The Sorcerer of Everlasting Summer

Flash leaped forward, or in this case, he effectively leaped upwards with the directions their bodies were facing. Gojo stepped and dodged to the right, earning him a horizontal slash of Flash’s wings. Reeling back even further, Gojo flipped out of the strike zone and into safety. A thunder cracked nearby, flashing a second’s worth of blinding light as several pegasi surrounded the Special Grade anomaly.

A pegasus from his right burst forth, rewinding their hindleg into a roundhouse as three from his left charged at him from multiple angles. Thanks to his long limbs, Gojo retaliated with a sucker punch to the pegasus on his right, reaching him before their hoof could. In that same instance, he grabbed the pegasus by the head and chucked them at the group of attackers on his left, a tiny Red following closely to the body of the pegasus soldier he just threw.

“Red.”

A crimson light washed over the entirety of the ship, and the air turned furious as the pressure of diverging infinities expanded rapidly… until… Boom—!

The explosiveness and propulsion of red threw every single pony standing in that general vicinity overboard and into the black abyss. Gojo quickly turned his attention back onto the falling vessel, bringing a hand up into the open space; the ship began to slow its descent. Gojo was every bit as careful not to tear the airship asunder with the overwhelming attraction of Blue.

But his attention was warranted elsewhere when Flash came in again from behind, tossing several pellets onto the soaked, wooden floor as it emitted blinding smoke that enveloped the sorcerer. Usually, this smokescreen would prove pretty useless against Gojo. But the weird thing was that the cloud was infused with cursed energy.

Gojo clicked his tongue, so damn annoying…

Expanding the range of his limitless slightly further to give himself some space to work with, Gojo continued pulling the ship up and reducing its speed. That’s until he felt several pegasi circling him; he knew this trick; he’d seen it before.

“Trying to confuse me won’t stop me from breaking your jaw.” Gojo threatens, raising his hand higher in a show of defiance. “So start talking while you still have it.”

That’s when he felt it, a hoof socking his side with a surge of pain running through his body. His muscles stiffened, and his hold on the ship wavered, allowing it to continue falling back into the ground below. Gojo grits his teeth, trying to stifle a groan as he endures the pain. Another punch and another shot of pain runs up his body. And another, this time to his face. For a brief second, when the hoof made contact with his cheek, Gojo could detail what looked to be a cloud surrounding the attacking hoof. The cloud crackling with bolts of lightning was what seemed to be causing so much pain from each delivered punch.

“Domain Amplification and using thunder generated from the clouds surrounding the ship…” Gojo thought, body spasming out.

The sorcerer stood huffing from the repeated shockwave running rampant in his body, but when another hoof came for his cranium, he caught it by the limb before it could really do any damage. He held it with a deadly grip, expanding the range and reinforcing the strength of his limitless.

Crack, crack, and crack were what Gojo could hear beyond the rainfall coming from the pegasus he held. While the pegasus was locked into a death grip by Gojo, their body was pushed further and further away by his limitless. Their arm began to stretch beyond what it was capable of as their helmet spewed blood from its openings.

But the moment Gojo realised the pony he was keeping wasn’t the one with the fancy red mane, he let them go with a sidekick to their torso, sending them off the boat.

“Who’s next?” Turning around in the dissipating smoke, his eyes landed on several more pegasi standing on the deck. Each of them hungry for a piece of the strongest. At this point, the ship had fallen so far down that they cleared the giant cloud it was in and into the open space once more.

Gojo looked over to the horizon; the hills, grass, greenery, and even a river were visible from where they were in the sky. They were fast approaching for a crash among the borders of the badlands, and it’ll be fatal to everyone aboard if he doesn’t resolve this quickly.

Using this brief time to rack his brain for a solution, Gojo dodged a swipe at his face with a twist of his heels. Taking another step to dodge a slice of a bladed wing, the sorcerer looked around at his foes, their eyes never once trailing off him.

Exhaling, he leapt into the air, using his technique to keep him afloat as he detached himself from the falling boat. The pegasi legion never once took their eyes off him as they spread their wings to pursue the flying sorcerer, their group led by Flash taking the lead.

“You can’t escape from King Sombra’s army!” Flash yelled, flapping his wings to gain altitude.

“Escape?” Gojo snickered, a smile breaking his face. “Don’t make me laugh, you annoying prick.”

Right as Gojo gained enough distance from the airship and ensured that the pegasi that tailed him were following close, he stopped ascending upwards, giving the pegasi time to catch up to him.

Pegasi surrounded him from every angle, ensuring that there was no direct escape route Gojo could immediately take that wasn’t covered and guarded.

“Now,” Flash started, slowly approaching Gojo. “You’re surrounded—”

“Domain Expansion:” Gojo reached a finger under his blindfold, tugging it down and revealing the serene intensity of the Six Eyes. At the same time, his other hand was brought up with a crossed index and middle finger. He’d done it before, and he’d do it again. “Infinite Void.”
The world around them fabricated an imaginary space, the air bending, shifting to accommodate the tremendous cursed energy flooding out of Gojo’s body as he paints the air anew.

A barrier materialised around them, forming an iron dome in the sky above the crashing fleet. For a fleeting second, the noise of the outside world was drowned out by the eerie, muffled calm of Infinite Void. The fabric of the black space tore open with an equally confusing white, as a black hole in the distance was calling every pony in the domain to kneel and accept their fate.

Everyone caught in the domain stood still as if their body’s actions and thoughts ground to a halt. In this transient phase, it felt like an eternity’s worth of information had flooded into their brains, unable to move or do anything at all.

However, in the next second. The barrier collapsed, shattering into the wind as the imaginary noose around everyone’s neck in the domain went slack. A domain lasting only zero point two seconds, recreating the aftereffects in Shibuya as Gojo watched on. The pegasi surrounding him began to drop, their bodies not heeding the commands of their master as they fell helplessly into the depths.

Gojo allowed himself to drop as well, diving headfirst onto the vessel while manoeuvring around the falling ponies in the air and slowly just shy of Flash’s falling body.

“I’ll deal with you later.” Gojo growled, ensuing that Flash got all of that before continuing his fall and landed on the deck without a hitch.

The airship, a colossal beast of wood and canvas, groaned and shuddered beneath Gojo's control. He had managed to slow its descent with his cursed energy, but the ship was still falling at a terrifying speed. Below, the ground loomed closer, a dark and unforgiving expanse.

Gojo's hand, raised towards the sky, pulsed with a steady rhythm. His cursed energy was being channeled into an orb above the airship, acting as a pull and slowing its fall. He could feel the strain on his technique, the effort required to maintain the ship's precarious stability.

"Blue," he muttered, his voice barely audible over the wind and the ship's creaking. The airship shuddered again, its descent slowing slightly. But it wasn't enough. The ground was still too close.

Gojo raised his other hand, palm facing upward. He channeled his cursed energy into the bottom of the ship, creating a red that repelled the earth's gravity. The ship rumbled once more, its descent slowing considerably. “Red.”

Suddenly, thump! Gojo turned to the noise, realising the bodies of the pegasi from above finally caught up with the ship below. Another thump came from behind him, which doesn’t take a genius to figure out what it was. As the sound of thumping became more and more frequent, the sorcerer poured more cursed energy into slowing the airship’s fall into the earth.

“C’mon…” Gojo mumbled, amplifying his output as much as possible without compromising the safety of the ship. At this point, they neared the ground so much that any more falling could spell doom for everyone onboard. “C’mon…”

The ship creaked and moaned with an insistent tone, reprimanding Gojo for not protecting it as best as he could have. Too late for regrets; all he could do now was…

“Everyone!” Gojo yelled into the broken basement door. “Brace yourselves!”

The strongest clenched his jaw, amplifying Red the best he could with the hand dealt to him as the behemoth of wood shook in place. The ground below begin to tore up from the expansive energy Red was generating, chunks of earth flying through the air like projectiles as the airship was caught between two infinities.

The airship finally came to a sudden stop, crashing onto the cratered earth with as much grace as a raging bull. Its hull battered and bruised as Gojo released his technique. The entire deck was a mess; crates of various items, replenishable goods, and consumables were littered across the wet wooden floor. Good thing is, no one’s dead. Well, Gojo doesn’t know that, but its his positive guess that that’s the case.

Spinning back with as much enthusiasm as he has left, he waltzs down the entrance to the basement to assess the situation on hand.

“Yo!” Gojo called out, turning the corner. “You guys all right?”

“Don’t take a step further!” replied a hollowed voice from further down the basement. Turning to face the speaker, Gojo watched as two pegasus soldiers, well and alive, held onto Ocellus and Silverstream. Their hooves wrapped around their necks with bladed daggers pointed at their jugulars. “Or we’ll slit their throats!”

“C’mon guys.” Gojo raised his arms in mock surrender, scanning the room. The other cabin crew seemed to be fine, aside from a couple of scratches here and there, and the complimentary fear was etched on their faces. “Let’s be civil about this. I don’t take well to hostages being flaunted in my face like that.”

“Turn around with your arms on the back of your head!” The other soldier commanded. “Now!”

“Well, if they restraint me. It’ll be much better if I break out of them than risking it and causing anything to happen to those two…” Gojo thought, rolling his eyes and following the orders, turning around with his fingers on the back of his head.

The two guards approach him slowly, daggers dancing around their throats in anticipation. Once they were in close enough range whereby the soldier’s hold on Ocellus and Silverstream had softened, Silverstream turned to give her changeling friend a wink.

Ocellus acted first, transforming into a snake and coiling around her captive in a tight bind. She wrapped around his midsection, then up his shoulders and wings, then finally around his throat.

“What are you-!?” Was all Silverstream’s captive could say before she elbowed him in the gut and hurled him over her shoulder in a single sweep. The captive slams onto the basement floor, the wind getting knocked out of him while drops of saliva spew from his mouth.

This momentary gap in weakness gave Silverstream the opportunity to stomp on the hoof, holding the dagger hard enough that the soldier released his hold on the weapon. The dagger clattered harmlessly on the ground before Silverstream kicked it away in the dark corner of the basement, far out of reach for the poor pony.

Still leaning on the hindleg, crushing the soldier’s hoof, Silverstream brought her other hindleg down on her ex-captive’s helmet with a sharp axe kick, the attack strong enough to cause his head to jolt back and slam into the ground once more, knocking him out.

All this commotion motivated Gojo to turn around, eyes glazing over the scene. The two guards that were so happy waving those daggers around were unconscious on the floor, with Silverstream atop one while Ocellus was tightly wrapped around the other. What a role reversal.

“So you guys can take care of yourselves?” Gojo asked, a smile playing on his lips.

“Duh.” Silverstream scoffed, rolling her eyes.

“How’d you think we managed to survive this far?”The Ocellus serpent spoke from around the neck of her quickly turning blue ex-captive.

“I don’t know.” Gojo shrugged, “Dumb, blind luck, maybe? Anyway, I’d take it everyone here is well?” Gojo scans the crowd. No response. He’ll take it as a yes. “All right, good. There are a couple of soldiers upstairs that I need help taking care of. Can someone lend me a hand?”

“I’ll go with you!” The mare that chatted with Gojo earlier volunteered.

“Me too!” Silverstream jumped off the body, dusting herself off.

“Count me in!” Ocellus added, transforming back into her changeling form.

The trio tagged closely behind the sorcerer as they made their way back up the basement while still dragging the two unconscious guards along for the ride.

“Say, I’d never got your name.” Gojo piqued, turning to the mare.

“My name’s Forest Leaf!” Forest chirped.

“Hey Forest! I’m Silverstream!” The hippogriff introduced. “My friend here is Ocellus!”
“Hello.” Ocellus gave a quick nod.

Upon reaching the hull of the ship, the three, except Gojo, were stunned at the sight they saw. The bunch of pegasi soldiers that attacked them earlier were lying in heaps without a hint of movement. They lay as still as the clouds, peaceful, even.

“Mr. Gojo…” Ocellus began, eyes still taking in the amount of bodies around them. “Did you do this…?”

“Yeah, but they’re alive,” Gojo responded, walking over to the closest soldier with a sway in his arms. “Can someone take this guy after I take off his helmet? Organising them after is gonna kill my back, I swear.”

Stopping just shy of the soldier by his feet, Gojo squatted down to the pony, his eyes dancing over the body of the limp pegasus. “Huh?” Gojo voiced out, confused. Leaning in with a squint.

“Something wrong?” Silverstream inquired, the three walking over to his side.

The latch on the back of the helmet wrapped around the pony’s head snapped open by itself, the light from its visor flickering out as the hunk of metal rolled off the poor thing’s head and onto the wooden floor.

“Wow, you can free them without making contact now?” Ocellus asked, leaning in to get a better look at the fellow.

Suddenly, a rush of uproar of hisses and clacks runs circles all around the surviving group. It began with a pony on the far right, then on the left, then behind, then in front. Everywhere, all at once, the latches of the helmets on every pegasus soldier detached themselves. Each hissing out steam, and as the headgear released the pegasus trapped within. Picking up the helmet closest to him, he flipped it around to inspect its back. No damages.

Gojo ruffles his head and furrows his brows, trying to grasp the straws flying around him. He scratches his chin in contemplation. “Is this a byproduct of Infinite Void?” He reasoned within his mind, “But how? Why?”

“Say…” Gojo asked, turning to Forest. “Do you recall using any communication devices when you were still a soldier?”

“None that I could properly recall,” Forest responded, shifting uncomfortably. “Any memory I had of was just speaking straight into the helmet.”

“You don’t say…” Gojo muttered, getting up from where he was. “Gather the bodies; they should be fine if not incapacitated.”

“Where should we put them?” Ocellus asked, already dragging Flash’s body over.

“Give them a proper place to rest,” Gojo replied, walking over to the edge of the ship. “I’ll scout around the area for any more soldiers and gather the helmets into a corner, too; I’ll destroy them when I get back.” With that, he clasps his hands, fingers interlocking his palm as he disappears from sight in a matter of seconds without waiting for a response.

The trio stood in the middle of the hull with pegasi lying everywhere around them in pain and agony.

“There’s that,” Forest said to no one in particular. “His eyes are really beautiful.”

Silverstream stopped in her tracks, the pegasus in her talons going limp as she whipped her head around to face the pony. “I know, right!? I don’t know why he hides it behind that blindfold!”

An hour later, Gojo reappeared on the hull of the ship in a flash of wind, his blindfold already covering his eyes. Wrapped under his arm were three more pegasi guards lying unconscious in his grip, each of their helmets already securely removed by Gojo before they were brought back.

A pile of helmets lying against the wooden railing was one of the first things to welcome him back to the airship. Oh, right. His promise. Extending a free hand, he flexed his fingers in a crushing motion towards the pile of steel. In the next instance, the helmets begin to crush themselves inward; they groan and creak, quickly forming into a giant ball of metal. Gojo levitated the ball upward, tossing it overboard with a flick of his fingers.

“Aw dang it…” Forest groaned, leaning against the wooden pillar. Next to her was Silverstream, who was also relaxing against it and the second to welcome him back. A smug expression was plastered across her face with her arms crossed, almost like an “I told you so.” kind of expression.

“How’s things?” Gojo asked, walking past them.

“They are resting in the bunk beds, though there isn’t enough space, so they gotta share beds,” Forest replied, getting up from the pillar.

“That will be a nice surprise for them when they wake up, then.” Gojo remarked, walking up the stairs.

“Oh, by the way,” Silverstream adds, following along. “Flash is awake.”

“Who?” Gojo asked, puzzled.

“One of Rockhoof’s friends. The pegasus had a red mane and a golden coat. He just woke up.”

Gojo hummed briefly before the image of the pony they were talking about filled his mind. He stopped walking, turning around to look at Silverstream. “Oh, the one I promised to smash his jaw in.”

“That’s very concerning, Mr. Gojo.” Forest averred.

“Tell him I’ll see him soon after I put these bunch to rest.”

“Will do!” Silverstream mock saluted, puffing her chest out in confidence. The hippogriff and pony duo returned down the stairs and rounded the corner, chatting and giggling all the way down.

Gojo made his way into the poop deck, walking past the pony sitting at the helm and gently placing the bodies down on their sides in the open space. “Captain,” Gojo began, “Can the ship still fly?”

“No such luck.” The captain replied, “They got our rudder good, not to mention the amount of holes in the ship.” He motioned to the map spread on the floor, urging Gojo over. “But we’ve made considerable progress past the badlands. If we head north from here, we should be able to stumble upon some tracks leading into Appleloosa. We can get a move on if we start packing now.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Gojo expressed, walking over to the stairs. “We’ll get started once the rest of those soldiers wake up. For now, we need to rest up.”

“Roger that, Mr. Gojo!” The captain nodded.

“So formal…” Gojo mumbled, descending the flight of stairs, his footsteps echoing rhythmically as he disappeared into the depths of the battleship. As he rounded the corner into the dimly lit corridor of rooms, he paused. "Crap, I forgot to ask which room they're in."

"Mr. Gojo?" Ocellus's voice called out from behind him. She stood there, her small form dwarfed by the Gojo’s towering frame.

“Oh, hey Ocellus.” Gojo greeted, his voice softening. “Say, do you know where’s Silverstream and Forest?”
“Down the path, turn right. It’s the last door to the left.” Ocellus pointed with a hoof. “You’re going to meet Flash, right?”

“Yup, wanna tag along?”

“Sure, I’m done with my tasks anyhow,” Ocellus replied,

The duo began their journey down the corridor, their footsteps echoing softly in the orange hue of the lantern lights. The atmosphere was moist, probably from all that rainwater entering the basement from the turbulence of earlier’s descent.

Turning the path, Gojo spoke. “I hope earlier’s fall wasn’t too scary.”

“Please don’t mention that,” Ocellus lowered her head. “I thought I was a goner…”

“Hey, you’re alive, aren’t you?”

“I’ve been on countless live-or-die missions ever since all this went down, and I have never been this close to death so many times in a week before.” Ocellus shivered.

“A first for everything, am I right?” Gojo laughed, Ocellus didn’t.

“Sure.”

As they approached the door, Gojo paused and opened the door, giving a slight bow. “After you.”

Ocellus rolled her eyes, giving the best fake smile she could muster with her high society voice as she walked past him. “Why, thank you. Sir. Gojo.”

The two entered the room, where Flash was on the bottom of the right bunk bed, and Silverstream was sitting on a chair next to the pillar. Gojo was the first to approach the bed as Ocellus went to fetch a chair opposite the room.

“Yo!” Gojo waved, crouching down to meet with the General at eye level. “Remember that promise I made?”

“You smashing my jaw in?” Flash replied with a scuff, “Surprisingly, I do.”

“Heard you’re a friend of Rockhoof’s.”

“I am, still is.” Flash’s eyes glistened over, lips trembling slightly. “T-thank you… for freeing me…”

“No need for the waterworks,” Gojo patted his shoulder, “Tell you what, I promise not to cave your mouth in if you help us by providing intel, any you can recall.”

“Mr. Gojo!” Ocellus and Silverstream scolds.

“What!?” Gojo pulled back.

“Enough with the threats!” Ocellus glared at him.

“Okay, okay!” The sorcerer defuses, motioning with his hands for everybody to relax. “Fine, I promise to just cave your face in, how about that- ow, ow, ow!”
Silverstream promptly interrupts him with a pinch of his cheeks from her talons, pulling him closer to her while giving Flash an apologetic look.

“Sorry about that,” Silverstream said through the “ow!” Gojo was repeating. “He doesn’t mean anything he said.”

Flash chuckles, “Duly noted.”
“But going off on what Mr. Gojo mentioned,” Ocellus leaned in, shifting her chair closer to the bed. “Is there anything you could provide for us? Anything at all?”

Flash rubbed his forehead, “There’s… a lot to digest…”
Gojo ripped Silverstream’s talon off his cheek, his skin turning a bright shade of red as he tried to soothe the pain with slow and gentle rubs. “Then, can I suggest starting with the helmet? It doubles as a communication device, right?”

“I think you’re right…” Flash answered. “I can’t recall using anything to converse with the platoon I was leading.”

“So it was Infinite Void…” Gojo murmured.

“What was Infinite what?” Flash asked, confused.

“Nothing.”

“Besides that, I can’t remember much. Aside from Sombra conversing with… her about slaughtering every single dragon in the Dragon Lands.”

“Is it this Princess Luna I heard of?” Gojo asked, releasing Silverstream’s talon from his grasp.

Ocellus and Silverstream looked away at this. They knew who Flash was referring to. But can’t bring themselves to face it.

“No… it’s a mare that has traversed the lands along with Princess Luna to wreak havoc all across Equestria all for the sake of her enjoyment and thrill. She once preached and taught friendship, but has turn into a monster none of us could recognise... she wears white robes and bares a tattooed face and a pair of eyes that goes by the name of:”

“Twilight Sparkle: The Fallen.”