A tremor ran through the ice and up Celestia’s legs. Now familiar with the shaking, she spread her wings out and launched into the sky. Sound exploded all around her— the deafening crash of massive chunks of the frozen sea shattering against both itself and Marineford’s land. A fine diamond dust fell across her skin as she watched the great tsunami walls crumble down upon the island. Below, the battlefield splintered, with pieces either smashing together or pulling apart with no regard for the men atop them.
In the center of the mess there stood a single unphased spot, the eye of the war’s hurricane. A massive figure stood at the foot of the area, his back turned to his flagship. Celestia watched Whitebeard from above, knowing that the ice beneath his feet was slowly drinking up his blood.
He’s not going to sit back anymore.
A shiver ran through Celestia’s entire frame. Feeling her own labored breath, she gave her wings a flap and retreated back to the stone entrenchments close to the execution scaffold. Four other figures stood atop the walls, all of them taking in the fight: two with giddy grins and the other two with unreadable lines for lips.
“Fufufu! This day just keeps getting better!” Doflamingo cackled as Celestia descended. Reaching into the folds of his coat, he produced a changeling carcass and threw it at Celestia’s feet. “I wonder where that came from! Any ideas?”
“Not that I’m willing to share with you,” Celestia huffed.
“They don’t seem that big of a threat.” Hawkeye strutted over to the carcass and kicked it onto its back. Staring down at it, he curled his lips into a sharp frown. “One thought imitating me would be a grand idea. Shame that’s all it could do, otherwise, this war might have held my interest a little longer.”
“How about that then?” Doflamingo raised up an arm and gestured toward the battlefield.
At the center of the melee, Whitebead stood in the shadow of the rare individual that actually dwarfed him. His opponent's body was wreathed in the marine’s white color, obscuring what he looked like save for his hands. They clasped a sword almost as tall as he was and raised it high over his head before bringing it down in a deadly swing.
Whitebeard met the blow with his bisento, sending a flurry of sparks up as metal grinding against metal. Blood spilled down his chest and dribbled down his mouth, yet the only thing that shifted was the ice beneath him, breaking under the pressure from the two weapons. It cracked further when Whitebeard whipped his bisento around, knocking back his opponent's sword before driving its tip deep into the ice. Hands now free, he shot out his arms and clasped the air itself, slamming it down as if it were another obstacle in his path to Ace.
Doflamingo’s grin widened as he twitched his fingers. “Time to hold on.”
Celestia’s knees buckled and she only managed to save herself from a fall with a quick levitation spell. Hawkeye went to one knee as part of the seabed rose up behind him and into the sky, only to sink down as quickly as it had appeared. Staring with wide eyes, Celestia saw the ocean tilt like it was composed of multiple rings that climbed up and down.
Then, the rumble returned. Staggering back to her feat, Celestia watched the ice to her left ripple and distort like jelly, followed by earth, stone, and buildings. The quake ravaged its way through the Navy’s forces, sending officers of all ranks flying. It surged forward, past the piers and into the plaza, devastating everything in it path.
A bang mightier than the greatest of thunderclaps resounded through the entire island. Whitebeard’s tremor curved around and above the execution platform, reducing the structures close by to rubble. Yet, the scaffold remained untouched, its freshly constructed wood and iron still even holding a sheen to it.
At the foot of the scaffold stood all three admirals. Celestia marveled at the display for only a moment before a second rumble hit the island. Turning her attention back to the bay, iron walls far taller than than the stone partition she currently stood upon crested out the sea, obscuring the carnage so far brought forth by the war.
“Celestia!”
The shout pulled Celestia away from the battlefield and over to the scaffold. Sengoku glared at her from atop the structure, arms crossed with his coat straining against the muscles underneath. With a single flap of her wings, Celestia departed from the Warlords and over to him.
“What the hell is going on?” he yelled. “Straw Hat’s appearance was enough of a stumbling block, but now our men are fighting each other trying to find those damn monsters of yours! I want information on how to defeat them, now!”
Celestia clenched her hands and sharpened her eyes. “Changelings are as much a scourge to me as they are to you. Don’t even think that I have any association with them! As for handling them, your own methods should work fine. If it’s their imitations you want to deal with, observation haki is the only option humans have.”
A chill fell upon Celestia’s back. Spinning around revealed that Aokiji had ascended the scaffold. Behind him, the world turned red under Akainu’s magma. Molten fists rained down upon the bay, distegating all that they touched. A great bonfire that only the dying of a ship could provide rose up, visible even over the new wall.
In place of the destruction, Celestia’s eyes focused on the shimmering figure Aokiji had brought up with him. Its lips were pulled back in a slight scowl and its eyes angular with annoyance. Icicles clung to its otherwise organic form, especially around its tail and mane, turning them into abstract art pieces.
“It wasn’t one of the bug things, so I thought it might be a hostage or something. Kinda hard to tell with all the craziness today,” Aokiji yawned. “It had the bad luck of being near a denden mushi I had to freeze.”
“Windgos are more delicate!” Celestia said through gritted teeth. Her hand glimmered and the ice surrounding the pony fell away, revealing her blue coat and silver mane. She fell to her side, racked by uncontrollable shivers. Crouching down, Celestia drew herself close to the pony. “It’s okay, you’re safe.”
“T-t-there is n-no safe,” the pony stuttered. “T-trixie j-just wants to go h-home.”
“Sshh.” Celestia extended her hands and ran them down the Trixie’s neck. They sparked for an instant before Trixie’s eyes closed and her form went limp.
Celestia spun around and leered at Sengoku. Her hand went out and jabbed at him. “How dare you lock away one of my subjects! I should ha—”
“Ace!” came a roar from the iron barrier.
Standing in the solitary gap of the partition, with only a single leg supporting him, was the great giant from before. Just as all attention and weapons locked onto him, a jet of water shot high over the wall, curling down like a flexible tube and only resembling its actual element when it splashed against the ground, its single passenger soaked to the bone and breathing heavily.
Ace’s chains rattled and grew taught. Pulling forward as far as his restraints would allow, he screamed, “Luffy!”
“Straw Hat,” Celestia muttered and turned her head away. Kizaru and Akainu loomed over Luffy, their forms aglow with heat and light. The conclusion was forgone, she didn’t need to see the rest.
“Can’t even stop a single rookie,” Sengoku spat. He turned his head to the two executioners stationed at Ace’s sides and gave them a sharp nod. “No more wasting time! Do it!”
No! Celestia’s hands shot up, aglow with magic, but a blazing heat rammed into her left arm, burning it deeply and setting parts of it aflame with a green glow. The executioner in front of her took the brunt of the blast and went flying off the scaffold, his chest cindering as he crashed into the plaza.
At the same time, Aokiji found half of himself also falling down the scaffold, ice running down the bisecting cut instead of blood. The half that remained standing glanced over to where the rest of his body should have been and was met with a razor-thin blade of sand that had extended all the way to the second executioner and incapacitated him as well.
Amidst the gathered ranks of soldiers hovered a single black form, its jagged sword scintillating with a wicked emerald light. Flapping her grotesque wings, Chrysalis frowned up at the platform. “Darn, I missed.”
Below her, a gritty cyclone swirled around Crocodile, forcing the marines nearby to keep their distance. He glared up at Chrysalis with his cold eyes, but suddenly found his head floating high above his body. Still inhaling his cigar, he sighed and splattered to the ground, reduced to sand that quickly streamed upwards and reformed his head.
“Nice partner you got there,” Doflamingo sneered. “She why you’re siding with Whitebeard now?”
Still piecing himself back together, but with his mouth fully formed again, Crocodile replied, “I’m not taking anyone’s side in this. Especially the bug’s.”
“Oh, so cold,” Chrysalis pouted, her complaint unheard as Crocodile's hook met Doflamingo's arm. Sending out her wings, she twisted her lips into maniacal grin as she zoomed over to the scaffold. Raising her blade, she raced toward Celestia, whose arm was back to equine form and still burnt in a few spot. “Now, lets continue!”
The two rulers collided and tumbled downwards. Sword clanged, gunshots echoed, and cannonballs ripped through the air once more. All around them, marines stirred from the brief interlude the iron walls had provided and raced over to the gap in the defense.
In the confusion, Chrysalis’s arm went out and clasped hold of Celestia’s neck. Celestia coughed and shot a hand up to Chrsyalis’s face, unleashing a fireball that consumed her entire head. Yet, she remained unmoving atop Celestia until the flames cleared away, revealing metalic scales running across her face. Her fingers pressed harder into Celestia’s neck.
“Ah, it was nice to have a hot meal after expending so much energy on the wretched things,” she mused, a scowl briefly crossing her face before her grin returned. “Dragons really are so much harder than ponies, especially partially.”
“E… enough!” Celestia grunted. Her eyes flared open, revealing her irises going neon pink. An aura the same color erupted off of Celestia’s body and slammed into Chrysalis, blasting her into a clash of marines and pirates, knocking them all to the ground.
All of them gave various pained huffs at the collision, but only Chrysalis let out a bloodcurdling scream. Her body spasmed and twitched, her scales flaking off like ash, revealing her black snout beneath. Ichor dripped off her right foreleg from multiple spots where its carapace was cracked. The rest of her body phased in and out of human and changeling form.
Snapping her neck with a sharp crack, she bore her fangs into a nearby pirate, but instantly moved away and clawed at both her mouth and stomach.
“No!” she screeched, grabbing her injured limb and glaring at Celestia. “You shouldn’t have that power!”
Celestia advanced closer to the Chrysalis while the pirates and marines scurried away. The aura spiraled around Celestia and concentrated around her hands. Its light glistened off the sweat atop her brow and arms.
“That’s my line,” she huffed. “You stole from Cadence and Shining Armor, I asked.”
Chrysalis scooted her limbs backwards, flailing to get away. Celestia launched forward and fell upon her, delivering a swift kick to the center of Chrysalis’s chest, reducing it back to a barrel shape of black and green. She careened over the battlefield, the war now a blur of color and sounds. A shimmering fist slammed into her stomach, its glow spreading outwards and returning more of Chrysalis back to her original form.
More blows fell upon her, each chipping away more and more at her disguise. No flames rushed over to repair the wounds. Her carapace cracked in multiple areas, turning her breathing ragged. An uppercut exploded into her chin, reverting it back to a muzzle, now slightly misaligned. The blow’s impact spread while launching her further away, tearing off the last of her human costume and causing her crooked horn to jab out of her head.
Crashing into part of the new barrier, Chrysalis’s world went black for a second. Yet, the force of the attack left just tiny curvature in the wall, only noticeable when sunlight reflected off it at an angle contrary to the rest of the steel.
Sliding down and forming a heap on the ground, Chrysalis tried to get up, ignoring the hollow feeling that screamed throughout her body, muddying her mind and slowing her limbs. She’d managed to get to her hooves when a shadow fell upon her.
“It’s over,” said Celestia. The glow around her intensified, forcing Chrysalis to lower her head. The aura solidified until is was a solid oval around Celestia, its surface vibrating against the air. Celestia gritted her teeth as sweat streaked through her mane and down her face.
Eyes widening at the sight, a dry laugh escaped from Chrysalis. “Think I haven’t noticed… love takes two ponies, Celestia. You… don’t have enough energy.”
“I do,” Celestia rasped, the glow continueing to brighten. “At least to end your madness. The blast will cause enough confusion for Fire Fist to escape and finish this war. Whitebeard’s already dying… we all get what we want, even if I won’t be awake to see it.”
“N-no,” Chrysalis stuttered. Her hooves flailed against the ground, trying to edge away from Celestia, but there was only the wall behind her. “You… you’re of great worth to humans too! The pirates! Yes, the pirates! They’ll want your head as a trophy!”
Celestia unleashed a great sigh at Chrysalis’s rant. “If that is how things go, so be it. Things will be rough in Equestria for some time, but ponies will move on. I trust them.”
The glow finally grew bright enough that Celestia was lost inside it. Hyperventilating, Chrysalis crawled forward and managed to lunge to the foot of the barrier, its edge searing the tip of her horn.
“Don’t!” she pleaded. “Don’t scatter us again! Not that! Anything but the hunger!”
The pink light dimmed down, revealing Celestia once more. Magenta wisps curled up from her limbs while her eyes glowed the same color. Reaching out, she took hold of Chrysalis and hefted her up until the two of them were eye level. The glare was still intense in Celestia’s irises, forcing Chrysalis to look down.
“Then listen closely to what I have say,” said Celestia.
~~~
Garp’s fist drove deep into the fiery feathers covering Marco’s cheek. The blow cracked his mystical beak, drawing blood. Tongues of blue flame shed off of him, surrounding himself and Garp in a shower of phoenix plumage. Garp pushed further into the supernatural blaze, his arm rippling with aged muscles.
The two opponents hovered over the great war, immobilized for one brief second. Then Marco was thrown backwards towards the rest of the battle in a cacophony of wings, talons, arms, and legs. He crashed into the ground, cratering it and knocking away all those close to him. Garp fell straight down, the stones beneath him shaking as he landed. Crossing his arms, he slammed himself down into the center chair at the base of the scaffold.
“No one or thing is getting past me!” he growled.
Atop the scaffold, Sengoku frowned at Garp. “You were supposed to stay up here.”
Staring down, he didn’t Trixie’s ears twitch at Garp’s words. Not yet fully awake, she reflexively moved her lips around. A ray of light entered the opening in her mouth and reflected against a shimmering piece of metal.
“Princess,” she murmured.