The Animarium:

“Okay, so what have we got?” Shining asked over lunch later that day, all of the Rider/Ranger alliance surrounding him like a war council of generals. “What do we have so far, in information about Drakkon, how he thinks, how he fights, the lot?”

“Fighting style is an unspecified sixth-degree black belt in karate,” Wyatt answered, crossing his arms over his chest. He thinks like a classic megalomaniac with a need to control and subjugate. Likes to use psychological warfare and he denounces heroes.”

“Does he do the classic breaking you speeches that all the other megalomaniacs like Ebony Maw and the lot do?” Robert asked. “Because I’d really love to tell him to shut his arse for once. Seriously, the guy, he’s a walking cliche. It’d be funny if he wasn’t so shit your pants terrifying,” he remarked.

“Well we know he isn’t perfect,” the Twilight of Wyatt’s universe remarked drumming her fingers on the table in front of her. “Guerilla tactics and enemies he can’t see seem to catch him off guard and make him sloppy.”

“Hmm, so we need to surprise him,” the Twilight of this world mused. “Trouble is, I’m not sure that’s the best idea. Me and Toxica, we scanned that Orb hovering over Ponyville. Full of magical energy. If it drops…” she sucked in a breath. “Endgame,”

Wyatt glanced around the table, his eyes lingering on the Rangers. After a moment, his eyes lit up and he turned to Robert. “I’ve got an idea so crazy that it might just work. Hey Robert, do you know the plan that the Space Rangers used against the Psychos?”

“Oh, I know where this is going, and I like it. We’ve already reached the Godzilla Threshold as it were, so this might just have to do,” Robert smirked. “Hell, done this once before for an all-pink change though mind you, that was for entirely different reasons so we know it can be done,”

“Excellent,” Wyatt said, rubbing his hands together. “As for the dome,” he turned to Toxica and Shayla. “Can you two force in a few Zords past that dome to keep it from falling on the town within forty-eight hours?”

“Can’t make any promises, but we’ll see what we can do,” Shayla replied before Baroness Twilight spoke up.

“I’m sorry, little lost here. What’s this plan against the Psychos you mentioned Wyatt?” she asked in confusion. “I need a cast list here, and a bit of background information,”

“Long story short, the Psychos were created to doggedly attack the Space Ranger that correlated to their color. They outmatched the team in speed, strength, and durability when fought one on one so they had to retreat a few times. In the end, they found a way to make themselves all look like Blue Rangers and played a few mind games with the Psychos, even throwing in a fake ‘Psycho Silver’ for good measure. My plan is to take my invisibility strategy and modify it. Instead, Wizard, myself and OOO will make copies of ourselves while the Rangers put on matching green suits and we’ll use hit and run tactics on Drakkon using our superior knowledge of Ponyville to our advantage. Since Gaim and Baroness can’t make copies, they’ll make sure to keep the Sentries off our asses. With a little help from Lockseed controlled Inves,” Wyatt explained.

“No, too risky,” Shining put in. “The Inves, from what I saw, don’t exactly bow to any Master. Plus, there’s another problem,” he pointed out.

“If an Inves is summoned by a Lockseed, they follow orders unless it leaves your grasp,” Wyatt assured. “But what’s your other problem?”

“Sentries,” Shining stated, walking over to the fountain and waving his hand. “See this? They’ve got everyone in Ponyville holed up in their homes, and if Drakkon even so much as gives the order, well I suppose I don’t need to say what’ll happen do I?” he asked. “We need to get the citizens out first, then engage Drakkon. Ponyville’s about to become a war zone, I don’t want any more casualties than there’s already been,”

“Hmm, I do have something that might be able to help with evacuation,” Wyatt said, summoning his card case. “But Drakkon might have something to counter Kabuto’s speed so we should think about how we can get into Ponyville and get the civvies out without engaging him,”

“I say we create one Hell of a distraction, keep Drakkon’s attention elsewhere, eh?” Sunset asked. “His eyes wander elsewhere with whatever chaos we cause, and we get everyone out in the meantime,”

“Alright, but what could we possibly do that would distract him?” Spike questioned, scratching the side of his head while he stared into the fountain. He watched, and let out a snarl as Drakkon kicked Rarity back inside her home.

“Also, I have to question,” Shining replied. “Drakkon’s liable to upgrade himself and his suit again isn’t he?”

“Probably,” Spike stood up, stretching his limbs out,. “We’re not the only people he’s at war with, remember?”

“The guy is obsessed with stealing Ranger Powers,” Wyatt added, nodded a scowl on his face as he watched the scene unfold. “It’s best to expect anything and everything in his arsenal,”

“Okay, so we assume he’s got every Ranger power known to man right now. Worst case scenario right?” Shining asked, and Wyatt nodded. “So, high time we start thinking about upgrading our own roster of abilities,”

“Way ahead of you there,” Robert commented, holding up a very familiar morpher. “Nicked this off one of his SPD Sentries. Gotta give him props, looks better than ever,”

“No, I don’t think that’ll be enough, welcome as that is,” Shining sighed. “We need something… more. Upgrade the Riders, as it were,” he remarked.

Wyatt opened his card case, looking through it for a moment. “Well, I have something new in my arsenal. Being Decade does have its one perk.” He held the new cards out, displaying one with Robert’s Orange Ranger form and another that showed the words, ‘Final Form Ride’.

“How did…?” Robert wondered aloud before sighing. “You know what, I’m not even going to question that. Never question Decade, sorta a rule with him,” he muttered before an idea came to his mind and he smirked devilishly like a little fox in a henhouse. “Actually, Spike, your Medals, based off of animals right?”

Spike took one out, tossing it into the air. “Yeah, Grandpa made them from greed and the essence of animals. The purple set is made from the void while the pink set was created from harmony,”

“Okay, so emotions and animals. But, I think you get where I’m going here right?” Robert asked, gesturing to the massive form of the Thunderbird Zord flying high above them, leaving trails of lightning in his wake.

Spike’s eyes lit up for a moment. “I like the idea,” Spike nodded at Twilight. “Grandpa and my dad gave Maud their notes on making medals. We’d have to get them from her,”

Twilight slipped another ring on, activating her belt. “She’s never said no to sharing it before. I don’t see why she wouldn’t share now,” Reaching into a small magic circle, she pulled out a laptop. “Now all we need is some Magicite.”

“Not sure that exists in our universe…” Sunset murmured.

Twilight stared at her for a moment. “How does magicite, one of the cornerstones of magical studies and artifact creation not exist here? Hell, the Alicorn Amulet has a magicite chunk in it!”

“Do I look like an expert on Multiverse Theory to you?” Sunset asked sarcastically. “Here I still subscribe to the old Constants and Variables bit!”,

Sighing, Twilight pinched her brow and shook her head. “As I’ve already said, Sunset, that is not a thing. Need I remind you of Ponyland?”

Sunset stifled a chuckle at that, but sighed. “I concede your point, you still have a picture of that Rainbow to show to ours, and then Rarity when this is all over?”

“What do you think?” Wyatt smirked, holding up his camera. “We actually met Senator Armstrong there. Stuff got nuts.”

“Getting off track here, can we bloody make these new Medals or not?” Robert asked.

“Maybe,” Twilight said, pushing the thoughts of the multiverse out of her head. Turning to Sunset she asked, “Do you know what the Alicorn Amulet is made of?”

“Never quite got the chance to study it, before we locked it away so no-one unsavory could get their claws on it, like Thrax or the like,” Baroness Twilight replied.

AJ raised her eyebrow. “Ya didn’t destroy it? When we got that dang thing off Trixie, we had Spike break it with his stinger.”

“Okay, I admit, that one’s probably going to come back to bite me…” Baroness Twilight sighed.

“Not today it isn’t,” Wyatt said, looking between the two princesses. “Do you two know where the Amulet is locked up so we can grab it and figure out what it’s made of?”

“Princess Celestia said it was in the public’s best interest that nobody knew,” Sunset put in.

Groaning, Wyatt dragged a hand down his face. “So the only one who knows for sure is the crazy sun tyrant of this universe. Gee, why can’t I just pop in for a visit and ask nicely?” He asked sarcastically. Taking a deep breath, he let the thought go as his Twilight rubbed his shoulders. “Right. Spike’s probably the only one who's gonna get anything out of this. I doubt you guys can give anything to Twilight or AJ,”

“Well, you could just clone my Lockseeds…” Twilight commented, holding up her Banana, Sakura, Mango Lockseeds and another one that looked like an apple. “...You can do that right?”

AJ chuckled. “Ah already got those Lockseeds, sugahcube. Ah should be the one offerin’ mine to ya,”

“Didn’t hurt to ask,” Twilight commented, with a sheepish smile. “Besides, Ninjas, Samurais, and Knights? Something seems wrong about that combo,”

“Not really,” Wyatt chimed in. “All of them have been romanticized past the point of recognition of what they originally were and both samurai and knights served the function of being sworn servants to a lord and or king. Hell, Samurai literally translates to, ‘one who serves’.”

“Great, another egghead around here. As if Sunburst and Twi weren’t bad enough!” Lightning muttered, before Vapor smacked her around the back of the head for being rude.

“Just for that, you don’t get to see more Sombra pictures if we survive this battle,” Wyatt teased, waving his camera in Lightning’s face. She fumed a little.

“Annnnnnyyyyways,” Sunset sighed, “I think I have a solution to our Alicorn Amulet problem. I’ll just go ask Princess Luna herself, she’s bound to know where it is, or at least what it’s made of,”

“Oh boy,” Vapor muttered. “The Missus and the Ex in the same room together. Awkward…”

“I don’t follow,” Spike said, quirking a brow at Vapor. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“What she means is,” Lightning commented, barely suppressing a laugh as Robert suddenly began looking at the floor, “Is that Robert banged Luna, and then soon after, hooked up with Sunset!”

Spike blinked, scratching his cheek. “That just seems like those trashy romance novels Mom used to read,”

Robert slid into the floor, a rather comical dark cloud over his head. “...Great, embarrass me further why don’t you?” he muttered.

Twilight cleared her throat, holding up the laptop. “So, who's going to be making these medals? I’m not all that great at alchemy, and I’d rather not crack the Animarium in half or something,”

“Soon as we know what the Amulet is made of,” Shayla replied. “I’ll contribute some of my own magic, channel it through the Morphin’ Grid and we should have something,”

Spike clicked his tongue, tossing the medal again. “None of my medals use a grid. The driver just draws their power for me. Otherwise, I’d get all corrupted like everyone else who uses them. Still, Zord powered Medals? Should pack one Tartarus of a kick!” he smirked, before he was smacked upside the head by AJ for his language.

“Well, whatever the case, you’ll have your medals soon enough. Spike, you’re with me,” Sunset replied. “We’re going to see Princess Luna.”

“Is this so you don’t have to be alone in a room with her?” Spike asked, walking over to Sunset’s side.

“Ye-No!” Sunset stammered out as everyone else snickered. “Just come on…” she sighed, before they both teleported out in gold-toned flashes of light.

“Okay, guess that means the rest of us,” Vapor remarked. “We get to go green. Should be an interesting experience, to say the least,”

Channeling energy through the Morphin’ Grid, the remaining Rangers soon found their costumes changing to a very different shade. The Dragon Dagger shimmered as the energy interacted with it, altering the effect as it altered Shining’s armor turning it green. The chest plating gained more of a golden tint and looked even more armored than before if that was possible, and the bullhorns atop the helmet became more like a buffalo’s, with an upturned curve in the back of the helmet resembling that of the one on the Dragonzord’s head. Finally, the green (now red) orb in the middle of Shining’s chest armor displayed a very familiar three clawed emblem.

“That’s certainly one hell of a look Shining,” Wyatt commented. “Can’t say I don’t approve of the look. Maybe it’ll get under Drakkon’s skin?”

“Oh, I suspect it will,” Shining smirked. “Sadly, it’s probably only temporary, but I’ll take whatever I can get for this,” he remarked.

Baroness Twilight, as everyone else inspected their new costumes, took Wyatt aside for a moment.

“Can… Can I ask you something?” she asked nervously, pressing her fingers together as she did so. “It’s, it’s well about before really,”

Wyatt nodded, putting his hands in his pockets. “Sure, what’d you want to say?”

“Back… Back after we arrived on the Animarium after Drakkon handed our flanks to us on a silver platter as they say, and we nearly came to blows. I… I let my temper get the best of me, and I’m-” she stuttered out, before being swiftly cut off.

“Sorry?” Wyatt smiled, holding his hand out. “Forget about it, it’s all good.”

“But you were right about one thing, I am pretty much Celestia’s little pet, never mind the fact that she’s got a split personality or not,” Twilight mumbled.

Wyatt rolled his eyes, patting Twilight’s head. “Like I said, forget about it. I said some pretty bad things to, so, I’m sorry as well. Just forget all about it, eh?”

“Alright, I’ll try,” Twilight smiled. “Besides, bigger things to worry about than interpersonal relationships,”

“Yeah,” Wyatt replied. “Like Drakkon. But he’ll soon be dealt with if we have anything to say about it.

Twilight smirked as she thought to herself. “Watch out Drakkon. Here comes the Rangers, and believe me, we’re quite ready for you…”

Far down below, Goldar wasn’t exactly in what you’d call the best of moods. Right now, he had the feeling, if Drakkon succeeded in taking over this world, one of two things would happen. One, he would end up being pushed to the side, or two, Drakkon would kill Thrax and him, and place a puppet ruler on the throne.

“Something needs to be done about this,” Goldar growled. “And soon.”

He thought back, to a time when the Rangers and both Lord Zedd and Empress Rita were off-world and he was off in France of all places, with a massive Warzord forged from the fallen Thunderzords, and the remains of his own personal Zord Cyclopsis. Somehow, and he still had yet to figure it out to this day, a certain Pink Ranger had managed to repower herself, and form a whole new team to stand against him.

Ironically, when his second in command at the time -Something that wouldn’t have looked out of place from the human movie ‘Creature from the Black Lagoon’- wanted to strike out on his own, and take the world for himself, he formed a temporary alliance with Kimberly and her team. Goldar let out a long low sigh.

“As much as I hate for history to repeat itself, well… if it means getting Drakkon out of my hair, then I’ll team up with the Rangers if need be.” he thought, as rocks began to gather around him, and massive golems began to form…

Ponyville had never looked quite so eerie, Robert mused to himself. “Like a bloody ghost town, where’s a tumbleweed when you need one?” he thought to himself, as he and Wyatt hid behind a building, and watched the Sentries patrol the streets.

“I’d… I’d crack a joke usually right about now,” Robert whispered. “But I’m too freaked out to even think of a good enough one,” he commented before he pressed Wyatt flat against a wall to avoid the search beams of a hover tank. “Okay, now I’m just getting flashbacks to Arkham Knight and those damned Cobra drones. Huh, guess I do have a joke or two left in me after all,”

“Now is not the time to mention Batman,” Wyatt grumbled, watching the tank as it passed by them. “Boy, never thought I’d be saying that,” he added under his breath. Robert’s breath then caught in his throat as he heard a familiar scream.

“Rarity!” he shouted, and broke off into a sprint, running down the alleyway and past corners, leaping over small obstructions as needed or clambering over fences till he reached Carousel Boutique and saw a Mastodon and a Sabertooth Sentry pointing their weapons at Rarity and Zephyr.

“Maybe give yourself up nicely, and we’ll make this quick,” the Sabertooth sentry chuckled under her breath, before the window smashed in and a few bullets impacted the Sentry’s back.

“SPD EMERGENCY!” Robert shouted, letting the SPD SWAT uniform replace his own.

“I do so hate thugs like you,” Lupin brushed the glass off his armor, leveling his gunner at the Sentries. “Gives the rest of us a rather bad name.”

“Lupin, you worm!” the Sabertooth Sentry shouted, before a rifle cocked.

Robert leveled his Delta Enforcer at the Mastodon Sentry. “You know, I was content to live and let live, maybe leave you lot with just a few broken bones. But now, you’re just striving to piss me off,” he growled out protectively. “See, me, Rarity and Zephyr here have a history. They took me in, when no-one else could give a damn about me. Gave me a place to work, and I’ll owe them for that. So now you come in here, and not expect me to react? How foolish you are…”

Wyatt ran up in his Decade armor, pausing as he took in the scene. “Lupin, why are you here? Isn’t pointing your weapon at a Dai-Shocker underling something Somber wouldn’t approve of?” Pulling his card case off his belt, he unfolded it into his blaster and leveled it at Lupin’s helmet.

“Dai-Shocker and I no longer share the same interests,” Lupin replied, not bothered by Wyatt’s blaster. “Sadly for me, I’ve come down with a bit of the conscience. Not a very useful thing in my line of work I assure you.”

“Aww, I’m almost moved to tears, Lupy,” Wyatt replied, sarcasm oozing out of his every word. “If I had my world’s smallest violin handy, I might play you a sad song.”

“Can you two can it already?” Robert snapped, still holding his rifle level to the Sentries. “Got bigger fish to worry about right now!”

“Fine,” Wyatt asked, inserting the Blast card into his belt and firing rapidly at the Sentries’ chests. “I can put aside how much I hate Lupin for now.”

Robert leaped to the left to avoid a swing from the Sabertooth’s sword, knocking over a store mannequin in the process, before he rolled to the right to avoid some shots from the Mastodon Sentry, as he fired back. The Sentry leaped to the left to avoid the shots, as Robert shot a dress to ribbons. He winced, ooh that was an expensive one, if the diamonds and peacock feathers scattering to the floor were any indication.

“So sorry, I promise I’ll make it up to you Rarity, I’ll work overtime when this is all said and done!” Robert shouted, in a pleading please forgive me and spare my life manner. “Hell, I’ll even work with styling hair with Zeph if need be to pay for the damages!” he knocked the Mastodon Sentry in the head with the butt of his gun, before kneeing him in the stomach, before grabbing ahold of the Sentry and tossing him to Wyatt with a shout of: “Faiz, now!”

“Can do!” Wyatt pulled out a pair of cards from his belt, inserting one into its slot as Lupin went sword to sword with the Sabertooth Sentry.

“Kamen Ride: Faiz!” The familiar silhouettes converged on Wyatt as his armor changed. Black became the main color of the form, with all the unarmored portions taking on the dark hue. The armor itself was silver with red trim -Tron Lines, really- running all along the body and connecting the chest piece to the gauntlets, greaves, and helmet. The helmet was dominated by two massive, yellow eyes that were separated by a red stripe that led up to two small, red antenna. Without missing a beat, he inserted the second card into his belt.

“Attack Ride: Auto Vajin!” A moment passed before a grey robot that was a head taller than Wyatt appeared next to him. Its head resembled a motorcycle helmet while its eyes were a black visor. On its chest was a symbol resembling Wyatt’s new helmet with its shoulders being comprised of motorcycle handles. In its left hand was a large wheel with a trio of gun barrels at its center. Wyatt pulled out a saber from the robot’s right shoulder and leaped into the air to slash at the Mastodon Sentry while the robot opened fire on him to keep him from touching the ground.

“And now for you,” Lupin remarked, as he approached the Sabertooth Sentry. “Funny, from what I heard of these Sentries, one thinks they’d put up more of a fight.” He leveled his gunner at their helmet, holding his hand out. “Your morpher, now. I’d hate to have to harm a lady after all.”

Of course, this request went over as about as well as could be expected, and the Sabertooth Sentry charged towards him as Lupin suppressed a sigh. Before he could raise his gun, however, a blast from Rarity knocked the Sentry out. Said Sentry sound found herself in a confinement card.

“Well, couldn’t let you have all the fun, now could I Blueblood?” Rarity asked teasingly.

“The name’s just Blud, but a lady’s help never goes unappreciated,” Lupin replied, motioning as much of a tip of his hat that his helmet would allow. His hand disappeared into his cape and he produced a rose which he tossed to the mare. “There, a token of my gratitude. Unfortunately, no rose I’ve grown could match your own beauty,”

“...He’ll never change,” Rarity muttered as Zephyr went red. “Just when I was going to reevaluate my opinion of him,”

“As much fun as this little bout was,” Lupin remarked. “I’ve got other things to attend to and so do you,” he said, before vanishing with a flourish of his cape.

“Much as I hate to admit it,” Robert grumbled, storing the Sentry’s confinement card away and de-morphing back to his regular costume. “He’s right, still plenty more of this town to save, so let’s get to it.”

Elsewhere in Ponyville, Lightning and Twilight had taken to the skies and were raining hell down on the Sentries which flocked the streets, clearing paths for everyone else. Then, Lightning’s eyes widened under her helmet as she saw flames rising from a certain part of Ponyville.

“That’s Spoon Manor!” Lightning shouted, before she tucked in her wings and rocketed off towards the direction of her adoptive sister. Twilight went into her comms, and called her Wizard counterpart.

“Other me, Lightning’s heading towards Silver Spoon’s manor, might need the help. I can contain these Sentries down here, but Lightning… Worried she might do something stupid,” Baroness informed, as she went into Mango Arms and dropped down into the chaos Mango Punisher in hand.

“Alright, I’ll head over to the Spoon Manor, I’m about a block away so I should get there before her Wonderbolt or not. I’ll be sure to keep her from doing anything stupid,” her counterpart answered over the comms, the sounds of her Driver switching to Water Dragon form clear as day in the background.

“Now that’s settled…” Twilight muttered before she was knocked backwards by a blast of purple-toned magic.

While she was on the ground, she heard the words, “Dangerous Zombie!” while a black grid appeared on the ground for a brief moment. “Gashato! Buckle up! Danger Danger, Genocide, Death the Crisis! Dangerous Zombie!”

“Another worthless version of me it seems,” a distorted version of Twilight’s voice spoke. “Far too many of those if you ask me.”

“Oh great…” Twilight muttered to herself as she took in the newcomer’s appearance. She was easily the strangest Rider yet, given that her helmet seemed to bear broken goggles and had spiked ‘hair’. “Should have seen this one coming a mile away. What is it with bad guys and white?”

The rest of her counterpart’s armor was just as strange, styled to look like a skeleton with an odd piston sticking out of the right shoulder and a red window with her form’s silhouette being struck by lightning on the left breast of the breastplate. The front of the helmet resembled a respirator with four slits making up the mouth portion and an eerie glowing blue eye.

“Rarity would have a field day with you, I think,” Baroness Twilight remarked. “I mean, Mystic Mother above, that costume!”

“Coming from the woman wearing a fruit on her head,” her counterpart retorted, removing her purple driver from her waist, proceeding to attach it to her wrist. The instant she did, it began to rev like a chainsaw. “You should be honored, meeting the superior version of yourself.”

“You’re so arrogant, I’m going to actually enjoy this,” Twilight muttered, shaking her head as she switched out Lockseeds. “Ranbu! Defend your Position! Knight of Shi~eld!”

A zipper opened above Twilight, and a crimson red metal apple came down atop Twilight’s head and opened up. Red Liquid splashed around her as her new armor was revealed. A red crown had formed around her head with room made for her horn and two spikes rising up from the side that looked suspiciously like apple slices. Red dominated the ensemble with yellow trim that resembled the inside of an apple running along the breastplate in a swirling pattern. Her shoulder pads, and chest armor also resembled apple slices, aptly enough. In her hands, replacing the mace that was the Mango Punisher, was a simple shield with the hilt of a sword sticking out from it.

Twilight drew her blade, and leveled it at Gemn. “Care to dance?”

Holding up her weapon, her counterpart started to circle around Twilight slowly like a predator poised to pounce. “You can’t even hold your sword right, you actually think you can fight me, when those idiots with Decade couldn’t stop me?”

“Lady, two things you need to know. One, there’s no sense in not trying as I will defend my Kingdom, and two… You need a lesson or two taught to you, I’m afraid. If I have to take Celestia’s position in this scenario of Ogres and Oubliettes, so be it.” Twilight growled.

Her counterpart laughed, an annoyingly smug sound that grated on Twilight’s ears. “Alright, Princess, let me put it to you this way: you’re a level one Bard and I’m the Tarasque. Got it?”

“Hmm, let’s see if I can knock you off your throne then,” Baroness remarked, clashing blades with Gemn. Sparks flew as swords met, and Gemn leaped upwards as Twilight swung low to knock her off her feet, before kicking the Armored Rider in the face making her stagger back.

“See, you need to get good!” Gemn laughed before stabbing at Twilight, who leaped backwards just in time and decided on just bashing her counterpart with her shield. “I mean, these are elementary level moves. Here I was hoping to get some good data off of you,”

Twilight’s hand went down to her belt, bringing down the lever twice on her Lockseed. “Ringo Au Lait!”

A group of flaming orange apples formed in midair, and Twilight kicked the bushel towards her counterpart like it was a grenade, blasting Gemn backwards. “You were saying something about me being level one?”

Gemn giggled, brushing the blast off like it was nothing. “My point stands, Twilight,” Lurching like a zombie, her giggles increased. “Midnight is far better than Twilight, as you’ll come to understand.”

“So you gave yourself a supervillain name, how quaint,” Baroness sniffed as she threw her shield like a boomerang knocking ‘Midnight’ in the head and as it flew back to Twilight’s hand, the Armored Rider dealt out purple flame infused series of slashes from her sword. “Am I supposed to be impressed with any of that nonsense?” she asked, before Twilight grimaced. She was starting to sound like any one of those nobles she so hated.

Midnight used her weapon to knock away the slashes, letting them explode around her and leave smoldering embers around her. Twilight then flicked her belt once, and tossed a flaming apple towards Gemn like a cherry bomb knocking the white rider back before slashing her across the chest, with a burst of speed as Twilight closed in on her advantage. “You’re slow, too slow. I thought you were supposed to be a higher level than me,” Baroness admonished before she sighed. Yep, definitely like a Canterlot Noble now. “You were saying something about data? Because I don’t think you’ll be getting it from me anytime soon.”

Genm grinned sending chills down her counterpart’s spine, grabbing Twilight’s wrist. “You moronic pegacorn, you really think it’s that easy to kill me? I’m immortal,” Twisting Twilight’s arm making her scream out in pain and making her drop her shield, she glared down at her. “Hit me with everything you got, you’re just wasting your time.”

“Oh shut up!” Baroness shouted, headbutting her counterpart, freeing her from Gemn’s grip. They locked blades once more, before Twilight smirked under her helmet, and dropped her sword into her other hand and slashed Gemn across the chest in what should have been the final blow.

Genm stumbled back, her chestplate smoking. “Aw, did I upset the princess? Do you need your precious Celestia to take care of the mean old bully?”

“That’s right,” Twilight smiled, letting Gemn have the briefest moment of satisfaction. “You really are just a playground bully.”

With that, she thrust her sword forwards through Gemn’s chest. After she drew it back, Gemn staggered backwards, purple smoke gushing from her wound. A moment later, it sealed up like nothing happened.

“What the…?” Twilight gaped.

“I told you, I’m immortal,” Genm replied, cracking her neck. “But please, continue. It’s more than a little amusing.”

“So what if you’re immortal?” Shining’s voice asked, as he leaped into the fray and hit Gemn in the head with a kick any Rider would have been proud of. “Just means my baby sis needs a little help. Plus, always wanted a real-life game of Ogres and Oubliettes,” he quipped.

“Oh look, the little knight in shining armor,” Genm tucked into a roll, getting back to her feet. “Don’t make me laugh. The two of you are insects compared to my brilliance.”

“Twi, were you always this bad when you were a little filly?” Shining asked.

“Nope, this one has me beat by a landslide,” his sister replied. “In arrogance that is.”

Genm wasted no time, backhanding Shining Armor through a wall. “You’re nothing like me, simpleton.” Closing the distance, she wrapped her hands around Twilight’s neck, lifting her off the ground. “Do you see a horn on my head, princess? Do you see a muzzle or hooves? I made everything I have with nothing but my hands and my mind. That’s why I’m better than you, troglodyte.”

Twilight smirked, and Genm blinked wondering exactly why. Then, she found out as Shining rushed up from behind, and slashed her across the back and as Twilight dropped to the street below, she slashed Gemn across the chest.

“Time to finish this farce.” Twilight sighed, as Shining changed his Magna Blade to its blaster form. Twilight placed her hand on the Riot Blaster, and infused it with pure magical power, before Shining pulled the trigger.

A flaming dragon’s head erupted from the weapon, and hit Genm with enough sheer power and force to shatter her armor. Genm tumbled away, her armor evaporating in a purple cloud, revealing her true form. A purple skinned, human teenager pulled herself off the ground, her eyes bloodshot and her hair a frizzy mess.

“Game over, ‘Midnight’.” Twilight remarked.

Midnight removed her glasses, furiously cleaning the lenses. “This means nothing, you pink aisle reject. You’re just a slightly more intelligent form of equine, nothing more.” Returning her glasses to her face, Midnight disappeared in a distortion with her proverbial tail between her legs.

Author's Note

Okay, a few notes about this chapter. One, me, Shago and Thunder debated to no end about Shining's temporary upgrade, as I wanted morphing grid energy channeled through the Dragon Dagger and morphing Shining into the original Green Ranger, but both said it was too contrived and in the end, I conceded their point.

Also, learned a fair bit about Ex-Aid in this chapter, with the Gemn fight, and how the original bearer of the powers worked. Seriously, he died from the silliest things, dangerous as he was. Running gag, really. Also, Gemn's armor is not destroyed, she's just been demorphed for lack of a better word. Also, I do like how all three of us managed to, in a sense, redeem not only Baron but Kamen Rider Mars as well with Twilight using variations of their armors.

Also, on the Goldar thing. That did happen, but like Drakkon it's a BOOM comic exclusive event, chronicaled in the Pink Miniseries. Well worth a read if you're a Kimberly fan.

Finally, originally this theme shown below was supposed to be in the chapter but for obvious reasons got swapped out for the SPD one.

As ever, comments, thoughts, and critique are welcomed.