ULTRA LIVE! Of Demons and Aliens

by Cojo5536

To Be Moral Or Loyal

It was slightly cloudy today in Canterlot, with forecasts promising light showers in the afternoon. However, in one party girl’s opinion, pastries stop for nothing, not even gloomy weather.

Pinkie Pie was on register duty at Sweet Snacks Cafe instead of working the floor like she usually would. She enjoyed the atmosphere of the 50’s style diner and that she could glide on roller skates because roller skates were fun! Today, though, the girl who usually worked at the register had come down with the flu so Pinkie Pie offered to cover for her.

Pinkie Pie still greeted each customer that came up to her with a smile. When the door opened and the bell above it chimed, she saw a new customer come in. She just seemed to radiate a ‘cool’ vibe with an all-black wardrobe consisting of a black tank top, a leather biker jacket, black jeans, and combat boots; she seemed like the type of woman to hang with a biker gang. She wore shades and also had a mohawk. Pinkie Pie always wondered what she would look like with a mohawk but she could never give up her fluffy hair for anything. Where else would she keep her things while on the go?

Instead of going to a table, the woman-in-black approached the register.

“Welcome to Sweet Snacks Cafe!” Pinkie Pie greeted jubilantly with a grin. “How may I help you?”

The woman lowered her shades, gave Pinkie Pie a once over then said her order.

“Coffee, to go,” the woman said, simply, with a bit of an edge in her voice. She saw the cookies on display and added, “And a cookie.”

Pinkie Pie beamed and went over to the coffee pot and poured the beverage into a tall cup and put the cover on. She then grabbed a cookie and stuffed it into a paper bag with the coffee which she handed over to the woman.

“Here you go! Have a nice day!”

The woman paid for her order and stepped out of the cafe without another word.

Even by Pinkie’s standards, the encounter felt slightly off, like the other woman was an alien getting out of the building before she said something to give herself away. Usually, she could strike up more of a conversation than that. Come to think of it, she had never actually seen that woman pass through before.

“Hmmm. I’m intrigued,” Pinkie said, pulling out a Sherlock hat from… somewhere, before a pointed glare from her manager said: “not on company hours”.

*////*

The woman - Tempest Shadow - sat down on a bench in the park, shaded by a tree. She took a sip of her coffee before taking a bite out of her cookie.

Honestly, when Tempest Shadow first arrived in this world, she did not know what to make of it. These humans could live without magic and she no longer felt crippled as she lacked her broken horn. She did not have access to her magic but that did not seem like much of a handicap in this world. If anything, having magic would only make her the odd one here.

Sighing, Tempest pulled out her phone to check her schedule for the day. As much as she despised that alien, she had to give Baltan one thing: no Equestrian or Man could match its forging abilities.

She didn’t think anything could be that skilled at the art. A single glance at what appropriate documentation or currency looked like, plus some short calculations, and bingo! Paperwork so flawless that no one asked questions and an infinite source of income.

Indeed, Tempest could easily live out her time in this world in idle luxury. But years of training had left her with a need to move. To keep busy. She managed to find herself a job as a martial arts instructor in this city’s gym. After an interview, which included a brief display of her skill, she was hired. Commanding the Storm King’s forces as his second-in-command gave her the experience to give orders.

More than just keeping herself active, though, it also allowed her to feel like she was back home, drilling her troops alongside…

“Grubber,” Tempest sighed while lowering her phone.

While that little pug-faced hedgehog could really piss her off sometimes, he was still the closest thing she had to a friend in the Storm Army. How was he getting by without her? Was he safe? Was he out looking for her? Did he have plenty of sweets? Tempest wished she knew.

An alert from her phone startled her from her thoughts. Another thing about this world was how humans adapted without magic by developing technology that would seem magical back in Equestria. But she hated that because it forced her to question her own motives for joining the Storm King. The yeti had promised to restore her broken horn in exchange for her service, but what was the point when everything here didn’t need magic? Come to think of it, she hadn’t needed her horn to rise to Captain of the Storm Army, had she?

Immediately, Tempest attempted to distract herself from her thoughts by looking at the alert, as following that line of thinking was dangerous. As expected, it was another evangelism post from Tirek.

At some point, Tempest was unsure when exactly, Tirek had decided to read a book called the ‘Bible’, and while he thought it was interesting, he found it somewhat archaic. However, when he discovered how many people had been killed over the words printed on those pages, he knew that he needed to get in on the action. Using a false name, he forced his way into a local church and swiftly gained a following. When Sombra confronted Tirek about buying into the human’s religion, he had shut him down by saying, “It’s not about whether I believe in it. It’s about making those gullible creatures think I do.” Still, at least Tirek had a hobby, which was more than Tempest could say for Sombra.

The deposed King of the Crystal Empire, Sombra, was an insufferable, lazy, condescending ass, who had declared that any kind of manual labor was beneath him. Even the Changeling Queen Chrysalis managed to pick up a job as a relationship counselor, though in that case, it was a survival situation as, despite being in a different form, she still needed to feed on love. Sombra was completely content to freeload off of Baltan’s bottomless funds and relentlessly mocked his supposed comrades for their dissatisfaction with idleness. Damn cretin was about as bad as the Storm…

‘Grr! Why does this world make me think like this!?’ Tempest thought with a punch to her own face.

“Oh, don’t go doing that,” a familiar voice taunted, “I need you in top condition for what’s about to happen.”

Tempest looked at Fall and Baltan with a sneer, while the demon merely waved a bejeweled armband with her true, embarrassing Cutie Mark on it with a mocking grin.

Tempest sighed. It was time to get to work.

*////*

The sky over Sunset’s apartment had turned a dreary grey at about noon. Despite this, one former pony and her tiny alien friend conversed as though it were any other day.

“So, continuing from our previous discussion, what are the policies regarding technology acquired from alien invasions?” Twilight asked.

“That is considered rightly earned, and therefore allowed,” Taro replied.

“But why? Surely it would be better to have the technology destroyed if it's so dangerous.”

“Technology on its own is not dangerous, Twilight. It's the application of it that the danger comes from. Take the airplane, for example. It was invented to prove humans could fly but then decades later it became a tool for war. Even way back, humans made spears for hunting before using them on each other. However, we Ultras have been around long enough to notice an interesting phenomenon.”

“Which is?”

“The divide between the generations tends to lessen in the face of a common threat.”

That got Twilight’s attention, “Interesting. Why do you think that is?”

Taro thought about how he would explain his theory before an idea struck him, “Have you ever played archery tag, Twilight?”

“No, that sounds horrible.”

“Oh, no no, it’s perfectly safe. It’s just using bows with a ball on the ends of the arrows.”

“Oh, that actually sounds fun.”

“Indeed. Well, picture this scenario: there are two players. One has a bottomless quiver of ammunition and the other has only a few arrows. In order to tag his opponent, the one with limited ammo needs to find an angle to make the most of his resources. Tell me, what motivation does the player with infinite arrows have, when they can stay in one place firing at his opponent and eventually achieve the same result?”

“I see. Without an opponent to make advancement seem necessary, the older generation is content to tread water and stagnate, while casting stones at any advancements that are made.”

“Exactly. If both of those players had the same bottomless quiver, then they both would be fishing for any advantage they can get. It’s the same with human advancement. Whenever humans see an obstacle, they create something to overcome that obstacle. It started with their discovery of fire then the invention of the wheel and it went from there.”

Twilight put her hand to her chin in thought, “Hmm… Perhaps the presence of magic has a similarly stagnating effect on our world’s advancement.”

Before Taro could ask her what she meant, an explosion went off outside.

“What the- Wait! Twilight!” Taro called, following behind as she ran out the door.

Standing tall above the city, was a red-eyed colossus of blackened plate armor, with a double-sided trident in its right hand and a broadsword at its hip.

“Armored Darkness!” Taro cried, identifying the giant before them.

Twilight gulped. With a name like Armored Darkness, she doubted this giant was friendly. Despite the threatening name, however, the titan remained standing in place and slowly looked around. Finally, Armored Darkness walked over to one of the nearby buildings, drove its trident into the pavement, and just sat down.

“Why isn’t he attacking?” Twilight asked.

“I...I don’t know,” Taro answered. If this was one of Lugiel’s agents, they would start attacking to draw Sunset Shimmer out. No doubt, many people would notice a giant standing in the middle of the city like this. It wouldn’t be long until this got online.

“Maybe, maybe this is a good thing. If we can talk to him, maybe we can reason with him,” Twilight said hopefully. She learned how to be diplomatic and since becoming the Princess of Friendship, it was her job to encourage friendship.

“Are you going to try and befriend him?” Taro questioned.

“It’s in my title, after all,” Twilight Sparkle said confidently. Maybe they could end this without Sunset needing to fight.

*////*

Meanwhile, Sunset Shimmer was at her job. She worked part-time in the mall at a Japanese sushi restaurant as a waitress. The place paid well, for minimum wage, and she earned good tips from the patrons that came.

It was a quiet day and a good one. Nothing would happen to ruin her good mood.

“Breaking news. A black giant has appeared in the middle of the city.”

Sunset Shimmer nearly dropped her serving tray. She turned her attention to the TV that was set up on the wall of the restaurant.

“So far, all it has done is sit down and cause some road damage. We have no word yet on the government's plan to deal with this new crisis, but fortunately, it seems to be docile for the time being.”

“Yo, Sunset!” Rainbow called from the entrance.

Sunset wasn’t the only one who had been working this day. Rainbow had been at her job at the sporting goods shop elsewhere in the mall.

“Rainbow, have you seen the news?"

“I know, crazy right? So what’re ya gonna do about it?”

“I… I’m not sure. By now more things would be broken usually, but this one is just sitting there,” Sunset suddenly noticed Rainbow intensely staring at the screen. “What? What is it?”

Rainbows eyes widened, “Shit! Sunset, that’s only a few blocks away from Rarity’s shop!”

“WHAT!? Then what’re we standing around for, let’s go!”

“How?”

“What do you mean ‘how’?”

“My motorcycle was totaled even before Baltan."

“What!? But h… Zephyr?”

Rainbow nodded, “Damn jackass stole it to show off and nearly killed himself with it.”

Sunset exasperatedly rolled her eyes with a stressed groan. Just in time to see a particular shade of purple hair disappear around a corner.

“Hey,” Rainbow said, clapping Sunset on the back, “Rarity’s a smart girl, she’ll figure out a way to reach us.”

*////*

Rarity worked part-time at s boutique called Canterlot Carousel. It was her dream part-time job since she could provide fashion consultation for customers and make a good sale, which was good for her job experience and future resume. At this time, however, those seemed like very distant fantasies.

Rarity had been close to the various Spark Doll borne titans, true, but she had never wanted to see one mere meters from her place of work, and especially not one so ugly. The armored colossus was a top-heavy monstrosity of unnecessary back and shoulder plates, and uneven horns.

“I’m not against the Dark Lord Sombra look, but is it too much to ask for some symmetry?” Rarity pondered aloud before noticing a nearby taxi driver standing outside his vehicle. “Hello, Darling. I need to get to the Crystal Emporium Mall.”

“Lady, I don’t think this is the time for a shopping spree,” he replied.

‘Why, this absolute cretin,’ Rarity privately seethed with indignation as the man started to get back into his cab. “Oh, I’m sorry,” she said, stepping in to block the driver from closing the car door. “I meant to say: I will pay you double to take me there.”

“Sorry, no can do.”

“Triple! And that’s my final offer!”

Now, dollar signs flashed in the man’s eyes. He quickly got out and opened the door for her, acting like a gentleman.

“Hop right in,” the cab driver said before he slammed the door shut then ran into the driver’s seat to start the vehicle. “Buckle up, lady! It’s gonna be a bumpy ride!”

He stomped down on the accelerator as he pulled out and sped towards the mall.

*////*

Rarity arrived at the mall to the sight of the Apple family’s bus parked outside with the rest of the Gang standing around it.

“Look! There she is!” Trixie cried.

“See? I told you she would figure something out,” Rainbow said, pulling Sunset into a side hug.

“Yeah yeah,” Sunset waved off with an eye roll.

The cab came to a stop next to the bus, allowing a frazzled Rarity to throw herself out the door and onto the pavement, “Oh sweet, merciful Mother Earth! Never again shall I besmirch your soil in all its forms again!”

“Bumpy ride, Rares?” Applejack laughed.

Rarity fell deathly silent and slowly raised her head to glare at the farmer, in no mood for such jokes.

“Silence, you dirty hick,” she venomously hissed, silencing Applejack but allowing Rainbow to keep laughing, “You too, meathead.”

Rainbow clamped her mouth shut with an audible pop as she was pretty sure that Rarity was ready to stab someone. Sensing the atmosphere, Twilight decided to get things back on topic.

“Girls, would it be too much to ask that we deal with the giant suit of armor before turning on each other?” She asked.

Rarity held her glare a few moments more until she picked herself off the pavement and dusted herself off. Then a thought occurred to her, “Hang on, when did you get here, Twilight? Did Applejack pick you up?”

“Oh, no, Taro teleported me here. Turns out that having an alien on hoo -er- hand with that ability is pretty useful if you have no idea where you’re going,” Twilight explained while embarrassedly scratching the back of her head.

“I see, and where is our diminutive gentleman now?” Rarity asked

“He’s hiding out in the bus,” Wallflower replied, “Figured that a floating toy would look weird and really didn’t want to have to be held onto for the entire conversation.”

“Ah. Well then let’s not keep the dear waiting,” Rarity said as she straightened out her hair and (shakily) marched towards the bus.

*////*

‘Where is she? She should have shown up by now. I don’t want to start engaging in random destruction like some child throwing a tantrum with their build blocks. Wait, child? Oh no, I’ve gone native.”

Sitting inside of Armored Darkness, Tempest was suffering an abnormal amount of pre-battle nerves, wishing that Ultraman would just appear already.

‘Ugh. Why am I so jumpy? Not even my first battle got me this nervous.’

She raised her arm to look at the gem that now sat upon her wrist with a scowl.

‘I don’t know how, but this is somehow your fault.’

Tempest lowered her arm and blew out a breath.

‘Seriously, though, that kind of wanton destruction is beneath me. I am the proud captain of the Storm Guards damn it! Not some animal running through a glass shop! I led the campaign against the Hippogriffs, Celestia damn it! If I can handle that, I can handle this! I mean, my cause is just. Right?’

*////*

From inside the Apple Family’s bus, Sunset was staring at the report on her phone with intense scrutiny, as if the video would somehow answer all of her questions.

“I don’t get it,” Rainbow said, “Taro says that this Armored Darkness guy is, like, one of the baddest of the bad guys, but all he’s done is just sit there and scare everyone.”

“But we’re not fighting Armored Darkness. We’re fighting the person controlling it,” Twilight pointed out.

“The Great and Understanding Trixie gets that, but Dark Dummy Spark users have historically already broken something by now,” the performer countered.

“Hey, I was one and I never broke anything,” Pinkie pouted.

“Trixie’s sorry, allow her to correct herself... Broken something, or kidnapped someone,” the stage magician amended, earning a pout from the pink party girl.

“Regardless of the semantics, this is good,” Twilight said, drawing a confused look from Rainbow, “It means this user is different from the others! They can be reasoned with!”

“I’m not so sure about that,” Sunset countered.

“Why?”

“The previous users were like angry drunks at a bar throwing a tantrum and picking fights. This is more akin to an invitation to a duel,” Sunset explained.

“Oh, well then what’re ya waitin’ for? Get on out there and throttle him,” Applejack dismissively said only to be drop kicked by Taro, “Ow! What was that for?”

“That is a stupid idea and you should feel stupid for saying it. Let us never forget the many failures of Ultraman Leo from L77, many of which were brought down on him through improper training or lack of preparedness. We need to understand our foe before we can take action against Armored Darkness,” Taro explained.

“Great, so you know who’s driving him?” Rainbow sarcastically asked.

“Eh?”

“Well you seem to know something that we don’t, so I figured that you knew who was inside it,” Rainbow continued.

“But I don’t. What-?”

“While Rainbow could’ve been less mean about it,” Wallflower said with a glare, “She is right that we can’t even begin to make a plan if we don’t even know who’s inside Armored Darkness. While you’re knowledgeable about the real Armored Darkness’ powers and behaviors, but with someone else driving it, that information loses usefulness.”

“Which is why I’m watching my phone,” Sunset spoke up, “I’m trying to read his body language to see if I can get any sort of reading on the person inside.”

“And?” Twilight asked.

“I’m not an expert at this Twilight,” Sunset chided, “All he’s telling me is that he has a very specific target (me) and is unwilling to drag the entire city into it.”

“A professional, then. I can appreciate that,” Rarity said, while still fussing with her hair.

“Why do we keep calling it a ‘he’? He could be a she for all we know,” Pinkie said.

“‘It is dehumanizing,” Fluttershy hissed, not appreciating Pinkie’s phrasing.

“Hey, do you see a pair of tits on that thing!? That is a guy if I ever saw one!” Rainbow countered.

“That’s not a fair measure!” Trixie declared, “If that were true you would have a package between your legs as we speak.”

“Watch it!”

“Technically, being just a walking suit of armor would make Armored Darkness genderless, making ‘they’ the appropriate pronoun,” Twilight pondered.

Thankfully before the argument could continue, an alarm blared throughout the city.

“Time’s up,” Sunset gasped.

“What is that!?” Twilight cried, cringing from the noise.

“An air raid siren intended to alert citizens to an incoming bomb threat,” Taro explained.

“But it’s equally useful for announcing that the army is going to attack Armored Darkness and that all the people taking selfies around his feet need to leave,” Sunset finished.

“What!? Why!? They haven’t done anything!” Twilight shrieked.

“Actively done anything, Twilight. Just because no buildings have been knocked down doesn’t mean that his presence isn’t causing damage,” Rarity explained. “Traffic is a nightmare because all the vehicles have to be rerouted around Armored Darkness. Businesses grind to a halt because no one wants to work while he’s out there, and the bosses don’t want to face the lawsuits of any harm brought by keeping their employees at work. I can go on, but my point, Twilight, is that Armored Darkness doesn’t need to actively destroy things to do harm.”

“That’s gonna change mighty quick once the military shows up,” Applejack said.

“Right! What’s the hold up!? Get out there before they get here!” Rainbow ordered.

“Yes ma’am!” Sunset jokingly replied with a salute, then jumped out of the bus and disappeared in a flash of light.

*////*

ULTRA LIVE! ULTRAMAN GINGA!

Ginga rose above the buildings in a relaxed posture, hoping to be as non-confrontational as possible. Tempest raised her head to look at the Ultra, causing Armored Darkness to do the same.

“Well, finally decided to come out, huh? Sunset Shimmer, right?” Tempest asked.

“You know me?” Sunset replied.

“How could I not? Fall won’t shut up about you.”

“Yeah that’s fair,” Sunset laughed, “Who are you?”

“The name’s Tempest Shadow. I’m the captain of the Storm King’s army, well, when I was back in Equestria anyway. Don’t know how true that is now.”

“Oh, so you’re one of the Equestrians that Fall recruited. How have you managed to fly under the radar for so long?”

“Her alien lapdog is a damn good counterfeiter. It can produce all the documentation and money you could ever need.”

Sunset nodded her head in understanding, “You’re not like the other Dummy Spark users, they’d usually be rampaging by now. So, what’s your story?”

Tempest scoffed then stood Armored Darkness upright, “All you need to know is, I was promised the return of something I lost in exchange for my service. And I intend to reclaim it.”

Armored Darkness reached over and pulled its trident from the asphalt, then went into a combat stance with a twirl of its weapon. Ginga responded by slowly entering his own fighting stance, prompting a quirked eyebrow from Tempest.

“You’re going to fight me without a weapon?” She asked.

“Ginga’s not much of a weapon user normally,” Sunset replied.

“Fine by me!” Tempest cried, charging Armored Darkness forward, trident upraised.

The walking armor opened the first engagement with an overhead swing then smoothly transitioned into a thrust, but Ginga dodged both and backflipped over a leg sweep. Upon landing, the two giants began circling each other

“So, what did you lose? What could possibly drive a girl like you to serve someone that by all accounts is a tyrant?” Sunset asked.

Tempest scoffed, “An over-privileged noble like you would never understand.”

Armored Darkness dashed in with a thrust and horizontal swipe, but Ginga nimbly dodged both and threw a kick that the walking armor blocked with its weapon, causing it to stumble back.

“Overprivileged noble? What are you talking about? You have control of an entire army. I was just a street rat that got too much power, too quickly,” Sunset resumed.

“I didn’t ask for your life story,” Tempest countered.

Armored Darkness closed in once more with a diagonal cut into a low waist swing, but Ginga dodged the first attack and parried the second with a kick. Using the momentum from the Ultra’s parry, the black armor pirouetted around for a back-handed leg sweep, but the Giant of Light jumped onto its weapon to pin it; then used a left knee to loosen its grip, then a right straight kick to make the metal giant let go of its trident, and sending it rolling down the street. Ginga picked up the trident and broke it over his knee as he looked at the now kneeling Armored Darkness.

“I see now,” Tempest cryptically said.

“Huh?”

“Ginga isn’t normally a weapon user because he’s nimble enough to make them unnecessary. Meanwhile, my Armored Darkness is held back by its greater weight, likely owing to the unneeded additions to its armor,” Tempest explained as the armor in question stood back up, flexing as if in demonstration.

“Does that mean you’re going to give up now?” Sunset asked despite already knowing the answer.

“No. I still have to work off my debt, and I have the means to do just that,” Tempest replied, raising her left wrist to reveal a new wristband.

“Another one!?” Sunset gasped, “Tempest, you know what one of those things did to Adagio!”

“I told you, Sunset, I lost something important to me, and by every god of here and Equestria, I am going to get it back!” Tempest brought the tip of her Dark Dummy Spark to her wristband.

Just as with Adagio before her, the Dark Dummy Spark shattered to dust in a swirling vortex of shadow, yet unlike the elder siren, Tempest didn’t make a sound. She refused to show how much this fusion actually hurt to Sunset, even as the darkness took her entirely.

Eventually, the cyclone dispersed followed by a series of crashes as Armored Darkness’ back and shoulder armor dropped off alongside its helm. Standing in its place, was a slimmer, more feminine armor that was black in color with a purple tint. The most striking feature, however, was the armor’s new helm which now depicted a unicorn with...

“A broken horn. So that’s what you were so desperate to replace,” Sunset mused.

“I suppose it’s useless to hide it at this point,” Tempest unexpectedly said.

“Wait, what? YOU’RE LUCID!?”

“Looks that way,” Tempest said while inspecting her new form.

Armored Tempest

Fused Dark Storm Knight

“But how!? The last one drove Adagio into a feral rage!”

“I know. I understand that these things are still a work in progress.”

“These things? How many of them are there!?”

“Dunno, but I think that you should worry more about the present,” Tempest said, then drew the broadsword that hung on her hip and pointed it at Ginga. “Draw your sword, Sunset Shimmer!”

“I would rather not,” Sunset said but activated the Harmony Brace anyway.

ELEMENTS OF HARMONY! POWER TO GINGA!

GINGA HARMONY!

“But I see that you don’t want to let this go,” Sunset continued while spinning the dial to the image of Twilight’s Cutie Mark.

ELEMENT OF MAGIC! POWER TO GINGA!

Ginga Harmony reached for the Zenshin Crystal on his head to draw the Twilight Slugger and then assumed a fencing stance. Tempest raised her own sword into a fighting stance, but Sunset noticed that she was putting a disproportionate amount of weight on her back foot. A rookie mistake for someone apparently so talented. Unless…

“Hey, could I ask a question?” Sunset asked.

“Stop talking and fight me!” Tempest demanded, then advanced with a swing that was easily blocked by Ginga.

Rather than break the engagement, Ginga used the blade lock as leverage to pivot into a thrust, but Tempest deflected and, without breaking the lock; pivoted into her own thrust, which Ginga deflected and made a cut at Tempest’s head, that was twisted around into a counter chop. This finally forced Ginga to break off the engagement with a twirl of his blade, nearly throwing Tempest’s broadsword from her hands, and resetting their positions.

“I can do both,” Sunset calmly said as Ginga and Tempest began another engagement, “Why the Storm Guard? What was stopping you from enrolling in, say, the Royal Guard?”

“How many broken horns do you see in the Royal Guard?” Tempest asked while pressing her attack.

“Fair point, but did you even try?” Sunset asked, while Ginga hopped back out of the way of another swipe and lightly tapped Tempest on the head with the Twilight Slugger.

“I would’ve been laughed out of recruitment the moment they saw me.”

“How could you know that if you didn’t even make the attempt?”

“I’m sorry, did Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns get renamed while I was away?” Ginga actually stumbled from the particularly nasty attack that came with that comment.

Sunset sucked in through her teeth, ‘I can’t exactly argue that Celestia didn’t pick a name that communicates favoritism. I need to press a different angle.’

“You know, Tempest, the Storm King has no intention of fixing your horn.”

“Horseapples! He has to!” Tempest raged, “That old yeti promised me!”

“Yeti!? Tempest there is no ‘miracle cure’ for a broken horn, like yours, and even if there was, a not magically gifted race like the yetis are not going to be the ones to provide it!”

“STOP TRYING TO CONFUSE ME!”

“Trust me when I say that you require no help from me to come off as confused and uncertain.”

“MY MIND IS PERFECTLY CLEAR!”

“No, it isn’t, and do you know how I can tell?” Sunset asked as Ginga blocked another attack from Tempest, then closed in and swept her legs out from under her, sending Tempest onto her back. “For starters, you put too much weight on your back foot, which is the mark of either a noob or a lack of confidence. Second, your attacks lack speed and power, meaning that I have plenty of warning about what you’re about to do. Third, you’ve already been beaten multiple times over the course of this fight, despite being a professional soldier fighting an amateur fencer. I could keep going, Tempest, but I think I’ll save us both the time and tell you what I think is really going on here.”

“No,” Tempest weakly pleaded as she attempted to stand back up only to be stopped by the Twilight Slugger being pointed at her throat.

“So, you’re born. You spend a decent bit of your childhood as a normal unicorn filly until disaster strikes, some event breaks your horn. Now, the other kids taunt you and bully you.”

“Stop!” Tempest cried, slapping the Twilight Slugger away and scrambling to her feet.

“But oh, you don’t like that, you turn mean, you start picking fights with everyone around you. Eventually, all that fighting makes you so physically strong that your broken horn stops being an issue, yet despite this, you continue to hide behind it like a shield to justify your actions.”

“Shut your mouth!” Tempest snapped as she launched into a blind flurry of attacks, desperate to silence her opponent.

“You travel far and wide trying to find a remedy that just doesn’t exist until, one day, you come across the Storm King. Your abilities impress him, so he gives you an offer. Serve him, and he will fix up your horn. Now any reasonable pony would ask, ‘what’s the catch?’ But after all the ridicule you’d faced up to this point, you’ve internalized it, made your disability your entire identity, so you jump on the offer and quickly climbed through the ranks, hoping that, someday, you could take your revenge on all those naysayers.”

“Stop talking!” Tempest cried one final time as she launched her last desperate attack, but Ginga swung his own sword and shattered her blade.

Tempest could only stare at her broken weapon with absolute despair. She had failed. Her legs began to shake as the horror strangled her heart, sending her to her hands and knees. All Tempest could do now was wait for Sunset and Ginga to finish her off.

“But then, something weird happened,” Sunset suddenly continued in a voice of motherly patience, drawing Tempest’s eyes back to Ginga who was, shockingly, dismissing the Twilight Slugger. “One day, a hairless ape and her alien walk out of a portal, and whisk you and your boss off to another world. She tells you that you and Storm King need to carry out a job for her. However, over time, this world starts doing something to you. There is no magic or horns for one, and the natives don’t care that you have neither, they treat you like just one of them. They don’t mock you, they’re mostly kind to you, maybe you even start unconsciously forming attachments with some of them. Thing is, after everything you went through in Equestria, you no longer knew how to handle such basic kindness, and without acceptable targets to lash out at, you started to question yourself, which drives you crazy.”

“Shut up! What could you know about being hated!?” Tempest accused, but her voice betrayed that she was trying not to cry.

“Quite a bit, actually,” Sunset replied while kneeling Ginga down to look Tempest in the eyes. “I first came here looking to get revenge on Princess Celestia. Now, I won’t say that I was completely unjustified in my anger, especially after her behavior during our reunion last Christmas, but I shouldn’t have dragged two worlds into it. My first year in this world was a wondrous time as I got the hang of the way it worked, but as time went on, I became cruel, I lied to and stole from people. You can actually see the transition in pictures on the walls of Canterlot High School and they’re not even hidden either.

“After Twilight and her friends hit me with their friendship laser the people that I used to torment very quickly made their displeasure known. For months I was insulted, pushed around, and ignored, even by the people who were supposed to be my friends. By the time the Dazzlings showed up I was an insecure wreck marching her way towards an eventual mental breakdown. It took beating the sirens to finally get everyone to understand that I truly wanted to change. Well, I mean, there was Anon-A-Miss last winter, but I don’t really count that since I was distracted by the Ultraman stuff to get hung up about it.”

“Get to your point!” Tempest snapped.

“My point is, Tempest, you will never be liked, if you never show anything to like,” Sunset said. “If you rise to every insult with violence you’ll only succeed in making people avoid and fear you, thereby further isolating yourself. If you want friends, you have to show that you’re worth being a friend.”

“SHUT UP!!!” Tempest roared as she willed her monstrous body to attack Ginga but the Ultraman instead grabbed Armored Tempest in a hug.

“Open your heart, Tempest,” Sunset advised as she spun the dial on her Harmony Bracer to show Fluttershy’s symbol.

ELEMENT OF KINDNESS! POWER TO GINGA!

“Ginga Warmth,” Sunset calmly said as a warm, comforting light spread from Ginga into Armored Tempest, causing Tempest to feel a sensation akin to a mother’s loving embrace as she began to stop struggling.

“It’s not fair,” Tempest sobbed out.

“Life rarely is, Tempest. But here, at least, you can try to even the odds,” Sunset replied as Armored Tempest began dissolving to nothing.

When the last of Armored Tempest blew away, Ginga stood up while cradling a small light in his hand that he then floated it over to Sunset’s friends. When the light was close enough to the Gang it dissipated to reveal Tempest Shadow sleeping on the street, prompting the group to gather around her.

Nodding at another job well done, Ginga looked up and took off into the sky.

*////*

On a rooftop, Fall was unleashing quite a colorful collection of swears over the results of her latest plot’s failure. Standing a distance away from this epic tantrum was Baltan passively watching it happen, thankful for its lack of emotion.

After she finally ran out of energy to keep her anger going, Fall opened up her research notes and began scribbling.

Everfree Geodes: Second Field Test Results

Results corrupted

While the subject retained their intelligence, psychological barriers restrained the amount of power the subject was willing to bring to bear. This made accurate readings impossible to acquire, thus invalidating the experiment

Fall suddenly felt something hit her hand, followed by dampness. Another droplet landed on her head followed by a distant roll of thunder, drawing her eyes to the darkening clouds in the sky.

“It’s a sign,” Fall whispered, “It’s a sign! HAHAHA! Someone up there is looking out for me today!”

Baltan tilted its head and looked up to the sky.

“Not literally, you dumbass!” Fall growled to her cohort, “Come on, I know exactly who to bring in next.”

Baltan watched as Fall began walking away, took a last look at the sky, shrugged, then teleported the pair.

*////*

After Sunset changed back, the Gang retreated to the redhead’s apartment, where they were filled in on Tempest Shadow.

“That’s terrible,” Twilight sighed as Sunset finished her story. “Facing so much ridicule for something outside her control, that she turned to a tyrant in an effort to fix it.”

“Right. So, this is gonna sound really insensitive, but could you two explain it in a way that us non-unicorns can understand?” Rainbow asked.

Twilight opened her mouth to answer, but Sunset, feeling an incoming lecture, cut her off. “It’s sort of like this. If you were to lose both your legs or if Applejack were to lose both her hands, you’d be able to get prosthetics to fill in that gap. Sure it’ll never be like before, but you still have them. Are you with me so far?” A series of nods answered her, though she did notice that Applejack was now hiding her hands. “Well in Equestria it’s the same way. You can get a prosthetic for just about everything, even wings so pegasi can still fly. The only thing that you can’t get a prosthetic for is a unicorn horn.”

“Oh no! Why?” Fluttershy asked.

“Why not?” Sunset scoffed, “What you have to understand is that not every unicorn is created equal in Equestria. Every single unicorn has a different magical signature from each other, as well as different strength levels, even different whorl severity. There are just too many factors to consider to make prosthetic horns even close to feasible.”

“I could’ve told them that,” Twilight pouted.

“Not without an extensive lecture and several charts and graphs,” Trixie jeered.

“But those are important!” Twilight whined.

“No, Twilight, they really aren't,” Taro answered, earning another pout from the princess.

“So, what happens when a unicorn breaks their horn?” Wallflower asked.

“Tough to say, given how reports so wildly vary,” Sunset answered. “Effects could range from as minor as occasional lightheadedness to outright self-destruction, but the most common symptom is random, uncontrollable, violent outbursts of magic.”

“Yeah, we know a thing or two about those,” Applejack said with a cheeky wink at Sunset.

“Point, but it’s a bit worse than anything me, the Dazzlings, or even Fall could do. It’s like having a gun for an arm, but you have absolutely no control of when it fires or who it hurts. Picture us just sitting in class only my arm suddenly goes ‘bang!’ and caps the person in front of me. That’s the sort of danger I’m talking about.”

“Oh,” Applejack replied, suddenly finding her joke in poor taste.

Pinkie coughed awkwardly, “So, like, what now?”

“What do you mean, Pinkie?” Rarity asked.

“Well, we got her here, but what are we supposed to do with her?” Pinkie asked, indicating the sleeping Tempest Shadow on Sunset’s couch.

The smile that Sunset answered with was one that the entire room hoped that they would never see on their friend’s face again.

“Oh, Pinkie,” she said. “Oh, Pinkie, Pinkie, Pinkie. Ye of little faith. What we have here, is a girl who has been bullied for most of her life, likely has few friends, and most importantly, never had a slumber party.”

Pinkie’s hair began making an admirable attempt to turn into a black hole with how hard it started curling. “You mean!?”

“Yep! It’s party time!”

Comments

[Edguy0009]

The end of this chapter amused me.

[Rictor Yagami]

I just read the newest chapter and it kicked ass! I will admit it didn't have as much fighting as the last chapter it was still enjoyable. I'm glad Sunset was able to help Tempest out and hopefully she joins the Ginga gang to help against Lugiel and his douchebag minions. Though something tells me that the next chapter will have me worried because of what Fall said and I couldn't help but laugh at what she said to Balton.

Fall suddenly felt something hit her hand, followed by dampness. Another droplet landed on her head followed by a distant roll of thunder, drawing her eyes to the darkening clouds in the sky.

“It’s a sign,” Fall whispered, “It’s a sign! HAHAHA! Someone up there is looking out for me today!”

Baltan tilted its head and looked up to the sky.

“Not literally, you dumbass!” Fall growled to her cohort, “Come on, I know exactly who to bring in next.”

Baltan watched as Fall began walking away, took a last look at the sky, shrugged, then teleported the pair.

I have a feeling that Starlight Glimmer is Sunset's next apponent and I REALLY hope she get's her ass handed to her. I really hate her as her whole reason for being evil and enslaving pony's the way she did was the stupidest reason ever! She blammed cutie marks for her troubles and what she did in the original series was just plain out stupid, and childish. She did all that just because her best friend moved away? Seriously she could have wrote to him or tried to find him or when she got her cutie mark she could have tried going into the same school as him! Her whole redemption was absolute bullshit as well. Sorry I just feel that she got off too easily in the series.

But back to the topic at hand. I hope that Pinkie won't go overboard and learn to give space to Tempest when she needs it. Which brings a question to mind. Will Tempest tell Sunset and the others about the other villains that she was with and where they work? Also I'm wondering if she saw who Lugiel was? If so I hope it can help trace down where he is so they can capture that prick. Before I forget I couldn't help laugh at how Rarity acted toward Apple Jack and Rainbow Dash. LOL!

This is getting good and I hope to see more soon.

Good Luck Cojo5536.

[Skyblazer9]

I really enjoyed your first story and look forward to seeing more here. Keep up the awesome work!