A few weeks had passed since Twilight, her brother/assistance and friends arrived in Canterlot, planned a wedding, had it crashed by Changelings, got rescued by a crimson armored warrior, and learned some harsh truths about their princesses; Especially Princess Celestia. And now they were heading by to their home in Ponyville, all of the talking about what had happened in the past few weeks.

All except Twilight, who had been fully healed by the Lockseeds in a couple of days instead of the week's projected. She was contemplating about her beliefs in Celestia.

Sure she knew the princess was quite beautiful both inside and out –many of her fantasies of Celestia had her surrounded by falling flowers and sparkles- but now… Now she saw her for what she truly was, a mare. One who was more than likely going to outlive her, her children, and her children’s children. A mare who wanted somepony to see her for her, not her elevated status as a Princess or a goddess like being.

And it all started with the mare that had given her the lock and belt buckle she was looking at her in her hands. The yellow banana gleamed as Twilight tilted it this way and that while the Driver sat on her lap; mentally asking them for the answers to her questions. Questions she wanted answered by May who disappeared the day after the true wedding just a few days ago.

The six friends had went to the Solar Princess asking her where the Rider went to; only to find out that she had something to take care of quickly and did not have too much time to waste.

Before her thoughts got to deep, Twilight felt someone shake her shoulder startling her as she looked to see Applejack getting her attention.

“You alright sugarcube?” she asked with some worry in her eyes.

“I’m okay,” the Canterlot mare replied as she slid the Lockseed into her jacket pocket while the Driver when into her bag, trying to pass off her worry. It didn’t work as Applejack gave her friend her patented ‘I don’t believe you/you’re lying’ look.

Sighing, Twilight explained as the train slowed to a stop, “These past few weeks, so many of my expectations, and beliefs have been shattered or inverted. Not just about Princess Celestia, but about what can be called good and evil.”

Applejack looked at her friend softly before pulling her hat down, “I understand. To be honest I’ve heard about her before.” Twilight looked at her friend in shock as the cowgirl continued on. “There are stories in my family about a crimson and orange warrior that had saved our family many times during before Discord was sealed; but I thought they were nothing but a bunch of hooey.”

“I don’t blame you,” Twilight agreed as the two grabbed their bags and got off the train, “Since it was during Discord’s reign anything during that era wouldn’t be taken lightly.”

“I, I also heard stories about May,” The two heard behind them and looked to see Fluttershy with Rainbow Dash beside her.

The fast blue Pegasus also nodded in agreement, “Yeah, same here. Even Gilda had some stories about May but after she was ‘sealed’. Some of them also include other ponies in armor helping her.”

“Huh?” Twilight and Applejack almost shouted in shock.

“She’s not the only one who’s heard the stories darlings,” Rarity said as the group stopped near the exit of the train station, “My mother and Father also have stories about May, or rather Bujin Gaim, and they also entail of somepony helping her who was armored as well.”

“Good grief,” Spike sighed as the group continued onwards, “That mare’s been everywhere!”

Pinkie could not help the frown on her face as she saw Twilight’s hair starting to frizzle a bit and quickly decided to halt the train wreck coming.

“Well who cares?!” The hyper pink mare shouted as she jumped on a brooding Twilight, wrapping an arm around the unicorn’s shoulders, “The important thing is; Twilight’s brother got married to her old foal-sitter, the Changelings got the boot, And everypony’s A-OK!!! This calls for a celebration at Fruit Drupers!!!”

Twilight looked at her party loving friend in shock but could not help the smile crawling into her lips, “You’re right Pinkie; we all need a break. Why don’t we take our things homes and met up at Drupers in an hour?”

“Yeah!” the Mane 6 and Spike shouted in agreement before they split up to take their bags home.

As they did; somepony watched them within the shadows of a nearby alleyway and could not help the smirk forming on their muzzle. “So… Now that Shishou has revealed herself; how about I show those so called ‘heroes’ my displeasure?” the pony asked themselves as they looked down at their hands which held what looked to be a lock… but the alley was shadowed too much to get a good look.

An hour later

Fruit Drupers; a fruit parlor/soda shop that opened up just a few days after Twilight moved into Ponyville. Next to Sugarcube Corner, it was the girls’ go to meeting spot in their town besides Golden Oaks Library. Each of the girls were happily chowing down on their favorite fruit concoction that the parlor was famous for such as Twilight getting a double decker banana/mango split, Applejack having a mini apple tart with vanilla ice cream, and Pinkie snacking a black berry cheesecake. Even Rainbow Dash was happily slurping up a special that only Fruit Drupers was allowed to create, a Zap Apple smoothie they called a Zap Charge.

Soon, all the mare and Spike finished their little deserts; quite content as they were just filled enough without feeling bloated. Even Pinkie was happily filled as she finished her blackberry and plum fruit salad with a wide smile, gently patting her stomach.

“Ohh Wowie,” Pinkie said slowly as she leaned back into her seat with her best friend Rainbow Dash beside her, “If I didn’t like the Cake’s so much I would have quit Sugarcube Corner and go to work here.”

“Well I wouldn’t mind stealing you away from those two, Pinkie,” said the parlor’s owner. Sembikiya. said as he walked over to the group’s table with another dish in hand. He was a lanky Earth Pony with lite brown fur and short messy mane/tail. He usually wore one of his many open colorful Hawaiian shirts with a white shirt beneath it, and short kakis unless it was too cold for such.

The girls gasped as they saw a small platter of fruits being laid down between them mostly filled with blood oranges with a variety of other fruits like pineapples, strawberries, and cherries. Pinkie and Fluttershy’s eyes sparkled as they saw the feast before them while Twilight was a bit confused.

“Mr. Sembikiya,” she said gaining the older stallion’s attention, “we didn’t order this…”

“True,” Sembikiya replied with a smile, “But somepony did for you. Probably to thank you for saving Canterlot. This is actually a version of another platter; I guess you can call it the Blood Orange Sparking platter.”

The girls looked at each other in shock before Twilight turned to Sembikiya, “Who was this pony?”

With a smile, the stallion turned around and pointed towards a lone unicorn mare sitting at the soda bar with lite red fur that bordered on pink, short white mane/tail and almond colored eyes. She wore a black skirt that stopped just above her knees –highlighting her strong legs- with a white blouse over it with a bright pink jacket on a nearby chair.

Seeing the Elements looking at her she got up from her seat, picking up her muskmelon parfaits and jacket walking over to them. As she did, Applejack suddenly got a strange feeling about the mare. Something about her didn’t feel authentic at all yet did all the same… normally Applejack trusted her feelings; but with this mare she wasn’t sure.

The mare smile as she sat down at the table next to the heroes. “So the six of you are the Elements of Harmony?” She asked with a tilt of her head, “I will say it is ‘nice’ to meet you.”

“It’s nice to meet you to!!!” Pinkie happily replied, though for some reason she was getting a slight ‘shutter’ up her back as she did so, “Are you new to Ponyville? Because I haven’t seen you before?!?”

“Not really,” the Mare replied, “My name is Akarei, and I was born here in Ponyville 20 years ago but my family had to return to Neighphon a few months before you arrived Pinkie.”

“So you have just returned recently?” Rarity asked a bit interested in the mare’s clothing as she discreetly measured them and found it interesting… so say the least.

“When Princess Luna returned in fact…” Akarei replied though she seemed both saddened and angry about it. “Anyways, that’s not what I came over here for…”

The mare reached into her jacket and pulled out an object that startled the heroines when they saw it.

“A LOCKSEED!!!”

Indeed, in Akarei’s hand was a Lockseed… Though not just any Lockseed, but one of the ones May had first plucked when she was explaining about the otherworldly items. The green muskmelon Lockseed seemed to gleam slightly as it was held up, the code L.S. – 04 plain to see.

“Indeed,” Akarei replied with a smile as she looked at the lock in her hand before placing it back into her jacket. “I found this a few days after I got here and you could say that… I know a pony who has more of them.”

That really caught the girls’ attention as they looked at each other in shock before Twilight turned to Akarei. “Can you take us to this pony?”

“I can,” The crimson mare replied with a smile, “But I think we should finish our treats first, don’t you?”

“I hear you sister!” Pinkie replied with RD before the seven friends began digging in…

…Though as they were, Akarei’s expression briefly turned into a dark one before going back to normal.

Displaced Rider

A few minutes later, the seven mares and one dragon were trudging through a part of the Everfree Forest in a direction none of them had taken before. The Mane 6 and Spike had all be into the forest quite a few times since the two Canterlot Transplants had arrived in Ponyville, but none of them had even been in the section of the forest they were in now as the trails Akarei was leading them down was even further then Zecora’s tree hut was.

Out of all of them, Rarity was having the most trouble thanks to her clothing which was not suitable for their ‘nature walk’.

“Ugh,” she said as she side stepped a mud puddle only to hit another hidden one, “If I had known that we were going into the Everfree, I would have dressed properly for it.”

“Really, Rarity,” Rainbow Dash replied with a groan as she hovered as high as she could without hitting the treetops, “you think with how many days we have not been here, you would know we were probably due for a trip here.”

The high-class mare just humped as she tossed her hair to the side, “A lady always has to look her best no matter what. Besides… I though with the adventure we had in Canterlot, an Everfree trip would have taken a few days longer to happen; not the day were return.”

“Settle down girls,” Twilight said from the front of the herd while following Akarei, “We might not have much further to go.”

“Indeed we don’t,” Akarei acknowledge as she parted some bushes in front of her to reveal a rare hidden clearing, and something else.

Fluttershy, who was hidden behind Applejack, poked her head out then gasped along with her friends at the tall alabaster wall that surrounded a good portion of the clearing in the middle with a ceramic roof on top. On the outer part of the wall were large bushes all filled with immature Lockseeds with an opening which revealed a large wooden double doors with a familiar insignia carved into them.

“This is the place,” Akarei said as she continued on forward.

The rest of the mares were a bit hesitant in following but did anyways with Spike lagging behind since the place seemed familiar to him for some reason. Walking up to the door, the Crimson mare placed her hands on it and with surprising strength pushed it open revealing the modest yet beautiful Japanese mansion within.

“Oh my stars!” Rarity gasped as she saw the place with starts in her eyes, “This is so wonderful!!!”

“It looks like something out of a Manga!” Pinkie shouted as she jumped around looking at all she could.

“It could be about 20% more awesome,” Rainbow Dash replied with a shrug to hide her own fascination, “But it is pretty cool.”

Fluttershy also had stars in her eyes as she saw the place that was one with nature, “It’s so pretty…”

Spike himself was speechless as he walked through the door while Applejack and Twilight, thought stunned themselves, kept on their toes.

“Akarei,” Twilight began as walked up to the mare that lead them here, “Do you know who owns this place?”

With her back turned, the lavender mare did not see the crimson mare’s smile turn dark, “I do but first…”

Everyone –except Akarei- jumped as the door to the place suddenly slammed closed with a crimson aura before Twilight found herself in a telepathic grip with a similar color and thrown towards her friend roughly.

“Twilight!!!” her friends and brother shouted in shock as Akarei turned around to reveal her dark side.

“For what you did to my little brother,” she began as her horn glowed with a crimson glow, “I’m getting my pound of flesh form your worthless flanks!!!”

A second later, crimson orbs of magic formed around the pissed off mare before firing at the seven heroes who quickly ducked out of the way.

“What the hay are you doing?!?!” RD shouted as she rushed at the crimson mare at full speed hoping to catch her off guard.

Thought that was reversed as Akarei showed she was quite quick with her magic and grasped the furious Pegasus just before she hit and threw her back with twice the force. RD cried out in shock as she suddenly flew backwards before slamming hard into the mansion’s walls with a loud crack.

“Rainbow Dash!!!” Fluttershy and Pinkie shouted in shock –with the party mare’s being the loudest- and rushed other to their friend while the rest looked on in shock before Applejack’s turned to anger.

“How dare you!!!” she shouted, turning towards the smug Akarei and shot forward herself to punish the one who harmed her friend/rival.

The cowgirl soon found that a bit harder to do then she though as Akarei easily ducked and dodged the barrage of kicks with a bit of work. But an overextended kick was Applejack’s undoing as she suddenly found Akarei in her face and had to block a right hook to her gut…

…Only got a surprise kick to the face to send her flying back.

“Applejack!!!” Rarity and Spike shouted in shock as the dragon barely caught her midflight.

Twilight on the other hand noticed something, “Your using you magic to supplement your strength?!”

Akarei, instead of being shocked at the sudden reveal, just smirked, “Shisou had told me you were quite the sharp intellect. But I doubt that will save you.”

And with that, she went on the attack with sudden speed and power that Twilight barely had a chance to put up a shield. It lasted a few punches but it was long enough for Spike of all being to suddenly jump over his sister and release a rather sizable plume of fire for his age and height. This forced Akarei back, allowing Pinkie to suddenly appear in her vision.

“How dare you hurt my Dashie!!!” she shouted before she began to throw what seemed to be a random combination of punches that nearrly caught the crimson mare off guard. One punch actually got through and slammed into Akarei’s stomach.

If the mare hadn’t unconsciously created a shield just powerful enough to take off some of the bite; she would have gotten the wind knocked out of her. Instead she was just sent flying back a few feet and would have attacked the pink pony if she wasn’t forced to create another shield, blocking a barrage of gems.

Rarity, of all ponies, was glaring at sudden enemy with a swarm of sharp arrow shaped crystal floating around her. Her friends were stunned by what they were seeing… So much so that RD –despite just getting air back in her lung- asked, “Where did you get those?!?!”

“Just a little surprise I’ve been working on ever since the Invasion,” Rarity replied as she fired another salvo at Akarei with more being pulled out of her purse with each one ‘lost’, “Despite being a lady, I am tired of having to rely on everypony to protect me. Now it’s my time to protect you.”

As Akarei was forced to hind behind her shield, Pinkie quickly tried to capitalize on the distraction her friend made… only for a soft voice to stop everything.

“Why?”

Everypony looked at Fluttershy as she looked down at the ground before lifting her head up, revealing tears falling from her eyes. “Why are you doing this?!?! We never did anything to you!!!”

All of the shy mare’s friends were stunned, not by what she said –since they were all thinking the same thing in one form or another- but how loudly she said it. Everybody turned to Akarei whose head was bowed as if she was thinking about her answer… Though her trembling body told a different story.

“So she didn’t tell you…” she began confusing her ‘enemies’.

“Tell us what?” Twilight asked thought she was getting a bad feeling all of a sudden.

“…Do you know what truly happened the night Nightmare Moon reappeared?” She began as the shaking got worse and her hands began to ball up into tight fists; her knuckled turning white despite her fur. “…Do you know how many ponies were injured or nearly killed because Nightmare Moon forgot about the monsters hidden in her darkness?”

“What…?” Applejack whispered softly as she heard that.

“… So many monsters decided to take advantage of the extended night,” Akarei continued as her fists constricted so much, her nails dug into her palms making them bleed.

“But the guards…” Rarity began to say…

… Only for Akarei to jerk her head up revealing her rage filled face, “THE GUARDS COULD BARELY DO SHIT AGAINST SO MANY MONSTERS ATTACKING AT ONE TIME WITHOUT NOTICE!!!”

All the ponies –and one dragon- flinched back in terror that the rage… no the fury radiating form the mare’s face as her magic came to the forefront forming a crimson corona also revealing her Cutie Mark. It was a strange sword that was similar to a katana but longer crossed over a Japanese bow or Yumi both on top of a strange shield of swords.

“Princess Celestia tried to do her best to prepare all the cities for what could happen in secret,” Akare continued startling Twilight as she had thought that her Mentor had no preparation done for Princess Luna’s darkness –seems like she was vastly mistaken-, “But she did not take into account the six of you taking your sweet time to defeat Princess Luna’s Darkness.”

“And because of that…” Akarei began as the corona faded revealing her tears falling down her face, “Because of that…. MY OWN LITTLE BROTHER WAS NEARLY KILL BY A MANTICORE THAT ESCAPE THE DEFENCES THE GUARDS PUT UP!!!!”

…

Total shock….

That was the only think going through Twilight’s mind along with her friends and little brother.

They had thought that no pony had been harmed during the extended night. They thought they had been fast enough to actually keep anything too bad from happening to their precious country.

They were wrong…

Their perception of time had been messed up by not only the extended night… but the Everfree’s own natural magic/ambiance. Celestia had sadly overlooked the Everfree’s own subtle magic and decided to discreetly keep that information from them so as to not discourage them.

… Clearly that had backfired on both her and the Elements.

Twilight tried to speak…“B-but…” only for her words to be stuck in her throat because of her horror.

“If it wasn’t for May-Shishou coming to his rescue and my own…” Akarei continued as she reached into her jacket for something. “I own her so much… If she hadn’t stepped in when she did. He could have died… And it’s all your fault!!!”

With that she pulled out something that stunned the girls and Spike even more. A Sengoku Driver with an Indicator that was similar to May’s but the helmet and the background were white with black clouds while the visor’s edged had a flame or wing like look to them.

Twilight’s eyes bulged as she saw the device, “Is that a Sengoku Driver?!?!”

“Indeed,” Akarei replied with a dark smirk as she placed the Buckle at her waist allowing a yellow belt to wrap around her. “And it will be the instrument of your punishment,” she added as she took out the Muskmelon Lockseed she had showed and held it up next to her head as she unlocked it saying one thing as seed glowed briefly.

“Henshin.”

MELON!

A second later, the sound of a large zipper opening caught the Element’s attention causing them to look up and gasp. There in the middle of the air above Akarei forming a circle was a large silver zipper that had opened by itself. This allowed the middle of the circle to droop downward revealing a forest of sorts that made the hairs of the Element’s neck stand on end by the disturbing aura that seemed to admit from it.

In addition to the forest, a large metallic muskmelon floated downward through the zipper portal which closed back up the moment it was through. As it did, Akarei threw the Lockseed upwards where it just barely missed hitting the metal fruit before coming back down. Without fail, the crimson mare caught the lock then quickly placed it into the indent of the Driver before securing the seed.

LOCK ON!

A second later, music –to the Element’s confusion- began to play from it that briefly sounded like a conch horn before a DJ’s beat began to play alongside it. It barely lasted a moment as Akarei brought her hand down to the knife on her driver and ‘cut’ open the lock causing the front of it to flip open. The inner part of the lock’s ‘fruit’ revealed the ‘meat’ of the muskmelon while the flap had a picture of a shield of sorts.

SOYAH!

The metal melon fell down on top of Akarei’s head allowing green and white energy to cover her body forming a suit similar to Bujin Gaim’s; but it was white instead of navy blue with the ‘clouds’ painted black and a Mushou Saber forming at her side. Within the metal melon, the helmet on the Indicator formed revealing more differences such as the crest was shaped like a crescent moon of sorts with a red oval gem in the center and a thin gold line running down the middle of her visor and mouthpiece. The back, sides, and top of the helmet were similar to the first Rider the Elements had met; but with a muskmelon skin and one gold fin on either side instead of two.

MELON ARMS!

The Lockseed/Driver continued talking as the metal fruit began to fold outwards and down taking a form similar to her teacher’s own arms; but the shoulder pads stayed open giving them a pointed look. The chest piece was also pointed at the sides adding to the dangerous look that unnerved the ponies watching. Finally a shield formed in Akarei’s left hand that was reminiscent of the crest on her helmet complete with the gold line running down the middle of it, ending in a large point and the ruby gem in the cusp of the crescent moon.

On either side of the gold line was the green pattern of a muskmelon with gold on the sides, and in the arc of the moon was a round disk with a muskmelon design in the middle surrounded by silver with black lines. As the shield, known as the Melon Defender, finished forming the Lockseed/Driver completed its announcement with the entire transformation taking less than a few seconds.

TENKA GOMEN!

“What… The…Hay???” Rainbow Dash gasped in shock at what her and her friends just saw.

Akarei just scoffed in a disgust at the Element’s unwillingness to attack her when she was probably at her most vulnerable and unsheathed her blade gun while announcing herself.

“Authorized by the Divine Providence,” Akarei declared in enquish despite wanting to use her homeland’s native language, “Kamen Rider Zangetsu; Going Forth!”

That shook RD out of her funk, turning her stunned look into a glare, “I don’t care if you have armor the same the May or not… I’m still going to kick your flank!!!”

With that, she pushed Pinkie and Fluttershy out of the way before charging with all her speed….

Only for Zangetsu’s helmet to appear in her face. She barely had time to be startled before the Rider slammed her shield into the Pegasus sending her slamming into the wall once again.

“Rainbow Dash!!!” her friends shouted in shock before Applejack quickly turned to White Rider and charged at her with a solid roundhouse that had knocked many a pony with wandering hands from one side of Ponyville to the other.

Seeing the charging cowpony, Zangetsu quickly raised her shield up and blocked the attack, only skidding back a few feet instead of being rocketed off like those who had blocked before her. A startled look briefly formed on AJ’s face before changing back into a scowl and continued her assault. This too was met with the same results, but Zangetsu actually used her Defender to redirect the attacks this time instead of taking it head on like before… and waited.

She didn’t have to for long, as AJ over extended on one of her kicks, allowing to reach for her sidearm; unsheathing it while cutting at the same time. This time, AJ was forced to jump back and briefly thought she had dodged the blade in time…

…Only for a small incision to appear just under her tied up work shirt, forcing Applejack further back then she wanted while making Fluttershy and rarity scream in shock.

“APPLEJACK!!!” The two of them shouted with the medic of the group quickly rushing to aid her friend while the Lady quickly turned to Zangetsu, summoning more crystal arrowheads then she had before as the magic flared brightly around her horn, enhanced by her rage.

“How DARE you harm my friend, You Miscreant!!!” Rarity shouted before firing everything she had at the Rider who was forced to quickly block it.

To her shock Zangetsu was slowly being forced back by the seemingly endless barrage despite her enhanced strength. ‘How is she this strong?!?! She’s just a wimpy dressmaker with a hatred for getting dirty!!!’

As Akarei was trying to figure out what was happening, she noticed out of the corner of her eye that Pinkie was trying to sneak up on her. So she decided to ruin the party pony’s day… simply by putting both of her weapons in one hand, unlocking the Melon Lockseed, and locking it onto the Musou Saber causing a green aura to form around the blade.

LOCK ON!!!

ICHI (1)! JU (10)! HYAKU (100)!!!

“Buck OFF!!!!” Zangetsu shouted as she pushed back the alst of Rarity’s barrage with her shield and magic forcing the fashionista to dodge. She then clanged the Saber on her shield transferring part of the energy into the Defender before twisting towards Pinkie whose ‘senses’ began blaring at her to back off… but it was too late.

MELON CHARGE!!!

Swinging her shield arm back, the White Rider threw the energy on it at Pinkie who was quickly engulfed by IT, trapping her in an orb shaped like a muskmelon. “Pinkie!!!” the party mare’s friend shouted out in fear and tried to help her. Only for Zangetsu to use the remaining energy in her Musou Saber to fire a beam blade at them, forcing the Elements back.

She then took the Melon Lockseed off the Musou Saber and placed it back on her driver, locking it before cutting the seed twice.

LOCK ON!!!

SOIYA: MELON AU LAIT!!!

“Todomeda,” Zangetsu said softly but with a lot of authority as she jumped up high into the air, green energy gathering at her right foot before she came back down with a side kick, aiming straight at the horrified Pinkie Pie, announcing her attack.

“BURAI KICK!!!”

The moment the mare’s energized foot came down onto the orb, it exploded violently stunning Twilight and the others. Rainbow Dash’s heart dropped as she saw the mare she loved suddenly die right in front of her, and could not stop what scream the ripped from her throat as the flames died and the smoke parted momentarily showing that the Rider had survived; but the party mare...

“PINKIE!!!!”

“Y-yes…” a weak but familiar voice spoke up behind the speed mare. Stunning her and her friends before their faces brightened.

“Pinkie...” Rainbow Dash shouted as she turned around towards the mare… Only to stop and gasp in shock.

The pink mare was still alive… but she was greatly injured; almost to the same extent as Twilight was when the Changeling’s attacked. Her clothes were tattered and torn, barely coving her modesty if it wasn’t for the cut and slowly forming welts showing through. Her face was the least damaged, but still showed signs of the attack with one of her eyes blackening around the socket and a bit of blood dripped down the side of her mouth which looked grizzly with her grin.

“Sorry to worry you girls,” Pinkie said with a slight stutter as she began swaying, “But I survived her…”

“Pinkie!!!” Rainbow Dash shouted as she shot towards her friend and crush, catching her just before the party mare crashed onto the ground. Her friends quickly gathered around her with worry in their eyes, which quickly turned to relief as they saw she had just fallen unconscious.

“So she’s still alive,” Zangetsu ‘asked’ still standing where she had landed her attack, “Good. I don’t want to kill any of you. Just make you feel at least a fraction of the pain I went though. Now let us…

“That enough!!!” Twilight shouted startling her friends, brother, and their enemy as she slowly stood up with her head bowed, “Pinkie is hurt; we need to take her to the hospital.”

She lavender mare could not continue as Zangetsu suddenly fired around her hooves, making Twilight’s friend jump back while the mare herself stayed put.

“Pinkie is hurt?” Akarei asked with a mockingly confused voice, “she need to go the hospital… Are You That Pathetic?!?!”

The girls all jumped in shock as the white rider’s declaration except for Twilight once again as Akarei began to rant, “Do you really think that just because one of your friends needs to go the hospital that I’ll willingly let you go?! No self-respecting adversary would willing let their opponent go just because of a little excuse like that.”

“LITTLE?!?!” Rainbow Dash shouted with indignation; but shut up as Zangetsu fired at her once again.

“You girls really must be pitiful if you think I’ll do something that stupid as let you get backup after your friend gets healed up,” Akarei continued, “To think the heroes of Equestria fall apart when one of their own gets a little wounded. How pathetic? Your so called ‘Magic of Friendship’ really is weak…”

Before the Rider could continue; Twilight suddenly jerked her head up at that statement. Her eyes glowing just like they did two years ago when she was trying to find out the secret of the currently wounded mare’s abilities. Zangetsu barely lifted the Melon Defender up in time to defend against a large fireball the pissed off mare fired at her without notice.

“Weak,” Twilight began as she slowly stepped towards the suddenly scared Rider, “Pitiful… How… How dare you spit on the bonds between me and my FRIENDS!!!”

A pulse of magic escape Twilight’s body forcing her friends and brother to bunker down while Zangetsu took the brunt of ‘attack’.

“Yes my friend and I may have taken longer than we should have defeating Princess Luna’s darkness,” the Canterlot Mage admitted, “But we have no sense of time in the Everfree forest! We didn’t even know we had a time limit or otherwise we would have been a lot quicker.”

“What about my brother and what you did to him?!?!” Zangetsu shouted as she cut her Lockseed once, transferring the energy to the Musou Saber and firing a beam blade at the ranting mare.

SOIYA: MELON SQUASH!!!

Twilight ignored it as she reinforced her arm with magic and slammed the beam blade to the side with barely any of her fur getting singed to her friends and the Rider’s shock.

“I’m sorry about what happened to your brother,” Twilight admitted, “But none of us were directly involves with what happened. The only pony I could blame –with great reluctance- is Princess Celestia who could have prepared us a bit more for that night.”

The girls all gasped in shock at Twilight admittance to admitting her mentor might have made a mistake; but the lavender mare ignored them as she continued on.

“Despite that, my friends and I did what we could to find the Element of Harmony as quickly as we could,” Twilight declared, “And though out that journey we discovered the fledgling bonds between ourselves which allowed us to save Princess Luna form her own darkness and keep other ponies from dying instead of just being seriously wounded.”

She wanted to attack the Lavender mare… She wanted to cut her down as she was ranting on top of her soapbox… But for some reason… Zangetsu could not move. The words cutting deeper than any blade had before. Even when her teacher tried to tell her the same thing Twilight was at this moment; they did not resonate with the same emotions and power it did now.

“I don’t care what excuse you give to attack me and my friends. But if you continue on with this… I will put you down!!! No one disrespects the bonds I have with my friends!!! And I will never surrender to any pony who attacks us while do so!!!”

At that moment, a bright light suddenly began to shine above Twilight the same lavender color as her magic. Everpony looked up –including the slowly awakening Pinkie- and could not contain their shock as Twilight’s Artifact of Harmony appeared above its partner. A second later, the same lavender glow began to shine from within Twilight’s vest, then the Prototype Sengoku Driver suddenly floated out and hovered in front of the mare.

The gem on the Artifact of Magic began to glow brightly before it shot a beam at the Driver, focusing in on where the Cutting Blade would be. Zangetsu could not help but be shaken as that very missing item slowly began to form from the magic being radiated onto it. Once the Cutting Blade was fully formed, the Artifact glowed once again before vanishing; its job done.

Twilight gasped as the driver slowly floated down to the mare who took it in her hands. Gradually, the stunned look was replaced by a look of determination as she help up the Driver then placed it at her waist where the belt formed once more. This time, a sort fanfare of trumpet announced the Driver accepting its new owner as the blank Rider Indicator suddenly gained a picture on it.

It depicted a silver helmet with a red faceplate and extra red armor above the forehead. The eye piece had a white grim over a polychrome lens with a jewel between the lens and the extra crimson armor on a thick silver strip. Behind Twilight, her friends were stunned by what just happened as Pinkie slowly began to stir.

“You wanted to test the power of our friendship Akarei,” Twilight said as she reached into her vest and pulled out the Banana Lockseed, “Then allow me to show you the depths of that power.”

And with that she said the word that would catapult her into a whole new world of adventure as she unlocked her Lockseed. “Henshin.”

BANANA!!!

Above Twilight, the same portal that summoned Akarei’s armor appeared above the mare but with a large yellow and silver banana floating out horizontaly. Then for some reason the mare twirled the Lockseed by its arm before placing it onto the Driver’s Drive Bay and locked the seed,

LOCK ON!

Suddenly the sound of European Trumpet began to play from her driver briefly before she cut open the seed just before the banana dropped onto Twilight’s shoulders forming her Rider Wear. A silver quilted like bodysuit formed over her chest with crimson on her arms and legs that had silver gauntlets and greaves resting on her forearms and thighs as the driver began it’s acnoucement.

BANANA ARMS!!!

“What the?!” Applejack said in shock while RD stuttered out something pretty funny for the moment.

“B-BA-BANANA!!!”

“I am Baron!” Twilight declared as the helmet on her Driver formed over her head with the gem going over her horn which reveal itself to be a replica of the gem on her Artifact of Harmony. A second later, additional armor fell onto the back of her helmet giving her banana shaped horns while turning her white visor yellow.

The then metal Banana began to disassemble, the points folding down to form shoulder armor while the front of it –in front of Twilight’s face- tilted down and the top and back foalded backwards. Then in a flash of yellow light, the Lockseed’s weapon formed in Twilight’s right hand; a pale yellow lance with a black handle and a yellow guard split into three pieces making the whole thing resemble a pealed banana as the Driver finished its announcement as Twilight’s visor and gem flashed briefly.

KNIGHT OF SPE~AR!!!

And with that Twilight began a new life as this generation’s Armored Rider… No…Kamen Rider…

BARON!!!

“Now then,” Baron began as she reached for a part of her weapon -the BanaSpear- and pressed a hidden button allowing it to extend, “Where were we?”

Author's Note

Finally!!! I get this chapter out!!!

It's not edited or anything, but at least it's here.

There are a few scenes I'm not 100% happy about, (the one where the girls first meet Akarei being one of them); but I figure get this out as quickly as I can before I change my mind and rewrite it... for the 10th time.

Anyways if any of you have an ideas you think I should add or if I miss any grammar or wording mistakes to this story please drop me a line so I can either fix them, or helpfully flesh out the chapter better.

Later on this week, I'm going to post a blog asking anyone interested in creating a Rider form for the rest of the of the Main 6 and Spike. I don't want to use the other Armored Riders outside of Zangetsu, Baron, and maybe Ryugen since I'm thinking of using them as lackeys/mid-bosses.

I already have a few ideas as whic of the girls use what Lockseed Fruits but the first of the OC Rider will not appear until after the Crystal Empire Saga which will also address what to do with limited number of usable Lockseeds as well... Hopefully.

And for those of you who want a sneak peek at what I'm planning... Here's a Picture drawn by SS2Sonic that gave me the idea to use OC Riders for the Girls and Spike.