> My Little Pony: Wizard of Hope
>  by darkmagician41
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Appearance of a Hero
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


My Little Pony: The Wizard of Hope


Chapter 1


Appearance of a Hero


Normally when someone wakes up after a car accident they expect to be in one of two places, the car they crashed in or the hospital. For one fifteen year old boy that was what he expected after his mother and father stupidly took their eyes off the road the one second needed for hell to come in a handbasket. As he rubbed his short slightly shaggy auburn hair, he tried to move his legs only to find them restrained. Opening his eyes fully he looked and saw he was wearing the customary hospital gown, though smaller than what he knew them to be, with his ankles strapped to the sides of the bed.

Another thing he noticed was that the bed was barely long enough to fit his thin foot five martial art’s type body. Before he could figure out how to get out, the door opened up making his eyes widen in surprise as he saw who was at the door.

At the door wasn’t a human but rather a white pony with a powdery pink mane tied up in a bun with an old fashion nurse’s cap on her head and a mark on her flank in the shape of a red cross. The young boy could only stare in shock as he saw and barely recognized her as a character from a show he briefly watched when he was bored and there were no anime showing at the time, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.

“Ah, I see you are awake,” the nurse said as she walking up to the bed not scared in the least as she started scanning the chart next to her patient, “You were found by the Everfree forest with some minor head trauma and lacerations. We kept you overnight for observation and strapped down for safety.”

 The boy shook his head to clear it of the final cobwebs before remembering his manners. “Thank you for helping me Miss. My name is Eric …Pendragon,” The teen said pausing very briefly as he decided to use an ancient version of his family name instead of his usual one. “Do you think you could tell me who found me in the forest?”

Looking at Eric briefly, the nurse introduced herself. “My name is Nurse Redheart. Unfortunately the pony that found you wants to remain anonymous for the moment.”

“Rats, I wanted to thank them,” Eric said with a sigh before asking a question on his mind, “Um, not to be rude or anything but…why aren’t you freaking about me?”

Nurse Redheart smiled as she said, “You are not the first human I have seen. The first one I have met was over forty years ago.” Her eyes gained a far off look to them as she remembered the day, “I was with my classmates going to the Everfree Forest when I had gotten separated from them. As I was looking for them I stumble across a human a bit older than you wearing a dark green uniform and a strange metal hat.  He was bleeding profusely from wounds I could not recognize even to this day.”

Her eyes misted a bit as he continued with her story, “I was carrying my class’ first aid kit at the time and tried my best to patch him up to hopefully take him to the hospital but it was no use and the wounds were too numerous. Before he died, he reached into his clothing and pulled out a strange necklace asking me to take it. After that I had found out that I had gained my Cutie Mark –to my surprise- trying to help that human which led me to start training to become a nurse. Of course the day after he died I went back and buried him myself.”

With her story finished up the white pony turned to Eric as she said, “I have not told anypony about that day nor have I figured out why he gave me his necklace.”

Eric thought about it for a bit before he asked, “Do you think I can see the necklace later?”

Nurse Redheart nod, promising to bring it tomorrow when she added, “But now you need some rest. I will see if I can’t get somepony to bring you something to eat since you have been out for almost two days.”

At that moment, Eric’s stomach began to voice its displeasure at being empty making the poor teen blush a bright red as Redheart giggled, “Yes please. And could you release me from these restraints I promise not to harm anyone… I mean pony unless I am attack or someone else is.”

The nurse agreed to this and swiftly released him allowing him to stretch his legs to get the blood moving again as she left. Once she did, Eric began thinking, ‘Over forty years ago... If my math and history are correct that around World War II or the Vietnam War. Could a soldier have come to this world like I did?’

Unfortunately he didn’t get a chance to continue his thoughts as the door open once again to reveal another pony coming in with a cart filled to vegetarian goodness. Not really picky about what he ate unlike other teens –mostly thanks to his family- he gently grabbed the tray and thanked the slightly scared pony who quickly defrosted when he shared some of his food since she hadn’t had time to eat lunch yet.

A day and a half later, Eric was finally being let out with all of his stuff returned to him. Besides the clothes that he wore when he was in the accident –a pair of light brown multi pocket shorts, sneakers, a light brown shirt with some interesting designs on it, and a camouflage Texas Ranger baseball cap. He also had his light brown messenger bag with a hazard signs on the flap which held a lot of things to help him survive pretty much anything and a small suitcase filled with extra clothing.

As he finished up a quick inventory of his bags, the door opened up to reveal Nurse Redheart with something in her hoof –how she kept it in place Eric couldn’t figure out. The teenage boy sat on the edge of the bed after zipping up the bags as the nurse handed him the necklace.

“This is what the human gave me; do you know what it means?”

As Eric took the necklace his eyes widen as he recognized it as a set of dog tags but they widened even further when he saw the name on them, “Uncle Vernon?!?!”

That startled Nurse Redheart, “Do you know the human that I tried to save?”

The teen quickly nodded his head, “Yes he is my Uncle Vernon who was believed to be MIA –Missing in Action- or KIA –Killed in Action- when he went off to fight the Axes powers during D-day!”

Nurse Redheart was a bit confused about what Eric said until he explained a bit of history about his world.  When he finished she looked down with sadness as she said, “I’m sorry that I wasn’t able to save your uncle.”

Eric on the other hand wasn’t mad at all and gently lifted Redheart’s chin up as he said, “Don’t be. While my uncle may have died he did so protecting the country he loved. You allowed his last few moments in life to be peaceful ones and for that I should be thanking you for not only doing what you could to try and save him, but also for giving him some peace before he died.”

That startled the nurse quite a bit before her eyes began to water. “I believe you will want the tags back,” she said using the correct term for them.

Shaking his head, Eric took the dog tags and gently placed them around Redheart’s neck as he said, “No. You deserve them more than I do for giving him some measure of peace.”

Afterwards Eric walked out of the hospital dibbing goodbye to the few nurses he befriended with his bag handing diagonally off his shoulder and the small roller suitcase behind him. As he walked around trying to find out what he needed to do next, Eric noticed that many of the ponies were looking at him with more than a bit of caution.  The teen wasn’t going to fault them since they have never seen anything like him before –thought if he remembered one episode right he was surprised to see that they weren’t running and hiding.

His thoughts were derailed when he heard someone cry out and quickly ran towards the sound. There he saw three gryphons –more than likely juveniles- harassing a pegasus pony with butter yellow fur, light pink mane/tail, and a mark on her flank –which Eric found out was a Cutie Mark- was three pink and cyan butterflies. Her wide blue/green eyes were brimming with tears as she looked at a basket of food she had just brought. Beside her was another Pegasus pony but with blue fur, a rainbow colored mane, and a Cutie Mark shaped like a white cloud with a tri colored lightning bolt shooting out of it, glaring at the trio with more than a bit of rage as she stood in front of her friend.

“Well, well…” one of the gryphons said, “If it isn’t Klutzershy and her friend Rainbow Crash.”

“I remember you,” the blue Pegasus with a soft and somewhat cute growl, “you three are some of the bullies that I dealt with in Flying Camp.”

“And we remember the humiliation you gave us during that race long ago,” another gryphon replied with a sneer, “I think it’s time we repaid the favor,” he continued holding up his clawed right foreleg.

Eric wasn’t having any of that and quickly placed his bags to the side –briefly fiddling with his messenger bag- before standing up and charging forward. As the gryphon that threatened the ponies started to raise his claw, the teen threw himself forward –right leg first- shouting “WACHA!” and slammed a flying kick into the closest gryphon sending him flying while taking the other two with him. Thanking his self-taught martial arts ability –his parents were too cheap to send him to a formal class as well as too scared he would gain a backbone from it- Eric flipped out of the kick and landed in front of the two Pegasi in the basic Jeet Kun Do stance.

“What the hay?” the blue Pegasus shouted in shock while the butter-yellow one hid behind her friend staring in shock.

Before he could introduce himself, the gryphons got up groaning a bit with the leader glaring at the teen, “What are you freak?”

“The name’s Eric Pendragon,” The dude from another world replied, “A human and the one who will stop you from harming anyone.”

The lead gryphon sneered as the teen stood in their way of their revenge along with his partners, “Stand in our way and we won’t be responsible for what happens.”

Eric just smirked as he stood up straight and reached into his pocket, “If you want to throw down let’s go for it.” He pulled his hand out of the pocket holding a small remote as he said, “Just let me set the tone,” the pressed the button on it causing the hidden speakers in his messenger bag -connected to his iPhone- to ring with the bong of a large gong.

As the music started playing Eric quickly put the remote back into his pocket before cracking his knuckles. He then got into another low Jeet Kun Do stance with a, “Whoooo,” then sprang into action and he shot forward shouting, “WACHA!” With surprising speed, he swung his right fist –which was up in the air- down then back up into a forward punch towards one of the stunned gryphons sending him flying and getting the other two back on track. With low growls, the two other gryphons tried to swipe at the teen. He parted the swipes to the side before making one of the two fly with a quick yet punishing blow to the chest and a “Hi-ya” allowing him to focus on the other one.

With each claw swipe the gryphon unleashes, Eric easily parts them then slams a couple of quick punches to his chest before repeating. After having enough the gryphon tries to take a bit out of the teen only for him to grab his outstretched neck and throw him for a loop. Before he lands, Eric spun around and slammed a spin kick to his ribs with another “Ki-ya” causing them to creak in protest before he lands where he belonged, in the trash.

Gryphon leader tried his luck by blindsiding Eric from the air but the dude from another world already saw him. He ducked the claws and jabbed him in the throat with an elbow before swing the accompanied fist up into his beak. This sent him stumbling back before he lunged again at the teen who grabbed the offending arm with his left hand and held it to the side as he placed the fingertips of his right hand at the center of the Gryphon’s chest. He looked at it dumbly before Eric quickly clenched the fingers into a fist the thrust it forward at the same time performing the famed One-Inch Punch of Bruce Lee, sending him flying once again. At the same time, the only gryphon to stay standing jumped over his flying leader stunning Eric briefly.

“Time to flip,” he shouted as he began to do just that, back flipping out of the claws reach a few times stunning the ponies watching. After a few flips, he jumped higher than normal and spun around slamming a backward roundhouse into his face also sending him into the trash. A few seconds later the leader regained him composure and charged at Eric, only for the teen to push it to the side and stat unleashing a torrent of quick punches to juggling him in the air for a bit all with his right fist. As he did a strange white/crimson aura appeared around his fist –unbeknownst to the human- creating the effect of a meteor shower slamming into the Gryphon’s gut one aright after the other. After a few seconds he let loose a powerful punch with a “KYA!” knocking him out for the count.

As the song died down, the two gryphons in the trash had finally dug their way out only to see their leader out colder than a mackerel. “If you don’t want to end up like him,” Eric said getting the two minions’ attention, “I suggest you leave with him. And if I see you three messing with anybody, I’m clipping your wings permanently.”

With little preamble, the two gryphons quickly gathered their fallen leader and made tracks out of town with nothing but a cloud of dust trailing them. Eric sighed as he started to calm down and started to go back to his bags to hopefully find a place to stay the night when all the ponies that were watching started to cheer. A second later they were all crowded around Eric shaking his hand, thanking him for sending those three gryphons packing.

Surprisingly they three had been causing some trouble around Ponyville –as Eric found out the town’s name was- not enough to get the guards from Canterlot to appear but enough to set back the planning of the Summer Sun Celebration. After a few minutes of thanks, promises of works if Eric needed it or a free meal –which the teen was definitely going to hit up on at least once- the throng of ponies started to disperse with the two Pegasi quickly took their place as the weapons grade adorable butter-yellow Pegasus behind the more tomboyish one.

“That was pretty awesome,” the blue Pegasus said with a confident smirk on her face, “But I could have taken care of those idiots.”

Eric just smiled as he replied, “I don’t doubt it but I have very little patients when it comes to bullies and a few other things.”

The blue Pegasus nodded in understanding before she squinted at the dude from another dimension before her eyes widen in shock, “You’re the creature that Fluttershy had me and Applejack carry to the hospital.”

That shocked Eric some, “You’re one of the ponies that helped me?”

“Yep,” the blue Pegasus said with a nod before sticking her right front hood out which the teen shook, “My name’s Rainbow Dash, the fastest flyer in all of Equestria!” She then turned her head to the other Pegasus as she added, “And this is Fluttershy. She’s the one who found you in the Everfree Forest.”

The teen smiled as he knelt down to the extremely shy pony and smiled softly at her, “So you’re the one who help me huh? I guess I owe you big time.” Then he took a good look at Fluttershy as she tried to hide from him with her long mane leaving only one eye out in the open. “So your name’s Fluttershy, cute name for a cute pony.”

A second later Fluttershy began to blush brightly before fainting in shock. If it wasn’t for Eric’s quick reaction she would have fallen flat on the ground. “What just happened?” The human asked with some confusion.

Rainbow Dash just snickered before she said, “I think you flirting with her shocked her too much.”

“NANI?!?!” Eric shouted with a bright blush on his face.

The light blue Pegasus just kept laughing her butt off before calming down –though a few snickers still escaped once in awhile, “Well let’s grab your stuff and take Fluttershy back to her house.”

Eric just nodded, his face still red, as he lifted the weapons grade adorable pony up in his arms and took off towards his stuff. An half an hour later, he had dropped off Fluttershy and began walking around with Rainbow Dash lazily flying beside him.

“So what are you going to do now?” The Pegasus asked as she watched the dude from another world go through his stuff once more while walking through Ponyville.

“Well, since I’m pretty much broke when it comes to this world’s currency, I need to find a job and maybe find a cave or someplace to hold up until I get enough bits to pay for room an’ board. If I’m lucky maybe someone can put me up until I get my feet on the ground.” Eric said and when he saw that rainbow Dash was a bit confused he added, “That last part of just a figure of speech.”

Before Dash could offer anything both of them were startled when a cultured English voice sounded from behind them. “I believe I may have the answer to both your problems.”

Both human and Pony quickly turned around to see a light brown Earth Pony with a messy dark brown mane that had an hourglass for a cutie mark and a collar around his neck –like one would find on a formal button up shirt with a tie to complete the look. On his back was a worn but well-kept saddlebag that looked like it has seen a lot of things in its lifetime.

“Hey Doctor!” Dash said while waving a hoof, “How were your travels?”

“The usual trouble I seem to find,” The colt said with a chuckle before turning to Eric, “But back to the point, I have been waiting for you Eric Pendragon.

“Me?” Eric asked with a bit of confusion along with Dash, “What did I do?”

The Doctor chuckled again before explaining, “Actually, A colleague of mine wanted me to give you something to help you get settled in Ponyville.” With that he reached into his saddlebag and pulled out a small slightly long box with plain brown paper wrapped around it and twine. “Also,” he continued as Eric took the strange box with Dash looking at it as well, “I do believe that Sweet Apple Acres has need of a few good farmhands.”

“Thank,” Eric replied as he began to look up, “but how do you…” To his shock, when he looked up the doctor was gone as if he wasn’t there in the first place. “Da Heck?!” he shouted in shock while Dash sighed.

“He always seems to do that,” the light blue Pegasus grumbled before turning to the human, “So what’s in there?”

“Let’s find out,” Eric replied as he went to a nearby convenient bench and sat down with Dash doing the same on his right. Once he took off the paper and twine –all of which he put in his bag to Dash’s confusion- he opened the box to reveal a letter with a strange Rubix cube sized piece of black metal and another smaller box inside the larger one. He set the larger box down pulling out the letter which he opened up and began to read.

To Eric Pendragon

If you are reading this then my equestrian self has found you and given you the package I gave him. To simply put, I am the Doctor –I’m sure you know what that means despite being on the other side of the pond as the saying goes.

Eric’s eyes went wide in shock as he read that while Dash was just confused, “What did he mean by that?” she asked.

“I’ll tell you later.” Eric replied before he continued to read the letter out loud.

Now that pleasantries have been taken care of, I need to explain to you about the two items in the box. The first one is the black cube which is an experiment I have been working on for a while. It uses a few abilities that the TARDIS has but in a more manageable size –just without the ability to move through time and space. It will recreate your home down to the smallest detail when you first use it and once you get the house the way you like it, it will always take the appearance it was last in before you shrink it to take it with you. It will also connect to the internet and television of your world so that you know what is going on back home but will not be able to send anything back. And it is all powered by Green Energy –as you American’s call it- so no worries about where you will get the power to use all of your things. I also added a few extra things for security purposes which I will detail in another letter inside the house.

“That is so cool!!!” Rainbow Dash shouted after Eric finished that last paragraph.

“Well, there solves one of my problems,” Eric said as he took the black cube in his hand and felt that it was slightly heavier than it looked, “not I just need someplace to put it.”

“Worry about that later,” Dash dismissed before all but shoving the paper into the human’s face, “continue!!!”

Rolling his eyes playfully Eric retook the letter and continued reading.

The second item…Well I think you need to open it first before I explain…

Go on…open it!

“A little pushy,” Eric pointed out as he placed the letter to the side and pulled out the smaller box. When he opened it his heart stopped and his breath cut short.

“What is it?” Dash exclaimed as she tried to take a peek inside the box only to get disappointed, “What is that, some kind of decoration?”

“Shut your mouth!” Eric replied with a glare startling the Pegasus, “This is more than what you think.” He reached inside the box and pulled out something any sci-fi fan would know and kill for…  “This is a Sonic Screwdriver Mark VII.”

“A what…”

“A Sonic Screwdriver, one of the many tools of the doctor,” Eric explained as he reached back into the box and also pulled out a small pair of sunglasses, “you could say it the most powerful device on the multiverse. Able to do a myriad of things while looking inconspicuous enough to be dismissed.”

That peaked Rainbow Dash’s curiosity, “Like what?”

“Lock and unlock any door in existence –as long as it isn’t wood-; check for any wounds, poison, along with other medical problems and repair them if they are not too life threatening; and pretty much anything your imagination has to offer... as long as it’s non-offensive.”

“Wow…” Dash said softly as Eric looked over the most coveted piece of Sci-fi hardware.

“But this seems different from the one I’ve have heard my world’s Doctor using,” Eric added as he looked over the Screwdriver without giving too much information away. The Sonic Screwdriver looked like it was a fusion of the one the Eleventh Doctor gave River Song with the Mark VII head but more streamline and without the Neural Relay, the TARDIS Remote Return, and the felt tip bottom. It also had a slider on the opposite side of the ring with a twist dial under it.

“Then what are the sunglasses for?” Rainbow Dash asked her curiosity and excitement peaked as she looked at the second item in the box which was a pair of black MIB style ray-bans.

“We’re about to find out,” Eric said as he took up the letter again to read it.

As you probably recognize this is my famous Sonic Screwdriver… thought it is not as powerful as mine. It is based on the one that my future self-gave River Song but with a few additions from my current one. While it doesn’t have the punch my Screwdriver does it make up for it by having more abilities in it thanks to its power source…magic. To put it simply while my Screwdriver has to be charged by the TARDIS, your takes the ambient magic naturally found in Equestria and stores it to be used later. Unfortunately this also will present a problem in places where magic is not so rich in the air and will drain quicker if you use it in such an area.

There is another way you can charge it up…but I’ll let you find out for yourself. Also the glasses are an external interface I added in since humans cannot mentally interface with Time Lord Technology without some drastic consequences. I won’t tell you what you have on your Sonic Screwdriver, where is the fun in that?

Signed

The Doctor

Both Pegasus and human were shocked by what they just saw until Rainbow shook herself out of it. “THAT IS SO AWESOME!!!”

Eric just nodded with a shocked look on his face before quickly shaking it off and placing the items in his bag despite Rainbow Dash’s whining at him to try it out –thought she would insist that she didn’t. Thankfully a promise to call her when he did start to do so stopped the whining, allowing Eric to pick his new items up. As he got up –placing his messenger bag back where it belonged and grabbing his suitcase- he turned to Rainbow Dash as he said, “Well, let’s see if the good doctor’s hunch was correct.”

“I’ll show you,” Dash replied as she started to hover in place, “But you better remember your promise!”

And with that she raced off with Eric quickly following behind her, as he did, something in his bag began to glow briefly before dying off. Unknowing of what just happened; Eric continued to race after Rainbow Dash though for some reason he heard a low growl somewhere but ignored it for the moment.

A few minutes later Rainbow Dash was sitting in front of the entrance of the Sweet Apple Acres farm watching Eric as he gasped for breath like a locomotive. “Don’t have much endurance do you?” she said with a giggle (though if you asked her she would have said she chuckled)

Eric just glared at Dash as he thought, ‘you try catching a pony version of Kamen Rider Accel: Trial, then come back to me.’ After catching his breath she stood up as straight as he could and looked around, “So this is the place?”

“Yep,” Rainbow Dash replied, “Sweet Apple Acres, best place in equestrian to get apples or anything apple related. “ And with that she took a deep breath before shouting, “AJ, YOU HOME!!!”

Both Pegasus and human heard a female voice –in a thick southern drawl if Eric was correct- replied back with her own shout, “IN A MINUTE RD; YEEHAW!” The two looked towards the shouter and saw a light gamboge colored pony with blond/light olive mane and tail –both tied up what we would call a low ponytail- with a Stetson cowboy and a Cutie Mark made up of three apples racing towards one of the many apple trees only to swing around when she was close and give the tree a mighty buck. To Eric’s shock that caused all the apples on the tree to shake before falling down into carefully placed baskets.

Very proud of herself, the pony turned around as she asked, “What ‘cha need RD?” only to stop when she saw Eric standing right beside the cerulean Pegasus, “Is that?”

“Yep, this is the creature we helped Fluttershy save in the forest,” Rainbow Dash said quite proudly as Eric gained a small cross-popped vein -which appeared on the side of his head- at being talked over.

“The name’s Eric Pendragon,” the human said successfully keeping the irritation out of his voice as he interrupted a slightly irritated Dash. He knelt down and held out his hand to shake as he continued, “A human if you’re wondering.”

“Well howdy doo Eric,” AJ replied as she quickly took his hand with both of her front hooves and began to vigorously shake it, “We here at Sweet Apple Acres sure do like makin’ new friends.”

“Not a problem,” the dude from another dimension replied as he tried to keep the shaking out of his voice. Off to the side Rainbow Dash tried to keep the snickers from escaping her mouth but was only partly successful.

“The name’s Applejack,” the earth pony continued as she let go of the hand to introduce herself –which Eric was mentally thanking her for as he tried to keep his arm from falling off from the shaking. Eric and Rainbow Dash both explained what has happened in the past couple of hours –with AJ giggling some when she heard what happened between the Human and Fluttershy to Eric’s embarrassment- before collecting herself.

“Well thank ya kindly for taking care of them varmints,” she started with a low growl, “Those Griffons have been making a right mess of things here at the farm. It’s hard to get ready for both the Apple family reunion and the Summer Sun Celebration without those featherbrains.” The mare then turned to Eric as she looked at him before asking, “What can you do anyways?”

“I’m a bit of a jack of all trades,” Eric replied as he thought, ‘no thanks to them.’ “I can do some woodworking, plumbing, and a few other things. I’m also willing to learn any other trades if given half the chance.”

Applejack through it over for a bit before she made her decision, “Ah will pay yer seven bits an hour and since yer don’t have a place ready yet… Yer can stay here for a while.”

“Thank you very much,” Eric said with a bright smile which the two ponies could not help but return before Applejack began to lead then towards the human’s first tasks.

“Now there are some logs that need a splitting next to some lumber we’re using for an extension to the house,” She said as the trio walked towards Eric’s first assignment.

“Not a problem,” The human said as they reach their destination. A few seconds later Rainbow Dash had to take off for something which had her grumbling while Applejack had to get the bushels of apples she had just buck into the barn before taking off towards Ponyville for a few items. Once the two had taken off, Eric placed his bags down before reaching into the Messenger one and pulling out a pair of good sturdy work gloves.

After putting the gloves on, he grabbed the nearby axe and went to town on the logs. As he worked, the strange glow in his bag returned as it reacted to his feelings. This also brought back the strange growl from last time which Eric ignored once again.


Time Skip


A few hours had passed since he began his work and he not only finished splitting the wood but also moved the lumber closer to the house. There he also met Applejack’s older brother Big McIntosh a big crimson stallion with a cropped dark orange mane/tail and a mark that was shaped like a green apple sliced down the middle showing the seeds inside. With Eric’s help the two were able to start building the addition to the house where the human also met Applejack’s grandmother, Granny Smith, and her little sister Apple Bloom. Unfortunately the little filly fired questions at the human like a machine gun until Applejack thankfully shooed her off.

Of course during the whole debacle, he met one more pony during a quick break. She was a light raspberry mare with a dark raspberry mane/tail and a Cutie Mark made up of two blue balloons with a yellow one between them. Without knowing anything about her, Eric could tell that she was bubbly and cheery. Surprisingly when he said hi to her, she somehow became airborne for just a moment with a gasp before taking off in a blur of raspberry dust.

“Da heck was that?!” Eric asked Big Mac as he coughed out the dust that got into his lungs.

“Pinkie Pie,” McIntosh simply said as he waved the dust away before going back to putting up the frame. The dude from another dimension just stared at the big pony before shrugging and going back to work.

Now with the sun setting, Eric was placing his tools back in their place as Applejack trotted over to him. “Well Ah’ll be,” She said with a bit of shock as she saw the beginnings of the new addition, “Yer certainly are a Jack of all Trades.”

The human winched a bit when she said that –though it was so small you had to actually be looking for it- before turning to the cowgirl/pony, “Well I try boss.”

Nodding her head at that she turned around as she said, “Well Ah was asked to bring yer somewhere for a surprise.”

“Huh?” Eric intelligently asked as he quickly grabbed his messenger bag –his suitcase was put inside a spare room on the house during one of his quick breaks- and followed after his boss. “What kind of surprise?”

“Oh just something we do for folks new to Ponyville,” Applejack said in an offhand/hoof way, though her face slightly scrunched up for some reason.

Shaking his head, the human walked behind the cowgirl/pony going through the town towards a large building that reminded him of a gingerbread house with a large cupcake on top of it. As he walked closer to the building he saw a sign on it that read, “Sugercube Corner” making Eric think that it was a bakery or something similar. Applejack entered the building first with her new hired hand behind her slightly worried since all the lights were out. The second he stepped in and the door closed, that wasn’t the case anymore.

“SURPRISE!”

Eric yelped falling on his backside as the lights quickly turned on revealing the place was nearly filled to the brim with ponies of all kinds surrounding him –at the same time something fell out of his messenger bag unbeknownst to him. “What the heck is all this?!?!” he all but shouted.

“It’s your ‘Welcome to Ponyville, Thanks for Helping Us’ party Eric!” a cute high pitched voice said from beside him in one quick rapid-fire sentence startling him again. He looked to the side and saw the strange pony he met before beside him smiling happily. “Were you surprised, were you, huh; were you!”

“V-very,” Eric stuttered out in shock as Applejack helped him up, “But why throw me a party?” he asked confused.

“It is our thanks for helping protect Ponyville,” a slightly older, cultured voice –which reminded Eric of M from the James Bond series but more lively- spoke out as some of the ponies surrounding Eric parted to reveal an older mare with a light cornflower bluish grey mane/tail and light amber coat walking up to him. She had a collar around her neck that reminded Eric of the collar of a business suit with a green/blue flower like scarf holding it together and a pair of half-moon glasses perched on her nose.

“Because of your bravery,” she continued “We are able to continue our work planning for the Summer Sun Celebration that is scheduled to happen a month from now without their interference.”

All the ponies cheered at that causing Eric to blush with embarrassment, unused to being thanked for his work regularly. “I just did what anyone would have done Ms.…”

“Mayor Mare, Mr. Pendragon” the pony, no Mayor replied with a kind smile, “And while that may be true, it was still brave of you.”

“That’s right Eric!” Pinkie shouted happily as she somehow pop out over his shoulder startling him, “And something like that calls for a PARTY!”

And with that, the party got underway. Eric could only stand with a stunned look on his face before shrugging and going on to check out the party. Though one thought did run through his mind as he remembered that he never told Pinkie his name at all which stemmed from his favorite pastime, ‘I think I just met the resident Fourth Wall Breaker.’


Wizard of Hope


As the party was going on, the griffon that Eric knocked out was pacing in one of the few clearing of the Everfree Forest in front of his two minions. “How could that freak defeat us?!?!” he all but shouted as he paced back and forth, his claws digging into the dirt creating a trench as he walked.

“It was a simple plan,” the leader continued, “humiliate those ponies by ruining their celebration. But that freak how to get in the way. Well it’s time we showed those friendship loving idiots what we are capable of.” He looked to the side as the moon revealed eight more griffons that were dragging a large wooden crate into the clearing making the leader smirk evilly.

“And it all starts with our new toys…” With that he walked over to the crate –shoving his men out of the way as he did so- and with surprising strength ripped off the top to reveal their new items. Once he saw them glistening in the moonlight, his chuckle grew into laughter that sent all nearby creatures running in fear.


Wizard of Hope


Back at the party, Eric was slowly loosening up after his shock. As he listened to Rainbow Dash tell his about another stunt she’s done, the dude from another dimension heard someone call out; “Hey does anypony know what this is?” Eric turned to the voice and was stunned to see Pinkie hold up a very familiar item that was silver with a black hand edged in gold on the front in her left-front hoof.

“My WizarDriver!” he shouted in shock carefully but quickly made his way to the party pony.

“You’re what?” Rainbow Dash asked as she flew behind Eric along with Applejack and Fluttershy –who had reluctantly come to the party at Pinkie’s insistence.

“It’s a toy from my world,” Eric replied as Pinkie handed it to him, “it’s a replica an item a hero I…read about in my world uses.”

Rainbow Dash shivered when he said “read” while Pinkie Pie and a few other ponies were  staring in wide eyed shock and awe at the strange object. “So what does it do?” the prismatic Pegasus asked a tiny bit curious.

“It’s mainly a transformation device that the hero uses to change into a special set of armor.” Eric explained as he set the buckle at his waist absently while looking at Rainbow Dash, “It goes around the waist…”

Before he could say anything else, Eric felt something wrap around his waist as a familiar –strange for the ponies- accented voice called out from his waist.

=Driver On - Please! =

Looking down, he saw the buckle had somehow “grew” a belt which wrapped around his waist startling him, “What the heck just happened?!?!” He shouted in shock startling the ponies.

“Isn’t it supposed to do that?” Dash asked, just as stunned as the human.

“It never did this before!” was the reply as he tried to take off the belt without any luck, “Help me get this driver off me!!!”

Just as the Dash, Applejack, and Pinkie trotted up to him to help; the door to the bakery slammed open revealing an earth pony with a scared look on her face, “Those griffons are back, and they brought company!” A second later she had to jump out of the way as Eric raced out of the door while grabbing his bag, only to skid to a stop with what he saw.

In front of him, wrecking anything they could get their hands on, were sixteen griffons in a mishmash of armor with a few wielding some kind of weapon tearing up anything they could get their claws on and nearly harming more than a few ponies. As he watched in shock, Applejack, Pinkie, Dash, and the Mayor quickly appeared by his side and stared with horror.

“What in tarnation are they doin’?” Applejack asked with more than a bit of heat in her voice.

“They are asking for a stomping,” Rainbow Dash replied as she snorted in anger with hints of steam coming out of her nose.

Eric only took a second to think of something before he said, “Ms. Mayor…Get everyone out of here and call whoever you need.” As he stated that, he reached into his nearby bag and pulled out another pair of gloves with some metal between the knuckles for extra kick before tossing the bag to the side. “I’m going to take these bakayaro out for good.”

“Like hay you’re going to fight them alone,” Rainbow Dash shouted as she stepped up beside her newest friend, “What kind of friend would I be if I didn’t try to help even the odds a bit in a fight?”

“She’s right sugercube,” Applejack added as she also stepped up beside Eric opposite of the Pegasus while pushing her Stetson down some in front of her eyes giving her a dangerous look, “Ah just wouldn’t feel right if Ah didn’t help Ma friends kick some tail when they need backup.”

“No pony crashes one of my parties,” Pinkie added with a scary smile as she had also stepped up pulling out; a rather large pink bazooka-like cannon from nowhere and cocked it like a pump-action shotgun.

‘Does she have a hammer-space or something?’ was Eric’s random thought before going back to the task at hand as he put on his gloves and tightened them, “Well then, let’s ride with the devil. IKUZE!!!”

And with that he charged forward with his new friends’ right behind him all ready to throw down. The same time, the mayor quickly began to rush ponies away from the upcoming battle while grabbing one of the Pegasi to run a letter to the nearest guard outpost since Ponyville didn’t have one yet despite its age.

Back with the flock of griffons, the lot of them was having fun terrorizing the ponies and tearing stuff up. At least until one of them heard a whistle and looked up in time to get a flying knee to the face. That got all of the griffons’ attention as they were soon attacked by the quartet of heroes. The three ponies were doing surprisingly well against the vermin with Applejack’s strength, Rainbow Dash’s speed, and Pinkie Pie’s cannon -which turned out to fire steamers, cakes, and other party items as ammunition- holding them off pretty well despite the Griffons’ armor allowing them to last longer than they would have normally.

The only one having trouble was Eric who only had his smarts, skills, and a fiery will of justice to help him. To add to it, he couldn’t really attack the griffons because of the armor and weapons so he had to resort to another fighting style, Aikido, to hold the off. Unfortunately this allowed one of the griffons he was fighting to get away and didn’t notice the konoyaro until he heard a cultured female voice close to his age scream as he knocked the three griffons he was fighting together.

“Help me!!!”

He turned around to see a mare with a light grey –almost white- coat, a stylish indigo mane/tail, and a Cutie Mark made of three diamonds getting attacked by a Griffon. Unfortunately she tripped, allowing the griffon to catch up and start to swipe at the mare with his talons. Without even thinking, Eric charged towards them with surprising speed and quickly grabbed the mare to get her out of the way. Alas he was still a bit too slow and caught the attacking griffon’s talons just as he grabbed the mare taking a few good sized chunks out of his back. His momentum along with the power behind the swipe sent Eric and his passenger flying before they rolled to a stop.

Eric groaned as he laid down on his right side, back facing the attacking griffon, and opened his eyes –which he closed during his flight- and looked into the mare’s azure eyes with a pained smile. “Are you okay?” he asked and got a stunned nod in return.

Seeing the nod, the human gently untangled himself from the mare and stood up facing the griffon. As he did so the mare gasped in shock and horror as she saw the large claws marks on her savior’s back. “Your back!” she said in shock with a refined British accent that reminded Eric of some actresses from England.

“I’ve had worse,” Eric replied as he grabbed his ruined shirt and tore it off the rest of the way revealing something that horrified to cultured mare. His entire back had a multitude of scars from a strange item that the mare could not identify with most healed over poorly.

The human didn’t care though as he watched the griffons that weren’t battling her new friends gather in front of him along with the leader. “Well, well look at what we have here, a half dead freak.”

Eric just grinned despite his pain as he shot off a whip like reply, “Better a half dead freak then ugly bastard like you.” His grin quickly turned into a scowl –with the mare he was protecting flush from the curse he just used- as he continued, “If you think I’m going to let you cause any more harm to this village then you got another thing coming, teme.”

The leader just laughed as he countered with, “How will you do that? The only defenders here are three mares who we can easily overcome and you, a half dead freak. There is no hope for Ponyville; all will feel my wrath for what this country has done to me!”

The scowl on Eric’s face deepened as he said, “That’s were your wrong. As long as I am standing I will not let you cause any more destruction to Ponyville, or terrorize the ponies here.” As he said that his eyes began to glow red as he held his right hand up to his face and clenched it shouting, “I WILL BE THIS TOWN’S LAST HOPE!!!”

A second later the WizarDriver began to glow along with Eric’s hands stunning everyone/pony. As Eric looked down at his hands, the light instantly vanished revealing two rings, one on each hand. His right hand had a silver ring with a black stone on the top shaped to look like the hand on the driver but smaller. The other ring –which caught Eric’s attention more- was a ruby ring surrounded by silver with a small yellow gem near the top –nearest to the tip- and a pair of goggle like lenses near the top.

Eric looked at the ring in shock before he began to smirk before reaching for the driver. He grabbed a lever on either side of the hand and pushed them down –for the right lever- or up –the left. This made the hand on the driver twist to the right and to everyone’s shock… it began to sing with a little beat.

=SHABADOOBIE TATCHI HENSHIN~! SHABADOOBIE TATCHI HENSHIN~! SHABADOOBIE TATCHI HENSHIN~! =

As it did so, Eric held his left hand up to his face –the ring facing the stunned Griffons- before his brought his other hand to the ring and said one word as he pushed the “goggles” down over the ring.

"Henshin!"

With that he placed his left hand over the buckle stopping the song as it said something else.

=FLAME, PLEASE! =

Eric then threw his hand out to the side as a bright red flaming rune circle appeared an inch in front of it. In the middle of the circle was a replica of the ring he had just used with a dragon circling it, another ring marked with four uniquely shaped gems in the cardinal points over the dragon, and outside of that ring was another one made of Latin words. All of this was on top of another spell circle of light red color that held a sunburst shape in it.

A second later the driver began to chant again as the spell circle passed over Eric from left to right covering him in fiery red energy.

=Hi… Hi… HI! HI! HI! =

When the circle finished passing over Eric it vanished along with the aura leaving the human in strange armor that covered him from head to toe. He was clad in a black bodysuit which concealed his for, except for his silver belt stayed the same but had two new additions on either side of his waist in the form of chains with the links shaped to hold onto rings. The left chain only had three spots filled with rings that each held an orange gem in it; the right chain had nothing at the moment.

His chest was covered in red gem-like armor which was a long line down the middle with three rectangular sections on each side while his shoulders were covered in black armor with silver edges that were decorated with dragon-like crests. From his waist hung a robe-like covering which was red on the inside but black on the outside with silver edging as his wrists and ankles sported bands that were the same ruby red as his chest plate. Finally, his head was concealed with a silver helmet that had a ruby red faceplate decorated like the ring he wore, sporting metal lines making it appear as if it had large eyes with antennae rising from the forehead.

Every pony and griffon was stunned by the transformation including the ones that were fighting. The leader quickly gathered his courage as he shouted, “Who the hell are you?!?!”

[Fairy Tail OST- Dragon Force Extended]

Eric smirked behind his helmet as he began his introduction into a new future, “I am the Ring Mage that lights up the darkness; the one who transforms courage into magic, despair into hope, and tears into jewels. I…Am…Kamen Rider Wizard!!!”

Bringing his left hand up to the side of his face to show off his new ring once more, the newly baptized Kamen Rider looked at the griffons with one last thing to say, “Saa… Showtime Daa.”

And with that declaration, he began to slowly walk towards his opponents as the mare he left behind stared at him with sparkling eyes. The way Eric walked towards the griffons as if they were nothing more than specks of dust irritated the leader who charged at his with a roar, ready to slice the hero to pieces. Unfortunately, the second he reached Wizard, it was already too late.

Easily ducked under the tackle when the griffon idiot was over his head; Wizard quickly threw a punch into his chest cracking the chest plate while sending the griffon up into the air. A second later the Rider followed behind him and performed a bicycle kick to the chest plate once more, shattering it while sending the leader into a couple of his minions before they could blind side Wizard’s friends.

After that, the Rider landed softly on the ground in a crouch before standing up and looked towards the stunned minions before using his right hand in a ‘come on’ gesture as he said one thing… “Koi.”

As if the word was a starter gun, all the griffons charged at Wizard who began to fighting back adding an acrobatic twist to his style thanks to his armor which enhanced all of his abilities evenly. A simple hop over a charging griffon became a mid-air spin kick to another’s face; which canceled into a backflip using the charger as a foothold before becoming a stomp into another’s chest cracking the armor. Any weapons that were swung towards the Rider were easily absorbed by his armor when he couldn’t block them not even creating sparks as they made contact. The tails of his trench coat like armor were used as a distraction as they moved on their own –or with Wizard’s help- to make the griffons look in one direction…only to be attack from another. Each move was like a part of a show with the citizens of Ponyville: the audience, the griffons: the villainous side characters, and Wizard: the main star.

Almost a minute had passed and Wizard skid to a spinning stop near his new friends as a few of the griffons -still conscious- grabbed any weapons that were whole before trying to surround the three ponies and one Rider. Undeterred, Wizard reached for the levers on the WizarDriver and pushed them back to their original position causing it to sing once more but with a different tune.

= RUPATCHI MAJIKKU TATCHI GO! RUPATCHII MAJIKKU TATCHI GO! RUPATCHI MAJIKKU TATCHI GO! =

Pulling on the Driver On Ring, the Rider placed it on the left side chain of rings before pulling one of the other two off;  which had an orange stone with a silver outline of a dragon exiting through a ring on its face. Swiping it over the Hand Author on his driver, both items briefly glowed as the buckle spoke once more.

=Connect, Please! =

Holding his right hand out to the side, Wizard re-summoned his spell circle and plunged his arm into it startling everyone when they saw that it did not come out the other side. Instead another circle appeared above one of the fallen Griffons' swords allowing the human’s hand to come out and grasp the grip before pulling it back into the circle which vanished. When the Rider pulled his hand out of the first portal -which also vanished- the sword had changed.

Instead of the bronze longsword, it was now a single edged sword with a strange finger guard where the handle met the blade on the front and a closed form of the Hand Author on one side of the blade.  Wizard spun the sword around with the finger guard before pointing the tip of the blade at the griffons as he decided to egg them on.

“Come on, I thought you were going to defeat me,” he said smugly causing them to charge forward which Wizard returned.

With skill that came from the suit he was wearing -along with years of watching martial art movies that also had swordplay in it- Wizard was easily able to hold his own against the group. His blade not only cutting through spears with scary ease, but also the magically hardened blades and shields like they were paper. Soon the griffons had enough and decided to surround the human. Bad idea…

Grasping the blade of his sword, Wizard pushed the handle up towards the edge of the sword causing the whole blade to shrink slightly before he took the top third of the blade and folded it back. This new form of the sword reminded the ponies and griffons of a crossbow slightly but the human knew this new form to be a gun. A second later the Griffons tried to pounce on the hero who just started to twist around and fire his new weapon. As he did so, the Rider was shocked to see that the silver bullets acted more like a bean bag round from a shotgun rather than real bullets which would have pierced and probably killed the attackers.

When he stopped spinning, all of the griffons were laying on the ground, groaning from the punishment that was handed to them. Wizard could not help but smirk as he saw the defeated minions while his friends rushed to his side. Unfortunately the after battle talks were interrupted by the lead griffons who stood up on his wobbly legs glaring at the human.

“How dare you stop my revenge!!!” he shouted with a mad look in his eyes.

With a snort, the Rider changed his weapon –the WizardSwordGun or WSG for short- back into sword mode as he stood in front of his friends. “You were the one who tried to challenge a Kamen Rider, Baka.” With a twist of his wrist, the hand on the WSG was pointed the griffons as the Rider continued, “Now, it’s time for the Finale.” He pulled the thumb on the hand out, opening it up as it began to sing while the middle of the hand flash with multiple colors.

=C’MON SLASH, SHAKE HANDS! C’MON SLASH, SHAKE HANDS! =

And that’s just what Wizard did, placing his left hand over the one on the WSG causing both it and the Flame Ring to glow.

=FLAME; SLASH STRIKE! =

Taking in a deep breath, Wizard slowly let it out as he held the WSG in front of him with both hands as it began to chant while small spell circles appearing around the blade coating it with flames.

=HI, HI, HI! HI, HI, HI! =

“Rider-Ryu…” Wizard whispered softly before he swung the WSG over his head and behind his back then slashed forwards as he released a huge wave of flames shouting, “KAEN NO MAI!”

The griffon leader cried out in shock as the flames quickly engulfed him stunning all the ponies watching. The Rider just twisted around so that his back faced the flaming griffon as he held his left hand up to his face –ring pointed forward- and with an even voice said, “The show…is over.” Then to every ponies shock the flames exploded briefly covering the griffon before it died, revealing that the leader was just knocked out –a bit cooked but knocked out.

With a “Whew,” Wizard closed his eyes trying to will away his armor and not a second later it fell apart into crimson shards of energy that quickly dissipated into the winds.  A moment later, Eric heard something cracking and looked down to see the sword that he had transformed into the WSG start to crack before shattering into a million pieces stunning him.

Eric just looked at the remains with shock before he started to feel drowsy for some reason and decided now was a good time for a nap. As the new Kamen Rider fell to the ground, he heard his new friends call out to him before all went black.


Time skip


Sometime later, the only human in Equestria started to come to as the rising sun’s light pierced his eyelids. Opening his eyes while using his arm to block the sunlight, Eric looked around and saw that his was back in the same place he ‘escaped’ from not a day before.

“Why do I have a feeling that this might because a recurring theme?” the newly crowned Rider asked in a deadpan voice as a drop of sweat made its appearance on the back of his head.

Thankfully it wasn’t at all similar to the last time as now he had guests; his four new friends and the mare he saved. All five ponies were all sleeping on any convenient surface with Fluttershy actually sleeping on the bed beside him and above the sheets. Eric could not help but smile at the scene before him and tried to move only to winch thanks to his sore back while hissing slightly.

That hissed was enough for Fluttershy to wake up and gasp when she saw Eric was up, “YOU’RE ALRIGHT!!!” she shouted and hugged the human while awakening the other ponies. A few seconds later the shy Pegasus' bashfulness reappeared and quickly backed off with a bright blush shining through her fur. Though her spot was quickly taken by the mare our hero had saved.

“Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!” she shouted as much as her cultured behavior could allow, “you saved me from those horrible ruffians!” then to Eric’s shock she planted a kiss on his cheek making him blush as red as a tomato.

This earned a few giggles/snickers from the other ponies in the room as the mare stepped back in introduced herself gracefully throwing her mane from one side of her neck to the other, “My name is Rarity; It is a pleasure to meet you darling.”

“Likewise,” Eric replied with a small bow –as much as his aching ribs and the bed could allow- and a bright if somewhat embarrassed smile, “and I was just doing what anyone be they a Kamen Rider or a normal civilian should do.”

“Kamen Rider?” Pinkie asked slightly massing up the words, “What is that, a food?”

Snickering a little Eric explained, “A Kamen Rider -or Masked Rider in English- is a hero of justice. One person –sometimes two or more but usually just one- fighting against an entire organization or something similar that want nothing more than world domination and/or the destruction of all who oppose them.” The girls gasped when they heard that as Eric continued, 

“The Kamen Riders as a whole first started in 1971 in my world with the first Rider; Takeshi Hongo who was captured by the evil organization called Shocker and his body forcefully modified into a cyborg. Before they could finish the process and brainwash him, he was able to escape and decided to fight Shocker to the last man to defend the Earth and his native country of Japan from their monsters and later became known as Kamen Rider Ichigo or Kamen Rider 1.”

“Of course in my world it was all a science fiction story,” Eric added as he looked at his new belt and rings which were lying on a nearby table along with the rest of his clothing as a standard hospital gown covered him, “The Rider whose power I have, Kamen Rider Wizard, is actually the latest Rider in the forty years they have been around. What I’m trying to get in my head is how I got his powers since it should have been nothing more than a story for kids back home.”

Before any of the ponies could suggest anything, a regal woman’s voice replied from the door of Eric’s hospital room, “Maybe you were chosen to help Equestria by our planet’s magic.”

Every pony in the room looked towards the door and gasped in shock/awe before they started to bow which confused the Rider some until he looked himself. There in the doorway stood a tall white alicorn with a mane & tail that was similar to an aurora borealis that wavered in the air slightly without any wind to guide it with a crown/tiara on her head, a thick gold necklace around her neck and golden slippers on her hooves. On her flank was a two-tone yellow Cutie Mark in the shape of sun symbolizing her connecting the solar object that Eric could somehow… feel from her aura? Speaking of her aura; it was overpowering, bursting with light, yet also radiating a comforting calmness and warmth, like the rays of the sun on a cool winter day. Her smile, which reminded the Rider of his grandmother, was warm and inviting with a hint of mischief.

Eric tried to get up and bow himself –guessing correcting that the Alicorn was more than likely royalty- until a light blue aura surrounded him and held him to the bed. “I would not suggest getting up Eric Pendragon,” She said with a kind smile on her face, “According to the doctors your body still needs to recover some after you drained nearly all of your magic.”

With Eric reluctantly back in his bed, the Alicorn began to introduce herself, “My name is Princess Celestia; the ruler of Equestria. I must thank you Eric for protecting My Little Ponies from the griffon outcasts.”

“Mattaku kansha wa hitsuyo arimasen, Celestia Ojou-sama,” Eric replied accidentally and quickly clamped his hands to his mouth with embarrassment as Celestia giggled a bit.

“I did not know you spoke Neighponese,” She replied with a smile.

‘I bit more out of necessity then want,’ the new Rider thought as he said, “It’s just something I picked up You Majesty.”

Celestia continued to smile except there seemed to be a strange emotion that peeked out for some reason as if she just heard something that pained her… nonetheless it vanished almost as quickly as it appeared as she asked, “how did you appear in our world Mr. Pendragon?”

For the next hour, Eric –with the help of his new friends including Rarity- began to explain how he got here as much as he could; starting from what he could last remember before first waking up in the Ponyville hospital –skipping why the car he rode in crashed- with Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy telling the princess how they found him. They continued on to how Eric first stopped the griffons –with applejack putting in a word or two about how helpful he was around Sweet Apple Acres- to the realization of his new powers and the fight that occurred afterwards.

After taking a few mental notes and commenting on what Eric had done, Princess Celestia decided to make her decision, “Very well, since it is obvious that you have no idea how to get back home and your selfish sacrifice of your own life I have made a decision.” Flaring her wings out slightly, she began to speak in a more royal tone then the before, “I, Princess Celestia; Ruler of Equestria and Princess of the Day, hereby declare that the human by the name of Eric Pendragon, will be considered a full-fledged citizen of Ponyville, Equestria!”

Barely a second after she declared that, Eric was soon smothered in an avalanche of happy, cheering hugs by his new friends as the rider stared at the princess in shock. “A-are you serious Your Majesty?”

Celestia nodded with a smile that truly reflected her connection to the sun. “I am Eric,” she replied as she walked up to the stunned human –who was trying his best not to cry- as his friends slowly climbed off the human and did something unexpected for someone of her station…Hug the shocked and emotionally conflicted Rider with her wings. As she said one last thing, “Welcome to Equestria.”

That was all it took to release the floodgates as Eric quickly returned the hug –wrapping his arms around her swan like neck as he cried into her shoulder. As he did, Celestia soon felt the ravine like scars on the human’s heart slowly start to heal that she had sensed when she first met Eric. What her subjects did not know was that she had ‘heard” what Eric thought an hour ago and could tell that were was more to his background that what he was saying. Despite that, she could sense that Eric’s heart, mind, and soul were all fully rooted in his values created by heroes from a land different that his own homeland in his original world.

After a while Eric reluctantly let go of the princess, ribbing his healing tears away as he did so. “Forgive me for ruining your coat, Your Majesty.”

Celestia just smiled as he used a bit of her magic to dry her soaking wet shoulder back to the pristine shine it usually had. “It is not a problem Eric,” she replied in a motherly tone, “if I do cannot allow even one of my subjects to come to me when they are hurt or in trouble; then I do not deserve the crown I wear.”

“But there is one thing I would like for you do to…” The Princess added in a serious tone. Everyone in the room looked at the Princess with bated breath wondering what she wanted until her serious face turned mischievous, “Please call me Ojou-sama if you want or even Ojou-chan when we are with friends in private.” That caused the Ponyville mares and Eric to face fault in stunned surprise at the non sequitur request as Celestia giggled at the response she got.

After getting a few more bits of information needed for Eric’s citizenship, Celestia bid them all a farewell before she returned to her castle in Canterlot –which almost made Eric choke on some water he was drinking at the time when he heard the name.

Once the Princess left, he was quickly ‘assaulted’ by Pinkie whose eyes shined like diamonds at the opportunity that was presented to her. “Now not only can I finish your ‘Welcome to Equestria/Thanks for Saving Ponyville’ party but also throw you a ‘Congratulations on Becoming a Citizen’ party as well!!!”

“Y-you don’t have to Pinkie,” Eric tried to tell the over caffeinated mare only for her to ignore him as she rushed out the room.

Rainbow Dash just chuckled as she hovered next to her stunned human friend and elbowed him, “You might as well forget it Eric; she is going to throw you a party no matter what.”

With a sigh and a smile, Eric looked on at his new friends who happily chatted with him and each other, ‘I have a feeling that this is the beginning of a new life for me. Free of the pain and suffering I used to have in my old one.’

That would be true, but it was also the starts of a changing era that would be totally different from other worlds similar to Equestria. What will the eyes of ponies of this world see as they traveled through this new era of heroes and villains of all shapes, sizes and types? Only the fates –and this author- know for certain…



> The Ring of Hope and the Magic Star Meet
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


My Little Pony: Wizard of Hope


Chapter 2


The Ring of Hope and the Magic Star Meet


It had been almost a month since Eric has appeared in Ponyville, and had settled in very nicely. Minus one or two problems when it came to his nutritional needs. While the ponies were not strangers to meat eaters since they were omnivorous like Eric, but did not eat any sentient being; they were shocked to hear that he had eaten animals that were sentient in their world but not in his such as cows. He was a hair’s width from swearing on his magic not to eat any meat at all until Fluttershy –in a rare show of bravery- stepped up and reminded the ponies they Eric’s home world and their own were totally different when it came to natural laws as well as humans were the only sentient beings on his world. In the end he just swore on his magic to never eat any sentient being as long as he lived.

At the moment both Dash and Eric were facing each other while in their own respective stances, with Eric wearing a karate style keikogi along with a pair of wudang styles shoes. The only change he made was that instead of wearing the usually belt or Obi, he used the Wizard Driver in belt form to hold the top together. All of it was happily created by Rarity and charmed to resist the usual hazards a normal keikogi would face; he also gave her a few other Chinese/Japanese designs for any creature that came to Ponyville outside of Equestria.

None of that mattered right now as both Human and Pony circled waiting to see which one would make the first move as off to the side, spectators that were either off or had nothing to do were watching the event. There were also some fan-ponies in the crowd, most of them young fillies cheering on Rainbow Dash to win. It would have been the majority but recently a new following has sprung up for Eric –to the human’s surprise- or rather his other persona; Kamen Rider Wizard.

Unlike Rainbow Dash’s fans, which was mostly young mares with the odd colt; all of Eric’s were young colts with a few mares but mostly colts. What really confused Eric was that despite what seemed like an equal gender split to him, his fans was smaller in size. Deciding to worry about it later, he fully focused back on the current objective: sparring with Rainbow Dash.

After the duo circles each other a few times, the prismatic mane pony had enough of waiting and decided to kick start to fight…literally. Ducking a flying kick, Eric swung around the airborne pony and went for a chop to the neck, only for Dash to use her wings flip over the hand and tried to land a punch. Knowing that the Pegasus was a lot stronger then most of her kind –if not a majority- strength wise, he parted the punch to the side before using the same hand to lash out at the sky-blue pony who once again used her wings to get some distance. A second later the two went at it once more.

To the surprise of many ponies that were watched the spar for the first time; the human and Pegasus were even. Any-pony who had at least heard the Pegasus mare knew that she was a master in at least three different styles; two Pegasus and one Earth Pony- to the shock of those who did not know her. She also knew the basics of at least one more Pegasus style shockingly the main Unicorn style as well. The mare was also unnaturally strong for a Pegasus and speedy which caused more than a few scrapes to end in mere seconds.

On the other hand, while Eric didn’t have the strength, speed, nor training that Rainbow Dash had, he did have a longer reach, agility, and flexibility along with something else; knowledge. Where Dash only focused on styles that she had mastered or at least proficient in; Eric knew more styles than she did and in theory could use them at a moment’s notice. His main style, Jeet Kun Dou, emphasized learning new styles and tricks then making them your own so that you can “become like water” as its creator Bruce Lee would say.

He also knew a few styles from other countries besides Japan and China all thanks to the movies and books that were in his house courtesy of the Doctor. All of which he was using to hold his own against the stronger and faster Pegasus mare. After a bit more time blocking, dodging, and taking hits, the two fighters decided it was time to finish this spar. As Rainbow Dash went for a low kick, Eric flipped over the mare and when he landed they were back to back for just a brief moment before they quickly spun around for one final attack.

Two loud “POP's" echoed out into the air as one when both combatants attacked and blocked at the same time. Eric, who went for a chop to Rainbow Dash’s neck, blocked a punch from the mare with his open palm while the Pegasus blocked his attack with the side of her hoof. For a few seconds neither of them moved before they smiled as one and stepped back ending the spar -though the Rider was shaking the hand he blocked with since it sting from the power behind the Pegasus' punch. Barely a second passed before the foals and colts began to cheer as the two walked back to the group with Eric reaching for a nearby water bottle when they got closer.

“That was an awesome spar Dash, thanks!” Eric said with a smile before he took a few swigs of water.

The Pegasus mare just chuckled before she replied, “I should be thanking you for the awesome fights Eric.

The teen just smiled wider as he reached into his bag, pulled out a watch and looked at it before gasping in shock, “I need to get going! AJ wants me at the farm soon!” And with that he grabbed all of his gear and took off, dodging all the colts that had started to crowd around him.

Rainbow Dash just chuckled/giggled at her friend pulled a Pinkie before deciding to find a nice cloud to nap on before she had to clear the clouds.

A few minutes after Eric dashed off to his new house for a change of clothes –the land given to him after he took care of the griffons for a final time by the Mayor and Celestia- he tore out of his house wearing what was his usual work/day clothing. A pair of red dyed blue jeans with the WizarDriver around his waist, black military style boots, a red/white tie-dyed shirt, and a black jacket which he threw on as he shot out of his 1-and-half story house. He stopped near his Rider Machine -a Honda CRF250R if Eric remembered his Kamen Rider Trivia right- that had a silver body with twin gold lines on the sides of where the “engine” was, the headlight was modeled after his Flame Style helmet with yellow lights on the side.

Jumping on the bike, Eric pulled on his helmet and turned it on with a swipe on his Driver On Ring (D-On Ring) before taking off. Even though he was on the outer limits of Ponyville, he was still a good half hour’s walk away from Sweet Apple Acres. The dude from another world only hoped that he wasn’t late.


Wizard of Hope


Second POV: Unknown


As Eric took off for Sweet Apple Acres, a pale mulberry unicorn with violet and rose streaked moderate sapphire blue mane and a Cutie Mark made of a pink-purple six pointed star surrounded by six smaller white stars, walked down the path to same apple farm. To her right was the baby dragon she had hatched years ago for her entrance exam into Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. His scales were the same colors as the Unicorn’s fur except for his underbelly, spikes and ears which were all various shades of green.

“You really need to lighten up Twilight,” the baby dragon said as he walked alongside the unicorn, “Princess Celestia already said that Nightmare Moon was just an old pony’s tail, so there’s nothing to worry about.”

The unicorn did everything she could not to snort in anger as she sharply replied, “My evidence proves otherwise Spike. I just wish I knew why the Princess won’t listen to me.”

Spike sighed as Twilight’s obsessiveness appeared again before looking at the checklist in his claw as he stated, “Well the first place on the Summer Sun Celebration: Overseers Checklist is just ahead; Sweet Apple Acres which is doing the Banquet Preparations.”

Twilight just sighed as she tried to figure out why her teacher –who was usually very supportive and caring- was ignoring all the evidence that pointed to the release of the dreaded Nightmare Moon. Before she could go further into her thought a loud roar tore them apart as they neared the gate to Sweet Apple Acres. Both Twilight and Spike quickly turned around only for their eyes to widen in shock as they saw a strange creature come barreling towards them on a two wheeled contraption that looked kind of looked like the strange contraptions some inventor had built called a bicycle but sounded like a train engine with a deeper and rhythmic tone.

She watched in shock as the strange object raced closer to her, only for the creature on top of it to swing the bicycle around and came to a stop near the fence. A second later the sound was cut off as the creature pulled off the thing on its head and revealed that it was the “human” that had appeared in Ponyville a month ago according to the reports Princess Celestia showed her.

“Sorry about that,” the human said rubbing the back on his head in embarrassment, “I was in a bit of a hurry and didn’t see you there.”

Regaining her bearing, Twilight gave a little cough before she asked, “Yes well, my name is Twilight Sparkle and this is my assistant Spike.” Briefly waving a head to the baby dragon the Princess’s student continued on, “I am here on behalf of Princess Celestia to oversee the final preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration.”


Second POV: Eric


“Well my name is Eric Pendragon,” Eric replied with a smile, “you will want to see Applejack since she is the boss of Sweet Apple Acres.” Swinging his legs off the Machine Winger –his Rider Machine- and placed his helmet on the handlebars before turning to the adorable violet unicorn and her baby dragon assistant. “She is more than likely finishing off the last of the apple trees for her family reunion.”

As Eric led the duo through the gate all three heard a loud “YEEHAW!” That the human instantly recognized as his boss and turned with Twilight and Spike to see Applejack racing towards an apple tree and with a quick turn, buckled all the apples off with ease.

As he started to walk towards the orange earth pony he heard Twilight sigh and softly say, “Let’s get this over with,” before gently clearing her throat and walked forward. “Good afternoon. My name is Twilight Sparkle…”

Next thing Eric knew, Twilight was getting the same welcome that he got when he first met Applejack and could finally see why Rainbow Dash laughed when it happened to him. After the hoof shaking stopped -with the help of Spike who could not help but chuckle a bit- Twilight briefly cleared her throat when Applejack asked what she needed.

“Well, I am in fact here to supervise the preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration,” Twilight explained, “And you’re in charge of the food, correct?”

Eric could not help but interrupt the conversation and proudly said, “Applejack here is one of the most premier bakers you will ever find here in Ponyville alongside a couple of other ponies.”

Applejack just pushed her Stetson down some to cover her blush as she replied with, “Well Ah don’t know about Premier, but Ah do know my way around an apple be it bucking it down or baking it up.” With that she looked at Twilight and asked, “Care to try a sample?”

“Well…as long as it doesn’t take too long.”

The second Applejack heard that she quickly went to the nearby dinner bell and rang it a few times before hollering out, “SOUPS ON EVERYPONY!!!”

Without a second to spare, Eric quickly hurdled himself to the side to the confusion of Twilight and Spike, until they were suddenly swept up in a tide wave made up of all the members of the Apple family. As the wave passed Eric popped his head out of the nearby wagon and chuckled with embarrassment, “I forgot how the Apple family gets when it comes to dinner time.”

Jumping out of the wagon, he ambled on over to the nearby gazebo just in time for Applejack to finish introducing her family and Twilight trying to continue on with her job. “…so we’ll be on our way.”

“Aren’t you gonna stay for brunch?” the unicorn from Canterlot and looked down to see a foal with a pale olive coat and brilliant amaranth mane in front of her looking at Twilight with the “Dreaded Puppy-Dog Eyes” or as they call it the “Pony Pout”. Twilight, with as much effort as she could muster, tried to tear herself away from the now nuclear weapons grade adorable filly but it was no use.

“We’ll stay,” Twilight said with a defeated sigh causing all of the Apple Family –who was watching with bated breath- to cheer happily as the feasting began.

Eric just chuckled as he made his way to the filly, knelt down to her and whispered, “I taught you well Apple Bloom,” causing the little filly’s eyes to gain a prankster’s gleam before the two did the pony version of a low-five –hoof pound- then went to get what they could before it all vanished into the black hole stomachs of the Apple Family.


Time skip


About an hour later, Twilight and spike went on to their next destination with Eric tagging along since Applejack gave him the day off thanks to the reunion.

“Well food’s taken care of,” Spike said as he looked at the overseers checklist –not at all bothered by the huge amount of food he just ate since his stomach was like a furnace, “Next is weather.”

“That would be Rainbow Dash’s domain there,” Eric interjected –also not bothered by the food he ate thanks to his new high metabolism- as he looked back at Twilight and could not help but winch in pity.

Behind the two males, poor Twilight moaned pitifully as she was forced to walk on an overfilled stomach, “Ugh…I ate too much pie…”

Chuckling weakly, Eric turned back to Spike as the baby dragon wondered where Dash was, “More the likely she’s practicing for the Wonderbolts or taking a nap.”

Twilight looked around a little mad, “She’s napping where there work to be done? She doesn’t sound very reliable at all.”

Next thing she knew, a multi colored blur slammed into her sending unicorn and blur into a rather large nearby puddle of mud. Eric and Spike quickly raced over to the scene of the crash only for Eric to chuckle as he saw what the blur was.

“Hey Rainbow Dash, have a nice trip?” He said with a Troll Grin on his face.

“Ha, ha.” The Karma Charger wannabe said with groan which Twilight echoed. Hearing the extra groan Rainbow Dash quickly got up and chuckled with more than a bit of embarrassment.  “Um, oops….” She said pitifully as she took to the skies, allowing her unfortunate target to get up herself, “Let me help you.”

Taking off, Rainbow Dash quickly came back with a small cloud filled with rainwater –her own coat cleaned of mud. When she got on top of it, she began to jump up and down on the cloud a few times releasing its contents. Unfortunately while this cleaned Twilight of the mud, it left her mane and tail hanging down, heavy with water.

“I…guess I overdid it,” Dash said sheepishly and was about to do something else when Eric decided to intervene having experienced firsthand what Dash was going to do next.

Pulling off his D-On Ring, Eric replaced it with a new ring he acquired thanks to another newest resident in Ponyville along with a couple of other rings. This one had an orange stone embedded in it with a silver dragon’s head near the top and three chains crisscrossing the ring below it. Once he placed it on this right middle finger, Eric swung it over the Hand Author causing both items to glow.

=Bind; Please!=

When Rainbow Dash heard that she quickly froze, only to get roped by a couple of chains and pulled back to Eric. Twilight and Spike both had dropped jaws as they saw Eric holding an orange spell circle in front of him where two metal chains came out and pulled a fuming Dash to him.

“If you’re going to do what I think you’re going to do…” he started as he dissolved the spell circle and chains while taking off the Bind Ring, “It would be a bad idea. Let me just get something from my house.”

With that he pulled on his Connect Ring and swung it over his belt buckle again.

=Connect; Please!=

Summoning the same spell circle as before –but bigger- Eric pushed his hand into it shocking the two newbies to Ponyville as it did not come out the other side. After a few seconds of fumbling, Eric pulled out a couple of towels from his home causing the spell circle to vanish. He offered them to Twilight who took them –after putting her eyes back in her sockets- and began to dry herself. After a few minutes she was fully dried though her hair was still a bit of a mess, and gratefully gave them back to Eric who put them in the dirty clothes bin back at his house with another Connect Circle.

Pushing her burning questions to the side, Twilight turned to Rainbow Dash who was chuckling a bit at the Unicorn pony’s slightly puffy mane/tail. “Let me guess…Your Rainbow Dash.”

That quickly got the multi colored Pegasus’ attention. “THE one and only!” She said proudly before quickly fluttering up to Twilight as she asked, “Why? You heard of me?”

“I Heard you’re supposed to be keeping the skies cleared,” Twilight replied a bit peeved before settling down, “I’m Twilight Sparkle and the Princess sent me to check on the weather.”

As Twilight was introducing herself, Dash grabbed a nearby cloud and reclined on it waving a hoof at the unicorn, “Yeah, Yeah… I’ll do it in a jiffy, just as soon as I’m done practicing.”

Eric did all he could to keep from groaning as he heard that and just stood to the side as he watched Twilight try to get Dash moving by hitting one of her few weak points…Her Ego. As Rainbow Dash was about to use her usual boost of clearing the skies in ten seconds flat –which Eric actually timed and found that it was more like 8.5-9 seconds- the Ring Mage got an idea.

“Hey Dash, how about we have a race as to see who could clear the skies faster.” Eric suggested as he reached into his pocket and pulled out another ring. This one was similar to his Flame Style ring but instead of a round ruby, there was an inverted triangular emerald.

Rainbow Dash perked up as she saw the ring and quickly pointed it out, “That’s your new Hurricane Ring right?”

“Yep,” with a troll grin, “Want to help me test drive this baby in midair?”

A grin was all Rainbow Dash showed before she started to limber up as Eric placed his D-On Ring on his right hand while the Hurricane Ring went on the left hand. Twilight and Spike watched with a bit of curiosity wondering how the wingless human was going to race a Pegasus until the dude from another word swiped his left hand over his buckle one more time.

=Driver On; Please!=

Their curiosity turned to shock as the buckle transformed into its driver form before Eric changed it from spell mode to transformation mode, causing it to sing.

=SHABADOOBIE TATCHI HENSHIN~! SHABADOOBIE TATCHI HENSHIN~! SHABADOOBIE TATCHI HENSHIN~!=

Lifted his right hand up to his face, Eric flipped the goggles on the Hurricane Ring down as he said, “Henshin” Before placing his left hand over the Hand Author. As both Ring and Driver glowed, the Mage pointed his hand up towards the sky –palm up- summoning an emerald green version of his spell circle before placing his hands at his side as the circle came down as the Driver spoke once more.

=HURRICANE; PLEASE! FUU, FUU~! FUU, FUU, FUU, FUU!=

As the spell circle passed over his body, it furnished him his armor as before but the Rubies were replaced with Emeralds with the sides of his chest plates forming three triangles while his helmet now resembled his Hurricane Ring. Twilight’s eyes were as wide as dinner plates as her bottom jaw dropped to the floor from what she saw along with Spike’s.

Eric/Wizard turned to Rainbow Dash with a grin behind his helmet as he asked, “Are you ready?”

“Born Ready!” Dash shouted as she got into a runner’s stance with Eric beside her, “On your mark…”

“Get set,” Wizard added as he also went into a runner stance as green tinted wind started to swirl around him.

With a dual shout of “GO!!!” both Pegasus and Mage took off -with Wizard using his wind power to take to the sky- and began kicking/punching the clouds to scatter them into vapor with Rainbow Dash doing the same –thought she mostly bucked them. The two on the ground watched with UFO wide eyes as the Mage and Pegasus quickly cleared the skies and about ten seconds later both of them landed as they started to compare a cloud count.

“You stole three of my clouds Dash!” Wizard accused with a grin behind his helmet that showed when he dismissed his armor.

“You were just too slow Eric!” Dash boasted as she buffed a hoof on her chest while landing on the nearby bridge, “Even with your new ring I’m still faster than you.”

“We’ll just settle this another time, fly girl,” Eric suggested which the Pegasus nodded in agreement before turning to the still stunned Twilight and Spike.

“See,” Rainbow Dash proudly said, “I never leave Ponyville hanging.”

Seeing the looks still plastered on the unicorn’s face the two best friends could not help but laugh as Dash pointed it out, “You two should see the looks on your faces. You’re a laugh Twilight Sparkle. I can’t wait to hang out some more.” With that she took off waving a hoof to Eric who waved back and then went on to the next destination.

“Wow…” Spike said with awe in his voice, “Those two are amazing.”

Twilight didn’t say a word as she quickly began to race after Eric with Spike forced to follow as fast as he could. “Hey wait for me!!”

For a few minutes, the curious unicorn bombarded Eric with questions on how he did what he did, what his rings/armor was made of, and many other questions revolving around what he just showed. This went on until Eric reminded her what she came to Ponyville to do causing a conflict of interests to arise before the human promised her that he would explain his magic as best he could later on.

With the promise fueling her, Twilight went on to the next pony on the list which Spike checked it off as they entered the Ponyville Town Square pavilion. “Decorations,” he said looking at the list before bringing his head up. “Beautiful…” He uttered in a distant voice.

“Yes, the décor’s coming along nicely,” Twilight said looking at the wonderfully decorated pavilion, “This oughta be quick. I’ll be at the library in no time.” She added making Eric look at her curiously as he wondered why she was so focused on getting to the library as soon as possible –which she had mentioned a few times since Eric tagged along with her. “Beautiful indeed,” she finished until Spike corrected her.

“Not the décor,” he quickly said as he pointed a claw at the one decorating the place, “Her.”

In the middle of the Pavilion, Rarity was sorting out the last of the ribbons to put up trying to find the perfect one. Each ribbon she summoned with her horn was quickly discarded with a, “No,” though one did get a, “Oh my Goodness No.”

Spikes pupils turned into hearts as he watched the beautiful fashionista (?) do her work until he ran a claw over his spikes. “How are my spines?!” he quickly asked, “Are the straight?”

Rolling his eyes at the love struck dragon, Eric walked up to Rarity with a simple wave. “Hey Rarity-Hime,” he started until the white unicorn stopped him.

“Just a moment Eric, I’m ‘in the zone’ as it were,” Rarity politely interrupted as she continued her ribbon sorting, “Thought would you mind retrieving a bag of materials I had accidentally left at your house dear?”

“I think I know where they are Hime-chan,” Eric replied as he switched rings and summoned his Connect spell circle. After digging around a bit he pulled out a small stylish bag that Rarity used to carry her materials for clothes in. “Got it!”

“Thank you dear,” Rarity responded as she placed the last ribbon on a pole in a neat bow. “Oh yes! Sparkle always does the trick, does it not?” She asked placing the last of the ribbons in another bag before turning to Eric. “Now… um, how can I help Eric~aaaAARGH!”

Rarity was shocked when she saw the small mess that was Twilight’s mane and tail, “Oh my stars, darling! Whatever happened to your coiffure?!?!”

“Oh you mean my mane?” Twilight asked a bit confused, “Well, it’s a long story.”

“It was a Karma Charger named Rainbow Dash,” Eric supplied with a shrug.

“Why am I not surprised it is that tom-colt of a mare’s fault,” Rarity replied with a huff.

“Never mind my mane,” Twilight quickly before the conversation could go on further, “I’m just here to check on decorations and then I’ll be out of your hair.’

Eric could not help but face-palm as he heard what Twilight said while Rarity quickly “corrected” her. “Out of MY hair?” she asked stunned by what she just heard and saw, “What about YOUR hair?”

Next thing Twilight knew, Rarity was quickly yet politely pushing her toward her fashion boutique. “Wait!” The Canterlot unicorn shouted in shock, “Where are we going?! HELP!”

With a sigh, Eric followed behind the two unicorns with Spike doing the same but in the style of a lost puppy that was fed, his tail acting like a small propeller as he floated after the beautiful mare.

A few minutes later, Eric stood at the side as he watched Rarity work her true magic; fashion magic that is. After a few misses Rarity finally found the perfect match for Twilight; a white and pale blue saddle/dress (?) that was studded in a tasteful array of small gemstones with a larger emerald on the front.

“Now go on my dear,” Rarity commented as she finished putting the last few touches on the dress, “You were telling me where you’re from.”

Twilight tried to explain why she was in Ponyville as the other mare gripped the last few straps with her teeth and pulled. “I’ve…Been…Sent…From…Canterlot…” She was able to squeak out –as she was being squeezed- before Rarity heard that last word and let go of the straps with a snap.

“Huh, Canterlot?!?!” she asked loudly in surprise before cringing as she heard a crash. Rarity looked up and saw Twilight sprawled across Eric who got slammed by the Canterlot Mare, sending them both into the pony shaped mannequins and creating a big mess.

After digging the two out of the mannequin avalanche and bandaging up Eric –who took the brunt of the damage-, Rarity began to apologize, “Forgive me my dear, but it’s always been a dream of mine to live in Canterlot and showcase my wares to the sophisticated ponies there.”

“Ain’t that the truth,” Eric said as he gently held a bag of ice to a rather large bump on his head, “But Hime-chan does some rather wonderful work. Heck, she even made the clothes that I’m wearing right now!”

Twilight looks at Eric’s clothing and had to admit he did look handsome in them despite not being a pony; then she began to blush at the strange thought. With that she turned to Rarity with a sad smile on her face, “As much as I want to stick around I still have a few more places to go before I’m finished.

Rarity looked at Twilight a bit confused until Eric explained why she was here. “Forgive me Twilight,” She said with a nod of her head as she began to help the Canterlot Mare out of the dress, “I sometimes will let my love of fashion over take my common sense.”

With a bright smile Twilight allowed Rarity to help her take off the dress happy that at least one of the ponies here apologized for their crazy antics. “Not a problem, though I will admit the dress looks very nice.”

“Thank you dear,” Rarity replied with a bright smile of her own “Once you are finished please do come back. I have a few items here that will look simply smashing on you.”

With a wave the trio took off once more with Twilight levitating Spike onto her back as he was still lovestruck. As they continued on their way to the next pony, the mare decided to ask a question that had been on her mind for a while. “What kind of magic did you use on Rainbow Dash, Eric?”

Eric just chuckled knowing that question was coming, “It’s a special kind of magic that I only found out I had when I got to Equestria just a month ago. I really don’t know the mechanics about my magic in-depth but I do know that it is similar to your own magic Twilight.’

“Really?” the mare could not help but say, “How so?”

“Basically,” Eric continued, “My magic is used by having my mana pulled from what I call a Linker Core where I naturally generate my magic into the Hand Author on my WizarDriver here.” He tapped his belt buckle to identify the Hand Author as he continued on, “From there it is further stored and refined with a special stone in the Hand Author called the Grimoire Stone where it stays until I use my Wizard Rings.”

At that Twilight stopped Eric, “how is that possible? I have read that some gems can hold magic if they are manipulated to do so but I never heard of any gems that can cast spells.”

“That’s where a friend of my Shigeru Wajime comes in. You heard of Magic Stones right?”

Twilight nodded her head at that. She had briefly researched that for a term paper once and was fascinated to find out that some special gems already had mana within them naturally but very few ponies had the ability to decipher why they did and usually just purify the magic within the gems. Unfortunately they never seemed as powerful as they once were thought they still were miles above specially grown crystals.

Eric continued on as they slowly neared their destination, “Well, Wajime-san’s special talent lies in ring making or rather ring refining.” Seeing Twilight’s confusion the Rider decided to elaborate, “Basically he can listen to the magic within a Magic Stone and shape both the stone and the magic inside to become a gem for a Wizard Ring without it losing any of its power turning it into a spell for me to use..”

Finally a loose end tied itself into place as all of the speculations and theories Twilight had read finally started to make sense. “So your magic revolves around using the refined Magic Stones as a basis for your spells are limited to the number of rings you have.”

“Pretty Much.”

Before they could continue on, Twilight, Eric, and the recently awakened Spike suddenly heard songbirds singing; and I mean really singing in unison and not randomly. They poked their heads into the nearest bush and saw a familiar Pegasus guiding a small flock of birds through a song. Eric smiled as he saw Fluttershy and quickly turned to Twilight.

“That’s Fluttershy,” he said in a whisper, “She’s the one who doing the opening music for the Summer Sun Celebration. Let me go on first since she is extremely shy around strangers; though I seem to be the only exception.”

As Eric carefully climbed out of the bushes Fluttershy had to briefly stop her choir since one of the birds –a blue jay- was a bit off key. “Hey, Tenshi-chan,” He said walked up to the Pegasus slowly as to not scare off her friends.

“Oh, Hello Eric,” Fluttershy said in her usual quiet voice and a bright smile, “how are you today?”

“Pretty good,” the Rider replied returning the smile, “Just guiding the Overseer from Canterlot around Ponyville after we met at Applejack’s farm.”

At that, Twilight slowly came out of the bushes with a smile on her face startling the Pegasus. Fluttershy quickly tried to hide behind Eric who gently stepped to the side and knelt down to her. “It’s okay Tenshi,” Eric softly said using his nickname for the kind Pegasus, “you know I wouldn’t bring anyone that would harm you or your friends’ right?”

Fluttershy nodded a little her shyness still affecting her so Twilight Decided to take the initiative. “My name is Twilight Sparkle,” the Canterlot Mare said softly, “I was sent by Princess Celestia to check up on the music and it is sounding beautiful.”

“Thank you,’ Fluttershy replied so softly, Twilight almost didn’t hear it. The only reasons it was a ‘loud’ as it was, was thanks to Eric who softly rubbed the Pegasus’ back just in front of her wings.

For a while there was a bit of an awkward silence until Spike decided to pop out of the bushes. Suddenly a gleam appeared in the Pegasus’ eyes that Eric knew very well; both from experience and from his animes. Without warning the Rider quickly grabbed Twilight and jumped back to the mare’s confusion…Which was quickly cleared up a second later.

“A BABY DRAGON!!!” Fluttershy shouted in a happy shock then shouting something that stunned Eric as she rushed the baby dragon and began cuddling him, “OMOCHIKAERI!!!!!”

See that she would have either been sent flying or crushed as flat as a pancake is Eric hadn’t acted, Twilight turned to him with a wide smile, “Thanks Eric. But I thought you said she was shy.”

“Around ponies yes,” the human replied after he returned to the real world somehow seeing the ghost of a certain anime character superimpose herself over Fluttershy briefly. “Animals on the other hand will cause her to lose all shyness and…well you see the results for yourself.”

Both of them turned towards Fluttershy…only to see her race off in a cloud of dust as strange and familiar specter superimposed herself over the Pegasus. Not a second later both Eric and Twilight raced after Fluttershy respectively shouting; “Get back here Fluttershy!!!/Let go of my baby brother!!!”

After almost an hour’s worth of running, Spike was recovered in front of the Ponyville Library, the Golden Oaks Library. Twilight was softly consoling a scared Spike as Fluttershy tried to hide behind her mane in embarrassment. “I’m very sorry Twilight,” the Pegasus said in her usually soft voice but with twice the shyness, “I’m not sure what came over me.”

“Yes well,’ Twilight started as she looked at Celestia’s setting sun, “Well I think I need to put Spike to bed after everything that has happened.” And with that she quickly took the baby dragon inside as Fluttershy looked down with a bit of sadness.

“I’m sorry Fluttershy,” Eric apologized as he gave his friend a small hug, “But I think you were possessed by that piece again.”

“It’s not your fault Eric,” Fluttershy replied with a soft smile, “I-I’m just too weak to stand u-up to it.”

The Rider quickly began to shot that down, “You not weak at all… your big heart just takes over your mind once in awhile.”

Before they could go on Both human and pony heard a loud, “SURPRISE!” coming from inside the library that was very familiar.

“I think Twilight just met Pinkie,” Eric said in a deadpan voice which caused Fluttershy to giggle softly a bit. After that both of them entered the library which was filled with as many of Ponyville’s residents as Pinkie could fit in.

Speaking of the part pony, she was currently trying to talk Twilight’s ears off who was trying just as equally to block her out…Guess who was winning?

With a chuckle Eric decided to try and save Twilight, only for her to accidentally pour some hot sauce into a cup and drink it, thinking it was punch. A few seconds later she high tailed it to the bathroom with her mane and tail on fire. Deciding to give her some space for the moment Eric quickly started to mingle, something he was slowly getting used to thanks to being invited to so many of Pinkie’s parties at the mare’s insistence.

A few hours passed and soon it was nearing time for the Summer Sun Celebration and Eric watched as Spike tried to get Twilight back down to the party only for the poor dragon to walk out without the mare. Deciding to take a chance, Eric slipped into the room and saw Twilight sitting on the bed while looking up at the moon with a worried look on her face.

“Hey Twilight,” the rider called out causing the mare to turn to him, “Are you okay?”

Twilight sighed before turning back towards the moon. “I’m okay Eric,” She said with worry in her voice that did not convince Eric at all.

Taking great care not to hit his head on anything, Eric slowly made his way up to the second floor of the room and sat down next to Twilight on her right. “Doesn’t sound like it to me,” he said softly looking up at the moon with Twilight, “A Bit for your thoughts?”

A brief giggle escaped Twilight’s lips at the corny saying before she sighed sadly, “Since you are new to Equestria; you may not know that I am the personal apprentice to Princess Celestia.”

“You are?” Eric asked in shock before smiling, “Congratulations.”

“Thank you,” Twilight politely replied absently before going on, “but recently I’ve been starting to wonder if the Princess takes me seriously sometimes.”

That confused Eric a lot since the last couple of times he had met the princess she seemed very sincere about listening to all of her subjects and knowing there problems. “What do you mean?”

Instead of answering him, Twilight gave Eric the book she was reading and showed him the passage in it, “Legend has it that on the longest day of the thousand year; the stars will aid in her escape, and she will bring about everlasting night… A prophecy?”

“Yes,” Twilight admitted, “I found this prophecy when I was researching about Equestria founding and saw that there was another princess who ruled alongside Princess Celestia but was corrupted by darkness and almost brought about eternal night. She was sealed into the moon by the Princess with something called the Elements of Harmony; but a prophecy was made that told of her escape…and this Celebration marks the day she would reappear.”

As she said that her ears started to droop with sadness as she continued on and Eric listened intently, “I told the Princess about my suspicions, but she just passed them off as nothing more than a pony’s tale and sent me here to ‘make friends’.” She then scoffed as her sadness quickly turned to anger, “What use will friends be when it turns out that I was right and Nightmare Moon does return today?”

Eric thought on it for a bit –since his anime instinct started to buzz a bit- and asked, “Are you sure that’s what she said?”

“I don’t have the letter she sent me at the moment,” Twilight sheepishly admitted, “But that’s basically what she said.”

Warning bells started to ring when Twilight said that but kept his mouth shut. Instead he decided to go in a different direction. “Well don’t worry,’ he said causing Twilight to look up at the human, “I’m sure Celestia Ojou-sama is probably preparing for her return if it does happen and doesn’t want you to worry so much. If she does return and you need help…” he held up his right hand towards Twilight showing her the D-On ring with a gentle smile on his face, “…I will be your hope if you ever lose your own.”

Twilight could not help but blush a bit at what Eric said and how he said it until Spike popped out of the door startling them both.

“Common Twilight, Eric, It’s time to watch the sun rise!”

As the baby dragon quickly raced out to the Ponyville Pavilion, Eric stood up and smiled at Twilight. “Guess it’s time to see if the curtain will rise on a new day or an eternal night.” He turned around smoothly…only to bang his head on the low hanging ceiling and letting out an “ITAI!!!!”

The random slapstick comedy that happened in front of her was enough for Twilight to giggle a bit before she smiled. With a smile of his own –pained as it was- Eric walked the mare to the door and towards the pavilion with both of them slightly worried for what may happen. A few minutes later, Every-pony in the town had gathered in the building taking up as much space as they safely could with a few Pegasi hovering in midair to get a better view.

A few seconds after Twilight and Eric founds a place to stand, Pinkie suddenly appeared beside them and began to chatter with them about the festival and how awesome it was going to be. The Rider just rolled his eyes and kept an eye on where Celestia was going to appear. As it near the time of her arrival, Fluttershy began to start up her songbird choir and Mayor Mare stepped out to give her speech.

Eric only half listened to it as he saw Twilight looking around with a bit of worry before staring up at the moon. Deciding to look as well, the Rider’s eyes widen in shock as he watched four stars that were surrounding the moon suddenly get absorbed into it as the series of craters that were shaped to look like a unicorn’s head suddenly disappeared. Soon cloister bells began ringing in Eric’s head as he looked up at where Celestia was going to appear at the same time Rarity opened the curtains to reveal…nothing.

As usual, Pinkie was carefree about the situation as she asked, “Oh, I love guessing games! Is she hiding?”

“Not good,” Eric on the other hand whispered as he quickly got ready for anything while Rarity raced up to the balcony and looked inside.

A second later she came out and shouted, “SHE’S GONE!!!”

Every-pony there gasped in horror at what they heard, except for one…

“Oh! She’s good!”

A second later she too began to gasp as a purple star studded ethereal mist began to form on the balcony and gather into a cloud before it burst apart to reveal an Alicorn but not the one everypony was expecting. She was tall and slender with a pitch black coat with a mane/tail similar to the one that formed her appearance with a dark lavender armor on her head, breast and front legs. Her Cutie mark was a silver crescent moon on a lavender night sky with the same moon on her breastplate.

"Oh, no,” Twilight whispered as she took a few steps back in fear, “Nightmare Moon." Spike on the other hand just fainted when his boss and mother confirmed what he had been secretly dreading.

The dark equine, Nightmare Moon, spoke with a regal tone as she gazed down at the other ponies, an evil smile on her face, "Oh, my beloved subjects: it's been so long since I've seen your precious little sun-loving faces."

Rainbow Dash, always ready for action, quickly demanded, "What did you do with our princess?" She attempted to confront the new arrival head-on, but Applejack quickly clenching down on her tail with her teeth and used all of her strength to hold her back.

Nightmare Moon chuckled malevolently at the cute but pitiful display, "Why: am I not royal enough for you? Don't you know who I am?"

The inappropriately cheerful Pinkie quickly began to jump up and down happily, "Oh, oh: more guessing games! Um, Hokey Smokes? How 'bout Queen Meanie? No, Black Snooty! Black Snoot-" She was cut off when Eric shoved a cupcake in her mouth hoping to keep her alive just in case the dark Alicorn started shooting.

Nightmare scowled as she heard that before turning to the nearby Fluttershy and quickly got into her face scaring the poor Pegasus, "Does my crown no longer count now that I have been imprisoned for a thousand years?" She then turned to Rarity and used her surprisingly prehensile tail to keep the poor mare’s face turned towards her as she continued on, "Did you not recall the legend? Did you not see the signs?”

"I did!" Twilight called out as Eric stood beside her ready to transform or throw down at a moment’s notice, "and I know who you are: you're the Mare in the Moon, Nightmare Moon!"

More gasps came from the other ponies in the room. Was Twilight really speaking the Truth??? Was this really the dreaded Nightmare Moon???

The dark Alicorn on the other hand seemed impressed, "Well, well, well: some-pony who remembers me. Then you also know why I'm here."

Twilight began to falter and with a gulp, replied with a small stutter, "You're here to... to...!"

Nightmare Moon began to chuckle at the mare’s scared demeanor. "Remember this day, little ponies, for it was your last. From this moment forth… The night will last FOREVER!”

Her mane then began to extended and spiraled throughout the room, producing both darkness and bolts of lightning as her chuckle soon turned to evil laughter scaring all the ponies in the room. As she did so Eric let off a low growl while his Flame and Hurricane Rings softly glowed in his pocket. If Nightmare Moon wanted Equestria to be in an eternal night; than it was going to be over his dead body! The Dark Alicorn was going to find out what happens when you threatened a Kamen Rider’s home and friends; especially one whose magic was embedded with their hope and courage.


Omake


Fluttershy's Specter


A week after Eric arrived in Ponyville, Fluttershy was happily humming a soft tune as she went about feeding the animals under her care. As she went along, a loud female voice quickly startled her into the air, only for something to grab her as it shouted, "HAU~ OMOCHIKAERI"

Fluttershy looked behind her and was shocked to see a human ghost with light brown -almost golden brown- hair, blue eyes, wearing a white dress with purple bows at the neck and base of her spine with a strange hat on her head.

"W-ho...What a-are you?!?!" Fluttershy stuttered out as the specter cuddled her to the point of being painful.

"I'm Rena Ryuugu!" The Specter squealed out, as she smiled in a happy yet creepy way at the Pegasus, "I'm taking you Home with me!!!"

"MATTE!!!" a voice shouted out making the ghost girl turn to it with Fluttershy still in her arms and to the Pegasus relief saw Eric rushing towards the two with his Driver activated. " I do not know why you are here Ryuugu-san," Eric said as the rest of his friend quickly raced up behind him as he skip to a stop, "but I will not let you take Fluttershy away!"

That did not please in any way shape or form and placed Fluttershy down as a crazed look got into her eyes, "Anyone to tries to take away my cute things," she began to state while pulling out a Nata or Billhook from behind her back as her calm state turned to rage shouting, "WILL NOT BE FORGIVEN!!!"

Quickly ducking under the garden tool turned weapon, Eric quickly transformed and summoned a a sword that was given to him which transformed into the WSG as it passed through the Spell Circle, 'Hope this holds,' he thought to himself as he went to block another slash.

Rena thought for a second that she would be able to pass through the strange sword and cut the interloper, only for the mystic blade to block the Nata, "Nani?!?!" she shouted in shock as Wizard was pushed back a few feet from the force behind the slash.

'Aw Great!,' Wizard thought as he steadied himself, 'Not only is she in Kawaii mode, but she's also in Level 4 or 5 Hinamizawa Syndrome; or somewhere close it. I need to end this soon!'

As the Rider block more attacks -which tore through anything it hit with surprising ease- while dodging others from the spirit; a crazy idea appeared in his mind. Flipping over a wild charge, Wizard quickly landed and stabbed the tip of his new WSG into the ground before summoning his Connect Circle, reached into it, then pulled out a strange slip of paper with Japanese words written down it that read 'Akuryo Taisan'.

"An Ofuda!" Rena shouted in shock before putting on a brave face, "I don't know what you're trying to pull, but you're definitely not a priest!!!" Then with a war cry of "For the cute things!!!" she charged forward, confident that the interloper could not use the charm.

'Please let this work,' Wizard thought as he closed his eyes and began to focus. His Rune Circle appeared beneath his feet and slowly began to rotate as a wind began to pick up around him. "Rin, Pyou, Tou, Sha, Kai, Jin, Retsu, Zai, Zen!" He began to chant as two specters appeared beside him. One was a young woman the Rider's height with long raven colored hair wearing a strange costume that would cause anyone to blush with embarrassment while the second figure looked like a burning warrior with a wrathful fanged face that glared at the spirit.

Snapping his eyes open with a "HA!!!!" the rippling piece of paper quickly straightened before a fiery aura appears around it.  Wizard quickly threw the Ofuda at Rena, pulled out the WSG, and switched it to gun mode before opening the Hand Author on it.

=C'MON SHOOTING! SHAKE HANDS! =

Quickly the Rider swiped his left hand over the WSG's Hand Author before taking aim at the Spirit and the Ofudo between them as the spirits behind him vanished

=FLAME; SHOOTING STRIKE! HI, HI, HI,! HI, HI, HI! =

"FIRE SOUL BIRD!!!" Wizard shouted as he pulled the trigger and launched a fireball at the charm which was quickly absorbed it; then to the astonishment of everyone watching, transformed into a fiery phoenix which let off a rage fill shriek.

"NANI?!?!" Rena shouted in shock and tried to dodge out of the way, but got hit full on. She cried out in pain as her soul was forcefully purified before being sent back to the spirit world.

"Whew," Wizard said as he dismissed his armor, "That was a trip," Eric continued as his friend quickly raced up to him.

"What in tarnation was that Eric?!?!" Applejack asked as Eric rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment.

"Just something the Doctor had left in my house for some reason," He replied sheepishly, "I didn't know if it would work but I'm glad it did.

"Well I am glad this fiasco has been quickly taken care of," Rarity said as Fluttershy -who had hug back a bit- gained a strange look in her eyes as her pet rabbit, Angel Bunny, hopped over to see what was going on.

Suddenly a familiar war cry rang out in a totally different voice, "HAU~ OMOCHIKAIRE!!!"

Everyone looked to see Fluttershy cuddling a startled Angel who was staring at his owner in shock.

"I think you may have jinxed us Rarity," Eric pointed out with a sweat drop on the side of his face, "Because Fluttershy's soul looked to have been slightly tainted by Rena."

"Doh!" Rainbow Dash, Who had hung back because of a slight fear of ghosts, said with a facehoof.

End Omake


> Arise; Sword of Hope! Nightmare Moon Returns!
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


My Little Pony: Wizard of Hope


Chapter 3


Arise; Sword of Hope!


Nightmare Moon Returns!


Eric watched with clenched teeth as he saw Nightmare Moon laugh like a stereotypical villain as her starry night mane and tail flowed above her forming a tornado of night sky. Without thinking, Eric quickly switched Rings to the Connect one as Mayor Mare ordered the Castle Guards to “Seize” Nightmare Moon.

Than turned out to be a bad idea as the Pegasus guards were quickly shot down by bolts of lightning sending them to the ground. Just as the Mare was about to leave she heard Eric’s Hand Author call out.

=Connect; Please!=

She looked down to see the strange creature she had briefly noticed when she appeared, summoning a spell circle and plunge his right “claw” into it only to pull out a strange weapon that reminded her of a crossbow that minotaurs use. The Alicorn mare didn’t even give the strange item a second thought until Eric let loose a few blessed silver bullets at Nightmare Moon which tore into her with surprising ease. This also briefly revealed something that startled the human long enough for Nightmare’s mane/tail to wrap around her, turning her into mist as she quickly made her escape.

Every-pony quickly ran out of the mist's way as it barged through the doors with Eric and Rainbow Dash –after she escaped Applejack’s teeth with a snap- right on her tail. “COME BACK HERE!” the Pegasus mare shouted as the two tried to chase after the villain only to lose her in the eternal night sky.

“Kuso!” Eric shouted with a loud Japanese curse, “We lost her!!!”

Dash had something else on her mind. “Night time forever?” she asked herself out loud with a sad look on her face, “What are we going to do?”

“I don’t know,” Eric replied as the WSG transformed back into a basic short sword that was given to him by the town's blacksmith -which was just one of many that he had since even the most well made sword kept on shattering to pieces after one or two Strike Attacks, “But I think there is more to Nightmare Moon then what meets the eye.”

The fastest Pegasus in Ponyville quickly gained a serious look on her face as she asked, “you saw that too?”

“Yep,” was her reply as the human looked back towards the pavilion and saw Twilight galloping out of the building with Spike on her back, “And I have a feeling that she may know what's happening.”

Looking in the same direction as Eric, she saw Twilight racing to where ever she was taking off to and voiced it. “Where is she going?”

“Most likely to the library,” Eric replied before turning to his friend, “Gather the girls and meet me at the library. We’re getting to the bottom of this.”

With that done, Eric quickly took off with Rainbow Dash shooting towards the pavilion. As they did so both of their minds went back to what they saw after the blessed silver bullets hit Nightmare moon revealing what was underneath. An Alicorn mare slightly taller than most ponies with a light phthalo blue coat and a light azure mane, her cyan eyes brimming with tears as she cried out for salvation before she was swallowed up by black/dark purple energy...


Time Skip


After Twilight reached the library and put the sleepy Spike to bed, she quickly began her search for any information about the one thing that could stop Nightmare Moon with Princess Celestia gone... just without her usual care. “Elements, Elements, Elements…UGH! How can I stop Nightmare Moon without the Elements of Harmony?!?!”

At that moment, Rainbow Dash quickly shot into the library and in Twilight's face before she began interrogating the poor mare. A few seconds later Eric and Applejack pulled the raging Pegasus away from the frightened unicorn -with the human dropping his sword near the door- as the former of the two scolded his friend.

“I told you already Dash,” he said keeping Rainbow Dash briefly in a modified Half Nelson, “She isn’t a spy. But she does have a clue as to how we can defeat Nightmare Moon.”

Once Dash calmed down and set free, Applejack walked up to Twilight –with the other five mares the unicorn met in the past day behind her- asking, “Is he right Twilight, do you know what’s going on?”

Looking at the small group in shock, Twilight sighed before she began to answer, “I read all about the prediction of Nightmare Moon’s return. According to what I was able to find, some mysterious objects called the Elements of Harmony are the only things that can stop her.”

At that part Eric quickly interrupted, “And save the Alicorn Mare trapped within her body.” All of the ponies –minus Rainbow Dash- stared at Eric in shock as he began to explain. “When I shot at Nightmare Moon with my WizardSwordGun, the Silver Bullets tore off some of her body revealing another Alicorn –slightly smaller than Celestia Ojou-sama– underneath her body. I believe that Nightmare Moon might be a demonic parasite of sorts and is using the Alicorn that me and Dash saw as a battery while forming a body on the outside as armor.”

Once she heard that, Twilight suddenly began to piece the puzzle together thanks to this new information. “That’s why the Moon Princess tried to overthrow Princess Celestia; she was taken over by this parasite when her willpower and self-esteem was at their lowest.”

“Just a moment,” Rarity politely interrupted the brainstorming session, “The two of you are saying that we not only have to find these “Elements of Harmony”, but also save a Princess from the hooves of a parasite?” Seeing the nod from the brainstorming duo, the elegant Unicorn mare almost fainted, “Why can it not have been as simple a resealing Nightmare Moon back in the moon???”

“Welcome to the life of a Kamen Rider and their allies,” Eric replied with a sigh, “Where when it comes to fighting the villains, nothing is ever easy.”

“Even with this new knowledge,” Twilight added, “We still don’t know where the Elements are hidden, what they look like, or even what they DO!”

At that moment, the resident Fourth-Wall Breaker chimed in from one of the shelves that Twilight’s magic accidentally skipped over. “The Elements of Harmony: A Reference Guide.”

Not a second later, Twilight slammed Pinkie Pie away from the shelf and stared in astonishment at what the pink pony just found. “How did you find that?!?!” She asked with awe in her voice.

“It was under E~!” Pinkie replied in a sing-song voice as she did a little hop/skip around Twilight, who did not know what to say.

Deciding to shelve her questions for the moment, the Mare from Canterlot used her magic to pull the book out carefully and when she opened it up, she searched through the index before finding the passage she was looking for.

“There are Six Elements of Harmony but only five are known: Kindness, Generosity, Laughter, Honesty, and Loyalty; the sixth is a complete mystery. It is said the last known location of the five identified elements was in the Ancient Castle of the Royal Pony Sister, located in the Everfree Forest.”

At that everyone from Ponyville gasped in shock or groaned in distress. “The Everfree Forest,” the groaner –Eric- said, “why did it have to be in that god forsaken forest?”

Twilight just looked at the group with a small sweat-drop running down the side of her face until a footnote caught her eye. “What is this?” Quickly turning to the page number in the footnote Twilight read what was there only to gasp in shock, “The SEVENTH Element of Harmony?!?!”

The Ponyville Group –who were discussing the latest snag in their adventure quickly turned to Twilight as they shouted, “WHAT?!?!”

The Scholarly unicorn mare just continue reading out loud, “When the Elements of Harmony were last used by Princess Celestia to seal Nightmare Moon into her namesake; something appeared beside them just as the sealing was about to fail. It is believed by many to be nothing more than a representation of Princess Celestia’s will power revealing itself during the final step in sealing Nightmare Moon.”

“But there are some that believe a Seventh Element appeared before the other six giving its power to Princess Celestia just as she was about to run out of magic. The scholars that believe this theory speculate that this ‘Element’ is similar to the five known Elements as it represents an emotion all ponies have but are unable to properly harness. Whether or not this Element truly exists remains to be seen; but no pony can deny that it gave Princess Celestia the last push she needed to seal Nightmare Moon.”

A few seconds passed until the stunned silence was broken by a familiar voice, “Whee, let’s go!”

That stunned Twilight as she absently put the book back in its correct spot while turning to the group, “What?! Not so fast!” Everyone turned to Twilight as she decided to head off that particular thought quickly, “I’m grateful that all of you want to help me and appreciate it… but I really rather do this on my own.”

“No can do sugarcube,” Applejack replied for all of the Ponyville residents, “We sure ain’t letting any friend of ours going into that creepy place alone.” This just made Twilight cringe with worry and a bit of pain as the cowpony said that.

“Besides,” Eric added as she used his connect ring to summon his Bug Out Bag to him along with his sword’s sheath which he put on his back, “I already promised you that I would help you defeat Nightmare Moon when you told me about why you were here.”

“Face it Twilight,” Applejack continued as the group walked out of the Library and towards the Everfree Forest, “We’re sticking to you caramel on a candy apple.”

Pinkie’s face lit up when AJ said that and added her two bits/cents in, “Especially if there’s Candy Apples in there.” At Twilight stunned look the pink earth pony mare explained herself, “What? Those things are good!”

With a sigh of defeat, Twilight followed behind the group slowly wondering if this was a good idea. Unknown to them, a part of Nightmare Moon’s mane had hid itself underneath one of the library’s windows and heard everything that was spoken. With speed that bellied it appearance, the wisp quickly went back to its mistress to report its findings then get its next assignment.

Back with the group; the six ponies and one teen –after about thirty minutes of walking- finally started to enter the forest prompting Eric to start digging into his B.O.B. bag as he complemented Rarity. “I cannot thank you enough Hime-chan for putting those spells on my bag,” He said while pulling out a modified Maglite flashlight.

“It was not a problem at all placing the Unbreakable Expansion spell as well as the Featherweight one, Eric,” Rarity replied with a smile, “It’s the least I could do after you saved me from the griffon ruffians and that stallion that would not take no for an answer.”

As the elegant mare finished with a “huff”, Twilight turned her head towards Eric –who was walking beside her at the front of the group- with a bit of shock while asking, “You’re the one that saved Ponyville from those rogue griffons?” 

“Sure did sugarcube,” Applejack added as she walked up to the front of the group with a smile, “He also helps keep some of the more orany of Everfree Forest’s critters away from Ponyville.” She shivered involuntarily as she looked deep into the wild and dangerous forest, “I tell you this place ain’t natural. Folks say it don’t work the same as Equestria.”

“W-what do you mean?” Twilight asked with a bit of a stutter.

Rainbow Dash thought this was the perfect time to pull a prank and gave her voice a creepy tone as she said, “No~ pony knows. You know why~?”

“Not now Dash,” Eric ordered as they reached a path that overlooked a slightly steep cliff. At the same time, the wisp that Nightmare Moon had following them discreetly decided to act by burrowing itself beneath the pony's and human’s feet.

The athletic Pegasus ignored the warnings as she slowly crept up to Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie, continuing her story telling, “Because every pony who’s ever come in has…never…come…OUT!”

At that moment, the wisp broke apart the cliff path the heroes were on, sending all but the two Pegasus ponies sliding down the impromptu rockslide screaming.

“FLUTTERSHY, QUICK!” Rainbow dash ordered as she swooped down and picked up Pinkie.

“Oh my goodness, oh my goodness…” the animal lover said softly and quickly as she hurried as fast as she could to Rarity, gently took the fashionista's tail, and began slowing her down.

Eric reached into his bag and quickly pulled out a large hunting knife before thrusting it –blade first- into the cliff slowing his fall down to a stop as Applejack did the same but used her mouth to grab a conveniently root. Twilight was not so lucky and began to reach the part of the slide that was a complete fifty foot drop to the ground before she was able to stop herself at the cliff edge…with her back legs hang in midair.

Seeing Applejack let go of her branch and slowly slid down to Twilight, Eric reluctantly allowed Rainbow Dash to help him to the ground. He barely landed before the sky blue Pegasus quickly shot back up towards the sky and –with the help of Fluttershy- caught the Canterlot mare when Applejack convinced her to fall. He rushed over to his employer/friend as she used some rocks that were jutting out of the sheer cliff face to jump down and land with ease.

“Nice going boss.” Eric congratulated Applejack with a smile.

“Awe shucks Eric,” Applejack replied with a light blush on her face while pulling her hat down some to hide it.

As that was going on, the wisp –seeing that its plan had failed- steathfully shot off towards its next target as the group unknowingly followed right behind it. They continued on through the forest of death with Rainbow Dash retelling what happened despite everyone there having lived through it. The hidden Rider could not help but chuckle as he watched Dash do her story telling as he and Twilight lead the group once more, his flashlight leading the way.

Twilight on the other hand/hoof wasn’t as amused. “Yes Rainbow, I was there,” she said in a deadpan voice before turning to the Pegasus, who landed beside her, “and I’m very grateful but we…”

Whatever she was going to say died on her lips as something jumped out of the brush suddenly and tried to pounce on her…or it would have if Eric didn’t swing around and slam a magic powered roundhouse kick to the thing’s face sending it flying back a few feet only for it to jump back on its paws and skid to a stop. As it entered the moonlight, it revealed itself to be a large lion shaped being with bat like wings/ears and a scorpion tail.

“A Manticore!” Twilight gasped in shock as it roared out a challenge rearing up on its back legs. “We got to get passed it!”

Fluttershy could only stare in shock as she saw the monster try to pounce once more, only for Rarity to duck under its paws and buck it in the face. “TAKE THAT YOU RUFFIAN!” She shouted only for the Manticore to roar in her face messing her hair up and sending her flying. "MY HAIR!!!"

"Wait."

Before the monster could take off after the scared mare, Applejack somehow jumped onto it’s head. “YEEHAW!” she shouted as the Manticore began to try and buck the cowpony off, “Get along little doggy!” After a while, the monster succeeded, sending Applejack flying. As passed Rainbow Dash –who was hovering in midair- the cowpony said, “All yours partner,” before she landed right into Eric’s arms.

"Wait."

“I’m on it!” Rainbow Dash replied with a salute before she shot forward and began circling around the Manticore so fast it created a rainbow tornado, confusing the monster. At least until its tail came out of nowhere and slammed into her side, sending her airborne once more and nearly into the ground if Eric didn’t catch her after he set Applejack down.

"Wait."

“We can’t defeat him separately,” Eric pointed out as he gently set Dash down before turning to the Manticore and reached for his sword, “We need to work together.”

"Wait."

Bolstered by the words, five of the six mares quickly ran to Eric’s side as they stared down the Manticore before charging forward with the monster doing the same. Before the two sides could met, Fluttershy –who was trying to get everyone’s attention since the fight started- suddenly appeared in the middle of it all and shouted, “WAIT!!!”

Once the ponies and human skid to stop in shock, the shy Pegasus turned to the Manticore and slowly began to approach it. When the monster reared up to take a swipe at the bare mare, Eric quickly grabbed his sword once more… only to stop as Fluttershy gently sniffed its left forepaw softly saying, “Shush, it okay…”

Looking at the paw the Pegasus had sniffed, the Manticore turned it up revealing that it had a rather large purple thorn stuck in the middle of it. “Oh you poor, poor little baby,” Fluttershy said causing her friends to look at her strangely. “Now this might hurt for ju~st a second,” she continued as she gently took the thorn in her mouth and swiftly pulled it out. With a roar the Manticore grabbed Fluttershy…and began to softly licking her face in thanks for what she did while purring getting giggles out of the mare. With the Manticore occupied, Eric made a sneaking motion to the other girls who got the basic idea and began to do just that.

"Awe, you're just a little old baby kitty aren't you," Fluttershy cooed to the Manticore as her friends walked around it, "Yes you are, Yes you are~."

After about a minute Fluttershy was let go and quickly caught up to the others, her hair slicked back with saliva. Thankfully Rarity was prepared and quickly began to fix the shy but brave mare’s mane as Twilight asked a question that was on her mind.

“How did you know about that thorn stuck in its paw?”

“I didn’t,” Fluttershy simply said as her mane was styled back to its original shape, “Sometimes we all need to be shown a little kindness.’

Eric just chuckled as he heard that, “That’s Fluttershy for you. Kind, cute as a button, and one of the best that I know of when it comes to animals.”

Fluttershy’s blush could have substituted for Eric’s flashlight with how brightly it glowed before the group took off once more. Back over at the thorn that once pierced the Manticore’s paw, the things suddenly began to spin around and transformed into the wisp that had been unknowingly plaguing the group ever since they entered the forest.

Almost half an hour passed since the group had dealt with the Manticore as they continued on closer to their destination. Rarity on the other hand just wished that they were there already.

“Ugh,” she said with disgust in her voice as Eric and Twilight continued leading the herd, “My eyes need a rest from all of this icky muck.” Rarity got her wish as the moon’s light was quickly lost behind the dense canopy. “Well I didn’t mean that literally,” the fashionista whispered wishing she could take back her words.

As the group continued onwards -with only Eric’s light leading the way- the wisp slowly slithered around their feet/hooves and entered one of the trees. But not before messing with Eric’s flashlight briefly when he looked away.

“Kuso,” The human said as the light went out while the mares behind him began to talk rapidly as they pushed against one another unknowingly. A few seconds later, as Applejack commented about stepping in something, Eric heard Fluttershy start screaming along with the others causing him to look up…right into a tree that was warped by the wisp making it look like a monster.

With a “JESUS CHRIST!!! ,” Eric jumped back quickly putting his flashlight away while pulling out his sword. ‘Are we in the Crimson Forest?!?!’ he thought taking a brief look around to see that all of the tree had been transformed into monsters with the girls screaming in fear…Except for one.

“Huh?” the five screamers and one untransformed Rider asked and looked to see Pinkie near one of the trees laughing at it. She made a few strange faces at the monster trees before going back to her laughing.

“Pinkie what are you doing?!?!” Twilight asked in shock, “RUN!!!”

Suddenly a light music began to come out of nowhere as Pinkie said, “Oh girls don’t you see…” And then to the astonishment of all…Began to sing.

After about a minute of singing, the entire grove of monster trees was gone thanks to the group's laughter as they laid there on the ground having fun thanks to Pinkie’s song. Once he caught his breath, Eric slowly stood up, his sword back in its sheath as he pulled out his light.

“I never laughed so hard before,” he said out of breath trying the light again and was pleasantly surprised to see that it was working once more.

Twilight also got back on her hooves as she looked at Pinkie seeing the pink earth pony in a new light. She wasn’t weird or crazy as she once thought Pinkie to be…But rather very exuberant and always ready to put a smile on any pony’s face. Once everyone caught their breath –still chuckling and giggling once in awhile- the group took off immediately for the Ancient Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters.

As they left, the wisp slowly crept out of the tree it had ‘infected’ very low on power but strong enough for one last attempt. And with as much speed as it could muster, took off once again.

The group of heroes continued to trot/jog through the forest; their spirits renewed thanks to Pinkie Pie who had taken the lead with Eric beside her. As the rounded a bush heading for a nearby river, the party mare suddenly stopped causing all of her friends behind her to slam into her.

“Why are you stopping?” Eric asked as he looked back at the mares…only to fall into a rough churning river.

Once the idiot was fished out and dried thanks to his Flame Ring, Pinkie asked the question that was on everyone’s mind. “How are we going to get across this???”

A second later, they all started to hear someone cry and when they investigated, the curiosity turned into shock. There in the middle of the river was a large purple sea serpent with an orange mane/hair and a moustache that reminded Eric of a Fu Manchu, if it wasn’t for one side that had been ripped clean off. The serpent was wailing and crying “What a world,” as his tail thrashed about causing the river to churn violently. 

“Excuse me sir,” Twilight began to ask with all the ponies beside her while Eric hung back as he looked through his B.O.B. to assess the damage, “Why are you crying?”

“Well I don’t know!” The serpent replied in a voice that had a feminine tone to it despite him being male, “I was just sitting here minding my own business when this tacky little cloud of purple smoke just whisked passed me and tore half of my beloved moustache clean off!”

At that moment Eric instantly froze when he heard that as it helped kick start a couple of memories he had push to the back of his mind as unimportant to the forefront. And both memories contained a picture of a strange wisp similar to the one the sea serpent had described. The dots further connected when he remembered the color of the thorn that was in the Manticore’s paw.

Unfortunately they were pushed to the side briefly when he heard Rarity say something about correcting a crime and looked up just in time to see her bring the sea serpent down to her level before using one of his scales to cut off a large portion of own tail! Then she used her magic to seamlessly fuse her clipped tail into the serpent’s torn moustache making it whole once more.

“My Moustache!” the serpent cried with glee as his tail quit flailing about, calming the river as he posed for a moment, “How Wonderful!”

“You look smashing,” Rarity replied with a slightly pained smile.

“Oh Rarity,” Twilight said sadly as she looked at the stump that was left over, “Your beautiful tail.”

“Oh, it's fine, my dear.” The fashionista replied as she turned to the stunned group, “Short tails are in this season. Besides... it'll grow back.”

Eric just walked over to the slightly upset mare and gave her a quick hug knowing how much she put into her looks thanks to accidentally ruining it one time and helping her get it back to normal. Rarity smiled at the kind human until Twilight gasped as she saw the clam river.

“We can cross now!” she said happily and began to do so until the Serpent rose up from under her.

“Allow me,” he said with a bow before coiled his body up to allow the ponies and human to use his body as a stepping stone. Quick thanks to the serpent –whose name was Steven surprisingly- and they were off once more.


Wizard of Hope


As our merry group of heroes/heroines continued on their way to Ancient Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters, Nightmare Moon was watching through the ‘eyes’ of her wisp extremely pissed off.

“HOW DO THESE PONIES KEEP ESCAPING ALL OF THE TRAPS I LAY OUT FOR THEM?!?!” she shouted with hatred, slamming the water basin she was using as a scrying mirror to the side, spilling its contents.

‘Thou shall not escape thy punishment Nightmare Moon,’ a voice, younger than Nightmare Moon’s, sounded from a part of her mind; ‘Our sister’s chosen will spell thy doom!’

“And will you quit using that old English of your!!!” Nightmare Moon shouted to the voice, “Face it Princess Luna. You are fated to be nothing more than a battery since for some reason I cannot eat your soul.”

‘Thou shall not win Horror! Thy sins shall lead you to Tartarus and eternal damnation!’ Princess Luna replied with renewed fire and hope.

“We shall see Princess, We shall see.” The Horror known as Nightmare Moon replied with a sneer as she used her magic to replace/refill the water basin. “But first one final trap for these heroes before I enter the stage.”

Using her stolen magic once more, the Demonic Alicorn cast a spell to empower the wisp even further than it already was. “Let’s see if this Makai Knight replica can handle the power of a being similar to myself,” Nightmare Moon added before she began to laugh evilly once more.


Wizard of Hope


As Nightmare Moon’s final plan got underway, our heroes continued their trek through the Everfree Forest. Soon the trees parted and the remains of a ruined castle appeared in their sight.

‘There it is!” Twilight shouted in glee, ‘The Ancient Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters!”

With that she began to gallop towards the castle with her new friends behind her as Applejack shouted, “Twilight! Wait for us!”

“We’re almost there!” Twilight shouted back over her shoulder…only to fall as the fog between in front of her parted to reveal a large ravine. Hanging only by her back hooves, the Canterlot mare tried to scramble back before Rainbow Dash quickly grabbed her tail and pulled back.

“What’s with you and falling off cliffs today?” the Pegasus mare joked as the rest of the group quickly caught up.

Everyone gathered where Twilight nearly fell and saw that a rope bridge –which would have allowed them passage over the ravine- had been cut down on the other side. Pinkie could only ask, “Now what?” as they tried to figure out a way over.

“Duh,” Dash replied giving her wings a little shake before jumping over the edge, grabbing the end of the bridge, and pulling it to the other side. 

Suddenly, Eric began to get a bad feeling about all this, which was confirmed when he saw his friend look around before standing up on her hind legs and kick/punch the air with her fore hoofs as a purple wisp crawled across the ground.

“Shimata!” Eric suddenly cursed startling the ponies on his side.

“What’s wrong Eric?” Fluttershy asked in her usually quiet voice.

“Remember those few times we got into trouble on this ‘quest’ of ours?” The Rider replied, getting nods in return. “Well a couple of times I thought I saw a purple wisp of sorts following us but assumed that it was my imagination playing tricks on me.”

Twilight quickly pieced the puzzle I was picturing together, “you mean like the one Steven told us about.”

“That’s what tipped me off,” Eric confirmed, “If what I saw wasn’t an illusion but an actual wisp, then Nightmare Moon might have been spying us with the wisp in hopes of slowing us down. And I have a bad feeling that it might be trying for one last push before we face the big boss herself.”

Everyone looked at Rainbow Dash wishing her luck until they saw three Pegasus ponies dressed in a darker version of the Wonderbolts uniform.

With wide eyes Twilight decided to shout out to her …friend/ally? “Rainbow! Don’t listen to them!!! They’re magical constructs!” Unfortunately only part of her message got through as Dash –who briefly turned to them- was forced to look back at the ‘leader’ as he discreetly thickened the fog beyond normal means.

“Come on Dash,” Eric whispered to himself, “I know that your dream is to join the Wonderbolts; but remember who you truly are on the inside.”

Over with Rainbow Dash; the Pegasus mare was conflicted about the decision given to her by the Shadow Bolt’s leader: go with them and finally live out her dream, or stay and maybe never get another chance to reach her life goal while helping her friend. To her, the decision was anything but complicated.

“Thank you,” she said causing the ‘Shadow Bolts’ to grin only to turn to shock when she continued her answer, “For the offer I mean; but I’m afraid I have to say no.”

With that she tried to continue tying the bridge back up when she was almost pushed off the edge by a strong force. She looked behind her and gasped when she saw the three Pegasi turning into purple mist which quickly formed together and create a being similar to Eric but with Pegasus like features/armor similar to the Shadow Bolts uniform.

“I believe that you should rethink our offer,” the Pegasus like monster replied in a rough female voice as she brought a sickly purple rapier up to bear.

Rainbow Dash quickly got into an aggressive stance, ready to fight with all she got; but thankfully she had a guardian angel watching out for her…or rather, a Guardian Kamen Rider

[Blessed Wind by Rider Clips; Kamen Rider Wizard Hurricane Style Theme]

=HURRICANE; PLEASE! FUU... FUU... FUU, FUU, FUU~!=

Suddenly the fog parted as silver bullets pelted the monster revealing Kamen Rider Wizard; arriving to save the day…err night. He flew over the ravine via a green tinted tornado surrounding his body with the WSG in gun mode shooting at the Kaijin.

“Are you okay Dash?” Wizard asked as he landed in front of the Pegasus transforming his WSG into sword mode and held it in a reverse grip.

“I’m okay,” Dash replied glaring at the Kaijin, “Tried to reject their gracious offer but they would not take no for an answer.”

“Well, get that bridge up quickly,” Eric ordered, flipping the tails of his coat back, “I’ll take on ugly here.”

And with that the Rider charged forward with the Pegasus Kaijin replying in kind. A second later both of them jumped into the air, Wizard via his wind powers while the Kaijin formed wings of energy to take flight. Sparks flew as their swords clashed in midair before they broke off and tried again. Each attack was perfectly countered until Wizard found an opening, letting loose with a few slices sending sparks into the air and bringing the Kaijin back to the ground.

“Your sword play is excellent, Makai Knight,” the Kaijin commented, “But it will not help you in the end.”

‘Makai Knight?!?!’ Eric thought in shock before he was forced to defend against a barrage of thrusting attacks. ‘Think later, fight now!’ Was his mental reply before he twisted around another thrust shifting the WSG into gun mode and letting loose a salvo of silver bullets into the Kaijin’s gut.

With room to think, Eric shifted the WSG back to sword mode and the two started to go at it again. As they did, Rainbow Dash finished tying the bridge back to its posts allowing her friends to quickly cross as they congratulated her for her choice. “See,” The boastful Pegasus said, “I never leave my friends hanging!”

Before anyone could reply, they heard Eric shout, “Rider-Ryu: Dai Kaiten Madan!” and looked up to see their human friend spinning like a top in mid air via an emerald tinted tornado with his blade out to the side.

They watched with awe as the spinning blade cut through the Kaijin’s sword before biting into the monster itself several times, sending it flying backwards. Both fighters landed before taking off into the air again with the Pegasus Kaijin trying to punch Wizard who performed a wind powered drop kick to its gut sending it flying once more.

“Damn you Makai Knight!” the Kaijin cursed loudly as he landed with a crash before trying to take to the air to escape.

Wizard just followed the Kaijin until it landed on a small balcony that was still standing and declared, “I’m not a knight of the light fighting in the darkness!” A few strikes to the chest and the Rider pushed the WSG’s blade into the Kaijin’s gut sending them both falling to the ground as he added, “I’m a warrior of justice protecting the hopes of human and ponies everywhere!” with that they hit the cold hard steps leading into the castle

With a, “Hup,” Wizard jumped off the Kaijin and landed a few feet away spinning the WSG by its trigger guard before turning towards the wisp. “I’m Kamen Rider Wizard,” he finished as he pulled the thumb on the WSG’s Hand Author causing it to sing.

=C’MON SLASH, SHAKE HANDS! C’MON SLASH, SHAKE HANDS! =

And with a grin behind his helmet Eric finished with, “And It’s time to end the first act,” Before shaking the WSG’s hand.

=HURRICANE; SLASH STRIKE! FUU, FUU, FUU~! FUU, FUU, FUU~! =

Emerald colored wind began to gather around the WSG’s blade as spell/rune circles also formed around it, concentrating Wizard’s mana into a final attack. The next second, the Rider spun around slashing at the Kaijin which created a tornado of wind that quickly captured it.

“Rider Ougi!” Wizard whispered which everyone could hear before slashing forward and up as he release a large discus made of emerald wind that look faintly like a shuriken shouting, “TENKU NO MAI!”

The shuriken shaped discus slammed into the Kaijin cutting him over a thousand times before exploding in a fiery blaze which thankfully burned up all of its blood.

With the monster gone, all of the ponies there quickly raced up to the Kamen Rider congratulating him on defeating the monster.


[End Blessed Wind]


Wizard of Hope


Back with Nightmare Moon, the demonic Alicorn raged as she saw her minion defeated and once again threw the water basin to the side in rage. “DAMN THAT KNIGHT!!!” she shouted as Princess Luna chuckled inside her head increasing her anger. “Fine then,” she said as calmly as she could with thunder still in her eyes, “to defeat that knight and stop those ponies from gaining the elements, I will need to enter the fray myself.”

And with that, Nightmare’s mane/tail wrapped around her as she transformed into smoke before quickly dashing to the Ancient Castle. As she did, Luna sent a small pray to her mother that her sister’s chosen and friends will free her from the prison she was in.


Wizard of hope


As Nightmare moon rushed to our heroes, Twilight was commenting on what they saw. “I never seen a monster like that before,” she said as Eric switched his Hurricane Ring for the Flame one.

“If I’m sadly right,” Wizard replied as he reset the Hand Author to Transformation mode, “Then our fight may have gotten much more complicated.”

“Huh?” was Applejack’s reply, “What cha mean by that?”

=FLAME, PLEASE! HI. HI. HI, HI, HI! =

“What I mean,” The Rider continued after transforming into Flame Style, “Is that we are not dealing with a demon but something worse.”

That stunned all of the ponies as Rarity asked, “What in the world could be worse than a demon?!?!”

“A Horror,” was her reply. “A Horror is a being created from darkness whose main food is the body and soul of a human –and probably any sentient being.” Hearing the girls’ gasp he trudged on not wanting to taint their minds with more information but also not wanting to lie to them, “They are unable to live in sunlight and have to inhabit objects to stay alive until they find a host. Then they will entice the poor fool into releasing it before devouring their soul and taking resident in the body making it into a meat puppet in a sense.”

Both Rarity and Fluttershy fainted when they heard that while the other girls’ went white with terror and disbelief –even Pinkie Pie’s mane/tail deflated when she heard that. Twilight on the other hand tried to be a bit positive.

“Is there a way to save the Moon Princess?” she asked hoping beyond hope that there was.

A sad sigh was a prelude to her answer, “I would not bet on it since it is extremely rare for a soul to survive being devoured by a Horror and if they do, they rarely last for more than a few minutes before dying.” Seeing the looks of despair in their face, Wizard tried to lift their spirits. “That is what normally happened, but since the one being controlled is an Alicorn there may be a chance to save her. She’s even more likely to survive if we use the Elements of Harmony to burn out the Horror while healing the Moon Princess.”

That quickly got everyone’s mood back up as Twilight's eyes took on a determined shine. “Then that’s our plan. Find the Elements of Harmony, figure out how to use them, and save the Moon Princess from the Horror.”

All of the ponies, including Rarity and Fluttershy –after they had be roused- nodded in agreement with the same determination in their eyes as well. With that, Wizard and Applejack marched over to the castle door and with a great heave, opened them wide. As the moonlight entered the room, every-pony/one could only marvel at the sight before them. Despite the Main Hall of the castle being overrun by vines, moss and the weather, it was still mostly intact; about eighty percent or so. Even some of the stained glass windows were still intact or mostly intact.

“Unbelievable,” Wizard whispered as he walked through the hall.

“This castle has seen over a thousand years of weather, and other phenomenons,” Twilight whispered just loud enough for everyone to hear, “Yet it seems like it’s only been overrun just recently.”

After a bit more sightseeing, everyone decided to get back to work, “Alright, since we don’t know what the Elements look like so we’ll need to split up. Since we have an uneven number, I can go by myself while the rest of you split up. Sound good?”

“I don’t like this Eric,” Rainbow Dash replied with a slight scowl, “You're the only one that can hold off Nightmare Moon fs she appears before we get the Elements.”

“I know; but we'll be able to find clues quicker if we split up,” The Rider reasoned causing the ponies to nod reluctantly before they split up. Twilight paired up with Applejack and Fluttershy, while Rainbow Dash went with Rarity and Pinkie Pie, and Wizard went in his own direction.

A couple of minutes had passed since the group split up and the Kamen Rider rookie was starting to get worried. He had searched as best he could for any clues to the Elements of Harmony but had come up empty. As he was about to check another hallway, a small beam of light caught his eye and he went to investigate. Behind a partly opened door was an extremely beautiful sword that reminded him of a few blades his had seen in an Anime Otaku but different. The blade was shaped to look like a Unicorn’s horn colored in a soft white while the cross-guard molded to look like sky blue wings. The grip on the other hand had tiny countless green vines stamped into the grip while a holographic rainbow colored sphere was nestled into the pommel.

And let’s not forget the room, which seemed untouched by time or the elements. Behind the sword –which was partly embedded into a stone pedestal like the Master Sword- were three stained glass windows. The left window held a picture of a white Alicorn with a pink mane, a yellow sun above her as if she was raising it towards the heavens while the right one had a dark blue Alicorn pointed towards the earth with a crescent moon she seemed to be setting.

While those windows were nice looking, it was the middle one that caught Wizard’s attention the most. It held two figures in it, one small figure standing in front of a larger one, with the smaller figure wearing some kind of red or crimson clothing and silver hair, holding the sword in front of themselves by the handle as if saluting someone. The larger figure looked similar to a samurai wearing full armor that was colored in light black, yellow, and crimson with hints of gray at the elbows, knees, and neck. In it’s right hand –resting on the same shoulder- was a HUGE sword that reminded the Rider of the anime famous Zanbato.

After staring at the window for some time –since he felt a sense of familiarity to the figures somehow- he went back to the sword and slowly began to walk towards it. As he did so, the Flame and Hurricane Rings began to glow along with the Hand Author which the Rider ignored, focused entirely on the sword. At least until Rainbow Dash’s voice broke him out of his trance.

“Hey Eric; We Found The Elements!!!”

Shaking himself back to reality, Wizard quickly raced towards the Main Hall where the checkpoint was set, pushing the sword and room to the side for the moment. After a minute of running, the Rider finally reached the place just as Twilight knelt down in front of a set of bowling ball sized stone orbs with gems cut into it. As he entered the hall, a dark blue and purple mist suddenly appeared and started circling the Elements! Twilight cried out in shock when she saw that quickly getting the attention of the other ponies who decided to wait outside as the Canterlot Mare tried to awaken the Five Elements and bring forth the Sixth one.

Without even thinking, both Twilight and Wizard jumped into the tornado of magical mist just as the rest of the gang reentered the main hall.

“Twilight/Eric!” They shouted as the two vanished right in front of their eyes.

“Where did they go?!?!” Rainbow Dash asked/shouted as all five ponies began to search any clues as to their friends' disappearance. It wasn’t until they heard a loud explosion that they ran outside and saw smoke/fire coming out of a newly made hole in one of the towers.

“Come on!” Applejack ordered and they all started to haul flank to the tower hoping they got there in time.


A minute earlier


As Twilight and Wizard rode the portal, both magic users landed with a burst of smoke and light causing the Canterlot mare to cough a few times as she landed on her belly while the Rider to a knee to keep stable. Both of them looked up and gasped when they saw Nightmare Moon standing a few yards away on a slightly raised circular platform; the Elements hovering in her mane’s grip.

Standing up, both magic users looked at each other before nodding then glared at the villain. Twilight began to paw the ground, ready to charge while the Rider summoned his sword once more.

“You’re kidding…” Nightmare asked in a deadpan voice as she lowered the only weapons to her defeat down, “You’re kidding right?”

Neither hero said anything as Twilight's horn began to glow with magical energy before they charged as one. Nightmare Moon decided to answer them by returning the charge, just as planned. As they were feet away from clashing, Twilight instantly vanished stunning the Horror possessed Alicorn long enough for Wizard to slam a roundhouse kick to her face sending her flying to the side.

“I’ll keep her busy Twilight!” he shouted to the unicorn mare that reappeared in the circle of Elements, “You try to awaken the Elements.”

Unfortunately Twilight didn’t get time to answer since Wizard was suddenly put on the defense as Nightmare Moon fired some magic missiles at him. Rolling to the side, the Rider returned the volley with one of his own courtesy of the WSG forcing the Horror to dodge as well, not wanting to get hit by the bullets again.

"What kind of Makai Knight are you, using guns to defeat me?” Nightmare asked as she summoned and fire more missiles at the warrior who dodged.

“I’m not a Makai Knight,” Wizard replied with a roar as he opened up the hand on the WSG causing it to sing.

=C’MON SHOOTING! SHAKE HANDS!=

“I’m a Kamen Rider!” He finished as he powered up the WSG once again with his Flame Ring.

=FLAME; SHOOTING STRIKE! HI, HI, HI! HI, HI, HI!=

Multiple rune circles began to appear at the end of the WSG’s barrel, gathering heat into as Wizard quickly took aim, and fired shouting, “RIDER-RYU: ENDAN!”

A second later Wizard let loose a giant fireball almost point blank on Nightmare who barely dodged it. As it flew past her, it burned off a good chunk of her armor/body revealing the Alicorn Mare underneath before it hit the wall, exploding violently. Suddenly, WSG shattered as the sword it came from could not handle two Strike Attacks in such a short period of time.

This gave the Horror the opening she needed to heal then quickly teleported to Twilight who was close to awakening the Elements before she was knocked away. Wizard quickly jumped, catching the young unicorn before she landed and the two watched as the Elements started to spark with power.

“NO!!!” Nightmare shouted in shock while her prisoner mentally cheered.

Suddenly the aura around the Element vanished stunning both heroes and the Alicorn prisoner along with the Horror. Soon Nightmare began to chuckle before a quickly turned to evil laughter. A second later she rose up on her hind legs and slammed her front hooves into the ground shattering the elements to the astonishment of the heroes.

“You little foals,” she sneered gleefully, “Thinking you could defeat me! Now you will never see your princess or your sun. The night will last FOREVER! And soon I will summon my brethren into this world and we shall feast on all the souls in Equestria and beyond! No one will be able to stop us!!!”

“URUSAI!!!” Wizard shouted in rage as he placed Twilight down and stood defiantly in front of Nightmare Moon, “I will not allow you to do as you please to this world!!!”

 “Please,” the Horror scoffed, “what can you do? You yourself admitted that you are not a Makai Knight and your only weapons against me have been destroyed!”

“Even if I don’t have my WizardSwordGun, I can still fight you.” The Rider countered, “As long as my soul burns brightly, and my heart cries out for justice I will continue to fight to the bitter end! I will be this planet’s last hope as long as there are beings who cry out for help! That is my oath both as a Ring Mage AND A KAMEN RIDER!!!”

Not a second later Wizard’s Connect Ring began to shine brightly startling everyone. With a shaking hand, the Rider took off the D-On ring and slid the shining ring on before setting the WizarDriver to Spell Mode. Then, with hope in his heart, he scanned the ring.

=CONNECT; PLEASE!=

The Rune Circle appeared beside Wizard as normal before the Rider plunged his hand into the portal, grasping whatever was on the other side and began to pull. For a second, whatever was on the other side would not budge until, with a loud roar, the Rider put all of his magic, heart, and soul into pulling out the object which finally gave way. He twisted around on his heels before coming to a stop facing the Horror while holding the sword he found just a few minutes ago out in front of him in a salute.

“Wow,” Twilight whispered in awe at the beautifully crafted weapon despite knowing virtually nothing about swords.

“What in the Messiah’s name is that?!?!” Nightmare Moon shouted in shock as she did all she could not to stumble back feeling the pure energies surrounding the blade.

The Princess inside of the Horror was just as shocked as her sister’s chosen but for an entirely different reason. ‘Big Brother’s sword; UniTenKo!!!’ She thought with her own jaw on the floor in shock.

Wizard was just a shocked as Twilight was but quickly recovered, spinning the sword around in his hands before taking a stance. A second later both heroes began to hear a few familiar voices calling out to them.

“Hang on Eric, Twilight!” Rainbow Dash shouted from the stairs behind Twilight.

“Don’t worry, we’re coming!” Applejack hollered up as she raced towards her friends along with the other mares.

“Time to act like a bunch of Big Damn Heroes!” Pinkie added.

Twilight’s eyes went wide as she heard their voices coming up the stairs…and a spark ran through her body as her mind finally pieced the last part of the puzzle together.

With courage that stemmed not only from her friends, but also from the Kamen Rider beside her, Twilight began to stand up to the Horror as her friends quickly stepped up to her and Eric’s side. "You think you can defeat the Elements of Harmony just like that? Well you're wrong! Cause the Elements of Harmony, are right here!"

Suddenly, as if triggered by Twilight’s words, the shards that were once the Elements –or rather the Artifacts connected to them- began to glow, rising up as they hover around the scared Horror.

"Applejack,” Twilight started as her friends looked at her in shock –except for Eric who was focused on the Horror-, “who reassured me when I was in doubt, represents the Element of Honesty!" Suddenly the fragments of the Stone of Honesty began to glow orange before flying over to Applejack, circling around her like a planet’s moons.

"Fluttershy,” the Canterlot Mare continued, “Who tamed the Manticore with her compassion, represents the Element of Kindness!" Next the Stone of Kindness’ shards glow a light magenta as they fluttered around Fluttershy who looked a little nervous but stayed strong nonetheless for her friends.

"Pinkie Pie, who vanquished fear by giggling in the face of danger, represents the Element of Laughter!" The sky blue Shards of Laughter hovered around Pinkie Pie who hopped excitedly a few times before taking her own stance.

"Rarity, who comforted a sorrowful serpent with a meaningful gift, represents the Element of Generosity!" Purple Shards of Generosity began to float around the elegant mare as a brief look of sadness cross her eyes before glaring at the now worried Nightmare Moon.

"And Rainbow Dash, who could not abandon her friends for her owns heart’s desire, represents the Element of Loyalty!" finally the crimson Shards of Loyalty glided around the speedy Pegasus who smiled and looked with pride at Nightmare Moon, now in a small state of panic.

"The spirits of these five ponies got us through every challenge you threw at us Horror!” Twilight finished as the seven friends ready themselves for a fight to free Equestria and the Moon Princess from their respective prisons.

"You still don't have the Sixth Element!” Nightmare Moon countered, as she tried her best to keep her cool despite the worry that gnawed at her soul, “The spark didn't work!"

"Oh, but it did; just was not a spark of magic that was needed," Twilight replied as she turned towards the other ponies and Kamen Rider as she confessed, "I felt it the very moment I realized how happy I was to hear you, to see you, saw how much you cared about me despite only knowing me for less than a day… and how much I care about you in return.” With that, Twilight turned back towards Nightmare Moon as she spoke with a tone of finality, “The spark that ignited inside me when I realized you are all my friends, was the one needed to unlock the Elements of Harmony!!!”


[Kamen Rider Wizard Debut OST]


Suddenly, a bright light began to shine above Twilight which dimmed to reveal the final Artifact of Harmony, waiting for its Element to guide it. “You see Nightmare Moon, when those Elements are ignited by the spark of friendship that resides in the heart of us all, it creates the sixth Element: the Element... of Magic!"

With those words, the Artifacts began to shine brightly in their new colors as they changed. The Shards gathered round the necks of the five Ponyville ponies forming gold necklaces around their necks each with a gem the same color as their aura and shaped like a part of the ponies’ Cutie Marks. Twilight’s Artifact also transformed but instead of a necklace it turned into a beautiful tiara with the large rose colored six point star on the top.

As the Artifacts changed, Eric’s Rings and Wizard Driver began to glow crimson red before the sword he was hold also glowed then transformed into the WizardSwordGun to the Rider’s shock. Twilight on the other hand knew what was going on thanks to her Artifact.

“And another thing Nightmare Moon,” She added as all the ponies felt the powers of the Artifacts run through their bodies, “there is one more Element that few ponies know about; an Element that Eric knows very well.”

Wizard’s eyes widen behind his helmet before they hardened as he held his left fist up high, Flame Ring pointed to sky. A second later, the Elements of Harmony released a large Rainbow of Energy up into the heavens before curving down and towards the Rider. It hit the Flame Ring which began to absorb it as Eric explained.

“The Seventh Element of Harmony…” the Rider stated as his body began to glow with a Rainbow Aura, “the one that binds the Six Elements together, and lends them its power when they are at their lowest. The Element that can only be wielded by someone who has faced the darkest depths of their own despair head on and won...”

“The Seventh Element of Harmony,” the Rider started, changing the WSG to Gun mode as he roared out, “IS THE ELEMENT OF HOPE!!!” with that he pulled the thumb on the new WSG’s Hand Author as it began to sing.

=C’MON SHOOTING! SHAKE HANDS!=

“Prepare yourself Horror!” Wizard shouted as she shook the WSG’s hand, “CAUSE IT’S TIME FOR THE FINALE!!!”

=HARMONY; SHOOTING STRIKE! HI, HI, HI! HI, HI, HI!=

With a growl, Wizard aimed the WSG at Nightmare Moon as the small rune circle reappeared but now in a rainbow color with similar colored flames gathering at the tip of the barrel. The Horror tried to escape but Princess Luna used the last of the magic under her control to hold the Kaijin in place as the Rider roared out his newest attack…

“RIDER OUGI: NANAIRO BAKUNETSU SHOOT!!!!”

Pulling the trigger, Wizard released a huge column of rainbow colored flames as it quickly ate up the distance between the heroes and Horror. Before she knew it, the Rainbow Fire hit Nightmare Moon and began to tear her off of the Moon Princess which healed the Alicorn at the same time. Nightmare tried to latch back onto her unwilling host or anything for that matter; but the Holy Flames of Harmony disallowed that and soon the monster parasite was burned to ashes as a bright light shined with its destruction, knocking everyone out.



> Revelations Near and Far
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


My Little Pony: Wizard of Hope


Chapter 4


Revelations Near and Far


Eric groaned as he slowly sat up from lying on the cold floor of the castle. He didn’t really know what happened after he pulled the trigger and released what could only be called a rainbow colored wave motion gun then bright lights before darkness. As he sat up, he felt something in his unarmored hand and looked to see the sword his Connect Ring had summoned shining softly in the moonlight.

“Ugh, my head,” the mage heard Rainbow Dash groan behind him and looked to see all of his friends on the floor, slowly getting up.

“Every-pony okay?” Applejack asked as she looked around until they all heard Rarity shout in shock and relief.

“Oh Thank Goodness!!!”

Everyone looked to see the fashionista all but admiring her regrown tail with sparkles in her eyes.

“Why Rarity,” Fluttershy commented softly, “It’s so lovely.”

“I know,” the white unicorn mare replied as she almost worshiped her newly regrown tail, “I will never part with it again!”

The shy Pegasus just shook her head, “No, your necklace…It looks just like your Cutie Mark.”

Rarity looked down at her neck and saw that she indeed did have a new accessory, and was not the only one with it, “So does yours.”

Fluttershy gasped with a happy shock at her new necklace with the coral pink butterfly twinkling in the moonlight.

All the other girls commented on their new necklaces while Twilight just smiled happily at the tiara gracing her head. Then Rainbow Dash looked over at a standing Eric and saw the sword in his hand.

“Cool sword Eric!” she commented causing the others to look at the strange blade.

“I hope I get to keep it,” The human replied with a smile as he held the blade up to the moonlight, “It was able to hold up against that supercharged Strike Attack.”

A few seconds later Twilight gasped as she looked at the platform that Nightmare Moon once stood on. There, lying in the middle of the platform was the Alicorn mare Rainbow Dash and Eric saw. Everyone/pony quickly ran to the fallen princess with Eric sliding his new sword it his old sheath by habit. The human was the first one there as he slid on his knees to a stop near the mare and gently placed her head on his lap.

“Is she alright?” Applejack asked as the rest of them quickly gathered around the Alicorn and Rider as Fluttershy and Twilight began to look her over for any injuries.

After a few minutes, Fluttershy looked up with a small smile, “She’s just fine; probably exhausted from having that thing possessing her.”

“The Princess’ Mana is slowly charging as well,” Twilight added as she used one of the few spells she knew to check for such a thing. “She’s going to be okay,” She finished with a wide smile on her face.

The others breathed a sigh of relief –especially Eric- before Applejack decided to take the initiative. “Twilight, Ah want to apologize. Ah thought you were spouting a lot a hooey when we came to help you and Eric. But Ah reckon we really do represent the Elements of Friendship.”

A second later a light begin to shine for the eastern windows as a familiar voice said, “Indeed you do.”

The next thing the heroes knew, the sun suddenly began to rise up into the sky then a white orb broke off and slowly floated into the tower before dissipating. As it did, Princess Celestia revealed herself in all her glory, her wings opened wide with her mane and tail floating in an unseen breeze while a small smile graced her lips. All the ponies there bowed to the Princess with Eric doing the same –the best he could with the Moon Princess’ head on his lap- except for Twilight.

Her misty eyes were wide as she saw her mentor standing in front of her alive and well. “Princess Celestia!” she softly said trotting up to the Princess.

“Twilight Sparkle,” the Princess replied back, her own eyes a little misty as she gave her student an equestrian hug, “My faithful student, I knew you could do it.”

Twilight slowly stepped back from the princess as her eyes went from misty to watery as she asked the question that had been burning in her mind and heart since she received Celestia’s letter not two days ago, “Why Princess? Why did you not believe me when I told you that Nightmare Moon was returning and that it was all an old pony’s tale?”

“I did not say that,” the Princess replied –confirming Eric’s suspicions when he heard about the same letter Twilight was talking about- “I told you that you needed to make some friends; nothing more.” She looked up at Twilight’s new friends –who slowly stood up bar Eric himself- as she continued, “I too saw the signs of Nightmare Moon return and I knew that it was you who had the magic inside to defeat her. But you could not unleash it until you let true friendship into your heart.”

She then looked at Eric, or rather the sword on his back, “What I did not expect was for You, Eric, to pull out my brother’s sword UniTenKo from its resting place, and awaken the Seventh Element of Harmony.”

Eric just smiled back as he responded with, “That’s the deal with us Kamen Riders Ojou-sama; we kick reason to the curb and pull off the impossible, even go beyond it at times.”

“Indeed you do,” Celestia said with a smile and slightly watery eyes, “And I am ever grateful that you helped my student free Princess Luna from her inner darkness.”

All the heroes cringed when she said that as Twilight spoke up, “It’s a bit more complicated than that Princess Celestia.”

One of Celestia’ eyebrows rose as she heard that before both of them ascended and her eyes widen when she heard why Princess Luna become the monster she was forced to become. “I never knew,” She said softly as tears formed in her eyes, “An Alicorn’s magic is very receptive to their emotions -more so than a Unicorn's- and I always thought that her sadness towards Our Little Ponies’ reluctance to the night had turned into anger and jealousy. I was right about her sadness; but not about why she had turned into Nightmare Moon.” With a lonely sigh she added, “I have much apologizing to do.”

“No sister,” a voice said from Eric’s lap, “You do not.”

Everyone looked towards the Rider who looked down to see the Moon Princess, Luna, slowly trying to get up on her feet. “Our sadness did turn into anger but we never wanted to harm our subjects. It was only because of the Horror that we did turn against thee.” Tears started to appear in Luna’s eyes as she continued on forward, “We watched as the Horror turned our wish for our subjects to appreciate the night into a Nightmare of an eternal darkness with more of its kind ready to appear and feast on the souls of our subjects and the lands beyond.”

Turning to Eric –who stood up while staying ready to help the still recovering Moon Princess- Luna continued on, “It was only thanks to thy knowledge of the Horror’s enemies, the Makai Knights, that thou was about to look beyond the façade it had placed over itself and see the truth in the darkness.”

“It was not a problem at all Luna-Ojou-sama,” Eric replied with a smile and a wave of his hand, “I was happy to help free you from the Horror’s grasp.”

Celestia stepped forward –prompting Eric to take a few steps back- as she did what she always wanted to do for a thousand years and nuzzled her sister, “Despite that Luna, I still want to forgive you for thinking that your own darkness had taken over all these years.”

Luna smiled, tears in her eyes as she replied with, “Only if thou forgives me sister,” and gave Celestia a long awaited hug which the older Alicorn gladly returned.

Everyone watching smiled brightly as they saw this long awaited reunion until a disturbing question suddenly appeared in Eric’s mind causing his smile to turn into a frown. “I hate to break up the beautiful reunion,” he started as everyone turned to him, “but there’s something I want to know… Why did a Horror appear on this world? They should have only been confined to the Shin Makai and the worlds that the Makai Knights and Priests live in.”

That too worried the other ponies until a voice –very familiar to Eric- spoke to them in a Japanese accent, “I can answer that question for you Kamen Rider Wizard.”

A second later a silver watery veil appeared on one side of the hall confusing the ponies while Eric’s eyes went wide with shock. “A Dimensional Veil!!!” Suddenly the veil swept back taking all of the ponies and Equestria’s first Kamen Rider to another world.


???


In a dusty canyon that looked like it had seen hell, the Dimensional Veil that had grabbed Equestria’s heroes and Alicorn princesses reappeared depositing them onto the dirt.

“Is every-pony Okay?” Applejack asked for the second time that day as all the ponies groaned from the rough ride.

“We are okay,” Luna replied as she got up thanks to Celestia.

“Same here,” Rainbow Dash replied before turning to the only non-pony in the group, “That about you Eric? Eric???”

Every-pony looked to see him in shock as he stared at the pock marked ground in shock. He was unresponsive to any their inquiries as his mind tried to process where they were.

Finally Twilight asked the question that kick started the Rider’s brain, “Where are we?”

“I think I know where we are,” Eric replied after shaking his head with sweat still rolling down his forehead, “I wish we weren’t here.”

Celestia stepped up beside Eric and wrapped a wing around his body to hopefully calm him down as she asked, “do you know where we are?”

It was such a simple question that the Sun Princess was not ready for Eric’s answer, “The World of the Rider War.”

The Ponyville ponies gasped as they heard that while the Princesses and Twilight were confused and concerned. Never the less Eric continued on as his mind tried to process what he was seeing.

“Over twenty two different worlds were forcefully fused together by the evil Dai Shocker with the heroes of each world made to fight each other to the death.” That startled the three ponies that did not know as the Rider continued on. “Dai Shocker’s own monsters joined in the fray confusing the Riders further until one Rider stood up from the rest and defeated both sides of the war; Kamen Rider and Kaijin then sacrificed himself to separate the worlds once again, resurrecting the Riders and allowed Dai Shocker to be defeated permanently.”

A second later the same voice that preceded the groups transportation sounded once again, “A slightly off version of my story; but true nonetheless.”

Eric quickly whipped around to the voice as his eyes widen in shock before hardening as a figure slowly walked up to him and his friends. It was a human slightly taller than Eric with short auburn hair, almond shaped black eyes, and a confident smirk on his face. He wore a crimson sweater with a black trench coat over it, black pants, and shoes with a magenta colored camera hanging from his neck.

Without warning Eric quickly stepped in front of his pony friends summoning his driver as he did so, “So I was right. It was you who sent me to Equestria; Tsukasa Kadoya!”

“Do you know this human?” Celestia asked as every Ponyville pony got into a fighting stance.

“I do,” Eric replied as he readied his Flame Ring for a quick transformation, “He is Kamen Rider Decade, Destroyer and Creator of Worlds!”

At that, Celestia also began to ready herself for combat as Tsukasa stopped a few yards away from them. “Ma, Ma,” He said with his usual smirk, “I’m not here to fight you or your friends Wizard.” He then reached behind his back pulling out a white and silver device that looked faintly like a camera along with a strange white and black book, both of which Eric identified as the DecaDriver and the Ride Booker. Then he did something that startled everyone; tossing them to Eric who fumbled them a bit before Celestia took them into her psychic grip.

Eric looked at Tsukasa weirdly as he asked, “Why did you do that Senpai?”

The older Rider just shrugged as he said, “Maybe I wanted to show you that I mean no harm?”

Before the younger Rider could reply back, Celestia took the reins –figuratively of course, “Why did you send Eric to our world Mr. Kadoya; away from his family and friends?”

Pale could be the only description that fit Eric’s face while Tsukasa’s turned stormy, “If you are talking about those animals that would gleefully beat and abuse their own flesh and blood because of their own mistake he was not even partly responsible for while making him into a slave for their own greedy desires; then yes I gladly would.”

Eric tried his best to glare at the elder Rider for revealing what he did; but the gasps of shock and horror was a bit more of a priority for him.

“Is he right Eric?” Fluttershy asked taking the initiative despite her shyness. A tentative and hesitant nod was her answer which was quickly replied with a variety of faces from the ponies.

Both Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie were utterly crushed by the reason why Eric had those marks on his back. Even the party pony’s ever-curly mane was osculating and threatening to lose its bounce.

Applejack, Rainbow Dash and surprisingly Rarity all had stormy looks of rage on their faces as they too reached the same conclusion but also added in why Eric would sometimes cringe when certain things came up as well as so willing to work for very little at times. All three were thinking of things they would say/do to the monsters if they ever met them.

Celestia and Luna were also beyond angry at what they heard with the youngest sister even more so since Eric helped save her from the Horror’s grasp. Both were wishing that they could ‘talk’ with Eric’s parents about their actions towards the young hero.

The only one not sad or angry was Twilight who had a look of concern on her face and decided to do something. She slowly walked up to Eric –who was trying not to look at anyone at the moment-, rose up on her hind legs, and gave the young Rider what he needed at that moment…A hug. It was something that was totally unlike her but for the moment –and thanks to the last strange few hours- she was willing to roll the dice -so to speak.

Eric’s went wide with shock before they started to water she he wrapped his arms around the pony and just hugged her. A few seconds later, the rest of his friends gathered around him and joined in on the hug. Their warmth –of figuratively and spiritually- started a long needed healing of the young Rider’s damaged heart.

After a while Tsukasa cleared his throat bringing everyone’s attention back to him, “Anyways, I believe you were wondering why a Horror appeared in your world, correct?” Seeing all the nods he continued on, “Well have you ever heard of the Super Hero Wars of Japan Eric?”

The younger Rider thought for a second before snapping his fingers, “That the war where both Kamen Riders and Super Sentai fought each other thanks to the two resurrected super villain groups -Dai-Shocker and Dai-Zangyaku- worked together behind the scene to destroy both sides with you and Captain Marvelous of the Kaizou Sentai Gokaigers pretending to turn traitor only to turn the tide back on the two groups of villains in the end.”

“Super what?” Rainbow Dash asked with a lot of confusion on her face which was reflected on the other ponies faces.

“Super Sentai;” Eric explained, “Are thirty six teams consisting of around five members each which fight organizations and armies like the Kamen Riders but they focus more on teamwork while Rider focus on the saying ‘one person can make a difference’.” He explained a bit more about the Super Sentai to help clear things up more –mainly talking about the two latest teams- before he began to make a connection that Tsukasa had hinted on.

“Are you telling me that the remnants of both super villain groups are starting to come into Equestria?!?!”

“Yes,” Tsukasa admitted causing the ponies to gasp in shock, “When the Kamen Riders and Super Sentai fought the revived Dai-Shocker and Dai-Zangyaku, we had unfortunately missed a few members of each side in the initial conflict. While we have found and defeated a few of them many more had escaped into Equestria or the worlds and countries near it.”

"Then why bring Eric to Equestria?" Applejack had to asked, "I can understand wanting to help him get away from those monsters that I would stomp like I was making mash for cider if I met them." To emphasis this she stomped on the ground actually making a small crater with her astounding strength which had Tsukasa sweat-dropping as he mentally swore never to piss her off without his Decade armor on; hell, maybe not even then.

"Plus he has the heart and courage to actually face down those monsters without a care to his own well being," Rarity added thought a bit reluctantly on the last part, "So why did you bring him to our world?"

"While those were factors in choosing him," Tsukasa admitted after he mentally shook himself out of his stupor, "They were only minor factors compared to the main reason; his knowledge in all things Tokusatsu."

"Huh?"

Tsukasa turned to Eric as he began to explain, "While any Kamen Rider and Super Sentai worth their salt -as you American's put it- know pretty much everything there is to know about their own individual enemies; we know little about those outside of our gallery of rogues and even less to none for the enemies the other Heroes in Japan face."

"You mean like the Horror that took over Luna Ojou-sama?" Eric asked as he thought about some of the other creatures, other Tokusatsu Heroes had faced and shivered a bit.

"Exactly," the Elder Rider confirmed, "thanks to the Super Hero Wars, the multiverse had been revealed to all kinds of monsters. While we can take care of many that try to come to Equestria; there are some that still make it through. We needed someone 'on the inside' to handle the threats as they come without harming any innocent people...or ponies in this case."

"Are you saying we cannot protect our own world, Mr. Kadoya?" Celestia asked with a slight glare.

"You didn't even know your own sister was possessed by a Horror and thought that her magic was the one to transform her," Tsukasa replied smugly making the elder Princess winch while her subjects and little sister glared at him. Ignoring the glares with practiced ease, the Decade Rider continued on, "While your magic may be powerful, There are just some monsters immune to such magic's, like the Phantom inside Eric."

The newest Rider gasped in shock as he heard that, "You're kidding right?"

"Phantom?" Pinkie asked a bit confused, "is that like a ghosty or something like that?"

"No," Tsukasa denied, "A phantom is a monster of despair that is born from a gate -a person with great magical power hidden inside them. When a gate falls into deep despair a phantom is born from within their hearts, killing the gate and taking over their lives. Eric's own heart also gave birth to a Phantom thanks to his parents.

The ponies gasped when they heard that and Twilight quickly asked, "Is there anyway to save Eric from the Phantom." which all of the ponies there including the princesses nodded in agreement. All of the were ready to do anything to save their friend even if he was a new to two of them. that included using the Elements to purify him of the monster while helping him keep his new powers if possible.

"There's no need to worry," the Dimension traveling Rider replied, "Somehow, Eric still had a small ray of hope in his heart when the car he was in crashed. When I summoned him to Equestria during the accident; the magic of this world and the hope in his heart pushed back the phantom, giving him the power of Kamen Rider Wizard. Not what we were going for but it worked out all the same."

"So...He's not going to die" Fluttershy asked her usual shyness pushed back for the moment as she worried about her friend. When Tsukasa shook his head no; Eric was suddenly was in the middle of a group tackle hug as his Ponyville friends Happily hugged him with Twilight also in the mix surprising Celestia.

After a while everyone calmed down as Tsukasa reached behind his back and pulled out two suitcases -one smaller than the other- which he handed to Eric. "What are these?" he asked taking the cases before placing bigger case to the side and opening the other. His jaw dropped when he saw eight Wizard Rings nestled into the plush lining of the case.

He instantly recognized six of the eight as PlaMonster Rings -though he only knew of three of them; Garuda, Kraken, and Unicorn- while the other three rings were spell rings -one which he knew. One of the rings reminded him of the DragoRise Ring that was next to it but with a strange armored samurai rising from the ground with a roar instead of a dragon. The other ring Eric had no clue about since the only thing that hinted what it was... an emblem of a silver key.

Rainbow Dash flew up to Eric's side and looked inside the case, "What are those?"

"These six Right here," Eric explained, "Are PlaMonster rings; they are the familiars a Ring Mage uses to find Phantoms and other things while the dragon ring allows me to summon my Phantom under certain conditions. But I'm not too sure about other the spell rings."

"Those two are sealed at the moment," Tsukasa explained, "But they will come in handy later. Also those extra PlaMonsters are from the White Wizard."

"White Wizard?" Celestia asked with a raised eyebrow.

"You could say he's my elder when it comes to Ring Mage Magic Celestia Ojou-sama." Eric explained as he took the three new PlaMonster rings out, closed the case, and placed the first of the new rings one after he set the case down. Than with a deep breath, scanned the ring.

=Kitsune, Please! =

As the ring went to work; a burnt orange tray of plastic model pieces appeared in front of Eric before the pieces separated themselves from the tray and began to arrange themselves into a model of a nine tailed fox with a silver body and feet. With a shaking hand, Eric took off the Kitsune Ring and placed it -band first- into a slot on the front of the fox's body. Once the ring was placed, the tray vanished as the model soon came to life and landed cat like on the ground.

"Awe, how cute!" Fluttershy squealed along with the other girls -minus Rainbow Dash who just cried out how awesome it was- as the little plastic fox yipped happily, bouncing around the hooves of the ponies.

Eric smiled brightly as he looked at the PlaMonster playing with Pinkie -who got ahold of the kitsune and was playing keep away with the other ponies while cuddling it- before looking at the other two PlaMonster Rings. One of them was shaped like a dark blue Hydra but with a snake's body and wings on it's back while the second ring was a violet bird that reminded Eric of the Phoenix on Kamen Rider OOO TaJaDol's chest.

"What's in the other case?" Pinkie asked as she somehow teleported to the unopened case -giving Kitsune to Fluttershy somehow- and did just that. Inside were six uncut gems nestled inside the case's lining; all of them orange.

"Just some Magic Stones that you may not find on Equestria," Tsukasa replied with an uncaring shrug as Celestia and Twilight stared at the rare magic filled stones in shock. "Now if you give me back my Driver and Ride Booker, I'll send all of you back to Equestria."

"Um, Senpai," Eric interrupted Tsukasa shyly, "Do you think once everything is done with in Equestria or at least calmed down some with the Kaijin, we can have a spar?"

Tsukasa blinked a few times in shock before smirking. "Well this is a first, " he said as Celestia gave him back his items, "Maybe once you reach your full potential -not just as a Kamen Rider but also as an Element of Harmony- then we'll see."

With that he re-summoned the dimensional Veil which all the ponies walked into along with Eric -who was more than a bit ecstatic with the future spar with one of his favorite Riders. Except for Celestia who stopped just before the Veil and turned to Tsukasa.

"While I am thankful that you want to protect My Little Ponies from threats outside our world," the Solar Princess said with a smile before quickly turned into an icy power filled glare, "Please refrain from kidnapping anyone, especially my subjects; unless you want a 1,000 year trip to the moon."

And with that she walked through living a sweating Tsukasa who mentally swore never to do that before creating his own way home.


Equestria


Back in Equestria; Eric, his friends, and the two Princesses found themselves back in the Ancient Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters where Luna's Horror filled nightmare finally ended. As everyone/pony talked about what they had just learned -with the Ponyville ponies a bit skitty talking with the princesses- until Pinkie gasped.

"I just remembered something!!!" she shouted getting everyone's attention, "there is still one very important thing to do. Celebrate Princess Luna's freedom from the Horror and that calls FOR A PARTY!!!"

"Indeed," Celestia replied with a smile, "Shall we head back to Ponyville?"

"I think Pinkie's already ahead of you," Eric replied with a smirk as everyone turned to where Pinkie was, only to see a cloud of pink smoke in her place which slowly dissipated to reveal that she was already gone.

Twilight's jaw was on the ground in shock as she asked while absently following everyone out of the castle, "How did she do that?!?!"

"Pinkie and the laws of physics don't really like each other," Eric explained with a shaky smile which just confused the unicorn mare until they reached the front of the castle and pushed her questions to the side. Outside the castle, three carriages pulled by two armored Pegasi each stood with two of them normal carriages for Eric and his friends to ride in while the last one was opened to allow both Princesses to stand and present themselves.

Soon as everyone piled into the carriages, the Pegasi took off while Eric and his month old friends all happily talked about what happened last night with Twilight also entering the conversation willingly. A few minutes later, the carriages landed and revealed that Pinkie had easily reached Ponyville first and gotten everything ready in her usual record time. All the ponies in the town had gathered close to the Evergreen forest where a happy Spike tried to tackle hug Twilight as she got out of the carriage.

As the Princesses climbed down from their carriage, everyone/pony bowed down to them. Celestia took it in with a smile as she usually did; but Luna was still sad about what the Horror did while in possession of her body. Thankfully Pinkie had -somehow- already told all the ponies in town what really happened to Luna and to the Moon Princess' shock found two little Pegasi foals placing a large ring of flowers around her neck. Luna was in shock at the ponies forgiving her for what happened -despite the whole mess not being her fault- and could not stop the wide tear filled smile that slowly formed on her face.

After a quick speech from Princess Celestia acknowledging what happened -and a few other things- the party got underway. The ponies and Eric happily ate, drank, and talked as they celebrated both the longest day of the year and the return/release of Princess Luna. As the day wore on and the party slowly wine down, Twilight started to realize something that saddened her.

"Why so glum My Faithful Student," Princess Celestia asked as she saw Twilight's gloomy face, "Aren't you happy your quest is complete and you can return to your studies in Canterlot?"

"That's just it,” Twilight quickly replied as the gravity of the situation hit her, "just as I find out how wonderful it is to have friends; I have to leave them."

[Kamen Rider fourze OST #1 - Cosmic Energy]

Celestia saw what Twilight was saying, but before she could do anything... Eric walked up and lightly bopped the unicorn on the head.

"Baka," he said with a smile as the Canterlot mare lightly rubbed her lightly bruised head, "When it comes to friendship, distance does not mean a thing." As Eric continued on, he knelt down to Twilight's level getting her full attention, "Just because we may be going down different paths or were not altogether all the time; it doesn't not mean the power or bonds of friendship fade. As long as you believe in the path you take and keep the friendship you made with your own two hooves in your heart, gripping them tightly; we will always be there beside you, either in spirit or in person. If you avoid friendship out of fear is meaningless; but it you put your faith in it and accept what will happen be it in the future or present...there's no better power to have on your side."

Twilight's eyes watered along with all the other ponies listening before she quickly grabbed Eric in a big hug with all of her other new friends joining in right behind her.

The Solar Princess could not help but smile as she heard those words. "Eric is right Twilight Sparkle, Friendship is not measured in distance; rather in the tight bonds you make. But if it is distance you are worried about I have a solution." With that she turned to Spike as she ordered, "Spike, take a note please." As the baby dragon pulled out his writing equipment for behind his back -and probably a subspace pocket-, Celestia began to dictate.

"I, Princess Celestia, hereby decree that the unicorn, Twilight Sparkle, shall take on a new mission for Equestria. She must continue to study the magic of friendship and report to me her finding whenever they appear from her new home in Ponyville!"

All the gathered ponies cheered happily as they gained a new member of their community with Twilight soon at the receiving end of a group tackle hug by her new friends.

"Also," Princess Celestia continued, "Eric Pendragon; please step forward and kneel."

Eric disengaged himself from the group hug he was in and stepped up to the solar princess, kneeling as he did so while quite confused along with the other ponies. Except for Princess Luna who gasped at what her sister was about to do.

"For your bravery in protecting Ponyville from the rogue griffons and helping my student Twilight Sparkle save my sister, Princess Luna, from the monster known as a Horror alongside her friends; I here by knight you, Sir Eric Pendragon," Celestia said as she tapped her horn on both of Eric's shoulder as he knelt there stunned. "I grant you all the privileges of a knight and responsibilities so that you may defend us from all of Equestria's enemies be they foreign, domestic, or otherwise. I also grant you the title of Kamen Rider Wizard: Mystic Knight of Equestria!"

As the words sunk into the minds of all the ponies; they began cheering just as loudly if not louder than before as Eric became the recipient of a group tackle hug. Never in Ponyville's history has any-pony been knighted that had been from the small town; even if the recipient wasn't a pony. As Princess Celestia signed the decree with Princess Luna at her side at long last; both of them felt the winds of change blow once more in a direction that was different than any they felt before. Excited could not even begin to describe how they felt about the new era they were entering as both tried to imagine what was to come. 


> Imajin Samurai, Golden Tickets, and Apple Bucking
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


My Little Pony: Wizard of Hope


Chapter 5


Imajin Samurai, Golden Tickets, and Apple Bucking


It has been almost a month since Eric, and his friends saved Princess Luna from the Horror that had possessed her, and since then a few things have changed. Twilight had fully moved into Ponyville and settled down in Golden Oaks Library as both it's resident and librarian. Once she was fully moved in, Pinkie threw a housewarming party for her at Eric's house where he introduced them to Tokusatsu and Anime along with a few movies he had from America; just to give them a taste of what may be coming as well as what he usually watched. What really surprised them was when Pinkie recognized one of the characters.

"So that's where you go Haruhi Suzumiya!" she shouted when the eccentric brown haired school girl appeared on the screen.

"You know Haruhi?!?!" Eric asked, quite stunned.

"Well duh," Pinkie said with a roll of her eyes, "I play poker with her, Deadpool, and a few others that come and go every Saturday night!" Then she pouted as everyone/pony gasped in shock at her, "I still think she a huge troll for making her friends believe she doesn't know about her world warping powers. She has more control over them than anyone thinks she does."

Despite that mind blowing incident, things progressed quite smoothly until Princess Celestia -after he went to Canterlot to meet with the captain of the castle guards- asked Eric to go to Fillydelphia and investigate reports on a monster sighting. After a day-and-a-half day long train trip, he found that there were not one Kaijin but rather two of them. He discovered this when he met a small orphan Pegasus filly that seemed to be centered around the reports. After a little digging he discovered that the filly was a host to an Imajin; a race of monsters that were different from other Kaijin.

Unlike normal Kaijin that are nothing more than destruction and chaos incarnate; Imajin are more similar to humans than normal humanoid monsters as in they can decide whether or not they are good or evil. In fact they actually were human once from a distant future. Unfortunately an event in their past -our present- caused them to lose their physical forms turning into normally invisible orbs of golden energy while becoming dependent on the memories of others to survive and gain a body. Once they entered a host they would use their memories to construct a body then forge a contract with the host to bring their new bodies into the real world.

When he found out about the filly's Imagin; the first thing he did was discover what the contract was. Thankfully he found out that the contract was nothing more than a plea for a friend and a protector so he left that Imajin alone. Good thing too because the matron of the orphanage she stayed at -a horrible mare that seemed sweet but terrorized the young fillies and colts when out of the public view- had forged a contract with an evil Imajin to help protect a dark business she was running behind the scenes of the orphanage. The hidden sales of strong colts and fillies to certain groups like the Diamond dogs as slaves.

The moment Eric heard that, he quickly sent a letter to Celestia -via a Wizard Ring the solar princess had forged using some of Spike's magical fire with the help of Luna- who quickly responded and with the evidence Eric gathered along with the pieces the guards in Fillydelphia had collected, raced to arrest the matron and the staff of the orphanage. Unfortunately, the matron had somehow heard about the sting just before it got underway and left as the doors were being smashed down. Eric quickly took off after the Matron and her Imajin partner with the young Pegasus filly right behind him.

And that's where our story starts...

If any pony were to look up into the skies of Fillydelphia, they would have saw something that would have caused them to either swear off booze if they have been drinking or check into the nearest psych ward. Hopping/flying on the rooftop of the city a dark purple middle aged Earth Pony mare trying to escape via purple bat like wings of energy as she was being chased by Kamen Rider Wizard in Hurricane Style and a young Pegasus filly.

And if the sight of a well respected pony running away from those two wasn't enough to get a reaction than Pegasus filly with her light brilliant gamboge mane and moderate cerise mane flying on wings there were twice the size of a filly her age -around ten/eleven years old- with crimson and white streaks in her mane -which had the front bang covering her right eye-, tail,  and wings definitely did. As the filly and Wizard chased down the mare, the little Pegasus began to speak in a voice that definitely didn't fit her.

"Kuso!" she shouted in a male like voice, "That yaro is getting away!"

"I know!" Wizard replied, "If I give you a boot Ichigo, can you bring her down?"

'Ichigo' just smirked and nodded before Wizard quickly boosted forward before he began to slid to a stop as he held his right hand out. The Pegasus quickly jumped into the hand and with power any Football Quarterback would be jealous of, the Rider threw her as he used the power behind his slide plus his Hurricane Ring to throw the filly up and above the Earth Pony Mare.

As the Filly reached her arc, a strange crimson and black energy gathered around her right fore-hoof and with sudden speed, flew down to the Earth Mare just as she reached her own arch. She slammed her energy powered hoof into the Matron's back, quickly sending her to the roof where she rolled until stopped by a rather large brick chimney.

The Pegasus filly easily landed on the roof where her wings suddenly shrunk to a normal size for one her age while Wizard also landed while taking UniTenKo -WSG mode- off his back where it hung like Dante's sword from Devil May Cry thanks to the swords properties when Eric was transformed.

"Hey Ichigo,'" The Rider said as he took a stance beside the filly, "mind helping me take down this baka?"

"With pleasure," 'Ichigo' replied with a grin before the filly's body jerked a bit while gasping as the crimson/white colors vanished and white sand fell off of the Pegasus.

Suddenly the sands began to gather in front of the filly and swirl together to forming a tall humanoid figure before a black and crimson aura formed around it briefly obscuring the figure. When the aura vanished it revealed a tall samurai looking Kaijin that reminded Wizard of the Armor of Halo from the Ronin Warriors series but in crimson and white with a black body suit of armor under it and a full white face mask with golden eyes peering out.

"Scootaloo," the Imajin -Ichigo- replied as he reached behind his back and with a flare of crimson/black energy formed a black Nodachi with crimson triangles on the grip and a small black chain dangling on the pommel, "Get behind something.'

"Right Ichigo!" Scootaloo replied in her normal voice -her front bang curled back instead of forward- with a salute before she scampering behind another chimney but kept her head out to watch the battle.

It was just in time too as sand began spilling out of the Earth Mare which quickly began to collect together and form another humanoid figure but with bat like features in dark purple and blood red armor. To be honest the Imajin reminded Wizard of the Bat Imajin but more fearsome in a way.

"Damn you Kamen Rider," the Bat Imajin hissed with a glare, "And you as well traitor!"

"You were the one who attacked my contract holder and charge," Ichigo replied as he took a stance with his nodachi, "So as her protector and friend, I will not allow you come to any closer to her!"

"Nicely said," Wizard commented as he took his own stance beside the Samurai Imajin, "Sa, Ikuza!"

With that war cry, the two shot forward and began engaging the Koumori-Kaijin. Sparks flew as they heroes suddenly appeared in front of the bat and slashed at him with their respective swords. Stumbling back a few feet, the evil Imajin charged forward and tried to cut his opponents in two with his claws forcing Wizard to dodge to the side while Ichigo blocked with his sword's sheath before attacking once more. Wizard transformed the WSG into gun mode and fired at the Koumori, the silver bullets digging into the monster causing it to screech forcing both heroes to cover their ear.

Seeing the two armored people incapacitated, the Bat Imajin took to the skies to escape. wizard saw the escaping Kaijin and quickly put on his newest ring. This one had an image of a foot covered in silver flames with a dragon forming out of the flames below the foot. Quickly switching his WizarDriver to spell mode, Wizard scanned the ring.

= Chou Iine! Kick Strike! SAIKOO~! =

As the Driver spoke, Wizard jumped high into the air as he shouted, "Hissatsu Waza!" catching the Imajin's attention as he looked back and saw an emerald green spell ring appear between Wizard and himself as the human held his right leg out while tucking his left leg in going for a flying front kick. The second his foot touched the ring, Wizard was shot out of it and towards the Kaijin with sharp emerald green winds swirling around him like a drill as he shouted, "STRIKE HURRICANE KICK!!!"

The evil Imajin only had time to scream as he was pierced through by the wind powered kick than destroyed in an explosion of flames sending his mind and spirit back to the Sands of time. As Wizard landed on the building across from where the battle started, he let off a "Whew," glad that the mission was over -or soon to be...

Back over at the previous roof, the Matron slowly woke up and instantly felt the connection she had with the Imajin vanish. Slowly she tried to escape her future punishment only to see Ichigo in front of her with his Nodachi on his shoulder. Quickly she reversed her direction only to see Scootaloo behind her ready to fight herself despite the size difference. For a second, the Matron thought she could slam the small filly away to distract the good Imajin until a couple of Pegasus guards appeared by the filly's side scratching that idea.

At the same time, Wizard appeared on the only open side as he pointed his WSG gun at the Matron, "Now then, For your crimes against Equestria and it's citizens, You are under arrest!"

A few minutes later, Eric and Scootaloo -with Ichigo back inside her but not in control- watched as the evil Matron and her employees were hauled away in the equestrian style "paddy wagon".  The small Pegasus filly could not help but give the matron a Japanese Red Eye with a “Nyyyyaaah!” then laugh as the idiot fell for it, banging on the bars of the wagon furiously before being beaten down by the guards inside.

"Well that was fun," Eric sighed happily stretching his back to get the kinks out as he turned to watch the remaining orphans finally get the care they deserved.

"Yeah," Scootaloo said as the situation slowly started to sink in as her crimson/white striped cerise mane covered both of her eyes instead of just her right when Ichigo was inside her.

The Rider saw the sad filly and quickly knelt down to her, "Hey what's wrong?" he asked, only getting mumbles for his answer.

"I don't want you to leave," Scootaloo finally said loud enough with a bit more prodding as she looked up into Eric's eyes, tears gathering in her own.

Eric looked at the filly shocked as she looked back down at the ground before a strange look crossed his face. He called one of the workers over and to Scootaloo's shock asked a question she never thought she would hear.

"How can I go about adopting Scootaloo?"


Time Skip


On a train heading for Ponyville, Eric smiled as he watched Scootaloo taking a nap with her head on the Rider's lap, a happy smile on her face. When he asked the social worker about adopting Scootaloo, both filly and mare were very shocked. For a few moments, the worker tried to dissuade him from doing so until he pulled the Knight card and got her to change her mind.

A few minutes later the train finally pulled into the station and Eric walked onto the platform, his B.O.B. over his shoulder while he pulled a small roller suitcase with Scootaloo's things -not that she had many sadly enough-, the energetic Pegasus Filly behind him.

"This is awesome!" She cried out as she looked over the small town having never left Fillydelphia before, "It's so peaceful here!"

"Yeah," Eric replied as he looked around, starting to get a bit cautious, "A bit too quiet. My friends should have been here. I did send them a note through Spike's flames."

He quickly got his answer when he heard a familiar voice scream out in fear. Without thinking, Eric raced towards the entrance of the station with Scootaloo behind him only to stop in shock as he saw Twilight and Spike running for their lives all shouting about tickets for some reason.

"What is going on?!?!" Ichigo asked as he briefly took over Scootaloo and just as stunned as his contract holder.

"I don't know," Eric replied as he set the suitcase down to the side and replaced his D-On Ring with the Connect Ring and activated it, "But I'm going to find out."


Twilight: 2nd Person POV


Twilight ran for her life with Spike on her back screaming as they were chased by the Gala crazed ponies. Ever since she had gotten them, they had brought nothing but trouble for her; especially for her friends as they were 'patient zero' when it came to the Gala infection. If only Princess Celestia had not sent her those tickets.

[Endless Play by Astronauts Feat. SHINA; Kamen Rider Climax Heroes Fourze OP Version]

Just as she was on her last hooves, a familiar loud metallic roar came from behind the mob along with a loud "UCHU KITA~!" which dared the Canterlot unicorn to look behind her. There, jumping over the crowd, was Eric on the Machine Winger with a small Pegasus filly sitting in front of him whooping in glee. As soon as he landed, the hidden Rider held his hand out shouting, "TWILIGHT!!!"

Holding out her hoof, Twilight screamed as Eric grabbed it and swung her around the front of the bike, depositing her on his back where the Unicorn quickly wrapped her legs around the human who gunned the bike's motor and quickly pulled ahead of the crazed ponies. The Machine Winger ate up the dirt as it flew through the roads of Ponyville easily dodging any attempts to grab them either with hooves or magic via skillful swerving. Twilight also helped by using her own magic to push any items that were thrown at Eric away and sometimes even returning them to sender.

Another pack of crazed ponies suddenly appeared in front of the runners but Eric saw something that quickly made him swerve to the right. Twilight and Spike looked ahead of them and started screaming as their human friend quickly raced up a conveniently placed cart and used it as a ramp to jump over the stunned ponies that tried to block them. The wheels of the bike slammed into the ground and began to throw it backwards as they found purchase and quickly got back up to speed. Undeterred the Gala crazed ponies quickly began to chase them as well joining the first group once again.

Eric scowled as he raced through the streets of Ponyville dodging lunges at them from any pony that was near them. One pony even tried from the front as two more came from the sides; but Eric quickly jerked the back wheel to the right and slid under the trio who collided with a sickening 'CRUNCH!'. The Rider quickly straightened the bike and pull forward once more, sliding into a corner to avoid a house that was in their way as they continued running. Suddenly Eric placed his right hand -which still had the Connect Ring on- over his buckle activating it.

=CONNECT, PLEASE!=

The rider then threw his ringed hand in front of him summoning the connect Rune Circle and raced through it. When it closed a second later, the crazed ponies had rounded the corner and saw that their prey was gone, stunning them. On the other side of the Connect Circle -which appeared a few blocks away from the mob- Eric raced out of it and skidded to a stop before turning off his bike allowing everyone/pony to catch their breath.

[End Song]

"THAT WAS AWESOME!!!" ...Well except Scootaloo who was jumping around her big brother as he got off the bike and gently set Twilight and Spike down.

The human rolled his eyes at his little sister's antics as he looked at his friends, "Are you two okay?" he asked as the unicorn and baby dragon regained their breathes.

"Yes," Twilight gasped between gulps of air, "thank you so much for saving us me." the sounds of a throat clearing reminded her of her assistant and quickly backtracked, "I mean, myself and Spike."

"It's nothing," Eric replied before asking the question on his mind, "so what the hell has gotten into the Ponies around here?"

Suddenly Twilight began to blurt out, "Money! Wonderbolts! Party! Prince! Animals!"

"Huh?" Eric and Scootaloo intelligently asked with sweatdrops running down the sides of their heads.

Surprisingly Spike was the calm one of the two as he explained, "This morning Princess Celestia sent Twilight two tickets to the Grand Galloping Gala; a big formal ball that Canterlot hosts once a year. And when the others heard about it, they all started pushing Twilight to choose them." He then began counting the ponies down as he explained each one, "Applejack wants to go in hope of selling her apples there; Rainbow Dash is hoping to meet up with the Wonderbolts and show off to them; Pinkie thinks the Gala is going to be a bigger version of her parties; Rarity wants to go in hope of getting together with a princes, specifically Prince Blueblood," that made Spike scowl remembering the pompous unicorn when he and Twilight were forced to go with Celestia to the princess' meetings, "And finally Fluttershy wants to meet with the animals in Canterlot and befriend them."

Scootaloo blinked a few times before turning to her big brother. "Well that explains what those two tickets were Onii-chan,"  She said using the informal Japanese way of saying big brother.

"You got tickets as well?!?!?!" Twilight and Spike almost shouted in shock.

'"Mmhm," Eric replied with a nod of his head as he got back on the Machine Winger, "Luna-chan sent them to me via the Letter Ring in thanks for helping save her. Anyways, let's get you two home." Unfortunately that plan was tossed down the toilet.

"THERE SHE IS!!!"

The Rider snapped his head towards the only entrance into the alleyway which was quickly filling with the Gala crazed ponies that slowly closing into them, rapidly shouting out favors and promises to the frightened unicorn mare. As they closed in on the group, Twilight soon began to have bad flashback of her life in Canterlot as Celestia's student -some of which scarred her badly. As she began wishing for something to happen, her magic decided to help her with a spell it's master had been working on.

A second later, Twilight's horn began to glow with a magnificent violet aura before both ponies, Spike, Eric and his machine were swallowed up by a bright flash of light. And when it died, all four were gone which caused the ponies to clamor about in shock and fear.


Scene Jump


On the far side of Ponyville, away from the Gala mob, the flash of light that had whisked away out heroes reappeared just outside Golden Oaks library. All four were stunned by what just happened but first things first...

Spike groaned ,his scales slightly blackened from the unexpected teleportation, as he tried to keep upright despite the world spinning, "Warn me next time when you do that..."

"I didn't even know I could do that under stress," Twilight -who was just as cooked- replied as she shook her body to rid it of the soot, "Now let's get inside before those crazy ponies come back, Spike, Eric."

No response...

"Eric?"

Both Canterlot Unicorn and baby Dragon -who also shook himself free of soot- turned towards the Rider and his new charge and winched. Both of them were lying on the ground with swirls in their eyes, a bit more blackened from the sudden teleportation then the other two were with the Machine Winger lying on the ground beside them also blackened. Eric groaned as he slowly sat up, trying to keep the world from spinning himself.

"A little warning would help next time Twilight," the human groaned out along with Scootaloo who was  just as groggy.

"Sorry," Twilight said sheepishly as she helped both of them up and into the library with her magic. A few seconds later, Twilight and Spike began racing around the library turning/blowing out lights while closing and locking all doors. Once all that was done -With Eric and Scootaloo back to normal- the two breathed a sigh of relief as they were now safe...for the moment.

A second later, the lights in the main library came back on revealing the rest of Twilight's and Eric's friend who quickly crowded the Canterlot Mare.

"Give me the ticket Twilight," Applejack half stated, half pleaded, "I need it to raise money to fix up Sweet Apple Acres!"

"No, me!" Dash quickly countered, "I can finally met up with the Wonderbolts and show them my stuff!"

"Pardon me Rainbow Dash," Rarity 'politely' butted in, "but I need the Gala ticket to finally find my prince in Canterlot!"

"I really would like to see the animals in the castle Twilight," Fluttershy quietly yet strongly asked, "So please give me the ticket."

"No me, me!" Pinkie shouted gleefully, "I want to see what a bigger version of my parties is like!!!"

Eric scowled as he quickly saw his friends' -slightly- darker sides; combined with the frantic look on Twilight's face, the Rider quickly decided to intervene. "Cover your ears Scootaloo, Spike," he ordered -which they quickly did- as he took in a deep breath, placed his right index & thumb in the corners of his mouth, and let loose a loud piercing whistle.

"AH!"

"MY EARS!"

"OUCHIE!"

"ARGH!"

"OH MY!"

"WHAT IN TARNATION?!?!"

After a few seconds of whistling, Eric stopped and began catching his breath as his friends regained their hearing. Once they did, the rider quickly got on his soapbox and began speaking before the mares tore into him as his eyes quickly became hard and intimidating while somehow becoming similar to a dragon's.

"Now I may just have gotten back into Ponyville and heard about what has happened; but I can tell you right now all of you -except Twilight- are acting selfishly." that was a big blow to the five Ponyville mares' hearts; but Eric wasn't done yet.

"Applejack, I know you want to bring in more money to help fix up Sweet Apple Acres; but your idea is already in jeopardy even before it got off the ground simply because the Gala will more then likely have food waiting for the guests that is free; and you can't 'compete' with that at all. You could probably give away a few free samples of your farm's apples to entice ponies but that's about it. Plus if you need any help around the farm I'm more then willing to do so by either helping you buy supplies or just lending a hand around the place and you don't even have to pay me a Bit."

The cow-pony winched as she heard that remembering the first few times she had paid Eric for his services to the farm and how he was worried that she had paid him 'way too much' for his time when she had actually paid him the agreed amount plus a little bit extra. Especially when he first set his eyes on the golden coins.

Eric was unknowing of the thought running through his boss' mind as he turned towards Rarity. "Rarity-hime," he began, "I know you want to get together with a member of royalty, but you're heading for a heartache if you go that route. Remember when I briefly went to Canterlot before going to Fillydelphia... Most of the ponies there have their noses in the air so much it's a wonder they didn't have neck problems. And this one pony, Prince Blueblood I think, threatened to throw me into the dungeons just because I wasn't getting out of the carnage fast enough for him. It was only when I revealed my knighthood that he left me alone. If he found out that you are my friend; he's more than likely going to try and hurt you to get to me."

Rarity was stunned by what Eric had revealed, especially about Blueblood and was slightly disbelieving until she remembered that he was always reluctant to keep secret or tell lies. The one time she thought he did -which revolved around him accidentally ruining her mane the first week he was him- he almost went hysterical thinking she was going to hurt or something because she thought he had purposely done it. After she had calmed him down -seeing the look of fear on her friend's face that she had unknowingly sparked really hurt her soul- Rarity allowed him to help her fix her mane; but had to put her hoof down when he tried to offer doing it for a whole week as reprimands for what he had did.

As the look of shock entered the cultured unicorn's face, Eric turned to Fluttershy, "Tenshi-chan, what happened to the kind angel that I helped me in the forest? I know you want to see the animals at Canterlot but using the Gala to do so is the wrong way to go; especially since it has nothing to do with the Gala at all. If you wanted to meet the animals there, you could have asked Twilight or myself to maybe pull some strings to let you see them anytime you wanted."

The kind Pegasus quickly wilted as she felt bad about what she had done since it reminded her of the time she accidentally used one of her abilities on Eric just after he had ruined Rarity's mane and nearly destroyed his then extremely fragile heart. It really hit home when she tried to calm him down with a hug, he tried to escape it thinking she was going to kill him via choking. Only her tears calmed down Eric enough that he understood what the hug was for and shakily returned it until both of them had calmed down. In fact they had fallen asleep during the hug and stayed that was all night allowing the human to have his first full night of sleep in this world without night terrors waking him up.

Finally, Eric turned to Rainbow Dash and Pinkie as he finished his lecture, "As for you two, let me just tell you something... The Gala is a formal event, meaning that most of the ponies there are going to be the high class type like Blueblood and with the ideas you two have, they will frown upon them if not outright throw you out of the Gala. Plus if the Wonderbolts are there and you try to show them your stuff Dash... they're more likely to not let you in if you try to impress them."

Both Dash and Pinkie looked a bit forlorn at what their friend said but kept quiet because of the emotional pain on Eric's face that he felt seeing his friends acting the way they did. It reminded him too much of how his 'parents' would always fight about going off in 'hopes' of finally reaching their dreams only to come back angrier than before and take it out on him.

"Please," The human continued trying to keep strong in front of his charge, "I don't want to see any of my friends use each other to get something like my parents did so many times. I don't want us to break apart because of some petty or easily solved problems. Please..." Eric could not help the tears that started to gather in his eyes and looked down so that they would not see them.

A few seconds later, He gasped when he felt a pair of hooves wrap around his shoulders. "I'm sorry sugarcube," Applejack said sadly as she hugged her friend, "I guess we got so caught up in our own problems and thinking only about ourselves that we didn't see the pain it was causing you and Twilight." With that said, the cow-pony let go of Eric to allow the others to hug him as she turned to Twilight. "Twilight, If it helps you at all; You can give the ticket to somepony else. I don’t need them if they are going to hurt my friends."

The other ponies soon apologized to Twilight as well -including Dash thought with a tiny bit of reluctance- and after a while Twilight decided something. As she had Spike take a letter, Scootaloo trotted over to her big brother and looked at him sadly.

“Sorry you had to see that Scootaloo," Eric said not very proud of himself for breaking as he did, "I was hoping I could go a few days before something like that happened."

"It's okay, Nii-chan," the Pegasus foal replied with a smile as she hugged her brother, "I want to help you as you helped me. So don't hold by on my a...Ac..."

"Account?" Eric supplied getting a smile and nod in return. The two of them then heard Spike briefly breath out fire and turned to see him send a letter off to Celestia. "What did you decide Twilight?"

The Canterlot Mare turned to the human with a smile on her face, "I decided to send back the tickets Eric. If all of my friends' can't go; then I won't go either. Thank you for teaching me that it is better to do something with all of your friends and not force yourself to pick just one to have fun with."

Eric could not help but blush at that before he reached into his jacket and pulled out his two tickets, "Luna-Ojouchan send Scootaloo and Myself a couple of tickets too...but since you guys aren't going, I'll send them back."

"What?" all six adult ponies shouted in shock as Eric continued.

"I really don't know how to act in such a setting and Scootaloo here really doesn't want to go to a boring formal party," The hidden Rider explained, "If you girls were going I would in a heartbeat; but since you're not... I rather send the tickets back and have a movie night with all of you instead of going to a party without any of you there to enjoy it with me."

"Awe," the girls said and quickly went up to Eric and hugged him as they mended the bridges they were about to unknowingly burn while helping heal the Rider's heart a little bit more. Off to the side both Spike and Scootaloo -being the tomcolt she was- gagged a little at the sugary sweet scene before the baby dragon's cheeks began to bulge.

"Well wallop my wither's Spike..." Applejack quickly began to comment as she untangled herself from cuddle-puddle she was in and trotted over to the dragon, "Isn't that just like a boy; can't handle the least bit of sentiment..."

"I don't think that's it boss," Eric began to point out before Spike let loose a burst of flames from his mouth.

"WHOA NELLY!" Applejack ducked under the flames, unfortunately her hat did not have it's owner's luck as a corner quickly caught on fire while the rest of Spike's flames condensed into itself before materializing a scroll with Celestia's ribbon and seal.

Applejack quickly threw down her hat and began to stop the flames out as Twilight grabbed the scroll with her telekinesis. "A letter from the Princess?" she asked opening the letter and after scanning it, gasped in shock.

"What's wrong my dear," Rarity asked after grabbing a nearby vase and poured what water was in it on the flaming hat.

"To my faithful student Twilight; Why didn't you say you needed more ticket to the Gala. Here are five additional ticket to add to the two I gave you."

Every-pony gasped in shock as they watched Twilight pull out seven golden tickets to the famous Grand Galloping Gala. "We can all go now!!!" Twilight happily exclaimed causing all of her friends to cheer happily in their own way with both Spike and Scootaloo doing the same but secretly.

"Sorry about the hat, Applejack," Spike apologized once everyone calmed down.

"Ain't a problem Spike," the work-pony replied with a grin, "Truth is, I go through them pretty quickly on the farm. I rarely have one go two months before I need to replace it. First time I ever had a hat catch fire before though."

Everyone chuckled/giggled at that before Twilight's stomach decided to make itself known...very loudly.

"Allow us to treat you to dinner Twilight," Rarity offered smiling at her fellow unicorn before turning to Eric, "You can come as well Eric; along with that adorable foal you brought with you."

Scootaloo quickly took offence with that remark, "I am not adorable!"

The chuckles/giggles returned as everyone/pony quickly walked out the door taking a ticket from Spike -who grabbed them when Twilight's stomach roared- and let every-pony take on until there was only one left and smirked seeing it in his claws. At least until he saw Eric grinning at him and quickly changed his tune.

"I don't really want to go," he said in an off handed manner walking out of the library, "but I'll do it to help keep Twilight out of trouble."

Eric just chuckled as he heard that before following the dragon with Scootaloo behind him a bit confused as to what just happened.


Time Skip


It’s been a day since the Golden Ticket incident and Eric -after dropping off Scootaloo off at Ms. Cheerilee’s school; something the young pegasus didn’t want to do; but went reluctantly- was walking around Ponyville worrying about Big Mac. The big earth pony had hurt himself after he stopped a runaway wagon that was heading for some foals with his own body and ended up breaking three ribs in the process. With a sigh, the Rider was about to head for Sweet Apple Acres for the upcoming apple picking/bucking season when someone or rather somepony called out to him with a familiar accent.

“Eric!” A cream colored unicorn pony with a short auburn mane/tail and a ruby red cloak around her neck, trotted up to the human with a small smile.

“Hey Koyomi,” Eric replied with a wave, “Does Wajima-san need some help?”

“Actually,” Koyomi corrected, “Oji-san finished a new ring for you sent me to find you.”

“A new Ring?!” Repeated the now perked up human as he took off, “Well, let’s go!”

“Matte!” Koyomi shouted as she raced off after her friend. A few seconds, the two of the found themselves in front of Ponyville’s newest building; Antique Shop Omokagedo (Vestice Hall). As they went inside, Eric was soon greeted by a another Unicorn Pony almost Granny Smith’s age but a little bigger with a cream colored coat but slightly darker than Koyomi with a black mane/tail and a dark blue/white patterned sweater vest around his barrel with tired looking brown eyes.

“Ohiyo, Eric-kun,” the unicorn replied in his native Neighponese/Japanese with a wave of his forehoof.

“Ohiyo, Wajima-san,” Eric replied politely and bowed to the elder unicorn before standing up, “I heard you made a new ring for me. Was it one of the ones Tsukasa-senpai gave me?”

“Rings actually,” Wajima replied with a chuckle, “But they were not the ones given to you. They seem to be waiting for something to happen before they will sing to me.”  Eric was a bit let down at that but still happy about getting a few new rings. The Elder unicorn’s horn lit up with an orange aura as a ring case -three times bigger than a normal one- floated out of his workshop and up to the Rider.

“Here you go,” Wajima said with a smile as his newest and what would be his most frequent customer took the case.

“Arigato,” Eric replied as he opened the cane with shining eyes.

Inside sat three orange spell rings each glowing softly with a magical aura as Eric gazed onto their surfaces. The first ring had a silver dragon on the front, wings spread out as if protecting something holding a silver lined jeweled shield in its claws. Ring number two also had a silver dragon on it but its body from the chest down was molded to look like it had stretched somehow. Finally the last ring included as dragon as well but there was silver lined aura coming out of it as if it was growing.

“Well these are interesting rings,” Eric said as he instantly recognized all three rings -and seen at least two of them in action while the third he only heard speculations on.

“Do you know what they do, Oji-san?” Koyomi asked as Eric slipped the rings into a pocket.

Before the elder unicorn could answer, the ground started shaking stunning everyone.

“An earthquake?!?!” Eric asked/shouted in shock.

The question was quickly answered when all three heard Rainbow Dash cry out, “STAMPEDE!!!!!”

That quickly caught the trios attention as they rushed outside to see Ponies racing to and fro trying to find a safe place to hide. Thought in the middle of the it all, Pinkie was taking the time to have some fun.

“HEY! this make my voice sound silly!” the warbled voice of the party pony sounded as the vibrations of the earth carried her at a moderate pace.

Ignoring the silly filly, Eric raced out of the shop and towards the direction of the stampede while swinging his right hand of his buckle.

=DRIVER ON; PLEASE! =

As he reached the bridge that separated Ponyville from the stampede, Eric skid to a stop when he saw a familiar pony with an equally familiar dog and cried out, “BOSS!!!”

There, racing along side the herd of cows with a rope around her neck and a “YEE~HAW!” was Applejack ready to slow the cows down, or at least turn them away from her beloved town with her border collie, Winona, at her side. Without missing a beat, Eric quickly slid on his Flame Ring and transformed before summoning his Winger, taking off towards the stampede. When he neared the cattle, the Rider swung wide to the left, twisting around until he was racing along side the orange earth pony.

“Hey Boss!!!” Wizard called out making Applejack smile, “Need some help?!?!”

“Much appreciated!” the mare replied before letting off a whistle, “Other side Winona!”

With a few barks the border collie swerved around the pounding hooves of the cows and reached her spot where she began to do as Applejack taught her. Tightening up the herd to hopefully calm them down.

“Head them up, Winona!” Applejack shouted before she slammed a shoulder into one of the cows ordering, “Come-on little doggies! Turn!”

“OI! Calm down!” Wizard shouted slamming a couple of low power kicks onto another cow, “It ain’t working boss!”

Seeing Ponyville in sight, Applejack put on a determined glare as took a deep breath and let out a piercing whistle, “Winona, put them up!” and with a couple of barks the loyal dog quickly jumped on top of the cows with Applejack right behind her. “Eric; My Rope!”

=CONNECT; PLEASE!=

Wizard was already a step ahead of her, summoning a Rune Circle to grab the mare’s trusty length of rope which he threw to her. With practiced ease, Applejack grabbed the rope with her teeth and began twirling it above her head before throwing the open end of the rope over the lead cow’s head then jumping down. Grunting, Applejack began forcing the lead cow to turn to the left making the rest behind her follow them.

“Come on!” the cowpony mumbled through the rope in her teeth, “Turn!”

At the same time Wizard quickly switched his Connect Ring for one of a new ones -the one with the long necked dragon- and after fiddling with the levers, scanned the ring.

=EXTEND; PLEASE!=

And with a flick of his right hand, a small Rune Circle appeared beside the Rider who put his left arm through it. Then it suddenly began to stretch until the Rider was able to grip the rope Applejack was pulling. Soon with Eric’s and Winona’s help, the herd began to turn away from the bridge leading to the town. All the ponies in Ponyville began to cheer as they saw the stamped turn away from the town before slowing down.

Spitting out the rope, The cowpony walked up to the lead cow asking, “Now what was that all about?”

Eric powered down as the lead cow briefly mooed before clearing her throat, “Oh my; Beggin’ your pardon Applejack, but Moo~rialla here saw one of those nasty snakes!” At that the herd briefly went back to high alert shock, causing the three herders to ready themselves as the lead cow continued, “And it just gave us all the willies don’t ya know.”

“I completely understand,” Applejack replied with a smile, “Just next time, try and steer clear a’ Ponyville.”

“We certainly will Applejack,” the lead cow replied as the herd slowly walked away to do whatever they were doing before, “So long Winona, Eric Honey!”

The human just chuckled nervously at that while Applejack quickly went back to Sweet Apple Acres to start the Apple Bucking season with her loyal dog behind her. As Eric rolled on back into town, He could not help but chuckle as he saw Pinkie doing her own rendition of what just happened. After a bit, the Rider sent his bike away as he heard the mayor pitch an idea.

“We should do something to thank both Eric and Applejack for saving our town,” She suggested getting more than a few rounds of applause for it.

“I know!” Pinkie quickly spoke up, “A PARTY!!!”

With a healthy blush, Eric quickly tried to stop the suggestion, or at least stave it off temporarily, “It’s a good idea Pinkie-chan; but Applejack’s got her hooves full at the moment.”

“What do you mean?” Twilight asked as everypony turned to Equestria’s only human.

“As we all know, Big Mac recently got injured when he kept a few foals from getting hurt by a runaway cart,” He started getting nods of agreement from those that heard or saw the incident, “Unfortunately apple harvesting season just started and with Big Mac out of commision, it’s just me and Applejack handling the harvest.”

Rarity, being the sharp mind she is, quickly saw the problem; “And with this being your first apple harvesting season; it will be much harder on both of you dears.”

Before Eric could reply, something started shining in the pocket of his coat. Reaching into it, he pulled out a Spell Ring that had a stone that was a similar color to Spike’s flames with a design of a dragon’s head blowing out flames that was transforming into a scroll midway. “I wonder what Celestia-sama wants?” Eric asked as he put the ring on and scanned it.

=LETTER; PLEASE!=

Green flames came out of the ring and compacted together to form a letter with the Sun Princess’ seal and ribbon. Opening it, Eric paled as he saw what was written on it. “Correction Rarity-Hime; Celestia-sama has ordered me back to Canterlot briefly to go over some new info she just received that may point to another Kaijin attack,”

“Then that means Applejack may have to do the apple harvesting herself,” Twilight replied with wide eyes.

“Only if we let her,” Mayor Mare corrected as Eric quickly wrote a reply and sent it off. “Twilight, I want you to assist Applejack with the apple harvest. If you need more help, draft any pony willing to lend a hoof.”

“Just be careful,” Eric added as he got ready to head for Ponyville’s school, “Boss can get quite stubborn if her pride get’s scratched up.”

“Don’t worry Eric,” Twilight replied with a smile as she turned to head towards her friend, “I’m sure Applejack will not be so stubborn that she won’t accept help from her friends.”

With worry filling his mind, Eric took off towards the school before go to Canterlot.


Four Days Later


With a groan and a stretch, Eric awoken from his brief nap on the train back to Ponyville after a day’s travel to Canterlot and two days of going through reports, only to find out that it wasn’t a Kaijin attack at all but misinformation from a mare that wanted her fifteen minutes of fame. As much as the human wanted to tear into the stupid pony for keeping him from helping his first true long time friend, he kept his cool and only scolded the pony for what she had done. Strangely enough, Luna seemed slightly displeased at how lightly the lying mare had gotten off; but kept her peace. Unknowingly for Eric, Celestia was also displeased and kept it hidden better... At least until the Mystic Knight left before fining and making the pony do community service for her misinformation.

Eric scratched his head as he thought about ways to let Celestia’s spymasters and informants known more about the different types of Kaijin. ‘Maybe an encyclopedia like the one Gai-sempai made for the Gokaigers in the ‘Promise from the Star’ episode?’ Was his thought until he looked outside and his jaw dropped as he shouted in japanese “What The Hell?!?!”

All around Ponyville, a horde of bunnies -babies from the size- had swarmed over and were gobbling up any and all leafy greens they could find. Rainbow Dash was in the air with a few bandages wrapped around her barrel, winching once in awhile as she tried to help the ponies herd the bunnies back towards Fluttershy’s cottage with one of two looking like they were still recovering from some kind of sickness.

Once the train stopped, Eric jumped off and headed for the only pony he knew would have any answers.

“Twilight, What the heck happened while I was gone?!?!” he asked a peeved off lavender unicorn as she tried to restore some kind of order to the current madness.

“It’s Applejack!” She replied, taking a deep breath to go on a rant. “She’s completely out of it! The Apple-Bucking hasn’t just been causing her problems like Insomnia...” Eric’s eyes widen when he heard that part only to widen further as Twilight continued pointing to the problems, “It’s has over propelled pegasus, practically poisoned plenty of ponies, and terrorized bushels of brand-new bouncing baby bunnies!”

Jaw loosened in shock, Eric could only ask one thing. “Boss did this in four days?!?!?!”

“She did all this in four hours, Eric. And she poisoned Scootaloo with the baked bads as well.”

“...”


Wizard of Hope


Back at Sweet Apple Acres, Applejack was trying her hardest to kick the apple off the last tree. But her sleep deprived body was on it’s last legs.

“Must...Keep...Bucking.” she softly said as a mantra while kicking the last apple tree.

Suddenly she was startled wide awake as a familiar voice reached her ears at a volume she had never heard before.

“APPLE JACQUELINE SMITH!!!!!!!!”

“Oh Buck,” Applejack softly said as she soon spied a huge cloud of dust heading her way. As it neared to orange pony was stunned to see Eric in front of the dust cloud -his normal brown eyes colored crimson with beastlial irisis- with a screaming Twilight on his back.

“You’re Going To Stop This Madness Right Now!” the human ordered once he was a yard from his boss. “You are going to get yourself, if not other ponies, killed if you keep this up!”

Twilight, slid off of Eric’s back as she tried to keep her lunch down from the sudden acceleration and stop; all the while keeping an eye on the human as his inner Phantom slowly fueled the Wizard’s dark emotions.

“Not Now Eric!” Applejack replied; her pride reared its ugly head once more as her accent thickened, glaring at her employee despite the pronounced bags under her eyes. “Can’t ya see Ah’m almost done!”

Eric’s eyes narrowed as he held up his right hand, which had the ring with the chains on it, as he said, “I mean it Applejack! If you don’t stop right now; I’m going to knock you unconscious, take you to your room, and tie to to your bed until you get some rest!”

Deciding to step in before more than words started flying, Twilight added, “Eric’s right Applejack; You. Need. Help. And. Rest!”

As if to defy what her friends were saying, Applejack kicked the last tree with all of her remaining strength and successfully brought down all the apples. “Hah!” she shouted triumphantly, looking from the bags on her back to her friends “How Do You Like Them Apples?!”

Both magic users let their eyes roam the orchard as they saw that all the apples had been successfully bucked from their trees. Eric quickly calmed down -loosening his Phantom’s grip on his emotions- and was about to partially apologize for what he said; until he and Big Mac -who saw Eric’s cloud of dust and raced towards while keeping himself from aggravating his ribs- both spied something.

In sync both males asked, “Um, how do you like them apples?” as the human pointed to a part of the orchard while stallion did the same, but with a jerk of his head.

Applejack turned towards where they were looking only for her eyes to widen beyond their full size, her pupils to dilate, and her jaw to drop at what she saw. There behind her; more apple trees were revealed all still bearing their delicious red fruit. The mare didn’t finished the whole orchard as she had boasted; but rather a little over half of it was complete, leaving at least a third if not more left to be done.

The cowpony’s already frayed mind had finally reached its breaking point, reducing her to unintelligible mumbles before her body also threw in the towel. Applejack’s eyes rolled into the back of her head as she fainted clean away, the voices of her friends following her as she entered the darkness. The apples on her back fell to the ground and were forgotten in favor of the mare that had risked her health to pick them and it’s fellows in the past few days.


Wizard of Hope


Sometime later, Applejack slowly began to open her eyes; her vision blurred as the mare’s mind slowly began to focus the image in front of her. After a few seconds, she began to recognize a familiar ceiling above her.

‘I’m in my room?’ she asked herself, looking around and saw something that she had hoped was a nightmare shining softly under the full moon.

‘I only got half the orchard done...’ Applejack reluctantly confirmed as she saw from her window half of the orchard done while the other half was still waiting to be picked despite all of her hard work. ‘Big Mac was right... I couldn’t harvest the orchard myself. How weak am I?”

As Applejack tried to move her right fore hoof to her head, she felt something gently holding it down. Looking to her side, she saw surprised to see Eric asleep with his head, upper body, and arms on the bed, holding her hoof firmly enough to keep it still yet gently enough that it did not hurt. Her friend wasn’t sleeping as deeply as he look because a second later his eyes slowly began to open before he saw the orange mare and they instantly went wide.

“Applejack!!!” he cried out before pulling the mare into a hug, “You scared us all when you fainted, You big Baka!”

The mare’s ears lowered with sadness as she heard the pain in her friend’s voice. “Sorry, Eric,” She said softly looking away, “I was trying to prove to Big Mac that I could handle the Apple-Bucking season all by myself since he was hurt and this would be your first one. I guess I’m not as strong as I thought I was.”

As Applejack started become emo, something very startling happened to her that quickly brought her back to the present.

WACK!!!!

“OW!” Applejack cried out as she rubbed the back of her pained head before glaring at Eric who still has his cupped hand raised from the Gibb Slap, “What the hay was that for?!?!”

“To wake you up,” the human replied with a glare putting his hand back on the bed, “Big Mac already told me and Twilight what he said to you. When he said that the harvest was too big for you to handle; he meant within the time limit that you had...”

Applejack’s eyes widen as she heard that while Eric continued, “Nopony with in Ponyville or out of it will never say that you are not the most strongest, reliable, and dependable mare that ever existed. And those that don’t will quickly find out like I did.” Gently taking both of the mare’s front hooves in his hands; he continued on, looking into her eyes, “But despite all of that, You're still just an earth pony. You're not Celestia-ojouchan with her goddess like powers, or Twilight with her deep well of magic, or even Pinkie with her never ending energy. You’re Applejack; a mare that has every right to be proud of her hard earned strength, But still needs help for jobs that even your unmatched strength can not handle.”

A light blush, hidden by her fur, appeared on Applejack’s face as she looked into the teary human’s eyes.

“Please AJ,” Eric added stunning his friend with his first use of her usual nickname, “Let us help you. Let us repay you at least some of the loyalty and strength you have given to both your friends and Ponyville so many times.”

The mare looked into Eric’s eyes as they seared themselves into her mind before sighing. “Alright Eric, I’ll let y’all help.”

“Thanks Boss,” Eric replied with a smile before yawning, “Excuse me, I’m kinda in the same boat as you thanks to having to look over a lot of reports that turned out to be false Kaiju ones.  I did take a few naps here and there but not a full night’s sleep.” With that he began to stand up as he added, “I’ll just use a Connect portal to head back home for some rest.

Just before he could, Applejack quickly grabbed his hand getting his attention. “If you’re just a tired as me,” she began with a blush making a reappearance, “You could stay the night here since Twilight would have Scootaloo at the library.”

Eric’s own blush could have substituted as a flashlight with how bright it was as he stuttered out, “I-it wouldn’t be proper for me, Plus Big Mac and Smith-Obaasama would have my head if I slept in here since my old room would have turned back into a storing room.”

“Granny smith wouldn’t care at all since your family to her in all but blood.” Applejack replied as a playful glare appeared on her face, “And if Big Mac does raise a stink, I can easily calm him down; one way or another.”

After a few more tries at heading to his house, Eric finally gave in to the stubborn mare and went to the nearby bathroom to summon a change of clothes while Applejack wondered why she just did what she did. After a few seconds she just decided that she was just helping a friend out; but that answer seemed hollow to her.

Before her mind could reach another conclusion, Eric reappeared wearing a simple pair of cotton shorts and shirt with his other clothes already back at his house. The human slid himself under the bed’s sheets carefully with a blush still on his face and made sure there was a bit of room in between him and the mare despite the bed just barely fitting them both.

As they exchanged good nights, Eric soon thought of something that made him chuckle. A raised eyebrow from AJ and he explained himself.

“Remember how Celestia-ojousama said we could help Twilight with her friendship reports?”

“I do... Why?”

“I have a feeling that we’re going to need to write one of our own after this debacle,” Eric explained with a silly grin that Applejack returned before they both went to sleep. The next morning, Eric would find out something about the way he sleeps that he did not know before. What it is I’ll leave for the next chapter.