"Welcome to the shoooo~oowww..." Sonata's voice - it had to be assumed - sang out, a high keening sound behind her voice setting an unnatural tune to the words. Only the heightened senses of the felines in the chamber were able to clearly identify it as the sound of two knives being used to sharpen each other, somehow making a flow of music. "I'm here to let you knoooo~ooowww..."

Mirage opened her mouth to try and shout something, but no sound came out. She tried to clutch at her throat, and found fear and shadows binding her limbs.

"My time is noooo~ooowww..." Sonata sang as the sound of the blades came to an end, and the sound of a blade sinking into meat echoed, followed by a spray of some sort of liquid. "Your time has run out..."

In an instant she was visible, blood dripping from her face and blades as she let out a terrifying laugh that echoed madly in the light...only for the light to vanish.

And then the screams started.

No one could clearly see what was going on anymore. Something whirled through the chamber like a wind bringing death, blood, and gore in its wake. Something wet and sticky flew past Jade's face, and she virtuously told herself it was jello no matter what her nose said. Jackie's struggles to overpower one of the werecats abruptly came to an end when all resistance faded but the grip didn't...only to discover when he moved that all he was still holding were the two hands with interlaced fingers, the stumps dripping. Viper aimed a punch at a head, only to find her fur stained by hot liquid as the flesh she targeted vanished. Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo shifted as they struggled to block their noses rather than eyes or ears as that extra strong sense was assailed by blood, bile, and bowel stench.

Finally, the screams came to a halt and the light returned. The altar had been shattered, and dead werecats were piled up in the center of the circle, their bodies torn apart until the pieces from dozens of bodies were together enough to make nine bodies, with Sonata sitting happily on top of them, a long forked tongue extending from a fang-filled mouth as she licked blood from the blade. "Any questions?" she purred darkly at Mirage.

"W...what are you-" Mirage started to ask.

"Pecking order."

With that statement from Sonata, something tensed in the air and sent Mirage flying across the room to slam into the wall, erasing the bonds binding Adagio, Aria, Hsi Wu, Jade, and the fillies. Adagio shook out her wrists as she got to her feet, turning to pull Aria up. "It's over now," she told her sister.

"Are Sonata's eyes back to normal yet?" Aria demanded.

"Uh...no."

"Then I'm keeping mine closed," Aria insisted, one hand holding her ears flat while the other covered her nose.

"I don't blame-" Hsi Wu's voice cut off as he saw the circle embedded in the ground glowed. "Sonata, you might want to move. That's a divine circle, and it just triggered. Whatever god it's connected to is coming."

Mirage started to chuckle as Sonata calmly walked out of the circle. "And you have given me what I sought even so!" she declared eagerly. "My Goddess shall rise and reclaim her throne, and I shall reclaim the power that was stolen from me, and she shall feed on your flesh in vengeance for slaying her worshipers-"

As she spoke, a figure slowly took shape in the circle as the bodies vanished. The figure stood tall, taller than everyone present, and definitely had werecat features. She was garbed in Egyptian robes that enhanced her lush figure rather than concealing it, and her fur was pitch black, only a shade lighter than the long hair that cascaded down her back. Her face, however, was that of a domestic cat rather than a hunter.

Mirage's voice had cut off as the last few features took shape. "Y-You are not Sekhmet!" she declared in anger and fear.

"No, I'm not," the figure in the circle purred as she stretched. "Your circle was written to send the power of mortals shaped feline sacrificed by feline warriors to my sister. But it was an ageless shaped feline who sacrificed feline warriors, and so the power went to me. I came when the power was sent out of...curiosity."

"B...Bastet..." Mirage murmured as fear overcame more of her voice.

"Huh, another familiar face," Hsi Wu murmured in surprise. "I'd have thought modern professionalism, if nothing else, would have changed your wardrobe choices, Bast."

Bastet let out a purring chuckle, reaching over to pinch Hsi's cheeks like a doting grandmother. "Oh, you were always so cute when you took a human form, Wuwu."

"WUWU?" Jade, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, Adagio, and Aria all gasped in shock.

"She's the only one allowed to call me that," Hsi Wu snapped out firmly. As Jade opened her mouth, he added, "And I'm only compelled to obey the spirit of your will, remember?"

"Oh, did you get yourself a girlfriend?" Bastet purred excitedly.

"He's not my boyfriend!" Jade snapped out angrily.

"Aiyah..." Jackie groaned, shaking a dead hand out of his grip to facepalm. "Even the gods are shipping them now. Bad day..."

Bastet's hand suddenly snaked out, seizing Mirage by her skull. "And where do you think you'rrrrrre slipping off to?" she demanded angrily.

"I-" Mirage began, only to be cut off.

"The circle calls for one sacrifice for each life," Bastet growled, her voice now sounding less domestic and very much that of a great hunting cat. "I count five adults...four children. Explain."

"But...but Sekhmet hungers..." Mirage struggled to say.

"One of the few things my sister and I agree on is that the children are to be protected," Bastet spat in fury. "But you are right, she does hunger..." Her other claw slashed at the air, opening a void through which a feline hunting howl could be heard. "And since you're so eager to feed her..." Bastet tossed Mirage into the hole. One last scream was heard before Bastet closed the gate.

Viper shuddered at that. "This is...not the sort of thing you encounter often..."

"My apologies for the actions of my sisterrrrr's High Priestess," Bastet purred softly as she lifted the Cat of Khartoum. "None of you should have been caught up in this. Sister is Class 2...as is Valmont and Hsi Wu, which places all of you outside what she is allowed to interfere with. The last thing the Council wants is the Near-Divine making war on each other." She turned to Sonata. "I am glad it was you and not your father that settled this," she purred as she stroked Sonata's hair, the blue girl's eyes returning to normal from the playful affection. "Had he stepped in against sister's High Priestess, sister would have been allowed to step in as well...and no matter how that battle ended, the collateral damage..."

"Meow!" Sonata said happily as she purred from the caress.

"Precisely," Bastet agreed. "And so...to the Children of the Demon Sorcerer of Light and to the Family of Demon Sorcerer of Sky...I offer one Level 4 Boon a piece in sister's place."

"...what?" Jackie asked in confusion.

"Boons are Divine Favor," Hsi Wu explained quickly. "Since the Jade Council moved more into the modern world, Boons have been standardized to five levels, from Level Five at the lowest to Level One at the highest, each with a descriptor based on how the Boons were presented in ancient times."

Bastet nodded in confirmation. "A Level Five Boon is 'I remember you with favor', which in essence means your name is in that divine being's good books. Good for future business dealings or wiggling out of cultural misunderstandings, but little else. Level Four, as I've offered you, is 'Of my power in the moment'."

"Basically equivalent to a wish from a Genie of the Ring," Hsi Wu explained quickly. "Just about any wish you could come up with on the small scale."

"Oh, I read about these!" Sweetie Belle called out. "A Level Three Boon is 'if it is within my power', which is basically anything it's in the God's power to grant. A Level Two Boon is 'if it takes a thousand years'."

"Those are best used to alter divine policy," Hsi Wu explained, "but are very rare to be offered, let alone received. And each being Class 2 or higher is also allowed to offer one Level One Boon at a time."

Bastet nodded. "A Level One Boon is 'if it costs me my life'. In history, such a Boon has only been granted three times...and you can see why."

"Can we be kitties again?" Sonata asked hopefully. "I like being a kitty, but sometimes I wanna be other things, and I don't think the Cat statue magic is healthy if it was made by that bad lady. And I bet Aria likes the extra strength and Adagio already said she wants to walk around in just her choker and fur sometime." She scratched idly at her ear with her foot. "Besides, I like being blue again, like before we were banished the first time. Human colors don't suit us much, I don't think."

Bastet chuckled as she glanced from her to Aria and Adagio. "Is she correct of your desires?" she asked carefully. When she received nods, she clapped her hands. Everyone found themselves humans once more...and Jackie and Viper found themselves clothed. "Each of you retains the power to take on the feline form again at will, along with the behaviors, instincts, and enhanced abilities that come with it." She then grinned towards Jade. "And as an added treat for you, if your familiar is in human form when you choose to assume a feline form, he will be forced to assume one as well."

"Hey!" Hsi Wu snapped out as Jade giggled. "Doesn't that violate-"

"The rules of what can be granted to a Familiar via his Mistress-"

"I'm not his Mistress!"

"-supersede the rules regarding what a Class One can do to a Class Two without permission," Bastet teased with a smirk. She then turned to Jackie. "You are the highest authority in your Family here. What Boon do you desire?"

"Uhh..." Jackie began, unsure how to respond to that.

Chuckling, Bastet held out a coin. On one side was the image of her face, on the other was a 4. The coin was as black as her fur, with heiroglyphs around the edges. "When you have need of my Boon, this shall call me to grant it," she promised...and then vanished.

"Mine!" Sonata called out, snatching the Cat of Khartoum out of the air before it could fall. "Can we get pizza now? I don't think there's a taco place in Tangiers..."