Strange monsters are starting to show up around the city of Manehattan. Vinyl Scratch stumbles upon the Noise Driver and finds herself caught in the middle of battle for the fate of Manehattan. Can the Riders save the city from the Changelings?
Strange monsters are starting to show up around the city of Manehattan. Vinyl Scratch stumbles upon the Noise Driver and finds herself caught in the middle of battle for the fate of Manehattan. Can the Riders save the city from the Changelings? Who is this mysterious Rewind character? Can he be trusted, or does he have a more nefarious end goal in mind?
This is a crossover of MLP and Kamen Rider. Mind you, mainly most of the Kamen Rider tropes and such. I'm not bringing any pre-existing Riders in here, though there will be quite a few references thrown in here. I'm technically a new fan. So far I've only seen most the Neo-Heisei Riders. I apologize ahead of time, this is my first fanfic or any kind of writing of the sort.
EDIT: Temporary art change again. I thought this looked fairly close to the Flight Driver's transformed state. Not staying though.
Summer had officially set in. High school students were out and about. The ones that didn't leave for a summer vacation were roaming the city in full blast. Vinyl sat about at a nearby fast food joint, sitting alone at a table, mulling over her laptop and nearly drowning the noise of the various patrons with her headphones. She hadn't gotten any new request to DJ since her last gig a week and a half ago. It did tend to slow down with the summer, but there was usually a big gig to start off the summer. She was refreshing her mail constantly, hoping someone would request her services for such an event. She had enough money to hold herself over for a few months and had connections to get herself a part time job in case of financial emergencies. Though, due to her popularity in the area, she was fairly certain she would be able to score some gigs even during the summer time.
She was completely absorbed in her occasional email refreshing and a novel she was reading on the side until she was finally broken out of her trance by a tap on her shoulder. Vinyl looked up, moving the right half of her headphones off her ear. A girl about her age in a grey colored delivery outfit was carrying a tray with some food. “Sorry, is it alright if I sit here? All the other seats are taken. I promise I won't bother you.” Vinyl simply nodded and gestured to the seat across from her. The girl happily sat down after a short struggle with her two large messenger bags, finally getting them off her back and setting them down under the table. She enjoyed having the load off her shoulders and quickly started enjoying her subs. Vinyl went back to business of hitting the refresh button on her browser every two or three pages of her novel. It was a bit of a guilty pleasure for her and made sure no one close to her found out at the risk of damaging her 'image', but she loved reading detective novels. She loved all the drama and hard-boiled adventures of detectives prowling the streets asking questions, finding clues and scuffling with the bad guys. Normally she'd be a bit more sociable and try talking with the stranger across from her but right now she was focusing on other things. The fact that she was woken up early by her roommate didn't help either. Her inability to go back to sleep afterward eventually led her here.
Time was completely lost on Vinyl as she continued her reading followed by her ritualistic email refreshing every few pages. Almost an hour or two later she finally got an email. She grinned, feeling a little smug about her prediction. A comic shop ten miles away wanted to hire her as a DJ for an event they were hosting. She sent out a reply, bookmarked her current page, packed up her laptop and got up to go back home. As she got up, she felt her foot hit something. She checked under the table and saw a brown package with no labeling or markings of any kind. She looked around to see if that courier was still around. She took a bit of time to ask the lingering patrons about her. No one seemed to notice her or recognize Vinyl's vague description of her. Not knowing what else to do, she took the package home with her.
She entered her apartment and immediately headed to her room. Her roommate wouldn't be back for quite awhile. She dropped her stuff off in her room and laid down. She held the package above her and examined it a little more thoroughly. As her first glance proved, there didn't seem to be anything on the package that could lead her anywhere. She laid down motionless with the package sitting on her face debating what to do with it. She didn't have the patience at the moment to keep waiting at the the fast food joint. After countless minutes of inner struggle, she decided to open the package and see what was inside. It was most likely a terrible idea but her curiosity got the better of her. Carefully opening the package up, as though saving the wrapping would make this any less of a crime, she finally opened the package and held over her a strange pair of of white headphones. The headband was a strange translucent blue. There were two small translucent blue circles in the outer side of both ear pieces, one jutted out slightly, hinting that it was most likely a button. She was a entranced by the headphones and quickly decided that she would use these from now on. Wearing it during shows could attract attention and the intended recipient or delivery crew might find her and she could return it from there. Either way, they would look really awesome for her upcoming performance at the comic shop in a week.
Two days had passed since. Vinyl had made an conscious effort to wander about near the area of the fast food joint. She found no signs of that courier, something she was secretly happy about. She had been thoroughly enjoying the headphones. Her roommate had questioned them, Vinyl simply wrote it off saying they were special custom headphones a fan had made for her. She was relaxing in her room listening to some music with her new headphones as she dove back into her novel. She casually switched position on her bed, now laying sideways, the novel in one hand while her other hand ended up resting against her headphones to prop her head up a bit while she read. She was unaware that her hand was now resting on the small button on the left side of her headphones. She had tried pressing it before to see what would happen, but nothing ever came of it. She held her new position for seven seconds, unaware of the translucent blue parts of the headphones starting to glow brighter as she held the button down. Her body quickly started to emit an intense white glow, which finally caught her attention. Her vision had completely whited out for a brief second before everything settled down. Vinyl was incredibly confused and a little worried.
She bookmarked her place in her novel and set it down before noticing her hand. It was now, or rather, her entire body now seemed to be covered in some kind of white and blue armor. She quickly ran to her bathroom to look at herself in the mirror. She appeared to wearing some strange white armor with some blue highlights. The headphones seemed to now be integrated with the head piece of the armor as well, the right ear piece now sporting a few new small blue buttons on it. There also seemed to be some kind of portable mixing board on her right arm and some kind of port at one end towards her wrist. There were seven sliders, each labeled with a word, a few of which she recognized, like Frequency and Bass. Shocked by this new development, she expressed her amazement and confusion as eloquently as she could at the moment. The volume of her voice quickly rose and she screamed out to the mirror. “OOOOOOOOOOH MYYYYYY GAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWD!!!”
She continued to examine herself in the mirror for a minute before realizing her roommate was still in. Her eyes shot open and she darted to her room door, quickly locking it. A voice shortly followed from outside her door. “What the hell are you doing?!”
“Just keep it down! Also, dinner's almost done. Feel free to exit your cave at any point in time if you're feeling hungry. I made spaghetti.”
Vinyl ran back to the bathroom mirror. She had a lot of things going through her head at the moment, but first things first. She had to get this armor off before she left her room. She looked around herself, finding nothing in particular that stood out. She thought back to what she was doing before this happened and remembered the button on the headphones. The button on the left side was still there. She held it down, in hopes that doing so could also remove the armor. After about seven seconds, the glowing occurred again and quickly settled down, no trace of the armor remained. She took her headphones off and took a few minutes to thoroughly examine them. Her examination revealed nothing she didn't already know. She decided to investigate the matter a little more after dinner. She tossed the headphones on to her bed and left her room to join her roommate for dinner.
Vinyl looked around, making sure no one was around. It was midnight. She drove out to a convention center about ten miles out so she could field test the headphones a bit more. There was nothing going on at the center, which meant there would be almost no one there at the moment, much less it's multi-tiered parking lot. She had parked her motorcycle on one end of the roof of the parking lot and walked out to the center. Taking a deep breath, she brought her left hand up to the button on the headphones. The armor had magically found itself on her body again. On one hand, she had finally discovered the purpose of the button. On the other hand, what was that courier doing with this thing and why was it even capable of doing this. She took another deep breath, wiggling her arms about to warm up, though it was more to keep her from letting out another vocal outburst like the one she had earlier. She crouched down a bit, bending her knees to warm them up too, ending with a hearty jump as she stood herself back up. Rather than a normal jump, Vinyl found herself being catapulted high into the air. She was about as high up as a two story house by her guess. Her amazement quickly turned to panic as she started to descend, flailing about in hopes she'd find a way to stop her descent. “NOOO NO NO NO NO NOOOO!!!” Her frantic screaming fell on deaf ears. Her panic changed back to amazement as she landed with no problems. She stared down at herself, letting the new information sink in. She went over to a wall nearby, cracked her knuckles and gave it a swift punch. Her strike left a hole in the concrete wall. She easily pulled her hand out and started pacing about. “Ohmigod...I have friggen super powers!” She was doing her best to contain her giddiness as she processed this idea multiple times in her head, still finding it hard to believe that this was reality. She walked to a concrete railing on the other end of the parking lot and sat down, taking in the view of the city below her. Manehattan was looking gorgeous this time of night. As she enjoyed the view, a huge question formed in her mind.
What should I do with this?
---
A female courier saluted a warehouse door. “Ditzy reporting in! When crisis threatens humanity, the heavens will answer our call for salvation!” She held her salute for a moment until the warehouse door eventually opened, a man on the inside held it open for her.
“Glad to see you back Ditzy. I trust there were no complications on your way here?”
Ditzy skipped merrily inside, the man closing the door behind her. “Nope. I kept to myself the whole way here. Not a single bad thing happened!” The two walked deep into the warehouse, through a maze of boxes. The ground opened underneath them, revealing a staircase down into some kind of small facility.
“Perfect. Go to the crew room and put the Drivers on the table. I'll be there in just a second.”
“Are the other two here?”
The man walked off in a different direction as Ditzy stopped at a door labeled Crew. “Nope. Bolt is out investigating a strange anomaly on our tracker and Trixie's just twiddling her thumbs.” Ditzy nodded and entered the room. The crew room was simple. There was a table with some chairs and a white board on the north wall with a few markers sitting on the table. She opened her messenger bag and poured the contents on the table. Three non-descript packages were dumped onto the table. Ditzy opted to stay standing as she waited patiently for the man to return. The door opened and the man walked in closing the door behind him. “Alright. Let's take a look at these.” The man began to open the packages. “This one is the Lunar Driver I believe. Hmmm....perfect. Next up we have...” He moved to another package. “Put the rest of them here while I'm checking them out please.”
“I did. That's all of them Doctor.” The man known as 'the Doctor' froze as he examined the second Driver on the table.
“...there were more than three...check again.” Ditzy quickly grabbed her empty bag and shook it in the air. The Doctor snatched the bag from her hands and pulled it open, hoping beyond hope that somehow the remaining packages would be inside. His face turned pale as he looked inside. He slowly pushed his hand through the bag, his hand emerging through the bottom of the bag. He held his hand up to Ditzy. Ditzy was shocked. She ran over and looked at the bottom of the bag and noticed a hole in it, currently housing the Doctor's hand. The Doctor remained silent as he glared at the woman in front of her.
“Aaaahh! This is my favorite messenger bag too! I'm gonna have to get this sown up...awwww...”
“Focus Ditzy! We have more important problems!” He took his hand out of Ditzy's bag and tossed it to the side. He pinched his forehead. “Now please...please tell me you know where they may have fallen Ditzy...” Ditzy replied by shifting about nervously. “Oh fantastic...” He let out a heavy sigh. “Welp! Now we know what that anomaly was. Someone's already found one of the Drivers and activated it.” The Doctor slumped into a chair.
“...I'm really sorry Doctor...”
“It's okay. We'll...we'll find a way to deal with this. We at least know one of the Drivers is nearby. If it gets activated again, we can track it's point of activation and go from there. The person currently holding it is most likely just some random civilian. It shouldn't be too hard to get it back. Now if we can just get them back without having to deal with a Changeling attack on the side, we'll be golden. Though that's just wishful thinking.” He sat quietly for a moment before getting up. “Welp, might as well finish looking at what we got.” He opened the last package and examined it for a brief moment. “So... We have Lunar, Trick and Power. This is going to be a stressful week.”
“Sorry...”
---
The day of the event was here. Vinyl had prepared a set list and had plenty of songs ready in case someone had a request. She had her roommate drop her off at the event. Her car was more suited to moving her equipment than Vinyl's motorcycle. Though the strange headphones had been on her mind ever since, today she was completely focused on her job. To provide some sweet tunes. She got herself set up and got to work, still rocking the strange headphones as well as her trademark large purple shades.
"This place...I'll destroy this place...starting with everyone in here!"
Everything had been going just fine. She had two requests so far and everyone was enjoying themselves. She only had an hour left before she would start packing up. A newcomer entered the comic store's lounge room and made his way towards Vinyl. The man abruptly closed Vinyl's laptop on her, essentially shutting off the music and cutting off her USB mixing console.
“Hey! Dude, not cool. You go-
The man ignored Vinyl and grabbed the microphone next to her, not bothering to take it off the stand. “Attention, Cover Page customers. I'd like to get serious for a moment. I'm about to kill everyone in this fucking room.”
Everyone in the room wasn't sure whether to be scared or if the man was just trying to scare everyone. Vinyl wasn't amused. “It's like thirty something people against you kid. Do you really think you're go-” The man's skin started to flake off, revealing a strange black, chitinous shell underneath. “-ooOOOOOOKAY what the hell!?”
The man grinned and muttered to himself. “Cast Off.” His body was quickly engulfed in a green flame, that dissipated as quickly as it appeared, revealing a strange black, humanoid stag beetle with a large horn where the man once stood. His distorted voice yelled out. “WHO'S FIRST!?” Vinyl fell back, terrified of the monstrosity in front of her. The monster didn't seem to care much for her and began slowly advancing towards the terrified crowd. Vinyl quickly got to her feet and started packing up her equipment and putting it into her bag. She turned around as she was nearly finished. The monster grabbed a woman by the neck and lifted her off the ground, choking her to death. Vinyl was frozen in place. She could fight this thing. She had the power in her headphones. She could save these people. As much as she didn't want to have to fight or get involved, she wasn't about to let someone die in front of her.
She left her equipment safe in a corner and darted out the back door. “Alright. I'm not about to be some super hero. This is a one time deal people.” She spoke out loud to herself. She made sure no one was around to see her and held down the button. “Just wait for the drop buddy.” The armor materialized over her body. She groped her a face. “Shit! My face isn't covered! Not good.” She continued to move her hands about the parts of the armor protecting her face. A white veil materialized over the bottom half of her face, covering her nose down to her chin. “Oh now that is just convenient...” She turned to the door. “Hope I'm not too late!” She burst back in through the door and called out to the monster. “HEY! It's time for some payback buddy!”
“Payback? Have we met?” She dropped the girl, who just barely conscious at this point.
Vinyl nearly forgot that she was trying to hide her identity. “Uh, sorry, you're right. I mean, it's time to take out the trash!” She paused for a second, realizing how lame she sounded right now. “Ugh, I'm new to this stuff. Get off my back!” She ran in and delivered a devastating haymaker to the monster's face, sending him reeling back. “Screw coming up with witty things, I'm just gonna punch the crap out of you. Sounds like a plan to me.” The monster got up, his attention now devoted entirely to Vinyl. He charged at her, a simple attack that Vinyl was easily able to dodge with her newfound abilities. She glanced behind herself and saw one of the customer's taking the woman out of the room to safety. Now she wouldn't have to worry about anyone else getting hurt. The monster let loose another charge at her, which Vinyl easily dodged again. “Why did you attack these people? What the hell are you anyway?”
The humanoid stag beetle growled in frustration. “I'm sick of this place! I hate everyone here! No one recognizes my talent! If they want to ignore everything I do for them, then I'll just kill them all!”
“Really? That's it!?”
“Shut up! That's all the reason I need!”
“You're messed up buddy. In that case, come at me again. I'm sure my fist might recognize your face.” The monster was enraged and charged at her again. Vinyl prepared herself and grabbed the monster as he came at her, hoisting him and tossing him through the back wall of the lounge. She cringed a bit seeing the hole she created in the wall. “Yeesh...I'm so glad this thing comes with a face mask...” She ran through the hole and chased after the monster, intent on finishing it off. The monster got up and let out an angry roar.
“You're ruining everything! Just die already!” He leapt high into the air and dove down towards Vinyl, horn first.
“Heh. Not too smart are you.” Vinyl leapt back and crossed her arms, materializing vinyl records in her hands. She tossed them at the monster as it descended. The records cut into it's back, causing it to fall harmlessly on it's back. Vinyl pressed one of the buttons on her right ear piece. “Time to rap up this set!” Vinyl held out her hand, creating a large, white and blue vinyl record. She tossed the record straight into the monster's back. The record began to sink it's body. Vinyl held out her right arm. “Final Remix!” The various sliders on her arm were at various levels. She pushed them all up to maximum and clenched her right fist. “Audio Overdrive!” The record inside the monster started to react to the sliders adjustments and violently exploded. She couldn't help but let out a triumphant grin. As the smoke subsided, she could see the body of the man that had transformed into that monstrosity. She approached the defeated man and crouched down next to him. “So, wanna explain yourself buddy?”
The man was in great pain, but managed to reply. “Sh-she said...I could have power...to get what I w-wanted...if my heart was in th-the...right pla-AAAAGH!” The man suddenly grabbed his chest, screaming in agony for a brief moment before collapsing, his body now completely limp. Vinyl was a little shocked. She assumed someone didn't want him talking, and poisoned the man. She guessed the poison would kill him if he would happen to fail. She shrugged and stood up. It wasn't her problem, the cops could take care of it. She began to walk back towards the back wall of the comic shop. Three large energy blasts impacted the ground in front of her as she made it halfway to her destination. She turned to face the source of the shots, ready for another possible assault. A strange person in a mustard yellow armor, somewhat like hers, was approaching.
“Don't worry. That was just to get your attention.” Based on his voice, Vinyl quickly realized he was a male.
“Congratulations, you got it. What do you want?”
The armored stranger point at her. “The Driver. That belongs to us and we need it back. I've come here to retrieve it. Peacefully if possible.”
“And what if I don't want to give it back?”
“Peacefully if possible.”
Vinyl casually threw her arms up. “Look buddy. I've grown a little fond of this thing. Not just cuz o' this, but the headphones aspect alone is awesome. Don't worry, I won't get in your way. This was a one time deal, that's all.”
“Unfortunately that's not going to cut it. We need these Drivers to fight the Changelings. That monster you just finished off.”
“So what, those 'Changeling' guys are dudes with super powers too?”
The armored stranger started slowly pacing back and forth as he explained. “They're not humans. Not anymore at least. There's a source to it all. Someone or something is creating them. They're born from normal humans. They're killed and reborn as Changelings. Beings that keep their original human form. They also have the ability to morph into a monstrous form, as you saw earlier. Surely you've heard rumors of monsters roaming around the city lately. They're true. And the only way we can fight back is with these Drivers. Just return it to me and you won't have to worry about this anymore.”
She shrugged in response. “Toldja. I kinda want to hold on to this for awhile. It's awesome. I'll just stay out of your way. No harm no foul dude.”
The stranger stopped in his tracks and sighed. “I tried. Like I said. Peacefully if possible.” He paused for a moment, preparing himself for combat, Vinyl prepared herself as well. The stranger made a dash for her. “Don't worry, I won't kill you!”
“Fine then, bring it on! She blocked his incoming punch. Unlike the sloppy monster she just dealt with, this guy knew how to fight. Though blocked, she felt the impact clear as day through her arms.
The man didn't pull his fist away, whispering something to himself as a large bracelet on his arm began to spin, reaching a high rotational speed almost instantly and suddenly shot up his arm and stopping suddenly at his wrist. Vinyl suddenly felt a monumental force launch her across the pavement. She laid on the ground stunned for a minute as the man slowly walked towards her. “Last chance to do this without violence.” His smug attitude was already pissing her off. Though the better half of her brain was begging her to back off and run or just surrender the headphones. Unfortunately her other half was demanding that she shut the smug prick up and was winning the mental war with little effort. She stood herself up, the previous impact to her chest had already weakened her severely. Struggling to regain her breath, she started backing up and summoning more vinyl records in her hands, throwing them at him with reckless abandon. The man dodged the sloppy shurikens with ease and advanced towards her. Vinyl wasn't able to back away fast enough. She braced herself for another explosive punch. Her eyes shut tight, she was shocked to feel nothing yet. She heard the shuffling of feet behind her. Her eyes bolted open, quickly realizing the massive screw up she just made. “Game over.” She felt a devastating punch to her back quickly followed by another explosive impact that sent her flying back. Vinyl was struggling to stay in the fight. She could feel her attachment to her armor slipping, the armor nearly ready to force itself off of her. She held on and struggled to get back to her feet. She managed to get to her knees when she looked up and saw the armored man holding some sort of firearm at her head. “You haven't even begun to use a fraction of that armor's power. I'll make sure you're taken to a hospital. Any bills will be paid for as well. Good night.”
Vinyl's pupils shrank as she faced down her inevitable defeat. Though he did promise she would live, it felt like she was staring death in the face. Her breathing started to grow more rapid. She refused to go down so easily. Like everything she had done to this point, she felt some kind of instinct well up inside her, as if knowledge of the armor and how to use it was just slowly coming to her, and quickly acted on it. She yelled out in desperation, grabbing one of the sliders on her right arm and ramping it up all the way. “TEMPO BOOST!” The man was caught off guard, hesitating as his curiosity got the better of him. Vinyl felt time almost completely slow to a halt around her. Everything around her seemed completely void of movement. She wasted no time dwelling on this observation. She held her hands out, two records materializing on her middle fingers, spinning at high speed. She pushed off the ground, and sliced at the armored man with both records, stopping behind him, her arms still outstretched as she panted rapidly. She felt time quickly resume around her. Her brief advantage gone. She could only hope that it was enough to damage the armored man.
The man stood still for a moment before casually placing his firearm on his hip. “Well, I'm legitimately surprised. I wasn't expecting that. Tell you what. For that, I'll let you go just this once, or, at least that's what Tia wants me to do. Consider what I told you though. We need that Driver. People will die if we don't find and take out these Changelings and their leader. Keep that in mind next time you try and take that thing for a joy ride. We can track you. Next time, I'll be walking away with it.” The man left the scene, casually walking off. Vinyl was still stuck in place. She finally dematerialized the records and the armor forcibly disengaged around her. Her body was a mess, covered in light bruises. Her chest and back hurt the most. She fell to her knees and hands, gritting her teeth in frustration.
“Dammit...” She wasn't sure why she felt this way. She didn't care about being a superhero or anything. She just felt some attachment to the headphones... The Driver as he called it. For some reason she couldn't help be feel utterly defeated. She gave herself a few minutes to dwell on her loss before getting up and calling her roommate to come pick her up. She hobbled back to the hole she created earlier in the back wall of the comic shop, grabbing her equipment and taking it to the parking lot. As she waited for her ride, she could hear sirens approaching. It was going to be a long night.
---
“Bolt called. He said the girl with the Noise Driver was able to escape.”
The Doctor groaned as he entered the room. “Great. Anything interesting happen?”
Ditzy pointed at a large monitor currently displaying a map with a zoomed out view of the city. A green dot was blinking on it. “The Music Driver was activated about two minutes ago.”
The Doctor threw a hand up in frustration as he put his hot chocolate down. “I don't care about that one anymore. I swear whoever has it just wants to fuck with us. They keep activating the bloody thing and running somewhere miles away! This'll be the sixteenth time they've done that today. I already told the Riders to just ignore it for now. Bloody tracker only shows us the location of the Driver at the moment of activation.” He took a big gulp of his drink and sighed. “I'll admit though. Whoever has the Music Driver is clever. Trixie was able to find the user the first time, but ever since then they've started doing...this.” He gestured to the monitor for emphasis. “I think the person's already figured that we have limited tracking capabilities. We weren't able to figure out anything about the person either so knowing the general area that person lives in and general areas where they activate it doesn't really help us.”
Ditzy felt guilty enough for causing so much trouble and hearing this only made her feel even worse. “Have any of the other two shown up?”
“No. They either haven't been found yet or no one knows how to activate them yet. Right now, Noise and Music are the only ones that are active. Noise has only been activated a few times and Music just won't stop. ”
“...I'm so sorry Doctor...if there's anything I can do to help...”
“It's fine, don't worry about it. We still have four Drivers. That should be enough. We'll start screening users for the fourth Driver soon. We already have a user for the third. She should arrive in a few days. The higher ups are speaking highly of her.”
“What about Bolt?”
“They're currently overlooking him. He's shown exceptional ability as the Solar Driver's Rider so far and he's cooperating with us one hundred percent. There's a possibility we may have to replace him when the Eclipse Regalia are finished, but for now, he's staying. There's also the sentient AI in the Solar and Lunar Drivers. It's taken a liking to him. We've tried many candidates before he showed up. The AI refused to cooperate with either of them, so that's also a plus.”
“Sentient AI in the Drivers? What's that all about.”
The Doctor finished his hot chocolate. “I'll tell you later. I'm going to call it a night. You should get some sleep too. Good night.” He gave the monitor one last look, silently cursing the green dot and left the room.
---
Vinyl was glad to be home. She wanted nothing more then to sleep the whole night off like a bad dream. The police questioned her in the parking lot. She easily played it off saying she was roughed up by that monster and ran off when she had the chance and returned later to retrieve her equipment. The police suspected nothing. She gave the same story to her roommate on her way home, achieving the same effect. Her roommate was kind enough to help Vinyl to her room as well. Her bed had never felt more comfortable before today.
Her roommate turned the light off on her way out. "Good night, Vinyl"
A week had passed since the incident. Vinyl received an email the day after from the owners of the comic store apologizing and offering extra payment as compensation. She would have been fine without it but gladly took the offer since it was there. She spent the week relaxing, recovering from her injuries and reading more of her novel. She was getting a little sick of doing nothing and decided to drive around. Grabbing her headphones and her trademark purple shades, she left the apartment and drove off on her motorcycle with no particular destination in mind.
---
An incident at the Cover Page comic store in Manehattan last night. Footage has been immediately surfacing of a monster attack. The footage comes from a few civilians on the scene who captured the incident on their cellular phones. As you can see, the man, identified as Page Turner, appears to have turned into some kind of monster or alien and began wreaking havoc on the customers. That's all the footage that was taken from the scene, but eyewitness accounts also reported what they describe as a white armored ninja arriving on the scene and defeated the monster. Unfortunately no footage has surfaced of this account but we have received the same story from at least four witnesses who remained on the scene. Rumors that monsters or aliens have been hiding among us have been circulating since last month and people are now starting to believe that these rumors were true. More coverage on the situation as the investigations contin- *CLICK*
The Doctor sighed as turned the TV off and put on his coat. “Nothing on the Noise Driver's Rider. I wonder how Noise and Music will respond now...”
---
Vinyl drove for two hours, making turns whenever she pleased. Getting home wasn't an issue as her phone's GPS could easily take her back. She arrived at an old pier on the eastern side of Manehattan. Though she had never come here before, she was aware of it's existence. The famous Ship Shape Pier. It had a long history way back in the day for being the prime location of many lucrative deals and deliveries. The place had long since been abandoned and the city showed no current interest in dealing the pier in any way. People nearby still occasionally used the place for various purposes, but it was for the most part, empty. Vinyl looked around to make sure no one was around to see her. Taking a deep breath, she held down the button on her headphones and transformed. She was glad no one managed to get any footage of her that day. With every news crew in Manehattan swarming on the story, any possibility of tying her to the incident could have been catastrophic. Today, she felt like messing around more with the headphones...the Driver as that armored guy called it. She was determined to get better, though she still wasn't entirely sure why she was so hung up over it. She didn't care about being a hero or fighting evil or anything. She pushed her questions aside for the moment began experimenting. It seemed she was more agile than she initially though in this form. She was able to run on walls, much longer than any normal human should be able to. She also learned that the vinyl records that she could materialize could also be utilized as chakrams that were able to bounce off walls. The most interesting discovery though was her ability to utilize the records that still rested on the floor long after being thrown. She was able to use the mixing board on her right arm to make them do various things. She had figured out how to make them explode, emit any noise she desired and talk through them. She had made them emit a strange humming vibration but nothing seemed to come from that. She was sure it had some function but she was unable to figure it out.
“Didn't take you long to appear again. Now, will you hand over the Driver willingly this time? I intend to return with it this time, one way or another.”
---
“The Noise Driver just went live! The point of activation is...the old Ship Shape Pier. Can you make it out there Bolt?”
“Sure. Let's hope this one hasn't figured out how our tracking works.”
Ditzy sighed into her headset. She wanted nothing more than to fix her mistake, yet all she could do for now was deliver information and hope for the best. “Yeah... Also, Music just went active too.”
“Forget about Music, just let it do what it wants for now.”
“But, Music activated close by. She's within a five mile radius of Noise.”
There was a brief silence. “...I'll worry about finding Noise first. If Music decides to show up, then we'll go from there. Will Trixie be joining me?”
“Uhhhh...she's at work right now...”
“Figures. Whatever. I'm on my way. I should be there in about thirty or so minutes.”
---
Vinyl turned around, surprised to see the yellow armored stranger again. “You!? How did you find me!?”
“I take it that's a no then? Oh well. This time, I won't let you off the hook.” He removed the strange firearm holstered to his hip and pointed it at her. He began firing large energy spheres from the firearm, bombarding the area around Vinyl. She was able to avoid all but a few shots.
“Alright, I've been wanting a rematch anyway! Bring it on!” She threw a small barrage of records at him, all of which he calmly evaded and deflected. She grinned as she brought her right arm up and pushed up a slider. “Gotcha!” The records exploded around the armored man, catching him off guard. “And let's wrap this show up!” She materialized the large white and blue record in her right hand and threw it into the cloud of smoke, waiting patiently the dust to settle.
Standing with the record in his hands, the man broke it in half and tossed the pieces to the side, causing the record to vanish as it hit the ground. “Definitely a nice trick, you're gonna need more than that to beat me.” Vinyl was starting to panic now. She hadn't thought beyond that attack. She was sure it would have been enough to beat him. The man read her body language like a book. “I see. That was all you had, huh? A one trick pony. Enough wasting time.” He readied his fire arm and fired more shots at her, forcing her to dodge as many as she could again. She was able to dodge them all, but he charged at her while she was distracted and delivered another explosive punch to her chest, sending her flying back like last time.
She quickly rose to her feet. She abandoned her desire for a rematch. He was right, he knew how to fight with this armor. Vinyl on the other hand was a stranger to this kind of combat. If she went on any further, she was going to lose. She had one last trick up her sleeve. “One trick is all I'll need!” She created more records in her hands and began throwing them at the armored man.
“If it didn't work the first time, it's definitely not going to work again, especially not when you're making it so obvious!” He charged at her, ready to deliver the finishing blow.
A voice called out from behind him. “GOTCHA!” He stopped his advance and turned around, gasping at the potential threat behind him. He was confused to find nothing but the records on the ground. Before he could question the voice, the records all exploded at once. Vinyl used the confusion and smoke to escape. She quickly ran behind him, through the smoke and up a nearby building. She threw some records in various places on the ground as she made her escape.
As the dust settled the man looked searched for Vinyl. He kept hearing odd sounds and footsteps and sudden battle cries emanating from random locations every few seconds. He was unable to rely on his senses anymore. Frustrated, he came to the realization that his opponent had managed to trick him and escape. He brought his hand to his ear.
“She got away...”
---
Vinyl undid her transformation as she approached the street. It was nighttime, no one would have been able to see her clearly. She ran clutching her chest. She was utterly defeated and was lucky to escape again. She ran for awhile, finally turning an alley and allowing herself to catch her breath. “Dammit...he's right...I suck at fighting...”
A woman in a cheongsam dress approached Vinyl from further in the alley. “What interesting things you find this time of night.” Vinyl turned to get a look at her mysterious alleymate. “What drives you my dear?” Vinyl gazed into the woman's eyes. Her eyes were a haunting bright green. They seemed glow and pulsate the longer she looked into them, as if they peering into the very depths of her soul. Vinyl's current current pain suddenly seemed incredibly trivial, her body slowly starting to turn to face the woman. “Interesting. You have desire to hold on to an object, yet you are not entirely sure why. Your emotions...they are conflicted.” The cloaked woman took a few more steps towards. Vinyl was starting to feel terrified of this woman. Every fiber of her being was screaming at her to run, but she found herself unable to do anything at the moment. She could only continue staring into those eyes of hers. “I've been observing your kind. I find humans to be quite interesting. They are slaves to their emotions. Their desires, their needs, their actions...all driven by emotions. Their emotions drive them to achieve or even sabotage their own goals. Such an interesting phenomenon, but a phenomenon that must be eliminated before it drives the world to utter chaos.” The woman took a few more steps, now only inches away from Vinyl. She whispered to her. “I can set you free and rid you of your emotions.” Vinyl was internally screaming for help, her body breaking out into a cold sweat as she stood helpless, unable to escape. The woman held her hand out from the cloak. Her hand was jet black, her fingers sharp like claws and their appeared to be a hole in her palm. She slowly moved her hand towards Vinyl's chest. “I shall give you the power to conquer your emotions. To take what you've always wanted.”
The woman was less than an inch from making contact with Vinyl when she suddenly looked up and quickly backed away. Something was fired down at the ground, exploding as it landed in front of Vinyl, knocking her back and freeing of that captivating stare. She could suddenly feel the pain from earlier again. A strange minty green figure landed in front of Vinyl. “Don't look into her eyes! She uses direct eye contact to paralyze you.”
“What the heck is going on?!”
The armored figure glanced back at Vinyl, making sure not to drop her guard towards the mysterious woman in front of her and tossed a piece of paper at her. “Get out of here and read it! I'll hold her off!” Vinyl grabbed the note, scrambled to her feet and ran. She was in no mood to question anything right now. Putting distance between her and that strange woman was the only thing she cared about right now. She ran back, to her motorcycle, still parked near the pier and opened the note, looking around frantically to make sure nothing else wanted to kill her.
806 Melonbread Dr.
Room 204
Meet me there. Make sure you're not followed.
Vinyl quickly input the address into her GPS and drove off. She was having doubts about meeting this mystery person, but would rather take her chances with her than anyone of the others she had been dealing with the past few days. She was at least relieved to be on the road again. The prior events replayed in her head. She decided that if this meeting also ended in an attempt to retrieve this Driver from her, she would just give it up. This thing wasn't worth her life.
She examined the apartment building and scanned her surroundings to make sure she wasn't followed as the note instructed. She approached room 204 and knocked, mentally preparing herself for the worst. Two more attempted knocks later and nothing happened. She examined the note again to make sure she was at the right place and knocked one more time. She heard footsteps climbing the stairs nearby.
“Sorry I was late, I'm glad you showed up. Please come inside. I'm sure you'd like to relax after that nasty run in. Oh! But one quick question. You didn't transform on your way here did you?”
“No. Why?”
“Here's your first bit of useful information today. Next time you transform, don't stay in the same place for more than a few minutes. They can track your location when you do it.”
“So, that's how he keeps finding me!”
“Mmhm. Seems they can only track the location where you initially did it though. If you move far enough away, they won't know where you are. That's how I've been avoiding them.” She unlocked her door and held it open. “Come on in. Oh, and take off your shoes please.”
The place was small but cozy and well kept. She had a small kitchen area, a table big enough to seat at about six people and a flat screen TV with two bean bag chairs laying across from it. “Oh, by the way, my name is Lyra Heartstrings. What's yours?”
Vinyl was jolted out of her trance. Now taking in the girl's appearance. The girl had nice long minty green hair that stopped above her eyes on the front, along with a small line of hair that was dyed white. She was wearing a simple white shirt and jeans. “The name's Vinyl. Vinyl Scratch.”
She grinned. “I thought you looked familiar. I've heard of you.”
“Good to hear people know me. Does good for work. By the way, mind if I crash on the bean bag?” Lyra nodded, prompting Vinyl to quickly walk over, spin and fall on the bean bag chair.”
“You look like you're wiped. I'll make some food for us. You like spaghetti?”
Vinyl threw her hand up lazily. “Yeah. Sounds good.” She pulled her phone out of her pocket and quickly texted Trixie that she would be staying at an old friend's house for the night.
Lyra began boiling water on the stove. “So, I take it you found one of these 'Driver' things as well and accidentally figured out what it did too?”
Vinyl shuffled around the bean bag, pushing all the stuffing to the back so she could sit up a little while she talked. “Yeah. Some delivery chick with a big bag sat down with me at a sandwich joint and when she left, I noticed she left this package. I tried to find her but she was gone. And next thing I know, I was turning into some kind of armored super girl. How'd you get yours? Also, have you met with that guy in the yellow armor?”
“I was getting on the bus back home and I saw some kind of brown box with nothing on it. I assumed it was someone pulling some kind of harmless little stunt and I just kind of took it. A few days later, I figured out what it could do. As for a yellow Rider, kind of. When I transformed for the first time I was in one of our university auditoriums. I freaked out a little bit and then found out how to undo the transformation. I was leaving the school grounds and I did see a yellow Rider walking around the grounds. I kind of got even more freaked out when I saw him and took another route off the grounds. School was out and almost no one was there. There was some female blue Rider with a cape that attacked me when I transformed again and tried to test my Driver out. We had a small conversation and I didn't want to give my Driver up. She was going to attack me but I managed to run away.”
Vinyl stayed quiet for a minute. She was very curious about one part of that story. “Why didn't you want to give up your Driver, Lyra? I've been holding on to mine but...I honestly don't really know why I'm still holding on to this thing when it's nearly gotten me killed like three times already.”
“I'm keeping mine for now because I have something I need to do with it. Believe it or not, I know about the Changelings. I knew about them before I got my hands on this. I've heard the rumors floating around and I got really interested in it. I found out a little bit about them, though no one on the internet has been able to figure out why this is suddenly happening.” Lyra paused for minute. Vinyl noticed Lyra eyes were starting to get misty. It looked like she was holding back tears. “And as fate would have it...not even a day later...I had a bit of a changeling encounter of my own...” Lyra set a timer for the noodles and moved to the counter, folding her arms down it and staring at the wall. “Do you know what Changelings are or how they're made Vinyl?”
Vinyl slowly sat up at full attention. She could see an ocean of sadness in Lyra's eyes with just a small, faint glimmer of hope. The face of a person with one goal and nothing left to lose. “N-no...”
“You almost became one earlier.” She paused for a moment to let that statement sink in. “That woman is the one who creates Changelings. She appears almost out of nowhere at night to random people...she pierces your heart with her bare hand...and corrupts it. She does something to you...corrupting your emotions...it's like something slowly eats away at your humanity...and once the person finally sheds off their skin...the last remainder of their humanity...all that's left is a hideous monster...a Changeling... You saw it, right? I saw the story on the news a few days ago. I'm almost certain that was you. You saw his skin just fall off, right?” Vinyl nodded slowly. “That's the final stage. But I believe... I believe a person can be saved before they get to that point.” Her tear ducts were slowly losing the battle as she continued. “I tried asking that blue Rider when she confronted me that time... She said that no one has ever recovered before that...but...there's a first time for everything right?” She looked at Vinyl, her expression begging for a positive response.
Vinyl didn't know who she believed at the moment, but she didn't want to crush her hope. “Y-yeah. I think you could...maybe if you could snap them out of it beforehand or something...or maybe if you beat that woman making them...”
“That's what I was thinking. That's why I've been transforming a lot and practicing with this armor. If I can beat her before... Vinyl...would you consider helping me? You don't have to if you don't want to...”
Vinyl had to put some thought into the request. She wasn't exactly keen on the idea of dying, but just like last time, she couldn't just let someone die in front of her. She had a feeling that a close friend or lover of Lyra's had probably come in contact with that mysterious woman and had her heart corrupted. She couldn't find it in herself to leave Lyra like this. Especially not after she had just saved her life. “Yeah. I'll help you get your friend back.”
Beeeeep beeeeep
Lyra wiped her eyes and removed the pot from the stove, looking back at Vinyl. “Thank you.” She brought the pot to the sink and went to grab a strainer.
Lyra had composed herself before she served their late night dinner. The two sat together at the dinner table and continued trading information. “By the way, you kept callin' those two 'Riders'. What's that all about?”
“That's what that girl called us. She said those who carried and used these Drivers were called Riders. Armored Riders.”
Vinyl swallowed a mouth full of spaghetti, entranced by this moniker. “Yo, I like it. Armored Riders...” She was still completely against the idea of parading about as a hero of justice, but coming up with some kind of 'hero' name already sounded really cool to her. “How'd you figure out that you could avoid those guys by just moving somewhere else?”
“After my encounter with that blue Rider, I wanted to see what would happen if I transformed and transformed back to normal. So I went to the Starry Brew in that small mall not too far from here, did it in the bathroom, got a coffee, sat outside and just waited. I didn't see a Rider, but I did see someone wander around the plaza, looking for something or someone. I did it a few more times that later that day, though those times I was hiding as well. I didn't want them noticing me every time. I saw a girl the first time and the other times I saw a guy. A day or two later, I did the same thing, except after I did it, I went somewhere completely different after I transformed and untransformed. I never saw either of them those times. I figured they could only track your location at the time of transformation. Anything you do after, it doesn't seem like they can track.”
“That makes sense. Every time I used mine, I stayed in the same place. So, at least now I know how to avoid that guy. But they did say they needed the Drivers to fight the Changelings...should we really be holding on to these?”
Lyra finished her plate and wiped her mouth clean. “I can return it after I'm done with it. I know it's a bit selfish, but I will save my friend.”
“Fair enough I guess.” Vinyl finished as well. She reached into her pocket to check her phone for the time. “Jeez! It's 3 AM?!”
“Oh! You can stay if you like. I have a spare mattress for guests. It's comfortable don't worry, not some old throw away mattress or anything.”
“Thanks. That'd be great.”
The mattress was indeed comfy. Lyra was glad to see her guest satisfied and turned off all the lights. She stopped at her door, remembering something. “Oh! I almost forgot, the blue Rider gave her name when we met that one time. I doubt it's her real name or would help us find out who she is, but she called herself The Great and Powerful Armored Rider.”
---
“Doctor! The Claw Driver just went active!”
The voice on the Doctor's headset sounded surprised. “It did?! Where? Is Bolt awake and willing to go check it out?”
“It's pretty far from here. It would be about a two hour drive from here. Bolt said he might do it, but he sounded really tired and annoyed...”
There was a brief silence. “Forget it. Tomorrow we'll have Bolt drive out there and we'll see if it goes active again. Let him sleep for now. Mark the location for now. “
“Will do! Good night Doctor!”
“Ditzy, I appreciate the effort, but you should really get some sleep. It's not good to be staying up so late like this."
“Don't worry, I'll be fine. I'll leave after I finish this up. Good night!”
“Now this is certainly interesting. You would dare threaten me to save that young woman? Is she a friend? A lover? A stranger? ...I feel like I've seen you before somewhere, but I can't seem to read your heart. Why is that young lady?”
“Shut up! I want answers! Why are you turning humans into Changelings? What do you have to gain from all of this?!”
“I simply desire nothing more than to save this planet from the emotions that plague it. Emotions cloud humanity's judgment. Emotions prevents humans from pursuing their true desires. Emotions cause humans to do odd and irrational things. Humans are slaves to the shackles of their emotions and as their queen, I only want what's best for them. I am curious though. What drives you, hm?”
“Their queen?! Who or what the hell are you?! You some kind of alien that wants to take over the planet or something?!”
“...I see...it's that armor you are currently clad in. It's preventing me from seeing the real you. I'd like to see the human that lies underneath it.”
“How do you reverse it?! How do you change them back to a human?!”
“I see...so I have freed someone you once held dear. Fret not little one, I can set you free as well. I can rid you of those cursed emotions of yours.”
“SHUT UP! JUST TELL ME HOW TO CHANGE MY FRIEND BACK!”
“There is no way to reverse the change. Their emotions and feelings will twist and bend until the heart can no longer resist the metamorphosis. There's no way to stop the process. Why not simply join her? There will be no more suffering under the pain of your emotions.”
“Fine then! I'll just kill you instead! If you're the source of this, then killing you should put a stop to it!”
“Hmhmhm. How cute. We will meet again my little human.”
“No you don't! ...Dammit! ...I'm sorry Bon-Bon...”
---
Vinyl awoke at 1 PM to a hand pushing at her shoulder repeatedly. Finally annoyed enough to acknowledge the issue, she sat up to see Lyra giving her a curious, slightly disapproving look. “How were you still asleep? It's already one in the afternoon.”
“Forgive me for having a crappy night and sleeping at three in the morning.”
“Fair enough I guess,” Lyra stood up and made her way to the kitchen. “You like pancakes?” Vinyl responded with a tired moan. “Perfect. Pancakes it is.”
Vinyl got up and stretched a bit. She looked over at the kitchen area. Lyra was wearing nothing more than a pair of briefs and a simple full-cup bra. “Do you normally dress like that when you have guests over?”
Lyra raised an eyebrow and looked down at herself. “Oh...I guess this is a little too casual to be walking around someone I just met... Sorry, I'll go change, be right back.”
The two had a quiet breakfast, the TV was currently on a news channel, though neither were paying any particular attention to it. They were only listening to see if any news regarding the Cover Page incident, the Riders or Changelings happened to come up. Lyra took their plates when they were done and gave them a quick wash. She walked over to the TV and turned it off. “Alright, let's get some training in today. It'll be nice to have someone to actually work with.”
“Alright, where we goin' to practice?”
“The Ship Shape Pier. It's pretty out of the way for most people and we should have a small amount of people potentially seeing us make our way there.”
“Whattya mean?”
“Remember, we can't stay in the same place after we transform. There's bunch of stores all clumped together about a mile or two away from it. We'll transform behind one and head to the pier by roof top.”
“Okay, now you said people potentially seeing us. Does that mean you've been seen before?”
Lyra nodded casually. “Yep. It's hard to avoid when you're doing this in broad daylight. But it's less risky than doing it at night and risking running into that woman. But the people that do catch a glimpse of me usually don't have their phones on hand to snap a pic of me and those that do get crappy photos. Theirs already rumors started about me on the internet. But as long as there's nothing remotely concrete to connect the images and rumors to me, then we'll be fine.
“Gotcha.”
---
The Doctor threw hands up and leaned back into his chair. “Oh, that's just perfect!”
Ditzy entered the room with two steaming mugs. “What's the matter Doctor?
“Music and Noise just went live together. Looks like they've met up with each other. Which means Noise most likely knows how to evade us now! Going after either of them is going to be incredibly difficult now.” He took a mug from Ditzy, raising the mug up for a brief second as a sign of appreciation.
“What about Claw? Has it done anything yet?” Ditzy asked as she sat down and put a headset around her neck, ready to work.
“Not since it's first activation. Trixie's in the general area where it first went live right now. I want you to keep her informed of any further activations today Ditzy, including Music and Noise if they activate again. Don't bother Bolt today unless one of them activates nearby. I want him to take a break today. I'm going to be out today.”
Ditzy turned around. “Where are you going Doctor?”
“The candidate for the Lunar Driver will be arriving tonight. I'm going to run a few small errands around Manehattan and then pick her up at the airport. Here's hoping the AI accepts her. If not, then this will all have been a huge waste of time and money.”
“Do we know anything about her?”
“According to the intel we have on her, she's quite the intelligent young lady. She's helped in developing some of the Drivers as well. She might even be able to help us figure out a way to zero in on Music and Noise,” The Doctor stood up and made his way for the door. “Her name is Twilight Sparkle.”
---
Lyra and Vinyl had made it to the pier. She was certain one or two people may have seen them, but like Lyra said, it was inconsequential. “You really do look like a ninja when you're transformed like that. I really like the face mask too.”
“I'm glad this thing has the face mask too or I would have been in trouble last time. I kinda wish I had something to cover my eyes as well,” She froze for a minute, replaying Lyra's initial statement in her head. “Wait...ninja?”
“Yeah. That's what the people at the event that saw you described you as.”
“Oh yeah. I'm okay with that.”
“Closest I have is the visor over my eyes. I can make them appear solid or see through if I want. Doesn't affect my vision.”
Vinyl shrugged. “Aright, so what did you have in mind for training anyway? I've already gotten my ass handed to me twice by that yellow Rider. I'd like to not get completely wrecked by anything else.”
“Yeah, I saw. I was going to help you too, but you got away. That trick with the records was pretty cool.”
“You were there for that!?”
Lyra smiled sheepishly. “Yeah. I wanted to see how good you were. Sorry. I mean, I was going to save you near the end there. But you managed to get away so, I just kinda followed you for a bit and then...you know the rest.”
“First, we work on your focus issues. With these armored suits on, we're pretty much super human. I noticed whenever he fired a lot of shots at you, you were focused entirely on dodging them and stopped paying attention to him. Never ignore your opponent like that. Another thing, he was right about the whole relying on one trick thing. That attack you used on him that first time, that was pretty good, but don't just assume that fight's over just because you got him with it. He's a Rider too. He can take a beating. Keep attacking and stay on your guard.”
“Wasn't expecting an in-depth analysis on why I sucked. That was good to hear,” Vinyl responded, feeling a little crappy now.
“That's what we're here to work on, don't worry. Just keep what I said in mind and we'll go at it a bit.” Lyra was holding a lyre in her hands that Vinyl now recognized as her Driver. A long guitar-like neck suddenly grew out of the lyre at break neck speed, creating some kind of guitar/lyre hybrid. She grabbed the neck of the 'guityre', kicked the side of the lyre half and let it spin in her hand until the lyre half came around and was caught by her other hand. “Ready?”
Vinyl materialized two records in her hands. “Might as well be.”
“Just remember what I told you.” Lyra brought her hand to lyre's strings and started strumming wildly, floating speakers materialized over her shoulders. The sound of a wild guitar solo emanated from the speakers as Lyra strummed her instrument, causing dozens of music note shaped projectiles to fire at Vinyl from the floating speakers. Vinyl kept the advice in mind and dodged through the hail of fire, taking a few shots in the process. “Come on! I'm not gonna stop anytime soon if you don't give me a reason!” Vinyl shifted gears and started hurling records at Lyra as she continued to dodge the hail of musical projectiles. Lyra dodged them, taking two hits in the process. She grinned a little at Vinyl's quick learning as she continued her barrage. “Alright, now you're getting it. Find a way to put me on the defensive and don't let up!”
Vinyl was getting fed up with the onslaught. Although, Lyra was still right. Vinyl was doing minimal damage and with her still on the defensive, Lyra had no reason to stop. At this rate, Lyra could just blast her way to victory. Vinyl needed to stop relying on one attack and start finding a way to deal with the current problem, and she was more than ready to improvise. She remembered her practice yesterday, though she had yet to apply it in combat. Vinyl ran toward the warehouse next to her and used her boosted agility and speed to run along the wall as she closed the distance to her opponent. Lyra grinned again, finally stopping her solo and strummed the strings of her guityre one more time. “Machine Gun String!” Separate threads of string seemed to branch out from the lyre end and all launched out in prediction of Vinyl's run path. Vinyl leapt off the wall towards Lyra avoid it. Lyra recalled the string back to her guityre as Vinyl prepared a dive kick to capitalize on the recovery of Lyra's failed attack. Vinyl tossed two more records to stun Lyra as she began to descend towards Lyra at an accelerated speed. Unable to counter in time, Lyra was struck and sent sliding back a considerable distance from the impact of the kick. Vinyl tossed a fist up in the air. She was finally getting a feel for real combat. Lyra got up to her feet and clapped a little as she made her way towards Vinyl. “There ya go! Now you're getting it. You're pretty good at adapting on the fly. Now then, let's keep going.”
Vinyl nodded and took a fighting stance. “You got it.”
The two spent around two hours sparring with each other. Vinyl had shown considerable improvement over her first two performances against the yellow Rider. They disengaged their transformations and sat for awhile at the edge of the pier to relax. “Sorry to bring up last night but, this friend of yours. The one we're trying to save. Is he your boyfriend or something?”
Lyra responded with a silent chuckle. “Was it really that obvious?”
“S-sorry. My guess was it was either a lover or a close friend. I just took a shot in the dark. But, I have another question.” Vinyl took a quiet breath. It wasn't an easy question to ask, but she wanted to know. “How...how do you know he's still alive? Like...I mean, how do you know he hasn't changed into a monster yet or anything?”
Lyra took no time responding, evidently expecting the question. “I've been tracking him the same way I started looking into Changelings. Internet posts, articles, pictures people posted, and so on. There have only been a few Changeling sightings before you showed up and none since. I almost had a heart attack when I saw the report on the news from the Cover Page incident. I was glad to hear it wasn't him. I have been seeing sightings online though. It looks like...like he's just wandering aimlessly at the moment but I can never find him. Every picture I see of him though...it looks like he's suffering. I don't know how much time I have left. But I have a feeling that...together, we can beat that woman together and stop her from doing the same to anyone else.”
A tiny smile crept onto Vinyl's face. She still had no idea if defeating that woman in the alley would be enough to save her boyfriend or anyone else for that matter, but it was the only thing either of them could think of at the moment. It certainly wasn't a bad idea by any means. Eliminating her would be a great service to everyone. She just hoped that they could do it in time. Vinyl felt a drop of rain hit her head. Looking up, she noticed it was getting very cloudy. Lyra stood up. “We should go back home. We can pass the time until night. That lady is usually sighted at night, so that'll be our best time to find her.”
“Right. Tonight, we'll put her down!”
---
Vinyl was having trouble waiting for night to roll around. Normally this wouldn't be an issue, but without her laptop on her, the task was proving quite difficult. She proposed to wait the rest of the time out outside somewhere. Lyra had no issues one way or the other and agreed to wait the time out at a small plaza where she worked. Vinyl would at least be able to check out the different places and pass the time. Lyra was new to riding as a passenger on a motorcycle, or on a motorcycle in general. The experience was a little scary for her at first, but she was slowly getting used to it. As Vinyl approached the parking lot, it started raining hard. The two parked and ran to the nearest building, the Starry Brew cafe where Lyra worked. “Jeez, we sure picked a great night for this.”
“Remember, this was your idea.”
Vinyl found a booth and sat down. “Yeah well...it was gonna happen either way. So, whatever, let's just wait the rain out.”
Lyra called out to a woman behind the counter. “Hey Rarity! Can I get a small coffee. Whole milk and caramel please.”
The barista winked in response and began preparing her drink behind the counter. Vinyl watched in curiosity. “So, you work here right?”
“Mhm. We're a bit slow during the summer, so we'll probably be the only ones here for awhile. Especially with this rain.”
“If you want anything, just let me know and I'll get it for you.”
The barista returned with Lyra's coffee and brought a nearby chair to the booth. “Sorry to be upfront but Lyra, dear, I'm worried about you. No one see's you outside of work anymore and when they do you just completely vanish. I think I'm starting to figure out why too. You're still looking fo-” Lyra coughed in an exaggerated manner, glaring at Rarity. “Ahem, my apologies. But really, I don't think it's such a big deal. It's probably just a simple error in communication. In any case, I apologize for the intrusion dear. My name is Rarity. Who might you be?”
“Name's Vinyl. What's up.”
Rarity looked a little concerned. “Lyra sweetie, please tell me this isn't what I'm thinking this is. I understand how much it must hurt, but you can't jus-”
Lyra shook her head, feeling slightly irritated by the insinuation. “It's not what you think Rarity. She's just a friend I met recently. Would you please stop with this already.”
“Sorry, sorry. So how goes your day?”
“Vinyl here was helping me look for something until it started pouring and then we ended up here. Not much else to say about it.”
Rarity pouted, resting her arms on the table and her head on her hands. “Oh please Lyra, I still have hours to go before we're allowed to close up and with the place being an absolute ghost town right now the least you could do is make your story entertaining. Honestly I'd even go for absurdly elaborate lie right now.”
“Come on, you're alone with two co-workers. How could you three possibly not be talking up a storm or cracking jokes or whatever to pass the time.”
Rarity response was deadpan. “Darling, I'm closing with Gyro and Fluttershy. One of them says absolutely nothing and one of them attempts to awkwardly hit on me or awkwardly ask me personal questions for the sake of awkwardly trying to hit on me. What do you expect me to do?”
“Aw come on. Like...I can understand Gyro, but Fluttershy's just a little shy and still getting comfortable here. Also, if you want Gyro to stop without hurting his feelings, you could always try playing the lesbian card.”
Rarity raised an eyebrow at Lyra for a few seconds before responding. “Funny, but no. I don't want any such rumors spreading nor am I going to fake a boyfriend or any of your other absurd ideas. I don't want to make him feel bad. I'm just not remotely interested in him. I just wish he could grasp subtlety.” She glanced over to the side at Vinyl and quickly sat up straight. “Oh my! I'm terribly sorry, we keep launching into conversation and I keep forgetting you're here.”
Vinyl waved her off, smirking all the while. “Naw don't worry. This is pretty entertaining to listen to. Don't mind me. I'll be cashing in my free drink while I enjoy the show though. Hot chocolate please. Put a little bit of cinnamon in there too.” Rarity nodded and called out the order to an employee from the behind the counter. The girl behind the counter tensed up immediately and began preparing the requested drink. A little bit of idle chatter later and the shy girl brought Vinyl her hot chocolate, bowing slightly and quickly walking off back behind the counter.
Rarity sighed. “Honestly, I don't think it takes more than a month to settle into new surroundings. I'll try inviting her to join me at the spa, on me of course. If that doesn't get her to relax then I don't know what will.”
The time passed quickly as the three continued to talk, Vinyl chimed in a few times, but for the most part just listened contentedly. Rarity bid the two farewell as she returned to work to start closing down the shop. Unfortunately the rain still showed no signs of slowing it's assault. Lyra led Vinyl quickly to the back of the shop. Both of them made sure their were no prying eyes about, and transformed. They made a hasty exit from the plaza to avoid any unwanted confrontations before setting off to search for the mysterious woman.
---
A car came to a screeching halt as a strange woman blocked the lane. “HEY! GET THE FUCK OFF THE ROAD LADY!” The woman mumbled something, but her voice drowned out by the rain. “I WANT TO FUCKING GO HOME! FUCKING CROSS IF YOU NEED TO ALREADY! COME THE FUCK ON ALREADY!” The man screamed, honking his horn to accentuate his anger.
The woman shambled slowly towards the front of the vehicle, her wet two-toned hair covered her features. She muttered again to herself as she approached. Ignoring the man's continued complaints, the woman slowly raised her fist, holding it up in the air for a few seconds and slammed it down into the hood of the car, creating a fist sized crater. She slowly pulled her hand out of the crater and muttered some more incomprehensible words to the driver. The man was shaken by the woman's display of strength, quickly backed up and quickly sped around the woman. She collapsed to the ground, staring at the ground beneath her.
---
The two searched for an hour, scanning about from rooftop and venturing into narrow alleyways in an attempt to encounter the mysterious woman again to no avail. Vinyl suggested that the woman may have gone somewhere to take cover from the rain. Lyra was silently cursing herself for not considering the weather at any point and decided to return home and try again tomorrow. On their way back, Lyra stopped abruptly as something catching her eye. Vinyl stopped to see what was so interesting. Further down the street from them, a strange human figure was slowly shambling down the road. Vinyl grew tense. “You think it's her? Should we rush her down?” Lyra didn't respond. Her gaze was fixed on the figure. It seems at though it was staring listlessly at the ground as it made it's slow approach. She started to walk towards the figure. “Woah, wait! Lyra! Did she get you with that eye thing? Snap out of it!?'
“...it's...her...it's Bon-Bon...”
Vinyl stared at Lyra with a clueless expression. “Who now?”
“My...my friend...”
“What!?”
Lyra stopped at the middle of an intersection of the road, as did the figure, now identifiable as a female. “Bon-Bon. You're still alive. Please, just hold on a little longer! I know how to save you! Just hold on a little while longer!”
Bon-Bon's head raised, her eyes blocked by the wet hair covering them. “Is she your new squeeze? You replaced me just like that?”
Lyra shook her head. “No! She agreed to help me save you! All we have to do is stop that woman creating all the Changelings and you'll be back to normal! We can beat her toge-”
“And then what!? Go back to the way things were? Save me and then dump her? Is that how it works!? You just break hearts everywhere you go until you finally find one your satisfied with!? IS THAT HOW IT WORKS!?
“Bon-Bon, relax please! It's not like that! It's twisting your heart right now! You have to hold on just a little bit longer! I'm so close, you can't lose yourself now! Please!
Vinyl looked between the two, extremely confused. “Is this your friend? I thought you said she was a dude.”
Bon-Bon put a hand to head, clutching it hard as her face contorted a little in pain. “Lyra...it...it doesn't work that way... I'm sorry Lyra. I can't fight it anymore.”
Lyra was starting to tear up, her face still holding on to a faint smile. “You can do it, I know you can! You can't give up now Bon-Bon, not when I'm so close! Just hold on a lit-”
The skin on Bon-Bon's hand was slowly starting to flake off. “It's too late. I can't do it anymore Lyra... I can't stop it now...”
“No Bon-Bon please don't! WE'RE SO CLOSE, YOU CAN'T GIVE UP NOW!”
The flaking was slowly continuing, creeping down her arm, revealing a black chitinous, hole riddled exoskeleton underneath. “I'm sorry Lyra... I...I never should have... I....I-I...” The flaking reached her shoulder and was now flaking the skin off her head and moving down her chest. “I'M SO SORRY LYRAAAagggnnnnggh-” Bon-Bon's arm went limp and dropped to her side.
Any sign of hope in Lyra's expression were now gone. She fell to her knees, dropping her Guityre, mentally begging and praying to some unknown god for a miracle. “BON-BON PLEASE, NO! PLEASE DON'T! NOT NOW!”
“...you rejected me Lyra...it hurt so much...all I wanted was your love...but we can still be together...” The black figure that was once Bon-Bon threw her hair back with her hand, revealing her chilling blue eyes. “I'll kill us both! Then no one can ever come between us again!” Vinyl put herself in front of Lyra. She had a feeling Lyra wouldn't be doing anything productive for awhile. “I won't let you get in our way. You're not allowed to die with us either! I'll leave you bleeding on the street!” The Changeling made a beeline for Vinyl, her now incredibly sharp fingers poised to stab. She grabbed the Changeling's hands and attempted to toss them to the side, but found herself now contending with impending impalement. The Changeling was certainly stronger than it looked. The last one she fought transformed into something bigger. This one however kept it's same body shape and yet seemed much stronger than the last one. Her eyes shrank a bit as all thoughts of protecting Lyra were immediately pushed to the side, all her brain power focusing on figuring out a way escape getting stabbed in the neck. All possibilities Vinyl could come up with required her to let go to free up her left hand, which would also result in her death. She fought as hard as she could to slow the Changeling's hands as she slowly came the realization that she had no chance to escape. The Changeling's crazed grin grew as it continued pushing towards Vinyl neck, also aware that she had no way to escape.
Lyra brought herself to her feet, walking to the side of the current struggle, dragging her Guityre along the ground. Stopping just behind the Changeling, Lyra picked up her instrument, wound up a powerful baseball swing and let loose. The Guityre slammed into the Changeling's neck with all her might, sending the Changeling careening towards the curb. Vinyl was fortunately unharmed. She had only lost her balance fell to her back. She glanced at the now active Lyra. Her visor completely tinted white on the outside, obscuring her eyes, but despite and the rain, Vinyl could see a torrent of tears streaming down her face. The Changeling had trouble some trouble regaining it's footing. It's hand was clutching it's neck tightly while the other worked to help itself to it's feet. “Y-you... I-I thought you still loved me... I-I thought you said she was nothing...”
Lyra's Guityre found itself being held by the neck in one hand again, the bottom end resting carelessly on the ground as she replied to the Changeling, her voice filled with sorrow. “I'm sorry...I wasn't fast enough Bon-Bon... This was all my fault and I hope you can forgive me.” The tone of her voice abruptly changed, now cold and brimming with anger. “But you're not her anymore and I won't let you kill my friend. Despite everything that's happened to her, she went out of her way to help someone she didn't even know until yesterday, knowing full well that she could have died. I honestly don't know if I would have done the same if I were in her shoes. I still barely even know her, but I can already say I would consider her one of my closest friends...and I will do everything I can to protect my friends.”
The Changeling's face was writhing with pain and hatred. “How dare you... You heartless bitch!” It released it's grip on it's neck and charged towards Lyra, it's speed and stability were severely hindered from Lyra's attack. “YOU BELONG TO ME AND NO ONE ELSE!!!” The Changeling leapt into the air and stretched it's arms out in front of it as it began to descend towards her.
A large speaker materialized on the ground in front of Lyra's feet, facing towards the sky. “And I'll make up for my mistakes while I'm at it!” She lifted her Guityre up and cradled it in both hands, casually lifting her right foot up high and stomping down on the speaker as the Changeling was above it. The speaker responded by emitting a loud electric guitar screech. The sheer volume and power of the speaker launched the Changeling high into the air. Lyra continued her attack, placing the Guityre on the speaker and bending the neck back as she held the bottom in place against her foot. The strings on the bottom lyre end broke down the middle and all the strings fired up in the air towards the Changeling, piercing it's chest and stomach in multiple areas, one string piercing it's heart. “I'm sorry I tried to hide it in public! I was an inconsiderate idiot! But let me make it up to you! I won't hide it anymore! I'll tell the whole city!” She lowered her head down towards the speaker underneath her heel to avoid the looking at what she was about to do. She screamed at the speaker as loud as she could “I LOVE YOU BON-BON!” Her screaming caused a loud reverberation to blast out of the speaker and sent out an electric pulse through the strings of her Guityre, flowing all the way through the strings piercing the Changeling. The Changeling screamed out in pain for a few seconds before exploding violently. The speaker vanished and strings returned to the Guityre retracted, fixing themselves quickly. She fell to her knees shortly after.
Vinyl watched the entire spectacle silently. The rain continued to pour throughout it all. She found the scene tragically poetic. A woman, fated to kill her lover in the dead of a cold rainy night. It was like a scene ripped right out a hard boiled detective story. Her silent musings were cut short by the sound of sirens. She had completely ignored how loud and explosive Lyra's last attack was. This was going to be a hornet's nest within minutes. She rushed over to Lyra and shook her a little to get her attention. “Lyra, we gotta bail now! The cops are about to swarm the place!” Lyra didn't respond. Vinyl shook her even harder. “Come on dammit! I know it hurts now but you can't just give up everything like this! Get up and let's go!” There was still no response from her. Vinyl took a quick look around. The police weren't in sight just yet. “You have to keep moving dammit! I know it sucks to have to say it like this, but grieve later when the police aren't coming after us and then make it up to her by staying alive! I'll carry your ass if I have to! Either way I'm not leaving you here!” Lyra slowly picked herself up and nodded. They ran off the streets and made their escape across the rooftops.
Vinyl returned to Lyra's apartment. There was little issue with the police on the drive back. She made a simple excuse about returning home from a party. Neither spoke a word on the drive or in the apartment. Vinyl got out the shower in Lyra's room and found her sitting on her staring at a photo. Vinyl wanted to try and comfort her somehow. She took a seat next to her and took a glance at the photo. It was a picture of Lyra and another girl, her hair blue and pink split down the middle. The two were standing on the Manehattan Statue of Unity, their backs to the ocean. Lyra made no attempt to hide her tears as she finally spoke up. “I wish I could have at least had a chance to apologize to her... I was an idiot. I always tried to hide our relationship in public because I was scared of what others would think... I never once considered how much it was hurting her...”
Vinyl took a deep breath. “Lyra...I'm so sorry. I...I got nothin'. I wanna say something, but I can't find any words... All I can think to say is, I'm sorry...”
“It's okay. I'm just glad you're here. It means a lot to me Vinyl.”
“I know I said I didn't want to be some kind of selfless hero of justice or anything...and I still don't want to but...I'm going to keep this Driver. I'm going to find that woman and take her out. I'm going to take out any Changelings that get in my way. I don't want anyone else to have to go through what you had to...” She gave Lyra a hug, which Lyra gladly returned.
---
The Doctor had been waiting for almost half an hour. He had been considering taking a quick break to get a snack at one of the fast food shops in the airport, but he didn't want to risk Twilight finally arriving with no one to greet her. The thought continued to resurface in his mind every few minutes. Fighting with another bout of deciding to abandon his post for a snack when a voice interrupted his inner struggle. “Hello. You must be the Doctor.”
“Oh! Oh yes, I am the Doctor. Sorry about that. Twilight Sparkle correct?”
Twilight bowed politely to the Doctor. “Pleased to meet you. Sorry I took so long, it took forever for my luggage to come through the line.”
“Not a problem. It's nice to meet you too. Unrelated note, would you like to make a quick pit stop through a drive-thru?”
The Doctor now had two tacos to satisfy his hunger and he drove down the streets of Manehattan. Twilight was enjoying a grilled chicken salad as well, an unspoken agreement hung through the air and neither spoke for awhile, allowing themselves finish their food first before continuing conversation.
“That was delicious, thank you.”
“You're very welcome. I'm guessing you didn't have much to eat on the plane.”
“There was some food, but I spent most of my time reading and enjoying the view. I was busy doing a little bit of research before I boarded.”
“Fair enough. While we're here, I took the liberty of bringing you your Driver.” The Doctor reached into a backpack he had set next to the driver seat and pulled out a large belt buckle with a moon emblem on it. “Feel free to get acquainted with it. You may have heard of the sentient AI built into it. If it doesn't like you, it won't let you use it.”
“I read about that, the AI in the Solar and Lunar Drivers developed an odd mindset upon completion. If they didn't like the person wearing the Driver, they wouldn't allow the user to transform with it. I'm looking forward to getting to know it.”
“Her.” The Doctor corrected.
“Her? It's a female?”
“Sort of. Both of AI's have been very adamant about being identified as females. We're still not quite sure why they've developed the quirks they have but as long as they deliver results, we don't particularly care for now.”
“Interesting. Oh! I also have something for you as well. I'm assume the higher ups have given you information on the Eclipse Regalia that you were to be receiving soon correct?”
“Yes I have. I'm still not sure how we're going to be dealing with that when we get it. I'm not sure if the higher ups have told you about the current user for the Solar Driver.”
“I actually wasn't able to get any information on the Solar Driver's current user. I meant to ask about that as well. How or why is he or she off the record?”
“It's a bit of an odd story. I'll tell you that one a little later. He's a bit of a firecracker that one. But he follows our orders for the most part and has produced results. He's been accepted by the Solar Driver and has gotten quite proficient with it in a short amount of time. Which is why we're still keeping him for now. Personally, I've got no problem with keeping him but I'm not sure how things will progress once we have the Eclipse Regalia. My personal opinions aren't important though, you were mentioning about having something for me?”
“Yes, about that. I was asked to deliver the Eclipse Regalia to you. It's currently in one of my bags.”
“Oh that's wonderful! Alright then, when we get back w-” The Doctor cut himself off as he started noticing police lights ahead of him. As he started to get closer, he noticed that police and various media crew teams were littering the area. The police politely told him to take an alternate route home while they continued to investigate the area. He grabbed his phone and quickly dialed a number while Twilight watched in silence from the passenger seat. “Ditzy, anymore recent activations today?”
“Yes. Flight finally activated today. Claw also activated once, but they were both in different locations at different times. Noise and Music also activated together twice today. I don't think Flight and Claw are aware of each other. I don't think Noise and Music know about them either.”
The Doctor looked at the fading police lights in his rear view as he contemplating something for a minute. “Ditzy, I want you to do a quick search for me. Look up anything about the last few hours. I just drove by a police road block and they've blocked off quite a few streets. I want you to check news sites, local blogs, forums, and whatever else you can dig through. I have a feeling it might concern us. I have Twilight and we're heading back, give me the details when we arrive. Oh! And when you get the chance, if you could, set up mattress I brought in this morning. Twilight will be staying the night there. I'll be getting her a place to stay first thing tomorrow.”
“Got it! You can count on me Doctor!”
“See you in a few hours.” He put his phone in his chest pocket. “Sorry about that. You may have also heard the news about some of the Drivers getting lost and scattered on their way to us. It's been causing us quite a bit of issues to say the least.”
“I have. Noise, Music, Flight and Claw, correct?”
“Yes. So far, Noise and Music have been the first to activate. We encountered Music once but she managed to quickly grasp our limited tracking capabilities. We almost had Noise twice now, but now she seems to have met up with Music and now we're unable to reliably get close to either of them. As of last night Claw went live once. It was too far out at the time so we didn't send anyone to investigate it and it seems that Flight has finally gone live as well tonight.”
“How much do we know about the current users of Music and Noise?”
“Not much at the moment. We have no information on the Drivers or what they look like because some incredibly asinine security concerns. We know both are female and in your age range. That's about it.”
“That 'asinine' security concern was due to a security breach. I don't know if you heard about that incident about a month ago. There was a security breach in our database. Tons of information was stolen. The information was stored on to a single external hard drive and given to the top brass for safe keeping afterward. Nothing has come of breach yet, but it's still a serious concern. That aside, I'd like to look into the Driver issue more when we get to your base of operations.”
“That's fantastic. I'm going to call our Riders in tomorrow as well so you can get acquainted with them. Especially the Rider for the Solar Driver.”
“I look forward to meeting him.”
---
“Doctor, I did some digging. There are some pictures and two videos from an incident on Oat Street and some Twitter post from a guy mentioning something about some homeless woman a hole in the hood of his car with one hand. All of this is pointing towards some kind of fight involving either the other Riders or the other Riders fighting Changelings. The footage and pictures don't really show anything revealing or decisive though except for something exploding about two or three stories in the air. However, there was also an unrelated incident. It happened around the same time as the incident on Oat Street, if not a little earlier. There are three clear pictures of a girl in light blue armor with wings flying above the city. She even posed for one of the shots. I'm certain it's Flight. A new Twitter account was made later that night as well by a female confirming herself to be the one in those photos. The account doesn't have any personal info on it though. Seems like she's at least trying to hide her real identity.”
The Doctor remained silent as he scanned the various web pages laid out on the monitors.
“In her last post for the night, she claimed to be a defender of the city. She called herself, Armored Hero Blitz.”
A young woman had just gotten off the bus and immediately took a seat at the bus stop to wait for another. It was a long ways from home, but she didn't mind making the long journey for her friend. She garnered a few odd looks from her rainbow streaked hair, but she had long since gotten to the point where she didn't even notice it anymore. Boredom set in almost instantly, despite it only having been five or so minutes. She got up to find any kind of fast food joint or gas station nearby to get a drink to hold her over at the bus stop. She knew it would be about a thirty minute wait for the next bus to arrive.
It was only a few days ago she had made a similar trip and made the same pit stop to get a drink. She had almost reached the corner of an intersection when she tripped over some kind of package. Recovering from her fall, she examined the package to see who it belonged to, finding no information on it at all. She quickly looked around to see if she could spot anyone who it might belong to. She managed to spot a woman whom she remembered seeing on the bus with her earlier. A courier of some sorts, now driving off in a taxi. She tried to chase after the taxi and stop it but she went unnoticed. She debated her options for a few minutes before deciding to just keep it for now since she had no way to find or contact the mail courier or the package's intended recipient.
She had her drink and had the back on the bus all to herself. She looked down at the large belt buckle she now wore. The buckle had a large insignia of a lightning bolt with a pair of wings coming out of the sides of the lightning bolt, standing upright. She examined the object again for a bit before shrugging it off and thinking of other things. She assumed it was some kind of replica of a show prop or something of that nature. She tried looking it up the day she found it, but couldn't find anything. She remembered when she first put the belt buckle against her stomach, to see how it would look on her. She was surprised to see the buckle send out a strap that wrapped around her stomach from both sides, connecting at the back. “Man, technology's gettin' cooler every day.”
Rainbow Dash had been living in an orphanage ever since her father, Blitz, died of respiratory failure in his sleep. She was a very athletic girl who loved parkour and baseball. She didn't want to be weighed down by a job, though she knew at some point that she would have to find one. The orphanage however was giving her a weekly allowance that allowed her to keep her carefree habits. She was on her way to the upper side of Manehattan to see a friend of hers. She made it to her stop and began her twenty minute walk to her destination, the Starry Brew in the Baltic Plaza. The AC was the most amazing thing in the world right now after baking in the summer heat for two hours.
She slumped into the first chair she could find and examined the counter area. It wasn't hard to spot Fluttershy. It was her third week working here and she was still incredibly nervous. Another employee with a long purple hairdo was currently speaking to her, though Rainbow wasn't really paying any attention to it at the moment. She stood up and approached the counter, wiping the sweat off her face along the way. “Sup Fluttershy.”
The nervous girl behind the counter lit up at the sight of her friend, any signs of anxiety fading from her instantly. “Rainbow! I haven't seen you in two weeks!” The woman next to Fluttershy was currently staring at Fluttershy, amazed that she was even capable of such displays of emotion and speaking at a volume higher than one. “Oh! Um, my break isn't until ten more minutes. Sorry, but you'll have to wait a little bit, sorry.”
The purple haired woman put a hand on Fluttershy's shoulder. “It's okay dear, you've done a wonderful job and we're a little slow right now. You go ahead and catch up with your friend. I'll clock you out for break in ten minutes. Would you like anything to drink miss...”
Rainbow puffed out her chest with pride. “The name's Dash. Rainbow Dash. And naw, I'm good for now.”
“Very well then. If you change your mind, just keep in mind that I'll allow a free drink on me. Anything for a friend of Fluttershy's.” She bowed politely and resumed her duties behind the counter. Fluttershy was about to say something in response to being allowed an early break but her coworker had already walked off. She felt a little guilty getting an early break but didn't want to bother her coworker with her concerns. She walked with Rainbow to a table and sat down.
“Where have you been Rainbow? You've been gone for two whole weeks. I was getting worried.”
“Relax. I get a weekly allowance. I was just doing nothing for awhile so I could save up enough money for something. No big deal. More importantly, it's been like what? Three weeks since you've been here and you're still this nervous?”
“I'm sorry. But...” Fluttershy hesitated.
“But what? Come on Shy, I'm not gonna bite your head off.”
“Rainbow...Won't you please reconsider our offer.”
“Fluttershy not this again. I told you I'm not worried about any of that right now. Can we please not talk about this again?”
“Please Rainbow, I re-”
Fluttershy was cut off by her coworker walking to their table. “Would it be alright if I took a seat with you two?”
Rainbow nodded. “Knock yourself out.”
“Thank you.” She took a seat. “My name is Rarity. I'm a crew trainer here. I take it you are a friend of Fluttershy's, miss Dash?”
“Just Rainbow or Dash. None of that miss crap. And yeah, we go back. We used to live in the same neighborhood and all that jazz.”
“I see. If you don't mind me asking, where do you live now mi-, er... Dash? Are you employed anywhere at the moment?”
“Not important, and no I don't have a job.”
“I see. Would you like to work here? I could easily have you hired if you'd like.”
Rainbow casually waved Rarity off. “Naw. I don't feel like being tied down by any o' that right now.”
Rarity was a little disheartened by this. “I see. Well, I wouldn't want to impose. Do keep my offer in mind at least. It'd be nice to s-”
Fluttershy slammed the table as hard as she could, fists balled, her eyes slowly welling up. Rarity and Rainbow Dash were instantly silenced, their attention now focused solely on Fluttershy “Stop it Rainbow! Can't you see you're just running away!? I'm worried about you! I haven't stopped worrying!”
Rainbow quickly grew agitated. “Don't start this now Fluttershy!”
“You keep saying you're fine but you're not! You're just running away!”
“Fluttershy!”
“You won't let anyone help you, you avoid everyone, you wander around aimlessly every day! You've completely changed and you refuse to even talk ab-”
Rainbow stood up and pushed her chair aside. “SHUT UP FLUTTERSHY!”
Fluttershy stood up as well. “PLEASE JUST TALK TO ME RAINBOW! JUST SAY SOMETHING! ANYTHING! JUST LET M-”
“SO THIS IS HOW YOU TREAT ME WHEN I COME TO SEE YOU AT YOUR STUPID LITTLE JOB!? FINE THEN! HAVE A GREAT FUCKING DAY!” Rainbow shoved her chair off to the side and stormed out.
Fluttershy made an attempt to call out to her to no avail. Rarity started to look around, every customer now staring directly at them. She made a few gestures to the customers, silently telling them to be quiet and go back about their business. Having gotten the majority of the customers to comply, she moved to the weeping Fluttershy, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder. “Sweetie, do you want to take the rest of the day off?” Fluttershy shook her head in response. “Alright. Let's at least get you in the back, you can take as much time as you need to in the break room.” Fluttershy nodded, wiping her eyes as she walked with Rarity to the back.
---
A furious Rainbow stormed down through the streets, her mind a beehive of thoughts and emotions. She considered blowing off some steam at an arcade or winding down with some food, but the idea of having to stand or sit still at the moment sounded agonizing. Various ideas swam through her head as she slowly started speeding up, from a power walk to a full sprint. She decided a good run through the area would be enough to cool herself off. She spent the next three hours blazing a trail through mid-upper Manehattan. The pouring rain that started during the last hour of her run did nothing to deter her. Noticing it was getting dark as well, Rainbow ducked into a nearby alley to sit down and catch her breath. Despite her three hour run, her confrontation with Fluttershy was still fresh in her head, along with some unsavory memories.
---
“Are you gonna be playing in the game today dad?”
“Not today sport. We'll be watching it together.”
“Awesome!”
“If you're not full on popcorn and snacks, we can get some ice cream after.”
“You're the best, dad!”
---
“Hey dad, I heard the Manehattan Wondercolts are going to be playing in an upcoming game next month. Are you gonna be playing too!?”
“Aw, I wanted to surprise you with that. I shoulda known that wouldn't have worked.”
“So you are!?”
“You betcha. I even have a front row seat reserved for you.”
“NO WAY! YOU'RE THE BEST EVER!”
“Hey now, save the praise for when we win.”
---
“Hey dad, your car's still in the garage. Are you still here? Your door was still closed and all so I just wanted to be sure.... Dad? ...Dad...? Dad, wake up, it's two in the afternoon already, don't you have to go to practice? ...Dad!? DAD WAKE UP ALREADY, YOU'RE SCARING ME! DAD!?”
---
“I'm sorry I have to say this. Your father passed away in his sleep. The cause of death was respiratory failure.”
“No! He can't be... N-no! He has a game to play next week! You're a doctor! You can help him! Help him please! Give him some medicine or something!”
“There's nothing we can do. I'm so sorry...”
“I HATE YOU! YOU'RE A DOCTOR! YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE ABLE TO HELP PEOPLE WHO ARE SICK! JUST HELP HIM PLEASE! PLEASE! YOU HAVE TO!”
---
Rainbow was broken out of her trance by the sound of footsteps in the rain. She quickly wiped her eyes and nose and got to her feet. “Whattya want? I know it's raining and I don't care. Just leave me alone.”
A tall woman wearing a cheongsam dress was standing at the sidewalk. While her dress was soaked, her hair seemed unaffected by the rain. “What a rare sight. A child lost in the rain? What drives you little one?”
Rainbow was getting bad vibes from the woman. She took a few steps back to accentuate her discomfort. “I said piss off lady! I'm not in a good mood alright!”
“Mmmm, I see. You're devastated by the loss of someone you once held dear. You're trying desperately to escape from your problems. Trying to escape from the torment of reality.”
Rainbow's discomfort quickly grew to an intense fear. “F-FUCK OFF LADY! DON'T COME ANYWHERE NEAR ME! I-I HAVE A KNIFE!”
The woman laughed and began walking slowly towards Rainbow, causing Rainbow to back away in an effort to maintain the same distance. “Relax my child. I can take away those painful emotions away from you. I can finally set you free.”
“I SAID I HAVE A KNIFE! B-BACK OFF!”
The woman held out her hand as she advanced, the skin flaking off and revealing a black hand with sharp, pointed fingertips. “Just relax. You won't feel any pain, I promise you.”
Rainbow was backed against a wall. Realizing that she was most likely about to face death and any attempt at escape could potentially also result in her death, she decided that even a small chance at escape was better than giving up. She shot forward and slid past the woman, scrambled to her feet and sprinted out of the alley.
The woman turned and watched Rainbow escape. “Not so fast child. Your emotions. They're too good to just let go. You will not escape me.”
Rainbow ran as fast as she could. She took a few occasional glances back and saw no signs of anyone following her. She turned a corner and found a man holding a door open to a small convenience store. “Quickly! In here! The lights are off, they'll won't look for us in here!”
She came to a halt in front of him. “H-how'd you know I was being chased!? Who are you!?”
He gestured furiously for her to enter the building. “Quickly! Her subordinates could show up any second! I'll explain inside!” Rainbow mentally cursed herself as she ran inside, hiding behind a small stand with various candies and snacks.
The man closed the door and locked it, running behind the stand next to Rainbow. She peeked out from behind the stand to see if anyone or anything was passing by. She saw no movement for awhile. “Okay, what the heck is going on?” She asked quietly, keeping her vigil from behind the snack stand.
“Simple. I was ordered to lock you in here”
Rainbow quickly rolled away from the man behind her, and turned to face him. A black humanoid now stood before her, holes riddling his body and limbs. “Wh-what...the actual fuck!?”
“Very good, my little Changeling. It would have been a shame to lose such a perfect test subject.” Rainbow turned to face the voice coming from the back of the store. Standing at the back door was the woman from the alley. “Her emotions are so erratic. I'm dying to see what kind of Changeling she becomes. Now, restrain her.”
The black humanoid started advancing on Rainbow. She was backed against the wall, the humanoid almost upon her. Her eyes darted around for any possible escape routes. The front door was locked, the black humanoid advancing on her most likely wouldn't allow her the chance to run for very long, the woman was guarding the back and she wasn't able to spot anything at the moment that she could use to break the window open. She resorted to empty threats again. “B-BACK OFF! I HAVE KNIFE!”
The woman laughed. “Bark all you want. Such a pathetic weapon wouldn't be able to harm us. It will be much easier if you just relax. I'll take away all your pain in just a moment.”
Rainbow had one last resort. It was fight or flight. She had only one thing on her person that was even remotely usable as a weapon. Her hands quickly darted down to rip the belt buckle off her waist. As her hands thrust down on the buckle, she pushed down on the wings. The wings turned out to be held in place at the base, allowing them to be spread out to the sides. The wings locked into place and a heavenly white light emerged from the belt buckle and engulfed her body. When the light faded, her body was covered in a light blue armor with a large pair of wings on the back. She took a moment to look at her hands and down at her body. “...wh-wh-what the!?”
The woman frowned. “Another one? Quickly! Incapacitate her!”
She quickly looked up at the black humanoid in front of her. He already had a hand cocked, ready to knock her out. She reflexively moved a hand up to block the punch and with her back supported against the wall, kicked him in the stomach with all her might. The black humanoid reeled back from the force of the kick. Rainbow stepped away from the wall, looking down at herself again, a look of confidence quickly growing on her face. “So the rumors were true...there really are armored heroes running around! Omigosh omigosh omigosh!” Rainbow marveled at her new transformation for a few more seconds then took a fighting stance. “And I can start by taking you two out!” She closed the distance between her and the black humanoid and socked him right in the jaw. The creature attempted to recover and strike back, but was greeted with another fist in his face as soon as he brought his gaze back to her. Rainbow repeated this two more times, walking him into a wall and delivered a powerful kick to his stomach, causing him to fall to his knees clutching his stomach. She grabbed the large, sleek looking cyan pistol holstered to her side pointed it at the creature. She waited for the creature to look up at her before she fired six blasts into the creature. The creature couldn't take anymore and exploded, surprising Rainbow a little. She didn't bother to dwell on that and turned around, pointing her pistol towards the back where the woman was standing. The woman was no longer there. Rainbow grunted in frustration and ran towards the back room and out the back door, finding no one around. She had no intention of going on a wild goose chase now, she wanted to figure out everything about this new armored suit as quickly as possible.
She holstered her pistol and turned her head, noticing her flexible metal wings. She had full control over them. She gave them a few powerful flaps and found herself flying above the building. She was completely blown away by her new abilities. She decided to spend the rest of the night flying around and getting used to her new wings. Later during the night, she descended towards near ground level. She noticed a quick bright flash. Scanning down, she saw someone pointing a camera at her as she hovered in the air. She posed for one more picture and took off towards the sky. She knew full well what she wanted to do with this power. She flew through the sky, now intent on a particular destination. Fluttershy's house. She landed on the roof and pulled the wings on her belt buckle to an upright position. The armor broke off her body and vanished. With the rain having finally died down to a light trickle, she sat down, pulled her phone out and left a text for her friend.
I'm sorry about earlier. I'll be waiting at your place when you get off work. Give me a call when you're nearby. I need to show you something amazing.
She stretched her arms out and yawned as she full on her back. A wet shingle roof wasn't exactly comfortable, but it would suffice for a short nap.
She awoke only half an hour later to her phone ringing and vibrating in her pocket. She opened her phone up and answered the call. “Sup.”
“Rainbow, I'm...I'm sorry about earlier too. I'm waiting by the front door. Where are you?”
Rainbow stood up and carefully approached the edge of the roof. “Be there in a sec.” She hung her phone up, put it in her pocket and leapt down from the roof. Fluttershy nearly had a heart attack, letting out a short scream as her friend abruptly landed in front of her.
“D-d-don't d-do that! W-were you on my roof!?”
Rainbow shrugged casually. “Yeah. I'll explain in a bit. Let's just get inside already. I'm sick of being out in the rain.” Fluttershy opened the door and walked to her room quietly with Rainbow Dash in tow. The lights were off inside the house, signaling that her mother was asleep. She closed the door to her room and turned on the light. She gave Rainbow a pair of clothes to change into and sent her to the shower to get cleaned up. Rainbow sat down at Fluttershy's desk afterward. “Oh, mind if I use your laptop real quick? I got something I need to do.” Fluttershy nodded and grabbed some pajamas from her dresser and went to go take a shower.
Rainbow was grinning ear to ear as she set up a new account on Twitter with a fake email.
It's time to clean up the streets of Manehattan. The new defender of justice, Armored Hero Blitz, reporting in!
She made her first post and logged off. When Fluttershy finally returned from her shower, she told Fluttershy that she would explain everything in the morning, promising that it would be “so awesome”.
---
“I appreciate you letting me use the bed, Ditzy.”
“Not a problem, Twilight. A proper bed is much more comfy then sleeping on a mattress on the floor. It's the least I could do. I bet what ever new living arrangement the Doctor gets for you tomorrow will be really nice.”
“Here's hoping. By the way...the user of the Solar Driver. Bolt. What can you tell me about him? From what I gathered from the Doctor and the complete lack of inside information on him, he's some kind of special, off the record case.”
“Mmhm. He just kind of showed up on the day I was bringing the Solar and Trick Drivers to our little base here. I was attacked by a Changeling and he happened to be nearby. He tried to protect me. I still don't know why, but he just reached into my bag and pulled out the Solar Driver and used it to beat the Changeling. No one should have known anything at all about the Drivers or that I even had them.”
“Hmmm. Did he ever say anything concerning that?”
“He said some voice in his head told him to take it out of my bag and even told him how to use it. I still find it weird. When I told the Doctor about it, he told me to bring him in and he's been with us ever since.”
“It must have been the Driver's AI. I've read that they are able to speak telepathically with us humans. Though they are quite picky with whom they choose to communicate with.”
“I heard about those AI before. What are they anyway? How come only the Solar and Lunar Drivers have them?”
“The Solar and Lunar Drivers are special. They were experiments to create a new type of Driver. They are quite powerful and are meant to draw even more power from each other. From what I read before the information breach, one of the reasons for the AI is to allow it to communicate with it's user and instruct him or her on how to use it. The AI is able to help the user fully grasp the Driver's abilities and even help them in combat. I have actually been communicating with Luna a little since I got my hands on the Lunar Driver.”
“Luna?”
“Yes. The Lunar Driver's AI. She prefers to be referred to as 'Luna'. I hope I get to speak with Solar Driver's AI as well. I'm looking forward to meeting this Bolt. What's he like?”
“It's hard to say. He tends to just kind of wander about on his own most of the time. We gave him a bluetooth earpiece like we have so we can communicate with him and he does what we ask him to do. He doesn't talk much about himself though. I tried asking him a few times. He always says it's 'not important' and refuses to say anything else.”
“So he prefers to keep to himself?”
“Kind of. I mean, it's not hard to get him to talk about stuff. He's not anti-social or anything. He's a nice guy at heart. He just doesn't like talking about himself.”
“I see. I look forward to meeting him tomorrow and I hope we can get along. We're going to need to if we're going to be partners.”
“MORNING LADIES!” Ditzy and Twilight awoke to the loud, boisterous greeting from the Doctor. “We have work to do.” The girls left the break room and made their way to the main room where the Doctor was waiting. Some papers and a key ring was on the table in front of him. “First things first, here's the information, address and keys to your new house Ms. Sparkle. Enjoy. All bills and what have you will be paid for by us, no need to worry about it. Just don't set the place on fire and you have nothing to worry about.”
He slid the papers and keys to Twilight, who raised an eyebrow at the house fire remark but bowed politely regardless. “Thank you.”
“Right then! I'll go call the other two for good old fashion meeting. Ditzy, if you would be so kind, please bring down the monitor in the Crew Room and turn it on, then go to the Monitor Station and set monitor there to display all the current activation points for all the missing Drivers. Once you're done with that you can go grab a snack while we wait for the others to show up.” He sat in a chair and threw his legs up on the table as he pulled out his phone and started dialing.
The Doctor, Twilight and Ditzy had gathered into the Crew Room an hour later. The Doctor had assured Twilight that the other two Riders would be showing up any minute. Twilight's eye kept shifting between the map on display on the monitor and the door. The map was littered with some dots, showing where each Driver activated and had a specific color to indicate each Driver. The Doctor had opened his mouth to say something when the door finally opened. A male and female about Twilight's age entered the room. The female had light blue hair with a few pale blue streaks. She fixated more on the male, who she had assumed would be her partner. He had brown hair that hung down at eye level, sans the front of his face to prevent obstructing his vision. He wore a simple yellow shirt, black pants and two green wristbands. The two of them took a seat next to Ditzy. The Doctor stood up and clapped his hands together. “Alright then, time to get the ball rolling. Right off the bat I'd like to introduce you two to our new Rider. She'll be using the Lunar Driver.”
Twilight stood up and bowed to the two new faces. “Nice to meet you. My name is Twilight Sparkle. I was sent here from Canterlot to help deal with the Changeling threat.” The male she assumed to be Bolt simply nodded in acknowledgment. She wasn't entirely certain, but she could have sworn she caught an angry glare coming from the female. She ignored the thought, not wanting to cause any potential internal strife.
“Very good. Twilight here also believes that she can help us catch Noise and Music.” He sat down and threw his feet up on the table. “The floor is now yours Ms. Sparkle.”
Twilight nodded and made her way to the monitor. “Alright. Let's go over what we know so far. I was given a quick brief of the situation from Ditzy and the Doctor. Noise was engaged twice up to this point and Music was only engaged once. Music escaped and Noise was nearly defeated twice but managed to escape both times. They are also both believed to be female. From what I was told and based on the activation points that time, I assume Music started testing us and was able to figure how our tracking works, or at least, how to avoid us. Noise at the time wasn't aware that we were even able to track them based on their points of activation but after our second confrontation with her, she met up with Music. Based on their activity after that point, it's safe to say that Music has shared this information with Noise as they have been activating together now and attempts to search the area has resulted in finding nothing of interest. We can also assume that if Noise were to activate solo now, she would be aware of our tracking methods and exploit them to avoid being caught.”
The male spoke up. “And how does restating the obvious help us get any closer to them?”
“Like I said, I was simply restating the basic facts up to this point. I'll be getting to my personal observations next.” Dots started vanishing from the map on display, leaving many minty green colored dots. “These are the points of activation for Music. We can start to see something right off the bat. They have all been in the Upper Manehattan area. We can safely assume she lives somewhere in this area. There's also one particularly interesting spot right here.” She pointed up at a particular dot. “This point here tells me quite a lot. She activated here at the Manehattan Institute of Art. One of three universities in Manehattan specializing of course in teaching various art forms as well as providing university level general education and providing a few other varied courses. What makes this spot so interesting is the fact that this point of activation even exists. These universities have a strict security. Especially in-between semesters. Students are still allowed on campus grounds during this time but security guards are required to ID everyone they come across to ensure that they are students. Non-students are either removed from the campus grounds or escorted to the appropriate office to obtain a visitor pass. I made a quick call earlier to verify the visitor records from that day. No non-students were on the campus grounds that day. Music's knowledge of the university's layout and access to most of it also helped her evade being spotted that day. I'm one-hundred percent certain based on these facts that Music is a student of that university. I suggest we get a list of students visiting the campus grounds on that day as well as about ten or eight days before and after. With these names, all we have to do is talk to each student and the Rider who encountered her the first time should be able to identify her voice.”
The female in the back quickly raised her hand. “Won't work. She masked her voice.”
Twilight was brought down from her amazing streak, her proud smile faded. “Wait, what? She masked her voice? How was she able to do that, and how do we know she's a female if you couldn't hear her real voice?”
The female rolled her eyes, leaned back in her chair slightly and looked straight down. Twilight raised an eyebrow, not quite understanding what she was trying to say. The female's expression seemed to be souring as she deliberately shifted her eyes back and forth between Twilight and straight down. Twilight was still unable to grasp her hint. “Ngh. Oh come on. Her chest!”
Twilight blushed. “O-oh. R-right, o-of course.”
“Other than that, she spoke in auto tune.”
Twilight froze for a second. “I'm sorry, she did what now?”
The female threw her hands up to shoulder level. “It is exactly as it sounds! She spoke in heavy auto tune! Everything she said it was just somehow incredibly auto tuned. It's probably something her Driver can do.”
“I-I see. So we'll have to be a bit more clever to trip her up.” The dots on the map vanished and a few white dots appeared. “In any case, let's move on to Noise. With her in mind, we already have one potential suspect. The first point of activation occurred somewhere in this apartment complex in Middle Manehattan. The rest of them occurred in Upper Manehattan. Let's go over my theory first. My suspect is a local DJ by the name of Vinyl Scratch, going by the stage name DJ P0N3. She was at the incident at the Cover Page comic shop. She was one of the last to leave the area and claimed to police and the media that she had left the scene to avoid being attacked and then came back later to see if her equipment was still intact. A quick search on her revealed that she happens to be a resident at that apartment complex where her first point of activation is located which further shifts suspicion on her. On the other hand, every point of activation after the first, as I stated before, has been in Upper Manehattan which is a little strange. Though it could be that she simply prefers to be in that area for various reasons. While she is a primary suspect, it's still very possible that it could be anyone else. Cover Page doesn't have a list of names of people attending the event nor can we completely assume it was someone specifically attending that event. It could have been someone else entirely who happened to be nearby. These are just my conclusions based on the little time I've had to look into this information.” She turned to the monitor as the dots vanished, replaced by two cyan dots and two brown dots. “Flight and Claw have only just recently started showing signs of activity so we can't draw any conclusions yet. However, based on the points of activation for Claw, it's possible that the current user resides somewhere in the Lower Manehattan area. Flight also seems to be quite vocal about the situation and fancies herself a superhero. I'll be keeping up on this new Twitter account of hers. This should actually make her easy to locate. That is all I have for now.”
The Doctor applauded from his chair, very impressed by Twilight's detective work. “Very good Twilight. Brilliant! Alright, let's keep making this a good day!” He let his chair fall to it's legs and stood up, feeling very energetic now. “Bolt, I want you to take Twilight to Upper Manehattan. Get her acquainted with the area, show her around maybe, get a bite to eat, get to know each other, all that good stuff. I want you two to get comfortable with each other. It'll be important when we start using the Eclipse Regalia. I also want the two of you to be ready in case any Drivers go live. Trixie, I want you to wait around the Lower Manehattan area in case Claw goes live. Ditzy, stay here and keep an eye on the monitor. Places everyone, move out! Let's go let's go!” He clapped along with his final words to accentuate his enthusiasm.
Bolt stood up, putting a hand in his pocket and gestured towards Twilight, prompting her to come to him. Trixie huffed and left the room immediately. Bolt pulled out a pair of keys as Twilight approached. She smiled. “Nice to meet you Bolt. I look forward to working with you.”
“You comfortable riding passenger on a motorcycle?”
“Not exactly, but I'm more than ready for a new experience.”
“Alright then,” He opened the door. “Ladies first.”
---
Fluttershy awoke to find her friend on her laptop again. She yawned and walked to her closet to grab some clothes. Rainbow glanced over at Fluttershy as she lazily made her way to her bathroom to change. Rainbow was looking through a few replies on her new Twitter account's first tweet. The replies were mixed. Some believed her, some believed she was just a poser trying to get a little bit of short lived fame off the rumors and photos from last night, and a few demanded she prove it. Rainbow wasn't worried too much about proving them wrong or right at the moment. That would happen on it's own with time. She logged out of the account and closed the laptop as Fluttershy exited the bathroom. Fluttershy escorted Rainbow to the kitchen and made them some toast and decided to break the silence as she was just about finished. “What did you want to show me Rainbow?”
Rainbow jammed the last bit of her toast in her mouth and swallowed quickly, her enthusiasm instantly rising. “It's something I found yesterday! It's gonna blow your mind! I'll show you outside! We should go somewhere people won't see us though. I don't want anyone else to see it.”
“Umm, okay. I guess that's fine. Where exactly do you have in mind?” Rainbow leaned back in her chair and started thinking. “Please don't do that.”
Rainbow quickly sat back upright. “S-sorry. I keep forgetting your mom doesn't like that. We could try hitting your old high school nearby. I doubt anyone will be there. They still allow people around there right?
“I think so. We could try asking.”
Rainbow hopped off her chair. “Eh, forget asking. We won't be doing anything bad or anything like that. Let's go!”
Fluttershy stood up. “Okay. But I have to finish some chores first. I hope you don't mind waiting a little bit. You can use the TV or my laptop while you wait.”
“Ngh. Fine. Do what ya gotta do. I'll just watch some TV while I wait. But hurry up.”
“Okay.”
Fluttershy finished her chores and drove out to Cherry Grove High. Rainbow wasted no time dragging Fluttershy to the indoor basketball court. She quickly inspected the area to make sure no one else was around. “Alright! Perfect!”
“So what exactly did you want to show me?”
“Have you heard the rumors going around recently about weird armored super humans showing up recently in Manehattan?”
“Um, I've only heard a tiny bit. Something to do with a store concert or something getting attacked.”
“It was some comic shop, but whatever, check this out.” Rainbow pointed at her belt.
“Ummm...is that supposed to be some kind of novelty belt?”
“Not quite. This belt let's me become one of those armored super heroes!”
“What?”
“Just watch!” Rainbow crossed and thrust her arms down, pushing the wings of the belt down in an overly stylish manner. A heavenly light began to emit from the belt. She thrust one arm up into the air. The light faded from her body, some fragments of light took the shape of feathers as they fluttered off her new armored form and faded away. “Pretty damn badass right!? With this power, I'll clean up the streets of Manehattan as Armored Hero Blitz!”
Fluttershy was completely taken aback. She took in the new armored form in front of her for a minute for finally deciding to question it. “Wh-where did you get that thing!?”
“Believe it or not, someone dropped it a few days ago. I figured out this part of it last night.”
“Y-you're not actually thinking of using that to be some kind of crime fighter are you!?”
“Of course I am! Some people don't have the strength to fight back and no one's going to win against a gun. But with this belt, I can save lives and stop crime!”
Fluttershy was starting to well up a little. “But...but what if you get hurt...what someone finds out it's you!? What if those rumors about monsters are true too!? Rainbow, this is crazy, you can't do this!”
Rainbow slapped her hand against her head in frustration. “Ugh, come on Fluttershy. What kind of reaction is that!?” She threw her arms out and started pacing towards the door. “Ever since last year you've been like this. Get off my back alright!? You complain about everything I do, you constantly try and bring up the past and every time... Every! Single! Freaking time we hang out anymore, all it ever is is 'please consider our offer Rainbow'.” She turned to face Fluttershy, who had yet to move. “Well guess what Fluttershy! It's my life and I can do whatever the damn hell I want with it alright!? How about you consider my offer for once! Try bothering someone who actually needs your freaking help! You're so freaking hung up trying to drag me down and I'm sick of it!” She slammed her fist against the wall and let out a heavy sigh. The room was silent for a moment. “Just...just give me a call when you want to go back to the way things used to be, alright? I'm done slamming my head against a wall trying to hold on to an old friend.” Rainbow angrily stormed out of the building. Fluttershy continued to stand motionless, a whirlwind of thoughts buzzed through her mind. She pulled out her phone and dialed a number.
“R-Rarity. Are y-you working r-ight n-now?”
“Fluttershy dear, are...are you crying? What happened?”
“I r-really need t-to talk to someone ri-right now. Is it a-alright if w-we met up somewhere?”
“O-Of course! I want you to come right away to my house! I'll text you the address when you hang up okay?”
“Th-thank you.”
---
Twilight sat at a booth at the Starry Brew cafe in Upper Manehattan with her new partner. She had a fresh mocha and soft cinnamon pretzel, while Bolt simply had a cup of water. “You sure you don't want anything?”
“Naw. I'm not a fan of coffee.”
“Then why'd you take me here?”
“Cuz you said you wanted coffee.”
“Oh. What about you though?”
He shrugged. “I'll just grab some take out from whatever's nearby when we leave.”
Twilight took of a bite of her pretzel. “Let's get to the reason we're here, to get to know each other better. I'm Twilight Sparkle. I was born in Canterlot. My mother is a famous author and my dad was a well known physicist, at least, until I was born. I went to a private school for gifted kids when I was young and moved up at and early age to university level studies. During my time at the university Canterlot, my various exploits garnered the attention of some higher ups at the organization we work under. My curiosity got the better of me and after a long series of events, found myself working with them and here I am today.”
Bolt took a few big gulps of his water during her "introduction". He set his cup down and raised an eyebrow, not expecting her to go through her life story. “Sooo...you're basically a turbo nerd.”
Twilight choked on her coffee, taking her a minute to get the drink down and out of her windpipe. “N-no! I am not a nerd! What kind of response is that anyway? We're supposed to be getting to know each other.”
“Yeah. That doesn't exactly mean you have to read your autobiography to me. Just tell me about you. What do you like, dislike, blah blah blah. The rest can come later if you really want to share that with the class.”
Twilight frowned a little. “Fair enough. I enjoy reading and learning about new things. I like to have things organized and I prefer keeping to a planned schedule whenever possible. I-”
Bolt chuckled, “So, you're a turbo nerd. Got it.”
“Alright, now that's just rude!”
“Oy, relax. Being a turbo nerd isn't a bad thing. We never would have caught that bit about Music if it wasn't for you.” He downed the rest of his water and continued. “Besides, trying to describe yourself like you're speed dating doesn't exactly tell me much anyway. The only way to really get to know someone is just be around them ya know? Just hang out and shoot the shit. You can't just hope to know everything about someone in a day. It takes a helluva lot more time than that.”
Twilight's annoyed expression faded slightly. “I...I guess that's true. By the way, there was something Ditzy told me. Something about you. Would you mi-” Twilight was cut off by a sudden ping in her earpiece.
“Bolt! Twilight! Flight just went active! It's very close by! It's in the Cherry Grove High School just a little further north! Get over there now!”
Bolt quickly got up from the booth. “Let's go!”
Twilight took a big bite out of her pretzel and left the remainder on the table along with her half finished coffee and followed Bolt back to his motorcycle. “Bolt, I want to fight her on my own.”
“You think you're ready day one?”
“Flight should be just as new as I am. Besides, I have Luna to help me use the Lunar Driver. I should be fine.”
“Your call. I hope you're ready.”
---
Rainbow made her way to the school's empty parking lot and leaned against a wall. “Ugh...I should tell Scoots or Gilda about this...at least they won't bitch me out about it.” She sighed and stared up into the sky. As mad as she still was at Fluttershy, she hated having yelled at her like that.
Rainbow's alone time was abruptly cut off as a motorcycle sped it's way on the parking lot, slowing down and parking inside an empty space nearby. The driver kept his helmet on and sat comfortably as the passenger got off and approached Rainbow. “So you're, Armored Hero Blitz?”
Rainbow pushed herself off the wall and took a confident stance, folding her arms in front of her chest. “That's right.”
“I see. Let's just cut the business then. You seemed to have come into possession of one our Drivers. The Flight Driver to be precise. It's whatever you used to transform into what you are now. I must politely ask that you return to us immediately. If you refuse, I'm afraid I'll have to take it from you by force.”
“Give this up? Why? So you can use it for something boring? I'm trying to save lives. What could possibly be more important than that?”
Twilight removed a large belt buckle with a full moon design. She placed the buckle on her waist causing a belt to extend out from both sides, connecting and locking at her back. “More than you realize. Stopping petty criminals and street thugs is the job of the police. We have something much more serious on our hands right now. I will ask you one more time, give the Flight Driver back to us.”
“Fine then.” Rainbow unfolded her arms. “Let's see whatcha got!”
Twilight place her hands in front of the sides her belt buckle. The full moon design on the buckle changed, some of it fading away, leaving only a crescent moon and the night sky around it. “Transform.” The belt emitted a bright pale light that quickly turned to darkness, surrounding Twilight. Twilight stepped out of the shroud of darkness and allowed it to disappear behind her. Twilight was now in in dark violet armor with a few bat like features and held a long chest high staff with a crescent moon on the end in her hand. “Let's see how your Flight Driver compares to my Lunar Driver.”
Rainbow was impressed, but contained her excitement. She reached behind her and pulled out a particularly long metallic feather from her wings, held it out and ran a hand across the feather. The feather hardened and it's edges got sharper as her hand made it across. She placed a hand on her hip and lazily held the feather sword at her side. “I bet won't even need to break a sweat to beat you. Come at me whenever you think you're ready.”
Twilight was insulted by her opponent's cocky attitude and the lazy posture. She took the initiative since her opponent had no intention of doing so and pointed her staff at Rainbow with one hand and fired two small but powerful beams. Rainbow lazily side stepped both shots. Twilight fired a few more, getting the same reaction as the first two shots.
Rainbow sighed. “Come on, you build yourself up like that and all you have to show for it is a few lazy shots? Let me show you how it's done.” She charged at Twilight, dodging two more shots. She slashed her sword down at Twilight, which she was able to block with her staff. Rainbow kept pushing her sword against Twilight's staff as she continued to mock her, “Heh, you can at least do more than shoot. Let's see you keep it up. I'll start off slow first, just for you.”
Twilight pushed her attacker back, only to have her begin assaulting her with lightning quick sword strikes. Twilight was barely able to keep up, blocking each strike was proving to be incredibly difficult. Twilight finally managed to mentally calm herself amidst the flurry of strikes and caught another strike of Rainbow's sword and pushed her off again. Rainbow responded by leaping at Twilight with a devastating spin kick. Twilight quickly raised an arm to block it just in time, though the attack still did some damage. Rainbow pushed off of Twilight's arm and gave a powerful flap with her wings to push herself back towards Twilight while still airborne, kicking the unprepared Rider across the face and sending her careening against the pavement. Twilight was in bad shape but managed to pull herself up only to see her opponent charging her again with her sword ready. Twilight quickly raised her staff to block and was met with no resistance. Before she could assess the situation, she was blindsided by a back kick to the stomach and knocked back to the floor.
Twilight groaned in pain and looked up to see a gun aimed right between her eyes. She completely froze in fear. Rainbow grinned. “If you're gonna talk big, make sure you can at least back it up. Especially when you're trying to play in the big leagues.”
Twilight continued to stare at the gun, too afraid to make any sudden movements. Her eyes suddenly widened as she seemed to yell at someone else entirely. “W-what!? How can you be sure!? Don't-” Before she could finish, her body was enveloped by a shroud of darkness again, fading away after a few seconds and leaving behind an un-transformed, terrified Twilight.
Rainbow chuckled a bit and holstered her gun and crouched down a bit to seem less intimidating. “I'm sure you got some tricks up your sleeve but you need to put yourself into it too ya know. Don't just ride on the power of that Driver, or whatever.”
“H-how... The Lunar Driver is supposed to more powerful than the Flight Driver... And we've both had minimal to no time to get use to them. Theoretically, I should have had the full advantage.”
Rainbow scoffed, “Dude, you can't fight by crunching numbers or comparing stats or whatever nerdy crap. It's like... Hmm... It's like playing a fighting game. One character could be really strong and have a advantage over all the others and another could be considered weaker than the others, but the real fight's determined by the skill of the player. Ya know what I'm sayin'? Put your heart into it. Go in hard and don't let up until you've won. It's hard coming up with inspirational advice and all that, so I hope you're at least gettin' the message. Anyway, I got somewhere to go. Make sure you train a bit before you try that again alright?” She stood up and unfurled her wings. “Later.” She took off into the sky and flew away.
Twilight continued to lay on her back, still unnerved by her complete and utter defeat. Her wallowing was broken by a hand coming into view. “Come on. You can mope later. Let's get you outta here.” She grabbed Bolt's hand and was pulled to her feet. “We're gonna need to get you some practice.” He grabbed her arm and slung it over his shoulder, helping her back to his motorcycle.
“Let's go to my place for a little bit. We'll start training later today.”
“Why'd you transform back to normal?”
“You can blame Luna for that one. She dropped the transformation on me. She said that Rider wouldn't hurt me and that I would be better off dropping it to reduce further stress on my body...”
---
Rarity let in the distraught Fluttershy and guided her to a couch. Fluttershy seemed to have calmed down a little on the drive over. “Now Fluttershy, tell me what's got you so upset.”
She kept her gaze to the floor, still feeling a little nervous around her superior even while off the clock. “It's...it's Rainbow Dash. You saw her yesterday. I'm really worried about her now more than ever and I can't help but think something awful might happen to her.”
“Start from the beginning now dear. Why are you so worried about her that you had that little outburst yesterday?”
Fluttershy hesitated for a moment, but decided to divulge the details. “It's because of her dad.”
“Her father?”
“Her dad died about a year and a half ago.”
“Oh my goodness! What about her mother? Is she...also?”
Fluttershy nodded. “Yes. She died giving birth. Her dad was a star player for the Manehattan Wondercolts baseball team. Rainbow Blitz. He even used to bring her, and me sometimes, to baseball games for free. We even got to meet his team a few times. One night he just died in his sleep. The doctors said it was respiratory failure. They weren't sure what could have caused it. They said he at least didn't feel any pain.”
“Oh my goodness...where is the poor dear living now? Does she have any relatives?”
“Her father's teammates were kind enough to put her up at an orphanage in Lower Manehattan. They pool money together every two weeks and send it to her as a sort of allowance. We were close with Rainbow and her dad, and my mother said she would take Rainbow in to live with us. She didn't want to talk to anyone for a few days after the incident. She locked herself up in a room in the orphanage and only came out to eat. She didn't say anything to anyone. The scariest part though was that when she stopped, she just started acting like nothing had ever happened. She refused to let us take her in and started doing whatever she wanted like nothing else mattered and she refuses to speak about her dad or the incident.”
“I see...she's put mental wall around herself and is using her allowance to not have to deal with reality.”
Fluttershy sniffled a little. “Y-yes. We're really worried about her, but she won't let us help. We couldn't just ask any of the Manehattan Wondercolts to do it, they were out of state on tour. Eventually, she just broke contact with us. Now she's come back and nothing's changed...and now...” Rarity put a comforting hand on Flutterhsy's lap, encouraging her to continue. “Rarity, I'm sure you've heard the rumors going around lately?”
Rarity raised an eyebrow. “Yes? I have heard quite a few rumors going around. About monsters showing up lately in Manehattan and about some kind of armored super heroes or some rubbish. People are even posting elaborate pictures now.”
Fluttershy shook her head. “It's true. Those armored people are real. Rainbow Dash...Rainbow is one of them now.”
“What!?” Rarity wasn't sure whether or not to believe this, but she didn't believe Fluttershy to be one to lie.
“She showed me earlier today and even got into a fight with another one of those armored super humans.” She started to cry again. “I'm just so worried now that something horrible will happen to her!”
Rarity pulled Fluttershy into a hug. She wanted to tell Fluttershy that everything would be okay, but found herself silent. She was still a little shocked to hear that the rumors were true. She made a mental note to confront Rainbow about this if she ever saw her again.
---
Rainbow made her way to a public basketball court in Lower Manehattan and waving to a woman leaning against the fence. “Sup Gilda. Glad ya got my text. S'been awhile. ”
“Dash, my gal, what's up?”
“You're never gonna believe what I found the other day. Come with me, no one else can see this.”
“Alright, let's see it.”
“Get ready, this is gonna blow your mind!” With nobody around their current location, Dash transformed. She struck a flashy a pose in her new armored form.
“Oh sweet, you found one of those things too?”
“Yep! It's pr- Wait, what?”
Gilda grinned. “I got one of those too. Now that we both got one, we gotta do something with these.”
“I already have an idea.”
---
“I've had my eye on you. You have been standing here waiting for hours every night. What exactly are you waiting for my dear?”
“Finally! I've been waiting for you to show up! The rumors said you'd show up if I waited around alone at night. What the hell took you so long?”
“My my, you are quite the fiery one aren't you? Sorry, but I have already taken a look into your heart and I have seen what drives you. Petty revenge doesn't do anything for me and my hive. I have already seen what comes of it twice now.”
“First of all, you're a complete retard and you're doing it all wrong.”
“You had best choose your next words wisely. Insulting your queen in such a way warrants the death penalty.”
“Ridding a human of their emotions before converting them into a Changeling makes them weak.”
“Emotions make the human race weak my dear.”
“Emotions are what gives humans power you retard. Take them away and you have an empty husk that takes orders and can only pretend to act on it's former emotions. It's only an act. There's nothing there except some attempt to cling to their humanity. A pathetic attempt that not even the Changeling itself understands. Emotions give us drive. It's what lets us go beyond our limits.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes! I present to you a test to prove me right. Find a human and turn him into a Changeling, but instead of taking his emotions, amplify his negative emotions. Revenge, greed, lust, and so on. I guarantee you'll get better results than the worthless drones you've been pumping out so far. Until then, I'll keep waiting for you here.”
“You seem to understand quite a lot. I will indulge in your little theory. I shall not remove the emotions from the next human I convert. I'm already looking forward to it. If this does not end as you predict, know that there will be dire consequences for your choice of words towards me.”
“Sometimes it takes strong words to get through to someone. I'm going back to my apartment now. Have fun.”
“Before I allow you to leave, I am curious. What is your name little one?”
The sun shined on a brand new day as two men were walking through the streets of Manehattan. One wore a cowboy hat, an orange shirt with a leather vest and long cowboy boots complete with spurs while the other wore a plain red t-shirt and jeans. The cowboy seemed to be very excited at the moment as he talked with his companion. “I'm really glad y'all could come with me today. It's been awhile since I last saw ya. How ya been cuz?”
“...”
“How 'bout the others? I hear ol' Granny Smith is still doin' well. How bout lil Applebloom? I haven't seen her since our family reunion last year.”
“...”
“Well that's great! I always knew the little filly had it in her. By the way, you never told me what you doing here in Manehattan. I was pretty surprised when I found out you were here. Talk about lucky.”
“...”
“Ya can't?”
“...”
“I understand. Must be something important if you're not allowed to talk about it. I hope you can share some day.”
“...”
“Oh, I'm here on a little bit o' business. I'm here to meet with a potential backer for an important project cousin Fuji is workin on. She's still working overseas and plane tickets would've cost her an arm and a leg. She made a few calls and when she got to me, I told her I had no problem heading out to Manehattan to go to a meeting on her behalf. Didn't hurt my wallet at all. I got this ol' fancy briefcase here with a buncha paperwork she sent me and I had to do a lot o' readin' on this. It was a little exhausting to be honest, but it'll be worth it to help 'er out. From what I read too, if this research o' hers gets funded, it could lead to some really big medical breakthroughs. It's really impressive when ya get to that part. Although I have a bunch of other legal stuff and all that less impressive stuff I gotta present, but that's nothin' I haven't done before, though I'm still a little nervous.” “...”
“Ah thanks cuz. I'll tell ya all about it later, we're almost there. Thanks again for goin' outta yer way to walk with me. Be sure to give my regards to the family when ya get back home.”
“...”
“Oh really!? Cousin AJ's here too? Well shoot, we're gonna have to have us a lil get together later today! I'm guessing she's here on account o' you and that lil meeting o' yers?”
“...”
“I see. That's sure is nice o' her. It's been great catchin' up with ya cuz, but I don't wanna keep ya anymore than I need to. I'll be sure give cousin AJ a call tonight. See ya later!”
“...”
---
Bolt walked inside the Office to find Ditzy bringing an unknown woman a grilled cheese sandwich and a glass of orange juice. Ditzy looked up and greeted the confused Bolt as he continued to look in silence, the woman turned around and tipped her stetson to him. “Good morning and nice to meetcha. Name's Applejack. Ah'd get up and shake yer hand, but ah just sat down for breakfast. Mah apologies.”
Bolt simply raised an eyebrow and glanced up at Ditzy, pointing at the woman. “Is she another new Rider or something? I don't recall hearing anything about this.”
“Excuse me. It's rude t'just ignore someone like that.”
“Ummm. Sorry I guess. So...are you the new Rider or something?”
Applejack turned to focus on her food. She decided if the man was going to be rude, she would reciprocate. “No. My brother'll be here in a bit. I sure hope you mind yer manners when he gets here.”
“Hope he aint as uptight as you.” He looked back at Ditzy, who was shuffling about in place, feeling a little awkward now. “Oy Ditzy, the Doctor in yet?”
Ditzy jumped a little upon hearing her named being called. “O-oh. N-no, not yet. He's probably just a little late. I'm keeping our guest company right now until he shows up. My earpiece is synced to the main monitor right now. If any Drivers go live, it'll let me know.”
Bolt shrugged. “Kay. Well, gonna head back then. Turbo nerd invited me over. Gonna do that for now. Later.”
Applejack slapped the table and turned around. “D'jyou just refer to yer friend as a 'turbo nerd'? Now that's just disrespectful! Didn't yer parents ever teach you any manners!?” Bolt glared at Applejack for a moment, clearly agitated by her question. Already sick of being around her, he turned and left the Office. “I don't like that guy one bit.”
Ditzy finally sat down as the awkward atmosphere finally dissipated. “Sorry about that. He's really a good guy though. He's just a little...I guess rough around the edges would be a good way to put it.”
“Taint no excuse for having bad manners and bein' disrespectful.”
Ditzy decided to drop the matter for now and changed the subject while they waited.
---
Bolt was greeted by Twilight and invited to join her for a breakfast of blueberry pancakes she had just finished making. Twilight's cell phone was resting on the table as she ate, her eyes glancing at it every so often. She finished off her plate and pushed it aside, looking at Bolt intently now. “Bolt. You don't have tell me all the details, but is it true that you really have no affiliation with the organization we're working for?”
Bolt nodded as he swallowed a bite of pancake. “Mmhm. I still don't. Don't care. I'm doing what I feel is right. That's all that matters to me.”
Twilight stared him down for a moment before her expression finally softened. She grabbed her phone, tapping the screen a few times. “Alright then. I trust you. There's something I want to share with you. I didn't want to share with the rest of them until I knew more about what this meant, but considering your circumstances, I think I could share with you.” Her tapping ceased and she looked up at Bolt. “Some time before I was sent here from Canterlot, I started receiving these odd text messages. I'm not entirely sure what to make of this right now. The person's area code suggests the phone originates from Fillydelphia, but I don't think the number or area code matter at the moment. Before you showed up, I got another one. At first, I thought these were junk from someone texting a wrong number, but they started to hint at things that only I and a few other people should know about. The text I got earlier... Just take a look. I tried texting the person back a few times. I only ever got one response.” She pushed the phone across the small dinner table. The phone was currently displaying text messages from a phone number he didn't recognize. He started carefully reading the messages. The date and times on the messages were spread across days and happened at seemingly random times.
--- UNKNOWN: Do not worry about The Doctor. Twilight Sparkle: I'm sorry, I think you have the wrong number. UNKNOWN: She can be saved. Twilight Sparkle: Who is this? Twilight Sparkle: I tried calling you five times already. I WILL report this number if you keep harassing me without identifying yourself! UNKNOWN: Welcome to Manehattan. Be careful when alone outside at night. She will find you. Twilight Sparkle: WHO IS THIS!? STOP SENDING ME THESE MESSAGES! UNKNOWN: You may call me Rewind. I am not with them. I am a friend. Rewind: She can be saved, but not yet. Twilight Sparkle: Are you talking about who I think you're talking about? How do you know about that? Rewind: Vinyl Scratch is not Noise. Do not waste your time looking into her. Twilight Sparkle: How and why are you doing this!? ---
Bolt pushed the phone back to her. “I see. So you think someone from that organization of yours is watching you?”
She picked up the phone and put it in her pocket. “I don't know anymore. They knew exactly when I arrived in Manehattan and they know about a certain incident. I don't know if I can trust this Rewind person. They says they're a friend and that they're not one of them. I've decided that today, I'm going to find this Vinyl Scratch and find out for myself whether or not she's Noise. I want to confirm Rewind's trustworthiness for myself.”
---
The Doctor arrived about thirty minutes later and was enjoying a conversation with Applejack to get to know her more. The conversation was interrupted when Applejack suddenly pulled her phone out of her pocket. A few seconds of silently scanning her screen, she put her phone away and stood up. “Aright Doctor, he's here. Should ah go get 'im?”
The Doctor stood up and gestured for her to sit down. “I'll get him. Be back in a minute.”
Ditzy looked at Applejack curiously as the Doctor left. “So, everyone in your family learned it too?”
Applejack nodded proudly. “Eyup! Even little Applebloom. We don't leave family behind.”
The Doctor returned with a large man in a red t-shirt. He gestured for the man to take a seat next to Applejack. “Okay! Let's get right down to it. First things first, I just want to make sure you understand your position here miss Applejack. Your brother has shown potential to be a great user for one of our Drivers, but due to his condition, communication with him is a huge issue. We didn't want to waste a potential candidate given our current situation, so in the meantime, you will be in charge of communicating to him for us.”
Applejack nodded. “Eyup. He told me all the fancy schmancy details already.”
“Just remember the most important thing here. You are not to speak a word of anything we discuss here. Understood?”
She nodded again. “You have my word sir.”
“Perfect.” The Doctor turned to face the large man. “Now then. Mister Macintosh, you've already looked over the information we gave you correct? You understand what the situation is and what you will be doing and the risks involved?”
Applejack turned the man as he started making a series of gestures and signs with his hands. Ditzy was entranced by the speed of his hand gestures. Applejack nodded her head and glanced at the Doctor. “He says he understands. He said he has two questions for you. First, will he need someone to open the entrance here every time he wants to come in or will you be able to arrange a way for him to get in on his own? And second, he wants to know if you could possibly give me something to do around here as well.”
“Yes. It may take us a day or two, but we'll have it set up so you can come and go on your own. As for you sister, we could probably have Ditzy show her how to use the monitors we have set up and she could help with that.”
The man nodded and began signing some more at his sister. Applejack once again interpreted for him. “He says he appreciates that. He also says you don't have to be so formal with that 'Mister Macintosh' stuff. We all just call him Big Mac. Y'all can too. S'a lot easier.”
“Very well then. I'll be back in just a second with the Power Driver.” He stood up and went to another room.
Ditzy stared at the siblings in amazement. “Woooooow. That's so cool! Where'd you learn all that?”
Applejack replied. “We took classes. Ah volunteered ta go m'self. He went because...ya know. I personally taught our little sister, Applebloom. Didn't take her long to pick it up.”
“I always thought people that couldn't speak couldn't hear either.”
Applejack shook her head. “Nope. Two completely different things. He can hear ya just fine.”
“Oh...OH! I-I'm sorry mist-...er, Big Mac.”
Big Mac made a few gestures at Derpy. Applejack watched his hands and interpreted. “He says it's okay. He don't take no offense.”
---
A man in a cowboy getup was sitting on a bench near the Statue of Unity, his face buried in his hands. “Dammit...what am I gonna tell cousin Fuji. How could that lady think this research would be useless?” He sat for a long time, sulking and debating on how to proceed.
“My my, now this is interesting. What drives you, hm?”
The man responded, not even fully aware of the woman in front of him. “I screwed up. I promised cousin Fuji that I'd help her get that funding and that girl just didn't care.”
“Your emotions are in disarray after such a jarring turn of events I see. This will prove to be interesting. Let's see if her words bear truth.”
“There's just gotta be a way to fix this but...I just don't know...”
“Rise my subject. Let your emotions run wild! Let us see what kind of power they produce!” The woman pressed her hand against the man's chest and started burying it inside his chest. He immediately jerked his hands away in shock, though was unable to move beyond that as face twisted in fear. The moment didn't last long and soon her hand exited his body. “I'll be watching. For your sake and for her's as well, pray you do not disappoint me.”
The woman casually walked away as the man stared off into the distance, his look of terror now a vacant stare. After a minute, his face contorted in anger. “No...I'm not just gonna let this go! I'll show this darn high and mighty rich types a lesson or my name isn't Braeburn!” He stood up with renewed vigor and stormed off.
“This is going to be quite interesting indeed...”
---
“I don't mind you staying here Vinyl. I really appreciate you staying with me after that too...but isn't your roommate gonna get worried about you?” Lyra asked as she microwaved a bowl of ramen.
Vinyl sat at the dinner table, still not used to being awake in the morning. “Nah. I sent her a text letting her know what's up. She knows I got the rent covered. If ya want me to go home though, I can leave.”
Lyra quickly turned and waved her hands frantically. “No no no no! I didn't mean it like that! I was just trying to make sure you were forgetting about your personal responsibilities on my account, that's all! You're free to stay as long as you want.”
“Thanks man.” Vinyl nodded to Lyra as she sat down and passed a bowl of ramen to her. Normally Lyra would have made her own breakfast, but she wasn't feeling in the mood. “Ya feeling okay, Lyra?”
Lyra smiled weakly. “Yes...I mean, it still hurts...but I'll be fine.” She took a big slurp of noodles. “You know Vinyl, I haven't seen you mention anyone else besides your roommate. You have any other friends?”
“I kinda lost contact with a lot of people. In college and two years of high school though...I knew an awesome chick. Her name was Octavia. Octavia Philharmonica. She was my best friend. She was a little uptight and always dressed like she was goin to some really formal fancy event, but she was a great friend. Believe it or not, I get pretty nervous in front of crowds.”
Lyra raised an eyebrow, pausing for a second mid slurp. “Really? Don't you DJ for big events”
“Yeah. I really loved it, but feeling all those eyes on me that first time... I nearly had a heart attack afterwards. I told Octy about it and she told me to do some visualization tricks. I knew people did that kinda stuff, the whole imagine everyone in their underwear crap. It didn't really do anything for me. She bought me a pair of large shades and gave em to me the next day.”
“You mean those purple shades you wear every so often?”
“Yep. Those are the ones. It really worked too. It's like there's a wall blocking all those eyes when I'm wearin' em. I have no problem performing with em on. I didn't know what to do before that, and it really meant a lot to me that she went out of her way to help me deal with my problem. She kept saying it was no big deal and she just bought the first pair of cheap shades she found. Even if that's true though, it was the thought that mattered to me. The fact that she went out of her way to help me do what I love doin'. I haven't seen her in awhile though. I really miss her. Haven't seen her since college though.”
“She sounds really nice. She was into DJ'ing like you I take it?”
“Octy? Nah man, she into that whole orchestra stuff, playin classical music and what not. She played the cello. She was pretty damn good at it too. Classical was just never really my style, but whenever I found out she had some kind of event she was gonna be performing at, I went anyway.” She looked down at her bowl. “I know she lives in Manehattan still. I should try and find her some time. I really miss her.”
Lyra smirked a little. “Sounds like you really loved her.”
Vinyl shook her head. “Naw man. She was just a close friend.” She slurped the last bit of noodles and downed the soup in the bowl. “I'mmah head out for a bit. Gonna just go for a drive. You gonna be okay by yourself?”
“Mmhm. I'll be fine.” Lyra grabbed the bowls and brought them to the sink. “Just don't do anything crazy.”
---
Braeburn stood outside a large hotel in Upper Manehattan. “The Mare-iot Hotel. They're holding an auction today. No doubt only the upper class will be here, throwing their money around like it's nothing. I'll show them!” Following the signs in the hotel, he easily found the room where the auction was being held. He could hear voices from within. He opened the door, finding the room to be filled with many people in formal attire, which only further fueled his rage.
“Very good. And next up, we have this one of a kind Jade miniature pony statue. Has a rather nice Shine to it if I do say so myself. All proceeds for this item will go towards improving the schools in Lower Manehattan. We'll start the bidding one thousand! With that, I turn the microphone over to Motor Mouth.”
The room became a beehive of voices. The man on the microphone known as Motor Mouth was speaking a mile a minute updating the room on the current status of the auction and people from all over the room were talking amongst themselves and calling out higher bids. Braeburn walked down the center aisle, stopping at the middle of the room and thrust a finger up in the air. The room slowly grew silent, the people in front of him quickly noticing the decreasing volume in the room and turning to see the source of the silence.
A man dressed in a tuxedo and monocle on stage in the front of the room stepped forward to break the silence. “Excuse me sir, can we help you?”
“I'll take everything ya got.”
The man wasn't sure whether to be stunned by his words or write him off as someone looking for attention. “That's quite a bold claim there. But this is an auction sir. If you'd like to bid on an item, you must follow the procedures like everybody else.”
“I'll be paying for everything...with your lives.”
A look of great concern took the face of the man on stage. One of the patrons to Braeburn's side got up from his seat and confronted him. “You picked the wrong guy to threaten buddy!” The man grabbed Braeburn by the shoulder and launched a haymaker aimed straight for his face. Braeburn remained calm and raised a hand to catch the punch. The man was shocked to see his punch didn't even faze him. Braeburn kept his hold on the man's fist and threw him into the air, down the center aisle. The man landed on the floor howling in pain and clutching his arm. Everyone quickly got up and started to back away in fear. Motor Mouth also started to slowly make his way off stage, hoping he could sneak away.
Braeburn tipped his hat up. “You high and mighty rich folk disgust me. Y'all just flaunt your damn money around like nothing else in the world matters. Y'all think just cuz your so rich that y'all can just step all over everyone.”
The man on the front stage stepped forward. “S-sir! This is a charity auction! All the proceeds here are go-”
“Cut the bull! That money's just going to go back into someone's undeserving pocket. Meanwhile the people on the bottom working their asses off just to eat and keep their clothes on their backs. Y'all are the lowest of the low!” The man attempted to rebut, but Braeburn cut him off. “Y'all are gonna pay for your greed!” Braeburn lowered his hands to his side. “Cast Off!”
Braeburn's body was engulfed by a green flame, leaving a humanoid armadillo monster wearing a cowboy hat where he once stood. Everyone in the room went into a complete panic and started scrambling out of the room screaming. The monstrous Braeburn pointed at the man still remaining on the stage. “I'm surprised you haven't run yet. Lemme guess, think y'all can bribe me? Think someone will come to your rich rescue?”
The man was visibly scared, but stood his ground. “No! I don't know what caused you to hate us so much, but you can't just take out your frustration on innocent bystanders!”
“Innocent my foot! You may not have wronged me, but I bet you've all ruined someone elses life! That's all I need to know! Y'all are the same!” Braeburn began advancing towards the front stage.
The man began slowly backing up in response. “P-please! You're going about this the wrong way! Murder is not the way to fix things!”
“Begging won't change anything! He stepped on stage, ripped the podium off the stage and threw it at the man. The man fell to the floor and covered his head, nearly dodging the projectile podium. He approached the man picked him up off the floor by his neck. “Now, think long and hard about your crimes and die!” He began squeezing the man's neck. The man tried desperately to break free of Braeburn's iron grip. His grip on Braeburn's hand started to weaken as the air left his lungs. He had almost given up hope of survival, when something struck the side Braeburn's face, knocking him over and causing the man to drop to the floor. He coughed and gasped for air. He looked up to see his savior. Standing in front of him was what appeared to be a white armored ninja.
“Glad I got here just in time.”
The man pulled himself up to his feet. “Wh-who are you?”
Vinyl kept her eyes on the downed armadillo monster in front of her, who had not gotten back to his feet. “You're pretty lucky dude. I saw a buncha people running away and freaking out. I had a feeling it was a Changeling or something. Had to friggen drive away just to transform and all that. Huge pain in the ass. You should get outta here though. I'll take care of this guy.”
The man had questions, but took her advice and got off the stage. He turned around quickly. “Thank you from the bottom of my heart! My name is Fancy Pants! I am forever indebted to you! I hope we can meet someday, face to face!” Fancy Pants fled the room, leaving her to deal with the monster on her own.
Braeburn screamed out in anger. “Aargh! Who the hell are you!?”
Vinyl paused for a moment. She put a hand to her chin. “Ya know...I haven't actually thought of a name for this yet. It's not supposed to be a long term thing, ya know? I can figure that out later. The important thing here is kicking your ass.” She held out her hands, materialized two records and threw them at the monster, cutting his sides. She leapt into the air and landed a powerful kick to Braeburn's chest while the records distracted him, sending him reeling back..
Braeburn pulled himself back to his feet. “Ngh, alright then! I ain't holdin' back on ya then! He ran towards Vinyl and attempted to assault her with a barrage of punches. She was able to react to each punch, dodging and deflecting his fists with her own. She sidestepped to dodge a kick, grabbed the leg and retaliated with a punch to the jaw. Braeburn was seething with anger on the floor. His attempt at revenge was ruined.
Vinyl approached the beached armadillo monster, readying a large vinyl record in her hand. “Sorry buddy. If there was an easy way to change ya back, it wouldn't have to come to this.”
Braeburn growled and curled up in to the shell on his back. He started bouncing quickly around the area around Vinyl, leaving small craters in the floor where he bounced. She was caught off guard and dodged as best as she could. Braeburn managed to strike Vinyl on the side as she dodged another bounce, sending her reeling off to the side. He followed up by peeling out on the floor and ramming Vinyl through the wall. She groaned as she pulled herself up. She looked around for the monster, but he had made his escape after his last attack. She found herself in a large empty room she assumed to be only used for special events. She shook her head and casually left the room. Upon exiting, she found herself the center of attention as a small crowd of civilians were watching the area from a safe distance. They were slowly starting to approach as they started to realize the monster was gone. Vinyl started to panic. She ran out the front entrance only to find it blocked by a news van and several police vehicles. She quietly cursed to herself.
A female reporter quickly ran up to her and shoved a microphone to her face as her assistant cameraman followed behind her, getting a good view of Vinyl's armored form. “Excuse me miss! Is it true that you were the same masked hero from the incident days ago at the Cover Page comic shop!? Are you some kind of masked crusader!? Who are you!? Where did you come from? What is your name!?”
Vinyl was slowly backing away from the reporter, to which the reporter responded by advancing on Vinyl to maintain her close distance. “I...uhhh...I gotta go! I...I mean, th-” She quickly used the only idea she could come up with on the spot. She suddenly pointed off in the distance and yelled out. “OH NO! ANOTHER MONSTER!” The crowd all turned to witness this new evil only to find nothing. Vinyl made her escape across the rooftops and was out of the immediate area when the crowd turned back to question their armored savior. She made her way to an alley, disengaged her transformation and casually walked out with her phone at the ready. No one seemed to notice anything. She started dialing Lyra's number. “We gotta find out how we're gonna deal with the media now or this isn't gonna end well...”
---
Twilight made her way to the surveillance room of the Office. The Doctor and Ditzy were both sitting down, watching video footage. “What's this?” She asked as she made her way to the Doctor's side.
The Doctor replied without taking his eyes of the screen. “It's footage of Noise fighting a new type Changeling. It happened earlier today.”
“A new type of Changeling?”
“Yes. We were surprised to get a reading on the monitor. It wasn't from any of the Drivers. We sent Trixie to investigate at the time. We were also recently given authorization to tap into any camera feed in the city now. It's about time really, don't know why we needed permission to do this. You'd think it'd be a pretty important ability to have given our task and circumstances. Anyway, Noise happened to get to it before Trixie did.”
“A new type of Changeling that's strong enough to picked up by the monitor? Does that mean this particular one is just really strong?”
He shook his head. “No. I think who ever is doing this found a way to create better and stronger Changelings. That one's nothing like the ones we've seen before.”
“I see. What happened with Trixie? Did she ever make it there in time?” She asked, eyes still glued to the video footage on the monitor.
“Yes. I told her not to do anything once we got hold of the camera feed and saw Noise fighting it. I wanted to see Noise's performance for myself. It seems like she's managed to get a handle on using her Driver. I wonder if she would consider joining us.”
“With all due respect, I believe the one to take note of is Flight. Even though I only saw her in action once, he skill was incredible. More so than it should have been considering her lack of time with the Driver. She definitely has a natural talent for it. She didn't even try when I fought her.”
“Well in any case, next time you guys encounter one of them, try and not scare them off this time. Especially Music. I want to have a little chat with that one.”
---
“I'm not going to lie, I had my doubts for some time. But just as you predicted, that new Changeling appeared. Right where you said it would.”
“I told you. That Changeling will be defeated tomorrow, also, I need you to do me a favor tomorrow. I need you to appear after the Changeling's been defeated. It'll be pretty simple actually. You just need to be caught on camera.”
“Hm? Lemme guess, you want to throw Twilight Sparkle off?”
“Yes. Don't worry, it won't change much. I'm taking a few small liberties I know, but the end result will be the same. Twilight will play a huge part in this, but that part doesn't require her to know about the true identities of the Riders outside of the Doctor's jurisdiction.”
“That reminds me. I've noticed you've been sending her odd text messages. Rewind was it? What's that supposed to be?”
“Cute isn't it? I thought it was a clever name. Don't worry, that part is important. Again, Twilight's a little important here.”
“How so?”
“Well, she's important right now in that I need her to not do a few things. Her curiosity will cause her to do some things that could ruin everything. As long as she's conditioned to believe everything I tell her as Rewind, then we should be fine in the end.”
“Are you sure? If what you told me in the end is true, then it's going to change the end dramatically. You will be singled out once it starts becoming painfully noticeable.”
“I know. Again, it's okay. We already planned this out. The finishing stretch doesn't matter too much. I'm aware that I'm going to be singled out near the finishing stretch. Unfortunately, that's unavoidable. At that point, everything will still come together on the last day. Just have faith in me.”
“I do. You've been right so far. So, tomorrow I just stand around in plain sight while Vinyl finishes off the Changeling. Simple.”
“Vinyl will be there, but it won't be her who defeats the Changeling. It'll be Rainbow Dash.”
“What?”
“Just wait and see. She'll show up tomorrow. Consider that another prediction to prove my trustworthiness.”
...was all we were able to get from the armored vigilante. Police attempted to chase the monster, but it quickly destroyed all police vehicles and escaped. Police are still looking for this strange creature and urge to be extremely careful and call nine-one-one if sighted. We'll bring you more news on this armored vigilante and this new monster as the situation develops. If you have any information about either, please contac-
Lyra turned off the TV and fell back into her beanbag chair, resting a hand on her forehead. “Ooooh this isn't good. The media's going to be crawling everywhere.” She paused for a second to look up at Vinyl, who was laying down next to her, staring at the ceiling. “Was that really the best you could come up with though?”
“Ugh, come on man. I was put on the spot! It was all I could think of! So sue me!”
Lyra let her head slump back and found herself staring at the wall behind her. “Ugh, I have no idea how to deal with this. From now on, if you need to leave some place, take the rooftops, not the front door. That's the only thing I can think of right now.”
Vinyl laid motionless, trying to think of some idea of how to evade or potentially silence the media. Nothing was coming to mind. Evading them was going to be difficult in it's own right and the only way she could think to silence them would be through violence, and she had no intention of taking that route. It wasn't long before Lyra finally broke the stream of nothing and got up. She went into her room and came out after a few minutes in a uniform Vinyl had seen before. “I gotta go to work Vinyl. You can stay if you want. I happen to have a spare key. I'll leave it on the kitchen table. Grab it if you're gonna leave and come back. I'll see you later.”
Vinyl simply raised a hand in acknowledgment for a few seconds and let it fall back to her side. She spent the next hour lazing about, and even turned the TV on for a short time. She still couldn't think of anything. It wasn't until a commercial came on for Barnyard Bargains that she suddenly remembered something.
“My name is Fancy Pants! I am forever indebted to you! I hope we can meet someday, face to face!”
Vinyl sat on the beanbag chair motionless for a few minutes. She was internally debating asking Fancy Pants if he would possibly be able to censor the media for her. It felt kind of wrong to simply ask a favor of him like that, but he did say he was in her debt, but asking would involve revealing herself to him. She put her thoughts on hold after she grew sick of thinking about the issue and looked up his address on the internet. She grabbed Lyra's spare key and left.
---
“OH MY GOSH! THAT'S SO AWESOME RAINBOW! YOU'R LIKE, TOTALLY A SUPER COOL AWESOME SUPER HERO NOW!”
Rainbow felt herself blush a little. “Yeah yeah, I know.” She disengaged her transformation. “Remember Scoots, you can't tell anyone about this okay?”
Scootaloo saluted. “No problem! I won't breathe a word to anyone!” Her hands slowly began to lower as her smile faded slightly. “But, you'll still be coming back here, right Rainbow? Does this mean your leaving?”
Rainbow knelt down and put a hand on her shoulder. “Of course not. I wouldn't leave ya Scoots. Even when you finally find a family, I'll still come and visit ya. Got that? I just won't be around as much. But don't worry, I'll make time for you whenever I get the chance, alright?”
Scootaloo's smile returned. “Got it!”
“Atta girl. Now go finish your homework.”
Scootaloo saluted again. “Already did! Ms. Cheerilee said she'd take some of us to get ice cream today if we all finished our homework early! I can't wait!”
“Sounds like fun. Better be around when she calls for ya then. Don't wanna miss out on ice cream.”
“Alright! See you later Rainbow Dash!” Scootaloo ran off as Dash watched.
Dash eventually made her way to a bus stop nearby where Gilda was already waiting. “Ready, G?”
“Yep. That thing is probably still somewhere around Upper Manehattan. All we have to do is look for people flippin' there shit and we'll find it in no time.”
---
Vinyl stopped in front of a large one-story house. She was surprised Fancy Pants didn't live in something bigger, like a mansion. She had to double check her GPS to make sure she was at the right place. She made her way to the door and took a deep breath before knocking on his door. The door was opened by Fancy Pants dressed in a fancy tuxedo, giving her a bit of a confused look before greeting her. “Good afternoon miss. Can I help you?”
“Yeah. My name is Vinyl Scratch, nice to meetcha. I know this might sound a little odd, but, mind if I come in for a bit and talk?”
Fancy Pants raised an eyebrow, which only made Vinyl feel more awkward. He shrugged shortly after and gestured her in. “I suppose so. Come on in.” She was surprised. She didn't think he would actually let her in so easily. She accepted his invitation and walked inside. “Can I offer you a drink? We can chat in the dining room if you'd like.”
“Uh, just water, thanks.” Vinyl tried to keep it simple in an attempt to be polite. She couldn't help but notice everything looked so underwhelming for the home of one of Manehattan's premiere millionaires. The most the house had going for it was that it was a little big for a one story house. She sat at his table as Fancy brought her a drink and sat down with a glass of sweet tea for himself.
“So, what brings you around Miss Scratch?”
She took a big gulp of her water before responding. “I have a bit of an odd question. About an incident that happened yesterday.”
“Ah yes. That monster that attacked at the Mare-iot yesterday, correct?”
“Yeah. If you don't mind me asking, what happened in there?”
Fancy took a small drink of his sweet tea. “Well, we were simply holding a charity auction. All the proceeds were to be donated to help improve schools in Lower Manehattan. I had high hopes for the events, and things were going smoothly. Then this man showed up in a cowboy outfit.”
“Man in a cowboy outfit?”
“Yes. He came in and made a bit of a scene. He said that all upper class citizens were scum in his eyes and that he was going to kill us all.”
“Really!? He just waltzed in and threatened everyone!?”
“Indeed. I was rather skeptical myself of course. That was, until he turned into a monster, if you can believe that. I suspect you're asking me about this event because you've seen the news, correct? Or are you perhaps, a reporter?”
Vinyl's arms shot up and she quickly waved the question off. “No no no! I promise you, I'm not with the media! I was just curious. I...I have a friend who was there and I'm just a little concerned about what went down in there, that's all.”
Fancy seemed to accept the answer, but Vinyl couldn't quite read his face very well. “I see. In any case, he transformed into a monster and made an attempt on my life, after making some...rather interesting comments. I was lucky to make it out alive. I owe my life to that strange, 'armored vigilante', as the news is currently referring to her. I do hope I can thank her in person some day.”
“What do you mean by, interesting comments?”
“From what he was saying, he seemed to really despise the wealthy, or at least certain wealthy people.” Fancy Pants sighed. “You see Miss Scratch, society's views on a person tend to change dramatically based on their status. If a person becomes famous or rich, society tends to turn and suddenly view them negatively. I've worked my way towards my current standing through hard work and smart investments. As I started accumulating a vast wealth, I began buying all the little things I had always wanted. Nice clothes, quite a lot of books to read, so on and so forth.” He took a small swig of his tea. “But in the end, I don't really need all the money I currently have and buying more and more for myself just isn't rewarding for me. I don't regret the things I've obtained, but money can only do so much for oneself. I discussed the situation with my wife and ever since, we've giving back to the community through charity events, generous donations, so and so forth. To put it very simply, it felt nice to give back to those less fortunate to have tripped over such wealth.”
“I guess that explains the house.” She chuckled a bit. “I was expecting something a lot more...expensive in here.”
“Bah, nonsense. I am a married man with no children as of yet, I don't need more than a simple house.” Fancy was quiet for a moment afterward. He took a few gulps of his tea and sighed. “Miss Scratch, I have a bit of a problem, if you wouldn't mind lending an ear.”
“O-oh, sure. What's up?”
“It's true, we have been practically throwing most of our money out into the world with good intentions, and it indeed made me feel nice, for lack of a more powerful word. But, lately, the feeling just isn't there anymore. I don't expect anything in return for what I do. Nothing has changed from before, I still have no particular need for the excess money I possess nor do I have any desire to hoard it. I've been pondering this situation for awhile and I just can't come to a conclusion as to why I've been feeling this way lately. It feels like I'm starting to expect something for the things I do, which just sounds plain selfish. What do you think Miss Scratch? Do you think that even through my generous acts, I've started to become selfish?”
She sat quiet for a minute. She brought her hand to her glass of water to take another drink, but felt slightly awkward when she realized she had finished with her last drink. “I dunno man. Maybe something's changed since then. Maybe you've just kind of grown numb the feeling? I guess that sounds kinda crappy, but I'unno, maybe that's a thing. I doubt it's because you're expecting something back though. You don't seem like that kinda guy to me. If I had more time to think about it, maybe I could think of something”
“I see. I apologize for asking you such a heavy question. In any case, is there anything else you'd like to ask me? I'm more than happy to assist in any way I can.”
“Uhh...I do have one question, but it's not really important.”
Fancy Pants grinned. “Surprise me.”
Vinyl slowly raised an eyebrow as her eye wandered down his clothes. “...why the fancy suit?”
Fancy couldn't help but laugh at the question. “Oho, it's rather simple. I just like formal clothing. I'm not going anywhere today. After yesterday, I'd rather prefer to stay here and read a good book in my study. I personally don't think there's anything wrong with wanting to wear nice clothes for no good reason. Clothes exist to be worn do they not? Why wait for some rare special occasion? I'm not particularly fond of the way society is nowadays. If people want to get together, they send a text message or post on their social media. Important and personal matters and information are also pushed through the same means. It feels like we're losing touch with the outside world, Miss Scratch. I prefer the older days. If you wanted to talk with someone, you'd call them up on your telephone or simply drop on by, as you did. If we had something important to share, we had no social media in which to brag to the world, we hunted our friends down and shared the news! I miss that kind of community we used to have. But I suppose I might just be losing touch with the world myself. Who knows.”
“Mmm.” Vinyl hung on his words for awhile and got up from her chair. “Thanks man. I think I'm gonna head out now. I got something I need to look into. Thanks for everything dude.”
“Not a problem. It's not everyday you get to indulge in conversation with a complete stranger in your own household.” He took their cups, deposited them in the kitchen sink and walked Vinyl to the door. “Have a nice day Miss Scratch.”
“Yeah...see ya.” She turned around and took a few steps before turning around. Luckily, Fancy Pants hadn't closed the door yet. “O-one more thing sir, sorry for holding you up. I...I don't suppose you have any way of uh...influencing the news...would you?”
He looked at Vinyl rather strangely. “Influence the media? That's a rather bold question. Care to elaborate?”
“Oh, um. It's because...uhhh...”
“I see. I had a feeling that might be the case. Miss Scratch.” Fancy closed the door behind him and approached Vinyl. “Might you be, that 'armored vigilante' who saved my life yesterday?”
Her head shot up to meet Fancy's eyes. “W-what!? N-no, of course not! I mean, maybe...kinda.”
“Haha, relax my dear. I saw the news today. You looked rather unenthusiastic about the whole affair. I assume you're attempting to ask me if I could persuade the media to leave you alone, correct?”
Vinyl's eyes were darting around, still attempting to think of a way to convince him now that he was wrong while a vast majority of her brain was telling her that the jig was up. “Uh...mmmaaaaaaybe?”
“Well then. First of all, thank you from the bottom of my heart. I had a feeling when I saw you at my door that might be her. I'm very glad you dropped by. As for your request, sadly, I cannot help you there. I have no way of telling the media what to do and what not to do. If you'd like, I could attempt to find some way to assist you in some way. Just let me know what I can do to help and I won't hesitate.”
Vinyl finally relaxed. “Oh. Well, honestly that was a huge reason why I came. Sorry about that. I'll definitely keep you in mind if I need help though. Thanks.” She finally left after another brief thank you from Fancy Pants. She began her drive home when her phone began vibrating. She made a quick check at a red light. She was getting a phone call from Trixie. She rejected the call since she was on the road. As the light turned green, her phone started vibrating again with another call from Trixie. She groaned and pulled into the nearest parking lot. “What dude? We've been over this, if I cock block your call it means I'm on the road. It's really hard to hold a conversation when all you can hear from my end is WSSSHHH.”
“Yeah whatever. I know you've been having a blast with your friend the last few days, but you'd better be home in the next few days. We have rent due this week and I need your half of the money alright? You can joy ride all you want again after.”
“I know, I know. Look, I'll be back tonight alright? Just chillax. I aint gonna forget. I'll talk to ya later.” Vinyl hung up and put her helmet back on. As she tried to get back on the road, her attention was caught by three police cars speeding down the road. Her grip on the handles tightened. “Uuuugh, stupid guilty conscience!” She got on the road and followed the police.
---
A small crowd was gathering outside of Town Hall in Upper Manehattan. Police had set up a barricade and were working to keep civilians out of the area as people were being evacuated from the building. Rainbow and Gilda were already among the crowd. Gilda was able to stop a man fleeing from the building. “Yo! What the hell's goin' on in there!?”
“Some crazy monster is in there! The Mayor and Diamond Tiara are trapped on the third floor! He's after them! He'll probably go for us next! I'm getting out of there!”
The man ran off immediately. Gilda grinned. “This couldn't be any more perfect.” She turned around. “Hey Dash.” Her grin slowly faded as her gaze was not met with rainbow hairdo. “Dash? DASH!?” She started looking around. She was able to spot Rainbow making her way through the swarm of fleeing civilians, completely unnoticed by the police. “Oh you have GOT to be fucking kidding me...Dash! DASH!” Gilda tried to follow her in but was quickly stopped by police.
---
Vinyl parked nearby and arrived on the scene. She was able to sneak in by crouching down and using the torrent of running people as cover. She was able to get the information she need from a few people as they ran by and quickly made her way to the third floor. She made it up the stairwell and found a cowboy in a hallway opening a door.
“There you are! Ah've been looking forward ta meeting with you again Miss Tiara.”
A young girl about Rainbow Dash's age was sitting down in a chair, arms and legs crossed as a woman was making a poor attempt to hide in the corner of the room. “So you're the one scaring everyone. Well then, you have my attention. Make it quick though, I'm a little busy at the moment.”
Braeburn scowled. “You spoiled little brat! You have no idea what ahm here for do you?”
Diamond rolled her eyes. “Yeah yeah, revenge right? Still mad about yesterday? Psh, whatever. Like I said before.” She held a hand out in front of her, her pointer finger held upward. “When it comes to matters of investing money, I follow one unbreakable, diamond rule. If I can't make money off it, then I don't care. I could care less about your worthless little project. It won't rake in any cash for me. If you're so worried about getting sick, then that's your problem.”
“Cast Off!” Braeburn transformed into an humanoid armadillo monster and approached Diamond Tiara. She continued to stare up at him with a condescending look, not even bothering to move from her chair. “Let's see how long yer confidence lasts when yer bleeding and begging for yer life!”
“Step off buddy! If you want to kill them, you're gonna have to go through me!” Vinyl challenged the Changeling from just outside the door. “Cmon cowboy. Take your money problems up with me!”
The now extremely agitated Braeburn turned around to face the human before him. “Who the hell are you?”
“I'm...uh, well...I still ha-”
“I'm the one who's gonna take you down!”
Vinyl quickly spun around. A younger girl with rainbow colored hair was standing behind her. “Wh-what are you doing here kid? This isn't a place to play hero man, this monster can straight up kill you!”
Rainbow wagged her finger. “Not to worry. I admire the heroic effort, but you should bail. This is gonna get rough. I'll hold him off while you escape.
“Wh-what? I'll hold him off while you get out. Seriously, get out. This guy is not playing around!”
Braeburn yelled out in frustration. “Just shut up or I'll kill both of you!” The angry Changeling stomped towards the two. Both of them silently agreed to take their argument out of the room.”
“This isn't a game kid!” Vinyl called out as Braeburn wedged himself between the two in the hallway.
Rainbow dodged a few swipes aimed at her. “Don't give me that crap. I know exactly what I'm doing. Just leave this to the big leagues, okay!?”
Vinyl rolled off to the side, barely dodging a punch aimed at her. Braeburn's fist left a hole in the wall. Vinyl pointed at it as she maintained a somewhat safe distance from him. “See!? See that shit! That could be your face! Get outta here already!”
Braeburn growled in frustration as the two continued to dance around him. Rainbow groaned. “Ngh, fine then. You wanna play hero? I'll show you what a real hero looks like. You've earned it. But this is a secret between you and me now. You can't tell anyone about this!” She back flipped away from the angry Changeling, pulled out a pair of small red tinted goggles from her back pocket and placed them over her eyes. “Let's do this! Transform!” She crossed her arms and thrust them down, parting the wings on her belt and engaging her Driver. She held a hand up towards the ceiling as the now familiar light covered her.
Vinyl quickly realized what was happening. “ANOTHER ONE!?”
She grinned in her new armored form. “Armored Hero Blitz, on the scene!” She placed a hand around her goggles as she grinned at Vinyl. “This armor didn't cover my eyes. So I use them before I transform. Remember now, it's a secret.” She reached her hands back and pulled out two metallic feathers, running them between her under-arm and body to harden them. She flipped the swords around, stopping them both in her hands and taking a flashy stance. “I'm not holding back like I did with that one chick. Try and keep up.” She charged straight for Braeburn, crossing her swords and slashing them across his chest. He reeled back and began to fight back against his new opponent. Rainbow was having no trouble dodging his attacks and retaliating with a flurry of slashes.
Vinyl shook her head and ran off towards the stairwell. This Rider didn't seem to her like one of the Riders that seemed hell bent on attacking them. She closed the door to the stairwell and transformed. Unlike this other Rider, she had no intention of revealing her true identity.
Rainbow was slicing up the Changeling with ease. Braeburn wasn't fast enough to keep up, and Rainbow's constant mockery was only causing him more rage and clouding his judgment. The furious Changeling found an opportunity to back off and put some distance between them. Rainbow grinned, tapping one of the blades against her shoulder. “Thinking of escaping. Just try it.”
“Enough of this!” Braeburn curled up into his shell and began speeding towards her. “Beat this!” Rainbow leapt over the rolling monster using her wings to push her over. She rolled off the ground, immediately pulled out her blaster and fired multiple shots into him. The shots seemed to have no effect. Braeburn wasted no time spinning around and peeling out back in Rainbow's direction. She tried to attack head on with her feather blades but sent flying across the hall instead.
Vinyl re-entered the hallway only to be greeted by a blue figure sliding across the floor. She took a quick glance and turned to face the threat. Braeburn uncurled and laughed at the downed Rider. “Not so cocky now are ya, ya little runt! Have some more!” He curled up and charged straight for Rainbow. Vinyl quickly threw a few records in front of Rainbow, sidestepping the rolling Braeburn as he passed by.
She called out to Rainbow. “Don't move!” The records detonated at the Changeling nearly ran her over. The force of the small explosion was enough to shove him off course and send him down the corridor to Rainbow's right, grinding along the wall a short distance before he finally uncurled.
Rainbow quickly got up and gave a thumbs up. “Hey, thanks a lot.” She pointed a sword at Braeburn. “Now then, like you said, enough of this. Let's finish this!”
Braeburn growled back in defiance. “Talk all ya want ya cocky little runt. Ya can't win if ya can't hurt me!” Vinyl materialized her large blue and white record and tossed it down the corridor, knowing his was going to try rolling again. The record managed to land in his chest and embedded itself inside him as he curled up.
She allowed herself a quick victory arm pump for finally having landed that attack again. “Alright, I didn't exactly plan this, but I'm all for working together! Hope you can follow this up, Blitz, ball's in your court!” She pushed all the sliders on the mixing board on her right arm up to the max. “AUDIO OVERDRIVE!” The record inside Braeburn exploded in reaction to the sliders and forced him to uncurl mid roll, leaving him helpless on his back.
Rainbow ran towards the helpless Changeling at full speed. “Nice pitch. Time to score a home run!” She leapt as high as the ceiling would allow and used her wings to propel her even faster and down towards Braeburn. She crossed her swords and slashed deep into him, sliding across the ground behind him afterward. The monster behind her exploded. She got up and attached her feather blades to her back.
As the smoke subsided, a human cowboy was laying in pain. Vinyl approached him and knelt down. “M'sorry dude.” She took a deep breath and prepared for him to have a heart attack like the first one.
The cowboy looked up at her. “What...what happened...? Where am I...? This looks a lot like my dream?”
Vinyl raised an eyebrow. “You...you don't remember anything?”
“I had a weird dream...I was going a little crazy and...I think I was a monster or something...”
“...that wasn't a dream dude.”
The man looked extremely confused. “That...that actually happened? How...and...what's gonna happen to me now? I...I just wanted to help out my cousin. She was countin' on me to help fund her medical research...and not only did I fail her...but I became a monster... How can I face her now...?”
Vinyl sighed and shrugged. “M'not gonna lie dude. I have no idea, sorry. This is kinda new to me. Last two Changelings I dealt with kinda died on me.” He simply stared at her as the word, Changeling, was lost on him. “I dunno how to help with your other problem either. I guess, try looking at other ways to help her out with that? Look, this is out of my hands now. The police are probably gonna be in here soon. Just tell them what happened. With all the crazy crap going on so far, they'll most likely believe you and let you go.” She rubbed the back of her neck. “I uh...also don't want to deal with the reporters out there so, I'll leave you here okay? Just, take it easy and just rest here alright?”
Rainbow interjected. “You're just gonna leave him there? Not cool dude. If you won't, then I will. Not exactly sure what you're talking about, but I'm getting the idea that it wasn't necessarily his fault. That's fine I guess. I'll vouch for him out there.” She picked up the cowboy. “Oh, by the way, nice work back there. You're not half bad.”
She made her way towards the stairwell when Vinyl called out to her. “Wait! You wanna talk later? We could team up. I have an idea of who's behind all thi-”
Rainbow quickly shook her head. “Nah. I'm not exactly the team type. I mean, I'm all up for helping each other out if we ever happen to meet again. But I prefer to stick it solo. Or with a certain friend of mine. Anyway, catch ya later maybe.” She made her way down the stairs, leaving Vinyl alone. She wanted to talk to this 'Blitz' some more, but she had a feeling she wasn't going to get anywhere now. She also wanted to leave the area as soon as possible. She opened a nearby window where the crowd wasn't paying any particular attention. She waited until she could hear some kind of commotion signaling that Blitz had made it outside and stolen the crowd's attention, and leapt out to a neighboring rooftop to find a secluded place to transform back to normal.
Rainbow carried Braeburn outside and handed her over to the police. She explained what she had gathered from the earlier conversation took a few minutes to speak with reporters before eventually taking to the sky. Twilight and Bolt watched the scene from the outside, away from the crowd. She was scanning the crowd intently while Bolt kept an eye on the building. “Well, we'll be seeing plenty of Flight tomorrow. She's hamming it up in broad daylight right now. Any sign of Noise yet?”
“No. She's either still inside or left through the back. What's your call? Keep watching or what?”
She shook her head. “Two more minutes. Noise got here before we did, but she should still be around. It's possible she might still be inside or found a way out and is hiding inside the crowd.”
“Alright. Just lemme know when we're done. I-Wait! There! Noise just left through the window!”
Twilight quickly looked towards Bolt's finger. “What!? Where!?”
“You just missed her. She's fast. I don't think we'll be able to chase her down right now.”
Twilight shook her head. “Don't worry, we just need to head in her general direction. If my theory is correct, we should find Vinyl Scratch wandering around. If so, then it means...it's...definitely...” Twilight slowed her speech to a halt as her eyes caught something she wasn't expecting. Exiting the crowd was Vinyl. She had manage to push her way out of the crowd and was now fiddling with her cell phone as she backed away. She finally turned around and started to leave towards an unknown destination as she put her phone to her ear, occasionally taking a few glances back towards the crowd and town hall. “It's her...that's Vinyl Scratch...”
Bolt stared at the girl. “Her? That's her? But that means that she can't be Noise.”
Twilight continued to stare at the girl until she was eventually out of sight. “Not only was my initial guess wrong... But Rewind was right. Now we're back to square one.”
“Let's figure this out somewhere else. We're not accomplish anything else out here.”
Twilight reluctantly followed Bolt.
---
Rainbow waited an empty park until an angry looking Gilda finally showed up, storming angrily towards her. “Sup G. You shoulda been there, there was this random chic-”
Gilda grabbed Rainbow by the collar. “WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT, DASH!?”
“Woah woah woah, chill out Gilda! What are you talking about!?”
“I THOUGHT WE HAD AN UNDERSTANDING HERE! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHO WAS BEING HELD HOSTAGE IN THERE!? DO YOU HAVE ANY FUCKING CLUE!?”
“What? What difference would that ma-”
Gilda shoved Rainbow back and let go of her collar. “DIAMOND TIARA WAS IN THE BUILDING! DIAMOND! FUCKING! TIARA! RICHEST GIRL IN ALL OF MANEHATTAN! IN ALL OF FUCKING EQUESTRIA! WE HAD A FUCKING GOLD MINE JUST SITTING IN OUR LAPS BEGGING US TO TAKE IT, AND YOU MANAGED TO FUCK IT UP AS HARD AS POSSIBLE!”
Rainbow was quickly getting angry. “What are you talking about Gilda!? What does she have to do with anything!?”
“Fucking ey, Dash! We having fucking super powers and what do you think I'm fucking talking about! I thought you understood what I fucking meant before all this!”
“Well obviously I don't, so why don't you explain it to me Gilda!”
She turned around a took a few small steps, throwing her hands up in frustration. “Holy fucking sh-” She quickly spun back towards Rainbow. “Money, Dash! We finally have a fucking chance to score some easy cash! Aren't you tired of living in the shitsville of Lower Manehattan while all these rich fat fucks in Upper Manehattan are dicking about living the good life!? I know I am! And here we have gold! FUCKING GOLD, DASH! All we had to do was demand her to pay us for saving her life! You know, when I saw you sneak in there, I had a small bit of hope in my heart that you would at least be able to handle that part on your own, but no surprise, you come out with some fucking nobody and to top it all off, you fucking yuck it up like some stupid ass hero of justice to the gawdamn paparazzi! What the fuck, Dash!? Just, what the fuck!? Like, just tell me, I wanna know! What the hell were you even thinking back there!?”
“I can't believe I'm hearing this from you Gilda! This was never about money! This was about saving lives and putting stop to crime in the city! What made you think I wanted anything more out of this!?”
Gilda slammed her palm into her fore head. “Oh my fuc- You have GOT to be kidding me! You think your some kind of stupid ass comic book super hero!? Oh my f- Wake up, Dash! I know you still like to pretend like everything's hunkey-fucking-dorey, but guess what Dash! Your dad's dead, his fucking baseball buddies aren't gonna keep babying your ass forever, and you're gonna be stuck in that fucking orphanage forever if you don't do something about it! Get fucking used to it and think about the future! You have a chance right here and now to finally make something of yourself! Think about that alright!? I know that requires using your brain for once in your fucking life, but just do it! When you're ready to start being smart, gimme call alright!? I'm going the fuck home! I need a cigarette to help me calm the fuck down!”
She stormed off, leaving a seething, silent Dash. As Gilda faded into the distance threw an arm into the air and screamed out. “DIAMOND-FUCKING-TIARA! SON OF A BITCH!”
Dash didn't bother to chase after her. She clenched her teeth and left without a word.
---
It took Vinyl an hour to get back to where she had initially parked her motorcycle. At some point during her long walk, she thought back to the cowboy's last words.
“I...I just wanted to help out my cousin. She was countin' on me to help fund her medical research...and not only did I fail her...but I became a monster... How can I face her now...?”
His heart was in the right place. She started to wonder if corrupting someone's emotions could really cause someone with good intentions to go berserk like that. She got on her motorcycle and put on her helmet. She sat for few minutes, still thinking, not quite ready to start it up yet. She pulled out her phone and placed a call.
“Hello? Vinyl? You better not be calling to tell me you won't be here to-”
“No, that's not it. I just want to ask you a quick question Trixie. Have you ever hated or gotten sick of doing your magic shows at any point?”
“...I'm sorry, what? What brought this on?”
“I'unno, just answer the question.”
“Um... no? I can't say I have?”
“Why not? Even after the few that you told me went bad. Why do you still do it?”
“Vinyl, what are y-”
“Look, I just wanna know something. I'm not really trying to grill you about your work or anything. Just humor me, alright?”
She could hear the sound of Trixie sighing heavily. “Well, same stupid reason you do what you do. You don't have to think too hard about it. Why do you keep doing it, hm? Even if something goes bad, the good outweighs that. Happy now? Now shut up and don't be showing at three in the morning or something.”
“Yeah I'll be back soon. Thanks though. See ya later.” She hung up her phone and sped off. She parked her motorcycle on the driveway and scrambled for the door, practically punching the door bell as soon as she was close enough. The door was opened by a familiar gentleman.
“Miss Scratch? What are you doing here again? Did you forget any-”
“I figured it out! This is gonna sound dumb so just listen up, alright! It doesn't feel as great anymore cuz your not seeing the people you're helping! I was thinking about it and someone said something to me and I started to realize, when it comes down to it, it's seeing the faces of others. When you let someone down, seeing that person sad, it hurts man. It really does. But when you make a lot of people happy and see them smiling and enjoying the moment? It feels amazing, and that feeling never gets old. Maybe sometime you should consider going out to see some of the people your money's going out to. I bet that'll give you that nice feeling back. It's not selfish man. You're just feeling off because you don't know if you're really helping or not cuz you can't see it! Go out and do that tomorrow or something. I guarantee you it'll give you that warm fuzzy feeling, twenty times over!” Vinyl was panting as she finally finished her rant to a now flabbergasted Fancy Pants. He took a minute to take in her words before responding.
“You know Miss Scratch, if that was all you came here to tell me, you could have just called me. I'm sure my number isn't hard to track down through the internet nowadays.”
“Yeah I know, but it's like you said earlier. When people really wanted to share something with a friend, they just went on over and told them in person. I just wanted to give it a shot. I feel like an idiot right now, but it does feel pretty nice I guess. Now that I've made an idiot of myself, I'm gonna leave now.”
“I don't think any of what you said ludicrous at all Miss Scratch. In fact, I really appreciate the advice. I think I'll do just that starting tomorrow. You have my sincerest thanks.”
Vinyl was starting to blush a little. Heart to heart moments weren't her strong suit. She started backing up as she prepare to leave. “N-no problem man. Thanks for the talk earlier. I'll be sure to let you know if I need help with anything. Later!” She quickly sped off back to her apartment, as still stood at his door with a smile on his face.
“Who was that?”
“Just a friend I met yesterday, dear. I'm making a slight change in my plans tomorrow. There's somewhere I'd like to go.”
---
“There you are queenie. So, was I right, or was I right?”
“I will admit, I am impressed. Though I am a little concerned with the side effects. It seems that defeating them simply destroys all of my essence within them, turning them back into normal humans.”
“A minor detail. You just need to find some better humans to convert. Find the right one and it'll take out the Riders no problem. Then you can go back to making the garden variety crap you love to keep pumping out.”
“I suppose a solution to the current problem should be the first priority. Now then my dear, that leaves me with issue of what do with you? You have provided me with a great deal of assistance. Tell me what you desire, and I shall acquire it for you.”
“That's easy. Make me a Changeling. The same way you did with that other guy.”
“Oh? Your the first human I've seen willing want to shed their humanity.”
“I have plans, and I can't pull them off with this weak body.”
“I see. Such ambition belies what I've seen on the surface. So be it.”
“Hold it. I want you to make one minor change with me. Don't just amplify my negative emotions like you did with him. Amplify all my emotions. Everything. Understand?”
“Hmhmhm, you're quite the interesting one, Sunset Shimmer. As you wish.”
“...Nggguhhh...”
“It will take a little bit of time for your body to adjust. Do not worry. You will be able to move in a few minutes. We shall keep in touch.”
“Sorry, just needed to deal with him for a second. Now I can answer a few questions.”
“Who are you? Where did you armored vigilantes come from? What are you planning to do? Where are these monsters coming from!?”
“Yeesh, talk about talkin' a mile a minute. The name's Armored Hero Blitz. I can't exactly say how I got these powers. That's kind of on the down low, ya know? As far as these monsters, from what I've figured out, someone or something is turning people into monsters. Not really sure about all that. But I'm here to put a stop that! No monsters are gonna be runnin' for free in my city!”
“Excuse me! Blitz! We have a few questions we'd like to ask you!”
“Sure, I got time for one more question. Make it good, I gotta jet.”
“Are you and the white armored vigilante a part of a crime fighting team?”
“Oh her? Naw. I mean, I don't mind her helpin' out, but I mostly work alone.”
“Blitz, a few more questions!”
“Sorry, I toldja that was the last one. Maybe next time though! Peace out!”
Attempts to find out more about this armored vigilante have proven fruitless. Blitz has opened a Twitter account but no personal information has surfaced as of yet. Police are still working to figure out what is going on and uncover the true identities of these armored vigilantes and how they came to be. We'll be having a live discussion about the issue after the break, so s-
The Doctor rewound the footage and paused it on a full body image of Blitz. “So. This is 'Armored Hero Blitz', eh? It's a shame we couldn't view any footage from the fight. I can't believe a place like Town Hall wouldn't have more cameras up. Well, I guess it's not as worthwhile to hit as opposed to a bank or someone's house or something. But still!”
Ditzy shrugged. “Tracking her down should at least be easier than tracking Noise, Claw or Music.”
The Doctor made a slight audible growl at the mention of Music. “That one still pisses me off.”
“Oh! By the way, did Twilight tell you about yesterday?”
“Yes. Apparently, Vinyl isn't Noise. I'm a little surprised myself, but all we can do from here is move forward. We'll focus on trying to get in contact with Flight, and Noise if possible. Meanwhile, I'll have Trixie or Big Mac on standby in case Claw decides to do something.”
“Roger! I'll let them know!”
---
Vinyl woke up to the sounds of breakfast being made. She shuffled out of her room to see Trixie in the kitchen. She called out to her after a loud yawn. “D'ja grab the money I left on the table?”
“Yes. Next time, don't wait so close to the deadline to show up.”
“Yeah yeah, relax. I toldja I had it covered. Have some faith in me."
"Also, we have a guest coming later today. He'll be staying in your room."
"What!? I'm sorry, that's not happening. If you're gonna have someone staying over, than it's not my problem!"
"Your fault for waiting til the last minute."
"Dude, that's bull! He's staying in your room!" Trixie didn't respond. A usual sign that she was done discussing the matter. "Trixie! He's not staying in my room!" She continued to ignore Vinyl. "Ugh, fine. I'll just tell the guy myself. Friggen moody little pain in the ass..." She muttered her last sentence as she slumped down at the dinner table.
Vinyl spent some time relaxing after the last few days. She read up on her novel while checking for gigs and spent a little time screwing around the internet. She decided to leave the apartment after a few hours and visit the Starry Brew cafe after receiving a text from Lyra saying she would be on break soon. She wandered a little more on the internet on her phone as she waited for Lyra. She was completely oblivious to her when she finally sat down across from her.
"So, did you see the news?"
Vinyl's head jolted up and she quickly put her phone away. "Yeah. I went to sleep after yesterday, but I caught a video earlier. I was there too."
"You were there? I guess the fact that you didn't show up is a good sign. What happened there?"
"Basically, that Changeling went into Town Hall threatening people, I ran in and tried to stop him. Then that girl showed up. She's looked a few years younger than us. I asked her where she got her Driver and if she wanted to meet up with us. She said she worked alone. I don't think she's one of them. If anything, she thinks she's a real super hero."
"I mean, if you think about it, we kind of are."
Vinyl glared silently at Lyra for a second. "You know what I mean. She actually wants to go around being the big hero of justice. I just want to take out that chick making all the Changelings."
"Then why'd you show up yesterday?"
"Ugh, that was just coincidence. I was nearby and I saw police everywhere and I didn't want anyone dying or anything...I couldn't just walk away man."
"That's good though. No need to worry too much about that. We can only do what we can. If that woman doesn't show up, then oh well, we just keep looking until we find her."
"Yeah, I guess." Vinyl closed her laptop after realizing she probably wasn't going to be using it for a bit. "I just wish she'd show up already. For everyone's sake."
"By the way, where'd you go yesterday that you were near there anyway?"
"Oh...yeah. Believe it or not, I was actually at some millionaire's house. His name's Fancy Pants. He's a pretty cool guy."
Lyra's eyebrow shot up. "What? Why and how?"
"I saved his life the time that Changeling attacked and he said he wanted to pay me back. I uh...he might know that I'm a Rider now. But it's cool! He won't tell anyone! I was there cuz I wanted to see if we could get him to get the media off our backs. He said he couldn't do it, unfortunately."
Rarity approached their table and handed Lyra a small bag. "Here are you fresh cookies dear. Enjoy." Before she could turn and head back, she quickly spiraled back towards Lyra. "OH! And mind the clock this time. I let Fluttershy have the day off due to some...personal issues and I'd prefer to have you back as soon as possible. We were very busy this morning and it's only going to get even busier in just a little while."
Lyra responded with a thumbs up as she dove into her chocolate chip cookies. She waited until Rarity was back behind the counter to speak up. "You've got to try our cookies sometime. They're amazing when you eat em right out of the oven. Anyway, m'gonna cut my break in half. I'll take the rest later. Don't worry too much about dealing with the Changelings if that Blitz gets to them first. If she's good enough to handle them on her own, then you don't have to worry about anything, right? It works out for both of you." She quickly annihilated her last cookie. "Mmmmph, nexht tyme 'ou come her'." She swallowed the last of it down. "Sorry. Next time you come here, I'm getting you some fresh cookies. The best!" She crinkled up her bag and took it with her as she returned behind the counter to return to work.
Vinyl shrugged and opened her laptop back up, resuming her seemingly aimless perusal of the internet.
"Excuse me. Do you mind if I sit here?"
She looked up at her new guest. A purple haired woman carrying a cup of coffee was looking down at her. "Oh. Uh, sure. Go ahead, I guess."
"Thank you." She sat down and placed her coffee to the side. "My name is Twilight Sparkle. If you don't mind me asking, might you be, Vinyl Scratch?"
Vinyl begrudgingly tore herself away from her laptop again. She closed it again, slightly annoyed at having been torn away from it so quickly. "Yes? What's up, you havin' a party or something?"
She shook her head. "No. I'm not here to solicit your services. I'd actually like to ask you a few questions."
Vinyl felt herself tense up slightly. "About what?"
"I'd like to ask you about the incident at the Cover Page comic book shop."
"I told the police everything I knew. If you've seen or heard anything about that, then you already know everything." She responded quickly. She mentally cursed herself for getting so defensive. If this person was on to her for any reason, then acting suspicious was only going to make things worse.
"I see." She took a small sip of her coffee and went back to looking Vinyl straight in the eyes in an almost intimidating manner. "There's something concerning me about that though. You may have recently heard about a recent incident in Town Hall over in Upper Manehattan. An incident involving a monster terrorizing citizens."
"Yeah...I heard about that awhile ago. What about it?"
"I happened to be nearby while that was happening and I happened to catch a very interesting sight after that Blitz character came out."
Vinyl could feel her heart pounding, threatening to burst out of her chest at any moment. All she could do was continue to keep a straight face and answer her questions. "And, that would be...?"
"Well, you see..." She calmly took another sip of her coffee and set it aside. "...I saw you." Twilight observed Vinyl like a hawk. She could see Vinyl was getting nervous. Her body was almost quaking, just barely.
"You saw...me?"
"Yes. I'm curious as to why you were there. Town Hall is rather out of your way and you seemed to be taking pictures and calling someone as you left. The incident in question is very similar to the one at the Cover Page comic shop. Being at the scene of multiple, very similar incidents starts to make one look very suspicious, Miss Scratch. Would you care to tell me what you were doing there?"
Vinyl saw her golden opportunity. She didn't to point out her window escape and seemed to believe that she was somewhere also on the scene at the time. She relaxed slightly, if only for a moment, and let the conversation continue. "I wasn't there. What are you talking about?"
"So, you're denying being at Town Hall yesterday during the incident?"
"Heck yeah I am. I wasn't there. If you're gonna accuse me of something, then show me proof."
"Gladly." Vinyl seemed to become incredibly confused. Twilight pulled out her phone, fiddled with it for a few seconds and the placed it in front of Vinyl. Video footage from what appeared to be a cell phone camera was playing, a voice of some male could barely be heard over the crowd trying to speak to his phone. "Don't worry about what he has to say, the important thing to note is here. Right about...now." Vinyl Scratch emerged from the crowd with her phone out and slowly started to walk away.
Vinyl was staring at the footage intently. "That's...impossible. That...that's not me..."
"Really? Are you saying you have a twin? A doppelganger perhaps?"
Vinyl rewound the footage to watch the impostor again. "I swear that that aint me!" She replayed that part of the footage multiple times, scrutinizing the impostor for any odd details. No matter how many times she replayed it, she looked exactly like her.
Twilight was also watching Vinyl's reaction closely. Her nervous posture was completely gone now. Twilight wasn't sure whether or not if Vinyl was being truthful, but she appeared genuinely confused by the footage. She decided to not press the matter any further for now. She took the phone back and put it back in her pocket. "I see... If you don't mind, I have one more question. I'll be as direct as possible. What do you know about that white armored vigilante that's been showing up recently?"
This was the one line of questioning Vinyl had actually prepared herself for. She responded calmly. "Not much. She's got white armor. She fought some monster dude. S'about it. Why?"
Twilight hesitated before standing up and bowing. "I appreciate you taking the time to speak with me. We may see each other again in the near future. Until next time." She left the store. Vinyl let out a long sigh of relief. She pulled out her phone after a moment of relaxation and looked up the footage on a popular video hosting site. She resumed replaying the moment of her clone appearing.
---
Twilight drank the rest of her coffee, tossed it in the garbage and made her way down the street. Though Bolt had dropped her off, she left him a text as she made her way to the nearest bust stop that she would be taking the bus home. She wanted to try out public transportation in a city like Manehattan, if only once. She also wanted time to sit and think about the information she had now. If Vinyl wasn't there and was genuinely confused about a doppelganger, than what did it mean? She texted Rewind about the issue, though she wasn't expecting to get a response. She finally put her phone away and stopped at an intersection, waiting for her chance to cross. As she took in her surroundings, she noticed something odd. A person in a hoodie not to far off was staring at her. She looked around and back at the hooded person, who had slowly started backing away. Obeying her curiosity, she started to approach the figure rather than cross the road. The hooded person turned and started to walk off. Twilight increased her speed to a quick power walk. The figure continued to walk away into a large underpass. Twilight started running to catch up to it. The figure finally stopped as Twilight got close. She slowed down, not wanting to get too close to the stranger. "Excuse me, were you watching me?"
The hooded person didn't respond.
"Excuse me! Who are you?"
The figure let out a feminine giggle and slowly removed it's hoodie, callously tossing it to the side. A woman in a biker jacket turned to face Twilight. "It's been a long time Twilight. Do you regularly follow strangers into secluded places?"
"Sunset Shimmer? What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be in Canterlot right now?"
Sunset leaned against the wall folded her arms, glaring at Twilight with a confident grin. "Do you know how a Changeling is created, Sparkle?"
"We have a general idea. She injects the person and are slowly converted into a Changeling. Why th-"
"Close, but not quite. It's not just the venom that does it. The Queen's venom is pretty impressive actually. She can alter it's properties at the moment of injection. There are actually two types of Changelings. Maybe even three now. The first type are the ones you've seen up until now. They're simple runts created by removing all of a human's emotions. They're empty shells that crave a human desire. They pretend to act on whatever desire they had up until the moment of conversion, but it's simply a hollow instinct. There is no real emotion in it." She pushed herself off the wall and began slowly sauntering towards Twilight. "The second type is one the Queen learned how to create just recently, thanks to a certain benefactor. A human's desire, their drive, only exists because of their emotions. If they have no emotions, they have no drive, no desire. The more strongly a human feels about towards their desire, the more willing they are to do whatever it takes to achieve their desire and the more they will fight to eliminate any obstacles in their path. The Queen injects her victims with her venom and amplifies their negative emotions. This leaves the human partly intact, however, with their amplified negative emotions, they'll do whatever acts of atrocity to achieve their desire. Their drive is warped and fueled by all their negative emotions. The man you may have seen yesterday is of the second type. Their strength is much greater than the first type due to these changes." She came to a stop beside Twilight. "And then, there's the third type. Me." Sunset thrust her hand around Twilight's throat and slowly began to lift her up off the ground.
"S-Sunset!"
"Ahahaaaaa, that's right, Sparkle. I'm a Changeling now. I'm also the one who gave the Queen a friendly little nudge and told her how to make the second type of Changeling. I'm a little different however. Unlike the second type, all of my emotions have been amplified. The power this gives me is...well, you can tell can't you? I don't even have to cast off my human shell to break you." Twilight was trying in vain to pry Sunset's hands off her neck. Sunset's response was to slowly increase the pressure. "I can finally have my revenge, Sparkle. You took everything from me you prissy little bitch! And I intend to pay you back in full!" She gave her one more quick squeeze and threw her to the floor. Twilight screamed out in pain as her arm took the brunt of the impact. She rolled on to her back, clutching her arm to try and reduce the pain. Sunset stomped her foot on Twilight's chest and slowly ground into it. "Now, first order of business. Where's your little partner, hmm? I'm well aware that the Solar Driver already has a user. I know you two have already gotten together. Call him. Tell him if he doesn't show up, I'll break your neck right here." Twilight didn't oblige, and continued trying to fight the pain. Sunset applied more pressure to Twilight's chest. "I said, bring him here. I want the pleasure of killing him in front of you."
"Y-you won't kill m-AAAGH!"
"What was that?"
"I know how this wo-NRGH-works...you won't kill me-NGH-until you get wh-GAGH-what you want!"
Sunset stopped applying more pressure and laughed. "Clever girl. But that's okay. I'm a patient girl. I can wait. I'll enjoy destroying everything you love in front of you, Sparkle. Consider this my resignation letter. I'm done with G.U.A.R.D. I look forward to seeing you again. And before I go, have a parting gift, just between friends." Sunset removed her foot from Twilight's chest and allowed her a moment to catch her breath before swiftly kicking her injured arm. "Catch you later, Sparkle." Sunset casually walked away, leaving Twilight to cry and writhe in pain. She slowly sat up against the wall and put a hand to her earpiece.
"D-Ditzy...s-send someone to p-pick me up. Ngh..."
"What's wrong Twilight? Are you okay?"
"No. I'm in a l-lot of pain r-right now."
"O-okay! I'll send Bolt over to pick you up!
"N-no! D-don't send him! Nrgh! S-she'll be l-looking for him!"
"O-okay! S-sorry! I'll send someone else then! ...Okay! Applejack is on her way right now! Just hang tight!
---
"Over here! Hurry up!" A young male high school student called out to his friend.
Another young male student took his time making his way to his friend. "I'm coming Featherweight, jeez. What are you so worked up about?"
Featherweight could barely contain his excitement. "You saw the news, right, Rumble? About those heroes, right?"
"Yeah, I've seen it on the internet."
"I got footage of one of them! I know who the white one is!"
Rumble stared in disbelief. "N-no way! I don't believe you! Prove it!"
"Sorry, I can't just show you the whole thing. This is my meal ticket."
"Meal ticket?"
Featherweight started to pace back and forth slowly. "Don't you see? This person is trying really hard to hide her identity. All I have to do is show her the footage, and I can get her to do whatever I want!"
"...You...want to threaten a super hero? Okay, why would you even do that, and second, why would you even do that!?"
"Easy. Having a super hero at your beck and call who will do whatever you want for them? What more do you need? I've got back ups of this footage at home. I want to see how much mileage I can get out of this."
Rumble was shifting about nervously now. "Featherweight, I really hope your joking. That's not cool at all. You can't be threatening a super hero like that. It's...it's just not right. They've done nothing wrong!
"I don't care! I'm sick and tired of getting pushed around! I've lost three cameras! Do you even know how much money I spent on those!? I don't care if I have drag her ass through the mud for it, I'm getting my dues." Featherweight turned and walked off, leaving Rumble behind. "Don't worry, I'm not gonna make her do too much. I'm just getting a little payback that's all."
"Mmm, what an interesting drive you have. I wonder what you will do..."
---
Vinyl returned home earlier than would have liked. She would have preferred to be later than ten at night, but she had to make sure Trixie's guest wasn't hijacking her room. She mentally prepared herself for war as she opened the door. "Trixie. I'm home. There better not be anyone in my room or I'm going to murder you." Trixie was sitting on the couch watching TV. Vinyl noticed her room light was on through the crack under the door. "Dead. You're dead. I'm gettin' this guy out, and you're dead. That is seriously not cool!" She stomped towards her room, glaring at Trixie on the side. Trixie didn't even seem to acknowledge Vinyl's presence, which pissed her off even further. She pushed her door open. "Okay, dude, I don't know what crap she told you, but you are not stealin' my room! Sorry about that, but I never agreed to this!" She yelled at the bulge she saw under her blanket. She was about to explode about the situation when the person underneath pushed the blankets off.
"Aw come on. Your blanket is so soft and comfy. I keep forgetting to get off my ass and by me a good one like this..."
Vinyl's fury quickly faded. "LONGPLAY!? What're you doing here!?"
He grinned. "I just wanted to visit my little sister. I called your roommate about it to keep it a secret."
"YOU'RE WELCOME!" An irritated voice yelled from outside.
Vinyl leapt on to the bed on next to her brother. "I'm gonna have to apologize to her about that later I guess. But dude! How long are ya staying for!?"
Longplay nuzzled into her pillow. "Probably a week. Maybe a little more if you're both okay with that."
"Hell yeah we are!"
"Do I still have to sleep on the couch?"
Vinyl gave him a quick hug. "Naw dude, you can sleep in here. You can chill on the bed. It's big enough for two. As long as we're sleepin' head to foot at least. I don't wanna wake up and find you spooning me or some weird cartoon crap like that. "
Longplay shot up and thrust his arms into the air. "WOOO! BED AND BREAKFAST ACHIEVED! AND ALL I HAD TO DO WAS LAY DOWN AND DO NOTHING!"
Trixie yelled at the door again. "SHUT UP!"
Vinyl laughed. "I missed your dumb ass. So what exactly brings you over?"
He flopped back down. "Nothing really. Just had a bit of a dry spell with work. Felt like taking a small personal vacation." He pulled out his phone and held the screen up so Vinyl could see. "See, I even texted my boss to make it official."
im goin on vacation jackass c u in lik a weak or sumthin peec out
Vinyl burst out laughing. "Did you really text that to yourself?"
Longplay smiled like an idiot, putting his phone back in his pocket. "Yep! Back grammar and all. Seemed appropriate at the time. By the way, kickass headphones. Where'd you get those?"
"Uh, I dunno. It was a gift from a friend." Vinyl shrugged, quickly writing them off.
"Same girlfriend that gave you those shades of yours?"
She punched him in the shoulder. "Dude. Not my girlfriend. Just a friend."
"Aw come on, you can tell me if you're gay. Big brother won't think any less of you."
"Shut the hell up. Friend. That's all. Not gay. And no, not her. I haven't even seen her awhile. I need to get back in touch with her. It's been way too long."
Longplay shoved the blanket off him and rolled off the bed like a log. "Sounds like a plan. You should do that later. I'm going to bed for real now. Right after I use your shower." He pulled himself up, walked straight to her shower and closed the door.
Vinyl relaxed on her bed for a minute before quickly sitting up. "Wait, please tell me you brought pajamas with you!"
"Yeees! I left him in here before you got here, don't worry!" He yelled from behind the door.
Vinyl flopped back down and relaxed on her bed. She could only hope there would be no Changelings to deal with for a week."
---
Applejack sat on a chair next to Twilight's bed, tending to her wounds. "Alraht, that should do it. Ya sure y'aint hurtin' anywhere else?"
"Y-yes. It was just the one arm and my neck for the most part. I'm glad it wasn't broken."
"Naw. If y'all had broken yer arm, you'd be pourin' tears left and right. Trust me, sugarcube."
Twilight shifted around slightly, a little offput by that statement. "Well, that's reassuring."
"Now why couldn't y'all have yer jackass partner come n' grab ya? What wassat all about?
Twilight gestured to the bluetooth earpiece on Applejack's ear. "Turn that on so the others can hear." Applejack pressed a button and waited. She looked at Twilight for guidance, not sure whether or not she turned it on or not. Twilight simply nodded and started. "Ditzy, can you hear me?" Applejack nodded after a few seconds. "Okay. Sunset Shimmer's here in Manehattan. She's betrayed us. Even worse, it seems she's met up with the one creating the Changeling's. She's a Changeling now. She nearly killed me too. I'll go into more detail tomorrow, when I can explain it in person, but for now, let the higher ups know about her. Also, she told me some interesting information about the Changelings. Again, I'll go into more detail tomorrow. For now, tell Bolt to avoid going near Upper Manehattan. She might still be in there area. She'll kill him if she finds out he's the user for the Solar Driver."
Applejack put her hand on the earpiece for a few seconds and nodded. "She says she got it all. Now how do I turn this thing off. Do I just press the button again?"
---
"So. This is all the information we could find on these monsters?" Diamond Tiara asked.
Silver Spoon nodded quickly. "No one knows much about them. Rumors are all I could come up with. Some of them seems to be consistent though."
Diamond scanned through a few pages, the room going completely silent as she did so. She closed the window, turned off the monitor and stood up from her chair. "Good enough! I'll be heading out for now. Feel free to see yourself out Silver Spoon." She left the room and held her arms out. A butler waiting right outside the door slipped a very expensive fur coat on her as she continued walking.
Silver looked at the black monitor for a second and quickly shot out of the room after her. "W-wait, Tiara. You're not seriously thinking of finding this woman are you!?"
"That's exactly what I'm going to do. We need to have a little chat."
"But-"
Diamond Tiara spun around and thrust her arm out, pointing a finger upward. "You should know by now Silver Spoon, I have one unbreakable diamond rule that I abide by. If I want answers, I will get them straight from the source, and no one will stop me. You may stay here for the night if you're afraid, or go home if you wish. It's up to you. I have business to attend to. Ta-ta~" She promptly turned around and ventured into the night, thrusting open the large double doors of her estate.
"Oh? Another human seeking an audience with me? You never stop being interesting. Very well, I assume you want to become a Changeling too?"
"I have no desire to become a monster like them. I actually have a few questions for you."
"Oho? I see no reason to not deny your request."
"First! What are you? And second! What is your end goal in turning people into monsters?"
"I am a Changeling. The Changeling Queen. I simply wish to convert all of humanity into Changelings and remove all traces of emotion from them. Emotion clouds and twists their judgment. Emotions block the way towards progression. The Changelings I've created until now have simply been a means to distract the Riders until I can discover a way to convert all of humanity in one fell swoop. Satisfied?"
"I like your idea. I'l like to make you an offer."
"I'm listening."
"I will allow you the free use of my estate and all of my assets to achieve your goal. In exchange, I want you inform me of all your actions and decisions. Also, I will reserve the right to request that you convert any person of my choosing."
"Interesting. I will accept your terms for now, my little human."
"Then let's shake on it, to make the deal official."
"Very well."
"I'd prefer it if went back to your human form before we shake, or at least just your hand."
"Hmph, if you insist."
"Perfect. Then we have ourselves a deal.
"Indeed, and I shall make good on the offer of your estate. As interesting as roaming this city has been, I would prefer to have a place to settle down."
"An excellent decision. You'll see that Diamond Tiara doesn't skimp on her end. I will ensure that you are treated like royalty while within our walls. I do however have one small condition. As long as you are within my estate, you are to assume your human form. Are we understood."
"That won't be a problem."
"Come with me then. I'll be more than happy to show you around. You may take whichever room you desire. My parents are gone and won't be back for a few months, not that they would mind in the first place."
---
Vinyl awoke at noon to the sound of her phone's notification ringtone. She rubbed her eyes and tried to get up, but had trouble moving her legs. She looked paused for a moment and lifted her blanket a bit to find her brother hugging her legs together in his sleep. She groaned and gave him a swift slap on the thigh. "Dude! Wake up! Your spooning my legs."
"Mmmm, I don't wanna mooooove. Your bed is so comfy and your legs are so soft~."
"I will punch you in the dick!" Longplay quickly released her and shifted away slightly, knowing full well she wasn't bluffing. He pulled the blanket over his head and continued to lay in bed as Vinyl slowly dragged herself out of bed and over to her desk. She muttered something about murdering someone if her phone woke her up for something unimportant. Lazily sliding her finger across the screen, she noted she had receive a text message from an unknown number. She opened the text and gave it a quick scan, expecting some nonsense with no context from a wrong number. Her eyes slowly widened as the words started to hit her brain. She gave her head a quick shake and reread the message to make sure she wasn't hallucinating.
I know you're true identity, white armored hero. Meet me at the park in Lazy Oaks in Middle Manehattan at 5:00 PM. If you don't, I'll release this footage to the public.
She quickly downloaded and watched the attached video, breaking into a panicked sweat as it finished.
---
"Yes dear, don't worry, Gyro's been wanting some extra hours anyway. Of course he, we both know he just wants to spend more time around me. Luckily, I won't be working during those times. ...Yes, yes, she will be back tomorrow. You don't have to worry about that, Lyra. You only worked three hours today anyway and I'll be covering those for you. I want to thank you again for covering for Fluttershy. Poor dear has been through quite a bit. ...Sorry, it's not my place to say. If you really want to know, you will have to ask her yourself. ...In any case, enjoy your days off. I have to head back and get dressed for work. I just drove my little sister to a friend's to carpool to school together. ...Not a problem. Have a wonderful day, Lyra." Rarity put her phone down and started up her car. Her house wasn't too far away. The drive was normal enough, but something caught her eye as she waited at a red light. A familiar girl with rainbow hair colored was sitting alone outside of a Taco Shack to her right. Rarity quickly turned as soon as the light allowed her to and parked. She had plenty of time before work. Even if she was late, she didn't care. She was a manager. No one would question her.
She made sure her hair was okay and made her way to Rainbow's table. "Mind if we have a little talk?" Rarity asked sternly, already taking the seat across from her. Rainbow was taking her sweet time eating a cheese quesadilla. She glanced up at Rarity, her sullen expression was quickly replaced by aggravation.
"Whadda you want?"
"I'm here on behalf of Fluttershy. Put simply, Rainbow Dash, you need help."
"Uuuuuggh. I can't even count on her to keep a secret anymore."
"She told me because she's worried sick about you Dash!"
"She's a pain in the ass is what she is. I'm perfectly f-"
"You are not fine, Rainbow Dash! You're hurt! Badly! I know the subject must be hard for you, but you can't just pretend like your father's d-"
Rainbow immediately sat at attention and slammed the table with her fist. "SHUT UP!"
Rarity kept her firm posture, not intimidated by Dash. "How long do you think you can keep up this little fantasy world of yours, hmm!? Do you honestly think you can keep up this little lifestyle of yours forever!?"
"I'm outta here!" Rainbow took a big bite of her quesadilla and prepared to get up and leave.
"Do you really think you can run forever just because you have some magical whatever giving you super power!? Is that it!?"
Rainbow froze and swallowed the chunk of food in her mouth. "Ffffff, she told you!? I specifically told her not to tell anyone! COME ON!"
"But I'm right aren't I? You can't keep doing this! Running away won't solve anything!"
Rainbow slammed the table again. "I'm not running from anything! I'm just doing what's right!"
"For who? Manehattan? You? Or Armored Hero Blitz? Honestly, I'm not even sure who I'm talking to right now. Tell me, are you Rainbow Dash, or Blitz?" Rainbow silently grit her teeth. "The road to ruin is paved with good intentions, Rainbow Dash. With the way you're going right now, I'm afraid there won't even be anything left of Rainbow Dash ! Is that really something you're okay with!?"
"Fffffffffffffffffff, sh-shut up!"
"Rainbow Dash, just sit down with Fluttershy. You two can talk this over. You need to sit down and confront the main issue here, Rainbow Dash. Just stop trying to hold it all in and talk to us! Talk to her. If you don't make peace wi-"
Rainbow got up. "SHUT UP ALREADY! I'M SICK OF FLUTTERSHY AND I'M SICK OF YOU! THERE'S NOTHING WRONG! I'M COMPLETELY FINE!" She stormed off. Rarity stood up to chase her but hesitated as Rainbow yelled back at her. "AND DON'T BOTHER FOLLOWING ME OR SO HELP ME, I WILL KICK YOUR ASS!"
Rarity didn't want to risk calling her threat. She sighed heavily as she watched her go. She had a feeling that laying into her as hard as she did might enrage her further, but she didn't think Rainbow would have listened to her if she had been any nicer about it. She reluctantly walked back to her car, ignoring the few curious glances the confrontation had managed to draw. Explaining this to Fluttershy was going to be hard.
---
Vinyl was pacing back and forth in her room, panicking over the text message. She had at least managed to come out for dinner, but quickly devoured it and went back to her room. She was wracking her brain, trying to figure out where she had screwed up. She knew she had checked her surroundings everytime she transformed and reverted back to normal.
"Vinyl."
There was no footage of her on the news yesterday when she fled the scene. The camera was focused entirely on Blitz.
"Vinyl!"
The only person she could think of was that 'Blitz' girl. Could it be her? Was she really the kind of person wh-
"VINYL!" She was finally broken out of her trance by a pillow to the face.
She threw the pillow back at him, though he easily dodged it. "What!?"
Her brother was sitting on the bed watching her with concern. "What are you panicking about woman!? It's almost lunch. Shouldn't you be out there in the kitchen making me a sandwich?"
She groaned and threw herself on the floor. "Dude. Not in the mood for jokes."
"Then tell me what's up."
She stayed quiet for a moment. "I caaaaaaaaan't." She whined.
"Why not."
"It's complicated.
"Oh, you finally find yourself a nice guy or a chick? Are you a lesbo? I'm telling ya, it's okay if you are. I am completely okay with that."
"NO!" She snapped. "Stop frigging saying that! I'm with anyone right now and I'm not gay. Piss off."
He grabbed the pillow from behind him, reeled it back over his head and slammed it down on her stomach. She let out a small pained grunt. "Tell me or I will harass the crap out of you all week! It'll suck and neither of us will have fun. I mean, I'll have a little fun, but I'd rather be doing other things. So out with it."
"Ugh, LP, I can't tell you because...it's a secret. I'll explain later someday, but I just can't right now."
He left the pillow on top of her and sat back in a comfortable position on the bed. "Vinyl. You are terrible at dealing with stress. Just let it our alright? I hate seeing you freak out like this. When have you ever needed to keep a secret from me, huh?"
"I really don't want to hide this from you...just...just trust me that I can't alright?" She grabbed the pillow and shoved it over her face.
Longplay sighed and got up. "Fine. I'm going to get to the bottom of this. I even went to the trouble of bringing you a present and I'll be damned if I'm giving it to you when you're too stressed out to geek out over it." He left Vinyl to lay on the floor. He quickly popped his head in, hoping to elicit some kind of response. "By they way, I'm going to ask your roommate since she tells me everything." He quickly ran off, giggling out loud. Vinyl groaned and left to him to probe around aimlessly. She looked at the clock. It was only 2 PM. She groaned some more and eventually slumped on to her bed.
Vinyl parked in the small parking area just outside the Lazy Oaks public park. Time had passed agonizingly slow, but she was slightly glad to finally be moving. Sadly, the drive didn't help her relieve her stress. Along the way, she had passed by what she assumed to some kind of Changeling-related incident on the road. A car had apparently been damaged slightly, and she saw police questioning a small crowd. No doubt she would hear about that later. She pulled out her phone, giving it another read after parking her bike. Sighing loudly, she put her phone away and awkwardly walked across the grass, avoiding families and couples as her eyes darted back and forth. She went straight for an empty bench and sat down. She glanced at the message on her phone again and resumed scanning the crowd.
"There you are, Vinyl Scratch." A voice called from behind her.
Vinyl quickly turned around. A scrawny young man, most likely five or six years younger than her was smiling at her. He was carrying an expensive looking camera around his neck. "You gotta be freaking kidding me. You're still in freaking middle school or something?!"
This seemed to slightly annoy him, but he kept his composure. "I'm actually in high school."
"Whatever. What do you want?"
The high school student walked around to the front of the bench, standing before her. "I'll get straight to the point then. It's simple really. When ever I need you to do something for me, I'll send you a text, and you get the job done for me."
"You can't be serious!" Vinyl did her best to keep her voice down. "You're gonna blackmail me into being your little errand boy!?"
The student grinned smugly and shrugged. "Blackmail is such a dirty word. You're a big shot super hero now, right? DJ by day, hero whenever the city needs you?"
"That's bull! I'm no hero, buddy! I had my reasons to take out those Changelings! I have my own plans alright!?"
"So, you're just some selfish punk who only cares about herself? To heck with everyone else right?"
Vinyl got and grabbed the student by the collar. "Listen you little prick! Spare me your moral bullshit alright!? You've got no right to guilt trip me when you're trying to blackmail me! I am not gonna be your little slave alright!?"
He seemed unfazed by Vinyl's sudden physical approach and remained completely lax in her grip. "You're in no position to threaten me, Vinyl Scratch. That footage I sent you? It's not on my phone anymore. It's already been transferred to my computer. One wrong move and that footage goes viral."
Vinyl was seething with rage. Every part of her wanted to punch that smug look off his face. "Y-you...little..."
"Let me go Vinyl, or I'll do it right now." Vinyl hesitated for a second but released his shirt. "Good." He started slowly circling her. "Like it or not Vinyl, you've somehow come into possession of super powers. Now hogging them all to yourself is just not fair. It's downright selfish. You may not want to be a hero, but we can't very well let those powers go to waste. Just think of this little arrangement as way to help make this city a better place."
"Bullshit. You're just some bratty little teen who got lucky and wants me to do his dirty work. The hell would you know about making this city a better place you scrawny little prick?" She grabbed his camera and flicked it up, letting it fall back against his chest. "You're just another filthy little paparazzi looking to profit off of someone else's personal problems!"
Vinyl evidently struck a nerve in the high school student. "Like it or not, I own you now! Got it!?"
"Lemme guess, you didn't get your way? Got rejected by a girl? Some mean old bullies call you bad names? Oh boo-freaking-hoo."
The student was enraged by her comment. He glared up at her, breathing heavily as he tried to think of a rebuttal. After a brief moment, his smug grin returned, though his anger was still very evident. "Say whatever you want Vinyl. Just make sure you do as I say or you can kiss your privacy goodbye!" The student walked off, leaving Vinyl to herself. She slumped down on the bench behind her. Her mind was racing, trying to figure a way out of her current dilemma and worrying about what kind of jobs the kid would have her do. She eventually got up and left. She drove off to the Starry Brew cafe to get a drink to help her think more clearly.
Vinyl bought a hot chocolate and sat down alone at a booth. She was a little disappointed to find Lyra wasn't working today. She forced herself to take a few sips of her fresh hot chocolate, which only burned her tongue a little. She had hoped the burn would jog her brain at little. A silly thought, but she couldn't think of anything else. The time passed, Vinyl finally started to enjoy her hot chocolate now that it had cooled down a bit. She nearly had a heart attack when she felt her pocket vibrate. Pulling her phone out, she saw she had received a new text message. She took a deep breath and opened her messaging app. She was relieved to see the message was from Lyra. She apparently wanted to talk as soon as possible. Vinyl relaxed and drank a bit more of her hot chocolate as she called Lyra. "What's up Lyra?"
"Did you see the news? We got another Changeling on the loose."
"Haven't seen the news yet. I might have passed it though. Did it involve a car accident or something?"
"Yeah. He's been pretty active today. He's been going around pretending to be some kind of hero or something."
"What do you mean by pretending to be a hero?"
"He's been mainly going around assaulting people violating the law and ranting about justice and what not. Like, some guy ran a red light and he apparently showed up and busted up his car."
"...so...this he's a super cop or something? That's good then, we don't gotta worry about this one."
"He's a Changeling. We definitely have to deal with him."
"But if he's doing the city some good, then why should we hunt him down for it just cuz he's a Changeling? Sounds kinda racist if you ask me."
"Okay, first of all, that's not funny. Second, he's a Changeling. What if this is all a trick? What if he's got something planned? We can't take that chance!"
Vinyl sighed. "I guess. Off-topic, Lyra, I need your help with something important. Some kid saw me change back to normal and now the little bastard's blackmailing me. How do I stop this? He says he's got the footage backed up at home and he sent me a copy of it to my phone, so I already know he's not screwing around."
"...aw crap... Ugh, I can't think of anything off the top of my head. Don't worry though, I'll make some calls to a few friends and see if I can figure something out. Do you know anything about him? His name or anything?"
"He didn't tell me his name...I...I never asked..." Vinyl realized her critical mistake mid-sentence.
"Fantastic. Just text me his number. I'll see if I can find out who he is. In the meantime, just...well...just do whatever... Try and find that Changeling if you can. I'll keep you updated if I find anything."
"Thanks. Later." Vinyl hung up and slid her phone into her pocket. She let her head slowly fall to the table. Her brother was right. She was terrible at dealing with stress, and this was possibly one of the worst situations she could have ever gotten herself into. She could only imagine what kind of errands that teen might have in store for her. If she failed to follow through, then her secret would be released to the public. She shuddered to think what could happen if her secret got out. She pulled her head up and stared out the front door of the cafe. Her train of thought completely halted as her brain now worked at full capacity to process what she was currently seeing. Out of the front door, across the street, standing on the sidewalk, was Vinyl Scratch. Her doppelganger was outside, staring straight at her. As soon as Vinyl was sure that she wasn't hallucinating, she shot out of the booth and made a beeline for the door. She flung the door open and slammed into someone as she tried to sprint out of the cafe and across the street. She shook her head and pulled herself off the ground, offering a hand to the other party. “I'm so sorry! I wasn't looking where I wa...LP!?”
Longplay grabbed her hand and pulled himself up. “Yes, I'd like a coffee please.” Vinyl ignored his dumb remark and took a glance around him. Her clone was nowhere to be seen now. Her brother took note of her behavior and took a quick glance around as well. “Alright Vinyl. Get back inside and sit down. We're gonna have a little talk.”
“Okay, dude, not right now, I-”
“Fair enough, I get it. Let's go somewhere else to talk. Eating at the same place twice is weird.” He grabbed her by the hand and led her around the cafe, heading towards the center of the plaza, where a few tables and food stands were set up. Vinyl tried to pull herself free, but he made it clear that he was playing the 'big brother' card. He grabbed a large cinnamon pretzel from a snack stand and sat at a table nearby the stand. There was a group of punks nearby blaring loud music from a table and generally being obnoxious not to far away from their table. People passing by made a clear effort to walk around and their distance from them. Longplay sat down set his pretzel down and leaned in forward. “Alright. Out with it. What's got your panties all in a twist?”
“LP, please. I told you, it's private.”
“The fact that you're flipping out over private matters is what worries me the most. You can't at least tell me what it's about. Is it work related?”
“Ugh, yes. Kinda. I mean, i-”
He leaned forward, laying his arms over each other on the table. “Look me in the eyes, Vinyl. Is it work related?” Vinyl's gaze quickly shifted off to the side, looking slightly away from him. He always pulled this trick when she was being difficult when she was younger. She had tried a few times to look him dead in the eyes right back and lie to him, but he always seemed to know if she was lying or not. It quickly grew to a point where she couldn't even look at him anymore if she was lying and he pulled this. “Vinyl, what's going on?”
Vinyl was getting nervous. “LP, please do-”
“I was a tiny bit concerned at first, but you couldn't even give a me a vague reasons as to why, and after following you around today, I'm extremely worried. Now spit it out.”
“You followed me!?”
“Yes. Yes I did. Now explain yourself.”
“I-it's a long story.”
“Oh, I think I can make time for it.”
Vinyl was cornered. She tried to speak, but every time she opened her mouth, her body stopped responding. It was less than a day and he had just about wrenched her secret out of her. Meanwhile, he was waiting patiently. She gave up. There was no hiding it from him anymore. She took a deep breath and prepared herself to drop the bomb. Her words were drowned out and cut off by sudden screaming all around them. Vinyl and Longplay look towards the table of the obnoxious punks to see them suddenly engaged in a fight with a humanoid grasshopper. Vinyl knew it was a Changeling.
The monster had broken their stereo and was taking them all four of them on at the same time. Two of them tried attacking the Changeling from behind only get elbowed in the face. Another tried to grapple it and hold it's arms down for his friends. The Changeling easily broke the hold and punched him a few times in the chest, sending him to the ground with a final, powerful kick to the stomach. The last punk cautiously circled the monster, looking for an opening.
“You four are guilty of disturbing the peace and being a menace to society. For this, I shall punish you all in the name of justice!” The monster proclaimed to the group. Vinyl remembered what Lyra said about this Changeling. He was apparently going around being a hero of justice. She continued to do nothing but watch for now. The remaining punk grabbed a chair and charged. The Changeling didn't flinch as the chair was slammed into it's chest. It grabbed the chair, wrenching it from the punk's grasp and threw it to the side. It grabbed him by the shoulder, started pummeling him with it's free hand and tossed him to the floor after delivering a few devastating blows to the stomach and chest. It approached the two that had attacked it first and picked one of them up, started punching the punk in the stomach and stomped on the other punk's chest.
Vinyl was getting concerned as the beating continued. This was too much for just disturbing the peace. The Changeling landed another punch to his stomach, causing the punk to cough out blood. That was the last straw for Vinyl. She got up and ran to their aid. “Hey! That's enough! Leave them alone!”
The monster dropped the punk to the floor and gave one last stomp to the one already on the ground. “You would defend these worthless delinquents?”
She knelt down beside the punk currently bleeding. “Look, I'm not saying they weren't being annoying. I'm not gonna defend what they were doing, but at this rate you're gonna kill them! Just lay off them already!”
“Do you think my justice is wrong?”
“I think you're crazy!” Vinyl stood up confidently, glaring the monster in the face. Her confidence faded slightly when she realized she was still in plain sight. If she transformed here, her current problems would only get exponentially worse.
“I will ignore your interference this once citizen. Get in my way again and you will face justice.” The Changeling turned and leapt high on to a nearby building and continued leaping further away. Vinyl made a quick call for an ambulance and checked to make sure they were still okay. She finally relaxed for a second when she felt a hand on her arm wrenching her to the side.
Longplay wasn't happy. “What the hell was that!?”
“They could've died! I had to do something!”
“So getting yourself killed is the better alternative!?” Vinyl opened her mouth to reply but stopped herself. “Haven't you seen the news Vinyl!? These monsters are dangerous! All we can do is wait for those heroes to show up!”
“And you're okay with letting people die in the meantime!? We should just sit and enjoy the show until some random super dude decides to maybe show up!?”
“Of course not!” Longplay sighed and shook his head, realizing his terrible word choice. “Of course I'm not okay with that, but there's nothing we can do against them.”
Vinyl heard sirens in the distance. Either someone must have called the police when the fight started, or they were packing some serious speed. “Come with me. I have to show you something. In private.” Vinyl led him to the Ship Shape Pier. She made her way towards the edge of the pier and turned to face her brother. “There's no easy way to spring this bro, so I'll just show you.” She pressed the button down on her headphones, starting her transformation. Longplay stared wide-eyed at the armored Vinyl in front of him now. Vinyl shrugged her shoulders slightly. “So...yeah...this is a thing now... But I swear, even if I didn't have this, I would've helped those guys!”
Longplay stayed silent for a minute as his brain started processing this new information. “Is this why you're stressin' out?”
“N-no. Not exactly this. Some kid caught me transforming on camera and now he's blackmailing me. That's why I'm freaking out.” Longplay simply nodded and went quiet again, which only made Vinyl more anxious. “Just say something, please.”
“Well, where do I start? My little sister is some super hero out risking her life fighting monsters and now she's getting blackmailed into doing who knows what.”
“It wasn't supposed to be like this. Look, I know who's making these monsters. That's all I'm after.” Vinyl disengaged her transformation.
Longplay simply nodded. “I'm heading back to the apartment. I'll see you when you get back.”
“D-don't say anything to Trixie, okay! She doesn't know about this! I don't want her to!” He threw a thumbs up in acknowledgment. Vinyl watched him go and sat down at the edge of the pier. She felt her phone ring in her pocket. She couldn't have been more happier to have a distraction, even if only for a few minutes. “What's up.”
“I got some info on the guy. His name is Featherweight. I know where he goes to school, and his address if you want.”
“Cool. Ya got anything else on him?”
“Not really. The internet can only take you so far, and none of my friends or co-workers that I've been able to get a hold of know him. I'll text you the info. What you do with it is up to you.”
“Lyra... Do you think someone can be a bad guy...even if they're trying to do the right thing?”
Lyra was quiet for a minute. “...yeah...I believe so. I believe even someone with good intentions can do wrong, if they go about it the wrong way. Why, you doubting yourself?”
“Maybe. Kinda. I'unno...”
“Well, just ask yourself if you think you're doing the right thing. As long as you fully believe what you're doing is the right thing, then that's all you need. I believe that all Changeling's need to be destroyed. However good they may seem at first, it'll always end the same. They're not human anymore. I just need to take them out before they do any serious harm. That's what I believe, Vinyl. I can't tell you what to believe in. That's up to you.”
“...Right...”
“I'm gonna see if I can get any dirt on Featherweight to help you out. I wouldn't cross your fingers if I were you, but I'll try. Talk to you later.”
Vinyl let Lyra end the call. It had only been a few hours since she woke up, but it had felt so much longer. She decided to stay and think for awhile before heading back. She was a little afraid of facing her brother again.
---
“Doctor, I've just about confirmed that these new Changelings show up on the monitor whenever they change. It wasn't just some weird one time thing with that last one. This Changeling has been changing all over town. None of the other Drivers have gone active all day though.”
The Doctor walked to Ditzy's side and took a look at the monitor. “Really? Not even Blitz?”
“Nope. I think we should send one of our own after it next time it changes. If we keep waiting for the other Riders to show up, people could get hurt.”
“And I was really hoping this would be a golden opportunity. This one's been acting surprisingly harmless for a Changeling. I guess the others won't attack it either unless it starts threatening innocent people. That or they may not be around when it starts doing things. Oh well, it's getting late. We should call it a night for now. We'll get it the next time it shows up tomorrow.”
“Okay. Have a good night, Doctor!”
“You're staying again?”
“Mmhm. Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. I don't mind working overtime!”
“If you insist.”
---
“I'll be honest, I still don't know what you see in Vinyl. She doesn't seem to be as great as you keep making her out to be. What exactly makes her so special?”
“Still doubting me?”
“Not exactly. I just get a little antsy when I don't have the full picture.”
“And I've told you before, I can't tell you everything. I've already told you everything I can.”
“Yes, yes, I know. Doesn't change the fact that it bugs me.”
“Sounds like a personal problem.”
“But my original question stands. What makes Vinyl so special? Honestly, out of everyone, it seems like that Blitz character has the most potential. Given a little more time, she could probably take on the Queen. She's a little brash and cocky, but she already outclasses all the other Riders.”
“Blitz is definitely strong, but it's too early to be judging her potential compared to the other Riders don't you think?”
“Fair enough. Are you saying Vinyl will surpass her eventually?”
“Not exactly. Her potential as a Rider has nothing to do with the matter.”
“Ugh, you're enjoying this aren't you? How about you stop making me fish for an answer and just spell it out for me?”
“But where's the fun in that? You've been watching her right? You should have seen it already.”
“You're not gonna tell me are you?”
“Mmmmm, not now. Maybe next time.”
“You are the worst.”
“Oh you'll live.”
“Whatever. Our next little meeting might be delayed a day or two. People are starting to question me. I have to put in a little work to make them shut up.”
“Okay. See you later.”
“Don't forget. You're answering my question next time.”
"I would like to ask a favor of you, Diamond Tiara."
"Hmm? I'm listening."
"I have an acquaintance that I would like you to house as well. Would this be okay?"
"As long as this acquaintance abides by my rules, then I don't see why not. I expect you to make sure that this person does."
"I appreciate your hospitality. I shall find her and bring her here as soon as possible."
---
"How's your arm doing?"
Twilight sat up in her bed, moving her arm around a little. "It's feeling a lot better now. I'm surprised it wasn't broken.
Bolt gave her arm a quick, light slap. "You'll be fine. I'mmah raid your pantry and make you something. Get out o' bed and stretch that arm a bit." Twilight pulled herself out of bed after a few minutes. She took a quick glance down at the bandages across her chest. She could still feel a bit of lingering pain. She decided to stay in her pajamas and left her room, making her way to her living room. She turned on her TV. Bolt peeked around the corner as he heard the television. "Oy, I said work your arm a bit. Flipping channels doesn't count as exercise."
"That's what I'm going to do." She tuned to a fitness channel. A young woman was currently on screen, going through a few stretches and poses. Twilight took a deep breath and started following along, mimicking the instructor's poses. Bolt put a pot on the stove and tossed a package in the trash. He took another peek around the corner to monitor Twilight. She was balancing on her right leg as her left leg was lifted straight up in air. She held her left leg with both arms.
"Damn. I said work your arm, not bend like a rubber chicken."
"I do this all the time. I picked it up from a close friend of mine a long time ago."
"Was your friend as flexible as you?"
Twilight chuckled a little. "Possibly. She used to stretch like this to keep in shape. When I was young, I just started copying her and next thing I knew it just became a thing I do when I'm bored or if I feel like I need to move around a little while I'm reading."
"You, 'just copied,' that?"
"Yes. It wasn't perfect at the time, of course." Bolt walked over to the couch, grabbed the remote and flipped through a few channels, landing on a kung-fu movie. "H-hey!"
"Try just copying something that'll help you not get your ass kicked again." He laid down on the couch, keeping the remote under his back. Twilight glared at him for a moment and looked back on the screen. She abandoned her current stretch and started observing the fighters on screen. Twilight watched for a few minutes before starting to mimic one of the fighters, her actions only a second or two behind the action on screen. She continued for awhile until her movements started moving her dangerously close to the television. She stopped and gave her arm a quick rub as she returned. Bolt was extremely interested now and got up to give her a pat on the shoulder. Twilight mimicked another move she observed earlier and quickly grabbed his wrist with her left left hand, pushing it to her right, pivoted around on her left foot and thrust her elbow towards his lower back, stopping it just before making impact. After holding that pose for a few seconds, she let him go and smiled.
"That's for changing my channel."
Bolt just stared at her, dumbfounded at her near perfect execution. "...how'd you do that?"
"The same way that martial artist in that movie did it. I can show you if you'd like. It just requires getting good wrist control a-"
"Is this your first time doing that move?"
"Yes. I'm not a particularly huge fan of those kinds of movies, but I can appreciate the skill and choreography put into them. It's pretty impressive."
"Twilight, you incredibly dense nerd. Why have you never thought of using that!?"
"Th-thought of using what?"
"You can copy just about anything you see, perfectly."
"Well, I wouldn't say perfect."
A loud beep emanated from the kitchen, cutting off of Bolt's response. He nodded at Twilight and made his way to the kitchen. "I'm gonna make us some snacks too. We're having a movie marathon."
"What? Why? We more important things to do today."
"Training!"
---
Vinyl was surprised she hadn't been woken up by something. No noise from her phone and her brother wasn't messing with her in some way. She quickly remembered her brother and sat up quickly to look around her room for him. Longplay came into the room with a piping hot mug almost on queue. He quietly sat down at her desk and took a quick sip of his drink. Vinyl pushed the blankets off her. "Is Trixie still in the kitchen?"
He shook his head. "She already left. She has a show to do." She nodded slowly. Neither moved for awhile, save for Longplay taking the occasional sip of his coffee. He set his mug to the side and clasped his hands together, "So. What do you know about this kid? The footage on his phone or he back it up somewhere else?"
Vinyl was caught off guard by his question. "Wh-what?"
"You heard me. Answer the question."
"N-not much, and he said he has the footage on his computer at home."
"Not much is something. How not much?"
"His name is Featherweight. He's a high school student. That's about the most I got."
"M'kay." He nodded, picked up his mug and left the room.
Vinyl quickly changed into a pair of suitable clothes and followed after him, finding him at the dinner with his laptop out. "What's goin on? What're you doing?"
"I'm going to try and fix your screw up."
"How?"
"Well I can't just go up to his house and delete the files from his computer, now can I? I got a more subtle plan. I'm going to get a friend of mine to help me and we're going to write a program to corrupt and delete that footage for you."
Vinyl was a little surprised by his answer. "Y-you're gonna help me?"
"Yes. I'm going to try to get you out of this stupid mess. Don't ever screw up like this again." He noticed something on his screen and started typing in response. "Sit down real quick." She reluctantly sat across from him, expecting him to pull the same trick he did yesterday. He slid his laptop aside. "I'm not going to try and tell you what to do. You're more than old enough to be making your own decisions and dealing with the consequences. Just promise me that you won't do anything stupid and get yourself killed."
"I already told you. I'm not trying to be a hero or anything. I just have one thing I need to take care of and that's it. I promise." The two stared deep into each others eyes for a moment before Longplay nodded, his expression unreadable, and went back to focusing on his laptop.
---
"Welcome back, Doctor."
"Don't tell me you've been up all night Ditzy..."
Ditzy shook her head. "No. I went to bed. I just woke up and got right back to it. More importantly, I got a call from Trixie earlier. We've figured out who Blitz is!"
"Fantastic! Who's our mystery girl!?"
Ditzy pulled up a window on her monitor containing a picture of a young teenager with rainbow streaked hair and various bits of information. "Her name is Rainbow Dash, Daughter of the late, Rainbow Blitz. She's currently being put up for adoption at a small orphanage in Lower Manehattan." She took a deep breath. "Now here's the bad news..."
"Oh of course, it can never be that easy can it."
"I made a quick call before you got here. She hasn't come back to the orphanage in days. I suspect that she's been using the Flight Driver to get around and keep herself safe at night. There's also a mention on her profile here about emotional problems stemming from her father's death."
"It'll be fine. Assuming she keeps up her little super hero streak, she'll eventually come to us. We can talk to her when the time comes. For now, looking for her isn't a priority. Just let the Riders know when the Changeling decides to show up. If any of the other Riders show up anywhere nearby, let them know about that as well. Applejack will be here eventually. She's currently visiting a relative in the hospital. As it turns out, the previous Changeling was her cousin. Fancy that bit of bad luck. Anyway, I have a bit of phone calls to take care of with the top brass. It seems our candidate for the Flight Driver is getting restless, among other things...though that first bit's not important. Anyway! You know what to do Ditzy. I'll see you later."
Ditzy smiled and saluted. "You can count on me Doctor! I'll see you later too!"
---
Hours had flown by and Vinyl decided to visit the Starry Brew Cafe. It was slowly becoming a usual hangout for her. She got herself a hot chocolate, settled down at a booth and called Lyra. "Sup, Lyra. Don't suppose ya got anything for me?"
"Nothing that'll really help you. I did a little asking around. It seems that Featherweight kid isn't well received. He has a tendency to sneak around, taking video and pictures of people's private affairs. He's got a blog up where he posts them for everyone in Manehattan to see."
"Tch, surprised the little bastard hasn't gotten his ass kicked already."
"Oh he has. Vinyl couldn't resist bursting into a fit of laughter. "Many times actually. Apparently three other students from his school in particular even destroyed a few of his cameras because they were sick of him."
"Oh man, please tell me someone got that on camera."
"Focus Vinyl, you can worry about getting back at him later. Were you able to find anything since yesterday?
"Ugh, no. But I'm working on it."
"Well, work fast. I have a bad feeling I know what he's gonna make you do. We need to get you out of this before he decides to make his move."
"Yeah. I guess I'll talk to ya later. Oh wait! This might sound weird...but I need you to do me a huge favor."
"Yes?
"I think there might be another me running around."
"...another...you?"
"Yeah. Look, I can show you footage, but there was another me walking away from Town Hall during the last Changeling incident. Like, dead on clone of me. I saw her yesterday too. Anyway, if you ever see me where I probably shouldn't be, I want you to talk to her and call me immediately."
"I won't believe til I see it, but okay. I guess I'll keep my eyes peeled. See you later."
"Later."
She sighed and put her phone away. She slowly drank her hot chocolate and glanced around the cafe. She noticed Lyra's friend Rarity behind the front counter, tending to a customer. Seeing nothing of particular interest, she turned her gaze to the front door straight ahead of her. She had hoped she would see her clone again. She shrugged, pulled her phone out again and began browsing the internet. She went to her FacePage account and started catching on new posts from her fans. As she read a post, she took a casual glance out the window next to her. Leaning against the window and staring down at her, was her clone again, wearing her trademark large purple shades. Vinyl froze in place.
The doppelganger turned her head slightly, glancing in the direction of her phone, and nodded approvingly. Vinyl continued staring at her clone in sheer disbelief while remaining motionless. The doppelganger stared right on back for a minute before shrugging casually. It took out it's phone out it's pocket. It was the exact same phone as Vinyl's. It fiddled with the phone for a second, and stared at the screen before looking back at the real Vinyl. The fake Vinyl held her hand out towards the window, her fingers pointing outward. Vinyl slowly moved her hand up, reciprocating the gesture, not entirely sure what the clone was up to. The fake Vinyl pulled her pinkie in towards her palm, then proceeded to do the same with her ring finger. Vinyl quickly realized she was counting down. She was done watching the her clone, abandoned her drink and dashed towards the front door. She burst through the door and ran around to the side of the restaurant, feeling her phone vibrate and emit a jingle along the way. The clone had vanished again. She cursed loudly to herself and took a glance around the area in hopes of finding her. Getting a little fed up, she realized her phone had made a notification tone at about the same time her fake would have finished counting down. She quickly pulled her phone out of her pocket and opened a new text message she had received. It was from Featherweight.
Make your way to the neighborhood basketball court in White Woods in Middle Manehattan. I'll have your first assignment in about one hour and thirty minutes. If you're not there, I'll leak the footage.
"Shhhhhit!" Vinyl ran to her motorcycle while calling Lyra. "Lyra! You have an hour and a half to figure something out! He just sent me a text telling me to go to White Woods! I'm heading over, I'll send you a text if I can when I get there!" She hung up immediately and drove off. Her mind lingered on the fake Vinyl as she blazed as fast as she could down the streets of Manehattan. She wasn't sure if the fake was trying to help her or mess with her. While it did protect her from being discovered by the other Riders, it seemed to be following her now for some reason. What concerned her the most was the fact that she knew the text was coming. She wasn't sure why the fake even did that. Was it trying to prove something to her? Thoughts swirled around her head for an hour and not a single possible conclusion was reached. She curbed her thoughts for the moment as she parked on the curb and stepped off her bike. There were three young male teenagers, about Featherweight's age, playing basketball together. She took a quick glance at her phone. Judging from the time of the text, she had about a few minutes left over until the next message. She approached the teens, holding a hand up to make her a little more noticeable. "Ey. You guys got a minute?" The three stopped and glanced at the older woman coming their way. "Look, I'm going to be incredibly straight forward, cuz I'm on a time limit. Do you guys know anything about some kid named, Featherweight?"
Judging by their reactions, they all seemed to recognize the name. One of the teens responded in a cockney accent. "Of course we do. We hate him. Why do you ask?" Vinyl recognized his accent as one originating from Trottingham.
"I'm trying to get some dirt on the guy. Believe it or not, little bastard is blackmailing me."
All three of them seemed to cringe slightly, a sympathetic look adorning their faces. "Oy, I'm sorry miss. We can't really help you there. We don't got anything on him. Personally, we're sick of the little blighter. We've tried everything to get him to stop. We've even broke his camera a few times, he just keeps coming back. His like a little plague, he is."
Gears were starting to turn in her head. She had a bad feeling she knew what was about to happen. "W-well, thanks for the help anyway." She shrugged and made her way to a nearby bench as the three went back to their game. She pulled at her phone and started typing up a text as fast as she could to Lyra. Before she could finish, her phone started to ring. The screen was displaying Featherweight's number. She held back numerous attempts at cursing to the heavens and slowly placed the phone to her ear.
"I trust you've arrived."
"If you're about to ask what I think, then you can piss right off you little prick."
"Well that's just too bad. I was just going to ask you to rough up those three. Trust me, they're real assholes. I've been bullied enough by them to know this."
"They've only messed with you because you keep poking your stupid nose into other people's business. Ever heard of privacy kid?"
"I care about one thing. The truth."
"Well that doesn't mean you can just go around posting everyone's personal drama!"
"I don't feel like arguing this, Vinyl Scratch. Now I want you to send them to the hospital. You know what will happen if you don't. If I don't hear ambulance sirens soon, then it's over for you."
"Y-you can't do this! I can't do this!"
"Not my problem. Put the phone on speaker and do it so I can hear it. No more talking." Vinyl got up from the bench and slowly made her way back towards the small basketball court. The three noticed her but decided to ignore her and continue their game until she address them. Her breathing was getting heavier.
"D-dude, I'll do anything else, just don't make me do this man. This isn't right."
"Put the phone on speaker and do it." She put her phone on speaker and slowly brought her hand up to her headphones until it was over the button. She held her hand their for what felt like an eternity. Her hand was starting to tremble. She knew what was at stake for her, but she wasn't able to bring herself to do it. "You have thirty seconds to put your phone on speaker right now a-" The sound of breaking glass suddenly came from his end. "What the!? What the hell are you doing breaking my window! You're paying for that! I'm calling the cops!"
"Cast Off." Vinyl's eyes shot wide open, recognizing that phrase. She could hear Featherweight scream. "You are guilty of threatening a fellow hero of justice! You shall pay for your crimes with your life!" Featherweight screamed again, his voice sounding more distant. She could only assume he dropped his phone.
"N-no! No, PLEASE! HELP M-" She could hear the sound of something loud breaking moments before the call was abruptly cut off.
Vinyl looked at her phone's screen to verify the call had been cut off. She quickly scanned through her list of messages with Lyra, copying the address to Featherweight's address and putting it into her GPS.
The trio had stopped their game again, overhearing the last bit of her conversation through the phone's speaker. "Was that Featherweight? Something bad happen?" The teen from Trottingham asked.
"Yeah. Little bastard's in trouble with one of those monsters."
"One of those monster's is after him? Why in Equestria would you risk your neck for that creep? Wasn't he blackmailing you?"
"Cuz I wouldn't be able to look at myself in the mirror anymore if I just walked away and let someone die!" She sprinted to her motorcycle and sped off again. Luckily, his house was only minutes away from her currently location. She quickly parked in the driveway and ran around the side of the house, remembering that the window to his room had been broken. She could start to hear the commotion from the back of the house, and leaped through the broken window. She took a quick glance around the room and took a small glint of joy as she noticed his computer had been totaled. She quickly left his room and followed the sounds of panicked screaming into his living room, where she found a woman passed out in the corner and Featherweight on the floor, backing away as quickly as he could from the humanoid grasshopper from yesterday. "Hey! Leave him alone!"
"V-Vinyl! Y-you came to save me!" The terrified Featherweight exclaimed.
"You shut your damn mouth you little weasel!"
The monster turned to face Vinyl. "You again? I told you not to interfere again."
Vinyl put a hand up to her headphones. "You're going way overboard again! I know this kid's garbage, but that's not worth killing him over!"
"He was threatening a fellow hero of justice. Such actions can not be allowed to go unpunished. For repeated obstruction of justice, you will also pay with your life."
"Sorry, I already promised someone that I wouldn't die anytime soon." She held the button down. "Transform!"
"Y-you! You're the white armored hero!?"
Vinyl summoned two records in her hands. "I'm not gonna lie, I'm kinda glad you wrecked his computer. But there's no way I'm going to let you kill anyone! I'm no hero, but I know that no hero would ever abuse their power like this!"
The Changeling clenched his fists. "So be it. Then let's settle this outside!" He made his way to the front door, kicking the door off the hinges and continuing outside.
"Th-thank you so much! I'm so sor-" Featherweight blubbered again, now that the Changeling was out of his house.
Vinyl quickly turned and threw a record at the wall he was sitting against, cutting into it just an inch above his head. She shot him a death glare and turned to follow the Changeling outside, leaving Featherweight alone to whimper on the floor.
The Changeling was waiting for Vinyl on the roof. "I shall make your defeat as quick as possible!"
"Just shut up and get down here! I wanna finish this off so I can finally go home and relax!" The Changeling growled and leapt off the roof, coming down towards Vinyl with a dive kick. She was ready for such an attack. She took a few steps back and lunged forward as it hit the ground, burying her fist into it's stomach. The Changeling fell to it's knees in pain, but Vinyl picked it back up by the shoulder proceeded to pepper him with more gut punches. She finished her assault with final haymaker to the face, sending it careening down the street. It quickly brought itself to it's feet as she continued stomping menacingly towards it, ready to deliver more punishment. It held it's arms above his head, crossing them to form an 'X', and cross slashed the air, sending a wave of energy at Vinyl. She quickly formed two records, tossed them out to the side and took the wave head on. The Changeling laughed as it approached the down Rider, his arms crossed over his head for another shock wave.
"You fought well, but now it is time face justice. Any last words?"
Vinyl wasn't remotely fazed. "I'm looking forward to shutting you up in a second. Next time, try fighting instead of talking."
"Bold words coming from a lowlife currently on the gro-GAGH!" The records flew across the Changeling's arms and legs, cutting deep and causing it to fall to the ground. Vinyl casually picked herself up.
"I had them bounce of those houses before you hit me. Next time, pay attention. It's time for the Final Remix!" She summoned her large blue and white record. She threw it down into the Changeling's back and took a step back as the record embedded itself into it. She pushed all the sliders up on the mixing board on her right arm. "Audio Overdrive!" The Changeling convulsed wildly for a second and exploded. Vinyl waved her hand around to clear the smoke in front of her. Lying on the floor, was another male teenager. She knelt down and turned him over, shaking him a little. "Hey, you awake kid?" The teen opened his eyes.
"Wh-what? Wh-where am I? Wh-why am I in so m-much pain right now?"
"Relax and hang tight buddy, it's a long story. Basically you got turned into a monster and I had to beat you up a little to turn you back to normal. I'll get you to a hospital, alright?"
"Y-you...y-you're that superhero..."
"Yeah yeah, sure. Look, I'll see if I can get someone around here to dr-"
A voice called out from further down the cul-de-sac, "Nice work, Noise."
Vinyl looked up. A group of two riders, one of which she recognized as the yellow Rider from before, and a nerdy looking purple haired girl were making their way towards her. "Oh shit. This is bad. This is the worst possible thing. Sorry kid, I'm gonna have to carry you, it might get rough!"
The girl held her hand out. "Hold on a moment, please. I promise, no matter what happens here, we won't attack you. I just wanted to talk to you. We'll also take Rumble there to a hospital. We will cover all of his medical expenses and notify his family. Just hear me out."
Vinyl cautiously watched the three. "Maybe. How do I know I can trust you?"
"Whatever puts you at ease. If you would like, I can stand next to you as a hostage. My Driver is not on me at the moment nor do I have a weapon on me."
"N-no, that's fine. Just take the kid at least."
The girl nodded and glanced over at the red Rider, who nodded back and slowly walked towards Rumble and carried him back to his comrades. "Now then, I hope I have your full attention now. My name is Twilight Sparkle. We work for a special organization dedicated to eliminating the Changeling threat. I don't know what your current knowledge of the subject matter is, but allow me to fill you in anyway. These monsters known as, Changelings, are born from one source. The Changeling Queen. She converts humans by injecting them with a fast acting venom that infects the brain. Put simply, it completely eliminates their ability to feel and emote. It also converts them into them into Changelings, beings of great strength that can walk among humans and transform into those monstrous forms by casting off their human shell. As of now, there are three types. The first is the one I already mentioned. The second type of Changeling is the one you just fought. They are created by instead, amplifying a person's negative emotions before conversion. We're not entirely sure what other effects this may have, but we know that it makes them stronger, and fortunately, when defeated, they revert back to a normal human. The first type, as you may have noticed in your first encounter at the Cover Page Comic Shop, are remotely killed after being defeated. The Changeling Queen forces them to kill themselves via a hive mind. At the moment, we believe the second type is immune to the Queen's hivemind, a possibly side-effect of retaining their emotions. I cannot say much about the third type, but I can say that they are incredibly dangerous and are capable of super human feats in their human forms. Here's a photo of the only known type three Changeling. If you see her, I highly advise you do not engage her." Twilight slowly made her way towards Vinyl, pulling a picture out of her back pocket and holding it out towards her. She quickly backed off as Vinyl took the photo, holding her arms up to make sure Vinyl was at ease.
"Nice hair. She use bacon flavored shampoo or something?"
"Now for the reason we came. We'd like you to join us. We work to find and eliminate the Changelings whenever they appear. Our main goal is to locate and ultimately, eliminate the Changeling Queen. In exchange, you would be free to hold on to the Noise Driver without fear. Feel free to relay this information to your friend, Music, as well."
"Music? Wha?"
Twilight shook her head. "S-sorry. We've been referring to you and Music simply by the codenames of the Drivers you hold. We're already more than aware that the two of you have come into contact with each other and informed you on how to evade our tracking capabilities. To us, you are simply, Noise. We are also currently tracking the other one, Flight. I have already figured her true identity thanks to her open showboating. I plan to extend my offer to her as well." Twilight held out her hand. "Will you join us? We could really use your help, seeing how you have already adapted quite well to the Noise Driver."
Vinyl sighed. "Sorry. I want to eliminate that Queen as well, but I don't care about dealing with those other Changelings. I had circumstances with this one and the last one I dealt with. I have enough to deal with as well, and career to balance. I ain't got time to play super secret agent on the side."
"You are sure about that?" Vinyl nodded while backing away slowly. "That's a shame. I was really hoping we would be able to work together. I guess I can't helped." Twilight shrugged. "Like I promised, we will leave you alone today. Next time, we will be taking those Drivers back." Twilight bowed to Vinyl and turned and left quietly with her Rider escorts. Vinyl waited until they were out of sight and made her way back into Featherweight's house. She went into his room and double check the wreckage that was once his computer, making sure his hard drive was thoroughly destroyed. She gave the remains of the ruined machine a quick stomp and headed back out to the living room, where a sniveling Featherweight was still backed up into a corner.
"P-p-please d-don't hurt m-me!"
Vinyl shook her head. "Don't worry. I'm not gonna waste my breath on garbage. But..." She grabbed the camera around his neck, yanked it off and slammed it into the wall.
"N-NO! N-not another one!"
She tossed the remains aside. "Look you little prick, get used to it. You wanna keep toying with people's lives like this? Then hope you're not too attached to these things, cuz you're gonna be breezing through these things like candy. And have fun being sad and alone, because I guarantee ya, when life takes a dump on ya and you just can't deal with it alone, you're gonna have no one to help you, but you'll sure as hell have more than half the city ready to stomp your ass further into that curb." She wanted to say more, but decided to leave it there and get out while she still could. She turned and quickly raided his fridge, grabbing a bottle of soda and disengaging her transformation while she had the cover and knew that he couldn't record it. "Sorry about the wrecked house. Sucks. This drink's mine now. I'm not helping with any of this cuz I hate you. Peace out."
"W-wait!" Vinyl stopped at the doorway. "I-I'm s-sorry. I p-promise I'll n-never do a-anything l-like this a-again."
She took a deep breath and turned around. "First of all, screw you. Second, you wanna do some reporting or whatever? Investigate something worthwhile, not some small neighborhood bullshit that'll get your ass kicked. Do it on something that people actually wanna hear about. Third, maybe, just maybe, if you can make it up to everyone you screwed over and apologize to everyone, then maybe, I'll accept your damn apology. Until then, don't you dare show your stupid face around me." She held the drink up as she left him alone. It was up to the police and his mother now. She wanted nothing more to do with any of it.
The drive back home felt great with the large weight lifted off her shoulders. She entered her apartment, finding Trixie on her usual spot on the couch with her brother. "...hey...what're you two watchin'?"
Trixie responded in her usual uninterested tone, keeping her eyes glue to the screen. "News. Your brother insisted on watching it too. We had dinner already. There are no leftovers."
Vinyl continued to walk to her room, unfazed. "Whatever, I'm not hungry right now. I'm gonna steal my brother for now. LP, get in here."
Longplay closed the door behind him and sat at her desk while Vinyl laid down on her bed. "Our trojan is halfway done. When it's done, it should be capable of downloading itself onto any device that logs on to his website and delete any file that contains that bit of footage. Now then, please tell me you don't have any bad news for me."
"I'm free. One of those monsters actually attacked the guy blackmailing me and broke his computer for me. I guess before he got turned into that thing, that kid knew Featherweight or something. Either way, his computer is totaled, and don't worry, I made sure the hard drives were completely obliterated."
He took a deep breath and lightly clapped his hands together. "I'm going to not question any of that right now, but I expect full details later. Are you one hundred percent sure that you're off the hook now? No one else to worry about? No more screw ups?" Vinyl nodded. "That's a relief. Except I just wasted an entire day."
"I know. I'm really sorry. I promise I'll make it up to you, ju-"
"Don't worry about it. I'll always help you out when you need it, sis. Just be more careful from now on." He got up from her chair and pulled out a suitcase from under her desk and started rummaging through it.
"Thanks LP. And don't worry, I think I have a solution to the problem. I'll work on that soon."
"Good. Now that all of that is out of the way, I can finally enjoy myself. Also, I can finally give you your present." Vinyl quickly sat up at the mention of a free gift. Longplay pulled out a plastic bag full of something and threw it at Vinyl's face. She barely caught it in time, falling on her back in the process. Before she could respond, he threw another one, knocking her flat on her bed again.
"Agh. Dick. This better be good." She turned over one of the bags, spilling out a few paperback books. She took a look at one of the covers for a moment, then quickly started looking the others. "Dude!"
"A book store near my house was having big sale and I know about your little noir fetish, so I snagged up every book I could find that fit the bill. You might already have one or two of those. I didn't take too much time actually looking these over. Place was crawling people.
"Yo! Thanks!" She was looking over her new hoard of detective novels, separating one book off to the side that she already owned. "Aw dude! Hardboiled Delusion Diary! I've been wanting to read this one! Dude! You're the best!"
He got up with a smile on his face. "Shut up baby, I know it. Now I'm gonna take a well deserved shower, tell my friend that he doesn't need to work on that virus anymore and then I'm going to sleep on your bed and enjoy it."
"Sounds like a plan."
"And no reading those in here tonight. I can't sleep when there's light in the room."
"Fine. Dick."
---
"And she just offered up the place to you for free?"
"Yes. I was as surprised as you were. She could be the one I need to put my plan into motion. In the meantime, you are also welcome to stay in Miss Tiara's estate."
"Hmph. Sure, why not. Beats paying rent."
"I will warn you once however, Miss Tiara has a few simple ground rules we must abide by, and as a guest on my behalf, I expect you to follow them to the letter as well, or you will face severe punishment."
"Seriously? We could rip that little runt in pieces and just take her damn mansion and you're gonna play by her rules?"
"Indeed. We have been invited into another's home. As honored guests, we must abide by the house rules."
"Tch, fine, whatever. I'll play nice for now."
"Good. As long follow the rules, you are free to do as you please."
"Works for me. I still need to find Sparkle's little friend and break him."
"Here we are. I shall introduce you to Miss Tiara. Do be on your best behavior."
"Before I trudge through that ordeal, answer me this. I've told you my name. What is your name, hm?"
"Why of course my dear. You may call me, Queen Chrysalis."
"Bolt, I want you to take a look at this. It's another text from Rewind. ...This one is different from the other ones he's been harassing me with. ...Just, come over as soon as possible and take a look at this… I don't like it..."
Twilight hung up and pulled up her messaging app again, staring down at her recently received message.
Do not forget to take the Flight Driver before you leave.
---
"I toldja you'd love em, Scoots. I've been collecting the Mighty Morphin’ Equine Rangers comics and books for as long as I can remember. You can read em any time you want."
The excited little Scootaloo. She hugged the small stack of comics handed to her.
"Thanks, Rainbow Dash!" She looked up at her idol. "But even the Power Ponies aren't as cool as you! You're a real superhero now!"
Rainbow Dash rustled Scootaloo's hair a little. "Yeah yeah, I'm awesome, I know."
"Oh! By the way. Someone came looking for you the other day?"
Rainbow kept her carefree expression, but a little bit of anger was welling up inside her. "Someone was looking for me?"
"Yeah. It some lady with purple hair. She was really nice. She even gave us money for ice cream."
"What did she want with me?"
Scootaloo shrugged. "I dunno. She just asked if you were in and if any of us knew where you were...is something wrong?"
Rainbow quickly shook her head. "Naw. Probably just someone who figured out that I'm Blitz and wants an autograph or something. No big deal. Alright, hope you enjoy the rest of the series Scoots. I'll drop by again soon, alright?"
"Alright." Rainbow made her way to her window, opened it, and climbed out. She hung on the other side of the ledge and ready to jump down. "W-Wait! Rainbow Dash!"
She pulled herself up a bit while hanging on to the outer window sill as Scootaloo called out to her. "Hurry up, this ain’t comfortable."
Scootaloo ran to the window. "You'll be able to make it back here the day after tomorrow right? I-I mean, t-that's whe-"
"Your birthday, I know. C'mon Scoots. You really think I'd forget something important like that? Relax, I'm not gonna forget about you, or anyone else alright? You're like a little sister to me, Scoots. I'll definitely be here for your birthday. I already gotcha something real nice. I wanna be there to watch you freak out over it."
"Thanks! You're the best Rainbow Dash!"
"Heh, I know. Anyway, I'll catch ya later. Oh, and if someone else comes by asking about me, just tell them that I haven't come by in awhile. Later." Rainbow let go of the second story window and landed on the ground below. She waved up at the window to Scootaloo as she walked off.
---
"Okay, ah think I've finally gotten th' hang of how this whole monitor business works. So we're basically their eyes in the sky, right?"
Ditzy nodded. "Yep! If any odd activity happens, we let the others know. I prefer to let Bolt know first before I call anyone else."
"Tch. That jackass? What makes him yer first go to?"
"He's got a motorcycle, so he tends to mobilize a lot faster than the others. He also tends to just wander around when he's not doing anything. I've never been a hundred percent sure on what he does, but if something ever happens, he could be the closest one there...or...that used to be the case. Now he hangs out at Twilight's place a lot. I'm starting to think she likes him maybe. Come to think of it, he's never once mentioned where he lives. I wonder if he just doesn't trust us or so-"
Applejack gave Ditzy a light pat on the shoulder. "Woah there girl, yer startin to ramble. So what about that Rainbow Dash that everyone's suddenly on about?"
"She's the one who currently has the Flight Driver. The Doctor wants to see if we can get her to join us. If she doesn't...then, we're going to have to take the Driver from her. We found the Noise Driver yesterday as well. According to others, she refused to join us. The last one we need to locate is the Music Driver. She's been the craftiest so far. She figured out how to avoid us and even helped Noise figure out how to do it too."
"And we don't know who those two are?"
"No…” Ditzy solemnly answered, slumping over slightly before perking back up, “But we do have a few possible leads on who Music is. Twilight is still investigating the list of suspects we have. We found Rainbow Dash easily because of how careless she was. She made a Twitter, she let herself get interviewed on the news, and she even let people take pictures of her. We even found a few loose bits of information from the internet that people were posting, and we were able to figure it out from there. It wasn't too hard. Twilight went looking for her, but she's pretty hard to find."
"How hard could it be? Don't we got access to every camera in Manehattan?" Applejack gestured towards monitors to her side as she glanced over at one.
Ditzy sighed. "Yeah, but we can't exactly just channel surf through thousands and thousands of cameras scattered all over Manehattan and expect to find her. We'd have to know what general area she's in, and she's apparently been wandering all over the city. Right now, we just have to wait for another Changeling to appear and hope Rainbow Dash shows up."
"Ah. I getcha. So now we pretty much just wait?"
Ditzy nodded. "Mhm. We have drinks and food if you get hungry."
---
Vinyl sat down with her brother at the Starry Brew Cafe, grabbing herself her usual hot chocolate. Lyra noticed Vinyl and sat down with them, despite not being on break. "Hey Vinyl. Who's your friend?"
"This is my brother Longplay. LP for short. He's visiting for the week. Also...might as well get this outta the way. He kinda found out about my little situation..."
Lyra stared at her for a moment. "...which situation? I wanna make sure we're on the same page before I say something horrible."
"The Rider thing. He kinda found out while I was flipping out over the Featherweight thing."
Lyra let out a sigh of relief. "Okay good. I had a feeling that was it but I didn't want to say anything unless I was completely sure. Anyway, hi My name is Lyra Heartstrings. Nice to meet you, Longplay."
He smiled and shook her hand. "So, you two just friends or are you two together?"
Vinyl nearly choked on her drink and kicked him in the shins when she had recovered. "Dude."
He rubbed his sore shin. "Ow! Bitch! Don't need to get all defensive about it."
Lyra laughed. "Haha, no. We're just friends."
Vinyl sighed. "Sorry, he does this a lot. He's kind of a douche."
"Hey, I'm just concerned about my dearest little sister. I just want to see her hook up with a nice guy or girl and be happy together. Is that so wrong?" Longplay retorted, pretending to look sad.
"Yes. It is when you're overly straight forward about it to everyone. Look, I have things to do today. I got someone to talk to and a gig to get ready for around six. I mostly came here to get a drink. Lyra, I met with those other Riders yesterday. Long story short, they asked me to join. I turned em down and they told me they'd fight me next time. They still don't know who either of us are, so be careful. That's mostly what I came here to tell ya." She got up from the booth with her drink and gave a quick wave to Lyra as she left. "You're free to keep babysitting my dumbass brother. I'll see you later."
Lyra got up as well. "Sorry, I wasn't actually on break or anything. Gotta get back to work before Rarity gets on my case. I'll catch you later. It was nice meeting you." She quickly made her way back to the front counter as Longplay also decided to leave the cafe to go sightseeing.
Two hours had passed since. Lyra just sat down for her break with a cookie and a cup of water. She spent most of her time people watching through the window. Ten minutes before her break was over, a particular customer caught her eye. Entering the store was a purple haired woman. She approached the front counter and was speaking to Rarity, showing her a picture. Rarity said something and pointed at Lyra, prompting the woman to bow and make her way to Lyra's table. Lyra noticed a look of concern on Rarity's face as she kept her eyes on Lyra's table. "Excuse me, Lyra Heartstrings, correct?"
Lyra pushed her cup aside and gesture for the woman to sit across from her. "Yes. Can I help you?"
The woman sat down. "Yes. My name is Twilight Sparkle. I'd like to ask you a few questions, if you don't mind."
"Sure, what's up?"
"I'd like to ask you where you were on the twentieth of June."
"Hmm..." Lyra leaned back seat, staring up at the ceiling as she retraced her memories. "I believe I was at school that day. I did go there twice about a few days ago, maybe a week."
"I see. Can you tell me what exactly you were doing there?"
"I was seeing if I could find an old picture that I had hid on campus a few years ago. Sounds a bit odd, but it was something a friend of mine and I did back then. We wanted to confirm a silly little theory of ours. Unfortunately, I think it was found and thrown out by a janitor or something long ago. Why, something wrong?" Lyra responded casually.
"Not exactly. Let's just say, I'm trying to track something down. You see, I lost something valuable...well, three valuable items actually. I know where the first two are and I plan to pick them up soon. Right now, I'm trying to locate where the last one is, and I think someone has it."
"That just sounds ominous. What makes you think your valuable thing was at my school? You a student there or something?"
Twilight nodded. "No. But I have reason to believe that one of them may have ended up somewhere in your school. I've been searching for awhile now, but for the most part, I've been trying to keep the identity of the missing items a secret. I don't want other students knowing. I might never get them back if they did. Can't hurt to be cautious. They are really precious to me."
"I see. I'd be willing to help you if you want. My break is almost over. If you want to come back later, I get off in two hours."
Twilight shook her head. "No need to worry about that. I spoke with your manager briefly. You do not need to work the remainder of your shift, but you will be paid for it. You can ask her to verify this if you wish."
"Now that just sounds really ominous. You working for the FBI or something?"
"Possibly." Twilight responded in a sing-song manner. "Those missing items are quite valuable. I would like to get them back as soon as possible. You might have some information that can help me. I'd like you to answer a few more questions for me please. If you would like, I can get you some food as while we talk. I don't want to come off as intimidating."
"I'm okay answering some more questions while we eat lunch. Anything to help you get your stuff back. And don't worry, you're not coming off as scary." She cocked her head slightly and smiled innocently. "You know what they say. If you've done nothing wrong, then you have nothing to fear."
On the other side of the cafe, a fiery haired woman was waiting at an empty table, her head resting on her hand. She had been growing irritated by the events unfolding at the table behind her. A man had sat down at some shy woman's table uninvited and was hassling her nonstop. Having been subjected to this for five minutes, she finally had enough. She took a deep breath and got up and approached the table, keeping her hands in her pocket. "Excuse me, I had a crappy morning. I've had to listen to some stupid couple screaming at each other all morning in the apartment across from me and all I want right now is a few bagels. I am in no mood for this garbage, so allow me to speed up this process. She doesn't want anything to do with you, so stop acting like an enormous tool and leave her alone before I shut your mouth for you."
The shy woman looked even more nervous as her situation seemed to have gotten even worse. The man appeared to be annoyed, but kept a cool, collected face. "Listen, lady. No one asked you for your life st-"
The fiery haired woman quickly pivoted around on her left foot, spinning herself around quickly and slamming her right foot against his face, sending him and his chair falling on their backs. This quickly gained the attention of the entire cafe. She ignored everyone else and grabbed the man writhing on the floor and pulled him up to his feet, holding him up by the back of his shirt collar and presenting him in front of the shy woman. "Now apologize to her. And don't try pulling the tough guy shit. I'm not telling you twice." She warned in a calm voice.
The man didn't want to risk anything with her at the moment and quickly complied with her demand. "I-I'm sorry." She promptly dragged him towards the counter, where the employees were also watching the commotion.
"Now apologize to them for harassing their customers and promise them you'll never do it again."
"I-I'm sorry. I-I'll ne-"
She gave the man a quick shake. "You're sorry for what?"
"I'm sorry for harassing one of your customers and I promise I'll never do it again."
"Good," She shoved him off to the side. "Now, if I ever see you pulling that crap here again, I'm putting you in the hospital and you better believe I'm going to make you apologize to the hospital staff for wasting their time too." The man left the cafe embarrassed, and nursing his bleeding mouth.
Rarity watched the man leave and walked forward to the counter, handing the woman a bag. "Here are your bagels, miss. Now I'm going to have to ask you to leave. I don't want any violence in here, understand?"
The woman nodded politely. "Understood."
The shy woman poked her gently on the back. "Excuse me. You didn't have to go that far, but thank you for getting rid of him."
The fiery haired woman turned and glared at her. "You're just lucky I despise people like him. Grow a damn spine. Next time, I won't be there to babysit your ass." She turned and left.
---
"So, those are my ideas. Whattya think? Would you be able to do any of those?"
"I believe your first idea would be doable. I know quite a few skilled engineers would probably be able to put something like this together...I would, however, like you to explain to me how I would go about requesting such a thing without sounding...strange, or suspicious." Fancypants remarked as he looked over Vinyl's crude drawings.
"You're a fancy rich dude. You don't gotta explain nothing. Just say you want that made and throw em some money and bam, problem solved."
Fancypants sighed. "I'm afraid it's not that simple. Having the money to afford these kinds of commissions doesn't mean no one will question me or my intentions. What would you say if some gentleman came to you asking for such a machine?"
"I'd think that guy was that one comic book hero. What's his name again? I know they call him 'The Dark Knight' or whatever, but that's just his title or whatever. I can't remember his actual name."
"And that is precisely what I don't want people to think." He placed her drawings on the table and sat down. "I told you I would assist you in anyway I could for saving my life, and I intend to follow through on my word, but I'm going to need some kind of explanation to give."
Vinyl paced around the room thinking of viable reasons. Despite her taking the issue lightly before, she was quickly realizing how difficult it was to explain commissioning a motorcycle that could change it's shape while driving, emit a blinding flash on command, and emit an electro-magnetic pulse strong enough to disable nearby electronics. She eventually gave up on trying to think up reasons. "Okay, just go with the truth. Tell em that 'white hero' asked you to commission it for her. Tell em that I gave you that money and that you don't know my real identity. See how far that gets you. I mean, I saved a whole room o' rich people, so maybe they'll want to help out or something. S'all I got. So how 'bout it. Can you do it?"
He shrugged and placed Vinyl's designs in his coat pocket. "I'll see what I can do. I have a small matter to attend to first, but I can assure you that afterward, this shall be my main concern. I will call you later with the results."
"Thanks again man. I got a gig later today, so if you call me during, I'll just call ya back when I get the chance."
Fancypants nodded. "Alright. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to get ready."
"You're the best! I gotta head out and get ready too. I'll see ya later!"
---
"You should see her shortly. She evidently didn't move far from the orphanage from whenever her last visit was today. We found her in the camera feed just standing outside that gas station. She's barely moved for some time. We're not entirely sure what she's doing there. Don't worry too much about bystanders. As long as they aren't in the crossfire, then it'll be fine. Traffic is being rerouted as we speak, courtesy of Ditzy, so you won't need to worry about that either. We'll take care of damage control later. At most, we can assure your identity won't appear in the media or in anywhere else."
---
"Dad, wake up, it's two in the afternoon already, don't you have to go to practice? ...Dad!? Dad wake up already, you’re scaring me! Dad!?”
---
“No! He can't be... N-no! He has a game to play next week! You're a doctor! You can help him! Help him please! Give him some medicine or something!”
---
"What are you staring at? Just leave me alone."
"I'm sorry. I-I was just gonna...um...I brought you some candy. I-it's from Halloween last year. Miss Cheerilee let's us have a little bit every day, but I know where she hides them, so I like to sneak a few sometimes. I figured you might want some m-maybe?"
"What the hell is that supposed to mean!? My dad's dead! I don't want any freaking candy!"
"I-I'm sorry! That's all I could think of! I'm sorry!"
"..."
"I'm sorry...I don't know what that's like...I never knew my parents..."
---
Rainbow Dash was leaning on the wall of a small gas station. She was staring down at the ground, one hand clutching her other arm while the other hung limp at her side. She was broken out of her trance by a small paper suddenly entering her view. She noticed a hand attached to the paper. Giving the man in front of her a quick, cautious glare, she started to read the note.
Excuse me, Rainbow Dash. I am here to take that Driver back. If you resist, I will have to use force.
Rainbow stepped off to the side, immediately wanting to get off the wall and into an open space. "What the hell is this garbage!? You threaten me on paper!? Can't tell me yourself!?"
The man pulled out a small notepad and quickly scrawled out a message, tore off the paper and held it out. Rainbow cautiously approached him, snatched the paper away and reestablished her distance from him.
I cannot. I am deaf. Unless you know sign language, this is the only way I can communicate with you.
She crumpled up the note and tossed it aside. "Ya gotta be kidding me. They're trying to guilt trip me now!? No dice. Ya got two seconds to get outta here or I'm not holding back. I'm in a shitty mood right now."
The man wrote another note, crumpled it up and tossed it to her.
I won't hold back either.
Rainbow looked up from the note and saw what she quickly assumed to be a Driver now around his waist. It featured a belt and a large apple shaped belt buckle with a few small grooves in the center. The man cracked his knuckles, which made a sound loud enough to make Rainbow cringe, and grabbed the center of his Driver. Placing his fingers inside the small grooves in the center, he pulled from both ends with full force. It took a few seconds, but he managed to split the apple in half and pulled the two halves a small distance to the side, revealing a small yellow core in the center. The belt suddenly spoke as the Driver was opened.
"TRANSFORM" A bright red armor materialized around the man, completely covering him and hiding his face in helmet complete with large eye-like protrusions. Attached to his back was a large metal block of some kind. He pulled it off his back with one hand and let it drop to the ground in front of him. The block was heavy enough to break the concrete. The belt spoke again. "ENGAGE, BIG IMPACT!" A long pole shot out quickly from the block, essentially turning the heavy block into a big hammer. The man picked it up and readied it with both hands.
"So that's how it's going to be. Fine! I already beat one of you! I can kick your ass too!" Rainbow thrust her arms down, crossing them and pushing the wings on her Driver down and thrust her arm up to the sky. "TRANSFORM!" She pulled two metal feathers from her wings and ran them between her arms and body, hardening them and making them razor sharp. "Hope you're better then than the last chick you sent after me!" She recklessly dashed towards the Red Rider. He patiently waited until Rainbow was close enough and swung his hammer upward to catch her. Rainbow jumped back and used her wings to stop her midair. "And gotcha!" She propelled herself forward with her blades crossed and ready to slice. The Red Rider quickly brought his hammer down to meet her blades. The force of his hammer was too great and sent Rainbow flying back. She was able to right herself and slide along the ground to prevent further damage. "Dammit, stronger than ya look. Didn't think you'd be able to swing that thing around so fast. How about this!" She pulled out her pistol and fired a few shots at the Rider, he took a few hits and staggered back slightly.
He held his hammer up and his belt spoke again. "ENGAGE, BIG WAVE!" The hammer head began to surge with electricity as he brought down with full force to the ground, sending electrified concrete shrapnel flying towards Rainbow. She quickly rolled to the side, barely evading the attack.
"Dammit, he's got an answer to that too. I'll just have to find a way in!" She holstered her pistol and charged back towards the Red Rider. He swung upward again once she was close enough. This time, Rainbow stopped herself leaning back to avoid the swing and dashed forward, using her wings to propel herself around him and avoid his second swing. She slashed across his back with her blades, causing the Red Rider to stagger forward a little, but he quickly regained his footing and swung his body and hammer around. Rainbow quickly leapt back to evade and propelled herself towards him again. The Red Rider removed one of his hands from the hammer and punched her in the gut. She staggered back, making sure to keep enough distance between the two as she recovered from the blow. The hammer was back in both hands and the Rider was now walking towards her. Rainbow ran back into the fray, this time staying just out of range of his hammer and trying to land single slashes with her blades. Every attempt was either blocked by the hammer or cut short when she found herself needing to back off. She leapt over his head with a strong flap of her wings and aimed for his head. The Red Rider leaned back while swinging his hammer in a large arc over him. Rainbow was slightly caught off guard, but was able to block with her blades and was sent flying back a bit. He rolled quickly and readied his hammer again as Rainbow had already recovered and made her way back into range. He lunged his foot forward to keep the angry Rainbow away, an attack she easily sidestepped, but her counter was cut short by the Red Rider thrusting the pole of his hammer into her, pushing her away. Not particularly hurt by his push, she quickly went back to trying to rush him down. He swung his hammer in a wide horizontal arc to catch her approach. Rainbow slid under him, using her wings to push her all the way behind him. He used the momentum of his current swing and drove his hammer straight into the ground behind him. The hammer head landed a few inches away from her. She ignored the failed counter and quickly got up for another attack at his back.
"ENGAGE, BIG SHOCK!"
The hammer released a large burst of electricity, shocking Rainbow and launching her on to the street. Rainbow's breathing was getting heavy. She used a blade to help her to get to her knees. "D-dammit... I can't get close to him long enough to hit him..." She glanced up at the Rider, who was slowly making his way towards her and muttered to herself, "Ngh, I can't beat him right now. Not like this..." She pulled herself up, spread her wings and flew off .
The Red Rider's hammer retracted it's long handle and he placed the head on his back. He disengaged his transformation and placed a hand to his earpiece as a call came in. "That was fantastic Big Mac! You were able to fight equally against Flight, and your first real fight no less. That's all we can do for now, we can't exactly chase her in the air. Traffic is gonna start flowing back through there soon. Oh, and don't worry about the cameras around that gas station. The footage has already been erased. Your sister is already on the way to bring you back. Great job today.”
---
Vinyl was in the passenger seat of Trixie's car, when she received a call from Lyra. "Wassup?"
"Some interesting things happened today. You alone right now?"
"Naw, finished a gig. Roommate's givin' me a ride back. We're just about home. What's up?"
"Okay, as long as she can't hear me, then I can at least say some things. Just stay calm and don't over react."
"I already love where this is going." Vinyl sarcastically remarked.
"Yep. I met a girl today. Her name was Twilight Sparkle. You might have already met her. Long story short, she kinda interrogated me a little and after a bit of misleading, we kinda just had a nice talk. We even exchanged numbers. Oh, this all happened after you and your brother left by the way. There was also this crazy chick who kicked some guy's butt, but I'll tell ya that later. It's not important.” Vinyl was suppressing the desire to call her insane and slap her, but remained quiet for the sake of not acting odd near Trixie. "Anyway, one of the main reasons I got her number is because of security reasons. I believe we can use her to our advantage. She thinks that we're both just random innocent people, so as long as we're careful, we could possibly get some information from her. You did mention that you had a clone of you walking around right? You should try asking about it. Maybe she has some information on that other you. I'll ask her for you if you're too scared."
"Aright I guess, we could ask her about that, but you're doing most of the talking."
"Kay. We should meet up at my place tomorrow. I don't work that day."
"Aright, sounds like a plan. Just don't be calling me until like...one or two. I hate waking up early."
"Fine. See ya then."
She ended the call and slipped her phone into her pocket. "What was that about?" Trixie asked as she kept her eyes fixed on the road.
"Oh. That was a friend of mine. We're probably gonna be meeting with a friend of hers about something. Nothing important."
"You've been out and about the last few days. Usually you're just vegging out in your room for hours on end. What's suddenly got you so active?"
"I uh, you know...I met this girl at a place I was DJ'ing at recently. We talked a bit and she seemed cool so we decided to hang out. That's about it." Despite being a lie, Vinyl couldn't help but realize how it was somewhat true.
"And here I was thinking you had no friends. I guess anything's possible." Trixie remarked as she parked.
"Whatever. I'll bring my stuff inside in just a bit. I gotta make a call. I'll lock the van when I'm done."
"Don't take too long." Trixie got out of her van and walked to their room. Vinyl waited until she closed the door before she pulled out her phone again, replying to a missed call.
"Sorry that took so long, what's the update, Fancy Pants?"
"Well, lucky for you, that managed to go off surprisingly well. She wanted me to assure you that it would only take a few days. I will give you call when it is ready."
"Awesome! Who's building the thing anyway?"
"A spunky young lady by the name of, Wildfire. I had nearly forgotten how much she loved working on...ambitious projects like these. She assured me that she will be able to provide you with everything you asked."
"Thanks again, Fancy Pants."
"Not a problem at all. Now then, I apologize, but if that is all, I would like to catch up on some reading."
"Oh! Sure! Sorry 'bout the late call. Night, dude."
"Good night, Miss Scratch."
---
Rainbow had been sitting on the roof of a small sporting goods store sitting just across the street from a skyscraper. She had been laying down, resting after her painful encounter earlier. She sat up, finally feeling a little bit better after a few hours of rest on a somewhat uncomfortable surface, and reached for her phone. "...Hello? ...Yeah, I'm fine, don't worry. Everything's still set for this Friday right? ...Of course I'm being overly obsessive about this, I want it to be great. Hopefully, if I didn't already screw things up with a friend of mine, things might go well. ...I'll deal with that part when the time comes. ...I don't care. I'll deal with that later. Scootaloo's been her whole life...she deserves a nice family, more than anyone. ...Yeah, thanks, whatever. You still have the gift right? ...Perfect. ...Thanks a lot for helping out, Miss Cheerilee. ...Don't worry, I'll be fine. I'll be there for sure. I'll see you later, bye." She hung up and began typing a text message.
Hey Fluttershy. Listen, I'm sorry about everything and I know this is short notice, but would you and your mom be willing to show up at the Cheesy Cheese's in Middle Manehattan this Friday at 1? There's gonna be a party there and I'd really like you two to be there. Text me back ASAP.
She sent the message, slid her phone into her pocket and gently flopped back down on to her back. She let out a long sigh and closed her eyes as she briefly reflected back on the last few days. "Please just let this work." Minutes had passed and she had almost managed to drift off again, when the sound of screaming caught her ear. She quickly got up and ran towards the edge of the roof to see what the commotion was. People were flooding out of a the skyscraper, screaming and fleeing from some unknown terror. "Dammit, why now."
A voice called out from behind her. "Hold on there, Dash!" Rainbow quickly turned to find Gilda behind her, calmly walking towards the edge of the roof next to Rainbow. "I got lucky on this one. Found this guy goin' on about wanting to kill someone here. Dumb fuck even told me who he was goin' for. I warned the guy in advance and told him I would save him for a fee. Now I just sit and wait for the call."
"What!? You're seriously just gonna let this happen so you can get some money!? What if someone actually gets hurt!?"
Gilda rolled her eyes. "Whoop-dee-fucking-doo, Dash. We don't owe anyone shit. Look, just relax, they'll be fine. Dude'll call and we can go in and save the day, get paid, everything will be fine and you can be the big hero and circle jerk it for the cameras, aright? So just chillax and wait."
Rainbow slowly shook her head. "I can't believe you Gilda... I'm not gonna sit here and wait, I'm going in!"
Gilda quickly grabbed Rainbow by the wrist and pulled her close. "No! You are not gonna fuck this one up for me! I know you can't see the big picture because you get free money every fucking week, but not everyone's that lucky, Dash! I'm fucking sick and tired of living in a shit neighborhood stuck with my shit parents and making shit money, understand!? I swear, I will kick your ass before I let you ruin this for me!" The two stared each other down for a moment, exchanging hateful scowls until Rainbow finally took the initiative. A quick punch to the gut caught Gilda off guard, giving Rainbow the chance to kick her in the stomach, freeing herself from Gilda's grasp and getting some distance from her. "D-dammit! Dash! Why do you have to keep screwing me over on this!"
Rainbow pushed the wings on her Driver down. "So no one has to go through what I did. Especially not just so you can get some quick cash." She ran and leapt off the roof as her armor materialized around her, and took flight towards the skyscraper.
Gilda was furious. She unleashed a storm of random cursing until she finally got tired and climbed down the roof access ladder. She lit a cigarette and slammed her fist against the wall. "I'm going to have to fix this problem one way or another!"
---
"My plan is as simple as this, Miss Tiara."
"Hmhmhm. You even mapped out key points on every continent. I'm impressed. You're definitely the real deal, Chrysalis."
"I will accomplish my goal as swiftly and precisely as possible. Now then, are your men capable of creating these to my exact specifications? If it is too much in any area, I can adjust the distribution to accommodate."
"There will be no need for that. I approve of your plan and I assure you that no expenses will be spared in making sure it works exactly as intended. I will have my most trusted butler, Randolph, deliver these immediately."
"Absolutely perfect. I appreciate your support, Miss Tiara."
"Not a problem. Now, if that's all, I'll be in my private hot spring."
"That will be all. Oh, and do let me know if my guest gives you any trouble at all. I will make sure that she behaves herself."
-Noise Driver appears as a pair of white wireless headphones. Middle band is a translucent blue, powered by energy source.
-Activation method requires the user to depress the button on the left ear muff for four to seven seconds. (There has been some variance in activation time. We have not been able to determine the cause of the inconsistency.)
-Noise Driver protects the user from any type of auditory-based interference. This function does not require the Driver to be active. Subject-00 has not displayed the capability for delivering any kind of auditory interference, therefore the usefulness of this function is to be determined.
-Noise Driver delivers a continuous, undetectable signal to the brain's subconscious. Signal imprints a suggestion into the user's subconscious, preventing them from actively acknowledging the existence of the [DATA DELETED] the Driver's right ear muff. Subconscious suggestion can be overridden by outside suggestion. Attempts to to do so are not advised until the user has shown sufficient ability to sustain [DATA DELETED].
-Noise Driver Internal Specifications-
-User is able to generate a seemingly limitless number of compact projectiles that can be used in a multitude of ways, even after ceasing movement. These projectiles completely dissipate when the user deactivates the Driver.
-A control panel is attached to the user's right arm. Control panel is to able to control the projectiles it generates in various ways. Full extent of the control panel's manipulative abilities is to be determined. Further abilities are believed to exist through use of [DATA DELETED].
-User gains heightened mobility beyond that of the general augmentation gained through activation of the Drivers. User has shown the capacity to adhere to vertical surfaces, and ceilings for prolonged periods of time while sustaining unhindered mobility. User loses this ability after about a minute if the user does not sustain constant movement.
-User has displayed the ability to remotely alter audio signals. Audio manipulation abilities has proved to be concerning. While this ability requires the user to be in relatively close proximity to the audio device, the Driver has displayed the ability to manipulate the audio at it's source of origin, no matter where the location of the source of origin may be. Audio manipulation has shown to have no noticeable effects on those that hear it, though this has not been thoroughly tested. (NOTE: This effect was discovered during testing while the test user was near a radio playing a popular station. Measures were taken immediately to isolate the incident.)
-Ove--!FI#0421X;[DATA CORRUPTED]-
#JLAM,XC92- l 3 2-04u2-30';LK /.,MZ65+ 596n5123+65 Da65
-Notes-
As with the others, there appear to be some unintended abilities manifesting within the Drivers. The cause is still being investigated. One in particular is proving to be very concerning. In every field test with the Drivers, the users have been utilizing some of their functions and abilities despite having no prior briefing of any kind. While this could prove useful, the fact that this issue is manifesting is still a cause for concern. Only two Drivers were created to possess this ability, the Solar and Lunar Drivers, due to the AI contained within them. Research into the issue will be conducted at a later date. While many of these unintended abilities can most likely be attributed to the energy source used to power the Drivers, research should still be conducted to prevent another potential "01".
“I know about you wanting to leave major events largely untouched, but have you ever considered alternative options?”
“What exactly do you mean?”
“Diamond Tiara is the reason Chrysalis is able to carry out her plan in the first place, right? Have you ever considered… Have you ever considered just killing Diamond Tiara outright?”
“...I would be lying if I said that didn’t cross my mind. But killing Diamond Tiara would change things drastically and would only delay the inevitable. Chrysalis would find another way while avoiding the Riders, and I can’t afford to wait that long.”
“I guess that’s true.”
“Is that all you called to ask me?”
“Depends. Do you intend to answer my question about Vinyl yet?”
“No, not at all.”
“How can you be straightforward and still talk in that happy little tone?”
“Insanity? Who knows. I’m pretty sure there’s some psychological diagnosis for it. You can figure that out on your own time if you want.”
“Hmph. Whatever. Until the next time we meet in person.”
---
“Ugh, ya gotta stop callin’ me over at friggin’ nine in the morning Twilight.”
“I’m sorry Bolt, but I did offer to let you stay the night the last two nights.” Twilight shrugged as she ushered the tired man inside her house.
“Fair enough. What’s up this time?”
Twilight sat at her small dining room table and opened a notebook, thumbing to a marked page full of notes. “It’s something I’ve been looking into for some time. I haven’t spoken to anyone else about this. I don’t know if anyone else in G.U.A.R.D. has been looking into this as well. You may have heard about the security breach from the Doctor. A lot of information was stolen and deleted. Suffice it to say, it’s caused a lot of problems. All information relating to the other Drivers was deleted which, as you know, has made dealing with the other Riders a bit difficult.”
Bolt sat down across from Twilight. “Yeah, I got the basic gist of that. To be fair, dealing with Noise and Flight shouldn’t be too hard. That new guy already proved he’s more than a match for Flight. Noise doesn’t seem particularly threatening either. The only real problem so far has been getting anything on Music.”
Twilight’s eyes were glued to her notes as she listened. “I guess. We can talk about them later though, they’re not important as far as this is concerned.” She tore herself away from her notes, looking him dead in the eyes. “Remember, you can’t repeat any of this to the others.” He nodded before she continued.
“There was an event before the security breach that I believe is related. As you know, our tracker is able to detect large spikes of specific types of energy, namely, the types that Changelings and our Drivers emit upon transformation. A few days before the security breach, we got a reading. It was a massive surge of energy, bigger than any of the spikes we’ve seen so far. It happened at a public storage facility in Middle Manehattan. An investigation was carried out, but nothing was found. I checked the area myself not too long after arriving here as well. There was nothing of interest to be found. No employees were present at the time and the camera footage revealed nothing out of the ordinary.”
“Do you know what it could have come from?”
“That’s just the thing. We have no idea. The Drivers weren’t exactly finished at the time, so it couldn’t have been them, and we know for a fact that it wasn’t from the Changeling Queen. There’s also rumors that something else was stolen during the security breach. Something that was apparently only known about by very few people.”
“What was it?”
Twilight sighed in frustration. “I have no idea. I couldn’t exactly go prodding for that information either. I’m not quite high enough in the ladder to get that kind of information on request. Call it a little bit of paranoia, but I believe these events to be related to Rewind.”
Bolt placed his arms on the table and rest his head on top. “And you still have nothing on this guy right?”
She grabbed a tab in her small notebook and flipped to a page, revealing only five lines of notes. “No. Nothing. He rarely answers me and I still have no clue what his goal is. All I know so far is that he hasn’t lied to me yet. He claimed that Vinyl Scratch wasn’t Noise, and so far there has been decent proof that she has nothing to do with this.”
“By the way, what about Music? You mentioned that there was a handful of people it could have been that day. You ever look into that?”
Twilight flipped to another tabbed section in her notebook, revealing two pages full of notes. A lot of the writing appeared to be crossed out except for a small section near the bottom. “As a matter of fact, I did. So far, everyone has checked out clean. However, there is one that’s bothering me a bit. A student by the name of Lyra Heartstrings. Her story seems a little shaky, but there’s no evidence at the moment that proves she’s lying to me. I also took a closer look into her previous school records.”
Bolt raised an eyebrow. “Jeez man, where do you find the time to do all this investigation anyway?”
She blushed a little. “Well, we have the resources to do so and this is very important. I prefer to be as thorough as possible. Besides, it’s a little exciting to be able to investigate like this. If you’re interested, I have plenty of mystery novels back at home that I could get sent over if you’d like to read. Personally, I prefer the works of Cona-”
He shook his head. “Naw I’m good. Continue though.”
She looked down, a little saddened, but quickly returned to serious mode. “Oh, I see. Sorry. Like I was saying, I looked into her school records. She has a consistent history of registering for next semester’s classes as soon as they are available and has shown to be a grade ‘A’ student in just about every class she’s taken. This year, it seems she hasn’t attempted to register. I was able to ask her about that. She said she was considering taking a small break and skipping a semester. I find that odd as this semester would technically be her last. I don’t completely buy the idea that she would decide to take a break when she’s one more semester away from graduation. At the moment, she’s also the only remaining suspect. I’m going to keep close contact with her until I can confirm for sure whether or not she is Music.”
“Seems like a bit of a stretch to be basing that on school records. What if she just really wanted a break? Maybe personal issues?”
She closed her notebook and pushed it to the side. “True. But she’s the only lead I have right now. Until I believe that she’s 100% unrelated, I’m going to stay close to her. That’s all I have right now.”
Bolt slumped his head down on her table. “Okay. Can I sleep on your couch for awhile? I don’t usually wake up in the morning and I’m still kinda tired.”
She frowned slightly. “Go ahead. I’m going to do a little more investigating. Hopefully Rainbow Dash will show up today. I’m still a little offput about the last message Rewind sent me. I’ll give you a call if anything turns up.” Bolt made his way to her couch, flopped face first in to it, and gave Twilight a last second thumbs up before passing out. She rolled her eyes and took a small glance at a stack of DVDs. The stack contained various kung fu and japanese superhero films. “At least he has some good ideas.”
---
“It should be enough to last you for today. The truck comes tomorrow. I’ll have a little talk with Suri about not reporting this to me. Other than that, you should be good to go. Have a good shift, Minty.” Rarity left the front counter having briefed the current manager on shift. She had her purse and was ready to leave when she noticed Fluttershy sitting at a table in uniform, staring at her phone. She looked miserable, her hand resting on her forehead and a long frown adorning her face. “Good afternoon, Fluttershy. How are you today?”
Fluttershy jumped slightly, glancing up at Rarity and then back to her phone. “O-oh. Hi Rarity. I’m fine.” She solemnly replied.
Rarity sat down across from her, setting her purse to her side. “Fluttershy, dear, what’s the matter?”
Fluttershy glanced up from her phone, quickly putting on an a slightly exaggerated smile that belied her prior concern. “Wh-what do you mean? I’m just playing with my phone a little before my shift.”
Rarity gave her a deadpan glare. “You look like a child who just got grounded.” Her expression softened. “Is this about your friend?”
Fluttershy’s fake smile quickly faded. “Yes.”
“Do you want to talk about it?”
Fluttershy looked down apprehensively at her phone for a moment. “Y-yes, but I only have five minutes.”
“Make it quick then. Don’t worry, Suri’s not working today.”
She took a deep breath and turned her phone towards Rarity. “Rainbow Dash wants to meet me tomorrow at a party at Cheesy Cheese’s.”
Rarity listened as she read the text message, lazily mumbling the words to herself. “She wants your mother to show up as well? You think she’s finally going to take your mother up on her offer?”
“Mm-mm…” Fluttershy shook her head. “Rainbow’s been trying to get us to adopt someone else for months.”
“What?”
“She’s a sweet little girl named Scootaloo. It started happening about a month or two after Rainbow stopped shutting herself in her room. Every time I brought up the offer of...’adoption’, she would refuse and tell me to adopt Scootaloo instead.” She sighed and buried her face in hands. “I just wish I could get Rainbow Dash to talk with me about her father. She refuses to acknowledge his death and I’m worried about her, Rarity. I never know where she is and I’m so worried…”
“Excuse me, sorry for listening in, but you said Rainbow Dash. You mean that one chick with the rainbow hair setup, right?” The two looked to their side, finding the fiery haired woman from yesterday sitting at a table nearby. Rarity gave her a slight scowl, remembering the violence she displayed before.
Fluttershy stared quietly at her for moment before responding. “Y-yes. Do you know her too?”
The woman shook her head. “No, but I’ve seen her a few times. She always at the graveyard around this time.”
Fluttershy sat up immediately and her eyes shot open. “W-What!?”
“She’s at the same spot every time.”
Fluttershy continued to stare at her in disbelief. Rarity looked at her wristwatch and gave Fluttershy a quick, light swat on the shoulder. “Fluttershy, your shift starts soon.” Fluttershy quickly shook her head and got up from the table, thanking both Rarity and the other woman as she made her way towards the front counter. Rarity turned towards the woman at the other table. “You better not cause any more trouble in here. Next time you will not be allowed back in here, do you understand?”
The woman saluted, “Sorry. That won’t happen again.” Rarity left, feeling satisfied by the woman’s response.
---
“Tomorrow’s the big day dad…wish me luck…” Rainbow Dash said, kneeling in front of a tombstone. She remained silent for minutes, spending most of her time fighting back the urge to cry. “Scootaloo deserves a good family… She reminds me of myself a little bit.” She went back to being silent, as tears started forming in her eyes. She took a few deep breaths and wiped her eyes. “I know I haven’t done much to make you proud dad… I really screwed up with Fluttershy too… but… but it’s hard… it’s hard to keep a straight face because every time someone even mentions you…” She found her eyes welling up again with greater force. She took a few more deep breaths and furiously wiped her eyes. “I promise you, I’m going to make you proud. I’ll make sure Scootaloo gets adopted. I don’t care how. Once I’m done, I’m going straight for the Wonderbolts. I know I can do it… you… you always said I could get in, no sweat, right? Crowds’ll be cheerin’ my name in no time… I… I just gotta finish one thing first… no crying, I promise. I’ll be strong, just like you…” She wiped her eyes again, trying desperately to stop the flow. “There’ll be time for that after I get Scootaloo a home…” She shook her head and started using her sleeve to dry out her eyes. After her first run, she caught a glance of someone standing at the cemetery entrance. She ran her sleeve through her eyes one more time and took another breath, steeling herself before she stood. She recognized the person once she got a better look and begrudgingly made her way towards her.
“You have some serious explaining to do, Rainbow Dash.”
Rarity drove through light traffic towards through the streets of Upper Manehattan with Rainbow Dash slouching down in the passenger seat, arms folded. The only sound breaking the silence was that of the air conditioning keeping the interior cool. Searching for a suitable place to park, Rarity finally decided on a nice restaurant with a dining patio. She parked and turned off her car, relieved to see Rainbow cooperating and exiting as well. She had threatened to call Fluttershy, and surprisingly enough, Rainbow agreed to tag along. After they placed their orders, the waiter looked more than thankful to return inside and leave the heavy atmosphere surrounding them. They sipped their drinks in silence for some time until their food came. They remained quiet as they ate.. Rarity’s phone vibrated as she ate. She checked it quickly, seeing a message from Fluttershy saying she had been let off earlier than expected. Rarity took a quick trip to the restroom to text her back in secret, alerting Fluttershy to the current situation and advising her to drive over but keep herself out of Rainbow’s sight. After returning and finishing dinner, the two continued to sit without speaking for what was almost a full hour. Feeling her phone vibrate again and assuming it to be Fluttershy, Rarity finally decided to break the silence. “So, would you like to explain yourself some time today?”
Rainbow stared slightly off to the side. “Explain what?”
“Oh, well, where should we start? How about we start at the part where your best friend was worried sick about you having issues accepting the facts and yet every day you’re at his grave leaving him flowers? Something seems a little out of place here.”
“Tch, it’s none of your damn business.”
Rarity leaned forward in her chair as she entered interrogation mode. “It is indeed, my damn business, and frankly you owe Fluttershy an apology and an explanation as to what exactly it is you’re trying to pull.” Rainbow flinched slightly, opening her mouth to say something back but was unable to find any words. “So, is the whole getting angry at the mention of your dad thing just an act? Honestly, I’m trying to understand why, but it just doesn’t make any sense to me.” Rainbow slowly clenched her fist under the table. “Is it just some excuse to push Fluttershy out of your life? And what’s this about a little girl named, Scootaloo? What does she ha-”
Rainbow’s fist emerged out from under the table. She was about to slam it down, but stopped just barely above the table, shaking in place before she took a deep breath and let it drop gently. “Leave her out of this, alright. She…” She sighed. “Scootaloo never even had a family. She grew up in there… it’s not fair… she’s watched kids come and go every year and it’s just not fair. I know I’ve done a shitty job of it so far, but I’ve been trying to get Fluttershy and her mom to take Scoots in. She deserves a good family. I know they’re worried about me, but I’ll be fine. It’s just that… I… I don’t like bringing him up…”
Rarity began to soften up. “You mean, your father?”
Rainbow started to look down at the table, using her hair to hide her eyes. “Y-yeah… Whenever I start to think about h-him… I… I…” She quickly put her hands up to cover her eyes. “I… I promised him I wouldn’t…” She took a few deep breaths to calm herself. “I know it hasn’t been helping my case or Scootaloo’s, but Fluttershy just keeps bringing it up and I know she’s worried about me but I… I just can’t and then I yell at her cuz that’s the only thing I can think of to make her stop and it just makes her worry more and makes things worse…”
“I think I’m starting to understand.” She allowed Rainbow dry her eyes and calm herself down.
“So that text you sent me. That was about adopting Scootaloo?” A familiar voice asked.
Rainbow nearly leapt out of her seat, turning to find Fluttershy standing behind her. “F-Fluttershy? I-I thought… What are you doing here?”
“But what about you? Where will you go?” Rainbow was still too shocked to respond. “You can’t stay at the orphanage forever.”
“I-I know.” She blurted out, finally able to speak. “I know that. I… I haven’t given up on my dream Fluttershy. I’m going to become a Wonderbolt. That’s my plan. I just want to help Scoots first.” Fluttershy seemed a little worried. “Are you sure Rainbow? What if you don’t make it?”
“I will. I know I can… And he knows I can too. I’m gonna make dad proud.” Rainbow responded with absolute confidence.
Fluttershy’s worry faded and she nodded back at her childhood friend. Rarity cut into the conversation, “If you really want to help Scootaloo, there are better ways to go about it Rainbow Dash. I could even help you if you want.”
“Really?”
“Of course, dear. But let’s discuss this somewhere more comfortable.” Her voice lowered to a whisper. “We’re starting to draw attention.” She gave Rainbow her car keys. “Go ahead and relax in the car, I’ll be right there as soon as I pay. Just follow me to my place, Fluttershy. It’ll be a short drive.”
---
Rarity groaned at a traffic light. “Of course I get this kind of luck right after I say we’ll get back in no time.” As if sensing her frustration, the light turned green. “Let’s hope we don’t have any more bad luck.” Not long after crossing the intersection, glass and debris abruptly burst from a tall skyscraper ahead. Rarity was able to slam the breaks and avoid driving into the falling debris. Rarity was panicking as the debris was soon followed by a small stream of people escaping through the front door screaming.
Rainbow Dash began unbuckling her seatbelt. “Go drive somewhere safe, I’ll take care of this.”
“You can’t be serious! I can’t believe had almost forgotten about this, Armored Blitz, thing. You could get killed Rainbow!”
“But it’s okay to let someone else die, right?” Rainbow was about to open her door, but Rarity quickly reached over and grabbed Rainbow’s right arm.
“I-I never said that. I… why call yourself, Blitz? Why can’t you just give that thing to someone else? Why do you keep risking your life like this!?”
Rainbow looked back over at the skyscraper for a moment, and sat back in her chair relaxed, arms folded across her chest. “Because I know he’s watching over me, keeping me safe.” Another section of the building wall violently broke, causing more debris to come crashing down into the street, just in front of Rarity’s car. Rarity covered her head and shrieked. “I’ll do whatever I have to do to make sure no one else has to go through what I did. There’s no way I’d force this thing on someone else.” Rarity looked back and forth between the building and Rainbow Dash. Reluctantly, she let go of her arm and allowed Rainbow to leave the car. Rainbow quickly got out and transformed. “Rarity, wait for me at the cafe with Fluttershy. I’ll be there as soon as I can.” Rarity nodded as Rainbow took off into the sky, flying into the recent hole in the building to chase after the monster inside.
Fluttershy watched from behind Rarity’s car, trying to call her. As she watched Rainbow transform, she turned pale. Rarity turned and drove off, while Fluttershy didn’t move. “Oh no…”
---
Vinyl set a book down on the floor and sat down on the beanbag in the living room while Lyra prepared some food in her kitchen. After having made herself comfortable on the beanbag, she looked over at the kitchen. “So, I know you told me yesterday, but please explain to me again why you’re trying to stay close to the chick who’s after us?”
Lyra calmly replied as she worked in front of her stovetop. “Have you ever heard the expression, keep your friends close and your enemies closer? I’m doing just that. She doesn’t know we’re enemies, so keeping her close could be really useful in finding that woman making all the Changelings.”
“Yeah, bu-” Vinyl froze for a moment, just now realizing that this Twilight person could also have information on that woman. “Yeah… yeah I guess that’s true. But what if she figures us out?”
“Instead of worrying about that, you should just focus on not getting figured out in the first place. Much easier.”
Vinyl’s head went limp into the beanbag. “Ugh, you’re way too chill about this, Lyra.”
“And you’re way too stressed. That’s the sign of a guilty person. Ever performed in any school plays or anything when you were in high school? Same thing. Just like assume the role of a character in a play. Except the character is you and in this play you’re completely innocent.”
“That’s a stupid way of thinking, dude.” She grabbed her book and opened it to the first page. “Oh, by the way, I forgot to mention, that Twilight chick gave me a picture of some other chick who apparently is some kind of super strong Changeling that we should avoid or something. Remind me to show you when we’re eating lunch.”
“Okay, first of all, you should tell me about everything because you never told me you already met her. If she told you anything important, I think I should know too.”
“Sorry. I’ll tell you everything when lunch is ready.”
Lyra left her stove and leaned over the counter, giving Vinyl a coy look. “And second, I don’t think you’d want to mention any of that while we’re eating because Twilight’s going to be eating with us.”
Vinyl slammed her book shut, placing it on the floor as she shot up. “What!?”
“Yup. I invited for lunch and so we could get some information out of her and get to know her as well.”
Vinyl fell back down the beanbag, running a hand up through her hair. “Aw jeez dude, ya gotta tell me these things ahead of time! That’s really important man!”
Lyra removed herself from the counter and went back to her work. “It’s not even that big a deal. Just stay calm, be nice, engage in nice conversation and everything will be fine. You can ask her about the other ‘you’ later if you want. She’ll be here soon.”
Vinyl picked her book back up, opening back to her page. “I’ll stay for the food, but you do the talking.”
Lyra leapt over the kitchen counter and sat down it from the other side. “Kay. I still think you’re overreacting. What are you reading?”
“A book. I like reading.” Vinyl quietly answered, her face still buried behind the book.
“I meant, what book. Books have titles you know.” A knock came from the door before Vinyl could respond. Lyra rolled her eyes. “Whatever little miss self conscious. Our guest is here. Try to not be so anti-social around her.” She slid off the countertop and happily strode towards the door.
The woman behind the door politely bowed. “Good afternoon, Lyra Heartstrings. Thank you again for inviting me over.”
“No need to be so formal. Come on in.” Lyra stood back and ushered her in, closing the door behind her. “Sorry if the living room looks really empty. I don’t have a roommate and I don’t really need much. Also, a friend of mine will be joining us.” Twilight stopped when she caught sight of Vinyl, who was sneaking a quick peek over her book. Not only was Lyra a prime suspect, but Vinyl, the person who she initially suspected as Noise, was apparently a friend of hers. Lyra walked past her on her way back to the kitchen. “Lunch will be ready in a few minutes.”
Twilight politely waved. “Hello again Vinyl. I didn’t expect to be seeing you again so soon.”
Vinyl poked her head up momentarily. “Y-yeah. Sup. How’s it goin’?”
Twilight took a seat nearby at the dinner table, preferring a chair over a beanbag. “I’ve been doing well. I’m enjoying Manehattan so far, except for the recent monster attacks.”
Vinyl casually nodded and finally managed to tear herself away from her book. “Oh, by the way. Were you able to find out anything about that other me? You know, from that whole Town Hall thing?”
“Oh. No, sorry. To be honest, I haven’t done any investigating into that matter. I’m afraid I have to apologize, but I’m currently investigating another matter and until that’s been taken care of, the mystery of the ‘other you’ is a low priority. Unless of course, she happens to show up again.”
Vinyl paused and then sat upright, closing her book around her finger. “Okay, here’s the thing, I’ve seen her. She’s showed up twice so far at the Starry Brew cafe where we first met. I dunno how she does it, but every time I try to get near her, she just vanishes. She even knew when I was gonna get a text message! Second time I saw her, she was counting down from outside with her phone out, I tried to catch her, but she vanished and right on cue I get a text message. That might not be a problem for you, but this is startin’ creep me out.”
“Odd. Are you saying she vanished into thin air before you could get close to her?” Twilight asked while taking a quick glance at Vinyl’s book cover.
“Kinda. The first time, she walked out of sight and when I went outside to follow her, she was already gone. Second time, when I left the cafe and ran around to the window, she was already gone.
“I see. So both times, you never actually saw her leave. But if what you say is accurate, she was still able to completely hide herself out in the open in less than a minute. She was outside both times, correct?”
“Yeah.” Vinyl confirmed.
“I see. So we most likely wouldn’t be able to catch her on any nearby cameras. Unfortunately, you haven’t really given me any real usable information, but I will make investigating her a higher priority.” Vinyl sighed and flopped back down on the beanbag, returning to her book. Twilight quietly observed Vinyl for a minute, looking back at the book once more. “I’m sorry, I don’t mean to disturb you, I couldn’t help but notice you’re reading ‘The Lunar Trigger’. I take it you’ve read the other books in the series?”
Vinyl immediately perked up, sitting up and lowering her book again. “Yeah! I have a bit of a thing for mystery novels. Have you read the first two in the series yet?”
Twilight smiled. “Yes. How far are you into ‘The Lunar Trigger’?”
“I’ve just started. My brother found it and gave it to me yesterday. It’s been hard to get ahold of this.”
“Ooh, nice. Sadly, it got a limited print, so copies are hard to come by. Oh I would love to talk about it, but I don’t want to spoil anything for you. You’re going to love it. He ended that trilogy spectacularly.”
“I’m looking forward to it. Like, so far part two, ‘Heated Metal’, didn’t blow my mind like I was hoping it would. ‘The Cyclone Joker’ is still my favorite so far. At least until I finish this.”
“Oh don’t worry, part two was a lot of setup for this. You’re going to love it. I thought the same thing too at first, but ‘The Lunar Trigger’ is definitely that finale you’re expecting.”
“Dude, how sad were you when Phi-”
Lyra began placing plates on dinner table, catching the attention of her guests. “I hate to break up the book club, but lunch is ready. I made spaghetti. I made a lot so I could reheat some later, so don’t worry about eating it all.” She left and returned with a large pot full of spaghetti.
“Oh, thank you. Not what I was expecting, but it definitely looks delicious.”
Hours had flown by, the group losing themselves in conversation long after lunch. Vinyl had long since forgotten her fear of talking to Twilight and started to find a friend. The fun hit an abrupt end when Twilight’s phone rang. She glanced at her phone and put a small distance between herself and the other two. “Yes? ...What!?” Her outburst brought a cloud of silence over Lyra and Vinyl. “Yes. I’ll head over right away.” She put her phone back in her pocket, and quickly bowed to a confused Lyra and Vinyl. “I’m sorry, I have to go. Something extremely important just came up. Thank you two again for the hospitality.” Twilight left and doubled her speed once she was out the door.
“You think there’s a Changeling going nuts out there right now?” Vinyl asked, looking out the window apprehensively.
Lyra sighed. “Yeah. Most likely. But we’re going to have to leave this one up to Twilight and the other Riders. Best to keep suspicion off ourselves for now. Besides, we’re after the one that matters. They can handle all the small fries. That’s what you wanted too right?”
“Y-yeah.” She slowly pulled back from the window, “They can handle it.”
---
Twilight arrived on the scene a rental car, parking a short distance away to keep it safe. A window burst in the skyscraper about twenty stories up. She was able to see three figures falling from the it.
“Just hang tight! I’ll come back for ya!” Rainbow called out to a portly man flailing about in the air, now plunging towards the earth alongside a pig-like Changeling. Rainbow ignored the man’s screams and pleas for help, focusing her attention on finishing off the Changeling.
“And I’ll even do it in style! Time for the Fantastic-” She paused in the air with a beat of her wings and promptly propelled herself down, spinning once, extending her leg out and slamming it it in the Changeling’s stomach, sending it down at high speed. Rainbow pursued it, readying her blades as she continued accelerating towards the ground.
“- Filly -”
Rainbow sliced through the stomach of the Changeling and continued unhindered with her collision course towards the street. Flipping quickly to right herself, she landed with no problem crossing her arms across her shoulder in preparation, leaping up with a wing powered jump and slicing upward in an arc as the Changeling was about to crash into her.
“- Flash!”
She watched as the Changeling created a green explosion upon impact with the ground. Like last time, a normal human man was lying on the ground in pain where the monster once was. Placing both feather blades in her right hand, she sped back up in the air, catching the falling man who had just cleared the ten story mark.
Rainbow gently floated back down to street level and placed the man back on his feet so he could flee screaming. She rolled her eyes, placed her feather blades back in her wings and approached the small, shallow crater where the former Changeling laid. She carried him to the sporting goods store across the street and gently sat him down next to the front door where he’d be easily noticeable.
“We meet again, Rainbow Dash.”
Rainbow spun around. The purple haired woman she fought before was walking down the street towards her. “Tch, you again? Lemme guess, you here for round two?”
Twilight held her hands up, “N-no, I’m not here to fight. I’d like to ex-”
“I’m surprised they didn’t send the big guy after me again. You still mad about last time, huh?”
“N-no. Just listen, I only want t-”
“Spare me the bull. I’m not in the mood for it today. Hope you shaped up after last time, -” Rainbow removed two feather from her wings, running her hand across both of them to harden them into blades. ”- cuz I ain't screwin’ around this time.”
Twilight reluctantly put her open hands in front of her waist, causing the emblem on her Driver to change. “Fine. Since you refuse to be diplomatic.”A dark cloud shrouded her whole body and she emerged, transformed.
Rainbow charged towards Twilight, leaping up for an aerial attack. Twilight readied herself to block, her form was much more refined than last time. Before striking, Rainbow quickly propelled herself to the ground with her wings in an attempt to fake her opponent out, crouching down, “Still too easy!” She slashed out with both blades, only to be blocked by Twilight’s staff. Rainbow was shoved back but propelled herself forward and stopped in front of Twilight, launching a kick at her stomach. Twilight reacted swiftly, sidestepping the kick, grabbing her foot and sweeping the other, sending Rainbow to the pavement. Twilight attempted to follow up, raising her foot to slam it down into Rainbow’s stomach, but she was able to roll away and get back to her feet. “Is this a joke? You’re completely different from the last time. How’d you get this good so fast?”
Twilight raised her staff, pointing it at Rainbow Dash. “To be honest, I didn’t actually do any training at all. But I do have a photographic memory.” She fired a few blasts, all of which Rainbow was able to dodge while closing the distance. Once she was close enough, Rainbow lunged forward with a blade. Twilight held her staff out to stop the attack. She quickly punted Rainbow in the stomach, followed Rainbow as she recoiled back and jabbed her with the back end of the staff and finished with a blast from the staff. “Thanks to an idea from a good friend, I’ve since been watching and memorising techniques from various martial arts videos. I’m not exactly athletic, so I can’t perform most of these techniques normally. But in this state, it’s not a problem.” Twilight said, starting to feel more confident in herself now that she finally managed to land a shot.
“So now you’re just getting a free ride off your belt and someone else’s skill? Alright, no problem. I ain’t about to lose to someone like you.” She placed the feather blade in her left hand back amongst her wings and readied her gun. “I have someone I need to talk too as soon possible. So let’s finish this quick.” She raised her gun, prompting Twilight to raise her staff in retaliation. Rainbow fired off a few shots while making her way towards Twilight. Twilight shot back with her staff, but was forced to start blocking shots after being hit by three. Rainbow raced in with a slash hoping to capitalize on Twilight’s situation, but found her attack blocked again. Rainbow backflipped away with a flap of her wings and quickly propelled herself towards Twilight. Twilight was able to block the kick, though the force pushed her back a small distance. However, she was not expecting Rainbow to fire a few rounds into her chest shortly after the kick. Rainbow jumped off of Twilight’s staff and went in for another dive kick. Twilight readied herself to counter, but was caught off guard again when Rainbow completely halted herself before impact and fired more shots at Twilight. “What’s the matter, can’t keep up?”
Twilight stayed calm and prepared herself for Rainbow’s next attack. Rainbow went in with the same dive kick attempt, and again, stopped herself before the impact and shot Twilight again. Rainbow flew back and flew forward quickly, chasing after the stumbling Twilight with her blade ready. Twilight mentally cursed herself for not considering her opponent would pull the same trick twice as she quickly held her staff in front of her, “Half Shield!” A purple energy wall fired out from Twilight, pushing out a few feet in front of her and collided with the overzealous Rainbow Dash. Before Rainbow had time to push herself off, Twilight fired a beam from her staff through the shield, easily shattering it and blasting Rainbow to the street.
Rainbow quickly got back to her feet, but her fatigue was clear from the sound of her breathing. “Think you’re so hot cuz you’re doin’ a bit better!?” She holstered her gun, leapt up, and flew straight for Twilight. Once she was close enough to Twilight, Rainbow broke from her straight forward course and began rapidly looping around Twilight. A clear whirlwind was starting to form around Twilight and she was abruptly thrust helplessly into the air, realizing Rainbow’s intent much too late. Rainbow skid to a stop along the ground and shot into the air with a strong flap of her wings. “Let’s cool you off with a Rainblow Dry!” She accentuated her last word by spinning in place and slamming her foot down into Twilight’s stomach, sending Twilight to the ground. Twilight was still conscious after the impact, but was no longer able to hold on to her transformation afterward.
“Primal Spin!”
Rainbow paused for a moment, hearing the voice as well and looked up towards the sky. Before she had any time to react, she was hit and slammed against the skyscraper wall. The force the the attack and the following impact was enough to force Rainbow out of her transformation. Rainbow stumbled forward a little and fell back against the wall, using it for support. Twilight watched a new Rider stand up where Rainbow was once standing. It started to approach Rainbow.
“A-another Rider? C-Claw?” The Rider was clad in a brown armor. Two small white fins with a wing-like motif extended from the back of it’s head. The front of it’s mask was white, with two large solid golden brown eyes and a small beak sticking out where a mouth would be. It’s hands had sharp pointed, yellow fingertips and it’s boots ended with multiple claw like protrusions. It wore a belt with a large brown circular buckle that appeared to have three red scratch marks across it.
“Dash, are you alright?” It asked in a rough female voice as it gently grabbed Rainbow by the shoulder with her left hand.
Rainbow looked up, still grimacing from the pain. “G-Gilda? Issat you? I-I’m okay.”
“Good.” The brown Rider grimly replied. She pulled her right arm back and slammed it straight into Rainbow’s chest, piercing the skin and almost burying it’s whole hand inside. Rainbow’s eyes shot open, her mouth following suit, though the only thing that came out was blood. “Sorry, Dashie, I don’t need you anymore. Should’a just stayed outta my way.” The Rider wrenched her hand out and shook some of the blood off, letting Rainbow fall to the floor. Rainbow threw up a small glob of blood before impact. Twilight watched in horror, helpless to do anything in her current state. From the distance a loud shriek was heard.
“No!” A panicked Fluttershy screamed as she came racing toward Rainbow at full speed.
“Heh. Enjoy your little pity party.” The rider placed the bottom of her palm on the edge of the belt buckle and slid it down, ‘erasing’ the scratch marks and undoing her transformation, revealing a woman slightly older than Rainbow Dash. She grabbed the furry linings of her leather jacket and gave them a quick tug forward as she started to casually walk away, “I’m outta here.”
Fluttershy fell to her knees at the feet of Rainbow's broken body. Dash's gaping chest wound was still bleeding profusely from Gilda's devastating blow. Fluttershy caressed Dashie's face with her fingers, hoping to gently revive her fallen friend. But when she looked in her eyes, there was no sign of the brash and sarcastic companion she once knew. Her gaze was faded and cold as Fluttershy's tears dripped slowly onto the her blank expression. Fluttershy couldn't bring herself to accept that the vibrant and defiant girl who always had a comment; always had a smug and confident reaction to anything was silenced forever in a matter of seconds. She slowly began to grow angry, gritting her teeth. Her head violently turned to gaze on the backside of Gilda. Feeling her rage reach a peak, Fluttershy grabbed Rainbow Dash’s Driver and pulled it off, now putting it on herself. Remembering Rainbow’s demonstration, Fluttershy grabbed the wings on the belt buckle and wrenched them to the side, locking them in place and transforming. Not wasting a moment, Fluttershy charged after Gilda screaming. Gilda stopped in place, lazily turning around as she heard footsteps approaching.
“I’ll kill you!” Unable to react in time, Gilda was tackled to the ground. The armor around Fluttershy started turning a bright gold as she shoved her hand against Gilda’s neck. “How could you kill her!? She was your friend!” Gilda attempted to reach for her Driver, only for Fluttershy to intercept with her knee, pressing it against the ground to her side with great force. Gilda was left with only one hand desperately trying in vain to wrench the emotionally distressed Rider’s hand from crushing her throat in.
Twilight had finally recovered enough to move. She ran towards the two immediately. “No! Don’t do it.”
“Bring her back!” Fluttershy screamed as she reached for her pistol she now possessed with her transformation and pressed it against Gilda’s forehead. “Bring Rainbow back or I’ll… I’ll…”
Twilight grabbed Fluttershy’s shoulder, tugging lightly. “Don’t do it. Killing her won’t bring her back.”
“B-but…” Fluttershy’s grip started loosening, allowing Gilda to breathe.
“Just put the gun down.”
Her grip on Gilda started to loosen more, her other arm falling to her side. She reluctantly pulled the wings on the Driver up and dropped her transformation. Her face was still drenched in tears. Gilda quickly took her chance, sliding her legs out from under Fluttershy, kicking her off and scrambling to her feet. She ran away, immediately darting between two buildings to get out of sight as fast as possible.
Twilight wanted to pursue the woman, but decided to stay and console Fluttershy. As Fluttershy cried her heart out, Twilight suddenly remembered something that made her shudder.
Do not forget to take the Flight Driver before you leave.
It wasn’t hard to get it back. Fluttershy gladly handed it over when Twilight asked..
---
“I’m a little concerned. Why did you ask to meet again so soon? It’s not a good idea t-”
“What the hell! Did you know that was going to happen!?”
“Please wait until I close the door to start yelling at me. I’d prefer not to draw attention. What are you talking about?
“Did you know Rainbow Dash was going to die!?”
“Yes. I did. Why do you ask?”
“And you’re completely okay with that!?”
“Yes. We’ve been over this before. The Driver will soon be back with the Doctor and his entourage.”
“That’s it!? We could have saved her! We could have stopped Gilda. We could have done anything!”
“Please calm down.”
“Is anyone else going to die!?”
“No. Relax.”
“How the hell can you be so damn casual about this!?”
“Why were you even there in the first place? Is it because you thought Vinyl would be there? If you really want to see why I place Vinyl so high, then just stay near the cafe she hangs out at now and follow her tomorrow. You’ll see what I mean soon.”
“...I can’t tell if you’re even human anymore.”
“Oh don’t give me any of that. You knew what this was. Everything has be to be the way it is to achieve the desired result.”
“You know what? Enjoy your little fake name. It suits you, Rewind.”
“Aw, does that mean we’re not on a first name basis anymore?”
“You don’t even deserve a real name. Have a good night, you guiltless psychopath.”
“It’s hard to be excited about getting the Flight Driver back. This is the last thing I wanted to happen.” The Doctor mulled around the crew room, glancing at the Driver resting on the table.
Ditzy was sitting down, staring at the Driver. “It’s a shame Claw was able to get away.”
“Yes, well, now we know her identity. Grizelda Gryphon, or Gilda, as she seems to go by. We’ll send Big Macintosh to search for her in Lower Manehattan today. She’s to be taken down on sight.”
Ditzy continued to stare at the Driver in silence for awhile. The Doctor was lost in thought, pacing around the room when Ditzy finally wrenched her eyes away from the device, standing up and placing her hands on the table. “Doctor, I’ll help too.” She sat up, “Let me use the Flight Driver!”
The Doctor look her, taken aback. “Wh-what?”
Ditzy was quick to continue, “This whole problem is my fault. I can use the Flight Driver to help fix this and get the others back.”
He shook his head, “Sorry, Ditzy. We can’t just go giving these to anyone. These need specific people to draw out their full potential. Besides, we already have our intended Rider coming in today. Impatient lil’ bugger already came to Manehattan and has been waiting in a hotel for awhile. She’ll be here for briefing and all that good stuff in a few hours.”
Ditzy fell back down into her chair, “B-but…”
“Relax, Ditzy. You’re needed elsewhere. Just keep doing what you’re doing. We’ll have them back soon. Even if we still don’t know who Noise is; she’s not the most careful person. We’ve been able to get close to her multiple times already. The only thing we have to worry about now is finding Music. As careful as she is, she has to screw up eventually.”
Ditzy’s gaze slowly lowered, “...y-yeah…”
---
Vinyl awoke at nine in the morning to her phone’s nagging ringtone. She rubbed her eyes and sat up on the comfy mattress graciously provided by Lyra. She grabbed the phone laying on the carpet next to her. Much to her surprise, it was coming from Fancy Pants. She gave her eyes another quick rub and answered the call, “M’what’s up, Fancy?”
“Ah, there you are Miss Scratch. Sorry for calling twice. Miss Wildfire has finished your little project. She’s quite insistent on having you come in and pick it up in person as soon as possible.”
“Damn, that was fast. Do I have to be in costume or what?”
“That is up to you. If you are keen on keeping your identity a secret, she has already stated that she would not mind you ‘being in costume’ as you put it. If it would put you at ease, I could go with you. I assure you that your secret would be safe with her.”
“Naw, naw. You don’t have to come with me. I’ll figure it out before I get there.”
“Very well then. I’m glad I could help, Miss Scratch. Don’t hesitate to call or visit again if you need my assistance.”
“Thanks a bunch, dude. Talk to ya later.” Vinyl hung up and stood; stretching out a little. She walked to the bathroom for a quick shower. Before going in, she turned to Lyra’s bedroom door. A note was on the door.
At work. Will be back later. Feel free to make food or raid the fridge.
Slightly curious, she tried to enter, but found the door to be locked. She shrugged and went straight for the bathroom.
Vinyl hadn’t used a taxi in a long time. With Lyra not around to give a ride she didn’t want to leave her motorcycle stranded at a mechanic’s. Partly due to not wanting to have to sneak around an entire city and a little bit of laziness, Vinyl decided to just go in person and hope things went for the best. Using the address Fancy Pants texted her, she arrived at what looked like a generic mechanic’s building with a large sign at the top that simply read “Mechanic”. Despite it’s unimpressive appearance, it housed a large, currently open garage. She awkwardly walked inside and looked around the place; hoping to spot this “Wildfire”. A man working on a van slid out from underneath and caught sight of Vinyl as he wiped his forehead. He glanced at her for a second before looking straight up and yelling out, “Oy, boss! Someone’s lookin’ for you!” He looked back at Vinyl again, “She’ll be out in a minute, miss.” With that, he slid back under that van.
Shortly after, a black haired woman emerged from behind the van, greeting Vinyl and looking her over, “What can I do for ya?”
“Uh, Fancy Pants told me to come here to uh...to pick something up.” Vinyl tried to keep her voice down so as not to alert any of the other workers.
Wildfire slowly nodded. “Mmmhmmm. Gotcha, follow me.” She quickly walked to a small garage door in the back, closing it behind Vinyl. A blue tarp covered something in the middle of the room. “Hot damn, so you’re that white ninja, huh?” She was slowly circling Vinyl; sizing her up.
“Y-yeah.”
“Don’t worry, I’m not gonna tell anyone. Can ya show me?”
She shook her head. “S-sorry. Can’t. It’s hard to explain. If I do it here, you’ll have some government agents or whatever crawlin’ around asking questions.”
Wildfire took a step back, “You got men in black chasing ya too? Oooooh damn! Are you some kinda super secret mutant cyborg that escaped from some top secret lab or something?”
Vinyl gave her a strange look, “W-what? Naw dude, I’m just some regular girl. I have something that let’s me transform, that’s all.”
“Cool, cool. I’ll just have to stick to checkin’ out the action on the news.” She walked towards the tarp. “I really wanted to give this thing a name, but I decided, eh, I’ll let you do the honors. I should be thanking you for giving us something awesome to work on.” She rested a hand on the tarp, running a hand along it.
Vinyl was a little concerned. “Us? You mean, those other guys worked on it too?”
“Well duh. There’s no way one person can throw all this together. Especially not with all the bells and whistles you asked for. They know too, sorry. Don’t worry though, these guys are all trustworthy. You might’ve noticed em sneaking a few looks at’cha. That’s the most you’re gonna get, they’re not gonna hassle ya.” Vinyl let out a sigh of relief, though still looked nervous about the idea. “More importantly, it’s time to show this baby off!” Wildfire grabbed the tarp with both hands and tossed it aside, revealing a blue sports motorcycle. On the front sides were two rounded dome-like protrusions. They were hard to notice unless inspected up close.
Vinyl walked around the bike, looking it over and seeming overall impressed. “I’m likin’ it. So how about the other stuff?”
Wildfire gestured to the seat, “Give it a shot. Take a seat and press that button there in the handlebar.”
Vinyl sat down and grabbed the handlebars. Fiddling around, she managed to find that a portion of it where her thumb rested was able to be pushed in. She tried, but nothing happened.
“Push in hard. I made it so you wouldn’t accidently set it off while casually drivin’ her.”
Vinyl pushed in harder and finally felt the button click in. The bike’s color began changing from blue to white; leaving a blue stripe on the middle of both sides. The bumps on the front sides had a blue center which left a thick white border on the edges, similar to that of Vinyl’s Driver. Above the two headphone-like earmuffs two long translucent blue fiberglass bands emerged and connected with each other above the earmuffs in an arc. This completed the look. She got up from the seat and inspected the new transformed look. “Oh man! That’s friggen awesome!”
Wildfire watched with pride, her arms folded across her chest. “Glad’ja like it. S’not every day someone asks me for something interesting. The boys had a blast too. The color changing paint thing was Turbo’s contribution.”
“What about about a bright light or electromagnetic camera jamming stuff or something to keep people from seeing me transform?” Vinyl asked, her excitement not fading one bit.
“Oh, don’t worry, that’s all there. It’ll only happen while it’s on. We assumed if you were doing that while parked, you were already somewhere safe. And the light? About as painful as looking at the sun. The pulse will disable nearby cameras for up to a minute, cellphone cameras included. It’ll also do it when you switch it back.” She approached the handlebars and pressed the switch, changing it back to it’s normal blue form. “To top it all off, this baby can take a lot of punishment, not that I’m sayin’ you should go swingin’ it around. We put a lot of love and overtime into this thing, ya better take good care of it.”
Vinyl nodded, sitting back down in the motorcycle’s seat. “Not a problem. How much did it cost by the way?”
“A heck-of-a-lotta money, I can tell ya that much. Parts and labor aint cheap ya know. Especially not the parts this baby’s sporting. Don’t worry though. Fancy Pants already footed the bill, at a discounted price of course. I owed him big time.” Wildfire reached into the pocket of her jumpsuit and pulled out key attached to a key ring. “There’s the key to the ignition. You need this delivered to your place or did you catch a ride here?”
Vinyl shook her head, “Thanks, but I took a taxi here. I’m taking this thing for a ride.”
Wildfire grinned, “Perfect. I gotta get back to work. Feel free to stop by anytime. Tune-Ups are free for the first six months. Have a nice day.” She opened the small garage door and stood by the side, commanding everyone to clear a path. Vinyl turned the key in the ignition. She took a moment to enjoy the purr of the engine and the overall feel of the bike. She kicked the stand up, and started to slowly cruise out, waving to the men in uniform as she passed through. The employees burst into a thunderous cheer, admiring their work and applauding their would-be hero, a sudden liveliness that confused the few customers inside.
---
“Oh, Chrysalis? Are you here?” Diamond Tiara called out from the middle of her first floor living room.
Not long after, Chrysalis emerge from the the second floor, leaning over the railing. “Yes, Miss Tiara. I was just about to go for a walk. What can I do for you?”
Diamond chose to stay put, looking up towards Chrysalis, “I’d like to exercise my half of our arrangement.”
Chrysalis raised an eyebrow, “Oh?”
“There will be a formal event held in two days. A gathering of Manehattan’s elite. I will be in attendance naturally, but I honestly loathe these things. I’d like something to liven up things up. I have a photo and information of someone I’d like you to infect.” Chrysalis made her way downstairs, taking the paper and attached photo from Diamond Tiara. “I’d also like either you or your little servant to be there for my protection in case things get a little out of hand.”
Chrysalis scanned the document, “Oh? Such an important looking human.”
“As if,’ Diamond scoffed, “I’m sick of the little pissant thinking anyone can hold a candle to me. He needs to be reminded of his place here. Take care of it as soon as you can.” She turned and walked away.
“As you wish, Miss Tiara.”
---
Rarity left the front counter of the Starry Brew cafe, having just finished her shift. She noticed Lyra sitting with someone she had never seen before. She decided to drop in and say hello.
Lyra looked over and smiled, “Hey, Rarity. How’s work? You can sit down if ya want.”
“Thank you.” She sat down and looked at the red haired stranger across the table. “Who might your friend be, Lyra?”
“This is Longplay. But we just call him LP. Remember my friend, Vinyl? He’s her brother.”
“Ah yes. The quiet one who only orders hot chocolates. Good evening, mister Longplay. My name is Rarity, nice to meet you.
LP waved her off, “Please, just LP. And nice to meet you. You another friend of Lyra and my sister?”
“Well, I’ve known Lyra for quite some time now. Your sister I’ve only recently met. We haven’t really spoken much, though she seems nice. She’s just really quiet. I’m not certain if it’s just me.”
He chuckled, “Naw, sounds about right. She loves her hot chocolate. She just has some problems getting comfortable with people. Don’t worry, she’ll warm up to you eventually. You can get her to open up if you mention something she likes.”
Lyra grinned, “That actually happened last night. I had a friend over and they started geeking out over some book series the whole time. Now she’s insisting I read it so I can...” She raised her hands and made air quotes, “‘...understand the hype...’” Lyra turned to Rarity while LP laughed. “So, how was work? Fluttershy still being stiff?”
Rarity frowned a little, “Her shift is being covered by Gyro today. Fluttershy… She’s been through quite a lot the past few days. After yesterday, she’s in no condition to be working today.”
Lyra’s smiled started to fade, “What happened?”
Rarity shook her head, “I’ll have to tell you later. I wouldn’t want to kill the atmosphere.”
“Well you’re doing a great job so far.” Lyra sarcastically remarked.
“So” LP exclaimed in an attempt to draw attention away from the subject, “Tell me about yourself Rarity.”
Rarity gladly went along with his ploy, “Certainly. I’m a manager here at the Starry Brew cafe. My true passion, however, is fashion. I’m looking to break into the scene very soon.”
“She’s good.” Lyra happily added, “You should see the dresses she’s made. They’re beaut...”
“Sup Lyra.” Vinyl waved to Lyra and Rarity, making her way to their booth alongside Twilight. “Funny seeing you here...” She glanced to her left, noticing her brother in the seat across from her. Her eyebrow started to ascend, “And my brother too, is here too why is he here alone with you without my supervision, I’m sitting down.” Twilight bowed to Lyra and Rarity, taking a seat next to Vinyl.
LP looked over at Twilight with a goofy grin on his face, “We were just talking about other things, but this is now much more important. Nice to meet you miss. Name’s Longplay, LP for short. Who might you be?”
Twilight introduced herself, “My name is Twilight Sparkle. I’m just visiting Manehattan for awhile. Nice to meet you too, mister LP.”
“And what are you two doing here?” LP asked, his grin not fading as Vinyl cautiously watched from between the two.
“I actually was just coming here for a drink and Vinyl happened to drive by and pulled in.”
“Oh, how nice of you Vinyl. Sounds like you two are pretty clo...”
“Thanks bro.” Vinyl’s voice was calm, but she made no attempt to hide the death glare she was giving her brother. “Now before you say something you regret, let’s move on to something else.”
“How about all these monster attacks that have been happening recently?” Rarity said.
“Yeah. No one knows where they’re coming from.” Lyra added, “I’ve heard it’s some kind of alien parasite that’s infecting the people here.”
Rarity shivered, “Egh, don’t say even suggest something disgusting like that. Whatever it is, I hope the police can figure out a way to deal with them soon. I worry every day now that one might attack me, or worse yet, my little sister.”
Twilight shook her head, “It’s definitely been quite a cause for concern. I’m sure it’ll blow over soon. We’ve been getting lucky with those strange vigilantes in suits, but I’m certain that the police force will figure out a way to get rid of these monsters for good.”
“I sure hope so. They’ve caused enough havoc as it is.”
Vinyl’s phone started ringing, it’s loud volume catching the group’s attention. “Sorry, I forget to turn my phone volume down when I’m not driving.” She quickly pulled out her phone out of her pocket. She froze when she saw the caller ID. Her eyes became vacant and she started to appear anxious.
LP glanced over at her screen, noticing something was wrong. He started to become concerned and placed a hand on her shoulder, “You want me to talk to him with you?” Vinyl silently shook her head. She silently gestured for Twilight to get up so she could get up from the booth as well. Vinyl walked outside the cafe and put the phone to her ear while heading around towards the side of the building.
LP sighed and rested his back against the seat. Lyra was the first to speak up, “What was that all about?”
“It’s our dad.”
“Is… is there something wrong?” Lyra asked, looking outside to see that Vinyl was leaning against a window a few booths over . She was still talking to someone on her phone.
LP followed Lyra’s eyes, noticing Vinyl as well and went back to looking in Lyra’s direction, “Don’t look at her. She might notice.” He took a deep breath before continuing, “First of all, I wanna thank you girls a lot for being her friends. That means a lot to both of us. Now, don’t ever tell her I told you what I’m about to tell you.” He looked cautiously at Rarity as he said this.
“My lips are sealed.” Rarity assured him. Twilight and Lyra promised to keep silent as well.
“Vinyl… Vinyl was an accident. Our parents never wanted a second child, but things happened. Mom ended up going through with it for the sake of her public image. The problem is they never really paid much attention to her. The worst of it was when she overheard them talking about her. She was still young when it happened. She came to me that night asked me what ‘being an accident’ meant. When it finally hit her a few years later, it hit her like a truck. They moved to Canterlot for work when she was nine and left me to take care of her. They send us money and call us once a month to talk to us. It’s never pleasant for her.”
Rarity was the first to speak, “That’s just awful. Have you ever talked with them about this?”
“A few times. As much as I’ve tried, nothing’s really changed.”
Lyra couldn’t help but sneak a glance at Vinyl, “Wow… I would’ve never guessed.”
“I know I like to tease her a lot when we’re out and about, but I really do want her to find someone nice. I don’t care who, as long as she’s happy.”
“What should we do when she comes back?” Twilight asked, “We need to do something to cheer her up.”
LP shook his head, “Naw. Knowing her she’s gonna wander off after this. Just let her be for now. I’ll talk with her later.”
---
Vinyl made sure the door was closed behind her before finally answering the call. “H-hi, dad. What’s up?” She walked over to the side of the cafe, slumping against the nearest window.
“Hello, sweetie. How are you doing?”
“I’m doing fine.”
“That’s nice. I hear there’s been a lot of weird terrorist attacks of some sort happening around Manehattan.”
“Y-yeah. But I’m fine. It’s mostly in the Upper Manehattan area anyway. I don’t really have to worry much.”
“That’s a relief. Oh, I heard your brother is visiting too. Is he with you right now?”
“No. No, it’s just me right now.”
“You still doing the disc jockey thing?”
“Y-yeah. I’ve been getting a lot of good gigs. Y-you should come to one some time.”
“I’ll keep that in mind whenever things lighten up around here.”
“Bu-... You said the same thing last time, dad…”
“Sorry, things have just been really busy. Have you decided when you’re going to head back to college?”
“O-oh… I-I’m still thinking about that. S-sorry.”
“That’s okay, you can get back to it when you’re ready.”
“Yeah…” The two became silent, neither having anything to say for a solid minute. “Are… are you and mom gonna visit an-”
“Oh, sorry hun, I gotta go now, I’ve got a meeting to attend. I’ll talk to you again soon.”
“W-wait.”
“Bye sweetie, love you.” The call ended immediately after.
“Bu- Dad!” Vinyl quickly moved her phone into view to confirm the call had ended. She sighed as her right arm fell limp to her side, though still holding on firmly to her phone. Her left hand soon found itself holding on to her right arm as she stared at the floor, motionless.
---
Lyra watched Vinyl like a hawk as she came back inside, looking defeated. “Is everything okay, Vinyl?”
Vinyl didn’t respond to her. “I’m gonna go walk for a bit.” She said, looking at LP. She went back outside.
“I really wish there was something we could do.” Rarity got up from her seat, “Sorry I have to leave on this note, but I really should get home now. See you all later.” She gave a quick smile and nod as she left, though she knew full well that the atmosphere was going to be heavy for awhile.
---
“Yes! I win again!” An over excited Scootaloo yelled, having just scored another victory in a game of Light Speed.
Her opponent stomped in mild frustration. “Darn. How are you so good at this?”
Scootaloo shrugged, “I dunno.”
“Oh well, I’m gonna get some more tokens. You’re next.” The boy stepped off the arcade machine’s floor panel, allowing the boy behind him to step on. The new challenger put a token into the machine and gave the two player start button a quick slap. Scootaloo took a quick look behind her, hoping to spot a familiar rainbow mane. Upon hearing the machine start counting down, she got back into position, legs spread and arms raised up high. The two competitors gazed fiercely upon the three by five array of large circular buttons on the wall before them. As the arcade speakers called out the word “Go”, a column of three buttons in the center lit up. Scootaloo’s hands shot toward them, smacking them as fast as she could. Each button she pressed lost their light, but another button on her side lit up to take it’s place. Scootaloo’s feet remained planted firmly as she methodically hit the buttons as they lit up, keeping a steady pace between each button press. She lost her pace only a few times but easily recovered each time.
The boy next to her wasn’t faring as well. He was scrambling around while scanning the array feveriously for each new target, arms flailing from one end of the array to the other. He looked over twice during the match to watch his opponent and a few times and tried to copy her stance but failed to see why it was working for her. He quickly went back to his frantic hunt and peck approach. The machine declared that the time was up and the two gazed up at the score displays, neither player surprised at the difference in points.
Scootaloo leapt up, throwing her fist into the air. “Yeaaah! Reigning champ!” Her competitor snapped his fingers and walked off after a high five with Scootaloo as a sign of good sportsmanship. Scootaloo left the machine to take a break, her hands aching a little from the constant high speed button slapping she was doing. She ran towards the front door of the party establishment where Cheerilee was looking outside, fiddling with her cell phone. Scootaloo came to a halt in front of anxious adult, “Excuse me, Miss Cheerilee. Is Dash here yet?”
Cheerilee shook slightly, “N-not yet, Scootaloo.” Scootaloo was a little saddened by her response. “Don’t worry, Scootaloo. I’m sure she’s just waiting for the right time to show up and surprise you.”
Scootaloo’s smile returned, “Yeah. I bet it’s gonna be great. Thanks, Miss Cheerilee.” She ran off to enjoy more of the party.
Cheerilee watched her go and turned back around, her smile fading. She pressed the call button on her phone and pressed it to her ear, as she went back to scanning the view outside, “Oh, Rainbow Dash… Why aren’t you picking up?”
A voice cheerily chirped up from behind her. “It’s almost time to break out the cake and presents miss.”
Cheerilee quickly spun around, relaxing a little at the sight of the bubbly pink haired employee. “Sorry, give me just a little more time to try and get a hold of someone. She’s supposed to be here. Don’t bring out the big surprise yet.”
The employee saluted, “Okie dokie lokie! I’ll stall as best I can. You just let us know when you’re ready.” With that, she skipped back towards the party.
Cheerilee tried calling again while she looked at the kids sitting down at a table, drinking and chatting amongst themselves.
“Um, excuse me.” Another voice came from behind her, causing Cheerilee to quietly yelp as she spun around again. A young woman and a taller, older woman were now standing in front of her. Fluttershy reeled back a little, seeing Cheerilee’s distress. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.”
Cheerilee wiped off the little bit of sweat that had formed on her forehead. “I-It’s okay. I’m just a little nervous is all. Can I help you? I’m not part of the staff, if that’s what you’re looking for.”
Fluttershy shook her head, “No. I’m actually here for Scootaloo’s party. A friend of mine told me to come here.”
“A friend of yours? Rainbow Dash? Are you Rainbow’s friend?”
“Y-yes. My name is Fluttershy, and this is my mom, Posey.” Her mother nodded and waved.
“Oh please tell me you know where Rainbow Dash is. I’ve been trying to reach her all day.” Fluttershy was starting to visibly frown at the mention of Rainbow’s name. “She’s supposed to be here. I can’t believe she’d be late like this. She’s not even answering her phone.”
Fluttershy closed her eyes and took a deep breath, keeping her composure, “R-Rainbow Dash… Won’t be able to make it. I’ll… I’ll explain when the party’s over.”
Cheerilee was surprised. She didn’t think anything would have stopped Rainbow from showing up from this party, especially after she had put so much effort into it. “O-okay. I guess I’ll break the news to Scootaloo and get started on the cake and presents.”
“Wait!” Fluttershy immediately responded, shocking Cheerilee. She was quiet for a moment. Her mother put a hand on her shoulder for support. “L-let me tell Scootaloo, please.”
Cheerilee was getting more concerned about the situation. “Um, sure. Go ahead. I’ll tell the staff to bring out the cake and presents in a few minutes. Thank you both, by the way, for coming.” Fluttershy nodded and walked towards Scootaloo’s table. Posey sat a few tables away and watched, allowing Fluttershy to handle the situation herself, but ready to jump in if needed.
The whole table quieted down and looked up at the adult standing near them. Scootaloo cocked her head. She recognized the woman. “I remember you. You’re Dash’s friend, right? I don’t remember your name.”
“It’s okay, it’s been awhile, Scootaloo. My name is Fluttershy.” She looked at the other kids, “Is it alright if I talk with her alone for minute?” The children looked amongst each other and agreed to leave them be. They all moved away, though trying to remain somewhat close so they could attempt to eavesdrop on the conversation. Fluttershy took a seat next to Scootaloo. “I’m sorry, Scootaloo. Rainbow won’t be able to make it to your party.”
Scootaloo looked heart broken. “Wh-what? Why?”
“W-well… She…” Fluttershy found herself starting to choke up. “I-I’m not allowed to say too much, but… You see-”
Scootaloo’s smile slowly began to return. “Is it because of the superhero thing?”
Fluttershy visibly flinched, “Y-you know about that?”
Scootaloo nodded, “Mmhm. She told me. I guess it’s okay, if she’s busy protecting people.”
“Scootaloo… Rainbow might be gone for awhile. She said she’s really sorry. She said she’ll explain everything when it’s over.” Scootaloo lowered her head, staring down at the table. She was starting to tear up a little. “I’m really sorry.”
Scootaloo shook her head and wiped her eyes. “It’s okay. I know it’s gotta be real important if she had to break her promise for it. She’s always there when we need her, and I bet someone needs her right now more than me. So, it’s okay. She’ll be back when she’s done, right?” She looked up at Fluttershy, her eyes still tearing up.
Fluttershy smiled, and nodded with confidence. She was able to keep herself composed on the outside, but on the inside, Fluttershy hated having to lie to her. She was still saddened over the loss of her friend and it was taking every ounce of strength she had to keep herself from crying, “That’s right.”
Scootaloo wiped her eyes with her shirt sleeves. Before she could say anything, the pink haired employee called out to everyone, “All right everybody! It’s time for the cake!” Everyone looked up as she came to Scootaloo’s table, placing a big cake in the center with ten candles currently lit. Everyone sang the birthday song before Scootaloo blew out her candles.
After everyone had sometime to enjoy the cake, a male employee rode in through the front door on an orange motor scooter. He was balancing five presents on a large platter behind him with one hand while steering the scooter with the other. “Hey there, we almost forgot the presents. What’s a birthday without presents.” He slowly and carefully drove to the table carrying the cake and set the platter of presents down. Scootaloo went through all of them, generally pleased with everything. Once finished, the man looked down at the motor scooter he was still sitting on. “Oho, whoops. I almost forgot about your last present. How silly of me.” He removed the key and hopped off the scooter. Twirling the key on it’s key ring in his finger a few times. He clutched it tight in his hands and presented the key ring to Scootaloo, bowing down as he did so. “For you, from a very special, very colorful friend.” It took a few seconds for the realization that this scooter was hers to finally hit Scootaloo.
“Oh my gosh! She got me a moped!? Rainbow Dash got me a moped!? Oh my gosh, Rainbow Dash you’re the best!” She grabbed the key ring and started jumping all around, continuing to scream out her surprise.
The female employee couldn’t help but laugh. “Nice job, Cheese. Didn’t think you’d be able to improvise such an amazing entrance like that so fast.”
The male employee smiled, basking in the praise and Scootaloo’s excitement, “I like to think I’m pretty good at improvising, Pinkie. I also used to work at a fancy restaurant for a while, so I know how to balance stuff on a plate.”
---
Vinyl had made it home not long after she left the cafe. She went inside and laid on her bed for a few hours. When Trixie had eventually come in, Vinyl left to go walking outside. She still wanted to be alone. She had not been keeping track of time but decided it was time to go back to her apartment now that it was getting dark. She had somehow managed to wander into an empty skatepark. Even though she knew it was a monthly thing, she always dreaded the days the calls came. It was almost always the same, with a few minor differences. They would feign interest in anything she brought up and pretend to be interested in her life She could easily tell that they were just going through the motions. There was a time when she was jealous and even hated her brother for being the one they actually cared for, but that didn’t last too long. She didn’t know why she still tried to win their affection, even though deep inside, she knew they would never care.
“My, my, tonight is just full of surprises.” A somewhat familiar voice said from behind. Vinyl had heard the voice, but was too deep in thought pay attention. “Not only do I find a Rider, but I find the girl that got away as well.”
The continued sound of the voice finally snapped her out of her trance. Vinyl turned around to find a familiar face. It was her. The Changeling Queen.
“You!”
She felt a surge of adrenaline pump through her body. She wasn’t even searching for the Queen, and she had finally decided to show up. If she could beat her here, then there would be no more Changelings.
“I’m glad you remember me. But I’m curious, your drive… It’s changed since we last met. Why is that?” Vinyl’s hand shot up to her headphones. “Odd, it’s changed again. Slightly, but it’s changed.” Vinyl transformed and readied a record in both hands. “Oh? Another Rider? Tonight is just full of surprises.” Vinyl threw both records at the Queen, both of which she easily backhanded away. “Very well, Armored Rider.” The skin from her hands up to her shoulders started to flake off, leaving her with black chitinous arms with a few gaping holes in them, “You have my attention.”
---
“Ey Ditzy, I think we got a problem here. What does it mean when there’s this really big black spot on the map? Like, bigger’n usual.” Applejack pointed up at the monitor, looking over at Ditzy who had just come into the room with two cups full with drinks.
“What!?” Ditzy ran to AJ’s side to get a better view, causing both drinks to slosh about and spill on the floor and her arm. “Oh no. Oh, this is bad.”
“What’s the matter? Should I call the others?” Applejack asked, quickly reaching into her pocket.
“Yes. That really big black dot mean the Queen’s doing something big, and Noise is there too. They might be fighting right now. Call everyone. I’ll call the Doctor. Tell them it’s the Queen and they need to drop whatever they’re doing.”
“O-okay.”
---
Vinyl threw a few more records and ran behind them. Chrysalis moved to the side while swatting one of the records to the ground beside her. As Vinyl went in ready to punch, Chrysalis was also ready, swinging her arm to the side at neck level. Vinyl stopped and leaned back just in time to watch Chrsyalis’ arm swing over her face, feeling the force of the swing as it passed over her. Vinyl leapt back, any thoughts of engaging her in close quarters combat potentially crushed. She needed to defeat her in one quick blow, a feat she wasn’t confident in pulling off, but the anger currently rising in her was beating out any reasonable doubts in her mind. The Queen was still standing in place, showing her lack of concern for the white Rider. She raised her hand up, beckoning Vinyl with her finger, “Why don’t you just come here. I’d like to get a better look at you.”
This pushed Vinyl over the edge, her mind quickly settling on a plan of attack. She spawned multiple records in both of her hands, and began tossing them wildly. Some were aimed at Chrysalis while others seemed to fly off to the sides. Chrysalis swiped away all the direct shots, grabbing one in the process as Vinyl charged forward again. “Hmph, you’re getting sloppier. Your emotions are clouding your judgement. You won’t even be able to scratch me like this.” She swung her arm up, throwing the held record back at Vinyl. Vinyl was able to veer to the side just in time, feeling the record graze her right shoulder as it whizzed by. Almost back in close range, she quickly pulled a slider down on the mixing board on her arm. The record still at Chrysalis’ feet suddenly exploded, catching her off guard. Vinyl created a record in her right hand, her middle finger sticking out through the hole in the middle. It began spinning in her finger, it’s speed increasing fast with each second. Before Chrysalis could regain her focus on Vinyl, two of the records that were thrown out to the sides earlier had been bouncing around and were finally on a course straight for the Chrysalis’ neck. She wouldn’t be able to block both records and block Vinyl at the same time.
Chrysalis leapt back to avoid the records and readied herself to catch the approaching Rider. Vinyl continued her rush and leapt forward once she was in striking distance, putting all of her strength into pushing herself into the Queen. Chrysalis was able to grab her right arm with her own just in time. The record was still spinning in Vinyl’s hand, her palm seemingly impervious to the razor sharp record as she tried to force it into the Queen’s chest, “Impressive.” To her surprise, Vinyl continued trying to push the record forward rather than free herself from her grip, pushing with every fiber of her being. “I just have to beat you and it’ll put a stop to all of this!”
“You should be more worried about yourself.” Chrysalis grabbed Vinyl’s neck with her free hand and started applying pressure. Vinyl showed no signs of backing down, pushing the spinning record closer and closer, now mere inches away from making contact. Chrysalis was starting to sport a wide grin. “How impressive. You still fight with such ferocity even in the face of such pain?”
Vinyl’s body felt like it was on fire, starting to feel herself feeling faint from the lack of incoming oxygen, but finally managed to strike flesh. “Almost there!
Chrysalis looked down with unnatural glee at the spinning record shredding her skin as she continued trying to fight back Vinyl’s hand. Chrysalis was getting excited, her volume slowly rising, “This feeling. I haven’t felt this in so long. This intense drive. It’s so familiar.” She reared her foot back and slammed it into Vinyl’s gut, putting a stop to her attack and dropping her to her knees. “Come on. I want to see more of you. I want to feel more of these emotions!” Vinyl had just managed to get back to her knees when she felt a powerful punch to her gut. She felt a hand on her shoulder keeping her up as Chrysalis’ foot kicked her full force in the chest. She fell back, unable to fight, but still holding on to her transformation. Chrysalis stood over Vinyl, chuckling to herself, “It’d be such a shame to kill you. I’ll allow you to live for now. I look forward to seeing you again.” Vinyl rolled over to her stomach, struggling to prop herself back up to her knees. Chrysalis was already so far away, there was no way Vinyl would be able to catch up to her in her current state.
Feeling somewhat safe, she let her transformation drop, staying grounded for a few minutes to let herself recover enough to walk home. She stumbled her way back to the street. It was barren except for a few motor vehiecles that were audible in the distance. Vinyl turned around, seeing a light start to approach. Remembering that she hadn’t moved since she transformed, she decided to take her chances. She threw her arms up and waved to a car, which to her surprise, actually caused it to slow to a stop. The driver rolled down his window, “What’s the matter miss? Need a ride?”
“Yes. Please.”
The man in the window shrugged and waved a hand, “Aw heck, hop in.” Vinyl carefully walked around to the passenger side, doing her best to hide her pain. “Just tell me where ya need to be and I’ll getcha there as quick as I can, s’long as you ain’t to far out. If the cops stop us by the way, just tell em we just got outta work and were on our way home. They’re startin’ to set up some kinda road block, so we ain’t exactly s’posed to be here right now.”
---
Vinyl arrived home safely, quietly heading straight for her room. Trixie was no where to be seen, which saved Vinyl the effort of having to explain herself. She entered her room and promptly flopped on to her bed.
“Took you long enough. I was actually starting to get worried.”
Vinyl recognized her brother’s voice coming from her bathroom. She hugged her pillow, responding with a low groan.
“You gonna be okay?” LP’s question was answered with another groan. He left the bathroom and sat down on the bed. “You don’t have to talk if you don’t want to. But I got you something to cheer you up.” He reached under the bed and grabbed two packaged toys, placing them in front of her face. Vinyl looked up from her pillow, her eyes quickly fixated heavily on the small pony dolls in front of her. LP chuckled to himself. “Figured you’d like it. Don’t worry, Trixie didn’t see me bring them in. Your secret’s still safe.”
Vinyl sat up and hugged him from behind, “You’re the best.”
---
Gilda was leaning against a dumpster behind a shopping plaza somewhere in Middle Manehattan in the middle of the day. She was worse for wear, panting heavily as she kept a close eye on her surroundings, “Dammit, first the police are all over me and then another dude with one of those super gizmos. Friggen hammer hit like a truck.” She slammed her fist against the dumpster. “Dammit it all! I get rid of one fucking problem and now I get like, twenty more! I can barely show my face anywhere anymore without getting chased by police or running into that hammer wielding prick.”
“Hm? What have we here?” A female voice asked from behind
Gilda quickly pulled a 180, her right hand held in front of her belt buckle,“The hell do you want? You after me too?”
The woman was wearing a formal, green Chineighse dress, “I was out on business and I happened to find a very interesting human sprinting by. What ever are you running from?”
“Bad answer, hag.” Gilda ran her nails across her belt buckle, leaving what appeared to be a red gash on the buckle where her nails had passed. She raised her right arm and pumped it down, fist clenched. “You got five seconds to run before I rip you apart.” A brown armor materialized around her.
“I take it you’re not with G.U.A.R.D. I can see the drive in your heart. You desire absolute power. The power to take whatever you want and crush all in your way. I can give you that power. More than that weak Driver ever could.”
Gilda lowered her arm down, “I’m listening.”
“Join me. Shed your humanity. Allow me to transform you into a Changeling and feel power like you’ve never dreamed.” The skin on the woman’s left hand began to flake off, leaving a jet black chitin shell with a gaping hole around her palm.
Gilda considered her offer for a minute, “And how do I know you’re not trying to pull something?”
The woman placed her hand on her hip. “You are free to walk away. I will not follow you and I shall speak to no one of our encounter. Join me, and I shall give you shelter and power. The choice is yours. I will not extend this offer should we meet again.”
Gilda didn’t take much time to decide. It was gamble on greater power or continue being hunted down, “Aright. You got a deal. Whaddu I do?”
The woman pointed to her belt, “Remove your Driver and I will do the rest.”
Gilda hesitated for a moment, but her mind once again went to the alternative option of leaving and being relentlessly hunted down. She ran her palm across her Driver, causing the red gash to vanish and her armor to disappear as well. Reaching back and undoing the belt, she tossed the driver to her side and held her arms out to the side, “Aright, super belt’s off.”
The woman approached Gilda and pierced her sharp black hand inside Gilda’s chest. Gilda’s mouth opened to scream, but no noise came forth. The woman removed her hand after a moment and caught Gilda before she could collapse. “You shall find yourself weak for a few hours until your body adjusts. I will call for a vehicle to escort you to safety until then. I will give you one warning, and you would do well to remember it. You will soon find yourself in a grand estate. If any harm comes to any of its inhabitants, I will personally kill you.”
-Driver appears as a belt buckle. It has an intricate design, featuring a lightning bolt with two wings sticking up from the middle sides of the bolt. The wings are held in place at the base, and can be pivoted around the base.
-Activation method requires the user to push the wings down so that the wings almost perpendicular to the lightning bolt. Driver can be deactivated by performing this motion in reverse. While the Driver is attached to a user, the wings cannot be moved by anyone but the user. We believe this to be an effect of the energy source.
-When the Driver is placed on a person’s waist, it automatically ejects straps from both sides of the buckle that loop around the person until they meet and lock themselves in. This prevents theft and attempted removal from outside sources. Despite this, the Driver can removed easily if the user attempts to pull the Driver off. The straps unlock themselves and retract back into the Driver. The Driver can still be removed externally if it is struck by a strong external force. This will force the straps to unlock themselves and retract back into the Driver.
-Flight Driver Internal Specifications-
-Flight Driver also manifests large metallic wings on the user’s back. The wings are soft and incredibly light despite their metallic appearance. Individual feathers can be removed by the user. Removed feathers can be instantaneously hardened by running the feather along any part of the armor. The hardened feathers also become dangerously sharp. Hardened feathers can also be placed back on to the user’s back, where they immediately regain their soft, light properties. It is unknown what material the feathers are made of. All removed feathers vanish when moved too far from the user or when the Driver is deactivated. Research will require a user to be nearby and in a transformed state for an extended period of time. Research will be conducted at a later date.
-User is extremely agile while in the air or mid-flight. During tests, user seemed to show almost no signs of losing acceleration. User was able to break the sound barrier and continue accelerating. User’s body was not harmed during tests, leading us to believe that the armor created by the Flight Driver grants the user complete protection from the harmful effects of supersonic flight on the human body.
-Flight Driver creates a pistol holstered in a small compartment on the hip. Pistol fires energy bullets, most likely generated by the energy source.
The Flight Driver was created as quick and effective means of combat in the air, theoretically capable of eliminating multiple air squadrons single handedly. The Flight Driver has also shown great combat potential while grounded. While its means of close and long range combat are limited and somewhat predictable, its high mobility and its ability to fight at any range make it a very powerful Driver, if put in the hands of a capable user.
If this Driver must be put to use, please heed this warning. While the Flight Driver does not seem to possess any external method of entering [DATA DELETED], it seems to be able to force the user into this state at any given moment. Users given this Driver must be monitored to prevent bodily damage to the user and possible death. The armor created by the Driver is mainly cyan in color. If the armor at any point begins to change color, order the user to immediately leave the area and remove the Driver. Our test user for the Flight Driver has been hospitalized after the last field test. We attempted to put the test user under extreme conditions. The test user spontaneously achieved an Ov8u3cel9(!(@eLKJOI()#)(0923LJst#)(CEIXZ?ia!
s with all Drivers, users must be carefully monitored until they are deemed ready and fit to utilize this state. Full briefing materials will be provided once a way to properly achieve this state without negative side effects is discovered.
