//------------------------------// // Accelerated Zest // Story: The Light Beyond Despair // by Ultimate Mayhem //------------------------------// Lemon Zest was sitting on her bed looking straight at her ceiling. Right now, she felt kind of conflicted. She didn't like how Sunset left that girl crying in the sidewalk. Of course, she understood that she was pissed at those Crusader girls for what they did, though she was a bit surprised at how much Sunset had to force herself to stay in control. She thought back to when they saw Sunset use the Furia module the first time and she almost killed the Rainbooms. Then she remembered when she saw Sunset use it when she fought Zeal and mostly stayed in control when they were watching her fight. She got off her bed and went to her dresser where she picked up a picture of herself a few years younger, with her parents and a younger girl who somewhat resembled her only her hair was mostly yellow with tints of green. She stared at the younger girl for a minute before putting it down and grabbing her phone. Sunny had been concerned when she saw how Sunset had struggled with not hurting the young Crusader. She'd gone back with Sunset to make sure she'd be okay. They'd arrived back at Sunset's place around an hour and a half ago...or at least at the building. Sunset had stopped the elevator at one of the floors that turned out to be a gym. She threw off her jacket and went to what looked to be a silver colored punching bag. Immediately she started punching it but what really caught her attention was that Sunset's entire body was producing the same dark red lightning. At first there didn't seem to be an issue. Sunny figured Sunset just needed to let out some steam but as she went on the lightning started becoming stronger and so did her strikes. At first her punches only seemed a bit harder than normal but as she went on not only did Sunny notice that her punches were becoming stronger. She also saw that every time Sunset hit the bag there was something that became more visible. She tried to focus on it but for a few minutes she couldn't see it clearly. When she was finally able to see it, she saw that each of Sunset's hits had begun leaving an indentation on the punching bag. Eventually even Sunset's eyes were completely consumed by that blood red color. Sunny silently watched growing more concerned for her friend as she only seemed to be growing angrier. She watched until Sunset until she let out a single rage filled scream landing a final punch which was crackling with dark red lightning which caused the bag to explode. Sunny looked at Sunset who was breathing heavily through her nose, her teeth being clenched with a few having extended. "Are you okay?" Sunset didn't answer. "I can't help you if you don't tell me what's wrong." "This is my problem." said Sunset. "Isn't this what friends are for? So you don't have to carry the world on your shoulders." Sunset let her arms go limp. Sunny sighed before walking up to her and giving her a hug. The lightning faded until it vanished entirely. "Please tell me what's wrong." Sunset sighed as Sunny took a few steps back. "Are you confused about why they did it?" "I know why they did it." replied Sunset as she sat on the floor. "You do?" "I have a well enough idea." replied Sunset. "After Nee-san left me the files I didn't want to look at them because I didn't want to remember the pain. As much as I wanted to forget I was also extremely curious. Once I saw who it was it all came together. Applejack had told us about the nickname during the sleepover and she said that aside from us the only others that new were her immediate family. When we slept over at Rarity's her family was there. Practice of both soccer teams happens at around the same time. I asked a detective on base for some help figuring it out and after talking with her for a bit the reason became clear." She gave a mirthless chuckle. "They destroyed my life because they were jealous." "Jealous?" asked Sunny surprised. "Yeah. Their sisters decided to spend more time with me so they decided we should have sleepovers at each of their houses throughout the week. Each of them decided I wasn't worthy of being friends with their sister and together they made everything I worked for be worth absolutely nothing." "So, you’re still angry about what they did." "No. To an extent they made me realize that the five I once called my friends thought of me as nothing more than a pet or a trophy. What pisses me off so much is the asinine reason they did what they did." explained Sunset. "I see what you mean." said Sunny. "Did you get it out of your system?" "Some of it." replied Sunset. "Nee-san's gonna have to replace that." she said looking at what was left of the punching bag. Nothing more than several pieces which looked like tattered rags. The following morning the girls met up at a park before school. It had been agreed by the others they should meet there and they sent a message to Sunny early in the morning. Once they met up most of them turned to Sunny. "So, how's she doin'?" asked Vinyl. "Well, I found out that one of the lower floors of the building has a gym." replied Sunny. "What happened?" asked Octavia. "She decided to blow off some steam with a punching bag." replied Sunny. "That's a good sign." said Twilight. "At least she has an outlet for her aggression." "Not anymore." replied Sunny. "What do you mean?" asked Sugarcoat. "The last hit she landed on it made the bag explode." replied Sunny. The others looked at her in shock, minus Sugarcoat. "Not surprising considering she did make a pretty big crack on the sidewalk and back when we met her she did break marble." "I guess she's not gonna forgive those girls." said Lemon. "There's a bit more to it than that." said Sunny. "What do you mean?" asked Lemon. "She explained to me that back when her sister gave her the files which showed her who it was she figured out why they did it." explained Sunny. "The reason she's angry at them isn't what they did. Based on her tone I think she might've actually been somewhat grateful to them for showing her how little the Rainbooms cared about her. What she's actually angry about is the reason why they did what they did." "Why did they do it?" asked Indigo. "Jealousy. Just before it happened it seems that each of the three elder sisters of the Crusaders had been spending progressively more time with Sunset. She concluded they were jealous of this and decided the best course of action was to turn them, as well as the school, against Sunset." "That is stupid." said Sugarcoat. "So how was Sunset before you left?" asked Vinyl. "She was much calmer than she was last night." replied Sunny. "Although she did over do the baking this morning." "What do you mean?" asked Indigo. "She woke up before I did and started making sweets. By the time I'd left she'd made enough sweets to open her own bakery." explained Sunny. "In fact," she said opening a different part of her backpack from which she pulled out what looked like a small black box. "What's that?" asked Twilight. Sunny pressed the top center part of the box. The box opened and let out eight bags which were tied at the top with black bows. When they opened them, they saw several cookies inside decorated in different ways. For each of the Riders there were cookies shaped like their individual Rider symbols like Sour's cookies looking like the upper half of her helmet as Ex-Aid and Sugarcoat's looking like the front of her Necrom Eyecon. "This doesn't seem too bad." said Twilight. "The entire apartment has more of this. Cakes, cookies, cupcakes, etc. It's a mouthful of cavities waiting to happen." said Sunny. "Is something wrong Indigo?" Octavia asked noticing Indigo had somewhat suddenly hidden her hands behind her back. "No! Nothing! Totally fine!" The others looked at her. "Really. I'm fine." "What's behind your back?" asked Sugarcoat. Indigo tried to give an innocent smile but gave up and held out her glowing hands. "Dude. That is wicked. How are you doing that?" asked Vinyl. "I don't know. For the last few days my hands just start glowing." "We'll have to see if Sunset has something to scan you or something." said Sunny. "And what do I do in the meantime?" asked Indigo. "Consider wearing pants or shorts. Something with pockets." suggested Sunny. "How long does it last?" asked Vinyl. "Ten minutes at most." replied Indigo. "What did you do for ten minutes?" asked Lemon. "I hid in a bush." muttered Indigo. "At school?" asked Vinyl. "Home." replied Indigo holding out her hands. "It did happen once at school. It was around lunch so I hid in the bathroom for a few minutes." "So that's why you were late the other day." said Lemon Zest. Indigo nodded. "I think I've got something that could help." said Sunny reaching into her backpack. She pulled out a pair of black gloves and handed them to Indigo. "Why were you carrying gloves?" asked Sour. "I always keep them in my backpack just in case." said Sunny. "I actually carry three pairs so you can keep them." "Uh...thanks." said Indigo as she put the gloves on which mostly hid the glow enough that it was no longer visible in the day light. "Whelp, let's get to school." said Lemon oddly excited. The others looked at each other a bit surprised. At around this time the Crusaders were heading to school together, since their sisters coercing the two was the only reason Pinkie and Fluttershy started showing up to school again. Since they'd been showing good behavior the three had been allowed to walk to school on their own but had a somewhat limited amount of time to get to school. Sweetie had told them about the night before when Sunset cracked the ground in front of her. Much like their sisters, they thought apologizing to Sunset would be enough, but after Sweetie explained what happened they felt worse. They'd been grappling with the guilt of what they did. The guilt that they felt for having pushed her to suicide on top of that was harder than they'd realized. Now they knew the bridge between Sunset and their sisters was completely gone, destroyed by their hands. The three walked in silence but stopped when they heard an odd sounding laugh. They turned behind them and saw that there was someone behind an electric pole but couldn't tell who. "If it isn't the friendship wreckers." said the voice which they could now at least tell was female but still sounded a bit odd. Almost distorted. "Who are you?" asked Scootaloo standing in front of her friends. "The one who's gonna punish you properly." said the girl holding out what looked like an orangish flash drive with the letter V on it. "What is that?" asked Apple Bloom. "The tool to punish you." said the girl behind the pole before pressing a button on it. "Violence!" said a male sounding voice. After all they saw was the flash drive moved behind the pole. Whoever was there grew larger. What came out looked more like a monster made of melted weapons whose body looked like half steel on the left side and half copper on the right side but with a ball for a left hand. The three girls were terrified for a moment before regaining their bearings and taking off running. "I was hoping they'd run." said the creature to itself before its body, minus the arm, took on the shape of a ball and it began using the arm with a ball for a hand to hit the ground in order to go after them. The Shadowcolts were heading to school when Indigo suddenly stopped causing Twilight to bump into her. "Is something wrong?" asked Sunny. "You guys don't feel that?" asked Indigo. "What?" asked Sour. Indigo knelt down and placed a hand on the ground. "There's some kind of vibration." "Like an earthquake?" asked Vinyl. "No. Whatever this is feels different. It's like something really heavy is being bounced around like a basketball or something." replied Indigo. "I'm gonna check it out." "Let's all go in case there's a bad guy with a really heavy weapon or something." said Vinyl. "Good call." said Sour before they all followed after Indigo. After a bit they could feel the vibration beneath their feet like Indigo. Not long after they found themselves having a bit of trouble retaining their balance. Once they got to that point the Riders transformed and went ahead. As they followed the vibration they came across the Crusaders running. They became surprised, especially when they saw a large metal ball jumping after them. The Riders didn't have much time to think about it. Kabuto clocked up and went ahead, grabbing the girls and bringing them with the others. The metal ball turned before changing back. Upon seeing the Riders it took a step back. "Who are you and what do you want?" asked Kabuto as the Crusaders looked at the Riders now surrounding them in amazement. "Those three were never properly punished. The only way for them to truly be punished is for their lives to end." said the creature as Lemon and Twilight arrived. "You want to kill them?" asked Zangetsu. "I don't want to. I'm going to. However I have other things to do than deal with you. I'll take care of them later. Maybe at school." it said before leaving. They were about to go after it only for several blasts to hit in front of them. Once the smoke cleared they saw Pixie holding her Bugvisor with the blaster side pointed at them. She giggled and then disappeared in a flurry of pixels. Once they saw there were no other attacks coming they undid their transformations. Lemon went up to the three younger girls. "Are you three okay?" "Why do you care?" asked Sweetie Belle looking down remembering exactly who these girls were. "What you did in the past doesn't matter right now." said Lemon. "That thing's after you so we'll protect you," she said looking at the others. ", right?" The Riders nodded. "For now we should get to school. Once we get there they should be safe since I don't think that creature would actually attack them there." said Sunny. "What makes you say that?" asked Octavia. "Whoever or whatever that thing is may be after them but it preferred to escape rather than risking being revealed through battle." explained Sunny. Twilight placed a hand under her chin. "Can you three remember anything from the creature?" asked Twilight. The three were uncertain for a moment. "It had a USB drive." said Sweetie. "A flash drive?" asked Twilight. The three nodded. "It had the letter V on it but also a button that said Violence when it was pressed." added Sweetie. "We'll definitely have to talk to Sunset about this." said Sunny. "Shouldn't we call her now?" asked Lemon. "We don't have time. It wouldn't make much difference if we were late but I'm sure these three would face a serious penalty." explained Sunny. "Oh yeah." said Vinyl. "We better go then." "Once we get to school we should explain things to Vice Principal Luna." said Sugarcoat. The others nodded. The Crusaders were uncertain about going with them but realized they didn't have a choice. Everyone started whispering when they arrived. Most couldn't believe these girls they'd known had become close friends with Sunset Shimmer were walking with the three who had destroyed her. "Hypocrites." whispered Sugarcoat. The girls got to Vice Principal Luna's office and knocked. "Come in." When they walked in she became surprised. "There's something important we need to discuss." said Sunny. "And I believe these three should start." The three girls explain what happened up to the point when they were saved. The others explained their part of the story up to that same point. "This isn't good. Do you remember anything about the person?" "We didn't see anything aside from that weird USB drive." said Scootaloo. "Shouldn't we call Sunset?" asked Twilight. "Normally I would've called her by now but..." began Sunny just before the bell rang. "We were already running somewhat late." The Crusaders began to panic. "All of you had better get going." said Luna. Sunny turned to the Crusaders. "It'll be best if you meet us on the roof once lunch starts." she instructed. The three nodded before leaving the office. "Sugarcoat." She nodded and pulled out Nori's Eyecon before activating it releasing him. "Keep an eye on those three girls." she ordered. "Understood." he said before turning intangible. "It's interesting things have become so odd that doesn't even phase me anymore." said Luna. The day went about as well as any other since their confession for the Crusaders but today they felt a bit safer. Other students still tried to target them but Nori would find the closest of the Shadowcolts and alert them. In between first and second period Indigo twisted one guy's wrist to scare off a few other students. Between second and third Sugarcoat had to defend them in one of the bathrooms. The following point between periods they were lucky since their previous and next classes were next to each other. While they'd been given numerous punishments both at home and at school Principal Celestia figured the three girls would be attacked and felt it best to keep them together so that at the very least they could watch each other’s backs though it wasn't the most effective means of protection since they were attacked by groups of students more commonly as opposed to confronted by individuals. Once lunch time rolled around the Crusaders began heading to the roof but were ambushed again forcing Nori to find the others. A group of students were dragging the three younger girls outside. Having a pretty good idea of what was gonna happen the Shadowcolts went ahead, catching them near the dumpster. The group warned them to move so one of the jock guys went up to them in an attempt to seem threatening but was caught off guard when he placed a hand on Sunny's shoulder and she flipped him over by twisting his wrist and then proceeded to place her index finger and thumb on his neck which caught everyone by surprise. "Let the girls go right now." ordered Sunny. "Or what? He's too big for you to choke." said a girl. "I wouldn't say that." said Lemon with a smirk. "What Sunny Flare is holding right now is his trachea which isn't especially strong. If she puts a little pressure on it he won't be able to breath." explained Sugarcoat. "Let them go." "So what if we just rush you?" asked the girl. "As former Crystal Prep students we were expected to know a lot of things, including self-defense." said Sugarcoat with her usual expression. "We're more than good enough to take on you if you'd like to test it." They looked at each other for a moment before the group released the three younger girls. As soon as they were able to they ran to the group of older girls. Afterwards they left but whispered among themselves about getting them after school. "Let's head to the roof." said Sour. The Crusaders told them they kept their lunches in their lockers so they had to go there first and after headed to the roof. Once there everyone got their lunches out and started eating. "Um...excuse me." said Apple Bloom. "Yes?" asked Sunny. "Shouldn't we call Sunset?" asked Apple Bloom. "We will but before that we need to eat. You never know how long these conversations will be." explained Sunny. They ate in silence and once all of them were done Sunny got her phone out and contacted Sunset, making sure to put her on speaker phone. "Hello?" "Sunset, we've got a situation." said Sunny. "What's going on?" "The three girls who were responsible for the Anon-A-Miss incident were attacked this morning by a monster." said Sunny. For a moment there was no response. "Hang on a minute." said Sunset. They heard an odd sound. "Alright. What do you know about it?" "The monster itself was almost entirely made of metal and seemed to be able to move around by becoming a large metal ball with an arm sticking out which it used to get itself into the air." "It sounds like you're talking about a specific class of monster. Anything outside of the physical description?" Sunny turned to the Crusaders and nodded. "Th-There was somethin'. Before we saw the monster, we saw a USB drive. It had a V on it." said Apple Bloom. "Whoever or whatever was holding it pressed something and we heard it say Violence." added Sweetie Belle. There was silence for a moment. "Is there anything you can tell us?" asked Octavia. "If what they said is true we're dealing with a Dopant which presents a big set of problems." replied Sunset. "Are they that tough?" asked Vinyl. "That isn't the issue. Just like with Bugsters who have to be separated by a Rider who uses a Gamer Driver and is at Level 1, a Dopant has to be defeated by someone using a Gaia Memory to transform." "What exactly is a Dopant?" asked Sour. "Remember how I showed you Eternal's Memory?" "Yeah." replied the others, minus the Crusaders who were a bit confused. "Well there's a few different types of Gaia Memories. The Eternal Memory is a purified one which makes it possible to use in a Driver to transform or can be used by a Rider for an attack. There's also Gadget memories which mostly work to activate certain gadgets but they can be used to enhance attacks. The last are Dopant Memories. Just as there are Lockseed Dealers there's also Memory Dealers. They'll usually sell them but on occasion have been known to give them to people with enough negative emotion. These dealers will create a bio connector by inserting a memory into a machine and then placing the other end of it somewhere on the person's body. From that point on whenever the person in question activates the memory the connector will appear on the person." explained Sunset. "Dopants are still human but the longer they use a memory the higher the number of possible side effects that come from the use of them and there have been cases of them resulting in the death of the user." "Then if a Dopant is a person using one of these memories it can't be one of us who delivers the finishing blow or else we'd kill whoever the monster is." said Vinyl. "Correct." replied Sunset. "Then what do we do?" asked Indigo. "We've got a few keywords so that might help." said Sunset. "If someone's targeting them specifically then the Dopant is more than likely someone whose secret they revealed. Unfortunately that list is too extensive and the only people we can eliminate right off the bat would be their sisters and their friends." "What do you mean?" asked Indigo. "Those five, or at least the sisters, probably had to do with the punishments they were given and considering they thought of those three as people, as opposed to how they thought of me as a mere possession, they wouldn't try to attack them." "Any suggestions of what we should do?" asked Lemon. "All Riders are physically enhanced after transforming. Capable of doing things most can't. If you can find whoever has the memory and take it from them there won't be a problem since any one of you will be able to break it. However if they use the memories you have to avoid hitting them with a finishing move. I'll contact some friends of mine to figure out who we're dealing with." "Are they in the city?" asked Vinyl. "Actually they're watching over Cloudsdale." replied Sunset. "Is there anything else you can remember? Anything could help. Even something the Dopant might've said." "She said they wanted to punish us and called us Friendship wreckers." said Apple Bloom. "Alright. I'll get in contact with these Rider. In the meantime try looking around the school and see if you can identify the Memory user." "Understood. We'll head over after school." said Sunny "Actually there's a place I'd like to meet you guys at. There's a café at the intersection of 62nd St. and Tempest Ave., I'll meet you there." "Understood." said Sunny before Sunset hung up. After she turned to the others. "Our best chance will be splitting into three groups. A few of us will go with each of them. We'll look for anyone who might look like they're hiding something." she explained to her friends and then turned to the Crusaders. "We'll need you to tell us what you remember revealing from who as we go around to give us more of an idea of what kind of suspect pool we're dealing with." "So you want us to try to narrow who would be more likely to want to attack them." said Sugarcoat. Sunny nodded. "Then let's get started, shall we." said Octavia. Back at Sunset’s place After hanging up she looked around. Over the last few hours she'd gone a bit wild with her stress relief. She learned that Cure Whip's module didn't just give her the skills to make sweets. For some reason whenever she was upset she just felt like baking...a lot. She looked around at all the sweets. "Maybe I overdid it a bit." she said to herself. "It doesn't matter. If Principal Celestia's anything like Princess Celestia then maybe I can just send these to her. Then again, I have no idea where they live. Alright. Time to make the call." She walked out of the kitchen and went to the living room where the tv became active. "Can you communicate me with our friends in Cloudsdale?" "Understood." said a mechanical voice. There was a ringing before the screen flickered and a room came into view. "Hello?" "Sunset Shimmer? Is that you?" asked a girl who looked about Sunset's age with light blue skin and long white and blue hair who stepped out wearing sky blue sweats and a white tank top before sighing. "I thought you were Max." "I guess you really don't forget, do you Minuette." said Sunset with a chuckle. "So what's going on?" "I need to talk to your partner." replied Sunset. "Oh. Hang on. I'll get her." After Minuette went off screen. "Hey Moon Dancer. Sunset needs to talk to you." "The Equestrian?" asked a new voice. After a girl with a yellowish white skin tone and long red hair which had violet and purple streaks who wore glasses and shorts with a long sleeve shirt stepped on screen holding a leather-bound book which had a dark purple reverse crescent moon with a star in the moon and two behind it. "Moon Dancer what do I keep telling you about calling me Equestrian?" deadpanned Sunset. "Apologies but it is quite rare for you to contact us and I'm sure you realize I love learning about new things, especially those not of this world." she said. "Okay. First of all I'm not a thing. Second, sorry, but I've been busy. I'm calling because I need you to perform a search in The Library." explained Sunset. "Very well." said Moon Dancer taking a step back before closing her eyes and extending her arms. "Did something happen?" asked Minuette. "Some girls were attacked by a Dopant here." explained Sunset. "Keywords?" asked Moon Dancer "Violence and Anon-A-Miss." said Sunset. "Still too many results." replied Moon Dancer with her eyes closed. "Not the term Anonymous. The second keyword is Anon - A - Miss." said Sunset. "There's still quite a few results. It seems like this Anon-A-Miss angered enough people to the point many of them still desire to use violence against them. Is there anything else?" "Try Broken Friendship." "Understood." said Moon Dancer. "Didn't that happen with a lot of them?" asked Minuette. "I don't think so. As I recall most the secrets exposed humiliated students but I don't recall hearing about any which resulted in broken friendships. Then again at the time I was terrified." "The results went down significantly but there's ten books left. Anything else?" "Yeah. The final keyword is friendship wreckers." said Sunset. "Perfect. I've got the answer." "Who's the enemy?" The others spent lunch searching for anyone who might seem suspicious but no one really stood out. Unfortunately, not only did the Crusaders remember most of the secrets they'd revealed, it seemed most of the students remained resentful. A few had forgiven them while other held enough of a grudge to not talk to them but clearly not to the point they'd attack them...or make any contact with them. As they went through everything they could remember the Crusaders were finally able to think with a bit of clarity since they were being protected. They realized the despair and loneliness they felt now was probably the same as what Sunset felt when she was first reformed only with a difference. They had been just as resentful towards Sunset as everyone else and avoided her like the plague but in that time their sisters and their friends were with her. The pain they felt when they saw the hateful stares actually made them feel worse than when they were beaten, locked, or thrown. They started realizing how much worse things were for Sunset when they framed her. The three groups reunited at the front of the school with the Crusaders feeling much worse than before. "Any luck?" asked Indigo. "Nothing on our end." said Sunny. "Same here." said Sugarcoat. "There are still way too many people who could've done it." said Vinyl scratching the back of her head. "We might be looking at this the wrong way." said Twilight. "What do you mean?" asked Octavia. "We know whoever attacked them had their secret revealed but so far that's all we've focused on." explained Twilight. "Then we should be looking for someone whose secret caused something else." said Sugarcoat. "So like someone who was hiding something from their friends." said Lemon with a hand on her chin. "Maybe we should just let them punish us." said Apple Bloom. The Shadowcolts turned to the younger girl surprised to see her in tears. "We did what we did to get our sisters back but we never considered just how much she had to go through." said Sweetie Belle covering her face with her hands though they could still see the tears that fell. "We deserve it." said Scootaloo. Lemon Zest balled her fist tightly before pulling Sweetie's hands away from her face and slapping all three of them surprising everyone. "Don't you EVER say something like that." she said angrily. "You did something bad. Possibly the worst thing you'll ever do, unless you were to kill someone but that's beside the point. Letting yourselves get bullied because of what you did isn't what you should do. Your sisters have to keep an eye on the other two and they're probably angry at you but just giving up your lives is not the way to make up for what you did. Even Sunset is willing to protect you because she knows that you dying would be completely pointless." she said turning away from them. "I had a younger sister but she was taken. You can bet your asses that if she did something like this I would've been protecting her. Even if I can't transform I am going to do anything I can to make sure you make it through this." The other Shadowcolts looked at each other before Sour walked behind her and placed a hand on her shoulder. Lemon turned and saw her friend smile causing her to smile. The Crusaders looked at each other. "I guess we were just in shock since we never really understood just how bad things became for Sunset when we framed her." said Sweetie. "I guess we should just focus on making sure we make it back to our families." said Apple Bloom. "Now that that's settled we can get back on..." began Twilight right before the bell rang. "...track." "What do we do?" asked Sweetie Belle. "Head to class. We'll meet out in front after school and then we'll head to the place Sunset mentioned." explained Sunny. The Crusaders nodded before leaving. Behind the gym of the school there was a girl who was with Pixie who smiled. "Here." said Pixie handing her a medium sized leather bag. The girl grabbed it and noticed it was kind of heavy. "The others are kinda busy so these should help." The girl reached inside and pulled out a silver coin that had the picture of a mantis on it. "What am I supposed to do with these?" asked the girl. "When you're using your memory break some of these coins in half and throw them for backup. Have fun." said Pixie. The girl sighed and hid the bag in her backpack before walking to her next class. The rest of the day went fairly normal. They were lucky enough that most of the other students who liked to attack them got the message that they were being protected. For the most part. Once class ended the others made sure to search for the Crusaders immediately. They got lucky enough to get to the three before the group from earlier got to them but just barely. Seeing this the group acted as if they were just passing by. The group walked out the front of the school along with most of the other students but before they left something unexpected happened. The Violence Dopant stepped out from behind the statue's base causing all the other students to run back inside in a panic. "Why did they run back inside?" asked Indigo confused. Vinyl shrugged. "Focus." said Sugarcoat. "It's time to deliver punishment." said the Dopant. "Not while we're here." said Indigo. "Twilight. Lemon. Keep the girls safe." said Sunny. The two nodded. "It won't be so simple." said the Dopant taking out a bag from which it pulled out coins. "Is it trying to bribe us?" asked Vinyl as they put on their Drivers. They watched as it broke the coins in half and threw them causing them to form several creatures from bandages that came out of the broken coins and walked somewhat like zombies. "Huh." "Quite unexpected." said Octavia as they all transformed. What they didn't notice at first was that each broken coin made more creature than it seemed at first. The Riders all took out their weapons, which for Kabuto was a weapon that looked like a short sword which seemed to double as a gun and for Necrom was a rifle like weapon with what looked like a foldable hand where the barrel ended. The creatures attacked them and they countered but as they fought the Dopant broke more coins causing them to be overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of creatures to the point that they were surrounded which allowed a few to make it to Lemon and Twilight. "What do we do?" asked Twilight. "You watch the girls." said Lemon holding out her arm. Twilight became confused until she saw Lemon's arm glow for a moment before the glow moved to her hand where it took the form of an odd-looking sword that had a clear space that seemed empty. "What is that?" asked Twilight surprised as the Crusaders looked at her just as surprised. Lemon held the sword with both hands and began to swing it, using the weight of the blade to deal more damage. At first it was only a few of them that got past the others and it wasn't long before she found herself unable to keep track of them. It was then someone ran and kicked a few of them away. Lemon turned to see a girl with a light pink skin tone who had purplish pink hair with a white stripe and wore a white skirt with a black tank top, yellow boots and jacket, pink earrings, and a small tiara. "Who are you?" asked Lemon. "Diamond Tiara?" asked Apple Bloom surprise as the other two Crusaders looked in shock. "You're helping us?" asked Sweetie Belle. "We don't have time to talk right now." said Diamond. "Do you know how to fight?" asked Lemon. "Very well. My father's always been afraid I might be kidnapped and held for ransom." replied Diamond. "Good enough for me." said Lemon slashing at another creature. The Crusaders watched as someone they'd called an enemy was fighting to protect them which kind of shorted out their brains. Twilight, not knowing Diamond or her history with the Crusaders, was much more surprised at how skilled the younger girl seemed to be. At the very least it seemed that even though these strange mummy like monster were numerous they weren't all that strong. The Dopant began getting impatient and was about to walk to the Crusaders when something caught everyone's attention. The sound of a violin but it seemed to be coming from somewhere above them. They turned towards the roof of the school where they saw Seikō only her armor resembled a metallic red dress which included a partial skirt, an ornament which was on the helmet and resembled wings where her ears would be if she wasn't wearing a helmet, and what looked like hot pink metal hair which split into four tails. They saw the helmet's eyes were a deep red, softer than the energy her body released when she used Furia, and held a red violin which had a module inserted at the point where the strings were tightened. Even the strange mummy monsters looked at her though they couldn't tell if there was any actual shock in their eyes because they didn't seem to have any. "What's she doing?" Diamond asked Lemon who shrugged. A strange looking circle formed above her from which they saw fire emerge and take the form of a phoenix. "Phoenix Blaze!" called out Seikō as the phoenix flew towards them. The others were surprised at the size of the attack, which was now headed for them. However, to their surprise, the flames which engulfed all the monsters, touched them but didn't hurt them. The monsters disintegrated while the Violence Dopant growled. "It's not over yet." Seikō Scarlet jumped from the roof and landed between the Riders and those who were protecting the Crusaders before turning to Lemon and pulling out an object which looked like a motorcycle handle with a speedometer in the middle and a small open slot above that. "I believe this is for you." she said surprising the others. "So that's where it goes." said Lemon with a smile. She stabbed her sword into the ground before taking the Driver. "Wait. Then that means..." began Meteor as Lemon placed it at her waist causing the belt to extend. Then she pulled out a Gaia Memory like the one Sunset had shown them only this one was red with an A on it. Lemon pressed the button on it. "Accel!" called a voice. "Henshin!" she called out as she inserted it in the slot causing an A that looked like a speedometer to appear on it. Lemon revved her driver causing the uncurved line on the A to move for the complete letter before she revved it again causing eight red pistons to appear around her forming red electric energy on her body which caused a red and silver armor to appear. Like the others, she had a face plate but this one was just blue with lights and a silver piece that went from parts of the back of the helmet to the front forming an A on the blue part of it. She also had railing on her back with a tire and half a tire at the side of each ankle. "I guess this makes me Kamen Rider Accel." she said smirking under her helmet. "So what took you so long?" "Nee-san sent me the Accel Driver and upgraded my weapon." Seikō explained. She noticed Diamond and sighed before turning to the Dopant. "You really don't intend to reveal your true identity?" she asked. "I have no reason to show my face to the guilty." said the Dopant. "Is that really what you believe, Silver Spoon?" Hearing this shocked the Crusaders and Diamond Tiara. Gaim had a pretty good idea of who this girl was but didn't really know anything about her personally. The Dopant sighed before its body shrank down revealing a girl with a grey skin tone, and similar braided hair who had glasses in a yellow skirt and purple shirt and the memory came out of the back of her left hand. "How did you know?" asked Silver. "I had a friend of mine look up some information." said Seikō. "It seemed that what was revealed from you was more than just something embarrassing." "What do you mean?" asked Accel. "The secret of hers that was revealed." said Diamond. "It was that she'd been stealing things from me that she thought I wouldn't notice." "Exactly." said Seikō. "It seems that from the moment they decided to go their own ways Silver decided that best choice was to personally punish those who were responsible for revealing her secret." "Those three little bitches cost me my best friend." said Silver clenching her fist. "Friends don't steal from one another!" yelled out Diamond. "You didn't even want them!" countered Silver. "You're right. I didn't but they were all gifts from my family so even if I wouldn't have worn them in public they were still important to me." yelled Diamond. "Perhaps they can resolve this." said Twilight a bit hopeful. "The time for talk is over." said Silver. "Violence." The Bio Connector appeared on the back of her left hand and she inserted the memory becoming the Violence Dopant once more before she started breaking all the rest of the coins which created a much larger group of monsters than before. "Waste Dummies?" asked Seikō surprised. "Wait what?" asked Meteor. "I'll explain later." said Seikō. "Couldn't you just burn them again?" asked Gaim. "Even using the power of the Princess of Flames the level of focus I need to be able to target specific enemies in an area while avoiding others is much greater than what I'm able to right now. It's more of a one-off thing." she explained. "So what's the plan?" asked Accel. "You're gonna have to take care of the girl." explained Seikō. Accel nodded. "Sour we need a new stage." "Got it." said Ex-Aid pressing the button on the slot in the side of her belt. "Stage Select!" called out another voice as the Stage Select roulette formed around her and moved before stopping on the image of a forest which expanded changing their surroundings. "Dude. That is awesome." said Accel going up to Diamond. "Keep an eye on those three." Diamond nodded and went back with Twilight and the Crusaders. "Alright everyone. Let's get to work." said Seikō as her weapon changed from a violin to a sword which she split down the middle into two swords. "Let's take the stage!" declared Gaim. The group all drew their weapons and attacked with Accel heading to the Dopant holding her sword. She swung but Silver used the ball shaped hand she now had to counter her strikes. The good thing about having transformed was that the clash between the metal of her blade and the metal Silver's Dopant form had still created a vibration but it was considerably less. "If that's all you've got this'll be easier than I thought." said the Dopant. "We'll see about that." said Accel pulling out a grey memory with an E on it which she activated. "Engine!" called out the voice from before. She pressed something on the handle of her sword letting it fold forward and letting her insert the Engine Memory into the empty slot on the sword before closing it. Then she pressed a trigger that was on the handle of her weapon. "Steam!" called out the voice as she thrust her weapon towards the Dopant's face releasing a large burst of steam which caused her to stumble back giving Accel an opening to strike a few times and then thrusting her blade knocking the Dopant back. "I guess I underestimated you." "Happens more often than I'd like." said Accel. "Now let's..." she began before the Dopant started attacking her. "I guess I'll just have to make sure you can't attack." "Just try it." said Accel pressing the trigger again. "Electric!" She blocked the Dopant's next attack with her blade which sent a strong electric current flowing through her currently metal body which threw her back. Realizing she was in trouble she changed into a ball like before jumping away. "Just try it!" she said pulling her Driver off her belt before jumping causing the black frame looking pipes with the wheel to move in front of her helmet while the two tire halves at her feet became one. Everyone, minus Seikō, looked in shock as Accel became a motorcycle and chased after the Violence Dopant. Luckily, she didn't get too far since she was a really big bouncing ball of metal being chased by a human motorcycle. Once she reached the Violence Dopant she popped a wheelie with the front wheel and spun, hitting her forcing her back into her humanoid form. Accel switched back bringing out her weapon. "It's time to pay for your crime." she said holding her weapon aimed at the Dopant. She pressed the trigger again. "Engine! Maximum Drive!" it called out. She slashed three times in the shape of an A, but turned her back when she slashed the short line, creating a red A which went straight to the Dopant causing her to explode. Accel walked towards Silver Spoon who was now on the ground and trying to move towards her Memory which was a few feet from her before it suddenly shattered leaving her wide eyed. She walked up to the girl and picked her up in her arms. When she did their surroundings changed back to the front of the school and she was back with the others who had finished taking care of the Waste Yummies. The rest of the students started coming out of the school. As they did Accel passed Silver Spoon to Seikō. "I'll get her checked out." she said jumping onto a roof and leaving. The others changed back and, to their surprise Lemon Zest stepped in front of them looking at all the students of the school. "Alright you bunch of assholes, listen up!" she yelled getting everyone's attention and surprising her friends. "We may still be new to the school but we know about the Anon-A-Miss thing so let me make one thing clear. What these girl did was bad but you morons have been using them as scapegoats for the truth. They told secrets but a lot of those secrets were sent to them by you hypocrites. Maybe not all of you but more than enough of you. Let me make one thing crystal clear. As of right now these three girls are under our protection, even if they're not with us so if anything happens to them we will find whoever did and punish them ourselves and I'm sure you know how much any one of us could hurt you." Her friends looked at her in shock while the other students stood silent. Lemon walked up to the Crusaders. "We've got our own things to take care of but here." she said handing Apple Bloom a folded paper. "Call me if anything happens." The three younger girls looked at her and then nodded. "Good." she said turning to her friends. "Let's go." It took them a moment before they went with her. The Crusaders stepped up to Diamond Tiara. "Why'd you help us?" asked Apple Bloom. "We thought you hated us like the others." "We never got along but the Anon-A-Miss thing didn't exactly give me a reason to hate you." said Diamond. "If anything I think I owe you for showing me that my friend wasn't really my friend. I've always been afraid of letting people get close to me because I never liked the idea of being used. Let me just make one thing clear. I'm not your friend but if you ever need help with anything you can call me. Whether you're being bullied or need some other favor." she said walking away from them. The Crusaders looked at Diamond in shock as she continued to walk.