//------------------------------//
// Chapter 3 
// Story: The Keys To Victory 
// by RevvEmUp 
//------------------------------//

In the Crystal Brighthouse kitchenette, the team returned tired from an excursion outside to take a hot cocoa break. “We spent hours digging in the snow, and all we brought in was that arcade machine.” Sunny groaned as she pours cocoa into her mug.

“The Bird’s awfully adamant about keeping it. What’s so important about it?” Zipp turned to The Bird hugging a blue-and-white arcade cabinet with an ornate golden façade.

“This is a repair project I was working on. I’m glad it survived the crash.” The Bird explained as he caringly nuzzles the arcade cabinet.

“Can’t you track that phone? You’ve gotta have an app for that!” Pipp shouted to The Bird. “And if you’re with super-mega-advanced space pirates, why flip phones? Couldn’t they have less buttons and more screen?”

“It’s not too bad!” Izzy wagged her hoof. “Unlike the phones we have, I can do this with these!” she floats her transformation phone in front of Pipp and flicks it open and shut.

“There were plans for upgrades, but daily plundering moved the date up, up, and away.” The Bird sighed.

“On the topic of training, I was thinking we use old Canterlogic as an obstacle course again. There’s lots of space, and it’s a good controlled environment to test our weapons.” Zipp suggested.

“I can get course equipment from the department. It’ll just be like at the academy!” Hitch beamed with a nostalgic look.

“There’s a sheriff academy?” Zipp raised an eyebrow.

“Well, the academy was just me and Sprout, but it was still the best year of my life!” Hitch elaborated before he and Sparky drink their cocoa.

Sunny listens to the conversation, swirling her mug as The Bird watches silently. “Did you want one? Or do robots drink hot oil instead?”

“My crew used to get together like this all the time… They were more than friends. They were family, the only ones I knew.” The Bird murmured longingly from such a memory.

“I know how it feels to suddenly lose somepony important. I lost my dad years ago, and felt like losing an entire family.” Sunny told her story solemnly before looking at her friends. “Then I found a new family, and everything felt right. I hope we can be that family to you.”

“Why don’t you talk about your friends? I’d love to know the kinda superhero-pirates they were.” Hitch inquired.

“Well, let’s start with Yellow.” The Bird eyes Hitch’s key. “She’s a real tough cookie. If she ever starts a fight, she intends to end it. She’s especially dangerous when she gets her hands on two sabers.”

“She? I’m surprised at how well the suit fits me.” Hitch raised an eyebrow.

“As for Blue…” The Bird looked at Zipp holding up her recovered key. “He had the most smarts in our group; technical and strategic. Not bad with a sword… or five.”

“Five swords?! Is that what hands can do?!” Zipp said in surprise.

“Only a master swordsman like him can pull off that stunt.” The Bird corrected.

“What about this guy? What was she like? Or he.” Izzy excitedly orbits her Green Key around The Bird.

“Boy that kid was a goofball, but he had his moments. Most of them are him slipping on a banana peel then accidentally chopping a whole squad of robots into scrap.” The Bird chuckled. “Despite that, he wears that goofiness on his sleeve.”

“Ah, the ancient art of slapstick. Only the silliest ponies could dream of mastering such an art.” Izzy commented with an amused tone.

“Pink, you could say, was as pretty as a princess, but was a true swashbuckler. She’s a crack shot, and could calculate the trajectory of a ricochet with just a glance.” The Bird continued. “She’s sorta like a ‘big sister,’ always taking care of us and clearing up any squabbles.”

“Sounds like Pink fits Zipp more than me.” Pipp giggled as she glances at Zipp. “But I won’t let that stop me from wearing her colours with pri~i~ide!” she suddenly harmonizes to cheer everyone up.

“And our captain…” The Bird turns to Sunny. “He always puts on a brave face whenever danger approaches… Last I saw him, he was wearing the same devilish smile he always does before… before…” The Bird sounded like it was starting to tear up, and Sunny could only pat its back to comfort it.

“If we’re gonna avenge them, we need to find a way to use their weapons. They’re practically useless on us!” Hitch reminded everyone.

As Izzy listens, she eyes Zipp and Pipp holding their mugs with their wings like they did their weapons, then had a thought. “I got an idea! Did anypony notice how well Zipp and Pipp held them compared to us?” she asked as Zipp and Pipp look at their own wings.

“Huh, you’re right. They’re surprisingly tactile.” Hitch noted as he closely examines Zipp’s wings to her embarrassment.

“I can unicycle gear that can hold our weapons like they do!” Izzy exclaimed her eureka moment.

“Sounds like a good idea as any!” Sunny brings out her weapons and slides them over to Izzy, followed by the rest of her friends one-by-one.

“Gimme a moment, and I’ll have these things ponied-up lickety-split!” Izzy chuckled in excitement before jumping into her workshop corner.

Suddenly, the ground quakes as flashes of yellow floods the windows. Everypony but Izzy goes outside to see their city under siege again; explosions booming on every street and lightning striking from the ground towards the sky. “I guess we’re skipping training.” Zipp rolled her eyes.

“Let’s go kick some tin, everypony!” Sunny rallies her friends.

“What about our weapons?” Hitch wondered.

“We’ll send your weapons when they’re ready. You just kick tailpipe!” The Bird commanded.

Fearing the upcoming battle, Hitch leaves Sparky with The Bird. “Stay here, Sparky. I’ll be back soon.” He assured Sparky before running off.

Sparky whines and whimpers as he tries reaching Hitch, but The Bird closes the door on him.





The four trots down Mane Street, finding things aren’t quite how they left it; the streetcar is much bigger than before, the buildings appearing subtly taller, even half-set decorations in have been changed. “Look at this place. It’s huge!” Sunny commented at the now-towering buildings.

“Even the decorations changed. What even is a Merry Christmas?” Pipp pointed to a passing festive banner.

“Human World must’ve changed the town to fit humans. If I had to guess, Merry Christmas must be a human holiday like Wishday.” Hitch postulated.

“If Posey’s current size is anything to go by, they must need bigger everything!” Zipp agreed.

A guitar riff fills the air, announcing the arrival of Human World holding a steampunk guitar and Kudakks dressed like retro pop rockers with outrageous wigs and neon livery.

“’Sup, man? Like what I did to the place, man?” Human World taunted before playing off a rift.

“Did he always have a guitar?” Pipp wondered.

“You! You’re gonna pay for what you did to Maretime Bay!” Zipp pointed at him.

“Nobody messes with ponykind on our watch!” Zipp shouted.

“This is your last chance to leave Equestria and free that world inside of you. If not, we’ll have to do it ourselves!” Sunny commanded.

“I was given a job, and I’m gonna finish it, man.” Human World taunted them.

“Go, go, Power Ponies!” Sunny rallied her friends before they line up and insert the keys into their phones, transforming them into their superhero suits with a great flash. She grinds her hoof on the pavement before galloping at the Kudakks at top speed, knocking them down like bowling pins.

“Power Ponies? Is that what we’re calling ourselves?” Hitch wondered before two Kudakks rush him with a bench, intending to clothesline him. He swiftly slides under the bench and hooks the back of his hoof between the planks, grabbing it and tripping the Kudakks aside. “Respect public property!” he scolded them before putting the bench down.

Spreading her wings, Zipp takes to the sky and loops around to gain momentum before crashing onto a Kudakk squad, leaving a crater on impact. “That name’s taken. I checked.” Zipp shrugged before taking on Kudakks jumping into the crater, bucking each one that gets near her like a pit fighter. “I was thinking we should call ourselves the Skirates!”

When a Kudakk charges at Pipp, she clamps her wings on its plug-spear to flip it off the edge. “Save it, ponies! This isn’t an pitch meeting!” she shouts to her friends before dodging Human World swinging his guitar like an axe.

“Why don’t I show you some of my greatest hits, man?!”

Using her performance skills, Pipp flips, somersaults, and glides away from Human World’s attack before hovering mere feet above him. “It’s nice to have wings, isn’t it? I never have to complain about reaching the top shelf!” she taunted.

“But what’ll you do without ‘em, man?” Human World threatened as his green eyes builds energy up before a red dash bulldozes the bunch: Sunny herself. “I got your flank, Pipp!” she waved to Pipp, who responds in kind before flying away.

Before Sunny could move another inch, a golden trident suddenly throttles into ground before her. Taking a closer look, the trident’s head is adorned with their unique alien Jolly Roger. “Huh?!” the moment Sunny turns to the direction it came from; a silver boot kicks her into a brick wall.

In that moment, her friends stop and look at Sunny embedded within the wall. “Sunny!” Hitch shouted anxiously.

When Sunny falls off the Sunny-shaped indent in the wall, she slowly gets up to see a human-shaped silhouette strutting towards her. Her eyes adjust to find a human wearing a silver jacket like her friends’ with the addition of a miniskirt, a high-tech collar, and a gold-tinted visor. “Who… who are you?”

“This is my new friend, Mis- uh… uh…” Human World fumbles his introduction, as if about to let something slip. “Mis… Miss Silver, yeah, man! She’s gonna help me take those phones off your hooves, man!”

“She looks like us!” Pipp pointed.

“We’re too late. Human World found the sixth phone!” Zipp realized.

“And yours are next, man!” Human World cackled before Miss Silver thrusts her trident at Sunny, who rolls away before it strikes the wall.

Sunny rejoins her friends as Miss Silver twirls her trident like a baton before throwing it in the air, collapsing it into a blaster with an extended barrel. Miss Silver rapid-fires blue lasers at them with enough force to knock them off their hooves. Processing the terrifying attack, Sunny lifts her head to find Miss Silver and Human World standing above them, pointing their blasters and guitar at them.

“Nighty-night, my little ponies… man.” Human World chuckled as Miss Silver charges her blaster.

Sunny could do nothing but stare down the barrel before Human World is suddenly pulled away from behind and a metal boxing glove slam Miss Silver through a window, and an even bigger shadow casts over the ponies. “Hey, ponies! Like my new ride?” Izzy’s voice greets them with a confident twang.

Everypony looks up to find Izzy suited-up and riding a mecha made from the arcade machine armed with big red boxing gloves. “Thanks for the save, Izz.” Sunny thanked her before being helped up.

“I see you unicycled that bird’s arcade machine.” Zipp noted.

“That’s not the only thing I unicycled!” Izzy then straps on everypony gilded saddles with robotic arms holding their weapons. “Ta-daaa! Introducing battle saddles for all your battling needs!”

The moment the battle saddle connects to their suits, a new targeting system aids them in moving their weaponry, locking onto wherever they looked, and in the sisters’ case, providing further augmentation to their wings in addition to better weapon grip. “Thanks, Izzy. This’ll really turn the tide for us!” Hitch thanked her as he twirls his blaster.

As they glee over their upgraded weapons, the villains get up with an army of Kudakks behind them. “Why don’t we test them out? We’ve got a couple targets over there.” Zipp suggested as she flicks her sword.

Preparing for the battle, Sunny re-adjusts her collar. “Ponies… let’s make this flashy!” The ponies charge at the army over the stomps left by Izzy’s arcade-bot, slashing the first Kudakks at the front.

“Zipp, let’s swap!” Hitch raises his sword to Zipp, who just cut a Kudakk clean in half on the other side of the crowd.

“Feel free to root, toot, and shoot, sheriff!” Zipp throws her blaster at Hitch, who flings his sword over the Kudakks. Both catch the weapons from one another and resume blasting and shooting through Kudakks.

Izzy directly takes on Human World, throwing punches as he blocks each punch with his guitar. After a couple punches that nearly crack the guitar, Human World ducks under the next punch and weaves around Izzy to swing his guitar into her, but underestimated her mech’s speed as it grabs his guitar’s neck and slams it into his face. “Ow, man! I just got that thing, man!”

“It wasn’t easy for me, either! With a splash of blue, it’d totally be my style!” Izzy mourned the guitar as a Kudakk climbs the mech from behind. “Hey, this is a one-seater!” Izzy growled before the Kudakk shoves its hand to her visor. They slap-fight atop the mech while it goes out of control, bulldozing down Human World before Izzy controls the situation by shooting her opponent in the head and tossing it onto Human World just as he got up.

“Izzy, help!” Izzy glances over to Pipp trying to fly away, but a chain of Kudakks pull her downwards. No matter how fast her wings flutter, she can’t escape the army’s pull.

“Gotcha!” Izzy shouted before shooting the topmost link in the head, releasing Pipp and causing the chain to collapse. “Here, take this!” Izzy flings her blaster at Pipp, who drops her sword to catch it.

Using her altitude to her advantage, Pipp shoots at the Kudakks from above before they can react.

As Sunny duels Miss Silver, her opponent proved to be more of a challenge compared to a typical Kudakk; thrusting and swinging faster than Sunny can react, even with the battle saddle. Sunny points her blaster at Miss Silver, who simply swats it away. Left with a single blade, Sunny desperately rolls and jumps away from Miss Silver’s attacks. It was when she finds Pipp’s discarded blade does she cross them in time to block another thrust, weaving her blade between the prongs. Using the full strength of the battle saddle, Sunny flings the trident to the side before twisting around to buck Miss Silver’s chest.

Miss Silver stumbles backwards before tripping over the fallen Human World as he tries getting up again. With their Kudakks defeated, the ponies stand over him and Miss Silver. “I’ll ask this one more time: reverse what you’ve done, Human World.” Sunny demanded at sword-point.

Suddenly, Sparky comes waddling towards them, babbling worriedly.

“Sparky! You’re supposed to stay home!” Hitch shouted, scared for his life.

“Oh look: an innocent bystander, man!” Human World points at Sparky, commanding Miss Silver to fire at him.

“No!” Hitch runs towards Sparky, racing against the laser beam before jumping into its path a foot shy of Sparky. As smoke bellows from his destroyed battle saddle, Sparky comes to his side, attempting to wake him up.

“Hitch, get up!” Zipp cried as the rest of the team gather around his fallen body.

“Hitch, please, speak to me!” Sunny whimpered as she puts her hooves on his chest.

“Don’t go into the light!” Izzy cried, shaking his body as hard as she could.

As Hitch is shaken like a maraca, he sputters as he comes to. “Huh? Is… is Sparky okay?” Hitch mumbled before Sparky jumps into his embrace, causing the battle saddle to fall off. “Looks like the saddle took a hit for me.”

As the team comforts Hitch, Human World flees with Miss Silver slung over his shoulder. “Smell ya later, man!”

“They’re got away again!” Zipp shouted as the villains disappear into the snowfall.

“Don’t worry about him. Let’s see if anypony around here is okay.” Sunny suggested. Then, she hears foals whimpering nearby. “Did everypony hear that?” she follows the noise to a humble grocer with the door ajar. “Hello? Is anypony here?” Sunny called to whomever as she and her friends enters. Inside, it appeared the shoppers left in a hurry, evidenced by filled shopping baskets and carts scattered around, and products are spilled across the floor. Sunny and her friends enter and hear a thump under a cashier counter.

Hitch goes under the cashier and his eyes are blinded by a barcode scanner. “Aaah! My eyes!”

The rest of the team come to the counter and find young Seashell leaned against a shadowy lump and Peach Fizz wielding a barcode scanner. “Oh, it’s just you two!” Pipp greeted them.

“Go away! Go away!” Peach Fizz points the scanner at their faces before Pipp takes off her helmet.

“Pippsqueaks, it’s just me; Pipp!”

“Pipp! You’re here to rescue us!” Seashell squeaked in relief.

“Where’s Glory? She’s always with you, isn’t she?” taking off her helmet, Zipp asked as the shadowy lump stirs.

“What’re you’re hiding?” Sunny takes a closer look at the shifting lump and swears she saw a familiar shade of aqua. She sticks her hoof to the lump and rolls it over, revealing a now-human Glory wearing a navy parka cowering before her.

“Oh no…” Pipp puts her hooves to her muzzle in shock.

“It got you, didn’t it?” Hitch asked solemnly.

“I didn’t see it coming! I was playing with my friends, and then I… I became this!” Glory broke into tears before wiping her face with her hands; the sight of which terrified her.

“Let’s take her to the hospital. There’s somepony else being treated for this transformation.” Sunny advised the fillies.





At Maretime Bay hospital, the team and Sparky trot through the ward to find humans in differing forms of grief. They recognize most of the humans as ponies they knew; Windy became a tall woman wearing a scoutmaster uniform, Jazz is rocking back and forth on her bed wearing a pink sweater whilst Rocky comforts her, and Onyx is lying down with her usual melancholy, wearing a black turtleneck and jeans. “I can’t believe Human World could do this in this short of a time.” Sunny turns her head back and forth at each room.

“I can’t imagine what they’re going through. It must be so terrifying.” Pipp muttered.

“Let’s check on Posey. Hopefully she’s awake.” Izzy suggested as they come across Posey’s room. The moment they enter, they see Posey awake and sticking her hand at a houseplant as a doctor watches, straining as she stretches her hand forward.

“Hi, Posey. How are you doing?” Sunny greets her.

“How do you think I’m doing?! My gallery is ruined, I get knocked out by a robot, then I wake up three feet taller with weird hooves—” Posey complained as she wiggles her fingers. “And now I can’t do magic!”

“You can’t do magic?” Sunny repeated.

“We were conducting a test just now. She’s trying to manipulate this philodendron, but nothing worked.” A doctor informed them. “This is consistent with tests on former Pegasi and unicorns: they’re missing wings, unicorns can’t levitate objects; every bit of magic was squeezed out of them. They don’t even have Cutie Marks!”

“Posey… I’m so sorry…” Izzy extended her condolences.

“Whatever…” Posey sighed. “I just wanna be—”

“What happened back there?!” The Bird suddenly flew into the room through a window.

“Aaah! Robot attack!” the doctor screamed as he ran out the door.

“Wait, don’t leave me!” Posey cried as she extends her hand to the escaping doctor. “Get it away! Get it away!” Posey flutters her arms at The Bird before Izzy grabs it, bringing it to her side.

“Don’t worry, this lil guy’s on our side.” Izzy assured.

“Excuse me, I need a sit-rep!” The Bird growled.

“We found the sixth phone, but…” Zipp scratched her neck.

“Human World found a minion to use it: a human.” Sunny explained.

“She had a big trident that turns into a blaster, and nearly destroyed us if Izzy didn’t jump in with her new mech!” Hitch interjected.

“What do we do? I could barely keep up with her even with the battle saddle. I had to escape her through a fluke!” Sunny asked The Bird.

The Bird sighs. “I didn’t wanna do this so soon, but if we wanna go anywhere, I need to take you to the next level.” The Bird told them with a hint of hesitance.

“Next level?” Sunny raised an eyebrow.

The Bird opens its chest compartment to produce another red figurine-key like Sunny’s, but with a white diamond on the chest and a helmet themed after some draconic creature.





Returning to Opaline’s Dark Castle, Human World unloads Miss Silver on the throne room floor on her back like luggage before a frustrated Opaline. “What happened?! I expected five phones and human slaves, but you returned with nothing!” Opaline scolded Human World. She trots to Miss Silver and takes from her pocket her transformation phone, flipping open the screen to remove a silver figurine-key. Upon the key’s removal, Miss Silver’s suit disappears to reveal a humanized Misty wearing a baggy blue shirt with sleeves too long for her arms, shorts too short for the weather, and the high-tech collar remained around her neck while maintaining a listless, blank look. “Even with your so-called ‘compliance collar’ and ‘Ranger Key,’ she’s still useless!”

“Those ponies caught us off-guard, man! The unicorn rolled up in a mech and punched me, man!” Human World explained before Opaline magically throttles him against the trunk of the tree winding throughout the castle.

“What’s wrong with you?! Did that pirate make you so incomprehensibly incompetent to fool me?!” Opaline roared before pulling Human World outright and stretching his limbs out like he was pinned against a cross. “I expected more from you, but you’re nothing but a defective product!”

“Hold that review, your excellency.” halted a familiar voice as the alien pirate emerges from a shadowy corner; his pet monkey hanging off his back.

“You!” Opaline growled as she releases Human World, causing him to faceplant. “Your soldier ran from a battle he should’ve won, and Misty was no more useful than without your fancy gadgets!”

“Patience, Opaline. He might look incompetent, but I can assure you… he is evolving.” The pirate softly assured. “Human World’s special power isn’t just turning ponies human, but manifesting the infinite potential of humanity!”

“I can, man?” Human World asked as he gets up, clueless as Opaline.

“For example, have you wondered where he got that guitar? Did it, perhaps, appeared out of thin air?”

“Is that what he can do? Make guitars?” Opaline asked sarcastically.

“That, and more!” The pirate answered gleefully. “As we speak, he’s evolvin’ before yer very eyes! Who knows what his next power’ll be?”

When he finishes his sentence, Human World suddenly gains extra few inches in height. Everyone looks at his feet to find roller skates on his soles. “Roller skates. How terrifying.” Opaline rolls her eyes. “If you don’t mind, I’d like you to free Misty and take Human World with you. Our deal is off.”

Suddenly, Human World pulls out a steampunk bow and three arrows which he aims over Opaline. She ducks out of his way as he shoots the arrows at a shelf on the other end of the room, perfectly shattering three empty potion bottles. “Huh, I’ve never done that before, man.”

“What did ya say about our deal?” The pirate asked Opaline smugly.

“Could we transfer this… ‘infinite potential’ into Misty?” Opaline eyes Misty lying on the ground, silently staring at the ceiling with no thoughts of her own.

To be continued…