Episode 145: Chase
Episode 145: Chase
Starlight Glimmer looked upon the two standing with unconcealed glares of hatred aimed at one another and briefly pondered aloud, “You know, what’s the plural for Chrysalis?”
The two Chrysalises... Chrysali...? turned their glares towards her, the Arrancar version cracking a sardonically tinted half smile, “Let me do as I will with this other one and you won’t have to wonder about that question at all, Starlight.”
Platinum, who was seated directly across from Starlight at the sizable meeting table they were all making use of, slapped a hoof on the table’s varnished wood surface and let a frosty burst of reiatsu flow off of her.
“We are here to discuss serious matters, not bicker! And besides, I believe Chrysalides is the proper plural form.”
“Really?” said Equestria’s Chrysalis, looking mildly surprised, “I... actually didn’t know that.” She shook herself, resuming her glare towards her counterpart, “Regardless, I don’t see how we can be expected to make any meaningful progress while my overly crude and violent mirror can’t grow out of making pointless threats.”
“Aww, feeling intimidated by your better self, are we dear?” Arrancar Chrysalis said, leaning forward and propping her chin on her hooves as she fluttered her eyes innocently, “I promise to play nice and behave. There, does that make your hurt little fee-fees all better now?”
Equestria’s Chrysalis looked sickened by her counterpart, but ignored her and turned to look at Starlight. The room they were in was previously a planning office used by Hitsuyo-Aku’s researchers, furnished with comfortable chairs and a large rectangular table, but more importantly there was also a well sized computer screen and system for displaying data on various research projects and their progress situated behind the head of the table that stood opposite the doors. On top of that the room was well secured against entry or observation, something Starlight was glad of as she’d taken note of the unruly and unpredictable nature of Arrancar Chrysalis’ daughter, Ocellus. For the moment she preferred to not involve the younger Arrancar in affairs outside of providing companionship and training to Pipsqueak, although Starlight had concerns on that front, as well.
“Ignoring her inability to take anything seriously, let’s get back to the topic in front of us. That being your utterly naïve desire to confront Princess Celestia directly! I know I’ve agreed to be a part of this group of yours, but to make it clear, I am not suicidal.”
“I was given to understand you yourself have confronted Celestia in the past, and won that confrontation,” Platinum said, settling back in her seat somewhat awkwardly. They weren’t built for equine forms, after all. “You’ve claimed as much.”
“Yes,” said Equestria’s Chrysalis with a hint of warm pride in her voice, which soon soured like spoiling milk as she went on, “In retrospect that may well have been because of two factors. One being I was freshly empowered by an exceedingly pure and potent source of love from that dotting captain of Equestria’s Royal Guard. The other being that in all likelihood Celestia was withholding the greater portion of her power in the foolish desire to spare those in the chambers around us. It allowed me to... get in a sucker punch. Galling as it is to admit, under normal circumstances I’d never consider an outright slug fest with the mare. It’d be madness to try.”
“I bet I could do it,” said Arrancar Chrysalis, “I’ve always enjoyed an outright duel with my lovely Captain sisters, and I’ll point out I can fight both of them at once.”
Starlight rolled her eyes, “Yes, Chrysalis, we get it, you’re powerful. Now stop wantonly stroking your ego in public.”
“Never!”
“Ugh, anyway... Platinum, you crossed blades with Equestria’s Princesses. I need your accurate assessment. Is this world’s Chrysalis here correct or is she highballing these alicorn Princesses?”
There was a silent moment of deep concentration on Platinum’s face, her pale features smooth as ice as she spoke in a measured tone, “It is honestly difficult for me to say. They both fought with power and skill equal to the level of a Captain, which is fitting as I’m given to understand they have lived for at least a thousand years apiece, or longer. Their magic matched anything I or Firefly could throw at them, and had I not used my Bankai when I did, that final spell they unleashed would have possibly finished us both.”
“Yes, their vaunted ‘High Magic’,” said Equestria’s Chrysalis with a quiet and seething undercurrent heating her voice.
“What do you know of it?” asked Starlight, “How much does it differ from regular magic?”
“Measure the difference between lightning that strikes the ground versus the storm that actually makes the lightning,” the changeling said in all seriousness, meeting Starlight’s gaze directly. “That is the difference. It is why I took pains to avoid direct battle with the alicorns, and made my home around a throne that negates all magic. Otherwise my plans to conquer Equestria would have died ages ago.”
“Because it’s going so well now, right?” jabbed the other Chrysalis, but Starlight held up a hoof before a fresh bit of snark could begin.
“Look, I’m going to be face to face with Celestia come tomorrow, and probably not just her. I’ll eat my own coat if she doesn’t have this world’s Discord on standby, and near as I can tell he’s a whole different bag of issues.”
“If by that you mean he can warp reality with a snap of his fingers, then yes, he is certainly an ‘issue’,” Equestria’s Chrysalis said with no small dose of sarcasm, “One I still can’t fathom actually joined the side of the ponies. He surpasses any one of them in power, and is only shackled by the full strength of that cheating power that stems from the Elements of Harmony.”
“A whole different topic, those Elements,” Starlight said, “You’re absolutely sure you don’t know where they are?”
“If I did I would have made a point of taking them, if only to ensure they couldn’t be used against me,” said Chrysalis, and for a moment a disturbed tremor crossed her eyes. “I don’t know where they are, but you can lay strong odds that they won’t be far from Celestia’s grasp. Understand this, Starlight Glimmer, it is not simply Celestia’s power that has kept me from facing her head on. She is dangerous. More so than any other being in Equestria. Discord may have more outright magical power, but he is a child in mind. An unruly, chaos fueled child, but still childish nonetheless. Even Celestia’s sister, Luna, has a certain forthright naiveté about her. So understand, and understand well... Celestia is cut from a different cloth than all of them.”
“She isn’t wrong,” Platinum said, “I sensed it during our brief clash, and I think I owe Firefly much for pulling me out of that fight at the end. Had things continued...”
“Which is why I intend to plan this carefully,” Starlight said, “I’ve already given it plenty of thought, which is why I called this meeting. I intend to walk away from Ponehenge tomorrow as the victor, but to do that I will need the support of everyone at this table, and more besides. Timing will be crucial, because lest we forget our objective, it is not to crush Equestria’s defenders, but to acquire the power needed to face much greater challenges elsewhere. To that end, I have tasks for each of you, starting with you, Chrysalis of Equestria. That throne of yours that was destroyed, you claimed it was made from a piece of a meteorite?”
“That’s correct. I witnessed it fall a long time ago, but felt the strangeness of it,” Chrysalis said, “I tracked one of the pieces to the Badlands and there discovered it’s unique property of canceling out magic, no matter how powerful.”
“A piece. Which means you never found where the full meteorite landed, right?” said Starlight, and Chrysalis' face showed a blooming light of realization.
“No, I didn’t. There was no need. The piece I found was more than large enough to shape my throne from.”
Starlight smiled, turning to Platinum. “I want that meteorite found. You and her will go to the location where she found the fallen piece, then track the main meteorite from there. Spiritual senses are disrupted by magic to a degree, which means any area lacking magic...”
Platinum smiled at that, nodding in understanding, “If I stretch my spiritual senses wide enough, any area in which they suddenly sharpen means a location in which the power of magic has been nullified. Given my speed and the range of my spirit senses, I can cover a very wide area of ground in very little time. If this meteorite did land somewhere, or if even another piece broke off, I’ll find it.”
“So while they’re rock hunting, what am I going to do? Something marginally fun, I hope?” the Arrancar Chrysalis said, yawning, “I’m practically bursting at the seams with the need to do something, Starlight. Since you won’t let me gloriously bathe in the blood and viscera of my inferior counterpart, do you at least have something entertaining in mind for little old me?”
“Oh I’ve got work for you to do, but you’ll probably find it boring. That said, you’re better suited to doing it than anyone else here,” Starlight said, and at the Espada’s distressed and unenthused look, she added, “Buuut, if you do it for me without killing or maiming I can let you have some of your kind of fun on a limited scale. I’m going to need a certain amount of... destruction at the right moment. Swear to me you can do it without a body count, and you’ll at least get to set some stuff on fire.”
“I do like arson,” the Arrancar admitted, “But let me get one thing straight with you, I’ve agreed not to eat any souls while in this world and I will keep to that, but if it’s chaos and destruction you want, lives will be lost. Even if I try to avoid it, I can’t control if a fire gets out of hand, or if debris doesn’t rain down on the unsuspecting. Even if I’m playing nice goody-good for the sake of your feeble conscience, even if I put effort into sparring lives, unleashing me to any degree means that death will follow in my wake. So do not ask anything of me that you are unprepared to accept the consequences of, Starlight.”
That did give Starlight Glimmer a moment of pause. She had not come to this world to visit tragedy upon its inhabitants. She was just... desperate for power. She was all too aware of how powerful the foes waiting for her in the Soul Palace were. The Zero Division were monsters without compare. For so long Starlight had lived in the shadow of that almighty power, knowing that to save the soul of not only her friend, but the souls of everyone who might be unjustly trapped in Hell, would require her to gain power by any means necessary.
By any means necessary.
She dearly wished Firefly were here. Firefly would at the very least have been able to give her some advice on what to do. Or better yet, Firefly would have been much better suited to the task than the Second Espada would be, as Starlight trusted Firefly to know how to cause just enough chaos while avoiding taking any lives unnecessarily. It would have just been nice to have Firefly there by her side, to tell her if she was making a mistake or not.
But Firefly is slowly dying, and if I don’t do this, I won’t be able to heal her, either.
Starlight took in a deep breath and let it out slowly, “I understand, Chrysalis. Still, I believe once you know the details of what I intend, you’ll see it can be done with a minimum risk of casualties. Your target is going to be very specific, even if the method of distraction won’t be.”
“Oh? Now I’m intrigued a little. Just what is cooking in that devious mind of yours?” the Arrancar Chrysalis asked, licking her lips, “I couldn’t help but notice you have been pouring over the research records of our humble hideaway.”
“Yes. Hitsuyo-Aku itself is a resource I intend to tap for this operation,” Starlight said, turning to the computer screen at the back of the room. With a flicker of magic from her horn, she turned the system on, “It has surprises aplenty waiting in its vaults, and it's high time we made use of them.”
Upon the screen appeared an image of an unusual weapon, something that had the shape of a broad bladed sword attached to an elongated hilt from which sprung a chain that ended in a bizarrely organic looking starfish shape that itself bore a single gleaming yellow eye. Starlight’s lips pursed somewhat sourly at the image.
“This is what’s called a ‘Bakkoto’. Hitsuyo-Aku developed them as part of a project to potentially form and arm a penal legion akin to the Quincy’s Strafbatallion.”
The Arrancar Chrysalis made a soft whistling sound, tapping the tip of a hoof to her lips, “A beautifully ugly looking weapon. I find it oh so amusing that the Soul Reapers and Quincy both find it appropriate to force their disgraced prisoners to fight for them. The disgraced in Hollow society are usually just eaten. Far more fair and equitable, I say.”
Starlight shrugged, “I hold no love for Soul Society, but they had not gotten to the point of mass-producing these Bakkoto for use. What you’re seeing here is one of a number of prototypes that were made for testing, along with the specifications to make more. The weapons function similarly to a Zanpaktou, but with several key differences. One, a Bakkoto can be used by anyone who picks it up. It requires no special bond or training to make use of its powers. However, the other difference is also the drawback, these things are parasitic in nature. They feed on the spirit energy of the user to fuel their powers, inevitably draining the user until death in exchange for a temporary power boost.”
Platinum's lips twisted back as she hissed, “A part of me is almost glad to be done with Soul Society. Are we seriously considering using these cheap, parasitic knock offs?”
“Partially,” Starlight said, “I’ve spent several days testing out whether magic can be substituted for reiatsu to feed a Bakkoto, and low and behold, looks like they can and will sup on magic as readily as anything else. Our local prisoner, the Storm King, has been eager to help, so I got him to volunteer himself as a test subject. As it turns out Bakkoto’s get an even greater power boost from magic, and there’s enough ambient magic inside the natives of this world to feed them without killing the host. It drains them, still, but once the magic is dry, it recovers on its own after a day or two. So my intent was to provide a Bakkoto to any native Equestrians who join our cause.”
This was said with a meaningful look towards Equestria’s Chrysalis, who gained a mistrustful look at the weapon on the computer screen.
“You’re certain this parasitic thing will not kill it’s user as long as it feeds on magic?” she asked, and Starlight nodded.
“Tested it on both the Storm King and myself, now that I’ve got an alicorn body that produces magic naturally. It’ll tire you out, but doesn’t kill. Still, when you’re out of magic, stop using the Bakkoto. If you don’t, it’ll start feeding on your spirit energy, and natives of your world don’t have nearly enough to spare. That said, as long as you have a source of love magic to feed on, you should have plenty to spare to power one of these, and it’ll definitely give you a power boost.”
Despite her reluctance, Chrysalis slowly warmed to the notion at the mention of gaining more power, “Very well. But I will need to feed soon. Your unconscious companion all but overflows with love for her daughter. If I could-”
“No,” Starlight said firmly, “That won’t be necessary. You can feed upon myself.”
That got both Chrysalis’ raising their eyebrows in strangely identical fashion, while Platinum looked vaguely disturbed.
“Truly?” the Equestrian Chrysalis said, “You will let me feed upon your own love? For who...? Oh, yes, of course. You spoke of the one for whom you do all of this for.”
There was a moment of panicked embarrassment that Starlight took command of within herself quickly, forcing her face to a straight laced mask. An image of Sunburst filled her mind with shining clarity for a moment, and she held it close to her heart before dismissing it and eyeing Chrysalis with a look she hoped conveyed the gravity of the matter.
“It should be more than enough to sate you, and in turn provide all the fuel you need to wield a Bakkoto. We’ll take care of this before you leave with Platinum. Now then, the next item on the list could prove to be even more useful, if we can use them right.”
The screen next showed an image of a darkened room in which dozens of metal slabs stood from the floor at a slight angle. Upon each slab was what appeared to be at first unconscious humans. However upon closer inspection it was clear to see the uniform nature of each body, be they male or female, and the lack of distinguishing features such as hair, on top of lacking any actual reproductive organs. Like dolls of flesh. For the Chrysalis who was an Arrancar and for Captain Platinum, the similarity between these bodies and the gigai fake bodies used by Soul Reapers was immediately apparent.
“Are those gigais?” Platinum said, frowning, “What would Hitsuyo-Aku be doing with those?”
“Close,” said Starlight, a somewhat grim look darkening her features, “While based on gigais, these are something else. Something possibly far more dangerous than anything else in this facility. Which is why we need to be very careful about how we employ these things, to make sure nothing gets out of hand.”
“Oh, but what are they, do tell?” the Arrancar Chrysalis said, looking almost hungry, and exceedingly amused by the glint in her eyes. “What manner of depraved fun did the Soul Reaper lab coats get up to this time?”
` Starlight Glimmer sighed, and answered, “Reigai.”
----------
Despite the defenses against spying the meeting room in the depths of Hitsuyo-Aku had, they had not been prepared with someone with a changeling’s abilities in mind. While Ocellus was not as adept as her mother at changing forms, she was still skilled enough to take the shape of a tiny blue moth with pink gossamer wings. With this shape she slipped through small ventilation shafts and readily avoided the reshi beams that small security sensors put out to try and warn of intruders.
Thusly she’d been able to alight near a vent in the ceiling of the meeting room and hear most of what was being said. The young Arrancar turned changeling practically buzzed with delight!
So the adults were all going to be out of the house tomorrow!? Perfect! She and Pipsqueak could play all they wanted, and more importantly, with no pesky adults around to watch over her shoulder, she could break the rules and take the young Soul Reaper lordling on a real adventure wherever she wanted! Oh, and she had the ideal spot in mind, too!
Tomorrow was going to be so much fun.
----------
The first order of business in Twilight’s mind was to determine whether or not the Treasury could actually be utilized or not. As impressive as the leviathan sized battleship was, there was little good it could do her and her friends if it wasn’t functional. The control panel in the room was all made with the ancient technology of the seapony race, and while some parts of it were understandable enough, other parts of it’s function were far more esoteric. Twilight had to spend time fiddling with the levers and buttons to start getting a feel for things. In the meantime her friends discussed their next move.
“Well it seems obvious to me we take the departed Princess Scylla at her word and take the ship for ourselves,” said Admiral Seapsray, “With a mighty vessel like that we could blast our way clear of this whole affair and have quite the weapon to bring to bear against Charybdis.”
“That’s great and all, but I don’t know how much use this thing will be against whatever it is I’m sensing up top,” said Flash, “And on top of that, can we even make this ship move?”
“It looks finished ta me,” Applejack said, peering out the window. “Ain’t seein’ no holes or missin’ pieces.”
“But even if it’s finished, could we even operate it?” pointed out Rarity, “A ship that size must need a fairly large crew, and none of us are exactly trained in the arts of seaponyship.”
Seaspray looked at her and pointed at himself, “The ‘Admiral’ is a well earned title of mine, I assure you, Miss Rarity. There is not a nautical vessel in the world I cannot come to grips with, even one forged by the advanced techniques of Seaquestria. I promise you, I’ll learn to steer this fine ship in short order, or my name isn’t Admiral Seaspray!”
“Hmm fair point, good Admiral,” Rarity admitted, and the cast a glance towards Wavecrest. The seapony was still gazing upon the remains of Scylla, her face a mask of deep concentration.
“Miss Wavecrest, what do you think? You still know more about your people’s ancient traditions, magic, and technology than any of us.”
At Rarity’s question Wavecrest looked up, seemingly startled, then gave the Treasury a contemplative gaze. “It should be doable, yet I cannot say for certain. Were this a vessel like the Odyssey, which I am more familiar with from tales and text, I would say our full party would suffice to fully man her. But a ship this large? Move her we may be able to do, but there’s no telling if we can use all of her functions. Not without entering her and looking for ourselves. And... there’s the matter of why we actually came here.”
“You mean the artifacts,” Rarity said, “The ‘treasury’ that isn’t a ship. I do believe your Princess made mention in her final words of having those loaded aboard, did she not?”
“Yes,” Wavecrest said, taking up her staff and a fresh light of determination flaring to life in her eyes, “Even if the challenge before us is changed, the fact remains we must ensure those treasures, and this great inheritance, does not fall into sahuagin hands! This ship represents a new hope for my people! No matter how difficult, we must save it and the treasures within.”
“Well, first we have to get inside it,” Twilight said, and next to her Starlight Glimmer was also poking at various buttons on the control console.
“What about the big red one, Twilight?”
“No, never push the big red one!”
“Geez, fine, then maybe this knobby looking one?”
“I tried that one already, it just turned the lights from white to green. I don’t even know what that means.”
Behind the pair, a laconic looking Tempest Shadow just rubbed at her forehead and said, “Have you tried just... hitting it?”
The other two looked at her, and Tempest offered a perturbed grunt, “Hey, it works any time I need something to stop annoying me. The Storm King has lots of dumb contraptions that only work half the time, and usually giving them a good thump did the trick.”
“Yes, well, violence can’t solve every problem now, can it?” Seaspray said, floating over and raising a hoof to bring down hard on the console, “Why with such sturdy construction I doubt even a strike with all my might would hardly rattle it, let alone make it-”
At the pounding of his hoof, the console let off a series of clicks and beeps, and suddenly a panel opened up at the top of it. All looked on in astonishment as a glass orb similar in style to the one that Scylla had held now rose upon a metal stalk from within the console. Instead of sound, this orb produced a soft white light that formed a magical image in the air that showed a schematic of the Treasury alongside words in a smoothly flowing script.
“Huh...” Seaspray said, then blanched at Tempest, who was giving him a smug look.
Meanwhile, Wavecrest swam up and quickly began looking over the image. She was joined by Twilight and Starlight, and in a short time the trio began to put together what the information being displayed all meant. It was in essence an active display of the Treasury’s systems and its overall status. Twilight was briefly overwhelmed by the amount of information that was accessible. The image was even interactive! If she touched a part of the ship’s image, it would zoom in and provide even more detail!
“This is... incredible,” she breathed, “Magi-Tech is a fairly new field in Equestria. The University of Neighbridge has a very basic working system for three dimensional image displays like this, but nothing you can interact with! Wavecrest, where did the seaponies learn to do this?”
“Aqualania was ever the capital of Seaquestria’s innovation, Twilight Sparkle, and our people delved deep into harnessing the potential of magic,” Wavecrest said, pride returning to her voice like a burning ember, “We lost much from the war. Too much. You see now why I wish so badly to bring back these glories to my people? Were it not for Scylla and Charybdis’ war, then seapony kind would have brought forth a true Golden Age for not just the oceans, but all the world.”
Applejack’s eyes narrowed sharply, “Easy there, hun. This magic n’ tech may be nice n’ shiny, but yer soundin’ a tad bit like yer Princess’ dream o’ conquest. Don’t ferget she dun goofed on that front alongside her crazy witch o’ a sister.”
Wavecrest met Applejack’s look with equal intensity, “I heard Scylla’s words of regret, the same as you. I hold no delusions of conquest, only of delivering my people back to a time of plenty and security. Nothing more.”
“Please, Applejack, Miss Wavecrest has been nothing to a boon to us on this journey,” said Rarity, “Let us not fault her a certain zeal for the well being of her people and the desire to bring back the clearly impressive knowledge they once possessed. And speaking of which, as awe inspiring as this is Twilight, does this imagery tell us anything of practical use?”
“Just a moment,” Twilight said, her eyes all but soaking in the details, her brain going into overtime to absorb the information before her and to parse out what it all might mean. As fortune might have it, the engineers of the Treasury and it’s hangar had a certain love for user friendliness. On top of that, Twilight already had plenty of experience with Magi-Tech from her own experiments in the field, so much of what she was seeing held a certain familiarity already. Soon, she started to get the overall picture in regards to the ship floating in silent anticipation of its first voyage, centuries in the waiting.
“Alright, from what I can tell the Treasury is fully assembled and equipped for launch,” she said, and she zoomed the image to a cylindrical chamber towards the back end of the vessel’s stern where the “tailfin” connected to the main body, “This is the main engine room, and you see this here? This polyhedron shaped object is a magical power crystal, similar to what we used to power up my portal set up back at the castle. Only this crystal is much larger and connected to an entire network of similar crystals that provide the ship with energy. As far as I can tell, if somepony powers up that main crystal, we’re in business. It just needs raw magic shunted into it, and the whole ship will turn on automatically.”
“Splendid,” Seaspray said, “Then while one of you magically inclined types do that, I can inspect the bridge and work out the controls.”
“Lucky for us the doors are designed for manual opening, even without power,” Twilight pointed out, “So nothing is stopping us from going in. The only issue I see is that this room here-”
She scrolled the image to show a oval shaped room in the belly of the ship, just aft of the bridge’s bubble, “-is labeled as ‘artifact storage’ and has a fully powered vault door. That one we can’t open until I get the power core charged up.”
“Wait,” said Tempest, “What about an exit? We can’t exactly fit this thing through the tunnel we came through.”
“There’s a set of hangar doors on the far end of the bay,” Twilight said, pulling back the map of the ship to reveal it also showed a full schematic of the hangar itself, including a set of giant sliding doors behind the Treasury that led to a vertical exit shaft, “If my guess is right, that shaft leads up to a spot just north of the palace.”
Flash gave a sharp intake of breath, “That’s right in the middle of that huge pile of spiritual hate I’m sensing outside, Twilight.”
“One problem at a time,” Starlight told him, “We can’t worry about dealing with that until we deal with what’s here. Which is getting this ship powered up, getting the rest of our friends together, and quitting this whole city like the worst habit ever.”
“That’s quite right, we can’t leave without the others,” Rarity said, and turned to Applejack, “Why don’t you and I go back to the tunnel entrance. If they come this way, we can at least lead them here.”
“Makes sense ta me. Twilight, ya got any objections?”
Twilight paused for a moment, considering. There was no easy way to signal the other group, but they did know that Twilight’s team was going for the “treasury”, so at least they’d know to search the lower chambers of the palace. She had no intention of going anywhere without them, so if worse came to worst, once the Treasury was fully powered up, she’d leave some of her group to guard it while she went to find the others herself. If she ran into any sahuagin... well, she had magic to spare.
“Go for it,” she said, “Let’s just hope they find their way here.”
----------
“You sure you know where you’re going, dude?” Rainbow Dash asked Ulgriv after what seemed to her like the dozenth random turn amid the various twisting passages of the palace’s lower reaches. The young sahuagin who’d taken the lead of the group turned his oversized head towards her with an exasperated wave of his arms.
“No I am not sure, blue one! I have not been down here before, and only know of the Treasury from rumor! But I am confident it is near. The path I heard of is more or less this way.”
“More or less, he says,” Rainbow Dash sighed, “So far the only good thing about this maze of a palace is that it’s totally thrown off those other fish dudes from chasing us.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure of that,” Aria said, looking behind them where they had just left a downward spiraling passage. From that direction, Rainbow Dash heard the gurgling whooping war cries of sahuagin warriors.
“Aww man, seriously? I thought we ditched these losers!?”
“Guess we gotta ditch faster Dashie,” said Pinkie Pie, popping up behind Ulgriv with a hoof around his shoulders as she boldly threw her other arm forward, “Quick, follow your nose to the Treasury goodness! I believe in you!”
Ulgriv looked vaguely disturbed by the close contact and pulled Pinkie Pie’s arm off of him as he swam forward down a passage to their left, “This way, I feel the Deep Mistress’ will guiding me down this path.”
“You being for serious or is that just you being weird with that whole fanatical worship stuff again?” asked Dash as the group followed Ulgriv down the left passage. He grimaced at her, wide lips revealing lines of needle teeth as he held the pendant around his neck.
“I cannot commune with the Deep Mistress directly as shaman and blessed chosen champions can, but my... my faith has always been strong. In times of fear, of doubt, I believe I can almost hear Her voice, singing a song of strength and comfort. You should not doubt the Deep Mistress’ power, surfacer.”
“We don’t doubt she’s real, Ulgriv,” said Fluttershy in an uncharacteristically serious tone for her, “We know she is. I understand she must mean a lot to you and your people. But if she’s telling you and your friends to go around hurting people, it makes it hard for us to understand your point of view.”
While still swimming the sahuagin warrior just stared at her in a way one might look at some strange new animal one had never seen before. He opened his mouth to speak, then just closed it and shook his head in confusion, redoubling his effort to swim faster. Rainbow Dash hung back a bit to give Fluttershy a sidelong look.
“I think you just gave the dude a headache. Flutters, I get you’re into the whole making friends scene, and I like poking some fun at this guy. I mean, he’s clearly just a kid. I don’t even think he’s much older than Scootaloo. But he’s one of the bad guys right now, too. Just be careful, ‘kay?”
“I’ll be alright,” Fluttershy replied, “I know that we’re in a lot of danger because of the sahuagin. I won’t let my guard down. Rainbow, I promise. I just...”
“I know, you care. It’s just who you are,” Rainbow Dash smiled and gave her friend a light punch on the shoulder, “Wouldn’t have you otherwise.”
“Hey, is it just me, or are the walls shaking a bit?” asked Sonata suddenly, causing all the others to start looking about while not breaking stride in their headlong swim.
It was possible to feel faint reverberations in the water, and Rainbow Dash did notice tiny bits of debris falling down in streams from the ceiling with regularity.
“What in the world is causing that?” asked Trixie with a nervous gulp, “Is the whole palace shaking?”
“No,” said Aria, focusing for a moment behind them, and Dash figured the siren must be using sonar again, “It’s localized, and right behind us. Growing stronger by the second...”
Aria’s eyes opened wide as she shouted, “Run! Fast!”
She gave no further explanation as she turned, grabbed Sonata by the arm, and all but dragged her sister along in a swift rush down the corridor ahead of them. The reason for this became rapidly evident as the shaking increased in intensity and the warbles of the sahuagin in distant pursuit were drowned out by an incredible loud and horrifically blood chilling howl that tore through the water.
They’d heard that howl a few times before, both on approaching Aqualania and after entering the palace, but the source of it had been a mystery to the group. Not so any longer.
The corridors of the palace had thus far ranged from either large, to auspicious grand, even the smaller passages having breadth of room to allow a sizable group to pass comfortably. Partially this was simply due to the grandiose sense of scale the original architects of the palace had, wishing to make the home of the royal family feel truly larger than life. However in practical terms, the size of the palace and its vast corridors was to accommodate Aqualania’s huge population if a time of crisis ever required they shelter within its walls, hence huge corridors to allow the funneling of thousands of seaponies to safety at once.
Ironic then that the feature meant to allow many to take shelter in safety is what allowed the bulk of an undersea terror to smash and squeeze itself down the corridor with furious abandon. Even the usually cocky Rainbow Dash felt a moment of startled fear at the sight of the oncoming monstrosity, and she had faced dragons before with brazenness.
The creature was at one time in it’s life an adult, male sperm whale. However the mutating magic infused into its body had turned the once noble mammal into a dire parody of itself. Thick and jagged pieces of bone grew from exposed and cracked flesh, forming plates of armor across the whale’s powerful length. It’s battering ram of a head was further enhanced by a sharp spike of bone, like the protruding edge of a mountain cliff. A red glowing seal of magic was branded upon its snout, just beneath the head spike, and the whale’s eyes glowed with a similar baleful light as its mouth opened to exude another howl from between rows of sword-like teeth.
Although the terror beast’s bulk took up much of the corridor, there was enough room for it to move it’s potent tail and propel itself forward, even as it’s sides struck the walls or it’s head clipped the ceiling in it’s jerking movements, which was the cause of the shaking the ponies had earlier felt.
Barely visible behind the whale’s path were the sahuagin, well more than a hundred of them. Leading the warriors was Morgawr, his body still alight with his own magically empowered sigils. Next to him was a shorter sahuagin who wore a shroud of woven bones and carried a wave shaped sacrificial dagger. It was this sahuagin that Rainbow Dash noted appeared to be holding a magical link, like that of a glowing thread of chains, that bound him to the mutated whale.
However, that was about all she could note before fleeing was the only thing she or any of her companions could immediately do.
“Oh the hay with this!” Trixie screamed, “This is officially the last time I ever go on some foal-brained adventure with Twilight bloody Sparkle! At least not without negotiating hazard pay!”
Fluttershy looked positively aghast at the sight of the whale, such a gentle sea creature, clearly abused and tormented by it’s captors. While she fled with the rest of them, Rainbow Dash could see the horror in her friend’s eyes also swiftly growing into hot coals of utter outrage.
“How... how could anyone treat another living creature like that!? This poor whale! I’ll... I’ll...”
“Fluttershy, calm down,” Rainbow Dash urged, knowing that her friend was probably working up to quite the outburst, but until they got into a better position to deal with this threat she couldn’t let Fluttershy fly off the handle. “We’ll deal with this as soon as we find Twilight and the others.”
Fluttershy gnashed her teeth, but gave Dash a pained nod. Rainbow Dash was grateful for small miracles. She knew her friend was a lot stronger than she generally appeared to be, but that whale was probably too mentally chained by magic to guarantee Fluttershy’s Stare would work, and this tight corridor was not the place for a brawl where Dash couldn’t maneuver and make effective use of her speed.
“Ulgy, your buddies are the worst meanies ever, and we’ve met a lot!” Pinkie Pie said, while Ulgriv just gaped at her and at the monstrosity chasing them.
“I’ve never seen a terror beast made from a large kin of that size before,” Ulgriv admitted, “It must have cost shaman Divistis many sacrifices, but Morgawr forbid he make use of any soft kin, so I know not how this terror beast was made.”
“Dude, what are you talking about? Soft kin are seaponies, right?” Dash asked, then something in his words clicked, “Wait, you saying there are seaponies being held down here too!?”
“No,” Ulgriv said as he led the group in a sharp turn down a passage that bent downward and to the right, “I mean, our warbands did capture some soft kin, yes, but they were already moved back home with the translocation sphere. Morgawr insisted any captives be sent ahead first, lest their presence distract us.”
“How many?” asked Fluttershy in such a tone as to make Ulgriv gulp and answer quite swiftly.
“S-some ten or twenty. I was not part of their capture, so had no place in claiming prestige or the honor of guarding them.”
“Why send them on to the Abyss for?” Rainbow Dash asked, giving a glance behind her as she did so. The terror beast was slowly closing the gap with them. Despite it’s bulk, it was able to slide forward in the water at a frightful pace. While the group was swimming as fast as it could, it could only do so at the speed of it’s slowest members, which in this case was Trixie. While in excellent shape for a unicorn, having pulled her caravan all over Equestria and in some cases beyond, she was still lagging behind a bit compared to the others in the group.
If this keeps up, that thing is gonna catch up to us in a matter of minutes, Rainbow Dash realized, considering options even as Ulgriv responded to her question.
“It is the Deep Mistress’ will that any of the soft kin we capture are brought to our home so they might be made to see the truth of her glory and serve the cause,” Ulgriv said, hesitantly. “Often they are put to work in the mines, or mollusk patches. Those that refuse, vanish.”
“Vanish?” Dash pressed, and Ulgriv just nodded.
“It is not known what becomes of them. They go into the Deep Mistress’ rift, and either return to serve willingly, or do not return at all. None know what our holy Mistress does with those who are not seen again.”
“Ominous,” said Sonata, and Aria let out a rough grunt.
“Not as ominous as the damn monster whale biting at our tails! That thing is getting closer!”
“I noticed,” Rainbow Dash said, gritting her teeth and looking ahead. The passage they were in had spun downwards for a bit, then leveled off. And to her frustration, she saw the corridor terminated in a sudden set of doors little more than fifty feet ahead.
“We’re trapped!” Trixie said, closing her eyes, “Dang it Starlight, if it was going to end this way then the Cute and Cuddleable Trixie wanted one last night to show you how she really felt!”
Ignoring that particular statement, Rainbow Dash looked to Fluttershy and shouted, “Flutters, you and me! Hit it dead on with everything we’ve got! The rest of you, don’t slow down! Just follow us!”
Fluttershy gained a flash of resolve in her tightened jaw as she lined up next to Rainbow Dash and the pair plowed forward. Rainbow Dash cranked up her speed to the best she could manage over a short distance, Fluttershy managing to keep pace just behind her. The pink, yellow, and rainbow bolts of speed cut a line through the water that almost sucked their companions along even despite their best efforts to keep up.
Rainbow Dash let out a yell as she smashed into the doors with her whole body, Fluttershy plowing into them right beside her.
----------
If anything the interior of the Treasury was even more impressive than it’s exterior. Every hall within the grand vessel was a marvelously graceful feat of smooth metal panels, lined with lighting crystals carved into diamond shapes at regular intervals along the walls. Twilight had seen into an impressively sized galley that could likely seat scores of crew comfortably, while the quarters she passed by were each large enough and well furnished to equal even the best hotels in Canterlot. She could scarcely imagine how much time it had taken to build the ship, and in so thinking a question popped into her mind.
“Wavecrest, if Charybdis took over Aqualania, how was this ship finished, or even this hangar concealed?”
Beside her, Wavecrest gave the journal she’d taken from Scylla’s room on the Odyssey a touch with a hoof, “Scylla wrote about how much her sister obsessed with her magical studies, and distained Scylla’s reliance on martial prowess and trinkets. Scylla’s personal guard were also loyal beyond compare. I believe your answers lie in those two facts. When the city fell to Charybdis, Scylla’s loyalists may well have holed themselves up in the hangar, behind the sealed doors, and completed the work on their own. I suspect there may have been passages to allow their escape when the job was done. As for Charybdis herself, she likely never thought to look into her sisters ‘treasury’, considering it beneath her.”
“But wouldn’t the sahuagin have an interest in it?” Twilight asked, and Wavecrest made a light scoffing sound.
“Even if they did, they clearly failed to pierce the seal as you and your unicorn companions were able to. Take heart in our good fortune, Twilight Sparkle. You have become an integral part of seapony history today, and while some of your companions may doubt my motives, I give you my word I’ll not soon forget the boon you have uncovered for my people. It is a debt I will repay in due time.”
Twilight smiled briefly, “No need to think of it like that, Wavecrest. We’re in this together. You’ve helped us a lot, too.”
Behind her, Flash Sentry had fallen behind somewhat, and Twilight glanced back at him. Starlight and Tempest Shadow had gone with Admiral Seaspray to find the bridge, while Applejack and Rarity had proceeded back up to the entryway at the tomb chamber, so for now it was just her, Wavecrest, and the Soul Reaper turned pegasus. He still looked a bit pale and wane from the lingering aftereffects of the poison he’d endured, but more than that Flash was wearing a fresh look of distant concern.
“Is it that spiritual presence from the city you’re feeling, still?” she asked, and he shook his head.
“No. I mean, yes, I still sense that... whatever it is. But I’m also sensing another presence, closer. Something inside the palace.”
Twilight couldn’t help but gulp slightly, “How close?”
“Hard to tell, but close enough to make me worry about how split up we all are. With your permission, Twilight, once you get this ship running, I’ll go join Rarity and Applejack. If something nasty shows up, I think they’ll appreciate some backup.”
“You hardly need my permission, Flash,” she said, smiling, “I’m certain I’m safe in here.”
“I know, but a bodyguard has to bodyguard,” Flash said, giving her a smile back, albeit a strained one given the circumstances, “I’ll feel better knowing there’s no surprises waiting for us in here before heading off.”
She could tell he was worried about her, and appreciated the sentiment, even if she was equally worried about him, possibly even more so. It didn’t take much longer for them to reach the engine room, which was at the end of where two curving hallways that ran along either side of the ship ran. The ship was composed of five different decks, and the engine room took up a vertical space filling the back end of three of those decks, accessible by several hatchways, including a primary one that Wavecrest and Twilight pried open with their respective magics. Wavecrest used her staff to control the water currents to pull upon the door while Twilight relied purely on telekinesis, the combination of which had little trouble pulling open the sliding hatch that split down it’s center.
Within, the engine room was essentially a big cylinder with several catwalks surrounding a huge and smoothly polished blue crystal that was housed in a series of bronze and silver rings. Those rings were in turn attached by various pipes and cables to smaller crystal contraptions that were built into the floor and walls, which Twilight understood to essentially be power regulators that would keep the tremendous power of the main engine crystal from overloading the ship’s systems.
A semi-circular observation deck was right beyond the doors and had several monitoring consoles arranged around the end, but the most important feature was a circular protrusion with a podium rising from it. This podium ended in a square cut crystal fixture that was to serve as a fueling point for the engine. Whether it was from already powered up, smaller crystals, or seapony magic, this podium could accept raw power and transfer it to the engine crystal.
“Marvelous,” Wavecrest whispered, looking around the room, then to Twilight Sparkle, “Please, awaken Princess Scylla’s final gift to her people. Bring life to this Treasury, Princess Twilight Sparkle, and let us banish the darkness from Aqualania in the process.”
With a weighty nod, Twilight Sparkle swam forward and carefully laid a hoof upon the crystal podium. She wasn’t entirely certain how much magical power would be needed to charge the engine fully, nor at what speed would be safest to do so, but she was all too keenly aware that every passing second might place ponies she cared about in further danger. For a rare change of pace, Twilight decided not to err on the side of caution.
Her horn, perhaps having grown ever so slightly longer and sharper over the time since she’d become an alicorn, bloomed to brilliant life with a multi-layered aura of violet magical power. She directed a potent, near blinding stream of that power from her horn and into the crystal podium. She felt the heat blossoming in her horn and inside her body as she tapped deep into her wellspring of magic, yanking it forth with the pure will of her emotions. For extra flavor she thought hard of nearly losing Flash, and the danger her friends still remained in, emotion which lent further fuel to the flame of her magic. The magic within responded eagerly, gushing forth in a near endless stream, and she let the crystal in front of her soak it up without reservation or slowing down.
Purple energy burst to life along the podium and the veins of piping that connected it to the rings around the engine’s main crystal. Like sparkling rivers, the energy flowed in ever greater volume, flashing with strobes of near blinding light that forced Wavecrest and Flash Sentry to shield their eyes as the raw magic pouring from the alicorn Princess was greedily soaked up by the Treasury’s engine.
In short order the engine’s crystal itself started to come to life. Coiling arcs of magic ran along the rings surrounding it and then leaped into the crystal itself, which started to spin as it’s many faceted interior began to become painted with a plethora of lights. In less than a minute’s time the crystal spun with a steady hum, and it’s surface went from dull blue to a lustrous and deep azure that twinkled with a seemingly endless star field of violet and purple lights. The hum of the crystal intensified and spread, power seeping into dozens of pipes and conduits as the crystal power regulars also began to buzz to life.
Light filled the engine room, then spread through the whole ship as power flowed through it like blood through the veins of an awakening beast.
Twilight could all but feel the power brimming through the ship, almost as if she had a hoof directly on it’s pulse. The deck gently vibrated with that life and for a moment she almost got the impression the ship itself was truly alive, as if there was a conscious force gazing back at her from the crystal’s depths. The moment passed, but she still felt her power seeping through every pore of the ship’s decks, and instinctively knew that the magic she had just supplied was more than enough for the mighty Treasury to operate at full capacity for quite some time to come.
There was a moment of exhaustion that came when she slowly ceased the flow of magic, and a faint sense of suction as if the crystal still wanted to drink deep of her power, but once she ceased the flow there was no ill effect other than she had to sit on her tail for a moment and catch her breath.
“Whew... that was... intense,” she said, and gave Flash a reassuring hoof wave as he came up to her, “I’m okay, though. Crystal was just really thirsty.”
“Heh, I’ll bet,” he said, “Last time I saw you put out that much magic was that gravity number you did on Trixie.”
“The loud one?” Wavecrest asked, curiously. and Twilight laughed half-heartedly.
“Uh, different Trixie. Long story. But yeah, that was a lot of magic, but I’ll be fine. And looks like the ship is now up and running,” she said, gesturing around at the now fully lit engine room. The entire place glowed softly blue from crystal light fixtures, and was similarly filled with a pleasant hum of power.
“It most certainly is,” Wavecrest said with a pleased look, causing her face to glow bright under the sharp lights of the crystals, “Now we must make haste and find the artifact room.”
“Shouldn’t we check to see how they’re doing on the bridge first?” asked Flash, but Wavecrest waved him off.
“I trust your companions to figure that part out, and if not we’ll join them in due time, but what we may find among the artifacts Princess Scylla gathered here could prove the difference between surviving this day, or calling Aqualania home in a far more permanent fashion than any of us I think would like.”
“Well, if you’re sure-” Twilight began to say, but Flash swam forward, meeting Wavecrest’s gaze directly.
“Wait. Just what do you know, Wavecrest? You’ve been obsessed with these artifacts that Scylla took ever since you started talking about the Treasury, before you even knew it was a ship. What’s there that you’re so damned keen to get your hooves on?”
“Flash, we don’t have to grill her. She’s on our side,” Twilight said.
“Even if she is, I want to know what’s so important about these artifacts. This can’t be just because they’re random magic doo-dads, Twilight. Not if Wavecrest is this insistent about them,” he said, not breaking his gaze with Wavecrest.
The seapony witch met his gaze evenly, without flinching, and he saw a calmness come over her as she seemed to reach a decision, “Very well, Flash Sentry, I shall answer your question. It is not a complex answer. There is indeed something specific I seek. Or rather, my mentor sought it, and passed the legacy of this task to me after her death. There is a legend among seaponies, about the disappearance of the gods we once worshipped. You’ve seen the shrines, the temples. Know then that to us, these gods were real, and when they left this world they left behind... Relics. Relics that contain fragments of their great power. It is believed Princess Scylla found a number of such Relics, including one that contains the power of Domare, Lady Sea herself. It is this Relic I seek, the Mata Le Sami, or ‘Eye of the Sea’ in your tongue.”
Flash scratched his head, his expression easing somewhat but fresh confusion now painting his voice, “Okaaaay, but what makes this ‘relic’ or whatever any more important than another magical item? Do you actually believe it contains that much power?”
“Did you not just hear me say these Relics contain the power of gods, boy?” Wavecrest said, and Flash let out a short breath, shaking his head.
“I heard you, but what I mean is what makes you think that isn’t anything more than just another legend? What do you expect to be able to do with this Eye of the Sea that makes getting to it so important?”
It was Wavecrest’s turn to shake her head, looking away from him with a frustrated mutter, “I could do little with it, for I lack the means to access its power. But with it I can then search for the one true heir to Seaquestria’s throne. With it I can find the one who inherited Scylla’s bloodline.”
“There’s an heir?” Twilight asked, suddenly interested, and Wavecrest turned away from both her and Flash and began to swim out of the engine room.
“It was just a rumor, but one I and my mentor believed. That before the war, Princess Scylla had a tryst with one of her guards, and the offspring of that tryst were kept hidden from the Queen. It is also believed that the very same guard who sired the heir was tasked with protecting the child and taking them from Aqualania before it fell. In theory, that means the royal bloodline may have continued to the modern day. But there is no way to prove that, save perhaps the legend that the Eye of the Sea will respond to one of royal blood as an ‘Inheritor’.”
“So you need the Eye to find a new ruler for the seaponies,” Twilight said, finally understanding things. “Somepony who can unite all the seapony tribes and reforge Seaquestria into one nation?”
“Yes,” Wavecrest said, “That is what I’ve worked towards, and now that it is so close to my grasp I hope you can understand how I’m eager to see it done. Now, are there more questions, or can we go to the artifact chamber?”
“Alright,” Flash said, “I’m satisfied. Sorry to give you the third degree there.”
“It is as nothing. Let us be quick. If nothing else, I agree with you for the need of haste.”
----------
The doors into the tomb broke open with a resounding clamor of sound, causing Rarity and Applejack both to wheel about, startled. To their shock, and monetary relief, they saw Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash were the ones who had broken through the doors, and that right behind the pair came the rest of their errant companions. Including Sonata and Aria!
“Well smack my hide n’ call me a bowl o’ punch if they didn’t just come right to us,” said Applejack with a grin. “An’ here we was wondeirn’ if ya’ll were gonna be alright!”
“RUN! GIANT EVIL WHALE!” screeched Trixie, causing Rarity and Applejack to glance at each other all of two seconds before the already burst open doors proceeded to explode from their hinges, along with a sizeable chunk of the wall all around them. From a billowing cloud of smoky debris emerged the gargantuan terror beast, it’s distended jaws shaking the waters with a fresh howl.
As it lumbered it’s bulky body into the expansive tomb area, the whale was followed by the sahuagin in their multitudes, including Morgawr who gave out a bellowing shout, “Come forth, surface dwellers! You cannot flee forever! I can sense where my trident is and will follow you until the end of the seas themselves!”
Rarity blinked, then deadpanned, “Applejack, do you suppose he means the trident Tempest is carrying around?”
“What’dya think, Rares!?” Applejack said, adjusting her stetson and shouting to the others, “This way everypony n’ siren! Git yer keisters down this tunnel here, pronto!”
She then looked to Rarity, “Make sure they all go, sugarcube, n’ don’t wait up fer me!”
“Huh!?” at Rarity’s questioning look, Applejack just licked her lips and rubbed her hooves together before giving her tail a powerful thrust and shot off like a bottlenose dolphin, moving in a direct charge right at the oncoming terror beast.
Rainbow Dash saw Applejack swimming past her like an orange bolt, and let out a frustrated growl as she said to Fluttershy, “Keep going!”
Her hooves were pretty sore from smashing through those doors, but she’d taken worse impacts from plenty of crashes during training. She certainly had no hesitation in spinning about to join Applejack in charging at the whale, despite how completely and utterly the beast out massed them.
Still, earth pony strength and pegasus speed was not to be wholly underestimated, and Applejack had dealt with plenty of beasts much larger than herself. Being underwater meant she didn’t quite have the physical leverage she was used to, and her extremely potent hind-hooves were replaced by a big fish tail. However that one big fish tail hanging behind her held the combined strength of her hind legs she’d used to crack stone or shake mighty trees with equal measure, and she knew usually where to hit for best effect.
Rainbow Dash wasn't much different. Although not as strong as Applejack, she knew how to land an impact, whether for demolition purposes or controlling powerful weather patterns. Things were different underwater. She wasn’t sure she could create a tornado like she normally would, and lightning seemed like a fundamentally bad idea while surrounded by water, but with her aquatic form maybe she could make a water funnel?
She coordinated with Applejack so they hit the terror beast at roughly the same time, Applejack turning hard to the left to avoid the beast’s head, which rammed towards her but just barely missed to instead create a giant crater in the ground. She then spun with her tail and hit the creature in the eye with all her might. Her blow didn’t cause as much of an impact as she’d like, but she still felt the beast rock back a bit as it’s eye closed and it bellowed a high pitched roar of rage.
At the same time Rainbow Dash swam in a horizontal cone pattern, spreading her wings and trying to control the water around her the same way she might the clouds in the sky. It wasn’t quite as intuitive as the weather control she could manage as a pegasus, but she felt the water responding to her just enough to start forming a whirlpool of sharp currents that she then sent like a battering ram towards the sahuagin that had come in behind the terror beast.
Morgawr crossed his arms and took the brunt of the whirlpool current head on, grunting as his body shook from the blow. Sahuagin around him were scattered by the dispersing current, a few sent careening into the walls of the tomb, while most others were just left floating dizzily around.
From behind Morgawr, a sauhaguin rose with his shroud of bones rattling. The shaman Divistus cut his arm with his sacrificial knife and gurgled out an unholy chant. Darkness swirled up his arm like living tentacles, then formed in swirls of red and black energy to become a pulsating ball of magic covered in spikes like a twisted sea urchin. He hurled the sphere at Rainbow Dash, who saw the incoming attack of unnatural magic and zipped away. However the sphere burst and sent a shower of deadly black spikes flying everywhere, and while Dash was fast enough to still evade the storm, one of the spikes struck Applejack’s left arm.
The farm mare let out a sharp yell of pain, yanking the spike out with her other hoof and throwing it away, which in turn dissipated. A bleeding hole was left in her arm, but Applejack grit her teeth through the pain and made a dodging dive as the terror beast freed it’s head from the crater it made in the floor and tried to snap the mare out of the water in its jaws. She sent a reprisal smack of her tail at the beast’s jaw, but that barely phased it. However, Applejack just used the momentum of the blow to send her swimming even faster back towards the tunnel towards the Treasury.
By now most of the others had reached the tunnel and swam down. Rarity had given Ulgriv a very confused look for a moment, but Pinkie Pie had just waved her friend off. Ulgriv himself had given the terror beast and Morgawr a confused look, as if still not sure what to do himself. His plan to lead the surfacers to the traps of the tomb was now useless, for the tomb was compromised the fabled ‘Treasury’ now accessible. Yet he couldn’t go back to join his people, for he’d surely be killed, as he’d now effectively led the surfacers right to the Treasury, making it look even more like he was in league with them.
The young sahuagin warrior could only clutch at his pendant to the Deep Mistress and pray for some other chance to redeem himself in his people’s eyes in the future. At least as long as he stayed close to the surfacers, perhaps he’d find some way to sabotage their plans? Regardless, he could only follow them into the tunnel, leaving Rarity and oddly Trixie as the only pair behind.
“Miss Trixie, you should be running, no?” said Rarity, but the showmare, breathing heavily, had a very odd look on her face.
She looked terrified, yet her dilated eyes also had a fierce hint of rage in them now, too, as her ragged breaths came in and out in a growing mad cackle.
“Hahahah! Oh no! The Infuriated and Vengeful Trixie has had it up to here with these stupid, annoying, insufferable FISH! Trixie is tired! Trixie is scared! And Trixie is pissed off!”
Trixie spun around and tore off her hat, allowing her horn to blaze bright in full view as she dredged up the full measure of her own magic, which while not on par with the likes of Twilight Sparkle or Starlight Glimmer, was still rather impressive given she was a pony whose innate talents did lie firmly within the arcane realm.
In an instant, a brilliant and booming barrage of score upon score of explosive firework spells launched themselves out of Trixie’s horn. An extravaganza of blinding, dazzling flashes of sound and light exploded all across the tomb in bursts of purple, green, blue, and white, taking the shapes of stars, wands, flowers, birds, and even giant winking Trixie heads.
None of it was actually damaging to the sahuagin or the terror beast, as it was essentially just harmless firework magic. Yet the blinding light and massive concussions of sound, amplified by the water, was beyond confusing and deafening to the dwellers of the Abyss. For a moment the entire army of sahuagin were held up, rubbing at their eyes or clutching at their ears as Trixie’s firework display hammered their senses.
The terror beast roared and flailed about at random, crushing some dozen unfortunate sahuagin too close and too stunned to get out of the way.
This bought Rainbow Dash time to grab the wounded Applejack and make a bee-line for the tunnel. As they flew by, Rarity gripped Trixie, who was now all but spent.
“Truly magnificent, darling, now let’s go before they recover!”
“Heh...heh... like to see Twilight Sparkle... pull that off... ‘third rate’ my beautiful blue butt!” the exhausted Trixie said as she let herself get dragged down into the tunnel.
----------
Twilight just barely managed to keep the sneeze down as she got the particular feeling that somepony was talking about her behind her back. However she swiftly set that aside to turn her full attention to the impressively thick door that barred the way into the Treasury’s artifact storage chamber. Located in the center belly of the ship on its fifth and lowest deck, it was clear Scylla certainly considered security a high factor, given one had to pass two different sets of gates before even reaching the robust metal hatch that was presently before her and Wavecrest. Flash had departed to go check on the others in the tomb, and Twilight was already missing his presence, despite having told him he was fine to go. Well, she hoped nothing serious was happening up top yet and even hoped the other group of her friends had arrived safely with Aria and Sonata.
At any rate, despite the security measures, the gates hadn’t actually been locked by the last workers who had finished the ship. Presumably the artifact room might have been more thoroughly secured before the Treasury’s maiden voyage, but that had not come to pass. That said, the actual main hatch itself was closed, and to open it required some control of the ship’s systems.
“We’ve more or less gotten matters figured out up here,” said Admiral Seaspray’s voice from a brass box fitted with a circular crystal mounted in the wall next to the door. It hadn’t taken them long to realize that these devices were for communication ship-wide, a far more advanced version of the brass tubes that had been used on the Odyssey. With them Twilight had contacted those on the bridge and learned that Seaspray, Starlight, and Tempest had swiftly been able to work out the ship controls once the power had come on.
“So you can open the door before us?” Wavecrest said, and Seaspray paused a moment. Twilight heard a few clicking noises, as if Seaspray was fiddling with something in front of him.
“Yes...” he said, “Yes I think so. Good thing I saw the good Princess Sparkle operate that device in the hangar control room. This works quite similarly. Let’s see, if we’re here, then you must be the blip down there... aha! Here we are, ladies. I touch this button here and that should do it!”
Twilight and Wavecrest waited. After a few seconds Wavecrest cleared her throat loudly and said, “Nothing is happening.”
Seaspray, a bit more flustered said, “Apologies, perhaps this button instead? Or maybe this one here? I do think I need to hit these in some particular order. Oh bugger all, what if I hit them all at once?”
“That might not be the best idea, Admiral,” Twilight said, but despite expecting any number of traps or other unpleasant surprises to spring out at her and Wavecrest due to Seaspray’s fiddling, to her infinite relief there was a magical hum from the circular hatch in front of them and it began to slide open. “Oh, never mind Admiral, it looks like you did it.”
“Hah, of course I did! I am a most experienced man of the sea, after all-ooff!”
The sound of Seaspray being bumped aside was then followed by Starlight’s voice, “You’ve got the artifact room open? Great! I’ll be down there in a sec. No way I’m missing this. Hey Tempest, you got things here?”
“Why are you asking her?” Seaspray asked just as Tempest answered, “Yeah, I’ll make sure nothing explodes that we don’t want exploded.”
“Alright then, see you in a bit, Twilight. Don’t hog all the incredible magical artifacts to yourself.”
Twilight’s eyebrow could only crawl upwards at the exchange, but she soon focused forward and glanced at Wavecrest, “Shall we?”
Wavecrest gave a subdued nod, eyes wide as the pair swam into the room ahead.
It was brightly lit, lines of crystals along the ceiling bathing all in a stark white light. Twilight was immediately taken in by a sense of being surrounded by multiple magical auras, as if each item in sight contained some manner of hidden arcane might behind a veil of mundane form. Although ‘mundane’ might not truly be applicable to all that she saw.
For a change, things were orderly, in contrast to the way Scylla had seemed to keep other elements of her life. The chamber was a smooth oval about fifty feet long and half that across, it’s two curved walls lined with shelf after metal shelf upon which numerous objects of all shape, size, and apparent function were set in either contained display cases or secured upon racks. A long central display row filled the center of the room, akin to such that Twilight had seen in some museums, with spaces separated out for further items laying upon smooth wood depressions.
She saw weapons of every variety, some quite ornate, while others seemed almost normal and humble. Pieces of armor or entire sets, some clearly fitted for species besides ponies or seaponies, shone in metal glory or in beautifully detailed leather splendor. Twilight spied several shields as well, of all shapes and sizes. Armament aside, there were all manner of more esoteric or common looking objects. In short order Twilight saw everything from an ornate lantern hanging from an iron pole carved with the head of a dragon to a seemingly plain leather backpack, but stained green and bearing a strange leaf motif. One shelf had a porcelain doll sitting upon it, a doll of a minotaur of all things, bearing a brass drum. Another shelf had a statuette of a feline creature with two tails, carved from what Twilight thought might be jade. Every shelf and display case was filled with such, and as Twilight and Wavecrest went deeper into the room it became obvious that it’d take some time to even begin figuring out what any of the items might be.
Of course Wavecrest was here for something specific, and searched about with a haste akin to a breathless mother looking for a lost child. Twilight had no idea what the Eye of the Sea might look like, so could not immediately help Wavecrest, and before she could think to ask the seapony what the Relic’s appearance might be she was suddenly struck by a most unusual sensation.
Twilight found herself drawn to the right side of the room, towards the back of it, without even thinking about it. Before she realized what she was doing, she was reaching out towards a vertical wooden case set up with a glass front to display its contents. She blinked, not even sure why she’d suddenly come straight to this particular case, and inside her was this most strange desire. It wasn’t anything so palpable or obtrusive as a charm spell, but rather just an instinctive sense that what lay within this particular case was... important?
She reached out a hoof to touch the glass, gazing upon what was within. Again, as if her body was operating separately from herself, she found herself pulling the case open, which was not locked and was only held shut but a simple latch. Carefully she reached in and drew forth the item within, her hoof touching it’s cool metal with a sensation that was so familiar, yet somehow so very foreign.
She’d never once held a weapon in her life, so it was doubly peculiar to her that this one almost rested naturally in her hooves.
It was a mace. She knew this only because studying some degree of weapon knowledge had been a natural part of her curiosity when her brother had joined the Royal Guard. It was not remarkably ornate, but she wasn’t certain what kind of metal it was made out of. It had a white hue, not silver but actual white like polished bone. It clearly wasn't bone, however, due to the heft, and the metallic glint of the grooved mace head. A purple colored jewel capped the top of the made, and it’s handle was wrapped in a thick gray cloth until it ended in a pommel shaped like a small pyramid.
It had a worn look, as if it wore the weight of many ages. The mace was heavy, yet Twilight felt like she could lift it with little trouble.
And as much as she thought to simply put the weapon down, she found something deep inside her that was dismissive of the very notion. Because whether she could understand it or not, she simply somehow knew that this object was hers.
----------
Over a thousand miles away from Twilight Sparkle’s location, Princess Celestia, who was in the middle of leaving a meeting from the throne room of Canterlot Palace, halted in place.
She felt the momentary burst of resonance from the Relic she had near her person, hidden in a magical pocket space. She didn’t think she’d feel it if it was from an Inheritor who was less closely tied to herself, and even then the faint taste of the magic from the resonance was clear enough to the mare who’d spent so much time teaching young Twilight Sparkle.
With neither fear, regret, nor elation, Princess Celestia lowered her head and let out a tired breath.
Stats
Page generated in 0.045 seconds
Total duration
700 users online
872,912 hits today, 2,151,698 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
At all
Artifacts… wouldn’t it be funny if Adazio is the Aier
Just wondered if this will appear in the story just this week.
Oh, no oh no oh nonono. Thi-this is so BAD!!! This is it. Equestria is doomed. Nothing they can do. This is it... I hope Soul Reapers will tell girls about what kind of experiments the had in the lab. It would be decent to inform them in kind of troubles Equestria is in!!!
Hope there're some serious drawbacks that'll prevent Starlight from going Thousand Years Blood War on Equestria... OK, not as bloody but equally hopeless!!! I-I need a minute.
On lighter note now we only need Oin and some Memory arc/character/side story and we'll hate the full set.
Looks like Twilight just got a major upgrade! Though whether this will end up being for the better or worse remains to be seen...
I can smell the DBZA Vegeta energy.
I would honestly love a Friendship souls abridged.
I do not know that.
Can someone explain it to me ?
I really hope than they will meet the Mane 6.
I really wonder what could Ocellus do on her own.
Listen to the ways of the violence, for violence is nothing but a question, to which the answer is : YES
She remind me of Benito Mussolini and his dreams of a new roman empire.
I consider it a red flag when someone remind me of Mussolini.
Wait what ?!
This is the first time i had see a equestrian (well, beside sunset) swearing the human way.
Is it Aria who influenced her ?
Ah, the fresh perspective of a actual soul reaper , this is something i appreciate in this arc.
I am still suspicious.
Ah, nothing better than the little reminder of this fanfiction being one of a anime universe.
Nice.
What ?
I need a explanation.
I honestly wasn't expecting Twilight to get a Relic so soon, or at all, since she's already significantly more powerful than most of the other Equestrian characters. Least of all one in the form of a blunt weapon, and not, say, some holy tome or scholarly tool. Like, her thing is supposed to be friendship, which isn't typically facilitated by caving in skulls. Meanwhile, I figure either Aria or Sonata will end up syncing with the Eye.
10938671
It's funny, I barely remember anything about the filler arcs, but I did just rewatch the movies. And I don't think Vex is going to implement much from those that he hasn't already. We already have tons of characters as it is, and the Ōin is so stupidly overpowered it makes the Elements of Harmony look tame in comparison. There's no need for even more McGuffin artifacts at this point, especially on top of the Relics.
Sorry to post this here, i don't know where i can post otherwise on Fimfiction.net (if you know, tell me) but i search a beta reader.
I am french, and while i had learn a lot of english, it is still really hard for me to be able to actually write a story in a other language which i only really started to learn a few years ago.
What i want to write is a devil May Cry /Equestria Girls crossover with Sunset as the protagonist.
If anyone accept to help, then tell me, and i will talk with you about it in PM.
Edit : for something more relevant to the story, can someone explain me what is a Reigai ?
10938757
Regai are essentially artificial Soul Reapers. They use a combo of Mod Souls (like Chappy or Kon) and gigais, the artificial bodies the Soul Reapers use when operating in the real world. In the Bleach anime, there were two types of them- generic ones that looked like regular mannequins, and others that became clones of high ranking members of the Soul Reapers.
I wonder if the other Elements of Harmony, do to their connections with them, will find artifacts for themselves.
Doesn't Starlight realize that she is becoming the very monster she is striving to defeat? Putting countless lives in jeopardy to forward a selfish goal is just the same BS the Zero Division would do. Even if this grotesque plan for releasing Sunburst from Hell works, does she truly believe he will be grateful for it if it costs so many innocent people their lives?
I mean, come on? She has a similar example right in front of her. Pipsqueak will most likely never forgive his mother for what she has done, even if it was for his sake, and she put less lives in danger during her involvement.
Alliance nothing, after Sunset and the gang kick Starlight's ass, they should feed her and her cohorts to Gaia, and induct Pipsqueak into their fold, Ditzy can train him.
She has hooves at the moment, doesn't she?
10938671
Starlight better hope it doesn't take a one-thousand year war, cause by then the Hell refinery will have minced Sunburst up into raw reshi particles, then there will be nothing left to save.
Just considering the circumstances, its very likely that Sunset, unless she becomes an alicorn is not an inheritor. She had the potential, but ultimately could not reach them due a combination of factors that led to her fleeing into Equestria Girls World.
The wielders of the other Elements are more likely to be inheritors in my opinion. As Twilight would never had become an Alicorn and an inheritor without them. Especially Rainbow Dash, who was the linchpin to everything. Without her sonic rainboom, the events in the show do not occur. Of course, part of this, is that I think its one of the only things to level of the playing field. Due to the sheer numbers of their enemies.
In regards to Chrysalis, due to her situation, I believe she is no longer the sole inheritor. With the ascension of Phalanx and Thorax they have equal claim on her relics.
Part of leveling the field in my opinion, would be Twilight going around and gathering her allies, equipping those among them who are wielders of any relics found within Treasury.
I also consider the Staff of the Dragonlord, and the Idol of Borea as relics. Specifically both were created as transitionary relics, being used to determine who should lead their people and for how long. Ensuring a mostly peaceful change in power. Which is why the Griffin Kingdom fell apart to infighting. As without the Idol they couldn't pick their next ruler. Especially since King Grover died without a clear heir. Otherwise I doubt Grover could have united all the Griffins under him so easily, with the kingdom falling apart as soon as the Idol was lost.
I am not surprised that Twilight is an inheritor, but it does surprise me that Princess Scylla had an artifact associated to them.
isn't that BAD? Like "Thanos collecting the infinity stones" level of bad? From what I can understand the inheritors would be the equivalent of the people attuned with parts of the Soul Queen in the EQG universe, the mortal face of a fragment of divinity. Anyone trying to play with that, be it Scylla or Starlight, will end up in trouble, no matter their intentions. You don't just grab the keystones of reality and hope the whole structure doesn't crash on your head.
Something else I just remembered, have we seen Flash's Shikai before? If so, I can't remember what it does at all, haha.
10939884
It was, way back during the scuffle with Bount Trixie. It essentially lets him duplicate his presence in more than one location at once. It isn't so much creating a clone of himself as it is bending space so he can literally be in more than one place at a time. However, since it's just a reflection of himself and not a separate clone, these reflections are always performing the exact same actions that Flash himself is at that moment, and if they are damaged he himself takes the same damage, since it's literally just his own body being reflected into multiple places rather than creating separate bodies. He's limited to line of sight and how many of these reflections he can generate at once, but in theory it's still a handy power for attacking an enemy from multiple angles, or striking many foes at once, or guarding multiple allies simultaneously.
I keep reading "reigei" as "reggae" and snickering to myself.
10939904
Ah, thanks for the refresher.
10939663
Since a part of the Soul Queen's, well, soul, is what allowed Chrysalis to became so powerful, it's make sense than it is bad.
Makes me wonder if Starlight's aware of Tirek's plans to invade Equestria. Doubtful as Chrysalis might don't know yet or simply didn't tell her, just for shit and giggles. Taking any of Equestria's defenses might be catastrophic. The point is not they might lose but how many lives will be lost. That would be a hit on the conscience, and she had already set Chrysalis loose.
But if she does, maybe she counts on Soul Reapers and Quincy and The Girls to cancel them out. An unlikely gamble for many reasons.
Unless she plans to fight him after stealing enough magic. A good test drive to test her new power. If she can't defeat him she would have no chance against Zero Division.
Wonder if some of the Storm King's troops survived? They were evil, sure but after Storm's defeat, they seemed pretty chill. And if PonyTempest was anything like her Human counterpart to them, they would side with her if they'd have to choose.
Ohh, boy. Easy there, Trix. Pretty sure she has a potential boyfriend somewhere out there. Can start Polyamory, though. They are horses.
To be fair, not every god if high and mighty. Some are minor and (possibly) weak. For example, in Rome Mythology there are gods like Cardea, goddess of doorways, hinges, and thresholds, Cloacina was the goddess of sewers. And Chineese Mythology, being a bureaucracy has many gods for minor things. Like the god of ovens. And I think there's a god of the homelessness.
Wonder if it would show a descendant worthy through blood relations or show someone worthy of leadership? If it is anything like Equestria artifacts (thinking Elements), it's probably the latter.
Speaking of which, an interesting choice for Twilight. Guess it has some deeper meaning.
10939279
Yeah, true, I wouldn't be surprised if he had developed some Togabito powers and was handling things for hmself pretty good. At least as being in Hell allows it.
10938703
All things considered Vex handles the amount of articats and characters pretty well. And Ōin might actually be the End Game. The thing that allows to manipulate time, energy, space, and matter. Surely you can rebuild The World with it as "it should be".
10940149
The power of reggae compels you...to dance!
As long as that’s not The Mace of Molag Bal, I think we’re fine.
I get the Bakkoto having to eat through the magic before devouring the spirit energy and killing the Equestrian users. But WHY would magic alone cause it to give an inherently larger power boost? The two energies (spiritual and magical) have generally been shown to be equal, only showing extraordinary results when mixed together, so why would magic alone give a larger boost? I mean other than "because Equestrians are so much weaker that they NEED a bigger boost".
I'm sorry but the Bakkoto power boost in the arc itself varied depending on the spiritual strength of the wielder, you could have simply said the same was true of magic. Therefore Queen Chrysalis as a stronger than average Equestrian (who are already pretty strong on average) gets a hefty power boost from it. This "magic gives a greater boost" just comes off as arbitrary and "evening the odds" that don't really need to be evened (or shouldn't anyway).
Regai afford Substitute Starlight numbers and effectively bump her force up to that of its own faction. Essentially putting her in the same position now against Equestria as the spiritual factions are in back home. IE that an all out fight between them would be a close run things and leave the winners (whoever they are) easy pickings for when the Hollows show up. That's all of course assuming Starlight can maintain control of the Reigai as they do have a will of their own and Yushima's plan was foiled by his own forces in the Reigai arc.
Applejack and Rainbow, two of the strongest non-alicorn ponies in Equestria...can't do anything to this deformed whale. At least it's a blood-magic warped beast born of tons of sacrifices.
I really am trying here and I know it's probably not the impression you wanted to give but the Equestrian's really are starting to come across as "helpless lambs who need outside help to achieve anything". Be it from divine relics or uber technology from some other race (whose former Princess did the work of gathering the relics for them) or from their spiritual allies who will eventually make their way there.
I will never stop liking this story, at least for the Equestria Girls' side (this isn't going to kill it for me) but I really don't like how underpowered the magical world comes across by comparison. It makes me almost wish you had actually followed the Equestria Girls' movies lead and left the magical world out of things entirely.
Anyway hopefully this mace makes Princess Twilight do some cool shit.
10944175
Honestly, i agree.
If you remember, i had said on a previous chapter than if they don't prove themselves soon, Aria (who in said chapter was expressing disdain toward them due to how they were acting after having find her and Sonata and was comparing them to their counterparts) would always consider them as the pathetic version of the human ones.
This is something which, in general, is quite problematic for their credibility and relevance, after all, each of the Main 7 could beat Arrancar Gilda, although it would be a fight were they would need to go all out, while Sunset and Sci-twi would beat her far more easily.
But from what i had seen, Arrancar Gilda would absolutely crush the Mane 6, with only Princess Twilight giving her a good fight.
And while High Magic spells and this Mace are a good thing, it is not enough, both in power, and in terms of credibility as powerful characters instead of the weaker version of the human ones, especially regarding twilight friends, since at least Twilight could beat Soul society lieutenants (well, power wise since in terms of actual battle, due to their readiness to actually kill and battle experience, they can have some nasty surprises up their sleeves) while the rest of the Mane 6... Well, eh.
10944175
I mean, it's what i think anyway.
10944175
10944215
I feel as if maybe I shouldn't say too much on this topic, as it seems difficult to really articulate exactly how I view the power scaling between the two worlds without inadvertently causing some disquiet. To try to address what I can, however, I'll explain that the Bakkoto appearing to gain a power boost from feeding on magic stems from the fact that the Bakkoto themselves are already spiritual constructs that have a base amount of spirit energy that gets mixed with the magic they feed on, along with trace amounts of reiatsu that gets fed on from the user as just a byproduct of the feeding process. Its just enough to trigger a partial version of the power boost effect the Rainbooms have, although not as strong overall.
Other than that, all I feel comfortable saying is that I am trying to maintain what I view as a balanced and accurate representation of ability while also maintaining some level of potential tension in regards to the challenges the Mane 6 face, while also not going beyond what I feel is appropriate in terms of a plot/character/power progression scale for the kind of story this is. It's hard to really explain it beyond that. Just know that at no point is my objective or intention to be disrespectful towards the Equestria side of things.
10944370
To be clear, i agree with the way the characters strength is depict, however, they will need something really good to put them on the necessary level, and the Mace as "The thing" boosting Princess Twilight up to the level for stay relevant power-wise feel cheap imo.
10944370
What do you think of what i had said (and i mean all i had said).
10945323
To be honest, I don't have much to say on any of it. I mean, personally I don't see any reason to compare the two sets of characters. The Rainbooms and the Mane 6, despite being counterparts to one another, have gone through very different experiences and have very different abilities, and they're not meant to be a one to one comparison to each other. At least that's not what I'm going for. Now, when it comes to the Relics, I don't know, I'm either doing something that'll work for what I'm going for, or it won't. I won't know for sure until I actually finish the arc here. I'm taking inspiration from a few different sources for this, and have what I think is a rational set of reasons for it, but ultimately it'll be up to the readers to decide whether it worked in the end or not.
10945473
IMO, the Mane 6 should develop their strength in a interesting fashion to stay relevant power-wise, or (for this story at least, and relatively in general due to the fact than i am far more used to the human versions) they will always be the pathetic versions of the human ones (except Princess Twilight, although even she is left a bit short on the power scale).
10944370
Speaking of magical powerboost, since The Rainbooms' got their magic from Element of Harmony (representing magic no less) do they get an extra power-up from it?
Like, if magic in general acts like a shonen protagonist's gift/talent, then is Harmony Magic special case?
10945875
Without spoiling too much I'll confirm that there is a difference in the potency between general magic and the specific magic that stems from the Elements of Harmony. Magic alone confers a power boost when admixed with spiritual energy, an effect which is magnified by the properties contained in the Elements.
Now than i think of it, since Queen Chrysalis will recieve some weird zanpakuto, does that mean she might develop spiritual powers ?
I wonder if they intend to use the city with the antropomorphic cat of the MLP movie as their base of recruitment, because otherwise i don't see them have persons joining them.
10952657
Nah I would doubt it, the human characters who've UNLOCKED spiritual powers, did so in the presence of magic because they were already there (and thus their spiritual abilities were enhanced by the magic).
Queen Chrysalis has no spiritual abilities to start with, so she's not just going to magically gain them because she has a Bakkoto.
The Everfree Forest, possibly even the Ancient Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters would make for better recruitment of Equestrian characters. Lightning Dust, Suri Polomare, Flim and Flam, Cozy Glow. There are plenty of unsavory and/or Ponieswho've been scorned by Equestrians that Starlight could convince to join them.
10953097
Ah, good point
10938703
"Speak softly and carry a big stick."
10981660
Who are you, who are so wise?
In all seriousness, every ruler needs a weapon of some sort. Just didn’t really think a mace, off all weapons, would be Twilight’s. Then again, maybe it’s more like a magical focus that somebody decided to throw a mace into, you know, for reasons