ULTRA LIVE! Of Demons and Aliens

by Cojo5536

Portent of Disaster Part 2

(PART 2)

Over in another district of Canterlot, a bright flash and rush of displaced air preceded the arrival of nine girls and one red, steaming Spark Doll as they appeared out of thin air.

“No wait, Sunset!” Twilight cried. “We have to go back for her!”

“I don’t think Taro’s going anywhere,” Wallflower said, pointing at the poor smoking Ultra.

“Oh, don’t worry about me, I just- I just need…” Taro dropped to the pavement, apparently asleep. Teleporting all of them at the same time must’ve exhausted him.

Twilight gazed with a horrified look at the only chance she had to return to Sunset’s side so she could aid her dozing on the ground.

“...Sunset.”

Her friend was fighting, all alone, and there was nothing she could do to help her.

A smack to the back of her head drew Twilight’s attention to the glaring Trixie.

“Trixie!? Why did you-!?”

“Listen here, Sparkle. Sunset is fine. Like Rarity said, Fall still needs Sunset, so she can’t kill her.”

“Yeah, and Sunset still has the Ginga Spark, so we should be seeing a fight pretty soon-” a trio of explosions cut Rainbow off. “Speak of the devil.”

Three cyclones of darkened energy towered over the surrounding buildings, kicking up dust and smoke into the air as though it were a veil concealing some great horror within. The shadow tornados finally dissipated with a final rush of air revealing the Dark Ultras.

In the back was a Dark Ultrawoman of darkened silver and stained gold that could only be Adagio, going by the femme fatale posture she carried.

On her right was an equally dark silver Ultraman with marks of deep indigo running down his sides.

Though who was driving him was initially unclear, it was narrowed down to Sonata going by the last of the trio. Predominantly black with red markings, and seemingly coated in samurai armor, Aria’s Ultraman was a goliath of a brute, standing with arms crossed to seemingly demonstrate his contempt for the very planet he stood on.

“Three against one strikes me as hardly a fair fight,” Rarity commented.

“Oh, Sunny will be fine. She’s got us to bring in after all,” Pinkie dismissed as a column of light rose to meet the Dark Ultra Sirens.

*////*

Opposite the three Dark Lived sirens, Sunset Shimmer had assumed the form of Ultraman Tiga who had a silver, red and deep indigo color scheme.

“Who are these clowns, Ginga?” Sunset asked, looking at the three Dark Giants.

Appearing next to her like a ghost was Ultraman Ginga, “Ultraman Tiga’s ex-lover and allies Camearra, Hudra, and Darramb.”

Before Sunset could get any further information from Ginga, Aria interrupted, “Hey! Quit talking to your imaginary friend and fight!”

Darramb cocked his fist back and charged while Aria screamed at the top of her lungs, Tiga, however, merely stepped to the right and stuck his leg out, sending the evil giant tumbling through the streets.

“... What was that?” Sunset flatly asked.

Aria growled and had Darramb spring back to his feet and charged again, this time getting a side kick in the stomach.

“Dude, are you even trying?” Sunset asked with disbelief.

Aria’s growl became a roar as she compelled Darramb to throw another punch that was easily blocked by Tiga. The gem on Tiga's forehead glowed as he changed into his red strength form, known as Power Type, before he kicked Darramb in the stomach, sending him staggering back.

“You know out of the three of you, you worried me the most; but now I see you plain suck at this,” Sunset said with realization before she delivered an empowered punch straight into Darramb’s face.

Over with Adagio and Sonata, the leading lady was fuming at her thuggish sister’s fumbling of the fight. It truly was a pathetic display. As tough as Aria was, against a skilled opponent, she was at a disadvantage. Plus, Sunset Shimmer had way more experience at using an Ultra.

Snapping her head over to Sonata, Adagio barked, “What are you doing!? Get in there!”

Sonata flinched from her sister’s tone then looked at Darramb, who just had his kick caught by Tiga and was now taking several punches to his head and stomach.

“Meh, she’s doing fine,” Sonata dismissed.

Adagio furiously spluttered then commanded Camearra to grab hold of Hudra, “Quit bitching, and get IN THERE!”

With a mighty heave, Camearra tossed Hudra into the fight. Sonata, seeing that she had no choice now, pulled her Ultra into a pathetic looking dive kick but Tiga noticed this and hopped backward, putting Darramb into Hudra’s path, sending the two of them tumbling. Adagio watched the resulting collision with a visible eye twitch and then sank Camearra down onto a nearby building with her head in her hands.

*////*

Watching from ground level, the Gang could not believe their eyes. At first, they were worried that Sunset would be in over her head since it was three against one, which did not seem like good odds. The Dark Giants also looked pretty intimidating, especially the red one who looked like he could tear Tiga in half. That was until they saw his performance and compared to Sunset, he was just muscle and no brains.

“Holy crap!” Rainbow gasped. She tried to hold in her laughter at the terrible display of fighting skills. “I gotta record this!” She took out her phone and started recording.

“These girls are terrible,” Rarity added.

“The worst,” Pinkie agreed.

“At this rate, Sunset won’t even need Ginga,” Applejack said.

“Yay!” Fluttershy softly cheered. She really did not want to be pulled into another fight if she could help it.

“Trixie wouldn’t count them out just yet,” the magician said, drawing the gang’s attention to her.

“Why do you say that?” Twilight asked.

“Because Adagio herself hasn’t entered the fight yet,” Wallflower replied, pointing at Camearra who was just watching.

“Exactly, thank you,” Trixie said. Tiga rammed Hudra’s head into Darramb’s stomach, then smashed the red Dark Giant’s face into the back of his comrade’s head, and then tripped him so he could body slam his now prone ally, all while Cammeara did nothing but watch

“Well it’s not like she’s in much of a hurry to jump in,” Rainbow pointed out.

“True, but Adagio is more of a ‘let everyone else do the actual legwork’ sort of girl. Manipulators are lazy like that,” Trixie said, “But she will have to get involved at some point, and the Great and Strategic Trixie doubt it would be after her allies are taken out.”

A slight groan made itself known to the group, emanating from the girl currently laying down on a nearby bench.

“Woah, hey champ, take it easy,” Rainbow said while rushing over to Lightning Dust’s side.

“Where the hell is the ambulance? It should’ve been here by now,” Applejack said.

“All the lines are busy with the fight going on,” Fluttershy replied.

“So we can’t get anyone until Sunset wins?” Rainbow asked from Lightning’s side. Fluttershy nodded. “Screw that, I’m getting someone! Hold on Light, I’ll be right back.”

Without another word, Rainbow started running somewhere while the Gang watched this happen silently.

Then Pinkie asked, “Does she even know the address of this spot?”

*////*

“Sonata, do something!” Aria snapped angrily. “We’re getting our butts kicked here!”

“Well, what do you want me to do!?” Sonata shot back.

“Blast her! You have that thing on your arm!”

“Oh, yeah!”

Sonata aimed Hudra’s arm-mounted weapon, the Drafork, which opened like a pair of scissors to fire like an energy crossbow. Sonata made it fire rapidly on Tiga, bombarding him with energy bolts.

“Yeah! Take that and that and that!”

“What are you doing!?” Aria screamed furiously.

“What does it look like I’m doing!? I’m shooting her!” Sonara shot back

“You’re literally hitting everything else!”

Sonata stopped firing to actually look at Tiga... who was completely untouched by the barrage and Adagio was glaring at her, having thrown Camearra behind the building she was sitting on.

“Uh, oops?” Sonata said with a cringing shrug. Hudra copying her gesture.

“Screw it! Let me show you how it’s done!” Aria said. Aria then charged Darramb’s Fire Magnum into his right hand, and punched the ground, sending a red wave through the ground but failed to land a hit once more as Tiga jumped over it and flying clotheslined both Hudra and Darramb.

This was the final straw for Adagio, as Camearra rigidly shot up to her feet, then bent down and ripped the building she was ducking behind from its foundation. She chucked it at Tiga who was standing back up.

“Sunset, behind us!” Ginga barked.

Tiga turned and caught the flying structure but it then exploded as an energy whip cut through it and struck him in the chest. Darramb, seeing Tiga stagger, jumped on the chance for a cheap shot, tackled him to the ground and began repeatedly punching him in the face.

“Yeah! Who sucks at this now bitch!?” Aria proudly screeched as Darramb rained down punches.

Suddenly, Tiga moved his head out of the way of another punch, kneed Darramb in the groin, smashed his face into the ground and then kicked him off. As Tiga attempted to stand back up, though, Camearra cracked her energy whip down on him again, allowing Hudra to take Darramb’s place, only with kicking as opposed to punching.

“Of course Adagio got the dominatrix,” Sonata rather bizarrely observed.

Tiga finally managed to catch one of Hudra’s kicks and rolled, pulling the Dark Giant into a rather painful version of the splits. Camearra again attempted to knock Tiga down with her whip, but he was wise now and he somersaulted out of the way and to throw a Hand Slash at the Ultrawoman to knock her down.

The light around Sunset turned red and she could hear the familiar tell-tale beeping. Tiga's color timer had turned red and it was blinking, warning her that she was running out of time.

“We need to finish this, Sunset!” Ginga urged.

“Alright!” Sunset decided as her eyes flashed.

Tiga cupped his hands in front of his chest, gathering energy between them to form a sphere of energy. Holding the energy ball in his right hand, he drew his arm back then hurled it at Darramb.

“DELACIUM LIGHT STREAM!”

The Dark Ultra was hit by Tiga’s Delacium Light Stream and Aria screamed as her Ultra was engulfed in an explosion.

“And you’re next!” Tiga turned to face Hudra.

“Eep!” Sonata squeaked.

Tiga turned back into his Multi-Type form and spread his arms to gather energy into them before putting them into an L-pose.

“ZEPELLION BEAM!”

Sunset fired Tiga’s signature Zepellion Beam, destroying Hudra with a single blast.

“And then there was one,” Sunset said, turning to Adagio. “Don’t worry, though, you’re not gonna be facing this guy. I’ve got a special guest lined up for you. Let’s go, Ginga!”

Clicking the trigger on the Ginga Spark, she opened it up and summoned forth Ultraman Ginga’s Spark Doll.

ULTRA LIVE! ULTRAMAN GINGA!

In a galaxy-like swirl of light, Tiga vanished was replaced by the Defender of the Galaxy, Ultraman Ginga.

“It’s about time you brought him out,” Adagio said, “I’ve been waiting to try out my new toy.”

“Huh?” Sunset and Ginga said simultaneously.

“Oh, just this,” Adagio raised her left arm, revealing an wristband housing an orange gem with a purple G clef encased inside.

“What the hell!?” Sunset cried.

“No doubt, Sunset, that’s magic!” Ginga realized.

“Adagio, listen to me! You have no idea how that will react to your Dummy Spark!” Sunset warned.

“Neither do you, Sunset! So how about we find out together?” With that, Adagio stabbed her Dark Dummy Spark into the gem.

In an instant, the device shattered, the pieces swirling into a vortex of inky darkness around Adagio while she cackled maniacally. However, as the tornado increased in intensity, her laughter began to fade.

Something was wrong.

“Wha-? What the-?” Adagio questioned, confused and with growing fear. Her eyes suddenly widened as she began clawing at the band. “No, NO! GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF!”

“ADAGIO!” Sunset called trying to walk Ginga through the storm outside.

“HELP ME!”

Camearra’s body began to change as a dark aura surrounded her. Fin-like wings emerged from her back as her legs broke and twisted into pony legs with her feet becoming cloven hooves. A set of tentacles grew out from under her arms, waving erratically while a fishtail sprouted from the base of her spine. Finally, the palms of her hands opened up into vicious jaws.

She hovered off the ground, smiling menacingly, as her face lengthened into a more equine shape. Orange scales sprouted up from her forearms, lower legs, collarbone, and sides. Lastly, Camearra’s color timer changed into the very familiar shape of the siren’s gem.

The darkness finally dissipated with a whoosh leaving her to drop into a limp kneel.

“What happened to her!?” Sunset cried.

“She’s been corrupted by darkness. Tread very lightly,” Ginga cautioned her.

Ultraman Ginga gingerly shuffled forward, keeping his arms just low enough to appear non-threatening, but high enough to get into fighting stance in a hurry.

“Adagio?”

Suddenly, his enemy snapped her head up, opened her mouth, and emitted a feral scream.

Adarra

Fused Aquatic Abomination

Ginga threw his arms up as Adarra launched at him claws first, tackling him onto a building. Now on his back, Ginga attempted to defend himself from Adarra’s wild, frenzied swipes while the beast’s tentacles began to wrap around his neck to choke him. Ginga summoned the Ginga Saber and cut a few tentacles while also forcing Adarra to jump back.

Once Ginga stood up Adarra lept back in, clawing him across the face, but Ginga blocked the follow up and countered with a gut punch, uppercut, left hook, and backhand. Adarra, however, delivered an upward swipe, her claws ripping sparks from Ginga’s armor. Adarra turned around with a tail slap that spun him around and then sent him flying with a mule kick.

Ginga landed face down but upon rolling onto his back, Adarra was standing above him on her tentacles, and had her hooves raised to stomp on his face. He crossed his arms over his face as she came down hard enough to create a crater underneath him, but rather than try something else, Adarra kept stomping, deepening the crater with every blow.

“We need to move!” Ginga yelled.

“I’m open to suggestions,” Sunset hissed, her arms feeling sore from the clobbering.

*////*

Down at ground level, the Gang were in complete shock. The seductive, manipulative leading lady of the Dazzlings seemed to have gained greater power. However, there was something even more pressing than that.

“What’s happened to her?” Wallflower asked.

“It’s like she’s become some wild beast,” Rarity observed.

Fluttershy was tearing up. Adagio’s behavior made her think of the rabid animals that would occasionally pass through the shelter to be euthanized.

“I don’t know how, but she’s somehow fused her Equestrian self into the Spark Doll she used,” Twilight pondered, “I’d love to study it if it weren't so horrific.”

“I think you guys are missing the bigger picture here,” Pinkie said, causing everyone to look at her, “SUNSET IS GETTING HER ASS KICKED! SOMEONE HAS TO BAIL HER OUT!”

Her outburst startled her friends, but Trixie recovered with, “Well look at that, Pinkie Pie is more on the ball than the rest of you.”

“Hey, I’m not dumb! It just takes me awhile to get to my point sometimes.”

“Regardless, Pinkie’s right,” Wallflower said, “But who’s gonna go in there?”

The remaining four Rainbooms looked at each other and then held their fists out, though they needed a nudge from Pinkie to get Fluttershy to join in.

“What are they doing?” Twilight asked.

“Rock-paper-scissors,” Wallflower replied, “We’ll explain later.”

“Three-Two-One shoot!” All four girls shouted then revealed their choices: Applejack had a fist, Fluttershy and Pinkie had their hands open, and Rarity had two fingers outstretched.

“Oh come on!” Pinkie screamed.

Rarity giggled while she sprouted pony ears and her hair extended into an absurdly long ponytail, “Sorry darling but it’s the rules rules.”

A ball of light engulfed the fashionista and shot off into Ginga’s Color Timer.

"What just happened?" Twilight wondered.

*////*

Rarity appeared inside Ginga’s void as though through a portal, drawing Sunset’s attention to her.

“Rarity?” She asked.

“Really, darling, you need to stop being surprised by this,” Rarity said while taking the Ginga Spark from Sunset and touched the tip to her Augment bracelet.

ACTIVATE! HARMONY AUGMENT! GINGA GENEROSITY!

Ginga flashed as his Zenshin Crystals turned violet. At the same time, Adarra was lifting up for another stomp, giving both Ginga and Rarity an opening.

“GINGA SLASH!” Rarity cried, firing a purple shotgun like beam from Ginga’s head, severing every tentacle. As Adarra fell, Ginga caught the monster with his feet before throwing her to the ground. Rolling onto his feet, Ginga grabbed hold of Adarra’s tail, and lifted her while spinning in a circle, then, after several rotations, threw her several blocks down the street.

“I can’t see her inside that monster. What happened?” Rarity asked.

“I don’t know. Best guess, that magic wristband is blurring the line between her and the Spark Doll,” Sunset theorized.

“Magic wristband?”

“Yeah, it had a gem that looked like that pin that she wears on her shorts.”

“Must be connected to those rocks from Camp Everfree then. Hold on, here she comes again,” Rarity said, readying Ginga as Adarra galloped at him.

Timing his attack just right, Ginga kicked Adarra in the chin. The female monster staggered from the blow but quickly recovered, and swiped. Ginga blocked it, elbowed her in the armpit, delivered a neck chop, kneed her in the liver, before spinning her into a choke hold. Adarra wheezed with fury, and then unleashed a horrifying shriek. It was so loud that it shattered all the windows within range. Even Ginga was affected as he released her to cover his ears as he writhed in agony.

With a new opening, Adarra’s claws began glowing as five energy whips sprouted from her fingers and she swiped Ginga across the chest. Closing the distance, she spun Ginga around with a claw swipe, blocked his attempted backhand, went into a grapple, kicked the inside of Ginga’s knee, forcing him down and then placed one of her hand jaws over his Color Timer.

Inside the Ultra, his void of light began pulsing, but not like he was running out of time.

“What’s happening, Ginga?” Sunset asked.

“She’s… draining our light,” Ginga answered. “We won’t be able to hold this form if she keeps this up.”

“Rarity, we- Rarity?”

Rarity was flickering like a dodgy cable signal.

“She’s trying to rip me out.”

“But how!? That shouldn’t be-,” Sunset was cut off by the Ginga Spark landing in her hands.

“You’ll need it more than me,” Rarity said as she vanished from Ginga’s void.

*////*

Back on the ground, Rainbow had surprisingly managed to find an ambulance to take Lightning Dust to the hospital when a massive crack sounded across the city. In a flash of light, Rarity appeared in front of her friends as if she was thrown out of a moving vehicle.

“Not even an augment works!?” Wallflower said in disbelief as the others ran to Rarity’s side.

“Damn it! How do we beat her then!?” Rainbow frustratedly asked.

“We’re missing something,” Twilight said, running her hands through her hair in an obvious sign of an approaching breakdown. “Girls, I need you to explain exactly what these ‘augments’ are.”

“They’re basically our magic, crystalized into these bracelets,” Applejack started as she showed her own Honesty Augment. “With them, we can enter Ginga and help him and Sunset in battle by giving him our magic to use. The first time it happened, we all joined her inside Ginga.”

Twilight took Applejack’s wrist and studied the Harmony Augment she wore. It reminded her of the Elements of Harmony in Equestria as it held Applejack’s cutie mark in the form of a gem.

“What do we do!? Do we all go in to help Sunset!?” Rainbow Dash demanded.

“We can’t do that. Adagio is draining Ginga’s power right now. He won’t be able to hold his augmented form,” Rarity said.

“But if Sunset and Ginga time out, he’ll just turn back into a Spark Doll. Sunset’s gonna be OK, right?” Rainbow Dash questioned.

“I...I don’t know...” Rarity shook her head, worried. She hated feeling powerless and being unable to help her friend.

*////*

“Sunset! You need to retreat!” Ginga shouted to his partner as he was gradually losing power. “She’ll drain both of us at this rate!”

“What? And leave you!?” Sunset shouted back. “I won’t abandon you, Ginga!” One of the many friendship lessons she had learned was to never abandon her friends.

“Then forgive me, Sunset. I’m doing this for your own good.” Ginga had also learned much about friendship, which included sacrificing oneself for their friends.

All of a sudden, Sunset Shimmer was expelled from Ginga’s body. At the same time, his Color Timer turned completely dark and the shine in his eyes faded before the Ultra’s body fell. The ground shook as the Ultra collapsed, his body lying upon rubble.

Sunset lay on the street, eyes wide in horror as Ginga lay lifelessly before her.

“GINGA!!!” Sunset screamed.

A distance away, Twilight’s brain was now in overdrive, having officially run out of time. “Okay, the augments are based on their magic, but they don’t have magic usually unless they’re on their instruments or have- EUREKA!” The loud cry drew the attention of everyone, even Sunset. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but the augments draw on the Elements of Harmony, right?”

“Uh, yeah, they’re called Harmony Augments after all,” Rainbow replied.

Twilight clapped her hands together. “That’s why Ginga can’t fight at his best! Not only is he trying to act through someone he isn’t bonded to, he doesn’t have the one thing he needs to bring out the full power of the Elements!”

It suddenly dawned on them what Twilight meant. They had all the Elements of Harmony except for the one that tied them together: the Element of Magic.

“Okay, great!” Pinkie cheered, “So what does that mean?”

“It means that we need to complete the Elements. Gather up, girls,” Twilight instructed.
"Sunset Shimmer, we need you!" Twilight called.

Sunset Shimmer looked at Twilight then at the Ginga Spark and nodded. She ran up to her friends, joining them as the Elements formed a circle around her as she gripped the Ginga Spark.

"Hold hands and focus, concentrate on your element and what they represent. Think of your friendship and think of Sunset. Think of Ginga."

They concentrated as they held hands. A magical aura surrounded them, causing them to pony up. One by one, the girls’ Augment Bracelets turned into balls of light and drifted away from their owners wrists in a lazy circle while light in the shape of a shining galaxy appeared above Sunset Shimmer.

“By the power vested in me as the Princess of Friendship, and wielder of the Element of Magic!” Twilight began. A purple ball of light gathering in front of her chest and rising to join the others. “I grant Sunset Shimmer the power to use the Elements of Harmony! So she may drive out the beasts that hide in the dark and bring them to the light!”

With Twilight’s speech finished, the galaxy above Sunset became a tornado funneling into the Ginga Spark, causing it to begin shining once more. When the galaxy disappeared, the device continued shining and steadily dimmed while the magic of her friends converged on her left wrist. She watched as the magic created a new power in the form of a bracelet with her cutie mark on it with a small window in the centre. She also saw a ring around her cutie mark which could be used as a dial.

“What’s this?” Sunset wondered.

“The power of our friendship combined,” Twilight informed her as their friends parted. “The power of all the Elements of Harmony.”

“Then let’s call this the Harmony Brace,” Sunset smiled as she spun the Ginga Spark around. With this, she might be able to save Ginga and the city. “And let’s see what this thing can do!”

“Then get going, Sunset!” Rainbow encouraged. “Go beat that bitch!”

Running towards the fallen Ultra, Sunset called, “Hey! Wake your lazy ass up, Ginga! We’re not done yet!” She shot off in a ball of light into his Color Timer. Once Sunset was inside Ginga’s void, she could feel her connection with the Ultra reestablish itself. The Ultra was also regaining consciousness.

"Sun...Sunset...?" Ginga murmured.

"Come on, Ginga. It's time we finished this fight, together." Sunset smiled confidently, determination written all over her face. “Let’s go, Ginga!”

She touched the Ginga Spark to the Harmony Brace.

ELEMENTS OF HARMONY! POWER TO GINGA!

GINGA HARMONY!

Adarra, until this point, had been slowly circling the downed alien like a curious predator. She jumped back like a cat startled by a thrown cucumber as Ginga suddenly twitched. The light in his eyes and Color Timer was restored as he rose to his feet. His Zenshin Crystal also began to glow like an aurora.

Ginga’s body changed as the energy spread from his color timer and throughout his body. The silver patterns on his body turned gold and flame-like as the Zenshin Crystals on his body adopted a rainbow-colored hue. The Harmony Brace also appeared around his left wrist.

"Ginga, it feels like we've merged into one person," Sunset said as she stood inside Ginga. The connection they had was stronger now.

“Indeed, I feel whole. Not like when your friends would take control,” Ginga confirmed.

“Then let’s finish this fight, partner!”

“Alright, Sunset! Let’s go!”

Ginga put his fists up, facing Adarra.

It was time for Round 2.

Adarra shrieked and charged straight for Ginga, whipping its tentacles like crazy. The Ultra used his enhanced speed to deftly catch the tentacles in his hands before he lifted both himself and Adarra into the air. The Fused Aquatic Abomination tried to free herself from Ginga’s grip and screamed in his face but Ginga tossed the monster high into the air.

*////*

“Let’s see what this does!”

Inside Ginga’s void, Sunset used the Ginga Brace’s dial to scroll through the Elements of Harmony and picked the one that would be useful. She then pressed the button on the side of the Harmony Brace.

ELEMENT OF LAUGHTER! POWER TO GINGA!

“GINGA FIREWORKS SHOWER!”

*////*

In the real world, Ginga slapped his palms together and pointed them at Adarra before he fired sparkling energy beams at the monster. They blew up in her face, blinding her. Ginga took advantage of this to clothesline the monster, wrapping an arm around its throat. He then went higher and higher and higher until both he and Adarra left the atmosphere.

The Gang watched as Ginga and Adarra flew into outer space. Pinkie Pie decided to use this chance to strike a pose. She raised both her arms, fists clenched, and yelled out loudly.

“UCHU KITTTTAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!”

Since Adarra was part Ultra, the vacuum of space did not affect her as she managed to break free from Ginga’s grip. She tried her sonic scream but no sound came out. Sunset smiled. She knew her science and knew that sound could not travel in a vacuum.

ELEMENT OF LOYALTY! POWER TO GINGA!

“GINGA RAINBOW RAY!”

Ginga put his arms together in a +-shape and fired a rainbow-colored beam at Adarra, causing an explosion as it hit. The beast was weakened but she was not yet defeated. Eyes shining widely, Adarra energized her tentacles and sent them lashing at Ginga but he produced his Ginga Saber and slashed the tentacles to ribbons.

*////*

“Alright, Twilight. Let’s see what your power can do,” Sunset said as she scrolled to Twilight’s symbol and pressed the button.

ELEMENT OF MAGIC! POWER TO GINGA!

*////*

Instead of a new attack, something happened to the Zenshin Crystal on Ginga’s head. He reached up to it and pulled out an ornate sword. It was a saber with a violet blade, a basket hilt and Twilight’s cutie mark on the hilt.

At the same time, the same weapon appeared in Sunset’s hand.

This was the Twilight Slugger.

“Thanks, Twi,” Sunset smiled as she held the Ginga Slugger and then she touched the Twilight Slugger’s pommel with the Ginga Spark. She looked straight at Adarra, eyes narrowed.

In the real world, the Twilight Slugger’s blade glowed as the symbols of the Elements of Harmony appeared in a circle behind Ginga before they turned into energy that merged with the blade. With the sword now charged, Ginga swung it with all his might.

“GINGA HARMONY FINISH!”

The Twilight Slugger unleashed a beam of pure magic that enveloped Adarra who shrieked as she was hit by the attack. Her body began to crack as her monster parts vanished before she was completely engulfed and destroyed by the attack.

XXX

Ginga fell down to Earth and shrank, leaving behind Sunset Shimmer. She was not alone, however, as she supported an injured Adagio by her side.

From a rooftop, Fall looked down at her other self and scowled. The Dazzlings had failed, even with the power boost she had given Adagio.

“Well, did not expect those overgrown seahorses to ever beat you. If they did, I’d be disappointed,” she remarked while holding the Dark Giants’ Spark Dolls, not wanting the Gang to add them to their arsenal. It would not be good for them to fall into Sunset’s hands. “And you’ve gotten stronger too, Sunset. A new power. This will be interesting.”

“Hurhurhurhur,” Baltan warbled, still wiping at its eyes, unsuccessfully. His claws were good for combat but were ill-suited for wiping the icing off his eyes.

“Oh, quit complaining, I’ll wash you off later,” Fall dismissed, before pulling out notepad and a pen to jot down some notes.

Everfree Geodes: First Field Test Results

Subject fused Equestrian form with Spark Doll

Subject became immensely more powerful, but lost the majority of their mental facilities, reducing them to a mere animal, driven by instinct alone

Thoughts:

While the power increase is desirable, the lack of intelligence negates this by removing the capacity for complex strategy to make the most of that power

Conclusion:

Needs more work

*////*

“She is?” Rainbow sighed, “Okay, that’s great. Thanks.” Rainbow hung up her phone and turned to her friends sitting at a massive booth at Sugarcube Corner, “So, good news, Lightning’s gonna live.” Sighs and laughs of relief sounded around the booth. “The bad news is, they have no idea how her injuries will impact her athletic future.” And like that, all relief vanished from the group.

“I’m sorry, it was my fault that happened to her,” Fluttershy sobbed out.

“Hey, none of that!” Sunset said. “It was Baltan that hurt her, not you.”

“Sunset’s right. It wasn’t your fault. It was because of that Baltan that Lightning got hurt.”

“But if I hadn’t panicked, Lightning wouldn’t be in her situation.”

“That would be even worse,” Taro said, finally having woken up, “Not only would that have resulted in actual fatalities, Sunset’s death would leave nothing to stop Dark Lugiel from destroying everything.”

“But, but…”

“Fluttershy, what happened was essentially the ‘trolley problem’ made real. You could not possibly save everyone. Someone was going to be hurt no matter what you did.”

“The trolley problem?” Twilight asked.

“Wait, you’ve never heard of that?” Pinkie asked. Twilight made a face while shrugging prompting Pinkie to pull out a diagram from her hair. “Okay. So, you have a trolley, two tracks, and a lever to switch between them. On one track is say me, and on the other is everyone else. You only have enough time to use the lever, who do you save?”

“Well that’s morbid,” Twilight said, “In Equestria I would teleport you onto the other track, then throw the lever.”

“Speaking of...” Sunset interrupted, “I never did ask you how your chat with Celestia went.” Twilight cringed and sank into her seat. “Yikes, that bad huh?”

“No, no! It wasn’t bad, it’s just- Look just imagine what it’s like to have everything you thought you knew about the world suddenly rewritten. Then add in the fact that most of the problems I’ve faced are Princess Celestia’s fault in some way, and I just don’t know what to do about her.”

“Oh? How?” Trixie asked.

“Well when you take into account that most of the threats I’ve faced date back to around the time that she moved Equestria, you notice a pattern. I suspect that the Ultras’ presence kept a lot of bad actors’ heads down. Not to mention the micromanaging she did throughout my life. I mean, I always felt that she was up to something since Nightmare Moon, but for her to come out and admit she was basically controlling my life was downright heartbreaking. I just thought she cared about how I feel, you know?”

At Twilight’s souring mood, Pinkie lept to the rescue. “Don’t talk like that, she cares about you. It’s just that… Um…” Pinkie Pie was not sure what to say. This was too serious. So, she decided to change the subject. Hey, Sunset! Why don’t you show us that weird wristband you got from Adagio?”

Adagio had been left passing in and out of consciousness after the battle. Apparently being fused with a Spark Doll meant that she had to take more damage than she usually would. Aria and Sonata were unwilling to abandon their leader, so they had accompanied her to the hospital. Only time would tell if they would be willing to share anything with the Gang. Hopefully, Dark Lugiel would not come after them for their failure.

“Oh, yeah! I got this off her before Aria and Sonata took her to the… What the-?” Sunset said as she reached into her pocket only to become confused as she instead pulled out a necklace with her Cutie Mark on it. “I swear that I put it in that pocket.”

“I know, I watched you do it,” Fluttershy agreed.

“How odd,” Twilight said as she inspected the item. “A transforming magical artifact.”

“Yeah… What does it do?” Rainbow asked.

“No clue,” Sunset said, “I mean, I know that it fused Adagio into that thing, but as to its original purpose, your guess is as good as mine.”

“Well why not just put it on?” Trixie asked matter-of-factly.

“Yeah, thanks but no thanks,” Sunset replied. “I’m not messing around with something that turned Adagio into that thing.”

“Well Trixie just figured that it does have your symbol on it, so it was obviously meant for you.”

“I’m not putting on a magical item that I’ve already seen do horrible things. Not without testing it at least.”

“Understandable. We should send it through the portal so Spike can get Princess Celestia’s arcanists to look at it,” Twilight suggested.

“Wait, you’re not going back?” Fluttershy asked.

“Fluttershy, I can’t leave yet. Tirek and the other villains are still at large here, and who knows who else Fall has under her thumb.”

“Well, we ain’t doin it today, that’s fer’ sure,” Applejack said, “Baltan wrecked our cars and it’s the weekend.”

That reminder caused the room to become uncomfortably quiet as the mood dropped. The sole bright spot in an admittedly bad situation, was a rather swiftly put together bit of legislation that said insurance companies could not hold the customer accountable for property damaged in a monster attack. The mere fact of losing their vehicles, however, was enough for the Gang to quietly decide to return to their homes.

*////*

“Is there anything I can do to help them, Sunset?” Twilight asked. After leaving Sugarcube corner, it was decided that Twilight would stay with Sunset for however long she would need to remain in the human world.

Flash Sentry would likely be happy to know that Twilight Sparkle was back. He still had a bit of a crush on her.

“No, you don’t need to do anything, Twilight. their insurance guys are legally required to replace their property if it’s been damaged in a monster fight,” Sunset replied. “It’ll just take some time to get the replacements for them.”

“That reminds me,” Twilight said in a voice dripping with tranquil rage as she glared at Taro. “Do you remember when we were hiding in that building?”

“Yes?” Taro asked, wondering where the royal was going with this.

“You said that advanced alien races aren’t allowed to willingly share technology with less advanced races.”

“I did say that, yes.”

Twilight gave a sarcastic smile, inhaled and then shrieked, “AND WHY IN TARTARUS IS THAT THE CASE!? DON’T YOU WANT TO HELP PEOPLE!?”

Taro didn’t react to Twilight’s outburst, only replying, “I thought the reasoning would be self-evident.”

“Eh?”

“Do something for me Twilight, Pinkie Promise me that you will answer my questions honestly, and to the best of your ability.”

Twilight nodded then went through the motions, “Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.”

Taro rocked back and forth in a vague imitation of a nod, “Thank you. Now, if all the technology of this world were to drop into Equestria overnight, would it be a completely positive thing with no drawbacks whatsoever?” Twilight opened her mouth to answer but Taro continued, cutting her off, “Or is it far more likely that the planet would be torn apart between those willing to accept it, and old guard traditionalists unwilling to change?”

Twilight gaped at Taro’s pessimism, “What!? How could you have such a low opinion of us!?”

“Because as a twelve thousand year old alien, I’ve seen it happen enough times to have the pattern recognition skills to confidently make such a bold claim.”

Twilight’s brain faltered a bit at the concept of an entity so much older than the Princesses.

“Taro’s right, Twilight,” Sunset agreed.

“You agree with him?” Twilight asked Sunset, appalled at her fellow Equestrian.

“What, you’ve never read about why the train was almost not a thing in Equestria?”

Twilight looked away with a blush, “N-no, it was still in my backlog.”

“Holy crap! I know something you don’t! Ha ha!” Sunset cheered but a cough from Taro unsubtly told her to make her point, “Right, ahem, the ponies of that time legitimately believed that the sound of the whistle would cause them to spontaneously keel over dead in fright.”

Twilight snapped around, “They did not!”

“Yes they did,” Sunset laughed, “In all seriousness, though, every book on a major technological advancement in Equestria has needed to dedicate entire chapters to the noble or group of ponies that tried to stop it.”

Twilight had to consider that. While she hadn’t yet read about the train’s development, it was true that books about other developments did need such chapters but, for the life of her she couldn’t understand why.

Taro meanwhile became curious that lead him to ask, “Interesting, why do you think that is?”

“Probably their origins. While humans developed from opportunistic omnivorous primates, ponies’ ancestors were naturally nervous prey animals, whose simple magic was a defensive tool. I suppose that is still something that they haven’t grown out of yet.”

Author's Note:

Why, yes. Both parts were originally going to be one chapter. Why do you ask?

For the record, the scream I pictured for Adarra is like the one Fatalis makes in Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate.

Comments

[dragstormer]

Ow heck yeah let’s see what sunnys got this time

[Jivilou]

The Gang watched as Ginga and Adarra flew into outer space. Pinkie Pie decided to use this chance to strike a pose. She raised both her arms, fists clenched, and yelled out loudly.

“UCHU KITTTTAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!”

Pinkie, that's not from Ultraman franchise. That's from Kamen Rider

[Rictor Yagami]

I just finished reading this chapter and it kicked ass! Man that was just intense and it was funny to with the way the Dazzlings were acting. LOL! Especially the banter between Aria and Sonata while Adagio looked on dumbfounded. I'm glad Sunset and Ginga were both able to win against the Dazzlings but what happen to Adagio was just crazy.

It looks like the geodes gave her a power up but at a price and I'm starting to have a bad feeling on who Dark Lugiel is but I hope I'm wrong and it is someone else. But I like the new power up that Sunset gotten with Twilight and the others help. It sucks with what happen to Lightning Dash though and I hope there is a way for her to recover and be an athlete again. Maybe Sunset can gain some healing powers to use in future chapters.

Also I like how Taro explained why he couldn't share technologhy with ponykind considering how they act. Another thing about this chapter is I'm starting to think Twilight is losing trust in Princess Celestia after what they talked about and she feels like Celestia is manipulating her, making her wonder if she even cares about her? That's just me though.

I know one thing for sure is that the Dazzlings won't ever trust Fall or her group ever again after what happen. Plus I hope they get the chance to tell the Ginga gang what they know and Fall doesn't go after them. This is getting good and I hope to see more soon.

Good Luck Cojo5536.

[KR Chrome]

“Sonata, do something!” Aria snapped angrily. “We’re getting our butts kicked here?”

You need to correct this. The "?" change to "!"