//------------------------------//
// Episode 166: All or Nothing 
// Story: Equestria Girls: Friendship Souls 
// by thatguyvex 
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Episode 166: All or Nothing


	Celestia was on her twelfth journal amid Starswirl’s musty collection. Her old mentor certainly tended towards the long winded, prone to tangents and extensive musings on any subject be it mundane or magical that came to mind. It was endearing in some ways, but when one was trying to sift for specific information it was just a shade frustrating. Still, she couldn’t find it in herself to be that mad at him, indulging in a lingering nostalgia for the days she and Luna had been tutored by the wizened unicorn, who’d been on in  years even back then. A part of her wished she’d pressed harder to be a part of his adventures with his allies, the Pillars, but she knew he’d never have let her or Luna do so. He was as protective of them as he was often distant, an odd contradiction of characteristics that had irked Celestia in her younger years, but nowadays she understood all too well. She was the protector of all Equestria, and cared deeply for all of her little ponies, but sometimes protecting something meant keeping a certain... distance, emotionally speaking. 

“I just wish you’d told us what you’d intended to do that night,” she sighed, leafing through yet more worn, browned pages, eyes scanning the contents for any mention of Stygian. Her recollections didn’t account for much of the stallion in question. He’d been a quiet sort, barely spoke, and she’d only seen him with Starswirl and the Pillars a few times. Unremarkable, yet always following, like a shadow. 

How had that unassuming pony become something like the unharmonious entity of overwhelming shadow that was imprisoned in that space within Ponehenge? Why was he so powerful, to the point that the Pillars had needed to use themselves as catalysts to seal him away? She had been searching for the flashpoint, the inciting incident. The only thing she felt certain of was that whatever power Stygian had come across, it was not that of an Inheritor, but something somehow still intrinsically tied to what the ancient alicorns had done. If she could uncover any clues at all, perhaps it might lead to a way to deal with Stygian if he ever escaped, a prospect that seemed more likely now that he had his shadow hooves upon the human world’s Starlight Glimmer. Celestia shuddered to think what would happen if either one of them absorbed the power of the other, or if they ended up agreeing to cooperate. It would take all of the power of she, Luna, Cadence, and likely Twilight Sparkle as well to mount a proper defense. 

Ah, and speaking of Cadence, I ought to go see if Luna has taken it easy on the poor dear. It’s been about the right amount of time to go check on them.

Setting aside the book she’d been reading, she got up with a languid stretch and started to make her way down to her and Luna’s old play arena. She smiled fondly at those old memories, especially of she and her sister’s combined creation; Announcer. The sandmare golem was a labor of love on both her and Luna’s part, a playmate to help alleviate some of the loneliness that stemmed from not growing up around other foals. Even if Announcer wasn’t really “alive” or even the strictest definition of sapient, the construct was still one of Celestia's first “friends”, besides her sister. 

Activating the sliding tube down to the arena was a cinch, and in no time Celestia was enjoying a thrilling if all too brief trip down the smooth stone slide that took her to the expansive underground arena. Considering she didn’t feel any further trembling quakes or hear any explosions, she could only assume Cadence and Luna had taken a breather...

Or not? The moment Celestia entered the arena’s sandy interior, she found herself surrounded by an unnatural, frigid cold and a deep, encompassing darkness. The sand beneath her hooves was frozen beyond solid, crunching to dusty ice particles with each step. Frozen to absolute zero. She couldn’t see through the veil of night, which smothered sound as well as sight with a magical suppression that likely explained why she had stopped feeling any tremors or hearing any faint rumbles while she’d been perusing Starswirl’s journals.

Normally this might elicit  some concern from Celestia, but she suspected that Luna had simply gotten a little too into the spirit of things. Had Iah taken over, or some half-forged personality of Nightmare Moon been reborn, then Luna wouldn’t have remained in the arena, or bothered trying to set such an obvious trap. 

Celestia called forth her magic and her horn gushed sun born illumination in a piercing set of solar rays that dispelled the night and warmed the air. Clearing her throat, Celestia called out.

“Luna, could you help me turn on the lights, please? If you and Cadence are still going at it, I can come back, but I thought it was high time we switched places.”

There was a thick pause for a few moments, but then there was an explosive sigh from somewhere in the darkness and a grumbling, “Fine, but you have terrible timing, sister. I nearly had her right where I wanted her.”

Like ink being suctioned up by a vacuum, the darkness slicked away and left the arena bathed once more in light. Celestia saw that not all of the space had been frozen, with instead numerous patches and area turned to white sculptures of cold, but others remained normal temperature, albeit many scorched and torn up by blast marks, deep cutting furrows, impact craters, and other signs of intense struggle. Parts of the arena had been reshaped into various obstacles, barriers, ramps and dugouts, like some massive jungle gym of sandstone. Within the center was one large pillar, flat on top, upon which a familiar mare made from snout to tail to tophat in sand made a gasp and burst into a cloud of sand particles. That cloud instantly rushed to Celestia and re-formed into Announcer's smiling form, colorless eyes still somehow managing to sparkle as if the grains of sand within them lit up.

“Celllllyyyy! I missed you!”

One might think being hugged by sand might be abrasive, and perhaps it was, but Celestia could never say no to a hug from Announcer and happily embraced the construct as Announcer threw herself onto one of her creators.

“I missed you as well, Announcer. I trust you’ve been enjoying putting the arena to use for my sister and our mutual friend, Cadence?”

As she spoke she glanced around the arena once more to look for the two alicorns in question. As if appearing from a sliver of moonlight, Luna merely blinked into existence a few paces away. Celestia examined her sister, and the changes that had come over her from the activation of one of Iah’s Relics.

Luna’s coat of fur remained the same shade of midnight blue it usually was, but it’s sheen had now become overflowing with a luminous quality of silver moonlight, which concentrated along thicker, curly growths of fur along her forehooves that glowed with that etherlight. Her mane had grown noticeably longer, with the same dancing waves of flowing moonlight moving over its gossamer strands, the tips so brightly silver as to shine as pure moonlight. Luna’s wings, too, were larger, and most notably in contrast to her fur and mane, the feathers of her wings dripped with coalesced shadows, with a literal veil of night trailing from the wings like a cloak. Above each wing was a silver fragment of metal shaped in a moon crescent, floating as if magnetically linked to the wings, and bearing etchings of arcane symbols. Luna bore no adornments, but her face was streaked by a silver pyrelight that rose up her brow like a ghostly circlet. Floating before her in a grip of bright silver magic was a magnificent weapon; a bow of forged moonlight, given solid form in the shape of silver metal and ivory grips. It’s upper and lower portions were curved back almost as sharp as the moon crescents near her wings, and ended with curling flame-like flickers of metal that wrapped around perfectly smooth gems of glittering sapphire. The firing handle of the bow had a distinct protrusion that shot forward two feet, that of a double edged blade point. Even with a bow, Luna preferred things up close. Between the bow’s lengths was a string of moonlight, ready to be pulled. 

Notably, Luna looked largely uninjured, with only a scuff or two here and there to indicate the training with Cadence had not been enitrely one sided. Celestia cleared her throat politely, “You look well, Lulu. No trouble from Iah?”

Her sister's look bore a hint of disquiet, which was to be expected all things considered, as she replied, “Nothing too overbearing. It helped immensely to only have to deal with an influx of memory and power from one Relic instead of two. That, and I’d like to think I’ve matured somewhat since my youthful fit as Nightmare Moon. This time I was prepared for what was coming, and have... am, dealing with it.”

Luna’s ears twitched and she looked around the trashed arena, “It perhaps helped to have something to focus the power on. Iah’s memories had no resentment towards my sister to latch onto or confuse with her issues with Eos. There was still some moments of disorientation and unsteady control, but Cadence’s presence helped. Or rather, I think Iah’s memories recognized Anteros and it helped keep Iah calm, given the two of them were friends and allies.”

“Speaking of Cadence, where is she?” Celestia asked, a tad concerned she hadn’t seen the Crystal Empire’s Princess anywhere. She knew Luna wouldn’t be acting so calm if anything untoward had happened to Cadence, but it was a tad alarming to not see or sense her presence. At least, not until the air shimmered and rippled nearby.

Strings of crystal wove up and out, extracting themselves from the formation of a perfect spherical wall of crystal in which Cadence had been hiding herself. Celestia was briefly amazed at the formation, even as it disappeared, as the light had bent so well around the crystals that it readily surpassed the effects of a simple invisibility spell. Indeed, invisibility could still be detected by fine tuned magical senses like Celestia’s. Whatever Cadence had been using had somehow bent even magical senses in such a way as to leave no trace.

Cadence, fully formed into her encapsulating armor, and bearing her reformed crystal halberd, still looked as if she’d been through quite a fight. Nowhere near the condition she’d been in after her fight with the Hollow Chrysalis, but still noticeably more battered than Luna was. As Celestia had imagined would be the case. In truth she was more relieved than anything by this, as it gave her a clearer picture of the differences in power between herself, her allies, and the foes still arrayed against Equestria. Cadence could still get stronger, and if Luna was at the moment too much for Cadence to easily handle, that only meant that the Chrysalis from Earth, while worryingly potent, was still a foe Celestia felt confident she could defeat. 

“An interesting technique for hiding your presence,” Celestia noted as Cadence trudged up to them, “Although Luna must have been pressing you hard to make you employ it.”

The metal portions of Cadence’s helmet around her head slid back in slat-like portions, revealing the alicorn’s sweat soaked face and bedraggled mane. “Pressed hard? Was half convinced she was trying to kill me.”

“Oh I was just making it interesting,” Luna said casually, and Cadence shot her a look and waved a armor covered hoof that was partially frozen over and cracked.

“You call nearly taking my leg off like it’s a popsicle ‘interesting’?”

“Heyheyhey now!” shouted Announcer, popping up in a gust of sand in front of Cadence while wearing a disarming smile, “It’s all in good fun of an exciting and pulse pounding match! Luna wasn’t really trying to hurt you, otherwise my safety systems would have engaged. And you did super well, Princess Cadence! The Crystal Crusher indeed! Why if I had a heart it would have leaped out of my throat with a few of those moves you pulled.”

“Mmm, maybe, but it didn’t look to me like I came close to making her break a sweat,” Cadence said, looking at Luna and carefully noting the lack of damage, “Felt like no matter what I tried, you were always one step ahead of me, Luna.”

Luna nodded, but her voice was not unkind as she said, “You did better than you give yourself credit for. My lack of apparent injury is partially due to the nature of my Inheritor powers allowing for more potent healing magic. You did strike a few cutting blows that I took care of mid-battle. I may have had you on the backhoof for most of the scuffle, but you surprised me with a few of those crystal wires of yours. They are a versatile weapon.”

“Not versatile enough, if I want to take down that monster,” Cadence replied with a darkened look in her eyes, “No way I can face her again as I am right now.”

“Hence the purpose of why we are here, Cadence,” Celestia said, moving over to give the younger Princess a reassuring look and comforting hoof upon the other’s back. “You won’t see immediate improvement, but I am confident that you have plenty of potential left untapped. You’ve only just begun to bring out Anteros’ magic. Speaking of which, was there any noticeable difference in his memories or personality within you while sparring with Luna?”

There was a ponderous look on Cadence’s features as she sat down to rest and shook some of Luna’s ice off of her hooves. “He felt... clearer, and warmer? I could feel his fondness for Luna. I mean, er, Iah. Nothing romantic, but more like a sincere happiness to know that a friend is doing well. I think he likes Luna as Iah’s Inheritor. He gave me some advice during the fight, too.”

“Did he now? What?” Inquired Luna, rather intently. 

“It was a little hard to understand,” Cadence admitted, running through it all in her mind once more as she thought back to the fight, “He said his power is that of an artist, and that to use it fully I needed to tap into my artistic side. Or I guess the exact terms he used were ‘open your mind to the palette of possibility that is your own heart and let the act of battle be as art upon canvas’. Which really didn’t make sense to me, but I figured maybe he meant I was being too straightforward with my tactics. I mean, you were kicking my flank pretty hard, Luna, as long as I was trying to take you head on...” she winced, a harsh hiss going past her lips, “Pretty much like how I couldn’t do any real damage to Chrysalis until I tried getting creative. So I improvised when you started covering everything in darkness. Used the threads to hide my magic.”

“It worked rather well. I certainly couldn’t detect you. Had you kept hiding much longer I was going to pepper the whole arena in arrows until you showed yourself,” Luna said with smirk that was both laced with approving acknowledgement, and a certain amount of prideful boasting that the fight would still had gone in her favor. Celestia gave her an admonishing, if still fond smile.

“Be careful, Cadence, Luna is fond of competition and if you keep proving a worthy rival you’ll find yourself being dragged back here to spar even well after we’ve dealt with the threats before us.”

“I’d love that!” Announcer chirped in happily, tail wagging and getting sand everywhere, “I’ve been out of practice doing match announcing for way too long. Oh, are you going to join in, Celestia? I’d be a blast to see you in action again.”

“That was my intent, assuming Luna is willing to tag out and Cadence still has the stamina for another round?” Celestia asked, eyeing the other two alicorns. Luna nodded, while Cadence took a long breath stretched her legs, grunting slightly in exertion.

“I’m game, but can I please get a quick breather before I go from getting my limbs frozen off to being roasted?” asked Cadence, “If I don’t eat something I’m going to pass out.”

“I wouldn’t say no to a snack, myself, before we continue-” Celestia began to reply, only to halt as she felt as if a great, frozen pressure began to push upon her mind. It was like a cold press of some distant, heady wind, like felt before the coming of a budding storm. Despite the sensation of distance to the sensation, Celestia was able to feel the intensity of it, and given the general direction she felt it originated from, she already had a bad premonition of what this feeling meant.

The look on Cadence and Luna’s faces confirmed quickly that they had felt it too. 

“What is that?” Cadence asked, the one among them least used to sensing such things and hence her apprehension was written plain on her wide features. Luna, dourly knowing exactly what they were feeling and the likely reasons why, grimaced and stamped a hoof.

“That, Cadence, is what it feels like when another powerful Inheritor unlocks the power within their Relic. Considering how faint it feels, yet so coldly sharp, I suspect it can only be one individual.”

“Charybdis,” Celestia said, “As Twilight feared, she must have sought to unlock Domare’s power. It seems she has succeeded.”

“Wait, what does that mean then? Are Twilight and the others alright?” Cadence asked in alarm.

“We can only pray that they will be,” Celestia answered, “For they are about to face a foe who could potentially rival myself or Luna, assuming she can actually control the power she is attempting to make her own. Perhaps, if Twilight and her friends are fortunate, Charybdis will have underestimated Domare’s power and her control of it will not be complete. Failing that, we must have faith in those young mares to win the day.”

“Can’t we go help them?” Cadence asked, “If we can sense where this is happening, a few teleports-”

“And leave Equestria utterly defenseless while the likes of Earth’s Chrysalis still remain capable of striking anywhere, at any time?” Celestia queried, and shook her head, “Besides, even with sensing Charybdis’ power, teleportation requires precise knowledge of the location’s details, even for those of our level of magical skill. We’d have to reorient between each teleport and even then we’d still be guessing each jump. It’d take hours to get there. Whatever battle is about to take place... I’m afraid one way or another will be concluded long before we arrive to make a difference.”

“But...” Cadence began to argue, but Celestia held up a hoof, a calming gaze meeting Cadence’s worried one.

“As I said, faith, Cadence. If you’re to be a Princess of Equestria, one thing you must still learn is when to not go rushing off to try and fix everything yourself. Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie are ponies I’ve learned to place my faith in more times than I can count. What they face is a mighty power, but those mares have dealt with such before. I trust they can win.”   

----------

Twilight knew, now more than ever, that there was no time. Yet she had to check and make sure Aria and Sonata were still alive before doing anything else. She doubted either siren was “alright” by any definition of the term, but the long term ramifications of what had just happened to them would have to wait until the present disastrous situation was somehow averted. Twilight was beside the two fallen sirens in half a heartbeat, looking them over carefully. Both still breathed. Both still had heartbeats. They appeared unconscious, but anything further than that Twilight couldn't say.

The rumble that encompassed not only Bastion Gnosis’ silt covered walls but likely much of the Abyss beyond reminded Twilight sharply that she had to get back outside now. 

“I’ll be back,” she promised the two unconscious sirens, then added, “I’m sorry I wasn’t fast enough.”

She’d just have to make up for it by ensuring Charybdis’ ill-gotten power wouldn’t be enough for victory. Somehow, some way, Twilight and her friends had to win. With that thought fortifying her mind and soul, Twilight turned and swam with all of her might back up through the opening in the roof of Bastion Gnosis, and into the Abyssal rift beyond...

Only to find herself buffeted by swift rushing waters that swirled around in a titanic whirlpool! 

Caught by surprise, Twilight used magic to ground herself in place against the insanely strong current, and tried to get her bearings. There was a painfully bright azure light pouring in from somewhere above, although it was hard to see past the wall of rushing water that was growing ever more frothy by the second. Indeed, the water was not remaining in one place, an in seconds Twilight found herself gasping in actual air as the water continued to churn outward in a growing whirlpool that was becoming truly gargantuan.

Almost all of Charybdis’ rift lair was now exposed to air, the walls coated in the highly pressurized maelstrom of water that rose upward to a height Twilight could not see. Mostly because there was a storming nimbus of raw light so painfully and deeply blue that it nearly coated everything like paint. Twilight spotted her friends nearby, all gathered upon the roof of Bastion Gnosis not more than thirty paces from where Twilight had emerged. 

“Girls!” she shouted, galloping over, “What happened? Where’s Charybdis?”

“That would be her, up there.” Rarity said, nodding gravely at the raging storm of azure energies. “We were holding our own well enough, even with the addition of some sahuagin dance partners, but then we heard Charybdis begin cackling and suddenly her whole body went upward and started... bursting with that light.”

“Gonna figure things didn’t go so hot down n’ there?” Applejack asked, “What ‘bout Aria n’ Sonata?”

Twilight swallowed a cold dose of regret and said simply, “They’re alive, but I wasn’t able to stop Charybdis from using them to steal power from Domare’s Relic. I’m sor-”

“Save it,” Applejack cut her off, shaking her head, “Ain’t no time fer that, Twi. Still got ourselves a’ fight ta win, an’ I aim ta do just that.”

“That light...” Fluttershy said, starring upward, eyes still somehow showing a ruby sheen despite all else being bathed in blue, “It feels so powerful. We need Dash here.”

“Don’t worry, she’ll be here in a jiffy!” Pinkie Pie assured them, and her right ear did such a spasming twitch that it nearly looked as if it spun around ina  circle, and the mare let out a happy giggle, “In fact, I oughta start counting down! Three...”

Across the roof of Bastion Gnosis, perhaps another hundred paces or so, Twilight saw a number of sahuagin shamans. Apparently they’d been caught up in the whirlpool, only to be dumped out here. As disoriented as the group looked, they quickly were getting their webbed feet under them and were all standing, pale eyes looking up into the blinding blue sun that was pulsating above. Divistus, recognizably at the front of the group, raised a sacrificial dagger to the air and shouted.

“Behold! Our Deep Mistress Ascends! The victory of all our race is nigh, brothers and sisters!”

“Two...” Pinkie Pie continued to count, tapping one hoof playfully.

“Now let us bath in the blood of those who have befouled our goddess’ sanctum with their surface filth!” Divistus roared, pointing at Twilight and her friends, already drawing blood from his own veins to start working blood magic. Several other shamans followed suit, while a few others glanced around at the sound of something loud, like a sonic roar, growing louder.

“One!” Pinkie said, and waved at... Divistus? No, to a spot behind him and the shamans, “Heya Dashie!”

“Huh?” Before he finished his spell, blood bubbling up in preparation to throw dark energies at the mares, Divistus, along with his fellow shamans, turned around at the sound of wind cracking and an impact behind them.

Rainbow Dash stood in all her glory, bathed in wind force, her swordbreaker already held in a ready “sheathed” stance at her side. She smiled at them.

“Hey guys. Tertius Ventus: Gustus!” (Third Wind: Gust)

She “drew” her sword, and while the blade never struck a single sahuagin, the mere act of drawing it appeared to create a pressure wave of wind that took the form of three crossed arcs that blew through the sahuagin in a wide arc. Since the fish men had been so close together, the arcing blast of wind struck all of them at once and bowled them over like pins struck head on by a bowling ball. Most of them were knocked out cleanly by the attack, with only Divistus trying to crawl back up with blood smearing his snout. He snarled at Dash and unleashed the spell he’d intended for Twilight and the other mares at the pegasus alone.

A black and red rimmed conical lance of energy tore in at Rainbow Dash, but the mare simply vanished from it’s path and was next to Divistus before anypony could blink.

“Urp!” was all Divistus was able to say before Rainbow used the blunt, notched side of her swordbreaker to smash him in the gut hard enough to probably break a few things. Either way, he joined his fellow shaman on the floor in an unconscious heap while Dash trotted over to her friends.

“ ‘Sup guys? Having fun without me? What’s with the big swirly thingy of energy, and why’s everything so blue? Not that I mind the color, but seriously looks like you all could use my awesomeness around here.”

“Heheheh, you always make the best entrances, Rainbow Dash!” Pinkie Pie said, “Knew you’d make it in time for the real party.”

“You’re not hurt are you?” Fluttershy asked, and Rainbow Dash waved off the concerned look.

“Pfft, as if! Took down those big shot sahuagin champs easy... although...” Rainbow Dash frowned, “Maybe I should’ve hit them harder. I checked in on Flash then came straight here, but felt something behind me right before this light show started with all the water. Took me a minute to actually break through to get to you girls, but I feel like those champion dudes did something.”

“Don’t worry ‘bout none o’ that.” Applejack said, coming up, and to a bit of the surprise of the other mares, drew Rainbow Dash into a quick and hard hug with one leg while still holding onto her shillelagh with the other. “Just glad yer okay.”

“Uhh, y-yeah, totally fine! Hey now, bit early for victory hugs, you know? Bad guy is powering up to their big final form, so, uh...” Rainbow Dash’s face had become a faint rose beacon amid the overwhelming haze of blue stemming for Charybdis, and Applejack blinked as if in surprise at her own actions and hastily backed up, face also gaining a bit of a pink hue.

Twilight was about to suggest they all start to spread out a bit, realizing that grouped up as they were they made for an easy target, but at just that moment Charybdis’ voice echoed from above. Or at least what Twilight assumed was Charybdis’ voice. It was changed, gaining a warped and echoing quality as if two or three voices of different pitches were overlapping with one another. 

Do not cease your displays of affection on my account. Embrace one another. Say your farewells. I am feeling... merciful. Compassionate. After all...

There was a suctioning sound like a collapsing stormfront, then the uneven nimbus of bright azure light burst like a bubble. Light still shone down, but in a focused, singular aura stemming from one point. The area remained lit by a hue of blue light, the whirlpool remaining strong as ever with Twilight and her friends at it’s waterless center. And from above them descended a figure, radiating from that aura of azure with a now familiar feeling of the ancient alicorn’s magic flowing off of her like waves from the ocean.

It is a good day to be a GODDESS!

Charybdis was no longer the leviathan monstrosity in shape that she had been just minutes before. The power of Domare had changed her, as all Inheritor forms changed their recipients, although in this case the result was far more drastic than anything Twilight had seen from herself or her friends.

She was still quite large, but no longer of such colossal proportions. Twilight estimated Charybdis’ height at probably twenty feet, give or take. Her body more or less held the shape of a seapony, although no seapony who ever lived likely had such immense stature, nor such unusual or mismatched features. It was as if two halves existed as one in her new body. The left side of Charybdis was pale as a dead fish, much as the form Twilight had seen in Bastion Gnosis had been. Flat, pale eyes stared out from a face covered in a mask of shell-like spikes, a crustacean growth that went down to her jawline. Yet the other half of her face was azure blue and painfully beautiful, with eyes of purest amethyst that shone with intense light of harsh purpose. Her mane was half a mass of putrid white and black tentacles on the left side, and an incredibly flowing and gorgeous expanse of sparkling blue and indigo streaks that appeared to turn into seafoam at the tips. Her left arm was a gnarled mass that looked like the three serpent heads of her leviathan form had fused together around her flesh, forming a single twisted head at the end like a mutated gauntlet that covered her pale white hoof. That dark mass of flesh became a fragment of nautilus shell like an armored pauldron on her left shoulder, a single massive yellow eye gazing out from its center. 

In contrast her right arm was like the immaculate side of her form in its pure blue coloring, a well muscled by still feminine seapony limb that was shot through with twisting arcane symbols that pulsated purple beneath the skin’s surface. At the end of the right hoof pooled a fragment of sapphire light that extended into the shape of a rod-thin blade of energy that was blue at the core, but rimmed in black as if dipped in ink. Charybdis’ chest was similarly split between two sides, the left bearing a growth of seemingly melted together shells and raw muscle growth that formed a layer of organic armor, while the right side was unmarred by mutation and was instead covered in glowing magic script all the way down to the base of her tail. In the center of her chest where mutated flesh met with immaculate armor, the Eye of the Sea pulsated, its white pearl surface now sanguine red with the energies of the siren soul shards collected within the medallion fused to the Relic. Charybdis’ tail was long and thick like that of an orca’s, with overly long flippers that seemed to trail off like the ends of an ornate dress, all in shades of intense blue. However upon the back of the tail a line of crustacean shell growths formed a rough and ugly armor of spike forms, turning the elegant seapony tail into something more brutal in appearance. 

Taken altogether, Charybdis’ form was as if someone had stitched two different dolls together and fused them with overwhelming magical aura, an aura which continued to pulsate off of her in saturating waves of light. Her eyes fixated upon Twilight and the assembled mares at her side with supreme confidence, and Twilight felt the witch’s power sharpening in focus. 

“Here she comes!” Twilight warned, readying her staff in her hooves, her wings tensing as she prepared to move. “Whatever happens, we have to win this here and now!”

“Right there with you, Twilight! I’m way past done with all this ocean stuff. Going to never get on a boat again for the rest of my life once this is all done.” said Rainbow Dash, wind forming around her and her sword like a miniature tornado. 

“Ain’t gonna hear no argument from me,” said Applejack, steam rising off of her iron armor, “Let’s get this done an’ mosey on home.”

“For once, maybe the sahuagin will get to learn a better way to party, but first we’re gonna administer violence-based therapy to the crazy fish lady until the boss music stops playing!” Pinkie Pie declared, hooves poised over her lute, which crackled with barely restrained power.

“I have a lot of stern words for you, Charybdis, but we’re a scoach past lecturing at this point,” Rarity said, all of her chakrams poised in an arc above her, ready to strike, “So if you do think yourself a goddess, then come put that to the proof. Something tells me you’ll be displeased with the results.”

“What makes me both sad and furious with you is that the sahuagin care about you enough to do all of this for you, but even if you care about them back, you went about it in all of the wrong ways.” Fluttershy’s eyes remained solid red, like twin dollops of fresh blood, “So now all we can do is use whatever force we have to in order to stop you.”

Charybdis looked as if she wanted to laugh, but instead she gathered power around herself like a thickening cloud, her voice dark with promise. You children never had any right to judge me or my actions. Now it doesn’t matter. Once you’re broken, I’ll lead my people to the future they and I both deserve after ages of sacrifice. The tide rises, the Abyss sings, and the ocean’s goddess has been reborn! Struggle against it, if it pleases you. I know it certainly will please me.

With that, Charybdis struck, and the battle was on.

The first thing she did was dive with thunderous speed and force. She seemed quite capable of moving through the air with the same ease she had moved through water, so was unimpeded as she struck the roof of Bastion Gnosis and rammed the length of that blinding azure energy sword into it. Twilight felt a pulsation of magic run through the floor, electric and making the fur of her hooves stand on end.

“Up!” she shouted in warning just a split instant before the aura of power around Charybdis turned into a eye searing flare of white and blue electrical energy. Only this was more than merely summoned lightning, but rather Twilight felt the potent spirit power filling the bolts of power coursing through the metal roof of Bastion Gnosis, and could sense it had additional components than mere elemental strength. 

She and all of her friends shot upwards as one, most making use of Blink to all but vanish and soar upwards faster than any normal vision could follow. While they were fast enough to escape the current of lightning that coated all of Bastion Gnosis’ roof in a seething pool of charged energy, Twilight found her worries were correct as the lightning began to shoot upwards towards them in a living storm of seeking electrical tendrils that homed in on her and her friends.

“Gonna need to be faster than lightning to catch me!” Rainbow Dash said, readily evading the ten or so bolts that snapped in her direction. 

Twilight’s Astral Sphere moved to shield her from the bolts that came her way, absorbing the spell energy and containing it within the sphere’s confines, allowing her to also instantly understand the spell’s composition. 

While Dash was more than fast enough to easily escape the bolts, the rest of her friends had to defend themselves in other ways. Fluttershy used the conjured crimson bat entities summoned from her own magic to intercept and take the blows in her place, while Rarity was able to “attract” the electricity using one of her chakrams. Pinkie Pie played a discordant tune that protected her in a bubble of magic vibrations that parted the bolts around her, while Applejack... well Applejack did what came naturally to her and ignored the bolts striking her, tanking the blasts while turning to stomp her hooves upon the air and launch herself straight at Charybdis like a living meteor.

“Gotta hit a’ lot hardn’ n’ this if ya wanna take us down, ya self absorbed nutter!” Applejack’s bellow was amplified magically as her iron armor burned with growing heat that did nothing to adversely affect the mare’s almost metallic fur. Her shillelagh suddenly turned bright orange and trailed a vast amount of steam as it became superheated, and Applejack swung it with such force that the sound barrier broke in a sonic boom as she spun right in for a baseball bat swing at Charybdis’ head.

Charybdis’ left arm moved faster than anyone could blink, the twisted serpent heads bulging like giant muscles as they intercepted Applejack’s strike. A boom like a cracking mountain sounded out, causing a spherical shockwave that rocked the air. Hardened mutated flesh sizzled under the heat of Applejack’s weapon, but Charybdis’ arm did not yield and held back Applejack’s immense strength, a feat that clearly caused Applejack some surprise as her green eyes grew wider.

I can do harder, Charybdis promised, luminous eyes matching a madcap smile as she pushed Applejack back with her mutated serpent arm and swung back the hoof that bore the brilliant azure energy blade. Water flowed in an instant from the surrounding maelstrom and coated the blade in a highly pressurized sheath. When Charybdis struck, the water exploded out in a talon-like cutting wave of micro-thin water that augmented the raw energy of the blade itself. Applejack just barely managed to pull back her shillelagh to block, but the hit still struck across her chest and side, cutting armor and drawing sprays of blood as the mare was thrown back in an orange streak that crashed into the side of the maelstrom.

“Althea!” Rainbow Dash shouted, her mind being sucked into a frozen moment of shock and rage, Tachys’ love for his companion intermixing with her own confused and budding feelings. For a moment Tachys and Rainbow Dash shared one mind in totality as she appeared in a burst behind Charybdis, swordbreaker swirling with wind force.

“Sextus Ventus: Discerpens Ventorum!” (Sixth Wind: Rending Hurricane)

She sliced her blade upward and around in a circular arc, which created a flying, spinning wheel of destructive and cutting air near as large as Charybdis was. The disc of severing air flew out with air shattering force and smashed into Charybdis’ back, spinning and cutting into armor and flesh. Blood, brackish and purple, seeped out, but the wound was shockingly shallow for the force behind Rainbow’s attack and Charybdis’ tail flicked with mind numbing speed and the force of an avalanche. Dash was fast enough to block, but much like Applejack she was sent careening away, although in her case it was at an upward angle that she was able to just barely control before hitting the wall of the water cyclone enclosing the battlefield.

The remaining mares were joining the offensive, Fluttershy and Rarity splitting up to flank Charybdis while Pinkie Pie actually took the lead in attacking from the front, her lute churning out a burning tune that caused all three mares to glow with enhanced power.

“After today you are so off the party list, buster! Not that you were on it to begin with but you get the point!” Pinkie Pie’s music took on a growing intensity, like an amp running higher and higher. When she got within a few paces of Charybdis in a streak of pink motion she slammed on her lute strings and a pair of massive alligator jaws made out of sound appeared and clapped down around Charybdis’ body, seeking to pin her in place. The force of the magic in Pinkie’s sound was such that it actually briefly forced Charybdis’ arms down, although it was clearly a strain on Pinkie to do so.

But she only had to hold the tune for a second as Fluttershy and Rarity came in from the sides. Charkams danced and Fluttershy’s bladed armor, shield, and wings blurred in a series of crimson lines. Both mares in an instant traded places on either side of Charybdis, leaving a dizzying array of hundreds of slashes across the mutated witch’s body. Poison of all types, even the Nevermore, burned into Charybdis’ flesh, while blood seeped out in purple streams to feed Fluttershy’s shield.

Yet despite the injuries, Charybdis’ power only seemed to flare higher as raw blue light flooded her body. Poison was burned from her flesh, only the wounds caused by the black Nevermore Toxin remaining, and even then the dark and rotting cuts were kept from spreading by Charybdis’ power. Meanwhile most of her other wounds closed, if not entirely healed, while Charybdis gathered a nimbus of light within herself and roared.

I am beyond these petty tactics and attacks! Inheritors you may be, but Domare stood above Astra and her ilk! Begone! Furore Fluctus[!” (Furious Wave)

Raw blue light exploded out from her and formed into raging waves of cutting water, blasting into Pinkie, Rarity, and Fluttershy. The water expanded in a sphere of clawing surf as if the waves were trying to rip asunder anything they touched, and grew to nearly fifty paces on all sides before further exploding into a series of pressurized jet streams that cut and tore across the area of combat. 

Rarity wove through the stream of attacks while only taking a few cuts, while Fluttershy was able to rely on her shield to weather the worst of it, but Pinkie Pie didn’t have time to erect a sound barrier and was left with a nasty laceration across her right flank and she was nearly knocked to the ground... saved by Twilight grabbing her with telekinesis at the last second so she didn’t touch the still highly electrified surface of Bastion Gnosis. 

Twilight had been gathering magical power herself to unleash, using the time her friends had been buying to observe Charybdis for an opening. As Charybdis had been focused on pushing back the other mares, Twilight had split the Astral Sphere into three smaller spheres and arranged them above Charybdis in a triangular pattern. Now that they were in place, Twilight gestured with her staff and threw out three beams of magic into the Astral Spheres, magic that resonated with the dark and sparkling star lights of spatial magic. Three connecting lines were drawn between the Astral Spheres, and then from them descended three arcing barriers that shimmered with the umbral colors of a starfield. This encased Charybdis in a half-diamond shaped barrier. Twilight didn’t think this would hold Charybdis for long, but enough of the three Astral Spheres were present inside the barrier that she could then extend spells into the barrier. 

She did this by shunting through a trio of equally powerful beams of raw magic that converged on Charybdis simultaneously in a contained explosion of power that flooded the barrier, but kept the explosive force from reaching outside it. A good thing, as Twilight estimated the blast force might have caused a good chunk of the underwater canyon to break and collapse if she hadn’t erected the barrier first. 

It was a rather nasty combo she was considering calling “Starbreaker”. If Rainbow Dash could have cool sounding attack names, why not her, after all? Although as Princess of Friendship she wasn’t eager to get too enamored with naming combat spells. 

Twilight heard a tearing noise like a thousand sheets of metal being sawed through at once, and frowned as she saw cracks seeping across the walls of her triangular barrier. She felt a press of power upon her spells and after a moment a sharp detonation of cerulean light poured out to shatter the barriers and wash across the air in a short lived wave. Twilight pulled her three Astral Spheres back to hover above her as she observed Charybdis emerge from the smoke of the magical detonation. The sea witch was not unscathed, that much Twilight took comfort in. Bleeding cracks appeared across Charybdis’ armored, mutated flesh, and scorch marks marred the more pristine blue scales of her immaculate side. They were far from fatal wounds, but at least the would-be “goddess” was not immune to taking damage.

Of course there was something more important bothering Twilight, and since her friends were still regrouping, she took a moment to call out to Charybdis, “How are you still yourself in there, Charybdis? Domare’s memories should be flooding your mind by now.”

As Twilight had hoped, Charybdis’ pride flared up and she put her hoof to her chest as she grinned in delight at Twilight’s question, affecting a pleased smirk as her voice thundered in the air. Come now, Twilight Sparkle, I know you despise me, but do you truly give me so little credit? Why would I go through all this trouble to unlock the Eye of the Sea if I did not have precautions prepared to ensure the memories of Domare wouldn’t overtake my mind? Unlike you, I knew fully what I was getting myself into.

While that didn’t actually explain the mechanism behind Charybdis’ self-control, it was enough to confirm to Twilight that there was some kind of precaution that Charybdis had used. Spells of some sort, most likely. Again, Charybdis’ mastery of numerous types of magic had given her an advantage Twilight and her friends lacked, but now that Twilight knew about it she could possibly do something about it.

However before Twilight could concoct her next plan of attack, somepony else beat her to the punch. There was a massive shattering sound and a rumble that ran through the ground. Suddenly the maelstrom where Applejack had been knocked into the swirling waters parted as if under a giant hoof... only instead of a hoof it was a titanic piece of rock that had been broken off of the rift’s cliff face, easily half the size of Canterlot Castle.

And the mare holding said enormous chunk of rock was Applejack herself, using one hoof to heft the slice of cliff she’d torn free with a smash of her shillelagh. Green eyes burned holes at Charybdis as Applejack spat, “Told ya already, ya ain’t hittin’ hard ‘nough ta take me down. Now how’s ‘bout we see how well ya play catch!?”

The rock, which had to weigh easily in the range of twenty thousand tons or so, was hurled forward at Charybdis. Applejack then flew up on streams of pure magic radiating off of her hooves and got behind the rock, and used her shillelagh like a battering ram to smash into the rock and propel it even harder at the dumbfounded Charybdis.

The power of gods at your disposal, and your tactic is to throw roc-

The cliff side hit Charybdis like the literal mountain of stone it was, and Applejack roared as she continued to shove it, and Charybdis, towards the opposite side of the maelstrom and the wall beyond.

“Not just any ol’ rock, ya ugly soul’d witch! A BIG rock!”

Beyond the size, however, Applejack did have some genuine tactical thought behind her maneuver. With her shillelagh lodged into the cliff chunk she was shoving Charybdis with, she was utilizing Althea’s power to pour magic into the stone itself. This made the rock tougher, harder, more dense, and hence it had more weight to lend to it’s momentum. More importantly, when Charybdis was slammed into the maelstrom and the cliff face beyond, the chunk of stone smashing her forward did not immediately shatter under the impact and instead kept driving her into the cliff itself.

“Oh my, I rather say Applejack appears most fetchingly wrathful at the moment, doesn’t she?” said Rarity, and Pinkie Pie giggled.

“The way she handles that rock, I can definitely say the Apples must have a little Pie family blood in them! Goooooo AJ, Maud it up, girl!”

From above in the maelstrom, the water burst and out flew Rainbow Dash, immediately and with sonic speed zipping down to join the girls, looking around with piercing eyes. “Where’s the witch at!? I’ve so got a few more sword techniques to throw at her!”

“Uh, Applejack has her, I think,” said Twilight, although she felt Charybdis’ power like a humid heat on her neck and knew full well that their foe was nowhere near done. Applejack had her pinned for the moment, but that wasn’t going to last long. She had to start preparing a way to dismantle whatever means Charybdis was using to keep Domare’s memories at bay. “Look girls, she’s going to break free any moment, so I need you all to hold her attention while I get close. I’ll need to use the Astral Sphere to examine her metaphysically and-”

“Yeah yeah, egghead stuff, we get it, Twilight!” Rainbow said, brandishing her swordbreaker towards where Applejack was now slamming the rock with her shillelagh to try and rattle Charybdis. “We’ll back AJ up and buy you all the openings you could want.”

Twilight nodded as her friends rushed forward, and just in time as there was a gathering of the maelstrom’s water that flowed behind Applejack’s chunk of cliff, followed by an increased buzzing of magical power. In seconds there were flashes of light from behind the rock, and then great big cleaving streams of micro-thin, super pressurized water cut through the stone like it was made of cake. Even enhanced as it was by Applejack’s power, Charybdis’ magic poured through every milliliter of water she conjured and controlled to dice through the rock. Charybdis then burst forward with her own magically boosted physical might and sent chunks of rock flying everywhere as she hammered her energy blade down at Applejack, seeking to cut the mare in half.

In blinding lines of blue and yellow, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were both there, sword and shield working together to block Charybdis’ blade of magic in a sparking burst of conflicting power. 

Rarity, flying in above the pair, got close to Charybdis and swung her chakrams in a new manner, bringing two of them together so that they all but interlocked; the blue and the green. The two toxins mixed together, forming a teal sludge that coated both chakrams as they spun in a vertical dicing pattern that tore at Charybdis. She used her serpent mutated forearm to block the blow, but the twin chakrams still cut a furrow through one of the serpent heads, and Charybdis balked at the sudden sensation of dizzying nausea that spread from the cut as her arm started to spasm.

Individually Rarity’s toxins might not affect Charybdis much, but when mixed together their potency was similarly multiplied. However, before Rarity could capitalize for another round of mixed toxin, Charybdis’ eyes fixated upon her as magical power spilled from the eye mounted in her left shoulder. Multiple magic circles spread in front of Charybdis like a phalanx, and suddenly the girls were forced to retreat as an inferno of azure flame lances shot out in a devastating barrage. Yet as potent as these lances were, their sole purpose was to break the girls up a bit so Charybdis could lunge forward with near light speed at Rarity, who wasn’t able to use Blink in time to get out of the path of the mutated serpent heads as they coiled around her and bit into Rarity’s flesh as Charybdis flew forward and down with the seamstress in her grip.

Rarity felt her diamond hard flesh still tear under the serpent’s unnaturally sharp fangs, but she felt even more the impact on the roof of Bastion Gnosis as Charybdis slammed her into it full force, not only rocking Rarity’s senses with the impact but also letting the electrical energy that still filled the roof’s metal course through her. Rarity screamed in pain, nearly blinded by it.

“Get your filthy hooves off her!” 

Even singed as she was by a few flame lances that had caught her in the barrage, Applejack still came down like a superheated comet and sought to slam her shillelagh into Charybdis’ back. Charybdis responded with her tail, swinging the potent limb upward with equal force to Applejack, and the pair collided like a pair of steam trains. 

Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash joined in, while a flicker of purple light indicated Twilight had teleported down as well. In that moment, much happened all at once.

Pinkie Pie, focused on Rarity, appeared right above her friend and slammed her lute down onto the roof while still pouring forth music from the horns on her back. In an instant it was like Pinkie Pie acted as a sponge for all of the electricity, drawing it away from Rarity and into herself. However, because a small component of Pinkie Pie’s magic from Malva was lighting elemental in nature, the electricity didn’t harm her as much, and Pinkie was then able to change her musical tune to pour magic into Rarity that washed away pain and helped wounds heal. Nowhere near enough to keep Rarity from still feeling near unconscious, but it helped clear her head enough to act.

Fluttershy had gone right for Charybdis’ mutated serpent arm, and used her wings like giant metal prybars to stab into the meaty flesh and rip the thicker muscles of the serpent heads apart while she then used her shield’s sharp edges to slam it right into Charybdis’ real arm underneath. Blood pulsed from the wounds in purple rivers, filling Fluttershy’s shield, splattering on her face, even touching her mouth, which only made Fluttershy’s eyes flare brighter red as she hissed. And, as Charybdis growled in pain, her grip on Rarity weakened.

Then Rainbow Dash, flying around in a eye bending pattern of prismatic lines of light, clashed with Charybdis’ energy blade as the witch tried to parry all of Rainbow’s increasingly swift attacks. This culminated in the sudden appearance of a tornado around Dash’s swordbreaker, a dark tornado of cutting wind that surrounded her and her sword as she broke past Charybdis’ guard and streaked past while shouting, “Quintus Ventus: Urente Vortice!” (Fifth Wind: Blasting Vortex)

Rainbow was not choosing techniques from Tachys’ repertoire at random. Well, at least not this time. She careened right into Charybdis from the side at a slightly upward angle, and the pure force of the focused tornado drilled into Charybdis’ ungodly hardened flesh while simultaneously pushing her up and away from Rarity, only lending aid to the fact that Fluttershy was savaging Charybdis’ arm to pry Rarity free. And it worked, with Charybdis grip on Rarity loosened enough that when she was driven upward, the seamstress was left free, if still badly wounded and laying on the ground with blood seeping from multiple bite marks over her body.

Pinkie Pie wasted no time snatching Rarity away and bouncing away in a series of Blinks that got her and the injured mare well clear of the fight. Meanwhile Twilight, in proper position right behind the heavily distracted Charybdis, make her own ire clear in a flashing instant of deep violet fury.

Yes, Twilight’s main goal was to get her Astral Sphere in direct contact with Charybdis to analyze the witch’s magical composition, but she’d hurt Rarity. Twilight was not adverse to the deliverance of some immediate payback amid her tactical goals.

With wings spread, she summoned forth a glinting field of shard-shaped spatial distortions that pulsated around their cosmic edges with bands of intensely purple magic. These little numbers she sent flying out in instant streaks of purple light that stabbed into Charybdis’ back like a fusillade of broken glass, only these shards used spatial magic to wedge themselves through hardened flesh and magically enhanced armor only to then detonate with volatile arcane force. Powerful as she was, Charybdis still felt the spell’s dire bite as bits of her back armor and hide were blasted by the attack.

If she wasn’t also dealing with a ticked off Fluttershy tearing at her arm, an equally irate Applejack trying to tear her tail off, and Rainbow Dash’s sword tornado drilling her upwards, Charybdis might have had a moment to realize that Twilight had also brought down her Astral Sphere in a careening motion right for Charybdis’ head.

As it was, Charybdis didn’t see it until the last second, and to the immense credit of reflexes born of being infused with an insane amount of godly magic she actually managed to pull her head to the side of the Astral Sphere’s glowing embrace. Still, the sphere made contact with Charybdis’ shoulder, momentarily entrapping it in its own separate space.

You’re all like rabid sea lice! Charybdis screamed in growing anger and, to Twilight’s ears, rattled confidence. Much as the mare thought herself a goddess, as powerful as Domare’s Relic made her, she hadn’t expected this much resistance from Twilight and her friends. With a drawn in breath, Charybdis’ eyes flashed from white deeper azure, so pure and blue the light spilled out like rain, and she then opened her mouth and let out a note. A single, singling note that reverberated with the sound of a thousand thunderstorms at sea.

Twilight had felt something like this before, when facing Adagio Dazzle and her sisters back in the human world. This was a siren attack, a magically empowered sonic note. Only while the sirens had directed theirs in focused rings, Charybdis’ note rushed out in an all encompassing cacophony that spread all around. The raw vibration of it was imbued with so much magical energy that it was like getting slammed with a city sized hammer. Twilight and each of her friends were knocked away by the blast, their senses smashed, and their bodies wracked with pain from the drawn out, horrific note that reached a feverish high pitch by the end that felt like it might break the world like a mirror.

Needless to say Twilight couldn’t hear a single thing for a few moments as she tried to reorient herself, hoof clutching at one of her hears, which dripped blood. She didn’t think she’d broken an ear drum, but her head ached with the residual reverberations of that sickening note. 

Yet despite the pain, Twilight was heartened. Her Astral Sphere had gone and acted on it’s own, automatically defending her by surrounding her, which had likely lessened the blow. Furthermore, Twilight could sense the information it had gleaned from it’s brief contact with Charybdis. If she could just buy a few seconds to parse it out, she might learn a way to weaken Charybdis’ grip on Domare’s memories.

But what about her friends!? Twilight exited her Astral Sphere and looked for them.

Charybdis herself now hovered over the center of the maelstrom, coating herself in healing magic that was gradually lessening the wounds that had mounted upon her. Twilight then saw that her friends were still conscious, although that magic siren note had left all of them in various states of dazed unsteadiness. Applejack was helping up Rainbow Dash, both mares clinging to each other as they leaned into one another. Fluttershy was on her back, but with a flicker of red eyes she was raised up by a flurry of conjured crimson bats that then set to hovering protectively around their bleeding mistress. Pinkie Pie and Rarity had fared the best in terms of injury, Pinkie having strummed hard upon her lute to create a counter note that lessened the impact of Charybdis’ attack while similarly shielding Rarity with her own body. Rarity herself had gotten her legs under her again, and despite blood streaking her white fur, she had her chakrams dancing around her, eyes showing she was ready to leap right back into the fight.

This is getting tedious. I have too many more important matters to get to for me to be wasting time on you self-righteous, stubborn ponies. I see now I was going too easy on you. I just need to crush you all with overwhelming power. That’s all there is to it. That’s all idiots like you will ever understand.

Charybdis raised both her immaculate hoof and her mutated one high above her head of shimmering, beautiful, yet ugly and tentacled mane. The energy blade of her right hoof began to extend, while the maimed but still functional serpent heads on her left hoof opened their mouths and poured out lines of scintillating black and azure magic that coiled around the energy blade in a growing torrent. Then from the blade sprang out scores upon scores of thin bolts of cerulean colored power. Only rather than target Twilight and her friends directly, these bolts entered the still swirling maelstrom. First there were a hundred, then a thousand, in seconds tens of thousands of gleaming azure energy bolts swan through the maelstrom like the worlds largest and most lethal school of fish.

In another few seconds Twilight realized there would probably be a few hundred thousand of those bolts filling the maelstrom, literally surrounding her and her friends. And when they fired, it’d be next to impossible to evade them all. Charybdis was saturating the entire area with enough magical energy to slaughter a few cities ten times over. She really was planning to end this in one more attack.

“Tch, like we’re gonna just let that happen!” Rainbow Dash said, grunting in pain as she jumped up into the air, wings spread. Applejack joined her, using magic alone to move through the air as the pair rushed up to attack Charybdis while she was still stationary.

“Wait!” Twilight shouted, before her other friends could also go charging in. “Form up, quick! On me!”

There wasn’t time to try and attack Charybdis directly. Even if they halted her preparations, there were already too many of those deadly arcane bolts in play to make a difference. The only shot they had of surviving this was to take advantage of their own abilities, and Twilight thought she knew how.

Not inclined to argue with their leader, Dash and Applejack, however reluctantly, broke off their attack and rushed back down to join Twilight, while Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity did the same.

“I trust you have a plan?” Rarity said past clenched teeth stained red with blood. Twilight wondered briefly how badly Rarity was hurt, but knew there was no time to dwell on it.

“Yes, just follow my lead. Applejack, get your special magic ready. I need you to enhance Bastion Gnosis itself. Rainbow Dash, I’ll need you to back me up. Pinkie, boost us with music. I’m going to- crap! No time!”

Her last words were a result of seeing the last of the energy from Charybdis’ magical blade seep into the maelstrom in a final series of bolts, and the sea witch lowered her arms to either side while glaring down at the mares challenging her with a wide grin of violence. 

”Genocidia Absoluta Pluvia” (Absolute Genocide Rain)

Within the maelstrom all became seared with the piercing howl of a near endless tide of lancing sapphire bolts of annihilating power. Over two hundred thousand projectiles with the individual energy to demolish a fortress wall all blasted forth and in curving streaks of azure they homed in upon Twilight and her friends with such speed that had Twilight not already been casting a spell of her own, she may not have made it in time.

She extended the teleport to all of her friends, taking herself and each of them in a violet flash from up in the air, to poofing into existence down in the relative dark of Bastion Gnosis, just below the opening in the roof.

“Applejack, reinforce everything on the roof!”

To the farm mare’s credit she didn’t wait even a split second, immediately slamming her shillelagh into the roof, where both it and her armor burned bright orange as she poured heat and magic into the ancient, dilapidated structure’s bronze roof. At the same time Twilight pointed her staff at the opening in the roof and sent out lines of sparkling spacial magic from it’s orb, and a beam of purple energy from her horn. Together, this formed a barrier spell around the opening, shimmering black with pin points of starlight within. 

“Rainbow, wind barrier! Fluttershy, Rarity, guard Aria and Sonata. Pinkie, get that music going!”

Much like Applejack her friends were already acting practically before Twilight was done speaking. Dash’s whole body became one with the wind and she all but transformed herself into a flowing barrier of swirling air that layered itself along the roof just behind Twilight’s own shield. Pinkie Pie struck up her music, hooves blurring over the strings as she poured her magic into her friends, making a faint gleam of pink light gleam around their bodies as their magical might was sent soaring higher by Pinkie’s own power. Fluttershy and Rarity went to where Aria and Sonata were still laying upon the ground, although Twilight noticed both sirens were stirring to wakefulness just as Charybdis’ attack struck.

Twilight could feel it, even if she couldn’t see it. Those hundreds of thousands of magical bolts crashed into the roof of Bastion Gnosis like a storm of falling stars. While the “bronze” that made up the ancient structure was of a metal far sturdier than the sheen of it’s metal indicated, even the old alicorn fortress could not have possibly withstood the devastating barrage that was hammering it if not for Applejack’s magic pouring into the structure to reinforce and harden it. Even then, cracks were already starting to appear as more and more bolts rained down. Twilight felt her own barrier straining under the blows. The spatial magic could transfer all of that energy elsewhere, to a degree, but the very bonds holding her spell together were being frayed by the overwhelming amount of destructive magic passing through it. Charybdis had poured an insane level of magic into this deluge of piercing death, an attack that would have rendered even a metropolis into ruin in seconds.

Twilight felt her horn ache in pain as she poured more magic into her barrier, and still she felt it start to buckle! Yet doggedly she held on, perhaps aided just enough by Pinkie Pie’s boosting musical magic to maintain the barrier over the opening.

However, even with Applejack’s enhancing magic, the roof around the opening was starting to crack apart and collapse! Applejack growled as she poured more magic into it, forcing her shillelagh into the metal as if by will and strength alone she could force the roof to hold.

It didn’t work. Bit by bit holes erupted in the roof, and bolts of pure blue energy from Charybdis’ attack started to stab through. 

They had to get past Rainbow Dash’s wind barrier, formed from her very essence and body next, and for a few seconds Dash’s swirling shield of air did hold the torrent back. Yet even that was pierced a few seconds later, although what bolts did get through were thrown off course every which way by the intensity of Rainbow Dash’s wind currents.

Twilight couldn’t afford to move, all of her concentration on maintaining the shield around the opening. So she sent the Astral Sphere into smaller components to defend her friends, the small glowing orbs of light flying like high speed marbles to deflect energy bolts away from each pony in turn. Fluttershy and Rarity protected Aria and Sonata, ones shield and the other chakrams slashing every which way to ensure the waking sirens were not impaled.

Still, detonates filled the chamber as those bolts of power landed in random spots around the floor and walls, shaking everything, and certainly hastening Aria and Sonata waking up. Both sat bolt upright, looking around in panic.

“T-the heck is going on!?” Aria shouted, while Sonata scooted closer to her and held her.

“Everything’s exploding!”

“Stay still,” Rarity told them, her chakrams dancing a defensive weave around her and the pair of sirens. Fluttershy was on the other side of the pair, her shield always in place to knock away a bolt that got too close. 

“Dang it, Twi, the whole place is comin’ down! I can’t hold it up no more!” Applejack shouted, just as it seemed as if all the roof was becoming a broken puzzle of swiss cheese holes. The cracks were extending to the walls now, too, and parts of the floor were breaking away as explosion impacts were destroying the lower foundations of the fortress.

“Everypony, get right below me,” Twilight said, face now pouring sweat. “Quickly!”

Fluttershy and Rarity grabbed the two sirens, just as Applejack and Rainbow Dash left their positions to go to Twilight, Dash still keeping a partial barrier of wind up even as her body returned to being flesh and blood. Pinkie Pie hadn’t gone far from Twilight’s side to begin with, and her music had taken on a desperate if still somehow inspiring and hopeful tune as she leaned in on Twilight and winked her own encouragement. Twilight smiled, glad that even in a situation like this, Pinkie still somehow knew how to coax a spark of hope out.

The roof broke into dozens of metal chunks that fell down alongside the last few hundred bolts of power that still had enough energy to demolish a few city blocks. Twilight pulled in her barrier and wrapped it around herself and her allies as tightly as she could while massive amounts of metal fragments crashed down and the upper portion of Bastion Gnosis exploded in a series of rapid blue detonations.

Charybdis was breathing a little hard, but she still had plenty of breath to laugh as she saw the ancient alicorn’s center of magical research was now like a cracked open, ruined metal egg. Dust billowed up from the ruin of tens of thousands of tons worth of debris from the fortress that had collapsed in on itself under the strain of her magical assault. She’d felt those mares trying to resist the inevitable, to defend against the destructive rain she’d brought forth, but it looked as if that just hadn’t been enough.

Well, I’ll be kind and admit it was impressive they gave me that much trouble. With the strength of one of the Highest Dominions at my command I really should have been able to deal with them without ruining my home. I guess the Bastion served its purpose already. Shame about Adagio’s sisters. I would have sent them back to her, eventually, relatively unharmed. Oh well, can’t have everything you want, even as a goddess... hmm?

There was a stirring amid the rubble. At the center of Bastion Gnosis’ ruin, huge slabs of metal were pushed aside and then knocked over. Applejack, bleeding down her face, shoved more metal aside, assisted by Rainbow Dash, who used a swing of her sword to blast away more rubble with a cutting wave of wind. Magical telekinesis lifted more aside as an exhausted by still very much alive Twilight emerged next, dragging along a dusty but still smiling Pinkie Pie. Next to them Rarity and Fluttershy both emerged from beneath more rubble, helping up the still shaken looking siren sisters who were thankfully largely unscathed.

Twilight’s barrier had withstood the last of the explosive bolts of power and kept the group from getting crushed by the collapse of the fortress, but hadn’t been able to hold much longer. Thankfully Applejack was able to then reinforce the rubble pieces to hold as a makeshift roof long enough for everypony to get enough strength back to dig their way free. Now the six mares and two sirens stood amid the center of what remained of Bastion Gnosis, bruised, bloody, battered but all very much alive, while Charybdis stared down at them with a moment of eye twitching disbelief.

I’m honestly shocked the lot of you are still standing after that. I’m trying not to entirely obliterate my home. I do need to keep enough of it intact so the soul preservation spells remain anchored, after all, not to mention I don’t want to shake the Abyss so hard that it causes Rift Home itself to come apart. But you all just keep stubbornly surviving, despite my best efforts.

“We aren’t stopping, and we aren’t dying, Charybdis. Not until we’ve brought your insanity to an end.” Twilight promised, calling to her Astral Spheres, which emerged from the rubble and re-joined into one large sphere that flew to her side. While she and her friends were injured and worn out, she still had some hope remaining, as she’d grasped the information from the Astral Sphere clearly enough to know what Charybdis was doing to safeguard herself against Domare’s memories. 

The siren’s soul shards hadn’t just granted access to the Relic, they were also acting as buffers against Domare’s memories. Charybdis had designed that magical medallion the soul shards were set inside to draw the memories from the Relic into the pieces of the three siren’s souls and essentially filter the memories into a small trickle instead of a full on flood. It was such a simple, yet effective method, but it also meant that if Twilight could hit the medallion with a strong enough anti-magic spell it’d disrupt that filter effect and the full force of Domare’s memories would smash into Charybdis’ mind, like a dam breaking and letting in the flood waters.

Hah, you keep singing that same tune, Twilight Sparkle. Calling me mad, when all I desire is to remove the shadow of death from everyone’s lives. Even you six fools, I’ll preserve your souls after killing you. Even enemies like you who have done nothing but ruin my plans, I wouldn’t let your souls suffer the fate of losing themselves to the Cycle. I’ll preserve you, until I create a better Cycle. Maybe then you’ll understand. But clearly before that can happen you just flat out have to DIE ALREADY!

Charybdis readied her energy blade and gathered power around herself once again, preparing to launch into the attack. However just as she did so a voice spoke from above.

”Hado Number Eleven: Tsuzuri Raiden!” (Bound Lightning)

Charybdis looked up just in time to see a dancing leaf of dark motion rush past her amid a crackle of yellow lightning. Flash Sentry, his Zanpaktou wrapped in a sheath of jolting electricity form the Kido spell he’d just used, slashed at her face... but at the same time he used his Zanpaktou’s power to create a dozen duplicates of himself that slashed at her arms, chest, neck, and back in multiple places. 

The blows largely struck home, although even with the added electrical jolt of the Kido the strikes from the sharp tonfa blade didn’t inflict more than the shallowest of cuts on Charybdis as Flash Sentry streaked by with as fast as Flash Step as he could muster, just narrowly avoiding a swing form her energy blade before he appeared next to Twilight.

“Hey Twilight,” he said breathlessly, “Looks like I made it in time.”

“Flash! Wait, you’re hurt...” Twilight saw the blood on his fur and black Soul Reaper robes, staining part of the inner white sleeves red. Flash, however, frowned and shook his head.

“I’m okay. It’s... not my blood. We’ll talk about that later. How’s the whole fight with the insane sea monster going?”

“Well as you can see,” spoke up Rarity, “We’re rather on our last legs whilst our dance partner remains fresh as morning dew, for the most part. Quite frustrating, really.”

Flash Sentry... Charybdis’ voice filled with dire venom as she loomed above them. So glad you saved me the trouble of coming to find you. I have a debt to collect from you for the souls lost in Aqualania.

Flash Sentry ignored her taunting and kept his eyes on Twilight. “Plan?”

Originally her intention was just to disrupt Charybdis’ control of Domare’s memories and hope that would also lead to a similar disruption of her power, and give her and her friends a chance to take the witch down with a combination of their strongest possible attacks. Yet with Flash here, her mind swiftly amended that plan with an additional component. Since the start of this conflict she’d known Charybdis’ magic wasn’t normal, and over time it had become more and more obvious that the “soul magic” the seapony had learned was a fusion of spirit energy and magical forces. While magic made use of various forms of arcane energy inherent in the world, living things, or the Astral Sea itself, spirit energy operated under different mechanisms. 

If not for Sunset Shimmer learning the arts of a Soul Reaper, including Kido, and communicating with Twilight on some of the details of her training, Twilight might not have drawn all the connections she needed. Yet now she had an idea, and gulped down her fear as she didn’t want to risk him, but she needed Flash for this.

“Girls, I’m going to try to remove her defenses against the Relic’s memories. When that happens I need you to hit her with everything you have. Then Flash, if she’s using spirit energy alongside her magic, then that means her soul’s makeup isn’t all that different from yours, right? It means she has a Soul Sleep, or something similar, right?

Flash’s eyes widened in understanding. “I think you’re right. I’ll need to get close and sense out where it is, but if she has one, I’ll know it. I’m not as good as a Fourth Division member at soul biology, but I know enough that if you give me an opening, I can target that part of her.”

I can hear you whispering down there, you know that right? A goddess's ears aren’t exactly easy to fool, you morons! Go ahead and try your little plan, Sparkle! We’ll see if I don’t kill the lot of you before you manage it. Or hey, sounds like I just have to kill HIM!

“Half time’s over gals!” Rainbow Dash said as Charybdis'’ magical and spiritual power flowed out of her in a wave of pressure very much like a crushing wave of reiatsu. The witch’s energy blade only seemed to grow larger and more intense, and her body’s aura of luminous blue grew to the intensity of a living star. 

Charybdis flew down towards them, a wild eyed artificial goddess on a collision course to kill them all, and Twilight faced up to that descending threat with all of the courage she could muster alongside those she loved and took to the air to meet Charybdis head on. Her voice was a clarion call, a final trumpet to what she knew would be the final clash of this long battle, this long adventure, this last clash in the darkest depths of the world’s oceans to end one mare’s mad quest to defeat death itself.

“With me, everypony! It’s all or nothing!”

All of them knew that the fight couldn't afford to drag on any longer. They had all sustained some rough wounds, Rarity worst of all, and it was clear that simply trying to wear Charybdis down wasn't going to work. She had to be beaten in one fell swoop, with everything they had to throw at her. Even Aria and Sonata seemed to grasp this, the two sirens, as pale as they looked after having a piece of their souls shaved off, rose with Twilight and the others as if intending to beat Charybdis with their bare hooves if that's what it took.

In that final clash Charybdis met them in mid-air, halfway between where she'd started her mad charge and the ruins of Bastion Gnosis. She aimed her arm of mutated serpent heads down and their mouths opened to fire a trio of black stained jets of boiling, pressurized water that pulsated with soul severing magic. All three streams were aimed right at Flash Sentry, but Fluttershy rushed ahead of him and met the jetstreams of death water with her shield. A sound of rending metal tore the air as Fluttershy's shield split the water, but the shield itself started to tear in half under the magically empowered steel-cutting water. Yet Fluttershy kept on, even as one of the jet streams sliced through her shield and pierced her shoulder.

Flaring with hateful and roaring power, Charybdis' energy blade swung down in a colossal wave, intent to destroy Fluttershy and Flash together, but then Rarity was there, all of her chakrams blurring together so fast that they seemed to become a  single disc. Each color of toxin mixed together into a multi colored smear that then was overtaken by the obsidian dark of the Nevermore Toxin. This blended toxin, coating now all six spinning chakrams, met with  Charybdis' energy sword in a howling gale of force and magical power. The nature of the Nevermore Toxin corroded even the magical energies of a goddess, yet Charybdis was putting all of her might into that blow and Rarity's chakrams were scattered even as they dulled the blade's blow and made it so that only she caught the shockwave and was knocked aside.

Applejack and Rainbow Dash flew in together, side by side, memories of Tachys' and Althena's battles together forming a coherent stream in their minds as the two locked hooves. Heat from Applejack's shillelagh turned into an inferno that mixed with the winds surrounding Rainbow Dash and her sword, and spinning together like a pair of entwining comets did they bring their weapons together and form a piercing corona of wind-flame. 

Charybdis saw this coming and howled like a siren once more, concentrating a singular conical blast of azure sound rings right into the pair as they came on. Heat and wind clashed with raw sound that shook the entire rift and sent cracks running up the stone walls hundreds of feet nearly to the surface of Rift Mouth itself. Yet Applejack and Rainbow Dash together stalemated the sonic siren song, and Charybdis was briefly stuck in place.

Now Pinkie Pie's song played a dirge that echoed through the ocean for miles, and from her lute burst a singular sound wave that took the shape of her own grinning face that proceeded to open its mouth in a thunderous giggle as it rushed and exploded upon Charybdis' head with all of the sound force of a hundred thunderstrokes at once, rattling even the would-be goddess' senses and disorienting her.

Even so, Charybdis was summoning all of her magic and brining it to bear, magical circles blooming into existence around her in a swarm that retaliated against the mares with a horrorshow of blackened azure flame and spewing bolts of putrid and acidic water. Pinkie's coat was singled and scorched, but she kept playing, while Aria and Sonata had to duck and wave behind a barrier Twilight summoned forth. 

Twilight herself threw all of her own power out as well, her horn a geyser of raw purple light as she shoved magic into her Astral Sphere while conjuring the power of the void for her staff. Void shards of starlight exploded from her staff and cut swathing paths through Charybdis' spells, distorting the very air with how badly the fabric of space was being warped by the amount of spatial magic Twilight was brining forth. A wall of spatial portals emerged around Charybdis, and around Twilight's Astral Sphere. Purple chains like the ones she'd tried to bind Charybdis with before shot out of the Astral Sphere, dozens upon dozens of them amplified by the sphere and then transferred through the portals so they emerged around Charybdis in a dense mass. The chains bound her arms, her tail, wrapped around her mid-section, and Twilight then used the chains as a medium to channel in a directed dose of anti-magic. 

This had the immediate effect of not only weakening Charybdis' spells, both defensive and offensive, but it had the intended effect of dampening the buffering effect her medallion had on the Eye of the Sea. In an instant Charybdis' eyes shot wide as she threw her head back and started shaking it, howling.

My mind is mine! I'll not be pushed aside by you, Domare! I don't... need your... ugh, what is...

Her voice changed briefly, to something briefly tranquil, yet saddened.

Understanding, child. My power is not yours, and your path is twisted by the curse of just enough knowledge to see, but not enough wisdom to understand. Now, young sirens, when the spirit warrior strikes true, you must wrest what is yours from this deluded one's grasp!

Aria and Sonata glanced at each other, then nodded, just as Flash Sentry, who'd been sticking close to Twilight, took that as his cue to make his move. Still, Charybdis' will was made of a combination of utter devotion to her cause and a good dose of crazy to back it up, so even as Flash flickered into motion to rush her chest, she wrested control of her mind back and snarled.

Lies! I won't lose to lies!

Her flesh seemed to undulate and boil as a mass of ropey blue tendrils shot out of her shoulders and chest area, all aimed at Flash Sentry with spearing, barbed tips. Twilight ripped her staff towards them and sent a storm of void shards shredding through the mass, but only got about half of them. Fluttershy soared in, black wings and her swarm of crimson beats ripping and tearing like blenders, and still didn't quite get all of them. Pinkie Pie slammed her lute forward like a golf club and scattered more with a wave of sound. Still, about a dozen got past that and surrounded Flash Sentry, barbs striking like bladed lightning.

Flash became as swift as Twilight had ever seen him move, bending and twisting in shadowy flickers of motion. Even so his wings were pierced, then his hooves. But just before one of the barbs could pierce his chest, he thrust his tonfa blade right through it, even as his arm bled from being impaled. It was a strike that would have been futile if all it had done was simply stop the barbed tendril from stabbing him through the chest... because he'd created  duplicate of himself right on top of Charybdis' chest, just above where the medallion and the Eye of the Sea were embedded. His Zanpaktou from the duplicate had struck flesh, but he wasn't quite strong enough to go fully through Charybdis' hardened body on his own. 

Lucky him he had a very magical girlfriend.

Twilight shot magic right towards Flash, a simple empowering spell that lend her magic to him and channeled all of that power right through his body and anything connected to him metaphysically. Which also included his Zanpaktou. His whole body lit up purple, wreathed in violet flames as he gave an energized shout and shoved his tonfa forward in a last, herculean push. The magically empowered blade of Kochi Yojinbo cut right into Charybdis' chest and as a spiritual weapon it struck not merely physically but at her very spirit body. He struck the very point where he'd sensed the pooling of the most intense reiryoku was, the spot that was most likely her Soul Sleep where all souls kept their potential to use spirit energy.

There was a moment where all motion and sound seemed to screech to a halt as Charybdis let out a sound that was neither scream nor gasp, but more a shocked whimper. Abruptly all of her spells faltered and her very body seemed to jolt with a misfire of energy that sent her body wracking and coiling with burst of uncontrolled magic. Flash was blasted back, only saved from falling by Twilight's magical grip. Amid this, Sonata and Aria made their own move, rushing right for the pearly and shining Eye of the Sea.

Their hooves gripped around the medallion containing the shards of their own soul and that of Adagio's, and as one they both began pulling with all of their might.

"Time to give back what you stole, bitch!" Aria shouted, and Sonata grunted.

"What, rrrggg, she saaaaaaiiid!"

And in a slow motion, metallic clang the medallion cam breaking free of the Domare's Relic, taking with it the three siren soul shards. The Eye of the Sea hummed with a clear bell toll of relief, and then it began to flare white so brightly that it drowned out all sight.