Power Ponies: The Shadows of Power Collection

Terror’s Persona of the Fiery Dragon lashed out at Masked Matterhorn and her allies.  He missed Fili-Second by a mile, but the other ponies that were not quite as fast had to duck and weave to avoid the massive dagger-like claws.

“What in Maretropolis is goin’ on here?” Shouted Marevelous as the behemoth’s claws raked mere inches away from her mane.

“This isn’t Saddle Rager!” Replied Matterhorn who was unleashing an assortment of magical beams at the dragon, but the attacks did little more than bounce off the dragon’s nail-tough magic resistant hide.

“It must be that changeling we ran into earlier!”  Zapp concluded.  Since Matterhorn’s magic was proving ineffective Zapp decided to try the forces of nature.  She pointed her necklace to the sky and a rampaging twister enveloped the dragon.

Terror Two-Hoof scoffed in his mind. If this is the extent of their power then I surpass them with my intellect alone.  He gave a mighty puff, and Zapp’s tornado was enveloped in a magical green flame.  Turning the prison the mare had conjured into Terror’s personal protective shield.  Yet another defense the Power Ponies would have to fight through.

~~~

The fighting inside the bank had died down thanks to Terror Two-Hoof’s cunning distraction.  Radiance alone stood between her friends and the enemy; however her focus was split between the battle at hand, and the one occurring almost immediately behind her.  Because of this it was proving difficult to keep her constructs in check, meanwhile Madam Encre continued to draw more ink knights to replace those that had fallen.  Unlike  Radiance who could create a bulk of constructs immediately, but then had to dedicate extreme amounts of focus to keep them doing what she wanted them to do; Madam Encre created her drawings one or two at a time, but gave little concern for what they did afterwards.  The bank’s walls and windows were stained black with the life of her creations, but this did very little to phase the arguably psychotic mare.  While Radiance sought beauty in everything; Encre it seemed desired a world turned black.

~~~

Fili-Second had made a mad dash for the bank once the fight with Two-Hoof had broken out.  She was determined to fix her mistake by locating the real Saddle Rager as well as Hum-Drum who were both still somewhere inside the warzone that was Maretropolis International.  The front of the battered building was blocked by the battle between the conjurers, so she had to use the back way in.  She rounded the corner with earnest then immediately dived for the concrete ground as a defining scream erupted from the doorway.  Siren Silence and Thunderstep emerged to intercept the speedy filly that was jittering in place like a caffeine addict.  Fili racked her brain for a way around them, but with Thunderstep taking up the doorway, and Siren slowly advancing on her the pickings were slim.

“We don’t have to fight.”  Siren propagated.  “Surrender and you and your friends can leave.”

“Or-” came a condescending shout from Thunderstep.  “You can not surrender, in which case I will happily spread your speedy green flank along the pavement!”

Fili-Second mulled over her options before her short term attention span took over.  “Hmm…Option D!” Fili-Second began to spin in circles rapidly.  Causing herself to accelerate faster and faster with each lap she took.

“D?” Thunderstep looked at the spinning supersonic mare then exchanged a glance with his partner.  “What the heck was option C then?”

“Thunder for crying out loud LOOK OUT!”

Siren’s shouting caused Thunderstep to look back at Fili only to get smacked aside by a pony that seemingly got shot out of a canon.  Thunder got shoved to the side and slammed into a nearby wall.  “Now that’s what I call faster than a speeding bullet…” He mumbled to himself desperately attempting to remain conscious.

In one ludicrously rapid motion Fili-Second shot past Thunderstep, grabbed Saddle Rager and Hum-Drum, and darted out the front door reducing several gem and ink constructs to dust and puddles of ink respectively.  It wasn’t until she saw herself careening straight for the fiery green tornado that she attempted to slam on the breaks.  Fili-Second began to skid to a halt leaving a trail of black burning skid marks behind her.  She stopped just short of the neon inferno thanks to the help of Mistress Marvelous and her lasso, but the whiplash caused Fili to lose her grip on Saddle Rager who was flung inside.

Saddle flew through the pillar of fire so rapidly that the damage to her person was minimal.  She ended up running into the leg of Terror Two Hoof who was still in the form of a dragon.

Ever the observer Terror had opted to remain inside his fortress of fire and wait for the smoke to clear, but now he had an intruder in his domain, and he didn’t much care for that.

“What have we here?” Snapped the dragon, “a tiny little morsel looking to play?”

“Tiny?!” Snapped a slowly enraging Saddle Rager.  “Tiny?!?!”  Her eyes turned bloodshot as her rage consumed her.  She began to grow as her hulking monster form emerged. “I’LL SHOW YOU TINY!!!”

The dragon grew a sinister smile exposing several fangs; time for plan B.

~~~

Back at the Shadows of Power HQ Star Horizon called over their leader to his monitors.

“What have you got for me?”  The cloaked enigma inquired.

“Our splinter group has scattered, the police made two arrests, and a band of them are headed to the bank.  Apparently the battle there is buzzing all over the radios.”

Something about this satisfied the shadowy figure.  “Perhaps it’s time we withdraw our front line.”

“Are you sure sir?” Horizon questioned.  “The group seems to be doing pretty well, and they certainly seem to be enjoying themselves.”

The colt thought it over then shrugged to himself.  “Alright then; let’s see just how far they’re willing to go in pursuit of their goals.”

~~~

The fiery green tornado finally began to subside.  Masked Matterhorn, Fili-Second, Zapp, and Mistress Marevalous stood at the ready to attack the phantasm en mass.  Knowing that with the aid of Saddle Rager they could finally take down the fire breathing behemoth.  The flaming twister dissipated, and when the smoke cleared they discovered Saddle Rager locked in a wrestling match with…herself.

“Oh great now what?!” Moaned Zapp in disbelief.

“That’s not our only problem girls!” Announced Marevalous as the sounds of police sirens began to flood in from the horizon.

“We can’t let the police get involved!” Shouted Masked Matterhorn to her team.  “These guys will tear them to shreds with their powers if they get even half the chance!”

“Police are on the scope!” Star Horizon warned his team.  “Whatever you’re doing, you need to do it now!”

Siren Silence and the now recovered Thunderstep made their way to the front of the bank where Saddle was deadlocked with her doppelganger. Zapp without warning aimed several lightning bolts at the duo, but thanks to Thunder’s tech he effortlessly redirected them.  The two played hot potato with a bolt from the blue while Masked Matterhorn and Siren Silence swapped supersonic sound waves.

Terror who was still disguised as the hulking Saddle Rager socked his opponent across the cheek with the bulk of his now massive hoof.  This caused the titan to stumble backwards as Terror backed away and joined his group.  His disguise fizzling away as he joined his group.

“What’s the matter?” Taunted Zapp.  “No fight left in ya’?”

“Our fight is with you.” Explained Terror Two-Hoof, who had taken the form of a whole changeling to maintain his image to the Power Ponies.  “We have no interest in harming civilians or the police for that matter.”

Thunderstep muttered an incomprehensible complaint.

“If you had no interest in harming civilians then why take hostages and why destroy this bank?”

Two-Hoof looked back at the now ruined bank.  All the glass of the building was completely shattered, and the walls and floor were covered in torn paper, ink, and the occasional unmarked bit.  Madam Encre was breaking off her deadlock with Radiance and was slowly making her way towards the ruined entrance.

“A casualty of causality” proclaimed the changeling.

The police ponies formed a half circle around the perimeter of the Power Ponies blocking the villain’s apparent escape.

“We have no interest in letting you go” commented Matterhorn.

“Our freedom is no longer up to your discretion” hissed the changeling.  “It’s time you learned that every light casts a shadow.”

As he said this the shadows of the group appeared to expand and consume them.  They sank into the ground and vanished without a trace.

“What in the hay was that supposed to mean?”  Inquired Marevalous to anyone who would answer.

“I’m not really sure.”  Matterhorn looked at the ground then looked back up at the bank.  “So I guess we’ll just have to ask.”

~~~

Thunderstep, Terror Two-Hoof, and Siren Silence emerged into the center of the hideout.  Madam Encre was nowhere to be found, and Thunderstep was furious.

“What gives you hooded freak” shouted Thunderstep to their leader.  “I thought you were some all-powerful warlock of shadows or something, you teleport us all the time so why did you leave Encre behind?!”  Thunderstep grabbed the figure by his cloak, but a dismissive dark force shot up from the ground in front of him and separated the two colts.

“My relocation spells are limited to a small area, and I didn’t have to time teleport you three then cast the spell again for her.”

“So where is she now?” Asked Two-Hoof.

The leader turned to Star Horizon.  “Eyes, got anything?”

“A heavy armored police transport just rounded the corner of one of the stoplights I bugged.  Trajectory suggests it’s headed for Maretropolis’ maximum security prison.”

“Great, we’re never getting her out of there!”  Barked a flustered Thunderstep.

“Never say never” hummed their boss.  He turned to face Terror Two-Hoof and the others followed suit.

Terror bit his pony leg and his eyes darted every which way.  “It’s a stretch, but I got a plan.”

“Wonderful, everyone go to your respective rooms, and get plenty of sleep.  You’ve all done exceptionally well, but tomorrow you’ll need to go even further.”  He dismissed the group and everyone headed their separate ways; except for Thunderstep whom he suddenly stopped.

“What’s up boss?”  Thunder asked him.

“My name is Starstriker Shadow.”  Their leader answered in a calm yet frozen cold voice.  “Better I tell you directly then you hear it from Star Horizon.”