Magnus, Sparkler, Sunny, and Harmone walked past the guards stationed in front of the Medley Deli and walked in to see Winter, her siblings, Hitch, Apple Brittle, and Zipp already in there. Zipp and Hitch glanced at the door and saw Sparkler and Sunny. “Sparkler!”
“Sunny!” They said as they ran to them.
“Are you ok?” Hitch asked.
“Where’re Pipp, Izzy and the kids? We saw the house explode.” Zipp asked, worried about her sister.
Sparkler sighed. “They were all captured by Sprout. He sucked them into that giant robot of his.” She said.
“We tried to get them out but—“ Sunny started before the door opened. Everypony whirled their heads around to see…
“Pedal?! Spike?!” Sparkler gasped in surprise to see one of her daughters and Spike standing there, and NOT in a robot.
Pedal smiled and nodded. “Yeah. Sprout let us go.” She said.
“Don’t make us say HOW, but he did.” Spike added, shivering.
Sparkler suddenly got a really disturbing image from Pedal through the mental link. She nodded. “Yeah uh, let’s not talk about that, WHY did he let you go?” She asked.
“Because I’m an Earth Pony.” Pedal responded. “And Spike just happened to be next to me.” She explained.
Sunny gasped, before facehoofing. “Right. Because he has no problems with Earth Ponies. Just non earth ponies.” She said.
Sparkler groaned, but did hug Pedal and Spike tight. “Oh thank Faust you two are alright!” She said. “Now that’s two less prisoners to worry about.“ She added, glad for it.
Right then, the door opened again and this time Night Shade and Phyllis entered the building. “This is all my fault.” Phyllis said. “If I hadn’t grilled into him that Pegasi and Unicorns were the enemy, this wouldn’t have happened.”
“Ms. Phyllis, just stop. You were just looking out for Sprout.” Night Shade said. He turned to the gathered heroes. “Everypony, I know how we can beat this thing!”
“How?” Winter asked.
Phyllis smiled and placed her laptop on the table. “I managed to snag Sprout’s plans for his Ultimate Sprouticus Maximus.” She explained as blueprints of the mechapony appeared on the screen.
“Whoa. Nice.” Twinkle said.
“Yeah. I was correct in my assumption that the magical signatures are what power that thing.” Night Shade said.
“So we go in, take them back, and bam, that thing freezes in its tracks?” Zipp asked.
“Except Sprout has an army of robots between us and them.” Hurricane pointed out. “There’s no way he’ll NOT put up one heck of a fight.”
“And he’s got a living shield. We can’t do much to his robot without risking the lives of Izzy, Pipp, and the kids.” Sparkler commented. “And that’s in addition to the fact that 5 of his magical signatures are literally irreplaceable.”
“So we get them out.” Spike responded. “Pedal and I came up with the idea to use my fire as a blowtorch.” He explained.
“Once they’re out, we can really go ham on that thing.”
“Meanwhile I can sneak in and snag the magical signatures back. I checked and the Timegate is 100% ok. Just needs the magic back.” Night Shade explained.
“Alright.” Winter said. “Here’s what we’ll do. Sprout hates Unicorns and Pegasi. So Alicorns are probably his worst nightmare.” She reasoned.
“Makes sense.” Foxtrot commented.
“And we have four Alicorns here.” Winter continued, including Harmone in the count. “If we can file him up. He’ll focus on us, leaving himself open to be infiltrated by Night Shade, Flappy Jack, and Hurricane.” She explained.
“What about the poninators?” Zipp asked.
“Sunny, Sparkler, Harmone and I will keep Sprout busy, Night Shade, Hurricane and Flappy Jack will infiltrate the giant robot, the rest of our group will keep the Poninators off our backs.” Winter said.
“And we’ll go in and free the prisoners!” Pedal said as she and Spike nodded.
“Absolutely not.” Sparkler responded. “I am not gonna let you risk your lives.” She said simply.
“Mom, how else are you going to get them out without Spike’s fire?” Pedal asked.
“And someone needs to pull my tail or else I can’t hold the fire for long enough.” Spike added.
Sparkler stared at the two for a moment, before sighing. She knew there was no time to argue, and she knew Pedal was stubborn, just like her. “Fine. I’ll get you two to the containment prison.” She conceded.
Hitch nodded. “I’ll get Phyllis to the shelter.” He said.
Winter smiled. “Right, so who’s ready to save the world?” She asked.
“Let’s show Sprout how strong we are together.” Magnus responded.
At that moment, they all heard a screeching. Winter glanced at the door to see a mechanical Hawk as tall as her standing at the door, having smashed the windows in. She smiled. “Reflect!” She exclaimed as she approached the bird.
Sparkler raised an eyebrow. “Winter? What’s that?” She asked.
“Just a little something to help.” Winter responded. “Reflect, it’s time for the Crystal Guardian and her rangers to return.” She said.
Reflect the Hawk nodded and opened his beak, six objects shot out of his mouth and latched onto Sparkle, Twinkle, Hurricane, Foxtrot, Bender, and Flappy Jack. Sparkler’s eyes widened. “Guys? What’s going on?” She asked as she saw her seven great grandkids stand in a line.
“It’s better if you see it. Reflect! Go guardian!” Winter called out.
Reflect screeched and flapped his wings. He hovered over Winter, who spread her wings, and much to the disbelief of everypony except Night Shade, Harmone, Apple Brittle, and Magnus, Reflect started opening up, and actually ENCASING Winter in light blue shiny armor! A helmet formed around Winter’s head and the entire thing powered up.
While that was going on, Winter’s siblings touched the things that attached to their left forelegs like watches. “Crystalizers! Harmonize! Unleash the elements!” They called out.
Similar to Winter, they too were encased in silver armor. Powering up when fully encased.
After a moment, Winter and her siblings were fully clad out in armor. Sparkler’s mouth dropped. “W-Winter…” She stuttered.
“I can’t tell you everything. But what I can tell you is that your legacy goes farther beyond than you’ll ever expect.” Winter told Sparkler.
Sparkler glanced over at Harmone, who was the first to call her a legend. Harmone shrugged. “I did say you were a legend.” He said.
“That is the COOLEST thing ever!” Spike exclaimed once the shock cleared up. “Where did you get that armor and where can I get some?” He asked.
“Later Spike.” Winter responded. “Now, everypony ready?” She asked.
Sparkler snapped out of her shock and nodded. “Let’s save the world!” She said.
Meanwhile, in the glass prison. Izzy TRIED shooting her way out, but the glass was magic resistant. “Dang it. I can’t blast us out of here.” She grumbled.
“At least you tried your best sweetie.” Pipp responded, draping a wing over Izzy.
“Ugh. I can’t believe one pony is capable of this mess.” Melody responded. “Like, seriously, what the hay is Sprout’s problem?”
Light and Dark glanced at the glass, and then at their own hooves. An idea came to them. “Hey, we could try scratching our way out of here.” Light said as they extended their claws.
Sprinkle smiled. “Good idea!” She said as Light and Dark approached the glass, and began furiously swiping at it. They immediately saw scratch marks on the glass.
Six seconds into Light’s and Dark’s swiping, Sprout’s voice came over the intercom. “Hey! No scratching!” He growled as a turret popped down from the ceiling and shot at Light and Dark, tranquillizing the both of them.
Light and Dark were out like a light when the darts hit them. “Ugh…” they let out as they slumped to the floor.
Melody gasped and quickly removed the darts from Light and Dark’s flanks. She examined one of them, and her eyes widened. “Oh no. Not these darts!” She exclaimed. “He used the same dart he used on me! The kind that’s only been used on non earth pony species ONCE!” She exclaimed.
Izzy and Pipp gasped. While Mystic raised an eyebrow. “And that’s a problem…” She mused.
“Light and Dark could very well die from the tranquilizing solution in these darts.” Melody explained, remembering what she had been told.
All the kids heard that and gasped. If what Melody said was true, Sprout was in for a world of pain from a certain Momma Bear Alicorn.
To be continued…