Episode 96: Attack on Kraken
Episode 96: Attack on Kraken
Sunset narrowly dodged the slamming tentacle that crushed the area she’d just been standing in. Given she was in her normal, human body her speed and reflexes were a good deal slower than what she was used to. Writhing behind her, the large, slimming black limb swept after her, and Sunset saw that the tip of the tentacle had a arrow-shape, one end marked by suction pads.
A squid?, Sunset wondered, trying to outrun the tentacle as it rapidly swung towards her.
A flash of light followed by a crack of thunder sounded, and Rainbow Dash landed on top of the tentacle in a lightning clad storm of fury. Her Fullbring was already taken shape around her, energy wings buzzing and crackling the girl jabbed her lightning spear into the flailing tentacle.
“Sunset, Chappy’s over there!” Clover said, nodding down the beach, “Hurry up and grab her!”
Sunset saw the plush rabbit running from the beach, avoiding the stampede of beach goers who were now rushing away from the water’s edge. In the water itself a massive, dark shadow was emerging from the depths, still nearly a hundred yards out. Sunset couldn’t tell how large it was, but whatever this creature was it had to have been at least several hundred feet long, not including its tentacles.
Her friends, both human, Soul Reaper, and Quincy, had swiftly sprung into motion in response to the attack. At least a dozen tentacles were swinging and smashing around the beach, trying to grasp at the girls, but none of them were staying still.
Twilight and her fellow Quincy moved like a well trained military unit, not hesitating despite their surprise at the attack to immediately summon their bows and fall back to get distance. The only one who was slow on this count was Indigo Zap, her legs simply not cooperating under the stress of attempting a Hirenkyaku high-speed maneuver, ending up crashing to the ground. One tentacle was quick to snake around her, grabbing Indigo and raising her into the air as she let out a shout. The tentacle, however, was almost instantly impacted by a barrage of reishi arrows.
“Drop her, you slimy bastard!” shouted Sunny Flare, firing her dual dart guns while rushing forward. As she did so, however, another tentacle rose above her, and rather than physically strike, the tentacle wove its tip in the air.
Incandescent green light formed like a mist around the tentacle, taking on the shape of a circle with a weirdly jagged crest forming within it. Immediately Twilight Sparkle blinked in surprise as both she and Midnight felt the familiar energy at the same time.
Magic! Midnight breathed, sounding both incited and somehow insulted, That thing is using magic!
“Sunny, watch out! It’s casting a spell!” Twilight warned, raising her own bow as she swiftly formed a reishi arrow in her bow. Unfortunately she didn’t have the Hexenfaust with her, so she was only able to create a more standard bow of pure blue spirit particles, but she found she could pour much more reishi than before into the bow, its size larger and more solid than it’d been in the past. She almost felt as if she might be able to form the Hexenfaust’s bow on her own, if she could just figure out how to control the magic flow.
Regardless, even as she fired her bow at the magic weaving tentacle, it finished its spell and a globe of smoking green liquid took shape, roughly two meters in diameter. It fired like a cannonball towards Sunny Flare, who warned by Twilight was just barely able to leap away in time. The globe hit the ground and burst in a wash of green goo that splattered around. A few drops got on Sunny’s arm and she immediately screamed in pain as the goo turned out to be highly acidic, eating into her skin.
She used Blut Vene to fortify her arm, causing the acid to have to content with her reishi, but the acid was magical in nature and was still sizzling against her skin. Although it rapidly became apparent she’d avoided a far worse fate as the bulk of the globe’s acid swiftly melted a bubbling hole several meters deep in the beach front.
“Of you’ve got to be kidding me!” Sour Sweet was shouting, bracing her massive crossbow and taking a powerful potshot at another tentacle, “This was supposed to be a nice, quiet day at the beach, not alien tentacle acid horror!”
“Somebody shut up and help me!” Indigo shouted as the tentacle that still held her started dragging her into the water.
“I got ya, sugarcube!”
A golden streak of movement impacted with the tentacle with the force of a dozen wrecking balls. The vents on her Fullbring firing at full power, Applejack had propelled herself into the tentacle to deliver a double kick that created a shockwave through the water, causing the tentacle to drop Indigo Zap. As the Quincy girl fell, Rarity appeared in a flicker of movement, green Bringer light around her feet as she bounced off the air and caught Indigo. Rarity then just as swiftly landed on the beach and set Indigo down while raising her hand and bringing forth the whirlpool of blood from the rose bracelet on her left arm, the rest of her clad in her crimson battle dress.
“Interrupting our sunny day on the beach is the height of rudeness!” Rarity said with eyes like razor thin amethysts, “And I do not abide rudeness!”
A glittering array of ruby blades disgorged from the whirlpool, striking at the tentacles as more arose from the water, now twenty in total. The hide of this beast was unnaturally tough, however, as Rarity’s flying swarm of weapons might have cut the tentacles, but weren’t going remarkably deep. They still drew blood, a black, viscous ooze, but Rarity wasn’t able to sever any of the tentacles entirely.
Even the tentacle that Applejack had kicked swiftly responded, smacking towards the farm girl and forcing her to quickly use the vents on her Fullbring to propel herself out of the way, flying skyward.
Clover and Posey had swiftly taken out gikon jewels and eaten them, abandoning their false bodies to take on their natural, Soul Reaper forms.
“Oh my,” Posey said, drawing Kyoki with a gulping noise, “This isn’t a Hollow at all, is it? I can’t sense any Hollow energy.”
“Whatever it is, it’s attacking living people, so it’s our duty to stop it!” said Clover, holding her palms out and making a series of rapid gestures.
“Hado Number Sixty: Unarigoe!” (Vortex Roar)
Air condensed into her palms, then was unleashed in a swirling, concentrated cyclone that slammed into the tentacles trying to hit Applejack, knocking several into the water. Posey, only slightly more hesitant, held her Zanpaktou aloft and whispered, “O-okay, Kyoki, let’s try and help. Please be a good boy.”
After a deep breath she intoned, ”Frenzy; Kyoki.”
She closed her eyes as her Zanpaktou changed shape into a longer, straighter blade edged with sharp serrations. After a second she opened her eyes, not filled with bloodlust, but still her own, calm, if somewhat uneasy expression. “Thank goodness.”
The ‘teeth’ of Kyoki started to spin with a high intensity whine, and Posey leaped into the fray, her form flickering with a Flash Step that took her next to one of the tentacles slamming towards Sunset’s friends. The chain-saw blade swung, and tore a deep chunk out of the tentacle, albeit with a moment of work to saw through the mass.
Clover gave Posey a thumbs up, “Looks like you’ve got your Zanpaktou under control!”
“Y-yeah, I think so. I still feel kinda mad, but I think that’s normal, now? Uh-oh!” Posey dodged away as several more tentacles rose from the waves and took swings at her, forcing the Soul Reaper to Flash Step aside.
Meanwhile the Quincy girls were concentrating fire on a different group of tentacles to keep Indigo from being grabbed again, as the tentacles seemed to be focusing on her. Lemon Zest was using her strangely shaped bow to fire dual arrows that corkscrewed around to strike at the tentacles from odd angles, while Sour Sweet would use the confusion that caused among the tentacles to target them with heavier shots from crossbow. At the same time, Twilight and Sunny Flare both pulled out ginto tubes, rushing forward in preparation to use alchemy.
While this was happening, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie had both brought out their Fullbrings, separately engaged with tentacles of their own. Fluttershy was doing well to avoid them with quick, calm steps, while simultaneously striking back with hard hitting palm strikes as each tentacle flailed past her. She continuously inserted her will into the creature with each hit, trying to forcibly weaken its movements. She sensed it was working to a degree, but this beast, whatever it was, was intelligent, possessed of a powerful will, and infused with magic that was helping it resist her power.
Pinkamena and Pinkie Pie were managing to fend off three or four tentacles themselves, bouncing around the water like a twirling ice skater. Pinkamena opened her own toothy mouth wide to take a bite out of one tentacle, though she quickly spat it out with a disgusted, “Blech! This thing tastes like unwashed socks and moldy cottage cheese!”
“Then don’t taste it, silly, and let’s play some Whack-a-Tentacle!” Pinkie said as Pinkamena swung the hammer around and crunched it into one of the tentacles, which caused a loud *DING* noise as the strike forced the tentacle to drop into the water.
By now Sunset had caught up with Chappy, picking the plushie rabbit up quickly.
“Once you’re in my body, get it clear with the other people fleeing the beach,” Sunset said, and Chappy’s head bobbed with an enthusiastic if trembling nod as she stared at the chaos on the beachfront.
“You got it, Sunset! Leave it to me!” Chappy said, saluting with her squeaking plush paw. Sunset gave her a wary look.
“And don’t do anything stupid while you’re in my body.”
“Whaaaaat!? Of course not! I definitely wasn’t planning to do anything ‘stupid’. Far from it! I was going to make sure everybody would be nice and safe, especially any hot guys I may or may not have been watching all day-”
“Chappy!”
“Fine! Fine! I’ll avoid embarrassing you in public, but you have to admit there’s some fine pieces of-”
Sunset had heard enough and proceeded to reach into Chappy’s mouth, choking off the rabbit plushie’s words while also grabbing the marble-sized gikon jewel that was within. Yanking the jewel out, Chappy’s plush form went limp and Sunset tossed it onto a nearby beach towel. She then popped the gikon into her mouth and swallowed, feeling the familiar jolt of forward motion as her soul was displaced from her fleshy, human body.
Now in her spirit form, Sunset wasted no time drawing her Zanpaktou from its sheath, turning to give Chappy one last look, “Be back in a minute. Seriously, don’t do anything other than keep your distance.”
“I heard you the first time, boss!” said Chappy with Sunset’s voice, and gave another salute before turning and dashing off towards the street where the beach going crowd had fled, many of them now turning to watch what was happening on the beach itself. Sunset couldn’t help but notice that more than a few of the crowd had smartphones out, filming or taking pictures.
Oh boy, this is going to make life more interesting than it needs to be, Sunset thought, then put it from her mind as she turned to focus on the monster still attacking her friends.
Rainbow Dash had joined Applejack in the air, flying around with such speed that she looked like little more than a living lightning bolt. Every time her spear struck a tentacle, a cry of thunder and a burst of raw electricity shot outwards in all directions, causing the tentacles to seize up and jittery about like jelly. Applejack would then follow this up with by blasting by at high speed, the thrusters of energy from her boots causing massive swells in the water as she punched one tentacle after another, slamming them beneath the waves.
Twilight and Sunny Flare had reached the water’s edge with their ginto tubes, and both threw the Quincy alchemic devices like grenades. Making similar gestures with their hands, both girls sent reishi particles into the tubes to trigger the alchemy within, although each was doing a slightly different technique.
”Gefrorenes Feuer!” (Frozen Fire) shouted Sunny Flare, and her ginto tube exploded in a stream of expanding, silver fluid that transmuted into metallic cables that solidified into a literal web that entangled and encased several tentacles. The silvery metal then appeared to start burning into the tentacles, as if white hot.
“Asche Von Innen,” Twilight intoned, her own reishi triggering a different alchemic reaction with the ginto tube she threw, which landed right between the group of tentacles Sunny Flare had bound in place.
The tube burst into a cloud of silvery ash. Though it didn’t spread fast, the immobile tentacles couldn’t move as the ash touched them, and sunk into their flesh as if being absorbed. Then the tentacles began to shiver as their flesh appeared to start burning from within, their surface darkening to blackened char.
There was a deep, undulating sound that rose from the depths of the sea, so loud it vibrating the air.
“I think we’re hurting it,” Twilight said, “If we can just drive it away...”
“Doesn’t look like it’s planning to quit anytime soon!” Indigo Zap said, having been safely put back on the beach by Applejack, and now was standing back with her own Quincy bow drawn as she carefully tried to maintain balance on her artificial legs.
“Indigo, get back!” Twilight said in a surprisingly commanding voice, “It’s been targeting you, so you need to get to a safe distance!”
“But-”
“No buts! Do as I say and fall back!”
Indigo grimaced, but nodded and started to awkwardly force her legs to move as she went further inland. As if sensing its target getting away, the tentacles writhed, some that had fallen beneath the ocean surface bursting back up. Some moved with shocking speed trying to smack Rainbow Dash and Applejack out of the air, while others grouped together and started to form more magical symbols in the air.
“More spells incoming! Get ready to take cover!” Twilight said, but it was then that Sunset Shimmer made her move.
”Ignite; Hokori no Hikari!”
In a glint of motion, Sunset appeared in front of one of the tentacles and rammed her Zanpaktou’s blade through it. Oozing blood spurted out in a dark shower, but Sunset was already twisting the blade out sideways, tearing the wound open wider as she jumped straight up, kicking off the air to gain a few dozen feet of height over the tentacles as she raised her sword above her head. Fire coiled around it, and with a hard swing she sent a small inferno down on the tentacles that’d been trying to cast spells.
The fire baked the flesh and the tentacles flailed about, pulling back into the water to put out the flames.
At the same time the other tentacles retreated, pulling back to the ocean.
“Ha! Don’t run away, you disgusting imitations of calamari!” shouted Pinkamena, “You might taste like crap, but I’m gonna eat you anyway!”
“C’mon Pinkamena, don’t be so tentecruel,” Pinkie Pie said, giggling, “You don’t have to sea food everywhere you go.”
“...If I chucked you into the ocean, how fast would you sink in hammer form?”
“I rather think celebrating is premature at the moment,” Rarity said with her eyes not leaving the ocean as she carefully scanned its surface, “I can still sense something out there, and thus far I believe all we’ve managed to accomplish is make it mad.”
Rarity’s prediction proved immediately true. The water churned and swelled no more than a hundred feet off shore. A black shadow rose, gradually gaining definition in the shape of a humongous, dart-shaped mass. Then the water veritably exploded as the monster fully surfaced, its tentacles returning in a sweeping fan of flailing motion.
From up above, Sunset had the clearest look at it, and blinked as she recognized what she was seeing. She’d studied numerous books of magical lore during her time as Celestia’s student, and while she wasn’t nearly as fully versed as some of the more lore-oriented types like Twilight Sparkle, she’d still learned plenty of legends during her own personal studies on magical power.
Tales did speak of a rare breed of Equestrian sea beasts. True titans of the ocean world, they were supposedly largely restrained to living in the deepest, darkest areas of the sea, only very rarely coming to the surface for their own mysterious reasons. However, when they did come to the surface, it usually meant doom for some poor merchant ship, or coastal town.
The Kraken was larger than even the stories Sunset had read had said it’d be. It’s main body was a dark gray fortress of pebbled, slime coated flesh with parts of it covered in thick plates of shell-like armor that sported long spikes that Sunset knew were poisonous. It’s body was shaped like a squid’s, but a squid that had bulked up and done so while on high-performance steroids, with its flush bulging with muscle. Filmy white eyes the size of cards flanked its face, which split open in a triangular maw that showed a gleaming, black beak as large as a house. Besides the twenty relatively small tentacles Sunset and her friends had faced so far, the Kraken sported two significantly larger tentacles that extended from the bottom of its mass that it now brought forth, each one ending in a giant, scything claw and sorting several more poisonous spikes along their incredible length. These main tentacles were as large around as pickup trucks, and long enough that when they rose into the air, they easily shadowed the beach from the sun.
“Oh hell...” Sunset breathed before the Kraken let out an air piercing roar and swung its massive, main tentacles towards her.
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“This is the worst!” Sweetie Belle said as she and her friends ran down the forest trail, “I swear, nobody is having a worse day than us right now, at this very second!”
“You sure about that?” Scootaloo asked between panting breaths, “You sure that’s how that works?”
“Well who else is being chased by really creepy, howling monsters!?” asked Sweetie Belle, leaping over a fallen branch that nearly tripped her, “Right now Rarity’s enjoy a nice, relaxing day at the beach! I’d switch places with her right now in an instant if I could!”
“If y'all got time fer yappin’, ya ain’t runnin’ fast enough!” said Applebloom, having taken the lead of the trio as they tore down the forest path that bent and twisted down the hillside. They’d hiked a good distance from the main forest path that campers and hikers took around this edge of the Everfree Forest, so they were far from help or safety, and the howls were only getting louder behind them.
None of the girls had seen exactly what was chasing them yet. When the howls had gotten louder, they’d all made the swift and smart decision to just abandon their training area and make a break for it. At first they’d just walked very, very fast, but when the howls had sounded at the top of the hill behind them, all three girls broke out into a run. Now they were about halfway down the hill, having to mitigate their speed to avoid taking a painful tumble, and whatever was coming after them was drawing closer.
Each howl sent a shiver down their spines, the shear hunger and violent intent in the haunting cries plain to hear. Sweetie Belle, despite the cold fear in her chest, chanced a look behind her.
The creatures chasing them were only a handful of paces behind them, and weren’t like anything Sweetie Belle had seen before. She knew what Hollows looked like, and these weren’t Hollows.
They had an appearance akin to wolves, although larger and more heavily built up front. Yet their entire bodies looked as if they were made out living plant matter, as if someone had sculpted a giant, burly wolf out of branches, vines, and other earthly materials. Not that this made their sizable claws and sap dripping fangs look any less dangerous, or their glowing, solid greenish yellow eyes any less haunting.
She let out a dainty shriek and redoubled her speed, pulling past her two friends as her tiny legs pumped like miniature pistons.
“Climate change is real!” she screamed, “Nature is having its revenge!”
“They heck’re ya talkin’ about?” Applebloom said, turning to look as well, and making a loud yelp as one of the wolven creatures made a prodigious leap towards her.
“Aaaah!” Applebloom flung her arm, sending her whip careening out in a crimson snap.
The creature was knocked aside by the blow, but it had about four or five compatriots that were right behind it, snarling as they dove towards the girl. Applebloom stumbled backwards, tripping over a branch and went sprawling down the hill in a haphazard roll. While painful, this did save her life as the wolves pounced on the spot she’d just been in.
Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo slowed and turned, seeing Applebloom roll into a tree and come to a dead stop with a groan of pain.
“Applebloom!” Scootaloo shouted, rushing to her friend’s side. Applebloom was trying to stand up, but was wobbling, blood trickling down her forehead from a crack she’d received when she’d hit the tree.
“Ugg... I don’t... feel so good...”
“Dang it, c’mon!” Scootaloo said, wrapping Applebloom’s arm around her shoulder as she started dragging her away, “Should’ve brought my scooter!”
“How’d that help? This ain’t no place fer a scooter,” Applebloom said, still dazed, and Scootlaloo waved the question off as the wolves came after them.
“Never mind that! Sweetie Belle, help!”
“H-how!? Turning into a frisbee isn’t exactly going to do anything, unless this mutts want to play fetch!” Sweetie Belle protested, but even as she said it she turned and pointed her staff at the oncoming wolves.
Having no other options, she sent a stream of silvery light shooting out of the orb. It struck the lead wolf dead on, raising it into the air like a magical tractor beam. The other wolves broke off their attack, clearly confused by what they were seeing. The wolf entrapped by Sweetie Belle’s ray of light snarled and wiped its legs about, but couldn’t move as the light drew it back towards the staff.
“Ah!” Sweetie Belle flinched as the wolf passed within inches of swiping her face off before it was drawn entirely into the orb. Staring at her staff for a moment in shock, Sweetie Belle shook her head to clear the cobwebs and quickly held her staff up, “Mirror, mirror, change up!”
“Why are you still chanting that, even now!?” Scootloo yelled a she ran past with a gradually recovering Applebloom.
“It’s my style! Stop complaining!” Sweetie Belle said as her body and the staff were suffused with glittering silver dust, and her whole body swiftly poofed in a cloud of shining smoke. When the smoke cleared, Sweetie Belle had turned into one of the plant wolves.
The branches making up her body were white instead of brown, the vines a soft violet color, and instead of glowing eyes she still had big, adorable, cartoonish versions of her own eyes... but at least she was of the same size as the wolf her orb had absorbed, with identical claws and fangs.
But, Sweetie Belle was still Sweetie Belle.
“Uh... growl? Snarl? Angry wolf noises?” she said, trying to sound intimidating.
It didn’t precisely work. Certainly the pack of wolves looked confused, but that confusion swiftly turned to anger as the all let out deep rumbling growls and started to stalk towards Sweetie Belle, who in turn began to back up.
“G-guys! Guys! I don’t know how to fight in this body! Heeeeelp!”
Injured or not, Applebloom responded to her friend’s cry for help by pushing away from Scootaloo and stumbling back up the hill, ignoring the blood on her face.
“Applebloom, wait!” Scootaloo said, but Applebloom ignored her, raising her arm and striking with her whip. The whip cracked the ground in front of the wolves, hard enough to actually blast out a small crater, but it was clear Applebloom had been aiming for the wolves instead. She stumbled, teetering left and right from her head wound as she tried to get the whip to swing where she wanted, but it flung all over the place, hitting trees and rocks, blasting apart both.
The plant-like wolves nimbly avoided the flailing whip, although only one was able to get close enough to make a leap for Sweetie Belle.
The girl turned wolf let out a shout as the creature tackled her. Its fangs ripped at Sweetie Belle’s shoulder, which thankfully being made of wood now, didn’t get savaged nearly as badly as it could have. And inside Sweetie Belle, instincts that weren’t wholly her own kicked in, eliciting a genuine snarl from the girl as she tore right back with her own teeth and claws. The two went tumbling away, slashing and biting at each other, while the rest of the back kept evading Applebloom’s haphazard swings with her whip.
All the while Scootaloo stood there, staring, utterly frustrated by her uselessness.
If only I had my scooter! Why did I have to leave it at the bottom of the hill!?
She’d left it there because it wasn’t possible to ride her scooter uphill, and it’d only been partially rideable down the trail through the forest. She certainly hadn’t expected her and her friends to get attacked by weird plant monsters! Yet, even if she had her scooter, could she have used it?
Her aunts warned her never to use it where people could see. Ever since they came to this city, the entire idea had been to remain as innocuous as possible. Even making friends with Sweetie Belle and Applebloom had been more of a happy accident than intent, and her aunts had only allowed it because it helped Scootaloo blend in to have some friends.
Friends she was about to lose if she didn’t do something!
She’d hoped to get to the bottom of the hill, at least, but... but maybe he’d hear her anyway? If she shouted as loud as she could, would she be heard, even at the bottom of the hill?
Sweetie Belle was losing her fight with the wolf on her, pinned down now beneath it as it tried to get its jaws around her throat, and she barely fended it off with her own paws. Applebloom was tiring, her swings getting slower, even less accurate, and it seemed she might collapse from her head wound at any second.
Screw it! I have nothing to lose by trying!, Scootaloo thought, and sucked in as much air as she could, then let out a shout at the top of her lungs.
“Alerion! Zeige Dich!”
Her voice echoed across the forest boughs, and distantly, just barely, the sound of it reached a lonely parked scooter at the bottom of the hill. And the moment Scootaloo’s voice reached it, a circular symbol blazed to life upon its surface.
Scootaloo was on her knees now, waiting in terrified horror as the seconds ticked by towards her friends’ imminent demise. Applebloom had stopped swinging her whip, falling as dizziness took over. Sweetie Belle’s throat was inches from being torn out.
Then a screech ripped across the sky, a sound of a predatory hunting bird as loud as a foghorn.
Wind blasted down amid the trees, slamming into the wolves, scattering them. Then a massive form dropped through the treetops, smashing apart branches as it came, then slammed into the ground with the force of a tank being dropped from an airplane.
The bird was cast from stone, and was only an “eagle” if one likened a human to a Sasquatch. It had all of the trimmings of an avian predator, but its body was wide and primal in shape, with a head large and sloped, its beak practically as big as a canoe. It’s wings sported massive hooks, large as swords, and the talons on its feet were larger still. Every inch of its gray stone body was interlaced with swirling, decorative patterns that glowed with orange light, reflected in its eyes which rather than organic, were twin amber gems that radiated light from within.
Before the wolves could even react to its presence, the stone bird struck with the fury of a storm.
It’s beak snatched the wolf off of Sweetie Belle and snapped it in half with one bite. It’s right wing swung down with the force of a dozen battering rams and smashed two others. It then let out a piercing cry and slammed its wings together, creating a blast of air currents that literally turned into scything blades of air that sliced apart several other wolves. The bird then jumped up then slammed itself down, using its talons to smash into the remaining wolves with deadly stomps that shook the whole hillside.
The whole affair was over in less than ten seconds flat.
With stone muscles creaking like an ancient cathedral, the bird turned its head to regard Scootaloo with its amber eyes. A deeply resonant, baritone voice spoke, “Calling upon me for such trivial creatures, little bird. How can you ever expect to survive without me?”
“Hey, that’s not important right now!” Scootaloo said, rushing over to Applebloom’s fallen form, swiftly kneeling down beside her friend, “She’s hurt! You have to take us to my aunts’ house!”
The bird raised a stone wing and pecked at one of its feathers, seemingly unconcerned with Scootaloo’s plea, “I only saved you because it alleviated my long growing boredom. Never forget, little bird, I am not to be commanded like some loyal dog. I serve you only at my whim, and if you are too weak to save your friends, then perhaps I should leave you to your fate?”
Scootloo ground her teeth, and carefully hauled Applebloom up so she was managing to steady the girl over her shoulder as she glared at Alerion. Behind that glare was fear, but she kept it as hidden as she could. She remembered her aunts’ lessons concerning Dolls, and if she showed too much weakness, her Doll would turn on her. So she stood up straight and put as much strength into her voice as she could.
“Leave me and I’ll never feed you another orange ever again, buster! My friends need help, and you’re going to take us to my aunts. Don’t make me stuff you back in the scooter, because I will.”
“Ah, better. I won’t serve a weak master, but keep that spirit and I’ll deign to honor your requests,” Alerion said as he turned his gaze towards Sweetie Belle, who was still in wolf form, “Now is this one a ‘friend’ or a ‘foe’. She smells unlike the others, so I wasn’t certain if I should crush her like the rest.”
Sweetie Belle, having just barely managed to get her paws under her, turned to look up at the nearly fifteen foot tall stone bird and let out a frightened yelp. In a poof of smoke she turned back into her human form, holding up her staff defensively, “Friend! Definitely friend! Let’s not do any crushing, okay?”
“Hmph, pity, my blood still boils with the lust for violence, but I suppose I’ll take what meager offerings I can,” Alerion said as he lowered his body and extended a wing down like a ramp. The ridge of his back was shaped with several wide grooves and arches that made for natural seats.
“Get on, and hold tightly. If you fall, I will not catch you.”
“Sweetie Belle, help me get Applebloom up there,” Scootlaoo said, and with wide eyes Sweetie Belle obeyed, coming over and taking Applebloom’s other side as the girls hauled their unconscious friend up the wing and onto the stone bird’s back.
“Scootaloo, what is going on?” Sweetie Belle asked as they sat down, holding onto stone handles around the partial arches on Alerion’s back, Applebloom nestled between them. “How’d you summon Big Bird here?”
“I’ll explain later, after we get to my aunts’ place,” Scootaloo promised, although she gulped and looked away with a worried frown, “Although they’re going to be sooooo mad at me for blowing my cover.”
Alerion turned his massive stone head around to look at them, and it seemed his beak turned up in a feral smile, “Hold on tightly, now. I have no intention of flying slowly or gently.”
Scootaloo used one hand to hold onto Applebloom, while Sweetie Belle did the same, doing their best to keep their friend stable between them. Then Alerion took to the sky with one solid beat of his stone wings, catapulting himself into the air and soaring up into the sky.
The girls were buffeted by the wind, and the world tilted as Alerion made a sharp turn to fly down the hill, soaring over the forest trail. He dipped down, picking up Scootaloo’s scooter with one talon before making a swift and powerful climb upward. Sweetie Belle was practically gluing herself to Appleboom and Scootaloo, eyes tightly shut as the Doll went higher and higher.
Scootaloo wanted to reassure her friend that everything was going to be alright... but wondering how her aunts would react to what had happened today, she wasn’t certain of that at all.
Back on the ground, as Alerion became little more than a gray dot in the sky, a figure emerged from behind several trees near where the confrontation had taken place.
“Huh...” Di Roy said, scratching his chin as he glanced from the scattered remains of the plant wolves to the now barely visible Alerion on the horizon, “That was weird.”
He’d been observing the three young girls from hiding ever since he’d detected their reiatsu while patrolling the forest in search of the Soul Reaper lab. He’d thought he’d found it, but it’d just turned out to be those three kids he remembered from the fight at the movie theater. Watching them train their powers, he hadn’t expected those odd wooden wolves to show up out of nowhere. He’d followed and observed, staying hidden the whole time.
He might even had interceded if that orange kid hadn’t summoned the huge bird golem out of nowhere like that. As it was, his interference wasn’t needed, and now he had some juicy information for his trouble.
“Better go tell Adagio we’ve got some new players in town.”
----------
Sunset felt the air pressure from the giant scything blades on the Kraken’s main tentacles as they whooshed towards her. She raised Hikari and spun to the side, the shield catching the edge of one of the claws as it slashed past her. The physical might of the Kraken was incredible, even a glancing blow to the shield numbing her arm. The tentacles continued downward, her friends still on the beach front scattering like ants as the tentacles slammed home, causing shock waves of sand to blast upwards for hundreds of feet. The distant crowd of onlooking humans screamed and many feel off their feet from the seismic shaking the impacts caused, even at a distance.
Swiftly, Sunset gripped her sword by the red cloth coming off its pommel and spun it over her head. The energy her shield absorbed from partially deflecting the claw a moment earlier transferred to her blade, and deep red and orange flames flowed from it as she spun the Zanpaktou around by the cloth.
"Akai Shobo-shi!" (Red Fire Destroyer)
Before she'd only been able to create multiple fire discs when using Bankai, but her skills had increased to the point that while even using Shikai she was able to create four of the bright red circles of concentrated flame that she now flung towards the two main tentacles that were now rising from the beach. The discs of fire buzzed in, two of each impacting with the pair of tentacles. The discs were hottest at their spinning edges, cutting into the thick tentacle's flesh before the discs exploded in bursts of fire, tearing out chunks. However despite the damage, the raw size of the limbs meant the wounds weren't enough for more than superficial damage.
"We're gonna need ta hit this thing harder," said Applejack, kicking away one tentacle that had swung towards her with a rocket powered spin kick while blasting a beam of energy from her hand to knock away another, "These limbs're tougher n' dirt an' we ain't even hit the main body yet!"
"Give me a sec and I'll fry the whole dang squid!" claimed Rainbow Dash, nodding towards the sky above them where storm clouds were starting to gather. Sunset glanced at her, eyebrow raised.
"You controlling the weather now?"
Rainbow Dash flashed a grin, "You're not the only one with fancy new moves. Give me a few minutes and I'll literally be raining lightning on this jerk's parade."
"That's nice, but I don't think he's giving us a minute," Sunset said, looking towards the Kraken as it's main body started to move.
The Kraken roared and heaved itself forward, and the shoreline was consumed in a maelstrom of water as the Kraken slammed its body forward, its bulk alone causing a small tsunami to cover the beach. Most of the girls were able to avoid it by taking to the air. While none of them wielding Fullbring were as skilled at the nuances of it as Rarity was, all of them could stand on the air with ‘Bringer light’ now, so Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie were able to join Rarity in leaping upward and air walking to avoid the flood of water.
The Quincy girls were similarly able to use Hirenkyaku to get airborne, except for Indigo Zap, who’s artificial legs were simply too much strain on her concentration to pull that maneuver off. Luckily Sunny Flare went to Indigo’s aid, picking Indigo up and carrying her safely upward away from the flood.
However the Kraken didn’t give the group a single instant of leeway. It had pulled back eight of its tentacles and wove spell circles in the air, which all glowed with searing emerald light. Each circle discharged a different elemental spell, flinging a swatch of lightning, fire, acid, and ice at the girls in various spheres, beams, and blasts.
Applejack took a fireball head on, crossing her arms to defend herself as the sphere detonated on her. She came out of the flames bearing some injury, with burn marks on her clothes and face, but her eyes flashing anger as she aimed a gauntlet at the Kraken's main body and cut loose with a raw golden energy beam. It detonated on the Kraken's thick armor, blasting a portion of it away, but not penetrating to the deeper flesh.
Rainbow Dash actively aimed herself towards one of the Kraken's lightning spells and thrust her spear into it, absorbing the electrical energy into herself. Her body lit up with a nimbus of azure storm energy, and she cracked a grin and laughed as she zipped straight down to the waters and proceeded to shove her spear into the ocean; discharging all her store lightning at once.
The water surged with arcs of electricity thick as telephone poles, and the tentacles shook and the Kraken roared in pain, but kept on coming, its tentacles weaving spells even as they squirmed in spastic jerking motions from the electricity. Meanwhile the dark storm clouds grew larger in the sky, thunder rolling from them in loud peals.
Pinkie Pie laughed as Pinkamena swung her like a baseball bat, knocking acid orbs back at the Kraken with the sound of a bat hitting a home run, and the distant noise of crowd cheering. That might have been Pinkie’s Fullbring creating the crowd noise, or it might have been the actual crowd that was still taking video and pictures of the battle. Either way Pinkie Pie said, “Why not wave to the nice people, Mena? Give them a big smile!”
“Not now Pinkie, I’m busy!”
Fluttershy had gone to Rarity’s side, placing a hand on Rarity’s shoulder as she said, “I think if I can get closer to the head, I might be able to better use my power to affect it’s mind. Let me boost your power a bit, and then do you think you can get me close?”
“Of course I can, darling! This overgrown cephalopod will not be getting the better of us today!” She called towards Sunset, who had grouped up with Clover and Posey, “Do you think you three could use some of those lovely Soul Reaper binding Kido to tie up some of those tentacles?”
“We’re on it!” Sunset said, and then shouted to Twilight,”Hey Twilight, cover us while we chant the Kido!”
“Understood! Girls, focus fire on the tentacles nearest the Soul Reapers. Give them time to chant their spells!” Twilight shouted, raising her bow, and her fellow Quincy all exchanged looks, nodded, and followed suit.They moved swiftly, leaping and bounding across the air to take up formation around the tentacles on the Krakens’ right side. Twilight took a deep breath and spoke within her mind.
Midnight, I need the magic.
Midnight responded with a husky chuckle, Of course, just be careful with it. You don’t have your fancy glove to focus it like normal.
The power surged up inside her and Twilight felt its cool rush with a rapidly increased heartbeat. Her skin tingled as she narrowed her eyes and gestured with her left hand, teal magical light flowing across her palm. The magic was wild at first, but Twilight felt more familiar with it and the need to harden her will and almost grip the magic with her hand, directing it as she desired. The Hexenfaust made this so much easier, but ultimately the gloves’ design purpose was to combine the magic with her reishi to help her shape her bow, but in this case she was letting Midnight help direct the raw magic for a spell. Or rather multiple copies of the same spell.
“Girls, fire through the symbols!” she called, the magic flowing out of her as she crystallized her will in her mind to direct the magic to take shape.
Magical circles filled the air in front of her comrades, sigils drawn up with unfamiliar runic script, yet with Midnight’s knowledge flooding her mind she knew the symbols’ meaning. She was combining two types of Equestrian spells. One would accelerate anything, matter or energy, that passed through the circle, while the other spell would duplicate anything passing through by a factor of ten. She knew the other girls were still developing higher end Quincy techniques, so something like Licht Regen was still outside their ability, but with the help of magic...
The Quincy girls opened fire, even Indigo, being held by Sunny Flare, formed her bow and let out sizzling, lightning infused arrows while Sunny used one hand to fire just one of her dart guns. The barrage of various reishi arrows struck the magic circle, then shot out through the circles at four times the speed, multiplying many times over. The result was a huge barrage that struck into half of the Kraken’s tentacles like a missile salvo, blasting entire chunks off of several and causing other tentacles to flail about.
Meanwhile on the other side, Sunset, Clover, and Posey had used Flash Step to flank the Kraken on the other side, each chanting a different binding Kido.
“Bakudo Number Seventy Nine; Shikaze Saya!” (Four Winds Scabbard)
Keeping with her focus upon air-based spells, which was the element Puddinghead had suggested Clover was most skilled with, the Twelfth Divisions Third Seat swept her arms in a harsh downward gesture, creating a fan of hardened air that shot out and then split into four separate air currents. The currents took the form of vaguely shaped humanoids, each wielding a staff of air. They then surrounded a group of tentacles and spun their staves, creating a swirling tornado of binding air that crushed the tentacles inward, bunching them up and keeping them pinned in place through shear air pressure.
“Bakudo Number Fifty Five: Dosei Nigiri!” (Earthen Grasp)
Posey’s spell created a large stone hand that was over five meters wide, and with a gesture she sent the hand flying at another pair of tentacles, grasping them in its powerful grip and squeezing them together.
“Bakudo Number Forty Seven: Shitateya no Hoyo!” (Seamstress’ Embrace)
Finally, Sunset’s spell created a large metal needle in her hand which she cast like a javelin, striking through another pair of tentacles. As the needle went, it left a string of red spirit energy that was sewn through the tentacles and as the needle criss-crossed back and forth, it literally sewed the two tentacles together, binding them fast.
“Fluttershy, Rarity, go!” Sunset shouted, “Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, follow them and take care of the rest!”
Rarity grinned, “Hold on tight Fluttershy”
She then called upon her Fullbring, and the blood whirlpool sent out a thick stream of crimson that quickly formed to large, ornate blades on either side of Rarity, each one a sharp, double edged blade as large as a car. Rarity then formed a ruby hook over her right and left hands while creating a length of crystal that wrapped around Fluttershy to help hold her steady as she wrapped her arms around Rarity’s back.
Then with a fling of her arms, Rarity sent the hooks on her arms flying out, attached by thin but strong cables of red crystal. These hooked into the nearest of the tentacles still free, including the two large central tentacles that the Kraken had pulled back to guard its front. Rarity then drew the cables back and went flying forward like she was launched from an oversized crossbow.
Rainbow Dash and Applejack flew in behind her, while Pinkamena used the Pinkie Hammer like a pogo-stick in the air, literally bouncing the hammer’s head off the air to launch herself forward alongside the others.
The Kraken roared at this oncoming assault, and its remaining tentacles surged forward, slashing at the girls coming right at it. Rainbow Dash’s body became encased in a nimbus of electric light as she flew up and forward, and Applejack blasted a thunderous amount of energy out of her boots as she rushed to keep up with the girl. Both of them took one of the giant main tentacles, Rainbow Dash using her spear to blast out a massive pillar of lightning that caught the huge appendage and caused it to flop about and seizure in mid-air. Applejack took the scythe blade of the tentacle she charged towards head on, cocking back a fist and rocket powered it right into the scythe’s edge. There was a cracking sound like the start of an avalanche as Applejack’s fist broke the bony scythe claw in half.
This cleared Rarity to fly right by, swinging and flipping as she hooked another tentacle and twisted past it. Her ruby blades, flying at her side, spun and slashed, cutting tentacles as she flew by them. Her smaller weapons might not have done much damage, but these larger ones had enough mass to tear through the rubber-like flesh, leaving bleeding limbs in their wake.
Still, the Kraken had held back just enough tentacles to be a problem, and since Rarity was moving down a relatively narrow path, it’d saved four tentacles near its face which were swiftly forming spells. Rarity saw them coming and prepared to evade, but as the tentacles all fired raw beams of magical, emerald light, Pinkamena swing forward, spinning with the Pinkie Hammer.
“You are the food and we are the hunters!” both Pinkamena and Pinkie shouted together as Pinkamena opened her mouth open to a ludicrous size of sawing teeth, and Pinkie Pie’s hammer form mimicked the move, only with a cartoonish tongue and teeth. Pinkie’s hammer mouth literally ate the magic beams with a loud chomping noise, while Pinkamena went on to sink her massive, overblown mouth into the remaining tentacles, gnawing on them like a crazed wolverine.
While this got the tentacles out of the way, the Kraken itself was not staying still. It surged upwards, opening its massive beak wide in an attempt to swallow Fluttershy and Rarity whole. However Rainbow Dash had flown up into the sky above, where the banks of storm clouds she'd summoned now churned in a swirling mass. When she raised her lightning spear to the clouds, her energy wings flared from prismatic colors to a sheet of raw electric fury as dozens and dozens of lightning bolts flew down and arced into Rainbow Dash's spear. She then spun the spear around and aimed it at the Kraken.
"Stormwrath!" Rainbow Dash shouted, as usual naming her attacks. A torrential downpour of lightning lances fired from both her spear and flaring wings, splitting into several hundred individual bolts that lanced downward and impaled the Karken's main body. The massive creature shook and shuddered, its mouth left hanging open as Rarity used a combination of Bringer light and her grappling lines to swiftly maneuver away from its beak and fly up towards its head, nimbly avoiding the lightning as well.
As the lightning from Rainbow's attack subsided, leaving the Kraken momentarily dazed, Rarity spun up to the top of it's head, making an elegant twist as she gracefully landed on the creature’s massive body, right between its eyes.
“Quickly Fluttershy, do your thing, while it's still stunned,” Rarity said, and Fluttershy hopped off, landing and placing both her hands on the Kraken’s head.
Fluttershy’s reiatsu flared up, her three eyes turning pure white and blue with light. The halo around her flared brightly as well as she shoved as much of her will and power straight into the Kraken through her hands. Immediately a battle of minds and willpower began, with Fluttershy speaking in a clear, authoritative voice, “Return from where you came from and never try to harm innocent people again!”
The Kraken was massive in size, but its mind and will were not necessarily any stronger than normal. However there was more at play here than mere mental energy or emotional will. As Fluttershy’s will began to suffuse the Kraken, overtaking it now that she could direct her power more intimately at close range, she ran into something surprising.
The Kraken’s will wasn’t the only will present. There was another willpower, another mind within it, and for a second Fluttershy brushed against this will and felt a chill as deep and dark as the deepest part of the ocean.
”Hmm, what have we here? A budding enslaver of others wills? I approve, but this one is my slave, child. You’ll have to go get your own.”
Fluttershy felt that will crash into her own, but she refused to give in. She’d been wanting to be more useful to her friends, and was afraid of abusing her own power, but this was not an abuse of her power. She could all but feel the terror of the people on the beach. Stopping this monster was exactly what her power should be used for. She fought back, throwing her power and will against the new presence's mind like thrusting a sword.
“No! You don’t belong here! You or this fiend! Begone from here!”
“Fluttershy? What is it?” Rarity asked, realizing something was wrong.
Fluttershy’s will smashed back against the presence controlling the Kraken, and she felt it give ground, but then it held firm suddenly, as if digging its own heels in. She felt a cold wave of power rise up against her mind, seemingly bottomless.
”Oh you are strong, aren’t you? You remind me of a former student. Perhaps you’re interested in an apprenticeship? I charge very reasonable rates. Just a bit of your soul, and I can show you secrets of power you couldn’t imagine. I can taste your desire to be stronger. I can make those desires a reality.
“Ughn... get out of my head! Get out of this creature’s head! Get! OUT!” Fluttershy formed her will from a sharp blade into a blunt mace and slammed it against the defensive wall the entity controlling the Kraken had put up. Once more she drove it back, felt it give way in the mental battle, just another inch or so.
Then the will simply... side-stepped. That was the closest Fluttershy could imagine the feeling, as if her opponent had side stepped her deftly and left her stumbling. She was vulnerable in that moment, and felt her opponent hammer her back with a vast, dark will that filled Fluttershy with a sea of frozen pain, like needles of ice digging into her every nerve.
She screamed, but held on, refusing to lose concentration. Even in pain, she forced her will to push back, and felt the mental swing land, and even heard a distant echo of a watery cry, like from some ancient deep sea creature.
”Ah, it’s... been awhile since anyone’s given me the mental equivalent of a bloody nose. Fluttershy, such a lovely name. I want you for my collection now more than ever.
Fluttershy’s eyes widened, “My name?”
”One can’t clash minds without risking showing parts of oneself to one’s opponent. If you were more skilled at these mental battles you’d know more of me by now as well. In any case, doing this over such a long distance, worlds apart really, is rather tiring on my end. I’ll tell you what, I’ll withdraw for today, because I’ve already gotten the information I was interested in. I just want you to consider that we will meet again, Fluttershy, and my offer remains open. If you get tired of being a weak link among your friends... I can change that.”
Abruptly the mental contact was severed, and Fluttershy found herself lying on her back, Rarity cradling her. She felt blood leaking from her nose, and Fluttershy wiped it away. Her head started to ache a bit from the mental strain, but there was little time to consider that as the Kraken shuddered beneath her. The creature was pulling back into the ocean, sinking beneath the churning waters.
Rarity, not waiting to see if Fluttershy could stand or not, picked her up and jumped upwards, kicking off the air several times to gain a good distance of height before turning to watch as the Kraken fully sunk beneath the surface. It was still possible to see its large, dark body withdrawing into the deeper waters, a monstrous shadow beneath the curtain of blue.
“Oh no you don’t!” Rainbow Dash said, raising her hand and the sky responded with lightning flashing within her storm clouds, ready to leap to her call once more, but a moment later Sunset was next to her, putting a hand on Rainbow Dash’s shoulder.
“Don’t bother. Even with all the electricity you can summon, it's already sinking deep enough underwater you probably can't affect it. Besides, as long as it's leaving, that’s all the matters.”
“But...argh, fine! But I don’t want that Ray Harryhausen reject causing any more problems!”
“We’ll figure out where it came from and how to deal with it later, but in case you didn’t notice, Dash, we’re kind of on camera,” Sunset said, pointing at the crowd along the beach side. Rainbow Dash saw several flashes of phone cameras and blanched.
“Crap. Okay, uh, so how do we deal with this?”
Clover and Posey appeared nearby, both sharing a look of concern.
“The Soul Society is experienced with handling large crowds,” said Posey, “I’ll call in a clean up team that will intercept every living human present and work on altering their memories of this event and erasing any data on their devices.”
“I guarantee you there’s videos and pictures already uploaded online,” said Sunset, “Can you guys do anything about that?”
“No, but we can stop enough of it that none of the reports can be effectively confirmed, and by the time any authorities sweep this area, Soul Society will have used Kido to remove any physical evidence of the attack, including monster bits, impact craters, anything else they can find,” Clover said, running a hand through her mossy green hair, “Either way, you girls and the Quincy need to get out of sight. Maybe hide out at Mr. Discords?”
Sunset glanced out towards the sea, where in the distance she could just barely make out the last shadow of the Kraken as it vanished into the depths.
An Equestrian creature, here? Someone out there was opening portals. But was this because of the Soul Reapers’ experiments, or was another power at work? Sunset had a very sinking feeling about all this.
----------
Ember tried to ignore the pain, but it wasn’t easy. The energy the Soul Reapers would channel through her sometimes just sort of tingled, but other times it was like getting a jolt of fire through her veins. Today it was fairly mild, but the pain wasn’t really the part that bothered her. It was the simple, humiliating lack of power. The way she could feel the Soul Reaper’s devices poking at her spiritual energy, tugging at her Hollow essence. This, combined with the way most of them looked at her, like she was at best a bug on a pin, and at worst a dangerous and deadly bacteria best kept contained, that made her sneer at them.
“There it is again,” said the old Soul Reaper Captain, frowning at a data monitor at the base of the test chamber, “Another surge at .09 degrees. Meadowbrook, give me a closer look at this spectrum here and tell me if you think these surges are corresponding to our tests or not, because quite frankly I’m not liking how close in comparison they are to our time frame.”
Another Soul Reaper with sand colored hair leaned over the monitor, fingers drumming on the table, “The interval is off by anywhere from three to five seconds, which is close, true, but if there was a correlation then why haven’t we seen these before now? We haven’t been increasing the intensity, only altering the configuration of the Garganta energies. And since each test uses a different configuration, then why would these surges be happening with so many different ones? It should be consistent, shouldn’t it?”
“...Quite right, quite right, but this still bothers me. Magic, so unpredictable. This is why I recommended moving the experiments away from the city. It’s dangerous enough having to do them here in the human world. Bah, if only we could have moved this to Soul Society. This is too dangerous already. I’m thinking it might be best to recommend we suspend tests until we can figure out what’s causing these surges and if it's us or not.”
“I’m inclined to agree,” said Meadowbrook, “Especially with the Quincy sniffing so close by. We can suspend work, take the subject to Soul Society, and work out more on how to simulate Garganta at Division headquarters. If we’re lucky we can figure out how to simulate the Garganta without even needing to put the subject through these tests.”
“Hmph, sympathy for the enemy?” Starswirl inquired, and Meadowbrook pointedly did not look towards Ember.
“Not specifically. I just feel that if we can perform our work without needing to utilize the subject in this manner. That’s more efficient for everyone concerned. Her fate is ultimately going to be purification by Zanpaktou, but I don’t see why she need suffer until that time comes.”
“You’re right, as usual, Lieutenant. Very well, testing will be suspended until further notice. It’s going to take some time to clear things through Scorpan, but-” Starswirl began to say, but he was cut off as the ground shook. It wasn’t a large quake, but it was enough to knock several pieces of equipment off of tables and for several researchers to lose their balance.
“Starswirl, sir, you need to see this!” said another scientist, and Starswirl and Meadowbrook came over to the other monitor.
Ember craned her neck to try to see what was happening, not able to get more than a partial look, stuck suspended in her holding apparatus. Starswirl and Meadowbrook were now bent over the other monitor, the other researcher gesturing at the monitor excitedly.
“Look! The portal is widening! It’s only by a .003 percent amount, but if you look here, an unknown energy source integrated with the Garganta of the subject, and successfully merged with the Equestrian portal for a fraction of a second!”
“By the Soul Queen, are those surges actually helping us?” Starswirl muttered, stroking his beard.
“Captain?” Meadowbrook asked, and Starswirl looked not at him, but at Ember with a piercing gaze.
“I’m sorry Lieutenant, but I think we’ve just had a breakthrough. If these surges of magic energy are actually helping us open the portal, then I’m not certain we can suspend the testing now. Instead I want to locate the source of these surges and see if we can harness them. In fact, if those young ladies are going to be joining us in our efforts at the camp up above, their magic might be the key to understanding what’s happening here and securing the portal to Equestria. We can’t afford to stop now that we have something resembling progress.”
Meadowbrook cast a glance at Ember as well, something almost akin to an apology in his eyes, ‘I...understand, Captain. But I recommend we at least halt testing for the rest of the week, until we can investigate the surges, and we have Sunset and her friends on site to assist us.”
“Hmm, agreed. Well, let’s get to going over this data again...”
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Another awesome chapter! Scoots is a bount? Who knew? Also, what would happen if a soul reaper used their sword on Ember? She was born a hollow, so there really isn't anything else for her to turn back in to when she dies. Will she just be destroyed?
CALLED IT!
Though it begs the question, are one or both of her aunts Bounts? At least one of them has to be one to have taught Scootaloo how to use her Doll. I'm sure Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom can keep the secret but if Di Roy tells Adagio what he saw, and Adagio tells the girls...and they tell the Soul Reapers. OH SHIT!
Well the being controlling the Kraken was pretty obviously Charybdis. Not sure it's a wise idea to just leave it down there where it can come back up and start attacking people, especially now that it isn't being controlled. Was half expecting Fluttershy to max out her Fullbring there but oh well, another time perhaps.
I'm also sad Twilight didn't end up using her schrift, she didn't even think about it. Was hoping it would at least get name-dropped so we'd know what her V stands for.
Not sure about the Kraken but I'm almost certain the Timberwolves came through as a result of the Soul Reaper's experiments. Those idiots keep this up and they're going to make the Friendship Games seem like just another Tuesday. Now I'm absolutely convinced that Ember needs to be saved because these experiments will do more harm than good.
9717795
Presumably her soul would still be "purified" and sent to the Soul Society (or hell). She'd just look basically the same only without a Hollow hole and I don't see how her being born an Arrancar would stop that from happening.
9717799
Hmm, I probably could have put in a bit in there that explains that. Basically she wants to keep her Schrift a secret, and while she trusts Sunset and the girls, she doesn't fully trust Posey and was afraid if she revealed she was a Sternritter and what her Schrift was and did, that Posey would leak that info back to Soul Society.
9717856
Ah I see, almost forget that Posey was even here but that makes sense. I guess I'll have to wait until all hell breaks loose at the camp for her to reveal it.
The only question is who the victim is going to be? Starswirl? Gloriosa in Gaia Everfree form? The Queen of Thorns? Money's on Starswirl because we need the battle of the intellectuals.
Scootaloo is a bount I honestly didn’t see that coming. I think that’s the spirit of Sombra reaching out between worlds.
Nothing brings people together quite like a common enemy.
Hot damn that’s badass and I’m loving it in spades!
9717930
I was more thinking it was the Nightmare. Mostly because of her weak link comment which is what she used on Rarity in the comics.
Are we going to finally see how the beast realm ties in? It's been mentioned a few times but hasn't led to anything yet iirc, but now a literal beast showed up, so... come on?!
I've been dying to see it utilized.
9717799
Yeah, Bount was the obvious choice just so that there would be one on the side of The Girls.
Do you think Charybdis has a portal she made or that there's a connection in the deep already? Or maybe none was needed and she just reached between realms with the mind powers?
9717930
9718209
It was Charybdis, the being Adagio sold part of her soul to in order to learn how to control people (note that she offers to take part of Fluttershy's soul to take her on as a pupil). I thought that was pretty obvious.
Both Sombra and the Nightmare/Nightmare forces would still be pretty weak from getting hit with the Elements/The Crystal Heart at this point. In no position to be mind controlling from across dimensions to be sure.
9718243
It's possible that the Soul Reaper's experiments with Ember and the portal are what has allowed these Equestrian creatures to come through. That could have allowed Charybdis to connect her mind with the Kraken's
Then again, the Soul Reapers also said that "something" may be helping them and was causing those energy surges when they did their experiments. That could be Charybdis. If that's the case then Charybdis is powerful as hell and the Mane 6, Flash, Tempest, Starlight, Trixie and Sirens might want to steer well clear of her for now.
9718319
I kinda thought Queen of Thorns might have more to do with the magic surges, since the Soul Reapers are based in the lake of her forest. I'm assuming Gaia Everfree and the Queen of Thorns are the same being. Maybe she noticed their experiments and decided that opening the portal would benefit her (say by drawing through more magic power?) and started helping the process, which would explain why all their experiment data after a certain point started showing the surges even though they're doing different things, like Meadowbrook said.
So many players means there are a lot of options.
Scoots is a bount? Called it! Really good chapter here. I can't wait for the next one. I really want to see scoots aunts now. Are the her aunt's by blood, or just the bounts that took her in and raised her? For that matter, how old us scootaloo? Bount are immortal, so she could actually be centuries old.
9718319
Honestly I completely forgot about that characters existence.
So we now have:
Xcution 2.0 (Sunset and co.)
Quincy Twilight’s research group,
Adiago’s band of hollows (and Gilda)
As the primary actors in rescuing Ember,
The Soul Reapers,
The Quincy,
The Espada,
Who must not find out about the alliance,
The human CMC, starting to attract dangerous amounts of attention,
And both Gia Everfree and Charybdis gearing up to throw every last wrench they have into everyone’s gears.
Adiago and Twilight both have new transformations to show off, the girls are gonna get the geodes, equestrian monsters are popping up in the human world,
Real fights, pretend fights, fighting to keep known allies from killing secret allies, fighting to stay alive, unlikely team ups, sudden inexplicable dance numbers,
Ember will have trust issues with Sunset after all of that, though knowing our Beacon-haired champion of friendship it won't last long.
Did not expect Chyrabdis to take more active role in this. Thought she will be just a final encounter at the end of the Princess Twilight's journey, not another player. Man, this story is massive, not like it's a bad thing. The opposite. And it's nice to see that Equestrian creatures can put up a good fight. Out of curiosity where that Kraken would fit on the power tier list?
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If I was to put the Kraken on the tier list, it would probably be in the "A" or "A+" tier. It was definitely giving the girls trouble, but their numbers were enough to make up the power difference in most cases, and with Sunset, had she gone Bankai she'd have been more an even match for it.
I didn't see Scootaloo as a Bount. But it's a welcome surprise!
And the fight against the kraken was great! It's nice to see everyone working together for once. And the fact Fluttershy encountered such a dangerous foe is really interesting.
Great chapter.
RELEASE THE KRAKEN!
quncies are not bad in itself but the problem is that they have no descretion.
I am calling it Sombra is lying about his account.
Also is Sombra kind of just a menos quincy.
Its.
Whipped.
Whose.
Meant to be a opening quotation mark.
What exactly is happening with CMC? And what kind of dirty secret Scootaloo has? Stay tuned for more.
So many references!
With Scootaloo's comment about her scooter, I'm starting to think that other commenters are right in that she's a young bount, which would explain why she can help with things and seems fairly knowledgeable even though she hasn't manifested Fullbringer abilities like her friends have. And...that certainly didn't take long to prove in this chapter.
And Charybdis is now taking an active interest in this other world, and Fluttershy in particular. This can only end poorly. Sunset and Fluttershy need to tell the others what they both know, including telling the Quincy girls. They need to know that it was drawn to the magic, because Indigo in particular is in rather severe danger near any open body of water until they resolve this.
I start to suspect that Clover and Meadowbrook are a good lever in Division 12. Meadowbrook doesn't like the cruelty of subjecting a person, even an arrancar, to these tests. I think that he would be open to the idea of a willing arrancar helping them in exchange for Ember's freedom. I just hope that the breakout doesn't ruin that outlook and leave him as bitter as other older Reapers.
You'd be surprised.
why is the invocation phrase in german ?
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The Bounts in the anime had a German naming theme for their abilities.
I think it had to do with them pretty similar to the Quincy in terms of being peoples who were practically wiped out by Soul Reapers, so they both use German terms.
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thank you .
i answer it here too because i had forgot than posting on the main page of the story automatically post it on the latest chapter.