Episode 93: Internal Conflicts
Episode 93: Internal Conflicts
Cool, night wind whipped by Gloriosa, stirring her hair as she rode her motorcycle swiftly down sparsely populated streets. This part of Canterlot City’s suburbs catered to its wealthiest residents. Although relatively small and remote compared to many metropolis in the country, Canterlot City’s ideal weather and beautiful, scenic vistas, nestled between forests and mountains, led many with wealth to own homes here. Gloriosa repressed an angry surge of venom in her heart as she passed by opulent mansions, segregated from the rest of the suburbs by thick fences and iron gates.
It seemed a crime her family had to financially struggle to maintain the beauty of Camp Everfree, while other families profited from any and all manner of corrupt business dealings. She tried to remind herself that profit had never been the point of Camp Everfree, but reality was reality, and the camp needed money to sustain itself. It made her wish her parents had been just a shade less idealistic and a touch more practical minded. When that storm had taken them from her and Timber, everything had been left to her, and sadly she'd ended up with quite the financial mess to untangle. She’d spent many frustrating, stressful years keeping the Camp Everfree afloat.
There were times, in her darker moments alone at night, where the anxiety was so great that she fantasized about burning it all down. Just leave it all to burn and take herself and Timber far away somewhere to start over again.
Gloriosa’s eyes briefly grew an oily wash of black in their sclera, but she didn’t notice, and as she took a calming breath to push back the negative feelings, the darkness fled her eyes as well. Right now her frustration had to take a back seat to finding her brother. The magic she was using to track him was leading her deeper into the affluent sector of the suburbs, and when the magic reached a potent, unmistakable spectral trail that led through the gates of one of the largest manor houses in town, Gloriosa knew she’d found the spot.
The Sparkle family? Why is he here?, Gloriosa wondered as she gazed upon the name in large metal letters across the top of the entry gate. She recalled the invitation she’d received from Filthy Rich, and it had mentioned a Twilight Sparkle that he’d wanted to introduce her to. It took her a moment, but now that she was here, sitting in front of the gates to such a large mansion, she connected the dots in her mind. The Sparkle family, it was the name of the actual land owners for the portion of the Everfree that her family’s camp was built on. Technically speaking Camp Everfree did belong to Gloriosa’s family, but the land itself had been leased from the Sparkle family, but that was so long ago and they’d had so little contact with the Sparkles over the generations that it was practically a forgotten detail.
Could Timber have come here because he thought the Sparkle family might be convinced to help with Camp Everfree’s financial troubles? No, wait, he’d gone to town to research the legend of Gaia Everfree, hadn’t he? Perhaps he thought the family that owned the land might have tall tales of their own concerning the matter?
Whatever the reason, the thread of magic she was using to track him led right here, so one way or another she’d soon find out what had her brother here in the middle of the night. The gate had no guard, but there was an intercom buzzer mounted on one of the two brick pillars housing the gate. Gloriosa parked her motorcycle in front of it and pressed the intercom’s button.
Rather than a voice from the intercom greeting her, a voice spoke behind her.
“Hello there miss, can I help you?”
“GAH!” Gloriosa nearly tripped off her bike, twisting around to see a young man standing just a few paces behind her. He had light blue skin, swept back dark blue hair, and rather intense green eyes housed in a youthful and energetic face. He was currently smiling at her in a cocksure manner that almost instantly irritated Gloriosa, as if he knew full well he’d scare her by speaking all of a sudden. How had he gotten behind her without her noticing, anyway?
Schooling her face to neutrality, although her mouth probably did quirk in an annoyed frown, she said, “Maybe you can. I’m here looking for my brother, Timber Spruce. I have reason to believe he’s here.”
The young man’s brow shot up in speculation. Gloriosa noted he was rather well dressed in a light blue business suit. Was he a member of the Sparkle family?
“I see,” he said, looking her over, which left Gloriosa feeling distinctly uncomfortable and even more annoyed as she pulled her jacket closed against the night chill, “How do you know your bro is here?”
“So he is here?” Gloriosa shot back, and felt a touch of pleased satisfaction at seeing the man’s faint wince, “Unless you have a reason to keep me from him, I’m asking you let me in to see him. He was supposed to be home some time ago.”
The man seemed to consider for a moment, then gave a plain shrug, “Guess it couldn’t hurt. I’ll escort you on in, miss...?”
“Gloriosa Daisy,” she replied, maintaining the veneer of politeness. It irked her that the young man had a very nice smile as he went and punched in a code on the intercom’s keypad that opened up the gate.
“I’m Soarin. A pleasure to meet you, Gloriosa. Might as well leave your bike inside the gate.”
It was a bit of a walk up the long driveway to the mansion’s front entrance, but Gloriosa didn’t complain as she parked her motorcycle alongside the side of the gate while Soarin closed it. They started walking towards the mansion, and Soarin glanced over his shoulder at her with a knowing spark in his eyes.
“So you dodged the question, but seriously, how did you know your brother was here?”
Persistent jerk, she inwardly snarked, but faked surprise as she picked her brain for a plausible explanation.
“Huh? Oh, well I just GPSed his phone’s location on mine. We’ve got them set up like that in case we ever get lost in the woods.”
It was a total lie. She and Timber knew the Everfree forest like most kids knew their home’s back yards. She also wasn’t exactly tech savvy, and had no idea if phones could locate each other like that. She supposed it was possible, with all these modern apps and such, so she was just guessing a feature like that was available. Hopefully Soarin would buy it.
He made a small, amused ‘Hm’ noise, and said no more as he led her up to the mansion’s front doors. Up close, Gloriosa felt vaguely intimidated and irritated by the mansion’s overbearing size. Who needed a house this big? The cabin she and Timber grew up in could fit inside the front entry hall! Gloriosa was floored by the wide, spacious area as she followed Soarin inside to the well lit hall.
“So why is my brother here?” she asked.
“Better let him tell it,” Soarin replied, “It’ll make things easier, I imagine. At any rate, wait here, I’ll go fetch the present lady of the house.”
“Wait, aren’t you one of the Sparkle family?”
That irksome, boyish smile was back, “Me? Nope, just a workplace associate. And friend, I suppose. Most of the family is... unavailable at the moment. Only Twilight Sparkle, the daughter of the family, is present in the mansion. Give me a minute, I’ll let her know you’re here.”
He went up the grand stairs across the entry hall, and Gloriosa was left standing there, wondering what in the world was going on? Soarin seemed to know more than he was letting on, and Gloriosa was getting a strange feeling. Her magic tracking spell was still going, and trailed up into the ceiling, suggesting Timber was on one of the upper levels of the mansion. The entire building felt eerily quiet, and Gloriosa was left feeling like she was being watched, even though she saw no one around but herself.
Around five minutes later a young girl appeared at the top of the stairs. She was dusky purple color, with even darker hair marked by a pink streak. Bookish glasses perched on her nose, but that was the mildest part of her outfit. Gloriosa raised an eyebrow at the rest of the girl’s clothing.
Is that some kind of military uniform? I’ve never seen one like that. It’s almost all white.
“Hello, and welcome to my home. My name is Twilight Sparkle. I understand that you’re Timber Spruce’s older sister?”
“Yes, Gloriosa Daisy. Where’s Timber?” Gloriosa’s voice held a distinctly confrontational note to it, her patience wearing thinner by the moment.
“He’s upstairs, recovering. He was involved in an incident and was injured,” Twilight said, and Gloriosa felt the blood drain from her face almost as quickly as heated anger surged through her heart.
“Is he okay!? Take me to him, now!” she was already halfway up the stairs, even as she spoke. Twilight Sparkle regarded her with sympathy, holding up her hands.
“Of course, just follow me. He’s alright. No longer in any physical danger. He just needs rest.”
“I’ll determine that for myself,” Glorisoa said heatedly, “Why is he here and not at a hospital, if he got hurt!?”
Fear warred with anger inside her. The very thought that her little brother had been injured by anything ignited a fiercely protective flame in the pit of her stomach. He was all she had left of her family. She’d looked after him practically his whole life, even when their parents had still been around. After their parents had passed, she’d sworn to never let anything hurt her family again.
The intensity in Gloriosa’s expression washed over Twilight, but she kept a calm look and tone as she turned and quickly gestured for Gloriosa to follow her as she answered the question, “I know this may sound difficult to believe, but a hospital would have been too ineffective in treating his injuries in time. I had to have him brought here, for his own safety, otherwise...”
Twilight left the rest unsaid, and probably for the best, given Gloriosa was already near foaming at the mouth. The girl led Gloriosa up another flight of stairs and into a series of well lit halls. They passed by one door that was hanging open, and inside it Gloriosa saw a group of teenaged girls hanging out in some huge, well appointed lounge, watching TV. One of them was sitting in a wheelchair, and Gloriosa realized with a startled feeling that the blue haired girl’s legs were missing! In their place were strange looking metal and plastic prosthetics. Another girl, this one with pig-tails, turned to look at them passing by, and she was wearing some strange, high-tech looking visor over her eyes.
“Twilight, is something wrong?” the visored girl asked, and Twilight paused at the door.
“It’s nothing you girls have to worry about. I’ll bring you up to date tomorrow.”
“You better not be bringing in both boy and girl toys for having a party without us!” said one girl with lime green hair and neon pink skin, grinning while seemingly listening to music on a pair of large headphones.
At Gloriosa’s scandalized look, Twilight’s face flushed red and she said, “Lemon Zest, this is strictly business!”
“Cool! Have fun with your ‘business’!” Lemon Zest replied with a thumbs up.
Twilight growled something under her breath, face still blazing cherry as she led Gloriosa past the lounge and deeper into the mansion’s halls. “I can’t believe that girl, sometimes. I swear she likes teasing me only because I... uh, had that accident with her during training.”
“Training? Who are those girls? What’s going on here?” Gloriosa pressed, her voice rising slightly, “What does my brother have to do with any of this?”
“Just be patient. He and I will explain everything. His room is just over here,” Twilight replied as she hastily turned down a branch in the halls, and brought Gloriosa to a simple white door. Beyond it was a very well furnished and luxurious looking bedroom. Beside the bed was some medical equipment, most of it hooked up to the familiar figure laying in the bed.
“Glori!?” Timber Spruce said, clearly surprised to see her. Gloriosa for her part crossed the space from door to bed in an eyeblink, her arms carefully but firmly hugging her brother.
“Timber, thank goodness you’re okay! What happened!? Do you have any idea how worried I was when you didn’t come home after it got dark!?”
Timber grunted in pain, still managing to return his sister’s hug as he said, “Watch it there, sis. Ribs are kinda tender. I’m sorry I didn’t get home, but there were some serious extenuating circumstances.”
As the two siblings parted, Gloriosa saw that Timber was giving Twilight Sparkle a questioning look. For her part, Twilight looked between the pair, her eyes settling on Gloriosa with hesitance.
“You may wish to sit down for this,” the girl said, “I can explain everything, and already have with your brother, but this won’t be quick or easy to explain.”
“She might believe it more than you think,” Timber said, “She’s already seen some things...”
“Timber!” Gloriosa said, surprised he’d just start mentioning the things she’d been seeing to a total stranger, but something about the looks in both his and Twilight’s eyes quickly quieted her as she said in a more questioning voice, “Will one of you start making sense, please?”
Timber gestured at Twilight, “Go for it. Honestly I feel like I could stand to hear it all again anyway. There’s... a lot to take in.”
“Are you sure?” Twilight asked, “She might be happier not knowing.”
“Already too little, too late for the most part,” Timber replied, “Glori here’s already seen some of it. This’ll finally give her context.”
“Very well then,” Twilight replied with a nod, eyes shifting back to Gloriosa, “Want to get that seat?”
Gloriosa just crossed her arms under her chest and sat on the edge of Timber’s bed, “I’m fine. Just start talking, please. This had better be one heck of an explanation.”
By the end of the next hour, as it turned out, it was one heck of an explanation.
----------
“G’night girls,” Sunset said, exchanging hugs with her friends as they departed Discord’s shop for the night. The evening had worn on with the long dinner, and plenty of hanging out afterward. It’d been a nice, relaxing way to spend some time before turning in, and Sunset felt a brush of melancholy at the realization she didn’t know how many more quiet days like this they might have left.
Quiet days? Your home got blown up. Nothing quiet about it, Sunset admonished herself, but realized that she was just feeling down that another battle was brewing before she and her friends could even get through the portal to Equestria.
She’d been hoping for smooth sailing at least until the time to go after Starlight came. Much as she was glad to see Twilight and Adagio again, the complications they brought with them were likely to get Sunset and the girls into trouble again. But she hadn’t come this far by bellyaching over things. Now was the time to put her nose to the grindstone, square her shoulders, and get things done.
“Ya’ll have a good night too!” Applejack said, smiling, and looking up at the night sky, “Dang sight later than I woulda wanted ta stay out, given how early I gotta get up, but it’s worth it fer some time ta relax with you gals.”
“Heck yeah, feels like all we’ve been doing is train. We need to do the hangout thing way more!” Rainbow Dash said, “I’ve forgotten the last time we just went and saw a movie together.”
“Well we are somewhat busier than we used to be,” said Rarity as she sent a curious glance Sunset’s way, “No rest for the weary, as they say.”
“Hey, I’m trying to pull it back a bit on the training front,” said Sunset defensively, and Rarity let a small smile touch her features.
“It's a fine line we must walk, I suppose. We need to all become stronger, but not by losing who we are as enterprising, youthful ladies in the prime of our years. Perhaps, despite all that’s happening, we should make more of a point to make time for ourselves. I... feel like I haven’t spent my time with my family either,” Rarity's eyes darkened, “I’m not even sure what Sweetie Belle is doing these days.”
“Hmm, that does sound nice,” Fluttershy said, looking thoughtful, “My brother is going to be old enough to get a job this summer, so maybe I’ll help him with that.”
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes, “Don’t you mean ‘do all of it for him’?”
“Um, well hopefully not,” Fluttershy looked away, an embarrassed droop to her shoulders, “But I suppose I should try to encourage him more to start doing things on his own. If he would just take things more seriously, and maybe pitch in some around the house...”
“Hey, since we’re doing this Camp Everfree thing soon, why don’t we all practice our outdoorsey skills by having a camp out at my place this weekend?” suggested Pinkie Pie.
“Last time we slept over at your place, Pinkie, Hollows happened,” Rainbow Dash pointed out, “I’m thinking what we really need to do is just take this whole next week off. Not like a few more days of training is going to make that much of a difference, so we spend it all just chillin’ with each other and our fams.”
As the girls all looked at her, Rainbow Dash frowned and said, “What?”
“Rainbow Dash doesn’t want to train? You sure you were replaced by a doppelganger or something?” Sunset asked, giving a good natured wink. Rainbow Dash just chuckled, shaking her head.
“Hey, even I know a good athlete doesn’t train constantly. Got to give the body time to recover from the intensive exercise. Besides, Ditzy Doo has pretty much told us that our Fullbrings aren’t gonna get much stronger from just physical training. You girls need to work on personal stuff, same as I did.”
“Well I already had my big, emotional bout with my ma,” said Applejack, “So no gettin’ stronger offa that. Ain’t sure what I gotta do to make my Fullbring git any fancier than it already is.”
“It's the same for all of us, Applejack,” Rarity said, eyes contemplative, “None of us know for sure what we must do to reach this final stage the way Rainbow Dash has. But I think her ideal is actually quite smart. If we take some personal time for ourselves, and spent time together, we should at least get an idea of what to do. Our friendship is part of what’s helped us make it this far.”
“Then it's decided!” Rainbow Dash said, “Starting tomorrow, we’re on vacation!”
“Well, as much of a vacation as we can afford to take,” Sunset said, “Still need to plan for rescuing Twilight and Adagio’s friend. But yeah, we’ll call it a ‘half vacation’.”
“Oh, could we go to the beach, maybe?” asked Fluttershy, “The sea turtle migration began last week, and I’d love to see some baby sea turtles.”
“And speaking of movies, ‘Alien Splatterfest Five’ is out this Fridaaaay,” Pinkie Pie said, nearly bouncing in place, “I saw Pinkamena eyeing the poster at the mall the other day and I think she deserves some time off too.”
Amid some stress relieving laughter the girls made some semi-official plans for how to spend the next few days, and parted from Sunset, leaving out through the front of Discord’s shop and past the concealing wards. Sunset was left in the silence for a moment, smiling after her friends. She then heard a cough behind her.
“Have I ever mentioned that you girls are, at times, almost too wholesome?”
Sunset snorted, “Oh can it, Discord. Some people might talk about you’re overly keen interest in the social dynamics of a group of underage girls.”
Discord smirked, tipping his hat to her, “Touche. Although I’ll note you’re hardly the age you appear, are you? Fear not, however, I’ve nary a thought for taking advantage of my pupils, only in ensuring the lot of you survive the trails to come. Speaking of which, I approve of this new course in taking some much deserved personal time before things become... chaotic, again.”
“It makes sense, I suppose,” Sunset said, sighing, “I just wish there was more I could do to help them get their Fullbrings completed.”
“That is a ball that is bouncing firmly in their court, my dear. The best you can do for them is continue to be their friend, providing that ever so useful XP bonus your friendship grants.”
It was Sunset’s turn to roll her eyes as she turned to him, “Don’t do video game references. Makes you sound like an old dude trying to sound hip.”
“What?” Discord put a hand to his chest in mock injury, “I’ve been known to Smash the Brothers on occasion, and Metal the Solid Gears.”
“Well, you do have a decent movie collection, so I guess I can’t call you too lame,” Sunset said, laughing, but the humor in it felt weak, even to her ears. It was easy to keep her smiles up in front of the girls, but harder with just Discord’s piercing yellow eyes gazing at her. “I... guess I’m scared, a little.”
“Good, you should be. An Espada nearly killed you today.”
“I was way stronger than her.”
“And it almost didn’t matter, because she sneaked into your home, the place you’re used to feeling safe, and brutally attacked you without warning. Destroyed the sense of security that was already fragile, while violating the personal space you've built for yourself."
Sunset winced, her face then gaining a defiant twist of anger, “Okay, you can stop helping now.”
Discord’s eyes were lidded with something between grandfatherly sympathy, and ‘tough love’. “Just don’t hold it in if you don’t have to. Your friends need you strong, right now. But I’ll not press the matter. I know a stubborn teenager when I see one, even if you’re hardly a ‘teenager’ in reality. Turning in for the night?”
She gave a shallow nod, uncomfortable with how easily Discord seemed to see through her. Yes, she was scared. It was strange. She’d readily kicked Gilda’s butt once the fight started, and she was confident in her power. But somehow the thing that rattled her was how easily Gilda had gotten the drop on her, and how brutal and straightforward the attack had been.
If she’d gone after any of my friends, or any of their families with that same brutality, would they have survived?
Taking a deep breath, she said, “Yeah, might as well turn in.”
“You know where your room is. Screwloose and Screwball are here to keep an eye on things while I’m out,” Discord said, twirling his cane as he went for the door.
Sunset raised an eyebrow at him, “Where are you going?”
“I may be limited in the ways I can help, but there’s some things I can still do, without drawing the Zero Division’s attention. Don’t fret about it for now, and just get a good night’s sleep, Sunset Shimmer.”
----------
Gloriosa Daisy wasn’t certain she’d ever have a good night’s sleep again. Her head felt like an overstuffed turkey left in the oven too long. She had to blink several times after Twilight Sparkle pressed a cold glass of water into her hands.
“Drink. You’ll feel better.”
At the girl’s words, Gloriosa stared at the glass for a moment, then quickly drained it in one go. Taking a deep gasp of breath afterward she set the glass aside on the table that she’d ended up sitting at somewhere halfway through Twilight’s long and winding exposition, and immediately wanted something more potent than just water. And she wasn’t even a drinker by habit.
“You’re...” she struggled for words, “You’re serious about all this, aren’t you?”
“Every word, I’m afraid,” Twilight said. Nearby, still in his bed, Timber Spruce raised his hand.
“I wouldn’t have bought it myself, but kinda had one of these Hollows pick me up and use me as a squeaky toy. Really helped with making me a believer.”
“And I’m grateful that Twilight saved you, but... but this is all just so hard to get my head wrapped around.”
Twilight nodded expectantly, as if she’d known that’d be the response, and simply sat down at the table folding her arms in front of her as she spoke in a soft, understanding tone. “I know exactly how you feel, because it wasn’t long ago I stood in your shoes, feeling the same things you’re feeling. Stunned disbelief, a sense of mental vertigo, as if the whole world I knew wasn’t what I thought it was. Believe me, I sympathize with every bit of confusion and doubt you must be feeling right now, Gloriosa.”
Conviction bloomed in her eyes and voice, “But every word I’ve told you is the truth. You’ve seen it with your own eyes already. The creatures with the skull masks. The black robed people with swords.”
Gloriosa swallowed, hugging herself against a faint chill, “Hollows, and Soul Reapers. That’s what you called them. And you, you and you’re people here... are Quincy?”
“That’s right. The Quincy are... well I’ll be honest, I don’t know if I’d call us the ‘good guys’ in all of this. I’m not certain anyone is, except my friends, who just want to protect people.”
“You Quincy don’t sound that bad. I mean, you fight Hollows, right?” said Timber, but Twilight just smiled sadly at him.
“It's not that simple, really. Yes we fight Hollows, but the Soul Reapers think we’re wrong to do it because they believe our powers destroy Hollow souls and unbalance the realms. So we fight them too. And Hollows want to feed on souls, but some of them don’t necessarily want to fight either, but have no choice because Soul Reapers and Quincy alike won’t give peace with them a chance. It's just this messy, endless cycle that nobody seems to be able to put a stop to...”
“You sound like you want to,” put in Timber. Twilight smiled, but weakly.
“I do, but I’m still trying to figure out how. I...” her eyes took on a pained, darkened cast to them. One that Gloriosa knew well, because she’d seen the same pain on her own face in a mirror more times than she could count, since her parents died. “...I don’t know if I can. Or if I’m the person who should.”
Timber looked like he wanted to get up and give the girl a hug, and Glorisoa frowned slightly at her brother’s expression, wondering if he didn’t seem a little too concerned for Twilight Sparkle. Gloriosa was grateful for what Twilight had done for her brother, but she wasn’t at the point of trusting the girl yet. There seemed a great deal many things fishy about the girl’s story, no matter how truthful it may have sounded.
“Alright, let’s say I believe you,” Gloriosa said, “What happens now with me and my brother? Now that we know all of these things mortal men and women weren’t meant to know, are you going to keep us prisoner here?”
She couldn’t tell if the surprise on Twilight’s face was genuine or if the girl was just a very good actor, but Twilight’s eyes widened as she said, “What? No, of course not! You’re free to leave whenever you like. The only reason I want to keep Timber here for a few days is to make sure his injuries are fully healed. I didn’t save him just to let him die from some internal bleeding we missed. Once he’s recovered, he’s free to do as he wishes as well.”
“So that’s it? You tell us these secret truths of the world, including the fact that our very town is in the middle of some spiritual war, and you’ll just let us go our merry way?” Gloriosa said, still sounding unconvinced, and wasn’t surprised to see a moment of hesitance on Twilight’s face.
“Strictly speaking, yes, but... you may have already received an invitation to speak with Mr. Rich...”
There it is. Gloriosa nodded, crossing her arms once again, “I have. I suspect he wants to discuss purchasing Camp Everfree?”
Twilight nodded, and Gloriosa nearly spat, only just barely containing herself.
“He can forget it. The camp isn’t for sale.”
There was a pause as Twilight looked at her, and Gloriosa saw the girl’s mind turning within those deep, violet eyes. “I understand your misgivings. I had intended to speak with you on this alongside Filthy Rich, but given you and your brother ended up coming to us, I’ll just lay our cards on the table here and now. The Quincy, or rather Filthy Rich, who is among our number, wishes to use Camp Everfree as a new training ground for young Quincy.”
Gloriosa tilted her head at that, “What? Why? With all of the resources at your disposal you could build a training camp anywhere, couldn’t you?”
Twilight frowned at that, then shrugged, “We could, I suppose. Filthy Rich seems to think it’d be more efficient to use an already established location, one that’s also close to Crystal Prep, which grooms children from prominent Quincy families. He also seems to think that the Soul Reapers and Hollows in the area cancel each other out and would make Camp Everfree relatively ‘safe’ compared to more remote locations we could use. To be honest I’m not sure I agree with his logic, but I didn’t see a reason to argue the idea with him. Would you consider agreeing to his proposal? I can promise a far more generous price than anything you would normally expect to get. Enough for you and Timber to build a new, even larger camp in any location you wanted.”
“Money’s not the issue!” Gloriosa said vehemently, “That land is our family's land! We’ve been on it for generations! My mother and father...” she gulped, pulling the words out from a deep, usually locked place in her heart, “My parents died in that forest. I buried them in it. Nothing, no force on this world or any other for that matter is taking my home from me. Understand that?”
Silence reigned for a minute, broken when Timber said, “Um, Glori, I get that its our home and all, but we’re having trouble keeping the place afloat, aren’t we? Maybe this isn’t the worst idea ever?”
“Are you serious? I know we’re having troubles, Timber, but that’s no excuse to abandon our home for a pile of cash!”
“What if you didn’t have to abandon it?” Twilight asked, and Gloriosa turned back to her with suspicious eyes.
“What do you mean?”
“Look, I can tell your home means a lot to you. I also can see a circular argument right in front of me and would rather avoid it. Filthy Rich will just offer money, and clearly that’s not important to you. So how’s this for a counter-proposal? You sell the camp to us, but retain it as your home. We Quincy will still use it as our new training ground, but you can take on the role of its groundskeepers. I know it won’t be the same as running a summer camp, but trust me, young Quincy will probably need somebody to organize some leisure time and activities anyway. I’ve been meaning to speak to our King concerning the need for easing up on the strict training regimen, and camp activities might actually help build teamwork anyway.”
Gloriosa’s eyebrows shot up, her voice filled with incredulity, “You’re saying you want us to run camp for a bunch of soldiers in training?”
“Well, more or less. Quincy training can be very... stressful. The Academy has its own teachers who instruct cadets in combat and Quincy techniques. What it’s lacked in the past was recreational facilities to let cadets unwind. That would be what you and your brother would be in charge of. The Camp Everfree you know might change a bit, but its core would remain the same. During off seasons when there’s no cadets to train, you could even still run it as a normal campgrounds. And while I know you said you don’t care about the money, I can at lest guarantee a proper annual salary for your work and ensure the camp always has the funds it needs to remain in operation. Fundamentally your lives wouldn’t change that much, if you agree to this...”
“It’s not a bad deal, sis,” Timber said, and Gloriosa’s brow furrowed deeply in thought.
She still wasn’t certain she liked this. The camp had never needed outside help before, and much as Twilight made it sound like nothing about their lives would change, Gloriosa wasn’t convinced. This was essentially like taking sides in this ‘spirit war’, if they were helping train Quincy soldiers; if only by providing the location for training and organizing recreational activities. And what if the camp was attacked by Hollows or Soul Reapers? She and Timber would be caught in the middle of a battle that had nothing to do with them!
But her mind turned back to the piles of bills and cost estimates sitting on her desk back home. Bills she was becoming ever more unsure of how to pay. Even after Canterlot High’s summer camp deal was done with, that money wouldn’t last for more than six months, tops.
Could this be the way to save her home?
“I... I have to think about this,” she said, “Even if I agree, and I’m not saying I am, this deal would have to wait until the end of summer anyway.”
“Why’s that?” asked Twilight.
“Because Principal Celestia from Canterlot High has rented the camp for most of the summer,” Gloriosa replied, not really thinking about it, “Which is a tad odd, but apparently the school has some kind of summer program they’re starting up and want to use the camp for. The pay for that can keep us afloat for awhile. I won’t lie, I’m desperate enough that your offer has merits, but I still want to look at my options. You can tell Filthy Rich that, too.”
She’d expected disappointment, or maybe argument from Twilight, but instead the girl stared at her with shock on her face.
“Camp Everfree... of course... it’s the perfect spot to hide her...” Twilight breathed.
“Excuse me?” Gloriosa asked, and Twilight shook her head.
“Nevermind. I, um, have things I need to take care of. As I said, you’re free to come and go as you please. I’ll let Soarin know to let you in in case you want to come back and visit Timber as he recovers. But I have to go now, so please see yourself out, bye!”
Twilight all but ran out of the room, leaving a bewildered Gloriosa and Timber to look at each other in confusion.
“What in the world was that about?” she asked, and Timber could only shrug in response.
----------
The cave was far more spacious than most of its type tended to be, and Adagio, after pulling some luxuries from her holdings in Las Noches, considered it comfortable enough to serve as a base of operations. A few tents and cots appropriated from local sporting goods stores served alongside a simple camp stove and a few lawn chairs. Not exactly paradise, but more livable than just laying on the cave floor. A few battery powered lamps provided light, although the crystals in the cave seemed to provide a fair amount of light of their own and Adagio had to wonder if there was magic at play here.
The cave did give off a faint “mystic” quality that Adagio had felt even when she and her sisters had hidden out here, some years ago.
“You’re certain you didn’t find any trace of Soul Reapers?” Adagio was asking pointedly of Di Roy and Gaw.
Gilda had left some time ago, returning to Las Noches to, as she put it “Get her crew together”. While it seemed for the time being that Gilda was going to be cooperative, to a degree, Adagio wasn’t counting on much from her besides a hopefully useful distraction when the time came. Their alliance was tenuous, at best, better described as a temporary agreement to not get in each other’s way. Gilda of course had no idea what Adagio’s true purpose here was, and as far as Adagio was concerned it was going to stay that way. If Gilda survived the coming chaos, fair enough, if not, Adagio wasn’t going to lose sleep over it.
But finding Ember was still top priority, and where Soul Reapers gathered, so too should be Ember. Only...
“Look, Gaw and me scoured all over this forest. Heck we even went further afield and checked out the mountains. If there are Soul Reapers out here, they’re doing a hell of a job hiding themselves,” Di Roy said, sitting in one of the lawn chairs as he roasted a hot dog over the camp stove. Adagio glanced from him to Gaw, and the scruffy girl, who was gnawing on the remains of a rabbit she’d caught and decided to devour, sans cooking, looked back at Adagio and grunted.
“No prey found. Smelled all over, but just tasty animals, no Soul Reapers.”
That was about as much as Adagio had ever heard Gaw say at one time, so accepted that as Gaw’s version of a thorough report. She sighed and started to pace.
“Then she must be hidden somewhere in the city. It’s the only place the Soul Reapers seem to gather. Damn, I was hoping to avoid a confrontation in a populated area.”
“Why?” asked Di Roy, “Not like its any skin off our backs if a fight breaks out in the city.”
“This will be hard enough with whatever forces the Soul Reapers already have guarding Ember. A fight over a populated area is just going to bring enemy reinforcements that much faster,” Adagio said, mostly meaning it, and ignoring the slight twinge inside her that also said she wasn’t really thrilled with the idea of collateral damage. After all there were maybe one or two people she halfway liked in that city. And it had some nice restaurants. Be a shame to see the explode.
“Ideally we can rescue Miss Ember quietly while Gilda provides a distraction, correct?” asked Roka, who was sitting on her knees with her hands folded in her lap, watching them from the flap of one of the tents. “And we have other means of providing distractions. Indeed, given the right circumstances couldn’t we draw off enough of the Soul Reapers away from the city that it should minimize damage while giving us cover to rescue her?”
Adagio nodded, “True. Lord Torch is raring to go, and it shouldn’t be hard to manipulate Gilda into doing what we want. If I can get Sunset and her friends to play along, we can cause enough chaos to keep the enemy occupied for awhile.”
She watched Roka’s face carefully when she said Sunset’s name, looking for any sign of reaction. Roka showed none, and Adagio wondered just how much Roka might know about Fenice. How would Roka react when or if she met Sunset Shimmer face to face? Adagio was tempted to try to arrange that, just to see what would happen, but it was a side matter, compared to the mission.
“Whatever we do, I have to be part of the distraction, to make it appear to Lord Tirek as if I’m following his directive to test the city defenses. The rescuing will largely be up to you three, plus any help we might expect from outside sources.”
“You really think those chicks are going to help us out?” asked Di Roy, and at Adagio’s look he held up a hand defensively, “Hey, I’m just saying, you and them were never really all that tight to begin with, and now you’re an Espada. What if they, you know, decide this is a great chance to thin out enemy numbers by turning on you? A ‘pretend’ fight can turn into a real one pretty damn quick, Adagio, and if they’re all buddy-buddy with the Soul Reapers, what’s stopping them from taking our plan and turning it into an ambush. We go in to rescue Ember only to WHAM, find like four or five Captains ready to pounce on us? Or maybe you’re play fighting with this Sunset chick, putting on a good show, and KAPOW, Zanpaktou to the back because their Stealth Corps snuck up on you?”
It would be hard to explain to Di Roy why Adagio trusted Sunset Shimmer. One had to know the girl to really understand how brutally earnest she was, or how much she clearly believed in the power of friendship. Adagio had no real fear Sunset would betray her, because while Adagio might have been one inclined to manipulate or backstab if it served her goals, Sunset just wasn’t the type for that kind of thing.
Twilight Sparkle on the other hand, Adagio was less certain of. Their partnership was grounded in how mutually beneficial it was, and while Twilight seemed honest thus far, it was hard to ignore the fact that Lament had killed Twilight’s mother. There had to be some level of grudge there, even if Twilight was doing a remarkable job at hiding it. Adagio was far more worried about the Quincy showing up to ruin things, rather than Sunset going to the Soul Reapers.
But that was the general problem with this whole scenario. There was just no way to guarantee things would go smoothly, according to plan. There would be far too many ways for it to go wrong, no matter how much Adagio planned and schemed. As always, she’d just have to play the cards she had and strive to overcome whatever problems would inevitably crop up.
“You occasionally do speak sense, Di Roy. There’s always the possibility of betrayal. However, we don’t have any better options than to rely on their help. This could turn into a mess no matter what we do, so I’m going to go with the plan that has the best chance of working, and Sunset Shimmer hasn’t given me a reason to doubt her.”
Gaw gave a tiny snort as she picked her teeth with a blood stained rabbit bone and looked to Di Roy, “Trust alpha. She smarter than you.”
“Not a high bar to cross, Gaw, but seriously, just making sure we’re all on the same page,” Di Roy said, checking to see that his hot dog was appropriately charred, as he seemed to like them, before chomping into it.
Adagio was about to say more, when the communicator that Twilight had given her began a rapid beeping. Frowning, she said, “Sounds like our Quincy friend wants to chat. I’ll be outside the cave if anyone needs me.”
“Ten four, boss lady,” said Di Roy around a mouthful of hot dog as Adagio strode out of the cave and into a warm summer night. The sky was near cloudless, showing a gleaming array of stars. Adagio wished she had time to appreciate the general beauty of nature around her, given so much of her time lately had been spent around Hueco Mundo’s bleak desert, but Twilight’s call likely couldn’t wait.
“Yes? What is it?” she asked, after answering the beeping. Twilight’s voice sounded breathless as she spoke over the communicator.
“Adagio! It’s Camp Everfree! It has to be! Or at least somewhere very close to it! There’s no other reason Celestia would rent the camp for the entire summer! I was wracking my brain wondering where the best place to put a dangers portal research project would be and the camp is nearly perfect!”
“Wait, Twilight, slow down, you’re speaking so fast you sound like a chipmunk on a sugar rush,” Adagio said, pinching the bridge of her nose, “Star over, slowly, form the top. And do try to remember to breath between sentences.”
She heard Twilight on the other end of the line take a few deep breaths, like someone trying to calm down after running a marathon. Really, this girl was far too excitable to be in the position she was in life. How long before she expired of a heart attack, Adagio wondered? Once Twilight could speak in a relatively calmer pace, she told Adagio about her experience in rescuing some boy named Timber Spruce (to which Adagio noted an unusual amount of warmth Twilight put into describing him, which she filed away for later reference). Then came the part about his sister Gloriosa Daisy showing up, and the fact that “Principal” Celestia had rented out Camp Everfree from the siblings for the summer.
“Hmmm...” Adagio said, and Twilight exclaimed in her ear.
“Hmm? Hmmm!? Don’t you see!? That must be where they’ve taken Ember!”
“It does suggest that, assuming the Soul Reapers aren’t using this as a decoy. Or for some other purpose,” Adagio mused, not as outwardly excitable as Twilight, but still intrigued by this news. “I had Di Roy and Gaw scout this area, and they’ve reported no Soul Reaper presence.”
“That doesn’t mean anything,” Twilight said, “Soul Reapers can use Kido spells to cloak themselves, or even entire areas from both conventional and spiritual senses.”
“That’s news to me,” Adagio replied, even more thoughtful, “I’ve seen one Soul Reaper who could use shadows, but I thought that was just her special power from her Zanpaktou.”
“Oh, there are Zanpaktou that can specialize in stealth, but there’s Kido that can do it as well. The Quincy have a fairly extensive database on previously encountered Kido spells and Zanpaktou powers. I’ve studied a fair number of them, and there’s several Bakudo-class spells that can prevent most means of detection. Your Fraccion could have walked right past the lab and never known it.”
“Damn...” Adagio muttered.
“What? I thought you’d be happy to hear this news. We know where Ember is now!”
“No, we know a general area she’s possibly in. An area that covers hundreds of square miles of forest,” Adagio replied with frustration as she realized the scope of the issue, “And if the Soul Reapers can conceal their base so thoroughly that an Arrancar’s Pesquisa can’t penetrate it, then we’re stuck trying to scour all those hundreds of square miles just hoping to stumble across it. Unless we try to smoke them out by burning the forest down, I don’t see how we can reasonably locate the lab.”
“W-well let’s not leap to drastic measures just yet. Remember, I’m working on research on blending magic with Quincy reishi control. Give me a week, tops, and I can probably get a device ready that could use magic waveforms to detect Soul Reaper spirit energies. I just need to refine the design on my old Hollow Detector to make it work.”
“I like the sound of that,” Adagio said, and then a voice spoke from nearby, a very familiar one.
“Agreed. Miss Sparkle has always impressed me with her ability to adapt her scientific knowledge. I would have killed for a Lieutenant of her talents back when I actually ran anything in the Twelfth Division.”
Adagio instinctively gripped her trident tighter for a moment, but relaxed more out of a desire to not appear startled, as she’d known this new visitor had wanted to do to her. She’d rather not give him the satisfaction.
“Hello, Discord.”
Over the line, having heard Adagio, Twilight blurted, “Discord!? Discord’s there?”
Adagio couldn’t see him immediately, not until there was a waver in the air like summer heat off of concrete. A hand appeared from thin air and pulled back a portion of the air like one might draw back a curtain, revealing Discord standing there in his customary shop outfit, clogs, and striped hat. He was leaning on his cane and smiled with mischief at Adagio. The space he was standing in beyond the warped, drawn back space glowed with spectral, multi-hued light.
“Hello Adagio, and to you as well, Miss Sparkle.”
“You can hear me?” Twilight asked, “I calibrated the volume on this device so that only the wearer should be able to hear me.”
“Oh, don’t underestimate these old ears. At any rate, I couldn’t help but overhear most of your conversation.”
“I’ll bet,” Adagio said, turning to face him fully, neither aggressive in her stance, nor humble. She stood with the poise of an equal addressing an equal, “That trick you're using, is that one of those stealth Kido that Twilight was mentioning.”
“One of them, yes. Not even a particularly powerful one. It's called Kyokko, or 'Bent Light', and it does exactly what it sounds like. Mostly good for hiding an individual or small group's physical presence and reiatsu. In all likelihood if Captain Starswirl is out here with a field research team and base, he’s using a higher level Kido to conceal the entire operation. As you said, you would have a rather problematic time finding it with normal means.”
At his knowing smirk, Adagio said, “But with Twilight working on a new detecting device, we have a chance.”
Discord nodded, “Miss Sparkle’s skills are extraordinary, and I don’t doubt she’ll develop something even Captain Starswirl’s Kido won’t remain hidden from.”
“Don’t suppose you already know where they’re keeping Ember? Save us the trouble?” Adagio asked.
“Sadly, no, I’m out of the loop on that one. That said, rest assured I’ll provide what help I can when the time comes. Sunset Shimmer and her friends are keen on aiding you however they can, and honestly I still owe you, Adagio, for the loss of your original body. I still have that, by the by. Kept in on ice, just in case.”
That surprised Adagio somewhat, and she raised an eyebrow quizzically, “Just in case of what? As you can see,” she gestured at herself, “I’ve rather grown into my new skin.”
He looked her over, and she felt no particular shame at it, if anything sticking her chest out a bit further as if daring him to make a comment. Instead he just shrugged, idly tapping his cane on his shin, “You do seem to have made yourself quite comfortable as a Hollow. I suppose that’s not very surprising. You’ve always struck me as a survivor, which ironically is a trait quite useful to Hollows. Still, I thought I should keep your old body around, on the off chance you ever wanted a... gigai, of sorts.”
“You could do that?”
“Both yes, and no. Your soul chain is so completely severed from that old body that you can never properly occupy it again. However, I can use the body as a blueprint to build a gigai tailored to your use, if you should ever have need of one. But that’s for the future. Right now we have more present matters to concern ourselves with, ladies...”
Adagio wouldn’t have minding hearing more about these potential gigais he was talking about, but Discord withdrew a pair of objects from within the wide sleeves of his dark overcoat, arresting her attention. They looked like a pair of palm sized badges, round and with a skull motif similar to the ward pass he’d once given Adagio and her sisters for coming and going from the shop.
“These here are handy little communicators,” Discord said, “I’m giving one to you, Adagio, and the other is for Miss Sparkle. While you may have your own means of talking to each other, these will let you keep in touch with Sunset Shimmer and the other girls, all of whom now have one of these.”
He handed the badges over to Adagio, who held them gingerly for a second, then slipped them into the sash around her waist, “Useful. Very useful. I can ensure Twilight gets hers soon. Twilight, if you’re still listening, I’ll leave this for you at our usual rendezvous point.”
“Understood,” she replied, “What are the range on the devices?”
“Long,” was Discord’s cryptic reply, but Twilight accepted it without further question.
“Not to sound ungrateful, but is this all you came to do?” asked Adagio, “With your power and abilities, you could certainly be a significant help in rescuing Ember.”
“Too much overt action on my part will most assuredly draw attention from people you don’t want getting involved in this affair,” Discords eyes gained a stone hard cast to them, “I will help as I can, but I’m already treading upon thin ice. The Zero Division already knows I’m involved with Sunset’s group of friends, and that’s bad enough. If they realizing I’m helping Arrancar and Quincy on top of that, it may well galvanize them to act.”
“Okay, you’ve mentioned this Zero Division once already. Just who are they and why do you seem scared of them? You, of all people?” Adagio inquired, having a sinking feeling she wouldn’t like the answer.
“For now all you really need to know is that they’re the real power behind Soul Society, and are not to be taken lightly.”
Twilight chimed in, “When the girls were telling me about their adventure in Soul Society they mentioned the Zero Division a little. Are they really that dangerous?”
“Yes, which is why I’m being careful about how I act, or allowing my compatriots like Ditzy Doo to act. Right now Zero Division is just... watching. I’m sincerely hoping to keep it that way. Which is why I suggest you both use equal caution in the coming days.”
“Oh that shouldn’t be a problem,” Adagio replied with a heavy, sardonic glaze to her voice, “We’re the soul of caution.”
To this Discord only provided a thin smile, his eyes shaded by his hat as he began to fade back into the shimmer of his stealth Kido, which he had never fully dropped. “Then I leave you to your planning. Keep in touch, and do take the time to give Sunset a call. She’s been a tad unsteady since losing her home, and could use a friend.”
Adagio’s eyes twitched at the word ‘friend’, which only seemed to make Discord’s smile deeper and more amused as he vanished from view behind his Kido. A moment later it was as if he’d never been there at all.
Twilight’s words summed up Adagio’s thoughts quite succinctly.
“I can never figure that guy out.”
----------
It was a normal night on the Apple Family farm. Applejack may have had dinner at Discord’s place, but she still got home in time to help Applebloom wash up the dishes from the dinner on the farm.
“I ain’t never been ta camp before,” Applebloom was saying as the last dish went into the washer, and Applejack gave her little sister a sidelong look.
“Ya camp out in the orchard all the time with yer friends.”
“Sure, but this is a real summer camp! With a’ lake, an’ boats, an’ hiking, an’ macaroni lanterns!”
“Huh?” Applejack blurted, and Applebloom looked at her like she was slow and went over to the side counter by the fridge and picked up a brochure, waving it at Applejack.
“Ain’t ya read nothin’ ‘bout the place, sis? Info’s been up on the bulletin board at school all week.”
“I ain’t exactly been payin’ attention ta that stuff, sugarcube,” Applejack said as she looked at the brochure. It was a nice enough looking affair, talking about Camp Everfree’s numerous activities, including the custom of making macaroni lanterns and floating them over the lake during dusk. Overall it looked like a fine place to spend some time during the summer... you know, if you didn’t included the possibility of Hollow attacks.
“Huh, that’s weird,” Applebloom said, “Half the school’s signed up fer it, easy. I know Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo are goin’, fer sure.” Her young face soured somewhat as she added, “So’s that dang Diamond Tiara and Sivler Spoon fer that matter.”
“Language, Applebloom. Also, didn’t ya’ll stop payin’ them two bullies any attention after yer first year at school?”
“Been tryin’ to. Guess they ain’t been as nasty as usual lately, ever since cousin Babs visit, but figure it’s only a’ matter of time before they start in on us again.”
“Well you just come ta me if they start given’ you or yer pals trouble. Me an’ my friends’ll be at camp too, being counselors if ya can believe that.”
“Really!? That’s awesome! Wait, why’re you bein’ a counselor if yer just a student like the rest o’ us?”
Applejack made a hand waving motion, “Uh, just ‘cause its part o’ the special, er, summer class we’re doin’ fer Principal Celestia. Yeah...”
Strictly speaking it wasn’t a total lie, but Applejack never felt entirely comfortable obscuring the truth. It’d made things awkward between her and her two siblings, lately. They knew about what she did with her friends, to a degree, but the whole truth hadn’t really been lain out yet. Applebloom, Bic Mac, and Granny Smith had already known about the crazy magical events that had happened at the school, so learning about stuff such as the Hollows, Soul Reapers, and Applejack’s own powers hadn’t been that much of an extra stretch. But the details of what had gone down in Soul Society, plus the truth about their parents... Applejack wasn’t ready to drop those particular bombs on her siblings yet.
But it was damn hard when Applebloom looked at her with a remarkably mature expression of suspicion. “AJ, ya ain’t tellin’ me somethin’.”
“I, uh, might be... you know... havin’ stuff I can’t say...”
“I get it,” Applebloom said with a resigned sight, “Ya don’t wan me n’ Big Mac, or Granny worryin’ none. But you and yer friends are gettin’ into somethin’ dangerous again, right? Got somethin’ ta do with this camp thing?”
“That’s ‘bout the size of it. Wish I could tell ya, sugarcube, I really do, but I ain’t really sure it’d help. An’... an’ there’s somethin’ else I’m gonna need ta tell ya’ll about, but I just don’t got the words fer it yet.”
“Take yer time, sis. I ain’t goin’ nowhere, an’ neither are the rest of the family. So when yer ready ta say whatever ya need ta say, we’ll be here.”
Applejack sniffed, rubbing at her face a bit to keep the tears in check, “Thanks, ya little hayseed.”
She flinched the moment she said it, but Applebloom didn’t notice, and only smiled as she gave Applejack and hug and then went off to bed. Applejack needed to turn in too, but she stayed in the kitchen for a bit, leaning against the kitchen sink and staring out the window into the night, thinking.
Hayseed. She was starting to use her mother’s old word, now. Sweet Cider and her had both decided that they’d wait until the right time to tell the rest of the family the truth. They deserved to know. Sweet Cider wanted to visit, but much like Applejack, it was a matter of sorting things out internally before being able to do that. What was she going to say to the family she hadn’t seen in years? How was she going to explain to Applebloom and Big Mac that, even if she was able to show up for a visit, that she could never actually stay, now that she was a Soul Reaper.
I shouldn’t be feelin’ all this guilt, ‘cause ma has it even worse than I do, Applejack thought.
Then dark thoughts turned towards her father. A Hollow. She didn’t know where he was, or even if he was still around as a Hollow. She’d seen enough of Hollows to know what they were like. Sweet Cider even confirmed that it was possible he hadn’t survived long as a Hollow, although she’d searched the registries on souls and found none that came close to Hard Nail’s description, so he probably hadn’t been purified by a Zanpaktou yet.
It gnawed at Applejack, thinking her father was still trapped out there somewhere as a damned soul, and she couldn’t do anything about it. Not yet, at any rate.
And if she told the rest of the family about Sweet Cider, that meant that particular bit of unpleasant truth would come out with it.
The question was still chewing at her, sleepless, as the sky started to lighten to dawn.
----------
Sleep wasn’t coming easy for Rarity. Oh, she was tired, certainly. Ditzy Doo’s training sessions were getting no less intense, and even if her body was becoming far stronger than any normal human’s had a right to be, Rarity still felt the aches deep in her muscles. Hm, muscles. She’d never been nearly as dainty or weak as some might have assumed about her from her fashion obsession. After all, she’d practiced self-defense martial arts. Yet Rarity couldn’t help but notice as she’d gotten dressed for bed that night that her body had a lot more muscle tone these days than it ever had before. If she kept up this pace, she’d be on par with Rainbow Dash or Applejack.
She didn’t really have a problem with that. After all, it was good to be healthy and fit. It was just a reminder of how dangerous her life had become lately, and that whether she liked it or not it was changing her.
If Rarity let her mind drift at all, it seemed to instantly go to the memory of holding Blueblood at swordpoint. She could feel the simple, cold weight of the crystal rapier in her hand, held so steadily against that pretty white throat. It was impossible to forget how she’d felt in that moment. Elated that she’d won, yet so dead calm inside when she’d threatened to cut his throat if he so much as twitched in a way she didn’t like.
It seemed so silly, to be thinking about this. Yet her mind kept going back to it, no matter how much she tried to distract herself. Would she have done it? Killed in cold blood?
There was an uncomfortable fear inside her that the answer was yes, and that bothered her. After an unfruitful hour of trying to fall asleep, Rarity decided to put her mind at ease with some creative work. After all if the plan was for her and her friends to take it easy over the next week, she could afford a little loss of sleep, and if they were going to the beach at some point she had a few ideas for new bathing suits she wanted to experiment with.
Slipping on her red ‘work glasses’ she was halfway through designing a lovely frilled number that would look just perfect on Fluttershy when there was a sound behind her, a small brush of something dragging on the carpet.
Rarity didn’t even think about her actions. Instinct took over and she swung out of her chair and began to summon a sharp, crystal blade to her hand from a was of blood up her arm. She had the sword half formed, its jagged point inches from Sweetie Belle's throat before Rarity realized who had snuck into her room and stopped herself short just in time. Her heart was pounding, and her eyes widened as she stared at her sister, who had a piece of one of Rarity’s lipsticks from her nightstand.
Sweetie Belle gulped, shaking, and whispered, “S-sorry, I know you don’t like me using your makeup, but I really wanted to use some this weekend. Um, c-could you put the sword away now?”
Rarity blinked, looking at the crimson crystal sword now held in her hand. Gulping, she stood, setting the blade aside and wringing her hands together, “Sorry about that. What are you doing sneaking into my room in the middle of the night to steal makeup!?”
“Hey, I only do this sometimes, and you never knew those times!” Sweetie Belle said with a child’s pout, only to then shake her head and look at Rarity with a shocking about of earnestness, “Rarity, are you okay?”
“Yes, of course. I’m just tired, and you surprised me,” Rarity said, very much wishing to change the subject, quickly, and not think about how she almost stabbed her sister through the throat because she was apparently just that on edge. “Now why exactly do you want my lipstick for the weekend? Wouldn’t happen to be for a date, would it?”
She expected Sweetie Belle to deny it, but instead her sister said, “Kinda. I mean, not really. Maybe? Me and the girls are going to the movies, first time since, you know, when that Hollow thing attacked. And it turns out Rumble and a couple of his friends are coming with us. It’s not really a date or anything, we’re all just going out together. But still, you always try to look your best when you go out, so I thought I should too. I don’t even own any makeup of my own.”
The unsteady fear Rarity had been feeling, and her guilt, momentarily melted away as she smiled at her little sister and put a hand on her shoulder, “Well all you needed to do was ask, Sweetie Belle. You can borrow whatever you want. I’ll even help show you the best ways to apply it, how’s that sound?”
“That sounds great! But, um, are you sure you’re alright? You looked kind of freaked out there, for a second.”
It was impossible to miss the hint of fear in Sweetie Belle’s voice, although it was politely hidden, and Rarity felt her heart sink right back down. “It’s nothing, really. Just a tad jumpy, ever since... ever since everything. You will be careful out there, won’t you? You and your friends?”
That brought the childlike pout right back, “Duh we will. Those Hollows are scary. I know to call you and your friends if we ever get into trouble, and to take any chances. Wish we could tell mom and dad, but I get why we can’t. Don’t worry sis, I’m going to be fine. And I know you’ll make sure the town’s safe from all the bad guys.”
To this, Rarity could only smile, “Of course I will. I’d never let anyone hurt you.”
I’d kill them, first.
And that was both a comfort, and the source of her fear. Shaking the feeling off, she gave Sweetie Belle a final pat on the head and sent her sister off back to bed. Just as she was turning back to return to work on the swimsuit designs, a random thought occurred to her. Just when did Sweetie Belle get so skilled at sneaking around that Rarity hadn't heard her until she'd already grabbed the lipstick and was halfway out of the room?
----------
“Oh maaaaan, siiiis, just give me a break!” Zephyr Breeze said, something in is tone managing to get past all of Fluttershy’s usual mental defenses against anger and grate right against her nerves. “I can always get mom to do the laundry, like, whenever!”
Fluttershy took in a small breath, trying to calm her nerves. She didn’t understand why it was her brother was so readily and ably peeving her off, but his attitude sometimes just... just bugged her. He refused to do even the simplest chores, and their parents just let him get away with doing nothing the entire day. He was supposed to start job hunting, to learn some responsibility. It wasn’t as if he was being expected to move out anytime soon or anything, he still had to finish high school after all. But he was old enough to start doing his own laundry, instead of leaving a massive pile of dirty clothes sitting in the hall by the basement door that’d lead down to the laundry room.
“I understand you’re used to having mom do this for you, but you’re getting older, Zephyr. It’s time to start taking some responsibility for yourself.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah, I hear you sis. Say, do you mind going out to the store to get me some more soda? We’re out.”
It was rare that something snapped inside Fluttershy. She took great pains to maintain her self control. Yet there was just something in that flippant tone, the dismissive nature of her younger brother’s attitude, that cracked that self control like a karate chop to a plywood board. Fortunately Zephyr wasn’t actually looking at her as he talked, lounging on the living room couch as he browsed shows on the television. So he didn’t see the way Fluttershy’s Fullbring came out, her third eye opening up in a gleam of blue light.
“Zephyr Breeze,” she said, reaching out with her power, “You’re going to go do your laundry yourself right this instant. Then when it’s clean and dry you’re going to fold it properly, put it in a well organized manner in your dresser instead of tossing it on the floor, and then you’re going to come with me to start looking for a job this summer!”
She’d done it before she even realized what she’d done, and the moment the realization hit her she let out a horrified gasp and covered her mouth, forcibly deactivating her Fullbring. Of course it was a bit too late on that count, as Zephyr Breeze, suddenly gaining a very placid voice utterly unlike his normal, vibrant if annoying voice, said, “Yes, sister, of course.”
Like an automaton, he got up from the couch, and without another word he walked right past her and down the hall, going to his laundry pile and began to take it down into the basement. All the time Fluttershy watched with a mute, guilty silence. She knew better than to try activating her Fullbring again to try to counterman the orders, as that’d just cause confusion, but she couldn’t believe she’d just done that. To her own brother!
“Fluttershy, dear!” Her mother called from the kitchen, doing the night’s dishes, “Do you mind taking out the recycling for tomorrow morning? Oh my, Zephyr, are you doing laundry?”
Soft Spoken was peeking out of the kitchen door into the hallway just in time to see Zephyr robotically grabbing more laundry and taking it downstairs. Zephyr responded with that same serene, utterly unlike him voice, “Yes, mother. Sister told me to.”
A cloud of baffled curiosity crossed Soft Spoken’s face as she said, “Oh, well, that’s nice of you, dear.”
Zephyr didn’t respond, only continuing his task with single minded dedication, his will utterly overridden. Soft Spoken looked at Fluttershy, still appearing confused, and Fluttershy said in a quiet voice, “I’ll get the recycling mom, don’t worry.”
Her mother nodded with uncertainty and went back into the kitchen, leaving Fluttershy to slump her shoulders as she went for the nearby closet area where the recycling was kept for when it’d be taken out to the cans in the back alley. She could hear Zephyr down in the basement opening up the washer and piling clothes in. She shuddered.
Why did I do that? I didn’t even think about it. He just made me so mad.
It terrified her how easily her power just stripped someone of their normal mind and will like that. Using it in battle was one thing, but abusing it on her own family wasn’t something she ever wanted to do. Yet using it had been so easy. Ditzy had said Fluttershy was afraid of her power, and that was something she needed to get over, but it how could she not fear this ability? If she embraced it fully, completed it the way Rainbow Dash had completed hers, what more could Fluttershy do?
Outside in the backyard, wheeling the recycling can out to the alley behind the house, Fluttershy morosely wondered if the reason her Fullbring couldn’t evolve yet was because, deep down, she really didn’t want it to. After all, if right now she could use it to do that to her brother, what would happen if it got even stronger? She knew at least Zephyr would go back to normal once he was done with the task she’d commanded, but what if her power became so strong the people affected by it couldn’t go back to normal?
Even amid her thoughts she felt the arrival of a spiritual presence and turned to find Lieutenant Posey standing in the alley, looking at her worriedly. With a bashful look, Posey said, “Oh, I’m sorry. I was patrolling nearby and felt your reiatsu spike up there for a moment. Is anything wrong?”
Fluttershy glanced away, biting her lower lip, “Everything’s fine, Lieutenant Posey. I was started by shadow, that’s all.”
“Ah, I see.”
Posey continued to stand there, as did Fluttershy. Awkward silence ensued for nearly a minute before Fluttershy coughed and said, “Well, um, I should, uh, go back inside.”
“Oh! Yes, of course. Don’t let me keep you, Miss Fluttershy...” It was clear from Posey’s voice that it still was very difficult for her to use Fluttershy’s name instead of trying to call her ‘mother’. Fluttershy smiled apologetically and turned to go, only for Posey to speak up again.
“I... I wanted you to know, Kyoki and I are doing better, now. We’re, um, talking and stuff again...”
Fluttershy paused, turning to look back at Posey, whose face was now hidden behind the bangs of her neon pink hair like a shield, “He’s really sorry for how he treated me. I think you really got to him, you know. He was silent for awhile, but I think it was just that we both really needed time to talk, and couldn’t do that while... while he still thought he had to control me. I’m still kind of mad at him, but he’s my Zanpaktou. My partner, so I can’t stay mad. Now that we’re really talking to each other, I feel like I understand him better than before, but I know I have you to thank for that, Miss Fluttershy. I just wanted to say that, so, um... good night.”
Before Fluttershy could respond, Posey vanished with a Flash Step, leaving Fluttershy alone to wonder at all the very odd turns her life had taken and how she almost wished to go back to the days when all she had to worry about were magic apocalypses or sirens trying to brainwash the school.
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And there you have it. Twilight herself, fully admitting that she considers her friends "the good guys" above all else and that she still isn't sure what to think about the Quincies. Hopefully this will finally silence the people who claim the Rainbooms can't trust Twilight. Good to see her trying to compromise with Gloriosa instead of insisting or forcing her to co-operate. Gloriosa is still kind of a wildcard in this whole mess.
So Rarity is frightened by just how easily she can make the pragmatic choice to kill when she needs to and Fluttershy is still disturbed by the mind influencing nature of her power. I'd say those two are likely to complete their Fullbrings first (though Applejack could beat them to it).
I too am curious how Sweetie Belle has gotten so good at sneaking, hints of her own Fullbring starting to awaken perhaps? Is Sweetie Belle gonna have a stealth focused ability.
Now our eight main characters can more easily contact each other, while Twilight's Soul Reaper detectors should help them locate Ember. I wonder if Adagio is actually going to bring Torch in if need be. They may need a heavy hitter to deal with Captain Celestia (and Starswirl if he's anywhere near as intelligent and resourceful as Mayuri Kurotsuchi).
You know your life is weird when the magical apocalypses and fighting against sirens from another dimension in a Battle of the Bands were the "Good old days".
I'm starting to worry a little bit for Rarity. If she's having these dark thoughts and is feeling more and more comfortable with killing, even if it's in cold blood, then we may see the appearance of Nightmare Rarity.
9643371
Now THAT is not a pleasant thought.
9643371
I mean she isn't really "comfortable" with killing per se, she is obviously disturbed by how quickly and readily she's willing to commit to doing it.
I don't see it as a sign of Nightmare Rarity, or even necessarily a bad thing. It simply means that Rarity has a pragmatic approach to combat and keeping her friends safe. We saw this as early as when she was willing to backstab Fleur. A Bleach canon example would be Captain Shunsui Kyouraku (who is my favourite character just as Rarity is among my favourite characters).
Her arc seems to be more coming to terms with the fact that this doesn't really make her a bad person. Indeed I wish more Shonen protagonists were less naive and more pragmatic like Rarity is here.
Adagio is us.
Aren't the badges more telepathic in function, and therefore a more secure communication? Any eavesdroppers would only hear one side of the conversation, because you still have to talk?
I am a little surprised Twilight didn't notice magic in Gloriosa, but I guess she wasn't actively using it by then, unless her power is all spirit based in this story? Hmm...
9643833
I agree with you, but at the same time I wouldn't mind Nightmarity making an appearance sometime during this fic, if it happens to fit the author's plans.
9643916
It'll have to happen eventually.
Heh, I thought a similar thing when I read those lines.
9645413
It could be a combination of Gloriosa not using the magic at the time, and Twilight's senses not being as advanced as Rarity who is able to pick up on the minute differences between the energy of the Pony Up forms and their Fullbrings.
It also could be that Gloriosa's magic isn't strong enough, especially when measured against Twilight's own (look at how easily Twilight beat her in the movie and that was her demon form) that Twilight simply wouldn't notice.
Eh I don't know. Maybe Unicorn Rarity will get frustrated that she isn't really able to help her friends and the Nightmare Forces will use that to trick her into becoming Nightmare Rarity but otherwise, I don't see it happening. It would be pretty forced even if it would be cool.
9645413
The badges aren't telepathic in nature. The girls would still have to talk back and forth, and as mentioned also have video function so they can see one another through them. If they want to be stealthy with them, they can always adjust the volume down. The main thing Discord mentioned is that the signals themselves are encoded so they can't be easily intercepted by anyone looking for that kind of thing.
9645437
In this particular instance Twilight isn't actively scanning for magic, and so the small amount Gloriosa was using for her tracking spell basically flies under the radar, so to speak. Not that the question of how Gloriosa knew Timber was there wouldn't still come up, and make Twilight curious. Timber hasn't said anything about his sister's magical abilities, but once Twilight thinks about it without numerous other distractions on her mind she's going to be wondering if there's more to Gloriosa than meets the eye.
9647113
Can you release a list of the current power tiers of characters we’ve seen so far no actual spoilers just what we’ve visually seen.
9647113
A tier list would be cool, but I wouldn't want to look at it for fear of spoilers, even if it's only characters we've seen battle so far. Because even though we've seen battles, we've not seen every matchup.
Also, power levels are meaningless, which is why Vegeta smashes his scouter almost immediately.
9647120
No problem. I can easily remove anyone on the list who hasn't actually been seen. Also, this list isn't entirely comprehensive, as I haven't added in many of the actual MLP characters here, yet. For the purposes of this list, a few things worthy of note:
- Each tier represents a category of power that still has plenty of wiggle room within it. So some characters within a tier can still be a bit stronger than characters in the same tier. Generally speaking they're arranged in each tier with the strongest of that tier at the top and the weakest at the bottom. Still, despite small differences in power, it can generally be assumed any character within a tier has a decent 50/50 chance of beating a character from the same tier, depending on the specifics circumstances of the battle itself
- Also, a character can defeat a character of a higher tier, depending on various factors. Simple good planning or tactics, specific powers that work well against other powers, having superior numbers, or a particular fighter simply having psychological issues that weaken their fighting will can affect a battle's outcome. Generally speaking its possible for a character to defeat a character up to two tiers higher than themselves, if they have enough "advantages" stacked in their favor. Beyond that, however, advantages cease to really matter.
- This list is not definitive. This is my own view of the character's current power rankings, but they're subject to change as the story and characters evolve.
- Keep in mind, these rankings try to factor in all elements of a character's "power", not just magic or reiatsu level, but also their relative combat experience, equipment, personality, ect. A character could be quite "powerful" in terms of how much magical or spiritual energy they have, but lack the training or experience to apply it effectively and hence be at a lower power tier, even if their reiatsu or magic is at "Captain level" or what have you.
- In some cases I'll differentiate between a "human" or "pony" version of a character, but only where both characters are activate participants in the story, so since characters like Zecora have only really had their human counterpart as a factor, they're the only "Zecora" on the list, but Celestia and Luna will have both versions on the list.
- Several entries have a (?) next to them. This represents a character who's power ranking is how strong they "appear" to be in the story, and there may be factors as of yet unrevealed that could change that ranking.
----------
Power Tiers
S3
Tirek
Scorpan
Sombra
SS
Discord (Both versions)
Chrysalis (?)
Cheese Sandwich
Catrina
Lament
Ditzy Doo
Starlight Glimmer (Human)
Celestia (Human)
Night Light
Celestia (Alicorn)
Sapphire Shores
Coloratura
Sweet Cider
S
Torch
Twilight Velvet
Platinum
Luna (Alicorn)
Hurricane
Amore
Luna (Human)
Spitfire
Filthy Rich
Cadence
Firefly
A+
Adagio
Starswirl
Daring Do
Guto
Hydia
Sunset Shimmmer
Shining Armor
Fluer De Lis
Soarin
Gladmane
A
Grogar (?)
Thunderhooves
Fleetfoot
Prim Hemline
Sassy Saddles
Zecora
Hoity Toity
Rutherford
Harshwhinny
A-
Rainbow Dash (Human)
Gilda
Twilight Sparkle (Human)
Blueblood
Lightning Dust
Thorax
Pharynx
Squirk
Trixie (Bount)
Smooze
Jet Set
Upper Crust
Gaw
Ember
Roka
Fenice
B+
Rarity
Applejack
Pinkie Pie
Fluttershy
Xcution of The Past (?)
Garble
Gretta
Posey
Meadowbrook
Flash Sentry
Nocturn
Radiant Hope
Smart Cookie
Silverstar
Sugarbelle
Starlight Glimmer (Pony)
Twilight Sparkle (Alicorn)
B
Clover
Di-Roy
Echo
Screwloose (?)
Screwball (?)
Grand Fisher
Strongheart
Moon Dancer
Redheart
Sugarcoat
Adjuchas-class Hollows
Quincy First-Class Soldats
Tempest Shadow (Pony)
B-
Sunny Flare
Indigo Zap
Lemon Zest
Sour Sweet
Gillian-class Hollows
Rainbow Dash (Pony)
Low Seated Officer Soul Reapers (8th-3rd seat)
Quincy Second-Class Soldats
C+
Suri Polomare
Intelligent Lesser Hollows
Standard Non-Officer Soul Reapers
Quincy Third-Class Soldats
C
Maud Pie (?)
Lesser Hollows
Most Quincy Cadets
Rookie Soul Reapers
C.M.C (?)
9647144
True, but for those curious, I'll put one up under a spoilers tag. I do mention a series of caveats that this power tier isn't entirely definitive and is subject to change, but someone who's curious could use it as a rough guideline of where I'm at in terms of how I view various character's current "power levels", even if such concepts can be pretty loose a lot of the time.
9647233
By all means, the curious may have fun perusing the list. When this story is finished in x years, I might look too.
I was going to tell you to list the caveats, but then I remembered that you're a smart guy who would do that without people telling you.
9647219
Cool personally I would view pony Celestia an dluna to be a bit higher on the list and twilight pony a tier above, but only if she got into a properly motivated and violent mindset. She reall is terrifying if she wants to be. Also I feel tempest may be a tier up of course as you said these aren’t definitive and are subject to change at any time. Also discord should probably be in the top tier, but he’s so stupidly powerful it’s probably best if he just doesn’t get directly involved or can’t directly warp or instant kill someone of comparable power such as the high tiers or the combined power of the princesses.
9647219
Hmm we already know that a fight between Chrysalis and Tirek would be fierce and competitive enough that they'd destroy Las Noches and the other Arrancar. Even if Tirek would win 10/10 times this would mean that Chrysalis is close enough to warrant being put in the same tier.
With that in mind, I would move the following to Triple S Tier
Bearing in mind I am focusing on the feats that characters have performed so far in the story. Based on his battle with Torch, I can't agree with Shining Armour being a tier below Cadence and Twilight Velvet. Hell his showings have been outright more impressive than Cadence's. I mean nothing has suggested the power gap between Torch and the Lament is all that large so I see mother and son's overall power as being comparable
Those would be my major grievances with the spiritual side of things.
I do think the Equestrians are being downplayed quite significantly, lack of fighting experience only limits you so much when you are as powerful as the likes of Starlight Glimmer and Twilight Sparkle. Hell based on Equestria being approximately Season 7 in terms of timeline, we should be dealing with a Starlight Glimmer and Twilight Sparkle that are stated to be close to "Starswirl the Bearded's level" (the guy who could move the Sun and Moon on sheer power, with only the help of five other Unicorns).
Princess Twilight's getting the sort of portrayal I would expect more out of the generally underwhelming Princess Cadence or Captain of the guard Shining Armour. It's too late to change it now but I would have expected a lot more out of her. Hopefully Starswirl the Bearded appears and is as OP as his feats and hype say he should be. He's the only Pony I'm almost certain should be much stronger than his spiritual counterpart. Well him and Clover the Clever.
I hope I don't come across as an asshole, I truly apologise if I give that impression. I simply feel you've tipped the power scale too heavily in the spirit world's favour and are putting too much stock in things like skill and combat experience (which only really matter when two sides are comparable in the first place, not when they're tiers apart).
Here's how I would have worked the balancing between the Equestrian and Spirit World power scales (using Hollows as they have the clearest scale).
Again, I really hope I don't come across as an ungrateful douchebag. I still really like this story and it's your prerogative to portray the Ponies however you want, power wise. It's just a particular thing for me that in crossovers, I don't like to see one side heavily outmatched by the other unless it's within reason (for example a Digimon crossover could get away with it since the Ponies would get partners as well and the Digimon powerscale is absurd to say the least).
I still can't wait for the next chapter and this is still the best crossover and Bleach story I've ever read (including the manga itself).
Fluttershys struggle with her fullbring is very relatable. It's a VERY slippery slop with that kind of power and it can easily corrupt her. I'm looking forward to seeing how you resolve that issue.
9648150
I agree with all of this except for the Gillian’s mostly just from there sheer mass.
9648863
What good is mass when all it takes to kill you is to crack those oversized domes they call heads?
Gillians don't have the mobility to tag any particularly above average Pony. Unicorns like Rarity or Trixie could crush their heads with telekinesis. Pegasus Ponies like Lightning could make a supercharged thunderstorm or a tornado if a physical hit wouldn't do it.
Earth Ponies like Applejack or Big Macintosh would have a harder time reaching the head unless they had boulders or something to toss, but they could still get the job done. They'd be in the most danger of being hit with a Cero but that's what would make it interesting to read.
9648955
Fair enoug it’s mostly there size keeping there masks out of reach, but other than that your right. Actually if you look you can pretty much find ponies flash stepping sometimes.
9649113
Oh they definitely do that, even Foals do that.
Even beyond visual effects, we have Rainbow in Season 1 episode 5 flying from Sweet Apple Acres - Golden Oaks Library in a matter of seconds while trying to escape Pinkie. Keep in mind it took Twilight, Spike and Fluttershy HOURS to walk a similar distance in episode 1 (walk starts while it's still bright, Sun has almost set when they arrive). Ponyville is friggin huge all things considered.
Shit Scootaloo in Episode 18 could do something similar except it took her just short of a minute. Though much more impressively in Season 4 (can't remember the exact episode number) she ran from Ponyville - Crystal Empire in a reasonably short time frame.
Coupled with the numerous instances of characters reacting to lightning, dodging lightning or keeping up with/reacting to Ponies who did and speed isn't something that should really be an issue for the Ponies here.
9649130
Or how Applebloom was struck by a house busting lightning strike. Repeatedly. Or how the cmc apparently have access to fireworks that are more powerful than real life artilery. Or how Applebloom can apparently build a jet engine. Damn she should be a engineer.
9648150
9649135
No worries, Follower of Chaos, you're not coming across as negative at all. In fact I appreciate this conversation you guys are having, as it just goes to show you guys are passionate about the story and its characters.
Admittedly this is a subject I'm going to likely keep having a few problems with because if one seriously looks at both Bleach and MLP, they're both settings that have very wonky and inconsistent power scales to begin with. Layer atop that the fact that, when it comes to discussing character's powers and who might defeat who in a fight, the internet is rife with hundreds of pages of debate on such topics specifically because its very difficult to pin down a character's overall power and how that might interact with another character.
Now I don't have a lot of time today, but I'll try to give my brief thoughts on what's been said so far. First off, I'll admit I might be viewing MLP in a different light than you guys. Don't misunderstand, I love the show to death otherwise I wouldn't be writing stories about it. Also to touch on what Follower said, I do agree crossovers should try to present both settings of that crossover in a manner that doesn't devalue one over the other. However I don't believe that necessarily means both settings have to be equal in power, rather it means that the characters and themes of each setting should be equally respected by the writing. Which I hope I've done, at least in so far as I haven't treated the pony side of things a being incompetent or unimportant. However that said, I'm not entirely sold on the idea that even regular, everyday ponies are an even match for lesser Hollows, or can pull off speeds close to Flash Step. Much as I can admit I might be lowballing the ponies a bit, I feel like you guys might be highballing them a tad as well.
Let me try to explain a bit on why. This could come down to a difference in tone of the shows. Bleach is a shounen anime/manga that's basically dedicated to showing off the prowess of its characters in it's fights. Battles are very much the focus, and so we see a lot of impressive powers and feats. MLP is largely a slice of life/comedy show with occasional adventure elements put into it. There have certainly been fights, but rarely have those fights lasted more than a minute and tend to not focus on displaying feats or powers, and more on visual gag or the "ranbow laser" moment.
What this does, is that due to the comedic and cartoonish nature of MLP, it makes it hard to take every and all visual elements of the ponies actions as 100% serious in terms of what they can do. Take the early episode where Twilight get's a piano dropped on her. Clear visual gag. Should I really take it to mean that Twilight has the durability to survive pianos, anvils, and other hefty objects dropped on her and get away with surviving? Indeed, because she's just a unicorn at that point, not an alicorn, should I take it to mean all unicorns can survive that kind of punishment, and hence extend that logic to assume all ponies in general are that durable? Or should I just assume it was a visual gag, done for laugh, and not read into it that ponies can take that kind of punishment?
Similar to this is the idea of ponies "Flash Stepping", which I assume mostly refers to when they move fast for some visual gag. I kind of have a problem with this because I just can't equate an instance where the pony is vanishing from the scene due to cartoon physics as the same as being able to do the same kind of motion in a serious combat situation. I think this because, whenever the ponies actually have had to fight, we never see them zipping around with Flash Step styled motion during circumstances where it'd be useful to move that fast, but they don't. I mean, when first confronted with Garble and his gang back in Dragon Quest, it was pretty clear that while wiling to fight, the ponies still ran rather than fight. If they could truly move at Flash Step speeds and use telekinesis to crush skulls, why even be afraid of a group of teenaged dragons? If one was to assume telekenisis could be so effective in battle as to crush Hollow skulls, then Timberwolves wouldn't be much of a threat either, or the hydra or manticore for that matter.
Now that said, I'm willing to concede that the Mane6 themselves, and certain other more exceptional ponies could likely readily deal with regular Hollows, perhaps even Gillians and Adjuchas under the right circumstances. Maud Pie's physical strength alone would dominate many opponents, and its been showing that Applejack and Big Mac, also both exceptional examples of earth ponies, are Maud's equals in that department. Same with Rainbow Dash and her contemporaries and ability such as Lighting Dust and Spitfire, who I will agree can move at Flash Step speeds (although let's note Flash Steps can be slower or faster depending on who's doing them) and use that speed to great effect alongside weather control. Starlight Glimmer and Twilight Sparkle both have incredible magical ability that'd put many Soul Reapers to shame, even Kido specialists. I mean, heck, Starlight did this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XvI2gpFzUg
And I'll admit, that's not "banishment" spell. That was just a straight up Cero in magic form. However its hard to tell whether this is as strong as say, a Gran Rey Cero, or a more regular Cero. Was this Starlight going all out, or was this a more casual blast for her? In fact, can we even take it seriously that it actually "banished" Discord, or was he just playing around with her?
Discord himself is a whole other bag of worms, given it's really had to tell what his overall power actually is. He seems to be able to do just about whatever he wants, yet somehow Tirek was still able to drain Discord of his magic, proving Discord does have a finite amount of power, and it isn't clear just how far reaching his chaos magic actually extends. But yeah, other bag of worms there, back to the ponies...
I'm open to the idea of bumping up their tiers a bit, especially with the exceptional examples of ponydom such as Twilight and her friends. Yet I'm still not totally sold on the idea that every feat seen in the show can be taken 100% literally as an example of power when those instances aren't entirely consistent with the way the ponies have treated other threats in the show as being more dire than they should have if they really were as strong as you guys are saying. And again, this isn't a blow against the show, or trying to say something silly like Bleach is better. I love both shows. I think this mostly stems from one show being very focused on fighting and displaying feats and powers for those fights, while the other show when combat does come up, its rare and usually treated as a brief affair of visual gags rather than anything serious. The one real exception to a serious fight is when Twilight fought Tirek, but I can't use that as a benchmark for her power because she's using the power of all the other Princesses, and its impossible to tell how much of that is her own strength. I also can't use elements like dodging lightning or moving the sun and moon as reliable feats, because there's no way of knowing if Equestrian lightning, or the sun and moon of the MLP world, are the same in any functional manner to our own world. Even Starswirl moving the sun and moon doesn't necessarily mean he's using raw telekinesis to move all that mass, as it could be a tailored spell meant to coax the sun and moon to move under their own power, or manipulating other magical forces to do it. We know so little of magical mechanics in MLP that determining relative power levels becomes very, very muddy.
That all said, I'll say that my biggest concern here is writing a satisfying story. That's generally my goal here. So on one hand, I need the villains to be a threat. If Equestria's Discord is so powerful he can handily defeat the antagonists on his own, it kind of undercuts the entire struggle of Sunset Shimmer and her friends to get to Equestria to help. If regular ponies are so powerful that Hollows wouldn't even be a threat to them, then what sense of tension is there in the notion of Chrysalis and her brood of Hollow drones running loose?
Yes, I want to present the MLP characters in a good light, sure, and I want them to play their own important roles in the story. Yet I don't want to sacrifice any and all dramatic tension by making the ponies so overpowered that really, Sunset Shimmer, her friends, the Gotei 13, they can all kick back and relax because the ponies got this.
I figured when I decided to put out the power tier list as I currently have it that I might need to make adjustments to it, and I'm open to doing so. I just hope you guys might understand why I'm hesitant to overly highball the ponies, as much as I don't want to lowball them either.
9649326
It’s cool man I love discussing stuff like this. I think you can take stuff like this more literally in mlp because more full blown cartoon gags are kept almost strictly to pinkie most of the time and there rather consistent with the fact of being thrown at high speeds smashing terrain And houses is basically a nonissue. In the end I agree with you that the writing of the story itself comes first. Btw we see the sirens do full blown cero’s that vaporize boulders the size of cars back in Equestria so that is a power they actually have. It would explain why adagio was born a Adjuchas sirens are already stupidly powerful.
Btw Faust actually said once that the mlp solar system is actually a fully functional real solar system with the sun and moon being the same size as the real ones.
Btw I have a hypothetical question. Do you think it would be be technically possible for Fullbringers to use hollow techniques. Specifically I mean stuff like so I do, cero, hierro, etc. the reason I ask this is because the powers do come from hollows and hollows are basically spirits on there most primal and instinctual level it’s all natural for them. Like say they might now be as instinctualy driven and a hollow, arrancar, or vizord, but if ditzy or some arrancar were to sit them down and teach them sonido or cero do you think they could do it. I know fullbrings have there own equivalent for high speed movement, but the girls don’t seem to know about it yet and it’s generally more complex.
I’m thinking of sonido and hierro for Fluttershy since she has so few defensive options. I also see that ceros themselves are a bit generic and fullbrings of specific types can do there own versions like applejack and firefly(who is my favorite character both powers and personality I really want to essentially use her for something of my own down the line just for fun. Not yours specifically well kinda it’s weird I just love her.) So that way a actual cero or Bala would be something they could all use.
9649548
Hm, I wouldn't say it's impossible for a Fullbringer to learn a Hollow's techniques, but it wouldn't be easy. While Fullbring stems from Hollow spirit energy, its essentially mutated to the point that it's a nearly indistinguishable power from what most Hollows use. Fulllbring also heavily relies on drawing power from the soul of either an item in the case of normal Fullbringers, or the combination of personality traits and magic that the Rainbooms have, in order to activate their powers. Things like Sonido and Cero are techniques that rely on drawing directly upon Hollow energy. Which still isn't to say a Fullbringer couldn't pull it off. As you said, they can do similar things depending on how their Fullbring evolves, with Applejack basically firing similarly generic energy blasts from her leg armor and gauntlets.
So while possible, for any of the girls to be able to train themselves to simulate Hollow powers would take no small amount of training, which Ditzy Doo could probably help with, but it might not be worth the time investment versus working on completing their Fullbrings. After that point, however, anything's possible.
9649617
It could become a current focus for the physical training since you said at the moment that wouldn’t really be able to continue there physical growth until they complete fullbring. So they could learn these new techniques so increase the versatility.
9649622
True, but what I mean is that the amount of work they'd need to put into utilizing Hollow techniques would require the kind of time and effort that's currently beyond the scope of the current arc's timeline, especially because the girls have decided to take it easy a bit before things start up at Camp Everfree. Later on, it might come up as a possibility, but for the moment a Hollow-power training mini-arc couldn't quite fit.
9649326
I respect that the integrity of the story comes first. My argument would be (since the two worlds in this case are meant to mirror each other) that the powerscale should be about even since that would make the most sense but I can see you're argument.
I would argue that, just because a show is a comedy which isn't really focused on the fighting, doesn't make its feats any less valid. Even in MLP there is a clear difference between gag feats (which seems to be what you're describing) and what I'd consider to be actual feats.
Yes stuff like the Piano falling on Twilight is a gag. But I'd argue the "gag" there is the fact that it hurt her. Twilight by that point:
Even after the Piano incident she:
The word of the day is CONSISTENCY. I go with the feats that are more consistent and regularly performed. So do I believe Unicorns can tank (as in not even be hurt by) a Piano falling on their head. Yes, yes I do. In fact I believe the Foals could do it too based on their feats and the adults are even more durable than that.
As for the weather, the fact that it's magically generated is pretty much the only shown difference between it and the real world couterparts. Aside from the Ponies like Applejack and Rarity being worried about being hit with the lightning, which would indicate, likely due to the Pegasus magic that created that it's even stronger than real life lightning. There's no reason for us to assume the lightning is any slower than ours when everything else about their weather works exactly the same.
As for the Sun and Moon.
I see no reason to believe they're any different from our own.
Now as for magic:
Why don't they blow up the planet any time they fight then? It's not so much that they're holding back as they can concentrate their energy so as to only destroy the target. That's why their feats seem so underwhelming (so much so even regular Ponies consistently have far more impressive feats, making this the only logical explanation). Compare Twilight launching the library into the air with an angry burst of magic to the previous episode where she just put a hole in a wall with a concentrated beam. See my point?
As for why Telekinesis isn't used when it would clearly be useful to do so? PLOT, little girls show (with regards to thing like crushing heads with it) and BAD WRITING.
The writers simply expect you to forget that Twilight and other Unicorns have access to these abilities. Look at how often Twilight forgets she can teleport, or when she mind controls the Parasprites to "stop eating the food" instead of just leaving. It's one of those things that separates a well written episode like Return of the Crystal Empire (which managed to be tense while keeping Twilight smart and not having her forget what spells she knows) and a poorly written one like A Canterlot Wedding (where Twilight completely forgets to just teleport herself and Cadence straight to the wedding).
I'll end this way too long post by simply saying, making them weaker isn't an objective flaw (it's just something that bothers me) but I am noticing the lack of telekinesis use in combat despite the obvious usefulness of a spell that allows you to grab your opponent from any distance. It's a difficult thing to work fight scenes around I know, but having high level opponents simply be strong enough to overpower their telekinesis (it is after all, a grip like any other, you just need to break it) or be too durable for them to crush with it is a solution.
9650136
I agree with all of this.
9650136
On the topic of Sun-Moon telekinesis or not: The aura is typically transparent/pseudo transparent, with thin magic edges. Not only would the Sun; but even the Moon would vastly outshine the aura and make it unable to be seen.
9650922
Yeah you probably just wouldnt even be able to see it at all.
9650922
Yeah, never really thought about it that way but I can see that. The sunlight especially would make the aura nearly impossible to see.
Are you considering reading the story? Because, despite some issues I really can't recommend it enough (especially if you like Sunset and Adagio, especially the latter as she's the stand-out character of the story). Don't worry if you don't know a lot about Bleach, you don't really need to. You're only going to miss out on some in-jokes and manga/anime references here and there.
9650952
Yeah, I mean, the Sun would obviously outshine the Telekinesis, but the Moon thing I saw when lurking on Spacebattles. They were having a a debate on telekinesis in MLP and someone brought up a really good explanation for how even the Moon would outshine the Telekinesis.
I might or might not read it. I've put it in a folder in case I want to give it a shot. Been a while since I've read Bleach stuff. The thing that really determines if I'll read it is if I have the time.
Damn, emotional bombs dropping all over the place as tensions and plans rise.
9649135
Where were those taking place? (They weren't in the comics were they?)
9652238
OH you mean this. That was a nightmare iirc. Doesn't really count as an actual feat, as good as it is.
9652324
In a comic the cmc set off fireworks that blew up a shop with a pony inside. The mare was pretty much fine and the shop keeper said that the fireworks melted his NAILS. That is insane.
9652390
Comics have great feats, but incredibly dubious canon. They usually wouldn't be used for actual canon feats unless specified. Ironically, dispersing clouds is arguably an even better feat. People like to argue that "It's pegasi magic" even though they explicitly need enough wingpower (as in actual physical strength) to do weather related feats or "the clouds are too small" even though a single cloud of such size can contain multiple bathtubs worth of water and can last just as long as standard storms or showers.
Quick question. Will Mayor Mare appear or at least will be mentioned in the story? No reason, just curious. Or Rosette Nebula?
9655756
I didn't have any specific plans for those characters, no. Not that I couldn't make mention of them at one point or another, but hadn't really considered it yet.
9650136
Well, I'll say this much, you've convinced me to seriously consider portraying the ponies as a bit stronger than before, although I'm not sure I can make any guarantee of them being quite on the level you suggest. In regards to the moving of the Sun and Moon in Equestria, I don't think I can justify telekinesis having the ability to move that much mass through shear power alone. My explanation here, which is essentially what I was already going with, was that the Sun and Moon of the pony world are magical in nature. They might be as large as the one's from our world, but their essentially seeped in as much magic as the planet itself is, and this magic generates a connection that can be used to have them move, largely under their own power. Celestia and Luna are especially connected to the Sun and Moon via their cutie marks and alicorn magic, which is what allows them to move them with so little apparent effort. In Starswirls' case, he likely invented magic that lets him tap into the Sun and Moon's magic to control their movements, although this would be a High Magic spell that'd be very taxing on him, and flat out drain a group of normal unicorns to pull off.
This isn't to say that I'm viewing Celestia, Luna, or Starswirl as weak, mind you. Just that I'm not comfortable with confirming the notion that they have the magic to, through raw telekinetic force, move that much mass. They can still move A LOT of mass, yes, and utilize incredible amounts of magic for raw beams that'd easily be on par with Espada-grade Ceros.
As for why telekenisis isn't being used as much for actually grabbing spiritual based enemies, I technically already covered that in Celestia's mock duel with Flash Sentry. She used telekenisis on him in that fight, and he was able to slip out of with some effort. It was noted by Celestia that she felt like her magic was 'slipping' off of something, which Flash confirmed was his reiatsu. Basically spiritual pressure, which tends to keep getting output by spirit entities in an aura, interfers with telekenisis touching them to a degree and also likely helps them tank direct hits from magic blasts. Not immune by any stretch of the imagination. If Celestia put out the effort she could still probably grip Platinum and hold her for a few seconds, but Platinum could output more spiritual pressure to slip free, so the telekensis would need to be used more tactically to gain advantages rather than just end the fight by halting foes entirely, unless they were way lower tier (for example Celestia could probably have held Flash entirely if she output more magic, since he doesn't have enough reiatsu to resist her being serious, but a former Captain like Platinum could).
Still, as the story progresses, you guys feel free to chime in anytime something seems off. I'll try to keep things as close to an adequate power scale as I can while still hopefully delivering worthwhile and interesting battles.
9655791
The problem is: There is no evidence that the Sun and Moon being seeped in magic caused them to form a such connections in the first place. Nothing implies it and there's no reason to believe otherwise.
9657251
Given the show never delves deep into Celestia and Luna's moving of the sun and moon, I figure its perfectly reasonable to come up with a explanation for their ability to do so that doesn't assume that they're using raw power alone to do so, given they never use such raw power in any other scene in the show. I'm entirely open to the idea of ponies being fairly strong, and magic itself capable of doing incredible things, but unless the show wants to show me Celestia or Luna literally moving a mountain, or outright stating that their ability to move the sun and moon is based on raw strength alone rather than any other plausible explanation, I consider it more likely that the magic simply works in ways that don't require pure force to be employed.
9647219
Hmmm, I don't see Ocellus there.
9667458
Ah, yeah I forgot to add her. Kinda did the same with Dumbbell and his pals. With Ocellus she's probably in the same tier as Thorax and Pharynx are, though perhaps on the lower end of that tier since she's younger than they are.
9668418
Quite strong. How old is she? Or at least how old would be if she was a human? And I know they are not the main focus but will we see othe Student 6?
9668578
I've been keeping ages kinda loose, since where the Arrancar are concerned it's largely a moot point, and Bleach has always been a bit weird about character ages on the spirit world side of things. In all likelihood Ocellus is much older than she appears or acts, several decades at the least if not a full century. Physically she doesn't look much older than teenaged, fourteen or maybe fifteen.
As for the other Student Six, I have my ideas about where they're at and what I might eventually do with them, but I'll say right now they're not really going to be a main part of this particular story, but they could be part of a side-story at some point.
9668895
Side-story? Finger crossed.