In the city of Canterlot, everyone was enjoying a brief reprieve from the Mimic attacks.

They hadn't shown up since the attack on the theme park and a few people hoped that meant they were gone for good, but others knew lowering their guard was a bad idea. They knew the Mimics would show up again and they would be ready when they did.

But despite the lack of action, the Kamen Riders had not been idle.

Flash Sentry was at the mall, the teen needing to recharge after the last few days. Ever since Shining had gotten his memory back, he had wanted the pair to be ready for any more powerful Mimics. As such, the pair had spent almost all their free time practising in places they wouldn't be seen.

Junkyards, forest, rooftops. Anywhere they could go all out without drawing attention to themselves.

They had been working to perfect their skills with all their different Rider Forms. And whilst they trained, Shining had realised a minor error with two of Flash's forms.

The previous day.

Atop a roof, Blade Form Shifter and Rush Form Morphic were battling it out. The two flew towards one another at high speed, their claws and blades clashing against one another. Shifter slashed at Morphic, but the Coyote Rider ducked under his attack and tried to claw upwards at him.

Shifter responded by blocking with his sword, as he kicked Morphic backwards.

The two slid to a stop and as they did, they both took out new Mimicores and activated them.

"STRIKE/BLITZ!

They quickly replaced their Mimicores and charged, slamming the draws shut. "Shape Shift/Mega Morph!" They yelled, as their armor began to change shape and colour.

"MIMIC! LIGHTNING BUG!"

"MIMIC! HERCULES BEETLE!

Shifter unleashed a brilliant flash of light, which hit Morphic and forced him to look away. This allowed the orange Rider to leap forward and deal a kick to him, only for Morphic to block with his armored gauntlet before pushing Shifter back.

He then summoned his Blitz Blaster and started firing, Shifter doing his best to avoid the shots and get in close. But Morphic was able to keep him at bay with his blaster until Shifter was all the way on the other side of the roof. Morphic then fired at him again, forcing Shifter to leap away and roll along the ground.

This allowed Morphic to rush forward and deal a strong kick right to Shifter's side. "AUGH!" Shifter hit the ground and Morphic pointed his blaster at him, only for Shifter to illuminate the lights on his suit again.

"Ahhh!" Morphic staggered back, as Shifter got up and took out another Mimicore.

"PIERCE!"

He quickly replaced the Mimicore and struck a pose, as Morphic's eyes recovered. "Shape Shift!" Once again, he slammed the draw closed before his armor transformed.

"MIMIC! HEDGEHOG!" As the armor solidified, Shifter fired a bunch of spines towards Morphic. But Morphic responded by shooting his blaster, the two cancelling one another's long range attack out before charging forward.

They started throwing punches and kicks at one another, which the other managed to dodge or deflect. And whenever they got the chance, they fired their projectiles at the other in an attempt to knock them back. But the two appeared rather evenly matched.

Shifter swung his leg up, the Spikes covering his legs extending in an attempt to stab Morphic. But once again, the beetle Rider used the armor on his suit to block the spikes and push him away. As he did, the pair took out new Mimicores and activated them.

"FLIGHT/TOUGH!

They replaced their Mimicores and as the two slammed a fist into the other, knocking their opponent back, they slammed the draws shut. "Shape Shift/Mega Morph!" As they flew backwards, their armor once again changed shape and colour.

"MIMIC OWL!"

"MIMIC! CROCODILE!"

Shifter quickly spread his wings and took to the air, whilst Morphic stood his ground before thrusting his crocodile head forward. This caused the energy construct of the head to shoot up towards Shifter, who barely managed to avoid it before diving down towards him.

Shifter swung his leg around, aiming to kick Morphic. But the purple Rider swung his tail arm around as the chainsaw-like teeth started moving.

"WOW!" He pulled his leg back at the last moment, flying over Morphic and landing behind checking to make sure he wasn't missing part of his foot. "Are you insane?"

"Don't be such a baby," Morphic rushed forward and swung the tail blade around, Shifter crying out as he did his best to avoid the attacks. He took to the air and tried to fight back, but nothing he did allowed him to even get close to Morphic. And when he did get a hit in, he did nothing against the crocodile armor.

Shifter landed and took out his Blade Mimicore. About to activate it. But before he could, Morphic held up a hand.

"That's enough!" Shifter stopped before he could press the button. "Good. You're getting better and learning to incorporate the move I taught you." Shifter nodded, as the pair removed their Mimicores and changed back to human. "But I have noticed a problem."

"What is it? Am I doing something wrong?"

"No. The problem's mostly with your gear. Strike and Flight Forms." Flash raised an eyebrow at this. "They're strong and have a lot of perks. But they also have some problems. Mostly in their fighting options. Blade Form gives you blades and Pierce Form gives you projectiles. But the other two don't give you anything to really fight with."

"That's not true. I can fly in Flight Form."

"Yes, but it's got nothing that helps you take advantage of that. You can fly in the air and create wind, but nothing that can really damage an opponent. It and Strike Form force you to use hand to hand combat. And that's okay against some Mimics, but others won't be beaten so easily."

Flash frowned, letting this info sink in. "So you think they're not strong enough?"

"All I'm saying is that these forms have their limits. There's still a lot we don't know about these Mimics. What if they're able to mimic more than one animal? Flight Form was able to beat the Hawk Mimic. But what if one day, a Mimic appears that can combine the powers of a Hawk with the Electric Eel Mimic we fought? Pierce Form doesn't have an unlimited range. It could fly up further than you can shoot and give off blasts of lightning. Then what?"

"I get it," Flash nodded. "I'd be forced to use Flight Mode and wouldn't be able to touch it."

"Exactly. I'm not saying you were wrong to pick the Owl. And you didn't pick the Lightning Bug. But we need to find a way to help you sure up those weaknesses. If we don't, it's only a matter of time before a Mimic shows up that can exploit them.

As Flash made his way through the mall, he thought about this issue and wondered what he could do about it. It wasn't like he could go to whoever that cloaked guy was and ask for an upgrade.

"Muffins. Get your muffin coupons here!" Flash was pulled from his thoughts by the sound of a familiar voice, making him look around and see someone that made him smirk.

Derpy Hooves, who was currently wearing a pink and white shirt, a blue skirt and a hat on her head shaped like a muffin. She was carrying a large stack of flyers handing them out to anyone who passed her by.

Flash stepped up to her and when she saw him, she smiled. "Flash!" She rushed up to him. "Want a coupon for fifty percent off any muffin of your choice?" Flash took the flyer and saw it was for a new muffin kiosk at the mall. At the bottom was a coupon for the place.

"Are you working here?"

"Yup. I'm just handing out flyers at the moment. But if I do a good job, they might let me bake and sell the muffins. Talk about a dream job."

"Nice. You always did enjoy a nice coconut and blueberry muffin." Flash gave her a curious look. "Just be careful. I'd hate for you to lose your job, just because you got overexcited and did something that would get the owner mad at you."

"I'll be fine," Derpy assured him. "You just focus on enjoying your muffin." With that, she ran off to hand out more of the flyers. Flash watched her leave as he headed in the direction of this kiosk. Only to hear another familiar voice.

"Flash!" He spun around and was greeted to the sight of Twilight and Timber, the two heading over to him and smiling as they approached.

"Hey, man." Timber smirked, as he looked around and spotted Derpy a ways off. "Who's the blonde? Girlfriend of yours?" Flash's eyes widened in shock, only to then burst out laughing. "What? I say something funny."

"No," Flash shook his head. "Just...imagining me and Derpy together." He laughed, needing to take several deep breaths to stop himself from making a scene.

"What's funny about that?" Timber looked Derpy over. "She's cute..." Derpy suddenly fell over and sent flyers soaring all over the place. "In a clumsy airhead kind of way."

"I know she's cute. But there's no way the two of us could ever be a couple. It'd be like dating my sister." Timber looked confused, turning to Twilight who seemed just as perplexed. "Derpy and I live on the same street. We grew up together. Heck, our families went on vacation together a few times. We might not hang out as much as we used to, but we're still close."

"I get it," Twilight nodded. "And I don't know about you two being together being impossible. I've heard of childhood friends who ended up getting together. sometimes, those are the best kinds of relationships."

"Maybe. But that's not me and Derpy. Like I said, she's more like a sister than anything else."

"I see," Timber raised an eyebrow at this. Flash and Twilight continued to talk for another few minutes, whilst Timber's attention remained on Derpy as she finished picking up the flyers. Slowly, a smirk appeared on his lips. one that would worry Flash and Twilight if they had noticed it.

He managed to stop said smirk before they turned to him, Flash saying goodbye and heading off to the muffin kiosk whilst Twilight turned her attention back to him. "So, you ready? The movie's probably gonna start soon. We should hurry if we wanna catch it in time."

"Yeah," Timber nodded. "Let's go." But his attention wasn't on the movie. It was on the girl that was clearly important to Flash. One he would have a hard time fighting against if he was forced to. The perfect target.

That night, Timber returned to the Mimic base and reverted back to Gule-Far-Tar.

As Gule stepped into the room, he spotted Maya and Frill standing around a table. On said table, a jar of the strange orange and brown slime could be seen. and above the jar was a device of some kind. It was suspended over the table by metal arms, which were bolted to the sides of the table. The device was a cube-like machine, with a satellite dish on the bottom.

Said satellite was unleashing a strange energy, which flew into the jar and electrified the slime inside.

That slime was dancing around inside of the jar, clearly being affected by the energy that was hitting it. Maya and Frill seemed pleased by this, as Maya reached up and deactivated the machine.

The energy stopped and the slime continued to move, though not in the same wild way it had before. "Perfect," Frill stated. "It's ready."

"Good," Gule stated. "Because I've found the perfect human to use it on." The two turned to him. "You want to use the Riders' loved ones against them. Well I know someone that Shifter's very close to."

"A girlfriend?" Maya asked.

"No. But I think he cares for her the same way one would care for a lover or a family member. There's no way he'll be able to battle it."

"Very well." Frill picked up the jar and headed over to a door, Maya stepping ahead and opening it up to allow him inside. There, they found a bunch of different animals. They were all trapped inside amber cocoons, looking horrified, angry or scared.

There were tigers, bears, zebras, several times of fish and a whole bunch of different birds and insects.

Frill placed the jar on the ground and carefully emptied the slime onto it. "Go. Find something that's to your liking." They watched, as the puddle of slime slowly made its way across the room.

First, it moved over to a cocooned snake. It pushed its body up against the cocoon, as if merging with it. But then it pulled away, moving over to one of the insects. It repeated what it had done before, but nothing happened. It then moved to another and another.

Gule growled. "What's taking so long?"

"Patience," Maya stated. "I seem to remember you and your brother took a while to choose your forms." Gule said nothing in response, only for a banging sound to come from another door off to the side.

"Quiet down in there!" Gule yelled, moving over to pound his fist into the door. "We don't actually need you fools anymore. So be grateful we're choosing to keep you around. Any more noise and we'll make you regret it." The banging stopped and Gule nodded. "That's more like it." He turned back to the glob of slime, which finally seemed to find something it liked.

It was a small cocoon with a white bird inside of it, which the blob of slime merged with and stayed connected for several moments. Then, the slime flew off the top and grew larger in size.

It arched around and touched the ground, where it started taking shape and form. When it finally disconnected from the cocoon, it completely formed a humanoid shape and completed its transformation.

The Mimic Generals stared at the creature and smiled, liking what they were looking at. Especially Frill.

"Excellent." He turned towards Gule. "Now. Tell me everything you know about this girl Shifter cares about." Gule nodded, a smirk on his lips as he thought about how much pain and suffering Shifter was going to be in. He couldn't wait to see the look of horror on his face, hoping he wouldn't be wearing his mask when it happened.

The next day

School had ended and Flash found himself in his after school chemistry club. He enjoyed being in the club, but also knew he should be out on the street preparing for the next Mimic attack. But Shining had told him they needed to act like they weren't Kamen Riders, so needed to keep up appearances of being normal people who did normal things. And for Flash, that meant doing his extracurricular studies.

"Okay," Flash and Derpy were working on something together. "Carefully hand me the benzoic acid. Carefully."

Derpy frowned, as she picked up the glass jar with the chemical inside. "I'm not completely useless, you know." She walked over to him, but accidentally kicked a stool that happened to be sticking out from under the table. This caused her to lose her balance for a moment, Twilight and Rarity getting ready to act if she dropped the jar. But at the last moment, she managed to regain her footing and stood up. "See. I got this."

The others sighed in relief, as Derpy stepped forwards and handed Flash the jar.

"I'm not saying you're useless," he told her. "But everyone has some kind of weakness. You wouldn't call Twilight useless, just because she can't see without her glasses."

Twilight, clearly not phased by Flash using her need for spectacles as an example, agreed. "Nobody's perfect. And it's the imperfections that matter. Heck, the universe wouldn't even exist without imperfection."

"She's right," Rarity nodded. "So what if you're a little clumsy. You were able to save yourself just then."

"Maybe," Derpy frowned. "But don't think I don't notice what people say about me. That I'm the clumsy girl who trips over her own feet. I do try and be careful. It's just, sometimes things happen around me and I lose focus." The others frowned, knowing Derpy clearly didn't want to be seen as the clumsy girl with weird eyes. They all knew there was way more to her than that.

They were about to say something, but didn't get the chance. As in that moment, Flash sensed something. Something coming in fast.

"GET DOWN!" He tackled Derpy and a second later, the windows shattered and something flew into the room. It was actually two things. A pair of avian Mimics.

One was a vulture, that looked rather old with its terrible posture and crooked neck.

The other reminded Flash of the Hawk Mimic, only it was much more feminine with an hour glass figure and white feathers. Her head reminded Flash of a dove and instead of claws on her hands, they appeared to be a normal pair of hands.

Frill looked around and then stared down at the ground, smiling towards Flash and Derpy. "Ahh, there you are." Flash quickly got up and pulled Derpy to her feet, as the birds landed atop the tables. "Don't struggle. This won't hurt a bit."

"Who are you?" Flash asked, realising this Mimic wasn't like the others.

"Frill-Nar-Ron," he announced. "General of the Mimic Army." They let this information sink in, shocked to meet yet another Mimic General. "And now, you will give us what we want." Frill stared towards Flash and Derpy, Flash getting the feeling he knew what the General was after.

'Did he figure out who I am? How?' Before he could say anything, a wall of diamonds appeared between them and the Mimics.

The avian creatures were shocked by this, as Flash turned to Rarity. The girl and Twilight had removed their science clothing and transformed into their ponied up forms. "Get out of here!" Twilight told them. "Rarity and I will handle them."

Flash nodded and grabbed Derpy's arm, pulling her towards the exit as Frill and The Dove attacked the crystal wall.

The teens managed to escape, both throwing their lab gear away whilst Twilight used her magic to lift a bunch of chemicals off the tables. "I'm usually one for lab safety. But I'll make an exception today." She threw the chemicals towards them, as Rarity dropped her barrier.

As she did, the chemicals smashed together in front of the Mimics and a small explosion occurred.

The Mimics screamed, staggering back as the girls shielded themselves behind one of the tables. Twilight tried to find something to use, hoping to tie the Mimics up. But nothing was in sight.

As the smoke began to die down, Frill and The Dove staggered back and looked towards the window. "Go," Frill told The Dove. "I'll handle these girls." The Dove nodded and spread her wings, leaping through the window and taking off.

"NO!" Rarity tried to block the windows with her diamonds, but The Dove managed to fly through it before she could.

"We have to stop it!" Twilight cried, only for Frill to spread his wings instead.

"I'm afraid you'll be a bit too busy with me." Before either girl could say anything, he swung his wings around and sent a bunch of feathers flying towards them. The girls could barely react in time and dodged, the feathers stabbing into the wall beside them.

When Frill fired again, Rarity managed to put up a wall and shield them. Twilight then grabbed some more chemicals from a nearby storage cupboard and threw them towards the Mimic, who fired feathers at the containers and shattered them before they could touch him.

But this allowed Rarity to throw her gems towards him, the Mimic only able to raise his arms to defend himself. "Augh!" He staggered back, as he realised this room had way too much to their advantage. If he wanted to turn the tables, he had to get them out of there. But that was easier said than done.

As he was thinking that, Twilight grabbed a nearby bunsen burner in her magic and moved it towards him. The Mimic saw this coming and jumped back, throwing one of his feathers at the pipe connecting it to the gas mains.

The girls gasped at this, as the gas began to fill the room.

Frill then leapt through the window and fired another feather, attempting to cause a spark and make the entire room explode. But before it could cause the spark, Rarity put a shield around the gas main and hose. This blocked the feather as it hit something and caused the spark. But with nothing too light, it simply sparked with no after effect.

Twilight quickly ran over and switched off the gas, she and Rarity turning to Frill as the Vulture stared at them from outside. This Mimic was fighting dirty and they knew that the longer they wasted time fighting him, the more chance the other Mimic would get what it was after. Whatever that was.

As soon as Flash and Derpy were out of the building, they ran for the car park.

They quickly got into Flash's car, as The Dove Mimic appeared in the sky. "There it is!" Derpy cried, seeing the winged creature flying towards them. Flash quickly put his car into gear and floored it, the vehicles shooting out of the car park and down the street.

The Mimic gave chase, soaring after them and quickly picking up speed. Flash tried to lose it by turning a corner, but she was as agile as she was fast.

Derpy continued to watch it follow them, fear ever present on her face. "Why is it following us?"

"It's after something," Flash told her. "Me." Derpy looked confused by this, but quickly found herself forgetting about it as something shot down in front of them.

"WOW!" She cried, as Flash swerved around it. She glanced out the window and saw it was a bunch of sharp feathers, impaled into the road. Had Flash not dodged them, his tires would have burst.

Derpy looked out the window and saw the Mimic, continuing to chase them. Only now, she was plucking feathers out of her wings and throwing them at the car.

One slammed into the roof and ripped right through it, embedding itself into the back seat. "This thing can throw feather darts?"

Flash nodded. "It's always something like that with these things." Flash checked his mirror and saw The Dove was about to throw a bunch more of them. At the last minute, he swung his car around and rolled down another street. The feathers barely missed the car and as they raced away, Flash found himself entering a busier part of the town. "Come on. I really don't need rush hour traffic right now."

Derpy checked the mirrors and the Mimic was still coming, as Flash swerved around the many different cars.

Car horns were blaring, as Flash went onto the wrong side of the road. Derpy hoped nobody would catch him on camera. The last thing Flash needed was a ticket.

They turned out of the busy street and as they raced away, The Dove began to pick up speed.

It dived down towards them and as it did, it pulled something out of nowhere. A pair of fans styled after a bird's tail feathers. And as it dived down towards Flash's car, it started spinning with the fans held outwards.

What happened next was so fast, Flash and Derpy could barely register it. There was a bright flash of light and a horrible chalkboard sound, causing them both to flinch. And when the light and sound ended, something didn't feel right with the car.

Moments later, the machine broke apart down the middle. The two halves continued to roll along for a moment as they moved apart, but they eventually lost balance and the sides slammed down onto the ground.

As the metal sparked along the road, the teens inside screamed and held onto the doors. Eventually, the two halves came to a stop and smoke was coming off the metal that had skidded along the ground. They realised they weren't safe and quickly got out, Flash looking at his destroyed car in horror.

"No way." His precious ride had been completely destroyed. "My insurance doesn't cover Mimic attacks." He looked ready to start crying, but his horror quickly turned to anger. "Oh, it's on, Mimic!" He looked up at the monster, which had landed a ways away and was now walking towards them. "Derpy. Get out of here. I'll hold it off."

"You can't fight that thing!" Derpy cried, but Flash gave her a look that told her to do what he said. "Be careful." She began to run and Flash turned back to the Mimic, his Driver appearing around his waist. He just had to wait for Derpy to leave, then he could transform and beat this thing.

But before he could, the Mimic spread her wings and started beating them. Doing so created a powerful wind, which slammed into Flash and made him cry out. "Augh!" He pushed himself forward, but the wind was just too powerful. And before Flash could think to transform, he was finally thrown backwards through the air.

"FLASH!" Derpy cried, as she watched him slam into a nearby building. He fell to the ground and went still, Derpy fearing something bad had happened.

But before she could run to his side, The Dove Mimic leapt into the air. She gasped, as it turned to her and began to charge.

Flash moaned, pushing himself up and hearing Derpy's scream. Looking around, he was shocked to see the Mimic wasn't going after him. "It wants Derpy?" He hadn't been expecting that. "Why would it want Derpy?" But he quickly shook his head, as he realised Derpy was in danger.

He stood up and took out his Mimicore. "STRIKE!"

Back with Twilight and Rarity, the pair continued to stare at Frill through the window.

Twilight had sent a text to the rest of their friends, hoping they could help them defeat this monster. But before she or Rarity could try and attack again, the Vulture turned away.

"Get back here!" Twilight called out, as the Mimic flew away. She spread her wings and flew out of the window, whilst Rarity created a diamond ramp she could use to get through it. Twilight watched Frill take to the air and grabbed several items off the ground, pulling them up with her. "You're not getting away."

Frill looked around and saw her throw the objects in his direction, but the Mimic managed to dodge them and launch several feathers in her direction. Twilight dodged them as best she could, but one managed to hit her in her wing.

"Augh!" She cried, as Frill dived down. Before she could respond, he slammed his foot into her chest and she was knocked falling towards the ground.

She screamed, as she was unable to stop her descent and kept picking up speed. She could only brace herself, expecting this to really hurt. But before she hit the ground, something caught her.

"Gotcha!" She looked around and saw Rainbow, having ponied up and flew into the air to catch her. "You okay?"

"Yeah," Twilight nodded, "thanks for the save." Rainbow helped her towards the ground, where the rest of the Rainbooms were waiting. As they landed, they spotted Frill as he flew away. "He must be going after Flash and Derpy."

"Why'd he be after those two?" Sunset asked, as Twilight frowned.

"I don't know. But Frill was focusing on them when they told them to come quietly. And another Mimic went after them when they escaped."

"I don't like the sound of that," Sunset frowned. Rainbow then spread her wings.

"I'll get him before he finds them!" She took off, only to be stopped when Applejack grabbed her by the leg.

"Hold ya'h horses, sugarcube." Rainbow frowned and stopped. "A'h get ya'h wanna help em, but remember what's happened every time we tussle with a Mimic. Even when it's the seven of us, we don't stand a chance. Only da'h Kamen Riders have a chance against those things."

"So what?" Rainbow asked. "We're just supposed to sit around and let someone else protect our friends?"

"We need to help them," Pinkie cried.

"But we can't do anything stupid," Sunset stated. "We'll find Flash and Derpy. But we'll do it together. Then we'll protect them together. Hopefully, Shifter or Morphic's already found them and are dealing with the Mimic right now." She took out her phone and tried to call Flash, but it wouldn't go through. "What?"

Pinkie took out her phone and tried Derpy, getting her the first time. "Derpy. Are you alright?"

"I'm being attacked by an overgrown pigeon!" Derpy cried, as the Dove continued to chase after her. "So I've had better days."

She turned a corner, as Pinkie's phone appeared to be switched to speaker phone. "Where's Flash? He's not picking up his phone." Hearing that made Derpy flinch.

"He tried to protect me, but he got hurt. I don't know what happened to him." Suddenly, a feather impaled the wall beside her and she screamed. She looked up and saw the Dove Mimic, as it got closer and closer to her. "I can't escape. How are you supposed to get away from something that can fly?"

The bird Mimic let out several avian noises, as it prepared to strike.

But before it could, an engine filled the air and they looked around to see something flying towards them. Shifter, on his bike. The Kamen Rider accelerated and before either of them could do anything, he shot past the Dove and grabbed Derpy.

She cried out, as she was lifted into the air and thrown onto the back of Shifter's bike. She managed to grab only his waist, holding on tight as the Rider zoomed away at incredible speed. "You okay?" He asked, Derpy nodding. "Any idea why this Mimic's after you?"

"I don't know," Derpy cried. "But it hurt my friend. You have to stop it before it hurts anyone else."

"Right now, I'm focusing on keeping you from getting hurt." The Dove chased after them and despite the incredible speed the bike was moving at, The Mimic managed to stay close to them. It threw several feather blades towards them, but Shifter managed to swerve out of the way and they missed.

"Can't you outrun it?" Derpy asked, as Shifter accelerated further.

"I'm not sure. But I bet I can outlast it. It'll tire eventually and when it does, we can escape." But as he said that, something suddenly shot down and covered the entire road in front of them. "WOW!" Shifter tried to stop, but couldn't in time and his front tyre hit the white sticky stuff.

The pair were thrown off the bike and sent flying, Shifter barely managing to put his arms around Derpy and protect her before they hit the ground. "AUGH!" They skidded against the pavement until they came to a stop, Shifter letting out a moan as Derpy rolled off of him.

"Are you okay?" Shifter pushed himself up and turned his attention to the roof of a nearby building, where he spotted two figures standing there waiting for them.

"Great. It's them."

Gule-Far-Tar and Maya-Vala-Uru were staring down at them before leaping off the roof, Gule flying down whilst Maya used a web to swing to the ground. Shifter turned to his bike and saw it was still stuck to the pavement, meaning he wasn't going to get away on it.

The Dove then landed, the three Mimics moving towards them. "What do we do?" Derpy asked.

"Just stay behind me," Shifter stated. "I'll keep you safe."

"Will you now?" Shifter looked around and saw Frill, who flew down and landed behind them. Now they were surrounded, with the other three Mimics spreading out to circle around them. "Well isn't this a fine mess. Shifter, all on his own. Where's your friend?"

Shifter was wondering the same thing. He had texted Shining before transforming, but it could take a while before he found them. That meant Shifter had to hold them off on his own.

Maya was the first to attack, firing several web lines in his direction. "WOW!" Shifter managed to dodge them, pulling Derpy around as he did so. But Gule then shot forward and slashed at Shifter, who barely managed to pull Derpy away before dealing a kick to the Mimic's chest.

Gule dodged it and jumped back, as Frill flew forward and tried to claw at Shifter. The Kamen Rider leapt to the side and pulled Derpy around with him, Derpy crying out as he did so. Then, Maya fired a web and hit him in the chest.

"Gyah!" He was pulled away from Derpy and thrown around the street, crashing into a nearby wall and falling to the ground. "Augh!"

Derpy gasped, as The Dove moved towards her. "Stay back!" She cried, but the creature didn't respond and got closer. But as it did, Shifter pushed himself up and took out his Mimicore.

"PIERCE!"

Shifter quickly replaced the Mimicores, as Gule charged towards him. "Shape Shift!" He slammed the draw shut and the lights on his belt changed colour, whilst it began to speak up.

"MIMIC! HEDGEHOG!" His armor began to melt and change colour, reshaping itself as his eyes and the lines on his suit changed colour. Eventually, the armor settled and the belt spoke out. "Defending all with a shield of spines, impaling all that try to do harm!"

Shifter quickly launched a bunch of spines towards Gule, forcing him to leap back to avoid them.

Frill launched several feather darts at Shifter, but the now green and black Rider fired his spikes and they cancelled each other out. This allowed Shifter to run to Derpy, who once again found herself getting approached by the Dove Mimic.

He was about to fire a bunch of spikes towards the avian Mimic, but Maya acted first and fired a web line that struck his wrist. This pulled him away and allowed Gule to get in close and unleash a blast of light, blinding Shifter. Frill then flew up and grabbed him by the shoulders, lifting him up before diving down and slamming him into the ground.

Shifter roared, crashing into the road and skidding through it before he could react.

He moaned, laying on the ground feeling rather beat up. But he couldn't let himself be stopped. He had to save Derpy.

The girl found herself trapped against a wall, as The Dove moved closer to her. "Why are you after me? What could you possibly want?"

"Everything," Frill replied. "She wants everything from you. And you're going to give it to her." Derpy continued to panic, as The Dove prepared to do something.

But before she could, a cupcake slammed into its head and exploded. The creature squawked in pain, as it staggered away and left Derpy unharmed. And before she could try to run, a blue blur shot past and grabbed her. The next thing she knew, she was being pulled away from the Mimic whilst several more cupcakes were thrown at the monsters.

Shifter picked himself up and when he looked over, he saw Derpy was now standing next to the Rainbooms.

"You okay?" Sunset asked, with Derpy nodding as the girls turned to the monsters. "We won't let you touch her. I don't know why you're after her, but you're not getting her!" The other girls nodded, as the Mimics growled.

"You think you can stop us?" Gule asked, as Applejack, Twilight, Pinkie, Rarity and Rainbow stepped forward. "Your magical abilities are impressive, but they don't hold a candle to our power."

"Maybe," Shifter picked himself up. "But they'll distract you long enough for me to take you down. And Morphic's on his way." He fired several spines towards The Mimics, but they all managed to dodge them.

As they did, the Rainbooms charged into battle. Rainbow used her super speed and shot towards Frill, flying at him at high speed and swinging her leg around to hit him. The Vulture braced his arms and was knocked back, whilst Applejack ran towards Maya.

The Spider Mimic fired several webs at her, but Rarity used her shields to block them whilst Applejack grabbed a lamp post and ripped it out of the ground. She then swung it around and tried to slam it into Maya, but she was able to leap over it and webbed the metal pole to the ground.

At the same time, Twilight was throwing whatever she could get her hands on at Gule. The Mimic General dodged them all and unleashed a bright light, making Twilight flinch and stagger back. Gule tried to capitalise on it and slashed at her, but Pinkie jumped in front of her wearing shades.

She threw an entire tub of sprinkles at Gule, which exploded right in front of him and made the Mimic stagger back. As he did, he tried to blind Pinkie but her shades were protecting her. "Nice try!" She took out a lollipop and as it started glowing, she threw it at Gule.

He tried to bat it away, but the lollipop struck to the back of his hand. "Huh?" He turned to the sweet and it exploded, making him roar as he staggered back.

Meanwhile, Shifter was able to focus on the Dove Mimic and fired several spikes at it. The avian replied by firing its feather darts, which bounced off the spikes and caused them both to rain down on Shifter. "Augh!" He was forced to avoid them, until they were caught by a purple light and stopped from falling.

Shifter turned to Twilight and she nodded before throwing the feather and spikes back towards the Mimic, who managed to avoid them but was forced to fly higher.

The other Mimics saw this and weren't happy, each nodding at one another with Maya firing a web line at Pinkie. It struck her glasses and pulled them off, as Gule unleashed the brightest blast of light he could create.

The only ones who weren't blinded were Shifter and the other Mimics, whilst Derpy and the Rainbooms cried out as they staggered around. Maya then fired a blast of webbing at the ground, right where Rainbow landed after losing her sight.

Rainbow felt her shoe hit the web and was trapped, the girl attempting to pull herself free with little luck. Applejack started throwing blind bunches at the Mimics, but all she ended up hitting was the side of a building. The large crack that resulted, made everyone feel a little uneasy.

Shifter tried to best to fight against the Mimics, launching his spikes towards them with little success. Frill flew down and dodged his attacks, eventually tackling him to the ground with his feet. "Augh!" He cried, which caused the spikes on his armor to extend.

The Mimic General flinched as he pulled himself off of Shifter, flying into the air. But this had allowed the Dove Mimic to fly down towards Derpy, Fluttershy and Sunset. "Stay away!" Sunset yelled, standing in front of Derpy. Fluttershy looked terrified, whilst Derpy saw Shifter and the others having trouble against the general.

The Rainbooms could finally see and tried to fight back, whilst Shifter sending several spikes towards the Dove. But the bird swung its wings around, the pair melting into a whip-like slime coloured brown and orange. This deflected the spikes, as Rarity tried to put up a shield between it and her friends.

The Dove saw this and punched the wall, but was unable to break through.

Maya saw this and launched another web line, hitting Rarity in the boot. "Huh!" She looked down, her concentration breaking along with her gem wall. Maya prepared to pull her legs out from under her, but Shifter managed to fire a spine and break through it before she could.

However, this gave The Dove the chance to knock the gems away and swing her melted wings around, slamming into Fluttershy and Sunset. The two girls were knocked flying and crashed into a nearby wall, leaving Derpy free to be grabbed.

"Stay away!" Shifter yelled, but Frill suddenly grabbed him from behind.

"You can't protect her forever. Why waste your energy trying to stop the inevitable?" Shifter once again extended his spikes, but Frill refused to let that stop him. The other Rainbooms try to save Derpy, but Maya webbed them up before they could.

Derpy saw that her protectors had been beaten and once again turned to run, as the Mimic's wings returned to normal. She only managed to get a few feet before she tripped on something, causing her to fall to the ground.

"Ow!" She moaned, picking herself up. But before she could escape, The Dove slams down on the ground in front of her. She gasped, falling onto her rear and attempting to shuffle backwards. But as she did, the monster's wing extended and started melting again.

Derpy saw this and looked worried. "What...what do you want with me?" The creature didn't answer and instead, thrust its melted wing towards her. And in the blink of an eye, it slammed into her chest and Derpy gasped. "AUGH!"

"DERPY!" Everyone screamed, as the slime began to spread around her body. In the blink of an eye, she was entirely trapped within the large blob of orange and brown liquid.

"NO!" Shifter finally had enough and with all his strength, extended the spikes on his body to almost six feet long. This knocked Frill off of him and Shifter was free to run, but they were too far away.

Derpy tried to free herself, but she couldn't. Instead, she was forced to lay there as the slime around her began to harden. She closed her eyes and went entirely still, as she was trapped within a solid amber cocoon. And as she did, the Mimic's body began to change as well.

The Dove melted, her wings disappearing whilst she got shorter and took a more humanoid form. And eventually, the slime began to solidify and reveal its new form. A form everyone knew all too well.

"Derpy?" Shifter whispered as he skidded to a stop, unable to believe his friend was now standing in place of the Mimic.

The new Derpy opened her eyes and looked herself over, smiling at the transformation before turning to them. "Hello there. What do you think of my new look?" Everyone was completely lost for words, as they let what they had just seen sink in.

Twilight was the first to realise what was happening and was shocked she hadn't realised it before. As she said it, it seemed obvious. "Mimics...can mimic people."

In a dark void, the figure in white was watching some kind of holographic screen.

On said screen, he was watching the image of The Dove encasing Derpy in the slime. "So, now they've seen it. I wonder. Will this mean another hero will soon be born?" But as the scene played out, he saw the Mimic transform and smile. This caused him to sigh. "She's not strong enough. And it's possible the Riders won't be able to stop this one."

He walked away from the screen and moved over to a table, which had something on it.

That something was a strange looking device. It was a round metal tube, which looked like the handle of a weapon. That handle had a square cutlass crossguard on one side, making it look like a sword with no blade. The crossguard also had a glass rectangle sticking out the side, which was open at the bottom end to allow something to slide inside of it.

The figure took out a device and used it to scan the weapon, getting several beeps and whizzes from it. "It's ready. But are the Riders ready for it?" He picked the weapon up as he turned back to the screen. "They may have to be. Or they won't be able to defeat this new enemy."

Author's Note

Well that was certainly an interesting chapter. The heroes now know what the Mimics can truly do. This is bound to have ramifications in the future. Will they be able to save Derpy? And what's with that strange device? Only time will tell.