silver streaks of speed, while the six flame blades became hot hazes of curving strikes. Starlight went in with her left hoof making a straight cross for Celestia’s face. Flame blades trying to reach her were touched by Sakuran’s sniping chains, each touch teleporting a flame blade away as the third chain directed itself upward to transfer the blades away from Starlight. Even so Starlight felt one flame blade score her flesh as it slipped past her guard even as her hoof cracked the sound barrier and nearly reached Celestia. Celestia’s own hoof snapped up to block, and she countered with a slice of her wing, which burst into searing hot flame, becoming a blade unto itself as she sliced her wing at Starlight. With Flash Step and Sonido born speed Starlight flipped over the strike, and a line of melting fire exploded out of the wing strike and obliterated a swath of forest behind where Starlight had stood. Starlight hammered down with a hind leg, aiming for Celestia’s spine. Celestia teleported, blinking out of sight in a flash of gold light as Starlight’s leg impacted the ground and sent a shockwave through the earth that ripped a wide fissure through the ground until it smashed a hill half a mile away.  More flame blades appeared, joining the previous six, and they all swarmed around Starlight, flaring brightly as they stabbed down in a unrelenting barrage. One might burst of flame after another rocked Ponehenge, explosion after explosion burning the leaves off of nearby trees until a wide circle around the ancient monument was becoming a sea of fire. Thick, oily smoke was now filling the sky from the burning forest, but Celestia paid it no mind as she searched for Starlight, her eyes sharply looking left and right. Motion to her left made Celestia turn, instantly igniting her horn and sending out a wide blast of raw sunfire. Not a concentrated beam like before, this was like a humongous flamethrower of golden white flame, burning the air in a wide arc. A glint of metal showed Celestia a chain from Sakuran, and she saw the chain extending backwards towards the ground, but also the third chain extending above Celestia in her blind spot. A shadow fell over Celestia as she saw a massive chunk of earth falling towards her, dozens of tons of ground teleported into the air by Sakuran. She narrowed her eyes and back hoofed the earthen mound, shattering it completely. However the mound wasn’t the attack, but the veil hiding Starlight who had just finished chanting a Kido incantation. ”Bakudo Number 99 Part 1: Kin!” (Forbid) Swarms of black cloth formed of concentrated spirit energy shot out of a negative space that appeared in front of Starlight, and moved with such speed that even Celestia could not entirely avoid them as they started to wrap her hooves and wings. Starlight impacted with Celestia a second later, sending the alicorn rocketed back own to the ground, where the black spirit cloth extended out in an X pattern across the ground. The binding Kido wasn’t done, summoning dozens of metal slats that then impacted with the black cloth, binding both it and Celestia to the ground. Celestia tried to teleport out of the binding, but found the spirit energy from the Kido was not normal, and was interfering with the swift summoning of magic energy. She could still get the teleport off, but it was going to take a couple seconds longer, and Starlight wasn’t done, chanting further Kido as she landed a half dozen yards from Celestia. ”Bakudo Number 99 Part 2: Bankin! Prologue: Halting Wraps!” (Constriction) Starlight slammed her hooves together, pushing out spirit energy rapidly as now white spirit cloth exploded forward from a space behind her and swarmed Celestia, wrapping around her and the previous black clothes.  “Refrain: Serial Hundred Bolts!” Then metal rods by the dozens appeared in the air and hammered into the now near burrito-ishly wrapped Celestia. Starlight let out a labored breath, as performing a high level binding Kido without the full incantation was tough even for her.  “Finale: Fully Prohibited Great Seal!” A gigantic rectangular pillar of metal with four etched geometric lines on each side of it appeared in the air above Celestia and began to slam downwards at high speed. It halted directly above Celestia, and created a perfectly square indentation in the ground beneath her as if she was being subjected to an immense gravitational force, although what was actually happening was a supreme concentration of restricting Kido energy designed to hold fast even Vasto Lorde-class Hollows.  Yet even so, Starlight’s eyes widened as she saw Celestia not only moving, but struggling with such immense might that the binding cloths of layered spirit energy around her were starting to bulge and stretched, the metal rods shaking and bending as Celestia’s magic, even while being disrupted was boiling forth in a golden tide.  Need to do this fast! Even a Kido of this level is just slowing her down and pissing her off more. Starlight called out Sekai Chitsujo’s spirit once more, bringing out a new inmate. Her latest one in fact... Inmate 020, Chishiki (Knowledge).” Sakuran transformed from the teleporting chains and became a long metal staff with a pointed spike at one end and a large metal circle at the top end. Starlight could feel the resentment rolling off of Clover’s Zanpaktou as it appeared in her hand. Out of all the Zanpaktou she’d taken, this particular spirit had been quite obstinate in his negotiations. Each use knocked a full one hundred days off his thousand day sentence. He hadn’t settled for anything less, and as it happened Starlight was eager enough to access his power she’d agreed.  She was a bit jealous of Clover. Chishiki’s potential was immense. A shame its owner would probably never access the Zanpaktou’s Bankai.   With Chishiki now in her magical grip, Starlight flipped it so the spiked end was pointed at Celestia, and she chanted as fast as she could, racing to get her Kido off before Celestia broke free. “Seeping crest of turbidity! Arrogant vessel of lunacy! Boil forth and deny! Grow numb and flicker! Disrupt sleep! Crawling queen of iron! Eternally self-destructing doll of mud! Unite! Repulse! Fill with soil and know your own powerlessness!” Utter darkness began to crawl upwards around where Celestia was bound in a solid, perfectly cube-like coffin of purest raven black. Segment by segment the entrapment void space grew upward until it soared twenty meters high, fully sealing Celestia in its crushing embrace. ”Hado Number Ninety: Kurohitsugi!” (Black Coffin) The Black Coffin closed, it’s top pierced by crossed spikes dark as night. A Kurohitsugi not only empowered by the speaking of the full incantation, boosted by Starlight’s Hollow enhanced spirit energy, and finally massively amplified through use of Chishiki’s unique Shikai power to boost Kido spells. Within that void the space itself should be warped beyond recognition, crushing to the point that no physical matter could escape.  Starlight let out a slow breath, not particularly happy with herself. It wasn’t as if she wanted to kill Celestia. But Celestia herself had been fighting for keeps. There was no other way to respond other than with full force. It was regrettable, but Celestia had left her no choice- Light. A crack of light appeared in the Black Coffin, slowly spreading at first, but then with greater speed as a loud screech of noise filled the air like the sound of a thousand panes of glass breaking. Starlight looked on with cold surprise as more and more light spilled out, turning into bursts of corona-like sunfire until the very roof of the Black Coffin was burst open like a volcano. Fire erupted upward, and through the flames an object emerged, a flaming comet that flew up and then down while the Black Coffin started to collapse. Landing in front of Starlight with a meteor impact was Celestia, the last vestiges of the binding Kidos burning off her body of flames while the Black Coffin fell to pieces behind her. Every inch of her was covered in white fire now, even her mane burning a bright gold so intense it nearly shone white as well. Yet despite this display of power, Starlight could see the alicorn was injured. Just beneath the flames there was blood, and Celestia was clearly breathing hard as a trickle of blood entered one of her eyes. It was hard to tell the extend of Celestia’s injuries, but Starlight could note the faint off kilter nature of Celestia’s stance, and almost forced nature to it. The regal alicorn was trying to hide just how much damage she’d sustained. Which, oddly, did little to reassure Starlight. Damaged or not, Celestia had muscled her way through a combination of two of the most powerful binding Kido invented by Soul Reapers while simultaneously withstanding and breaking one of the highest level destruction Kido, one that Starlight had made a point of boosting using Chishiki alongside the full incantation.  Starlight was sweating bullets, even if she wasn’t the one bleeding at the moment.  “Hell, if you can survive that, I’m going to be hard pressed to find something to put you down with,” Starlight said dryly, but did not back down, “That said, that looks like it hurt. What did you do? Just tear through a black hole’s worth of crushing space with pure force?” Celestia wore a grim smile, but her eyes showed no warmth, despite the heat radiating off her so hotly that the ground was turning molten in a wide area. Starlight wasn’t as bothered by the growing field of lava as she was the continued fact that Ponehenge remained seemingly unaffected by any of the damage being delt to the area, the stone edifice looking untouched. Just what was this place, she wondered? Celestia had to have chosen it for a reason. Not all of the magic in the air was Celestia’s, after all. There was still a latent, ambient hum of power that Starlight knew had to be coming from Ponehenge itself.  Celestia interrupted her thoughts, speaking in a simple, clipped tone. “I could not teleport, or even form a proper spell, so my only option was to let as much of my magic as possible surround me and then erupt at what I sensed to be your own spell’s weakest point, the ‘lid’. And yes, that was painful, but rest assured I’ve plenty of fight left in me.” “I don’t doubt it,” Starlight said, mouth tightening into a flat line, “Which means you win the warm up round. Time to start playing our aces. Let’s see who prepared better for this!” And so the battle continued, now in far more earnest, and none could say which combatant might emerge the victor.