Episode 86: Reunion
Episode 86: Reunion
“Doesn’t this all seem a little... odd, to anyone?”
Rarity’s question was met with a number of looks from her friends, to which she quickly amended, “Not that I’m not absolutely happy that Twilight has returned and wants to meet with us, but why this particular venue?”
She was referring to the fact that they were walking through a rarely used bike trail on the edge of the Everfree Forest, not at all very far from the highway heading towards the mountains. They weren’t far from they city, and in fact the taller buildings of downtown were still visible through the thinner parts of the forest. The trail was fairly scenic and didn’t go deep into the forest, but there was a small gazebo area sometimes rented out for picnics and the like, that was deeper in. It was this location that Twilight’s letter indicated they should meet, giving an appointed time two hours after the end of the school day.
“Hey, maybe she’s just tired of being cooped up wherever her family stashed her, and she wants to get some fresh air,” Rainbow Dash said, shrugging, “I don’t care where we meet her, personally, I just want to see that she’s okay.”
“As do I, I’m merely finding it just a tad unusual that she’d send a letter, asking us to meet her in some remote location, conveniently out of view of the general public, instead of just meeting us at the school herself.”
“What are you trying to say, Rarity?” asked Sunset, “You think this is... what? A setup?”
“Heavens no! W-well, probably not. I mean, couldn’t someone have forged the letter?”
Suddenly Rarity felt her head being rubbed on both sides of her temples by a pair of pink knuckles as Pinkie Pie made soft ‘oooom’ sounds, “Relaaaaaax Rares. All that craziness back in Soul Society has got you par-i-noid! If there was something super skullduggery about to go down, I’d be feeling it with two shakes of my left eyelid and a buzz in my stomach. Twice, if its something really bad, or I ate too many cupcake flavored pancakes that morning. But neither, so we’re good.”
Rarity sighed, gently removing Pinkie’s massaging hands and said, “Yes, I am quite likely overthinking things. Its just, the timing, the location, the fact that the letter requested just us and asked that Clover not join us. That’s unusual isn’t it?”
“Well, could just be Twilight ain’t wantin’ ta make Clover feel awkward,” said Applejack, “I mean, she bein’ a Quincy now an’ such, maybe she’s worried it’ll make talkin’ ta Clover feel a mite weird.”
“Perhaps...”
“It’ll be okay Rarity,” said Sunset, “This is Twilight we’re talking about. Whatever’s happened to her since we last saw her, she’s still our friend.”
As Sunset spoke the girls came upon the gazebo itself. The structure was fairly typical of its type, mostly made of wood painted in various dark shades of green or brown to help it blend in with the natural beauty of the forest around it. It was situated on a short, offshoot path from the main bike trail, up on a small rise that was too small to really call a hill, even by a generous soul. There was just enough space there, between the trees, that the afternoon sunlight lit up the gazebo brightly, and a swath of blue sky could be seen overhead.
At first Sunset and the girls all looked confused, as they didn’t see Twilight there, but a moment later they all felt a faint spiritual presence and Sunset raised her hand to touch the air. It glittered before her like light reflecting off water.
“Some kind of ward,” Sunset said, and a moment later the air where she’d touched the barrier was marked by twin trails of blue light that expanded into the rectangular shape of a door-like opening. Now, beyond that opening, they heard a voice call to them.
“It’s okay, I’ve opened up the screen, so you can come in. I would have done it earlier, but I can’t afford to leave it open for too long.”
There was no mistaking that voice, and trepidation about the circumstances aside, Rarity was as eager as any of the girls in moving past the barrier and entering the gazebo, and as expected Twilight was there waiting for them.
Twilight was fully dressed in the stark whites of a Quincy uniform, and Rarity couldn’t stop a twinge of her inner fashionista crying out in need to give her friend a much needed makeover. White was so not Twilight’s color, and it was a travesty of fashion to force the poor girl into such a utilitarian and downright spartan ensemble! At the very least the Quincy could allow some accessorizing! And why so much white!? Why!? Where they deathly allergic to color?
However Rarity did note a few odd differences from what little she’d seen as the norm for Quincy outfits. Just about everything looked like standard Quincy issue, with the white military jacket and slacks, tall black boots, white military style cap, ect. However the finely made gauntlet consisting of slim, segmented armor on Twilight’s left arm was of a dark purple shade, and bore several colorful amethyst gems. It distinctly looked non-standard issue for Quincy. There was also a glove on Twilight’s right hand, though a much simpler affair of black leather. Twilight’s belt was laden with several pouches, more so than what Rarity had seen before on the uniforms worn by other members of Twilight’s family.
Perhaps more than her outfit, Twilight’s stance was off. She’d never been the most relaxed sort, but Rarity was fairly certain one could confuse Twilight with a stalagmite with how rigidly and stiff she was holding herself now. On top of that, it was impossible to miss the tired, dark shadows underneath Twilight’s eyes, as if the poor dear hadn’t been sleeping a worthwhile wink in ages. Well, there was one thing Twilight was sharing with Sunset, at any rate.
Whatever misgivings Rarity had, they were put on the proverbial shelf as Twilight’s eyes warmed upon seeing them. There was a sea of trepidation underneath that warmth, but it was still a genuine look, and a very real, if still awkward smile that touched her face as she said, “Sorry for calling you all out here out of the blue, but-”
Twilight’s words were swallowed up by a small ‘Ack!’ of surprise as Sunset proceeded to throw her arms around the girl and crush her in a tight hug, quickly followed by a group dogpile from the other girls, Pinkie Pie diving in with a cry of, “Super-glad-to-see-you-back-I’m-gonna-cry-group-huuuuuug!”
It took several minutes for the girls to extricate themselves from the group tangle, everyone alternating between various degrees of laughter and a few tears. Eventually they managed to pull themselves up, and Sunset offered Twilight a hand up, who took the offered hand after only a moment or two spent adjusting her glasses and fixing her cap.
“Yeah, I should have seen that coming,” Twilight said, giving a waning smile as she made a gesture towards the opening in the barrier, upon which it sealed itself shut again. Twilight looked between the girls, and Rarity could see the girl struggling to both relax and compose herself at the same time.
“It’s good to see you Twilight,” said Sunset.
“Yes, we’ve been so worried about you,” said Fluttershy, “You didn’t contact us at all.”
“We missed you soooo much, you have no idea!” Pinkie still looked like she was ready to jump on Twilight all over again, but was managing to control herself as she rather animatedly waved her arms around, “So much happened! It was crazy around here after you left! There was violence and kidnappings and conspiracies coming out the wazoo, and a few other unmentionable places! Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna were nearly executed by a giant flaming chicken stick, and we had to go to the afterlife and fight like, a bajillion battles to save them, but then this crazy purple chick (totally not you, by the way, different purple chick) was all like ‘Mwhahah I am the ultimate bad guy who you must face’ and we were all like ‘no waaaay’ and she was all ‘yes way’ and then more things exploded, and Rainbow Dash’s mom as there for some reason-”
Rainbow Dash got behind Pinkie Pie and clamped a hand over the other girl’s motor-mouth, face flushing as she said, “What Pinkie’s trying to say is that you missed a lot, egghead. Some of it private, thank you.”
The last was said while Rainbow Dash ground a heel into Pinkie’s foot, to which the other girl tilted her head, said a few more muffled things, then quieted down. Twilight blinked at them and Sunset was fast to interject into the awkward moment, giving Twilight a relaxed if somewhat nervous smile as she crossed her arms and looked Twilight over.
“I figure we’ve both got stories to swap, but seriously, how are you Twilight? You’re looking more, uh... formally dressed since we last saw you. Did things work out with your family?”
No one among the girls could have missed the shadow that crossed Twilight’s features, or the way her eyes seemed to darken with a flash of unmistakable pain, all quickly swept under by a stiff mask.
“I’m... okay. My situation is complicated. Like you, a lot has happened, and I’m not in a position to share all of it with you. I’m sorry. I’ll explain what I can, but please understand I have certain things I can’t discuss with you, even if I wanted to.”
That got all of the girls exchanging awkward looks, Rarity stepping forward, eyes filled with concern and her voice soft with understanding, “That’s fine, darling. We’re just glad to see you. After what happened none of us were sure when we’d ever see you again. It’s understandable that you’re position is a mite complex, and we won’t pry any further than what you’re comfortable with, right girls?”
“Of course not,” said Fluttershy, “As long as you’re okay, that’s what matters.”
“Darn tootin’ it is,” put in Applejack, coming up and giving Twilight a firm pat on the shoulder, “We ain’t here ta interrogate ya, we’re here ‘cause yer our friend an’ ya called us here. Anythin’ ya need or wanna talk about, we’re here for ya, plain n’ simple.”
“Exactly,” said Sunset, “Whatever you do or don’t want to talk about is up to you. We’re here to listen and support you, no matter what.”
The other girls all gave nods of agreement, and at this point Twilight’s formal mask started to crack, her face contorting in a pained, rough twist of inner turmoil. Seeing it left Sunset and the girls with clenched hearts of their own, each wondering what had happened to their friend. When Twilight spoke, it was just an octave above a heavy whisper.
“Thank you. I’m sorry. I really wish I could just... say everything that’s on my mind right now, but if I did, I’m afraid I’d turn into a mess, and I need to keep my wits about me. But thank you, it means a lot to me that you all are here if I need you. Eventually I might be able to talk about everything that’s happened. For now I just wanted to see you all again, and to... well I wanted to get some information. About Soul Society.”
Sunset’s head cocked to one side, and she shared a sidelong glance with Rarity. Was this the reason Twilight had requested the girls come without Clover? There was no suspicion in Sunset’s voice, but a hint of wariness in her eyes, “I’m not sure if I’ll know the answer or not, but go ahead and ask.”
“Well, first let me confirm some things. One, do you have regular contact with the Soul Reaper contingent in the city?”
Within Sunset’s mind a few warning flags were trying to raise, but she pushed those feelings down. This was Twilight. Quincy or not, she wasn’t an enemy. “We do. Like you, our situation is a bit complicated, but the long and short of it is that Soul Society has posted a number of Soul Reapers in town to help research the portal to Equestria, which is currently blocked.”
“Blocked?” Twilight’s expression turned curious, “How? By what?”
“It’s a long story, but we can give you the abridged version, if you’ve got the time?”
“Oh, I love the abridged version!” said Pinkie Pie. It was perhaps a testament to the other girls being used to Pinkie Pie that no one even raised a question or gave her more than a second glance at the remark.
A thoughtful frown passed over Twilight’s face as she raised a hand to her chin, rubbing it in consideration, “I made sure I’d have a few hours time to catch up with you girls, if need be. I’m not due back to the mansion until dinner, and even then, I’ve... got some authority of my own now, so even if I’m late, not many people can gainsay where I’ve been. So yes, why don’t you bring me up to date on what’s happened since I left.”
With that the girls decided to settle down on the various benches in the gazebo, and they got to really talking about the adventure they had in Soul Society. Each girl took turns explaining different parts, from their personal struggles and battles, to the moment of regrouping to save Celestia and Luna from the execution, and the final, harrowing confrontation with Starlight Glimmer in the depths of Hitsuyo Aku’s research base.
“...Since we got back we’ve had almost nothing to do except train, deal with the increase in roaming Hollows, and wait for the Twelfth Division’s research team to figure out a way through the block Trixie put on the portal,” said Sunset, finally concluding the tale. “A few other Soul Reapers are in town besides Celestia. Lieutenant Posey is here as the ‘security attache’ for us, along with a few Eleventh Division members.”
“I still can’t believe that this Posey person is somehow Fluttershy’s daughter from a previous life,” Twilight said, shaking her head in wonderment, then she gained an oddly self reflective expression, “Although I suppose it’s not the weirdest story about reincarnated souls I’ve heard lately.”
Sunset could only wonder what that comment might mean, but Fluttershy interjected as she bashfully twined a finger through her long, pink hair. “I, um, try not to think about it too much. Posey is a very nice girl, and I think she’s starting to accept I’m not really her mother, but it is still strange having her here.”
“Where is she staying at?” Twilight asked, “Not with you, is she?”
“Oh no, she and most of the other Soul Reapers have a house they rent out in town,” Fluttershy said, and Sunset nodded.
“Yeah, seems like Captains like Celestia have access to pretty deep bank accounts here in the living world for when they need to fund long-term operations like this, where multiple Soul Reapers are using gigais to pose as humans. Clover is posing as a transfer student, and I think Posey is working at a flower shop in the mall.”
“Mmmhmm,” Fluttershy confirmed, “I took her there to recommend her to Rose as a temp hire. Oh, that reminds me, did anyone ever find out who was robbing the mall?”
At Twilight’s questioning look, Sunset was fast to explain, “The mall and a few other local stores and gas stations experienced burglaries, and the methods used by the burglars makes us think that maybe it was Hollows doing it.”
“Really? That doesn’t sound like...” Twilight trailed off, then her eyes widened, “Oh. Oh that’s what she meant.”
“She? She who?” Sunset asked.
Twilight suddenly gulped, looking away nervously, hands fidgeting in her lap, “Oh, um, heheh, I guess I was supposed to deliver a message to you as well, but I’ll get to that in a minute. Right now I want us to stay focused on the Soul Society. So the researchers from the Twelfth Division, as far as you know they’re only here researching the portal to Equestria?”
“As far as I know,” Sunset said, then she thought about what Clover had told her earlier, that she’d overheard Meadowbrook and Celestia talking about some kind of change coming, “Although it might not stay that way. Clover heard Celestia and Meadowbrook talking about a change coming.”
“Meadowbrook?”
“Oh, he’s the Twelve Division Lieutenant, right above Clover on the command chain. He’s basically overseeing the portal research in lieu of Captain Starswirl himself,” Sunset provided, and as delicately as she could she went on to ask, “Just why are you so curious about this, Twilight?”
“Duh, because she’s spying, you dorks,” said Pinkamena, who’s head had manifested from a fine pink mist wafting from Pinkie Pie, who in turn flailed a hand at her doppleganger’s head.
“Mena, it's rude to eavesdrop!”
“And Twilight’s not spying on anybody!” said Rainbow Dash, glaring at Pinkamena, who simply rolled her eyes.
“She totally is.”
“Is not!” Rainbow Dash shot back.
“Oh, wow, what a convincing response. I may be only half of Pinkie’s mind, but I’ve still got more going upstairs than you.”
“Why don’t you come all the way out here then and say that to my face!?”
Before things could devolve further, Twilight cleared her throat loudly and spoke up, “Ahem, I think it would be best if I stop you there and simply come out and explain why I’m asking these questions. I hope you’ll understand, but in a sense, Pinkie Pie’s Fullbring is right, I’m gathering information on the Soul Reapers.”
“Ah-ha!” Pinkamena said, then delivered a raspberry towards Rainbow Dash with a tongue far longer than strictly anatomically possible, “Told you she’s spying.”
“I wasn’t trying to hide it,” said Twilight defensively.
“It’s alright, sugarcube,” said Applejack, sighing and shaking her head, “We ain’t accusin’ ya of nothin’. Well, most o’ us ain’t.” The last was said while giving Pinkamena a bit of a sidelong, hard stare, bot which the doppelganger rolled her eyes.
“Not my fault you guys can’t spot the obvious. I’ll just go back to sitting in Pinkie’s snowglobe brain and let you all play Breakfast Club with each other.”
With that Pinkamena’s head dissolved back into pink mist and flowed back into Pinkie Pie, who gave Twilight an apologetic smile while rubbing the back of her head in embarrassment. “Don’t mind Mena. She’s a bit cranky lately, because she’s having to do chores around the house.”
Twilight blinked, “You’re having your violent alter ego that likes to literally eat her enemies do... chores?”
“Mmmhmm, mom insisted. I have Mena hang out with the family all the time now, but mom and pop thought it would be bad for Mena to get used to loafing about, so they started giving her work to do. She helps Limestone do yard work, and Marble with laundry, and even helps Maud with cooking. She complains a lot, but I think Mena secretly enjoys it.”
Pinkie Pie’s right eye suddenly twitched and she whispered, “Mena, that wasn’t a nice thing to say. Oh, fine, be that way, but let me talk to Twilight. Heheh, sorry Twi, it can get weird having a voice inside my head that’s actually real.”
With an uneasy look on her face, Twilight muttered, “I can empathize.”
Clearing her throat, Rarity said, “So not to be a spoilsport, but I think we really need to clear up why you want to know about the Soul Reapers in town. No offense intended, but if you’re a fully fledged Quincy now, doesn’t that make them your enemy?”
With that question hanging in the air, Twilight carefully placed her hands in her lap and looked at them for a moment before raising her head to meet Rarity’s gaze, then shift her look to her friends, one at a time. “By definition; yes. One of the reasons I’m keeping even this meeting secret for now is that I haven’t gained full authorization to meet with anyone even related to the Soul Reapers. However I do have permission to pursue certain secondary goals how I see fit, which gives me some leeway, as long as I’m not too blatant about my actions until Sombra arranges certain things for me.”
“Sombra?” Sunset said, her mind tickling at her memory upon hearing the name. It sounded faintly familiar, as if she’d heard it in one of her classes back in Equestria... but she just couldn’t quite recall the context.
A strange look came over Twilight, a sort of odd mix of respect, apprehension, and fondness all rolled up into one half smiling, half cringing expression. “He’s... well, no point in hiding it, he’s the King of the Quincy. He is effectively the sole ruler of the entire Vandenreich, the Quincy military, and the one whom I’ve sworn allegiance to.”
“Waitwaitwait!” Rainbow Dash held up her hands in a halting gesture, “Like, what are you saying, that this Sombra dude is the head honcho of all the Quincy?”
“Yes.”
“And you’ve, what, sworn some kind of oath to serve him? Like a knight?”
“Almost exactly that, yes,” said Twilight.
Rainbow Dash’s face screwed up with confusion, “But why would you do that? I mean, I get you wanted to go with your family to understand them better or whatever, but they were totally pressuring you into that and I kinda figured you might be looking for a way out once you learned what you needed about Quincy mojo. What gives?”
“Things have changed, Rainbow Dash,” Twilight said, a quietness entering her tone that had nothing to do with the timid nerd the girls’ had once known, her tone containing a steady steel to it that none of them had ever heard before, “I’ve changed. Perhaps I might have once considered turning away from the Quincy, but that’s no longer the case. I’m still me. I’m still your friend. But you also must understand that I am a Quincy, loyal to King Sombra, and I have my own duties to fulfill in that role now.”
“It’s okay Twilight, we understand,” said Fluttershy, reaching out and putting a hand on Rainbow Dash’s arm, “Right?”
“Y-yeah, I guess...” Rainbow Dash settled back on her side of the bench and crossed her arms over her chest, looking sour, “So what’s this Sombra guy got you doing that needs you to get info on the Soul Reapers?”
“This is something of a delicate situation,” Twilight said, “So bear with me as I try to lay it out. Several weeks ago a battle took place in Hueco Mundo. It was the result of a raid the Hollows made on the Quincy training grounds. A raid that killed a number of cadets...”
Twilight’s expression darkened, and while all the girls looked concerned, it was Fluttershy who spoke first, sensing Twilight’s distress far faster. “Oh no, you were there?”
“Yes,” Twilight confirmed somberly, “I was participating in a training exercise with my fellow cadets when the Hollows attacked. It was... bad. But not as bad as the battle that took place later. The Quincy wanted revenge for the loss of those cadets, and specifically wanted to kill the Espada responsible for getting Garganta portals past the training ground’s wards. So Sombra organized and led a full scale attack on the Hollow fortress of Las Noches.”
She went quiet for a moment there, eyes growing distant and cold. Her hands clenched, and Sunset noticed that Twilight’s right hand, the one covered by the plain leather glove, gained an erratic twitch.
“Twilight?” Sunset said carefully, “You don’t have to tell us if it’s too painful.”
“No. It’s okay. I just need to explain the context. Yes, just the context...” Twilight blinked, shook herself, and went on talking as if she hadn’t paused at all, “The results of the battle aren’t as important to why I’m here as who I met in the middle of the fighting. Adagio.”
Twilight may as well have tossed a live hand grenade into the middle of the gazebo, for the reaction she received. Most of the girls were on their feet in an instant, questions flying from their lips in such an overlapping gaggle that Twilight could barely make them out.
“What!?”
“Is she okay!?”
“What n’ flamin’ tarnation was she doin’ there!?”
“How the heck did that happen!?”
“Does it really just take three licks to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop?”
“Were you able to talk to her?”
The last question came from Sunset, whose hands clenched at her sides as she stepped towards Twilight, her eyes filled with pained intensity. Sunset was feeling a swell of emotions ranging from freshly dug up regret over Adagio’s sacrifice to save them in Hueco Mundo, to a spark of elation at the prospect that Adagio was still “alive” (for lack of a better term), to a nagging fear over what news Twilight might have to relate.
Twilight took the barrage of questions in stride, adjusting her glasses as she held up her left hand in a placating gesture, “Please, just give me a second. I’ll explain. Yes, Adagio is... okay. As much as she can be, given her circumstances. The details of how we met in the fight aren’t really important. What is important is Adagio’s position, and the arrangement she’s made with me.”
She paused to give the girls a moment to collect themselves and gradually sit back down, although Sunset remained standing, her expression still anxious. Twilight looked to her, softening her tone, “First thing’s first; Adagio told me to tell you you’re not to go to Hueco Mundo to try and rescue her, under any circumstances.”
“Huh? But... why not?” Sunset asked, perplexed, “She can’t honestly want to stay a prisoner of that monster, Grogar.”
Aside from the inevitable confrontation with Starlight and her allies sometime down the road, the other reason Sunset and the girls had been training so hard was because rescuing Adagio from Hueco Mundo had been a much closer goal on their list, one Sunset felt like they might be able to pull off before the Soul Reapers were done researching a way to get to Equestria.
Discord had been working on a way to improve his artificial Garganta so it could stay open longer, and been providing some coaching on how to handle fights against Arrancar. He still expressed concern over them going to Hueco Mundo, but he hadn’t been planning on stopping them either. Primarily his concern was that Sunset and the girls would still be outmatched by the upper echelon of Arrancar, the Espada. He’d admitted that Sunset was improving her skills greatly, and sharpening her mastery of her Bankai at an impressive rate, but that she still was, at best, a solid match for the Eighth Espada, possibly even the Seventh if she really pushed herself. Rainbow Dash was on par with Sunset with her completed Fullbring, and they’d sparred enough times now with Sunset using her Bankai that she could readily admit that Dash, while not quite as strong as Sunset, was actually the faster between them.
But that still left Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie behind the power curve, with Discord estimating that, at best, if all four of them fought together they might match the Tenth or Ninth Espadas. Maybe. Possibly. If they were lucky. Of course they were all getting stronger, but until they completed their Fullbrings there’d only be so much good the training could do to push their powers. At the moment they were mostly working on expanding the range of their skill with Fullbring, getting used to using it on the air for high-speed movement and actually ‘stepping’ on the air, or finding new ways to use the powers they already had.
What that basically meant was that, at full strength, Sunset and her friends would only be able to handle the lower tier of the enemy’s top fighters. But that was fine by Sunset’s reckoning. Grogar was only the Eight Espada, after all, and it was him they’d need to beat to rescue Adagio... or so she thought. But clearly things had changed.
At Sunset’s question, Twilight explained in a apprehensive tone, as if even she couldn’t fully believe what she was saying, “I know this might be hard to hear, but it’s the truth. Adagio has, for all intents and purposes, fully integrated herself into Hollow society. She’s no longer under Grogar’s thumb. Quite the opposite, she’s essentially free of him, near as much as we can tell at any rate. She’s an Arrancar now... and... well, I’d like to say, but she made me promise not to tell the rest. She wants to reveal that bit herself.”
Sunset felt a confusing sensation, like being punched in the gut combined with an odd release of relief in her chest. It made her feel lightheaded and she found herself swaying over to Twilight and plopping down next to her while running a hand through her hair. The other girls all looked various levels of stunned as well.
“Seriously?” Rainbow Dash said, eyebrows shooting up her scalp, “We’ve been worried sick over that chick and she’s up and jumped into bed with the same jerks that kidnapped her sisters and made her go all Hollow in the first place? The heck!?”
“It’s not that simple,” Twilight said, “Adagio had to do whatever it took to survive, and things just turned out they way they did. Besides, I don’t think I’d say she’s ‘in bed’ with the Arrancar so much as she’s looking to make her own bed, one where she calls her own shots. And believe me, she’s as eager to kill Grogar as anyone, she just hasn’t had a good enough opportunity to do it yet.”
“Ya said somethin’ ‘bout her havin’ an arrangement with ya, Twi?” Applejack asked, “That part o’ why yer here, askin’ after the Soul Reapers?”
Twilight nodded, “Yes, it is. You see, during the battle, one of friends Adagio has made among the Arrancar, Ember, was captured by... um... Captain Luna.”
Sunset sat up from where she’d been sagging, mind still trying to absorb things, but her eyes freshly sharp and alert now, “What was Luna doing there?”
“We’re not sure,” Twilight admitted, “Adagio fought her briefly, along with two other Soul Reapers. Miss Cheerilee, and someone else whose description I didn’t recognize. At any rate, Adagio failed to stop Luna from taking Ember, and it’s only Adagio’s best guess from the context of what Luna was saying, but she thinks they wanted a live Arrancar for some kind of experiment purposes.”
Sunset would be the first to admit she wasn’t quite as naturally brilliant as Twilight was, but she was still one of the sharper tools in the drawer, and her mind quickly started connecting dots and putting together the pieces in front of her. “Wait, so you’re saying the Soul Reapers took this Ember person to experiment on, while at the same time the Soul Reapers are working on experiments on the portal to Equestria here in town. You’re thinking those two things are related, aren’t you?”
Twilight’s smile was small, but genuine. “Right on the nose, Sunset. Adagio and I figure its possible, even likely, that Ember might be used for an experiment involving the portal. That’s why I’m here, to try to determine if Ember is here or not, and if she is, to work out a way to rescue her.”
“Twilight, I hate to be the one who keeps bringing up the more unpleasant sides of a conversation, but I have to ask; why?” said Rarity, “Why are you, a Quincy, agreeing to help Adagio, who you’ve just pointed out is very much embracing her Hollow nature.”
“Rarity!” Sunset exclaimed, and Rarity flinched, but Twilight held up a calming hand.
“Its a valid question, and the answer is a simple one. I’m helping Adagio because she’s helping me. Our arrangement is one of exchanging information, mostly. It’s mutually beneficial, although made complicated by the fact that neither of us can afford for our cooperation to be exposed to our respective factions. I’ve gained Sombra’s permission, after some... convincing, to allow me to do this, but he can’t risk making it public knowledge to the other Quincy yet.”
“Why not? Ain’t he the King or whathaveyou?” asked Applejack.
“Yes, and strictly speaking his word is law among Quincy. However things are strained among the Quincy at the moment. The battle was, officially, a ‘victory’, but we...” Twilight’s eyes lowered, her voice becoming stiff with barely controlled pain, “...we took many casualties. Tensions are high, as a result. Worse, because of one particular death, two families in the Quincy are in open fued with each other, and even with my father trying to quell matters, there’s still a very real chance of it breaking out into bloodshed. Sombra doesn’t want to add any more sparks to the proverbial tinder pile at the moment, so for now my arrangement with Adagio has to be kept secret. She’s in an even worse position, because if any of her peers among the Arrancar learned she was providing a Quincy with information on them, she’d probably be executed on the spot. So she’s having to be even more careful than I am.”
The girls were silent for a few seconds, each of them mulling over what had been said. Finally Fluttershy spoke up in her usual, quiet but supportive tone, “I know I can’t speak for everyone, but I personally would be happy to help Adagio get her friend back safe and sound.”
“Yeah,” said Rainbow Dash, “Not sure how cool I am with her playing ‘Game of Thrones; Hollow Edition’, but least it fits her style, I guess. So what’s the plan once we figure out where this Ember chick is?”
“To be honest I was hoping that once you acquired that information that you’d mostly just let me and Adagio take care of the rest,” said Twilight, “There’s no reason for you girls to be involved more than need be.”
“Beg to differ, Twilight,” said Sunset, “If we get that information for you, that makes us responsible for anything you and Adagio do to save Ember. Which means if this goes down, we’re involved, period. Better let us help out all the way. Honestly it might make things go smoother that way.”
“Heeeey, not sure if anyone’s thought of this, but like here’s a crazy thought, why don’t we just ask Celestia, or even the old dude Scorpan if they’d just let Ember go?” asked Pinkie Pie, “I mean, doing this all James Bond style sounds super-duper fun and all, but wouldn’t just asking be way easier and avoid a whole bunch of misunderstandings?”
“Pinkie Pie has a point,” said Fluttershy, “We could avoid a lot of trouble by talking openly with the Soul Reapers about letting Ember go free.”
“Yes, assuming they’d actually listen,” replied Rarity with a soft frown, her eyes sympathetic but filled with a practical cynicism, “Let’s not forget that the Soul Reapers have very little reason to view Hollows like Adagio or Ember with any fondness, and they’d have no reason to consider Twilight anything other than an enemy right now either. Why would they let Ember go, just because we asked? They’d want to know our reasons, after all, and are we supposed to just tell them we’re doing it to help out our Hollow and Quincy friends? I doubt that will go over very well.”
“Maybe,” said Sunset, thinking hard as she tapped her fingers on the bench beside her, “Soul Society owes us one for helping them with the Starlight incident, and we know at least some of the Captains are pretty reasonable. Scorpan himself might listen to us, if we lay out the details and explain why we want to help Adagio and Twilight.”
“On the other hand, if we do this, and the Soul Reapers say no, then there goes any chance at all of rescuing Ember the old fashioned way,” said Rarity, “They’ll double or triple whatever security they have on her. So it's quite the risk, for an uncertain chance of success.”
“Ideally it’d be nice if we could get Ember back without a fuss,” said Twilight, “But Rarity makes a good point. You could ruin any chance we have of recovering Ember if you went to the Soul Reaper authorities and asked for her return. Adagio and I have a plan in the works that we’re confident will succeed, if we can just confirm if Ember is here in the city or not.”
“What if she’s not?” asked Sunset, “What if they have her in Soul Society?”
Twilight gave her a pensive look, “Adagio and I have a contingency plan in that event, but I think my hunch about her being brought here is accurate. When researching something like the portal to Equestria, you need to conduct your experiments on site. There’s just no other way to get decent, accurate data. If that’s why they took her, Ember has to be brought here. We just need you to confirm it, then play along with the plan from there.”
“And what does the rest of the plan entail?”
“I’d rather wait until we know for sure Ember is here before telling you,” replied Twilight, “I still need to refine the details, honestly. Adagio and I have only been able to contact each other once since the battle, due to our circumstances, so it’s been difficult to hammer the plan’s details out, but once we confirm Ember’s location we can move much faster. Will you help us?”
Sunset closed her eyes, then nodded, “I think... I think it goes without saying that we will. But I want you to trust me on something, Twilight. At least let me talk to Celestia about this. She’s not the sort to go blabbing if we ask her to keep things under wraps, and I think she’ll understand better than most about the situation. If we can get her on board to help, one way or another, it’ll make everything easier.”
There was plenty of uncertainty in Twilight’s eyes, but after a moment she nodded agreement, “If you really feel that’s the best course, but please be careful. We may have only one chance at this.”
“Don’t worry, Twi, we’ll pull it off. We’ve already been in way worse pickles,” said Rainbow Dash with a burst of confidence, “Just leave it to us!”
“Thank you, I will,” Twilight said, then stood up from the bench, “At any rate, I’d best return to the mansion now.”
“Hold up,” said Sunset, “You said you gave yourself a few hours time, right?”
“Well, yes, but-”
“But nothing,” said Sunset, standing up and reaching out to grasp Twilight’s hand. She was struck by how odd the hand felt beneath the leather glove. Somehow stiff, with odd contours, but perhaps that was just the glove itself. Twilight herself looked uneasy with Sunset’s contact, but Sunset gave her a reassuring smile, “You just go back to town and we haven’t seen you in forever. If you’ve got a couple of hours, I say we go grab some grub. You don’t look like you’ve eaten much lately.”
“I...uh...” Twilight stammered, gulping, and soon the other girls were chiming in.
“Ooo, lunch sounds great! Or is it dinnertime? Call it ‘lunner’,” said Pinkie Pie, “We can get sushi from the place Sunset works! Or used to work before they canned her for missing too many days.”
Sunset blanched, “It’s not my fault I’ve got to focus on training. I don’t have time for a day job, even part-time.”
“Food does sound rather divine right now,” said Rarity, “And really it’d be nice to actually catch up a bit with you Twilight, and not talk about any messy business. Just food and girl talk, yes?”
“That does seem like a good idea,” added Fluttershy, and Applejack gave a nod as well.
“Gotta be a better idea than just galavantin’ off back ta Quincy central, eh?”
Defeated by the eager looks and smiles of her friends, Twilight just sagged her shoulders and nodded, “Alright, alright. I’ll go. I just need to, uh, change into something more civilian appropriate. Which means I still need to go back to the mansion, if only for a few minutes. Don’t worry, I know where the sushi place is. I’ll meet you there.”
“Sounds good,” Sunset said, letting go of Twilight’s hand, unable to shake the sensation of how unnatural it’d felt. It had to be her imagination, right? “We’re not strangers, so I suppose say hi to your brother, Cadence, and your parents for us.”
For just a split second there was a frozen look on Twilight’s face, like someone had rammed a blade through her, but the look vanished almost as fast as it had appeared as she said, “I’ll do that...”
----------
“Why didn’t you tell them?” Sugarcoat asked Twilight about ten minutes later. They were sitting in Twilight’s room at her family’s mansion, Sugarcoat leaning against the wall by the door while Twilight grabbed clothes out of a dresser.
Twilight’s back went rigid, her hands pausing over a light purple blouse she was thinking of throwing on. “How could I? They don’t need to have something like that dropped on them out of nowhere. They were so... so happy to see me, Sugarcoat. I couldn’t ruin that by making them feel sorry for me, and I don’t think I could stand hearing... hearing all of the apologies that’d come after.”
“So it's better to just keep the pain locked inside you and deny yourself any help from the girls you claim are your friends? Yeah, that makes sense.”
Twilight flinched, then shot a small glare towards the other girl, “I thought you’d understand. You lost your parents too.”
“Which is why I know holding that stuff in hurts more than letting it out. Look, take my advice or not, you’re an adult now, and a Sternritter on top of that. You can feel free to ignore me. But I’m still going to speak my mind. Don’t like it? I can leave.”
“No... no you don’t have to go, and I’m sorry, Sugarcoat. I know you’re just giving me your honest thoughts. I just... I’m not ready. I’ll tell them when I can, but I just can’t do it right now.”
Sugarcoat nodded at that, her visor hiding enough of her face to give little of her expression away as she watched Twilight finish picking her outfit. “Fair enough. I’ll drop it for now. So why the secrecy in meeting them, if you’re just going to go out and have lunch with them anyway?”
Twilight glanced over at Sugarcoat. She hadn’t told the girl, or any of her other fellow former cadets, about her meeting with her friends in secret. Her official line was that she’d called them to arrange a lunch/dinner meetup. Nobody was supposed to know about the meeting in the gazebo. At Twilight’s look, Sugarcoat sighed and tapped her visor.
“You made this thing work a little too well. I followed you and saw the ward you put up, and those girls entering it. I won’t ask what you were talking about in there, it’s not my business, but I’m not sure why you were bothering with trying to hide it in the first place.”
“Why were you following me?” asked Twilight.
Sugarcoat shrugged, “I was worried. You’ve been distracted, and there’s still an assassin out there after you. Can you blame me for wanting to watch your back?”
“I suppose not,” said Twilight, then she smiled, “Thanks. I appreciate it.”
“Cool. So...?”
“So... would you trust me enough to accept that there’s things I can’t tell you? All I can say is that what I’m doing, I’m doing it with Sombra’s blessing. He just can’t make it official. It’s complicated.”
“I’m seeing complicated is kind of your shtick. Fine, I’ll leave it alone. But does this have anything to do with our agenda here? You’ve put together this research team, but I’m not seeing us do much yet in the way of researching your magic,” Sugarcoat said, referring to the ‘official’ reason that Twilight was back in Canterlot City.
With her mother gone, and her father dealing with the increasing tensions between the Hooffields and McColts, the mansion was essentially unused, and hence was an ideal location for Twilight to set up her own operation. She already had laboratories in the mansion anyway, so it wasn’t a huge stretch for her to remodel and expand some of that labspace to convert it for exclusive magical research, and there was plenty of living space to support her team. Though a part of Twilight knew she’d picked them partially just due to familiarity, the fact was that Sugarcoat, Sunny Flare, Lemon Zest, Sour Sweet, and Indigo Zap were all intelligent girls with their own fields of expertise to contribute to the task of magic research, and more importantly they were all aware of Twilight’s situation with Midnight.
Ostensibly the idea was that Twilight was in charge of determining the nature of each experiment to expand her magical skills and the ways in which she could combine that magic with Quincy reishi control, while each of her ‘research team’ would be the ones to assist in facilitating the experiments while acting as a think tank for further ideas. In practice Twilight just wanted her new friends close because the idea of letting them drift off to different Quincy battalions where they might get horrible slaughtered in another battle left her waking up in a cold sweat at night. She’d noticed Sunset had looked as if she’d been sleeping well, and Twilight could relate. She hadn’t had a single night of true rest since her mother’s death.
Still, as much as the real reasons she had the girls from Crystal Prep here were purely personal ones, they were far from useless in regards to the purpose of research. They’d only been here a few days but already not only was much of Twilight’s main lab converted into a testing area, but so had some of the fields outside the mansion. The plan was to start conducting tests on different spells and how they interacted with Quincy techniques, using the fields for focusing on teleportation and other larger scale spells, while using the labs for smaller stuff, primarily transmutation spells. Indigo Zap in particular was understandably eager to get to work on the transmutation experiments, since that magic was the one most closely tied to what Twilight had achieved with her right hand.
‘Ransotengai’ was the technique Sombra had showed her, just a day after their conversation. It’d been invented by a Quincy of Japanese descent, hence its break from the usual German naming conventions of most Quincy abilities. In essence the technique was meant for allowing wounded Quincy to continue to fight well past the point that their bodies would refuse to obey them, using reishi to create strings that could be mentally controlled to contort the body at will, like a puppet. Much like the tracer technique, Twilight had learned the Ransotengai fairly quickly, but she’d spent numerous hours in the late night hours in the previous weeks to adapt it to her own purposes.
Looking at her right hand, she ‘flexed’ it, although there were were no muscles involved in the process. The sensations from that hand were rough and cold, and her ability to move it was a matter of mental discipline rather than natural reflex. Beneath the black glove, the hand moved, grabbing the skirt she intended to wear. She could feel the cloth, but not with the kind of definition her real nerves would, but rather with a dull feedback along the reishi strings she was using to control the polymers and composite metals making up the hand’s construction. Much like with the normal Ransotengai, Twilight was creating reishi strings, but unlike that technique she’d experimented with several transmutation spells with Midnight’s help to form those strings into tighter bunches and coils, more akin to bones and muscle that filled up the otherwise largely hollow artificial hand.
As of now, she had what she calculated to be around sixty eight point nine percent of her original dexterity and efficiently with the prosthetic, enough to perform basic tasks and even perform in combat. She’d need to keep working on it to refine the technique further. She also hadn’t figured out how to teach another person to do the same thing, given someone like Indigo Zap didn’t have access to magic to create the needed spells to condense the reishi strands and bind them to the artificial limb. Twilight’s hope was to find a way to permanently bind the magic to a prosthetic so that she didn't have to supply the energy on her own, and allow the artificial limb to smoothly interface with any person they were attached to.
But that goal was a ways off, and for now Indigo Zap was getting around in a wheelchair. The girl did her best to hide her frustration and embarrassment at that, but at least the other girls were treating her well, and patiently.
As to Sugarcoat’s question, it was true they hadn’t actually started with direct research yet, and that was because a lot of Twilight’s attention had been focused on setting up the meeting with Sunset and the girls. Sombra had made it clear that until things calmed down among the Quincy, she had to keep the connection between her and Adagio under wraps. Rescuing Ember was a high risk scenario, but one that had to be done, because Adagio wouldn’t help them without it.
And they needed her help if they were ever going to get Fleur De Lis out of Hueco Mundo, or strike a critical blow against Grogar.
So Twilight couldn’t afford to put that mission at risk, and Sugarcoat and her other fellow Quincy friends had to be kept in the dark for now.
“For now all I can tell you, Sugarcoat, is to trust me. I may have to rely on you girls to turn a blind eye if I have to vanish every now and then to take care of certain things. In the meantime, our research here is still very important, and will take up most of our focus here. Which reminds me, I want to begin testing Sunny Flare’s theory on multiple teleports this evening, so if you could, tell her to get the field ready for when I get back?”
Sugarcoat was quiet for a moment, but nodded and leaned off the wall, “Sure, I can do that. So how are those Canterlot High girls doing, anyway? Last I saw of them was when that Rarity girl awakened that freaky blood power. Hadn’t heard much since then.”
Twilight paused, her mind wandering over the story Sunset and the girls had told her of their adventure in Soul Society.
“They’ve been busy, that’s for sure. Made quite the ruckus in Soul Society.”
“Are they really on the Soul Reaper’s side? Or are they, what, some kind of independent group and that’s why you’re comfortable meeting up with them for secret get togethers?”
“Honestly I’m not sure,” Twilight admitted, “Sunset seems to really trust Captain Celestia, and it's pretty clear they’re working pretty closely with the Soul Reaper contingent here in town. At the very least they consider the Soul Reapers allies now, but I think the girls still are operating independently, at least for now. Why so curious?”
“No real reason, just thinking that you trust them a lot,” Sugarcoat held up a hand to forestall Twilight saying anything, “Not that I’m saying that’s a bad thing. They’re your friends, before me or anyone else in the Quincy got a chance to really get to know you. Still, just try to remember that they if they really do think of the Soul Reapers as friends, things have the potential to get really messy around here, real fast. So just be careful, okay?”
The words caused Twilight to turn towards Sugarcoat, wearing a look of equal parts appreciation and worry, “I know, but thanks for the warning. I’m not going to take the Soul Reapers lightly, and I’ll make sure that if things do get complicated that things don’t escalate out of control.”
“As long as you’re aware. Guess I’ll give you space to change, then, and get out of your hair.”
With that, Sugarcoat left Twilight’s room briskly, and Twilight went about quickly getting out of her uniform and into the outfit she picked out. As she finished dressing she looked at herself in the mirror and found herself frowning deeply.
She didn’t recognize the girl in the mirror anymore. Somehow the simple blouse and skirt, the everyday shoes, it was like she was playing dress up rather than wearing something natural. As brief as the transition had taken, really less than a month overall, she’d become used to the Quincy uniform. It felt like it more accurately reflected her, rather than the civilian clothes she was now wearing.
“...I’m still me,” she said, although the sound of her own voice had a somewhat dishonest ring to it, even to her own ears. She shook her head, trying to banish those thoughts.
She was going to go out and spend time with her friends, and just try to let herself relax, just like old times. Even if some part of her knew it would never be like it was before. But at least, for a change, there wouldn’t be any Hollows to worry about.
----------
The Garganta portal opened like a dark wound, exposing its darkness in the middle of a small forest clear at the very edge of an expansive and sparkling lake.
Adagio stepped through the portal’s edge and her eyes flinched at the bright sun and sapphire blue sky above. It’d been awhile since she’d seen sunlight, and she took a second to enjoy the sensation of warmth before turning to watch her companions exit her Garganta.
“Man, look at this place. Talk about pristine,” said Di Roy, rubbing the back of his head with one pale arm, “What do they call this place again.”
“Camp Everfree,” Adagio replied, looking out across the lake. On the other side she could see a collection of numerous cabins and sheds, part of the recreational camping facility that operated in this track of preserved wilderness, a number of miles north of Canterlot City. The Everfree Forest was one of the largest in the state, as she recalled, and while Canterlot City skirted the forest’s southern edge, Camp Everfree itself was in the forest’s very heart.
It was also nearly defunct, underfunded, and barely used. She knew this because she and her sisters had hidden out around here a few times, back before the incident at Canterlot High. It was a good spot to come into the living world close to the city, but not so close that her presence or those of her comrades would be detected by the Soul Reapers.
“Neat,” said Di Roy, “Think they got any food over there? I’m starving. Hey Gaw, why don’t we go looking for something to snack on, soul-based or otherwise?”
Upon his query, a woman, or really more of a young girl, stepped out of the Garganta. Both her and Di Roy now bore the human-like shapes of full fledged Arrancar. Adagio regarded them both, infinitely glad that the process taken from the data stolen in Grogar’s lab had worked, at least as far as she could tell. She was elated to be able to empower her allies, although the means of doing so had been a touch and go affair. As it turned out, Grogar had discovered that if an Arrancar of sufficient power, such as an Espada, allowed a strong enough non-Arrancar Hollow to drink their blood, this triggered a process by which that Hollow could start converting into an Arrancar. It wasn’t a clean process, however, as the triggered mutation would only create a half-Arrancar unless they drank quite a bit of the Espada-level Arrancar’s blood, while also enduring a direct strike through their Hollow hole by the Zanpaktou of the Arrancar they were drinking from.
Grogar detailed the process as being similar to how certain Soul Reapers could infuse their powers into a non-Soul Reaper by stabbing them through the heart with their Zanpaktou and intentionally transferring the blade’s energy straight into the recipient.
The risk was that if the Hollow receiving the power transfer was not of strong enough will, the process would cause the power to become unstable and explode, just like Di Roy would have in his half-Arrancar state eventually if he hadn’t been transformed fully.
The process had weakened Adagio for a number of days after she’d done it to both Di Roy and Gaw, but she’d recovered swiftly enough. But now she’d made her two allies all the stronger for it, so the risk had been worth it.
Di Roy was a fit looking man in human form, with a rough mop of white hair that hung down from a large helmet of bone on his head that was reminiscent of a hammerhead shark. Perhaps most bizarrely, his teeth still had a bit of a shark-like pattern to them. His Zanpaktou also retained a faint shark tooth shape, serrated on either end. He wore a plain white shirt, left open to expose his chest, and Hollow hole in his lower chest. Aside from that he wore baggy white pants and black shoes, keeping his outfit simple.
As for Gaw, her appearance once evolved into Arrancar form had been a surprise. Mostly because of her apparent age.
Adagio had expected the humongous dinosaur-like Hollow to turn into someone akin to Torch. Huge, bulky, like some muscular, massive amazon warrioress.
Instead what Gaw turned into was a lanky young girl of perhaps fourteen or fifteen years of age in appearance. Her limbs were long, true, especially her legs, but they were thin, if thin in a very tough, wiry fashion. Her skin was dark as well, beyond a mere tan, and something more akin to a Pacific islander, with her Hollow hole being fairly small and situated where her navel would've otherwise been. Her hair was the color of spilled blood, and was a long, wild, and shaggy mane of spiky strands that hung all the way down Gaw’s back. Her eyes were golden in color, keenly alert. The remains of her Hollow mask consisted of a necklace-like formation of bone white fangs encircling her neck, like some hunter’s trophy. She kept her Zanpaktou sheathed by a leather cord strapped around her back, the weapon looking for all the world like a giant raptor talon in the shape of a sword, and when held the blade was curved inward rather than the more typical outward style of most curved blades.
It’d taken some work to convince Gaw of the need for clothes, as the girl didn’t seem to care or comprehend the point of them. Eventually between Adagio’s command and Roka’s insistence, they got Gaw to agree to wear what basically constituted a vest and waistcloth, and it’d taken quite a bit of effort to get her to agree to even that much. Apparently Gaw didn’t like the way the cloth felt on her skin, which Adagio sort of understood, having once been a species that didn't’ bother with clothes either, even if she vastly appreciated the use of clothes now. At least Gaw didn’t argue about the matter anymore, although Adagio noticed that the clothing was frayed now, as if Gaw had shredded some of the edges with her claws. And Gaw still had claws, tiny ones tipping her fingers. Fangs as well, although for some reason she often only sported a single uni-fang if one glanced at her casually. Adagio didn’t get it, but she didn’t question it either.
At Di Roy’s words, Gaw just turned her head to look at him sidelong, said absolutely nothing, then proceeded to crouch down and sniff the air like an animal seeking to understand the scents around her. Di Roy’s expression turned to an exaggerated grimace of mock annoyance as he said, “I know you can speak now, Gaw! C’mon, don’t ignore me!”
Gaw yawned and ignored him, scratching at her head as she kept sniffing around, taking particular interest in a nearby cluster of plants near a towering pine tree. Di Roy groused and kicked at the ground, turning to Adagio.
“She’s become impossible now that she’s turned into a pint sized brat- OW!”
He started shaking his leg, which had a Gaw attached to it via her fangs. She growled like a miniature wolf, doggedly staying attached to Di Roy’s leg as he shook her in a blur.
“Gah, dang it Gaw, I was joking! I know you’re sensitive about your size, GAH! She’s drawing blood! Adagio, do something!”
Adagio looked at them both, then said, “Gaw, don’t cripple Di Roy. At least not until we get back home.”
Gaw growled a bit more, then let go of Di Roy and stood up, licking bloodied lips while Di Roy rubbed at his slightly injured leg.
“Geeze, it’s not my fault you went form a hundred foot tall tower of dinosaur badass to a four-foot-nothing chibi with a unitooth.”
Adagio raised her eyebrow, “You do realize that Gaw is still stronger than you, right?”
“Yeah, yeah, I hear ya. Hey, wasn’t Roka right behind us?”
The woman in question stepped out of the Garganta then, dressed in her usual thick white robes and carrying a duffel bag over her shoulder. She nodded to Di Roy as she set the bag down, “I was just checking behind us to make sure we weren’t followed.” She looked to Adagio, “I didn’t see anyone following our trail, but it’s still possible one or more of Guto’s people could have marked where we’ve gone.”
With an understanding nod, Adagio said, “I think I hid our departure well enough, but with Guto’s thugs breathing down our necks I can’t discount the chance one of them would’ve spotted us leaving. Thank you, Roka, for volunteering to help out. Both you and Fenice.”
“It’s quite alright. We’re allies now, and friends. Let’s not concern ourselves with formality. I do hope Fenice will be alright while we’re gone.” Roka couldn’t stop a concerned look from touching her features, and Adagio gave her a confident nod.
“She should be fine. Guto’s people know she’s one of Lament’s children, so they won’t be crazy enough to strike at her. She’s helping out immensely just by house sitting for me. Dumbbell is still weak from his injuries, and I don’t really think him or either of the other boys could stand up to an attack from Guto’s forces, so having Fenice keeping an eye on things provides a layer of protection that’s needed right now.”
The situation was still tenuous, however, and Adagio wanted to get business over with as quickly as possible here in Canterlot City. She was here far sooner than she and Twilight had agreed upon. She was supposed to wait until Twilight got word to her about Ember’s location, but the situation had changed. Tirek, in his damned infinite wisdom, had given his newest two Espada a task. Another test of their capability and loyalty. Chances were Gilda was already on the move, but in true Hollow fashion Adagio was under no obligation to directly work with or help Gilda, so chances were the freshly minted Tenth Espada was taking care of her own tasks in her own way.
It would complicate matters with rescuing Ember, but Adagio was adapting the plan to compensate for it. For now, having her people hide out around Camp Everfree and set up a small base camp was step one. Step two would be for her to sneak into town and try to update Twilight on the situation, and maybe pay a certain shopkeeper a visit...
“Come,” she told her three companions, “Let’s find a suitable spot to set up camp. If I remember correctly from when my sisters and I stayed in the area, there should be a cave deeper in the forest that would be be perfect for our needs.”
“Sounds good to me. Hey Roka, you pack any stuff for s’mores in there?” Di Roy asked, pointing at the bag.
“Not as such, but we can easily acquire something with a simple trip to the store,” Roka said with a small wink, referring to the ease at which invisible entities such as them could grab whatever they desired from a human-run establishment.
“Remember we’re here to keep a low profile, until need dictates otherwise,” said Adagio, “Let’s go.”
With that she led her companions deeper into the forest. Gaw paused, taking up the rear, looking back at the bushes she’d been sniffing earlier. Her nose still twitched as the girl sniffed the air again, but at a call from Di Roy she shrugged and walked off after the others.
...
...About ten minutes after Adagio and the other Arrancar had departed, the bushes around the pine tree shook and trembled. They flowed away into the ground like a living wall of greenery, revealing behind them a trembling woman with pink skin, two toned neon pink hair that flowed past her shoulders, and wearing a simple summer yellow shirt and blue hiking shorts. Around her neck was a necklace of multi-colored geodes, faintly glowing as she clutched it, her breaths coming in terrified, short gasps.
Gloriosa Daisy had no idea at all who those... those ‘people’ were, but she knew that they probably meant trouble, and she was just grateful the strange powers of the geodes she’d discovered not so long ago had been enough to hide her. But what was she supposed to do about this?
Everything had started getting strange since she’d found the stones in the forest cave. Not only had she discovered the geodes gave her an almost instinctual command over nature, but she’d started to see things. Things that shouldn’t exist. She’d thought she was going mad at first, but it hadn’t taken her long to realize there was no way the sights she’d been witnessing could be some product of her imagination. Every time she went into the city to buy supplies for the camp or argue with Filthy Rich over the status of Camp Everfree, for at least the past month, she’d been witnessing sights of strange, masked monsters roaming the streets. And groups of people in black robes, battling those monsters. Yet no one seemed to be able to see the black robed people or the masked creatures, as if they were all invisible.
She’d told her brother, Timber Spruce, about this of course. He already knew about the geodes, and had even been willing to help her get a handle on the stone’s unusual power over plant life. At least he could see the effects of that and know it was real. He was having more trouble believing the stories about the masked monsters and black robed people who fought them, but he was keeping an open mind.
But he’d also been suggesting that they shut down the camp for awhile, and give her time to get a handle on the geodes and maybe just take a break. But Gloriosa couldn’t do that! Even a short ‘break’ would probably bankrupt Camp Everfree! Her family had run this place for generations! She wasn’t giving it up. Not to anyone, or anything.
Luckily, she had something coming soon down the pipeline that would fix the camp’s financial problems. Someone had offered her quite a solid sum of money to not only host a summer camp for the students from the local Canterlot High, but the principal of the school had offered a further and substantial bonus if Gloriosa was willing to allow the school to use the camp for an extended period over the summer for some sort of ‘summer extracurricular activities’. Gloriosa didn’t really know what Principal Celestia was intending to have her students do out in the Everfree forest all summer, but honestly for the money the school was offering, Gloriosa didn’t care.
For that kind of money, Celestia could do whatever she wanted with the camp, just as long as it didn’t endanger anyone and still followed all camp regulations.
But now that even weirder people were popping out of holes in the air, who clearly weren’t human... should Gloriosa just call the whole thing off?
No, she couldn’t do that. She needed the money. She’d just have to keep an eye on things, and hope for the best. And plan for the worst, she thought, as she stroked the glowing geodes around her neck, not noticing the way her eyes briefly turned from their natural pale green, to a much deeper green, with strands of blackness entering the whites of her eyes like an infection.
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Your are mean. T. T, you still haven't told us which number is Adagio, are you actually waiting a confrontation with principal Celestia to tell us? sight, anyway, waiting for this new arc :D.
Nice to see Sunset and the girls again, and psyched that they will help Twilight and not get caught up in that stupid fued
First
Hmm I have a feeling the geodes may be just the thing Twilight will need to help the Shadowbolts (Indigo to be more specific) and continue her research. Sunset and company still have their Equestrian magic powers so they don't really need the geodes in this universe.
Wanting to save Ember is all well and good, but what happens when Sunset finds out studying an Arrancar may be the only way to get back to Equestria? Unless Adagio and Twilight have a replacement in mind (bearing in mind Adagio doesn't know where Gilda is), Ember is their best bet right now. This is a tricky situation.
Not sure how powerful the geodes will make Gloriosa. Midnight's magic alone overpowered them easily, though they did destroy the memory stone (something even Clover the Clever, Starswirl the Bearded's most notable student short of the Princesses, couldn't accomplish). Gaia Everfree form Gloriosa could be a serious threat all things considered.
Which begs the question, could the memory stone potentially be used to break the seal on the memories of the Rainboom's mothers? Does Wallflower already have it and will she get involved at some point?
As much as I would like for the girls to be able to tell everything to Twilight about Ember, how many Soul Reapers will they get killed by telling the enemy where she is? Not only do the Hollows want Ember back, they probably also want to spill quite a bit of blood doing it. Adagio would probably be completely fine with no blood spilt, but you know Torch won't be happy if there isn't. Twilight ought to know that is the price of getting the info for Adagio. Will Twilight accept responsibility for those lives lost or just accept that she'll need to sacrifice people to get what she wants.
I don't see Sunset telling Celestia about the rescue ending well. She my be a very compassionate person but she is still a Soul Reaper first and foremost. I have a feeling this rescue will end up forcing Sunset and the girls to pick sides between the Soul Reapers and Quincies.
Big things are on the way. How many arcs are you plannig?
Everytime I think about Twilight studying magic, I think about the "Medallion" situation from Bleach. If Quincy would use magic they would definitelly use it for war (Reapers and Hollows too). Hope Twilight is aware of that. And that she should be 100% honest with Sunset and Humane Five, but if next chapters will be like "Legend of Everfree" they (hopefully) will sort things out. Did not see that one coming.
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Interesting idea with the geodes, but personally wouldn't mind give Humane 5 additional magical bust or extra powers. The only thing that magic do to them is, probably, accelerating growth in power and that could be just their innate talent.
Glad to see Twilight's meeting with Sunset and their friends went better than what I had originally thought. Looking forward to seeing what happens next. Especially since Adagio's back, and is planning on making a visit to Canterlot City.
I just KNEW that Gaw would be jailbait as an arancar. The laws of comedic Anime Tropes always demand that the giant lizard/dragon monster's human form be a young teenaged girl.
I wonder about Adiago's Resurrección. Will it be something like turning her into a humanoid mermaid, or will it return her to her true siren form?
.ALSO WHAT'S HER NUMBER DAMMIT.
I'm putting my guess that when we finally get to see a Segunda Etapa, and we WILL, it will be Chrysalis.
And the upcoming gag is that the soul reapers are treating ember just fine.
I know this is a weird time to bring this up, but I always imagined Sunset's shield looking like Auriel's shield from skyrim, because it functions very similarly. (I know her shield is shown on the cover art, I didn't really see it when I downloaded the story.
)
vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/elderscrolls/images/e/e4/AurielsShield.png/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/350?cb=20120903220428
You turned Gaw into Radical Edward
didn't you?
Albeit one who is a little more brat than lovable scamp.
Another good chapter, by the way.
Dang it, I wanted to see what number Adagio got!
I'd almost forgotten this story began just after Friendship Games. I imagine the geodes will play a key role in the girls unlocking their fullbrings further.
Huh. Turns out I was just as paranoid as Rarity. Although, I had thought that only a few days had passed since the end of the last chapter and the start of it, not several weeks seeing that I thought that hollow attack on the Quincy happened shortly before the girls went to the Soul Society for a few days and the Quincy counter-attack was after that. Maybe I've just lost track of time.
Still, can't wait for next time. Whatever happens with Ember, I definitely see it causing issues with who's on who's side...
Still want to know Adagio’s rank! Love how Gaw went Chibi. OP Chibi strength!
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The geodes are their form of the elements so the best sci twi could use them for her research is turning people into devils. The magic of the geodes have owners and go out of control if used by anyone else.
Also twi is losing her ability to actually end the war. She is slowly going down her mothers path into a cog of the quincy machine that continue the war.
Her lack of shock at the fact that Sombra is basicly using the quincy souls as a never ending army says it all.
The hype is real. I'm wondering how Gloriosa will fare against people who can move at such high speeds.
9450465 Twilight is literally in the process of making an ally among the Arrancar, one who we already know is willing to negotiate peace with the Quincies and Soul Reapers if she takes control of Las Noches. How in the hell is she LOSING her ability to end the war, as opposed to making pretty good strides towards achieving that goal (at least for the Quincy vs Hollow side of things)?
Twilight is bothered by the fact Sombra absorbs souls. What do you expect her to do about it? King Sombra still ultimately wants to save humanity and he's clearly open to what Twilight is planning. Twilight's position of authority within their ranks is what will allow her to affect real change, in the same manner as Adagio's position within Las Noches allows her to do the same.
There is no confirmation of a connection between the geodes and the elements of harmony, especially because Sunset (who isn't an Element bearer) has her own. All we know is that they are a potent source of Equestrian magic that the girls are able to control because they have learned how to. There's no reason the Shadowbolts wouldn't be able to use them if they learned how.
Seeing the title, I thought at first it was Pony Dark Souls.
But Bleach works too.
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Indeed, after all, they seemed to over look it was Celestia's SISTER that went and took Ember. If it was another captian, I can understand there being some odds of winning over Celestia. But it was LUNA who did it, even going against Adagio and if I remember, knowing who she was as well, and still took Ember over someone else.
Celestia is going to 100% side with Luna, as the two have been shown to trust each other 100% and would never turn their back on each other.
Good to know that Sunset is doing the smart thing and going to tell Celestia about Ember. Not only is it the only way it can possibly go right (even if somehow Twilight and Adagio take a miracle out of their asses and are able to take back Ember without killing anyone, the break in thrust and guilt will destroy the team), they also have the advantage that such conversation will allow them to start fixing the entire mess once and for all.
If the team wants to stop the war, they have to start with the Shinigami. They are the only side with an actual goal and their desire for order allows the more decent sides of Soul Society to push towards a compromise. There is also no real reason why the Shinigami would be against letting Ember go, as their real objective is to learn how to get past the block in the portal and a willing Hollow is much better than an unwilling one for the investigation, plus letting the more level-headed hollows go and earn power means a potential de-escalation of the fight on that side, something that helps a lot the Shinigami duty of keeping the cycle of reincarnation going smoothly.
Having mind reading powers would be really usefull. Sunset could All of her oponents' strategies for trying to hit her; all the weak points they are trying to conceal. And it would really help solve some Twilight's emotional distress. I doubt she will tell The Girls about her issues, at least not not completly on her own. She has a habit of hiding things from Them. And maybe it could work as another safeguard in case the "Eye" started to act up again. Loose thought.
And since the "Overpowered" episode I've always wondered if they could have those power surges. Would give them great adventage in fights.
BTW, please tell me there won't be any TimberXTwilight shipping. SunsetXTwilight if any, just fits better.
I know gaw gonna be small
I wonder how the girls will react to learning that the Soul Reapers killed the same number of human souls as the amount of Hollow casualties in the Quincy battle, as well as the fact that it was necessary to keep the universe from being destroyed?
9451716
A couple of problems.
So to answer your question, it's a little hard to react to something that probably didn't even happen. If it did happen, then it would be nothing more than the Soul Reapers trying to "maintain the lie" as it were and would be majorly out of character for the Gotei 13 presented in this story.
Gaw has transformed into a yandere loli.
Lieutenant Poesy is here as the ‘security attache’ for us
Poesy is a very nice girl, and I think she’s starting to accept
and I think Poesy is working at a flower shop in the mall
a solid match for the Eighth Espad
and someone else who’s description I didn’t recognize
so that she didn't’ have to supply the energy
my version of the 'Legend of Everfree' arc, no with 100% higher chance of explosions
1. Posey.
2. Posey.
3. Posey.
4. Espada.
5. Whose.
6. Extra apostrophe.
7. Now.
Oh no, the Camp Everfree plot's gonna throw some wrenches into Adagio and Sunset's plans, I can feel it.
It will most likely make the Sunset and the girls stronger for it, though, with more magic.
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There is evidence of quincy destroying souls.
Discord is not the type to take things at face value and would check the validity of the information before he made a super item to try to fix the problem.
Oh pinkie...
Ooh, geodes. It'd be a shame it the girls didn't get them.
Everybody in-universe : “Thank god that everything’s settling down now”
thatguyvex : Smirks whilst lighting a fuse
In a later chapter, the one at the beach, Sunset wonder about why the relation of Posey and Fluttershy is akward, indicating than she didn't knew (which you confirmed when i asked about it) yet in this chapter she does know.
It's fucking weird.
So anime
10526750
So what, hollows are monsters are deserve genocide anyway.
9451016
The Soul Reapers are run by the Nazis zero division and nearly killed Celestia and Luna. The only morally good faction is the Quincy empire.