//------------------------------// // 182. The Bronco Busters! - Part 3 // Story: Blaze the Pony Tale // by Wolven5 //------------------------------// The gang all looked to each other, completely lost as to what to do next, as well as feeling like idiots for how they’d made such fools of themselves. Thankfully, Big Mac came around and was made aware of a certain somepony under his big red butt, and quickly shrank down to his normal size. Cheese was a little loopy after having been sat on but bounced back to his excitable self, Soarin managed this time to make a tele-portal, through which the rest of them joined Big Mac and Cheese Sandwich on the street. But even Cheese’s happy-go-lucky-ness couldn’t quash the crushing burden of failure upon the whole group. Except for, perhaps, one young unicorn colt wearing a flatcap and a camera around his neck. "Okay, okay, this is fine!” Twinken said in a maintained tone, everypony looking at him. “The comics usually always have a confrontation before the climax, so we can still finish the story. We... well you guys, just need to act like the Bronco Busters." Blueblood nodded his head in understanding, "You are correct, Twinken. If we are to exit the comic, we are going to have to follow the story it has set." The guys all nodded and murmured their agreements while Blueblood muttered, “Meanwhile I need to figure out this fiendish fabrication…” "Alright, Twinken, you're the comic guru here. I know a couple of things about the Power Ponies, but that's about it, so we'll need to follow your lead here. What do you think we should do?" Midnight leaned down so he was at eye-level with his little brother. The younger unicorn's eyes were wide with surprise at the direction. He wants me to help lead! ...Okay ,it's just because of the comic... don't lose your head here, he still doesn't think much of you. Just help him and his friends through the comic. Then you can go back to feeling left out and useless... wow ,real motivational Twinken… Twinken thought with a sigh before he said aloud, "OK! Well, each of your characters have unique powers and abilities, as well as skills. Midnight, your character is Night Shield, the moonlight powered Stallion of Steel who guards the nightlife of the city, but he’s also Trotham’s Greatest Detective! All you need to do is look over the crime-scene here and you should be able to find some clues as to where the Phony Pharaoh went." The alicorn gave a nod then turned to survey the scene while the rest of the stallions alternated between helping to find clues and admiring their new abilities. As the blue stallion gazed around, he spotted a large pane of burned and melted glass from where the Pharaoh's burning eye beams had missed their mark courtesy of the Crown of Ra. Midnight wasn't sure why, but some part of him seemed to just zoom in on it, and without even realizing it, his body followed through, zooming from the pavement up to the side of the building. The beam from the crown was definitely as hot as Twinken had described, as the beam hadn't just melted the glass, but burned straight through into the interior of the building, burning through some desks and drywall. However it wasn't the damage itself that had caught his attention, but the crystallized glass that had fallen from the broken window frame. The crystal seemed to hold some remnants of the crown's unique and ancient magic signature. While Midnight's magical knowledge was considerable, it was the Night Shield character's knowledge of a magical tracking system that came to mind. He scooped up some of the crystals and placed them within one of the pockets of his pouched belt before turning back to the group to see them all staring at him. "Okay, Twinken, I found a clue. Now what's step two?" "Okay, you know what, instead of bothering with the Phony Pharaoh, I say we set up shop and stay here!" The five stallions and colt all just nodded in agreement with Soarin as the group stared up at the Bronco Busters' headquarters. The building in front of them was both tall and sleek, its reflective glass windows glowing under the light of the full moon. Whereas most of the skyscrapers of Trotham city were all drab dark structures, with flat roofs or gothic spires broken up by the odd ceiling platform or smoke vents, the headquarters was coated in a silvery metal with a large balcony like structure on the roof which proudly displayed a large symbol of the Bronco Busters logo. The building itself wasn't the only impressive thing though. The front yard stretched on for a great distance from the building's base, with a large set of water fountains and statues displaying the six heroes that took residence within, each in an epic, heroic, or courageous poise. Hidden about the yard were glimpses of a high-tech security system. The glint of a security camera, an odd indentation in the grass where invisible tripwires were set up. Opulent and secure, the perfect home for a group of heroes. "Well, as mighty-impressive as it all is, Ah'd rather spend th’ night back in Ponyville with muh `Shy, so howsabout we get started?" Big Mac's statement, snapped the group out of their stupor and had them all moving forwards towards the elevator doors of the large building. After the brief walk, the group discovered that the exterior of the building couldn't hold a candle to the buildings interior. After departing the elevator onto one of the upper levels of the building, the group discovered several luxuries all through the building. Large velvety couches, exotic plants, several projector displays for watching films. There was even a bar with what seemed to be a clockwork stallion behind it, ready to serve one of its masters. Then there was the amazing technology. Several more obvious security cameras were on display, control panels with various different functions were bolted to the walls and in a large lounge area, a huge wall monitor took up the centre of the room, ready to display all manner of things, from active news reports to security footage. The whole place was completely unreal. The stallions noticed six doors along the lounge walls, each displaying a superhero’s name. As Midnight seemed to instinctively head towards another section of the towers with a sign marked 'science division' with Twinken on his heels, the rest of the stallions decided to explore a little. Soarin entered into the room marked for his character, Tri-quine. Inside the room looked as though three different ponies lived within. One side of the room was painted yellow and kept in perfect condition, with a set of drawers positioned neatly and no dust to be seen. The other side of the room was red and appeared to be the messy side, with clothes scattered on the floor and a complete lack of neatness. The center of the room was a light blue color and it housed the bed. Next to the bed was a desk side table with some photo frames on it. The first showed a picture of the team, plus little Timmy Coltson, all posed and looking ready for action. Another showed Tri-quine, split into three ponies and in the middle of a rescue, each stallion holding a young foal as they flew out of a burning building. The last showed an image of the Tri-quine standing next to Zapp, one of the Power Ponies from Mare-tropolis, and the two appeared to be making flirting gestures with each other. Evidently, his character had some appreciation for the character his girlfriend played. "Hey Soarin, come check out what Big Mac and Cheese found." Thunderlane stuck his head in the doorway before retreating down the hall. Curious, Soarin left the photos and followed him to find a large hangar-like space, obviously at the very top of the building. Along the walls were different targets and weapons, and scattered around the room were various pieces of training equipment. The pegasus joined Cheese Sandwich, and Thunderlane, who were watching Big Mac who was staring at a target on the ceiling. "Micro-Ton, target systems have activated. Please enlarge and punch the designated target at maximum strength." a computerized yet female voice echoed around the chamber, while the ceiling target lit up in a luminescent red. "Well, may as well see if we can get these powers workin' right, so we don' get our flanks hooved to us again when we go an' fight tha' Pharaoh pony." With that out of the way, the large red stallion took a deep breath, closed his eyes and concentrated hard. Instantly, his form rippled with red light and he expanded, rising up higher and higher, and spreading out. The rest of the stallions backed up even further so they weren't squished by the behemoth. Within seconds, Big Mac was as large as a dragon, his head just one story shy of scraping the ceiling and his girth spreading wide across the hanger room. The three remaining stallions just stared in awe at their gigantic friend. "Dang, this is weird. Ah think a wanna get down now `afore Ah trip an’ hurt muhself. Okay computer... trainin' lady... thing, Ah'll just hit this here target now." Mac lifted his gargantuan left hoof and with immense force, rammed it into the target with force enough to crack Canterlot Mountain. The target held firmly despite this and seemed to absorb the force and disperse it without damage. Thunderlane, Soarin and Cheese Sandwich however had all been thrown of their hooves from the impact. "Sweet Celestia’s ass, Mac! You could probably knock all of Ponyville to the ground with force like that!" Thunderlane moaned, dragging himself and his friends back up off the ground. The big red stallion just gave a chuckle until the computer's voice spoke again. "Excellent. Now proceeding to level 2. Prepare for oncoming attack." "Wait wha...!!" Mac tried to say before the target he had just punched, launched out some sort of energy beam which slammed into his head. Taken off guard, Mac was bowled over, having just enough sense to shrink before his massive frame crushed his friends. The farm pony landed with a thud, groaning from the impact, finishing up his shrinking until he was his normal, still larger than the average stallion build once more. "Level 2 failed. Please resume once you are ready. We can now begin team training. Please prepare yourselves." The group just stared at the downed and groaning Mac before nervously looking at each other when Soarin lifted his hoof. "Uh, Miss computer could we please not..." Before Soarin could finish, dozens of openings appeared on the walls, filled with arrows and laser cannons. Several robotic stallions rose up from panels on the ground, their eyes glowing red and looking rather mean. "Training begins." Everyone gave a gulp as the laser began to glow. "Oh, buck me…!” Back in the science lab, Blueblood and Midnight felt a vibration run through the building for a moment. "I wonder what the guys are doing right now?" Blueblood commented, glad to be out of that armor and was now wearing a simple black skin-tight suit with minor electronics built upon it that apparently interfaced with the Iron Stud armor. "Not important right now.” Twinken was sitting on a lab table as he clapped his hooves to get them back on focusing before pointing at the various different contraptions, devices, doohickeys, and components scattered around the room. “You and Midnight gotta put that crystal thing Midnight found into one of Iron Stud's inventions and it will do the rest for us. I'm not sure which one though, so hopefully you guys can figure it out." Blueblood gave the room a look over, before he suddenly noticed a device towards the back of the room which had a large screen on the front of it, and a microscope-looking laser over a platform for different materials. "I'm getting the vague sense this device may be what we need. Midnight, place the crystal you found on that panel and I'll see if I can make this thing work." The alicorn nodded and moved the crystal underneath the microscope’s laser while Blueblood moved to the control panel on the other side and instinctively began pushing several buttons, following a vague memory that guided him through the specifications. Suddenly a green laser scanned over the crystals for a few seconds before a bizarre series of patterns, numbers, and the like appeared on the viewing screen above the device. They flashed and beeped oddly, looking like nothing to Blueblood and Twinken. But to Midnight, he could easily recognize the pattern of a magical trace. This device was evidently using the crystal to trace its mystic signature and locate the crown. "I see it…!” Midnight realized, Blueblood and Twinken looking at him, “This device is analyzing the crystal’s mystic signature to the crown the Pharaoh was wearing! If we can input the information into some kind of tracking device, we can use it to find the Pharaoh, take care of him, and then get home!” Blueblood and Twinken stood beside him with smiles, as the patterns beeped and flashed until they showed a singular flashing light over the image of a large skyscraper building. In fact the building appeared to be massive, towering over every other building around it. "Seems like that won’t be necessary,” Blueblood pointed out, “the device appears to be showing us where the crown is located, and the Pharaoh by default if he still has it.” “Wait, guys!” Twinken recognized the image. “It's Trotham's biggest skyscraper, the Star Reacher! The perfect place for a megalomaniac to hide out and look down on everypony.” Giving a determined nod, Midnight turned to Blueblood and Twinken, who both looked determined and ready. "Okay, guys, let's find that Pharaoh!" “Hmm, where to look…” Pharaoh Phetlock poured over various accounts of ancient history as well as any recent news of them. He sat at a desk within the penthouse of the Sky Reacher (having used his ill-gotten goods to fund his new high life) as Blinky Bay sat tied to a chair in the corner. “You still haven’t answered my question, Pharaoh,” Blinky said defiantly, “Just what are you planning?!” “Heh-heh, it’s quite simply, really, Miss Bay,” the Pharaoh chuckled smugly as he got up and started walking in front of his wall, which displayed more of his various stolen artifacts. “Impressive as my collection is, these relics’ powers are finite and simply can’t make my ends meet, especially for what I’ve got planned! Even now, I am closing in on possibly the most powerful artifact of a long forgotten age, an artifact that will grant me such power even the Bronco Busters will be helpless before me! For once I have it, all will bow before me, Phetlock, Pharaoh of Trotham!” A knock at the door interrupted, causing Phetlock to groan, “YES?!” In walked a lovely earth pony mare of azure blue, wearing a silk white dress, a blue cap-crown and various golden jewelry. “Nefillyti! This had better be…!” Phetlock started to rave until the mare, Nefillyti spoke. “It has been found, my master.” The way she said it stopped Phetlock in his tracks and his eyes widened with excitement, “Go on!” “Our eyes and ears have confirmed the item in question to be in the personal collection of Carmane Falcon,” Nefillyti explained. Blinky gasped as she thought, The head of Trotham’s most powerful crime family? “I made an offer, a generous one mind you,” Nefillyti went on, “but it seems Miss Falcon lacked the self-preservation to take it.” Phetlock chuckled darkly as he then began to grab some of his relics, putting on the Wings of Isis, the Crown of Ra, grabbing the Staff of Anubis, as well as a pair of bands, a moon-shaped amulet, and a bag with other artifacts. “Then perhaps I should pay Miss Falcon a visit…” However before any of them could make a move, the glass of the balcony window exploded in a wave of shards, and six heroic stallions and their colt companion burst into the room. Leading the charge was Midnight, who raised his hoof in an iconic gesture of strength towards the Pharaoh. "Phony Pharaoh! Surrender now or be prepared to face the might of the Bronco Busters!" he then turned to Twinken who stood beside him, "Did I say that right?" "GRAAAH! MY NAME IS PHARAOH PHETLOCK AND YOU INSECTS WILL WORSHIP ME!" The deluded stallion leapt from his chair, his eyes beginning to glow red with the power of the Crown of Ra. However before he could attack, Nefillyti stepped up, her eyes looking to her master, but keeping the meddlesome Bronco Busters within her gaze. "Master, do not waste your efforts on these pests. Leave them to me while you go to claim your birthright." The Pharaoh gave a devious smile and nodded his head. "You are right, my beloved Nefillyti, these irritants are beneath me. I leave them to you. Do not hold back, I so love it when you unleash your full might!" The blue mare gave a nod, her face filled with pride and a desire to inflict pain. Then with a fast swipe of her front hoof, she ripped the dress from her body and revealed that underneath, she wore a golden armored tunic, with a beautiful green gem embedded in the chest. The Pharaoh smirked and waved the Staff of Anubis, letting a beam of light shoot from the ornaments head, and into the gem, flooding it with a glowing light. The same light also seemed to radiate from the mare's eyes, giving her a deadly look as green mist burned from her eyes. "So long, Bronco Busters. Perhaps you can provide Nefillyti with a better challenge than that pitiful display you gave me earlier," the stallion laughed, before the Wings of Isis on his back morphed into wings and he took to the air. "Not so fast, villain! We’re not letting you get away that easily!" Blueblood cried before activating the thrusters on his suit. After some practice, he found it was a little easier to maneuver, even if he wasn't perfect with it yet. The red glowing openings on his hooves set out a boost of power and he floored it towards the retreating villain, who was flying towards the skylight on the roof. However before Blueblood could intercept him, a green energy beam blasted him and he lost control, falling into a spiral and crashing into the floor with a groan, while the sorcerous stallion managed to escape. He looked to the direction the beam had come from to find the glowing hoof of Nefillyti. Despite being an earth pony, she had managed to shoot a beam of magic at him. Seeing the shocked looks around the room, the henchmare gave a smirk. "The gem upon my chest is a gift from my master. It allows me to control magic in ways similar to his Staff of Anubis, and I have become very adept in using it. Still, despite my new powers, six on one isn't a very fair fight. Therefore, I'll take the dumb cutie here in the metal suit, and the rest of you can play with some friends of mine." She stamped her glowing hooves onto the floor and suddenly the penthouse shook. Glowing cracks appeared in the floor, with green mist seeping through. Suddenly, the mist all coalesced into a series of mummies, their pony forms wrapped in bandages that rose from the same cracks and wove together into pony-ish shapes, and their eyes glowing a menacing red but bigger than the average pony altogether. The guys all gaped in relative awe and intimidation as the Mummies gathered around their mistress, all the while nopony noticed Twinken sneaking his way towards the tied-up Blinky. Nefillyti smirked wickedly before she said but a single word that instantly set everypony on edge. "Attack." At her single worded command, the mummies charged, and oh so quickly did things go to Haydes. Thunderlane reached for his quiver and pulled out an arrow before setting it onto his bow. The training session had been brutal and terrifying, with lasers and metal discs and all sorts of projectiles being fired at him that his was expected to dodge or shoot his arrows at. His pegasus genes helped with his accuracy, as like the rest of his species, his eyes were good for distance and speed, to help with flight. This made firing his arrows easier, but he was still far from an expert. He drew the arrow to the bow and recalled Twinken's rundown of his character’s abilities before they left the Bronco Busters’ headquarters. Okay, so just focus on the magical effect you want the arrow to take and it will do that… With a quick breath, he imagined fire and then let the arrow fly at a mummy that was galloping towards him. It didn't strike in the head as he'd been aiming, but it did stick into his shoulder. Almost immediately, the magical minion burst into flames, releasing a disturbingly shrill shriek. As it was nothing but a magical construct wrapped in conjured bandages, the minion crumbled into a pile of ash on the ground. "Yes! Alrighty then, now let’s try- Agh!" the pegasus was congratulating himself for a good shot when another mummy blindsided him and tackled him to the floor. It lifted a hoof to strike the stallion’s face, when a rubber hoof shot out of nowhere and clobbered the mummy in the face, sending it careening into a nearby wall and breaking what looked to have been an expensive painting. Thunderlane must have had some kind of dizzy spell from the earlier attack, because he could swear that with the hit, he saw the words 'BAM' appear in the air for a split-second. Still, he smiled as the hoof retracted back towards Cheese Sandwich, who was stretching all about the room, punching the mummy minions. "Wow, these stretchy limbs are fun! You okay, Thunderlane?" The archer raised himself to his hooves and gave a grateful nod. "Yeah I'm good, thanks Cheese. Now let's send these mummies crying home to their mummies!" With that, Thunderlane hit a button on his belt and a rippling effect covered him and rendered him completely invisible. "Oh wow, I can turn invisible! Cool!" His excitement lasted all of two seconds before Big Mac bounded over and ran straight into him, tripping them both to the ground. "Huh? Wha'd Ah trip on?" the big red stallion looked about, before the ripple effect appeared again and he saw Thunderlane glaring up from under him. "You know what, I take it back. Invisibility is not cool." Midnight launched a blast of black lightning from his horn upon a group of mummies, causing them to explode into dust. However, he barely had a second before three more pony-piled onto his back and tried to force him to the ground. He gave a growl that became a mighty roar as he threw them all off with his immense strength, before flinging from his tail a blade of solidified shadow at another mummy that had been creeping up on Soarin, the blade slicing through the mummy’s neck, causing the magic to bleed out, and the bandages to fall into a lifeless heap "Soar, watch your back, there's so many of these guys!" The pegasus gave a nod before returning to the foes in front of him. Six of the mummies were advancing on him, ready to try and throw down. He may have had the strength of three pegasi, but six foes was still a lot. Then he recalled the special ability his character had that Twinken had told him about in their prior skirmish with the Pharaoh. He concentrated hard, and in a flash, the red and yellow stripes on his suit appeared to peel off and formed the bodies of two more Soarins. Now instead of six mummies bearing down on one pegasus, there were six worried mummies against three pegasi, a Soarin in blue, a Soarin in red, and the third Soarin garbed in yellow, all smirking deviously. Midnight continued to fight against the mummies, blasting them or punching them. As several tried to tackle him, he leapt into the air and took flight, using the aerial advantage to blasts of dark lightning at the attacking constructs. Suddenly a glowing feather shot up in front of him, which then exploded into a large neon blue ring, with a new section of the room inside it. Suddenly, six beaten up mummies were sent sailing through and slammed into a mummy he hadn't noticed had been thrown towards him by its compatriots. Following the pile of beaten up mummies came three Soarin's, all looking rather proud of themselves. "Excellent throw Soarin, that was marvelous!" "No, no, your haymaker was definitely the highlight of that brawl, my friend!" "But you were the one who opened up the tele-portal, you certainly deserve praise!" "Would you please stop congratulating your selves and get back in the fight?!” Midnight facehooved at the three Soarin's all high-winging and singing each other's praises. The three identical stallion's all chuckled and rubbed their necks in unison. "Heh, heh, sorry, Dashie's been rubbing off on me." Midnight just rolled his eyes before he and the three Soarin's dove back into the fray. One mummy looked around confused as to where his quarry had fled to before he noticed a bug-sized red pony sitting on its muzzle. Before it could flick it off though, Big Mac expanded rapidly until he was three times the mummy’s size and crushed the pony-shaped thing under his rump. He looked up and flicked away a retaliatory strike from another mummy that had witnessed the act. But before it could get back up again, Big Mac, altered its gravity, and the mummy sailed over his head and over the balcony to fall to its demise, falling up into the sky until it would be lost to the void of space. Big Mac was then tackled by two mummies but effortlessly held his ground, throwing them off to crash into the walls. As they slid down, dazed, he grabbed a nearby tablet covered with hieroglyphics and threw it like a frisbee, crushing one of the mummies through the wall while the other fell apart, having taken too much damage to hold its form together. “Whee-hee-hee!” Cheese bounced about, his lower half coiled like a spring, as three mummies chased in vain after him, leaping to catch him, only to crash into the walls, furniture, or even each other. When it seemed they had Cheese cornered, he waited until they leapt at him all at once, and then he threw out his hooves, stretching himself into a trampoline-like tarp, and causing the mummies to bounce off of him and be thrown back into a pile of bandages. Snapping back into his regular shape, Cheese whooped, “Bounce the Cheese, the Cheese bounces you!” His showboating was quickly halted by a cheap shot to the back of his head, as a mummy and a second started ganging up on him, the both of them hitting Cheese in the head and the barrel relentlessly! But when they stopped and stepped back, they noticed Cheese didn’t look hurt at all! “I’m all rubbery, boys! Hit me as hard as you want, I just absorb it and bounce it right back!” Cheese went low and threw out a stretched leg, tripping both mummies up, and then he brought both his front hooves to his mouth and blew into them, as though they were balloons, for they swelled up and then morphed to resemble sledgehammers, which he brought down hard on the two mummies that had pummeled fruitlessly at him, making them blow up into dusty bandages. At this time, Blueblood and Nefillyti were locked in a battle of lasers. At the moment, the both of them hovered in the air, a beam of blue energy shooting from the horn-cannon on Blueblood’s armor deadlocked onto the green laser coming from the gem on Nefillyti’s tunic. “My power easily dwarfs your technology, Iron Stud,” Nefillyti boasted. “Before long, I imagine the power cells or even your own mana reserves will deplete, and my energy blast will decimate you.” Blueblood said nothing but the AI in his suit spoke, ’Warning: Horn-cannon power cell below 40 percent. Switching to thaumaturgical system’s mana reserve to preserve power.’ Almost instantly, Blueblood felt his mana burn up even faster as he provided the brunt of his energy beam to stave Nefillyti’s. Unfortunately, the mare had the advantage. Despite being an earth pony, she apparently had plenty of mana, in addition to the mana the Pharaoh had provided to empower her tunic’s gem! If I could distract her somehow, even for a moment…! Blueblood thought when an arrow flew at Nefillyti, exploding into a large tarp that enveloped her, making her yelp and lose concentration, her energy beam dissipating, much to Blueblood’s relief, as he stopped his own and took a breather. “Release me of this infernal predicament!” yelled Nefillyti’s muffled voice as she thrashed about in the tarp in efforts to get out. “Normally, I, as a gentlecolt, would not strike a lady,” Blueblood said dryly as he walked up to the tarp right as Nefillyti got her head out. “But in your case…” *POW* “Ughhh…” Nefillyti groaned as Blueblood’s punch knocked her unconscious, the gem on her tunic dulling out, and everypony watched as the remaining mummies all shuddered as the magic giving them life bled out through the bandages, which fell into lifeless heaps. “Aww, is the butt-whoopin’ over already?” Cheese whined. “Hold still, Blinky,” Twinken said as he pulled at the ropes holding his character’s partner with his telekinetic aura. “And… you’re free.” “Uh-huh, thanks, Coltson,” Blinky said dismissively before she looked at the Bronco Busters and squealed! “Bronco Busters… AUGH! It was such an HONOR to watch you all work! Blinky Bay, Trotham Tabloid, I see you’ve met my camera-colt, Timmy!” She zipped over to Big Mac, whispering while holding up her hoof as though to hide her words, “Ignore him, he just takes the pictures.” “Miss Bay,” Midnight spoke up, earning Blinky’s complete and absolute undivided attention, evident by her eyes so wide with fan-filly-is admiration that it disturbed even Midnight. “I believe you’re not giving Twi- I mean… Timmy enough credit. During the fight, I saw him risk his own safety to make his way through the fracas to get to you. At the very least, you can thank him for his bravery.” Blinky’s ears folded against her head from the lecture she just got and the dawning realization that Night Shield (Midnight, to you readers) was right. Looking a little guilty, she turned to Twinken, saying, “Um, thanks, Timmy.” “You’re welcome,” Twinken replied, looking to his big brother with his own admiration and a glimmer of gratitude for what he’d said about the young unicorn colt. “Thun- Pardon, Apollomino,” Blueblood spoke up, Thunderlane looking to the Iron Stud. “My gratitude for distracting Nefillyti.” “No prob, Stud,” Apollomino raised a hoof, and Blueblood smiled as they brohooved when the three Soarins butted in. “Let’s not forget the total awesomeness of Soarin here!” “No-no, this Soarin was the awesome one, the way he made a tele-portal to make those mummies pony-pile onto themselves!" “Oh go on! I’m making me blush-” “WOULD YOU STOP PATTING YOURSELVES ON THE BACK AND PULL YOURSELVES TOGETHER?!” the rest of the Bronco Busters along with Twinken all shouted in vexation. The sudden collective shout-out startled the Soarins so much they all tripped into each other, and were suddenly merged back into one Soarin, causing him to groan in daze. “Now that we’re back on track, we need to plan our next move,” Midnight spoke up, “the Pharaoh took off and left us to deal with his little sidekick and her conjured thugs. So we don’t know what he’s planning.” “Oh wait, I do!” Blinky spoke up. “Nefillyti came in earlier before you all showed up and told Phetlock she’d found something he was looking for, in the private collection of Carmane Falcon!” “Carmane Falcon?!” Twinken echoed, “She’s the biggest crime lord in Trotham! But what does she have that the Pharaoh would want?” “The Pharaoh was talking about some kind of magic artifact,” Blinky went on. “He said it was so powerful, that not even you would be able to stop him once he uses it, Bronco Busters!” “Then we gotta get to this Carmane Falcon and get that artifact!” Thunderlane pounded his hooves together. “Eeyup.” agreed Big Mac. “That Phony Pharaoh’s got a big head start though,” Cheese reminded everypony. “He’s right,” Midnight noted, “for all we know, the Pharaoh may already have this artifac-” “Wh-wh-wh-whoa-oa-oa-oa…!” Cheese’s whole body began to shudder and shiver, “Danger Sense, tingling!” “Ugh-heh-heh-heh!” Everypony looked to see Nefillyti had woken up and was laughing derisively at them, “My master has claimed the artifact by now, Bronco Busters! You’re already too late to stop him.” “Not while we have anything to say about it,” Midnight said threateningly. “Tell us where he’s gone and what he’s planning!” “I am sworn to my pharaoh, Night Shield,”Nefillyti responded in a tone unflinching, “I’ll say nothing to betray him.” “We’ll see about-” Midnight growled as he willed a shadow to rise only for Blueblood to step up. “Please, my friend, leave this to me,” Blueblood insisted as he grabbed Nefillyti, still in the tarp with only her head free, and dragged her over to a corner. They all watched as Blueblood and Nefillyti exchanged words. Initially, Nefillyti seemed adamant until Blueblood said something while giving her a dashing smile, and she began to fidget a little, blush, and even giggle. “Wha’ is he sayin’ t’ her?” Big Mac asked. “You don’t wanna know…” Midnight said dryly with a roll of his eyes, as his super-hearing allowed him to pick up every word. Much to his chagrin. Then Blueblood caressed Nefillyti’s cheek before saying a few last words and rejoining his comrades. “The Pharaoh went to Carmane Falcon’s penthouse over in the West Way district.” “Speaking of…” said the voice of Soarin, and everypony looked to see him staring out the broken balcony window and joined him to see what he was seeing. Over an underdeveloped part of Trotham that looked to be a cesspool of crime and poverty a storm appeared to be brewing. Dark clouds swirled above, distant lightning struck, winds began to pick up, but oddly enough there was no rain. “Something tells me Phetlock got what he wanted, and he’s gearing up for a big finale,” Soarin finished. After calling the police to pick up Nefillyti, the Bronco Busters were making their way towards Falcon’s penthouse. Midnight had Blueblood “convince” Blinky to stay with the police while Twinken rode on his brother’s back. The flying members flew, whether by wings, technology or just plain superpowers, while Big Mac used his gravity-defying to leap great distances and Cheese bounced along to keep up. “This storm or whatever it is,” Midnight shouted, “it’s getting worse by the minute!” “What kind of artifact could summon a storm this powerful?” Soarin yelled. “Who knows?” Blueblood answered. “Remember, this isn’t our world - The artifact could be something based off something from our own world but more likely it’s something the comic book writer came up with.” “Either way, we gotta stop the Pharaoh!” Thunderlane reminded them. “It’s the only way we’re gonna get out of this crazy place and back to our own world!” “Twinken,” Big Mac yelled as he reached the apex of his gravity-defying leap, and Thunderlane flew over to grab him. To his relief, Big Mac had weakened his own gravity to make himself so light Thunderlane had not trouble holding him as he flew as Big Mac asked his question. “Y’know more `bout this world an’ all’s innit than we do. Any ideas on wha’ Phetlock’s got his hooves on?” “Sorry, no,” Twinken said with an apologetic tone. “All I’ve read in the comic is that this artifact the Pharaoh wanted so much is supposed to be powerful enough to give him what he wants and there was a chance the Bronco Busters wouldn’t be able to stop him!” “Well then it’s a good thing we ain’t really the Bronco Busters!” Cheese added as he hooked onto Blueblood with his elongated hooves and hoisted himself up onto the armored stallion’s back. “We’re also the Guardians of Harmony!” “Cheese is right!” Midnight spoke up. “Who we are doesn’t change, whether we’re in this comic book world or our own! We’ll stop the Pharaoh, save Trotham, and return home, and we’ll do it together!” The stallions all nodded with determined smiles while Twinken couldn’t help but be so proud of his big brother. Before long, the seven of them landed upon a roof garden outside what was presumably Carmane Falcon’s penthouse. As they stood together, Midnight said, “Twinken, stay back and out of trouble. No telling what the Pharaoh has waiting for us.” “Yes, big brother,” Twinken said as he thought to himself, All this time… I thought I didn’t matter as much to him as before. What kind of brother am I to think that? As they approached the doors into the penthouse, they noticed they’d been blown inward. Midnight lifted his wing in a halt-signal, and slowly entered on his own, his superpowered sense on high alert, and picked up a groaning. He looked to his friends and brother and gestured with his head to follow as they went in, and they found a luxurious living room turned upside down, and in the middle of it was an unconscious middle-aged pegasus mare. She had a stone-gray coat, silver mane which looked to have been messed up, and she wore a mare’s business suit that left her cutie-mark revealed, a bird of prey’s talons clutching a bag of money. Going over, Thunderlane’s eyes glowed a gentle gold and emitted rays of his character’s healing vision that Twinken had told him about during training back at the Bronco Busters’ headquarters. “She’ll be alright, but she won’t be waking up for a while. “ “And judging by how torn up this place is,” Blueblood said through the mask of his armor, which was scanning the room. “I would say the pharaoh found what he was looking for.” “Indeed I did…!” Everypony’s hearts skipped a beat at the sound of that voice and as they turned in the direction it came from…! *BLZAPP* “AUGH!” Midnight was blown out the penthouse doors to the roof garden by an energy blast from nowhere, and everypony looked to see a shimmer of silver mana that revealed… “Phony Pharaoh!” “PHETTLOOOOOOOCK!!!!” the Pharaoh roared as he revealed his latest acquisition, a scepter of gold and red, topped with the head of an animal resembling a greyhound but with long ears and cruel-looking ruby eyes. “And one way or another, you will all come to fear that name! For at long last, I hold the Scepter of Set!”