Episode 160: A Momentary Respite
Starlight Glimmer yawned into her coffee, or what Pinkie Pie told her was the seapony equivalent of coffee, which was significantly greener than Starlight would have preferred her caffeine injection to be. It didn’t taste horrible, at least. Had something of a tangy kick to it, and the drink certainly did the job of helping her stay awake during long night hours monitoring the Treasury's engine core.
It was morning on the second day out of Aqualania, with the northern oceans fast approaching and making the air outside ever chillier by the hour. The airship’s windows were gradually gaining tints of frost. Starlight wandered through the corridors that led up to the top deck of the ship, where she exited into the cold morning air with a slight shiver and found Trixie and Tempest Shadow. The other two mares were sitting by the side of the deck hatch, equally tending to cups of Pinkie Pie’s green “coffee”, although Starlight noted Trixie was on a third cup at this point while Tempest was still nursing her first. Both mares glanced Starlight’s way, but a burst of noise and light from the passing clouds to the deck’s port side drew their attention back, along with Starlight’s.
“How long have they been at it?” Starlight asked with a yawn, “Twilight was supposed to come relieve me an hour ago.”
“Since before dawn,” Tempest said, flicking her tail, and Starlight noticed that the mare had Morgawr’s former trident propped up on the hatch wall beside her. Tempest seemed to make a point of carrying it around almost everywhere with her.
“Trixie tried shouting to them, but they seem to be engrossed with this whole training business,” Trixie said, gulping her coffee and licking her lips, “Was about to come get you and let you go grab some sleep. I can watch the engines.”
“Guess it doesn’t take any technical skill, just make sure nothing starts fizzing, zapping, steaming, or otherwise explode,” Starlight said as she took a seat next to the other mares, eyes scanning the sky and clouds. It didn’t take long for her to spot darting forms of color, although it was hard to tell who. Red and yellow? Must be Fluttershy. The streak of color wove through the clouds at speeds difficult to follow, and Starlight saw the streak clash with another in a clash of sound.
Shading her eyes against the rising sun’s light, Starlight lit up her horn to weave a spell over herself, allowing herself to see magical auras. That made tracking Twilight and the other girls much easier, as their magic filled the sky with moving beacons of light. It amazed Starlight to see those auras, seemingly titanic now compared to what she was used to. She could pick out the blazing orange of Applejack’s aura, of course clashing with Rainbow Dash’s lighter blue one. The two mares looked like they were smashing into each other like a pair of oncoming avalanches, although that was just their auras. Starlight still couldn’t quite make out the actual forms of her friends amid the clouds.
She wondered how the non-winged of the group were dealing with this whole business of... well, not flying per se, but using the overwhelming magic at their disposal to move themselves through the air the way somepony might swim in water. Starlight had actually been present the other day when Twilight had explained the concept to her friends, that their Inheritor forms had so much magic inside them that something akin to flight was possible even for those who didn’t naturally have wings. Flash Sentry had more or less confirmed the notion that this wasn’t all that different from how Soul Reapers walked on air by pushing on spirit particles with their reiatsu, only in this case it was venting excess magic to create stable hoof holds to kick off of to zip around the air.
A blast of familiar purple magic split a cloud, then fragmented into several dozen individual beams that curved through the sky, following a bouncing pink form. Twilight and Pinkie Pie, and from what Starlight could see Pinkie was actually keeping ahead of Twilight’s blasts.
“Well, however long they’ve been at it, I’d say it’s time for a break,” Starlight said, aiming her horn skyward, “And if shouting doesn’t get their attention, I’ve got a simpler method.”
Gathering up magic in her horn in a bright teal spiral, she shot a wide beam straight up into the sky, detonating it several hundred feet up in a sparkling burst of light. Trixie clapped her hooves, even as she somehow managed to look slightly chagrined, “Trixie was going to do that next. Just wanted to finish her coffee first. Or whatever this stuff is.”
“I’ve tasted worse,” said Tempest, “Grubber’s coffee is what we used to punish the incompetent in the Storm King’s army. Had some troops who insisted on execution instead of having to drink it.”
Starlight’s magical light show seemed to do the trick, as before long she heard a rush of air and Flash Sentry appeared on the deck. The poor stallion looked a little worse for wear, with a few bruises and a sweaty soaked, haggard look on his face as he took in deep breaths. His Zanpaktou was in it’s Shikai state, but he sealed it back to a plain katana as moments later the mares from Ponyville arrived in streaks of multi-colored lights befitting their own color schemes, each landing on the deck in turn.
“Man what gives!?” Rainbow Dash said, wind still clinging to her transformed body like a cloak. Indeed half of her body was translucent and seemingly made of living wind, although the mare quickly solidified her body back to normal flesh and blood as she wrung cloud dew out of her mane, “I was just about to tie the score with AJ.”
“Pfft, sure ya were, hun,” said Applejack, her iron armor causing the deck to smoke beneath her metal-shod hooves from the raw heat of her body. The farmer quickly noticed this and made a conscious effort to reduce the heat output from her metallic form, reducing the steam wafting up from her.
“Are you alright, Flash Sentry?” asked Fluttershy, cradling her blood red shield almost apologetically as she looked at a cut on his side, “I was trying to hold back a little.”
“It’s cool, no worries,” Flash said, wincing a bit as he patted the injury, “Just a flesh wound. Seriously my fault for underestimating you and Rarity.”
“Well, darling, we were having a bit of a free for all out there, and I for one thought you were a lovely sparring partner,” Rarity said, carefully hovering her chakrams to hitch along the sides of her dress, “And Fluttershy, I really must commend you. I thought my own defenses were quite solid, but you pressed me harder than I imagined possible. I’d say you’re a natural at this.”
Fluttershy’s face bashfully gained a dawn colored hue, while Twilight gave her friends an appraising and appreciative look, conjuring a notebook to float beside her that she began to jot in with a similarly summoned quill pen.
“I’m impressed with all of us, really. I’m already calculating a solid fifteen percent increase in combat reactions, and closer to twenty percent in power output just from yesterday alone. I’ll need to go over a few questions with everypony on individual memory integration, but I think I can safely say our training is certainly moving along at such a fast pace due to Astra and her friend’s having so many battle related memories.”
“That’s one way o’ puttin’ it, Twilight,” said Applejack, having stepped a little closer to Rainbow Dash, almost seemingly unconsciously, “Could just be we’re naturals at this heroin’ business. Either way, can’t say I mind havin’ the extra oomph ta toss around, an’ the metal duds ain’t so shabby neither.”
“I’ll say,” Rainbow Dash chuckled, also seeming to move a bit closer to Applejack without realizing it, running a wing tip over the other mare’s armored side, “Don’t know what it is, but the armored look really works for you, AJ.”
“Heheh, well it don’t look none too bad on ya either, Dash... er, ya know I’m suddenly feelin’ peckish. Yup, time fer breakfast I reckon, then I oughta go make sure Wavecrest is playin’ nice with our guest,” Applejack said whilst suddenly hopping away from Rainbow Dash as if just then realizing their close proximity. Dash, likewise, had a blink of epiphany and stepped back as well, shifting uneasily on her hooves.
“Right! Right! She was watching our fish dude. Yup, think I’ll hit up a shower and then do food. Whew, then maybe a nap, since I’m soooooo tired after all that training.”
The pair exited the deck faster than most the others could blink, leaving Starlight to give Twilight a raised eyebrow, to which the other mare gave a completely confounded shrug.
“Is it just Trixie’s imagination or are those two...?” Trixie held up her hooves and just sort of knocked them together in a vaguely suggestive manner, to which Pinkie Pie gave a little cackle snort.
“Naaaaaah, although maybe yeah? Pretty sure their past-alicorn-memory-buddies were totally into each other. Tachys and Althea.”
“Oh my, that does coincide with Zoismos’ memories too,” Rarity said, tapping a hoof to her chin, “I seem to recall Rainbow Dash and Applejack’s past selves having something of a relationship. Perhaps I should talk to them and make sure they’re both okay?”
“Hmm, that might be a good idea,” said Twilight, pensively scribbling in her notebook, “We’re all still sorting these old memories out, and that might affect our teamwork. I should have thought of that.”
“Twilight, it’s barely been two days,” Starlight said, “There’s bound to be a few hiccups with, you know, absorbing the whole memories of these ancient alicorn folk. I’m kind of shocked you guys are handling it so well.”
“It is rather astounding,” Tempest agreed, “Kind of frustrating, too.”
“Why would you be frustrated, Miss Tempest?” asked Fluttershy, and the unicorn just shook her head and stood up from where she’d been sitting, cradling her coffee cup carefully on one hoof, given her horn was not suited to carrying it with magic. It struck Starlight that even something as simple as carrying day to day objects with magic was something Tempest couldn’t do, even with her own naturally powerful magic.
“Don’t worry about it. It’s my problem to deal with. Just hoping that once all this is done, you all don’t forget that you promised to help me find my ex-boss. I might not be in his service in the strictest sense right now, but I still need him to help me fix this,” Tempest said, indicating her broken horn, before slipping her trident across a strap looped around her back and heading back into the ship.
“I suppose it’s easy to forget she isn’t entirely a part of our merry group,” Rarity said with a sigh, “Somewhat abrasive personality aside, I’ve gotten oddly used to her.”
“Meh, Trixie could take her or leave her,” said Trixie, downing the last of her own coffee before glancing at Starlight, “At any rate, you should probably be going to bed soon, right?”
“Well, yes, but wanted to chat with Twilight a bit first,” said Starlight, to which Twilight gave her an apologetic nod.
“I’m sorry I lost track of time, Starlight. It’s shockingly easy once we get going. Um, girls, Flash, why don’t you all head down to get breakfast and I’ll catch up once me and Starlight talk?”
“Works for me,” said Flash, rolling his shoulders with a wince, “Going to need a long break after this morning anyway. Want me to grab some food for you, Twilight, leave it at your quarters?”
“Oh, um, that would be lovely, thank you Flash,” Twilight replied with a very notable warmth to her smile. Starlight also noted the way Twilight somewhat stared at the stallion as he left with the rest of the group. Once they were both alone on the deck, Starlight resisted the urge to elbow Twilight and instead just propped herself up on the deck railing and casually crossed her hooves.
“So, you and Flash seem to be getting along well,” she noted, to which Twilight quickly tucked away her notebook under a wing and looked away.
“We are, not that that’s anypony’s business but ours.”
“Hey, wasn’t trying to tease. I think it’s good for you. Even if he is technically a ghost from another dimension.”
“Oh quit it, Starlight. I don’t bug you about Trixie,” Twilight replied, eyeing Starlight sidelong, “Even when you use the guest room in my own castle.”
Starlight promptly found the deck floor interesting as her face burned. “I use silence spells,” she mumbled defensively.
“That I taught you,” Twilight shot back, managing an uncharacteristically smug smile, although it quickly faded back to a more curious look as Twilight abruptly shifted gears, “So what did you want to talk about anyway?”
“Mostly I just wanted to...” Starlight fumbled for words. Granted she was tired, so that was part of why her mind felt sluggish, but it was also hard for her to articulate what she was going for. Starlight was never the most social pony to begin with, and was still in many ways struggling to learn how to open up herself to friendship’s many interactions. “I guess check in? We’ve been moving at such a breakneck pace from one crisis to the next, there hasn’t been much time to just breathe and adjust, you know? Guess I wanted to talk to you just to make sure you’re doing alright after, well, everything. I mean, for goodness sake Twilight, in the past couple of days alone we’ve nearly died how many times!? And suddenly having all this stuff about the alicorns of old and Inheritors just dropped on us out of nowhere? It’s... a lot, right? Then what happened in the Crystal Empire...”
Twilight closed her eyes and took in a sharp breath, leaving Starlight afraid maybe she’d gone too far. However, Twilight raised a hoof to her chest and let out a slow breath, moving her hoof away as if physically tossing out negative feelings with that breath. She opened her eyes and didn’t look at Starlight, but rather at the open expanse of the blue morning sky above.
“I won’t try to hide it, Starlight. I’m afraid. Really, really afraid. I don’t think I understood just how bad things could get until I saw the lengths Charybdis could go to fulfill her plans, or how vulnerable those I care about are until I heard about what the Hollow version of Chrysalis did to Cadence and the Empire. It terrifies me so much that last night I could barely sleep.”
She was still holding the transformed staff that her mace Relic became when she transformed. Starlight watched as Twilight took another deep breath and in a shining wash of pale violet light the staff and Twilight both returned to their normal state. Twilight sheathed the mace in a loop of cloth wrapped around her withers, and brushed some of her mane from her face as the wind from the airship’s passage shifted it about.
“But despite all that, a part of me is excited, too. There’s a whole history to our world I never knew about, Starlight! A whole wealth of knowledge out there just waiting for me to discover it. The Astral Sea, the ancient Bastions of the alicorns that may still exist, and the Relics themselves and what they might mean for the world. I was already over the moon learning about High Magic, but now there’s the ancient alicorn’s unique blend of it to add to my list of research projects. I’m scared, yes, but at the same time overjoyed to know I have so much more to learn.”
“Huh, I guess I can see that, although going to point out we all got to survive what’s coming before you can get too research giddy,” Starlight said with a wry half smile, to which Twilight provided a small, somber nod.
“I know. Believe me, Starlight, my stomach is tied in knots over just about everything. I’m worried about Celestia having to deal with this crazy Eos personality. I’m worried about what either Chrysalis might do next. I’m worried about how we’re going to beat Charybdis. I’m worried about my friends and if they’ll handle all these new memories and powers without losing themselves. I’m worried about Flash and me and where things will go between us. I’m worried about the human you and what might be happening to her inside Ponehenge’s prison.”
Starlight shook her head, “Even I don’t know what to think about that. It still feels weird to me that this other me just went hoof-to-hoof with Celestia, then willingly jumped into some void-like prison with some insanely powerful shadow creature. I mean, on one hoof, maybe we don’t have to worry about her anymore? On the other hoof, a part of me is kind of disappointed I haven’t gotten to meet her face to face. Like, I know it’s a bit egotistical of me, but I had it in my head that maybe I could talk her down, you know?”
“I understand how you feel,” Twilight said, “A part of me was similarly disappointed I wasn’t there to stop my other self when she transformed into that Midnight version. I think it’s only natural to assume that because it’s another version of us, we’d understand one another, and have an easier time finding common ground. I don’t know what might come of the human you’s decision, but I have a feeling if she does return, we’ll be in for a whole new layer of complications to deal with.”
“Well, me and complicated go hoof in hoof,” Starlight admitted, “No matter what version of me it is. Heh, honestly I’m shocked I didn’t turn out to be an Inheritor.”
“Pining to be all powerful, like Trixie is?” Twilight jibbed, and Starlight waved it off with a hoof.
“No, just wondering how much use I’ll be to you in the fights to come.”
“Oh please, you’re the strongest unicorn I know, Starlight, and that’s including my incredible Captain of the guard brother. Even without a Relic, you’re packing enough firepower in that horn to more than hold your own,” Twilight said with an encouraging wing tap, to which Starlight just shrugged with a hapless yawn.
“You never lack for words when it comes ot pep talks, Twilight. And here i was hoping to cheer you up in case you were feeling overwhelmed by everything.”
“Hey, I appreciate it. More than you might be able to tell,” Twilight replied, “Now given that yawn of yours, I’m thinking it’s time for you to hit the pillows. I’ll take over in engineering. With any luck, we’ll be closing in on the location of the Abyss by tomorrow morning.”
“You mean assuming Charybdis doesn’t try anything to stop us in the meantime,” Starlight said, and Twilight looked across the deck towards the distant, ominous north.
“Yeah, assuming that.”
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Within the boundless depths of the shear chasm of underwater rock, an unnatural light that was the sheen of arterial blood reflected off the scales of dozens of aspirant shamans. The sahuagin’s burbling voices rose in unison in a daily chant at the edge of the vast precipice that led further down into the heart of their Deep Mistress’ domain. The outcrop of rock they chanted upon jutted over the chasm like a broken claw, and behind them yawned open a wider underwater canyon in which many cavern openings yawned like open wounds. Two jagged spires rose to flank the entrance to the rocky outcrop, covered in carved symbols and worked fetishes of bone, a magic gateway to this place, the threshold of the Deep Mistress’ lair.
Morgawr had passed this way many times before, but never in a state of humiliation. His battered body was still on the mend, bearing scars and pains from his wretched defeat at the hooves of the surfacers. He’d seen the questioning stares of his brethren as he’d been led through the chasms of Rift Mouth, the largest of the sahuagin settlements. He’d heard their whispers. A vast warband of promising warriors near completely lost. The foothold in Aqualania gone. Morgawr returned in defeat. How would he atone in any other manner than to offer himself in sacrifice?
That he should and would do so was not in question, even in Morgawr’s mind. He just resented that there was any hushed whispering or pitiful staring at all, as if he needed to be pitied in the first place! He had done his duty and failed, and was fully willing to bear the responsibility of that failure. He would not cringe from it, like some weak willed spawnling on their first hunt! The mere fact that he could still swim was testament to some small favor the Deep Mistress must have still felt towards him. The damage he had suffered upon his crushing defeat had been extensive. Indeed his every muscle still ached and his body bore fresh scars from his encounter with the alicorn Princess Twilight Sparkle. The potency of Charybdis' magic that trickled back into his body, alongside the careful tending of Rift Mouth's elder shamans, had gotten him back in fighting condition, if only barely. It still rankled him that his warriors, more concerned with hauling him from the rubble he'd been buried under after his duel with Twilight Sparkle, had failed to search for and retrieve the fine magical spear he had found for that fight. Oh well, a warrior shouldn't define himself by his weapons, but his skill. He'd get a replacement spear soon enough, if he wasn't summarily executed for failure in the next few minutes.
Fate did seem fit to to enjoy rubbing his face in things, as was evident by the ones greeting him and Divistus upon their arrival at the deepest of chasms where their Mistress awaited.
“I imagined many times how I might surpass you, Morgawr, but not once did I think it would be because you lost to a bunch of surfacer ponies,” said a sahuagin female, showing a blunt astonishment and disappointment in her voice that cut harder than any intentionally jibing edge may have. Her scales were a striking shade of purple, striped with black along her hips an legs. Smaller than Morgawr by a fair margin, the female yet remained physically corded with no less muscle which lent her slender frame the look of a sleek hunting shark. Corded armor of interlaced bone was punctuated by large shark teeth at the elbows and knees, and the female carried on her back a circular blade of similarly intertwined teeth from an even larger shark, one that Morgawr knew this female had hunted herself.
“Do not make my mistake, then, and underestimate them, Rezarra. The surfacers that have laid me low will no doubt be coming here, and our Deep Mistress will require all of her champions to defend our home,” he said, to which the quills on Rezarra’s head crest bristled and she growled.
“Their brazen foolishness will see their guts splayed on my blade and their blood offered in sacrifice. That said, I’ll take your warning to heart, Morgawr.”
A sputtering noise issued forth from another sahuagin floating nearby, whose laid back manner belied a twisted grin on his scared lips. This male was, like Rezarra, physically smaller than Morgawr, but he made up for lack of physical size with an acidic aura that seemed to dare anyone near him to make the mistake of taking him lightly. Black scales barely reflected the red light from below, and the hide armor he wore sewn from the oily skin of a giant octopus blended even more perfectly with his surroundings, like a naturally shifting camouflage. A bandolier containing no less than a dozen curved knives of carved bone crossed his chest, and complimented another belt of similar knives over his waist, and Morgawr knew from personal experience that Berokar was capable of disemboweling his foes with equal proficiency with any one of those blades.
“Failure on this level requires no heeding, Rezarra,” Berokar said, gurgling in laughter, “What does one learn from another who failed, other than how to also fail?”
“I would not be so dismissive,” Rezarra said simply, “Morgawr was mighty. He could not lose to a weak foe. If these surfacers come here, we would do well to treat them as the threat they are.”
“She speaks with wisdom, Berokar,” said Divistus, and the black scaled sahuagin jabbed a clawed finger at the shaman.
“And what does the most junior shaman know of wisdom when he returns in defeat as well, with his vaunted master dead or captured?” Berokar asked, making a throwing away gesture down the chasm, “Both of you go to offer your souls to our beloved Mistress, may her mercy be swift. Were we not called here, I’d not have bothered to come watch the show.”
That did beg the question of what the two other of Charybdis’ anointed champions were doing here. That the Deep Mistress had need of them Morgawr did not doubt, for he did believe the surfacers would soon arrive to assault this sacred place. Yet why have them meet him and Divisitus here at the entrance to her lair? Divistus may yet have escaped offering his own life, for shamans of sufficient talent were in short supply and Morgawr was the one who bore the brunt of the responsibility for their defeat at Aqualania. Yet Morgawr had no doubt as to his own fate. What point, then, in having Rezarra and Berokar here to greet him?
Then her voice came, clear and beautiful, filling Morgwar’s heart with adoration. The water, so frigid, grew warm at her approaching presence, even as her voice filled his mind and the gathered chanting shamans cried out in rapture.
Put aside your quarrels, my children, and be ready to heed my words.
Rezarra and Berokar both shuddered, and their disagreement was instantly forgotten as both turned to bow themselves in prayer towards the chasm. Morgawr was doing the same, as was Divistus, who added his voice to the chants of the apprentice shamans around him. All were equal before the Deep Mistress, regardless of status or quarrel under normal circumstances.
She rose from the darkness, a shadow upon the ink darkness of the Abyss. Her size was impossible to grasp, the crimson light from below distorting her outline into a writhing, incomprehensible mass. One rarely, truly saw the Deep Mistress in her totality, although Morgawr often imagined her form in parts; a powerful body like the Leviathan’s of ancient legend, wreathed in countless, potent tentacles to rival even a Kraken. Yet at the head of all this, somewhere in the shadowed mass, was a female form, a sleek body not unlike that of a seapony, although pale as bleached ivory. Morgawr could see an immense mouth of teeth like stalactites, but shining before that maw was the ephemeral, white beauty of the Mistress’ seapony form, almost akin to the luring light of an angler fish.
All the water stirred at her presence, and Morgawr felt warmth, precious in its embrace as it pushed back the arctic cold of the Abyss’ depths.
Ah, always so polite, my children. So devoted. I thank you for your endless hard labor. Yet there is precious little time. Morgawr, Divistus, both of you are aware that I bid you slay the invaders at Aqualania. Yet you return defeated, our foes still very much alive.
His response was immediate as it was sincere as he bowed his head low, “I offer no excuses, o’ Deep Mistress. I failed to do as you commanded, and accept whatever just punishment you bestow.”
“I too offer no excuse,” Divistus said, “If my soul must be offered in payment, then it is offered freely and with all devotion.”
As if either of them could give any other response. The Mistress would do as she willed, for there could be no other way. Morgawr himself had seen many others who had failed be swept away by a mere gesture of shadowed tentacles from the Mistress’ massive form, their bodies and souls vanishing within her vast maw with neither comment or complaint. He expected no less for himself, and simply awaited the moment to arrive, fully believing that even in this he would be of service to the Deep Mistress.
Yet seconds passed and nothing happened. Finally her voice reached them once more.
Your souls would indeed reside safely within my care, and were things different I would consider taking them as payment for your failures. But these are not ordinary circumstances. Your foes have stolen power from a source most ancient and potent, and it would be a foolish waste to have you sacrifice your lives now when that same sacrifice would mean so much more in the near future. Do not doubt you shall pay your debt to me, but you shall do so by defending our home, even at the cost of your all. I trust your faith remains strong enough to do this?
Morgawr was momentarily stunned. Yet this sensation of shock quickly gave way to a fresh flame of gratitude and love for his Mistress as he gripped his chest with a claw so tightly that he drew blood.
“Yes, Deep Mistress, without question! Even if every scrap of flesh is flayed and every drop of blood spent, I offer all I am to you and our people.”
“The teeth of my blade will not chip as long as I draw faithful breath in your service,” Rezarra echoed, “All that we have we owe to you.”
“All who enter our domain will be prey to my knives, their skulls to be offered in tribute, Deep Mistress,” Berokar said with an eager grin of sharp teeth.
“May my humble command of magic serve you unto death,” Divistus said, “As every shaman that has come before me.”
As I have come to expect, my chosen do not lack for fervor. Your faith will be tested in the battle to come, but do not doubt that I, Charybdis, will lead all sahuagin to a better future. Divistus, you are to go to the circle of shamans and bring forth your peers to the depths of my home. There is much work to be done, and I require the presence of my most skilled workers of magic. Rezarra, I give you command of our warriors in defense of Rift Mouth. Morgawr, Berokar, you are to be her right and left arms in battle.
Morgawr had no objection. He had failed, and so command would rightfully fall to the next warlord in line of battle honors and renown. Berokar did his best to hide an acidic resentment, but was wise not to raise any objections. Even he lacked the audacity to question Charybdis openly.
“I accept this honor gratefully,” Rezarra said, “I’ll allow not a single surfacer past the threshold of our home.”
A rich laugh echoed from Charybdis, Be not hasty, Rezarra. My plan is not to waste the lives of our people. You need not stop them from breaking through, only slow their progress. They command a vessel of ancient Aqualania, and you’d lose countless warriors trying to destroy it. No, we will deal with these invaders in a more personal manner. I merely require you delay them long enough for my own preparations to be complete. When the time comes, I will deal with these surfacers myself.
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Charybdis could sense the confusion left in her chosen, almost as keenly as their fervent worship. After she’d given her instructions Rezarra, Morgawr, and Berokar had departed to gather the warbands to organize their planned defense of the Abyss’ canyons. The Treasury could approach from many potential areas, but all eventually funneled into the deepest chasms of Rift Mouth, so Rezarra would plan her defensive tactics around the most likely main routes. Divistus in the meantime would gather the other senior shamans, which Charybdis imagined might annoy some of the elders who did not like the young upstart.
She could sense the eagerness in him, as she rarely allowed any down into the deepest reaches of her lair. She hadn’t intended to make use of the sahuagin shamans, but the damnable Twilight Sparkle and her band of interfering idiots had thrown Charybdis’ timetable out the window and now she had to rush things far more than she’d hoped.
As she sunk down the uneven rift into the depths of her lair, crossing down thousands of meters into darkness marred by streaks of red light, Charybdis fumed. Her body’s mass thundered with angry convulsions that she worked to wrestle to proper control. It didn’t do to let others see her get upset, of course, but even when alone it was better to keep a cool head. Even if she was livid.
All the souls of Aqualania, lost! Flash Sentry and Twilight Sparkle would pay for that. She’d preserved the souls of her home, her city, her people for centuries, and in the span of a single day some uppity pony bitch and her Soul Reaper boytoy threw all of it into the wastebin!
Tentacles the width of redwood pines and covered in boney barbs large enough to lance tanks flailed into rocky canyon walls and tore great chunks out in a brief, rageful fit. Then Charybdis calmed herself, the facsimile of her original body, the pale image of a pearl white seapony, ran hooves over a marble mane and sighed.
No, no, she shouldn’t be too mad. Everything was going to be fine. Yes, things had taken a turn for the unexpected on Earth as well, but Gaia ought to be able to deal with a few minor hiccups. Charybdis was already sending reinforcements from the Beast Realm to help Gaia deal with Sunset Shimmer and those humans who coincidentally happened to be the counterparts to the same bunch that were on their way in the Treasury.
As long as her Kraken finished his end of the ritual on the other side, Charybdis could still pull this off. Step one, open a permanent portal to Earth. Step two, empower Gaia with magic, who in turn would empower Charybdis with spirit energy. Step three, use said spirit energy, alongside the key fragments of Adagio and her sister’s souls to unlock Domare’s Relic and turn herself into an artificial Inheritor. Step four, take her freshly empowered self and lead her people through the portal to Earth, along with her real treasure...
The red glow in the depths now became an all encompassing sanguine hue, and Charybdis let out a sigh of satisfaction as she looked upon the fruits of her work. Many, many years ago a much younger and optimistic Charybdis had begun a path of discovery upon the subject of “soul magic”. The taboo subject had not been an easy thing to research, even for an affluent seapony princess with a sister who had a thing for plundering surfacer artifacts. Scylla had always teased her relentlessly for her “nerdy” pursuits, but in her way had also supported Charybdis with any text, tablet, dusty scroll, or other oddity she’d found in her adventures that might help Charybdis’ studies.
Even as their sisterly rivalries turned bloody and maligned, Charybdis still held some small measure of gratitude. Even if she was convinced Scylla had been the one who’d killed their mother. She could never prove it, but that didn’t matter. Scylla had never been suited to the throne, and Charybdis had only taken it because the alternative was to allow her sister to ruin everything before Charybdis could finish learning the truth about souls and the magic that controlled them.
Magic, yes, but also “reishi manipulation”. A bleed over from Earth’s abundance of spirit energy, allowing a rare few with the knowledge to blend magic with the soul’s energy. This bleed over went both ways, and Charybdis imagined there were those on Earth who had, knowingly or not, blended a bit of magic from Equestria into their spiritual powers. By studying soul magic, Charybdis had discovered how the Cycle was meant to function, and also had picked up bits and pieces of information about an ancient civilization of alicorns, the traces of which were all but gone in the modern age. Gone, save for certain ‘relics’ left behind, and certain ruins...
The red light stemmed from countless arcane symbols that Charybdis had etched over many long years into the surface of a sunken edifice of bronze and brass. This immense object, laying at the deepest crevice of her lair, was spherical, but mostly buried in eons of rock and sediment. Inside a melted tear in the side of the sphere one could only see darkness, but Charybdis had spent a lot of time within, studying the secrets of this place, the remains of Bastion Gnosis.
There she’d learned much more than just more ways to further her magic. She’d discovered how souls moved through what the alicorns had called the Cycle, and how that Cycle had become damaged. She also learned that even if the Cycle was repaired, the normal function of it did not specifically allow for the retention of self through reincarnation. It was in learning these truths that Charybdis had formed her plans.
The sahuagin native to the Abyss were made into servants capable of allowing her to further her studies and act as a means of perfecting new magical techniques. Specifically preserving souls from the Cycle by binding them to objects or locations, as she’d done to the population of Aqualania. And here.
The red symbols, curved and sharply focused into intricate circles, each contained a set of souls. Most were sahuagin. Some were seaponies or surfacers. All Charybdis intended to set free, once the portal to Earth was complete.
Earth, with it’s far more acceptable method of reincarnation, and a whole fresh ocean for her and her sahuagin to establish themselves. Once on the other side, Charybdis had confirmed their souls would become a part of Earth’s Cycle, and there she could fulfill her desires without fear. If only she could have preserved her mother and Scylla’s souls for the journey.
At any rate, she had a great deal of work left to do. Gaia would need that energy transfer soon, and Charybdis needed to ensure the ritual circle her Kraken was making on the other side had it’s proper twin here in Equestria.
No matter what, she wouldn’t let Twilight Sparkle halt her plans, but Charybdis did like the idea of settling the score face to face. Besides, she could use Aria and Sonata, and it’d be convenient if they were brought right here to the same place she’d once struck a bargain with an ambitious and arrogant Adagio Dazzle.
For amid the prizes held in the remains of Bastion Gnosis was a single sliver of a siren’s gem, no larger than a needle, resting in an amulet of bronze fused to the surface of a great, pearl white orb. And beside the sliver of Adagio’s siren gem, in which resided a fragment of the siren’s soul, were two more needle thin recesses, just waiting for two more siren souls to be added to the key that would unlock the Eye of the Sea.
----------
The Royal Sisters were used to passing each other on their way to their respective duties, rarely afforded much time to share so much as a meal when one Princess was in charge of the day, the other the night. Both got by on less than the normal amount of sleep most ponies enjoyed, and now that they were about to share a training schedule it fell on Luna to adjust her sleep to be awake during more of the daylight hours.
Celestia helped in her way, providing painfully cheerful pancakes with smiley faces of whip cream and sliced bananas. Luna ate without complaint, although she did so fast as they were supposed to be in Ponyville before noon, which by Luna’s standards was basically morning.
Her eyebrow shifted slightly at each pancake she ate, as each subsequent one down the stack had a different smiley face that started to wink at her.
“Just how bored do you get, sister?” Luna asked, and Celestia, who’d already finished most of her own stack, just waggled a fork at Luna.
“Inescapably so, but at least you’re eating them today.”
“I’m usually asleep by now. No matter,” Luna let out a yawn, “Once we’re at the castle I’ll be plenty awake, and i’m not likely to pass out while training. I’m more concerned about Cadence.”
She was referring to more than just the examination of Cadence, which had yielded no obvious problems with the young Princess. Quite the contrary, it had revealed to Celestia and Luna that their fellow Princess was once more carrying a foal, a fact that had drawn some... ire from Celestia. Not because Cadence was pregnant, but because Cadence had put such strain on her body while in that condition.
Celestia’s face gained a cringe of embarrassment, “I... shouldn’t be hard on her. She had no real choice but to fight. Fleeing was not really an option.”
“Indeed, it wasn’t,” Luna agreed firmly, “And a leader cannot afford to place personal desires and concerns over the good of their people. You of all ponies know that.”
“Mmph,” Celestia hid her consternation behind another mouthful of pancakes, mumbling around the mouthful, “Don’t have to remind me. I just worry about the girl. Although on the bright side, Flurry Heart getting a sibling means we might get added to the foalsitter rotation.”
“Ugh, we’re in charge of the nation, Celestia. Let Twilight fawn over her niece and/or nephews. If nothing else, leave me out of any future plans for alicorn foalsitting,” Luna groused, “I am not a nanny.”
“Aww, but you’d be so cute looking after a foal, Lulu,” Celestia cooed and Luna stabbed her pancakes forcefully and chewed them while giving her sister the stink eye.
“Don’t even start. There’s got to be a more pressing subject we can talk about than this.”
Celestia paused, then her joking demeanor shifted to one more serious as she pushed aside her plate, “True. Cadence physically is well, considering her injuries. Internally I couldn’t detect any problems, but there is a faint imbalance in her magical aura. That could be a factor of the awakening of her Inheritor powers, or it could be a lingering affect of Chrysalis’ attempt to draw out Cadence’s soul. I won’t know for sure without more examination, and we haven’t the time... we barely have any time at all.”
“Something is bothering you,” Luna said, eyes piercing towards her sister like when they were young mares and she spotted her sister sneaking out of the castle for some misadventure.
“Oh, I’ve many a thing bothering me, Lulu. Nevermind that I learned our mentor and foster father and his brave friends are still alive, trapped in some manner of magical stasis in the prison they created for Stygian, or that my protégé who is practically a daughter to me is about to face a horrifying sea witch in the depths of the Abyss, or that our entire world still faces the threat of a murderous monster with the power to wipe entire cities off the map being casually on the loose. No, on top of all that I have the personality of an ancient megalomaniac alicorn who I just happen to be the reincarnation of lying in wait to take over my body whenever I make use of a power I’m going to need to master, and my sister whom I love dearly is going to have to deal with the same.”
Luna grunted, “Well when you put it like that it makes it sound like we’re having a rough week.”
“Pfft,” Celestia managed a tension-draining laugh, “Your talent for understatement remains a cherished virtue, my sister.”
She paused again, then said more seriously, “Will you be alright, Lulu? I’ve faced Eos once now, and while it’s left me shaken, I at least feel I’ve got a handle on her. But what of you and... her?”
Luna froze, then slowly pushed aside her plate of almost finished pancakes, “Do you mean Iah, or Nightmare Moon?”
“I’ve... wondered how much difference there is between the two,” Celestia admitted, “Your manifestation of an Inheritor form took a very personal turn, back then. I’ve been respectful of your privacy on that matter. I know the Elements of Harmony did much to rebalance you internally, and for all intents and purposes re-sealed the helmet and armor.”
“You wouldn’t happen to be asking about this for any other reason than simple concern for my mental state during our upcoming training, would you?” Luna inquired, picking up readily on what would otherwise be near invisible signs that Celestia was skirting something that was bothering her. It was that little nose twitch at the end of her snout that Celestia could never fully hide, at least from Luna who knew how to look for it.
“There was something,” Celestia said in that very slow and careful manner she used when she was buying time to think, “However I’m unsure of speaking of it until I’ve sorted it out more in my own head. I think our training will provide more information, but I was curious just how much of Iah’s memories you retained after your stint as Nightmare Moon.”
“Barely any,” Luna said, giving her sister a sidelong look, “What is this about, Tia?”
“I’m not sure what it means yet, but I saw something in Eos’ memories during my fight with Starlight Glimmer that is troubling me. I don’t want to go into details yet until I know a little more, and I’m curious if Iah’s memories contain any corroborating evidence of what I saw.”
“I can hardly confirm anything if you don’t tell me what it is you saw,” Luna pointed out.
“Well let’s wait until training. Once we’re both integrating our former selves’ memories into our minds we’ll both have a clearer picture of events. Hmm, on that topic, I note you didn’t use Iah’s bow during your fight with Platinum,” Celestia said, and Luna shrugged her wings, only wincing a little at the residual pain from her reattached one.
“It wasn’t necessary,” Luna said, perhaps a tad defensively, “If my intent had been to defeat her outright I would have used the bow from the start. I don’t fear...” she halted herself, biting her lip and shaking her head. Best not to lie, least of all to herself, “No, i do fear her somewhat. Iah. Nightmare Moon was her and I in equal measure, near as I can recall. An imbalanced blending, unlike what happened with Eos trying to fully supplant your own mind, sister. I can only assume that using the bow alone won’t overwhelm me like the helmet and armor did. In time, however, we will have to content with using all of our Relics. It does frighten me, but that is why we will train and get used to the power and personality of our past selves, so that we do not lose to them.”
She snorted to herself, “All of that aside, I’m somewhat miffed Platinum was apparently smart enough to ward the vial I gave her.”
Celestia gave the table a hoof smack, smirking, “Ah-ha! I was wondering about that. You tried to place a tracking spell on your little potion, my clever sister. And here I thought you were just being kind.”
“Hmm, only kind in part. If I’d wished to be cruel I would have made the potion a fake one, but it was the real deal. Firefly is likely on the mend already. I was just also hoping to use the vial as a means to track our foe’s base of operations. Alas, the signal of my spell vanished soon after Platinum and her Reigai departed, so I assume they placed some manner of ward on it to disrupt my magic,” Luna gained a reluctant look of respect on her features, “A sharp woman.”
“You like her,” Celestia noted.
“I respect her as an opponent. Perhaps one day we can finish our duel in a manner satisfactory to us both, without any interference from outside concerns,” Luna mused, then shrugged and stood, “At any rate, should we not get going? I’m rather looking forward to spending a few days at the old castle, sparring with you and Cadence.”
“Indeed, it’s time,” Celestia agreed, rising from her own seat around the long dinning table the pair had been eating at, “Ponyville awaits.”
----------
Spike had an extra bounce in his step as he packed his bags. He tended to travel light, so most of what he was taking was a few choice gems from the pantry alongside some books to keep him company in the Crystal Empire; including Twilight’s journal that had it’s twin on Earth.
“Heya Spike, you almost ready?” asked Sunburst as the bearded stallion poked his orange head into the room.
“Just about,” Spike said, shoving the last book into the cloth backpack he then slung over his shoulder, “Gotta do one last check over the castle to make sure I’m not leaving anything out of place. Twilight put me in charge while she’s gone, and even if I’m taking a detour to the Empire, i want to make sure our home is in spotless condition for when she gets back.”
“Makes sense,” Sunburst said, waiting for Spike to leave his room before following the young dragon down one of the many crystalline corridors of Twilight’s castle in Ponyville, “Thanks for offering to come act as a mediator with the dragons. Dragon Lord Ember really seems to respect you.”
“Heheh, well not to brag but I’m kinda a big deal back in the Dragon Lands,” Spike said, holding his head high as he jabbed a thumb at his chest, “Technically could have been Dragon Lord, but Ember’s better at that kind of thing, so I let her have the job.”
“Oh? Let me have it, huh?” said the dragoness in question, who waited for him and Sunburst at the end of the hall. Ember’s sapphire scales contrasted sharply with the dark staff with the crimson gem embedded in it’s end that she held in her right claw, “Maybe I ought to give the staff back to you and let you take care of the actual work.”
“Whoa, let’s not get ahead of ourselves Ember. I’m so not a politics guy.”
“Dragon politics is mostly smacking idiots over the head until they listen to you, or are too unconscious to argue,” Ember pointed out.
“Exactly. Not my scene,” Spike said, joining Ember as she and Sunburst walked with him out into the main chamber of the castle, a huge circular area with a central crystal table that sat beneath the roots of Twilight’s old tree library home, how hanging above like a chandelier.
Waiting for them in the chamber were Shining Armor, Princess Cadence, and sitting on Shining Armors back, the tiny form of Flurry Heart. The alicorn foal with her crème white coat and curly purple and streaked blue mane let out a giggling noise and waved her arms at the sight of Spike and Sunburst. When Cadence had dropped Flurry Heart at Ponyville well before the attack on the Empire it had been along with Sunburst who had accompanied the child as a watcher. He and Spike had essentially been Flurry Heart’s attendants and protectors while she’d been hidden here in the castle. A good thing, Spike understood now with an unconscious shudder. He didn’t want to think about the idea of Flurry Heart being in the Crystal Empire when that Hollow version of Chrysalis attacked.
Gave him a headache just thinking about it.
“Spike, Sunburst, Ember,” Cadence said with an acknowledging nod, “It’s good to see you. Thank you for looking after Flurry Heart.”
There was a faint tension hanging in the air that Spike sensed as he approached the couple, glancing between Shining Armor and Cadence. Twilight’s brother looked nearly as exhausted as his wife, and was looking at her with undisguised worry. She, in turn, stood close to him with one wing draped over both him and their foal, but there was a definite waver in her eyes. Spike wondered if it was just stress from everything that had happened or if there was something else going on, but it also wasn’t any of his business so instead of commenting on it he just gave Cadence a wave.
“It wasn’t any problem. Flurry Heart and I are total pals, right Flurry?”
The foal spread her tiny alicorn wings and cooed in the affirmative.
“Things were pretty quiet here,” Sunburst said, awkwardly shifting on his hooves as he bowed his head to Shining Armor and Cadence, “I just wish there was something more i could do.”
“You’ve done plenty, Sunburst,” Shining Armor said, “You’re our friend, and looking after Flurry Heart was a greater service to the Empire than any other I could imagine you performing.”
“How are things back there?” Sunburst asked, and Shining Armor sighed.
“Bad. It’s going to take a long time to put the city back to rights. For a miracle, we didn’t lose any civilians, but the Crystal Guard...” he trailed off, shaking his head, “It could have been worse, but that doesn’t make it any less painful the losses we did take.”
“Well if that monster shows her face there again, rest assured me and my dragons will be giving her a warm welcome,” Ember assured, clenching her free claw and snorting smoke from her snout. For a dragon, Ember was rather small, with a humanoid, bipedal form compared to the far larger, more naturally draconic form of older dragons. Yet despite still retaining that petite, teenage dragon shape, she didn’t lack for a dragon’s presence, excluding an aura of hefty confidence and intensity that Spike admired. He rubbed at his head, feeling the pounding of a lingering headache as he looked at her. Maybe he hadn’t gotten enough sleep?
“We appreciate it, Ember,” said Cadence, “I think my people will rest easier for having your dragons there, alongside the changelings.”
“Oh that’s right, Thorax is there!” Spike said, brightening up, “Been wanting to catch up with that guy.”
“Hmm, well last I saw he and his brother were talking about some kind of ‘training’ of their own,” Shining Armor commented, glancing at his wife, “Seems like the thing everypony is doing these days.”
“Now Shining, you know I have to do this.”
“Yes, dear, I know,” Shining Armor replied, perhaps a bit too curtly, “I just... wish there was something I could do, too.”
“You are, you’re going to protect our daughter,” Cadence said firmly, “While I’m dealing with this whole Inheritor business, I can focus without having to worry about what might happen to Flurry Heart as long as I know you’re with her.”
“Of course. I’d never let anything happen to her,” Shining Armor said, ruffling his daughter’s mane, after which he gave Cadence a still worried look, “Just please don’t push yourself too hard. You were... after that battle...”
He didn’t finish the sentence, but Spike could hear the barely buried anguish in Shining Armor’s tone. Whatever condition Cadence must have been in after the fight must have hit Shining Armor battle, as the stallion looked distinctly rattled as he gave his wife a firm hug, which she turned in full. Even if she didn’t understand what was happening, little Flurry Heart also stood up on her father’s back and threw hooves around her parents' neck.
Ember cleared her throat after an uncomfortable moment of family bonding, “So, uh, yeah, if you guys are good to go, my dad and the rest of our combat flight is waiting outside town. Sunburst, you’ll be riding on my dad’s back. Spike, you can join him, or, um, I guess I could carry you, if you want.”
It was a bit of a stinging reminder that he had yet to grow his own wings, although he imagined that couldn’t be that far off for him. He couldn’t stay a baby dragon forever, could he? Ignoring the growing headache in his head, he looked at Ember and at first thought to play off her offer to carry him to try and look cool, but before the words could leave his mouth he felt an odd compulsion to agree. He wasn’t sure why, but suddenly the idea of sticking close to Ember sounded like a good idea to him.
“Yeah, sure, I’d be down for that.”
“Then safe travels to all of you,” Cadence said, giving her husband a quick peck on the cheek, and her daughter one on the forehead, “Stay safe, both of you. I love you, Shining, and mommy loves you too, Flurry.”
“Give Celestia and Luna a run for their money,” Shining said, “Just, again, don’t over-”
“Don’t overdo it,” Cadence finished for him, “Don’t worry, I’ll be careful.”
With that they all exited Twilight’s castle to go their separate ways. Shining Armor would travel with Flurry Heart under guard via train, while Ember, Sunburst, and Spike would travel with a flock of waiting dragons who would escort the train by air, all to arrive in the Crystal Empire together. Meanwhile Cadence would depart to join Celestia and Luna at the old castle nestled in the Everfree Forest, to begin what would in theory be at least several straight days of intensive training to get more control over their powers as Inheritors.
Spike couldn’t deny a bit of jealousy, if he was being honest with himself. House sitting for Twilight was all well and good, but much like Shining Armor he found himself often wishing he could do more. How amazing would it be to be able to access something as cool as one of these Relics?
He put the thought aside as Ember let him clamber onto her back, ready to take flight. He didn’t even think more about the steady throb of the headache he had, or the way he kept finding himself looking towards the staff of the Dragon Lord that Ember carried.
----------
Ulgriv was torn between thinking the pink one was utterly insane, or some manner of genius-level interrogator and torturer that the surfacers kept as a secret weapon.
“C’mon Ulgy, you’ve got them crazy dexterous claw finger thingies, so you should be way ahead of me on making friendship bracelets. But I’m on number twenty three while you’re still stuck on four.”
He made a phlegm heavy noise in the back of his throat and smacked his forehead into the deck of his cell, holding up a strung collection of seashells and beads, “I do not understand the point of this and we’ve been doing it for three hours! Please, have I not given you sufficient tribute to leave me to wallow in misery peacefully, Pink One of Disaster?”
“Heheh, that’s a good nickname Ulgy, you’re getting better at friendship already! But seriously, if you’re tired of this, I can ask Twilight about you joining us for game night. I mean, Admiral SS Suspicious Much still thinks you’re a,” Pinkie used her hooves to make quotation marks, “Security risk, whatever that means. And Wavey seems to really hate you. Right Wavey?”
Outside the cell, Wavecrest groaned, “I do not hate him specifically. I have very well grounded and supported qualms with his entire race!”
“Which is not cool, Wavey. You two should totally be friends, because you both have so much in common!” Pinkie Pie declared, to which both Ulgriv and Wavecrest gave the mare equal looks of incredulity. Wavecrest was sitting just outside Ulgriv’s cell, watching him like a particularly mistrustful hawk while Pinkie Pie had been visiting. Fluttershy had been by earlier to check on him physically, just to make sure he was doing alright so long outside of the water. Sahaugin, while fully able to survive on land for a time, weren’t really meant to be away from water for too long. A few days was generally fine, but a week or more would start to have bad side effects on his health, so Fluttershy had been in and out like some fussy spawnling tender. Ulgriv almost had a pang of appreciation for it, until he remembered these surfacers were still intending to invade his home and harm his goddess.
“I have nothing in common with a soft kin witch,” Ulgriv stated, and Wavecrest all but mirrored his tone, swishing her tail harshly.
“Says the zealot devoted to a far worse witch than I.”
“The Deep Mistress is a goddess true, no mere ‘witch’, you... um, witch!” Ulgriv said, unable to come up with any particularly scathing insult off the top of his head. To his surprise, Pinkie Pie let out an infectious laugh at the two of them.
“But that’s what I mean! You’re both so super devoted to your people it’s like, how do you two not see it? I mean, sure, Ulgy is super young, and Wavy, you’re kinda old-”
“Old? I’m barely forty,” Wavecrest said with a crestfallen look and a glance at her mane, as if seeking any gray hairs. Meanwhile Ulgriv stood up and flexed his arms, which admittedly where fairly scrawny by sahuagin standards but still had plenty of muscle.
“And I'm not ‘young’! I’m a fully grown adult.”
“You’re a teenager at best,” Wavecrest said, her voice almost softening, “Younger than my own son. It’s a shame your kind treats your young in such a disposable manner. To us seaponies our children are our most precious treasures. We’d never abide the losses you sahuagin suffer.”
He sat down again, glaring, “We will not have to, before long. The Deep Mistress will lead us to a new land of promise, where the seas will be open, warm, and free for us to thrive in.”
“Not if we stop her,” Wavecrest said flatly, but her jaw twitched as she rose and entered the cell, sitting down a bit closer to Ulgriv to stare at him directly, “I wonder what will happen to your kind once Charybdis’ shadow has been banished from over you. Will you continue on as you have?”
It was an unsettling question, and Ulgriv gripped his talisman tightly as he responded, “I have faith the Deep Mistress will not fall to the likes of you.”
“Perhaps, but if we do defeat her, where does that leave the sahuagin?” Wavecrest pressed, although the way she asked it sounded as if the question was as much for herself as him, “As long as my own people are safe and free to prosper, that is all I care about. Hmph, the way you speak, it sounds as if that is what you solely care about as well. A future without Charybdis leaves a hanging question of what my people should do next. Were we to risk allowing the sahuagin to leave the Abyss, what guarantee would we have you would not continue bloody raids upon our villages? If for no other reason than because it is the only way you’ve ever been taught?”
He had no immediate answer to that, falling into a sullen silence as he chewed upon that question. Then Pinkie Pie suddenly rose and rather than laugh or say something randomly inexplicable, the mare’s demeanor shifted to something focused and sharp, a knowing glint appearing in her eye as even her voice changed to a tone of worldly experience that was unlike the joking manner Pinkie usually had.
“You’re both thinking. That’s good. Keep doing that. It’s the best chance both your people have to move beyond the past.”
“Pinkie Pie?” Wavecrest looked at Pinkie curiously, but the mare just immediately went back to a jovial grin and the usual bouncy nature of hers.
“Oh don’t mind me! Just saying whatever comes into my head! Hey, who feels like stretching the ol’ legs and going for a job around the ship? Heheh, what was I thinking? Sitting for three hours straight making friendship bracelets can’t be good for one’s circulation.”
All Ulgriv and Wavecrest could do was look at one another in equal measures of helplessness and bafflement as their... friend dragged them out of the cells like a big, fluffy pink magnet. Yet different as they were, Pinkie Pie’s words were sinking in, and both were thinking about things they never thought about much before. About their peoples, and their respective futures.
----------
“Long day?”
Twilight glanced up as she saw Flash Sentry standing at the threshold of her quarters. She hadn’t even heard him open the door. She’d been sitting at a desk situated beneath a oval window that showed the outside of the ship, which currently was a dark, star speckled sky with Luna’s moon already hanging high in the heavens. A seapony clock that she’d calibrated for Equestrian standard time told her it was nearing eleven o’clock. Yawning, she rubbed at her eyes with a wing and set down the book she’d been reading, the journal on High Magic she’d been given.
“It certainly has been. Come in, Flash. Sit down, if you like. I was just studying a few more spells.”
He hesitated a moment, then with an affirming nod to himself he entered her room. After a second of him just standing there, Twilight raised an eyebrow and gestured at the door, which he’d left hanging open.
“Oh, yeah,” he said and shut the door, after which he stood there hesitantly a moment longer before shuffling over to have a seat on a coral and metal couch, upholstered in water resistant blue pillows. “Just figured I’d drop by to see how you were holding up. You and your friends spent most of today going all-in on smacking each other around all day.”
“And you,” Twilight said with a wink, “Thank you for your help, by the way. Your skills as a Soul Reaper are key to helping us develop a new set of battle instincts. Or rather, integrate our past lives' battle experience more thoroughly into our own consciousness.”
“How’s that coming?” Flash asked, “I saw Applejack and Dash tip-toeing around each other every second they weren’t beating the snot out of each other. I mean, back home, the human girls always kind of had a bit of chemistry, but it never struck me as that kind of thing.”
“I think it should work itself out,” Twilight said, feeling a bit of heat flush into her cheeks. “It could be that Althea and Tachys' memories are just making them act out a bit more, but even if there is something there, I hardly see it as a problem. I’d be happy for them both if it turned out to be something genuine, as long as it doesn’t adversely affect them in battle.”
“I guess love can complicate things in a fight,” Flash admitted, “And we’re definitely heading into another major one. Probably a lot worse than what we just dealt with in Aqualania.”
“Yes,” Twilight agreed, closing the book and pushing it aside as she rose from the desk and went to lay down on the bed on the opposite side of the room, if only because it was quite comfy to lay out on, and she was starting to feel the effects of long hours awake. “Charybdis won’t go down easily.”
“You sound nervous,” he noted, and she didn’t feel any need to hide anything from him, so she nodded slowly, letting the unease in her chest out in a long breath.
“Of course I am. I don’t want to lose anypony, and I’m even a little scared of my own feelings towards her. I’m usually... not so angry, but Charybdis abuses magic in a way that just gets under my fur. I don’t like feeling that way, and I don’t want it interfering with my ability to think clearly. What if I make a mistake, Flash?”
He was pensive for a moment, wings fidgeting in the way a human might fidget with their hands. He then rose from the couch and came over to sit next to her on the bed and with a gentle motion placed a hoof over hers, “Even if you do, Twilight, you have to know by now that you’ve got some of the best group of friends you could ask for to be at your side. We’re all probably going to make mistakes. You and the girls are dealing with new powers, strange memories, and an enemy who knows we’re coming and is preparing for it. None of this is going to be easy. But you know what, Twilight?”
He looked at her right in the eyes, and she found her heart warming looking into the solidarity, the strength that flowed out of his expression.
“You’re smarter than she is. By a lot.”
She licked her lips and found her breathing coming a bit quicker, “Oh, um... say that again?”
He blinked, “Huh, that you’re smarter?”
“Mmmhmm,” she said, leaning into his chest, “Tell me more about how smart I am.”
She felt him wrap a hoof around her shoulder as he pulled her even closer and he cleared his throat, “You’ve got the quickest, most brilliant mind of anyone I’ve met. You’re worried about Charybdis? C’mon, Twi, you’ll think circles around that cement brain. She’s playing tic-tac-toe while you’re a master of Shogi.”
“Shogi?” she asked, and he coughed.
“Japanese chess. Super popular back in Soul Society. Sorry, weird reference.”
“Not at all, I like it,” she said, burying her face in his neck and breathing a deep sigh of relief, “Thank you Flash. I really needed to hear this.”
“That you’re absolutely brilliant, or that you’ll kick Charybdis’ ass?”
“Both,” she replied, feeling warmth spread through her whole body as she became entirely too keenly aware of how close he was to her now. Her wings had spread out around her unconscious, and wrapped around him, and she felt the brush of his feathers on hers in such a sensitive touch of lit nerves that she gasped a little.
“You okay?” he asked, having heard the gasp and perhaps misinterpreted it. Face burning, Twilight gulped loudly.
“F-fine. Better than fine. Um... Flash...?”
“Yeah?” he looked at her straight on, and she heard the thunder of her own heart in her ears.
“Do you want to...?”
Abruptly the crash of her door bursting open made both Twilight and Flash nearly fall out of the bed. Rarity paused at the threshold and looked at the two, now tangled together on the floor halfway out of the bed and both flushed red, and she let her mouth open in a gaped ‘O’ of surprise.
“Oh my, Twilight, Flash, I’m sorry to interrupt. But good for both of you. Ah! Never mind that! Come to the bridge, quickly!”
Rarity galloped off at that point, leaving Twilight and Flash to look at each other. She was on her back on the floor, with him awkwardly over her, yet for a moment she was very, very tempted to just use her magic to close the door and ignore whatever it was that was happening on the bridge. For a moment, she was very eager to just pull him close on top of her and let the evening go where it would.
But the magic of the moment broke as Flash sighed and carefully got off of her, then offered a hoof to help her up.
“I, uh, guess we ought to go see what’s up,” he said, and she all but hid her face behind her mane as she nodded.
“Yes, that’s probably for the best.”
A few minutes later she and Flash entered the bridge, where she was a little surprised to see everypony else present, even Ulgriv who was being carefully watched by Tempest and Wavecrest near the back of the chamber.
Adimial Seaspray looked at both of them entering the bridge and offered a polite bow, eyes somewhat apologetic, “Sorry for disturbing you, Princess, especially given the late hour. However I thought it best everycreature see what lay ahead of us the moment it got in visual range. We had acquired it on sensors earlier, but I wanted eyes on it, especially ones as skillful in understanding magical phenomena as yours.”
Twilight nodded, and trotted alongside Flash towards the front of the bridge, where the spherical windows showing the area in front of the ship gave a wide view of the skyline ahead.
“Doesn’t look good, does it?” said Dash, “Gonna guess Charybdis is throwing down the gauntlet.”
“That, or she’s begun some massive channeling of magic,” Starlight said, her own face shadowed with thought, “I’ve read about byproducts from large rituals. This might not even be intentional.”
“Intentional or not, it’s a clear sign we’re running out of time,” Twilight said, eyes glued ahead.
The skyline for hundreds of miles across, stretching to the east and west, was a swirling stormfront of dread black clouds. More than any mere storm, the wall of clouds burst and churned with forks of red and purple lightning. Boils of cyclone force washed up and down the stormfront like pulsating oil, and Twilight could make out twisters of force tearing into the writhing ocean below.
Even a casual probing with her magical senses told Twilight that a ritual working of significant proportions was under way, even as rain and snow started to spatter the windows and the faint howling of the distant winds reached her ears.
With a deep breath she looked to Seaspray, “No turning back. Admiral, full speed ahead. Take us in.”