//------------------------------// // Recuperation and Regrouping // Story: Equestria Ninja Girls // by Wildcard25 //------------------------------// Twilight was horrified as Leo took the group attack and got hurt. He was knocked aside and laid on the street unconscious. "Leo!" Twilight ran to him and checked his pulse, "Oh, he's alive." she said in relief. "That's nothing compared to what we're gonna do to you." Rahzar said, as he and Tiger Claw approached with the Dazzlings behind them. Twilight looked at her enemies, before looking back at Leo. Any look or feeling of fear and worry was replaced with courage and determination. She gripped her weapon and stood her ground. Her enemies seeing this were surprised, until Adagio spoke, "You're joking right?" "You are no match against all five of us, little cub." Tiger Claw warned her. "I may be outmatched in numbers and skill. But I will fight no matter what the odds if it's for my friend!" Twilight declared, as she suddenly started glowing and grew her pony wings and hair extended. The two mutants were taken aback by this, while Shredder was shocked. "What's this?" Shredder demanded. "This is what happened when we last fought them, father." Karai warned him. Twilight now ponied up, gripped her weapon, "I'll show you what happens when you mess with my friends!" she flew in and started striking the mutants as she flew past them. "This is bad." Sonata feared. "Now what?" Aria asked their leader. "She may have tapped into her Equestrian Magic, but we still have what we took," Adagio reminded them, "So let's show her we can fight like that too!" the three using their fin-like wings flew at Twilight and began fighting her with their own weapons. Shredder watched the four fight in mid air, before turning to his second in command, "Tiger Claw, shoot her down!" "With pleasure, Master," Tiger Claw pulled out one of his blasters and concentrated so he could get a good shot at Twilight. When he finally got a clear shot, "Goodbye, Princess." Before he could shoot, a kunai had hit the blaster and knocked it out of his paw. Shredder and Karai were in shock, "What?!" Shredder called. They looked to the side seeing the rest of the turtles and Rainbooms walking down the street in their direction armed and ready with Sunset Shimmer holding her kunais. "Them?" Karai gasped. "But how?" Shredder demanded. "Your minions may talk the talk, but they don't always walk the walk." Rainbow said, as they stepped aside to reveal Fishface, Bebop, and Rocksteady knocked out and bounded together. "Idiots." Shredder grumbled. "Good thing I traced the signal on Twilight's phone and found they were here." Donnie added. "Twilight!" the girls called from below. Twilight saw them, "Guys!" "Where's..." Raph began, until they saw Leo unconscious, "LEO!" they ran over to check on their leader. "Is he?" Fluttershy asked in worry. "No, he's alive." Donnie assured. "We got to get back to the lair." Raph said. "What about Twilight?" Pinkie asked. "Leave that to me?" Casey said, as he readied some pucks with explosives strapped to them, "Goongala!" he whacked the pucks up to the Dazzlings that exploded and distorted them. "Twilight, come on!" Sunset called. Twilight flew down and deactivated her Equestrian magic, "We'll be back!" Raph used a smoke bomb to make their getaway. "They're gone." Karai said with anger. "Perhaps, but their leader has been injured. And we have the power to take them down for good," Shredder motioned to the Dazzlings who still retained the stolen Equestrian Magic, "Soon we will have our revenge." As the Dazzlings floated in the air, Adagio spoke, "Now that we have the Equestrian Magic, the Rainbooms will drop like flies." "And those turtles will be an added bonus." Aria added. Sonata looking less enthusiastic spoke, "Yeah. Great." Down in the lair, Splinter was pacing, as Spike was resting on the couch, until they saw the group arrive, "Master Splinter!" they called. Splinter turned to the group, and saw Leonardo's knocked out state, "What happened?" "We were ambushed," Twilight panted, "Shredder. The Dazzling's. Leo protected me. But he..." the girl started getting sadder, as Sunset and Applejack comforted her. "Lay him down here." Splinter instructed the group who laid him on the couch, as Spike got off. Raph fumed before punching the punching bag, "I can't believe the Dazzlings fed off our energy while we were fighting!" "But I thought the Dazzling's gems only fed off negative energy." Mikey noted. "Based off the collars the Dazzlings wore containing their gems, Stockman must've enhanced them so they can assimilate negative energy from within a person without them having to show it." Donnie theorized. "And they've gained the magic we have." Sunset Shimmer noted. "So how can we fight them now that they have magic like you girls?" Casey asked. Nobody knew what to say, until Spike looked at Twilight who looked at Leo with worry, "Twilight?" "This was my fault. Leo got hurt because he was trying to protect me," She cried, "I knew this was the vision that I saw, but I thought I could change it. But I ended up causing it to happen!" she cried. "Twilight." Fluttershy said with concern. Splinter approached the Princess of Friendship and laid his hand on her shoulder, "Twilight, you did the right thing by wishing to help my son rather than heed his warning. But just because your vision has come to pass does not mean it is over." "It doesn't?" she asked. "No. What you saw was merely a fragment of what was bound to happen. But things can still be changed for the better. It all depends on you." Applejack spoke, "Splinter's right, sugarcube. Just because you couldn't stop Leo from getting hurt like it happened in your vision, the fight's not over." "Which means there's still a chance to stop the Dazzlings and Shredder." Rarity put in. "Girls," Twilight gasped seeing them willing to continue to fight, "You're right. We'll stop them and make them regret what they did to Leo." Suddenly they heard groaning, and all eyes fell on Leo who woke up, "Leo!" his bros gasped in relief. "Hey, guys. What happened?" he groaned. "Leo!" Twilight hugged him, "I'm so glad you're all right." "Twilight?" "You have no idea how worried I was." "Based off your tight hugging I can take a guess!" he groaned. Twilight realizing what she was doing eased up, "Oh, I'm sorry. Are you ok?" "Don't worry, I'll be fine," he stretched his arms, "But what happened?" "It's a long story." Twilight began, until Pinkie interrupted. "But I'll shorten it. It turns out Shredder's minions had ambushed each of our groups and fought us, while secretly the Dazzlings were feeding off the negative energy inside of us. And when they got to you and Twilight they activated their new Equestrian magic and fought you, but you protected Twilight and got knocked out, and Twilight protected you by ponying up." she grinned with a squeal sound. Leo was wide eyed at Pinkie's explanation, "You don't miss a detail do you?" "Nuh-uh." Pinkie shook her head. Leo turned to Twilight, "Are you ok, Twilight?" "I'm fine. But what about you?" "I'll be ok after I've rested." "And then we're gonna wipe the floor with those girls!" Raph declared. "Hold on, Raphael," Sunset said, "We can't just go barging in on Shredder, especially now that the Dazzlings have the same magic we have." "So what do you suggest, we do nothing?" "I didn't say that." Sunset replied. "I reckin' we could use us some help." Applejack suggested. "I'm all over it." Donnie started making some calls. Meanwhile at Shredder's lair, the Dazzling's were standing before Shredder, "You three have done well, but your job will not be finished until you've delivered Splinter and the Turtles to me. Then you may have your revenge." "Thank you, Master Shredder." Adagio said, as the three left the throne room. As the Sirens walked through the halls, Adagio looked to Sonata, "Sonata, are you all right?" "Huh, fine why do you ask?" she asked. "You've been quiet for hours. That's not like you." Aria noted. "Sorry, girls. It's just... Why did it have to come down to this?" "Down to what?" Adagio asked. "Hello! We're working along side a ninja assassin. He may be acting pleased with our progress but I feel he'll destroy us in the blink of an eye." "If he tried that we will counter with our magic now." Adagio assured her. "And it's not just that," Sonata continued, "Have we seriously had to go this far just to get out powers back?" "Sonata, what's gotten into you?" Aria asked. "While I missed having my powers, we've been doing fine before we got caught up in pursuing that Equestrian Magic. And look where it led us in the end." "That was then, but this is now," Adagio reminded her, "Now that we have our magic back we can do what we failed to do twice, and this time no one here is going to stop us." "I just wished things could've gone back to being simple like before." Sonata said dismally. Adagio and Aria who's stiff shells had cracked couldn't help but feel the same, but being more obsessed with wanting to be adored shook it off, as the lead siren spoke, "Well, they can't be. Things change." "And sometimes change stinks. But we just have to accept it." Aria added. Sonata sighed seeing there was no changing them, "I know." they continued to walk on. Back at the lair, the Mutanimals and Muckman arrived, "We got your message." Slash said, as they gathered around. "You ok, Leo?" Pete asked. "Better now that I've healed." Leo flexed his arms. "We are glad to hear you're all ok." Leatherhead told the Rainbooms. "Indeed. If only we were there to help Leonardo." Rockwell said in regret. "Don't worry, you'll have a chance to knock the ones who did this Leo around." Mikey said. "I sure can't wait to open up a can of butt whoop!" Mondo cheered. "You and me both." Muckman agreed. "For a mission this big it'll require all of us, humans and mutants." Leo began, as he looked at his father, brothers, friends, and fellow mutants. "You can count on us, Leonardo." Slash said. "Us too." Rainbow confirmed. "Casey Jones is ready to take on those sirens with his mad skills." Casey boasted. "I'm with you too." April added. "As am I." Splinter nodded. "Then we got work to do, team." Leo said, as they huddled up to plan a strategy.