Trigger engaged in a fire fight with Arms and Anomalocaris, the two Dopants fired multiple shots at the azure Rider as he jumped onto the bleachers. The spines of the Anomalocaris would whiz passed him and pierce through the metal frame, while Arms’ blaster rounds would explode upon impact. Trigger returned fire with his Chrome Magnum, making the ground around the Dopants explode and throw off their aim.
However, they weren’t the only long-range attackers, two floating eyeballs appeared above. The eyeballs glowed and fired two beams of blue light. Trigger jumped backwards just in time to narrowly miss the attack. However, when he landed, he felt his back get hit, making him lurch forward a bit. Trigger turned around and saw a cowboy looking Dopant, the Yesterday Dopant. Suddenly, time seemed to rewind, or rather, he was rewound. Trigger suddenly went through the same actions, but this time in reverse, ending with him back at where he started, but when he returned to the same point, the previously missed attack did not miss. The two floating eyeballs fired and struck Trigger, sending it flying onto the field as sparks came off his body.
Arms ran towards him, changing his weapon into a large, broken sword as he readied to swing down upon the prone Rider. Trigger quickly opened his Chrome Magnum and inserted one of his Utility Memories.
< KNIFE! >
|^| KNIFE! ARMED! |^|
The Chrome Magnum glowed until it transformed into a large knife, just as the Arms Dopant swung his sword down. Trigger used his knife blade to catch the attack, stopping it before it could reach him. Trigger pushed the blade away, and spun around to sweep the Dopant’s legs, causing Arms to fall to the ground as Trigger vaulted back to his feet. Arms got back up and began attacking the azure Rider. Arms was fast, but Trigger was faster as he dodged the sword swings and nimbly slashed at the Dopant’s body, using his Chrome Magnum Knife like a paint brush as he slashed up and down Arms’ body and made sparks fly from him.
Arms staggered backwards for a moment but then roared as he charged for Trigger. The Rider of law and order energized his Knife and dashed towards Arms. When arms swung his sword, Trigger dove under the attack and slashed at his midsection as he skidded to halt. Trigger disengaged the knife mode and transformed it back into its blaster form, upon which her quickly turned around and fired several shots into the Dopant’s back before it finally exploded.
Anomalocaris fired more of its super sharp spines, making Trigger have to run to avoid them, at the same time, the floating eyeballs of the Eyes Dopant hovered overhead and fired pinpoint beam attacks at him, and every now and then, the Yesterday Dopant would take a pot shot, trying to make him rewind back to get hit by all those attacks. However, Trigger was not about take this lying down. He reached for his transformation Gaia Memories and inserted all four into his Chrome Magnum.
< SUPER! >
< WEAPONS! >
< ACTION! >
< TACTICS! >
|<^>| SUPER! WEAPONS! ACTION! TACTICS! S.W.A.T. ENGAGED! |<^>|
Blue energy surrounded Trigger as a police siren sound blared. Once the energy dissipated, Trigger had entered his Super Form, Trigger SWAT. Trigger quickly pressed the “2” button on the Chrome Ultimatum and then the “Enter” button.
/#\ DUAL! /#\
Trigger’s weapon split into two, now he wielded two Chrome Ultimatums at once. The azure Rider jumped high into the air and began firing multiple shots at the floating eyeballs. The laser bolts hit their marks several times, making the eyes explode, and from far away, there was a cry of pain coming from the Eyes Dopant. Trigger’s helmet quickly picked up on this and pinpointed the Dopant’s location, he then disengaged the Dual Mode and pressed the “3” button.
/#\ SNIPER! /#\
The two weapons became one as a construct sniper rifle formed over the Chrome Ultimatum. The scope zeroed in on the location of the Eyes Dopant, who was hiding behind a large tree. The barrel of the construct rifle glowed brightly, and then Trigger fired. A sharp beam of light sailed through the air and pierced through the tree and through the Dopant at the same time. Trigger fired two more shots before landing on the ground, the last two shots hit their mark and caused the Dopant to explode.
“Now it’s your turn!”
/#\ GATLING! /#\
Trigger’s weapon formed another construct as he unleashed a hailstorm of laser bolts at the Anomalocaris Dopant. The Dopant fired its piercing spines from its mouth, but each of the spines was being knocked out of the air by the many laser bolts of Trigger. The Dopant and Rider continued trading fire, but it was soon evident that the Dopant’s barbs were not as infinite as it seemed, as the barbs were coming out at a slower pace, and fewer than before. Trigger pushed forward as the laser bolts continued to fly, pelting Anomalocaris until the Dopant met the same fate as his allies.
“And then there was one,” said Trigger.
Trigger moved his Trigger Memory into the Max Drive Port and pressed down on the button, at the same time, he pressed all six numbers on his weapon and hit “Enter”.
|<^>| 1-2-3-4-5-6, ENGAGE! |<^>|
}<^>{ TRIGGER! MAXIMUM DRIVE! }<^>{
The blue glass panels on Trigger’s armor began to glow, along with his visor, and the six Gaia Memories on his chest. Six oscillating rings appeared in front of the barrel of the Chrome Ultimatum, each one was wider than the next, and at the center of each one was a thin layer of light that almost resembled glass. Energy began to build at the barrel as he readied took aim at the Yesterday Dopant. The Dopant fired multiple shots from its custom revolvers, the rewinding rounds curved in some cases as Trigger ran towards the desperado. With each missed shot, Trigger was counting, watching as the revolver chambers rotated again and again, until…
*click*
*click*
Yesterday looked at its revolvers for a moment, realizing that it was out of ammo. The Dopant readied to reload, but at the last second, Trigger appeared before him, with the magnifying panels pointed right at it.
“MAGNA ENFORCER!”
The beam passed through all six panels and roared as a giant beam of azure energy bathed over the monster until its body was completely destroyed, leaving nothing behind.
***_________________\N/_________________***
Nasca was waging an aerial battle, the biggest amongst them being the Quetzalcoatius Dopant, its large bird form proved to be a bit of a challenge as it spewed fireball after fireball at the flying Rider, not to mention its partner, Weather. With its command over the wind and constant lightning attacks, it left little room for Nasca to get in there and counterattack. However, when she did get an opening, she was blocked by the fast moving Rocket Dopant, that Dopant’s rocket attacks were easy to dodge here and there, but with the Bat Dopant’s sonic resonance, it was able to take control of the rockets and redirect them, granting the Rocket Dopant a second chance without having to expand the energy to fire more.
“Okay, now I’m annoyed!”
Nasca took out the Weather Memory and inserted it into the Mimetic Drive port.
< WEATHER! >
{< WEATHER! MIMETIC DRIVE! >}
Wind, lightning, light, and water surrounded Nasca, transforming her into Nasca Storm Breaker. Nasca decided to take out two major annoyances before they could cause her anymore trouble, the elemental Rider focused her power on the wind, conjuring a whirlwind around her. The Weather Dopant saw this and decided to counter her with its own wind power, both elemental wielders’ windstorms collided with each other, the roaring winds scrapped and screeched as they tried to overcome each other. The Weather Dopant was a naturally powerful Dopant due to its command over different elemental forces of nature, so their attacks were near equal to each other.
But Nasca had an ace up her sleeve.
The speedster Rider flipped the “N” symbol of her Driver around, making the orange part of the N point upwards.
\_/ NASCA! VERMILLION MODE! \_/
Nasca’s fiery-electric wings flared out of her back, at the same time, parts of her armor took on a vermillion coloring, but this mode didn’t just come with a color change, it also increased Nasca’s speed and power. The wind that Nasca conjured started to take on a vermillion color as well, growing in size as it pushed harder against the Weather Dopant’s wind attack. The Dopant seemed to struggle and was growing increasingly concerned by how its attack was being countered so easily.
The speedster Rider clapped both of her hands together, sparks of lightning arced from her hands, gathering more and more electrical energy as she took aim at the Dopant before her. Nasca spread her arms out, creating a spear-like weapon made of pure vermillion lightning. Nasca, rather Rainbow Dash, put all those years of watching and Olympic javelin throwers and hours of training to become the captain of the Track and Field team to good use as she took the weapon in hand and yelled out, “LIGHTNING JAVELIN!”
Nasca tossed the javelin, the weapon pierced through the wind as a burning streak of light. The Weather Dopant quickly tried to counter with its own lightning, but Nasca’s empowered lightning attack was too fast as it struck the Weather Dopant right in the chest. The lightning surged through the Dopant’s body until it completely overtook it and exploded into a fiery heap of lightning and ash.
Nasca turned around and saw that the Bat Dopant had a worried expression on its face, and Nasca just smiled under her helmet. “Your turn batty!”
The Rocket Dopant fired off more of its rockets, trying to hit Nasca, but thanks to her increased speed, the rockets might as well had been standing still to her. Nasca fired off several lightning bolts that sniped the rockets from the sky, the Quetzalcoatius Dopant lurched its head back and unleashed a huge fireball straight for Nasca, but Nasca countered by generating a huge ball of sunlight. She fired the sphere towards the fireball, causing both to explode in midair. Nasca held out her right hand and summoned her Nasca Sword, she ran her left hand over the blade itself, coating it intense sunlight energy.
Nasca glanced at her armor, noticing that the vermillion shading on her armor was beginning to fade, her time was almost up. The speedster Rider flew across the sky, several rockets and fireballs were launched at Nasca, trying to stop her from attacking another of their companions. The Bat Dopant tried to fly away, and was a fair distance away, but Nasca wasn’t having that. She poured more of her energy into the blade as she raised it overhead, and as she swung it down, the blade extended outward, further and further until the sunlight blade sliced right through the Bat Dopant in one strike.
Nasca’s “N” switched back to the blue side, and the vermillion shades completely faded away. “Alright, with that out of the way, time to go all out!” Nasca dismissed her sword, removed the Weather Memory, and took out the Rocket Booster and Rocket Memory.
< ROCKET! >
/^\ BOOST! /^\
{/^\} ROCKET BOOST! ULTIMATE DRIVE! {/^\}
A tornado of blue-green light swirled around Nasca, when the tornado died out, Nasca had transformed into her Final Form, that of Nasca Star Chaser. Nasca summoned her Condor Sword as her wing thrusters flared, propelling her through the air at incredible speeds. Nasca appeared as a streak of blue-green light that zipped through the air as she traveled straight for the Rocket Dopant. The Quetzalcoatius Dopant tried to take her down by snapping its jaws at her and striking at Nasca with its large wings. But Nasca just flew circles around the giant bird as she slashed at the flying beast’s chest. The Quetzalcoatius Dopant backed away, and the Rocket Dopant attacked with more of its rocket blasts, but Nasca slashed them out of the air. With one stroke of her blade, multiple blades of blue-green light appeared at once, striking about a dozen rockets out of the air.
The Rocket Dopant readied to fire again, but before it let loose another salvo, Nasca appeared before it. Streaks of blue-green light appeared around the Dopant, and in the next second, its body released several sparks before Nasca slashed it once more, making the Rocket Dopant explode. “Time to roast this overgrown turkey!” Nasca removed the Rocket Memory and placed it into the Max Drive port.
}/^\{ ROCKET! MAXIMUM DRIVE! }/^\{
Nasca’s wings released sparkling particles that wrapped around her body until she became pure light.
“Shooting Star Breaker!”
Nasca flew straight for the Quetzalcoatius Dopant, the giant bird monster inhaled deeply and bellowed out a huge fireball straight for Nasca, but she wasn’t deterred. The beam of light shot straight through the attack, but as she did, the energy of the fireball was being absorbed by her light, and by the time she exited the sphere, the flames and light were one as she pierced straight through Quetzalcoatius and caused the bird to ignite into a fiery explosion that thundered in the sky.
Nasca reappeared, no longer made of fire and light, but now of physical form. She looked over her shoulder and chuckled as she said, “Anyone order fried chicken?!”
***_________________=E=_________________***
“Well, this is ironic,” said Equal.
She was currently staring down the Dopant forms of her colleagues/friends, Luna, Heat, Bird, and IceAge. Equal was in the middle of their crosshairs, and each one was ready to take her down. The only thing that granted her comfort was that the Dopants were only just monsters and did contain any trace of her subordinates.
“The thing is, I don’t have time to play with you, I need to help my friend return things to normal. She has a future to look forward to, and I’ll tear down all obstacles in her way!”
Equal produced the X-Devicer and combined it with her Greater and Lesser Than items. She then took out the Xtreme Memory, inserted it, and merged the Devicer with her belt.
< XTREME! >
{*X*} XTREEEEEEEEEEEMMMMMMMEEE! {*X*}
In blast of crimson, navy-blue, and black energy, Equal transformed into her Final Form, Equal Balance Breaker. The empowered Rider selected Heat as her first target, dashing straight for the Dopant, and unleashing a flurry of punches on the elemental. Heat could only defend against the onslaught that was Equal, that is until its body raged with flames, releasing a sphere of fire that made Equal back away from her, at the same time, Bird flung its sharp quills at Equal. The black Rider performed back flip after back flip, dodging the quills as they rained down on her.
However, IceAge slammed its palm against the ground, creating a sheet of ice on the ground just before Equal landed. The moment her feet touched the ice, she slipped and fell onto her back, allowing the quills to pelt her from above. When Bird was, done, Equal was ready to counterattack, that is until she remembered the other function of the quills.
“Oh crap…”
Several explosions went off around Equal, sending up a cloud of smoke and dirt that completely obscured her from view. Equal used this opportunity to slip out and prepared to strike back, however, long rubber arms wrapped around her body and hefted her into the air, Equal was then tossed like ragdoll towards some trees, slamming against them and plopping to the ground. Equal growled as she got up and noticed that there were a dozen or so Luna Dopants surrounding her.
“You lack Party Favor’s creativity, and that will be your downfall!” Equal declared as she pressed down on the left button twice.
[{X}] DIVIDE! [{X}]
[{X}] DIVIDE! [{X}]
Equal’s body released a navy-blue energy wave, her Entropy Field. As the field grew wider, ice formed on the ground and nearby trees, and each copy began to disappear, like dust in the wind as soon the field enveloped them. One dozen copies were gone, with just one, the original, standing frozen in place. Equal pressed on both buttons of her X-Devicer and summoned her Spear of Judgement into her hands, she then pressed the button on the right side of the Devicer.
[{X}] BOOST! [{X}]
Equal twirled around the spear as the blade gathered crimson energy. When the blade itself glowed crimson, Equal thrust forward, sending an elongated blade of crimson light shooting straight for the Luna Dopant. The blade pierced right through the monster’s chest, causing sparks to fly from both the entry and exit wound. After another second the Dopant exploded, and the blade of light disappeared. Equal brought down her field and turned to see Bird and Heat preparing to attack.
The Bird Dopant flew up into the sky, its body then caught fire as it initiated its Firebird attack. The aerial Dopant performed a flip as it dove down, Bird then angled itself out as it whizzed past Heat. But Heat unleashed a torrent of flames that roared towards Bird, the two attacks merged together to form an even bigger firebird that screeched as it drew closer to Equal. The Rider of balance was not deterred, quickly pressing down on the left button four times.
[{X}] DIVIDE! [{X}]
[{X}] DIVIDE! [{X}]
[{X}] DIVIDE! [{X}]
[{X}] DIVIDE! [{X}]
Blue light gathered to the spear tip, and with a single thrust, Equal unleased a massive Entropy energy blast. The beam of navy-blue light left an ice trail in its wake as it neared the scorching attacker. When the attacks hit, the effects were immediate, the flames were starting to freeze faster than the heat could melt them. Despite their best combined efforts, both Dopants’ attacks were only struggling to keep the attack going. Equal drew back on her spear and thrust once more, doubling the size of the beam as it completely engulfed the Bird Dopant and continued until it washed over Heat. Nothing but ice was left, the flames having been frozen solid at such a rapid pace it was able to capture their last moments before being snuffed out. Equal spun her spear around and pierced the ice before her. Cracks formed along the ice trail it all shattered like fragile glass.
IceAge kicked up an ice storm, freezing wind and snow roared around him as it readied to attack Equal. Equal merely smirked beneath her helmet as she masterfully balanced her Spear of Judgement on the tip of her boot, confusing IceAge. The Rider of balance took out her Xtreme Memory and placed it into the Max Drive port, striking the button.
>} XTREME! MAXIMUM DRIVE! {<
Equal bounced the butt of her spear on her boot, and then kicked it up into the air. Her right foot blazed with crimson light as she jumped straight up into the air after it. The Spear of Judgement spun around and around wildly, and as Equal neared it she gave it a strong, and precise kick at just the right moment when the spear tip was aligned with her target.
“Fall of Damocles!”
The kick carried the energy into the spear, sending it flying like a missile towards IceAge. The elemental Dopant fired a massive burst of ice energy, but the spear pierced right through it, all the way until it struck IceAge and caused a red, fiery explosion that wiped out the last of the “Elite 4” Dopants.
***_________________<U>_________________***
< METAL! >
{< METAL! MIMETIC DRIVE! >}
Unicorn changed into her Iron Heart form as she fought against the Jewel Dopant, the creature’s diamond fists met with Unicorn’s fists of steel, each strike resounding with a thunderous boom as the two hard bodied fighters traded blow after blow. Unicorn threw a right punch at the same time as the Jewel Dopant threw a left punch. Two punches skirted one another, ending in Unicorn delivering a perfect cross-counter to Jewel’s face, its own punch falling short a few inches. The blow sent Jewel stumbling backwards, allowing Unicorn to strike her left hip port once.
\ METAL RING! /
A band of silver light appeared before her and looped until it was a complete circle. Once Unicorn grabbed it, the light disappeared and revealed her Metal Ring weapon. With the grace of a gymnast, Unicorn began spinning the weapon around her left arm, she closed in on Jewel and struck it once, she then switched it to the right hand and – while never losing momentum – struck the Dopant again, and again, sending sparks flying from its body. The crystalline body of the Jewel Dopant began to crack as Unicorn funneled her magical energy into the ring and flung into the distance, at the same time, she pressed the left hip port button twice.
\\ ARMOR UP! //
Unicorn’s body gained armor plating as she channeled more power into her right fist. The Metal Ring continued to ricochet off the trees until it hit a rock, angling it just right to send it sailing back towards Jewel. Unicorn threw her punch and struck the Dopant in the chest, at the exact same time, the Metal Ring hit the back of the Dopant. The two pressures and energies resonated within the monster, causing it to explode.
Just then Unicorn sensed something, she quickly moved to her left just as a blast of energy sailed past her and impacted against a tree. It was then that she noticed that it was the Key Dopant. “Oh, I remember you, this I will enjoy!” Unicorn stated as she took out the Metal Memory and switched it with the Queen Memory.
< QUEEN! >
{< QUEEN! MIMETIC DRIVE! >}
Unicorn was wrapped in pink colored energy, changing her into her Empress form. The magical Rider pressed down on her left hip port twice, paused, and then pressed three times.
\\ KNIGHTS! //
\\\ BISHOPS! ///
At that moment, two pink light construct knights appeared beside Unicorn, and next to them appeared two female, pink light construct mages. The sound of snapping trees drew Unicorn’s attention as a roar echoed throughout the forest. The creature came barreling towards her, only now that it was in visual range did Unicorn recognize it as the Terror Dopant’s Terror Beast, with its master walking behind it, creating its Terror Field, the oozing darkness that was a physical manifestation of terror itself. Not far behind that one, was the Injury Dopant, it wasn’t in its evolved state, which meant that it could only harm her by touch. However, Unicorn realized she was on the wrong end of a three way, but thankfully, she wasn’t alone.
\ PAWNS! /
\\\\ ROOKS! ////
Unicorn’s behemoth constructs appeared, their shields at the ready to defend. About two dozen construct foot soldiers appeared before Unicorn, rounding out her court. “Rooks, keep that big monster at bay! Knights, attack the Key Dopant, and Bishops attack the Injury Dopant. Pawns, with me, we’re moving on the Terror Dopant!”
With her orders given, each of the pieces charged for their respective opponents. The twin Knights dashed with incredible speed towards the Key Dopant, the creature fired off several of its Lockdown attacks to try and stop the Knights advancement, but its attacks would not hit, not against their swift speed. Once upon the Key Dopant, both Knights slashed at the monster in perfect sync, creating a pink energy slash that formed an “X” pattern on its chest.
The Rooks took on the Terror Beast, with the first one allowing it to slam into its shield. Rook 1 held fast as its heels dug into the earth, the Terror Beast doing all it could to break through the shield and get to the enemy on the other side. However, this was just a clever ruse. Rook 2 appeared behind the Beast, the twin shields of the Rooks began to glow, and in an instant a shield bubble formed around the Terror Beast, an inverted shield that made sure to keep the one inside it from getting out. The creature thrashed and thrashed, but it was not getting out anytime soon.
The Bishops had it a bit easier, the Injury Dopant was limited by its ability to touch its opponent in order to cause harm to them, which meant the two spellcasters just needed to bombard the monster. And bombard they did. Bishop 1 attacked with lightning and fireballs, raining down heaven’s judgement on the Dopant, while Bishop 2 attacked with stone bullets and wind sickles, the Injury Dopant could do little more than dodge or hide behind trees, but that proved to do little as the bombardment smashed or seared through any object in their path.
Unicorn formed spheres of pink mana energy and fired several towards the Terror Dopant. The Dopant raised the Terror Field, creating a wave of oozing darkness to block all the attacks. While Unicorn kept him busy, the Pawns began to surround it, the first dozen used their shields to form a barrier that kept the ooze from growing, while the second dozen used their spears to fire consecutive blasts that forced the Dopant to defend.
“Let’s end this!” Unicorn declared as she struck the left hip port six times.
\\\\\\ RALLY! //////
The eyes of all the constructs glowed at the same time, being called to arms by their Empress. The Bishops joined their mage staffs together, concentrating their dual magical energies to release a beam of pure mana that blazed through the foliage and struck the Injury Dopant, causing it to explode. The Rooks compressed their shield, making it shrink more and more until the monster inside was crushed into the size of a marble. The Knights came at the Key Dopant from the front in the back, with Knight 1 delivering a powerful slash to its midsection, while Knight 2 came up from behind and slashed at the same spot, both Knights skidded to a halt just as the Dopant exploded into a fiery heap.
With those two defeated it was time for Unicorn to finish off Terror. The magical hero took the Queen Memory and placed it into the Max Drive port.
>} QUEEN! MAXIMUM DRIVE! {<
The remaining chess pieces dwindled in number, until one of each of their rank was present. Rook, Bishop, Pawn, and Knight took up positions around Terror, and from each of their weapons fired a beam of pure pink light straight at it. The four lights converged and wrapped around the Dopant, nullifying its Terror Field and holding it in place. Unicorn jumped overhead; with her right hand she formed a massive sphere of pink mana energy that blazed like a sun.
“CHECKMATE!”
Unicorn hurled the sphere straight for the Dopant, causing the creature to go up in flames and leaving behind a large crater from the attack. When Unicorn landed back on the ground, she heard a snarl, when she turned, the Fang Dopant lunged at her, only for a blue-green blur to swiftly strike the white raptor and send it flying into a tree. The blur reappeared and revealed itself as Nasca.
“Thanks, Rainbow,” said Unicorn.
“Don’t thank me yet, look!”
Unicorn looked in the direction Nasca was pointing at, and to her dismay, the Dopants she had just destroyed were reforming. “Oh, come on…! Ugh! We need to regroup!”
The two Riders ran out of the woods and back to the displaced football field, there they could see Equal and Trigger still battling Dopants, Unicorn fired off mana spheres and blasted away a few of the Dopants, while Nasca flew straight through and cut down a few more, blazing a path right to their comrades, the rest of the Rainbooms could only watch as the four Riders continued to destroy the Dopants, but every time they did, they would reform a few seconds later. After another minute of prolonged battle, the Dopants backed away, rallying around Memoria, while the Riders panted, tired from the never-ending waves of Dopants.
“This is so unfair! Every time we destroy one, it comes back!” Nasca complained.
“You can’t destroy them, because they still exist in memories. I have the memories of these creatures, taken from the people of Canterlot City, and your exploits! So long as the memory exists, so will they! Face it, you’ve lost, the sun will set soon, and this will all be over!”
Maybe not, thought Unicorn. The magical Rider took out her Shining Memory and raised her right hand, once again calling on the Phoenix Ascender. But to her dismay, it would still not come to her. Unicorn looked back to the girls, and then to Nasca and Trigger. Although they may believe her, the spark of their friendship had not fully returned, and without it, neither would the Phoenix Ascender. Unicorn lowered her right hand and sighed heavily.
“I’m sorry.”
Wallflower raised an eyebrow. “What did you say?”
Unicorn stepped forward and continued, “I ignored you, and so have others, and no one deserves to feel that way. To feel as if their existence doesn’t matter. I understand why you’re doing this.”
Wallflower narrowed her gaze as her green glowing eyes shined with malice. “NO, YOU DON’T! You were always ‘Miss Popular’! And you had everyone cowering wherever you went!”
Unicorn removed her Queen Memory and her Unicorn Memory, changing back into her civilian form, much to the protests of her friends and allies. “And what did that get me? I wasn’t happy, despite what it looked like, I was never happy. I was lonely, always alone here…and I did it to myself! I pushed everyone away, made enemies instead of friends, and when I realized my mistakes, I was shunned, and rightly so, I was not a nice person! And I know you’re alone too, you just want to be noticed, to be acknowledged! Wallflower, you can start fresh right now, it’s not too late, just like it wasn’t too late for me! I know I was one of the people who made you feel that way, and I’m truly sorry.”
Wallflower growled as her green flaming hair flared up. “No, you’re not! You’re just trying to look good in front of all your friends here, just so you can get your power back!” The young woman looked upon the faces of the Rainbooms, and her scowl deepened. “And it’s working! GAH! How am I supposed to punish you if nothing I do matters?! I…I…I hate you!!!”
Sunset felt like her heart was stabbed, even though there were people who did hate her back at CHS before the Battle of the Bands, no one outright said they hated her with such venom. Well, Flash did, but he was being mind controlled at the time. “That’s fine, I’ll accept that hate if that’s what you want, I won’t deny you that. And…And if having to live in a world where everyone thinks I’m a villain, where I’m feared and hated again…then that’s fine.”
Twilight narrowed her brow as she broke away from the group and stood beside Sunset and gave her a determined look. “No, it’s not ‘fine’! It’s not at all! No one deserves to be ignored, that much I agree with!” Twilight focused her gaze on Wallflower. “You aren’t the only one who was shunned and made to feel as if you were invisible! Every day I spent at Crystal Prep Academy was nothing but loneliness! So, what if I am intelligent, no one wanted anything to do with me, if anything, at the least, I was a target, at worst, I was ignored by my peers completely! You can erase our memories, but the Earth will always remember, and so long as it remembers, so will I! Starting over…” Twilight unconsciously gripped Sunset’s hand, “might be tough, but if it’s for love and friendship, then it’s worth fighting for!”
Wallflower ran her hands through her flaming hair as she growled in frustration. “How can you not see how she’s tricking all of you?! All this ‘hero’ and ‘redemption’ stuff is just a load of crap! She’s still the same manipulative, tyrannical, she-demon bitch she’s always been! I’ve seen it! The memories I’ve syphoned have shown me that she hasn’t changed!” Wallflower calmed down for a moment, but her rage had not quelled. “If what you say is true, then so long as you remember her, this will happen again! In that case…” The Memory Stone at the center of her chest began to glow, building up more and more power. “…I’ll just have to erase ALL their memories of high school!”
Sunset’s eyes widened with fear. “NO! If you do that, you’ll erase their memories of being friends! You won’t be hurting me anymore; you’ll be hurting them!”
“It is a small price to pay, my little flower, in order to truly bring about justice!”
Wallflower’s eyes glowed brighter. “SAY GOODBYE TO YOUR MEMORIES!!!!”
“NOO!!!!” Sunset screamed.
< UNICORN! >
< SHINING! >
“HENSHIN!”
> UNICORN! <
{< SHINING! MIMETIC DRIVE! >}
Sunset hurriedly transformed into her Pseudo-Final Form, Unicorn Shining Day. Unicorn flew up and funneled the magical power she had into creating a barrier of golden light, the emerald beam of the Memory Stone crashed upon its surface, creating a shockwave that rumbled throughout the forest and shook the very ground. Unicorn struggled against the beam, it was so strong, a magic born of dark intent and fueled by the power of the Gaia Memory, the two combined powers were proving to be her better, and at this rate, Unicorn feared she’d burn through her own power reserves before the two minute limit was up.
“YOU CAN’T STOP THIS! THIS IS WHAT YOU DESERVE!” Wallflower shouted.
Unicorn glanced over her shoulder, looking upon the frightened faces of her friends, and no doubt the worried looks she was receiving from her Rider allies. Unicorn gritted her teeth, and steeled herself, there was no other way to stop this, but to save at least her friends’ friendship…
“Twilight, everyone! I’ll miss you…!”
Unicorn warped her barrier, making it so that the beam focused on Unicorn and Unicorn alone. The beam struck her in the chest as a flash of emerald light blinded everyone. Unicorn dropped out of the sky, changing back to her civilian form as everyone rushed to her side. Wallflower, on the other hand, was genuinely surprised.
“What…What did you do?!”
Sunset crawled onto her hands and knees as she looked upon Wallflower. “I ruined their friendship once…I won’t let it happen again; my friends will remain friends with each oth – AAAAAHHH!!” Sunset’s forehead began to glow as a ribbon of yellow light flowed from the point of light, upon that ribbon, one could see the faint image of Fluttershy. “FLUTTERSHY! NO! AAAHH!!”
The next ribbon of memories to leave Sunset’s mind was orange, with Applejack’s image. “APPLEJACK!” The others could only watch in horror as Sunset desperately tried to grasp the Ribbons of Memory that were being pulled from her mind, and no matter how much Sunset willed herself to hang onto those memories, they just slipped through her grasp as if they were made of air. “PINKIE PIE! RARITY! RAINBOW DASH!!” Pink, white, and blue ribbons flew from Sunset’s head.
“Can’t we stop this?!” Nasca asked in a panicked tone.
“This is magic, I…I don’t know what to do!” Equal stated in frustration and worry.
Sunset rolled onto the ground as she held her head, but it was no use, even more Ribbons of Memory flew from her mind, this time one was colored lilac and had the image of Starlight Glimmer, and the next to leave was a dark blue color, showing Shining Armor’s image. Sunset breathed heavily, all around her she could see only strangers, the only person left her mind could remember was…
“T-Twilight…?” Sunset spoke.
Twilight hurriedly went to her side and grasped her hand tightly. “I’m here Sunset, please hang on!”
Sunset smiled sadly as she said, “Don’t forget me…AAAH!!!”
The final Memory Ribbon flew from Sunset’s mind, purple in color, with Twilight’s image engraved upon it, and with that, Sunset fell to the ground in an unconscious state. All the memories converged into the Memory Stone, and strangely enough, Wallflower felt a tremendous amount of power coursing through her body, the green lines shined brighter and even her green flaming hair flared with a greater luster than before.
“SUNSET, SUNSET SHIMMER?! Please answer me! SUNSET!” Twilight begged.
The flame haired girl’s eyes fluttered open; the others gave her space as she began to move awkwardly. “Who…Wha…” Sunset looked upon the group and gasped in shock as she tried to back away but fumbled about before finally stopping on her hands and knees. “Who are you?! W-Where am I?! Th-This isn’t Canterlot, why am I here?! P-Princess Celestia?! Princess Celestia where you?!” Sunset gasped again when she looked upon her hands and then the rest of her body. “W-W-W-W-What happened to me?! Why’s my body look like this?!” Sunset couldn’t feel her magic, she was in a body she didn’t know, fear gripped her as she got into a fetal position, covering her head with her hands, balling them into fists for makeshift hooves. “Please, someone, a-anyone…help me…”
Twilight didn’t understand what was happening, “Why…Why is she acting like that?!”
“I know…” All eyes fell to Equal. “Sunset’s not from this world, remember? She’s from Equestria, a land of ponies and magical power. Erasing her memories of high school, essentially, four years’ worth of memories, which is all the time she spent here on Earth. In so doing, Wallflower has left only the memories of before she ever came to Earth, and so, her mind has returned to that of when she was her pony self. She’s confused and scared, how jarring would it be for anyone to suddenly find themselves in a body that was not their own, in a place that they don’t know, surrounded by strange beings…? That is what we’re seeing here.”
Flutterhsy had her hands over her mouth as she cried, even for someone she considered to be a bully, this was too much, no one deserved this. Pinkie Pie’s hair deflated as her eyes teared up from seeing how scared and frightened Sunset was. Rarity was just stunned as she leaned on Applejack for support, while Applejack herself was seething underneath a stoic expression. Trigger tightened his fists and gritted his teeth, he witnessed someone he suspected and had fought against save his sister and himself from a similar memory loss at the expense of the memories this girl held dear. Nasca growled as she punched the ground before her, her tears falling to the point that she changed back to civilian form to keep them from fogging up her helmet.
Equal remained silent as she looked upon this scene.
Twilight, on the other hand, was not silent. She shook with rage and with tears burning in her eyes, she turned and faced Wallflower Blush. Even in her Dopant form, Wallflower felt true fear when she looked into Twilight’s eyes, even from her distance. “How dare you……HOW DARE YOU DO THIS TO HER! She didn’t deserve this – NO ONE DESERVES WHAT YOU JUST DID!!!”
Wallflower shook her head. “N-No, S-Sunset does deserve it! She was just tricking you all into believing she’d changed! L-Look, I’ll show you! Now that I have her memories, you can see exactly what she was truly thinking and planning!” Wallflower Blush focused on the Memory Stone and from the eye image on it dozens upon dozens of green, holographic screens appeared around them. Each one showed a memory of Sunset Shimmer, going back all the way to the beginning of her time at CHS.
Everyone looked and watched as Sunset, for a short time, lived in squalor upon coming to Earth, until Principal Celestia got her into her current home. Yes, there were schemes, but there was also loneliness, every time Sunset went home, she was sad, alone, trapped in a world that was not her own, with a body that was not natural to her, she tried to do whatever she could to survive, if it meant that she trampled others, so be it. That is until her plan for the Fall Formal, it was then that everything ran the way Twilight saw in the Earth’s Memories, every window after that showed events as she knew them to be, the events of the Battle of the Bands, of the Friendship Games, becoming Kamen Rider Unicorn, saving her home world of Equestria, saving Earth from a game virus, fighting alongside Legendary Riders from other worlds.
Then there were the tender moments, the moments shared between the six girls who made her life so much better and brighter, and the loving moments between Sunset and Twilight. Shining Armor was shocked to see that, despite his treatment of her, Sunset regarded him among her treasured memories. Equal, rather, Starlight, was struck when she saw that even memories of herself were among them, even if she was their enemy for a time.
However, after seeing all this, the one most surprised and shocked to see all these memories, was Wallflower Blush. “Wait…I…I don’t understand…these-these have to be fake!”
“How can these be fake?! They came from Sunset’s mind!” Applejack sneered.
“B-B-But the memories from before, they were…were…MEMORIA! What’s going on?!” Wallflower asked.
“………”
“Memoria?”
“……Oh well, I guess it couldn’t be helped. The veil on this little charade was bound to be taken off at some point.”
Pinkie Pie glanced about. “Um, is it just me, or did anyone else here a creepy lady voice echoing in their heads?”
“No, I heard it,” said Fluttershy.
“Ditto,” replied Rainbow Dash.
The energy that made up the holographic windows began to coalesce above them, until it formed the image of a unicorn mare, her body was made of emerald light, while her eyes were as black as the night, granting her an almost demonic look. “I am the true, Memoria. I am, was, the creator of the Memory Stone. Clover the Clever chased me into this world where we fought to the death! However, while my body was destroyed, my mind, my memories, remained. The so called ‘Clever’ Clover never thought that I would have a spell ready that would seal away my mind into the Stone itself. In hindsight it was a last-ditch effort, and one that I was, unfortunately, not able to follow up on.”
Equal looked up at the unicorn and asked, “Then that leads me to wonder, what is the Memory Stone?”
Memoria chuckled happily and clapped her hooves as she turned to look down at Equal. “Leave it to the resident former villain to ask the right question. You see, I learned long, long ago that memories have power, great power. I built the Memory Stone to not only erase those memories of my victims, but to also store them, and convert them into power. The stronger the memory and emotions attached to it, the stronger I became through its use. However, while it does gain power, it also takes time to digest all those memories. Hence the three-day time limit, a small set back, but otherwise I was still able to use some of the magic.”
“Then what are you doing now?! You’re helping Wallflower get revenge on Sunset?!” Twilight asked.
Memoria chuckled again as her body broke down into particles of light that zipped right to Wallflower and reformed into her unicorn body. The unicorn laid her head on Wallflower’s shoulder, while her tail wrapped around her legs. “Why, young Wallflower was my little helper. I was buried for so long that I became detached from the goings on here, but that didn’t mean my magical senses were completely blinded. I sensed a great source of power being unleashed within this city a few months ago. When my little flower here dug me up, I was able to share in her memories and see what exactly happened. I told her what I could do, what we could do together. Getting revenge on Sunset Shimmer was just to flex my power and regain my strength, her pitiful little road to vengeance served a greater purpose.”
Wallflower’s eyes widened. “Purpose…? W-What purpose?!”
Memoria nuzzled Wallflower’s cheek, making the young girl squirm. “I learned of Kamen Rider Unicorn through Wallflower, and I sensed Equestrian Magic and the power of the Gaia Memories. And a plan began to form. But first, we needed an item. We sought out the two women who were trying to recreate the Gaia Memories, those two fools made one for us, we promised them money, but instead, we took the device and erased their memories of our encounter, none the wiser. The Memory Memory, when combined with my Stone, allowed me to see the greater wellspring of knowledge that lied beyond my grasp. And so, my plan was hatched. I told Wallflower to steal the memories of every person in the city that pertained to Unicorn, but it was my little flower’s idea to take all the good memories of Sunset Shimmer.”
The unicorn mare laughed maniacally as she brought her hooves to Wallflower’s cheeks nuzzled her nose affectionately. “Never could I have imagined that Unicorn was Sunset Shimmer, or that Sunset Shimmer was a fellow Equestrian like myself. From those stolen memories I realized exactly what I needed to do to get to the Memories of the Earth. So, I altered the stolen memories, and showed a fabrication that Sunset was trying to deceive everyone, and you bought it, hook line and sinker! HA-HA!”
“No…No y-y-you’re lying! Memoria, please stop joking around, this isn’t funny!” Wallflower begged.
“Oh, my little flower, what’s funny is you thinking that a plain, little nothing like yourself was important to anyone. You were using the Stone to erase memories before this scheme was hatched, all your little embarrassing moments – zap – gone. All your awkward greetings? Zap! Every time you tried to confess how you really felt for that mare?”
“S-S-SHUT UP! I NEVER–!”
“Zap! And every time you did that it was feeding me, making me stronger. And today, taking Sunset Shimmer’s memories was the final bit of fuel I needed to fully manifest and awaken!”
Wallflower’s body suddenly went stiff. Her heart rate quickened as her body refused to obey anything, she willed it to do, about the only thing she had control of was her head. “W-W-What are you going to do to me?!”
Memoria ran her hoof along the Wallflower’s body and chuckled manically. “I need a new body, and yours will do nicely. Truth is I’d have preferred a more attractive body, as I was quite the attractive mare many years ago, but beggars can’t be choosers, and your body has adapted well to my power, so I’m sure I can make some changes. I will use your body, and with the Memory Memory and the Memory Stone, I will absorb the entirety of the Earth’s Memories! All that knowledge converted into raw power, a nearly endless stream! I will be ALL POWERFUL! A goddess! And it’s all thanks to you, my little flower.”
Wallflower’s eyes widened with horror, she had been tricked, she had played into this monster’s hands, and in so doing took away the one person who could stand up to Memoria. “I…I’m sorry…” Wallflower looked towards the Rainbooms and the remaining Riders. “S-Sunset…” Sunset Shimmer raised her head upon hearing her name and paused when she saw the glowing tears coming from her eyes. “I’m so sorry…”
Memoria pressed her hoof against the Stone and said, “Time to be one.”
The unicorn mare’s body flowed into the Memory Stone, and from there, the only things that could be heard were the screams of Wallflower Blush mixed among the roaring of the dark magic that flowed from the Memory Stone. The colors of her body inverted, with the green becoming the dominant color, and the green lines becoming dark lines. Gone where the wispy, vine-like designs, what now appeared were jagged fissures in their place. But that wasn’t the only change, Wallflower’s body began to age to that of a more mature woman, even some of her proportions were filling out more than what they previously were. Her green flaming hair was now black fire, and her eyes were now pools of darkness, at the center of those pools was a white dot, the only thing that acted as a pupil.
The screams of pain eventually morphed to laughter; Wallflower’s voice had transitioned into that of Memoria’s herself. With that, the transformation was complete, Memoria looked upon her new body, inspecting it as a wide grin split her face. “Now this I can work with.”
Everyone couldn’t believe what they were seeing, and neither could Sunset, and yet, despite not knowing what was going on, she felt, something. Something deep in her heart when she saw the face of that girl who apologized to her. Not only that, but there was also an urge, an urge to fight, an urge to stand against this evil before her. Why she felt like this she did not know, but her heart felt that this was the right thing.
Sunset flexed her digits, finding the sensation incredibly strange. She then wiggled the toes that were concealed by her boots, also strange. Slowly, she rose up to her feet, feeling very wobbly as her center of gravity had shifted dramatically. Sunset had judged by her current appearance and those around her, that her current form was bipedal and not quadrupedal, so it should feel somewhat natural to stand on two legs. The process, however, was difficult. But, just as quickly as she started to rise, so caught up in her work, Sunset didn’t realize that the young violet haired girl had appeared next to her and helped steady her.
“T-Thank you,” said Sunset.
“No need to thank me, this is what friends do for each other,” said Twilight with tears in her eyes.
“W-We’re friends?”
“……Yes, well…more than that as I’ve recently learned.”
Sunset blushed a little, she had to admit, she liked the feeling of this girls hands on her left arm. This closeness, her scent, and even though she wasn’t a pony, Sunset was steadily finding this girl attractive. “I’m sorry, I don’t fully remember…but…” Sunset placed her hand over her chest. “I feel something, here.”
Twilight placed her hand over Sunset’s hand. “Listen to that feeling, it’s what I should’ve done a long time ago. If I did, this situation may’ve turned out differently.”
“You aren’t the only one to share in that blame, darling,” said Rarity as she joined on Sunset’s right. “We all had feelings regarding you, our hearts were telling us what our minds had forgotten, however, we just didn’t listen hard enough.”
Fluttershy held out her hands and Sunset, for some reason, reached out and took them. “No matter what happens from here, we won’t ever leave you alone.”
Pinkie Pie walked up next and patted Sunset on the head. “That’s a Pinkie Promise, and I never break a Pinkie Promise.”
Rainbow joined the group and said, “You tried and tried, never giving up on us even when we practically turned on you. That’s loyalty. I haven’t shown much of that lately because of that witch over there. But no more, we stick together, always.”
“Sunset, what do you want to do? What does your heart tell you?” Twilight asked.
Sunset closed her eyes, focusing on the feelings for all these girls, and with a determined look in her eyes she said, “I want to save that girl, I want stop that monster! I…I don’t know how, but, please, I need your help do it!”
All six girls nodded in agreement.
Equal deactivated her transformation, and as she did, a bright glow came from her back pocket. Starlight took out the source of the glow and smiled as she ran up to the girls with Trigger in toe. “We might be able to win this, or at least give ourselves a fighting chance. Shining Armor, deactivate your transformation.”
“You sure about this?” Trigger asked.
“Positive.”
Trigger did as she asked and returned to his civilian form, still confused as to what was going on, and what the glowing ring in Starlight’s hand was.
Starlight approached Sunset and presented the device to her. Sunset gingerly took the ring, and upon doing so, the light faded and revealed what it was. The ring was colored grayish-blue, around the front of the ring was the symbol of each of the twenty-six T2 Gaia Memories. In the center of the ring was a Gaia Memory device connected to the ring, and in the middle of that device was the letter “U” in but stylized in the form of feathered wings.
“What is this?” Sunset asked.
“The Union Memory, it combines all my knowledge regarding the Gaia Memories, as well as what I have learned from you regarding magic. If you can awaken its power, we might be able to defeat Memoria.” Starlight glanced towards the sky and grimaced. “But we don’t have a lot of time, you have to try now, or all this will be lost!”
Memoria laughed at their efforts. “Oh my, a last-ditch effort to save the world. How charming, but in the end, a complete waste of time. She doesn’t even remember that she’s Kamen Rider Unicorn anymore, she has no idea how to use that thing, and even if you helped her, it would still be a wasted effort, she no longer knows how to fight either!”
“Wrong…” All eyes returned to Sunset as she spoke. “You…You can erase memories, but you can’t erase what’s in here!” Sunset pressed her hand against her chest. “Our hearts have memories too, they remember not images, but feelings, the connections that we’ve made cannot easily fade away…that’s…that’s what friendship is…heh, now I get it, Princess…”
~*~*~*~
Suddenly, the world went still. Time seemed to slow down as Sunset found the world around her slowly shift and move away, turning into an infinite white space. Several bookshelves appeared around her, too many to count, but they went as far as her eyes could see. Upon each shelf were hundreds of books, each one containing knowledge of some sort or another. Sunset felt a sense of familiarity with this place, she knew it was important, important to her and others.
“I’ve been here before…” Sunset ran her hand against the books, feeling the texture of the books. They reminded her of the old tomes of Equestria, the ones she would spend hours and hours studying. “All these books…I wonder if there’s anything about ‘Sunset Shimmer’? Wow, that’s vain even for me.”
At that moment, the bookshelves all began to move, either falling into the white abyss below or zooming off into the distance. Some left behind books, but of those books they too began to disappear, all until one remained. It had her name, along with the red and gold metal, and a turquoise unicorn. Sunset opened the book and upon doing so, her eyes glowed bright.