To Arms, Mavericks of War

by MangaKamen

Rating: teen
Tags: Adventure, Tragedy, Crossover, Alternate Universe, Twilight Sparkle, Main 6, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Cutie Mark Crusaders, Dinky Hooves, Other
Length: 12224

War, it never changes. The only difference between times of war are the combatants and their weapons. With war, the fates of all involved shall change forever. Crossover with Kamen Rider Gaim

Painting the world in your colors, is that the glory you seek?

Can you bear that heavy responsibility?

Ponies can't even control their own lives, so no one can run from, nor defy the raging waves called fate, sweeping them away.

However...
If fate ordered you to change the world, to shape the future with your own hooves, you wouldn't be able to resist it. The world would be put into your care.

Don't say no, just live more!

Crossover with Kamen Rider Gaim

Published 2014-11-08 00:10:06 UTC
Last updated 2014-11-09 14:02:10 UTC

Prologue: Final Words for the Future

To Arms Mavericks of War

TTT - TTT

Painting the world in your colors.

Is that the glory you seek?

Can you bear that heavy responsibility?

Ponies can’t even control their own lives… So no one can run from, nor defy the raging waves called fate, seeping them away.

However… If fate ordered you to change the world, to shape the future with your own hooves, you wouldn’t be able to resist it.

But… The world would be put into your care!

TTT – TTT

Arrow Smith’s Journal Entry: Day One

Today’s the mark of our newest research trip – Yggdrasill hired my team and I to investigate a weird source of mana that appeared in the Badlands. I’m nervous about this of course, but with my team by my side, I have no immediate worries. I’ve known them for years, and we’ve been to much more dangerous places in Equestria.

Doc Hazel’s going on about how this reminds her about those Daring Do books – Sometimes I wish she’d get her horned head out of those fictional tales, she’s started trying to write her own books and it’s getting rather tedious to have her bounce ideas off me. Seriously, the thought of a vehicle traveling through time when it reached a certain speed is ludicrous.

Then there’s our usual muscle Bunsen, I swear, if he wasn’t one of the strongest Earth pony stallions around Canterlot, I’d kick him off of this team for his attitude. Well, that and the fact he’s pulled my flank out of the fire a few times, one time that was literal.

And finally, our eyes in the sky, Silver Bolt. A bit lazy, but he’s a good enough counterpart to Bunsen and is essential in our team for exploration.

Hopefully this isn’t going to be a difficult research task, but its only day one – You can never tell how difficult a journey is before you take the first step.

TTT – TTT

Arrow Smith’s Journal Entry: Day Three

When you think of the word Badlands, one would immediately think of a dessert or something that didn’t have much life to it at all. However, within the first hour of our arrival at the badlands, my team and I came across a rather odd sight.

Flora was spread out across a good portion of where the source of mana was originally detected – Which was at the base of a plateau. I don’t remember seeing any of these plants during my studies at the Magical Academy, so I’m not sure if they’re safe for any pony to handle. But there’s a more intriguing point here.

Inside the plateau, there appears to be a lush forest with sunlight, the flora practically spilling out into the badlands. What’s odd about this is that it’s like there’s another world inside the plateau with, and I’m a bit hesitant to write this, a ‘portal’ into this world seems to be a zipper that opened into the platea.

What’s even odder, we had Silver Bolt fly over the plateau and learned that it was in fact an actual plateau – Which is odd, since the forest inside seems to have sunlight. Perhaps I rushed a little bit calling this forest a new world, but, I’m starting to believe that…

After we set up camp, we’ll discuss our next move.

TTT – TTT

Arrow Smith’s Journal Entry: Day Five

Due to safety measures, we spent the previous day observing and experimenting with the odd plant life that spilled out into the badlands. I say we, but I really mean Doc and I. Silver and Bunsen have been playing cards, the two are restless.

However, we needed to consider the possibility of disease and such – But I can understand the two of them, I am very anxious about exploring this ‘world’ myself. And from our testing, it appears these plants aren’t visibly dangerous, but we still need to be careful as we explore this ‘forest’, who knows what could be lurking within it.

I’ll carry this journal with me from now on to record any discoveries we have.

Arrow Smith’s Journal Entry: Day Five – Evening

It truly is like another world in that plateau! As a unicorn, I was able to feel the amount of mana that surged through that forest – It was almost suffocating me. I had to step out back into the badlands for a few moments to regain my breath, as did Doc. Interestingly enough though, Bunsen and Silver didn’t seem quite as affected by the world – Then again, I guess that’s to be expected with the two of them being an Earth Pony and Pegasus, respectively.

There has to be a source – A source of all this mana. Just like how the myths of the Elements of Harmony are considered to be a powerful source of mana in Equestria, that must be the same for this world. And those were proven to be true, along with Nightmare Moon (I’m still getting shivers from learning that the tales I heard as a colt turned out to be true).

I’ll have to analyze the air in that world, but suffice to say it was quite an experience in there. It was a lush forest in there, and in addition to the same plants that have ground outside the entrance, an odd fruit can be found sprouting from vines growing on the trees.

Like the plants around, I’ve never seen a fruit like this. A small orb with purple skin cover it and several tendrils (considering that the stem is on the opposite side I’m a little confused to what to call these, I’m not much of a botanist), and the stem seems to curl around the vine as well.

As stated, I’m not a botanist, but I can still perform a magical analysis on this plant. When I used my magic to pull a few pieces from the tree, I could sense a powerful source of mana within it.

Unknown if it’s edible to ponies.

TTT – TTT

Arrow Smith’s Journal Entry: Day Eight

A few days passed since we began our exploration of this world – I’ve yet to give it a proper name for now. Still examining the odd fruit with my magic, but we’ve barely scraped the surface of this world.

While Doc and I were continuing tests, Silver Bolt alerted us to something in the odd woods. Quietly, my team and I returned to the woods and discovered what could best be described as the ‘wildlife’ of this forest. Back in my days at the Academy, there was a mare who was obsessed with the legend of bipedal creatures with ‘hands’ called humans. I am reminded of her description when I looked at these creatures, but only to the points I mentioned earlier.

If anything, these creatures are more like insects – Silver exoskeleton with long claws on their hands, and what could be best be described as exposed muscle tissue under the large shell on their backs. The ‘faces’ of these creatures are rather odd as well, exhibiting mandibles and hollowed eyes. If I wasn’t looking at these things, I would’ve thought I was having a nightmare.

At the very least, the creatures appear to be herbivores – The two we saw were actually picking the fruit off of the trees and tried to eat it. Curiously though, they weren’t able to fully eat the fruit, one of them just took a bite and threw it to the ground, and then they just left.

Three things to note: 1) Doc says they looked cute. No accounting for her taste.

2) Bunsen said he wanted to pick a fight with one of those creatures.

And 3), Silver Bolt seemed to be focused on the fruit the creatures were eating… Probably thought it was a waste of food.

Sometimes I wonder if I’m the only sane pony in this group.

TTT – TTT

Arrow Smith’s Journal Entry: Day Nine

Not much to report in the ways of exploration – But Doc discovered something just as intriguing about the fruit we had gotten for our experimentation.

During an analysis of the physical makeup of the fruit, Doc told me something was off and proceeded to perform a simple refinement spell on one of them. When she did, the fruit seemed to shed its purple skin and reveal, and I still can’t believe this one myself, but…

Inside was a mechanical padlock that had a… Melon on it?

… This is just getting weird.

But according to Doc, since she performed the refinement spell, the lock itself seemed to exhibit even more mana within it. But for what purpose does it serve?

We’ll have to wait till we get back to Yggdrasill in Canterlot, we’ll have better equipment and more minds to help understand these… Locks.

Hmm, an interesting thought occurred to me as I write this – It’s time I give a proper name to something on this expedition. Well, actually, Doc came up with the name: Lock Seed. Rather simple, but it works.

TTT – TTT

Arrow Smith’s Journal Entry: Day Ten

Silver Bolt’s gone missing.

This morning, when I was entering the tent where I was conducting my research on these weird fruits I noticed that one had a chunk missing from it, and it was obvious due to the markings that something, or somepony had taken a bite out from it.

Originally, I thought that it was a wild animal that had broken in, however I discovered a few silver feathers on the floor with the partially eaten fruit. I don’t know where Silver Bolt is at the moment, but since he digested those fruits, we need to immediately quarantine him and study what effects the fruit may have on his body.

Normally, this wouldn’t instill fear in me, but… There’s an odd feeling that I can’t seem to put my hoof on – Something about this fruit doesn’t add up. There’s mana in every living being, and that includes fruit, but from my tests thus far on the fruit, there’s an inordinate amount of mana seeping from them.

What this means… I can’t say for sure yet. I can only hope that Silver Bolt is okay while we search for him.

TTT – TTT

Arrow Smith’s Journal Entry: Day Eleven

… I hesitate to continue writing in this, but I must stride on. In our search for Silver Bolt, Bunsen thought we should search in the mysterious forest. He had discovered one of Silver Bolt’s feathers near the entrance to that forest…

I’d be lying if I wasn’t expecting the worst to occur – But with Doc back in our world (I refuse to lose her), Bunsen and I decided to traverse the forest for our missing comrade. Little did I know at the time that those fears I held would be more real than I had anticipated.

It didn’t take Bunsen and I long to find evidence that Silver was indeed in the woods. However, it wasn’t the only thing we found.

I mentioned earlier in this journal that we discovered the odd insect like creatures (still nameless at this point), however, to think that they were all insect-based was a misconception of mine. Amongst a bunch of Silver Bolt’s feathers was another odd creature, now that I think about it, whether it is related to the insect creatures has yet to be seen.

However, this creature exhibits an odd physiology – Extravagant blue and orange antlers and wings (Bunsen stated that it reminded him of fiery decorations) along with a humanoid body. Like the other creatures we observed earlier, it had an obsession of eating that mysterious fruit. And like the others, it only took a single bite before it threw the fruit to the ground.

I could speculate that this creature could’ve had something to do with our comrade’s disappearance, with the feathers amongst its feet, but from what I can tell, these creatures in this world are herbivores…

… But since this creature looks different… It could be an omnivore.

TTT – TTT

Arrow Smith’s Journal Entry: Day Twelve

Omnivore.

Bunsen, you idiot! WHY!?!

TTT – TTT

Arrow Smith’s Journal Entry: Day Thirteen

Too much was lost.

This place… This place has…

Doc, I’m sorry for everything that has happened to our friends.

TTT – TTT

Doc…

… I’m… All…

I’m all alone…

TTT – TTT

WHAP!

The ragged and slightly reddened journal closed shut, the lush green aura around it faded away to have it land on the desk. Within the large white office, the soft lights illuminated the room with two long shadows within the room. “And that’s all Professor Smith wrote about, sir. At least, the only thing that was legible to read. After that, it’s just gibberish.”

“I see… And the professor himself?”

“He’s currently getting fitted for a straightjacket.”

“How appropriate, but, this is still very interesting. Especially these creatures he talks about and the ‘Lock Seeds’.”

“Sir, what are your orders?”

From behind the desk, one of the shadows trotted out from it and turned towards the large window that showed the festive city that was below. “… Make sure the Professor is comfortable for now – Keep his return a secret from Princess Celestia until tomorrow. No need to tarnish the newest Princess’s big day.”

The other stallion lowered his head down towards the floor. “Yes sir.”

“First thing in the morning though, before we report to Celestia, be sure to send a team to the badlands to conduct their own search and to gather more of this ‘fruit’.”

“Yes sir.”

“Tonight, have Duke examine this ‘Lock Seed’, and see if he can find another use to channel this mana in them.”

“Yes boss.”

“Oh, and Crescent…”

“Yes boss?”

“When development is finished, I’d like you to take the reigns of production – Think of it as a promotion.”

“Yes sir.”

TBC

Chapter 1: Transform with an Orange

“HELLO~ PARTY PONIES!

“DJ-Pon3 comin’ at you all, live fromPonyville~! Sup!? Filling the streets with red hot beats and cold as ice tunes all for you colts and mares, so be sure to enjoy this wonderful day – Especially you Beat Riders out there!

“Blue skies and yellow sunlight make this day perfect for you all to tear up the streets with your mad moves. Get into the cool groove and I’ll provide the perfect hot beats!”

With the upbeat tempo that graced the morning, an orange hoof knocked the radio off of the nearby nightstand and slammed it into the ground, “Ugh, five more minutes…”

Unfortunately, those five extra minutes would never come, because the DJ’s voice sounded from the grounded alarm radio,

“Here’s hoping that all you mares and colts are dancing it up! After all, we’re nearing the seven year anniversary of a certain princess’s ascension into greatness! Gotta make sure we celebrate it properly!”

A couple years ago, that energetic voice and hoof-tapping background music would’ve been enough to instill enough energy to propel him from bed.

But today, he just wanted to sleep in, against his better judgment.

“Ronin! Ronin!”

Two orange ears flicked slightly.

“You’re going to be late for your first day!”

A bloodshot, blue eye snapped open and looked about before its owner shook about in a vain attempt to wake himself up. “I… I’m getting up! Don’t worry! I won’t be laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa – OW!”

In his hurry, the orange stallion failed to notice that he got tangled in the bed sheets and fell face first into the hard, wooden floor with a low smack. For a moment, his short black tail stood up straight for a few seconds before it slumped over his flank. “… I’m just gonna need a minute…”

A few minutes later, the orange stallion stumbled out of the small house with his short black mane a mess and the blue jacket over his torso, albeit he had a little difficulty trying to get his front right leg into the right sleeve, but he still kept going. “C’mon! C’mon!”

By some miracle from above, the orange stallion smiled brightly before his hooves slipped through the sleeve and onto the ground. “Yeah! Nothing can stop me now!”

My name is Ronin.

And before you ask, I have no idea what that name means. I only know that it’s based off of some term from Neighpon, and that whoever named me thought it sounded cool.

For as long as I could remember, my older sister Mercury has always taken care of me – Working extra hours every night in order to make sure that we both have a roof over our heads and food on the table. A few years ago, we moved to Ponyville and we were finally able to relax a little bit.

But I don’t want to be a burden on her anymore. She’s done so much for me that she deserves to relax in the same way that I have over the last seven years – I’ve made friends, I’ve danced in the streets, and I’ve studied/slept at school.

I want to be an adult as soon as possible so she doesn’t have to work as hard for my sake any more. She tells me that I shouldn’t push myself so hard. And while it is technically my first day, it’s for my second job. So, my sister tells me that I shouldn’t rush my chance to become an adult, just because I have my Cutie Mark that doesn’t mean that I’m a full on stallion.

A curved, oriental blade piercing through a circle, all black. That’s the mark I was given six years ago. How I got it? Well, that’s not really important right now. What is important though is I gave up a lot so that my sister wouldn’t have to provide for me as much as before.

Providing for yourself, transforming yourself into somepony who can help others through hard work. That’s what being an adult is like… Right?

I want to transform into something great.

As Ronin galloped through the streets of Ponyville he couldn’t help but smile at the town he dashed through. Since he moved to the town, during the seven years’ time, Ponyville evolved from a calm, rural town into a bustling city that was almost on par with Canterlot and even Manehatten. A large portion of the wooden houses were replaced with brick buildings that towered in the sky with many of the dirt roads replaced with concrete and sidewalks.

It was almost enough to make Ronin slow down and enjoy the scenery.

Almost.

With the chance of being late for work, Ronin had to ignore the surprising calm city and make sure that he didn’t get…

“This is for all you colts and mares! You gotta make sure you party for our resident princess!”

Ronin’s ears perked when he heard the familiar voice of DJ Pon3. The stallion turned his attention towards the source – A single stage near the tall city hall, seven ponies danced to the pumping music. Along with the music, the dancers performed their moves to lead the crowd before the stage to cheer for them.

At the lead of the dancers was a particular orange pegasus mare with her long messy purple mane and tail whipping through the air as she lead the dance group on the stage. With her blue hoodie tied loosely at her neck, the young mare kicked her hind legs up into the air before she spread her wings to flip through the air.

When she landed on the stage once more, the crowds erupted into loud cheer for the stunt. Then at almost the same time, the music came to a stop and the dancers bowed to the large crowd. The boom box that was set up on the side of the stage chimed in with the DJ’s voice, “That goes double for you Beat Riders! You’re the ones who need to make sure that nopony gets left out from this show!”

Ronin sighed under his breath with his head lowered. The stage looked so tempting, but with his newest job starting in only a few minutes – He had no time.

TTT – TTT

"So, ya’ll must be that Ronin fella.”

Ronin took a couple breaths and used a hoof to wipe off some of the sweat from his brow before he saluted. “Y-Yes ma’am! Ronin reporting for his first day!”

The lighter orange mare chuckled at the exuberant young stallion. She used her hoof to push up the Stetson hat atop of her long blonde mane, “Now, now, no need to be all nervous like – Yer starting to make me nervous.”

“S-Sorry,” Ronin yelped as he lowered his head.

“And stop that darn apologizing,” The mare replied as she used her hoof to lift the young stallion’s head up. “It ain’t right fer a stallion to put his head down like that. Now come along, Ah already got yer first job all set.”

“Yes ma’am!” Ronin announced as he gulped loudly.

“And stop with the whole ma’am business,” The mare sighed with her eyes narrowed slightly. “Ah ain’t that old yet!”

“Sorry ma’a… I mean boss!” Ronin corrected himself with his head lowered to the ground even further.

“Ain’t no need for that either,” The mare chuckled. “But Ah appreciate the respect, little fella. Ya’ll can just call me Applejack, shoot, everypony does.”

“R-Right, Applejack,” Ronin coughed out before he saluted. “Ronin reporting for duty!”

It was then that Applejack had a large smile on her face, “Ah, that’s the spirit! Good to see that stallions and mares today still have that fire in their hearts. Now then, my little sis tells me that ya’ll were one of them… Ah, shoot, what do they call themselves?”

“Beat Riders,” Ronin chuckled nervously. “And yeah, I was one…”

“Well, she also told me that yer one of the faster ones,” Applejack continued onwards as she began to walk towards one of the many carts that were lined up, filled with the brim with apples. “And Ah can assume that you know yer way around Ponyville?”

“Yes m… Applejack!” Ronin corrected himself with an energetic nod.

“Good! Then we’ll start ya off with some deliveries,” Applejak stated as she tapped one of her hooves against the cart. “Nothing too hard since its yer first day, Ah got a list of addresses ya just need to go. Let’em know yer with Sweet Apple Acres, and they’ll take their order. They’ve already paid in advance, so ya don’t have to worry ‘bout that. Think ya can handle this, Mistah Ronin?”

Once again, Ronin smiled brightly with a salute towards the older mare, “Of course! Where do I go first?”

Applejack chuckled to herself, “Well, get yerself loaded up, and I’ll give ya the list. And don’t worry ‘bout time, ya’ll have plenty of time to make yer rounds.”

Without another word, Ronin ran to get the cart strapped onto him. However, as he attempted to take his first step, the cart barely moved. With a loud groan, Ronin struggled to pull the cart, his face starting to turn a little red in the process.

“Whoa there, fella!” Applejack yelped out as she stepped next to Ronin. “Ya don’t need to push yerself so much! Yer gonna pull something fierce!”

“T-That’s the point!” Ronin sputtered out before he took a step forward, actually able to move the cart forward. “S-See? I’m getting the hang of it!”

Applejack shook her head at the stallion as she watched him pull the cart forward, but he was getting the job done. “S’alright, good luck with yer first day, Mistah Ronin. Once ya get into town, just check the list on the cart, it’ll tell ya where ya need to go.”

“T-Thanks!” Ronin groaned before he walked off, dragging the cart behind him.

Applejack shook her head as she watched the stallion, ‘He’s got a big heart, but he’ll get hurt if overexerts himself.’

TTT – TTT

The trip to Ponyville took a lot longer than Ronin would’ve liked, his hoodie was drenched with sweat and clung to his body as he reached the outskirts of the large town. When he reached the edge of town, the young stallion lowered to the ground to catch his breath, ‘I think… I think I’m about to break…’

But he couldn’t afford to break, not when he hadn’t even managed to make his first delivery yet. So, while he was catching his breath, Ronin turned his head to see the list of addresses that were on the cart behind him. ‘Let’s see, the first place I have to go is… Oh! It’s not that far! Thank Urobutchi! So, what’s this place supposed to…’

The smile on Ronin’s face slowly melted away into a grimace, ‘Oh you have gotta be kidding me…’

Ronin’s gaze turned to the side, and he saw the building in question a few yards away – It was a rather large loft that had many glass windows used to display several figures within it. But what was really eye catching about the building was the large symbol that was placed upon it: A large black crest with a red emblem with a black top hat over the emblem and cloak behind it, both with a red sheen to it.

It was a symbol that Ronin had seen several times in the past.

‘Of course it has to be there, the first delivery of my first day on my new job,’ Ronin thought to himself as he stood up and prepared to pull the cart.

After a few minutes of dragging the cart through town, Ronin reached the building with the fancy symbol on it – Outside the building were several similarly dressed individuals hanging about. Over the years, Ponyville’s namesake had gotten lost since more than just ponies began to take residence – Mostly griffons and diamond dogs moved into the growing city, with a few other species appearing as well.

Ponies, griffons and a few diamond dogs all dressed in red shirts and black surcoats hung out in front of the building, some of them dancing to the beat that pumped out of a nearby boom box, while others just talked to each other.

Ronin gulped and stopped pulling the cart. He was familiar with this group, hopefully they didn’t remember…

“Oi, oi, look what we’ve got here!”

‘Oh plop,’ Ronin thought to himself as he turned around seeing a diamond dog and griffon similarly dressed like the others in front of the building walking up to his cart.

The diamond dog looked similar to that of a Doberman with his black hair combed over slightly over his right eye, and placed one of his upper paws on the cart, “If it isn’t Ronin, didn’t think I’d see a member of Team Gaim ‘round here.”

“Maybe he wants to get with the winning team, Zack,” the griffon chuckled, he was rather small for a griffon, but with his white feathers slicked back and the cocky grin on his beak he looked like he carried himself higher. “But I don’t if the boss wants the deserter with us…”

“Peko, no need to be rude,” Zack chuckled, rasping his nails on the cart’s wood. “So Ronin, what brings you over to Team Baron’s place? Knowing your loyalty, you wouldn’t be interested in joining our team…”

“I… I have a delivery,” Ronin answered solemnly, not looking at the two well-dressed individuals.

Zack clapped his paws together, “Right! We were expecting a crate or two of apples. Gotta make sure our team’s all set for today. So, we just take our order from the cart, right?”

“Yes,” Ronin answered, finally looking up. “And I was told that you already paid so, let’s just get your order and…”

“Say, mind tossing a few more apples our way?” Peko asked as he opened the cart up and plucked a few apples from the cart and began juggling them with his talons. “C’mon, how about it? For the good ole days when we danced you guys off the streets.”

Ronin returned Peko’s words with a harsh glare, “Please put those back, I have a lot of other orders to get to.”

Before the griffon could utter another word however, Zack slapped Peko upside the back of his head, making the griffon drop the apples to the ground. “GAH!”

“Peko, put’em back,” Zack sighed before he knelt down and picked up the apples that were on the ground. “You wouldn’t want Baron seeing you pull this stunt, remember what happened when he saw you and your slingshot?”

Peko’s wings shot out in surprise and he brought his talons up to his head. “N-No! Zack! Don’t tell Baron! PLEASE!!”

Baron, obviously the founder of Team Baron, Ronin heard the name enough times back when he was on the stage, but he never had the pleasure of actually seeing the leader of the most successful dance team in Ponyville.

Oh, he had heard all of the rumors of course, how he was a stallion who was able to build a small empire of dancers of all sorts of races. Oddly enough, the entertainment that Team Baron provided seemed to be enough to pay for their own loft – Complete with all of the odd choices in decoration that Baron had.

There were even rumors that Baron had aspirations of acquiring a wing of Twilight’s Castle, but that was just a rumor and it was highly doubtful that a dance team could pull that off… Then again, no one thought that a street dance team would be able to afford a place as big as they had now.

“Then get back inside and start practicing,” Zack growled, his teeth barred at the younger griffon. “NOW.”

Ronin had never seen a griffon run so quickly before.

Zack chuckled and rubbed the back of his head, “Sorry about that, Ronin. Baron lets us do what we want, so we gotta pull the leash on ourselves every once in a while. Still, really good to see you again, are you planning on heading out to the main square’s stage this afternoon?”

“Huh? Why?” Ronin asked.

“Oh, well, I just thought you knew that your team’s gonna be there,” Zack answered with a shrug.

It didn’t take a genius to figure out what Zack was getting at, Ronin wasn’t a genius, far from it. But he knew what this meant, “Zack, is Team Baron planning on…”

“If you’re no longer a part of their team,” Zack interrupted as he crossed his arms over his chest. “Then it doesn’t matter, does it?”

“I… I guess so,” Ronin sputtered out.

“Still, you might wanna show up,” Zack suggested before he turned away from the orange stallion. “You never know who will.”

Ronin sighed as he walked over to the cart. That part of his life was in the past, and as much as he hated to let it go, he had a job to do.

TTT-TTT

The streets were abuzz with music, the source emanating from a single stage near the tall city hall, where seven ponies danced to the pumping music. Along with the music, the dancers performed their moves to lead the crowd before the stage to cheer for them.

In front of the dancers was the same orange pegasus mare that Ronin saw earlier, her long messy purple mane and tail wavered through the air as she lead the dance group on the stage, each mimicking her dance moves.

“DJ Pon3 coming right at ya once again! Hope you Beat Riders are certainly pulling your weight in the celebrations! After all, you’re the ones who need to make sure that the crowds get pumped up for the anniversary of Princess Twilight’s coronation!”

While the DJ spoke, the group of ponies on stage trotted off to a smaller group who were similarly dressed, two of which were unicorn mares. One had a pale lightish gray-violet coat with a golden mane that fell to the blue hood of her jacket, the other mare was a bright green, and was a tad smaller than those who wore the blue jackets of the team, with short, vibrant purple hair that was neatly combed.

The music started up again, but this time the group of ponies who danced on stage leapt off the stage playfully to the side as the crowd cheered once more. The orange mare sighed in relief as she wiped her brow with a smirk on her face, “Heh, just listen to them! They’re loving it!”

“Well, that’s to be expected,” The green mare replied, the horn in between her mane glowed a deep purple and lifted up a water bottle to the orange mare. “Captain – you, Dinky and Swift have been training us all the time and its showing.”

“Myste,” The orange mare replied as she took the water bottle from midair. “It’s Co-Captain. ‘sides, I’m not the one you should be praising, that’s owed to everypony on the team – Sweetie for helping us with our music, Bloom with our outfits, Dinky with promotion and even you, we’ve all practiced so much that we’ll fight our way to the top!”

“Too bad that Bloom and Sweetie couldn’t show up today,” Dinky, the blonde unicorn commented as Scootaloo gulped down the contents of the water bottle. “Even Swift’s not around.”

“And besides, Scootaloo,” Myste answered back with a warm smile. “You’re kind of forgetting your own contributions.”

“If there’s one thing I learned, Myste,” Scootaloo replied before she dropped the empty water bottle to the ground. “It’s that no matter what, you gotta keep going and give it your all. It’s not just my work, but everypony’s. Now, let’s get back to the stage, we still have our second half!”

Myste smiled as she and the rest of the dance group leapt to the stage as more upbeat music began to play once again. The group got into position, and was about to begin until…

ZRRT!

Everypony on stage turned towards the stereo at the corner of the stage, seeing Zack the diamond dog leaning on the corner of the stage, his back to the group showing the cloak and top hat insignia on his coat. Zack wasn’t alone though, several ponies, griffons and diamond dogs were next to him, all of them wearing the same coat as Zack.

Zack chuckled and waved his paw towards Scootaloo, “Slick moves out there, Team Gaim. Too bad the show is getting cut short.”

“What’s your problem?” Scootaloo growled as she stomped up towards the leader of the small group. “We’re in the middle of a show!”

“Oh? Didn’t you hear?” Zack countered back, turning back towards the crowds watching the scene unfold. “This stage now belongs to Team Baron, it’s better to give these fine patrons something more akin to entertainment.

With the music cut out, the DJ’s voice sounded out from the speakers, “Just remember boys and girls, the streets may be too small for everypony, but there’s no need to lock horns over something so petty!

“There’s a smart and fun way of solving these probs – So be sure to carry your Lock Seeds with you whenever you go out to perform!’

Zack leapt on the stage and reached into his jacket’s pocket, producing a silver lock that had a pinecone-like emblem on it. “If you fillies got a problem with us taking this stage, then how about we settle this like real Beat Riders?”

Scootaloo narrowed her eyes before her tail shot into her jacket’s pocket, pulling out another Lock Seed, only this one had a sunflower seed emblem on it. “You’re on!”

“Scootaloo!” Myste sputtered out as she trotted up to the mare. “Shouldn’t we call for Swift?!”

“There’s no way I’m backing off now!” Scootaloo retorted as she and the rest of Team Gaim stepped back from Team Baron. “I can handle this jerk by myself!”

“Are you sure about that?” Zack questioned as he spun the Lock Seed around one of his claws. “Afterall, I wouldn’t want the victory just given to me…”

“Just shut up and unlock!” Scootaloo barked before she tossed the Lock Seed into the air and caught it between her teeth.

Zack used his paw to unlock the Lock Seed while Scootaloo used her hoof to do the deed, all the while DJ continued to speak out. “What’s that? What’s with the Lock Seeds? Well, for you newcomers, these little bits of fashion are used for something that a lotta Beat Riders do – The Inves Game! With a touch of magic, these little locks can summon Inves!

“And between two players – The Inves duke it out: and the real champ will win the most respect for his or her team! OK! Get on the beat! Riders! WOW!”

Both of the Lock Seeds quickly unlocked as a bright light popped up between the two team representatives – forming into a square shaped ring with railing around it. Meanwhile over Scootaloo’s and Zack’s head two large holes resembling zippers materialized over and two light covered creatures leapt from the portals and into the ring. The two creatures seemed to be insect-like that stood on two feet and claws – With one of the Inves covered with blue light while the other was covered with red light.

BATTLE – START!

The two small Inves hissed at each other before they started grappling one another, with the blue Inves breaking free from the red Inves and slamming its claws into the side of the opposing monster. The crowd cheered as the blue Inves slammed its side into Team Baron’s monster and sent it rolling around the glowing ring.

However, far behind the crowd and hidden behind a large crate, was none-other than Peko with a slingshot in one talon and a small stone in the other. It didn’t take much effort for him to focus his aim…

He fired.

The stone smacked up against the back of Scootaloo’s head, and the mare yelped out as she dropped the Lock Seed from her mouth. “GAH!”

As the Lock Seed clattered off of the stage, Myste and Dinky ran up to their teammate, with Myste leading, “Are you okay Scootaloo?”

Before the mare could say anything, a loud screech drew her attention and the blue Inves turned towards Scootaloo. The monster slammed its claws into the ring and shattered it, forcing the ponies on Team Gaim’s side to step back. The Inves screeched louder before it leapt towards the group, which made the ponies scatter away from the stage and into the crowd.

Most of the crowd galloped away as the Inves leapt from the stage and began to terrorize the crowd, taking a few swipes at the innocent bystanders. Scootaloo growled under her breath as she looked about the area.

“Humph,” Zack scoffed to the side with a smirk. “Looks like someone needs to keep a better grip on their Lock Seed, otherwise…”

The red Inves stood before Team Baron, using its claws to scratch its head in confusion. Then it slumped over with a sigh as it watched its fellow Inves terrorize these ponies, it wanting to do so as well.

With a loud growl, Scootaloo leapt off the stage and looked about the concrete ground, in an attempt to find the find the Lock Seed. And then her eyes fell upon the small device only a few feet away from her, “There!”

Scootaloo galloped as quickly as her hooves could carry her to the Lock Seed – However, a pair of gray, clawed feet stepped on the Lock Seed and prevented her from getting closer. The blue Inves had stepped before her and hissed loudly. The mare narrowed her eyes, ‘I’m not going to let this thing get out of control! Bring it on you…’

Before Scootaloo continued her train of thought, an orange and blue blur crashed into the Inves, Scootaloo didn’t care what just slammed into the monster, she took this opportunity to jump to the Lock Seed and closed the lock on the strange device.

The large zipper appeared behind the Inves and drew the monster into the odd dimension that was within it.

With a sigh of relief, Scootaloo looked at the Lock Seed, seeing a large crack now racing through the emblem on it, ‘Well, that sucks…’

Scootaloo looked about, trying to see where that orange and blue blur had come from and disappeared to. She frowned as she had an idea of who the blur was…

“Looks like it’s official,” Zack chuckled as he closed his own Lock Seed, making his Inves leap back into its own portal. “It’s our win, Team Gaim. Feel free to come watch us whenever you like.”

Scootaloo growled loudly as the rest of her team galloped behind her, “That… That…”

“You abandoned the duel,” Zack continued on as Peko walked next to him. “So thanks for the stage!”

Once again, Scootaloo growled at the Diamond Dog, and was about to charge the stage… But was stopped by two auras that grabbed her tail, both Dinky and Myste trying their hardest to pull the orange mare back.

“D-Don’t do it!” Myste struggled, more focused on holding her head back.

“We’ll lose our street pass!” Dinky added.

“Oh, why not let her go?” Peko teased with a large smirk. “I mean, the stage alone is nice, but your street pass would be even better!”

“That’s enough Peko,” Zack growled. “They lost, that’s enough today.”

Scootaloo huffed once more before she lowered her head, “You can let me go, we’re out of here.”

Both of the magical auras faded away and Scootaloo trudged past her two friends, ignoring what they were saying. She had something else to deal with…

Around a nearby street corner, Ronin sighed loudly as he hooked himself back up to his cart. ‘That was close, good thing I actually thought to stop by after my deliveries… Who knows what could’ve happened to…’

“Ahem!”

That throat clearing was enough to make Ronin’s ears perk up, as he turned his head, Ronin was sure that his neck creaked loudly until he was met with Scootaloo’s eyes. “Oh! S-Scootaloo! Hey, uh, funny seeing you here! You and the team practicing nearby or something? I heard the music and…”

“Do really expect to get that line past me?” Scootaloo questioned with a flat look in her eyes.

“Uh, yes?” Ronin replied, a sheepish smile plastered on his face.

“You’re an idiot,” Scootaloo sighed loudly with a shake of her head. “What are you even doing here? Didn’t you say that our ‘little game’ was just for fillies and colts?”

“I… I…” Ronin stammered, realizing that since he was hooked to the cart, he couldn’t step back.

“Aren’t you supposed to be all mature and junk?” Scootaloo continued. “That means you don’t poke your muzzle into others’ affairs. If you’re not a part of us, then don’t bother getting involved.”

“I… I’m sorry, I just…” Ronin started out, rubbing the back of his mane with his hoof.

“Go easy on the old stallion, Scootaloo,” A calm voice called out. “He probably meant well.”

Ronin and Scootaloo turn to the side to see a black stallion with a flowing silver mane that flew over the hood of his blue jacket with white and black checkered sleeves. The stallion gave a weary, yet warm smile at the two, “It looks like something happened while I was gone…”

“Swift,” Scootaloo murmured under her breath, not bothering to look the stallion in the eyes.

“Scootaloo, what exactly happened?” Swift asked with a warm smile.

“I… I screwed up!” Scootaloo growled before she ran off.

For a moment, Swift watched as the orange mare dash off. The silver maned stallion sighed before he turned back towards Ronin, “Well, you mind filling me in on what happened, ya old coot.”

“Ya know, that’s not comforting to hear from somepony a year older than me,” Ronin stated flatly, his gaze just as flat.

Swift chuckled, “Hey, if you wanna act so grown up, you gotta take the good and the bad with it. That includes the swift jabs.”

Swift however walked up to Ronin and nodded, “I kid with you, but Ronin, please. I need you to tell me what happened…”

Ronin sighed, “Alright, but I have one more delivery left to make on this route… You mind heading to Drupers with me?”

TTT – TTT

While Ponyville had certainly grown over the last seven years, it wasn’t without its losses. Several businesses and homes have come and gone, one of the few businesses that managed to stay was Sugar Cube Corner, a bakery of sorts that had grown into a small franchise, with more and more Sugar Cube Corners popping up all over Equestria.

However, the building that once held the original Sugar Cube Corner had been changed, turned into a business that had rented out the building. That business was known as Drupers, a rather interesting café that had a lot of fruit based sweets and oddly enough, using actual fruit as decoration.

“Ah, fresh Sweet Apple Acres,” said the owner, a stoic, mature tan stallion with a messy dark brown mane and tail. The older earth pony stallion had taken a whiff of the goods before he took the crate from Ronin’s cart by a rope grip in his mouth.

With his final order delivered, Ronin sighed with relief and had followed Swift into the café. He could spare a couple of minutes before he had to return the cart. The two old friends sat across from each other at a table near the entrance and begun to talk.

“Ever since you left the streets,” Swift sighed loudly wistfully looking out the window, his gaze set on the ponies, griffons and other folk living in the city. “Things have gotten weird Ronin. It’s rarely about the dancing now-a-days, it’s taking a backseat to Lock Seeds.”

“I never understood how the Inves Game got so popular,” Ronin answered back. “And these Lock Seeds and their dealers, they just cropped out of nowhere.”

“Inves game, right?” The owner questioned after placing the crate of apples on the floor. “Reminds me of the trading card games I had when I was about your age… Only difference is that we never had monsters appear. At the very least, its better seeing you youngsters settle things with a game.”

“It’s plenty dangerous,” Ronin replied with a shake of his head, watching the owner walk away. “These Inves… there’s just something about them. And one of them nearly took Scootaloo’s head off…”

“Thanks for helping her by the way,” Swift answered back, his gaze not moving away from the window. “I bought the team some Lock Seeds, hoping that they’d be able to protect themselves from other teams, Tartarus, a team’s ranking is practically based on how many Lock Seeds they own.

“I could’ve bought a grade B with my bits, but then not everyone could get a Lock Seed. And I can’t be everywhere at once, so we’re not the strongest team around.”

“Swift I,” Ronin started, knowing exactly where this was going. “I can’t…”

“I’m not going to ask you to help,” Swift replied, finally turning away from the window. “But rather, Ronin, I found a way to solve this issue.”

“You have?” Ronin asked, now a little confused. “Then why are you talking to me about this?”

“Ronin, you’re always saying you need to grow up,” Swift answered. “That your sister’s taken care of you and that you don’t want to be a burden to her – At this point, I’m almost a burden to the team as well, I can’t provide for them, I can’t protect them… But I need some advice, and you’re my friend.

“So before I make this decision, I’d need an outside opinion on the matter – You’re still close enough to this, but you’re on the outside of it too.”

“Well, I’m not the smartest pony around,” Ronin chuckled as he rubbed the back of his head. “But I suppose I can help, as long as it doesn’t involve money…”

Swift only chuckled as he reached into his jacket and drew out a small photograph that he slid across the table. Ronin blinked at the image, seeing a black buckle that had a small sword attachment on the right side of the odd device.

For a few moments, Ronin only looked at the device silently before he lifted his head up, “I… what exactly am I looking at?”

“Yesterday, one of the dealers contacted me,” Swift stated, keeping his eyes set on Ronin’s reaction. “He said that this would change the Inves Game completely, and he’s giving it to me. Says that I’m a test subject for the device…”

“Swift, this doesn’t sound right,” Ronin stated bluntly. “There’s something more to this… The dealers, they don’t just give away something for free.”

“But we don’t have much of a choice,” Swift replied, his eyes closed now. “At this rate, we’ll lose our street pass and our team won’t last much longer. So, I’m meeting with the dealer here in an hour.”

“Swift!” Ronin hissed under his breath. “Are you serious?!”

“Ronin, I don’t have a choice,” Swift answered back, opening his eyes with a hardened, determined gleam glistened from his dark green orbs. “But I’m not taking a chance with this, I’m not going to use it. Not until I test it.”

“For the love of,” Ronin muttered, not liking this situation. “Swift, I… I really don’t think you should do this. Maybe I can get a few extra bits and…”

“Ronin, I appreciate it,” Swift replied shaking his head. “But as captain, I need to do this. It’s a belt, what’s the worst that could happen? But if you’re really concerned, then how about this, meet me at our old hang out around seven? I’ll be testing it there so no one gets hurt.”

“But Swift…” Ronin started.

However, the orange stallion was halted by a black hoof that was held in front of his face. Swift leered at his friend, “Ronin, we’re on different paths, you wanting to provide for yourself and me wanting to look out for the ones I care about…”

“I… I care about them too!” Ronin replied, his brow narrowed slightly at his friend. “I just…”

“I’m not saying that you’re wrong about your path,” Swift chuckled warmly. “Tartarus, I admire it, you’re seriously trying to become your own stallion in this world. But that doesn’t mean our paths can’t coincide or cross, you’ll always be my friend Ronin, but you need to respect my decisions as I have respected yours.

“Can you do that for me? For the team?”

With his mouth opening up, Ronin searched for the words to argue, but he came up with nothing more than a sigh. “I trust you Swift. I may not like it, but if this is your decision, I’ll be there to back you up.”

“Good, now how about something on me?” Swift asked back as he lifted his hoof off. “Hey Pit! How about two of your parfaits? Fruit’s basket styles!”

The owner, Pit, smile behind the counter, “You got it, kid! Coming right up!”

“I really should get back to work though,” Ronin admitted with a nervous look on his face. “It’s my first day and I really don’t want to get fired…”

“AJ’s not gonna fire you for being a little tardy,” Pit’s voice sounded out. “That’s the kinda mare she is. Sides, I saw your cart, it was empty, so you’ve got a little time on your hooves. And if you get in trouble, I’ll talk to AJ about cutting you some slack – I’ll say I had you bring the order in.”

“That’s… A little convenient,” Ronin admitted under his breath.

“Don’t stress it,” Swift chuckled.

TTT – TTT

The sun began to fall over the horizon near Ponyville, and even though the light from the sun gleamed through the streets, the street lights were slowly illuminating. And a number of ponies were still on the streets at this hour, and Ronin was amongst them, heading towards the edge of town.

It had been a few hours since Ronin’s shift had ended, and while he did get a little chewed out by Applejack, it wasn’t too bad – At least he had a job by the end of the day.

And now, he was meeting with his friend on a matter that could easily go south.

When he reached the old warehouse districts, Ronin smiled at the scenery – The tall stone and steel buildings of varying heights surrounded the barren street. With every step he took, his hooves clacked loudly against the pavement, the echo of every step sent shivers down Ronin’s spine, ‘I forgot how creepy this place is at night… Well, dusk. I should’ve asked Swift where specifically to meet him here…

‘We usually hanged out everywhere around here, there are a ton of places here. Where exactly…’

Ronin stopped in his tracks when he came across a patch of grass and leered at it. He was no connoisseur of grass, but even he had to admit that there was something odd about this grass and the other plants that grew in it – He’d never seen purple plants that resembled a spiral, orange and red pumpkin-like flowers, and other odd plants. “What in the…”

But his eyes were soon drawn away from the plants and to the building that was adjacent to that weird patch of flora. No, not the building itself, the wall – The wall had an odd portal that seemed to open up into the building, revealing a brightly lit forest that had more of the odd vegetation with in it.

The portal itself was weird, it looked like a zipper.

Ronin stared at the odd opening, his head slightly tilted to the side. There was something alluring about that forest, something called out to Ronin, and before he knew it, Ronin found himself walking through the odd portal…

“What is this place?” Ronin asked no one in particular, walking past the trees that flourished this… area.

Vines coiled around the trees, all of them producing an odd purple fruit, and still Ronin continued onwards…

SNAP!

Ronin’s eyes widened as he turned about and dashed behind one of the nearby trees. It didn’t take long for him to see where the sound had come from, a few yards away were a pair of creatures that Ronin had seen, quite recently in fact.

It was the Inves, the gray, insect-like creatures, just like the one that he had tackled earlier to help Scootaloo…

There was just one big difference.

These Inves were big, almost twice the size as the ones in the game. Their teeth, their claws, their everything was twice as big!

Ronin shivered as he watched the monsters pluck the fruit off of the trees and eat it. ‘This must be where the Inves come from, but, what exactly is here?’

Not wanting to deal with the Inves that he had come across, Ronin walked in the opposite direction. He stopped walking a little bit and took note of the fruit, the same kind of fruit that the Inves were eating. He gulped loudly and licked his lips at the odd food, ‘For some reason, these look good. I wonder what they taste like.’

Using his tail to whip off a couple of the fruit, Ronin sat down and began to inch his mouth towards the fruit that he had plucked.

“Grrrrr…”

That wasn’t his stomach.

Slowly, Ronin turned his head and came face to face with a monstrosity that resembled vaguely like the Inves – it had an exoskeleton, but that’s where the similarities ended. This one was just as big as the other two, but had deep dark green skin on its upper body while its lower body was a pale white. For some reason, the creature resembled that of a canine or some large cat with its head, while it had many odd… things jutting out from its back. They looked like pieces of its exoskeleton, that’s what Ronin hoped it was.

The monster raised its right ‘arm’ up, revealing the foot long claws that were raised in Ronin’s direction, and it was thanks to those claws that Ronin knew what he had to do…

Run!

The orange stallion ran off deeper into the forest, unaware that his tail had snagged the two weird fruits he was trying to eat. The large creature roared loudly, chasing after Ronin, slamming into several trees along the way, not caring that it was getting damaged in the process.

The thing was fast. It took everything that Ronin had just to keep out of reach of the creature’s claws…

Suddenly, Ronin felt something wrong…

He was no longer running, he had tripped over something and flew through the air. Ronin groaned as he crashed into a rather large bush. The sound of the creature drawing closer caught Ronin’s attention, however, the loud footsteps that were accompanied the crunch of leaves and twigs seemed to fade away.

Perhaps the bush had covered Ronin completely, so the creature didn’t notice him. The orange stallion gulped silently as he slowly peeked out of the bush, and when he realized that his neck wasn’t being pinned down by foot-long claws or getting eaten, Ronin sighed with relief. He pulled himself out of the bush, breathing a sigh of relief and lowered his head to the ground.

‘I… I can’t believe I dodged that…’ Ronin thought as he slowly lifted his head up.

That’s when he saw it, an object that had been revealed to him today by Swift – The unique black buckle with the sword attachment to it was laying right in front of him. Ronin lifted the buckle up from the ground and spun it around, “This is what Swift wanted to show me. Does that mean he was here?!”

As Ronin looked around the forest, he slowly brought the buckle down to his waist unconsciously, he was too distracted that the buckle glowed brightly for a second as a yellow belt emerged from it and wrapped around his waist, while the image of an armored mask appeared on the empty side of the buckle.

However, Ronin did notice that he still had the odd fruit in his tail, and that was because the fruit itself was glowing brightly in a white aura. “What the?!”

In a flash, the fruit was replaced with two Lock Seeds – One was adorned with an orange while the other was clearly a pineapple. “Eh!? Lock Seeds?! Does that mean that… That these weird fruit are…”

Run.

“Huh?” Ronin questioned as he looked about. Did he just hear that?

Run! Now!

Ronin was about to speak out when he heard a familiar roar, his eyes widened and his breath hastened before he took off, the Lock Seeds still snagged on the hair of his tail. The sound of rampaging footsteps along with the roar was enough for the orange stallion to realize what was chasing him.

His heart rammed against his ribs as he focused on only what was in front of him, trying to ignore the nightmare that was chasing him.

This was a nightmare, any second he would wake up – Ronin probably just passed out at work. He’d be woken up by his new boss, probably get fired, go home, read the want ads and try to get another job that paid well.

Yup!

No monsters!

No crazy forest!

No disgusting abomination trying to eat him or use him as a scratching post or possibly just kill him for fun…

This was no dream, his legs never hurt this much, his lungs didn’t burn, and he certainly didn’t feel the odd plants of the forest scrape against his hooves.

It was then that Ronin’s heart skipped a beat, only a few yards away was the very same portal that had brought him to this accursed forest. If he could just get there, if he could just reach it, then he’d be able to be escape from this blasted place.

The large creature snarled, and Ronin thought for a moment it was about to latch onto his tail, so with everything he had, Ronin leapt through the portal with a loud yell. When he landed on the ground, his hooves scraped against concrete, oh sweet, sweet concrete!

Ronin had never felt happier to trip over concrete, getting bruises and cuts all over his legs…

“Grrr…”

Ronin’s blood froze.

No… No way…

When the stallion turned around towards the portal, he saw that the large creature was stepping out from portal, the objects that jutted from its back actually got caught on the sides of the portal and forced it back for a moment.

He didn’t need to wait for the monster to get free, Ronin ran even further, and thankfully for Ronin, the monster was in his element now. Reaching some crates that were placed against one of the building, Ronin leapt atop of them and jumped through the air onto the roof of another building.

His hooves clanked against the metallic roof as he ran as quickly as he could.

Ronin didn’t get too far however as the large Inves dropped from the sky and crashed into the roof right in front of Ronin. The orange stallion skidded to a halt as best he could, but there was something more pressing, the sudden added weight to the roof was enough to make roof creak loudly before it collapsing out from under them, sending both Ronin and the monster falling into the building.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!”

Ronin yelped as he landed on the ground in the surprisingly emptied warehouse.

CLACK! CLICK!

When Ronin opened his eyes he saw that the two Lock Seeds he had snagged on his tail had fallen off and were in front of his muzzle. The orange stallion hooked the two fruit themed locks in his hooves and looked at them.

The driver...

Use it…

Ronin’s eyes widened as he got to his hooves and used his free hoof to feel about his waist and realized that he had Swift’s belt buckle wrapped around his waist. ‘Driver? Is this… Is this thing.’

“GRRRR…”

Ronin turned back seeing that the Inves had thrown off whatever debris had fallen on it and charged right towards Ronin. The stallion tried to run, but before he could, the Inves’s smaller claw had gripped onto the back of his jacket and threw the stallion through the air.

With a loud ‘blam’, Ronin’s body crashed into the barren wall of the building and actually fell through the thin, metallic wall. Ronin rolled on the ground and coughed up a little bit of blood from his mouth. ‘It… It hurts!’

Exercise caution…

Should you choose to use the driver, you will have a new fate…

… Till the end, you will fight…

… Dyeing the world in your colors…

Ronin didn’t know what that voice was, nor did he know what it was saying… but with the large monster now looming in the large hole of the building, he didn’t care.

He was going to die…

Worse off, this monster would get to Ponyville and who knew what sort of damage would cause.

Will you fight?

There is no going back.

Ronin coughed out, screw his life.

He didn’t want this monster terrorizing his friends, he didn’t want to see them hurt…

He could run, but that would allow this… This thing to do as it wanted.

‘If I just run, who knows what it’ll do,’ Ronin thought as he pushed himself up on his flank, looking down at the buckle around his waist. He lifted up the orange themed Lock Seed, turned it around and noticed that the indent in it was similar to the one on the belt.

‘I don’t know what this’ll do… Swift, you said that this was a game changer, well… Let’s see exactly what this can do!’

Ronin stood up on his two hind hooves, and lifted the orange lock up in his right front hoof. Shakily he brought his other hoof up as the Inves slowly staggered out of the building, and Ronin unlocked the device.

ORANGE!

For a moment, Ronin looked at the device. He’d seen a few Lock Seeds and Inves games, but he never heard the Lock Seeds actually, well, say something before. But that was inconsequential, as a loud zipping noise drew his attention to overhead, even the Inves stopped and watched as a portal appeared over Ronin’s head.

His body seemed to move on its own as he fitted the lock into the center of the belt and locked it into place.

LOCK ON!

The belt then sounded out, with dramatic trumpets and other horns playing out. Once more, Ronin’s body moved on its own and his right hoof moved the sword attachment on the belt, actually cutting the orange emblem open.

SOIYA!!

From the portal above, a large steel orange fell through and landed on the stallion’s head. He gasped as his head actually became covered with the odd orb. Blue energy surged from the bottom of the orange, covering his body with a metallic blue jumpsuit with bright yellow leg guards and bracers that appeared on his hind legs. Even his tail had become covered with the blue material, adding a golden ring around near the end of it. The belt also changed, with an odd sword appearing on the left of his waist.

“Eh?!”

That was all Ronin could say as the belt continued to speak out loud.

ORANGE ARMS!

Path through the audience – ON STAGE!

“Orange?! What!?” Ronin sputtered out as the same blue energy began to surge over his face.

The metallic orange began to unfold over his upper torso, covering his chest, shoulders and back, folding over each other until they clicked and formed into armor. With a splash of water, the armor was complete and something else had appeared in Ronin’s right hoof – A long single bladed saber that looked designed after an orange slice.

Ronin brought his free hoof up to his now helmeted face, feeling the orange visor, the silver, teeth-like mouth guard, and the golden katana-shaped symbol that was at the forehead of his helmet (of course he couldn’t see what these colors were). “W-What the?! Huh!? EEEEEH!!?”

The Inves’s roar was enough to draw Ronin’s attention back towards the charging monster, and as the monster brought down its larger claws, Ronin gasped.

Fight

His right front hoof immediately brought the odd saber up and blocked the claws, sparks flying from the clashing attacks. Ronin’s eyes widened behind the visor, ‘H-How did I do that?! Legs aren’t supposed to move that way!’

Even so, for some reason, it felt almost… natural. Even standing on his hind legs, rarely was a pony able to stand on their hind legs without support, and even so, they would be shaking.

But for some reason, Ronin’s body was able to do so without any trouble.

His curiosity was interrupted when the Inves attacked with its smaller claw, slamming it into Ronin’s chest plate. Sparks flew from the stallion’s chest as he staggered back, and the Inves continued charging forward. However, just as the Inves was about to bring its larger claws down once more, Ronin ducked down and slashed with the orange blade across the armored monster’s stomach.

The creature screeched in pain with both of its claws now draped over the large gash in its skin. The Inves growled loudly as it lifted its claws up, now dripping with green blood and continued to charge towards the armored Ronin.

Somehow, Ronin managed to slip past the enraged attack, he was able to run… Run on two hooves! He’d think on that later!

With the Inves’s back to him, Ronin jumped into the air and brought the blade down on the monster’s back, sparks surging as he actually managed to slice off one of the protrusions of the monstrous beast’s back.

The creature fell forward on the pavement, more of the green blood oozed from its newly fresh wounds. But still, the Inves snarled and pushed itself up, actually increasing speed and rammed into Ronin with enough force that he actually dropped the sword to the ground and was flung to the ground itself.

Before Ronin could push himself up off the ground, the Inves had used his smaller claws and gripped Ronin around the neck and lifted him up off the ground. “GAH!”

Ronin tried kicking the monster to get free, but no matter what, the monster’s grip wouldn’t release from his neck. If only he had the sword, that sword could’ve…

That’s when Ronin’s left front hoof brushed against the hilt of something, something that was attached to his belt. Fluidly, Ronin drew it with his right hoof and ran it across the monster’s chest, sparks flying and forcing the monster to drop him. He had another sword, a black one with a hilt that had a barrel attached to it, and one that was just as sharp as his other blade.

Once more, the monster staggered back, even more blood spilling out from the gashes on its body. Ronin took this opportunity and leapt towards his other sword. Every pony had the ability to lift items up with their hooves, it was some kind of magic that allowed them to do that, but for some reason, the magic for Ronin seemed stronger, almost as if he could grip the handles of the sword.

Block!

The Inves’s body began to glow a bright green as several runes appeared on its armored exoskeleton. Ronin lifted his swords up as the runes flew from the Inves’s body. The runes crashed into the buildings, actually creating explosions that rocked around the area. Even though he blocked the attack with his blades, the force of the explosion was enough to force Ronin off his hooves and flew him through the air.

“GAH!!”

With smoke and fire now billowing about the warehouse, Ronin pushed himself up and watched as the Inves slowly walked through the flames towards him.

Worst yet, he couldn’t find the swords he was using.

But you have a sword.

That voice again, Ronin was starting to get annoyed by it. He looked down to the belt buckle and indeed there was the sword. But there was no way that he could…

Slice the Lock Seed again!

Ronin got to his hind hooves and took a deep breath. ‘I don’t know if you’re real or not, voice in my head. But, you haven’t gotten me killed yet…’

Ronin used his right hoof and slid the sword attachment over the opened Lock Seed once more, orange energy coursed over his body.

SOIYA! ORANGE SQUASH!!

Once again, Ronin’s body began to move on its own as he jumped into the air. The Inves roared loudly as the runes appeared once more over its on armored skin and launched the runes towards Ronin. However, the orange energy over Ronin’s body propelled him through the air, several phantasmal orange circles flowed over his body and pushed the runes away to the side.

The Inves yelped loudly as Ronin extended his right hind leg towards it and immediately closed the gap between the two. The moment that Ronin’s hoof collided with the Inves’s chest, the energy propelled the two between the warehouses, the amount of orange energy splashed over the flames and buildings, extinguishing the fire.

Ronin roared loudly as he and the Inves were closing in on a nearby building. Ronin then slammed the Inves into the building, as the Inves coughed out green blood from its mouth, a large indent appeared on the wall behind it, in the shape of a circular emblem that had a katana within…

Shaped exactly like Ronin’s cutie mark.

Ronin leapt from the Inves, spinning through the air until he landed on his hind hooves, his back to the now sparking monster. For a moment, the Inves lifted its claw up and whimpered before the orange sparks over its body surged greatly and it exploded in a bright orange explosion.

And oddly enough, it seemed that a lot of incorporeal orange slices flew from the fallen monster’s body.

Thank you…

Ronin breathed deeply and looked at his front hooves.

“What… What was that just now?” He muttered lifting his hooves up and down. “Is this my transformation?”

Unbeknownst to Ronin, in the sky above a single pegasus with a camcorder was recording everything that had just transpired in the warehouse district. With a smile, he snapped the small device shut and flew off through the night sky. ‘Director Crescent will want to see this immediately, I hope he won’t mind me crashing in on the celebrations.’

TBC