Shine on! Ultrawoman Aster!

by Michael_Ravencroft

7th Light: Investigation / More questions?

About a month had passed since the last Space Beast attack, and so far, things were peaceful. The students were able to actually concentrate on their work without the threat of attack, and for Twilight Sparkle, that was a godsend.

Currently, the young genius was with Sunset, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash, standing in the R&D hanger, with the latter two jaws dropped as their eyes were fixated on the sight before them. Twilight had a proud smile on her face, while Sunset smirked impressively.

“What do you guys think?” Twilight asked.

“Can I drive it now?” Applejack asked.

“Can I fly it now?!” Rainbow begged.

“The answers are, soon, and not now.”

The objects of their awe were the newly modified Gungir and Goliath that the two girls piloted. The fighter was silver in color, with rainbow lightning bolts painted on the top and bottom of the wings. There were two individual Bombay doors on the belly of the jet, allowing for dual missile launches, and the bow photon repeater cannons were replaced with inwardly mounted cannons that were smoothed to the point that couldn’t tell exactly where they were unless you were standing in front of the aircraft’s nose. The wings were made in a reverse crescent position, while the back only had single tail instead of the two of the typical Gungir.

To the right of the Gungir was Applejack’s old Goliath, but like the Gungir, it too had been modified. The cannon had been replaced with a new model, it had rotating barrel with missile pods attached to both sides of the tank, and the armor was now orange colored, with two large front wheels and treads on the back. The side had a painted red apple with a shadowy image of an eight-legged horse behind it.

“Rainbow, this is your next generation Gungir, code named: Pegasus. And Applejack, yours is code named: Sleipnir. Both have been upgraded with the latest armor to maximize mobility and durability, so that these machines can get right in the heart of the battle and take the fight to the Space Beasts,” Twilight explained.

Sunset looked over the machines and hummed in contemplation. “Aside from the updated look and armor, what’s new with the weapons?”

Twilight’s smile widened. “That’s where you came, or rather Aster.”

Applejack, Rainbow, and Sunset gave Twilight confused looks.

“Ahem, before when we first met, I was doing all those studies on your energy for fun. But when the Commanders made us into a team, I started to think of a way to better assist you in battle. So, I came up with a way to replicate your Astronium Ray attack with our given technology and created these! The cannon and beam repeaters can fire beams close to the same intensity and power of your strongest attack!”

Sunset’s eyes widen with shock. “Seriously?!”

“Seriously!” Twilight giddily exclaimed. “The missiles work on the same concept, they store that replicated energy and compact it, so when the missile explodes it has a bit of a stronger punch. However, I’d like to point out that it’s only a replication. Your power is still really unique and hard to replicate, so I did the best I could. We won’t know how effective they’ll be in battle until we field test them.”

“Almost can’t wait for the next Space Beast – OW!” Rainbow exclaimed as she felt Applejack punch her in the arm.

“Don’t go sayin’ stuff like that!” Applejack scolded.

“Sorry.”

“Still, very impressive, Twi. This’ll be a big help when I’m out fighting, knowing you all got my back like that will be great,” said Sunset.

Twilight made and “O” with her mouth as a thought crossed her mind. She dashed off and then came back with three strange looking blaster weapons. They were colored red and silver, with the barrel ending with an eight-pointed star crystal fastened to the mouth of where the barrel’s opening would be. “These were also made using my data, they discharge the same kind of energy as the Pegasus and Sleipnir.”

“Wait, ya sayin’ you made mini Ultrawoman beam guns?” Applejack asked in awe as she took up the weapon.

“Indeed, I did, again we won’t know the full amount of damage these weapons can cause without first field testing them, but theoretically, they should at least pack enough of a punch to make a Space Beast think twice before coming near anyone. I call them Aster-X Blasters.”

Sunset took one of the weapons in and examined it carefully. “Huh, now I’m curious to see what this bad boy can do. Any more of them?”

“Just the three for now, if they test well, they’ll make more,” said Twilight.

Applejack came up behind Twilight and gave her a goodhearted pat on the back, nearly knocking the genius over as her glasses scooted down her nose. “Twi, yer a genius!”

“T-Thank you,” Twilight replied with a slight grunt.

“I say we tell the girls about this, Pinkie’s going to flip!” Rainbow exclaimed as she ran down the hall.

“Oh, for the love ah – Dash, hold yer horses!” Applejack called out.

Sunset chuckled at the couple’s antics, but then turned her attention back to Twilight who had this pensive look on her face. “Hey, you alright?”

“Are you mad at all that I…used your data to make these?” Twilight asked.

Sunset shrugged. “Not really, I mean, is not like you were doing something that was invasive or anything. Like I said, if it helps give us an edge over the Space Beasts, then I’m onboard.”

Just then, Sunset got an alert that pinged several times from her HoloFrame. Sunset took out the HoloFrame and opened it up to see that a mission had been brought up. “Huh…catch you later, Twi. Looks like I’m tapped for a mission.”

“Okay, be careful.”

Sunset gave her a thumbs up as she left down the same hallway that her teammates did.

\\\***///

Sunset arrived at the mission briefing room, and inside she wasn’t surprised to see Applejack and Rainbow Dash in the room, but she was surprised when she saw Flash Sentry in the room. Inside the briefing room was the Mission Director under Commander Celestia, she had dark brown hair, black rimmed glasses, and purple eyes. Her suit was a dark, navy-blue color, with a red necktie. Sunset recognized this woman, her name was Raven, nothing more, nothing less.

“Please, take a seat,” said Raven.

The four teens did as they were told, once seated, Raven brought out her HoloFrame and pressed a few buttons, bringing up a holographic screen. The images of several teens appeared on the screen, all of which were listed as “Missing”.

“Recently, we’ve been seeing an increase in abductions in Canterlot City, most specifically, young teens.”

“Sure they aren’t just runaways?” Sunset asked.

“The police have not ruled that out for some of them, but there are a few that have raised enough eyebrows to assume that this may be extraterrestrial in origin.” Raven pressed a few keys on the HoloFrame screen and some images of the abduction locations appeared on the screen. “Some of the teen abductees have been taken around the busier locations of the city, such as the entertainment district where most of the shops, restaurants, theaters, and parks are. We have determined that the kidnappers are using the crowds to slip away, it also doesn’t help that there are several alleyways that can assist with the kidnappers escape and abductions.”

“So, what did you want us to do ma’am?” Flash asked.

“We’re going to set up a sting operation, and take the abductors in. Each of you will be fitted with a tracking device, we’ll have you do this in pairs. Team one will be Applejack and Rainbow Dash, and Team Two will be Flash Sentry and Sunset Shimmer. We’ve noticed that most of the abducted teens were doing couple activities, so the pairings have been done to ensure that we entice the kidnappers.”

Applejack and Rainbow Dash fist bumped, of course they’d have no problem with this since they were in a relationship. However, Sunset wasn’t sure about how this was going to work with Flash. He seemed like a nice guy and all, but she wasn’t sure that they could pull of the “teens in love” look. Flash glanced over to Sunset and smiled a little, he was hiding it well, but Sunset could tell he was a little nervous.

“When do we start?” Rainbow asked.

“Right now, go back to your dorms and chose appropriate outfits. We’ve already requisitioned some vehicles that are not SMILE marked but have been fitted with tracers. On that note…” Raven walked towards a desk and brought up a gun-like device. “Please roll up your sleeves, I’ll need to inject you with the tracers, they’ll also transmit your bio data so that we may be aware of any changes to your body should something happen.”

The four gulped.

“Uh…how long do those last?” Applejack asked.

“They’ll last for at least seventy-two hours, and will dissolve harmlessly in your bloodstream. We’re also going to be backed up by the local PD. Any questions?”

“Any chance we can be armed?” Sunset asked.

“We’ll be outfitting you with some concealed stun weapons. We are trusting you not to discharge them in public, but if you need to, they’ll only stun whoever it hits. Now, let’s get started.”

\\\***///

[Investigation, 12:00 pm…]

Sunset and Flash walked around the area, side-by-side. She was wearing an orange skirt, with a cream and purple stripe running along side it, a black leather jacket, and a mauve blouse that was held by ring around her neck, and black leather boots that had a purple, wispy decorations on them. Flash was wearing a pair of denim jeans that had small rips, a dark gray leather jacket, and a white t-shirt that had a shield with a lightning bolt superimposed on it.

The two teens walked together, Flash had a nervous smile on, while Sunset’s expression was more or less neutral. This was going to be a hard mission for her, granted that the only knowledge she had regarding dates was what she saw in movies and TV shows. Actual dating experience? Zero. Sunset wasn’t sure what she should be doing, should she hold his hand or cling to his arm? Should Flash have his arm around her waist? Should they be saying some corny, sappy, cringe inducing lines about how much they liked each other? They didn’t even know much about the other, other than what Sunset remembered when they last talked to each other, and that was a while ago.

Sunset pinched the bridge of her nose as she growled in frustration, Flash looked to his partner and asked, “You alright?”

“No, I’m partly ticked that they chose us for this mission,” said Sunset.

“Sorry, you were probably wanting someone else,” said Flash with a chuckle.

“No, it’s not that. I mean, it’s better if they had gotten another couple instead of pulling two random students and asking them to act like a couple! Rainbow and AJ make sense, but us? We barely know each other!”

Flash rubbed the back of his head. “I think that may be the point, one team who are a genuine couple, and another who’s not, just in case the couple team is distracted by each other, the one that’s not can act quicker if need be. Just spitballing here.”

Sunset rolled her eyes, in theory it made sense, but she still thought it should be an actual couple. Either that or they thought that this would involve some Ultrawoman assistance? Hopefully it won’t come to that……who am I kidding? It always comes down to that.

The faux couple walked along the busy sidewalks keeping their eyes peeled for anything suspicious, aside from the occasional alien family, there wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. While they were walking, Sunset paused in front of a music shop, her eyes lingered on a turquoise electric guitar, a model that could generate sound without an amp. Sunset didn’t know why, but she had a fascination with rock ‘n roll music, especially songs with guitarist really going all out on their instrument in the middle of a song. Flash noticed Sunset’s gaze lingering on the guitar, the corner of his mouth turned up as he walked towards the shop.

“Let’s check out this shop,” said Flash nonchalantly. “I need a backup string for my guitar anyway, that cool?”

“Um, uh, sure, yeah, that’s fine,” said Sunset.

The two teens entered the shop, inside were all manners of different instruments, turntables, violins, flutes, horns, bass guitars, electric guitars, and even some of the more advanced versions of those instruments. The shopkeeper noticed the new arrivals and excused himself from some other customers. He was a tall man, with cobalt colored hair that reached down his back, his kind amber eyes looked upon the two youths as he smiled. “Welcome to Music For All, I’m Note Worthington, but I’ve been come to be known as Noteworthy. How may I help you?”

“I was wondering if you had spare guitar strings,” said Flash.

“Yes indeed, let me finish with these customers and I’ll be right back, feel free to browse and try some of the instruments out,” said Noteworthy as he returned to the other couple.

Sunset was about to say something until Flash walked over to where the guitars were at, he looked around and finally found the electric guitar that was on display in the shop’s window. Flash picked up the axe and showed it to Sunset, “Pretty cool, huh?”

“Y-Yeah, I guess…”

“C’mon, hold it, it isn’t going to bite you,” Flash joked.

Sunset grumbled and carefully took the instrument into her hands. She fumbled with the guitar, trying to find the right way to hold it, remembering some shows and music videos of people holding the thing. Flash was chuckling at how Sunset was having a hard time holding the instrument.

“Right or left-handed?” he asked.

“What?”

“Right or left-handed, which are you?”

“Oh, um,” Sunset took a moment to think about that. Starry Smasher, Astronium Ray, Break Buster, Caliburn End…After running through her previous battles in her head Sunset confidently said, “Right-handed, definitely.”

“Alright then.” Flash walked until he was behind Sunset, positioning the neck of the guitar in her left hand, and helped position her right hand where the guitar strings were. “There, now you got the form down.”

Sunset blushed a little, holding the guitar in her hand felt surreal for some reason. “So…I just…pluck the strings or…?”

“There’s a little more to it than that. You gotta use your fingers on your left hand to hold down one or two of the strings, doing so can make the string let out a different sound. Do you mind?” Sunset shook her head. Flash proceeded to place his left hand over Sunset’s, replicating her finger positioning and giving them slight nudges to make her place them a certain way. “Remember this position, this is called a ‘resting position’. Kind of like when you’re typing on a keyboard, you always return to a certain spot before going at it again.”

“O-Okay, I think I got it,” said Sunset.

“Great, now, apply some pressure.” Flash pushed gently against one of Sunset’s fingers, making her do the same against the string. “And then pluck it.”

Sunset strummed the guitar, hearing it make a simple note, it wasn’t anything grand, but it felt exciting all the same. The flame haired girl let Flash continue to show her some basics as he guided her hand on the neck of the guitar. At some point he let go, and Sunset began playing on her own. The music seemed to come to her from deep inside, she wasn’t really sure how or why, it just felt right.

Flash had taken a few steps back and watched as his partner began playing a gentle melody, it was soothing, and almost felt sad for some reason. He watched as Sunset had closed her eyes, letting the music guide her, he didn’t feel like stopping her, it was almost like it was having a therapeutic effect on her.

After about a minute, Sunset stopped and opened her eyes, noticing that Flash was once again standing before her. Her attention was then shifted to the clapping of Noteworthy as he walked towards them.

“Magnificent, young lady, what a nice little melody you played.”

Sunset blushed. “Um, t-thanks, I’m not really sure where I heard it before.” Sunset looked at the guitar now in a newer light. “But it felt right…”

Flash smiled and asked, “How much for the guitar sir?”

“W-What?!”

“Hmm, it is one of the newer models. They run about $800, but I’ll tell you what. For that nice song I’ll let you have it for $400, and I’ll throw in a twenty pack of replacement strings each, no charge,” said Noteworthy.

Sunset spluttered as she finally was able to speak. “Flash, no, you don’t have to, that’s too much!”

“Done.”

“What?!”

Flash took the guitar from Sunset and presented it to Noteworthy who went to the front to ring it up. Sunset, having snapped out of her daze, rushed to the front desk as Flash was pulling out his credit card. “Flash, c’mon, that’s a lot! You don’t have to buy me that!”

“I know, I just do. If for nothing else, you looked happy while playing it.”

Sunset growled in frustration, since when did this mission turn into…whatever this was? With no further resistance, Flash purchased the guitar, Noteworthy was kind enough to also provide Sunset with a case to carry her instrument in. Once they bid their farewells to Noteworthy, Sunset gave Flash a slightly angry glare, the blue haired boy smirked. He could tell that Sunset was one of those tough girls who didn’t like to show their emotions too much, that, and she seemed like a pretty headstrong and independent kind of girl, too. So, while the buying of the guitar may have been much, there was no denying that Sunset looked happy while playing it, one could even say nostalgic. Flash held up the guitar towards Sunset, who carefully took the case and huffed.

“……Thanks.”

Flash smiled as the two of them continued their little walk about the area. Sunset checked her watch after about ten minutes of them milling around and said, “What do you think, should we call it a day or something? We haven’t had a single–”

{Sunset, Flash, come in!} Rainbow called.

Sunset and Flash placed their index fingers against the node in the ears.

“We’re listening, what’s happening?!” Sunset asked.

{We just spotted someone suspicious, we’re in pursuit right now!} Applejack stated.

“Give us your location, we’ll be right there,” said Flash.

{Going down Trotting Ave., cut them off on the opposite alley way on Horseshoe Lane and we’ll force them into the dead end!} Rainbow suggested.

Flash and Sunset, unfortunately, dropped their things off at some random store and stated “Official SMILE business!” before rushing back out. Sunset and Flash rushed through the crowd of people, hurriedly making their way to the street they were told to go to. Flash spotted the street and both of them turned into the alleyway.

Sunset and Flash stopped when they saw a girl with silver hair, bright golden eyes, and a pin on her tank top in the shape of a lyre. The girl headed down the opposite way, with Applejack and Rainbow hot on the girl’s tail. After about a minute run, the two teams managed to corner the girl in the dead end that Rainbow had spoken of.

When they converged, Sunset asked, “So, why are we chasing this girl, exactly?”

Applejack handed her HoloFrame to Sunset, and showed her the list of missing teens they had seen at the briefing, and opened the file of the girl they were looking at right now.

“Lyra Heartstrings, she was reported missing. Shouldn’t we be taking her back to the police?” Flash asked.

“Yeah, we were goin’ to do that, until she tried to take another girl by force, someone who recognized her,” said Applejack.

Sunset stepped forward, at the ready to attack. “Are you Lyra Heartstrings? If you’re being forced to do this, we can help you! We’re with SMILE!”

“SMILE…oh crap, guess this was bound to happen eventually.” Lyra snapped her fingers.

The back end of the alley suddenly closed as a barrier was erected above them. Two baseball sized orbs were tossed by Lyra, which rolled towards the teens and began releasing a purple smoke cloud. Flash, Sunset, Applejack, and Rainbow all began to cough as they tried to look for a way out, but then they started to feel weak, their vision blurring along with their bodies becoming more and number.

They tried to fight it, but soon, Rainbow fell, followed by Applejack, and then Flash. Sunset focused as hard as she could as she rushed towards Lyra, using her great speed to close the distance and grab Lyra by the collar of her top. Sunset raised her right fist as she asked, “What or who are you?!”

Lyra chuckled as she pushed Sunset away, an easy feat as the gas was doing its job. Sunset watched as the girl changed, her body glowed gold and in the next second, she wasn’t a human, but an alien. A golden one, with wild hair, red eyes, gold and black armor, and a mercury symbol on its chest.

“Call me Bedu, and you’re my next haul.”

Sunset tried to remain conscious, but it was no use, her body finally gave in as she dropped to her knees and fell over.

\\\***///

“……What……you think…?”

Sunset’s head felt clouded, and she could barely make out words.

“Keep……we don’t need………”

She had to focus, Sunset had to regain what sense she could. The last thing she remembered was getting gassed, and then the alien, and then everything went black. Sunset tried to move her arms, they didn’t move. She tried to move her legs, they didn’t move. Sunset was almost near panic, but then she tried something smaller, first she wiggled her fingers. The process was a little slow, but she could feel all ten digits moving. Next she wiggled her toes, and thankfully she was able to feel them moving, which gave her the relief to know that her limbs were still attached to her at least, and that she could still feel and move them.

O-Open…Open your eyes, Sunset commanded herself. Open your eyes…!

Sunset’s eyes fluttered open, at first, all she saw were some blinking lights, and blobby figures moving about. Sunset blinked a few times, trying to make her eyes adjust. Again, it took a minute, but her eyes finally obeyed, the blurry world became sharper as she soon realized she was in a room.

She slowly turned her head to the right and noticed that Rainbow, Applejack, and Flash were strung up. Shackles clamped around their wrists as they were held up by an energy tether. Their legs were separately shackled, and anchored to the floor by the same yellow energy tether. Sunset wasn’t sure what was going on, but this wasn’t looking any better as she took in more detail. The room was a darkish blue, but metallic. Off to her right was a panel giving off readings, and it seemed it was pertaining to each of them. Sunset noticed another panel with a few buttons and a container that had a few of their belongings.

Just then, an alien entered the room, it was black all over, with large milky blue eyes, and a glowing, gill-like thing where it’s mouth would be. The alien walked over to the panel and looked over the readings nodding at what he was seeing as it cycled through each of her teammates’ data.

“W-Who…Who are you…?!”

The alien stopped its work and looked at her with intrigue. “My, I didn’t expect you to awaken. Most who are hit with the gas are out for a bit longer. But, then again, if there wasn’t something unique about you humans, then there would be no point in coming here, would there?” The alien then shook his head. “But where are my manners, I am Xalex, and I’m an Alien Mephilas.”

“Have you…been kidnapping kids?!” Sunset demanded.

“Yes, indeed. But, that’s all I can say. We’ve gotten a good amount for this city, since SMILE’s onto us. So it’s best we move onto a new city.” Xalex looked at the data and then made a sound that could be construed as disappointment. “Oh, well that’s a shame. One is a half-breed, and the other doesn’t really have anything abnormal in his readings. Shame, well, two good ones out of four isn’t so bad.”

Xalex closed the panel and began to walk away.

“No…let us go! If you don’t, SMILE’s going to be all over you!” Sunset threatened.

“My dear, they haven’t found us yet, what makes you think they will now?”

The door to their room slid open and Xalex left. Sunset looked around the room, trying to figure out something. If they didn’t get out soon, they would be taken away, experimented on, who knows what? Some feeling was starting to come back to her, so Sunset began struggling. Sunset continued to thrash, trying to use her strength to snap the binds. However, the gas was still affecting her, it would most likely take a bit longer before her body filtered the rest of it out and have her full strength returned. Sunset looked up and saw the point where the energy tether was connected, wishing that she could strike that point overhead.

Suddenly, Sunset’s hands felt warm, and not long after that they began to glow with a bright yellow shine. The light began to grow and grow, and then, that light fired straight up, hitting the point that Sunset had her eye on. She gave a little yelp of surprise as the tether fizzled out and let her fall forward. Sunset managed to fall on her side, but it still didn’t make the hard fall hurt any less. Sunset looked up at the scorched point and then back at her hands, the glow was slowly fading and the warmth with it. The redhead looked back and forth between her hands and where the energy hit, confused as to how she had done something like that. Sunset looked over at the panel, and then to her teammates. With a determined look she pointed both her hands at the panel that was monitoring them.

“If it worked once…”

The fiery haired girl concentrated, and not long after doing so, the warmth and light returned. Sunset let it build up until it shot off again. The bolt of light struck the panel, destroying it completely. As soon as this happened, the tethers and shackles automatically released them, which was then followed by three thuds as the limp bodies of Flash, Applejack, and Rainbow hit the floor, making Sunset wince. “Sorry.”

Sunset hurried to each of them, shaking them as hard as she could to rouse them from sleep. It took a little bit, but soon all three started to come around.

“Ugh…Sunset…what hit me?” Flash asked.

“The floor. Can you stand?” Sunset asked.

Flash shook his head, trying to focus his senses. “Y-Yeah, I think so, just give me a minute.”

“AJ, Rainbow, are you with me?”

Rainbow was the first of the three to fully stand to her feet, Sunset believed that it was Rainbow’s half alien physiology that was helping her body combat the gas quicker. “Ugh, I feel like crap…where the hell are we?”

“On a ship, I think? Look, we don’t have much time, we need to get off this thing and get some help before they decide to leave!” Sunset stated.

Applejack started to get to her feet, she wobbled a bit, but she seemed alright. “Ah hear ya, Sunset. Let’s get a move on.”

Flash stood up and nodded his agreement.

The four teens watched as the door opened and an Alien Dada appeared in the doorway. The alien looked confused for a moment as he looked to the standing teens, but before he could do anything, Sunset used her speed to quickly grab the Alien Dada and throw him into the room, letting the door slide closed behind her. Flash and Applejack held him down while Rainbow took his blaster, after which, Flash gave the alien and punch to the face, knocking him out.

“Well this sucks, we don’t even half our stun weapons,” said Sunset.

“Not like they’d let us keep them,” said Flash.

“Oh, they didn’t get everything, trust me. Applejack, break that case!” Rainbow stated.

Applejack made her way to the case that had their things, she then balled up her right fist and struck the container, shattering the glass and allowing her to get their things. Rainbow hurried to one of the bags she had brought with her and rummaged through it. She then gave an “Ah-ha!” before pulling out three familiar blaster weapons.

Applejack’s eyes widened when she saw them. “Rainbow, those better not be Twi’s Aster-X Blasters!”

“Yep!” Rainbow stated as she handed one to Flash and then to Applejack, she then tossed the pilfered weapon from the Alien Dada to Sunset.

“When did you…?!”

“Well, since we didn’t know exactly what we’d be getting into, I thought it might be good to take them with us in case of a monster attack, y’know, so we can test them,” said Applejack.

“Yeah, and those are still experimental,” said Applejack.

Flash looked at the blaster, noting the obvious homage to Ultrawoman Aster. “Twilight Sparkle made this? She’s on your team, right?”

“Yeah,” said Sunset.

“Do you trust her?”

Sunset looked at the blasters, and her answer was obvious. “Of course.”

“Okay then, we’re armed and ready.”

Before they readied to leave, Applejack picked up the Alien Dada and gave him one more swift punch, making sure he was thoroughly knocked out before they left. The door slid open and Rainbow was the first to check the hallway, there was no one. Rainbow was then followed by Applejack who covered the opposite end as Rainbow covered the other. Flash and Sunset came out next, once all of them were out, they headed down the right hallway. Slowly, and carefully, they stealthily made their way through the ship. They had a few close calls along the way, but managed to stay out of sight. Although, they knew that that would not be the case for much longer once that Alien Dada woke up.

While dodging another close call, the four stumbled upon a room. Inside this room were dozens of capsules, and each one held one of the missing teens, and some that weren’t on the briefing list. Applejack and Rainbow kept watch at the door while Sunset and Flash walked through the rows, each one was in suspended animation, taken from their homes, and forced to endure heavens knew what. Sunset tapped on the glass of one of the capsules, and from it formed a holographic screen that was written in the language of the aliens that captured them.

“Damn, wish we knew what it says, maybe we could get an idea of what they’re after,” said Flash.

“It says, ‘Subject 10023-01: Displays genetic traits for enhanced sight, subject has also displayed instances of being able to spot objects and other lifeforms from several feet away and react accordingly’.”

Flash blinked. “Wow, I didn’t know you could translate.”

Neither did I…Sunset moved onto another capsule and brought up another screen. “This one says the kid in here has the potential for a rapid regeneration gene.”

Sunset and Flash went to a few more and started to see a pattern. Each of the kidnapped teens seemed to either possess or had the potential to possess a unique genetic ability. Sunset’s mind immediately went to Applejack, remembering how the farm girl was able to fight off the Timber Wolves with just her own strength, practically matching Sunset’s strength.

They kidnapped teens who have or could have abnormal abilities, it wasn’t just random, Sunset thought.

“Flash, we cannot let these guys leave! If they do, they’ll just do this again in another city and they’ll take even more!”

“Okay…but, how are we supposed to keep them grounded? The moment we leave they’ll be gone before we get the chance to tell SMILE,” said Flash.

Sunset bit her bottom lip. There was a way, but it was going to involve a bit of property damage, possibly.

“Hide!” Rainbow hissed.

Applejack and Rainbow Dash hid behind a row of capsules, while Flash and Sunset did the same. At that moment the doors to the room opened, and in walked Xalex and the golden alien from earlier.

“SMILE’s going to be more of a nuisance then we first thought,” said Xalex.

“They created that Phantom Zone, so they’ll be waiting in the wings for when we lift off,” said the gold alien. “Dammit, now what?”

“Calm yourself, Bedu. Don’t forget, we hold the bargaining chips. They won’t risk shooting us down if they know that we have these humans aboard our ship. Neither will that Ultrawoman dare attack us for the same reason. Why don’t you help clear them away, and bring out that other weapon? I’ll secure the cargo and join you later.”

Bedu chuckled happily as he left the room. Sunset glanced over to the other side where Rainbow and Applejack were, she gave a nod towards Xalex, and both nodded back to her.

Rainbow moved swiftly until she was at the other end, she jumped out from the row and pointed her weapon at Xalex. “FREEZE!”

Xalex looked as if he was about to draw his weapon, but stopped when he felt a weapon pointed at his back.

“Don’t even think about it, partner,” Applejack warned.

“Hmm, resourceful little things, aren’t you?”

Sunset and Flash walked until they were on either side of Xalex. The fiery haired girl took his blaster and tossed it aside as she pointed her weapon at his head. “We need to get off this ship, and you’re going to help us do it. It’s either that or my friend here is going to shoot you with a very experimental and very dangerous blaster. Not sure what it will do you, but I promise it will be lethal.”

Xalex chuckled. “Are you sure that’s a great idea? Considering what’s about to happen, it’s probably safer in here.”

Just then, the ship rumbled, and the teens felt a shift in gravity.

“What’s going?!” Flash asked.

“Right about now, Bedu and Black King are probably carving a path of freedom for us right now.”

Sunset primed the blaster. “That’s it, you’re taking us outside, NOW!”

\\\***///

The Phantom Zone had been activated, allowing the Gungirs and Goliaths to scour the area for their missing students. However, they didn’t have to look long as a silver ship arose from a wide alleyway. The ship rose higher and higher until it was about a thousand feet in the air. Several of the SMILE vehicles converged on the ship, but not before one of the aliens, Bedu, jumped out and began growing at an accelerated rate. The Alien Babarue now stood at about fifty meters tall, towering over the tanks and some of the buildings. The ship then fired a beam, and from it appeared a small figure, that figure began to enlarge at a rapid rate, until it was a full sized Space Beast. The Space Beast stood at about sixty-five meters, with a black, scaly, armored hide, large fangs, red eyes, and a yellow horn.

“Listen up, SMILE! If you try anything, me and Black King here are going to make this a very bad day for you,” said Bedu.

Black King roared in agreement.

One of the Goliaths approached, and from it came the voice of Captain Flash Magnus, “We have you completely surrounded, either give up now, or we will open fire.”

“You can do that, but then you’d be shooting down a ship load of kids.” Bedu paused to let that sink in. “That’s right, we have all your missing kids in that ship, so go ahead and shoot, if you don’t want all their blood on your hands!”

Black King’s horn charged, and inside its mouth, plasmatic flames began to spill out from the corners. The black Space Beast turned its head towards the sky and fired a stream of his Hell Magma straight into the air. The Gungirs quickly took evasive action, dodging the stream before it could hit. Bedu raised his left arm and fired a few beam blasts from this gauntlet. The blasts struck around the Goliath, exploding and jostling the tank and forcing it to retreat as it did so.

Meanwhile, the airlock door on the outside of the ship opened up, revealing the four teens and their prisoner. Rainbow Dash looked down and grimaced as she saw the alien from before, along with a Space Beast. “That’s not good, we’re already in the air!”

Sunset looked down as well, cursing under her breath as her eyes searched for a solution. “Rainbow, is it possible for you to take some of us down?”

Rainbow hesitated to answer, her eyes briefly glancing to Flash Sentry for a moment. “I mean…I am strong enough…I can at least take two of you…but, Sunset, he’ll see.”

Sunset nodded as she placed right hand on Rainbow’s shoulder. “I know, but I don’t think he’s like that. We can trust him with that much at least.”

Rainbow was still reluctant, but she understood. She removed her jacket and shirt to reveal her sports bra. The athletic girl motioned for everyone to stand back as she knelt. Her back arched as two slits of sky-blue light formed on her back, and from those slits sprouted two large, cyan colored wings.

Flash blinked in surprise for a moment, but then shook off his surprise.

Rainbow felt the urge to wrap herself in her wings, that is until she felt the comforting hands of her girlfriend and Sunset and her fear subsided. “Okay, I can fly two people down, and then I can comeback for another.”

“Good, take Flash and AJ.”

“What?!” Flash exclaimed.

“Nuh-uh, you and Flash go, Ah’ll stay here and watch this varmint,” said Applejack.

“I know you’re strong enough, but you’re also one of the people that they want to take, so you two have to go,” said Sunset.

“It sounded like they wanted you, too. In that case it’s better if you three go, and I stay!” Flash argued.

“LOOK!” Sunset shouted. “This isn’t up for discussion! You three are heading out, NOW!”

With a deep frown, Flash, Rainbow, and Applejack agreed. Rainbow jumped out, flapping her wings to make herself hover outside the door. Applejack holstered her Aster-X blaster, while Flash did the same and stood next to Applejack. Rainbow Dash reached out and took their hands pulling backwards and letting them dangle as they held on as hard as they could to her. The prismatic haired teen grunted as her teeth gritted with the straining effort of holding onto two people in midair. Without another word, Rainbow began the arduous task of flying back to the ground, leaving Sunset and Xalex alone.

“Very admirable, letting your comrades get to safety while you stay behind, it’d be easier if you shot me,” said Xalex.

“Tempting, but then if your goons appear, I won’t be able to use you as my shield,” said Sunset.

“Cunning, you’d make a fine catch. However, you did forget to account for one thing.”

Sunset scoffed. “And that is?”

Xalex pointed his raised hands backwards, and from them a blast of sonic energy hit Sunset, making her fall to her knees as the sound waves caused her pain throughout her body. Xalex turned around and wristed the blaster away from Sunset, grabbing her by the hair, and then tossing her towards the airlock door.

“You didn’t stop to consider that I might have some abilities as well.”

“Ugh…damn you!”

“Now, now, this doesn’t have to get messy. I’ll forgive this transgression if you come with me and get into a capsule,” Xalex offered.

Sunset looked out the airlock door, she couldn’t tell if her teammates had made it to the ground yet, but since Flash was gone, Sunset did have another option. With a smirk plastered on her face, Sunset looked to Xalex and said, “I chose option B.” With that, Sunset rolled out of the airlock, leaving Xalex to shake his head remorsefully at the loss of a specimen.

In the sky, Sunset wasted no time. She summoned her StaRaizer and let her body be engulfed in light.

“Grant me the strength of a hero!”

|| ULTRAMAN! ||

“Grant me the power of a galaxy!”

|| ULTRAMAN GINGA! ||

“Release the light within me!”

|| SHINE ON! ULTRAWOMAN ASTER! ||

The light shined brighter and grew bigger, and in a matter of seconds, Sunset had transformed into her gigantic form, Ultrawoman Aster. Aster flew down towards the two aliens, flipped once, and then extended her right foot forward for a flying kick.

“Asteroid Kick!”

Sparkling energy coated her right foot, Bedu heard the attack and turned around just in time to get Aster’s kick right in the face, sending the golden alien flying as he bounced on the ground and into a building. Aster didn’t let up, once she landed on the ground, she bolted for Black King and coated her right fist in the same sparkling energy.

“Starry Smasher!”

The punch landed against Black King’s chest, sparks flew, but the Space Beast showed no reaction to the attack, making Aster look up at the creature in confusion. Black King used its right claw to strike at Aster, hitting her in the chest as sparks flew from the point of impact. Black King, once Aster backed away, slammed its body against her, throwing her back first onto the ground.

“Damn, he’s tougher than I thought,” said Aster.

Aster got back up, but not a second later did she get bombarded with energy blasts to her back, making her stagger forward. When she looked back, her eyes fell upon Alien Babarue who was charging straight for her. His right gauntlet extended a blade weapon as he got closer. Aster blocked his first strike with the blade, and delivered a knee strike to his gut, followed by a backhand to his head.

Bedu shrugged off the attack and continued, he once again led with the blade, but Aster blocked it. The attack proved to be a decoy as he went for a left hook to Aster’s side. The blow landed, and right after, Bedu fired multiple shots at point blank range. Aster grunted in pain from the attack, but managed to endure it as she readied her counterstrike. However, Black King fired his Hell Magma, hitting her square in the back and caused more sparks to fly from Aster.

From the sky, another being appeared, the leader, Xalex. He dropped down with a great BOOM against the asphalt and concrete, he then released his sonic Cruelty Waves straight at Aster, at the same time, Bedu jumped back and began firing several shots at Aster. The Ultra Warrior went down on one knee as she tried to defend herself against the attacks.

On a rooftop, some feet away, Rainbow Dash finally landed, letting Applejack and Flash go as she collapsed onto the roof. Her wings disappeared into her back as she caught her breath. “Okay, I need to work on my strength…I’m hitting the gym when this is over…!”

Applejack and Flash watched as Aster was getting bombarded from all sides by the two aliens and Space Beast, and their ship was still hovering in midair. The Gungirs and Goliaths didn’t move in for fear that the aliens would take aim at their own ship and kill their hostages. That’s when Applejack had an idea.

The country girl took out the Aster-X weapon and flipped the safety switch off. “Guess it’s time we tested these things!”

“Applejack, you never really told me what these do,” said Flash.

“They use similar energy to Ultrawoman Aster’s ray attack, they may not destroy the Space Beast, but it definitely should cause them some damage, according to Twilight anyway,” said Rainbow Dash.

The half-Avian girl reached for the holstered Aster-X weapon and switched its safety to the off position.

Flash did the same and said, “Let’s do this.”

“Pick yer targets! I got the ugly one!”

“I got the golden boy!” Rainbow stated.

“The Space Beast is mine!”

All three pulled back on a leaver at the back of the weapon until it clicked.

[Now charging Ultra Energy.]

The three weapons began to whir as the energy built up. The star crystal at the end of the blasters began to glow brighter and brighter, with the charge gauge quickly building up into the green.

[Charging complete.]

“FIRE!”

[Astronium Ray Discharge.]

All three weapons fired at once, letting loose beams of sparkling blue and gold light that sailed across the way. The three assailants were too busy attacking Aster to see the three beams of light as they struck each of their targets. Bedu and Xalex released grunts of pain as the beams exploded against their bodies and made them stop their attacks. The third beam struck Black King in the face, causing an explosion that made the Space Beast cease its attack.

Aster rose up, using her Ultra Vision to see that her teammates had used the Aster-X weapons to help her. Twilight, you’re a genius, and thanks you guys! Now it’s my turn!

The giant of light was suddenly bathed in dual blue lights, along with water that rose into a column around her.

|| FLOW AND CRASH! COSMIC WAVE! ||

Aster switched into her Cosmic Wave form, and quickly went to work.

“Water Bullet!”

Aster raised her right hand into a spear thrust position, and from her hand fired off several high pressured, energy infused water blasts that shot off like bullets straight for Xalex. Several explosions went off from his body, before one last shot sent the alien flying and onto his back. Bedu came in with his blade, but thanks to Cosmic Wave’s speed, Aster was able to get around him before he realized that she was gone.

“Aqua Blades!”

Two blades of energy infused water formed in her hands, Bedu turned around and charged in once again. At the same time, Aster did the same, and in a quick second, both attackers passed each other. Bedu and Aster stood there for a moment with their backs turned, but then Bedu’s arm blade and blaster were sliced, and a spray of sparks erupted from his chest as he too fell to the ground.

Black King wasn’t having this as he fired another Hell Magma blast at Aster. The hero of light dashed away from the attack, and did so again when Black King fired a second time. Aster finally got in close as she took her Aqua Blades and slashed the monster across the chest. But each blow she dealt did little to no damage against his hide. Unfortunately, it was at this time that her color timer began to blink red.

“Alright, time to turn up the heat!”

Aster’s body shined once again, this time she was engulfed in raging flames.

|| BURN UP! SOLARIS MAXIMUS! ||

The flames dissipated and revealed Aster’s power form, Solaris Maximus. Embers lapped off Aster’s body as she walked towards Black King. The Space Beast fired again, but Aster didn’t dodge it, instead taking on the brunt of the attack as the heat washed over her. The flames of the Space Beast did no harm to her, in fact, they merely made her stronger. Once she was close, Aster delivered a strong right hook to its side, releasing a chamber from her revolver gauntlet that exploded against Black King’s side.

When Black King backed away a little, Aster jumped up and performed a spinning back heel kick to his chest. Another revolver chamber fired, causing even more damage to the Space Beast as it reeled back further away from the Ultra Warrior. Aster’s body erupted with raging flames that were tinted red, orange, and yellow. The flames grew bigger and bigger until she focused all the heat and energy inwards, making her entire body glow with plasmatic energy.

Aster dashed towards Black King, firing off two revolver chambers at her feet to give her a boost. Once she was close, Aster gripped Black Kings shoulders and shouted, “NOVA BURN!”

All the contained energy released at once as Aster’s body exploded into a blast furnace that was about thirty meters wide and seventy meters tall. The blast stopped, not growing any bigger than it had, and after a few seconds, the dome of fiery energy was released, turning into small embers that wafted in the air, leaving only Ultrawoman Aster standing in the center, and Black King nowhere to be seen.

Aster’s body glowed once again, this time shrouded in blue and gold sparkling light.

|| SHINE ON! ULTRAWOMAN ASTER! ||

Aster returned to her original form as she flew up towards the spaceship hovering overhead. She pointed her right hand at the ship’s engines and called out, “Beam Bullet!”

Her right hand shined with light as it discharged a bolt of light straight at the engines, hitting them in just the right place to cause the ship’s engines to explode and fall from the sky. Aster hurriedly flew under the ship, and used her strength to catch the ship, slowly, she brought the ship into a slow descent. She brought the ship close to where the Goliath tanks were, sitting it down as gently as she could.

Aster gave the SMILE pilots a thumbs up before shooting off into the sky.

\\\***///

[Same Day, few hours later…]

Vice Commander Luna watched as their agents interrogated the leader Xalex, but along with her was also Sunset Shimmer. The Vice Commander of the SMILE base didn’t hide her displeasure of allowing Sunset to hear the interrogation as she was not a full fledged agent of SMILE until she graduated, even with Special Agent status. Nonetheless, Celestia had pulled rank and allowed it.

“Now, tell us, why did you take all those kids?” the male agent demanded.

Xalex sighed. “Why else? To preserve you.”

“What do you mean, ‘preserve’?” the female agent asked.

Xalex leaned back into his chair. “Word has gotten around in the proverbial ‘underground’. Something has its sights on this planet, the event that you call The First Incursion, has put this little planet on the radar for not just all the evil aliens, but even the good ones too. You can see by the number of other aliens who walk either in plain sight or in disguise. And with the recent increase in attacks to your planet, I thought it necessary to take a few of your young to make sure your species lives on.”

The female agent looked upon him with a narrowed gaze. “You seemed to be taking specific types of teens, teens who display or could display some abilities.”

“Yes, it’s quite the mystery about those types. Is it a natural evolution? Is it due to that strange forest? Or is it because of the other alien races who have come to live on Earth? Such a rarity must be preserved should something unfortunate happen, and I figured, taking these types of humans would yield a more evolved human race in the long run.”

“Are you saying you think Earth is going to face a Second Incursion?” the male agent asked.

Xalex shrugged. “Who can say? I merely wanted to get as many specimens as possible before anything happened. You have my word they would’ve been treated with the utmost care.”

Luna switched off the intercom and furrowed her brow. “This alien and his companions are saying the exact same thing.”

“They think we’re going to be an endangered species?”

“It seems to be knowledge only known in the darkest recesses of the universe at large. Either way, this is troubling to hear. We’ll have to bring this to the SMILE Director and Commanders of the other SMILE bases.”

Sunset sighed. “Guess I’ll head back.”

As Sunset turned to leave, Luna called out, “Sunset Shimmer.” The girl in question turned around to face Luna. “I would like to commend you for your work today. Both as a student of SMILE and as Ultrawoman, you saved many lives today and should be proud of that.”

Sunset blinked in surprise, this was a first, hearing Vice Commander Luna actually praise her for once. “Um, wow, uh, thank you, Vice Commander Luna.”

Luna nodded and with that Sunset left the room.

She made the long walk back to the dorms where she eventually was tackle hugged again by her roommate, having heard the news of the mission and their capture. It had taken a while, but they managed to convince Flash Sentry that Aster had flown by and rescued Sunset before entering into battle with the aliens, and thankfully, he promised not to tell anyone about Rainbow’s wings.

When she got inside, Sunset blinked when she saw the case from earlier. “Is that…?”

“Oh, um, Flash Sentry stopped by, he said he went by that shop earlier today and brought this back,” said Twilight.

Sunset walked over to the case and opened it up. Inside was Sunset’s newly bought guitar.

Twilight looked over Sunset’s shoulder and watched as the fiery haired girl took the instrument out and attached the sling to it. “You bought a guitar?!”

“Oh…well, not me. Flash did – even though I told him not to – but, yeah, it’s mine now,” Sunset answered.

Twilight bristled at hearing that for some reason. “Oh, he did…t-that was nice.” Twilight cleared her throat and said, “I’ll have to scold Rainbow later for taking my inventions without permission, but all in all, I’m happy that they worked and were able to help you.”

Sunset walked over to Twilight and ruffled her hair playfully. “Yeah, those blasters worked great! If they hadn’t used them, I would still be on the wrong end of a three way. So, thanks, Twilight, you helped save the day.”

Twilight groaned a little from her hair being messed up, but she still beamed knowing that she had helped to save her friend. Sunset walked over to the sliding doors which led to the balcony. Sunset used the dial that was on the guitar to turn it to a low setting, she then began strumming the guitar, playing a melody that had a soft, almost lullaby-ish tune to it.

Twilight leaned against the doorframe, just simply listening to the tune, she often found listening to certain songs soothing and relaxing, but what Sunset was playing resonated with the young genius on another level deep down.

Sunset continued to play, still unsure why or how she knew how to play, or where this song was coming from. Her entire life seemed to be a mystery, she determined. The mystery of being Ultrawoman Aster, the mystery of the Ultra Coins, the mystery of how she lost her memories, and the mystery of how she knew how to play the guitar or knew how to play this strange, yet familiar song.

One day, she thought, I’ll figure it all out…one day…

Comments

[VampDash]

Cool and.... I'm not sure how I feel about the whole reveal at the end.

[Fullmetal Prime]

Evil Lyra.... did not see that coming. Also jealous Twilight?

[The Voice in the Water]

Y'know, as a biologist and a conservationist, I actually have a bit of sympathy for Xalex. The issue is that he's dealing with sentients, and taking them against their wills.

Surprising that Sunny knows how to play the guitar, but not unwelcome.

[the other sans]

Okay, I can fly two people down, and then I can comeback for another
She brought the ship close to where the Goliath tanks were, sitting it down as gently as she could

1. Come back, two words in this case.
2. Isn't Setting better in this case?

[Michael_Ravencroft]

9872650 Unfortunately not at this time, but if anyone wants to give it a shot I don't mind

[Bookwurm666]

“Listen up, SMILE! If you try anything, me and Black King here are going to make this a very bad day for you,” said Bedu.

Black king looks like a knockoff of a Godzilla movie monster

“Pick yer targets! I got the ugly one!”

Which one is the ugly one?

[Bookwurm666]

Xalex sighed. “Why else? To preserve you.”

Xalex leaned back into his chair. “Word has gotten around in the proverbial ‘underground’. Something has its sights on this planet, the event that you call The First Incursion, has put this little planet on the radar for not just all the evil aliens, but even the good ones too. You can see by the number of other aliens who walk either in plain sight or in disguise. And with the recent increase in attacks to your planet, I thought it necessary to take a few of your young to make sure your species lives on.”

The guy was playing Noah