Episode 55: Nobody Expects the Starlight Exposition!
Episode 55: Nobody Expects the Starlight Exposition!
To Rarity the elevator shaft gave her the chilling sensation of descending down the throat of some cavernous beast. Only flickering yellow lamps mounted within the ceiling provided a few spots of pale light as the platform slide downward at a steep angle along the stone shaft. They had to have gone down at least forty or fifty meters, by Rarity’s estimate.
“So, not to be a downer upon the mood of valiant determination, but do we have a plan of attack for how to defeat this Starlight Glimmer character?” she asked no one in particular.
“I was thinking violence, myself.” said Pinkamena, picking at her prodigious maw of teeth, “She has a very eatable face, the kind that just begs to be bitten into like an overripe, smug peach.”
Rarity winced. “Lovely mental image, but I was hoping for something resembling more of a tactically thought out plan of action. Thus far we’ve seen her demonstrate rather impressive physical speed and strength, as well as sufficient proficiency in those Kido spells to give even Miss Doo some trouble.”
Ditzy Doo’s face was hard to read behind her cat-like Hollow mask, but her gold on black eyes were narrowed with grave resolve. “Best bet is to let me take her on while you girls support from the flanks. Let me set up openings, you take advantage of them. Meanwhile Clover can hang in the back and try to use her Zanpaktou to negate Starlight’s.”
An audible gulp escaped Clover’s throat, “Will that work? Can I use Chishiki from a distance without him getting stolen?”
Ditzy paused for a long, heavy moment. “I... don’t know. Starlight’s Zanpaktou is doing a lot more than it did when she was the previous Substitute Soul Reaper. Stealing powers, then handing them back out weren’t things she could do back then. From what I’ve seen she needs the Zanpaktou to be directed at her physically in order to steal it, but that’s just me shooting spitballs in the dark. Sorry Clover, but I can’t tell you it's not a risk, but your Zanpaktou might be our best shot at weakening Starlight enough to have a chance.”
“So no pressure then.” Clover said, pale faced.
Rarity slid over to the Soul Reaper girl and gave Clover’s shoulder a quick pat. “Try not to worry darling. If it seems that fiend is trying to take your Zanpaktou I’ll block her line of sight with my crystals.”
“I appreciate the offer Rarity, but we don’t even know if she needs line of sight to do it.” Clover said, but she did manage a twitch of a smile. “I’ll just have to deal with the risk.”
Despite her words Rarity could tell that Clover was putting on a brave face. The way the Soul Reaper’s hands clenched white knuckled around the shaft of Chishiki was more than sign enough of the girl’s fear. Lacking a Zanpaktou herself Rarity couldn’t entirely understand that fear, but she could try to imagine it. It wasn’t just about losing one’s power and becoming helpless. Zanpaktou were more like partners, even friends. To Clover there was more at stake than just losing a fancy weapon.
“Still, I can try to help minimize that risk, dear, so try not to fret too much.”
Standing near the elevator platform’s railing, Applejack was peering down the shaft and said, “Think I’m seein’ the bottom fellas. Git yer game faces on.”
“Have mine on already.” Ditzy Doo said, tapping her mask.
The elevator grinded to a steady halt at the bottom of the shaft, which opened into a wide circular room with five large metal doors evenly spaced along the wall opposite where the elevator stopped. Above each door was a steel sign mounted into the stone, with Japanese kanji etched into the metal.
“Ooooh, is this a guessing game?” asked Pinkamena, twirling the Pinkie hammer casually, “If we beat down the right one we get a squishy, killable prize?”
“Ain’t thinkin’ that’s the case, murdercube.” muttered Applejack, who then shot a questioning glance at Ditzy Doo. “Ya know this place? Where we goin’?”
“The doors lead to different branches of experimental research.” Ditzy Doo explained, pointing to each door in turn, “Spiritual Physics, Spirit Biology and Genetics, Personal Weapons Development, Soul Modification, and Large Scale Experiments. The Xcution program came out of the Soul Modification branch, in case you were wondering.”
“So how do we know which way Starlight went? We can’t afford to split up and search each branch simultaneously.” Rarity said, frowning at the large, imposing doors of steel.
Pinkamena sniffed the air, “I’m getting a odor of pretentiousness and manic obsessiveness from... this direction!” She pointed towards the door on the far right, the one that was labeled Large Scale Experiments.
“Uh, can we trust the doppelganger's random nose powers?” asked Clover dubiously.
“Her predatory instincts might be sharper than you think. I’m sensing traces of reiatsu down that way too.” said Ditzy Doo. “Can’t you girls feel it?”
Rarity closed her eyes for a second and stretched out her senses. There was a general hum of spirit energy that permeated the entire area, but there was something from nearby coming from beyond the far right door. It almost felt like...
“I think there’s several people beyond that door. More than several.” she said with surprise.
“Well let’s git goin’ then!” Applejack said, running over to the door and feeling around it. “Where’s the dang knob ta open this thing?”
“Normally you need a ward pass to get through those-” Ditzy began to explain, but Applejack just growled, pulled back her leg, and with a rocket boosted kick she smashed the huge metal door in like it was made of plaster, causing the whole thing to collapse with a metallic bang that echoed through the room.
“-...but there’s ways around that.” Ditzy finished with a smirk.
The girls went through the door, winding around the broken hunk of metal as Applejack cracked her knuckles. Moving with quiet steps Fluttershy spoke in a eerily hushed tone. “Is anyone else wondering what happened to the people who should’ve been here? Where are the research staff, or guards?”
“I’m trying to think pleasant thoughts as best I can.” replied Rarity. “But you’re right that it is distinctly unsettling that we haven’t seen another soul since we entered this place.”
“I think we’ll find out soon one way or another.” said Clover as the group continued on down a short flight of stairs that then opened into a polished hall with several thick windows spaced along the walls, accompanied by smaller steel doors. Peering through the windows Rarity could see that each showed a view of a different large chamber. Each one seemed configured with a different set of machinery, some of which looked rather advanced for the generally low level of technology that seemed to permeate most Soul Society’s aesthetics.
“What does Large Scale Experiments mean anyhows?” asked Applejack, “These rooms don’t look all that large ta me.”
“These aren’t the main chambers.” Ditzy Doo said, making casual gestures at the windows they passed by, “These are just for testing and assembling the parts for anything they’re working on in the big room. Large Scale is for anything that either needs a lot of space, or requires a metric crapton of spiritual energy.”
At the end of the hall an archway led to an open stone bridge that spanned outward into a gigantic, spacious area. Steps led down from the bridge at alternating intervals to a massive floor space about thirty feet down. If Rarity had to guess the ceiling was another good hundred feet up, meaning this chamber took up a lot of the space down that the initial elevator went. The area was well lit, giving a clear view of many of the experiments standing out in the open, left by the researchers who’d been working on them. Rarity saw a giant metal sphere suspended in a tank of green liquid big enough to hold a whale. Another area held the assembled skeleton of some massive, fifty foot tall wolf, its bones covered in wires and strange metal tubes connected to sizable tanks of a glowing blue substance. In another portion of the chamber a literal tree the size of a building was growing from a basin of strange white sand that reminded Rarity of the sands of Heuco Mundo. The tree itself bore odd fruit shaped vaguely like skulls and dripping with a viscous red sap that was disturbingly blood-like.
“I ain’t likin’ the looks o’ none of this.” said Applejack, “Just what’re all these things?”
Ditzy Doo shrugged, “Beats me. This has been Starswirl’s show for awhile now. None of these experiments were in place when Discy was in charge.”
“That tree smells like death.” Pinkamena said with a wrinkling nose. “And not the warm, fun, juicy kind, but the sour, rotting kind.”
“I’m more worried about what they’re trying to do to that poor wolf’s remains.” said Fluttershy, her eyes wide as the took in the sight of the humongous skeleton. “I never imagined such a large wolf could exist. Where did it come from?”
“The Beast Realm.” Ditzy said, her jaw tightening, “Couldn’t even stab a guess as to what they’re trying to do with them here.”
“Hitsuyo Aku hasn’t changed much since the days it did those terrible things to our mothers, has it?” Rarity said with a hardened look, her eyes scanning around carefully. Despite the bizarre and unsettling sights around her she hadn’t forgotten they’d come down here chasing a dangerous woman.
Ditzy shook her head, “No, it hasn’t. Makes me even more worried about what Starlight is after.”
Moving along at a swift pace the girls reached a portion of the chamber that was split by a thirty foot tall wall, where the bridge turned into a ramp leading up to the top of the wall, essentially creating a second chamber up top from which Rarity could see a flickering phantasm wave of green and blue light emanating. However before the ramp there was another green glow from below and the girls halted, looking over the side of the bridge.
“What n’ tarnation ‘re those things!?” Applejack exclaimed.
“Oh my, I... I think there are people inside them.” Fluttershy whispered.
Across the bottom of the wall were clusters of organic, green pods. They were plastered over the floor and wall with ropes of thick, gelatinous slime. The pods were semi-transparent, humanoid forms floating inside their veiny embrace. Rarity counted at least several dozen of the pods, all bunched together to the side of the bridge’s ramp.
“Let’s take a closer look, but stay alert.” Ditzy Doo said, leaping off the bridge and landing on the ground in front of the collection of strange pods. The rest of the girls followed suit, Rarity wrinkling her nose at an acrid, dry stench that hung in the air.
“My word these don’t smell pleasant.” Approaching one carefully she peered at the surface, then let out a small gasp. “Oh my, Ditzy Doo, I believe these are Soul Reapers trapped inside!”
Soon enough all of them could see it, that the forms cocooned inside the organic green pods were men and women dressed in Soul Reaper robes. Most looked unconscious, but a few had eyes open, albeit with dazed looks like they were in some half-awake fugue state. Clover looked at several of them with a spark of recognition blossoming in her eyes.
“I know some of these people. They’re from the Fourth Division!”
“Ya reckon this is where all them missin’ folk from the hospital ended up at?” Applejack asked as she reached out to tentatively touch one of the pods. “More importantly, ya reckon it’s safe ta try an’ tear these pods open?”
Ditzy Doo shrugged, reached out with her hands, and proceeded to rip the nearest pod clean open with her bare fingers. Green goop spilled out in a brackish wave, filling the air with even more of an acidic stench, but the Soul Reaper inside slipped right out easily enough and Ditzy Doo caught her, barely seeming to notice or care about the mess of goo getting on her.
“Seems safe.” Ditzy stated, setting the Soul Reaper down. She was a young woman with green tinted skin and a head of blue hair, save for one green streak. Her Soul Reaper robes were soaked with the green goo from the pod, but the stuff started to rapidly evaporate.
Fluttershy knelt next to Ditzy Doo, placing a hand on the Soul Reaper and her glowing third eye flashed with blue luminous power.
“She’s okay. She was injured by a stab wound to the back, but it's mostly healed already. I... think she’s waking up.” Fluttershy said as the Soul Reaper’s amber eyes flicked open.
The girl sat up with a frightful start, one hand reaching for her Zanpaktou, but Ditzy’ caught her hand firmly. “Relax, you’re okay. We’re friends.”
Rarity cleared her throat, “Miss Doo, um, you’re wearing your mask. No offense but it’s hardly the most comforting visage to wake up to.”
“Oh, right, the mask.” Ditzy huffed and pulled her mask up. The mask remained balanced on her head, almost as if it was attached magnetically, and Ditzy’s eyes remained black with yellow iris’, but her face was visible now as she grinned down at the Soul Reaper. “Yo, Sketchy, you recognize me now?”
The Soul Reaper’s fear was replaced with confusion as her head cocked to the side. “Ditzy Doo?”
“Ya two know each other?” Applejack looked between the two questioningly.
“Yup. Didn’t recognize you at first with all the goop on you, Skitch-Sketch. Glad to see you’re still breathing.” Ditzy said with a light laugh, offering the girl a hand up.
As the girl hesitantly took the hand, still looking dazed, she muttered, “Almost wasn’t. The hospital was attacked. Captain Zecora, she... she turned on us-”
“Shhh, easy there Sketchy. We already know. Zecora got replaced by the Second Espada, Chrysalis-”
“WHAT!?”
“-Annnnnd we’re chasing down her partner in crime, who’s probably doing something super-villainous with one of the experimental doo-dads down here. What I need you to do is start freeing the rest of the people in these pods and get clear of this building. There’s an elevator back that way. Once you’ve got everyone free, take it up, then get as far away from here as you can. Can you do that Sketchy?”
Ditzy’s earnest words seemed to penetrate the confusion on the Soul Reaper’s face and Skitch-Sketch gave a shallow nod, “Y-yeah. Yeah I’m on it. For the record I think you and Discord owe me some kind of raise at this point.”
“I’ll put in a word with Discy when the smoke clears.” Ditzy said.
“Wait,” said Clover, “It occurs to me that if Captain Zecora was replaced, then might she be here somewhere as well?”
“Good point.” Ditzy said, “Spread out, start cracking open pods. If you spot a tall lady with a mohawk that can’t stop rhyming, let me know.”
As the girls split up and started opening the various pods one by one, Rarity kept close to Ditzy and leaned close to whisper, “Pardon me, but how exactly do you know this Skitch-Sketch? You’ve been away from Soul Society for a long time, have you not?”
Ditzy smirked, “Suspicious much? Don’t worry, she’s just one of my and Discy’s little birds.”
“Little birds?”
“Mmmhmm. Discord likes to keep himself informed, so he’s got people in a few places that occasionally provide updates on what’s what. Sketchy is just one of those birdies who tweets at us about goings on here in Seireitei. There are others in the human world, and even a few unscrupulous Hollows who let us know about things happening in Hueco Mundo.”
“Hmm... I shall file that way for later, I think.” Rarity said, “Informants in the Hollow realm would be useful for when we go to rescue Adagio.”
“Already way ahead of you on that score, Rarity. Discord’s been planning that excursion since he started training you girls. If this craziness in Soul Society hadn’t gone down first, we’d already be there.” Ditzy said.
In the meantime the number of freed Soul Reapers piled up, the girls having to take a few minutes to get the stunned and disoriented Reapers focused and brought up to speed. There was more than a little mistrustful looks pointed towards the human girls and Ditzy Doo’s Hollow mask, but Skitch-Sketch kept them focused and given the fact that they were being rescued did a lot to generate some momentary good will.
It was in the last few pods that they found Zecora. When she was hoisted from the pod she’d been trapped in the Fourth Division Captain awoke almost instantly, surprise and fear mixed in equal measure with righteous fury as she nearly tackled the nearest person off their feet, which happened to be Clover.
“C-Captain Zecora, you’re safe! It’s okay!” Clover yelped, holding one hand up defensively, as Zecora had a finger pointed towards Clover’s head with the glowing yellow point of a Kido spell charging up at its tip.
Zecora’s eyes wavered for a moment, blinking slowly as she spoke in an exhausted, shaking whisper. “Is that you Third Seat Clover? I fear my head is worse off than the most devastating hangover.”
Several of her Division gathered around, including Skitch-Sketch who knelt down next to her Captain, with Ditzy hovering nearby.
“Captain do you... remember anything?” Skitch-Sketch asked in a calming tone.
Zecora carefully stood on trembling legs, her whole body seeming to shake as a weakened kitten, one grayish white hand rising to rub her head. “I fear I cannot recall more than a haze. Yet I know the source of my daze! A creature most foul ambushed me not far from this place, and I fear it has stolen my face! Tell me what has happened since that day, and has anything amiss occurred while I was away?”
“Well, you’re still rhyming, so Chrysalis couldn’t have scrambled your head that badly.” said Ditzy, “You’ve missed a lot. I’ll let Skitchy fill you in, but the enemy is still at large and me and these girls got some ass to kick.”
“Then I shall join you in your fight, for I cannot leave things in this current plight.” Zecora said, taking a shaky step forward, but Ditzy held up a firm hand.
“You’re in no shape for a brawl Zecora. Get your people out of here.”
Zecora looked like she was about to argue but Ditzy’s voice grew sharp edged as a knife. “Your Zanpaktou was stolen and you’re barely standing. Take your people and get clear, and leave the fighting to people who can still fight.”
The Captain’s lips curled in a deep frown, but the pained look in Zecora’s eyes clearly marked that she knew Ditzy Doo was right, and with a grimace she nodded. “Your words are harsh but you speak true. There is nothing more here that I can do. Swear to me that you shall do all you can to set things right and I shall in turn do what I may to lead my people away from this fight.”
“You got my word.” Ditzy said.
“Before you all go,” said Rarity, whose mind had been working overtime and had thought of something, “Some of you find gentlemen and ladies work at this... facility, yes?”
A few Soul Reapers gave reluctant nods, one or two of them wearing lab coats over their more traditional black robes. Rarity fixated on them and gestured at the the top of the wall where the upper floor alcove was. “Do any of you happen to know what experiment is taking place up there?”
“Huh, good question. Why didn’t I think of that?” Ditzy said, blinking.
“Well? Somebody do speak up.” Rarity said, resting her hands on her hips.
One of the Soul Reapers in question gave a nervous cough and spoke up, “Um, well you see it's not that we’re ungrateful for you rescuing us, but all of the experiments taking place here are highly classified. We can’t just hand that information out.”
Clover stepped forward, holding up a finger. “Quick point, we’re in the middle of a crisis situation. I think allowances can be made. And if you don’t like it, you can tell Captain Starswirl that I threatened you.”
“Third Seat Clover, with all due respect, you’re not high enough ranked to make that call. Only Lieutenant Meadowbrook or the Captain himself could-”
“Wait, Meadowbrook!” Clover suddenly shouted, “Where is he!? Has anyone here seen him!?.”
“Not just him.” Put in Ditzy, frowning as she looked over the crowd of people they’d rescued. “Lieutenant Moon Dancer and Smart Cookie are also both missing. Figured if they’d be anywhere it would be with you lot, but I’m not seeing them. Anyone here got a clue where those three might be?”
Many of the gathered Soul Reapers exchanged unsure glances with one another, until Skitch-Sketch rubbed her head and said, “I... I can’t really remember much from being in that pod, but I got real fuzzy memories of some of the pods being moved. I don’t know where, but if they’re not here then they must have been moved somewhere else in the complex.”
“Dammit. I don’t think we have time to search.” sighed Ditzy, glancing up at the higher level of the chamber where it seemed the intermixing green and blue lights were getting brighter. “I got the feeling we’re running out of time.”
“Then allow me to seek those who are lost.” said Zecora. “For me to do so there is no cost. My subordinates can flee quite well on their own, while even without my Zanpaktou my keen senses are well known.”
“Alright fine, just be careful about it. For all we know there’s more enemies in here we haven’t seen yet.” said Ditzy Doo cautiously.
“Haven’t caught any whiffs of any nasties lurking about.” commented Pinkamena, licking her lips.
“Hey, while yer lookin’ fer them missing Soul Reapers keep an’ eye out fer a little guy.” Applejack told Zecora, holding out a hand, “‘Bout yay high, brown hair, named Pipsqueak. He’s somewhere ‘round here too, I’m thinkin’.”
“Captain Platinum’s son? To be involved in these affairs whatever has he done?” Zecora asked with a stunned waver in her eyes.
“It’d take too long to explain, but let’s get back to Rarity’s question; what in Jigoku is going on up there?” Ditzy said with a harsh finger pointed upwards, her Hollowifed eyes narrowing at the Soul Reaper scientists present. “I don’t care how classified it is, somebody better spill the beans because right now we’re the only ones here to stop a crazy lady from using whatever you’ve got going on over there!”
There was clear hesitance still among the researchers, but one of them took a step forward and while waving off the protests of his fellows he said, “The second floor area was reserved for Project Crossgate. But it won’t do whoever’s up there any good! The Crossgate is missing too many components to operate, and we hadn’t even gotten it calibrated yet. It’s useless.”
“And just what is this Crossgate supposed to do?” pressed Rarity, but Ditzy spoke up before the researcher could.
“Oh crapbaskets... this one I remember. It was one of Discy’s old ideas that he never took past the drawing board. Let me guess, Starswirl decided to move beyond the concept stage?”
“W-well, after the discovery of the portal to that strange foreign realm Captain Starswirl considered the possibility that the Soul Society might need a way to counter invasions from other realities.” the researcher stammered, while Applejack gave both him and Ditzy a sour look.
“Alright, spill it Ditzy, what’s this Crossgate? Another secret Discord was keepin’ from us?”
“Not a secret. Just an old project idea he never took anywhere.” Ditzy Doo said, arms crossing, “The idea behind it was to create a variation on the Senkaimon Gate we use to move from the Spirit Realm to the living world, one that could move large quantities of mass from one dimension to another. Theoretically it was something we could use to perform evacuations of cities being threatened with destruction by our battles with the Quincy or Hollows. And, yeah, it could also be used to launch surprise invasions of other realms, moving whole Divisions at once instead of having to trickle them through the Senkaimon.”
“So what n’ tarnation does Starlight Glimmer want with a’ thing like that?” Applejack quirried with a scowl.
“Why don’t we go ask her?” Rarity pointed out, “We’ve spent enough time wondering about our opponent’s intentions. I say we get her to talking about them herself. She strikes me as the sort that enjoys hearing herself talk.”
“I can git behind that.” Applejack said.
“Alright then, looks like you all know what you’re doing.” said Skitch-Sketch, glancing at Zecora, “Captain with your permission, can we get the hell out of here now?”
Zecora nodded, “Yes, let us go. Leave this place swiftly and do not slow.”
In short order Skitch-Sketch started to lead the freed Fourth Division members and Hitsuyo Aku researchers back up to the bridge and down the path that’d lead to the elevator. Zecora gave Ditzy and the girls one last parting glance before following them. Rarity watched them go, hoping they wouldn’t run into any trouble in their escape. It was possible that if either Sunset, Rainbow Dash, or Celestia and Luna lost their battles then the escapees might run face first into one of Starlight’s cohorts, but Rarity pushed aside those dire thoughts. She had to trust the others would win their battles. She had to focus on the one in front of her.
Ditzy took the lead once more, leading the group up the ramp the bridge turned into, heading to the top of the wall where they then found themselves within the top alcove of the massive experiment chamber. This space, although only half the size of the rest of the chamber, was still large enough that Rarity felt rather small. The walls curved inward into a half circle. While the walls were bare stone at first, the deeper to the back of this area the group walked the more the walls became covered in strange geometric patterns made from risings of gold metal piping. Rarity started to see numerous hangings of intricate crystal formations housed in metal casings on the ceiling that hummed with the green and blue hues of light that were coating the area. Up ahead, partially cloaked by flickering shadows cast by a bright silvery light, was a structure that looked like a curved set of metal claws, each the size of a tree, curving over a wide pool of gleaming silver liquid. Nodes of glowing blue and green crystal jutted from the edge of the ‘claws’, which Rarity now saw were more like metal pylons, and streams of energy poured from the crystals into the pool of strange silver liquid.
A set of pipes, humming with geometric patterns of light, crawled from one edge of the pool to merge into a tall obelisk of metal and stone upon which a hexagonal shaped console jutted out.
Starlight Glimmer was there, her Zanpaktou held out and channeling a steady stream of fiery red and orange power into the obelisk. She glanced back at the group as they approached, her blue eyes rolling.
“Fantastic. Was kind of hoping it’d take you people longer to get here. Oh well, not like I hadn’t planned or this.”
As if to challenge that statement, Ditzy Doo held out her palm and slipped her mask on. A thick sphere of crimson power welled in her hand, and then with a ear shaking hum the Cero beam blasted out straight at Starlight Glimmer. It crashed into a flickering field of force that appeared in a orange wall of light that filled the entire space between them and Starlight.
“Sorry Ditzy Doo, I activated the area’s containment barrier. You’ll have trouble breaking through that, at least until I’m done here.” Starlight said, returning her attention to channeling energy out of her Zanpaktou and into the obelisk.
Applejack spat, raising her own hand and charging up a blast within her gauntlet. “Oh yeah, how ‘bout we see how long yer fancy schmancy barrier holds up ta all o’ us takin’ whacks at it.”
Pinkamena grinned in wide, tooth filled agreement as she hefted the Pinkie hammer. “Yes, let’s see how many licks it takes to get to the gooey center of this idiot pop.”
“Colorful.” Starlight drawled, “Knock yourselves out. Just try not to make too much noise. I need to concentrate on this. Oh, by the way, just FYI, if I lose my concentration and screw this energy transfer up then it's quite possible the resulting explosion might just kill you, your friends, and pretty much anything nearby, so maybe trying to interfere with me might fall under the category of a bad idea. Just saying.”
Ditzy sighed heavily and held up a hand to the girls. Applejack lowered her arm reluctantly, and Pinkamena lowered her hammer even moreso.
“Very well then.” said Rarity, “Just what are you planning to do with that device once you’ve powered it up? In fact, how are you powering it up? The gentlemen conducting research here said this Crossgate wasn’t finished being built.”
“Riiiight, let me just explain all of my plans. That should make it easier for you to foil them.” Starlight said with a voice heavily marinated in sarcasm. “Seriously could you people be quiet? This isn’t as easy as I’m making it look.”
“That energy, it’s the Sokyoku isn’t it?” Ditzy Doo said, her voice making it more a statement than a question as she started to pace around the edge of the barrier, eyeing the obelisk and the pool beyond it. “You finished Discord’s design and built the rest of the Crossgate after you shacked up here a few days ago. Now all you needed was enough spirit energy to power this thing up; and a million Zanpaktou fit the bill.”
“Not exactly, but close enough.” Starlight said, then snorted, “Okay, no. You’re not getting me to monologue Ditzy. Besides, I don’t know why you lot care what I’m doing. Celestia and Luna are free, and it's not like they were ever in any real danger of being killed. I just needed the Sokyoku. Well, it plus some other things, but that’s not important to you girls.”
“Beg to differ, darling. Your schemes have caused us no small amount of headache, heartache, and general distress. Quite frankly I can’t imagine a single good thing you might be planning to do with this device, so I’d say it's quite important for us to stop you.” said Rarity, carefully and slowly extending some crystals beneath her feet to burrow into the floor. Inching the crystals forward through the stone ground, she probed towards the barrier. She was cautious, keeping her spirit energy as low as possible so as to avoid what she was doing being detected.
Starlight turned to look her way, and Rarity wasn’t sure if the woman had sensed what she was doing, but when Starlight spoke it was without any noticeable concern.
“Oh really? I’m not the one that tried to control your mothers against their will, or manipulating them to give birth to you girls so you’d turn out as Fullbringers. I’m not the one who built an entire research institute dedicated to creating questionable projects at any ethical cost. I’m not the one perpetuating a pointless war that destroys both lives and souls without care or remorse! I’m certainly not interested in hurting any of you. You could just walk away from this and you’d be just fine. I wouldn’t stop you.”
Clover’s eyes narrowed, “But are you the one who arranged for the class I was taking out on their first patrol to be attacked by Hollows?”
Starlight paused, turning a glassy stare towards Clover, who went on with a quiet, cold tone.
“It's been bothering me for awhile now. All this began when the Academy class I was subbing for was attacked on what was supposed to be an easy, routine first patrol to Canterlot City. The Hollows that hit us were numerous, and seemed to know where we’d be. The fact that I lost one of the slain cadet’s Asauchi’s in the process... how much of a coincidence was it that Sunset Shimmer found that sword?”
A stillness came over Starlight’s face, her voice flattening. “I didn’t plan that as much as you might think. The Hollows were already there, sniffing around town because of those girls and their magical escapades. I just happened to see an opportunity when they attacked your class, and made sure that one of the Asauchi’s was left somewhere it could be easily found by someone who happened to have newly awakening spiritual potential.”
“What kind of opportunity?” Clover said with a grim tone.
“I was curious if someone touched by the magic of that other world could integrate that power with the spirit energy from this world. Simple as that. It was just a bonus the rest of the girls woke up their Fullbrings, and appeared to be merging Equestrian magic with them. Definitely worth observing, if I could figure out how to replicate the effects...” Starlight said, then groaned. “Oh for the love of- Stop that! Why don’t you go outside and bother Chrysalis? She likes the attention.”
“She’s busy entertaining Celestia and Luna, so I’m afraid you have us all to yourself, Miss Glimmer.” Rarity said, finding that the crystals she was burrowing underground was able to get past the point where the barrier was. Apparently the barrier only covered the space of the room, not beneath it. She hid her smile as she brought the crystals up beneath Starlight Glimmer. She didn’t dare think of messing with the machinery of the Crossgate itself. She didn’t think Starlight’s talk of a not-so-small explosion was a mere bluff. She had to bring the barrier down, not attack Starlight or the Crossgate.
If Starlight felt any concern for Chrysalis she certainly didn’t show it with her dismissive shrug. “Chrysalis must be having a ball then. She seems to have a real fixation on Celestia that if I were still a psych-major I’d say borders on the unhealthily obsessive. No matter, you guys can sit there and enjoy the show. Neat thing about the Crossgate is that it can be very selective with what it does or doesn’t take through the gates it creates. You guys aren’t invited on the ride, in case you’re wondering.”
“A ride to where?” asked Ditzy, running her hand along the barrier with a critical eye. “Where can’t you go that you need this thing to get you there? You planning to attack the Palace of the Spirit Queen herself?”
“Keeeep talking Ditzy, it just wastes time.” Starlight said. The flow of gleaming orange light streaming from her Zanpaktou stopped as the obelisk began to hum with a louder, whining buzz. “Besides, you’ll see yourself soon enough. That does it for the power, and what do you know I still got plenty of Sokyoku juice left! Hah! Knew it. Firefly owes me dinner.”
“What’re ya jabberin’ on about!?” Applejack slammed her fist into the barrier, which flashed with a wave of light, but otherwise held firm.
Rarity felt her burrowing crystals spread out around the edges of the barrier, finding several pockets of concentrated spirit energy embedded into points in the ground. She couldn't be sure but she thought these were what were maintaining the ward separating them from Starlight. She started to shape her crystals into points that could tear the ward apart, while Starlight grabbed up her Zanpaktou and turned to regard Applejack with disinterest.
“You know, your mother was never the sharpest knife in the drawer either but I figured you would have figured out by now what I’m doing here. I mean, it's kind of obvious when you apply a bit of logic to it.”
The streams of energy reaching from the pylons around the pool of silver liquid intensified, and the liquid started to bubble up like a frothing jacuzzi. The area where all the curving pylons converged started to shimmer, a point of silver light appearing there that slowly started to expand. Starlight glanced towards it with a look of anticipation, and it was that moment that Rarity used to thrust her crystals forward through the underground clusters of spirit energy holding the ward together.
The pockets of spirit energy came apart like shredded balls of string, and the ward cracked across its whole surface like a pane of safety glass hit by a sledgehammer. It broke apart into dusty motes of light, surprising everyone for an instant. Then Ditzy’s eyes narrowed to dark slits and she burst into motion, streaking right for Starlight like a gray battering ram.
Rarity felt a moment of elation as she and her friends poised to charge in right behind Ditzy Doo... until Starlight turned around in a fraction of an instant, raising her hand and stopping Ditzy flatly with her fingers gripped around Ditzy’s mask like a vice.
Ditzy grunted and slammed out a fist, smashing Starlight in the chest, but the other woman took it without letting go of Ditzy’s face and instead strengthened her grip with an audible grinding of flesh and bone. Starlight’s voice was no longer casual, but instead hot with growing anger.
“You girls seem really confused about something.” Starlight said, and her arm tensed, her spiritual pressure washing out of her in a heart crushing torrent that make Rarity choke on her own breath. Then with one heavy swipe she threw Ditzy Doo with air shattering force. There was a shockwave of air that made Rarity’s hair flip around her head as Ditzy was sent sailing out across the length of the chamber like a javelin, impacting through the giant wolf skeleton they’d passed earlier and shattering it before she impacted with the wall next to the distant entrance.
“You seem to think this is going to be a fight.” Starlight finished, tapping her Zanpaktou's staff end on the ground with a ring of finality. “It isn’t.”
There was an explosion of stone from where Ditzy had fallen, and the woman came flying out of the smokey debris to quickly cross the distance back to the group. She landed unsteadily, dusting herself off and glaring at Starlight. “Okay. Ow. But you should know a little toss like that won’t slow me down much.”
“Oh, I know. You’re impressive Ditzy. Back in the day, one on one, I wouldn’t have been able to touch you. But as the saying goes, ‘that was then, this is now’.” Starlight said, her words punctuated by the way she lifted her free hand to the air above her head, and pieces of white bone fragments formed in the air and took the shape of a mask.
Rarity’s eyes went wide along with all the others as a Hollow mask appeared in Starlight’s hand. The mask had a smooth surface, lacking even a noticeable mouth or nose, having only a single thin slit for the eyes. It’s shape was like an elongated diamond, with two wave shaped horns curling up from the brows. Though smooth, its face was marked by two red stripes running down from the bottom of the eyelids, like a bloody tear trail.
Ditzy’s expression turned sickened. “You did it to yourself? I thought it was bad enough when you did me by accident.”
“Yes, well, turning an accident into something positive is a good motto to live by.” Starlight said, slipping the Hollow mask on. Strangely, Rarity noted Starlight’s eyes didn’t change color the way Ditzy’s had. “You see I’ve refined the process. I can create Vizards who have more control over their inner Hollow, and bring more power out of it. Care to try me out?”
Starlight’s spiritual pressure turned cold and thick with Hollow energy, yet even as it crushed down on Rarity her keen senses told her it was subtly different than Ditzy Doo’s. In Ditzy’s case her Hollow energy still had a wild, savage quality to it. Yet Starlight’s felt deadly focused, and it didn’t overwhelm the whole of her reiatsu, as if she’d balanced the Hollow powers with her normal spirit energy in a way Ditzy either hadn’t... or couldn’t. A distinct purple hued aura of power now surrounded Starlight, like wisps of deathly gravelight.
“Alright, I’ve heard ‘nough o’ you!” Applejack bellowed and blasted herself forward on streams of gold thruster power from her shoulder armor. She flew into a spinning heel kick, boosted so far that Rarity could see the air streams breaking around her friend’s armored boot.
Starlight raised her Zanpaktou to catch the kick on its shaft, the impact blasting air in a shockwave around the pair. Starlight didn’t so much as budge from the blow, but Applejack braced her other leg on Starlight’s Zanpaktou, then fired a twin blast of gold energy from her heels that engulfed the woman and washed up against the wall in an explosion of rock debris.
“Okay, out of curiosity Applejack, has your charging in blindly ever worked?” Starlight asked as she emerged from the cloud of dust, cracking her neck as she did so. “I mean I’ve been observing your fights, you and all your friends’ for that matter. So far the only time you’ve pulled off a legit win via blunt force was with Troubleshoes, and that’s not exactly a high benchmark.”
Above Starlight, Pinkamena detached from the ceiling, where she’d been carefully crawling when nobody had been paying attention, and dropped on the woman with her mouth opening wide like some rubbery shark’s maw.
“NOM!”
Even through her mask it was possible to see Starlight’s flat and unamused look as she thrust a fist up and smashed Pinkamena straight in the gut, causing the doppelganger to fall limp over the woman’s arm like a speared fish as she coughed up blood.
“Wow, was that in your still injured gut?” Starlight asked, and as Pinkamena threw up more blood Starlight nodded. “Yup, I’d say it was.”
With a feral growl Pinkamena flipped off Starlight and with her other hand swung it around like a rubber band and brought the Pinkie hammer crashing in like a wrecking ball. Starlight turned the mighty impact aside with her Zanpaktou, the staff halting the hammer in its tracks, but then the hammer’s surface gained a gooey bubble-gum like quality as it stuck to the staff.
“Okay Miss Thievy McThieferton, if you like stealing people’s shiny swords, I’m gonna steal yours! Gimmie!”
Pinkamena yanked back on the hammer, the hammer's surface continuing to imitate freshly chewed bubble-gum as it stretched out, pulling on Starlight’s Zanpaktou. Starlight’s eyes narrowed in annoyance, but she was soon distracted by the fact that the rest of the group was all rushing her at once.
Fluttershy came in with a double palm strike, which Starlight slipped away from with a casual deflection with her free hand. Fluttershy’s scarf tried to snap around Starlight’s leg to trip her up, but Starlight quickly raised her leg and snap kicked Fluttershy in the gut, pushing her back. Still, Fluttershy sent a burst of her power into Starlight in that moment, commanding in a hard voice. “Don’t move.”
As it happened both Applejack and Ditzy Doo were slamming hard punches towards Starlight in that instant, and Fluttershy’s command almost rooted Starlight in place, but the woman’s overwhelming spiritual pressure pushed aside Fluttershy’s power in a mere moment. Ditzy and Applejack’s fists hit only air as Starlight vanished in a burst of high speed movement, yanking her Zanpaktou along with her, which stretched out the Pinkie hammer like a long, juicy loogie.
“Ugh, this is gross.” Starlight muttered, and raised a finger to point at the hammer. “Mits off, kid.”
There was a flash of purple light, a static crack of noise, and a bolt of energy smacked into the Pinkie hammer and blasted her off of Starlight’s Zanpaktou. Pinkie snapped back to her more normal sized hammer shape, smoking slightly and groaning. “Owie! Yikes, that smarts.”
“You alright?” Pinkamena asked in a moment of unusual concern.
“Feel like I cracked my noggin’ on a doorframe, but I’m good.”
By now Rarity had summoned up her whirlpool of blood from her rose bracelet, shaping a crystal rapier into her hand and floating a formation of about twenty more weapons at her side. She’d been watching Starlight’s movements, trying to spot an opening. More importantly, she wanted to keep Starlight’s attention on anything other than Clover, who had rather smartly moved back from the fight and was back near the ramp. Rarity could see Clover was using her Zanpaktou to gradually scan Starlight, the ring blade end of Chishiki gathering a green glow as Clover concentrated on Starlight.
Rarity had to make sure Starlight didn’t notice that.
Alongside her cloud of crystal blades Rarity flung herself into the fight, using Fullbring upon the air to boost the speed of her leap. Her blades stabbed in from all sides, but Starlight spun about, twirling her Zanpaktou in a dizzying display that knocked aside or shattered the crystal weapons in showers of red fragments. Rarity, undaunted, slipped in behind Starlight and ran a thrust towards the woman’s spine, but Starlight shot a hand out and caught the rapier. Rarity saw literal sparks fly off Starlight’s hand, as if were metal, as she gripped Rarity’s blade and lifted it up, forcing Rarity’s arms up as well. Starlight gave her a rather pointed look.
“Good effort. But-”
Rarity felt a massive impact of mind numbing pain as Starlight slammed the blunt end of her Zanpaktou’s shaft into her gut. Air blasted out of her lungs and she was sent spinning head over heels until she felt the hard slam of cold stone as she hit the wall and slid down it to crumple on the floor.
“-you’re way outclassed here.”
Sputtering, struggling just to get her hands underneath her, Rarity raised her head and shot Starlight a withering look. “Not to steal your thunder, dear, but I’ve heard those kind of boasts before.”
Red crystals broke from the ground around Starlight in a encompassing circle of deadly spikes. Rarity grimaced as Starlight’s raw aura of deep purple spiritual energy radiated out from the woman and broke the crystal spikes apart into specs of crimson dust.
“Sure you have. And hey, don’t let me discourage you girls. You’ve all come a long way, and if you keep up the pace you’re going at, who knows, maybe you could be a legitimate threat to me. Hell if I was as smart as I like to think I am I’d just kill you here, while you’re still weak enough for me to snuff you out easily.”
“Then what’re ya waiting for!?” shouted Applejack, coming in behind Starlight with a fist cocked back, slamming forward on a rocket thruster of gold powr. Starlight caught Applejack’s wrist, spinning and throwing the farmgirl into the wall next to Rarity with an impact hard enough to leave an indent in the wall several feet deep.
“For one, I’m not a murderer.” Starlight said with a scowl. “Believe it or not, I’m not some cackling villain interested in killing people just because they get in my way. I’m trying to save this screwed up world. It just so happens that to do that I have to play rough with the powers that be, and there might be some collateral damage along the way. That’s all you girls really are, collateral damage waiting to happen.”
“And just because you don’t mean for people to be hurt that makes it okay to do whatever you want, as long as you think your intentions are good?” Fluttershy asked, her voice growing a bit louder and more heated than her normal calm as she spread her wings and flew towards Starlight. “It’s scary enough having to be so careful with my own power, it really bugs me that someone like you would use hers so recklessly! Don’t you care about the damage you could do!?”
Fluttershy lashed out with her scarf while diving low to the ground. The white cloth wrapped around Starlight’s arm and Fluttershy yanked on it, trying to pull the woman closer, but Starlight managed to plant her feet and remain rooted to the spot. A pulse of power flowed out from Fluttershy and into Starlight, the girl giving Starlight a hard stare as she sent forth a mental command to try and force the woman to drop her Zanpaktou, but Starlight’s own spiritual pressure swamped Fluttershy’s like a candle being dunked into the middle of a lake.
“Of course I care about the damage I could cause.” Starlight said with a snort, “But I care about fixing the problem more.”
She pulled back on Fluttershy’s scarf hard enough to send Fluttershy careening towards her. Starlight’s knee then came up with meteoric force and impacted with Fluttershy’s stomach like a piston. Fluttershy coughed and gasped for breath as the blow sent her flying up into the ceiling, where she bounced off and went tumbling back to the ground, only to be caught by a leaping Ditzy Doo, who landed and set the girl down softly.
“And what problem is that, huh?” Ditzy asked after making sure Fluttershy was still conscious. The girl was still coughing for breath, but managed to give Ditzy a small thumbs up as she stumbled up to her feet.
Starlight’s voice turned furnace hot as she growled behind her mask. “As if you don’t know. You and Discord... you both disgust me. How long have you both known about the Zero Division and the Spirit Queen? Hm? Was it before you met me and Sunburst? Or did you only discover the truth after what they did to him!?”
For once Ditzy actually looked genuinely confused her brow furrowing into gray valleys as she pulled off her Hollow mask to look at Starlight directly. “Sunburst? What’s he got to do with this? Hold up, what do you mean about the Zero Division and the Spirit Queen? What about them?”
Starlight’s eyes bored into Ditzy intently, then slightly widened. “You... really don’t know, do you? Discord must have kept it a secret even from you. I just assumed he told you everything, what with how close you two are. Heh, so even the great Ditzy Doo doesn’t know all of Discord’s secrets. I find that oddly comforting.”
“Starlight, I know you don’t want to do the monologuing thing, but I could really use to exposition here.” Ditzy said, “What in the blazing nipples are you blathering about?”
“Oh no, I think I’d rather enjoy the idea of you having to ask him yourself. But if he gives you the runaround, like I know he will, you could always try cracking his files on the Hogyoku. You might find the real reason he started making it, and why I stole it in the first place.” Starlight said, reaching up to the upper hem of the dark cloak she wore and throwing them off with one gesture.
Underneath the robes Starlight was wearing a form fitting gray jumpsuit crossed with numbers straps over the chest and stomach, with long leggings and boots of the same ash gray shade. She had a open, purple trench coat on over the suit, with markings on the sleeves in the pattern of a lighter purple star shape and a teal, wispy glimmer coming off it. In the center of her chest the jumpsuit opened up, exposing a modest amount of cleavage, but far more importantly showing where a bright and gleaming orb of pale blue was embedded in her flesh. The orb swirlled with inner glints of light, like streaking stars, and seemed to contain an infinite void within its simple, spherical shape.
Ditzy blinked, “You merged yourself with it? Do you have any idea what that thing might be doing to your soul?”
“Empowering me, for the most part. Allows me to absorb power from other sources. Gives me kind of a tingly sensation, and maybe a bit of occasional heartburn, but otherwise I think the Hogyoku and me are getting along just fine, thanks.” Starlight said, “Of course I still have a lot of work to do to finish completing it, but for now it serves to allow me to break down the barriers between souls. It’s what will allow me to cure Platinum’s son of his condition, and eventually... absorb the magic of ‘friendship’, once I figure out exactly how that power works.”
“You’ll never get the chance!” Clover shouted, her Zanpaktou having now gained a complete aura of green light around the full edge of the ring blade that she aimed at Starlight. “Heitei!”
Starlight’s Zanpaktou flickered like a television losing its transmission for a moment, before it shimmered and transformed into its sealed katana form, no longer released to Shikai. Starlight shot Clover a raised eyebrow. “Huh, color me impressed. You’ve got a nice Zanpaktou there. Too bad I didn’t think to steal it earlier. Equally too bad for you that I don’t need Sekai Chitsujo at the moment to finish this fight. Or to finish you.”
In an eyeblink Starlight crossed the distance to Clover, striking with her sealed blade before Rarity or anyone else could properly react. Rarity saw blood fly from Clover as a deep cut appeared over the girl’s shoulder. Starlight spun in a harsh kick that smacked Clover across the jaw, sending her straight to the ground in a heap. As Clover lay there, dazed, Starlight inverted her sealed Zanpaktou and aimed it towards Clover's chest. “How about we sever that soul sleep of yours, so I don’t have to worry about your Zanpaktou ever being an issue in the future, eh?”
Rarity flung her arm out, forming a long crystal blade the size of a car that she sent flying towards Starlight, but as Starlight’s katana stabbed down she knew she wouldn’t be in time.
Fortunately there was a blur of black and fiery orange motion and another katana intercepted Starlight’s in sparking crash, pushing the woman back. An instant later Rarity’s blade came in, forcing Starlight to turn and block the attack, further getting pushed back towards the wall, although Starlight’s raw strength broke even that large crystal blade into shards after a moment.
“S-Sunset...” Clover said, managing to brace herself on Chishiki and hoist herself up, taking an offered orange hand from Sunset Shimmer, who had been the one who’d swooped in to block Starlight’s attack.
“Just in time, eh?” Sunset said, smiling. “Saw you sealed her Zanpaktou. That means I can use mine now.”
Clover returned the smile warmly, “Y-yeah, just for a bit, through. I don’t think Chishiki’s power can negate Sekai Chitsujo’s for very long. Maybe minutes.”
“Hey, minutes are all I need.” Sunset said as she turned to face Starlight Glimmer. Hokori no Hikari blazed to life, flames forming into the broadsword and shield of the Zanpaktou’s Shikai state. Starlight eyed Sunset with a flat stare.
“You beat Platinum. Kind of surprised by that, actually. Did you kill her?”
Sunset face twisted with a distasteful grimace. “Came close, but she’s alive. At least she was last I left her. Where’s her son?”
“Safe.” Starlight said, then there was a flash of silvery light form back towards the Crossgate, where the sphere of bright mercury light was growing bigger and brighter. “And as much as I want to indulge your clear need for some heroic final confrontation; time’s up.”
The sphere flattened out into a shape not unlike a large donut made of flowing liquid metal. This ring shape spread out until it touched the edges of all the pylons surrounding the main pool of silver liquid, then turned so it formed a gate in the center, with a clear hole in reality like a giant window. And through that window...
“Is that...?” Rarity breathed.
“Ya gotta be kiddin’ me!” Applejack spat.
“But... but that’s...” Fluttershy blinked in astonishment.
“I don’t get it.” said Pinkamena, “What am I even looking at?”
“Ooooooh this is super-duper baaaad!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed, her hammer form shaking.
Clover looked at Sunset, “What is this? Where is that place? I’ve never seen buildings like that in the human world.”
Sunset felt her heart freeze over and drop into her stomach as she stared at the gateway. Within the hole in reality she could see, as if through a wavering field of water, the tall majestic peaks of the Canterhorn mountains, and upon those sheer peaks the painfully beautiful and shining spires of Canterlot.
“That’s not the human world... that’s Equestria.”
----------
Princess Twilight Sparkle looked at the readings on the portal with a bewildered frown.
After she and Flash had gotten breakfast in the cafeteria of the school that morning the pair of them had spent some time just talking with each other and trying to get a baseline of comfort with one another once again. She’d gotten rather focused on asking him questions about life in Soul Society, and he’d done his best to answer her, even when she’d tried to get technical on him about how certain aspects of physics worked in conjunction with reishi particles. In a way by the time she’d exhausted the man’s knowledge she had a certain appreciation for how he must’ve felt when he’d learned she was a pony. It was both exciting and ultimately very confusion to try and figure out how another world worked, and to even decide what questions to ask.
Of course she’d been open to his questions as well, but he’d been far more reserved about asking her anything concerning Equestria, almost as if he was afraid to. She didn’t know why.
After a time she realized the sun had been up for quite awhile, and that she ought to get back to work on calibrating the control system on the portal to Equestria. Only when she and Flash had gone out there to begin work she’d very quickly noticed very unusual readings on the monitor she’d set up around the portal. She sat now at the desk set up beside the statue where the portal was, checking over the readings.
“This is strange. Was anyone watching the portal last night?”
“Well... I was.” Flash said, face flushing red. “Then we kind of got into talking.”
Twilight felt her own face heat up as she looked back to her monitor, “Right. Okay but that wasn’t for very long, and there aren’t any students here on the weekend. So there shouldn’t have been anyone around to just randomly wander through...”
“Whoa, hold up, did someone go through the portal!?” Flash asked in alarm.
“I think so. What I don’t understand is how. I had this portal set up to block both Hollow and normal humans from being able to step through, or at least it should have stopped them. Granted the system still needs testing, but it should have worked well enough to block a person with normal human spirit energy or anything with Hollow spirit energy from entering the portal.”
Twilight touched a few keys and brought up a fresh screen with a set of unusually spiky wavelengths. “See this here? These readings are a spirit energy of an unknown type! Not Hollow, but not human either! I have no idea what this is. The mass suggests someone or something person sized, but the spirit energies don’t match what humans or Hollows have.”
“Which means something different snuck through the portal while we were distracted.” Flash said, his voice changing to one of forced, professional calm. He straightened up, expression serious. “I need to go find Cheerilee. She ought to still be on patrol. As soon as I get her back here, we should go through to Equestria and find whatever has gone through there before it does any damage-”
Suddenly the mirror built into the statue flared with arcs of brilliant silver light, making both Twilight and Flash jump back.
“What the-!?” Twilight gasped as her monitors exploding. Flash shielded her with his body from bits of burning electronics, and when Twilight looked again he was staring at the portal with hard eyes.
The portal was still there, but it was slowly shrinking in size, getting smaller inch by inch.
“Uh... Twilight, I don’t think we have time to find Cheerilee.” Flash said, expression grim. “I think if we’re going to do anything, we have to do it now.”
“It might not even be safe to go through now! I don’t even know what’s happening to the portal.” Twilight said, fear tightening her gut.
“Then I’ll go through alone. You stay here where it’s safe, and see if you can do anything with the portal on this end.” Flash said, but Twilight grabbed his arm before he could move.
“No. If we’re going, we both go. I can’t do much with the portal on this side. I need my magic. And if something is wrong on the other side, then the Princess of Friendship needs to be there to do something about it.” Twilight said, and after a moment Flash nodded.
The pair approached the portal, and Flash experimentally touched the silver surface. His hand sunk in. “I think it's safe. I’m not feeling any pain or anything.” he said. The portal was still growing smaller, but there was still room for both of them to move through.
Sharing a look with each other as if to affirm they were doing the right thing, both Twilight and Flash rushed through the portal just in time before its light closed entirely and left the statue entirely inert.
Stats
Page generated in 0.056 seconds
Total duration
994 users online
140,982 hits today, 2,244,100 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
So Princess Twilight and Soul Reaper Flash went to Equestria, I wonder how SR-Flash will look like then once he comes out on the Pony Equestria side of the portal.
Wow, Starlight just catapulted to best villain.
Welp. Equestria is probably boned. The only ones who might be able to stop Starlight from whatever machinations she's cooked up are the Equestrian versions of Discord and Starlight. With the latter talking things out rather than fighting.
Dude!! You should have left this parte for last XD, now we will have to wait for dash and crissy to finish
A. "Murdercube"
B. I do wonder exactly how much like Ichigo ol' Bacon-Hair will turn out, she's already kinda got the double Zanpakutō thing. I really need to read bleach again.
C. So GlimGlam is our Aizen, then?
I enjoyed the story in the beginning but once you introduced starlight's sword I lost interest. It is not that she is strong like aizen, she just stops other people their zanpakto. Equestria discord should curbstomp her since he has no zanpacto for her to steal.
So there is literally no good reason Starlight could possibly have to invade Equestria. Given "power levels" don't really exist there either, she's probably gonna steamroll the place, unless the various demigod figures, powerful mortals, and her nearly as frustrating pony counterpart are a match for her. Would definitely be cool seeing a coalition consisting of alicorns, the sirens, Discord, Chrysalis and/or Thorax, and pony Starlight raining down hell on this megalomaniacal bitch, though. Or to at least hold her off long enough for help to arrive. Nice chapter.
8459129
That's only her Soul Reaper power though. Only her sword's power actually. I'm not sure how skilled she is in Kido, but most of the stuff we've seen is a legitimate threat to anyone short of an Alicorn. Not to mention she's also a Visored and has fused with the Hogyoku.
Then again, we don't know how spirit based powers work in Equestria, if at all. With that in mind, Starlight probably isn't looking for a fight in Equestria, so she probably won't even attract Discord's attention, let alone wrath.
Well, I certainly didn't see that coming.
I really do wonder what Starlight wants with Equestria? To steal its magic like Tirek? Either way, hopefully Princess Twilight can find a way to keep the portal open. And I wonder if that sneaking person in a pointy hat and had anything to do with the portal?
Hopefully Rainbow Dash, Celestia and Luna can survive their battles, but it's looking like things are wrapping up here. But I'm so looking forwards to what's next.
Also, Starlight, you can't steal the Magic of Friendship. You have to learn it.
How does she want to "save the world" with invading Equestria? Hm, maybe she finds out about the Tree of Harmony and her plan could be to harness its power for her own, sacrificing the tree for her goals? That would be like a declaration of war against Equestria, depite the fact that invading the Ponies' realm could already count as such.
But in this fic it seems that at least human Starlight doesn't act like some typical villain and monolgues herself into her own defeat. For a change of pace there is a villain with brain! Finally! A villain who isn't so stupid that he explains his plans and everything like only an idiot would.
8459129
I mean, she's supposed to be our Aizen, so of course she's bullshit.
Where is he!? Has anyone here seen him!?.
Through smooth, its face was marked
she thrust a fist up and smashed Pinkamena straight in the cut
the girl giving Starlight a hard stare as she send forth a mental command
Fluttershy
’scoughed and gasped for breath as the blow1. Extra fullstop.
2. Though.
3. Gut.
4. Sent.
5. Extra S.
So Starlight has already merged with the Hougyoku AND has become a Vaizard, OP much? Literally the only people that can beat her at this point would be Scorpan, Tirek, POSSIBLY Chrysalis, Sombra, Zero squad leader, Spirit Queen Rabia, Princesses Celestia and Luna and Spirit of chaos Discord. Oh maybe she's not so untouchable afterall. I mean Sunset and company will eventually beat and inevitably reform her and the true final villain has to be stronger than her so yeah. She's really strong and smart but not killing when she has to and not understanding friendship will be her downfall.
Something horrible happened to Sunburst and the zero squad/spirit queen are responsible? Interesting but Chrysalis still holds the title of best villain in this story. Starlight is hampered by how obvious it is that she'll be redeemed by the end, there's no point in me hating her if I know she'll turn good later. Chrysalis is more fun because she's intelligent and pure evil for evil's sake and Sombra more interesting because I have no idea where you'll take his character. He's the one most likely to overtake Chrysalis.
Trixie is almost certainly a Quincy. Not much else to say really but I'm looking forward to the other fights and the Quincy invasion of Las Noches which I hope starts soon.
Awesome, so the plot thickens, I knew Equestria would be drawn into this multiple sided conflict eventually, and since Starlight only completed the portal instead of building it all herself, it stands to reason that Soul Society, perhaps even the Quincy and Hollows as well, were in a race to get too Equestria to steal magic and use it to tip the war in their favor, how appalling.
Starlight is doing all this because human Discord did something bad. Knowing him it probably involved an experiment. Well pot calling the kettle black who was it that caused on entire class of soul reaper cadets, children, to be attacked and killed by Hollows just so one of their Asauchi’s could be found by Sunset. She has been easily slinking through Soul Society, she could have stolen an Asauchi from the academy and planted it, rather than cause massive loss of young life.
Her plan is transparent, she was experimenting to see if Soul Reaper powers could be integrated with Equestrian magic. Which it succeeded, Sunset became a Soul Reaper with more strength, power, and advancement skill then any other her age did. Now she wants to go to Equestria and apply the same process on herself, becoming a Soul Reaper, Hollow, Equestrian hybrid,(for what I don't know)
Hey Starlight has the Hougyoku with her(or in her) say when her and Sunset clash swords in the future and Sunset notices the Hougyoku is giver her her extra power, and not realizing what it is, grabs it and is exposed to its energy, would that give her Hollow powers? Oh even Starlight might have difficulty dealing with her then(or perhaps they all would, knowing how Hollows suffer from an insatiable hunger for souls)
Hey say they all make it through the Crossgate to Equestria, Sunset, Starlight, Clover, and Ditzy are Soul Reapers, so they probably won't change, but the others are still technically human, and therefore have bodies, and if the Crossgate has similar rules to the mirror gate, will they become Fullbring bearing ponies? Oh that would be so cool.
I feel like everyone’s forgetting that the Hougyoku needs magic to be completed (mentioned by Discord awhile back). Ah, Equestria stands absolutely no chance against Starlight. When Twilight and Tirek fought, with all of the magic in Equestria, they were basically firing Ceros just above Menos level. Tirek was able to over power Discord (just flat out over power, not use some fancy technique or even do more than grab him when he was off guard). We’ve seen Celestia and Luna go all out as well, they don’t even reach average soul reaper Shikai. Then we have Starlight, who’s at the level of at least top tier captains in terms of speed, power, and Kido, has multiple other aces up her sleeve, has the Hougyoku, has an unknown amount of Zanpaktou with unknown abilities, and we don’t know how a spirit body would be affected by magic or if she’d even be visible to anyone without high spirit energy (and spirit bodies were invisible to princess Twilight). Literally all of Equestria going against Starlight (as she is now, if crossing dimensions doesn’t mess her up bad) at once would be the equivalent of a Captain’s Shikai, if even that. The only force that may be able to do something is the Tree of Harmony, but that’s most likely exactly what Starlight is after, so I’d say only Sunset and crew remotely stand a chance. Plus, this is dealing in pure raw power, Starlight has shown way more combat prowess than any Equestrian.
Anyways, I really hope Sunset and pals chase Starlight through and are visible. I’d love to see princess Celestia’s reaction to Soul Reaper Sunset and just how powerful she’s become, though she probably won’t get to witness Sunset’s bankai until later due to Final Phoenix. Still, it would be an interesting reunion, seeing her student for the first time since she left (unless they already reunited earlier and I completely forgot) fighting a deadly battle against a ridiculously powerful being with her friends... It would be glorious. Anyways, my prediction is that Sunset and co will be trapped in Equestria for awhile, due to the potential portal damage by the Crossgate, basically long enough for human Twilight and Adagio’s arcs to progress without any interference from them (physical interference at least, there’s plenty that can happen in Equestria, particularly with Aria and Sonata).
Okay seriously people. We're on an MLP fan site, I find it absolutely mind-boggling that people who are huge fans of the show underestimate the ponies as much as is happening here. Bloody hell powerful unicorns, even the likes of Rarity alone, are able to effect entire cities and generate huge storms that can cover mountain ranges, to say nothing of Celestia and Luna throwing moons and stars around like base balls, yet I'm seeing people saying Celestia and Luna aren't even Shikai level? Get the hell out of here with that nonsense. You don't need to blow up cities every time you sneeze to be powerful.
Apologies for the impromptu rant Vex, it's just that I have enough faith that you'll present Princesses Celestia and Luna as being on par with the top class fighters of the Soul Reapers, Quincy and Hollows at least and I know people are going to bitch at you about it. I on the other hand will be quite upset if they are weak as hell by comparison, don;t let me down now.
8460118
Umm, have you watched the show? Twilight’s Kingdom, which involved literally all (or very close to it) of the magic in Equestria, was the equivalent of Captain Shikais (not even Celestia’s Shikai). We’ve seen princess Celestia go all out three times, vs Chrysalis (a low end beam struggle), vs Sombra’s army, and vs the storm in the season six premier (where there wasn’t even a living thing to use as an excuse to say she was holding back). Luna was also there in the last one and we saw her and Celestia’s fight, which was below pretty much any officer. As for city effecting magic, that’s always from either a magic artifact (Trixie and Rarity) or by someone born with a super talent (magic is very much influenced by special talents), which is limited to Twilight and Starlight. Even then, ponies suck at resisting mind control (only Twilight and Equestria Girls characters seem to be able to resist it at all), but they have no training and are much lower on power than Soul Reapers. Also, the sun and moon in Equestria very clearly don’t match the real life ones at all (seriously, they may as well be lightbulbs for how they work, there’s clearly no gravity from them and Equestria seemed perfectly fine in enternal night in the season 5 finale).
Being a fan of the show doesn’t mean worshipping tha characters. Analyzing characters and finding them weak (power wise) compared to other franchises with different goals means nothing. MLP works on a much lower power scale than something like Bleach. Look at Captain Celestia releasing her Shikai. It’s so powerful that it kills weaker Soul Reapers in a huge radius. That’s just releasing her Shikai, it doesn’t even remotely consider her actually using it or her Bankai. Seriously, with his Shikai, Hurricane casually sliced through the command center, and many Lieutenants cause relatively massive destruction, constantly creating craters and tearing apart the land and buildings. Seriously, how do the two power scales even remotely match (and don’t forget that Sunset is from Equestria and was awed by things like weaker Hollows and other relatively lower levels powered characters like sealed Clover and Fancy Pants. That was before she got a taste of what the higher up players can do).
You cheeky son of a bitch!! Can't believe you used a variation of the spanish inquisition meme!!!
8460178 Yes I have which is why I know you're full of shit.
1) It's pretty evident at this point top tiers like alicorns focus their magic specifically so it doesn't nuke the planet or city they happen to be fighting in. The villains do the same because they are trying to rule it not destroy it. Flurry Heart casually destroying the Crystal Heart is a fine example of what happens when they don't or can't do this. It's the same reason Dragon Ball characters don't destroy the planet everytime they throw a punch.
2) You mean aside from the Sun being much larger than the moon (and noted by Celestia to be harder to move), the moon still going through lunar cycles, Twilight accurately describing a star in season 1, Twilight also referencing real life constellations like Orion, showing off a solar system remarkably similar to ours to the EG varients (no reason for her to be showing them their solar system), the moon being outright shown to look EXACTLY the same as the EG one (complete with the same set of stars around it) and showing both orbiting the planet (this is the only real difference between them and their real life counterparts). Equestria was fine in the season 5 finale for the same reason Piccolo could destroy a moon consequence free. The writers hand waved it for the sake of the plot. Their is FAR MORE evidence they are a legit Sun and Moon than not. There's a reason it normally takes the elements of harmony or something similar to deal with top tiers.
3) Having a special talent isn't a get out of jail free card when it comes to magic in MLP. They still have to provide the energy for the spell to work so that point is moot. Also Rarity wasn't wearing a magical artifact or buffed in any way when she made that storm in Season 3 so way to be wrong on that one. Rarity being as average a unicorn as you get, it falls perfectly in line with Shining Armor's shield spell and Twilight, Sunset and Starlight all being stronger. There's also shit like Rainbow's first Sonic Rainboom, Maud generating a massive explosion just by casually tossing a boulder. Point is regular ponies pull off city level shit which you need a Captain at least to do in Bleach. Which series is operating on the higher scale of power? Which is the one actually being nerfed to make this work.
4) I'd also refer you to last chapter where Sunset directly stated her Bankai was AS STRONG as her demon form and Daydream Shimmer (specifically those were the only two times in her life she felt THAT powerful) so it's clear the author at least doesn't intend to present powerful ponies as a non-threat. Starlight wont be walking all over Princesses in this story at all. But hey, you want to think ponies are weak, fair enough but don't blame the author or the story if Princesses can trade blows with the best of the Soul Reapers, Quincies and Hollows.I'll certainly appreciate it (Because they should actually be much stronger).
I don't want to fill these comments with an argument that I can already see will go nowhere so I'll say no more on the subject. Think what you want and do what you want.
Another great chapter. Well done.
Please tell me pony Starlight and human Starlight will meet.
8460554
I’ll just say take a look at your arguments. Most of them aren’t. For the sun and moon, you had to handwave everything away and use skin dressing. Both the sun and moon were in the sky at the same time, but the sky was half day, half night... You don’t use anything that confirms the sun and moon are similar to ours, just that the sky looks similar to ours, that Celestia says the sun is harder to move (which actually hurts the sun being similar to ours as it’s a geocentric system), which could mean just slightly harder or because it’s on fire (or many other reasons), and claimed Twilight accurately described a star without giving an episode or describing the scene. Any and all physics don’t work at all and hand waving it away as magic without proof isn’t an argument.
You also assume and ignore a lot more. Rarity didn’t just materialize a storm, she was manipulating clouds (as pegasi normally do), at least if you’re talking about Magical Mystery Cure, that’s the only time I remember her doing so, where she also had Rainbow’s cutie mark. Flurry Heart was having a foal magic surge (as described in the episode where Pinkie was babysitting the Cake twins for the first time) and only broke the Crystal Heart, so it was just like a high pitch breaking glass, nothing more. Rainbow’s first Rainboom didn’t break anything besides a few clouds and the one specific destiny boulder Rarity was near, with no other Rainboom causing high damage (the most we see is a barn being blown up). Maud is shown to be an exception to common strength, and the way she punches through boulders, any Lieutenant can break in a single hit. Heck, we see Twilight pushing as hard as she can in Boast Busters when carrying the Ursa Minor (and Twilight is one of the two strongest unicorns).
Special talents matter a lot. Fluttershy didn’t do anything special to be able to talk to animals, she was born like that. Twilight and Starlight were also born with immense power, while Sunburst was born weak (we see how bad Sunburst, who was constantly studying magic, was outclassed by Starlight, who was just listening to him). Rainbow Dash was born able to cause Rainbooms (a feat thought to be a myth pulled off by a preteen is not something that can be done just through training, and it’s not like Rainbooms are subtle). Pinkie can break reality for gags. Maud is shown to be freakishly strong (as per others reactions to her in the episode she was introduced) Twilight swapping cutie marks had pretty catastrophic effects and Starlight completely removed abilities by taking them away and swapped them in A Royal Problem.
The holding back argument is incredibly dumb. First off, it assumes that the characters can only operate at 1% or 100% (shows like Dragon Ball and Bleach don’t have that problem), and none of the weaker characters are ever shown actually using their supposed hidden power, when it wouldn’t have any catastrophic results. There were tons of cases where their lives, and their friends lives, were in danger and they showed no such power. Second, there were many times when a character had no reason to hold back. Why didn’t Celestia and Luna nuke the storm? Why have they never shown flying ability near Rainbow Dash (or strength near Maud, but that one could be argued to not have an appropriate time yet)? Why didn’t Discord go all out when Tirek betrayed him? Why didn’t Luna go all out against Celestia? Probably the most damning example, in A Royal Problem, where there was a nightmare of the worst case scenario, why weren’t Nightmare Moon and Solar Flare nuking anything? It was a dream with no ponies around and supposed to be how things could go horribly wrong, yet they were still holding back? That also assumes that Twilight and Tirek were also both holding back immensely, when it was made clear Twilight couldn’t hold back well at the beginning. Heck, do they also turn off all their defenses as well? Celestia has been taken out by small beams twice after all (Chrysalis and Luna).
Don’t confuse gag scenes with dramatic scenes. MLP acts similar to a lot of anime (and Teen Titans) in that it separates gag abilities and drama abilities. Pinkie can do almost anything when it’s funny, but her abilities are significantly nerfed during actual dramatic moments. The same thing happens in a lot of anime where for jokes, the power scaling is thrown out the window. Twilight can take an anvil and Grand Piano to the head in Feeling Pinkie Keen, but lighter rubble is treated as very dangerous in the first Maud episode.
Friendship is Magic does not have anything resembling a power system as the writers don’t care about it. Bleach has characters that constantly escalate at breakneck speeds (each new threat dwarfing the previous so much that it’s a complete curb stomp). MLP doesn’t have anything like that. The characters aren’t trying to get more powerful, and while they’ve grown on their personal skills and work better together, they haven’t had much, if any, combat growth. We’ve constantly seen them pushed to their limits and how completely inconsistent they are.
We’ve actually seen crazy power in Bleach. We haven’t seen anything match a Menos Cero besides Twilight vs Tirek in FiM (and Menos are just canon fodder for Lieutenant plus levels). It requires tons of hand waves and assumptions while also making the characters seem completely incompetent to say FiM characters have similar abilities. There’s no reason to assume that MLP characters have that kind of power other than you wanting them to. Heck, even if they were granted the raw power, they do not have the skill of a Lieutenant (their reaction times and strategies are way lower).
The only power in FiM that can rival anything from Bleach is flat out Harmony, but that power can do anything. It’s not accessed without Twilight and co or Sunset and co, and it clearly overpowers everything, but it also has its own mechanics that would make it useless in this scenario (doesn’t help that Twilight and co haven’t used it since Tirek, if it’s even still available).
If the author decides to have the ponies match Soul Reapers, whatever, it’s his/her fic and doesn’t have to match canon. Heck, the characters might cross dimensions and lose most of their powers due to different mechanics. Still, arguing that canon FiM characters can come close to matching Bleach characters is absurd, let alone surpassing them, as the power scales are obscenely different.
And I’m done with this as well.
8460554
8461037
While I'm in no way trying to pour fuel on any particular debate, I feel like I can at least address this issue and explain my own thoughts on it without giving away any real spoilers and hopefully at least let my audience know where I'm coming from here and more or less how I intend to handle this. Clearly whichever way I go there will be some level of disagreement, but that's okay, that's just part of writing. Anyway here's the way I see it:
The upper tier of characters from Equestria such as the Alicorns, Discord, Tirek, ect. will somewhat lag behind the upper tier characters from this Bleach crossover-verse, but not so much so that they cannot or do not pose a credible threat in a fight. The primary difference is in the focus of powers from one world to the other. The characters in the human world have developed spiritual powers for use in warfare, and have been doing so for some time, where emphasis is placed heavily on destructive power and combat ability such as enchanced speed and strength. The speed is really the most key factor, with powers like the Soul Reapers Flash Step, or the Arrancar's Sonido, and the Quincy Hirenryaku. Equestria's magic doesn't have an exact counter for such high-speed movement, although it does have a similarly useful spell to match it; teleportation. Technically speaking a skilled teleporter could potentially match someone using Flash Step, however the main problem is that most of Equestria's most expereinced casters are not used to dealing with opponents who can move at those speeds. That said the Alicrons are not defenseless, and have abilities that could allow them to fight against strong Bleach-verse opponents, especially if they band together to make the fights two or three on one.
One is the defense shields magic can produce. Unicorns and Alicorns can create those shields near instantaneously, and they've been shown to be able to withstand lots of punishment. There aren't many clear benchmarks for just how much punishment, but I find it within the realm of plausibility that either Luna or Celestia could erect shields to withstand higher level Kido or Ceros (probably not top-tier Ceros like Ulquiorra's Cero Obscuras, but I mean, c'mon, Ichigo had to completely Hollowfy to deal with that). Speaking of Kido, I find it within the realm of logical plausibility that while magical beams are the normal and standard form of magical attack, that Equestrian magic probably has a few spells that equal the complexity and versality of Kido spells, and in several areas likely surpass Kido in terms of versatility. Kido falls largely into the two sweeping catagories of Hado (destruction) spells for attack and Bakudo (binding) spells to limit enemy movement. Teleportation could potentially negate almost all Bakudo (except ones that literally trap dimensional movement), while I find it plausible that an Alicorn's magic beam could at least match Kido up to around level 70 (around where Raikoho is). Level 90 Kido like Kurohitsugi, however, might be the kind of thing that goes beyond what Luna and Celestia have seen before. I will agree that if any of the Alicorns had magic attacks of similar power then they likely would have been shown using them in the show itself, however I can easily attribute this to them simply not having a reason to develop such high end attack spells as in the past they had the Elements of Harmony to deal with larger threats like Discord and Tirek.
However I shall point out that by this point in Friendship Souls the Celestia, Luna, and Cadence of Equestria would have enough reports from Twilight Sparkle that they'd at least be aware of the potential threat level presented by the Hollows, Quincy, and Soul Reapers. Even in a short span of time it is plausible that in preperation to possibly take on such threats they've worked on developing new spells or create magical artifacts (or unearth old ones) that would help bridge the gap of power to a degree.
I'll flat out say that one one one the Equestrian top tier folk are still at a disadvantage versus the one's from the Bleach end of the specturm, but it isn't an insurmountable disadvantage. Working together the Alicorns could present a decent enough challenge to a Soul Reaper Captain, and with time to develop more combat focused magic and artifacts they could even the odds. That isn't to say that characters like the human Starlight Glimmer aren't serious and legimate threats, but I won't go on record saying she could solo all of Equestria either. Not that she'd want to. Her objectives are a little different than that, but I'll leave that for the story to reveal.
Either way I hope at least I've given a clear enough idea of where I stand on the question of comparing the power scales. Whether you guys agree with my notions or not, I do hope to keep providing an engaging story of action and adventure here for you folks to enjoy.
8461356
The issue was never what you do with your story, but comparing the canon universes. You can have the characters however powerful you want (usually when it happens, stories change past events, like having Chrysalis sneak magic dampening tea or making the fights more than they were). There are plenty of ways for a fanfic to even the ground, but canon wise, the two universes are on completely different levels. As for teleporting through bindings, the teleporting characters haven’t actually been bound without something else keeping them from teleporting interesting enough (except maybe A Canterlot Wedding, but that can easily be argued either way).
I’m pretty sure you’ll have no trouble establishing the power levels of the characters, in particular since Starlight isn’t out for blood. My recommendation (which you’re probably already planning) is to have Sunset and co get the Equestrian characters used to their speed in a short training section and help them develop counter measures (and maybe better integrate their magic). Magic’s main strength is its
ability to do whatever the show writers want with no consistent rules or systemsis it’s versatility after all. The only thing I’d say to be careful of is to not contradict earlier parts of the story or lore when it comes to power levels, and establishing on what level Daydream and Midnight were (as in canon, they were wielding pretty much the power of the Elements, which outclass basically any individual FiM character by a long shot) compared to both the Equestrians and human world characters.8461356
Well I'm happy to know that Equestria isn't completely defenseless against the Bleach universe. That they are likely not a match in terms of warfare capability is expected, I'm just happy it won't be space marine vs anemic toddler difference in power and ability. Looking forward to more.
Pffft....Star light's going to absorb the magic of friendship "as as she figures out how it works".
There's so much I could say here but I'll think I'll go with the obvious: You kinda need friends for that, love.
8461356 Well on the topic of speed, regardless of weather or not you accept that the Sun and Moon are legit (I do so pretty much in my mind you're giving the Ponies a reasonable nerf to make the story work which is fine, crossovers generally need one verse amped or nerfed to work anyway) the sheer speed that Luna, Celestia and the like are able to chuck them around at despite their obvious distance from the planet, and the fact they can react so fast to attacks from their equals as you pointed out, would easily allow them to react to any Bleach character. That kind of speed really wouldn't be a problem. Just because someone doesn't move fast doesn't mean their reactions aren't freaking insane (shit Rainbow did a near instant 180 at supersonic speeds to avoid hitting the ground and easily dodges lightning, Pony reactions are crazy).
I think the weakness I would have focused on would be the Princesses' pacifism and unwillingness to kill or maim (give them a reason to get angry though and you're in trouble) but lack of movement speed works too even if teleportation does kind of make that a moot point. So just below the Bleach verse top brass, well to be fair one of those is going to be the final villain so yeah I can get behind that. Wouldn't be much of a final villain if the Princesses could match him outright since they aren't the main characters.
I'm just happy to hear you wont be writing them off completely as non threats because that really would be pushing it in my opinion, they'll get some badass moments and that makes me happy. Keep up the good work. Story is still awesome.
Did someone say magical feats?
While not overly powerful both Pony Starlight and Princess Twilight have shown skills that MIGHT at least hold off future threats. If applied right though, I fear that Princess Twilight though skilled, lacks the combat prowess, instinct, & stamina for prolonged battles. Plus her naivety, logic or acedemical based decisions, and disregard for ultizlizing and developing her Earthpony and Pegasus aspects, leave her short of reaching full Alicorn potential.
Pony Starlight has shown to pretty adaptable and calculating on the fly, but her self doubt, emotions and physical attributes hold her back at times. Just pointing some things out to consider.
Who knows how things fair in future chapters. Though I personally believe that the EQG spirtuallly inclined rouges have a great advantage in all other categories. Unless the portal still transforms the traveler like the mirror does, otherwise it will be an uphill battle for Equestria. Also I apologise for the ebbing dump.
Man, just before starting this chapter I was thinking to myself "What if Equestria was the Queen's Realm? Since there's an unusual lack of hollows lurking around? Nah the author won't go there...."
Well, I finally caught up. I gotta say, this is one of the best done cross overs I've read.you really have merged these two worlds in a fantastic way and not just having them play the rolls of Bleach characters.
I have a blog series I write to help new writers. Would you mind if I use this story as an example of a proper crossover?
8475306
Thank you, and by all means feel free to use my story if you feel its a good enough example of crossover fics.
Great chapter.
However, I admit I'm a little afraid that it will be "Human Starlight curb-stomps her way in Equestria". I would find it disappointing.
I mean, they have 3 alicorns (4 now that Pony Twilight is back), the god/spirit of chaos himself, all the species allied to ponies ( among them, freaking DRAGONS) and various monsters all over the place. Besides, due to their pacifist nature, ponies are stronger than they let themselves be.
If the plot still decides "Human Starlight conquers Equestria", at least It should give the feeling it was a hard-earned victory for the villain.
But in the end, it's your story, Thatguyvex, you do what you want.
Oh no, oh no.
I really, really don't want Equestria proper to get involved in this mess...
Hmm, if Starlight only wanted to get to Equestria, she could have just slipped through the portal at some point. Who would stop her if she just stealthed her way in? It's not like the guards were doing much active guarding over passive observation. There must be something more to this.
10748181
She might be trying to tear the barrier between the two apart; kinda like Midnight tried to do
Reading this story through for the second time. Honestly not sure how I missed the chapter title; it's a good one. Lol
Even being the second time reading this you still make me want to jump into the story and start smacking Starlight over the head. You have really captured her persona from season 5 of the show.
Keep up the good work. I love this story!