//------------------------------//
// Chapter 18: Snake in the Grass 
// Story: To Build the Winning Formula 
// by Snow Fire 
//------------------------------//

Years ago...

A younger Micro Chips sat at the table with his older brother, Gizmo Poindexter. The latter had just recently been put on the research team to analyze Pandora’s Box at the research center. 

The two boys were fiddling with a toy science kit that Gizmo got for his brother. From the kit, they were supposed to build a robot. With the instructions laid out, the Micro connected the pieces while Gizmo did the programming. 

“This is fun.” The child Micro smiled. 

“Yes. Science can be an enjoyable experience.” Gizmo agreed. “Well, as long as it’s used the right way.”

“What do you mean, bro?”

“I mean, like everything, there is a good and bad aspect to science.” He explained. 

“But I thought science was used to discover the truth of the world and make inventions to help humanity.” Micro pointed out.

“While science does bring about the advent of technology and advancements, there are some inventions that reflect the dark aspects of human nature.”

“Like what?” Micro asked curiously. 

“Like weapons for example. Tools of destruction that are used in conflicts like wars. And don’t even get me started on the Fat Stallion and Little Colt bombs.” 

“Oh…” The youth replied in dismay. 

“But that doesn’t mean science is completely bad. Think of all the medicine, equations, and technology that came about because of it.” Gizmo added. 

“But if people can make all of that, why do they make horrible things like weapons?”

“It’s just another aspect of human nature. The one thing that seperates a technological advancement from being a new energy source or a weapon of mass destruction is a person’s morals. Remember this, Micro. Inventions are made for the betterment of mankind. Any form of science that requires sacrifice will never be for that betterment. Understand?”

“I think so.” He nodded, in awe of his brother’s wise words. 

“Good. Because that is what I want you to keep in mind if you ever decide to follow the path of a scientist, little Micro-mite.”

“Hey! Stop calling me that!” He whined while Gizmo chuckled. 





Two days had passed since Flash and Sol's first battle after being outed as the Masked Riders.

In that time, many things had happened. The first was an investigation into the new breed of Guardians. The remains of such had been brought to the research center to be dissected, Micro and the rest of the engineers there finding several differences between them and previous Guardians. One of the biggest things they noticed was that several parts and processors had the ChangeMaker Incorporated logo on them. 

None of these parts appeared in any of the company's manifests, leading them to wonder how Faust could have gotten a hold of them.

That was something Chrysalis was very adamant about keeping to herself, simply stating the parts were prototypes that had been stolen but refused to state when and how. She simply demanded them be returned to her but Night Light and Blood Oath refused since they were evidence in the crime.

Something else that had occurred was that everything from Gizmo's secret lab had finally been collected and safely transported to the Research Center. While Flash and the boys were sad to say goodbye to their old hangout, they understood the equipment was dangerous and needed to be somewhere more secure.

They decided not to mention how the secret lab had never once been found while the Research Center had once been completely seized.

The good thing about the transfer was that now Micro wouldn't need to go dumpster diving for the parts he'd need for new gear, Sol had joked his sword had always smelled a bit funny, the equipment having been safely transported to the lab and ready for proper setup.

But he would have to set everything up alone as everyone else was...busy.

Twilight had finally been discharged from the medical bay but they still had no idea about why she collapsed, or how she got that strange bracelet. They'd tried everything to get it off, every known type of tool, a laser(after an extreme amount of protests and safety precautions from her family), even Applejack couldn't pry it off. The golden accessory remained wrapped around Twilight's wrist.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Sunset asked her as they left her room.

Twilight sighed. "Sunset, I'm fine." She looked down at the bracelet. "Whatever this is, I don't think it's dangerous."

"How so?" Princess asked.

"I don't know. It's...just a feeling." That didn't sound like Twilight. Her scientific mind never let her trust in a feeling. "Anyway," she turned to her counterpart, "Is it true you're heading home today?"

Princess nodded. "Things seem to have calmed down here and I really need to be getting back to Equestria."

"It's too bad you couldn't stay longer," Sunset told her. She knew her friend had an important duty back home but still, she'd miss her.

"Me too. But I'm always one sentence away if you ever need me." The two girls nodded with a smile as they continued down the hallway.

"Well, I'm sure everyone will be happy to see you off."

Twilight nodded, looking around confused. "Speaking of which, where is everyone?"

"I think they went to watch the tests," Sunset explained.

"Tests?" Twilight asked, "what tests?" Her eyes suddenly went wide, "is it some kind of new technology that's being developed and today's its first testing phase."

"Not exactly," Sunset replied before turning the two of them towards a door and stepping inside. The first thing Twilight saw when they entered was a shirtless Flash running on a treadmill, a shirtless Sol doing the same besides him. They were behind a glass wall and both had several wires and sensors sticking out of their bodies. They also had oxygen masks on their faces. 

"Oh," Twilight suddenly blushed, "those kinds of tests."

"What's up with her?" Princess asked Sunset, the bacon haired girl smirking.

"On this side of the portal, seeing a guy without his shirt one will do that to a girl."

"I'll say," they heard Rarity's voice and turned to see the rest of the girls watching. She, Fluttershy and Pinkie were watching the boys exercise with great interest, Rainbow and Applejack watching like they'd watch any other event.

"So why are they doing this?" Twilight asked, trying not to stare at Flash's chest. Though she had to admit he did have an impressive set of muscles, ones comparable to Sol's, likely due to all the fighting he'd done since becoming Build.

"We're checking to make sure the two of them are physically healthy." Twilight turned to see Misty walking in from another room. "We have to be sure using the Build System hasn't caused any abnormal effects on them."

Twilight nodded, "Makes sense." There was still so much they didn't know about Nebula Gas and its effects on humans. There was no telling what using it in the Rider System, as Pinkie nicknamed it, would do to a person, Gizmo not likely having time to test for any long term effects. "So, anything wrong?"

"No," Misty shook her head, "everything's fine." She looked back at her son, "the two appear to be perfectly healthy in every way."

"I'll say," Rarity said once again.

“How long have they been running like that?” Twilight asked. 

“Believe it or not, they’ve kept a stable pace for well over half an hour, and showed no visible signs of fatigue.” Misty noted. “While I can understand Sol having that much stamina due to his training, my son wasn’t the fully athletic type. So his endurance surprised me.”

“Isn’t that because of the time he spent fighting?” Princess asked. 

“That is a possibility. But we’re still looking into it further.” 

“I think that’s enough time for them running.” Velvet said as she approached. “Alright boys. We have enough data. You can stop now.”

The treadmills slowed to a halt as the two boys panted, sweat glistening off of their skin and drawing further attention from the young, female onlookers. 

While she refused to admit such a thing later, Rarity was visibly drooling while Fluttershy peeked through her long bangs with a flushed face. 

Misty handed the two towels to wipe off their perspiration. 

“So what’s next on the list?” Sol asked. Before running, they were given tests based on their flexibility and mental processing. The former consisted of basic stretches while the second was a series of mental exercises similar to IQ tests. The fighter didn’t quite do so well on the latter, mainly because he wasn’t used to complex thinking and just went with feeling. 

“Next we have strength tests.” Misty read on her list. The crew transitioned over to a different room in the building. It was a weight room designed to act as strength testing for exosuits. “You two are to perform a series of repetitions based on the maximum weight you can lift. Based on Gizmo’s research, this is to determine if your Hazard level accounts for an increase of strength.”

The two nodded as they moved over to a set of weights. They did some test reps with the lower values, finding that they barely weighed much at all before moving to the heavier ones. 

To the amazement of the others, Flash had been able to lift a full set of twenty with 90 lb weights despite his relatively slender frame. By the time he was done though, his arms were screaming. Sol managed to outclass him by lifting a full set of twenty with 120 lb weights.  Even then he didn’t show signs of complete strain or exertion. 

Once the data has been recorded, the tests ended and the two were led to the showers due to smelling like sweat and body odor.

After a quick shower, they changed back to their normal clothes. As Flash put his jacket back on, something fell out of one of the pockets. He picked up his father’s aviator goggles. He frowned when he saw a crack on the edge of one of the lenses. It had been from when Night Rogue shot him in the face back at the factory. While the crack didn’t affect overall visibility and the lens remained sturdy, it irked him to see his father’s memento like this. 

Ever since his identity as Build was revealed, he no longer had a need to wear a disguise anymore. So he finally hung up the coat and respirator mask. But he could never put away the goggles. It wouldn’t feel right to part with them. As long as he had them, he felt like his dad was watching over him, giving him strength. 

He stared at the goggles in his hands before silently nodded. He pulled them over his head and left them hanging around his neck. 

“Huh. That’s a good look.” Sol commented as he saw his friend in the mirror. 

“Thanks.” Flash answered as he looked at his reflection. It didn’t look half bad. “We should probably get going now, though. Micro and Sandalwood probably have everything set up now.”

“I still can’t believe we’re getting our own lab.”





When everyone arrived at the lab, they found the place was much different from how it'd been when Night first gave it to Micro. Several boxes littered the room, all containing either half-built equipment or diagrams and notebooks for said equipment.

In the corner of the room, they spotted the purifier with Micro and Sandalwood both working on it. Well, Micro was working on it and Sandalwood was just giving him tools. "Screwdriver," Sandalwood took the spanner Micro was holding out to him and replaced it with the requested tool. "Thanks." A minute later, he replaced the panel he'd taken off and smirked.

"So how's it looking?" Flash asked Micro, the teen stepping out of the machine.

"Everything's perfect. Doesn't look like it sustained any damage during transport."

"That's good," Sol told him. "If we manage to get any more bottles, we'll need it to purify them." Micro nodded as the girls moved to take a closer look at the machine, both Twilights and Sunset looking fascinated by it.

"It looks so high tech," Princess Twilight said. They didn't have anything like this in Equestria. "How does it work?"

"It's simple really." Micro explains while booting up his brother's laptop. "The machine scans the brain of who’s ever inside and turns those thoughts into a form of energy, which is then transferred into the bottle. That removes all the impurities and transforms it into a Fullbottle."

"I see," Twilight nodded while looking at the machine. "So sleek. So well designed. I can't make heads or tails of it."

"Join the club," Micro told her. "I barely understood how it worked at first. But, you'd be surprised what you learn from doing basic maintenance on it. Plus," he pressed a button on the laptop and it changed to show what looked like blueprints. He turned it to Twilight and she, Sunset and Princess looked them over. "With these, anyone with even a basic understanding of physics and engineering could make one."

Sunset let out a whistle, "Wow. You'd have to be an idiot not to understand this." At that moment, everyone else glanced at the plans and had zero clue what they meant. Should they be mad at Sunset or the blueprints?

"So what happens to the person in the machine?" Fluttershy asked as they stepped away, "They don't get hurt, do they?"

"They're exhausted after using it, but there's no long term side effects. As for what happens while they're in there..." Micro hummed before he, Flash and Sol turned to Sandalwood. "What does happen to you in there?"

Sandalwood looks up at them, having been meditating while everyone else talked. He then smirked, "Most of it's a blur. I see something, but I can't really remember what. It's kinda...like a dream." That made sense, who the heck remembered dreams. "But that's just the first part. The second part's something I started remembering the more I used the machine."

"Which is?" Applejack asked before Sandalwood leaned back against the machine.

"First, the Smash we got the essence from shows up in my head before it blacks out...like a shadow puppet. It's just the shape, but then the shape starts to shift and change. It stays like that until I figure out what the shape is. Then, there's a bright flash of light and the next thing I know the whole thing's over and I feel like I ran a marathon." He opened his eyes and looked at them all, seeing them all staring at him in amazement.

Rainbow was the first to speak. "That sounds...awesome."

Micro nodded, just as interested. "Sounds like the purified form is built into the essence itself and just needs a person to mentally visualize the final form to complete the process."

"But how?" Rarity asked. "How does gas from an alien artifact know what a rabbit or a rocket or a lock is?"

"Who knows?" Flash shrugged. "There's still a lot we don't know about Pandora's Box and the Nebula Gas. The only person who seems to know more than they should is Stalk, though trying to get a straight answer out of him is like trying to get blood from a stone."

Micro nodded. "All we can do is keep studying them and hope we eventually find anything that might help us better understand them." He turned back to the girls. "Now, any other questions?"

"I have one," Pinkie asked after stepping out from behind the machine. "Where's the plug?"

"Plug?" Micro wasn't sure if he should take her question seriously or not.

"The plug. You know...what powers it. This thing must use a ton of juice, so where's it coming from? You must use a lot of batteries if you don't have a plug."

"It has an internal power source," Micro explained. "Though I'm not really sure what." He showed them the blueprints again. "These schematics show a place for it to sit but not the power source itself."

"Why don't you take it out to have a look?" Rainbow asked.

"It's built deep into the machine. Getting too it would mean taking half of it apart. Even with the schematics, putting it back together again would take forever and that's not taking into account the many tests that would need to be done to make sure it was rebuilt right. It's better to just leave it as it is."

“Makes sense.” Sunset nodded. It would’ve been too tedious to take it apart now to satisfy curiosity. Not to mention it would be a risky endeavor since Faust is still out there and they would need to purify bottles. 

“By the way, Flash. I couldn’t help but notice you changed your wardrobe a bit.” Rarity pointed out. “Where did you get those goggles?”

“Come to think of it, didn’t ya have those for yer disguise?” Applejack asked. 

“Yeah...these were my dad’s.” The musician replied as he held them up. “I figured if I had these with me, I could fight with his strength as well ...if that makes any sense.”

“I think it’s a nice gesture.” Twilight smiled. “A nice way to pay homage to your dad and honor his memory.”





While the Rainbooms and Team Build discussed the new laboratory, Director Night Light sat in his office. On his computer screen was the security feed of Smash attacked the building during the field trip. 

He accessed the footage of all of the buildings security cameras as something did not sit right with him. His suspicions were supported when he saw simultaneous videos of his son standing by him, Dusk Walker, and his family on one half of the screen while the other displayed Night Rogue and Stalk within the building and roof. 

While he was preoccupied by the videos, his wife walked in the office. As she walked up next to him, she saw the various footages and couldn’t help but question. “...Why are you watching this?”

“....Don’t you think it's odd?” Night questioned back. “These security feeds are taking place at the same time. Yet how could Shining Armor be in two places at once?”

“Isn’t that Night Rogue a proxy sent by Stalk?”

“It could be. But based on what the boys said, the Night Rogue they fought was the exact same one based on his mannerisms and fighting style. That means the Rogue they fought was Shining Armor. Yet our son and Dusk stood by us the entire time during the incident.”

“Night, what are you saying?”

“I’m saying that based on what we’ve seen so far...it’s likely the Shining Armor in the video could be a proxy sent in by Stalk to avoid suspicion.”

“A proxy? But how could that be?!”

“We know Stalk has the power to change faces and erase memories from the boys. Who says that he can’t alter memories as well? Combine those you, and you get the perfect substitute.” Night frowned with a sigh. “It makes me wonder...how often were we with the real Shining…” 

“I...I don’t know…” Velvet shook her head in dismay. It was a disturbing thought. To learn that the time they spent with their son...might not have actually been their son most of the time.





“Are you sure you don’t wanna come with?” Sandalwood asked. After they got the Purificator and computer set up, Pinkie suggested they start shopping for supplies for Princess Twilight’s Farewell Party and Masked Rider Party. Since they were sure to be huge events, they needed all the helping hands they could get. 

“I’m sure. I need to go through the files stored in the laptop, just in case I might’ve missed something that can give us a lead on Stalk.” Micro replied. 

“Okay. Let us know if you find anything or need anything.” Flash said as the group left. Once the door was shut and he was alone in the room, Micro breathed a sigh of relief. He immediately pulled out the laptop and opened the Project Sclash file. 

He smiled when he saw the words on the screen: Simulation complete.

Below them were the readings and results of the simulation that he ran on the files. Based on the data, all systems were 100% successful and ready for construction. After weeks of hard work and secrecy, he can finally start constructing the Sclash Drivers for his friends. But before he could even reach for the materials stored neatly in a nearby cabinet, his email notification rang.

He checked the sender, and his eyes widened upon seeing the address. It was Anony-Mister. 





Later...

In an undisclosed location, Chrysalis and Gizmo sat across from one another. The female CEO sat neatly with a cup of tea in her hands. Gizmo on the other hand was lounged out on his seat with a cup and saucer in his hands. 

“Ah~That is some mighty fine tea, Chryssy.” 

“Flattery will get you nowhere, Stalk.” She frowned. 

“Come now, feel free to call me Gizmo when I’m not in uniform.”

“I would as soon as you stop referring to me in that ridiculous nickname. Now...how goes the progress in obtaining what we need for the project?”

“It’s going.” Gizmo set down the pieces of ceramic. “I have a plan that’s practically done. I’ll get what we need later. What I need from you though is to keep the Riders distracted. Think you can do that?”

“Just who are you talking to? With our Guardians it will be child’s play.” She huffed. 

“Glad to hear it. Now then…” Gizmo hopped up from his seat and fixed his coat. “I’ve got a meeting to get to.”





After he finally deciphered the email, Micro took time to process what he just learned. After finally coming to a decision, he got to work and packed his belongings after inserting a flash drive into his laptop. 





Now curious, he opened the message and was greeted by a long series of complicated mathematical equations. 

At the very end of the email was a message tacked on. 

[Think you can solve all this? The answer will be your guide where to go next. It’s time for some answers of your own. Good luck Micro-Mite.]

The bespectacled teen scratched his head over the cryptic message. He was still confused about Anony-Mister’s identity. But after all these weeks, based on how he knew so much about his brother’s research and Faust’s movements, he’s gotten an idea of who’s behind the screen. 

And if he wants him to solve this to get those answers, then challenge accepted. 

He worked through the formulas at a lightning fast pace. Soon enough, he solved the equations and obtained the answers. At first, he didn’t know what to make of them. Then he looked back at the line of text, specifically the where and time parts. 

He realized that the first two rows of numbers were coordinates while the third line of numbers was a specified time. 

“Wait, so he’s telling me a time and place to meet?” As soon as he wondered that, another email from Anony-Mister popped up. 

[P.S. Congratulations on stopping Faust during the whole Takeover debacle. Unfortunately, they’re still out there. I know you want to stop them, and I know you’ve been working on just the thing to do so….provided you deciphered by earlier message. I know it may seem strange, but you need to trust me, Micro-Mite. I need you to give me a full system copy from the laptop. I know some people who know what to do with them. I can only ask that you trust me. Come alone.]





He didn’t know if what Anony-Mister said could be trusted. But so far, he hasn’t steered him wrong. Not after giving them such precious intel. All he can do is find answers himself. After he got everything packed, he slipped a flash drive into his pocket and made his way to the door. But the moment it opened, he collided with another person and stumbled back. 

“Oh, gosh! I’m so sorry!” He apologized as he re-adjusted his glasses. 

“Micro?” Flash questioned as he stood by the door frame. “Where are you going? I thought you had to sort through the files.”

“I-I could ask you the same. Why are you here?”

“I forgot my new phone.” Flash answered. The day prior, after explaining that the four members of Team Build destroyed their smartphones while on the run, they were given new ones to maintain communication. The police chief insisted they do so to keep in contact. The musician walked over and picked it up from the table. “After getting so used to my old one, it’s a weird change. But what about you?”

“Oh, I just...forgot some things in the old lab. I need to go get them.”

“But I thought they transported everything from the old one.”

“Well, they did get all the important stuff, but I’m gonna go and double check because there are some parts and schematics that I can’t find. Tell the others I’ll see them soon. See ya.” Before Flash could inquire further, he already moved down the halls. 

The blue haired teen narrowed his eyes in confusion and suspicion. He was definitely acting odd.





“So how do you….work this contraption again?” Princess Twilight questions as she stared at the line of buttons and a joystick. 

“It’s easy. You use the stick to move. And to initiate actions, press the buttons. A is attack while B is block.” Sunset explained as she moved her own character on screen. 

After shopping for Pinkie’s Party supplies, Rainbow suggested that after so much insanity, they should all have some pre-celebratory fun. 

Which is what ultimately led them to the city’s arcade. However, the moment Princess Twilight entered, she felt out of her depth. She did notice her friends play what they call video games a few times she’s visited, but this was a completely different scale. She became transfixed by all the flashing lights and colors. The interior had weaker lightning, which highlighted the visuals on the various screens and games. 

It somewhat reminded her of Manehatten at night. After seeing her confusion, Sunset had pulled her aside to try out one of the games herself while the others split off to different sections. The Princess tested the controls of the fighting game she was at, trying to get an understanding of how things worked. She mimicked the instructions Sunset gave her as her avatar moved awkwardly. 

“See? You’re getting it. Now. Let’s fight!” Sunset cheered as the match began. 

“Huh? W-wait!” But she didn’t wait as the first round began. Rather than calmly pressing buttons to execute the necessary actions, Princess Twilight ended up button mashing everything in her panic. It eventually resulted in her loss. 

“Yes! Victory!” Sunset cheered. 

“No fair! I was still learning the controls!”

“Hey. All’s fair in gaming. Besides, real matches can build experience. But most of all, just have fun.” The bacon haired girl gestured to their other friends. 

Applejack and Rainbow busied themselves in a competitive game of air hockey while Rarity watched them. Fluttershy and Sandalwood were at one of the crane claw machines trying to win prizes. Twilight was at the skeeball machine, running calculations for the required force and angle needed to score the most points. Pinkie Pie was enthusiastically hammering the fake moles at a Whack-a-Mole. Sol was at a machine that measured how much psi your punch creates. He has been hitting it over and over to break his record repeatedly. 

However, their fun came to an end as the overhead monitors that displayed random animations were replaced by an emergency broadcast. There had been reports of rampaging Guardians on the other side of town by the residential district. 

As the story played, Sol got a call from his phone. “Hello?”

“Sol Burner. I need you and Sentry to head over to the residential district to stop those Smash. I need you there on the double!” Blood Oath ordered. 

“Alright, alright, We’re going!” He snapped as he ended the call. He really didn’t like interacting with Blood Oath in any way, shape, or form. But if he wanted to be Cross-Z, he had to suck it up and listen. “Sorry to cut this short guys, but Flash and I are heading out.”

“Well, you’re not leaving us behind.” Rainbow said as she, Sandalwood, and the Rainbooms stepped forward. Ever since their involvement in previous magical incidents was brought to light to the police, they have been made as a means of reinforcements to the Riders to protect the populace and assist in evacuations while the two fought Faust. It was either that or being prohibited from using their magic abilities. “We’re not letting you two handle everything yourselves anymore.” 

“Alright. But if you guys see a Smash, run and let Flash and I handle it.” They nodded in agreement as they ran out of the building for Sandalwood’s truck. The fighter shot a quick text to Flash, notifying him about the situation. Not even a minute later he got a response. 

[I’ll catch up with you. But I might be late. Take care of things till I get there.]





“Well...this is the place…” Micro mumbled as he stood before a parking garage. Given how late it was in the afternoon, there were barely any cars left. The teen took a deep breath, steeling himself for what’s to come. With steeled resolve, he walked inside. 

Unbeknownst to him, a figure hidden in the shadows watched his movements. 





Minutes later, the gang reached the residential area. It was utter chaos. Buildings and houses were broken into as the Guardians dragged the captured civilians away. Half were caught while the rest tried to flee. Even fewer managed to flee successfully. 

One Guardian dragged away a paralyzed couple by their feet. But before it could leave, a slice of pie splattered against its helmet before exploding. It released its grip and fell lifelessly. 

Another Guardian had aimed at a fleeing civilian. But its arm was severed by a multi-faceted shield. Before it could move to discern the threat, another shield sliced it in half down the middle. 

Two more ceased their mission to locate the eradicate the sudden threats. But neither could react to the slab of concrete that impacted the one on the left while the other had its head camera speared by a levitating metal rod. 

Pinkie, Rarity, Applejack, and Twilight took to the field to drive off the Guardians while Rainbow moved to retrieve the people caught in the crossfire. Sunset, Fluttershy, and the Princess stayed back to escort them off the battlefield. 

“Remember, if a Smash shows up, fall back and let me handle it!” Sol called out as he donned his Driver and held out Crozz in its adapter form. “But until then, take out the robots and save the people captured!”

“Okie dokie lokie!” Pinkie saluted before winding her arm back and chucking a jawbreaker at another guardian. The baseball-sized candy dented its chestplate before it detonated and blew the upper torso clean off. 

Once, Rainbow pulled the remaining people off of the battleground, she picked up a fallen piece of steel rebar and joined the fight. More Guardians abandoned their main objective and charged at the interlopers. 

The one at the lead ran towards Rainbow with its gatling arm whirring up. The stun bullets it shot out were much faster than the standard rifle the previous models had. 

But the athlete was much faster. She weaved through the projectiles in a rainbow colored blur before she stabbed the rebar through its helmet, taking out its main control unit and shutting it down. Two more tried to pincer her, but she slipped through their path and stopped behind one before kicking it forward. The two robots crashed into each other in a pile, leaving them wide open. 

“Pinkie, now!” Rainbow yelled before she zoomed away. 

“Bombs away!” the party planner screamed as she pulled out a multi-layered cake from her hair and chucked it at the fallen Guardians. The tower of cooked batter and frosting splattered over their frames before they went up in a pink, confetti-filled explosion that took out any of their comrades in a five meter radius. 

The two girls high fived at a job well done before more robots poured into the street. While some of the abductors tried to go after the civilians, their route was blocked off by a wall of diamond shields. 

“Not in your lives!” Rarity huffed. The guardians turned their guns to her. But as they fired, they were immediately intercepted by another row of shields that deflected the bullets right back at them. The projectiles struck their metal plates, slightly denting them from the rapid fire. Before they could recover, two, razor-edged shields flew at them and cut them down like a pair of scissors. Both halves fell unceremoniously to the ground. 

The fashionista smirked and flipped her hair. “How dull, darling.”

Another Guardian saw its brethren fall and tried to rush into assistance. However, it gained no traction or ground. It wasn’t until later that it realized that it wasn’t even on the ground! It was suspended by a magenta light that was caused by Twilight Sparkle. “This is for all the people you hurt and captured!” With glare, she threw out her arms and dragged the Guardian through the ground. The horrible screech of metal scraping the earth filled their air, but none of them paid any mind. Twilight hurled the Guardian into more of its comrades, like a bowling ball knocking down a set of pins. 

While the group was down, she grabbed all five of them in her aura and compacted them into a crude ball of scrap. She then threw the mass towards her awaiting friend. “Applejack!”

The farm girl nodded as she hefted a fallen tree as if it were no more than a baseball bat. She swung with all her might and magic. The massive piece of oak struck the scrap ball, destroying the crushed Guardians for good as they broke to pieces. 

“You girls are doing alright?” Sunset called out as she, Fluttershy, and Princess Twilight returned to the scene. 

“We’re doing great!” Rainbow cheered as she tripped up another Guardian for Rarity to slice with her shield. “What about the others?”

“They’re all evacuated and the police sealed the area off. Now all we need to do is-”

“Look out!” Sandalwood yelled as he pointed behind the trio. They spun around and gasped when they saw another Guardian lumber towards them. Its gatling arm was gone, but it raised its claw arm menacingly. 

It brought its arm down, but Sunset reacted quickly. She grabbed its descending arm and let the momentum carry her back. She used the Guardians weight against it as she flipped it over and threw it to the ground. 

It was momentarily stunned by the disorientation, but it soon recovered and tried to get up. But it stopped when a flaming fist, courtesy of Cross-Z punched through its chest. Its movements slowed down until it finally died. 

The Rider pulled out his arm and nodded at Sunset. “That was a nice throw.”

“Thanks. And was that all of them?”

“I think so.” Twilight nodded as they stared at the metal remains of the robots. 

“At least there wasn’t a Smash this time.” 

“But isn’t that weird? Doesn’t really seem like Faust’s Modus Operandi.” Twilight pointed out. “They usually send out a Smash to terrorize people.”

“Hey, not looking a gift horse in the mouth...no offense you two.” Rainbow apologized to the Princess and Sunset who shrugged. “At least this time, we were able to help out and not sit on the sidelines while Faust attacked.”

“Ah know. But is it just me, or do y’all feel stronger somehow?” Applejack questioned.

“What do you mean?” Rarity inquired. 

“Ah mean, don’tcha all think somethin’s up with our powers? Like they’re gettin’ easier ta use? Ah mean, Twilight was able ta squeeze all those bots like an apple during Cider Season with ease. And Rarity was able ta make many more shields than before. And don’t get me started on Pinkie’s explosions.” 

As the girls looked back, Applejack had a point. They hadn’t noticed back then, but their magic has improved somewhat. Especially since the Guardians and Faust first showed up. The more they had to use it, the easier their magic seemed to come. 

“Maybe it’s something like a muscle?” the Princess offered. “The more you use your magic, the easier it becomes?”

“Maybe. Or maybe it’s something else. Could something be happening with our Geodes?”

“No clue. But have any of you seen Flash? He was supposed to be here minutes ago…” Sol asked after cancelling his transformation.

They looked at one another in confusion. Now that he mentioned it, they were fighting for quite a while. Where was Flash?

As if on cue, Sol’s phone rang as he got a call from Flash. “Hey, where ya been?...Huh?... Wait, what?!”





Meanwhile…

Micro had been waiting for several minutes. When he first entered the building, he realized that the directions never specified a particular level or room within the parking garage. As a result, he had been wandering around, calling out for anyone that might be Anony-Mister. When nothing but silence greeted him for several minutes, he decided to return to the ground level and wait a bit more. 

Eventually, the sound of footsteps reached his ear. He turned around and saw a figure hidden in the shadows before they stepped into the light. Micro felt his breath hitched, eyes wide in recognition. Even though he was dressed differently than what he normally wore, it was still someone he knew. 

“It...it really was you...Gizmo?”

“That’s right, Micro.” He nodded with a solemn smile. “Sorry for hiding for so long.”

“...Prove it.” The younger teen announced with narrowed eyes. After everything that happened, he learned to be suspicious of others. He wanted to know if this really was his brother, or some proxy look-alike. He chose to ask something that only his brother would know. “What did you get me for my tenth birthday?”

“Do you really need to ask? I got you a build your own robot set. One that you later customized, with my help, into a robot butler to help retrieve any tools or parts you would need to build your other creations….until it got run over by a speeding bus after you dropped it.” Gizmo answered earnestly. 

Micro froze. That...that was exactly right...He even got the details of what happened to it. 

Before the bespectacled teen realized it, his feet were already moving. He wrapped his arms around his brother in a tight hug. Months worth of pent up emotions flooded as tears leaked through his eyes. 

“It...it really is you!...I thought I’d never see you again! After that story about your apartment, you going missing, I didn’t know what to do!”

“I know. I’m sorry, little Micro-Mite.” Gizmo said as he ruffled his brother’s hair. “But it’s alright. I’m here now.”

After several more tear-filled minutes, Micro finally calmed down and stepped back. Once he collected his thoughts, he finally spoke. 

“Why…? Why did you leave in the first place? And what happened back at your apartment? There’s no way you actually killed someone, right?”

“I didn’t kill him. Believe it or not, Knuckle and I knew each other a while back. I asked him to come over to get an opinion on something. What neither of us knew was that someone had followed him and infiltrated my home.”

“Wh-who would do such a thing?” Micro asked, despite having an inkling of answer. 

“It was Faust. They broke in and attacked us. Knuckle fought them off, but one of them got lucky and poisoned him. They were the ones who really murdered Knuckle Blaze that night. For some reason though, they spared me and left.” Gizmo explained morbidly.  “It was completely bizarre. After panicking, the realization of what happened set in. I had to flee because I would’ve been suspected and prohibited from going after them. I’m sorry for worrying you, mom, and dad.”

“It’s fine. Sounds like you had your own fair share of troubles. But why haven’t you contacted us at all about anything? You just fell off the radar.”

“It was hard to keep in touch while on the run. Besides, if I tried to reach out to you guys, I could’ve put you all at risk from Faust finding out about you all.”

“Yeah. Good point.”

“At any rate, it’s good to see you again, Micro-Mite.” 

“Will you stop calling me that? It got old years ago.”

“As long as I’m the older brother, I think I have the right to call you that.” Gizmo chuckled before growing serious. "But I think that’s enough catching up. Remember that Faust is still out there, and we need to stop them.”

“R-Right. What do we need to do?”

“Well, first things first. That other email I sent you. Were you able to figure it out?"

"You mean about the Sclash Driver?" Gizmo smiled and nodded, "Yeah. I found it alright."

"Excellent. I don't suppose you managed to finish the design, did you? It'll make my work a whole lot easier if you did."

"Don't worry," Micro smiled. "I managed to finish the design and run a simulation just before you contacted me. It'll work perfectly."

"Well," Gizmo smirked, "That's convenient."

“Even better, it’s all on this drive.” Micro held out the item. 

“Excellent. With this we can defeat Faust once and for all! Nice going little bro!” 

While Micro felt happy from his brother’s praise, something didn’t sit quite right with him. While he was overjoyed to see his brother, his actual brother, again, the reasons seemed a tad odd. Why would he go through all this trouble in having him deliver a copy of all the research data? Did he forget it while on the run? 

“...Something the matter Micro-Mite?” Gizmo asked in concern. “You seem to be spacing out.”

“S-sorry. I had a lot on my mind lately.”

“No doubt. Especially with all of the excitement your friends went through the past few days.” Gizmo then grimaced. “A shame about what happened to Shining. He was one of my best friends.”

“I just...can’t believe he’s gone.” Micro murmured. “We just spoke with him right before he...you know…”

“I’m sorry, Micro.” His brother rested a hand on his shoulder. “He was a good man. It was unfortunate, but Faust was crafty. They would never allow loose ends like Shining wander around. Now you see why I needed you to gather everything? I know some people that can reproduce more Drivers, even the Sclash Drivers you completed. With them, we can turn this war around.”

“Got it. But...can I ask you something?”

“Sure. Fire away.”

"I learned why you built the Build System. But...was it really necessary? Why a weapon in the first place?"

"I had to. Night told you that Tirek was involved, right?” Micro nodded. “We needed an edge over them to keep them in line. If left alone, they would’ve harnessed Pandora’s Box’s power to create a weapon of mass destruction, something I could never allow.”

“But why the Build System? There could’ve been another way, right?”

“Unfortunately not. When it comes to a man like Tirek, we need a means of deterring them from any rash actions. That’s why I had to make the System what it is now. Not to mention that we needed a way to stop the Smashes. I never anticipated so many would result from Nebula Gas exposure. But at least with the system, we were able to have a means to protect the people.”

"B-but a lot of people still died!" He argued. “You said it yourself! So many people died because their Hazard level was too low!”

"I know. But they were necessary sacrifices for the greater good." Gizmo answered seriously, showing no inclination of guilt or regret over the past.

Micro flinched from his words as the horrifying realization set in. His brother...he would never say such things. Gizmo always believed that science that demanded sacrifices was not true science at all. It would never benefit humanity. It would only cause unparalleled suffering. This was a lesson he was taught long ago. 

What’s more, he said the exact same words Night Rogue did, while Shining was under Stalk’s control. This man….this...this was not Gizmo he knew. This was not his brother.

“Now...please. If we’re gonna stop Faust, I need that flash drive.” He held his hand out. “Can you trust me on this Micro-Mite?”

“...Don’t call me that!” Micro slapped the hand away as he backpedaled. “You...you have no right to call me that!”

“Why not? You’re my brother-”

“Am I really?! My brother...he would never accept sacrifice of any kind in the name of science! He would never use people and let them die just to initiate progress! I don’t know who you are, but I’ll never trust you with something like this! Who are you and what have you done with Gizmo?!”

The man dropped his hand as his glasses glared up. He remained silent before releasing a sigh. “I guess there’s no helping it.” He reached into his coat and leveled a familiar firearm at the teen. 

Micro felt his heart stop as he stared down the barrel of a Transteam Gun. 

“You just had to be suspicious, dontcha, Micro-Mite?” ‘Gizmo’ sneered as he pulled out a familiar bottle from his pocket. “Then again...it’s a good trait to have. Keeps you alive in a cruel world like this.” He shook the bottle, twisted the cap, and inserted it into the gun. 

“COBRA!”

Gizmo raised the Transteam Gun to his temple with a smirk. “Jouketsu” He pulled the trigger and his body was consumed by mist. The cloud crackled with red electricity, illuminating his body’s outline. The light flickered on and off as he was encased in the armor. 

“COBRA!”

“MISTMATCH!”

“CO-COBRA!...COBRA….FIRE!”

The teal Cobra insignias on his helmet and chest glowed as the pipes on the armor blew away the mist cloud, the remnants dispersing into red and teal sparks. 

“I am Blood Stalk.” Gizmo said before he adjusted his collar and cleared his throat. When he opened his mouth, his voice changed from slightly nasally to a clear, deep baritone. “Or would you prefer this voice?”

“It...it can’t be…” Micro backpedaled in horror. “You’re...you were Blood Stalk this whole time?!”

“Yes indeed.” With astounding speed, Stalk rushed in and kicked Micro into the wall.  He unceremoniously collapsed to the ground. “Thank you for your help. I’ll just pluck the flash drive from your corpse now.”

“Cough! But...but why…?” He gasped as he tried to catch his breath. “Why did you become Blood Stalk…?”

“Sorry, Micro. But that answer’s part of a long and complex tale that I don’t feel like telling ya now. To be honest, I was gonna reveal myself no matter how this went down. Can’t leave loose ends and all that. That’s why I told you to come alone.” 

Stalk pointed the Transteam gun at the cowering teen. “Let this be a final lesson, little Micro-Mite. You’ll never know who will end up betraying you.”

He slowly squeezed the trigger. Micro backed away until his back hit the wall. Seeing that there was no way out, he squeezed his eyes, praying to whatever deity was out there for help.

BANG!

The teen flinched from the gunshot, expecting blinding pain or the silence of death. However, he felt none of those things. Reluctantly, he opened one eye. He saw Stalk clutch his smoking gun arm as the line of fire was redirected. A few feet away from him was a smoking crater where the shot went off. 

Micro spun around, his eyes going wide as he spotted Flash stepping out from behind a pillar with the HawkGatlinger smoking in his hand.

"Flash!" Micro quickly jumped to his feet and rushed over to the Rider, "What are you doing here!?" Flash didn't answer, instead just glaring at the newly revealed villain

"Yes," said villain asked as he stood back up, "How'd you know we were here?"

"I had a feeling something was up with Micro," Flash told him. "Call it a gut instinct. I decided to follow him and he led me right to you."

"Seems you have some trust issues," Stalk told him condescendingly. "To think you suspect him of being a traitor.

"No, I trust Micro perfectly. And I never thought he was a traitor." He smirked as he pointed his blaster at Stalk, "I know what you did to the laptop." This seemed to catch both Micro and Stalk by surprise.

"What are you talking about?" Micro asked him.

"The laptop's been how Stalk's had the jump on us from the start. How he was able to counter anything we threw at him, even if it was the first time he saw it. It's because it wasn't the first time he'd seen them. He's been watching us through the laptop from the start. Either he hacked the webcam or planted another camera on it. Either way, he bugged us."

Micro turned to his brother, wondering if all that was true. Then, to his horror, Stalk began to clap. "Bravo~! What gave it away?"

"I knew someone had to be leaking info to you, one purpose or not. So I held a little...experiment. Remember when I used Turtle Watch the first time."

"Ah," Stalk realized, "You did that behind Micro's back."

"Didn't want to. Had to cover all bases. I had Sandalwood purify the bottles without him knowing, while I had Micro decide the best route to the area we knew the box was. When you had all the Guardians there to slow us down, along with not knowing the bottles, I realized Micro was the source of the leak. And since there was no way you could plant a permanent camera on him, I then realized there was only one way you could have bugged him."

"The laptop," Micro whispered. It was the only thing they'd brought in from the outside world. Gizmo bugged it and sent it to them, hoping they'd bring it to the lab. He even provided instructions and a vague location and hint to egg them on!

"Well done Sherlock. But, I have to know. If you've known I was spying on you since way back then, why keep Micro in the dark?"

"Micro's not the best actor. If I'd told him about the bug, no doubt he'd give it away that we knew. Then you might not have revealed yourself. I knew if I kept quiet, you'd come out of the shadows."

"You're good," Stalk chuckled.

"I have my moments," Flash said. "Let me guess, that Sclash Driver thing Micro was talking about is why you've finally shown yourself."

"Maybe it is, maybe it’s not. Either way, the data he copied will be quite useful."

Micro thought about what Gizmo had said. It wasn't convenient. Gizmo had been watching him and when he saw he'd finished the specs, he had him come here. He...he planned this. "You...you used me." He whispered with betrayal. “You’ve used me….to do your dirty work. Even back then...all this time…”

"Yeah," Flash agreed solemnly, "He did. But that's the one thing I can't figure out." He turned back to Stalk, "Why?"

"Excuse me?"

"Why did you do this all from the start? It's clear you wanted the bottles to be purified and you could have finished this Sclash thing yourself, so why not do it yourself? Why bring us in on the whole thing? You had your lab and everything on hand. You could have had Shining make the Smash and send them out, then take the essence to purify yourself. You didn't need us, so why?!" Micro realized he was right. Why did he drag them into this? He could’ve easily handled the process by himself, so why rely on them?

Stalk said nothing, just staring at the duo. "It's...complicated. There's a bigger game at play here. One a simple-minded being like you could never understand."

Flash frowned, "Well this simple minded being's managed to outsmart you three times now."

"Well it won't be four," Stalk raised his gun as Flash smirked.

"Yeah," The musician pulled his goggles up over his eyes, "About that." Before Stalk could fire, a rainbow blur shot into the area and the next thing Stalk knew he was being knocked into the air by a high speed impact.

"AUGH!" He cried as he slammed into the wall, falling to the ground with a groan. He looked up and saw what had hit him, that being Sol's burning punch accelerated by Rainbow carrying him. "How?"

Flash smirked as he put his driver on. "I may have made a call when I saw who Micro was meeting up with. Had Rainbow brought Sol over and told them to wait outside. I...might have sent another text telling them to get in here. And they're not the only ones." At that moment, a bunch of police officers began to march into the area. As soon as they saw Stalk, they raised their weapons.

“Freeze! Gizmo Poindexter! You are guilty for the crimes of kidnapping, human experimentation, murder, and terrorisim! Come quietly or we will have to use force!” The leader of the troop announced. 

The rest of the Rainbooms caught up inside Sandalwood’s truck. They stepped out and rejoined their friends. “Are you dudes okay?!” The eco teen called out in concern. Sol got out of Rainbow’s hold and ran over as well. 

“We’re fine. Flash saved my life, and we definitely need to talk later.” Micro glanced at the musician. 

“I know. But now it’s over, Stalk. Just give up!” Flash glared. The red armored man looked around before hanging his head. But to the confusion of many, he began to chuckle. 

“Hehehe...fufufu...fuahahaha!!!!” He grasped his head as he cackled madly. “You honestly think that by having me cornered, surrounded by trained cops armed with rudimentary weapons, girls with bizarre magic, and the two of you Riders and your lackeys, I just throw in the towel?!”

“Uh...yeah?” Pinkie Pie questioned. Her Pinkie Sense, in the form of a prickly back, was screaming at her that something terrible was about to happen. 

“Well, you are all bigger fools than I thought.” Faster than anyone could react, he whipped out the Steam Blade, turned the dial and swung. 

“DEVIL STEAM!”

Two clouds of Nebula Gas shot out and swallowed the two closest police officers. They screamed as their bodies mutated into Smash, forcing the others to back away from the gas clouds. 

By the time they dissipated, they were replaced by a Compact Smash and a Square Smash. 

“O-Open fire!” One of the officers yelled. Team Build and the Rainbooms dove for the ground as the police released a hail of bullets at the Smash. But to their shock, they failed to even faze them. 

Now it was their turn for retaliation. The Compact Smash raised its suction arm towards a lone, nearby car and practically inhaled it. The vehicle twisted and warped as it entered the Smash’s body, which then bulged and shrunk as it turned the scrap into ammunition. The Square Smash raised its blade arm and slammed it to the floor, splitting it into several concrete blocks that it levitated. 

“Everyone take cover!” The police scrambled away as the Smash unleashed their respective attacks. But it was all for naught. Some of the officers got hit by the flying cubes while two were crushed between the wall and scrap cannon ball. Rarity hastily erected diamond shields to block the projectiles from hitting the general area of her and her friends. While she managed to save most of the police, she was too slow to protect all of them. 

“Sol!” Flash yelled as he pulled out his Driver. “Let’s take these two down!”

“Thought you’d never ask!” The fighter agreed as Crozz flew down to his hand. The two shook their respective Fullbottles and inserted them into their Drivers. They turned the cranks as the runners appeared. 

“GORILLA!”

“WAKE UP!”

“DIAMOND!”

“CROSS-Z DRAGON!”

“BEST MATCH!”

“ARE YOU READY?!”

“Henshin!” Both Riders were donned in their armor. While Sol was clad as Cross-Z, Flash was covered in a familiar combo. 

“WAKE UP BURNING!”

“THE DAZZLING DESTROYER!”

“GET CROSS-Z DRAGON!”

“GORILLAMOND!”

“YEAH!!!”

Build pounded his fists together as he ran at the Compact Smash while Cross-Z charged at the Square Smash. 

While the two engaged in the fight, the Rainbooms worked on evacuating the remaining officers away from the battlefield while carting off the wounded survivors of the initial attack. Suffice to say, the girls were disturbed to see the crushed bodies of those that didn’t survive the block and ball attacks. 

The Compact Smash shot out another scrap ball at the two-toned Rider. But the Dazzling Destroyer was undeterred as he batted it away with ease. Once he got in close enough, he jumped for an overhead swing that sent the Smash into a stumble. It countered by swinging its cannon arm. Build caught the limb and pivoted on his heel. Using the strength of a gorilla, he threw the Smash over his shoulder and into the ground. 

The mutated officer bounced on the ground before it pulled itself up and fired another scrap cannon ball. Flash took the attack head on before charging through. 

Meanwhile, Sol weaved through the flying mass of cubes that the Square Smash launched at him. With nimble footwork and reflexes, he side-stepped around the cubical projectiles and rushed right in. The Smash tried to brain him with its saber arm, but Sol ducked below the swing, got in close, and delivered an uppercut to its box-shaped head. 

The Smash backpedaled as Sol spun for a side kick that pushed it back further. The Square Smash did not go down. In fact, it used its momentum to dig its blade arm into the ground before dragging it across, creating another wave of concrete cubes that rushed toward the dragonic Rider. He flailed as he became swept up by the tide and slammed through one of the walls. 

Back with Flash, he got through the onslaught of cannon balls and caught the Compact Smash in a series of hook punches that sent it reeling from side to side. With one final blow, he delivered a liver punch and sent it flying. Once it fell to the ground, Flash turned the crank of his Driver. 

“READY? GO!”

The Smash reacted quickly and shot off a massive scrap ball at Flash. His friends within the Rainbooms yelled at him to get out of the way. But he remained steadfast and caught the ball as it reached him with his diamond arm. He skidded back a few inches, but remained strong. With the power of the Driver and Fullbottles, he transmuted the mass of crushed metal and glass into a compacted sphere of diamond. 

The girls were simply dazzled by the transformation, either by the science behind the transmutation of the aesthetic. 

“VOLTECH FINISH!” 

With a heavy swing, Flash punched the diamond mass with his Gorilla arm, breaking it to countless pieces and shooting them at the Smash.

At first, he assumed that the fight was already over. That it would end just like the last time he fought the Compact Smash using this form. 

That….did not happen. What currently happened was the Compact Smash sucking up all of the diamonds Flash fired at it, much to their shock and dread. 

“Um...is that supposed to happen?” Pinkie had to ask. 

“Nuh-uh...and that’s bad!” Sandalwood exclaimed. “This never happened before!”

“He’s right! The last time Flash fought a Smash like this, it never did anything of the sort!” Micro added.

Once the Compact Smash finished sucking up all the diamonds, its body shook as it processed the minerals into what are likely hard and lethal projectiles. Then it pointed its cannon arm at Flash. 

“Uh...do-over?” He offered weakly. 

Its response was shooting off a diamond-encrusted cannon ball at his head at a high velocity. Flash managed to dodge in the nick of time. The ball broke clean through the concrete walls of the parking garage and struck the ground with a resounding THUD. Not only were the diamond projectiles faster, but much harder as well. 

And it did not stop in its assault as it started shooting off diamond balls as if it were a semi-automatic gun. Flash switched between ducking or moving out of the line of fire, or attempting to smash the projectiles. Keyword being tried as when he tried, he was thrown back by how much force was behind them. 

This Smash...it was much stronger than the first time he fought one like it. It performed feats the previous one didn’t. As a result, it was too risky to keep fighting it for long. With that in mind, he took out the Sparkling Can and popped the tab. 

POP!

FIZZ!

But before he could replace the Fullbottles in the Driver with it, the Compact Smash used its suction arm again and snatched it out of his hands!

“NO!” He scrambled after it, but it moved too quickly. He watched in horror as the can drew closer into the Smash’s arm, waiting to be compacted and devoured. But before it could even reach the mouth, it was intercepted by a rainbow blur. 

“I got it!” Rainbow yelled as she swerved away from the Smash. But the monster refused to let her leave and aimed its suction arm at her. The athlete eventually noticed that her surroundings haven’t changed despite running at full speed. She finally looked down and realized that while her legs moved, they weren’t gaining ground as the Smash was sucking her backward with its vacuum. She tried to run faster, but the Smash simply upped the power of the suction to compensate. 

While she tried to get away from the Compact Smash, Cross-Z returned to the fight against the Square Smash by charging through the hole in the wall. Another wave of blocks flew at him, but he was prepared this time. 

“BEAT CROZZER!”

Sword in hand, Sol batted away and sliced through any incoming blocks. Seeing as the waves weren’t working, the Smash twirled its arm and formed rectangular pillars that shot at him like javelins. Sol pulled the pommel of his sword. 

“HIT PARADE!”

Once the pillars drew close, he swung down his raised sword and sliced it in twain. 

“SMASH HIT!”

The halves of the pillars broke down into smaller cubes next to him as he continued his charge. The Square Smash slammed its arm down and raised the ground it stood on as a square platform while two more massive blocks were carved from the concrete floor. It flung both of the blocks in a move to crush the Rider between them. But Sol spun around and slashed through the pillars. 

Once he was free he leaped high into the air and swung his blade. A wave of blue fire shot out and impacted the Square Smash, knocking it off of its platform and grounding it once more. Sol dashed at the Smash and jumped into a forward flip to use his momentum to enhance his sword swing. The Square Smash hastily raised its blade arm to block the attack. 

Back with Flash and Rainbow, the latter continued to run from the Compact Smash’s suction, but was gradually losing ground. Flash quickly pulled out two new Fullbottles, shook them, and replaced his current set. 

“LION!”

“CLEANER!”

“BEST MATCH!”

“ARE YOU READY?”

“Build up!” He yelled out as he became donned in Lion Cleaner form. 

“THE MANED CYCLONE!”

“LIONCLEANER!”

“YEAH!” 

Flash raised his Cleaner arm and activated it. He used its suction to counteract the Compact Smash’s and allow Rainbow a chance to escape. The athlete was able to gain traction once Flash pulled her forward, allowing her to escape the Smash’s hold. 

Aggravated that its target escaped, the Compact Smash raised its cannon arm and fired three diamond scrap balls in succession. Flash ran forward as his vacuum arm sucked up the projectiles, rendering them harmless. Once he drew close enough, he slammed his golden fist into the Smash’s face. He advanced and struck the same spot repeatedly before delivering a jumping reverse spin kick, knocking the Smash down. 

The Compact Smash got back up and swung its suction arm to bat Flash away. But he looped his vacuum arm around it, keeping it in place. He then slammed his lion fist into the joint of the arm, caving the tubing in, crippling its suction capabilities. He then elbowed it in the chest and punched it away. 

As he did so, Sol had knocked the Square Smash down once more and kicked it away. The two foes collided with one another in a heap. 

“Time to end this!” Both Riders turned their Driver cranks. 

“READY? GO!”

Flash’s suction arm dragged the Compact Smash back to him as his Lion fist glowed. 

Sol crouched down as the energy Dragon formed behind him. 

While this went on, no one, not even the Rainbooms, noticed the figure silently sneak up behind Micro, as they were all in front of the teen, invested in the fight. He quickly wrapped his arm around his neck and covered his mouth before dragging him back. With his other arm Blood Stalk removed the flash drive off of Micro’s person. 

“VOLTECH FINISH!”

“DRAGONIC FINISH!”

The Riders unleashed their respective attacks. Flash flung his fist forward, shooting out a lion head-shaped blast of energy that chomped down on the Smash before it exploded. Sol flew forward with a roundhouse kick that slammed into the Square Smash’s side, flinging it away before it exploded on contact. 

Once the battle was over, the Smashes laid motionless on the ground. Build and Cross-Z approached the two with Empty Bottles, ready to extract the Essences. 

But once again, someone beat them to it as the Essence was removed from their bodies, reverting them back to humans. Everyone looked to where the essence went, and were shocked to see their friend held hostage by Stalk. Once the Bottles the Cobra had on hand were filled, he closed and pocketed them. “Good show you two. Impressive work.”

“Micro!” They yelled as they tried to rush at them, only to stop when Stalk pressed his Transteam gun to the teenager’s temple. 

“Ah, ah, ah~! I wouldn’t if I were you.” He taunted. Meanwhile, Micro trembled under his hold, the threat of certain death paralyzing him. 

“How...how could you do this?!” Twilight snapped. “He’s your own brother!”

“Yes. And it’s thanks to my little bro that everything’s going as planned. An excellent pawn.”

“Ya no good varmit!” Applejack growled. She couldn’t stand anyone that treated their family like that. 

“Now that I got what I came form, it seems I overstayed my welcome. Ciao~!” Without any warning, Stalk’s body dissolved into a cloud of mist that flew off into the night. Once he was free, Micro fell on his knees, his face dripping with cold sweat. 

“Micro!” His friends rushed over to him, making sure he was alright. “You okay, dude?”

Unable to trust his voice at the moment, Micro nodded his head. While his friends were relieved that he was okay, they were disappointed by how much Stalk got away with. 

Despite winning this battle, they still lost. 





Later…

“Are you sure you need to leave?” Fluttershy questioned. She and the otherRainbooms stood before the Canterlot High statue. After the incident at the Parking Garage, the victimized police officers were carried off to the hospital while Team Build stayed behind to fill out their report with the police chief. The girls were spared and used this chance to formally say goodbye to the Princess, knowing that the situation was worsening by the day. Princess Twilight stood right in front of the panel that was the portal to her home world. 

“I do.” The Princess nodded. “I’ve been here too long, and I need to get back to my duties. And it seems like you all have a handle of the situation at the moment.”

“It won’t be the same without you here.” Sunset said. “We could really use your help.”

“I’m afraid this whole matter with Nebula Gas and Pandora’s Box is outside my expertise. But I’m always willing to lend a hoof-er, hand. I’m just one letter away.”

“Hope to see you soon!”

“Take care of yerself, ya hear?” Applejack offered. 

“Say hi to the other me for me!” Pinkie piped up. 

“I will.” She turned towards the portal. But before she could step through, she stopped herself and turned back around. “And when you girls see Flash again, tell him that he shouldn’t doubt himself. I’ve seen what he’s capable of, and I think that he’s doing a great job.”

“We’ll be sure to pass along the message.” Rarity nodded. 

“I’m glad to hear it. Thank you all, everyone. I’ll be sure to visit again...when things have died down a bit. Bye.” With a final word of farewell, the Princess stepped through the portal and left the human world. 





Inside a castle made entirely of crystal, the library had only two occupants at this time of night. One was a small, purple dragon with green fins reading a comic book. The other was a unicorn with a lilac coat, a purple teal mane and tail, and blue eyes. On her flank was a white and purple start with two blue, glimmering streams. Her attention was preoccupied by a novel detailing various magic spells. 

The quiet air was disturbed as the mirror on the far side of the library sharted shimmering before another equine figure popped out. Princess Twilight Sparkle stood on her hind legs before falling back on all fours. Her friends, upon noticing her return, dropped what they were reading and rushed over to her. 

“Twilight!” The two rushed up and hugged her. The alicorn returned the hug in kind. 

“What held you up?” The dragon, Spike asked. “You’ve been gone for days!”

“Has something happened on the other side?” The unicorn, Starlight Glimmer questioned. 

The Princess sighed. “It’s...a long story. One that I’ll tell you both and the girls tomorrow. But first, Spike, I need you to write a letter.”

“To Princess Celestia?” Twilight shook her head. 

“No. Not yet. I want you to send a letter to Shining first. Tell him that I’m going to be visiting him.”

“Okay. I’m on it.” Spike rushed to get a quill and piece of paper. Starlight looked at her in confusion. 

“Why the sudden need to visit the Crystal Empire?”

“Because the moment I see my brother, I’m going to give him the tightest hug anypony’s given anypony.” Twilight Sparkle answered seriously. 





Later…

Back at the laboratory, the Rainbooms, Team Build, Night Light, Velvet, and Misty were all present. 

Micro threw his brother’s laptop onto the ground and proceeded to stop on it, venting every bit of frustration, betrayal, and anguish he’s experienced in the past few hours. After learning that Stalk had used the laptop to spy on them, they all came to a consensus to destroy it. 

That is...after they made backup files, stored them, and removed the laptop’s hard drive. Even though Stalk manipulated them, the computer still had valuable data and information they desperately needed if they were going to fight against him and Faust. 

“Gragh! Agh!” Micro yelled as he stopped on the laptop one final time before proceeding to smash the broken pieces with a hammer and wrench. Soon, all that remained of the computer were broken pieces of plastic, metal, and circuitry. The bespectacled teen panted over the wreckage and set the tools down. 

“...You good, dude?” Sandalwood asked tentatively. 

“...As good as I can get.” He huffed before he swept up his mess and discarded the broken remains. 

“I’m really sorry, Micro.” Flash apologized. “I should’ve told you about the camera sooner. I’m sorry I kept you in the dark like this.”

“It’s fine, Flash.” He waved it off. “You brought up a good point. If I knew about the camera, I would have acted differently and gave us away. Given how crafty Stalk was, he would have found another way to spy on us.” He made it a point not to say his brother’s name. After what happened...he could no longer see that monster as the brother he loved and admired. 

“So Stalk really is Gizmo Poindexter…” Sol said. “And you guys thought I was crazy back then.”

“Well, we didn’t have solid evidence to believe it. Not until now, that is.”

“Well, I guess it’s a good thing. Now I know who it is, I can beat the crap out of them with no regrets.”

“It’s good dat you two made up an all.” Applejack spoke before turning serious. “But it ain’t over yet. From what ya told me, Stalk tried to split you apart fer keepin’ secrets like dat. If we’re gonna beat him and Faust, y’all gonna have ta be honest with each other. No more secrets an no more lies.” 

“So we pretty much share everything with each other?”

“Exactly. Now, anyone got anymore secrets ta share?” She scanned over the four boys for any signs of secrecy. They stayed silent until Sol finally spoke up.

“...I’m scared of those robot animals from those pizza party places. They creep me out.” He admitted honestly. Everyone stared at him oddly.

“...Ah don’t mean those types of secrets. Ah mean ones that are about Faust an the Drivers.” She clarified. 

“Oh...Well, I got nothing.” 

“Same here.” Flash nodded. 

“Double for that.” Sandalwood agreed. 

“Then that means no more secrets among us.” Micro nodded. “I too, have something to confess. A few weeks ago, I was given an email that hinted at something that I discovered could help us in the fight against Faust.”

“Really? That’s great news!” Pinkie cheered. 

“The issue? It was Stalk that notified me of it.”

“That’s not great news!”

“And you trusted it?” Sunset asked skeptically. 

“Granted, I didn’t know it was actually him at the time. But I looked through the files, and learned his words held weight. There’s something I need to show you all.” He took the hard drive of the laptop and hooked it up to the super computer. With a few rapid keystrokes, he pulled up a set of files that he worked on for weeks, including its blueprints. 

It was a device that resembled the Build Driver. But it appeared to be blue with a pair of vice clamps where the Fullbottles were supposed to be placed. There was only a single slot as well. On the left side of the machine was a liquid gauge of some sort that was connected to the slot by a single pipe. On the right was a lever that was fashioned after a wrench. Both Night and Velvet recognized it. 

“That’s…”

“The Sclash Driver?”

“Sclash Driver?” Rainbow asked. “What’s that?”

“It was a project my brother was developing before he disappeared months ago.” Micro explained before showing a bitter expression. “Stalk told me about it in passing, which led me to uncover it in the hard drive. After decrypting all of the files, I learned that it was supposed to be the next step of the Rider System.”

“Rider System? I thought it was the Build System.” Twilight pointed out. 

“Yeah. I didn’t think the Rider System was an actual thing, I only nicknamed it after Flash made it a thing with his debut.” Pinkie added.

“That was before he came up with the Sclash Drivers. The current Drivers we use are the Build Drivers. Once he developed these, he renamed the project into the Rider System.”

“But why Rider?”

“I honestly don’t know. He never specified the naming convention. But we’re getting too off topic. The point is, the Sclash Drivers are an upgrade to the Build Drivers. They used a jellified form of Nebula Gas to transform. And doing so actually makes a stronger transformation.”

“Amazing. This could truly turn things to our favor.” Rarity said. 

“Unfortunately, there’s one issue about this...Stalk now has these plans due to my carelessness.”





In her office, Chrysalis was busy making another pot of tea.

As she placed the final sugarcube into the liquid, she looked over at the TV as it showed news footage of Gizmo being revealed to be Stalk. She then heard her door opening, looking up to see Gizmo step into the room. "So...how'd it go?"

"Not a hundred percent perfect, but I got what we needed. I've already given your scientists the drive. They're looking it over and adding the final calibrations now. We'll soon see how they turn out."

"Good," Chrysalis took a sip of her drink, "A shame you had to lose your cover."

"Oh, don't worry. I have my ways of getting where I want. If those fools think they can outsmart me, they've got another thing coming. It's just too bad my brother doesn't follow orders so well." This made Chrysalis look up at him, confused. "I told him to copy everything, but he only copied the data for the purifier, Schlash Driver and a few other loose bits and pieces. Everything else is likely still on my old laptop."

"That's annoying," she said. "But as long as we have what we need." She finished her drink and stood up, "I'm going to go see how everything's going. Are you coming?"

"Naw," Gizmo said, "long day. I think I'll get some rest."

"Fair enough," she stepped out of the room. As soon as she was gone, Gizmo smirked before reaching into his pocket and pulling out the flash drive Micro had made for him.

"Poor foolish Chrysalis. So naive." It's true, the drive he'd given the scientists didn't have everything on it. But that was only because he'd copied a few files from the original too. Now, to cash it.

He took out his phone and dialed a number, listening as it rang before picking up. "Hello, Sombra? It's me. Have a meeting set up between us and Tirek." He smiled down at the drive, "I have something you're gonna want to see."





Chrysalis marched down the hallways until she finally arrived at the lab in question, stepping inside and seeing her head engineer hard at work on a computer. "Status?" The scientist stood to attention as she arrived.

"Everything looks good madam. We've realized what we were missing and are implementing them now. But..."

Chrysalis raised an eyebrow, "but?"

"We had to rejigger the design a bit. The blueprints didn't have anything on a power source. But simply using electricity should do the trick." As he said that, lights flashed on behind him and revealed the room was much larger then first seen. It looked like a small warehouse and inside it, ten Fullbottle Purifiers stood in a line.

Chrysalis smiled as she watched others scientists step up, each one carrying a Fullbottle. They placed them inside the microwave before stepping into the machine, ready to turn them into bottles they could use. "Soon. Soon I'll have everything. The Masked Riders won't know what hit them."

To be Continued…