//------------------------------// // Encore 1: The Treasure Sniper Returns // Story: MLP-Destiny's Play // by The Bricklayer //------------------------------// Far across the dimensional barrier, there existed plenty of other worlds, alternate realities that could be so readily different from each other that you wouldn’t be able to recognize them. Some, where life took a digital route or became simply and literally one dimensional instead of taking an anthropological route. Other realities, they just barely differed from each other, just minor and small what ifs changing things sometimes minute, sometimes dramatically. ZI-O’s world was one such timeline, and Justice’s was another. The AR worlds in Kamen Rider Decade again are an example of this. And speaking of Decade actually, let’s take a brief trip away from Kiva’s world to join up with a Rider who will play a great part in the events to come. Daiki Kaito, aka Kamen Rider DiEnd. Sometimes friend to Tsukasa, sometimes foe. Depends on what he wanted and how Tsukasa could benefit him. But I suppose you knew that already, right? Currently, the treasure thief was on the run, again, from the ‘Rider’ known as Shadow Moon. As ever, Daiki had attempted to steal this world’s ‘Treasure’, in this case being Shadow Moon’s King Stone. “Attack Ride: Blast!” Daiki’s Diendriver shouted before firing off a series of energy blast towards Shadow Moon, who only seemed marginally annoyed at best and continued striding forwards. “Kamen Ride: Saga!” the driver shouted before Daiki fired it, summoning up the Rider himself who despite not knowing -or possibly caring- why he’d been summoned, pulled out his Jacorder, a rapier-like weapon and met Shadow Moon’s own sword with it. To lend a hand, Daiki kicked Shadow Moon in the stomach and fired off another blast at him before pulling out another Rider Card. “Kamen Ride: Skull!” Skull fired off his Skull Magnum at Shadow Moon who managed to deflect or block the shots before whirling around on Saga and slashing him across the chest. “You’re a foolish man, and a foolish Kamen Rider. Why do you persist?” Shadow Moon asked, slamming a fist in Daiki’s helmet, cracking it slightly. “Because the grandest of treasures are irreplaceable, and your belt is quite the interesting one.” DiEnd replied, leaping backwards and firing off several more shots towards Shadow Moon that seemed to curve and arc, seeking him out. Shadow Moon did seem to stagger at this before he leaped skywards and kicked Daiki in the chest. “As I stated. Foolish. You almost remind me of him,” Shadow Moon remarked, before slashing Daiki across the chest with his sword. “Almost.” “Nice to know,” DiEnd stated in a bored tone clutching his chest in pain but still managing to pull out three more cards and place them into his gun one by one. “I’ll be sure to keep that compliment in mind.” “You won’t live long enough to think about that. Nobody steals from the Gorgom and lives to tell the tale.” Shadow Moon replied. “Want to bet?” Daiki remarked in a cocky tone. “Kamen Ride: Skull!” “Kamen Ride: Ryuga!” “Attack Ride: Crossattack!” This final card allowed both Skull and Ryuga to perform their respective finishers, the Skull Maximum Drive and the Final Vent respectively. Skull fired his Magnum in a burst attack, while Ryuga summoned Dragblacker and rose into the air with the serpent coiling around him before the dragon launched him towards Shadow Moon. When the smoke cleared, Shadow Moon stood there quite unfazed and laughing. “You’re almost amusing, but now it’s time for you to die.” he stated raising his Satan Saber making it glow a bright blood red shade. Knowing when to take his leave, and that for the time being this treasure was currently lost to him, Daiki leaped into another dimension the air shimmering around him like ripples across a lake as he did so. Tumbling into a dark moonlit forest as he fell into the next dimension, Daiki grunted out in pain as his transformation canceled out and sighed to himself. Not one of his finer ventures really. Tsukasa was probably laughing at him somewhere, wasn’t he? “Damn you Decade…” he muttered out of simple pure reflex as he picked himself up off the ground and sighed. He blinked a few times as he looked himself over. His attire was the same, and he could feel the weight of the K-Touch that he’d received from that Reiji Kurosaki man in his pocket but everything else about him was decidedly different. He was now an anthropomorphic midnight blue pony of all things, bearing the DiEnd insignia on his shoulders like a tattoo. “What… What the hell?” Daiki muttered looking about as if he was going to die out of embarrassment right then and there. He looked like a girl’s toy for crying out loud! Granted, a girl’s toy sporting a gun on his hip and wearing a jacket and jeans but still! Mind you, he knew whenever he jumped through dimensions, like Tsukasa, he sometimes adapted himself to the world at hand but this was out there even for him really. “Well, I’ll just have to roll with it I suppose. Every world’s got a treasure, and this world is no different,” Daiki decided. “Probably should start searching. Not much like I have much else to do these days.” Daiki admitted, if only to himself going around the various AR worlds and stealing treasures, even that was starting to get boring to him. Treasures were meant to be enjoyed, and to be honest over half the treasures he had stolen he couldn’t really enjoy, only admire from afar. The Orga Gear, for example, stolen from that alternate Faiz timeline. Yes, he could use it, but as he had no Orphnoch DNA implanted in him it would kill him outright. The only thing Daiki did nowadays was just going through the motions really. Just doing what he always did, hop from one world to the next taking items of value and as he wasn’t exactly the most popular man in his home world he couldn’t just return there. Walking along the path leading up to an odd dig site, Daiki just slipped into the crowd and tried not to draw too much attention to himself. He didn’t know much about equines, but he did know they were quite skittish and judging by the fact that these seemed much more intelligent than your average horse frightening them probably wasn’t a good idea. He blinked as he watched the dig site foreman supervise the whole endeavor. Was… was that a unicorn? Daiki quickly recovered, he’d seen stranger he supposed but still, this world just kept on getting weirder. He chuckled, somehow he suspected if Tsukasa ever found his way to this world he’d end up a unicorn himself, the arrogant bastard. He’d probably already know how to do magic, the show-off. Grabbing a pickaxe, he pretended to work still intent on not making a scene of himself. Daiki picked up scattered conversations from the ponies surrounding him. Apparently, if he was hearing correctly, some strange war criminals had recently returned from their banishment from some far off land, Royal Pardons and all. Apparently, ages ago these ‘sirens’ had caused a great amount of chaos and strife in their time here and had nearly raised an army up against the local Princesses for whatever reason. Perhaps unsurprisingly, nobody -Or should that have been nopony?- was happy about this happening. To add to that, for whatever reason one of their local heroes had recently unveiled herself to be the Queen of the Fangires and was currently trying to reunite the two races now that these creatures known as the Checkmate Four had all been dealt with. Daiki blinked at this, so there were Fangires in this world as well? Constants and variables he supposed. His pick striking something with a metallic clang, a great calamity rose up amongst the ponies as they rushed over and began digging up the area all around Daiki until the earth gave way and exposed a tunnel leading downwards. Daiki was one of the first to scramble down into that pit, knowing full well a deep dark tunnel despite usually never leading to anything good also usually lead to some sort of great reward. “And they say watching TV shows rots your brain…” he thought to himself with a small chuckle. “You first,” he said to a nervous looking unicorn stallion trembling in his boots before giving him a small little shove down the corridor. “After all, if there’s anything down there, I’d rather it eat you first!” he teased. “Not funny,” the stallion muttered. “Who says I was joking?” Daiki asked with a look. “By Celestia,” he muttered, not seemingly noticing the change in deity or if he did not caring. “You lot are so nervous. Need to gain a bit of courage! This is an adventure right? Finding long forgotten treasures!” “It’s archaeology,” the purple stallion corrected. “There’s a difference.” “Meh, not to me,” Daiki replied. “Both things can be worth their weight in gold depending on what you find. Never introduced myself. Name’s Daiki. Yours?” he asked the older stallion. “Firelight. Neighponise by the sounds of it, am I correct?” Firelight asked. “Eh, sure. I suppose,” Daiki replied guessing Neighponiese was the equivalent to Japanese here. “So, an adventure! Keep your spirits up, bound to be something interesting at the end of this cave!” he chirped. “Aside from horrendous things that want to make meals out of ponies?” Firelight deadpanned half expecting a manticore or something like that to leap out of the shadows, using his horn to light up the cave walls. Notably, the passageway was covered in ancient runes, unrecognizable at least to the present day. “Star Tracker,” Firelight barked, and a  young dark blue-coated earth pony about 16 at most with freckles covering his face rushed up. “You’re good with decoding languages right? See what you can make of this.” “Yeah, haven’t seen a language this old in a long, long time, Easily predates even Celestia herself,” Star Tracker murmured, running his fingers along the runes etched into the wall. “I’d say this dates back at least 1000 years before her birth judging by the age of everything.” “Lovely…” Firelight muttered, the chances of actually deciphering this language dropping lower by the moment. He should have called for his son-in-law, knowing he was possibly even more of an expert than his student at this sort of thing. Sadly, Sunburst was on his honeymoon with Starlight meaning he’d sent Star Tracker along to assist in the meantime. “Look on the bright side,” Daiki proclaimed. “Least there’s nothing that’s going to come out of the shadows, and try and kill you right?” “Golems are a thing,” Firelight remarked. “Run into a few of them at ancient tombs in Baladi pyramids. Not fun in trying to take down.” he shuddered remembering a particularly nasty one who was styled after a Baladi death god and had this massive bronze sword capable of chopping a pony in half with one fell swing. “Except this isn’t a tomb, or is it? Depends on your perspective really!” Daiki remarked gesturing to all around him. “The characters, they sorta remind me of a tribe called the Linto, with a few minor differences here and there. To you, they’d probably be your distant relatives. I’d say you’re looking at a related race here, perhaps a common ancestor.” For a brief moment, Daiki’s eyes widened in fear wondering if this was a Gurongi tomb but he relaxed his breathing and regained his composure realizing the scripture was just distinct enough from the Gurongi’s own. This was something entirely different. In the back of his mind, he knew he’d seen this language somewhere before, but he’d forgotten exactly where. “You’re certainly knowledgeable enough, if not a bit off,” Firelight remarked. “So, what brought you on this expedition anyways? Doubt it was just the thrill of it all really…” he trailed off. “It sorta was, actually…” Daiki admitted. “To be frank, finding treasure hasn’t interested me in months, I’ve only gone after stuff just to try and find that old spark as it were. But like I said, depends on your perspective. This is a tomb, and it isn’t,” he continued on not wanting to elaborate on his past. He wasn’t the touchy-feely type. Never would be. “See, it’s either a repository of treasure and historical artifacts that are ripe for the taking and that belong in some museum somewhere or it’s a tomb full of old bones. Fun, isn’t it?” “...You’re a real fun-killer aren’t you?” Star Tracker deadpanned before he went back to his translating, looking at the massive door in front of him. “Okay, think I’ve got something. Cross-referenced other languages and think I’ve found a cipher. It goes: “When the Seal is returned, the Kingstone is found they shall rise. I’m not sure who this ‘they’ is but if you’re asking me…” “Sounds like something to dissuade grave robbers. Anything here, long dead.” Firelight remarked. “Still, wouldn’t it be best to exercise a bout of caution on this really? I mean, for all we know this could just engage a booby trap!” Star Tracker warned, and needless to say, everyone took a few steps backwards from the door half expecting an axe to drop or something of that manner. Mind you, something did happen, but it was nothing dangerous. All that occurred was a wind rushing through the tomb and lighting up four torches on the wall, making them burn with an eerie green flame. “Did you do that?” Firelight asked Daiki, who shook his head. “No, you’re the unicorn here so if anyone did that it was bound to be you,” Daiki deadpanned. “Hell, it’s even in your name. Firelight anyone?” he asked. “Wasn’t me, I swear!” Firelight shot back, before their heads in unison both turned to look at Star Tracker and eyebrows were raised. Star Tracker laughed nervously. “Um… sorry?” he asked. “Look on the bright side, least we can see now right?” Both Daiki and Firelight facepalmed as Star Tracker continued to translate in hopes of getting the door open. Sitting himself upon a rock, Firelight turned to his new companion. Okay, be honest with me. You’re out going around the world collecting treasure for a reason right? Nobody just goes off on adventures for a reason, not even Daring Do. She does it to save the world, but you… I think you’re running from something aren’t you?” “You talk too much, you know that right?” Daiki grumbled, and Firelight smirked as he realized he’d hit a nerve. “Whatever your issue is, you can’t run from it forever. Just saying.” Firelight said, leaving Daiki to consider his words. Maybe the pony was right. He eventually, one day or another, did have to go and return to his brother. Return to his homeworld and settle things… somehow. Then, Star Tracker let out a shout of “Done!” as the center of the door lit up a bright sea-green. Daiki’s eyes widened as something filled him, something he hadn’t felt in ages. The lust for grabbing a treasure. He then remembered where the characters in this language had come from, and his eyes widened as Firelight walked towards the massive doorway. “Wait, don’t!” Daiki shouted, but it was too late as soon as Firelight removed the keystone from the doorway, the rest of the door crumbled away and a massive black mass filled the chamber before forming into a figure. It was sheerly massive in size towering over everyone else in the chamber with only two sharp yellow eyes visible, and the head seemingly had two massive horns jutting out from it. Daiki recognized the figure alright, he’d summoned it at least once and his hands immediately went for both his Rider Card and his Diendriver. “Kamen Ride: DiEnd!” the Driver shouted even as the beast let out a loud howl and charged right towards Firelight. “Henshin!” Daiki shouted and fired his driver skywards before becoming DiEnd. “Who… Who are you?” Firelight whispered before shouting: “What is that thing?” “Just a passing through Kamen Rider… Remember that one,” Daiki said, smirking a little at stealing Tsukasa’s catchphrase. “As for that thing… It’s just a specter about to be sent back to the grave!” “Attack Ride: Barrier!” An energy shield was flung up between DiEnd and the being but it simply smashed through it with a howl of “Fools! I will reclaim my kingdom! I will reclaim my race!” “Yeah, that’ll happen,” DiEnd muttered before swearing softly to himself. “Damnit, wish there was more room to move about in here. More room to fight!” Briefly, he considered summoning another Rider to his side like maybe Lupin or Sorcerer to even up the odds, but Daiki had never exactly figured out just how under his control they were really. They may have been puppets, as they never acted against him, but then again he always summoned them in situations where they had to fight. For all he knew, if they ever had the opportunity, a Rider like Ouja or Scissors might just turn on him. Opting to work on the safe side, at least for now, Daiki grabbed another Attack Ride card and placed it into his weapon before firing. “Attack Ride: Illusion!” Multiples of DiEnd sprung up and began firing at the shadowy mass but it created arms to defeat each and every one of them before it went inside Firelight’s outstretched mouth before he even had time to scream. A white version of Kivat formed around Firelight’s waist as the pony lifted himself up into the air. “Henshin! Now go to Hell!” the Kivat shouted before DiEnd grabbed Star Tracker and ran out of the chamber as an explosion enveloped the room. “What… what was that?” Star Tracker asked as he looked up at Daiki. “Not my problem. Best you contact your local Fangire Queen, Fluttershy was it? It’s her issue to deal with now…” Daiki said before the air around him shimmered and he vanished. Far away on a beach just a few short hours travel from Ponyville were the Dazzlings, Castle Doran keeping a careful eye on the threesome from atop a mountain peak. Even now, as the sirens reclaimed their old home and threw out anyone who had decided to make themselves a lodger, his ever watchful eyes observed them. “And stay out!” Adagio barked, using her tail flipper to throw out a massive shark who’d decided to take their feeding grounds for himself. “Huh… Think I just booted out the Meg. Fancy that.” she smirked noting the creature’s abnormal size. Sonata made a gleeful sound as she dived beneath the waves and just swam through a nearby coral reef smiling as she observed the rainbow of colors around her. Home at last. Hadn’t changed one bit, really. Sure, centuries had passed and apparently that meanie Starswirl was alive and kicking -somehow- but Equestria really hadn’t aged a day in most respects. “You ever get the feeling that we’re still prisoners in a way?” Aria deadpanned even as she lounged herself up against some rocks. “I mean, look up there. Even after she brought us back, that wimpy pegasus is still having her pet dragon keep an eye on us!” “Hardly call Fluttershy, at least this one anyways ‘wimpy’ if she somehow managed to give the Checkmate Four a real run for the money and is the current Fangire Queen,” Adagio pointed out before looking up towards Doran. “But yeah… I see your point. House arrest basically. But can’t say I blame her or Twilight for that matter for being cautious. And besides, they said it was only for the next few months.” “And you believed them?” Aria scoffed. “Hey, it’s not all bad!” Sonata remarked as she lay flat on her belly soaking up the sun even as a few brave ponies took a few photos of her. “We’re not exactly closed off from the rest of the world, and besides it’s not like there’s a whole lot of trouble we can cause, not without our singing voices anymore really…” “Yeah, and you don’t see a problem with this?” Aria muttered grumpily. “A siren who can’t sing or carry a pretty little tune, there’s something a bit wrong with that don’t you think?” “Okay, I admit it’s shameful,”: Adagio sighed. “But we grew arrogant and thought we could actually challenge Equestria even at low power and with an army of teenagers. I mean, what were we thinking? If we couldn’t beat the Pillars, what could we possibly do against four Princesses and the Elements?” she asked sardonically. A little child ran up to her in an attempt to stroke her muzzle much to Adagio’s pleasure, but a fearful mother pulled him away. Adagio sighed to herself. “...Guess some things never change, ponies are always afraid of what they don’t understand,’ she grumbled. True, she deserved this much but it still hurt when all she wanted was a life for herself and her siblings. After all, she started out with good intentions, even if they got diluted over the centuries just trying to survive and her own desperation catching up with her. “How… how can we prove we’ve changed, if they don’t even give us a chance?” she whispered. “Don’t bother, I say,” Aria remarked in a sarcastic tone. “After all, ponies have always been this way. If they don’t give us a chance, I don’t see why we should bother even trying.” Deep down inside, Adagio knew her younger sister was hurting. Both of them were. Aria tried to hide it with dry sardonic biting remarks and Sonata with her cheeriness, but Adagio both knew all they wanted to be was accepted once more. They wanted to be a part of Equestria as well, that’s why they’d jumped at the chance to be welcomed back and that’s why they’d fought the Fangire race oh so long ago. And after all, if a certain siren off the coasts of Prance could be accepted, what was stopping them? Oh right. Starswirl, the dick, still spreading stories of them simply being monsters who wanted to bring chaos and disorder to the lands. “How’d Sunset do it…?” Sonata mumbled, wiping away a small tear from her eye with a fin. “How…? Just how? Canterlot High, it hated her, and yet somehow she muscled on through.” “It’s because she had friends I guess,” Aria admitted letting the mask drop. “Far more than you can say about us really…” “It was oh so easy to cope in the beginning, wasn’t it? Back when we were first cast out,” Adagio sighed, and Sonata nodded in agreement. “Yeah, just seduce a man or a woman here and there and pretend their comfort was something akin to friendship. They left us in the end always, but for just those brief moments we had someone at our sides again…” Sonata whispered. “I suppose, in a way, it was good we never fell in love with anyone. It’d have hurt far too much.” “Suppose we should be grateful in a way Sunset robbed us of our immortality,” Adagio agreed. “Least this way, if by some chance we fall in love with some creature and they by some lucky chance return our feelings they won’t have to grow old and die while we stay like this forever. I honestly pity Princess Twilight, and Celestia and all the rest now. Never thought I’d say that, but I do,” she admitted. “Yeah, and to make matters worse for Twilight at least I heard she’s getting married in a few months,” Sonata sighed, almost wistfully. Perhaps there was a trace of that, she was a romantic at heart after all. “To that Tempest Shadow mare, you know the one right? The one with the IXA system?” “Yeah, I do. Odd choice really for a companion, but guess she sees something we don’t,” Adagio admitted. “And for a pony, I gotta admit Tempest is sexy as all hell, I mean woof! Never thought scars and a mohawk would look good, but on her…” she purred out and licked her lips. “If she wasn’t taken, I’d snatch Tempest up for myself really!” “I’m flattered, really I am,” Tempest’s voice deadpanned as the mare walked up the beach clad in a simple gray tank top and blue jeans combo. She crossed her arms, a dark violet jacket slung over her left shoulder. If one looked closely, they could see a small part of Twilight’s cutie mark on the back. “Come to check up on you, and find you gossiping about me and my upcoming wedding. Geez, Princess Twilight wasn’t kidding when she said you bunch were something else!” “Hey, that’s a good thing right?” Sonata asked. “I mean, who wants to be normal? Normal is B to the o-r-i-n-g!” Adagio facepalmed, or at least did the siren equivalent and chuckled good-naturedly. Her sister could be a ditz and rather childish at times, but she loved her and wouldn’t have her any other way. “True,” Tempest admitted as she took a sip of this fizzy drink she’d popped open, apparently cherry-themed if the label was to be believed. “But please, can you just not gossip about my love life? Please… just don’t. I get enough of that from my troops, you joining in makes it even worse!” she grumbled, rubbing her temples. “But it’s so sweet!” Sonata exclaimed looking as if she might melt into a puddle of goo. If Tempest had her way, just glaring at her might make Sonata do just that. “A former baddie hooking up with the Princess of Friendship herself!” “Yeah, you two shacking up is heartwarming enough to be on a Hallmark card,” Aria deadpanned. “Bleagh!” she gagged not particularly caring really. “You have no room in your heart for romance do you?” Sonata shouted, and the two would have begun to bicker like usual had Adagio not broke it up. She groaned to herself, sometimes it was like playing mother to these two instead of an older sister. Tempest just laughed. “And I thought I was bad when it comes to temper issues…” she chuckled shaking her head as she watched Adagio pry her squabbling siblings apart. “But listen, I managed to earn Equestria’s trust, and I was one of the most feared and hated unicorns in generations!” “Yeah, but you got assigned to Twilight’s Royal Guard,” Adagio pointed out. “And you helped save Equestria from Rook and the Fangires with the IXA system so…” “So what? I still had issues before that, some that needed ironing out with a little help from the Reformed Unicorns Club!” Tempest exclaimed and at this Aria burst out laughing while Sonata had to contain a few giggles. Adagio looked skywards as if to ask why did she put up with these idiots. “I’m sorry, but what?” Aria laughed. “You need some rum with that?” she joked. “It… it was Twilight’s idea!” Tempest stammered out, her face bright red and not helping her case as she did look as if she’d had a snootful only increasing the giggles from Sonata. “Basically, gather together some previously villainous unicorns like Trixie, Starlight, and Sunset and put them in a room together with me and try and iron out my… issues.” “She… She still should have chosen a better name though!” Aria laughed. “I mean, did it not occur to her at any point her acronym would say rum?” Tempest growled, her horn sparking slightly before she managed to recollect herself and took in a deep breath. “Listen, the point is if someone like me can earn back Equestria’s trust, you three idiots can as well. Am I not right?” Ignoring the slight against her, Adagio sighed. “Yeah, suppose you’re right there… Just easier said then done I guess.” “Hey, if it were easy, every villain Equestria’s ever faced would have just gone, “Ulp, no chance in me taking over so I might as well reform and befriend everyone!” and then things would get rather boring ‘round here wouldn’t they?” “...I thought you said you were reformed,” Adagio replied skeptically, an eyebrow raised and her front fins crossed. “Hey, I said I was reformed. Didn’t say ‘R.U.M’ worked out exactly all of my issues now did it?” Tempest remarked with a small shrug. “Plus, I like a good challenge every now and then, makes for a good chance of pace!” “Good point. I mean, if everything was all nice and dandy 100% of the time, things would get rather boring really…” Adagio mused. “So, guess I should think of this as a challenge. A challenge to show Equestria, and especially that old codger Starswirl the new and improved Adagio Dazzling!” “See now, that’s the spirit!” Tempest exclaimed with a snap of her fingers. “Huh, and I thought talking to you three would be hard. Never been the most sociable of ponies, me.” “Hey, guess it takes one former villain to know another former villain right?” Sonata asked and Tempest made a small noise of agreement. “Tell me you didn’t boast about your prowess in battle,” Tempest commented. “I mean, by Celestia, was the Storm King arrogant about his and I quote directly: Ba-ba boom baby!” she laughed. All three Dazzlings, or at least Aria and Adagio looked the slightest bit sheepish. “We… we may have done that, yes,” Aria laughed nervously. “But, we were young, idiots, and everyone was scared of us anyways especially when we served in the Roman legion or we were on the high seas as pirates. So you’d have to forgive us if we indulged ourselves a little… right?” “Meh, I have no room to talk,” Tempest shrugged again. “I mean, I introduced myself by asking for Princess Celestia’s -amongst others- complete and total utter surrender or something like that really.” “Did you dress up in armor and land your airship all intimidating like?” Sonata asked. “Sounds like you were a few steps away from being Darth Vader in pony form!” “Who’s Darth Vader?” Tempest asked quizzically. Sonata only laughed. Meanwhile in Ponyville proper, and quite unaware of what was about to happen both Vinyl and Fluttershy shared a dinner date. “...Feels weird you know, just going out for dinner like this after everything’s that’s gone on as of late. You know what I mean?” Vinyl asked, taking a sip of her wine. Normally she wasn’t interested in such things,- Octavia was the more classy of the duo after all- but when on dates with someone who was now a literal Queen Vinyl for whatever reason felt she had to clean herself up a little bit. “Seriously, Rook’s dead. Bishop’s dead. That Shinigami Fangire’s pushing up the daisies. It just feels weird to have an actual normal date for once!” “What, like our other dates weren’t normal?” Fluttershy teased, and Vinyl blushed. “We-Well, o-of course they were normal,” she sputtered out, much to Fluttershy’s amusement. The mighty Vinyl Scratch, the famed DJ-Pon3 laid low and reduced to a stuttering wreck by Ponyville’s shyest resident! Octavia was laughing at her now, she just knew it! ...Wouldn’t have surprised her if she and Rainbow decided to spy on them during their date now that she thought of it. Wouldn’t put it past Rainbow at the very least Vinyl mused. “But all those other dates, we always had this ticking time bomb hanging over our head so to speak! Always had to worry about when the next Fangire would strike! But now… Well, everything’s just different.” That much was true, given a few ‘ponies’ unveiled their Fangire blood without fear of the Bishop coming down on their heads to their counterparts. Star Hunter, for example, had taken his girlfriend on a night of the town, and apparently, they were happy. It seemed Twilight and Tempest’s earlier fears of Fangires being in the guard hadn’t been entirely unfounded, but apparently, the Fangires in Tempest’s command never would have revealed themselves always in fear of being labeled traitors by Bishop. It was only when Star Hunter heard from Twilight that they were staging a raid on the Bishop’s base of operations did he decide to finally get over his fear or at least put it aside for the moment. “Yeah, I suppose…” Fluttershy mused briefly humming a few notes of the soft jazz song in the background. “Vinyl, are you… intimidated by me?” she asked seriously. “Why?” Vinyl asked. “It’s just… Well, I’m a Queen now, and to you, that must mean you have to feel awfully low compared to me status wise,” Fluttershy murmured several old insecurities coming to the forefront once more. “I mean, not to sound rude or anything but you’re practically a peasant! You’ve started acting just that tiny bit more nervous around me, always striving to please me to ludicrous extents! I mean, just last week you sent me several bundles of flowers! Roseluck later told me you practically cleaned out your entire savings account buying those for me!” “Okay, I admit I’m more than just a tad intimidated by you really,” Vinyl sighed. “Or at least feeling a bit inferior to you. I mean, make no bones about it you’re a real badass now and I’m only your personal consort in a sense! A friggin’ concubine if you excuse the term!” she exclaimed slamming her hands on the table. “...Only reason I’ve ever been able to help you now is because of Kiva-La…” she sighed. Fluttershy put a hand on her shoulder, and Vinyl looked up in surprise eyes widening. “No, that’s not true, it’s never been true and you know it. Kiva-La or no Kiva-La, you’ve always tried to help me however you can. You always encouraged me onwards, even when I was at my lowest! To be honest, I always wanted to be like you, all confident and adventurous.” Vinyl chuckled sadly. “How times have changed huh…? Guess the horseshoe’s on the other hoof now!” she joked sardonically. “Vinyl, please! Don’t think of yourself as somepony lower to me,” Fluttershy pleaded. “Sure, I’m Queen now, but I’m still the same pony I’ve always been aren’t I?” “I suppose,” Vinyl agreed. “Celestia knows I’ve caught you flinching nervously whenever we go out on a date together at times. Like you’re expecting everyone to judge you, or the paparazzi to just appear out of nowhere and flash you with their cameras!” Fluttershy nodded. “It’s hard for me, actually, to be on a date with you. If I’m honest, I’m always feeling the inferior one compared to you. You earned your fame through hard work, honest to Celestia hard work while I only got mine through sheer luck and by birthright if I’m, to be honest.” “Okay, firstly, you know that’s not true as you worked your own flank off to finally get your reward and have Kiva finally seen as a hero by the townsfolk, that’s not luck at all!” Vinyl told her sternly. “And secondly, what you said before about us being equals? Keep that in mind. Sure, we’re both famous in our own rights but we’re still just ponies. And any paparazzi that tries jumping us, if Kivat or Tatsulot don’t get to them first I’ll be punching their lights out!” Fluttershy shook her head, although it was clearly obvious she was amused even as she said: “Please Vinyl, must you resort to violence?” in admonishment. “What? You don’t expect me not to deal with them? They flocked outside my house to get nude shots at times! I mean, my body’s great and all, but Octavia would kill me if she ended up on the front page like that!” Vinyl exclaimed. “I’m serious, I wouldn’t put it past them just to make up some wild story about me and Octavia being lovers just for a few more readers! Me and Octy are real good friends and all, but we’re certainly not bed-humping night and day!” “Could be worse I suppose,” Fluttershy agreed. “Could be that they’re getting ideas about us going in on threesomes…” “Actually, I’d sorta like to see that on the front page,” Vinyl mused before booping her lover on the nose. “If only for your reaction of course!” she teased. Vinyl could only laugh at Fluttershy’s furious red blush before Fluttershy joined in on that laughter. Dimensions away, Daiki had returned to his usual hobby and had stumbled across an alternate timeline of the Drive world. Apparently, Gold Drive had resurfaced in this world due to a strange series of events that Daiki would rather not remember and personally had no part in if you were to ask him. Nobody would have probably believed him if asked, but yet here he was with Kamen Rider Gold Drive pursuing him after his head even as he ran through the halls of the Kuruma Driver's License Center in downtown Tokyo. Gold Drive used his Golden Energy Manipulation powers to fire off a ball of sharp electricity towards DiEnd, who grabbed a nearby pipe and then summoned Kuuga who grabbed the pole and changed into Dragon form intercepting this golden power. As Daiki predicted, this turned him into Rising form and knocked Gold Drive back through some walls and into the Drive Pit. “I’ll be taking that belt,” Daiki said to the man formerly known as Tejura Banno, Kuuga having vanished back to his home dimension. “It’ll look good in a glass case. Besides, you disgrace the name of Kamen Rider anyways.” Gold Drive was having none of it, and even as he picked himself up off the ground he flew towards DiEnd and pinned him to a wall mid-leap. Gold Drive began punching him over and over until finally, Daiki managed to free himself and knock away the knock-off with a kick. “Kamen Ride: Riotroopers!” Summoning forth some of the rank and file mooks from Faiz’s time, Daiki ordered them to fire upon Gold Drive, who only blasted them out of existence with a gold energy wave before pinning Daiki himself to the floor with another blast. “Give up.” Gold Drive/Banno stated marching forwards charging up a golden blast in his palm. “Why… Why can’t I just keep on fighting back? And why can’t I have the will to keep the Riders I summon in this world for as long as I need?” Daiki asked himself. “What’s wrong with me?” Imagery came flashing towards him in his mind. That dark being, and those ponies he left behind to die. A voice that sounded suspiciously like Tsukasa’s filtered into his head. “Maybe it’s because you’ve lost the will to do what’s right?” the voice mocked. “That isn’t you Daiki. Even when you’re at your lowest, you always did have some sort of a heart.” “Again, what the Hell’s wrong with me?” Daiki mentally screamed out. “Maybe it’s this little thing called a conscience affecting you?” the voice mocked again. “I thought you had that!” “You’re… you’re right,” Daiki admitted clenching his fists. “I left those ponies to die by Arc’s hand. More will be killed if I don’t do something. But first, time to clean up this mess…” He went for his Diendriver quicker than Gold Drive could react and fired. “Final Attack Ride: D-D-D-DiEnd!” Firing off a green and black beam of energy, DiEnd reduced the body of Gold Drive to nothing but data, the belt clattering to the floor of the Drive Pit with a clanging sound. “Wait, you’re a Kamen Rider like me! Please, calm down.. Don't... Stop! Don't do it, don’t do this to me!” Banno pleaded as Daiki canceled his transformation and stepped over to him picking the belt up. “One, I do whatever I want,” Daiki stated as he tossed the belt to one very surprised Shinnosuke. “And two, you’re a disgrace to what it means to be a Kamen Rider.” With that, he stepped back between worlds Arc in his sights… Back in the DP World, Fluttershy and Vinyl were walking out of the cafe only by pure chance to see the Everfree Forest burning in the distance. Already, little flecks of embers were beginning to come down over the small town. “What the hell…?” Vinyl muttered before looking at Fluttershy. “Please tell me that forest fire’s natural and that someone didn’t obey Cynder the Squirrel's message.” A loud roar cut off any chance of that, before like wrappings flew out of nowhere and tried to bind Fluttershy like a mummy had Vinyl not changed into Kiva-La in the nick of time and cut them down with her sword. “...Well, wishing and hoping right?” Vinyl shrugged. Marching out of the forest, picking up trees like toothpicks and tossing them aside was this truly massive figure, demonic in theme with bright golden eyes. Chains wrapped themselves around his chest and two sharp horns jutted out of his helmet. By his side was this mummy monster, and to his left assembling himself from some rocks with a simple wave of the colossal Rider’s arm was a gargoyle creature. “One normal date, that’s all I ask for…” Vinyl muttered as Fluttershy called for Kivat and changed into Kiva. “Take them!” Arc roared. “Do not let anything impede me!” Fluttershy got skywards and rocketed skywards and then downwards with a single hoof aimed at Arc’s chest. The chains on her leg broke open revealing two red wings needed to perform the Darkness Moon Break. “WAKE UP!” At the very last second Arc grabbed her by the hoof before tossing Fluttershy though several houses. Vinyl’s eyes widened under her helmet even as she sliced through the mummy monster’s bindings performing a Wake Up Strike of her own taking the creature down. “From Fangires… to well whatever these are,” she muttered. “What a life eh?” She was then soundly punched in the face by the gargoyle monster. Back at Princess Twilight’s castle, she looked out to see the giant of a Rider, if that’s what he even was marching on Ponyville. “By Celestia…” she thought before she heard a rapid knocking at her door, ran out onto a balcony, looked down and saw Star Tracker at the front steps. “Star… Star Tracker?” she asked in surprise, not having seen him since the whole airship thing with Iron Will. Yes, she’d heard Sunburst took him under his hoof as an archaeology student and linguist but seeing him in person was something different. “Apologies Princess for barging in on you like this, but you need to know what’s going on,” Star Tracker said, giving a quick bow. “That massive… well, whatever you want to call it, it’s taken over Firelight. It is Firelight for the time being. I swear I’ve seen that creature before in my texts, but…” Star Tracker babbled ignoring Twilight’s little shocked exclamation upon hearing what happened to Firelight. Quickly regaining her composure, Twilight began pulling books off the shelves and within a matter of minutes found what she was looking for. “They’re called Legendorgas, and that would be their King, Kamen Rider Arc. He’s a spirit, sealed away by the first Kiva. Needs a body to survive. Firelight’s still in there, yes, but he’s trapped. Only way to free him is to destroy Arc’s body,” “So what’s Arc doing here?” Star asked. “Apparently, most of what Ponyville was built on was a burial ground for Arc’s legions. Granted, it wasn’t called Ponyville then, it was just a lot of dirt and land but judging from my calculations his most powerful warriors are right underneath here,” Twilight said, handing off the book on Legendorgas to Star Tracker. “How he’s reawakened I’m not sure, but get this to Vinyl, or Fluttershy. Hurry!” she shouted, now noticing the moon had some sort of eye on it seemingly awakened by Arc’s presence. Nodding, Star Tracker rushed off towards Vinyl only to see the Gargoyle Legendorgas getting the upper hand. Quickly kicking him in the side to distract the monster, Star Tracker watched in awe as Vinyl dispatched the creature with a Wake Up Thrust from her sword. Explaining the situation as Fluttershy ran up going into Empress form, Star Tracker then watched as Princess Twilight threw up a shield of energy around her castle. Arc roared out and in anger, bellowed: “YOU WILL LET ME BY!” “I think not. You shall not pass. I am the Princess of Friendship, and the Slayer of Bishop of the Checkmate Four. You shall not pass.” Twilight stated firmly as Fluttershy and Vinyl drew their blades even as Arc beat his chest in rage. “Yeah yeah, act like a gorilla all you want,” Vinyl stated with a roll of her eyes. “Still doesn’t change the fact that Twilight’s word is law. Take it up with her. Or don’t, we’re going to beat Firelight out of you, ya creep.” Arc lunged before a loud screech knocked him back and nearly toppled him as Adagio and her sisters flew overhead, Tempest in full IXA gear leaping off the eldest siren’s back. “I thought you said you lost your voice!” Fluttershy shouted, her ears bleeding slightly. Star Tracker meanwhile, had found some cover knowing this place was about to become a battlefield. “Said I couldn’t carry a tune,” Adagio winked even as Aria rammed Arc with Sonata soon to follow making Arc stagger. “Didn’t say anything about not being able to still kick a bit of ass.” “GO TO HELL!” Arc’s Kivat shouted as his faceplates fell away revealing nothing but wires and optics underneath. “Wait… His Kivat’s a robot?” Fluttershy asked in surprise. “Of course it is,” Kivat chuckled. “Hard to replicate, we are. Some might say impossible. We’re one of a kind!” “Yeah, you certainly are…” Fluttershy smiled before her eyes narrowed. “Now you Arc, you will give us back Firelight, even if we have to go through you by force! “Yeah, you might have to,” Daiki’s voice commented as he stepped into their world, Arc now absorbing the eye on the moon gaining two massive wings and two extra arms all burning with fire. Daiki meanwhile pulled out a smartphone-like device and attached it to his belt. “Don’t ask who I am, as it doesn’t matter. Consider this my compensation for accidentally releasing this creature upon you.” “Wait, what?” Fluttershy shouted upon learning of this little factoid. “You unleashed that thing?” “Got me in one I’m afraid…” DiEnd shrugged, and Vinyl practically had to hold her girlfriend back from pummeling DiEnd to a pulp. “Woah woah, as much as I’m all for kicking this guy’s ass here,” Vinyl replied. “Shouldn’t we be worried about big bad Arc up there?” she asked gesturing upwards. “Right… I’ll deal with you later,” Fluttershy said, giving Daiki a glare. “But for now…” “Yes, quite,” Daiki agreed as Arc flew skywards and seemed to blot out the moon and began tossing fireballs all over Ponyville, the screeches of the Dazzlings slowing him down but not by much. “This will have to be a collaborative effort. Agreed?” “What he said. Fluttershy, you take him high and we’ll take him low!” Tempest stated after a quick nod of agreement and Fluttershy leaped upwards atop Adagio. “Hey, no free rides!” Adagio shouted out in indignation before Fluttershy shut her up with a glare. “Fine fine… just hold on!” With that, she joined the battle. As Adagio and Arc engaged in an aerial dogfight above the streets of Ponyville, blasts of sound and fire being thrown about as they weaved between the buildings of the town DiEnd pressed a series of buttons on his touchpad-like belt device. “G4! Ryuga! Orga! Glaive! Kabuki! Arc! Eternal! Lupin! Final Kamen Ride: DiEnd!” A card appeared on DiEnd’s forehead representing him, while eight images of eight riders -presumably the ones his K-Touch had shouted off- appeared on his chest plates. “Attack Ride: Gekijyouban!” Summoning up all eight of these Riders, DiEnd snapped his fingers and watched G4 blast Arc with his missile launcher and catch the massive Rider off-guard long enough for Adagio to hit him with another sonic screech attack accompanied by a wave of blue energy from Eternal’s knife. Not to be outdone the summoned Arc lunged forwards, his counterpart’s eyes widening only to be punched in the chestplate before Adagio rammed this world’s Arc once more. Arc let out a roar of rage and led Adagio on another chest through the streets the two continuing their dogfight until they were well out of town and back near the Everfree Forest the battle continuing up above and below the treetops. At one point, Adagio surfed above a lake and rocketed skywards once more even as Arc threw fireballs at her, making parts of the lake erupt in explosions. “Going… Going to need some breathing room here!” Adagio panted out, and she got it as Dragblacker scored a direct hit with his flames on Arc’s chest. Arc roared out in rage and knocked the Contract Beast aside before charging forwards. Another brief aerial dogfight ensued and by now, the two were near the Castle of the Two Sisters. Kabuki was waiting for them atop a castle wall, and had readied a variation of his own finisher, the Ongeki Da: Gōka Kenran (Sound Attack Stroke: Gorgeous Strong Fire) which involved readying up a gong-like device and firing off a blast of cyan energy at Arc. The green and red Oni-themed Rider chuckled to himself as Arc roared out and turned his attentions to him only to be slammed into by Adagio. “Thanks!” Fluttershy shouted. “Riders help other Riders, isn’t that the saying?” Kabuki asked. Nearby, Ryuga just chuckled. The battle progressed back into Ponyville, but this time Arc found a surprise waiting for him as IXA and Kiva-La leaped forwards propelled by Aria and Sonata’s sonic blasts and smashed right through Arc’s new wings. “Final Attack Ride: D-D-D-DiEnd!” DiEnd’s driver shouted before he fired off a gold version of his Dimension Shoot with the other summoned Riders performing their respective finishers as well on Arc before they were pulled inside DiEnd’s weapon as cards. “No kill like overkill right?” Vinyl joked but her eyes widened in abject shock as she saw Arc getting up, his spirit leaving Firelight’s unconscious body and forming its own. “You gotta be kidding me! What does it take to stop this guy?” Adagio flew overhead, with Fluttershy pulling on Tatsulot’s tail. “Wake Up Fever!” “Well, let’s find out shall we?” Fluttershy asked as she slammed into Arc, leaving the Kiva insignia on his body before he exploded. “Now for… Oh for Celestia’s sake!” Fluttershy shouted upon seeing DiEnd had wisely taken his leave. “There go our insurance premiums… Again,” Tempest muttered as she looked at the destroyed town. “Yep, can see them climbing now. I really should invest in a beach house.” “Then maybe Twilight can see you in your swimsuit, eh?” Aria cackled, as Tempest blushed a furious red. Twilight was soon to follow even as she helped Firelight up off the ground. “Ugh, what hit me?” Firelight murmured before his eyes widened upon remembering the last thing that happened and seeing what had become of Ponyville, the small town laying in ruins. “Did… Did I do this?” Aria’s ears flattered, and so did Adagio and Sonata’s realizing that the Ponyville citizens may not have exactly appreciated their return and how exactly they defeated Arc. “Just another reason for them to hate us… right?” Aria thought. “No, you didn’t,” Fluttershy said kindly to Firelight reaching out a hand. “Remember that, you never did. Wait, is that… cheering?” Sure enough, it was, with the various inhabitants not only yelling out “Kamen Riders! Kamen Riders!” in joy but the Dazzlings’ own names as well. Adagio looked away, and if she was crying… well, it was a cold night wasn’t it? As for DiEnd… Well, what happened to him you may ask dear reader? He’d returned to his home world, ready to face his past. In front of him were Glaive and Blade, swords drawn before Glaive turned to his fellow Rider and looked at him lowering his weapon. Blade was soon to follow. “Welcome home… brother.” Glaive said taking off his helmet and embracing him in a hug which was soon returned. And so, all was well… wasn’t it?