//------------------------------// // 11th Light: Happy Halloween! / Save the Students Ocellus! // Story: Shine on! Ultrawoman Aster! // by Michael_Ravencroft //------------------------------// Applejack wiped her brow, taking a look around the orchard. It had taken a while, but they managed to get most of the harvest done. Of course that was mostly due to Applejack’s super strength, she never questioned how or why she had it, even though the doctors said it was just a genetic mutation. Whatever the case may’ve been, it helped her protect her family, and it helped with harvesting apples.  Instead of plucking, all Applejack had to do was give it a good kick, and all the apples would fall down at once. Sometimes that was her only job, hit the trees and let the apples fall, then Big Mac and Apple Bloom would take up the rear and pick up all the ones she had knocked down. When she filled her quota, Applejack would join them in picking up the ones she knocked down.  It was hard work, but rewarding, much like her work at SMILE. Applejack sighed in content and then moved on to her next tree. She got into a fighting stance, bouncing on the balls of her feet as she sized up the apple tree.  “Okay, Luther, just you and me,” said Applejack.  The apple farmer threw a roundhouse kick to the side of the tree, despite the quickness of her attack, she had perfect control as she slowed down her kick just enough to give it a light bump. The moment her boot made contact, something happened. Instead of the tree rattling, a sharp crack formed on the impact site.  “W-What the–?!”  The bark snapped and exploded, fissuring the tree in half. The tree tipped to the left and came down with a rustling crash to the earth. Applejack gaped as she walked over to the downed tree, she fell to her knees as she looked upon the damage she had caused.  Applejack heard the sounds of footsteps rapidly approaching her, when she turned her head Applejack saw her two siblings. Apple Bloom was a twelve year old girl, with apple red hair and a pink bow tied into it. She had lightly tanned skin, much like her big brother and sister, but her eyes were an amber brown color. Big Macintosh had orange-red hair, with emerald green eyes same as his little sister, Applejack. Both siblings looked upon the middle child of the family with worry.  “What happened?!” Apple Bloom asked.  “Ah…Ah don’t know…?” Applejack turned her attention back to the downed tree. “Ah…Ah kicked it the same way I’ve always had, Ah used the same amount of strength I’ve always used, but…somehow…Ah killed Luther…” Mac walked forward and knelt next to Applejack as he inspected the damage. “Doctor did say ya might get stronger, could be ya just got stronger doing all the farm work.”  “But…” Applejack whimpered.  Apple Bloom knelt on Applejack’s opposite side. “Don’t worry, Sis, we know ya didn’t mean it. It was an accident.” Big Mac stood up and offered her his hand. “C’mon, we still got work to do.” Applejack smiled and took Big Mac’s hand, she gave it a light squeeze, but upon doing so, several cracking and snapping sounds rang out around them, followed by Big Mac screaming in pain. Applejack released his hand and watched in horror as he fell to the ground, clutching at his left arm.  Apple Bloom and Applejack gaped in horror at the sight of Big Mac’s arm, it had become limp, bruises formed all up and down it, along with slight poking as if the bones were broken.  “Sis, what did ya do?!” Apple Bloom asked.  “Ah…Ah didn’t mean it! Ah swear I wasn’t squeezin’ his hand tight at all!” Apple Bloom rushed to her big brother’s side, worry plastered on her face as she tried to figure out how to help him. Applejack got up and started to reach out towards Big Mac.  “Don’t touch him!” Apple Bloom exclaimed as she swatted Applejack’s hand away.  However, the moment she did, Apple Bloom’s entire right forearm broke, and now both of Applejack’s siblings were on the ground in pain from broken limbs. Applejack stepped back, but with each step she took, the ground rumbled violently, even when she tried to take smaller steps.  When she took another step back, the ground split open beneath her siblings. The middle child of the Apple Family watched in horror as her two siblings were swallowed up by the fissure she had made and were lost to the darkness beneath. And in the darkness, was a purple mist that floated about and growled.  \\\***/// Fluttershy was panting, fear gripped her as she found herself in a cage. She was not in her human form, but had reverted to her true alien form, which was just as well because if she did turn back, she’d be naked. She tried to remember what she did last, but could not remember.  The cage she was in was similar to that of the ones that they used at the Preserve, one used for animals. The bars were most likely made of a special alloy, so there was no way for her to bend the bars with her strength. There was light shining down on her, illuminating only a four foot radius around the cage itself, everything else was shrouded in darkness.  Just then, two people emerged from the darkness. One was Commander Celestia holding a manila folder, and the other was a man in a white coat and black helmet. In his hands he held a rod with an electrical barb that sparked. Fluttershy recognized the device, it was a cattle prod.  Celestia pulled out a chair and sat down before the cage, and when she did, Fluttershy immediately rushed to the side closest to Celestia and asked, “Commander Celestia, what’s going on, why am I in this cage?!”  Celestia nodded to the man. The man turned the staff around and jabbed it into the cage, striking Fluttershy in her left thigh. The Vivirendan yelped as her entire left leg stung with pain.  “And here I was buying your little kind and demure act, all that time I wasted trying to help you, and you go and repay me and your friends like this,” said Celestia in a cold tone.  Fluttershy bit through the pain as she looked at Celestia. “W-What are you t-talking about?” The guard jabbed the prod at Fluttershy again, hitting her in the stomach and causing the muscles to cramp up. Fluttershy rolled onto the floor of the cage, clutching at her midsection and whimpering as she bit back the tears. “Stop with the innocent act, everyone warned me not to trust Vivirendans, but I felt sorry for you. Well, I won’t anymore.”  The guard hit Fluttershy again, and again, and again. Each time Fluttershy convulsed and yelped, each cry was more painful than the last.  “A sleeper cell, just as they suspected, I regret taking pity on you and your family, and because of my foolishness, Sunset, and your so-called ‘friends’ are dead,” Celestia accused.  Celestia gestured for the guard to stop, she then threw the folder into the cage, hitting Fluttershy in the head and letting the contents spill onto the floor. Fluttershy, weakly, saw that there were photos, images of her friends all killed, killed with claws and fangs.  “No…No…I would never…!”  “The evidence is as plain as the blood on your hands and mouth.”  Fluttershy looked back at her claws, her eyes widened with horror as she saw them stained with blood. “No…No, there wasn’t any blood on my claws! This…This isn’t happening!”  “And yet it did, your family will be deported back to your home world, and they’ll do with you as they please. But for right now, I’m going to inflict as much pain as I can before you’re on that ship.”  Celestia snapped her fingers and three more guards stepped out of the darkness, all armed with cattle prods. Without a word spoken, all four of the guards began shocking Fluttershy, she felt the pain, but it wasn’t anything compared to the pain in her heart, she had killed her friends, their blood was on her hands.  Celestia got up and walked back into the darkness, but when she did, her eyes shifted to yellow slits before disappearing.  \\\***/// Twilight walked through the halls of SMILE Academy, though for some reason, the warm and welcoming feeling had somehow evaporated, everyone walked around with a cross look on their faces, and even more so when Twilight was near, she seemed to receive the bulk of their ire.  “Freakin’ know-it-all.”  “Little Miss Perfect.” “Teacher’s pet.” Twilight hugged her books to her chest as she continued to walk down the hall, still hearing the other students berate her as she tried to find safety.  Her prayers were answered when Twilight spotted the distinct head of fiery hair. Twilight stopped behind Sunset and said, “Sunset, I’m really glad I’ve found you. Everybody’s acting strange, do you know what’s going on?” Sunset didn’t turn to her.  “Sunset?”  Again, Sunset didn’t acknowledge her. “Sunset, I’m talking to you. Could you please–” Sunset turned on her heel and backhanded Twilight across the cheek. The young genius was sent sprawling onto the floor. Twilight sat up and felt her cheek, which was hot and stung with pain, but she didn’t register it as much, she was too in shock by the fact that Sunset hit her. She looked up at the girl whom she called friend, and when she did, Twilight saw a look of indifference towards her.  “S-Sunset…w-why did you hit me…?”  “Because I’m tired of having to look after you, if you want me to keep you around, get up and hit me back!” Sunset stated.  “N-No, I-I don’t want to do that! Y-You’re my friend!” Twilight exclaimed. “Oh, so that’s what you thought we were? No, let me correct you.” Sunset knelt beside Twilight. She grabbed Twilight by her shirt and drew her close. “You’re just something I tolerate, you’re useless in a fight, and you haven’t even given me an Ultra Coin. Rarity has, Rainbow, Pinkie, Applejack, hell, even Fluttershy gave me one! But you? Nothing. You’re useless to me as an ally and as anything else.” “No…No, Sunset please, I-I’ll do anything, I’ll try harder, please don’t leave me alone!” Twilight begged.  Sunset threw Twilight to the ground as she stood up. Her eyes briefly flashed yellow as she turned her back on Twilight and began to walk away.  “No… Sunset please don’t leave me alone! Sunset!” ~*~*~*~ “Sunset! Sunset! Sunset!” The door to Twilight’s bedroom burst open as Sunset Shimmer entered the room, her eyes fell on Twilight as she thrashed back and forth, calling out her name. Sunset hurried to Twilight’s side and grabbed Twilight’s shoulders.  “Twilight wake up! It’s me, Sunset, I’m here! Wake up!” Sunset nearly shouted.  After a few seconds, Twilight’s eyes finally shot open as she shot up with a start. Twilight finally took notice of Sunset and then scooted back and held up her arms in defense.  “D-Don’t hit me, Sunset! I-I promise I’ll be more useful!” Twilight begged.  Sunset was caught off guard by those words, so much so that it might as well have been a punch to the face. “Twilight, what…what the hell are you talking about?” “I…I…” Twilight started to regain her senses, her breathing became less erratic as she looked around and saw that she was in her bedroom. The door was wide open and Sunset was sitting at the edge with concern heavy in her eyes. “Sunset…?” “Yeah, it’s me Sparky, what’s wrong?”  Twilight didn’t say any words, she simply threw herself at Sunset and hugged her tight. Sunset was taken by surprise at the show of affection, but when she felt how Twilight was shaking, she ignored the awkwardness and hugged her back.  “I’m right here, Twilight, don’t be afraid,” Sunset assured.  It took a couple of minutes, but eventually, Sunset was able to calm Twilight down. She handed the prodigy some tissues as Twilight wiped her eyes and blew her nose. “Feeling better?” “A little…thank you.”  “Okay, soooo…care to tell me what all that was about?” Sunset asked.  “I…I had a really bad dream, well, more like a nightmare. I dreamt that everyone in SMILE hated me, and in my dream, you…y-you hit me.” Sunset’s eyes flew wide open. “W-What?! Sparky, I would never do that to you!”  “I know, I know…but it happened in the nightmare. You also said I was useless because the rest of our friends were able to summon an Ultra Coin for you, but I haven’t…” Sunset gently placed her hand on Twilight’s shoulder and gave her a serious look. “Twilight, I don’t care if you ever summon an Ultra Coin, you’ve done so much already! Plus, you’re my first real friend, so I’m not letting you off the hook that easily.” Twilight smiled and nodded her understanding. “Sorry.” “Don’t be, you can’t control when you have a nightmare.” Sunset yawned. “And with that, we should get back to bed.” When Sunset stood up to leave, she felt a tug at her pajama shorts. She looked down and saw that Twilight was pinching the hem of her shorts leg. “Sparky, if you wanted to get frisky tonight, all you had to do was ask,” Sunset teased.  Twilight seemed to realize what she had just pulled on, and noticed that Sunset’s shorts had fallen just a tad to let her see a bit of her hip. Blushing red, Twilight released her hold. “N-NO! T-That’s not what I want! I…c-can you stay with me tonight? Please?” Sunset smiled and nodded her head. Twilight was still blushing, but smiled appreciatively, she laid back down on the right side of the bed, while Sunset rested on the left, their backs pressed against each other.  “Sunset…thank you, and I’m sorry.” “Don’t worry about it Sparky, let’s just go to bed.” Sunset’s lips curled into a coy smile. “And no touching, Sparky, unless you’re planning on taking responsibility.” Twilight’s blush intensified. “Goodnight, Sunset.” Sunset chuckled. “Goodnight, Sparky.” \\\***/// [Wednesday, 7:00 A. M.] “Guess you weren’t the only one who had a rough night, Twi,” Sunset commented.  Indeed, when all seven girls met up for breakfast in the lunchroom, they saw that Fluttershy and Applejack weren’t doing so hot either. They had dark bags under their eyes, Fluttershy was acting jittery, like a scared puppy. While Applejack was taking extra care in how she handled everything, to how she was holding her fork, and how she was walking when they got there.  “What’s up with AJ?” Sunset asked.  “She had a bad night,” said Rainbow. “Had a nightmare that she broke her brother and sister’s arms with her strength and then fractured the earth. Babe, I told you, it was only a nightmare! You’re not that strong and you’re always careful.” Applejack put her fork down as she sighed. “Ah…Ah know, but the doctors who found out about my strength told me it’s likely I’ll get stronger as I get older, and even more so when Ah train. Ah…Ah just don’t want to hurt anyone…” Rainbow Dash rubbed small circles on Applejack’s back, trying to sooth her. “You won’t hurt us, AJ.” “I would never hurt any of you, y-you know that, right?” Fluttershy suddenly asked.  Twilight blinked. “Yes, we do, Fluttershy.” “Forgive her, she’s…rattled. She had a nightmare about being caged and accused of…ahem…killing us all. Poor thing was crying most of the night,” said Rarity.  “We kinda spent the night trying to cheer her up,” said Pinkie.  “That’s… strange…I had a nightmare last night, too.” Now the others were getting weirded out. “It could just be a coincidence that we all had nightmares, we at least didn’t have the same nightmare.” “But…” Ocellus spoke up. “They do share a commonality, it was a nightmare of what you’re most afraid of. Unless Twilight's dream was different?” Twilight cupped her hands as she recalled her nightmare, her hands started to shake until Sunset patted her shoulder.  “You don’t have to tell them, Sparky,” said Sunset.  “No, it’s okay,” said Twilight. “My nightmare…was about everyone in the school shunning me, and also that Sunset…that Sunset saw me as useless…” Applejack shook her head. “Twi, that’s plum crazy talk, ya ain’t ‘useless’! Ya fixed the Phantom Zone Emitter.” “You made the Aster-X blasters and made mods to mine and AJ’s vehicles,” said Rainbow.  “And,” Rarity added, “saved hundreds of people from a rampaging, underground Space Beast.” Twilight smiled, “Thank you, everyone.” Sunset bumped Twilight with her shoulder as if to say “I told you so.”  Rainbow tapped the table and got everyone’s attention. “Alright, alright, enough of this depressing stuff, although it is the perfect setup considering that Halloween is tomorrow night! You guys ready?!” Rarity crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. “Really, Rainbow, we just got through talking about nightmares, I don’t think the topic of Halloween should be broached right now.” “Well, better now than tomorrow,” said Rainbow. “Anyway, have you guys picked out your costumes?” Pinkie Pie raised her hand. “Oh, oh, I did! I’m going as a werewolf! No offense, Fluttershy.”  Fluttershy shook her head. “It’s fine, and besides, I’m staying in anyway.”  Rainbow groaned. “Shy, you’re a teenager now! And personally speaking if you went full beast mode, you’d be scarier than anything out there. You don’t even have to dress up as something scary, you can be a…a fairy or something?” “I’ll…I’ll think about it.” Rainbow looked to the rest of her friends, waiting for an answer.  “Eh, I didn’t see the appeal a while back, but I’ll give it a shot. I’ve always wanted to dress up like a vampire,” said Sunset.  Rainbow cocked an eyebrow and smirked. “Regular or sexy?”  “Which kind do you think?” Sunset replied coyly.  Applejack sighed. “Shoot, guess I’ll get into the game. I’m a goin’ was one of those forest spirit things. What ‘dya call ‘em again?”  “Dryads,” said Fluttershy.  “Yeah that.”  The school was going to hold a Halloween party for the students to attend, and since the announcement the girls were finalizing their plans. For Ocellus, this would be her first Halloween, for Twilight, it would be her first Halloween with actual friends, and for Sunset, well, she did get into some mischief on Halloween, but this will be the first she’d spent not making trouble. No promises.  Once they were done, the girls dispersed to their individual classes. Ocellus, Twilight, and Sunset had the same class so the three of them walked together. Along the way they noticed that maybe the nightmares the three had weren’t isolated. As they walked, they noticed several of their fellow classmates didn’t look so good, some were jittery, scared, or just irritable from a lack of sleep.  “Okay, maybe there is something going on?”  \\\***/// [12:00 P. M., that same day] A tear opened up in the skies above SMILE Academy. The school went into high alert as the Phantom Zone was deployed and the students moved to the shelters. All except for one student as she made it to one of the blind spots of the campus security feed and summoned her StaRaizer and entered the starry nexus.  “Grant me the strength of a hero!” || ULTRAMAN! || “Grant me the power of a galaxy!” || ULTRAMAN GINGA! || “Release the light within me!” || SHINE ON! ULTRAWOMAN ASTER! || Sunset’s body was wrapped in cosmic energy as her human form was shed away and revealed her alter form, that of Ultrawoman Aster. The energy within her expanded and allowed her to grow higher and higher until she had attained her giant height.  Aster jumped and flew into the sky, stopping a few feet away from the tear in space. She felt something ominous on the other side of that tear. It was easily twice the length of Aster’s body, and twice the width, certainly big enough for something to come through. It was dark purple around the edges, and inside the tear was something like mist.  What the hell is this? Just then, yellow slit eyes appeared inside the tear, and shortly after, violet lightning shot out of the tear towards Aster. The Ultra warrior quickly took evasive maneuvers, dodging the lightning as it came at her. When the volley ended, Aster fired off multiple Beam Bullets at the tear, each of the Beam Bullets struck the surface of the tear and exploded, but none of them seemed to reach the entity on the other side.  The entity fired more lightning at her, but this time Aster created a shield of light to take the brunt of the attack.  “Alright, let’s see if you like this!” Aster reached for the crest on her head with her left hand, once she touched it, the crest glowed and produced her Stellugger. Inside the starry nexus, Sunset opened her Coin Keeper and took out the Agul and Gaia Ultra Coins, then placed them into the slots on the Stellugger.  || ULTRAMAN GAIA! || || ULTRAMAN AGUL! || Red and blue light swirled around the Stellugger until the converged and turned into a whip-like beam of yellow light. Aster broke away from the entity’s attack and began heading towards it, the entity kept lobbing lightning bolts at her, but Aster used her Stellugger to whip away the lightning bolts one after the other.  Once she was in range, Aster raised her Stelluger into the air and thrust it forward. “PHOTON RUPTURE!” The beam of light raced towards the tear in space, and, surprisingly, pierced through it. The entity on the other side was shocked and moved to dodge the attack, but the beam managed to nick the entity, making it growl threateningly at Aster.  The Ultrawoman readied to attack again, but stopped when she saw that tear begin to mend itself until it was a small sliver in the sky, the entity’s glowing yellow eyes glared at Aster for a few moments before the sliver closed up.  Aster stayed where she was for a little while longer, waiting to see if the entity would appear again. But so far, there was no sign of any distortions. Figuring that was that, Aster released a flash of light and then zipped back down to the Academy.  Once the Phantom Zone Emitter was off, the school was taken off of high alert, but was still on rapid deployment status, for now the students were allowed to go back to their classes. Sunset was messaged by Celestia to come and meet in her office.  When Sunset arrived at Celestia’s office, she was surprised to see her guardian in the same shape as the other students, Luna seemed alright though.  “Rough night?” Sunset asked.  “Just a bad dream, kept me up a bit. But enough about me, are you alright?” Celestia asked. “Yeah, I don’t know what that thing was, but it’s definitely coming back. I didn’t give it a finishing blow, but I did injure it, hopefully,” said Sunset. Celestia placed her right hand against her forehead as she sighed in exhaustion. “This is the first time a Space Beast has appeared over the Academy, if our sensors hadn’t picked up on the distortion, it could’ve killed so many of the students and staff…” Luna gave her big sister a sympathetic look. “Tia, don’t be so hard on yourself. We usually see these creatures coming from space and have a lot of time to deploy. And not to mention, the Everfree Forest is supposed to keep us safe from direct attacks from Space Beasts. This one tore a whole in space and just appeared.” “Still, that was too close. For now, we’re keeping our forces on standby just in case it makes an appearance again.” Sunset shrugged. “That’s for the best. I won’t be able to change back for at least three hours, but if something happens I can change back.” “Very well…rest up while you can.” Celestia watched as Sunset nodded and turned to leave, but then she called out, “Sunset!” The fiery redhead stopped and turned around. “Yes?” “Y-You know I don’t think of you as a weapon or anything, right? I-I do care about you, I…I just wanted to let you know that,” said Celestia with a slight pink tint to her cheeks.  Sunset’s face was tinted pink too as she felt a bit embarrassed by the affection that Celestia showed. “Y-Yeah, I know…thank you. And, you get some rest too. See ya.”  With that exchange, Sunset left the room. Luna looked to her big sister and asked, “Are you alright, sister?”  Celestia leaned back in her chair as she sighed again. “I had a nightmare about SMILE using Sunset like a weapon, chaining her and deploying her as they saw fit, no matter how exhausted she was, no matter how many times she protested, they just kept throwing her out into the fray, and I was powerless to stop it…” Luna approached her big sister and took one of Celestia’s hands into her own. “Tia, you and I both know that that will never. While I won’t lie that I have seen Sunset as an asset, I wouldn’t go so far as to treat her in such an inhumane way.” “But the brass know about her, how long will it be until they decide they’d rather control her than trust in her?”  Luna leaned down and gave Celestia a hug, something that the older sister reciprocated. Neither of them saw that there was a small shadow with yellow eyes that disappeared.  \\\***/// [7:00 P. M., Thursday] Ocellus watched as her friends gathered in Pinkie, Rarity, and Fluttershy’s dorm room. It was fun seeing others change their appearance into something other than themselves, she was a Changeling, changing her body and form was a natural part of her life, so she didn’t see much need in participating.  As advertised, Sunset did indeed dress up like a vampire. Fake fangs poked down from her upper lip, and she wore a black wig to hide her fiery hair, a black leather jacket, maroon pants that were torn, a low-cut black shirt with fake blood stains on it, and two red dots painted onto the side of her neck.  Applejack was made to look like a woodland nymph, complete with fake bark, leaves, and a mixture of green and brown body paint.  Pinkie Pie was donned in her werewolf outfit, although it was more like a “wolf-girl” outfit. She had fake wolf ears, fake fangs and claws, a pink fluffy tail, and painted on whiskers.  Somehow they managed to get Fluttershy in on it, dressing her up in a fairy outfit, a beautiful green dress and a pair of sparkling fairy wings on her back. Twilight was dressed, as cliché as it might be, as a mad scientist, complete with a lab coat, oversized goggles, and black leather gloves. Her hair was tied up into a bun, but messed up a little to give her a frenzied look as if she hadn’t slept in days, and considering how she felt last night, it wouldn’t be too hard to act.  Rarity dressed up as a fairytale princess, with a sparkling tiara and sparkling pink and purple dress that flowed elegantly over her body.  And Rainbow Dash dressed like an elven warrior, complete with some fake pointy ears, cape, and a bow and arrow set.  Ocellus looked at Rainbow Dash curiously and asked, “What made you choose that costume, Rainbow?”  Rainbow smirked as she sidled next to Applejack. “Let’s just say, when we’re all about to turn in, this elf is going to ‘commune’ with nature later tonight.” Applejack blushed and then swatted her girlfriend away. “DASH, c’mon, don’t go airin’ our business like that!” “Oh my…” Fluttershy whispered as she blushed.  “Oooooh, kinky,” Pinkie Pie commented. Sunset crossed her arms and smirked. “Seconded.” Rarity rolled her eyes, Twilight blushed, and Ocellus just giggled.  Twilight sat next to Ocellus on the couch and asked. “Are you sure you don’t want to come with us? I know Halloween isn’t something you’ve experienced before, unless they have something like that on Hive Prime?” Ocellus shook her head. “Nah, we don’t. But I don’t think it’s a good idea for me to go. With my shapeshifting powers, I could turn into anyone or anything, and I don’t want to cause trouble for anyone at the party.” Rainbow Dash groaned. “Ah, c’mon, Ocellus, Halloween’s all about causing a little trouble! We could prank soooo many people if you were there!” Rarity came up and pinched Rainbow’s cheek. “And that’s why she wants to stay here.” She let go of Rainbow and allowed her chromatic friend to rub her sore cheek. “We’ll respect your decision Ocellus, but the party will be going on for a few hours, feel free to stop by if you change your mind.” The young Changeling smiled. “I’ll think about it, thank you all. Go have fun.”  Ocellus watched as her friends left the room and headed to the party at the school’s gym. She kind of wanted to go, but she was scared. Ocellus didn’t tell anyone, being a Changeling, she was able to hide how she really looked that morning, but the truth was, she had a nightmare too.  Her worst fear was shown to her, the fear of transforming into a Changeling Queen, and becoming a worse creature than Chrysalis. She saw herself enslaving her people, overthrowing King Thorax, and forcing the rest of her people to become Dark Changelings. Then came the invasion of Earth, enslaving the six of her friends, and battling Aster (Sunset) to the death, and killing her.  Ocellus hugged herself, fear gripping her, she didn’t want to become a Changeling Queen, although she knew that it could happen at any time, it could be in a few years, a few months, heck, it could be in the middle of the night. Sometimes she’d wake up, halfway through the night and go to the bathroom to check and see if she made the change. Thankfully, her abilities would never make her look like that, the transformation into a Changeling Queen was distinct, so there was no faking it even with her abilities.  “I’m not ready to be a leader…I just…I just want to continue being here, with everyone…” Ocellus spoke to herself.  At first, she was sad about being on a strange planet with no one else of her kind around to help her. But then she met Pinkie, Sunset, and Fluttershy, then Applejack and Rainbow, and Rarity and Twilight. They had become her friends, and the days she spent here on Earth, in these classes were some of the best times she had.  The incident on Planet Zodio with the Belzeb did open her eyes to how sadistic and cruel Chrysalis was in her pursuit to rule Hive Prime. How long would it be before she set her sights on Earth?  Just then a strange sound echoed through the sky, Ocellus rushed to the balcony of the dorm, hearing the sound get louder, like someone was tearing apart fabric. When Ocellus looked up, she noticed that it was indeed fabric tearing, the fabric of space.  The tear from yesterday reopened over SMILE Academy, and from that tear, a dark purple mist poured out and hit the school building. The school wasn’t destroyed, but the mist continued to pour out, spreading over everything. The Phantom Zone Emitter had quickly kicked on, someone must’ve given the order to set it off, either that or that someone was acting out of fear.  Ocellus looked down as the mist was approaching the dorms, the few students who were outside tried to run away from it, but when they were caught in the mist, they suddenly fell to the ground.  Ocellus’ eyes went wide with fear as she dropped her human disguise and changed into her true Changeling form. Her back shell opened and released her translucent salmon colored wings, those same wings flapped rapidly as she was lifted into the air.  Ocellus flew up and over the building heading straight for the Everfree Forest. The mist was starting to catch up with her, so Ocellus transformed into a Peregrine Falcon, the bird of prey zoomed across the field, putting considerable distance between Ocellus and the mist.  But as if it had a mind of its own, the mist doubled its speed, determined to catch everyone in its grasp, including Ocellus. The young Changeling was sweating as she looked back and saw the sparkling mist getting close to her tail feathers.  At the last second, Ocellus passed into the forest, and, strangely enough, the mist stopped. The trees along the perimeter of the school all began to glow, forming a wall as if to contain the mist and stop it from spreading towards the city.  Ocellus flew close to the ground, and then shifted back to her true form, landing on her feet before dropping to her knees and panting hard from her exhaustive flying. “H-How i-is this possible?! The forest is supposed to keep Space Beasts from getting this close to the Academy!” “Normally that would be so, on any other night.” They young Changeling gasped, a fog rolled in, and with it, a mysterious woman in a cloak and hood. The jingling of her bracelets made Ocellus flinch with each step she took, and when the mysterious woman stopped, her yellow glowing eyes made her freeze up.  “W-Who are you?!” Ocellus asked.  The mysterious woman pulled her hood down, her eyes no longer glowing. “That is not important child, what is important is how you will act now.” “W-What do you mean? Do you know what’s happening?!” Ocellus asked.  “That is the Tantabus. A creature of the dream realm, normally kept in check by the light,” the mysterious woman used her staff to draw pictures in the fog, and the fog formed a silhouette of the Tantabus. “However, it has been feeding ravenously on the negative energy of nightmares. The more fear its victims feel, the stronger it becomes until…” Ocellus gulped. “Until what?” “Until it enters our world. It can then create waking nightmares, and twist the world into a dreaded place of horror.” Ocellus managed to stand up, she took another look through the trees and saw that the tear was still open, but the mist had retreated back to the tear. “How did it get here? The forest makes it so that no Space Beast can get close to the Academy, that’s the whole reason why SMILE built its base and school in this giant clearing!” The mysterious woman walked until she was standing beside Ocellus. “This is the night of all Hallows Eve. The night when the boundaries between the physical and ethereal planes of existence are blurred together, and beings of a spiritual or magical nature are able to crossover. The Everfree is doing all it can to prevent it from breaking free, but with the weakened boundaries, it will not be easy. With the sleeping victims, it can feed on their fear until it is strong enough to come out.” Ocellus tried to think of something, but remembered the color of the sky. “The Phantom Zone is up! That should keep it from getting anywhere, right?!”  The mysterious woman shook her head. “The moment it fully manifests into this world, not even the Phantom Zone can stop it. Look…”  Ocellus watched as the same mist poured from the tear, but this time it formed a column. That column then took form, growing arms, legs, a body, and a head with four horns. Yellow eyes shined from the mist, but it seemed the Tantabus was incomplete. It wasn’t completely physical, its body was made of the mist.  “Does that mean…?” “There is still time, if the Warrior of Light can awaken within the realm of dreams, she can fight the creature from the inside out. However, time is what she needs, and you need to give it to her.”  Ocellus didn’t need the mysterious woman to paint her a picture, she knew exactly what she meant. But, given the circumstances, there wasn’t much of a choice. If she didn’t fight, the creature would attack the Academy, and none of them were in the shelter, they were easy prey. Ocellus balled her hands into fists as she gathered the courage within her to do what needed to be done.  The mysterious woman smiled down on Ocellus and said, “You are braver and stronger than you realize young one, do not forget that…” The fog rolled out, and with it, the mysterious woman, as if she was a phantom. Ocellus looked around, but couldn’t find a trace of her. What made this weirder was the fact that her eyes weren’t able to get a read on her DNA. Changeling eyes could read the biological structure of almost any creature, no matter how complex, but when she looked at that woman, it was as if she was being jammed.  Whoever she was, she’s right about me needing to buy Sunset time. If she does have the power to beat this thing from the inside out, then I’ll do whatever I can! To that end… Ocellus flared her wings and flew as high into the air as she could. When she was high enough, she wrapped her body in her plasma flames. The flames grew bigger and bigger until they matched the thirty meter height of the monster. When the flames died out, Ocellus had transformed herself into Ultrawoman Aster.  I may not be Aster, but at least this thing doesn’t know that! And…well…I feel better fighting like this! Sunset, I’ll do my best! “Aster” entered into an attack stance and charged straight for the Tantabus, she threw a punch which struck the Tantabus in the face. The smoky creature fumbled backwards before planting its foot into the ground and regained its balance. But “Aster” wasn’t about to let it attack, she rushed Tantabus and body slammed into it. The Tantabus could only brace as it took the full impact of her attack.  Ocellus needed to get the monster as far from the Academy as possible, any attacks that she or it used could kill the students and faculty. The young Changeling yelled loudly as she continued to push Tantabus to the edge of the forest, but that seemed to be as far as the monster was willing to go as it dug its heels into the earth and stopped their momentum. Ocellus backed away and threw a punch at the monster, but it blocked it and threw one of its own, hitting her right in the stomach. The impact was strong and nearly made Ocellus lose consciousness, but she held on, she had to hold on.  \\\***/// Sunset walked through a fog, she felt strange, as if she wasn’t where she was meant to be. In the distance she saw someone, two people actually. As she continued to walk, Sunset was able to make out more detail, one had long blonde hair, and the other rainbow-colored hair.  “Rainbow, AJ!” Sunset called out as she ran towards them.  The two individuals glanced over their shoulders and were about to say something, but the moment that Sunset got near them, they disappeared into the fog, no, more like they turned into the fog. Sunset took a step back in confusion, but then spotted another of her friends, Pinkie Pie. Sunset ran for her, running as fast as she could towards the familiar face.  “Pinkie Pie!” When Sunset reached out for her, Pinkie did the same, but when their hands touched, Pinkie vanished into vapor. “W-What’s happening?!”  Rarity appeared in the fog, Sunset once again ran towards another of her friends, but like the last time, she disappeared. Sunset was starting to get scared, she was alone, nothing and one around, her friends were disappearing one after the other. Sunset kept looking, she had to find someone, anyone…Twilight. Yes, Twilight would be able to explain what was happening, she had to be in the fog, somewhere.   Sunset wandered the endless expanse of the dense fog, until, finally, she spotted Twilight. Sunset dashed with all her might, trying to catch her. Twilight turned around and a smile formed on her face. When Sunset got near her, she wrapped Twilight in her arms and was so glad she didn’t disappear.  “Twilight, thank god you’re real!” Sunset exclaimed.  “It’s alright, I’m here, I’ll always be here,” said Twilight.  “Rarity, Pinkie, Dash, AJ, Fluttershy, they’re just…gone! They slipped through my fingers! But you’re here, and I’ll make sure nothing–!”  Just then, Twilight felt as if her legs were taken from her, Sunset looked down to see that Twilight’s feet were slowly vanishing into the fog. Twilight looked into Sunset’s eyes with fear as the vanishing crawled up Twilight’s legs. A panicked expression befell Twilight as she gripped Sunset’s arm in desperation.  “Sunset, don’t let me go! I’m scared, please don’t let me disappear!” Twilight begged.  Sunset held Twilight tighter. “I won’t, I promise I won’t!” The vanishing continued, going up further, now to her waist.  “Make it stop, Sunset! Please make it stop!”  Sunset’s eyes shed tears as she knew she was powerless to stop whatever it was that was happening. “I-I don’t know how! I’m sorry!” “Y-You s-said you’d protect me! Protect all of us! Please, do something!” Twilight cried.  Sunset felt Twilight becoming lighter as her body continued to disappear. Sunset released Twilight, now seeing that her torso and arms were almost gone, and only her head and neck remained.  “I…I trusted you…believed in you…”  “NOOOO!” “That’s just how it is, all of it will disappear.” Sunset turned her back and saw…herself. Her form as Ultrawoman Aster stood behind her, her imposing height casting a shadow over Sunset and Twilight. Sunset turned back to Twilight and then watched her completely vanish.  “No…” Sunset grasped at the air, as if trying to bring her back. “NO!” She then turned to her other form and shouted. “WHAT DID YOU DO?!!!” “Do not act as if you are blameless. Did you honestly think that we’re a hero? That we’re a guardian? We’re a destroyer, stronger than all these creatures that come to attack the Earth. Because they know the sight of their true ruler when they see it, it’s an alpha predator instinct.” “Shut up! I am a hero! I fight for this world and my friends!”  “If that’s true, why did you lay waste to this city?” Aster waved her hand, a gust of wind blew the fog away, blinding Sunset for a moment. When she opened her eyes, she beheld a decimated Canterlot City, and SMILE Academy. The city was on fire and the Academy was in ruins. Gungirs and Goliaths were strewn all over, completely wrecked. The closest ones were the specialized units that were made for Rainbow Dash and Applejack. Both of which were melted from a strong heat attack. At the Academy, several students were laying dead on the campus, either crushed by debris or just lying dead on the ground. Among them were Fluttershy, Pinkie, Rarity, and…Twilight. Out of all of them, Twilight’s expression struck her the worst, there was such a look of utter betrayal, that it pierced Sunset’s heart like a rusted dagger.  “You’re a destroyer…Your power is only meant for one thing…destruction…” Sunset fell to her knees as she began to cry, she did all of this, by her own hands she killed so many. She dared to look again, and that’s when she spotted Celestia and Luna, the two women who took her in and decided to give her a chance.  “You’re alone…You will always be alone…You are not meant to be close to any creature…” Sunset could feel it, the emptiness was taking her, she didn’t care anymore, she didn’t care what happened to herself, not even death scared her. The shadows cast by the wildfires around Sunset began to creep towards her, and within seconds they formed a pool of darkness that began to swallow her. Sunset sank deeper and deeper into the darkness, feeling its icy tendrils begin to overtake her.  At that moment, a bright light shined forth from Sunset’s chest. This light changed to a purple color and burned the shadows to cinders. The light then took the form of an Ultra Coin and turned to face Sunset. The light reignited something in Sunset, her will to live, her will to fight. Sunset shook her head as if waking up from a daze, she reached out and took the coin into her right hand, when she opened it, she saw that it was the coin of Ultraman Orb. “You saved me,” said Sunset.  The eyes of Ultraman Orb shined. “No…I get it, you’re power…it comes from bonds.” The coins eyes flashed brighter as if indicating that she was correct.  Sunset held the coin close to her heart. “The bonds I share with those girls…they are my strength. They believe in me, and I won’t let them down. Wait…”  The flame haired girl looked around, she saw the shadows regrouping and when they did they shot out towards her. Sunset held out the Ultra Coin and the shadows were repelled once again. The shadows revealed yellow glowing eyes, and hissed at Sunset.  “You’re the one responsible for this!” The shadows snaked across the ground and jumped into a hole that tore open a few feet away. Sunset ran after it and stopped at the edge of the hole. Down below, she could see multiple spheres, each one was playing something, like a movie, but she recognized some of the people in those spheres as the students of the Academy.  “Oh crap…we’re in a dream, the nightmares that the girls had, that thing was causing them!” Sunset tightened her grip around the Ultra Coin. “And I’ll bet you’re the one who tried to attack SMILE earlier yesterday! Okay, there’s no getting away from me now!” Sunset opened her hand and looked at the coin. “Orb, will you give me a hand?” Orb’s Ultra Coin glowed brighter.  Sunset held the coin high into the air and said, “Lend me the power of bonds!” The teen girl was wrapped in purple light and then flew down the hole. She was like a comet flying through space, but she was not wandering aimlessly.  From the shimmering comet, six beams of light shot out, each one zigzagged across the expanse and found her targets.  \\\***/// Twilight once again found herself in the school hallway, all the students were gathered around her, giving her incredulous looks, but the one that hurt the most was the one coming from Sunset, her first real friend and she was looking at her with such a look of hate and disappointment that it made her want to disappear.  “Don’t give into this, Sparky!”  Twilight’s eyes went wide as she looked to Sunset. “What did you say?”  “I didn’t say anything to you, but I am thinking a lot of what I’m going to do with you,” said Dream-Sunset.  “That’s enough from you!” Suddenly, a bolt of light shot down the hallway and struck Dream-Sunset in the chest, sending her flying into the crowd behind her.  Twilight looked over her shoulder and nearly cried in joy. Sunset came walking up, with all the confident swagger Twilight had come to expect from her friend. The real Sunset Shimmer stood beside Twilight and flashed her a grin as she offered a hand to Twilight.  The young genius took that hand and let herself get pulled up to her feet. “Sunset, how is this…?” “It’s a dream, Sparky, we’re in the nightmare you had last night!” Sunset looked back at the false Sunset and the crowd. “And that thing is not me!” False Sunset growled as her eyes shined bright yellow. The false Sunset and the crowd melded together into a large sparkling shadow, the shadow bolted to the left, piercing through the lockers as another hole in space opened up. “Where’s it going?!” Twilight asked.  “Probably to mess with the rest of our friends, but I’m working on freeing them too! C’mon,” said Sunset as she held out her left hand to Twilight.  Twilight grabbed Sunset’s hand without hesitation, and together, they turned into a comet of light that followed after the Tantabus.  \\\***/// Fluttershy was back in her cage, feeling the sting of the cattle prods as the guards jabbed her with them, all while Commander Celestia just watched with a sneer.  Just as another of the guards was ready to jab her, the end of his cattle prod was blasted off by a light bolt. The three other guards’ prods were also blown off, making them back away in shock. Commander Celestia bolted from her chair and looked around.  “What’s the meaning of this?!”  “The irony of this whole thing, is that Fluttershy’s caged up, but the real monsters are outside the cage!” Fluttershy’s eyes flicked in the direction of the voice, her head daring to perk up as she watched more light bolts fly towards her cage. Each one hit the bars with amazing accuracy, making the top half of the cage slump to the side. From the shadows, Twilight ran out and pushed the top half the rest of the way off. Sunset walked in, standing before Fluttershy and Twilight and acting as their shield.  “You’re no monster, Fluttershy,” said Sunset.  Twilight helped Fluttershy out of the cage and smiled at her. “You’re the kindest person I’ve ever known, and we’ll always trust in you.”  Fluttershy’s eye began to water, tears flowed down her muzzle at the same time a smile broke out.  Sunset narrowed her gaze at the Tantabus and said, “I’m going to make you pay for not only using the face of someone who took me in, but also for making Fluttershy cry!” Sunset’s left hand glowed as she fired off several light bolts from it. The Tantabus shifted into its shadowy form and swiftly ran away to its next victim.  “Are we…in a dream?” Fluttershy asked.  “Yeah, we are, and if we don’t hurry up and get the others it’ll make them sink into darkness too,” said Sunset.  Fluttershy nodded as she took Twilight’s hand, and Twilight took Sunset’s. All three changed into a comet of purple light that chased after the Tantabus yet again.  \\\***/// Applejack stood in the ruins of her family’s farm. Her monster-like strength had destroyed all her family had built up, and just from taking a few steps. Her big brother, her little sister, her grandmother, all of them were swallowed by the earth because of her.  Applejack remained as still as could be, trying not to move at all for fear that the smallest, easiest of movements would cause the world around her to shatter even further.  “You’re not a catastrophe Applejack.” Applejack watched as Sunset, Twilight, and Fluttershy walked towards her. “No…s-stay back…A-Ah’ll hurt ya if you do! Please, Ah don’t want to lose anyone else!” “You won’t lose us,” said Fluttershy.  “This is your strength, your power, you can control it!” Sunset stated.  “We believe in you, Applejack, so believe in yourself,” Twilight encouraged.  Applejack slowly raised her hand up and made a fist. The action caused a whirlwind to be produced from such a simple action, but Applejack was determined.  “This is my strength…! I am in control of it!” Applejack took a step forward, and the world didn’t shake. She took another step and then another, but when she did, the earth beneath her feet began to mend itself.  Applejack realized it now, she was in control of her strength. She slammed her right fist into her left palm, and the impact created a whirlwind that washed over everything, making the world of ruin return to one of lush green and peace.  “Ah don’t know what’s goin’ on, but Ah’m ready to go!” \\\***/// Rainbow Dash was huddled into a corner, her large feathered wings covered her body like a shield as the jeering voices of the other students continued to call her a freak and a half-breed.  Without warning, the wall to Rainbow’s left exploded out. Rainbow coughed from the dust, but then watched as Applejack emerged from the hole.  “Now since when is the girl that Ah like ever cowered in fear?” Applejack asked.  “Applejack?!” Rainbow exclaimed.  “Stand up, Dashie, show ‘em how proud ya are of those wings!”  Rainbow Dash, emboldened by her girlfriend’s words, stood up and flared out her azure blue wings, striking a confident pose as she smirked. “Thanks, Babe,” said Rainbow.  “No problem, Sug, now let’s go, we got some bad guys to bust up!”  Rainbow Dash fist pumped and shouted, “Hell’s yeah!”  \\\***/// Rarity stood before a panel of judges as they looked over her newest creations, all of which looked drab compared to her normally fabulous outfits. The three judges before her all gave her a thumbs down, showing how displeased they were with her work.  Rarity’s life’s work was to become a fashion designer, but now those dreams were shattered into dust, what was left for her now that her ambitions and goals all led to nothing? “The Rarity I know would never let this get her down!”  Fluttershy strode out onto the stage, her kindly smile mixed with a look of determination. “These were just your ‘fun’ dresses, they’re not your serious stuff, right?”  A fire lit in Rarity’s eyes as she heard those words. “Of course, Darling, why ever would I use these horrid things?” Rarity pushed her three creations off the stage and sashayed over to Fluttershy. “If you don’t mind?” “Not at all.” Rarity took Fluttershy’s hand and began to spin her around, a flash of light went off, and when she stopped twirling Fluttershy around, she was donned in a beautiful green, nature themed dress.  “This is just something I threw together,” said Rarity.  The dark stage lit up with different colored lights, and the faceless crowd became animated, cheering and snapping pictures of her creation.  The three judges became one large shadow that left through a hole.  Rarity released a shocked gasp and asked, “What in the world is going on?” “We’re in a dream, Rarity! Sunset and the others are waiting for us,” said Fluttershy.  Rarity nodded and took Fluttershy’s hand. “Lead the way, Darling!” \\\***/// The group had gathered in a sphere of light which was floating in the vastness of the dreamscape, Fluttershy had reappeared with Rarity, but Sunset wasn’t there.  “Sunset hasn’t come back yet?” Fluttershy asked.  Twilight shook her head. “Not yet, but I’m sure she’ll–!” At that moment, Sunset and Pinkie appeared in the sphere, with Sunset looking frazzled and Pinkie with a big smile on her face.  “Are you okay, Sug?” Applejack asked.  “Uh…it just left, I didn’t have to do anything,” said Sunset.  “Wait, really?! How?” Rainbow asked.  “I don’t know, I was just having one of my normal dreams,” said Pinkie.  “We are not going to discuss that,” said Sunset with finality.  A loud roar echoed through the dreamscape, the sphere of light became translucent, allowing the seven girls to look outside and watch as the Tantabus took form. The creature’s sparkling mist became semi-solid as silver armor wrapped around it, allowing it take a humanoid form. Its hair was wispy, its face was covered in a silver mask with four horns protruding from it. Its yellow eyes narrowed upon seeing the ones who had been interfering with its mission.  Behind the Tantabus was a tear in space, and beyond that tear, the girls could see that…Ultrawoman Aster was fighting a similar creature on the other side. The girls looked to Sunset, and she looked to the others.  “I swear, I’m the real me!” Sunset stated.  The other Aster seemed to notice them and shouted, “It’s me, Ocellus! Listen, the Tantabus is gaining power from all the people who were put to sleep on this side! You have to beat it there before it can get enough power to manifest in the waking world!” As if to prove her point, some of the Tantabus’ essence was streaming into the tear and to the monster on the other side.  “How’re we supposed to fight that thing?! We don’t have tanks or jets,” said Rainbow.  “Or the Aster-X blasters,” said Pinkie.  Twilight thought for a moment before a grin formed on her face, she looked to Sunset and it seemed as if she had the same idea.  “We’re in the dream world, and in dreams, anything is possible,” said Twilight.  “Got that right, Sparky!” Sunset raised her left arm as the StaRaizer appeared. The Coin Keeper shimmered into existence on her belt and from it flew out six Ultra Coins.  Two light silhouettes of Sunset appeared on either side of her as they mimicked her movements in placing their Ultra Coins into the slots of the StaRaizer.  “Release the light within me!” “Ignite the fire in my heart!” “Let the waves of my soul quell your rage!” || SHINE ON! ULTRAWOMAN ASTER! || || BURN UP! SOLARIS MAXIMUS! || || FLOW AND CRASH! COSMIC WAVE! || Three pillars of light formed outside of the sphere, one made of fire, another of water, and one of pure light. The pillars shattered, and from them emerged Ultrawoman Aster in both her default, power, and speed forms.  Solaris Maximus bumped her fists together as flames erupted from the impact. “I’ll burn you away with the flames of my heart!” Cosmic Wave took a defensive stance as she spoke, “I will wash away all cruelty with serenity!” And finally, Aster assumed her fighting stance as she declared, “My light will overcome the darkness!” All three versions of Aster charged for Tantabus, Aster came in with a punch, but the Tantabus caught it with its right claw. But just as it did that, Solaris Maximus attacked its blind spot with a fiery punch right to the face. The dream creature was sent into a tailspin, but released a burst of its energy to stop it from flying off further.  However, when it did that, Cosmic Wave came down with its Aqua Blades and slashed it across the chest, forming an “X” pattern as sparks flew from its body.  On the other side, Ocellus was continuing her fight with the ethereal form of Tantabus, but as she fought she noticed that parts of its body were becoming more defined. The essence that was coming from the tear was giving it form the longer this fight dragged out.  Back in the dream world, Solaris Maximus and Aster flew high into the air, spun once, and descended towards Tantabus with flying kicks. Aster’s was wrapped in cosmic energy, while Solaris Maximus was coated in flames.  “Soul Crusher!”  “Asteroid Kick!” Tantabus raised a shield of dark energy, both kicks landed hard against the surface, but Aster and Solaris Maximus refused to stop as they drove their kicks forward.  Unbeknownst to Tantabus, Cosmic Wave was floating a few meters behind it. Yellow light formed a bow and drawstring, Cosmic Wave grabbed the drawstring and pulled back, and as she did an arrow of yellow light formed.  “Artemis Arrow!” Cosmic Wave released the arrow, sending it flying through the expanse until it struck Tantabus in the back, exploding on impact. The damage was enough to break Tantabus’ concentration, allowing Aster and Solaris Maximus to break through the shield and strike it in the chest with their power kicks.  Another explosion went off as Tantabus was sent flying backwards until it stopped itself from going further. The dream monster glared at all three versions of Asters, having had enough of this game. Tantabus roared loudly as the entire dreamscape shook. A web of darkness formed above, connecting the various dream spheres together. The center of that web released a beam of dark energy that bathed over Tantabus and increased its size to the point that it nearly dwarfed the three Ultra beings.  “Oh crap…” the three uttered in unison.  On the other side, Ocellus watched as the Tantabus she was fighting roared as well, it’s eyes glowing brighter as the essences that it was absorbing sped up dramatically.  “Oh no…” Tantabus charged for Ocellus, its speed increased to the point that it was a blur as it got closer. Ocellus fired off several light beams from her hands which missed each time. When the Tantabus was close, it threw a punch that resonated like thunder right into her midsection.  Ocellus gasped violently from the attack and was lifted a few feet off the ground. Tantabus jumped back and threw a spinning roundhouse to Ocellus’s left side, sending her flying in the direction of the Academy. Ocellus managed to regain some of her senses as she fired off a beam from her left hand a few feet behind her. The resulting explosion was strong enough to stop her from going further, making her land on her front onto the ground.  Ocellus coughed as she got to her knees, her body flickering with her azure plasma flames, indicating that her transformation wasn’t going to last much longer.  I…I can’t stop…If I do…everyone’s going to die! Ocellus thought as she rose to her feet.  Tantabus narrowed its gaze into slits as if getting an entertaining idea. The dream monster raised its right hand and fired a dark lightning attack straight for the Academy. Ocellus dashed and got into the interception path of the lightning, letting it hit her and explode against her body. The Tantabus continued to assail her with dark lightning again and again, knowing that she would not move from that spot if it meant the school got hit and the people unconscious inside got hurt.  “INFERNO SHOOT!” “ASTRONIUM RAY!” “CALIBURN END!” Each form of Aster fired off their signature beam attacks at the giant Tantabus. The three attacks hit the monster dead center, releasing a powerful explosion, but alas, their combined attack didn’t seem to faze the behemoth in the least.  “Well, this isn’t good,” said Solaris.  “It’s getting stronger with each second, and sending that energy to the real world, we have to cut it off somehow,” said Cosmic.  “Ocellus is taking a beating, we can’t let this drag on…” Meanwhile, the girls were watching from the light sphere as their friends continued to fight for them all.  “We can’t just stand here and do nothing,” said Twilight. “But what can we do?” Fluttershy asked.  “This a dream world right?! That means we just need to think of something strong enough to help Sunset out!” Rainbow stated.  “That thing strong enough to fight Aster in her three forms, how are we going to think up anythin’ stronger than that?” AJ asked.  Pinkie appeared between the two girls and draped her arms over their shoulders as she said, “Who said we had to think of something individually?” Rarity cocked an eyebrow. “Are you saying…that we think of something together, pull our dream power as it were?” “Yep!”  “That sounds awesome, but what exactly?” Rainbow asked.  “Ahem.” All eyes fell on Twilight as the genius of their group raised her hand and had a sheepish smile on her face. “I may know something…” \\\***/// The Tantabus thrashed its giant arms through the air, sending a wave of dark energy that buffeted the three Ultras, their options were limited and their time was running short, as too was Ocellus’. The trio braced themselves as Tantabus readied to unleash another attack, but was soon stopped by several blasts of energy that pelted it from the front.  All three Asters turned around and – had their jaws had the physical capability to drop they would’ve right then and there. An orange tank bearing a golden apple insignia came rolling through the dreamscape and fired one round after the other. And right behind it was a cyan colored fighter jet, its jet flames were an aurora of different colors and it too fired energy rounds from the nose of the plane and rockets.  From behind the creature, a fox-like mecha ran towards Tantabus, it’s one tail released a stream of azure flames right at its back, exploding on impact. From high above the monster, another mecha animal appeared, this one was a purple unicorn. The horn of the machine beast glowed with stored energy, and then fired a magenta beam of light right for Tantabus’ head.  Tantabus looked up just in time for the beam to strike its face, making it stumble backwards. A horn honked in the distance as a pink semi-truck came rolling in, the sides of the trailer read “Party Buster” with some balloon decorations. The sides of the trailer opened up and produced cannons and missile launchers, all of which fired at the same time and unleashed a barrage on the monster’s right leg. The resulting explosion tripped the dream monster, Tantabus tried to regain balance.  However, another mecha appeared, it was human mech, porcelain white, with a red crystal heart in the center of its chest, and metallic purple hair. The human mech crossed its arms over its chest and fired a ruby red beam of light that hit the monster’s right knee and sent it slamming onto the nonexistent ground of the dreamscape.  All six of the mechas gathered around the three Asters, making them do double takes at what they were seeing.  Hatches popped open and from them emerged their Sunset’s friends, although they were dressed in the craziest looking superhero outfits Sunset had ever seen.  “Uh…what’s going on?” Twilight’s suit was violet, with dark navy coloring around the forearms and boots. A golden belt tied around her waist with that had six symbols on it. Her helmet was the same color as her uniform, but had a star pattern for the visor. “The magic of knowledge, Chōwager Violet!”  Fluttershy had a similar suit, but the pattern on her visor was that of a butterfly. “Uh-Uh…f-fierce kindness, Ch-Chōwager Yellow!” Rarity struck a pose and announced, “Fabulous generosity, Chōwager White!” Pinkie Pie bounced around and declared, “Hyper laughter, Chōwager Pink!” Rainbow flew around with her wings and stated, “Soaring loyalty, Chōwager Blue!” Applejack slammed her fists together and said, “Honest strength, Chōwager Orange!” “Six friends united against evil! Peacekeeper Sentai: Chōwager!” It was right around this time that explosions went off in the background as a giant logo appeared overhead showing that exact name in Japanese kanji.  The Asters looked around again and said in unison, “We repeat…what is going on?!” Twilight rubbed the back of her head in slight embarrassment. “Heh, heh…well, you see, we decided to help you out by fighting together, and the best way I could think of was to impersonate an original Super Sentai team…?” “Okay…” Cosmic spoke, “I’ll follow you there.” Tantabus rose back up, clearly agitated and enraged at having been brought down by such ridiculous outfits and machines.  “Alright, Chōwagers, it’s time to do that!” Twilight stated as she jumped back into her mecha, along with others.  “Wait, ‘that’? What do you mean by ‘that’?” Aster asked.  “Oh you know…GATTAI!” All six mechs flew high into the air and were surrounded by aurora light. Rarity’s mecha held out its arms and legs as the different mechs took position. The wings of Rainbow’s fighter shot off and attached themselves to the white mech’s back. While Rainbow’s fighter reconfigured into an arm, producing five fingers as it slipped over the white mech’s left arm.  The orange tank reconfigured itself, producing a hand with five fingers and turning into the right arm that slid over the white mech’s right arm. Next came the yellow fox that transformed into a left leg that went over the white mech’s left leg. The pink truck did the same, forming over the white mech’s right leg.  Finally, the violet unicorn fitted itself over the white mech’s head, with the rest of its body forming chest armor for the machine. The wings on its back transformed into metallic bird wings and the metal hair flowed in the power that it generated, at the same time, the new helm-head of the mech’s eyes shined bright as it came to life, the ruby heart at the center shifting to a clear blue color.   “Six hearts and souls become one mighty force! Grand Knight Concordia!” The giant super robot struck a pose, throwing its right fist into the air as it’s name appeared overhead in Japanese kanji.  The Asters looked to each other.  “Should we question this?” “I don’t think so, let’s roll with it.” “Yep, roll with it.” The super robot was now the same size as Tantabus, the dream monster was, to say the least, perplexed by what it was seeing. The super robot cocked its right fist back and took a giant step forward as it threw a power punch right to the Tantabus’ face. The blow resounded like thunder throughout the dreamscape, making the monster stumble a bit, but Tantabus recovered and slashed at the super robot’s chest, causing sparks to fly from its chest armor.  “Fluttershy, Pinkie!” Twilight ordered.  “Roger!” they responded.  Concordia jumped back and as it did, the right leg’s panels opened up and revealed missile launchers, and on the left leg, azure fireballs formed on the left side of the leg.  “Foxfire!” “Fireworks Blitz!” The missile launchers fired off several sparkling ordinance while the fireballs flew straight for Tantabus. The fireballs and fireworks struck Tantabus, exploding spectacularly against the giant creature. When they were far enough away, the right and left arms clasped hands as the cannon on the right arm came forward, and the twin guns on the left arm shunted forward.  “Let’s go, Sugar Cube,” said Applejack.  “You got it, Babe!” Rainbow agreed.  “Twin Spiral Cannon!” The cannon barrels glowed bright until both discharged two beams of vermillion and cyan, the two lights combined together into a spiraling beam of power that slammed against Tantabus, exploding and causing more damage to the dream monster.  The Tantabus was growing more agitated by the second, the monster roared as several spheres of dark energy formed around it, with a wave of its left claw, the orbs fired several beams of dark light straight for Concordia. The beams struck their target all at once, resulting in a massive explosion that made even the three Ultras have to flee for safety. They feared the worst, however, when the smoke cleared, Concordia was completely undamaged. A shield had been formed before the super robot, clear and sparkling like a diamond.  The dream beast roared as it charged for Concordia, and Concordia charged as well. The two behemoths met in the center, grappling as their impact shook the dreamscape. The Asters decided to get in on this action as they flew straight for Tantabus, all three of them firing off their signature beam attacks as they flew over its body, hitting it as much as they could while the monster was otherwise occupied.  In the real world, Tantabus was continuing to pelt Ocellus-Aster with more black lightning, but the lightning stopped as it started to look strained. Ocellus-Aster looked up, and watched as her friends were still battling with everything that had on the other side.  She began to stand up, her body hurting all over, but she refused to let Tantabus hurt the school and the people inside.  “I’m not an Ultra…But I’ll still protect everyone with everything I’ve got!” Just then, Ocellus-Aster went still, her eyes going dim as she slumped forward. A crack formed on the back of fake Aster, this fissure of light grew longer and longer until it ran the length of fake Aster’s back all the way to the back of its head. The fissure was then made bigger as four large, salmon colored, translucent wings sprouted from it. The wings flapped a couple of times as they grew stronger. The cracks continued to grow as now a back protruded from it. In a matter of seconds, the fake Aster shattered completely and revealed a whole new form.  What stood now was a Changeling, but vastly different from Ocellus’ original form. She stood as tall as Aster, her carapace was a smooth arctic blue color, with white patches that ran under her forearms, biceps, inner thighs, the back of her calves, and along the front of her chest. Around where her collarbone would be, were now five gemstones that formed a “V” pattern, with the center fifth gem at least twice as big as the other four and located at the center of her chest. Her single head frill was gone, instead now having long, shimmering salmon colored hair. From her forehead her exoskeleton protruded out just a bit, forming a pseudo-crown, her curved horn formed the center, while two others stuck out from under her hair around the sides of her head. A white patch was formed around her mouth, and her eyes sparkled with a greater brilliance than they had before.  Tantabus didn’t understand what was happening, but its body was almost complete and when that happened it would be able to complete its mission. Summoning more of its power, Tantabus fired off more black lightning at Ocellus, but the Changeling Queen, waved her right hand in front of her, creating a barrier of blue-green light that blocked the black lightning completely. “Aster, my friends, let’s end this now!” Ocellus declared.  On the other side of the tear, the girls all nodded in agreement.  All three Asters gathered before Concordia and started to glow blue, red, and white.  “Let’s combine our powers together guys!” Aster stated.  Solaris, Aster, and Cosmic, transformed into light that shot towards the crystal heart at the center of Concordia. The super robot’s eyes exploded with intense light as its entire body shined with golden light, and its eyes shining a bright white.  The horn on the top of Concordia’s head disengaged and grew three times bigger than the machine. Concordia raised its right arm as the horn weapon attached onto its right hand.  Tantabus’ body flared up with dark energy, sensing its opponents were about to enter their final attack. At the same time, the real world Tantabus did the same, building up power in preparation to destroy Ocellus and the Academy.  Ocellus’s wings glowed as particles of green light became visible in the air. The gemstones on Ocellus’ chest began to glow.  In the dreamscape, Concordia flew into the sky and then charged straight for Tantabus as the drill horn spun at a rapid pace, creating an spiraling rainbow that was coming straight for the dream demon.  “TEAM ASTER DYNAMIC FINISH!!!” “LUMINOUS SPARK!!!” Ocellus fired a beam of sparkling green energy from the center gemstone that roared with great power for Tantabus. The dream demon fired off a massive volley of black lightning that slammed against her beam, and at the same time, the dreamscape Tantabus released a giant beam of darkness that struck against the spiral rainbow. The attacks on two fronts continued to fight against the evil one before them.  All eight of the friends released a powerful battle cry as Ocellus’ Luminous Spark tripled in size and bathed over Tantabus, making it shriek in pain as it was erased from the real world, but the beam continued on, piercing through the spacial tear.  At the same time, Team Aster’s drill spun faster as it pierced through the beam of darkness and struck Tantabus dead center in the chest, at that exact moment, Ocellus’ beam hit the back of Tantabus as the two attacks synchronized in the dreamscape.  A great explosion took place in the dreamscape as the darkness of the Tantabus was incinerated, along with the dark web that connected it to all the dream spheres. Ocellus cut off her beam attack and covered her eyes as the light from the explosion was blinding, fear gripped her heart as the thought that her attack might’ve killed her friends. However, when the light faded away Ocellus was overjoyed to see that the super robot and Aster were alright, both giving Ocellus a thumbs up. The tear in space finally closed and when it did, Ocellus collapsed onto the ground, landing on her rear as she released a sigh of exhaustion. She took a moment to look over her body, her wings, her carapace, and even the three horns that acted as a crown. “I’m…I’m a Queen now…” \\\***/// [Unknown Space…] King Sombra narrowed his gaze as he swiped away the image of the Tantabus’ defeat, growling with indignation that his creature was so easily destroyed.  “What’s the matter Sombra? You’re plan not go so well?” Chrysalis mocked.  The dark king glared with red glowing eyes at Chrysalis. “The Tantabus shouldn’t have been so easily defeated, especially in the dream world!” “Looks like Aster has some alleys that are strong, and her power seems to extend even into the realm of dreams. But I suppose I must thank you.” Sombra raised an eyebrow in confusion. “And why, pray tell, do you have need to thank me?”  Chrysalis chuckled darkly. “Because, now that little grub has finally evolved into a Queen caste. Which means now I can kill her and establish my rule as the one true Queen.” An explosion went off in the distance as fire and lightning raged around where the explosion went off. When the flames died down, a creature stood up with yellowing glowing parts that gave out an alien sound.  “And lucky me, Zetton’s ready to play, too.”