Episode 148: Tide of Darkness
Queen Chrysalis had always considered physical exertion to be beneath her. Challenges were to be surmounted by intellect and proper application of deception, while the act of face to face confrontation was the province of underlings. That wasn’t to say she didn’t mind the occasional bit of violence as long as she felt she could comfortably dominate her foe with minimal resistance. The source of her power was largely gained through the consumption of the magic inherent in positive emotions, so the idea of gaining power through physical training was an... unpleasantly new concept. She’d rather just take on a new form that was already potent in muscle rather than do this sweat soaked rigmarole, but her new ally was insistent that this was necessary.
She was breathing harder than she was used to, but in part that was due to the effects of one of Starlight Glimmers unusual “Kido” spells, ensuring the testing arena that Chrysalis was training in was bathed in spirit energy designed to enhance training via specialized spiritual inhibiting.
Even so, her opponents had fallen before her, one after another. The macabre dolls of smooth, alien features had come at her in waves, wielding their slender blades with deadly speed and proficiency. Chrysalis felled the last of these with one last swing of her right forehoof, her body wreathed in an intense hue of emerald magic and, she now knew, spirit energy as this power from her soul intermixed with her magic, thanks in part to the weapon now strapped to her arm.
The weapon began as a thick gauntlet of ashen gray hue, it’s lower end rounded in a circular indentation that housed a ring of emerald that surrounded a similarly colored crystal eye. Upon awakening the Bakkoto, the eye flashed with light, moving as if alive, and the gauntlet extended seemingly organic spurs of bone that clamped upon Chrysalis’ flesh all the way up her arm. Then the front of the gauntlet would extend a length of nine bladed whips of the same dark gray metal as the gauntlet, segmented and held together by an almost muscle-like organic growth in between each blade. The whips could extend to great length, move as Chrysalis' desired, and carried through it her magic and spirit energy. While possessing great striking strength, the true power of the Bakkoto lay in the manner it had fused with her transformation magic... but she hadn’t needed any of those tricks to fell these dolls. The last one fell apart in pieces from Chrysalis’s one strike, which had cut it dozens of times in a blink from the sweeping blade whips, just as all the other dolls had been dispatched.
“That should do it,” said Starlight Glimmer, who stood above the arena pit, where a observation deck encircled the bleak metal chamber. The Soul Reaper turned alicorn was observing data on a glowing screen that rose from a terminal built into the rim of the observation deck. “Your readings remain stable, even under the effects of the Kido. The Bakkoto is showing now signs of overwhelming your spirit energy, and is feeding on the magic at a steady pace. How are you feeling?”
Chrysalis wiped sweat from her face and let out a frustration laden grunt, “How do you think!? Sweat soaked, and vastly irritated. Was there no other way to do this?”
Starlight offered up a semi-apologetic smile that Chrysalis couldn’t decide was sincere or not as the alicorn flew down to join the changeling in the arena. With a gesture, Starlight deactivated the Kido that had covered the area, a faint glow of blue vanishing in a ring around the walls. “Sadly no. This was the fastest way to force your soul to properly bond with the Bakkoto, and ensure your changeling magic was compatible. Believe me, if there’d been an better method that wouldn’t have been as hard on you, I’d have used it.”
“Hmph, I don’t need your pity. Still, I’m surprised your playthings fell so easily,” Chrysalis said, nodding at the broken pieces of the dolls littering the arena, “You spoke of these Reigai as some manner of grand secret weapon. This did not impress me.”
Chrysalis expected Starlight to look insulted, but instead she just smiled with an accepting nod and approached Chrysalis a bit more closely than was comfortable. Starlight’s eyes fixated on the Bakkoto, her gaze measured and calm. “Reigai are only as powerful as the spirit energy used in making them. These ones aren’t even given enough to take on a distinct form, and are about as weak as a fresh Soul Reaper Academy trainee who hasn’t even graduated. Technically I could create one that, in theory, should be as powerful as a Captain if I wanted to. Problems with that aside, the point of this wasn’t to give you a hard fight, just force you to use the Bakkoto in a controlled environment so calibrations could be finished. Now, try to reseal the weapon to its base form.”
Chrysalis pursed her lips and raised her arm to look at the transformed gauntlet. She could feel it eating away at her magic, although that pool of power was considerable now that she’d fed. She gave Starlight a brief, wondering glance. Usually when she fed upon a creature’s emotions, especially love, the effect drained the individual into a fugue state. Certainly some individuals could withstand that to a degree. Shining Armor had held such love for his paramour that Chrysalis hadn’t been able to fully drain him for days.
Starlight Glimmer barely looked the worse for wear, despite the chunk of love Chrysalis had eaten. And it was little wonder why. When Chrysalis had tasted that love, especially after being deprived of a meal for so long, she’d nearly been knocked off her hooves. It wasn’t the same kind of pure romantic love that Shining Armor had held in his heart for Princess Cadence. No, the love within Starlight Glimmer had been so much... spicier. Love tended to come flavored with other emotions. Lust for intimacy, hope for the future, fear of rejection, jealousy of rivals, numerous emotions besides the love itself came to flavor the overall meal. That was one of the reasons love was such a preferred food source; it was really made up of a whole smorgasbord of other emotions.
In the case of Starlight Glimmer her love for this “Sunburst” character had not only been singularly overwhelming in it’s intensity, it came with a heated array of other emotions that had left it a tough meal to swallow, but oh so empowering. Anger had made the love a hot spice, so much anger, likely at the unjust and unfair fate of Sunburst. There was nearly as much fear to join the anger, most likely fear of failing to save her lost friend from his eternal torment. But beyond all that was an ironclad resolve that Chrysalis had never tasted on another living being. It was a frightful thing, really. The determination inside Starlight Glimmer to do whatever was necessary to achieve her goals all but drenched her emotions, and Chrysalis was both confused and slightly unnerved by it.
Any fool would do stupid things for love.
Starlight Glimmer had the resolve to fight two entire worlds for hers.
Putting that thought aside, she did as Starlight bade and focused upon the Bakkoto. Unlike a Zanpaktou, while each Bakkoto had a name, it was not required to call it out to activate. The weapons didn’t really have spirits or minds of their own. They were weapons, tools, nothing more. Still, they did have an instinct to feed, an instinct that required the will of the user to suppress. Fortunately Chrysalis was possessed of no small amount of will of her own, and much as she had dominated her hive or dominated her foes in equal measure, she set her will into similarly asserting her dominance over the Bakkoto.
It took a bit longer than she would have liked. The stubborn thing resisted her, no doubt finding her magic to be delightfully tasty. But it was her magic, not it’s! And it would obey!
Finally the bladed whips glowed a bright green and became as liquid energy, retracting into the gauntlet. Similarly the spurs of bone did the same, retracting from Chrysalis' flesh until just the gauntlet itself remained. Finally the emerald eye closed, it’s glow fading as the Bakkoto was forced back into slumber.
Starlight’s smile deepened and she held out her hoof to Chrysalis, “Good work. If I didn’t know better I’d say you’d done this before.”
Chrysalis stared at the hoof, then tilted her head at Starlight, who continued to stand there, awkwardly holding the hoof out. After a few more uncomfortable seconds Starlight cleared her throat and lowered her hoof, “Not a fan of hoof bumps I see.”
“No,” said Chrysalis with a tone flat as the test chamber’s cold steel floor, “I am not a fan of any physical contact.”
“Pretty ironic, considering you literally consume love to survive,” Starlight pointed out, and Chrysalis could only barely keep her sneer from fully splitting her face.
“It is not a food source by choice. If I had my way, my species would subsist on all emotions equally. Or none at all. Our hunger is as much a detriment as it’s been a source of focus,” Chrysalis groused, but quickly put a muzzle on her own frustrations, not at all desiring to spill them in front of any version of Starlight Glimmer, “Now if there’s nothing more you need of me, I’ll retire to my chambers.”
She’d turned to leave, her insectile wings buzzing to life as she began to fly out of the arena pit, but Starlight simply spread he own wings and kept pace with the changeling monarch, eyeing Chrysalis with that irritatingly curious look she’d worn all too often since their partnership was formed.
“I’ll not keep you from a bit of rest, but just be ready to head out soon. Platinum should be prepared to depart in a couple of hours, once she’s done trying to talk with her kid again. Kind of hoping they sort things out between them soon.”
“The mare’s parental issues are not my concern,” Chrysalis stated bluntly as she landed upon the walkway out of the test chamber, Starlight right behind her.
“Oh? And here I thought the two of you might bond a bit over your shared motherhood troubles. I mean, sure you’ve got a few more kids than her, but still.”
Chrysalis felt a small stab of pain as she bit her lip in barely contained, acidic anger, “Do not presume to think my ills are anything like that of a mere spat between mother and brat.”
“Perhaps not identical woes, but consider the distinct possibility that as long as you’re working with us you have nothing to lose by venting some of them to another who might actually have a reason to lend a sympathetic ear,” Starlight countered, “Not saying I’m expecting you two to return here as bosom buddies, but since you’re going to be working with Platinum, may as well get to know each other better. But do as you will. I’m merely offering a suggestion, not twisting your arm. If not kid-talk, maybe you’ll both enjoy sharing complaints about your counterpart with one another. Platinum doesn’t like her, either.”
At the mention of her double, Chrysalis winced, feeling the cold distaste and residual fear tip-tap it’s chilling way across her spine. “The less said about the creature, the happier I shall be.”
“She really has that effect on people.”
“Why partner with her, then?”
“A violent psychopath she may be, but she’s a violent psychopath who wants to kill the same group of bastards I do. Sometimes allies don’t have to like each other, just hate their mutual enemies more.”
“For once, you speak wisdom,” Chrysalis admitted, the pair reaching one of the numerous technological lifts that could bring an individual to different levels of Hitsuyo-Aku. While Chrysalis could complain about a great many things concerning her circumstances, at the very least she’d been given rather comfortable and well appointed quarters that were to her liking. In fact, now that she wasn’t skulking about the place and was able to walk it’s halls more freely this mostly underground and vast stronghold was rather appealing. It’s dark, cold halls had a familiar feeling of home about them, and suddenly Chrysalis felt an intense pang of illness within her.
Damn it all, she was actually homesick for her old hive.
“You alright?” Starlight asked, noticing the look on Chrysalis’ face, but she shook her head and gave Starlight an annoyed glare.
“Fine. Do not concern yourself... with me...?”
Chrysalis trailed off, her eyes widening slightly as a most strange sensation struck her. It was like a sudden, distant pull, centering somewhere inside her very mind. The feeling was akin to suddenly seeing a light in the distance if one was stuck wandering about in the dark; vaguely painful yet somehow tugging one forward. The sensation lasted for nearly a full minute before fading, but it left an impression behind, as if something had pressed a warm poker against her forehead. It was only after a few more seconds that Chrysalis snapped back to reality, realizing Starlight was now all but shouting in her ear.
“Hello!? You hear me?”
Chrysalis frowned and backed away from the alicorn, Starlight having gotten a tad close in her concern. “Yes, you fool, I can hear you! No reason to shout.”
“What just happened? You looked like you completely blanked out, or saw something in the distance, but you know... instead you were staring at the wall,” Starlight said, her own eyes closing for a moment in what Chrysalis now recognized as her utilizing spiritual senses. “Whatever it was, I didn’t sense any oddities in your reiatsu, but I did feel something happen. Some kind of magical disturbance.”
“Tch, it’s probably nothing. Perhaps this Bakkoto of yours merely drained me more than either of us thought,” Chrysalis said, but she didn’t at all feel certain of that. Whatever had just happened it had felt more like something far off, separate from herself, somehow... tugging at her. The thought was rather disturbing, but she didn’t want to show weakness, so hide her worries with a regal flip of her patchy sea-green mane. “I don’t need you pretending to care for my well being, Starlight Glimmer. Now leave me to my rest. Be assured I’ll play my role as an ally for as long as it benefits me, and I’ll ‘play nice’ with Platinum. Just so long as she doesn’t annoy me.”
Mustering what regality she could manage while dealing with a mounting headache that she convinced herself had nothing to do with that odd sensation just now, Chrysalis swept into the elevator. She rather pointedly remained in the way of the doors long enough to make it clear she didn’t want Starlight doing anything foolish like following her in to try and continue their “chat”. What was most aggravating was that Starlight continued to watch her with that vaguely concerned and curious look right up until the lift doors closed. Once they were and Chrysalis felt the elevator moving after she’d pressed the button for the level her quarters were on, only then did Chrysalis let the pain from the headache show on her face as she rubbed her head again.
For all of her bravado, she was a little unsettled by the feeling. Especially because past the headache, she could swear she still felt that faint tug in her mind, as if something very far away was calling to her.
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A short time earlier, miles beneath churning waves...
Even Divistus could sense something amiss before he’d even reached the palace’s ground floor. By the time he and his terror beast made their languid way out of the doors into the palace’s central courtyard, the shaman knew without a doubt that the waters of Aqualania were all but humming with a darkly violent presence. He did not slow, however. Experienced in the ways of magic and the mysterious energies of the soul, he was confident in his ability to defend himself, and already suspected what awaited him even before his terror beast carried him out into the courtyard’s open water.
He heard the sharp, fearful cry of brethren sahuagin nearby, the group of younger shamans he’d left in charge of finishing the ritual to charge the translocation sphere now abasing themselves before him, giving out undulating calls for salvation. The root of their fear was easily evident, for all Divistus had to do was look up.
A sahaugin’s eyes could see much, even in the deepest darkness of the Abyss’ trench, so Aqualania was normally a clear to see cityscape, in all it’s ruined splendour. Yet Divistus could not see it now, even as he directed his terror beast to rise to give him a better view. No, all around the palace was a void of pitch dark as to contest the very bosom of the Abyss itself. A solid wall that, even as Divistus gazed upon it, bubbled and seethed with the pulsating motions of something “alive”. But Divistus knew it wasn’t alive. No, not with what he was sensing with his mind so attuned to soul magic.
This... this black mass of hate filled death, was a wall of souls. More than that, he could probe it sufficiently with his senses to realize this wall covered near a third of the city surrounding the palace. He could not tell just how many angry souls made up the mass, but he could tell it was thousands. Beyond that, he could also sense that these weren’t merely souls, but souls that had been infused with some manner of incredible complex spellwork.
A soul spell of unimaginable scale. Unimaginable, perhaps, for one who did not know the Deep Mistress, Charybdis.
He clasped the talisman that bore her symbol among the many that dangled from his tabard of bones and chanted, “Oh Deep Mistress, your holy work surpasses my most vivid imaginings. Bless am I to witness this sacred monument to your endless might.”
Divistus’ eyes cast a harsh and scathing glare towards the shaman’s prostrating themselves in front of him and his terror beast. He also noted that some few scores of warriors were huddling in fear near the temple off to the left, eyeing both him and the cloud of violent spirits hovering over the palace.
“Fools! Why do you cower so!? This mass of souls is a great and holy thing, a blessing from our Deep Mistress!”
“But, Lord Divistus,” said one of the shamans in a stammer, “Our warriors from outside... they were devoured by this mass of vengeful spirits! Only a few score survived to flee into the palace, but all the rest that had been left outside the walls have perished!”
“And they should feel so fortunate as to become part of such a great and holy working of our blessed Mistress’ magic,” Divistus replied, gesturing upwards with his sacrificial dagger, “Do you not see? This mass of souls remains outside the palace, does it not? If it could descend upon it, it would have already. No doubt this spell is our Mistress’ final defense and vengeance upon interlopers to our territory, activated once she became aware of the despoilers that at this very moment do battle with Morgawr.”
In truth, he was guessing on that point. He wasn’t certain exactly what this huge storm of violent spirits was, but he knew his Mistress’ spellwork when he saw it. Given that the maelstrom of wraiths had not entered the palace he assumed the Deep Mistress had either fortified the palace against entry by such spirits, or the spell that sustained their presence forbade them in some manner. Considering it had only appeared now, after the surface invaders had entered the palace, Divistus also felt confident in the assumption this spell was some manner of triggered defense mechanism.
If the surfacers tried to leave, they’d face the same gristly fate as the unfortunate warriors who’d been caught outside when the spell activated and sent the wraiths on their rampage.
“W-what should we do, Lord Divistus?” asked the eldest of the young neophyte shamans, “You said Lord Morgawr fights the invaders even as we speak?”
“Yes,” Divistus said impatiently, swimming down from the top of his terror beast’s head, “Should we prevail, all is well, but these surfacers have proven resilient foes. Is the translocation sphere prepared?”
“It...it is,” the shaman stammered, and Divistus resisted the urge to stab the gutless coward in the neck. But sahuagin with the talent for soul magic were few and far between. Even the weak ones couldn’t be so readily cast aside.
“Very well, we shall activate it and open the way back to the Abyss,” Divistus said.
“But Lord Morgawr-” the other shaman began, but received a painful cuff across the jaw for his words, Divistus growling at him.
“I did not ask your counsel, neophyte. On the slim chance the surface invaders both defeat Morgawr and also survive our Deep Mistress’ trap then it would not do to allow them access to the translocation sphere. We shall use it to return to the Abyss, and then I shall cut off the sphere’s access from the other end. Once we gather a larger warparty and additional shamans we can return.”
In truth a part of him rather secretly hoped Morgawr would be slain by the invaders. Divistus had no fondness for the chosen warrior and his disrespect for the shamantic arts. It would serve him right to fall to the surfacers, then lose all his potential glory to Divstus when the shaman returned to defeat the invaders himself. With help, of course. He already was considering which of his fellow higher ranked shaman would be most suited to appeal for aid-
You forget yourself, my precious one.
Divistus froze, his eyes bulging into an even more bulbous state as he felt a voice slide across his mind in a gentle, yet sharp caress. He was at once terrified and enthralled by that dark tone of promise, like a barbed leash on his soul. Without hesitation he prostrated himself, surprising the confused neophytes and warriors before him, if only for an instant before he spoke, “Oh my beloved Mistress! Your voice fills me, and even if you deem my soul unworthy, I offer it if it so pleases you!”
The younger shamans and warriors alike all instantly understood that Divistus was now in communion with their goddess, and all went silent and lowered themselves in worshipful gesture. Even if the Deep Mistress was displeased with them, would they still rejoice in her presence, feeling blessed to merely have her attention upon them?
Divistus heard Charybdis’ voice once more, a crushing weight, yet also a soothing bliss all in one.
I do not wish these despoilers to leave Aqualanaia alive, and despite my blessing it seems Morgawr was not up to this task. However I will not waste my followers without need. Morgawr yet lives, as do many warriors who retrieve him as we speak. You will wait for them, young Divistus, and only then will you return to the bosom of the Abyss. Is this understood?
“Most assuredly, my Mistress, most assuredly!” Divistus cried out, but a part of his heart did quaver with a question, “Yet I beg forgiveness for my brazenness to ask... what of the invaders? Your spell shall slay them?”
For an instant he felt his Mistress’ attention shift, then a musical noise as rich as the darkest depths struck his mind, Charybdis’ laughter ringing within with soul shaking force.
Ah, yes, you speak of my people’s souls. Preserved from dissolution, yet still filled with such anger. I anchored them for no other reason than to prevent the very fate that befalls all upon death, but it seems in their ill conceived rage they do not appreciate my gift. No matter, the wraiths can indeed serve a useful purpose. Divistus, offer up to me your terror beast, so finely crafted. It will be the tool to sunder the invaders, with the further blessing of my power, and the vengeful souls of Aqualania itself.
Divistus did not fully understand his Deep Mistress’ words, but nor did he dare further question them. “If it is my terror beast you desire, then it’s bond belongs to you, my Mistress!”
He didn’t even need to enact any spells of transference. Charybdis was within his mind, within his very soul. He felt her pluck the magical bond that he’d forged between himself and the terror beast with the ease someone might simply take a leash from another’s hand.
You serve me well, Divistus. Now, let us see what Twilight Sparkle and her compatriots are truly capable of.
----------
Ulgriv wallowed in despair. He was confined to a small metal room with a thick door that was bolted shut from the outside. One of several brigs upon the ancient Aqualania vessel, which he was now trapped within. The young sahuagin curled up floating near the room’s far wall, hand clasped about the tentacled eye-sigil of the Deep Mistress. He prayed as hard as he could for forgiveness, for he had utterly failed Her and his people this day.
As, deep down, he knew he always would. The runt of his clutch of hatchlings, always struggling to survive and prove himself. He’d needed to work twice as hard to achieve half of what naturally stronger, bolder warriors did. Yet for every failure, he had found some comfort in his minor successes, even earning a place in the expeditionary force that Morgawr, one of Charybdis’ chosen himself, had assembled to go forth to Aqualania.
And somehow, in the span of hours, Ulgriv had managed to get captured, give up critical information to the enemy, get mistaken for a traitor, and even unwittingly lead the surface foe to a powerful weapon and trove of artifacts that they’d now no doubt use to harm more of his kin.
No punishment could be harsh enough to fit his failure, and so he prayed for the Deep Mistress to smite him with all her wrath. Perhaps then he might still earn forgiveness.
He was briefly pulled from his mired thoughts by the vibration in the ship’s deck. It took a moment, but he realized the vessel had to now be moving, for he could hear the distant hum of the engines and sense the motion outside, even despite the lack of windows in his cell.
There seemed to be little he could do about it, confined as he was. Wincing, he looked at his hand. He’d been clutching his pendant so hard that the sharper edges of it had cut into the palm slightly. With a self disgusted growl he shook himself. He was still alive, if nothing else, so he had no excuse to keep wallowing. Yet, why was he still alive? The surfacers had no more use for him, so why throw him in here instead of killing him? Their behavior was beyond odd, and Ulgriv couldn’t puzzle out their intentions for him. Perhaps they just enjoyed the idea of watching him suffer? Did they plan torture, or further interrogations!?
That must be it! They were intending to invade the Abyss itself, and thought to extract information from him via horrible torture. Probably the pink one would be in charge of that, since she struck Ulgriv as the most unstable of these deranged surfacers.
Well, he’d be ready to resist! The pink one would get nothing from him!
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Pinkie Pie sneezed, followed by her snout shivering in a tremor that ran down her right foreleg, the brief spasm ending in a head tick which left her blinking. “Ohhoho! Not quite a doozy, but still pretty spine-quivering. I’m going to have fun with that!”
“Fun with what?” asked Flash Sentry, who was seated next to Pinkie Pie. The pair, along with most of the others in the group, had found stations to strap into as Admiral Seaspray took command and got the Treasury moving. Given the need for more than one pony to actually operate the ship, they’d divided themselves into the groups most able to handle what individual functions could be crewed with the small number of bodies they had, with Pinkie and Flash both being regulated to observation chairs on the upper walkway surrounding the front half of the bridge’s bubble. Their job, ostensibly, was spotting for obstacles the actual ship’s auger array might miss.
“Never you mind,” Pinkie Pie told him with a wink, “Just a bit of o’ Pinkie Sense letting me know I’ve got a serious friendship problem to tackle, but no worries, it’ll work itself out.”
“Riiight,” he said, familiar enough with his world’s Pinkie to know better than to ask the pony version to elaborate. He looked back around the bridge, as there wasn’t much for him to see at that very second. The Treasury was moving backwards, backing itself up out of the massive hangar chamber and into an open, circular space beyond the doors that had been opened.
Amid the bridge crew, Rarity was stationed at the auger array. This was situated to the immediate right of the helm station, and consisted of a chair strapped to a swivel around a crystalline orb that projected a series of vague magical shapes that if one focused on them would take a more distinct form. This was tied to the numerous magical crystal protrusions mounted at various points on the ship’s hull that used sensory magic to generate images of the ship’s surroundings to be projected from the array orb itself. Rarity had her eyes firmly locked on the orb, speaking to Seaspray, who manned the helm.
“We’ve entered a cylindrical chamber just large enough to fit the ship,” she said, “And I’m seeing the shaft goes all the way up to what appears to be the seabed. I don’t see an opening, however.”
Admiral Seaspray nodded, “We’ll just have to head up and see what happens.” He leaned over to speak into a communication device mounted on the helm station, “Engineering, how does our power output look?”
Twilight Sparkle’s voice came over the com loud and clear, “Everything is stable here, and the readings show a near perfectly consistent energy stream to all systems. Weapons and shields should both be operational, Admiral, even without testing.”
“Still prefer a proper shakedown cruise to be sure, but we may not have the luxury soon,” Seaspray muttered, “Very well then, I leave the engine room in your capable hooves, Princess and Miss Starlight.”
It was Starlight’s voice that then replied, “Just don’t do anything too crazy. Twilight may say the engines are stable, but we’ve got no idea what this ship is actually capable of, so ‘normal’ is kinda subjective at this point.”
“Hey!” said Twilight, “I’ve worked with plenty of magi-tech already. I’m... um, ninety five percent sure everything is working fine. No problem. I hope.”
“Oh yeah, this bodes well,” said Tempest from her position strapped into a seat that was on the far left side of the bridge. It was mounted next to a display shaped like a half shell, where half a dozen crystal orbs akin to the auger array, but a quarter of the size, were arrayed near a panel containing a spread of levers and buttons.
“Relax!” shouted Rainbow Dash, strapped into an identical chair and display set up on the opposite side of the bridge, “If Twilight says it’s cool to use these weapons, then it’s cool!”
“I thought you Equestrians were against lethal violence?” Tempest snarked, but Rainbow Dash just waved a wing at her.
“From what Flash was saying it’s, like, creepy ghosts waiting for us, so they’re kinda already dead right? So no harm no foul, I think.”
“We don’t even know if this ship’s weapons will be effective,” Tempest admitted, “But better than nothing. Assuming these don’t just blow up in our faces, and we can figure out how to use these station’s appropriately.”
“How hard can it-” Dash began, and Tempest shot a harsh glare at her.
“Don’t finish that sentence.”
Rainbow looked back at Tempest and after a moment her right ear twitched and she said, “-...be?”
“Ugh! Seaspray, if we die, I’m officially blaming her.”
“Noted, Tempest,” the hippogryph replied with a clipped and oddly chipper tone, as if being in command of a vessel, even one as unfamiliar as the Treasury was putting Seaspray in ever rising spirits. He pressed a different button on his station’s com, “Are all other crew prepared?”
“I’m ‘bout as prepared as I can be, given I don’t got no clue what ta do other n’ make sure our resident fish man don’t get up to no trouble,” said Applejack, who was posted outside Ulgriv’s brig cell, just in case. Besides, there wasn’t much else the mare could do when it came to helping operate the bridge, but she assured everypony she could at least make sure if the sahuagin got up to no good she could give him a good thwacking.
“Umm, this is Fluttershy in the infirmary. Everything looks fine here and if there are any injuries there’s plenty of supplies to treat them. Which reminds me, Twilight, that bandage will need to be replaced at least once a day.” Once Fluttershy had heard the ship had a medical bay, she’d all but insisted on dragging Twilight there to patch up the alicorn’s wounds as best she could, while also taking stock of the infirmary’s inventory.
At Fluttershy’s voice, Twilight’s was swift to respond, “I know, and thanks for looking at my wound, Fluttershy.”
“Ahem,” spoke Trixie’s voice, crackling over the com system, “As for myself and our siren friends, we’re as safe and comfortable as can be in the aft observation room. I do believe my keen intellect has worked out how this array thingie works.”
Sonata’s voice gave a musical laugh on the heels of Trixie’s words, “She was banging buttons at random until the glowy orb turned on.”
“Excuse me it was not ‘at random’. The Insightful and Methodical Trixie does all with well thought through purpose! Now, sit down and stop poking those levers.”
“Whatever you say, Trix,” said Aria’s voice, “Can we just get out of here now?”
With the confirmation of all hooves being at the ready, Admiral Seaspray cleared his throat and gave his best commanding wave of his talon as he said in echoing baritone, “Then we set sail! Treasury, engage engines to full and take us to the light of the surface!”
Granted, given he was both quasi-official captain and controller of the ship’s helm it fell to him to follow his own order, but there was no helping it. He was the only one who had been able to figure out the actual controls for the helm to any degree. Both talons on the twin control stick and using his wings to dexterously adjust several knobs and levers, he began to cause the vessel to rise in a straight vertical climb. Observing him, Flash was just glad that taking on seapony form hadn’t removed the wings from the fliers in the group, as the extra limbs were exceedingly handy for operating the ship. Flash suspected the Treasury had been meant to have a larger crew, but they were making do with what they had.
The only one of their group who wasn’t at a station floated in the center of the bridge’s spherical area, her staff held close at hoof as she watched out of the bubble-shaped windows. Wavecrest had been rather silent since they’d started preparations to leave. Flash wondered if the melancholy crossing the seapony witch’s face was because of the fact that the Eye of the Sea that she’d sought had not yet been found.
Personally he figured she ought to be happy to be bringing back something as amazing as this ship back to her people, nevermind all the artifacts still locked inside it’s belly. Yet now that he’d seen what had happened to Twilight and her friends as a result of the relic Twilight had picked up, Flash was now curious about both this Eye of the Sea and the mace itself. He hadn’t fully understood everything the mares from Ponyville had explained about the vision they’d seen, but it reminded Flash Sentry of some of Soul Society’s oldest tales about the time before the establishment of Seireitei, the Rukongai, and the Gotei 13. Information was always sparse from that time period before the current order, but what little was spoken of held a trace resemblance to the period of war and chaos that Twilight had described.
Just how similar is the history between our two worlds? Are these deities the girls had visions of anything like what gave rise to Soul Reapers back home? And what is that Relic doing to Twilight? Is she and the girls going to be alright?
It was one thing for Twilight to go charging off into battle. At the very least he could be by her side in such a situation to help protect her, and he knew she was able to hold her own even better than he could. But the Relic was a different kind of problem, and something he couldn’t affect or protect her from. Right now it was just visions, but what would come next if she kept it on her? Twilight still had the mace on her, which concerned Flash deeply.
“It’ll be fine,” said Pinkie Pie next to him, and Flash looked up at her grinning face.
“More Pinkie Sense?” he asked, and she shook her head.
“Nah, I just know Twilight. Magical stuff is her jam. Even when things get freaky or weird with spells, she always figures things out in the end. Besides, while what we saw in that wacko vision was kinda nuts and scary, it also felt right.” Pinkie Pie reached over and patted the lute she’d taken from the artifact chamber, which rested next to her seat, “It’s like when you’re baking a cake. It starts off as a confusing mess, and you’re just tossing ingredients together into a bowl. But once it’s baked, and all comes together, you realize all that stuff that didn’t seem like it went together makes something super tasty and good when it’s all done. You get it? I think us getting those visions is just another ingredient in the cake of our adventure!”
“Adventure... cake?” Flash repeated, slightly lost, and Pinkie Pie responded with a giggle.
“Do not doubt the cake!”
He couldn’t say he understood, but he did feel a bit better, if nothing else. It was hard to stay anxious and worried when a pink pony was shouting at you about cake. He let out a small laugh and let the tight worry in his chest relax a little, and turned his attention to the observation window. The ship continued to rise up the vast shaft towards the surface, and as it went crystal lights burned bright in cerulean brightness.
“Looks like these are lighting up on their own,” he said, “Must be some kind of automated system.”
Admiral Seaspray nodded, “Let us hope then, Mister Sentry, that there are doors at the end of this shaft that are equally automated. But if not, let’s start getting weapons ready. Miss Dash, Tempest, begin bringing the forward canons to bear.”
“Wait, why is she ‘Miss Dash’ and I’m just Tempest?” asked the mare in question.
“Because Miss Dash is not a wanted criminal,” Seaspray replied curtly, “Now, weapons if you please?”
Tempest’s lips curled in a mixture of rueful smile and snarl as she flipped several levers on her station up, “Warming up magical charge circuits now, Admiral. Forward mana canons deploying.”
One of the crystal orbs in front of her lit up, providing a magical projection of the front of the ship and what was directly ahead of it, along with several circular reticles that hovered in a faint green glow, gradually turning red as energy poured into the ship’s weapons from the engine room. Tempest could use her hooves to move the reticles in order to direct the canons that were presently deploying, a quartet of metal barrels on ball swivels that rose from opening hatches in a square pattern on the bow of the ship, just behind the spear-like tip.
Rainbow Dash’s station handled aft weapons, while Tempest’s controlled the front, while both stations split control of port and starboard combat systems. This included things beyond the mana canons, but the mares were only just getting to understand the Treasurey’s systems. This meant there was likely to be some trial and error needed, even if they would have to undergo it in the middle of combat.
Such an instance of ‘error’ occurred when Tempest brushed one of the reticles a bit too hard with her hoof while trying to aim the cannons upward, causing it to discharge. A bright lance of white and intermixed blue magic blasted out of one of the cannons and punched a hole in the walls. All eyes turned to Tempest, who reddened and grumbled, “Thing’s a tad sensitive.”
“Never mind that,” Seaspray said, “Miss Rarity, how are things looking above us? We’re nearing the top of this shaft and I’d like to avoid using the cannons as a last resort to make an exit for ourselves.”
“At the moment I’m not seeing any change,” Rarity said, her eyes fixated on the augury array, “It just looks like a solid wall... wait, no, it looks like it’s moving. Oh, the ceiling is opening up now!”
“I see it too,” confirmed Flash, peering up through the observation window, “The lights go all the way up, and looks like an exit is being made for us.”
“Thank goodness for automation,” said Seaspray, “These Aqualanian’s certainly built things to last.”
“My people were indeed a thorough and industrious folk,” Wavecrest said, “Mayhaps they shall be so again, one day.”
Flash took a deep breath. Within himself he felt the growing, crushing weight of an intense spiritual pressure that waited above like a blanketing, dark cloud. While this pressure had been ever present, he could tell something was happening. There was some kind of sharp rise and erratic fluctuation to the reiatsu he was sensing, and in turn he suspected a great deal of magic was being used up above. It was similar to what he felt when Charybdis had empowered Morgawr.
“Don’t mean to alarm anypony, but I think our host isn’t planning to let us just leave,” he said, “She’s doing something up there that’s magnifying the spiritual power I was sensing before.”
“Well we knew it was gonna be a’ fight,” said Applejack over the com, “Just wish there was more I could do than just stand guard down here.”
“It’s a vital task, Miss Applejack. I feel much better knowing our prisoner is unlikely to cause us mischief with you on watch,” replied Seaspray, then his talons gripped the ship's controls, increasing the throttle and causing the vessel to rise even faster.
“We’ll be breaching the exit in seconds,” Rarity reported, and everypony tensed, none of them entirely sure what to expect once they reached the seabed. “Crossing the threshold in... three... two... one. We’re out!”
“Activate all searchlights, and raise shields!” Seaspray commanded.
The hangar’s exit shaft had opened up in the north side of Aqualania’s long abandoned cityscape, amid the ruins of the noble estates just bordering the royal palace. An entire park area had played home to the hidden shaft, the seabed ground aside as the ancient doors had opened under the strength of ancient mechanisms still preserved and functional through spells wrought long ago. Up into the gloom of the once great underwater city the majestic submersible ship rose like a glittering leviathan of metal.
Lights snapped on all along its sides, crystal apparatus shaped like small mobile discs lighting up with magic and projecting blue pools of light into the darkness surrounding the Treasury. At the same time Tempest activated the shield system. A dozen small spokes of bright blue crystal, like the spines on a sea urchin, rose from key points along the ship’s hull. With soft sparks of light they projected energy around the ship, snapping into place a defensive barrier that briefly shimmered in blue radiance before becoming largely transparent.
“Remember,” Seaspray bade both Tempest and Rainbow Dash, “The shields draw a lot of power to project around the entire hull. You will need to adjust its strength to whatever side we are being attacked from.”
“I got it, I got it,” said Dash, “It’s just like using an actual shield, only blue and shiny.”
“Yikes, even with the lightshow I can’t see anything in front of us. Huh, not even the palace,” Pinkie Pie noted, and all on the bridge could see what she meant quite clearly. When they’d infiltrated the city it had still been possible to make out the truly massive royal palace that rose above the ruined metropolice’s cityscape. Given the relative position of the hangar and the shaft they’d just exited, they should have been able to see the palace in front of them easily enough.
But instead all that could be seen was an all-encompassing darkness, as if the world itself terminated in a void just a hundred meters ahead of the Treasury's bow.
Rarity gulped, her voice rising a bit in stress, “I don’t know if this is a bad sign or not, but the array is not detecting the palace. Instead it’s picking up what appears to be a solid cloud of... something engulfing the area the palace should be in. It’s like a solid dome of darkness.”
“That’s it,” Flash said, feeling an unconscious need to grip the hilt of his Zanpaktou, “That’s the source of the spiritual pressure. It’s... it’s souls.”
Now that they were close enough to it, and he could see it as well, Flash could probe the mass more effectively with his senses. This told him plenty about what he was looking at, but he was also struck by a horrifying similarity between this and a similar phenomenon from his world.
“Wait,” Twilight’s voice spoke over the com, “Are you sure, Flash? You didn’t sense any spirits when we were entering the city, right?”
“Twilight, I think that’s because all of them were concentrated somewhere else,” he said, stammering slightly as his mind raced, “This mass... it’s concentrated souls, all tangled and bound up together! Soul Queen above I can feel them. There’s thousands of souls in that mass, tied together somehow. This spiritual pressure is dark, Twilight. Angry. And the way the souls are all smashed together like this, it’s almost like... like a Gillian-class Hollow, only so much larger and more powerful I can’t even be sure the comparison fits.”
“A Hollow!? You’re telling me that’s a Hollow out there?” Twilight said, the alarm in her voice quite plain.
“I don’t know,” Flash said, “I don’t think it’s identical, but it’s dang close in nature to one. Those souls out there are corrupted, Twilight, and massed together, that’s all I can say for sure.”
“Charybdis’ doing,” Wavecrest said in a raggedly hate filled voice, “I know not the details of what you speak, but I know that what lay in front of us is the result of the worst kind of magic, used in the worst possible of manners. Souls unnaturally bound, prevented from finding rest. Overcome by the fear, rage, and hate at their unjust demise, and hungry to spread their pain to the living. Wraiths.”
“And you know this how?” Dash asked, a bit of unnerved strain in her voice. Monsters, dragons, and thugs didn’t bother the daring pegasus, but ghosts creeped her out, resident Soul Reapers notwithstanding.
“The ocean plays graveyard to countless souls lost at sea,” Wavecrest said, “While most pass naturally from this realm, a rare few may linger due to dark magics or unusual circumstances. Yet in this case I know the sahaugin’s brand of magic and that it can do such twisted things as this, although at this terrible scale no mere sahuagin shaman could be responsible. Hence why I insist this is the work of Charybdis herself.”
“I do hate to interrupt, but I’m detecting movement ahead,” Rarity spoke quickly, “All over this side of the dome! It’s as if the surface is... quivering. And there’s a larger motion within... wait, something’s emerging! Um, a little to the left... oh, what’s the term? Ten o’clock, dead ahead!”
“Focus the lights,” Seaspray commanded, and at Tempest and Rainbow Dash’s direction the ship’s searchlights shifted their beams until a concentrated blue glow filled a wide cone in front of the Treasury, lighting up the dark mass.
Now all could see what was happening. The dome-shaped cloud of stewing darkness was boiling across its surface, blisters of thick, inky substance rising outward. Something larger shifted within where Rarity had indicated, bulging the darkness out like a macabre balloon. The hundreds of smaller blisters then started to stretch out from the mass, multitudes of undulating mounds that became like grasping arms. A sound penetrated the hull then, faint at first, but quickly rising with a chorusing echo that only grew louder by the second. Moans and wails, overlapping one another in their thousands, sounding like the crash of endless waves. The lengths of dark tendrils now quivered themselves, revealing shapes within, breaking free like droplets of blood. Each droplet formed into a being shaped somewhat like a seapony, although their bodies were thin, emaciated, and covered in a substance like pitch black tar. It was as if this substance was coating partially melted corpses, even peeling back the faces until they looked like onyx black skulls rather than living features, with the only point of color being pale white orbs of light within their depthless eye sockets.
“Harmony preserve...” somepony breathed, and it wasn’t even clear in the still silence of the bridge who’d even spoken.
Flash found himself drawing his Zanpaktou, simply on reflex. These weren’t Hollows, but they were close enough. An Equestrian cousin to the spirits of his own world that Soul Reapers were dedicated to fight. These ‘Wraiths’ gave off the same kind of spiritual energy, albeit somewhat different due to the inherently magical nature of them. He didn’t know for sure if his Zanpaktou would be effective against them, but he had a feeling it’d do better than just trying to strike these spirits with physical objects. But there were so many...
“They’re not moving,” Tempest noted, “Why aren’t they attacking?”
Wavecrest answered with a dire note in her whispered voice, “They’re awaiting the command of the one who bound them to this unnatural fate. Even in their hatred of her, they cannot resist the magic that binds them.”
At that moment the larger blister of darkness burst like so much cloudy ink, and a titanic form swam forth from the mass of Wraiths.
It was the mutated whale that had chased parts of the group in the depths of the palace, but it was changed. It’s size had more than doubled, and although that still only made it about half the length of the Treasury, the terror beast had been twisted further by what those looking on could only assume was more of Charybdis’ morbid power. Much as Morgawr had grown more heavily muscled and gained a growth of organic armor, so too had the already bulging whale been inflated with masses of corded, cancerous muscle. Even more plates of thick bone and slick organic shell grew over it’s bloated husk, tipped all over with jagged edges and spearing spikes, leaving it’s fines more like hulking blades than limbs. It’s head had grown into a battering ram of massed, unevenly spiked protrusions, and it’s jaw was distended open permanently by an array of horrific teeth larger than lances. There was nothing left of it’s eyes save a pin prick of shadow from which no light shone.
As the monstrosity and its host of Wraiths faced off with the Treasury, Charybdis’ voice rang out over the waters of Aqualania, stemming from the malformed terror beast itself.
Twilight Sparkle, if you can hear me, then I hope you appreciate the effort you’re forcing me to expend in dealing with you. It’s about as complementary as I’m going to get. Now, I’d like you to meet my beloved people. The citizens of Aqualania, who avoid the fate of true death only through the grace of my power. Power you shall never match! But fear not, I am merciful. Even after you and your friends die, I won’t let you fall into true death either. I’m just that kind hearted.
Then with a howl as encompassing as the void and more warmth sapping than the edge of winter, the terror beast shook the ocean itself and charged forward upon bulging swings of its mashappen tail. And alongside it howled and charged the horde of Wraiths, all bound by unending rage at any spark of life within their reach. Held back once by Charybdis’ spell, contained in the emptiness beneath Aqualania, the frayed Wraiths had risen only in small numbers to consume a stray sahuagin or two, as even Charybids’ magic could not hold them back in their multitudes over all of the centuries. Yet now, they were unleashed to freely vent their fury, and would do so with glee regardless of the target, just as long as it wasn’t those directly under Charybdis’ protection.
Which at the moment made the lives on board the Treasury their only viable target, which they rushed towards with swift abandon.
“Ladies, fire at will! Reinforce forward shields!” Seaspray commanded, throwing his weight into the controls and cranking the throttle to full forward. The engines of the Treasury hummed to life, the propellers becoming ethereal blurs as magical energy poured off the ship’s engine core and lit both the conical engine protrusions and the propellers with a rim of sapphire light. The vessel banked to the right, turning south as the horde of Wraiths advanced, and Rainbow Dash and Tempest both began to let their hooves fly over their own controls to bring the ship's weapons to bear.
More mana cannons deployed across the Treasurey’s hull, ten on each side and an additional four on the aft, alongside a trio clustered on a turret spoke on both the belly and top deck just behind the bridge itself.
The cannon’s muzzles gleamed brightly, white and blue light pooling within before discharging their coherent beams of magic into the murky depths at the oncoming horde. Unlike normal forms of energy, the magic was not heavily deterred by firing through water, and the beams struck hard and true into the mass of rushing, vengeful spirits. For each beam that cut across them, tens of Wraiths were torn asunder like scraps of paper, their spectral forms coming apart. Yet each one that was felled in such a manner still left dozens of its comrades to continue their howling, headlong charge.
As for the terror beast under Charybdis’ control, Tempest had concentrated the forward battery on the creature, the beams thrusting in like lances of pure light. While striking true, the beams scorching paths along the beast’s hide, it did not stop. It was injured, to be sure, organic armor blackening under the assault, yet it’s increased mass was augmented by unnatural toughness as Charybdis’ fell power coursed through it and the transformed whale bellowed once more as it lowered it’s head and bore in on the Treasury's flank even as the submersible soared past the palace and towards the southern cityscape.
Seaspray adjusted the ship’s heading to angle the port forward shields towards the oncoming whale, and shouted, “Brace for impact!” just seconds before the creatures crashed into the ship’s shields.
The magical barrier flared with such intense brightness that for the first time in centuries almost all of Aqualania was lit up by an indigo flare that bathed every street corner and fallen spire. The shields held against the terror beast’s impact, sending the beast off course to smash it’s immense bulk through the very promenade that Starlight’s group had snuck through before entering the palace, smashing the stone columns to dust. Inside the ship everycreature was rocked by the collision, those firmly strapped to their seats holding fast as the hull shook. Fortunately the shields held strong and prevented any serious damage, but Twilight’s voice spoke quickly over the coms.
“That hit drained the barrier by near twenty percent, Admiral! We can’t let that thing keep hitting us like that. I’m detecting minor damage to some of our internal magic relays, but nothing we can’t compensate for.”
“Understood Princess, if you can boost engine power, I’d be grateful,” Seaspray said past a clenched beak, “This noble ship of ours is a sizeable lady, and if we’re to make her dance, I’ll need as much as you can coax out of her.”
“We’ll do our best!” Twilight replied, then Rarity chimed in.
“The Wraiths are nearly upon us, and that monster of a whale is already recovered from it’s tumble and coming around, at two o’clock low!”
“Miss Dash, concentrate cannon fire to port! Get as many of those ghostly bastards as possible. Tempest, load forward mana harpoons! Target the whale with all of them, and fire on my mark!” came Seaspray’s orders, and both mares quickly obeyed, all thought of comment of quips rapidly pushed to the side under the intense pressure of the undersea battle.
Dash’s eyes narrowed to slits, her concentration pushing her mind to a state of celerity akin to the moments in which she was in the middle of a race or performing aerial stunts. As unfamiliar as the weapons controls of the Treasury were to her, they were also incredibly intuitive. She could grasp entire clusters of targeting reticles on the magical display in front of her and cast them towards the swarms of dots and blips that represented the targets the ship’s augury array recognized. The mana cannons did the rest, automatically tracking on their ball swivels and disgorging beam after beam into the darkness. Yet there were so many Wraiths in surrounding clusters that Rainbow Dash could hardly keep up, rushing to move reticles left and right to sweep the port-side cannon beams across the wave. And more were coming, as the central dome of Wraiths was still disgorging more of the spirits, like wasps from a hive.
Even with all of the cannons firing, Wraiths still reached the ship, or rather the shields. Upon contact with the energy barrier the Wraiths screamed their rage as hooves sharpened to black points, turning their limbs into stabbing spears or cutting scythes that crashed into the incandescent wall of blue magic. While the shields held, the Wraiths boiled over it like a dark tide, stabbing and cutting with wild, violent abandon, hungry to slaughter the living that were protected just beyond the shield’s reach.
“Admiral, those things are surrounding us!” Rarity reported, and Seaspray’s talons clasped the ship controls all the harder, for he knew he couldn’t afford to adjust the shields to reinforce all sides at once. With the terror beast out there they needed to keep the bulk of the shield energy directed towards surviving it’s battering ram attacks. If they redistributed the shield power to try to keep the Wraiths out, the terror beast would likely shatter it with another couple of hits.
To try and shake the Wraiths he took the Treasury into a curving dive while still aiming the nose of the ship in the general direction of the terror beast, which was now coming around for another head on charge.
“Keep the cannons firing, but keep the shields angled forward! Tempest, the mana harpoons?”
“Loaded and ready to fire,” Tempest responded, her own focus on the new target reticles, triangular shaped rather than circular, that had appeared on her own display. These represented the mana harpoons which were deployed along the front bottom of the ship. Below the jutting forward spearhead on the front of the vessel a quartet of hatches opened and from them lowered four long mounts that looked like triple-headed ballistae as large as siege catapults. Each bore three massive harpoon heads that were forged from a combination of magically treated bronze and empowered blue crystal, all ending in barbed tips that at that very moment began to glow with charging magical power.
By now the Wraiths had partially been shaken, but many still clung to the ship’s shields, hammering away with their bladed limbs, seeking the weaker portions in the shielding near the aft of the vessel. While they had not broken through yet, with their numbers and undying tenacity it was only a matter of time, even with Rainbow Dash still dispatching dozens at a time with swift cannon barrages.
The terror beast loomed ahead, coming straight for the ship, and Seaspray aligned the bow with its trajectory, breath held for an instant until he was sure of their course.
“Now Tempest, fire all harpoons!”
Tempest’s hoof stabbed onto the targeting reticles, all aligned onto the terror beast. In the same instant the harpoon launchers spun as magical energy surged through them and launched forth their harpoons, one after another, a full twelve in total from all four launchers. The arcane charged harpoons flew through the water as smooth as diving hawks upon their prey.
The terror beast did not slow, and in response a baleful violet light gathered upon the spiky protrusions on its head. Suddenly, lancing blasts of dark magic exploded from these spikes and rushed out to intercept the harpoons. Multiple detonations rocked the waters of Aqualania, shaking nearby buildings as nine of the harpoons were struck and exploded from the blasts of dark magic that had broken them. Even so, three broke through and slammed directly into the front of the terror beast, penetrating even it’s thick organic armor and exploding in fireballs of cerulean magic that boiled the water around them.
A pained howl vibrated through the ocean, black blood boiling forth from deep wounds in the terror beast’s face, several spikes from it’s front mass broken free. But still it kept on, more violet energy pooling in front of it as it fired a focused blast at the Treasury. Sespray saw it coming and yanked on the controls. Twilight had made good on throwing more magical might into the engines, the the Treasury spun to the left, all but barrel rolling so that instead of taking the brunt of the blast, the dark purple beam scraped the side of it’s shields.
...However, this was enough to send cracks through the starboard side of the shields, already somewhat weak from both the Wraiths’ assault and the simple fact that most of the shield energy was concentrated forward.
“Oh no,” Rarity breathed, “Admiral, I’m detecting energy signatures inside the ship!”
Although the breaches in the shields hadn’t lasted long before automatic recharge systems repaired the cracks, that had still been enough for dozens to slip through. The Treasury had been boarded, and the invading Wraiths were howling for blood, the warmth of the living long denied them. Those howls could be heard by all in the ship, no matter what deck they were on.
“Crap, what do we do?” Dash said, “Not like we can just hop off the controls!”
Without hesitation, Flash Sentry unstrapped himself from his seat, Zanpaktou already in hoof, and with one simple sentence on his lips.
“Leave this to me.”