Episode 190: Escalation
Episode 190: Escalation
Sunset glanced over her shoulder as she opened up the passenger door to the truck Applejack was still kinda-sorta “borrowing” from her brother, although at this point it was more like a permanent loan.
“So at this point you’re not even sure about how you got this magic stone?”
Wallflower visibly gulped, hesitating as Sunset stood aside to let her climb into the truck cabin’s backseat area first. She did so only gingerly as Sunset climbed in behind her, followed by Rainbow Dash taking the passenger seat and Applejack hopping into the driver’s seat. As they got buckled, Wallflower answered in a confused tone, her eyes looking at her hands in her lap with an air of pure uncertainty.
“I can’t really explain it. It’s like one moment, I feel like I have one set of memories, then a little while later if I think about it, there’s slight variations, or different ones popping in and out. I remember finding the stone in my garden, the secret one I keep near the back of the school. But I also remember...” she shivered, “Someone gave it to me there, my... I think my mother. Or a woman who was important to me.”
“Sounds like yer brainpan is right frazzled,” said Applejack, starting the truck and pulling away from the sidewalk near the alleyway that lead to Discord’s shop, getting on the main road leading out of downtown and heading for Twilight’s manor in the upscale part of town.
Wallflower flinched, “I don’t know why. A week ago, I felt, well, normal. A month ago even more so. I mean, I remember all this time spent at school, being ignored by everyone, and...” she glanced at Sunset, face twitching with a mixture of shame and old hurt, “Thinking about getting back at you.”
Sunset flinched as well, but she nodded in understanding, her voice soft, “I’m sorry. I wish I could remember what I did so I could-”
“No, you don’t,” Wallflower stated, and took a deep breath, “It’s better this way. There’s... there’s way bigger things happening right now than that, and considering you saved my life the other day, we can just call things square. I just want to know what’s wrong with me, and get my life back to normal.”
“Well if there’s anyway that’ll happen, it’s gonna happen with the crazy sciency and magicy know how of either Twilight or Sunset here,” said Rainbow Dash, having rolled down the window to prop her arm on it while clearly enjoying the wind flow in her hair.
“Here’s hoping Twilight doesn't mind me borrowing her lab for a bit while she’s gone,” Sunset said, “Assuming we can get through the front door.”
The drive only took about ten minutes, with traffic not being particularly thick that day, and the sturdy old truck made quite the contrast to the slick blue sports car parked out front of the massive Sparkle family manor. The girls hoped out of the truck and went up the large stone steps to the manor’s front doors, and Sunset raised her hand to give it a firm knock, but the left door opened before she could.
An elderly man with white hair, a thick mustache, and glasses, wearing a butlers uniform looked out at them with a quizzical and somewhat stiff air. “Good day, Field Marshals. Is this official business that members of the Coalition are visiting the Sparkle estate?”
Sunset cleared her throat, trying to sound as officious as she could manage, “I guess? I mean, sure, yes! We’re here on behalf of the Coalition to, um, provide research support to our friend an ally, Twilight Sparkle, on examining a specific object recently acquired. A certain stone previously held by Miss Wallflower here.”
Wallflower gulped and gave a nervous wave, “...Hi...”
The butler looked at them with his inscrutable, soul piercing gaze, and slowly said, “I was not informed by Lady Sparkle that any of her projects were open to... ‘research support’. Do you have a message from her indicating authorization to have access to any of her materials or personal labs?”
Rainbow Dash sighed and stepped forward past Sunset, sticking her foot in the door to keep the man from closing it, “Look dude, Twi and us are cool! We just need to check out the freaky magic rock to see if we can work out what it does and how it’s made Flower’s head all messed up.”
“Flower?” Wallflower repeated while the butler just looked at Dash with an expression that suggested he was tempted to close the door on her foot.
“I am aware of your relationship with Lady Sparkle, but that does not mean she would approve of you barging, unannounced, into her laboratories.”
“Hey, it’s cool, Robert. Go ahead and let them in.”
The voice was a familiar one to everyone, even Wallflower, although she paled and her eyes went a little wide at hearing it. Robert, the butler, grimaced but complied with clear reluctance as he opened the door fully and moved aside, “Very well, Master Spike, since Lady Sparkle did invest you with authority over the household in her absence I shall comply.”
“The dog...” Wallflower whispered, following Sunset and the other girls inside into the massive front foyer of the manor.
Everyone except Robert was staring up the wide set of stairs that led to the manor’s second floor, for climbing down the stairs wasn’t Spike, but rather a metal monstrosity out of someone’s science fiction nightmare. The metallic canine robot was easily six feet tall at the shoulder, and twice the length, made of gleaming plates of silver Quincy metal. It was made of multiple segments giving it’s limbs and body a flowing sinuousness that looked more organic than robotic, although one would never mistake it for a biological creature due to the glowing conduits of blue and black that ran beneath and between the metal plates like synthetic muscle. The beast had claws noticeably large enough to count as butcher’s knives, although those paled in comparison to a mouth on a tapered, wolfish face of metal that had teeth segmented like chainsaw blades. Then there was the tail, like a long line of metal segments that ended not in a point, but in an actual smooth bore gun barrel. The head of the mech had bright green eyes, and solid, pointed ears that flexed like radar antennas.
As the big mecha wolf stomped down the stairs and sat on its haunches in front of the girls, a segment of metal plates on the back opened up and a hatch rose upwards along with a whole internal cockpit section. Strapped into a comfortable harness and wearing some manner of neural headband around his grinning face, Spike waved a canine paw at the girls.
“Sup! You gals like my new ride?”
Silence reigned for a second. Sunset looked at Wallflower with worry. Once catching Sunset’s look, Wallflower’s gray features blushed rose.
“I’m not going to faint again,” she said, and Sunset nodded.
“Okay I’m stuck between wanting to make a Metal Gear reference, or a Zoids reference,” Rainbow Dash said, “Spike, help me out here, what is this unbelievably awesome piece of mecha badassery I’m looking at!?”
Spike, practically glowing with self satisfaction, patted the metallic head of the robot and said, “I’d say this puppy has got more Zoids in them than anything else, but I have to practically beg to get Twilight to watch that stuff with me, so not sure if it was on her brain when she built it. But hey, not complaining with results! Still workshopping the name, but for now Twilight’s calling it the ‘Gunwolf’.”
Rainbow Dash scratched her chin, looking the robot up and down, “I’d say you should punch it up with a little more oomf, like Gunwolf X or Gunwolf Alpha, or give it your personal stamp with Spikewolf Alpha X!”
Spike looked at Rainbow with clear appreciation and admiration, “Why the heck aren’t we hanging out more?”
“Agreed, let’s fix that immediately. Anime night next weekend?”
“If the world hasn’t ended by then, yes!”
Applejack chuckled dryly at the pair and walked up to the mecha, giving it an experimental tap with her knuckles, “Looks mighty fancy, an’ just the kind o’ thing I figure Twilight would cook up. This all Quincy tech?”
Like a proud father showing off a child, Spike lovingly patted the Gunwolf’s neck and said, “Partially, but a lot of it is also Twilight’s own homebrew combo of Quincy technology and magic. She’s got it running on those M-Cells she refined at Everfree. I mean, I don’t actually get how it all works, but she told me it's like a hybrid between a spirit particle construct and a physical whatever.”
“A physical whatever?” Sunset said, raising an eyebrow, and Spike shrugged.
“Twilight’s the genius, I’m just the charmer. Basically she told me the Gunwolf exists as both a spiritual thingy and a physical thingy, and I can blow up both with it. Hollows? Boom! Jerks who aren’t Hollows? Also boom. Oh! And check this out!”
He tapped a small silver pin that Sunset just now noticed was attached to his dog collar, a pin in the shape of a silver wolf. In just an instant there was a blue flash of light, and suddenly the massive Gunwolf mech vanished in a swirl of blue reishi particles and Spike now stood with his dog tail wagging proudly as he rubbed the pin with a paw, “Instant access or storage, just like a Quincy’s bow.”
“That’s slick,” said Sunset, somewhat flabbergasted by just how much Twilight was capable of. Sure, she was here to try and work on figuring out the magic stone herself, but if Sunset didn’t delude herself into thinking she had the same span of innate talent for this kind of thing that Twilight had.
“How’s it handle in a fight?” asked Rainbow Dash, “You tested it out yet?”
“Shining Armor came by to help with that, actually,” Spike said, “He was here with me all morning running me and the Gunwolf through the paces. I think I did pretty well, too! I mean, he says I did.”
“Considering he’s a Sternritter, if you impressed him then I’d say any Hollow that decides to screw with you is in for a real nasty surprise,” said Sunset, and Spike gave her a very wolfish grin.
“Or any jerk assassins that try to come after Twilight again,” Spike said with a fairly shocking amount of menace for a such a cute dog, reminding Sunset clearly that this Spike was just as fiercely loyal as his Equestrian counterpart to his Twilight. She didn’t doubt if anyone did try to go after Twilight again, it wasn’t going to be a pleasant time for them.
“So, you said Twilight’s brother is here?”
Spike nodded, “Yeah, he’s around. So’s Cadence, but she showed up, like, I dunno, only a couple hours ago. Not sure where they are right now. Probably doing lovey-dovey stuff. So you guys said you were here to check out the new girl’s freaky magic rock?”
Wallflower’s eyebrow twitched a little, and Sunset cleared her throat and nodded, “Yes, if that’s alright.”
“Don’t see why it wouldn’t be,” Spike said, gesturing with a paw for them to follow him as he turned and started to lead them upstairs, “Follow me, I’ll take you to the lab Twilight put it in. I’m sure she wouldn’t mind you poking at it, long as it’s you girls.”
“Thanks Spike, you’re the best.”
“Man do I not hear that enough,” he replied with a little chuckle, and the girls followed him up the stairs, leaving behind a somewhat disgruntled looking Robert who sighed, shook his head, muttered something about ‘magical tomfoolery’.
After a few minutes of being led through the now somewhat familiar and seemingly endless hallways of the Sparkle manor, Spike managed to bring them to a big sturdy wooden door with a hefty electronic lock on it that he opened by an eye scanner. As the scanner sent a glowing beam into his eye, a cold, computerized female voice said, “Scan complete; retina and spiritual pattern confirmed. Welcome, Spike.”
The inside of the lab was precisely as Sunset imagined it would be. Even a room about the size of a two tennis courts couldn’t contain the amount of lab equipment and materials someone like Twilight kept in what was essentially her personal playground. The walls and floor were all polished steel, and were strewn with tables of varying sizes and shapes, each bearing different experiments and scientific equipment, all packed to such a degree that the girls practically had to move around single file to get by. All of it was well lit, and Sunset had a clear view from one end to the other. Some of what she saw looked familiar, like a set of tables on the middle left section that had fragments of Hollow masks and similar pieces floating in test tubes or under glass scanners. Other things looked more related to Soul Reapers, including what looked to be a broken Zanpaktou held in some kind of zero gravity field. Where had Twilight gotten that, Sunset wondered?
“What’d ya’ll think Twilight’s cookin’ up with studyin’ Hollow parts an’ busted Zanpaktou?” Applejack asked, and Spike waved a paw at her in a relaxed fashion.
“Chill, Applejack. She’s trying to figure out the way Zanpaktou purifies Hollows, and the spiritual makeup of both, so she can then work on understanding what Quincy powers do to Hollows. She’s got this whole theory that Quincy doesn't destroy Hollow souls, but has a totally different effect, just one nobody knows about or understands yet.”
“She did seem interested in that back during the confrontation with the Zero Division at the summit,” Sunset said, “I hope she finds something. It’d certainly help smooth things over between the factions if she can prove Quincy doesn't wipe out Hollows.”
Heading towards the middle of the room, she noticed a huge scaffolding on the far right side where numerous robotic arms were mounted, and saw a number of rather dangerous looking modern weaponry set up on racks. Alongside that were spare parts that were clearly for the Gunwolf, so Sunset guessed this was the mech’s maintenance area, and presumed the weapons she saw were either prototypes or backups.
Her attention was then drawn away from that to a circular table in the middle of the room, one that had a similar circular platform descending from the ceiling so that between the two a bubble field of reishi and magic was projected to contain what now floated inside the bubble. The unusual magic stone that Wallflower had held was now there, lightly bathed in blue light. As the girls and Spike surrounded the table to look at it, Spike scratched his head with a hind leg and yawned, “You know, not sure why you’re so interested in this thing. Twilight’s poked at it, but it sounds pretty boring to me.”
“Did she learn anything about it, specifically?” Sunset asked, “Be nice to have a baseline to work with before I start fiddling with it myself.”
“That laptop over there has her notes on it, plus controls for the analyzer here,” Spike said, curling up on a nice plush, purple dog bed with his name printed on it, clearly set up right next to where Twilight would sit and work, “I’ll just nap here while you girls do your thing.”
With an exchange of looks, Sunset and the others gathered around the laptop in question, set up on a desk near the analyzing table. Fortunately it wasn’t locked or anything, and wasn’t even in sleep mode. Sunset was able to pull up the files on the stone in short order, and began skimming the text. Twilight tended to get... wordy, so Sunset had to take a few minutes to cut to the heart of what she’d learned past all of the more longer winded jargon.
“Okay... Contains vast storage capacity akin to a near infinite hard drive’, so it can store information? A lot of it. Hmm... ‘spell matrix patterns indicate a direct interface methodology with both biological and metaphysical memory imprinting’... ugh, Twilight, why didn’t you just write, ‘it downloads memories’? Three words, way simpler.”
“Whoa, so is that why Flowers’ head is all swiss cheese?” asked Dash, and Wallflower grunted.
“Can you just please call me Wallflower?”
“What about WF?”
“...Mmmmpgh...”
“Was that a positive grunting whine or a negative grunting whine?”
Sunset sighed, “Rainbow, cut her some slack please? And yes, this is probably very connected to why Wallflower’s memories are messed up. According to Twilight’s analysis here, this stone projects some sort of ability to remove or copy, possibly even alter, memory. She isn’t sure what it’s full abilities are, only that the spells engraved on it create an interface between the stone and a target’s memory centers, both physical and spiritual. From there... well, it could theoretically do anything.”
Applejack’s face was a paler shade of orange now, her freckles standing out more starkly as she gulped, “That’s... actually mighty terrifyin’. Big old energy blasts, elemental manipulatin’, even somethin’ gross like Smooze’s disease powers I can deal with. But screwin’ with a person’s memories, the things that make ya who ya are? That ain’t pleasant stuff right there.”
Sunset frowned, her mind thinking back to their experiences with Medley, “And it’s oddly reminiscent of what one of the Zero Division can do.”
Wallflower, looking with nervous energy between them all while occasionally casting uneasy looks at the stone, said, “S-so... does that Twilight girl have anything written down about if the effects can be reversed? If it takes memories, or alters them, can it put them back to normal?”
Sunset went back to the document, skimming more, and once more grunting in slight frustration over the fact that Twilight, while thorough in her research, had zero concept of parsing things down. Twilight may have been a genius when it came to research and development, but Sunset had a knack for taking the complex and breaking it down to something straightforward. After another few minutes of reading at a fast pace, she said, “She believes it works on willpower alone, which isn’t too strange for magical items. You hold it, you will what memories you want to take or alter, the stone does the rest. She doesn’t know if that will work for restoration, since the spells engraved are designed just for the interface itself. Anything after that is kind of up to the user and the ‘Memory Stone’.”
“So all I have to do is hold the stone and tell it to give me my memories back?” Wallflower asked with a pensive air, eyes locked on the stone. Sunset frowned and turned from the laptop, eyeing the artifact as well.
“That might work, or it could react in any number of ways we can’t predict. This stone is from my home world of Equestria, and there’s a lot of dangerous magic artifacts that can be unpredictable if handled by somepony, er, someone who doesn’t know precisely what they’re doing. The fact that you’ve had this stone for what sounds like a long time, using it’s powers without understanding it fully... Wallflower, there’s no telling just how many of your memoires and that of other peoples’ are in there right now. Not to mention what memories it might contain from it’s time in Equestria.”
“So you’re saying there’s nothing we can do to... fix me?” Wallflower said, crestfallen, and Sunset gave her a small, hopeful smile.
“I didn’t say that. Just laying out the risks. Twilight’s data here does suggest to me that any memories you’re missing are very likely inside that Memory Stone. And if it has a mechanism for extracting memories, there’s probably a method for restoring them. If we try anything, I just want it to be under as controlled a situation as possible. Hey Spike, I’m betting Twilight’s got a spot for conducting risky experiments, right?”
The dog lifted his head with a yawn and winked, “Geez, like you gotta ask. She’s done a lot of expanding since getting a blank check from big ol’ Quincy King Edgy McBrood, so if you want a safe spot to use, just take the elevator in the back over there and it’ll lead you down to the testing chambers. That’s where Shining Armor helped me test out the Gunwolf, too.”
“Ya sure this is a good idea, Sunset?” asked Applejack.
Sunset shook her head with a pensive shrug, “No, but we’re not going to get much done just staring at the thing. From what I’ve read here, Twilight’s already run about every test I would’ve done myself, so there’s not much more I could try doing that she hasn’t. If we’re going to learn more, we’ll have to try using it. I can volunteer myself to test it out first, to try and make sure its safe-ish before Wallflower gives it a go.”
“Relax AJ,” Rainbow Dash said, patting her farmgirl pal on the shoulder, “If something goes wrong, you and me will be here to deal with it.”
“How? By punching it?” Applejack said, sounding unconvinced, “Monsters are one thing, but if this thing zaps our brains, not even sure havin’ superpowers is gonna help much.”
Sunset considered the matter. Normally she’d have preferred to wait until Twilight was around to at least help out with conducting safety precautions. She would have really liked to have been able to consult the Twilight in Equestria, or any of the other Princesses to get their take on this. Heck, Princess Celestia or Luna might actually know what the Memory Stone was, given how old they were. But the journal was a no-go, and the Twilight on this end was in Hueco Mundo, with no certain timeframe of when she’d be back from trying to rescue Fleur de Lis.
And Sunset had a nagging feeling, deep in her bones, that the clock was ticking. Zero Division, this new threat of Jormungandr, Starlight Glimmer... everything felt like it was ticking to some kind of explosively messy convergence and that Sunset and her friends just didn’t have any time left to sit on their laurels and take things easy. Even spending time to train with her Zanpaktou felt like a luxury she might not have, despite her potent desire to get in there and take Hokori no Hikari and herself to the next level.
Wallflower, whoever she truly was, whatever reason she’d suddenly dropped into Sunset’s life, was clearly a victim of extraordinary circumstances that were also somehow connected to everything that was happening. Could they afford to wait around when answers might be sitting right there in this Memory Stone, quite possibly just one touch away from revelation?
Still, this wasn’t entirely her choice, and the risk wasn’t hers alone to take. Eying Wallflower, she said, “I’m not going to lie to you, Applejack has a really good point. This could go sideways fast. With magic, that’s just how it is. I can’t give you any guarantee this is going to help you, or that it might not make things worse if something goes wrong. That said, I if you want to take the risk-”
“I do.”
Wallflower’s voice held a not of uncharacteristic determination. Her body trembled a little as she held her fists clenched at her sides, like a shuddering green leaf, fragile and small, yet exceedingly vivid. “I don’t know what’s going to happen. I don’t even... know if I’m who I thought I was. But I can’t just turn away from this. Whatever the truth is, I want to know it, even if it means something... bad. B-besides, it sounds like knowing might help you all, too, right?”
Applejack was still frowning, but she adjusted her stetson and sighed, “Well, if ya got any kernels o’ truth ‘bout what’s up with them Dragons what’re after ya, it’d be help ta know it. Still don’t like this idea much, but if yer resolved ta take the risk, I ain’t gonna stop ya.”
“Alright, let’s do this!” Rainbow Dash said, giving Wallflower a playful punch on the shoulder that left the much slighter girl wincing and rubbing the spot. “Heheh, sorry, you don’t bruise easy, right?”
After Sunset grabbed the Memory Stone, Spike led them to an elevator, a cylindrically shaped one built into one far corner of the main lab. It was a cozy ride down to what Sunset estimated to be only about twenty feet down below the manor, then felt the elevator shift into... horizontal movement?
“Heh, Twilight built the testing area not directly beneath the mansion, but out into the fields behind the place,” Spike said, and Sunset nodded.
“Right, I remember there’s a huge back lawn that may as well be half a dozen football fields. Guess that’s a safer area to build under for potentially dangerous experiments.”
“Yup, and the chambers have emergency exits up to the yard, so not like we’re trapped underground,” Spike said, and soon afterward the elevator stopped its horizontal motion with a soft ‘ding’ and the doors opened.
What lay outside the doors was what looked like a big, dome shaped arena, with a reinforced steel floor and massive support struts going up the now thirty foot high ceiling. Sunset estimated the elevator, while moving sideways, also must have curved down a little, probably putting them about fifty feet underground. Nothing she couldn’t easily punch through, if needed. Lights flipped on as they entered, and along the floor about twenty feet from the elevator doors a panel opened and a platform rose up with a computer terminal on it.
“You can set up various parameters for testing from there,” Spike said, “Force fields, gravity controls, drone deployment, all sorts of stuff.”
Sunset looked at the Memory Stone in her hand, “Not sure we’ll need any of that, but good to know it’s there. Alright Wallflower, let’s head to the center of the chamber and see what we can do with this. Applejack, Rainbow Dash, stick nearby, but don’t get too close. If something goes haywire, I don’t want either of you getting caught in it.”
“Got it.”
“I hear ya.”
The speedster and farmgirl took up lookout positions near the computer terminal with Spike, while Sunset and Wallflower walked out to the middle of the wide chamber, which easily spanned a couple hundred yards of diameter. Sunset smiled slightly, wondering if Twilight was inspired a little by Discord’s training area under the shop. At least she hadn’t gone quite that crazy on the size and wards, although Sunset’s spiritual senses detected the presence of faint wards, and even her magical intuition told her Twilight had infused some magic in the chamber, probably from more magic-tech devices.
Once in the center of the chamber, she turned to face Wallflower, “Alright, want me to try testing it out first before you do?”
Wallflower visibly gulped, “I-if you think it’ll help? What do you plan to try, exactly?”
“Well, we want to work out if this thing can give memories back, right? So I’m thinking what I’ll try to do is see if I can extract a trivial memory out of my head, then try to put it right back. If it fails, well, it’ll be a memory I don’t need, so no big loss, but if it works, then we know it should work for you, too.”
The other girl gave a slow nod, looking a bit more confident, if perhaps only because Sunset was speaking with such calm herself. “Makes sense to me. Do you need me to show you how to work it? I still remember that much.”
Sunset shook her head, “Nah, I think I got the idea. Magic artifacts might be unpredictable, but a common trait a lot of them have is that, for better or worse, they tend to be very easy to use.”
She could already feel the magic humming inside the Memory Stone, as if it sensed it was in the hands of someone from its original world. While she hadn’t been in the form of a unicorn for a very long time, she still remembered the sensations of magic as clearly as if she was still sitting in class at Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. While she might not have had a horn to use, she had a similar means of focusing the energies inside herself, her body having no long since grown use to her spiritual powers, which were all infused with some of her magic in the first place. So it was almost as natural as breathing for her to will the magic within the stone to rise up to her will.
Sunset focused on a basic memory of what she ate for breakfast that morning, and willed the stone to take that memory. In a moment, a thin beam of lime green light rose from the stone in a swirl and attached itself almost like a fishing line to Sunset’s head. Then, like a fishing pole reeling in a catch, it pulled forth a strand of light that had the faintest imagery imprinted on its surface of Sunset eating breakfast that morning, consisting of a quick bit of toast and scrambled eggs, along with a glass of milk. She felt the memory go, able to recall everything before and after that breakfast, but the memory itself was just absent now from her mind as it got sucked into the stone.
It all took a mere second to do, and Wallflower gulped as she watched, “Do you feel okay?”
“Yeah, little light headed, but didn’t hurt or anything,” Sunset said, turning the Memory Stone over in her hand, pursing her lips, “Right, step one done. Now let’s see if I can get this thing to spit the memory back out.”
This took longer. Perhaps because she didn’t actually remember the memory she was trying to extract, she had to focus much harder and visualize the empty space in her mind, and her desire to have that space filled in once more. The Memory Stone quivered in her palm, glowing green, but after a minute of coaxing that same strand of imagery of her breakfast emerged like a timid mouse, and slowly slipped back into her head. She felt a bit of a mental kick as the memory reasserted itself, but after a moment she felt normal again.
From across the chamber, Rainbow Dash yelled, “You didn’t lobotomize yourself, did you Sunset? And if you did, can I have your video game collection?”
Sunset grinned ruefully at her friend, “Not even if I was six feet under, Dash. I want that stuff buried with me!”
She heard Dash laugh as she took a deep breath and held the Memory Stone towards Wallflower, “Guess we can call that a successful test. It clearly has the means to give memories back, as long as you can focus enough on what you want returned.”
Wallflower gave the stone an uncertain look, reaching for it slowly, then pulling her hand back with a worried look, “I don’t even know for sure what I need to remember. There feels like there’s so much missing. So many jumbled, uncertain memories that feel stitched together or half there.”
Sunset nodded slowly, “We can call this off, if you want.”
The other girl shook her head with a shuddering breath, reaching out once more to take the Memory Stone, “No. No I have to do this. I think I... just need to focus on the one thing I want to remember most right now. My mother. The woman I think was my mother, or at least she took care of me. She... had red hair, kind of like yours. She reminds me of you, Sunset. I feel like I know you, before I ever knew you.”
That got Sunset tilting her head, her mind briefly racing towards what little she knew about her human self in this world. If Wallflower had been hanging around, hidden in the city, surviving with swiss-cheese memories for years... could this really be connected to the girl who now called herself Fenice?
“Alright, go for it. Just take it slow, and know we’re all keeping an eye on you. First sign of trouble, I’ll take the stone and try to stop it, okay?”
Wallflower nodded, clasping the Memory Stone between her two hands, “Okay. Here I go...”
For a long minute or two nothing seemed to be happening. Wallflower just stood there, eyes closed tight, face pinched in concentration as she held the stone in front of her light she was praying to it. Sunset’s senses could feel the quiver of magic from the Memory Stone, at first feeling normal as when she’d used it. But then, in a sudden surge, she felt a burst of magic rise from the stone in such a sharp tidal wave it was almost enough to knock her off her feet. Green light roiled out from the stone in a radiant wave, drenching all in green. Wallflower gasped, her eyes shooting wide as the stone seemed to keep itself rooted to her hands as she was lifted into the air.
“Crap! Going to file this under one of my less brilliant ideas,” Sunset said as she flew up and grabbed Wallflower, trying to pry the Memory Stone away from her. She was more than strong enough, even without transforming into her Soul Reaper state, to get the Memory Stone free and hurl it away. She and Wallflower fell to the ground, Sunset shielding the girl with her body as they hit.
However, even as the both sat up, the Memory Stone was still glowing with that incredibly intense green light, and flew up into the air. Sunset felt magic torrenting out of the thing, far more than there should have been inside it according to Twilight’s analysis. Even weirder, this magic wasn’t just the stone’s, but something else, something that felt denser than normal magic. Sunset looked, and her eyes widened as she saw what looked like a symbol of a chain appearing in front of the Memory Stone for a moment before the symbol shattered like glass.
Then light, both green and white, shot out in a beam right towards Wallflower. Sunset grasped her Soul Reaper badge and transformed in an instant, whipping out her Zanpaktou and getting in the beam’s path. However this wasn’t an attack, it was an almost living surge of raw magic along with floods of memory strands, all of which flowed around Sunset like she wasn’t even there and shot at the speed of light towards Wallflower.
Sunset and Rainbow Dash both moved, equaling that speed of light, although Rainbow Dash was the faster between the pair, having exploded into her Fullbring state in a burst of lightning. Sunset saw Rainbow Dash coming, and pushed Wallflower towards the faster speedster, who grabbed the completely frozen girl in mid-air. Extended her reiatsu protectively around Wallflower to keep the light speed motion from pasting her, Rainbow Dash started to dart for the nearest emergency exit.
However the wave of magic and memories chased her, moving faster and faster, no bound even by the constraints of light itself.
Rainbow Dash hit the door to the emergency exit, not even slowed down by the thick metal, tearing through it like it was paper and flying up the stairs towards the surface. Sunset Shimmer followed, Applejack and Spike close behind. While Applejack and Spike weren’t light-speed fast, they’d both changed, Applejack entering her Fullbring and Spike mounting his mech with a touch of his silver wolf-head pin. The Gunwolf was certainly quick with its thrusters, far faster than anything of normal science and steel due to Quincy alchemy, technology, and Twilight’s magic-tech blend. As a result he kept easy pace with Applejack as they followed Sunset and Rainbow Dash up the long flight of emergency stairs where a hatch opened up into the wide back yard area near a forested set of short hills well out back of the Sparkle family estate.
And once up there it was clear to see the magic and memories, all spiraling together in a beam that didn’t get slowed by mere dirt and earth, flew faster than even Rainbow Dash’s insane speed could manage and had caught Wallflower in mid-air, just a hundred or so feet off the ground.
Rainbow Dash was holding on to the girl, trying to pull her out of the beam as the relentless tide of magic and memories surrounded and then entered Wallflower in a blazing rush. The girls eyes glowed, her mouth gaping open in a soundless scream. Magic crackled over her body and as Sunset and the others watched, she began to change.
Her body began to grow in size, her limbs gaining muscle mass rapidly, her hair lengthening and turning an even darker shade of green that then gained streaks of black, yet with snowy white tips. Her body remained human, but her facial features grew more nobly angled, less pudgy and more sculpted with a prominent brow and strong chin. Her human clothes were shredded but in their place appeared a gorgeous woolen dress of black cloth and gold trim that covered her body all the way down past her knees, which then became clad in leather wrapped sandals. A headband of ivy appeared in her hair, interspersed with golden pins shaped like skulls.
By the time she was done growing, Wallflower had become close to fifteen feet tall, and as her body settled to the ground, she wobbled for a moment before her shining white eyes stopped glowing and now blinked with confusion... then rage.
“ᚹᚺᛖᚱᛖ ᚨᛗ ᛁ? ᛁᛋ ᛏᚺᛁᛋ ᛗᛁᛞᚷᚨᚱᛞ?”
The words that came out of her mouth were of a language Sunset Shimmer had never heard, but it was clear Wallflower was speaking in anger, no recognition in her eyes as she looked at her and her friends. Wallflower stumbled slightly, and held her head with a groan, then glared at them, her voice getting louder as a crackle of dark energy gathered in her fist.
“ᚨᚾᛋᚹᛖᚱ ᛗᛖ, ᛗᛟᚱᛏᚨᛚᛋ! ᚹᚺᚤ ᚨᛗ ᛁ ᚨᚹᚨᚴᛖᚾᛖᛞ ᛁᚾ ᛗᛁᛞᚷᚨᚱᛞ!? ᚹᚺᛖᚱᛖ ᛁᛋ ᚷᛚᛟᚱᚤ!?”
Spike from inside the Gunwolf said, “I have no idea what she’s saying, but she sounds kinda ticked off.”
Sunset noticed that the grass around Wallflower’s feet started to turn brown and decay, as if she was sucking the life force right out of them to further empower the energy gathering in her hand. Wallflower twitched her fist, and sent the power in it out in a swift burst of black, lancing force that was aimed right at Sunset. Fortunately her reflexes were more than quick enough to get her shield in place, Hikari gleaming white with power as the shield blocked the lance of black energy. Although the impact wasn’t too severe, at least compared to what Sunset was used to dealing with at this point, she felt a hint of fatigue, as if some of her life energy had been somehow absorbed by the blow. Indeed the lance of dark energy had left a trail of dead grass in its wake.
Wallflower’s face contorted in surprise, as if she was genuinely shocked to see Sunset actually withstand the attack.
“ᚹᚺᚨᛏ ᛈᛟᚹᛖᚱ ᛁᛋ ᛏᚺᛁᛋ ᛁ ᛋᛖᚾᛋᛖ? ᛗᛟᚱᛏᚨᛚᛋ ᚺᚨᚡᛖ ᚾᛖᚡᛖᚱ ᛒᛖᛖᚾ ᚨᛒᛚᛖ ᛏᛟ ᚹᛁᛏᚺᛋᛏᚨᚾᛞ ᚨ ᛒᛚᛟᚹ ᚠᚱᛟᛗ ᚨ ᚷᛟᛞ ᛒᛖᚠᛟᚱᛖ!”
Applejack and Rainbow Dash glanced at each other and nodded, “She might’ve gotten big, but she ain’t no Tirek. We’d better get her nice n’ hogtied ‘till Twilight gets back and can help us fix whatever just went wrong.”
Applejack blasted towards Wallflower, not bothering to use her drill lance and instead grabbing Wallflower’s left arm and bending it behind the giant girl’s back. Rainbow Dash followed right behind her, lighting coursing over her body as she zipped to Wallflower’s other arm and grabbed it. Wallflower’s eyes flashed with indignant anger, voice shouting with an almost echoing boom.
“ᚷᛖᛏ ᚤᛟᚢᚱ ᚺᚨᚾᛞᛋ ᛟᚠᚠ ᛟᚠ ᛗᛖ, ᚤᛟᚢ ᚲᚱᛖᛏᛁᚾᛋ! ᛁ ᚨᛗ ᛏᚺᛖ ᛞᚨᚢᚷᚺᛏᛖᚱ ᛟᚠ ᛚᛟᚴᛁ! ᛁ ᚨᛗ ᚺᛖᛚ!”
Sunset grimaced as her friends kept hold of Wallflower, “Be careful, guys! She might not be that powerful, but she’s draining lifeforce!”
Also, amid that last string of unknown language, Sunset’s keen hearing picked up on two of the words that sounded somewhat familiar. ‘Loki’ and ‘Hel’. Norse deities. Norse deities that Sunset knew now after her experiences with the Zero Division had been very real and once walked the Earth.
Applejack and Rainbow Dash weren’t having trouble holding the thrashing Wallflower, despite how much the now fifteen foot tall girls muscles bulged, but what did start to happen was that snaking tendrils of dark energy began to flow down Wallflowers arms and as they touched where Applejack and Rainbow Dash’s hands gripped her, the black energy seeped into them and immediately caused both girls to gasp and grunt in pain.
“Oh heck no!” Rainbow Dash said, vanishing and appearing a good twenty yards back, shaking her hands to get the black tendrils of energy off of her as she pushed her reiatsu out to zap them with electricity, “Ugh, that felt like having the most oily of oil slicks touching my hand!”
Applejack held on a bit longer out of sheer stubbornness, but had to leap back as well as the tendrils of necrotic energy seeped into her golden armor. She glared at Wallflower, “Well that’s a nasty trick. Maybe we ought just knock her out with one hammer blow ta the noggin’?”
Wallflower growled at them, almost like a feral creature more than a person, and leaped into the air. Wind stirred and it was as if from her feet emerged a dark cloud of smoke that she began to fly away on. Sunset grimaced, knowing that they were in a populated area and that trying to chase down a possible reawakened Norse goddess in the body of a scared, confused girl was going to be a massive pain in the butt. And that was before accounting for her apparent necromantic powers.
It wasn’t a question of overpowering Wallflower, because any of them had enough power to probably take her down. It was doing it gently enough to not hurt Wallflower that was the issue.
“Well we need to chase her and keep her from getting too far. Applejack, hold back, and Dash, try to use your lightning and weather powers to box her in and stun her. I’ll see about knocking her out.”
As she spoke, however, Spike suddenly jumped into the air, the Gunwolf stepping upon microscopic platforms of reishi in exact imitation of a Quincy Hirenkyaku technique. “Hold up, Sunset. Let me handle this. The Gunwolf has a lot of non-lethal weapon options, and this is a good chance for me to test them.”
“Spike, this isn’t a game-” Sunset began, but the dog quickly spoke again, his voice calm and sincere.
“I know. You girls follow close and step in if I don’t pull this off, but Twilight entrusted the Gunwolf to me, trusted me to look after things here while she was gone. This is partially my fault for letting this happen. Let me do this so I can put it right. I’ll capture Wallflower, I promise.”
It was a tad reckless, but she could hear the earnest desire in Spike’s voice. He wanted to help, and felt responsible for the situation escalating to this point. It would probably do him good to let him try, and she had to admit she was curious what this Gunwolf of his could do. And it wasn’t as if she, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack wouldn’t be right there to step in if he started to get in over his head. She took a deep breath, knowing she could trust Spike. Twilight’s loyal friend might not have been much of a presence in her own life, but Sunset knew a trustworthy guy when she saw one.
“Alright Spike, she’s all yours. We’ll be right behind you.”
Applejack grinned and hefted her drill lance, “Git on after her then, ya bloodhound.”
“Yeah, she’s like, already nearly to the next manor, so maybe we ought to hurry up?” Rainbow Dash said, and Spike chuckled. The Gunwolf suddenly began to glow around the edges with an intense blue aura, and the mecha’s blue mechanicals eyes flashed.
“On it! Gunwolf, entering combat mode!”
With respectable speed, the Gunwolf moved in a streak of blue motion, flying after Wallflower with high-speed leaps across the air just like a Hirenkyaku. Sunset, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack took to the air as well, following in pursuit.
----------
Timber Spruce was sweating bullets. His next move might decide everything! Trying to control his breathing, he reached with a trembling hand towards the objects that would decide his fate. Almost too afraid to watch, he rolled the dice.
“Hah! Nine!” Asena said, her wolfish features grinning at him with long fangs as she counted the spaces that Timber Spruce would have to move his piece, “You have landed upon my territory, puny mortal man! I have...” she counted briefly, “Three houses on the Place of Parks means you owe me eight hundred of your tiny colorful papers! Pay up, mortal!”
Timber groaned, forking over what little was left of his Monopoly money to the grinning she-wolf. Across from them both, Simurgh rolled her eyes and picked up the dice, rolling them without paying much attention, “You are entirely too into this children’s game, Asena.”
Both the wolf and bird from the Beast Realm had shifted into ‘human’ form, although anyone who looked at the pair closely would be able to easily tell they weren’t exactly normal. Asena’s ears remained pointed and a tad fuzzy like wolf ears, her eyes sharp and amber, her mouth still clearly bearing wolf fangs. Otherwise she also looked like a hulking, blue skinned woman who would put some female bodybuilders to shame, wearing clothing that looked like a Norse warriors fur cuirass and loincloth, which would’ve drawn stares even without the wolf features and massive, wild mane of dark gray hair. Simurgh wasn’t much better, her green skin and long, light blue hair normal enough if not for the obvious peacock feathers hanging amid her hair strands, and the similar thick feathers hanging from her arms. Her clothes were no more subtle than Asena’s, consisting of near sheer see through green and blue cloth like some exotic dancer, covered in gold and silver bangles.
They were sitting in a waiting room at Discord’s shop, Gloriosa having driven them over and gone to talk with the eccentric shop owner and leader of the Coalition. Meanwhile Timber was stick keeping the two Beast Realm guests entertained, and, well, he’s spied the Monopoly game on one of the shelves...
“Hah!” Asena laughed at Simurgh, “You are just mad that you are losing! I had no idea the realm of Midgard had such amusing entertainments! A game of ruthless territorial battle and resource acquisition! Ah, the only thing that would make this better is if there were honor duels as well, but I shall settle for annihilating my foes by taking all that is theirs and making it mine!”
“Hmph, this is a boorish game of chance and little else,” Simurgh said, then her eyes lit up as she counted her spaces and moved the tiny car piece, “Oh, I passed GO! I can collect two hundred dollars now. How exciting!”
Asena grunted, “Boorish game, hm?”
“Well, it is, but that doesn’t mean I intend to lose without a fight. Now roll the dice, you insufferable wolf.”
The door to the waiting room opened and Timber Spruce let out a sigh of relief as he saw his sister enter alongside Discord. “Oh thank God.”
Gloriosa gave him a curious look as she noted the Monopoly board and he just shrugged at her haplessly, while Discord cleared his throat and tipped his green and white striped hat at the two Beast Realm women. “Ladies, what an unexpected pleasure to host two visitors from your fascinating realm. Gaia here tells me you’ve come on some urgent business?”
Asena and Simurgh exchanged looks and both stood up as one. Bowing, Simurgh spoke first, “We require your help in finding the Daughter of the Dragon and the Daughter of the Wolf, the ones you know as Celestia and Luna, of the Gotei 13. We also must meet the chosen warriors of harmony, whom are to be gathered to face the embers of Ragnarok. The Convocation of the Clans begins, and we are to escort them to the base of Yggdrasil.”
Discord blinked, then narrowed his eyes, “Oh, is that all? I suppose Fenris and Quetzalcoatl sent you both? Looking for a family reunion with their daughters, after spending so long ignoring them?”
Asena’s eyes gleamed as she growled and Simurgh, more diplomatic, held up a hand, “The accord between Soul Society and the High Chieftains made it plain the Daughter of the Dragon and Daughter of the Wolf were to be raised among the Soul Reapers, with the understanding that when the time was right, they would bridge the gap between realms. The time has come... sooner than expected.”
A faint twitch of a grimace crossed Discord’s face, but he nodded, “If you’re looking for those two, I can get a message to Soul Society quickly. However, about those ‘warriors of harmony’, you’ll find your timing has been less than ideal. Two of them are in Hueco Mundo, three of them are off taking care of a personal matter with a newly acquired friend, and one of them... is beyond our reach at the moment.”
“What?” Asena grunted, barring her teeth, “But the Fates were consulted! The Daughters of the Dragon and Wolf are to be accompanied by the warriors of harmony!”
Discord shrugged, “Guess the ‘Fates’ are having an off day. That, or somebody didn’t understand whatever half baked drivel came out of them. Either way, you want to meet those girls, you might need to wait a bit.”
Just then, however, Gloriosa turned her head and looked back out the door, although she wasn’t looking into the hallway, but with a more distant gaze. Her expression was followed by Asena and Simurgh, who both stiffened and looked up, as if seeing something far off. Discord, for his part, frowned at the sight of the three’s reaction, then closed his eyes and focused his own senses.
Timber, gulping, was afraid even to ask.
“This energy...” Gloriosa said, “I’ve felt it before. Gaia Everfree has, at least.”
Asena and Simurgh’s eyes napped open, looking at each other with equal looks of disbelief.
“It cannot be her, can it?” Asena said, and Simurgh nodded with severity.
“We must go and see for ourselves. If we can sense it, it is possible Jormungandr will as well!”
----------
Spike could feel every aspect of the Gunwolf as if it was his own body. The neural band around his head did more than connect his mind to the magic-tech, spiritual construct. It synchronized his soul with it, much like how a Quincy was connected to their bow. All of his senses essentially extended out of the wolf-shaped mech as he moved effortlessly through the air.
It wasn’t simply a testament to Twilight’s skill and talent as an engineer, or with magic and spiritual powers that was allowing Spike to rapidly catch up with Wallflower. From the moment Twilight had finished building the Gunwolf, Spike had hardly slept, spending every waking moment training with it. That was partially why he’d started taking a nap the moment he’d let Sunset and the girls into the lab. He was literally dog tired, doing almost nothing but eat in between training sessions.
When Shining Armor had arrived he’d all but begged Twilight’s brother to help train him. Briefly he wondered if either Shining Armor or Cadence had sensed what was going on. Probably, but things were happening so fast that the pair probably were still trying to figure out just where the trouble was located.
Good, because Spike wanted to do this on his own. Maybe it was foolish, but ever since Twilight had been attacked by that assassin, he’d been feeling an ever growing urge to find some way to be of help to her and the other girls. Usually he was pretty content to just provide Twilight with emotional support, knowing how much his precious friend needed to feel like someone cared about her. She’d been a bit of a mess before meeting Sunset Shimmer and the others, and Spike was always going to be grateful for the chance those girls gave Twilight to make worthwhile friends.
But he had a lingering feeling in the back of his mind that made him wonder, now that Twilight had friends, including a building professional relationship with her pals from Crystal Prep, and fellow Quincy, how much did she really need him anymore? She’d left him charge while she was gone to Hueco Mundo, sure... but she hadn’t taken him along.
He understood why, obviously. She didn’t want him getting hurt. Even building the Gunwolf, she probably thought it was far too early for him to be tossed into danger with it.
Well, too late for that now! He was going to do this!
He could sense Sunset Shimmer, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack keeping pace behind him and he was grateful the trio were willing to let him take the lead. Sunset probably understood what he was feeling. Up ahead he could easily keep track of Wallflower, his vision able to zoom in on her as if in slow motion. She was sailing through the air on that cloud of dark gray smoke, and he saw her look back at him with wide, angry eyes.
She raised a palm towards him, dark necrotic energy coiling around her fist. She flung several lances of the deadly power at Spike, and he and the Gunwolf moved as one, leaping to the left and right as he kicked off the air in swift bursts. In terms of speed and agility he was able to readily match her, and he rushed ahead faster, feeling energy course through him as the Gunwolf drew upon his spirit and the potent power reserves from the M-Cells inside its core.
The Gunwolf was aptly named, sporting quite a few more weapons than were obvious at a glance. With a thought he called up a list of weapons like a drop-down list in a video game, and selected the missile pods equipped with non-lethal stun ordinance. On the flanks of the Gunwolf, blue reishi flashed and formed into a pair of box shaped missile mounts, which opened and revealed dozens of small, hex-shaped missiles that fired out in a swift swarm.
Wallflower looked shocked as the wave of small missiles moved with shocking speed and flew at her, each one crackling with stunning, electrical energy. She growled and spread her arms wide, taking the coils of black energy around her arms and forming it into a half dome shield in front of her. As the missiles passed through they weren’t stopped so much as their metal and energies were corroded, as if the necrotic power of the shield was leeching the reishi of its vital force. Most of them fell inert as they passed through the shield, but a few had managed to fly around it and came at Wallflower form the sides. Impacting her in spherical bursts of electrical power.
“ᚨᚱᚷᚺ! ᛋᚢᚲᚺ ᛋᛏᚱᚨᚾᚷᛖ ᚨᛚᚲᚺᛖᛗᚤ ᚤᛟᚢ ᚹᛁᛖᛚᛞ, ᛗᛖᛏᚨᛚ ᚹᛟᛚᚠ!”
Wallflower grunted in pain from the blows but didn’t fall, dropping her barrier and throwing both hands forward to try and strike Spike and the Gunwolf with a wider, wave-like beam of combined necrotic power from her palms. He flew up to evade it, leaping high into the air and then angling himself to come down at her in a rush. Switching weapons, the missile pods vanished, and in the Gunwolf’s metal jaws a flash of reishi formed into the shape of a big, double-sided blade, one edge extending from either side of the jaw. The blade was in non-lethal mode, it’s edge blunted rather than razor sharp, and crackling with more electricity to stun. In lethal mode it could vibrate at insanely high frequency, cutting reishi particles with ease, but Spike figured they wanted Wallflower alive and intact, instead of diced to pieces.
He flew at her, swinging his head and hence the electrified stun blade in his mouth.
She crossed her arms to block, and he impacted with her at full speed, breaking the sound barrier as he launched her body towards the ground. Down below was one of the long, snaking streets between manors in this rich residential area, and Wallflower hit the street hard enough to not only crack through the pavement and crater into it, but to upend several nearby luxury cards parked along the sidewalk.
Spike winced a little as car alarms started going off, “Whoops. Here’s hoping nobody notices?”
As Wallflower got up from the middle of the crater her impact had made, Spike landed the Gunwolf on the sidewalk, and raised the tail of the mech and aimed the barrel of the gun at the tip of it at her. This, too, was a versatile weapon, with multiple firing modes. As with the other weapons he’d used thus far, this one was currently set for non-lethal force, charging up a gleaming blue bolt of power meant to fry and frazzle the synapse and senses of even a tough spirit entity like an Arrancar.
He fired a continuous blue stream of stunning light firing from the gun tail. Wallflower reached down into the ground and hauled up a slab of concrete, a piece of the street as large as a van that she used to block the stream of energy. Normally he could easily punch through that just but cranking up the energy output, but that would turn the beam distinctly lethal, so he avoided that. This gave Wallflower time to gather her strength and she hurled the huge slab of broken street at Spike!
“Whoa!” He wasn’t too worried, as something like that wouldn’t do any real damage to the Gunwolf, but it was still surprising and he slashed with the mech’s front claws on reflex. This diced the slab of street and rock to pieces, but Spike was surprised to find Wallflower barreling at him right behind it!
She tackled him, her big fifteen foot frame trying to push the Gunwolf over. However Spike wasn’t so easily pushed around within the heart of his mech, and he ground his hind claws into the street, only sliding back a few feet before stopping Wallflower. He then hooked his arms under hers and turned the tables, flipping her over and body slamming her to the sidewalk with a loud impact.
The air was knocked out of her lungs, and as she was momentarily stunned, Spike got on top of her, metal paws pressed down on her shoulders to keep her arms pinned as he leaned over her.
“Seriously, lady, give it a rest!” he growled, feeling his hackles rise despite the fact that he wasn’t really trying to hurt her, “Don’t know what’s happened to you, but we can’t fix you if you go running around all crazy like.”
“ᛚᛖᛏ ᛗᛖ ᚷᛟ! ᛁ ᚹᛟᚾ'ᛏ ᚷᛟ ᛒᚨᚲᚴ! ᛁ ᚹᛟᚾ'ᛏ!”
Wallflower shook her head and struggled under him, and Spike felt a rising instinct deep in his chest that made him growl even lower. The Gunwolf’s claws pressed into Wallflower, not quite drawing blood, but getting close. He couldn’t see himself, but his eyes had grown alight with a feral quality, a line of amber rimming his otherwise green eyes.
“Spike, whoa, ease up dude!” Rainbow Dash said, as she, Applejack, and Sunset landed nearby. “We’re trying to catch her, not make her piss herself.”
Spike didn’t realize just how loudly he was growling, a sound that somehow didn’t even feel natural coming from his throat. His heart was pounding fast, blood surging in his ears, and for a moment he wasn’t even sure where he was until he finally came back to himself. He didn’t get off Wallflower, but he did lessen the intensity of the Gunwolf’s bleedingly sharp claws on her.
“I, uh... yeah.”
For her part, Wallflower was no longer struggling under him. Instead her eyes were looking at the Gunwolf with confusion, shock, and... recognition? She spoke again, and while it was the same language, the word itself was recognizable, and spoken with the voice of someone seeing a ghost.
“...ᚠᛖᚾᚱᛁᚱ?”
Fenrir.
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Welp... looks like the Memory Stone was a Relic then, or something close enough anyway.
Estimated translations for the Norse Runes for anyone interested:
At first I was worried they'd have trouble restraining 'Wallflower', since none of the others present were trained in restraining foes like many of their friends, but between her low power level and Spike coming in clutch it wasn't an issue. Hopefully Wallflower's consciousness isn't gone forever and we can get another Gaia situation instead.
Also the Monopoly bit was funny.
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This is appreciated, thanks.
Turbo lift
Spike/Gunwolf theme:
Like is that actual Norse? Or English in Norse runes?
Nice to see Sunny (still hoping for master spellcasting at some point) and Spike showing their skills
Never thought about fusing Wallflower with Hel but I love the combo, though WF might loose a bit of her face. At this rate we gonna meet Loki.
Fun fact, Hel wasn't an evil deity. More like more stoic and gloomy Hades. She took care of those that died from diseases, old age and any other non-fight or drowing (those goes to Ran) related death. Her kingdom is dreary but peaceful place, but there was a place called Náströnd where those guilty oathbreaking, adultery and murder were chewed by Níðhöggr. Youngest of Loki's children which possibly he gave birth to after eating Angrboða's heart (not the weirdest thing, the guy alsy gave birth to eight-legged horse, Sleipnir. He was used by Odin as his mount). Possibly why half-of her body is dead.
Prose Edda mentions things "great Mansions" with extremely high walls and immense gates, a hall called Éljúðnir, a dish called "Hunger," a knife called "Famine," servant Ganglati (Old Norse "lazy walker"), serving-maid Ganglöt (also "lazy walker"), the entrance threshold "Stumbling-block," the bed "Sick-bed," and the curtains "Gleaming-bale." - wiki
Add Borderlands to it. There's an enemy called Gunwolf in 3.
Calling it now, we gonna have some huge Quincy Mecha Kaiju/Evas at some point!
From what I heard, it's more of Quincy infecting souls so they would go to Yhwach instead reaincarnation circle. At least in Bleach and that might be just theory.
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English in Norse runes, I believe. There's a Converter.
Okay, I did not expect any of that, but I eagerly anticipate the next chapter! Hopefully Hel can get her memories as Wallflower knocked loose. And that we can get answers about the whole Fenrir thing.
Nice chapter
Great chapter, thanks
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If he does get power, I just hope it will put him on par with the Mane 7 instead there being a huge gap.
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Heh, funny you mentioned that. He just did get a major power boost. Enough o take on a God. Weakened one, I presume, but it's still impressive.
I was expecting Panzerhund myself.
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That is cool.
I just hope he will keep up with the Mane 7's level and not fall behind.
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Look,I get wanting Spike to be relevant and this chp did that,but I think it's unreasonable to have it so that he can keep up with the Humane Seven with how fast the latter has grown and will continue to grow(especially once they get their Elements necklaces back),on top of the amount of characters that the author already has to keep track of. It should be enough that he can actually matter in fights now,even if it probably isn't going to be on the same level as the Humane Seven.Which considering he was just talking dog before is pretty good for him.
11622718
Sadly the issue stems to how the show itself has him in their shadows alot.
I just hope he can keep up with them and be part of their bond truly.
(Hopefully something about him being a dog gets addressed too since why is he the only human world counterpart of a equestrian dragon that is stuck as a pet)
You know, even though I didn't start reading this fic yet
I decided to read this chapter anyway since I wanted to see what Spike got.
And it looked so cool with that suit. Wonder what else he will get too and such.
I see he is connected to Fenrir?
Wonder how powerful that be?
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Maybe because he's still alive? Torch's group is technically not alive. Maybe he would turn into an Arrancar (eventually at least) if infected with Hollow. Or he could learn how to turn human from Asena.
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I see
I don't know much about Bleach lore so I am confused.
I am assuming Torch's group were originally humans anyway before becoming what they are now
Would be nice to see Spike gaining human/humanoid(? Arrancar?) form to break away from the designation has a pet.
Since it seems ever other human world counterparts of dragons are not pets
11622725
I'm pretty sure the reason he's a dog was already answered in this chp by Hel/Wallflower:He's Fenrir,or at least is connected to him in some way. I don't think EQ Spike needs a human form. If he's really connected to Fenrir in some way,it's possible he can turn into a magical wolf form that can rip people's throats out,which is pretty cool if you ask me.
I think you're asking a bit much of the author to make Spike as relevant screentime wise like the Humane Seven because right now he's juggling a lot of characters. Some are going to left behind like the CMC. I think the time to give characters like Spike,the CMC,etc. screentime would be in a sequel where the Humane Seven would be taking a backseat and we get to see how the Humane Seven uniting the Big Three Spirit factions has affected everything.
11623272
He does need a human form so he's still not designated as a pet.
And also he so could do the stuff the girls got to do together in the show(and actually show up instead of "no pets allowed") than just sit there like a prop. In EQG, he really couldn't get to do(or even go with them) what fun stuff the Mane 7 got to do because he's stuck as a dog. Same with interactions outside of the group.
You know, the Fenrir bit was really cool. Though really depends on how it be handled.
Still it just a issue on how Spike is left out of the Mane 7's heroics in the show.
Its cool he can fight now here but if it ends up being he can't face big enemies(as in higher ranking) the Mane 7 fight(something only "chosen ones" can fight) then well.. uh oh..
About the sequel you mention. That sounds cool on Spike getting focus but just hope it doesn't end up being the foes he takes down/feats he does being small fry compared to what only the Mane 7 got to do.
Urm.. sorry I sound like I am making a big deal out of this.
11624996
And I disagree.I think with this chp. what Spike can potentially do is enough. He doesn't need a human form to interact other characters.the fact that he's an intelligent being capable of speech means he can have interactions with characters. And I thinking you're hoping for way too much if you think Spike's going to be on the same level as the Humane Seven. To be fair, we won't know until upcoming chps. what he can do and where he'll be power wise,but the focus of the story had always been on them and with this being a crossover with a shonen,the MCs are always going to be the most powerful.
I get Spike as a character canon wise has been underulitized,especially in EQG,but you're in the wrong story if you think Spikes going to get the same amount of screentime as that's not where the author is focusing on. Yes,you are making an unnecessarily big deal out of this,to the point where it's the only thing you talk about when you're commenting on the story. I don't think constantly mentioning it in the comments is going to get the author to change their mind on whatever they're doing.
11626606
Though the label is still a issue..
Still I just hope Spike is allowed to keep up with them.
Like he deserves to given how the show kept having him fall behind
(I am aware about that Shonen trope you mentioned, but they can be kind of subverted)
11619538
I found this website when looking to translate the runes Rune Translator
This is what I got:
ᚹᚺᛖᚱᛖ ᚨᛗ ᛁ? ᛁᛋ ᛏᚺᛁᛋ ᛗᛁᛞᚷᚨᚱᛞ? - where am i? is this midgard?
ᚨᚾᛋᚹᛖᚱ ᛗᛖ, ᛗᛟᚱᛏᚨᛚᛋ! ᚹᚺᚤ ᚨᛗ ᛁ ᚨᚹᚨᚴᛖᚾᛖᛞ ᛁᚾ ᛗᛁᛞᚷᚨᚱᛞ!? ᚹᚺᛖᚱᛖ ᛁᛋ ᚷᛚᛟᚱᚤ!? - answer me, mortals! whᚤ am i awakened in midgard!? where is glorᚤ!?
ᚹᚺᚨᛏ ᛈᛟᚹᛖᚱ ᛁᛋ ᛏᚺᛁᛋ ᛁ ᛋᛖᚾᛋᛖ? ᛗᛟᚱᛏᚨᛚᛋ ᚺᚨᚡᛖ ᚾᛖᚡᛖᚱ ᛒᛖᛖᚾ ᚨᛒᛚᛖ ᛏᛟ ᚹᛁᛏᚺᛋᛏᚨᚾᛞ ᚨ ᛒᛚᛟᚹ ᚠᚱᛟᛗ ᚨ ᚷᛟᛞ ᛒᛖᚠᛟᚱᛖ! - what power is this i sense? mortals haᚡe neᚡer been able to withstand a blow from a god before!
ᚷᛖᛏ ᚤᛟᚢᚱ ᚺᚨᚾᛞᛋ ᛟᚠᚠ ᛟᚠ ᛗᛖ, ᚤᛟᚢ ᚲᚱᛖᛏᛁᚾᛋ! ᛁ ᚨᛗ ᛏᚺᛖ ᛞᚨᚢᚷᚺᛏᛖᚱ ᛟᚠ ᛚᛟᚴᛁ! ᛁ ᚨᛗ ᚺᛖᛚ!” - “get ᚤour hands off of me, ᚤou kretins! i am the daughter of logi! i am hel!”
ᚨᚱᚷᚺ! ᛋᚢᚲᚺ ᛋᛏᚱᚨᚾᚷᛖ ᚨᛚᚲᚺᛖᛗᚤ ᚤᛟᚢ ᚹᛁᛖᛚᛞ, ᛗᛖᛏᚨᛚ ᚹᛟᛚᚠ! - argh! sukh strange alkhemᚤ ᚤou wield, metal wolf!
ᛚᛖᛏ ᛗᛖ ᚷᛟ! ᛁ ᚹᛟᚾ'ᛏ ᚷᛟ ᛒᚨᚲᚴ! ᛁ ᚹᛟᚾ'ᛏ! - let me go! i won't go back! i won't!
ᚠᛖᚾᚱᛁᚱ? - fenrir?
It doesn't translate everything exactly, but its pretty close.
11626656
Yes,but the author is clearly NOT subverting shonen tropes in this story for the most part. And for the Spike tag,I think you're gonna have to ask the author about that one. We'll see what Spike can do in the upcoming chps. as we learn more about Fenrir,Hel, and how much that boosts him. I would keep expectations in check as I don't think it'll be to the point where he can say,fight against the Zero Squad or their attendants,but it might be enough to where when the Humane Seven go to Equestria,he can meaningfully contribute to the fights there. Which I would say is pretty damn good considering where he started. Please stop bringing it up in every comment to a chp and just wait and see.
11627074
I have to agree, Dog-Spike doesn't need to be human in Midgard or whatever the place is called to contribute. (Sorry saw the conversation and wanted to throw my 2 cents in)
As for more minor characters, Vex could easily create interlude arcs focusing on such characters like the CMC. Though I hope he focuses on both the Equestrian and Midgardian minor characters.
11620374
That would explain how the Quincy are able to increase their numbers if Sombra gets their souls when they die.
In retrospect, Soul Reapers wouldn't have a peaceful time with other Death Gods. They are usually presented as very devoted to their jobs, and would definitely not like Zero Division walking into their domain and proclaiming World-wide monopoly on human Souls. And that's lot of gods: Hades, Persephone, Tanatos; Osiris, Anubis; Xolotl, Mictlantecuhtli and Mictēcacihuātl; Ereshkigal; Muisa and Kahindo; Yamraj and many more. Wouldn't be surprised if Glory wanted to get rid of them first, so they wouldn't interfere.
Huh, I wonder if Bowtie knows Izanami?
11627267
While vex could do that,this story already has a lot of MCs it's juggling so it might be better to leave the underfocused characters and give them more screentime in either a sequel story(where the EQG equivalent of the next gen Elements of Harmony wielders would show up) where we get to see the effects of the Humane Seven's efforts to unite the Big Three factions together or a sidestory that takes place during the main one.
11627074
If he is unable to keep up with the Mane 7, he's just gonna get left behind ultimately in the end(sadly like in the show).
I just hope the author at least subverts that certain trope.
I will wait and see like you said, but I just keep holding on hope
11627267
He kind of does since he's still stuck designated as a pet.
At least he can interact with them due to supernatural stuff(and the mech suit does help out), but outside of that in the normal world he's still pretty screwed.
I do wonder how far the Fenrir situation does for him though
11632379
First off all, there is no deadline so Vex can take time to plan and flesh everything out. The author does not have a schedule to follow to ensure that everything is out by a certain date. So it is unlikely that characters will be unceremoniously dropped. Especially since the Main 7 are the main characters.
Secondly, Spike doesn’t need a human form to contribute. The gunwolf and the Fenrir thread proves this. Spike is able to communicate and fight; therefore he’s contributing. Spike both the dragon and the dog are designed to be able to step back and provide support. Acting as elements of comic relief and retrospection. You need characters who can step back from the situation and see what needs to be fixed or what everyone isn’t focused on to solve the issue.
As a dog/dragon both Spikes provide that for their friend circles. Now that the beast realm arc is starting the main 7 and mlp main 6 can provide that to them because they are likely to play major roles.
11632552
Though if they can't be equals with the Mane 7/MLP mane 6(as in fighting the enemies only they can face), the two Spikes would still be playing secondfiddle to the gang.
One flaw of MLP FIM's s handling is they never let Spike be equals with the Mane 6, just stuck as "support" or blocked from their bond.
I just hope he isn't "left behind"
The mech suit really does help Sci-Spike do stuff.
But still he should get a human form to access so he doesn't have the pet label.
And also for Dragon Spike since he really got effed by the dog thing.
The Fenrir plot idea does explain why Sci-Spike is a dog(but it REALLY depends on how that is handled and treated. Though Dragon Spike is still a problem). It just really depends on
Since the pony Mane 6 sound like they are involved, I am guessing Dragon Spike was completely absent or just sidelined hard since he isn't one of the "chosen ones"?
I don't really know what is going on since I only read one chapter and didn't saw much info on Equestria's side via TV Tropes
11639125
Look Spike is Sci-Twilight's pet. That's just how it is. He doesn't need to be human to be their equal. I don't understand why your so focused on it. Let it go, not only is the idea unpopular it would cause issues for the characters that are unneeded. As Spike would be placed in the same age category as the CMC. Being a dog Spike doesn't have to deal with the same issues this would have for bringing a child into a battlefield. Which lets him help more in the long run.
As for Dragon Spike, during the arc against Charbysis, while in the Dragonlands; Dragon Spike, Ember, and Torch were attacked by Dragons from the Beast Realm. The Dragon lord scepter responded to Spike and he awakened his own "god" form through it. Becoming a giant dragon with crystal scales.
So Spike is Fenrir and Wallflower is Hel? Can't wait to see where that goes.
So the Memory Stone is a relic. Interesting, that would imply Wallflower is originaly from equestria. I wonder how she and the stone ended up on earth.