//------------------------------// // The Gilded Sword // Story: Kamen Rider Justice // by RuinQueenofOblivion //------------------------------// “Are you feeling okay Scootaloo?” Sweetie Belle asked as she looked at Scootaloo who was staring up at the ceiling of their room. A few days had passed since the fight at the Battle of the Bands and things had been quiet. “You’ve been kind of distracted all day.” “Sorry, I’m just thinking about everything you know?” Scootaloo asked as she turned over on her side and looked at Sweetie with a soft smile. “It’s still a little hard to process everything, to be honest. I never really thought about myself as much of a superhero.” “Really, what about the time you ran around pretending to be Supergirl?” Sweetie asked with a knowing smirk. “I was 8 years old and it was my Halloween costume that year!” Scootaloo said which just made Sweetie laugh. “Besides, you’re one to talk Batgirl.” “You enjoy reminding me of the silly things I did when I was young don’t you?” Sweetie asked as she leaned in and gave Scootaloo a soft kiss on the lips. “You’re lucky I love you, you know that right?” “I’m reminded of it every day of my life,” Scootaloo said as she wrapped her arms gently around Sweetie Belle. “And I wouldn’t trade you in for anything.” “Me neither,” Sweetie said softly as she snuggled up against her girlfriend and sighed happily. But she still felt a little worried about Scootaloo, Tripen had been the toughest fight she had to date and she had only won it because she had Sweetie Drops’ help. What if next time that help wasn’t going to be enough? Were the two of them going to be able to handle whatever the Order threw at them every time? That was why she and Apple Bloom had wanted to help, but she couldn’t help but feel like there was so much more she could do. “Sweetie, what’s wrong?” Scootaloo asked as she gently stroked Sweetie’s hair. “You seem even more distracted than I am.” “I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing,” Sweetie said and smiled a little as she gave Scootaloo a weak smile. “I really am lucky to have you…” “Is everything okay? They’re not giving you any more trouble at the restaurant are they?” Scootaloo asked. “No, I guess, it’s just about everything that’s happened lately,” Sweetie said with a shrug. “Even after what your grandmother gave us I still feel like I could do a lot more to help you out. I just, don’t really know how I could do that.” “I, honestly don’t know,” Scootaloo admitted. “I mean if you could find another one of the cards they could probably give you a Driver. Other than that, I really don’t know, I’m not even sure how these cards work.” “Don’t worry about it Scootaloo,” Sweetie said. “I’m just worried about you. That last one could’ve killed you if…” Scootaloo placed her finger on Sweetie’s lips and shook her head. “I’m fine, we don’t need to dwell on what ifs. Right now we need to worry about what might happen next and learn from what mistakes were made in the past.” “Right, sorry,” Sweetie said, her voice a little muffled as Scootaloo lowered her finger and gave her a soft kiss on the lips. “I love you Scootaloo, I’ve never been luckier in my life to have you.” “It’s the same for me,” Scootaloo said softly as she held Sweetie close to her chest. “You’re the love of my life. I feel like I could spend the rest of my life with you.” “Don’t tell Honey that, she’s been wondering when we’re going to get married,” Sweetie Belle said with a laugh. “Little kids huh?” “Yeah, little kids,” Scootaloo said with a chuckle as she kissed Sweetie’s forehead. It wasn’t that she hadn’t thought about it, she didn’t have the money to afford a ring right now and was saving up for from her part-time job, but it was going to take awhile. She really wanted to spend the rest of her life with Sweetie Belle. Just the thought of actually trying to propose made her a little nervous. Still, she knew that it was what she should do, and if she had fought monsters then she could do this. She just had to get the money. “What do you tell her when she says that?” “Oh, that she should talk to you so you get the idea,” Sweetie said with a laugh which made Scootaloo roll her eyes a little. “She’s a good kid though, sometimes I wish they still lived here so I could do more aunt things.” “Is she still calling me Auntie Scootaloo?” Scootaloo asked with a chuckle. “Yep, I don’t think she’s giving up on it,” Sweetie said with a laugh. “You might as well just get down on one knee and propose, get it over with.” “Someday…” Scootaloo said softly as she rolled over with Sweetie still in her arms. “I will someday, I promise.” “I’ll hold you to that,” Sweetie said as she leaned in and gave Scootaloo a soft kiss on the lips. “You know that right?” “I know,” Scootaloo said and smiled a little. “I’m a woman of my word you know. I love you Sweetie Belle, and I want to make you happy. Right now, that’s all that matters to me.” Sweetie smiled softly as she ran her hand slowly down Scootaloo’s front, pulling up her t-shirt a little. “Mmm, yes I know,” she said as she softly kissed the other girl’s neck. “Perhaps I’ll have to give you some extra incentive though.” Scootaloo smiled a little as she stroked Sweetie’s hair gently. She leaned back and enjoyed the feeling of her girlfriend’s lips pressing against her skin. 00000 “Where is our “friend”?” Caesar asked as he walked into the main room of the Order base where Priellit was sitting. “He told me he would be here waiting for me.” “Yes, well he was drawn away for a special mission,” Priellit said as she glanced back at Caesar. “You said you wanted a chance to prove yourself did you not?” “He’s been looking down on me this whole time, I am not going to stand for that,” Caesar said as he narrowed his eyes a little. “You were to inform me next time the Wheel said it was time for a summon. I assume that you’re here to give me the news.” “Indeed,” Priellit said as she finished shuffling the summoning deck and placed it on the table in front of her. “There is enough energy being called forth to summon either a high ranked agent or…” “Or what?” Caesar asked. “Or more than one low ranked agent,” Priellit said. “We now have a disadvantage when it comes to numbers because of that new Rider. I think it’s time we start to level the playing field a little, the choice is simple and the Wheel will provide.” “Very well,” Caesar said as he looked down at her. She was right, they needed to be more careful now that there were two Riders, that hadn’t been something they had expected to deal with. “We will summon two Agents for now then, make it so.” Priellit closed her eyes as she placed her hand on top of the deck and chanted softly to herself. She picked two cards up off the top of the deck and looked down at them curiously. “Interesting, a sword and a shield are now in play,” she said as she spread the two cards out. One had a blindfolded figure holding two swords in their hands while the other depicted a heart with three swords stabbed through it. “The Two of Swords and the Three of Swords. Cards of Indecision, confusion, information overload, and painful separation. These are cards I wasn’t expecting to come into play.” “A shield card,” Caesar said as he looked at the Three of Swords. “Are you sure it is wise to give our enemy more weapons to use against us if they fail?” “That is always a risk, especially now that more Riders are in play,” Priellit said with a shake of her head. “The risk will always be great, but if we can succeed at this then imagine the rewards. The Master will reward us greatly, especially if he was unable to succeed.” “Very well,” Caesar said with a nod. “Summon them, they will become our new agents. The time has come to bring these Riders and their SMILE leaders to their knees.” “Indeed,” Priellit said as she raised the cards up and chanted. After a moment they glowed and vanished. “It is done, they will find their hosts and then track down Scootaloo Dash and this new Rider.” “Good,” Caesar said and then paused a moment. “What do you make of him and this Tarot Driver business? It feels like he’s just asking for trouble by even holding one of those.” “You know how he is, he’s always thinking ahead,” Priellit said. “In time he will either succeed or he will fail based on how things go. He is as beholden to the Master as the rest of us are, if not more so.” “Because he’s the second in command?” Caesar asked and she nodded. “But perhaps, if something happens that exposes his foolishness the Master will need a new one.” “You have a devious mind Caesar, make sure that it doesn’t get you into trouble,” Priellit said with a shake of her head. “The Master is more than likely willing to blame you for your own mistakes than overlook them. You are going to have to do more than just defeat the Riders.” “I suppose you’re right,” Caesar said as he rubbed his chin thoughtfully for a moment. “I need to set myself apart from the other candidates in the Order. I must make sure that I am the best candidate above anyone else, but how…” “I’m sure you’ll think of something,” Priellit said with a roll of her eye. “You always manage to somehow. I can’t imagine why Emperaneu ever ran off.” Caesar snorted and walked off, ignoring the woman’s comment. Priellit smirked a little as she watched him go and shook her head. “Keep trying to play your little game Caesar, the trap is already being set for you and you’re about to walk right into it,” she said. 00000 “I’m never going to get away from that silly name am I?” Sweetie Drops asked as she looked at her phone. She and Lyra were grabbing lunch at a restaurant in downtown Canterlot and were waiting for their food to arrive. “What now?” Lyra asked as she looked at her. “Is everything okay?” “This Riderwatch blog,” Sweetie Drops said with a shake of her head. “They apparently got some footage of me transformed. They’re talking about me as the city’s new Kamen Rider already, I thought it would take longer.” “Let me see that,” Lyra said as she grabbed her friend’s phone and read it. “The newest Kamen Rider in this City is Kamen Rider Amores. She was instrumental in saving the guests of the Battle of the Bands last night from a demonic punk rocker. As you can tell from these photos, she seems to be able to strike with…” “Give me that back,” Sweetie Drops said as she snatched her hand back. “You get my point, this is all kind of silly. I didn’t even like that name and she’s basically made it official.” “Hey, it beats Kamen Rider Lovers, that sounds like a weird fan club or something,” Lyra said with a chuckle. “Come on Bon Bon, it doesn’t hurt to have some fans and you were bound to get a name that was weird anyway. Kind of the downside to drawing power from tarot cards, they don’t have a lot of good names.” “Yeah, I noticed,” Sweetie Drops said with a chuckle. “22 cards in the Major Arcana and I get the one that has a weird name. Though I suppose it could be worse, I could be Kamen Rider Fool, that would just sound weird.” “Heh yeah, but it’s not all bad,” Lyra said with a smile. “It brought the two of us back together, didn’t it?” “Yeah, that it did,” Sweetie Drops said with a smile as she looked across the Table at Lyra. The darker skinned girl brushed her green hair back a little and gave her a smile. “I really should’ve stayed in touch.” “You really are jealous of Scootaloo huh?” Lyra asked with a chuckle. “There’s not much point in denying it is there?” Sweetie Drops asked with a sigh. “She’s got two great friends and a girlfriend who will do anything to help her. She gets into a fight with a shapeshifting monster and they learn how to use throwing knives to fight monsters. They’re friends like I feel like I’ve never really had before.” “That’s not true, you had great friends,” Lyra said. “The problem was that you cut yourself away from the rest of the world. You need to remember that your friends will always be there for you when you need them, just like I am now.” “Yeah, thanks,” Sweetie Drops said with a soft smile as the waiter set their food down and gave them a small nod. She waited until he was out of earshot so they could talk again. “What should I do next? Should I try to get back in contact with everyone else? What would I even tell them?” “Just be yourself, you can’t tell them yet of course but there’s no harm in getting in touch with them right?” Lyra asked as she picked her fork up. “Sweetie Drops, you have nothing to worry about. They miss you as much as you miss them, you just need to take the time to open back up to them.” “Alright, thanks,” Sweetie Drops said with a smile. She was about to say something else when there was the sound of screaming coming from outside. “Oh great, what now…” She looked out the window and down the street where two figures were approaching. One of them was dressed like some sort of warrior with inhuman features and muscles with a helmet covering his face. He was holding a sword in his hand and he scowled a little as he looked around and had a circle with two crossed swords on his chest. The other figure was a massive muscular warrior covered head to toe in black armor with spikes covering it. He was holding a shield in front of him that looked like it was made of the same metal as the armor and had a circle with three crossed swords on his chest. “That’s, not good,” Sweetie Drops said. “Any chance the renaissance fair is in town early this year?” Lyra asked and Sweetie Drops shook her head. “Alright, what’s the plan?” “I gotta fight them,” Sweetie Drops said as she got up and placed her hand on her Driver in her pocket. “Where’s a good place to transform though?” “Try the back alley, you just have to…” Lyra said and Sweetie Drops said nothing, and instead ran over to the kitchen door and went through it. She held up a badge that showed she worked for the government and she was let through without a problem. She pushed the door open to the back alley and her nose wrinkled a little at the smell but she needed to make sure she did this right. She took out the Tarot Driver and set it on her waist as the belt formed around her. “Henshin!” She said as she slid the cards into her Driver. “LOVE CONQUERS ALL THINGS!” The Driver said as the energy flowed around her and formed the armor and the bow. She ran outside just as the monsters reached the restaurant and drew her bow back and aimed it at the one that was holding the sword. She fired the energy arrow at the sword wielder and it flew through the air… ...only to be intercepted by the shield holder who jumped in front of it and blocked it with his shield. “Crap…” Sweetie Drops said as she quickly drew the bow back again and fired another shot only to have it intercepted too. “Okay, that’s not good,” Lyra’s voice said in her head. “I’m watching you from the restaurant, you’re not looking good. These guys may present a problem…” “Yah think?” Sweetie Drops asked with a roll of her eyes as she fired another arrow only to have it miss as the Swordwielder smirked at her. “Rider… well, at least you were easy to find,” the sword wielder said as he pointed his sword right at Sweetie Drops. “You’re going down, I won’t let you stand in the way of the Order again!” “In your dreams,” Sweetie Drops said as she took a step back and fired another arrow at the advancing monsters only to have the shield wielder catch it again. “Okay, I admit, you’re clever teaming up but this isn’t over yet.” “Agent Drops, is everything okay? We’re getting two signatures in your area,” Fleur’s voice said over her communicator. “What’s going on?” “I found two Swords Suit monsters,” Sweetie Drops answered. “They don’t look particularly happy to see me and one of them is using a shield instead of a sword.” “Two? That’s never happened before,” Fleur said on the other end. “But a shield monster, that’s not a good sign. I’ll get Scootaloo there as soon as she can, but I think she’s working today.” “Well right now would be a good time to figure out how to get her some time off,” Sweetie Drops said as she ducked out of the way of a sword slash and raised her bow and fired an arrow point blank into the sword-wielding monster’s chest. “GAH!” He shouted as he fell back but pulled himself up quickly enough. “Impudent little…” “Let’s go, she’s not our target anyway,” the shield carrier said as he gave his partner a nod. “This isn’t worth our time right now.” “But she’s right here, we can take her and be rewarded by Caesar!” The Sword wielder said. “This isn’t the time to run, not when we have the advantage!” The shield wielder pointed up at a rooftop and the sword wielder paused a moment as he glanced up towards it. Sweetie Drops did the same and frowned when she saw a man dressed in a black suit with a hat standing there. “Right, of course…” the monster with the sword said. “But you haven’t seen the last of us yet! We will be back, and you will pay for your crimes against the Order!” A shadow enveloped them and they vanished. Sweetie Drops just looked confused for a moment as she looked back up. The man in black was gone. “Okay, that’s weird, we got a big spike in energy and now it’s gone,” Fleur said on the other end. “What happened over there?” “I honestly don’t know,” Sweetie Drops said. “But I don’t like this, how big a spike in energy are we talking?” “It’s bigger than the one we got the night Scootaloo’s parents were killed,” Fleur answered. “We may have just had a close encounter with one of the Commanders.” “Well that’s not good,” Lyra’s voice said in Sweetie Drops’ head. “How powerful are we talking about here?” “Very powerful,” Sweetie Drops said as she lowered her bow and frowned a little. “We all need to be on guard right now. Whatever it was that was here scared off those two goons, and I don’t want to know what it was.” “Right,” Fleur said. “We’ll look into all the data we have and see if we can at least get an idea of what we’re dealing with here. I want you both at HQ, we can figure out what’s going on from there hopefully.” “On it,” Sweetie Drops said as she headed back into the alleyway and powered down as she put the Driver and cards away. She just hoped that they were going to be able to handle exactly what was going on. 00000 “Yer kiddin’, there was two of ‘em this time?” Apple Bloom asked. It was later that afternoon and Sweetie Drops and Lyra were in the HQ giving a debriefing on everything that had happened. “And what’s this about a shield?” Sweetie Belle asked. “They’re called Shield Cards, each suit has one,” Fleur said as she walked in with Fancy Pants close behind. “Like the other cards, they summon weapons but instead of being for offensive purposes they’re to protect the wielder. I had one back in the day when I was Magician.” “So, we’re dealing with what, the Two of Swords and the Three of Swords?” Scootaloo asked. “That’s what their symbol looked like yes,” Sweetie drops said as she looked over at Lyra. “Did you get a good read on those guys?” “No, but they were working together, that’s not a good sign right?” Lyra asked and they all shook their heads. “This hasn’t ever happened before?” “No, they’ve always sent one at a time,” Fancy Pants said as he polished his monocle. “But then again last time we only had one Rider. It’s more than likely that this is a response to the escalating situation with Kamen Rider Amores.” “I still don’t like that name,” Sweetie Drops muttered. “I like it, besides its what the city gave you,” Sweetie Belle said with a chuckle. “Don’t worry about it Agent Drops, you’re going to be just fine even with a kind of silly Rider name.” Sweetie Drops shook her head a little. At least she was getting a better hang of her new Rider powers, even if this whole thing was kind of weird. This was still what she had been training for, now it was just a matter of making sure that training was worth it. “What about that strange woman that they encountered before?” Apple Bloom asked. “Do we know anythin’ about her?” “No, she’s something of a mystery,” Fancy Pants said. “Still, what she gave us was useful. We’re already having our techs pick apart the bullets to figure out how to replicate them.” “Ah find it weird that she’s bein’ so helpful,” Apple Bloom commented. “We need all the help we can get,” Scootaloo said with a shake of her head. “But still, she’s kind of odd. I wish I could figure out more about her.” “I’m sure answers will come in time,” Fancy Pants said. “Just because we don’t know a lot about her now doesn’t mean she won’t be more forthcoming down the line. I wouldn’t worry about it, just focus on dealing with this new threat.” “So, how do we defeat two monsters at the same time?” Scootaloo asked. “That doesn’t seem like something that would be very easy to do even with two of us given that one of them can protect the other and himself.” “A fair question,” Fleur said. “Which means that you two will either have to work even closer together, or we’ll have to draw the two of them apart. Neither of them are great options so we’re going to have to approach this carefully.” “Right, of course,” Sweetie Drops said. “It still feels like we’re not getting the whole picture here. And what about that reading you picked up right before they vanished?” “We’re still getting nowhere on that,” Fancy Pants said. “The fact of the matter is that we aren’t entirely sure how powerful it was. Just trying to scan it nearly shorted out our systems.” Scootoloo paused a moment at that, that didn’t sound good. If there really was a commander or something out there and they were connected to these attacks somehow that would be bad. “So, what are we supposed to do now?” Sweetie Belle asked. “We’ve got two Riders and two monsters, how are we going to separate them?” “That’s not something that will be easy if they’re working together,” Fancy Pants said with a shake of his head. “We’re going to have to do something to drive them apart better more than likely, but how…” “It would probably help if we knew who we were dealing with,” Fleur said with a shake of her head. “We’ve been dealing with kind of a mixed bag of hosts this time around. I think we need to make sure that we know who we’re dealing with for sure this time.” “So, how do we do that?” Lyra asked. “I doubt they just leave pieces of paper around with their pictures on them that say “I’m now a monster” that we can find.” “No, but they might have families or friends that notice they’re gone,” Sweetie Belle suggested. “That’s what happened with Diamond, her family was worried about her when she was possessed by the card.” “Right, we’ll look into any missing person reports or anything we can find on social media,” Fancy Pants said. “If we can assume that we’re looking for someone who fits what the card represents that will help as well.” “Unfortunately I doubt it would be that simple,” Sweetie Drops said. “I’ve read up on Tarot cards, they’re vague enough that they could fit just about anyone to a degree depending on what’s going on in their life. I think we need to pursue the missing person angle, or at least come up with some sort of profile as to what we should look for.” “Alright good,” Fancy Pants said. “We have a lot of options right now and we can pursue any one of them. Honestly, we have got to figure out exactly what we are looking for and what we are up against here. We don’t know a lot about our enemy right now, and they have the advantage of teamwork.” “So, then we need to beat them with our own teamwork,” Scootaloo said as she looked at Sweetie Drops and her friends. “None of us have to stand alone in this situation. We’re all in this together right now, and we can beat this if we work together.” “Right,” Sweetie Belle said, though she was still a little nervous about this whole thing. She didn’t want to tell that to her friends though, so, for now, she just had to focus on helping them. “Alright, Sweetie Drops, Lyra, we’ve got your bike ready if you want to see it,” Fancy Pants said with a nod. “Scootaloo, you and your friends are free to go, right now we need you well rested and alert. If the monsters attack again, we’re going to need you ready to go.” “Right,” Scootaloo said as she and her friends got up together. “I just have to ask one thing, why do you think they haven’t tried this before? I mean, they have summoners right, why haven’t they just sent a whole bunch of monsters after us at once?” “That is an excellent question Scootaloo,” Fancy Pants said. “Honestly I don’t know the answer, I think it’s tied into however they summon these monsters but I don’t have a lot of evidence to support that. I wish I knew why, but as long as they are playing by these rules we have some advantage at least.” “Right,” Scootaloo said as they headed out of the office and back out of the HQ. 00000 The next day Sweetie Belle sighed a little as she picked up the bill from another customer. She didn’t like that nothing had happened, it felt like the other shoe was waiting to drop right now and whatever was going on was just waiting for them to mess up. She walked over to process the purchase, which had been by a man who had been strangely quiet other than to order. She took out the money (he paid in cash, exact change too plus a tip, how odd), and started putting it away when she felt something that was definitely not a dollar bill. “What the…” She said as she held up a card, it depicted a woman dressed in royal finery and seated on a throne and holding a flower in her hand. “Wait, is this…” She turned and saw the man leaving the restaurant and she ran after him. Once outside he stopped as he was leaning on a cane and glanced back at her. “Can I help you?” He asked in a cold voice. “Why did you leave this for me?” Sweetie Belle asked as she held the card up. “You know what this thing is right?” “I know,” the man said before he turned back to face away from her. “You have the potential to do so much. You want to help your girlfriend don’t you?” “How did you…” Sweetie Belle asked. “I know a lot of things, I know that your girlfriend is putting herself at risk,” the mysterious man said. “And I know that you would do anything to help and protect her. Call that a down payment, when you are ready I will come again and give you the power to help her.” “What do you mean? What do you even want in return?” Sweetie Belle demanded. “You’re not just giving me one of these cards for no reason are you?” “No, but I do request that you keep it between us,” the man said. “If you don’t, then well, Scootaloo may not survive.” “You wouldn’t dare…” Sweetie Belle said. “Oh, I wouldn’t, would I?” He asked as he turned his head, his eyes were glowing red. “You don’t know what forces you and your girlfriend are messing with. This is your best chance to protect her and you know it.” “But…” Sweetie Belle said as she looked down at the card and then back at the man. “Why would you give this to me?” “Because you are who I need,” he said with a sneer. “I need your strength to reach my goals. I’m helping you, so you will help me or face the consequences, understood?” He walked off still leaning on his cane as he did. Sweetie Belle looked down at the card for a long moment. She tucked it away in her pocket, for now she wouldn’t tell her friends about what had happened and as long as it wasn’t active it shouldn’t give off a signature anyway. She hated having to hide this from Scootaloo, but she was going to try and get rid of it as soon as she could. She was not going to let that man use her like this, she didn’t trust him one bit. She just had to figure out how she was going to get rid of it. “Hey Sweetie, is everything okay out here?” Lyra asked as she poked her head out of the cafe. “The manager is worried about you, you’ve been running out a lot lately.” “Yeah, its just about, the, you know, extra-curricular activities,” Sweetie said as she pocketed the card and hoped that Lyra didn’t notice it. “Come on, let’s go back inside.” “Sweetie, you know you can talk to me about anything right?” Lyra asked as Sweetie walked back up to the door. “I’m the only one here who knows about those things other than you, we gotta stick together if we’re working together.” “It’s nothing, I’ll figure it out myself,” Sweetie said as she gave her a soft smile. “Thanks though Lyra. I’m glad I’ve got someone else helping me out here other than when Scootaloo stops by for lunch.” “Yeah, well we gotta stick together,” Lyra said with a nod as she headed back to the kitchen. “Yeah, we do…” Sweetie said as she placed her hand on the pocket that held the weird Tarot card. She had no idea what was up with that man and honestly, she was getting more and more uneasy about the whole thing. She just hoped that she could get rid of that thing in a way that wouldn’t put anyone else at risk. She shook her head and went to talk to the manager before getting back to work. 00000 “You two are incompetent!” Caesar said as he stormed into the throne room with the two monsters from before behind him. “You had that Rider in your grasp, all you had to do was finish the job! What in the name of the Wheel were you thinking?” “Lord Caesar, we were going to, but we had orders from higher up, right Harrsone?” The sword carried said with a gulp. “We couldn’t ignore what he said my lord, we’re mere servants of the court.” “You’re spineless, that’s what you are Unkyor!” Caesar said as he backhanded the monster that had spoken. “I sent you out there to do a job! You failed to do it, and…” “Now, now Caesar, that seems a bit harsh,” Kuagua said as he appeared with a chuckle. “I’m sure that they have a very good reason for ignoring the mission, don’t you boys?” “Y-yes, as Unkyor said we were told to carry out an operation for a higher up, we couldn’t ignore a direct order,” Harrsone said with a gulp. “You cannot honestly expect us to ignore the orders of a superior.” “I can when…” Caesar started to say when he felt a cold hand on his shoulder. “I’m not in the mood for…” He started to say before he turned around to see the man in black standing there leaning on his cane. “Oh, I didn’t know it was you…” “Your agents were of great use to me,” the man in black said as he leaned on his cane for a moment before he gave Caesar a smirk. “And I saw what they did against Kamen Rider Amores, I have to admit that I am impressed. You may have actually gotten some decent agents this time.” “Yes, thank you,” Harrsone said. “We are doing our best to serve the Order and defeat its enemies. “You still shouldn’t have had them pass up an opportunity to defeat the Rider,” Caesar said which actually made the man in black laugh. It was a cold, chilling laugh that sent a shiver up and down the spine of all those in the room. “Your strategy of sending two at a time has a lot of promise,” the man in black said with a slight smirk. “They were able to hold their own against one Rider, but she’s much smarter than you give her credit for. She was already able to damage Unkyor with an extremely close range attack which negated the advantage Harrsone gave him. If she had managed to attack again, she likely would’ve taken him out.” “So, then what’s the point?” Caesar asked. “You and I both know that we need every advantage we can get if we want to take out the Riders. They are the only thing standing in our way right now.” “Yes, they are,” the man in black said. “But we have to consider all the possibilities. This world has more than just two heroes after all, and if we allow them to get an edge over us then we will be at the disadvantage.” “So, what do you propose we do?” Caesar asked with a snort. “We have to beat them, but if we keep letting them get away…” “We learn everything we can about them, and exploit their weaknesses,” the man in black said. “That is how we will come out ahead in this war. The Riders are after all, only human, and I know how we can use that to our advantage.” “And let me guess, you’re not going to make us privy to that information,” Caesar said as he narrowed his eyes a little. “We’re on the same side here, you need to be more forthcoming than you have been in the past.” “Ah, but where’s the fun in that?” Kuagua asked with a laugh. “There are always secrets to be had, even among allies. What things lie in the mind of men and monsters eh?” “Believe me, my operation will become clear in due time,” the man in black said as he pulled his hat down a little. “For now I will continue as planned. As for you two…” “Yes sir?” The two monsters asked in unison. “You’ve done what I asked of you already, continue your operations for Lord Caesar as planned,” the man in black said with a tip of his hat. “You two are our best bet at victory right now, and I’m not going to lose that.” “Yes sir,” theye said in unison before they vanished into thin air. “You had better be right about this,” the man in black said as he walked closer to Caesar. “The Master is not happy about your performance so far. If this doesn’t have more success than your last few attempts to defeat the Riders then there will be consequences, understood?” “Understood,” Caesar said as the man in black turned and walked away. “I swear he still gives me the creeps…” “I don’t know, I almost feel sympathy for him,” Kuagua said with a laugh. “You’re going to have to learn eventually you know. Even if you’re in charge, there will always be someone above you.” “Well, unless you’re the Master,” Caesar said before a red light went off on a screen in front of him signifying an intruder alert. “That’s odd, no one should be able to get in here…” “Should I get the guards?” Kuagua asked. “No, I can handle this,” Caesar said as he walked out of the room and followed a line of lights towards where the intruder was. He was surprised to push the door open and find a human man dressed in white standing there. He had short grey hair and was carrying a briefcase. He looked up at Caesar and smirked a little at his arrival. “And you must be one of the Commanders,” he said in a slight accent that was hard to place. “I must say I was expecting more.” “Who are you and what are you doing here?” Caesar demanded. “Who I am is not important, but if you must call me anything call me Nemo,” the man in white said as he looked at Caesar. “I am here to make a deal with you and your Order. Perhaps there is something we can do to benefit each other.” “I’m listening,” Caesar said as the man gestured for him to take a seat across from him. “How did you get in here Nemo?” “The people I work for know many things that normal humans are not always privy to,” Nemo said as he folded his hands. “You and your Order have attracted our attention. I’m sure that you wouldn’t dare risk losing a potential ally by drawing that sword you have your hand on.” Caesar paused a moment and released his grip on his sword’s hilt. He sat down and eyed Nemo suspiciously for a moment as he waited for the man to start talking again. “The organization that I represent is very interested in you and your Order as I said,” Nemo said with a smirk. “There is so much that can be done if we work together after all. I simply need some of your time so that I can better understand what we’re dealing with here.” “Alright, but only if you answer some questions first,” Caesar said. Nemo smirked a little as Caesar eyed him nervously. The man in white seemed no less nervous than when he walked in, as if he knew that he held all the cards in this exchange. “Well, of course, we wouldn’t want to discourage our new partners,” Nemo said simply as he gave Caesar a nod. “Ask away.” 00000 “Sweetie, what’s wrong?” Scootaloo asked as she laid down next to Sweetie that night. “You’ve been kind of distracted ever since you got home, is there something on your mind?” “No, nothing, nothing more than usual at least,” Sweetie Belle said with a shake of her head as she pulled Scootaloo in close. “Why do you ask?” “Because I’m worried about you Sweetie,” Scootaloo said as she brushed one of Sweetie’s curls out of her face. “You’re the most important person in the world to me and if you’re worried or scared about something then I want to be able to help. You know you can tell me anything right?” “Yeah, I know,” Sweetie said with a sigh as she kissed Scootaloo gently on the lips. “And you know that I would do anything for you, anything to make sure that you’re not hurt. I, just don’t want anything to happen to you…” “Unfortunately I don’t know if I can promise that nothing will happen to me,” Scootaloo said with a sigh. “Especially after everything that Agent Drops told us about when it came to those creatures today. We have a hard enough time fighting off one at a time, now they’re coming in pairs? What happens next?” “Well, as far as we can tell they can’t attack in large groups, that’s an advantage at least,” Sweetie said with a shrug. “You’re going to be okay, and I know Agent Drops wants to do everything she can to help you.” “Yeah, you’re right,” Scootaloo said. “Still, sometimes it feels like we’re fighting this war alone. Even with your help and those bullets that woman gave us, there’s something that feels wrong to me. Like we’re just waiting for the other shoe to fall and they’re going to pull something very bad for us.” “Yeah, I know what you mean,” Sweetie said as she held Scootaloo close. “There’s not much we can do but wait until we know more about the Order though. We don’t even know where their base of operations is.” “I think that much energy would be pretty obvious,” Scootaloo pointed out and then paused a moment. “Unless it’s not on Earth at all.” “Yeah, maybe, that makes sense to me,” Sweetie said with a shrug. “They did say they were extradimensional beings or something right? That would explain a lot if they’re not even based in this dimension.” “Yeah, it…” Scootaloo started to say when her phone suddenly began to ring. She picked it up and noticed that it was Fancy Pants’ number as she answered it. “Hello?” “Scootaloo, I’m sorry for calling you so late but we’ve got a reading on those two monsters,” Fancy Pants said on the other end. “They’re heading right for your apartment complex, I’ve got Agent Drops already on the way, but we need you and your friends out there.” “Got it,” Scootaloo said with a sigh as she hung up and put the phone down. “What was that about?” Sweetie asked. “It sounds like we’ve got company,” Scootaloo said with a sigh as she picked up the Tarot Driver and the two cards. “Go wake up Apple Bloom, we need to get out there.” “On it,” Sweetie Belle said as she headed out of the bedroom and Scootaloo got up and set the Driver on her waist. “Henshin!” She said as she held the cards up and moved it down, turning it around a little as she moved it in a circular motion and slid it into the Driver, her hand moving around outstretched. “TIME TO TIP THE SCALES!” The Driver said as the armor formed around her and she headed out of the bedroom and out the front door with Sweetie and Apple Bloom following not long after. 00000 Scootaloo stepped out onto the street in front of the apartment complex and looked around as she gripped the sword tightly in her hand. For a moment she thought that there was nothing and it had been a false reading when she heard the sound of metal on pavement. “Well, well, looks like our target decided to come out and say hello,” a male voice said and she turned to see Unkyor and Harrsone walking up with their weapons in their hands. “Nothing we can’t handle though.” “We’ll see about that,” Scootaloo said as she gripped her sword tightly in her hand. “I can see both of your futures and it's not bright!” Harrsone just laughed at that as he ran forward with his shield held up. Scootaloo was barely able to brace herself as she felt him ramming into her. It felt like a linebacker had hit her and it sent her sprawling on the ground. “That’s, not a good sign…” she muttered as she struggled to pull herself back to her feet, only barely catching Unkyor’s sword with her own. “Hey, no fair double teaming me!” “Life’s not fair girly,” Harrsone said as he pushed her back against a car door. “You’re going to learn that eventually.” “Or, well you would have if you had survived,” Unkyor said and then let out a scream of pain as he felt something hit him from behind. “What the…” “You don’t mess with my girlfriend!” Sweetie Belle shouted as she and Apple Bloom stormed up, holding the Soul Metal knives. “I’m not going to let you hurt her!” Scootaloo struggled up to her feet as she held her sword out. “You’re not exactly in the best situation now, are you? You’ve got three of us and you know that Kamen Rider Amores is on her way, you’re outmatched.” “Only one of you can beat us,” Unkyor said with a laugh. “No matter how good the three of you are, you can’t possibly defeat us together!” Before they could reply though an arrow flew through the air and hit Harrsone. Sweetie Drops in her armor climbed off a new bike which was red with pink strikes as she pulled her bow back and fired at the shield-wielding monster again and caught him in the shoulder before he could raise his shield. “We’re not about to let you get away with this,” Sweetie Drops said as she pulled the bow back to form a new arrow. “Your reign of terror ends here!” She fired an arrow at Unkyor just as Scootaloo stepped in front of Harrsone and swung her armored fist around catching him in the jaw. There was a ringing sound as he fell back and held his shield up to protect his face only to get a jab in the stomach with the blade. “This isn’t good,” Harrsone said as he blocked another hit. “What should we do?” “I don’t know!” Unkyor said as he took a step back and held his sword out pointed at Sweetie Drops and the others as they advanced on them. “Oh my, my, my, it seems that I have to intervene!” A jovial voice said. “A shame, this was such an entertaining show.” There was a flash of light as Kuagua appeared in front of them with a laugh. The monstrous harlequin’s smiling mask never faltered as he looked between the two Riders and their friends. “Okay, who’s the Harley Quin cosplayer?” Lyra’s voice said in Sweetie Drops’ head as she raised her bow to aim for the new arrival. “Who are yah?” Apple Bloom demanded as she held her knife ready to throw it at the harlequin who just waggled his finger at her. “Where’s the fun in telling you that?” He asked with a laugh as he threw his head back. “Perhaps if you can tell me a simple thing I’ll tell you what you want to know.” “What do you want to know?” Scootaloo asked as she held her sword out at the Harlequin. “This is your one and only chance to come clean. The alternative is that we take you out here and out.” “Tell me, why do Riders exist?” Kuagua said with a thoughtful tap of his chin. “You are far from the first ones as you know already, but why is it that so many Riders rise up to fight an enemy using that foe’s own power?” “Because…” Scootaloo said as she paused a moment, actually, that was a good question. “Because we have to fight with every resource we have at our disposal. Even if that means using the enemy’s power against them. You use it to conquer and destroy, we use it to help and protect.” “Ah, very well,” Kuagua said with a chuckle. “Yes, your so-called cross. That’s the answer I expected. As to who I am, I am, of course, Kuagua of the Court of the High Arcana!” “Really, this joker is one of the bosses?” Sweetie Belle said as she raised an eyebrow. “I expected a bit more.” “Ah, perhaps I’m not what you expected, but I know better than anyone the value of information, and power told is power lost, and well the General hasn’t been happy with me since that cactus incident,” Kuagua said as he waggled his finger. “You may say I’m a little crazy, that I’m a little batty, but it’s not my fault. You might say…” He took out a small box and opened it up and a swarm of bats flew out and flew right at Scootaloo. “That it’s the bats in my belfry!” Scootaloo swung her sword around at the bats only to hit nothing as they vanished from around her. When they looked again Kuagua and the two monsters had vanished into thin air. “Okay, that wasn’t funny…” “Just what we needed, a bad comedian for a Commander,” Lyra said over the mental connection to Sweetie Drops. “So what do we do now?” “If that was one of the Commanders, we have to approach with caution,” Sweetie Drops said as she powered down and Scootaloo did the same. “I’m going to report to the Director, this just got a lot more complicated.” “What about tha rest of us?” Apple Bloom asked. “You three get back upstairs and wait for a call,” Sweetie Drops said. “We need to know what we’re up against and now.” “Right,” Scootaloo said as they headed back into the apartment complex. 00000 Fancy Pants called not long after to try and get an idea of exactly what had happened. Scootaloo and her friends answered his questions as best they could but there wasn’t a lot to go on. After they were done, Sweetie Belle went out onto the balcony. Scootaloo had gone to get a shower and despite her tempting offer to join her, Sweetie Belle wanted to think about everything that had just happened. She took out the card and stared at it for a moment, it was still as enigmatic as it had been before and still didn’t seem to be reacting to her. She shook her head and sighed a little, maybe she really should just get rid of it. If the man in black actually tried anything, she was sure that they could stop him. She sighed a little and tore the card in half, she wasn’t about to let herself get used by that strange man in black. She held the halves over the side of the balcony and dropped them as she watched them drift off on the wind, a feeling of relief washed over her. She didn’t have to worry about them again. She opened the balcony door and walked back inside. She slipped into the bathroom where she could make out the outline of Scootaloo in the fogged up shower. She slipped off her clothes and slid into the shower where she wrapped her arms gently around Scootaloo’s bare waist. The darker skinned girl let out a surprised sound before she realized that it was Sweetie Belle pressing up against her. “Mmm, I thought you had some things to think about and couldn’t join me.” “Mmm, I changed my mind,” Sweetie Belle said as she gently kissed the back of Scootaloo’s bare neck. “You know that I don’t want to leave you hanging right.” She turned Scootaloo around and kissed her passionately on the lips. The two girls pressed up against each other as the water ran down their bodies. And with that, it felt like Sweetie’s troubles were being washed away.