//------------------------------// // Episode 6 - The Cowboy // Story: Kamen Rider Bass // by Noise //------------------------------// The sun shined on a brand new day as two men were walking through the streets of Manehattan. One wore a cowboy hat, an orange shirt with a leather vest and long cowboy boots complete with spurs while the other wore a plain red t-shirt and jeans. The cowboy seemed to be very excited at the moment as he talked with his companion. “I'm really glad y'all could come with me today. It's been awhile since I last saw ya. How ya been cuz?” “...” “How 'bout the others? I hear ol' Granny Smith is still doin' well. How bout lil Applebloom? I haven't seen her since our family reunion last year.” “...” “Well that's great! I always knew the little filly had it in her. By the way, you never told me what you doing here in Manehattan. I was pretty surprised when I found out you were here. Talk about lucky.” “...” “Ya can't?” “...” “I understand. Must be something important if you're not allowed to talk about it. I hope you can share some day.” “...” “Oh, I'm here on a little bit o' business. I'm here to meet with a potential backer for an important project cousin Fuji is workin on. She's still working overseas and plane tickets would've cost her an arm and a leg. She made a few calls and when she got to me, I told her I had no problem heading out to Manehattan to go to a meeting on her behalf. Didn't hurt my wallet at all. I got this ol' fancy briefcase here with a buncha paperwork she sent me and I had to do a lot o' readin' on this. It was a little exhausting to be honest, but it'll be worth it to help 'er out. From what I read too, if this research o' hers gets funded, it could lead to some really big medical breakthroughs. It's really impressive when ya get to that part. Although I have a bunch of other legal stuff and all that less impressive stuff I gotta present, but that's nothin' I haven't done before, though I'm still a little nervous.” “...” “Ah thanks cuz. I'll tell ya all about it later, we're almost there. Thanks again for goin' outta yer way to walk with me. Be sure to give my regards to the family when ya get back home.” “...” “Oh really!? Cousin AJ's here too? Well shoot, we're gonna have to have us a lil get together later today! I'm guessing she's here on account o' you and that lil meeting o' yers?” “...” “I see. That's sure is nice o' her. It's been great catchin' up with ya cuz, but I don't wanna keep ya anymore than I need to. I'll be sure give cousin AJ a call tonight. See ya later!” “...” --- Bolt walked inside the Office to find Ditzy bringing an unknown woman a grilled cheese sandwich and a glass of orange juice. Ditzy looked up and greeted the confused Bolt as he continued to look in silence, the woman turned around and tipped her stetson to him. “Good morning and nice to meetcha. Name's Applejack. Ah'd get up and shake yer hand, but ah just sat down for breakfast. Mah apologies.” Bolt simply raised an eyebrow and glanced up at Ditzy, pointing at the woman. “Is she another new Rider or something? I don't recall hearing anything about this.” “Excuse me. It's rude t'just ignore someone like that.” “Ummm. Sorry I guess. So...are you the new Rider or something?” Applejack turned to focus on her food. She decided if the man was going to be rude, she would reciprocate. “No. My brother'll be here in a bit. I sure hope you mind yer manners when he gets here.” “Hope he aint as uptight as you.” He looked back at Ditzy, who was shuffling about in place, feeling a little awkward now. “Oy Ditzy, the Doctor in yet?” Ditzy jumped a little upon hearing her named being called. “O-oh. N-no, not yet. He's probably just a little late. I'm keeping our guest company right now until he shows up. My earpiece is synced to the main monitor right now. If any Drivers go live, it'll let me know.” Bolt shrugged. “Kay. Well, gonna head back then. Turbo nerd invited me over. Gonna do that for now. Later.” Applejack slapped the table and turned around. “D'jyou just refer to yer friend as a 'turbo nerd'? Now that's just disrespectful! Didn't yer parents ever teach you any manners!?” Bolt glared at Applejack for a moment, clearly agitated by her question. Already sick of being around her, he turned and left the Office. “I don't like that guy one bit.” Ditzy finally sat down as the awkward atmosphere finally dissipated. “Sorry about that. He's really a good guy though. He's just a little...I guess rough around the edges would be a good way to put it.” “Taint no excuse for having bad manners and bein' disrespectful.” Ditzy decided to drop the matter for now and changed the subject while they waited. --- Bolt was greeted by Twilight and invited to join her for a breakfast of blueberry pancakes she had just finished making. Twilight's cell phone was resting on the table as she ate, her eyes glancing at it every so often. She finished off her plate and pushed it aside, looking at Bolt intently now. “Bolt. You don't have tell me all the details, but is it true that you really have no affiliation with the organization we're working for?” Bolt nodded as he swallowed a bite of pancake. “Mmhm. I still don't. Don't care. I'm doing what I feel is right. That's all that matters to me.” Twilight stared him down for a moment before her expression finally softened. She grabbed her phone, tapping the screen a few times. “Alright then. I trust you. There's something I want to share with you. I didn't want to share with the rest of them until I knew more about what this meant, but considering your circumstances, I think I could share with you.” Her tapping ceased and she looked up at Bolt. “Some time before I was sent here from Canterlot, I started receiving these odd text messages. I'm not entirely sure what to make of this right now. The person's area code suggests the phone originates from Fillydelphia, but I don't think the number or area code matter at the moment. Before you showed up, I got another one. At first, I thought these were junk from someone texting a wrong number, but they started to hint at things that only I and a few other people should know about. The text I got earlier... Just take a look. I tried texting the person back a few times. I only ever got one response.” She pushed the phone across the small dinner table. The phone was currently displaying text messages from a phone number he didn't recognize. He started carefully reading the messages. The date and times on the messages were spread across days and happened at seemingly random times. --- UNKNOWN: Do not worry about The Doctor. Twilight Sparkle: I'm sorry, I think you have the wrong number. UNKNOWN: She can be saved. Twilight Sparkle: Who is this? Twilight Sparkle: I tried calling you five times already. I WILL report this number if you keep harassing me without identifying yourself! UNKNOWN: Welcome to Manehattan. Be careful when alone outside at night. She will find you. Twilight Sparkle: WHO IS THIS!? STOP SENDING ME THESE MESSAGES! UNKNOWN: You may call me Rewind. I am not with them. I am a friend. Rewind: She can be saved, but not yet. Twilight Sparkle: Are you talking about who I think you're talking about? How do you know about that? Rewind: Vinyl Scratch is not Noise. Do not waste your time looking into her. Twilight Sparkle: How and why are you doing this!? --- Bolt pushed the phone back to her. “I see. So you think someone from that organization of yours is watching you?” She picked up the phone and put it in her pocket. “I don't know anymore. They knew exactly when I arrived in Manehattan and they know about a certain incident. I don't know if I can trust this Rewind person. They says they're a friend and that they're not one of them. I've decided that today, I'm going to find this Vinyl Scratch and find out for myself whether or not she's Noise. I want to confirm Rewind's trustworthiness for myself.” --- The Doctor arrived about thirty minutes later and was enjoying a conversation with Applejack to get to know her more. The conversation was interrupted when Applejack suddenly pulled her phone out of her pocket. A few seconds of silently scanning her screen, she put her phone away and stood up. “Aright Doctor, he's here. Should ah go get 'im?” The Doctor stood up and gestured for her to sit down. “I'll get him. Be back in a minute.” Ditzy looked at Applejack curiously as the Doctor left. “So, everyone in your family learned it too?” Applejack nodded proudly. “Eyup! Even little Applebloom. We don't leave family behind.” The Doctor returned with a large man in a red t-shirt. He gestured for the man to take a seat next to Applejack. “Okay! Let's get right down to it. First things first, I just want to make sure you understand your position here miss Applejack. Your brother has shown potential to be a great user for one of our Drivers, but due to his condition, communication with him is a huge issue. We didn't want to waste a potential candidate given our current situation, so in the meantime, you will be in charge of communicating to him for us.” Applejack nodded. “Eyup. He told me all the fancy schmancy details already.” “Just remember the most important thing here. You are not to speak a word of anything we discuss here. Understood?” She nodded again. “You have my word sir.” “Perfect.” The Doctor turned to face the large man. “Now then. Mister Macintosh, you've already looked over the information we gave you correct? You understand what the situation is and what you will be doing and the risks involved?” Applejack turned the man as he started making a series of gestures and signs with his hands. Ditzy was entranced by the speed of his hand gestures. Applejack nodded her head and glanced at the Doctor. “He says he understands. He said he has two questions for you. First, will he need someone to open the entrance here every time he wants to come in or will you be able to arrange a way for him to get in on his own? And second, he wants to know if you could possibly give me something to do around here as well.” “Yes. It may take us a day or two, but we'll have it set up so you can come and go on your own. As for you sister, we could probably have Ditzy show her how to use the monitors we have set up and she could help with that.” The man nodded and began signing some more at his sister. Applejack once again interpreted for him. “He says he appreciates that. He also says you don't have to be so formal with that 'Mister Macintosh' stuff. We all just call him Big Mac. Y'all can too. S'a lot easier.” “Very well then. I'll be back in just a second with the Power Driver.” He stood up and went to another room. Ditzy stared at the siblings in amazement. “Woooooow. That's so cool! Where'd you learn all that?” Applejack replied. “We took classes. Ah volunteered ta go m'self. He went because...ya know. I personally taught our little sister, Applebloom. Didn't take her long to pick it up.” “I always thought people that couldn't speak couldn't hear either.” Applejack shook her head. “Nope. Two completely different things. He can hear ya just fine.” “Oh...OH! I-I'm sorry mist-...er, Big Mac.” Big Mac made a few gestures at Derpy. Applejack watched his hands and interpreted. “He says it's okay. He don't take no offense.” --- A man in a cowboy getup was sitting on a bench near the Statue of Unity, his face buried in his hands. “Dammit...what am I gonna tell cousin Fuji. How could that lady think this research would be useless?” He sat for a long time, sulking and debating on how to proceed. “My my, now this is interesting. What drives you, hm?” The man responded, not even fully aware of the woman in front of him. “I screwed up. I promised cousin Fuji that I'd help her get that funding and that girl just didn't care.” “Your emotions are in disarray after such a jarring turn of events I see. This will prove to be interesting. Let's see if her words bear truth.” “There's just gotta be a way to fix this but...I just don't know...” “Rise my subject. Let your emotions run wild! Let us see what kind of power they produce!” The woman pressed her hand against the man's chest and started burying it inside his chest. He immediately jerked his hands away in shock, though was unable to move beyond that as face twisted in fear. The moment didn't last long and soon her hand exited his body. “I'll be watching. For your sake and for her's as well, pray you do not disappoint me.” The woman casually walked away as the man stared off into the distance, his look of terror now a vacant stare. After a minute, his face contorted in anger. “No...I'm not just gonna let this go! I'll show this darn high and mighty rich types a lesson or my name isn't Braeburn!” He stood up with renewed vigor and stormed off. “This is going to be quite interesting indeed...” --- “I don't mind you staying here Vinyl. I really appreciate you staying with me after that too...but isn't your roommate gonna get worried about you?” Lyra asked as she microwaved a bowl of ramen. Vinyl sat at the dinner table, still not used to being awake in the morning. “Nah. I sent her a text letting her know what's up. She knows I got the rent covered. If ya want me to go home though, I can leave.” Lyra quickly turned and waved her hands frantically. “No no no no! I didn't mean it like that! I was just trying to make sure you were forgetting about your personal responsibilities on my account, that's all! You're free to stay as long as you want.” “Thanks man.” Vinyl nodded to Lyra as she sat down and passed a bowl of ramen to her. Normally Lyra would have made her own breakfast, but she wasn't feeling in the mood. “Ya feeling okay, Lyra?” Lyra smiled weakly. “Yes...I mean, it still hurts...but I'll be fine.” She took a big slurp of noodles. “You know Vinyl, I haven't seen you mention anyone else besides your roommate. You have any other friends?” “I kinda lost contact with a lot of people. In college and two years of high school though...I knew an awesome chick. Her name was Octavia. Octavia Philharmonica. She was my best friend. She was a little uptight and always dressed like she was goin to some really formal fancy event, but she was a great friend. Believe it or not, I get pretty nervous in front of crowds.” Lyra raised an eyebrow, pausing for a second mid slurp. “Really? Don't you DJ for big events” “Yeah. I really loved it, but feeling all those eyes on me that first time... I nearly had a heart attack afterwards. I told Octy about it and she told me to do some visualization tricks. I knew people did that kinda stuff, the whole imagine everyone in their underwear crap. It didn't really do anything for me. She bought me a pair of large shades and gave em to me the next day.” “You mean those purple shades you wear every so often?” “Yep. Those are the ones. It really worked too. It's like there's a wall blocking all those eyes when I'm wearin' em. I have no problem performing with em on. I didn't know what to do before that, and it really meant a lot to me that she went out of her way to help me deal with my problem. She kept saying it was no big deal and she just bought the first pair of cheap shades she found. Even if that's true though, it was the thought that mattered to me. The fact that she went out of her way to help me do what I love doin'. I haven't seen her in awhile though. I really miss her. Haven't seen her since college though.” “She sounds really nice. She was into DJ'ing like you I take it?” “Octy? Nah man, she into that whole orchestra stuff, playin classical music and what not. She played the cello. She was pretty damn good at it too. Classical was just never really my style, but whenever I found out she had some kind of event she was gonna be performing at, I went anyway.” She looked down at her bowl. “I know she lives in Manehattan still. I should try and find her some time. I really miss her.” Lyra smirked a little. “Sounds like you really loved her.” Vinyl shook her head. “Naw man. She was just a close friend.” She slurped the last bit of noodles and downed the soup in the bowl. “I'mmah head out for a bit. Gonna just go for a drive. You gonna be okay by yourself?” “Mmhm. I'll be fine.” Lyra grabbed the bowls and brought them to the sink. “Just don't do anything crazy.” --- Braeburn stood outside a large hotel in Upper Manehattan. “The Mare-iot Hotel. They're holding an auction today. No doubt only the upper class will be here, throwing their money around like it's nothing. I'll show them!” Following the signs in the hotel, he easily found the room where the auction was being held. He could hear voices from within. He opened the door, finding the room to be filled with many people in formal attire, which only further fueled his rage. “Very good. And next up, we have this one of a kind Jade miniature pony statue. Has a rather nice Shine to it if I do say so myself. All proceeds for this item will go towards improving the schools in Lower Manehattan. We'll start the bidding one thousand! With that, I turn the microphone over to Motor Mouth.” The room became a beehive of voices. The man on the microphone known as Motor Mouth was speaking a mile a minute updating the room on the current status of the auction and people from all over the room were talking amongst themselves and calling out higher bids. Braeburn walked down the center aisle, stopping at the middle of the room and thrust a finger up in the air. The room slowly grew silent, the people in front of him quickly noticing the decreasing volume in the room and turning to see the source of the silence. A man dressed in a tuxedo and monocle on stage in the front of the room stepped forward to break the silence. “Excuse me sir, can we help you?” “I'll take everything ya got.” The man wasn't sure whether to be stunned by his words or write him off as someone looking for attention. “That's quite a bold claim there. But this is an auction sir. If you'd like to bid on an item, you must follow the procedures like everybody else.” “I'll be paying for everything...with your lives.” A look of great concern took the face of the man on stage. One of the patrons to Braeburn's side got up from his seat and confronted him. “You picked the wrong guy to threaten buddy!” The man grabbed Braeburn by the shoulder and launched a haymaker aimed straight for his face. Braeburn remained calm and raised a hand to catch the punch. The man was shocked to see his punch didn't even faze him. Braeburn kept his hold on the man's fist and threw him into the air, down the center aisle. The man landed on the floor howling in pain and clutching his arm. Everyone quickly got up and started to back away in fear. Motor Mouth also started to slowly make his way off stage, hoping he could sneak away. Braeburn tipped his hat up. “You high and mighty rich folk disgust me. Y'all just flaunt your damn money around like nothing else in the world matters. Y'all think just cuz your so rich that y'all can just step all over everyone.” The man on the front stage stepped forward. “S-sir! This is a charity auction! All the proceeds here are go-” “Cut the bull! That money's just going to go back into someone's undeserving pocket. Meanwhile the people on the bottom working their asses off just to eat and keep their clothes on their backs. Y'all are the lowest of the low!” The man attempted to rebut, but Braeburn cut him off. “Y'all are gonna pay for your greed!” Braeburn lowered his hands to his side. “Cast Off!” Braeburn's body was engulfed by a green flame, leaving a humanoid armadillo monster wearing a cowboy hat where he once stood. Everyone in the room went into a complete panic and started scrambling out of the room screaming. The monstrous Braeburn pointed at the man still remaining on the stage. “I'm surprised you haven't run yet. Lemme guess, think y'all can bribe me? Think someone will come to your rich rescue?” The man was visibly scared, but stood his ground. “No! I don't know what caused you to hate us so much, but you can't just take out your frustration on innocent bystanders!” “Innocent my foot! You may not have wronged me, but I bet you've all ruined someone elses life! That's all I need to know! Y'all are the same!” Braeburn began advancing towards the front stage. The man began slowly backing up in response. “P-please! You're going about this the wrong way! Murder is not the way to fix things!” “Begging won't change anything! He stepped on stage, ripped the podium off the stage and threw it at the man. The man fell to the floor and covered his head, nearly dodging the projectile podium. He approached the man picked him up off the floor by his neck. “Now, think long and hard about your crimes and die!” He began squeezing the man's neck. The man tried desperately to break free of Braeburn's iron grip. His grip on Braeburn's hand started to weaken as the air left his lungs. He had almost given up hope of survival, when something struck the side Braeburn's face, knocking him over and causing the man to drop to the floor. He coughed and gasped for air. He looked up to see his savior. Standing in front of him was what appeared to be a white armored ninja. “Glad I got here just in time.” The man pulled himself up to his feet. “Wh-who are you?” Vinyl kept her eyes on the downed armadillo monster in front of her, who had not gotten back to his feet. “You're pretty lucky dude. I saw a buncha people running away and freaking out. I had a feeling it was a Changeling or something. Had to friggen drive away just to transform and all that. Huge pain in the ass. You should get outta here though. I'll take care of this guy.” The man had questions, but took her advice and got off the stage. He turned around quickly. “Thank you from the bottom of my heart! My name is Fancy Pants! I am forever indebted to you! I hope we can meet someday, face to face!” Fancy Pants fled the room, leaving her to deal with the monster on her own. Braeburn screamed out in anger. “Aargh! Who the hell are you!?” Vinyl paused for a moment. She put a hand to her chin. “Ya know...I haven't actually thought of a name for this yet. It's not supposed to be a long term thing, ya know? I can figure that out later. The important thing here is kicking your ass.” She held out her hands, materialized two records and threw them at the monster, cutting his sides. She leapt into the air and landed a powerful kick to Braeburn's chest while the records distracted him, sending him reeling back.. Braeburn pulled himself back to his feet. “Ngh, alright then! I ain't holdin' back on ya then! He ran towards Vinyl and attempted to assault her with a barrage of punches. She was able to react to each punch, dodging and deflecting his fists with her own. She sidestepped to dodge a kick, grabbed the leg and retaliated with a punch to the jaw. Braeburn was seething with anger on the floor. His attempt at revenge was ruined. Vinyl approached the beached armadillo monster, readying a large vinyl record in her hand. “Sorry buddy. If there was an easy way to change ya back, it wouldn't have to come to this.” Braeburn growled and curled up in to the shell on his back. He started bouncing quickly around the area around Vinyl, leaving small craters in the floor where he bounced. She was caught off guard and dodged as best as she could. Braeburn managed to strike Vinyl on the side as she dodged another bounce, sending her reeling off to the side. He followed up by peeling out on the floor and ramming Vinyl through the wall. She groaned as she pulled herself up. She looked around for the monster, but he had made his escape after his last attack. She found herself in a large empty room she assumed to be only used for special events. She shook her head and casually left the room. Upon exiting, she found herself the center of attention as a small crowd of civilians were watching the area from a safe distance. They were slowly starting to approach as they started to realize the monster was gone. Vinyl started to panic. She ran out the front entrance only to find it blocked by a news van and several police vehicles. She quietly cursed to herself. A female reporter quickly ran up to her and shoved a microphone to her face as her assistant cameraman followed behind her, getting a good view of Vinyl's armored form. “Excuse me miss! Is it true that you were the same masked hero from the incident days ago at the Cover Page comic shop!? Are you some kind of masked crusader!? Who are you!? Where did you come from? What is your name!?” Vinyl was slowly backing away from the reporter, to which the reporter responded by advancing on Vinyl to maintain her close distance. “I...uhhh...I gotta go! I...I mean, th-” She quickly used the only idea she could come up with on the spot. She suddenly pointed off in the distance and yelled out. “OH NO! ANOTHER MONSTER!” The crowd all turned to witness this new evil only to find nothing. Vinyl made her escape across the rooftops and was out of the immediate area when the crowd turned back to question their armored savior. She made her way to an alley, disengaged her transformation and casually walked out with her phone at the ready. No one seemed to notice anything. She started dialing Lyra's number. “We gotta find out how we're gonna deal with the media now or this isn't gonna end well...” --- Twilight made her way to the surveillance room of the Office. The Doctor and Ditzy were both sitting down, watching video footage. “What's this?” She asked as she made her way to the Doctor's side. The Doctor replied without taking his eyes of the screen. “It's footage of Noise fighting a new type Changeling. It happened earlier today.” “A new type of Changeling?” “Yes. We were surprised to get a reading on the monitor. It wasn't from any of the Drivers. We sent Trixie to investigate at the time. We were also recently given authorization to tap into any camera feed in the city now. It's about time really, don't know why we needed permission to do this. You'd think it'd be a pretty important ability to have given our task and circumstances. Anyway, Noise happened to get to it before Trixie did.” “A new type of Changeling that's strong enough to picked up by the monitor? Does that mean this particular one is just really strong?” He shook his head. “No. I think who ever is doing this found a way to create better and stronger Changelings. That one's nothing like the ones we've seen before.” “I see. What happened with Trixie? Did she ever make it there in time?” She asked, eyes still glued to the video footage on the monitor. “Yes. I told her not to do anything once we got hold of the camera feed and saw Noise fighting it. I wanted to see Noise's performance for myself. It seems like she's managed to get a handle on using her Driver. I wonder if she would consider joining us.” “With all due respect, I believe the one to take note of is Flight. Even though I only saw her in action once, he skill was incredible. More so than it should have been considering her lack of time with the Driver. She definitely has a natural talent for it. She didn't even try when I fought her.” “Well in any case, next time you guys encounter one of them, try and not scare them off this time. Especially Music. I want to have a little chat with that one.” --- “I'm not going to lie, I had my doubts for some time. But just as you predicted, that new Changeling appeared. Right where you said it would.” “I told you. That Changeling will be defeated tomorrow, also, I need you to do me a favor tomorrow. I need you to appear after the Changeling's been defeated. It'll be pretty simple actually. You just need to be caught on camera.” “Hm? Lemme guess, you want to throw Twilight Sparkle off?” “Yes. Don't worry, it won't change much. I'm taking a few small liberties I know, but the end result will be the same. Twilight will play a huge part in this, but that part doesn't require her to know about the true identities of the Riders outside of the Doctor's jurisdiction.” “That reminds me. I've noticed you've been sending her odd text messages. Rewind was it? What's that supposed to be?” “Cute isn't it? I thought it was a clever name. Don't worry, that part is important. Again, Twilight's a little important here.” “How so?” “Well, she's important right now in that I need her to not do a few things. Her curiosity will cause her to do some things that could ruin everything. As long as she's conditioned to believe everything I tell her as Rewind, then we should be fine in the end.” “Are you sure? If what you told me in the end is true, then it's going to change the end dramatically. You will be singled out once it starts becoming painfully noticeable.” “I know. Again, it's okay. We already planned this out. The finishing stretch doesn't matter too much. I'm aware that I'm going to be singled out near the finishing stretch. Unfortunately, that's unavoidable. At that point, everything will still come together on the last day. Just have faith in me.” “I do. You've been right so far. So, tomorrow I just stand around in plain sight while Vinyl finishes off the Changeling. Simple.” “Vinyl will be there, but it won't be her who defeats the Changeling. It'll be Rainbow Dash.” “What?” “Just wait and see. She'll show up tomorrow. Consider that another prediction to prove my trustworthiness.” “Alright then. Looking forward to it.” “I have a guest arriving soon. You should leave.” “Hmph, Not a problem. See you tomorrow, Rewind.”