Constants and Variables
“I see, you encountered Death then,” Fancy Pants said as he stroked his chin thoughtfully. They had arrived at the SMILE HQ building and were currently in the middle of a meeting with the Director, Fleur, Sweetie Drops, and the new arrivals. “I wasn’t expecting her to show up again this soon.”
“Why didn’t you tell us about her?” Scootaloo asked. “I think this kind of information would’ve been useful, especially after she approached us before.”
“Kamen Rider Death appeared after the Magician Card was stolen from me 13 years ago,” Fleur said with a sigh. “She asked us to keep her existence secret unless she had to come back because of the Order. She’s been quiet since then, and we weren’t expecting her to show up again this soon.”
“But more worrying to me is the appearance of Granforca,” Fancy Pants said with a shake of his head. “The best we ever could tell was that he was a top enforcer of the Order given that he often fought against us 13 years ago. And, unfortunately, yes he was the one who killed your parents Scootaloo.”
“Yeah… I figured…” Scootaloo said with a sigh as she looked down at her feet and Sweetie put her arm around her. “I’m sorry, I just froze up when I saw him. I don’t know how else to explain it, but facing him again, I couldn’t handle it.”
“Scootaloo darling, you went through a traumatic experience,” Rarity said with a reassuring smile. “We’re going to help you through this.”
“Right,” Scootaloo said as she took a deep breath before she turned to Phoenix. “Okay, so we’ve got that fox monster and now an Order agent to deal with. Is there anything we should expect from this fox creature?”
“Well, we didn’t really have much interaction with it, the only thing we managed to figure out is that it can control cloths like some sort of tentacle. And that she apparently has a supply of other artifacts that she can shatter to get Remnants, but besides that? Not much, well besides that she attacked Canterlot High, but that could also have something to do with the fact that the school had a lot of magical incidents in the past,” Ocean instead returned, while Phoenix had crossed his arms in front of him and was making a rather grim expression. “Right Phoenix?”
That managed to snap him out of it. “What? Sorry, I was lost in thoughts; it’s nothing.” The upbeat and cocky tone he had before was gone, replaced with a far more somber one.
“Yeah, sure, and you not making jokes about this whole thing is totally normal? So, what is it? Come on, don’t try to eat it all up again, we remember how that went after all,” Ocean asked, putting her hand on his shoulder. He looked at her for a moment before pulling something out of his pocket, a perfectly round white Disc with golden lines orienting, and in an instant Ocean’s face went pale. “Oh, yeah, ok. Yeah, I guess I can see what you mean,” she muttered to him.
“What’s goin’ on?” Applejack asked. “Do yah want ta talk about it?”
“Well, you se-” Ocean was about to start as Phoenix placed his hand on her shoulder instead, letting her stop in an instant.
“No, no, I’ll do it. It’s nothing really, just a few rather fresh memories coming back, that is all. I lost someone close to me a few weeks back, and that just brought it back full force, but I’ll manage,” he returned with a low voice. “Nothing like hunting a monster than to get back on some more positive thoughts, right?” He added with far more vigor. Still, there was that bit in his voice that made it all sound rather insincere.
Scootaloo frowned a little as she looked back at Phoenix, something about what he said bothered her, but that wasn’t what they needed to focus on right now. She sighed a little and took a deep breath. “I’m sorry Phoenix, I wish there was something more I could say. Are you sure you’re going to be up for this? We can probably handle this on our own if you’re not comfortable doing this.”
“Oh, screw that noise. I’m not gonna pity myself while you are risking your life! It’s in the past, and that is just it. I can’t change it, I just have to accept it and learn from my mistakes, and use that to move forward,” he returned with a wave of his hand.
“Well, that is the great thing about Phoenix, whenever something bad happens, he is always the first one to accept it and learn from it. He can be a massive idiot at times, but that is one thing I have to say I’m always impressed by, as long as he doesn’t try to overcorrect, right Phoenix?” Ocean chuckled, getting a rather annoyed look from Phoenix.
“Oh, come on, that happened once. Yeah, sure not sleeping for a week wasn’t my best idea, but I got that now. You know, I’m not gonna pull something like this again, just other stupid stuff. And besides, it can’t be too bad after all, or you would have never become my girlfriend,” he returned, a devilish smile on his lips.
“You little,” Ocean started to mutter before both burst out into laughter, much to the confusion of everyone but Pinecone who just rolled his eyes.
“Alright, before we have to put you two in a room we have something to discuss,” Fancy Pants interrupted with a shake of his head. “You told us about this Fox creature, but given that we don’t have any record of this type of monster existing on Earth we would like any information you can provide on these, Corrupted you called them?”
“Right, they are humans that use magical artifacts to transform,” Ocean returned quickly, pulling something out of Phoenix’s pocket, a red Disc in the form of a spinning flame. “This is an artifact, objects that contain large amounts of magical energy. This Magic Disc would be categorized as a Level 3 artifact. They can come in various shapes and forms, some recently created through the wishes of the user and stray magical energy while others were created hundreds of years ago, how exactly that is possible is still beyond us since magic has only recently started to become stray with no sign of any wild magic beforehand,” she continued, entirely in her element.
“Humans being turned into monsters, yeah like we haven’t ever seen that before…” Sweetie Drops said with a roll of her eyes.
“What do you mean? Can’t be that normal, right? It’s not like there a many kinds of monsters here… right?” Phoenix returned first jokingly before it turned into a question he hoped would be answered with no.
“Well…” Scootaloo said as she shifted uncomfortably for a moment. “There have been monster attacks going back decades, some of which nearly resulted in the end of the world.”
“Kamen Riders like Scootaloo and Sweetie Drops will rise, or other teams that tend to dress in multi-colored spandex, to fight against the monster factions, but there have been casualties,” Fancy Pants said with a sigh. “SMILE was formed in reaction to these factions, though it wasn’t until the Inves invasion a few years ago that we got most of our funding.”
Phoenix and Ocean exchanged a quick look before they started to shake their heads. “Oh, come on, and I thought we would have a bit of quiet and piece after we somehow managed to stop the Corrupted. But if we look at what you just said, I think this will turn into a pipe dream. Well, at least it won’t be boring, right?” Phoenix chuckled awkwardly, before stopping altogether and letting himself sink deeper into his chair.
“Well, there’s no actual guarantee that will happen,” Rarity said with a shake of her head. “I mean, you come from a different universe right? Isn’t it possible that things will go differently there than here?”
Phoenix just looked back at her with a raised eyebrow: “Ah, sure. I know my luck, and that “means that this is gonna happen, as much as I don’t want it,” he returned with a resigned sigh.
“Well, if this universe’s history is anything to go by, you won’t have to do it alone,” Fancy Pants said. “And fortunately due to past events we can at least track this Corrupted when we get surges of magic power. Though I have to wonder what it could be after in this city, in the meantime I’ll have agents continue to watch the statue in the event it tries to return to your reality.”
“Yeah, would be really bad when it went back without us knowing about it since all the good Riders are over here. That could end rather badly,” Phoenix said, shuddering a little bit at the thought alone.
“We’ll try ta deal with this as fast as possible,” Apple Bloom said with a sigh. “Tha Order ain’t gonna make things easy either.”
“Especially with, him there…” Scootaloo said with a soft sigh as she shook her head a little. “I’m sorry, if he keeps showing up, I don’t know how much help I’m going to be. I’m afraid that I’m just going to freeze up again.”
“Don’t worry, you aren’t really alone out there after all, especially with us around. And even if he is dumb enough to attack you with five more Riders around, he will realize that this was a mistake the moment we kick his ass to Sunday,” Phoenix returned with a smirk. “Ouch! Hey, what was that about?” He shouted out while rubbing the back of his head.
He had turned around and stared right at Ocean who just shook her head. “Show a bit more tact Phoenix, don’t undermine her pain,” she hissed.
“Oh, come on, that wasn’t supposed to do that, besides she looks tough. I was just trying to comfort her, worked with you most of the time, even when I couldn’t get through to you for a while after… I think I’ll just stop talking now,” he finished, looking to the floor in embarrassment.
“Yeah, better is that. Not that you get our hosts on your bad side,” she returned with a judgmental glare, all while Phoenix head turned deeper and deeper shades of crimson.
“Scootaloo is one of the toughest women I know,” Sweetie said as she leaned over and kissed Scootaloo on the cheek. “And I promise that you’re going to be okay Scoots, you’ve got some good people backing you up and I’m going to be cheering you on every step of the way. We’ll stop this Corrupted and the Order Agent, and I promise you, we will not let this Granforca guy get away with what he did to your parents.”
“Thanks, Sweetie,” Scootaloo said gently as she rested her head gently on Sweetie’s shoulder and sighed happily.
“Ah have ta admit, meetin’ people from another universe and goin’ ta a top secret government base wasn’t exactly how Ah expected ta spend tha week,” Applejack said.
“But we definitely can’t say it’s been boring,” Rarity added with a chuckle. “Still, with Suri Polomare out there she’s probably going to go after us if she finds out we’re in the City because of me.”
“Meh, it could be worse, you could be trapped at a music festival with around one thousand people trying to kill you while slowly turning into monsters. On and don’t forget the three Corrupted that have control over everyone there. Man, that was a weekend I tell you. Your counterpart would probably agree as well,” Phoenix added, the crimson slowly fading from his cheeks.
“Well, we once had to fight a… wait, what do you mean counterpart?” Scootaloo asked confused. “Or is this like the other reality we encountered where versions of ourselves exist… you’re not really talking ponies, or something are you?”
“No, we are not, but my ancestors come from Equestria… It’s a long story. But we meet your counterparts in our world,” he pointed at Applejack and Rarity. “You, we ran into you while you were dealing with Flim and Flam, they had started to use the power of their artifacts to cone the citizens of Canterlot. And Rarity I met thanks to Thunder, my brother. He runs a and apparently you girls are well known there, so much so that he sent me along on a small fashion contest with you because he was busy, without asking me!” He emphasized the last part for some reason no one, but Ocean seemed to grasp, she in return just rolled her eyes.
“There was also a Corrupted, a girl named Coco Pommel, she wanted to help the other contestants by repairing and fixing small things on their clothes, but in the chaos of a fight another girl found out about her secret and used her to sabotage her competition. Funny enough, was the same girl that showed up at your doorstep today, I think. Oh, and you are all about seven to five year younger in my world. I think that covers it all,” he finished rattling off everything he knew, in no apparent order.
“Ah, only understood half of that,” Applejack said with a confused blink. “Ah guess that means Honey doesn’t have a counterpart in yer world, interestin’.”
“I don’t know, if she did, that would mean… And never mind, I’m done thinking about it!” He finished with a bright red face, all while Ocean buried her face in her hand.
“Alright, we can compare universes later,” Fancy Pants said with a sigh. “Right now we need to focus on finding where Anupan and… whatever your Fox Corrupted is called in the city. We have facial recognition software looking for Suri Polomare as we speak as well as our satellite looking for Order and Magical energy signatures.”
“It would probably help if our techs could run a scan of your Drivers,” Fleur added. “If it has a similar signature to the monster it may give us a way to track it better.”
“The Driver probably won’t help you much, as far as Ivory said, it only focusses the magical energy, the actual magic is in the Magic Discs,” Ocean added, with an unusually low voice.
“Right, my mistake,” Fleur said with a nod. “But still if there is a chance that it’ll help, we would like to study them. It shouldn’t take long.”
Ocean threw a pleading look towards Phoniex who ultimately relented and returned with a sigh. “Ok, fine. But I’ll keep this one,” he held up the white and gold Disc he had shown to Ocean before. “I’m not trusting you enough to give a Philosopher Stone into your hands. But you can have the normal ones, as long as I can take them back any time I need.” Ocean smiled with a sigh of relief and patted him on the shoulder.
“Philosopher’s Stone huh?” Sweetie Belle asked as she looked at it curiously for a moment. “Like, turn metal into gold, the elixir of life kind of thing?”
“More in the line of turning magic into other stuff. You just need to know how that is the hard part really,” he returned after pocketing the Disc again.
“Alright, don’t worry about it, we’ll make sure that your discs are returned without a problem,” Fancy Pants said. “You have my word that they will not be damaged or stolen.”
“I hope so, that would be six hundred years down the drain,” he chuckled nonchalantly.
“Alright, Fleur, take him down to the labs and tell the techs to be very careful with them,” Fancy Pants said. “The rest of you should remain in the base until we have a proper plan to deal with these two. Any more questions before you’re dismissed?”
Phoenix was about to say no as he heard a loud roaring from the side. Before he could even turn around, he could hear the voice of his girlfriend as with a rather embarrassed undertone. “There wouldn’t be anything to eat would there? We didn’t really have anything since breakfast.”
“Yes, we have a cafeteria, I’ll take you there after the lab,” Fleur said.
“Oh, you are in for a surprise I tell you,” Phoenix chuckled, Ocean’s face turning several shades of red.
“Phoenix,” she muttered avoiding eye contact with everyone as he put his arm around her.
“Oh, come on, smile! It’s just a little payback,” he smirked. “And, it’s not like they won’t think the same about me when I’m back. I’m starving as well. And remember what you took, I want the same.”
“Alright, you’re all dismissed before this gets weird,” Fancy Pants said as they got up.
“Believe me; the weirdness only starts when this is over,” Phoenix chuckled.
“Come with me,” Fleur said as she got up and gestured for Phoenix to follow her.
“Well, ok then,” he muttered, stretching himself before jumping up and following her.
00000
“Seems Phoenix was right,” Ocean chuckled, a slight blush still on her face as she took another bit of her meal, a bizarre mix of mustard, ketchup, mayonnaise on rice with a bid of undefinable meet. This was still a rather normal meal, at least comparing it to her standards, she would have probably put a bit more in it if the cafeteria wasn’t so damn ordinary. Kinda reminded her why she never really at there back home. “They did look a bit taken aback by my choice of food, especially Rarity kinda looked like I murdered one of her dresses or something like that.”
“Not really surprising really,” Pinecone muttered, sitting over his own fair share of the food, but he had simply settled for ordinary rice and meat. “What you claim to be food is a damn catastrophe for others. No wonder they quickly ditched us, seeing you eat this is still disgusting.”
She smiled back in return. “Yeah, can see that. So, if it’s so disgusting why are you still here?” She playfully raised an eyebrow, Pinecone avoiding her gaze.
“Do I need a reason for everything I do?” He grumbled back, shoving another spoon of rice in his mouth.
She just shook her head in amusement as she returned: “No, not really. But if you don’t have one, one might think you are warming up to us. Strange, right?” That certain smug expression was written all over Ocean’s face, much to Pinecone’s annoyance.
“Pah, as if. You guys are the bane of my existence, dragging me into this pointless conflict that has nothing to do with me. Warming up to you is ridiculous, especially with someone like Phoenix around,” he growled. Still, he avoided eye contact with her.
“Thank you.”
This got him to snap around in absolute bafflement, staring at her as if she had completely lost her mind. “What? What do you mean?”
“I said thank you. You helped us out so many times already and without you who knows how far we would have gotten in the end. I just wanted to thank you. As you said, this isn’t your fight, but you still help us. This means a lot to us, even to Phoenix, no matter how he might act around you,” she said with a smile on her lips.
“I… I… Thank you,” was all he managed to return, trying to hide his face as deep in his rice as possible.
“No problem,” she quietly returned before continuing with her meal. It didn’t really take her that long till she got up to take another one. While the other people there still looked at her like she had completely lost her marbles they did give her what she had asked for, and a second one just in case Phoenix came back soon, if not, more for her.
However, that dream rather quickly was blown to the wind as she heard a familiar voice behind her. “I see, only something mildly disturbing today. No ideas any more or just nothing to mix?”
“Nah, just cantina food is most of the time awfull anyway and not that much to play with. By the way, back already? I mean, that was quick, took you only like… two hours? Was the line really this long?” She looked in disbelief at her watch, it just felt unreal.
“Well, they say time flies by when you have good company or something like that,” he threw a look at Pinecone who just rolled with his eyes. “That is mine I assume, right?” He pointed at the second plate in her hand. With a silent sigh, she nodded, placing it next to her on the table.”Awesome, I’m starving. So, is it good?”
“Managed to get it to at least passable, so take that as you will,” she jokingly returned. “By the way, I wanted to talk with you about something,” she added with a far more serious tone.
“I think I’m done here, I’ll look around the base or something like that,” Pinecone said, standing up and taking his plate and leaving the two to their own devices.
“Ok, what is it?” He returned, already expecting a good verbal smackdown form her.
“You are ok?” That was all, no berating him, no chastising, just a question.
“What do you mean?” Phoenix returned with a worried look in his eyes.
“You spaced out before. Are you really ok? There are no other Riders and people here, you can be honest with me,” she continued, placing her hand on his. “You know you can trust me. So no eating it up by yourself again, ok?”
“As I said, it just brought back memories, that is all. I know I can’t change it, and that is all I need to know about it. I made a lot of mistakes when it came to the old geezer, so did he and every time I think about him I find new ones, but that can’t be changed now. So, yes, I can handle it, don’t worry. It’s just… I’m kinda worried about Scoots, that is all,” he admitted with a defeated sigh.
“Why? Her girlfriend said she was one of the toughest people she knows and I’m inclined to agree with her, so why are you worried about her,” Ocean returned with a rather puzzled look on her face.
“You are the toughest woman I’ve ever met, and how did you react when… when you killed your mother? You became one hundred percent focussed on finding Ivory, so much so that endangered the people around you to do that. It took far to long to finally get through to you, I don’t want to see that again, no matter the person, that is all,” he finished, Ocean could feel his entire body shake, tightening her grip on his hand.
“Hey, don’t worry. If her friends are anything like you, they will manage to get her through this, just like you did for me,” she finished, giving him a quick kiss on his cheek, turning his head bright red. “Just promise me that you won’t do something stupid, ok?”
He chuckled in return, all while trying to suppress his blush, save to say, it was not working. “Yeah, ok fine, I won’t do anything stupider than usual.” Then he turned around and looked toward Ocean, adding with a bright smirk: “You think we could ask Fancy Pants about one of those rooms he talked about?” Not even a second later a loud: “Ouw!” Could be heard. “Was that really necessary.”
“Yes, yes it was,” Ocean returned with a smile.
00000
“Yah know fer a secret underground base, this place ain’t bad,” Applejack said as she sighed a little and fell back on the bed in one of the rooms that had been set aside for guests. “Still, it feels like we’re stuck cooped up in here.”
“Yeah, I don’t like it much either,” Rarity said with a sigh as she sat down on the bed next to her. She smiled a little when she saw Honey reading a book. “I mean we knew Scootaloo was Justice, but…”
“But it’s weird ta get caught up in this whole thing with tha government?” Applejack asked, and Rarity nodded. “Yeah, Ah admit it’s weird, but they don’t seem ta have any problems with it so Ah’m sure it's fine.”
“Yeah, probably,” Rarity said with a sigh as she looked up at the ceiling and closed her eyes a moment. “I’m worried about them Applejack, this isn’t exactly something that’s normal, you know? I mean, yes I know this is far from the only time this kind of thing has happened, but…”
“Its tha first time it’s affected someone close ta us?” Applejack asked, and Rarity nodded.
“I thought it was bad enough when the Inves attacked and we were unable to get in contact with anyone for a while,” Rarity said with a sigh. “Now our sisters and their friends are caught up in the middle of this. I’m afraid that they might not make it out alive, or at least not the same as they were before.”
“Ah think they’re gonna be okay,” Honey said as she looked up from the book she was reading. During the conversation, the two had nearly forgotten she was there listening. “Auntie Scootaloo’s got somethin’ worth fightin’ fer, and she’s stronger than she seems. Ah think she’ll be just fine.”
“What makes you say that darling?” Rarity asked curiously.
“Ah dunno, just a feelin’ Ah’ve got,” Honey said with a shrug. “She’s fightin’ ta keep Sweetie and Apple Bloom safe as well as stop tha Order from hurtin’ tha city. She’s got somethin’ worth fightin’ fer in her mind at least, and Ah doubt someone like Auntie Scootaloo would let that go.”
“Yah know we probably shouldn’t have been talkin’ about this with her in tha room,” Applejack said with a chuckle. “But she’s got a point yah know? Scootaloo’s a good kid, and she’s got tha support she needs ta help her.”
“Yes, but still…” Rarity said with a sigh as she shook her head a little before she spoke quieter to her wife. “And it doesn’t help that Suri Polomare wants revenge on me and is willing to go after Sweetie to punish me. I just feel so useless, I can’t even help my little sister deal with that, thing!”
“Ah know Sugarcube,” Applejack said as she wrapped her arms gently around Rarity and patted her on the back. “If there was somethin’ Ah could do Ah’d help yah out. Come on Rares, yer gonna be just fine.”
“I hope so…” Rarity said with a sad sigh. “I’m still scared, Jackie, I hope you’re right.”
Applejack smiled softly as she held Rarity close to her. Honey looked up and smiled a little as she watched her two moms hug before she went back to reading her book.
“So, is anyone else hungry?” Applejack asked as her stomach growled a little.
“A bit, yes,” Rarity said with a chuckle. “Though I’d rather not be in the same room as Ocean’s, I’d say food, but that would be far too generous. I don’t know how anyone can make it through that.”
“Can Ah try her food?” Honey asked.
“No!” Her moms said in unison, that was the last thing they needed right now which made her pout a little.
“Yer no fun,” Honey said as they chuckled a little. “But Ah am kinda hungry still.”
“Alright, well, we might as well take a chance,” Rarity said as they got to their feet and Rarity took Applejack’s hand in her’s and gave her wife a smile as she leaned up and kissed her on the cheek. “Thank you Applejack.”
“Yer welcome Rarity,” Applejack said as the three of them headed out of the room together to head towards the cafeteria.
“Sir, I think I’ve got a source for the unusual readings,” Sweetie Drops said from behind a corner as she pressed against her ear and watched the three walking away. She had been following strange readings that the sensors in the base had been picking up in this area.
“What is it?” Fancy’s voice said in her ear.
“It’s hard to believe, but the readings seem to be coming from the Apple-Belle family,” Sweetie Drops said with a slight frown as she examined the device she was holding. “I’m having a hard time getting a reading on exactly what kind of energy it is.”
“Understood, do you think there’s any threat?”
“No, but I suggest we keep an eye on things in the future,” Sweetie Drops said with a shake of her head. “I suggest we get in contact with Virgil Division up in New York after they return to keep an eye out for anything just in case.”
“Agreed,” Fancy Pants said. “Keep an eye out for anything strange at least.”
Sweetie Drops nodded and headed towards the cafeteria once she was sure they didn’t know she was there.
00000
“Alright, we’ve managed to use the satellite to track the location of both the Order Agent and the Corrupted,” Fancy Pants said in the briefing room as he pulled up a map of Canterlot and two points appeared on separate parts of the city. “The Agent is in the north part of the city on 12th Avenue.”
“Uh-oh,” Rarity said as she flinched a little when she saw where it was. “I used to own a shop there before we moved to New York. But that was years ago, I don’t know why she would be heading there.”
“Likely she didn’t know you sold it,” Fancy Pants said with a sigh as he looked back at the map. “The Corrupted though we’re not sure, she’s downtown on Wright Street, there’s not a whole lot there that would be likely to draw her attention.”
“Weird…” Scootaloo said as she looked at it thoughtfully for a moment. “Anyone have any ideas?”
“Wright Street, Wright Street…” Apple Bloom said as she looked thoughtful for a moment. “Yeah, Ah have no idea, might help if we knew who this Corrupted was and what they might be after.”
“Question is if we can be of any help here, I don’t know how much our two cities overlap, especially with this whole desert thing,” Ocean muttered. “Could someone give me a map of this place?”
Fleur left the room after a moment and came back with a map of the city that she laid out on the table in front of Ocean as she pointed at the two locations. “Here’s where they are according to the satellite.”
“Hm, interesting. The city looks more or less the same, some small differences, but that is it. Well, besides completely different street names,” she said, no one entirely sure of to herself or them. “So, where would the Corrupt-”
“Let me take a look at this as well,” Phoenix said from her side, shoving himself right next to her, she didn’t really seem to mind. “Wright Street, Wright Street, oh there, hey that looks famil- Fuck, fuck, fuck!” His curious tone quickly shifted into worried, exceedingly worried.
“What?” Rarity asked.
“That is where the Magnum Opus is in our world, I would recognize that corner of Canterlot everywhere. I think she is trying to go after Thunder and Summer. Oh, she is going to get her ass handed to her, I’m so gonna… Ahm, back on track, I need a bike, now, you wouldn’t be willing to lend me one? Please?”
“I’ll get Stone Breaker to get out one of the extra models, Sweetie Drops go with him on Anteros,” Fancy Pants said. “We need to split up into two teams of Riders, one goes after the Agent, and the other goes after the Order Agent. Scootaloo, since Agent Drops is going to Wright, you head for 12th, understood?”
“Got it,” Scootaloo said with a nod.
“Ocean, Pinecone, I need at least one of you to go with her,” Fancy Pants said as he got to his feet. “We’ll keep an eye out for things here in case anything else shows up. The last thing we need right now is for the Order to attack with one of their Commanders while we’re distracted, but we don’t have much choice.”
“Phoenix? Who should go with her?” Ocean asked, he already sorting through his stuff, making sure he actually got everything.
“Both of you, I can deal with this, especially with Sweetie's help here. And if they send that guy after Scoots again I want her to have backup,” he returned, before heading for the door.
She looked at him for a moment in surprise before chuckling, “Ok then if you say so, but don’t complain to me later when you get your ass kicked.”
“Oh, please, I picked fights with far more dangerous opponents, so this will be fine. Foxy beating me, that would be the day,” he chuckled in return, throwing a look at Sweetie Drops.
“Alright, it's settled then,” Fancy Pants said with a nod. “Stone Breaker will bring out the bikes, good luck and godspeed to all of you. Something tells me you’re going to need it.”
00000
It had been a pain navigating through this city; everything was so different, different street names, new roads while others had simply vanished and then there was the fact that it was so damn hot, it was horrible. She had no idea what had happened, but to be honest, she didn’t care, right now the only thing on her mind was revenge, sweet, sweet revenge. The girl in the high-set purple hair and her purple school uniform was staring at the other side of the street, clenching her white scarf with a fox stitched into it. “Finally,” she let out an exhausted sigh “I can’t believe this took me so long, right? This useless city, am I right?” She muttered to her self, her voice sounding insufferably smug like she was the greatest thing to ever grace this earth since cookies,
A quick glance behind her revealed a small alleyway and within it a beaten-up bunch of thugs that were lying around the ground, some of them having strange marks on them. “And then there are the locals, unbelievable! Try to attack a vulnerable girl and rob her, unacceptable.” With that, she let her scarf blowing in the wind before looking for a good place to get to the other side of the street.
That, however, was the moment when she heard the loud roaring of engines coming closer. At first, she didn’t really think anything of it, but the closer and louder they got the more they started to concern her. She didn’t really know why, but somehow she knew that this was the sound of something terrible, she was just not sure what exactly. Throwing all caution to the wind she just rushed onto the street, several cars only barely able to hit the breaks and stop in front of her, followed by loud honking. Still, she managed to run past all of them and ended up on the other side, letting out a relieved sigh, nothing had happened after all.
Then she heard the sound of the engines suddenly stop and that right behind her. Her head snapped around and stared right at… him! “You!” She let out a growl, staring at the man in his red and golden armor and these damn green eyes, just sitting on that stupid bike, surely making her.
“So, do you see any white foxes around here? Doesn’t look like she already attacked the restaurant, thank goodness.” Alchemy asked the strange Rider next to him, she had never before seen her, but what difference did it make, she had this new power and now was even stronger than before, no Rider, not even Alchemy was any kind of match for her.
“No, that’s weird though, you’d think she’d have had enough of a head start…” the Woman said, her armor was red with hot pink markings as she picked a card out of a box on her waist and slid it into her Driver.
“ARCANA BOW!” The driver said as an ornate black and gold bow appeared in her hand.
“Yeah, kinda strange. Until now she was always so damn fast and…” Alchemy stopped mid-sentence, his eyes fixated on her. “Oh, you got to be fucking kidding me. Amores, I think I found our Corrupted and apparently our universes have a sense of humor, look!” He pointed at her, but that hardly mattered to her, the anger was already completely overtaking her.
“You!” Was all she managed to bellow at the Rider, grabbing her scarf tightly.
“Oh, you have got to be kidding me…” Amores said as she facepalmed a little. “What are the odds of two transformation monsters affecting the same person from two different universes?”
“I don’t know, I never was that good at math, I just now that the universe definitely is trying to screw with us,” Alchemy muttered, the scarf around Suri’s neck starting to glow, quickly covering the entire street in a blinding light.
\ Flame Disc Attack Mode! /
\ Flame Saber! /
As the light started to subside again, Alchemy had already jumped off his bike and rushed towards the fox, weapon in hand. “Hey, Foxy, I’ve gotta give it to you, never expected you to be our second monster, wait, you are the first, forgot that, but you two are just so alike.” But the Corrupted was not just gonna let him attack her without putting up a fight and like he had already expected a swarm of silk was heading his way.
“You! Do you know how what you did to me? Do you?” Suri bellowed into their direction, letting the cloth swirl around Alchemy, trying to ensnare him with it.
“Yep, fooled your plan to use a little girl, I monster. By the way, I might not be the best at physics, but even I know, cloth burns and oh look what I have here, fire,” he chuckled, spinning the Disc on the handguard of his sword and dashed forward as magical energy gathered inside of it.
“Yeah, like I’m going to listen to someone willing to become a monster to get something as petty as revenge,” Amores said as she pulled back on her bow as an energy arrow formed in it. “You’re not going to hurt this city over something like that!”
Alchemy meanwhile was just in front of a good amount of the cloth, five of the strips as he let his weapon come down on them. “Flaming Slash!” But to his surprise the moment the sword hit the strips of silk they wouldn’t budge, instead wrapping around the blade of the sword, completely ignoring the fire that was erupting from the weapon. “Ok, no! Just no! Fire plus cloth is supposed to burn, why aren’t you burning?” Alchemy shouted, his frustration growing with every second.
“Wait, Corrupted are formed in connection to magical artifacts right?” Amores asked as she fired an arrow to try and sever the scarf. “Is it possible the scarf is an artifact?”
“Probably, but that doesn’t really matter right now, right? The only thing that matters now is beating her, we don’t get the thing otherwise. And besides, Corrupted are just weird, sometimes they just work the way they do, I stopped questioning it after a while, magic is wild I tell you,” Alchemy screamed back, trying to jank the sword out of the claws of the cloth, which ultimately proved futile. “Ok, screw this, I’ll try something else,” he hissed with gritted teeth as he turned the weapon back into its Disc form and pulled out another Disc, put it on the Driver and spun it.
\ THUNDER DISC ACTIVATED! /
The Rider was consumed by thundery whirlwind before emerging in an electric blue armor with the same golden highlights, shoulders that were formed light lightning and similarly themed horns as well as two bright red eyes. “Try keeping up with this Foxy, will be quite the challenge.” With that, he quickly removed the Disc from the Driver again.
\ Thunder Disc Attack Mode! /
\ Thunder Tonfa! /
In his hands, two tonfas in the same color as the armor had formed as well as golden lines engraved on them Two Magic Discs were placed right over the handle. With the new weapons in hand he suddenly disappeared from view, no he just rushed under the silk with superhuman speed, and right in front of the Corrupted, following up with a swift punch to her stomach that sent the monster into the next best wall.
Amores drew her bow back and fired several arrows at the Corrupted before she could get up. She was still new to this particular type of monster, so she just had to hope that this would help as she pulled the string back for another shot.
But before either of them could attack again the Corrupted let out a bloodcurdling scream and not even a second later silk upon silk stips were shooting towards them, it was almost like particularly angry pasta. Not even Alchemy’s super speed would cut it here, the Rider jumping backward next to Amores. “Ok, that is not working anymore, but how about this?” He chuckled as he simply punched the ground beneath him, and nothing happened.
“Uh, that was anti-climactic,” Amores said as she looked at him. “Exactly what was supposed to happen there?”
“Patience,” he chuckled, as he flicked once, the sound echoing through the streets, as suddenly a bright blue light appeared at the point Alchemy had hit the ground, quickly forming into some sort of seal. A similar seal appeared on Suri’s body, and then it happened, lighting sprung and connected both seals, letting the Corrupted scream out in agony. “See, you just have to be a bit more patient.”
“Ah… that would do it,” Amores said as she pointed her bow back at the monster. “Any chance that was enough to finish it or do we have to do something else?”
“Oh please, you don’t believe that yourself, right? They never make it that easy,” he sighed as he deactivated his weapon again. “I think she has a good amount of fight still left in her, wanna bet?” With that, he placed the next Disc in the driver.
\ WIND DISC ACTIVATED! /
“Why does everyone have more form changes than we do?” Lyra’s voice said in Amore’s ear as she reached into her deck box again. “What are you thinking, tomahawks this time?”
“Nah, let's try this first,” Amores said as she took one card and slid it into the Driver as the first one slid out.
“ARCANA SHORT BOW!” Amores’ driver said as the bow was switched with a shorter bow as she drew back on it and fired several more arrows at the monster.
Alchemy meanwhile had been released from the emerald whirlwind that had enveloped him, revealing his new form, now clad in emerald armor with the familiar gold accents, shoulders, and horns with a wind them and two red piercing eyes as well as a long flowing white scarf. “Well, look Foxy, I’m rocking the scarf as well, and I actually look good with it,” he shouted at the raging Corrupted that quickly shoot an onslaught of her ‘tentacles’ at him. Alchemy just chuckled a little before ascending into the air and promptly gaining hight, all while removing his Disc from the Driver.
\ Wind Disc Attack Mode! /
\ Hurricane Bow! /
In his hand, an emerald and gold bow formed with the Magic Disc attached to the grip. On a closer look, one could even see two blades at the end of each side of the bow. Pulling back the string of the bow he let an emerald arrow lose on Suri, that one, however, was quickly blocked by one of the innumerable pieces of silk around her, she was getting harder and harder to hit with every passing moment.
“This is getting annoying,” Amores said as she dodged one of the pieces of silk and tried to fire another arrow towards the monster. “We need to hit this thing faster and harder…”
She glanced back towards the red and pink bike for a moment and nodded a little as she raised her bow again and fired a few shots towards the monster again. “Cover me!”
“No problem, I have just the right thing for that,” he smirked, starting to spin the Disc again and pulled back the bowstring again as emerald energy gathered in it. “Arrow Storm!”
With that, he let one arrow sore right above him, and it continues that way for a few moments until it disappeared in a large emerald seal in the sky. Seconds alter a barrage of arrows rained down on top of the Corrupted who had to use all of her silk to shield herself from the incoming attack. And even that didn’t really work that well, several of the arrows pierced through and hit her on several places of her body.
Amores jumped on her bike and pressed two of the buttons on the handlebars as she started it up.
“Battle mode engaged,” the computerized voice said from the bike as she gripped the handlebars and pointed it right at the monster. “What are your orders?”
“Target the hostile being and prepare for an attack on my command at 15 MPH,” Amore said as she gunned the engine. “Now!”
The Motorcycle roared to life as it sped right at the Corrupted and hit her hard with the front wheel catching her off guard. Amores held the bow up again and fired several more arrows at the monster before she could recover as she prepared for another attack with the bike.
“You’re going down!” She said as she reached for her Driver again.
The device flipped open, giving her access to the Lovers Card which she quickly put into a slot on the bike, the computerized voice shouting out: “LOVERS BREAK!” The bike was quickly engulfed in pink energy, much to the horror of the Corrupted who screamed out in pain and anger.
“You damn… I’m gonna murder you, you hear that!” But Amores just didn’t listen, not that it would have been anything profound anyway. It didn’t take that long till a massive explosion consumed the entire street, Amores managing to stop her bike before she crashed into the wall. With this the whole street had pretty much been covered in dust and smoke, making it quite hard to see. Alchemy sighed in relief. Finally, it was over.
“Revenge… Revenge! Revenge!” Suddenly cut through the smoke and out of nowhere several of the silk strips grabbed ahold of Alchemy’s legs and pulled him earthwards, the Rider landing with a painful grunt on the ground. Amores faired only partially better, she managed to evade the attacks of the Corrupted but was knocked off her bike, landing a few meters away from the tangled strips of silk.
“Ok, I have had enough of you,” Alchemy groaned, Amores could hear his pain in every word. “Time to kick it up a notch!”
\ FRIENDSHIP DISC ACTIVATED! /
The dust and smoke was quickly pushed away by a purple whirlwind that quickly revealed Alchemy in an all purple form. The golden highlights of the other armors had taken on bright pink, his shoulders had taken on the form of waves while his horn had been changed into two interwind magical waves on each side, all while two pink eyes stared at the Corrupted. “Let’s finish this, ok?”
“Suri, you used the powers that were bestowed upon you to attack others and try to punish people for your own mistakes. By the magic that was bestowed upon me, I deem you unworthy of your powers and will now take them from you!” Alchemy shouted towards her, even though she probably couldn’t hear him anymore. With that, he spun the Disc on his Driver as energy gathered into his foot.
\ Friendship Disc Maximum Power! /
Before the Corrupted could even react, four seals appeared around the monster and ethereal chains burst out of them quickly wrapping the Corrupted in them and immobilizing her, thankfully even taking a good amount of the silk strips with it. While all this was happening Alchemy was ascending higher and higher into the air.
Amores drew the bow back as she pointed it at the Corrupted. Energy started to gather in the tip of the arrow for a moment before she shouted. “SONIC ARROW!” And let loose with the arrow as it flew through the air towards the Corrupted.
Alchemy had finally reached the appropriate height and now was rocketing towards the Corrupted foot first, both Finishers hitting the immobilized Corrupted at the same time, letting her go off in a massive explosion. Out of the dust and smoke, a white scarf with a fox stitched into it floated towards Alchemy who just snipped it out of the air. “Well, that takes care of this.”
“Yeah, let’s just hope that the others are doing just as well as we are,” Amores said as she lowered her bow.
“I’m sure they are fine, they have Ocean, Pinecone and Scoots there, they will be fine. If we could beat this crummy Corrupted they can beat that Order Agent as well,” Alchemy returned, quickly wrapping the scarf around his forearm. “Still, you think we should go check on them? Just in case?”
“Would be a good idea,” Amores said with a nod as she righted her bike up again and climbed on it. “Let’s go then.”
“Right on that,” Alchemy returned as he picked up his own bike with a levitation spell and quickly mounted up as well.
“You’re going to have to tell me how you do that,” Amores said with a chuckle as she removed the bow card from her deck and started up the bike. “Let’s get going then, to 12th Avenue?”
“As you wish, but I don’t think you will like the answer,” he returned with his own chuckle, letting the engine of his bike roar as well, but not without taking a look back at this world's version of the Magnum Opus, unscratched. Thank goodness, he didn’t want to ruin the restaurant a second time.
00000
Scootaloo blinked a little as she looked around with the other two Riders. They were at the spot that they were supposed to find the monster at, but there wasn’t anything there other than an empty shop.
“Okay, that’s weird,” she said as she got off her bike and looked around. “You’d think they’d be here…”
“What do you see?” Fancy’s voice said in her helmet’s communicator.
“Nothing, are you sure the readings are coming from here?” Scootaloo asked as she looked around more and placed her hand on her deck box. “Do either of you see anything?”
“Negative, nothing here,” Ocean returned her Charge Magnum already in her hands. “Something is off about all of this, I just know it.”
“I don’t see anything either, but here is something, I can sense it,” Pinecone growled back, his eyes darting across the room like they were some startled wild animal.
“Agreed,” Scootaloo said as she drew out a card and slid it into her Driver as the black and gold rapier appeared in her hand. She paused a moment and activated her communicator again. “Director is it possible that they could turn invisible?”
“Given everything we’ve seen, I wouldn’t discount it,” Fancy Pants replied. “All of you stay on your guard until you know what you’re up against here. We’ll keep running scans to make sure that she didn’t get away.”
“Why don’t we ever get normal monsters that just have weapons…” Scootaloo muttered to herself.
“Trust me, there is nothing like a normal monster,” Ocean returned, not letting her finger from the trigger for a moment.
Scootaloo paused a moment as she swore she saw something out of the corner of her eye as she reached for her sword and turned around quickly. There was nothing there when she turned around, it was as if whoever or whatever it was was playing with them.
“Where are you?” Scootaloo demanded as she gripped the hilt of her rapier in her hand and looked around for the monster. “I know you’re in here somewhere…”
There was a sudden ripple effect in the air as the cat monster re-appeared behind Scootaloo and slashed hard at her with her katana. Scootaloo screamed a little and swung around just as the monster vanished again with a laugh.
“Definitely invisibility…” Scootaloo said with a shake of her head. “Just what we need, a hard one to beat.”
“Stop whining and get on with it,” Pinecone growled back, summoning a whip made out of small little green scales that ended in the sting of a scorpion. Within seconds two large bat-like wings extended from his back and he ascended to the rather low ceiling, hovering there for a moment before letting the whip come down on the floor, shattering the point it hit into thousand pieces. Dust and debris from the attack quickly filled the small store, all while Monster slammed his claws into the ceiling and hung there.
The dust started to fall around them as the Riders scanned the area quickly. The dust seemed to settle on a shape of a cat-like woman that was holding a sword. She didn’t notice that she was visible for a moment before she suddenly snapped up and looked at the Riders.
“Clever…” she said with an animalistic growl as she turned visible again and gripped the sword tightly in her hand. “Fine, if you want to play it that way, I can play!”
With that, she ran forward right at Ocean, dodging any attacks as she did as she swung her sword at the female Rider.
A loud metallic sound rippled through the air as the blade was stopped by Ocean’s Stun Baton that she had pulled from her belt. With the Agent taken aback by the sudden block, it was easy for Charge to unload six shots from point-blank range right into the stomach of the monster. The Agent roared out in pain as it staggered backward, Charge already spinning the cylinder of her gun to reload it.
“So I underestimated you, this is hardly over…” the Agent said as she gripped her sword and energy started to flow around her more. Scootaloo flinched a little at that, she was drawing on more energy from the host, it was the only thing that made sense. “Then I’m going to have to hit you all harder than ever before!”
“That’s not good,” Scootaloo said as she moved forward and pointed her sword at the agent. “I’m not about to let you get away with hurting that woman!”
“Why do you care? You’re friends with that bitch’s younger sister aren’t you?” The agent said with a snarl. “Why should you care what happens to this host?”
“This city is under my protection, as is everyone in it,” Scootaloo said as she gripped the sword tightly. “Yeah Suri Polomare may want revenge on Rarity, but she doesn’t deserve to be used by the Order like this! I don’t care what it takes, but I’m going to drive you out of her body once and for all!”
“Then try it,” the agent said with a laugh as she pointed her katana at Scootaloo. “All of you try it. I’m not giving up this body that easily!”
“Then we’re going to have to force you out!” Scootaloo said as she ran forward and thrust her sword at the monster who jumped back. “I’ve stopped your kind before, and I’m going to make sure that you don’t get away with this!”
“Then you’re going to have to try harder than that,” the agent said with a laugh as she held her sword up. “I don’t need cheap tricks to defeat you. You, on the other hand, seem to need help!”
She ran forward at Scootaloo who barely managed to dodge the attack and slashed at the monster with her rapier. She paused a moment, had she become so reliant on the help of others that she had a hard time fighting the monsters herself?
No! She was still strong, she could still handle herself against these monsters with or without help. She was not going to let this Order Agent get to her, not now!
She gripped her sword tightly and dodged an attack from the monster before she slammed her fist into the monster’s chest, which sent her staggering back. “Don’t you give me that crap! Having my friends and family don’t make me weaker, they make me stronger than you! I’m not going to let you win!”
“Then have at me,” the monster said with a snarl as she struggled to get to her feet and pointed her sword at Scootaloo. “You have a lot of nerve parading around as the defender of people when you do so on the backs of the agents you killed!”
Scootaloo frowned a little at that, no there was no way that made sense as she gripped her sword tightly. They were invading her world and hurting innocent people, right?
“Watch out!”
Scootaloo looked up just in time to see the agent swinging her sword right at her which she just barely managed to counter with her own weapon. “No fair distracting me.”
“All’s fair in war,” the agent said with a cackle as she backed off a little and laughed madly. “I’m going to take you down, and then I’ll pay a little visit to your friends!”
“You know, I kinda agree with you,” a growly voice came from behind the Agent, the monster quickly spinning around in shock, staring at the beastial Rider behind her and his two piercing red eyes. “All’s fair in war,” he continued with a gleeful chuckle and brought his claws down upon the surprised Agent, sparks flying everywhere as the monster screamed out in pain and staggered back towards Scootaloo. Monster, however, wasn’t done yet, pressing forward and slashing across her chest, again and again, every time accompanied with an agonizing screech as he pushed her further and further back. “Take her from here,” he bellowed over the constant pained screams of the monster before jumping back a few steps.
Scootaloo nodded as she ran forward and leaped up at the agent. Energy started to gather in her foot as she headed right for her, preparing to finish her off before… the monster vanished. Scootaloo cursed loudly as she hit the ground hard, a sickening crunch heard as she impacted the ground and let out a cry of pain.
“Son of a… freakin’ invisibility monsters…” Scootaloo groaned as she tried to get to her feet only to feel a sharp pain through her body as she powered down. Her leg looked like it was in bad shape from the impact. “Yeah… that’s definitely broken…”
“Dammit,” Ocean sighed as she walked over to the injured Rider and offered her a hand. “Come, I’ll help you up,” she continued as she slowly picked her up and let Scootaloo support herself on her. “Are you ok?”
“Yeah… must’ve gone a little faster than I expected,” Scootaloo said with a pained groan as she let Ocean help her up. “Usually that works, so I don’t need to worry about it.”
“Well, stuff like this just happens sometimes, there were a few times Phoenix tried to defeat a monster with finisher and it didn’t turn out so great, one of them even ended with him being thrown out of his transformation, almost got us all killed, but like I said, stuff like this just happens, t least you are still alive.” She looked at the limping Rider besides her. “Even if this is less than ideal. But nothing that a transformation can’t fix, right?” She continued with a soft tone in her voice.
Scootaloo struggled to draw a card from her deck box. “I don’t really get how these things work, but before this did manage to heal me…” she said as she looked down at the Justice card. “It looks like she ran off though. We should get back to HQ…”
Scootaloo could see how Ocean shifted her helmet, and the two red eyes stared at her. “Probably, but how are we getting you there? I don’t think riding your bike will work that well,” she continued.
“No, definitely not…” Scootaloo said as she reached for her pocket and took out her cell phone. “I’ll call the Director, he can send a ride to pick us up.”
“Yeah, that is prob-” Ocean returned before she was interrupted by the roaring of two engines and the two bikes that quickly followed it.
“Hey, and how did it g-” Phoenix asked in a cheery tone before actually taking in the scene. “Oh, that can’t be good,” he added quickly, basically jumping from the bike and rushing over to them. “What in the name of Tartarus happened?”
“Oh you know, broke my leg trying to do a finisher on the monster,” Scootaloo said with a pained groan. “I’ll be fine, but she got away, just my luck really.”
“Don’t sweat it, monsters are really slippy, they tend to do this. But hey, look on the bright side, we got the Corrupted, so the next time the Agent shows itself, it’s gonna have to deal with all of us and believe me, she won’t manage that,” he chuckled, slapping Scootaloo on the back, causing her to flinch. “Ah, sorry,” he sheepishly added.
“I’ve had worse, should’ve seen me after the first one…” Scootaloo said weakly as she called Fancy Pants to get them a ride.
“And you should have seen Phoenix after his third fight, nearly killed him and only survived because Rainbow dash saved his skin, it was hilarious, well when everything settled down,” Ocean added.
“You love to tease me, do you?” He just sighed while shaking his head.
“Yes, yes I do,” she added playfully.
00000
“Okay, Ah know yer worried about her, but can yah two come up fer air already?” Apple Bloom asked with a roll of her eyes as she watched Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle kiss in the infirmary back at HQ. “We need ta talk about what happened back there.”
“Sorry,” Scootaloo said with a blush. Her leg was starting to feel better as the spirit from the card was working its magic on the injury. “This thing turned invisible, have there been any other readings of energy in the city?”
“Sadly no, not yet,” Fancy Pants said with a shake of his head. “Which either means that she’s in human form or her invisibility blocks our scanners.”
“Great,” Scootaloo said with a groan as she shifted a little. Her leg still hurt, but the Justice card was finishing its work on the repairs. “So what do we do now?”
“You don’t do anything young lady, not until your leg is healed,” Sweetie Belle said in a curt tone as she shook her head at her fiance’s behavior.
“Unfortunately, there’s not a whole lot we can do other than keep our Satellite’s directed at the city looking for any readings,” Fancy pants said. “So, yes you are basically going to stay here until your leg is healed. We also have agents watching the Canterlot High Statue in case something happens there.”
“At least we don’t have to worry about Foxy anymore,” Phoenix chuckled. “And if you keep this up you will be back in action in no time at all. And judging from how some people here treat you because of it, might actually have been worth it.” Before he could continue to chuckle he quickly felt something on the back of his head followed by a sharp pain. “Ow, what was that for?” Ocean just looked at him with her usual expression when he had said something stupid, but there was the hint of a smile on her lips. “Come on, as if you aren’t thinking the exact same thing.”
This quickly let Ocean turn bright red, stuttering out a flustered: “No, I’m not!” All while Phoenix was just laughing.
“Wanna join in?” He added as well with a bright grin on lips, this one turned her cheeks crimson, her eyes darted to the floor in an instant.
“Get a room you two,” Scootaloo said with a chuckle as she gave Sweetie a smile as she leaned up and gave the pale-skinned woman a kiss.
“Like yah are one ta talk,” Apple Bloom said with a roll of her eyes. “Miss Ah’m gonna make out with mah fiance where everyone can see us.”
“Hey, we have a room,” Scootaloo said with a roll of her eyes. “You’re all just in our room.”
“Ok, I need to remember that one,” Phoenix muttered to himself, Ocean just staring at the two in disbelief before starting to chuckle herself.
“Alright all of you out,” the doctor said with a roll of her eyes. “Ms. Belle you’re free to stay of course, but the rest of you should leave Ms. Dash to rest. Once the process is done, you can tease her more.”
“Oh fine,” Apple Bloom said with an exaggerated sigh. “Ya’ll take care, okay? Ah should go check in with Applejack, Rarity, and Honey anyway. They’ve been worried about yah.”
“I’ll check in with them later,” Scootaloo said with a sigh as she looked down at her leg. She had asked that they not visit mostly because she didn’t want Honey to see her like this. Even with the Justice card healing her she didn’t want to scare the young girl. “Tell them that I’ll be okay for me.”
“Okay,” Apple Bloom said as she gave her friends a hug. “Ah’ll tell them, see yah soon.”
The others headed out of the infirmary together, which just left Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle in there alone. Scootaloo closed her eyes as she laid back and placed her hand gently on the card that was placed against her skin underneath the hospital gown she was wearing.
She had always felt almost like she took this kind of thing for granted. This card had given her the power to fight against the Order, and she honestly wasn’t sure what other things the card could do for her.
She sighed and reached over and squeezed her fiance’s hand as she gave her a soft smile. Her leg was starting to feel better, but what mattered was that she was here with the woman she loved as well as her friends.
Now she just had to stop this new monster from hurting others.
00000
“Still nothing on the scans?” Fancy Pants asked as he headed into the command center of the SMILE HQ with the Riders from the other universe behind him.
“No Director,” one of the agents, a dark-skinned woman with dark pink hair said as she read over a tablet. “They’re still remaining quiet for the time being, as is Granforca and any of the other Commanders.”
“Alright, make sure that we keep our eye in the sky looking out for anything,” Fancy Pants said with a sigh as he took his seat. “The last thing we need is for something else to happen while we’re looking out for this thing.”
“Indeed,” the dark-skinned woman said as she adjusted the tablet and looked back at the screen that showed the map of the city. “Though I have to question if bringing those three into the base was the best idea given the sensitive nature of what we do here.”
“Your objections are noted Agent Shadow but given our lack of knowledge about the Corrupted it was the best option at the time,” Fancy Pants said. “For now they’re welcome here until the current situation is resolved.”
“Fine,” Agent Tempest Shadow said as she went back to work.
“Sorry about Agent Shadow, but she is right, this is supposed to be a secure facility, but the situation hasn’t exactly made that easy,” Fancy Pants said as he looked back at their three guests. “Though if one of you is anything like she is on this side of the portal, I’m sure you understand the need for secrecy.”
Ocean was the first to answer: “Oh, while the MRG is not really a secret organization we still have things we better keep secret from the masses, people probably shouldn’t know where we store our magical artifacts after all. We are definitely grateful that you allowed us to work so closely together with us. If any of your agents ever get stranded in our universe, we are very much willing to return the favor.”
“Good to know, with this line of work you never know when that might happen,” Fancy Pants said as he glanced at the screen. “I swear between this and the Fangire incident it feels like we’re becoming a magnet for interdimensional activity…”
“Let’s hope we don’t become one as well, we have already enough on our plate with two evil Riders and the Corrupted, as well as everything that comes with it,” Pheonix sighed. “Another interdimensional adventure would be really annoying.”
“Well good luck with…” Fancy Pants said as an alarm suddenly went off. “Report, what’s going on?”
“Sir, we’ve got a sudden surge of energy coming from the portal outside of Canterlot High,” one of the agents said.
“We’re getting reports in from our agents in the field,” another one said with a frown. “The agent must have snuck by using her invisibility.”
“Why would she have jumped universes…” Fancy Pants muttered as he looked at the sudden surge visible on the screen. It went down after a moment as whatever happened ended as he rubbed his temples. “Do any of you have any ideas on why they could’ve done this?”
“Huh, weird. It’s not like there is anything special in our universe compared to yours, well besides the… Oh fuck me sideways,” Phoenix returned before ocean even had any chance to reply before suddenly stopping only to start cursing. “I think she is after an artifact. May work on them, I don’t know, artifacts just turn humans into monsters who knows what would happen when a monster used it.”
“They were able to combine with a Fangire before,” Tempest Shadow pointed out.
“Alright, we’re sending Scootaloo and Sweetie Drops with you through the portal,” Fancy Pants said definitively. “We need a team on your side especially if we’re dealing with another Hybrid monster. Agent Shadow, you’re in charge of the team.”
“Understood,” Tempest said with a nod.
“Scootaloo should be healed soon,” Fancy Pants continued before he looked back at Phoenix, Ocean, and Pinecone. “Given the nature of the situation and that we’re going into unknown territory, we’re relying on the three of you to help our agents. Last time there was a hybrid it lead to the death of over a hundred people, so be careful.”
The moment he heard this his hand quickly clenched into a fist before returning: “Good, no problem. I’m not gonna let that happen to anyone again,” he returned with an uncharacteristically low voice.
“Alright, once Scootaloo is ready, I want you all through that portal,” Fancy Pants said with a nod. “Time is of the essence right now, if there is nothing else we need to get our team ready to go.”
“Roger! Phoenix, Pinecone, get moving, like he said, time is of the essence,” Ocean ordered out, both of her comrades nodding in agreement.
00000
“We’re goin’ with her,” Apple Bloom said as she and Sweetie Belle were talking with Fancy Pants. Scootaloo was getting changed in the bathroom after the Director finished giving the briefing. “We ain’t gonna take no fer an answer, we’re goin’ ta back her up.”
“You’d be going to another universe entirely, one you’re not familiar with, and we don’t even know what effects that might have on you,” Fancy Pants said as he adjusted his monocle a little. “I cannot in good conscience ask you to…”
“You’re not asking us to do anything, we want to do this,” Sweetie Belle interrupted as she crossed her arms. “We’ve been fighting these things for a while and giving Scootaloo back-up. She’s our friend and my fiance, we’re going with her.”
“Yes, but we don’t know what we’re…” Fancy started to say when the two women shot him a look. “I’m not going to talk you two out of this am I?”
“Nope, no chance,” Apple Bloom said with a shake of her head. “We ain’t gonna let this go. Scootaloo broke her leg last time she went out, and we don’t want anythin’ ta happen ta her again.”
“Alright, fine,” Fancy Pants sighed. “I’ll make sure the two of you are outfitted with the right equipment. Do not put yourselves into any unnecessary danger, understood?”
“Understood,” the two said as Scootaloo came back out fully dressed as she made sure that her cards were secure in the card box.
“Alright Scootaloo, your friends are coming with you as well,” Fancy Pants said with a sigh. “Are you okay with that? I mean, you’re going to another universe entirely.”
Scootaloo paused a moment as she looked at her friends for a moment and smiled a little as she shook her head. “No, that’s okay, I want them to come with me. We’re going into uncharted territory here, and I’m fine with them coming to back me up. I trust them to watch my back.”
She smiled a little as she took Sweetie’s hand in her’s and gave it a squeeze. Fancy Pants nodded a little as they got their things together.
“Alright, we just need to talk ta our sisters then,” Apple Bloom said with a sigh. “Some vacation fer them huh?”
“Let’s just hope that we make it back before they need to head home,” Scootaloo said with a nod. She took a deep breath and placed her hand on her deck box. Her leg was still a little sore, but she could at least move it now.
“I’d be careful on that leg too,” the doctor said as she adjusted her glasses for a moment. “You’re still recovering from the break, I would advise not using any of your weapon cards above the three of Swords for the time being, or it might make matters worse. Just for now at least, alright?”
“Okay,” Scootaloo said with a nod as they started out of the infirmary.
00000
“So, anything else we should expect on the other side?” Sweetie Drops asked as she secured her equipment and gave a green haired woman a nod. “Anything weird that we should know?”
“Well, nothing particularly-” Ocean returned before being interrupted by Phoenix.
“There is one thing, if you see someone in armor like mine, just run. I’m serious, don’t try your luck with them, just run,” he finished with a serious undertone.
“Great, evil Riders just what we needed,” Sweetie Drops said with a shake of her head. “Are you sure that you’re the first Kamen Riders in your universe? Because that’s a thing here too, even the similar armor thing… wow, I never realized how weird this universe was until right now.”
“No, he isn’t, there were Monsters before him,” Pinecone stated matter of factly.
“Hey, the first one that went with the name and was publically known, not that your ancestors did much else than to beat up bandits in the forest,” he returned with a slightly annoyed frown.
“What did you just say?” Pinecone shot back, staring daggers at him.
“Guys, guys, you can continue this later, we have something to do!” Ocean interrupted them with her firm voice. “Now, can we get back to that and leave this behind for now?” She got a mumbled yes from Phoenix while Pinecone just stayed silent. “Thank you!”
“How have the Corrupted not overrun their universe yet?” Sweetie Belle muttered to Scootaloo.
“Well, I’m guessing they fight better than they get along,” Scootaloo answered with a chuckle. “Come on, we need to get going.”
“Good, let’s show this ‘agent’ what it means to get in my way,” Phoenix chuckled back. “Primarily a foot to the face!”
“Right, let’s get going,” Tempest said as she checked everything and nodded to the portal and the other SMILE agents. “We’ll go first, wait a minute and then follow, okay?”
“Right,” Scootaloo said as the agents headed through the portal. She took a deep breath and looked at her watch for a moment as she waited for a minute to pass before they headed through the portal to the other world.
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Looks at title.
i.pinimg.com/originals/57/c4/6b/57c46b23026962be6685de7978f55f25.jpg
The Luteces would be proud.
Interesting...
Oh great, Another Robert Willaims. We're all doomed.
Yeah, sure hunting monsters is a good way to get a positive thought running through your brain. ...You lot really haven't seen Supernatural have you?
SCP Foundation and the Museum? Not really a Best Match there, I say!
I really should make Yummy jokes now.
Spin Swords, activate! ...Wait, wrong toku franchise.
Oooh, burn. Need some ice for that?
All in all though, seriously great chapter and worth the wait.
9486054
Rob: I told you they'd come
Ros: No you didn't.
Rob: Right. I was going to tell you they'd come.
Ros: But you didn't.
Rob: But I don't.
Ros: You sure that's right?
Rob: I was going to have told you they'd come?
Ros: No.
Rob: The subjunctive?
Ros: That's not the subjunctive.
Rob: I don't think the syntax has been invented yet.
Ros: It would have had to have been.
Rob: Had to have had been? That can't be right.
Well, let's hope Scoots version of him never gets her hands on that artifact.
Well, if you win I'm sure it will work... Yeah, as if
More Warehouse 13, just more known, but granted taking over the police force of a city and then deploying a Kamen Rider doesn't do well for that anyway.
Well, besides the fact that this was more an adaptation of how monsters worked in EQG, OOO's was the series I watched at the time of coming up with the ideas, so would be appropriate.
You are not that far off though. Every one of my Riders has their transformation Devices based on an older one. Spin Discs for Alchemy, Beast Batteries from Kyoryuger for Charge and Monster has the R/B Crystals from well Ultraman R/B.
I actually laughed for a good minute over this one myself, it's a great line.
Well, I'm glad you liked it.
9486097
God, I loved those two. It's easy to see why this happened.
Or any version.
Not really, no. Overkill, really.
Huh, cool. Homages, homages everywhere.
No kidding. ...God, I wish I was that funny at times. ...I really need to learn a bit more about comedy. Goes into Corner of Woe and mutters Comedy Kita
9486106
Yes, yes it is.
I second that.
There is no kill like overkill. But to be fair, we are talking about Canterlot City here.
You know me, what were you expecting?
Really? You are willing to sink this low for a Fourze reference? I'm equal parts impressed and disappointed.
9486124
And Toku. ...Ah, I still remember Phoenix's death with a smile. No finale for him indeed.
Nothing else.
Good.
I would like Kamen Rider Unicorn X Alchemy X Justice
9499743
Me too. Can we put in a question for a Fanfic War for that?