• Published 23rd Feb 2013
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Friendship is SHOWTIME!! - MangaKamen



A Kamen Rider Crossover Magic – a mysterious force in this world, and each creature possess magic within itself. A gift to many, but to a few, it is nothing but a curse. And when Twilight sees a new form of magic, she'll learn that life is

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Spell 21 - Canterlot Royal Business Part 3

As the ghoulish Phantom spiraled through the air with his arms near him. ‘How the Tartarus did this happen!? One second, I’m beating a crack into this Wizard’s head, next sec I’m getting tossed like a rag…’

It was then that Wizard appeared right in front of Zombie, one of his legs lifted high into the air over his head. Zombie’s eyes widened before Wizard slammed his heel into Zombie’s chest, rocketing the ghoulish Phantom into Canterlot Park.

Tree branches, dirt and debris erupted from where Zombie had crashed into and the unarmed Phantom lifted his head up just as both of his disembodied hands slapped him in the face. His yellow eyes narrowed at the powerful ring mage who was slowly floating down from the sky. “This… This is the Mage? The one who defeated Master Phoenix?”

Zombie looked to his pants and breathed a sigh of relief that his stolen goods were still attached to his pants – But it was a hallow reassurance, the green clothed mage was coming down towards him.

However, as the scene was unfolding in the park, neither of the magical combatants took notice of the shadowed figure that was slowly sauntering towards them. “Hmm… Looks like I didn’t need Valkyrie’s assistance in finding Zombie – but this is a treat, the Ring Mage in Canterlot.

“It’d be rude if I didn’t introduce myself…”

TTTTTT

Spell 21

Canterlot Royal Business
Part 3

TTTTTTTTT

Shining Armor galloped through the streets, a number of the Royal Guards following him. Moments ago, he was trotting through the street to get some fresh air before he was going to sleep that was until a couple of guards came to him and informed him about how there was commotion going on in the middle of the city.

When the guards appeared before him, they said something about the odd monsters that were appearing in the city and how this odd masked figure appeared to save his soldiers. ‘A masked vigilante? We don’t need another issue in this city!’

As Shining Armor followed the path that his soldiers pointed out, the battle between said monster and masked vigilante was continuing in the park – Their battle tore up the grass and foliage as they dashed about.

“DANG IT! HOLD STILL!” Zombie snarled before he threw his fist towards Wizard, firing the bony limb towards the green coated mage.

However, Wizard sped over the ground, a green air surrounding his feet. In fact, he didn’t even have to move his legs to dodge, it was thanks to the green magical air around his ankles. ‘This is amazing! I’m so fast! He can’t even keep up with my wind magic now!’

Zombie’s hand popped back into place just in time for Wizard to slid right in behind him and slammed his foot into the Phantom’s back. The scrawny Phantom staggered forward before he spun about to slam the back of his hand into the side of Wizard’s head, only to miss as the magical wind slid the magical dragon out of the way. “W-What the?! Where’d you…?”

Wizard slid about the grass before he spun around behind Zombie and slammed his tail into the Phantom’s ankles and knocked the blue skinned monster off his feet. “GARGH!”

When Zombie crashed back first into the ground, Wizard propelled himself into the air. Zombie winced in pain before he looked up into the air to see that the green coated dragon was spinning through the air. Using his skinny limbs, Zombie pushed him off of the ground just in time to dodge a powerful drop kick from the dragon.

The foot connected with the ground, and a large crater was created upon impact, making Zombie’s yellow eyes widen at the sight. “Dangatang! I didn’t know we were playing for keeps!”

Wizard remained silent as the wind whipped around his body once more and he shot through the air towards Zombie, his twisting his body so his tail would whip into Zombie once more. However, before the strong tail could connect, Zombie’s body disconnected from the joints and the limbs flew out of the way, making Wizard’s attack miss.

“Bleh hehehehehehee!” Zombie’s head laughed loudly as his body began to come together once more. “Nice try, Mage! But I’m used to your attacks and they won’t be able to…”

Ignoring Zombie’s taunting, the masked dragon slipped a new ring on his right claw, a green one that gleamed in the moonlight. The ring was green with a dragon that had lightning bolts erupting from its winged body. Spinning about, Wizard landed on the ground with his new ring being thrown in front of his belt. “Then here’s an extra service!”

“VERY NICE – THUNDER!

“FABULOUS!”

Casually, Wizard lifted his right claws up, creating a green magical circle before him that cackled with green electricity. A loud roar echoed through the air as a large dragon made up of green electrical energy shot from the runic circle. Zombie’s eyes widened at the sheer speed of the dragon and before he could react, the dragon passed through his body, a large amount of green sparks from his body.

The thunder dragon flew up through the air before it charged once more at the still stunned Phantom. Zombie cried out as the dragon shot through his body once more, even more streams of electricity erupting from his joints and body. “GARGH! THIS ISN’T FUN ANY MORE!!!”

“Oh nice job, Dragon,” Wizard mused. Lifting his left claw to look at the Hurricane Dragon Ring, Wizard nodded to the piece of jewelry. “A thundering success.”

Zombie cried out as the green dragon flew up high into the air before it dove down towards the Phantom, the undead monster on his last ropes. “NO!!! SOMEONE DO SOMETHING!”

Just as the electrical dragon was about to crash into Zombie, a large stone tree was thrown over the blue phantom and took the brunt of the attack. The stone tree shattered with its bits falling over Zombie’s form and green sparks flying over the park. Both Zombie and Wizard stood there surprised at what just happened.

Wizard shook his head. “What the Tartarus just happened?”

“I’m not gonna lie,” Zombie admitted as he jumped to his feet, his bones cracking loudly in the process. “Being saved by a statue tree – Didn’t call that one.”

“Zombie…”

The blue skinned Phantom immediately stood up straight before he shook visibly and his yellow eyes widened.

“If I did not require your abilities, I would’ve allowed you to face your death.”

Stepping from the shadows from the trees, a slim figure slowly emerged into the moonlight – And Zombie fell to his backside once more, tears appeared in his eyes. “GAGH! ANYONE BUT YOU!!!”

Wizard turned towards the being that struck fear into Zombie’s heart – amongst the shadows was a slim phantom with purple, black and gold scaly skin that resembled that of fancy clothes with coattails, high heels, and golden shoulder pads. She had a revealed, human-like mouth with purple lips while the upper portion of her head was hidden by a black visor with bright purple scales that parted the visor. And from the visor, many snakes slithered out from her head, hissing loudly.

But there was something else, something about this Phantom that made Wizard still his breath,
‘This… This Phantom, this magical presence – It’s just like Phoenix’s!’

Zombie crawled away from the snake Phantom, tears starting to well up in his eyes as he lifted one of his hands up towards her. “L-Lady Medusa! I… I…”

The snakes from Lady Medusa’s head grew longer and quickly slithered over the ground towards Zombie, the blue skinned Phantom quickly slammed his hands and feet into the dirt to propel him out of the way just as the snakes crashed into where he was. The undead Phantom leapt into a tree before he jumped into another tree, his aim to escape.

Lady Medusa snickered as the snakes slowly coiled back to her, “Hmm, too bad – Oh well, this just makes the chase all the more thrilling.”

With a snap of her fingers, a dark shadow flew over the park at Lady Medusa’s command, flying after Zombie. It was then that Lady Medusa turned her attention towards Wizard and then bowed slightly. “Although, I’ve found something more interesting – Apologies, Ring Mage, but I had business to attend to. Now, I’ve got only eyes for you.”

Wizard snapped out of his slight daze, and lifted his left arm up, creating a defensive stance. “I believe he called you Medusa, right?”

Lady Medusa lifted her head up and stood up tall before she crossed her arms over her chest. “Lovely, that’ll spare us the mundane tradition of introductions, Ring Mage. Now, how about you be a good little dragon and go on your merry little way to find some jewels to munch on.”

At that comment, Wizard tilted his head slightly. “No choice here – If you know my name, then you probably know what I do.”

“I didn’t realize that Phantom Hunting was a job,” Medusa joked as she waved her hand in front of her lips. The snakes from her head hissed loudly before Medusa caressed the snakes. “I should at least be courteous, I’ve heard of your more recent exploits – Particularly how you managed to defeat Phoenix.”

With a swift yank, Medusa ripped one of the snakes from her head and it began to grow within her grasp. The snake grew and stiffened until it became a bronze staff that Medusa snapped to the side before she continued to speak. “He and I are considered some of the best of the best amongst the Phantoms – However…”

“Connect – PLEASE!”

Appearing right over Medusa, Wizard immediately brought down his sword down upon Medusa’s head quickly.

CLANK!

But Medusa’s staff was quickly lifted up and she blocked the attack quite easily, supporting Wizard’s attack. Her purple lips curled up into a devious, if not seductive smile, “Between the two of us, Phoenix and I are on completely different levels.”

Disappearing into a green blur, Wizard sped across the ground, circling Medusa by using his magic. Coming up from behind, Wizard spun around to deliver a powerful stab towards Medusa’s back.

“Pathetic…”

Before Wizard’s attack could even connect, the snakes from Medusa’s head snapped into action and crashed into the masked dragon’s stomach, knocking the air out of Wizard and sent him flying back into random park bench, shattering it on impact. “Ow…”

Medusa turned around and ran a finger atop her staff. “Done already? I was hoping for a much more of a Showtime.”

The snake phantom slowly walked towards Wizard who was quickly getting to his feet once more. With a quick snap, Wizard transformed his sword into a gun and immediately fired several rounds towards Medusa.

Another sigh slipped from the Phantom’s lips before she quickly lifted her staff up and spun it around, catching all of the magically charged shots into it. Then, Medusa lowered her staff to the ground to reveal that all of the rounds were still intact and she lined them up.

“What the?!” Wizard questioned as he stepped back slightly from the sight.

A smile graced Medusa’s lips before she slammed the top of her staff into the magically imbued rounds, sending them flying through the air towards Wizard with a purple aura floating around them. Before Wizard could react, the rounds crashed into his body, sending sparks flying from his chest and propelling him to the ground once more. “GARGH!”

Skidding on his back, Wizard used his tail to flip himself up through the air and land on his feet to replace the ring on his right claws once more. He then threw his gloved claws in front of his belt. “VERY NICE – THUNDER!

“FABULOUS!”

Once more, the runic green circle appeared before Wizard, but just as the runic circle was charging with energy, several purple phantasmal snakes immediately coiled around it and even bit down on the runic circle. “What!?”

Several cracks appeared in the circle before it shattered like glass, and quicker than the naked eye, all of the phantasmal snakes coiled around Wizard’s limbs, torso and even his neck. “GAGH!”

Slowly, the snakes coiled even tighter and began to lift him off of the ground, the sound of bending metal and cracking jewels echoing though the night’s air. Medusa giggled as she sauntered towards Wizard, the snakes from her head the very same that were slowly squeezing the life from the masked dragon. “I’m not like other Phantoms, Ring Mage. You may have defeated a number of my brethren, and even toppled Phoenix off of his high and mighty tower, but I’m in a league all of my own.”

Wizard continued to struggle free from the snakes, but with every movement, they just coiled tighter and tighter. ‘I… I can’t break free… And, I’m… feeling… w-weaker with… every…’

“You feel it don’t you?” Medusa chimed out, garnering Wizard’s attention. “You can feel the mana being drained from your very form – Being pulled away from you with every passing second. I’m no Blue Phantom, but I do possess the ability to steal mana from any form of living creature, not just Unicorns.

“So relax, enjoy the last few moments of your life. And rest assured that your mana will go to a good cause – Me.”

Slowly, Wizard’s vision began to tunnel, ‘Is… Is this really it? Is this how it… How it ends? It can’t be, I finally…’

Using whatever strength he had in his right claw, Haru fought against the snake that was binding the limb and lifted it up towards the moon. ‘I finally found…’

Thoughts of his friends in Ponyville suddenly filled Haru’s mind – Twilight, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Spike, the Apple Family, the Cakes, even that pony with the crisscrossed eyes – They were all on his mind. ‘I finally found a h-home…’

Slowly, Wizard’s right arm began to slump, and Medusa began to snicker, the last voice that he would hear would be…

“HOLD IT!”

Wizard’s eyes snapped open and he turned his head as best he could to see where the familiar voice came from. Standing a few yards away was none other than Shining Armor with a number of Canterlot guards behind him.

Medusa had also turned her head towards the entourage of guards, and even seemed to freeze up for a moment before she turned her head away from them.

“As captain of the Canterlot Royal Guard,” Shining Armor commanded as he stomped towards Medusa, his horn glowing brightly. “I order you to release him at once!”

‘Shining Armor! No!’ Wizard thought to himself as he continued to struggle, trying to get free. ‘I may not like the guy, but I can’t let him get killed by Medusa! Twilight would never…’

At that very moment, the phantasmal snakes disappeared around Wizard’s body, and he floated in mid-air for a second. “Huh?”

Then with a yelp, Wizard fell to the ground on his back with a loud smack. “OW! I LANDED ON A ROCK!”

With her back still to Shining Armor, Medusa brought her staff close to her chest and one hand to her lips. Her breathing seemed to hasten a little bit, and her heart’s beat sped up when she heard hooves getting closer to her. “By the authority of the Canterlot Royal Guard, you are under arrest!”

“You… You certainly know how to charm a girl, Captain,” Medusa mused, keeping her back to Shining Armor. “But having silver cuffs on my wrists is hardly flattering, so… I must bid adieu!”

A large amount of purple radiated from Medusa’s body, forcing Shining Armor to create a powerful shield of magical energy to block it. Shining lowered his shield when it seemed that the energy had died down, and saw that Medusa was nowhere in sight.

The oddly dressed figure before him was still on the ground, moaning about a rock or something. Carefully, Shining trotted over to the figure with his eyes narrowed slightly, “Are you alright?”

“Uh…” Wizard moaned slightly as he lifted his head up. “Well…”

Before Wizard could say another word, his entire suit flickered slightly before it shattered away with a green rune circle – revealing a certain red dragon in place of the impressive Wizard.

Shining’s eyes widened as he quickly drew his head back while Haru chuckled sheepishly with a claw rubbing the back of his head. “Hello!”

TTTTTT

It was almost ten p.m. near Canterlot’s train station, with the last train of the night only fifteen minutes away from departure. The finely dressed griffon who was seated on a bench a few yards away from the loading platform, his yellow eyes trained on the pocket-watch he held in one talon. “… He’s late.”

Pushing himself from the bench, the griffon lifted his tail up to reveal that the end of his tail was coiled around a brief case. He sighed loudly as he slowly made his way towards the platform, “Rather disappointing – I was hoping to get my research materials quickly.”

“Hey, hey, why so glum?”

The fancily dressed griffon turned his head to see a rather creepy looking stallion a few feet from him – The stallion was really thin, to the point where his rib cage was visible to the skin, his long blue, messy mane and tail were dirtied and his white fur also had the same fate. On his back was a ragged knapsack and embroidered on his flank was a familiar red and white crossed blue flag.

“Union Jack,” The griffon sighed as he turned around with narrowed eyes at the earth stallion before him. “I thought we had an agreement that you’d be here twenty minutes prior to the tenth hour of the evening.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” Union Jack grumbled as he spun around, making the sack fall to the ground before the griffon. “Don’t get yer wings tied up – I got the goods right here. Just be glad I managed to get away from the Castle Guard, a masked vigilante, and even my former employer to make this delivery, Shinkuro.”

Shinkuro the griffon snorted as he used his tail to place the briefcase on the ground next to the sack, and then used his tail to take the sack. “You Phantoms lack subtly, but you do at least get the work done.”

With a quick peak into the bag, Shinkuro’s beak slowly curved to reveal a slight smile that immediately disappeared when he closed the bag. “Enjoy your bits to your heart’s content – If you Phantoms even have one. Rather curious about that, would you be interested in being a test subject for my experiments?”

“No way, Doc,” Union Jack scoffed as he used his front hoof to pull the suitcase closer to him. “I tend to like my organs inside their home.”

“Pity,” Shinkuro sighed under his breath as he reached into his jacket’s inner pocket. “I was hoping to examine that monstrous form of yours – It’s rather similar to the forms created by these things.”

It was then that Shinkuro pulled out a small device, a white rectangle that had a small silver square on the end of it, and had a ‘W’ on it that was composed of a twister, a bolt of lighting, rain and sun beams. “I wonder if there’s a connection – Oh well, perhaps next time.”

“Don’t bet on it,” Union Jack chuckled before he grabbed the briefcase with his mouth as Shinkuro began to head towards the loading platform. ‘I think I’ll head on over to Manehatten for a while and enjoy my newfound bits.’

Just before Union Jack was about to turn around, several purple phantasmal snakes coiled around his body and pulled him into the darkness without a sound while he dropped the briefcase to the ground.

Shinkuro smirked as he heard the hissing and slowly turned around, ‘Such a shame, oh well – At least my bits are back in my possession. Thank you very much, Miss Mysterious Pony, I hope you finding Union Jack will be fruitful.’

With a smirk, Shinkuro snatched up the briefcase and placed it on his back before he went back towards the train.

“ALL ABOARD! NEXT STOP – NORTHWEST STATION: BENEATH CLOUDSDALE!”

TTTTTT

A loud yawn escaped from a scaly mouth.

“Morning already?” Spike mumbled as he turned around in his bed a few times, taking the blanket and curling himself into it. “Ten more minutes, Shiny…”

A few seconds passed before the blanket flew up into the air and Spike sat up quickly in the rather large bed, “Wait a minute, where is everypony?”

Looking around the rather large quarters, Spike jumped from the bed and turned towards an undisturbed bed next to his. The room was an empty soldier quarters that Shining Armor provided to the two dragons for their stay in Canterlot, the white Stallion had even had another bed set up so he could be with the young dragon – But no pony was in the room save for Spike. “Hello? Haru! Shiny!

“Where are they?”

Spike peeked his head out of the room and into the empty hallway, his short legs pulling him from the room. The castle was normally bustling with noise, but it was oddly quiet on this cloudy morning. There would at least be a few guards trotting around the castle grounds, but the only noise was the usual Canterlot busy work.

Shrugging his shoulders, Spike knew there was only one thing to do – Get breakfast.

It didn’t take long for the small dragon to make his way to the Castle’s kitchen – But stopped near the entrance to the room. ‘If I remember right, the chefs didn’t really like me sneaking about to sneak some food –Oh mane, I missed those times.’

Getting down on all fours, Spike peeked into the kitchen and slowly crawled across the tiled floor, his claws clicking against floor. Only moments after he did, he ducked into a nearby cupboard as the head chef trotted by, the moment that the stallion was gone, Spike slipped out and slithered his way towards one of the counters with some of the royal breakfast atop of it.

Slowly, he lifted one of his claws up over the counter and began to reach for one of the baked goods…

Spike cringed however when his claws brushed against a hoof and he stilled his breath. With an audible gulp, Spike lifted his head up and realized that the hoof he had touched didn’t belong to the chef, rather it belonged to a certain red pegasus he had just met the day before. ‘That’s Kai… Right?’

Indeed, it was the somewhat idiotic pegasus, who was also reaching for some of the breakfast muffins that were laid out on the counter.

“AHEM!”

Both Spike and Kai turned to see the head chef leering at them, daggers in his eyes. “Spike, good to see you – Back to your old tricks again…”

“Uh,” Spike chuckled sheepishly.

“Kai,” The head chef growled as his gaze shifted slightly.

“Run,” Kai stated calmly as he turned towards Spike. “Run.

“RUN!”

Kai galloped out of the kitchen with Spike desperately holding onto the pegasus’ short black tail, yelling as pots, pans, a couple soup ladles, a few knives, and even the kitchen’s sink were being magically thrown at the pair.

A few minutes later, the pair was outside on the castle’s walls, Kai sprawled out on the ground with him gasping for air as Spike looked about, “I think we’re safe… Good thing we got outta there quick.”

“W-We?” Kai wheezed as he looked up at the baby dragon. “You didn’t do anything! I was the one with the leg work! I didn’t even get one of the muffins I wanted…”

“Yeah, but I was the dragon who snagged two of the muffins!” Spike stated as he held his tail up to reveal that coiled around his scaly appendage were indeed two muffins.

Kai’s eyes brightened as Spike pulled them from his tail and immediately tossed one of the confectionaries to the red pegasus. Bumbling a little bit with his hooves, Kai quickly caught the muffin and sniffled slightly. “Nice one! Thanks little scaly friend!”

“It’s what I do,” Spike replied with his chest puffed out for a few seconds before he sat down on the ground, taking a bite out of his muffin.

For a moment, the two kitchen escapees just sat there in the warm, if not really cloudy, morning, enjoying their muffins – But it wasn’t long till Spike turned towards Kai and pulled his muffin away. “Say, you’re in the royal guard, right?”

“Uh, kinda,” Kai responded with a mouth full of muffin. “I’m in what you’d call a special case of sorts.”

“Well, do you know where Shiny and Haru are?” Spike asked, looking down at the slightly chewed on muffin.

“Shiny?” Kai questioned his eyes looking up slightly. It took a few seconds before he connected the dots. “OH! You mean Captain Shining armor! And I’m guessing Haru’s that dragon from yesterday, right? Well, let’s see, I think I saw them earlier today…”

Spike sighed with relief before he took a large bite from his muffin – at least the two were okay and around somewhere. What was the worst that could happen with the two?

“Yeah, I think that dragon was arrested by the captain,” Kai stated bluntly with a smile on his face.

Spike immediately spat out the muffin he had in his mouth.

TTTTTT

“Let me see if I get this straight – You’ve got all these magical powers that you use to fight against monsters, like the two last night, who are called Phantoms. These Phantoms are creatures born from ponies known as Gates, and these Phantoms seek to awaken more Phantoms by instilling despair into the Gates, which causes the magic inside of them to form into the Phantoms and then break free from their pony exteriors.

“Is that correct?”

Haru nonchalantly munched on a doughnut, not caring that Shining Armor was glaring at him from across the table. Ever since last night, Haru was being detained in an interrogation room with mostly just a pair of guards at the door keeping an eye on him.

It wasn’t until twenty minutes ago that Shining Armor appeared before Haru with a box of doughnuts and some coffee.

With a quiet gulp, Haru sighed as he looked at the powdered donut, “… Not as good as Joe’s or the Cakes’.”

Shining growled with his eyes narrowed at the dragon before him, garnering the magical dragon’s attention. With a sheepish smirk on his face, Haru placed the donut on the table and weaved his claws together. “Uh, yeah, that’s pretty much the gist of it.”

With his horn glowing brightly, Shining brought up a familiar green ring in front of Haru’s face. “Then there’s you – Where do I begin here with you?”

“Well, I’m a handsome devil for one,” Haru stated with a smile on his face and his arms lifted up, only to realize that his arms will still bound by the cuffs around his wrists. “And that I prefer rings to bracelets.”

“You really think this is the best time to get smart with me?” Shining Armor pointed out with his hoof aimed directly at Haru’s nose. “You’re already on my bad side with what I’ve heard about you, and now I find out that you’ve got these strange abilities and weapons, going about like some comic book vigilante.”

With a shrug of his shoulders, Haru turned to the side. “I can’t really help it, in a situation like this one, I have to have a clear mind. There’s a lot going on here Shining Armor – More in the shadows than I like.

“Although, I’m in the dark about why you decided to arrest me, isn’t that a little extreme?”

“It’s because you have the stench of danger about you,” Shining Armor answered.

‘You can get arrested for smelling bad?!’ Haru thought as he lifted up his arm and took a quick whiff. “Eh?! Really?”

“Not literally,” Shining sighed before he rolled his eyes. “Wait a sec, are you just making another joke right now?!”

“Nope,” Haru answered, mimicking a certain friend of his back in Ponyville.

There was a moment of silence as Shining levitated the ring back down to the table and leered at Haru.

“Oi, Shiny…” Haru started as his blue eyes turned towards the white stallion in front of him.

“Don’t address me so informally,” Shining Armor growled bringing his front hooves down to the ground. “Now, you’ll continue to tell me what you know about the Phantoms.”

“Ya know, this has been bothering me for a while now,” Haru muttered as he reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a familiar looking rolled up scroll. “But should you really be this hostile? Especially when I was asked to come here by the very princess you serve.”

“What?” Shining Armor questioned before Haru tossed the scroll onto the table.

“I was a little hesitant to show this to you, especially since you gave me such a warm welcome earlier,” Haru continued as Shining Armor used his magic to lift the scroll up and unfurl it. “And considering that I didn’t want to burden Spike with this stuff - But now I’m given no other option here.”

Shining furrowed his brow as he read the letter – The seal was perfect, even the penmanship of the letter was the exact same that he had read a number of times when he read orders from the princess herself – it was the contents that brought concerns up. ‘Why wasn’t I informed about any of this?! I know that the Princess can be a bit… Eccentric at times, but if she wanted me to meet with Haruto to discuss this, then why…?’

“Oi, Shiny~”

With a shake of his head, Shining Armor lifted his head up from the letter to leer at the dragon, “Didn’t I just say to not refer to me so friendly?”

“It seems like you’re rather insistent to deal with Phantoms,” Haru mused, ignoring Shining’s complaints. “Why?”

“Why?” Shining Armor replied with a snort. “You’re really asking me that? I’m Captain of the Royal Guards for Equestria, it’s my duty to protect any and every pony from any threat! And these Phantoms are obviously a threat!”

Haru only looked at Shining Armor, his cobalt eyes seemingly piercing into Shining’s very core – And then, the dragon only shrugged again before he leaned back in his seat and grabbed the half eaten doughnut from the table. After taking a quick bite, Haru chuckled, “Heh, and here I was thinking we wouldn’t be able to find any common ground between us.”

“Common ground?” Shining questioned with a raised brow. “What are you talking…”

“Shining Armor,” Haru interrupted as he looked up towards the ceiling with a smile. “Let me tell you something interesting – When I first really spoke to Twilight, you know what the first thing I did was? I ran away from her. I knew that my power, my curse, my… Hope, it was dangerous for anypony to get near me.

“But… She and her friends got to me – They convinced me that I was more than just destructive magic. That I was their friend. I will honor their words till the day I’m in the grave, and I’ll use whatever power I have to protect that friendship.”

It was then at that moment that a loud crash of thunder echoed through the air, with lightning brightening the interrogation room for a second.

“Pretty words,” Shining Armor replied as he looked towards the barred window, seeing a few raindrops falling from the sky. “But, that’s all they are – Pretty words. Redd Herring saw what you tried to do to Twilight.”

Haru slammed his claws and head into the table before Shining, making the stallion jump slightly. “I… I’m not denying that – It was a mistake, one that I’ll carry for the rest of my days – But, I don’t want to lose the friendship that I got with them!

“I… I don’t want to be alone again… N-Not again…”

Shining drew back when he saw a few tears fall onto the table near Haru’s head, and Shining turned away and rubbed the back of his head with his hoof.

“That’s why…”

Shining drew his attention back to Haru, seeing that the dragon had lifted his head up, “That’s why I have to do whatever I can to protect that hope. To protect that friendship.

“TO PROTECT MY FRIENDS!”

For a moment, Shining Armor remained silent at the sudden outburst from the dragon – Both of their gazes locked on the other for a few moments with a moment of silence. In the corners of Haru’s eyes were the remains of tears while Shining’s own eyes softened slightly.

Another crash of thunder boomed through the air, a second bolt of lightning that followed a few seconds later. “Haruto…”

WHAM!

Both Shining and Haru turned to the door to see a single guard who opened the door, panting loudly, “C-Captain Armor! The main street! E-Emergency!”

“Compose yourself, soldier!” Shining commanded as he moved from the table. “And calmly tell me what is happening.”

“Sir!” The soldier replied with a salute before he took a deep breath. “Sir, an army has appeared at the city square!”

“An army!?” Shining questioned with his eyes wide.

TTTT – Half an Hour Earlier – TTTT

Unbeknownst to most of the citizens of Canterlot, there was a large, extensive cave system right under their hooves. Years upon years ago, these tunnels were mined for precious gems by greedy unicorns until its supplies were exhausted. When the precious gems were removed from the crystal caverns, the mines were sealed up and closed off to be forgotten.

“P-PLEASE LADY MEDUSA! SPARE ME!”

However, three figures slowly traversed the caves – Well, two of them traversed, the third one was being held up in the air by several phantasmal snakes by Lady Medusa. “Zombie – If I was you, I’d keep my mouth shut. Your incessant whining is starting to give me a headache.”

Union Jack quickly closed his mouth with a sour look plastered all over his face.

The third figure – A tall humanoid with green and white armor that had a feather-like motif to it and a split mask – Walked a little closer to Medusa, “Lady Medusa, if you don’t mind me asking – Why did we need this deviant? Not that I’m questioning your plan, Lady Medusa, but it’s a rather curious situation.”

Medusa didn’t say a word as she continued to lead the third being through the crystal caverns, but a few moments later, the snake Phantom turned towards one of the larger crystals to admire her reflection. “Valkyrie, let me ask you something. If you were a Princess…”

“Oh, only in my dreams,” Valkyrie cooed with his hands brought up to his face.

It took a moment for Medusa to turn her gaze towards the swooning Phantom before she shook her head, “If you were a Princess who had to store a magical artifact and make sure no pony finds it, wouldn’t you want to make sure that you had some wards to make sure that nopony would mess with it?

“We’re going to use Zombie here as a sponge to soak up all of that magic.”

“Ah, I see,” Valkyrie mused with a nod of his head. “But don’t you have that magical absorption ability too?”

“Why soil my own hooves?” Medusa replied with her hands lifted up. “Besides, this is a win-win situation here – If he absorbs the magical wards, we get the Eye of N Ma. If he doesn’t, he’ll probably just be destroyed in the process: Win-win.”

“How is it a win for me?!” Union Jack cried out with tears in his eyes.

“You survive, you get pardoned for deviating from your mission,” Medusa answered curtly before she continued on her way through the caves. “You probably have a good fifty percent chance of surviving… Maybe.”

“MAYBE?!” Union Jack wailed loudly, his cries echoing through the crystal caves.

Having the brilliant idea to use one of her snakes to bind Union Jack’s mouth shut, Medusa and Valkyrie’s trip through the caves went smoothly – until they reached a large, carved-out room that had several runic symbols etched into the crystals, chains bound around the entrance, and of course what had brought the three down to the caverns in the first place.

Standing tall in the middle of the cave was a statue of a fully armored knight with sharp, curved armor that had wolf-like shoulder pads and a large shield that had a red crystal in the middle of it. The statue was made out of a different sort of crystal, one that seemed to glow a bright purple.

Slowly, Medusa’s lips curled into a dark smile.

TBC

Author's Note:

MangaKamen: -smirks- Behold everyone! The next chapter has appeared before you all! And next time... The conclusion!

Everyone! Give support! The comic is still in the works, but it needs more support! Let's get help from Equestria Daily! You guys!

Its thanks to guys like you that I'm writing this - I love to write, but you guys give me that extra push, so... THANKS!

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