Q: Quarrel Over / Reputation
Canterlot City was like any other city, it had its good places, a lot of them, and very few of the bad. Those kinds of places had declined sharply in the recent arrival of the Kamen Riders and Dopants. The criminal element knew that the Riders mostly focused on the monsters that attacked the city and threatened the people, but they also knew that heroes like that wouldn’t just standby and only fight the monsters, at some point they too would be sought after, so the streets had become effectively much safer.
Now there was a rougher section of Canterlot known as Caddy Corner, mostly because it was a corner of the city that was low income and sparsely patrolled, making it a good spot for criminals and others who wanted their less than legal activities seen. In the day it wasn’t too bad, but at night it was a little more dangerous. Which was why most people who didn’t have any business being outside at night stayed inside.
Take one woman for example, walking about in a black trench coat, high heels that clacked against the pavement, and broad black hat. The woman was eyed by every teen wannabe gang member and ne’er-do-well that was out. The woman, on the other hand, couldn’t care less for it. She was here on business, and if her cards played out right, these teens would be the ones to worry about her.
The woman rounded the corner and entered an alleyway, without her knowing, several of the gang teens that were loitering about the streets were following her, always looking for easy money. Once she was a good five feet into the alley, the teens banged their fists against the closest metal object to gain her attention. The woman quickly spun around and yelped at the approaching ruffians.
“You’re not from around here, are ya lady?”
“Because anyone who is would tell ya it ain’t smart to be out here at night.”
“Not unless yer packin’ some heat, but it don’t look like ya are.”
“Keep away from me you lowly troglodytes!” the woman shouted.
The three teens laughed.
“Trog what? Look at her talkin’ all high and mighty,” said the teen with a mohawk.
The three teen boys all pulled out switch blade knives, and ran them across the brick walls, making sparks that cast menacing shadows on their faces. The woman backed up more and more until she realized that the alley was a dead end. Just before they got near her, the air between them became distorted, and in the next moment, a being appeared. The teens backed away as a yellow creature appeared, the Luna Dopant.
“Please leave, now!” The boys went pale, dropped their knives and ran out of the alley screaming in terror. The Luna Dopant turned around and looked at the woman who he had just saved. “I don’t know why you agreed to come to such a place for this deal, you could’ve been injured before I even arrived.”
“I didn’t know black market dealers cared about their clients that much, oh wait, never mind, I’m you’re just worried about the potential loss of money. Correct?”
The Luna Dopant rubbed the back of his long head with his stretchy arm. “No, it’s not really that, but yes, my supplier would be angry if a candidate did get harmed before the exchange was done.” The Dopant stretched its right hand towards the woman and opened it, revealing a gold colored T1 Gaia Memory. The image at the center was an “I” made of bones that were fractured. “As you requested, per your payment, a high-quality device for your use.”
The woman quickly grabbed the device, looking at it with an evil gleam in her violet eyes. The woman pulled down at her collar and pressed the Gaia Memory against her neck, but nothing happened. “Is this thing defective?! I should’ve transformed into a monster!”
Luna titled its head curiously. “It won’t work without a connector.” Luna waved its left hand in the air and produced a gun-like object. “I need to print a tattoo onto you, it’s specially laced so that once it makes contact with the device, it will fuse with you and grant you its power. I just need to know where you want it. I would suggest someplace that can be easily covered up.”
The woman rolled up the sleeve on her left arm and presented her forearm. Luna stretched his arm over to her and pressed the barrel against her skin. Luna pulled the trigger and said, “You seem to have some knowledge of these devices.”
The woman looked at the Gaia Memory and then grimaced. “Let’s just say I’ve had an encounter with a similar device once before.”
Luna brought his hand up to his ear – or where his ear would be – and stepped away for a minute.
“This is Luna D.”
[Party Favor did you sell that Injury Memory yet?!] The voice of Starlight Glimmer shouted.
“Y-Yes, I did! Sorry it took so long, I–!”
[RETRIEVE THAT MEMORY IMMEDIATELY!!!]
“Wait what?!”
< INJURY! >
A bright flash of light erupted from the alley, and from there, the sounds of a furious battle.
***________________<U>________________***
“You ready to do this, Sparky?” Sunset asked, using her girlfriend’s pet name.
“Uh…yes and no…Mostly yes because I really don’t want to have to keep hiding this from them, and no because I’m also afraid of what they might say,” said Twilight.
Sunset and Twilight were parked around the corner, one turn away from getting onto the street where Twilight’s house was. After the battle with the Sirens, and Sunset almost going to meet the All Mother Faust – as Sunset put it – Twilight decided that now should be the time that they make it official, with her parents anyway. Twilight had long lamented this day, and at the same time, wanted to get it over with. Part of her rational mind knew that her parents were not the kind of people to just outright reject their relationship, but at the same time her fears and anxiety failed to heed to logic and made her imagine all kinds of worst-case scenarios.
“Twilight Andromeda Sparkle! I can’t believe you…you would be with another girl?! What will the family think?! What will our colleagues think?!” The voice of Night Light echoed.
“I never raised my daughter in such a way! I thought I did everything right! Sure, you could’ve used more friends and I was afraid you’d end up just like most of history’s greatest thinkers, alone with no one! But to think all this recluse behavior would encourage you to-to – I can’t even look at you” said the voice of Twilight Velvet.
“Oh no, no little sister of mine is going to be associated with a known thug and manipulator! I appreciate that she saved your life when that monster attacked us, and being your best friend is one thing. But your girlfriend is completely out of the question!” The authoritative voice of Shining Armor ranted.
That last one seemed more plausible than she’d liked to admit. Twilight was starting to think that this was a bad idea. Sunset knocked her helmet against Twilight’s, making the brainy girl snap out of her internal dilemma.
“I can smell the gray matter burning whenever you’re overthinking something, it’ll be fine,” said Sunset.
Twilight released a sigh as her shoulders slumped. “I know, but I’m still nervous.”
“Not saying you don’t have to be, just saying don’t go in thinking the worst. You ready then?”
Twilight nodded her head.
Sunset revved the engine and made the turn onto the street. Both girls pulled up into the driveway where Sunset parked her bike out of the way. After dismounting the girls stood before the door, Twilight fished out her house key and opened it. Stepping through the threshold,
Twilight called out, “Mom, Dad?”
Twilight Velvet, or Velvet as she liked to be called, walked into the living room from her little office.
“Oh, Twily, and Sunset, welcome! Twilight, you should’ve texted me that you were bringing a friend over, I would’ve made snacks or something.”
The bespectacled girl rubbed her left arm nervously. “Um, sorry, but I kind of need to talk to you and Dad, is he here?”
Just as Twilight asked that, the sound of a car pulling up caught their attention.
“Oh, perfect timing,” said Velvet.
“Yes…Perfect timing.”
Sunset patted her paramour on the shoulder.
“Breathe, Twilight, just relax.”
Both girls took a seat in the living room while Night Light came in and gave Velvet a light kiss on the lips before entering. “Oh, Sunset’s here.”
“Yes, and Twilight would like to talk to us, it sounds pretty urgent.” Velvet and Night Light sat down in the couch across from the two teens, both had concerned looks on their faces when they noticed how Twilight was fidgeting with the hem of her skirt, alternating between that and stroking a lock of her hair. “Twily, what’s the matter?”
Twilight gathered her nerves, took one look at Sunset, and then turned to her parents. “Mom, Dad, I…I wanted to tell you that, Sunset Shimmer, she’s more than just my best friend. She’s…She’s my girlfriend! I love her, I love Sunset Shimmer, and I know she’s a girl and I didn’t know I liked girls like that, but I do! I really, really love Sunset!”
Sunset blushed heavily at the confession, especially with how loud her girlfriend was during the confession she just blurted out. She looked to Night Light and Velvet, gauging their reactions. Both parents were staring wide eyed at their daughter, and then at Sunset. After an awkward silence that seemed to drag on for minutes, Night Light slapped his knee and chuckled.
“Finally, honey, you owe me ten bucks!” Night Light stated.
Velvet huffed. “Oh, please, you couldn’t have really known they were together. That’s just the perverted side of the male brain trying to infer more than just platonic love between two girls and wanting to see it as romantic.”
“Maybe, maybe not, either way, cough it up honey.” Night held out his hand in a curled in his fingers in a “give me” motion.
Velvet rolled her eyes and walked into her workroom to grab the aforementioned ten dollars. Twilight and Sunset were noticeably confused.
“Um…w-what just happened?” Twilight asked as her eye twitched in confusion.
“Oh honey, we kind of figured that was the case,” said Night.
Twilight shook her head as she ran her hand through her hair. “B-But how?! I never kissed Sunset in front of you! Never held hands or did anything that would implicate or signify that we were in a romantic relationship!”
Velvet returned with the ten bucks and placed it in her husband’s hands as she took her seat. “Well it wasn’t so much the glaringly obvious, so much as the small things. Out all your friends that you talk about, your voice tends to get a little higher pitched and giddy when you talk about her.”
“And there was the time when Sunset took the time out of her own day to come and help your mother nurse you back to health. Some friends would go that distance, but sometimes not.”
“And then there was that awful attack on our house, and Sunset putting herself in the line of fire,” said Velvet.
Sunset rubbed the back of her head as she blushed from the recanting of their subtle shows of affection. “W-Well, I mean, we’re friends, wouldn’t it make sense for me to try and protect her?”
“Yes,” Velvet nodded, “but it was in the way you did it. No hesitation, and without a second thought for your own safety. I kind of leaned towards romantic as well, but I didn’t want to put all my cards on that.”
Night Light smirked. “Bet you wish you did now~”
Velvet gave Night a light jab with her elbow into his ribs.
“So…Y-You’re both okay with me dating Sunset, being lovers and everything?” Twilight asked still worried.
Night Light and Velvet nodded with smiles.
“Of course, we are, why wouldn’t we be?” Velvet asked.
“W-Well the topic never really came up in my life, I know we had ‘the talk’ a little early since I discovered all those biology books – and that’s a story for another day Sunset,” Twilight saw Sunset’s telltale smirk forming and proceeded to cut off any embarrassing questions regarding that. “But we never addressed whether or not attraction to the same sex was something that was not allowed or something you were open to…”
The two adults lightly chuckled.
“On that we could’ve done a better job of elaborating on. I guess we just assumed that you would be okay telling us or that we made it clear enough that we would support you no matter who you loved,” said Velvet as she got up and walked to kneel beside her daughter. “For that we apologize, if we knew that it was going to cause you such an internal conflict…”
Twilight turned to her mother and shook her head. “No, no, I mean…I still think I would’ve been confused and thinking it over a lot, even if we did. Considering I wasn’t the most sociable of people…”
Sunset placed a hand on her love’s shoulder. “But don’t forget, Crystal Prep didn’t exactly encourage relationships, friendly or otherwise. Which only made, or helped depending on your point of view, you focus more on your studies.”
Night Light and Velvet regrettably nodded, as much as they loved that their daughter excelled in her pursuit of knowledge, they often worried about her social growth, and while Crystal Prep did have a reputation of bringing out the best in the students, it wasn’t exactly a place to make friends due to the competitive nature that they instilled in their students. Shining Armor did pretty well and did manage to make a few friends that he still talks to. But they never really worried about him too much, he was a big strapping young man and was always on the side of justice, knowing what was right and wrong and never yielded that sense of justice for any reason, peer pressure or not. However, the same could not be said of Twilight, she pursued knowledge to the exclusion of all other things around her, and unfortunately that could come off as being a snob, or disinterested, or better than everyone.
“The important thing, Twily, is that you’re happy. And personally speaking, Miss Shimmer has been quite the good influence on you, and quite the catch if I may say,” said Night Light.
“DADDY!” Twilight shouted in embarrassment.
“Sorry, Mr. Light, but I’m taken,” said Sunset as she wrapped an arm around Twilight.
Night Light shrugged. “Oh well, guess I’ll have to settle for the prettiest girl in the room then, right, Velvet?”
The older woman rolled her eyes, but smiled at the compliment anyway. Twilight blushed at the embarrassing banter between her parents, while Sunset happily chuckled at the display. At that time the sound of a car pulling up in the driveway caught their attention, followed soon after by the entrance of both Shining Armor and Cadance. The fuchsia pink woman immediately zeroed in on the younger girl, with the latter getting up to hug her former babysitter/Dean/first girl crush. But Sunset doesn’t need to know about that.
Shining Armor smiled at the interaction between his little sister and his girlfriend, but his mood soured, albeit slightly, when he saw Sunset Shimmer. Now his opinion of her hadn’t changed that much in the last few months. Shining had yet to fully forgive Sunset for leaving his little sister alone in that mall when the Key Dopant attacked. And although she did risk her life to save her when the Claydoll Dopant attacked their home to save Twilight from getting shot at, he still felt a bit of skepticism regarding her actions and intentions with Twilight.
“So, what’s going on here?” Cadance asked.
Velvet giggled. “Oh nothing, just that now both of my babies have found their special someone!”
Cadance’s eyes went wide to match the smile on her face as she glanced between Twilight, Sunset, and back to Twilight. “NO! You mean, you told them?! You two are really?!”
Twilight nodded sheepishly, but also with a hint of pride and a blush.
Cadance enveloped her former charge with a near bone crushing bear hug, and smushed her face against Twilight’s as she gushed over this development. “Oh, thank gods! I’ve been waiting for you two to finally make it official! I’m so happy for you, Twily! She’s smart, artistic, and hot to boot, nice catch!”
“Cadance, please!” Twilight uttered in an embarrassed tone.
“Wait…” Shining spoke, “You mean, you two are actually dating? Like, for real dating? Not just friends going somewhere dating?”
Sunset crossed her arms and gave the older brother a pointed look. “That’s generally what ‘officially dating’ means.”
“Is there a problem, son?” Night Light asked with a raised eyebrow.
Shining shook his head. “No, just, surprised is all. Never knew, Twily swung that way.”
Twilight cleared her throat. “T-To be honest, I didn’t know either until a little later. Are you…upset?”
Shining Armor turned around and gave his little sister an incredulous look, and then moved to hug her. “Twily, never! You’re my LSBFF, I’m not going to think of you any differently because you like girls or whatever!” That still doesn’t mean I can’t scrutinize the people she dates. Shining separated from his little sister, who was now sporting a happy, relief filled smile with a few tears in her eyes. “I guess that means we have two things to celebrate then.”
“What’s the second?” Sunset asked.
Cadance smiled and wrapped an arm around Twilight. “I’ve just spoken to the Schoolboard not too long ago and went down there for a meeting. And they unanimously elected to make me the official Principal of Crystal Prep.”
Twilight fiercely hugged Cadance as she said, “Cadance, that’s wonderful! And you definitely deserve it after…well…you know.”
“And I wish I had known sooner,” Cadance bent her knees a little to bring herself eye level with Twilight. “Had I known, I would’ve reported Cinch immediately. She had no right to lord your academic future over your head just win some game!”
Sunset clinched her jaw at the mention of Principal Abacus Cinch, the woman was terrible. She kept the school in a state of constant competition, making it so that the students saw each other not as peers but as rivals. While it did help make Crystal Prep a prestigious school academically, it failed to encourage the students’ social growth. Seeing everyone as a potential rival and opponent was not a healthy mindset for anyone. Even when Cinch’s own daughter tried to instigate change, she was practically cast out of her own home.
“IF I ever see that woman again, it’ll be too soon,” said Sunset.
“On that we agree,” said Shining Armor.
“Well why don’t we all go out for something?! A little celebration for Cadance’s new position and for Twilight snagging herself a girlfriend!” Velvet announced.
“Moooooom,” Twilight groaned in continued embarrassment from her parents.
“I like that, let’s head to that fancy place, the-the Swan Song!” Night Light suggested.
Both parents went to get ready, and Twilight decided to get changed into something a little nicer, and Cadance went up with her to help. Which left only Sunset and Shining, in the same room, alone, with no parents or younger siblings or girlfriends to keep them in check. Sunset stayed in her seat, while Shining Armor approached the couch across from her and took a seat. Both gave each other intense stares, Sunset never had a problem with Shining Armor, not until the Key Dopant incident. Sure, he was riding her when she was Unicorn, but in his defense Shining Armor did not know her secret identity. However, if he did, the young officer would no doubt arrest her on the spot. So, telling him that she didn’t abandon Twilight because she was scared but to go and transform would just land her in jail.
Sunset thought that the older brother of her girlfriend was easing up, but deep down they both still had a bit of resentment towards each other, especially when Shining Armor announced himself as Kamen Rider Trigger and opened up his family to being a target for any criminal or Dopant to come and attack them out of revenge or as leverage against him. That had irritated Sunset on a level.
“So,” Shining began, “you’re really dating my sister.”
“I am,” said Sunset.
“You think you can make her happy?”
Sunset inhaled slowly and exhaled slowly to calm herself. “I want to, and I’ll do everything I can to make sure that I do.”
Shining Armor leaned forward and asked, “And if you can’t?”
Sunset bit her inner lip, she didn’t want to say it, to put that out in the universe, but she was sure in her love for Twilight, sure enough to say, “That won’t happen. But if it does, if that is her decision, I will…let her go.”
The older brother sat up straight as he continued to give Sunset a scrutinizing look. “I’ll be honest with you, Shimmer. I know what you’ve done in the past, I looked up your record the day after that whole monster incident went down at your school. You were manipulative, a schemer, blackmailer, and often times violent. Until about a couple years back during the Fall Formal at that school, you suddenly had a ‘Turn-Heel’ moment and became more active in your school activities that included community service, and other things. Then there was this ‘Battle of the Bands’ thing, and all of a sudden the student body and faculty – with a couple of exceptions – just seemed to forgive you.”
Sunset felt a stab at her heart, recalling her past was always a sore subject that filled her with guilt and remorse. “It wasn’t…It wasn’t like it was just an overnight thing…Someone dear to me showed me how much a of tyrannical bitch I was, and because of that I found myself in a hole.” Metaphorically and literally speaking. “I crawled up from that hole then I remade myself, doing everything I could to earn back everyone’s trust, it wasn’t just overnight, it was gradual, hard, and sometimes frustrating and tear inducing! But I did it and I never want to go back to being that way again. And I will never let Twilight experience that, ever.”
Sunset spoke the truth, whether or not Shining Armor believed her was another story, but she said what she meant, and meant what she said, she would be faithful, one-hundred percent. Damn that book series and its catchy rhymes…
Shining Armor still regarded Sunset Shimmer with suspicion. There was no doubt she could lie her ass off when she needed to and look innocent while doing so, the interviews he did at CHS during that monster incident told him enough to believe that Sunset could be lying to him right now. That was the problem, Shining Armor wanted to believe her, but her rap sheet was just too long.
“We’ll see, just know that for any reason, you hurt Twily, physically or emotionally, I won’t hesitate to come after you. Forget being a cop and a Kamen Rider, this will be just you and me,” said Shining Armor as he leaned forward.
Sunset did the same staring him dead in the eyes. “And I if do, I won’t stop you.”
“Sorry it took so long, Cadance kept insisting that I wear that, ahem, other dress she picked out for me a month back, but I–” Twilight stopped in the middle of the stairwell, peering from her vantage point to the living room and feeling the thick tension in the air as her girlfriend and big brother seemed to be having a staring contest. “Sunset, Shiny?”
Both turned their heads in Twilight’s direction and gave her welcome smiles, which wasn’t helping Twilight’s paranoia of what she had just witnessed.
Sunset stood up and walked over to the stairs, meeting Twilight at the bottom. “You look great, Twi.”
“Thanks…Um, Sunset are you alright?” Twilight asked.
Sunset quirked her head to the side in confusion. “Never better, why?”
Twilight could tell that that wasn’t the case, but she also knew that Sunset was a stubborn girl and would rather take on the problem herself before saying anything. “No, reason…well…did, did Shining Armor give you a hard time?”
“Oh c’mon, Twi, he’s your big brother,” Sunset laughed, “he’s allowed to give me the third degree about dating his little sister. Plus, he’s a cop, so it’s not totally out of the question to go through an interrogation.”
Twilight glanced over her lover’s shoulder to her brother still sitting on the couch, who also waved to her. “And, you’re sure you’re alright?”
Sunset rolled her eyes, then she leaned forward and kissed her on the cheek. “Stop worrying, you know I’m made of tougher stuff.” Twilight quickly reached out and took Sunset’s hand, squeezing it tightly. Sunset cursed herself for saying that, it was too soon to quip about something like that, especially considering her near death experience. “Sorry…I-I shouldn’t joke like that.”
Twilight sighed a little shakily and looked up at Sunset. “It’s okay…you came back and that’s all that matters. Just please, remember that you have someone waiting for you at the end of every fight.”
Sunset gently pulled Twilight closer and embraced her as the smaller girl rested her head against Sunset’s shoulder. “I won’t ever forget, babe.”
Shining Armor watched the display from his seated position on the couch, both girls were just out of ear shot, but their actions conveyed a lot of emotion. It still made Shining Armor uneasy to see this, not the whole “my little sister’s a lesbian” thing, that didn’t concern him. What did concern him was the kind of people she would date. Shining Armor always told himself he wouldn’t be that cliché big brother who always scrutinized all his little sister’s romantic choices, at least when warranted. And Sunset Shimmer definitely warranted it, despite her recent actions, Shining had seen too many delinquent kids Sunset’s age that looked like they were on the straight and narrow, but then later found out that it was all a front.
Twilight was still a bit naïve, she not too long ago had no interest in social interaction beyond her family, Cadance, and Spike. Now, after transferring to CHS, she has six – very diverse – friends, and out of those six, one of them ends up becoming her girlfriend in little over a year, and that one just so happens to be the girl who was once known as the Queen Bee, bully, and overall manipulator of the school. Yeah, that wasn’t going to fly.
Sunset and Twilight parted with the former heading towards the guest bathroom. Shining Armor took this chance to approach his little sister, keeping his brotherly smile up as he asked, “You okay, Twily, you look a little upset?”
Twilight shook her head. “No, just recalling a bit of a traumatic event that happened not too long ago…”
Shining Armor raised an eyebrow. “With Sunset, what she’d do?”
“Nothing, she wasn’t feeling well and was in the hospital during that monster attack. I guess I’m still not over it,” said Twilight as she fudged the truth of the situation.
“Oh…is she, alright?” Shining asked.
“Yes, she’s back to a hundred percent, if not better than ever. Still, I worry,” Twilight confessed.
The elder sibling smiled and wrapped an around the younger, bringing her into a half-hug. “I know what you mean, I worry about Cadance all the time.”
Twilight looked up at her brother in confusion. “You worry about her? She’s the Dean – well Principal now – of a school, if anything, considering your profession, she has more reason to worry about you.”
“True, true, no denying that,” said Shining Armor as he nodded his head, “but that doesn’t mean I don’t think about how she’s doing every day while I’m out there. Is she safe at home? Did she make it home? Is she anywhere near where this monster attack is going on? Are there punks checking her out and trying to take advantage of her? Just little things and big things. You just can’t help but worry about someone you really like, even if you knew that they were completely invincible and completely immortal, you’d still find something to worry about.”
Twilight couldn’t help but think how close Sunset was to those descriptions, she was resilient, durable, and stronger than most humans due to her influx of magic, and now that she’s achieved a possible higher state of that with the power of the Phoenix Ascender, there was no telling how much stronger Sunset had become physically as well as magically. Still, like Shiny said, I’ll still find something to worry about.
“Thanks, big brother,” said Twilight as she hugged Shining Armor.
“Anytime kiddo.”
***________________<U>________________***
The Sparkle Family, plus Cadance and Sunset, all headed to a local semi-fancy restaurant. It was one that the family had been to a number of times and could easily recommend certain foods. The table was mostly filled with small talk regarding how the girls were looking forward to their senior year. Both could hardly believe that it was coming, and soon graduation would be around the corner.
Once the food arrived, the talking died down save a few sparse conversations, like with Twilight and Cadance.
“So…have you two kissed yet?” Cadance whispered.
Twilight nodded as a blush overcame her face.
Cadance had to reign her urge to release an elated squeal, but then her eyes narrowed, and her grin became devious. “Have you done…anything else?”
Twilight paused for a moment, swallowed her food and asked, “What do you mean?” Cadance leaned forward and whispered directly into Twilight’s ear. After a few seconds the bespectacled girl’s face was hot enough to roast a marshmallow on. “N-N-No, we, uh, we haven’t…we never discussed those…ahem…kind of activities…”
The older woman smiled gently at her former ward. “That’s fine, so long as you do eventually talk about it. And remember, no means no.”
“Of that, I can assure you, Sunset will never do anything to warrant that situation,” said Twilight with a firmness and confidence in her voice.
Just as the family was enjoying their meal, Shining Armor’s cellphone went off. He quickly took it out and saw that it was PhoenEXE Corp. calling. “Sorry,” he said before getting up and moving to the lobby to talk. “This is Officer Armor, is this you Ms. Glimmer?”
[Oh, great, I caught you! Listen to me Shining Armor, where is your sister right now?]
Shining Armor raised an eyebrow at that question. “We’re all having lunch at a restaurant. Why, what’s wrong?”
[Listen to me carefully, we received reports that there is someone with a device looking for your sister. And they may be stalking her right now!]
“WHAT?!” Shining Armor shouted, loud enough that most of the patrons looked his way.
[Don’t underestimate my company’s intelligence gathering. Look, you need to get your sister to a safe place. Bring her to PhoenEXE Corp, I have bolstered security since the last attack, and it will be much easier to defend than at a police station!]
Shining Armor’s mind was racing a mile a minute, someone was out to get his little sister, and could be close by right now. But who? Who would want to hurt her? Wait, is this because of me? Are they trying to hurt Twily to get to me?! “O-Okay, I’ll bring her and my family down there ASAP!” Shining Armor closed the phone and rushed back to table where everyone was sitting at. “Twily, everyone, we need to leave! Now!”
Sunset’s brow furrowed in concern. “Something bad is coming, isn’t it?”
Shining, reluctantly nodded.
“Twi, let’s go,” Sunset stated.
Before they could all get up, someone screamed into the restaurant, “TWILIGHT SPARKLE!!!”
That voice, it was a voice that Twilight, Sunset, Cadance, nor Shining Armor could ever forget. Their gazes fell on the front door, and there stood the ex-Principal of Crystal Prep, and former parent of Sunny Flare, Abacus Cinch. She wore her old Principal attire, looking as pristine and haughty as ever, but there was a maniacal glint in her eyes that spoke of vengeance.
Cadance was the first to rise up from the table as she glared daggers at the woman. “Ms. Cinch, what is the meaning of this?!”
“Oh look, it’s the little tramp they appointed to as the new Principal, who’s lap did you have to sit in to get my job, hmm?”
Shining Armor growled as his fist tightened.
Night Light sat up from his seat and stared down the woman who caused his daughter such grief. “Now see here, Ms. Cinch, we didn’t press charges regarding your little extortion of our daughter for her sake and your daughter’s, but your daughter is no longer a factor here, we’re more than within our right to do so, especially after that comment. Or did you forget our son’s an officer of the law?”
Cinch scoffed. “Oh yes, Shining Armor, I remember him. Always the do-gooder even back in school! Never could force you to adopt the full competitive nature of the school, the only time you did get competitive was during the Friendship Games, just about the only time I could fully rely on you! But this isn’t about you, it will be about Dean Slut later, but right now, it’s about you, Twilight!”
Sunset shot up and placed her arm across Twilight.
“M-Me?! Why?!” Twilight asked.
“Because of you, the Games were lost! Because of you, and that other hooligan girl next to you, the school whose reputation I had built up, has now become nothing! And because of you, my daughter has adopted a sickening infatuation with another girl! It’s repugnant! And it seems, like a virus, I found patient zero!” Cinch accused as she pointed her finger right at the girl.
Velvet stood up next glared at the former Principal, a stare that Sunset would wager would make even an Ursa Major wet themselves. “See here, Abacus Cinch, don’t you dare insult my daughter, or the person she loves in front of me! Or berate and belittle your own daughter in the same manner!”
Shining Armor quickly got out in front of his mother, fearing that this was the person that Starlight Glimmer had warned him about. “Abacus Cinch, either leave or I’m going to arrest you for harassment, right now.”
Abacus Cinch rolled up her right sleeve, revealing the connector tattoo, a mark that Sunset and Twilight immediately zeroed in on. Cinch then took out the Gaia Memory from her pocket and hovered it over the tattoo. “I’d like to see you try, Mr. Armor.”
< INJURY! >
A yellow light consumed Cinch and blinded others, after a few seconds, the light faded and revealed the former Principal of CPA’s new form. Her body was exoskeletal, with rough shoulder pauldrons and bracers that looked as if they were made of bone, but colored a pale white, her forearms were also covered in thick exoskeletal armor, with boney clawed fingers. The same thick armor covered the knees and everything below it, while another layer covered the thighs in a semi-circle. The chest was comprised of the pale white bones, shaped around where the abdominal and pectoral muscles would be, and on the sides were ribcages. The head was a skull, that had a crack that ran down the middle and over the right eye socket. The body itself was made of a solid dark substance that gave the Dopant form, but within the dark sockets appeared two points of violet light that acted as the eyes.
“Now I’m going to ruin you, as you ruined my life and my career!” Cinch declared.
Shining Armor summoned the T-Driver and place it at his waist, following up with the Trigger Memory.
< TRIGGER! >
“Henshin!”
> TRIGGER! <
An azure electrical field appeared around Shining Armor, transforming him into Kamen Rider Trigger. Trigger dashed straight for the Dopant, tackling it right through the front door and out into the open streets. Both the Rider and Dopant rolled around into oncoming traffic, hearing a symphony of screeching tires and crunching fenders as cars tried to stop before they hit the two brawlers.
Trigger managed to separate himself from the Dopant as he rolled to a stop, quickly shot to his feet, and drew the Chrome Magnum. “Oh-ho-ho, you realize you just gave me a good excuse to give you some righteous pay back for my little sister, right?”
Injury didn’t seem fazed by the threat. “Really now, Officer Armor, is that any way to speak as a policeman?”
“You’re right, actions speak louder!”
Trigger fired three bolts at Injury, the Dopant raised her forearms up as all three shots hit, making sparks fly from the points of impact. However, the skeletal Dopant didn’t receive much damage from the attack. Trigger continued to fire as Injury advanced, but Injury just shrugged off the blasts like they were nothing. She managed to close the distance on Trigger and raised her fist to punch him, but Trigger jumped back in time to miss the blow. As he backed away, Trigger took out the Knife Memory and loaded it into the Chrome Magnum.
< KNIFE! >
|^| KNIFE! ARMED! |^|
The Chrome Magnum shined and transformed into a dagger weapon. Trigger engaged Injury at close range, swiping at her left side with the dagger blade and causing sparks to fly. Unfortunately, it was a minimal amount, his attacks were doing damage, but not enough to slow down the Dopant. This was emphasized as Injury whirled around slammed her fist into the ground as she barely missed him yet again.
Trigger rolled again and quickly stood back up. She’s strong, and fast, but she has no technique. Cinch is just throwing punches, she’s pissed, but not a fighter. On top of that, I haven’t seen if she’s used her powers yet, probably best to end this quick before she has a chance. Trigger cancelled Knife Mode, and opened the slots on the blaster, readying to place the four Gaia Memories that would allow him to enter his super mode.
“Guess that’s long enough,” said Injury.
The left hand of Dopant began to glow as she raised it up and pointed it towards Trigger. “Break!”
Before Trigger could act, a sickening snap echoed inside his body and outside, the Super, Weapons, Action, and Tactics Memories fell to the ground as Trigger yelled into the air as severe pain rocked his left arm, his HUD gave readings that displayed the injured area and stated, [Warning: Radius Fracture.]
Injury took this chance, making its right fist glow as she charged for Trigger and punched him straight in the chest, sparks flew from Trigger’s armor, sending him flying onto his back. Just then, a mark appeared over his chest, outlined in yellow light before disappearing. Injury’s right hand still glowed as she pointed it at Trigger.
“Break!”
Suddenly, Trigger felt his chest erupt with pain as his helmet blared more warnings, this time displaying his ribcage and stating, [Warning: Multiple Rib Fractures. Recommend immediate medical treatment.]
Dammit! Shining cursed.
Injury chuckled in a demure, yet sinister way as she approached her victim. “Behold, the great defender of law and order, I’m certain you’re in a great amount of pain. Compared to Unicorn and Nasca, you’re just a second-rate Rider, quite a shame, I expected more from a Crystal Prep alumnus under my watch. But, I suppose it falls on me to correct that folly.” Injury channeled her energy into both hands as she reached to touch Trigger’s skull.
> UNICORN! <
< SHINING! >
\^/ PHOENIX! \^/
{\^/} AAAAAASCEEEEENNNNSIONNNNNN!!! {\^/}
A burst of fiery red and gold light shined down on the area, and in the next moment, Injury found herself getting struck across the chest and sending her flying into the side of a wall. Injury blinked as she peeled herself off the wall and glared at her opponent, the angelic form of Unicorn Day Dreamer, the final form she took to defeat two powerful Dopants at once.
“I don’t think you’re stupid enough to fight me like this, you’re better off just giving up,” said Unicorn.
“True, but you’re going to let me go nonetheless,” said Injury.
“Give me one good reason!”
Injury pointed at the still downed Trigger. “Because if you don’t treat him soon, one of his broken ribs will puncture his lung and he’ll suffocate to death here on the street!”
Unicorn quickly turned her attention onto the still writhing Trigger, the moment she did, Injury ran away down an alley, and no doubt would slip away when she changed back into Cinch. Fortunately, she made the mistake of revealing her identity, so it would only be a matter of time to find her, but first things first. Unicorn took the Kindness Memory out of its holster and loaded it into the Halo Blade.
)O( KINDNESS! AWAKEN! )O(
Unicorn held the weapon in both hands as yellow light ran up the sword until it collected at the tip. She then pointed the blade right at Trigger as the light began to drift towards him like wispy smoke. The light surrounded Trigger, soothing the pain of his injuries, in a matter of seconds Trigger’s HUD was indicating that the damage he received was being healed, after a minute, the fractures were all mended.
Trigger rose back up, rotating his left arm carefully and taking in steady breaths. But miraculously, there was no soreness, in fact, it was as if the injuries were erased. Unicorn deactivated her Day Dreamer form and returned to her default form, picking up Trigger’s special Gaia Memories and levitating them to him. Trigger took back the Memories and curtly said, “Thanks.”
“Like I told you once before, I’d help to protect your family,” said Unicorn.
“You must be loving this, a second big ‘I told you so’,” Trigger commented.
Unicorn sighed. “You did what you thought was right, and I’m doing what I believe is right. Whether it’s revealing who I am under this armor, or not. You’d better head back to your family.”
With that, Unicorn teleported away.
***________________<U>________________***
An hour and a half later found the Sparkle Family at the PhoenEXE Corp. headquarters. There were cop cars surrounding the building, along with the company’s private security detail, all loaded with anti-monster hardware. They entered the main lobby, where Starlight Glimmer and one of her assistants, Double Diamond, were waiting.
“Oh, thank gods you’re alright,” said Starlight.
“Starlight? You alright?” Sunset asked.
The CEO of the major company quickly composed herself. “Y-Yes, just fine. I was worried when the news broke that there was a fight. Did you manage to figure out who the monster was? Our intel said it was someone with a vendetta against Twilight here, but we never managed to figure out who it was exactly.”
Shining Armor’s fist tightened. “It was Twilight’s old Principal, and Cadance’s former boss, Abacus Cinch, she’s on the run right now,” he then turned to his sister and girlfriend, “but I will bring her in.”
Starlight sighed. “For now, we’ve set up a safe room here, heavily fortified, and with guards roaming the halls at all times, no unauthorized entry will be allowed under any circumstances. The only ones the guards are allowed to let pass is you, Officer Armor.”
Shining nodded. “Alright, I’ll get going.”
“Shiny, wait!” Twilight called out.
“You’re all better off here, Cinch is out for revenge and she’s targeted all of us. She blames Twilight for the Games, Cadance for taking her job, and–”
“SUNNY FLARE!” Cadance called out. “She’s still out there! Cinch will go after her, too!”
Twilight and Sunset fumbled for their phones, checking their messages and MyStable pages.
“She’s on a date with Rarity right now,” said Sunset.
“I’ll call them and tell them what’s happening, maybe Rarity can get her here,” said Twilight.
“No, just have them stay put, tell them what’s happening and text me the location!” Shining Armor ordered as he ran out the door.
A few seconds later the sound of electricity went off and the sound of a motorcycle growing distant could heard.
“Let’s get you all to the safe room,” said Starlight.
Sunset didn’t like this, she understood why she needed to be kept safe, but at the same time it was a massive inconvenience. There would be no way to slip out and transform without attracting attention to her absence, and especially with all the security around. Sunset brought up her contacts and found Rainbow Dash, she quickly sent a text and prayed that her partner would receive it in time.
{Rainbow, EMERGENCY! Rarity and Sunny Flare are in danger! Principal Cinch – former – has a Gaia Memory, it’s called Injury! Hurry and get to them as FAST! FYI, don’t let her touch you when you fight! Stay moving!}
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I thought we were going into Forgotten Friendship? Was that changed?
Based on that chapter title, I'm thinking this may finally be the point where Trigger and Unicorn finally clash heads.
9242672
that was supposed to be a separate story, but im fine skipping it
9242769
...except that seperate story never released before this chapter. To my knowledge.
As in there is no separate story on the site that covers Forgotten Friendship
Oh, this is going to be intense. An ability that remotely breaks any bone after making contact with the area first is super dangerous and deadly.
Sure, like any other city, just ignore the monsters rampaging through it on a weekly basis, totally normal.
Yeah, where was that in the last chapter? As far as I know, Juniper was not the buyer, so the memory shouldn't have worked for her, so how did that work?
"Uhm, we might have a slight problem boss."
For a moment I thought she had said 'gay matter'
would not put it past this fic, however, that would probably be more of an RB line.
Best! Parents! Ever!
Goddamit Shining
A couple of years? I thought they were in there last years of high school, years is a lot to take in
And now it's A year again... You know story, I would prefer it if you stuck to one timefraim
Not this time.
Oh, she is going down!
She really has priority issues.
I'm sorry, what? Trigger has shown himself to be a true Kamen Rider multiple times over, you aren't going to talk shit about him, you second class Kaijin!
Oh, she is evil. Getting to see her face smashed in is going to be a delight
Well, another great chapter, can't wait for part two.
Oh, and as a little bonus, here something I did while I was bored:
"Hāmonī o fukugen suru jikan! Hoka no sekai no raidā wa... Unicorn!" (Time to restore harmony! The Rider from another world is… Unicorn!)
“Armor Time!”
"Unicorn!"
"Unicorn!"
oh wait, never mind,
I'myou’re just worried about the potential loss of money1. Extra I'm.
Also noting that the final bit where Sunset transformed back to her default the text colour was still red and not uhh... Neon green? I don't get colours that well.
9243108
For the connector tat point, (gonna go KR Double nerd power here) Gaia memories can be used w/out a connector port but it pushes the mental toxicity faster before being consumed by the Memory, connector ports acts like a filter slowing the process deeming them necessary whilst people from Museum used the belts as a complete filter against the Memory toxicity.
Anyone can use a memory but those w/out a connector would be in the most danger against being consumed by the Memory itself.
(Go ahead and challenge me on that, really I'm just recalling info based on what I remember nearly a decade ago.)
That bitch has lost her goddamn mind! Why the fuck was she sold that drive to!?
...Mr. Night Light, You've just given me, not just information...but AMMUNITION.
Twilight ANDROMEDA Sparkle and Shining FRANCIS Armor?
Welp, i know which child was favorited
I mean, Francis, really?