> The Light Beyond Despair
>  by Ultimate Mayhem
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> The Past Ends, The Future Begins
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sunset Shimmer had effectively run away. She decided life simply wasn't worth the pain that her so called friends had put her through with promises of friendship only to rip her still beating heart. She figured the best thing to do was end thing quickly so she was in an alley with what little she owned and a blade she been given not long after she arrived. She wanted to cry but she just had nothing left. Nothing left to cry about. Nothing left to say. And nothing left to return to. Sunset stared at the blade for a moment.

"You look like someone who's got nothing let." said a voice. Sunset looked up to see someone sitting on the fire escape just above her.

"I don't." said Sunset.

"Then maybe that's a good thing." said the guy who sat at the fire escape. Sunset sneered. "If you have nothing left then you can start anew and make something new of yourself." Sunset looked at the guy. He then jumped off and landed in front of her. "If you have nothing left then you have no anchor here. Would you be willing to take the first step towards something greater?"

"Something greater?" asked Sunset as some light returned to her lifeless eyes. "While I'm not the purest or nicest guy there is something I can offer you."

"What?"

"You can come with me and you'll not be alone. I can become your family."

"Why should I trust you?" asked Sunset.

"Because very few know what it's like to truly be alone. That is one thing we share." said the guy. "I was a street rat a good portion of my life. No friends. No family. Forced to feed off scraps I found in the trash. But something changed. Someone saw potential in me. The very same potential I see in you."

"How do I know I can trust you?" asked Sunset, fearful of more betrayal.

"You don't. But as they say: A thousand mile journey begins with just one step. I make the offer but it is up to you to decide if you'll take the risk." he said stepping closer to her before holding his hand out. "Will you take the risk, Sunset Shimmer of Equestria?"

For a moment Sunset looked at him in shock but then decided she really had nothing to lose at this point, so she took his hand.

"What should I call you?" asked Sunset.

"Perhaps in time you can call me brother, but my name is Flame Blitz."

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

A few months later

A plane landed back in Canterlot City and young woman walked out and stepped out of the gate.

"I hope Nii-san's right. I didn't want to return unless it was necessary." Sunset said to herself as she went to the conveyer belt and grabbed her two suitcases. "Well at least now I've already got a place ready for me." she said as she walked outside and took a cab arriving a few minutes later she arrived at a large building and headed up to the place that had been reserved for her which she would share with the one she now calls brother once he arrives to help her. At the very least she had something to look forward to. During her time away she'd still had the journal which she used to keep in contact with Twilight. Since she'd been sent off back to Canterlot City she suggested for them to get together after her arrival. She'd told Twilight to meet her at a mall not too far from the Sweets Shoppe....and then took twenty minutes trying to explain what a mall was via magic book. She went into the bathroom to take a shower and changed into a uniform which was entirely white except for silverish lining and consisted of pants with an open jacket which was over a black tank top. After she put her things away Sunset headed towards the garage and, once she was sure no one was watching, she pulled out a lock with a rose in front, and threw it causing it to unfold and expand into a rose themed motorcycle which actually had her Cutie Mark on the sides. She spotted Twilight from a distance making use of some of the extra functions a friend added to her helmet. Once she got close she stopped in front of her and signalled her to wait before going into the parking garage and returning shortly after on foot.

"Shall we?" asked Sunset.

"Let's go." said Twilight following after her. "Hey Sunset do you know what's going on at Canterlot High?"

"Why do you ask?"

"There's seemed to be a competition of some kind."

"Must be the Friendship Games." said Sunset as they got in line as at a coffee shop in the mall.

"The what?" asked Twilight.

"There's two primary highschools in this area. Canterlot High and Crystal Prep Academy. Every few years they compete in athletics and academics." explained Sunset.

"I see." said Twilight. "So how has your training been?"

"Difficult. Much more difficult than anything Princess Celestia had me do. Probably because she never had me face my demons." said Sunset with a laugh.

"Your demons?" asked Twilight a bit confused.

"Yeah. The first thing he had me do is confront the demons of my past so I could face the future without hesitation. Or at least that's how he put it." explained Sunset. "I'll have a mocha and a cinnamon roll. How about you?"

"What's a mocha?" asked Twilight.

"It's coffee with chocolate."

"Sounds good. I'll have one too and a muffin." said Twilight. Afterwards Sunset paid and they sat at a table. "So you don't plan on talking to the others?"

"There's nothing to say, they decided to throw me away. It's clear their friendship was nothing more than an obligation to them but I am thankful for the opportunity you gave me to know friendship. I don't think I've ever properly thanked you for it. So thank you Twilight."

"It's never been necessary for you to thank me. If anything I should be apologizing for what you've been through."

"No. You did what you could. What happened with Anon-a-miss was their choices. Not yours."

"Still. I feel terrible for what you had to go through."

"Forget it about it." said Sunset noticing something.

"So what was it they gave you?" asked Twilight.

"This." replied Sunset taking something from the inside of her jacket and placing it on the table. Twilight picked it up and examined it. When she turned it she saw it had a larger rectangle that was black shifting to white from the up left hand to the lower right hand with a small pinkish violet rectangle that had four arrows pointing up, down, left, and right but the one on the left had the word changed carved into to it while the right had the word modify carved into it.

"So how does it work?" asked Twilight.

"Well these Drivers are made to be coded to whoever puts them on first. You place it on your waist and the belt forms." explained Sunset. "After I usually use this." she added pulling out pulling out a card that had what looked like a four point star along with two characters she didn't recognize on the side and the word change on two other ends of the card.

"So you've gotten use to using it?" asked Twilight.

"For the most part. My weapon has five different modes that I've gotten used to but haven't exactly mastered. In Sword and Gun modes I'm good. In Bow I've improved. With the Bo I'm still having some trouble because I'm not used to fight with something that long. In the Scythe mode is still tricky for me because with it's hard to control my swings with the added weight on one end." explained Sunset as someone came with their drinks and snacks. Twilight became surprised when she saw Sunset just take the cover off her cup and drink some of it like nothing. "What's wrong?"

"Wasn't that hot?" asked Twilight.

"Oh. Not really. I'm not gonna go into a lot of detail because there's a lot of this that Equestrian science has yet to find by most of my physiology is entirely different." expained Sunset. "Big brother once said that in all likely if I did go back I probably wouldn't change back into a pony."

"Wow. I'm not sure how to feel about that." said Twilight.

"Twilight there was another reason I wanted to meet with you." said Sunset causing Twilight to look at her. "The truth is I'm gonna have to seal the portal to Equestria. There's a threat I was sent here to fight."

"By yourself?" asked Twilight.

"For now. I was supposed arrive with my team but everyone was called away on different missions. They'll be sent once they finish their missions."

"So this organization is a military organization?" asked Twilight.

"Not really." replied Sunset. "There's less than fifty of us operatives. Everyone else is backup helping us solve things or making things for us. In any case after you return I'm gonna have to seal the portal to make sure none of the enemies to come make their way there."

"How are you gonna seal it?" asked Twilight.

"It turns out magic is easy to use here if you know what it is you're manipulating." explained Sunset.

"What do you mean?" asked Twilight.

"Magic's easier to manipulate in Equestria because there plenty of everywhere. Even in the air. Here it's much more difficult because you have to draw it from various dimensions parallel to this one which is by itself difficult. Even for unicorns in human bodies." explained Sunset.

"Wow. Your brother taught you that as well?" asked Twilight.

"Bingo." said Sunset with a smile. "To be honest he taught me things about magic I don't think has ever been put in an Equestrian Book."

"Then maybe I should." said Twilight.

"It wouldn't do you any good." said Sunset. "He once told me this: Magic is guided by you, not by numbers and formulas." Twilight was about to respond but they heard strange ringing. Sunset immediately pulled out her phone.

"Sunset there's something headed for your old school."

"You've got to be kidding me." said Sunset. "Alright. I'm on my way."

"Alright. Call if you need anything."

"I know." said Sunset before hanging up. "Twilight, I hate to cut this short but..."

"I heard." said Twilight. "I'll head back immediately after we get there but please be careful."

"Don't worry. I may not have had a chance to finish my training but I learned enough to know how to survive." said Sunset. "Now let's go." The two got outside after quickly scarfing down their snacks and only partially finishing their mochas.

Once they got outside Sunset led Twilight into the parking lot.

"Here's something you're gonna find interesting." said Sunset. Twilight looked at her as Sunset pulled out her Rose Lock. Twilight looked at her confused as she opened the lock and threw it causing it to expand shocking the Princess. "Twilight as much as I hate to say this as soon as we get there you're gonna leave as soon as we get there so I can seal the portal. Otherwise we'll run the risk of some of them getting through."

"I understand. Let's just get going." said Twilight. Sunset nodded and got on before signaling Twilight to get on. Once they were on they left with Sunset taking top speed immediately. What really surprised Twilight was that no one seemed to noticed them. At least until a speedometer was projected and then they started spinning. Soon they were surrounded by rose petals before a rift open in front of them and they went through it.

Seconds later another rift open near Canterlot High that they exited from. Sunset maintained her speed arriving at Canterlot High, or more specifically she went rode through several strange creatures that seemed to be made of black goo with bones sticking out of random parts of their bodies dragging themselves before making a sudden stop with a turn causing Twilight to be thrown into the portal surprising all of the frightened students from both Canterlot High and Crystal Prep. After she stopped Sunset got off and held up her hands causing strange symbols began flying out from under her sleeves and forming a circle on the portal turning it violet.

"What have you done?!" yelled out a distorted voice. Sunset turned to look at a creature that almost seemed like someone had crossed a cheetah with a porcupine.

"Ew." said Sunset. "I don't know what you're supposed to be but this is where your time ends." she said pulling out her Driver. Most of the students from Canterlot High looked at Sunset in shock along with the principals. Sunset placed her Driver at her waist causing a belt to extend, which had an open slot with a button on the side, and connect securing it around her. Then she pressed the arrow that said Change.

"Standing By." said a voice as Sunset pulled out the card she'd shown Twilight.

"Henshin!" she called out inserting the card into the left side of the buckle causing a white four point star to appear in the pink square in the center.

"Henshin Loading: Seikō!" said a voice as the star flew out causing a white body suit to materialize on her with matching boots, gauntlets, and a helmet with a silver mouth guard and what looked like dark red eyes that almost resembled dual blood red suns. After the four point star took the form of a chest plate that retained the star while outlines formed at her shoulders, forearms, waist, and legs which materialized and then attached to her suit.

Everyone looked at her in shock.

"You're a Kamen Rider." said the monster.

"Kamen Rider Seikō." said Sunset.

"Kamen Rider?" said both Sugarcoat and Vinyl, neither being heard by those near them.

"I will pass judgement upon you." said Seikō as pressed the down arrow on her buckle.

"Download Weapon." said the voice from before as a weapon with a bulky guard and a wide blade coming out of it with a handle that had a trigger seemed to digitize into her hand.

"Let's get started." said Seikō. She walked towards the a few of the goo creatures. She pulled the trigger and then slashed them causing the blade to momentarily glow as she slash causing them creatures to evaporate. After she pulled the trigger ten times causing the blade to stay lit allowing her to run and slash most of them causing almost all of them to evaporate. The cheetapine became angry and sped towards Seikō causing sparks to emerge from her armor after every strike throwing her back.

"You can't beat my speed." said the cheetapine.

"Maybe not but I've got something better." said Seikō pulling out what looked like a lilac cartridge that had a black button.

"Cure Sword!" said the voice from before Sunset pressed the Modify button.


"Pretty Cure, Love Link!" she called out inserting the cartridge into the slot on the opposite side from where she'd inserted her transformation card. At that the star in the middle changed to a lilac spade as the white armor which had attached seperately shattered as new outlines lilac formed new armor which attached to her most of which either had spades/swords or, like the shoulder guards, were spades with the spade that had come out of her belt forming a chest plate.

"Cure Sword! Yuki no Yaiba!" said the voice.

"You think that'll stop me?" asked the cheetapine before speed up again. This time Seikō Sword punched the ground causing a gust of wind. A second later a crater formed from the strike causing the cheetapine lose its footing since the ground it had been on was gone so when it got near Seikō slashed it rapidly causing its body to release sparks until she roundhouse kicked it throwing it back. The cheetapine struggled to stand as Seikō pulled out the Cure Sword cartridge.

"Now I'll show you the power of the Pretty Cure Modules." she said putting it in the slot on her side causing a sound like it was charging. Then she hit the button causing her entire body to glow lilac.

"Saishū-waza! Hissatsu!" said the voice as she jumped then she side kick with her left leg sending a wave of energy that took the form of the blade of a sword which the cheetapine tried to black by crossing its arms. Then she extended her right in a kick and bent her left as she moved forward.

"Hirameke! Holy Sword!" she yelled out as she merged with the light and then reappeared behind it causing a lilac line in vertically form on him before it exploded. Afterwards Seikō turned to look back at the place where the cheetapine had been before sighing causing the armor to dematerialize as a light began shining down causing the damage to be undone. Sunset started walking away but Rainbow noticed and ran to her. She was about to plce her hand on Sunset's shoulder but was caught off guard when she turned and slapped her hand. "There's nothing to be said and I don't intend to listen to any more of your lies."

"You don't understand." said Rainbow.

"I understand perfectly well. Don't ever talk to me again because even now I have half a mind to hurt you." Rainbow was about to reach out but there was a sudden cloud of smoke that appeared. Rainbow reached out but found Sunset was gone.

"Sunset."

Vinyl looked at the scene. 'Guess she's still hurting.' she though to herself.

Sugarcoat looked feeling a bit confused about that girl and how she seemed to radiate more hostility after the fight than during. She turned to look at Twilight who seemed to be recovering from the fright so she went up to her.

"You alright?"

"Yes. Just a little shaken." said Twilight with a smile.

"You're gonna ask to transfer, aren't you?" asked Sugarcoat surprising Twilight.

"W-well..."

"I'm coming with you." said Sugarcoat surprising Twilight.

"W-What?"

"It's clear you wanna go to this school because the students support one another instead of just constantly competing. It'd be nice to attend a school where most of my memories aren't of whether I was the best or not. Plus I'm curious about what that girl's story is." explained Sugarcoat.

"You really plan on transfering?" asked Sunny Flare going up to them. Sugarcoat nodded. "Then I'm going too."

"You're not leaving me behind." said Sour Sweet.

"Same here." said Indigo Zap.

"Sounds fun. I'm in too." said Lemon Zest. Twilight was shocked.

"Then if we're agreed let's go talk to Dean Cadance." said Sugarcoat.

like five minutes later

"All six of you?" asked Dean Cadance surprised. The six nodded.

"Is there a particular reason?"

"Being here we realized something." said Sunny. "Crystal Prep's a great school but there's no room for any enjoyment. As soon as we get to school we have to be worried about trying to be the best. Here it's obvious that they worry to about their grades but don't have to view not being at the top as failure."

"Plus this place seems to always have something interesting going on." added Lemon Zest.

"Alright. I'll go talk to Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna." said Cadance.

'I'd say things are gonna get very interesting.' Sugarcoat thought to herself.
> Past Pain, Present Threats
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It had been a few days and the paperwork had finally gone through allowing six former Shadowbolts to become Wondercolts, though most of them saw the name of the mascot as a bit odd due to the gender specific name. The group of six arrived at the school together and walked in, being greeted by Vinyl who Sugarcoat had requested be their guide through the school since Vinyl's expression to the girl from thursday had been different from that of the others. After being shown a few of the different places on school property Sugarcoat asked for a private place where they wouldn't be heard. Vinyl had her suspicion on what Sugarcoat was interesting and took the six to the roof.

"So what's the deal?" asked Vinyl.

"I'm interested in that girl who fought those creatures." said Sugarcoat causing the others to look at her.

"What do you wanna know?" asked Vinyl with a sad smile.

"Who was she?"

"Her name's Sunset Shimmer." replied Vinyl. "She disappeared a few months ago."

"How come?" asked Lemon Zest.

"Up until a few months ago the school had set up a social media site exclusive for us here." explained Vinyl. "But a couple of weeks before that an account was made. Someone calling themselves Anon-a-miss."

"Anonymous?" asked Twilight.

"Well it was spelled Anon - A - Miss." replied Vinyl. "Anyway in early in December someone created that account and started posting the secrets of anyone at the school they could get dirt on. The account had a picture that pretty much looked like Sunset's shadow and pretty much everyone at the school assumed Sunset had gone back."

"Gone back?" asked Sunny.

"From when Sunset first started coming here she was....not the nicest of people. In fact she used to blackmail and bully all the time but that changed when a pony princess showed up as a person, Sunset turned into a demon, and Sunset's....ex friends blasted her with a rainbow beam." They stared at her for a minute.

"Who was that...princess?" asked Sugarcoat. Vinyl smirked and pointed a finger at Twilight causing the six to look in shock.

"Of course from what I heard one of the times they were talking in the Sweets Shoppe she says there's pony versions of all of us in her world." added Vinyl.

"There's a shocker." said Lemon Zest.

"So anyway this Anon-a-miss person shows up and posts secrets and the school starts turning on Sunset." said Vinyl sitting with her back against the wall sliding down. "She got desperate and went to her friends for help."

"I take it things didn't go well?" asked Sour Sweet.

"They pretty much turned their backs on her and without them she didn't really have anything." said Vinyl looking towards the city. They saw some tears falling from her eyes.

"You never believed it was her, did you?" asked Sunny.

"It just never made sense to me." said Vinyl. "Even as a bully Sunset's always really smart. Even to the point that as a bully she never bothered having anyone do her homework for her. If it had been her posting secrets she wouldn't have used a picture that looked like her shadow just to use a fake name. It would've been too obvious. I wasn't the only one though."

"So there were others?" asked Sugarcoat. Vinyl nodded.

"My best friend Octavia was one of Anon-a-miss' victims but when her secret was posted she knew that if Sunset was gonna try to hide her identity she wouldn't have made it obvious. There was also Flash. He's Sunset's ex. He once said that Sunset knew a lot of his secrets but none of them was ever posted on the page. There were a few others so those of us who realized Sunset was probably being framed got together to investigate."

"I take it things didn't go well." said Sugarcoat.

"We looked through the posts and the page but nothing really stood out and almost all the techie's believed Sunset was guilty." explained Vinyl as she got up.

"What about the ones who didn't?" asked Indigo Zap.

"It was just one. Wiz Kid and he wasn't here because of a family emergency. He was gone about two weeks plus then we had Christmas break so that was like the whole month." explained Vinyl.

"Did you find out who it was?" asked Twilight.

"We know who it was but it was because they confessed." replied Vinyl.

"You keep saying them. Are you playing the pronoun game?" asked Lemon Zest.

"The what?" asked Vinyl confused. "You know what. Nevermind. The reason I keep saying they is because Anon-a-miss wasn't one person. It was three freshman." she explained looking off the roof of the school. "Speak of the devil." The others looked off the roof and saw a group of about five students ganging up on three who seemed younger. All they saw was that the three were mobbed and then promptly thrown into a dumpster.

"Who are they?" asked Indigo.

"They like to call themselves the Crusaders." replied Vinyl. "They're the kid sisters of three of Sunset's ex-friends that I think you kinda know."

"Who?" asked Sugarcoat.

"The little red head's Apple Bloom. Applejack's kid sister."

"Which one was she?" asked Lemon Zest.

"Blond cowgirl."

"Oh yeah."

"The little white one's Sweetie Belle. Rarity's little sister." They looked at her. "The white chick with the purple hair."

"Oh."

"Yeah and the last one's Scootaloo. She Rainbow Dash's adopted sister."

"So they made up this Anon-a-miss...for what?" asked Sour Sweet.

"They said they were jealous. That because their sisters had been hanging out with Sunset more than with them they decided to do something about it."

"So what happened after?" asked Twilight.

"When the account appeared and everyone that secrets were being posted pretty much everyone in the school turned against Sunset. Eventually so did her closest friends, the Rainbooms, so when Sunset just didn't show up to school one day and a few of us, who figured it was too obvious, went looking for her after school. From what I heard they heard Sunset had disappeared and confessed."

"Were they punished?" asked Sour Sweet with an angry look in her eyes.

"Oh yeah." replied Vinyl. "Just here at school they were suspended for three months and have detention both during lunch and after school till the end of the year and next year. Plus they're given a crapload of homework and aren't allowed near a computer without a teacher supervising them. I think I also heard something about them not being allowed in extracurricular activities or school functions."

"So I suppose Rainbow was hoping to tell Sunset and apologize." said Sunny Flare.

"That's what I'm thinkin'." replied Vinyl.

"Are you okay?" asked Twilight concerned.

"I was never all that close to Sunset but for her to go through what she did....it just made me so mad. I'm usually super chill so that was the first time I ever felt so angry." replied Vinyl. "Then when we went looking for her I...." she began as she unknowingly began to cry. "I just felt so useless. It's weird. After Sunset got rainbow blasted and she started trying to make things right I didn't pay that much attention to her because we'd never really talked and somehow when we couldn't find her I felt regret for not knowing her." she said with a tearful smile.

"That was beautiful." said a voice. The seven turned and saw a woman in a strange red dress with a four leaf clover made of four different colored hearts who had long pink hair a few shades lighter than Pinkie's and had pinkish red eyes and wore a headband with red hearts on the sides. At first they were surprised by her sudden appearance but after they were surprised by something else. As far as they could tell she seemed to be transparent.

"Who....what are you?" asked Vinyl.

"I'm Cure Passion." replied the woman.

"Cure?" asked Sunny. "Wasn't that what that thing Sunset used said?" she asked the others.

"Cure Sword." said Lemon Zest. "And you're Cure Passion?"

"We're legendary warriors known as Pretty Cure." said Cure Passion. "Truthfully there's only five of us with Sunset right now because the data of the others hasn't been placed in Modules." she explained.

"So you can just move at will?" asked Twilight.

"No. If we ask Sunset she'll let us out but right now I'm here because she asked me to deliver a message." explained Cure Passion.

"A message?" asked Sunny.

"What's the message?" asked Vinyl.

"To come see us once school ends. We're staying at the complex over there." replied Cure Passion pointing to a talal building which had a red X and a green V on the roof.

"Huh. I've been wondering what that was." said Vinyl. "So why the X and the V?" Passion shrugged.

"I'm just one of Sunset's partners." she said. "So at the entrance type in the code 8195 and once you go into the elevator go to the eleventh floor. Door 377. Hope to see you." And with that Passion disappeared. Vinyl looked off the side of the building and saw what looked like Sunset walking away.

"So what are you gonna do?" asked Lemon Zest.

"I'll tell Tavi so we can talk to her. I don't think she'd wanna see most of the school seeing as most of them....were really hostile. I don't think she be willing to forgive them so easily."

"Especially considering how angry she was the other day by being near the rainbow girl." said Indigo.

"Wait. Does that mean she wants us to go too?" asked Lemon.

"That's true. Passion never said it was only for Vinyl or anything." said Sour Sweet.

"I wouldn't mind. You guys don't have history with her so it might help." said Vinyl.

"Then it's settled." said Sunny.

"You alright?" Lemon asked Indigo noticing her expression.

"I was just thinking. At Crystal Prep having friends was like luxury because everyone fought to claw their way to the top so we always had to keep our guard up." said Indigo. "It makes me wonder if things would've been any different if she'd been a Shadowbolt. Maybe she wouldn't have been hurt."

"Maybe." said Lemon.

"Class should be starting soon so we better get going." said Vinyl. "I still got some stuff to show you." After they left they went through a few different places before stopping when they heard music that sounded somewhat off.

"What is that?" asked Lemon Zest.

"It's the Rainbooms." replied Vinyl.

"Rainbooms?" asked the six former Shadowbolts.

"Rainbow and the others made a band before...well way before the Anon-a-miss mess. At first it was just the five of them and then later after this thing with three sirens trying to take over Sunset played with them." explained Vinyl. "l helped them from time to time."

"Wait. So you helped their band and you didn't talk to Sunset?" Twilight confused.

"I only really talked to Pinkie since she'd usually contact me to DJ for parties." replied Vinyl. "But after Sunset disappeared I just couldn't stand to be around Pinkie any more."

"It sounds like they're stuggling to play." said Lemon Zest.

"Yep." said Vinyl. "Come on." she said leading them to the cafeteria. After a few more minutes they were shown a few of the extra rooms for other activities like art, poetry, and theater. The wound up cutting it close since the tour ended right as the bell rang and then they realized their homeroom was the same as Vinyl's.

During classes Celestia hadn't had much paperwork so she spent part of the day walking around the school thinking about Sunset. The way she'd transformed. The way she'd fought. Even the way she carried herself was different. What was hardest for her, though, was that hostility she saw in Sunset when Rainbow approached her. It was almost as if she'd been holding something back. Far different from how she'd been before the Fall Formal.

"What happened to you Sunset?" Celestia wondered as she returned to her office but to her surprise the light was off. "That's strange. I'm certain I'd left the light on." she said as she turned the light on.

"You did." said a voice. She turned and saw a man in slacks with a magenta shirt under a suit jacket who seemed to be looking into a somewhat old camera that hung around his neck.

"Who are you and how did you get in here?" asked Celestia seriously.

"If you really don't want people getting into your office you should get some security. I don't think there was a single security guard in this school." replied the man. "As for who I am. I'm just a passing through Kamen Rider who was asked to help the Riders of this world."

"Kamen Rider?" asked Celestia. "That's what Sunset called herself. Do you know what happened to her?"

"Not really. I'm actually here to help them since they're spread out around this world." replied the man. "I came here because from what I've been told there's a pretty good chance some of the fights will happen here."

"What do you mean?" asked Celestia concerned.

"The villians attacking here call themselves The Hiretsuna. They're a group of magicians or something. From the sound of things their plan was to try to use that portal that Sunset sealed to strengthen themselves. Since it doesn't seem there's another portal in this city leading to the pony world I'd bet they'll attack here from time to time. In order to be prepared those I'm helping have decided to send a few Riders to this school as students. They're part of Sunset's team. I came here to tell you about this so you let them in."

"How will I know if it's them?" asked Celestia. He walked up to her and handed her a small piece of paper with a stamp that seemed to be shaped like the head of a cricket.

"Their papers will be sent once they arrive here and they'll have this seal on them."

Celestia looked at the stamp for a bit and then looked up to ask something but the man was gone.

Once school finally ended the ex-Shadowbolts met in the front of the school and were approached by Vinyl and a girl with a grey skin tone and black hair in formal looking clothes.

"Hey guys." greeted Vinyl. "This is my bestie, Octavia Melody."

"It's a pleasure to meet you." greeted Octavia.

"Likewise." said Sugarcoat.

"We should get going." said Sunny. "We can make proper introductions along the way."

"Correct me if I'm wrong but wouldn't it take too long to get to the building on foot?" asked Octavia.

"Who said anything about going on foot?" asked Sunny.

"Then...." began Octavia.

"We're walking a few blocks down. I didn't want the others to think we prefered to think we couldn't do anything ourselves so we agreed that we'd meet about two blocks from the school and then we'd walk from there until we could get the papers through to allow us to park on campus." explained Sunny. After having made introductions and getting to an empty parking lot two blocks away they boarded a limo and headed off.

"Still worried Tavi?" asked Vinyl. This caught the attention of the others.

"I suppose I'm just concerned." replied Octavia.

"I get what you mean." said Vinyl.

"You think she'll react to you the way she did to Rainbow?" asked Indigo.

"That isn't why I'm concerned." replied Octavia. "Based on what she said it seems Sunset was much angrier with the Rainbooms than with anyone else. It makes me wonder what she may have gone through while she was away."

"You don't think she'd stay angry?" asked Indigo.

"From what I've heard Sunset was quite aggressive before the Fall Formal and never let anyone in." said Octavia.

"That's true. I think the only ones that ever really hung out with her were Snips and Snails and that wasn't even friendship. She just bossed them around." said Vinyl. "You guys have anything like that back at Crystal Prep?"

"Not really." replied Indigo.

"As it is we were barely able to trust each other with the neverending competition to the best in our old school." added Sugarcoat.

"Sounds harsh." said Vinyl.

"You have no idea." said Lemon Zest before smiling. "I think that's why all of us kinda wanted to transfer to your school." Twilight turned to look out the window causing Lemon Zest to smile. "And I think the one of us who needed it the most was our little Twilight." she said poking Twilight's cheek causing causing her to slowly turn red. For a moment they swore they saw steam coming out of her ears.

"You certaintly are different than the Twilight we know." said Octavia with a fond smile.

"What's she like?" asked Twilight.

"Personally I didn't much experience with her since I was one of the ones who became....aggressive during the time the Sirens were here." 

"Oh yeah. Vinyl mentioned that." said Lemon.

"What was the deal there?" asked Sour Sweet.

"These three girls show up at our school one day as new students around the time we're supposed to have this student showcase but they had magic voices and made everyone get super competitive about it so it went from everyone showing what they could do in music to fighting each other with music, which was really weird." explained Vinyl.

"So you weren't affected?" asked Sunny.

"Nope." replied Vinyl with a smirk.

"Vinyl's been known for keeping her headphones on during school hours." explained Octavia. The other five ex-Shadowbolts looked at Lemon Zest and then at Vinyl. In that moment a very similar thought went through their heads. That it might not be such a good idea to have the two of them near each other.

"Looks like we're here." said Indigo as the car pulled up.

"Well then, let's go." said Sour Sweet. The eight went in following the instructions they'd been given. When they got to the eleventh floor they were surprised how close all the doors were because it made it seem like they went to only two possible rooms. They followed the doors until they got to 377. Vinyl decided to knock but when she did the door just opened.

"I guess we just go in." said Vinyl. Though uncertain they figured they Sunset must've left the door open. They stepped in and heard something. They noticed most of the place seemed to be made of marble and though they knew they heard music most of them weren't sure of what it was exactly. Vinyl turned and saw the expression of shock on Octavia's face. "Tavi, you alright?"

"That's Partita No. 2 in D Minor." said Octavia.

"You know it?" asked Sunny.

"I'm a cellist." replied Octavia. "And that is most definetely a violin." she said as they followed the sound. Upon going in farther they noticed the place seemed much bigger from the inside than the outside. When they got to what they guessed was the living they saw Sunset playing a violin with her back to them. What really caught their attention though, wasn't that she was playing but that she seemed to have this light glow around her which seemed to radiate sorrow. Sunset continued to play for a few minutes and then stopped. After she put the violin down and wiped her eyes before turning to them with a smile which felt....a bit forced.

"Welcome." said Sunset.

"Sunset? Is that really you?" asked Octavia a bit susprised.

"How've you been?" asked Vinyl unsure of what to say.

"You don't have to force a conversations." said Sunset. "Would any of you like some tea?" Everyone nodded, uncertain to what to do. Sunset headed to the kitchen and they were surprised when nine cups flew out of the kitchen, stopping on the coffee table surprising them. Not long after she walked back holding a large tea pot. She poured some into each cup and then left, returning with a small container that had several ice cubes and a small set of tongs.

"This is...unexpected." said Octavia.

"It's what you get when you have someone constantly giving you lesson in your dreams." replied Sunset pulling out a module that had a floral and heart pattern that looked like it was made of flames.

"That's one of those mod thingies you used the other day, right?" asked Vinyl.

"Yeah. This is Cure Scarlet's module." replied Sunset. "She decided it would help to give me some etiquette lessons as a distraction for....some not so great moments." she explained. "Now before I forget." she said leaving the room for a moment, returning a minute later with a mid small box. "Your father asked me to deliver this to you." she said handing it to Vinyl.

"My old man?" asked Vinyl surprised. "I haven't seen him in a while." she said before realizing something. "Wait. You know my old man?!"

"I wouldn't say I know him. He's just one of the guys in charge of the agency." replied Sunset. "I'm not really sure why he had me deliver it though."

"Huh. Well anyway how've you been?!" said Vinyl suddenly grabbing Sunset's shoulders catching her by surprise.

"Um...okay?" replied Sunset.

"Vinyl please calm down." said Octavia.

"Oh. Uh. Sorry." said Vinyl.

"It's fine but I think introductions are in order." said Sunset. "My name is Sunset Shimmer. It's nice to meet you." she said turning to the Ex-Shadowbolts.

"Same here. I'm Sunny Flare."

"Sugarcoat."

"I'm Sour Sweet."

"Name's Lemon Zest."

"Indigo Zapp."

"And I'm Twilight Sparkle, but I guess you already knew that."

"Yeah. Princess Twilight was surprised when she saw you on thursday."

"She was here?" asked Twilight.

"I'm guessing Vinyl explained some things to you." said Sunset. They nodded. "Well aside from the simple stuff I have this kind of magic diary that's connected to another back in Equestria. I write something here and it appears there."

"So like texting?" asked Indigo.

"Pretty much." replied Sunset. "While I was gone we kept in contact and when I'd been told I was assigned to come here I told her we should meet up."

"Really?" asked Vinyl surprised.

"Yeah. She was riding with me when I got to the school."

"Wait a moment. Wasn't she thrown through the portal when you stopped?" asked Octavia.

"Yeah." replied Sunset.

"Alright let's get cut to the chase." said Vinyl. "Sunset what happened?"

"What do you mean?"

"You disappeared and then show up again with a belt that let's you transform. There's something there." said Vinyl.

"Oh. That's...a little complicated." said Sunset as she sat stood up and looked out the window. "I suppose I should start when he found me."

"Who?" asked Indigo.

"Nii-san." replied Sunset as she turned. "It means big brother. His name is Flame Blitz."

"So this person adopted you?" asked Twilight.

"In a way." replied Sunset. "He saved me."

"From what?" asked Sunny.

"From myself." replied Sunset. "With everyone thinking that I was anon-a-miss I decided that if they wanted to get rid of me I'd simply comply. So that day instead of going to school I walked to an alley." she explained pulling out a knife from her pocket which she held out to them. "All I could think about was how I just didn't have anything left. Nothing to return to. No place to call home. No one who would stay with me. And ultimately no reason to live." Hearing this made the others look at her in shock. "I looked at this blade for a while and then he just sort of appeared out of no where and made me an offer."

"What kind of offer?" asked Octavia.

"He offered me what I didn't have." replied Sunset. "I didn't have any reason to stay here so I went with him."

"So what about that belt?" asked Sugarcoat.

"The Seikō Driver?" asked Sunset. "What about it?"

"Where did you get it?" asked Sugarcoat.

"Nii-san took me to this place hidden in the ocean. You see I'm not the only Kamen Rider here. In fact I'm one of the last to become one here. We work as a part of an agency of sorts which monitors threats around the world."

"What kind of threats?" asked Sunny.

"Ones that humans are ill equipped to deal with." replied Sunset. "That's why this agency was formed. At least that's what they tell me."

"You don't believe this is true." asked Octavia.

"They don't say much about the history. While I was there I mostly studied the capabilities of the others Drivers." replied Sunset.

"So you spent your time away studying?" asked Vinyl.

"No. I spent most of it training after going through a procedure of sorts."

"A procedure?" asked Twilight concerned.

"Anyone who gets chosen to become a Rider has to go through this procedure because they have data that show some of the Rider systems have an effect on the user. I'm still not sure why they call it a procedure though since it's just an injection."

"So what does it do?" asked Lemon Zest.

"On everyone else it's doesn't seem to do much beyond enhancing the Rider's physical capabilities in human form. In me...." The eight girls looked at each other.

"Are you okay?" asked Octavia concerned. Sunset sighed and pulled out another module. One that was blood red and black with no clear symbols. "What is that?"

"The Furia Module." replied Sunset. "This one was made from me."

"Made from you?" they asked surprised.

"Yeah. When I first started training I didn't think about what happened here but that only lasted a few days. All of a sudden I started having nightmares. Night after night they became more worse. From what they told me one night there was a massive burst of energy in my room and when they checked this was there."

"So what is it?" asked Sour feeling curious.

"A module created from all that pain, fear, sorrow, betrayal I felt for weeks. All of it concentrated in this." explained Sunset. "They studied it and found that the concentrated negativity makes it impossible for anyone to even touch it."

"That bad?" asked Indigo. Sunset sighed.

"Would you like to touch it?" she asked placing it on the table.

"It doesn't look too bad." said Indigo as she grabbed it. As soon as she did she all of her senses felt like they were pushed so far beyond their limit she dropped the module and fell to her knees hyperventilating leaving the others in shock for a few seconds before they ran up to her.

"What....the hell....was that?!" asked Indigo.

"As I said the injection had a side effect on me and when those nightmares became worse this was made."

"So then you can use that thing?" asked Indigo as she got up.

"Well yes and no." replied Sunset. "They tested me and....I can activate it but when I do lose control of myself."

"Like you get possessed?" asked Lemon Zest.

"Whenever I try to use it I'm consumed by those emotions and....I start attacking anything near me." replied Sunset as she held the module. "They tested me four times and all four I was blinded by those emotions to the point that they decided to just let me tire myself out."

"How long did it take?" asked Sugarcoat.

"Six hours." replied Sunset. "And because each time I burned through my energy once I did change back it was after lost conciousness."

"Yikes." said Vinyl. "Wait. Was that why you told Rainbow to stay away from you?"

"Just being near them was enough for my control to slip a little." replied Sunset.

"So what would happen if you did lose control around them?" asked Sunny. Rainbow turned to look at her guests for a moment. It was only a few seconds but each of them could swear they saw bits of red lightning occasionally appear on her. She walked over to a part of the wall that extended outwards as if it was a column. Sunset made a fist and then, to everyone's shock she punched a piece of the wall off. "This is just when I think about them. Just imagine what would happen if I did lose control." Everyone paled, which was really weird for Vinyl.

"That's why I can't be anywhere near them." said Sunset.

"So you're worried about them?" asked Twilight.

"No. I want to hurt them and this module amplifies that. The only reason I don't is that as a Kamen Rider I'm supposed to protect people no matter what personal issues I may have."

"I may not know you as well as most of the rest of the school but that seems a bit....unlike you." said Octavia.

"I guess it might." said Sunset. "Every night I woke up I always thought back. They claimed to be my friends but if that was true at least one of them would've believed me or at the very least given me the chance to prove my innocence. Instead when I'm seen as a suspect there's no may she's telling the truth. That's when it hit me. They didn't care. They never cared. I was nothing more than a chore they were asked to take care of and all they wanted was single slip up so they could throw me away." explained Sunset causing the others to look at her. For a moment Vinyl felt uncomfortable but then went up to Sunset and hugged her surprising the Rider.

"Vinyl?" asked Sunset before being joined in the hug by Octavia. The two took a step back.

"Sunset to tell ya the truth neither of us ever believe you were anon-a-miss." said Vinyl.

"A few of us got together to prove your innocence but we were unable to find anything that would help you." added Octavia. "When you didn't show up at school those of us who realized it wasn't you searched but we couldn't find you. It wasn't long after the culprits confessed."

"Who was it?"

"The Crusaders." replied Vinyl.

"So Nee-san was right." said Sunset.

"What?" asked Lemon confused.

"Nee-san means big sister." replied Sunset. "It wasn't just Nii-san who helped me. Nee-san told me she could probably figure out who anon-a-miss was. I told her it no longer mattered. Like two days later she left a folder in my room. I looked through it and it had pictures of the three of them. She also included the dates of the posts and a few other details. If I had been here it probably would've helped prove my innocence but as it was it didn't really serve any real purpose."

"I think you're wrong about that." said Sunny walking up to them. "Sometimes an answer can give us the clarity to see something greater. I think there is a question that you've been given the answer to. Now you just need to figure out what the question is."

"You sound a lot like her." said Sunset.

"So are....your sister and brother Riders too?" asked Sour Sweet.

"Yeah. He is known as Kamen Rider Sage and she goes by Kamen Rider Magika." replied Sunset. "Both are magic specialized Riders."

"Sounds like a fun family." said Lemon Zest. Sunset smiled.

"A little more chaotic than a normal one." she replied as they started hearing an odd beeping.

"What's that?" asked Twilight.

"This place was set up for my team to at. That's why it's so big. It's also equipped to keep track of any attacks that might be happening in the city." explained Sunset as a part of the floor opened allowing a base to rise as the chandelier seemed to descend and open projecting a map. "Finally spotted you."

"Who?" asked Sugarcoat.

"I've been tracking something. Something created an artificial Ganma."

"A what?" asked Indigo.

"They're monsters like the one I fought the other day only these are more like ghosts so most people are unable to see them." explained Sunset

"And you can fight them?" asked Sugarcoat.

"To an extent." replied Sunset. "I've been investigating this since friday. Something seems to appear in places with high security. From what I've seen it's interest isn't in stealing anything. It just sabotages them."

"That does seem odd." said Sunny. "So how about how about we go help you?"

"It'd be too dangerous." said Sunset.

"For now we'll only be accompanying you to help investigate. That way we can split up into pairs so that at least one of us can accompany you, Miss Scratch, and Miss Melody since we have each other's numbers." explained Sunny.

"Seems a little complicated." said Vinyl. "Sunset do you still have your cell?"

"I have a different phone because I crushed it one of the times they had me use the Furia Module." replied Sunset. "It's also not so much a phone as much as a communicator."

"There's a difference?" asked Vinyl. Sunset pulled out her communicator.

"For one thing this thing doesn't have a number to identify it." replied Sunset.

"Then how do they contact you?" asked Sour Sweet.

"By codename." replied Sunset.

"Alright then." said Octavia. "Then perhaps it might be best to, at the very least, have one of you with each of us."

"We're wasting time. Let's go and then make a choice on the way." said Sunset holding her communicator out to the base causing a beam to connect the two before leaving. The others followed but were curious about what they had seen.

"So where are we going?" asked Vinyl as they got outside.

"There's a museum about three blocks from here." replied Sunset as they ran. When they got to there they saw a crowd of people running out of the museum. "This might just be me but isn't it a little weird that there were so many people in a museum on a tuesday afternoon?"

"I think you've got more pressing matters to attend to." said Sunny.

"Right." said Sunset as the nine of them ran inside. Once inside they saw several unconcious security guards along with one who was being lifted by a cloaked creature. "Not so fast!" she called out placer her driver at her waist. Immediately she pressed the Change button.

"Standing By." said the mechancal voice.

"Henshin!" she called out, inserting the card.

"Henshin loading: Seikō!" called out the voice forming her suit and armor. The creature turned and threw the guard into a wall.

"Go check on him." ordered Seikō. The others nodded.

"So you are the Kamen Rider who came here." said the creature.

"What are you here for?" asked Seikō.

"That's none of your concern." replied the creature.

"You were chasing a Ganma, weren't you?"

"You know about them?" it asked. "This should be interesting then." it said as it pulled out a small object that resemble an eye.

"An Eyecon?" asked Seikō. The creature pressed a button on it and was engulfed by an energy causing it become armored as it removed its cloak. She was about to get her weapon when something shot her from behind causing her to be thrown forward. "What?" she asked surprised.

"I figured you'd interfere eventually so I had a friend of mine come with me just in case." said the creature as it rapidly slashed Seikō, forming sparks, and threw her back.

"Damn."

"Oh man. What do we do?" asked Indigo.

"You go check on the guard." ordered Sugarcoat.

"And what are you gonna do?" asked Sour Sweet. Sugarcoat reached into her backpack and pulled out a strange device with a large opening and something that resembled the Eyecon Sunset had seen.

"I'm gonna help her." she said placing the device on her wrist causing two straps to extend, securing it. Then she pressed the button on the Eyecon.



"Standby." said a different voice. Then she inserted the Eyecon into the opening. "Yes, sir." said the same voice as she rotated it at 90 degrees counter clockwise and upwards causing it to resemble an eye dropper. Then she pressed button on the side. "Loading." it said as the green eye drop part of it to released what looked like a black and green lined hood ghost with glowing green eyes. "Henshin." she said pressed the eye dropper causing it to release a green energy. "Tengan. Necrom. Mega ulorder." said the voice as a white, silver, and green suit with a helmet that seemed to have one eye formed on her before the hood flew onto her and what looked like the front of a lantern with a horn came up onto the helmet. Some strange music played as they heard "Crush the Invader!" As soon as they heard this Seikō and the creature turned as Sugarcoat, now Kamen Rider Necrom, punched the creature and grabbed it. Then, to everyone's surprise she turned and used it as a shield as it was shot in the back.

"Gotcha." said Seikō as she spotted the source of the shots and drew her weapon in sword mode and jumped, slashing what appeared to be empty space but they saw sparks coming off something.

Meanwhile Necrom took the creature's sword and slashed it with it throwing it back. Then she snapped in in half. After she pulled out Cure Sword's Module and pressed the button twice before inserting it into the slot on her sword.

"Saishū-waza! Hissatsu!" called out the other voice as a beam fired at the creature, trapping it in a spade.

"Sparkle Sword!" Seikō called out as the blade began glowing in lilac before slashing three and then a four which she used the momentum of to turn away as the spade split with the creature exploded leaving an Eyecon which shattered. At that Necrom struck the armored creature and threw it to Seikō who slashed it twice, but before it got close to Necrom it threw several Eyecons which released dark fog which disappeared as quickly as it came with the first creature. Both Seikō and Necrom looked around but when they couldn't see the creature. The two sighed as they changed back. Sunset ran towards the others who were checking on the guard who had been knocked out when they arrived while Sugarcoat looked at her Eyecon with a smile.

'I'll make sure to help her, father.' she thought to herself.
> New Friends meet former
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sunset went to check on the security guard followed by Sugarcoat. Other than him being unconcious he seemed to be fine.

"We better go. Otherwise we'd have to explain things and it's less than likely they'd be understanding of the dangers we're fighting." said Sunset. The others nodded and they left out the back.

Once outside Sunset turned to look at Sugarcoat.

"You want to know why I have the Mega Ulorder?" asked Sugarcoat.

"Who sent it to you?" asked Sunset. Sugarcoat pulled out what appeared to be a badge which had an image of a cricket's face on. "I figured."

"Perhaps you could explain?" suggested Octavia. Sunset looked at her and then turned away and lifted her hand up with a finger raised.

"Rider Systems and Drivers.....choose their users."

"What do you mean?" asked Lemon Zest.

"There's not much I can really say since there's weren't many details on record. What I can say is that the belts seems to choose who uses them. Something about them retaining an echo." explained Sunset.

"So the belts choose people and...what? They get kidnapped?" asked Lemon Zest.

"No. It goes one of two ways. If the chosen user is just a civilian then someone is sent to explain things to take them to the Agency to train. However if there's a Rider in the area on a mission then they'll have someone or something deliver the equipment to the Rider who will then deliver it to the Rider-to-be and from there they'll explain things and start helping them."

"So any of us could become a Rider?" asked Lemon Zest excited. Sunset nodded.

"Alright, so what do we do now?" asked Vinyl.

"You guys go home. I'll keep investigating." replied Sunset. "Come to my place tomorrow after school and I'll brief you on what I found." Sunset turned to leave but was stopped when Sunny grabbed her arm causing her to turn.

"Sunset listen. I know we don't know each other but I think I can speak for my friends when I say what happened to you was entirely unjustified and that we hope you're willing to give us a chance as friends. We're not all that experienced with friendship because at Crystal Prep we were forced to compete to be the best but we transfered because we wanted the chance to be able to have friends without having to suspect they'd have ulterior motives." Sunset looked at her and then at the others before smiling.

"For a while I was afraid to trust anyone but someone told me that even though we're strong as Riders even we need the help of others." she explained as she held out her hand. Sunny smiled and took Sunset's hand but was surprised when she pulled her hand back and fist bumped her before bumping the top then the bottom of her fist. "That friend of mine calls this the friendship handshake." The others smiled. "I better get going. Like said before come over after school and I'll inform you what I've found."

"Understood." said Sugarcoat with a smile. Sunset smiled at the eight of them, nodded, and left.

"Well then, let's go." said Vinyl.

The following morning Celestia sat at her desk with some coffee when a folder with some papers dropped onto her desk. She looked up and saw man with somewhat messy mid length black hair with a visible earing who had a light red skin tone and wore a red trench coat with a fuzzy black collar.

"Mr. Heart. What can I do for you?" asked Celestia.

"I've noticed quite the change in demeanor of the teachers and quite a few of the student and I'd like to ask what it had to do with the girl who showed up after the Friendship Games." said Mr. Heart. Celestia sighed.

"They're feeling guilty." she replied.

"What happened?"

"Last Christmas we had to take down the school's social media website, MyStable. This is because during december some students made an account named Anon-A-Miss from which they began posting the secrets of others. They used this to frame that girl."

"Who is she?" asked Heart.

"Sunset Shimmer. Up until last fall she was bully but she started trying to change. She became friends with the five girls you first talked when you arrived. Unfortunately when anon-a-miss appeared the account used a picture of Sunset's silhouette so everyone, students and teachers, took this to mean that Sunset had gone back and everyone turned on her."

"So this is why I was asked to evaluate the teacher's?" asked Heart. Celestia nodded.

"Due to my personal relationships with the teachers I can't get involved."

"How is miss Shimmer?"

"I tried to find her during the weekend but I came up empty." replied Celestia.

"So the teachers are afraid this will ruin their careers and the students feel guilty about what they've done."

"Most, not all." replied Celestia. "There was a small group of students who did not believe she was guilty. I gave them my permission help investigate and informed them of anything we found but Sunset disappeared before anything could be proven."

"I imagine it wasn't long after that the three girls confessed."

"Just a few days after Sunset disappeared." replied Celestia looking at her coffee.

"I see. This explains why Fluttershy comes to see me so often." said Heart. "Thank you for informing me Celestia."

"Of course." she said with a nod. Heart turned to leave. "I still wonder if I could've done more to help her."

"I don't believe it would've done much good." said Heart. "As Principal your duty is to remain impartial. You could have expelled her when the accusations started. Instead you decided to make sure there was proof rather than condemning her. You handled things as professionally as possible so you shouldn't feel bad."

"I suppose you're right. Thank you Heart."

"I'm always glad to help a friend." he said leaving.

Once he got back to his office there were to other waiting for him. The first was a woman in a black nurse's uniform who had light pink with black hair tied in a bun. The second was a guy with short blond hair with glasses with light green skin in a suit.

"So what did you find out?" asked the guy.

"Well Brain, it would seem we might have to mediate a bit." replied Heart.

"What should we do Heart-sama?" asked the woman.

"For now we'll maintain our cover. Medic, has anyone said anything to you about the strange things that may have happened recently?" asked Heart.

"I'm afraid not. Everything I've heard we already knew." replied Medic.

"Very well. Then for now we'll continue as planned." said Heart.

"Understood." said both Brain and Medic.

Somewhat later in the morning students were arriving, among them were the six former Shadowbolts who had decided to walk to school together alongside Vinyl and Octavia. Since they did have homework they'd gone to Twilight's house and got to know each other while they worked on their assignments. Now they were walking together with the former Shadowbolts sharing their past experiences from Crystal Prep which, while most of them were rough, did include some fun.

"So you actually planted a stinkbomb in Cinch's office?" asked Vinyl trying not to laugh.

"And that wasn't even the best part." replied Lemon Zest. "It was so bad the smell wound up going through the vents to the rest of the school so we got a few days off while they tried to get the smell out." she added with some giggles. Sunny and Sugarcoat rolled their eyes.

"It was a good thing though. I had report due the next day so I was able to turn it in without trouble." said Indigo. As they walked they noticed the Rainbooms looking guilty until Pinkie went up to them.

"What do you want?" asked Sour Sweet with a glare.

"I...I heard your conversation yesterday." said Pinkie as the others walked up to them. "We didn't think it would be good so follow you so we were wondering if you could tell us how Sunset is doing." Sour Sweet glared at the five, as did the other former Shadowbolts, minus Twilight who did look at them angrily but couldn't really pull off a glare. Vinyl sighed.

"She's still hurting."

"That's an under statement." sneered Sour Sweet. "You know Crystal Prep may not be the nicest school but we sure as hell never got close to someone just to treat them like trash."

"Now hold on just a gosh darn minute!" declared Applejack. "We made a mistake...."

"Are you serious?" interupted Sunny. "You're seriously calling it 'a mistake'? We met Sunset. We spoke to her and she said something that was completely true."

"She said that if you had really been her friends you would've at least given her a chance. Instead you were just waiting for the first chance you could get to throw her away." added Lemon.

"That's not what happened." said Rainbow weakly.

"Sour's right about one thing. Back at Crystal Prep everyone was forced to always be in competition but at the very least everyone was straight forward." said Indigo.

"At the very least we would've let her try to explain but you never even bothered considering the consequences of turning on someone who held you in such a high regard." said Sunny.

"What do you mean?" asked Rarity.

"You drove her to attempted suicide." said Sugarcoat somewhat angrily before covering her mouth. Upon hearing this the Rainbooms looked in shock while the other Shadowbolts looked at her surprised.

"Y-You're kidding, right?" asked Rainbow. Sunny sighed and looked at Rainbooms.

"Though it wasn't our place to say, I'm afraid to say Sugarcoat is right. When you turned on her Sunset felt she had nothing left to live for. That day she didn't come to school she'd decided to end it. Ultimately she was saved by someone who offered her what you took from her. She came to grips with the fact that you considered her nothing more than a charity case that you couldn't wait to get rid of."

"That's not true. We care about Sunset." said Fluttershy.

"If that's how you treat a friend I'd hate to see what you'd do to an enemy." said Sugarcoat. Upon hearing that Fluttershy, Pinkie, and Rarity broke down into tears.

"How could we have been so horrible to her?" asked Fluttershy looking at her hands.

"Since it's out in the open I suppose I might as well tell you that you should stay away from her." said Sunny keeping her glare.

"But we have to apologize to her." said Pinkie.

"She won't believe you." said Lemon. "She has one of those module things that was made from the pain you five caused her. Even without it she seems to try to keep herself from hurting you. Not because she forgives you but because at this point her purpose is to protect everyone regardless of the issues she has with you. Do yourselves a favor. Just stay from her."

With that the former Shadowbolts walked towards the school followed by Vinyl and Octavia.

"That went well." said Vinyl. 

"Is there a reason your felt the need to disclose some else's personal information?" Sunny asked glaring at Sugarcoat who sighed.

"I'm sorry. It's the first time I've ever felt this angry."

"I'm not the one you need to apologize to." replied Sunny.

"Well now. It seems you're getting more aquainted with the school." said a voice. They turned and saw Vice Principal Luna.

"It's an interesting school." said Twilight.

"I'm glad you're enjoying yourselves. Now if you'd be so kind I'm here to escort the eight of you the Principal's office." The eight looked at each other.

"Are we in trouble?" asked Octavia.

"No. We just need to speak to you." The teens shrugged and followed her. Once they were in the Principal's office Celestia looked at them with a smile.

"So what's going on?" asked Indigo.

"Yesterday we saw all of you with Sunset. We were hoping you'd tell us how she's doing." said Celestia.

"She's....got her issues but overall I think she's doing pretty well since she found a purpose." said Sunny.

"It's good to hear." said Celestia. "Though I hope you stay safe. It seems Sunset becoming a Kamen Rider means she'll be fighting."

"Oh she's not the only Rider." said Lemon with a smile before being hit upside the head by Sugarcoat. "Ow! What?"

"Someone came into my office yesterday claiming to be a Rider as well." This caused the girls to look at her surprised. "He said there would be other Riders at this school since attacks will be more likely to happen here. So which one of you is it?"

"Me." replied Sugarcoat pulling out her Eyecon.

"Very well. As this battle will likely involve the school you will have my support. If necessary you'll be excused from your classes should something come up but I hope you understand this won't excuse you from your duties as a student."

"I understand." said Sugarcoat.

"Thank you. I'd also like you to deliver a message to Sunset. Tell her if she ever wants to talk both my sister and will be available for whatever she needs."

"You really care about her, don't you?" asked Sunny. Celestia smiled.

"She always been a bright girl. That's why when the Anon-A-Miss fiasco started I did what I could to help the students who believed in her innocence. I wish I could've done more but I couldn't involve myself directly because of the chaos that was happening throughout the campus."

"If that's all we should get to class. We may not be at Crystal Prep anymore but that doesn't mean we'll let our grades drop." said Sunny with a smile.

"Very well. You're excused." With that the eight left.

"Sister, are you sure it's a good idea?" asked Luna.

"We don't have a choice but to trust them. It's clear the police wouldn't be able to handle these creatures."

"I suppose you're right."

Most of their day after was pretty normal outside of them witnessing the Crusaders being stuffed into a locker and as much as they felt the younger girls deserved it they figured it wouldn't do any good to act the way they would've back at Crystal Prep so they tried letting them out but saw the lock was a combination lock which resulted in Sugarcoat shocking them by releasing what looked like green lightning causing the lock to crumble but when asked how she was able to do it she replied by saying it was part of what allowed her to transform.

During lunch, after they ate, the eight girls walked through the halls when they heard a buzzing sound. Sugarcoat pulled out her phone and saw she'd recieved a text message from an unknown number. She checked the message which read: This is Sunset. Connect your phone to a computer. They were a bit uncertain but went to the computer lab where they did what the message said. As soon as they did a program self-installed the screen opened a window that had a split screen where they saw two people. The first was Sunset while the second was a woman who looked like she could pass for Pinkie's mother because her skin tone and hair color were the reverse of Pinkie's but her eyes were a reddish pink color.

"That was....interesting." said Sugarcoat surprised.

"Sorry for the theatrics." said the woman. "My name is Mercy."

"Nee-san show them the footage." said Sunset. 

"We needed a second opinion on the security footage from the museum." explained Mercy as both their images shrank and they saw some black and white footage of a person approaching a display before transforming into a creature that looked to be made of an armor which touched the display glass causing to dissolve. Then it took the item from the display but was struck from behind causing sparks from it. The creature turned and vanished just before a security guard arrived. That was where the video ended.

"I don't get it. What did you need a second opinion on?" asked Indigo.

"Under normal circumstances they would've likely been allies but this is clearly not the case." explained Mercy.

"It kinda looked like the first monster stole that thing before the other one got there." said Lemon.

"Which more than likely means the first one's either working alone or for someone else." said Sugarcoat. "Do you know what was stolen?"

"It seems to be some sort of fossil. There's a legend tied to it that says writers who have it near them become inspired."

"So the monster's a writer who wants inspiration?" asked Sour Sweet.

"It's possible the monster knows something about it." said Twilight getting on another computer. After logging she opened the web browser and went to the museum's website to check the what information was available on the stolen fossil.

"This is interesting." she said.

"What?" asked Indigo.

"According to this the fossil was on tour. They were setting up the display."

"It's gotta suck that thing destroyed the display glass." said Lemon Zest.

"I guess that's why there weren't people around." said Sunny. "So do you know where the creature went."

"That first creature is called a Ganma." explained Mercy. "But as of right now we don't have any idea where it is. We currently have someone who's infiltrated the police getting data."

"I'll text you any knew info that comes up." said Sunset right before they heard a ding. "Oh. That's my spongecake. Gotta go. Whip! Step! Jump!" she said as her screen turned off leaving the others a little surprised.

"At least now I know she got the module." said Mercy. "In any case watch yourselves. There's always the possibility the school might be attacked."

"Understood." said all eight girls. Mercy nodded and the screen turned off.

The group stayed silent for a moment.

"So...Sunset likes baking?" asked Indigo.

"Not as far as I know." replied Vinyl still confused.

"We should get going." said Octavia. The others agreed and they left.

The rest of the day was unevenful other than getting more homework. As soon as they got out they headed to Sunset's where, to their surprise, they saw her waiting for them in front of the building.

"Sunset?" asked Sunny surprised. Sunset turned and waved at them with an oddly sweet smile which made them cringe a little.

"We've got a lead on a location." said Sunset.

"How far?" asked Sugarcoat. It was then they heard screams.

"I'm suppose we merely follow the screams." said Sunny.

"Sugarcoat we better get ready." said Sunset putting on the Seiko Driver. Sugarcoat nodded and put on the Mega Ulorder. "I've got a pretty good idea of where they are but we'll need to get there as fast as possible so we'll take my Lock Vehicle which only holds two." she explained taking out the rose lock, throwing into the air causing it to transform surprising the others. "Catch up as fast as you can but be careful." The other nodded.

"You be careful too." said Sour. Sunset smiled as Sugarcoat got on before taking off and were surprised when the motorcycle floated, spun, and vanished.

"Am I the only one thinking how dizzy they'll be when they get off the...lock cycle thingy?" asked Lemon.

"We don't have time to think about pointless things. Let's go. It might take us a while before we can get there." ordered Sunny. The others nodded and they got going.

A few blocks away Sunset's modified Rose Attacker emerged from a rift but were almost hit by a plastic table that had been thrown only for Sunset to pop a wheelie causing the bike's front while to glow as it cut through it.

"That was close." said Sunset.

"Where are they?" asked Sugarcoat as they got off the vehicle and it returned to its lock form.

"Look." pointed Sunset. Sugarcoat looked and saw the Ganma from the security footage on top of a broken plastic table clutching something to it's chest. They also saw the Ganma like creature from yesterday only now it had a big ass axe coming out of its chest while holding two small ones. Immediately the two kicked throwing it back. Then Sunset pressed the change button and inserted the card as Sugarcoat pressed the button on her Eyecon before insersting it and turning her Mega Ulorder and securing causing the Necrom Soul to be released.

"Henshin!" called out both girls as their armors formed.

"I guess I've got no choice." said the Axe Ganma holding up his hand causing shadow like zombie creatures to emerge.

"I don't think so." said Seiko pulling out a module with a sunflower on it and she pressed the modify button. "Check on the Ganma while I keep them busy." she ordered pressing the button.

"Pretty Cure, Open My Heart!" called out Seiko. 

"Cure Sunshine!" called out the voice as she inserted it causing the current armor she had to shatter as a golden armor with flowers formed and attached itself to her chest, forearms, legs, and caused the eyes on her helmet to become bright yellow. "Cure Sunshine! Hi no hikari abiru ichirin no hana!"

"Let's see what you've got." said Seiko Sunshine moving her hands in a circle forming small balls of light. "Sunshine Flash!" she called as the light hit a few of the creatures dissolving them only for more to form. "It's just never easy." she said to herself bringing out her weapon in rifle form and walked towards them while firing.

"Who are you?" the Ganma asked Necrom.

"I'm Kamen Rider Necrom. Are you okay?"

"That isn't what I meant." For a moment she was silent.

"My name is Sugarcoat."

"I see much of him in you."

"Who?"

"Protect this. They must not get their hands on it." he said placing the Eyecon in her hand. Then, to her susprise, the Ganma began to glow for moment before it turned into another Eyecon. She looked at it before hearing Sunset yell as she fell back. It was then she looked at the Eyecon which on the top had the number 14, a symbol similar to the Necrom Eyecon, and the word Grimm under that.

"Oh good. You got it back." said Seiko. "Care to give me a hand?" Necrom stood up and took out the Necrom Eyecon causing the cloak and lantern like eye to shatter. Then she pressed the button on it and placed it in the Mega Ulorder.

"Yes Sir." said the other voice as she pressed the side button releasing the soul inside which floated up revealing it's cloak to have what looked like old school pen tips for hand. It posed in the air and for a moment they swear they saw an out line of two men. One holding a pen while the other held a book.

"Let's see what you'd got." said Sugarcoat pressing the eye drop.

"Tengan! Grimm! Mega Ulorder." said the voice as it played mystical sounding music. "Fighting Pen!" it sang as the soul got on her with the pens becoming the shoulders of the hood and a new eye.

"Looks good." said Seiko getting up. "So. Any ideas?" At that point Necrom Grimm looked at the creatures and extended the pens whipping all of them causing them to vanish. "Well....that's one way to do it."

"Impossible!" said the Axe Ganma. It turned to leave as Sunset pulled out Sunshine's module, pressed it three times, and inserted it into her weapon causing several flower to form around them as her weapon began glowing yellow.

"Gold Forte Burst!" she called out firing causing all the flowers to fly to the Ganma catching it by surprise as it was hit several times by the flowers which merged making it float by a giant sunflower which spun. "Your turn."

"Got it." said Necrom Grimm rotating the Mega Ulorder and pressing the eye dropper again.

"Destroy! Dai Tengan! Grimm! Omega Ulorder!" said the voice as a green eye symbol to formed behind her. Afterwards she jumped as the eye symbol became energy which moved to the Ganma's chest in the form of a giant pen which Necrom moved forward and kicked, going through it causing the flower and the Ganma to explode.

After the two changed back as their friends arrived.

"What happened?" asked Octavia.

"Let's head back to my place. There's something I need to check." said Sunset.

"Fine but give us a minute. We ran all the way here." said Lemon as most of them panted.

"Come on. We'll need to hide while you rest." said Sunset leading them to an alley. 'Well brother. You were right. I did find new friends.' she thought to herself with a smile.
> Take The Stage
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The group had made it back to Sunset's place and were currently sitting around waiting for Sunset while she got something. In the meantime most of them were working on their assignments while Sugarcoat looked at the two Eyecons she'd gained.

"Alright. I hope you like sweets." said Sunset returning from the kitchen with a large plate. The group turned to her as she placed the plate, allowing them to see a cake decorated with frosting and strawberries with a bunny drawn in the middle. The group looked at the cake with wide eyes and then at Sunset.

"What?" she asked.

"Since when do you make pastries?" asked Octavia.

"Oh. That." Sunset then pulled out new module that had an image which resembled the Bunny Cake she'd made. "They sent me a new module. It's Cure Whip's module."

"Whip as in Whipped Cream?" asked Sunny.

"Yep."

"So what does that have to do with anything?" asked Sour Sweet.

"When I get a new Module I have to bond with it by using it in my Seiko Driver and when I do I temperarily take on the personality of the Cure who's data was in it and gain skills they had."

"So what else can you do?" asked Lemon.

"I learned an unknown form of martial arts, learned to play violin, and a few forms of dances. From what I know Beat's and Sword's modules would've taught me how to sing and play guitar but those are things I already knew how to do though I do know a few songs in a different language." explained Sunset.

"So you know how to make cakes now?" Vinyl asked. Sunset nodded as she placed the plate on the table before going back to the kitchen and then returning with nine plates, nine forks, and a knife.

"I believe Sugarcoat has something to say to you Sunset." said Sunny. Sunset looked at Sunny and then at Sugarcoat who looked at her with her eyes downcast.

"I'm sorry. In school I lost my temper and I wound up telling those five about what they drove you to do." explained Sugarcoat.

"Oh. You did? It's fine." said Sunset. Sugarcoat look at her surprised. "To be honest I never intended to talk to them since being close to them drives me a little closer to hurting them....or worse. So I guess I should probably thank you." she exlained scratching her cheek. This left them speechless. "Since that's out of the way let's eat the cake." she said handing each of them a plate and a fork. Once all of them had their own slices they all tasted the cake and were surprised at how good it tasted.

"I think you might have the talent to become a pâtissier." said Sunny.

"You're giving me too much credit." said Sunset.

"So what's the deal with those Eyecon things?" asked Lemon Zest.

"They're like my modules only instead of them having data they contain the souls of dead people. At least that's what the files say."

"So who was Grimm?" asked Sugarcoat.

"As I recall Grimm wasn't a person. It was the Brothers Grimm." said Sunset. "The info I saw said they were responsible for the wide spread of many fairytales."

"Weird." said Indigo.

"Hey Sunset." She turned to Vinyl. "So are you gonna come back to school?" It was then Sunset turned away.

"I can't. As it is last week I barely kept myself in check enough to avoid hurting them. If I were to remain close to them I'd be putting everyone in danger."

"Oh. I almost forgot something." said Sunny standing up. She placed a hand on Sunset's shoulder causing her to turn. "Principal Celestia wanted us to tell you that if you need someone to talk to you can talk to either her or Vice Principal Luna." Sunset smiled.

"I guess she still likes to think of me as a possible daughter." she said. "I probably should call one of these days."

"Why not now?" asked Octavia.

"Because there are still some issues I need to resolve."

Vinyl looked at Sunset and then looked into her backpack where she looked at a lock.

"There's something I've been curious about." said Sunset causing the others to look at her. "What exactly caused you six to transfer?" she asked.

"So you knew we were new?"

"I've always had a pretty good eye and a good memory." replied Sunset.

"I think each of us had a different reason for wanting to transfer." said Sunny. "For me...my aunt is Principal Cinch so she's always held me to a very high standard. That's actually why I have my own place."

"Really?" asked Sunset surprised.

"My parents are usually traveling for work so I see them two or three times a year at most." replied Sunny. "So up until middle school I lived with her. It was always do your homework and make sure you ask for extra credit even if you don't need it. It was so much pressure so when I turned fourteen I sent my parents messages telling them I wanted my own place because I felt I was ready to take care of myself."

"So you lied?" asked Octavia with an eyebrow raised.

"I suppose it's a matter of how you see it." replied Sunny. "I wasn't lying when I told them I could take care of myself but that wasn't the reason I wanted to live on my own. I just wanted to get away from my aunt."

"So what happened when she found out you were transfering?" asked Lemon.

"She called me, yelled at me about throwing away my future for....about forty five minutes, give or take a few, while I made myself dinner," It was then she noticed the others staring at her. "What?"

"She yelled at you for forty five minutes?" asked Indigo.

"It happened all the time when I was a child so eventually it just became white noise to me." replied Sunny.

"Then your reason for transfering..." began Sunset.

"Was really just to enjoy school." replied Sunny. "Even when I was in elementary I was held up to Crystal Prep's standard so going to a school that doesn't make you feel worthless if you aren't the best feels liberating. Honestly, just the last two days I've felt so free for the first time in my life." she said stretching with a smile.

"How about you?" Vinyl asked Lemon Zest.

"There's not much to tell with me. I just wanted to go to a school where everyone doesn't have a stick up their ass." replied Lemon causing the other ex Shadowbolts to look at her surprised. "What?"

"I think that's the first time I've ever heard you curse." said Sour Sweet.

"Well yeah. At Crystal Prep they had hi-def cameras everywhere so you could get detention if any of them caught you ." replied Lemon Zest. "I'm not a bitch or anything. I just found it helped keep me calm, which wasn't exactly easy at Crystal Prep." The other five agreed.

"So is it true the reason you didn't go to the Winter Storm freshman year was that you were punished?" asked Indigo.

"You mean a blizzard?" asked Vinyl.

"Someone at school figured Winter Storm was a better name for a dance for some reason." replied Indigo before turning to Lemon. "So is it true?"

"Yeah." replied Lemon. "One of my cousins was working on something and I sorta stepped on a board that had a nail sticking out of it." Hearing this caused the others to wince. "So yeah. I let out a loud one and I wasn't allowed to go to the dance."

"Wow." said Vinyl.

"Somehow that's not really surprising." said Sour Sweet.

"So what about you?" Sunset asked her.

"The same as Lemon," replied Sour with a smile. "I'm just glad to be out of a school full of assholes." she added. Sunset, Vinyl, and Octavia looked at her surprised. "I have DID."

"DID?" asked Vinyl and Octavia.

"Dissociative Identity Disorder." said Sunset.

"Hard to hide so freshman year someone found out and a few others started making fun of me." explained Sour.

"And that was when she kicked ass!" cheered Lemon.

"That's not something to be cheering about." said Sugarcoat.

"What happened?" asked Octavia.

"A few Juniors started making fun of me. At first it wasn't anything too bad. Just name calling and such. Then they decided to try 'teach' me a lesson. I went...a little off the rails and put them in hospital. I don't actually remember what happened but after everyone stayed away from me. Most of the school still thought of me as some insane psycho."

"I don't think it was that bad." said Sunny trying to make her feel better.

"So that's why you wanted to transfer?" asked Sunset. Sour nodded.

"CHS seemed a lot more accepting than Crystal Prep about...well, anything really."

"To an extent." added Sunset causing Vinyl and Octavia to wince.

"Personally I just wanted freedom." said Indigo causing the others to turn to her.

"What do you mean?" asked a confused Lemon Zest.

"Sports are great but that not the only thing I'm good at." replied Indigo. "But at this point Crystal Prep only accepted me as a jock so when I tried to go into any of the other clubs they wouldn't let me apply. 'Just stick to what you're good at' was all they'd say to me."

"I remember back when you tried to join the Drama club." said Sunny.

"Exactly!" said Indigo. "Sports have always been a great way to stay in shape but it's not all I'm about. I like singing and acting too."

"Then will you be joining the Drama club?" asked Octavia.

"I might. This whole thing feel way more important. I mean we're fighting to save the world."

"You don't have to." said Sunset.

"It's not my style to leave a friend. Loyalty's part of why we stuck together back at Crystal Prep after all." said Indigo. The others nodded.

"So how about you Twilight?" asked Sunset startling her.

"Um...honestly, it was because it was hard being at Crystal Prep. The demanding teachers I could handle since I spent most of my time reading and studying but everyone is competitive about their grades so most of the time school was terrifying for me. I would sometimes come out of my lab for lunch and it was usually impossible to find somewhere to sit so occasionally I'd sit with them but I always felt out of place."

"I thought you were just shy." said Lemon.

"That as well." replied Twilight. "It was also because for a few months I had noticed odd seismic activity and energy readings coming from CHS but when I was there I didn't detect anything. Though what you've explained does put some pieces into place."

"What do you mean?" asked Sunset.

"When we first arrived everyone was greeting me like they knew me and when I met those five girls they started apologizing to me."

"How about you?" Sunset asked Sugarcoat.

"Nothing to tell." replied Sugarcoat. "As great a school as it is most of the students like to try to sabotage each other if given the chance. I dislike underhanded tactics."

"You certaintly seem...direct." said Octavia.

"I've never been one to beat around the bush." said Sugarcoat finishing her slice of cake which seemed to have been forgotten in the conversation by most of the others with only Octavia, Lemon, and Sunny having also finished their slices.

"Hey so what do the bad guys you fight call themselves?" asked Indigo.

"The Hiretsuna." replied Sunset. "I did research for a few days before coming here but of all the evils we've been fighting this seems to only just be surfacing so the available data was limited. All I know right now is that they do seem to have access to other tools such as Eyecons, Lockseeds, and other artifacts that would allow them to create monsters."

"That explains why the monster you fought last week was so different from the Ganma you and Sugarcoat fought." said Twilight.

"Yeah but we'll have to be ready for anything. For all we know one or more of their big gun could be in the city hiding in plain sight." said Sunset. "For now we should be wary of anyone outside this group of ours."

"So we should be suspicious of everyone around us?" asked Indigo.

"Just be cautious and try not to act like you think everyone might try to kill you or something." explained Sunset. "I put in request for modified communication equipment."

"Can't we just use our phones?" asked Lemon.

"It'd be a bad idea to use them for this kind of thing. Our phones could be remotely hacked or even infected with spyware." explained Twilight sounding professional.

"And it wouldn't help that most of you are on multiple social media platforms for things such as Vinyl's DJ reputation and such." added Sugarcoat.

"So what do we do in the meantime?" Sunny asked.

"If something happens and neither of us is close text the word Marquis with the location." said Sunset.

"How do we get into contact with you?" asked Lemon.

"Don't worry. There's a security system here that's linked into every security system in the city so if there's an attack somewhere I'll know." explained Sunset. "Once the communication equipment gets here I can link you to the system."

"We should probably get going. It's getting kinda late." said Sour Sweet. "My parents worry I might go off the deep end if I'm not back before dark."

"I'll go with ya. I gotta head back too anyway." said Vinyl. Octavia looked at Vinyl knowing something was probably up but said nothing.

"Alright." shrugged Sour Sweet.

"We probably all need to get home." said Twilight.

"You guys go ahead. I'm gonna stay for a bit longer." said Sunny.

"Well then have a good night." said Indigo as they left.

"You wanted to ask me something?" asked Sunset. Once the others were gone Sunny looked at Sunset seriously.

"I'd like to know how to become a Rider." replied Sunny.

"I see."

"How do I become one?"

"That's not really something anyone controls. From what I do know most people chosen aren't chosen for any specific reason. Some have mentioned they had a dream where they talked to someone so I guess just keep track if you have that kind of dream."

"What about you?" asked Sunset.

"When I was taken to the base the Seikō Driver reacted to me. They said that since it was materialized they hadn't been able to get any type of reaction from it." explained Sunset. "So what else did you want to know?"

Sunny sighed.

Sour Sweet and Vinyl arrived at Sour's home and they went to her room.

"So what did you want to ask me about?" asked Sour.

"I guess I'm just kinda worried and since we don't know each other that well I figured you might be able to give me some blunt advice."

"You could've asked Sugarcoat for that." pointed out Sour.

"Yeah but she might be busy figuring out her...wrist thing."

"The Mega Ulorder, yeah." said Sour noticing a box on her bed. She moved it to her night stand. "Alright. So what's the deal?"

"I wanna help Sunset but I guess I just kinda still feel like I failed her during the whole Anon-A-Miss fiasco." explained Vinyl.

"I may not know you but it seems like you're trying to blame yourself for something you didn't really have that much control over. It's like games where you have to investigate stuff. Sometimes you try to stop something bad from happening but there's times where the game was gonna have that bad thing happen no matter how much you try to stop it."

"I guess that's true." said Vinyl. "I think I got a chance to really help her but I'm not sure if I deserve it." she added going to her backpack.

"This is why I'm worried about whether or not I deserve to help her."

The following morning as the students were arriving one girl heard a voice. She became curious and followed it. She wound up in alley. It was then someone appeared behind her, placing a glowing hand on her head causing the girl's eyes to become dull.

"Now then. I have a little job for you." the person said with a grin.

The former Shadowbolts, or Shadowcolts as some of the other students had taken to calling them, arrived at school together, meeting up with Vinyl and Octavia, who at this point were also referred to by the same term since they'd seem to be getting close to them.

"So what did you talk to her about?" Indigo asked Sunny.

"I'm interested in helping her as another Rider." explained Sunny.

"Wow." said Indigo surprised.

"So what'd she say?" asked Lemon.

"Just to keep track of my dreams." replied Sunny.

"Weird." said Lemon. "Still...I'm really hoping I end up becoming a Rider." she said with a hop. "Wonder what my suit would be like."

"We should probably focus on being careful at school." said Twilight. Indigo then put an arm around Sugarcoat.

"So did you try practicing with your eye things?"

"Eyecons." corrected Sugarcoat. "I've actually been trying to make contact with the Grimm Eyecon."

"Contact?" asked Lemon Zest.

"Yesterday Sunset mentioned that Eyecons keep the souls of the dead." explained Twilight. "So I suppose you're trying to figure out just what your abilities are."

"To an extent." said Sugarcoat as they entered the school.

"So what can ya do?" asked Vinyl just before a girl bumped into Sugarcoat.

"I'm sorry." she said before running off.

"Who was that?" asked Sugarcoat.

"Mystery Mint." replied Vinyl. "She's a Rocker."

"Was she....?" began Lemon Zest.

"Hm?" Vinyl turned to Lemon Zest.

"Was she one of the ones who turned on her?" asked Lemon Zest.

"Pretty much everyone in the school turned on her." replied Vinyl.

"So why is it that she only reacts to those five?" asked Indigo wondered.

"She wasn't really friends with anyone else outside of the Rainbooms. After the whole thing in the Fall Former no one was willing to even give her a chance so the only people she would even talk to her were them." explained Vinyl.

"She was able to endure the mistrust of others because she saw the five of them as her saviors, but this is also why she's in so much pain." explained Sunny. The others looked at her surprised. "I asked my question but I stayed with her longer. We got to talking and she told me she stared into the abyss."

"The abyss?" asked Lemon.

"Immediately after the Fall Formal she was rejected by everyone." said Octavia.

"She also had no purpose and no reason to live. The five of them gave her a reason to live. That's why she kept trying to prove herself the rest of the school." added Sunny.

"And I guess that's why it all came together the way it did." said Sugarcoat.

"What do you mean?" asked Sour Sweet.

"She was lost after the dance and felt that her life wasn't worth living. That why her pain created the Furia Module." explained Sunny.

"I don't get it." said Lemon.

"When she stared into the abyss she did so thinking about jumping into it." said Twilight with a hand on her chin.

"I still don't get what you mean by abyss." said Lemon.

"In other words even back then she considered ending her life and the five of them pulled her from it." explained Sunny.

"And when they turned on her they threw her into it. To her what they did was nothing less than them trying to kill her whether they knew it or not. That's why she's still in pain but I think that's also why she was so willing to trust us."

"What do you mean?" asked Indigo.

"When they left her she felt she had nothing. She had a hole in her heart. A hole that we fit in nearly perfectly. I mean think about it." explained Sunny. "Based on how Sunset described them to me there's matches. Sugarcoat's entirely honest like that Applejack girl. Indigo's loyal to a fault, like that Rainbow girl, having even gotten in trouble to defend us on occasion. Sour Sweet has her kind moments like that Fluttershy girl, just has a few aggressive moments as well. Lemon Zest often enjoys having a good time and throwing parties much like Miss Pie. Then there's me and that girl Rarity. Both of us have an interest in fashion as well as an interest in helping others with clothes. Of course I know I can be pushy when it comes to helping them."

"So she's trying to replace them with us?" asked Sour Sweet.

"Kinda." replied Sunny. "From what I noticed last night I don't think she realizes she's putting us on that pedestal. That's why she was willing to trust us when she met us."

"So she saw them in you?" asked Vinyl.

"To an extent. I'm sure she'll realize it soon." said Sunny. It was then they heard someone who ran away crying.

Fluttershy was running in tears going past her friends who followed her into a bathroom where she sat with her face in her knees.

"Fluttershy, what happened?" asked Applejack. Fluttershy cried while trying to speak so they couldn't understand her. It was a few minutes later when Fluttershy finally calmed down enough to form proper words.

"Alright darling. Now what's wrong?" asked Rarity. With some hiccups Fluttershy explained what she'd heard with as much clarity as she could.

"Which one of them said that?" asked Rainbow.

"I think it was the girl named Sunny Flare."

"I'm sure needn't worry Fluttershy." said Rarity.

"Rarity's right. Just like we planned, we just gotta find her and I'm sure we can explain everything to her and she'll come back to school. You'll see." said Rainbow confidently. Fluttershy looked at her friends, smiled, and nodded.

Medic observed the girls with her eyes glowing lightly.

"I wonder how this will play out. I'd best report to Heart-sama." she said to herself.

During class each of the Rainbooms did make attempts to try to ask the Shadowcolts, the transfers, but the six refused to acknowledge the five. During lunch the Rainbooms tried to find the Shadowcolts but they had taken to eating on the roof, even preferring to bring their own lunches to avoid the cafeteria. As they ate all their phones went off at the same time. They pulled them out but before they could check them for messages something, or someone, crashed in front of them. To their surprise they saw Seikō only with the armor was pink with a small round tail and bunny ears on her helmet.

"Sunset?!" they yelled out surprised.

"Look out!" she yelled out just before what looked like several whips struck her causing multiple sparks as she was thrown back. They looked in shock but Sugarcoat regained her composure and reached into her backpack pulling out her Mega Ulorder. After putting it on she reached back in for her Eyecons but became shocked.

"Looking for these?" asked a voice. They turned and saw what seemed to be young girl with silver hair in a crimson dress who wore a bird-like mask which had glowing green eyes who held all three of Sugarcoat's Eyecons. "Sorry but I wanted to face her alone." They heard Sunset sneer.

"If you're gonna try to make yourself innocent at least try not doing so right after you ambushed me." said Seiko struggling to stand.

"Aw. Don't be like that." said the girl. "Before I kill you I'll give you my name. They call me Amaya." she said before disappearing. The others looked around just before Seikō Whip was thrown near the door as her armor and suit disappeared revealing Sunset only she had a bruise on her cheek. "I guess the fun's over." she said extending her whip to attack Sunset just before Vinyl and Sugarcoat moved and pushed her aside narrowly dodging it.

"Yo Sour." said Vinyl turning to her. "You were right. There's no way I can just skip out on helping Sunset." she said turning to Sunset. "I failed you once. I won't again if I can help it." she added pulling out a black Driver that had a hole with a small blade attached on the right side. She placed it on her waist causing, not only a belt to materialize but also an image of a helmet on the left side of the Driver. After she pulled out a lock that had what looked like an orange on the front with L.S.-07 printed on it.

"Orange." said a voice as when the lock opened causing a circular zipper to open above her head as what looked like a giant metal orange came down from the hole.

"I choose to fight along side my friend." said Vinyl placing the lock on her Driver and closing it.

"Lock on!" said the voice before what sounded like a warhorn started playing.

Then she sliced the lock with the blade momentarily showing the hologram of a sword with clouds around it and causing the metal orange to drop landing on her head forming blue suit with black and gold boots and gauntlets which included a sword that seemed to be part gun on the left side of her belt. Within the orange a helmet formed matching the one on her Driver.

"Orange Arms! Hanamichi On Stage!" said the voice as the orange folded downwards forming a samurai armor which upon finishing made a splash of juice as a sword which had an orange slice for a blade formed in her right hand.

"DJ P0n-3 taking center stage!" declared Vinyl.

"Gaim." said Sunset in shock. Vinyl looked at her.

"Gaim? I kinda like that. I'm Kamen Rider Gaim." she said.

"You're an amateur. Not like you could handle me." said Amaya. Gaim drew her second weapon and linked them at the base as Amaya launched her whip as she'd done to Sunset only Gaim spun her weapon cutting the whip.

"That's impressive. You're not the rookie you seem to be." said Amaya with a childish smile under her mask. "I've got a great game planned so you can join if you want. I'm sure you'll want to since the prize will be these Eyecons." she said juggling them. "I'll be looking forward to your performances." she said as she disappeared leaving the others looking where the girl had been.
> Storm Unleashed
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The group wondered what they should do as Gaim closed her Lockseed canceling her transformation.

"So what do we do now?" asked Vinyl noticing a paper flying towards her. She reached out and grabbed it. There was something written on it but could only understand that 4:30 was written. "Weird."

"Let me see." said Sunset. Vinyl handed her the paper and she saw what she meant.

"I have no idea what language that is." said Vinyl.

"It says she wants us to head to the shopping district at 4:30. That she'll be waiting to instruct us." explained Sunset.

"You can read that?" asked Vinyl surprised.

"I learned four languages while I was away." replied Sunset.

"Will you be able to fight?" Vinyl asked Sunset concerned.

"I should be able to. The nanites in my blood are already helping me." replied Sunset. "Sugarcoat, do you know how she could've gotten your Eyecons?"

"It must've been that girl who bumped into me in the morning." replied Sugarcoat.

"What girl?" asked Sunset.

"Mystery Mint." replied Vinyl. Sunset placed a hand on her chin.

"What are you thinking?" asked Vinyl.

"It's difficult to make a deduction without seeing what happened." she said pulling out her communicator. "Nee-san?"

"Yes?" came Mercy's voice.

"You've been monitoring the security cameras from CHS, right?"

"Kinda."

"Kinda?" they asked.

"We're linked to the school's security system but we have software set to keep track of things in case there's dimensional disturbances, energy spikes, etc."

"Can you check the footage from this morning?" asked Sunset.

"Sure. Just give me a second." she said as they heard typing. "Alright. What am I looking for?" Sugarcoat stepped closer.

"My Eyecons were stolen. We have reason to believe they were taken by a girl who bumped into me in the morning near the entrance." she explained.

"Alright. Can you give me a specific time?" asked Mercy.

"Would've been about 8:15." said Sunny.

"Front entrance?"

"Yes." replied Sugarcoat.

"Let's see." she said. "Got it. That's interesting."

"What is it?" asked Sunset.

"From the looks of things the girl did take the Eyecons but from these readings she was being manipulated." replied Mercy.

"Then it's unlikely she'll be able to tell us anything." said Sunny.

"You should still look for her to make sure she's okay." said Mercy.

"Understood." said the Shadowcolts.

"Sunset, are you feeling alright?" asked Mercy.

"I'll be fine. I just need to rest of a bit."

"Alright. I'll leave things in your hands." said Mercy ending the communication.

Within a large lab Mercy looked at a monitor which showed an image of Sunset flashing red. She sighed sadly.

"Please be careful." she said knowing that if she'd mentioned that the nanites in Sunset's blood had been disrupted significantly slowing their capability to heal her. "You've become too much like him."

Sunset looked at the others.

"You guys should look for Mystery Mint." said Sunset.

"What about you?" asked Sunny.

"I'll have to go back home." replied Sunset. "That girl Amaya really got me so I'll have to rest up to be ready for our encounter. I'll see you then." she said pressing the side of her communicator causing a circle with various symbols which she sank into before it disappeared.

"I suppose we better go look for Mystery Mint." said Octavia. They quickly finished their lunches before heading back down to the school to take a look around. They still had a few minutes before class so they split into four pairs. 

Pinkie had listened to their conversation leaving to tell the others.

"Pinkie what's wrong?" asked Rainbow seeing the breathless Pinkie approaching them, having lost most of her...unnatural abilities due to the guilt she still felt. After they saw her last week they all agreed Sunset's anger was justified but felt that if they could just explain their side of the story they might be able to get her to return school. They realized their relationship would be strained but felt they would be able to be friends again eventually.

Once she was able to breath properly she explained what she'd heard.

"That's quite dire." said Rarity.

"That's not the point!" said Pinkie. "If we go there we'll have a chance to talk to her. We can totally cheer for her and talk to her after the fight."

"I don't think that's a good idea." said Fluttershy.

"Maybe not but we weren't able to find her this past weekend and I really don't think it'll be easy to find her just by looking. This'll be our best shot to talk to her."

"I suppose that is true. Very well. I say we go." said Rarity.

"I'm in too." nodded Applejack.

"Okay. I'll go too." said Fluttershy gaining some confidence.

"Alright, we're agreed then." said Rainbow.

"We're getting our friend back!" cheered Pinkie as her hair inflated, having been flat during the time Sunset was gone.

The Shadowcolts were in the nurse's office having found Mystery Mint unconcious in a broom closet having only been found because they heard the sound of some cleaning supplies falling.

"And you say you found her in a broom closet like this?" asked Medic.

"Yeah. We weren't sure what happened so we brought her." lied Vinyl.

"Well, the good news is that she'll be fine. She just needs to rest for a bit." explained Medic.

"Then we'll leave her to you." said Octavia before they left.

Medic looked at the girl having seen the remains of an unknown energy.

"Just what were they thinking?" she asked herself.

"It's unlikely they cared about the girl but this one seems to have a conscience." said a voice. Medic turned to see Heart.

"Heart-sama."

"I believe it will soon be time for our young friend to introduce himself." said Heart.

During class they were each trying to come up with plans though during 6th period Indigo received a text message which caught her attention.

Once class ended they met outside.

"Alright. Everyone ready to go?" asked Vinyl.

"Actually I gotta take off." said Indigo surprising them. "I got an emerency text from my big bro. I didn't get what he was trying to say but it seemed really important."

"Alright. Hopefully it's nothing really bad." said Sunny.

"Thanks." said Indigo before taking off.

"Everyone else ready?" asked Vinyl. The others nodded. "Alright. Let's go."

A few minutes later they met up with Sunset who was waiting for them.

"Have you seen that girl?" Sugarcoat asked Sunset.

"No but considering this place is only about fifteen minutes from the school on foot she probably wanted us to eat something first." replied Sunset. "Come on. There's a little café I came to when I wanted to be alone. We'll have to get something quick."

The eight went, each buying a pastry. After they went looking around to try to find Amaya but had no luck until a few minutes later when Lemon Zest spotted her walking.

"I found her. Come on!" she said leading them towards a store. They approached someone in a crimson cloak. When they got close the person raised a hand. The eight stopped as the person turned revealing the bird like mask they'd seen earlier.

"I'm happy you made it." said Amaya.

"What's your game?" asked Sunset.

"It's very simple. There's three Eyecon and three monsters protecting them. Beat them and the Eyecons are yours but you'll have to grab them immediately after you take them out because otherwise the Eyecon will be sent to one of the others. Basically one way or the other you'll have defeat all three. It's just a matter of whether you're fast enough to grab the Eyecons."

"Sounds simple enough." said Vinyl. "So where are they?"

"Just follow the screams." she replied before vanishing. It was then they heard several screams. Sunset felt her communicator go off in her jacket so she pulled it out to answer.

"There's three unidentifieds. From the looks of things they're possible hybrids." said Mercy.

"How far are they?" asked Sunset.

"One's about six blocks northeast of your current location. The second's about six blocks northwest. The last is about fifteen blocks straight north." replied Mercy.

"Alright. Thanks." said Sunset putting her communicator back. "Two of them are six blocks from here but one's northeast of here while the other is northwest of here. The last one is fifteen blocks from here."

"Then we gotta go after the two that are closer." said Vinyl. "I'll take the one northeast."

"Then I'll take west." said Sunset. "We'll meet up to take the third one. Hopefully one of us will have gotten at least one Eyecon back."

"Then half of us will go with each of you." said Sunny.

"I'm not sure that's a good idea." said Vinyl.

"It's for the best." said Sunset causing the others to turn to her. "We're gonna be busy fighting so they can make sure to keep people away from the immediate danger." she explained.

"You've really thought this out." said Vinyl.

"I just remembered that friends always watch each others' backs. As dangerous as this is you'd still want to go with me even if you didn't have that Sengoku Driver. You made that clear earlier. I'm sure they feel the same." she said before taking off. They looked at each other before Sunny, Twilight, and Sugarcoat went after her.

"Alright. Let's go." said Vinyl with a smirk.

Not long after Sunset and those who'd decided to go with her arrived in front of a five floor parking lot. The others split up to make sure there's wouldn't be any onlookers who might get hurt as Sunset placed her Driver on. She looked around but didn't see anything. She was then caught off guard when a few cars began oozing a black substance similar to the stuff the enemies she'd faced the week before had been made of as the cars started melting. Once they finished melting the ooze gathered, taking the form of a monster that looked like someone had tried to fuse half rotted zombies with machines making it look like something out of a Hellraiser movie.

"Henshin!" Sunset called out.

"Henshin loading: Seikō!" called out her Driver as she drew her weapon in sword mode. She charged at the creature. She pressed the trigger of her weapon and attempted to slash it but was stopped by the creature forming a door shield to block with. Seikō kept trying to slash it but every strike was blocked. After a bit she figured if it was blocking her slashes then perhaps she should be more direct so she tried stabbing it only her sword didn't go too far in and became stuck in the door.

The creature took advantage of this creating multiple tendrils which struck her repeatedly throwing her back as she still held onto her weapon, pulling it out.

'Damn it. I couldn't recover enough so I've gotta fight smart.' she thought as she struggled to get up using her weapon for support. 'Teleporting probably wouldn't help. I've got it!'

She pulled out a blue module with a G Clef on it.

"Cure Beat!" called out the voice.

'You're one of the only ones who could understand my struggle. I guess that's why we work so well together. Please lend me your strength Ellen.' she thought pressing the modify button.

"Let's play! Pretty Cure Modulation!" she called out inserted it causing the star on her Driver to vanish and it being replaced with a blue G Clef. The white star armor vanished as the G Clef came out of the image on the screen causing several blue musical notes to come out of it surrounding her chest, forearms, and boots forming blue armor parts, each of which had various notes along with a ribbon that formed above her waist forming a bow on back. "Cure Beat! Tsumabiku wa tamashii no shirabe!"

The others became surprised when they saw that the eyes of her helmet had become yellow. She then picked up her weapon causing it to glow as it changed. Once the glow was gone the sword was shown to now be a blue guitar which had the main part of it in the shape of a big heart along with a smaller heart where the strings converged which also had a slot on the larger heart.

"Love Guitar Rod Mk. II!" called out Seikō Beat. The car creature extended its tendrils to strike her so she responded by playing a riff. "Beat Barrier!" she called out creating a barrier around her deflecting them. After she charged at the creature, dodging the tendrils enough to get close and jump on what would've been its face and used it to jump higher before playing another riff. "Beat Sonic!" she yelled out creating several quarter notes which became narrow, looking like arrows, and flew straight down exploding on impact. After she pulled out Beat's module and pressed the button four times before inserting it into the slot of her weapon.

"Saishū-waza! Hissatsu!" called out the weapon as she fell at increasing speed making a small crater when slammed it into the ground.

"Beat! SHOCKWAVE!" she yelled out playing a riff which released a sound wave which the others saw for a second as the creature exploded. She looked up and saw an Eyecon. Immediately she jumped to grab it but right before she could close her hand around it the Eyecon vanished.

After she landed the others approached her. Seikō Beat turned to Sugarcoat as her armor changed back to it's default form.

"Sorry. It vanished before I could grab it."

"It's fine. Maybe Vinyl will get lucky." said Sugarcoat. "Let's head to the next enemy."

"Maybe we should take a quick break." said Sunny noticing Sunset seemed a bit more than fatigued.

"We don't have that luxury right now." said Sunset taking off quickly followed by the others.

'This does not bode well.' Sunny thought to herself.

Vinyl, Octavia, Sour, and Lemon arrived in front of a furniture store. To their surprise the creature in front of them looked like someone tried to make a big robot out of couches, used tar as glue to hold it together, and tried to use a recliner for the head. The four couldn't help but stare at the oddly ridiculous creature before Octavia pushed Vinyl hard.

"Right. Right. Sorry. This is just weird." she said putting on her Driver. "Time to take the stage." she said holding her lock.

"Orange." said a voice as it opened. After she placed it on her Driver and closed it. "Lock on!" it called out as a circular zipper opened above her with the large metal orange coming down.

"Henshin." she called as she sliced the lock with the blade on her Driver.

"Soiya! Orange Arms! Hanamichi On Stage!" it announced as the metal orange came down forming her suit and helmet formed before it folded down with a splash of juice creating her sword.

"Here goes nothing." she said charging at the couch creature. It tried to punch her but she jumped back giving her the chance to run up its arm, slashing as she ran. When she got to the recliner which was its head she hit it with a drop kick causing it to fall back as she used it to jump back. The creature got up and tried to strike her forcing Gaim to dodge. She rolled away from the punches before drawing her second weapon and using both to block a strike which still had a lot of force behind it causing her to be pushed back.

"Let's see what this does." she said re-slicing the lock.

"Orange Squash!" said the Driver. After she jumped, moving forward in a kick which seemed to be radiating energy orange slices. Upon being struck the creature stumbled but then moved its arms back and hit Gaim with both arms before lifting her and throwing her into a car. She got up but was in pain as she picked up her weapons.

Octavia was watching with the others and noticed there seemed to be an open slot similar to the one on Vinyl's Sengoku Driver with a small opening like the one where the lock was currently on. 

"Vinyl!" she called causing Gaim to turn. "Combine your weapons like you did before and put the lock on the gun blade!" Gaim looked at the sword that had the gun barrel and saw the space. After she combined her weapons and then took the lock off her belt before placing it on the space.

"Lock on! Ichi! Jyu! Hyaku! Sen!"

"Let's get serious." said Gaim using the blade with the lock which lit up with orange energy before she slashed four sending four orange wedge slashes which trapped the creature in a massive energy orange. Then she turned the weapon, now using the orange wedge blade causing it to glow.

"Orange Charge!" said the voice before she jumped straight at it, slicing the energy orange in half causing the creature to be split with it before both halves exploded. She saw something fly up but it quickly vanished.

After the others ran up to Gaim.

"Are you alright?" asked Octavia.

"That was the coolest thing ever!" Gaim cheered.

"This is cool and all but we should go since you did just blow up a few couches." said Lemon.

"Right. Let's go." said Gaim.

As they left they didn't notice five girls who spotted them. The five groaned and followed.

Seikō and the others arrived first to what turned out to be a group of warehouses. The four looked around to make sure they wouldn't be caught off guard.

"Looks like the first one's here." said a voice. They looked and saw Amaya looking down at them.

"Let's begin." she said as a magic circle formed in front of them. They were surprised when a large gray hand came out of it.

"This might be too dangerous." said Twilight as a second hand came out and both began to pull the very large humanoid creature which had long twisted horns and bone spikes on its arms.

"All of you hide." ordered Seikō.

"Are you sure you'll be able to handle that thing?" asked Sunny.

"No. I'm gonna keep it busy until Vinyl gets here. If we're lucky she got one of Sugarcoat's transformation Eyecons so the three of us can fight that thing." Seikō replied.

"And if she didn't?" asked Sugarcoat.

"You'll have to sit this one out." replied Seikō. "Though we might be able to get one of the Eyecons from it so you might wanna have it ready." Sugarcoat nodded and put on her Mega Ulorder before going to hide with the others.

"So where's the Hybrid?" asked Seikō.

"Hybrid?" asked Amaya. "So that's what you've been calling them. I like it. Anyway I sent it back since the other two were beaten. I thought you could use a real challenge. This is a Dialyn. A demon. This is a mid level one so on a scale from one to ten he'd be a four or five."

"Then we'll have to fight seriously." said a voice. They turned to see Gaim running up to her.

"Sorry for the wait. It's a long run." she said.

"Let's just finish this." said Seikō.

"Alright."

"Now let's make this interesting." said Amaya as she jumped and landed on the demon's head. She then pulled out the Eyecons. "I'll be up here so you can try to take them." she said juggling them before catching them.

It was then Dialyn tried to punch them forcing the two to dodge. Gaim tried to jump onto its arm but was caught off guard when several spikes struck her from below throwing her back.

"Ow." said Gaim. Seikō tried to jump onto it's head but was struck by a whip which caught her by the neck before she was spun and thrown.

"I never said I wouldn't fight." said Amaya.

The others watched the two Riders trying to land an attack on the younger girls only to be thrown, struck, or caught by a whip. The others noticed how the two seemed to be having trouble. What they were mostly confused about was that Sunset hadn't used any of her modules.

With their speed decreased from fatigue they had a harder time dodging the more they fought causing them both to be slammed into the ground.

"Sunset, can't you use one of your modules?" asked Gaim.

"No. I'm still too hurt from before and my nanites were disrupted so I couldn't heal that much." replied Sunset. "If I tried to use any of them I'd likely pass out. With most of them at least."

"Most?"

"The Furia module doesn't have the same kinds of restrictions because it doesn't have a person's data so I could still use it but if I did I'd probably lose control."

"Maybe not." said Gaim. Seikō turned to her. "I might be reading too much into it but when you're with us, even when you're thinking about them you're totally in control. Since we're all here, well most of us, maybe you can control yourself enough to take that thing out and change back." Seikō looked at Gaim.

"I suppose it is possible. I mean when I'm around all of you I feel much more calm." she said. "But now that I think about I may not have a choice. In my current state I can't use any of the other modules and I doubt you got any other lockseeds."

"So that's what they're called."

"I'll give it a shot but if I do lose control you have to make sure you attack me with everything you've got fast to knock me out. Even if you have to use finishing move."

"You got it."

"Well. Here goes nothing." said Seikō pulling out the Furia module. She pressed the button on it. 

"Furia!" said a deep voice as she tapped the modify button on her belt. Taking a deep breath she moved to insert it. Right when it was in the slot she heard voices.

"Sunset!"

She turned and saw her former friends waving at her.

"No." she whispered.

"Shit!" cursed Gaim as the Seikō Driver suddenly released a blood red energy which over took her body as she held her head trying stay in control but failed as her mind was consumed by blind rage and her entire suit changed color to match the aura now bleeding out of her body. She let out what sounded like a feral roar, but what surprised everyone was that now the mouth guard of her helmet opened, making her look like another demon.

"This is very interesting." said Amaya floating upwards.

"Sun...set." said Fluttershy in shock.

Seikō looked at the larger demon as it tried to punch her only for her to vanish. She reappeared behind the Dialyn as it dissolved.

"This'll be even more fun." said Amaya. "Hey Necrogirl!" Sugarcoat looked up. "Catch!" she called out throwing her the Eyecons. Sugarcoat caught one while Sour and Twilight caught the other two.

"Why did you give them back?" she asked with a glare.

"Because she's not pissed at me and watching you two fight her looks way more fun." replied Amaya with a giggle. They turned and saw that Seikō was now walking towards the Rainbooms and as much as they tried to reason with her Sugarcoat saw that if they didn't stop her Sunset would kill those five. She transformed and immediately went for a Rider Kick which was only enough to push her out of the path but no where near enough to knock her down. Gaim got up and went to help Necrom.

"You should've listened when we told you to stay away from her." said Necrom.

"Wh-What's wrong with her?" asked Pinkie as her hair deflated.

"This is what you five did to her." said Necrom. The five looked at Seikō Furia in shock and fear. The same thought ran through their minds.

'We did this. It's our fault. We did this to her.' Unknown to any of them the Crusaders had seen the Rainbooms following Gaim and the others and decided to follow figuring they could apologize to Sunset after the older girls but now the three were filled with fear and regret as they saw Sunset trying to attack the Rainbooms only for Necrom and Gaim to try to divert her attention by attacking her. Their attacks didn't do much even when they slashed her at close range or shot her at long range. Eventually Seikō struck Gaim a few times but with a lot power throwing her back as her armor and suit disappeared leaving her unarmed. Vinyl tried to stand but was in too much pain to do anything.

Necrom attacked her but when Seikō tried to punch her she became what looked like green goo which moved around as Seikō tried to hit her. After a few minutes she let out another roar which forced Necrom back into a solid form and throwing her back stunned. Seikō then walked towards the Rainbooms with her with aura radiating what the others could only described as bloodlust. They looked in fear as Seikō walked with her gauntlets becoming claws.

"Sunset stop!" Everyone turned and saw Indigo who ran in front of Seikō. "You don't want to do this. Remember? This is why you avoided going to school." Seikō roared once more. "Guess I don't have a choice." she said holding an item which was silver with a medium black ball in the middle that resembled a disco ball, had several sparkles which resembled stars, and included blue switch along with a small blue sphere on one end of it. She placed it on her waist creating a belt. Then she moved what looked like a shard on top of the belt.

"Meteor, Ready?" asked a voice.

She moved her arms around having her right hand near her should while her left was under her right elbow.

"Henshin!" she called out moving her arms to their directions with her right hand turning the blue sphere causing the shard like part of the Driver to wind back, spinning the black sphere, as funky music played at the same time blue energy came down engulfing her forming a mostly black armor which had several sparkling points which made the main part of her suit to look like she was wearing a picture of the starry sky, a blue shoulder guard on her right shoulder which had a narrow part that seemed to connect to the belt, an item on her right forearm with three switches with a finger pad, and a helmet that was silver on lower half of the face with large red eyes that had what looked like a clear blue meteor with a matching streak.

"Kamen Rider Meteor!" she declared. "I'll break the chains of your despair, Sunset." she said. Seikō roared and jumped to pounce on her forcing Meteor to jump back almost eight feet before taking a deep breath and raising one hand while holding out the other ready to fight. Seikō jumped at her as Meteor jumped, intercepting her with a kick that threw her back. Seikō landed on all fours and ran at her. Meteor saw this and moved up one of the switches on her forearm.

"Mars, Ready?" She then pressed her finger on the pad. "OK, Mars!" it said as a reddish yellow basketball sized sphere formed around her hand which made fire. She struck Seikō when she got close enough and grabbed her landing multiple strikes before throwing her back as the sphere disappeared. She saw the blood red aura began fading. Meteor then activated the switch that was on her belt causing energy to charge on the center sphere as three beats played. "Limit Break." She spun the center sphere releasing the charged energy as the eyes of her helmet momentarily glowed as she jump delivering a kick charged with a blue energy which threw Seikō back and dispelled the red aura causing her to return to normal as the Furia module landed near her. Necrom and Meteor canceled their transformations. Octavia helped Vinyl up as the others went to the now unconscious Sunset. She still remembering what she felt when she touched the module so she grabbed Sunset's hand to grab the module and placed it in her jacket's pocket before trying to help her up.

"Indigo she's unconscious. She won't be able to stand." said Sugarcoat.

"Oh. Right." said Indigo getting in front of Sunset and lifting her for a piggy back ride. Sunny went up to the Rainbooms who were still horrified.

"Now you know why she can't return to school. You did this to her and she knows that if she lost control it wouldn't just be you in danger. It would be the entire school." said Sunny with a cold glare. "I hope you're happy." she said walking away from them.

"And where were you this whole time?" Lemon asked Indigo.

"Well..."

Just under two hours ago

Indigo arrived at a small burger joint she remembered from when she was a kid. Once inside she quickly spotted her brother's cobalt blue spiked hair. She went to the booth where he sat and became surprised at what he was wearing. He was currently wearing a uniform similar to the one Sunset wears only the jacket has a patch on the left side of the jacket on the chest which has in the shape of a bull's head.

"I'm guessing by the look on your face you have a pretty good idea of why I've been gone." he said.

"You're a Rider too?"

"Kamen Rider Zolda." he replied.

"So what's the big emergency?" asked Indigo.

"Originally it wasn't that big a deal so I was taking a train but then Mercy sent me a message about serious trouble."

"What do you mean?"

"Mercy said that something disrupted the nanites in Sunset's blood. She's not healing as fast as she normally would. So it looks like you're the only one that'll be able to help her." he explained placing the Meteor Driver on the table.

"This is..."

"The Meteor Driver." he interrupted. "Listen to me. Mercy said Sunset would be fighting right now and as things are right now she may be able to use one mod but after that she won't be able to handle using another one so she'll probably use Furia."

"Furia?" asked Indigo before her eyes widened, remembering the module he was referring to.

"I don't know if she'll be able to control it but if she can't you'll have to knock her out."

"What?!" she asked in shock. "I can't hurt her. She's already been hurt by those girls."

"Calm down. You wouldn't be attacking her to hurt her. You're gonna keep her from hurting others."

"I'm still not sure I can do this."

"You can. It'll be for her own good."

"Even if I could fight her she said she was super dangerous when she was tested." said Indigo.

"The Meteor Driver's power source is cosmic energy. We didn't tell Sunset this but when during one of the tests Fourze fought her and it was found that his cosmic energy disrupted the energy the mod creates and uses. It had something to do with the fact that the cosmic energy that powers his switches is fueled by friendship. The same thing fuels the Meteor Driver, along with a space station that tracks it."

"I'm still not totally sure about this."

"Indigo you're not gonna try to kill her. You're trying to save her." he said pushing the Meteor Driver closer to her. Indigo sighed.

"I wouldn't have to use this for just that, right?"

"You'll be able to help her with the fights to come but if she's ever forced to use it and loses control you'll have to stop her."

"Alright. I'll do it." she said taking the Driver. "They're headed to fight some enemies. Can you find out where they are?" He pulled up his jacket sleeve and tapped what looked like a watch.

"Mercy?"

"There's some warehouses a few blocks from your current location, southeast."

"Alright. I'll make sure to save her."

"Thank you." said Mercy.

Present

"It's kind of a long story." said Indigo. "Let's get her home." The others nodded and followed.

"That was such a fun show." said Amaya landing in front of them. Everyone turned just before she held up her hand. "Watching this performance was more than enough for me. I just wanted to thank you for the show." she said before vanishing.

From the roof of one of the warehouses Heart, Brain, and Medic observed the girls.

"This is quite interesting." said Heart.

"I suppose we'll have to remain undercover?" asked Brain.

"Yes. We'll need to keep a much closer eye on things in school. I have a bad feeling about this." he replied. Medic looked at Heart concerned.

"What should we do?" she asked.

"We'll have to keep an eye on all of them." replied Heart.

Amaya arrived at what looked like a dark lab with several skeletons of different creatures around.

"It looks like your plan might be easier to pull off than you thought Doc."

"Indeed. Things are progressing in the most fascinating manner." said a man who's most distinguishable feature was a scar on the left half of his face with a dark smirk.

"What are your orders?"

"For now watch the girls. When time is right we will make our move."
> Aftermath
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The last couple of days had been pretty uneventful. After her use of the Furia module Sunset was unconscious for about a day and a half. She woke up feeling a bit sore but whatever had disrupted her nanites seemed to no longer be affecting them though she did still a bit of fatigue. Over the last couple of days Sugarcoat, Vinyl, and Indigo asked Sunset about what she'd researched having to do with their individual Drivers and powers to learn as much as possible. During that time Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie had been absent. Most of the school didn't think much of it. The only ones who had any idea why they were absent were their friends and the Shadowcolts.

The eight were in the Principal's office having been called in because Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna had a feeling they might have an idea for why Pinkie and Fluttershy had been absent.

Though there was a bit of an awkward silence at first they explained what happened those few days ago.

"So the reason Sunset didn't return to school is because she fears she'll lose control." said Celestia. The eight nodded. "And you saw first hand when she lost control?" They nodded again.

"I'm still a little sore from it." said Vinyl.

"What exactly happened?" asked Luna.

They explained what happened making sure to include that the Rainbooms showing up was what caused Sunset to lose control.

"Then I suppose it is impossible for her to return." said Celestia.

"Not impossible." said Twilight causing everyone to look at her. "The other day when she made the shortcake she said that when she gets a new module she has to bond with it. It's possible she has to synchronize with it which would explain why she couldn't use any of them when fighting the demon."

"You're thinking she could learn to control it if she can synchronize with it." concluded Sugarcoat. Twilight nodded. "We'd have to talk to her about it."

"If she is able to then she could come back." said Octavia. "We should definitely discuss this with her later."

"So was she able to stop herself?" asked Luna.

"No. I stopped her." replied Indigo.

"How did...?" began Celestia as Indigo pulled out her Meteor Driver and explained what about how she'd met with her brother and how after she'd gone to find them before having to knock out Sunset.

"How was she afterwards?" asked Celestia.

"She was out for a day and a half." replied Sunny. "After waking up she was sore for a while but she's fine now."

"That's good to hear." said Celestia feeling relieved.

"Perhaps we should go see her." Luna suggested.

"I'm not sure that's a good idea." said Lemon.

"What do you mean?" asked Luna.

"When we gave her your message she said she would contact you but that first she had to deal with some personal issues." explained Vinyl.

"I suppose it's understandable considering what she's been through and is currently facing." said Celestia. "Very well. Thank you for this information. You may go." The eight girls nodded and left.

"What are you thinking sister?" asked Luna.

"As much as I'd like her to return she's correct to stay away for now. I trust her to find her way."

"What about the two who are absent?" asked Luna.

"There isn't much we can do to help them." said Celestia. "Heart might be able to but they'd have to be here."

The three Rainbooms who did show up for school were in the music room. After they saw Sunset lose control all of them had constant nightmares. The guilt was more than Pinkie and Fluttershy could bare resulting in them not being willing to go to school. Every once in a while the others still hung out in the music room despite not having the drive to play anything.

"So how's Pinkie?" Rainbow asked Applejack.

"Maud says she cries herself dry, goes to sleep, and then wakes up screaming." replied Applejack. "How's Fluttershy?"

"Not doing much better." replied Rainbow. "I still can't believe that was Sunset."

"I suppose those Shadowbolt girls were right." said Rarity feeling discouraged. "It would've been better to leave things be."

"How are you Rainbow?" Applejack asked.

"We thought we knew how badly we messed up when the girls confessed they were Anon-A-Miss but seeing Sunset like that...knowing we were the ones who did that...I keep wanting to believe we can be friends again but..."

"At this points it feels like nothing we do will ever make it possible for us to be friends with her again." Rarity said as covered her face to hide the tears.

None of them noticed someone in blue jeans was listening to them. He walked away from the door.

"It's just about time for me to take a drive." he said with a smirk.

The day went pretty normal for everyone. Once they were done the Shadowcolts went to visit Sunset as they normally did but today they had decided to surprise her by taking her somewhere to help her relax.

Once they arrived at Sunset's place they found her practicing the violin. For a while Octavia had been wondering whether or not she should bring her Cello for them to practice together.

'Perhaps I'll ask her later.' she thought to herself.

The group waited for her to finish before approaching her.

"You're very good." said Sunny.

"Thanks. I just do this to relax." replied Sunset. "So what's up?" she asked.

"Well..." began Vinyl. "It kinda seems like you don't go out unless there's a bad guy or something so we thought you might wanna go out. You know. Just to hang out."

"Oh. I don't have anything that needs to be done so sure I guess." shrugged Sunset.

"Alright!" cheered the others surprising Sunset.

"Am I missing something?" asked Sunset confused.

"Sorry. We just kinda thought it'd take some convincing to get you to go out." explained Indigo.

"You figured I was one of those all work and no play kind of person?" she asked with a smirk.

"Kinda." replied Indigo.

"I train often but I know that if I never relaxed my body would more than likely break down." said Sunset. "So where are we going?"

"That's a surprise." said Lemon.

"Okay." said Sunset placing her violin on a stand. "Let's get going. To be honest it does get pretty boring being here alone."

"You don't have a TV?" asked Lemon Zest.

"Yeah but I've never really been one to watch TV. Before I was living in an abandoned factory so I didn't have the luxury of watching television."

"Really?" asked Vinyl surprised. Sunset nodded.

"So are we going or what?" asked Sunset with a smile. The others looked at her and then walked out with Sunny and Lemon taking her hands. They put a blindfold on her and led her. Lemon even put her her headphones on Sunset so she couldn't hear where they were going.

Sunset wasn't sure how long they walked but after a short while she felt they entered a vehicle of some kind. It felt like a while longer before someone removed the headphones and the blindfold was untied. After they removed it she opened her eyes and saw they were in the middle of an amusement park.

"Welcome to Wonder Park." said Sunny.

"I don't remember this place being here before." said Sunset.

"It's been open for about a month." replied Sunny. "My Uncle opened it so we got in free." she said handing everyone bracelets. "These will give us access to everything." she explained as they took them and put them on.

"Alright. So what should we go on first?" asked Vinyl.

"I've heard roller coasters are a good way to start the day at an amusement park." said Sunset.

"Roller coaster it is." said Sunny.

The group went on the roller coaster and had blast. They were even laughing when they got off and went on a few more rides.

During that time Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity had gone to see Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie. They'd convinced Pinkie to go with them and together they'd gotten Fluttershy to finally leave her home.

After they'd seen Sunset just over a week ago they'd figured that once they explained their side of the story she'd forgive them and return. They had planned to take her to Wonder Park to celebrate her return. After their encounter they realized Sunset wouldn't return so the three who did attend school decided to take the other two to the park in an attempt to cheer them up. They played a few games and went on a few simple rides since they figured Fluttershy wouldn't be able to handle the more thrilling rides. They had fun for a while but when they got out of the Funhouse they were giggling until Applejack bumped into Fluttershy who had stopped quite suddenly.

"Are you okay Fluttershy?" asked Applejack. The others looked at her as she stood frozen in place. They looked at her face and saw the shocked expression she had. They looked in the direction she was looking and realized why she'd gone stiff. Getting off a ride called the Dragon Twister was Sunset with the girls most of the students were now calling the Shadowcolts. The nine of them were smiling like they'd been having a blast but when they saw Sunset smiling and laughing with them the Rainbooms felt a flurry of negative emotions they weren't too familiar with. Regret, jealousy, sorrow, some anger, but most of all heartbreak. For a moment they stared before Fluttershy drew their attention by running away in tears. It took a second for them recover and chase after her.

Sunset and her friends were currently walking, wondering what ride they should go on next. As they walked they failed to notice a somewhat young girl in a pink hoodie walking by with a giggle.

"It's time to play." she said as an older looking guy who looked around eighteen. His body rippled becoming what looked like a human sized larva creature with legs which then seemed to molt. After it did it looked very much like a humanoid insect. The creature stepped out from behind a booth. At first people thought it was an employee in a costume but when it started attacking they ran in a panic.

The others had finally gotten Fluttershy to leave the bathroom in time for them to witness the attack. The five froze just before Seikō, Necrom, Meteor, and Gaim caught the creature by surprise by striking it from behind together. The others were helping the people who were afraid and getting them out of the area.

The four Riders looked at the creature as it got up but when it got up Seikō became surprised.

"Watch yourselves." she ordered.

"Why?" asked Meteor right before the creature moved at blinding speed surprising the three less experienced Riders. All four of them were struck repeatedly almost simultaneously before the creature ran off.

"That's why." said Seikō getting up.

"What the hell was that?" asked Gaim as they undid their transformations.

"A Worm." replied Sunset. "They're extremely dangerous."

"How dangerous could they be when they're called worms?" asked Indigo. "It just ran away."

"Worms are dangerous because they can imitate anyone. We still don't know how but it's been found that when a Worm imitates someone they get all of their memories becoming a perfect duplicate."

"What else can they do?" asked Sugarcoat.

"Outside of imitation they have two forms. The first is sturdier. They're slow but take little to no damage from most Riders. After molting however they're more vulnerable but can move almost at the speed of light."

"Do you have a module that could help?" asked Sugarcoat.

"Not really. Even the crater trick wouldn't work because the Worm could attack me several times in the time it'd take me to raise my fist, much less strike the ground." explained Sunset. "Maybe if I used the module of someone from Whip's team." she thought out loud with a hand on her chin.

"Why not use Cure Whip?" asked Sunny.

"The use of hers lets me use frosting as a weapon. Unfortunately that wouldn't stop it. It might slow it down but given how fast they move it's likely its speed would dry it out and it would just crack off." explained Sunset. When she looked up she noticed something in her peripheral vision. She turned and saw her former friends looking at them. She glared at them but her friends were surprised when they saw her eyes glow blood red as she clenched her fists. She turned away from the former but the current saw her baring her teeth which had all become sharp. Sunny and Indigo placed their hand on her shoulders. She saw the encouraging smile they gave her and sighed causing her eyes and teeth to return to normal. "I need my medicine." she said walking away. The others went with her leaving the Rainbooms feeling worse than before.

The sun had already gone down by the time they got back to Sunset's place. Sour had called her parents and said she was helping a friend so they wouldn't freak.

Once home Sunset stumbled in surprising the others. She went to one of the columns and placed her hand on it causing it to open. She then pulled out a gun-like injector and a vial with a light green liquid. She put the top of the vial on the back of the injector before injecting herself in the arm. Once the liquid was gone she pulled out the injector and sighed.

"Damn it. I was hoping I could stay in control without having to use this." she said feeling angry at herself.

"What was that?" asked Twilight.

"Nee-san calls it Resin." replied Sunset. "While I was being trained it was found that I could be on the edge of losing control even when I'm in civilian form. When that happens I become stronger and faster but the longer I let myself be at the edge the lower my chances of regaining control of myself. So Nee-san made that serum for me." she explained.

"What's in it?" asked Sugarcoat.

"I don't know. All I do know is that if anyone else takes it they'd fall into a coma." replied Sunset.

"So how come the same thing didn't happen when you went to the school?" asked Vinyl.

"I had been forced to focus on fighting an enemy. The adrenaline from that was enough to keep me from losing control for a couple of minutes." she replied before smiling and turning to Indigo. "I don't think I ever thanked you for keeping me from hurting them."

"It's cool. I'm just glad I didn't hurt you too badly." replied Indigo.

"I'm tougher than before so I can handle a beating." said Sunset with a smirk. "In any case I'll contact Nee-san to see if she has any ideas on how we can fight a Worm. The rest of you should go since you've got class."

"Good point." said Lemon. "We'll see you tomorrow." she said as the others left, minus Sunny.

"You're not heading home?" asked Sunset.

"I've got no one waiting for me and you stay alone so I'd say we could both use the company." replied Sunny.

"Interesting way to disguise your concern for me." said Sunset with a smile.

"You saw right through me." said Sunny returning the smile.

"If you really wanna stay then I'd recommend you at least head home to bring a change of clothes since you really don't seem like the kind of person who's okay with wearing the same thing multiple days in a row." said Sunset.

"While I'm not so fickle I suppose it would be preferable not to wear the exact same set of clothes." said Sunny. "I'll back in a bit." she said taking off. After Sunny closed the door Sunset turned with a scowl.

"Is there a reason you felt the need to spy on me?" The coffee table split and folded allowing the floor under it to open revealing a projector which showed Mercy who was looking to the side with a smile.

"It's nothing." she said. "In any case what did you need?"

"We faced a Worm not too long ago." explained Sunset.

"And you need help?"

"Right. All four of us tried to fight it but it caught us by surprise."

"Numbers won't help when the enemy that fast." said Mercy. "Your best chance would probably be to hit it with a wide spread attack."

"Wide spread? Like the archer mode Sparkle Sword?"

"Kind of but the bigger problem is that to cover the necessary range you'd have to use it at 100%."

"I see. Would the Beat Shockwave or the Happiness Hurricane work?" asked Sunset.

"I doubt it. The only other option you'd have would be to match its speed but as I recall it's you, Necrom, Meteor, and Gaim. I have something that might help a bit. I'll have it delivered so you should receive it by tomorrow."

"Understood." said Sunset. "I'll try to see if I can come up with something else."

"Alright." said Mercy. "I have to attend to something but I'll call you back in a bit. Oh and Sunset?"

"What is it?"

"Later we'll have to check to see if we can find who the Worm imitated. It's possible it might try to kill whoever it imitated along with anyone they're close to."

"Understood." said Sunset. The projection vanished and Sunset decided to make something to eat.

Once Sunny got back with a change of clothes and some PJs Sunset explained what she'd spoken to Mercy about.

"Then these Worms are much more dangerous than we thought." said Sunny.

"Sunny you said the park belongs to your uncle, right?"

"Yes."

"Do you know if the park has an active security system?"

"Yes. My uncle preferred to have it installed as they built it to avoid possible problems with the wiring." replied Sunny.

"Then we'll probably need to access it." said Sunset as the projector reactivated.

"I'm back." said Mercy.

"What were you doing?" asked Sunset.

"I got a new ring today but since I'm usually busy so I hadn't had a chance to test it." explained Sunset.

"So what does it do?" asked Sunny.

"It creates an amplifying barrier." replied Mercy.

"For regeneration?" asked Sunny.

"No. Both Sage and I have rings to create barriers. The one I just got creates a barrier that deflects any attack with double the force."

"That's great." said Sunset.

"So what should we start with?" asked Sunny.

"Right. First I'll need know where you fought."

"Wonder Park." replied Sunny.

"Sounds fun." said Mercy as they watched her typing on two separate keyboards.

"What time?" asked Mercy.

"We got back here at about six forty five so probably around six." replied Sunset.

"Alright. Let's see what we've got here." she said. "Alright. Just found your fight." she said. "Let's see..."

"I would've thought she'd need the password." Sunny whispered to Sunset.

"Nee-san is a really good hacker." Sunset whispered back.

"This is interesting." said Mercy surprising them. "Check this out." she said as a window was projected showing someone in a pink hoodie walking next to a guy with light blue skin and blue hair who wore jeans with a red dress shirt, a light pink tie, and a gray suit jacket that they had a barely visible lightning bolt at the collar. The two walked into a place between two booths near the bathrooms before the Worm stepped out.

"What do you think?" asked Sunny.

"I'd say the person you'll need to look for tomorrow is Thunderbass." said Sunset.

"Do you know him?" asked Sunny.

"Not really." shrugged Sunset. "I know he's a musician but that's about it. Nee-san?"

"Give me a sec." said Mercy as she began typing. "According to this he's got a younger sister who disappeared a few years ago but beyond that it's just him and his parents. From the looks of things they should be safe for now so just check on him tomorrow."

"Understood." said Sunny.

"Sunset be on stand by. It's possible it might attack during class."

"I know." said Sunset.

"Are you gonna need me to send you more Resin?"

"I've only used one vial so far."

"Okay. If you need any more just call."

"Right. How are the others doing?"

"Their mission hit some complications as it tends to happen but they'll be fine. It is entirely possible Chase and Marika might finish within the next few weeks though."

"That's great." said Sunset with a smile.

"Alright. Be careful you two." said Mercy as the transmission ended causing the projector to return into the opening and it to close.

The two spent most of the rest of the night watching movies on the large television that had been included with the penthouse like apartment. They'd made some popcorn allowing Sunny to see the place had been more than fully stocked with all kinds of food and snacks.

"Would you mind if I asked something?" asked Sunny.

"You can just ask." said Sunset.

"Who are Chase and Marika?" asked Sunny.

"Two members of my team." replied Sunset. "They're pretty much siblings even though he's not human."

"Not human?"

"It's complicated." said Sunset. "You'll understand when you meet them."

"It seems meeting your other friends will be interesting."

"They're my family." replied Sunset.

"So they're the reason you became strong?" asked Sunny.

"They're the reason I'm too stubborn to let the monsters beat me." replied Sunset.

The two went to sleep at around 9:30 since Sunny had class so Sunset let her stay in one of the extra rooms. That night Sunny dreamt something strange. She walked through the halls of Crystal Prep but there was no one else there. She was unsure what was going on and eventually she got tired of wandering around aimlessly. She went to the cafeteria and sat down to try to think. It was then the exit doors opened letting in a blindingly bright light. Sunny turned but could only make out a silhouette.

"Who are you?" she asked.

"I am the man who walks the path of heaven. The one who will rule over everything." he said. "And you are the one who will follow my path."

"Follow your path?" asked Sunny trying to get a good look at him but the light kept her from being able to make out anything past his silhouette.

"You've hidden from the world your true skills."

"I..." began Sunny looking to the side. "Even as a child I picked up on anything I was taught quickly but I was always alone because the other kids were either jealous or they thought I was a know-it-all. Aunt Cinch was happy about it but I always hated being alone."

"And that is why you hold back your talent even now." Sunny nodded. "Do you wish to help your friend? Do you desire the power to fight along side her?"

"Yes." she replied with no hesitation. "I will do anything."

"Then show your true talents to the world. It is then when you'll be able to take hold of the power you desire." he said as the light engulfed her.

She woke up early the following morning and tried to remember her dream but found most of it escaped her. There was just a thought in her mind that kept repeating. Show your true talents to the world. She got up and got ready. Sunset was still asleep so after showering she prepared something for both of them and left Sunset's portion under a plastic cover.

As she left she sent the others a message for them to meet up at the café in the shopping district that Sunset had shown them. The eight of them met up and Sunny explained what they'd found out the night before.

"So who do we need to check on?" asked Indigo.

"I believe Sunset referred to him as Thunderbass." said Sunny.

"I know him. He's an alright guy." said Vinyl.

"So we need to check if he's okay?" asked Octavia.

"That's the plan." replied Sunny.

"Then we should get going." said Twilight.

The eight headed to school. When they got to school they split up and got to looking for Thunderbass. They split up into three groups since the only ones who knew what he looked like were Vinyl, Octavia, and Sunny. They looked around until they Octavia's group spotted him coming out of the cafeteria. They texted the others to meet them near entrance before going up to him. They asked him if he'd seen anything odd recently. He'd replied that he hadn't outside of the what happen when Sunset returned.

Afterwards they met up with the others just a little bit before the bell rang. They told them they had nothing as they headed to class. School went as it usually did, although just like the days before Fluttershy and Pinkie were absent, but with one main difference. Since their transfer the other students had noted the six of them were above average in everything they did whether it was athletics or academics. Today, however, there was something different. While most of the other former Shadowbolts had been doing about the same at CHS as they had been at Crystal Prep but with less pressure today Sunny was breezing by everything, doing things even her friends had been unaware she could do. Even showing that her own athletic ability rivaled Indigo's and Rainbow's.

After school the Shadowcolts went to Sunset's place. When they got there Sunset gave a small box to Vinyl who was somewhat surprised. When she opened it she saw a new lockseed only this one had a strawberry with LS-06 on it.

"So how's this gonna help us?" asked Vinyl.

"That lockseed will give you a lighter armor and a smaller weapon." replied Sunset. "If you use it on your Musou Saber you'll be able to use a more wide spread attack."

"Musou...what?" asked Vinyl.

"The weapon you get when you transform. The sword with the gun."

"Oh. So that's what it's called." said Vinyl. "So what's the plan?"

"I'll explain in a bit. First there's something else I need to show you." replied Sunset. The others became curious and followed her to the elevator only instead of pressing a floor to pressed 3, 5, 11, 2, 17, and 28. After she pressed the floor numbers a screen turned on the opposite side from where the numbers which showed an arrow pointing down as it moved. After about a minute they felt the elevator stop. Once the doors opened Sunset led them into a dark area. When the lights came on they saw two motorcycles. The first was light blue while the other was green.

"What's going on?" asked Indigo.

"Nee-san decided you needed your own vehicles. These are prototypes for Meteor and Necrom made for you two. She's working on some other ones for you two but she's working on the others but hopefully you'll like these." explained Sunset. Sugarcoat and Indigo looked surprised for a moment before Indigo ran up to the blue bike and started hugging it.

"This is so cool!" she said excited.

"Hey, what about me?" asked Vinyl. Sunset handed her a lockseed only this one had a whitish pink flower on it. She looked at it confused.

"It's a Lock Vehicle like mine. This one's called the Sakura Hurricane."

"Sweet!"

Sunset turned to the others.

"You guys should stay here."

"What do you mean?" asked Lemon.

"The enemy we're facing now is able to move almost at the speed of light." began Sunset.

"And if it realizes we're friends the Worm might grab one of us." finished Sunny. Sunset nodded.

"As annoying as it is she's probably right." said Sour Sweet with her hands on her hips. "So what do we do in the meantime?"

"Actually there's something Nee-san wanted tested and now's a pretty good time for it." said Sunset with a smile. "Follow me." she said leading them back into the elevator. She pressed 9, 3, 10, 17, 13, and 22. Once she did the screen flashed and the elevator moved. When the doors open they were in a floor that had a lot of tech which included several monitors on the walls, a few desktop computers, and a central console which had a single seat with a circular keyboard. Sunset went to the console and pressed a button causing everything to activate. Then she hit a few keys causing three parts of the floor to open and rise. The three pillars opened and revealed three injectors which all had a glowing light blue liquid in them. She grabbed them and handed them to the other three Riders.

"What is it?" asked Sugarcoat.

"Nanites." replied Sunset. "They'll help accelerate your regeneration should you get hurt and your vitals can be monitored from the base or here."

"This is amazing." said Twilight looking around like a child in a toy store. Indigo and Sugarcoat injected themselves while Vinyl looked uncertain for a moment before doing the same. The three felt a bit odd for a moment but it passed. "So I guess you'll want us to keep an eye on you?" she asked.

"Not only that. The nanites will track us so you'll be able to see us via the traffic cameras. Each monitor will keep track of numerous cameras within a mile of each of us should we be in a situation where we have to transform so we'll need you to watch our backs.

"Got it!" said Twilight jumping into the seat of the central console excited. The others looked at her a bit surprised not having expected that reaction from her.

"Alright. Let's go." said Sunset. The four headed back down to the garage where they transformed. Seikō showed Gaim how to expand her bike while Necrom and Meteor got on theirs. After Seikō led them out surprising them when they saw the exit was only a block away in an alley.

"Can you read us?" asked Seikō.

"Loud and Clear." replied Twilight.

"Any sightings of the Worm?" asked Necrom.

"Actually you guys might wanna head to the skate park about ten blocks west of your current location." replied Twilight.

"I figured you'd figure the system out quickly." said Seikō smiling under her helmet.

"It's amazing! I'd heard of this system being used by the military to monitor hotspots but there wasn't much detail." replied Twilight as they headed to the skate park. "There's just one more thing Sunset. One of them is with him."

As this had been happening the Rainbooms who had gone to school decided they were gonna have to get over losing Sunset's friendship. Since Fluttershy and Pinkie were absent the other three decided to do their own thing after school to try to decide what they should do next. Rainbow had taken her bicycle to school so she could blow off steam. Once class ended she rode off to the skate park. She was doing tricks to clear her mind. She did this for a while before someone called out to her. When she stopped and turned she saw Thunderbass waving at her. She went up to him, leaning her bike on the pole he was near.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Nothing." replied Rainbow.

"We may not be as close as we were when were kids but I know you well enough to know the only time you come here is when you're either angry, frustrated, or confused about something. So which is it?" he asked. Rainbow was about to lie but then stopped herself with a sigh.

"All three." replied Rainbow. He looked at her concerned and she explained their encounter the week before when Sunset lost control. She then explained how she'd gone with her friends yesterday to Wonder Park and that they'd seen her, including how seeing Sunset with those other girls made her feel and how when she saw them her eyes started glowing. 

"Wow. That sounds rough." he said.

"Yeah and since then I just...I needed to blow off some steam."

"So you miss her?"

"Well yeah."

"It's pointless." said an oddly familiar voice. They turned and saw another Thunderbass walking towards them.

"Whoa." said the two.

"Are you my twin or something?"

"No. I'm the one that's gonna replace you." he said walking towards them as a girl in a pink hoodie stepped out from behind him.

"Let's get our bait." said the girl.

"Understood." said the fake Thunderbass. He held out his hand but was caught off guard when a few blasts threw him back. The girl in the hoodie simply looked back before turning to the direction the shots had come as four motorcycles landed between the two pairs, ridden by the four Riders.

"Oh goody. You're here." said the girl in the hood as she threw it off revealing she had straight pink hair tied in twin tails, wore a white costume with light pink frills, mid length boots, and a green plaid bracelet that almost resembled a scrunchie. Her skin, however was a much darker shade of pink. "Show them what you've got." she said with a smirk. The fake Thunderbass got up and yelled as his body rippled changing to his Worm form.

"Now!" yelled out Seikō. Gaim nodded and took off her orange lockseed causing the orange part of her armor to fold up into the fruit form before it disintegrated. After she took out her new lockseed.

"Ichigo!" the voice said as a hole with a zipper opened above her head with a metal strawberry coming out of it which had the tip folded to the side. She put the lock on her Driver. "Lock on!" it said before she sliced it. "Soiya! Ichigo Arms! Shushutto Spark!" it said as the strawberry landed on her helmet before folding on her forming another chest and back plate with the part of the strawberry with leaves going on her left shoulder. The Worm sped off as Gaim put the lock on her Musou Saber.

"Lock on! Ichi! Jyu! Hyaku! Sen! Ichigo Charge!" it called out as she swung her weapon upwards forming an energy strawberry which exploded releasing several throwing knives, which each had a strawberry on it, striking around them. A few did hit the Worm but it moved fast enough to keep from taking too much damage from most of them. It was then they heard something.

"Drive Type: Next!" called out another voice. They group turned and saw a Rider in a black suit and armor which was accented with blue lines which had a mostly black helmet with blue visors which looked like headlights, a black and yellow tire which went from the left should to below the right arm, a belt which had a circular screen which had an N with a circle over and under it, and a wrist brace that had a small black, blue, and yellow car. The knew Rider held out his hand materializing a sci-fi looking gun that had a blade coming out of the top of it. He pointed the barrel forward and fired at the Worm throwing it back.

"You can't beat a worm's speed." said the girl as it sped up.

"We'll see about that." said the Rider in a distorted voice as he used his palm to hold the back part of the car and pull if upwards three times.

"Ne-Ne-Next!" said the belt. After he seemed to move at the same speed as the Worm. The two collided with the new Rider slashing the Worm a few times before the two were separated a small explosion between them. They looked and saw the girl aiming a blueish weapon towards them. "Time to go." she said seriously before they both vanished surrounded by what looked like pixels. Seikō and the others went up to the new Rider.

"Who are you?" she asked.

"I am Kamen Rider Drive Next." he replied walking away. Seikō narrowed her eyes but then went up to Thunderbass.

"That creature will come after you again until it kills you. When it does use this to contact us." she said handing him a small device about the size of a quarter which had a button. Rainbow wanted to try to talk to Sunset but hesitated. Thunderbass took the device.

"Since you're here maybe you could talk to Rainbow." he said.

"There's nothing to talk about." said Seikō in dead tone. Thunderbass was about argue when there was an explosion of smoke. When it cleared the Riders and their bikes were gone. Rainbow sighed.

A few blocks away Heart, Medic, and Brain stood in an alley as Drive Next arrived.

"How do you feel?" asked Heart.

"Perfect." replied Next.

"Let's get you back to our lab so we can run some tests. Just in case." said Medic. Next nodded before undoing his transformation.

"Nice Drive!" said his belt as they left.
> Time Out
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Riders regrouped back at Sunset's place. In the time they had taken to get back Twilight had played back the footage in an attempt to find who Drive Next was while the others kept an eye on the monitors. A few minutes later the Riders returned in civilian form.

"So any idea who that guy was?" asked Indigo.

"I've been checking the cameras to see if there was any footage of Next transforming but he's blurred out up until he transforms." explained Twilight showing them a video which showed someone who was blurred moving towards the skate park. The person became surrounded by something after transforming the blur was shown to become Drive Next.

"So we've got nothing." said Vinyl.

"Who he is doesn't matter." said Sunset surprising them. "We need to focus on finding the Worm."

"Are you sure? It seemed like you didn't recognize that Rider." said Vinyl.

"I can call Nee-san about that tomorrow. The priority right now is taking out the Worm." replied Sunset. "What I can tell you is that he seems to be a more advanced version of Kamen Rider Drive. He's definitely got an edge over Types: Speed, Technic, Wild, or Formula." The others looked at her confused. "I'll explain later. Twilight did you pick up anything from the Worm or that girl?"

"Nothing. She actually appeared in the same way she left. Just on the roof of the bathrooms." replied Twilight.

"This is gonna be tricky." said Sunset. "You guys should probably head home. I'm gonna have to pull an all nighter."

"Better idea." said Sunny. "How about if we have a sleepover?" Everyone look at her surprised. "Sunset, you've been trying to shoulder this responsibility even with the support we try to provide. I'm sure you know that if you try to spend to night working you'd lose efficiency. I propose we have a sleepover. That way we can all relax tonight and when we leave for school tomorrow morning you'll be able to think clearly during the day so you can look at the possible data with fresh eyes."

"Sounds fun." said Lemon.

"Totally!" added Indigo. Sunset looked a bit uncertain but then sighed.

"I guess it couldn't hurt." she said. "But if we're gonna do this you all of you should get some stuff from home you might need."

"Alright." said Vinyl with a smile.

"Sunset." She turned to Octavia. "I was wondering if perhaps you'd be interested in playing a duet."

"I don't mind but are you sure? I'm still pretty new to it."

"You might still be learning but you're fantastic." encourage Octavia.

"If you're fine with it then sure." replied Sunset.

"This will be quite fun." said Octavia feeling excited. After she followed the others as they left. Once they were gone Sunset turned to Sunny.

"How long have you been planning this?" she asked.

"So you knew I was going to do this?" countered Sunny.

"Yesterday when you came back I saw you were hiding clothes by bunching them up. You've got some similarities with Rarity so it was pretty easy to figure out that if you were to bunch up clothes it'd be to hide something." said Sunset. "So are you still worried I put you and the others on the same pedestal I had my former friends?"

"How did you...?" began Sunny.

"What do you think I do here all day?" asked Sunset. "I keep an eye on CHS's security system to make sure someone doesn't try something while you guys are in class."

"Then the cameras must be quite advanced to pick up on the conversation we had in front of the school." said Sunny.

"So are you still worried?"

"Have you thought of it?"

"I know myself well enough to understand my limitations." replied Sunset. "At one point I did consider it. I wondered if my reason for trusting you was as simple as you reminding me of them."

"And is it?"

"It was the reason I was willing give you a chance, that much is true. However I know you are better than them." said Sunset.

"What do you mean?" asked Sunny confused.

"When I first came here I was guided by ambition. The desire to complete my objectives no matter the cost. It didn't matter who I had to crush. After I realized I had much learn about friendship so I never questioned what they did. Back then I realized I was wrong when I held my tongue about their mistakes. They thought that because they try to be good they were never wrong. From what I've seen you and the others always saw your flaws. That's why I felt I could trust you and the others."

"I see. You've thought about this a lot, haven't you?"

"Not as much as you'd think. After we had our little chat I started questioning myself." replied Sunset. "So what's your interest in me?"

"You've been though a lot. It just seems like you need someone to watch your back."

"Try again." said Sunset.

"So you've already learned to read me as well as well as I've learned to read you." said Sunny.

"Considering how often we hang out after the others leave it was only a matter of time." replied Sunset. "So what's the truth?" Sunny looked side and then looked back at her.

"I see myself in you."

"You see yourself in me?" asked Sunset a bit confused. Sunny nodded.

"While going to Crystal Prep the others and I stayed close but it was more for the security than anything. We did start getting close over time but I decided that if we were going to stay together our little group required some leadership. So...I took control. Originally it was just to make sure we were safe from the rest of the school since there's hardly any loyalty, even within clubs. Eventually we sort of became the ruling group of the school because we stood above in each of the clubs we were in."

"What about Twilight?"

"We told her to sit with us during lunch because most of the other students resented her. I'm sure you've realized she would sometimes get so nervous she wouldn't leave her lab."

"She's definitely different than Princess Twilight."

"I'll have to take your word for it." said Sunny. "That's part of why I see myself in you. We stood above everyone at Crystal Prep but it's something none of us ever really thought it would happen. We stood on top but all that did was put targets on our backs. Personally I still sometimes feel on edge when we're at school. From what I've heard back then you ruled with an iron fist much like we wound up doing. I'm glad I met you."

"Makes you wonder, doesn't it?"

"What?"

"How different things would've been if things had been different."

"Actually I'm pretty happy with things now."

"Me too." said Sunset. "As odd as my family is they've treated me like I've always been one of them from the moment Nii-san took me to the base."

"There's something the others and I are a bit curious about." said Sunny. "For the most part it seems that when you use your modules the armor you use is the only thing that changes."

"So why did my helmet's eyes change color?" Sunny nodded. "I bond with the modules by connecting with their hearts but I don't connect with all of them at the same level. It's like when one becomes friends with someone new. You'll be more likely to get closer to someone with whom you've got more in common."

"So what do you have in common with Cure Beat?"

"Cure Beat, Cure Passion, and Cure Scarlet." said Sunset. "They were the first I could relate to because the three of them were former villains. They understood what it was like to struggle with the confusion of losing one's sense purpose when their eyes were opened to the evils they were participating in. They gave me the courage to fight so when I use their modules I can synchronize 100% with them. That's why my helmet's eyes change color. With the others I use their power because they let me but with Setsuna, Ellen, and Towa I don't just use their power. When I use their modules each of them becomes one with me because our hearts resonate."

"That's amazing." said Sunny. "Does that have to do with why you press the button on your modules multiple times when you use them in your weapons?"

"No. That's to charge them up. Every time I press it the module charges about ten percent. I can only go as far as charging one fifty percent if I'm not able to completely synchronize with it. If I were to try to go past fifty with Sunshine, Sword, or Whip the backlash would hurt my target and me."

"Did you learn this from personal experience?"

"Yeah. When I trained they tested me and one of those times I tried seeing how much I could handle. I used Sword's module at 100%. I damaged the nerves in both my hands. It took my nanites four days to fix the damage."

"Were you in any pain?"

"At first. When it happened I passed out from the pain but when woke up I couldn't feel my hands. They told me I burned out my nerves. The first day I had a hard time controlling my hands because I couldn't feel them. The second I was regaining the feeling in them but it was small bits of pain. The third I felt an almost unimaginable pain for almost a full day. It wasn't until the fourth when my hands finally returned to normal." explained Sunset as she turned her head.

"Is something wrong?"

"I'll be right back." she said. She went to her room and checked her communicator and saw a flashing dot on a map. Her eyes narrowed. She picked it up, put on a jacket, and headed out. "Sunny I'll be back in a bit. When the others get back tell them to relax." she said as she left too quick for Sunny to say anything.

Sunset walked for a few minutes following the map. She became surprised when she wound up in front of the warehouse where she'd lost control.

"Nice memories, wouldn't you say?" asked a voice.

"Hardly. I keep myself in check for that reason." replied Sunset. "Why did you send me that map?" she asked turning to the person, unsurprised it was Amaya, only wearing a tiger mask.

"I thought about what happened when I watched your show." she said. "I enjoyed it so much I wanted to ask for an encore."

"That's not happening." replied Sunset.

"Then maybe this will change your mind." said Amaya throwing something at her. Sunset caught it but when she opened her hand her eyes widened. The item was what looked like a flash drive that was whitish gray and had an E and had Eternal printed on the side.

"This is..."

"Eternal's memory." finished Amaya. "He took it as a trophy." Sunset's left hand clenched tightly.

"Who is he?"

"His name's Zeal. He's a Roidmude. He copied some guy out in England. I'm sure you're well aware of the ability Roidmude's have."

"Density Shift. The capability to slow down the world around them making anyone around them easy targets. The only ones equipped to fight them are Drive, Chase, and Drive Next."

"Not entirely true." said Amaya. "When you went wild you created distortions around you. I don't know what it was exactly but it was interesting."

"Do you have a grudge against him?"

"No. I just think he'd be your best possible opponent."

"What are you?" asked Sunset.

"You'll find that out in time. He'll be soon so I hope you give a good show." said Amaya before vanishing. Sunset looked at the memory.

"I will avenge you Star." she said before heading back.

By the time Sunset got back the others had arrived. Sour Sweet was playing on a portable console she didn't recognize while the others were messing around with some other things.

"Welcome back." said Sunny causing the others to turn to her.

"Thanks."

"Where'd you go?" asked Vinyl.

"I...I met with Amaya." replied Sunset. The others looked at her confused before remembering who she was talking about.

"Why?" asked Indigo. Sunset looked down and then showed them the memory. "What is that?"

"A Gaia Memory. Specifically the Eternal Memory."

"Is it a weapon?" asked Octavia.

"It's a transformation item like Vinyl's Lockseeds." replied Sunset. "It belonged to a friend of mine."

"Belonged?" asked Lemon.

"The Rider who used it...died." The others looked at her shocked. "We were on a mission. We had to split up. The others distracted the bulk of their forces while Eternal and I were supposed to go after some guy who had been dealing Gaia memories to find out how he'd gotten them. That's when things went bad."

A two months ago

Eternal and Seiko walked into massive office that looked like a penthouse.

"He must be making a lot of money." said Eternal.

"Where do you think he is?" asked Seiko. They look around and spotted a seat turned away from them. They went up to it and became shocked. Their target was sitting there only with multiple burns.

"He'd dead." said Eternal.

"That's right." They turned and saw a humanoid creature that seemed to an arm with ice, one with fire, the legs with a white armor, the body with a green armor, and helmet with a single visor.

"Who are you?" asked Seiko.

"Beat me and you'll see." he replied. Seiko pulled out a module as she hit the modify arrow.

"Pretty Cure, Love Link!" yelled out Seiko pressing the module.

"Cure Sword!" it called as she inserted it, changing her armor. "Cure Sword. Yuki no Yaiba!" Eternal summoned her weapon which was a combat knife with a narrow slot as Seiko summoned her weapon in sword mode. The two, however, held their weapons in defensive stances. The creature raised it's frozen arm and an icy mist which covered everything blew out of it. The two moved back to back as the icy mist became thicker.

Back with the girls

"So what happened?" asked Sunny.

"I'm still not completely sure myself." replied Sunset. "One minute we were in that huge office and the next in some sort of glacier in a blizzard. We kept our guard up but it didn't help. We both took several hits and were forced apart. I'm not sure why but while he did attack both of us, he focused more on me. I took enough damage to change back. He was about to kill me so Eternal used her Maximum Drive to blocked the blasts. I think she realized she wouldn't be able keep taking out the blasts so she created a shockwave. I was thrown back at that office but I didn't know what happened to her...until now." she said looking at the memory.

"Why did she tell you?" asked Sunny.

"She said she enjoyed my 'show' so much she wanted an encore." replied Sunset.

"Your show?" asked Octavia.

"She wants to see you go crazy again?" asked Vinyl surprised.

"Yeah."

"What will you do?" asked Octavia.

"It's impossible for me to know how I'll react to fighting the one who killed my best friend."

"What was her name?" asked Sunny.

"Starlight Glimmer." replied Sunset.

"What kind of person was she?" asked Indigo.

"She became a Rider six years ago. Her family was killed when she was eleven. A Rider had gone to face the creature but she didn't make it in time. By the time she got there the Fangire had already fed off her parents and was about to finish her off."

"Fangire? Is that like a vampire?" asked Lemon.

"Kind of." replied Sunset. "A Fangire doesn't feed on the blood of others. Instead they feed on the life energy of humans."

"What's the difference?" asked Sour.

"Vampires drink blood so they usually have to make some kind of cut or puncture to get it out. A Fangire sort of forms these fangs near their victim which drain their life force. There's no mess aside from the victim being left as a transparent husk. Visually speaking it's like their color gets drained and they're left kind of like a crystal."

"Whoa. So what happened?" asked Vinyl.

"She was taken to the base. They found the Eternal Memory resonated with her so she was trained. She just had somewhat different training than I did. She taught me a lot of things."

"Hey Sunset?" asked Twilight.

"Yeah?"

"We were thinking about something." said Twilight.

"Okay."

"Do you believe it'd be possible for you to synchronize with your Furia module?" asked Octavia.

"It's impossible." replied Sunset.

"Why?" asked Twilight.

"I can synchronize with the Pretty Cure's modules because there's someone to synchronize with. The Furia module contains nothing but raw emotion. The reason I can't use it without losing control is that every day, from when I wake up in the morning to when I go to sleep at night, I always remember their words and the pain as if it had just happened. The only time I forget the pain is when I'm around my family or when I'm with all of you."

"You don't think us being around you would help?" asked Lemon. Sunset raised an eyebrow. "Right. Stupid question."

"So what should we do?" asked Indigo.

"I think a little sparring session might do us some good." said Sunset.

"Sparring?" they asked surprised.

"You've fought and tried to learn more about the powers your devices allow you to wield but the only time you actually test yourselves is when we fight the creatures that are sent. It might help with future battles if we were to spar every once in a while."

"Should we spar here?" asked Indigo.

"I was thinking about it and I think we can start that tomorrow. We're having a sleepover so let's have fun."

"Alright!" the others cheered.

Another Sleepover a distance away.

The Crusaders were currently having a sleepover as well at Apple Bloom's while Applejack spent the night at Fluttershy's to keep the shy girl company.

For a while the three hadn't been allowed to spend extended periods of time together without supervision or checking in but a few weeks ago their parents decided they'd proven they could be trusted so they were allowed to have a sleepover. The three girls currently sat in Apple Bloom's room silently. The three of them had been so horrified by Sunset's transformation that when she was fighting her friends who protected their sisters and the others they found themselves unable to move. Like their sisters the three had been having nightmares. Prior to Sunset's reappearance they'd planned to have the sleepover on this night since it was the first day their home punishment ended but right now none of them were feeling up to it.

"So how've your sisters been?" Scootaloo asked her friends.

"Rarity was scared...I heard her crying last night but I think it was in her sleep." replied Sweetie.

"Applejack just kept doing her chores, she even skipped dinner." replied Apple Bloom sadly.

"Dash started avoiding me again."

"Really?" asked Sweetie.

"Yeah. She started leaving to school before I get up. She doesn't even look at me during soccer practice. Even during dinner she doesn't look at me and she barely says a word to me."

"I still can't believe Sunset transformed into that...monster." said Sweetie holding herself as she shivered.

"I'm sure it'll be okay Sweetie." said Apple Bloom.

"How can you say that?!" demanded Sweetie with tears forming in her eyes. "That monster...Sunset became that because of us. Our sisters almost died because of us."

"Yeah but our sisters forgave us." countered Scootaloo weakly.

"Yeah..." said Sweetie. "They forgave us even when we're the reason she was forsaken. We ruined her life and worse of all we're the reason she tried to kill herself."

"What are you talking about?" asked Apple Bloom.

"A few days ago I was hiding in one of the tree in front of the school and I heard that Sugarcoat girl say that Sunset tried to kill herself."

"I-I'm sure you heard wrong." said Apple Bloom.

"I know what I heard." said Sweetie wiping her tears before getting up. "I'm gonna go for a walk."

Sunset and Octavia were playing for their friends who were surprised how the two could play so well together despite never having practiced. They enjoyed the concert after having dinner and afterwards they checked the large tv which was hidden behind one of the walls in the living room for the video/audio jacks. Once they found them Sour Sweet plugged in a game system she'd brought from home which surprised the other ex Shadowbolts since none of them had ever known she was actually a Genius Gamer, much less that she owns several systems. Once they got it on they Sour put in a fighting game.

"By the way what's that game you've been playing?" Lemon asked Sour.

"A game I got the other day with a new system. I think the system and the game are still in Beta testing but the game's really fun." replied Sour as she took out the controllers and remotely turned on the system with one of them. "Alright how about having Sunset and Sunny start?"

"I'm not one for games." said Sunny.

"Don't be a such a stick in the mud. This is a sleepover and we need some games." said Lemon. "Let's get started!"

"Fine. If it'll get you off my back I'll play." said Sunny. Sour put in a game and set it. They saw it was a fighting game and the set up had a large character selection with three slots for each player. The two of them played, pulling off things Sour had only seen experienced player pull off. The match ended with Sunset's victory since Sunny wasn't exactly interested. They played for a couple of hours with Sour only playing occasionally. At around midnight when they started feeling drowsy so they set up sleeping bags in the living room.

That night Octavia dreamt she was walking through what looked like the lobby of a building. She looked around until she heard the elevator ding. She turned to look but saw a bright light and a silhouette. It looked to be a man, as far she could tell, with his hands in his pockets.

"Who are you?" she asked.

"It doesn't matter." replied the man as he took a few steps forward. "Do you desire the power to fight?"

"I've been forced to watch my friends fight, completely unable to help in any way. If I can find a way to fight along side them I'll take it."

"You seem to be of a high social standing."

"Yes."

"Do you know the concept of Noblesse Oblige?" asked the man.

"I believe I heard of it as a child but I was told to continue my practice so I never heard what it meant." she replied.

"Those who own power and privilege have a duty they must fulfill. That's what Noblesse Oblige means." he explained. "I did what I had to in order to protect my world. Will you accept your responsibility as one with privilege?"

"Yes. If I can help others and the friend I failed I'll do it." declared Octavia.

"I look forward to seeing what you do."

They slept for a few hours before being abruptly awoken by an alarm. The friends got up and headed down to the control room. Twilight got in the control seat and started typing. The screen changed showing the portable emergency button she'd given to Thunderbass had been activated from his home.

"Let's go." ordered Sunset. The other Rider nodded and they left. They looked at one of the screens which now had a map and showed Four dots moving through the roads when one of screen started flashing.

"What's that?" asked Lemon Zest.

"Hang on." said Twilight as she typed. The flashing monitor changed showing Mercy.

"Is Sunset still there?" she asked.

"You just missed her." replied Sour.

"Damn. Alright. Listen to me carefully."

A few minutes later they arrived at the house though Sunset recognized the street from one of the sleepovers she'd had before being disposed of. The four Riders saw the door was partially open and were about to go but when Thunderbass flew out the door, damaging its hinges. The four went up to him. He was alive but unconscious.

"Get ready for a fight." said Seiko bringing out her weapon in its rifle form. The four stood ready to fight as the Worm stepped out.

"You came to interfere?" it asked. Before any of the Riders could respond he sped up but something was different.

"Damn it." cursed Seiko.

"What happened?" asked Twilight over their comms.

"There's three of them now." replied Seiko.

"Great. Like we didn't have enough trouble with just one." said Meteor as they got up.

"Any ideas?" Necrom asked Twilight.

"Just hold on. Help is on the way."

"Who's helping?" asked Gaim. The three Worms kept attacking them up until Meteor moved one of the switches she had up and tapped the pad.

"Saturn, Ready? Ok, Saturn!" it said as it formed a sphere with a ring around it. She jumped swinging her arm how one would while swinging a sword sending several rings out, a few of which hit some of the Worms throwing them back. She activated the Mars switch but was hit by the third Worm before she could strike the other two and was thrown back. The other two got up and sped up hitting Necrom, who didn't have the reaction time to change form, Gaim, and Seiko.

"I'm starting to think we should've planned a strategy for this." said Meteor. It was then another motorcycle arrived. Everyone watched as the person on the bike removed their helmet and got off.

"I didn't hear you complaining when we were playing that game." said Sunny Flare walking towards them. Seiko noticed she now wore a belt around her waist with a curve in the front which looked to be for something.

"Sunny?" asked Sugarcoat surprised.

"What are doing here?" asked Meteor.

"Following my path and helping my friends." replied Sunny as a hand sized mechanical rhino beetle with a circle near the center of its back flew near her. She held her right hand up and it flew into it. "Henshin." she called out sliding it with the horn pointed to the left.

"Henshin." said a mechanical voice from the beetle as the circle lit up causing a heavy armor to form from hexagons which had circles on the shoulders, the right one having a rhino beetle on the right one which had ZECT in the middle. 

"Kabuto." said Seiko surprised. The Worms attacked her but didn't do much damage.

"My turn." said Kabuto as she flipped the horn of the beetle causing it to play a charging sound as the heavy outer armor loosened. "Cast off." she said pulling the horn to the opposite side like a lever extending part of the beetle.

"Cast off." said the mechanical voice as the loosened armor exploded off her causing it to hit and destroy the two weaker Worms and a horn which was revealed to move up making the helmet resemble the beetle a lot more.

"You're gonna pay for that." said the Thunderbass Worm as it sped up.

"Clock up." said Kabuto tapping a pad on the side of her belt. 

"Clock up." said the mechanical voice as Kabuto sped up a the same speed as the Worm but with an edge of skill as she was able to counter the Worm's wild strikes. The other Riders watched as two blurs repeatedly clashed around them until one attack launched the Worm into the air. Kabuto moved ahead of where the Worm was gonna land and hit the three buttons on the side of the beetle before pushing part of the shell back as well as the horn. "1, 2, 3." it said.

"Rider kick." said Kabuto pulling the horn back.

"Rider Kick." said the mechanical voice as electricity was released from the beetle and traveled up Kabuto's armor to the horn before going down to her right foot as she roundhouse kicked striking the Worm when it got close enough to her causing it to explode.

"Whoa." said Meteor unsure of what else to say.

"Let's get Thunderbass back inside." said Seiko as she picked him up over her shoulder. After putting him in what she figured was his room they put the door back and left.

Twilight took off her headset and sighed.

"It looks like things went well." said Octavia.

"Why did it have to happen so early." said Sour grumpily.

"Heroes don't always have time to rest." said Lemon with a sleepy laugh."Right Twi?" She turned but then saw Twilight had fallen asleep still in the control seat. "Well...let's go back to the living room." she said. "Hey Octavia, can you give me a hand?"

"Sure." replied Octavia with a yawn. The two got Twilight out of the chair and they made their way to the elevator with her arms around each of them while Sour just looked out of it.

By the time the Riders made it back the others were already asleep so they decided to do the same.

Later that morning when the others got to school they still felt a bit drowsy. There was one difference though. Sunny noticed someone seemed to be observing them and smiled.

"Why don't you guys go on ahead. There's something I need to do."

"Alright. Just do whatever you gotta do fast." said Lemon as they went ahead.

Sunny walked to the side of the school and stopped under a tree.

"You seem to be quite interested in us." she said.

"It's not you I'm interested in. I know guys hang with Sunset." replied a voice.

"Then you know we're helping her." said Sunny.

"Yeah."

"Were you one of the ones who tried to prove her innocence?" asked Sunny.

"I had to. My cousin's one of the reasons she tried to kill herself. I have to make things right."

"Would you like to see her?"

"Not yet. Just keep stay with her. Don't hurt her like my cousin and the others did."

"Might I ask your name?" The girl jumped off a tree branch and landed behind Sunny.

"Name's Surprise. Wondercolt midfielder." replied the blond before walking away.
> Rider Trap
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The group was eating on the roof of the school as they usually did.

"So when you get your Driver?" Indigo asked Sunny.

"It's not a Driver." she replied. "It's the Kabuto system. The beetle is known as the Kabuto ZECTer."

"Is that why your belt doesn't compact like ours?" asked Vinyl noticing she was wearing it over her skirt.

"Right. My belt has a system that was too complex to compress."

"Too complex?" asked the others.

"Does that have to do with how you moved so quickly?" asked Octavia."

"Yes. The Clock Up system."

"So when exactly did you get it?" asked Vinyl.

"Yesterday, a few minutes after Sunset left. There was something of an alarm. I followed it to the elevator and then to the control room. One of the keys was flashing so I pressed it. Turns out there's a device there to teleport things. Mercy sent it to me as well as a Module for Sunset."

"Then why did you wait until the Worm attacked to show us?" asked Indigo.

"I like making an entrance." replied Sunny with a smile.

"So are you guys just gonna keep wearing your old school's uniforms?" wondered Vinyl.

"We haven't had much chance to decide on alternate outfits." said Sunny.

"It's not like we ever really thought about what we'd wear outside of our time out of school. Plus, it's convenient." said Indigo.

"It's understandable since your uniform was a requirement." said Octavia.

"Huh. So that's why you wear such monotonous outfits." said a voice. They turned and saw the girl who had been with the Worm when Thunderbass was attacked.

"You!" they all called out standing up.

"Yes. Me." she replied in a childish voice.

"What are you doing here?" asked Indigo as they pulled out their drivers.

"Just looking around. It gets so boring having to wait for orders." she said. The girls looked at each other confused.

"Who are you?" asked Lemon Zest.

"My name's Pixie Pipopapo." she said with a smile.

"Do you just hang here when no one's around?" asked Vinyl.

"No. Just when I'm looking for someone." replied Pixie. Sunny noticed she seemed to be wearing the device she'd used as a weapon as a driver.

"Are you a Rider as well?" she asked.

"You noticed my Bugvisor." said Pixie with a smile. "This is actually a device we Bugsters use. Mine's just the more advanced model. The Bugvisor Zwei." she explained.

"What's a Bugster?" asked Lemon Zest.

"You'll see. Bye bye." she said vanishing. The girls looked at each other in concern.

"We definitely gotta ask Sunset about Bugsters after school." said Indigo.

"Agreed." said Sunny.

The rest of the day went pretty normal though they noticed the Rainbooms would occasionally give them the stink eye, they didn't bother looking at them directly.

After they headed to Sunset's place and were surprised when they saw her looking entranced with a pink aura around her which seemed to have made her hair blond and her eyes pink. 

"Is she okay?" wondered Vinyl as she went up to her and waved her hand in front of face.

"She's fine." replied a voice. The tv turned on and they saw Mercy. "She just synchronized with her new module."

"Who's module was it?" asked Sour.

"Cure Heart. The leader of Sword's team." replied Mercy. "This is a very interesting reaction."

"What do you mean?" asked Sunny concerned.

"This is something that has never happened before. Even when she synchronized with Scarlet, Beat, and Passion the most that happened what her body reacting to their auras but nothing like this." explained Mercy.

"So what should we do?" asked Indigo.

"In the meantime, what do we do? We still need to ask her about that Bugster girl." said Vinyl.

"Bugster?" asked Mercy.

"You know about them?" asked Lemon. The others looked at her. "What?"

"Bugsters are one of the threats we fight." explained Mercy. "Bugster is the name of a virus that originated in games but then expanded and infected people resulting in game character monsters appearing in the real world. If someone is infected with it the Bugster has to be defeated or else the person the Bugster broke out of will disappear."

"Disappear?" asked the girls.

"If the Bugster who infected the patient isn't beaten the person vanishes and the Bugster becomes...solid I guess."

"Are we prepared to fight this?" asked Octavia concerned.

"Well you're not. The only Riders who can are those who use Gamer Drivers. One's out on assignment. The second's in a coma and the third...died in battle, from what they told me." replied Mercy. "What happened?"

"When we fought the Worm the first time a girl with a bug something was with it." explained Lemon.

"A Bugvisor?" asked Mercy.

"Yeah. That's it." said Lemon.

"Something like this?" asked Mercy typing causing a similar device to appear only this one was purple and black.

"Yeah but this one was like turquois and grey." said Lemon.

"Interesting."

"Do you have any of those Gamer Drivers?" asked Lemon.

"Unfortunately no. The only three Riders with Gamer Drivers we've had said they received them in packages." explained Mercy.

"Why are they called Gamer Drivers?" asked Sugarcoat.

"They use objects called Gashats which, from what I've seen, are in fact games like this one." she explained as an image came up of a small dark blue object with a clear rectangle which said Bang Bang Shooting in the front and showed someone with a gun.

"Wait. I think I know that game." said Lemon.

"Yeah. It's in the arcade at the mall. Bang Bang Shooting's a first-person shooter where your target's an enemy commander named Revol." explained Sour. "Are there any others?"

"Two others. The only Rider we have available uses a game called Taddle Quest while the Rider who was lost before Blitz and I came on used a game called Bakusou Bike."

"Do you know those games as well?" asked Octavia.

"Yeah. Taddle Quest is an RPG where you go on an adventure with swords and magic. Bakusou Bike is a racing game where anything's allowed to cross the finish line." replied Sour. "Who would've thought those games were Rider items."

"You certainly sound like a gamer. Possibly a Genius Gamer." said Mercy.

"I've been called that before." said Sour. "So any idea how long Sunset's gonna be like this?" she asked turning to Sunset.

"Impossible to say." replied Mercy.

Within Sunset's mind

"Where am I?" asked Sunset.

"We're in your mind." replied a voice. Sunset turned and saw a girl with blond hair in a pink and white outfit with neon pink eyes.

"You're..."

"Cure Heart. Aida Mana." said the girl. "You're just like he described you."

"Who?"

"Onii-chan. My Onii-san found out there would be a threat to your world so he prepared something which would give your world a fighting chance at survival." explained Heart.

"Is that why we're here? So you could explain?"

"No. From what I can tell you synchronized yourself with Mako-pi. Cure Sword. That means you're courageous. I'm sure you understand what I represent."

"Love."

"Right. We synchronized like this because your love for your friends is overflowing like mine is for mine. However, I can feel there's more. Heartbreak. Fear. Anger."

Sunset looked away.

"You don't have to say anything. I just wanted to warn you about something. You created something which you can't control because you're afraid."

"Afraid?"

"Yes. Your anger is something that is a part of you. To deny it is to deny yourself."

"You don't understand. Every time I use it I lose control. I just black out." said Sunset.

"There's a lot you still have to learn Sunset but I'm sure you'll figure it out." said Heart with a smile as there was a flash of light.

Outside

Sour got closer as the aura around Sunset suddenly flared up and vanished.

"Whoa."

"Well...that happened." said Sunset before noticing her friends. "When did you guys get here?"

"We arrived a short while ago." replied Sunny.

"Oh."

"Sunset what happened?" asked Mercy.

"Cure Heart wanted to talk to me." replied Sunset. The other noticed she seemed conflicted about it. "So, what's going on?"

"We met the girl that was with the Worm the other day. She said she's a Bugster. She introduced herself as Pixie Pipopapo." explained Sunny.

"I figured as much since she separated Next and the Worm with a blast from a Bugvisor."

"Next?" asked Mercy.

"We met a Rider who called himself Kamen Rider Drive Next. He had a Drive Driver but with a black and blue shift car."

"I see. I'll contact Drive and Krim to see if either of them knows about him." said Mercy.

"Alright. So what were you saying about the Bugster girl?" asked Sunset.

"She showed up at school while we were eating. Said something about looking for someone." explained Indigo.

"If she was looking we'll have to keep an eye out. Hopefully we can stop her from infecting her target." said Sunset.

"Infect?" asked the others.

"A Bugster can use a Bugvisor as both a melee and long-range weapon. In addition they're able to use it to infect people with the Bugster Virus." explained Sunset.

"Then we have to find whoever she wants to infect." said Twilight.

"Easier said than done." said Sunny. "Canterlot High alone has several staff members and many more students."

"Then there's the possibility that the one she seeks to infect may not actually be from the school. It could just as easily be someone who happens to go by the school en route to someplace else." added Sugarcoat.

"Then we're looking for a needle in a haystack." said Indigo.

"Unfortunately." said Sunset. "Nee-san, is there anything we can do to find whoever she's searching for?"

"I'm afraid not. We also have to consider the possibility that she may be trying trick you to get you to lower your guard." said Mercy. "In any case be careful. I'll be out of contact for a while. I have to go in and help our dear brother with a plan of his." Sunset chuckled.

"Just don't blow anything up." she said. The other figured she was kidding.

"You know I can't make any promises about that." replied Mercy as the tv turned off. The others looked at Sunset in shock.

"What?" she asked.

"Was she serious about that?" asked Octavia.

"Yeah. We actually went on a mission where the two of them had to fight a creature inside a warehouse and it exploded." explained Sunset. "It took all of us to take it down but within our squad they're actually the strongest."

"Seriously?" asked Sour.

"Yeah. Thing is I don't think anyone's ever seen them fight in their Final Forms." replied Sunset.

"Final Forms?" asked the others.

"Kamen Riders are..." began Sunset trying to think of a way to explain in a way they'd understand. "...able to evolve, so to speak. We can gain alternate forms which are stronger than the standard forms."

"Like your modules?" asked Octavia.

"No. My modules are like Vinyl's Lockseeds or Sugarcoat's Eyecons. Different forms which have their own strengths and weaknesses." she replied. "The best example I can think of would be Fourze. He uses these devices call Astro Switches in his Driver and a few of them let him change forms into what he calls different States. From what he told me he's able to use Electric State, Fire State, and Magnetic State. His final form on the other hand combines the power of all forty Switches and he enters Cosmic State. A form which draws power from not only all the Astro Switches but from his bond to all his friends."

"Have you ever seen it?" asked Sunny.

"Once. Its power was so intense it would've eclipse my power when I became a demon or even the Dazzlings at full power." said Sunset. "It was what gave me hope that I could find true friends because when I saw it I could feel my friendship to him as if my soul was burning with the power of a supernova."

"Do we have final forms?" asked Vinyl.

"I don't know. None of the files I read said anything about it. Only about alternate forms and the occasional super form."

"What's the difference between a super form and a final form?" asked Sour.

"A super form is much stronger than any of the alternate forms but the final forms are borderline invincible." replied Sunset.

"Are there any other Riders who can go into a final form?" asked Sunny.

"As far as I know only three others. Blade's King Form, Ryuki's Survive Form, and Double's Extreme form." replied Sunset. "To be honest I don't actually know if Nee-san and Nii-san have ones of their own. It's just speculation on my part."

"That would be so cool!" said Indigo. "Maybe we'll be able to get them." Sunset smiled before her communicator starting going off.

"Yeah?" she asked answering it. "Are you certain? Damn. Alright. If they contact you make sure to forward me the message." After she put down her communicator and sighed.

"Is something wrong?" asked Sunny.

"One of the other Riders told me to contact a pair of twins named Harmony and Havoc. They've been helping me by keeping track of things out in the streets." explained Sunset. "One of their friends just called me saying that some guy's been talking to some of the kids around Canterlot Middle School about some locks that can summon monsters."

"Is that possible?" asked Octavia.

"I'm afraid so." replied Sunset. "Lockseeds are able to summon creatures called Inves to this realm via tears in space called Cracks. They're like the rifts that open when Vinyl transforms."

"Wait. Doesn't me transforming make it worse?" asked Vinyl.

"No. The Sengoku Driver makes it possible to open Cracks with no risk of weakening the dimensional barrier between this world and Helheim." replied Sunset. The others were a bit confused but understood the basic part of the explanation.

"So what did whoever called say?" asked Lemon.

"The twins talked the guy into letting them become Lockseed dealers so he'd take them to his supplier." explained Sunset.

"What?! Why?!" asked Lemon concerned.

"Don't worry. I don't know them very well but I've learned those two are more dangerous than they appear." said Sunset. "As for why...When Leangle was here he gave them a device that send a signal to us."

"Then their intent is to send the signal once they meet who would be supplying the Lockseeds." said Sunny.

"More than likely." said Sunset.

"Is there anything we can do to help them?" asked Lemon.

"As much as I'd like to help them right now we have to trust they can handle themselves." replied Sunset. "Lemon I don't like waiting any more than you do but right now there's nothing we can do until they signal us."

"Couldn't you have at least told them to contact you before they do anything dangerous?" asked Lemon.

"It would've been pointless. The twins have agreed to help us but they won't take orders from anyone. We can call them to see if they have any knew information but that's about it."

"And you can't call them right now?" asked Lemon.

"They left their phones with the friend of theirs who called me." replied Sunset. "Lemon for now we'll have to trust them."

"I-It's just..." began Lemon.

"You have a soft spot for children, that's pretty obvious but like it or not we've got no way of finding them so just wait." said Sunset. "There is a way we could get some information though."

"What? How?" asked the others.

"The twins and their friends hang out at a few different places. We could head out to their known hang outs to see if they might've told any of the others something." replied Sunset.

"It could be a possibility." said Sugarcoat. "Do we know where we could start?"

"If we're going to do this the five of us who can transform should head out. The rest of you should keep an eye down in the control room." suggested Sunset.

"Alright. Let's go." said Lemon. The group got in the elevator and headed down but as they did an alarm went off. As soon as the doors opened they ran into the control room and Twilight jumped into the control seat and began typing. A map came up taking up all the screens which showed a dark red dot and a green dot.

"That's them alright." said Sunset.

"That must be where the supplier is." said Indigo.

"There's something that seems odd about the location." said Octavia.

"We don't have time." said Vinyl urgently running back to the elevator. The others quickly followed. It wasn't long after they rode out. Twilight tracked them and the others watched though Octavia was still bothered by the location which made her wonder. They saw the others were only a few blocks from their destination when a transmission came in. Twilight answered revealing a guy about their age with who had black and violet streaked hair who had a dark yellow, almost orangish, skin tone.

"Who's there?" he asked.

"My name's Twilight Sparkle."

"I'm guessing you're assisting Sunset Shimmer. Can you call her over?" asked the guy.

"She already left." replied Twilight. "Who are you?"

"Name's Sting." he replied. "Mercy asked me to keep an eye on things here in case something happened and something just happened. From the readings I'm getting there's a Crack in an abandoned place."

"That might explain it." said Twilight.

"Would that be an issue?" asked Octavia.

"Possibly. According to my information the place used to be a greenhouse." said Sting.

"That's why it seemed so familiar!" yelled out Octavia surprising everyone. "That greenhouse used to be public but some sort of parasite caused everything to die in it and they were forced to shut it down. I went there as a child."

"This is weird." said Sting. "Your name's Twilight, right?" She nodded. "We're connected right now so I need you to pulled up any camera feed from in or around the greenhouse."

"Let me see what I can find." said Twilight as she began typing. "That's weird. Octavia, how long ago did the greenhouse close down?"

"Around eight years ago, why?"

"From the looks of things there's a new security system in it." explained Twilight as she pulled up the security feed. They became surprised when they saw a Worms with a few odd looking creatures.

"So there are Inves there." said Sting.

"Should we be worried?" asked Lemon.

"Hard to tell but this could work to your advantage." replied Sting.

"How so?" asked Octavia.

"One of the Riders has a Sengoku Driver, right?"

"Yes. Sunset referred to Vinyl as Gaim." replied Octavia.

"Helheim fruits are extremely dangerous because it'll mutate anything that eats it. That's how Inves are created. The plus side is that if someone wearing a Sengoku Driver grabs a fruit it'll become a Lockseed."

"Hold on. What about the Inves? If the fruit turned them is there a way to change them back?" asked Twilight.

"I'm afraid not. Once they eat Helheim's fruit they become Inves and will eat only that. We've seen that they'll reject any food that isn't Helheim fruit. They can become sentient but it takes a lot of time for that to happen. Long enough for them to threaten the native species of any world Helheim invades." explained Sting. "Hang on." he said noticing something. "Alright. I think I can send you some help."

With the Riders

The group rode to through the streets until they arrived at the greenhouse but as soon as they got off their bikes the group was caught off guard when they were thrown around.

"Damn it." said Seikō.

"I'll take care of the Worms." said Kabuto. "Clock up!" she yelled out before speeding off.

"Alright let's go." said Seikō.

Unknown to them there were other observers. Pixie stood next to Amaya who wore a monkey mask.

"You don't wanna stay for the show?" asked Amaya.

"I suppose this plan of yours give us both what we want. Time to find my target." said Pixie. "Take care of things sister." she said vanishing.

"More fun for me." said Amaya with a shrug before vanishing.

The other Riders looked around in the greenhouse and saw plants everywhere.

"That's odd." they heard Twilight say. "Octavia said the place died a few years ago."

"Oh yeah. That's why this place seemed familiar." said Gaim. "Tavi told me about this place."

"Everyone watch yourselves." said Seikō before they entered. "Necrom have you practiced with the Gan Gun Catcher?"

"A bit. I think I can fight with it now." said Necrom as a weapon flew out of her Mega Ulorder which resembled a rifle with a partially closed hand at the end of it.

"Wait. You've had a weapon this whole time?" asked Gaim surprised.

"Yes." replied Necrom simply. "I've never use a weapon before so I had an acquaintance of mine teach me some of the basics to avoid injuring one of you during battle."

"Oh. I guess that makes sense." said Gaim holding both her weapons. Seikō summoned her weapon in sword form as they walked in and were instantly greeted by several Inves. They got ready to fight until the Inves separated, opening a path for them. The five were confused by this but walked to the open Crack which was all the way in the back. The four remained cautious when they went through the crack and found themselves in a forest. As they walked around Seikō noticed Necrom and Meteor seemed to look at the oddly shaped fruit.

"Don't eat the fruit." she warned. "Vinyl try to see if you get something."

"What do you mean?" asked Gaim.

"Sengoku Drivers have the power to turn Helheim fruit into Lockseeds." explained Seikō.

"Really? Sweet." said Gaim as she went and grabbed a fruit. It glowed for a moment before changing shape and becoming a Lockseed but with what looked like a grey watermelon on it. "Wonder what kind of weapon I'll get from this." 

"You won't." replied Seikō.

"What do you mean?" asked Gaim.

"This is a low level Lockseed. Basically, the ones you've used are class A. Lockseeds under that class don't work to transform though they do work for nourishment." explained Seikō.

"Nourishment?" asked Gaim. "So if I wear one of these I don't have to eat?"

"In essence." replied Seikō. Gaim grabbed a few more, most of which were like the first one though one did turn into a banana Lockseed.

"So you finally arrive." said a voice. The group looked towards the higher part of a tree and saw a man smirking at them.

"Who are you?" asked Seikō. His smirk widened as he released a wave of energy which suddenly made them feel like they were moving in slow-motion while their conscious minds were still going at their normal speed. This lasted for a few moments before the four were able to regain themselves.

"What the hell was that?" asked Meteor.

"Density Shift." said Seikō. "Then you're..."

"Name's Zeal and I think you've got something of mine little lady."

"Sunset." said Gaim.

"I'll take him. The rest of you clear out the Inves but don't let them eat any Lockseeds." ordered Seikō.

"Wait? What?" asked Meteor.

"What do you mean?" asked Gaim.

"If an Inves eats a class A Lockseed they'll...evolve. Take care of things." said Seikō pulling out the Furia module. Zeal moved deeper with Seikō following.

"Alright. Let's get to work." said Meteor. The three got ready but were caught off guard when most of the Inves charged at Gaim. The others reacted in time counter but Gaim was caught off guard by an Inves who struck her from behind causing her to be thrown and her new Lockseeds to fly. One of the Inves caught the banana Lockseed only to place it near what looked like its mouth. The Inves absorbed it and it began to mutate changing into a bat like form which had wings.

"Oh crap." said Gaim.

"Well...this got more complicated." said Meteor.

"It doesn't matter." said Necrom pulling out her Grimm Eyecon. "We know what we have to do." she said changing forms.

"Fighting Pen!"

Meanwhile Seikō chased Zeal down until she got tired of it and switched her weapon to rifle mode, firing enough shots to destroy several trees ahead of him forcing him to land on the ground.

"Now I'll avenge my friend." said Seikō pressing the button on the Furia module.

"Furia!"

Seikō inserted the module and her body was overcome by the blood red aura only this time her mind stayed clear enough to keep herself from going berserk like before. The other difference was that now the back of her suit seemed to have grown what looked like three tails with metal blades at the end of each which resembled claws giving her a very wild appearance as she roared.

"This should be very fun." said Amaya from a tree as she watched Seikō and Zeal.

Zeal was surrounded by a strange silver substance which upon dissipating revealed him as a humanoid creature with something which resembled a caped who had a cage looking helmet with a scythe. Seikō let out a roar and charged towards Zeal who held out a hand causing three ribbon like cables to extend. She responded by jumping with her arms cross in front of her and her body hunched in the air extending the tails to collide with the cables. She then vanished from the air forcing Zeal to looked for her but was caught by surprise when two of Seikō's tail claws grabbed his wrists threw him into other trees. She wasted no time and followed on all fours as though she were a lion chasing its prey. Zeal fired several shots out of the blade of his scythe which hit Seikō but didn't stop her. He tried to jump back but was caught by her tail claws and slammed down repeatedly.

The others were able to destroy a most of the weaker Inves but the one with wings had been using a hit and run tactic. They found it was much fast than they realized making it impossible for Necrom to react fast enough to pull it down by becoming goo and she didn't have any luck with the extended pens on the Grimm's shoulders. Meteor tried using Saturn's rings to land a few hits but her attack couldn't go high enough. Gaim considered changing to Ichigo Arms but considering how they were being hit she was afraid the Inves would take the Strawberry Lockseed to become stronger so she focused on firing with the few shots the gun half of her Musou Saber gave her. The Inves knocked Necrom and Meteor back only to grab Gaim. Once the air it flew at her and struck to several times keeping her in the air before launching her into a tree. The Inves looked straight at her Lockseed as it flew straight for her until a motorcycle came out of what looked like a flower bud and crashed into it knocking it back before landing on the ground. Gaim pulled herself out of the tree and fell landing behind her savior. She looked up and became surprised.

"Tavi?"

Octavia smiled and pulled out a Sengoku Driver which she placed at her waist extending the belt and causing an image of a different samurai like helmet which was white to appear on the same part it had appeared on Gaim's. She then held out a Lockseed which looked like a green melon and had the code L.S-04. The lock opened, opening a crack above her with a large metal melon descending from it, and she place in her Driver before closing it.

"Lock on!"

"Henshin!" she called out slicing the Lockseed.

"Soiya! Melon Arms: Tenka Gomen!" called out her Sengoku Driver as the melon descended on her forming a white suit as her helmet formed under the metal fruit. After it unfolded locking it on the chest, back, and shoulders of her suit which materialized a melon looking shield in her left hand and had a Musou Saber at her left side.

"Vinyl I'll take over from here." 

"Alright. Just watch yourself Tavi."

"Don't worry about me." said Octavia as she drew her Musou Saber and pulled the back before firing a few shots at the Inves forcing it to fly upwards. She recharged and fired more shots making mental notes of how it moved. As she kept continually recharging and firing, not giving it the chance to attack. After a few minutes she stopped firing. The Inves saw an opening and headed straight for her but Octavia used her shield deflect its attack.

"Its movements are too wild to direct it through my shots so my best chance would likely be to immobilize it." she said to herself. "Vinyl I've got an idea but you need to use your strawberry armor."

"Got it." said Gaim changing her locks as Octavia made sure to shield her from the Inves.

"Ichigo Arms: Shushutto Spark!"

"I think I can predict its attack pattern. I'll give you an opening to use the Ichigo Charge." explained Octavia.

"Got it." said Gaim. When it got close enough Octavia jumped, grabbing onto it, as Gaim placed her Lockseed on her Musou Saber. Octavia took her's and slashed at its back stunning it enough for Gaim to launch her Ichigo Charge, striking it with several exploding blades when Octavia jumped high above it as she resliced her lockseek once.

"Melon Squash!" it called out as her Musou Saber's blade began glowing in her descent allowing her to slash it causing it to explode before she landed.

"Nice going." said Gaim.

"Now's not the time!" said Octavia. "We have to go now. This whole thing was a distraction!"

"What?" asked the others surprised.

"Sunset should be here soon. Sunny and Next went to get her." said Octavia.

Seikō Furia had been wildly attacking Zeal who had been doing nothing more than take most of her attacks to keep her attacking. Both Kabuto and Next arrived and called out causing her to turn.

"Sunset we have to go this whole thing was a trap!" yelled Sunny.

"A trap?" asked Seikō.

"This whole thing was set up so Pixie could find and infect Principal Celestia!" explained Kabuto.

"So, you found us out." said Zeal. "You're too late anyway." Seikō ejected the Furia module, returning to her default form but fell to her knees panting heavily.

"Sunset Principal Celestia should be finishing up for the day. You've all gotta head to CHS." said Twilight.

"Sunny I don't have the energy to make it there on my own." said Seikō.

"Understood. I'll get you to the entrance." said Kabuto who then turned to Next. "What about you?"

"I'll clear out any other Inves around here." replied Next. Kabuto nodded and Clocked up with Seikō back to the entrance where they met up with the others. From there they went off with Sunset, who had changed back, riding with Kabuto.

A few minutes later they arrived at the CHS faculty parking lot and they spotted Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna heading toward the vehicle they had carpooled in. By the time they got there all the Riders had changed back. They called out to the two surprising them. Celestia and Luna turned to them as Pixie appeared behind them with her Bugvisor aimed at Celestia.

"Look out!"

The two turned as Pixie sprayed an orange mist at Celestia and then vanished causing the older woman to hold her throat as she fell to her knees. Parts of her body started glitching as Luna ran up to her sister moments before she lost consciousness.

"What's happening?" asked Luna. Sunset tried to run towards the woman who reminded her to her teacher but fell to her knees. "Sunset?" she asked surprised as Sunny and Indigo help her up.

"Call an ambulance." Sunset instructed.

"Do you know what's happened?" asked Luna.

"She's been infected with the Bugster Virus. We need to get her to a hospital in the meantime." explained Sunset.

"I'll make sure they have something ready for you as well." said Luna as she pulled out her phone.

"Don't. I'll be fine. I'm just exhausted." replied Sunset. "We'll head back to my place. I have to call the base. Hopefully Brave's back from his mission." she explained pulling out her communicator. She slid her thumb on part of it causing Luna's phone to beep. "I've sent you a way to contact me directly."

"Very well. I'll contact you once we get to the hospital." replied Luna. Sunset nodded.

"Sugarcoat, Vinyl, Octavia. Go with them in case they go after them." instructed Sunset. The three nodded before they helped Sunset onto Sunny's bike and they took off followed by Indigo.

'Hopefully he's back.'

In a dream

"Who are you?"

"My name's Hojo Emu but a lot of people know me as Genius Gamer M. You will need to operate."
> Let's Game
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

After they got back to Sunset's place she asked Sting if he could get in contact with someone named Swift Blade. Sting explained that his team was currently in Eastern Europe assisting another team with a larger threat. During that time Luna had called Sunset and explained they were at Canterlot Memorial Hospital. After they got their response from Sting they went straight to the hospital.

Once they arrived they asked for Celestia and were directed to her room. There they saw the others as well as Luna who sat next to her unconscious sister.

"How's she doing?" asked Indigo.

"They don't know what she has. They ran a few tests on her but they couldn't figure out what was wrong." replied Luna.

"She'd have to be tested in Radiology to find anything." said Sunset.

"You know what she was infected with?" asked Luna. Sunset nodded. "Then you need to tell the doctors!"

"There's nothing they can do." replied Sunset. "She's been infected with the Bugster Virus."

"What is this Bugster Virus?" asked Luna.

"A computer virus born from video games. It evolves by making contact with and infecting humans." explained Sunset.

"How exactly is it possible?" asked Luna.

"I'm not entirely sure myself." replied Sunset. "All I can say for certain is that we need to keep her as relaxed as possible. If she starts stressing for whatever reason it'll make the virus stronger and she'll disappear faster."

"Isn't there something you can do as a Rider?" asked Luna.

"I'm afraid not. Only a Rider with a Gamer Driver could operate on her." replied Sunset.

"What do you mean?" asked Luna.

"The Bugster will eventually become strong enough to break out. If any of us tries to fight it we could end up causing irreparable damage to her." explained Sunset.

"Do you know anyone who could?" asked Luna.

"The only Rider who could is Brave and he's unavailable at the moment." replied Sunset.

"What about the guy that uses Bang Bang Shooting?" asked Sour.

"He's in a coma." replied Sunset. "We haven't even been able to change him back. The Gashat's stuck in his Driver."

"Then there's nothing to we can do?" asked Luna.

"For now, we just need to keep her from getting stressed as much as possible. Hopefully Brave's team will finish the mission they're in the middle of." replied Sunset.

"Would it be possible for someone to use the items of the Rider who is in a coma?" asked Luna.

"I'm afraid not. Gamer Drivers aren't coded like most of ours where the one who first tries it on is the only person it'll work on. Rider Gashats take something more to use. Anyone, Rider or not, who tries to use a Gashat is risking their life because it takes something special for them to transform."

"What?" asked Sour.

"Think of it like this. The Bugster Virus is the enemy. Then what are the Riders?"

"The vaccine?" asked Lemon.

"In essence." replied Sunset.

"I see." said Luna.

"There is also the possibility they might find someone to become a new Lazer." said Sunset. "So, what are you gonna to do?" she asked Luna.

"I'll stay here with my sister."

"What about the school? While she's out someone needs to keep discipline." said Twilight.

"That is true." said Luna.

"Plus, someone needs to tell the school what happened to her. I'm sure she wouldn't want them freaking out." said Sunset.

"Sunset's right." said Celestia causing everyone to turn surprised.

"How much did you hear?" asked Sunset.

"Just that Luna needs to keep the school in order." replied Celestia. "What happened?"

"An enemy infected you with something called the Buster Virus." replied Sunset. "Unfortunately, it takes a unique type Rider to cure it."

"I see." said Celestia. "I know you'll find a way." she said directly to Sunset. Sunset smiled.

"Sister, could you leave us?" asked Celestia. Luna looked at the two and then smiled.

"Very well. I will be right outside." said Luna. "Come on." she told the others. They nodded and stepped out with her. The two remained silent for a moment.

"Sorry haven't been in contact." said Sunset after about a minute.

"I'm sure you had your reasons." said Celestia. "You're a bright young woman."

"Not anymore." said Sunset.

"What do you mean?"

"The pain those five caused me was much greater than anything I could've ever imagined." explained Sunset. "That pain is embodied in this." she added pulling out the Furia Module.

"I've heard as much." said Celestia. "I'm sorry Sunset."

"For what?"

"For not having done more to help you." replied Celestia.

"Forget about it." said Sunset. "I get that as the Principal you couldn't show me favor plus you had to deal with keeping the school in order. I heard from Vinyl and Octavia that you had them investigate independently along with the few others who believed in my innocence."

"As you said: I had to keep the school in order." said Celestia.

"I did miss you while I was away." said Sunset.

"I'm touched you thought of me." said Celestia with a smile.

"Well, you've always been the closest thing I've ever had to a mother, regardless of which reality." said Sunset. Celestia's eyes watered a bit.

"I always thought of you as the daughter I never had." she said.

"I know." said Sunset before looking down. "After all, I took advantage of that to keep the school under my thumb." she said feeling ashamed. "But it's better not to dwell on the past. I want you to know that I really am sorry for not contacting you."

"You wanted to deal with your issues, I know." said Celestia. "Do you plan on returning to school?"

"I can't. It's too painful being there. To be entirely honest with you I think you and your sister are the only ones that I really want to see from the school. Well aside from Vinyl and Octavia since I have gotten closer to them." she added.

"I'm glad you found new friends."

"Me too. I didn't think I'd end up finding someone I could call my friend here." replied Sunset.

"How was your time away?"

"Most of it was spent training to become stronger." replied Sunset. "I was assigned to the team of the one who saved me. They treated me like family though it did bother me for a bit that most of them saw me as more of a little sister. They would speak Japanese among themselves which I didn't know at the time. They taught me how to speak it and I developed the habit of calling Blitz Nii-san and Mercy Nee-san since the two of them acted that way towards me the most."

"I see. It seems your team became your family." said Celestia with a smile.

"They did." replied Sunset. "We're very dysfunctional but I suppose that's something one might expect considering most of our time is spent fighting threats to the world."

"Sunset, would it be okay if I asked you something?"

"What is it?"

"If you hadn't been sent here would you have ever returned?" asked Celestia. Sunset looked to the side before sighing.

"I didn't think of it much. After all, just the memory of this city brought me pain. When I was able to think with more clarity I considered coming back here, if nothing else I wanted to at least see you and Vice Principal Luna one more time since outside of those I once believed to be my friends, you two were the only ones I ever felt any connection to here in Canterlot City."

"I see." said Celestia with a smile. "I'm glad we could talk."

"Same here." said Sunset. "I'll bring you some sweets tomorrow."

"You can probably just tell them it's for me at the Sweets Shoppe." said Celestia.

"I don't intend to go there. I'll bring you something I made personally. After all I've still got Cure Whip's desire to make them."

"Cure Whip?"

"I'll explain another time." replied Sunset. "For now, I'll tell your sister to come back in. I'll head back to try to find a way to help you."

"Thank you Sunset." said Celestia. Sunset nodded with a smile before stepping outside. She turned to Luna.

"I'll go see if another Rider has appeared with a Gamer Driver. I'll be back tomorrow." she said heading towards the elevator shortly followed by the others.

"By the way congrats on becoming Zangetsu." Sunset told Octavia.

"Oh. Thank you. So that's my Rider name." she said to herself.

"So, do we have a plan?" asked Sunny.

"The most I can do is ask them for the Bakusou Bike Gashat but none of us can use it. Even with a Gamer Driver. Not to mention whoever uses it will still need a partner."

"What do you mean?" asked Lemon.

"It's a little complicated." replied Sunset.

"Then what will you do?" asked Octavia.

"I'm heading to the grocery store to get ingredients. After all I'm making her some sweets." said Sunset. "I'm thinking of making some cookies."

"Perhaps I'll join you." said Sunny.

"By the way..." said Sunset. "Why haven't you used your weapon?" The others looked at Sunny surprised.

"I favor hand to hand combat over all else. Don't get me wrong, I'm more than good enough to use it in either blade or gun mode. I just prefer to fight with my hands. But if it does bother you I'll use it next time."

"It's entirely up to you." said Sunset pointing upwards. "Nii-san said this: "We train to become stronger but if we always fight the same we become predictable.""

"That is true." said Sunny.

"Hey Sunset."

"Yes Lemon."

"If you're making sweets do you think we could help you?" she asked a bit resembling a child.

"If you don't have anything to do. It's getting dark." replied Sunset as they exited the elevator. They walked out of the hospital and saw the sun was nearly done setting.

"Aw. I guess we do have to go." said Lemon with a pout.

"I'll see you all tomorrow." said Sunset. The others nodded before taking off, most of them at least. Sunny decided to accompany Sunset, which at this point didn't surprise her. They were headed for a grocery store when Sunny stopped her.

"If you'd like something a bit more specialized a cousin of mine owns a store not far from here." said Sunny.

"Really?" asked Sunset surprised.

"Yes. He mostly supplies the restaurants in town." explained Sunny.

Octavia arrived at her home some time later and headed right to her room in the larger than normal home. She put her backpack on the chair of her desk and lied down on her bed holding her Lockseed. As she looked at it the words of the man from her dream repeated in her mind.

"Noblesse Oblige."

"The duty of the privileged." she said to herself. "If we're doing this there is no doubt we'll need to test ourselves. I'll need to talk to Sunset tomorrow." She got up and went to see if she had leftovers.

Sugarcoat sat in her room looking at her three Eyecons. She'd wondered if she should go with a medium to communicate the Grimm Eyecon.

"Sugarcoat, mom says it's time for dinner!" called out the voice of a young boy.

"On my way." she replied putting her Eyecons on her dresser before leaving.

Twilight arrived home. At first, she was surprised the house was empty but remembered her father explaining he was surprising her mother on the anniversary of the first date they had. Though she isn't the most knowledgeable person when it comes to emotions or social norms she still thought it was sweet that her father liked to celebrate what he considered to be the most important parts of their relationship pre-marriage. She hoped that if she ever did find love her significant other would be as affectionate with her as her father is with her mother.

"I guess Shiny still had to study for his midterms." she said to herself. She noticed a pretty large package on the table. She walked up to it and saw the package addressed to her. "This is strange. I haven't ordered anything." she said before shrugging. "I'll see what it is after I eat. I'm so glad we've got some leftover beef stew." she said happily heading to the kitchen.

Indigo arrived home but stopped before going inside. Why? Her hand was currently glowing. Though she didn't actually feel anything when it happened but she was sure her parents would freak out if they saw it.

"I wonder why this is happening?" she asked herself as the glow faded completely. "I should probably ask Sunset after this whole thing gets solved with Principal Celestia gets solved. Hopefully it isn't something bad." she said to herself before entering.

Lemon Zest got home feeling worried but at the same time somewhat excited. She was very worried for Principal Celestia but she'd been feeling excited about the whole Rider thing. She's been hoping to become one since Sunset explained to them that it could happen to pretty much anyone. She really couldn't believe it when Sunny showed them she had gotten a belt of her own. She just knew she'd become one too. She'd even gotten one of her cousins to send her a few issues of a motorcycle magazine and she'd gone online to learn more about them in hopes she might be of more use once she got a belt of her own.

"I'll bet it feels great to Accelerate like that." she said with a smile as she went to the living room and saw two large boxes surprising her. One was a big box but the other seemed wider. "I guess she's had that subscription for a while." she said with a sweatdrop before smiling. "Gotta start somewhere I guess." She opened the wider box and became surprised to find a weird looking sword and a flip phone. She tried to pick it up but found it to be extremely heavy. She struggled a bit until it glowed lightly in red. For one moment to the next she went from being unable to lift it to barely being able to lift it. "Whoa." She pulled out the phone which was pretty thick and dark blue with some grey.

Vinyl was in her bed looking at her Lockseeds. She was kinda bummed out she'd lost the banana Lockseed she got when they got to that Helheim place. Picked up her Sengoku Driver wondering how much more it could do. She figured there might be things that weren't in the database Sunset checked out. 

"I guess I'll find out when I need to." she said to herself. "I wasn't there to help Sunset before but now I'll make sure I never see her tears again." she said remembering when she saw Sunset crying in the middle of the hall on her knees. She clenched her fist to the point her knuckles somehow became whiter. "Maybe I'll get a final form but it doesn't matter. I'm here to back her up." she said smiling.

Sour got home and went straight to the kitchen. She'd completely forgotten to take her medication in the morning although so far, she hasn't had any issues. She took her medication before getting some instant ramen which had become a favorite of her's when she played late nights. As much as she disliked having DID she kinda thought it had something to do with her...unique metabolism since she could eat quite a bit without gaining much more than a few ounces though she wondered if maybe that had more to do with the other. Once her noodles were ready she served them on a pretty big bowl and went to the living room.

"Guess it's a good thing they had that business trip." she said to herself before looking to the side and noticing a package. She took out the beta system she'd gotten when she brought Vinyl. She pulled out the game. 'Maybe another game." she thought to herself. She got the scissors and cut the tape before opening the package. Her eyes widened. She pulled out a pretty big, mostly green with some pink device that had GD on it. Next to it was a Gashat like the one Mercy had shown them along with a weird looking stethoscope. It was then she remembered her dream the other night.

Sour looked around what looked like a hospital waiting area.

"Where the hell am I?" she asked. "Hopefully I didn't get kidnapped."

"This is certainly interesting." said a voice. She turned and saw a bright light. In it was someone in some kinda of long coat who seemed to be walking towards her.

"Who are you?" asked Sour.

"My name's Hojo Emu but a lot of people know me as Genius Gamer M." he introduced himself. "You will need to operate."

"Operate? You're a doctor?"

"Yes." he replied.

"That's cool. When I was a kid I wanted to become a doctor but everyone said I was too crazy."

"Too crazy?"

"I have split personalities."

"That shouldn't stop you." said Emu. "I had something similar but I didn't let it stop me. Even if my personality only really changed when I played games."

"I can keep it in control because I let it loose when I play video games." explained Sour.

"So why is it that you wanted to become a doctor?" asked Emu.

"I just always liked how they were like the last line of defense. The police fought to stop bad guys but the doctors are the ones who help people when they get hurt, whether it was when someone had a sprain or if they were hurt badly. I guess I always saw them as heroes because their job is like fighting death itself."

"Life is the most precious thing." said Emu. "After all medicine was created so people could find happiness." Sour looked at...the silhouette for a minute.

"I guess that's true." she said. "So, what's the deal with the game and the system I got?" she asked pulling them out of nowhere.

"You'll understand when you transform. After all each game has differences."

"Yeah. I saw that in this the main character, Mighty, absorbs different colored coins that do different things."

"As long as you understand the game you'll be able to operate. Just be careful. When you transform you'll still be bound by the rules of the game."

"What do you mean?"

"You'll understand. I'm sure you'll be able to use our power. The power of Ex-Aid." explained Emu.

"So I'll become Kamen Rider Ex-Aid?" asked Sour recieving a nod. "Any advice?"

"Just one thing. When I change form I like saying Dai Henshin. It's just always felt right for but I don't know if you'll want to." said Emu as the light behind him became extremely bright.

Sour looked at the Driver and the Gashat.

"I'm definitely gonna have to call Sunset tomorrow." she said to herself.

The following morning Sour woke up very early and got ready. She saw she still had about an hour before school. She was about to try to call Sunset only to remember that she's never actually had a way to communicate directly with her. She cursed and dialed Sunny's number.

"Hello?" replied groggy Sunny.

"Sunny are you with Sunset right now?" asked Sour urgently.

"Oh. I guess we fell asleep watching that odd vampire movie." replied Sunny. "Why?"

"I think I have a way to help Principal Celestia!" This startled Sunny.

"What?! How?"

"Just pass the phone to Sunset."

"Hang on. She's right here. I'll put you on speaker."

"Sour?" asked Sunset. "What's going on?

"Sunset I think I've got a way to help Principal Celestia."

"What do you mean?"

"I just need to know how does the whole Bugster operation thing work?"

"Meet us in front of the hospital. I called in last night and they told me there's a couple of agents in the hospital. They'll get her out. I'll explain what you need to do once we meet up." replied Sunset.

"Alright." said Sour. She headed out though she had to stop at a fast food place for a takeout breakfast. When she arrived back at the hospital Sunset and Sunny were waiting for her with two nurses who were behind a still unconscious Principal Celestia who was in a wheelchair.

"Alright. What do I do?" asked Sour taking off her backpack.

"What did you get?" asked Sunset. Sour opened her backpack and pulled out three items. The Driver, the Gashat, and the stethoscope. "Alright first put the stethoscope on as if it were normal but point the part that would go on the chest at her and press the button on the side." Sour did as she was told causing a holographic screen to appear with Celestia on it and a heart next to her head. "At least it isn't something too bad." she said as Sour put the stethoscope around her neck.

"Now what?" asked Sour.

"Put the Driver on." replied Sunset. Sour placed it at her waist causing the belt to extend around her, forming a slot at her left side with a button and two empty slots a bit below it. "Once the Bugster comes out press the button on the slot at your side to change locations. This fight's gonna be kinda like a boss fight in a video game so your main objective is to beat the monster. The chest of your armor will have your Rider gauge which is your health bar. You'll have a weapon you can summon though I don't know what it might be." explained Sunset as best she could.

"Alright. Anything else?" asked Sour.

"I think that's it. Good luck." said Sunset. Sour nodded. It was then they noticed the look in her eyes change. While Sunset explained things Sour's expression had been focused but now her eyes had become hardened and she gave a confident smirk. She gave an aura of confidence which could put anyone from Crystal Prep to shame. Sunset and Sunny became surprised that they could feel Sour's cockiness as though it were heat in the desert.

"Let's get this game started." she said pressing the button on the side of her Gashat.

"Mighty Action X!" called out a voice from the Gashat before playing a techno like tune as a starting screen appeared behind her, that released several chocolate blocks along with a some pixilated ripples which were released from her feet, which showed a pinkish character with goggles who had spiky hair, and game start in front of her before vanishing. She then swung her arms around in a dramatic fashion, holding the Gashat in her right hand while leaving her left open.

"Henshin!" she called out before turning downwards and grabbing it with her left hand before putting in the part of the slots closer to the center.

"Gashatto!" it called out as a roulette with multiple portraits, all of which had large anime like eyes, spun around her with one resembling Mighty stopping in front of her as she extended her hand out to it. "Let's Game! Metcha Game! Mutcha Game! Whatcha Name?! I'm a Kamen Rider!" it called out as the portrait she touched began glowing with pixels as it got closer to her body before it fully formed her form which, as opposed to her friends, was a mostly stubby form with white armor which included what looked like a control pad on the chest which also had a life bar. When her transformation finished Principal Celestia's body began glowing orange as something seemed to come out of her and took the form of a cross between a virus and the top part of a castle's tower but with six legs.

"Kamen Rider Ex-Aid!" she declared before pressing the button on the slot at her side.

"Stage Select!" called out the voice as another roulette appeared only this one with picture of different locations which would become bigger when they were behind her until it stopped on one that looked like a paintball field or a military training area as the word Select appeared on it causing the image to expand changing their location.

"Watch yourself." said Sunset.

"Don't worry. Just leave this to me." said Ex-Aid confidently as another roulette appeared around her but with a single image of something that looked like a white hammer with the flat sides being magenta which had an A and a B button and had a line that went from the center to one of the flat sides.

"Gashacon Breaker!" called out the voice.

The Bugster moved away and formed what looked like a castle wall in front of it as it began firing several arrows. Ex-Aid jumped onto one of the chocolate blocks before jumping off towards it as new chocolate block form just below her feet allowing her to get above it. After she jumped off one and struck it with her weapon only to be swatted back. She got up as she spotted several more arrows heading for her. There were two blocks near her she couldn't decide which to use so with a spin she broke both of them revealing two coins which showed a person. The first was silver and showed a sword breaking on someone while the second was yellow and showed someone moving fast.

"Better use them both." she said as both coins spun towards her and were absorbed.

"Kōsoku-ka! Kōtetsu-ka!" said the voice as her body became completely metal and she moved insanely fast, matching Sunny when she clocked up. She was able go right through the arrows without taking damage and jumped on the Bugster to get a higher jumped height before coming down with her hammer while still metallic causing it to explode but then revealing Celestia's unconscious body. Little bits of what looked like the virus seemed to bounce away until they formed a red creature with red and white checkered pants who held what looked something between a magic staff and a magic wand.

"You may have forced out of my host before I could get strong enough but that doesn't mean you'll defeat me." said the Bugster.

"That's Alhambra." said Ex-Aid surprised. She got ready to move the handle on her Driver but Alhambra slammed his weapon onto the ground creating a smokescreen which forced them to cover their eyes. Once the smoke cleared he was gone.

"Tch." Ex-Aid pulled out her Gashat undoing her transformation causing them to return to the front of the hospital. "Damn it." One of the Nurses went to Celestia while the other went to the young Riders.

"How'd it go?" he asked.

"She separated the Bugster but it escaped." replied Sunset.

"At least that's one thing less to worry about." he said. "We'd best get her back in." he said before joining his friend before they took Celestia back inside.

"I guess that went as well as it could have." said Sunset.

"So, what now?" asked Sunny.

"You guys head to school. Knowing how much Principal Celestia loves the school the Bugster might show up there." replied Sunset.

"Then it'll be the perfect chance to kick his ass." said Sour surprising the two other Riders.

"Are you okay Sour?" asked Sunny.

"Yeah. Why?" asked Sour sounding annoyed.

"You get competitive when you're playing games but you change back when you're done." said Sunny.

"That might be why." said Sunset. "Alhambra's still out there so the game isn't over."

"Then we're gonna need to deal with her like this. Great." said Sunny with a sigh.

"Whatever. Let's just go." said Sour annoyed.

"Good luck with handling her." said Sunset. "I'll keep on the security system around the city. It's possible to Bugster will attack some other place or person Principal Celestia values. Basically, anything she cares about. Ask Vice Principal Luna about it."

"Very well." said Sunny.

"Oh, and transfer my communication data to the others." added Sunset.

"Can we go?" asked Sour getting impatient.

"Yes, yes. Let's go before we're late." said Sunny sounding exasperated.

'Hopefully it doesn't attack the school.' Sunset thought to herself before walking away.

The two arrived at school a few minutes later than they normally would due to them having come from the hospital.

"Yo! Did you guys find anything?" asked Vinyl. Sour smirked and pulled out her Gashat surprising the others. "So, you can cure her then?"

"Bet your ass I can. As soon as I can find that bastard so I can kick his ass." replied Sour cracking her knuckles. Leaving Vinyl and Octavia surprised while the others facepalmed.

"She seems...a tad abrasive." said Octavia.

"What happened?" asked Sugarcoat.

"It would seem that she changes personalities when she transforms just as it does when she plays a video game." explained Sunny. "Unfortunately, this game doesn't seem to be over until she defeats the Bugster."

"So, her personality knows it?" asked Vinyl a bit confused.

"Nah. It's probably from the Bugster antivirus." replied Sour.

"What do you mean?" asked Lemon. Sour pulled out the game system she'd gotten in the mail.

"When I got this, I started feeling weird. Nothing obvious but enough to tell something had changed. I didn't get what it was at first but based on what Sunset said whoever sent me this probably inoculated me against the Bugster Virus." explained Sour. "So, I guess my body knows the game doesn't end until I kick Alhambra's ass."

"Sour I understand it's part of your competitive nature, as it were, but could you avoid such language. You're going to get yourself in trouble." said Sunny.

"I'll try but this ain't easy to hold back." replied Sour. "Didn't Sunset ask us to do something?"

"Yes. She asked us to talk to Vice Principal Luna." said Sunny. "Let's go." They headed together to Vice Principal Luna's office and they found her reviewing some notes.

"Is there something I can help you with?" asked Luna. Sunny looked at Sour with an expression that told her to stay quiet. Sour shrugged.

"We were able to separate the Bugster from Principal Celestia but we were unable to destroy it." explained Sunny.

"So Celestia's okay?" asked Luna.

"Not quite. As long as the Bugster's out there she'll be at risk." replied Sunny. "That why we came here."

"What do you need?" asked Luna.

"We need to know more about Principal Celestia." replied Sunny. "It seems that the Bugster will attempt to attack anything and anyone she cares about so we need to know what she cares about the most."

"That's a bit complicated." replied Luna. "Celestia's always been a very sun and fun kind of girl. She cares about everyone. The students, the staff, the school itself. There is very little she doesn't care about."

"Then can you tell us what she cares about the most?" asked Sugarcoat.

"Family." replied Luna.

"Then it'll come after you." said Sugarcoat.

"Not just me." said Luna. Their eyes widened.

"Sunset."

"Yes. It's entirely possible it's entirely possible it'll try to attack her." said Luna.

"Tch. So that's what she's doing." said Sour with a smirk. "She fooled us."

"What do you mean?" asked Indigo.

"Sunset knows how Principal Celestia thinks of her." explained Sour. "It was one of the first things she told us. She's probably using herself as bait."

"She should be able to handle herself then." said Twilight.

"Things aren't that simple." said Sour looking extremely serious causing the others to look at her. "When I separated the Bugster from Principal Celestia it didn't try to fight. I think I forced it out when it was too weak so it ran. What's something she cares about that might be an open target?"

"There's her favorite dessert." replied Luna.

"Favorite dessert?" asked the girls.

"Very few people know this but my sister is...addicted to cake. She has been since we were children." explained Luna. "Seeing as you all come here and Sunset is able to fight on her own it is entirely possible this Bugster might attack the bakeries and restaurants that she loves."

"How many is that?" asked Twilight. Luna looked up for a moment.

"All of them."

"So, you're saying we'd have to look at every place that sells pastries?" asked Indigo. Sunny held up her phone.

"Did you hear?" asked Sunny.

"Yeah. I'll check the security cameras near those places. From what I remember there's a few hundred places with pastries, not just some that are specific to pastries alone." said Sunset. "Are there any that Principal Celestia favors?"

"Aside from the Sweets Shoppe she likes to go to the shops in the east section of the shopping district. Specifically, the Free Wind shopping center." explained Luna.

"That should narrow it down. I'll head there now." said Sunset before hanging up.

"Alright. In the meantime, we'll make sure to keep an eye on things here." Sunny told the others. They nodded.

"Please do. Now if you'll excuse me I must get back to reviewing how I'll explain my sister's absence." said Luna. The others nodded and left. As they walked through the hall they noticed someone familiar walking to the bathroom.

"Guess Fluttershy finally got herself to come back." said Vinyl. Sour's eyes narrowed, feeling there was something odd about the girl. Her eyes almost seemed dead, but then decided it wasn't worth thinking about.

The rest of the day was entirely uneventful, though Sour had a bit of trouble keeping herself under control. There were several times when she wanted to not only talk back, but curse at the teachers and other students. Due to this she spent most of the day avoiding speaking. At around lunch Sunny transferred Sunset's contact info and then she called her, making sure to put her on speaker.

"Yeah?" asked Sunset's voice.

"Sunset, how are things?" asked Indigo.

"Not good. The Bugster hit about six different bakeries and four restaurants. There weren't any casualties but the places were completely wrecked." explained Sunset.

"Did you pick up a trail?" asked Sour.

"Not really. Only three places at Free Winds were attacked. The others were much farther away." replied Sunset. "He did try to attack me from behind a few times but he disappeared as quickly as he attacked. Either that or he attacked from a long distance. I couldn't tell."

"So, we're no closer to beating Alhambra." said Sour.

"Considering he did try to attack me it's possible he'll go after Vice Principal Luna so keep an eye on her." 

"Got it." said Sour. "Hey Sunset?"

"Yeah."

"How much do you know about Bugsters aside from what you've told us?" asked Sour.

"There's a few things I didn't have time to mention before."

"Like what?"

"There's a theory that even though a Bugster can break out of a person they maintain some sort of mental link. They haven't been able to test it but so far it seems to be the case because a Bugster always seems to know who or what to go after." explained Sunset.

"So as the Bugster does things the patient knows and that stresses them out more." concluded Sugarcoat.

"It sucks we can't search the school during class." said Indigo.

"Actually, I think I have something that can help." said Sugarcoat causing the others to turn to her. She pulled out the Eyecon she hadn't used yet and pressed the switch on the side and tossed it into the air causing it to glow in red before it took the form of a small ghost with a single eye which was white with parts of blue.

"How can I be of service." asked the small ghost.

"What the hell is that?!" yelled out Indigo surprised.

"He was who gave me the Grimm Eyecon." replied Sugarcoat. "He calls himself Nori."

"It's nice to meet you." said Nori.

"I need you to keep an eye on Vice Principal Luna. If anything happens come tell me but stay out of sight." she ordered.

"Understood." said Nori before disappearing.

"Since when have you been able to call him out?" asked Sour.

"Since I got the Eyecon. I've talked with him a lot but I had to wait for him to be in optimal condition." explained Sugarcoat.

"Alright. I'll keep searching in town." said Sunset before hanging up. They were about to go back to eating lunch when they heard Lemon gasp loudly.

"What's wrong?" asked Sunny.

"I almost forgot my chemistry homework." she said before running back inside.

"Does this happen often?" asked Octavia.

"Every once in a while." replied Indigo.

Once Lemon got down the stair she looked at a black and gray robot beetle which looked like a smaller Kabuto ZECTer.

"Go around the school and come get me if there's a magic monster with a stick." she instructed. The beetle turned and flew off into a vent. After she walked to her locker. 'Sometimes it's good to forget things.' she thought to herself with a smirk.

The rest of the day went about as normal as it had for them any other day. The only difference having been that when they were heading to their last period class, which was the one class they all shared, they heard tapping inside one of the lockers but with a damaged lock keeping it from opening.

Again?" asked Indigo.

"This has been happening since they confessed." replied Vinyl.

"I've got it." said Sunny as she went up to the lock and twisted off as though it were clay.

"Since when can you do that?" asked Indigo surprised.

"The belt increases my strength in human form." replied Sunny. "It's why I take it off during gym." she explained as she opened the locker and they left letting the Crusaders out of it. Their last class wasn't really noteworthy other than the fact that they had an essay due in two weeks on a historical event of their choosing. After school, they stuck around to make sure Luna was okay. Sunset had sent them a messaging explaining she was keeping an eye on things outside of the campus. Indigo and Sugarcoat stayed near Vice Principal Luna's office while the others paired up and walked around the school as teachers and students left.

There was one exception they didn't notice. Sweetie Belle had to stay late to work on an assignment. Having finally finished she stretched and put her things away before walking out of the library. As she walked she noticed someone turn a corner. She'd been wondering if one of Sunset's friends could get her a chance to talk to her so she could apologize for her role in the Anon-A-Miss incident. Seeing her chance, she ran after the person only to spot them making another turn.

'This is weird.' she thought to herself. 'Where is she going?'

Lemon had seperated from Octavia and was walking in a hall when she noticed someone turn a corner but didn't think much of it, at least until the robotic beetle flew towards her.

"What's up?" The beetle started making weird sounds very quickly and then turned. Lemon was confused but followed it. When she went through one of the halls she spotted someone running at the end of it. She pulled out her phone just before seeing Sweetie Belle. "Oh crap." she said as she set a call with the all of the others. "Guys we have a problem!"

"What's the deal?" asked Vinyl.

"One of those Crusader girls is still in the school and she's chasing the Bugster." replied Lemon.

"WHAT?!" they asked surprised.

"Why would she be doing that?" asked Indigo.

"She might think she's chasing one of us." replied Sugarcoat.

"Hold on. I think I see something." said Sunset. "That's Sweetie Belle!"

"What?" asked the others.

"It looks like the Bugster's chasing her. Meet me front of the school. Sour you have to be the one to finish it."

"I know. Let's just get moving." said Sour.

At that Indigo opened the door to Luna's office.

"We've got the Bugster heading to the front of the school so you can take the back door out."

"Very well. Thank you for your help." Indigo nodded before she and Sugarcoat left.

Sweetie thought she'd seen one of Sunset's friends but was terrified when she caught up to the figure she'd tried to follow only to see it was a monster of some kind. She'd run into it and after she went out the nearest door which was the front entrance. She kept running until she tripped. The Bugster held up his weapon and launched a fireball at her. Sweetie's eyes widened as the world slowed down around her. All she could think of was how much regret she felt for what happened to Sunset. She closed her eyes expecting to either be in pain or feel nothing.

"Who are you?" asked Alhambra. Sweetie opened her eyes and saw Seikō Sword in front of her having blocked the fireball with the flat side of her weapon in sword mode. Sweetie mind went blank as she stared at the Rider in front of her.

"Who I am doesn't matter." replied Seikō. "You should be more worried about her." she added as Sour Sweet, who put on her Driver, along with the rest of their friends exited the front of the building.

"Now we can end this." she said pulling out her Gashat and activating it forming several chocolate blocks like before. "Henshin!" she called out inserting it causing the character select roulette to come out as she picked the one that stopped in front of her.

"Gashat! Let's Game! Metcha Game! Mutcha Game! Whatcha name?! I'm a Kamen Rider!" it called out as the portrait went on her and she transformed.

"Whoa. That's trippy." said Vinyl.

"Let's get serious." said Ex-Aid. "Dai Henshin!" she called out pushing the handle from the top revealing a screen which showed an image which resembled Ex-Aid to expand in front of her. She moved into it causing it to glow around her and vanish before she jumped.

"Mighty Jump! Mighty Kick! Mighty, Mighty Action X!" it sang as she did a jump pose followed by a kicking pose and finally a standing pose from which the white armor exploded leaving only the face plate of her level 1 from which her body seemed to expand revealing her in a magenta with black striped suit with neon green shoes, silver shin and knee armor, a smaller chest plate similar to the one she'd had before, black bands on her forearms with silver protectors behind her hands, green shoulder protectors, a helmet that looked like the original only sized properly for her.

She landed on one knee before standing up in a heroic pose with a fist in the air.

"Time to take out the boss." said Ex-Aid.

"Try it if you can." said Alhambra raising his staff causing several creatures with odd looking orange head to appear, most of which looked to be wearing brown hooded robes.

"Twilight. Lemon." called out Seikō causing the two to look at her. "Take care of the kid."

"Got it!" said Lemon as the two ran up to Sweetie and took her.

"Meteor Ready?"

"Stand by. Yes Sir!"

"Orange! Lock On!"

"Melon! Lock On!"

"Henshin!" called out the other five together.

"Soiya! Orange Arms! Hanamichi On Stage!"

"Soiya! Melon Arms! Tenka Gomen!"

"Henshin. Cast off! Change Beetle!"

"Loading! Tengan! Necrom! Mega Ulord! Crush Invader!"

The seven Riders nodded to each other understanding. Ex-Aid headed for Alhambra as the others took care of the small fry. She dodged a few fireballs before bringing out her Gashacon Breaker and pressing the A button causing the magenta part of come up and then extend into a blade. She threw her weapon in the air, drawing his attention, and then jumped towards him landing on his chest. She used him to bounce backwards, knocking him back and grabbing her weapon while was in the air while squatting as though she was gonna bounce off something before another chocolate block materialized at her feet allowing her to jump at Alhambra, who had gotten up, and fired a few fireballs. She took a few hits but was able to hit him and knock him down again, revealing her Rider Gauge going down go down four bars. Afterwards she pressed the B button twice and slashed Alhambra resulting in him being hit three times. Before her next strike she pressed it three times resulting him being hit four times. Alhambra countered by using a lightning spell which threw her back and stunned her. She struggled to stand but saw a chocolate block above her. She threw her weapon up breaking it and revealing a gray item which had the image of a person showing both biceps which spun and came down.

"Kaifuku!" called out the voice as her Rider Gauge regenerated and the stun effect ended. She charged at him again but this time she jumped over him and slashed the block behind him revealing a red coin which showed someone showing their right bicep.

"Muscle ka!" called out the voice as, for a moment, she became cartoonishly buff and returned to normal. She slashed him a few times and then kicked him knocking him back. After she took out the Gashat from her Driver. "Gashun!" Then she inserted it into the slot on her side with the button. "Gashatto!" it called out before she pressed the button. "Kimewaza!" it called out as it began charging and colorful electrified energy began focusing on her right foot. She bent her knee forward as though she were about to run and put her arm on it before pressing the button again. "Mighty Critical Strike!" it called out as she jump with her glowing foot forward landing a strike which showed the word hit but then back flipped in place striking again and kicking rapidly several times before using one of those kicks to backflip again and land the final kick which threw him back and showed the word Perfect just before he exploded. "Kaishin no Ippotsu!"

With Alhambra defeated the minions disappeared. Ex-Aid closed her Gamer Driver and pulled out her Gashat, undoing her transformation. The others undid their transformations as well and got together.

"Good work everyone." said Sour Sweet with a smile.

"That was a fun work out." said Indigo with a smirk.

"With this will Principal Celestia be okay?" asked Octavia.

"Yes. With this she'll be cured." said Sunset. She saw Twilight and Lemon looking around before giving them a thumbs up, telling them that things were taken care of. "We should head home. You parents will be worried since it's pretty lat." They started walking but Sweetie ran up to her.

"Sunset wait!"

Sunset merely kept walking.

"Please wait. I have to tell you something." Sweetie said.

"Fuck off."

"You shouldn't be mad at them." said Sweetie.

"Oh, I'm just as pissed at you and your little friends as I am at them. Just for different reasons. They toyed with me. You attacked me. As far as I'm concerned there's nothing more to be said." replied Sunset still not stopping.

"Please Sunset." said Sweetie getting closer just before Sunset swung her fist down and struck the sidewalk with her fist which had blood red lightning around it cracking it and leaving Sweetie terrified.

"Stay the fuck away from me." said Sunset before walking away.

The others had waited in case Sunset lost control but now that Sweetie stopped trying to follow her they sighed in relief.

"I'll see if I can get her to talk about this." said Sunny walking after Sunset. The others walked away leaving Sweetie who was trembling as she looked at Sunset and then down at the crack she'd just seen Sunset make with her bare fist. She silently began to sob.

"I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry." she whispered as she fell to her knees.
> Accelerated Zest
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lemon Zest was sitting on her bed looking straight at her ceiling. Right now, she felt kind of conflicted. She didn't like how Sunset left that girl crying in the sidewalk. Of course, she understood that she was pissed at those Crusader girls for what they did, though she was a bit surprised at how much Sunset had to force herself to stay in control. She thought back to when they saw Sunset use the Furia module the first time and she almost killed the Rainbooms. Then she remembered when she saw Sunset use it when she fought Zeal and mostly stayed in control when they were watching her fight. She got off her bed and went to her dresser where she picked up a picture of herself a few years younger, with her parents and a younger girl who somewhat resembled her only her hair was mostly yellow with tints of green. She stared at the younger girl for a minute before putting it down and grabbing her phone.

Sunny had been concerned when she saw how Sunset had struggled with not hurting the young Crusader. She'd gone back with Sunset to make sure she'd be okay. They'd arrived back at Sunset's place around an hour and a half ago...or at least at the building. Sunset had stopped the elevator at one of the floors that turned out to be a gym. She threw off her jacket and went to what looked to be a silver colored punching bag. Immediately she started punching it but what really caught her attention was that Sunset's entire body was producing the same dark red lightning. At first there didn't seem to be an issue. Sunny figured Sunset just needed to let out some steam but as she went on the lightning started becoming stronger and so did her strikes. At first her punches only seemed a bit harder than normal but as she went on not only did Sunny notice that her punches were becoming stronger. She also saw that every time Sunset hit the bag there was something that became more visible. She tried to focus on it but for a few minutes she couldn't see it clearly. When she was finally able to see it, she saw that each of Sunset's hits had begun leaving an indentation on the punching bag. Eventually even Sunset's eyes were completely consumed by that blood red color. Sunny silently watched growing more concerned for her friend as she only seemed to be growing angrier. She watched until Sunset until she let out a single rage filled scream landing a final punch which was crackling with dark red lightning which caused the bag to explode. Sunny looked at Sunset who was breathing heavily through her nose, her teeth being clenched with a few having extended.

"Are you okay?" Sunset didn't answer. "I can't help you if you don't tell me what's wrong."

"This is my problem." said Sunset.

"Isn't this what friends are for? So you don't have to carry the world on your shoulders." Sunset let her arms go limp. Sunny sighed before walking up to her and giving her a hug. The lightning faded until it vanished entirely. "Please tell me what's wrong." Sunset sighed as Sunny took a few steps back. "Are you confused about why they did it?"

"I know why they did it." replied Sunset as she sat on the floor.

"You do?"

"I have a well enough idea." replied Sunset. "After Nee-san left me the files I didn't want to look at them because I didn't want to remember the pain. As much as I wanted to forget I was also extremely curious. Once I saw who it was it all came together. Applejack had told us about the nickname during the sleepover and she said that aside from us the only others that new were her immediate family. When we slept over at Rarity's her family was there. Practice of both soccer teams happens at around the same time. I asked a detective on base for some help figuring it out and after talking with her for a bit the reason became clear." She gave a mirthless chuckle. "They destroyed my life because they were jealous."

"Jealous?" asked Sunny surprised.

"Yeah. Their sisters decided to spend more time with me so they decided we should have sleepovers at each of their houses throughout the week. Each of them decided I wasn't worthy of being friends with their sister and together they made everything I worked for be worth absolutely nothing."

"So, you’re still angry about what they did."

"No. To an extent they made me realize that the five I once called my friends thought of me as nothing more than a pet or a trophy. What pisses me off so much is the asinine reason they did what they did." explained Sunset.

"I see what you mean." said Sunny. "Did you get it out of your system?"

"Some of it." replied Sunset. "Nee-san's gonna have to replace that." she said looking at what was left of the punching bag. Nothing more than several pieces which looked like tattered rags.

The following morning the girls met up at a park before school. It had been agreed by the others they should meet there and they sent a message to Sunny early in the morning. Once they met up most of them turned to Sunny.

"So, how's she doin'?" asked Vinyl.

"Well, I found out that one of the lower floors of the building has a gym." replied Sunny.

"What happened?" asked Octavia.

"She decided to blow off some steam with a punching bag." replied Sunny.

"That's a good sign." said Twilight. "At least she has an outlet for her aggression."

"Not anymore." replied Sunny.

"What do you mean?" asked Sugarcoat.

"The last hit she landed on it made the bag explode." replied Sunny. The others looked at her in shock, minus Sugarcoat.

"Not surprising considering she did make a pretty big crack on the sidewalk and back when we met her she did break marble."

"I guess she's not gonna forgive those girls." said Lemon.

"There's a bit more to it than that." said Sunny.

"What do you mean?" asked Lemon.

"She explained to me that back when her sister gave her the files which showed her who it was she figured out why they did it." explained Sunny. "The reason she's angry at them isn't what they did. Based on her tone I think she might've actually been somewhat grateful to them for showing her how little the Rainbooms cared about her. What she's actually angry about is the reason why they did what they did."

"Why did they do it?" asked Indigo.

"Jealousy. Just before it happened it seems that each of the three elder sisters of the Crusaders had been spending progressively more time with Sunset. She concluded they were jealous of this and decided the best course of action was to turn them, as well as the school, against Sunset."

"That is stupid." said Sugarcoat.

"So how was Sunset before you left?" asked Vinyl.

"She was much calmer than she was last night." replied Sunny. "Although she did over do the baking this morning."

"What do you mean?" asked Indigo.

"She woke up before I did and started making sweets. By the time I'd left she'd made enough sweets to open her own bakery." explained Sunny. "In fact," she said opening a different part of her backpack from which she pulled out what looked like a small black box.

"What's that?" asked Twilight. Sunny pressed the top center part of the box. The box opened and let out eight bags which were tied at the top with black bows. When they opened them, they saw several cookies inside decorated in different ways. For each of the Riders there were cookies shaped like their individual Rider symbols like Sour's cookies looking like the upper half of her helmet as Ex-Aid and Sugarcoat's looking like the front of her Necrom Eyecon.

"This doesn't seem too bad." said Twilight.

"The entire apartment has more of this. Cakes, cookies, cupcakes, etc. It's a mouthful of cavities waiting to happen." said Sunny.

"Is something wrong Indigo?" Octavia asked noticing Indigo had somewhat suddenly hidden her hands behind her back.

"No! Nothing! Totally fine!" The others looked at her. "Really. I'm fine."

"What's behind your back?" asked Sugarcoat. Indigo tried to give an innocent smile but gave up and held out her glowing hands.

"Dude. That is wicked. How are you doing that?" asked Vinyl. 

"I don't know. For the last few days my hands just start glowing."

"We'll have to see if Sunset has something to scan you or something." said Sunny.

"And what do I do in the meantime?" asked Indigo.

"Consider wearing pants or shorts. Something with pockets." suggested Sunny.

"How long does it last?" asked Vinyl.

"Ten minutes at most." replied Indigo.

"What did you do for ten minutes?" asked Lemon.

"I hid in a bush." muttered Indigo.

"At school?" asked Vinyl.

"Home." replied Indigo holding out her hands. "It did happen once at school. It was around lunch so I hid in the bathroom for a few minutes."

"So that's why you were late the other day." said Lemon Zest. Indigo nodded.

"I think I've got something that could help." said Sunny reaching into her backpack. She pulled out a pair of black gloves and handed them to Indigo.

"Why were you carrying gloves?" asked Sour.

"I always keep them in my backpack just in case." said Sunny. "I actually carry three pairs so you can keep them."

"Uh...thanks." said Indigo as she put the gloves on which mostly hid the glow enough that it was no longer visible in the day light.

"Whelp, let's get to school." said Lemon oddly excited. The others looked at each other a bit surprised.

At around this time the Crusaders were heading to school together, since their sisters coercing the two was the only reason Pinkie and Fluttershy started showing up to school again. Since they'd been showing good behavior the three had been allowed to walk to school on their own but had a somewhat limited amount of time to get to school. Sweetie had told them about the night before when Sunset cracked the ground in front of her. Much like their sisters, they thought apologizing to Sunset would be enough, but after Sweetie explained what happened they felt worse. They'd been grappling with the guilt of what they did. The guilt that they felt for having pushed her to suicide on top of that was harder than they'd realized. Now they knew the bridge between Sunset and their sisters was completely gone, destroyed by their hands. The three walked in silence but stopped when they heard an odd sounding laugh. They turned behind them and saw that there was someone behind an electric pole but couldn't tell who.

"If it isn't the friendship wreckers." said the voice which they could now at least tell was female but still sounded a bit odd. Almost distorted.

"Who are you?" asked Scootaloo standing in front of her friends.

"The one who's gonna punish you properly." said the girl holding out what looked like an orangish flash drive with the letter V on it.

"What is that?" asked Apple Bloom.

"The tool to punish you." said the girl behind the pole before pressing a button on it.

"Violence!" said a male sounding voice. After all they saw was the flash drive moved behind the pole. Whoever was there grew larger. What came out looked more like a monster made of melted weapons whose body looked like half steel on the left side and half copper on the right side but with a ball for a left hand. The three girls were terrified for a moment before regaining their bearings and taking off running.

"I was hoping they'd run." said the creature to itself before its body, minus the arm, took on the shape of a ball and it began using the arm with a ball for a hand to hit the ground in order to go after them.

The Shadowcolts were heading to school when Indigo suddenly stopped causing Twilight to bump into her.

"Is something wrong?" asked Sunny.

"You guys don't feel that?" asked Indigo.

"What?" asked Sour. Indigo knelt down and placed a hand on the ground.

"There's some kind of vibration."

"Like an earthquake?" asked Vinyl.

"No. Whatever this is feels different. It's like something really heavy is being bounced around like a basketball or something." replied Indigo. "I'm gonna check it out."

"Let's all go in case there's a bad guy with a really heavy weapon or something." said Vinyl.

"Good call." said Sour before they all followed after Indigo. After a bit they could feel the vibration beneath their feet like Indigo. Not long after they found themselves having a bit of trouble retaining their balance. Once they got to that point the Riders transformed and went ahead. As they followed the vibration they came across the Crusaders running. They became surprised, especially when they saw a large metal ball jumping after them. The Riders didn't have much time to think about it. Kabuto clocked up and went ahead, grabbing the girls and bringing them with the others. The metal ball turned before changing back. Upon seeing the Riders it took a step back.

"Who are you and what do you want?" asked Kabuto as the Crusaders looked at the Riders now surrounding them in amazement.

"Those three were never properly punished. The only way for them to truly be punished is for their lives to end." said the creature as Lemon and Twilight arrived.

"You want to kill them?" asked Zangetsu.

"I don't want to. I'm going to. However I have other things to do than deal with you. I'll take care of them later. Maybe at school." it said before leaving. They were about to go after it only for several blasts to hit in front of them. Once the smoke cleared they saw Pixie holding her Bugvisor with the blaster side pointed at them. She giggled and then disappeared in a flurry of pixels. Once they saw there were no other attacks coming they undid their transformations. Lemon went up to the three younger girls.

"Are you three okay?"

"Why do you care?" asked Sweetie Belle looking down remembering exactly who these girls were.

"What you did in the past doesn't matter right now." said Lemon. "That thing's after you so we'll protect you," she said looking at the others. ", right?" The Riders nodded.

"For now we should get to school. Once we get there they should be safe since I don't think that creature would actually attack them there." said Sunny.

"What makes you say that?" asked Octavia.

"Whoever or whatever that thing is may be after them but it preferred to escape rather than risking being revealed through battle." explained Sunny. Twilight placed a hand under her chin.

"Can you three remember anything from the creature?" asked Twilight. The three were uncertain for a moment.

"It had a USB drive." said Sweetie.

"A flash drive?" asked Twilight. The three nodded.

"It had the letter V on it but also a button that said Violence when it was pressed." added Sweetie.

"We'll definitely have to talk to Sunset about this." said Sunny.

"Shouldn't we call her now?" asked Lemon.

"We don't have time. It wouldn't make much difference if we were late but I'm sure these three would face a serious penalty." explained Sunny.

"Oh yeah." said Vinyl. "We better go then."

"Once we get to school we should explain things to Vice Principal Luna." said Sugarcoat. The others nodded. The Crusaders were uncertain about going with them but realized they didn't have a choice.

Everyone started whispering when they arrived. Most couldn't believe these girls they'd known had become close friends with Sunset Shimmer were walking with the three who had destroyed her.

"Hypocrites." whispered Sugarcoat. The girls got to Vice Principal Luna's office and knocked.

"Come in." When they walked in she became surprised.

"There's something important we need to discuss." said Sunny. "And I believe these three should start."

The three girls explain what happened up to the point when they were saved. The others explained their part of the story up to that same point.

"This isn't good. Do you remember anything about the person?"

"We didn't see anything aside from that weird USB drive." said Scootaloo.

"Shouldn't we call Sunset?" asked Twilight.

"Normally I would've called her by now but..." began Sunny just before the bell rang. "We were already running somewhat late." The Crusaders began to panic.

"All of you had better get going." said Luna. Sunny turned to the Crusaders.

"It'll be best if you meet us on the roof once lunch starts." she instructed. The three nodded before leaving the office. "Sugarcoat." She nodded and pulled out Nori's Eyecon before activating it releasing him.

"Keep an eye on those three girls." she ordered.

"Understood." he said before turning intangible.

"It's interesting things have become so odd that doesn't even phase me anymore." said Luna.

The day went about as well as any other since their confession for the Crusaders but today they felt a bit safer. Other students still tried to target them but Nori would find the closest of the Shadowcolts and alert them. In between first and second period Indigo twisted one guy's wrist to scare off a few other students. Between second and third Sugarcoat had to defend them in one of the bathrooms. The following point between periods they were lucky since their previous and next classes were next to each other. While they'd been given numerous punishments both at home and at school Principal Celestia figured the three girls would be attacked and felt it best to keep them together so that at the very least they could watch each other’s backs though it wasn't the most effective means of protection since they were attacked by groups of students more commonly as opposed to confronted by individuals.

Once lunch time rolled around the Crusaders began heading to the roof but were ambushed again forcing Nori to find the others. A group of students were dragging the three younger girls outside. Having a pretty good idea of what was gonna happen the Shadowcolts went ahead, catching them near the dumpster. The group warned them to move so one of the jock guys went up to them in an attempt to seem threatening but was caught off guard when he placed a hand on Sunny's shoulder and she flipped him over by twisting his wrist and then proceeded to place her index finger and thumb on his neck which caught everyone by surprise.

"Let the girls go right now." ordered Sunny.

"Or what? He's too big for you to choke." said a girl.

"I wouldn't say that." said Lemon with a smirk.

"What Sunny Flare is holding right now is his trachea which isn't especially strong. If she puts a little pressure on it he won't be able to breath." explained Sugarcoat. "Let them go."

"So what if we just rush you?" asked the girl.

"As former Crystal Prep students we were expected to know a lot of things, including self-defense." said Sugarcoat with her usual expression. "We're more than good enough to take on you if you'd like to test it." They looked at each other for a moment before the group released the three younger girls. As soon as they were able to they ran to the group of older girls. Afterwards they left but whispered among themselves about getting them after school.

"Let's head to the roof." said Sour. The Crusaders told them they kept their lunches in their lockers so they had to go there first and after headed to the roof. Once there everyone got their lunches out and started eating.

"Um...excuse me." said Apple Bloom.

"Yes?" asked Sunny.

"Shouldn't we call Sunset?" asked Apple Bloom.

"We will but before that we need to eat. You never know how long these conversations will be." explained Sunny. They ate in silence and once all of them were done Sunny got her phone out and contacted Sunset, making sure to put her on speaker phone.

"Hello?"

"Sunset, we've got a situation." said Sunny.

"What's going on?"

"The three girls who were responsible for the Anon-A-Miss incident were attacked this morning by a monster." said Sunny. For a moment there was no response.

"Hang on a minute." said Sunset. They heard an odd sound. "Alright. What do you know about it?"

"The monster itself was almost entirely made of metal and seemed to be able to move around by becoming a large metal ball with an arm sticking out which it used to get itself into the air."

"It sounds like you're talking about a specific class of monster. Anything outside of the physical description?" Sunny turned to the Crusaders and nodded.

"Th-There was somethin'. Before we saw the monster, we saw a USB drive. It had a V on it." said Apple Bloom.

"Whoever or whatever was holding it pressed something and we heard it say Violence." added Sweetie Belle. There was silence for a moment.

"Is there anything you can tell us?" asked Octavia.

"If what they said is true we're dealing with a Dopant which presents a big set of problems." replied Sunset.

"Are they that tough?" asked Vinyl.

"That isn't the issue. Just like with Bugsters who have to be separated by a Rider who uses a Gamer Driver and is at Level 1, a Dopant has to be defeated by someone using a Gaia Memory to transform."

"What exactly is a Dopant?" asked Sour.

"Remember how I showed you Eternal's Memory?"

"Yeah." replied the others, minus the Crusaders who were a bit confused.

"Well there's a few different types of Gaia Memories. The Eternal Memory is a purified one which makes it possible to use in a Driver to transform or can be used by a Rider for an attack. There's also Gadget memories which mostly work to activate certain gadgets but they can be used to enhance attacks. The last are Dopant Memories. Just as there are Lockseed Dealers there's also Memory Dealers. They'll usually sell them but on occasion have been known to give them to people with enough negative emotion. These dealers will create a bio connector by inserting a memory into a machine and then placing the other end of it somewhere on the person's body. From that point on whenever the person in question activates the memory the connector will appear on the person." explained Sunset. "Dopants are still human but the longer they use a memory the higher the number of possible side effects that come from the use of them and there have been cases of them resulting in the death of the user."

"Then if a Dopant is a person using one of these memories it can't be one of us who delivers the finishing blow or else we'd kill whoever the monster is." said Vinyl.

"Correct." replied Sunset.

"Then what do we do?" asked Indigo.

"We've got a few keywords so that might help." said Sunset. "If someone's targeting them specifically then the Dopant is more than likely someone whose secret they revealed. Unfortunately that list is too extensive and the only people we can eliminate right off the bat would be their sisters and their friends."

"What do you mean?" asked Indigo.

"Those five, or at least the sisters, probably had to do with the punishments they were given and considering they thought of those three as people, as opposed to how they thought of me as a mere possession, they wouldn't try to attack them."

"Any suggestions of what we should do?" asked Lemon.

"All Riders are physically enhanced after transforming. Capable of doing things most can't. If you can find whoever has the memory and take it from them there won't be a problem since any one of you will be able to break it. However if they use the memories you have to avoid hitting them with a finishing move. I'll contact some friends of mine to figure out who we're dealing with."

"Are they in the city?" asked Vinyl.

"Actually they're watching over Cloudsdale." replied Sunset. "Is there anything else you can remember? Anything could help. Even something the Dopant might've said."

"She said they wanted to punish us and called us Friendship wreckers." said Apple Bloom.

"Alright. I'll get in contact with these Rider. In the meantime try looking around the school and see if you can identify the Memory user."

"Understood. We'll head over after school." said Sunny

"Actually there's a place I'd like to meet you guys at. There's a café at the intersection of 62nd St. and Tempest Ave., I'll meet you there."

"Understood." said Sunny before Sunset hung up. After she turned to the others. "Our best chance will be splitting into three groups. A few of us will go with each of them. We'll look for anyone who might look like they're hiding something." she explained to her friends and then turned to the Crusaders. "We'll need you to tell us what you remember revealing from who as we go around to give us more of an idea of what kind of suspect pool we're dealing with."

"So you want us to try to narrow who would be more likely to want to attack them." said Sugarcoat. Sunny nodded.

"Then let's get started, shall we." said Octavia.

Back at Sunset’s place

After hanging up she looked around. Over the last few hours she'd gone a bit wild with her stress relief. She learned that Cure Whip's module didn't just give her the skills to make sweets. For some reason whenever she was upset she just felt like baking...a lot. She looked around at all the sweets.

"Maybe I overdid it a bit." she said to herself. "It doesn't matter. If Principal Celestia's anything like Princess Celestia then maybe I can just send these to her. Then again, I have no idea where they live. Alright. Time to make the call."

She walked out of the kitchen and went to the living room where the tv became active.

"Can you communicate me with our friends in Cloudsdale?"

"Understood." said a mechanical voice. There was a ringing before the screen flickered and a room came into view.

"Hello?"

"Sunset Shimmer? Is that you?" asked a girl who looked about Sunset's age with light blue skin and long white and blue hair who stepped out wearing sky blue sweats and a white tank top before sighing. "I thought you were Max."

"I guess you really don't forget, do you Minuette." said Sunset with a chuckle.

"So what's going on?"

"I need to talk to your partner." replied Sunset.

"Oh. Hang on. I'll get her." After Minuette went off screen. "Hey Moon Dancer. Sunset needs to talk to you."

"The Equestrian?" asked a new voice. After a girl with a yellowish white skin tone and long red hair which had violet and purple streaks who wore glasses and shorts with a long sleeve shirt stepped on screen holding a leather-bound book which had a dark purple reverse crescent moon with a star in the moon and two behind it.

"Moon Dancer what do I keep telling you about calling me Equestrian?" deadpanned Sunset.

"Apologies but it is quite rare for you to contact us and I'm sure you realize I love learning about new things, especially those not of this world." she said.

"Okay. First of all I'm not a thing. Second, sorry, but I've been busy. I'm calling because I need you to perform a search in The Library." explained Sunset.

"Very well." said Moon Dancer taking a step back before closing her eyes and extending her arms.

"Did something happen?" asked Minuette.

"Some girls were attacked by a Dopant here." explained Sunset.

"Keywords?" asked Moon Dancer

"Violence and Anon-A-Miss." said Sunset.

"Still too many results." replied Moon Dancer with her eyes closed.

"Not the term Anonymous. The second keyword is Anon - A - Miss." said Sunset.

"There's still quite a few results. It seems like this Anon-A-Miss angered enough people to the point many of them still desire to use violence against them. Is there anything else?"

"Try Broken Friendship."

"Understood." said Moon Dancer.

"Didn't that happen with a lot of them?" asked Minuette.

"I don't think so. As I recall most the secrets exposed humiliated students but I don't recall hearing about any which resulted in broken friendships. Then again at the time I was terrified."

"The results went down significantly but there's ten books left. Anything else?"

"Yeah. The final keyword is friendship wreckers." said Sunset.

"Perfect. I've got the answer."

"Who's the enemy?"

The others spent lunch searching for anyone who might seem suspicious but no one really stood out. Unfortunately, not only did the Crusaders remember most of the secrets they'd revealed, it seemed most of the students remained resentful. A few had forgiven them while other held enough of a grudge to not talk to them but clearly not to the point they'd attack them...or make any contact with them. As they went through everything they could remember the Crusaders were finally able to think with a bit of clarity since they were being protected. They realized the despair and loneliness they felt now was probably the same as what Sunset felt when she was first reformed only with a difference. They had been just as resentful towards Sunset as everyone else and avoided her like the plague but in that time their sisters and their friends were with her. The pain they felt when they saw the hateful stares actually made them feel worse than when they were beaten, locked, or thrown. They started realizing how much worse things were for Sunset when they framed her.

The three groups reunited at the front of the school with the Crusaders feeling much worse than before.

"Any luck?" asked Indigo.

"Nothing on our end." said Sunny.

"Same here." said Sugarcoat.

"There are still way too many people who could've done it." said Vinyl scratching the back of her head.

"We might be looking at this the wrong way." said Twilight.

"What do you mean?" asked Octavia.

"We know whoever attacked them had their secret revealed but so far that's all we've focused on." explained Twilight.

"Then we should be looking for someone whose secret caused something else." said Sugarcoat.

"So like someone who was hiding something from their friends." said Lemon with a hand on her chin.

"Maybe we should just let them punish us." said Apple Bloom. The Shadowcolts turned to the younger girl surprised to see her in tears.

"We did what we did to get our sisters back but we never considered just how much she had to go through." said Sweetie Belle covering her face with her hands though they could still see the tears that fell.

"We deserve it." said Scootaloo. Lemon Zest balled her fist tightly before pulling Sweetie's hands away from her face and slapping all three of them surprising everyone.

"Don't you EVER say something like that." she said angrily. "You did something bad. Possibly the worst thing you'll ever do, unless you were to kill someone but that's beside the point. Letting yourselves get bullied because of what you did isn't what you should do. Your sisters have to keep an eye on the other two and they're probably angry at you but just giving up your lives is not the way to make up for what you did. Even Sunset is willing to protect you because she knows that you dying would be completely pointless." she said turning away from them. "I had a younger sister but she was taken. You can bet your asses that if she did something like this I would've been protecting her. Even if I can't transform I am going to do anything I can to make sure you make it through this." The other Shadowcolts looked at each other before Sour walked behind her and placed a hand on her shoulder. Lemon turned and saw her friend smile causing her to smile. The Crusaders looked at each other.

"I guess we were just in shock since we never really understood just how bad things became for Sunset when we framed her." said Sweetie.

"I guess we should just focus on making sure we make it back to our families." said Apple Bloom.

"Now that that's settled we can get back on..." began Twilight right before the bell rang. "...track."

"What do we do?" asked Sweetie Belle.

"Head to class. We'll meet out in front after school and then we'll head to the place Sunset mentioned." explained Sunny. The Crusaders nodded before leaving.

Behind the gym of the school there was a girl who was with Pixie who smiled.

"Here." said Pixie handing her a medium sized leather bag. The girl grabbed it and noticed it was kind of heavy. "The others are kinda busy so these should help." The girl reached inside and pulled out a silver coin that had the picture of a mantis on it.

"What am I supposed to do with these?" asked the girl.

"When you're using your memory break some of these coins in half and throw them for backup. Have fun." said Pixie. The girl sighed and hid the bag in her backpack before walking to her next class.

The rest of the day went fairly normal. They were lucky enough that most of the other students who liked to attack them got the message that they were being protected. For the most part. Once class ended the others made sure to search for the Crusaders immediately. They got lucky enough to get to the three before the group from earlier got to them but just barely. Seeing this the group acted as if they were just passing by. The group walked out the front of the school along with most of the other students but before they left something unexpected happened. The Violence Dopant stepped out from behind the statue's base causing all the other students to run back inside in a panic.

"Why did they run back inside?" asked Indigo confused. Vinyl shrugged.

"Focus." said Sugarcoat.

"It's time to deliver punishment." said the Dopant.

"Not while we're here." said Indigo.

"Twilight. Lemon. Keep the girls safe." said Sunny. The two nodded.

"It won't be so simple." said the Dopant taking out a bag from which it pulled out coins.

"Is it trying to bribe us?" asked Vinyl as they put on their Drivers. They watched as it broke the coins in half and threw them causing them to form several creatures from bandages that came out of the broken coins and walked somewhat like zombies. "Huh."

"Quite unexpected." said Octavia as they all transformed. What they didn't notice at first was that each broken coin made more creature than it seemed at first. The Riders all took out their weapons, which for Kabuto was a weapon that looked like a short sword which seemed to double as a gun and for Necrom was a rifle like weapon with what looked like a foldable hand where the barrel ended. The creatures attacked them and they countered but as they fought the Dopant broke more coins causing them to be overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of creatures to the point that they were surrounded which allowed a few to make it to Lemon and Twilight.

"What do we do?" asked Twilight.

"You watch the girls." said Lemon holding out her arm. Twilight became confused until she saw Lemon's arm glow for a moment before the glow moved to her hand where it took the form of an odd-looking sword that had a clear space that seemed empty.

"What is that?" asked Twilight surprised as the Crusaders looked at her just as surprised. Lemon held the sword with both hands and began to swing it, using the weight of the blade to deal more damage. At first it was only a few of them that got past the others and it wasn't long before she found herself unable to keep track of them. It was then someone ran and kicked a few of them away. Lemon turned to see a girl with a light pink skin tone who had purplish pink hair with a white stripe and wore a white skirt with a black tank top, yellow boots and jacket, pink earrings, and a small tiara.

"Who are you?" asked Lemon.

"Diamond Tiara?" asked Apple Bloom surprise as the other two Crusaders looked in shock.

"You're helping us?" asked Sweetie Belle.

"We don't have time to talk right now." said Diamond.

"Do you know how to fight?" asked Lemon.

"Very well. My father's always been afraid I might be kidnapped and held for ransom." replied Diamond.

"Good enough for me." said Lemon slashing at another creature. The Crusaders watched as someone they'd called an enemy was fighting to protect them which kind of shorted out their brains. Twilight, not knowing Diamond or her history with the Crusaders, was much more surprised at how skilled the younger girl seemed to be. At the very least it seemed that even though these strange mummy like monster were numerous they weren't all that strong. The Dopant began getting impatient and was about to walk to the Crusaders when something caught everyone's attention. The sound of a violin but it seemed to be coming from somewhere above them. They turned towards the roof of the school where they saw Seikō only her armor resembled a metallic red dress which included a partial skirt, an ornament which was on the helmet and resembled wings where her ears would be if she wasn't wearing a helmet, and what looked like hot pink metal hair which split into four tails. They saw the helmet's eyes were a deep red, softer than the energy her body released when she used Furia, and held a red violin which had a module inserted at the point where the strings were tightened. Even the strange mummy monsters looked at her though they couldn't tell if there was any actual shock in their eyes because they didn't seem to have any.

"What's she doing?" Diamond asked Lemon who shrugged.

A strange looking circle formed above her from which they saw fire emerge and take the form of a phoenix.

"Phoenix Blaze!" called out Seikō as the phoenix flew towards them. The others were surprised at the size of the attack, which was now headed for them. However, to their surprise, the flames which engulfed all the monsters, touched them but didn't hurt them. The monsters disintegrated while the Violence Dopant growled.

"It's not over yet." Seikō Scarlet jumped from the roof and landed between the Riders and those who were protecting the Crusaders before turning to Lemon and pulling out an object which looked like a motorcycle handle with a speedometer in the middle and a small open slot above that. "I believe this is for you." she said surprising the others.

"So that's where it goes." said Lemon with a smile. She stabbed her sword into the ground before taking the Driver.

"Wait. Then that means..." began Meteor as Lemon placed it at her waist causing the belt to extend. Then she pulled out a Gaia Memory like the one Sunset had shown them only this one was red with an A on it. Lemon pressed the button on it.

"Accel!" called a voice.

"Henshin!" she called out as she inserted it in the slot causing an A that looked like a speedometer to appear on it. Lemon revved her driver causing the uncurved line on the A to move for the complete letter before she revved it again causing eight red pistons to appear around her forming red electric energy on her body which caused a red and silver armor to appear. Like the others, she had a face plate but this one was just blue with lights and a silver piece that went from parts of the back of the helmet to the front forming an A on the blue part of it. She also had railing on her back with a tire and half a tire at the side of each ankle.

"I guess this makes me Kamen Rider Accel." she said smirking under her helmet. "So what took you so long?"

"Nee-san sent me the Accel Driver and upgraded my weapon." Seikō explained. She noticed Diamond and sighed before turning to the Dopant.

"You really don't intend to reveal your true identity?" she asked.

"I have no reason to show my face to the guilty." said the Dopant.

"Is that really what you believe, Silver Spoon?" Hearing this shocked the Crusaders and Diamond Tiara. Gaim had a pretty good idea of who this girl was but didn't really know anything about her personally. The Dopant sighed before its body shrank down revealing a girl with a grey skin tone, and similar braided hair who had glasses in a yellow skirt and purple shirt and the memory came out of the back of her left hand.

"How did you know?" asked Silver.

"I had a friend of mine look up some information." said Seikō. "It seemed that what was revealed from you was more than just something embarrassing."

"What do you mean?" asked Accel.

"The secret of hers that was revealed." said Diamond. "It was that she'd been stealing things from me that she thought I wouldn't notice."

"Exactly." said Seikō. "It seems that from the moment they decided to go their own ways Silver decided that best choice was to personally punish those who were responsible for revealing her secret."

"Those three little bitches cost me my best friend." said Silver clenching her fist.

"Friends don't steal from one another!" yelled out Diamond.

"You didn't even want them!" countered Silver.

"You're right. I didn't but they were all gifts from my family so even if I wouldn't have worn them in public they were still important to me." yelled Diamond.

"Perhaps they can resolve this." said Twilight a bit hopeful.

"The time for talk is over." said Silver.

"Violence." The Bio Connector appeared on the back of her left hand and she inserted the memory becoming the Violence Dopant once more before she started breaking all the rest of the coins which created a much larger group of monsters than before.

"Waste Dummies?" asked Seikō surprised.

"Wait what?" asked Meteor.

"I'll explain later." said Seikō.

"Couldn't you just burn them again?" asked Gaim.

"Even using the power of the Princess of Flames the level of focus I need to be able to target specific enemies in an area while avoiding others is much greater than what I'm able to right now. It's more of a one-off thing." she explained.

"So what's the plan?" asked Accel.

"You're gonna have to take care of the girl." explained Seikō. Accel nodded. "Sour we need a new stage."

"Got it." said Ex-Aid pressing the button on the slot in the side of her belt.

"Stage Select!" called out another voice as the Stage Select roulette formed around her and moved before stopping on the image of a forest which expanded changing their surroundings.

"Dude. That is awesome." said Accel going up to Diamond. "Keep an eye on those three." Diamond nodded and went back with Twilight and the Crusaders.

"Alright everyone. Let's get to work." said Seikō as her weapon changed from a violin to a sword which she split down the middle into two swords.

"Let's take the stage!" declared Gaim. The group all drew their weapons and attacked with Accel heading to the Dopant holding her sword. She swung but Silver used the ball shaped hand she now had to counter her strikes. The good thing about having transformed was that the clash between the metal of her blade and the metal Silver's Dopant form had still created a vibration but it was considerably less.

"If that's all you've got this'll be easier than I thought." said the Dopant.

"We'll see about that." said Accel pulling out a grey memory with an E on it which she activated.

"Engine!" called out the voice from before. She pressed something on the handle of her sword letting it fold forward and letting her insert the Engine Memory into the empty slot on the sword before closing it. Then she pressed a trigger that was on the handle of her weapon. "Steam!" called out the voice as she thrust her weapon towards the Dopant's face releasing a large burst of steam which caused her to stumble back giving Accel an opening to strike a few times and then thrusting her blade knocking the Dopant back.

"I guess I underestimated you."

"Happens more often than I'd like." said Accel. "Now let's..." she began before the Dopant started attacking her.

"I guess I'll just have to make sure you can't attack."

"Just try it." said Accel pressing the trigger again.

"Electric!" She blocked the Dopant's next attack with her blade which sent a strong electric current flowing through her currently metal body which threw her back. Realizing she was in trouble she changed into a ball like before jumping away.

"Just try it!" she said pulling her Driver off her belt before jumping causing the black frame looking pipes with the wheel to move in front of her helmet while the two tire halves at her feet became one. Everyone, minus Seikō, looked in shock as Accel became a motorcycle and chased after the Violence Dopant. Luckily, she didn't get too far since she was a really big bouncing ball of metal being chased by a human motorcycle. Once she reached the Violence Dopant she popped a wheelie with the front wheel and spun, hitting her forcing her back into her humanoid form. Accel switched back bringing out her weapon.

"It's time to pay for your crime." she said holding her weapon aimed at the Dopant. She pressed the trigger again.

"Engine! Maximum Drive!" it called out. She slashed three times in the shape of an A, but turned her back when she slashed the short line, creating a red A which went straight to the Dopant causing her to explode. Accel walked towards Silver Spoon who was now on the ground and trying to move towards her Memory which was a few feet from her before it suddenly shattered leaving her wide eyed. She walked up to the girl and picked her up in her arms. When she did their surroundings changed back to the front of the school and she was back with the others who had finished taking care of the Waste Yummies. The rest of the students started coming out of the school. As they did Accel passed Silver Spoon to Seikō.

"I'll get her checked out." she said jumping onto a roof and leaving. The others changed back and, to their surprise Lemon Zest stepped in front of them looking at all the students of the school.

"Alright you bunch of assholes, listen up!" she yelled getting everyone's attention and surprising her friends. "We may still be new to the school but we know about the Anon-A-Miss thing so let me make one thing clear. What these girl did was bad but you morons have been using them as scapegoats for the truth. They told secrets but a lot of those secrets were sent to them by you hypocrites. Maybe not all of you but more than enough of you. Let me make one thing crystal clear. As of right now these three girls are under our protection, even if they're not with us so if anything happens to them we will find whoever did and punish them ourselves and I'm sure you know how much any one of us could hurt you." Her friends looked at her in shock while the other students stood silent. Lemon walked up to the Crusaders. "We've got our own things to take care of but here." she said handing Apple Bloom a folded paper. "Call me if anything happens." The three younger girls looked at her and then nodded. "Good." she said turning to her friends. "Let's go." It took them a moment before they went with her.

The Crusaders stepped up to Diamond Tiara.

"Why'd you help us?" asked Apple Bloom. "We thought you hated us like the others."

"We never got along but the Anon-A-Miss thing didn't exactly give me a reason to hate you." said Diamond. "If anything I think I owe you for showing me that my friend wasn't really my friend. I've always been afraid of letting people get close to me because I never liked the idea of being used. Let me just make one thing clear. I'm not your friend but if you ever need help with anything you can call me. Whether you're being bullied or need some other favor." she said walking away from them. The Crusaders looked at Diamond in shock as she continued to walk.
> Mimic Mystery
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sunset and her friends stood in the Gym floor of the building which currently had an entirely padded floor. Recently they'd received a new piece of equipment. A laptop which was linked to the same database Sunset had used to learn about the other Riders. Mercy explained to them she'd made it as a more portable way to not only identify enemies as they appear but also allowed her to look up information on the Rider forms of her friends. What caught Twilight's interest the most was that their files gave extremely precise information such as their striking power, fastest running speed, and max jump height. She showed them, and they became impressed, but they confused about was how some parts of the information were very specific. For example, there was a file for Gaim in Orange and Ichigo arms while at the same time there was one for Zangetsu in Melon Arms alone. They also saw that in Kabuto’s file, after using Cast Off, Sunny's max running speed, which they assumed didn’t include her speed when she Clocked Up, came out to her moving about 39 MPH.

Currently the Riders are in loose clothing and are sparring while Twilight records them using the laptop's camera to track their current skills in their civilian forms. Since she'd been doing this for much longer than the others they had been sparring with Sunset one by one.

Sunset asked for volunteers and, to her surprise, Lemon wound up being the first to do so. Right now, Sunset and Sunny were facing off. Twilight noticed that with each sparring match Sunset was mostly defending while attacking sometimes. As far as she could Sunset was testing how each of the fought and how they would react to different situations like when she mostly remained offensive against Octavia who was not only able to protect herself but landed a few hits when Sunset got close. Out of all of them Sunny was the one who seemed to keep Sunset on her toes. The others were feeling very tired from their matches with Sunset, but she was surprised that Sunny was forcing her to be defensive. If they didn't know for a fact that the two were sparring they'd think they were fighting to the death or something. The others watched amazed, mostly the transfers because they'd assumed that Sunny's skills were basic. Now they realized that if anyone had messed with her at Crystal Prep she probably could've put them in the hospital without breaking a sweat.

"I am so glad no one ever made her mad back at Crystal Prep." said Indigo. The other four agreed while Vinyl and Octavia were surprised at how similarly dangerous the two seemed to be. The two continued to attack and defend until Sunset raised her hand, signaling Sunny to stop.

"Why didn't you strike straight?" asked Sunny.

"If you're asking why I didn't use my boxing training, it's because I only use it for stress relief." replied Sunset. "I've got a pretty good idea of where each of you need to improve. I'll type up a brief report for each of you so you can know where to focus. From there it'll be up to each of you."

"Can we train here?" asked Indigo.

"When there's free time, sure." replied Sunset. "Since there's communication throughout the building we can always keep in touch." The others nodded.

"Is there a locker room?" asked Indigo.

"The floor below this one." replied Sunset.

"Sweet. I gotta take a shower." said Indigo.

"All of you head to the showers. There's blank uniforms in all the lockers if you need to change clothes. The AI that runs this place does laundry so within a few hours your clothes will be clean." said Sunset

"Do we just leave it on the ground?" asked Vinyl.

"There's a hatch." replied Sunset. "Come back up once you're all set." she instructed. The group went down a floor where most of them went in to shower before the elevator went up. Sunset and Twilight returned to what she pretty much considered to be her penthouse.

"So, how's the data look?" Sunset asked.

"Very promising. I was actually surprised Vinyl’s so well trained. She doesn't seem the type to be violent."

"I don't know Vinyl all that well but what I do know is that she's never been the type to let herself be pushed around." replied Sunset going to the fridge and getting a piece of a cake which she'd topped with whale gummies she'd made and a spoon.

"It was nice of you to give all those cakes to those destroyed shops so they could raise money to rebuild." said Twilight.

"I wouldn't really put it that way since I was just trying to get rid of them." replied Sunset digging her spoon into her cake before putting it in her mouth.

"This might just be me but it seems like you might be eating too much cake lately." said Twilight looking up from the laptop.

"One of the other Riders told me that sweets help replenish energy from fighting and I have to keep my energy levels at their peak for when I use the other modules. That way I can switch as needed." explained Sunset.

"How many modules do you have?" asked Twilight.

"I came with five but actually I've synchronized with fifteen of them total which is actually more than my partner."

"Your partner?" asked Twilight confused.

"My Driver was made to work in a manner similar to the power of the Pretty Cure. In other words, there's modules that have to be activated simultaneously." explained Sunset.

"So, you and someone else have to activate them at the same time?" asked Twilight.

"Pretty much." said Sunset. "On the plus side the stew's just about ready."

"So why did you want to do this today?" asked Twilight.

"It seemed like the best time since you guys seem the types to finish your homework fast." said Sunset.

"So, you really don't plan on going back to school?" asked Twilight.

"If I can find a way to control the Furia module and not just redirect it then I might." replied Sunset.

"Redirect it?" asked Twilight.

"I'm sure you've realized that since I got back I've only used it twice. When Indigo stopped me and when we were running through Helheim. When I fought Zeal, I was able to fight because it was him. It's like aiming a gun."

"You were fueled by rage and were directing it to him." guessed Twilight.

"Right. I can't go back to school because as of right now the only method I have of controlling myself is redirecting that rage which, I'm sure you realize, wouldn't be ideal in a place full of people."

"Indeed." said a voice. The two turned to see Sunny Flare in the uniform. "This uniform leaves a bit to be desired."

"Maybe but at the very least the entire thing is made of a near indestructible material." replied Sunset.

"Really?" asked Twilight surprised.

"Yeah. It's why I always wear it." replied Sunset.

"I suppose functionality over appearance isn't a bad choice." said Sunny. "In any case was there an actual reason felt it was necessary for you to test us?"

"To find ways to balance our little team as we are now." replied Sunset. "It's good to be able to plan on the fly but it never hurts to have a few plans ready. Plus, it wouldn't hurt to figure out which of us work well with who and things like that." It was then they heard something which sounded like a phone vibrating as the others went in.

"Whose phone is that?" asked Twilight.

"It's not a phone." replied Sunset as she walked up to the coffee table and grabbed something from under it. "I was wondering where I'd left this. I fell asleep and lost track of it." she said pulling out a large book. "This is the diary I told you about before." she said opening it.

"What's it say?" asked Lemon.

"I've been telling her about what's been happening here. She says she'd like to get to know the six of you."

"Even me?" asked Twilight surprised.

"Especially you. She's interested in what differences exist between you two." replied Sunset.

"I suppose it would be interesting to find out how we're different."

"I can point out a pretty big one." said Sunset getting their attention. "Because Twilight was Princess Celestia's personal student, even though she was something of a bookworm recluse, she was still confident around others. She didn't consider friendship to be worth her time, usually just blowing others off, figuring her time was better spent studying."

"I guess in that regard we're similar." said Twilight. There was a groan and they turned to see Indigo's hands glowing.

"I guess in all the excitement I hadn't gotten the chance to tell you." said Indigo.

"How long has that been happening for?" asked Sunset.

"A while." replied Indigo.

"After you got your Driver?" guessed Sunset. Indigo nodded.

"Do you know what the deal is?" asked Vinyl.

"I have an educated guess." replied Sunset. "Indigo step in front of the tv." Indigo did as she was told as Sunset grabbed her communicator, tapped on something, stepped close to her but still keeping a distance, and pointed the part that looked like a camera which projected a light which passed over her.

"Your communicator has a scanner?!" asked Twilight excited.

"Well yeah. Otherwise how do you think we'd scan things out in the field." replied Sunset as the light faded.

"What does it say?" asked Indigo.

"Actually, I'm sending the scan to Nee-san so she can run it through the database." replied Sunset.

"So, you don't know what it is?" asked Indigo.

"I have a suspicion but that's about it." replied Sunset as the tv came on showing Mercy.

"Sunset?" she asked.

"You got the scan?" asked Sunset. Mercy nodded.

"Why'd you send it though?" asked Mercy. "I'm sure you can identify the energy in the object."

"That's why." replied Sunset. "The energy isn't coming from an object." she said as she held up Indigo's hand.

"Oh my. This is interesting." said Mercy.

"So, what is it?" asked Indigo as Sunset let her go.

"Cosmic energy." replied Mercy.

"Cosmic Energy!?!" yelled out the other girls causing both Mercy and Sunset to cover their ears.

"Yes. Cosmic energy." said Mercy uncovering her ears.

"Should I be worried?" asked Indigo.

"Not really." shrugged Mercy.

"So, I'm not, like, radioactive or something?" asked Mercy. Mercy looked at Indigo with an incredulous expression before she started laughing.

"I guess that's a no." said Indigo.

"I'll talk to you later." said Sunset as she ended the transmission with Mercy still laughing.

"So..." began Indigo.

"You're fine." replied Sunset. "It's just a hypothesis but I'm pretty sure your body's absorbing a portion of the cosmic energy you use to transform and making more on its own."

"Is that possible?" asked Twilight.

"Like I said it's just a hypothesis." replied Sunset. "It's the most I can think of right now."

"Did this happen with the other Rider that uses cosmic energy?" asked Indigo.

"I don't know." replied Sunset. "I met Fourze but we've only talked a couple of times." she explained. "If you start feeling weird or if something else happens call me." Indigo nodded. It was then the tv came on again.

"Sunset we've got a call." said Mercy.

"What's going on?" asked Sunset.

"Robbery in progress by invisible thieves." replied Mercy.

"Alright. We'll check it out." said Sunset.

"There's one more thing." said Mercy getting their attention. Her image was show in PIP where they saw the larger image was security footage of someone signaling to a truck of some kind. That someone was Luna which surprised them. "What do you want to do?"

"Do me a favor. Look up if she has a record. If she does please copy it, send it, and then erase it." instructed Sunset, surprising the others, before turning. "Let's go." she instructed. The group got in the elevator and headed down, with Twilight stopping in their...command center.

Once they headed out Twilight ran a communication check to make sure the others could hear her.

"So, what do you think?" Indigo asked Sunset.

"If this is going where I think it's going this might be a bit tricky." she replied. "Twilight, how's the area look?"

"There's police officers checking the area."

"Alright. Keep me posted if anything happens."

"Aren't we headed there?" asked Lemon.

"No." replied Sunset.

"We're heading to see Vice Principal Luna, I assume." said Sugarcoat.

"We are." replied Sunset.

"You know where she lives?" asked Vinyl surprised.

"They." replied Sunset. "I had Nee-san check their files for their addresses and both Celestia and Luna live together."

"I guess they really are close." said Vinyl. It wasn't long before they pulled up to a very nice neighborhood, at a pretty big looking house which was white and had two floors as far as they could tell. They parked on the outside of the garage before looking around.

"Nice place." said Lemon.

"So what are we gonna tell her?" asked Vinyl.

"A working theory." replied Sunset as she went up and rang the doorbell. They waited a moment before Indigo got impatient and rapidly rang the doorbell before Sunny pulled her back from her ear.

"Hey! Ow! Quit it!"

"If they didn't answer either they're both busy or they're not home." said Sugarcoat rolling her eyes.

"So, what do we do now?" asked Lemon.

"We'll have to split up and look for them." said Sunset. "We'd better split into pairs in case we're ambushed." she instructed placing a hand on the side of her helmet. "Twilight do you know how to use facial recognition software?"

"I have a pretty good idea." replied Twilight sounding a little cocky.

"Run it and look for both Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna everywhere in the city and then call us."

"Understood." said Twilight.

"So do you know what's going on?" asked Vinyl.

"I have a very basic idea." replied Sunset. "What I get so far is that they have a Worm impersonating Vice Principal Luna and made sure the Worm was caught on camera so she'd be a suspect. If I'm right then they either want her in jail or are using her as a way to locate her sister. Whichever it is there's risks involved for both of them so if we find them we have to take them back to the tower."

"We can probably keep them there for today and maybe tomorrow since it's Sunday, but what do we do on Monday. They're gonna have to go to work." said Lemon.

"During that time you guys are gonna have to watch over them." instructed Sunset. "Alright. Here's how we're gonna split. Indigo and Octavia, Sugarcoat and Vinyl, Sunny and Lemon, and last Sour with me." The others nodded and got back on their bikes. They split up, heading in the four cardinal directions.

The groups wandered around looking for the two older women which proved to be a nearly impossible task since there seemed to be families walking around everywhere and their skin and hair colors, while not common, would mix into the blurs of color they saw everywhere. Every couple of minutes they'd check in since Twilight was focusing more on trying to find the Principals through the city's network. They kept searching for almost two hours before Twilight finally found them, but got a little too excited which caused her to yell into the comms which nearly caused them to fall off their bikes.

"Oh. Sorry." said Twilight sheepishly.

"Everyone okay?" asked Sunset. They each confirmed they were fine. "Okay. Good. Did you find them Twilight?"

"Yes. Principal Celestia just got money out of an ATM from a Maxxmart Super Center on Fifth Avenue." replied Twilight.

"Alright. Who's the closest?" asked Sunset.

"Octavia and Indigo." replied Twilight. "Just make a U turn and you'll see it once you go past the traffic light you just turned at."

"Understood." said Octavia.

"Just don't take too long." added Indigo.

"Do all of you know where to go?" asked Twilight. All of them responded the same, affirming that they at least had an idea of where they needed to go.

Octavia and Indigo pulled into the parking lot which was pretty full. They went around for a bit, figuring it would be easy to find them considering how tall Principal Celestia was. They rode around for a bit but had no luck. Afterwards they parked and went into the store. The two wondered where their search should begin in such a massive store. Since all the registers are in the front they decided to start by walking through the front to see if they might be paying. As they did they spotted a certain rainbow haired girl with an older woman who had the same skin tone as her. The girl spotted them as well, looking at them surprised, especially since Indigo's eyes started glowing, somewhat like Sunset's only they were a light blue color.

"Calm down." said Octavia. Indigo took a deep breath, remembering their current objective. The two started walking away with the intent to split up.

"Hey." said a raspy voice. The two stopped.

"Hello Rainbow." said Octavia. Indigo refused to acknowledge her presence.

"I just wanted to thank you for protecting Scootaloo."

"It's Lemon Zest you should thank." said Indigo. "She's been protective of anyone younger than her since her little sister disappeared a few years ago." she said walking away. Octavia sighed and then followed. The two tried to figure out where to start their search. If their Principals are living together they could be getting groceries but since it is the weekend they could just be looking. Indigo put a hand on her head while Octavia crossed her arms.

"Indigo? Octavia?"

The two continued trying to figure out a starting point but were startled when both of them felt a hand on their shoulders and turned.

"Are you two okay?" asked Celestia. The same thought went through their heads.

'That was much easier than expected.'

"What are you two doing here?" asked Luna.

"We came looking for the two of you." replied Indigo.

"Why?" asked Celestia.

"Something happened and long story short, we need you to come with us." explained Indigo.

"Why can't you explain?" asked Luna.

"Because if Sunset's right something might be..." began Indigo before they heard screaming outside. The four ran outside and saw another Luna who had flipped over a car with one hand.

"Is that enough of an explanation for now?" asked Indigo. The two women just stared in shock. As the fake Luna began to advance they heard an engine in the distance. They became surprised to see a rose bud appear in the air which knocked her down. When she got close to the others she swerved before the light on the bike seemed to fire out what looked like spores of light which revealed several black and white creatures who seemed to be in cloaks, dragging themselves.

"What are they?" asked Luna as Sunset removed her helmet.

"Ganma." she replied. "Foot soldiers to be precise."

"So, do you have a plan?" asked Indigo as Sunset's motorcycle returned to its lock form.

"I'll get them back to base. I'll be back as soon as I can to help you out. The others should be by momentarily."

"How are you gonna get them away?" asked Indigo.

"It's easy." said Sunset walking up to the Principals. "Hang on to me." she instructed. The two nodded and placed their hands on her shoulders. There was a puff of smoke and then they were gone.

"I totally forgot she could do that." said Indigo.

"We should focus on our own situation." said Octavia putting on her Sengoku Driver.

"Oh. Right." said Indigo putting on her Meteor Driver.

"Meteor, Ready?"

"Melon! Lock on!"

"Henshin!" called out the two.

"Melon Arms! Tenka Gomen!"

The two ran in and started attacking the foot soldiers. The Luna Worm changed to its natural form and then sped up. The two noticed it but weren't really able to do much when they were struck a few times and thrown back.

"Any ideas?" asked Meteor. It was then they saw a black and blue blur move by them before the Worm was thrown back. After they saw Next stop in front of them.

"Are you two okay?" he asked in his distorted voice.

"Yeah. Thanks for the help." said Meteor. "Where have you been?"

"Upgrading my systems." replied Next.

"This should even out the playing field a bit." said Zangetsu bringing out her shield and drawing her Musou Saber. As the three were about to charge Zeal stepped out.

"You have your orders. Stop wasting your time." The Worm nodded and left as the Ganma disappeared. He then turned to them. "Let's see if you're any good."

"We're not push overs." said Meteor. She immediately charged in.

"Wait!" yelled out Zangetsu. Unfortunately, it was too late. Meteor struck Zeal who didn't move.

"Not bad kid." he said as his right hand began forming what looked like black smoke.

"No way." said Meteor in shock before Zeal struck her with a hit which caused a burst of black smoke to burst from her back before she was thrown with black lightning causing sparks on her suit. Next jumped and caught her. The lightning paralyzed her as her transformation was undone. For a moment Indigo's body began glowing allowing her to place a hand on her chest. Zeal laughed and then walked away.

"Hey, wait!" Indigo yelled out standing up before falling to a knee with a hand on her chest.

"Hold her." said Next. Zangetsu nodded and placed Indigo's head on her lap. Next stood up and held out his hand causing a light to cover her. "According to my readings her sternum is cracked. It seems an energy within her is trying to heal the crack but something else is interfering with it." he said as the others arrived.

"What happened?" asked Sunny.

"She took a hit from Zeal." replied Next. "Whatever energy he produces seems to be in her wound. It's keeping it from closing."

"Then we've gotta get her back to the base. Maybe Sunset will have a way to help her." said Lemon.

"Just in case I'll ask my own Medic if she has a possible solution." he said.

"Thank you for your assistance." said Zangetsu. He nodded. "I'll get in contact with you if I find something." The others nodded as he left.

They arrived back a few minutes later with Vinyl having ridden on Indigo's bike while Indigo herself rode with Octavia. Once they got back inside they saw the two Principals eating some cake. Octavia was helping Indigo walk who still held her chest. Sunset came out of the kitchen with tray with three cups of tea. She noticed Indigo and put the tray on the table before running up to her.

"What's wrong?" asked Sunset causing the Principals to turn to them.

"Zeal showed up." said Indigo having some trouble breathing.

"Her sternum's been fractured." explained Sugarcoat. Sunset went up to one of the pillars and knocked on it twice causing it to open, revealing several vials with a glowing red liquid. She pulled out an injector and placed one of them in it before injecting her arm. Once the liquid was gone Indigo fell unconscious.

"What was that?" asked Celestia as the two went up to them.

"A sedative." replied Sunset. "It works by utilizing the nanites in our blood to temporarily dull any pain." she explained. "She should wake up within the hour." she said as she held up her hand causing what looked like a holographic keyboard to appear in front of it surprising the others.

"What the heck is that?" asked Vinyl.

"Nee-san upgraded the systems of this place. It pretty much makes every floor of this place into one giant computer." explained Sunset.

"That's amazing!" yelled out Twilight causing Sunset to cover her ears.

"You've got access to very advanced technology here, don't you?" asked Luna.

"Nii-san and Nee-san know more about the tech from the core than anyone else." replied Sunset. "I have a basic idea of how it works but not the specifics of system itself." she explained.  "Put her on the couch lying on her back." Octavia nodded, placing her on it. She took a step back as a light seemed to go over her. After a screen popped up which showed Indigo's unconscious form.

"Next said there was some sort of energy which was keeping her from regenerating." said Octavia.

"There's more to it than that." replied Sunset. "This was the same energy which kept me from being able to regenerate when..." she began before she stopped. The others remembered.

"When you lost control." finished Sunny. Sunset nodded.

"Is she in danger?" asked Celestia concerned.

"To be completely honest I don't know." replied Sunset. "When I lost control Indigo was able to knock me out because, just like Fourze, her cosmic energy has a link to her bonds. Thanks to this she was able to weaken the influence of the Furia module. All I can tell right now is that the cosmic energy her body started producing is trying to heal the fracture along with her nanites but the foreign energy is keeping it from doing so."

"Is there anything we can do?" asked Octavia.

"Possibly. I'm sending the data to Nee-san now." replied Sunset typing something before the screen and keyboard disappeared.

"In the meantime what do we do?" asked Lemon. "I guess we keep going with the sleepover."

"Sleepover?" asked Celestia and Luna surprised.

"Yeah. We decided to have a sleepover for the weekend." replied Sunset. "Since they had homework we took care of that last night and started training earlier today."

"So, should we keep going?" asked Vinyl looking at Indigo. Sunset turned to look at the unconscious girl.

"Probably not since we'd all be more worried about Indigo." said Sunset. "Not to mention we don't know what the Worm's objective is."

"Do you know what it wants?" asked Celestia.

"I've got a guess at most." replied Sunset. "The Worm, while in Vice Principal Luna's form, sent Ganma to attack, making sure it was seen. As far as I can tell they want to give the police a reason to detain her."

"Since Worms can take on the appearance of others I imagine they might have some impersonating police officers." said Twilight.

"Then their objective would more than likely be to capture Vice Principal Luna." said Sunny.

"Why would they want her, exactly?" asked Sugarcoat.

"Maybe for us to give up our Drivers." suggested Sour.

"I don't think so." said Sunset. "I've got the feeling there's a missing piece to this whole puzzle. Possibly more we're not seeing." she said turning to Twilight. "Did Nee-san send the files?" Twilight nodded. "Alright. For now, everyone relax. I'll take a look at the files and see if I can find anything."

"What files?" asked Celestia.

"I'm afraid that's classified for now." replied Sunset. "For now, just trust me. There's something we're not seeing but I'm sure we'll find it."

"Hey Sunset." called out Vinyl. "What do we do if the Worm shows up again?"

"I'm gonna have to let you guys handle it while I go over the information we have available." replied Sunset.

"I'm sure we'll be able to handle it." said Sunny. Sunset nodded.

"If you get hungry there's a number of recipes and I'm sure we've got the ingredients to make most of the recipes." instructed Sunset before leaving.

"What exactly is she looking for?" asked Luna.

"The reason someone might be targeting either or both of you." replied Sugarcoat. "Do you have any possible ideas of why they might target you?"

"None that immediately come to mind." said Celestia. It was then they spotted the Kabuto Zecter flying above them. Sunny turned to it.

"What's wrong?" The Zecter began to move erratically.

"Oh dear."

"What's it saying?" asked Sour.

"That three more Worms appeared taking on Vice Principal Luna's form." replied Sunny.

"Then we better head out." said Vinyl.

"Not yet." said Twilight catching their attention. "We have to consider one detail. Since we're talking about Worms they'll probably be able to Clock up." The Principals weren't sure what that meant but the others understood. In their current situation Sunny's the only one who can fight them but she obviously couldn't be in multiple places at once.

"I'm sure I can match them." said Sour surprising the others. "When I transform several energy items spawn in those chocolate blocks and one of them lets me move fast."

"That's right." remembered Lemon Zest.

"Then that's two down." said Vinyl. "Yo Tavi, think you might be able to think up a plan to fight one of those Worms?"

"Perhaps." replied Octavia. "Sour, do you know how long does the speed power up last?"

"Not really. I've only used it once so far."

"I'll head down to the control room to track them." said Twilight heading out.

"So we've got three new Worms to deal with and we're down two team mates." said Sunny. "I guess that means we'll need to split into pairs."

"We know Sunny and Sour can keep up with them." said Lemon.

"Hey Lemon. Your Engine memory can do different things, right?" asked Vinyl.

"Yeah. Once I put it in the sword it has three functions. Jet which heats things up, steam, and Electric."

"You learned it fast." said Vinyl.

"I tested the other two in battle. The jet thing Twilight told me about."

"I suppose the best choice might be for Sunny to be accompanied by Sugarcoat, Vinyl should go with Lemon Zest, and I'll go with Sour Sweet."

"Alright. We've got our teams so let's head out." said Lemon.

"Just be careful out there." said Celestia. The six turned and smile before nodding. Once they left the two Principals stood there feeling uncertain of what to do.

The Riders transformed before getting back on their bikes and headed out.

"Can you all read me?" asked Twilight.

"Kabuto all clear."

"Necrom all clear."

"Gaim all clear."

"Accel all clear."

"Zangetsu all clear."

"Ex-Aid all clear."

"Alright. The first Worm's about two and a half miles northwest of the tower. The second's about four miles east. The third's about three miles south." explained Twilight.

"Alright. We'll take the one south." said Gaim.

"We'll take the one northwest." said Ex-Aid.

"Then we'll head east." said Kabuto. "Everyone remember one thing. We need to find out exactly why they're after Vice Principal Luna so if possible try to get some answers."

"Understood."

"Got it."

Sour and Octavia arrived at their target first, spotting the fake Luna very quickly since she was flipping a car over. The two stopped and put on their Drivers.

"Once you transform make sure to change stages to something with a lot of sand." said Octavia activating her Lockseed as Sour activated her Gashat.

"Melon!"

"Mighty Action X!"

"Got it." said Sour.

"Lock on!"

"Gashatto!"

"Henshin!" called out Octavia slicing her Lockseed.

"Dai Henshin!" called out Sour pulling the handle on her Driver.

"Soiya! Melon Arms! Tenka Gomen!"

"Mighty Jump! Mighty Kick! Mighty, Mighty Action X!"

"Hey everyone." they heard Twilight call to them. "Sunset just came by and she said her sister installed something in the lights of the bikes that can reveal any Ganma in the field."

"Really?" asked Lemon surprised.

"Then it wasn't just hers." said Zangetsu. "Did she say how to activate it?"

"There's a soft pad in the center of each bike. You have to press it softly." explained Twilight. Zangetsu went to her bike and felt on the center feeling the pad. She pressed it and a light shot out of her headlight which seemed almost like glitter revealing several foot soldier Ganma dragging themselves towards them.

"Is that standard?" asked Ex-Aid.

"She says it's been standard for about thirty years but it isn't a function that's used often since Ganma attacks are usually more focused around Italy." replied Twilight.

"Well, this makes things much easier." said Zangetsu before turning to Ex-Aid. "Change the stage."

"Beach?"

"It doesn't matter anymore. We just need to get them away from the civilians."

"Gotcha." said Ex-Aid pressing the button on her slot."

"Stage Select!" The roulette appeared behind her and turned before stopping on what looked like a junkyard.

"Alright. Keep them busy while I find the power up." said Ex-Aid jumping away.

"Wait, what?!" asked Zangetsu surprised.

"This isn't like with Sunny's belt. I have to look for the power up." yelled out Ex-Aid as she broke a block which was empty and jumped to another one.

"Right. I probably should've considered that." muttered Zangetsu drawing her Saber. She charged in and started slashing at the Ganma who didn't put up much resistance, even though they outnumbered her.

As Zangetsu fought Ex-Aid continued smashing blocks until she found an Energy Item. Unfortunately it was a violet one which showed someone radiating light.

"Octavia cover your eyes!" she yelled out. Reacting immediately she turned away as the item went into Ex-Aid and she released a large burst of light which blinded all the Ganma and the Luna Worm. Seeing a chance, she re-sliced her lock twice.

"Melon Au Lait!" Zangetsu's Melon Defender started glowing before she threw it. The shield flew around causing most of the Ganma to explode. It didn't take long for the Luna Worm to recover and see its lackeys destroyed so it transformed. Zangetsu noticed and took a defensive stance but was caught by surprise when it clocked up and struck her from behind first before following up with several run by strikes which knocked her back.

"Alright. Defending won't work since it moves faster than I can track."

"I might be able to help you." said Twilight. "I can calculate its trajectory to anticipate its moves."

"Then I'll leave tracking to you." said Zangetsu as Ex-Aid smashed another empty block.

"Oh, come on!" yelled out Ex-Aid quickly becoming annoyed after having smashed four more blocks.

The Worm clocked up again as Zangetsu stood up.

"Block right!" She turned with her shield and avoided damage. "It's coming from behind." She turned again and successfully blocked another strike. "Block in front." She followed the instruction and blocked another.

"Tōmei-ka! Kōsoku-ka!" Zangetsu heard. She turned and saw as Ex-Aid became invisible surprising her.

"Watch your back!" The Worm almost struck her but was thrown back by something. The Worm was hit several times causing several sparks from its body. It got up as Ex-Aid became visible behind it holding her weapon as though she were holding a croquet mallet. To Zangetsu's surprise she hit it really hard on its rear launching it into the air and then hit the A button.

"Schakin!" called out her weapon as the blade extended from it and she inserted her Gashat into it. "Gashatto! Kimewaza!" it called out as it started charging up purple and blue electric energy. "Mighty Critical Finish!" At the same time Zangetsu resliced her lock three times.

"Melon Sparkling!" called out her Driver as her Saber started glowing. The two jumped and slashed it as Zangetsu used a block in front of her to jump back while Ex-Aid created one at her feet which she used to do the same. The two jumped back and slashed it a second time causing it to explode before they landed.

"Alright!" cheered Ex-Aid.

"I fear we went overboard." said Zangetsu.

"What do you mean?" asked Ex-Aid as their surroundings changed back.

"We were supposed to interrogate it." replied Zangetsu causing Ex-Aid's eyes to widen under her helmet.

"Ah crap."

"Hopefully the others have better luck...and self-control." said Zangetsu as they undid their transformations and left.

Vinyl and Lemon were forced to stop when a crowd of people started running towards them and went by them.

"I guess we're headed the right way." shrugged Vinyl.

"Do we have a plan on how to deal with the super-fast monster?" asked Lemon.

"I can help you but you're going to have to take out the Ganma first." said Twilight.

"How?" asked Vinyl.

"I've got you on view right now. Once it starts attacking I can calculate where it's gonna go." replied Twilight. "Just remember you have to take out the Ganma first."

"Right." said Lemon pressing the pad on her bike releasing light particles which revealed several foot soldiers. The two put on their Drivers.

"Orange!"

"Accel!"

"Henshin!" called out the two.

"Soiya! Orange Arms! Hanamichi On Stage!"

After the two brought out their weapons and charged in. As they fought there was something that caught their attention. Namely that the Worm didn't seem to be anywhere in sight. It didn't take a long time for them to take care of the Ganma and then began looking around.

"Twilight?" asked Gaim.

"I don't see it either. I think it's trying to stay out of...get down!"

The two were startled and dropped, narrowly dodging an attack.

"Did you see where it went?" asked Accel.

"The alley next to the clothing store." said Twilight.

"Alright." said Accel with a smirk under her helmet.

"Engine!" At that she inserted it into her weapon.

"It's moving towards Vinyl!" At that Accel rolled in front of Gaim with her blade sideways and pressed the trigger.

"Electric!" It was then it released a large burst of electricity which stunned the Worm mid attack.

"Alright. Now that you can't move we'd like to ask you some questions." said Accel. The Worm tried to turn away. "Why Vice Principal Luna?"

"I'm not saying anything." Said the Worm as an image of Luna's face seemed to appear at the side of its own.

"I didn't wanna have to do this but..." began Accel before pressing her blade to its shoulder releasing another electric shock. "Tell me what I want to know." she said starting to get angry. Hearing her over their comms actually scared Twilight a little. She guessed it was probably something she didn't know about since it was only recently she'd gotten to know Lemon and the others. Gaim looked at Accel feeling a bit concerned.

"Why Luna?" asked Accel again. Holding her blade to the Worm's face. The Worm laughed.

"You're an interesting girl." it said. "All I'm gonna say is that the answer is in the time lost."

"Time lost?" asked Gaim. She was about to ask what it meant but a few blasts hit it causing it to explode as Accel shielded herself. She turned to where the blasts had come from and spotted Pixie who was still holding out her Bugvisor. Accel looked at her for a moment, feeling an odd sense of familiarity. Pixie smiled before disappearing in a flurry.

"Well, crap." said Gaim closing her lock as Accel removed her memory.

"I guess we had a bust here." said Vinyl scratching her head.

"Not a total bust." replied Lemon. "At least we know to look at time lost, whatever that's supposed to mean. Twilight?"

"I'm not entirely sure what that means either. I'll run a search to see if it might be some sort of project or something."

Sunny and Sugarcoat arrived surprised the street was empty. Sugarcoat saw there were a lot of Ganma in the street which Sunny couldn't see.

"Are there any here?" asked Sunny.

"A lot of them." replied Sugarcoat putting on the Mega Ulorder.

"Stand by. Yes, sir! Loading!"

"I'll leave them to you." said Sunny as the Zecter went into her hand.

"Henshin!" called out the two.

"Tengan! Necrom! Mega Ulorder! Crush Invader!"

"Henshin. Cast Off. Change Beetle!"

Necrom drew out her weapon in and pushed the handle causing the hand at the end to turn revealing the barrel of the weapon. She began firing causing them to start going after her. After she pulled back the handle, resetting the hand part of her weapon and charged at them. In the meantime, Kabuto looked around trying to spot the Worm.

"Clock up." she called out tapping the pad.

"Clock up."

She ran, just barely stopping the Worm from hitting Necrom in the back with her weapon in its kunai mode.

"Not bad." complimented the Worm.

"Why are you after Luna?" asked Kabuto.

"Who knows? I just follow orders."

"You expect me to believe you were sent here looking like her with no idea of why?"

"What do I care what you think? Since you're here I'll do the doc a favor and get rid of you." replied the Worm as it swung forcing Kabuto to jump back.

"What Doc?" she asked. Instead of answering the Worm started attacking her. She blocked with the blade of her weapon and started counter-slashing. "I guess you're serious about not sharing any information." she said switching her weapon to gun mode. She dodged the Worm's attacks one after another until got very close, giving her a shot at point blank.

"You're not bad Rider."

"Then perhaps you'd consider giving me the information I seek." said Kabuto.

"I'd sooner die."

"Yes, you will." replied Kabuto.

"One, Two, Three."

"Rider Kick." she said before pulling the horn of her Zecter back.

"Rider Kick."

She jumped and delivered her kick which threw the Worm back before it exploded.

"Clock over."

Kabuto looked to see Necrom finishing off the last few foot soldiers. Once she was done she went up to the beetle themed Rider.

"Did you find out anything?"

"Only one thing. It seems they're working for some doctor." replied Kabuto as the two undid their transformation.

"Girls, Sunset said she needs us back here. I think she may have found something.

"We're already on our way back." said Octavia.

"Same here." said Lemon.

"We just finished here so we're heading back." said Sunny as they got back on their bikes.

It wasn't long after they returned but were surprised that Vinyl and Lemon seemed to be running a bit behind. The other four were surprised when they saw Twilight wasn't in the control room. The door opened causing the four to turn but they saw Vinyl and Lemon arrived with a few pizza boxes.

"We brought lunch!" said Lemon happily. The others looked at the two. "What? We got hungry."

"You do recall Sunset decided to make lunch, right?" asked Sunny.

"Oh yeah." said Lemon. "Oops."

"It's fine." said a voice behind them. They turned to see Sunset and Twilight standing behind them.

"Where were you?" asked Vinyl.

"Sunset's sister sent back the analysis of the data from Indigo's injury." replied Twilight before the two moved out allowing Indigo to step in.

"Yeah. I just wish there had been an easier way." complained Indigo.

"What do you mean?" asked Sour.

"We had to use a defibrillator on her." replied Sunset. "The energy was weakened enough to allow her cosmic energy to get rid of it and heal her."

"So, what'd I miss?"

"Three more Worms appeared and we took care of them." replied Lemon. "No big deal."

"Were you able to get any information?" asked Sunset.

"Not much." replied Sunny. "I found out they were sent by some doctor."

"We didn't have much luck either." replied Vinyl.

"The Worm just said something about lost time." added Lemon.

"Interesting." said Sunset.

"Did you find anything?" asked Sugarcoat.

"Something. Nothing. Hard to say." replied Sunset confusing the others. "I'll go get Principal Celestia."

The girls looked at each other, confused by what Sunset had said before Twilight turned to them.

"Come with me I guess" she said stepping into the elevator. The others followed.

"Did you see what she was looking at?" asked Indigo.

"No. She only came in the room when she said she'd forgotten something and then told me about the lights." replied Twilight placing her thumb on a numberless button. It lit up before the elevator started moving again.

"Where are we goin'?" asked Vinyl.

"I'm not entirely sure." replied Twilight. "Sunset just told me how to get to the room she was checking the files in and told me that we needed to wait there." she explained as the door opened. They entered a very big room which had nothing. It was just a big white room.

"I guess this helps her focus." said Sugarcoat.

"So, you didn't find anything?" Sunny asked Octavia.

"We got caught up in the moment and forgot to ask." replied Sour.

"So what do we do while we wait?" asked Vinyl.

"Truth or dare?" asked Lemon.

"NO!" yelled out Sunny, Sugarcoat, Sour, and Indigo surprising the other three.

"What's the deal?" Vinyl asked Twilight who shrugged.

"This girl is insane when it comes to dares." said Indigo pointing at Lemon. "She literally once dared me to eat a plate of spaghetti."

"That's not so bad." said Twilight.

"ONLY the plate." added Indigo.

"She once dared me to only give compliments for a full twenty-four hours!" accused Sugarcoat. Vinyl tried to imagine what that was like while Octavia simply considered the implication.

"While I'd love to hear about that we've got more pressing matters to attend to." The girls turned and saw Sunset standing there with Celestia behind her.

"What is this place?" asked Celestia.

"I guess the best way to put it would be to describe this room as one giant computer." explained Sunset before turning. "We need you to tell us about what happened to Vice Principal Luna?" she asked looking at Celestia straight in the eyes. She remained silent. "From what I've read she disappeared for close to eight months when she was eleven. Before disappearing, she was a polite, well behaved kid who always did her best academically. Afterwards she turned rebellious up until her sophomore year when she went to juvenile hall for shoplifting and assaulting several security guards."

"How did you find out about that?" asked Celestia.

"The agency I'm working for is sanctioned by all the governments in the world. It's how we keep track of threats worldwide. I asked Nee-san to send me the files for you and your sister." explained Sunset. "I also asked her to erase her criminal record."

"You could go to jail for that." said Celestia.

"Maybe but it's the only way to keep her safe for now. The only reason I can think of for the Worms to take on Vice Principal Luna's appearance is to get her arrested. In doing so they probably decided to have someone infiltrate the police station to take her. If I'm right then the only conclusion I can draw right now is that it has to do with that time she went missing."

"That must be what the Worm meant by lost time." said Lemon.

"I don't know if it'll help much because I don't know much about it myself but if you think it'll help I'll tell you what happened. Just don't tell Luna." The girls looked at one another and nodded before turning back to her.

"You have our word." said Sunset.

"It started when we were young..."
> Hostage Time
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"...back then we were very close but things changed as we got older. Our parents were often working abroad and thus it was only the two of us but neither of us really minded. Despite the difference in our grades we were usually together but once I got to high school I didn't have as much free time. Luna wasn't the most social child but she often prefered to be outside. Unfortunately because I was so busy she would sometimes go to a park which was in our neighborhood by herself. She would always make sure to tell me before hand and she would always return once the sun began to set. However one day things changed. I was busy for a few weeks because I had an important project due. Luna went to the park as she normally did for those days but..." she explained as her eyes began to well up. "...one day she didn't return."

Lemon grabbed Celestia's hands.

"My little sister's been gone for a while now so I know it hurts to remember." Celestia smiled softly before sighing.

"I'm ashamed that it took me as long as it did to realize she was gone. I was so focused on my homework I didn't realize my own sister hadn't returned until it was three in the morning." said Celestia bitterly. "I went out looking for her but the streets were empty. I immediately called the police and they began a search but they couldn't find her. I contacted my parents but it took a few days for them to return. They searched for days but were unable to find anything. While they searched they had been expecting a ransom letter or call but none ever came. Eventually they called the FBI but they didn't make any progress either. It wasn't until a few months later that when we finally had news about her. A police officer had found her in a warehouse by an abandoned school after receiving a call. My parents had returned abroad a month after he disappearance so they called me first. When I got there the doctor told me she'd been unconsious the entire time so I stayed with her. She didn't awaken for about thirty six hours but once she did the doctor ran some tests on her. Overall she seemed fine so after the police questioned her and I signed some paperwork I took her home. For the first few days she seemed okay. I was given permission to skip school a few days to watch over her. One night I awakened to screams and ran to check up on her. When got to her room she was in tears and holding her head. I tried to ask her what was wrong but she just grabbed onto me. I ended up sleeping in her room that night. After that she began sleeping my room until she went back to school. During that time I noticed she started becoming quieter. I would ask her what was wrong but she started getting defensive."

"And that was when it started?" asked Sunset. Celestia nodded.

"At the time I believed Luna thought she was outgrowing being close to her sister and didn't think much of how we'd begun to grow distant, not realizing the true problems she was having."

"What kind of problems?" asked Indigo.

"The night I found her screaming she'd had a nightmare. When the police interviewed her Luna said she didn't remember anything that happened while she was gone but that she remembered a nice person with odd eyes. When she slept she had nightmares of what she went through. Nightmares so vivid she would have a hard time going back to sleep. This eventually led to her turning to drugs to forget her fear and keep herself from dreaming. I never even found out about her drug use until she was arrested for shoplifting and assault."

"Yikes. What happened?" asked Indigo.

"She'd made unsavory friends and it seems they attempted to shoplift from the mall. When they were caught the others ran but Luna elected to fight and injured many security guards until the police arrived. She was arrested and they called me. When I arrived they informed me of everything I'd been ignorant of." As she explained Celestia's eyes became distant. "She was put on trial and declared guilty but because of her mental and drug problems she placed in a rehabilitation facility with psychiatric watch."

"How long did it take for her to get better?" asked Indigo.

"She never actually got better. In order keep her from turning to such things again they gave her an experimental medication specifically made to supress a person's ability to dream."

"Then she's still on this medication?" asked Sunset. Celestia nodded. "Did you ever hear anything about what her nightmares were about?"

"I'd hear her talking in her sleep. She would cry out about needles and electricity going through her at first. Some time later she would cry out saying things that almost made it sound like someone had gotten into her head." replied Celestia. Sunset's eyes widened.

"I guess it stands to reason they may have figured it out way before I thought of it." said Sunset placing a hand on her chin.

"What do you mean?" asked Celestia. Sunset thinks for a moment.

"Remember how I mentioned to you that I knew your counterpart from Equestria and how Princess Twilight mentioned that she's met pony counterparts for just about everyone here?" Celestia nodded. "At one point while I was gone I began to think of something. As far as I could tell the reason Princess Twilight and I could Pony Up was because we were born in Equestria which has an abundance of magic but why were the others able to as well? It wasn't long before I came up with a hypothesis. When the portal was open and Twilight used the power of the Element of Magic it connected the five of them with their Equestrian counterparts. The Elements of Harmony are powerful artifacts which are all connected to one another and the pony they're connected to. I started wondering if it would be possible to connect someone here to their Equestrian counterpart."

"If it was possible to do such a thing then they could possibly create a tunnel by connecting a person to their pony counterpart but there's too many unknown variables." said Twilight. Sunset nodded.

"There is one thing though. From the information I could gather they didn't know about the Elements of Harmony but they somehow knew about the rulers of Equestria, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. The two whose role is to move the sun and moon."

"If they're that powerful then it's possible they figured one of the could be used to connect to one of Princesses." said Sunny.

"Yes but considering everything it's possible things were far worse." said Sunset.

"What do you mean?" asked Celestia concerned.

"When Equestria was formed by the union of the three races the two Princesses ruled together but something changed. You see over time Princess Luna became jealous of her sister because ponies would play and live their lives by day but would shun the night by sleeping. One day...or night, hard to say, Princess Luna refused to lower the moon. Princess Celestia tried to talk to her but her heart had become so overwhelmed with jealousy that she decided she would not allow the sun to rise ever again."

"She didn't really think that one throught, did she?" asked Sour.

"Probably not. Jealousy tends to cloud your mind." replied Sunset.

"So what happened?" asked Celestia. Sunset looked away from Celestia confusing her.

"Luna gave in to the darkness in her heart and took on a new form as well as a new name. She became Nightmare Moon. Princess Celestia continued trying to reason with her but a battle ensued which ended when Celestia used the Elements of Harmony in order to stop Nightmare Moon...by sealing her in the moon." Everyone's eyes widened in shock. Everything was quiet for a bit before Celestia fell her to knees.

"H-How? How long was she trapped?" asked Celestia, her voice quivering.

"A thousand years." replied Sunset. "It was at the end of that time that the seal came undone and she broke free. It was around then that Twilight met her friends and they found the Elements of Harmony in order to purge that darkness from Princess Luna." Celestia's fist shook. "Did your sister ever display anything that might be considered super human or has her appearance ever change from one moment to the next?" Celestia relaxed before sighing.

"Now that you mention it there were a few instances. What I mentioned before about the security guards, she didn't just beat a few guards. She injured numerous police officers. It seems she was able to withstand being hit by multiple tazers, tear gas, and was somehow able to dodge gunfire. Something that caught their attention."

"What about her appearance?" asked Sunset.

"Occasionally when she got angry there were time when her eyes would become almost cat-like and some when her hair actually became pitch black although neither of these seemed to last for long."

"It's no wonder." said Sunset.

"What do you mean?" asked Celestia.

"It took them a long time to find the portal here in Canterlot. I imagine what happened is that they tried to use your sister to connect her to Princess Luna but in doing so they let some of Nightmare Moon's power leak into your sister. I think the problem started with her having nightmares but then became that she was fighting being influenced by Nightmare. The same Nightmare who developed a hatred for Princess Celestia and might have hurt you if given the opportunity. It's possible that her struggle was Nightmare's hatred against her love for you. That what she wanted to do was protect you and turned to self destruction to try to stop her." Celestia stood up looking to the side. "Of course this is just speculation on my part. I could be completely wrong." she adds trying calm Celestia down.

"Perhaps but the fact remains that I couldn't help my sister then." said Celestia solemnly.

"So if their whole plan was to give the cops a reason to take Vice Principal Luna in for questioning what's the end game?" asked Indigo.

"At best I've got two guesses." replied Sunset. "They're either gonna try to use her to open up a rift like before or they're going to try to make an attempt to have her consumed my Nightmare's power and try to make her into a living weapon."

"Then what's our next move?" asked Lemon Zest.

"To be honest I'm not sure. The most we can really do at the moment keep her safe here." said Sunset. "Let's head back to the apartment so we can have some dinner." she adds with a smile.

Zeal walked into the lab as Pixie watched him with disinterest next to Amaya who wore a sloth mask.

"Seems like you're having fun." said Amaya.

"You could say that." he replied turning to the doctor in who seemed to be mixing something.

"Is there something you needed?"

"I need to borrow some of your lab rats to get her." said Zeal.

"Oh? Whatever for?" asks the doctor with a mad grin.

"To draw out some darkness." replied Zeal.

"Seems like it'll be fun." said Amaya.

"Care to join me then?" asked Zeal.

"I guess. Just to be clear we're not helping you." she clarifies.

"Understood." said Zeal.

In a more mechanical lab Next stood on a platform on a knee and Medic, out of her human form, on a platform next to him.

"What am I doing wrong?" he asked.

"I'm not sure." said Brain. "It might have to do with the feelings we used to evolve."

"What do you mean?" asked a new voice entering the room. The four looked to the entrance and saw Surprise walk towards them.

"All of us Roidmudes started essentially the same but in mimicking humans we began to change. Each of us became our own being and we grew thanks to it. That was our first evolutions. From there we each connected with an emotion and when we pushed that emotion beyond the limit we were were finally able to reach our ultimate evolution." explains Brain.

"So that's why you three are all gold?" asked Surprise.

"Right." said Heart.

"That may be the problem." said Brain typing.

"What do you mean?" asked Next.

"In order to enter our ultimate forms we needed to push one emotion to its limit. It's entirely possible that for you to be able to use our power you will need to do the same." explained Brain. "On top of that there is one other detail to consider."

"The fact that Banno was the one who enabled me to enter this state." said Medic. Brain nods.

"Seems like you're gonna have it rough." said Surprise crossing her arms. "So how's my equipment?"

"I've upgraded your system and weapon." explained Brain.

"Sweet!" exclaims Surprise causing Brain and Heart to chuckle. Brain gets up and opens a cabinet, pulling two items which he hands to Surprise.

"Just make sure to be careful." said Heart.

"Don't worry. I'm reckless but not stupid teach." she said with a wide grin. The others couldn't help but laugh.

After returning to the living space they had dinner and the students were able to interact with their principals in a much less professional manner. Something which made them feel a bit more comfortable. The former Shadowbolts couldn't help but compare how Celestia and Luna were on good terms where as Cinch and Cadance seemed to usually be at odds. Sunny had to admit she definetely felt more comfortable around them. After eating they watched some movies that were on tv while talking continuing their conversation but were interupted when they heard a phone ring. Lemon grabbed her phone and answered.

"Miss Lemon, please help!" cried out a panicked voice causing her to flinch.

"Sorry but who's this?" asked Lemon as she put her on speaker phone.

"It's Sweetie Belle. I'm Rarity's sister." replied Sweetie still panicking. "You said we could call you if anything happened, right?"

"Yeah. Just calm down. What's wrong?" asked Lemon with the others listening. They heard her breath slowly for a moment.

"A wierd bug monster showed up and took my sister and Fluttershy!" This immediately caught their attention.

"What happened?" asked Lemon.

"Rarity brought Fluttershy to try on some clothes and someone who looked like Vice Principal Luna showed up, turned into a weird bug monster, and took them. It also left a note but I can't read it."

"Can you switch to video?" asked Lemon.

"Yeah. Hold on." said Sweetie. After a bit they saw Sweetie's eye. 

"Wrong camera." At that the view changed and they saw a note but most of them couldn't understand what the note said.

"Odd." said Sunset.

"Can you tell what it says?" asked Sunny.

"Bring the moon to the place of return." replied Sunset.

"Sweetie don't worry about anything. We're on it." said Lemon before hanging up. "So do we have a plan?"

"If it's me they want then I'll go." said Luna.

"Not so fast." said Sunset. "We don't know even know if they'd actually turn them over. They'll could keep them hidden to ensure cooperation."

"We can't just leave them out there!" declared Luna.

"I'm not saying we are." said Sunset.

"What if Sunny just sped in and looked for them?" suggested Indigo.

"They'll probably have measures against most of us." replied Sunset. "Sunny's actually the fourth Zect Rider so they could already have counter measure against using clock up."

"It's too bad I can't just turn invisible at will." said Sour.

"You can turn invisible?" asked Lemon surprised.

"It's one of the power ups that comes out when I activate my Gashat." replied Sour. "There's two problems though."

"What?" asked Celestia.

"Each game releases different objects which can hold items but it's entirely randomized and as far as I've seen it seems that if the Rider in question touches an energy item they absorb it." explained Sunset.

"So what do we do?" asked Sunny.

"I think I have a bit of an idea but first I need to make a call. I'll be right back." replied Sunset.

About an hour Sunset was walking with Luna towards an old warehouse. When they were a yards away Sunset placed a hand on her ear.

"Going silent." she said before tapping her ear.

"Are you ready?" asked Luna. Sunsets nods.

"Let's go." Luna nods and the two walk to the warehouse. "Hopefully we can buy them enough time." she mutters before opening the door. They saw there were crates all over the place and the place seemed pretty clean.

"Welcome." said a voice. They looked up and saw Zeal in human form. Sunset clenched her fist.

"We're here so let them go." said Sunset.

"I don't think you realize what position you're in." said Zeal. "Now then let's begin." he said with a smirk as two rings fly at them. Both of them jump to the side and hide behind boxes. "It looks like this is gonna be a fun game." The rings turn and head for them again forcing them to dodge.

'Hopefully we can buy them enough time.' Sunset thought to herself as she dodged again.

The others had been on stand by while Twilight used the city's network to try to find where Rarity and Fluttershy had been taken and noticed an area which had monsters who were clearly visible but were spread out through out an area around three blocks away from the warehouse Sunset and Luna had gone to.

"So how are things looking?" asked Sunny.

"There's a lot of monsters near you guys so you're gonna have to sneak through." replied Twilight.

"Explain to me why we couldn't just fight our way through?" asked Indigo.

"Because we don't know what they'll do if we draw their attention." whispered Sunny. "Is everyone clear on what the plan is?"

"Get to them, have them ride Lemon..." begins Sugarcoat before Indigo starts stifling a laugh. Sugarcoat smacks her behind the head. "Grow up. We keep them busy while Sunny and Lemon get them somewhere safe and then we meet up with Sunset and VP Luna." she finishes.

"Let's get to it then." said Vinyl. "I'm itchin' for some action."

"There's five buildings that seem to be guarded evenly." explained Twilight.

"Decoys?" whispers Sour.

"Considering the situation I think it's more likely they're traps." said Twilight.

"Worms might impersonate them." said Sunny.

"Right."

"So what do we?" asked Indigo.

"Since I'm connected to the city I can connect to your phones." replied Twilight. It was then all of their phones vibrated. They opened them and saw an icon for an app that said Connect.

"Did you just make that?" asked Lemon surprised.

"No. It's a program that was already in here. I just installed it remotely since I memorized your numbers." replied Twilight. "I don't think many of them have low windows so you'll need to sneak inside to use the application."

"And here I thought things couldn't get any easier." whispers Sugarcoat sarcastically.

"Just give me a little time to calculate the quickest paths to avoid the creatures." said Twilight.

Back in the warehouse the two had begun getting tired when the rings were shot back, though not destroyed. They looked to the entrance and saw someone aiming a gun like weapon with a wheel on the front. "Nice try." says a voice in a cocky voice.

"Who are you?" demanded Zeal. The figure put a Driver at their waist, which was only a small hand held object with a single compartment, extending the belt.

"You wanna know who I am?" asks the figure, which they can definetely tell is a girl, as what looks like three toy motorcycles seem to form roads in the air and go towards her. She grabs the white one and opens her Driver before inserting it.

"Signal Bike!" called out an excited sounding voice before she closes it causing an R within a circle to be projected from the bike's back wheel. "Rider!" it called out as at the other end there were bursts of fire. The figure holds her right arm at a forty five degree angle with their left right under it.

"Let's henshin!" she declares as several lines began glowing around her forming the outline of an armor as what sounded like mariachi music played. The lines stretched outward before snapping onto her and forming a white suit with red stripes which included what looked like a scarf and had a helmet which resembled a motorcycle helmet with a black mask that had two large blue eyes under the visor. Afterwards she pointed at Zeal. "Searching! Destroying! Both done at Mach Speed!" she she declared posing dramatically before rotating her right arm and pointing at herself. "Kamen Rider..." she said before extending one leg and pointing her other arm outward. "Mach!"

"What do you think you're doing?" asked Luna.

"Relax." replied Mach. "A friend of mine gave me a handy little device to stop their transmissions." she said. "As it turns out transmissions made by Roidmudes have a very unique signal and someone who's familiar with it can jam it pretty quickly."

"What?" asked Zeal.

Hidden above them were Amaya and Pixie who both smiled.

"Very interesting." said Amaya. "I wonder what the others are doing."

"I'll go see." said Pixie before disappearing in a flurry of pixels.

The others had split up into two pairs and one group of three. Each group snuck into warehouses following Twilight's instructions.

"By the way..." whispered Indigo. "What exactly does the app do?"

"The organization basically created the app with data they got from several years of Worm observation. Basically it can tell Worms apart from humans. I can explain more when we're not on the clock." replied Twilight as Indigo opens the app and points the camera to the Rarity and Fluttershy her and Octavia spotted.

"What's the verdict?" whispered Indigo.

"Negative. They're both Worms." replied Twilight. "Move on to the second point."

"Roger that." replied Indigo.

Vinyl and Sugarcoat headed into one of the others though they had to navigate through more narrow areas. This helped them remain hidden with less effort though Vinyl had some trouble moving enough to point her phone's camera straight.

"How's this?" whispered Vinyl.

"Move your arm a little to the left." replied Twilight. Vinyl did so until she was told to stop. "Confirmation. Negative. They're worms. Move to the next location."

"Alright. Just give us a minute to get out." replied Vinyl.

The last group headed into a different warehouse and were able to sneak a bit more easily because they found a vent outside though they needed to stay quite out of fear that they might make an echo. After getting in they were able to spot the two tied near the middle of the warehouse. They moved through until they were able to move to a vent above them where they took the cover off and Sunny pointed the camera at them. This time the scan took a bit longer due to the distance and angle.

"Another negative." Twilight told them. The group scowled but continued moving.

By this point Twilight was beginning to stress out. At this point who could really blame her since she was taking point on a hostage situation? It was then a thought occurred to her. If this were a game then securing the hostages would mean victory but since this was real there weren't any actual rules that they needed to abide by.

"Twilight. Got another scan." she heard Sunny whisper.

"Same here." added Vinyl.

"Dammit. This was a waste of time." said Twilight surprising the others. "They're both negative."

"Seriously?" whispered Lemon.

"I'm sorry. It's my fault. I should've seen it sooner."

"Seen what?" asked Indigo.

"They knew their numbers focused in an area would draw us to them thinking they were being guarded there." explained Twilight.

"They baited us to waste our time and since Sunset and VP Luna are waiting for us this would make things easier for Zeal." whispered Sunny. The two groups who had gotten together exited the warehouse they'd entered before Twilight directed them to a clear area just under a tree. The second group took a bit longer to get out but once they did Twilight directed them to the same area.

"Great. So they tricked us and now Sunset's on her own trying to protect VP Luna." said Indigo irritated.

"Let's just think about this for a second." said Sunny. "What we do know is that they set up five points to make us believe they'd be in one of them."

"So you were tricked." said a voice above them. They looked up and saw Pixie sitting on the tree. They were about to transform when she held up her hands. "Easy. I come in piece."

"Is that so?" asked Lemon.

"Ever hear the expression no honor among thieves?" asked Pixie with a smile. "Just beause we work together doesn't mean we'll help each other. In fact right now I'm here to help you."

"How do we know you won't betray us?" asked Sugarcoat.

"You don't but I was with Zeal when he set everything up so I know just where they are."

"If that's true just tell us where they are." said Sunny.

"Not quite yet. There's some new Rider trying to help your friend but there's only so much she can do right now. I'll take one of you so the rest can head to help them."

"It might be best of you take two of us." said Sunny.

"You actually believe her?" asked Indigo.

"I don't know if I trust her but for now it would be best to stick to the original plan unfortunately we don't have much choice. We're not far from the warehouses so if we start fighting we'll alert them and likely doom them. Not to mention I'm not sure we'd fare well if we tried to fight her without transforming."

"Yeah...I can tell you how that'd go." said Pixie. "But I could need a little bit of a favor."

"And what might that be?" asked Sunny cautiously.

"Simply put I would get in trouble for this if the doc found out so if anyone asks the girl who's ordering you around figured this out." said Pixie.

"She knows about me?" asked Twilight surprised.

"Of course I do. Your transmissions are digital and as a Bugster I'm digital too so it's not hard for me to listen in. I'm just the only one who can control it because none of the other Bugsters have ever figured out how to do it."

"Is that so?"

"So are we going?" asked Pixie with a smirk.

"Are there guards?" asked Sunny.

"No. That jackass thought the place where he hid them was so perfect he didn't bother placing anyone to guard them." replied Pixie.

"Alright then. Just this once we'll trust you. Take us to them." said Sunny as she and Lemon got closer to Pixie as the others left. Pixie held out both her hands. They each took one of her hands and they vanished in a flurry of pixels.

They reappeared in an alley, in front of a door which had wooden boards.

"What is this place?" asked Lemon.

"Some shop that went under some years ago." replied Pixie. "Your friend's about two blocks that way." she added. "Good luck." she said before disappearing.

"Alright. Let's do this." said Lemon putting on her Driver. The two transformed and Accel slashed the door before kicking it causing it to fall apart.

"Why did you slice the door before kicking it?" asked Kabuto. Accel shrugs as they enter. Inside they spot Rarity and Fluttershy who are both shackled and hanging from pipes. "Is there any way to confirm this is them?"

"Give me a minute." replied Twilight. "Alright I'm in your visor." she said. "Just give me a minute to..." she begins. "...got it. Positive match. It's them."

"Alright." said Kabuto as they go up to the two. Accel uses her sword to cut the chains and Kabuto catches them before they hit the floor. Kabuto softly shakes Fluttershy while Accel shakes Rarity a bit harder.

"Wh-...what?" asked Fluttershy as she opened her eyes. Rarity did the same but didn't say anything.

"Are you alright?" asked Kabuto. For a moment the two were trying to remember who the two were before their eyes widened.

"You...helped us." said Rarity. "Why?"

"For one because your sister called me scared out of her mind." replied Accel. "Besides whether or not we like you our job is to protect everyone no matter what."

"Thank you." said Fluttershy.

"Don't mention it. Hopefully Sunset and VP Luna are alright." said Kabuto. "Let's get you somewhere safe."

Mach had been able to tell they weren't gonna do much until they knew Fluttershy and Rarity were safe. Zeal was about to start gloating when a large hole exploded into a wall allowing the other Riders to enter. 

"See? I told you I could do it." said Meteor cracking her knuckles.

"Whatever." said Necrom. "Sunset. They're safe!"

"Perfect." said Sunset putting on her Driver.

"Impossible! There's no way you could figure out my plan." said Zeal shocked.

"You did a pretty good job of tricking us but our tech girl's smarter." said Gaim.

"Fine then. I suppose we'll be doing this the hard way." said Zeal. It wasn't long before the ten Worms from the decoy warehouses arrived in their natural forms.

"We might have some trouble." said Gaim.

"Definetely gotta call back Sunny." said Meteor.

"She's good but ten Worms might be pushing it." said Seikō.

"Do we have a plan?" asked Zangetsu.

"Maybe Twi can help us like before?" suggested Gaim.

"As much as I'd like to I was able to calculate the enemy's trajectory because I was seeing them from above. Right now I can only to see through your visors." replied Twilight.

"Maybe the others can't keep up but I can." said Mach hitting the button on her Driver four times.

"Zutto Mahha!" called out her Driver before speeding off.

"She might be overestimating herself a bit." said Seikō.

"I've got more where they came from." said Zeal as several more creatures showed up.

"Great. This should be a pretty good exercise." said Meteor.

"Everyone just keep an eye on your surroundings." ordered Seikō bringing out her weapon in sword form and then splitting it. They charged at the creatures who also attacked. They found themselves at a disadvantage when some of the Worms were able to keep Mach busy enough for them to attack the others. It wasn't long before Kabuto arrived having left Accel to watch over Rarity and Fluttershy. Unfortunately only the two of them matching the group of Worms wasn't enough resulting in the others still being hit. Even Gaim had switched to her Ichigo Arms in an attempt to hit them but was only able to destroy one of the others creatures. What they hadn't quite noticed was that Luna was watching them.

As Amaya and Pixie watched Luna seemed to appear in front of them.

"So you had more of that nightmare's power." commented Amaya.

"Interesting." said Luna looking at Pixie. "So you're part human." Pixie glared at her.

"Are you stupid? I'm a Bugster." she said angrily.

"I see." said Luna before turning and jumping. She landed behind Meteor and Necrom. However it was then they heard heard something.

"Overdrive, please." said an odd sounding voice. The two didn't notice a magic circles on all of them which passed through them causing them to begin glowing.

"What?" Necrom. Seikō became surprised and turned to Luna.

"This spell..." she said. Luna smirked and placed her right hand on her belt causing a ring with a hand pointed diagonally to the left and a similar belt to form.

"Driver on, please." the same voice called out as the belt seemed to grow into a driver. A ring formed on her right middle finger which had a ruby with a bird's head over it. She moved the sliders on the edges causing the hand to turn, now pointing left.

"Shabadoobie, touch to henshin! Shabadoobie, touch to henshin!" it sang. She placed her hand over the middle of the hand positioning the ring over the center. "Phoenix, Please!" it said as she held her hand with her palm down causing a red magic circle with a bird in the center. It began to rise as her body began glowing red and the bird flew out of the circle in a blaze. "Kaen! Ka-Ka-Ka-Kaen! Phoenix!" it called out as the circle began forming a black suit where it passed up until it got to her upper body where it also formed ruby a ruby chest plate, arm guards, and helmet with the gem on the front part of the helmet. After the phoenix flew around her it attached itself to the armor with the wings folding on the chest stone, talons forming at the edge of the forearm with metal edges on the rest, and the bird's face forming an outline on the stone.

"You've done well Sunset." said a male's voice.

"Nii-san." said Seikō.

"What?" asked Gaim.

"What is this?" asked Zengetsu feeling a surge of energy.

"It's a spell called Overdrive." replied Sunset's brother. "It allows me to place a mark on anyone I consider an ally so they can draw from my power directly. In turn I can see, feel, and sense everything all of you can." he explained before turning the slider on his driver and switching the ring on his right hand to one that had a similar red stone but with an image of chains with fire.

"Chain, please." it called out as he formed a large circle with his hands before extending his arms causing the large magic circle to scatter into several smaller ones all around the area.

"Rensa Han'nō!" he yells out as chains begin growing out of the smaller circles. What really caught them by surprise was that whenever the chains hit something that wasn't an enemy they would bounce and change direction while continuing to grow. This led to three Worms and four of the other creatures to be impaled by the chains before a surge of fire begins flowing through them causing each of the creatures to shatter.

"Those chains weren't even sharp." said Ex-Aid.

"Any weapon is only as dangerous as its wielder." he commented. "And if you'd prefer you can just call me Sage." he adds.

"Good to know." replied Meteor. "I hope you have a plan because I think we're still outnumbered."

"Ex-Aid, have you reached level 3 yet?" asked Sage. She turned to him.

"Level 3?" asked Ex-Aid confused.

"Guess not." he said looking at the others. "Hey Mercy, do you think you can call Len?"

"Got it." they heard her say over the their comms.

He turned his driver back and forth before using a different ring. "Connect, please." he held up his hand forming a magic circle above himself before taking a step to the side. From it fell a blond girl in jeans with a red and blue shirt, along with a trench coat and some sunglasses.

"Sorry to bother you on your day off with your siblings." said Sage.

"It's not problem." she said putting on a driver which had two open slots and a crank. After she pulled out two bottles and began shaking them before turning the tips and inserting the red one followed by the blue one.

"Rabbit! Tank! Best Match!" they heard a different voice call out, as it displayed an R/T, before she began to turn the crank.

"Please stand back." she said as she stopped turning the crank.

"Are you ready?" asked the driver as tubes extended in front of and behind her. 

"Henshin!" she called out as they saw it was forming like a plastic mold which had the front having the left leg with a spring, right arm, and left lens of the helmet red while the right leg, left arm, and right lens of the helmet was blue. Once the parts fully formed from what came out of the belt the two parts closed on her and steam was expelled from the torso armor.

"Hagane no Moonsault! RabbitTank! Yay!" it called out.

"Kamen Rider Build at your service. What did you need?" she asked.

"We're dealing with a large number of enemies, some of whom are molted Worms, and we currently have two who are attempting to deal with them." explained Sage.

"I see you've also got a Gamer." said Build. "So you just needed me?" Sage nods. "Very well."

"Ex-Aid, change the stage to the battle field with the drums." called out Sage.

"Got it." said Ex-Aid pressing the button on the slot at her side.

"Stage Select!" it called out as the stage roulette formed around her before changing to the training field.

"So what's the plan?" asked Meteor.

"We'll create an opening for the rest of you to finish them." replied Sage as Build removed the two bottles and replaced them with two new ones.

"Gorilla! Diamond! Best Match!" her driver called out as it displayed G/D before she started turning the crank and stopped shortly after causing the tubes to extend creating two new halves, the brown gorillla part with a large fist there to replace the red rabbit part while a greenish blue diamond part was formed to replace the blue tank part.

"Build up." she said as the two halves closed on her.

"Kagayake no destroyer! Gorillamond!" it called out.

"Mercy can you help guide the two speedsters?" asked Sage.

"Understood." she replied.

"Ready?" asked Sage. Build nodded as Sage switched rings. He turned his driver and placed his hand.

"Extend, please." it called out as he extended his arm into the circle, stretching his arm in a cartoonish manner, around several drums before making his arm go taut launching them into the air and towards Build who began turning the crank as they got near her. She stopped when they were close enough.

"Ready? Go!" her Driver called out as the drums became outlines which became a clearish blue and changed shape forming a diamond shield. After she punched it with the gorilla arm shattering it into several fragments. In that time Mach had caught the Worms off guard with a scattershot which launched them into the other creatures causing all of them to be hit by the diamond fragments as Mach and Kabuto stopped with the rest of the group.

"Alright. Let's hit them together!" ordered Seikō taking Cure Whip's module and inserting it in the slot on her side as Ex-Aid did the same. Mach opened her Driver before hitting the button on the top.

"Hissatsu!" it called out before she closes it. "Full throttle! Mahha!"

"Orange Squash!"

"Melon Squash!"

"Saishū-waza! Hissatsu!"

"Kimewaza! Mighty Critical Strike!"

"Limit Break!"

"1, 2, 3! Rider Kick!"

"Destroy! Dai Tengan. Necrom. Omega Ulord."

As soon as they all activated them the eight of them went in for the kill together while the creatures were still dazed. Once it was over they found themselves back in the warehouse.

"That was so much fun." said Pixie as she and Amaya landed in front of them.

"What do you want?" asked Meteor.

"Nothing. We just enjoyed the show. See you next time." said Amaya as the two disappeared.

"More enemies?" asked Build.

"As far as we can tell." replied Sage as all of the others changed back, minus Mach.

"I should get back to my siblings." said Len. Sage nodded and turned the hand on his Driver.

"Connect, please." it said forming a magic circle which she jumped in.

"So was there a reason you didn't tell me you switched places with Vice Principal Luna?" asked Sunset.

"Considering the situation it seemed like a better idea." shrugged Sage. "Plus I got an idea of some of the enemies we'll see here. It's good to see you've made friends kid." Sunset pouts.

"You know I'm not a kid."

"Yeah but I've been around a while. Besides you're our kid sister." said Sage placing a hand on the side of his helmet.

"Wouldn't you say, Mercy?"

"Indeed. You're our adorable kid sister." said Mercy causing Sunset to blush with a grumble. After he looks behind at the others he nods.

"It was nice meeting you all."

"Likewise." replied Sunny.

"It's nice to meet you as well." said Octavia. He nodded to them and turned to his adopted sister.

"Sunset, I want you to keep a close eye on what happens around here." he said, his tone becoming serious. "I'm not sure what it is but I've got the feeling there's something else in the works here. It's entirely possible this whole thing with Luna might've been for something different."

"What do you mean?" asked Sunset.

"I'm not entirely sure. It's just a hunch. Just make sure you watch your backs until we can come here." replied Sage.

"So you're not staying?" asked Sunny.

"As much as I'd like to I'm still on a mission. I came here because Mercy informed me of what was happening. Plus I had a bit of free time." explained Sage. "Sunset I'm not sure how much longer the others will be but as far as I know Chase and Marika will only be a few days but I guess you've got a lot of back up already."

"I made some new friends." replied Sunset with a smile.

"I can see that. I'll try to finish my mission as quickly as I can so I can help you out but I'm still not entirely sure how much longer it'll be."

"I can take care of myself." said Sunset. Sage turns to the Shadowbolts.

"Watch over my little sister." he said. They couldn't help but giggle a bit causing Sunset to blush.

"You have our word." said Sunny.

"By the way there's one other thing." said Sage. "Your cards should be arriving within the next week."

"Cards?" asked the others.

"In any case I'll talk to you as soon as I can." he said turning his Driver.

"Connect, please." called out his driver as a magic circle formed under him which he descended into. Once Sage was gone Mach approached Sunset who smiled.

"Thanks for helping us." said Sunset.

"I needed to make up for what happened to you." replied Mach opening her Driver before taking out her Signal Bike and closing it.

"Otsukare!" called out her Driver as she changed back revealing Surprise.

"You're..."

"I'm Pinkie's cousin. Surprise." she said. "What my cousin did to you was unforgivable...so I want to take the chance make up for what happened."

"You don't have to." replied Sunset as she looked at her friends and then turned back to Surprise. "It would probably be better if we just if we worked together and leave that issue in the past."

"Maybe some day." replied Surprise. Sunset chuckled.

"Well...if nothing else would you like to join us?" asked Sunset.

"I'd like to but I'm working with someone else right now." replied Surprise.

"Next?" guessed Sunset.

"How'd you know?" asked Surprise.

"The Mach Driver is the device Chase uses and the only similar tech to it is the Drive Driver." replied Sunset.

"Just don't expect me to tell you who it is." said Surprise.

"It doesn't matter." replied Sunset. "We haven't seen him a lot but the one thing that's clear is he's an ally. As far as I'm concerned that's all I need to know." she explained before extending her hand. "So what do you say? Friends?" Surprise smiles before taking it.

"Friends." she replied with a handshake, which was the one Sunset had done with Sunny when they first became friends. "Boy...that's a funny handshake."

"Fourze calls it the friendship handshake." replied Sunset. "I guess we'll see you around." Surprise nods and leaves. Sunny then places a hand to her ear.

"Twilight tell Lemon they're safe and that we're heading back."

"Understood."

"Man after today I definitely need a good night's sleep." said Sunset as they left.

In a room Mercy looked at some information she received.

"You're right. There's definitely something up with this girl." she said looking at some information on Amaya and Pixie.

"This might be a hunch on my part but I don't think the pink haired one was actually born a Bugster." said Sage over their comms.

"What are you thinking?" asked Mercy.

"Honestly I've got nothing but a hunch. There's something about this girl that's definitely off but I can't put my finger on it." replied Sage. "Maybe Sunset and the others can find out more."

"You seem to get along with Len very well." teased Mercy.

"So do you." he replied not seeing where she was going with this. "In any case do you have my equipment?"

"I modified it to your specifications so you should be good to go. The Bio-metric readers are in optimal condition so I'll be able to track you. Do you mind if I ask you something?"

"What is it?"

"Why do you need this kind of armor when you can transform?" asked Mercy hitting a few keys on her keyboard causing a large cylinder to rise revealing a blood red and black armor which included a helmet which had no features.

"Because this doesn't have to do with any kaijin." replied Sage, entering the room, as a red magic circle formed at his feet and arose undoing his transformation. "And I don't use my magic on civilians. After all there's no fun in fighting enemies with with magic." Mercy giggles.

"You're such a child sometimes." she said as he put on the armor. "While you're gone I'll run scans on the footage of the Bugster."

"Thanks. Keep me posted."

"Will do."
> Fun and Dream
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Since the problem seemed to have been resolved at the moment the following morning, after breakfast, Celestia and Luna were able to head home but were given emergency beacons like the one that had been given to  Thunderbass. They were lucky enough that they were able to resolve things quickly enough and continued their sleepover which meant they went back to the training room where they had sparred before.

Sunset had them all bring out their weapons only they ran into a little snag. Indigo didn't have an actual weapon when she transformed so Sunset split her weapon and handed her one of the blades. It was a little light for her liking but it was just a sparring session so she figured she could improvise a bit.

They didn't have a lot of space and had to go one pair at a time, with Twilight recording them via the laptop they'd recieved. Since she'd split her weapon Sunset decided to see how well Indigo could do with it. To her surprise she realized that Indigo was a fencer and since the half the sword Sunset had handed her was definetely close to the weight of a rapier Indigo had a noticable edge over Sunset. Even then Sunset noticed something within herself. Despite the fact that she was forced to focus on her defense she was enjoying herself and smiled which somewhat confused Indigo. In the end Sunset lost when Indigo forced her blade out her hands.

Once they finished Octavia went up against Lemon, at her request. Before they started Octavia asked Lemon why she wanted to go against her and Lemon explained it was because she had a shield. When they started Octavia understood. Lemon was able to swing the Engine Blade with little effort but based on the vibration she felt when it hit the Melon Defender she could tell it was much heavier than it seemed to be at first glance. Despite this she had the advantage of actually having a shield was able to win against Lemon by deflecting a strike with her shield which gave her enough of an opening to get the blade of her weapon at Lemon's neck. Although not exactly happy Lemon already knew it wouldn't be easy to win since Octavia did have a shield.

Following them were Vinyl and Sunny which seemed like it might be one sided since Vinyl held two swords while Sunny had what could be described as a large combat knife. Sunny was able to study Vinyl's movement and could tell she was still inexperiences in using a weapon in each hand resulting in her swings leaving gaps in her guard. Vinyl was able to keep her at bay for a bit by swinging both blades close together which Sunny could tell what she was trying to do and how the gaps remained. Once she saw Vinyl's attack pattern she swiftly moved in and disarmed her, knocking both swords out of her hands. Vinyl couldn't help but chuckle.

Once they were done Sugarcoat and Sour stepped up. Sour considered keeping her weapon in its mallet form but then switched it to its sword form since Sugarcoat's weapon was way longer than hers. Most of the others figured Sugarcoat might have something of a hard time since it seemed her weapon is meant to be held like a rifle. To their surprise not only was Sugarcoat more than proficient enough to keep Sour on her toes but it actually didn't take her long to be able to knock her over.

"How long have you had that thing for?" asked Sour as Sugarcoat helped her up.

"I recieved the Mega Ulorder about two months before Sunset's return." replied Sugarcoat.

"Wait. So you knew about this whole thing?" asked Indigo.

"No. It arrived in the mail from my father and it came with a letter but it didn't explain any of the situation. The letter had instructions on how to use it, some basics about its capabilies and weaponry, and an explaination about how there would be someone sent here that he wanted me to help." explained Sugarcoat. "It took me about two weeks to get used to the Gan Gun Catcher since it's unconventional in its melee form."

"It's impressive you were able to get used to it in only two weeks." said Sunset. "Most of the others took longer to get used to their own weapons despite most of them being either swords, staffs, or guns."

"I'm adaptable." replied Sugarcoat.

"Since we're done what should we do now?" asked Indigo.

"I guess after we shower we could go to the mall." suggested Sunset.

"Really?" asked Lemon Zest.

"Well I haven't been there since I met with Princess Twilight." said Sunset with a shrug. "Plus it seems like the normal thing to do."

"We can go but you have to change out of your uniform." said Sunny.

"How long have you even been wearing that one?" asked Indigo.

"I just put this one on." replied Sunset. "But I get your point." she said before smiling. "However I believe something similar could be said for the six of you."

"Yeah...we're just used to wearing these uniforms most of the time." said Lemon Zest.

"I guess we can pick more casual clothes." said Sunny.

"Alright. Just give me a minute." said Sunset heading to her room. She returned a few minutes later wearing jeans, a white shirt, and what looked like a black trenchcoat but it only went down as far as her knees.

"That's...an interesting coat." said Sunny.

"The organization has a clothing company which creates...special clothing for us." explains Sunset.

"So what's special about that...sorta trenchcoat?" asked Lemon.

"It has various pockets but it's main use is body armor." explained Sunset.

"That thing's bullet proof?" asked Indigo surprised.

"Among other things. Len's a genius when it comes to designing things like this." replied Sunset.

"You mean that Build chick?" asked Indigo.

"Yeah. She and her siblings are actually a traveling squad under the cover of being a band." explained Sunset as they stepped out.

"What band?" asked Lemon.

"The Dark Wings." replied Sunset.

"Seriously?" asked Vinyl surprised.

"Yeah. You're a fan?" asked Sunset.

"Not really. At some of the parties I've DJed they've been requested like crazy." replied Vinyl. "I listened to some of their songs in a few parties before I got kinda curious so I started listening to them. There's something weird in their music but I've never been able to tell what it was."

"Makes sense." said Sunset.

"What do you mean?" asked Lemon. Sunset looked up as they stepped out of the building.

"As much as I'd like to explain I'm afraid it isn't my place to do so. What happened back in Michigan is something they don't really discuss with anyone they don't trust." she explained.

"Michigan?" they asked. Sunset didn't respond this time.

"Hey Sunset?" asked Sour.

"Yeah?"

"What did that your brother mean when he asked if I had reached Level 3?" asked Sour.

"You know how your Driver has two slots?"

"Yeah?"

"Well of the two slots the one on the right is for you to go into Levels one and two. To use Level 3 you need a second Gashat which you'd need to use with your main one." explained Sunset.

"I see." said Sour holding her Gashat. "So how do I get one?"

"I have no idea." replied Sunset. "For the most part only those who use a particular system will know how to get something regarding said system." she explained.

"So who might know?" asked Sour.

"There's been three registered Gamer Riders. One lost his life a long time ago. One of the remaining two is currently in a coma and the last is in Europe." replied Sunset as they arrived at the mall.

"So what should we do first?" asked Indigo.

"If it's alright with you I think we should start with the change in clothing." said Sunny. "Personally this uniform still makes me think of when I was under my aunt's roof."

"Let's get started then." said Vinyl. The group went in, somewhat uncertain of where to begin. Sunny took the lead and took them to a store she hadn't been to in a while.

"Wow." said Indigo looking around surprised. "Didn't expect that."

"I came here when I was younger. To be honest I enjoyed wearing brighter colors as a child but around when I turned eleven my Aunt decided to express I should stop acting like a child beginning with my clothing. After that I was forced to stop coming here. To be honest I hadn't thought of this place in a long time. I'm just happy they haven't gone out of business." she explained as they entered.

"Well if it isn't Sunny Flare." said a woman's voice. The group turned and saw a woman with a whitish blue skin tone and mid-length sky blue hair causing Sunny's eyes to light up as a wide smile appeared on her face.

"Ms. Empyrean. It's been a long time." said Sunny. The others looked at her, particularly the other transfers since none of them could remember ever seeing her this happy.

"Too long. Look at you. You're all grown up." said Empyrean placing her hands on Sunny's shoulders. "Did your Aunt finally ease up on you?"

"Not quite." replied Sunny. "I've actually transferred so I'm going to CHS now."

"That's good to hear. So who are your friends?"

"Oh. Right. I'd like you to meet Sunset Shimmer, Twilight Sparkle, Sugarcoat, Sour Sweet, Indigo Zap, Lemon Zest, Vinyl Scratch, and Octavia Melody." Sunny introduces. "Everyone this Azure Empyrean. The owner of this store and the first person who was friendly to me as a child."

"Well I couldn't just let you walk around in such dull and dreary colors." said Azure. "So what can I do for you?"

"We transfered about two weeks ago but we've still been attending in our Crystal Prep uniforms." explained Sunny.

"And you decided to pay us a visit."

"This is the only place where I was actually happy picking my clothes from and I guess I wanted to relive it." said Sunny. 

"Makes sense." said Sunset. "I don't really have a place like that but that's kind of how I felt with Principal Celestia since she's the same as Princess Celestia, and I still kind of do."

"Alright. I'll tell you what. You all seem like you wanna get out of those uniforms whatever you choose I'll sell it to you half price." said Azure. Most of them smiled widely.

"Are you sure?" asked Lemon.

"To tell you the truth I would have gone for a higher discount or even free but I know Sunny well enough to know that if I did she'd insist on paying full price." Sunny couldn't help but smile. "Now why don't you take a look around?" The others nodded and went around the store.

In the lab Pixie was bored and trying to find something to entertain herself, pulled a pink Gashat out of her pocket, wondered when she'd be able to fight. The doctor, who's face seemed to be nothing but a shadow, smiled widely  showing glowing white teeth as he watched data on a screen. After they heard a buzz and he turned to one of the chambers on the wall. It opened revealing Zeal who stepped out.

"How do you feel?" asked the doctor.

"Different." replied Zeal. "So what's this for?"

"I've made quite a fascinating discovery. Our core has a different power locked away. One not pertaining to the Riders. These are the powers granted by a being by the name of Dyspear. You will be the first to test this power Zeal. The power to lock away dreams."

"Dreams?" asked Pixie.

"Indeed. Zeal, do you think you can handle this power?" asked the Doctor. Zeal looked at his hands and then closed his eyes for a minute before opening them.

"I think so."

"Then I have a mission for you." said the doctor. "We need to gather some data on this power so I'd like you to find a suitable target and use this power on them." explained the doctor.

"Understood." said Zeal.

"Pixie, should those girls find him before he finds a suitable target I'll need you to distract them." ordered the doctor.

"Got it." she replied.

Back at the mall the others met up at the register wearing their new outfits. Indigo's new outfit consisted of some jeans with with a blue t-shirt that was designed to look like a soccer jersey. Sour elected to go with an outfit consisting of a light blue skirt with a pink shirt. Lemon went with some light green shorts and a magenta shirt. Sugarcoat went for a white skirt and a yellow tank top under a light jacket which was blue. Twilight ended up going with a dark purple skirt and a light blue polo shirt. Sunny's outfit consisted of a neon pink skirt with a dark purple shirt. It somewhat surprised them to see Sunny in a skirt of that color.

"Mixing a little old with a little new, eh Sunny?" asked Azure.

"I like getting creative from time to time." replied Sunny with a smile.

"Looks good on you, kid. Now let's ring you up." said Azure leading them to the cash register. After they paid Azure smiled at Sunny as she handed them bags for them to put their uniforms in. "You know since we haven't seen each other in a while maybe we could catch up later."

"I'd be glad to. Should we wait for your lunch break?" asked Sunny.

"I'm expecting some deliveries later. Do you still have the same number you did before?"

"No. I've actually changed numbers a few times."

"Alright give me your number and I'll call you after I log the deliveries." said Azure passing Sunny a notepad and a pen. Sunny nods and writes her number. "There's a nice tea place near here. We can meet there."

"Sounds good." said Sunny. After Azure went back with Sunny and the two hugged before Sunny and the others left.

"How come you never talked about her before?" asked Indigo once they were a few stores away.

"Honestly that part of my past never came up." replied Sunny with a shrug. "So where should we go?"

"Any of you play?" Vinyl asked the transfers.

"We were each required to learn an instrument even if we weren't going to be in band just as we were required to learn basic archery even if we had no intent to join the team or even practice it." replied Sunny. "I learned how to play both guitar and piano."

"Really?" asked Sunset surprised.

"I...developed a deep love for the culture of the eighties and I figured both would be necessary to learn to play some of my favorite songs." explained Sunny.

"How come you never brought it up before?" asked Indigo.

"It's not something I was able to bring up at school seeing as how my aunt did keep an eye on me while on campus." replied Sunny.

"I guess we should count ourselves lucky we never lived with Principal Cinch." said Sour. "Uh...no offense."

"None taken. She's not a bad person but she is single minded. It's why she tries to instill the idea that results are what matters." said Sunny sadly looking to the side. As they walked no one noticed a look in Twilight's eyes.

"So what do you play?" asked Vinyl.

"I play percussion." replied Sour. "Used to have a drumset at home."

"Used to?" asked Octavia.

"Yeah... a shrink told my parents it would be a good outlet but I played really loud so they ended getting rid of it." replied Sour sheepishly.

"I play the flute." said Lemon.

"Really?" asked Octavia surprised.

"My parents thought I was too wild so they figured having me learn a softer instrument would help me. I don't really play in public but I do sometimes play when I'm worked up over something." replied Lemon.

"I play trumpet." said Sugarcoat.

"You don't seem the type who would like to play something that loud." said Octavia. Sugarcoat shrugged.

"My father was a jazz musician when he was young and he taught me when I was very small." explained Sugarcoat.

"Does he still play?" asked Vinyl somewhat interested.

"With his old bandmates every once in a while but one of the conditions my grandfather gave him to allow him to date and then marry my mother was that he needed to get what he defined as 'real work'." explained Sugarcoat. "Although he does still recieve royalties from the few albums they put out."

"How many?" asked Vinyl.

"Five." replied Sugarcoat. "Raining Dawn, Times in Sunshine, My Raging Heart, Forever Free, and Dreams in a Mirror."

"Your dad was in the Evening Beat?" asked Vinyl surprised. Sugarcoat nodded.

"Dude, that is awesome." said Vinyl with a wide smile.

"You listen to jazz?" asked Sugarcoat.

"Honestly I became a DJ because my old man used to play all sorts of music when I was little and I ended up loving all of it." replied Vinyl.

"So what do you listen to?" asked Lemon.

"Mainly dubstep and tecno but I have a lot of playlists in my computer." replied Vinyl with a grin. As the others talked Sunset couldn't help but smile, thinking back to how when the she was first accepted by the Rainbooms. As she did she couldn't help but slowly frown which Sunny noticed.

"You alright?" she asked concerned pulling her out of her thoughts.

"Sorry. What?" asked Sunset causing the others to turn to her.

"You were frowning." said Sunny.

"Oh. Yeah. I was just...remembering." replied Sunset.

"Remembering what?" asked Octavia.

"The way we're all getting to know each other just reminded of when they accepted me. How we hung out and how we got to know each other." replied Sunset before sighing. The group stopped and looked at her worried.

"Will you be okay?" asked Octavia.

"I'll be fine. I was just thinking that the happiness I felt back then was something I thought I wouldn't really experience again but...being here with all of you. I'm really happy. There's still a part of me that's afraid that something similar might happen but somehow that's overwhelmed by a strong sense of freedom." The others looked at her for a moment but then smiled.

"I guess when you really think about it this is the first time we've hung out just to hang." said Vinyl as they started walking again. "Even when we went to the amusment park it was to get Sunset out of the apartment after she was out for a few days."

"Come to think of it I never did thank you girls for that." said Sunset.

"There's no need to." said Sunny. "After all we're friends. Besides since we're a team I'm sure anything that helps us grow closer makes us stronger both as a group and as individuals."

"We're here." said Vinyl, the group stopping in front of a music store.

"Looks sweet." said Lemon as they went inside. The group ended splitting up with each of the former Shadowbolts going to which ever instrument they were most familiar with but then started looking around at some of the other instruments. Each of them did have a bit of an interest in taking up an unfamiliar instrument.

"Hey Sunset." said Lemon causing her to turn. "Did you play the violin before you left?" she asked a bit curiously.

"No actually. Early on when I first started living here I had trouble living as a biped since most of my life I'd lived as a quadraped. I asked Flash to teach me while we were dating and it helped me learn how to use my fingers." explained Sunset. "Nii-san has a similar issue to me. He...has his own demons so when I was having trouble sleeping after I accidentally created the Furia module he started giving me lessons." she added looking to the violins with a smile. "It still took me a bit of time so after the first time I woke up he would check on me and he'd play to help me get back to sleep."

"Your brother sounds like a nice guy." said Indigo.

"Too bad we only met him as VP Luna." said Vinyl.

"Yeah...I really wish he'd told me he did that before hand." said Sunset.

"Maybe he wanted to surprise you." said Indigo.

"He probably did it because he had nothing better to do at the moment." said Sunset with a sigh. "Honestly sometimes he's like a child."

"So where should we go now?" asked Sunny.

"How about the arcade?" suggested Sour.

"You were just waiting for a chance to suggest that, weren't you?" asked Lemon with a smirk.

"Not really. The arcade's right there." replied Sour pointing just across from where they stood. The other former Shadowbolts turned and saw it surprising them.

"I guess that just shows how unfamiliar we are with this part of town." said Indigo.

"In any case let's see what they've got." said Sunset.

They walked into the arcade looking around. As they looked around Sour Sweet wandered off finding an arcade version of Mighty Action X. In the meantime most of the others exchanged some money for tokens and began playing. Sunset had gotten some tokens as well but she didn't really feel like playing. She simply walked around and watched her friends. She'd come to love the family that took her in but in truth there was a side of her that missed the friends she'd had despite how easily they'd turned on her. She placed her hand over her heart and smiled.

It was then that she felt something weird in her pocket. She pulled out Heart's Module and saw it was lightly glowing. Sunset went to the closest door she could find and turned the knob. Luckily it was open and she went inside what seemed to be a broom closet. When she closed the door the Module began to glow brighter forcing her to cover her eyes. When she looked she was no longer in a broom closet but instead in a space which had alternating colors around her.

"What the? Where am I?" Sunset asked herself.

"I'm sorry for calling you so abruptly." said a voice behind her. Sunset turned and saw Cure Heart looking her with a smile. "Your love for your friends will make you stronger. I can feel how strong your love for them is."

"Yeah well. It's nice to have friends again. There's still fear that they'll turn on me but right now I fell like I can do anything as long as they're with me." said Sunset.

"That's good."

"So is this why you summoned me?" asked Sunset. Heart's smile fell.

"I'm afraid not. There's something...bad that's going to happen. I don't know what but I can feel there's something."

"No details?" asked Sunset.

"Unfortunately this is as specific as I can be." replied Heart. "Just be careful out there."

"Alright."

"And one more thing." said Heart walking up to Sunset and placing a finger to Sunset's heart. "With this much love I think we can work together much better." she said. Sunset was about to ask what she meant when there was another bright flash and she found herself back in the closet.

"That was weird." she said to herself as she stepped out.

"Oh. There you are." said a voice. Sunset turned and saw Lemon Zest. "I was looking for you. Wanna race me?"

"Sure." shrugged Sunset. The two headed off to where there were four simulated motorcycle controllers and input some tokens.

As Sunset and her friends were having fun they didn't notice someone was keeping an eye on them. The person looked to the side and saw Pixie who didn't seem to notice them. Pixie herself had been keeping an eye on Sunset and the others but was getting bored. She walked off and ended up finding someone who seemed to getting annoyed about a game. She looked over his shoulder and saw he was playing Mighty Action X.

"Oh. Is that your favorite game?" she asked. The guy almost jumped as he turned and looked at her.

"Not really." he replied. "I've only had it for a couple of days so I'm not that great. Man this Salty guy's rough."

"Would you like to meet him?" she asked.

"What are you talking about? He's just a game character." he asked confused. Pixie smirked as she pulled out her bugvisor and sprayed a mist on the guy which began to overtake his body causing him to drop his game and clutch his sides as his body was engulfed in an orange glow. Immediately after the glow seperated taking the form a monster with a white top hat.

"This is interesting." said the monster as the guy looked at it while parts of his body began glitching.

"I told you Salty was real." said Pixie with a smirk. "Now then Salty. Do you think you're up for a little rampage? It's gotten so boring around here."

"I am more than up for it." replied Salty. "I must ask something first. Why do I feel stronger?"

"I boosted your power so right now you're at level 35." explained Pixie. "Now then..."

The girls were still in the arcade when they heard a bunch of people screaming in fear and went to check it out. They found a bunch of Bugsters dressed as chefs who seemed to be using cooking utensils as weapons.

"Uh...why are they dressed like that?" asked Vinyl confused.

"It must be Salty. The boss of the first level from Mighty Action X." replied Sour.

"How right you are." said a voice. They turned and saw the monster in question standing next to Pixie. "Now how about we liven up this place?" she asked with a smirk waving her hand causing several dark puddles to form which began taking the form of humanoid monsters with bits of bone armor.

"What the hell are those?" asked Lemon somewhat grossed out.

"We call them Revenants." replied Sunset putting on her Driver. "The most we've been able to find about them is that they're darkness in a humanoid form. They're stronger than a human but not as strong as even a base level Rider." she explained. "If you've got something that uses light it'll be the best thing to use against them. Otherswise it's tricky because they're like PlayDough or Silly Putty. Everyone ready?" The others put on their Driver and activated their other items.

"Henshin!" they called out transforming. Twilight went and hid behind a car watching the fight. Once they tranformed the Riders charged with Sunset drawing her weapon in sword form. They charged and began attacking but most of them were having a bit of trouble. It seemed that Ex-Aid was the only one who could hurt the bugsters while Seikō was having an easier time against Revenants.

As they fought the others began getting frustrated. Accel drew her Engine Blade and inserted the Engine Memory electricuting each enemy she hit. At the same time Meteor started trying to figure something out and noticed her hands and feet were beginning to use the cosmic energy which had been appear. Although when she struck a bugster it didn't have the same effect, such as the word hit appearing when she struck them, it seemed that at the very least her strikes were at least weakening them. Gaim had switched to Ichigo Arms while Necrom had switched to using the Grimm Eyecon. However due to the sheer numbers Salty was able to move between them and attack them as they fought the weaker Bugsters and the Revenants. He was able to move close enough to hit Ex-Aid hard enough to launch her back.

"I will be the one to destroy you!" he declared.

"AH dammit! We gotta get rid of all the small fry." she yelled out.

"I'm open to suggestions." said Kabuto.

"Hey Sunset your whole thing is light, right?" asked Ex-Aid.

"Yeah. All the Pretty Cure draw their power from something called the Holy Light." explained Seikō.

"Then I've got a plan but I need a specific energy item. Once I get it I need you to finish them with me." explained Ex-Aid.

"Got it." replied Seikō pulling out a module and activating it.

"Heart!"

"Pretty Cure! Love Link!" she called out inserting it. At that a heart appeared on her Driver's screen which then flew out as a pink chest plate, forearm guards, and shin guards formed which attached to her suit. Another heart formed in front of her helmet which attached itself to the helmet moving behind the eyes which became a somewhat dark pink. Once it finished a heart emble formed on the left side of her chest plate. Once the transformation finished she instinctively held her hands up together in the shape of a heart.

"Minagiru Ai!" called out her Driver.

"Dark beings who have lost their heart. I, Kamen Rider Seikō Heart, will make your hearts race." she declared. Everyone froze for a moment confused by this. Under her helmet Sunset had began to blush. "Okay...that was weird." Ex-Aid took this as an opening and began breaking chocolate blocks. Not long after the fighting resumed with most of the Riders attacking while trying to keep their defense up in order to buy Sour time. As she kept smashing blocks she finally found the item she was looking for. An orange energy item which showed the image of someone who seemed to goading an enemy.

"Gotcha." she said with a smirk as the item in question entered her body.

"Chōhatsu!" called out a voice as she landed. Seikō landed next to her as all the weaker enemies turned to look at Ex-Aid.

"So what item was that?" asked Seikō.

"Provocation." replied Ex-Aid drawing her Gashacon Breaker. "Let's wipe them out." she said pulling out her Gashat and inserting it into her weapon. "Ready?"

"More than ready." replied Seikō as Ex-Aid inserted her Gashat into her weapon and Seikō switched weapon to its rifle mode before inserting the module.

"Kime-waza!"

"Saishu-waza!"

"Mighty! Critical Finish!" called out the weapon as it began glowing. She jumped a few yards in the air and fell, impacting the ground with her weapon causing a wave of energy to be sent out from the point of impact which launched the enemies into the air. At that Seikō tapped the side of her weapon causing a pink energy heart to begin forming and growing at the barrel of the rifle.

"Heart!" called out Seikō's weapon.

"Heart Dynamite!" called out Seikō firing the heart which flew and became massive capturing all of the enemies in it. Seikō slinged her weapon over her shoulder before snapping her fingers causing the heart to explode annihilating them.

"That wasn't bad." said Pixie. "But it's not like we can't make more." she said with a smirk as she snapped her fingers causing more Revenants to appear. The others looked in shock before Salty chuckled at them.

"This will be never ending." he threatened.

"Sounds good to me." said an unfamiliar voice. The group turned to see a snake themed Rider in purple running towards them with a giant purple cobra slithering behind them. After the Rider back flipped towards the cobra's mouth which began releasing venom engulfing the Rider's boots as they began to scissor kick forward. The kick was aimed at Pixie who fired at them only for the blasts to be deflected by the kick allowing them to hit her twice before being thrown back.

"You'll pay for that." said Pixie with a glare before disappearing.

"Who's that?" asked Meteor.

"Ouja." replied Seikō.

"Yo, Sunset." said Ouja. "I think this should make things easier." she said tossing a module at Seikō who caught it. She looked and saw it had an image of the sun. She held it for a moment causing a yellow glow to lightly move throughout her body removing the Heart module. Then she held it forwards and activated it.

"Soleil!" it called out.

"Star Color Pendant! Color Charge!" she called out at that she jumped as a projection of the sun expanded from the center of her belt and surrounded her forming flames as her suit became yellow. The flames began forming orange forearm and shin guards which each had a sun on them, a chest plate which had a sun on the front, a diagnal belt which had a few stars on it, a small pink sphere which formed on the center of the chest plate, and what almost looked like flames on the helmet as the eyes on it became violet.

"Uchyu wo Terasu! Shakunetsu no Kirameki!" called out her belt.

She held her hand up causing a fire ball which resembled the sun to form above her before jumping. "Soleil Shoot!" she called out as she began to spin with her body forming flames before kicking the sun to the center of the group causing a bright flash which disintegrated the Revenant. Salty noticed he was alone and decided to try to sneak away.

"Mighty! Critical Finish!"

Salty turned just in time to be hit by Ex-Aid's Gashacon Breaker into the air before he came back down and was hit once more launching him away causing him to explode.

"Game Clear dumbass." said Ex-Aid as she held her weapon over her shoulder. After they went up to Ouja who nodded at Sunset. They were about to change back when Ouja held her hand up.

"I came to help you guys because there's a Roidmude wandering around here and he looks like he's looking for someone." Ouja explained before they heard another scream. This one more familiar than the previous.

"Ms. Empyrean!" said Kabuto. They immediately headed back to the store where they saw Zeal standing over Azure Empyrean.

"Get away from her!" yelled out Kabuto about to activate her clock up. He looked towards them before smirking as several blasts hit them from behind causing them to fall.

"Now show me your dream!" he demanded with a smirk. Something resembling a dark keyhole appeared in front of her chest and after they all saw and an image of Empyrean making clothes.

"I want to make clothes for everyone to express themselves." they heard her voice say. Upon seeing that Kabuto's eyes watered a bit remembering how that woman had made her so happy as a child.

"Well then. Let's see how this goes." said Zeal holding his hand out. "Shut your dream!" he yelled out as a purple light shot out of his chest which took the form of a weird lock. The lock flew at Empyrean as cage bars formed around her, a door formed in front of her which closed, and then the lock attached itself to the front of the door as four chains extended from the corner around it. At that the lock seemed to replicate itself taking a form of a giant manikin whose head was the same type of lock but the keyhole had a light making it resemble an eye.

"Zetsuborg!" called out the new creature. It was then Pixie showed up next to Zeal holding her arm.

"That'll show ya." she said as the she, Zeal, the Zetsuborg, vanished leaving Empyrean within the cage. They got up and ran up to the cage.

"Ms. Empyrean!" yelled out Kabuto. "Don't worry I'll get you out." she said pulling her fist back.

"Hold on." said Ouja holding grabbing her wrist.

"What?!" demanded Kabuto.

"I don't know much about this kinda thing but given that we saw her dream had to do with clothing and the monster looked like a manikin I think this might be similar to the Bugsters so there's a chance any damage to the cage will hurt her. At that Kabuto's eyes widened and she released her fist causing Ouja to let her go.

"We should head back to base and bring her." said Sunset as she changed back followed by the others.

"Mercy might be able to tell you what's going on." added Ouja. "Anyway..." she began as her armor turned gray and seperated revealing a girl with white hair in a purple uniform which had a cobra on the chest. "Name's Gilda. Nice to meet ya."