Out of all of the candidates to be a Kamen Rider, Timber Spruce wouldn’t be the first to come to mind. Despite this out of left field revelation, it was a pleasant surprise for the girls. To celebrate his first victory, the group all came to Sugarcube Corner. The seven girls plus Timber all cheered their drinks and sat down around the couch.
“Man, it has been too long since we were together,” Timber said as he wrapped his arm around Twilight’s shoulder. Flash, Shining, Trixie were present as well, wanting to get more information about their potential ally.
“This is all great Timber," Twilight smiled. "But I think we need to address the elephant in the room."
“Oh," Timber asked with a coy face, "what do you mean?”
“You know what I’m…” Twilight started, "how-"
“How did you become a rider!?” Rainbow yelled out, interrupting her friend.
“Rainbow!” Twilight frowned
“Yeah," Flash added, "I’m pretty curious about that as well.”
"No, no it’s fine." Timber smirked as he leaned back on the couch, putting one knee over the other. "This is all a lot to take in so, I feel I should explain how I became Kamen Rider Timber." Flash’s eyes rolled so hard they almost came out of his head at the mention of that name.
"So what happened?" Trixie asked impatiently.
“It all started when I was finishing my work at the camp," The young man started to explain. "I was always planning to visit Twilight for her birthday as a surprise. "But right when I got the truck all packed up, a woman walked up to me out of nowhere.”
“A woman?" Shining asked, "did she give a name?”
“She didn’t give her name but she was dressed in purple,” Timber answered.
'Was that River?' Shining pondered. 'Is this the new talent Mr.wave was talking about?'
“Anyway, she said her organisation found a way to use the Magi-beast’s power against them,” Timber continued as he showed off a card. It had an image of a wolf made of wood and plants. “She said with the Gaia Driver, I was the best choice for this mission. Not just to fight the Magi-Beasts but the mastermind behind all of this.”
“You mean the Doctor?” Flash asked, but Timber turned to him with a raised eyebrow.
“Doctor?" He shrugged, "never heard of him. Probably one of the mastermind’s agents.”
This perplexed Flash, as he thought back to his last conversation with Cypher. With the way he talked about the Doctor, it was hard to believe there is someone above him. “The real person pulling the strings...” Timber started as he put on a serious demeanour, “...is Achilles.” Silence filled the room as everyone took in what he said, a good half minute passing before Trixie broke the silence.
“AH-HA-HA-HA-HA-Ha!” she let out a laugh. All the others were confused at this revelation, but the magician was hysterical. She held her sides as tears were forming near her eyes. “This has to be a joke right?" She managed to say as she wiped her eyes, "I knew you had to get a good one in eventually,”
“I’m serious," Timber replied coldly. "The woman told me everything when she gave me the Driver.”
“That just doesn’t make sense," Sunset responded. "Achilles has done nothing but help us ever since he got here.”
The others nodded, agreeing wholeheartedly as Pinkie spoke up. “If Sunset is willing to trust him with Equestrian magic then you know he’s a good guy. Even if he’s super private about it. I still really want to throw some kind of party for him.”
“Y-yeah, you have no clue what the guy is about,” Flash defended, trying his best to hold back. He wanted to show everyone right there that Timber was wrong, but his fears were still getting in his way.
“It’s that privacy that's why we can’t trust him,” Timber stated. “You all remember what happened with my sister, how she kept the magic she found a secret. I say it’s only a matter of time before that 'hero' starts turning into some kind of monster.”
“But that makes no sense,” Applejack objected. “If Achilles is the guy runnin' things, why would he be fightin' the monster?”
“I don’t know," Timber shrugged. "But he did show up when these monsters appeared. Maybe he wants to look like a hero to trick you all."
“Could something like that be true?” Fluttershy asked.
"Hmm~" Rarity let that thought sit with her for a moment. “Yes, know now that you mention it, Achilles has used all of our powers for his forms. He might be planing something with them.”
“Timber," Twilight asked, "are you sure about this?”
“I'm positive,” Timber confirmed. The girls all looked at each other, as they started to question the motives of the hero that had saved them all in the past.
Flash clenched his fist in anger at what was happening before him. All of his hard work to protect everyone was now being questioned. The young man was about to yell out something, but he felt someone grab him by the shoulder. “No need to get worked up Flash," Shining told him before whispering to him. "Don’t want you saying something you’ll regret.” That was enough to get Flash to calm down, at least enough to stay quiet. “Now Timber, I don’t know what this woman has told you but I've worked with Achilles personally. He is definitely on the up and up.”
Timber just smiled as he finally got a good look at the officer. “So your Twilight's brother. Glad to finally meet ya,” he grabbed onto Shining's hand and forced him into shaking it. “You can forget all about Achilles. I’m gonna show that I'm a much better partner. And then, we can take him down together.”
“Well, I guess we will be working together,” Shining said through his teeth with a wide smile. As an officer, Shining was a pretty good judge of character. In the short time he had spent with his sister’s boyfriend, he already got everything he needed to know. “Flash, do you mind coming with me. I want to get some more drinks for the girls.”
Flash didn’t need to say anything. He just followed the officer and left the group alone.
“Hey Timber,” Rainbow spoke up to get the attention of the green-haired young man. “You have to let me give your bike a spin. From what I’ve seen riders have some of the coolest wheels.”
“My bike?” Timber responded in confusion.
“Your motorcycle. From what I’ve seen, all of the coolest Kamen Riders have one,” the athlete told him excitedly whilst almost bouncing in place.
“A motorcycle. Are you kidding?” Timber exclaimed, almost in shock at what Rainbow was saying. “There is no way I would get on one of those death machines. I want to save people, but I can’t do that if a car rams into me.”
“Lame,” Rainbow stated, very disappointed in the excuse Timber has given her.
Meanwhile, Flash and Shining had snuck away to the back of the cafe where no one will see. Shining was repeatedly banging his head at the wall out of frustration. “Why! Did! Twilly! Need! To! Pick! Him!?” Shining asked between hits to the wall.
“Wow," Flash mused as he leaned his back on the wall, "you came off as an overly protective brother type but I didn’t think you really were one."
“It’s not that I don’t want my sister to have a boyfriend,” Shining started as he turned around. “I just didn’t think Twilly would pick someone like Timber. He’s just so…” he paused trying to think of the right words to use.
“Loud, shallow, Has a bigger ego than Trixie and Rainbow combined,” Flash chimed in.
“All of the above,” the older man responded. “I take it you don’t like the guy either.”
“He didn’t make the best first impression when we met,” Flash shrugged. “I don’t see what everyone sees in him, but I guess he just has that kind of charm that wins people over.”
“That doesn’t explain why Mr.Wave would pick him to be a rider. Then again the guy is kinda eccentric.” Shining mused. Flash didn’t seem to listen as he looked over to the group, specifically at Twilight laughing at something Timber had said. Shining took note of how Flash was talking as well as his body language. “Did you have a crush on Twilight?” Shining asked as he started to put the pieces together.
“I rather not talk about it, it is a very long story,” Flash answered reluctantly. He let out a sigh as he pushed away from the wall. “As long as Twilight is happy, there isn’t much I can do about it. I’m her friend and right now, I’m just happy I’ve gotten that far without things getting weird.” That was all Flash said, as Shining watched him walk towards the counter to get the drinks.
Later that night, Flash was restless in bed. As Ember was fast asleep at the foot of his bed, the teen tossed and turned.
The realm of his dreams was strangely devoid of anything. As he walked in the endless whiteness, he started to see something. Like the times before when he had this dream, Flash started to approach the fuzzy blob. He couldn’t tell what it was, but it was definitely something familiar to him.
However, this time the blob started to act differently. Has Flash reached out to the mass, it started to move as well. It almost looked humanoid and mimicked his moments, reaching out what could be assumed was its hand. As he got closer, the figure didn’t get much clear but it did speak. “Don’t worry, I’ll always have your back.”
The moment Flash heard that phrase, he woke up in a cold sweat. The commotion was enough to knock Ember off the bed, which she was not very happy about. “What was that?” Flash asked. He then turned over to the driver that rested nightstand, trying to process the dream.
The next day.
In a quint little cafe, two men were sitting there laughing.
“It has been great catching up with you, Nightlight,” A man said. Sitting across from him was another man with blue skin and even darker blue hair. He was dressed in a black blazer and a turtleneck. The man across from him, who was a bit older and in a suit, handed Nightlight back a photo. “I never expected you would be a grandfather this soon,”
Nightlight laughed as he looked at the photo. It was a recent picture of Twilight and Shining with Cadence holding a baby in a blanket. “You're one to talk, how old is that boy of yours Kurono?”
“Point taken,” the man known as Kurono responded. "Sometimes, I forget how long ago our college days were. You know I didn’t come all the way here just for some friendly chit-chat,” he started, reaching for something in his pocket. He pulled out a flash drive and slid it over to his old friend.
“Is that what I think it is?” The blue-haired man asked.
“Almost. The framework for the future of AI is right there. Unfortunately, we hit a bit of a roadblock,” Kurono explained. “The programmers I hired gave up on complicating it. Said that a system this complex was beyond their skills. So I figured I needed someone more skilled. I need the best programmer I know.”
“Well I wouldn't say I’m the best, but it’s still nice that you thought of me,” Nightlight smiled as he took the drive. “But if you are trusting me with your dream, I would be honoured to help.”
The two men finished their little meet-up and went their separate ways. With a spring in his step, Nightlight continued on his way till he was eventually jumped by a group of Nightmares. The shadowy goons held the older man in place as their leader started to walk up. “Oh my, you are quality the fascinating specimen. Much smarter than the other ones,” Starlight observed.
“So you’re the guys my son has been fighting,” the blue-haired man replayed as he tried to get out of the soldiers’ grip. “So what is it? Need me to make some kind of super weapon? Cause I gotta tell yeah, I’ve already been hired by another client,” he went on, putting up a brave front to the monster that stood before him.
“Sorry, we’re not using that plot-line this week. I have a high spec Magi-Beast and I want to see how that mind of your will influences it,” Starlight Explained as held up a card. She gave it a quick kiss before placing it on the man’s chest.
Electricity began to discharge off of the card which grew more intense. The sparks were so strong that they caused the Nightmares to dissolve. The electricity formed into a giant ball before flying off a distance away. What emerged faded, what was left was a lean insectoid creature with a pale blue exoskeleton. A mass of cables came off its head and his whole body gave off sparks. “You all better stay away. This is a high Voltick area!!!” The creature yelled.
“Ooh, I like this one” Starlight smiled as she watched the electrical insect start to shoot sparks all over the place. With the monster no longer paying attention, Nightlight took the chance to run away.
A few minutes later…
Shining, Flash, and Trixie were the first to find the source of the destruction. People were scrambling as Voltick was blowing everything around him up. One of his blasts caused a power-line to fall, which he rushed to like an insect to food and started sucking on the live wire. This caused the electrical field around him to grow stronger. "Nothing like a giant bug causing explosions to start the day off right," Trixie commented.
“Looks like we should call in an exterminator on this one,” Shining joked. He turned to Flash, who looked as if he wasn’t really paying attention to the cop’s quip. “Oh come on, it wasn’t that bad...was it?”
“No, no it was fine,” Flash said as he slapped his face to wake himself up.
“Are you still upset about Timber?” The officer asked.
“I'm just a bit out of it," Flash responded. "Let’s just try and wrap things up quickly." Shining nodded, though he was a bit concerned by the way Flash responded. They equipped their drivers and started their transformation. “Henshin!” The two yelled
“R-R-R-RIDER!!!”
“AR-AR-AR-ARGO!!!”
The two transformed and Achilles extended his spear. Without missing a beat, the rider charged at the monster before jumping and preparing to bring the blade of his weapon down on the electric insect. “Didn’t anyone tell you to beware live weirs,” the rider called out. However, as he got closer, a bolt of electricity came off Voltick’s body and blasted Achilles out of the air until he crashed into the ground next to Argo.
The Magi-Beast finally noticed the Rider's arrival and turned to face them. “Looks like someone didn’t learn that you shouldn’t hold a metal poll in a lighting storm,” Voltick commented back. “But please, don’t let me stop you from trying again.”
As Achilles got up, he noticed that the electricity coming off his body was jumping right to any metal object that was close by. “This guy looks like a walking tesla coil," the rider observed.
“Hmm, I remember Twily building one of those for her sixth-grade science fair. Getting close is gonna be hard,” Argo added. Achilles converted his spear into its blaster form and the two pointed both their weapons at the Magi-Beast. “Fighting from a distance for now looks like our only option.”
They opened fire on the insectoid. Voltick didn't seem to react as he watched the bolts of energy heading towards him. Once they got within a few feet of the monster, the blasts started to dissolve into nothing. "Pathetic," The Magi-Beast cried. He held out his hands and discharged a massive blast of electricity at the riders.
Acting quickly, the two jumped out of the way before the monster's attack caused an explosion where they once stood. "Why didn't our attacks land?!" Achilles asked.
Argo played his fingers on the side of his helmet as the heads-up display gave him some readings on their enemy. "This guy is no joke. He's giving off so much electromagnetic energy that it's interfering with our weapons.”
“Is that really how that works?” Achilles asked. The two turned over to Trixie, standing on the sidelines, who responded with a shrug and a confused look on her face. “Well if we need to avoid getting shocked, I think I have an idea.” Achilles pulled out an Element card.
Voltick said nothing as he put the wire back into his mouth. The electricity grew more intense as he focused it into his hands.
“Shining, Hold up your shield!” Achilles ordered. Without question, Argo did as he was told to defend both of them. Voltick launched a huge ball of lighting that went right for the two. At the same time, Achilles slotted the card into the driver to change forms.
“OK!”
“CREATING A NEW FORMULA, A NEW WORLD OF DISCOVERY!”
“A-A-A-ALCHEMY!!!”
As quickly as he could, the rider clapped his hands and pleased them on the backside of the shield. When the smoke cleared the two riders found themselves unharmed. “What happened there?” Argo asked, confused by the situation. He then turned to his shield, which was now a dark shade of navy blue as opposed to the royal blue it usually is. He passed his hand over it to find that it now had a new coating over it. “Rubber?”
“Yeah. If the electricity is why we couldn’t get close to him, then we needed to deal with that first,” Achilles answered as he clapped his hands again. In a flash of light, the armor around his hands changed to the same navy rubber coating as the shield.
The two started to rush at the monsters with lighting heading right towards them. Achilles held up his arms to block the attack and continued to charge. “Not so strong when we figured out your gimmick!” Achilles announced. He delivered two good punches to Voltick before pushing him back with an uppercut. Argo wasted no time and crashed into the Magi-Beast with his shield.
“Okay, so you insulated yourselves a little bit. I still have more tricks up my sleeve,” Voltick declared. The monster pulled out a Nightmare card and ripped it, summoning reinforcements.
“Your other tricks don’t seem too impressive,” Argo observed as he pulled out his Defender.
As the two prepared for a fight with a mob, Voltick surprised the two by charging at them. Before Achilles could react, the Magi-Beast trapped him in a bear hug. He crouched down and with a massive discharge of electricity, the insect jumped up high towards the distance. “Ah, that’s your plan, clever,” Argo said as the Nightmares started to swarm the rider.
Achilles and Voltick crashed into the ground and ended up cracking the pavement. “Get off me you creep!” The rider yelled as he kicked the monster off of him.
“Watch it. You're lucky I don’t fry you here and now,” Voltick replied as it looked like he was about to charge up again.
Achilles got back up to his feet to find it wasn’t just the two of them in this alleyway. “That is enough. I will take it from here,” Starlight said as she walked towards the two.
“If you say so,” Voltick responded, letting out some electrical crackling noises to show his annoyance with the orders.
Achilles responded to the arrival of the Advance by transforming back to his Rider Form and extending his spear.
“Hey, hey hey!” Starlight shouted as she put her hands up. “I just want to talk. I’m not shooting magical bolts or wrapping you with chains so can we take it easy?”
“I think a simple phone call would have worked better than sending out a monster,” Achilles snapped.
“Oh please. I would love to know a better way to get in contact with someone that we’ve been fighting the past few months.”
Achilles was silent for a moment before putting away his spear. “What do you want?”
“I want to join forces,” Starlight answered.
Flash raised an eyebrow under his mask but he was still very sceptical. “I’m gonna call you on that and say this is a trap.”
“Oh, I am being a hundred percent truthful with you,” Starlight responded. “Kurogire is wasting his research. The Magi-Beast are powerful, but wasted on his petty goals. If we can take him down as well as his little pets, the two of us can change the world."
“A world where people get hurt?”
“A world where everyone is treated fairly and rewarded for the work they do. I can tell you have done a lot to help people, even before you became a rider,” The Advanced started. “And yet you haven’t gotten anything in return. Wouldn't it be nice to finally get your due? To be validated? To be rewarded for all you have done for others? My vision can give you all that and more. You deserve to be happy Rider and we can help each other achieve that.”
Her words ran into Flash’s head. He thought back to all the people he has helped, all he sacrificed for the sake of others, and how invisible he felt. Starlight’s words started to bring certain feelings to the surface.
Don’t you deserve to be happy too?
Is protecting others worth all this pain you put yourself through?
Why should Timber get all that attention when you worked so hard?
Do they even care about you or just the man you pretend to be?
What about Twi-
“ENOUGH!!!” He yelled out, clearing the voices from his head. His breathing grew heavy after the internal struggle. “Whatever you're selling, I’m not buying. Seeing people happy is all I want. Even if I don’t get any credit, as long as my friends are safe and happy that’s all I need.”
“I was hoping you would see it my way, but oh well,” Starlight said with a shrug. “Oh by the way, what are your thoughts on coffee jelly?” She asked out of the blue.
“The desert? It’s ok I guess,” Achilles responded, confused at the question.
“I knew it!” Turning around, the Rider saw that Timber had just arrived with the girls not far behind. “I knew you were working together.”
“Oh look who dropped in on our little chat,” Starlight spoke in mock surprise as she slowly backed away.
“You can’t think I’m actually working with her?” Achilles tried to defend.
“Timber" Sunset started, "hold on. We don’t know-"
“Shut it!” Timber cried as he pulled out his driver. He pleased it on his waist to form a belt. “I know all I need.”
“Timber," Twilight suggested, "why don’t we just talk things out?”
The young man ignored it as he pulled out his card and slotted it into the top slot. “Henshin!”
“DEFENDER OF EARTH, THE HUNTING HOUND HERO!!!”
“G-G-G-GAIA!!!”
The gem on the driver turned solid green. A system of roots spread from the belt all over his body, as green particles collected around Timber to form his armor. “Hope you’re ready to lose,” The Rider started as he pointed at Achilles. “Cause Kamen Rider Timber is here to put you in your place!” He then pointed to himself with his thumb.
“Timber, please listen. This is all-” Achilles tried to explain himself, but Timber had already grabbed his axe and attacked the Rider. Achilles used his spear to block him. “Will you just listen? Working with a Unicorn is the last thing I want to do.”
The two broke away, but Timber kept attacking recklessly. “I’ve heard it all before!” Timber yelled as he pushed Achilles to the ground. “You say you’ll use the magic help, but all you cause is problems,” Timber mussed as he raised his axe and brought it down on the rider.
Achilles rolled out of the way of the attack. “I know what you’re talking about. And honestly, I would agree with you. But I swear on my life that I have no intention of hurting anyone.'' Unfortunately, his words fell on deft ears as Timber continued to swing at him. It was taking everything Flash had to not counterattack Timber out of frustration. If he were to throw a punch, that would only make the situation worse between the two so the Rider was forced on the defensive.
“If that’s true, why don’t you show us who you really are?” Timber asked.
Everything went silent. Flash looked at the other Rider, then at the girls who were watching the fight. He didn’t know what to say as his mind raced. In the end, he just remained as Timber tightened the grip on his axe.
“That’s what I thought,” he held the head of his axe up to his belt. A beam from the gem shot into the axe, as a root system lit up within it. Timber grabbed the handle with both hands, as the blades glowed green and grew in size.
“GAIA CRASH FEEDBACK!!!”
When the Rider swung the axe, a large spinning blade flew toward Achilles who held up his spear to block. The blade hit the rider and ricochet off of it. Timber continued to swing around the axe and the spinning blade followed his moments, hitting the Rider each time. As Achilles was forced back by the attacks, he didn’t know how much more punishment he could take. In an effort to escape, Flash reached for his cardholder as the blade came around again.
When the final attack hit, it caused an explosion. Timber let out a sigh but it was soon interrupted by a yellow blur zipping out of the smoke.
“B-B-B-BREEZE!!!”
The tiny blur bounced off the walls before finally escaping to the roofs. “Dang it, he got away!” Timber let out. Before he could do anything, he felt something hard hit him in the back of the head and cancel out his transformation.
“WHAT IN SAM HILL WERE YA THINKIN!!!” Applejack yelled out.
“What?" Timber defended, "you saw him. He was working for the enemy."
“All we saw was them talkin, that is hardly proof,” Applejack snapped back. “You’re allowed to be sceptical, but don’t start a fight till we get his side of the story.”
“Applejack is right," Sunset added. "You need to give him the benefit of the doubt."
“I’m sure Timber didn’t intend for things to get that heated,” Twilight interrupted as she grabbed Timber’s shoulder. “If he has reason to suspect Achilles may not be all that he seems then we should at least investigate.”
“Are you sure Twilight?" Rainbow asked, "cause all he’s going on is what some random woman said."
“If Timber trusts her, then so do I,” Twilight answered. “For now at least.”
“Thanks, babe,” Timber gave Twilight a kiss on the cheek. Rainbow and Applejack both looked at the couple with a less than enthusiastic look about it.
With the last of the Nightmares defeated, Shining was using his Watchdog to investigate the area. “Did that guy really think that was enough to beat you?” Trixie asked.
“His goal was to get Flash and me separated," Shining answered. "Guess that giant bug thought it was easier if he didn’t have to fight two of us.”
“Naw, he was trying to get me into a trap where Timber attacked me." They looked around and spotted Flash as he strolled up to the two, looking a bit worse for wear.
“Jeez, how did that happen?” Trixie asked.
“He saw me talking to Unicorn, she asked what I thought about coffee jelly. It was all an awkward conversation,” Flash explained as he brushed off his jacket. Even though the Advance’s words still rang in his head, he chose to leave out the details about her offer. “It was just a misunderstanding,” 'At less, I hope it was.'
“Anyway, we need to find that giant tick fast. If it was that strong before, I’m scared what could happen the longer it’s out there,” Trixie explained.
“Our best bet then would be to find the host," Flash told them. "Did you guys find any leads?"
“Not yet," Shining answered. "But we have our best team on the case.” As if on cue, the group’s three robotic companions had returned. The Owl Phone and Jelly Phone landed in Trixie’s hands as the WatchDog jumped into Shining’s. The drone projected a map with a red line, leading to where the host might be.
“Good job little guys,” Flash said as he petted the miniature dog. The three robots let out a variety of happy noises as they were patted. “We need to get to this guy first before Unicorn and the others.”
Meanwhile
"Would you look at that, there was a Magi-Beast attack while all you were fighting," Rarity was looking at the news on her phone.
"Good thing Shinny was there to clean things up," Pinkie continued to read the news post with her friend.
"Ya see," Timber smirked. "That Achilles guy is planning something, and that's why we need to find him."
"Or we can hunt down the monster before something awful happens," Sunset suggested with irritation.
“Of course, of course,” Timber replied with a wave of his hand. “I just need a way of finding the…” He paused, not knowing anything about the monster.
“Looks like a giant bug spent too much time in the zapper,” Rainbow chimed in as she looked at the pictures over Rarity’s shoulder.
“Why don’t we try and find the host?" Fluttershy suggested. "Usually, those monsters will try to cause problems for them. It seems like a good place to start and we can help them out with whatever problems they may have.”
“Not a bad idea,” Timber nodded as he started to scratch his chin. “And when that nat shows up, that’s when I’ll nail him. And with some luck, Achilles too.”
Applejack rolled her eyes. “Well if you say so, big shot. A'm gonna text Flash. He seems to have a knack for findin people that need help.” She pulled out her phone and started texting away at it.
"Yeah, I guess he could help out when he can," Timber responded. What none of the girls noticed was a major frown that appeared on his face, when Flash's name came up.
Twilight’s phone starts ringing to a text being received. The young woman checks to find that it’s from her father.
Hey sweety, I just want to check if you’re alright. I saw those monsters are on the attack again.
Timber sees her smile as he puts his around her, reading the text. “You can tell your dad he has nothing to worry about, You have me to protect you.
Twilight smiled if a little worried at how casually Timber seemed to be taking things. She has seen firsthand what the magi-beast can do and Timber seems to not be taking it as seriously as he should.
Following the trail, the trio found themselves approaching a small office building. Walking through the doors, they found that there was no one around. "I guess it must be off hours," Shining suggested.
"Then why would the doors be wide open?" Flash asked. "Can't be because the janitors are cleaning the place."
"Hello!" Trixie yelled out, "anyone here!?"
"Who's that?" A voice answered from down the hall. Poking his head through his office door, Nightlight saw the visitors slowly approach. "Oh, Shining. Didn't expect you to come to visit your old man," he said, surprised but happy to see his son.
“Dad?” Shining responded equally surprised.
“Wait, this is your’s and Twilight’s Father?” Trixie asked.
“Oh, you must be my daughter’s friends,” Nightlight observed with a laugh.
“Yeah, this is Flash and Trixie. They've been helping me a bit with my work,” Shining introduced the two teenagers. “Guys, this is my dad Nightlight. He’s a computer engineer.”
“Yeah, I’ve been part of a lot of important projects. Even worked with the space program a few times,” The older man said, trying to act impressively. “So what brings you kids here?”
“Oh, we needed to ask if anything estranged happened to you today?” Shining asked.
“You mean besides a group of monsters attacking me,” Nightlight answered. “I’m lucky I could escape before I could be electrocuted.”
“That’s good,” Flash nodded as they have found the host they were looking for. “Is there anything else you need help with?” He asked. The riders didn’t want this Magi-Beast to get stronger so the more they help Nightlight, the less likely things could get out of hand.
“I doubt you could unless any of you know about advanced AIs,” Nightlight answered. The three looked at each other, which told the older man that they weren’t. “Ah, it’s fine. Heck even I'm having some trouble with this one.”
Nightlight led the three to his desk and showed a bunch of code on the screen of his laptop. “Jeez, just looking at this mess is making my head spin,” Trixie complained.
“This is the source code for an AI my friend is trying to make. He said it will bring in a new era of robotics. Kurono was always like that, Jumping towards his dreams, even if they were pretty lofty ones.”
“Sounds like he’s putting a lot of faith in you,” Flash pointed out.
“Yeah, and honestly it’s a lot of pressure,” The older man admitted. “Kurono is putting it all on me to make his dream come true.”
"Jeez, I know how that feels," Flash said as he scratched the back of his head.
“Yeah it’s hard work but I couldn’t be happier to do it,” Nightlight replied. “There is nothing better than having someone relying on you, helping my friend achieve his dream.”
“Hmm, I think I see where Twilight gets it from,” Flash smiled.
However, the moment was interrupted by the sound of breaking glass. The group ran to see Voltick standing in front of the entrance he had just made. “I know you here, make it easy on us and come out.”
“I knew it was only a matter of time,” Flash said.
Shining pulled out his driver, but the Magi-Beast moved at such a high speed that he couldn’t transform in time. Pushing the humans out of the way Voltick grabbed the laptop, but Trixie grabbed it and tried to pull it back. “Oh no you don’t!” She let out, only for the monster to overpower her, and jumped back.
“No!” Nightlight shouted out.
“Mr. Nightlight’s work!” Flash followed as he started to run after the monster. The group followed the electric insect till it was out in the open.
When the monster finally stopped by a fountain, Twilight and her group finally ran into it. Flash’s group was not far behind. “Dad?!”
“Ah, having an audience. Perfect!” Voltick cried as he held up the computer. Rainbow tried to get close to the monster to kick him, but a bolt of lightning struck the ground and stopped her.
“Please, don’t!” Nightlight pleaded. It was clear to everyone that this was causing his distress and he was already starting to show signs that the Magi-Beast was nearing completion. “That computer doesn’t have just my work on it, it all of my friend’s life’s work. I can’t let it all go to waste.”
“Haha, too bad! Because my life's on the line as well!” Voltick cried before a surge of electricity traveled through his claws and into the computer, causing the battery to blow up and the whole thing to catch fire. He dropped the device and stepped on it, smashing it to pieces.
This causes Nightlight to fall to his knees and his body to turn transparent. The wisps of energy were absorbed into Voltick's body and caused his chest to transform, a large rail-gun quickly protruding out of it. “Now this is what I call amped up!” The monster yelled as he fired off his new canon all over the place.
“Dad!” Twilight and Shining yelled as they rushed to their father. “Keep it together dad!” Twilight shouted as she hugged her dad. Shining joined for a moment before turning to Flash. The two nodded and the teen ran off from anyone who might be looking.
“Finally, I’ve been looking forward to this. I hope your ready to lose cause no one messes with twilight’s family,” Timber declared with his driver on. “Henshin!”
“G-G-G-GAIA!!!”
Timber transformed and spun his axe, charging right at the Magi-Beast. But Voltick saw this coming and fired his canon. Timber tried to counter this by attempting to hit the ball of lighting with the flat side of his axe. But when it made contact, he was electrocuted. His skeleton was visible for a moment before he got blown away and landed on his back, his transformation canceling out.
“Hey, dumb-dumb didn’t anyone tell not to stick a fork in a toaster, cause this is what happens when you do,” Trixie said as she looked down on the green-haired young man. Timber said nothing as smoke came off his body.
The monster then turned his attention to the concerned siblings with their father. “If you're this upset over a computer, imagine what it’ll be like when you lose your kids! ” Voltick said with glee, firing his cannon at the siblings. The three closed their eyes braced themselves for the oncoming attack.
“Too bad, we won’t find out!” Flash's voice yelled out, as magical energy shot through the ground before a cage built up around the family. The lighting ball hit, but the three occupants were safe to the shock of the Magi-Beast. Twilight opened her eyes to examine the cage before she and Shining saw Achilles walking up in his Alchemy form.
“How dare you!” Timber yelled out as he got to his feet. “Capturing Twilight and her family to help out your friend, how cowardly!” He cried as he was preparing for another fight.
“Timber, wait!” Twilight interrupted. “This is a Faraday Cage. They're used to block out electromagnetic fields.” She turned to Achilles and smiled as the Rider stepped up to the family.
“How is he?” He asked, his gaze on the currently fading man.
“He doesn’t have long,” Shining responded.
“It’s too late riders," Voltick taunted. "There's no stopping the process now. All of that man’s dreams were on that computer and I crushed it.”
The Rider saw the worry in Twilight’s eyes, causing him to clench his fist and turned to the monster. “Well, then I better make this quick." With that, he brought his hands together. The rubber coating started to form around his arms, but this time it spread all across his body till only his eye plates were left uncovered. With the Rider done coating his armor, he charged at the monster.
"That won't work this time!" Voltick laughed as he fired a ball of lightning from his cannon, which Achilles smacked away without even a second's thought. Even though the rubber coating, Flash could feel the power of the electric attack to the point the coating melted off his arm. When Achilles got close enough, he delivered a punch to the insect's head, melting more of the coating. He then performed a roundhouse kick and knocked the monster to the ground.
With most of the coating melted off, Flash switches to his Rider form. He took out his spear and jabbed the monster with the butt end of it, pinning him to the ground. “You have a lot of nerve. Not only trying to hurt Mr.Nightlight, but his family as well” Achilles reached for his cardholder. “Let’s see what happens when I do to you what you did to that computer.” He pulled out the Storm card and slotted it into the spear.
“CHARGING!!"
The sky turned black with storm clouds, lighting cracking as a magical circle formed around the head of the spear. “No, no!" Voltick cried as he struggled to get up. "If you do this, you will take both of us out!” Achilles said nothing as he looked down at him.
“STORM FEEDBACK!!!”
Several lightning bolts struck and were all focused on the spear. Achilles lit up, feeling the lightning traveling through his body before flowing into the Magi-Beast. Cracks began to form all over Voltick’s body before they both exploded. Everyone looked away from the blast, the light bright enough to blind anyone who looked at it. After a few seconds, the light faded and they glanced back at where the two had been. There they saw a smoking crater, replacing where the two stood.
The Magi-Beast was gone, but Flash was knocked out of his transformation. He was covered in scratches and bruises from the final attack. Fortunately, the smoke observed the other’s view so he could escape before anyone noticed, with only his outline running away being what told the girls he was alright.
Applejack ran to the Faraday cage and bent the mesh to let the Sparkle family out. “Ya'll ok Surgarcube?” She asked.
“Yeah," Twilight nodded, "we’re fine. Maybe a bit banged up.”
“Is this what you deal with when you talk about all this magic stuff?” Nightlight asked.
“More or less,” Rainbow answered.
“That was intense what Achilles did,” Shining pointed out.
“Yeah, I didn’t think he would risk his life like that,” Twilight mused.
“See," Sunset said as she nudged Timber with her elbow, "Achilles isn’t that bad after all."
“Ehh," Timber looked away and crossed his arms, "I still don't like that guy. Something is definitely up with him.”
Nightlight found the remains of the laptop, picking up the hard drive before he blew up in his hand. “What am I going to tell Kurono. He trusted me with his dream and I let it all crumble, literally.”
“I think you're wrong about that,” Trixie chimed in. As the older man turned to her, the magician presented the flash drive his friend entrusted him with. Nightlight was on the verge of tears as she tossed it to him.
“Trixie, that’s amazing,” Sunset praised.
“HAHA, was there ever any doubt,” Trixie responded to the compliment.
With a day of combat finally at an end, Twilight and her friends had decided to finally rest at the diner. There, the group found Flash, all beaten up but happy to see all of his friends. “Flash, what the heck happened!?” Sunset yelled.
“Would you believe I got jumped by some Nightmares,” Flash answered as he scratched the back of his head. “Don’t worry. I managed to fend them off,”
“Burgers are on me girls,” Pinkie cried excitedly as everyone sat down.
“That’s great Pinkie, but I think I should be going." Flash rubbed his eyes and yawned, "I’m not feeling so hot right now.”
He made his way to the door till Timber spoke up. “Hold on Flash, mind if we chat a bit?” He asked.
“Um...sure,” Flash said as the two walked out. “So that monster was crazy wasn’t it?” The teen asked, trying to make small talk.
Timber was quiet for a moment till they reached the corner. “Quit it with the friendly act!” He shouted, then grabbed Flash and pinned him to the wall.
Flash was surprised by this act, about to say something but stopped when he met the guy's eyes. Timber was staring him down with a mean look, a total reversal of how he was at the dinner. "What...are you doing?"
"Don't think I don't know what you're after," Timber instructed as he took out his phone. He showed Flash some pictures of him and Twilight off her MyStable page. The two spending time studying, at the school play, and most recently at the amusement park.
"What? It's just me and Twilight hanging out."
"Oh don't act like I didn't see you at camp, the way you looked at her. You have feelings for her," The young man accused.
"Hey!" Flash responded, his face turning red. "That's none of your business. And what does it matter if I do? It's clear you're the one she loves."
"Your right I am," Timber’s expression changed to a wicked grin. This caused the teen to raise an eyebrow. "So for everyone's sake, I recommend you should just stay away from her. Don't want anything bad to happen."
"What are you saying?"
Timber took out his driver, tossing it into the air and catching it casually. "I'm here to protect people, and I'd hate to see anything happen to a nice kid like you."
"Is that a threat?" Flash asked, his fists were clenched trying to hold back what he really wanted to say. "And who are you to say who Twilight can spend time with?"
Timber just let Flash go and turned around. "If you really care for Twilight, you'll stay away from her."
As he walked away, Trixie passed him. "Flash, Sunset wanted to ask…" she started before seeing the sick look on his face. "A-are you ok?"
Flash said nothing for a moment before he bolted towards a nearby trash can. "BLAAARGH!!!" He threw up. Trixie ran to her friend and patted his back, trying to provide comfort in his time of need.