• Published 15th Apr 2016
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Equestria Girls: Friendship Souls - thatguyvex



When dangerous supernatural creatures start to stalk the streets of Canterlot City, Sunset Shimmer and the gang become involved in events that will irrevocably change their lives. A crossover series with the Bleach anime/manga

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Episode 104: Into the Fray

Episode 104: Into the Fray

She didn’t need eyes to see what was occurring on the surface. She could feel the blossoming spiritual energies like old, familiar scents. To her it smelled like fresh smoke and recently spilled blood. It awoke the hunger inside, the hunger she’d long suppressed save for rare instances where a morsel wandered its way into her tomb, or was offered to her, like some had done long ago as a way to appease her or seek favor. The humans who had dwelled in these lands in times past had sacrificed animals to try and call for her aid. She’d even sometimes given it. She may have been immobile, but she had ways of projecting her power, especially after feeding. In the past, it took a willing host. After her partner finished fulfilling her promise, it may not matter if the host was willing or not. Although she suspected her current choice would be willing, when the time came.

She could feel herself internally salivating at the sensation of so many bright souls, rushing to battle. It was agonizing to be immobile, all but powerless to influence events save for certain, subtle ways. The fight that had broken out in the Everfree Forest was certainly not part of the plan, at least in regards to timing, but now that it was happening, there was little reason to delay. She reached out to her accomplish across the veil of worlds.

The fighting has started. There’s so many souls nearby, Hollows, Reapers, and human. I haven’t felt the hunger like this in ages.

Hollows couldn’t perish from lack of satiating their hunger for other souls, but it could be maddeningly painful, and it was purely a matter of raw will, and her unbridled hate for Chrysalis, that had let her keep her mind relatively intact.

Her partner’s voice reached her bitter mind in a tone like oil sliding over ice, We expected something like this, but it’s happening a bit sooner than what’s ideal. Well, ride the current you’re in, as the saying goes. I’m already sending my beasts in. They should provide a distraction while my other servant finishes the ritual.

She quivered with anticipation, Then my vessel...

Yes, yes, your upcoming host. Don’t mispronounce the words of my spell. I’ve given you the necessary magic, but this is not like your brutish spiritual powers. Magic requires a firmer hand, or fin, or tentacle, to control.

Her partner’s chiding tone was grating, but she sent back a thought of agreement, I will not make a mistake. I have possessed bodies before, witch. This one is much like I am. Desperate at her powerlessness. I foresee no issues with her as my host, with or without your ‘spell’. That aside, you sound... strained.

Hmph, do not concern yourself with me. My guests are proving somewhat more problematic than anticipated, but it has nothing to do with you. Just fulfill your end of our agreement, and before you know it, we’ll be able to greet each other in person. Just don’t summon your host until my servant completes their task. You’ll know it when it happens

Her partner broke off contact then, leaving her pondering. She’d sensed a disruption across the link, if only momentarily. Whatever was occurring in the other world must have been quite significant if it was bothering one of such power. She put it from her mind, instead focusing on her anticipation. Her goal was nearly in reach. A true rebirth, with a host whose soul was akin to her own.

Just a little longer, Gloriosa Daisy, and you will become more than you could ever be as your present, powerless self. Just as I, with you, will become more than what Chrysalis made of me. Together, we’ll both obtain our soul’s desires. You, the power to keep your home, and I, the destruction of the one who stole mine...

----------

Deep beneath a shining blue ocean, a leviathan form circled a deep sea canyon. The Kraken paced in slow circles around a vast, square platform of stone. Old pillars so worn by water currents that they barely showed the signs of their unnatural architecture periodically sprouted from the edges of the stone rise, what had once been the base of a great temple so ancient that it likely predated any known historical record.

Carved within the stone was a complex circle of magical symbols. The symbols glowed with sickly emerald light, bathing the sea canyon in an unhealthy, shifting shade of green.

It’s showtime, came a familiar female voice in the Kraken’s mind. The massive sea beast slowed its circling motion and replied in slow, simple terms. It was quite intelligent, but had always had a penchant for carefully and deliberately choosing its words.

Mistress, there is not enough magic yet. I have fed the circle, but must find more sources of power.

His Mistress’ reply was swift and sure as a shark rising beneath its prey, I will provide it myself. We don’t have time to play this slow and quiet any longer. Prepare to receive my power, my servant. Use it well and do not fail me.

That was surprising. The Mistress was usually exceedingly stingy with her gifts of power. Something must have gone quite unexpectedly in order for her to be willing to sacrifice any amount of her personal magic in order to accelerate the timetable. It honestly rather disturbed the Kraken, who had never liked this plan much in the first place. Not that it mattered. He was an object belonging to his Mistress. Questioning her choices was not an option, even if he was inclined to do so.

Very well, Mistress. I am prepared

Good boy.

The magic arrived through his mental link with the Mistress, in a slow but steady trickle of inky dark power that gave the Kraken the chills, even while at the bottom of a lightless, freezing cold ocean canyon. It was both a rush and a terror, pleasure and pain all in one, this dark magic, fueled by sacrifice and souls. There wasn’t much of it, of course. Only so much could be transferred over the link in this manner, unless the Mistress wanted to create another portal, which was vastly draining.

This should be enough for you to finish charging up the circle and get the ritual underway.

The Kraken reached out with its longest tentacles and laid them at the edge of the magical circle, and began to let the magic seep out of him like black ink rimmed with emerald fire. It started to fill the circle, bit by bit.

Yes, but it will take some time, Mistress.

That’s fine. We can let our enemies over there slaughter each other for a bit, and I still have a few issues to tie up here as well. Everything goes right, and soon enough we’ll have two worlds’ worth of oceans to make our own.

----------

Sunset had long since gotten used to using Flash Step, and keeping her wits about her and her senses sharp enough to take in everything in her surroundings even while moving at speeds that defied conventional perceptions. She even believed she’d gotten pretty damn fast, all things considered. Rainbow Dash’s complete Fullbring was still faster, but other than that, Sunset knew she was well above average in the speed department now.

Luna utterly put her to shame, however. While Celestia was clearly holding back a bit to let Sunset keep pace, Luna had vanished even from Sunset’s sharpened spiritual senses as they crossed over the lake.

“Wow, I can’t track her at all...” Sunset said, and she saw Celestia smile slightly out of the corner of her eye.

“It’s not merely speed, Sunset. My sister is supremely skilled in cloaking her presence, and prefers surprise attacks. Stay focused, we’re almost there. My sister will jump in when she sees an opening...”

Sunset wanted to ask more about that, but there was no time. Already she saw several explosions on the ground that told of the battle taking place, as if huge impacts were smashing up parts of the forest. Several trees were falling over in almost a direct line away from the hiking trail on that side of the lake, and Sunset could sense Fluttershy’s reiatsu, alongside the surging, aggressive spiritual pressure from Gilda. But there were two other Arrancar down there as well, and after a moment of sussing out what she was sensing, Sunset could tell Rarity was engaged with both enemy Arrancar alongside two of the Crystal Prep Quincy.

At a glance, once she was directly over the trail, she saw that the campers who’d been doing the scavenger hunt were being led south along the trail at a quick pace, and saw it was Timber Spruce doing the leading. Sunset frowned as she saw he was limping, and that at least one other camper was being carried by two others. People had already gotten hurt. It rose a hot, burning anger in her. This battle wasn’t supposed to be happening here, with her fellow students around!

Her hand gripped hard around her Zanpaktou, and she began to zoom straight down towards where she sensed Fluttershy and Gilda were, but she barely got halfway before Celestia shouted a warning.

“Sunset, on your left!”

Sunset corrected course in time, briefly vanishing from view with Flash Step to avoid the relatively thin beam of a vomit green Cero that would have otherwise hit her straight on. As Sunset landed on the air and Celestia appeared beside her, the assailant responsible for the Cero lowered the hand he’d used to fire it and offered the two Soul Reapers a polite smile.

“Ah, Sunset Shimmer,” Grogar said in his raspy, rough, yet cordial tone, “It’s been some time, hasn’t it? And Captain Celestia, what an honor to actually get to meet you in person. I’ve heard so much.”

Sunset blinked at the old, leathery skinned Espada. He looked much as she remembered, with his parchment-like skin, wispy white hair in a fringe around his mostly bald head, and bone-bleached ram horns curling around his brow along with the fragments of a ram’s jaw on either side of his face. The only change was that the “8” that had been tattooed on his head was now a “9”.. He already had his Zanpaktou drawn, but held it loosely, it’s bell shaped hilt seeming to clang with every slight motion of his wrist. What caught Sunset’s eye was the red gem floating within the Hollow hole in his upper stomach. Adagio had made mention of it, but it was still an unsettling sight to see, and drove home that even if he was technically only the “Ninth” Espada now, this man was exceedingly dangerous.

Anyone who could recreate a siren gem and possibly find ways to modify it for different uses possessed a mind capable of just about anything. If he got his hands on Sunset or one of her friends, who knew what kind of mad things he’d be able to do after studying them?

“As have I about you,” Celestia replied to Grogar’s statement, already taking up a ready combat stance with one of her twin blades pointed directly ahead while the other was pulled back in a higher stance, “More than enough to convince me that there’s no reason to exchange further words with you.”

“My word, that strikes me as quite the hypocritical statement, coming from one who serves Soul Society. Should I list off the atrocities committed by Hitsuyo-Aku alone, or should I delve further back to the Rukon Rebellion? The Bount Extermination, perhaps? I’m sure your young student there would love to know your role in that particular affair-”

Grogar ceased speaking when a thin, black shadow extended across the air behind him, and Luna rose from it, her Zanpaktou already released to it’s Shikai state. Both darkened steel scythes slashed in opposite arcs, aiming to bisect Grogar from behind.

Water erupted in a sudden, high-pressure wall that dropped down from above. The highly pressurized water acted like a barrier, intercepting Luna’s blades. The water couldn’t stop the scythes entirely, not released Zanpaktou of a Captain-class Soul Reaper, but the wall of water slowed them enough for Grogar to vanish with a Sonido and reappear a score of meters above, where the one responsible for the water stood.

“Cut that a tad close, didn’t you?” Grogar asked Adagio, who sneered at him.

“The only reason I did it at all is because I need you alive for the time being. I’m not fighting multiple Soul Reaper Captains by myself. Next time, though, maybe I’ll let her slice you in half.”

Grogar smirked, “What, not going to give me the ‘only I get to kill you’ line?”

A sneer accompanied Adagio’s disdain filled voice, “As long as you died sufficiently horribly, I might not care who does it, although doing the deed myself would be pleasant. Still, don’t assume ‘death’ is the easy way out I intend for you, you worthless goat. I promised to crush you entirely, body and spirit. It’s a promise I do intend to keep, one day. Just not today, while you’re conveniently useful.”

“Ah, you grow ever more Hollow-like by the day. It warms an old man’s heart.”

Adagio’s expression could not have been more disgusted. Sunset could understand how Adagio must have felt. It had to be tearing her up inside having to even pretend towards any level of alliance with Grogar, let alone fight alongside him. It was a shame Adagio had been forced into a position like that, but Sunset knew why Adagio had protected him, however much it must have made her sick to do it. Without Grogar to keep either Celestia or Luna busy, Adagio would be in a bad position for this fight. Sunset still wasn’t clear on just how powerful Adagio was, and didn’t suspect Luna, at least, would be holding back much.

And sadly there wasn’t much she could do to diffuse the situation, but at least she could try to play her role as best she could. She needed to get to Fluttershy and Rarity, ASAP, but as far as Celestia and Luna knew this was the first time Sunset had seen Adagio since the incident at the apartment, so she had to react appropriately.

“Adagio! You don’t have to fight us,” she said, not finding it hard to sound like a placating friend trying to reach out to someone she knew. Wasn’t exactly a stretch for her. “We don’t have to be enemies.”

Adagio’s smirk might have looked dismissive, but Sunset could see the genuine spark of amusement in her eyes.

I hope she doesn't ham this up too badly...

“I’m afraid I’m not in a position to listen to your plea, Sunset Shimmer. This one-” she thrust the point of her ruby tipped trident towards Luna, “-stole someone of great value to me. I aim to get back what was taken, and I’ll gladly go through anyone who values their own life so little as to stand in my way. Including you. So I suggest, rather than make the friendship speech I know you must have prepared, you ought to attend to your friends down below before Gilda finishes them off. Her, or any of those fellows rushing to the Tenth Espada’s aid.”

“Huh?” Sunset blinked, then looked across below the area Adagio and Grogar were standing to see what looked to be about five Arrancar she didn’t recognize, all rushing towards the treeline from above. Sunset had been so focused on the Espada, she’d barely sensed these fives’ reiatsu. None of them felt particularly strong. They must have been foot-soldiers, brought along by Gilda. Adagio pointing them out gave Sunset the heads up she needed to intercept them before they ambushed her friends!

Thanks, Adagio. Good luck, Sunset silently thought as she gave one last look towards Adagio that she hoped conveyed gratitude without being too obvious about it before she said to Luna and Celestia, “I’ll deal with them! Whoever fights Adagio, please, just try to take her alive, okay!?”

“No promises,” Luna said flatly, readying her scythes.

“We’ll try our best,” Celestia promised, “Be careful yourself, Sunset.”

With that all three of them move, Sunset zipping off towards the five Arrancar that were descending towards the forest, while Celestia and Luna both sped right towards Adagio and Grogar. Sunset prayed silently for everyone except Grogar to be safe. She hoped Adagio knew what she was doing. She could see out of the corner of her eye that as the clash began, Celestia went straight for Grogar, and Luna had gone for Adagio. Celestia’s sword sliced with wind shearing force, one katana going high while the other curved low. Grogar bent backwards with remarkable limberness for someone who looked so old, and used his own bell-hilted Zanpaktou to catch and deflect Celestia’s lower slice upward. That might have unbalanced a lesser opponent, but Celestia easily turned her grips on her swords and reversed their course into a twin downward slash that Grogar was forced to block at an awkward angle. A thunderous crash resounded as Grogar was sent flying back, his feet skidding along the air for purchase as Celestia rushed after him.

Sunset couldn’t see more of that fight, however, and had been so focused on that she’d also lost track of Adagio and Luna, but she felt the impactful clash of their spiritual pressures close by, and heard several cacophonous booms from what had to be their weapons clashing from high speed attacks.

Then all of Sunset’s focus had to switch to the half dozen Arrancar warriors that she was rushing to intercept. She clenched her jaw and pushed a fresh burst of reiatsu into her movements, enacting a Flash Step that put her directly in the Arrancars’ path as she smashed the hilt of Hokori no Hikari straight into the sternum of the lead warrior. The hilt crunched home, and the warrior, a bronze skinned fellow with gunmetal gray hair and a half helmet of raven bone over his right brow, let out a gasp of air and spit as he was staggered back by her blow.

The other Arrancar halted at seeing Sunset standing in their way, and one of them, a female with messy, short purple hair and a right eye surrounded by bone fragments, pointed a curved dagger shaped Zanpaktou at her.

“What the hell is this? Some low rank Soul Reaper trying to get in our way while her Captain’s playing with the big boys?”

The gray haired one grunted and caught his breath, “Hit’s hard for a ‘low-rank’. Be careful, I think this is the one in the reports. That ‘Substitute’ Soul Reaper.”

Purple-hair just laughed, “Even better! We bag her head and Lord Guto will owe us all some serious favor! Gilda’s not the only one to get some glory today.”

Sunset shook her head, her face hardening into an iron mask that matched her voice, “No glory is worth your lives. I’m giving you all one warning. I’m not holding back here... Ignite; Hokori no Hikari.

Potent fire erupted from her Zanpaktou, and her spiritual pressure spilled out in a raging wave. Every one of the six Arrancar warriors paused at the feel of her searing reiatsu pouring over them, several of them taking hesitant steps backwards. Whatever the ‘reports’ might say about her, they all knew a Captain-level reiatsu when they felt it. Hokori took shape in Sunset’s right hand, already alight with nearly solid flames, and Hikari formed into her left hand, the shield at the ready and surrounded by a smokey white aura. Sunset’s eye remained hard. Internally she was hoping against hope that these six would be able to tell the difference in their power and make the smart choice.

No such luck.

“Wh-what are you idiots standing there for gawking at her!? So what if she’s got a bit of power, there’s six of us and one of her!” blurted the purple haired Arrancar, switching her dagger to a reverse grip, “We are soldiers of Lord Guto! Surround her and take her down!”

That seemed to galvanize the others, and as one they all rushed Sunset... who just sighed sadly before unleashing her flames.

-----------

“Okay everyone, listen up!” Gloriosa said in a loud, clear tone that carried over the northern tent area. There were only a few campers here resting after doing some of the morning activities, but they were the ones furthest out from the camp besides the hikers on the east trail. She silently prayed her brother was getting those campers back, and she was sick with worry, but she had to do her own duty to protect the campers here, and that meant getting everyone to the same place.

Her sentry flowers kept sending little alarm signals into her head via magic, but she’d shut down their audio/visual component so as to not freak out the campers. She was pretty freaked out herself. Magical monsters from another world were bearing down on her camp, while the spiritual monsters she and her brother had run afoul of were kicking of a miniature war right around her beloved Camp Everfree. People popping their spirits right out of their bodies with weird little gems and flying off to fight with magic swords? It was crazy, but no less crazy than the army of magical bow-wielding Quincy she’d already met. Where was Twilight, anyway!? The last Gloriosa had seen of her she’d gone into the city the previous night for some reason or another.

She hoped Twilight would get back fast. She wasn’t sure where Twilight’s other Quincy friends were either, other than the pair that had gone with the group on the scavenger hunt. Perhaps they were still at the field lab? There wasn’t time to go warn them of what was happening, but chances were they already knew.

As for the campers here, Gloriosa had all of a few minutes to work out a plan with the rest of Sunset Shimmer’s friends. They’d gather everyone up around the camp’s center building, under the pretext of lunch. It was a bit early for that, but teenagers were always hungry and wouldn’t question food. That gave Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash the space they’d need to go intercept the incoming monsters, if indeed the creatures stampeding from the deep woods were coming here. Gloriosa would stay with the campers as a last line of defense, using the magic of the geodes to erect a wall of plant-life around the building, if that’s what it came down to.

“We’re having ourselves an early lunch, on account of the evening activities probably being more... strenuous than yesterday,” Glorisoa told the campers looking her way, “Best to eat a hearty meal early! Come now everyone, don’t want to miss out, do you?”

Most of the campers didn’t question it, some shrugging as they got up and started heading towards the main area of the camp. However, it was notable that two remained where they were, and Gloriosa remembered them from yesterday as she quickly strode up to them, trying her level best to keep a calm and pleasant look on her face.

“Diamond Tiara, Silver Spoon, didn’t you hear me? Lunch time!”

“I’m not hungry,” Diamond Tiara said, sitting listlessly on a fold out nylon chair in front of her tent. Silver Spoon, standing by her friend with a worried look, glanced at Gloriosa.

“She’s been refusing to do anything all morning,” Silver Spoon said, and then turned a frightened look to the east as she added, “But I’m guessing ‘lunch’ isn’t why you want us moving.”

Gloriosa took a quick look to see the other campers were out of earshot, “I need everyone together at the camp center. Now. Quincy or not, you’re children, campers, and my responsibility. Please...”

“Quincy?” Diamond Tiara’s eyes turned almost frantic as her face paled and her hands gripped her chair, “What do you know about it? Does everyone know about it!? Why didn’t I know about it? Did you know my daddy was lying to me? That my ‘friend’ Silver Spoon here was lying to me?”

“Diamond...” Silver Spoon said, voice firm but also filled to bursting with worry, “We can work it out later. There’s something really dangerous going on. Let’s go with Miss Daisy-”

“Or what!?” Diamond shouted, voice cracking with a hint of hysteria, “How am I supposed to trust anything you, or she, or anyone says anymore!? For all I know none of this is even real and I’m hallucinating. Maybe if a monster shows up I should just see what happens if I let it eat me.”

Silver Spoon’s hand moved in a gray blur, the sound of Diamond Tiara’s cheek being slapped, hard, echoing between the tents.

“Get a hold of yourself, Diamond!” Silver Spoon said, “This is real, I promise you. I won’t lie to you another day of my life, but right now I need you to focus and do what I tell you, otherwise I will drag you kicking and screaming by the hair if that’s what it takes to keep you alive.”

Gloriosa was rather glad the other campers had already left the area by this point, but she was also starting to feel faint, distant reverberations in the ground, and noticed the weak echoes of some manner of explosive impacts to the east. Whatever was happening over there was getting more intense by the second.

“Please,” she said again, kneeling down and extending a hand to Diamond Tiara, who was holding her own stung cheek with a shocked look on her face, “I know you don’t have much reason to trust me, but I’m new to all this just like you are. All I want is to keep you campers safe, no matter what happens.”

Diamond Tiara looked at the offered hand, then towards Silver Spoon. After a second her frantic eyes settled down, “You’ve never hit me before, but I’d never hallucinate something that rude. This must be real. Still not convinced I’m not crazy, though.”

She took Gloriosa’s hand with a perturbed sigh, “The worst part of this all is, and you’re going to think this is stupid Silver, but it’s true... I hate that Daddy didn’t think I could handle this. Like, he’s taught me everything about the family business, except apparently the most important part of it. What does that say about me, as a daughter?”

“We can soul search the answer to that tomorrow, Diamond, if we’re still alive, okay?” Silver Spoon said, flinching at the now obvious sound of some distant explosion. Diamond Tiara frowned.

“Are those...explosions?”

A monstrous roar reverberated from the woods to the north, and Diamond Tiara gulped, “And roars as well? Okay, I’ll have a mental breakdown later. Moving sounds good.”

“Thank you,” Gloriosa replied, taking the hands of both girls and going from a fast walk into an outright run as the sound of roaring got closer and the noise of snapping tree branches was accompanied by the sight of swaying trees in the distance.

----------

“We’ve got incoming!” Rainbow Dash shouted into the badge/communicator. She was high in the sky now, her Fullbring fully activated. She didn’t particularly care if any of the other students saw her. They’d already watched her fight a giant plant from a pony-dimension on a dirt bike. She didn’t see the point of all these attempts at secrecy. They were superheroes. Might as well own it.

She’d taken to the sky and was over the north end of the campgrounds. She saw Gloriosa with those two rich girls in town, running back towards the camp center. About a few hundred yards behind them, crashing through the treeline of the north woods, were about a dozen small shapes followed up by at least four or five bigger ones, and one really big one that was making a whole heap of racket. Dash hadn’t gotten a clear view of what these critters were yet, but that changed the moment the treeline ended.

“Uh, I’m seeing a bunch of twig wolves, some of those scorpion cat things Twilight mentioned, and... I have no idea what I’m looking at. It’s like a panda bear got frisky with a hornet, and the mutant baby really ate their Wheaties growing up.”

“Dang it, how fast they comin’?” replied Applejack’s voice, “I got Pinks in the center getting food out ta everyone an’ keepin’ ‘em calm, but that ain’t gonna last if these critters are that close.”

“They’re coming on pretty quick, but don’t worry AJ, I’ll go give them some ‘discouragement’. We’ll see if I leave any left for you afterward,” Rainbow Dash said, altering course and rocketing towards the ground. She could barely hear Applejack over the screaming sound of wind that tore past her at the speed she was flying at.

“Don’t get cocky, Dash! We ain’t sure these critters are all there are out here, an’ we don’t know fer sure what they all can do!”

“Jeez, relax, these guys are small fry compared to what we’ve dealt with already!” Rainbow Dash said, almost rolling her eyes, but despite her words she did slow down slightly so she could better assess her targets. The amount of speed and movement precision she had now with her completed Fullbring was rather unreal, and she could see the Equestrian monsters moving in what to her was essentially slow motion, giving her plenty of time to take in details.

There were more of them than she’d originally thought. How had so many of these creatures gotten into the Everfree Forest in the human world? When Twilight’s science gizmo had gone haywire, the portals and what came through had been pretty random. This... this looked almost like an army, moving with coordinated intent. There weren’t just a few dozen of the wooden wolves, but closer to a hundred, all boiling out of the forest in a snarling, howling mass of sharp claws and teeth.

The scorpion-cat creatures, Manticores Dash thought she’d heard Sunset say, came behind, like they were driving the wood wolves forward. Whatever number had been hunted down last night didn’t seem to matter now, because there looked like a whole pack of about twenty now, their bat-like wings allowing them to make giant leaps and bounds to keep pace with the wolves’ headlong charge.

Then there was that gigantic half insect, half bear that was at the back of the whole miniature horde. It looked for all the world like someone had taken a giant hornet, slapped it together with a six armed, monstrous panda bear, and cranked its attitude all the way to eleven on the ‘maul everything in sight’ meter.

Even if they were still a few hundred yards back from the camp, the rate this group was moving at would have them crashing into Camp Everfree in no time.

Dang it, I know AJ’s right, but we can’t afford to be cautious here. These things are out for blood. Man, I know Fluttershy hates this kind of thing, but I can’t hold back here... maybe if I make my first move big and flashy enough, it’ll scare the rest off.

She reached to the sapphire gem embedded over the heart of her armor’s breastplate, and in a storm of lightning that crackled from the gem she withdrew her spear in all its thunderous glory. The bright, prismatic energy wings coursing from her back flared up within the metallic, blade like housing that contained them, and Dash all but turned into a bolt of lightning herself.

Storm clouds started to form in the sky above as the cobalt lance that had become Rainbow Dash crashed straight into the front of the formation of Equestrian monsters. As was Dash’s want, she couldn’t help but shout the name of her attack. She’d been practicing as much as Sunset had to expand her abilities, and had more than a few new moves up her sleeve.

“Thunder Goddess-” she said, having rammed her spear into the ground right through one of the wood wolves, which exploded into burning chunks from the raw force of the blow. Lightning arced around her and then spread through the ground in a devastation, circular tide, “-Earthshaker!”

The attack proceeded to live up to its name, the impact and energy coursing through the ground causing a localized earthquake that broke apart a widening semi-circle of earth while arcs and lances of electric power shot up and around to pierce through dozens of the wood wolves, and even rapidly fry several of the Manticores that had been furthest ahead in the pack.

Dash wasn’t done there, either, leaping up through a cloud of ashes from the nearest wolves that had fried to charred bits and back flipping in the air. The tip of her lightning spear grew in size and intensity as she swept it out in a wide arc, shouting, “Hundred Million Volt Rainstorm!”

She didn’t swing just once, but a score of times in a mere eye blink, and each strike let out an azure arc of energy that converted into a barrage of lightning bolts that fell among the monsters with shockingly unerring accuracy.

Dash landed in a styling, skidding backwards slide, spear held behind her, wings spread wide. She surveyed the damage with a satisfied smirk. In one go she’d wiped out half of the wolves, easy, and taken down the Mainticores by about a third. And as she’d hoped, the survivors had pulled up short, many skidding to a full halt in the face of her devastating assault.

“Oh yeah, I’m good... wait, where’s the bear bug?”

A shadow crossed over her and she looked up. She’d known the thing could fly, what with those huge wasp wings sprouting from its back, but she hadn’t known it could zip around quite that fast. Not as fast as her, but it was still impressive how the bear bug had gotten over her, flying right over her earlier attacks.

Then she noticed it’s body was now covered in weird, flowing script that glowed with emerald light, like living tattoos. All six of its fuzzy hands were surrounded by a black and green nimbus of light, yet Dash didn’t feel barely any spiritual pressure.

No reiatsu. Wait, is this magic!?

The bear bug responded to Rainbow Dash’s lightning in kind, with a barrage of lightning of its own. Six necrotic green bolts of power that thrust towards her with sizzling speed. Someone slower might have been caught by six such bolts of magical might, moving at lightning speed. Fortunately Dash was more than up to the challenge, leaving an after image of herself that was flipping the monster off as she zoomed skyward. The six emerald bolts of power crashed onto her afterimage and melted an impressive hole in the ground, but Dash was airborne and coming straight at the creature before the energy of its own attack had even finished dissipating.

“Rrrraaaa!” Dash thrust her spear forward towards the beast’s chest, but was surprised to find it halting in place as both the spear, and her own body, was surrounded by a sickly green aura. She felt a tight grip around her, and upon seeing the monstrous bear aiming a paw at her that had identical light playing around its digits, realized the thing had grabbed her with some kind of telekinesis.

Unlike the monsters below, this bear bug seemed intelligent, and actually licked its lips at her with a hungry grin as it turned towards her full. Rainbow Dash just snorted.

“What, you think you’ve got me where you want me? Try again, fuzz face!”

Her wings grew brighter, and from their rainbow colored surface bolts of raw prismatic power shot out in rapid bursts. The bear monsters, its grin now vanished, threw itself back and three of its hands wove magical patterns in the air, creating some manner of glowing green, arcane barrier. The beams of energy from Dash’s wings impacted with the barrier, cracking it in multiple places, and then penetrating to spear into the bear.

It howled in pain, bloodied from the blows, but far from dead as it snarled at Dash and redoubled it’s telekinetic grip, now seeking to crush her body.

“Aw dang! Ugh, okay, wanna play rough, we can play rough!” Dash grunted. Even being squeezed with the kind of force that’d crush a dump truck, Dash’s body was far more fortified by her reiatsu and Fullbring than this monster was apparently giving her credit for. It also didn’t know she also now had the power to control the weather, and had a nice, big, electrified storm cloud hanging above the fight.

She didn’t even have to gesture to bring a nearly twenty foot wide pillar of lightning rocking down from the cloud in a blinding flash of power. Magical barrier or not, that much electricity was enough to sizzle the bear bug’s hide to the point that Dash was pretty sure she got a good look at its skeleton in silhouette before it fell from the sky in a smoking, charred heap. The telekinesis around her faded, and Dash dusted herself off.

“Sorry, buddy, but you seriously had no idea who you were messing with.”

Her satisfaction swiftly turned sour, however, as she saw not only the bear bug’s body twitch, and the still smoking creature start to get back up like some kind of electrified zombie, but while she’d been fighting it the rest of the pack of critters had continued to stampede ahead. They’d reached the tent grounds, which were thankfully empty by now, but that meant the monsters were just that much closer to the actual camp!

“Aw dang it! Why are there still so many of you jerks!?”

She knew she’d taken out a whole bunch of them, but it looked like more had poured out of the forest while the bear monster had been distracting her. Rainbow Dash began to fly back towards the ground to intercept the monsters, but she was beaten to the punch. Literally.

“HYYAAAA!”

Applejack rocketed across the ground, energy thrusters from the back of her Fullbring’s shoulder armor and legs propelling her like a living cannonball into the front line of Equestrian beasts. Her right arm cocked back and delivered a rocket powered punch that hit a Manticore with so much force that the shockwave not only broke the ground for about a dozen meters in all directions, but it sent almost every tooth in the beast's mouth flying out as it was instantly propelled backwards, in turn becoming a battering ram that smashed through quite a number of the wooden wolves that had been scampering behind it.

Applejack followed that up by leaping into a spinning kick, golden thrusters of spirit energy turning her into a whirling tornado of destruction that swept through the front ranks of the charging horde. Bodies went flying every which way, not one among the magical monsters able to stand up to the farm girl’s any more than pins before a rocket propelled bowling ball.

Landing behind the thrashed and confused horde of creatures, Applejack finished her combo by spreading her hands out in front of her, gold sparks of energy gleaming in the skull shaped nozzles on her wrists and palms.

“Rapid Fire Harvest Cannon!”

In a move almost reminiscent of an Arrancar’s Bala, Applejack began firing a series of high speed energy pulses and swept her arms to the left and right. The massive velocity and number of blasts acted like twin gatling cannons, chewing apart the disorganized remains of the monster horde’s initial wave.

It also tore up a large portion of the pitched tents, and by the end of it, it looked like a literal warzone had swept through the area. Applejack winced a bit, simply glad no one had been around to get caught in the crossfire.

Rainbow Dash landed next to her, shouldering her lightning spear, “Yeash, AJ, overkill much?”

“Tch, like I need ta be hearin’ that from you, Dash,” Applejack replied past a small half-smile, “Besides which, the fight ain’t over yet, so I’m thinkin’ we can go a might harder on these fellas.”

Rainbow Dash and Applejack both turned their attention back towards the woods, where the still slightly sizzling bear bug was standing on wobbling feet and glaring at them while more wolves and Manticores gathered around it.

“Yeah, that bear dude is tougher than I figured he’d be, and the rest of the small fry just keep coming,” Dash said, readying her spear, “So maybe I oughta kick things into full power.”

“Don’t overdo it yet. I said a ‘might’ harder, not throwin’ all our cards on the table, “Applejack said, adopting her own battle stance, “I’m thinkin’ much worse is waitin’ in the wings, an’ we gotta conserve our strength. I reckon this fight’s gonna be a’ long haul.”

“Fine by me!” Rainbow Dash said, “These guys are wimps. How much worse can they possibly throw at us?”

Applejack was only halfway to giving Rainbow Dash a flat, unamused look when the sound of multiple roars from something much larger than the rest of the monsters echoed from the distant forest. Then, with the sound of trees being torn in half and thrown across a near kilometer of distance, the two girls could see first one, then up to five giant, serpentine heads rising above the treeline.

Dash, face coloring to a heated hue, groused, “Okay, seriously, one of these days saying that shouldn’t immediately cause things to get worse!”

“Uhhuh,” Applejack said in a dry tone, “Ya keep tellin’ yerself that.”

----------

The camp center was rather packed with the majority of its campers now within its walls. The excuse of lunch to get everyone inside had manifested in the form of swiftly made sandwiches, but it was clear to Gloriosa that none of these kids were buying the notion that everything was fine. Probably had something to do with the constant shaking and noise outside that sounded like a literal war taking place next door. Which was not inaccurate, all things considered.

Gloriosa was standing by the main door, looking out the window with her gut churning with worry. Her brother was still out there, along with a number of campers from the scavenger hunt. It took all of her willpower to not fling the doors open to go running out there in search of them, but she had to stay here to guard those already in the building.

Behind her a group of campers headed up by a pair of girls approached her. One of the girls had mint colored skin and similarly colored hair, cut short and swept forward, wearing a rather odd white and blue shirt with a picture of a unicorn on it that said ‘Unicorn Anthropology Major’. The other girl had creme skin and a blue and pink two toned head of curlier, longer hair, and had a light blue blouse and darker skirt on. Gloriosa thought over the names she’d learned of the campers so far and matched faces with the right names.

“Lyra, Bon Bon, you, um, should probably sit with everyone else to eat, and, er... stay away from the windows because there’s... bees...”

“Alright, Miss Daisy, not to freak you out or anything,” said Lyra, “But if we’re in danger from some crazy magical stuff going down, you can probably drop the act.”

“Wait, what?” Gloriosa turned towards the campers, and saw many sitting at the various tables set up in the camp center’s main room were all looking at her not with confusion, but general acceptance of the situation.

“Sunset Shimmer and all her friends,” said Bon Bon, “We’ve seen them do stuff like this a bunch of times already. We’ve had weird portals nearly drop our school into another dimension, and a trio of singing witches almost brainwash us. Weird stuff happens to our school, and it’s usually tied to those girls somehow.”

“Do you know about... other things, like the Hollows?” Gloriosa asked, feeling a bit light headed. The girls exchanged looks and the mint one shrugged.

“Haven’t heard that term before, but honestly the details have never really mattered,” Lyra said, “Not really important right now anyway. Point is, if there’s trouble, I’m not sure sitting here doing nothing is a good idea. Maybe we can help-”

“Whoa whoa whoa, hold the horses Lyra!” Pinkie Pie bounced into the room from the back kitchen area, carrying a tray of additional sandwiches which she set down on one of the tables before rushing up, “That would be the exact opposite of a good idea! Mena, what’s the term for that?”

Pinkamena stuck her head out of the kitchen doorway, “A bad idea.”

“Yes! That. Sorry guys, it’s super nice that you wanna help, but things are waaaaaay dangerous out there. Like, R-rated for gore and strong violence levels of dangerous,” Pinkie Pie said, but her words seemed to fall on deaf ears as Lyra, Bon Bon, and almost everyone else save for the Cutie Mark Crusaders who were guarding the back door stared at Pinkamena.

“Uhh... are there two Pinkie Pies now?” Lyra asked, sounding rather fearful, “Does that mean the world is doomed? I think it means the world is doomed.”

“Oh don’t be silly!” Pinkie Pie said, “That’s my doppelganger sister who was born from my brain and having crazy spirit powers because my mom got attacked by a freaky’ demon thing called a Hollow before I was born that was made by a secret society of Japanese-themed grim reapers who control the afterlife. Say hi, Mena!”

“Hi Mena.”

“Ohmygosh, was that you making a joke, Mena? I think it waaaaas~!”

“My whole existence is a joke.”

During the exchange the gathered Canterlot High students just stared with varying degrees of surprise and/or horror at Pinkamena, especially as she snaked a long, tentacle-like arm out of the kitchen, salivating with several tooth filled mouths along it’s taffy stretched surface, bearing a tray of sandwiches. It was a testament to just how inoculated to weird the students of Canterlot High were that aside from some shocked murmuring and a few students pointedly edging their chairs away from Pinkamena, the reactions to her were overall pretty mild.

“By the way, this is the last of the tuna, if anyone wants some,” Pinkamena said, following her long, stretched out arm into the main room. She glanced at the windows as the sound of what might have been thunder shook the frame of the building. “Sounds like they’re having a blast out there. Pinkie, why are we stuck on morsel-sitting duty? All this cooking is making me hungry, and I can smell blood outside.”

“Mena, protecting everybody is a majorly important duty that we can’t shirk!” Pinkie Pie said, crossing her arms, “We only leave if there’s no other choice. We can’t just leave Glori and the Crusaders to handle things here by themselves.”

“Hey, we’re totally cool going out there to help in your stead,” Scootaloo offered, but Pinkie Pie and Pinkamena both shot looks towards the Cutie Mark Crusaders, and the girls dejectedly went back to watching the back door. The trio of young girls were actually sitting at the same table with Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, alternating between quietly talking and keeping a careful set of eyes on the camp center’s back entrance. Gloriosa couldn’t hear exactly what was being said between Applebloom and Diamond Tiara, but she was glad to see that Diamond Tiara appeared to be relaxing slightly.

Looking around at the campers, her charges, she took a deep breath and summoned up what courage she could to quell the quaking fear in her stomach.

“Listen, everyone, it’s good that you want to help, but if you already have experienced things like this before, then you must know that the best thing you can do right now is to remain calm and stay out of harm's way,” Gloriosa said, glad at least that her voice wasn’t wavering as much as her actual nerves were.

Many of the students looked at each other with mixed emotions, and Lyra voiced what many of them were likely feeling, “We get it, but it’s just... those girls keep protecting us, over and over again, and it feels like we oughta be able to do something to help them for a change.”

“YEAH!” came one enthusiastic cry from the back of the room, the sizable Bulk Biceps having stood up from his table, then rather bashfully clearing his throat and sitting back down as he said in a more appropriately toned down volume level, “What I mean is, um, I agree with the whole wanting to help them thing.”

“It’s been pretty clear that for the past month or so something different has been going on with you all,” Bon Bon said to Pinkie Pie, coughing and tilting her head at Pinkamena, “I mean, we all learned to pay attention to you gals when you’re acting weird or cutting class. Kinda a big red flag. So we know this time around things are weirder, and more dangerous, than normal. Heck, we’ve all seen news broadcasts about mysterious ‘explosions’ around town. Then there was the thing at the beach the other day.”

“Oh, did the Soul Reapers not get all the videos of that taken down?” Pinkie Pie asked.

“Pinkie Pie, it’s the internet. Stuff spreads faster than juicy gossip about me and Lyra, there,” Bon Bon said.

“If you all know things are worse than usual,” Pinkamena said, licking her lips over sharp teeth, “Then you walking, talking McNuggets ought to understand that much as you want to help; you can’t. You’d just be serving your fresh, tasty selves up as snacks to whatever monster decided to sink its teeth into you first.”

“Meeena, we’ve talked about you using food euphemisms when talking about people,” Pinkie Pie said in a chiding tone, and Pinkamena shrugged.

“Sorry, haven’t eaten anything substantial in awhile.”

“You’re not wrong,” said Lyra, “About us not being in a position to help directly, but doesn’t change the fact that we want to. This isn’t a spur of the moment thing. We’ve all been talking about it this past week or so, and all of us, together, decided we’d ask you gals to... keep us in the loop from now on. Let each of us help in some small way, even if it's just making sure all of you get a heads up if one of us spots something weird.”

“Aww,” Pinkie Pie looked around at the crowd of fellow Canterlot High students, many of them giving affirming nods, “You all want to help us that bad? Well I’d be a real party pooper if I didn’t tell Sunny and the other gals about this, and long as you all agree not to do anything to get yourselves hurt, I’m all for accepting the support!”

“...Meh, if any of you get yourselves killed, don’t come complaining to me,” Pinkamena said.

“Seriously, what’s her deal?” asked Bon Bon, “It’s like you, Pinkie, if you were cast as a slasher villain from some B-grade horror movie.”

Pinkamena scoffed, her chest opening up into a maw of jagged teeth, “Bon Bon, I’m at least on the same level as a John Carpenter movie. B-grade, pfft, I’ll show you ‘B-grade’. Just wait until Halloween, then you’ll see some serious sh-”

“Shhhh!” Pinkie said, cocking her head, “I think I hear shouting outside. Glori, is anybody coming?”

Gloriosa whipped her head back around to look out the front door’s window, and was both startled and relieved to see the campers from the scavenger hunt were making their way across the camp green towards the central building. Leading them was her brother, and Glorisoa bit her lower lip upon seeing him limping, his left leg missing part of its pants which had been burned away, the skin beneath scalded. Other campers were injured as well, one of them needing to be carried between two other students, as she was limp and all Gloriosa could see was that her head was bleeding profusely.

“There’s a first aid kit in my office!” she shouted, “Someone grab it while I go get them inside!”

“On it!” Lyra replied instantly, dashing off while Gloriosa flung open the front doors and ran out. Pinkie Pie and Pinkamena were beside her in a flash, moving faster than Gloriosa could ever have imagined the pair moving.

“Knew I smelled blood,” Pinkamena said, halting in front of the approaching group.

“Gloriosa!” Timber Spruce said, staggering to a halt, panting for breath. He was covered in sweat, dirt, twigs, and looked near panic, “It’s those Hollow’s that look like people. Arransomethings! Fluttershy and Rarity are fighting them along with those Quincy girls!”

“I know. Get everyone inside,” Gloriosa said, “Including yourself. What happened to your leg?”

“B-big beam fired off by one of the angrier ones. Clipped me as I was running...” Timber Spruce said, his voice filled with shame as he clenched his teeth, both in pain and frustration, “I couldn’t do anything, sis. Fluttershy told me to run and get everyone else clear, so I ran.”

“Hey don’t look so down Timby, that was the smartest of smart things to do if the baddies were going in hardcore like that!” said Pinkie Pie, “Go on into the camp center and we’ll start getting you and everybody else patched up.”

“We have to be careful with...” Gloriosa searched mentally for the name of the injured girl. She had green skin, darker green hair, rather messily kept, and wore a very plain set of blue jeans and a brown striped sweater. For the life of her, Gloriosa couldn’t recall the girl’s name, “Her. Head wounds are dangerous.”

“Shouldn’t we call an ambulance?” asked Timber.

Gloriosa hesitated for a moment. Getting the authorities involved in this in any way could prove disastrous in more ways than one. But a girl’s life was also at stake, and that rather trumped any other concern, “You’re right, Timber. I’ll call right now. Just get her inside for now. We’ll figure out how to keep the paramedics out of danger when they get here.”

She reached for her pocket to fish out her cell phone to make the call, while Pinkie Pie and Pinkamena started to herd the confused and scared looking campers towards the center building, when Gloriosa felt an intense prickling sensation across her skin. The geodes of the necklace around her neck all started glowing at once, but she got the feeling they weren’t reacting to familiar magic like normal, but something else. This buzz... sharp and insistent, felt like the geodes were warning her about something.

“Pinkie Pie, I think something’s coming!” Gloriosa shouted, just as the air about fifty feet away, near the edge of the lake, started to waver and bend. A sound like a malfunctioning set of tesla coils crackled through the air, then a hole of sickly green energy swirled into existence. It was about twenty feet wide, and was like looking into a green tinted whirlpool leading to an inky black dot. Yet from this pool small forms rapidly grew in side as multiple creatures crawled out of the portal.

There were three of them, each one easily as large as a short bus. Craggy green and black scales were pockmarked by large protrusions of sharp, granite gray rock formations. Burly, long bodies ended at one end in powerful, thick tails, and crocodilian heads at the other bearing maws large enough to swallow a person whole in a single gulp. Strong limbs propelled the giant, rocky crocodiles forward as chest rattling hisses issued forth from their mouths as they scented prey, focusing their eyes upon the wounded campers.

“Uh-oh, I guess the GM rolled high on the random encounter table,” Pinkie Pie said, turning to Pinkamena, “It’s hammering time!”

“No argument here!” Pinkamena said, holding out her hand as Pinkie Pie jumped into the air, flipped, and in mid-flip transformed into a swath of pink mist that in turn solidified into the shape of her giant, pink, ornate hammer. The hammer continued to flip downward until Pinkamena caught in with a simple flourish, and turned to campers.

“What are you morsels waiting for!? Get inside, NOW!” the last was said with an unnaturally widened mouth with enough teeth to make a certain horror-movie clown blush.

“C-c’mon people, move it!” Timber said, and even while limping helped brace another injured limper on making a run for the camp center. As the campers all began to scream and run, the crocodiles started to charge, but Pinkamena leaped into their path, brandishing the Pinkie Hammer.

“Never eaten croc before. Hope it tastes good... uh, hey, Gloriosa, I told everyone to get inside!”

Gloriosa, who now stood beside Pinkamena in facing down the oncoming crocodiles, had her let hand firmly clenched around the geodes, her face a mixed storm of fear and determination, “I know, and they are. But I can fight. I will fight. This is my home, and these creatures...” magical light in all the hues of the rainbow spilled from between her clenched fingers as she raised her other hand towards the advancing crocodile monsters. Her eyes started to bleed to an unnatural black color, “...are not welcome here!”

The ground shook as powerful vines erupted up from the ground, whipping at the crocodiles in a wild mass. The crocodiles were halted as vines wrapped around legs and mouths, coiling down on their tough flesh. If these were normal crocodiles, this might have stopped them. It would’ve even been relatively easy for Gloriosa’s vines to choke them or throw them bodily around.

However these were not normal crocodiles, but Equestrian variants; Cragadiles. Far lager, and immensely stronger than any human world equivalent, save perhaps a few specimens from much more bygone eras.

Gloriosa grunted as her focus strained and the giant crocs started to tear apart her vines. She’d never tried to summon so much magic so fast from the geodes, and she was having trouble directing the energies. She’d practiced, sure, but never under pressure like this, and never in actual combat. She gasped as she felt a hint of magical backlash, but grit her teeth through it and drew out more, ignoring the pain in her mind at doing so.

More, thicker vines rose from the ground, entangling one of the crocodiles, but in having to focus on one, she’d allowed the other two to snap free of the weaker vines and they surged towards her.

“Hey Mena, let’s test how much stronger we’ve gotten!” said Pinkie Pie as Pinkamena jumped up and swung the hammer above her head. As she did so a colorful pink and blue, wooden meter rose up behind one of the crocodiles, with a bell at the top of it. The crocodile looked briefly confounded before Pinkamena slammed the hammer down on a mysteriously appearing button in front of it. The impact shook the ground as the crocodile was abruptly launched straight up, smashing through the bell at the top of the meter, and kept right on going until it sailed off into the middle of the lake with a distant splosh.

“You could really say we just rung his bell, eh Mena?”

“No. None of that.”

“Guys! Guys! One more coming towards me still!” Gloriosa said, backpedaling as the third giant croc turned its course towards her, its mouth opening wide. Gloriosa was still containing the first one with her vines, which had managed to haul that particular croc up and wrap it up like a proverbial mummy, but that left her with no focus to direct towards the one seeking to introduce her to its digestive tract.

Pinkamena whirled about and started to charge, but just then a series of bolts rained down on the croc from above.

“No worries everyone, we’ve got this!” Sunny Flare said, her twin dart guns spewing a quick firing barrage of reishi bolts that hammered the croc’s head, blasting off bits of rock and scale.

“We figured you’d be in trouble, and came as fast as we could,” Sugarcoat said, her own ivory bow sending a focused, powerful reishi arrow to strike the crocodiles’ right front leg, nailing it to the ground.

“Would’ve been here sooner, but my legs aren’t exactly up to high speed motion yet,” Indigo Zap groused, but still stood firm on her artificial legs as she sent a sizzling set of electrically charged arrows to impact with the crocodiles’ back, causing it to spark and spasm.

All three Quincy girls were standing on top of the camp center, giving them a good vantage point to shoot from, but their initial barrage had certainly halted the croc in its tracks.

“Is everyone okay?” asked Sugarcoat, and Gloriosa breathed a sigh of relief and smiled up at the Quincies.

“Me and Pinkie are, but there’s injured inside. One with a head wound.”

“I brought a Quincy medkit,” said Sunny Flare, “Better than anything conventional. I’ll go check the wounded.”

“Wait, hold up guys,” said Indigo Zap, “We’ve got more incoming!”

“Huh?” Gloriosa turned, looking past the still spasming crocodile the Quincy had downed, and the one she still had wrapped up. The portal had remained in place, and now even more of the huge crocodile monsters were emerging, more than Gloriosa could easily count.

Pinkamena started to sprout mouths all over her body, all of them watering, “Well, looks like the enemy wants to serve me up a full buffet!”

Sugarcoat frowned, aiming her bow, “Sunny, Indigo, focus fire and take them out one at a time! Don’t let a single one get near the building! Gloriosa, Pinkie Pie, we’ll count on you to take care of any that get through our barrage!”

“Okie Dokie Lokie!”

“O-okay!”

With that, the mass of gigantic crocodiles moved forward in a hissing wave, and Camp Everfree’s defenders charged to meet them.

----------

A sharp pain stung upon her bleeding brow, coating Fluttershy’s vision red from her life’s blood coating her face. Several acidic burns marred her arms and legs, some of the wounds still smoking from the caustic liquid that had been flung upon them. Yet Fluttershy’s breathing remained calm, her mind still as a pool of untouched water. Noise raged around her, from battles joined both upon the ground and in the air. Fluttershy could feel it all.

Rarity, nearby, summoning a cloud of crystalline daggers that she sent flying towards the swiftly dodging form of the Arrancar with green tinged hair. The forest floor was littered with red crystal weaponry that Rarity had already assaulted her foe with, and was pressing the Arrancar hard, but Fluttershy sensed the Arrancar was fighting defensively for the time being.

The same could be said of the young, red haired Arrancar, who had at the beginning of the fight leaped back from the fray, only to be pursued by Lemon Zest and Sour Sweet. The last Fluttershy had seen of the trio, the red haired Arrancar was evading reishi arrows from the two Quincy, leaping and bound around trees for extra cover, and not doing much to counterattack.

Only Gilda seemed truly on the warpath, and Fluttershy was grateful Timber Spruce had fled when she’d told him to. It was pure luck that he’d survived a stray crimson beam fired by Gilda that had been aimed at Fluttershy. If Fluttershy hadn’t jumped to force Gilda’s aim to the side, Timber wouldn’t have made it. And with him gone, she’d sensed him getting the other campers clear, so she’d been able to take that worry off her mind.

She also knew Celestia, Luna, and Sunset had arrived, but were being occupied by foes of their own.

For the moment, she was stuck facing Gilda by herself, and so far it’d been all she could do to keep a few steps ahead of the aggressive Tenth Espada’s rampaging strikes. Fluttershy was using all of her accumulated experience in the battles she’d fought up until now to keep Gilda’s whirling spear from making a solid connection, and to be one step ahead of several further Cero beams that removed entire chunks of forest from their destructive path.

Now, backed up towards the rise of a small hill covered in rock outcroppings, Fluttershy was feeling the strain as Gilda stalked towards her. Blood dripped from the lion’s mane tuft of fur at the base of the spearhead, and Gilda’s face sported a mocking smirk as she spun the weapon and flung a burst of the sizzling blood towards Fluttershy.

“What’s wrong? You said you didn’t want to hurt me, right!? Is that why you’re not fighting back, huh!? Or is that you keep dodging because that’s all you can do!?”

Fluttershy knelt down and then thrust herself upwards into a smooth back-flip, the blood missing her by scant inches. It hit the ground and ate through grass, dirt, and stone in equal measure. It was purely Fluttershy’s reiatsu that kept the bits of the acidic blood that hit her from actually going through her flesh and bones with similar intensity. As she landed atop a rock outcropping, Fluttershy readied herself in a bracing stance, and continued to watch Gilda calmly.

“All I need to do is prevent you from hurting anyone else. That doesn’t require me to do more than dodge,” she replied, and glanced towards her back, “Are you okay back there, Mister Smooze?”

Behind her, her shawl was moving under her mental direction to form a loose cradle, within which Smooze sat, clinging to the spiritually enhanced cloth. His pin-prick eyes looked at her with a mix of gratitude, but also consternation, “I am for now, but this is ridiculous, Miss Fluttershy. You can’t protect yourself and me at the same time. You’d be better off tossing me to this child’s mercies.”

“He’s right, you know,” Gilda said, thrusting her spear out with one hand to point it at Fluttershy, “I got my reasons to want him dead, but I don’t get why you’re so keen to save him. Not that it’d make a difference now. You’ve pissed me off, so I’m coating this forest in your blood. Even if you dropped the slimeball, it won’t mean you can beat me.”

A harsh rip of tearing air heralded Gilda’s Sonido, the Espada vanishing and appearing right above Fluttershy. She took her spear in both hands and cleaved downward with the blade. Fluttershy pivoted on her feet, letting the blade pass beside her and strike the rock she was standing on. Just as the rock, and a good portion of the small hill, was bisected by the strength of Gilda’s blow, Fluttershy had already lightly jumped up, using Fullbring to step upon the air. She contorted her body in a tight somersault, grabbing Gilda’s spear along the pole. Once again using Fullbring to harden the air beneath her feet, now standing horizontally in mid-air, Fluttershy spun herself around and delivered a precise heel kick to the back of Gilda’s neck.

The blow barely staggered Gilda, who took the hit with a feral growl, but the physical impact wasn’t the point. The point was making physical contact, as Fluttershy’s third eye flash a blinding blue, and the halo behind her gleamed brightly.

“There’s no reason to want Smooze dead. He isn’t a threat. Leave him be,” Fluttershy commanded, sending her power lancing directly into Gilda’s soul, hammering the Espada’s mental defenses like a bunker buster striking a fortified wall.

“Gugh!” Gilda stepped back, her eyes glazing over for a moment as she jumped away from Fluttershy, clutching her head with one hand, “S...stop that! He has to... has to... live? No, I want him dead, he’s going to take it from me!”

Gilda let out a feral cry like a mix between a shrieking eagle and roaring lion, eyes blazing as she launched herself towards Fluttershy, practically flying across the ground and tearing up the forest floor as she went. The first thrust was so fast and powerful that even though she was able to side step it, the simple force of wind from the near miss tore at Fluttershy’s chest, cutting it and causing a small spray of blood. Gilda stomped one foot onto the ground, breaking the ground in the process, and used it as an anchor to spin around and swing her spear like an overlong baseball bat.

Fluttershy normally would use her shawl as a shield to try to block or catch the blow, but with Smooze there she was forced to cross her arms and turn her body enough so she avoided the spear’s blade, but took the shaft nearly head on. The air resounded with a loud, peeling crack as Fluttershy was hurled several dozen yards at high speed, and smashed right through a thick pine tree.

The blow stunned her, causing blood to spurt from her mouth, and she felt her whole body wrenched by the impact. Only the reiatsu of her Fullbring fortified her body well beyond human norm kept her from being instantly pulped by such a monstrous impact. Indeed, all the training she’d done with her friends recently had increased her spiritual pressure considerably. Even just a few weeks ago during the battles in Soul Society, such a blow might have put her down for good.

Now, Fluttershy found that while she was in pain, she could still stand. More than that, her skill with her power was much improved, and she still found she could readily use it to accelerate the healing of her own wounds. Her body was suffused with an aura of solid blue light, and she could feel torn muscles rejoining and cracked bones knitting together as she stood up and faced Gilda once more.

Even the Espada seemed briefly dumbfounded by this, silently mouthing an obvious to read ‘what the hell’ upon seeing this slight violet of a human girl standing back up after taking a full blow from her Resurreccion form’s spear.

Taking a deep breath, Fluttershy resumed a ready stance, hands up, palms open but ready to strike, “I only want to help people. Human, Quincy, Hollow, Pony, it doesn’t matter to me. Whoever you are, whatever your pain, I want to help heal it.”

Gilda’s eyebrow twitched and her smirk held a bitter twist to it, “Help? Are you braindead? I’m trying to kill you! You want to help!? Then stand still!”

She raised her spear above her head, and the lion’s mane upon its shaft glowed red, and a torrent of blood grew from its roots and crawled its way up the spear until the blade was covered in a thick coating of smoking, acidic crimson. A similar sanguine glow suffused Gilda’s body as her reiatsu spiked.

“Derritiendo Venas!” (Melting Veins) Gilda spat, and slammed her spear forward. Tendrils of blood, moving in patterns not unlike blood veins, erupted out of the spear and flew towards Fluttershy.

As they converged upon her, Fluttershy spun into action. Her motions were neat, precise, and wasted no extra movement. Every twist of her head or hips left a vein of acid blood centimeters from striking her. Every twist of her body as she jumped and flipped about kept her a half inch from being impaled by the seeking tendrils of melting blood. Around her the forest became speared by the tendrils, trees melting in half or entire sections of ground being burned away into bubbling pools as the blood sought to entrap and melt the human girl dancing among them.

But it was impossible for Fluttershy to dodge forever, not with so many attacks coming at her from all directions. Soon enough, one tendril struck her leg, the intense acid searing through it, as this particular attack was especially boosted by Gilda’s reiatsu to burn ever more fiercely.

Fluttershy’s calm demeanor couldn’t quite avoid a scream from the blow, and it took all of her focus to twist so she tore her leg free of the acid tendril and managed to still land in a halfway prepared stance. Yet the tendrils now converged on her wounded form.

“Miss Fluttershy!” Smooze said, struggling to make his weak form move to try and protect this extraordinary human girl, not that he had any notion of how he’d protect her, given his diminished state.

“I’m here, darling!”

The acidic tendrils suddenly found themselves being sliced and diced by a veritable sandstorm of sharp, crystal blades. In seconds Fluttershy was surrounded by a protective barrier of glittering crystalline weapons, each more glorious and elegant in design than the last.

Fluttershy sighed a relieved breath and put a hand over her heart, “Thank you, Rarity. But where’s the one you were fighting?”

Rarity landed next to Fluttershy, her crimson battle dress somewhat worse for wear due to several cuts and tears. Rarity bore a few light wounds, but they were all fairly superficial as she flipped her hair out of her face and gave Fluttershy a wink, “She’s somewhat pinned down at the moment. I’m sure she’ll get out soon enough, but I just couldn’t bear to let you fight this more powerful brute alone.”

Gilda, withdrawing her blood tendrils back into her spear, let out a frustrated growl, “Bullshit! Greta wouldn’t let a snobby tramp like you get the best of her, even temporarily.”

“I beg your pardon!? Tramp!? I’ll have you take that back this instant you insensitive beast!”

Gilda, several veins popping out on her forehead, said, “I don’t have any patience for stuck-up twigs who think their pretty faces matter. You two are the worst kinds of wastes of flesh! A naive softie, and a vain tramp. Oh I am going to enjoy tearing you both to shreds!”

More reiatsu poured out of Gilda as she gathered strength for a renewed attack. Rarity formed a cadre of weaponry from her whirlpool of blood, which hovered just above her right shoulder. Her hand held its customary rapier at the ready.

“Flutteshy, can you move? Your leg looks as if it took a nasty wound.”

Fluttershy grimaced, but nodded as she stood, having poured some of her power into negating the pain in her leg and starting it’s healing process... although the depth of the injury and the extra potency of the acid meant it wasn’t going to recover nearly as fast as she’d like. It was definitely going to slow her down, but with Rarity here, there was still a chance.

“I’m alright. Rarity, I need you to distract her enough to give me an opening. I’ve already made physical contact with her once, so my power has a pathway to her soul, but her anger is acting as a barrier. If her mind is distracted enough, I think I can break through.”

“That shouldn’t be a probleaaah! What is that thing!? Flutteshy, you have a horrible, messy, exceedingly bad smelling thing on you!” Rarity shouted, finally actually noticing Smooze.

The small blob of a former Espada looked back at Rarity and waved a tiny arm, “Hello to you too.”

“Oh, that’s Mister Smooze,” said Fluttershy, “He seems grouchy, but he’s actually very considerate.”

“Human girls, not to interrupt, but she’s coming,” Smooze said, pointing out that Gilda had finished gathering power. The ground broke apart into multiple chunks as Gilda charged, barreling at Rarity and Fluttershy with murder in her eyes.

----------

Greta was pinned to a tree by about twenty different crystalline spears and other assorted weapons. A few daggers pierced her legs and arms as well, making moving rather painful.

Yet Greta was laughing under her breath. She could sense Gaw not far off. Adagio’s right-hand Fraccion was making a good account of herself, near as Great could tell.

She’s easily evading those Quincy girls, and not striking back, just waiting until they get exhausted. Well, at least she’s still on script. Oh, but Gilda, Gilda, Gilda... you really have made a mess of things, haven’t you?

Greta laughed again, and began pulling herself free of the tree. It’d been easy enough to make it look like Rarity had gotten the drop on her, and in all honestly it wasn’t a total act.

“That girl is every bit as skilled as I suspected. Hm, they all are, if what I sense is accurate.”

Fire blazed above, and Greta looked up. It seemed Sunset Shimmer was fully engaged with Guto’s other pawns. Poor bastards.

‘Greta’ smiled and put her hands on her hips, shaking her head, “The firebrand will be here soon. I wonder if I should pull Gilda out of the frying pan, or let her cook? Then again, that Fluttershy girl seems quite special herself. Saving Smooze. Who’d have guessed? Who knows how her fight with Gilda will turn out, assuming Gilda doesn’t get herself killed first?”

The wounds on Greta’s body began to heal, and she smiled, looking at the injuries knit themselves closed.

Not as fast as mother’s, but good enough. I’d best stay in character a bit longer. This ‘act’ has only entered its second stage, after all. I should hold off until the finale. Oh, but it’s going to be quite a show. I’m glad I decided to come.

Greta’s eyes briefly changed color, flashing to a soft teal as she smiled up at the sky, where bursts of power and flame showed the intensity of the battle occurring above.

“Show me what you can do, girls. I expect a wonderful performance.”

Author's Note:

Don't you hate it when the enemy can just portal in reinforcements? With battle joined things are going to be pretty hectic, especially because there's still curve balls waiting in the wings. You know, it might seem weird I'm not trying to push Rainbow Dash and Gilda into a fight, given their history in Equestria, but in some ways Fluttershy is way better suited to this particular fight... and I also like having Gilda and Rarity being in the same space to piss each other off. Also looking forward to giving Luna vs Adagio a proper rematch. All they got to do last time was trade a few quick blows, but this'll be a full-on fight, where both can show what they can really do.

As always, many thanks for reading, folks, and I appreciate any comments, questions, or critiques you wish to provide. 'Till next time!

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