Castle Doran: Kiva’s World
“Man, this blows. I mean, seriously blows,” one Tatsulot of Castle Doran complained. “Seriously, ever since Rook went down, seems like Fangire attacks have been on the down-low. You know what I mean?”
“And you’re complaining about this why I have to ask?” Vinyl commented, leaning back in a chair, with Kiva-La resting on her shoulder. “I mean, less Fangires mean less work for us, and more time for me to spend with my girlfriend.”
“And more time for you two to play kissu-kissu,” Riki remarked, not even looking up from his and Jiro’s poker game. “Fold.” the Frankenstein’s monster remarked.
“Well… I… Uh…” Vinyl stuttered out, Tatsulot sniggering in the background. “W-Well, I can’t really deny that’s one benefit from all of this really…”
“Kissing Fortissimo!” the little gold dragon shouted in proclamation and excitement, doing a loop de loop in mid-air before he was smacked away by Vinyl. A small yelp of pain and a clattering of metal was soon heard afterwards
“Baka,” she muttered. “...I swear he doesn’t even know what Fortissimo means.”
Ramon just stayed silent, having long ago learned that it was often best for the siren to stay silent during these little exchanges. He had to admit, Vinyl brought some livelihood to the castle, and Fluttershy definitely seemed to be a lot happier and more self-confident with a mistress. Didn’t mean some things never changed though.
“Ooh, ooh, now this is interesting!” Kivat shouted as he flew in with a bunch of tarot cards in hand.
“...Please don’t tell me those are what I think they are,” Vinyl remarked, her eyes half-lidded as she eyed the crimson bat.
“They are,” Kiva-La sighed. “Brother of mine, please don’t tell me you put much stock into those worthless so-called fortune tellers?”
“Hey, they said they can read my future! Who knows, with everybody hooking up right and left nowadays, maybe that mare can tell me who I’ll get lucky enough to have as a mate!” He stated excitedly. “Oh, by the Lady Luna, I can see it now! Someone with a long, luxurious neck!” he sighed wistfully.
Kiva-La facewinged at her brother’s stupidity. “...Seriously, that’s what this is about? You wanting a mate? Really?”
“...Well, with Twilight and Tempest finally pulling their heads out of their arses, and then you and Tatsulot laying an egg, and Hell, even Milady and Vinyl dating, a guy starts to get lonely. He starts to think about his future in life y’know?” Kivat stammered out.
“...You are an idiot.” Kiva-La decided, not for the first time in her life. Her big brother was competent enough in some areas, and he meant well but he could be quite gullible in other respects. Actually, she wouldn’t put it past him to be told there was a yeti behind him, and for him to actually fall for the trick and look. He was just that stupid at times.
Kivat held out the Empress Tarot. “See, there’s even one for Fluttershy in here!”
“Pretty sure she’s already met her fated match,” Kiva-La deadpanned. “Which idiot two-bit hack did you buy these from anyways?”
“...I dunno, some old guy. Called himself Naru something or other, I didn’t catch his full name. Threw in a box of the Major Arcana for free, just because I decided to buy a box of the Minor Arcana!” Kivat exclaimed, holding up a card that read: ‘Justice’
“And about how much did you pay for these boxes?” Kiva-La asked.
“...Uh, let’s see…” Kivat muttered to himself, looking rather nervous. “...500 Bits?”
“YOU IDIOT!” Kiva-La shouted, pouncing on her brother even as a card representing the King of Swords fell to the ground. As Kiva-La chased her brother around the dining room, Vinyl picked up the card.
“...Hmm, I wonder…? Is this Kivat’s fated partner?” she asked, looking at a crowned wolf holding up a sword, and smirked as she looked towards Jiro.
“NO! NO! NO WAY IN THE NINE CIRCLES OF TARTARUS AM I MARRYING THAT WOLF!” Kivat shouted, even as Kiva-La grabbed a candle in her mouth and began beating her older brother over the head with it. “MILADY, SAVE ME!” he shouted in dismay, said shouts going unheard.
“Should we tell the Queen?” Vinyl asked, looking towards Ramon for answers. “I mean, it is her money from her coffers Kivat used for his particular brand of stupidity…”
“...Eh, let him get beat up a little,” the bright-green siren replied. “I mean, he did sorta earn it. I may like him, but I’m not pulling him out of every mess he drags himself into really. Not my job. I’m just a family retainer, not Kivat’s personal bodyguard from his sister.”
“...Point taken,” Vinyl commented as she conjured up a bucket of popcorn with a flash of magenta-toned magic. “How’s your sister doing by the way?”
She was referring to, of course, this salmon-toned siren that had been found under the care of this red unicorn over in Prance. Crescendo, they called her. Local hero, after she’d managed to fend off a kelpie with the help of her pod. Ramon had been over the moon when he’d heard of this development, realizing he wasn’t alone in this world after all and had been made a journey over to Prance to introduce himself. As it happened, Crescendo had remembered him from her pup-hood days and had given him a great big hug upon their reunion.
Mind you, it wasn’t without incident, given that a Fangire based after a Grizzly Bear of all things had shown up to spoil the touching reunion. Thankfully, Tempest and Twilight had been in the country at the time on their honeymoon, and IXA had lent herself to the foray using the Basshaa Magnum Fuestle to help defeat the hapless monster with the Aqua Tornado Finisher.
A few weeks before, Twilight had managed to duplicate Kiva’s actual fuestles with a spell given to her by Luna so IXA wouldn’t have to use cheap knock-off variants. Needless to say, all parties involved were quite pleased by this development. Jiro still hadn’t quite gotten over been hijacked by IXA during her and Kiva’s first showdown.
“Fairly well, think she and her pod are about ready to stage their first public concert, actually…” Ramon mused to himself.
“Call me when that happens, DJ-Pon3 is always ready to lend a helping hand and lay down some sick beats!” Vinyl remarked with a wink.
“...Yeah, I don’t think their type of music really works with yours,” Ramon remarked. “Sorta a musical style conflict really.”
“Mou…” Vinyl huffed, crossing her arms but before she could say anything more on the matter, the bells of Castle Doran began to toll, and both she and Kiva-La shared a look.
“Fangire.” they stated in unison.
00000
Scootaloo stabbed at the flail wielding monster with her Arcana Rapier as it tried to swing the weapon around and catch her by surprise only to have it be caught with a circle shield on her other hand.
“No fair!” The monster, a strange mix of humanoid and bird with armor with a circle on his chest with three crossed wands on it.
“Really, you’re the one who’s calling no fair?” Scootaloo asked as she pushed him back with the shield. She couldn’t use it much longer so she had to take advantage of it while she could. “Just one meal with my girlfriend is all I ask for.”
She slammed the shield into the monster which knocked it back as she swiped her Rapier at the monster. The transformed human swung the flail around and it just bounced off of Scootaloo’s shield but shattered it at the same time.
“Ha, you’ve lost your advantage! This fight is as good as mine!” The monster said as he swung the flail around again aiming it right for Scootaloo’s head.
That’s when an arrow went flying from behind him and hit him in the back sending the flail wild and catching Scootaloo on the shoulder. She flinched a little but raised her sword and swung her fist as the two glowed with energy and impacted the monster.
“JUSTICE BLADE STRIKE!” She said as the monster fell back and the monstrous form shattered leaving an unconscious man on the ground with a card by his side.
“Are you okay?” Sweetie Drops asked as she walked up to Scootaloo as she powered down, her shoulder where the flail had hit was bleeding a little as she bent down to pick up the card.
“Yeah, I’m fine, just a little flesh wound,” Scootaloo said as she held the card up to the government agent. “Another card from the Wands suit, that makes what, two?”
“Three with the Ace of Wands actually,” Sweetie Drops said as she powered down and put the card away. “Are you sure you’re okay? That doesn’t look too good, I’ll get a medic to take a look at it.”
Scootaloo sighed a little as Sweetie Drops gestured for a medic to come over. They bandaged up Scootaloo’s shoulder while she put the cards and Driver away as Sweetie Belle came up to her.
“So much for date night huh?” Scootaloo asked with a chuckle as she leaned in and kissed the pink and purple haired girl on the lips. “I’m sorry that happened.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Sweetie Belle said, though she still felt a little nervous. “Agent Drops, are there any more readings in the area?”
“No, not yet,” Sweetie Drops said.
“Come on Scoots, I got what I could, let’s just get back home and enjoy a nice candlelit dinner together,” Sweetie said as she squeezed Scootaloo’s hand gently before she looked back at the medic. “Is she going to be okay?”
“Yeah, she’s fine, just be careful with that shoulder,” the medic said as he finished patching her up.
“Alright good,” Sweetie said as she and Scootaloo headed back home together.
00000
Kiva’s World:
Did Vinyl Scratch ever mention how much she really hated rats? Always got into everything, and almost impossible to get rid of. It only made matters worse when said rats were of the Fangire variety, and said rats Vinyl could have sworn she helped to defeat ages ago.
But apparently, the Rat Fangire was living up to its reputation, and more and more of its clones were popping out from the woodworks. Firing a few shots from her pistol, downing a few of the critters, before changing said weapon into a whip she lashed out and ripped through two more of the Fangires.
Gunshots rang out as Tempest ran up holding the IXA Calibur in gun form, and using a flying side-kick hit one of the Rat Fangires in the stomach before flinging a familiar belt around her waist. She pulled out a fist-like object colored silver and gold, and slammed it up against her palm making it declare: “Ready.”
An alarm began to blare as she clicked the IXA Knuckle into its spot on the belt, before with a simple declaration of: "Henshin." she transformed into the Knight Templar-like figure of Kamen Rider IXA, a blast of sheer heat coming from her.
“Fangires, return those lives to Faust.” Tempest stated as she draw her blade and pointed it at the group.
“Guess we better take this one up a notch as well,” Vinyl muttered to herself as she lashed out with her whip-sword some more times driving the litter of Rat Fangires back. “Kiva-La!”
“Always ready to serve!” Kiva-La said, and planted a kiss on her partner’s forehead before with a flash of rainbow-colored light Vinyl was turned into Kamen Rider Kiva-La, who resembled Kiva in many aspects, except much slimmer, and given much lighter and less threatening hues in her armor colors. White and silver were the predominant colors of choice. Light red eyes were built into Kiva-La’s helmet, with a rapier as her weapon of choice. Like the other Kivat using rider, Kiva-La roosted herself on her belt.
With shouts of “Ha!” Kamen Rider Kiva-La began slicing her way through the crowd as Tempest summoned the Garulu Saber and joined her blades ringing out as they sliced through Fangire skin.
“WAKE UP!” Both Kiva-La and IXA’s belts shouted as their blades glowed, and they sent arcs of energy through the Rat Fangire litter destroying them in powerful explosions.
“...Seriously, wasted a perfectly good day for all of this?” Vinyl complained, and just as she was about to cancel her transformation, she heard a roar of rage from behind her, and just in the nick of time whirled around to meet the Polar Bear Fangire’s claws with her blade. “Okay, now I know you’re dead! I saw Fluttershy kill you with my own two eyes!”
Fluttershy dodged a swing from Neon’s claws, before dodging another swing and catching it in-between her elbow and her knee. She then kicked the Polar Bear Fangire backward, before Kivat spoke.
“Power against power, the only way to beat this guy Milady!” Kivat advised.
“Right!” Fluttershy nodded, holding up a purple-whistle like device and placing it in Kivat’s jaws.
“Dogga Hammer!” Kivat boomed out, as a foghorn-like sound cut through the air, and storm clouds boiled over before chains wrapped themselves around Fluttershy’s arms and chest before purple armor replaced it and a massive hammer appeared in her hands.
“WAKE UP!” Kivat shouted, as Fluttershy swung the hammer over her head gathering electricity before she brought it down. Vinyl only now just noticed this hammer was themed after a giant fist, with an eye-opening up on said fist as the Polar Bear Fangire shattered into a million pieces. Panting and sweating, Fluttershy canceled her transformation.
Vinyl let out a growl. “Guess that means you’ll have to be double-dead then!” she shouted, dodging the Fangire’s claw swipes and getting in small slashes with her rapier. A blast from the Basshaa Magnum hit the Polar Bear Fangire as well, Tempest having summoned the weapon with a certain fuestle.
“Okay, what the HELL is going on around here, as I know both this Fangire, along with the Rat one were killed. What, are Fangire ghosts a thing now?” Tempest exclaimed, continuously firing the Basshaa Magnum at the Polar Bear Fangire if that’s what it even was.
“Good question, not sure I want to find out,” Vinyl remarked, before stating: “Pony Rider Punch.” and drawing her fist back, making it crackle with magenta flame before smashing it directly into the Polar Bear Fangire’s chest making it crack, before the creature shattered like glass.
“Now where’s…?” Vinyl muttered to herself before her eyes trailed upwards with Tempest’s soon to follow watching Fluttershy fighting off this giant mantis-like creature wielding a scythe atop some scaffolding.
Fluttershy, using another fuestle summoned the Zanbat Sword and used it to block the swing before slicing the Mantis-Fangire across the chest. The sword itself, it seemed to growl with every hit scored.
“Tatsulot!” Fluttershy shouted and the little gold dragon flew towards Fluttershy as she kicked a metal barrel towards the Fangire. As Tatsulot flew towards her, chains on her shoulder pads and leg armor were shattered, and bats seemingly made of sunlight flocked around the new Fangire preventing him from seeing what happened next as two gold bat wings rose from Fluttershy’s shoulders. “Henshin!” Fluttershy called out, and with a flash of red fire transformed into this dark red and black warrior with a long flowing cape and dark green eyes.
Slicing the stunned Mantis Fangire across the chest several more times -the Zanbat Sword still growling with every hit- Fluttershy then summoned a massive sized smokey version of the Kiva emblem and slammed it into the Fangire. He was pinned up against the wall, before Fluttershy took to the skies, with Tempest taking a flying leap off a piece of plywood knowing exactly what her friend had in mind.
“WAKE UP!” both belts shouted as the users lined up powerful kicks, but before the blows could land, mysteriously the Fangire faded away in a cloud of black smoke and all that was shattered was a newly constructed wall.
“What… what the Hell?” Fluttershy panted out, as she canceled her transformation. Tempest was soon to follow.
“Know what you mean,” the former Storm Guard commander remarked. “That’s never happened before. And I don’t think that one got so scared of us it just up and ran.”
“Agreed, and what about the return of the Polar Bear and Rat Fangires?” Kivat questioned. “Something’s odd here, and I don’t like it one bit…”
“Come on, I think a trip to Canterlot Castle is in order. Princess Luna might know a thing or two…” Fluttershy remarked, and both Tempest and Vinyl nodded in agreement.
00000
“You know, I’m looking forward to when these things are dealt with so we can actually have a meal in peace,” Scootaloo said with a chuckle as she took a bite of her food.
“Yeah,” Sweetie said as she paused a moment and looked up at Scootaloo. “How’s your shoulder?”
“Sore still,” Scootaloo said as she rubbed the shoulder where the flail had hit her. “But I’ve taken worse from those things. At least the shield helped, and these are just the low ranked monsters, I shudder to think what will happen when we get to the face cards.”
“Yeah…” Sweetie Belle said with a shake of her head. She thought back to the card that the strange man had tried to give her. Maybe she should’ve used it to help Scootaloo instead of whatever he had in mind.
But at the same time, something about that man had made her feel weird. It was like he had let off some sort of weird aura that made her uneasy just being close to him. She shook her head and went back to eating.
“Let’s try not to think about that anymore tonight,” Scootaloo said as she reached across the table and put her hand on Sweetie’s. “We’re going to be just fine, I know it.”
“I just hope you’re right,” Sweetie said and sighed a little as she went back to eating.
“So how are things going at work?” Scootaloo asked. “The men aren’t still giving you trouble are they?”
“No more than usual,” Sweetie Belle said with a shrug. “It’s going pretty well actually, I’ve been thinking about introducing some new songs. Lyra and I are starting to work together more actually, she’s pretty good.”
“That’s good,” Scootaloo said as she took another bite. She was about to say something else when her phone went off, she sighed a little when she took it out and saw that it was from Fancy Pants. “Well, there goes date night again…”
Sweetie sighed as Scootaloo answered the phone.
“Yes?” Scootaloo asked.
“The Satellite is picking up some strange activity outside of town,” Fancy Pants said on the other end with a sigh. “It looks like some strong dimensional activity that is similar to what the Order uses only stronger.”
“Dimensional activity?” Scootaloo asked. “Do you mean like moving between universes or something?”
“Most likely, yes,” Fancy Pants answered. “We’re looking into it now, I felt you would want to keep informed. There is a chance that this might be related to the Order.”
“Because of course, it is,” Scootaloo said with a sigh as she looked back at Sweetie Belle. “But I already had to put this off because of Trejet’s attack. Are there any monster readings coming from the area?”
“Negative,” Fancy Pants replied. “I think we can handle this one on our own, you two enjoy your date night.”
“Okay, thank you,” Scootaloo said as she hung up and leaned in and gave Sweetie a soft kiss on the lips. “It sounds like I’m not needed tonight. How about we just enjoy our dinner together for now? Then maybe we can find a few other things to do...”
“Sounds perfect,” Sweetie Belle said as they kissed again and went back to eating. A knock at the door caught their attention. “Oh come on!”
Scootaloo sighed as she got up and headed to the door. She looked through the peephole and saw nothing. Cautiously she opened the door and looked around before she looked down and found a wooden box on the ground.
Confused she picked it up and opened it. Inside was a stack of cards. On top was one that had a blue head with a pointed silver pointed metal faceplate and two glowing red eyes. It read Kamen Rider BLADE on it and Scootaloo blinked a little at that. A note was near the box. It read: “Just a gift, from a passing through Kamen Rider. Use them well.”
“Okay, that’s weird…” she said as she closed the door and headed back inside. “That was weird.”
“What is it?” Sweetie asked as Scootaloo set the box down.
“I don’t know, looks like some sort of Rider cards or something,” Scootaloo said with a shake of her head as she sat down. “Come on, let’s worry about this later.”
Sweetie nodded as they started eating together again.
00000
“Ugh…” the summoned Fangire grumbled to himself as he picked himself off the blood-red carpeted floors, candle lights illuminating the black obsidian walls all around him. As he placed his scythe, nicknamed Kafziel on his back he heard voices coming from up ahead, and slowly trudged forwards with chains clanking as he dragged his coffin behind him. Despite his praying mantis-like appearance, he was more in line with the classic Japanese death god called a Shinigami and he had all the powers that implied came with it.
“Well, look who’s awake,” a feminine voice said and the Fangire looked up to see three figures standing before him. The one who had spoken was dressed in robes and had half of her face covered with a mask. “Not exactly a subtle one is he?”
“Priellit, this is hardly the time,” a tall man dressed head to toe in black with a hat pulled down a little and a cloth covering his face as he leaned on a cane. “I’m sure you are wondering what you’re doing here.”
“A little yes, though I do have to thank you. I was right in the middle of a losing battle, possibly about to fall like so many of my fellow Fangire have before me.” the Shinigami Fangire replied. “Damn her, damn that ‘Queen’. I was going to become the next Rook, ‘till she and her little harem showed up.”
“Indeed, the Fangires of our world suffered a similar fate and are still recovering,” the man in black said as he adjusted his hat a little. “We are known as the Order of the High Arcana, perhaps we can help each other out.”
“Little bit of a poncey name,” the Fangire replied with a Trottingham accent. “But as I’m in your debt for the time being… Well, who am I to decline?”
“Priellit, the deck if you will,” the man in black said as he held his hand out and Priellit placed the deck of Tarot cards in his hand. He started shuffling through the deck and looked up at the Mantis Fangire. “Each card in this deck contains a spirit that will make you stronger. The Wheel of Fate will choose which card is right for this situation, and it will be bonded to you and make you more powerful. If you deal with our enemies, then you will be allowed to bring this power with you back to your world and not only defeat your own enemies, but gain more power in the Fangire court. Forget a simple Rook, imagine with this power you could be a King.”
“There’s a catch to all of this, isn’t there?” the Shinigami Fangire replied. “There’s always a catch, power-ups from organizations like you never come for free. There’s always a price tag.”
“Of course there’s a catch,” the last figure, an armored man with an inhuman looking face and a crown of golden laurels. “We need life force just like you do in order to fulfill our goals. You will no doubt feed on the locals, a portion of that life force will go to our ends instead of feeding you, simple as that.”
“Sounds more like a deal with Tirek, than a deal with Celestia.” the Shinigami Fangire returned in kind. “How do I know this won’t consume all of my life force? Seems to me this only benefits yourself and your ‘order’ and I get very little out of the deal as if I go back to my world chances are whatever I can summon does not exist there and therefore I cannot summon it.”
“You’ll still have considerable power,” the man in black said. “You will get part of the energy and I’m sure you can figure something out. However, if you decline I can always send you back to your world and let you get killed. Your choice is simple, either take this deal or die.”
“When you put it that way…” the Fangire murmured before he smirked. “Let’s let the wheels of fate decide my place on the stage of history.”
The man in black placed his hand on the deck as his eyes glowed red and he began to chant. He drew the top card as it began to glow brightly as he looked at it, it depicted a woman with a crown that was holding scales in one hand and held a pentacle in the other while she was surrounded by five others.
“The Six of Pentacles, interesting,” he said as it glowed and energy flew out of it into the Fangire.
“Oh, now this should be… fun.” the monster groaned out, almost sounding like he was in the midst of something pleasurable as parts of his body began to glow gold and a fanciful scoped assault rifle was placed on his back alongside Kafziel. “Yes, I can certainly feel the power now…” On his chest, a pentagram with the number six emblazoned in gold-tinted glass. His coffin had the same symbol as well.
“Perfect,” the man in black said as he turned and waved his hand as four images appeared on the screen they used to view the battles. They were of Scootaloo, Sweetie Drops, and their respective Rider Forms. “Scootaloo Dash, AKA Kamen Rider Justice and her partner Kamen Rider Amores who we’re still trying to identify beyond a face. These are your main targets, you are to get them by any means necessary, understood?”
“Quite,” the Shinigami Fangire replied. “Any known associates? I like to hit them where it… hurts,” he stated as he pulled out Kafziel. “Death is all the more welcoming when you have nothing left to live for after all…”
The man in black waved his hand and images of Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle appeared to replace the first four. “These two are those who are closest to Miss. Dash. However this one…” he said as he pointed at Sweetie Belle. “Is important to another operation of ours, you can harm her but do not kill her, do you understand?”
“Understood,” the Shinigami Fangire replied before opening up his coffin which was full of shattered remains of Fangires past. Some of the little shards flew up out of the coffin and combined into the Rhino and Rat Fangires. The two stood at attention, not moving. “They’re just like puppets, you see. Anything I ask, they do. A demonstration.”
He snapped his fingers, and the Rhino Fangire punched his fellow making him shatter apart, with the remains flowing back into the coffin.
“Interesting,” the man in black said as he looked thoughtful. “Perhaps thanks to this arrangement we can work something out.”
He raised his hand and energy gathered in his hand and he began to chant again. Finally, several cards appeared in his hand and he shuffled them for a moment before giving them to the Fangire. They looked like tarot cards only distorted and slightly damaged.
“These are fragments of the power of previous Order Agents, the cards themselves are in the possession of our enemies, unfortunately, but this should be enough to summon fragments of them when combined with your power.”
“Fragments, not as powerful as I’d like but I’ll take what I can get,” the Shinigami Fangire sighed. “I think I can do you well, Master…?”
“Few are allowed to call me by my true name, but if you must call me anything call me Nodia,” the man in black said with a slight nod of his head. “Is there anything else?”
“Nothing at all.” the Shinigami Fangire said, before he raised his staff skywards, sending bolts of lightning up into the night sky.
00000
Kiva’s World:
“So I see, this is the trouble spot hmm?” Luna remarked, as she stepped out of her chariot with her personal guard standing at attention. The moon -A hunter’s moon- shined high in the night sky.
“Yes,” Vinyl replied. “Seriously, the Fangire… POOF! Up and he went, right before Tempest and Flutters could Rider Kick him into the next world! Man, that yatsume… Wasn’t expecting that one. Do Fangires even know how to teleport?”
“Not to my knowledge, no,” Luna replied, as she lit up her horn and whispered a soft incantation. “Revelare.”
A faint wisp of pure black smoke trailed up from where the Fangire had vanished and into the sky before seemingly vanishing out of sight.
“Uh, Luna, not to be complaining or anything but are you sure your magic hasn’t gone faulty in your old age?” Vinyl asked.
“I’m quite sure my magic is working perfectly, Vinyl Scratch and I’d rather you not imply otherwise,” Luna stated, looking back at the white mare sounding rather annoyed. “No, what’s happened here… Well, we have a case of dimensional traversing magic at work. Someone else’s hands are in play here, someone other than the Fangire. Seems whoever that someone is, he’s taken a little interest in the goings-on of this world.”
“...Great, dimensional magic,” Tempest muttered, rubbing her temples already feeling a headache coming on. She’d already been made well aware of the mirror portal by Twilight some time ago. No secrets between lovers, in Twilight’s world and besides as Captain of Twilight’s guard, she felt Tempest had a right to know anyhow. “Last thing we needed, just when our lives weren’t complex enough!” she shouted, throwing her hands up in the air in frustration.
“So, guess that means a trip through the mirror portal is in order correct?” Fluttershy asked, and Luna nodded.
“Quite, some adjustments will have to be made to tune it to the frequency of the correct world but I believe with a little help from Canterlot’s finest mages in the Blue Sky Organization it can be done.”
“So, guess that means I’ll be packing my bags then…” Fluttershy sighed. “It’s time for a hunt once more.”
“No way I’m letting you go alone, Fluttershy,” Tempest stated. “We’re Riders, and we have to look out for each other. Vinyl, you stay here and hold down the fort, the other rogue Fangires might see this as an opportunity. Best not to let them take it.”
“Agreed,” Vinyl nodded. “It might get lonely at night in bed, but I’m sure I can find ways to deal with-”
“Please don’t finish that thought,” Tempest groaned, as Fluttershy flushed a bright red. “I’d rather not hear what you or Fluttershy get up to at night. Goddess knows I hear enough of it from Ramon complaining about silencing spells. Anyways, Princess?” she continued. “We’ll be awaiting your go-ahead.”
Luna nodded, before walking back to her chariot. Before she stepped in, she gave them one last look. “Be careful, the both of you.”
00000
Justice’s World:
“What tha heck is up with these things?” Apple Bloom asked as she and Sweetie Belle looked through the cards that Scootaloo had found in the box. “What do yah think about this Sweetie?”
“Well, looking at the information on the internet about Kamen Riders…” Sweetie said as she typed into her phone and frowned a little as she looked at one of the cards. “These do seem to fit with the history of the Riders. This is weird, why would someone give these to her?”
“Well, she does use cards ta transform and use weapons,” Apple Bloom pointed out and Sweetie sighed a little. Scootaloo had gone out to go grocery shopping, which just left the two of them to try and figure these things out. “Is it possible that these are ta help her out?”
“Maybe,” Sweetie said as she picked one up and shook her head a little. “We should probably get these to SMILE, they might know what to do with them.””
“Yeah, they might,” Apple Bloom said with a frown as she picked up a card that had a head with a black helmet with a red and white stripe with red eyes and a silver metal mouth plate. “Hey, is it just me or does this look a little like Justice?”
“Now that you mention it…” Sweetie trailed off, reading the name off. “Kamen Rider Black. Huh, might be just a coincidence. There’s a Black RX here as well, now that you mention it. Odd. Makes one wonder if the two are con-”
Before Sweetie got a chance to finish that thought, Apple Bloom’s eyes briefly trailed over to the window where she could see this old man dressed like a 18th century coroner walking up the street.”
“...Ah don’t think Halloween’s fer another few weeks,” Apple Bloom remarked, something about this guy setting her on edge. “Think we should call the cops?” she asked, remembering something in the news about this creeper stalking the streets.
“Might be a good idea, you call them I’m calling Scootaloo to make sure she’s okay,” Sweetie said as she reached for her phone to call Scootaloo. When she tried to call her however she paused a little. “I’m not getting a signal, are you?”
“Nadda.” Apple Bloom, feeling this odd chill go up her spine. Something was definitely wrong.
“Try the landline,” Sweetie said as she nodded to the phone against the wall and looked back out the window at the strange man. Well, he was a man, for the briefest of moments until his veins seemed to resemble stained glass and he shifted forms into this mantis-like creature with a golden six on his chest.
“Apple Bloom…” Sweetie said as she looked back at her friend. “Call Scootaloo, I don’t think that’s human.”
“Yeah, thanks for stating the obvious!” Sweetie thought to herself in fear. “Course it isn’t human!”
Apple Bloom tried again, but for whatever reason, her phone couldn’t find a signal. “Yeah… Uh, that might be a problem.
“Crap…” Sweetie Belle said as she got up. “Think we could make it to the car?”
That question was soundly answered when the monster pulled out an assault rifle and fired at the car, and made it explode in a towering fireball.
“Darn it, Ah still had payments left on that thing!” Apple Bloom said as the two young women backed away from the window.
“You have the weapons Spirit Talker gave us stashed away somewhere?” Sweetie asked as the monster turned his gaze to them, his yellow eyes seemingly boring into their souls. Sweetie felt a shudder pass through her, something about this Order Member -if that’s even what it was- felt… different then the others.
“Yeah, they’re in mah room,” Apple Bloom said with a gulp. “Let’s go.”
After grabbing the weapons, they stared down the new monster, who smirked. “Ah, there you are…” it remarked. “Been wondering when you two would stop quivering in the dirt and actually face me. If you’re going to die and make no mistake you are, at least do it with some slice of dignity.”
“We ain’t gonna die,” Apple Bloom said as she tried not to sound nervous as she held one of the knives in her hand. “Yer goin’ down freak!”
She threw one of the knives at the monster as hard as she could, only for the creature to catch it. “Pathetic. At least show some skill,” he remarked in a tone of what could only be described as disgust. “I mean, I want some entertainment here! Plus, for Justice’s concubines, I expected better.”
“Concubines? Ah ain’t even into girls!” Apple Bloom said as Sweetie Belle blushed deeply.
“Apple Bloom, don’t let him get to you,” Sweetie said through the blush. “Come on, we need some sort of plan.”
Of course, that required the monster allowing them time to think up such a thing, as with a snap of his fingers the coffin behind him opened and glass reformed into the Rat Fangire, who split into two.
“What in tarnation?” Apple Bloom asked before shaking her head. Monsters, never failed to be strange. “Never mind. Sweetie, you take the left one, Ah’ll take the right.”
Swiftly pulling out two little pistols the rat creatures were dispatched even as a polar bear monster formed, and was shot by Apple Bloom doing a little damage and stunning it before she and Sweetie trained their weapons on the main monster. Firing off a few shots, the monster yawning and spun his scythe deflecting the shots. One shot nicked Apple Bloom in the leg, and she let out a scream of pain as Sweetie rushed to her side.
“...Show some effort why don’t you?” the monster asked, as Sweetie trained her pistol at him and glared at him harshly. The monster only laughed. “Ooh, I like that. Shame I’m going to have to disobey the Order, but you’re far too much trouble for me to want to put up with…”
Suddenly, before the monster could do anything else, a series of machine gun shots hit it, and both Apple Bloom and Sweetie turned to see a dark-skinned woman clad in a leather jacket holding a strange pistol. The Polar Bear monster pounced, before a blast of hot wind hit it and it shattered, with the blast having come from some sort of knuckle the woman held in her gloved hand.
“...How many times must I kill you today?” the woman asked in exasperation, shaking her head.
In two quick motion, the mohawked woman threw off her jacket revealing one of her arms was a prosthetic before flinging a belt around her waist. She slotted the knuckle into it, before stating a word both young women knew all too well.
“Henshin.”