RIDER TIME

by WozWuzHere

Chapter 13: The Great Card Battles

—----

“Ugh…damn, it’s so boring around here,” Anton groaned. He had been under ‘house arrest’ so he would recuperate from his injuries…and so he wouldn’t go after Starlight Glimmer.

“Complaining about it isn’t gonna do anything, Anton,” Bon Bon said. She and Lyra had taken a custodial role over him, albeit reluctantly on her part.

“I hate this. I really, REALLY hate being stuck here while the ‘hero king’ gets to go around and pick up as many RideWatches as he damn well pleases!” The rebellious Rider slammed his fist against the wall. Bon Bon just rolled her eyes.

“You make it sound like he’s playing PokeMane or something,” the confectioner said.

“He may as well be! And you and Lyra just keep me here! Why!? What did I ever do to you!?” Anton raged before he winced in pain.

“Nothing,” Bon-Bon said. “It’s what you’re doing to yourself, that’s why you’re here. You need to rest up, and heal.”

“Screw that! I’ll heal when I’ve done what I need to do!”

“Oh for the love of… Lyra, we’ve got a code rowdy here!” Bon Bon called down the hallway. “He thinks he’s a badass!”

“Coooming!~” Lyra’s voice rang out as she came to the room. She locked eyes with Anton.

“Urk…” Anton just stopped. “No, I’m not letting you get the better of me this time!”

“Lyra, proceed with puppy-dog eyes manuever 12,” Bon Bon said, Lyra saluting as she cleared her throat and proceeded to make an exaggerated sad face at Anton.

“...gah, alright, alright! Just put that thing away before you give me insulin shock or something!” The Rider just sat down, embarrassed. Lyra just giggled.

“Come on, it can’t be that bad, staying here,” Lyra said.

“Lyra, I’m supposed to be out there fighting monsters and stuff! It’s literally in my blood!” Anton said, almost sounding like he was whining.

“And if you WERE to go out there your blood wouldn’t be in you for much longer,” Bon Bon said. “Do we need to tie you to the bed or an- Wipe that look off your face, Lyra. Anton, you’re not getting out of the house until you’re healed.”

“Yes, moooooom,” Anton said with the sarcasm of a thousand disaffected teenagers.

“It’s like I’ve become a parent to a moody teenage colt,” Bon Bon said, rolling her eyes. “If I wanted your attitude, I could have gone to the orphanage.”

“Imagine, Bonnie,” Lyra said. “Us, being parents. I just didn’t think it’d happen this soon! I haven’t even put a ring on your finger yet!”

Bon Bon facepalmed. “It’s a figure of speech, Lyra.”

But their banter was interrupted by a beeping noise coming from another room.

“Excuse me, Lyra and I have to take this,” Bon Bon then rushed Lyra and herself out of Anton’s current room and into what appeared to be a bathroom. The mirror in there was pulsing with a glowing light. She reached out and touched the mirror.

“Agent Sweetie Drops and Deputy Agent Lyra Heartstrings reporting, sir,” Bon Bon said to the mirror, which began to show a stallion in a darkened room. “Red is still contained, though his attitude is increasingly uncooperative. Not to mention grating…”

“All in service of protecting our country, Agent. Have you gotten any more information about these ‘Another Riders’ at all?” The mirror-stallion asked.

“No, sir. Anton doesn’t seem to know anything about them other than they’re made from those RideWatch devices, and that doppelgangers of several known criminals and threats are distributing them.”

“I see…it seems there was a disturbance in Ponyville recently, as well as an incident in Las Pegasus involving the Another Riders. Agent Sweetie Drops, you have your standing orders; investigate any possible leads to finding those doppelgangers and stop them from passing out any more RideWatches…and keep that boy from doing anything daft, please.”

“I assume you’re talking about me,” Anton staggered in, clutching his side and using another hand to support himself by gripping the doorframe. “Or that other idiot, calling himself the king of heroes?”

“Huh…you know, I’ve never actually heard him call himself that,” Lyra said. “You sure you didn’t just hear him say something else?”

“You’re supposed to be in bed!” Bon Bon said with a hiss.
“Bite me. Also, Mr. Mystery, I hope you’re not thinking of trying to keep me here for much longer… my issue is with Starlight and those Dark Riders, so don’t get in my way! And if you try to Men in Black me, I’ll break your hand.”

“Believe me, you have no idea what we’re capable of. Don’t underestimate us, Rider.”

Anton rolled his eyes. “Blah blah blah. How about you come here in person and I can show you exactly who you’re messing with-”

“Anton, ENOUGH!” Bon Bon yelled. “Go back to your room and STAY THERE!”

“Yeah yeah, I’m going, but if you seriously need any help figuring out what’s trying to kill you scared little girls toys, you should just ask me. Hello, Rider here?” Anton said, doing jazz hands before heading back to bed. “Honestly…”

“...he seems to be in better spirits than before. At least we got some more actual conversation before he started resorting to threats this time.”

Bon Bon sighed, pinching between her eyes. “It’s been a work in progress.”

“Deputy Agent Heartstrings,” the stallion said. Lyra just stood at attention. “Do what you can to get information out of him about anything related to the Another Riders.”

“Yes sir!” She saluted and walked out of the room.

“Sir, I believe I’m more than capable of extracting the information we need,” Bon Bon replied.

“Unfortunately, it seems this situation will require a different approach than usual,” the stallion explained. “Especially since we might actually need him soon enough.”

“Hm?” Bon Bon asked.

“You have your orders. Command out.” The stallion said as the image disappeared, leaving only Bon Bon’s normal reflection.

“I hate my life sometimes… I really do.”

—--------

Outside, Tom and Twilight were spending a bit of time by themselves, at the insistence of all their friends.

“All our friends have turned into shippers,” Tom lamented silently, still unable to work up the nerve to say much.

“Um…so…how did things go in Las Pegasus?” Twilight asked nervously.

“Er…well, it wasn’t exactly my idea of a good time.”

“I’m sorry…the map has a mind of its own, it chooses who goes where,” Twilight said. “I wish I could have gone myself.”

“I did miss having you there,” Tom said.

“I missed having you here,” Twilight replied as they began to get closer…but they both pulled away.

“...I really suck at this, huh?” Tom sighed.

“We both do…” Twilight also sighed.

Tom was about to reply but he noticed something in a bush nearby.

“Just a moment, Twilight.” Tom pulled out a small red watch. He pressed it and it unfolded into a small mechanical bird.

“You know what to do,” He pointed at the bush. The bird flew into the bush, and a yelp of fear came out as Pinkie Pie and Rarity fell out of the bush, having been spying on them.

As the little bird kept pecking at the ponies heads, Twilight rolled her eyes. “Pinkie, Rarity, I appreciate the concern, but this is just creepy.”

“Well, pardon us for wanting to see you two happy together,” Rarity said indignantly. “Really darling, was that really necessary? Oww, stop it! He’s pulling at my mane, do you know how long it takes to style this every morning?”

“TakaWatch, return.” Tom bade the bird to return with a snap of his fingers, it flew back and folded back into a watch. He just looked at the two interlopers with crossed arms and an annoyed expression.

“Neither of us has had any real experience with this kind of thing before, you know that,” Tom said. “Let us figure it out on our own, please.”

“But we just want to help!” Pinkie squeaked. Twilight walked over to the two and hugged them gently.

“I know you two mean well, and Tom and I both appreciate and understand that,” Twilight said. “We’d just appreciate some actual time to figure things out for ourselves.”

“...very well, darlings, we will relent,” Rarity said. “But please do let us know if you need us.”

“Yeah! We want you two to be happy!” Pinkie chimed in. “Well, I want everyone to be happy, but I want you two to be super extra happy!”

Tom sighed a bit. “Thank you, both of you,” he said. “Twilight, I think maybe we should head back to the castle for now.”

“Yes, that sounds good. See you two later,” Twilight said as the two made their way home.

A few moments later, as Rarity was re-straightening her mane, Pinkie decided to speak up.

“I think maybe we overdid it this time,” Pinkie said.

“You may be right…I got so caught up in the idea of those two that it made me act foolish.” Rarity said back.

“Well, we’ll just have to make it up to them somehow!” Pinkie said, beginning to bounce a bit.

“Let’s just leave them for- wait, what is that?” Rarity looked towards the town and noticed that ponies were beginning to attack each other.

“You thought my roses were ugly?” Roseluck shouted, going after one of her fellow flower ponies. “How about I make your lilies look even worse! My roses are the best in town!”

Everypony else nearby wasn’t much better.

“Oh oh, a tiff! How terribly uncouth of them all! My goodness! Has the town gone mad!?”

Pinkie could only wince as the carnage began to unfold. “I don’t suppose we could go after Tom in this case?”

“I think he’d understand if it were an emergency… and I dare say, this qualifies.”

Pinkie and Rarity nodded at each other as they ran towards Twilight’s castle to alert them of the potential threat.

—--------

“...wait, what’s going on outside?” Bon Bon said, as she looked up from restocking her store shelves. “It doesn’t sound like one of Pinkie’s parties…”

She peered outside and only twisted a pony’s arm, wrestling them to the ground as they tried to attack her with gardening shears.

“Roseluck?” Bon Bon blinked. “What the…”

She was hit in the face with a muffin, and then another, the baked goods thrown hard enough to bean her in the head.

“...wait, these are Derpy’s muffins… and she’s usually such a nice pony, and she’d never waste them! These aren’t baked goods, these are baked bads!” Bon Bon said. “What’s going on? Roseluck would never even think of attacking another pony, and neither would Derpy, especially with her beloved muffins!”

Written Script and Thunderlane tried to tackle her but Bon Bon leaped into a split kick knocking them unconscious.

“It’s like everyone’s gone insane,” Bon Bon said, as she watched ponies breaking out into various brawls all around her. Wrestling another mare to the ground, she felt a gasp escape her as Applejack kicked her through the window. Display cases shattered even as the mare lassoed her, pulling her forwards.

“That’s enough of that,” Anton said, slicing through the mare’s lasso with his axe, still clutching his side in pain. “I don’t know what’s going on here, but… OWW!”

“You should be in bed,” Bon Bon said.

“I should be paying my rent,” Anton said, throwing his axe like a boomerang and letting it disarm several farmers of their tools. Catching the axe, he sighed. “I know I know, you can yell at me later but are you really going to complain when I’m apparently one of the only ones not affected by… whatever this is?”

“Point,” Bon Bon said. “It’s almost like they’re in a battle royale… Last one standing wins…”

“No, not a battle royale…” Anton said as a look of dawning realization, and then dread crossed his face. “A battle fight.”

“Those two things mean the same thing… right?”

“Not where I’m from,” Anton said. “You know, for once, I’m not going to complain about the king of the idiots. He’s just what we need today, and I can’t believe I just said that.”

He sighed to himself, shaking his head.

“Round zero… has begun.”

—--------

“What the hell?” Tom said, already having seen the chaos erupting around him, and his eyes widened as he pulled Twilight to the side as a crate full of fireworks went flying.

The fireworks exploded all around them, and his marefriend trapped them all in bubbles before wrapping two of the brawling ponies in purple rope.

“Okay, I’m not Applejack, but those should hold… I think,” Twilight said. “Okay, everyone, remember remember, just remember all you;ve learned from the Friendship Journal! We may fight, but we’re all friends and-”

“Duck, Twilight!” Pinkie shouted, and the two ducked as her party cannon went off sending an attacking pony flying. She wiped a bead of sweat off her face, as she said: “Geez Louise, not even my parties get this wild! Who spiked the muffins!?”

“Yes, this is all getting terribly out of hand,” Rarity agreed, commanding her dresses to wrap ponies tight in their corsets restraining them. “They are getting awfully rambunctious aren’t they?”

“And I think I can see who’s responsible,” Twilight said, pointing to a mare in ridiculously top heavy armor, with sunken eyes and a buzzsaw attached to her sword.

“One day off… just one,” Tom said, looking skywards as he pulled out his driver. “Is that too much to ask?”

“Look at this way, you’ll have a fun story to tell the kiddos!” Pinkie said, using a rubber chicken to knock out some brawling ponies. Both Twilight and Tom blushed, unable to look at the other.

“RIDER TIME! Kamen Rider: Zi-O! Armor Time: Agito!” the Space-Time Driver said as Tom went on the offense, punching the Another Rider several times before kicking her away. Pulling out a blue halberd, and letting it unfold, the Rider took up a fighting stance.

Striking with the weapon, his unusually top-heavy opponent blocked each strike with her sword moving a lot faster than her heavily armored appearance would suggest. And any strikes Tom did manage to land, didn’t really do much thanks to her heavy armor.

“I guess I’ll try this then!” Tom said, switching watches.

“Armor Time: Build!” the Space-Time Driver said, and he pulled out his drill weapon letting it spin up and thrust it forwards. This time, Another Blade did let out a yell of pain though she was soon knocking the weapon out of Tom’s hands with her own sword.

“Here’s hoping the third time’s the charm then…”

“She really seems to dislike you, Tommy!” Pinkie said. “It’s like she’s after you in particular, she went straight after you as soon as she saw you.”

“Armor Time: Gaim!”

Cracks appeared, vines lashing at the Another Rider who charged up energy in her sword and slashed, knocking him out of his Rider form.

“Tom!” Twilight said, rushing to his side even as her boyfriend rubbed his head, having hit a ramen bar.

“Ouuuuuuchhhhh,” Pinkie winced. “That looked like it hurt!”

The only one at the bar was another human, who’d seemed completely oblivious to the chaos, looked up from his noodles. A unicorn, with pink fur looked incredibly annoyed.

“Can’t anypony catch a bite to eat around here?” the stallion, with streaks of gray in his brown mane said with a heavy Japanese accent. A magenta camera dangled from a lanyard on his chest.

Tom’s eyes widened as he recognized the stallion.

“And who are you supposed to be?” Another Blade said.

“Nobody in particular,” the stallion said, pulling out a card with a barcode on it. “I’m just passing through, and I have to ask, is this town always this crazy? Or did I just arrive on a particularly bad day?”

“Nope, it’s… actually pretty much always like this actually come to think of it,” Pinkie said in thought. “Oh, I like your camera and your coat though! It’s pink like me!

“It’s magenta,” the stallion said, for the most part incredibly nondescript even as he was slipping the card into a device on his belt. A driver. And then his disguise dropped, shimmering and flickering out of existence to reveal his humanity.

“Kamen Ride: Decade!” the belt said, as multiple silhouettes converged on the rider forming his armor. Piercing emerald eyes stared the twisted parody down, as the rider pulled out a gun.

Firing several shots, rolling to the left to dodge a sword slash, the Rider continued on his assault firing off several more rounds.

“Why don’t you dance with me for a while?” Decade asked, no longer another face in the crowd. “Dance with the devil for a bit eh?”

Slipping another card into his driver, he turned into an exact replica of the original Kuuga.

The red and gold rider punched and kicked the Another Rider, twin golden horns like stag beetle pinchers erupting from his helmet. Grabbing a hold of the Another Rider with his hands, Decade as Kuuga headbutted the twisted parody.

Spinning and elbowing the Another Rider to keep her off balance, he slammed his hoof into her own. Mid-attack, he changed forms again, this time turning into the original, true Kamen Rider Blade.

Drawing his sword, he slashed the Another Rider several times and these slashes more than anything else seemed to do the most damage.

“Fight fire, with fire, after all,” Decade as Blade said. “I’m not the original, but I’ll substitute while he’s wandering the earth with his boyfriend. Such a pain… I thought I was done with this hero business.”

Striking the Another Rider again, he shook his head.

“You know, in my time… they had a name for me. I doubt you know it, so I’ll let you in on what they call me. The Destroyer of Worlds, and that includes yours.”

Twilight swallowed. “...is… do you…”

“Not unless I have to, and I hate doing it,” Decade as Blade said. “I’m supposed to be retired, but all of this came up and I saw the kid getting his ass handed to him like a schoolboy getting beaten up by a bully. I hate bullies, and I really hate seeing my family getting his ass handed to him AND looking like a chump. He’s not supposed to be a jobber, that’s Kurokage’s and Specter’s jobs.”

Decade then pulled out a strange looking RideWatch that didn’t just have his picture on it- it resembled his armor somewhat.

“Hey, kiddo! Let’s play tag like we used to!” Decade said as he started running towards the Everfree.

“What? Gramps, wait!” Tom started to run but hesitated. “If I go after him now…”

“Tom, go after him,” Twilight said. “I think I know what your grandpa is thinking anyway! Get Another Blade out of Ponyville, lessen the effects of her powers right? We can handle these guys here.”

“Are you sure?” Tom asked. Twilight gave him a thumbs up, just like the one he showed her.

“...not bad.” Tom said as he turned to chase the passing through Rider.

“Your marefriend is pretty smart,” his grandpa said. “I can see why you like her, she reminds me of Natsumi. She clearly holds onto your brain cell.”

“Wait, where is he going!?” Another Blade roared. “That little delinquent isn’t getting away from me!”

“...wait a tick,” Tom said, snickering a little at his own bad pun. “I recognize that voice! I thought she was back to shouting at managers these days.”

“I’ve been given the power I need to make this town what I want it to be- what it rightfully should be! I only need the best of ponies living here- and ONLY ponies!” She declared but was met with an arrow shot from the approaching Anton.

“Racist much?” Anton said, prepping another shot. “Go get your mid-season upgrade, hero king.”

“Okay, why does he keep calling me that?” Tom thought before he shook his head and chased after Decade.

“No! I will not allow you to escape!” Another Blade started to pursue Tom herself, Anton firing a few more arrows to make her stagger before she was out of sight.

“Hope the idiot can remove whatever gigantic stick is in her ass,” Anton sighed. “Now then, let’s clean things up here.”

He pulled out the BaronWatch and used it to summon his BaronArmor. Pinkie saw this and yelled “Banana!?”

The shout echoed across the town square, everyone turning to stop and stare at the rider.

“That’s Baron!!!” Anton replied as the giant metal banana unfolded into his armor, but shook his head. “... Right, note to self. Need to learn to NOT do that.”

Then he clutched his side in pain, his transformation falling.

“Son of a bitch!!” He tried again to stand. Bon Bon stood over him.

“That’s enough! You’re coming back with-” Bon Bon said but was cut off by another crazed pony trying to swing a chair at her.
“And it’s Flash Sentry with a steel chair!” Lyra said

“Yoink!” Anton escaped her grasp and began running towards the battle again, gritting his teeth as he tried to endure the pain.

—-----

Decade swiftly darted and weaved through the trees, keeping an eye on his grandson as he…tried. He could only wince when the younger Rider tripped over a root.

“Yikes…” He said to himself, but noticed that Tom not only got back to his feet but was gaining fast by using the OOOArmor to leap above the trees.

“I’ve got you in my sights, Gramps!” Tom yelled as he attempted to overtake his magenta precursor.

Decade didn’t say anything, but pulled a card from his case and inserted it into his belt, then folded the case into gun mode.

“ATTACK RIDE: BLAST!” Decade fired a volley of shots near Tom, nearly missing him but getting close enough to make him lose his balance. His grandpa leaped towards him, changing his weapon into its sword form and locking his blade with Tom’s claws.

“If you want this, you gotta work for it!” Decade said. “Show me what you can do as a Rider!”

Tom shoved Decade away and took out another watch twisting it.

“Sword VS Sword… gonna have to upstage you!” He quickly turned into GaimArmor and pulled out a pair of Daidaimaru blades.

“Oh, Gaim? I can do that too,” Decade said arrogantly as he slotted a card into his belt.

“KAMEN RIDE: BUJIN GAIM! The Path of Heresy: To the Stage!” Decade’s belt announced as he had assumed a form resembling the original Kamen Rider Gaim.

“Let’s see just who’s stage this really is!” The two stared each other down in a manner resembling a samurai duel, leaves blowing in the wind.

“Nice touch, Equestria,” Decade said as he made the first move and charged at Tom, brandishing his blade. Tom caught the blood orange blade between his two, but Decade was still pushing Tom backwards, sparks flying as their blades ground together.

“Come on, I know you can do better than that!” Decade said. Tom said nothing, and mustering all his power, pushed Decade off him before pouncing.
“That’s more like it!” Decade said as he rolled out of the way and slotted another card into his belt.

“ATTACK RIDE: Musou Saber!” A strange sword/gun hybrid appeared in Decade’s hand as he fired a few shots.

“They say don’t bring a blade to a gun fight… I say, bring both!” Decade said, before slamming both weapons together.

He swung them slicing through the air, launching several blades of energy that Tom cut through. Then Decade spun, a manifestation of a blood orange slice forming all around him and erupting outwards. Tom leaped over the attack, slashing his predecessor across the chest making him stagger back.

“Yeah, you got it! But let’s see if you’re hardboiled enough to handle this!” Decade pulled out another card.

“KAMEN RIDE: ETERNAL!” Decade’s form shifted to the shape of a white Rider with a billowing cape, blue flames licking at it and the ground.

“Eternal… so I’ll do this!” Tom switched watches again, this time into WArmor.

“Now, count up your sins!” Tom said, mimicking the signature hand gesture.

“Trust me, you don’t have enough time in your lifespan…” Decade snarked as he produced Eternal’s signature knife, then vanished with a flourish of his cape.

“Not this again… I already had enough of this back in Las Pegasus,” Tom groaned, keeping his eyes out for any signs of his opponent’s presence.

He stood, keeping his eyes and ears opened…and then quickly turned around and kicked, landing a blow at Decade’s midsection. The rider had been gliding towards him like a massive bat, his cape like wings.

“Impressive!” Decade staggered back. “Good ears.”

“They’re a blessing and a curse… especially when Trixie’s around.”

“We’re not done yet,” Decade pulled out yet another card. This time, a pair of large metal plates appeared and pressed themselves around Decade, before retracting with billowing steam and a small ‘ding!’

“Metal Build now?” Tom asked, as the rider appeared from out of the mold. “In that case…”

Tom took the cue to transform into BuildArmor, his driver letting out a proclamation of: “BEST MATCH!”

“I’ve got the winning formula!” Tom said.

“You sure about that?” Decade replied. “Let’s see if your solution works!”

Tom spun up his drill, using it to rip through trees sending them toppling down all around his grandfather. Decade simply burst through the trees, throwing them away in a show of his strength.

“Tut tut, I thought I taught you better than to go around deforesting places,” He said, slotting in another card. “Just think about the poor birds who nest in those trees, they’re homeless now.”

“ATTACK RIDE: DRILL CRUSHER!” A drill-like sword appeared in his hands as he lunged at Tom, piercing through any additional debris. Tom did a similar thing with his own drill, as the two weapons met in the middle. The two Riders pushed at each other, until Decade’s drill slipped and Tom struck him in the shoulder.

“Damn… getting a bit sloppy in my old age,” Decade said. “You’re not bad at all, kid.”

He undid his transformation and tossed him the promised upgrade.

“So this is the DecadeWatch?” Tom looked it over.

“That it is. You’re gonna need it right about… now actually,” Tsukasa just said, stepping back out of the way of Another Blade, who had pursued them here.

“There you are! You won’t get away from me!” Another Blade howled.

“Alright, gramps, let’s see what your watch can do!” Tom reverted to normal Zi-O before inserting the new watch. Spinning his driver, a series of holographic armor parts appeared around him before locking onto him, the most notable being a strange monitor in front of his face.

“ARMOR TIME! Kamen Ride: WOW! Deca-Deca-Decaaaaade!” The belt sang. Tom just groaned - of course Decade just had to be a bit extra.

“You think changing into an even more ridiculous costume will help you?” Another Blade scoffed.

Tom said nothing and held his hand to his side. “RIDE HEISABER!” A new sword appeared in his hand.

“Come on, lady - I’m calling your bluff!”

Another Blade rushed at Tom, swinging at him wildly. Tom blocked the attacks with his sword before kicking her back. The monster then fired a blast of energy from her chest.

“Whoa!” Tom rolled out of the way. “Yeesh, watch where you’re pointing that thing.”

Another Blade then started channeling darkness into her own sword, which she launched as a sonic boom. Tom slashed the attack in half with his own sword.

“I think you bet on the wrong horse this time,” Tom quipped.

“That’s horse racing, not poker…” Tsukasa groaned, facepalming. “Seriously, hire a writer!”

Tom ignored the complaint and began rapidly spinning the watch hands on his sword.

“HEY! KAMEN RIDERS!” The sword said before starting a jingle.

“HEY! SAY! HEY! SAY! HEY! SAY! HEY! SAY! H-H-HEY! SAY!” The sword sang and Tom had to resist the urge to roll his eyes.

“Eat this!”

“ULTIMATE TIME BREAK!” The sword announced as a large energy slash came from the sword, following the path of a line of holographic cards.

“AAAAAAH!” Another Blade screamed as she fell to the floor… sparks were coming off her.

Tom pointed his sword at the enemy. “You’ve lost now! Surrender!”

Another Blade just started laughing madly. “You fool…if I can’t have this town for my own…” She pointed up into the sky, with Tom and Tsukasa noticing the presence of a large helix-shaped monolith.

Tom felt a cold chill run down his spine as he remembered the rules of the Battle Fight, and to be more accurate what happened when the Joker Undead was the last one standing. He’d won… but they’d all lost.

“Oh… shit…” Tsukasa said, taking a step back as countless Darkroaches began to spawn from it.

“I will destroy the town myself, and rebuild it in my image!” She got back up and fled towards Ponyville.

“Damn it! Wait!” Tom rushed to follow her, as Tsukasa simply stood there and snapped a picture.

“And like that, I’m leaving this to you, kid- make it count,” Tsukasa said as he simply summoned a shimmering curtain and vanished through it.

—------

Back in Ponyville, the girls and Spike were resting after they managed to pacify the rampaging townsfolk.

“Huff…huff…that’s…that’s the last of ‘em,” Applejack panted.

“Good call on the pacification spell, Starlight.” Twilight said.

“Anytime.” Starlight smiled… but her smile soon turned to fear.

“Uh…Twilight? What are those?” She pointed at the direction of the Everfree to see a horde of monsters rushing towards them.

“...well, horseapples.” Applejack groaned. Within moments, the town was overrun by these creatures, separating the ponies outside and in the middle of the madness.

“Lyra!” Bon Bon called out. “Can you hear me!?”

Lyra heard Bon Bon’s voice and was about to respond, but her mouth was covered by a clawed gauntlet.

“Congratulations, you’ve won our grand prize today.” It was Ouja, as he pulled the struggling Lyra through a dark portal.

“G-get off me!” Lyra struggled.

“Sorry, minty - you’re gonna be working for us in a bit.”

“Do you expect me to talk?” Lyra growled.

“Actually, Ms. Heartstrings, I expect you to Ride.” He said as he produced another watch…

“FAIZ!”

Author's Note:

Two chapters in a short time, that's good.

Next time, the battle with Another Blade continues, but a dangerous new foe lurks just out of sight...

Comments

[Dragoknight92]

And don't forget Another Faiz. Hope you can work on the second part of the chapter because you're on a roll.

[Dragoknight92]

Now there are 4 Ridewatches left: Kuuga, Den-O, Drive and Ghost.

[nightshroud96]

I remember how in the original version, Lyra was Another Blade(I think).

I hope Spike wasn't affected by Another Blade too

[Dragoknight92]

11730354
You are right on Lyra being Another Blade.