//------------------------------// // Episode 163: Witch of the Abyss // Story: Equestria Girls: Friendship Souls // by thatguyvex //------------------------------// Episode 163: Witch of the Abyss “Do you know what happens when we die?” Her sister always had a certain look when Charybdis asked a question like that, an exaggerated crinkle to her brow and amused half grin that was at once faintly endearing and unbelievably annoying. These days it wasn’t often Scylla burrowed through the den of book piles and research materials that Charybdis’ room had turned into, but when she did it was usually to bother her about something their mother wanted. “Eeeeh, who cares?” Scylla said, pushing aside a teetering stack of books that floated off through the water as she swam beside Charybdis’ similarly tome covered reading desk, “I’m way more concerned with the living than the dead. C’mon Charybdis, this is why you keep creeping out the suitors mom puts in front of you. I’ve half a mind to drag you out for a spell and get you to live a little.” “Mmph,” Charybdis made an irritated noise in the back of her throat, burying her face in the book she’d been reading. This particular one was of great interest, it’s very shape unusual in that it was circular, with bronze metal coverings that folded out more like a flower than a traditional book. The script within was worn even despite the potent restoration magics used to try to bring out the definition of the words, all written in a long dead language that it had taken Charybdis’ months of study to start parsing the meaning of. “Mmph, she says! You keep this up and the rumors about you are only going to get worse, you know. Witch of the Castle. Necromancer of Seaquestria. The Cursed Daughter. You’re building a reputation.” “So what?” Charybdis said, “I’ve no reason to care about that. You’re the prodigal daughter whom the people trust, and it’s almost certain mother’s throne will be yours in due time. You’re welcome to it, sister. I only care about my studies.” Scylla leaned in over Charybdis’ shoulder, and with deft hooves snatched the tome out of Charybdis’ grasp. “H-hey! Give that back!” “While your words may be true, sister, has it occurred to you my concern has little to do with mother or the throne, or even the people we rule?” Scylla said, dangling the book out of Charybdis’ reach, who was a good head shorter than her athletic sibling.  “Then why are you bothering me?” Charybdis groused, giving up on trying to overpower her sister as she floated back to sulk with crossed hooves.  “Because I’m worried about you, you silly guppy. Look, you’re the brains, I’m the brawn, I get it. But that doesn’t mean your big sis isn’t worried about your social life, or lack thereof. More than that, this magic you’ve been screwing around with is... weird.” Scylla wasn’t one to admit to fear or distress, but the unease was writ plain on her face as she gave the odd tome a half glance. “I mean, there was that incident with the animated fish skeletons. The terrified maids who swear they saw ghosts in the halls outside your rooms. The guards who found you using a knife to draw blood to charge up weird glyphs. You can’t tell me that ain’t something for me to feel a bit worried about.” Charybdis rolled her eyes, “Misunderstandings, all. I’m studying the magic of life and death, of the soul itself. It doesn’t look like conventional magic, but it isn’t harmful. In fact it’s probably closer to a pure form of magic than what a lot of those ocean shamans cook up with their half-baked beliefs in sea spirits!” “Maybe, but could you at least explain to me why you’re so obsessed with it? I mean, I know you’re a nerd and all, but even nerds need to get out once and a while.” Scylla reluctantly handed the book back to Charybdis, who clutched it close and swam back to her desk. At her sister’s continued look of concern, the young seapony princess let out a long sigh and set the book down, “Look, it’s not... obsession, exactly. I just know what I’m on to something here. Something big. If I can crack the meaning behind the words of these ancient texts, I think I might be able to...” “To what? What even are these tomes? I know you read a lot of books but some of these seem older than usual.” “That’s because they are. Unearthed from all sorts of underwater ruins. Dating places them back from a time before recorded history, and if it wasn’t for mother’s generous allowance to the royal coffers I’d never be able to fund the expeditions to uncover them,” Charybdis said, “It’s taken me forever to just start translating the basics, but what I’ve learned so far has shown me a whole new world of magic, and a glimpse of things as they truly are. Like, are you aware of what the Cycle is?” “The what now?” Scylla merely looked confused, and Charybdis shook her head. “Exactly. Nopony, under the sea or on land, seems to know the truth... except perhaps the alicorn Princesses of Equestria.” “What do they have to do with this?” “Possibly everything, but I won’t know until I uncover more. All I know, Scylla, is that I have no intention of stopping now. Whatever others think of me, I will learn the truth, and once I do...” ----------- “Once I do, even death will have no power over me or those I love.” Charybdis wasn’t sure if the memory was just her being uncharacteristically nostalgic or if it was actually a vision brought about by the influx of soul energies coursing through her being. It wasn’t unusual for memories and impressions to get mixed up during the use of extensive soul magic, although she’d long since learned wards to ensure that influx didn’t become too over bearing. The portal ritual was proceeding, but something had her worried. She’d lost contact with Lusca, and did not know why. While the Kraken had been acting as a useful conduit between her and Gaia’s link, Charybdis could still maintain that flow of magic and spirit energy by transferring the link to Gaia herself. Gaia Everfree, near as Charybdis could tell, had succeeded in using that human woman to obtain a restored form. Of course it also seemed like Gaia had run into trouble in the form of those young girls from Canterlot City, but as long as Charybdis could focus on the link between them then the ritual could proceed. Gaia had her new body, now Charybdis just needed to make her portal large enough to move through and make it permanent. But what was going on with her Kraken. He wasn’t responding to her mental signals, and the portal wasn’t large enough yet for her to sense anything through it. As it stood the portal was barely large enough to slip a pebble through, although it would soon grow larger as Charybdis and her sahuagin shamans brought more of the rituals energies to bear. The chanting of her devoted sahuagin was a comfort, in it’s way. Each shaman was a disciple of her teachings, and proof of the potency of the ancient alicorn’s command of soul magic. She was  a tad giddy at the thought of what she and her dear followers might be able to achieve in the human world, with it’s much richer field of spirit energy. Yet nervousness crept into her like a humid and cloying fog. While it appeared that Twilight Sparkle and her damnable companions were still being delayed by her champions at the fortress entrance to Rift Mouth, something didn’t feel right. Only one of the pestering ponies had activated their Inheritor powers and chosen to engage her forces, while the rest remained on the deck of her sister’s toy boat. Why? Why would Twilight Sparkle sit back and watch as only one of her friends went into battle? Was she that overconfident, now that she had the power of an ancient alicorn to draw upon? Was it possible Astra’s personality had taken greater hold and in turn was showing hubris and pride in just thinking one Inheritor was enough to crush all resistance? Or was there something Charybdis was missing? While most of her attention and power was focused on the portal ritual, she was still working upon the defensive shields of magic that were guarding the room the young Ulgriv was in, and hence warding his mind and soul from Charybdis’ influence. Bit by bit she sent small tendrils to creep along the shining sphere of protective spells that encircled her little sahuagin warrior. No matter how thorough a warding job, every protective spell had at least one or two small seams in their magical construction. Normally such seams could not be penetrated, not unless one could bring to bear a great deal of directed power, not unlike how one might use a welding torch to burn off the hinges on an otherwise impregnable iron door. However in this instance Charybdis did not have the luxury of bringing that kind of power to bear, but it was not necessary. Because both Wavecrest and Twilight had both erected protective spells and layered them on top of one another, that gave Charybdis the opening she needed. It was doubtful either the foolish seapony or her alicorn ally knew this, but interconnecting spells, while making them stronger overall, also made the dependent on one another and if one spell’s seams were torn open, the rest would follow suit. And while Charybdis didn’t find a weakness in Twilight’s alicorn magic, she was far more familiar with Wavecrest’s traditional seapony charms, and was able to find a spot where a little directed soul magic was able to start unweaving the ward Wavecrest had put up. And because Twilight had laced her spell with Wavecrest's, the unraveling of one began the unraveling of the other. It’d still take a few minutes, but in due time Charybdis would be able to contact her loyal subject, learn all that he knew, and if possible even work out a way to sabotage the Treasury from within. Hah, Twilight Sparkle wouldn’t know what hit her. ---------- Twilight sincerely hoped that they could get close enough to Charybdis to launch a surprise attack that the witch wouldn’t see coming, but that was all contingent on getting close enough without being detected. The sahuagin outpost consisted of several roughly appointed stone caverns that lacked much in the way of personal accouterments, but was well fortified for defense. The first challenge was simply getting the group past choke points blocked by iron barred gates and chambers filled with alert guards. Fortunately Twilight had magic to cheat with, and as long as she maintained the spells to mask her group’s heat signs and keep everypony more or less invisible, that at least allowed them to get close to so she had visual range on the sahuagin guards that occupied the outpost’s main chamber.  From there it was a simple enough matter to cast out a wide range sleep spell to knock out the majority of the guards in one go. She didn’t want to use anything too potent, otherwise the magic use might end up alerting Charybdis, or triggering some sort of magical ward. Her spell affected almost every guard in sight, a string of magical notes that hovered through the water and lulled the sahuagin into languid floating snoreballs. The few guards that were out of range were too baffled by their suddenly sleeping companions to be able to react quickly. Applejack, showing off her strength, was able to bend open the bars of the iron gate into the chamber to allow the other’s through, and between Flash Sentry’s speed, Rarity’s precision, and Pinkie Pie’s inexplicable ability to appear behind people without them noticing, the remaining guards joined their fellows in taking involuntary naps within seconds. “No fuss, no alarms, no shouts for help,” Rarity said, pushing aside the guard she’d unceremoniously choked out, “Thus far I’d say this is going well.” “Don’t go jinxin’ nothin’, Rarity,” said Applejack, swimming up through the large, circular chamber, taking care to avoid floating spears and tridents the guards had dropped. She reached another set of iron bars with a gate, of which there were several leading out of the dark cavern. Strange, spherical lanterns of coral and glowing moss gave the room a phantom touch of white light, but otherwise all was shadowed. “Hey Twilight, ya think this way, maybe?” Twilight didn’t have any notion of the layout of this area, but judging from the positions of the other gates, she figured the one Applejack was next to was the most likely to lead further into Rift Mouth. “That looks about right, but don't pry it open like you did with the other. The bending metal makes too much noise.” “Leave it to me, darlings,” Rarity said, moving up to the gate and whipping out a few small, metal tools with which she made short work of the lock. “Still amazes me ya know how ta do that. Ya sure ya don’t moonlight as some kind o’ cat burglar?” “Perish the thought, Applejack. If anything I’d be a daring sleuth who’s experiences with the criminal element only make her more hard boiled and able to combat crime,” Rarity said, putting away her lockpicking tools with a flourish as she opened the gate, “And viola!” “Sensing anything living ahead?” Twilight asked Flash, to which the Soul Reaper closed his eyes and focused for a moment.  “Hmm, yes, but I don’t know if it’s more guards. There’s a few closer by, but beyond that I’m feeling... a lot of spirit signatures of varying sizes. A lot. I think we’ll be close to the main city once we’re past here.” That was encouraging. As Twilight moved towards the now open gate, she paused upon spotting a decent sized alcove to her left that she hadn’t noticed earlier. It was carved out of the cavern wall, an oval in the stone large enough to house a large shrine. The shrine was not unlike the one to Domare that she’d seen back in the Aqualania mansions, only larger, with the stone carving not of the seapony goddess but of the same sigil Ulgriv wore on his talisman. The eight tentacles of a barbed octopus or squid revolving around a single large eye, worked in stone. Around the shrine were placed small, bound fetishes of bone and teeth from various ocean creatures, arranged in circular patterns. Small scraps of what Twilight thought might be fish skin were written words in what she assumed was the sahuagin language. Prayers, perhaps? “She really is worshiped by them, isn’t she?” said Fluttershy, frowning at the shrine as she swam up next to Twilight, “Even though they still live in this cold, terrible place.” “It’s not that weird,” Pinkie Pie said, “The rock farm wasn’t cheer-central, but Ma and Pa had a way of believing in things, like the Choosing Stone that got them hooked up in the first place. I think sad places make people want to believe in things even more than usual.” “Structure helps,” Flash said with a quiet look of reflection, “Soul Society has been at war for as long as I can remember, and having the structure of the nobility and Central 46... well it went a long way to making everyone accept things.” “Even if it helps the sahuagin, it doesn’t mean what Charybdis has done is right,” Twilight said, her wings twitching, “Posing as a goddess, I mean. She could have just made herself a leader without going megalomaniacal about it. Letting them worship her this way, it’s just for her ego, and to steal power. Maybe in some twisted way she might believe she’s helping them, but she’s deluding herself if she thinks it justifies pushing them into further war with the seaponies that’s cost countless lives on both sides. This... this ends today.” Perhaps it was petty of her, but it felt good when she let loose a small but strong bolt of magical energy that tore apart the shrine in one shot. Letting the chunks of stone sink to the ground, Twilight turned and proceeded through the open gate, letting her companions follow in her wake.  The water around them grew faintly warmer, although that basically only took it from bone crunching freezing to barely tolerable. Passages twisted back upon themselves in a descending zig-zag, and Twilight passed by several alcoves that looked as if they were meant to house additional guards, but stood empty. Most likely many of these outposts were emptied of the majority of the warriors that would be stationed there in order to mount the defenses at the main fortress. She and her friends had simply encountered the skeleton crew leftover. Did that mean there wouldn’t be any further guards once they were outside of the outpost? After several minutes the switchback of winding passages led to a larger cavern, with a wide opening at one end from which a harsh, cold wash of light from an unknown source coated the rocky seabed in pale blues and greens. Cautiously Twilight and her companions approached the cave mouth. Beyond it’s black rim was a monstrously larger chamber that was unevenly oval, and to Twilight’s surprise led to a break in the water. There was an air pocket here, with cavern space above that was out of the water. She saw shapes moving above, a handful of sahuagin... but they weren’t armed? “I think we’ve reached the edge of the residential area,” she whispered, and Rarity nodded towards the far end of the pool, where there were carved steps that led out of the water. “Whether we exit there or climb up over the side, I dare say our splashing about will be noticeable, stealth spells or no.” “We could just wait until whoever is up there goes away, couldn’t we?” asked Fluttershy, “I’d rather not have to hurt anyone who isn’t trying to hurt us.” “Twilight, can you put anyone in the room up there to sleep like you did with the guards?” suggested Flash, and she looked up, frowning. She couldn’t see just how large the chamber above actually was, so she couldn’t guarantee a sleep spell would cover all of it or get every sahuagin that might have been up there. “I can try. I’ll have to dispel Wavecrest's water adaption spell once we’re out so we get our proper legs back, and re-cast it once we have to go back in. We don’t have time to just wait for the sahuagin up there to wander off, so just be ready. I know you don’t like violence, Fluttershy, but we’ll be gentle with the civilians. We just can’t afford to be spotted, either.” “I know,” the pegasus said, eyes flickering with sympathy but not looking away, either, “I trust you.” The longer they waited the more time there was for things to go wrong, so Twilight wasted not a second more. She rushed the surface of the pool and breached it like a dolphin, wings spreading from her otherwise seapony body to hover in the air as she let loose with a wide range sleeping spell. Around her, about four or five sahuagin all let out surprised, gasping warbles before the light of her spell washed over them and caused the lot to collapse in unconscious piles. It took Twilight a second of scanning to realize the chamber was mostly empty, and it’d only been that small handful of sahuagin present. Looking more closely at them, these ones were not only unarmed, but had frailer, thinner bodies than the warriors she’d seen up until that point. Their scales were dull and even their head crests looked frayed. Were these... old sahuagin? What were they doing here? Wait, where was here? As her friends climbed out of the pool and into the chamber proper, Twilight soaked in her surroundings. This was a carved cavern, a dome around the rough pool in the center. An open pair of stone doors led out one side of the chamber, while the rest of the wall was given over to carvings in mounted tablets, dozens upon dozens of them. The entire wall of the dome was covered in these tablets, with sahuagin script carved deeply into them. Small bowls of worked bone or coral sat at the ground in clusters around the tablets, where a copper scent indicated the blood that coated each bowl. Looking at one of the fallen sahuagin, Twilight saw he had a small bone knife which had been used to open his palm, where he’d been dripping a fresh set of drops into one of the bowls. Gauging from the kneeling positions of some of the other fish men, Twilight realized they must have been sitting in either meditation, or perhaps prayer. “Whoa, what n’ tarnation is goin’ on with this place?” asked Applejack. By the time all of Twilight’s friends clambered out of the pool she used a quick dispelling enchantment to return their bodies to normal. She’d be able to easily reassert Wavecrest’s adaption spell in a moment, but as long as they were in an aired and dry portion of this place, having legs instead of flippers was quite a bit more useful. “I think this is a gravesite,” Flash said, and Applejack gave him a look. “What makes ya say that?” “Well, it’s just that this looks a lot like the graves back home,” Flash said, shrugging his wings, “In Soul Society we set up monuments to carve the names of our departed and leave offerings for their souls. This chamber just looks similar to me.” “Wowie, if these are names, there sure are a lot of them,” Pinkie Pie said, and that statement proved to be an underestimation as they followed the path through the doors. There, they discovered the chamber they’d entered was just one many, with split paths leading for further carved areas filled with tablets and offerings to a seemingly boundless list of the dead. There were some few sahuagin in the other chambers, mostly the elderly, but some younger, whom Twilight’s group was able to stealthily avoid this time, but Twilight did pause to watch and listen as some offered chants and prayers, while others offered their own blood to the departed dead. The crypt, as Twilight had come to think of it, was expansive, but it still wasn’t too long before they found a chamber in which the waters of the Abyss coated the floor once more. Below she saw a wide set of stairs under the water leading to a carved stone exit into what looked to be a much more open expanse beyond. Unfortunately there were not only sahuagin here at the exit, but from the vestments made of jangling bones and the more elaborate bone daggers they wore, two of these sahuagin were shamans, although young ones from the look of them. The translation spell Twilight had cast over herself and her friend was still going strong, so as they hid around the bend in the short hall leading to the exit chamber they were able to stay out of sight and listen in to what the two shamans were saying as they chatted. “We should be there with the Deep Mistress and elders! It’s embarrassing to be excluded so!” gurgled one shaman. The other, bearing a feminine tone, shook her head at the other and waggled a finger at him. “Fool, it is not our place to question our betters! We are but neophytes, and only just accepted into the shamans’ blessed ranks. Be grateful they saw fit to let us tend to the Halls of the Saved in the absence of a proper elder.” “Hrrg,” the male grunted, “I’d rather tend the slave and sacrifice pits. Far less boring, especially with new batches of soft kin to break in.” “Tch, I see no joy in that work. I’d rather be placed within the temple proper.” “What, no stomach for blood? It is what fuels our very spells, sister, one would think you’d get used to it,” chided the male, to which the female gave him a sharp cuff across the face. He growled as she glared at him. “Question not my strength or dedication, brother. I merely do not find pleasure in the soft kin’s pain, even if they earn their fates. It is more fulfilling to lead worship in prayer to our Deep Mistress, that is all. I too wish I could be with Her in Her lair right now, aiding in the great ritual. I also have the brains to accept our meager skills in magic would be of little help.” “Faith supplements skill, but I’ll argue with you no more if you’re in this foul a mood. Let us merely hope something exciting happens before I perish of bore-” As the pair had been talking, Twilight had hatched a plan with her companions. In a blink, a blinding bolt of purple energy from Twilight smacked into and stunned the male neophyte shaman and smashed him into the ceiling, laying him out cold. The female, quick on her instincts, cut her palm with her dagger and began to chant a spell, her blood crackling with dark power, but Flash Sentry was much faster and used his Zanpaktou to knock the blade out of her hand while simultaneously placing a hand in front of her face to chant an invocation of his own. “Bakudo Number Five: Inemuri!” (Forced Slumber) The binding Kido sent an invisible wave of spiritual force over the shaman’s head, and her eyes twitched a moment before closing in abrupt sleep, her body going slack. Twilight looked at Flash with interest as he set the slumbering sahuagin down. “So Bakudo can do more than just restrain?” “Oh, you’d be surprised how many Kido fall under the ‘binding’ category that don’t really have anything to do with actual binding,” Flash replied with that semi-embarrassed smile she found so charming.  “Well, nicely done. Now let’s get outside before anyone stops by to notice our sleeping shamans,” Twilight said, quickly casting the water adaption spell over her companions as they all quickly dove into the ocean once more and swam towards the crypt's exit. Before reaching the threshold, Twilight also made sure to coat her group with a fresh pair of heat dampening and a circle of invisibility to try and keep them from being obvious to any watchful eyes. Twilight resolved herself to get a lot more practice with illusions in, as she knew her invisibility especially just wasn’t up to par with what Trixie could do, but fortunately the pathway leading out of the crypt wasn’t occupied and it gave her and her friends a chance to take in their first look at Rift Mouth properly. The crypt's exit was a hole in the side of a truly massive, sloping cliff, part of an underwater rock canyon that stretched out to either side in a rough S-curve shape to Twilight’s left and right. The slope was made up of roughly carved pits, some large, some small, but all showing the faint glow of moss lamps and the shadows of swimming sahuagin. The closest pits were much larger than the ones further down the slope, and there was an overhanging set of arches made out of the bones of some insanely huge aquatic serpent that formed a canopy over a elongated pit that was carved down at a steep angle. In the darkness it was difficult to make out details, but she could also tell that to her left the surviving path of the rock canyon was lined on either side by more cave openings, some much larger than the one she and her friends floated within, and some that went as far up the canyon wall as to be nearly out of sight. Twilight also faintly made out the shape of a towering vertical slit in the end of the canyon to her left, flanked by stone spires that looked like the ones she’d seen at the fortress. Could that be the other end of the cavern tunnel the Treasury was doing battle with the sahuagin army? Did that mean that to the right would lead deeper into Rift Mouth, and hence Charybdis? In that direction she saw that the peppering of pits thinned out, but only because the canyon walls grew narrow and closer together, with far more caverns honeycombing the walls themselves. Crossways of stitched together bone and coral formed strange tunnels between the caverns, less practical and more seemingly made to dangle more of that glowing moss from to create a shade of otherworldly light in that direction. Once more the uneven gloom of the Abyss made detail hard to make out, but Twilight thought she saw the canyon floor drop off sharply in that direction and the top tips of some huge archway. “If I were a betting mare, I’d say that way looks like it would lead a dastardly sea witch’s lair,” Rarity said, nodding off to their right, and Twilight was inclined to agree.  “Everypony stay close, only whisper when you half to, and try and move fast,” Twilight said, and began to set off, keeping watch to make sure her friends were all remaining in proper range of her spells. The swam in a tight cluster and kept lose to the seafloor, not wanting to risk swimming higher up. For being the sahaugin’s only real “city” there still didn’t appear to be that many swimming around. She kept seeing a few dwelling within the carved out pits, but not in the kind of numbers she’d expect from a large settlement. Then again it was possible most preferred to remain in their dwellings.  It was then that Fluttershy whispered, “Oh my, I wonder if they’re tame?” “Tame? What do you mean?” Twilight said, but Fluttershy pointed up, and Twilight blinked at the sigh to a pod of darting shapes that swam around the higher caverns of the canyon wall. Squid? Large ones, to be sure, although not giant monsters. She then let out a small gasp as, despite the size of the squid, an even larger beast that looked like a cross between an ocean crocodile and a whale descended from the darkness above and swallowed two of the squid whole before vanishing back up into the fathoms above. “Hoo boy, they don’t even have defenses against wild predators in their own city,” Pinkie Pie gulped, “That’s a pest control issue if I've ever seen one.” “I... don’t think that’s true,” Twilight said, careful with her magic as she poked upwards with her senses. “There’s a bubble of sorts up there. A warding. I think it keeps the large ones from diving too deep, but...” “But if any fish face wanders too far up, they’re probably fair game fer snack time,” Applejack noted. “Most of them probably know to keep below a certain depth,” Flash pointed out, but then his eyes narrowed as he seemed to spot something up above, “Unless of course you’re a dumb kid who doesn’t know any better.” “Huh?” Fluttershy picked up on his meaning much faster than Twilight did as she was the next one to notice the pair of tiny shadows swimming up the rock wall, entirely too close to where the pod of squid had been. Twilight made out the sight of two small sahuagin, clearly far too young to be wandering around on their own, making their way up in small spurts of swimming. It looked to her like one was egging on the other. Some kind of test of courage? She’d known school fillies back in Ponyville that sometimes challenged themselves to wander into the Everfree Forest, which was dangerous enough. This looked quite a bit moreso, given the size and aggressiveness of the predators present. Ulgriv had said something about there being a high mortality rate among sahuagin young. She’d figured that was a combination of lack of food, medical care, and the extreme cold. Stood to reason predator attacks weren’t uncommon either. “Twilight, we have to do something,” Fluttershy said.  Twilight didn’t disagree, but could she risk compromising the whole mission? Stopping the two children would be easy enough, but between the stealth spells she was already maintaining, using more magic would start to give off a more potent signature that Charybdis might sense! They’d lose the element of surprise. At that moment a sense of frigid shame struck her almost as soon as she’d had those thoughts, realizing that something like the mere element of surprise was inconsequential when stacked against the correctness of protecting lives. A part of her knew it was simple pragmatism, but she hadn’t become a Princess of Equestria by relying on dry practicality and only doing what was smart, instead of what was right.  Saving the two sahuagin children from their own naïve actions wasn’t in question, only how to go about doing it.  “Rarity, can you grab them with your magic?” she said, “If you do that and yank them towards us, I’ll try to extend my illusions to cover them, too.” “On it, Twilight.” Rarity said, her own horn glowing like a torch. Twilight licked her lips and focused on contorting her illusions, extending the ‘bubble’ that was around her and her friends like a distorted balloon. The two sahuagin youngsters had nearly reached the pack of squid when Rarity’s magic gripped both of them. The pair let out startled cries, but they were far enough away from the sahuagin dwellings down below that their voices might reach, but not without some distortion. The pair were pulled rapidly towards Twilight’s party, and in mere seconds were enveloped in the illusion that helped cloak the group. The second they were close, Fluttershy got in front of the startled, frightened pair of sahuagin young and her eyes seemed to stare deeply into theirs as her voice let out a soothing yet somehow commanding tone. “Please be quiet, little ones. We’re not going to hurt you. You’re safe with us.” Up close the pair of youngsters looked quite different than the burly warriors Twilight was used to. Their limbs were more stubby, with claws more like needles. Each also had an underdeveloped tail, almost like a tadpole’s. Their eyes were disproportionately large compared to their heads, and gave them wide eyed stares that were almost adorable if they two didn’t look terrified.  One opened their mouth to shriek, but Fluttershy’s stare had a potency that was near a physical force as she raised a hoof to her mouth, “Shhh, please. I said we won’t hurt you. If you make a lot of noise, that makes everything very complicated for me and my friends. You two look like good little sahuagin, so we have no reason to harm you. And we just stopped you from doing something very dangerous.” “Uh, Fluttershy, we’ve got translation spells on us,” Applejack pointed out, “They don’t.” Fluttershy’s face colored red, “Oh, um. Heheh...I see.” Fortunately her stare had been enough to cow the two children, who were gaping in astonishment at the cluster of apparent seaponies around them. Twilight frowned, then decided there was little choice and cast the translation spell upon the children. Perhaps they might learn something useful? “There, you should be able to understand us now.” “S-soft kin magic!” one whispered, it’s voice so high pitched that telling male from female was difficult. “Don’t talk to them! They’ll kill the broodmother and steal the rest of the spawning for food!” whimpered the other.  “Oh no, we would do no such thing,” Fluttershy insisted, “We only wanted to stop you from getting yourselves hurt.” The first one that had spoken sent near transparent eyelids flicking over his huge, button eyes in an astonished blink, “Why? It’s a test of courage! We prove our worth to the Deep Mistress.” “Yes, yes, we prove ourselves and we’ll be made great warriors or even shamans. Soft kin like you must want to stop us. That’s why you’re here, a raid to attack the spawning pools!” shouted the other, to which Flash Sentry nudged Twilight and nodded towards the larger pits on the slope. “We can’t stay here long Twilight. The noise is attracting attention, even if we can’t be seen,” he said, and Twilight saw what he meant. Several sahuagin adults were slowly floating out of their pit dwellings, looking around in wary curiosity. From the larger pit rose a particularly large sahuagin specimen, with thick limbs and a gravid belly. This sahaugin’s crest was huge, with a deep red color marked by green stripes, and she carried a staff of carved coral tipped with some manner of severed crab pincer.  “Ritigiv, Dravma! I’d better not find you boys have gotten your idiot selves eaten by squid, or I’ll still tan your corpses for disobeying my rules!” The two young sahuagin both visibly paled. “Uh-oh, broodmother Farmaiz is gonna kill us!” “M-maybe we should’ve waited a year to do our test of courage, brother?” The angry broodmother started searching up the slope, still grumbling and threatening loudly while poking at crevices with her pincer staff. Applejack, gaining a savvy look on her face, slid next to the two young sahuagin and whispered, “Ya know, ya two little rascals seem ta be in a spot o’ trouble with yer ma, goin’ out an’ doin’ something she clearly forbade ya from doin’. Bet she’s got a whole list o’ punishments wit yer names on ‘em if she finds ya, especially if yer hangin’ round a bunch o’ soft kin like us.” “Ack, the soft kin is right, Ritigiv! We need to hide until the broodmothers wrath dies down a little.” “Grr, I hate you being right...” said the other, Dravma, who tilted his (or her?) head at the ponies around them, “You’re using some crazy soft kin magic to hide us right now? That’s why the broodmother and none others can see us?” “That’s right,” Twilight said, thinking quickly, “If you two know a good hiding spot, we’ll take you there, just as long as you keep quiet about us being here.” “How do we know you’re not here to raid us?” asked Dravma, “What are soft kin like you doing in Rift Mouth?” “We’ve business with your Deep Mistress,” Twilight said, figuring there was little point in trying to lie about it. “If you know where her lair is, that’d speed things along.” The little sahuagin chortled, but the laugh died as the broodmother’s search got ever closer. Ritigiv was still shaking, but Twilight saw a shrewdness appearing in Dravma’s face as the young one regarded them with a growing amount of alertness. “You’re not... normal soft kin. You know what, this is way more interesting than just playing at a test of courage! Follow me and I’ll show you a hideout we spawnlings use to watch the warriors and shamans practice. It’s not far from the Deep Mistress’ trench.” “D-Dravma, you’ll help these soft kin?” Ritigiv squeaked, “Even if they’re here to hurt the Deep Mistress?” “Don’t be a fool, Rit. Nothing can hurt the Deep Mistress, but she loves receiving sacrifices. If these soft kin want to throw themselves at her so badly, why not help them do so? The Deep Mistress may even reward us!” Dravma said, then glanced with a hint of fear as broodmother Farmaiz’s search grew close enough that her angry bellows shook the water. Twilight realized the broodmother was almost twice the size that even Morgawr had been. Either spawning did quite a bit of morphing to a sahaugin’s body, or broodmothers were a different breed from regular sahuagin females. She made a mental note to, one day if circumstances permitted, to do a proper study on sahuagin biology.  “Besides,” Dravma said, “I’d rather risk the Deep Mistress’ unknown wrath than Farmaiz’s very known wrath. Come soft kin, this way.” As strange as it was, Twilight and her companions now had a rather unexpected guide, and given time was short and they needed a way to get further into Rift Mouth without getting lost or bumping into endless patrols, they now followed a young pair of sahuagin deep into the canyon. With a little luck, perhaps they’d still be able to get the drop on Charybdis. ---------- Rainbow Dash kept half an eye on the Treasury while waiting to see what the sahuagin champions would do. She’d lost sight of Berokar amid the swirling cloud of silt and rock that had flown up from where he’d hit the seabed, but she sensed a stir of magic from there that told her that while she’d given him a solid hit, he wasn’t out of the fight yet. Rainbow was still getting used to being able to sense magic and other energies at all. It wasn’t too different from the way she, as a pegasus, could feel the weather, but there was still a lot unfamiliar to her about her new powers. On one hoof, she did have Tachys’ memories swirling inside her mind to help steady the flow of confusing sensing and sort things out. On the other hoof, those same memories were seriously cramping her style when it came to her friends; Applejack especially. Tachys and her, in some ways, were pretty similar. Both incredible loyal, both daring and all too willing to fly headlong into danger. They both liked a good challenge and reveled in showing off. Yet Tachys was different from her in more than a few key areas, and not just in what equipment was under his tail. Tachys was a romantic to a fault, whereas Rainbow Dash had tried so hard not to think about that kind of thing for most of her life that it’d bordered on the pathological. It wasn’t like she didn’t have some level of interest, but she’d just always associated romantic relationships with getting tied down and... well, responsibility. It just hadn’t been at the forefront of her mind while focusing on getting into the Wonderbolts. Now she had a diehard romantic in her head that was mistaking her best friend for his paramour, and it was causing some serious mental distraction. Last thing she needed when about to face down three magically empowered, highly trained killers. But then again, nice way to get her mind off of Applejack and how beautiful her friend’s eyes where, even when she was arguing- Gah! Brain, stop it! We’re in flank kicking mode, not flank kissing mode! Even if Applejack’s flanks are really exceptionally toned- NO! Focus! Her issued challenge appeared to be getting a response, as she heard a surprisingly loud bellow come from the darkly purple shaded sahuagin champion. The bellow was apparently some manner of command for the fortress became quiet in short order as the spells of shamans of the large bolts from launches mounted on the spires came to a halt. In response the Treasury, which had been moving around in a slow banking circle for another attack run slowed down and finished its turn a good distance back, leaving Rainbow Dash essentially halfway between the ship and the sahuagin fortress.  Rainbow Dash watched as who she assumed was the sahuagin leader began to swim towards her, followed by Morgawr who remained a respectful distance behind this other champion. The silt cloud Berokar’s impact had created had settled down, although he himself was nowhere in evidence. Rainbow didn’t drop her guard as the other two champions got close to the air bubble she was maintaining around herself. As a courtesy, and to perhaps be a tad cocky, she let the bubble go, drawing the wind back into herself. She didn’t care if the sahuagin thought she was dropping her guard. She most certainly wasn’t. But she wouldn’t say no to them underestimating her. As arrogant as she was intentionally acting, she was taking this seriously. While she felt confident she was more powerful than these “champions” of Charybdis, she knew they might still be able to put the hurt on her if she got too reckless or failed to pay attention.  Now that they were close Rainbow Dash was able to get a decent look at the purple one. She, or at least Rainbow Dash was fairly certain it was female, was a shade of color a good bit darker than Twilight’s lavender, closer to the shade of plumbs. Her body was built like a wire cord, and looked as hard as steel without being bulky. Aside from a light armored vest of bone, the main piece of gear this female sahuagin carried was a huge circle blade of immense shark teeth arranged in a pattern that basically made her weapon into a saw, with a cross handle in the center for an easy grip.  Beside the female, Morgawr floated with just a regular trident of bone. Dash was a little disappointed he hadn’t recovered that nifty spear that Scylla had owned, as it had looked like it had a fun ability to try fighting. Looking him over, she broke the ice by saying, “Surprised to see you swimming, dude. Twilight left you a total wreck just a few days ago.” There wasn’t quite as much of a reaction as she would have hoped for, but she did see him grip his weapon tighter as he said, “The Deep Mistress’ gifts remain with me, despite my failures. My body may not be as healed as it appears, but I’ll sacrifice this flesh all the same in Her name.” “We are not here to talk, surfacer,” said the female, her voice possessing a rasping quality that wasn’t too far off from Rainbow Dash’s own, “I am Rezarra, warleader of the sahuagin who face you this day. Rather than waste my warriors lives against you and your ship, if you seek the honor of one-on-one combat then I shall answer that call.” “Pfft, didn’t you hear me, lady?” Rainbow Dash said, and swept her shining swordbreaker before her, locking eyes with Rezarra, “I said I’ll take all three of you. Including you, Mister Sneaky McCan’tHide!” She sent out a blast of wind force with a simple gesture of her right wing, lancing the water in that direction with a blast of air that churned the water. A shadowy waver in the water resolved itself into Berokar, who’d wrapped himself in some manner of cloaking magic to try and swim behind her. Now he rocked back, knives poised, and growled at being exposed. “Grr, how did you-!?” “Who knows?” Rainbow Dash said, waggling her eyebrows at him. She did kind of want to show off and explain her skills, but she could all but hear a tiny Twilight on her shoulder giving her a lecture on not doing something so foolish. Truth was, Rainbow Dash’s command of wind was quite a bit more potent than even she’d suspected when first becoming familiar with the powers she now wielded. When she’d created that air bubble earlier she’d also left much tinier bubbles, near invisible ones, all over the area. Any water current that stirred those microscopic bubbles was something she’d immediately sense and be able to react to. There’d be no sneaking up on Rainbow Dash, unless her foe possessed some way to neutralize her powers or become fully intangible. Berokar’s stealth was actually impressive, making him near completely invisible in the dark waters, but his motions still generated currents in the water. He wasn’t getting in any backstabs on Dash unless she fell asleep mid-battle. “Berokar, do not pervert the sanctity of an honor duel with your shameless tactics,” Rezarra said, then turned glaring eyes towards Rainbow, “As for you... hmph, I admit that Morgawr has warned me against taking you surfacers lightly. It seems you have gained powers that rival the blessings we chosen of Charybdis possess. So be it. If you seek to face all three of us, I shall not deny you.” In one smooth motion Rezarra reached back and unclipped her circular blade from her back and spun it in front of her. Intense red light bloomed across a number of spiral tattoos etched near invisibly across her scales, and in turn wisps of that red light flowed into her weapon. A high pitched whine filled the water as, instead of Rezarra’s body, it was her weapon that transformed. The shark teeth grew a metallic sheen and turned blood red as the blade itself started to spin at high speed, while a sheath of crimson energy coated the entire thing and vibrated with power.  “Huh, that’s new,” Dash said, and Rezrra showed teeth. “Each champion receives a different blessing from the Deep Mistress. All of us gain physical might, but beyond that the blessings are unique. Morgawr has his armor and unrivaled durability. Berokar gains speed and the capacity to blend into any environment he’s in. As for me, my blade, Leviathan Slayer, gains a life of its own and the power to rend anything it touches, no matter how thick the armor or hide it encounters.” “Nifty,’ Rainbow Dash drawled, “Soooo, we waiting until the count of three...?’ “Count of... three?” Rezarra tilted her head quizzically, and Dash just waved a hoof at her. “Never mind. Let’s just go on go, okay? GO!” She didn’t hold anything back, going straight for Rezarra. Even underwater, there was no slowing her speed, and between that and the wind force she generated around her wings it was as if a tunnel of air had instantly opened up in the depths between her and the sahuagin champion. Her swordbreaker was a silver weave of a hundred flashes, all targeting Rezarra’s limbs in a blinding storm. In terms of reaction times it wasn’t a real contest, as Rezarra, even pumped up with Charybdis’ magic, could not keep track of Dash’s movements. However there was one factor that kept her from being entirely overwhelmed in that first moment. She hadn’t been lying about her weapon, Leviathan Slayer, taking on a life of it’s own, and it had received the far greater portion of Charybdis’ blessing. The weapon automatically moved to defend it’s wielder from attacks, even ones the wielder couldn’t perceive, for the weapon’s magical field could detect those motions and react to them. More than that, each individual shark tooth on the spinning blade had a separate ability... the ability to detach and fly out like a swarm of individual saw blades. Rainbow Dash still felt more than a few of her strikes connected with Rezarra’ who tried to dart to the side out of the main path of Dash’s assault. Meanwhile a buzzing cyclone of spinning red shark teeth interposed themselves with Rainbow’s other strikes, with flaring sparks of red and silver as the blade’s edges clashed. Morgawr was activating his own blessings from Charybdis, his muscles twitching as they bulged out. From the look of pain on his face his body was still quite damaged and the act of empowering himself was causing no shortage of agony, but that didn’t stop him from still lunging in Dash’s direction with a potent thrust that created a shockwave in the water at the tip of his trident. Still, it was nothing Rainbow Dash couldn’t readily evade, and as she did so she turned her swordbreaker enough to catch one of the trident tips in the swordbreaker’s grooves. She then spun and twisted her body to wrench Morgawr around, after which she flipped her own body up and over him to plant a dropkick onto his back. This sent Morgawr flying downward, but before Dash could follow up that attack, she had dozens of shark teeth spinning towards her in a burning red barrage. In a prismatic streak she zipped away from the blades, Rezarra trying her best to try and follow Rainbow Dash’s constant motion that left the sahuagin with dizzy eyes.  “How is she this fast?” Rezarra breathed, then she flung her weapon above her head and slapped her hands together, “Deep Mistress, grant me more power! Take your price of my spirit in service to you!” Rezarra could feel the warm grip of Charybdis’ attention upon her, and heard her Deep Mistress’ words in her mind as clear as clarion bells. I will spare some more power, but do not squander it, my champion. Not unlike the manner in which Morgwar had grown even more empowered in his clash with Twilight, a potent font of fresh power erupted within Rezarra, although in the manner of her unique blessing this force channeled through her and into her weapon that now hovered above her head. The spinning blade of shark teeth crackled with fresh might, red and black magical energy now burning around it in a raging blaze.  Each of the shark teeth that had been flying around and chasing Rainbow Dash now doubled in speed, and gained a set ghostly duplicates made of pure red energy. Suddenly Dash was contending with hundreds of shark teeth that were chasing her, and with a laugh of enjoyment she increased her own speed. Around Rezarra she rushed, so fast that it looked as if a hundred Rainbow Dashs were surrounding her. “Not bad Rezarra, but can you keep up!?” Dash shouted, and Rezarra growled, swimming up to grab her main weapon and pour more magic into it, causing yet more phantom shark teeth to burst forth and further increase the speed of them. This was causing a visible strain on Rezarra, her muscles twitching and a bit of blood seeping from her eyes as she shoved as much of the magic Charybdis was giving her into her weapon. “Catch her and slice through, Leviathan Slayer!” Rezarra shouted, and as if her very will was spurring them on, the hundreds of shark teeth moved in coordinated, curving motions to chase Rainbow Dash. Even so, Dash simply went into a sudden climb, getting all of the shark teeth following her in a tight cluster. Then, satisfied they were all bunched together, Rainbow Dash instantly turned around and then shot straight back down, exuding such air pressure from her wings that a conical wave of wind formed a bubble in the water and smashed down. Each shark tooth was caught in this sudden surge of wind and blasted through, Rainbow Dash punching right through the cluster as she aimed a streaking silver strike right at Rezarra’s gut. At the last split second she felt a disturbance in the small bubbles she’d been using to monitor the motion of everything around her. It was sudden, and surprisingly close. The water in front of her barley stirred as a series of black spikes snapped at her, and if she hadn’t been as fast as she was or had the early warning, she would have been skewered. Berokar let out a sahuagin curse as the spikes his body had grown retracted, having missed Dash, but only by an inch. Dash was surprised, nonetheless. Clever jerk had gone completely motionless, ceasing all movement save to float silently and invisibly in front of Rezarra. He’d predicted she’d go for another head on attack and had also guessed she’d had a way to track his movements, so he’d stopped dead and remained in her potential attack path, despite that putting his body at risk of friendly fire. All just to try and get the drop on her! Had he waited a split second longer, or if his spikes had been a bit faster, she might not have managed to dodge in time. “Yikes, you almost had me there, but still no dice, buddy!” she said, to which Berokar, wearing a look of utter hatred on his face, faded back into the shadows wordlessly. Looked as if he wasn’t about to give up on getting her with a sneak attack, but she wasn’t going to fall for the same trick twice. Still, she was a little impressed. She figured she’d have taken all three of her opponents down by now, but they were hanging in there. Morgawr was swimming back up from where she’d kicked him down, and Rezarra was rejoining her shark teeth with her main blade, and appeared to be powering up for a new attack, crimson power swirling around her like a maelstrom of blood, while Berokar was out there somewhere in the dark, looking for any weakness in Dash’s guard. Yet Rainbow Dash was smiling. She was having the time of her life, and in the back of her mind she could all but feel the memories of Tachys’ sharing in her satisfaction. He’d lived for battles just like this, and now Rainbow Dash was getting a taste for it herself. Some part of her thought perhaps she ought to find that concerning, but for now she was simply having fun.  And hey, this certainly seemed to be keeping Charybdis’ attention, and as long as that was the case, then Twilight and others would have one less surprise to worry about. ---------- Every second of sitting within the confined room, even if it was far more comfortable than his previous cell, was still agony for Ulgriv.  The young sahuagin warrior was tearing himself apart on the inside, his spirit in pained turmoil. He believed he’d done the right thing by providing the surfacers with a means to stealthily enter Rift Mouth. It would help save the lives of his fellow warriors, and even if the surfacers’ goal was to defeat his Deep Mistress, it was difficult for Ulgriv to conceive of the notion that Charybdis could... lose. She was a goddess. A savior of his race. His devotion to her was strong and he had faith that everything Charybdis had ever done was for the good of her children. There was no reason for him to doubt this, for as difficult as his life had been, each of those difficulties, from the growl of a starving belly to the fear of being hunting by the very Abyssal creatures he had to hunt to feed his people were things that were the fault of the seapony soft kin. Charybdis, goddess or not, could only mitigate the problems the sahuagin faced, not erase them. But the seaponies, the cursed soft kin, had forced his people to remain outcast for so long, for no good reason. Right? It seemed foolish to him, and he kept admonishing himself for it, but the past few days spent amid the surfacers had left him with questions that prodded his soul. He couldn’t explain it, other than there was a distinct sincerity to which these surface ponies seemed dedicated to reducing the harm their actions caused and the concern they expressed towards his people that left him confused.  At least the soft kin witch, Wavecrest, had acted like he imagined soft kin would, at least for the most part. But even her words had left hooks of doubt in his mind, suggesting that his kind had earned their place in the Abyss by being the very kind of threat that would earn the hate and scorn of the soft kin. He wanted to deny Wavecrest’s accusations, yet it would explain much of the soft kin’s attitude towards the sahuagin. If he forced himself to think about it, considering the manner in which, for generations, his race had managed to sneak out of the Abyss to conduct raids that captured seapony, even young ones, for use as slaves in the mines beneath Rift Mouth or as sacrifices for shamanistic rituals, then what blame could he give the soft kin for their hate?  Oh my sweet child, that is the nature of hate. Everyone wants to think just their own hate is justified, but the truth is, ALL hate is justified. Ulgriv froze, mouth opening in awe as he suddenly felt Her presence within him. He choked out a cry as he clutched the amulet around his neck, “Deep Mistress!?”  Yes, faithful Ulgriv. The seapony witch, Wavecrest, and that arrogant Twilight Sparkle tried to bar my path to you, but I was able to tear down the feeble spells that were trying to keep me out. I sense your thoughts, your confusion. Shame filled him and he lowered his head, both hands now holding his amulet tightly, “Forgive me, Deep Mistress. I harbor such doubt. I only wish to serve you, to serve my people, but I...I... Her voice was as soothing as the embrace of the rare warm current that the enchanted heat stones could make within Rift Mouths’ still bitterly cold depths.  Shhh, my child. I see your soul, Ulgriv. I know your faith is pure. Your love of your fellow kin. So young, yet so dedicated. You’re ashamed you led the surface folk to me? But I am grateful. Twilight Sparkle thinks she will surprise me, but it will be I who surprises her. In more ways than one, if you are willing to give yourself to me. “What must I...do?” he asked, eager, yet somehow uneasy. He didn’t know how he could possibly be of help, locked away as he was. Charybdis’ voice echoed in his head with gentle, yet somehow sharp laughter. You needn’t do anything, faithful Ulgriv. Let me in, and I shall do the rest.