Kamen Rider Justice

by RuinQueenofOblivion

The Wooden Cup

“Not exactly how I pictured we’d spend our first night engaged,” Scootaloo said with a sigh as she shuffled through the deck of Rider Cards she had brought with her. The room was comfortable at least, but it was so barren, still, it was big enough for the two of them. “So, what are we going to do now?”

“I don’t know, there’s not much we can do except hope that everything works out,” Sweetie said as she kissed Scootaloo on the cheek a little. “What’s on your mind about these cards anyway?”

“Well, we looked into past Riders right?” Scootaloo asked and Sweetie nodded a little as Scootaloo picked out several cards and laid them out. “These cards here don’t seem to fit any of the ones that we’ve actually found any records of.”

“Hmm, interesting,” Sweetie said as she picked up one of the cards and looked at it curiously. It had a face that was red with green eyes and two curved golden horns and a silver mouthpiece. “Hmm, Kamen Rider Alchemy.”

“Yeah… heck, this one looks more like the one of Kamen Rider W only with a different color scheme,” Scootaloo said as she tapped one that was split in half with one half being red and the other being dark grey. “Why do you think anyone would give these to us?”

“I don’t know, it’s not like you can use them whenever you want,” Sweetie said with a sigh as she shook her head a little. I still don’t know about all of this honestly. It feels like we’re just waiting for something to go wrong, again.”

“Sweetie, we have nothing to worry about,” Scootaloo said as she placed her hand gently on her fiance’s cheek. “They said it themselves, the effect of the field isn’t here, so if they go after us here we can at least fight them off.”

“Yeah, that’s something,” Sweetie Belle said as she leaned in and kissed Scootaloo gently on the lips. “Though we still have to figure out exactly how we’re going to stop this. That thing has to be the crux of what is causing the field. We need to either negate it or stop him from presenting more of a threat.”

“Yeah…” Scootaloo said with a sigh as she closed her eyes. “Maybe if we can track down any information on who he is we can try and figure out where he might go, or target. We’re in a bad position right now, but we can do this if we work together.”

“I’m sure you’re right,” Sweetie said with a soft smile as she rests her forehead against Scootaloo’s and closed her eyes gently. “I love you Scootaloo, more than I can put into words, and I would do anything for you.”

“I love you too,” Scootaloo said softly as she smiled a little and looked around. “Do you think they’re spying on us right now?”

“Probably,” Sweetie said with a smirk as she leaned in and kissed Scootaloo gently on the lips. “Though, would you mind risking it?”

Scootaloo chuckled a little at that. She hadn’t ever thought about that kind of thing, actually, it made her a little uncomfortable. But she just kissed her fiance for a long moment as she rests her hands on Sweetie’s butt and gave it a light squeeze.

“Really, as long as I have you by my side then I’m happy,” Scootaloo said and glanced up towards a corner and sighed a little when she spotted the camera. “I think shutting that off would just cause them to come and interrupt us.”

“Oh well,” Sweetie said as she kissed Scootaloo again. “But that means you owe me when we get out of this mess you know.”

“Oh, I know,” Scootaloo said with a grin. “I think that’s one debt I look forward to paying in full.”

The two shared a long kiss as they fell back onto the bed together. They shared a long loving embrace as they kissed for a few moments. Scootaloo smiled softly as she broke the kiss and stroked Sweetie’s pink and purple hair gently.

“I’m so lucky to have you as my fiance,” Scootaloo said softly as she laid there and enjoyed the moment together. “I don’t care if we’re back home or laying here, all that matters to me is that we are together.”

Sweetie smiled as she reached down and pulled the blanket over them and smiled a little. “Well, maybe we can still have a little fun if we’re careful…” she said with a grin as she started to unbutton Scootaloo’s shirt. “I’m not going to not enjoy my first night engaged to you.”

Scootaloo smiled a little as she pulled the blankets over their head. Maybe this wasn’t going to be so bad after all.

“What happened out there?” Fancy Pants asked as Tempest walked back into his office. “You left kind of suddenly and then our cameras went offline.”

“I had a run-in with an old friend,” Tempest said with a sigh as she shook her head a little bit as she reached into her bag and took out a tablet. She pulled up some news reports from out of Japan and frowned a little as she scrolled through it. “Weird, there’s nothing more than a few rumors… whatever was done to avert that threat seems to have worked…”

“You mean Woz then?” Fancy Pants asked with a sigh. “Yes, we’ve kept a close eye on the situation to avoid Oma Zi-O, not that it has been easy. Our counterparts in Japan have kept the situation under control, though they’ve been partially overwhelmed by everything that’s been going on over the past few years.”

“Understandable,” Tempest said as she put the tablet away again. “Though I’m still concerned, even if he arrived here from some sort of alternate timeline from our own, he would have some sort of reason. I don’t like this.”

“Agreed,” Fancy Pants said with a sigh. “I’ll have facial recognition search for him, right now we need to figure out why he’s here and what’s going on. But given the current situation, that may be more of a secondary priority.”

“Right,” Tempest said as she nodded softly. “I’m here until this is worked out, is there any word from the techies?”

“They think this is something related to the energy output of the monster,” Fancy Pants said. “So they’re working on some way to counteract it, but it might take awhile. The problem is that we don’t know if we have the time we’d need for this. But what about Lilac, is she going to be okay?”

“Yes, she’s staying with a friend while this is worked out,” Tempest said with a sigh as she brushed her hair back a little. “I’m worried though if we don’t make this work we may have a new problem on our hands.”

“Indeed,” Fancy Pants said as he frowned a little. “What will happen if it succeeds? Most of the Commanders are still active and the remaining cards aren’t exactly fit for them.”

“That is unknown at this time,” Tempest said with a sigh. “Several of the spirits are unaccounted for including the Empress. It is possible that new ones could be created, but only if they gain enough power, which is why we have to stop this one before it’s too late.”

“Right, unfortunately, that is easier said than done,” Fancy Pants said with a shake of his head. “Flim and Flam are going over everything and Stone is helping out as best he can. Unfortunately, things are going slowly and we don’t know how long we have.”

“I’ll see what I can do to help,” Tempest said with a sigh. “So, what are we supposed to do until then? Keep Justice and her friends cooped up in here? They’re civilians, they won’t be able to stay here forever without attracting attention.”

“I know,” Fancy Pants said with a sigh. “We’re going to have to wound the monster and keep it from ascending. Do we have the weapons for that? And what about your condition, can you…”

“No, I’m just as powerless in the city as they are,” Tempest said with a shake of her head. “We’ll have to use the anti-Order Weapons. But that’s not going to be enough to actually stop him.”

“But it should be able to slow him down at least,” Fancy Pants said with a sigh. “We have enough Soul Metal to forge more weapons and the bullets should help. But we’re going to need some sort of plan.”

“Do we know who the host is?” Tempest asked as she stroked her chin.

“Apple Bloom managed to snap a photo of him before he transformed,” Fancy Pants said with a sigh as he pulled up the photo on a screen. “He seems to be a computer programmer that keeps to himself, mostly freelance work from home. There’s, not really a lot to tell about him other than that he was recently fired from one of his biggest customers.”

“I see,” Tempest said as she frowned a little bit at that. “The Four of Cups, he’s withdrawn from the rest of the world, probably why he works from home. That would certainly make him a target for the Order.”

“And he’s not showing up on facial recognition either,” Fancy Pants said with a shake of his head. “Given the lack of energy surges either he’s in human form or our satellite is on the fritz again. I honestly have no idea which one is worse.”

“Hmmm…” Tempest said as she swiped through the internet for a moment as she rubbed her chin. “There might be a way, after all, we just need to make sure that we get it to the right people.”

“What are you suggesting?” Fancy Pants asked curiously.

“We use the internet to our advantage,” Tempest said as she reached over and gave the tablet to Fancy Pants. “I’ve been keeping an eye on this blog in particular, we just need to get in touch with the writer.”

“That could work,” Fancy Pants said with a nod. “Alright, get in contact with whoever runs this blog and we’ll see if we can get any information through that. Just make sure they know not to do anything that would put them in danger.”

Tempest nodded as she took back the tablet and started typing on it.

“Come on, let’s get you to bed,” Diamond Tiara said as she helped ease Silver Spoon out of her wheelchair and into her bed. The silver-haired young woman had been out of the hospital for a couple of weeks now but she still had to go to physical therapy and had been doing better since then. “How are you feeling?”

“You really don’t have anything to worry about Diamond, I’m fine,” Silver said as she pulled herself up onto the bed. “The Doctors say I should be able to get out of the wheelchair in no time. You’ve got nothing to feel guilty about you know?”

“I know,” Diamond said with a soft smile. “But still, you’re my friend and I want to be there to help you. I still kind of feel responsible for what happened to you.”

“Diamond, I forgave you a long time ago, but I appreciate you being here for me,” Silver said with a soft smile as she leaned over and gave her friend a light kiss on the cheek which caused her to blush a little. “Diamond, everything is going to be okay.”

“I hope so,” Diamond said with a soft smile. “You’re the best friend I’ve ever had Silver, I don’t know what I’d do if I lost you.”

Silver smiled a little and laid back as she closed her eyes. “Good night Diamond, I’ll be here when you get up, don’t worry.”

Diamond squeezed her friend’s hand gently before she headed out of the room and back out into the living room. She didn’t feel particularly tired right now so she sat down and opened her laptop and pulled up the account for her blog.

“Let’s see, its been kind of quiet since that Fangire thing came to town… still not sure where that even came from,” she said as she flipped through some of the news reports in another tab. “Well, guess its a slow week. Even superheroes can have those, right?”

She saw some weird reports of some sort of bat creature but that was about it. She was about to shut it down and head for bed when there was an e-mail notification. She blinked a little in surprise when she opened it up and found that it was from someone called FBerrytwist@FBI.gov with the title “Urgent, we need your help.”

“Okay, that’s weird, why is the FBI emailing me?” Diamond asked as she looked at it confused for a moment. She considered the possibility that it was a scam and did some checks to make sure that it didn’t have a virus or anything but it came up clean.

“Well, I better see what the government wants with me all of a sudden,” Diamond said as she clicked on the e-mail and opened it up.

Diamond Tiara,

We are aware of your recent involvement with the being referred to as Kamen Rider Justice by the media as well as your Riderwatch blog. This message is because we need your help tracking down a suspected agent of the same organization that Justice has been fighting and you were victim to.

I’m sure you have a lot of questions, not the least of which is why Justice and Amores can’t handle this themselves. This would take too long to explain, but needless to say, they are not currently in a position to track down and this creature. If you and your blog readers can watch the skies for any signs of this creature it would be appreciated.

I want to reiterate that you or your followers are not to attempt to engage this creature. Given the threat already posed by the Order, we cannot put you at further risk. For now, if you will post these images and an explanation as to what’s going on on your blog then you will be helping not only us but also Justice.

The photos we have of both the monster and the suspect are attached. I hope that given the situation you will understand why we had to do this.

Agent Fizzlepop Berrytwist.
Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Diamond blinked a little in surprise as she read that. What did this even mean? Was Scootaloo working with the government on fighting these monsters? That made a strange amount of sense actually given how common monster attacks had become.

So, how was she going to reply to this? She quickly pulled up the pictures and examined them for a moment. The first one was of an unassuming looking human, but she then realized that the second one was of the same bat creature she had seen pictures and video of.

Okay, that changed a few things.

“Alright Diamond, Scootaloo needs your help, time to step up to the plate and do the right thing,” she said to herself as she quickly downloaded the photos and pulled up her Riderwatch blog for a moment as she stared at it.

She had made this thing to keep track of Kamen Rider activity in the city. She had tried to be anonymous for this long, not even telling Scootaloo and her friends what she was doing. This had been her way of making up for what had happened when she was possessed by one of the monsters. Keeping a record of what had happened was the best way she could think to do it and keep the public informed.

And now here she was about to use this to help them. She took a deep breath as she put the images at the top of the blog post and started to type.

”Dear Readers, while I’m not able to give you the full details of what’s going on, I’ve heard from a source close to Kamen Rider Justice herself about a situation that is currently unfolding. It seems that for some reason our local Riders have been unable to combat the latest monster that has come to plague our city, and they need our help.

What is shown above is images of the suspected human form of the monster as well as the monster itself. If anyone knows where either of them is or see them in the city itself, it would be very helpful to Justice and her allies to know where they are. I will be forwarding any information received to my contact.

I know this is a lot to take in, and we don’t know everything that’s happening in this situation. However what we do know is that this monster is likely doing something to keep Justice and Amores from fighting it. This is our best chance to help them and save them like they’ve been doing for us for this long.

Please, if anyone knows anything about this monster then it would help, even if it's something small. Kamen Rider Justice is counting on us, we’re her city, this is the city she has risen up to protect and we’re going to repay her for that.

I hope to hear from you soon, the future of the city may be in your hands.

Diamond took a deep breath as she finished the post and hit the submit button. This wasn’t going to be easy, it felt good to at least be able to help Scootaloo after everything that had happened, now she just had to hope that it was going to work.

She gave it a few minutes, but it was late after all, there was no guarantee that there would be any replies tonight. She sighed and closed her laptop up after about 10 minutes before heading to bed.

Hopefully, tomorrow would bring better news.

“Well, look who’s up,” Flim said as Scootaloo and her friends filed into the commissary for breakfast the next morning. “You four look like you haven’t slept that well.”

“Because we haven’t,” Scootaloo said with a yawn as she picked up a cup of coffee and took a drink. “Have you two had any luck figuring out how to counteract that, thing?”

“Unfortunately we’re still working on that,” Flam said with a shake of his head. “We do at least have some more weapons that we can use to fight against him without the need of Riders, however…”

“However it’s not nearly enough to actually beat him,” Tempest said as she sat down at the table and shook her head. “The Order is dangerous, they know that the Riders are our first line of defense against them.”

“I’m still kind of getting used to this whole thing, but exactly how does this work?” Babs asked. “I mean, what do they do, take over human bodies like some sort of parasite and turn them into monsters?”

“In a nutshell, yes,” Sweetie Belle said with a sigh.

“Okay, so what’s stopping the Justice card from doing the same to Scootaloo?” Babs asked and Scootaloo and her friends paused a little at that. They hadn’t thought of that, why didn’t it act like the others?

“Because it’s bonded to her,” Tempest said with a shake of her head. “The card spirits for the Major Arcana don’t take over bodies. And when they’re bonded with a human they can be used in combination with the Tarot Driver that the brothers here developed.”

“Some of our best work if I do say so myself, don’t you agree, brother?” Flim asked with a smarmy grin.

“Agreed brother,” Flam added with a slight nod. “It was fortunate enough that BOARD left their files lying around.”

“BOARD?” Sweetie Belle asked as she raised an eyebrow curiously.

“That’s a long story, but the initial Drivers were reverse engineered from them,” Flam said. “We’ve made some upgrades over the years of course, but their tech was at least useful for that regard. That Kenzaki fellow you met, he uses BOARD technology.”

“Not a very original name is it, BOARD?” Scootaloo asked with a chuckle as she looked through some things on her phone. “But still, if it works it works.”

“Yeah, I…” Sweetie Belle started to say before she opened up the Riderwatch blog and her eyes went wide. “Holy crap.”

“What?” Scootaloo asked as she looked up.

“Whoever’s running Riderwatch posted a blog post last night about the monster, and it’s getting a lot of comments,” Sweetie said as she handed it over to Scootaloo. “It’s crazy, but it looks like a lot of people have been seeing this thing around town.”

Scootaloo blinked a little in surprise at that as she read the comments. Some of them were obvious trolls, but a good number of them seemed concerned about what was going on. That at least gave her some hope that they could get some good information out of this.

“Ah wonder who runs Riderwatch,” Apple Bloom said thoughtfully. “Sometimes it seems like tha posts are more, personal. Like she’s got some specific reason ta want ta talk about it, is it someone yah rescued maybe?”

“Maybe,” Scootaloo shrugged as she started to eat. “So, what do you suggest we do now?”

“For now, we just have to wait and see what happens next,” Tempest said with a shake of her head. “There isn’t a lot we can do right now, to be honest. The fact of the matter is that we don’t know where the monster is this time. I guess we just have to hope that Riderwatch comes through for us.”

"Great, we have ta rely on tha internet ta get tha information that we need," Apple Bloom said with a roll of her eyes. "Ah'm just sayin' that it seems like we'd have better luck askin' random people on tha streets."

"Maybe, but we need to use all the things we have to our advantage," Scootaloo said with a soft sigh. She knew that Apple Bloom had a point, but at the same time they really didn't have a lot of options. She looked back at Sweetie and squeezed her hand lightly as she gave her a smile. "We're going to all do this together, that's how it should be done."

"Right," Sweetie said as she gave Scootaloo a gentle smile and leaned in and kissed her on the cheek. "So, what are we supposed to actually do when we find the monster?"

"That we're working on, but ideally we want to force it out of the city," Tempest said with a shake of her head. "If we can get it out of the area of the effect its created then we can hopefully take it out before it causes any more problems than it already has."

"So, what do you think he's doing in the city?" Scootaloo asked. "Has he tried to go after us in our apartment?"

"No, that's the weird thing, we have agents watching everywhere you frequent but he's not even shown up there," Tempest said with a shake of her head. "Whatever he has planned, it's got to be something big, and dangerous."

They all let that sink in as they went back to eating. Scootaloo took a deep breath and looked at Sweetie and her friends, this wasn't going to be easy but they were going to figure it out.

Somehow.

Meanwhile, at the same time back in Canterlot things were going as normal as it did on any day that they didn't have a monster attack underway. Right now at Microtech Industries' main building, a security guard was sitting behind a desk counting down the hours before he could go home.

He sighed a little as he leaned back in his chair a little and pulled up the Riderwatch Blog. Today was a pretty slow day, there weren't any visitors scheduled and everyone who was supposed to be here was already there. He was about to open up a game on his phone when the front door opened.

"Hello, let me see your identification..." he started to say and then stopped in mid-sentence when he saw a familiar face. He had seen this person come in and out every day for a while, but more importantly, he had just seen a picture of him on the Riderwatch blog. "What are you doing here Harry, you know you were laid off the other day."

"I... need a few things that I left behind..." Harry said weakly as he didn't make eye contact with the security guard. "I just need to be let through."

"I'll need to make a phone call first," the security guard said as he picked up the phone to call his boss as he hit the autodial number. At the same time, he quickly typed a message into the comments section on the blog as he waited for his boss to answer. "Shouldn't take but a moment and I'm sure that we can get someone to take whatever you need..."

"No, I want to go up there myself," Harry said. "I have to go..."

That sent up more red flags for the security guard as he finished typing in the message and sent it just as his boss answered the phone. "Hey boss, I've got a former employee here who wants..."

He barely was able to drop the phone and duck out of the way when Harry turned into the bat monster and swung his bow around and fired an arrow above the guard's head. He quickly took off for the stairs as the guard struggled to pull out his weapon.

"What's going on?" The head of security demanded. "What's happening?"

"We've got a monster attack sir, and he's heading upstairs," the guard said as he held the phone up to his ear. "I think we need to alert everyone in Harrison Dawes' old group that he might be heading that way."

“Understood, but I don’t know what good that might do against something like that,” the head of security said. “Is there anything else we can do?”

The guard just shook his head a little and sighed. “I’ll pursue it as best I can at least, get everyone on alert,” he said as he ran for the stairs and looked up, but the bat creature was already gone.

“This is crazy,” Sweetie Belle said as she checked the gun that had been given to her. It along with the knife in their belts were made to fight, or at least weaken the monster. “Why are they sending us?”

“Because unfortunately the Order already knows about you two, it might be enough to draw the attention of the monster,” Pharynx said with a shake of his head as he checked his own weapon. “Do you two know the plan?”

“Get in there, get Batman’s attention, and get back ta tha vehicle and hope he follows us out of town,” Apple Bloom said with a nod. “Ah don’t like this though, are yah sure we’re goin’ ta be safe?”

“We’re going to be with you the whole time,” Pharynx said. “These weapons are the best defense we have against these things without the Riders, so hopefully they’ll be enough. Scootaloo and Sweetie Drops will be waiting at the meet-up point to deal with this. I know this isn’t going to be easy, but we need to do this if we’re going to stop this monster from doing whatever it’s trying to do.”

“Right,” Apple Bloom said with a sigh as she secured her body armor. This wasn’t going to be easy, but they had to do this if they were going to help. “Alright, Ah guess Ah’m ready.”

“Good, because we’re almost there,” Pharynx said with a nod. “This place apparently used to be where the host worked. Something tells me that’s not a coincidence, maybe he’s resentful about having been fired?”

“Yeah, probably,” Sweetie said with a sigh as she made sure that everything was secure. “I don’t think I’m ever going to be used to this though. Or, knowing how it goes I’ll probably get used to it just as we beat the commanders.”

Apple Bloom chuckled a little at that and put her hand on Sweetie’s. “We’re gonna be just fine, and ya’ll are gonna be back together so yah can enjoy a proper night together.

“Thanks, Apple Bloom,” Sweetie said as she looked down at the ring on her finger and smiled a little. “I hope you’re right.”

“Just don’t say you’re two days away from retirement or something, that’s just asking for trouble,” one of the other agents chuckled. “Basically, ignore all conventional wisdom and you’ll be bulletproof.

“Yah scare me yah know that right?” Apple Bloom asked with a gulp and the other agents just laughed a little. After a moment the two younger women joined in, it was just a way to relieve the tension of the situation and that helped them feel a little better.

“Alright, we’re here,” Pharynx said as the vehicle pulled to a stop. “Remember we’re going in plainclothes over our armor to avoid attracting attention. This is not an ideal situation since we don’t know what’s going on in there, there could be hostages. Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, stay behind the rest of us at all times, we don’t want you to be put in more danger than you have to be, understood?”

“Understood,” Sweetie Belle said and Apple Bloom nodded. “I’m guessing there’s no way we can just wait in the car.”

“Not if we want this to work,” Pharynx said with a shake of his head. “I know this isn’t going to be easy, but given the alternative, we need to make sure that this has the best chance of working. Right now the human side of things seems to be overriding the spirit, we need to get its attention and draw it out of the city if we want to make this work.”

“Right, no pressure,” Apple Bloom said with a gulp as they opened the doors to the back of the van. “Ah guess we’re as ready as we can be.”

They filed out of the van together as they made their way into the building. The security guard from before was standing there looking confused as he looked back to see the SMILE team coming in.

"Can I help you?" He asked.

"FBI, we're here about the message you posted on the Riderwatch Blog," Pharynx said as he held up his badge. "Are you sure that it's still up there?"

"Unless it broke through a window it should still be up there," the security guard said with a nod. "I didn't think the FBI was involved in this case."

"We take this kind of thing very seriously sir," Pharynx said as he nodded to the other agents as he gestured towards the stairs. "What floor are we heading for?"

"4 most likely," the guard said with a nod. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

"No, just stay back and be ready to get the building evacuated if this gets out of hand," Pharynx said and they headed up the stairs towards where the guard had pointed. "Alright, I want you to..."

There was the sound of something flying through the air and they just barely managed to duck out of the way of an arrow that hit the all behind Sweetie Belle. They looked up to see the bat monster standing in the doorway with its arm gripped tightly around someone dressed in business casual garb.

"You have a lot of guts to come here!" Ceipai said with a sneer. "You don't have your precious Riders to protect you anymore!"

"You're part of the Order right? Well, we're close to Kamen Rider Justice, don't you want to come to get us?" Sweetie Belle said as she tried to put on a brave face. "Well, come get us! Leave that poor man alone, we're your real target!"

"Yeah!" Apple Bloom said with an attempt at sounding brave that she didn't really feel. "Come on, we're much bigger targets for the Order than he is!"

"This scumbag stole everything from me!" Ceipai shouted. "He doesn't deserve to... no, I have to... yes, I have to take you both down!"

"Yes, that's it, get mad," Pharynx said as they trained their weapons on the bat monster. He raised his hand as if getting ready to give the order to fire. "Let him go and we'll talk. This isn't the time to make rash decisions like this."

Ceipai paused a moment as he looked between the human who was looking terrified in his grip and Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom. The monster looked like he was trying to decide what to do as he struggled between the host’s wants and what his orders were.

Finally, he let out an ear piercing shriek and threw the human to the side as he dove at them. The SMILE agents quickly trained their weapons on him and opened fire, causing him to pause as they did.

“Go, go, go!” Pharynx said as they turned and ran down the stairs towards the entrance again.

"YOU WON'T GET AWAY HUMANS!" Ceipai shouted as he flew off after them, only occasionally being pushed back by the gunfire from the humans he was pursuing. "I'll never stop tracking you even if it takes me to the ends of the earth! The Order will punish Justice for her insolence!"

"That's what we're countin' on," Apple Bloom muttered to herself as she gave Sweetie Belle a nod and smiled a little. "What do yah think, excitin' enough fer yah?"

"Very funny," Sweetie said as they ran out of the building with the agents hot on their heels and got into the van as it started up and took off down the road with sirens blaring. "Are you sure this is the best idea? I mean, we're just going to attract more attention this way."

"All part of the plan," Pharynx said as he ejected an empty magazine and put in another one. "You two did great back there, are you going to be okay?"

"Other than mah heart feelin' like it's about ta jump out of mah chest Ah'll be fine," Apple Bloom said as she breathed heavily. "Come on, we need ta hurry this up or he'll catch us. Are Scootaloo and Agent Drops in position?"

"Don't worry about them, they're set," Pharynx said with a nod as the van tore down the road towards the desert outside of town.

"I don't like waiting like this," Scootaloo said as she shifted uncomfortably. "It feels like we're waiting for the other shoe to drop while everyone else is in danger."

"I know what you mean," Sweetie Drops said with a sigh as she played with her half of the Lovers card. "So, when did you and Sweetie Belle get engaged?"

"Last night, how'd you know?" Scootaloo asked as she looked at her fellow Rider.

"The ring on Sweetie's finger, of course, its kind of hard to miss," Sweetie Drops said with a chuckle. "You're about to take the next big step in your lives together. Are you sure you're ready for this kind of thing?"

"Honestly, I don't know," Scootaloo said as she closed her eyes. "But I do know that I love Sweetie more than anything and that this is something I want. Especially with everything that's going on, I just couldn't put it off anymore, you know?"

"Yeah, I understand," Sweetie Drops said with a sigh. "I probably would've done the same thing in your shoes."

"Such a curious pair of riders," a voice with a Japanese accent said from behind them and they turned in surprise to see the same man that had met with Tempest the night before standing there holding his book out. "Such a shame that my master could not make your acquaintance properly."

"Who the heck are you?" Scootaloo demanded as she placed her hand on her Driver in her pocket as she stared the strange young man down. "Do you work for the Order?"

"The Order? Don't be silly," the man said with a laugh. "I work for he who is the heir to all Kamen Riders, the overlord of time itself. Why would I work for such a second rate group like the Order of the High Arcana?"

Scootaloo narrowed her eyes a little bit at that. She could recognize a slight tremor in his voice when he mentioned that, what was going on? Who was this guy?

"Scootaloo, I think we should leave him alone, I've seen a report about someone like this," Sweetie Drops said as she placed a hand on Scootaloo's shoulder. "Your name is Woz, isn't it? The so-called Mysterious Prophet who appeared 26 years ago."

"Ah, how perceptive of you, I see my reputation proceeds me," Woz said as he bowed slightly. "I'm simply here in the service of my Overlord. I have no desire to interfere with your little skirmishes."

"You're lying," Scootaloo said as she narrowed her eyes a little. "Why are you here at all? If you were really here in the service of your, Overlord as you put it, you'd have to have a very specific reason to be here. So why don't you spill it, why would a servant of the Overlord of time come here?"

"I am here to ensure the ascendancy of my Overlord, and to make sure that nothing stands in his way," Woz said with a wag of his finger. "Your little fight with the Order will give him the information he needs and nothing more. I'd hurry up if I were you, there's a bat coming your way and I don't think he's friendly."

"Do you believe that he's really not here to interfere?" Scootaloo whispered to Sweetie Drops.

"All reports I have read about the incident 26 years ago suggest that Woz is only interested in furthering his own agenda," Sweetie Drops said with a shake of her head. "But I also think that we don't have time to worry about this kind of thing, we need to be ready."

"Right, let's hope this really is out of the negation area," Scootaloo said as she shot Woz a look. "You had better be honest about not interfering with what's going on here."

"As I said, I am merely here in the service of my Overlord," Woz said as he took a step back and gave them a nod. "You hardly have anything to be worried about from me. Your timeline is hardly in danger after all."

"That seems ominous..." Scootaloo said and was about to say something else when all of a sudden there was the sound of a vehicle in the distance. They could see the van making it's way across the desert sands as it came to a stop in front of them and the SMILE agents filed out with Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle.

"So, I'm guessing it worked then," Sweetie Drops said.

"He's right behind us," Sweetie Belle said with a nod as she gave Scootaloo a worried smile. "Are you sure this is going to work?"

"If it doesn't, we're in trouble," Scootaloo said as she raised her Driver and Sweetie Drops did the same as they set it around their waist. "Are you ready for this?"

"Ready," Sweetie Drops said with a nod as they both held their cards up.

"Henshin!" They said in unison as they slid their cards into their drivers and the energy flew out and encompassed them.

"TIME TO TIP THE SCALES!"

"LOVE CONQUERS ALL THINGS!"

The energy formed around them as their armor covered their bodies. The Arcana Rapier appeared in Scootaloo's hand while the Arcana bow appeared in Sweetie Drops'.

"Rejoice, for the warriors of this timeline have come to fight back the darkness!" Woz said with a chuckle as he took a step back and out of the way as he shut the book. "Good luck to the both of you, and don't die too quickly."

“Why does that sound ominous to me,” Scootaloo said with a shake of her head as she gripped her sword.

“Probably because it is,” Sweetie Drops said as she raised her bow into the air and aimed it towards where the monster would be coming from. “Are you ready for this?”

“I think so,” Scootaloo said with a slight nod.

After a moment there was the sound of a loud screech that rang out over the desert sands. The large shape of the bat monster came into view as he stopped and drew back his bow and fired several arrows at Scootaloo and Sweetie Drops which they just barely managed to avoid.

“You two!” He shouted as he pulled his bowstring back again. “I will not let you interfere with what I have planned! You will suffer for your insolence!”

“Yap, yap, just keep telling yourself that,” Sweetie Drops said as she raised her own bow and fired an energy arrow at him which he barely was able to dodge. “Come on, we need to get him grounded! Aim for the wings!”

“Right,” Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom said as they drew their own weapons and fired at the bat monster as it dodged them again.

“Such simple weapons, did you really think they would be able to stop me?” Ceipai said with a grin that showed his fangs. “You’re more foolish than I thought humans. I’m going to enjoy this way more than I should.”
“We’ll see about that,” Sweetie Drops said as she glanced over at Pharynx and the two exchanged a nod as she raised her bow into the air and he did the same with his rifle. “It’ll be a cold day in hell before we let you win this!”

The two agents fired at the same moment as an energy arrow flew through the air right at Ceipai while the bullet did the same. It took the bat monster a moment to realize that they were both aimed for his wings, and he made a dash to avoid the attacks, which barely managed to hit him and send him spiraling out of control and crashed into the desert sand below.

Scootaloo held her sword upright and ran for the bat monster as it managed to get to its clawed feet. It snarled at Scootaloo and drew its bow back and fired several arrows at her to try and catch her off guard.

“I don’t know how you managed to do this, but I’m not about to let you get away with ruining my plan!” Ceipai said with a snarl. “Those people stole years of my life and everything that ever mattered to me! I’m not about to let them get away with it, not after what they did to me!”

“This isn’t the way to go about it!” Scootaloo said as she thrust her sword at him only to have it be blocked with the monster’s bow. “You’re letting yourself get consumed by a desire for revenge and you’re putting innocent people at risk!”

“No one’s innocent!” Ceipai snarled. “No one in that building is innocent, they don’t care about their workers! All they care about is making money and they’ll cast aside anyone who isn’t worth anything to them anymore! They lie, cheat, and steal so they can further their own agendas and fill their pockets!”

Scootaloo flinched a little at that before she kicked at him as hard as she could. She didn’t like this either, but that didn’t excuse what he was doing. She was going to stop him one way or another.

“You’re not helping yourself…” she said with a sigh, there was no way to save him was there? The spirit had become too powerful, she could only save him by defeating it. “Then I’m going to have to stop you!”

“Just try it,” Ceipai said with a snarl as he kicked her away and drew his bow back again and pointed it at the sky. “All I have to do is fire another negation arrow into the air and you’ll go down like a sack of…”
He was cut off when there was the sudden sound of a gunshot and he crumpled to the ground. Scootaloo looked up to see Sweetie Belle standing there holding the pistol in her hand as a wound bled from his leg.

“Sweetie, I…” Scootaloo said as she blinked a little bit.

“You can thank me later, just finish this!” Sweetie said and Scootaloo nodded a little as she turned back to the monster who was struggling to get to his feet.

“I can see your future, and it’s not bright!” Scootaloo said as she jumped up and kicked hard at the monster as energy gathered in her foot. “JUSTICE KICK!”

The energy flowed through the monster for a moment before the bat form around him shattered and left an exhausted-looking human man in its place. He breathed heavily for a moment before collapsing, just barely alive.

“Is he okay?” Scootaloo asked as Pharynx ran over to him and checked his pulse.

“He’s alive, but barely, we need to get him to the hospital,” Pharynx said as they started to gather up the weakened man and pull him towards the van.

“So, did you find out what you wanted to, Woz?” Sweetie Drops asked as she turned to the grey clothed man who shut his book once more.

“I believe so, Oma Zi-O will be ready if the day comes,” Woz said with a knowing smirk as he looked back at Amores. “But our story together is not quite over yet, I’d say there is still one more chapter waiting to be written.”

“What do you mean by that?” Sweetie Drops said as Woz turned and walked off. “Answer me, what did you mean by that?”

“That is for me to know, and for you to find out, Kamen Rider Amores,” Woz said as he waved his hand dismissively before vanishing into the desert.

“Weird guy,” Pharynx said as he approached Sweetie Drops. “I think we’re about wrapped up here, any idea what we should do with the prisoner?”

“Get him to the hospital, we’ll figure out what to do from there,” Sweetie Drops said with a sigh as Pharynx handed her a card. It depicted a man sitting under a tree with three cups around him and a hand holding a fourth. “Another card in the Cups suit, I guess that was inevitable.”

She looked over at Scootaloo who was talking with Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom and smiled a little. Given the situation, the two of them had really risen to the occasion to help SMILE deal with the monster.

She just hoped that they wouldn’t be put in further danger because of this.

Back at Silver Spoon’s apartment, Diamond Tiara was watching her computer with nervous anticipation. She knew that if that tip was good then they had hatched some sort of plan to deal with the monster. So, what had happened and what was going to happen next?

She nearly jumped when there was finally an e-mail notification and quickly opened it up. It was from the same address as before that had sent the information and pictures to her.

Diamond Tiara,

I know that you are probably eager to learn about what happened and I do have some good news for you. The operation was a success and the information given to us by your reader lead to the defeat of the monster. Your blog’s contribution to the efforts of our organization was invaluable, and I have received authorization to share the following images with you.

These images were taken from the battle with the monster designated Ceipai or the Four of Cups. I believe that your readers will find them very interesting, and perhaps we will be able to share more of them in the future. After all, you are our voice on the web to make sure that people know what is going on.

I ask that you continue to keep Justice’s identity to yourself until we are ready. But I can see this being the beginning of something great. Keep up the good work Ms. Tiara.

Fizzlepop Berrytwist,
Federal Bureau of Investigation

Diamond let out a sigh of relief as she finished reading it and pulled up the images. Indeed they showed Justice and Amores fighting against the bat monster together as well as a figure with a face that was hidden firing at it.

She smiled a little, but she’d wait until tomorrow to post this. Right now she had something more important to take care of as she closed up her computer and headed into the kitchen.

A little while later she came out of the kitchen carrying a tray with two plates and drinks as she carried it into Silver Spoon’s bedroom. The silver-haired young woman smiled a little as she looked up at her.

“Hey Diamond,” she said with a weak smile as Diamond placed the tray on the bed. “Dinner in bed?”

“I can’t think of a better way to celebrate,” Diamond said as she leaned in and gave Silver Spoon a gentle kiss on the lips. “The beginning of something great.”

Silver Spoon smiled a little as she returned the kiss and the two closed their eyes and just enjoyed the moment.

“Alright, so Babs and Apple Bloom are back at her apartment and now it’s just the two of us again,” Scootaloo said with a soft smile as the two of them walked into their bedroom together. “So, where were we when we left off last time?”

“Mmm, I believe I had just finished giving you a back rub,” Sweetie Belle said with a smile as she started to pull off Scootaloo’s shirt. “Do you want to repeat that or do you think we should skip ahead to the fun part?”

“Very tempting,” Scootaloo said as she leaned in and gave Sweetie a gentle kiss on the lips, breaking it to let Sweetie pull her shirt off. “Now how about we get…”

They were cut off by the sudden flash of bright light coming from somewhere in the city. Scootaloo was about to say something when her phone went off, she picked it up and read the text message, it was from Fancy Pants.

Don’t worry, we’ve got the situation under control, just enjoy your evening together.

“Well, you heard the man,” Scootaloo said with a grin as she kissed Sweetie again. “How about we finally enjoy our second night together engaged?”

“Sounds perfect,” Sweetie said as they shared a long passionate kiss together and fell back onto the bed as Sweetie reached around to unhook Scootaloo’s bra.

They were going to enjoy this evening as much as possible, especially after the day they had.

“Carnico,” Fleur said as she sat in the briefing room with Tempest and Fancy Pants.

“Excuse me?” Tempest asked as she looked up confused.

“Carnico, it’s the company that owns the company that Harrison Dawes worked for,” Fleur said with a shake of her head. “They have something of a bad reputation but no one’s ever been able to pin any actual crimes on them. I’d say that would give him a reason to hate his bosses.”

“Yeah, probably, but it doesn’t excuse what he tried to do,” Fancy Pants said as he adjusted his monocle a little. “Unfortunately there’s not a lot we can do about white-collar crime. We’ll just do what we can.”

“Right,” Tempest said and was about to say something else when an alarm suddenly went off causing them all to jump. “What was that?”

“I don’t know,” Fancy Pants said as he went to check the screens. He narrowed his eyes at what he saw and looked back at them. “We just got a major surge in inter-dimensional activity outside of Canterlot High School.”

“Is it possible that our friends from that Kiva universe are coming back?” Fleur asked with a concerned look on her face.

“No, we got a completely different signature from this one,” Fancy said as he stroked his chin for a moment. “It doesn’t match anything in our records, the only thing remotely close to it is Kamen Rider Wizard.”

“Kamen Rider Wizard?” Tempest asked and looked thoughtful for a moment before she realized what he meant. “You’re saying that you got a surge of magical power?”

“Indeed,” Fancy said as he frowned a little. “We need to get on this as fast as possible. I just hope we’re not too late.”